Bradley Rooster Bradshaw - Blog Posts

rooster and maverick’s dynamic post crash is so great because that’s exactly how it feels to go to home depot with your dad on a saturday as a grown adult

Despite the fact that he’s been assured, repeatedly, and in several different ways, that he’s never and nor has he ever been or will he ever be, an inconvenience, Jake still doesn't want to be a bother, even though a little voice in the back of his mind–that sounds an awful lot like Bradley—whispers he's being ridiculous. But Jake is stubborn and hard headed on the best of days and he hasn’t made it this far in life by relying on other people. He’s always been more than capable of taking care of himself and that doesn’t need to change now, just because he has someone in his life.

Or--

Jake really doesn't know what love is and Bradley takes it upon himself to show him that it's the simple, little things that matter the most.

OOOOHHHHH MY GOD I LOVE THIS AUTHOR

The Final Chapter

Here is Chapter 40 of Sliding into Home

If you’d like to start from the beginning. Here is Chapter 1

oh my god I’m already sobbing

DID WE JUST GET TWO CHAPTERS?!

Welcome to the beginning of the end.

Rooster: “I love it when my life spices itself up with ✨depression✨”

Hangman: “Bradley- honey- no.”

to me, being an american means writing gay fanfic ab characters from the sequel to an 80’s propaganda film, and i think that’s beautiful.

Hangster but put them on The Bachelor

we‘ve been neglecting the bradley calls jake princess agenda

There’s a magnet pulling me to you

Bradley followed Jake outside the Hard Deck intending to have some words with him, but he never has been able to resist the pull between them… they can’t help but surge towards one another again and again

The toothpick and raybans will be lost very quickly ;)

Iineart and sketch below:

Bob: Don't you get jealous?

Hangman: I never really had anything to worry about. Roo was never really good at the flirting thing.

Rooster: What are you talking about? It worked with you.

Hangman: Oh, you know what? You're right. We met, you flirted, and then bam! Ten years later you had me!

but “thank you for saving my life” maverick has spent more than three decades believing that the world would be better if he had been the one to die in that crash. has tried to do everything he can to atone for that moment. including fulfilling the dying request of the boy’s mother (whom he loved like a sister) aided by his own fear of his surrogate son dying so so young like his father and estranging his son from him. maverick goes on that mission knowing he’ll die saving his son as his final act of atonement. and he almost gets his wish. until the son he pushed away saves him in return and he realizes. his death is not required for atonement. sacrifice doesn’t have to be the end but can allow him to live. to let the grief and the guilt go. to thank his son for saving his life. because he wants to live. and “it’s what my dad would have done” bradley doesn’t remember much of his father but he knows goose loved him. he knows goose would have done anything for maverick. but goose wasn’t the man who raised rooster. his dad raised him. his dad taught him of the love required to sacrifice yourself for others. his dad taught him to never leave your wingman. his dad taught him to not think, just do. and through all the pain and grief and time lost he finally understands. because dammit he is his fathers’ son.

my absolute favourite genre of Hangster fic might be "are they really enemies with benefits or is Bradley just stupid"

my personal take on the Hangster Mess in that (iconic) first scene is that Jake knows he's into Bradley and is handling it badly, while Bradley has no idea he's into Jake but is somehow handling it worse

You know what would be funny? Whether or not in this scenario Bradley and Mav would still be talking or not - imagine that Bradley still talks about his family, and that includes his dad, so Jake catches things about him from time to time and makes mental notes in case he ever meets him.

The problem is, he is not aware Bradley is talking about 3 different people. And Bradley talks about Mav using 'dad', and about Goose using 'dad/father' and about Ice using 'pops'. Sometimes he just uses 'my old man' for any of them and only he knows it.

So Jake is under the impression that dad, father, pops and his old man are one and the same person, which in turn makes Bradley's 'dad' into some kind of mythical being.

Because he's a naval aviator, but he was also a RIO?? He's an admiral, but he's a test pilot as well?? Or he was from Tenesssee but he was also from New York and from DC??? He had a father (Bradley's grandfather) who died in a car crush and who died in Vietnam, and who died of cancer? Also he has tons of medals but he's also a person non grata in the Navy? He drives motorcycles but hates motorcycles? He taught Bradley how to drive but also had his driving licence confiscated twice for bad driving?? He met Bradley's mom in a group home but he also met her through his best friend? He's gay but he's bi but also he's a straight ally who Bradley is pretty sure dated guys at some point (can that even be classified as a straight ally, Jake doubts it)?

Jake doesn't want to call out Bradley on the inconsistencies out of fear he'd stop talking about his family or feel pressured to tell him more than he's ready for, but Jake is also dying to meet that man just to confirm what is true

The way I love the 'Hangman thinks the Rooster-Maverick animosity/familiarity during mission training is there because Rooster and Maverick are exes/partners and Rooster is horrified when he finds out because excuse me that's my dad' trope

Bonus points if Hangman (Rooster's actual ex) is green with jealousy and fucking panicking because he can't compete with that silver fox and he's got no chances to get back with Rooster if Maverick is nearby

Please give me more fics with this, I can't be the only one writing them like that

(I'm begging you people for fic recs 🙏🏻)

idk if this has been done before | insp.

Bradley: I’m bi.

Natasha: I know.

Bradley:

Bradley: …Do you think Jake knows?

Thinking about Jake being 'hot for teacher' and realizing (after the fact, post-canon when he finds out about who Mav is for Rooster for real) that all the mannerisms he found hot in Rooster first time they met (and still are part of why he finds him attractive) are Maverick's mannerisms but inherited

(The way he moves his hips, the way he bops his head when he plays piano, the way he clenches his jaw when he's frustrated or angry, the way he raises his eyebrows and just-barely-there smirks when he flirts, the way humms instead of saying yeah, the way he ruffles his partner's Jake's hair when he's being fondly affectionate, the way he makes his french toast, putting it in the toaster before marinating, the way he bits down on his tongue when he's thinking about something complicated, even the way he clears his sweaty face with his shirt is exactly like Mav's - he takes it out from the side, not the front like everyone would; that's all Maverick but in Rooster's version)

[Maybe Jake even gets a second blast of surprise when he realizes the way Bradley wears his shirts unbutton on the top directly mimics the Iceman, the way the admiral scratches behind Maverick's ear directly mimics the way Bradley's done it to Jake countless times, the way he eats his ice cream - scoping it around the base, then taking the syrup or sprinkles, then coming back to the base, then to the top - they way plates his meals in three equal parts, veggies, meat, carbs; that's all Iceman]

Top Gun ❤❤

Mav and Bradley reconcile and he finds out (it's not really a surprise tho) that Mav and Ice got married, so he apologizes for not being there for them at their wedding.

Mav blinks at him all confused because while he's feeling something at Bradley being so remorseful — looking like a kicked puppy, really — about missing a big moment of their life but also because, "Oh, no, buddy, we didn't have a wedding."

And the thing is, they got married when Ice's health took a turn for the worse, and it was allowed and legal and would, in Ice's opinion, make a lot of things easier for Mav in case he died — even just from an inheritance point, or just so the Navy doesn't forbid him from being part of the state funeral. It was a very quick sign the papers, get someone to officiate it in the hospital, and then get their lawyer to adjust the paperwork in the express time kind of marriage.

Things got better and life went on and they just, well, forgot to have a real wedding. And they were fine with it. They didn't need a wedding, in fact now that Bradley was back in their life, they couldn't be happier.

But in Bradley's head, an idea is born. Mav and Ice will have their 30th anniversary in a few months (more like almost 10...) and it's the perfect time to get them to have a wedding. You know, as a gift from him for missing all those years from their life.

The problem is, it very quickly turns out that Bradley is shitty at planning weddings. He doesn't know where to start and what needs to be organized and how to organize it in a way that lets it stays a surprise.

But you know who is good at it? Jake Seresin, brother of four sisters, planner of four weddings.

And how does Bradley know that? Well. He might or might not have been Jake's plus one to all four of those weddings.

If Mav and Bradley made up before TG:M — how badly do you think Mav would tease Bradley about Hangman?

(timeline being: pulled papers - Jake/Bradley dating then breaking up - Bradley at Top Gun/Ice's diagnosis - Mav and Bradley making up for Ice's sake - Mav finding out about Jake - TG:M happening)

At the Hard Deck, Mav and Bradley are supposed to meet up, but Mav still hears the whole Bradley/Jake exchange and teases him miserably at home. You look good? Really, Bradley?

And then the next day, on the tarmac. Not the type I'd take you for, but I can see the appeal. And then, Dad, stop.

And then he keeps on pairing them up for training. You know, like a teacher who knows two of his students have crushes on each other but one of those students is his son.

And then on the beach. Do you need to borrow my sunglasses, Bradley? Do you want a tissue for that drool? Should I call you an ambulance for the heatstroke you're having? Is that sunburn or are you blushing? And a very embarrassed, you took this training to the beach on purpose, Mav.

(Meanwhile Jake is just really confused why the heck Bradley knows that old timer so well and why they're so close...)

Something about Rooster admiring so much his parents relationship and aspiring to have a love so beautiful as theirs, sweet and romantic and truly a fairy tale that would warm his heart forever

And ending up with the asshole who can't be nice to save his own live, that chews on a toothpick 24/7 and makes his life a living hell for the fun of it while looking so smug NARCISSUS HIMSELF would be jealous

He wanted a love like his parents had, and he got it! Unfortunately he had 2 set of parents and the love he ended up having was similar to the WRONG ONE

Miles Teller as Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw Top Gun: Maverick (2022) dir. Joseph Kosinski