I got sent this amazing ask and I got started working on it before life decided to become ridiculous and get in the way off all of my writing time. So, I wanted to post a little sneak peak of it, as it is still in progress.
I hope you like it, @inkandarsenic !
"Is your father planning on coming to your graduation?" The question is so simple, the next plausible question after toasting to her Mother's life. Monsoon bristles at the question, her expression becoming impossibly more tight, pinched.
"He's uhm," The foam in the bottom of Monsoon's glass is the most interesting thing in the room. Tears are flooding her eyes again, and she's turning back to the shitty bar napkins in the even shittier dispenser. Cyclone knows his question hit a nerve based on how she is frantically pulling napkin after napkin out of the dispenser; and the Admiral's guilt swims to the surface. He is sure that the horizon of it can be seen in his iris's, if Monsoon were to look past the evident sadness that has made a home there. He's pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket, blue in color and perfectly folded. He offers it to her and it's taken with a slightly shaky hand.
"M.I.A. or AWOL?" Cyclone asks. There's a bit of humor to his question that neither of them comment on.
"He went AWOL when I was seven," She doesn't take her eyes off the popping foam in the bottom of her glass, "Then I suppose he went M.I.A. three years later, when he stopped sending birthday cards,"
Cyclone hates the way her shrugs are all noncommittal and vaguely unbothered. He would have killed for a chance to raise his child, hell, he would move the Earth if that meant he even had a chance to do something. The fact that a man would walk out on his family, on his own child, it makes him sick. There is still something else Monsoon isn't saying; the way she chuckles is almost wax poetic with the way she rolls her eyes. Cyclone raises an eyebrow at her as he gestures to the bartended for two more on tap.
"I was in Admiral Kazansky's office today," She chuckles again, eyes glassy and unfocused. Cyclone slides the new beer over to her. He brings his up to his lips as she breathes deeply, trying to order the words together in her head, words she can't believe she is about to say out loud.
"There's a fucking picture of my father on his desk," Then she is downing the beer in quick, deep gulps. It's half gone before she sets it back down. Cyclone's brain is working on overdrive, swerving the hazy clouds of intoxication, searching for the mental picture of the Admiral's desk. Monsoon is chuckling in quiet disbelief, picturing the damn photo on his desk, her father and the Admiral shaking hands during their time at Top Gun. It makes her sick, really, but she doesn't need to say it based on the way her face feels, all contorted and ugly.
Maverick has a daughter that he hasn’t seen since she was six/seven and hasn’t even sent a birthday card to since she was 10. He was too busy spending all his free time with Bradley and being the father figure Bradley lost. 18 years later, Mav’s daughter is an aviator in the new Top Gun class that the Dagger Squad is instructing. Mav didn’t even know she was in the Navy at all, and she wants nothing to do with him or Bradley outside of work. Bonus points if Cyclone has become her father figure and it makes Mav a little jealous
Ahh! I love this ask, and I love the response that the sneak peak got!
I am currently working on writing, and I think this work has the probability of being quite long! So, would you rather read this as one very long part, or as a mini series?
I will note, I will be traveling for a good portion of October, and my writing time will be much less, so take that into account!
Not a Cyclone, But a Monsoon
Release as One Long Part
Release as a Multipart Fic (Part One is ready to be posted)
Voting ended onOct 2, 2023
Also - @inkandarsenic if you could comment on this post if you have a preference, since this is your ask/request, that would be wonderful! Thank you!
