#anonymous letters

I met him in the hangar just after golden hour, when the sun was low enough to cast long shadows across the tarmac and everything smelled like jet fuel and salt air. The kind of light that makes even steel look soft. He was already waiting, arms crossed, aviators tucked into the collar of his flight suit, posture relaxed but alert. I’d seen him around base before, always surrounded by noise he didn’t contribute to. He was the kind of man who didn’t need to speak loudly to be heard.

“Lieutenant Bradshaw?” I asked, offering a hand once I walked up to him.

He took it, firm grip, warm palm. “Bradley’s fine.”

“Y/N. Thanks for making time.”

We found a quiet spot near the edge of the hangar, where the roar of engines was distant enough to let us talk. I clicked on my recorder and opened my notebook, but I was already watching him - the way he scanned the sky every few minutes, like he was waiting for something to come home. “Let’s start easy. What made you want to fly?”

He shrugged, eyes still on the horizon. “My dad flew. Guess I wanted to understand why.”

“Did you?”

He looked at me then, really looked. “Not at first. I thought it was about adrenaline. Speed. But it’s not.”

“What is it about?”

He paused for a second. “Control. Trust. Letting go of both at the same time.”

I scribbled that down, even though I knew I’d remember it. “Do you ever feel lonely up there?”

He tilted his head, thoughtful. “It’s not that kind of loneliness. It’s… spacious. Like there’s room for everything you’re carrying.”

I didn’t say anything. I just nodded, letting the silence stretch. I had been interviewing other aviators for the past couple of weeks but this was the first one that has really stuck with me and apparently he felt the same about me when he pointed out to me after a beat. “You’re not like most reporters,”

“I’m not here for headlines,” I replied. “I’m here to listen.”

He smiled small but real. “Then ask me something real.”

“What do you miss most when you’re deployed?” Tapping my pen on the top of my notebook, one question crossed my mind.

His answer came quiet. “The sound of someone saying my name like it matters.”

That one hit me in the chest. I didn’t write it down. I just held it.

The interview ended a few minutes later. He thanked me, polite and distant again, and walked off toward the flight line. I watched him go, notebook closed, recorder off, heart suddenly too full.

Cozied up in my bed in my apartment later that night my fingers actively typing out the transcript of our interview on my laptop. Hitting pause on my recording I leaned my body back against the pillows letting my mind wander back to something Bradley said during his interview.

“The sound of someone saying my name like it matters.”

Heavy exhaling through my nose I set my laptop off to the side, rummaging around in my nightstand drawer I managed to find a pen and some slightly crumbled paper that I pressed out flat. Clicking my pen open I bite my lip trying to think of what I wanted to say. I definitely didn’t want to say that I was the girl who interviewed a few weeks back, that just doesn’t seem right.

When I was a teenager I wanted to be a service member but when I filed out the paperwork I got a rejection letter saying I didn’t meet the physical requirements. After that I chose to become a journalist and managed to get a job interviewing Naval Aviators on the base. And now here I am choosing to write an anonymous letter to one aviator in particular while he’s on deployment - just because I feel like this small act makes a difference.

Dear Rooster,

“You don’t know me. And maybe you never will.

But I’ve seen you — not just the uniform, not just the callsign. You.

There’s a steadiness in you that’s rare. Not loud. Not showy. Just… present. Like you’re holding something together that no one else can see.

I’m not military. I don’t fly. I don’t serve the way you do. But I believe in showing up. And this is how I do it — with words, with quiet, with care.

I won’t tell you who I am - But I’ll write.

Because something in me says you might need it. And something in you says you might understand.

Until next time, Skywriter”

Clicking my pen shut I placed it and the finished letter on my nightstand beside my bed. Laying my head down on the pillow I stared at the letter, having no idea how much that one decision would change my whole life.

Bradley’s pov - US aircraft carrier

Bradley stumbled into his small bunk quarters on the ship. His body drained from the long hours inside the small cockpit of his aircraft. He began untying his boots before he heard heavy boots coming down the hall and his captain Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell carrying something in his hand. “Bradley, this came for you.”

“Thanks, Mav.” He reached forward, taking it from his hand and watched Maverick walk away before he focused his gaze on the object in his hands.

His eyes scanned over the sealed piece of paper before he tore it apart and unfolded it to reveal a small letter that was addressed to him by his Callsign.

Dear Skywriter,

“I wasn’t expecting a letter. Not out here. Not addressed to me.

I read it twice before I believed it was real. You wrote like you meant it — like you saw something most people don’t bother looking for. That’s rare.

I don’t know who you are, and maybe that’s the point. But your words landed. They didn’t feel like noise. They felt like stillness. Like someone standing still long enough to listen.

I don’t usually write back. But something in me says you might understand.

So here I am.”

Rooster

Bradley sat on the edge of his bunk, the letter still in his hands. The hum of the ship was constant, engines, footsteps, distant voices, but for a moment it all faded into the background. He read the words again, slower this time, tracing each line like they were coordinates on a map.

He wasn’t used to being seen like this. Out here, he was Rooster: the callsign, the pilot, the steady hand in the cockpit. People trusted him to fly, to lead, to keep formation. But no one asked about the man underneath. No one wrote to him like his name mattered.

He leaned back against the cool metal wall, the paper soft between his fingers. Whoever Skywriter was, they had managed to cut through the noise of deployment, the endless cycle of missions and briefings, and remind him of something he hadn’t realized he was missing: connection.

He smiled faintly, shaking his head. “Skywriter,” he murmured under his breath, testing the name like it belonged to someone he might know. Someone who had seen him beyond the aviator’s mask.

Y/n’s point of view

By the second set of letters, I felt braver. “Dear Rooster” sounded too stiff, too formal like I was writing a press release instead of a letter. So I shortened it to “R.” It was playful, a nickname only I used. I realized we were building something lighter. Humor cracked open the distance between us, and suddenly it felt less like letters and more like conversation.

R,

I’m dropping the “Dear Rooster.” Too formal. You don’t strike me as a “Dear” kind of guy.

Besides, it feels like I’m writing to a bird every time.

(Do pilots get tired of bird jokes? Or is that just me?)

Anyway, I hope you’re not rolling your eyes too hard.

—Skywriter

Skywriter,

Yes, I get tired of bird jokes.

No, I won’t admit that your letter made me laugh out loud in the ready room.

And for the record, I’ve been called worse than “bird.”

R

R,

Do you ever get tired of the aviator clichés?

Like, do people actually say “the sky’s the limit” to you with a straight face?

Because if they do, I think you should be allowed to fine them.

—Skywriter

Skywriter,

Yes, people say “the sky’s the limit.”

No, I haven’t fined them yet.

But I have considered ejecting them from the conversation.

R

R,

If you weren’t a pilot, what would you be?

I’m betting something dramatic. Spy? Rock star?

Please don’t say accountant.

—Skywriter

Skywriter,

Not an accountant.

Probably a drummer.

(Yes, I know that’s dramatic. And yes, I know you’re laughing.)

R

R,

I’m laughing because I can picture you with drumsticks, trying to look cool.

Spoiler: you’d look like a bird pecking at cymbals.

—Skywriter

Skywriter,

That’s cruel.

But fair.

R

I couldn’t believe I was laughing at paper like it was a person. His replies made me grin like an idiot, and I caught myself waiting for the mail like a teenager with a crush. It wasn’t just serious reflections anymore it was banter, jokes, a rhythm we shared. And I realized how much lighter I felt after writing to him, how much I looked forward to his words.

Six months later - Bradley’s pov - US aircraft carrier

R,

You once told me flying wasn’t about adrenaline — it was about control, trust, and letting go of both at the same time.

I’ve been carrying that line with me.

Funny how words can feel like wings.

—Skywriter

He knew those words. He’d said them before, not in passing, not to just anyone. He’d said them during that interview on base with a woman sitting across from him, recorder on, notebook open, eyes steady. She wasn’t like the others.

Bradley rubbed a hand over his jaw, mind racing. Could Skywriter be her? The reporter? Y/N. He replayed that afternoon in his head, the way she’d asked him what flying was really about, the way she’d nodded when he answered, like she understood more than she let on.

Now here it was, his own words reflected back to him in a letter from someone anonymous. Someone who claimed not to know him, but who clearly did.

He pulled open the small drawer beside his bunk and dug out the interview transcript, flipping through the pages until he found it. There it was, in black ink: “Control. Trust. Letting go of both at the same time.”

The match was undeniable.

Bradley leaned forward, elbows on his knees, staring at the letter. His pulse was steady but heavy, like the beat of a drum. If Skywriter was Y/N - he knew he had to put his heart out on the line.

One month later - Y/n’s point of view

“I think I know who you are. If I’m wrong, forgive me. If I’m right… meet me.”

The letter was still clutched in my hand when the announcement rippled through the halls: the Dagger squad is back. My stomach dropped. Bradley was here. He was close and this was his latest reply to my last letter. I shoved the letter into my bag, fingers trembling, and stood so fast the chair scraped against the floor. I couldn’t face him. Not with the words “I think I know who you are” echoing in my head.

The corridors felt too narrow, the air too thin. Every sound the boots on concrete, voices calling out greetings made me flinch. I kept my head down, hair falling forward like a shield, and walked fast, almost running. Outside, the roar of engines still lingered in the distance, the smell of jet fuel sharp in the air. I spotted the hangar doors open, shadows stretching long across the tarmac. My chest tightened. Somewhere in that crowd, Bradley was stepping off his jet, peeling off his helmet, scanning the faces.

I was three steps from the side exit, making a clean break toward the parking lot, when the unmistakable low growl of his vintage Ford Bronco cut across the concrete. He stopped so abruptly the tires squealed. I froze. He hadn’t even killed the engine yet, but he was out and he didn’t look happy.

I broke into a run, cowardly with my boots hitting the ground thinking that I could get away. “Y/n!” Yet he crossed the distance between us in three long strides, planting himself directly in my path, the heavy scent of jet fuel and deployment sweat enveloping me.

“Don’t you dare run,” he commanded, hands clutched into fists at his sides.

I lifted my gaze slowly. “Bradley, I-”

“No. Don’t. Not yet.” He cut me off, the abruptness hitting like a slap. He gestured toward the bay door, the last rays of sun casting his silhouette in sharp relief. “I spent seven months reading those letters. Every single one. Re-reading them. I kept them tucked inside my flight suit on every single sortie. And I built up this entire idea of this woman who understood everything.”

“You, the journalist who interviewed me two days before deployment, the person I talk to every single week about my career, my decisions, my father - you knew the whole time. You knew I was searching for her. Why? Why couldn’t you just tell me it was you in the first letter?” His voice rose, the volume echoing off the metal rafters. “Did you think I was going to lose respect for you? Did you think I was going to think you were pathetic because you couldn't pass the physical? Damn it, Y/n, you lied! Why?”

I swallowed thickly, before finally meeting his watery gaze. “I didn’t mean to lie. I just didn’t know how - how to bridge the gap between ‘Y/N, the overly earnest reporter’ and ‘the woman writing those specific, embarrassing, late-night thoughts.’ I wanted to feel like I was making a difference. Like my words meant something, even if I couldn’t be boots on the ground or wings in the air. I wanted to connect to the mission, Bradley. To you. But no - now I totally get it if you never want to see me ever again.”

“You saw me before anyone else did, I’m not angry. Not really.” he reached out, his warm, calloused thumb gently brushing a stray lock of hair from my cheek. He paused, his gaze dropping briefly to my mouth, then back up. “If I’m being completely honest, I was hoping it was you.”

He closed the final inch between us, hands moved from my cheek to the back of my neck. His lips moved against mine with a certainty that erased every moment of doubt I’d ever had. Gripping the fabric of his aviator jacket I kissed him back with the same amount of passion he presented.

“Let’s go,” When we finally broke the kiss, we both stood there, breathing hard, foreheads touching as he whispered, his voice rough. “Show me where the real Y/N lives.”

We drove in silence, the emotional residue of the hangar confrontation clinging to us like fine dust. The letters, the entire reason for the high-stakes drama, sat in a crumpled pile on the passenger seat where Bradley had tossed them earlier. Bradley closed the door behind us, leaning against it, his eyes sweeping over the room of my small apartment. I moved to the coffee table, clearing away the mess of notebooks and pens - It was then I noticed them, the letters.

I had been reading back through the copies I’d kept, trying to find the precise moment I had crossed the line from professional interest to emotional entanglement. They were scattered across the floor near the sofa, some folded, some lying open, showing my familiar, looping handwriting. Bradley saw them too. He pushed off the door, approaching slowly. He reached down and picked up one page, a detailed account of my life on base with a deeply personal confession about what I wanted in the future.

He didn’t read it. He simply crunched the paper gently in his fist, then dropped it, letting it join the others in the colorful disarray on the dark rug. The deliberate act felt like a symbolic stripping away of the necessity for paper walls. “No more words, Skywriter.”

He reached for me again, pulling me gently against the hard wall of his body. This kiss was different. The urgency that had been suppressed during the drive and the initial shock of the reunion was now exploding. It was driven by months of separation and the sheer magnetism of finally admitting we wanted each other.

His hands slid from my back to my hips, gripping me with an intensity that made my head spin, lifting me slightly onto my toes. I tangled my fingers in the soft hair at the nape of his neck. Every nerve ending was on fire, hyper-aware of the scent of jet fuel and his skin, the rough texture of his flight suit against my palms, the soft sound of his breath catching.

He walked me backward, never breaking the kiss, our movements a clumsy, urgent dance through my apartment. My back met the cool wall of the hallway, and he pressed into me, one hand cradling the side of my face, the other splayed against the small of my back. The metal of his dog tags was cool against my chest, a sharp contrast to the heat radiating from him.

“Y/N,” he murmured against my lips.

I couldn’t form a coherent sentence. All I could do was nod, my forehead resting against his. “Roo - Bradley.”

He paused on the threshold, his eyes searching mine in the semi-darkness. The only light came from the streetlamp outside, casting long, dramatic shadows across the sharp planes of his face.

“Is this okay?” he asked, giving me one last chance to stop this.

“Yes,” I breathed out, the word barely a whisper. “It’s more than okay.”

He guided me into the room, kicking the door shut behind us with a soft click. The intimacy of my bedroom, with its rumpled sheets and the familiar scent of my laundry detergent suddenly felt new. My hands ran down his chest when he set me gently back down to stand on my own two feet. “I’ve imagined this, a hundred times. But it was never right. It was never… you. Not the whole you.”

“I can’t imagine it being anyone else but you.” I told him carefully watching his fingers go to the buttons of my blouse. My own hands were busy with the zipper of his flight suit, pushing the heavy material down over his shoulders. He shrugged out of it, letting it pool at his feet, leaving him in a simple white t-shirt and his trousers.

I reached for the hem of his shirt, and he raised his arms, allowing me to pull it over his head. And then he was there, all warm, golden skin and taut muscle, the dusting of dark hair across his chest. His hands settled on my waist, his thumbs stroking the now-bare skin of my stomach as he finished unbuttoning my blouse. He pushed it from my shoulders, his eyes darkening as they took me in.

He led me to the bed, lowering me onto the sheets before following me down, his weight a comfortable, welcome pressure. His mouth found the sensitive spot below my ear, then the column of my throat, mapping a trail of fire down my skin.

“Look at me,” he whispered. “I love you.”

I opened my eyes, meeting his deep, earnest gaze. “I love you, too.”

And then he was moving, joining us together with a certainty that erased every moment of doubt I’d ever had. I cried out, my fingers digging into the hard muscles of his back, holding him close as we began to find our rhythm. The world narrowed to the space of my bed, to the sound of our ragged breathing, the feel of his skin slick against mine, and the way his name fell from my lips like a plea. He watched me the entire time, his eyes never leaving mine, as if he was committing every sigh, every shudder, to memory.

I clenched around him and a broken sob escaped my lips. He followed me over the edge moments later, my name a ragged prayer on his breath as he buried his face in the curve of my neck. For a long time, we just lay there, tangled together in the aftermath, our hearts hammering a slowing rhythm against each other. He shifted his weight off me but pulled me instantly into his side, my head coming to rest on his chest. His arm was a heavy, comforting weight around my shoulders, fingers idly tracing patterns on my skin.

He pressed a soft kiss to my forehead. “Stay right here,” he murmured, his voice already thick with sleep.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I whispered back, the truth of it resonating deep in my soul.

As his breathing evened out I traced my fingers over his chest, staring up at him with a loving smile. He still couldn’t believe that it was you all along but he certainly wouldn’t trade how the two of you got here for anything - especially when he was already counting down the days until he’d ask you to marry him.

My all time favorite characters that youre so so required to tag me in images of if u see them: - Secily Iopara - FE Guide - Cami - Lord x or Majin - Volo - Noli - Telamon - Car or Carr Other interests I didn't mention uhhh. Toram online, blue archive, incredibox mods, digimon... I'll come back to this. Also I fucking love sinnoh and especially hisui please give me literally anything sinnoh related I'll be fed forever