Head in the Clouds

Last Day

Wren woke up to the sound of her alarm going off. She groaned and shuffled her hand over the top of her bedside table trying to find the clock to shut it off without opening her eyes. Next to her she felt a shift in the bed. Looking over her shoulder she saw Rooster grab her pillow and covered his head.

"Loud," he grumbled. "Too loud. Tryna sleep." 

His voice was gravelly with sleep and Wren debated leaving her alarm going to see if he would keep talking but the chirping was starting to get on her nerves as well. She finally found the switch to turn the alarm off and laid back down. She regretted drinking so much the night before. A warm arm snaked around her waist holding her tightly. From his even, heavy breaths Wren could tell that Rooster was close to falling back asleep. While she could think of nothing better than laying in bed with Rooster all day, they were due to be on base in not too long. Wren flipped so she was facing Rooster instead and took a moment to look at him resting. 

Her hand ghosted up his torso and onto his face. She ran her fingers across his jaw, then to his lips. His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to keep his eye closed even as Wren tried to wake him up. Eventually he seemed to have enough and flipped over so his back was facing Wren. She took the opportunity place kisses along the back of his shoulders, hearing him moan in approval. 

"I could get used to this," Rooster said.

"Don't get too comfy, we've got to get up." Rooster sighed. Wren propped herself up on her elbow looking down at Rooster who was laying on his back.

"Don't remind me. They're picking teams today aren't they."

"Yeah they are but hey you've got a great shot at being picked."

"One bonus of Maverick getting the axe I guess." Wren wasn't sure what to say. Clearly Rooster was conflicted about Maverick leaving. She decided to try and distract him instead.

"Come on, get up. I've got to shower." Rooster raised an eyebrow smirking. Wren got up grabbing her towel from the back of her chair, moving towards her door. She flipped her hair over her shoulder looking at Rooster who had covered his eyes with his arm attempting to go back to sleep for a few minutes. "Care to join?" 

That sure got him up quickly. They snuck across the hall to one of the bathrooms that Wren shared with Hangman, Phoenix, and Bob.

"You couldn't have done this in your room?" Phoenix yelled. She had let herself into the bathroom to get ready for the day and got an early morning surprise when she realized that Rooster had joined Wren in the shower.

"Not my fault you walked in like you own the place. Learn to knock," Wren yelled back poking her head out from the shower curtain to see a scandalized looking Phoenix. Bob's head appeared in the door, toothbrush in his mouth.

"What's going on?" he asked trying to speak properly despite his mouth being full of toothpaste.

"Jesus christ, why not invite the whole team over at this point," Wren said. 

"Don't worry they're getting live text updates," Hangman's voice called from the hallway.

Rooster stuck his head out of the other side of the shower curtain now. 

"Can't a guy shower in peace? I've got a big day ahead of me. I'm about to be appointed team lead."

Phoenix raised an eyebrow, making eye contact with Bob, before reaching over to flush the toilet causing the water in the shower to run cold. Rooster and Wren yelped and grabbed their towels, exiting the shower and cursing out their friends.

The team had settled into the classroom, watching on the screen as Cyclone ran them through the parameters of the mission on final time.

"Today's the day. By the end of the day we will have chosen our team for this mission."

Everyone started chattering excitedly, hoping they would be picked. Before Cyclone could continue an image of a plane appeared on the screen with Maverick's call sign appearing beside it. His voice came over the radio.

"Maverick to range control, confirm green range."

"Green range is confirmed, but I don't see an event scheduled for you sir," a confused voice responded.

"Well I'm going anyways. Set the time to 2 minutes, 15 seconds." 

Wren looked over at Phoenix, surprised to see Maverick back and in the air. Not only that but he was cutting back on even the original time to target. Cyclone looked furious at the front of the room, clearly unhappy he was being shown up in his own class. The room was silent as they watched the virtual image of Maverick race along the mission route. Wren sucked in her breath as Maverick made the climb and inverted dive needed to make the shot on the target.

Beside her Hangman was whispering under his breath. "Come on, come on, come on."

"That's a hit," Maverick's voice came over the comms. The team burst out into cheers. A few of them stood up clapping and high-fiving each other. Cyclone whipped around to glare and everyone settled down quickly. 

"Stay here," he said storming out of the room. As he door swung shut behind him, chatter bubbled up across the room. 

"Holy shit, what do you think this means?" Wren asked Hangman beside her. 

"Hopefully that we're back to the original parameters. Maverick just proved it could be done. It also means that our chances of being team lead just jumped up again. We're the fastest ones here."

"We've never successfully run the course Hangman. You've either crashed us or I've missed the target."

"Don't worry about it, we're the clear front runners."

"You're unwavering confidence is something to be commended, honestly."