It's Top Gun, nobody handles a crush well. On whom Cyclone has a crush on is up to you. His teeth snap brings all the boys to the yard, and they're like please bite me hard.
Why does this feel like the most Cyclone-esq photo he’s taken? The posture, the facial expression, you can’t tell me this isn’t Beau Simpson listening to Maverick try to explain why hes broken 17 different orders AND Cyclones favorite picture frame.
Warnings: Minors DNE, Pissing Maverick Off, A Bachelor Auction (If that makes you uncomfortable?), I don't think anything else.
Word Count: 3.7k
Summary: Danny is Omaha's best friend, and in an effort to prevent embarrassment during the annual "Pilot Auction" he brings her to bet on him. What will happen when someone else catches her eye?
A favor for Neil, that’s all it was. Despite being perhaps one of the more handsome men Danny had met in her life, her friend still faced the same challenges of confidence that many did.
The Dagger flight squadron was participating in a rather unusual fundraiser: an auction, where each would be put up for bid. The winner's prize? A date with the aviator they bid on. The money would be donated to the Navy.
Black heels clicked on the cement floor as Danica joined the crowd in the hangar. It was vacant of planes, instead, small tables were scattered about, a long table down one of the walls with food and drinks, and, on the front wall, a stage with a catwalk for the eligible bachelors and bachelorettes to work their stuff.
Champagne sounded good, and it was free, anyway, so why not drink? Danny grabbed a glass and walked towards one of the tables and placed her clutch down along with her drink. Her hand drifted down to her dress as she tried to brush some stray flecks of lint off. She wasn’t there to impress anybody. Danica was simply there to enjoy free food, free drinks, and the show… and if the opportunity arose, to spend Neil’s money. On Neil, because heaven forbid he not go for enough money, aviators and their egos.
A brunette wearing a knee length red dress with a halter neckline stood next to her at the table. She was older than most of the pilots who were up for bid but Danny wasn’t one to judge.
“Have you ever done something like this before?” the woman asked, leaning over with a smile as she took a sip of her drink.
Danny lifted her eyes and tried to return the smile as she shook her head. “No, it's not really a spending habit I can afford. I’m just here for a friend.” She paused before continuing, “My name’s Danica, by the way.”
The woman hummed, laughing at the comment about spending habits. “Nice to meet you Danica, I'm Penny.”
“So, are you here looking for someone special?”
“No, no, not any of these boys, anyway,” Penny said, chuckling. “I own the bar they all spend time at, I’ve seen them drunk, they aren’t really what I’m looking for,” she explained as her eyes trailed across the stage to the man who stood on the stage preparing some papers at his podium. She gave a nod toward him. “That one’s more my speed.” She finally turned her attention back to Danny after letting her eyes linger on the one you think Neil had called Maverick for a moment longer. “If you need me to tell you which ones are the good ones, let me know. I’ve got strong opinions and have seen them at their worst.”
“Thank you. I’m not sure I’ll need it, but good to know the offer is there.” Danny smiled. “I’m really just here incase Neil–” she paused “–Omaha, that’s what everyone calls him here at least, doesn’t have anyone bidding on him. He gave me an allowance to use to drive up his price.” Danny took a long sip of her champagne. “He’s my best friend, he’s an idiot sometimes, but I’ll give him this one. It’s not a terrible plan.”
The tapping on the mic brought everyone’s attention up to the front. Maverick stood at the podium. “Greetings, everyone, and welcome to our First Annual Aviator Auction. I’d like to start by apologizing to all the ladies who had their hopes up to bid on the Pacific Fleet Commander, tonight. I was assured by his wife that he was rather busy and couldn’t join.” A collection of disappointed sighs and laughs came from the audience. "But for those of you who haven't met me, I'm Maverick and I'll be your captain tonight." At your side, Penny booed playfully, but Maverick took it in stride and sent her a wink. "So, who's ready to have a good time?!"
— —
Maverick's voice was muffled behind the heavy stage curtains where all those who were to be auctioned awaited their time.
Jake stood in front of a mirror buttoning up a rather loud looking silk Hawaiian shirt, leaving the two top buttons undone. “Bradshaw, I don’t know how you wear these every day, it hurts my eyes even looking in the mirror,” he muttered, shaking his head.
Bradley just smirked, pulling a toothpick out of his pocket and unwrapping it, he placed it between his teeth. “It takes a special kind of man to pull it off Hangman, you're just not doing it well enough.”
“Oh screw off. I’m still gonna bring in more money than you, even dressed in your stupid fashion sense,” Hangman murmured fixing his hair. “What’s the highest bid-bringer get? I think I should get a trophy or something.”
Natasha stood off to the side, wearing a navy blue slip with a cut out back. Her hair pulled half up in a low ponytail, while the rest hung freely around her shoulders. Tapping her foot as she watched Jake fuss in front of the mirror. “You guys have to turn everything into a bet don’t you?” she muttered, glancing past Jake where Bob anxiously paced near the exit as he tried to peek out at the crowd.
“You okay Bob? You look worse than you did when I forgot to warn you about doing two barrel rolls,” she murmured walking over to offer him a small smile to try and help him relax.
Bob gave her a small nod before pulling his glasses off his face and producing a cleaning cloth from his suit's breast pocket so he could polish his glasses. “Yeah, yeah I’m good. Just, uh, feelin’ kinda,” he paused, what little fake confidence he had draining from his face. “No. Nope. Not good at all,” He murmured, placing his glasses back on his face while rapidly shaking his head. “I’m not one for crowds staring at me… let alone, crowds of women.”
He started to spiral. “What if the person who bids on me is expecting some big fancy date. Or god, what if they think I’m like Hangman?” He looked at Natasha with wide, panicked eyes. “I can’t act like Hangman. I can’t act at all, Natasha. Last time I acted, I was a tree in my third grade play. A tree. And what if no one bids on me at all!? That’s objectively worse because I’ll be standing on stage in silence as Mav tries to get people to spend money on a date with me, and–” he took a breath, dejected “–I don’t want to go on a pity date with Penny Benjamin.”
“Relax Bob. Breathe. Listen, no one's gonna expect you to be like Bagman. I don’t think anyone could be like Jake even if they wanted to… it’s just a bunch of people who are putting their money towards a good cause. No one is coming with the intention of finding anything serious. You’ll just take her out to dinner, have a nice conversation, be yourself, and that will be that.” Natasha placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I promise you, you’re gonna get bids. If not, I’ll bid on you, then we can just get ice cream and watch movies like every other Sunday.” she said, trying to make him feel less worried.
It seemed to work, because Bob had started nodding along. He had trust in his pilot. Natasha was right, no one showed up with intentions of finding their new husband or anything, it was just for some fun and a good cause. No reason to be stressed.
That didn’t stop the way the sound of Maverick’s voice announcing the aviators made Bob’s stomach drop. So much for the auction not being a big deal. He was right back to where he was moments before as everyone lined up to wait for their signal.
— —
From the audience, Danny could see the man with the mic watching Penny like he hoped he would get her attention with his antics.
“Now, for the first of our auctionable aviators, please welcome to the stage: Vice Admiral Beau “Cyclone” Simpson!” he called, opening his arm to gesture towards the very clearly caught off guard Cyclone who stood just off stage with half a cookie in his mouth.
“What?!” he called through the crumbs falling from the cookie as Warlock pushed him onto the stage and into the spotlight. “I didn’t–”
“When Admiral Kazansky had to cancel, Cyclone offered to take his place. Thank you for your service, Cy. Let’s give Cyclone a big round of applause, everybody!” Mav shouted, starting a clap that the crowd easily joined in on.
“Maverick, I swear to–”
“Let’s start the bidding at $100 dollars, shall we?”
Cyclone scoffed, furrowing his eyebrows. “I’m worth at least $500.”
A paddle from the table in the very back of the room rose and Mav pointed out to the crowd. “It seems like we’ve got a taker! Alright, 500 bucks for my grumpy boss. Do I hear 600?”
“Nine hundred and fifty dollars.”
Danny’s head swiveled to the side hearing the voice so close to her, who was taking the bid?
“Penny?” Mav asked from on stage his eyebrows were raised in shock and he wasn’t exactly sure what to do… this wasn’t supposed to happen.
“My bid is $950 dollars,” Penny repeated calmly from her spot at the table, sending Danny a look that said I’m doing this just to fuck with him.
Maverick swallowed, finally moving from his frozen position “What? No.”
“Make it $1000 and I’ll buy you flowers,” Cyclone piped up realizing it was getting under Mav’s skin.
“Wait.”
“$1100, I get flowers and you take me for a second date, too.”
“Stop.”
“Sold,” Cyclone called stealing the gavel from Pete's hand and smacking the podium.
Penny laughed quietly as she watched everything register with Maverick. Sure it was a lot of money but it appeared worth it to Penny to see the look on Maverick’s face, and besides, she’d still get two dinners out of it.
“That guy’s your speed? I’d hate to see you run a marathon,” Danny said giggling as she turned to Penny. It was clear there was history there she wouldn’t understand, but it was entertaining to say the least.
After the laughs and whispers of the crowd died down and Mav regrouped, he took the mic and introduced the planned group of aviators, one at a time as they all came onto stage to line up.
Confidence dripped off Jake as he sauntered onto the stage was almost unbearable, but there were women in the audience who were eating it up.
Next was Bradley, a cocky grin on his lips and a toothpick between his teeth. He wore a black button-down with a gold chain tastefully peeking out from behind the neckline. He looked good. Strangely cowboy in his imitation of the “Seresin Style,” but good.
Omaha was next. Danny watched as he came out onto stage. Neil, who was clearly in his element, had always loved getting attention, and now he was gonna get fought over which made it better. Why did he even ask her to come? It was very clear that he’d go to a bidder who gave much more money than Danny had in her allowance. Neil had told her that he’d be willing to reimburse her up to $700 for his date.
— —
Natasha and Bob, followed Coyote and Payback onto the stage. Phoenix was confident as ever. Bob was decidedly less so. Natasha knew her worth and wasn’t placing any pressure on the event. The genuine confidence and the fact she was one of only two women, drew many eyes to her when she graced the stage.
Bob stood next to her, though he stood tall with his arms at attention, he felt as though he were getting smaller the longer he was on stage. Sure, there were women looking at him… but he was sure it was to laugh at him, or pick him apart like a piece of meat. He didn’t know which option was worse.
He frantically searched the crowd for a friendly face. Penny. She was always a motherly presence that Bob enjoyed. At the bar, he’d talk to her for hours while the others got drunk. She always appreciated that he was ready for conversation and far more polite than his drunk counterparts.
Penny shot Bob an encouraging grin before tilting her head to the side quickly, he furrowed his eyebrows trying to figure out what she was trying to tell him until she did it again, his eyes finally moved to the younger woman next to her. Dressed in a simple black dress with a sweetheart neckline, and a string of pearls adorning her neck. She was pretty, elegant, and perfect in his eyes, at least at base level, Bob wanted to get to know her.
Bob panicked when he noticed the woman was staring back at him. His eyes shifted back to Penny almost as if to check that she had meant to draw his attention to the woman, Penny however, was sending him a poignant look as if to tell him ’smile at her.’ So Bob mustered up the courage and once again made eye contact with the woman at Penny’s side, giving her a small smile.
— —
“Who’s the one with glasses?” Danny asked out loud, not looking away from Bob.
“That’s Bob. He’s a WSO, like Neil. The woman in the blue is his pilot,” Penny said nonchalantly as she watched Bob and Danny continue to lock eyes. ”He’s an absolute sweetheart. He comes into the bar with the rest of his squad, but I’ve never served him anything but Coke. He usually sits with some peanuts and hangs out with the others ‘til they become too drunk, then he comes to keep me company at the bar.”
— —
The bidding went down the line, starting with Hangman who went to a Commander's daughter for $875, and almost as if by a cruel yet entertaining twist of fate, Rooster went for exactly $876 (thanks to a bidding war), to the exact same woman. It perplexed and humbled Jake while Bradley dawned a Cheshire grin, he knew he’d be holding it over Jakes head for the foreseeable future.
Omaha’s bidding started and Danny raised her paddle “$600!” she called out wanting to start high to entice other women to outbid her.
Bob gave a frantic glance to Natasha and then Penny. The girl he had been staring at… and who he thought was staring at him was bidding for Omaha? Feeling defeated, he watched as the price for Neil continued up.
— —
Danny bowed out of the bidding at $750, two other women battled it out till the price reached $925. Neil was grinning like a kid in a candy store as the gavel came down on the podium.
With Neil taken care of, Danny allowed her thoughts to drift back towards Bob. She supposed she wouldn’t mind donating a chunk of change to a worthy cause in order to talk to him. Especially if it meant they could go on a date.
To prevent herself from spending her monthly budget, Danny set her own limit for $500, it was a long shot she’d win anyway, but she didn’t have money that she could just throw away. Even if it was for a good cause.
— —
Nat went for $900 dollars which was a surprise to no one, her natural smile and confidence pulled in every man in the audience, and some women too.
When it finally got to Bob's turn Mav placed a hand on his shoulder. “This is our resident Baby On Board. Bob is a genius in the jet and a date with him, you will not regret. Let’s start the bidding at $100.”
When the woman sitting with Penny immediately raised her paddle for the $100, it caught Bob so off guard his heart rate spiked. He was sure if it beat any faster his chest would explode. Maybe he could get lucky.
“$250!” Another voice called out
“$300!” A woman behind Sweetheart (on account of her neckline) responded by raising her paddle. It started a chain reaction.
Bob's eyes shifted back to the highest bidder before back to Sweetheart. “Oh we’ve got a little competition now,” Mav called out as the number continued to rise.
— —
“I’ll go $375!” Danica called out loudly, her eyes shifting from the prize man to the man at the podium with a hopeful, pleading glimmer in her eyes.
“$450!”
This was it, the final bid Danny could place. “I’ll do 500 Dollars!” she shouted a little too loudly, drawing more attention than she would have wished.
“Ooooh, we are halfway to a thousand ladies. Do we have a 600?” Mav called out wanting to drum up numbers.
Bob silently prayed that the number wouldn’t move anymore. Who needed to be the person who brought in the most money when Bob would have been over the moon to go for 75 bucks as long as it was to the mystery girl Penny was with.
A woman raised her paddle and Danny’s heart dropped to her feet. “$650,” the woman called out before another voice followed up: “$800.”
Danny’s eyes clouded over as she let her gaze drop to the paddle in her hands, placing it down on the table, making it clear she couldn’t afford the new prices. It was crushing.
— —
On stage, Bob began to disassociate from the moment that Sweetheart had placed her paddle down on the table. He didn’t care what he went for or who he went to anymore. The girl he was hoping would win was out, and he was left in a daze, not even registering the number as it continued to climb.
As the number shouting came to a slow pace, Mav spoke up. “1200 dollars a new record! Going once. Going twice.”
“1500 dollars,” a familiar voice called out from next to Danny once again mirroring a similar move she had pulled earlier that night. It was Penny.
“Sold to Ms. Benjamin for $1500! That is a new record set by Robert Floyd!”
Bob had stopped paying attention, fully zoned out and focused on some of the decorations that hung over the group in the back of the hangar. A banner that held the logo of the group they were fundraising for. As the bidding continued onto the next person, Bob realized he hadn’t been paying attention to who won. He needed to know who it was in order to talk to them later. What he was gonna talk about? He had no clue.
As the auction came to a close, all of the aviators who had been on stage regrouped in front of the stage to chatter until the audience member with their ticket came to talk with them.
The crowd started to mingle again and Penny turned to give Danny a small smile before taking her hand. “A little out of your price range huh? I don’t blame you, most of the girls who come here are daughters of admirals and such. They’ve got money to spend.” She pulled Danny towards the rewards table where a man sat with a paper and the list of tickets for the winners.
“Hi yes, last name Benjamin. I’m here to claim the tickets for Beau Simpson and Robert Floyd.”
Danica’s brows furrowed, though, when Penny held out the winning ticket for Bob. “Penny, wait what are you doing?” she asked, hesitantly taking the green ticket when Penny didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.
“I’m placing a bet on young love,” she said with a smile before she shooed Danny off to find Bob.
Danica didn’t have to be told twice. After giving Penny a tight hug, she turned on her heel and started towards the large swarm of people in front of the stage.
— —
There were countless shoulder slaps and congratulations given to Bob for holding the record for the most money earned that night. Even having out earned the airboss himself. “How you pulled it off man I’ve got no idea, but you better show the lady a good time. She put a lot of money on you,” Hangman teased patting Bob’s back. Bob wasn’t paying attention to Hangman, his stomach was too busy twisting in knots as his eyes scanned for anyone holding the green ticket with his name on it.
His eyes finally landed on Danica as she approached the group, was she mad? Sad? Disappointed? Was she hoping to talk to him? He wanted to talk to her. To get her number. To ask her on a date, but he couldn’t. He had to wait until his official date showed up. He couldn’t leave the front until he was “checked out” with his ticket. Shallow nervous breaths escaped his chest as Bob watched the woman who he had become so entranced with. She opened her clutch and produced the green ticket from where had hid it for safe keeping. Bob’s heart lurched.
Growing closer to the group Danny held out the green ticket. Her eyes shifted around his face, trying to read his emotions. Would he be happy she got the ticket? Confused as to how she got it? Was she even the girl he had wanted to win? Would he be happy with the outcome? Her stomach churned in the seemingly endless second it took Bob to move.
He pulled a matching green ticket from his blazer’s breast pocket and let out the biggest, relieved sigh. His entire demeanor seemed to melt as he met her in the middle. “Thank God,” he whispered when he finally reached her, cupping her hand that held the ticket in it.
“Penny said that if I was gonna bet on anyone in this lineup, that it should be you,” Danny told him with a small laugh, only matched by Bob's equally reassuring one. Danica was sure that she could listen to his warm, captivating voice for hours on end.
“I was never much of a gambler,” he said, trying to set her expectations low. “I promise I’m gonna try to make all that trouble worth your while though.” He said quietly realizing that her hand was still in his own, it was comfortable though. So maybe they didn’t have to let go just yet.
“So, how about that first date?”
A/N: If you enjoyed it don't be afraid to comment or request! I love writing!
Ooh, I've never written for Cyclone before! Let me see if I can do this!
Beau was always attentive in bed; he loved drawing all the little noises out of you; the moans, the whines, the gasps. You never knew what to expect with him though. Would he want you under him, knees pressed to your chest as he roughly thrust into you? Or would he rather pull you down onto his cock, legs shaking as you feel stuffed full of him? Either way, he always had the same thing to say, "My baby girl loves being full of my cock doesn't she?"
Well shit, I surprised myself with this one. 🥵
Send me a NSFW headcannon, and I'll write five sentences to go with it!
