#brigham lennox

[shadowsndaisies]

dogfighting 101: 05 - sugar and spice

wc: 1.6k

synopsis: hangman leaves everyone hanging... right?

main masterlist

athena-verse master post

a/n: absolutely loving all of your comments!! heres some hangman and then centric stuff which I KNOW people are waiting to see more of. the next update will be the final for dogfighting 101 but will feature an interaction between rooster and athena that probably (very honestly) wont answer your questions (yet)

“Howdy Miss ‘Thena,” is Hangman’s opening as you both enter the range.

“Hangman,” your greeting’s lacking a little luster.

Despite your early success, you’d only managed tone once and this was rotation four for you, and that’s not even taking into account the variations in which you weren’t flying and that no one else had managed to take your dad down yet.

Your arms hurt, your shoulders hurt, your back hurt, and you wanted to shower so incredibly bad. More than all of that though, you were emotionally exhausted. Flying with Bradley had been the gift that kept giving because even though you’d already gone through another rotation, you kept thinking about the blow out, about the before, about Bradley. As you stood on the tarmac again, you took in the little indents in your palms from the gravel being pushed into them during your push-ups, rubbing over one red mark and shaking your head. Safe to say, you could not wait to finish out the final few rotations, and then go home.

“What’s the matter, Honey?” the tease comes over the comms and even though you know he wants an answer all you can do is scoff.

“Getting tired of push-ups is all,” you say simply.

“I was hoping so,” Jake decides and your brow furrows. You don’t need to see him to know he was planning something.

“What are you planning?” you ask seriously, fully aware that your dad and the rest of the detachment was listening in.

“I was wondering, are you still made of sugar and spice and everything nice?” it sounds condescending, and you’re sure Phoenix and Halo are scoffing at the question, but you know better.

Sugar and Spice was a code, a reference to something you’d only ever talked through with Jake during some downtime on the carrier. Unlike Rock and Roll which you’d actually trained for with Harvard and Yale during Top Gun, Sugar and Spice was completely theoretical.

“You’re joking,” you deadpan, turning to glare at him through the canopy.

“You said you were tired of push-ups. I think it could work, especially since two highly decorated and competent aviators came up with it. Unless, of course, you’d rather continue the heavy set arm day you’ve got going on?” he says nonchalantly.

“Why does it feel like you called me a coward while also complementing me?” you scoff.

“Because you know me,” is all he offers.

“That’s a lot of chatter for two aviators who don’t have the bandit in their sights,” Maverick’s voice finally cuts through, interrupting your back and forth with Jake.

“Hangman, you got eyes?” you ask staring around and out the canopy after confirming your dad wasn’t on the radar.

“No, my guess is he’s coming from below the hard deck again,” the other aviator offers and you do a quick roll, inverting like you had on the first run.

“No contact,” you huff, rolling back.

And then all of a sudden you hear a boom and Mav comes zipping down in front of you. Breaking the sound barrier as he drops from where he’d been miles above you and Jake moving faster than you’d anticipated.

“Holy shit!” you shout.

“Oh fuck!” Jake’s curse echoes with yours.

“Fight’s on, Aviators, let’s see how your arms feel after, kid,” your dad teases as he circles around.

“Break left!” Hangman’s shout echoes.

And you do.

You break left and loop around, looking for Jake who’d gone int he opposite direction. He hadn’t ditched you, yet. Not like he had with Phoenix and Bob earlier. You know it’s not entirely fair a line of thought though, he was different with you, he’d yet to break a promise or leave you out to dry, not like he so flippantly seemed to be with everyone else. You hesitate a second longer before deciding, no, I do not want to do more push ups, and yes, I do trust Jake.

“Sugar and Spice,” you finally shout.

“Wait, really?” the surprise is evident, as if despite his cocky attitude he couldn’t believe you were agreeing.

“Yes!” you confirm, rolling your eyes. “Now move your ass, Hangman!”

“My fine ass, you mean,” he shouts back and you can hear the smirk as he loops back to meet you so you could assume the correct positions.

It’s tricky, you decide.

You always knew it would be, but you never thought you’d actually try it out. In theory, Sugar and Spice was supposed to create a gap that was a trap for the bandit. Where Rock and Roll was a distraction and attack, with each aviator having a specific goal, Sugar and Spice held more risk. Here both pilots act as the distraction, while attempting to get tone at the same time. When you’d initially talked it out with Jake there were three possible formations. Option A was the Side by Side, where you fly parallel. Option B was the Stack, where one pilot flies directly above the other. And Option C, which you had succinctly named, the collision course; in which one approaches from the tail of the bandit, and the other nose.

It seemed Jake had decided to run the collision course. It took a few maneuvers, some creative flying in order to lure Maverick into the right space at the right time, but then you were approaching form his nose, while Jake came in from the tail.

“What the fuck?” was your dads response when he realized that he had to make a choice, continue to attempt tone on you, move before Jake got tone on him, or move before you got close enough to get tone on him.

He feigned a left, which you followed, but then he made a sharp turn right.

What Mav didn’t anticipate was the height change. Jake had moved up, just enough to angle himself perfectly, and to ensure that if your dad didn’t move from the game of chicken you were playing with him, you wouldn’t just crash into your own teammate.

When Maverick flipped a hard right, probably hoping to get tone on you, Jake got tone first, having seen the move coming, and prepared accordingly.

It was silent for a moment, as the tone rang out.

“Well I’ll be damned,” Maverick’s voice crackles over the comms as if he hadn’t meant to say it out loud.

When you land Hangman’s already on the ground by your ladder, having rushed out of his jet after landing first.

You’re not even all the way down when his arms wrap around you and he pulls you down, “Holy shit, ‘Thena, that was fucking incredible!” he shouts, squeezing you for just a moment.

This is Jake, you think fondly. You liked Jake, a lot. You liked him a hell of a lot more than Hangman. Unfortunately, you knew that not everyone got to meet Jake, and that, you decided was a god damned shame.

“I mean, I always knew you were smart, ‘Thee but this idea really was something else entirely! And getting to test it out, I’m fucking ecstatic the height change worked….” he was rambling, and there was this twinkle in his eyes that made the green seem alive.

You hadn’t seen him ramble since before the announcement of the detachment, honestly not for a while if you’re honest. Maybe the last time you’d both had feet on solid ground instead of an Air Craft Carrier in the middle of the Pacific. He seemed younger, the southern drawl more evident as he talked too fast to fully enunciate each word.

“Seresin! Mitchell!” the shout from your dad forces Jake to stop, and you notice as his brain finally catches up, how he steps back from you and straightens out, how the excited gleam in his eye dies out a bit, and you frown at Jake, because you watch as he tucks the more authentic parts of himself away.

“Yes, Sir?” you ask, turning to your father who was approaching.

“Hell of a move, where’d you learn that?” he asks, looking between the two of you.

“Lieutenant Mitchell designed it, Sir. After a cat and mouse training exercise on the carrier between our squads,” and if your dad was shocked before, hearing Hangman of all people pay another pilot credit was the blackout on top of the bingo.

“It was a team effort, Sir,” you argue. “Then and now, I honestly wouldn’t have been able to do it with anyone else,” you admit, and something in both your father’s gaze, and Jake’s softens.

“Keep thinking outside the box. It’s a good skill, and you’ll need it,” your father praises you, before turning to head to Hondo for his push ups, giving the next group a bit of a break.

“Hey Maverick!” you shout after him, “Always think the 360!”

A random sentence that no one else would understand, but he would, and based off of the near prideful smile he shoots you before turning back around, you know he understood.

While your dad did his push ups and the next pairing came down, you stopped in an empty hallway. “Hey, Jake?”

“Yeah?” he asks, pausing and then turning back once he realized you were no longer right beside him.

“I’m happy it worked too. Thanks for not leaving me hanging,” you say softly.

He looks down and then back at you, brows furrowed as if something wasn’t adding up for him, “Mitchell, you should know by now, I’d never leave you,” he says in response, green eyes swirling with emotion, too many to place, but his words feel like so much more than just talking as your wingman.

...

everything: @butterfly-skinnylegend

athena’s tags: @omgbrianab @smoothdogsgirl @bazellawriz @sbrewer21 @inky-sun @djs8891 @rory-cakes @geeksareunique @je6291 @kee-0-kee @fanreader75 @whoismurphyslaw @samanddeaninatrenchcoat @thespillingvoid

if your tag is striked it means i was unable to tag you.

[callmemana]

Dad Hats & The Squads:

I don’t really know why, but if the dagger squad and chaos squad were to have a best dad hat competition these are the hats I think each member would wear. Please feel free to add to them if you find a better one. 🥰 Thank you for coming to my TedTalk!

Previous🧢|Next✨|

Hangy:

Roos:

Coyote:

Payback:

Fanboy:

Bob:

Phoenix:

Omaha:

Harvard:

[randalsgrave]

Dagger Squad Random Headcanons: Brigham “Harvard” Lennox

Gifs of Harvard apparently don’t exist so here’s a smiley boy picture of him 🤷🏻‍♀️ If he comes off sounding like a caricature then my bad, New Englanders tend to fall into their own stereotypes (trust me, I’m one of them)

“Harvard” is the good Christian version of his callsign. It’s actually “Hahvahd” and you KNOW it’s because that heavy-ass Boston accent comes out swinging when he’s heated

Like yes he went to Harvard for mechanical engineering but he got that callsign because he sounds like he’s straight out of Good Will Hunting

Ironically he’s from a really nice part of Massachusetts (and not South Boston like most people think he is)

LAX BRO LAX BRO LAX BRO

You can’t tell me this dude didn’t grow up playing defense on all his school lacrosse teams, or that he wasn’t damn good at it

Like, “D1 in college” good

Leans heavily into the whole Chad aesthetic

Off-duty uniform consists of seersucker shorts, a button-down or polo shirt, and boat loafers

If “Region of New England” were a person it would literally be Harvard

See also: himbo - IN THE HIGHEST DEGREE

Frightfully fucking smart but also frightfully fucking dumb

Drives a fully modded, fully outdoor-ready Jeep but it’s purely for vanity purposes; there is not a single speck of dirt to be seen on it (Hangman especially gives him shit for this)

Add on where you see fit!

[slidersbabygirl]

Meltdown has Harvard and Yale listed in her phone as "College #1" and "College #2"

She won't tell them who is who

[hangmanssunnies]

[oh-great-authoress]

Harvard: …It’s a celery stick, dude.

Coyote: Oh.

Coyote: I thought it was the last one, but the point still stands.

Coyote: *snatches chicken wing*

At the Hard Deck... Coyote: Eat that last chicken wing and I will reach down your throat, pull it out, and beat you to death with it!

[lesbiradshaw]

instagram shenanigans - dagger edition

[mrslectermoriarty]

A tribute to one of the best fanfictions I have ever read:

Don’t worry, you don’t have to know West Wing to read it <3

I can’t wait for the last chapter!!!

Okay so we have

1. “Important press Conference coming up!”

2. “The enemy has invaded the territory - wait no, the marines are the good ones:)”

3. “Quality Time for the family ❤️”

4. Something official (I may have pasted a small extract of the first chapter in there as a filler *-*)

5. “Home Office on a new level, I guess…”

6. “It’s been quite a while and you’re still going strong - happy birthday to my wingman in the air and on the ground @chiefofstaff (thanks for still putting up with me)”

7. “Small Talk can be just as important as conference meetings”

8. “You leave the room for five minutes and your staff starts destroying state property (just kidding, I love them all)”

9. “The vacation where you meet the extended family”

I know that you wouldn’t see most of that irl, but it’s Pete and he’s Maverick, what can I do?

Here are part 2 and 3 ^^

[themissingmango]

’The hell kinda mission is this?

[oh-great-authoress]

Just to make it more Asian™, Yale is also a flight physician, or a flight surgeon.

Harvard was a fisheries and wildlife major, and he regularly takes part in the fishing days on the carrier.

i'd like to propose that Harvard and Yale weren't given those callsigns cause they went to the schools, its actually cause they're the biggest pair of himbos the navy has ever seen

[shadowsndaisies]

the athena-verse

so far, it's just a series of random ficlets and blurbs introducing the world and the top.

let's talk athena:

athena; the preamble - (6.24.24) athena at a glance, basically

hangman meets 'thena - (9.17.24) word is, there's a new pilot on board carrier air wing nine, and she flies for the VFA-14, the Tophatters.

top gun: maverick

the recall

the hard deck:

01: too observant to play dumb - (7.16.24) how the arrival at the hard deck went

02: slow ride - (7.16.24) a glimpse through jake's eyes

03: athena, meet rooster - (7.16.24) I think the title says it all

athena settles debts - (6.21.24) what if Mav’s daughter settled his tab that night in the hard deck

dogfighting 101 (and then some): "so, today we start with what you only think you know."

01: let's make it interesting: (08.29.24) harvard is a good friend (and petty on your behalf)

02: rock and roll: (08.30.24) It's been a long time since I rock and rolled, It's been a long time since I did the stroll, Ooh let me get it back, let me get it back, Let me get it back, baby, where I come from

03: clear mind, clear skies: (09.01.24) tempers are rising

04: 'nix is sick of this shit: (09.03.24) phoenix prides herself on knowing almost everything pertinent, it's the parts she doesn't know that leaves her on edge.

05: sugar and spice: (09.06.24) hangman leaves everyone hanging... right?

06: dead and buried: (09.08.24) if it wouldn't result in a court martial or a dishonorable discharge, you probably would punch that stupid mustache off his face.

canyon runs: take one

iceman's final flight - (7.1.24) ice's funeral, as you can imagine, is painful and heartwrenching

...

athena-verse taglist (currently open. last updated 9/17/24)

@omgbrianab @smoothdogsgirl @bazellawriz @sbrewer21 @inky-sun @djs8891 @rory-cakes @geeksareunique @je6291 @whoismurphyslaw @kee-0-kee @samanddeaninatrenchcoat @thespillingvoid @youdontknowe @burningcoffeecupp @mrsevans90

[mrsbradshaw-seresin01]

Bob: It's Christmas! Are you all in a Christmas mood?!

Phoenix: Merry crisis.

Rooster: *singing* Jingle bells, jingle bells, single all the way.

Hangman: *pointing at Halo* Hoe *pointing at Payback* hoe *pointing at Harvard* hoe.

Bob: *groans* Guys, please

[24hrfrog]

FINALLY!!! my piece for the TG zine!! So cutesiessss @topgunzine follow the acc for updates on leftover sales!!

[tomcat-tapes]

Daggers pt 2

Yale- Yarrowstream

Harvard- Heronberry

Fritz- Ferretrunner

Sarah- Streamwish

Mary (Mrs Metcalf)- Myrtleshade

Hondo- Hollowstep

Alright alright alright

Imma have to repost the last bit of the 86 boys but here we are

Yale and Harvard are twins, and Yale is studying as a medicine cat under Charlie, Warlock is a proud dad of his two smart boys.

Fritz is none other than Stinger’s energetic only child.

Hondo and Merlin are cousins, Hondo is Bob’s dad

Sarah is Ice and Carole’s half sibling on their mom’s side, debating on having her be with Slider

Once Viper knows Mav is alright and settling down does he finally have a family of his own with Mary, they have two kits together

Warriors AU 86 flyboys cat design headcanons that I will draw at some point.

Viper- Snakestar

Jester- deputy, Heatherfur

Charlie- Medcat, Woodheart

Maverick- Falconflight

Goose- Gooseleap

Iceman- Icepelt

Slider- Duckglide

Hollywood- Hollyblaze

Wolfman- Wolfstrike

Part 1

Slider and Goose are Littermates,

Viper is also littermates with Duke.

Jester is Wolfman’s father

Charlie and Hollywood are also littermates.

[aleksanderthemesschild]

Dont question anything, just choose.

[redfurrycat]

🎇🎁Festive Top Gun Event🎁🎇

Good morning Aviators!

Letting the Top Gun fandom know I'm planning to launch an event. Details are few, but you can be sure we no longer possess the - Hum. 👀

Details really are few at the moment, because I want to have the logistics of it all set for y'all. But starting the promotion as of today. 🤗 I won't lie...it is primarily to kick my ass into finishing up the details. 🦭

Two Events: Secret Santa || Week Event.

Ships: Icemav & Hangster || Rarepairs [Yuuuup]

Fanworks : Art & Fic

Theme? Pointing at my darlin'. She's got all the answers. 🤗

Sufficiently teased are you? Make sure to subscribe to @tg2024exchange for further details. Tumblr should be reused for the event to be. ❤️

Take care everyone, see you soon. 😘

Your friendly 🐈 compacflt. (Technically....🤭)

[Huge thanks already for Alex and the FGCC's helpful help. 🥹]