Archive of Our Own

A month after the triumphant return from the Uranium Mission no one expected to be a resounding success, things were starting to normalize. The newly formed Dagger squadron (surprisingly Simpson’s idea he fought like hell for) were still enjoying hard-earned R&R to recoup from the hardships and emotional toil they all endured regardless of if they flew the mission or not.

Maverick had returned from his time hiding out in the desert, relearning who Bradley—no—who Rooster was. The two weren’t exactly where they had been before he pulled the kid’s papers all those years ago, but they at least were working at repairing their fractured bonds. And that was good enough for now.

“Ice?”

“Hmm?”

The two wingmen were curled up on the sofa together like they had a habit of doing during the moments that came after either of them nearly died . . . again.

Ice had just come home from his latest hospital stay a few days ago with orders to take it easy. Of course, that only meant he was to work from the home office and delegate more of the meaningless bullshit over to others in Ice’s mind. Like budget meetings. That could be Delaney’s headache this time.

Maverick, on the other hand, was still healing from his own injuries sustained on the mission. A couple of broken ribs here. Some lacerations there from shrapnel embedded into his back after being blown out of the sky . . . again. And that was all on top of the previous injuries he had from his first ejection—or more rather flung like a rag doll through the sky after blowing up a highly experimental aircraft to ram a now lost point down an egotistical jackass of a rear admiral’s throat.

Only delayed the inevitable, yeah, Maverick’s ass.

Darkstar was the future.

Cain and his ridiculous drones couldn’t have flown the Uranium Mission, escaped Deadman’s Coffin. Not like his human team had.

Fucking asshole.

“I think . . .” What did he think? He could do this. Just a few more words. “I think it’s time.”

The thought had nagged him ever since he was forced to confront his mortality again . . . their son’s—Rooster’s mortality. He had made it home by the skin of his teeth. By sheer dumb luck to use one of Ice’s ranting phrases. It shouldn’t have worked.

Seven pilots should have been dead.

Seven pilots Maverick was ultimately responsible for. Entrusted to bring home.

Yet, no deaths occurred.

He had pulled off the miracles needed somehow.

Done the impossible.

Only . . . he couldn’t see how.

Choosing Rooster was selfish in hindsight. A decision that nearly got the entire team killed because it hinged everything on Rooster letting go of his grudge, of his long-buried anger—and listening to Maverick, see how he was trying to give them their best chance. It almost hadn’t happened.

Maverick was nearly sixty for Christ’s sake.

He shouldn’t have been in a cockpit anymore. He was the oldest active-duty naval aviator.

He was only here because of Ice, of his wingman bailing him out time and time again, fighting for him, standing beside him when others wouldn’t. Every time Mav put on the uniform, he knew it was because of Ice’s long-lasting legacy he could, not Maverick’s. No matter what he achieved, whether it would be being the fastest pilot alive or bringing home six kids who were fated to die, his career would always have the damning stain on it that had shattered him more than anything else ever would. He would never garner the same respect Ice had (regardless of how they flew so many missions together), never receive the accolades he deserved for everything he sacrificed of himself to pull off his supposed miracles no one else could.

“Oh?”

He should have known Ice had already figured his thoughts out by now. They had been at each other’s sides practically for thirty-three years, bonded by their shared trauma of losing a brother in Goose so tragically, so senselessly in that July accident that entwined their lives forever.

“I think I’m ready to join you on the ground for good.” Saying the words felt rewarding in a way. It was half the battle, he knew. “I’ve . . . I mean, it's time, Ice. I know it now. I can feel it inside. I’ve done things . . .” No one could take his legacy, dismiss his place here anymore. “There’s nothing more I can do.” It was time.

He closed his eyes the moment Kazansky held him a bit tighter.

“And you’re going to be okay with this? With letting go of this life?”

“I’m going to have to be,” he replied honestly. “Being up there, though. Flying back with Bra—Rooster, I was so scared I wouldn’t get him home. That I’d lose him, too, Ice.”

Ice pressed a quick kiss to the side of his head. “I was afraid I’d lose you both, Mav.”

“Yeah.” His eyes fell while he soaked in Kazansky’s loving warmth. He wished he could have more, to be with his longtime love once and for all, out in the open as easily as he could all the times he was with Penny, but this fairy tale ending wasn’t in the cards for them, for him. Ice never wanted any of it before, never acted like he did. The kisses to the head, the cuddling, the bed sharing even some nights—they were just ways Ice showed friendship, loving brotherly affection even.

Maverick was the one pining like always.

He was the one clinging and pleading for one more moment with Ice.

It was why every relationship he tried for failed so spectacularly. Because no one would ever measure up to his gorgeous wingman. No one. No matter how hard Maverick tried otherwise, how much he lied to himself, how much effort he put into trying to move on, he couldn’t. He had given his heart and his soul away that night in the O Club . . . when he had used Charlie to distract himself from the insane pull towards Ice instead.

He and Ice couldn’t be.

Not in this lifetime at least.

All they could ever be was friends, brothers in arms.

The higher Ice rose in the ranks, the more dangerous it felt. Because men like Kazansky, they didn’t get where they were by entangling themselves with men like Maverick, men who needed constant validation, constant reassurances. To be told they were worthy of goodness, of love.

The moment the door to the house opened unexpectedly, the two men slid apart from one another. To a respectable distance so no one misconstrued their friendship as something it wasn’t.

Bra—Rooster. God, why couldn’t he get that right? He wasn’t their Bradley anymore, their son. They lost that right when they tried to save him, when Maverick had kept his promise to Carole.

Rooster rushed inside with his phone to his ear, not glancing in their direction as he headed towards the room he was staying in.

“Look, I get it.” Rooster was becoming increasingly more agitated by whatever was being said. “Seriously? After all that, you come back and ask that? Of course it meant something to me! How the fuck can you even ask that, asshole?” His door closed a few moments later, cutting off the overheard conversation.

“What do you think that was all about?” Maverick asked, glancing over at Ice who was already moving back closer. Their son had been coming in and out of his room like he had when he was a teenager living under their roof. They had tried to give him his space, wondering occasionally just what Rooster was wanting from them here to fix what they all broke between them. They had already apologized until there was nothing left to beg for forgiveness about. They tried to explain it even, but nothing broke their stalemate.

“It would seem our son’s trying to patch things with someone else before he tries with us.”

Our son. Maverick would never get over how good that sounded again to hear. It had been eighteen long years of longing to hear those two words again.

“You think?”

Kazansky nodded at once. “Oh, yes. He has the same determined look on his face you get.”

Maverick chuckled before he glanced towards the closed door of their son’s room. “Who do you think it is?”

“Who was he close to during training?”

“Phoenix.”

“I’ve always gotten the impression they were more like siblings to one another.”

He shrugged. “Same, but she was always checking on him.”

“There wasn’t anyone else?”

“You know how he is, Ice. He keeps everyone at a distance.” Likely because it was how he saw Ice and Maverick approach things. There was a circle one trusts, and one for the untrustworthy. “He was friendly with her the most, though. At least from what I saw.”

“What about the young man who poked his buttons? The cocky one?”

“Seresin?” He shook his head. “Yeah, I doubt it. At best those two are frenemies.”

“You and I started out that way,” Ice reminded.

“Yeah, but you had the decency not to throw my flaws back in my face every chance you could to make yourself look better. To bring up my dad and that whole thing.”

“Good God. Did Seresin actually bring up Nick?”

“Yep. Also pointed out how slow Bradley— damn it — Rooster —how Rooster flies.”

He was trying his hardest to stick to their kid’s wishes. To keep calling him Rooster. It just was difficult because every time he thought of their son, saw him even, he was reminded of all the years they had been a family. Fourteen years was hard to erase.

“Hmm.” This time Ice was the one putting his head on Maverick’s shoulder, wrapping around him. When the roles reversed like this, it was always so much harder for Maverick. Because these simple moments, just holding Ice like this, it drove him insane with longing, with want.

He wanted to be the person on Kazansky’s arm.

He wanted to be the one to cheer him the loudest at social events they were forced to attend.

Damn it! He wanted to kiss him . . . to make love to him even if he were honest . . . show Ice how much he meant to him. How much he had fallen in love with him over the years. But they couldn’t.

Ice was COMPACFLT, the Navy’s Golden Boy.

Mav was the infected thorn in the Navy’s side everyone secretly wished would just die.

That was just how it was, how it would always be. The end.

A couple of days passed after that moment. Rooster still was hesitant to walk out and join his dads in the living room. To spend more than a few minutes with them. He knew they likely wondered why the hell he agreed to stay when he blatantly avoided them at every turn. However, he didn’t know—no, scratch that—he knew. He just knew it was a stupid excuse why he wasn’t there yet.

In the time that followed after he and Maverick returned alive, crashing down in the old rickety F-14 that somehow held together while Maverick flew the bolts right out of it, he found himself clingy to the man who stepped in after his father passed. Rooster didn’t want to be alone anymore, to be cast out of his family like he had been. He always wondered if the next unknown number phone call was someone informing him that he lost another dad. So, he followed Maverick to the desert, focused on spending time with the old man . . . of making up for all the lost time they endured because of Rooster.

It had been easy to follow Maverick out there because the old man had needed someone to watch him. Make sure he was truly okay after all the shit they went through out there. Because Rooster had lived through the times in between . . . the moments when Maverick was left alone to his own devices. And Rooster was terrified of what would happen if his dad fell into his old ways, let his head convince him of things that weren’t remotely true. Ice couldn’t be there, and Maverick couldn’t be there for Ice. So, Rooster followed, stayed nearby, let more of his long-held anger slip away as he was reminded yet again who Maverick was. What Maverick meant to him, what he’d always mean.

At his phone vibrating once more, he glanced at the display, finding the familiar photo that he could never find it in himself to get rid of as it popped up on the screen. It was a text message this time, which he tried not to feel disappointed over. Texts were a form of communication, after all. And after eight years of not seeing one another to seeing each other every day for three weeks during training (forced to confront certain truths that Rooster tried to hide from), it was a hell of a switch.

Though, they knew it would be.

They always knew what would happen if they walked away from one another, prioritized their careers instead, only to be thrust back together when missions required it.

Rooster had seen it firsthand after all with his dads.

Fate wouldn’t be swayed so easily to keep lovers apart for long.

She never played fair.

Smoothing down his curls while glancing at his reflection to make sure he looked decent, he gave a light, appreciative nod to himself prior to turning away and heading back out of his room for the front door. Showtime. Every time he left, it was a bit harder. He knew what his dads had to be thinking. How they had to be sure he was using their kindness against them out of spite. But he wasn’t. When he agreed weeks back, he did so in hopes of talking out everything that happened . . . to get the truth once and for all about the Academy fiasco. Only, he got that damn text instead.

Hangman:  I never stopped loving you, Bradley.

Oh, he knew Seresin only sent it because he was drunk. It was always on the nights that Jake was drinking that he’d get the text. This time, he heard all about it from Penny when she called to let him know Hangman got home all right. He didn’t have the heart to lie and say they weren’t like that. She’d see through it anyway. Considering her history with his dads, he figured she knew they were pretending they were working on their relationship when they in actuality were just using each other for sex.

So, he’d take each of her calls on the bad nights, listen to her go on about her night, ask if anything eventful happened (namely with Jake), and thank her for making sure he got home all right. He knew she had to wonder why he never came to the bar himself, never said more than a Thank you to her. But as long as she kept calling, he’d keep answering.

Only last night there hadn’t been a call from her.

Nor had there been a supposed drunken text from Hangman either.

All was quiet until today’s text.

Hangman:  Can we please talk? I’m outside the bar.

He didn’t need to elaborate further than that. Rooster knew well enough which bar was. Which one it always was these days.

He had put this off too long.

Avoided it like he was avoiding his dads.

Though, in his dads’ case, he was avoiding them so he wouldn’t accidentally walk in on something he had no desire to see again. He wasn’t blind, after all. He saw how close they sat when they thought no one was watching. He knew how much they needed their closeness to settle their badly frayed nerves.

They thought they were going to lose each other.

Bury one another.

Rooster’s breathing hitched, knowing that it was only partly from the knowledge of how close he came to losing them both. How close he came to burying more family in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. At this rate, he wondered if there would be anyone left by the time he was fifty.

If he’d even make it that long.

He was older than his dad had been, though.

Older than his mother, too.

He sent a quick Thumbs Up emoji back just in case anyone was looking at Seresin’s phone before he pocketed his phone again and got ready to come clean once and for all.

He and Hangman had been talking sporadically since their return from the carrier after their clingy, desperate sex. It was why most times he found himself rushing out of the house, past his dads, and outside to speak freely. They originally played up the whole fake dating thing they were doing to mess with people. To explain their closeness that followed after the mission. However, the fakeness fell to the wayside, and they just were Jake and Bradley again behind closed doors.

The thought behind the whole spectacle was that if he could figure Jake and him out, maybe he could find a way to work through the mess with his dads that tore them apart eighteen years ago.

Rooster breezed down the hallway towards the front door, not bothering to glance at the sofa that he knew his dads were scrambling and flocking to opposite sides on. As if they hadn’t been holding one another intimately again. Cuddling like two old men in love, content in each other’s presence.

“Bradley?”

“Gotta go. Sorry!” he called out over his shoulder, grabbing his keys from the bowl by the front door. “Back soon. Love you!”

Those words slipped out of habit. However, he didn’t have time to discuss it. To dissect why he said it now after so many years of keeping them an ocean apart from him to separate them. He’d talk to them later. There would be time as long as his dads were together.

He strode to his retro baby blue Bronco, started her up, and backed out into the street.

It was time he started living honestly again, fixed all that he broke once and for all . . . and let go with Jake once and for all.

He parked next to Jake’s truck and shut off the engine in the sandy parking lot of the Hard Deck. Penny seemed to have a good crowd tonight based on the number of vehicles outside. He grabbed his keys from the ignition and headed inside the hopping bar.

He found Seresin sitting at the end of the bar, talking to Penny. There wasn’t the usual beer bottle in front of him this time, he noticed. Maybe she decided to cut Jake off entirely tonight. He knew she would rather want paying living customers than dead ones.

“What can I get for you, Lieutenant?” Penny asked the moment Rooster stepped up to the empty seat next to Hangman. It was never Rooster. Never Bradley. Always by his rank strangely enough. It always made him wonder if she were mad at him for some reason. Because everyone else she called by their first names but never him.

“Just a water, please.”

She nodded and headed off to get it for him.

“Thanks for coming,” Seresin murmured, glancing towards him. Oh, so they were playing this crap up in front of Penny too now? Lovely. She’d see right through it in an instant.

“You didn’t think I would?” That question could go either way, though. Fake dating or not.

“Do you blame me here?”

“No,” he replied, realizing that Hangman was unfortunately right. He could have very easily chickened out at the last possible minute. Texted that something came up instead. Delayed their long-overdue talk even further. How many times had he done that with his dads? “Look, Hangman—”

“Call me Jake, will you? You used to say my name all the time, remember?”

Realizing that Seresin was being serious here, too, Rooster inclined his head. Message received. They were going to deal with their shit. “Jake, listen, I was a complete ass to you eight years ago. I should have explained, told you what was going on, but I didn’t. I just—”

“—left me. Dressed without saying a damn word and fucked off to the other side of the world overnight practically.”

Ouch. Yet, he was right. Rooster had done that.

“Yeah.”

Shit. This was going to be harder than he thought, wasn’t it? It’d be worth it, though.

“I loved you, Bradley. I loved you more than I’ve ever loved anyone before, and you broke my heart like it was nothing to you. I tried to reason for years why you did it. Made up every damn excuse I could to give you the benefit of the doubt. Did you know that?”

“No.” However, in hindsight, he should have assumed it. Jake always saw the best in him.

“Well, I did. I thought maybe one of your loved ones got into an accident or something. That you had to whisk off to take care of them instead. Or that some asshole CO just decided to punt you across the ocean because he had seen us at the bar. I don’t know. I came up with some good ones to explain what you did to me, to give me something to find closure in after getting my heart stomped on by you. Hell, I even started to wonder if you were just one of those guys who wasn’t ready to admit to himself yet about what this was between us. And I was willing to wait until you were. Help you however you needed me to.”

“I know.”

“So, why? Just answer that, will you? Why did you walk out that morning without so much as a goodbye? So much of an explanation even?” Seresin leaned closer. “I gave you my heart, Bradley, and you ripped it apart like it was nothing to you. Like I was just a meaningless fling. I thought you cared about me. I did.”

“I do, Jake.”

“Do you? Because seeing you that night over by that pool table, it was like you were ready to tear me apart even more. I mean, come on. That comment about me leading people to an early grave? Seriously?” He scoffed. “How many damn times must I apologize about something that happened in Flight School, darlin?”

Rooster closed his eyes. Seresin deserved better than him.

“What? You need me to climb up on the bar here and shout it instead? Name your price. I’ll do it. Because I . . . Jesus, Bradshaw, I loved you. I’ve loved you from the second you smiled at me and called me out on my bullshit, challenged me and said how you’d seen better. And for reasons that I can’t explain, I’ve found that I still love you even. Because hearing that Dagger Two was hit . . . hearing it across the comms, Bradley, unable to do anything, I felt my soul shatter at the mere thought of losing you for good. For never having this chance to know why.”

“Jake . . .”

“What was it that I did that caused you to leave that morning? To fuck off to parts unknown and leave me there like that?”

“Nothing.”

Hangman scoffed.

“No, Jake, I’m serious. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“It meant something to me, Bradley.” The words echoed in his head from the other day. They had been said that day so his dads would overhear and take the bait. Ask him about his dating life so they could once and for all end the IceMav stalemate that had been going on for decades. His dads hadn’t, though, from what he could see unfortunately. They had left him alone instead, respected his privacy.

“This means something to me, too. It does. That’s why . . . that’s why I left, Seresin. That’s why I ran out of there that morning. Because I went in thinking it wouldn’t. That we’d have a clean break afterwards. Fuck it out of our systems. Only I realized I didn’t want that. And I didn’t know what to do with that.”

“So you ran?”

“Blame Maverick. I learned it from him,” he muttered. He yelped a second later when a bar towel smacked him hard in the shoulder. “What the hell was that for?” he asked, turning towards Penny.

“How dare you,” she glared murderously at him.

He considered running, but he wouldn’t leave Jake this time. Not again. He wanted to make it work this time for good.

“Pete Mitchell has never run from the things that matter, Bradley Mitchell Bradshaw. You’re the one who walked out the door that night from them, not him. He waited three damn days for you to come home. To explain himself after you basically screamed at him how you wished he had been the one to die instead.”

He shrunk in on himself, recognizing he had crossed a line with her and was going to pay for it. How the hell did she know that, though? Had his dad told her about it during one of their dating phases?

“You don’t think he hasn’t thought that himself? Hasn’t wished for the same damn thing all these years after?” she snapped. “That Tom hasn’t wished the same for himself? Those two amazing men you stormed away from that night were beside themselves the entire damn time you were gone. Oh, I’m sure they haven’t said a word since about it. They’re too good for that. However, sitting on that stool, saying that shit about him now? Uh-huh. Not in my goddamn bar, Bradley Mitchell Bradshaw.”

“He ran away from you, Penny.”

She scoffed. “Did he tell you that?”

Bradley grimaced, realizing he might have had it wrong here after all. “Well, no.”

“Exactly. Because he didn’t run away from me. Every time we broke up, it was because  I  was ending it. Because I didn’t want to be the one standing beside his casket as they buried him. Because I knew someone far greater than me deserved that place. I ran, Bradley, not him. And he sure as hell didn’t run from you and your mom after your dad died. He was running  to  you two, leaving TOPGUN, leaving the Navy . . . to make sure you two were taken care of. Pete Mitchell is a damn good man, and I will not stand for you or anyone talking shit about him.”

She had always been one of his dad’s fiercest defenders. Like Pops was.

“He wasn’t the reason you ran, Bradley. You ran because you were scared and overwhelmed. Like you have always done since you were four years old. So, don’t you dare blame him. He has only ever tried his very damn best with you, and you have only ever thrown his failures back in his face time and time again. Just like everyone else has done in his life, save for the Flyboys . . . save for me.” She then glanced towards Jake. Her eyes softened to him. “I’m so sorry, honey. I shouldn’t have interrupted. I know you needed this moment. I’ll leave you to it.” She then tossed down the towel in absolute disgust and walked around the bar towards the restrooms in the back.

“Am I missing something here?” he asked Seresin a moment later.

Hangman shrugged. “I’ve sorta been using her as a therapist since we got back,” he explained. “To figure out why. What I could have done differently so you wouldn’t have left like you did. I didn’t know she and Pops were broken up, though. She never mentioned that part during our talks.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Bradley sighed heavily, hanging his head. “It was the day she brought her daughter out to the hanger to visit Mav. She and Dad went out for a ride, leaving her kid with me to watch.”

“Ride? Like, they went out on Pops’s bike?”

“No. His P-51 Mustang.”

Jake whistled appreciatively. “Damn.”

“It’s Dad’s labor of love project he’s been working on since they got it for him. Penny and Ice, I mean.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.” He glanced towards the restrooms and sighed, feeling terrible.

“You really know how to stick your foot in your mouth sometimes, don’t you, Rooster?”

“Apparently.” He then turned back to Hangman. “I meant what I said, though. I didn’t know how to handle all of what I was feeling. I should have talked to you, though. Let you know it wasn’t anything that you did. I’m sorry that you thought all this time that it was because of you. It wasn’t. It was all me.”

“Thank you.”

“I didn’t think you could love me, Jake.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Yeah.” He was starting to realize that.

“Why the hell would you think that?”

“Because the few people I was with before you, they all called me a selfish prick.”

“Well, if the glove fits.”

Rooster snorted. “Yeah, yeah.”

“Things are going all right with Pops, though, right?”

“Still sorta hiding out in my room from them.”

“Still avoiding, you mean?”

“Yep.”

“Gotta break that habit of yours, Bradshaw.”

“I know.” He playfully bumped against Seresin. “The thing is . . . I think I need to fix this with us first before I can ever hope to repair what I broke with them.”

“Do you want to fix us?”

He shrugged.

“Wow. What a rousing answer. Damn, Rooster. I feel so loved here.”

“No, come on. Don’t be like that.”

“What? Like a guy who isn’t going to be a doormat to you again?”

This was not how he wanted this conversation to go, but oh well. “No. You’re right. You should be with someone who respects you, and that wasn’t me.”

“Glad we can agree on that.”

“I should have been an adult with you. Explained what was going on even if I didn’t fully understand it. You deserved an explanation. You were being amazing with me, patient and shit. I was the one who suggested we jump right into sex that night. I thought I’d get over it if we were together. Only I realized that . . . that I cared about you. A lot, Jake. I knew you were comfortable with all of that stuff, and I was worried that if I admitted that I wasn’t . . . that I didn’t know what I was thinking, I’d lose you. So, I left first to make sure I wasn’t the one left. It was shitty of me to do. I know that. I shouldn’t have done it. You never deserved any of that.”

“Thank you, Rooster.”

He nodded. “Don’t think I’m excusing what I did to you here because I’m not. I fucked up with you, Seresin. I recognize that and wish I hadn’t.”

“But?”

“But . . . I didn’t know what to do. Dad and Pops have been on-and-off again more times than I bet Dad has been with Penny.”

“Wait. Hold up. What?”

Bradley sighed. Okay then. They were going there. “After my parents both died, I lived with Dad and Pops. They always swore they were living together to save on rent and everything, but I knew it wasn’t that. But they loved me. Showered me in love every chance they could. Went to my games whenever they were home to cheer me on. Made me feel safe and loved. Like all the bad shit was over, you know? It didn’t hit me until I was in NROTC why they weren’t open about their relationship with each other. Why they hid that they loved one another and kept all of it behind closed doors. It was because they couldn’t. And I know you want to climb to the top, be better than your dad.”

“You’re comparing us to them?”

“I compare us to everyone.” He frowned at Jake smacking him with the bar towel Penny had left.

“Stop doing that. We’re doomed every single time you do that, Bradshaw. We won’t be like your parents. We won’t even be like your dads either. We’re our own thing. We’ve always been our own thing. That’s the beauty of this whole thing.”

“And the nightmare of it, too,” he pointed out.

“I don’t want us to hide this, Rooster. To pretend you mean nothing to me when you instead mean every damn thing there is in the universe.”

“I’m going to screw this up, Jake.”

“With that attitude, I’m sure, but this isn’t something we have to hide anymore. We can be open about this if we want.”

“Do you want to try again?”

“Darlin’, I don’t want to spend another moment without you in my life. I’m tired of pretending we’re frenemies. That the sex we’ve been having is just to let off steam and not because I miss you. I mean, shit, I want to kiss you again. To do it in front of everyone. I nearly did it on the carrier, and I would have, too, if I didn’t think everyone would have tossed me off the side in protection of you. Didn’t think I was trying to kill you or some such stupid ass thing like that.”

“In their defense, you play a convincing asshole.”

Jake grinned with a coy shrug. “I had a hell of a motivation behind it.”

“Yeah.”

“So, what do you say? We try again? For real this time?”

Bradley nodded. “I’d love to.”

Jake’s grin widened. “Come clean tomorrow at the party?”

It took Bradley a second to realize what he was talking about. Penny was holding a celebratory gathering for the Daggers tomorrow night. His dads talked about going to it for a bit during a fierce late-night cuddle session on the sofa in front of Netflix and some weird old man documentary they were watching during one of the rare moments Rooster considered going to them.

“After we fuck with all of them first for old times’ sake,” Jake added with a wide grin. “You in?”

He nodded. Maybe seeing him and Seresin together would light a fire under the old men’s asses.

The following evening around 1900, Ice walked into the Hard Deck first. Maverick hung back for about five minutes or so before he entered. The kids—because the Daggers were definitely his kids—were already gathered, enjoying either a game of darts or pool. He badly wanted to head over to where he saw Ice speaking with Penny quietly, but instead he walked over to his Daggers.

He considered giving them all crap for wearing their civilian clothes, taking after him. However, he bit his tongue, wondering if it was the same reason he didn’t wear any Navy branded clothes.

“Cap! Welcome! Hey, guys! Cap’s here!” yelled out Fanboy, having seen Maverick first.

He felt himself being carefully enveloped in hugs by them, chuckling and shaking his head. God, he loved these kids.

“Captain Mitchell,” Simpson murmured behind him before he stepped in front of Maverick.

“Admiral.” He inclined his head towards his boss. “I’d salute you, sir, but as you can see, the kids sort of have my hands tied currently.” He was pretty sure the little shits were doing it on purpose, too, but he couldn’t be mad at them over it.

“Yes, so I see.” His eyes then shifted over to Ice before they returned to Maverick. “I wanted to congratulate you once again, Captain. And also . . . apologize. I misjudged you, and for that I apologize. You are a damn good aviator, Captain, and the Navy will miss you. I know I will.”

Maverick felt the kids collectively gasp before they all looked at him in confusion.

“Thank you, sir.” He waited until Simpson had walked away before he sighed and glanced at his clingy ass kids. “Let me explain please,” he pleaded with them, catching the looks of betrayal and worry in a few of their eyes. “This was always going to be my swan song, guys. My last placement. I’ve burned too many bridges unfortunately over the years. And half of Ice’s job these days is bailing me out of my latest adventure. Plus, I’m old as fuck, guys.” Several laughed. “I’m so proud of all of you, though. So glad to have met all of you, seen you soar. I can’t wait to hear what you accomplish in your careers. I’m sure they’re going to be great. But my time has passed. Now, it’s all of yours to shine. To be better than even I am. And if you do that by being a pain in the ass, well, you didn’t hear it from me.”

They hugged him again collectively.

He glanced towards Ice, catching Penny’s gaze first and seeing the surprised relief in her eyes. How many times had they had that exact argument over the years? She never asked him straight out to retire, to leave the Navy behind. She wouldn’t have. Being an admiral’s daughter, she knew what she was asking him to give up if she had. Knew it had to be on his terms. But that didn’t mean she hadn’t begged him here and there to think about it at least. Think about his life after the Navy. What he wanted.

He knew she understood the parts he wasn’t saying. The parts that were just for him and Ice.

“Well, then, guess first round is on me,” Penny called out a second later with a happy, somber smile on her face.

It was only the Daggers and Dagger-adjacent allowed inside tonight. She had closed the rest of her bar off so they could have this moment all to themselves.

He waited until the kids had all flocked to grab their drinks before he walked towards them, pausing to press his shoulder against Ice’s side.

“I’m happy for you, Pete.”

He nodded, grabbing his beer from her. “Thanks. But I’ll admit I’ve got an ulterior motive.”

“Oh?”

“Gotta start training my goddaughter for the skies next, you know.”

She glared at him. “I will murder you, Pete Mitchell.”

He smirked, holding his hands up. “Hey, you knew my terms when you asked me to be Amelia’s godfather. Flying comes with the territory.”

“Thomas,” she growled, glancing at Ice, “you better get him out of here before I climb over this bar.”

Ice looked on disinterestedly. “Why? I’m not his minder.”

“Says the man who got his ass out of every single fire his entire career.”

“Untrue. I didn’t ever interfere when it was your father transferring him,” Ice reminded before he took a sip from his vodka soda and glanced about the room.

“Fine. You helped 98% of the time. Happy?”

“More like 89%, but yes,” drawled Ice. “I am very happy, Penelope.”

“You two were made for each other.”

“Thank you. I rather think so as well.”

Maverick chuckled, watching her roll her eyes before she headed off. “Do you have to goad her so much? She will hit you one of these days.”

“Oh, I sincerely doubt that. And she knows this is all in good, clean fun.”

“Yeah, well, take it from me. She doesn’t fight fair.”

“Nor do I, love.”

Maverick’s entire body glitched as his mind blanked. Love? Had Ice said love?

“Is something wrong?”

“You just called me love, Ice.”

“Yes, and?”

“Love is a pet name. Like . . . for someone you—”

“Love,” Ice confirmed. “Which I do. Very much, Maverick.”

“As in . . . like . . . uh . . . ?”

What was happening here? What was he missing?

“As in romantic love,” Ice stated calmly. “After all, we’ve been together off-and-on for thirty-three years, Maverick. I might as well say it, don't you think?”

“Go ahead, Dad. Kiss him already!” Bradley called out over the loud cheers and wolf-whistles of the other Daggers. Their little shit of a kid.

“You love me?”

“You believed I didn’t?”

“I mean, well, we never . . . you know . . . ever defined this,” Maverick stammered messily. At least with Penny, he always knew where he stood with her. Could love her openly and never have to worry about ruining her reputation over it.

Ice snorted before he pulled Maverick closer, slid his hands to the back of Mav’s neck before he kissed Maverick enthusiastically.

“About goddamn time, you two!” Penny commented from where she was sitting beside Cyclone.

“Agreed!” yelled out Hondo and Warlock.

Simpson’s face kept scrunched up in a forced smile that reminded of a baby trying to smile for the first time, not knowing how to get its muscles to work quite properly yet.

“If you love that news, well, Rooster and I have a bit of our own,” announced Hangman.

Ice and Maverick’s heads immediately whipped towards their son. Their reunion was instantly forgotten.

What the hell did that mean?

“Seresin and I have been, uh, seeing each other.”

“I knew it!” yelled out Kazansky, whirling to Penny. “Pay up, dear.”

“That is so not fair,” she scoffed with an annoyed look.

Maverick could see the confusion in the boys’ eyes and decided to take pity on them. “They bet if you two were dating or if it was just a ruse,” he explained.

“And I won.”

“Nobody likes a braggart, Admiral Know-It-All,” Penny huffed.

“And no one likes a sore loser either, dearest Penelope.”

“Wait. So, you knew?” Rooster asked, glancing around the room.

“Yes!” shouted the Daggers, Simpson, Hondo, Warlock, and Kazansky.

“Huh. I thought we pulled it off.”

“You would have, Lieutenant Seresin,” Simpson commented dryly, “if you hadn’t shaken his hand on the carrier when you clearly wanted to kiss him instead.”

“Then there’s the whole you sneaking into Med bay to be with Bradshaw,” announced Warlock.

“And your disappointed look when Lieutenant Bradshaw stated he was going with Captain Mitchell to the desert,” said Hondo.

“Not to mention, you two kept bumping up against one another like Admiral Kazansky and Captain Mitchell were,” pointed out Bob.

“In other words, none of you four assholes were sneaky.”

“Well, shit.”

Everyone laughed good-naturedly.