They Call Me the Coroner | Top Gun: Maverick

Jasper

"There are no rules."

I scoff. "Wait. None? As in anything goes?"

"Yeah. Offence and defence at the same time. Phoenix, Bob, Payback, Hangman, and I will be on one team. The rest of you are on the other."

"Ready to get beat by a woman, Hangman?" Phoenix eyes him with a smirk. "Cause my money's on Coroner."

"Oh no, you're going down." Jake nudges me with a sly smile and winks. "But don't worry, I'll be a gentleman."

Rooster glares. His muscled arms fold across his bare chest. I draw my lips in a line and glance at the ground so not to stare. I don't remember him looking that...good.

"Let's do this if we're gonna. I've got places to be, things to do!" Coyote claps his hands and crouches in the sand. The water lapping at his toes.

"Oh, wait! One sec." Bob runs off and pokes at a boom box I brought.

"I Ain't Worried" by OneRepublic starts jamming when he comes back. I smile at him as we all take our places. Hondo shoves his whistle in his mouth.

Jake crouches across from me. He smiles, pointing. Then he proceeds to make the movement of a person walking then falling with his two fingers. I roll my eyes with a smile.

"Let's do this, Tesh." Rooster lands a hand on my shoulder. His eyes are all for Hangman. If he could kill him...he probably would.

I put out his and Jake's outburst from yesterday and smile wider than I ever have at him. I shove my problems and worries out of the way. It's a day to reject the anger driven words and actions. Today is a good day. Today, I'm playing a game on the beach with my old friends. He hesitates, but smiles back awkwardly.

When Hondo blows his whistle, my first instinct is to slam into Hangman with my shoulder before Rooster has the chance take him out. He catches me and we both go down with a giant thud in the wet sand.

"You're faster and stronger than you look, babe!" He gasps at the air knocked out of him. His hands are on my waist.

I wriggle out of his grasp after giving him a good pinch on his side with a laugh. "I told you not to call me babe."

Phoenix cackles, catching the ball. I dash, making headway into her line of sight. She dodges me, but not before I can get a foot to catch her ankle. She drops and I rip the ball out of her hands.

"Sorry!" I thrash my feet in the sand away from her.

Before I know it, I'm grabbed by the arms and tugged away from the hands grabbing for the ball. Rooster gets between me and the crowd and takes the ball after a quick peck on my cheek as a thank you, tossing it to Fanboy.

"I had it!" I lightly punch his...very nice arm.

He takes off his sunglasses and rests them on my face with a grin. His fingers brushing my hair back when he puts them on. My cheeks warm. It's probably just the sun.

"You still got it."

"What are you talking about?" I laugh.

"Rooster!"

And we're back in the game again. I dash to keep the ball from the other team so we can score.

Mav and Rooster hit each other and Mav goes down hard. Rooster lifts him up with a pat on his back and heads off to play some more. I smirk at the old man making his way back to his chair to take a breather.

"Coroner! Heads up!" Coyote tosses the ball my way and I jump to grab it. After I make a score, Coyote and Rooster chest bump.

When Rooster lands back on his feet he does a little two second happy jig. Gosh...he looks really good.