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sarahsmi13s · 9 months

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Rocks Are Allowed to Crack, Stars Are Allowed to Dim

pairing: jake 'hangman' seresin x fem!pilot!reader

characters: jake seresin, y/n nivans, the daggers, pete mitchell, penny benjamin, diego and benny harding (oc father and son)

warnings: 18+ MDNI, angst, language, ptsd, description of accident, panic attack, injuries, descriptions of scars, flashbacks, fear of death, familial death (mentioned), crying, bottling up feelings, please please let me know if i missed any

word count: ~8.0k

a/n: this has been sitting in my docs and on my wheel for at least a year (please forgive the awkward moments). so i figured i'd take a sliver of the wheel and make him a little lighter! i've also been in a funk lately, so i thought getting something out there might help!

quick summary: everyone deserves someone to comfort them in their time of need, even the ones that always lend their shoulder

Ah, yes, dogfight football. Maverick’s way of creating a team. You play offense and defense at the same time. Tackling each other into the sand, sometimes into the water. It may be chaotic, but it’s fun and a great team building exercise.

Which is why you hated that you were running a little behind.

You sighed as you got out of your car and walked over to where Penny was sitting at the table.

You placed your aviators on your head, “I’m not late am I?” Penny chuckled and shook her head, “Just in time. Want a beer before you go?” You shook your head, “Nah, I’m okay right now. Care to watch my stuff?”

The brunette gestured to the items in front of her, chuckling, “I’m watchin’ everyone else's. I don’t see why not.” You chuckled and sat your wallet, phone, and keys down, as well as your sunglasses. You slipped off your shorts, folding them and laying them down.

“Nivans!”

You turned at the call of your last name, brows raised in curiosity.

It was Maverick.

“Hurry up and get down here!”

You turned to Penny, “This is gonna be fun.” You both laughed before you jogged across the sand to meet everyone by the water.

“Sorry I’m late, Mav.”

Maverick shook his head, “You’re not late, Rockstar. Can’t be late for fun.”

“Not gonna take your t-shirt off?” Phoenix asked when you stood beside her. You shook your head, “Nah, I’m good.”

Hangman sighed, “That’s a shame.”

You chuckled at him and bent down to throw a handful of sand at him.

“Watch it, Rockstar,” Hangman said, his voice light as he glared at you playfully.

“Or what, Hangman?” You challenged, eyes narrowed but a smile pulled at your lips.

Now, you and Hangman joked like this all the time. You considered each other best friends, which confused everyone else on base.

Jake Seresin was an asshole. He was cocky and arrogant. You, Y/N Nivans, were not an asshole. Quite the opposite, actually.

You were humble while still knowing your worth, but also showing anybody up if they proposed a challenge, and not being sour when you lost.

Jake went out looking for competition, you let it come to you.

You were also probably the sweetest thing to walk the planet. Most certainly the sweetest to walk the airstrip.

You were nice to everyone, always giving someone the benefit of the doubt until they truly proved they were an asshole.

You also took care of your team, they were your family. You always had the door open if someone needed to talk. Your arms were wide open when they showed up in the middle of the night because they had a nightmare and couldn’t shake it. You were their rock.

So, when you walked into the Hard Deck that first day of the Uranium Mission and hugged Hangman, everyone was confused — except Coyote who knew you from a year prior. But they didn’t verbally question you, choosing instead to ponder in private.

Hangman sighed, “Come on, Rocky. You're giving your enemy the advantage.” He tugged at your shirt and pulled you into his arms.

You laughed and pushed him away by his chest, “You’re gonna have to catch me first.” Hangman cocked his head to the side, “Oooh, that’s how it is?” You nodded, a smirk playing on your lips, “That’s how it is.”

You panted as you used your shirt to wipe the sweat from your face.

When you let go of your shirt you raised your arms, calling for the ball. They threw it to you and you took off for your endzone.

You felt the sand shift and you knew Hangman was behind you. You had to get rid of the ball, so you called out to your teammate, “Phoenix!” She ran ahead of you and you threw her the ball.

As soon as the ball was out of your hand, Hangman tackled you to the ground.

You laughed as you laid on your stomach, arms out in front of you.

“What was that about ‘catching you’?” Jake grunted from above you.

You didn’t have to look at him to know he was smirking. “Haha, very funny Hangman. Now get off, you’re heavy.”

“First, ouch. Second, nah, you’re comfy.” You laughed and shook your head, attempting to push off the ground and basically buck him off.

But, Hangman wouldn’t let you, laughing as he moved and made you fall back down.

In this new position, Hangman was putting pressure on a certain part of your back and panic shot through you.

“Seriously, dude, get up,” you tried to say with a laugh, not wanting to sound rude or like you were mad at him. He just smiled and rested his chin on his hands.

You closed your eyes and tried to control your breathing, but the waves hitting you pushed you over the edge.

“Jake, get the fuck off me.” You didn’t mean to sound harsh but you were panicking.

Jake was surprised by your tone, along with the use of his first name. He immediately got up and held out a hand for you to take but you just got up and ran to the table.

“Rockstar, where you going?” Maverick asked. You called out while still running, “I need a break for a minute.”

You got to the table, “Is it unlocked?” Penny nodded, “Yeah, why?” “Bathroom break.” Penny just nodded again and watched you take your sunglasses with you as you jogged inside.

Rooster ran over and hit Jake’s arm, “What did you do, Hangman?” Jake shook his head, “I’m not sure.” He put his hands on his hips and watched you disappear into the bar.

He felt bad, he wanted to chase after you and apologize but he didn’t know what he did.

“Well, you seemed to piss her off,” Phoenix said, shoving the ball into his chest.

Maverick looked at Penny but she just shrugged, meaning you didn’t say much.

You ran into the bathroom, throwing yourself into a stall.

You leaned over the toilet and waited to throw up. Tears had started running down your face the minute you stepped in the bar. You coughed and sobbed lightly as you tried to control your breathing.

After a few minutes of that, the nausea subsided and you slowly stood to go to the sink.

You turned the cold water on and splashed your face.

“Shit…”

You closed your eyes as the tight feeling in your chest loosened. You let out a shaky breath and looked in the mirror, cringing at the puffiness around your eyes. You grabbed your sunglasses and slipped them on before leaving the bathroom.

When you stepped outside you saw Maverick and Penny talking, and when you sat down they stopped talking and looked at you concerned.

“You alright? Gave Hangman quite the scare for a second,” Mav asked, squaring his shoulders to you. You nodded, resting your forearms on the table. “Yeah, I’m fine.” You rubbed your forehead, “Hey Pen-”

Before you could finish your sentence, a beer was sat in front of you, causing you to giggle, “Read my mind.”

As he continued to play, Jake still couldn’t get over the fact that you called him ‘Jake’ during a day out.

It wasn’t that you never did, but it was rare that you called anyone by their first name.

But it wasn’t just that, it was the way you said that really made him worry. He had never heard your voice sound like that before.

He looked at you from his spot on the beach, noticing you didn’t come back to join in the fun.

Hangman walked up to Phoenix, worried that he had really upset you and wanted help from the girl you were closest to. “You don’t really think I pissed her off, do you?”

She sighed, “I don’t know, Hangman. Even if you did, I doubt she could stay mad at you for long. She can't be mad at anyone for very long.”

Jake nodded and watched you stand up from your spot at the table.

You finished your beer and stood up, “I’m gonna head out.”

Maverick frowned, “You sure you’re okay, Y/N?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. I just really need to shower. I’ve got sand in places sand shouldn’t be,” you said with a light laugh.

“Okay, drive safe. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Yes, sir.” You collected your stuff and headed to your car.

Jake noticed you leaving and tilted his head, “Hey…” He patted Coyote on the shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”

He jogged up to the table to ask Maverick if he knew anything.

“Is she okay?” Hangman asked as soon as he came to a stop. Maverick shrugged, not looking up at the pilot, “She seemed okay. Said she needed to shower.”

Jake let out a breath, “So she isn’t mad at me?”

“I didn’t say that. But as far as I can tell, she’s just tired.”

Jake licked the sweat off his upper lip, putting his hands on his hips as he looked down.

“Hangman, honey, just go talk to her. If she’s upset with you, she’ll be honest about it,” Penny encouraged, giving Jake a small smile. He nodded and jogged to go find you before you left.

You were standing by your car, the door opened as you moved to get in when he approached.

“Hey, Y/N,” Jake called as he walked over to you. You smiled, “Hey, Hangman.”

Jake swallowed, “Look, I’m sorry about earlier. I was just messing around. I did-”

You held your hand up, cutting him off, “Jake, I’m not mad at you. I know you were just playing. But your tackle jump started my bladder and I wasn’t kidding when I said you were heavy.” You giggled a bit to show him you were teasing.

Hangman visibly relaxed at the sound, “Okay, good. I know I like to get under everyone’s skin. Sometimes I don’t know when to knock it off. I–”

You held up your hand, cutting him off. “Jake, I can handle your teasing. Yeah, you can get a little mean. But I know it’s all a big show. Come here,” you opened your arms and made grabby hands at Jake.

He just shook his head and chuckled, pulling you in by your outstretched hands and letting them find their place around his built torso.

He rubbed his hand on your back, nearly missing the slight tensing right beneath your shoulder blades before they relaxed. His brow furrowed but he didn’t mention it, thinking that maybe it was you tightening your arms around him.

He kissed the top of your head before you pulled away.

“Geez, Jake, you’re sweaty.”

“You’re not too dry yourself, Rockstar.” You laughed and playfully shoved him away. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Y/N.” You smiled and slid into your car, “I’ll kick your ass tomorrow Hangman.”

He scoffed leaning on the roof of your car and the open door. “Since when did you get so cocky?”

You smirked and placed your glasses on your head, forgetting that your eyes could still be red and puffy from earlier. “It’s not cocky if it’s the truth.”

Jake shook his head and looked back to the shore. “Uh-huh. We’ll see.” He leaned back and patted the top of your car. “Drive safe.” You nodded, and he closed your door.

He watched you start it up before driving away.

Jake shook his head and made his way back to the group.

Speaking of the group, they had all noticed the change in Jake when you showed up at the Hard Deck a few months ago.

While he was still his cocky self, having no shame in bragging and trash talking, he seemed to tone it down when you were around.

They also noticed how he always made sure to find you in the crowd, keeping an eye on you. Coyote joked that you had Hangman wrapped around your finger, that he would be at your side with a simple look.

Jake was painfully aware of the effect you had on him.

When he met you a year ago, he was starstruck by your dazzling smile.

So, naturally, in true Hangman fashion, he flirted with you.

With a toothpick between his perfect white teeth and his bright green eyes shining under the yellow lights of the bar, he walked up to you.

“I sure hope no one left you alone.”

When you turned, eyeing him up and down to take in the uniform, beer bottle popping as it left your mouth, his breath was ripped from his lungs.

“Well, you’re here now. I’m not alone.”

Seeing your smile up close caused Hangman to blush, and leaving him thankful that his tan could somewhat hide it.

“Well, ain’t I special.”

You nodded, giggling while looking down at the bar, “That you are. But, before this can go any further, I’m gonna be honest, I’m more dedicated to my work than anything else at the moment. And I have to be up by 5, so I’d hate to lead you on.”

Jake shook his head, but you continued, gesturing around the bar, “I’m sure there are plenty of girls here that would love to get attention from you and give you attention.”

Jake smiled –not smirked, smiled– while leaning on the bar, “Well, the only one I want attention from is you. Plus, I can’t stay out too late either. Gotta be at work early too, so I guess we’re both clocking in early.”

None of the feelings that day had been one sided. You also had been starstruck by Hangman.

He was broad shoulder, tall, tan, and had a voice that could make a girl swoon in a second. But you knew he was a pilot, his uniform gave it away, and you knew how they acted. Except, you liked Jake’s company and decided to talk all night with him.

Ironically, what you both did for work never came up.

So, imagine the look on Jake’s face when he saw you the next day in your flight suit.

“You didn’t tell me you were a pilot.”

You smirked, “You didn’t ask.”

He shook his head, biting his lower lip to hide his smile but failed.

You nodded to him, “What do they call you?”

“Hangman. What about you?” You smiled, “Rockstar.”

You were able to peg why he earned his callsign very early on but he couldn’t seem to figure yours out.

Until he had a close call and couldn’t shake it.

The last day of training had just ended, tomorrow you might not come home, and to say you were nervous was a major understatement.

As you changed to get ready to go out with the squad, you couldn’t stop shaking. You knew you needed a drink… okay a couple drinks.

While you changed, Hangman was walking around, looking for you.

When he walked past the locker room, he caught a glimpse of you reaching to pick something up.

He turned to walk in, but stopped when he saw that you only had your pants on. But, before he could stop himself, his eyes trailed up your back; starting from above your waistline on your pants and going up.

Then he stopped, his eyes widening when he saw the large scar that looked fairly new – maybe a year or so old. It spanned from the middle of your left shoulder blade to nearly below your ribcage and was positioned diagonally across your back.

Jake quickly looked away, realizing that you must have not wanted anyone to see it if you hadn’t told him.

His brow furrowed as questions ran through his mind. Was that why you freaked out during dogfight football, the other day? Why you always tense up when you get an unexpected touch there?

Shit… He thought, feeling like a horrible friend for never noticing and never asking.

Jake took a deep breath and walked away, choosing to approach the locker room differently and pretend he never saw you.

He put on a smile and walked back towards the locker room, “Hey, Rockstar! You almost ready?” He stopped just short of the door, leaning his back against the wall.

Your head jerked up as you pulled your t-shirt down. “Uh, yeah, Hangman. I’ll be ready in a second.”

You finished getting ready and walked out, jumping slightly when he pushed off the wall.

“Geez Hang, don’t do that!” You punched his arm.

“Gosh, I forgot how hard you punch.” He chuckled and rubbed the spot on his arm as you both walked to the parking lot.

You all sat in the Hard Deck, drinking and playing pool.

“Dude, she’s kicking your ass!” Payback laughed as he clapped Hangman on the shoulder.

You were, in fact, kicking Jake’s ass in pool. You couldn’t help the giggle that escaped as the blond narrowed his eyes at Payback.

“Yeah, you feelin’ okay? You’ve been off your game tonight Bagman,” Rooster commented, smirking as he drank his alcohol.

Instead of clapping back at the jab, Jake just rolled his eyes and lined up his shot.

That made you frown, Hangman always had a comeback. Always had sarcastic quips to embarrass the other person. But he was silent.

You made eye contact when he stood, silently asking if he was okay. He just nodded and moved to sink another pool ball.

You didn’t want to drop it, but you did for the sake of having fun before facing the chance of death tomorrow.

Sometime later, after a few rounds of pool and drinks, you all stood around and just talked.

“Hey, did you guys hear about that one pilot that saved her WSO’s life when they got shot down?” Bob asked, looking around the group.

You clenched your jaw slightly, but not enough for anyone to notice.

“Bob, that happens all the time. It’s kinda what we do,” Phoenix said, squeezing his shoulder.

Rooster stood up and sat his beer down. “No, not the way this pilot did. Bob, I know who you’re talking about. I read the mission file, the only thing that was classified was the pilot and WSO’s names.”

You swirled the beer in your glass, not looking up from the amber liquid. “Did the pilot survive?”

When you finished asking, you looked up, trying to ignore the watchful eyes of Hangman as you met Rooster’s eyes.

The latter nodded, “Uh, yeah. Yeah, she did. But she had a pretty serious injury. I’m not sure if she was ever clear to fly again.”

You nodded and looked back down at your glass.

“And the WSO?” Jake asked, eyeing you as you downed the rest of your drink before looking at Rooster and Bob.

“He survived. But I don’t know if he still flies,” Bob answered.

“Well, that’s good that they both survived,” you said, your smile returning to your face.

Rooster shook his head a bit, “Yeah, but that pilot pulled a risky move. Saving some like that…”

Your smile dropped a bit, “People have their reasons.” You raised your glass, “I’m gonna go get another drink.”

Hangman watched you leave as the conversation changed into something more light hearted.

Jake took a step to go after you but Coyote caught his arm. “Hey, come on. Play me in a round of pool. Let’s see if you still got your game.” Jake looked from his friend back to you and saw you laughing with Penny and Maverick at the bar. That allowed him to relax a little bit.

“Oh, I still got my game. Let’s see if you found yours,” he smirked. “There he is!” Coyote laughed and clapped Jake on the back.

As Jake played pool with Coyote, you talked with Penny and Maverick.

“Are you serious?”

You nodded, laughing at Penny’s reaction to you telling her how you and Jake met.

“Pen, why are you surprised? Hangman flirts with every girl,” Maverick said, using his hand to point the direction of the mentioned pilot. You and Penny both nodded your agreement.

“Sounds familiar,” Penny says, a playful grin on her face making Maverick roll his eyes.

You had become so invested in your conversation with Penny and Mav, that you missed Rooster coming up behind you.

He placed his hand on your back, right on your scar, making you tense and jump in surprise.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare ya’ Rocky,” he took his hand off and leaned on the bar.

“You doin’ okay? You seemed a bit…” He glanced back at the group, thinking of the right word. “...tense a minute ago.”

You bit the inside of your lip, had you really been that obvious?

Still, you nodded and gave him your best smile.

But to him, he could see that it didn’t reach your eyes. He may not have been your best friend, but he had seen plenty of your genuine smiles and this one did not make your eyes shine like the others.

Bradley decided not to press, “Okay…” He turned to Penny, “Penny, could we get another round?” The bartender nodded, “Of course, but you’re reaching your cut off.”

Penny had set a cut off for drinks for the pilots not wanting them to go into this mission hungover. You chuckled and glanced back at the group, all of them messing around and having fun. “Yes ma’am.”

You turned to Rooster and then back down to your empty glass. Penny hadn’t refilled it yet, having started a conversation with you as soon as you came over.

You glanced at your watch, seeing that you had been there for a couple hours.

Penny sat a tray down, placing the full glasses on top. “There you are, Rooster. Who’s tab?”

Rooster opened his mouth to tell her to put it on his, but you beat him to it, “Put it on mine Pen.”

“You got the last round, Rockstar,” Rooster argued. You shrugged, “I don’t mind. Plus, I’m closing my tab for tonight.”

“What? You’re heading out already?” You nodded, sliding Penny your card, “I’m hitting my limit, Roos.”

Bradley searched your eyes for a moment, looking for any indication that something was wrong.

You were usually the one that made sure everyone was okay to go home and if they needed rides; so leaving early rung bells in Rooster’s head.

Penny gave you your card and receipt, “Thank you.” “Thanks Pen,” you gave her a smile before turning back to Rooster.

“Tell ‘em I’m heading out. I know if I do it I won’t be able to leave.” You gave him a one armed hug and turned to Maverick, “See you in the morning, Captain.”

“See you in the morning, Rockstar.”

Penny gently squeezed your hand, giving you a small smile as you slid off the bar stool and walked out.

Rooster, Maverick, and Penny watched you leave the building before turning to each other, concern written all over their faces.

“Is she okay? She’s been acting a little off ever since dogfight football the other day,” Penny asked the two pilots.

They both shrugged, Bradley looking up at her. “I was about to ask you the same thing.”

“I’ve noticed, but I thought it was just because Harvard and Yale had to eject the other day,” Mav admitted. “We were all a little shaken up by that…”

It was silent for a minute.

“You know… if one person knows anything, it’d probably be Seresin,” Penny said, pointing over to the pilot, who was very invested in the game he was winning, and basically suggesting that they talk to him.

Bradley sighed, knowing that Penny was right and if anyone knew you the best, it would be him. He grabbed the tray, thanking Penny and walking over to the group.

They all cheered when he sat the tray down, taking a glass for themselves.

Jake noticed that there was an extra and he frowned in confusion before he realized it was for you.

He looked up, eyes searching for you in the crowd, panicking a little when he couldn’t see you, “Where’s Rockstar?”

Rooster sighed, “She closed her tab and left. Said she reached her limit.”

Fanboy frowned a little bit, “Why didn’t she just tell us herself?”

Rooster shrugged, “Said if she did it would take longer for her to leave.”

“Does she seem different to you guys?” Coyote asked, finally voicing his concern that had buit up over the last few days.

The group shared a look before making small noises of agreement.

“I mean, she’s still the same Y/N. Still lighting up a room and being there for us like she always has been… I just… I don’t know.”

Rooster looked at Jake, “Hangman, you’re like her best friend, do you know anything?”

Jake shrugged and shook his head, “All I know is she’s nervous for tomorrow and the accident the other day shook her up a bit, but she hasn’t said anything else.”

He took a large gulp from his beer, hoping to swallow the confession of seeing your scar that he wanted to bring to light. You trusted Jake and he wasn’t about to ruin that by telling the squad what he saw when he wasn’t even supposed to know it was there.

Meanwhile, you walked the beach, taking in the fresh and salty air. You just needed the quiet time before you went home.

You sighed and pulled out your phone, seeing a text from Hangman and laughing slightly at the message.

Hangboy: Hey, I get that I kicked your ass those last few rounds of pool, but you could have told me you were leaving. I would have walked you out. Text me when you get home.

Also, there was an extra beer. I assume it was meant for you, but you left so I drank it. Don’t worry though, I can handle it.

You shook your head and opened your phone, but not to text Jake.

You went to your contacts and pressed the caller ID, putting the phone to your ear as it rang.

“Hey, Rockstar, what's up? It’s been awhile.”

You smiled, sighing, “Sure has been, Tundra. How are you? How’s the little one?” “I’m good. Ben is great, he wants to know when you’ll be by again to visit.”

You giggled at the fact the 6 year old wanted to see you. “Soon… hopefully.” “Y/N, I know that voice. Is it happening again?” You shook your head, despite the fact that Tundra couldn’t see you.

“No, no. Well, sorta, but this is different Diego.” You heard him shift, presumably crossing his arms. “What do you mean?”

You sighed, remembering that you couldn’t share all that much about the mission, even if he was former Navy.

“I don’t know how much I can tell you. But I got called back to TopGun, and I could be flying out on a mission tomorrow. A dangerous one.”

“Y/N, do they know?”

You shook your head again, this time to fight tears. “No, but I’m scared that mid air, I’m gonna freeze. I don’t wanna freeze, Diego. I haven’t frozen since our incident. But I don’t know what’s been wrong these past couple of weeks. I can’t seem to shake off this dread… this-this fear. I do-don’t-”

He cut you off, “Have you talked to anyone recently?”

You were silent and he took that as a no. “Y/N, you have to talk about it if you ever want to move past it.” “I did though. I had mandated therapy for my entire time in recovery.” “And have you been since you recovered?”

You threw a hand up, frustrated, “I thought I was past it! I hadn’t had an attack in a year, not until we were playing football. I-I thought it was just a one time thing, and then something happened during training and I just-”

You were cut off by a small, tired voice.

“Is that Aunt Y/N?”

“It is. Do you want to talk to her? I think she needs to talk to you.” “Yes, please!” You smiled as you heard the phone go to speaker and then be passed to the little boy.

“Hey, Aunt Y/N!”

You smiled, tears finally falling, “Benarino, hey buddy.” “I miss you. When are you coming to visit?” You wiped at your eyes with a shaking hand. “Soon, buddy. Really soon,” you sniffled.

“Aunt Y/N, why are you crying?”

You laughed, coughing a little at the end, “I just really miss you Benny. I can’t wait to see you.”

You looked back at the Hard Deck, seeing your fellow pilots laugh and sing.

“I’m gonna bring a friend too. If that’s okay with your mom and dad?” “That’s alright with me, Rockstar. I’m sure Lila won’t mind.”

“Who is it?”

You brought playfulness into your voice, “You remember the pilot I told you about? The one that thought he could fly better than your Aunt Rocky?”

The little boy giggled, “Yeah!” “Well, I think it’s about time you brought home the boy that stole your heart.”

“Diego,” you hissed. “We are just friends.” “Mhmm, sure.” You scoffed, rolling your eyes, “You should probably get Ben to bed before Lila wakes up.”

You heard Diego grunt as he picked up his son, “Goodnight Benny Boy.” “G’night Aunt Y/N.”

“Call me when you make it back.” You nodded, hand sliding into your back pocket, “Yeah, of course. Night Tundra.” “Night Rockstar.”

The call ended and you slid your phone into your unoccupied back pocket.

You took in a deep breath, trying to relax again. In through the nose, out through the mouth. In, out.

On an inhale, the scent of smoke filled your nostrils and it made you hold your breath.

Quickly looking around, you spotted a bonfire a couple yards away. Realizing it was harmless, you let out the breath and tried to relax your shoulders.

But, despite knowing it was completely harmless, your body went into a state of panic. Your chest tightened, limbs went numb, pain spread through your back, and tears filled your eyes.

You held a hand to your chest, the air stopping just before it made it to your lungs, and stumbled to your car as fast as you could, hoping you weren’t seen by your friends inside the bar.

Jake looked at his phone as he left the bar. You hadn’t texted him, and by now you definitely should have been back to your on base bungalow.

Hangman wasn’t going to panic, he knew you well enough that you would have texted or called him if something bad happened. Of course he felt anxious, who wouldn’t, but he was going to remain calm.

The reason you hadn’t texted him when you got home was because the moment you fumbled yourself into your place, you booked it for the bathroom.

Your knees smacked into the tile and you threw up whatever alcohol you had consumed before the strangled sob ripped itself from your throat. You crumbled to the tile as your chest refused to let air in.

Your skin felt hot and sticky, sweat coating it as you laid on your bathroom floor. It wasn’t helping you, your damp, hot skin sending you back to one of the worst days of your life.

So, in a frenzy, you ripped off your shirt and kicked off your shoes and socks before yanking your pants off, not even loosening your belt.

You crawled over the tub wall, too dizzy to properly stand, before fumbling with the knob to turn the water on.

Once you got it turned on, you jostled the faucet switch, a desperate sob escaping as it kept falling down before it finally stuck, turning the shower on and drenching you in water.

And that was how Jake found you.

Jake decided to stop by your place and check on you, that being his only option to get his anxiety to go away.

When he pulled up to your place and saw your car there, he let out a breath of relief.

He parked his truck behind your car and ran to your door, his chest lighter than before.

But his chest became heavy again when he made it to your door only to find it unlocked. You rarely left your door unlocked, if ever.

He cautiously pushed it open, looking around to see if anything was out of place.

Your keys were on the floor, your phone and wallet not too far from them.

Jake walked further in, making sure to close and lock the door behind him.

He held his breath as he looked for you. But his search was cut short when he heard the shower running.

He exhaled and had to take a minute to calm the drumming in his chest.

He cautiously walked to the bathroom, making sure to knock before walking in. He kept his head down so he didn’t see anything he wasn’t supposed to… again.

“Hey I was-”

The door stopped, hitting something on the floor.

Hangman squinted his eyes in confusion. It was your shoe. He kicked it out of the way and pushed the door open enough for him to just step in and close it.

He stopped with his hand on the door, realizing that the room didn’t feel like a sauna. There was no fog covering the mirrors and steam wasn’t filling the small space. You always showered hot, and right now the bathroom was freezing.

Jake finally looked up and saw you curled in the shower, the water cascading from the faucet and hitting your back. It was obvious you had been there for a while because you were shivering.

Jake sat on the edge of the tub cautiously, not wanting to startle you.

His heart broke at the sound of your quiet crying and the puffy redness of your eyes was a sight Jake never wanted to see again.

The eyes that usually held the brightness of the stars and a kindness that was unmatched, were now red, distant, and constantly filled with tears that fell over and mixed with the water drenching you.

He hated it.

Jake held his hand under the water and recoiled at how cold it was.

“Shit,” he cursed as he quickly turned it off.

When you didn’t react, he knew you truly weren’t in this reality.

“Y/N,” he spoke gently and touched your arm. He sharply inhaled when he discovered how cold you were. “Y/N, darlin’, we need to dry you off and get you in some warm clothes. You’ll get sick.”

Jake wasn’t sure if you heard him because you just stared ahead, biting on your nail. He sighed and pulled your hand away from your mouth.

He moved to pull his hand back but you grabbed it, your freezing cold hand latching onto his warm one. “Please don’t… Jake, please don’t leave.”

Your voice was quiet and broken, raw with fear. And he was sure that sent a shiver up his back.

Jake quickly shifted to kneel beside the tub, his thumb rubbing back and forth on your hand. “I’d never leave you hangin’.”

He looked you over, “Can I pick you up?” You nodded, letting his hand slip from your grip and feel it wrap under your legs.

He awkwardly shifted to lean over and pick you up, grunting a little as stood up. He was too pressed about his clothes getting wet, he’s sure he’s got pants somewhere around here.

Jake managed to open the bathroom door and walked to your bedroom.

He sat you on the bed and quickly grabbed the towel on the back of your desk chair.

Wrapping it around you, Jake kissed the top of your head. “You’re okay. You’re safe,” he spoke gently against your hair.

He pulled back and watched you bite your lip to keep your tears hidden.

You avoided his eyes, looking at your shaking hands.

“I’m gonna get you some clothes, okay?” You slowly nodded, lip trembling before you bit down on it again.

Your eyes didn’t follow him as he walked around your room, but your ears were very aware of Jake’s noises; everything from his footsteps to his mumbling.

In under five minutes, neatly folded clothes were placed beside you and Jake kneeled in front of you, his large hands resting on your biceps gently.

“Do you want me to stay while you change?”

It took you a second to register what he had asked, but he was patient and rubbed reassuring circles on your arms with his thumbs.

You inhaled, the familiar scent of his cologne calming you down a bit.

You were tempted to say yes, you didn’t want to be alone but you also didn’t want Jake to see you any more vulnerable than he already has.

You shook your head, unconsciously pulling the towel tighter around you.

Jake noticed it and nodded, “Okay, I’ll go tidy up your bathroom and throw some blankets in the dryer to fluff them up and get ‘em warm.” He gave you a small smile and stood, leaving the room and the door open just a crack.

You managed to peel off the wet bra and underwear, drying off before changing.

That simple task was exhausting. It felt like your bones had turned to rocks and your muscles no longer existed. But eventually, you did it.

You haphazardly dried your hair, basically just dry enough to where it wasn’t dripping, and walked into the small living room.

You sat on the couch, deciding to occupy your hands with your oversized shirt while you waited for Jake.

Minutes later he was on the couch beside you, wrapping you in the fresh-out-of-the-dryer blanket.

“Thank you…” Your voice had a rawness to it that made Jake shiver, something was really wrong and he didn’t know how to help.

He nodded and rubbed your upper back, “Of course.”

He sat there for a moment, just listening to your sniffles and weeping exhales, before finally turning to face you.

“What’s going on? ‘Cause this-” He gestured to you and your current state. “-is way more than just nerves for tomorrow.”

“I’ll be-”

“If you say ‘fine’, I swear,” he sighed to control his volume. “Y/N, you are not fine.”

“Jake…”

The blond pilot took a deep breath, looking at the sliver of couch cushion between you. “I saw it…”

If you weren’t going to be honest, then he needed to be. Maybe what he saw is connected to what was shaking you to your core all of a sudden.

He finally looked up at you and watched your breathing halt as fear filled your eyes.

Jake continued, making sure to keep his tone even, “I didn’t mean to. I was just looking for you in the locker room today and I-” He stopped talking when you choked out a small cry.

He immediately pulled you into his lap, one hand going to the back of your head and the other arm wrapped around your lower back. “I got you… I got you.”

Jake closed his eyes and rocked you a little as his mind went back to the day these roles were reversed.

Jake had sat in the locker room, flight suit half off and tied around his waist. His knee bouncing as his eyes went in and out of focus.

“Hangman!” You called as you ran down the hall. But he couldn’t hear you with the blood still rushing in his ears.

“Hangman! Hang- There you are!” You jogged to him and saw that his emerald eyes were blank, not the playful or confident eyes you normally saw. “Hey, Hang- Jake what’s wrong?” You knelt in front of him, putting a hand on his bouncing knee to stop it.

Jake looked at you, the concern swimming in your eyes breaking whatever resolve he had left.

The tears he tried so hard to hold in finally spilled down his cheeks.

You instantly cupped his face in your hands, wiping them away, “What’s got you so shaken up? I’ve never seen you like this.”

He shook his head, pushing your hands away as he sat up and leaned against the locker. “You’re not supposed to.”

You sighed and leaned back on your heels, “What happened up there?”

Jake wiped the still flowing tears, shaking his head, “I don’t know. I guess- Fuck I don’t know, Rockstar.”

You stood, “Talk to me, Jake. Please, I’m your friend and I want to help.”

Your tone was desperate and worried. This was a new version of Jake that you would have never seen if you hadn’t followed him off the tarmac.

Hangman finally got the guts to grab your hand and squeeze it. He took a deep breath as he tried to collect himself.

“I almost lost you up there. You’re one of my closest friends, we’ve only known each other for a few months and I feel like we’ve known each other forever. I never let myself be that close to anyone, but you made it so easy.”

His voice was raw and shaky. He was scared, but you couldn’t blame him. What just happened to you both was really intense and it was scary. But you were both okay.

You squeezed his hand back, giving him a soft but encouraging smile.

“Can we just- Shit this is gonna sound so weird…”

You knew where he was going, so you straddled his legs and wrapped him in a hug. “I got you Jake, I got you.”

That was when Jake realized the backstory to your call sign. You were everyone’s rock. You kept everyone sane, even at the expense of yourself.

Which is why you were currently shaking and sobbing in his arms. You never sought out comfort for your problems, a bad habit you picked up in high school. You always put everyone first, and you had it in your head that you couldn’t be vulnerable.

You pulled away from him, not meeting his eyes, “I’m sorry…”

“Why the fuck are you apologizing?”

“Because I-”

“Because you’re being vulnerable in front of someone?” You nodded, unconsciously playing with your fingers. “Look at me, please.” You did, biting your lip to hold your tears in.

“You are allowed to be vulnerable. You are allowed to cry. You are allowed to be scared. You shouldn’t have to hide your feelings from your friends. I’m sorry if we ever made you feel like you couldn’t talk to us.”

You nodded, staying silent, focusing on how Jake had moved his hand from the back of your head to your cheek to rub his thumb back and forth on your cheekbone.

Your silence broke his heart a little bit, making him think you didn’t trust him. But he knew he had to be patient with you.

He goes to move his hand away but you hold it there. “I thought I was over it…”

“Over what, Sweetheart?”

“The accident…”

Jake pushed some hair behind your ear, “What accident?”

You took a deep breath, closing your eyes as a few tears rolled down your cheeks. He wiped them away as he spoke softly, “Take your time…” You nodded, swallowing as you tried to catch your bearings.

“A year before I was stationed with you, I was flying a mission. It was dangerous, but still fairly routine. On my way out, I got hit. It completely destroyed my weapons system. Before I could get back up, I was hit again. This time it took out my engine.” You took another deep breath, looking up at the ceiling.

“We were dropping altitude fast and my WSO and I had to eject. We landed on a beach, we unbuckled so fast,” you chuckled, remembering the relief you and Diego felt before the shit hit the fan.

Jake smiled a little bit at the sound, but dropped it when you started talking again.

“However the jet had also crashed onto the beach too. The fuel had leaked and caused an explosion. I covered my WSO, and a piece of scrap metal lodged itself into my back.”

Jake’s eyes widened, more dots connecting in his mind, “You’re the pilot the squad was talking about at the bar…”

You nodded, wiping your eyes, “Jake, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. It’s just… when I was in recovery, if I wanted to fly again, I had to go through therapy. And I haven’t had an attack in a year…” You got choked up again, hot tears rolling down your face, “Hang, I’m so sorry.”

He shook his head, using both of his hands to wipe your face, “Hey, don’t be sorry. Do I wish you would have told me sooner? Hell yeah, but I understand why you didn’t.” You just nodded and relaxed into his hands.

“What happens when you have an attack?”

You took a sharp inhale through your nose before sighing it out, “It depends. I sometimes get flashbacks of the beach, everytime I close my eyes I just see fire and it’s fucking terrifying. Other times, when it gets really bad, I can feel pain in my back, but that’s rare.”

You bit your lip a little as you looked away, and Jake knew, “That happened tonight didn’t it?” You nodded, coughing a little bit, “Yeah, uh, yeah it did.”

“Was it because we talked about-”

“No," you said quickly. "W-well, I mean kinda… yeah. But there was a bonfire happening on the beach, and just the two things… my brain went into panic mode. Before you ask, I don’t really know what triggers it. But during dogfight football-”

Jake’s eyes widened and he dropped his hands, “Fuck, Y/N, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

“Exactly, Jake, you had no idea. It’s not your fault. It was just the pressure on my scar made me panic, and I was back on that damned beach. But I’m not mad or upset with you because you had no idea. So don’t beat yourself up, please.”

Jake nodded, bringing you into a hug again, being mindful of the scar. “Jake, you can touch it. I know I’m safe.” He said nothing and brought a hand to run over the covered scar before tightening his hug.

“Can you tell me about him? Your WSO?”

You nodded, “Diego Harding, call sign Tundra. He has a wife and a son.”

“That’s why you-”

“Yeah, that’s why I covered him. He had a family to go back to.”

“What about you?”

You sighed again, using Jake’s shoulders to sit up, “Most of my family served. My dad was killed in action when I was young. My mom died when I was a teenager, leaving Piers to raise me for a little bit. Then Piers goes and sacrifices himself… so I didn’t have anyone to come home too.”

You shrugged and got off his lap, but snuggled into his side.

He rubbed lazy circles on your bicep. “Well now you do.” You looked up at him confused, “What?”

“You’ve got me to come home to, and I’ve got you.” He placed a chaste kiss on your forehead. “Don’t get sappy on me, Seresin.” He just chuckled.

It was silent for a moment.

“Promise me that you’ll do your best to fly back to me,” he asked in a hushed whisper as if he were telling you a secret.

“Only if you do,” you whispered back.

He held out his pinky, “I promise.” You nodded, interlocking your pinky with his, “I promise too.”

“Can’t break that now, you know,” he chuckled, squeezing your pinky a little. You giggled a little before yawning, “I know, cowboy.”

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peacefxlmyko · 7 months

Text

Family business

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x mom!Reader, Nick "Goose" Bradshaw x wife!Reader, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell x platonic!Reader

Ask: "I had an idea for Top Gun, the reader was “Goose”'s wife and Bradley's mother, she is in the Navy and trains the squadron for the mission with Maverick. When Maverick and his son's plane are about to be shot down instead of Jake saving them, she is the one who saves them. Cute ending if possible" by @motherofdragons1998

Tags: Fluff, Angst, obviously Top Gun Maverick spoilers, hints to Hangster 👀, Reader is a widow, Use of Y/N, Reader's callsign is Shadow

Notes: I am SO nervous to post this omfg. This is the first thing I ever wrote based off an ask and I hope I did everything right with it lmao. This is also the longest piece I have ever written. I am not 100% happy with it, but I did my best and I hope ya'll like it! Apologies for any Grammar or in general writing mistakes, English isn't my first language. I am also open for more requests/asks!

Words: 2500+

Story under the cut! ✂️

Getting the call to return to Top Gun after years definitely wasn't something you expected. And finding out that you had to train the best pilots in the world for a suicide mission didn't make your anxiety any better.

After you arrived at the Academy, you were met with Beau “Cyclone” Simpson and Solomon “Warlock” Bates and they introduced you to the Mission.

“Captain Y/N “Shadow” Bradshaw." Cyclone began. “I'm Admiral Beau Simpson and this is Admiral Solomon Bates.”

“Pleasure to meet you, sir.” You replied.

“I hope it's no problem we will be introducing you to the Mission without the other instructor.”

“Other.. instructor, sir?”, your eyes narrowed a little in confusion.

"Yes, you will be teaching the class with another instructor.” Your curiosity was sparked, but you didn't get to ask anything else as they started explaining the Mission.

“The target is an unsanctioned uranium enrichment plant built in violation of a multilateral NATO treaty. The uranium produced there represents a direct threat to our allies in the region.” Warlock started to explain.

After the explanation it as your turn to explain your view on the mission. Then, they revealed who the pilots tasked with the mission were. “We've recalled 12 TOPGUN graduates from their squadrons. We want you to narrow-”

As soon as you turned to the monitor your heart skipped a beat and your breath caught in your throat. Bradley.

“Is there a problem, Captain?”

“I just.. didn't expect to see my son there, sir.” You muttered, still a bit in disbelief.

“Bradley Bradshaw, aka Rooster. I understand his father was also a pilot? What was his callsign again?”

Ouch. “It was Goose, sir.”

“Tragic what happened.”

Daggers. With every word daggers were being stabbed in your heart. Not one day went by without you missing Nick. Your husband. The father of your son. The love of your life.

After the briefing, you headed to a nearby bar to try and gather your thoughts. As you walked into the bar, you suddenly saw a familiar figure sitting there. No, two. Two familiar faces.

“Pete?”

The man turned around with a stunned look on his face.

“Y/N?”

“What the hell are you doing here?” You walked closer to him, a smile forming on my face.

“I could ask you the same.”

“He pissed off another admiral.” Penny commented and you cracked a smile. “It's nice to see you again, Penny” You smiled and sat down next to Pete.

“Don't tell me you're going to-”

“Teach a mission here?” You completed his sentence.

“So you are the other instructor! They wouldn't even tell me!” Mav chuckled at your complaint and shook his head a little.

You heard some noises at the other side of the bar and glanced over at the pool tables. There were pilots gathered and you recognised them as the graduates that had been recalled for the mission.

A few more people joined the bar. It didn't even take you two seconds to recognise your son. Hawaii shirt, sunglasses on his nose, that damn mustache like Nick had. Bradley was the spitting image of his father. You also heard someone call out “Bradshaw! Is that you?”

You didn't want to admit it, but sometimes it hurt a little. The way Nick would have been so proud of him hurt. And knowing that you were the reason his papers were held back because you didn't want him to have the same fate as Goose.

As soon as Pete recognised Bradley he quickly turned away, as if to hide from him. “Mav, you don't have to hi-”

“I cost him years of his career.”

“I know, but that was because I wanted it that way. You did it for me, because of Goose. Don't you think it's time he finds out it was me?”

“No, god no. It'll be fine, just.. let it be.”

You sighed and turned back to your drink, taking a few sips.

“How about ringing me up before the evening rush?” Maverick suddenly said to Penny and stood up. You glanced over at Bradley, watching him with his fellow aviators. Hasn't even noticed his own mother yet. You chuckled a little to yourself.

“It's been declined.”

You snapped out of your thoughts when Penny said that to Pete and laid his credit card on the table in front of him. You curiously watched and tried to hide your amused grin.

“You're kidding.”

Soon enough, Pete was getting carried out by three pilots and you watched, not even hiding your amusement.

Then, you heard a few tones coming from the piano and your heart dropped.

“You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain. Too much love drives a man insane.”

Rooster was playing and singing “Great balls of fire”. The same song Nick loved performing, a little out of key but it was still always the most perfect thing to you. You stared at him in disbelief, his back turned to you. Other pilots were standing next to him, singing along. The whole Bar was watching him. Your little boy.

After he was finished you watched him perform a little funny dance as the bar kept chanting “Rooster! Rooster!”. God, when did he grow up so much?

You stood up and slowly made your way towards him.

“I assumed you would at least let your Mother know when you're on a new Mission?”

You could see the way his heart dropped and he looked like a toddler being caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

“Mom?” He slowly turned around to you, you had an amused grin on your face.

“This is how I find out you're back at TOPGUN?” You grinned. You could hear his friends letting out laughs and a few comments in the background. “I- uh—”

“Oh, shut up and give your mother a hug.”

________________________________________

The next day, all the pilots sat together in a hanger, ready to be taught about the mission. Admiral Bates was standing in front of them all, ready to explain.

“Your instructors are TOPGUN graduates with real world experience in every mission aspect you'll be expected to master and they are considered some of the finest pilots this program has ever produced. I give you Captain Pete Mitchell, callsign Maverick and Captain Y/N Bradshaw, callsign Shadow.”

Maverick and you walked in together, walking up to the lectern where Warlock stood at first. The pilots turned to look at you both and you could see their faces drop as some of them realized they kicked out their instructor last night.

You shot Bradley a quick small smile, meanwhile he gave Maverick a look that could kill.

You both started to talk to the class, Mav doing the most talking. After some briefing, you all got your Jets ready and then took off into the sky for some training and to show what they are able to do.

The next few days were spent preparing and training, trying to get them ready.

But once during some briefing in a classroom, a fight broke out. Hangman had made a comment about Goose and it set Rooster off, almost going for his throat but you all managed to keep them apart. Maverick dismissed them all for the day.

Bradley went back to the base to calm down, Maverick went to meet Iceman and you.. Well, you drove to the Hard Deck and sat down at the Beach there. The whole time you were lost in thoughts. Was he ready for this? Was I ready for this? Was anybody ready for this mission?

“Oh Nick..” You started to tear up. “I don't want to send Bradley out there. He's not ready. No one is! I-I can't risk losing him too! I.. I just can't lose my son too… He's my little boy.. Our little boy.. When did he grow up so much…? I need you here.. god.. I wish you were here..”

Even though he wasn't here anymore, you knew Goose was still watching over you and listening whenever he could.

________________________________________

It felt like the time until the mission flew by. It almost felt like a blur, as if it wasn't real. And burying one of your life-long friends made it even worse. Iceman could finally rest, but it was still incredibly painful. Seeing Maverick grief him made it even worse.

But in a blink of an eye, you were all on a ship in the middle of the Ocean, about to choose which Daggers would fly. You were going to stay back as Backup and Mav was going to fly with them.

You knew he was going to choose him as his wingman, but you secretly begged it wasn't true. You wished it would be Hangman, but it was going to be your son.

“Choose your two Foxtrot teams.” Cyclone said.

“Payback and Fanboy. Phoenix and Bob.” You both had decided these teams together, but the Wingman was Mav's own choice.

“And your Wingman?”

After a moment of anticipation, he finally said…

“Rooster.”

There it was. Your son was flying the suicide mission. And all you could do was listen through the comms and pray.

Everyone went on Deck and walked to their Jets. As you stood by your Jet, you looked over at Rooster and noticed him talking to Hangman. You had noticed throughout the whole preparation there seemed to be some tension and.. closeness between them. There was at least something.

You turned back to your Jet, climbing inside in case they needed Backup during the mission.

As the mission began and the teams flew away, your heart was pounding. With every minute you felt your anxiety increasing, scared for the safety of your son and also your friend.

You listened closely through the comms, listening to everything…..

“Bull's-eye! Bull's-eye! Bull's-eye!"

Yes! God, yes! They did it!

But now it was time to get back alive…

The rest of the mission was a pure air fight, raw dogfighting. They just needed to make it out alive. Please.

But to your worst fear the enemy planes were focused on Rooster.

“Dagger Two defending. Shit, I'm out of flares!”

“Rooster, evade, evade!” You heard his uncle shout.

“I can't shake ‘em! They're on me! They're on me!”

You didn't know what was happening., you weren't there. You didn't see it. All You could do was listen. Listen and wait. It felt awful not being able to do anything.

There was a moment of silence, only the heavy breathing from the pilots.

“Mav! No!”

“Dagger One is hit! I repeat, Dagger One is hit! Maverick is down!”

Your breath caught in your throat. Mav was hit.

“Dagger One, Status. Status! Anyone see him? Did anyone see him?! Dagger One, come in!” You heard the panic in Rooster's voice.

“I didn't see a parachute.”

Shit.

“We have to circle back!”

You felt your heart pumping, this was all so much. You knew this was a difficult mission, hell, a suicide mission but you still hoped this wouldn't happen!

“All Daggers flow to ECP. You have bandits headed for you.”

“What about Maverick?!” There was a strain in Bradley's voice.

“Dagger Square request permission to launch and fly air cover.” You suddenly spoke up. You had to help. You needed to help.

“Negative, spare.”

Shit!

“Dagger, you are not to engage. Repeat, do not engage.”

“Dagger Two, return to carrier. Acknowledge.”

Bradley, please. Come home safe.

You also wanted to save Maverick, but not with Bandits in the air.

The silence was killing you.

“Rooster, those bandits are closing. We can't go back.” You heard Phoenix say. “Rooster, he's gone.”

It hurt, but Bob was probably right. He was gone. He was with Goose. “Maverick's gone.”

Maverick had sacrificed himself for Rooster. Your best friend had sacrificed himself for your son….

Your heart began to pound as you realized Bradley was flying back. He wanted to save Mav. You wanted to scream at him to get his ass back to the ship, but you couldn't. He wouldn't even listen.

The not knowing was killing you. Not being able to do anything. Being stuck on the ship while your son was out there fighting for his life.

After minutes that felt like hours you heard the words you only wished to hear in your darkest nightmares.

“Dagger Two is hit.”

Rooster was hit.

You could barely hold it together anymore. You wanted to scream, you wanted to cry, but you had to hold it in.

“Dagger Two, come in. Dagger Two, do you copy? Dagger Two, come in.”

You were horrified. You might have just lost your only child and your best friend. Now you were alone.

One Minute turned into two. Two into five. Five into ten. Nothing. No reply, no sign of life.

You had no idea what the hell was going on in the tower, they weren't talking to you. Not one word. Was there a trace of the two? Were they still alive? You didn't know and it was one of the worst things you've ever felt.

After what felt like an eternity, you were finally given permission to launch and fly to their rescue after they had detected Rooster's ESAT.

Soon you saw them, they were involved in an air fight and obviously losing. You managed to bring your jet behind the enemy's plane without bringing any attention to yourself. That was the way you got your callsign. You were a Shadow, you could easily follow any planes without being noticed.

Just as they were about to shoot down Maverick and Rooster, you fired a shot and hit the bandit. The bandit was down and they were save. They were finally save and back with you.

You flew right through the smoke towards the F-14, you had never been happier to see a jet.

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is your savior speaking.”

There was a grin on your face, you had never been so glad.

“Hey, mom, you look good.”

“I am good, Bradley. I'm very good.”

“I'll see you back on Deck.” You flew back and were the first to land. You got out of the Jet and watched everybody put up a net to catch the F-14.

Once they were back on deck you didn't hesitate one second to run towards them. “Bradley!” You shouted.

Everybody came running towards them, cheering and congratulating them.

Maverick got out and first went to Hondo, while Bradley came running towards you.

“Oh, my boy, I thought I lost you. I thought you were gone.” You sobbed and took him into your arms.

“You're not getting rid of me easily, Mom.” He laughed and hugged you tightly, not letting you go for a while. “You're a hero, Bradley. I'm so so proud of you. Your- your dad would be so proud, god-” You teared up.

“I know Mom, I know.”

You parted from him so he could celebrate with the others. The other Daggers immediately came to him.

Once again you could swear there were looks between Jake and Rooster, but you didn't mention anything.

“Captain Mitchell! Captain Mitchell!” You then saw Bradley approach Pete. Without hesitating, Maverick pulled him into a hug. A hug that meant the World.

“Thank you for saving my life.”

“It's what my dad would've done.”

________________________________________

Days after the mission the whole Dagger Squad was sitting in the Hard Deck together, having drinks and cracking jokes. Bradley, of course, sat down at the piano and sang once again. The whole Bar chimed in and sang “Great balls of fire” with him.

“Oh! You're fine, so kindGot to tell this world that you're mine, mine, mine, mine!”

You could have sworn he took a glance towards Jake during that line.

#top gun maverick #top gun #bradley rooster bradshaw #jake hangman seresin #pete maverick mitchell #top gun fanfiction #top gun x reader #bradley bradshaw x reader #rooster x reader #rooster x hangman #nick goose bradshaw #nick bradshaw #pete mitchell #maverick x reader #Im so nervous to post this #Requests open

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inmyglenpowellera · 3 months

Text

Bad Reputation Part 2 | Jake "Hangman" Seresin x Taylor Swift inspired!OC

Request: Requested by @akornsworld

Word Count: 9678 words

Summary: There's that saying for some people, “You can't go home again.” When you grow up and leave, that's it, you don't go back home. Presley Joann Benjamin (stage name Presley Jo) believed that was the case for her. Never did she think she would be right back where she started. But her Aunt insisted it was the best for her. She thought for sure her life and career were over until she meets a certain cocky aviator.

Warnings: Alcohol use, angst, maybe some cursing, fluff, crying, Jake being an absolute gentleman

A/N: SURPRISE, I'm not dead, life just sucks ass. Here's an extra-long chapter to make up for my sucking. Hope you like it, I promise the next chapter will have the sexuals. The tag list will be at the end of each chapter.

Chapter 1 Chapter 3

You’d think that after Hangman’s smug answer of still getting my number and buying me a drink, he would have immediately jumped at the opportunity to do so. But that wasn’t the case, much to my confusion. I continued showing up to The Hard Deck to help Penny with various tasks before opening, seeing the aviators there every time, minus Bradley who was apparently out of town packing his items in Virginia to send here. (The Dagger Squad has recently become a permanent fixation in Fightertown). However, despite the number of times I have seen the blonde aviator in the past week, he has yet to make another attempt at getting my phone number. Sure there was still the near-constant flirting, but otherwise nothing.

I was, once again, playing the piano in The Hard Deck, losing myself in the music, when the front door burst open and caught Penny and I’s attention.

“Now I know that beautiful piano playing can only come from my very own star student,” a voice yelled out as they walked into the bar.

I let out a squeal of glee at the sight of a Hawaiian shirt, mustache, and aviators walking further into the bar.

“Bradley,” I called out, running over to him and jumping into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist.

“How you doin’ Queenie? I leave for a month to pack up my old place and you move back into town,” Bradley greeted me with an equal amount of excitement, holding me up by my thighs and spinning me around before releasing me.

“I’m great, Killer. Glad you’re back. It’s been boring here with Penny and Mav. The only amusement I have is Amelia,” I told the older male.

“Now I know that’s a lie,” Maverick said as he walked in the door behind us.

“You know I’m joking, Mav,” I called out to him as he walked past us towards Penny.

“That's not what he's talking about,” Penny smirked at me with a knowing look.

I widened my eyes and slightly shook my head.

“What are they talking about,” Bradley asked me, going into protective older brother mode.

“Nothing, ignore them,” I reassured him, shrugging the two older adults off.

Bradley nodded in acknowledgment before a look of concern took over his face. “Hey, do you want to talk about it?”

I didn’t have to have so many hints to know what he was referring to. “Not right now. You’re back and I’m happy. Let’s not bring down the mood.”

Bradley nodded at me in understanding before gripping my hand in his own.

“But you know what would make my mood even better,” I offered up.

“What,” Bradley asked me curiously.

“If you play our song,” I requested, leading him towards the piano.

“Oh, god. Please don’t make me,” Bradley groaned sarcastically, willingly following me towards the piano.

“Pleeeeease,” I begged him with a grin.

“Fine,” he agreed, sitting on the bench with me.

“Yay,” I cheered, wrapping my arms around him in a quick hug.

Bradley settled in and ran his fingers over the keys, lightly playing a few before settling his fingers on the correct keys.

“Do I really have to play it right now,” Bradley slightly whined.

“Yes, it's been so long since you played me the only song you helped me write,” I nudged him.

“You wrote it, I merely assisted with occasional input. You should be the one to play it,” he argued with me.

“Bradley Nicholas Bradshaw, just play the damn piano,” I said sternly, focusing a glare on him.

“Alright, alright,” he huffed out.

Bradley began playing the opening notes to my song “Ours.” He nudged me to try and get me to sing, but all I did was shake my head with a hesitant smile. He furrowed his brows, concern in his eyes for a brief moment before he looked back at the piano. I quietly watched him play and propped my head on his shoulder as he did. I could see Penny and Mav working and watching the two of us out of the corner of my eye, whispering to each other now and then. I rolled my eyes at the two of them and continued watching Bradley until the front door opened again. I tensed up and Bradley stopped playing, moving to wrap his arm around my shoulders and place a kiss on the top of my head.

“Hangman, you’re early,” Mav said to the blonde aviator in surprise.

“Yeah, well, nothing wrong with being ahead of schedule,” He explained to Mav with his classic Hollywood smile.

I rolled my eyes at his words and sighed, leaning further into Bradley.

“Well congratulations on being early, Hangman, why don’t you go ahead out to the beach and claim your spot for the day,” Bradley offered up, trying to get rid of him for me.

“I will, once I get a beer,” Jake told him, moving to stand in front of Penny.

The woman nodded and started grabbing it for him, causing him to turn and lean against the bar, his stare burning into the side of my head, unrelenting. I removed myself from Bradley’s side and placed my hands on the keys, filling the silence of the space once again. Bradley placed his hand on my knee while I played and nudged me now and then in an attempt to mess me up. I would just laugh and nudge him back and continue playing until Jake spoke up.

“What, no good morning for me, Darling?”

I stopped playing and briefly glanced up at him with a blank face. “Good morning, Hangman.”

Jake’s face became a look of confusion at me calling him “Hangman” instead of “Jake” or “Mr. Eastwood.”

“So you two have met already,” Bradley realized, his hand on my knee tightening slightly.

“Yep,” I said simply, continuing my playing.

“Why didn’t you tell me,” He asked me curiously.

“Because it was nothing worth discussing,” I informed him, ignoring the hurt look that briefly flashed on Jake’s face.

“I’m sure that’s not true sweetheart,” Jake tried arguing.

“It is. Considering you haven’t said much to me since then,” I argued with him, looking up at him with a blank face.

Jake remained silent, staring at me in deep thought. All I did was shrug at him and gesture my head towards the back door.

“Looks like your beer is ready for you Hangman. Better go claim your spot on the beach before everybody else shows up.”

The five of us went silent after my words, Jake staring at me in shock. The silence remained for a few seconds before Mav cleared his throat.

“Presley, we left a few things in Bradley’s truck, you wanna help him grab them real quick and take them down to the beach?”

I silently nodded at him before standing from the piano bench. I gripped Bradley’s hand in my own and pulled him out the front door with me to the Bronco. What I missed when I was exiting was Jake glaring at our hands with disdain.

A few hours later, Dogfight football was over and the aviators were clearing out to go home and clean up before returning to the Hard Deck for Friday night drinks. Mav and Bradley returned inside to tell Penny and me they were leaving and would be back later. I smiled at the two men in acknowledgment and wrapped myself around Bradley like a koala bear once again, causing him to laugh and place his hands under my thighs. Our laughs were cut off by the back door of the bar opening and Hangman walking in, a small garbage bag in his hands. He looked between the two of us and glared, rolling his eyes before looking at Penny.

“Penny my dear,” He called out, causing Penny to turn to him. “Where do you want me to put this?”

“Oh, you can go ahead and take it out to the dumpster. Presley, can you show him where it is,” Penny called back to me.

I sighed and nodded, Bradey releasing me back to the ground. I began walking towards the kitchen doors, through the kitchen, and to the side door that leads to the dumpster.

“You know, I didn’t realize you had a boyfriend. If I knew that I wouldn’t have tried to get your number,” Jake said to me as he walked past me and threw the trashbag in the dumpster.

“I don’t have a boyfriend,” I told him, furrowing my brows in confusion. “And don’t use that as an excuse for how you have been the past week.”

“I’m not using it as an excuse, even though I have no idea what you mean. And I’m talking about how you have been acting today with Rooster,” Jake told me, placing his hands on his hips.

“Rooster,” I said in confusion.

“Yes, Rooster,” Jake nodded.

I stared at him for a second with confusion still on my face. “Who the fuck is Rooster?”

“Bradshaw,” He supplied for me.

Realization ran over me like a truck. “Bradley?” Jake nodded at me. “Bradley Bradshaw?”

“Yes,” Jake told me impatiently.

“Bradley’s not my boyfriend,” I told him with a shake of my head.

“He’s not,” He asked me in confusion.

“No. He’s not. He’s like my brother,” I explained to him.

“Oh…,” Jake said meekly.

“Jesus Christ,” I sighed out to myself, shaking my head and moving to go back inside.

“Well, can I get your number then,” Jake called after me.

I stopped in my tracks and looked back at him. “No,” I shouted at him in disbelief.

“Why not,” He asked me in an offensive tone.

“Why not? Did you seriously just ask me that,” I questioned him back in disbelief. “I can list off all of the reasons if you would like me to. Let’s start with the fact that you basically ignored me all week and just made a little flirtatious comment here and there.”

“I wouldn’t say I ignored you,” He argued with me.

“Really? Then what would you call it, Hangman,” I questioned him.

Jake went quiet as he looked up at the sky in thought, trying to decide what he was going to say.

“Exactly,” I scoffed.

“Okay, fine, I’ll admit that my actions the past week haven’t been the best. But please don’t let that affect the image you have of me. I’m just Jake, stop calling me Hangman,” Jake shrugged at me.

“Should I also add on the fact that you thought the guy who I grew up with was my boyfriend,” I offered up, causing him to wince.

I once again rolled my eyes and turned around, opening the door to go back inside. I made it halfway through the kitchen before Jake grabbed my arm and stopped me from walking any further.

“Okay, Presley, I’ll admit it, I was a jackass. A complete Jerk. I’m sorry. Just, please give me a chance to show you the real me. Okay? Not Hangman, Jake. Let me get your number, let me take you on a date. Whether that is to just get drinks or an actual dinner,” Jake begged me.

“Why are you so desperate to go on a date with me, Hangman, huh,” I questioned him curiously, turning to look at him with a glare.

“First of all, I believe I told you to call me Jake,” he told me, raising a single finger in my face. “Second-”

He didn't get to continue when I cut him off by grabbing his finger and pulling his hand out of my face. “Don't put your finger in my face.”

Jake let a small smirk come over his lips before throwing his hands up in surrender and stepping back from me. “Sorry, Darlin’.”

“Don't call me Darlin’ either,” I demanded, imitating his accent and crossing my arms over my chest.

“How about sweetheart instead,” Jake offered up, his smirk widening as he shoved his hands in his shorts pockets. My glare hardened at his words, causing him to shrug in acknowledgment. “Alright, I get it, nicknames are off the table.”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, shaking my head at him.

“What do you want from me? An autograph? Private show for you and your closest friends and family? The chance to say you went on a date with and stole “The Princess's” innocence? Because I can promise you, that ship sailed long ago,” I rattled off.

“Honestly,” Jake asked me, not taking his eyes full of clear amusement off of me.

“No, lie to me,” I sarcastically replied with an eye roll.

Jake let a chuckle of amusement escape before stepping close to me once again. “I want a chance.”

“A chance for what,” I huffed.

“A chance to be able to show you how you deserve to be treated. To stand on your doorstep holding flowers on our first date, tell you that you look absolutely beautiful before walking you to the car, where I will open the door for you and help you into your seat, which, FYI, won’t be the only time I open the door and help you into your seat that night. I want a chance to walk you back up to your door at the end of the night and tell you, for probably the thousandth time that night, how beautiful you look and tell you “No thank you, I don’t want to join you inside.” Because let’s be honest, you are going to be so impressed and obsessed with me by the end of the night you’ll want nothing more than to get me into bed with you, but you deserve more respect than that so I’ll just place a kiss on your cheek, tell you I’ll call you, watch you walk inside, and wait till I hear the lock click before leaving just to be sure that you got in safely.” He said softly with an equally soft smile, looking down at me with adoration in his eyes.

I shook my head at him with a small laugh of disbelief. “Is that all?”

“No. Finally, I want a chance to go home at the end of the night, and text you “Goodnight beautiful, sweet dreams”, you be the last thing on my mind before I go to sleep and the first when I wake up, and text you “good morning sweetheart” with a little winky face emoji despite how much I despise the use of them,” He finished, winking at me.

I stared at him in silence for a moment, taking him and his words in. Weighing the pros and cons in my head, the pros very obviously outweigh the cons in numbers but not in severity. I looked down at the floor, taking in my Converse and his sandals shoes before sighing and looking up at the aviator.

“My favorite flowers are white roses and blue baby’s breath, and I love Italian food,” I told him simply.

He held my stare, nodding in acknowledgment as he tried to hold back a smile. “Noted.”

I shook my head at him again and tried to force down my smile as well. “You can pick me up at 6. If you’re even a minute late, I’m changing into my PJs and watching rom-coms with Amelia.”

“Don’t plan on it, sweetheart,” He reassured me.

I shook my head at him in disbelief once again before turning to walk away from him. “See you tomorrow night.”

“I’m counting on it,” He called out to me as I walked away.

“Okay, what do you think,” I asked Amelia, turning around from my mirror for her and Theo to see the simple high-waisted skirt and tucked-in white button-up I was wearing.

I watched the teen and dog sitting on my bed tilt their heads as I spun around for them to see the whole outfit. I stopped when I was facing them again, watching them scrutinize me. They were silent for a moment before Theo released a small noise, causing Amelia to nod in agreement with him.

“Theo’s right, it’s not nice enough,” She hummed out.

I sighed in frustration and slapped my thighs. “Amelia, this is the third outfit I’ve tried on.”

“Well, keep trying stuff on because we haven’t found the right thing yet,” She told me, causing Theo to bark in what seemed like agreement.

I glared at the two of them before turning back towards my closet and going through my clothes again. I reached the section filled with dresses and began looking through them carefully when Amelia gasped.

“That’s the one! The little black dress, it’s a classic,” She squealed, hopping off my bed and grabbing it out of the closet.

I gasped at her before grabbing it. “Oh, no.”

“Why not,” She asked me in frustration, trying to grab it back.

“Because this dress is special. It’s a third date dress, at least,” I stressed to her, moving it out of her grip and hanging it back up.

“How is it a third date dress,” She argued with me.

I looked over the dress, taking in the straps that were just tied, meaning easy access. I cleared my throat before looking over at her and shrugging. “Reasons.” Amelia rolled her eyes and didn’t look like she was going to let her question go unanswered. “Look, you’re in high school, so you may or may not understand the concept, but when you start to get older you have certain clothing items that you deem third-date material.”

“Like…,” She trailed off.

I rolled my eyes before pointing at the dress. “Like a dress that you feel really… hot… in. Or a bra that shows off the goods.”

“A bra, really,” She asked in disbelief.

“Yes, I have a third date bra. Two actually,” I informed her, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Hm. Can I have a third date bra,” She asked me curiously, placing her hands on her hips.

I sat for a moment in silence, contemplating my answer. “I’ll get you one when you’re older,” I told her turning back to my closet.

I moved my black dress out of the way to look at the next dress, a hum escaping me at the light blue dress hanging in front of me. A simple mini dress with a tiered flowy bottom that ended about mid-thigh and instead of a zipper bringing together the back of the dress there were two bows to tie together.

“That’s it,” Amelia said from over my shoulder, Theo barking once again to seemingly voice his agreement.

I paired the dress with a pair of white stilettos and a white blazer. I lightly curled my light brown hair so it fell in waves and did a simple makeup look with my signature red lips. I decided to do a set of pearl earrings with a matching necklace and bracelet with my mom's rings resting on my right ring finger. I stepped back from my mirror and smoothed my dress down, turning around so I could see the back as well. I released a hum of appreciation for myself when I heard the doorbell ring at 6 o'clock on the dot. I listened to Theo barking and Amelia yelled out that she would get it. I widened my eyes and spun around to grab my clutch before booking it out of my room.

“No, Mia, I got it,” I yelled out to her, rushing through the hallway and down the stairs.

When I reached the bottom, I looked over to see a teenage girl with a dog sitting by her heels interrogating a grown adult man.

“What exactly are your intentions with my cousin,” Amelia asked Jake.

Jake released a chuckle, clutching the flowers in his hands closer to his chest. “I intend to take her to a nice dinner and treat her with the utmost respect.”

“Are you going to hold the door open for her and help her into her seat,” she questioned him, crossing her arms over her chest.

“That was the plan. You can ask her yourself,” he said with a light smirk.

“And if you touch her…,” Amelia trailed off.

“Nothing more than respectful hand-holding and a kiss on the cheek… with her permission of course,” Jake reassured.

“Good, because I may be tiny, but I know people and I have a dog that's ready to defend when necessary,” Amelia threatened Jake, causing his face to contort in amusement.

I chose this time to walk over to the door and wrap my arm around the teenager.

“Okay, Amelia, thank you,” I said to her as I steered her away from the door.

Once she was no longer facing Jake she dropped her stern expression and looked at me with a big grin. “I like him, keep him,” she whispered to me.

“Well, it's hard for me to decide if I want to keep him if I don't go on a date with him,” I whispered back to her, sending her and Theo on their way.

I turned back to the door to see Jake staring at me in amazement. I blushed as he raked his gaze up and down my form before he met my eyes. I let a small smile grow on my face and clasped my clutch in front of me.

“Hi,” I said softly.

“Wow,” Jake released a breath and nodded at me. “You didn't hold back did you?”

I raised my eyebrows in question, causing his smile to widen at my oblivious expression.

“You don't just look beautiful, Darlin’. You look angelic,” he told me.

“Angelic, huh,” I murmured, looking down at my feet before looking at him shyly from under my lashes.

The two of us stood in silence staring at each other for a few seconds before Amelia stepped forward once again.

“Are those for Presley,” she asked, gesturing to the flowers in Jake's hand.

The two of us broke our gaze, I whipped my head around to look at her briefly before looking quickly back at Jake. Jake briefly widened his eyes and looked down at the flowers before looking back up at the two of us.

“Uh, yes, they are,” he said, holding them out to me.

I accepted them and a smirk formed on my lips. “White roses and baby's breath.”

“Yeah, I heard someone say they were your favorite,” he smirked back at me.

I shook my head in amusement at him as Amelia spoke up again.

“I can put them in a vase for you if you'd like?”

I looked back at Amelia and nodded. “Yes, please, Amelia. I would appreciate that. Thank you.”

Amelia nodded back at me and took the flowers from my hands. “I'll put them in your room for you. You have fun.”

“Thank you, Amelia, we will,” Jake told the teenager, reaching forward to grab my hand and therefore sending my attention back towards him.

I raised my eyebrow at him and allowed him to pull me closer to him. Jake smiled at me and pulled me out the door, closing it behind us, and led me to his car.

“Why am I not surprised that you own a pickup truck,” I questioned rhetorically.

Jake's smile widened as he led me to the passenger side. He opened the door and looked at me before shrugging.

“It's part of the cowboy starter pack, along with a hat, boots, a flannel, blue jeans, and a really big belt buckle,” Jake replied sarcastically.

I smirked and shook my head at him. “Is that all?”

“Nope, it also comes with a certain charm that makes it very hard for a woman to say no to me,” He added, a smirk growing on his face too.

“Oh, really,” I asked in a sarcastic tone.

“Mhm,” He hummed.

I rolled my eyes and moved closer so I was standing right in front of him. “I don’t think that’s true.”

“Well, we’re here aren’t we,” Jake said, referring to our date.

I scoffed and went to reply to him, but I cut myself off with a squeal as Jake bent down to pick me up, delicately placing me in his passenger seat. I looked at him with wide eyes as he pulled the seatbelt from where it was resting and reached over me to buckle me in.

“I can do it myself,” I reminded him.

“I know. This way, if you try and run off from me before our date even starts, I know it will take you longer to get out of my truck,” He told me with a wink before closing the door.

I watched him walk around the front of the truck before climbing in on his side and starting the car. He reached over and placed one hand on my seat and looked behind him as he backed out with one hand. I watched with rapt attention and felt myself blush at his actions. Jake glanced over at me when he finished and smirked at my reaction, causing me to roll my eyes and my blush to darken as he drove off toward our destination.

I felt my eyes widen in shock at the restaurant he pulled up to, one of the most expensive Italian restaurants in San Diego.

“Jake, we don’t have to eat here,” I reassured him, glancing over at him quickly.

“You said you wanted Italian. I'm taking you to get Italian,” he told me, getting out of the truck and handing his keys to the valet, jogging around the vehicle to get to my side and open the door for me.

“I would have been perfectly fine with a hole-in-the-wall diner,” I explained, accepting his hand to help me out of the truck.

“Absolutely not. I'm getting the best food for the best girl. You deserve nothing less,” Jake told me, gripping my hand tightly in his and leading me into the restaurant.

“I just want to be sure that you brought me here because you wanted to, not because you felt like you had to because of who I am,” I argued with him, watching him pull the door to the restaurant open and hold it for me.

“Presley, I can promise you that I am bringing you here of my own volition,” Jake reassured me as I walked past him.

Jake held his arm out for me to wrap around before leading me up to the host stand.

“Reservation for Seresin,” Jake told the young woman.

The woman looked up with a bright smile which turned into shock when she saw me.

“Oh, my god. You're Presley Jo,” she gasped out.

“Yep,” I nodded at her looking around and hoping no one else said anything.

“I love your music. You are literally so amazing. I totally don't believe anything that's being said about you by the way. Especially not by that disgusting perv that is now your ex-manager,” she said quickly, causing me to become uncomfortable with the topic at hand.

“Okay,” I said awkwardly, tightening my grip on Jake's arm.

The young girl went to speak again but was cut off by who I'm assuming is the manager.

“Miss Benjamin, if we would have known you were going to be coming to our fine establishment we would have planned for your arrival a little better.”

“Oh, that's not necessary,” I reassured, leaning into Jake.

“Nonsense. I'll get the best table for you,” he told me, beginning to snap his fingers to get a worker's attention.

“That's not- whatever was originally set up for the Seresin reservation is just fine,” I reassured the man, but I was ignored as he walked away to get a table for us.

“So… is this what it's like every time you go out,” Jake asked me curiously after remaining silent the entire interaction.

I sighed and nodded, avoiding eye contact with him. “Sadly.”

We remained quiet for a second before I broke it.

“If you don't want to continue, I understand. You can take me home now and I won't say anything negative to Penny, Amelia, Maverick, or Rooster,” I reassured him, giving him an out if he wanted it.

“I'm not taking you home,” he argued with me.

“Jake, it's fine if you do,” I argued back.

“Presley Joanna Benjamin,” he said above me, causing me to go quiet and stare at him in shock, a slight heat pooling in my stomach at his tone of voice. “I am not taking you home. I said I was going to take you on a date and treat you how you deserve to be treated. Let me do that.”

“Fine,” I said reluctantly, blushing and looking at my feet.

“Thank you. Now enjoy yourself,” he told me, reaching down, grabbing my clutch out of my hand to hold in his own, and intertwining his empty hand with my own.

The manager returned and led Jake and me to our table, which was placed in the middle of the room for everybody to see. Everyone stared at the two of us as Jake pulled my chair out for me before going around the table to sit on his own. The waiter came and took our drink orders, wine for me, and whiskey for Jake. We were just beginning to look at the menus when a flash went off from next to me. I looked over to see a young girl with her family holding her phone up towards me.

“Oh, no. Please don't post that,” I begged the girl, beginning to push my seat back from the table.

Jake lifted his head and looked at me in confusion before following my gaze. He noticed the girl tapping on her screen and sighed.

“Presley,” Jake whispered to me, trying to get my attention.

“Seriously, please don't,” I begged her, ignoring him.

The girl looked up from her phone and smirked. “What, scared for everyone to find out you tricked another guy into dating you?”

I gulped at her words and fought back the tears.

“I never tricked anybody into dating me,” I told her quietly.

“Tell that to the paparazzi when they get here,” she said smugly before posting the photo.

I could feel the color drain from my face at her actions and continued staring at her phone in horror. I immediately grabbed my clutch off the table and stood from my seat.

“We have to go,” I announced to Jake.

“Presley, we just got here,” Jake argued with me.

“Yes, and believe it or not even though we live in San Diego, the paparazzi will be here in about 5 minutes, 10 if we're lucky. And considering I've been sneaking around and staying out of trouble, they're going to be even more desperate to get my picture,” I argued back with him, turning away from the table and beginning to walk to the exit.

“Presley, hold on, just wait,” Jake called after me, jumping from his seat and rushing after me.

I made it to the lobby of the restaurant before Jake grabbed my arm and stopped me in my tracks, pulling me towards him.

“Presley, let's just wait a second, okay,” he said calmly, soothingly rubbing my arms.

“I don't have time to just wait a second, Jake. What do you not understand about that," I told him, my frustration building.

“Pres, come on, just talk to me,” he begged me, leaning down to look into my eyes.

“I will be more than happy to talk to you in the car. Come on,” I told him, tilting my head towards the door.

“I'm not going to get the car, alright? Let's just sit down, have a drink, and-”

“I DON’T HAVE THE LUXURY TO JUST SIT DOWN IN PUBLIC AND HAVE A DRINK AND A NICE CONVERSATION, JAKE, OKAY,” I yelled, cutting him off.

Jake went quiet and stared at me in shock, dropping his hands from my arms and down to his sides. He opened his mouth to speak again, but I continued before he could.

“You’re asking me to do something I haven't had the luxury of doing in a very long time because people are always on my ass just waiting for the second I screw up all so they can capture it on film and sell it to the highest bidder. And if you want a good example of that, well just look at what they're saying about me right now all because I refused to let some perv use me to his advantage,” I blurted out.

“Presley-,” he started again.

“No you just don't get it, Jake, okay,” I cut him off, tears building up in my eyes from my frustration.

“Then help me to understand,” he begged me.

I looked into his bright green eyes and took a deep breath.

“This isn't something that I can explain and you just magically understand, Jake. This has been my entire life for the past 10 years,” I snapped out.

Right as I finished my statement, a crowd began forming out in front of the restaurant, flashes going off as the cameras pointed at us. I looked over and stared at them for a moment, sighing in frustration before looking at Jake.

“And now it's going to be yours for the next 10 minutes. Enjoy,” I shrugged at him, gesturing towards the large crowd before walking towards the exit.

“Presley,” Jake called out, trying to get me to stop. “At least let me drive you home,” he called out to me.

“No, thank you,” I called back to him, pushing the front door open and beginning my trek through the paparazzi.

All of them began shouting questions at me as the valet began trying to help me shove through the group. Asking me questions like where I've been hiding, what are my plans for my career, and the dreaded when will I speak out on what has happened? I kept my head down and pushed my way through the crows of yelling and flashing lights. When I reached the curb, the valet assisted me in calling a cab, waving his arm around to grab the attention of the car. I sighed out a quick thank you and handed him some spare cash I had in my clutch before climbing in and shouting my address to the driver and telling him to step on it. The last thing I saw as I drove away was Jake standing in the doorway of the restaurant with a heartbroken look.

When I got home I immediately walked up to the front door, dug my house keys out of my clutch, and unlocked the door. I walked in threw my keys down in the bowl and slipped my heels off as Theo came running around the corner to greet me. I turned and locked the door before throwing my clutch on the cabinet in the entryway.

“Hey, buddy,” I sighed, rubbing his head before walking into the living room.

“Hey, that was quick,” Amelia said to me in shock, looking over the back of the couch at me.

“We didn’t even make it to the appetizers,” I said blandly after releasing a groan.

“That bad,” Amelia asked curiously.

I walked into the living room and collapsed on the couch with a sigh. Amelia adjusted her blanket so it was covering the two of us and Theo hopped on the couch between the two of us after her actions. He spun around a few times before settling, his head resting in my lap.

“Some girl there posted a picture of me, the place was swarming with the paparazzi within 5 minutes,” I explained to her.

“Oh, Lee, I’m so sorry,” Amelia told me, adjusting herself so her head was resting on my shoulder in comfort.

“It’s okay, kiddo. It's not like it was your fault. It’s my fault for thinking I could live a somewhat normal life,” I reassured her, running my hands through her hair.

“So, did Jake drop you off,” She asked me curiously.

“No, I got into an argument with him and got a cab home,” I answered.

“Oh,” she groaned in sympathy for me. “Do you think you’ll give him another chance?”

“It’s not me giving him another chance you should worry about. It’s whether or not he’ll give me another one,” I explained. Amelia lifted her head and went to respond but I cut her off. “Let’s stop talking about my total disaster of a first date and just enjoy the rest of the night together.”

“Okay, fine,” Amelia agreed reluctantly with a sigh.

“Great! Now what are we watching?”

“The Proposal.”

“I love it. I’ll get changed and get snacks,” I told her, moving to get up from the couch.

Amelia laughed as I walked out of the living room and towards the stairs, but I stopped when the doorbell rang.

“Amelia, are you expecting somebody,” I called out to the teenager.

“No,” She called back.

I walked up to the front door and flicked the lock, opening it to find Jake standing on the other side.

“Jake,” I said in shock, looking out behind him and up and down the street.

“None of them followed me if that’s what you’re checking for,” He reassured me.

I looked back at him and sighed. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to make sure you got home safely,” He explained, nervously looking down at his feet before looking me in the eye.

“Well, thank you,” I told him hesitantly.

Jake nodded at me in acknowledgment as the silence between us began to hang. The first awkward silence to ever occur between the two of us.

“You can-” “I just want to-”

The two of us spoke at the same time, causing both of us to immediately pause and stare at each other.

“What were you about to say,” Jake asked me, gesturing for me to go on.

“Oh, no. You can go first,” I reassured him.

“What I have to say can wait,” Jake told me.

“Jake, what I was going to say isn’t important. What were you going to say,” I asked him.

Jake stared at me silently, the furrow of his brow letting me know he was deep in thought, deciding what he was going to say.

“I just want to say, I'm sorry and you were right,” he released.

I stared at him in shock as he continued.

“I don't understand what you go through daily, or what you went through for the past 10 years. I don't understand how hard it must be for you to try and do anything normal because I've never experienced your life myself. Seeing what you were going through tonight, the good and the bad, made me realize how different we and the lives we live are,” he told me, causing dread to build in my stomach, knowing the next words to come out of his mouth are going to break me.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that I would love nothing more than to get to know you and for you to talk to me. Help me understand what it is that you deal with in your life. Tell me what I can do to earn your trust and support you. Because, darlin’, I plan on being here for the long run.”

I widened my eyes in shock at his words and felt tears well up in my eyes as well. I have never had a guy step up and tell me such things. They’ve always been takers. People are more interested in my fame than in working to understand me for who I am. Who I can be when you take away that part of me. I took a deep breath and then released it, looking at my feet briefly before looking back at the blonde aviator.

“If you’ll have me, that is,” Jake added nervously, clearly concerned about my silence.

I gave him a soft smile. “I think that can be arranged.”

I could see Jake visibly relax at my words. It was almost as if he had 100 pounds of weight lifted off of his shoulders. His nervous look changed to one of glee, and he turned his charm back up.

“Thank goodness, because I didn’t know what I was going to do with this if you said no,” Jake said, reaching over to the side of the porch.

I watched him lift a plastic bag with a couple of styrofoam containers, a bottle of wine wrapped in a brown paper bag, and a large pizza box. I chuckled in amusement while shaking my head before looking at the man with a questioning look.

“I promised you Italian,” He said simply with a shrug.

“You are…,” I trailed off, not knowing the exact words I wanted to use for the man.

“Hopefully the words you are looking to end that with are all positive,” He said with a grin. “Can I come inside? We can talk everything over.”

I grinned and went to answer, but I was cut off by a voice whispering “Say yes” behind me. Jake and I shared a look of amusement and I released a small chuckle.

“You know, I was unsure about my answer at first, but I just have this small, nagging, annoying voice telling me I should let you in,” I told him with a smirk.

“Hey,” Amelia whined out at my insults.

Jake released a chuckle at the teenager as well and peeked slightly in the door to see the teenager hiding around the corner.

“Well, I think you should listen to the all-knowing and wise voice,” Jake directed at me while looking at Amelia and giving her a wink. “Especially because the pizza is getting colder as we speak.”

I shook my head at him in amusement before opening the door wider. “Would you like to join me upstairs?”

Jake’s smile widened before nodding. “I would love nothing more.”

Jake walked in the door and removed his shoes, placing them next to my own. I turned around to make my way to the kitchen to grab a wine opener and glasses, but I was shocked to find my teenage cousin standing in the doorway already holding the items out to me. I shook my head at her in amusement before stepping forward and accepting the items from her.

“Raincheck on The Proposal,” I asked her with a pout.

“Ryan Reynolds will just have to wait,” Amelia agreed with an exaggerated sigh.

The two of us laughed together before I turned and led Jake upstairs to my room. Jake followed me silently through the hallway until we reached my bedroom, taking in everything while I closed the door, leaving it open a few inches. Jake set everything on my desk while I grabbed my blanket off of the bed and laid it down on the floor, grabbing a few pillows and laying them down as well. Jake removed his leather bomber jacket with all of his navy patches and rested it over the back of my desk chair. I took a seat on the floor and he followed me soon after, placing the food on the floor before taking a seat.

“I have to say, I didn’t think this would be the first time I would be in your room,” Jake told me with a smirk as he grabbed the wine opener.

“Yeah, what was that you told me about saying no to coming upstairs on the first date,” I questioned him smugly, leaning back against my bed.

“Hey, now. This is different,” Jake defended with a smile of amusement, a brief chuckle escaping him as he pulled the cork out of the wine bottle.

“Mhm, sure,” I agreed sarcastically, holding my wine glass out towards him to fill.

“It is,” He argued with me as he filled my glass.

“How so,” I asked him curiously.

“Well, for starters, I said I would tell you no to coming inside at the end of our date, and it does not appear to be the end of our date yet,” Jake pointed out, gesturing to the spread of pizza and garlic bread laid out in front of us.

“Okay, you got me there,” I nodded at him as he filled his glass.

“And, I told you that you were going to be so impressed and obsessed with me that you will never want me to leave,” Jake finished off, setting the wine down and placing the cork back inside of it.

“Well what makes you think I’m not already impressed and obsessed with you,” I argued with him.

“I never said you weren’t,” Jake pointed out.

I rolled my eyes at him and chuckled. “Alright, fine. So I might be impressed already, but I don’t think I’ve quite reached the point of obsession yet.”

“Well, our night has only just begun,” Jake said smugly, winking at me with his Hollywood movie star smile.

“Well, then, here’s to my eventual obsession,” I said back just as smugly, holding my wine glass out towards him.

“To your eventual obsession,” Jake cheered with me, clinking his glass against my own.

The two of us drank our wine before digging into our food. Jake handed me a paper plate and napkin from the bag before opening the pizza box, the two of us letting out a groan at the sight of the pizza in front of us.

“Okay, just pick one,” He told me, moving the box closer to me.

“Oh, I get to pick first,” I asked him sarcastically.

“Yep, ladies first,” He told me with a bright grin.

“Are you sure? That’s quite the thing to bestow upon somebody,” I said sarcastically, leaning my head back against the bed.

“I’m positive. Go ahead darlin’,” He told me, nudging the box closer to me.

“Okay,” I told him, grabbing the slice I wanted and folding it so it was easier to eat. “Don’t judge how I eat my pizza. I roll it crust side out because I’m a lady.”

“Hey, no judgment here, honey,” Jake reassured me, grabbing a slice for himself and folding it as well.

I giggled at his actions and held it out to cheer him again before the two of us took a bite of our pizza, releasing groans of pleasure at the deliciousness.

“So, now that we have our date back on track, good food, good wine, and hopefully good company,” Jake listed off, looking over at me at his last words with a hopeful expression.

“Very good company,” I reassured him, taking a bite of my pizza.

“How about we get started on you helping understand everything about you,” Jake offered up.

I went quiet at his words and looked down at my lap. “Are you sure you want that?”

“Like I said Darlin’, I want to be in it for the long run,” He reassured me.

I sighed. “Like I said, this has been my life for 10 years…”

I told him everything. From being discovered to now. All the happy times, all the sad times. The joy of being recognized and winning awards. The sadness of rumors being spread and having my heart broken time and time again. The times when I was made the bad guy even though I did nothing wrong. Then I told him about what caused me to be sent back to San Diego in the first place.

“So what happened with your manager exactly,” Jake asked me curiously.

“Since the beginning, he always seemed a little off. It was almost like he was waiting for something to happen so he could slither his way in and take advantage of me. After my most recent breakup, I was receiving more hate than usual. He started putting in my head that I was losing everything and I was about to be a nobody. A washed-up pop singer who had it all one day then nothing the next. I started to believe him and I was thinking “What am I going to do?” Then I realized that he was lying to me. He was just trying to brainwash me and weaken me.”

“Why,” Jake asked me.

“Because he was a disgusting pig who wanted me for himself. I confronted him about everything, he forced himself on me and said that I would have nothing if it weren’t for him. He told me if I fired him he would tell everybody about what I did to him. Which was nothing. I was nothing but good to him. He told me if I didn’t sleep with him and do whatever he wanted me to do that I was finished. So I told him I would rather be finished than used and abused like a slave. So I fired him and here I am now. Lies being spread about me left and right.”

I went quiet at the end of my explanation, looking down at my lap as I had tears build up in my eyes. Jake remained quiet for a moment as my tears began to stream down my face. I listened to Jake release a sigh before he placed a hand on my knee. He began soothingly rubbing my knee before speaking.

“I am so sorry you had to go through that Presley. You didn’t deserve it. Believe me when I say that and believe me when I say not everybody believes what is being said about you,” Jake reassured me.

“Thank you,” I whispered to him.

He nodded and removed his hand from my knee, bringing it up to wipe my tears from my face. I brought my hand up and grabbed his own, pressing it closer to my face and turning my cheek into his palm. Jake rubbed his thumb against my cheekbone and I turned my head more to press a kiss against the inside of his palm. I gripped his hand in both of mine and brought it down to my lap, intertwining my fingers with his own before looking up at him and looking into his eyes. Jake’s eyes softened when we made eye contact and I could see him release a deep breath that he was holding in. He squeezed my hand before breaking eye contact, looking down at the floor and releasing my hand.

“It’s late, I think I better-”

I cut him off by placing my lips against his own, causing him to gasp in surprise. It was a chaste kiss, an innocent press of the lips against each other for a few moments before I pulled away from him. I opened my eyes and watched Jake do the same, the two of us staring into each other’s eyes once again. Jake’s surprise turned into a smirk not long after I pulled away, and he placed his hand back on my cheek.

“Where do you think you’re going Darlin’,” He said smugly before placing his lips back on my own.

I couldn’t help but smile into the kiss as he continued placing his lips against my own in a dance only we knew with each other. I brought my hands up to wrap around his neck, pulling myself closer to him until I was pressed against him, moving to straddle his hips to become closer to him. Jake’s hands remained respectfully on my hips as we kissed, rubbing his thumb across my hip bone occasionally. I released my hold on his neck to thread one of my hands into the hair at the back of his head and trailed my other hand down to one of his own on my hip, guiding it farther south to rest on my cheek. I allowed myself to grind down on him briefly, causing him to groan into the kiss and break away.

“Darlin’, remember what I said about wanting to treat you how you deserve to be treated and being respectful,” Jake rasped out to me, pressing his forehead against mine. I hummed in acknowledgment of his question. “Well, right now, you’re making it very hard on me to do so, and I think we should stop now and I should leave before we do something we shouldn’t and I’m not able to stop.”

“Who said I want you to stop,” I whispered to him before placing my lips back on his, and he returned the kiss eagerly.

However, our continuation was short-lived by a bark and slobbery kiss being placed on the side of my face.

“Theo,” I groaned out, moving off of Jake so the dog could climb on top of me.

“Well, look at that. Saved by the dog,” Jake said smugly, causing me to glare at him in annoyance. Jake smirked back at me before standing from the floor. “Why don’t you walk me out, Darlin’?”

I sighed before nodding and standing from the floor, lightly pushing Theo off of me in the process. I gripped his hand in my own and walked through the hallway and down the stairs. I looked over into the living room to see Amelia asleep on the couch, Jake following my gaze with a small smile. I shrugged at him before leading him over to the front door.

“Thank you for tonight. I had a really great time,” I told him shyly, gripping his hand in my own.

“Well, I’m glad you did,” He nodded at me, stopping with me in front of the door.

“Maybe we can do this again,” I offered up, playing with his fingers.

“We definitely will, Darlin’. But next time, you're coming to my place,” he smirked at me.

I smirked back. “Is that wise? After what Theo just interrupted.”

“Oh, I can control myself, sweetheart. The question is whether or not you can,” he said smugly, leaning down closer to me.

“I guess we'll just have to wait and see,” I whispered, leaning in closer to him.

“I guess so,” Jake whispered back, leaning in to kiss me once again.

However we were interrupted by the door opening, Penny and Maverick stepping in through the front door. Jake and I froze while the two older adults stared at the two of us in shock.

“Fun night,” Penny asked smugly.

“Nothing happened,” I reassured her before grabbing Jake's hand in my own and leading him out the door.

Penny laughed while Maverick muttered curses under his breath. I shut the door behind me and looked up at Jake.

“Sorry, about that,” I apologized with a blush.

“You have nothing to apologize for,” he reassured me.

I grinned up at him before shaking my head. “I'll see you later then?”

“Definitely,” he nodded at me before leaning down and capturing my lips in another kiss. He pulled away after and smirked. “I had to get at least one more in before we were interrupted again.”

I sighed in frustration. “You sure you don't want to change your opinion on coming back upstairs,” I whined out.

“Trust me, sweetheart, I would love nothing more, but like I said, you deserve better than that,” he told me with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes and pouted at him, causing him to chuckle. Jake leaned forward placed a kiss on my forehead and whispered a “goodnight, sweetheart” before turning around and walking towards his truck.

“You remember this as the day you turned down a popstar,” I called after him.

“I definitely will,” he called back, not turning around.

“You're going to regret this,” I called out again.

“Already am beautiful,” he called back again.

“goodnight,” I called out to him, turning to open the door.

“Hey, Presley,” Jake called out, causing me to turn back around. “I told you you would be obsessed with me,” he smirked at me as he opened the door to his truck.

“Get out of here, Hangman,” I said while laughing, rolling my eyes at him.

I turned around and opened the front door, moving inside and turning around to see Jake standing and waiting for me to close the door. I waved one last time at him, him doing the same before I closed and locked the door. I released a dreamy sigh and turned to lean back against the door. I bit my lip to contain my smile and ran my fingers over my lips as I remembered what it felt like to kiss Jake.

“So, how was it,” Penny asked me curiously, peeking her head out of the kitchen.

“It started horrible but turned into one of the best nights of my life. He was a complete gentleman-”

“Good, I didn't want to have to threaten him,” Mav spoke up as he moved into view from the kitchen.

I rolled my eyes at the man before looking back at Penny.

“Tonight was… amazing,” I told her firmly.

“Good. So, will there be a second date,” she asked me curiously.

“I think there will be many dates,” I reassured her, moving to go upstairs.

“aw, my little girl is in love,” Penny cooed, placing her head on Maverick's shoulder.

“I wouldn't say that… but I think I'm going to stick around for a little while. I might even get my own place,” I shrugged at her before running upstairs as she gasped at my words.

“Presley Joanna, do not play with me like that,” she called after me.

I giggled as I walked into my room and shut the door behind me. I leaned against it and dropped to the floor as I reminisced about my night. I took in the blanket and pillows still sitting on the floor with our trash and glasses from the night. I just shrugged it off and decided to take care of the mess in the morning. I moved to go into my ensuite bathroom but paused in my steps when I noticed something different.

A dark brown leather bomber jacket with a patch reading Hangman still resting on my desk chair.

Taglist: @buckysteveloki-me @hookslove1592

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thewulf · 2 years

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Who are You? Part 2 || Jake "Hangman" Seresin

Summary: After breaking up with you lovely cheating fiancée you find a place to stay at your Aunt Penny's house in San Diego. You might just get more than you bargained for when you meet the Jake Seresin.

A/N: Hi friends! Sorry, this took longer than I wanted to, I wasn’t originally planning on doing a Part 2, so it took a bit to come up with a decent storyline. Please, as always, let me know what you think! Thanks for all the love. This is all fluff. Pure fluff! Also, you like sharks.

Pairing: Jake “Hangman” Seresin x Y/N

Word Count: 5,800+

Part 1

“Shark Week! Shark Week! Shark Week!” You chanted excitedly hopping on the couch next to Amelia.

“Are you seriously wearing a shark shirt Y/N?” Amelia asked peaking curiously at your Jaws shirt. You loved sharks. You always have always thought they were fascinating. You could thank your mother for that. Emily Benjamin, now Emily Y/L/N. The admiral’s other daughter was also obsessed with sharks. From an early age Admiral James Benjamin took Emily and Penny to go see the sharks at the aquarium. Your mom was quickly obsessed. The two of you always watched shark week together, very animatedly.

You wide eyed her, disappointed in Penny’s not as enthusiastic nature, “And you’re not?”

She laughed tossing the remote in your direction, “No, I didn’t know it was shark week.”

You gasped, rather dramatically, making her turn around in shock, “Amelia Benjamin! That is unacceptable.” You found the Discovery channel right before 8 o’clock hit, grinning in anticipation of learning some more about sharks.

She shrugged, “Now I know. I guess I’ll watch with you?”

“You guess? You’re sitting here until 11 with me. It’s Great White night.” You laughed softly knowing you were straight up nerding out on her.

“There’s nights for specific sharks?”

You nodded, “Only the really popular ones. My favorite, the Tiger Shark, doesn’t get as much love as they deserve. They unfortunately don’t get a night.”

“You have a favorite shark?” She smirked turning her body to you fully. Amelia knew a lot about you, she didn’t know this though. This was interesting to her.

“You don’t?”

“No.” She answered honestly, never really thinking about. See, Penny wasn’t nearly as obsessed as your mom, Emily is. She didn’t have shark week marathons rolling like your mom did.

“Wow.” You feigned hurt placing a hand over your heart, “Well it’s a great week to pick a favorite one!”

She shook her head laughing at you, “You’re precious Y/N.”

“Now,” You clicked your tongue, “A 15 year old should not be telling an almost 30 year old that they are precious.”

“Well,” She challenged you, eyeing you like she was the bigger person, “You are. I’ve never seen anyone geek out on shark week like this.”

Just as you were about to counter, Penny came through the front door. Pete in tow. Your face lit up, “You guys are home just in time for shark week!” You spoke clapping your hands with glee.

Penny smiled while Mav looked straight up confused, “Emily is that you?”

“Should I facetime her in?” The idea popped into your head.

Penny giggled, “No Y/N. Your mom will be too invested to even hold a conversation with us, no point in calling her while it’s on.” You nodded in agreement. The two of you had a system down, no talking while the show was on. But the two of you debriefed during commercials. A mother and daughter shark week combo.

“What’s going on?” Pete chimed in looking bewildered.

“It’s shark week!” You grinned up to him, not daring to move from your comfortable spot on the couch.

“Duh, Mav.” Amelia winked at him knowing how lost he was.

His eyebrows were stitched together in utter confusion, “Okay. And?”

You grumbled, “I’m not doing this again.” You frowned turning your attention back to the TV.

Amelia let out a roaring laugh, “Y/N loves sharks. Just like mom’s sister, Emily, does. Y/N here, is getting a little agitated that we all aren’t sharing the love when it comes to sharks.”

“It’s fine. You don’t have to love sharks. Just means you’re opinion is wrong. I won’t hold it against any of you.” You smiled sweetly at the trio.

“Just like Emily.” Penny laughed ruffling your hair.

You spent the next three hours entranced by the Discovery channel. To your surprise all three of them stayed to watch with you. You saw the way Pete and Amelia watched, more interested than they would admit. You answered all their questions hoping they’d appreciate sharks just a little bit more.

The next morning as you got up you noticed the Discovery channel was turned on, Amelia watching eating a bowl of cereal. No sign of Penny or Pete just yet, “I knew I’d make you a shark lover!” You clapped not being able to contain your excitement.

She shook her head at you, “Actually pretty interesting.”

“Told you!” You poured your own bowl of cereal joining her on the couch again.

She shrugged, “So, it’s Saturday.” She cocked her eye waiting for you to continue.

“Yes it is, I’m glad you can read the date.” Chirping back to her you suddenly were super interested in the bowl of cereal.

She pushed you lightly, “Shut up, I’m talking about your date tonight with Jake.”

“What about it little cousin?”

“What are you guys doing?” She questioned curiously. Amelia knew of Jake. She had seen him around a a few times just knowing how he operated. Amelia knew that Jake was likely not the man you were going to spend the rest of your life with, but she hated seeing you sad over a loser who cheated on you. She was desperate to get you thinking of something else. Her solution was to push you towards the cute Naval aviator who was too smooth for his own good.

You looked down at your phone seeing his recommendations for wear he had sent you the previous night, refusing to give you details of the date. He said he had some plans and that you should dress comfortable, you’d be doing some walking. You were simply praying you weren’t going on a hike. You liked the outdoors when it came to the beach and the water. But hiking outdoors was not your best friend.

“He won’t tell me.”

She giggled, “He’s surprising you.”

“Mhmm.” You sighed, “I’m a little concerned. But he seems like a nice enough guy.”

You heard Pete make his way down from Penny’s bedroom. You ignored what you knew was going down up there, “Who? Hangman? Nice?” Pete chucked starting the coffee maker up.

You narrowed your eyes in on Pete, “He is nice, nice to me at least.”

Pete’s chuckled turned into full on laugh now. He joined you and Amelia in the living room once the coffee maker was humming, “Hangman might be the biggest asshole I’ve met. That’s saying a lot considering who I work with.”

You frowned, Amelia immediately noticing, “That’s rich coming from you Mav.” Amelia countered seeing your mood deflate at the comment.

“Ouch, Amelia. That stings.” He smiled, not realizing he had sent you reeling in your mind. Was he an asshole? He sure didn’t seem like it. Maybe that’s just the way he comes off in training. Should you go out with him? It’s only been about a month since you and Aaron called it all off. You didn’t hear the back and forth going on between Amelia and Pete, stuck in your thoughts. You were always stuck in your own mind.

“Isn’t that right Y/N?” Amelia’s question snapped you back into the present.

“What?” You turned looking to her.

She gave you a half smile seeing the confusion on your face and how such a simple comment could send you spiraling, “You’re going to have a great date with Jake tonight.” She answered you.

Your mouth ran dry. Were you? Was he just trying to sleep with you? Get into your pants? “Yeah… yeah I think so.” You faltered.

Pete could pick up on the sudden shift in the room, trying to backtrack, “All pilots are assholes though, Y/N.”

Ugh. You felt terribly uneasy all of the sudden. You didn’t think should be going on this date anymore, “Mav!” Amelia shouted at him, again breaking you from your thoughts.

“What?” He asked her looking genuinely confused.

“You’re freaking Y/N out.” She glared at him, arms crossed and all.

You hummed, “I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not! You’re about to cancel on him.”

You hadn’t realized you reached for your phone subconsciously, “No.” You shook your head not being able to form coherent sentences. Penny had a reason to watch Jake closely, why were you ignoring that?

Amelia was shooting daggers at Mav now, “You can’t cancel on him, Y/N.��

You sighed putting your phone down, “Maybe it’s not the best idea.” You concluded looking at your hands in your lap.

She snatched your phone from the coffee table, “You are going on this date Y/N.”

You blinked a few times trying to get yourself to think straight, “Why are you so adamant?”

Amelia groaned, “You’ve got to get out there. You can’t let a douche bag break your heart and then hole up. Go on the date.” She smiled as kindly as she could muster putting your phone in her pocket.

“I’m going to need that Meals.” You held you hand out expecting the teenager to give it back.

“Not until you promise me you won’t cancel.”

“Fine, I won’t cancel.”

Pete watched in amusement as the two of you went back in forth, “For what it’s worth, I do think you should go Y/N.” He spoke throwing his two cents in.

“You just called him an asshole!” You countered.

He shrugged taking his eyes off the shark program, “And Penny’s going out with me.”

Amelia laughed at his quick comeback, “He’s got a point.”

You groaned getting up from your seat, “I’m going. Can you give me my phone back?”

She gave you a mischievous look shaking her head, “You’ll have to catch me first!” She sprinted right out the front door.

You gave Pete a bewildered look, “What the hell?”

He laughed seeing Amelia run around the backyard, “She’s just excited you’re around.”

“She’s crazy if she thinks I’m running to get her.”

Pete smiled, “She’ll tire herself out eventually anyway.”

“A real life Golden Retriever”

You took your time getting ready. Opting for a cute sundress and a pair of comfortable sandals. After Amelia finally gave you your phone back you confirmed you were not in fact hiking, thank goodness. Amelia helped you as well, picking out the Jake confirmed he was picking you up at 1 o’clock sharp.

You felt your heart rate pick up the pace when you glanced at your phone showing 12:55. Now or never. Penny and Pete were out back doing something with Amelia doing homework in the kitchen, always doing homework.

“Oh wow, you look really pretty Y/N. Like really pretty.” She excitedly clapped her hands together, “Mom! Come look at Y/N!”

“You look beautiful.” Penny placed her hands on both of your arms, “You look just like your mom.” She squeezed you into a hug. Pete stood there in the doorway awkwardly smiling, unsure of what to say.

All of your attention was suddenly on the door when three loud knocks rang through, “Act normal! Go away!” You shooed everybody back to their previous spots.

“Have fun Y/N.” Penny gave you another squeeze before heading back outside. Pete nodded to you and Amelia was not so discretely staring right at the door doing her ‘homework’.

You composed yourself. It’s just a boy. That’s all it really was at the end of the day. You opened the door being greeted by the most handsome man, “Right on time.” You gave him a closed mouth smile feeling awfully self-conscious all the sudden.

You couldn’t take your eyes off him, not even for a split second. You could really see why women swooned over Lieutenant Jake Seresin. He carried himself so confidently, always so seemingly sure of himself. His demeanor also sucked you right in. He didn’t even have to say a word and you were nearly breathless.

“You look,” He took a step back quickly admiring you, “downright breathtaking darling.”

You turned your head away ever so slightly having to mentally remind yourself not to fall for everything he says. He sure had the charm.

“Thank you.” Act normal. You prayed you were wearing enough makeup to cover the blush spreading across your cheeks, “You look great too.”

“Always do.” He winked holding his hand out to you. Was that a red flag? Should you even be doing this right now? You tried to shut your brain up enough to just enjoy yourself with the handsome man. What’s the worst that could happen?

You stifled a chuckle careful not to feed into his ego, “Right. So, where are we going Mr. Seresin?”

“It’s a surprise sweetheart.” He walked slightly ahead of you, beating you to the car. You bit your lip stopping the smile that inevitably spread across your face when he opened the car door for you.

“A surprise hmm?”

He nodded grinning from ear to ear, “Penny told me just how much you love them.” He emphasized.

Crinkling your nose you tuned to him, “You talked to Penny?”

He motioned for you to buckle in, not daring to move until you were secured. You obliged before he continued, “Thank you. And yes, I talked to Penny.”

You rubbed the back of your hand, “Why?”

Eyes sparkling at your confusion he couldn’t help but to chuckle at it, “I couldn’t go into a date with a pretty girl without knowing something about her.”

“Oh.” You answered quickly. Throwing your head back against the head rest lightly. How were you supposed to continue the conversation?

Smirking he squeezed your hand, dropping it all too quickly. He fired up the truck and started driving before continuing, “So, heard you’re an engineer.”

You hummed in conformation feeling suddenly so self-conscious in front of him. He was beautiful, really beautiful. His green eyes kept growing on you, constantly swimming in emotion. Every time he smiled there were those cute dimples that you always wanted to see. So far so good, he opened the car door for you and all, your fiancé never did that for you.

“What kind?” He wanted more, he needed to know more about you. You were a closed book, hardly giving any information other than the big details.

“I used to work at a plant, in manufacturing. Made vehicles. The days went by quickly and I enjoyed it. I got a new job in quality though that’s completely online. It let me come out here.”

“You’re smart.” He clicked his tongue trying to subtly complement you. He noticed you’re aversion to attention, the way you shied away from it. You didn’t like the overt attention he loved to give. He’d tone it down for you, make you comfortable.

“Sure... uh thanks.” A flush crept down your neck, why couldn’t you just act normal around him? You really never had this problem with Aaron. This was all brand new territory for you.

“Anytime beautiful.” He flashed you that beautiful smile you already craved from him. He paused the conversation focusing on getting to where he had planned.

“I think you’d have to be pretty damn brave to be a pilot.” You continued, wanting to hear his voice. Slowly falling for that southern accent.

His lips twitched forming that signature Jake smile, “Or stupid.”

“Or stupid.” You cracked up next to him, “Fearless.” You breathed out looking towards him. His eyes softened looking at you, not having much time to take you in before turning back towards to road. He grabbed your hand instead.

You were more than thrilled he was holding your hand so gingerly. He drew circles on the back of your hand with his thumb. The chills that were sent up your arm were inevitable, “Foolish.” He countered.

Shaking your head you admired his side profile, handsome, so handsome, “I thought you were supposed to be the cocky one.” You countered, almost begging to see the side of him.

He briefly looking over to you, seeing the amusement in your eyes, “I wouldn’t worry about that if I were you.” He grinned to himself. You really were beautiful. He felt lucky to be taking you out on this date. He didn’t know what you triggered in him, but it was something.

You paused admiring the view outside. The two of you were riding along the Californian coast, it sure was beautiful out here.

“Penny for your thoughts?” He questioned seeing you seemingly deep in thought sat across the vehicle.

You turned back to him gleaming, nature recharged you, “It’s just so beautiful. I feel lucky to be here is all.” You admitted, did he know you were talking more than just about the coastline?

He nodded in understanding, “It sure is.”

The rest of the ride the two of you sat in relative silence, picking up conversation every now and then. You pulled into the San Diego Aquarium. Your eyes lit up realizing just how much your aunt divulged to him. You couldn’t help the smile that spread across your face, “Aunt Penny set you up for success.” You squeezed his arm, feeling a surge of confidence.

He looked down you sweetly, loving the reaction this was getting from you, “Since I’m making you miss your favorite shows, I thought we’d come see the real thing.”

You nodded in approval, “This is cool. Thank you Jake!” You gave him a quick hug. You didn’t see the small frown when you pulled apart from him. The frown was quickly replaced by a grin as you grabbed his hand high-tailing it for the entrance.

“I didn’t realize you liked sharks so much Y/N.”

You grinned sheepishly, feeling your ears burn warmly. Hopefully the blush would just stay there and not spread to your face, “Did you know, the whale shark is the largest shark in the world? That we know of. 46 feet!” You gushed.

“I did not.” He laughed seeing the pure bliss in your expression, pulling him along into the building. You wasted no time

“My favorite is the tiger shark.” You mumbled dropping his hand when you got to the counter. That self-consciousness was creeping back up on you.

“Oh yeah?” He entertained you. Clearly, he could see how much you adored sharks, so you wanted to know more, “Why’s that?”

You perked right back up, he was seemingly interested, “They look like swimming tigers!” You grinned, “They have the coolest stripes. I don’t this aquarium will have them, they’re not from around here but they really are the coolest.” You rambled on.

This time he took your hand after you were admitted to the aquarium. You let him, of course, “Want to go see some sharks?” He asked peaking his eyebrows up curiously.

“Yes please!” It took everything in you to walk normally to the exhibit, all you wanted to do was skip your way over there. You really did feel like a little kid in a big candy shop.

Your eyes couldn’t help but to light up when you got to the exhibit, “Look! A hammerhead.” You pulled him close to the glass pointing the gentle giant out, “Did you know they’re immune to stingray barbs?”

He grinned looking down at you just from seeing the sheer joy on your face, “You have a fun fact for every shark?”

“I might.” You turned away from him hiding the blush that was setting in.

He chuckled leaning into you ever so slightly. Your eyes fluttered feeling his body heat next to you. What was it with him? Why did he put you under such a spell? The scent of his cologne was almost enough to make you want to jump on top of him, right then and there, “It’s cute.”

“Sure.” You mumbled feeling the embarrassment consuming you whole. You turned your face completely back to the exhibit, as far away from him as you could.

Jake could see you close off again. That small glimpse of you, your unadulterated joy, was exactly what he was searching for. He had a feeling you were likely teased because you loved sharks as much as you did with the way you tried to shut him out so quickly. He wouldn’t have that, couldn’t have that. Feeling like he needed to do something to show you that he was genuinely interested he shifted himself to stand right behind you. Slowly, he wrapped his hands around your torso. He leaned down to speak to you, “Is this alright?” He asked first before continuing.

You nodded not being able to find the words to answer him. He quite literally rendered you speechless. Having him this close to you was sending you mind into a panic. He was nearly on top of you, pressing himself lightly into you as he held you from behind in his arms. He smelled so damn good too. You couldn’t get enough of whatever warm and spicy cologne with a hint of vanilla that he had on, “I’m not joking Y/N. It’s adorable how much you know about sharks.” He whispered into your ear sending a violent chill down your body. He knew what he was doing, there was no way he didn’t know what he was doing to you.

Nodding your head again you bought yourself another few seconds to respond, “They’re fascinating fish.”

“They’re fish?” He sounded genuinely surprised, still so close to you. The pair of you probably looked much closer than you actually were. Jake was bold wrapping you in his arms like so. You adored it though. You weren’t the biggest physical touch person previously but there was something that was so comfortable about him. You didn’t mind holding his hand, you wanted it. You certainly didn’t mind having him hold you so closely, being sucked in by him.

“They are! They’re special though.” You turned your body around breaking the hold he had you in. He didn’t step away from you. Instead, he placed his hands around you on the handrail, your back brushing up against it. Holy shit, you hadn’t thought this one through. You were chest to chest with Jake, heart beating rather erratically.

“Why are they special?” He looked right at you, forcing you to focus back onto the conversation.

“Right, uhm.” You took a pause collecting yourself, “They don’t have bones. Just cartilage.”

“Is that so?”

You hummed feeling terribly overwhelmed. You were sure your brain was going to short circuit if he didn’t step away from you soon, “Pretty cool right?” You managed to squeak out, voice getting a bit higher as you spoke.

He could see your interest in the situation changing to being curious to overwhelmed by his proximity so he backed off as subtly as he could. Pointing to another shark to distract you he continued, dropping his hand from the railing so you could breathe, “What’s that one?”

You thanked your lucky stars that he picked up on your complete inability to form a coherent sentence when he stood that damn close to you. What was wrong with you? Was this what being interested in somebody was supposed to feel like? To feel so incredibly flustered that a conversation can’t even be held? You certainly hoped not. It would be nice to hold a conversation with the handsome man at some point.

You looked to where he was pointing, “Oh! That’s a baby Lemon Shark.” Gushing, you turned to see him watching you instead of the shark. Jake was enamored with you. How could you do this to him so quickly? He knew how quickly he was in trouble seeing you so expressive about something everybody thought of as so common. He watched you point to the different sharks spouting off all kinds of different facts about them, finding it so endearing you cared to learn so much.

“Can I ask you something?” He stopped as you started talking about how much Great White Sharks can weigh.

You stopped your rambling giving him the go ahead, “Sure.”

“Why didn’t you do something with sharks as a career? You clearly have a lot of love for them. I’m sure you care about other sea life as well.” He asked genuinely curiosity, wanting to know you.

You sighed not loving how you missed your chance from an early age to do something in the field instead of the engineering work you were doing now, “My dad is all about practicality. He always talked about how being an engineer gave him a good stable life and being a marine biologist make life tough. It was like that my whole life. I guess after hearing it for eighteen years you make the choice to become an engineer instead.” You admitted to him, probably the most information you have divulged to him yet. No, definitely the most.

He nodded reaching for your hand again. Placing your hand in his he spoke up, “You don’t sound too thrilled about it.”

“I wish I would’ve followed my own path, not my dad’s.” You paused wondering if you should continue. With the intensity he was looking at you with you decided to just let it all out, “I don’t hate being an engineer. I just… I don’t love it. It’s hard to go and do something every day that I could really care less about.”

The corners of his lips turned up slightly, “That’s why I’m a pilot.”

“I admire that.” You spoke quickly, the word vomit flying out of your mouth. You decided to clarify before he could make a silly comment, “I admire that you did what you wanted to do from an early age. You didn’t let your family convince you not to do something because of money.”

Squeezing your hand, he led you deeper into the exhibit. Finally, he was getting somewhere with you, “Well thank you darling. But I must admit, nobody was going to stop me. My parents gave up trying to tell me what to do once I got into high school.”

You giggled. This didn’t surprise you. Jake was so sure of himself, he oozed confidence. Not cockiness, just confidence. A trait that you wished you could fix in yourself.

“That’s part of the admiration. You wore them down instead of letting them wear you down.”

He looked at you with adoration in his eyes, something you hadn’t seen from your loving fiancé, “Thank you Y/N, really.”

“Anytime.” You let him lead you throughout the exhibit. You felt more comfortable the longer you were around him, opening up even more as he asked you questions. You felt all the worries of earlier start to slip away from the forefront of your mind. He certainly wasn’t the asshole Pete was describing earlier. He was the guy you spent three hours chatting with on the beach. He was so attentive and kind to you, you couldn’t possibly imagine him as Hangman. It was almost like they were two different people.

“It takes a lot to admit that.” He continued the conversation seeing as you were lost in your own head, he had to bring you back to reality.

Your shoulders deflated slightly, “I realized it my first year in a manufacturing plant. Not exactly my passion.”

“There’s plenty of time to change what you want to do.”

You looked at him incredulously, “Sure there is.”

“There is!” He stopped walking pulling you close to him again, “Don’t let time stop you.”

Biting the inside of your cheek you turned away from him. Sure, you were still young but what you wanted to do was something so dramatically different than what you were currently doing, it seemed impossible, “I’ll think about it.” You hummed knowing he wasn’t going to drop the conversation. So, you needed to end it.

“Good.” He grinned continuing the walk, “Everyone deserves to be happy. Especially the beautiful woman standing next to me.”

“Shush.” Your face flushed almost immediately after that comment.

“Never. In fact, I’m going to compliment you so much you won’t know what to do with yourself.” He stood proudly. Jake noticed quickly you weren’t good at receiving compliments. You either turned away or told him to shut up. His gut was telling him you weren’t used to receiving them all too often, having a defense mechanism ready to go. It hurt him knowing you were engaged to somebody who didn’t compliment you, such a simple thing. Jake had a hard time understanding men who would get into relationships just to bring down the woman with them. He wanted to be in a relationship with somebody he couldn’t get enough of. He wanted to shower somebody special in compliments all the time, he craved it. He just hadn’t found the right woman yet to share that with.

“That’s unnecessary.” You countered. Jake was right of course. You were tragic at receiving compliments.

“I disagree. Compliments are very necessary.”

“Are they?” You spun around from the spot you stopped to watch eyeing him.

“They are Y/N.” He returned the stare you were giving him, giving you a goofy look.

You smiled seeing how he eases any conversation, “Alright Jake. I’ll let you have this one.”

“Like I said, smart.” He winked lightning the mood a tad.

Shaking your head, you attempted to hide the stupid grin that was threatening to take over your face. There was something so special about him, you really couldn’t get enough of it, “Ha Ha. You’re funny.”

“Thank you Y/N.” He took a rather dramatic bow forcing a giggle to escape from your mouth, “And that is how you take a compliment my dear.”

“Noted Jake.” You let the stupid grin spread. He made you happy and you wanted to show him that. You couldn’t remember the last time you smiled this much. You were quickly realizing just how wrong Aaron was for you when Jake made you feel all of these things. These weird, wonderful feelings.

“Okay, my turn.” He grabbed both your hands smiling at you brightly, “You’re beautiful Y/N. Really beautiful. Breathtakingly beautiful.”

Your heart immediately sped up at the compliment. Your lips parted slightly thinking of your next move. You’d normally brush it off, but he was trying. He was being so sincere you weren’t sure if you could handle the sweetness oozing off him, “Really?” Was all you could come up with. It was better than running away from it though.

“Really.” He squeezed your hands giving you the reassurance you needed.

“Thank you.” Speaking quietly your eyes looked down, not being able to look him in the eyes.

“That’s a start.” He looked at you with such fondness in his eyes. He was a soft one you concluded. Very confident but soft. He wasn’t afraid to show you his emotions. He was so unafraid he would rather make a fool out of himself to make you more comfortable.

The two of you spent the next few hours talking about anything and everything, the conversation often led back to sharks. You didn’t realize just how long you’ve been with him, the intercom let the guests know that the aquarium would be closing shortly, five PM already?

“Shall we?” He asked pointing towards the exit.

“We shall.” You nodded eyeing the sharks a few more times. You learned that it was a catch and release program that the aquarium was involved in. The aquarium would rehabilitate any hurt sharks before sending them back out into the wild. Giving you even more resolve to come and spend time here in the future.

He walked you up to Penny’s door hearing the TV going off from behind it. You stifled a giggle hearing a shark show was playing, you were going to make them big fans before long, “I had a great day, Jake”

The softness came back out, seeing his eyes down turning just a bit, “I did too, a really great day.”

All your fear seemed to vanish, he wanted it too. He didn’t seem like somebody who was simply playing with your emotions. He seemed genuine, “Want to do it again sometime? Maybe somewhere else?”

“Absolutely.” He took a step closer to you, “Can I ask you one more question before I go?”

“Shoot.” You whispered bridging the gap between the pair of you, leaving hardly any space.

“What’s your opinion on kissing on the first date?” He whispered just so you could hear it, not wanting your family on the other side of the door to hear what was going on.

Your damn heart picked up the pace again. You weren’t sure how the date was going to end but Jake’s bold moves gave you a little confidence, “I think great dates should.”

“Yeah? Was it a great date?” His eyes softened a little more completely eliminating any sense of space between the pair.

You nodded biting your lip, now or never, “It was a very great date.”

That was all the confirmation he needed. Gently, Jake placed his hands on either side of your face. He pressed his lips to yours actually short circuiting your brain this time. You kissed him back eagerly sending a smile right to his face. The kiss you shared was moving towards a full on make-out if one of you didn’t break away. You didn’t want to break away. It all felt so comfortable with him.

He decided throwing you against the outside of the house was not in his best interest albeit he wanted to. He wanted to do a lot more with you but knew he’d have to take it slow. For both of you. So, he pulled away before it got all too steamy. Cracking a smile when he saw disappointed look on your face.

Still with his hands cupping your face he continued, “Have a good night Y/N. Go learn more about sharks so you can educate me next time.” He quickly pecked your lips before dropping his hands.

“Yes sir.” You winked back to him feeling a random surge of confidence. What you didn’t know where the unholy thoughts he was thinking when you spoke to him like that. He really needed to leave before he tried something else.

You waved as he walked back to his car, admiring the view as he left. You walked into the house with three pairs of eyes trained right on you, “How’d it go?!” Amelia asked jumping up from her spot on the couch.

“Really good. Like really good.” You admitted feeling a bit frazzled from the kiss.

“Hangman’s in trouble.” Pete chimed in with a cheery voice. Penny pinched him. Pete really loved to speak out of turn.

“What he meant to say is, we’re happy for you.” Penny smiled from her spot on the couch.

“Did you kiss?” Amelia clapped running up to you, wanting to know every detail.

“Maybe.” You admitted. She squealed continuing to clap her hands. Sending you into a fit of laughter you joined in on your cousin’s happiness. The two of you began to happy dance around the bottom floor of the house.

What you didn’t know was that Jake waited for a moment to make sure you were in the house. He also heard the happy cries and saw you and Amelia jumping around the bottom floor. Shaking his head, he smiled ear to ear. Yup, he was a goner.

Part 2

Tag list: @pono-pura-vida

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the-ace-with-spades · 4 months

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WIP Wednesday for multiple hangster fics because I wrote a bit during my train rides this weekend but won't be able to write more for a while...

snippets for the hangster a/b/o mpreg fic, with arms wide open (idea overview here)

Bradley is—he’s tired. Constantly tired. His feet feel like they are filled with water, his calves look like they’re filled with water, he’s had a nosebleed and bleeding gums this morning, and whenever he closes his eyes, he keeps seeing spots for a couple seconds after opening them again.

He’s been trying not to complain too much, Mav and Ice would panic if he did, but it hasn't been the easiest few weeks for him.

Something on his face must have shown as he grabs the two copies left on his desk because Nat just takes them off his hands as they enter the corridor outside the office, and gives him a pitying look. “They’re really giving you a hard time, huh?”

“It’s genetic,” he says dryly and Nat snorts.

She’s still smiling softly as she asks, “Do you want to talk to him?”

“Not really, no,” he admits. Even the idea of seeing Jake makes him nauseous. “I’ll have to, at some point, even just so we can get some things clear. I just, I’d prefer to do that after the fact.”

“You think he’ll just—wait, until then?”

“I—I don’t know,” he replies. He knows Jake — or he had thought he knows him — and he’s not one to be predictable. He likes to think that the Jake he knew, that Jake would try to make it right, even if it is too late for it now that Bradley knows how he truly feels.“He said he doesn’t want any of it so, not talking, it’d be easier for him. He’s just not—”

“—the type to do things the easy way?”

****

It's a different office and a different secretary, not like the ones Bradley remembers. The secretary is far younger than the one Ice had when he was a teenager, who had been older than Ice, and the office is far bigger and far more formal. He’s come here wearing his uniform, thinking it’d make it easier to move around base in it, and he’s so glad — he’d have looked so out of place if he just arrived in jeans and a shirt.

“Can you call him and tell him it’s his son?”

This is stretching it, he knows. Bradley’s been Ice’s nothing, on paper, Ice as the head alpha of Bradley’s pack, an archaic thing not considered for much in today’s world, being the only connecting part for them. He might have been his kid, years and years before, but now, Ice probably wouldn’t have much but nostalgic empathy and leftover possessiveness for Bradley.

“Son?” the secretary asks. “He doesn’t have a son.”

He feels like a fraud as he says, “Name’s Bradley,” but he doesn’t have much choice.

She looks at him for a minute and he relents from fidgeting from foot to foot. Finally, she picks up the phone handle and with one button, connects to the office behind her. The rooms are soundproofed so he can only hear her parts, not even a whisper coming from the office door.

“Sir, there’s an unscheduled visitor asking to meet you. Yes. I know, yes. He’s a lieutenant. I know, sir. Didn’t say.” She pauses, glancing at Bradley again, and he waits in silence. “He claims he’s your son, sir, your son Bradley. Yes, Lieutenant Bradshaw, sir.”

Bradley clears his throat and she suddenly straightens up, blinking idly at the phone, not a word leaving her mouth for a couple of minutes..

“Sir?” she speaks up, eyes glancing toward him, confused. “I understand.” She puts down the phone and tilts her head at Bradley, frowning. Then, slowly, she tells him, “Admiral Kazansky will see you now.”

He takes a minute to process, staring at the door to Ice's office long enough for the secretary to clear her throat.

He wants to throw up all over again.

snippet for slow down (you're doing fine) chapter 7

Jake had never wondered why Bradley liked to come to an empty bar to relax but he supposed nostalgia had something to do with it — either because of his dad or because of his godfather — military bars tended to look similar.

It was the center of the problem, Jake supposed, him either never wondering why Bradley did certain things or being too insistent for his, their own good that he needed to know why.

Jake sat down in front of him, on the other side of the booth, crossing his arms and leaning on the table. Bradley glanced up at him, raised an eyebrow, and went back to filling out paperwork. Like he hadn't given Jake back the ring Jake thought he had lost forever years ago a few nights ago. Like he hadn’t admitted he knew Jake wanted to marry him barely a few nights ago.

Like he didn’t break and mend Jake’s heart when he gave him that envelope.

“Did you really play Danny from Grease in high school?”

Bradley put the pen down and frowned.

“How do you—It was Mav, wasn’t it?” he realized, shaking his head and sighing. He was smiling softly, head slightly tilted like he wanted to avoid Jake’s gaze but couldn’t — he looked lovely, rosy cheeks, loose curls on his forehead and all. “Before you say anything, I’ll remind you that I know you like Dolly Parton.”

“I stand by that, she's a star,” he answered without shame, smiling back. “You never sing any of the songs from it. You know, You’re the One I Want or Summer Lovin’ and all that.”

“It’s Nights, Summer Nights," Bradley said and Jake grinned because he really did sound like a theater kid. "And most of them are duets, don't exactly translate well while done solo, even with a crowd.”

He turned his gaze down back to the table but he didn’t pick up the pen and Jake observed him when he said, “I sold the ring.”

A barely-there flinch of his eyebrows and licking his lips was all Jake could notice before Bradley said, “Good.”

the (sometimes I feel) like a monkey pilot chapter 8 snippet

"Have you done something like this before?"

"No," he admitted.

“You said—”

"I told you I flew in an F-14, not that I piloted it."

In fact, the closest to piloting an F-14 he came was playing the flight simulator — it was their main source of entertainment after his top surgery and when Ice was on house arrest when he had cancer. He read the nine hundred pages of NATOPS for the Tomcat only because they wanted to keep the game realistic as much as possible and for hours, Bradley had listened as Ice, and sometimes Uncle Slider, explained to him how it looked in reality. They had shown him the differences between the NATOPS and the sims because he missed flying, but he had never thought he would have to fly an F-14 and was doing his hardest now to remember those days.

The idea that Bradley could fly this museum piece solely on the knowledge he gathered from a former Tomcat pair, few short flights as the backseater when he was fourteen, and the days spent in a civilian-grade flight simulator was already far-fetched — but this wasn't going to reassure anyone, so his mouth stayed shut.

"And you want to—"

"You see any other choices here? If so, be my guest," he offered. “Last chance to swap the seats.”

"You're going to kill us," Jake remarked and honestly, Bradley preferred to die trying than just give up. He was raised better.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, honey."

He resisted the urge to bang his head on the board in front of him and tried to remember what was next.

#i feel like its a lot but im all over the place and moving small bits by bits with the progress on all the fics #so here we go #hangster #tw mpreg #tw omegaverse #slow down tag #(sif) lamp tag #wawo tag

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lilaccrxsh · 2 years

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Fight and Fall in Love - 1986!Pete "Maverick" Mitchell x F!Reader (18+)

Description: You and Pete Mitchell had mutual friends in the Bradshaw's, but whenever you were together all you would do is argue and rile the other person up. That was until Carole decided something had to be done...

Content warnings: unprotected sex, enemies to lovers, arguing, “there was only one bed”, 100% self-indulgence from the author

Word count: 3.4k

A/N: Honestly guys, this was just incredibly self-indulgent. Unfortunately, young TC/1986!Mav is literally my perfect type so I'm blaming everything on that. *posts this and runs*

Thank you to @unmistakablyunknown for being my beta and removing my dyslexia from the google doc <3

You had known Carole Bradshaw before she even became Carole Bradshaw. You’d been friends since middle school, growing up and facing all of the adventures life throws at you together. When she met Nick, or “Goose”, you were her maid of honour at their wedding. Carole was really one of your closest friends.

“Have you decided what you want to do for your birthday?” Goose was sitting with his arm around his wife, her smaller body curled into the side of him on the sofa. Bradley was asleep upstairs, so the house was silent and dark apart from the talking and images from the tiny television.

“I think I just want something nice and small. Maybe just have friends over for dinner. Bradley can be involved then too.” Carole replied.

“I like the sound of that. Who would you want to come?”

“I was thinking… just Y/N and Mav.”

Goose peered down at Goose, eyebrows scrunched together in confusion.

“Why? I thought you wanted your birthday to be ‘nice’.”

Carole laughed softly. “It will be. We need to get those two together in the same room so they can finally get over themselves.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“It’s so obvious that they’re attracted to each other.” Carole said plainly, “Whenever we all meet they can’t stop looking at the other constantly. They clearly like each other, they just don’t know what to do about it.”

“Y/N and Mav!?”

“Yup.”

“But all they do is argue with each other?”

“Exactly.”

Carole just watched her husband as the penny dropped for him.

“Oh…”

“Uh-huh, so I think it’s only fair if we give them a little nudge, don’t you think?”

“You’re the boss, honey.” Goose pressed a kiss to her hairline. “What did you have in mind?”

~~~

You pulled onto the Bradshaw’s drive just as the roar of a motorbike engine cut off behind you. You didn’t even need to look in your rear view mirror to know who had just parked their bike right behind your bumper.

For a moment you considered not even leaving your car. If this wasn’t for Carole’s birthday, you might have done. It would have been easy to just reverse back onto the road, even if you did take out the motorbike in the process. You didn’t dislike the sound of that. The only downside was damage to your car.

There was no point sitting there behind the wheel any longer. You grabbed your overnight bag off the passenger seat and climbed out. Standing before you was the one person you were hoping not to see tonight.

Pete Mitchell looked exactly the same as the last time you’d met. Aviators covered his eyes, making his expression unreadable, his dark hair was still cut short for the navy, and he was wearing that patch-covered bomber jacket that was at least one size too big for him. Light washed jeans, a white T-shirt and that bomber jacket - was that all he ever wore?

There was an awkward moment before anyone spoke. You just stood staring at each other.

“No one told me you were coming.” Pete’s tone was neutral, apart from an underlying hint of annoyance.

“No one told me you were coming.” You repeated.

Again another moment of silence. You were the one to break it, slamming your car door closed and locking it. You stalked past him, marching up to the front door. Pete reached your side as you knocked on the door. You purposely stared straight ahead, refusing to acknowledge his presence.

When Carole opened the door, she seemed shocked but strangely delighted, to see you two standing together on her doorstep. You were welcomed inside, it was nice to be back at the Bradshaw’s again.

Soon you found yourself standing in the hallway conjoining the living room and kitchen. Carole was busy going back and forth.

“Why didn’t you say he was coming?” You hissed at her, stepping aside so she could walk past you with a bowl.

“Would you have still come?” Carole raised her eyebrows at you, a twinkle in her eyes.

“Yes, because I love you, but I would have liked a bit of warning.”

“Oh come on, Y/N. Maverick isn’t that bad. He’s really great if you get to know him.”

“I think I already know enough…” Everytime you and Pete Mitchell were in the vicinity of each other it didn’t end wonderfully. One of you would end up taunting the other, resulting in a battle of wit and cynicism. No-one ever seemed to win. The residing dislike just seemed to continue to the next meeting.

The man in question was too distracted at the moment to bother that you were standing in the doorway. He was crouched down, sitting back on his heels to fiddle around with little Bradley’s toy trains. The kid laughed as Pete imitated the sound of a train starting off, pushing it along the carpet as if it was chasing the engine Bradley was holding.

“How can you dislike him, Y/N?” Carole was smiling widely, enjoying her husband’s best friend having a beautiful relationship with their son. You opted not to answer her. At that minute, you couldn’t conjugate a proper retort. In front of you was a side to Pete Mitchell that you hadn’t seen before - fun-loving and carefree. He’d always seemed put-out and on the offensive with you in the past. You wondered what it would be like to have a nice and pleasant conversation with him for once…

You only realised you’d been lost in thought, transfixed on the sight before you when Carole nudged your arm. She wore a knowing smile.

“Help me with dinner?”

~~~

The plan Carole had concocted involved you, Pete, and her guest bedroom. Her one guest room.

So when the two of you were led into the guest room, the door closed behind you, you found yourselves on the same side… of one double bed.

“This isn’t going to work.”

“I’m actually going to agree with you.”

Pete was the first to move from the doorway, scoping out the rest of the room and analysing the bed. There was no couch or anything alike.

“Pete look, I’m not exactly delighted by this either.”

He ignored what you’d said, instead rounding on you and asking a completely different question.

"Why do you always call me 'Pete'? No one calls me that."

"Because that's your name, idiot. I'm not one of your flying buddies so why would I call you anything else."

Pete just shrugged, but the hard set of his jaw didn’t relax. Did he want you to call him Maverick? It seemed an odd way of showing so.

"It's the night before Carole's birthday, are you really going to make a fuss?"

He huffed, but conceded, dramatically throwing his bag onto the floor near the door.

"I want the left side." Pete stalked over to the bed before flopping down on top of the covers, spreading out his legs the length of the bed and putting his hands behind his head. He pushed his aviators down over his eyes and then was silent.

You stood, also still and silent, wondering whether or not you would be able to survive the night. But as you had said, both you and Pete were here for a reason and you both cared enough to not cause a scene.

"I'm going to the bathroom." You told him, collecting your wash bag and sleepwear from your backpack. You received only an uncaring grunt from the man who you were meant to share a bed with tonight.

You spent a decent amount of time out of the room in the hope that when you returned, Pete would have changed and maybe, if you were lucky, be asleep.

Luck was not completely on your side.

He had changed, or well, removed items of clothing. His bomber jacket and white t-shirt were laying in a heap by his bag. The only thing Pete was wearing when you re-entered the room were loose shorts. He was still lounged out on top of the covers, giving you no other choice than to stare at his incredibly well-sculpted torso.

"Is that really what you're going to sleep in?"

It seemed Pete hadn't noticed your presence, as he jumped slightly when you spoke to him. He looked down his own body through the dark lenses of the aviators. Confusion covered his features as you could see the furrow of his forehead. When he let out a quick laugh, turning completely to you while smirking, did you realise you'd made a mistake. By commenting, you'd shown you cared in some capacity.

"Why? Too distracting for you, sweetheart?" Pete's grin was huge.

Yes.

"No."

"Sure." With that he took the aviators off, placing them carefully on the nightstand.

You were still standing by the closed door, making no effort to join him.

"Are you going to stand there all night? Some of us actually want to sleep."

"Has anyone ever told you you're an asshole?"

"Yes, frequently."

Now he'd got rid of the glasses, you could feel his eyes following you as you circled the bed. He was still sporting that smug smirk. You cursed yourself for letting him get under your skin, and for showing him that he had done.

You hesitated, hand resting on the covers, reluctant to pull them back and crawl under them. With Pete still lying on top of them, there would be no accidental touching. The sheets were crisp against your legs, part of you wished you’d packed longer pants to sleep in - not shorts. You lay on your back, not wanting to face Pete, or even turn away from him. You’d turned the ceiling light off before you came over, now the only light was from the lamp next to Pete.

“Do you want me to turn this off?” He asked, as if he could read your thoughts. He still hadn’t moved. You hummed a response indicating that you did want him to. In the dark, maybe you could pretend he wasn’t there.

Pete reached for the switch, and the two of you were plunged into darkness. Neither person spoke for a minute or two after that. Once your eyes had adjusted to the darkness, you could see the slow rise and fall of Pete’s chest as he breathed. You couldn’t believe what was happening. You were lying next to the man who you’d been at odds with for years… and he wasn’t wearing much at all.

You would be lying to yourself if you hadn’t thought at least once that Pete Mitchell was incredibly attractive. All of the times you’d been out with Carole and Goose, be it at a bar or just somewhere with Bradley in tow, Pete would have a chorus of females giving him attention. Through all of the petty comments you’d throw at each other, there was always a tiny part of you that wanted him to ignore them. Ignore them and continue bickering over whatever stupid thing was causing an feud that day. Could you even go as far to say you enjoyed fighting with him?

This might have been the longest time you two had been in the same room without a negative snipe.

“That’s actually too cold.” Pete suddenly whined, shuffling the duvet from under him so you both were covered. You lay still, unable to move as you felt his knee bump against your left leg. Once he was settled, silence fell over the room again. You weren’t tired. The amount of adrenaline pumping through you would make sleep impossible.

“Pete?” You’d spoken before you even realised what you were doing. Pete seemed as surprised as you.

“Yes, Y/N?”

"I have a question."

"Ok..."

"Do you always wear the dog tag?"

You asked because a sliver of light was reflecting from the metal around his neck.

There was a pause before Pete answered. "Yeah. It's who I am."

You wanted to roll your eyes but in a way, it was sweet. And then you wanted to roll your eyes at the fact you thought something associated with Pete Mitchell was sweet.

Instead of rolling your eyes, you actually rolled onto your side. Your arms were held to your chest. You were facing Pete now, but in the darkness of the room you could only see an outline of his features. It was unfair how good his side profile looked.

“Can I ask you something else?”

You felt the covers shift, the mattress moving under you as Pete mirrored your previous action. He was dangerously close now, lying on his side facing you. His body warmth was keeping the air beneath the duvet cosy. You wished you could see his eyes, you wanted to see how he was looking at you in the darkness.

“Go ahead.”

Your breath caught in your throat. This wasn’t the Pete Mitchell you knew. In a single second his whole demeanour had altered. He was now soft and tender, encouraging this conversation that was the first of its kind.

“What is flying like?”

This brought a light laugh from the man lying opposite you, but it wasn’t malicious.

“It’s the best feeling anyone could ever experience.”

“The best, huh?”

“Ok, maybe the second best.”

This time you laughed together. It was unbelievably strange. How had you been arguing before, yet now you couldn’t think of anywhere you would rather be. But unlike the silence this afternoon out on the driveway, it was comfortable. You just wanted to lie there, perfectly content.

You heard Pete take a deep breath before speaking, almost in a whisper, “I want you to know, Y/N, that I’m sorry, for how I’ve spoken to you in the past.”

You bit down hard on your lip.

“I’m sorry too. It’s all water under the bridge now.”

“In truth…” Pete started to say something but he trailed off.

“Yeah?” You prompted him, your heart beating fiercely in your chest.

“I…” He couldn’t seem to say whatever he wanted to. After he had failed the second time, he decided actions might be better than words. You felt the pad of his thumb touch your jaw.

When you didn’t flinch, Pete brought his hand to rest. His palm cupping your jaw, his thumb gracing your cheek. You couldn’t help but relax into him, humming in content. When Pete heard you, his hand left your face and moved to the small of your back, bringing you across the sheet to him. The only thing between you was the thin fabric of your top. The one thing better than seeing Pete’s naked chest, was being pressed up against it.

“Is this ok?”

You were barely audible as you whispered a “yes”. Every part of your skin that was touching Pete’s felt like it was on fire, and every part that wasn’t, was still burning with an unbelievable intensity.

“God you’re so beautiful, Y/N. You don’t know how hard it’s been to be around you and not be able to tell you that.”

He was tracing your face, his thumb smoothed over your cheekbone, fingertips nestling into your hair behind your ear. When you felt his lips on your forehead you sank into him, pushing your hips against his, wrapping your right leg over him. Pete kissed your forehead, both your cheeks, your jaw… and then your lips.

Your lips were barely touching at first, gracing each other in another attempt to gain consent. You’d be damned if you waited another second to kiss Pete Mitchell. You hadn’t realised for how long you’d wanted him in this way. The all consuming need to be needed, wanted, loved by him.

When you kissed, it was impossible not to react. Your leg linked around his became wrapped around his waist. His hand came to squeeze your thigh, holding your bare skin against the muscles of his back.

In a split second, Pete was on top of you.

"Are we really doing this?"

"Yes we are."

You wanted to touch him. You wanted him to touch you, everywhere. It didn’t matter where his hands were, or how his weight felt on top of you, it was never enough. It would never be enough. Your own hands were grasping at his back, feeling the lean muscles tense and relax under your fingertips.

“Tell me what you want, Y/N.” Pete didn’t stop kissing you, moving down your neck and collarbones.

“I need you, Pete. Anything. Fuck me. Just touch me.” You were moaning incoherent thoughts as he sucked on one specific place under your ear. Pete’s low laugh against your skin when straight to your core.

“As you wish, sweetheart.”

Your hips rose completely off the bed as you felt his hand breach the waistline of your shorts. You were sensitive, all of Pete’s previous exploration of your frame had done its job. Pete found your clit, delicately circling it as you mewled under him. Your hips bucked again, uncontrollably and with force.

“Careful, baby.” Pete cooed, steading your waist by shifting his weight. Pete’s intention was to turn you on enough that he could fuck you easily, but it would seem he didn’t have to do anything more. You were writhing already, and when he put one finger inside of you, you could do nothing but stifle an inaudible sound into his shoulder.

Pete was in awe of your reaction. How responsive you were to him was even more of a turn-on than he could ever imagine. He helped you remove your shirt, and then take your shorts down over your legs. He threw the items out of bed.

“You need to get these off, now.” You ordered, claiming some control over your own actions. Pete helped you fumble with his shorts, and soon neither of you were wearing anything.

“Please?” In any other situation you would be embarrassed by how desperate you sounded. But this time, you didn’t care.

The feeling of Pete inside you was intoxicating. Your legs were wrapped around his back, your arms around his neck. There was no possible way you could be any closer to each other. The way he continued to kiss you made up for all the times you hadn’t been with each other. With every peck, moan, movement, the tension that had built up between you two disappeared.

“Y/N…”

You loved how Pete said your name. It was becoming impossible to think straight. All your thoughts were centred on the feeling at your core, the mounting pressure that wasn’t ceasing.

"Maverick…"

Pete’s call sign fell from your lips instinctively. Through the darkness you heard him gasp, followed by a filthy moan before he thrust into you again, hard.

Your face was sheltered in the crook of Pete’s neck, so any sound you made was muffled. It was becoming very difficult to not cry out. You were so close too, it wouldn’t be long before you would come.

“Fuck, Y/N, you-” But whatever Pete was going to say was overshadowed by the beginning of your orgasm. You began shuddering against him, moaning pitifully as you hit your peak. Simultaneously, it became too much for Pete. You both rode out your highs together, unable to pull away.

You felt empty when Pete rolled off you, but you weren’t without contact for long. Pete lay on his back, you curled into his side, hand resting above his heart. He was holding your hand, your fingers intertwined on his chest.

All that was heard throughout the room was the sound of heavy breathing. It was a few minutes before either of you were able to speak.

“You called me Maverick.” He breathed.

"I did." The sultry tones in your own voice were a shock even to you. You leant forwards, taking the soft skin of his ear in your teeth. "Now, show me again why that's your call sign."

~~~

The next morning, you and Pete walked into the Bradshaw’s kitchen together. Pete’s arm was around your waist, his hand resting on your hip bone. It felt so natural, you wished you’d done this before.

Goose made an inhuman noise, pointing excitedly like a child at you and Pete. He was flitting between gaping at his two best friends and looking astonished at his wife. Carole was just smiling incessantly.

What you and Pete didn’t know was that you'd unknowingly given Carole the best birthday present she could want.

Masterlist

#lilaccrxsh #top gun #top gun fic #top gun x reader #pete maverick mitchell #maverick x reader #pete mitchell x reader

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tgmsunmontue · 9 months

Text

It's all academic darlin' PART 7/10

PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 PART 4 PART 5 PART 6

FYI - Part 7 is Explicit. And nothing else makes sense without the first six parts but you do you!

PART SEVEN

After being in different uniforms for several months pulling on denim feels weird, but he doesn’t exactly want to wear a uniform. Plus Bradley probably doesn’t think that the uniform is sexy at all if he’s Mav’s kid. And he’s pretty sure, but there is still a tiny seed of doubt that he’s maybe somehow wrong. He follows the directions that Bradley has given him and enters the Faculty of Engineering building, stopping briefly to look at the photos of faculty members and there’s still that same fucking picture of the Moana rooster so at least he knows he’s in the right place. He’ll hopefully learn what the hell is up with that.

He enters the little office and there’s two people sitting there working on computers, looking unimpressed with life in general and he doesn’t really want to interrupt them, but there is a bell that says to ring. He doesn’t actually need anything from them though, so he feels awkward, not sure whether he should just sit down or let them know he’s here to see someone.

“Can I help you?” One of them asks, taking the decision out of his hands, and he smiles politely.

“Sorry, I’m just here to meet with Professor Bradshaw?”

“Is he expecting you?”

“Yes ma’am, he directed me to come here.”

“Okay. You’re welcome to take a seat and wait.”

“I believe he’s in a lecture until three,” the other person adds.

“Yes, he did tell me. It’s fine. I’m a little early. I’m happy to wait.”

�� They go back to work, effectively ignoring him and he takes a seat, plays around on his phone, answers a couple of emails and then looks up when he hears approaching footsteps and someone humming.

Bradley.

His eyes travel up the heavy boots, dark jeans and that’s where the fashion sense ends because the man walking into the office is wearing a fucking awful bright printed shirt with roosters on it, sunglasses tucked into a white tank underneath and he’s grinning widely at Jake, hand reaching out and Jake just stares.

And stares.

He was right.

Bradley Mitchell is Bradley Bradshaw.

“Uh, are you okay?” Bradley asks, letting his hand drop when Jake fails to even stand up, let alone reach for his hand to return the gesture.

“Bradley Bradshaw, as I live and breathe…”

Bradley’s eyebrows go up but he’s smiling, eyes crinkling with amusement and Jake just can’t help smiling back. Pulls himself up out of the chair slowly, vacantly notes the forgotten little details. Bradley’s height. Breadth of shoulders. Little things he hadn’t really let himself pay attention to last time, and even now he’s wondering if he can control this sense of acceleration. It’s like free fall, but it’s carrying him forward rather than pulling him down.

“Why people say they can hear you coming before they see you when you wear shirts like that is a mystery…”

“Hey! One of my students got me this shirt!”

“And yet you’re the one wearing it…” Bradley smirks then, and Jake can almost hear the reply, about how he’d let Jake take it off and he flushes. “Did you know who you were talking to?” Jake asks, watches Bradley shrug and look a little confused.

“What do you mean did I know? Of course I knew, your email signature kind of gave it away.”

Jake lets out a sharp laugh, because of fucking course Bradley knew the whole time. It makes perfect sense. They’re standing close, blocking the doorway now and he could just reach out with his fingers and touch the skin on Bradley’s forearm.

“Wait, you thought I was someone different?”

“I thought your name was Bradley Mitchell.”

Bradley snorts a laugh, shakes his head and leans his body a little closer.

“That was very heteronormative of you Lieutenant. And yet you didn’t seem surprised to see me…” Bradley says, and there is something speculative in his gaze.

“Lieutenant Commander. And I mean, I kind of hoped…” He doesn’t want to mention that he only figured it out about a week ago, and while he was pretty damn sure he’d still needed to see him in person to confirm it.

“Wait. You didn’t know in the beginning? And you got promoted?”

“Uh. No. And Yes.” So much for not mentioning it.

“What?”

“No, I didn’t know who you were when we first started emailing back and forth, and yes I got promoted…”

“Congratulations. I’m sure it was well deserved. So, how did you find the article?”

“Mav gave it to me.”

“Mav gave you the article?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Of course he did… Fuck.”

“Uh. Was that not okay?”

“No. Just… he’s never going to let me live this down. He’s constantly trying to set me up with people…”

“Oh thank fuck…”

“What?”

“Oh, I just… I was trying to figure out why the fuck he gave it to me in the first place. I wondered if it was something like that, because you’re very good at answering emails. But if Mav had told me to email you that would have been weird.”

“So he just… gave you the article. And you…What? Emailed me out of the blue?”

“Yep. Pretty sure Mav will take full credit.”

“Yeah, of course he will. We could just… not tell him?” Bradley suggests, and the look on his face is mischievous and Jake doesn’t know about Bradley’s relationship with Mav other than that one phone call he heard months ago and what Bradley has just shared with him.

“You keep secrets from your dad?”

“When I get a chance to fuck with him? Of course!”

Jake is pretty sure his cheeks are going to be sore from grinning so much.

“Okay. I’m down for that… I mean. It’s you and you’re going to take the fall right? I’ve already tossed him out of the Hard Deck once. He tolerates me at best…”

Bradley frowns then, goes to say something but a cough interrupts him, which they both turn toward.

“There’s mail for you Bradley, as well as a few parcels. Have a good weekend.”

“Thanks Susan, I’ll just… grab those now. I’m taking Jake on a quick tour of the labs. Have a good weekend!” Bradley looks suitably chastened and tugs Jake out of the office, because that was a very clear dismissal and he guesses having the conversation they were having right in the middle of their office was maybe not the best first impression.

“She’s known me for over twenty years, since I was an undergrad. Have to stay on her good side. Also they close the office at half-past three on Fridays…”

Jake wonders if Bradley is aware he’s babbling a little, but he follows him into a side room, clearly a staff mail room behind a door with swipe card access and then Bradley is pulling a face.

“Okay, there’s like six parcels. Here… help me carry them.”

“Sure, it’s why I’m here right? Do unpaid work?”

“Among other things,” Bradley says, and the look he gives Jake is incendiary. There is no doubt that they’re both more than on the same page and Jake wants nothing more than to kiss him. Knowing now that Mav was trying to set Bradley up with him, that he clearly thinks that Jake is somehow worth Bradley’s time and energy.

“I really want to kiss you.”

“You want our first kiss to be in the mail room at my work?”

“You got a better idea?”

“Yeah. Yeah,” Bradley breathes, eyes dark. “Come on.”

It’s no hardship to follow him, Bradley glancing over his shoulder to double-check Jake is still there. He guesses that they’re heading to Bradley’s office, because that’s private and hopefully has a lock. He’s not counting his eggs before they hatch or anything, but he’s hopeful. Very hopeful.

“This is me, just let me unlock it…”

He watches as Bradley shoulders the door open, using his foot to hold it open for Jake and he lets it swing shut behind them. Bradley unceremoniously dumps his mail and parcels on his desk (it’s a large desk Jake notes, sturdy looking), takes the parcels from Jake’s hands before giving them the same treatment. Then he’s stepping into Jake’s personal space, hand resting on Jake’s hip and yeah…

“Hi…”

“Hi… just, uh, a quick question. You never mentioned that you knew me. This whole time. Why not?”

“I thought you’d maybe forgotten meeting me,” Bradley states, and he doesn’t seem to be upset at the idea and Jake frowns.

“Forget you? You think that’s possible?”

The slow smile transforms Bradley’s face and Jake feels his skin prickle with anticipation.

“Well, when you said Mav hadn’t given you a list of tasks to do, and after you said you had to take it easy I figured you were maybe dealing with concussion… so…” Bradley shrugs, his lips making a little half-smile, half-smirk and Jake sways his hips forward, letting an arm wrap around Bradley’s waist.

“Regular Sherlock huh?”

“Better than you, you thought I was someone else for months.”

“Figured it out eventually…”

“Yeah you did… Now, you still want that kiss?”

“Yeah.”

… … …

“I’m not going to stop you,” Bradley replies, wetting his lips and he hears Jake’s breath catch. He shifts forward a little, wants to be encouraging but not overwhelming. His own chest feels heavy with anticipation. They meet half-way, and it’s soft, exploratory, slow like they have nowhere else to be in the world and don’t want to rush. He wants to taste, and lick, and take Jake apart and have Jake take him apart in turn… he rests his other hand on Jake’s hip, just holding gently, thumbs brushing over fabric every so often. He’s a little scared that it might all just… disappear.

It doesn’t. Not at all. Instead Jake’s pressing against him, his own hands on Bradley’s back, fingers grabbing fabric, pulling him close and Bradley goes, no reason not to. Lets Jake edge a thigh between his, meets the gentle roll of Jake’s hips with his own not-quite-as-gentle roll. He’s had sex in his office before, but it’s been previous partner’s ways of trying to coax him home, away from work. His life hasn’t changed at all, except for his almost daily email exchange with Jake for the last few months. This right here isn’t an attempt to make Bradley go anywhere, hell, it could have started in the fucking mail room and as Jake’s hand rubs over Bradley’s hardening cock he’s very glad that he insisted on moving to his office.

“Uhm, not that this isn’t great, but are you sure you…”

“Yeah, yes, fuck yes… just… been a while okay?”

“No judgement. This is a judgement free zone…”

“Oh my god, shut up…”

“Keep my mouth busy then…” Bradley challenges and yeah, he guesses he does like them with a little fire.

It’s bruising this time, Jake’s lips on his, teeth biting, and he responds in like, lets his own fingers dig into the flesh of Jake’s ass, pull him close. Ignores the grunt of discomfit as Jake’s hand gets caught between their bodies; he can feel fingers working on a belt and he pulls back a little to give Jake space, because Bradley sure as hell isn’t wearing a belt. If he gets to put his hands on Jake’s cock he’s all onboard for being a little more accommodating in terms of space. He flicks his own jeans open, pushes the fly down and then Jake’s hands are there instead, shoving his jeans down and Bradley switches tack easy enough, moving his hands to Jake’s pants and underwear, pushing them down.

“Okay?” Bradley asks, not really waiting for an answer as he wraps a hand around Jake’s cock and squeezes, his mind mentally categorizing anything in his office he could potentially use as lube (there is stuff, but not stuff he would want to use, nothing that won’t make less of a mess). Not that Jake seems to mind, his breath catching in a high-pitched whine which makes Bradley feel smug despite not having done much of anything yet. Jake’s hand circles Bradley’s cock, tight dry pressure and he groans, thrusts into it. Jake’s other hand runs through Bradley’s hair, brings him back to kissing and Bradley slides his tongue into Jake’s mouth.

Their hands on each other are fast and dry, he’d love to take his time, draw it out, but he doesn’t think Jake would appreciate it. Not if it has been a while, and he’d said he was on deployment for seven months. He doesn’t want to assume anything, they didn’t make any promises in any of the emails, other than whatever they’re doing now, and that wasn’t exactly a promise but a potential… something. He pulls away, thrills at Jake’s annoyance but he licks his hand, dribbles excess saliva into his hand and wraps his hand back around Jake’s cock.

“Want you to focus on coming okay? Want to use your come to jerk off…��

“Oh fuck…”

“Nope. Just this until we get to my bed…You need to tell me when you’re close okay?” He tightens his hand and speeds up, licks at Jake’s neck and sucks gently at the pulse point, feels the very faint stubble scrape over his bottom lip as he drags his mouth over Jake’s jaw. “Okay?”

“Oh fuck… okay, yeah, okay Bradley…”

He likes the sound of his name in Jake’s mouth, especially the broken breathing, like he’s struggling to get enough oxygen. Jake’s hands don’t leave Bradley’s body, but they lack decisive movement, and he takes that as a sign he’s doing a decent enough job at keeping Jake on task. He hitches forward a little, looks down at the view between their bodies, clothes askew, cocks hard and wrapped in fists, movements frantic like they’re doing this is a bathroom somewhere and could be walked in on any second.

“Going to take my time with you next time…” Bradley promises, his hips jerking without his conscious thought and Jake seems to jerk in response, his body invisibly connected.

“Close close close… oh shit…”

He manages to catch most of Jake’s come in his hand, although some of it lands on his shirt. He doesn’t care. Wraps his hand around his own cock, spreads Jake’s come around. He’s close enough now that it won’t take much, not with all his senses lit up with the sounds sights smells and taste of Jake kissing him, whispering how he’s looking forward to Bradley taking his time next time. How next time he wants to get his mouth on Bradley and that, that has him coming, hips stuttering and…

“Fucking hell…”

He rests his head on Jake’s shoulder, lays tiny little butterfly kisses on the skin close to his mouth as sucks in a few breaths. Blood is rushing in his ears, his hand is sticky, cock stickier. He glances down and yeah, there’s a mess between them but it’s mostly on him. Pulling back slightly he reaches for the box of tissues on his desk, dislodges a pile of paper and a layer of dust on top of the box. He tugs a few free and passes them over, a few more for himself, glad he’s got a couple changes of clothes available to him right there. He kisses Jake again, softly again.

“That take the edge off?”

“Yes. So fucking good.”

“We’re definitely doing that again.”

“Hmm. I could be convinced.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“You know, I am actually interested in a tour though.”

Bradley laughs, throws the tissues into his trash can, making a mental note to buy the cleaning staff an amazing gift.

“Well, this is my office.”

PART 8 (be warned it's 8k long - maybe go have a drink or snack?)

#Hangster #Top Gun Maverick fanfiction #Sereshaw #rooster x hangman #It's all academic darlin'

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sunlightmurdock · 2 years

Text

My Future in You | 0.4 | Bradley Bradshaw x Reader

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Masterlist

Synopsis: Bradley’s twenty-two years old and not where he’s supposed to be. He’s supposed to be out of the academy by now. Instead, he’s retaking his senior year of college and praying to god that he gets into flight school. Mav’s gone, his mom’s gone. He’s mad at the world. Then, a hook up at a Halloween party changes his future even more than he could have imagined.

Warnings: accidental pregnancy, blood,, angst, drama etc etc, enemies to lovers if you wanna call it that, crying & early on pregnancy hormones, meet the Seresin’s, Bradley’s a dick but less so in this chapter than the previous ones wooo

…

Bradley is avoiding Jake. Jake knows this, because Bradley hasn’t slept in his own bed for three days. Jake keeps seeing Bradley’s toothbrush being moved, and his razor being left at the edge of the sink, so he knows that Bradley’s coming home to shower.

Tonight is Saturday. It’s a home game. Jake doesn’t see Bradley all day. Not until he walks into the locker room and Bradley’s already there.

Bradley glances at Jake, then looks back down at his underlayer. He pulls it over his head silently.

“Leave it, he isn’t worth it.” Patrick taps Jake’s shoulder and nods for him to keep moving. Jake steps past, keeping his head down. He sets his bag down and starts getting dressed.

Jake has been speaking to his younger sister a lot recently. He knows that Bradley offered her money. She has made Jake swear to behave, for her sake more than anything. In Jake’s head, that’s just not what a man does — it’s a pussy move because Bradley’s too scared to step up.

Jake lets out a breath. He promised to behave tonight. He lets it go. Bradley won’t even look at him. Jake can see that he’s still got bruising around his eyes. Good.

The first time Bradley locks eyes with Jake is when they’re coming off the field. They lost. Jake cost them the win, and he’s okay with that. It was either the game, or the principle.

“Bradshaw was right there!” Aaron complains, hitting Jake’s shoulder.

Bradley hears, but ignores it and keeps walking. It’s true. If Jake would’ve just passed him the ball, they would have won. Bradley knows better than to say anything himself.

“Dude, drop it.” Josh warns Aaron. Jake steps forwards, his eyes trained on the 14 on Bradley’s back. He walks back over to his bag, knowing that you’re waiting for him outside and that you wouldn’t appreciate him making a scene in front of the whole team. Bradley does the same. About half of the team know already.

Anyone who lives in the house. Most are smart enough to keep their mouths shut, but gossip is bound to spread anyway. You don’t want anyone else to know.

Bradley and Jake shower at opposite sides of the room, then change without looking at each other. Jake keeps it together. There’s always locker room talk, it happens. It buzzes around them tonight. Bradley likes to stay out of it. Jake usually engages a healthy amount. Today, they’re both deadly silent.

“So, Bradshaw, who was the brunette with big tits I saw you with yesterday?” Aaron calls across the room. He’s oblivious to what’s happening between Jake and Bradley, but the others aren’t. About half of the room goes silent.

Bradley pauses, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. As expected, Jake is glaring at him when he opens his eyes again.

Jake turns towards Bradley.

Aaron looks between the two of them, confused.

“Nobody.” Bradley answers bitterly, pulling his shirt over his head. He pushes his fingers through his hair, ignoring the way Jake’s gaze burns into his side. Jake’s fingers curl around the deodorant can in his hand. He watches the way Bradley moves so nonchalantly. Bradley buckles his belt. He flinches, catching it in his peripherals in enough time to duck. The deodorant hits the wall to the side of him.

Bradley shoots Jake a look. He really doesn’t want to do this now.

“They’re all nothing, huh?” Jake bites.

Bradley rolls his eyes, scoffing. He shrugs his shoulders, “What do you want me to do? - Say I’m sorry?”

“Jake, leave it.” Jake doesn’t hear who says it. He’s too focused on not catching an assault charge. He considers if Bradley would press charges. Probably not, it takes too much time, too many statements. Even if he did, Jake’s dad could get him a good enough lawyer.

“I tried to do the right thing, she didn’t want to hear it.” Bradley explains.

Jake squints. “Yeah, I know what you tried to do. That’s real grown up, must’ve taken real balls to go over there and offer her your mommy’s money.”

That’s a low blow and Jake knows it.

“Can you just get off my dick? - I didn’t want this!” Bradley snaps. Aaron’s still so confused.

“I don’t give a fuck about what you want!” Jake bites back. Dustin, standing between them, turns and readies himself to hold Jake back. “I care about what’s best for her. Which isn’t to see you living your life and fucking random girls while she raises your kid!”

“I don’t even know if it’s mine!”

“If you say that one more time, I swear to god I’ll break your nose for real.” Jake threatens, stepping forwards. Dustin puts a hand softly on his shoulder.

“What the fuck do you want me to do?” Bradley demands. At this point, he’s sure he would do almost anything to get Jake to shut his big, stupid mouth.

“Marry her.” Even Dustin pulls a face. Bradley’s eyes fly wide open.

“What? - No! I don’t even fucking know her!” Bradley scrambles for words, shaking his head. Jake’s face is dead serious. Jake presses against Dustin’s grip. Bradley shakes his head.

“You heard me. Man the fuck up, do the right thing.” Jake insists.

“No!” Bradley scoffs, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Why not?” Jake demands. This is a trick. Bradley knows that if he says one more bad thing about you then he needs to be ready to fight afterwards.

“Because her family’s fucking crazy for starters!” Bradley answers. He lifts his bag onto his shoulder and shakes his head again. “You and your sister need to stay the fuck away from me.”

He turns and exits the locker room, preparing himself for another week of avoiding Jake. As he steps out, he’s met with a pair of familiar eyes. He damn near screams in frustration.

“Jesus christ.” He mutters. You frown slightly, just as surprised to see him leaving the locker room as he is to find you standing outside of it.

“Are you okay?” You ask softly. His face softens for a moment. He wasn’t expecting you to be so kind to him. He opens his mouth, then you watch his face harden again. You close your eyes and brace yourself for what’s coming next.

The locker room door swings open and Jake steps out, ready to finish what Bradley had just started. He looks between you and him. You open your eyes slowly. Jake isn’t going to yell at him in front of you.

“What’s going on?” You ask gently, looking between the two of them.

“You know what? - Everyone’s been giving you a free pass because of your parents,” Jake butts in, stepping forwards with his chest puffed out like an idiot. Your brows furrow, you catch his wrist and find yourself ignored. “Not anymore. I don’t give a fuck how bad your daddy issues are, next time-“

You step between them and push hard at Jake’s chest, putting some distance between the two of them. You stare at Jake.

“What are you talking about?” You say softly. Abusive parents would make a lot of sense. That would help you understand why Bradley is the way that he is. Typical. There are almost twenty-two thousand people at this school and you manage to bond yourself to the most screwed up one for life.

Bradley rolls his eyes.

“His dad died when he was a kid.” Jake explains, shaking his head. That doesn’t give Bradley and excuse to act like as much of a dick as he does. “Then his mom a little over a year ago. But that doesn’t…”

Jake keeps on talking, but you stop listening. You turn your head to look at Bradley. He’s glaring at Jake angrily. It all makes sense now. The reason he doesn’t want a family, is because he lost his. That’s so much worse. Bradley can’t help but notice the way your eyes are burning into the side of his face. You bite into the inside of your cheek. He turns his head slightly to look at you.

Your lip trembles. He scrunches his face disapprovingly as your eyes fill with tears.

“Don’t — what — don’t cry.” Bradley tells you like it’s an easy thing for you to do, like you can just switch it on and off. It’s that easy for him. He hasn’t cried since the night before his mother’s funeral. That was fourteen months ago.

Jake cranes his neck as tears spill silently onto your cheeks. He’s just as confused as Bradley but he moves to comfort you nonetheless.

“I had no idea,” You sniffle, your voice cracking as you speak. Bradley shoots Jake a confused look. “Oh my god, are you spending Christmas alone?”

“Yeah?” Bradley shrugs his shoulders. He looks back at Jake, trying to ignore the misty look in your eyes.

“It’s not a big deal, he did last year too. He’s a Scrooge.” Jake explains, rubbing your back. You press a hand over your mouth. Bradley stares at you, baffled by what’s happening in front of him. Bradley nods. It isn’t a big deal at all. His plan is just to order a pizza the night before and spend the day eating leftovers. It really isn’t anything to cry about.

You turn and press your face into Jake’s shoulder. A sob wracks your body. Jake presses his lips together as he wraps an arm around you.

“Why’s she crying?” Bradley frowns. Jake glares. He doesn’t like the way Bradley talks about you as if you aren’t there. You don’t seem to notice, because you’re the one who answers his question.

“It’s just so sad.” You manage out. Jake pats your back gently. He narrows his eyes at Bradley over your shoulder. You sniffle as you turn. “You could spend Christmas with us. We have plenty of r-room.”

Bradley can barely understand you. Your voice is muffled and shaking. He scrunches his face up. Jake glares at him, trying to stay calm as he pats your back.

Bradley scoffs. He looks at Jake, almost amusedly. “I’m okay. Thanks.”

His tone is dry and cruel. If you weren’t between the two of them, Jake would knock him on his ass. And yet, you turn towards him and raise your eyebrows, your face soft and caring, “Please?”

“I don’t think that’s a great idea, I mean — Mom and Dad will-“ Jake tries.

Bradley stares at you. He doesn’t understand what he has to do to get you to stop being so nice to him. He swallows, feeling guilt rushing through him. He regrets that he’s the reason you’re crying. He wishes he hadn’t walked into the kitchen at that point in time, that it had been some other idiot.

“He’s your friend and he’s all alone, they’ll be happy to have him.” You answer, your voice trembling as tears spill down your cheeks. Bradley stares at you. You look up at him, “Please. Even you don’t deserve to be all alone.”

Bradley’s lip quirks at the backhanded comment. He knew there had to be some disdain for him in there somewhere. He looks between you and Jake. Jake gives a slow shake of his head. The last thing he wants is to spend his Christmas break worried that his father’s going to put a bullet in his teammate.

Bradley can’t get over the way that you look at him.

“If I say yes, will you stop crying?” Bradley asks. Jake’s eyes widen, he shakes his head at Bradley again more urgently. You lift your head to look at Jake. He stops shaking his head instantly and glances down at you, shrugging his shoulders. You look back at Bradley.

“I think so.” You really can’t be sure. You think it would help.

“Fine.” Bradley looks at Jake. He stands up a little straighter and squares his shoulders. “I’ll be there.”

Jake grits his teeth.

A week later and you’re landing at Austin airport, standing at baggage claim between the two of them. It’s the twenty-third, two days before Christmas.

“So I can’t call it tadpole anymore,” Jake realises as he lifts your suitcase off of the conveyor belt. He sets it down in front of you. You smile and shake your head at him. Bradley looks between the two of you and raises an eyebrow inquisitively. “Kidney bean just doesn’t have the same ring to it.”

You catch the look on Bradley’s face, “The baby was the size of a tadpole at six weeks. It’s about the size of a kidney bean now.”

Bradley nods his head, but doesn’t react much. Kidney beans are kind of big. His hands are shoved into the pockets of his sweats, so you don’t catch the way that he runs his thumb over his open palm and imagines the way a kidney bean would fit into it. He glances down at you. You’re wearing a coat. He wonders if he would be able to see a sign of your pregnancy without it.

“Come on, Mom and Dad are waiting.” Jake pats your shoulder.

You seem happier this week. Your emotions are more in check. Even when you watched that sad movie on the flight, you didn’t even cry. You sat with Jake for the flight. Bradley sat a few rows back. You’re happy that he’s spending the holidays with you, even if he’s acting grumpy about it.

Bradley recognises your parents immediately. He hasn’t ever seen them before, let alone met them, but they look just how he would expect. Your mother is sweet looking, hair curled perfectly and her outfit conservative but pretty. Your father is wearing a tie under a quarter-zip sweater with a pair of slacks. He has a tidy combover and a hairline that’s just about hanging on.

You and Jake each greet them. Bradley observes the way your mother fusses over each of you, pinching cheeks and smoothing down hair, squeezing you into a tight hug. Then he observes the swift way your father hugs you, resting his chin atop of your head. The way that Jake shrinks in on himself as he reaches out and shakes his father’s hand with no affection.

“This must be Bradley!” Your mother is the first to notice the tall man standing back sheepishly with his hands in his pockets. Bradley offers her a shy, polite enough smile. You turn to watch as she wraps her arms around him. You watch the way he tenses, awkwardly hugging her back. You shoot a glance towards Jake. “Pumpkin, it is so good to meet you! Jake’s told me all about you.”

“It’s great to meet you too, Mrs. Seresin.” Jake wants to tackle him. It’s unnerving watching him be so polite. Your mother is none the wiser. She lifts her hand and squeezes Bradley’s cheek, then smiles widely.

“Call me Ellen, this is my husband George.”

“You can call me Mr. Seresin.” George corrects. You sigh softly. He can be such a hard ass at times.

Bradley extends a hand towards your father, making a point of standing a little straighter and looking him in the eye as he does, “Thank you for having me, Sir.” He shoots a look at Jake afterwards. Jake rolls his eyes.

You sit in between Jake and Bradley on the ride home. Bradley shifts in his seat, parting his knees a little further, squishing you closer to Jake. You put up with it for a while. Until he shifts a little more, busy playing on his phone as he squishes you to the point that you almost have to cross your legs. You keep your eyes on your parents as you slide your hand between yourself and him.

Your fingertips graze his bicep. He turns his head, then gasps. You pinch the skin at the back of his bicep, catching him off guard and using the moment of surprise to shove your leg against his, making him sit up straighter, pressing his knees closer together.

He shoots you and unimpressed look. You narrow your eyes at him. He drops his phone into his lap and crosses his arms over his chest, resting his head back against the headrest with a soft sigh.

“Jacob, help your sister with her bag.” George speaks sternly, slamming the driver’s side door behind him. He walks inside without helping anyone with their bags. Bradley pauses from admiring their family home and stares after him, then looks back at Jake already struggling with his own suitcase and duffel bag.

Jake sighs as he shrugs his duffel bag closer to him and reaches for your case.

“Jake, it’s fine, I’ve got it.”

“I’ve got it.” Bradley steps past you and curls his hand around the handle. He lifts it off of the ground and frowns, “What did you pack?”

You shrug your shoulders. He follows your mother inside. It’s like Bradley expected. Texan outside, Texan inside. Plenty of space, land out back. Conservatively decorated. He thinks back to his childhood home and the way it could not have been more different from this place. He prefers where he grew up.

Bradley’s sharing Jake’s room. They brought a travel cot down and made it up for him. It’s about a foot from Jake’s bed. Bradley can’t imagine spending the next week a foot away from Jake’s snoring without wanting to strangle him in the middle of the night. He could have had the guest room, but your sister’s in there with her husband. Given that they have been married for over a year now, your father has given in and let them share.

Bradley spends the afternoon lamenting his decision to say yes to this trip. He should have just let you keep crying.

He’s called down for dinner at six. Before that, Jake makes a point of making Bradley get changed. Bradley hasn’t ever had to wear a button up shirt to dinner in someone’s house in his whole life. Fancy restaurants? - Sure. At home, it just doesn’t make sense.

Bradley follows Jake into a formal dining room, where Jake sits down in the middle. Your mother and father are at the heads of the table. You and your two sisters are on one side, whilst Jake, Bradley and your sister’s husband, Mark, are on the other.

Bradley sits down opposite you, and the first thing he notices is that you’re looking a little grey. He leans across the table, catching your attention. He mouths a silent ‘you okay?’ - you realise you must look more sick than you feel if he’s checking in on you.

You nod your head.

Bradley sits in awkward silence as your Father says grace. This is a completely different world. He knew that whatever hellhole Jake crawled out of wasn’t exactly going to be a nurturing home, but Bradley can tell there’s a cruelty to your father.

“Okay, I was going to wait ‘til dessert,” Everyone lifts their heads in unison and looks at Mark at the end of the table. You catch a glimpse of Lauren swinging her brown boot into his calf under the table. She shakes her head aggressively at her husband. He continues anyway. Bradley can’t get enough of these accents. “But Lauren and I are just too excited to wait.”

You take a sip of your water. Mark does this all the time, he’s an excitable person by nature. You feel really warm.

“We’re expecting! She’s four weeks.”

You feel the water go down the wrong way and will yourself not to start choking. Bradley watches as your eyes start to water. He just hopes you aren’t about to start crying.

“Oh my goodness!” Ellen whoops, clapping her hands together on Bradley’s left, making him jump. “Our first grand baby! George! Our first grand baby!”

Bradley looks up at you across the table. You take another sip of water. He watches you gulp. You’re about eight weeks along now. You know this, Bradley knows this. Jake’s staring at his mashed potatoes and wishing he didn’t know this.

Perfect Lauren, the eldest daughter and her father’s twin, who did the right thing and married a good guy, bought a nice house, raised a cute puppy - she isn’t going to be the one to give them their first grandchild.

Instead, it will be you. The youngest daughter, the most like her mother. Who hasn’t even finished college yet and has no intention of marrying the stranger who’s child she’s carrying. And the asshole sitting opposite her, smiling politely at Ellen continues to gush with excitement. Bradley glances down, catching the state of… grief? - that you appear to be in on the other side of the table.

He shifts in his chair, kicking his foot across the table. He slots it between your feet and nudges softly at your ankle, breaking you from your daydream. You blink at him. Bradley gives you a soft smile. It’s going to be okay. You close your eyes and nudge your ankle closer to his.

You aren’t crying. This is good. This time last week, you would have been bawling your eyes out and telling them everything, begging for their forgiveness. You hold it together for now. You still feel lightheaded about this whole ordeal.

You’ve been zoned out. Your eyes go wide as your mother fills your glass with champagne, “Oh, Mommy, I’m okay, I don’t really feel like drinking. I have a headache.”

Jake stares at you across the table. Ellen smiles obliviously, filling your glass to the brim and lifting it into your hand.

“Nonsense, we’re celebrating!” She insists. You look between Bradley and Jake, silently begging for help. Bradley thanks your mother as she fills his glass, then waits for her to move along to fill Jake’s.

He checks to make sure you aren’t being watched. The other end of the table is too buzzing with the shock of the announcement to be paying attention to you. Bradley lifts his glass and sighs softly. You watch as he brings the flute to his lips and downs it in one. He winces, he hates champagne.

He sets his empty glass down in front of you and takes your full one. Jake gives him a grateful nod. It’s the first pleasant interaction they have shared in two weeks.

You feel sick.

This is going to be a long week.

…

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jackiequick · 2 years

Text

Welcome to our lives, princess | Top Gun Maverick Fic 🧸

Top Gun AU series ✈️

Setting: After Top Gun, Pre-Top Gun Maverick

Summary: Pete Mitchell and his friends Tom Kazansky and Audrey Davidson didn’t expect in 1987 to be greeted warmly with a knock on his door at 4 in the morning by a social worker carrying a small bundle of joy and paperwork. In her arms, held the one and only daughter of Maverick Mitchell.

—

The night was dead silent, having just arrived the last 24 hours before from a 4 week long deployment. The statement of the household wasn’t nothing grand but it was home, no one cared. Tom was dead asleep soundly in his bedroom, when the barking sound of the doorbell woke it him up. He wasn’t sure it was their drunk friends or some idiot freshman playing ding dong ditch on them again, either way he rolled out of bed slipping on a navy blue t-shirt and headed downstairs.

The moment he opened the door, he was greeted by a middle aged woman wearing glasses and a pencil skirt, with a very tight ponytail. She was holding a dark gray carrier but Tom wasn’t given a chance to full process the image in front of him. “Are you Mr. Peter Mitchell?” She asked, fixing her weight.

Tom furrowed his eyebrows and blinked a few times, “I’m sorry, who are you ma’am?”

“I’m Linda Colins. A social worker for California state, are you Mr. Mitchell, sir?”

“Ah um, no he’s upstairs asleep. He’s my roommate. I’ll get him for you.”

Tom lead the woman into the living room, watching her put the dark gray carrier carefully on coffee table. Once she did so, due to the fact of better lighting from the lamps, Tom was able to finally get a better view of the image in front of him. Inside the carrier held a small baby girl with some dark brown hair sticking up nicely and her skin was a light palette of oli tones. It matched his wingman perfectly, that was Pete’s daughter. He knew he had to call Audrey as soon as possible but first he had to get this gorgeous little girl’s daddy.

Iceman ran upstairs into Pete’s bedroom, quietly but quickly. He seemed so peaceful in his sleep, when Maverick wasn’t being chaotically charming, he was simply darling. Iceman rubbed his shoulder and whisper, “Mav, buddy wake up.” No response only a annoyed groan from his wingman, Iceman rolled his eyes and shock him again saying, “Maverick wake up. You can sleep later!”

Finally Pete Mitchell shot up from his bed grunting from being waken up at 4 in the god damn morning. He sent a sleepily glare to Ice and whisper yelling, “What the hell, Kazansky?!”

“You’ll see. Oh, before we go downstairs remember, your my great friend and I’ll love you all the same doesn’t matter your decision.”

“Okay? You’re being honest and weirdly confusing at the same time.”

Maverick followed his friend downstairs in utter confusion and still pissed off for being waken up this early in the morning. He rubbed his eyes a couple of time until he reached the living room, seeing the sight in front of him. The middle aged woman and the baby girl in the carrier. Pete Mitchell was spooked. He was speechless, he couldn’t speak, only listen to the lady speaking.

“Are you Pete Mitchell?” Said the social worker, holding a file.

Tom answered for him, “Yes he is.”

“Good. I’m going to cut to the chase, you are this little girl’s father. Can you confirm or deny this?”

“Who’s the mother?” Asked Tom once again, his eyes stayed on his friend who’s eyes were trained on the little girl in the carrier.

“Melissa Oxford.”

Pete snapped from his gazed taking a sharp breath and spoke, “Lissa? I um..yeah we met and dated a while back, nothing serious, i went to see her again months before deployment..she was gone, moved back to Indiana to get a job in her home town…or that’s at least what the neighbors told me…”

—-

Truth be told, Maverick wasn’t sure what happened to the woman, but he cared about the ladies he would spent time with even if it was only for a few weeks. Truly his heart belonged to Penny Benjamin but he knew he sadly couldn’t have her, due her father not liking him very much and the life that he tried his hardest lived. Iceman can see the gears and sadness pooling in his friends eyes, knowing he would’ve liked to know sooner and at a better time that his child existed.

The social worker, Linda, spoke again, “Yeah she was pregnant at the time and gave birth to your daughter. Sadly she died due to complications after the birth but said that if anyone deserved to take care of the kid, it should be her father.”

“And?” Pete asked, since he knew there was always a catch to theses things.

“She told the nurses, for me to tell you, that if you don’t want her she can be put up for adoption.”

Pete was frozen hearing all of this and trying to take in all it, he hasn’t even held his daughter yet but he’s being given all of theses information. It made him feel sick, he moved out of the spot he was placed in, moving over to the coffee table. He heard the social worker, Linda, speaking once again but he ignored her as Iceman decided to have a conversation with the woman instead. Tom wanted to give Maverick a clear solid moment with his daughter for himself.

Once Pete reached the coffee table, he pulled back the cover that mostly tried to shield the baby’s face from the light. Peeling over the straps that held the carrier together, he was finally able to take her in. He was met with a half sleep baby girl who yawn as her eyes fluttered gently as if trying to greet her daddy. Maverick can see the similarities between them.

Her color palette of soft oil skin, curled little nose that remind him of his baby pictures, and tucks of curly dark hair that sticked up ever so sweetly. Mostly her eyes said it all, they were a light shade of green that would grow to match his dark green ones. Maverick gently reached forward using the back of his pointing finger to gently and ever so softly run across her round cubby cheeks. Pete smiled as tears slowly appeared, he knew that this was his daughter, pride and joy. His little princess.

“..hi, baby girl. I’m your daddy..” Pete said, carefully taking her out of the carrier realizing that she must’ve been only 4-5 months at least, or he could be wrong. He heard her slight whimpers that soon hushed down once she safely curled in his arms. Her tiny face nuzzled into the crook of his shirt, near his neck as Maverick coo, “..aww sweetheart. I’m right here..don’t worry.”

It was a new kind of love that Maverick felt at the moment, he knew he would get disagreements from his friends about raising her but he didn’t care at the time. He fluttered small kisses onto her forehead and he could’ve swore he saw a tiny smile. He glances at a open file next to the carrier and the only thing that popped out was her last name. ‘Mitchell’ . Pete looked down at her and whispered, “You don’t got a first name, do you? That’s not right, sweetheart.”

He thought for a moment, trying to think of a few classic names for this little girl in his arms. His thoughts were interrupted when Tom came back in the room, taking a seat behind him, his eyes were trained on his friend and new found niece. It was the most adorable sight Iceman has ever seen in the years he’s seen Maverick. Yeah sure he seen Mav and little Bradley Bradshaw together but this was completely different from that. He rest his hand on his shoulder, leaning in to see the baby’s face. She was simply gorgeous.

“Hi princess, I’m your uncle Ice..” Tom said with a smile on his face, “..what we gonna name you?…you like a Penelope or a Nicole.”

Pete chuckled, shifting his quiet little girl who softly babbled in his arms. Mav thought for a moment, “…maybe Jennifer..Jenny?”

“Jenny? I like Penelope and Nicole better.”

“Jennifer P. Mitchell.”

Iceman smiled letting out a small joke, “I like it. But if you have another little girl who appears on our doorstep tomorrow, we’re naming her Nicole.”

“I doubt it, Ice. She’s the only baby girl in the world for this Naval family. Isn’t that right, Princess Jenny?” Maverick smiled, lifting her up as he stayed kissing her cubby cheek.

“She’s got you wrapped around your finger, Mav.”

“Just wait until you hold her, then she’ll be wrapped around your finger too.”

—

Later on the Linda returned from the kitchen after letting the roommate have a moment with the child, Maverick agreed signing the paperwork with Iceman who agreed to be this little girl’s uncle automatically. Linda Colins left both men with a baby bag and returned home at 5:45am.

Iceman and Maverick stayed up for an extra hour feeding, changing her diaper and putting sleep. Neither one of them really slept that night, taking in all the information and making room for the new attention to the house. Appears that baby Jen was a night owl, because the girl was a tricky one to get to sleep until Ice took it upon himself to sing a lullaby while Maverick took a small nap.

By the morning, 11:25am, the guys called up Slider, Carole and Audrey to tell them about the news. Slider decided to visit later that week, Carole was busy out of town with Bradley, meanwhile Audrey skipped work shortly after hearing the news and drive pasting a few red lights to the Kazansky-Mitchell household. She knocked on the door unable to believe the news until she saw it herself, believing it was kinda prank or that they stole a baby.

Audrey forgot she got keys to this house and once the door open her jaw dropped, having to pick it off the floor. A shocked chuckle escaped her lips at the sight of Iceman burping a adorable baby girl who babbled happily as if she was the princess of sun. The baby girl glowed a breathtaking smile and soft giggle utter under her breath, like she was speaking to Tom.

Maverick come out of the bathroom drying his hands after peeling on a clean burgundy t-shirt while wearing a pair of gray sweatpants smiling, “Hey Mama!”

Audrey snapped out of her trancelike state shaking her head and smiled sheepishly. “Hey—hi! So it’s true, huh? You didn’t steal her?” Audrey said, with a sunny smile taking a step over to her friends watching Maverick take the baby girl out from Ice’s arms.

“Nope. She’s mine and her name is Jenny. Jen, sweetheart, this is your Auntie Sunny! She will try to keep you out of a trouble when your toddler years arrive soon.”

“She’s adorable. Definitely your daughter, she has your eyes, c-can i?”

Maverick was more than happy, he gently set the baby in her auntie’s arms with such joy. Once the shock wiped away from her body, the love and laughter reached Sunset quicker than she imagined, little Jennifer Mitchell shined like the morning skies and babbled softly in her arms. She bounced her a bit as a small laughter escaped from Jenny’s body loving the attention and pure joy surrounding her. The baby girl was comfortable in all 3 of the adults arms, even she only spend half a day with them.

Maverick pulled out his camera snapping a couple of pictures of his daughter and her auntie, a few pictures were already taken of the small family. Pete Mitchell was already planning on buying a baby book this weekend and possibly tricky Slider into giving them a huge baby shower for they don’t have to buy too many stuff. To say Pete Maverick Mitchell was overwhelmed and overjoyed with this new found journey of fatherhood was something he couldn’t describe, especially knowing he had Audrey and Tom there every step of the way.

Thank you for reading this fic and hope you stick around for both in the future! Can’t wait to see your reactions to this haha

Fic tags: @topgun-imagines @mandylove1000 @gaminggirlsstuff @t-nd-rfoot @rooster-84 @theloveoftoms @hangmanbrainrot @msrochelleromanofffelton @hanlueluver @starkleila @gcthvile and etc.

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multifandomworldsposts · 1 year

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Day 5 of Kinktober: Getting Caught With Maverick

pairing: pete ‘maverick’ mitchell x fem!reader

warning: protected sex, making out

A/N: this is going to be based on top gun 1 not the new one.

Y/N’s POV

We met a few months ago at a bar that the Navy goes to frequently. When Maverick found out I’m my dad’s daughter, he felt disgusted on seeing a picture of me on my dad’s desk one day. We’ve been sneaking around for a while now and my biggest fear is my dad finding out.

Maverick would pick me up from dance class and the dance teacher would tell him that he’s distracting the class, but the girls in the class would be giggling about it. One of my friends gets suspicious on what’s going on, so I lie about it. I told her that my dad told him to pick me up from dance but he wants me to go to the beach, or going somewhere private.

One night, I spend the night at Maverick’s apartment even though I told my parents that I’m staying with one of my friends. We talked about our personal lives and how Maverick became a pilot.

“Never knew that Viper is your dad.” He drinks his liquor.

“Yeah but, he’s so protective of me, I don’t even know that he’s going to kill me or you.” I said.

“I already know, he’s not going to kill his baby girl, he’s going to kill me within seconds.” He touches my left cheek.

I giggle.

“I love you Mav.” I touch his hand that’s on my cheek.

He just looks at me in lust, he leans into me to kiss my lips, I grab his cheeks to make him lay on top of me. We lay on the carpet to kiss each other. I try to take his shirt off but he stops me. I stop kissing him to look at him confused.

“What’s wrong?” I said touch his cheek.

“You want to go in the bedroom and continue this?” He smirks.

“If that’s what you want to do Mav.” I make us do nose-to-nose.

He gets on this knees and pulls me into his lap, I wrap my legs around his waist, to make him pick me up and took me to his bedroom. He lays me down to the edge of the bed, he takes off his shirt, I unbuckle his belt, he wraps his arms around my body and picks me up to go to end of the bed, which feels so comfortable.

“Mav, are you sure about this? I’m afraid that my dad might check up on you and sees us.” I stop him who’s about to kiss me.

“We just have to be quiet Y/N/N.” He whispers in my ear.

He kisses me again, I tug on his hair which made him moan in my neck, it made me giggle. He stops us from our session to get a condom from his nightstand and he begins to make love to me, I gasp and I scratch his back which made him go faster. I try to be quiet but Pete kept on fucking me too hard, I scream in his neck so it can be muffled. I can’t help it but scream his name, it feels so good I don’t want him to stop. Maverick puts his hand over my mouth so hopefully no one hears me. Fuck! He’s so good at this.

After a while, we lay on the bed heavy breathing. I never been fucked this good ever in my life. He takes the condom off of him.

“Mav, I can’t believe we did this.” I said still heavy breathing looking at him.

“I can’t believe it either, I love you Y/N/N.” He looks at me putting his hand on my cheek again.

“I love you more Maverick.” I smile at him.

2 WEEKS LATER

After a couple weeks later, we made a deal if I’m at the Navel Base we have to pretend that we don’t know each other, which is going to be hard.

One day while I was at school, Maverick picks me up to go somewhere but he said to the front desk people that he’s my cousin picking me up. God he’s really good at pretending. We go to the beach walking around and he kisses me like we were dating for years.

When I got back home, I see my dad pretty pissed about something.

“What’s wrong dad?” I said getting my backpack off my shoulders.

“Oh, it’s from work, a couple of my students was playing around in the air, you know, getting into a F-14 and acted like cowboys in the air.” He says looking at me with papers on the table.

“Who was it?” I question.

“These new pilots, Maverick and Goose.” He said looking down at one of his papers again.

I hide my emotions, fucking Maverick.

“I have homework to do.” I try to change the subject.

“In what?” He looks at me.

“In American History, Geometry, and Photojournalism.” I said.

“My god, what’s the Photojournalism homework about?” He says.

“I have to interview on anyone who’s in anything, like you being a pilot at the Navel Base.” I said to him.

“Do you want to come to the Navel Base with me if any of my coworkers or students wants to be interviewed?” He suggested.

“Sure, if that’s okay with you?” I said to him.

“Yeah it’s fine but I need to tell someone at the Navel Base about this and do you have to get a permission slip to do this?” He said.

“Yeah, I have it in my bag.” I get my bag in a chair near my dad’s desk and gave it to him.

He signs the permission slip and I put it in my bag so I can give it to my teacher.

“Thank you dad!” I kiss his cheek.

I walk away with my backpack and my dad says behind me, “Do your homework!”

“I’ll be upstairs.” I said back.

It’s been 2 hours since I started my geometry homework, my teacher gave me to do, it is so hard and frustrating!

I hear pebbles on my window I go see what or who it is. It’s Maverick. I open my window quietly.

“What’re doing here?” I whisper yell at him.

“Came to see you.” He whispers.

“My dad is downstairs and he’ll actually kill you.” I whisper at him.

“I’ll be quick.” He smirks.

“Mav- I have homework to do and I don’t have the time to talk to you.” I said.

“I just wanted to give you this.” He kisses my lips.

“We’ll talk more sometime soon okay, I have a lot of work to do okay?” I whisper in his ear.

“Fine. You want me to pick you up at school again?” He smirks.

“I’m scared that the school will call my dad about me being absent from school and I’ll get in trouble.” I whisper in his ear.

“Fine. I just wanted to see you baby.” He whispers in my ear and climbs out of room.

I close the window and lock it and I go back to my homework. My dad doesn’t check up on me until dinner time was ready.

I eventually went to my Photojournalism teacher and she gave me a slip to give my teachers so they know I’m at my dad’s work. My dad told his coworkers that I’m going to interview anyone at the Navel Base and they all agreed on it.

My dad drove me to his work and I kinda get nervous, Maverick will be terrified if he gets anywhere near me when my dad is around. My dad and I go to his office and his coworkers tell me that they haven’t seen me in years. One man said that he hasn’t seen me since I was 9, god that long ago? When I went into my dad’s office, some pilots looked at me like they never saw me before, even though I met some at the bar when Maverick and I met.

“Y/N. Come with me.” I hear and it’s my dad.

I follow him to one of the classrooms, Pete is in there. I try to keep myself calm and went in with my dad. Maverick notices me but kept his facial expression the same.

“This is my daughter, Y/N, she’s needs someone to interview and I was thinking maybe one of you could offer the interview.” My dad says and a bunch of the pilots raise their hands.

I choose Maverick, I can tell he’s excited but kept that expression that he had when I entered the room.

My dad and his some of his coworkers made us go into an interview room. I notice there’s a camera, fuck! Now I’m just scared about what’s going to happen.

“So, Maverick? I have questions for you, if that’s okay?” I said in a voice that Pete has never heard before but went with it.

“Yeah, um, what’s the questions?” He said getting comfortable in the seat.

“I have a lot but if you want me to say a few questions you can tell me.” I look at the paper of questions and then back at Pete.

“You can ask them all to me.” He smirks, that fucking smirk from the night a few weeks ago.

“Alright, um, when did you decide you wanted to be a pilot?” I ask.

“I was about, 12 years old when I wanted to be one, I became obsessed with planes and on what happens to the planes, you know?” He says.

I write down what he said to me and asked him more questions and wrote them down as well. When we were done with the interview my dad took us out of the interview room and he said that mom is going to pick me up.

While I was waiting for my mom to pick me up, Maverick comes up behind me and hugs me.

“Maverick, you know that my dad will kill you.” I said to him.

“He told me to stay outside with you until your mom gets here.” He whispers in my ear.

“Are you telling me the truth?” I look up at him.

“I’m telling you the truth, he wanted me to stay out here and why didn’t you tell me that you were coming out here?” He looks down at me.

“Remember what our promise was? We can’t act like we know each other if I come out here.” I said making his arms release from me.

“You know I can’t remember that bullshit.” He sighs.

“Mav- I’m scared my dad might find out about us.” I said.

He looks at me with an expression that says ‘I’m sorry.’ I know he forgets about things, but I don’t want my dad to find out about us.

My mom picks me up and Pete opens the door for me and my mom and I drove off. I told her what I did at the Navel Base.

“That guy who opened the door for you, is he one of your dad’s students?” She said keeping her eyes on the road.

“Yeah, I interviewed him and I got good answers from him. Dad wanted him to be with me when you were picking me up.” I said to her.

“I think that’s the guy who was doing stupid things in the air.” She says.

“I believe so. I really don’t know, I think it is.” I said to her. Trying to cover my ass.

“Those are the type of men that I’m afraid of you dating with.” My mom says.

Oh god.

When I got back from school, I had to go up in front of the class and say who I interviewed and what we talked about. I did what I was told. Eventually I got an A on the interview and I’m so happy! I told my parents and they obviously were so proud of me, including my siblings.

I told Pete about it, he was so happy for me. He kisses me, which I miss so much. He wanted to celebrate me with the good grade so we had a little dinner at his apartment.

“I never knew that Mel’s had a good burger.” I said wiping my some food off my lips.

“I eat there all the time with Goose.” Pete says about to eat a fry.

I chuckle.

“I can’t believe that I got an A on that assignment, I thought it was going to be a, maybe a B-.” I said.

“Don’t say that Y/N/N, I think the reason why you got an A because of me.” He smirks.

I throw a fry at him playfully. He laughs at me.

“No wonder, I chose you Mav.” I giggle.

“Did you show a picture of me?” He says about to drink his drink.

“No, I wasn’t allowed, my teacher made me just talk about the interview.” I said.

“That’s kinda dumb.” He said.

“Most of the kids in the class are my friends and they personally know my dad so, they might tell him that they saw us together.” I made a good point.

“That’s a good reason.” He eats his burger again.

“Told you.” I said and Pete laughs.

“I’m stuffed, how about you?” He said lightly throws his napkin on the plate he has.

“Yeah I am.” I said.

“Can I clean the dishes for you?” I said grabbing my plate.

“Let me do it Y/N/N.” He takes my plate away from me.

“No let me do it, I have siblings, I do their dishes all the time.” I said grabbing my plate out of Pete’s hand.

“Fine. Tell me if you need help, okay?” He said giving me his plate.

“I will.” I said walking to his sink and started to clean the dishes.

I feel arms wrapping around my waist, I giggle. Maverick tries to help me but I try to stop him.

“Mav I got it.” I keep on trying to get him away from the dishes.

“You’re doing it wrong babe.” He wraps his arms around my body to try to kiss me.

I look up at him and kisses his lips. He moans in the kiss, I kinda giggle in the kiss. I turn around to face him to kiss him better.

“I love you Y/N/N.” He whispers in my ear.

“Make love to me pilot.” I wrap my arms around his neck.

He looks at me, he picks me up to put me on the counter. I wrap my legs around his waist and set my hands on his neck. Those innocent eyes looking into mine, I kiss him, we began to make out, he takes me to his couch. I still have my legs wrapped around him. He stops kissing me to do nose to nose, he makes me so happy it’s insane.

After making out on the couch he takes us to his bedroom. We made love differently this time, he gave me love bites, I gave him some love bites as well. He takes us to the nearest wall and he fucks me on the wall, which is so different from our fuck sessions.

We hear the doorbell rings so Maverick put a robe on and checked who it is, it’s my dad. Fuck!

“Have you seen Y/N?” My dad says.

“No I haven’t, I think she’s at one of her friend’s house.” Maverick says.

I run to his closet and shut the door, oh god! I can’t believe that my dad is trying to find me.

“Why is there two cups on your coffee table?” My dad says.

I whimper.

I hear walking around the apartment and I put my hands on my mouth to make me quiet. I see my dad in the cracks in the closet door. My dad approaches the door and opens the door and sees me naked.

“Maverick!” My dad screams.

I see Pete’s face, he looks terrified.

“Y/N-.” My dad looks pissed.

“It’s not what it looks like.” I said whimpering.

“It looks like my daughter naked in one of my students closet!” My dad yells.

I want to disintegrate right here, right now.

My dad looks at Pete and I, looking defeated.

“How long has this been going on?” My dad says to me.

“A few months ago.” I confess.

“A few months ago!” My dad said.

I try to cover myself with one of Pete’s shirts and my dad looks at Pete.

“My office at 8 AM and Y/N! When you get home, you’re going to be punished as well!” My dad talk yells at us.

When my dad leaves Pete’s apartment Pete and I looks mortified.

“I’m sorry Mav, I know that you being a pilot is important to you.” I walk over to wrap my arms around his neck.

“I think the most important thing right now in my life is you.” He softly rubs my right arm.

“I love you, if my dad is going to make you leave the Navel Base, I’ll leave with you.” I said.

“Y/N/N, you can’t leave with me.” He said.

“I want to.” I make us do nose to nose.

We stayed like this for a while and I give Pete a peck on his lips.

“I love you Y/N/N.” He says.

“I love you too.” I said.

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29625 · 6 months

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Omegaverse AU idea!!

Omega Sli/Alpha Mav with some friendship arch between Sli and Ice.

Omegas in the Navy or any military service are rare, although there have been a slight improvement over the years. Slider is one of the first omegas that were enlisted after the ban on omegas in military service was lifted in the late 70s, and actually the first person to join TOPGUN as an omega. Slider is pretty passable as beta or even alpha, and only a couple of people who are close to him (his mom, his nana, his little brother Danny, and Ice, who he met in Annapolis) know his second gender. He never shows his ID to anyone and he mostly keeps it to himself when it comes to the discussion of sex and romantic relationships. Mav thinks it’s weird, a guy like Slider would brag about his love life non-stop. Instead he just sits there, laughing uncomfortably until Ice tells them to fucking knock it off.

(Ice has always been like that. Great friend and a great alpha. So protective of Slider. Bonus point if they used to have crush on each other before they realized they were better off being friends. Or I can make Ice a beta and…sort of create a bizarre love triangle. Which do you prefer?)

One day Mav accidentally bangs Slider’s head pretty hard when they are playing beach volleyball. Nose bleed, maybe sone concussion. Hell, he was kinda looking dazed even before the game started. Still not so amicable, he is sort of “dared” to take him to the infirmary. But Ice somehow insists he can’t and he will instead take care of the RIO, much to Mav’s confusion.

Turns out, Slider was having some pre-heat sickness (similar to PMS) and couldn’t concentrate on the game at all. Ice takes care of his wound in the locker room —“Are you taking your suppressants?” “Any other symptoms? Just usuals?” “Do you feel comfortable going back? Do you wanna just stay home for the day?”—a row of muffled questions to which Slider answers with either a quick “yeah” and a few seconds of silence. Mav stumbles upon their conversation, worried and wanted to make sure the taller man was okay. But holy God, is he eavesdropping and accidentally discovering the secret.

Eventually Ice goes out to get some wet towels and bumps into Mav, who is standing just outside the room and awkwardly trying to hide somewhere. Jesus the fury in his eyes. He’s sure he’s gonna get killed on sight. But Ice is surprisingly calm, despite his clenched fists and stiff shoulders. Slider, though, just throws fits as soon as he sees Mav. He tries to push him away, grabs him on the collar of his shirt.

“Get lost,” Slider growls as Ice worriedly tries to pull him away from the brunette. “And if you can’t fucking keep the secret? I’m gonna fucking kill your ass. Is that clear?”

And Maverick can only nod.

Alternatively: Omegaverse AU where omega Sli and alpha Mav slowly builds their relationship. Protective Ice. Hurt Sli. Mav trying to support him as best as he can.

#slimav #slider x maverick #top gun 1986 #ron slider kerner #top gun fanfiction #pete maverick mitchell #slider #omegaverse #some good old breeding kink yall #also some fantasy discrimination #I wanna see them breed #I wanna see them suffer #Nirvana songs be like #or Mudhoney for that matter

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roosterscockpit · 2 years

Text

His Little Girl | Bradley Bradshaw x reader p. 19

click here for the master list

Hey babes! I hope you are all enjoying the story so far! Your feedback and interactions are always appreciated! Thank you all for being here and giving me your support. 🥹I love you all! ❤️Happy reading and enjoy! 💕

A/n: Where is Bradley? Why hasn't he texted or called us yet? Is he okay? Is he just nervous? I hope he comes back soon. Isn't he thinking about you and Leia? Doesn't he miss you girls? At least you get to visit Mav today! It's Leia's first time at the hangar!

Word Count: 2.7k

Warnings: cursing and so much LOVE my heart FUCKING EXPLODED 🥰

Please don't take my work, I will find you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was the next day and you were getting ready to head over to Mav’s. You wanted to be polite, so you made your famous, chocolate fudge brownies as a dessert for after dinner. Just as you changed into your clothes the oven timer went off. You went to turn off the oven and you took them out. “Perfect.” They smelled so good. You loaded Leia into the car along with the brownies and Mav’s sign that Leia made for him. You were about to pull out when Leia yelled at you.

“Momma wait! I wanna bring my daddy’s wings to show papa Mav!”

You looked at her unbuckling herself in the rearview mirror, “Where did you leave them, baby?” You weren't really paying attention to what your daughter had implied. What she had planned, you just went with the conversation without thinking about what she really had said to you. It didn't register.

“In my secret spot! I'll be back.” She jumped down and ran into the house to retrieve them.

After 5 minutes she returned back to the car. She buckled herself back in, “I got them!”

It was a 30-minute drive to Mav’s hangar. It resided right outside the Naval base. The big metal doors were open so you drove right in. You parked your car off to the side away from his P-51 Mustang. It was such a beautiful plane. You remember back in college when he took you up in it for the first time when you and Bradley came down to visit him. It was the coolest experience of your life.

Mav came out from the housing he had within the hangar. He had an apron on and was holding a spatula. “Hey you’re early!”

Leia ran up to him with his poster. “I brought it, Maaav!”

He gave her a kiss on top of her head, “Thank you so much, sweetheart!”

“We had to make sure papa Mav was going to be on time for his bedtime.” You were carrying over the brownies and you hugged Mav and gave him the brownies as he laughed.

She lifted up her pin to Mav. “Look! I have wings!” She had a big smile on her face.

Mav looked at her confused. “Where did you get those, sweetheart? Did you find that on the floor?” Mav was so confused. He was looking around him to see if he had dropped some more pins.

You gulped and your eyes went wide, “oh shit…”

Leia held them up higher to Mav, “No they’re my daddy’s! He’s a pilot like you, Mav!”

Maverick looked at you with a really confused look on his face, “Y/n… who’s wings are those?” He narrowed his eyes at you his mouth slightly open.

You looked down and started to bite your lip, “Oh um. Mav.”

“Y/n. I asked you. Who’s wings are those?” He was serious, he stepped closer to you. Narrowing his eyes more at you.

You looked up at Mav and your breath stuttered, you're about to speak. You looked over to the door that Mav had just emerged from.

And then an all too familiar raspy voice saved you, “They’re mine, Mav.” Bradley came from the same door as Mav, he wiping his hands on a dish rag. “Those are my wings.” He gulped. He looked at you and then at Leia.

You were frozen. There he stood, was this a dream? Your throat got dry. There he was, tanner from the last time you saw him, his rosy cheeks burned from the sun, hair falling perfect even though it was a little messy, his aviators sliding down his nose, his famous Hawaiian shirt, but this time he wore a long sleeve under. He was like a dream. A sexy hot fucking dream. A sexy dream that was here and alive.

Mav stood there with one hand on his hip the other holding the brownies, “You mean to tell me this whole time, you and Rooster had a child and no one cared to share it with me.” He looked at Leia, “Did you know this too?”

She shook her head no. “Well, what the heck!” He was speechless. “I mean this is great! I’m feeling so many emotions, I'm so confused.” He looked at you both amazed. He held his arms out and hugged the both of you. “I always knew this was going to happen. Penny owes me $50.” He laughed. “I will give you all your time.” He walked back through the door behind Bradley.

He walked back through the doors laughing and talking to himself, "What are the freaking odds?"

You looked at Bradley and then over to Leia. Your daughter was never one to be shy, but at this moment she was super shy. She held the wings close to her and was looking down at the floor. She would look up slightly from time to time at Bradley and smile. But she kept her head down.

—

[I was listening to a thousand years the original and pt.2 while writing this part, I sobbed y’all. Enjoy.]

—

You stepped towards Bradley and tears filled your eyes, "Hi." You smiled up at him.

He smiled back at you and started to blush more than he already was, "Hey, sweetheart."

You held his hand and ran your thumb over it, “Would you like to meet your daughter?”

Bradley took a deep breath. He walked up to Leia and got on one knee in front of her.

“Hi Leia, do you remember me from the beach?” He took off his glasses and tried to meet your daughter's gaze but she was glued to the floor.

Leia nodded, “I do… Hi Bradley.” She looked up at him slowly and smiled.

“I have a present for you, baby.” He got up and walked over to his bag and grabbed a little toy plane. He knelt back down to her. He had the plane behind his back. “I have a super cool gift that I’ve kept for a long time.” He pulled the plane from behind his back. “This is an F-14 Tomcat. My dad gave me this when I was a kid. I took very good care of it. Do you think you could take care of it for me, sweetheart?”

She took the plane gently from his hand and nodded, “I promise to take very good care of it.”

He pulled her in close and whispered in her ear. Leia started to giggle. Bradley pulled away and laughed. “That stays between you and me, okay?” Leia nodded and stepped back.

He smiled back at her. “So I heard you have something for me?” He rested his arms on his knee and leaned closer to her.

“I have your wings…” she was holding them to her chest. “I took very good care of them when you were gone.” She opened her little hands and there was his pin.

Bradley smiled and put his hand on her hip and pulled her closer to him. “That was so sweet of you to do that for me, sweetheart.”

Leia stepped closer to him and put her hands out for him to take the wings. “I told momma that I would keep them safe until you got back so I could give them back to you.” She gestured for Bradley to take them.

Bradley gently grabbed them from her hands and looked at them. He smiled and rubbed Leia’s arm. “Thank you so much for doing that for me, sweetie.” He looked at his pin and held them to his chest. “You took such great care of them. They’re better than when I left them.” He grabbed Leia’s hand, “I thought about you every second I was gone.”

Leia looked at him and blushed, “I thought of you too.” She was still shy.

Bradley pulled her in for a hug. He wrapped his arms around her slowly and held onto her so tight. She hugged him back and laid on his shoulder. “I missed you so much, sweetheart. I'm glad to be here with you now.”

He closed his eyes tight holding in the tears. “I really couldn’t wait to meet you, Leia. And now that you’re here, I wanted to let you know that I love you so much. I hope mommy reminded you every day. You mean everything to me.”

She started to cry, Bradley cupped her cheek and wiped away her tears. “Don’t cry, baby. Daddy’s here and I’m not going anywhere.”

She jumped into his arms crying. Bradley just held her and rubbed her back, “Shhhhh baby. Daddy’s got you.” He picked her up and rocked and bounced her while rubbing her back and then holding her head to his. “Daddy’s always got you, sweetheart.” He held her so tight. Another memory to stain his mind.

You cried at their interaction. If you would have told yourself this was going to happen when you found out you were pregnant, you would have called yourself stupid. But here it was, happening. The day you had always dreamed of. Your baby girl meeting her dad and him being so loving the moment he laid eyes on her. Your heart felt so whole, it felt like it was going to explode. You couldn’t take it. You walked over to both of them. Bradley looked over to you still embracing your daughter. You got up on your tippy toes, you put your hand behind his head, and slowly and gently pulled him to you. You kissed him taking in everything. Your heart exploded at that moment. He was here, with you and your daughter. You pulled apart from him and he smiled at you. “I love you so much, y/n.” You looked up at him and caressed his cheek, “I love you, Bradley Bradshaw.”

Leia got down from Bradley’s arms. She was smart, she just knew. She gave her mom and dad their moment. Plus, she would get to have her dad forever. She slowly walked over to the door of Mav’s house and went to go be with him.

Bradley pulled you in by the waist. “Is this real?” He ducked his head down to place his forehead on yours. “Are you really here, y/n?” He cupped your cheeks, “You are so beautiful, baby.” He kissed your face all over. “I was scared I was never going to see your beautiful face ever again.” He looked at you in awe, a tear streaming from the inner corner of his eye. You wiped it away.

“I’m here Bradley.” You said in a soft whisper.

You looked deeply into his eyes. He picked you up and spun you around taking in your scent. He let you down he looked at you and shook your head, “You are perfect, y/n.” He tucked your hair behind both of your ears and pulled you in for another kiss. This one is longer and deeper. All the emotions that have been building up, all into one kiss. He was yours, in this moment he was all yours.

He pulled back, “I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you!” He yelled the last one. You both giggled together. “God! I fucking love you.” His heart was racing, you could feel it. “I’m the luckiest man in the world. I have a beautiful daughter and a beautiful girl.” You felt butterflies. Did he really mean what he is saying? Did he really want this? Us? You smiled at him, you had no words.

Mav peeked his head out, “Hey love birds, dinner is ready!”

Bradley had his hand out to guide you to the door. “After you.” He bowed a little.

“Hang on a second here.” You placed a hand on his chest. “When did you and him become besties again?” You cocked your head to the side narrowing your eyes at him.

“That's a story for another time, y/n. Your brownies are calling my name!” He kissed you and ran ahead of you.

“Bradshaw!” You ran after him and he ran through the door and you were right behind him.

After dinner, Mav gave Leia a tour of his hangar while you and Bradley trailed behind slowly. Bradley had his hands in his pockets and you had your arm looped into his. You laid on his shoulder and took in his presence and scent. This felt like a dream. You two watched as Mav showed your overly excited daughter around. She was making noises as she flew the plane Bradley gave her around. Leia was jumping around as she held Mav’s hand. She was so fascinated by all his memorabilia from the Navy. Mav stopped and put his helmet on Leia’s head.

“Hey! That’s a good look on you, sweetheart!” He knelt down in front of her and held onto the helmet. Mesmerization flooded his eyes as you and Bradley looked on. “Hang on right here, Leia.” He patted his helmet and opened his locker. He looked at a picture and pulled it out slowly. He was smiling with tears in his eyes. “Bradley, y/n, come here.”

Still looking at the picture, the two of you made it over. Mav looked at Bradley handing him the little picture with a smile on his face. Bradley took his hands from his pockets and you unlooped your arm. Bradley stepped towards Mav and grabbed the picture.

Bradley started to smile. “No way.” He laughed a little bit and brought the picture closer to his eyes to look at. “Man, this was so long ago.”

“Leia come here, sweetheart.” Bradley called over while still looking at the picture. He knelt down and put the picture up by her head. “Y/n, look at this.” He looked up at you smiling.

You came closer to examine the picture. “Smile, baby girl.” Bradley told Leia. She started to smile really big. Bradley grabbed your hand as you came closer. “Does she look familiar?” He chuckled.

You got really close and saw that the little picture was of Bradley when he was around Leia’s age. He was wearing Goose’s helmet and smiling.

“Oh my gosh…” you were smiling and covering your mouth.

“She’s your twin, Rooster.” Mav patted his back and knelt next to him. Bradley gave him the picture back and Mav kept looking between the picture and Leia. “She looks exactly like you.” Then Mav looked at you, “And I can’t believe I said she was a copy and paste of you… she is literally him!” He pointed at Leia.

You shrugged your shoulders, “I told ya, Mav. She is Bradley Junior.”

Leia came around by Mav and took the picture from his hands. “That’s your daddy when he was your age, Leia.”

She looked at Bradley and smiled. “Why does the helmet say Goose?” Bradley opened his arms and Leia came to him. She sat on his lap while he was squatting.

“Goose was my dad’s call sign.” He placed his hand on her leg and patted it.

“Where is Goose? Will I get to meet him too?” Bradley gave a small smile to your daughter and sighed. “Sweetheart, you won’t be able to meet him. But we can visit him and I can tell you so many cool stories about him.” He patted Mav’s helmet which was still on her head.

“Okay.” She smiled at Bradley. She wrapped her arm around Bradley’s neck, “Do you have pictures of Goose?” Bradley placed his hand on her belly before standing up. “I don’t have any with me, but I know Mav has some.”

He grabbed her hand and walked her over to the workbench where Mav had his helmet on. Leia took his helmet off and held onto it. Bradley picked her up so she could look at the pictures. He was pointing to all of the pictures that Mav had on his wall explaining who everyone was in them.

“That is Goose. That is my dad, Leia.”

She smiled, “You look like Goose.”

Bradley nodded. “This is my mom, her name was Carole.” He got close to Leia’s ear and whispered, “she was the coolest mom ever. Don’t tell mommy.” Leia nodded at Bradley and zipped her lips and threw away the key.

“That’s Mav when he was younger with my dad.” He looked around and pointed, “These pictures are from when I played sports as a kid and when I joined the Navy.”

Leia looked at the board of pictures, “Is that picture you and Mav during the mission?” She pointed to the middle picture of them holding onto each other and smiling.

“Yes. Yes, it is.” She looked around some more, “That’s you and momma!” It was one from when the two of you graduated from University. Mav had taken a picture of the two of you with your degrees.

Mav came to stand with you. “He’s a natural with her, isn’t he?” You kept looking at the two of them while they bonded over pictures, “He sure is.” You started to feel the redness creeping into your cheeks and ears. Mav patted your back and threw his arm over your shoulder to hold you closer. “He's going to be a great dad. He's a great kid. He’s exactly like Goose.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have no words. 🥹 My heart feels so full and I hope yours is too! I am so happy rn. 😭 Now that the cat is out of the bag, what will the future hold for you? So besties, should I leave the story here or would you like to see more? Let me know! ❤️ I'll see you in the next part, maybe! 😉🫶🏼

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footprintsinthesxnd · 2 years

Text

Christmas Wrapped Up

Parings: Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky x reader

Summary: Tom Kazansky has a big surprise for you whilst he’s trying to wrap Christmas presents

The soft humming of Christmas songs wafted down the hall of your small on-base house when you stepped through the front door. Putting your bag on the hook you smiled, pleased at the thought that Tom was home early this evening. The songs continued to play and you followed them to your bedroom door, which was slightly ajar. Peaking around the edge, you could see Tom sitting in the middle of the floor with his back to you, his tanned shoulder hunched in frustration and his arms flapping at the tape that was stuck to him. You watched as the toned muscles of his back sagged as he gave up, huffing in annoyance. You stifled a laugh as you watched his antics, cursing quietly to himself as he tried to untangle the tape and ribbons from around his wrists. You tore your eyes away from Tom and noticed that the room was in utter disarray, wrapping paper and ribbons littered the floor, while a pile of presents sat neatly on the bed, waiting to be wrapped.

“Tom,” you called out gently, as you stepped into the room. He turned to look at you, a small smile gracing his lips before he pointed at the mess on the floor around him.

“I was trying to get some Christmas presents wrapped so that you didn’t have to do all of them, but I seem to have made more mess.” He looked disappointed with himself and you sighed sadly, hating to see him so miserable.

“Here, let me help you.” You sat down beside him and began untangling the ribbon and tape from around Tom’s arms, occasionally your fingers grazing at his skin causing him to shiver. Kissing gently along his arm and up to his shoulder, Tom sighed under your touch, relaxing against you.

“I just wanted to help,” Tom sighed, looking up at you with his ocean-blue eyes that resembled a small child’s.

“I know you were, Baby. It’s ok, we can do them together.” You hopped up, grabbing the presents off the bed before Tom could stop you. You placed them in a pile between the two of you and noticed a small box on the top. You reached out for it just as Tom did the same, snatching it from your hand and burying it in the pocket of his shorts. You looked stunned, Tom was never one to grab things off of you, even when you thought it would be funny to wear his dress shirt and nothing but his dress shirt right before his graduation.

“I’m sorry,” he said quickly, reaching out to grab your hands between his.

“It’s ok,” you shook it off, moving your hands away from his and busting yourself with the other presents.

“Love?” He said quietly, trying to catch your attention. When you didn’t answer, he leant across the pile of presents, taking your face into his hands and holding you gently.

“I’m sorry.” You looked up at him and the sincerity in his eyes told you he meant it. He continued to hold you, waiting for your reply.

“I know,” you mumbled quietly and you had forgiven him, you were just confused about why he’d do it. What was in the box? Tom chewed his lip worriedly and his eyes darted back and forth across the room. He took a deep breath, steadying himself before he spoke. He mouthed your name, barely above a whisper but just loud enough that you heard him.

“I need to ask you a very important question. I was going to ask you on Christmas Day but I don’t know if I can wait, I’m worried my nerves will get the better of me. I’m also not sure I can trust Mav not to blurt it out either.” He chuckled lightly and for a moment he became his normal confident self again.

“Well, I better get on with it.” He joked as you looked at him in complete confusion.

“Tom, what is this?” You asked, worried at this sudden outburst.

Tom smirked as he stood up, pulling the box from his pocket before kneeling on his right leg in front of you.

“Darling, I have loved you from the moment I first met you at the bar when Mav was trying to serenade you. From the moment you turned him down, I couldn’t picture my life with anyone else. Every day I have grown to love you even more and I didn’t even know it was possible to love someone as much as I love you.” He took a deep breath, opening the small box in his hand and revealing a delicate silver ring, with a small diamond clasped on top.

“I know it’s not a very elaborate ring and I…”

“No Tom, it's perfect. I love it and my answer is yes.”

“But I haven’t even asked the question…” he began but you cut him off, bringing his lips to yours and kissing him deeply. He let out a muffled yelp as you continued to kiss him, running our hands through his blond hair. You pulled away, placing a small kiss on the tip of his nose. “My answer will always be ‘yes, Tom. Always.” He let out a loud, “YES!” Fist pumping the air and a large grin spread across his face. He jumped over the pile of presents, wrapping you tightly in his arms and spinning you around. You shrieked, laughing loudly as you celebrated together. Tom took your face in his hands, kissing you sweetly without the smile leaving his face. Both of you were so wrapped up in each other that Tom had completely forgotten the ring that he’d left on the bed.

“I love you so much,” he kissed your hands delicately, realizing the ascent ring and whipping around to grab it. He took the ring from the box and slipped it slowly onto your finger. “That’s much better.” He kissed your now ring-clad finger.

“I love you future Mrs Kazansky.”

“I love you too Mr Kazansky.” You laughed as he picked you up again, throwing you onto the bed before climbing beside you. The Christmas present scattered on the floor had long since been forgotten but you’d have plenty of time for that later.

Tag list: @callsign-phoenix @imjess-themess @blue-aconite @averyhotchner @mayhem24-7forever @green-socks @alexxavicry @a-reader-and-a-writer @topguncortez @maggiescarborough @callsignmaverick5 @ssprayberrythings @smoothdogsgirl @xoxabs88xox @luckyladycreator2 @abaker74 @elenavampire21 @classyunknownlover @basiccortez @sunlightmurdock @airedale17

#topgun #tom kazansky x reader #tom iceman kazansky #val kilmer #tomkazanskyfluff #top gun maverick #top gun movie #christmasfic

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laracrofted · 1 year

Text

baby, i'm high octane (iv)

synopsis: at bradley bradshaw's birthday party, nora has a realization under the disco ball.

pairings: jake seresin x nora rogers (oc)

warnings: 18+, minors dni, explicit language, alcohol consumption, pop culture references, slutty (affectionate) rooster, brief mention of blood, and smut. (wc: 6.8K)

note: at long last, the rollerskating chapter 🪩✨ and icymi, i posted another mood board for this chapter 💖

previous chapter | series post | next chapter

tagging // @theharddeck (who talked me off a ledge about this chapter; i snuck a california coast reference in here for you, dear) @frenchyjuju @bioodforbiood @cursedtobe @roosterbruiser @t-nd-rfoot @bethbunnyy @filmflux @djs8891 @mayhemmanaged @sometimesanalice @eli2447 @bradshawsbitch @hangmanbrainrot @startrekfangirl2233 @kandierteveilchen @lostinwonderland314 @hangmanscoming @dempy @mlibbydp

“Mav actually said I’m not supposed to do anything high-risk after I had that bird strike scare so…”

And with that, Bradley crosses his big arms – dusted with new freckles and sun from his afternoon on the boat with Captain Mitchell and Penny Benjamin – over a barely buttoned shirt; something Nora half-suspects Bradley found from searching Hawaiian shirt comma eighties disco and ordering the first option.

What Bradley ended up with is a black shirt, covered in bright geometrics, squares and squiggles and martini glasses in neon shades of violet, cyan, and pinkish magenta.

As close to a Hawaiian shirt as the Naval aviator could wear and still be on theme and funnily, eerily identical to the carpet at the long-since-closed bowling alley where Mom booked one of Nora’s elementary school birthday parties.

He could probably lie down and blend right in.

Minus the martinis, obviously.

Bradley uncrosses his arms. Crosses them again.

And Nora watches him, absentmindedly, blinking at this indifferent nonchalance that Bradley is putting on. So unbothered. So casual. Real believable.

“Are you okay, Bradshaw? You’re sweating a little.”

And as only a mature and newly minted 36-year-old could, Bradley ignores Nora.

Smiling, Nora slurps down the rest of a frozen strawberry lemonade, spiked with vodka. Cheap vodka. She pulls a face at the well of might-as-well-be-rubbing-alcohol at the bottom, rapidly blinking and deep breathing through the sharp sting in her nostrils.

She will not let some bottom-shelf vodka ruin her eye shadow, not now, not in her favorite dress.

A delicate cough spurts from her mouth. She wouldn't be surprised to see a puff of fumes come out.

“That was like…” Mickey sounds confused. “Four months ago, Rooster.”

“And?”

Bradley uncrosses his arms and spreads them wide, palms upturned – an incredulous gesture as bird-like as his call sign. His winged arms drop back down in a whoosh of wind.

“I almost crashed into the side of a mountain and had to do an emergency ejection. Medical kept me overnight for observation. It was pretty serious, Garcia.”

Bradley drags out the vowel and clips the constants in the word pretty for even more emphasis, and in her peripheral, Natasha pinches the bridge of her nose and screws her eyes closed.

Drama drama.

Reuben exchanges a bewildered look with the WSO and shakes his head. Deadpans, “You had one bruise, man. Singular.”

“Nurse Julie said I had a hematoma,” Bradley retorts, like, so there!

Someone audibly groans. It might be Reuben.

“Fine. You had one bad bruise. Happy?”

Bradley makes a face – a distinctly, not happy face – and crosses his arms again.

“And when did you graduate from medical school, Doctor Fitch? My invitation must’ve gotten lost in the mail.”

“I’m dating a nurse! A hematoma is a bad bruise.”

From Natasha's side of the bench comes a prolonged sigh, a good four-second exhale.

“Moving on…" Natasha continues, "Rollerskating definitely doesn’t fall under what Maverick would consider high risk.” Air quotes are audible in her voice. She waves the roller skate around, abandoned when Bradley put them down. "Children were out there like... 10 minutes ago. Children, Bradshaw!"

A valid point.

Before Moonlight Rollers made the loudspeaker announcement (“Anyone who isn’t of legal drinking age should turn in their skates and head to the nearest exit in the next 15 minutes. Saturday Night Fever is now in session.”), Nora sat down with her skates and lacing them, counted at least six skaters who were younger than the bourbon Penny Benjamin serves at the Hard Deck.

Children – as Natasha very much emphasized – who cut across the rink with the unselfconscious effort and fearlessness of a child who'd never broken a bone before and honestly, wouldn’t mind a super cool cast for their summer camp friends to sign on Monday.

As if reading her mind, Bradley’s next argument is: “Someone could fall or sprain their ankle or fall and sprain their ankle. How’re you planning to fly with a broken wing, Phoenix?”

As Natasha studies him, unreadable, Nora decides to wade in.

She can't listen anymore. She's aged five months in the past five minutes.

“Bradshaw – You’re the one who wanted to do an activity for your birthday party, remember?”

Clearly, Bradley needed the reminder. He was the one who specifically wanted an activity with alcohol and some sort of theme, and Nora found Moonlight Rollers on Instagram.

On Thursday, which was his actual birthday, Nora brought him an Americano (no milk, no sugar, steaming hot) and a breakfast sandwich (a bacon, egg, and cheese on an everything bagel, extra toasted) in the morning and as a present of sorts, secretly asked Technician Ethan to install the camera in his F-18 for the afternoon.

He was ecstatic, so ecstatic that Bradley picked her up and spun her around, like a rag doll in cool shoes, until Captain Mitchell crackled over the radio, sounding equal parts amused and long-suffering.

“Admiral Simpson says – and I quote. Put Miss Rogers down. She's a loan." Captain Mitchell then added, "And from me, I won't protect you or your wings from Charlie Blackwood if Nora somehow falls. Put her down please."

Bradley set her down with a grimace.

Now, Nora continues, “We could’ve done drinks at the Hard Deck again and called it a night. I could be one and a half Old Fashioned's down right now, watching Netflix in my underwear," and Bradley grins, wolfish.

He waggles his brows, impish and obnoxious, and Nora knows what Bradley is picturing right now. Anyone would be able to see it all over his face.

For a 36-year-old man, Bradley can really be a 16-year-old boy sometimes.

She sends him a blank I will kill you in your sleep stare and mimes a slow slash across her own throat, shaking her head from side to side, and Bradley barks out a laugh, apparently not very intimidated.

Should Nora be offended?

He should be like... a little afraid, at least.

Natasha stares him down, and now, Bradley does look a little afraid.

Dark eyes narrowed, sharp against the glittering lavender Natasha lined them with earlier; Natasha is a stunning lavender monochrome, dressed in a ribbed tank and short sweat shorts, even down to the light purple wheels on her skates.

How did Natasha manage that? Nora wonders. She peers down at her own skates and sees only a bright cherry red. Damn. She would've loved a bubblegum pink in this dress.

If Nora has learned anything in the past month, Natasha seems to get her way one way or another. Now is no exception.

Nora smiles. Watch out, Bradshaw!

Natasha rounds her lips to an O shape, smooth voice sweetening into something more saccharine; more patronizing. "Oh... You're scared, aren't you, Rooster? Why didn't you say earlier?"

Are Bradley's ears turning a little red?

"Really? You can pilot a million-dollar plane for a living but can't handle a little..." A polished nail spins one of the wheels. Mocking. "...sneaker with wheels on the bottom?"

And like that, Natasha has him.

Hook, line, and sinker.

She's barely gotten the words out when Bradley yanks the skates from her outstretched hands with a grumbled, "Fuck off, Phoenix. I'm not scared. I just remembered I don't know how to roller skate. Goddamn," and drops right down on the carpet to strap them on, swearing up a storm under his breath.

Ever optimistic, Mickey calls out, "It'll be fun, man," and Bradley grumbles something unintelligible.

Natasha doesn't even pretend not to look victorious. She beams.

Nora, on the other hand, is a little more sympathetic. A little.

He is a big man. Tall and broad with a long distance to fall in a wobble. She'd probably be a little nervous too.

Everyone is drinking. Someone is all but guaranteed to fall on their ass before the end of the night. Who? is the only question that remains.

“I can show you the basics,” Nora offers, watching him fumble with the shoelaces, double and triple knotting them around his ankles. “You can surf, right?" A grumbled sound that Nora will interpret as a yes. "You'll be fine. Balance is the hardest part. We can even hold hands."

She wiggles her fingers in his direction, teasing, gleaming an iridescent pink that matches her dress.

He snorts. “Hot. Promise?”

Never mind. She's less sympathetic now.

Nora kicks out a leg and lightly catches him in the side of the knee, scuffing the dark blue denim, and Bradley scoots away with a surprised exclamation.

She rolls her eyes.

Maybe if Bradley falls, Nora can get a good shot on her phone.

She'll frame it. A memento for the birthday boy.

"Natasha, do you know when Coyote will be here? I still need to meet him."

Last Nora had heard, Javy 'Coyote' Machado had gotten back from the deployment in the middle of the week. He drove down late last night and crashed on Jake's couch. Got coffee with Captain Mitchell in the morning to discuss when Coyote could move down to North Island. It is still a vague – albeit promising – soon, but Natasha seems to think Coyote will be permanently moved before the beginning of August.

Natasha slides her phone from the front of the fanny pack slung around her waist – silver with prismatic purple, pink, and blue hues, same as the one Nora is wearing over her shoulder like a Miss America sash – and checks her appearance in the front camera.

Holding the phone like a compact, Natasha applies a fresh coat of shiny lip gloss and smushes her lips together to spread it around. Replies, slightly muffled, "He and Hangman got in an Uber like 20 minutes ago. They should be..." A bicycle bell notification chimes from her phone. "Speak of the devils!"

Natasha searches the rink, sipping from a Blue Moon bottle on the bench. Smiles widely.

She points with the sweating bottle, seemingly oblivious to the line of condensation that drips down her forearm and onto the carpet.

"He's right over there, next to Hangman."

Nora looks across the room, dancing over the multi-colored lights and foil streamers, gleaming and rustling in the warm evening breeze that sneaks in through the opening and closing of the main entrance – and lands on Jake.

He leans against the black-and-white checkered Skate Rental counter in a familiar stance, arms crossed lazily over his chest in a way that makes his muscles really shine. He probably does it on purpose.

Don't look at his arms, Rogers.

Coughing once, Nora remembers what Natasha said about Coyote and re-directs her gaze over one. Jesus Christ.

Even from across the room, Javy ‘Coyote’ Machado is… extremely good-looking. Model, good-looking.

“Are all Naval aviators hot?” Nora accidentally asks out loud, already a little buzzed somehow. Damn vodka.

A grumbling stomach makes her wistfully remember the cold pizza in the fridge that she definitely meant to reheat for dinner before Natasha called and said the Uber would be there in less than two minutes. Damn.

She hopes Moonlight Rollers has more options for food than the six options for alcohol at the concession stand. She would kill for a greasy slice of cheese pizza or even better, some crinkle cut fries that'd probably be inexplicably soggy but still taste good.

"Is it like, part of the admission requirement for Top Gun? Like America's Next Top Model, except instead of Tyra Banks, Admiral Simpson is there."

Nora imagines a stone-faced Admiral Simpson – who’d never so much as cracked a smile in her presence before – walking down an aircraft carrier, a collection of files under his stern arm.

Congratulations. You’re still in the running to be America’s Next Top Gun graduate.

Natasha bursts out laughing. "You should've seen my Top Gun class. You wouldn't ask that question."

She is still chuckling when Bob walks over a few minutes later, sipping a blue raspberry slushie from the concession stand with a cerulean tongue.

"Got us a locker," Bob announces, pointing to the wall of lockers in the corner of the room. "Anyone have anything that needs to go in right now? I can put 'em away while I have it open."

Mickey and Reuben dig around in the turquoise pockets of their matching nylon tracksuits – which must have been a buy one, get one deal – and produce loose change, apartment keys, and the like. They hand them over.

When Bob comes over, Nora gently pats her pack and shakes her head. She's got all the essentials in there. She's all set.

Something is different about Bob tonight.

As Bob quietly repeats the locker combination under his breath, a row of concentrated wrinkles on his forehead, Nora stares at him for a probably uncomfortable amount of time.

Pink dusts across his cheeks under her observation, and Bob shuffles his weight around. He looks startled when Nora snaps her fingers in an aha! moment.

“You aren't wearing your glasses, Bob," Nora says, almost accusing. "Have I ever seen you without your glasses?"

“Probably not,” Mickey ribs with a good-natured grin. “He practically sleeps in them.”

Looking like a Hairspray character, Bob is dressed in a plain white shirt with suspenders. A single curl hangs loose in his face, fighting against the iron hold of what look to be a good amount of hair gel. He blows it out of his wide blue eyes with a sheepish smile.

"Guess not. I need to put in lots of eye drops when I wear contacts – sensitive eyes and everything – so I don’t wear them all that much,” Bob explains, looking much more comfortable now that Nora isn't staring at him quite so intently. A self-conscious sip. "But I'd much rather run to the locker every half hour to put in eye drops than break my glasses and need to get new ones."

It's like Bradley Bradshaw was waiting for that very moment.

On his knees, Bradley butts in, "Did you hear that? Even Floyd is afraid to fall on his ass and break something. Are you gonna make fun of him too, Trace?"

Robbie frowns a little. “I don’t know if I’d say I’m – ”

“High. Risk. Activity.”

Nora laughs out, "Go away, Bradshaw," and gently shoves him backwards.

He shouldn't have budged, but Nora must catch him in an uneven moment.

Bradley reels back, arms flailing like a wild goose, catching himself on a spread palm. His expression is comically dark and promises retribution, and Nora puts in a concerted effort not to laugh.

A giggle escapes, and Nora's eyes grow wide.

"Wait, I'm – Bradley!"

"Say your prayers, Rogers!"

For the second time in 72 hours, Bradley grabs her around the middle, and Nora is in the air.

At least Nora decided to wear bike shorts to make the short dress – usually reserved for parties and cocktail bars – more wearable. He'd be a dead man otherwise. He might still be a dead man.

Because Bradley is barely skilled enough to balance his own weight on the skates.

His proud smirk quickly falls as Bradley stands and starts to zig zag on the carpet. His skates go out from under him.

He goes down like a collapsed Jenga stack, and Nora is falling.

Strong arms catch her under the armpits and pull her out of the splash zone of Bradley Bradshaw's flailing arms, and still unbalanced, Nora wobbles and stumbles back against a firm chest with a sharp inhale.

Mint and cologne.

She tips her head back and sees an upside down – and very amused – Jake.

"Hi," Nora says, a little winded. She spies the black Stetson, perched on his head. “You really are such a damn cowboy, aren’t you, Texas? What’re you even supposed to be? Butch Cassidy and the 80's Dance Kid?"

She feels more than sees him chuckle, a low vibration against her back that sends a warm shiver down her spine.

Jake releases her arms, but a careful hand hovers around her lower back until Nora has her sea legs again.

She smooths down the dress down, running her hands over the glimmering pink sequins, and in the background, Reuben and Mickey rescue a dazed Bradley, who is flat on his back on the outer space patterned carpet.

"Howdy," Jake drawls with an ever present smirk. "Good guess, sweetheart, but I'm Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing. Don't you know your Hollywood movies, Hollywood?"

From here, Nora is close enough to smell the spearmint gum in his mouth. She can see the pale blue flash between white teeth. He smells incredible. Damn damn damn.

Casually, Nora does her best not to breathe in.

"Patrick Swayze doesn't wear a cowboy hat in Dirty Dancing." Jake is rocking the black-on-black look. She'll give him that. "Did you watch a porno with the same name?"

Someone laughs, full-bodied and delighted.

“Aren’t you gonna introduce me, Hangman?”

Nora smiles, and Javy Machado smiles back.

"You must be Javy. I'm..."

"You're Nora," Coyote cuts in, smooth and polite as can be, despite the interruption. He shakes her hand with a blinding smile. "Maverick gave me the whole run-down on the documentary when I saw him earlier. If I was any more envious of the bastards who get to be in it, I think I'd be green. Really."

"Well," Nora replies with a cool smile. "I bet I can sneak you in. I could probably delete all of Jake's footage and make it look like an unfortunate accident. How would you feel about pretending your call sign is Hangman?"

Javy guffaws, but Nora looks sidelong at Jake with a smirk.

Jake's chuckle is a pleasant and rasping sound. "You're a little mean today, Hollywood."

"More than usual?"

Jake drawls, "No. You're always a little mean," and makes it sound like a compliment. Warmth slips down her spine, and Nora swallows hard.

"You tired yet? Need to lay down?"

Can you? Nora doesn't need to repeat the question from the kitchen – over a week ago now – for Jake to hear it in her voice. Can you keep up with me?

His smirk deepens. "I'm wide awake, Hollywood."

Javy watches them like a ping-pong match, looking absolutely delighted. "We only just met, Nora, but I think I might be in love with you."

She grins. "Hm. That's too bad."

And as Natasha grabs her arm and pulls her into the roller rink, glimmering in the dark, Nora misses when Jake knocks an elbow back and catches Coyote in the ribs.

A crescent moon rises outside on the pitch black horizon, and inside, Moonlight Rollers glows in the dark.

Everyone is a little more drunk and a little less self-conscious in the silver gleam of the disco ball, spinning and shining like a glittering moon.

And in the rink, Nora is pleasantly surprised to find that the limited rollerskating abilities – emphasis on limited – Teen Nora used over a decade ago now have been dormant somewhere in the back of her mind. Not lost in the endless spiral of time.

Rollerskating is a little like riding a bike in that way.

She wobbles for the first few minutes and sticks close to the sides of the rink, just in case, and then, slowly finds the balance. Finds the rhythm.

Soon enough, Nora is coasting.

Natasha and Bob are her partners in crime for a while.

She skates alongside them, casting sidelong glances at where Jake and Javy are on the sidelines, catching up and nursing the beers that can't come into the rink with them. Alcohol isn't allowed in.

"Come in," Nora calls on her umpteenth rotation. "Water's nice."

Javy opens his mouth, already grinning, but Jake shouts over the music, "And who would stand here and admire that sparkly little dress of yours then, darlin'? You should wear that on Monday."

Nora gives him the finger, and Jake laughs.

Eventually, Bradley joins the rest of them. He picks it up quickly, just like Nora predicted. He only rams into the side of the rink once and like, barely.

He spins her around the rink until she is breathless with laughter and seeing spots of light behind her closed lids.

"Stop," Nora gasps, "I need a breather."

Citing a need for another fucking drink, Bradley follows her out of the rink and heads for the concession stand, winking at a woman in a Maid of Honor sash.

Nora sits down on the nearest bench, pressing down on the stitch in her side, and soaks in the atmosphere.

According to their Instagram, Moonlight Rollers had been in business since 1986. It looks the part. It'd be a dream of a movie set.

Nora can see it now.

A romance, bathed in the changing lights of the disco ball, pink and purple and blue. Soft.

Exactly the kind of movie Nora wanted to make once upon a time.

Take Me Home Tonight blares over the speakers, and Natasha's laugh rises over the music as Bob launches her across the rink, shimmering like a purple shooting star across the night sky of mismatched walls and lights.

Nostalgia is a dull ache in her chest.

Growing up, Nora used to strap on an old pair of roller skates from the garage – passed down from Mom, who loved an old school roller rink – and spend hours down near the Santa Monica pier.

So many summer nights were spent in the warm ocean breeze, breathing in the salt air, stretching her arms out to reach for the pinprick stars, as the Pacific Park neon blurred in the distance.

She was never so much great as Nora was unafraid.

Not afraid to, as Mom often said, fail with her whole heart. Take the leap.

Some late night, Nora skinned both elbows and both knees on an uneven sidewalk. Tears still burned in her eyes as Nora slapped on some ointment and a few oversized bandages outside the nearest CVS and got right back out there.

She still had dried blood on her forearms and calves when she got home. Gave Mom a damn good scare.

Sixteen is another world, and Nora isn’t quite as fearless anymore.

Reminiscing, Nora almost doesn't notice Javy is still at the side of the rink, drinking a nearly empty Blue Moon. She doesn't see Jake anymore.

Javy nods in greeting, and Nora waves.

Everything Nora knows about Lieutenant Javy Machado has come secondhand from the Daggers and Captain Mitchell. He is obviously a skilled pilot. He wouldn't have been recalled to Top Gun in October otherwise.

Natasha knows him from OCS in Newport and flew with him on several deployments. She calls him a good guy.

And Javy is the only person Nora's ever heard Jake outright call a friend. She knows Jake is friends with the Daggers, but Javy is his best friend.

"Did you lose your wingman?" Nora asks when Javy is close enough to hear the question over the music. "Where did Jake run off to and leave you all alone?"

Smiling, Javy shrugs, a movement that's oceanic on someone as broad-shouldered as him.

"He's on the phone."

She looks over her shoulder and sees the Emergency Exit door is propped open with a brick. She can just make out a sliver of the night and Jake. His expression is soft.

"It's Sarah, I think," Javy answers the question before Nora can ask. "His older sister."

"Jake has a sister?"

"Two. Sarah and Bethany."

Nora absorbs that information with an absent-minded nod. "You've met them then?"

He passes the beer bottle from one hand to the other with a nod. "I even spent Christmas with them one year. We were stationed in Fallon – in Nevada, I mean – and I'm from Louisiana. Neither of us had enough leave to go all the way home."

"So Mrs. Seresin and Sarah and Beth..." His voice softens on Bethany's name, and Nora wonders. "... met us in the middle. We spent Christmas at a Holiday Inn in Phoenix, Arizona."

Fondness shines in his whiskey brown eyes, and Nora can't help her own smile in response.

Something nudges in the back of her brain, and Nora pulls on it like a loose thread. She remembers how Jake had stiffened at the nepotism comment in Natasha's kitchen.

Carefully, Nora asks, "Not Mr. Seresin?"

Javy gives her a long, searching look that feels far too appraising for comfort; that feels like Nora is the only one in the room who doesn't get a joke.

After a moment, Javy says, "No." Short. Opaque.

Right then.

"So," Nora starts, but Javy cuts her off with an expectant smile.

“Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Nora replies slowly, "but I might not answer."

He seems to get a kick out of that.

"You know, I get it now. I really do," Javy muses with a low laugh. And before Nora can ask him to explain, the Naval aviator distracts her with, "You and Rooster. You seem... close."

Something about the way Javy says close seems weighted, but Nora is too surprised to give it much attention.

"Oh. Well, Bradley and I knew each other before. His mom, Carole was friends with my Aunt Charlie before..."

Before Carole died.

Before Nora lost a mom too.

"Bradley and I are kind of family friends, I guess. Was that a question?"

He smiles again. Nods again, like Fair enough.

Javy asks, "Ever been more than friends?" and watches her closely for a reaction.

But Nora had looked up to Charlie Blackwood her whole childhood. A woman who'd never once broken a sweat. She learned from the best.

Cool as ice, Nora asks, "Maybe. Maybe not. Who's asking?" and arches her eyebrows. She'd really like to ask, Who told you?

For his part, Javy looks a little admonished, so Nora softens the expression. She's not uncomfortable. She doesn't want to make him uncomfortable.

He's not as similar to Jake as Nora initially suspected. Jake, who would've grinned wider and pushed more, not stood down until the end.

Maybe Nora kind of likes that about Jake.

She remembers what Jake had said almost a week ago, "You like that I can keep up with you," and goddamn, maybe Nora does. Fuck.

Distracted, Nora only catches the end of what Javy is saying.

"...and Jake is my best friend, so I had to ask."

Confusion wrinkles her brow. "Bradley and I are friends."

"Just friends?"

"Just friends," Nora repeats, firm. "But Jake and I aren't..."

Evidently satisfied, Javy's smile is back in full force.

"Right. Of course not."

And Javy only sounds slightly knowing.

"I'm gonna grab another drink. You want anything?"

Nora shakes her head. "No, I'll get my own in a few."

He strolls away with one last smile, whistling along to Everybody Wants to Rule the World, and Nora is left alone on the bench, staring into space.

Over her shoulder, Nora sees Jake again.

Pink light shines across the rink now, and Jake laughs on the phone, golden in the rose blush of the disco ball. She can almost hear the depth of sound; can almost feel the vibration behind her ribcage.

Fuck. When did that happen?

Nora faces forward, blowing out a long breath, and heads for the concession stand. She needs five minutes with Bradley Bradshaw – and a goddamn drink.

Anyone who works in a place like Moonlight Rollers has probably heard their fair share of famous last words.

One final misguided question or daring declaration that precedes a dislocated elbow and a late night drive to the nearest emergency room.

Like, “Crouch down, I can definitely jump over you.”

Or, "Oh my god. Let's do the lift," when the Dirty Dancing soundtrack comes on after midnight.

“Holy shit, Nora!”

“Are you alright, Phoenix?”

Crumpled like a punctured balloon animal, Natasha lets out a hyena laugh, loud enough to draw the attention of the Naval aviators who were lucky enough not to witness the absolutely catastrophic failure of a Dirty Dancing lift.

Did Nora even leave the ground? She can’t remember.

She is definitely on the ground now.

Fuck. Everything is spinning a little bit.

Wait, Nora is directly below the disco ball, which was already spinning before. False alarm. She’s not horribly concussed. Everyone can calm down now.

“Holy damn,” Natasha gasps out, wiping at her eyes. "That must’ve been the worst Dirty Dancing lift in the history of Dirty Dancing lifts. We should be ashamed of ourselves.”

"We absolutely should." Nora winces. "Fuck. I think I broke my sunglasses."

She pulls out the pink sunglasses that were once shaped like hearts and are now little more than shrapnel. Damn. She liked those.

Natasha wiggles on her side like a beached mermaid, wrenching her neck back. “Think I ripped my shorts. Can you see my ass right now?”

Nora lets out the giggliest giggle that’s ever been giggled.

“No, I can't see your ass."

“Shame. I’m wearing really good underwear, and I wanted at least one hot woman to see them tonight.”

Nora clutches her stomach, laughing, and Natasha spills back into a high-pitched shriek of laughter. Tears spill down their cheeks.

Mickey pulls away from an intense lip-lock on the sidelines to reach them. He is the first one, sinking down on his knees.

"Are you guys okay?"

Nora drops an arm over her face and gives him a weak thumbs-up from the floor, and Natasha hiccups.

"Here. Take my hand!"

She does, but Nora has a lot of liquid in her stomach right now, sloshing and splashing. She is having a hard time engaging her core.

Mickey pulls, and Nora only slides.

Her dress is probably around her stomach right now. God bless bike shorts.

"Would you...?" Mickey lets out an exasperated sigh that makes Natasha pout.

"Don't get mad, Fanboy!"

"I'm not mad," Mickey insists. He looks around and focuses on a spot Nora can't see. She tries and only succeeds in painfully pulling her hair. "Can you help me out here, guys? They’re so drunk. It’s like deadlifting a fish."

"We are not fish. We are ladies," Natasha pipes up, sounding indignant. "Some of us are anyway." A bright smile lights up her face as Javy and Bob come into frame. "Coyote! Bob! Did you see our lift?"

"I saw it, and I wish I hadn't," Javy says dryly. He has her off the ground and on her feet in a single move, guiding her arm around his shoulder as Bob grabs the other one. "How about some water? Hangman..."

"Go ahead. I'm good."

As the slurred sound of Natasha’s giggles fade under the swelling finale of (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life, Nora briefly closes her eyes. She opens them again, and Jake is standing over her wilting form.

He glows against in the light from the disco ball, a golden gleam in the silver incandescence. Twinkling.

“Hi Jake,” Nora says softly, poking at a sore spot on her bottom lip with her tongue. She must’ve bitten it in the fall. She doesn’t remember that either.

“Hi Nora.”

“You’re sparkling.”

“You’re bleeding.”

Confused, Nora frowns.

Dull pain radiates from her left knee, and Nora spots a red and angry scrape across the skin, pulsing and throbbing with a forming bruise. She wipes at her eyes again, stinging with more tears, now that Nora has remembered the pain.

“Oh, I think I'm fine though. I'm tough. I'll get back out there."

She doesn't move.

His cheek twitches, but Jake doesn’t let her distract him. He crouches down.

“Come on, Rocky. Let’s get'cha cleaned up, yeah?”

She sticks out her arms, and amused, Jake peels her from the rink.

She is on the bench again in a flash. Metal is cold against the backs of her thighs, and Nora shivers.

A warm hand brushes across the nape of her neck, and Jake murmurs something in her that Nora doesn’t quite catch.

Only after Jake leaves does Nora comprehend the words.

“Be right back, sweetheart.”

Alone, Nora looks around. She feels a little out of focus.

Underneath the neon arcade sign, Natasha is chugging a bottle of water while Bob readies another. She doesn't see Bradley anywhere. He must've snuck off or gone home with that girl.

Nora remembers their conversation and drops her head into her hand, propped on her thighs.

Nora caught the stiff edge of Bradley's sleeve.

“Sorry. Can I speak to you for a second? Alone?”

He was in the middle of a conversation with Maid of Honor sash, who glared suspiciously at Nora as Bradley slid into the booth across from her.

Don't even worry, Nora wanted to reassure. He’s all yours.

“So Coyote asked me an interesting question,” Nora started. She explained the context and repeated the question. "Did you tell anyone?"

“Did I tell anyone what?”

“You know,” Nora insisted, and Bradley shook his head, scrubbing a hand over his mouth to hide the glimpse of the entertained smile forming there. Jackass. “You know, Bradshaw. Don’t make me spell it out for you.”

He shrugged. “I really don’t know.”

“Christ…”

What had Nora done to deserve this? Riddle me that, universe.

She exhaled. "Fine. We were both at Captain Wolfe's party a few years ago." Five to be exact. She held back a groan. "There was a pool game and drinks and shots and..."

And a silver dress sparkled in the blue darkness, gleaming in a shimmering puddle on the leather back seat of a faded blue Bronco as a shirtless Bradley Bradshaw leaned over the bench seat and popped open the glove compartment for a condom.

And and and.

He grinned.

"Oh, I think I remember now. So I shouldn't have told everyone I know about the hot sex in the back of the Bronco? I shouldn't have mentioned that?" And if Bradley expected her to blush, Nora disappointed him with an unimpressed glare and a swift kick in the shins. He yelped. "God, I'm kidding, Rogers. I didn't tell them anything."

She whispered quickly, "Why would Coyote ask me that then?"

"I don't know, okay? Everyone here is a nosey son of a bitch who can't mind their own business," Bradley said. "Even Phoenix has asked me once or twice. Someone probably has money riding on it or something. Not a big deal." He sulked. "Can I go back now?"

After an internal debate, Nora said carefully, "I have one more question. Do…?”

Do you all think something is going on between me and a certain arrogant pilot from Texas?

Her lips parted as Nora hesitated, and impatient, Bradley pulled a pained face. “

“Nora, I was about to get laid."

God. She waved him away. “Fine, sorry. Use protection.”

"Always do," Bradley said with a wink and was gone, leaving Nora alone with the smothered question, still kicking up sparks in the back of her awareness.

She needed that drink to be a double.

Something brushes against her knee, and Nora startles.

“Careful,” Jake cautions, voice low and soothing, like Nora is a spooked horse. “Don’t hurt yourself.”

She didn’t notice him come back.

She relaxes.

“Did you get your skates?”

He blinks. “My what?”

“You went to the Skate Rental counter, didn’t you? I saw you.”

“I went to ask them for their First Aid…” Jake is cradling a small red and white box in his arms. A roll of gauze is around his thumb like a ring. “…and get you some water because your knee is bleeding, Hollywood."

He says it like Nora might’ve forgotten. She frowns.

She didn’t forget.

She would've remembered.

She carefully sips the water as Jake opens the kit and pulls out some bandages and ointment. He opens a packet of alcohol wipes with his teeth and nods at Nora’s leg.

“Can I?”

Nora nods, and Jake sinks down on his knees.

She is surprised when Jake doesn’t start with her knee, instead carefully unknotting the laces and pulling the skates from her feet, setting them down on the carpet.

He smiles faintly at the pink socks, the little embroidered heart on the ankles, and Nora swears Jake brushes a gentle thumb across the pattern.

He applies the alcohol, and Nora lets out a sharp hiss at the sting, the burn.

He doesn’t prolong the sensation. He moves with such quick and efficient purpose that she wonders if one of Jake's sisters is a nurse or doctor.

She wants to ask him.

What comes out instead is, "What did you tell Coyote about me?”

For a brief moment, Jake pauses, then carefully sets the bandage in place, crumpling the plastic wrapper in a clenched fist.

His voice is hard to read. “Why’re you asking?”

She should say something like, “Sorry, I’m really drunk, and I didn’t mean to ask you that. Let’s pretend I never said anything. This never happened,” and Jake would say something like, “Can do, Hollywood.”

That would be that.

Instead, Nora throws away the shovel and starts digging the hole with her hands.

“Something Coyote said. What did you tell him?”

“Well, I guess I just said I might've met a beautiful and smart and clever as hell woman, who's basically my dream girl." Jake looks at Nora, all dimples and gleaming green, stroking across the edge of the bandage with a soft touch. "My argumentative dream girl."

She swallows against a suddenly dry mouth. "Just that, huh?"

"Just that." His expression is warm. "She doesn't like me though, right, sweetheart? Not even kind of?"

She realizes that on his knees like that, Jake could slide over half an inch and be between her parted legs. He could lean right in and...

“Right," Nora echoes. "Not even kind of."

A grin brims on his lips.

She lets the moment fade, and blessedly, Jake does too.

Jake pats her on the knee and rises. He gathers the wrappers and runs the First Aid kit back to the Skate Rental counter, coming back with another water and fries.

She could actually cry. She munches on the burning hot fries and drinks the water instead and sobers enough to push down the urge to lean on Jake's broad shoulder.

She puts on her skates again as Jake tosses the rest of the fries and dusts off his hands. She flexes her knee like a brand new Barbie doll with a proud grin. He watches her with a fond expression that softens every part of his face.

“Will I live, Texas?”

“Think so, Hollywood.”

Jake sweeps his fingers through his hair, picking up the cowboy hat from the bench and setting it back on his head.

"Now," Jake drawls. "We have enough time for a few more trips around the rink. Want to get back out there?"

He holds out a hand, and Nora slips her hand in his.

She doesn’t let go in the rink, and Jake doesn’t either.

When Jake walks her to the door and lingers, looking at her with those eyes, Nora should probably close the door in his face. She should close the door and go to bed alone and tell him to do the same.

She can't be trusted around him, not with the alcohol and the adrenaline coursing through her bloodstream, making her feel unbalanced.

Instead, Nora digs her own grave.

She holds the door open, and Jake comes in with a smirk, smug and knowing.

Everything is a blur from there. A supercut of soft touches and gasping breaths and the sound of his name as Jake presses her against every damn surface in the damn apartment.

Every kiss is devouring, sucked into the column of her neck, pressed against her bare shoulder, open-mouthed and possessive.

He doesn’t kiss her on the lips, not yet, and Nora wonders if Jake wants to make her beg him.

She’s never begged for anything in her damn life.

She might let him.

She is pliable under him, and Jake is more than willing to use that to his advantage, maneuvering them onto the mattress.

She is still dressed, and on her back, Nora can hardly breathe as Jake reaches under the dress and pulls her underwear down.

"You're so beautiful..."

He licks a long stripe over her core, tongue flat and broad.

She can’t think. She can hardly breathe.

She’s right on the edge, aching, when Jake pulls back.

He looks up. Mouth slick with her, grinning like a devil.

"Come on, sweetheart," Jake murmurs on a low breath that fans right across her exposed core. She whimpers. "We’re just gettin’ started. Be good for me."

She shakes awake, drenched in sweat, with a familiar ache between her legs.

It was a dream. She's alone.

Her dress sparkles from the corner of the room, where a drunken Nora had left it a few hours earlier and crawled into bed in an old NYU shirt that feels too warm now.

She peels it from her skin and gulps down the whole water glass on her nightstand.

Neither is enough to soothe the heat that burns under her skin.

Nora sighs out an emphatic "Fuck" in the darkness and lets her hand drift under the covers. She comes with a hand over her mouth, a familiar name on her tongue.

note: i will add a real note when i don't have a blue light headache, but... past nora and bradley, confirmed? current nora and jake, still a question mark? what do we think?

should i spring the nora and bradley one shot from the vault next?

read the next chapter here!

#fic: baby i'm high octane #jake seresin x oc #hangman x oc #jake seresin fic #jake seresin x nora rogers #hangman fic #top gun: maverick fic #top gun fic #laracrofted writes

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