Fight or Flight [Rooster x OC]

Chapter 4

"Why didn't you tell me he was going to be here?" Rooster crossed his arms over his chest, feeling like he was going to explode. He was aching from all those push-ups and flight training and being flat out furious for a good part of the day. Every part of him seemed to hurt. But he was also now feeling anxious on top of all of that because Iceman looked...rough.

Kate had told him through text when she got to Miramar that her dad didn't look great, but Rooster didn't like how he looked at all. It reminded him too much of when Mr. Tom had been sick a few years ago. The instant his mind touched that idea, that memory, he pushed it away.

The admiral pointed at the chair beside the desk and raised his eyebrows at Bradley. Yeah, okay...fine. He dropped into the chair and uncrossed his arms because he didn't want to look like a petulant child. He was in his thirties, he was an excellent fighter pilot and a lieutenant in the Navy. But.

He was mad.

"He didn't seem too surprised to see me there," Rooster said, leaning back in his chair. "How come he got to know and I didn't?"

Iceman's eyebrows came together in a half-amused, half-exasperated expression. He typed into his phone for a while and hit a button. The same robot-ish voice spoke for him. "He didn't know until he was briefed by Cyclone and Warlock. Do you think you deserved to be at that meeting?"

Rooster didn't back down. "Still. He knew before me. And you knew."

Iceman just nodded.

Rooster frowned. "Okay, so why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm the Commander." He smiled and typed again. "I don't have to tell you jack shit."

"Right. But I've known you for my whole life, and you know why I can't be around Maverick." He grumbled. "This is just like that one Christmas..."

"Maverick tried. You didn't."

Bradley let out an aggravated huff. Of course Iceman was going to take Maverick's side, he always did. When Maverick had pulled his papers, Bradley had immediately gone to Tom and asked him to go over Maverick's head so he could go to the Academy. But Ice had said there was nothing he could do. Bradley hadn't talked to him for a year because of it, but he couldn't stop being friends with the Kazansky kids so eventually he had to reconcile.

Bradley scowled. "Why can't Warlock teach us?" Why can't you.

"Maverick is the teacher you need."

"No offense to you, sir, but he's awful at teaching," Rooster countered, "He didn't even last two months when he tried being an instructor last time. And all he did today was mess with us."

Honestly, Maverick wasn't a good teacher in general. When he had tried to teach Rooster to ride a bike, he had been all, 'Just balance. Go with it. Don't lean too much.' No real pointers, and he had definitely let go of the seat too early multiple times. Rooster still had scars from that afternoon.

Ice laughed but it turned into a cough. He covered his mouth and then went back to typing. "Taught you there's more to learn."

Rooster rolled his eyes. "Being crazy when you fly isn't exactly a lesson the Navy wants us to learn."

"I want you to learn to something."

"But you're going to be vague about it?" Rooster didn't want to fight with Iceman, but geez...this wasn't going how he had envisioned it. "What exactly am I supposed to be learning?"

Mr. Tom shook his head. Reaching out, he patted Rooster on the arm before typing again. "Look forward, kid. Not behind. Quit waiting."

Rooster sighed. Yeah, that was still super cryptic. He made a frustrated noise and roughly rubbed the back of his neck. "So. Maverick's staying."

Ice nodded.

"And I can't leave."

"Do you really want to?"

"No, I'm going on this mission," Rooster said, remembering what Phoenix had said back on the tarmac. He couldn't leave the team, whoever was going to be on it, with Hangman. Especially if his friends were chosen. "I'm not letting Maverick chase me off."

"Then shape up," Ice said through the phone. "Learn."

"I'll get there without his help," Rooster said firmly. "Like how I got to be where I am now despite him." Mr. Tom shook his head and then sighed, the noise crackling in his throat. Rooster's eyebrows came together and he shifted uncomfortably. "Hey...are you okay? What's with the phone?"

Mr. Tom frowned. "Don't worry. Do me a favor."

"What kind of favor?"

"Two favors. Don't give Maverick a hard time. And stay for dinner."

"I already have to stay for dinner." He wasn't going to address the thing with Maverick. "If I try to leave, your wife might skin me alive."

A smile spread out over Iceman's face, and he nodded, admitting that was true.

Bradley leaned forward, elbows on his knees, earnest. He had to ask. He wanted to know. "Is the cancer back again? You should at least tell Kate, she knows something's up..."

Iceman made a face, but before he could say anything, there was a knock on the door. It opened a second later, and Kate herself stepped halfway in. She gave them both a curious look and then gestured behind her. "Mom said to come to eat before we all go gray-headed waiting for you two."

"She totally didn't say that," Bradley said, standing up. He looked at Iceman out of habit, looking to be dismissed, and the Admiral nodded.

"You don't know that," Kate said, leaning against the door frame. "My mom is a savage now that she has grandkids. Super tough, never nice."

"I'm telling her you said that," Bradley said, his mood lifting like it often did around Kate.

"Don't you dare."

"Oh, now it's definitely happening." He looked back at Iceman, and Kate zeroed in on her father as well.

"I'm coming, don't wait for me," the voice from the phone said as the admiral got to his feet. "Brats."

"I think your app is really getting a mind of its own, Dad, I'm an angel," Kate said as Rooster reached her.

"I'm definitely not an angel," he said with a smirk, putting a hand on the door frame above her head. She looked up at him, eyes questioning, and he shook his head and shrugged, leaning back. The conversation hadn't gone the way he really wanted, but honestly, he really knew he was coming here to vent. But after seeing Mr. Tom...he shook his head.

"Go on," the phone voice commanded. "That's an order."

"Sir, yes, sir, Admiral Frozen, sir." She laughed and looped her arm through Bradley's to pull him through the door. The worry that was on her face as she glanced back at her dad didn't escape Rooster, but she still smiled. As they stepped out into the hall, she squeezed him a little closer. "You're going to have to tell me everything later, you know that, right?"

He squeezed back. "Right."