#because thinking carole NEVER wanted bradley to fly eliminates the possibility she made mav promise in confusion or fear

[reiverreturns]

not enough stories exist where maverick actually wanted bradley to fly when he was older. he could feel it in his bones, see it in the stars. he showed the kid around a toolbox and taught him to strip an internal combustion engine and scrubbed the oil off his hands before he went home to mom. taught him to drive stick (probably underage lets be real) because it’s important to feel the bite and the grip and how the revs drop when you shift up. more than once he found bradley sitting in the idle car with the engine on because the dull roar helps him think - mav understands that feeling better than anyone. and yeah carole’s not thrilled but she’ll come around because one day she’ll see what mav sees. right? right?

she doesn’t tell mav she doesn’t want bradley to fly until she’s sick. until the lucid days barely outweigh the confused. there isn’t time to fight back, to talk her round.

so maverick doing what he does and pulling rooster’s papers isn’t just tragic because he’s making a choice that hurts his boy. it’s tragic because he’s shattering his own hopes and dreams for rooster. he’s sold him on a lifelong feeling and a passion and a lie that he never meant to tell in the first place.

#i know mav says 'carole never wanted him to fly' in the movie but #memories are funny things #especially when we're grieving and justifying our own actions when we don't 100% agree with them #because thinking carole NEVER wanted bradley to fly eliminates the possibility she made mav promise in confusion or fear #and that this big bad terrible thing mav did was all for naught #because i dont think mav could live with that #and to be frank i don't believe carole 'goose would have flown without you' bradshaw would have ever been so dogmatically against it #she KNEW how much flying meant to goose and mav why wouldn't it mean that much to her kid? #what is canon if not a pithy thing to be bent to my will #pete maverick mitchell #bradley rooster bradshaw #sad mavdad hours #top gun maverick