Salvatore [Top Gun: Maverick]

3

It must've been a sick joke seeing the piano man sitting at one of the desks. Honestly she should've expected it from his massive ego that he would be a part of the prestigious one percent. But if she had known they would've been stuck in the same class for the next few weeks she would've been a bit nicer with her comebacks. Not that she regretted any of them.

  Arranged in rows like they were back in high school, he was seated at the second. Sure enough the other desks were occupied by the group she had seen from the bar. Without his sunglasses Stella got a good look at his face. His gaze of calculating and focus with a mustache decorating his upper lip making him more attractive than most people she had come across.

He hadn't noticed her. Yet.

Stella quietly took one of the desks in the back row, hoping to go unseen by the rest of her peers until a familiar face stood over her.

"Well if it isn't Miss Jigsaw herself," Payback grinned.

"Hello Payback," she laughed returning the smile with an embrace.

Payback should've been number 1 of their class but he settled happily for second place. A skilled pilot along with a decent sense of humor which was a rarity amongst the airmen. Stella enjoyed his company and was glad he got invited back. Though both of them seemed unsure to the reason why.

"How've you been?" she asked, crossing her arms protectively around her body.

"Pretty damn good," he laughed, "How's school?"

"Oh I graduated a year ago, I work for the air force up in San Francisco. Testing and building fight jets," she explained. Worked. Technically she was a student now doing who knows what.

"Holy shit, congrats!" he exclaimed, "You probably know all the secrets now."

"Thanks," she smiled with a shrug.

"You meet everyone yet?" Payback asked, gesturing to the front of the class where everyone was. She shook her head. But just as she guessed they were the same group from the bar.

"Hangman," he pointed to the blonde who gave her a cheeky grin.

"Phoenix," the only other woman in the room.

"Coyote and Fanboy," the pair waved.

"And Rooster," of course this was him.

The tall man held out a large hand to shake which Stella politely took though she didn't miss the subtle tint of red that grew in his cheeks. Both of them sizing up one another like they were two fighters entering a ring. She tried hard not to laugh as Payback raised an eyebrow between the twos interaction.

"So," Hangman began.

"So?" Stella questioned.

"You're the infamous Jigsaw."

"What makes me so well known?" she asked curiously.

  She recognized most of the others' names in the group, just from stories weaving through the air force pipeline. Hangman was known for having a kill though most pilots disregarded it due to the decade the unlucky jet had been made in.

  Though Payback was the only one she had actually met before. If the stories were true, all of them were by far the best of the best.

"You're pilot who's afraid of flying," Hangman chuckled.

Stella whacked Payback in the chest. Hard. Causing him to double over.

"What was that for?" he wheezed.