Warning: While my guess is that most people have seen Top Gun, I didn't see it until just a few years ago for the first time, so I feel like I should mention there are some spoilers in here for the movie.
Summary: In attempt to try quell some of the awkward tension between her two best friends and her boyfriend since his return from deployment, Veronica declares a movie night.
Movie Night
It had been a long time coming and a much needed event, even if not easily planned. It should have been. Movie nights weren't complicated. At least not for normal people, but Veronica Mars had tossed normal back out the window when she'd returned to Neptune.
The first step had been getting all parties involved to admit that the awkward tension needed to stop. Both Mac and Wallace had voiced their concerns when she had first come back to help Logan pick a lawyer and then stayed to help in the investigation, but when he had shipped out the subject was dropped. Out of sight, out of mind. That only worked as long as he was out of town, but since he'd been back there was a strange vibe in Mars Investigation every time he dropped by, and the crazy thing was it wasn't coming from her dad.
Mac would stumble around the conversation, managing to make even the most mundane of topics painful as if she were keeping a lid so tight over her own thoughts that nothing coherent was making it through when she was speaking to him. She had even called him Not-Piz at one point when she thought he was out of earshot. Spoiler alert: he hadn't been, and Veronica had to hear about it way more than she preferred.
Wallace was marginally better, but he always seemed to be waiting for the relationship to implode in some firestorm of chaos kicked off by one or maybe even both of them. Not that that was entirely unfair. He'd had a ringside seat to their on-again-off-again relationship during high school and college, but still not something you'd like hanging between one of your best friends and your boyfriend.
And it didn't help that Logan had always met tense situations with an offhanded quip and a sharp remark, especially if he felt even remotely attacked.
Getting all of them into a space where they could take a breath was the goal, and that led to the second step: figuring out what to do about it. The consensus was a movie night. They'd pick something everyone liked, have a pizza and some drinks, and give Mac and Wallace a chance to get better acquainted with Logan and vice versa. A lot had changed in nine years and - even if she'd never admit it out loud - Veronica wanted two of the most important people in her life to see what she saw in the man she loved.
Finally, the third step had been finding a time that worked for all four of them and that had been where the real hang up had happened. After nearly two weeks of missed nights - not just on Veronica's end, thank you very much. Logan has gotten stuck on base one night and Wallace on campus for some kind of planning committee another - they finally landed on a Friday night in which none of them had plans or last minute mishaps. And people say miracles don't happen.
The pizza had just been delivered and Veronica was dancing around Logan in the kitchen when the knock came and she heard Mac call out, "We come bearing booze!"
"Just the four words I was waiting to hear," Veronica cheered as she pulled the door open to reveal her two best friends with bags of what were likely filled with beer and snacks of choice to go with the pizza.
"We realized after we got there that neither of us knows what kind of beer Logan drinks, and someone doesn't answer her texts," Wallace said pointedly.
"I like the kind with alcohol in it," Logan deadpanned from the kitchen where he was pulling down plates and a bowl for chips.
Wallace feigned shock. "Oh, so the ginger beer wasn't what we were going for?"
"Only if we're adding Vodka. Good to see you, man. Mac."
"Hey, Logan."
Logan cracked a smile and Veronica pointed at him before the quip could dance off his tongue. "Behave."
He shrugged at that and dropped it, receiving a quirked eyebrow from Mac. "It's like you've got him trained."
"He just knows what happens if he brings up the Not-Piz thing one more time."
She grimaced at that. "I swear I didn't mean it to come out that way."
"Which way is that?" Logan asked, his tone still light as he grabbed a bowl of chips in one hand and the oversized pizza in the other and set both on the kitchen counter for them to dig into. He leaned over to peck a quick kiss against Veronica's forehead. "You said it, not me."
"Yeah yeah," she grumbled, swatting at home as he bobbed quickly out of reach.
Mac made a face and dug into the bag she'd brought in. "On any other note, I found this amazingly tasty cider down at the corner market last week for anyone who's a fan."
"Oh, love a good apple cider," Veronica said, reaching for them.
"They're pear, actually."
She risked a glance at Logan who was loading up his plate and managing to do an excellent impersonation of someone who had not been listening. "Yeah, let's pass on those."
Mac's excitement turned to instant confusion. "You love pears."
"Logan's… allergic." Well she was usually a better liar than that, but how do you explain away how someone couldn't even smell a specific fruit after a childhood trauma without referencing said trauma?
"Well he doesn't have to have one," Mac pointed out.
"It's the smell," Logan volunteered from where he was taking a seat on the floor to leave the couch open, plate of pizza balanced on one bent knee and his beer set on a coaster on the coffee table. "Every time I smell it I puke. Not so fun for movie night."
Wallace shot him a skeptical look from where he was circling around the couch to take a seat on the opposite side. "Okay, there's gotta be a story there."
"There is."
"And in the spirit of getting to know each other a little better….?"
Veronica opened her mouth to tell Wallace to drop it, but she saw Logan tilt his head curiously. She and Mac took their seats on the small couch and Veronica waited to see how he'd handle it. He was a big boy and this was about breaking down some walls. While she didn't think that would likely include stories about Aaron's abusive nature that Logan didn't like sharing with even her if he could help it, it would only keep things awkward if it looked like she was fielding questions all night.
Logan pulled in a deep breath and popped the top off of his beer. "My dad tried to force feed me twelve pears when I was a kid."
"All at once?" Mac asked, her nose screwed up and her tone suggesting she was looking for the piece of the puzzle she was missing.
"Yeah, one right after another."
"Wouldn't you choke?"
"Yep. Hence the reaction to them. What'd we decide on?" Logan grabbed the remote like he'd just made an offhand comment about it being sunny outside.
There was a beat of shocked silence as both Wallace and Mac seemed to catch onto what wasn't being said and Wallace cleared his throat. "You gonna hate me if I say Top Gun?"
Logan flashed a wide grin. "Love that movie."
And just like that, the weight lifted as they flipped it on. Veronica watched and listened as both of her friends asked questions about Logan's job. What was his call sign, what kind of planes did he fly, if anything in the movie was actually accurate, and the list went on. In turn he seemed genuinely interested to hear how Wallace had ended up back at Neptune High as a teacher and a few fun stories Mac had since she'd come to work at Mars Investigations. All in all, the evening was going a lot smoother than Veronica would have banked on and all three seemed to be really trying. Not just trying. Actually enjoying it. Who knew?
"You know we have someone come in from the Naval Station every year for the career fair," Wallace said as he returned with fresh beer bottles carefully balanced. "If you're here, we should have you in this year."
"Oh yeah. Clemmons would love that," Logan chuckled and leaned back against the couch so that he could tilt his head against Veronica's leg. She refocused on the movie that she hadn't really been watching and felt her chest tighten a little at the scene. Everybody knew it, no matter how long it had been. The difference was that the last time she'd watched it the man she loved hadn't been flying fighter jets for a living.
Logan seemed to sense the shift and reached back his hand finding hers.
"You said you're testing the jets to make sure things aren't broken, right?" Mac prompted.
"Yeah. The mechanics need a certain level of field testing to run diagnostics."
"To make sure that doesn't happen?" Her question was perfectly timed with the sickening crunch of Goose's neck as the seat tried to eject him faster than the canopy opened.
"Among other things." Veronica felt Logan adjust his hold on her hand before pulling her knuckles to his lips for a kiss.
The two pilots on the television parachuted down towards the water, one limp, and Veronica squeezed his hand before standing. "Let me grab that," she mumbled as she snapped up their plates.
"I wasn't…. okay cool. Guess I'm done now," Wallace grumbled.
She barely slowed down as she dropped the plates on the counter and shot off towards the bathroom. Door closed, she leaned against it and closed her eyes, struggling to get the image out of her head. She hated the possibility that something like that could happen to Logan and she hated even more that there was absolutely nothing she could do to protect him from it.
From the other side she could hear their muffled voices.
"Okay, what just happened?" Wallace sounded even more confused now.
"It's, uh…." There was a short clip of silence and Veronica imagined Logan flicking those long fingers of his at the TV. "I didn't think about that part when we started it."
"Yeah, me either," Mac said. "She doesn't talk about it, so I just…. I guess that kind of stuff could happen to you, couldn't it?"
"Could. It's not like either of us have particularly safe jobs. Give me a sec?"
Veronica sucked in a breath, moved to the toilet and flushed it. She then flipped the water on to further sell the charade and was grabbing the towel by the time the soft knock came at the door. She opened it to find Logan shooting her an apologetic look. "What's up?" she asked, hating the small shake in her voice.
"You okay?"
"Just had to pee," she lied, and while her tone was flippant she hoped he caught the unspoken request. This didn't need to be a big deal. She didn't want to make this a big deal.
"Ah," he breathed out and leaned in, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead as if he were telling her he'd gotten the message loud and clear. "You're gonna miss the good part at the end."
"I wasn't in there that long," she huffed, but could see where one of them had fast forwarded over the rest of Goose's death scene and the movie was paused at the glory moment towards the end.
"Sure you were. Hence the checking," he answered with a tilted smile and a quick wink. He slipped his hand into hers and no one said a word as they rejoined to watch the end of the movie.
Despite pear cider and a moment that could easily be Veronica's worst fear played out in a movie, the rest of the evening could be counted a success. As the credits rolled and music played they laughed and teased and chatted until it was finally time to call it a night. Veronica was a little surprised to see Mac offer Logan the most awkward hug of all time and he gave her hell over it even as she pointedly said his name. Wallace lingered back and gave Veronica's arm a light nudge. "When'd your boy grow up?"
She snorted. "Sometime in the nine years between our freshman year at college and our ten year high school reunion. Sadly I can't take credit for that." She shot him a look. "You gonna finally stop giving me shit for dating him again?"
"Only because it might actually last this time."
"That's the plan."
His lips quirked up at the corners. "I'm happy for you, V."
The quip died in her throat and she found herself smiling instead.
They said their good nights and closed the door, locking it behind them. Logan turned towards her and she saw amusement in those brown eyes. "So, what's the verdict?"
"I'm afraid we're going to have to break up. Just no getting around it." She made it most of the way through the tease before her mouth betrayed her and she found herself fighting the smile.
"Uh-huh," Logan chuckled and leaned in, his lips hovering dangerously close to hers.
"I think this could become a thing."
"I'd be okay with that."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Wallace is fun and Mac gives as good as she gets when she lets herself."
"Oh no. Am I going to be replaced as your verbal sparring partner?"
"Never," he promised and closed the gap between them.
Veronica wrapped her fingers up in his t-shirt, pulling him deeper into the kiss and felt his arms around her just before he hauled her up off her feet, pulling a surprised laugh from her as he carried her back to the bedroom. Yeah, she thought she could count this one as a success.