Top Gun: Maverick (Riot edition)

1. "I've been called back to Top Gun"

«I'm home!" Y/N opens the door and steps inside before placing her shopping bags on the kitchen counter. "How did your date go?" Just as she puts the milk into the fridge her friend and roommate Jules come down the stairs. "It was absolutely awful, first of all he only talked about himself for the entire time, and second of all he didn't even bring his card so I had to pay for him as well" Jules sits down on one of the kitchen chairs, and starts eating the grapes from the bowl on the table.

"But it doesn't matter, there's a bunch of dudes to pick from, how was work?" Y/N stops unpacking and sits down on the chair besides Jules "Work was.. eh.. okay, but I really miss flying. I'm made to be the person flying the jet, not the one controlling everything from the ground" Jules just looks at her and shrug, "If you miss flying why didn't you say yes to that pilot job you were offered last week" Y/N left her seat and got back to unpacking . "You know that. I don't wanna work with my dad, I haven't seen him in so long, and he wasn't even there for me when I needed him the most" Thinking and talking about her dad made her upset, and she really wanted to hate him, but she just couldn't. "Oh Y/N give him a change. I know he failed you, but you want this job. You're one of the best pilots this country has ever seen, you even hold the record of most enemy airplanes shoot down by one pilot in the last 60 years. Go down, take the job, and show your father what he missed" Y/N slams the cupboard shut before walking out of the kitchen and upstairs. Jules run after her, but stops at the bottom of the stairs just as Y/N turns around and look down on her "I am not going to take that job, and that is final, and it would be really nice if you could support my decision for once" Jules tries to answer her but she just slams the door to her bedroom shut, before going to bed.

Y/N graduated from Top Gun at the the top of her class two years ago. Someone even claims she is one of the best flyers the school has every produced, but she disagrees. The teachers always compared her to her father, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, and most of them thought that she had potential to become better than him. And so she did, out of spite. When Pete was a student at Top Gun he lost his best friend, Goose, in an accident, and from that day on he devoted his life to make it up to Gooses son, Rooster. That's why she hated him, because he devoted his life and all his love to Rooster and not her. He missed her graduation because he went to see Roosters first mission instead. But no matter what he did, Rooster didn't forgive him, and that brought her some satisfaction. At least she wasn't the only one craving validation and love from someone who couldn't care less.

When she woke up the next day, her mood was a lot better, and after a quick breakfast consisting of last nights uneaten dinner, she was out of the door and on her way to work. The way to work was long, and the traffic is horrid, allowing her to zone out and enter her own world. Just as she pulled into the driveway of her workplace her phone called, and when she picked it up to answer someone knocked on her window. "Hey! Y/N what are you doing here? I haven't seen you since school". Y/N's mind got distracted from the phone call, and when she turned her head around, she stared right into the eyes of Phoenix.

Y/N and Phoenix went to Top Gun at the same time, although Phoenix was in the class above her. Phoenix was once her best friend, or second best but that doesn't matter, but after graduation she went to Mexico on a mission, and they fell out of touch.

"Phoenix, oh my god, yeah it's been a while, I've missed you" when she looked at Phoenix she noticed that she was just as beautiful as last time they saw each other. "What are you doing here anyway? I heard you were going to work down at the Mach 10 project?" "Yeah, I said no to the job, to many problems hahah. I work here now, as a flight technician" Phoenix looks at her with a strange look in her eyes "Flight technician? You got to be kidding with me? Y/N? A flight technician? Girl you were raised to fly, no BORN to fly. What are you doing on the ground?" Y/N shrugs and she has to look straight forward in order to hide how she really feels. "It's not permanent. Just needed a job for a short while, and the salary is great. And what are you doing here anyway? I thought you were in Mexico" Phoenixs looks at her with an expression that radiates not confusion and disbelief. "You haven't heard? Top Gun is calling back a bunch of top graduates for a mission? I thought you were going as well?" The silence is sickening, and Y/N doesn't know wether to laugh or cry. "Oh, don't worry, maybe I wasn't the pilot they needed for the mission. I'm sorry I have got to go to work, but please say hello to the others form me" she hurries into the building before Phone has the time to say anything, and as the door closes behind her she wipes a single tear from her chin

Nobody talks to her before her lunch break, and she likes it that way. Some of her colleagues also went to Top Gun, but none of them graduated, and beside that they have nothing in common. During lunch she usually sits by Gladys, and she's just as old as she sounds. Gladys is the cleaning lady of her section, and she likes to talk about her three sons who moved out over twenty years ago. But Y/N doesn't mind, it's nice to hear how it must be to have a loving, and a living parent. Her mother died when she was 15, and she's been on her own ever since. The court said that she was in the custody of Pete, but he was never home so she's just stayed at her mothers house, and got a job at a nearby grocery store. Gladys would usually ask about her family, so she would just make things up, so far she had a made up dad, a not made up but living mom, and a made up brother. What Y/N don't know is that Gladys knows that she's faking it, but she just plays along, cause she doesn't want to hurt her feelings. Just as Gladys was about to tell about her oldest son's first day at his new teaching position their boss, Andrew, comes up to their table.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but can I just talk to you for a second Y/N? At my office?" Gladys looks at her with a worried face, and Y/N looks back with a face that is equally confused. "Yeah sure, is something wrong" "No no, if anything it's quite the opposite" she packs up her prepackaged lunch, and takes her backpack with her towards his office.

The office is far away from the cafeteria, and the walk there is long, and awkward. He tries to make small talk, by asking about her latest tasks, but she's way to nervous to give normal and complete answers. When they enter his office, she realizes that it's huge, and surprisingly messy compared to his personality. He sits down behind one of the biggest desks she has ever seen, and she settles down at the chair above him, trying not to stare at the picture on his desk depicting him shirtless playing golf. "You seem a little worried, but as I said there's no need to. I got a call just now from Top Gun, and they said that they have been trying to call you all morning" That's when she starts putting two and two together, and she remembers the phone call from earlier. "Oh yeah, I'm sorry. I noticed my phone ringing but I was busy so I just put it on do not disturb" he looks at her, and smiles. "Why didn't you tell me that you are a Top Gun graduate? If you had told me then I could have offered you a pilot position, but that doesn't matter right now, you are not going to stay here for long anyway" just as the words leave his lips, her heart sinks. Is she really getting fired during her second week, just because she forgot to pick up the phone? "I'm so sorry, it won't happen again, but I beg you please don't fire me, I need this job" "what do you mean? Fire you? No no no" he laughs before he finishes his sentence "you have been called back to Top Gun to participate in a top secret mission, that don't even I know of" Y/N look at him in disbelief, and for the second time today she doesn't know wether to cry or laugh so she ends up doing neither.

When she returns to the Cafeteria, Gladys is still waiting for her, at their usual table. "So, what happened darling? Good news?" Y/N just stood there for a moment before answering "I have been called back to Top Gun" Gladys jumps up so fast that Y/N is afraid she will fall and break her back, and in the next second Gladys is hugging her. "You have? That's amazing. You were always to good for this place anyway, Oh I'm going to miss you so so so much" Y/N hugs her back, and for a split second it feels like her mother is still there. On her way to her office she can't help but whisper to herself "I'm going back to Top Gun"