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alegendoftomorrow · 2 months

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Ice Skating

Summary: A fun outing after Christmas turns into a tease fest when one of the Dagger Squad may not be as good at everything as they pretend to be.

OC: Olivia Carter (Liv, Livy, Olive,). Photo Journalist assigned to the Dagger squad to do a piece on Naval Aviators in the modern world. Official character sheet coming soon!

Word Count:1,971

Warnings: None

A/N: This is my first entry into @sailor-aviator ‘s winter challenge. My prompt was ice skating, though I did also use this as a springboard for a possible series that I hope to start soon. Now, is this late... so very much so. Did life decide to send me into the new year with one finale kick…. Also yes. Is this also the first personal thing I’ve written for myself in a long time…also yes. But I had so much fun doing it and it feels good to get back to writing again. I hope you all have a phenomenal New Year and you find all the things you were looking for…. Enjoy some Christmas in February

“This was a terrible idea,” Jake’s voice calls from somewhere behind Liv. His tone lacking its usual confident swagger as she turns towards it to find him clutching the edge of the ice like it’s his lifeline. His feet slipping and wobbling as he attempts to walk rather than skate.

“I thought you said you had been skating before?” Liv called as she glided closer to him. Stopping sharply in front of him and meeting his pouting glare with an innocent smile.

“Yeah, when I was ten,” he said sharply. Ducking his head in something that resembled sheepishness. “I thought it was like riding a bike.”

Liv shouldn’t laugh. She really shouldn’t. Yet she can’t help the barely contained giggle that bursts past her lips that she tries to disguise as a cough. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it’s not funny. Just try to—”

“What’s not funny?” Bradley’s voice cuts through her words and the Christmas music still playing on the loud speakers around them. “Seriously Hangman, you’re still attached to the wall? You know there are five-year-old’s doing laps around you right?”

Jake rolls his eyes and mumbles something unintelligible, his hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose while Bradley leans down and kisses Liv’s cheek. His mustache scratching her warm skin in a way that still sets her heart racing like it did the very first time he kissed her there. His arm wrapping around her waist and tugging her closer to his side. Effortlessly using his strength to keep them both balanced and upright.

“Come on my love leave the poor man alone. Can’t you see he’s struggling enough?” Liv playfully smacks Bradley’s shoulder as he throws his head back and laughs. The California sun catching his blonde-brown curls and throwing that warm light back down onto Liv. Momentarily making her forget there are other people around her until Jake very loudly clears his throat.

“If you two are about to start making heart eyes at each other again I’m going to throw up.”

“Oh, whose making heart eyes?” A voice calls out. All three sets of eyes turn to find Mickey and Reuban skating towards them. Bundled up like everyone else around them against the “cold”. Matching knitted candy cane stripped scarves around their necks that were a gift from Reuban’s wife. They’d opened them yesterday when they’d gotten back and had yet to take them off. Somehow Mickey seemed more excited them Reuban had been. Proudly declaring “his shared wife” had made it for him. Reuban had found this far less amusing then the rest of the squad.

“No one is,” Bradley said quickly. Squeezing Liv closer he nodded towards Jake who was doing hi sbets to look like he didn’t need the wall to stay balanced. “We were just making fun of Jake here and his inability to skate.”

“You can’t skate?!” Mickey’s voice added to the shock in his wide eyes and dumbfounded expression.

“I can—”

“No way!” Reuban continued. “You mean there is something even the great Hangman himself can’t do.”

Jake sighed deeply and hung his head into his hand, groaning as the teasing continued. Liv wanted to feel bad but considering Jake was often the first to jump on someone else’s weakness she really didn’t feel too bad about it.

“Yeah, well not all of us grew up in the ice and snow,” he weakly shot back. Another round of laughter as Bradley argued that he too had grown up in California for some time, and Mickey put in that he’d grew up without snow too.

Liv just leaned into Bradley’s chest and looked at the group with an amused smile. The California heat was new to her. As was a Christmas and New Year without snow. Her parent’s farmhouse was likely half buried in snow and the pond she’d learned to skate on would have been frozen for months.

“Yeah, and didn’t Javy grow up in New Orleans?” Bradley added with a pretend thoughtful expression. “Yet I know that man can skate nearly as good as Livy here.” He jostled Liv out of her thoughts for a moment.

“Speaking if Javy, where is your wingman, Jake?” She asked.

“Oh, he hasn’t made it to the ice yet,” Mickey said. Pointing across the rink to the outdoor rental building where Javy was leaning against the counter with a wide grin as his hands animated the story, he was telling to the beautiful woman working the counter. “Yeah, he’s too busy flirting to come and save you.”

The woman laughed at something Javy said and Jake gave a long-suffering sigh, a look of betrayal crossing his face.

“Don’t make that face.” Liv smirked. “Like you haven’t done the same thing to him a thousand time.” She raised her eyebrow in an almost dare to have him disagree with her. He did not.

“Yeah, well how come Bob gets to sit this activity out?” He shot back instead.

They all looked over to the row of bleachers sparsely filed with mothers helping their kids tie up their skates, friends huddled around hot chocolate mugs laughing with whipped cream on their faces, and a few older people with cameras waving to their families on the ice. Right in the middle was Bob. His cheeks covered in a pink blush as he stuttered his way through an explanation of his booted ankle while he helped a woman’s young daughter stand up in her skates. The woman’s son was sitting on Bob’s other side continually shaking his head when his mom tried to offer him a pair of skates. Bob must have said he would watch him because the woman smiled and took Bob’s hand, nodding her thanks which made the blush on Bob’s cheeks worse. He nervously adjusted his glasses and pointed to the ice, saying something that made the little girl laugh.

Good for him, Liv thought as she turned her gaze back to Jake who was growing increasingly annoyed.

“Because he twisted his ankle playing volleyball with us all yesterday,” Nat said. Her sudden appearance causing them all to jump and Jake to scramble back into the wall.

“A little warning next time Tasha!”

“Sorry,” she said in a way that made it clear she wasn’t sorry at all. “What are we all doing hovering awkwardly over here?”

“Jake can’t skate,” Mickey supplied.

“We’re making fun of him,” Reuban added.

“I hate all of you,” Jake shot back.

“Even me?” Liv asked. Turning out of Bradley’s grip to face Jake fully with her best puppy dog eyes.

“Especially you Olive. This was your idea.” Jake pointed a finger at her and yet there was no venom in his words.

Liv gasped and gripped at her heart. Mock hurt flashing across her face as she fell backwards and suppressed a laugh when Bradley’s strong hands caught her. “I’m hurt Jake. You have wounded me and I don’t think I can recover from this.”

She peeked an eye open just in time to watch Jake roll his eyes and the other laugh.

“You’ll get over it,” he promised.

Before Liv could say anything back, a very breathless and unsteady Javy called out for them as he skated quickly towards them before nearly crashing into Mickey and Reuban. Both men exclaiming as they caught him and scrambled to catch their balance. Bradley pushing Liv back to standing and Nat skating a step forward with her hands out to help if needed.

“And where have you been?” Jake asked accusingly when Javy had been rightened back onto his own feet. Though Mickey and Reuban kept their hands floating beside him just in case.

“Whoa, whoa why the aggression?” Javy asked with only mild confusion. Liv recognized that mischievous glint in his eyes as meaning he was only half listening to whatever any of them said. He had come here with a plan. “I was only gone a few minutes.”

“It’s been half an hour and I could have used some backup,” Jake said.

Javy tilted his head and scanned his eyes over all their faces for a moment before just shrugging and plowing on to what he’d come here to say. “Okay so I was talking to Claire and—”

“Who’s Claire?” Natasha asked.

“Unimportant,” Javy continued. “Anyways—”

“She’s the woman renting out skates,” Liv whispered to Natasha who leaned over so she could see the woman in question and then nodded.

“She’s cute.”

“I know.”

“—So, she says her friend Amelia is the best there is,” Javy finished with a flourish.

“Wait. Who’s Amelia?” Liv asked. Clearly having missed something while talking to Natasha.

Javy fixed both of them with an exasperated look. “Do either of you ever pay attention when I talk?”

“As a general rule of thumb, no,” Natasha teased.

“If it makes you feel better, I don’t listen to any of you,” Liv added.

“Hey!” Bradley turned to face her with a pout. His honey brown eyes locking onto hers as he stuck his bottom lip out.

“That doesn’t include you, my love. I always listen to you,” Liv added quickly. Cupping his cheek and patting it softly with her fingers.

A chorus of groans and gagging noises followed the action.

“Alright back on topic. Amelia is the red head over there that’s offering lessons. She’s also single,” Javy added with a smirk.

More groans and eye rolls followed as they all watched Jake’s interest immediately shift to the woman a few feet away from them. She was tall and had a white hat pulled down over her ears, her long red hair only barley contained in a thick braid down her back. Smaller red curls poked out around her face and her ice blue eyes were filled with light as she clapped for a pair of siblings who had just finished skating the length of the rink without falling.

“Don’t worry I already talked her up for you.” Javy nudged Jake in the ribs and the other man’s confident smile once again wavered. His eyes snapping to Javy.

“What did you tell her?”

“Only the good things don’t worry. Come on, consider it my very late Christmas present to you.” Javy didn’t give Jake a chance to protest as he wrapped his arm around his and dragged him over towards the woman. Jake attempting to still look as tall and in control of the situation as he still white-knuckle gripped the wall.

“Oh, this I have to see,” Natasha said as she too moved to follow after them.

“I’ll race you there,” Mickey dared. Tucking the edges of his scarf back into his jacket so he was ready.

“Twenty bucks says I beat all of you,” Reuban chimed in. Living up to his callsign as Bradley and Liv shared a look before declaring their intention to race too.

“Let’s maybe not race towards the group of beginners though,” Liv said. Pointing instead to the bleachers on the other side of the rink where Bob was still conversing with the young boy beside him.

The pilots and Liv all lined up against the wall and waited for an opening while Natasha cupped her hands to her mouth and called out.

“Bob! Call it when we get there.”

Bob looked up and squinted at them before shaking his head with a sigh and flashing a thumbs up. Liv was pretty sure he mumbled something about pilots and there need for speed but her lip-reading skills weren’t the best.

“Go!” She called.

More laughter mixed with the sound of skates cutting into ice as the last bars of Jingle Bells played on the loud speakers. Just for this moment at least, they were safe and happy, and really that was all any of them had wanted for Christmas anyway.

#top gun maverick #top gun fic #bradley bradshaw #rooster bradshaw #bradley bradshaw x oc #natasha trace #natasha phoenix trace #payback #mickey fanboy garcia #bob floyd #javy coyote machado #Liz’s Christmas Challenge #dagger squad #writing challenge #ice skating

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mis3rychick · 2 years

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Since Grunge is trending for some reason, here’s some new/modern grunge bands I think you should check out!

1. Valentiine

Lead vocalist sounds like a mix between Taylor Momsen and Nina Gordon from Veruca Salt.

Definitely has an overall Veruca Salt and Hole kind of sound.

Nirvana and Soundgarden influences with a modern twist.

2. Senium

Heavier, more industrial sound.

Muddied riffs and drum beats in the best way.

Early Nirvana sound (think Bleach).

Reminiscent of Melvins, Mad Season.

Classic mid-90s grunge sound.

3. Skating Polly

Heavy on the L7, Hole, Veruca Salt vibes (they even have a song with Louise Post and Nina Gordon).

Faeriecore but make it grunge.

Has worked with producer Brad Wood who’s produced albums for Sunny Day Real Estate and queen Liz Phair during their hay day.

Early, grimier grunge sound (almost punk/punk in some aspects)

Raw and simple feminist noise (I say that as a compliment).

4. Pom Pom Squad

I feel like I’m gonna get some pushback on this but hear me out

A lot of these bands are reminiscent of the grunge sound of the 90s

While Pom Pom Squad definitely has some 90s influences, it’s sound is what I think grunge has kind of evolved into.

Now obviously, certain songs of theirs aren’t grunge at all and fall under a more “indie” kind of sound.

But I still think the band is worth checking out if you’re looking for newer, grunge-aligned music.

5. Noiseheads

Good choice if you’re looking for bands that aren’t heavily influenced solely by Nirvana.

Alice In Chains and Smashing Pumpkins kind of vibe.

Lead vocals and drums are a stand-out performance.

6. Superbloom

Classic grunge sound, very minimal modern influences while still utilizing modern technology and production techniques.

Gritty, picturesque, Pearl Jam style lyrics with a Smashing Pumpkins style production.

Sick album art.

Feverish, hypnotic sound.

7. Violet Soda

Courtney Love reminiscent vocals.

90s Fiona Apple with a grittier sound.

Bush and Garbage influences.

Has the same kind of vibe that Pom Pom Squad has, where it’s a more modern take on the genre instead of sounding like something pulled right out of the 90s.

8. Movements

Again, if you’re looking for a direct carbon-copy of that 90s sound, this might not be your favorite.

But I’m trying to encourage y’all to listen to bands that take the sound of 90s grunge and do something refreshing and new with it.

Imagine a cross between pop-punk and grunge.

Blind Melon meets Day To Remember meets liberal arts college student.

More straight-forward approach to lyrics and storytelling as opposed to the psychedelic, philosophical, dreamy lyrics of classic grunge bands while still remaining engaging.

#grunge #music reccs #music recommendation #grunge bands #modern grunge #grunge revival #pom pom squad #skating polly #movements band #@ all the 50 year old men that are bound to patronize me because they don’t agree #leave me alone you geriatric viagroid #if you’re cool and hot and intelligent you’ll be respectful when you disagree or start a dialogue #leave more reccs in the replies or tags when you reblog

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