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A Meeting by Wendell Berry

In a dream I meet

my dead friend. He has,

I know, gone long and far,

and yet he is the same

for the dead are changeless.

They grow no older.

It is I who have changed,

grown strange to what I was.

Yet I, the changed one,

ask: 'How you been?'

He grins and looks at me.

'I been eating peaches

off some mighty fine trees.'

maverick knows his pilots miss him because of the little things they share. the texts he gets and the pictures. always at random, sporadic and unprompted.

things like —

fanboy telling him they nailed a test run for a new mission because of the way mav taught them to fly.

you two would’ve done that all on your own. proud of you.

phoenix telling him she’s up for promotion and hoping he can make it to the ceremony since it’s his fault she’s gotten even better in the air.

you were always going to soar, phoenix. i’ll be there.

coyote telling him, not for the first time, how grateful he is that maverick knows the importance of getting everyone home alive.

nothing wrong with a little hope, right?

just. small things that make mav’s chest ache every time with something proud and fond and soft because he may not be flying for the navy anymore, but these kids are absolutely making sure he still feels like he is.

At sixteen he used to tell wild stories about the scar on his cheek. Wild adventures he lived with wild people during a summer camp he was never part of it. But it was a good story and girls and boys spent hours listening him talk.

At twenty seven, fresh out of Annapolis the story got wilder and bigger than life. This time it was about a crush, a dogfight and saving his teammates before ejecting and marring his face forever for them. Seresin always laughed in the louder way possibile when he heard the story and always alway bought a shot to Machado because and even this night it got more adventurous Bradshaw! What's next?

At thirty eight, in the backyard of his dads' home and with every single person important in his life, new and old family, Rooster tells all another story. It's Fanboy who asks because he's curious as a fox and he needs to know the truth, so how did it Rooster got the scar on his cheek Mav?

It was actually a very funny story, wasn't it Slider? Ice asks, half laughing and half trying to stay serious. So funny, adds Mav, that Admiral Kerner lost his babysitting privileges for three whole months!

I had to do a PowerPoint to let him be back in the house it's Rooster's answer and I still have it around somewhere Baby Goose, I was so touched.

You cried like a five years old Kerner, stop bullshitting everybody! screams Hollywood from the other side of the garden. He did and, anyway, we left that two alone for a day, Ice was picking me up at the airport and when we got back that evening Baby Goose had this enormous bandage covering half of his face, there was blood everywhere in the bathroom and Ron's shirt was as bloody as his hands. This idiots tried to save a kitten but forgot none of them actually knew how to go up or down on a tree and the poor beast was probably scared out of his mind and attacked Bradley who lost his balance and fall out of the three with Ron following him and it y'know the blood wasn't even their but of a poor bird the cat left on the base of the tree.

Everybody is laughing and honestly this version of the story? Way better than anything Rooster could have every come out with.

Top Gun: Maverick Ending (Real)

Maverick is in his hangar fixing his plane with Rooster, when Rooster taps him on the shoulder and points in the direction of the open hangar door…where Iceman is standing (because he was out of state getting one last check-up from a specialist, who told him he is cancer-free).

Maverick smiles when he sees him, walks over to him, gives him a kiss, and a hug. Then Maverick takes them flying in his plane.

give yourself the gift of reading your own fic. it was literally written just for you.

(Phoenix, as Hangman and Rooster's surrogate, has just given birth)

Rooster(holding their newborn): Oh my God, he's beautiful. Thank you so much.

Phoenix: I'm really happy for you guys.

Hangman: How do you feel?

Poenix: I'm tired.

Doctor: Well, you don't have that much time to relax. The other one will be along in a minute.

(all three at them freeze and stare at the doctor in shock)

Hangman: I...I'm sorry, WHO should be along in a WHAT NOW?!

Doctor: The next baby should be along in a minute.

Rooster: We only ordered one!

Doctor: You know it's twins, right?

Hangman: Oh, yeah! These are the faces of two people in the know!

Everyone talks about Maverick and Iceman unofficially adopting the Dagger Squad, but can we take a second to consider: Cool Gay Uncle™ Slider? I mean, obviously Slider and Ice were super close (I just watched Top Gun again, and Slider seems like the protective older brother), so when Ice (or Mav) mentions adopting the Dagger Squad, Slider is just like ‘hell yeah’ and becomes the Cool Gay Uncle™

they lost focus and had a consensual workplace relationship

They’re both #1