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mysterious-adventurer · 1 day ago

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Tequila (Baby I Still See Ya) - Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw

A/N: I actually wrote this piece a few years ago, right around the height of Top Gun Summer. So, you might notice it's a little bit different than my other writing. At the time, I wrote it just for me and I never though I'd actually publish it, but here we are (if you like this you have @ij-brian-quinn-enthusiast to thank for convincing me to publish it). That being said, even after edits it's not the most inclusive piece in the world, and for that I apologize. Other writing posted on my blog in the future will be much more inclusive. This piece was actually loosely inspired by @sunlightmurdock's oneshot For Old Times' Sake so make sure to check that out!

Summary: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x Female Mitchell! Reader. Bradley and Y/N Mitchell share a romantic moment over a bottle of tequila at her mom's wedding but lose touch after Maverick pulls Bradley's application to the naval academy. Years later, after a chance encounter Rooster tells Phoenix all about it. Loosely based on the song Tequila by Dan + Shay.

Word Count: 4.5K

Trigger Warnings: Alcohol is a central theme in this piece and will be mentioned throughout, including an underage drinking scene. Lots of teenage awkwardness. Bare minimum use of y/n.

'Clack!' The sound of pool balls colliding resonated throughout The Hard Deck as Rooster watched Phoenix take a shot in a game against Hangman. It was a quiet evening, the bar was almost empty, but then again it was only six o'clock. Maybe it was the heat, or the persistent blowing of the Santa Ana Winds, but something seemed to make the quiet evening stretch on and on with no ending in sight. The group of aviators had finally resorted to heading to the bar much earlier than usual just to try and kill the time. Much to their disappointment, other than the regular old timers who liked to sit around telling stories about Vietnam or Korea or, they were the only ones there. They had claimed a pool table in the corner and Hangman had wasted no time challenging Phoenix to game with fifty dollars on the line.

Phoenix smiled triumphantly as she lined up her next shot and on the other side of the table Hangman was frowning. His brows furrowed in concentration, silently begging for Phoenix to miss. 'Clack!' The sound reverberates through the bar again, louder this time, followed by the 'thump' as the 8-ball sinks into its pocket.

"Damn it!" Hangman reaches to retrieve his wallet from his back pocket

"That's right Bagman, fork it over" Phoenix howls, drinking in her victory.

"Rooster" Penny puts a hand on his shoulder, her sudden presence causing both him and Bob to nearly jump out of their skin. She has a mischievous smile on her face and a shot of something golden in her hand. "The lady sends her regards-" Penny nods across the bar "and tequila." She presses the shot into Rooster's hand before returning to her post behind the bar. The entire group pauses to look over at the bar where she is sitting at the counter, her (y/h/l) hair falling in messy waves around her face as she shoots a brilliant smile at Rooster. He's still processing her presence when she raises her own shot of tequila in a silent toast, knocking it back and shooting him a wink. Just as he's about to return the gesture, a tall curly haired blonde, in a white t-shirt and leather jacket, saunters up to the bar and puts his arm around her. Then just as suddenly as she seemed to appear, she's leaving with the other guy. The aviators stare across the room quizzically for a few moments before their attention seems to wane.

"Alright Trace, double or nothing?" Hangman proposes.

"At least try to hang onto your cash Seresin, find someone a little more on your skill level."

Phoenix abandons her pool cue at the table and saunters over to trade spots with Bob, as he claims her abandoned cue and she takes his seat beside Rooster. He looks pale, like he's seen a ghost, and he's still gripping the slowly warming shot of tequila in his hand.

"You going to drink that, or am I?"

Rooster brings the shot to his lips, throws his head back, and then slams the empty glass down on the table.

"All right then." Phoenix notes how quiet he's being, knowing he'd normally have a smart ass remark for her. "So, who was that? And don't just say someone that you used to know, I need details."

"Maverick's daughter."

"I didn't know Mav had a kid."

"Yeah, (y/n) Blackwell, her mom was a civilian Top Gun instructor, when my dad and Maverick were students, they started seeing each other then, but things didn't last very long between them after he graduated"

"You'd think he'd mention her every once in a while."

"He used to not shut up about her, she would come out and stay with him over the summers, but it felt like she was there all the time the way he talked about her."

"Ahhh, so there it is" Phoenix nudged him in the ribs "you two grew up together...and I'm guessing there's some history there."

"No, not really," Rooster shrugs.

"First of all, you are a terrible liar Bradshaw" Phoenix gives him a pointed glare "second of all I need details, because that girl has you looking like you've been hit by a Mack Truck and I have never seen any other girl so much as phase you. So, what happened?"

"There's really not that much to tell. When we were kids, she was like an annoying little sister who was always kind of in the way and getting into trouble. And it wasn't just like we only had to deal with each other during the summer either, my mom was friends with hers and so we saw each other all the time, basically any time school was out. We drove each other crazy; we could hardly stand to be in the same room together for ten minutes." A small smile crosses his face as Rooster shakes his head "Mom always used to say that as much as we fought it was basically guaranteed we'd end up married."

"I bet that drove you insane," Phoenix smiles

"I'd get so mad at her; I think now she just did it because she thought it was funny"

"Ohhhh, she definitely did" Phoenix takes a swig of her beer "anyway, continue."

"Eventually, I kind of outgrew the childish bickering and basically just started ignoring her to hang out with the adults, and I guess that's around the same time that she developed a massive crush on me. Everyone could tell and I was mortified by it"

"Let me guess, you were awful and just continued to completely ignore her."

"Yeah, pretty much."

"You can be such an ass sometimes."

"I was a kid!"

"Doesn't matter, it's still a dick move."

"Do you want me to finish this story, or do you want to spend the rest of the night playing pool with Bagman over there?" Rooster gestures back over to the pool table, where Hangman and Bob are still playing. With Bob unfortunately losing.

"Fine, fine. I'll shut up, please continue"

"All right, where was I, right she had a massive crush on me, and I was ignoring her like my life depended on it. Things stayed pretty much the same, until one summer she came out to California, I guess she was around sixteen and I was around seventeen, and I was just expecting things to be the same as they had been every summer. She shows up and it was like she was a completely different person, she'd gotten taller, thinner, her clothes were different, she had a different boy calling her every night, and she couldn't be bothered to give the time of day"

"I'm assuming this is the part where you suddenly realized how gorgeous she was and fell head over heels in love with her or whatever?"

"Something like that I guess" he chuckles

"Works every time"

"What are you talking about?"

"You guys can be so oblivious." Rooster raises an eyebrow at Phoenix "If a girl chases a guy, most of the time she can do anything she wants, she can bring him the moon and he still won't be interested in her. But the second that she starts ignoring him and casually flaunting the fact that other guys are interested boom she's got him."

"So, you're saying that she did it on purpose"

"Yes, and that you totally deserved it" she takes another drink and bumps her knee against Rooster's. He looks down at the ground and chuckles.

"You're probably right"

"Probably?" Phoenix shoots him a glare "No, no, no, you and I have established this I am always right." A smug look settles on her face.

"Oh really," Rooster raises an eyebrow "what about the time you said you could outdrink Hangman? Because the way I remember it, you passed out and I had to drag your drunk ass home, while Seresin was still going strong." The smug look falls from Phoenix's face, and a scowl replaces it.

"Shut up and finish the rest of your stupid story"

"Well, I spent the rest of the summer kind of watching miserably as she went out with lord knows how many different guys. Mav didn't notice, he was too busy trying to figure out how to scare off all of her dates. I remember he called her mom, Charlie, freaking out over what exactly he was supposed to do."

"That's hilarious, what did she tell him?"

"Knowing Charlie, there's absolutely no telling what she said to him, but it must have been something along the lines of 'now you know how every man with a daughter in a 100-mile radius of you has felt'."

"Definitely how Penny's dad must have felt." The two laugh until they're both doubled over with tears in their eyes, just as they recover, Penny gives them a confused look, and they dissolve into another fit of laughter.

"Okay," Phoenix, wipes the tears from her eyes, still trying to catch her breath "I still really want to hear how this ends"

"Okay, okay, so my mom made fun of me that whole summer, she actually called me a lovesick puppy"

"I can see it"

Rooster shoots her a glare, before continuing " She and Charlie were pretty close friends. They met when Charlie and Mav were dating and stayed friends after they broke up. I actually remember mom giving Mav hell, when it happened. She told him that he'd just let the love of his life walk out the door. But, I mean, I guess it worked out for the best, at least for Charlie, because she ended up meeting Robert a couple of years later, and then they decided to get married, and Charlie invited mom and I to the wedding." Rooster pauses, staring out one of the bar windows overlooking the beach.

"Okay..." Phoenix says gently, noticing the dramatic shift in Rooster's mood "so what happened at the wedding?"

"It was in mid-April, and I was still waiting to get decision letters, back from the schools I had applied to, of course the only one I really cared about was the one from the Naval Academy, and I didn't want to go to the wedding. Mom made me, so we flew out to Colorado. Robert's family has a really nice mountain chalet out there, so that's where they decided to have the wedding"

"Were you nervous about going?" Phoenix interrupts. Rooster's eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"Why would I be nervous about going to a wedding in Colorado?"

"Because you were going to see her, and you'd spent the entire summer before pining over her?

"Oh, yeah" he chuckles "I think I was too busy worrying about acceptance letters to even think about it until we got there"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, but it definitely hit me when I saw her at the ceremony" he smiles "her mom had asked her to be her maid of honor, so she was right up front with the rest of the bridal party for the whole ceremony. She was wearing this pink dress, and her hair was up in some kind of complicated braid crown with flowers in it, and she looked absolutely gorgeous." Phoenix rolls her eyes and mimics gagging.

"You had it bad" she teases.

"You asked for details; I'm just giving you what you asked for."

"Fine, fine, so did you decide to make a move or what?"

"Something like that" Rooster's voice trails back

The Wedding Reception

"Y'know, the maid of honor shouldn't be sitting alone in a corner, while everyone else is up dancing" Bradley smiles as he sits down beside y/n.

"Yeah, well when there's a forty-year age difference between the maid of honor and the best man, it's more weird if she actually is up there dancing with everyone else"

"Well, what about if the maid of honor danced with the son of her dad's lifelong best friend instead"

"I guess that wouldn't be quite as weird," she cranes her neck looking around the room "if only I knew where he was." Bradley rolls his eyes, before standing and holding his hand out to her.

"You're funny Mitchell, real funny."

She shrugs as she as she takes his hand "I try."

Bradley leads her out onto the dance floor, guiding her hands around his neck, and then placing his own at her waist as they begin to sway to the music the band is playing.

"I'm surprised your mom didn't let you bring a date with you," he's trying to be subtle, to ask without asking if she' seeing anyone "or does she not like prom-date Josh?"

"You have no idea," she snorts. "Anyway, I could've brought anyone I wanted, there just wasn't anyone that seemed right to bring to my mom's wedding"

"Are you and Robert getting along any better now, or is it still weird?"

She pauses for a moment, the question catching her off guard. Then she smiles, a small chuckle passing her lips.

"What?" Bradley asks

"You asked me to dance, then not so subtly asked if I was single, to which I not so subtly told you I was, and now you're asking me about my stepdad?"

"Yeah, I guess I am" he grins sheepishly, realizing how silly it must seem.

"Well, it's not as bad as it was, but it's still a little weird, especially now that he's my stepdad" she glances over Bradley's shoulder to where her mother and stepfather are sitting at the head table, too busy talking to each other to notice her and Bradley together on the dance floor "I guess I just always picture Mom with someone a little more…fun."

"I didn't realize he was such a stick in the mud."

"Have you seen this party?" Y/n gestures to corner where the band sits. "They hired a string quartet to play the entire reception, you don't get much more boring than that."

"When you're right, you're right." A comfortable silence overtakes the couple, and for a few minutes they just sway to the music. A devilish grin crosses Bradley's face as he leads her in turn. "I bet that you and I could make this party a little more interesting."

"And, how exactly, do you propose we do that Bradshaw?"

He leans down whispering in her ear "You, Me, and a bottle of tequila, what do you say"

"I say, how in the world are we gonna do that?"

"Well, Robert paid for an open bar, didn't he?"

"Doesn't change the fact that we're both underage."

"That's true, but..." he trails off looking in the direction of the bartenders "I bet if the maid of honor made a scene, about something being wrong, that they would be distracted enough that they wouldn't notice me slipping off with a bottle."

She grins up at them, their height difference, becoming more apparent the closer they get.

"Aren't you a troublemaker, are they really going to put up with that at the Naval Academy?"

"Are you in or not Mitchell?"

She shoots him a wicked grin as she drops his hands, and saunters away, leaving him alone on the dance floor. He stares for a moment, his mouth falling open in shock as he watches her walk away. He regains his composure as soon as he realizes that she's headed straight for the bar. As she marches right up to the bar tender, he disappears to the edges of the room to work his way around the back of the bar, dodging slightly tipsy wedding guests and his mother. All the while silently praying that whatever distraction she comes up with will keep the bartender distracted long enough for him to slip in and out without being noticed.

"The groom specifically requested for there to be a bottle of blue absinthe set aside for him and the bride!" the expression on her face is somewhere between angry and distraught. If he didn't know better Bradley would believe every word coming out of her mouth.

"Blue absinthe?" The bartender is looking under the counter and across the room to where Charlie and Robert are sitting frantically "I haven't seen any, I would've had to have it special ordered, no one told me."

"No one told you?" She turns just slightly as if looking away in frustration "I swear those groom's men are useless" she turns to the side, placing her hand on the bar, and looking up to ceiling in thought. Suddenly she whirls back around. "Well, is there at least any regular absinthe behind the bar?"

"No, it's a pretty odd request, we usually don't stock it for weddings" the bartender looks down in defeat. That's when Bradley makes his move, slipping behind the counter and grabbing the full bottle of top shelf tequila he had noticed earlier and slipping back out, before the bartender even looks back up.

"You know what" she looks over her shoulder, a strand of hair floating out of her braid crown " I don't think it's going to be a problem; they're so caught up in each other that I don't think they'd notice if The Pope walked in"

"Are you sure?" the bartender still look on edge

"Positive, our little secret" she steps away from the bar, and glances around the room looking for Bradley. She walks a few steps in the direction Bradley went. Just as she starts to wonder if he took off to have the prize all to himself, she feels a hand on her wrist pulling her into a quiet, secluded hallway.

"I was beginning to think you'd taken off without me" she accuses. He dramatically places a hand on his chest feigning hurt.

"You really think I'd do that to you," he stumbles back a few steps "I’m wounded, really wounded"

"Stop being such a drama queen."

"Says the girl who thought I'd abandoned her, after I'd only been out of her sight for two minutes," he said, a mischievous twinkle filling his eyes. "Besides it's not like you and I could sit out in the middle of the party and drink this," he pauses before his tone changes "our mommies might see us." The two break into fits of laughter, clutching their sides. She slides down the wall to sit on the floor and Bradley follows, a fake plant obscuring them from view of the main ballroom. Bradley opens the bottle with a loud crack and takes a long drink before passing it to her.

"So um, from what you said earlier, I'm taking it things didn't exactly work out with prom date Josh?" Bradley asks as she takes a drink from the bottle.

"You have no idea," she snorts as she puts the bottle down on the floor between them, "he actually told me that we couldn't hang out after it ended, because he promised some other girl he'd be her date to somebody's after party."

"You're kidding" Bradley picks up the bottle again

"I wish I was."

"What an asshole" he passes her the bottle again and she notices a drop of liquor still lingering at the corner of his mouth.

"Sometimes I swear you're the only decent guy I know Bradley."

"Me?"

"Yeah. You're always trying to look out for me when I'm at Dad's, you invite me out to do things with your friends, you bust me out of the house when Dad and I get into arguments, and you've even rescued me from boredom at my Mom's wedding" she takes another drink out of the bottle "besides, you're just a really nice guy, always complimenting people, always keeping your promises, you try not to be late even though you're always at least a five minutes late to everything and-" suddenly she trails off. "I'm so sorry I'm just rambling like a lunatic"

"No, no" he reaches over and tucks a strand of hair that's fallen out of her braid behind her ear "I like it." She giggles a little bit, the alcohol already going to her head.

"I bet you do, considering I'm sitting here rambling on and on about how great of a guy you are"

"It wouldn't mean half as much coming from anyone other than you y/n" he whispers, realizing the alcohol is starting to affect him too as soon as the words leave his mouth.

"What?" she looks at him confused, setting the bottle down between them again.

"I said, it wouldn't mean half as much coming from anyone other than you" he repeats louder this time.

"What's that supposed to-" she's cut off as Bradley places a hand on her cheek and pulls her lips against his. The kiss is gentle, almost hesitant, and he pulls away just breaths later, trying to gauge her reaction. A few seconds pass in silence, and Bradley's head begins to clear, making him suddenly self-conscious.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have-" he starts

"Shut up and kiss me again" she cuts him off, pulling him towards her, his lips finding hers again.

They stay like that for what feels like hours, tangled up on the floor, kissing each other breathless. Only breaking apart to giggle drunkenly at each other and to pass the bottle of tequila between them. The wedding reception in the ballroom behind them long forgotten as they get lost in each other.

"Oh my god, there you are" another one of Charlie's bridesmaids barges into the hallway, causing the two to jump apart. She takes one look at them, noting the lip gloss smeared across Bradley's face and the bottle of tequila between them "you have got to be kidding me." She pinches the bridge of her nose, shaking her head slightly "If your mother ever finds out, that you were getting drunk and making out with some boy at her wedding she's going to kill both of us."

"Relax Jackie," she giggles, stumbling as Jackie helps her to her feet "it's not some boy, not like Josh, it's Bradley"

"Regardless of who he is, it's time for the big send off and you need to be there," Jackie says as she starts guiding her back towards the main ballroom "and try to act sober." Jackie is practically begging, but it's clear the Maid of Honor isn't paying any attention, as she drags her feet and looks over her shoulder, to where Bradley is now standing against the wall, lip gloss still smeared all over his face.

"Bye" she says waving back at him.

"Bye" he calls in response. The word doesn't hold any finality for either of them, in fact it holds the promise of something that is just beginning. Neither of them having the slightest idea that they won't see each other again for years.

Present Day

"You made-out with Maverick's daughter, at her mom's wedding?!" Phoenix exclaims looking at Rooster in shock.

"Yeah" his voice trails off hesitantly.

"So, what happened after that?" Phoenix's eyes are lit up, now even more invested in the story, than when Rooster started telling it.

"Nothing"

"Nothing? What do you mean nothing"

"I mean after that, Mav pulled my papers from the academy, so I stopped speaking to him, then my mom passed a few months later, and we didn't see each other again." Rooster tries to keep the tone of his voice even, but Phoenix can tell how difficult it is for him to talk about Maverick's betrayal and his mom's passing.

"You've got to be kidding me, you just stopped talking to her, because you were mad at her dad?"

"I mean, at first yeah. I was so mad at him, I couldn't even think about talking to her but then," he pauses taking a deep breath "after a while, I wanted to talk to her, I just didn't know how to explain why I had just dropped off the face of the Earth for months. What was I even supposed to say?"

"Uh, I don't know, how about 'hey I'm really sorry I was being a dick and stopped talking to you because I was mad at your dad, I hope you can forgive me'" Phoenix deadpans, giving Rooster a look that reveals just how stupid she thinks he is.

"Yeah, well I didn't have you back then to coach me through everything" he fiddles with the shot glass he still has clutched in his hand before setting it down on the table.

"Do you still have her number" Phoenix asks, grabbing his phone out of the chest pocket of his Hawaiian shirt, and scrolling through his contacts "of course you do, who am I kidding, your phone is like a time capsule of everyone you've ever known." She opens the contact she's been looking for and shoves the phone back into Rooster's hand, "You have to call her."

"She's with somebody else, or did you not see that blonde guy she left with" Rooster argues.

" It’s been literal years since she last saw you and she sent you a shot of tequila, which is a call back to what happened at the wedding, and winked at you, that doesn't exactly scream 'I'm in a happy committed relationship to me.'"

"Well, her number could've changed, what if I call and it's not her." He's trying to talk himself out of calling, but by the way he's staring at her number on his phone screen, that he wants to.

"Then you say, 'sorry wrong number' and forget it ever happened, no big deal" Phoenix shrugs.

"What if it is her" Rooster finally asks the questions that is really eating at him " what do I say?"

"Just that it was good to see her and that you'd love to catch up" Phoenix positions herself so that she's making direct eye contact with him "You're not proclaiming your undying love for her Romeo, you're just opening the door to catching up."

"Right, just casual" Rooster looks more nervous than Phoenix has ever seen him, shifting in his seat as he stares down at his phone.

"Exactly, just call her."

It's the final push that Rooster needs to hit dial. The phone rings once, twice, three times, Rooster looks over at Phoenix who's watching him intently, four times. Finally it turns over to voicemail.

"Hey, sorry I can't get to the phone, leave me a message."

Rooster's muscles visibly relax when he hears her voice on the other end of the line. The phone lets out a long beeping sound, signaling that it's recording.

"Uh, hey it's Bradley. It was really great seeing you this evening, I'm gonna be in town for a while and I'd love to catch up, um call me back when you get the chance." Rooster puts the phone down with a sigh, his heart still racing.

"Now what?" Phoenix asks.

"Now we wait, I guess." A moment of silence passes between the two friends as they both take in the events of the evening.

Their reverie is suddenly interrupted as cheering comes from the pool table where Fanboy is clapping Bob on the back and Hangman is scowling as he hands over his second fifty-dollar bill of the night.

"Hey Bagman! I thought I told you to play someone more your speed and hold onto your money" Phoenix calls as she stands and walks back over to the pool table, as Rooster stares at his phone, still lost in the memories of a Colorado wedding and the taste of tequila.

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A/N: I hope you liked it! I did actually write a sequel to this piece and I'm planning to post in about a month or so. But, if this post reaches 10 reblogs or someone guesses what song I used to write the sequel (Hint: it's a Taylor Swift Song) I'll go ahead and post it early.

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