#topgun imagine

[hangmanssunnies]

I Would Walk 10,000 Miles To You

Summary: The first thing you notice about Jake "Hangman" Seresin when he rings your doorbell at 1:30 in the morning is that no matter the time of day, he is devastatingly handsome. The second thing you notice is that he is absolutely smashed drunk. You know your hands will be full dealing with your brother's friend tonight. Well, you suppose he might be your friend too.

Pairings: Jake “Hangman” Seresin x Reader

Fandom: Top Gun: Maverick 

Word count: 5.8k

Warnings: Falling in love with Brother's Best Friend (kinda), strangers to friends to lovers, pinning, Deployment, love confessions, Praise kink (if you squint), light angst, happy ending, Slight AirForce slander, drinking.

A/N: No use of Y/N this time. The readers' brother is also a pilot, call sign FreightTrain. I've been fiddling with this for a while, but I finally just decided to post it. I hope you enjoy it. My inbox is always open if you want to let me know your thoughts. Reblogs with your thoughts and tags are always appreciated as well! I love reading through them.

You and Jake had become unlikely friends. Jake was one of your brother's college friends, having graduated from the Naval Academy the same year and then continuing to flight school together. You had met him once or twice over the years back then. You had always thought he was attractive, but you were just his friend's little sister. So, you never put much thought into him outside the occasional brief times your paths would overlap.

Then a few years later, when talking to your brother on the phone, you found out that Jake was on deployment, having a rough go of things. His dad couldn't be bothered or couldn't figure out how to send Jake any care packages, and his mom hadn't been in the picture for a long time, according to your brother.

Less than a week later, you had a care package on the way to him. You filled it with some generic snacks and items that your family had asked for over the years on their own deployments. You also sent a card with well wishes and signed it from your whole family.

At the last minute at the post office, you had thrown in a note to him asking that if he had any specific requests for items to please let you know, and then attached your phone number.

The thank you text message you received a few weeks later when he got the package was short, genuine, and sweet. You hadn't thought much more about it or him after that. Your goal had been accomplished of helping out your brother's friend and a serviceman.

Then a month or so later, you received a text from Jake again. It had been extremely tentative. He asked if you could send some specific sunscreen he liked, which didn't irritate his skin and a few other products. He also included that he would pay you for it and emphasized that if it was in any way an inconvenience, you didn't have to. Repeating at least twice to feel no obligation to fulfill the request.

What were you going to do, though? Leave this man alone without necessities that worked for him? Absolutely not. So you put together another care package with things he liked and started a new note on your phone titled Hangman's likes.

This time you signed the ‘thinking of you’ card from yourself. Hangman thanked you again once he got the package, asking to PayPal you the money, but you refused. Jake didn't like that, and it led to you having a playful argument. It was the first time he had actually called you on a deployment. You had answered the call, unsure, having forgotten what his voice had even sounded like after the years since you had a conversation with the man. Those long past meetings had been minimal interactions to start with.

"Hello?" You asked hesitantly, not sure the call wasn't a butt dial.

"Hello there. How are you?" His voice was quiet and deeper than you had remembered it. There was a slight crackle to the line, something not uncommon over long-distance wifi calls like this.

"Hi, Hangman. I am well. How are you doing? Holding up, I hope?"

"Yeah, I'm doing okay over here. A lot better now that you sent me all the good stuff."

"Well, my family and I want to help support you in any way we can. I promise it's not an inconvenience at all. I understand how hard it is what you're going through." You trailed off, not entirely sure what else to say.

"I really appreciate it, but I know how much everything costs. So, you need to let me pay you back." His voice was still kind but had a stern undertone like he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Absolutely not."

"I will get info from your brother," he all but growled the threat.

"I will tell him to not give it to you," You quickly reply. He huffed in frustration hearing that made you laugh.

"That's not very fair," Jake complained to you.

"Sorry, I'm not big on fairness when someone needs something," you told him kindly. You ended up talking for fifteen more minutes, asking about other things he might like in a care package, with him trying to evade your questions.

You told him you had to go, and he thanked you once again for being willing to support and help him out. He also threatened that he would find a way to pay you back once again. You found it hard to stop grinning after the conversation.

Knowing products only last so long, you set up a regular schedule to send Jake some items. Like clockwork, you would get thank you calls from him and harassment on how he could pay you back. Jake would also ask about your life, seeming genuinely interested. The conversations started to vary the more you talked. Your cards in each of his care packages became more personalized, beginning to fill with inside jokes.

At the end of that deployment, you felt an odd mixture of sadness and happiness. Of course, you were glad Jake would be back stateside and on regular duty, but it also seemed like the most obvious natural conclusion of this odd friendship that had developed.

For Jake's last care package, you filled it with stuff that would be most useful for traveling back to the United States. It was also the first care package you hadn't gotten a thank you call for since the initial one. 

Hangman minding his manners, had at least sent you an appreciative text.  It felt like a nail in a coffin moment. You had to fight off an abysmal mood for the rest of the week, reminding yourself that you were only helping your brother's friend out. It was never any more than that, and it never would be. Telling yourself that only helped so much, though.

You call Jake for the first time, upset almost two months later. You had opened your mail to find a letter with crisp blocky lettering giving your name and address. The return address was one Jake Seresin, with a US address you didn't recognize. Inside was a beautiful thank you card filled with Jake's same neat handwriting. It had a heartfelt thank you for what a difference you made on his deployment. It made your heart flutter.

What did not make your heart flutter and instead actually made your blood boil was the amount of money that had been stuffed into the card. Inside the card were way too many hundred dollar bills lined up and, on top of that, a visa gift card.

You were clicking the call button on his contact before you even made it back inside the house. The phone rang and rang. When he did pick up, his voice was crisp and business-like. It was almost unnerving to hear him so clearly, after being used to crackly spotty calls.

"This is Lieutenant Seresin."

"Tell me, did you always have this much audacity, or did you learn it in the academy?" You asked him, voice dripping with sarcasm. There was a long pause from him before he started chuckling.

"Well, hello to you too, Darlin. I haven't heard from you in a while."

Your stomach did not flip at the nickname; there was no possible way. You almost had to pinch yourself to focus back on the conversation.

"That isn't an answer, Hangman. You know it is not safe to send this much money in the mail. Plus, you know I didn't want to be paid back!"

"I knew if I wrote a check, you wouldn't cash or deposit it," he says. His voice is still teasing, and he is clearly enjoying one-upping you."

"I am sending this back to you."

"Absolutely not." The teasing in his voice was less present now. "If you don't want to see it as paying you back, fine. Then just look at it as a thank you for being one of the only things keeping me sane during deployment."

You sighed heavily into the phone, but your anger waned at his claim that you helped him. The silence stretches a little, and you feel acceptance slowly filling you.

"I am just not comfortable with it. You know there are other ways to say thank you. I would have been delighted with just a card." You told him.

"Oh really?" Jake asked, that amused tone coming back again. "What would some acceptable forms be then?"

"It's too late; you chose money."

"I'll brainstorm some other ideas then."

"No, you can't do anything else now."

He doesn't say anything to that, only hums into the phone.

"I'm so sorry to call you out of the blue like this. Are you busy?"

"No, not busy. I just got home from work,” he tells you.

"How is being back in the States?"

"Weird," Jake says honestly.

Before you know it, you two talk for another hour, and Jake feels like your friend again. You two talk every once in a while, and you finally start to think you might actually be real friends.

During his next deployment, you don't even hesitate to start sending him care packages again. Jake is just as thankful; each time he gets your care package, flowers are delivered to your door within a day or two. Then written thank you cards come at a much more delayed pace, postage from the other side of the world accompanied by Jake's clean handwriting and sweet messages. You much prefer it over the money he sent the first time.

The pattern continues through the whole deployment and two TAD also. This time your friendship never waned, only growing stronger. You still get flutters when talking to him sometimes. It never ventures beyond that, though, and you eventually give up trying to be flirty or hopeful something would develop between you two. Jake never seems interested in you that way, and sometimes it feels more like he sees you as a little sister than even a friend, which is a low blow.

However, it really starts to reach a breaking point when Jake excitedly tells you that he is getting restationed to a naval base in your area. The concept of being an in-person friend with Jake is foreign. At first, you aren't sure you can even handle it. Seeing his handsome face, wanting him, knowing what the products you have bought for him over the last two years smell like on his skin. Seeing how his eyes crinkle when he smiles and matching up his facial expression to different tones of voice you are familiar with, it is just as difficult as you imagined it would be.

You had tried to distance yourself initially, rationalizing that you were too busy to fit a new friend in your life. However, this never worked with him; he would go above and beyond to accommodate whatever weird schedules you would throw at him. This is how he became more of a best friend to you. The whole situation really came to a boil on a Friday night in August.

The first thing you notice about Jake "Hangman" Seresin when he rings your doorbell at 1:30 in the morning is that no matter the time of day, he is devastatingly handsome. The second thing you notice is that he is absolutely smashed drunk.

"Jake?" You ask him like he might disappear and this is just a dream.

"Hello, Darlin," His accent is three times as thick after drinking, and he sways a little where he is standing. His hair was messy, and his eyes had a glassy glazed-over look to them.

You quickly look around, trying to figure out how he got here. There wasn't a car in sight, though, which was somewhat of a relief. At least you knew that he hadn't driven by the lack of his truck.

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted," he starts to say but then abruptly snaps his mouth closed. His face scrunches like he is trying really hard to concentrate. He closes his eyes for a moment, and when they open again, he looks a bit like a lost puppy. "I don't know."

You sigh and wrap your arms around yourself, throwing open the door and ushering him into the house. "How about you come in?"

A grin instantly split his face, and he walked through your door, brushing extremely close to you, ignoring the ample space you left for him to go through the door. He went to your kitchen and slumped into one of the bar stools at the breakfast bar. You closed the front door, locking it before following after him.

"How did you get here?" You asked.

"I walked."

"You walked from where?" You were wracking your brain, trying to think of anywhere close by he could have been and gotten this drunk.

"Was at Red Brick Rhythm," he tells you, his face propped up on one of his hands, his elbow planted firmly on the counter. Jake doesn't stop looking at you either, his eyes following your every move.

You fill up a glass of water and pour in some liquid IV before handing it to him, trying to place the club in your mind. Then you gasp, suddenly remembering where it is. "Jake, that's like five miles away."

He hummed noncommittally and took a big gulp of the water. He set it down half full now and was looking at you like he was waiting for some sort of prize at his effort. You are half tempted to tell him he is a good Lieutenant, but instead, you try to escape his gaze by looking in your fridge.

"Are you hungry?"

“I'm always ravenous, sweetheart," he tells you and winks. Jake makes you laugh, and you start to examine the contents of your fridge.

"What do you want then? I'm not sure I have much."

He didn't answer you, so you turned to find him staring at you again. Jake responds in a dead serious voice, ”I'll take anything you give me."

You sighed since that didn't help you but watched him fight to keep his eyes open and decided to throw some tater tots in the Airfryer real quick.

"No complaining with what you get then."

"Yes, ma'am," he responded, nodding his head slowly. The action made him close his eyes and take a deep breath.

You parked yourself against the counter, leaning back against it to examine him. "How are you feeling? Okay, do you need anything?"

His eyes open, and he slowly blinks at you a few times, and a severe frown suddenly mars his features. You want to run your fingers over the crease in his eyebrows and the shape of his lips until he smiles again. You almost have to physically shake your head to dislodge the thought from your brain.

"Did you have a date tonight?" He blurts out as if he finally noticed the makeup on your face and your hair that is still styled. He had caught you before you were ready to wash off the night. You hesitate for a moment, not sure you actually want to talk about it, but decide to tell him. You don't want Jake to think you couldn't find anything better to do on a Friday night than stay home.

"Yeah, I did."

"How was it?"

"It was good," you lied. It had actually been terrible.

The man you met from Hinge had shown up late and ditched the bill on you, unwilling to split it as you requested. On top of that, he had asked you three whole questions before he went on a rant for the rest of the date about what he thought women should and shouldn't be doing.

The lie you told Jake didn't ease the frown on his face, though, or the darkness in his eyes. His free hand drums against your countertop in a light staccato, drawing your eyes towards them and his academy graduation ring. "Couldn't be too good if you answered the door, and you're here alone."

"Who says I'm here alone?" You ask, raising an eyebrow. "There could be a satisfied man in my bed right now. Or maybe we did the deed, and he is already on his way home."

"You wouldn't have answered the door," Jake says slowly. You can see his drunk mind doing mental gymnastics at the possibility you presented to him. However, the severe look on his face eases significantly after that. "And you don't look satisfied, Darlin."

"I don't look satisfied?" you question him. This line of conversation was quickly entering a place you two had never gone before. "And you would know what that looks like, Hangman?" You tease him.

"I could make you very satisfied. No sane man would let you out of bed once he had you there, let alone this early at night. With your pretty little mouth still looking in perfect shape, I bet you didn't even make it to second base."

His damn fingers hadn't stopped their drumming on the counter, and suddenly they were the only thing filling your thoughts about how they would feel against you, in you. He also looks distracted, though, staring at you again. You bite your lip, trying hard to clear your mind to figure out how to redirect this conversation.

"Are you doubting my capabilities to satisfy you?" He questioned your words catching up with him. He stood up from the stool he had been sitting on, looking much steadier on his feet than when he showed up at your door.

"Don't think I could ruin that pretty makeup, tangle your hair, eat you out until you cried? Make you beg for me? You doubt I could make you forget your own name? Then put you back together again?" Every fiber of your being knew he could probably do every one of those things and not even put in much effort.

"No, I don't doubt your capabilities. Just…" you finally choked out and trailed off, feeling like there suddenly wasn't enough oxygen in the room.

"Just what?" He asked you, and his voice was sinfully deep.

"Just that you don't know when I look like that." You supply, the words were stilted and awkward.

"What if we found out together then? Me what you look like. And you, what it feels like."

He made to move closer to you, but you instinctually held up one of your hands, and he stopped freezing in place. You finally averted your gaze from him to the Airfryer dinging. You grabbed a plate and threw the tater tots on it, collecting some condiments from the fridge so Jake would have options.

He was still standing in the same spot and hadn't moved any closer in the process it took you to get the food. Jake’s bright eyes burning into your back.

You can't quite quell the heat simmering in you from the line of conversation. The sinful tone of Jake's voice. Of course, those were all things you wanted from him, things you imagined. But that wasn't realistic, and he was drunk. You were his friend's little sister, probably his most robust support system during deployments, his close friend and confidant. One drunken tumble in the sheets wasn't worth risking that.

You sigh heavily, setting the plate down on the counter where he had been sitting. "Sit down, Jake, and eat."

He follows orders well because, of course, he does. He dips a tater tot in some of the homemade BBQ sauce he had given you a few months ago and shoves it into his mouth. Jake has that same look he did with the water, which he is once again sipping, like he is looking for praise. However, under that, he looks a little defeated, his shoulders hunched slightly.

"Listen," you start slowly, trying to craftily pick your words so no more damage can be done. "You are drunk, and I was just teasing. It's nothing, Jake."

"I'm not too drunk," he defends himself, munching on another tot.

"You're sloshed," you say, pointing a finger.

"I am not sloshed, sweetheart. I walked all the way here. I drank water. My words aren't slurring." All of these were valid points, and his drunk mannerisms were improving by the minute. However, he was still inebriated. He had been drinking tonight, and you could use that as a defense.

"Doesn't change that you have been drinking, Jake."

He then dropped a tater tot that was halfway to his mouth and glared at you. He had never glared at you before. You weren't sure how to handle this situation. Instinctively you flinched a little at the harsh look, which lasted for a minute longer before he dropped his head low and stared at the plate.

"Am I just your pity, friend?" He asked you quietly.

"What? No, of course not!"

"I know I'm not the only one of Freight's friends you have sent care packets." He said using your brother's call sign, which made your eyebrows raise. Jake had known your brother, FreightTrain, since well before that was his call sign and they went to flight school together.

"Of course, I help support some of them when y'all are deployed. I am literally in the American Legion Auxiliary, you know," you said, shrugging like it wasn't a big deal.

"You send Bradshaw care packages," Jake said, the bitterness in his voice unmistakable. "He told me about it. "

You glared at him then, not about to put up with him being jealous over something like that.

"And so what if I do? Rooster is my brother's friend, just like you. And the man is an orphan. Who else is going to send him packages?"

"He is a grown man who can take care of himself."

"The same can be said about you, Jake."

He huffed, and that annoying crease in-between his eyebrows deepened along with his frown. His bottom lip caught in-between his teeth, biting it a few times in frustration before letting go.

"Do you want a list of all the people I send them to? I don't understand your issue here."

"The issue is," Jake clenched his fist and jaw before growling out the rest of his sentence, "I'm not just Freight's friend to you! We are more than that."

"Are we?" You ask him quietly, not knowing that was actually true.

Silence hung in the air between you while you waited to see if he would fill it. Waiting for Jake to reassure you that no, of course, y'all were more. That he cared about you as much as you cared about him. That you weren't just a convenient and useful person in his life. That you could have your beautiful friendship and so much more. However, instead of giving you those reassurances, Jake decided to finish his water and stand up again.

"I'm sorry for bothering you tonight, Ma'am. It won't happen again."

"Jake, no," you said softly, being the one who moved towards him now. "Stop. Where are you going to go? It's the middle of the night. You can stay here and finish eating."

"I can't impose more than I already have, Ma'am."

"Stop calling me Ma'am," You snap at him, already feeling the hurt of this encounter ringing through your veins.

"I can't stay here," Jake told you, and you were just thankful he didn't attach Ma'am to the clipped sentence this time.

"Well, this is me temporarily waiving my third amendment rights. Okay?" you say gently, pleading with your eyes. You were reeling from this interaction. Part of you still felt charged by his suggestive words of what he could do to you. Part of you was desperately worried you had somehow messed up your friendship. Then there was part of you that was confused about this jealous problem he seems to have with you sending care packages to other people.

"No, not okay."

"Not okay?" You parrot back.

"Do you know why I walked all the way here?" He asked you, his tone dead serious, and the glaze that had been there in his eyes when you first opened the door was almost entirely gone.

"Because you couldn't remember anywhere else to go?"

"No," he said calmly. "I came here tonight because I was drunk, and the only person I wanted to see was you. I always want to see you. No matter how far away you are, my feet are begging me to walk towards you: from down the road, the other side of the country, the middle of the ocean. You are my soul's compass point now.

"Normally, I can resist. I can act like I'm just your friend or your brother's friend. That I was just assigned this base randomly, without any subtle and insistent requests to my superiors for reassignment here. I can pretend that I don't have every single one of your cards saved. I have so much control all the time, but I am so tired. And tonight I was drinking, then I just couldn't stop my feet anymore from walking here, to you."

Every possible thought in your brain suddenly ran to the exit. The only thing occupying your mind was the look of pure sincerity on Jake "Hangman" Seresin's face while he poured his heart out.

"Jake," you whispered, taking a few steps toward him. This time, however, he was the one who stopped you, holding up his hand.

"I've never felt like I wasn't good enough before. Maybe a bit when I was younger, but not since I got over all my childhood bullshit and went to USNA. Definitely not since I figured out I'm actually the best at something as a pilot in flight school. But now I can't escape the feeling. I run the numbers all the time. I try and figure out if I have interpreted the signs wrong. I just can't wrap my mind around why I'm not good enough for you."

Jake might as well have taken a knife out of the block sitting by your stove and stabbed you. That would have hurt less than the tight feeling in your chest hearing him admit he felt insufficient. Jake's posture, the way he shrunk into himself, was wrong. He refused to meet your eyes now. It was all wrong, so incompatible with the man you knew Jake Seresin to be. He looked like he was about to keep going, but you didn't think your heart, which had just ripped itself into pieces, could handle hearing anything else.

"Enough," you growl out, slapping your hand down on the counter. "I won't hear another word of this." That just seemed to make Jake shrink more into himself, and he looked seconds away from hightailing it out of the door.

You took a deep breath, trying to steady your nerves and make a fully conscious effort so that your voice came out kind and caring. "You are worthy, Jake. I am ashamed if, for some reason, I have contributed to making you feel like you aren't."

"That's not enough to make you love me," he whispered, still not looking at you.

"Look at me," you begged. His eyes remained on the abandoned plate, so you repeated your request just as softly. Finally, when those sea glass eyes poured into yours, they were filled with hurt and panic. You tried to find the words to adequately say how you felt, the words that could make him understand the situation you were in.

"I love you too much to love you, Jake." You immediately wanted to stick your foot in your mouth hearing the words out loud.

"What does that mean?" He asked, which, to be fair, was a valid question.

"It means I care about you too much. It means you are too special to me. You are too good of a friend to try and fuck it up by adding more. I have to have you in my life. I won't lose us just because we decide to have sex or try something else, and it doesn't work out. It could never be worth it enough to even entertain losing you."

"Well, I love you too much to keep being your friend. I can't hear about your dates or watch you care about someone else. I can't be your friend anymore, pretending I'm not in love with you. It would never be genuine, and you deserve more than that."

Tears spring up in your eyes at his words, and your hands clench into fists. The only thing that stops you from sobbing is the steady breaths you are reminding yourself to take. "Then I guess we are at an impasse."

"This is the end then," Jake's voice breaks when he says end. You can't hold back the tears anymore; all it takes is two blinks, then they slide down your cheeks in fat drops.

"Don't say that," you beg him.

"I don't know what else to say."

"Take it back, say that you are drunk. That you don't love me. That I'm your friend's annoying little sister, who you promised to keep an eye on. Tell me you aren't leaving me. Tell me something that will fix this between us."

Silence stretches between the both of you again. Tears keep falling down your face, your eyes were begging Jake for comfort, but they only meet the steady resignation in his.

"I hate seeing you cry." He finally utters, which just makes you cry harder.

"Please," you didn't know what you were asking him for, though. You wrapped your arms around yourself, trying to self-soothe and find some form of comfort. Jake continued staring at you. He made a micromovement like he was going to come comfort you at least twice but stopped himself each time.

"I'm going to go." He gave you one final look and spun on his heel towards your front door.

You only let him get to the hallway, where he originally kicked off his shoes and was starting to shove them back on his feet. You caught his arm, wrapping your hand around it, stopping his movements.

"Don't do this. I love you."

"You're breaking my heart," he whispers, covering your hand with his own. Jake's USNA ring felt cool against your flushed skin.

"If I let you have me, will you stay?"

"No, not now that I know you don't want me."

"I never said I didn't want you," you retort, squeezing his arm a little.

“No. I could have bared simply not being enough or that you found me unattractive. What you told me was worse."

"I can't lose you over this. Not over drunken words and feelings."

"I'm not drunk," he growled out with a steel edge to his voice. "I'm not even a lick beyond stone-cold sober anymore. So stop implying my words and feelings are anything beyond genuine. I ain't asking you for tonight, sweetheart. I was here asking you for forever."

God, you knew that was what he was asking for, but that only made it so much scarier. His hand started to slip from where it covering yours. You twisted your hand to catch his fingers in yours. Ever so slowly, you brought it closer to you and brushed your lips over his knuckles. Jake's eyes were tracing your actions watching intently. When your lips touched his skin, he audibly gasped. The intake of breath was so minimal you wouldn't have heard it if you hadn't been standing so close.

"My date was terrible," you whispered to him, not letting go of his hand and holding it close to yourself. Jake raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, so you just continued on. "They always are bad, even when they should be good, because they are never with you. And I also have kept all of your thank you cards. I've dried every bouquet of flowers you sent to me, so I wouldn't ever have to throw them out.

"I dream about you and think about you all the time. I didn't even want to be friends when you first moved here, because I was already more than in love with you from texts and phone calls. The first time I smelled your aftershave, which I had bought you, on your actual skin, I wanted to jump your bones. You didn't make it easier for me, Jake, looking like you were crafted from marble by an artist. And then I found out you tip servers well. I learned you are just as funny and kind in person as you were on the phone. An accomplished, decorated Naval officer, giving me any time of day even as a friend still seems ludicrous. You are too good to be true and certainly too damn good for me, Jake Seresin."

His pupils were blown wide, and his mouth open just the tiniest bit. He leans forward, you are fully expecting him to kiss you now, but instead, his forehead presses into yours. It's a grounding feeling, the weight of skull against yours, your breath mingling. It reminds both of you that this is real. His free hand comes to cup your cheek pushing away the stray tears still clinging to your cheeks. Your eyes pouring into each other, hardly even blinking.

"I can be yours then?" he asked when your breathing had evened out.

"You already are mine. You've been mine for a long time, haven't you?" You reassured him and asked him in the same breath.

"Yes. I've been yours. Always yours," Jake muttered lowly.

"Good. You are so good. Too good." You praised him, and his face split into a grin, and you were tempted to break the moment you were having and kiss him silly.

"Will you let me love you then?" He asked you a moment later.

"Yes, but it won't be easy," you warn him.

"If I wanted anything easy in life, I would have joined the Air Force." Before the joke even fully settles, or you have a moment to defend the Air Forces' honor, Jake's lips press against yours. The way his mouth feels against yours is even better than you had imagined.

You invite him to your bed, but he refuses to sleep with you, even if it is just sharing a bed, before at least one proper date. You try to fight him on it, but Jake says he can't be anything but a proper gentleman. You make up the couch for him, taking too long to tuck the blanket around him because you keep getting distracted by kissing every inch of his face. Finally,  you go to bed when you can't stop yawning, realizing it is past three am.

In the morning, you wake up sure the night before had been a dream. However, you are proven wrong when you make your way out of your room. There you find Jake shirtless in the kitchen humming to the music he has playing on his phone, flipping pancakes and bacon. The sight and scents combined literally make your mouth water.

"Can this count as our first date?" You ask him before even saying good morning. The laugh it prompts in him is warm and fills the whole room before settling your chest. You know it's a sound you never want to stop hearing.

[simpforrooster]

don't you dare.

pete 'maverick' mitchell x f!reader

summary: you are sick of your captain not making a move. reader's call sign in Queenie.

t/w: age gap, sexual tension, allusions to smut, cursing

“You smile like that because you think it’ll get you attention,” a deep voice murmurs into your ear. Your body reacts the way you want it to, but you shouldn’t want it. Everything about this little crush is dangerous. 

“My tactic seems to have worked,” you shrug, your shoulder brushing against his body. He's standing so close. “You came over.” 

You don’t need to turn around to imagine the crooked smile that’s fallen on his face. He brushes the back of your neck as he brings his beer to his mouth. Goosebumps rain over your arms. 

“Queenie, you don’t have to put on a show to get my attention,” he admits. “You’ve had it since the first day I walked into that hangar.” Now you’re the one with the crooked smile. 

“But you haven’t done anything about it.” The five seconds of confidence from earlier has faded, and is replaced with the desperation that laces your last sentence. The only thing worse than not knowing how someone feels about you, is knowing they feel the same but can’t act on it for one reason or another. 

In both of your cases, he’s your captain. 

Maverick takes another swig of his beer. Your back is still to him, but he brushes against you again as he does this. 

“You think I don’t want to?” he all but growls into your ear. Just as quickly as his mouth is to your ear, it’s gone again. 

To hell with keeping up appearances, you swing around to look at him. How did he expect you to not react to that? Regret weaves through his features, like he hadn’t meant for that to come out. Like he wanted to keep it in because he knows it won’t change anything. He can’t give Cyclone a reason to ground him.

“Of course, I want to,” the words are barely a whisper. “You have no clue how much I want to do something about this.” 

This. This being whatever the tension between y’all is. Too many things are up against the two of you. Him outranking you. Him being the one to put together the dagger team. Let’s just go ahead and mention the elephant in the room. The one that is a little more obvious to onlookers.

The damn age difference. 

“I think I have an idea,” you admit, shoving aside every reason you shouldn’t say this. “Because I have been dying for you to make some kind of move.”

Maverick’s eyes fall closed. His jaw works back and forth, fighting an inner battle. Most likely to grab your hand and pull you out of here or to walk away. 

You’re hoping for the former because his hand reaches out for you, lightly brushing against your arm. He jerks his hand back, seemingly coming to his senses. Like that one touch would be his undoing. The thought of Maverick having such a reaction to you thrills you way more than it should. 

“We can’t,” he croaks out. His voice is strained and so very sexy. It has to sound like that after a hot makeout session too. 

“When have you ever followed the rules?” you press. 

This catches his attention. His eyes pop open, and they are sparkling with mischief. You may not have met Maverick before this deployment, but you’ve heard all about him. Just the other day, you passed by Cyclone’s office and heard him giving Mav a verbal beating. 

“Come on, Queenie, it’s not just me being your captain,” he murmurs. “And you know it.” He searches your eyes, silently saying don’t make me say it. 

Here’s the thing. You want him to say it. You want to hear him admit the thing that is holding him back is something as a meaningless age difference. The amount of fucks you give about him being older than you are nonexistent. 

“Say it, Mav,” you push. The flirtation you felt earlier has quickly morphed into something between annoyance and anger. Annoyed that he’s having a moral debate about dating you, rather than the way he flies his damn F-18. Angry that he came over here guns ablazzin’ calling you out and acting like he was finally going to lay a kiss somewhere on your body. You don’t even care which part at this point. As long as he fucking does it. 

The mischief in his eyes has flickered out to pain. “You know you should be with someone like Hangman or Rooster.” Rooster? His pseudo son? 

You move in closer to him, craning your neck back to look him in the eyes. Those gorgeous eyes. “Don’t you dare tell me who I should be with, Pete Mitchell.” 

His pupils dilate when he realizes you’ve used his name and not his callsign. He doesn’t speak, seemingly in shock, so you keep going. 

“In our line of work, I don’t want to be with someone you think I should be with. I want to be with someone I want and it’s you I want,” before you can think better of it, you add, “sir.” 

Maverick must lose that moral battle, because he grabs your hips and pulls you flush against him. “I am not going to be able to handle hearing you call me sir,” he growls in your ear. “At least not outside of my bedroom.” 

The words, his breath, and the adrenaline send a sweet line of pleasure down your spine. It feels like a lifetime, but Mav finally brings his lips to your jaw, testing the waters with a brief kiss. His expert hands are placed just where they need to be. He slowly runs one up from your hips to your waist. Meanwhile, yours play at the top of his jeans, seeing how far you can push him. 

“Shit,” he whispers, “I need to get you out of here before I really get us in trouble.” 

“Good, I didn’t want our first kiss to be in the Hard Deck,” you admit. “Take me home, sir.” 

Maverick groans, and pulls you from the bar. 

“Our tabs!” you giggle at his urgency. “We can’t skip out.”

Maverick leans into you against his motorcycle. “A bar tab is the furthest from my mind at the moment, Lieutenant.” His lips are a breath away from yours. 

“Come on, Pete, kiss me already,” you challenge. 

“I don’t know what’s better, when you call me Pete or Sir. It shouldn’t be that provocative,” he says. 

“You’re such a simp,” you mutter, pulling him down by the collar of his bomber jacket. Taking charge like you did in the bar, you place your lips against his. The intensity is everything you hoped it would be. He slowly drags his tongue against yours, you immediately grant him access. 

When he pulls back, he says, “You’ll have to explain what that means later.” He voice as sexy as you predicted it would be. 

[shoot-the-oneshot]

PAPER RINGS

Based on this idea with the ring from Purple Hearts.

The one where rooster can’t find the perfect ring

Hangman version Young Maverick version

“Woah!” Maverick yelled being pulled into an empty classroom, “Rooster?” He asked seeing the pilot start to pace once the door shut. “I need your help Mav.” Since Bradley could tie his shoes he hasn’t asked maverick for help so this spiked his stress levels. “It's Y/N.” Rooster mumbled out. “What happened to Y/N?” If Bradley was the son he never had you were the daughter he was incredibly protective over you.

“Something happened to Y/N!” Rooster froze worry overcoming his entire body as he quickly looked out the window where he knew your jet would be soaring through the air. “That’s what you said!” Maverick yelled, making Rooster throw his arms in the air. “No, I didn’t, you did.” The men quieted down the stress of something happening you calming. “What did you need help with?”

“I want to marry her.”

“Kid that’s great but why’d you have to stress me out first come here,” Maverick said pulling the other man into him for a hug wishing that Goose was here to see his boy all grown up. Rooster rolled his eyes at the last comment.

“Will you help me pick out a ring?” Maverick had never been so happy to be invited to a jewelry store before but for the two kids coming together he couldn’t wait. Until they got there, then he slightly regretted it he should’ve known really. Goose was the same way when he went shopping for Carols.

“Do you like any of these?” Maverick asked glancing down at the glass cases of engagement rings. Rooster looked silently. He knew for sure he wanted to marry you, but he had no idea what type of ring you wanted. Thinking back on it he really should’ve asked Phoenix.

“No, they’re just not right.” He sighed, shaking his head, he knew if his mom and dad were there they’d know exactly what to do. maverick who had never been married was just as lost as Bradley, but he tried his best, “just, Just look at the rings, and when you see one that makes you feel the way you do when you look at Y/N that’s the one.”

“That’s actually not a bad idea.” With his newfound outlook, he spent probably another two hours looking from ring to ring, and nothing felt right. “Can I see the last one again?” He sheepishly asked, he know that the poor saleswoman hated him even Mav, who was resting his head on his hands. His mom loved the ring his dad gave her wore it long after he died, and Rooster wanted you to love yours just as much. Setting the rings down he groaned rubbing his hands down his face.

“Kid you could give her a paper ring and shed say yes.” Rooster paused at his words an idea popping into his head. “ Thank you!” He yelled, pushing the rings back and pulling Maverick behind him out the door. “Am I missing something?” Mav wondered aloud watching Rooster run to the back of his bronco and pull out a toolbox.

“I don’t need to buy her something I need to give her something.” He mumbled paying half attention to what Maverick was saying. “You’re going to give her your dog tags?” He asked, Watching the young pilot put them out of his shirt and off his neck. Separating the smaller chain from the longer one. “Part of them.” Cutting the chain to the length he measured next to a ring he took from your nightstand. Smacking Maverick's hand away when he went to reach for it. “Don’t touch.” Of course, Maverick ignored him and picked it up anyways when Rooster was done with it.

“You stole her ring?” Rooster huffed cutting him a glance from what he was doing. “I borrowed it.” Mav nodded along. “Stole it.” He whispered, making the pilot huff

“It’s temporarily misappropriated!” Rooster barked going back to the task at hand, connecting the chain back together he slid the small loop onto his finger showing Maverick.

“What do you think?” Bradley felt more nervous now than he did in the jewelry store. Watching for any look that may come over his unofficial uncles face. A proud smile slid on his face looking from the makeshift ring and the other pilot shifting on his feet. “Y/n will love it.” Passing the ring back Rooster immediately started fiteling with it.

“Are you sure? I know it's basic but we can pick out the other ring together so she really likes it you know, and I always wished I had my dads tags, thanks for that by the way.” Maverick cringed,

“so maybe even when I’m away she still has a little piece of me to carry around.” He rambles making Mav grab him by both arms to get him to take a breath. “Kid it's perfect.”

“Are you sure, because she definitely deserves perfect.”

“There’s only one way to find out.”

“Are you okay babe?” You asked seeing your boyfriend shift in his seat for the thousandth time nice he picked you up. Not to mention his hand white-knuckling the steering wheel. His head snapped over to you, quickly going back and forth between you and the road. “What? Yeah, I’m fine just looking forward to tonight.” Patting your knee than going straight back to the wheel. Normally his hands never left you so his behavior was confusing you a bit.

What you didn't notice was rooster had changed his shirt five times before driving to get you, he even had his second choice in the back in case he changed his mind. Maverick had brought Penny over during his spiral for a pep talk thinking shed help the young pilot better than he could. It slightly helped.

“We’re going to follow them right?” Penny whispered watching rooster pull off. “Of course we are I’m not missing this.”

Pulling up to the beach Rooster pulled you back when you went to step out of the car, pressing a kiss to your empty ring finger he asked you to wait while he set up.

Watching him running with arms full of baskets and bags made you giggle when he tripped a bit, sand and running not really mixing well.

Spreading out the blanket and fighting against the ocean breeze he managed to get all the candles lit, surrounding it with the flowers he hid there earlier. He had all your favorite foods there too. So you could celebrate if you said yes, or could drown his sorrows if you said no. Taking a few steps back and looking at his set up he nodded “talk to me dad.” He whispered, taking a breath before going back to get you.

“My lady.” He spoke in a playful British accent helping you out of the car. Making you let out that laugh he fell in love with hearing. “What do you have planned this evening Sir Bradshaw?” You asked playing along as you walked hand and hand down the path. His set up still out of view. “Picnic on the beach and watching the sunset sound good to you?”

“Perfect.” You leaned up to press a soft kiss against his jaw. God, he really hopes you think so. Before you both got any closer he pulled you to a stop. “You mind?” Holding up a bandana he didn't need to explain what he wanted. ‘Must be some picnic huh.”

With the bandana secured he carefully led you farther on the beach stopping you once you stood in the middle of the blanket. Not releasing your hand as he knelt on one knee in front of you. “You can take it off now.” You gasped seeing him on one knee. Looking up at you with the most love you’ve ever seen come from a person.

“Y/n, I said I fell in love with you at first sigh the night we met, but know all this time I spent with you I realized that’s not true.” He paused to collect himself seeing the tears start shimmering in your eyes, “every second I see you I fall more in love its love at every sight, every thought, every moment I spend with you makes me fall deeper and deeper in love with you and I want to love you for the rest of my life, will you give me that chance and marry me?”

pulling the chain ring out of his pocket he held it between you, you quickly nodded your head the second he asked, “Yes, yes yes!” Excitement flooded his entire body at your words and he stood to pull you into him and spun you around. “She said yes!” He shouted to no one in particular. Caressing his face you pressed your lips together a little awkwardly since neither of you could wipe the smiles off your faces.

Setting you back on your feet, he shakily slid the ring on your finger. “We will get you a diamond obviously but I didn’t want to pick it out without you.” You breathlessly laughed shaking your head fondly at your new fiancé. “It’s perfect I love it!”

Your moment of staring into each other's eyes broke as you both heard clapping.

“Oh god.” Rooster groaned hiding his face in your neck as you laughed, watching Maverick's eyes widened realizing they’ve been caught giving a shy wave as Penny beamed. You felt Rooster chuckle against you before he straightened up holding your left hand in his raising it. “We’re getting married!”

Hi!! Hope you guys liked it let me know in the comments and check out my TopGun masterlist for more. And let me know who’s version you want next in the comments Hangman or Young Mav

[topguncortez]

Partition by Yonce is Bradley coded.

oh fuck yeah it is. I'm thinking of Bradley with a younger girl (maybe 22-23), she's very eager and sometimes can't keep her hands to herself. Bradley of course does not do a thing to discourage this (occasionally he'll tell her to stop and keep her hands to herself) but most of the time. . . she's got him wrapped around her finger.

Imagine being at the Hard Deck, you and Bradley have both been drinking, and Jake offers to drive you home (for whatever reason, let's say his parents are flying in tomorrow he's not drinking). Bradley knows that when there's alcohol flowing through your veins, you get even friskier.

So you two are sitting in the back of Jake's truck, and you've got your hands all over Bradley. You're kissing him, touching him, palming him through his jeans. Bradley has your legs over his lap, one arm around your back and his hand gliding up your thigh. Jake looks back at you in the rearview and is like

"Y'all better not fuck in my backseat. I just got Baby detailed," and you flip him off cause you have every intention of fucking Bradley wherever you can.

Bradley takes Jake's words to heart (kinda) and pulls away from you which makes you whine audibly, "You heard him, honey, no fucking in the backseat." You pout and cross your arms over your chest, pushing your tits up in your tank top which makes Bradley look directly at them, "Don't pout, we'll be home soon."

But then you get an idea and Bradley watches as the gears in your head start to turn and a smirk rises on your face. He watches you as you pull your hair into a ponytail and move a bit in your seat so you're eye level with his crotch.

"Honey," Bradley warns, as your hands go to his zipper.

"It's not fucking," You whisper and Bradley has no other choice but to lift his hips as you pull down his pants and boxers, his hard dick slapping against his lower stomach. You lick a stripe from his balls to his tip and he groans, throwing his head back. You giggle before you spit on his dick, using your hand to lube him up. You take his tip into his mouth and his hand goes to your hair, wrapping your ponytail around his hair and guides your movements up and down his shaft.

Bradley can't hide his grunts and moans, which causes Jake to look through the rearview, seeing his friend getting sucked off.

"Really?! You couldn't wait?!" Jake rolls his eyes as he comes to a stop at a red light.

"It wasn't me," Bradley shrugs as you gag on his cock, "She can't keep her hands to herself."

"Yeah sure," Jake rolls his eyes and looks back at the red light. But like a car accident on the freeway, Jake can't help but take a glance into his backseat again.

"Hey, eyes front," Bradley says, kicking the back of his seat.

"eYeS fRoNt" Jake mocks as he continues to drive back to Bradley's house. Bradley looks down at you, smirking as you look up at him, your mouth full of his dick.

[ohgodnotagainn]

✿ bradley "rooster" bradshaw ✿

"freakin' out on the interstate" /// a fight with maverick leaves rooster spiraling on the drive home from base.

✿ robert "bob" floyd ✿

"girl in a coffee shop" /// 4 times bob recommended a drink + 1 time he recommended something else.

↳ “closing time” /// another night closing the shop at top brews.

▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️▫️

taglist:

let me know if you would like to be added or removed from the list <3

@wkndwlff @rockbottomphilosophies-blog @starlightstories @aviatorobsessed @accioprocrastination @shanimallina87 @waklman @cherrycola27 @nuvoleincielo @roosterbruiser @mayhemmanaged @kmc1989 @dempy @dakotakazansky

[92daydreams]

heavier than air

enemies to lovers → jake “hangman” seresin x original character

Jake "Hangman" Seresin has met his match. When Sofia "Bluebird" Ready decides she dislikes Jake within seconds of meeting him, he instantly returns the sentiment. The two are in constant competition and can barely stand to be in the same room as each other throughout their time as students at TOPGUN, but when they cross paths again for a special mission back at the academy after graduation, they realize just how hard it is to be on a team with your enemy.

read on ao3 here

[dustedembers]

Burnt Out Embers (hangman x oc Nevaeh Kanzansky)

Summary:when Nevaeh is brought in because of a dangerous mission,she runs back into a old friend who finds hidden secrets from their past,an a new found old love.

Warnings:adult themes,cussing,NSFW,death,sibling rivalry

Tom and Sarah Kazansky had a family that consisted between three kids who were all completely different and nothing alike.Sawyer the oldest daughter,she was cold and stuck up.Her other two siblings didn’t get along with her what so ever and quite frequently actually called her prissy behind her back,sometimes even to her face.The middle child had been William,the only brother to two sisters,he was like a saving grace to the family.He was a replica in looks as if their Father Time tracked from the further so much so that it was scary.

Little did Nevaeh know she was gonna meet her best friend this way as she rushed downstairs to get the food for her boss,she didn’t wanna get fired for messing up again.

“I order from you guys like three times a week.

You know that I'm good for it. I have three credit cards.Can I write a check?” Nevaeh explained.

“Cash only” the delivery guy stated coldly.

“What if I pay you triple... tomorrow?” She pressed begging it would work.

“Cash only.” He was persistent on,not giving in to the puppy eyes Nevaeh was giving him.

“What if I told you this face was a mask and I'm a 100-year-old gypsy who will curse your family for generations?” Nevaeh rambled almost in a panic state.

“Cash only.” He stated again as a young man came out of the elevator.

“What grocery store doesn't serve saffron-infused Kobe beef cooked medium-rare?” The young man was talking on the phone,though in reality he was few years older then Nevaeh.

“I can't go up there and ask for cash, so my options are for you to help me or for me to commit a felony.” Nevaeh pointed to her office where she worked as she sighed letting her arms slap dramatically against her sides.

“Hi,Whose food is this?” The man interrupted the two as he hung up the phone.

“It's mine.” She states with faint emotional lingering,worried about losing her job.

“You got thirty-one seven two, it's yours.” The delivery guy pointed out as he held the bag which had the food.

“I have cash,I have so much cash.” The guy she would later find out was named Jake said.

“No. Hey, hey. That's my boss's dinner.

If I'm not upstairs in two minutes with that food, I will get fired.” Nevaeh begged first time in a while afraid she was gonna lose her job,which she needed to pay for college.

“Can I borrow some money?” She asked as her final hope.

“No,This is my boss's dinner. If I'm not up in two minutes, I'm gonna be fired.” Jake states while pointing at the food before going to turn around.

“No, you won't. Look at you.” Nevaeh motioned him from head to toe.

“You'll just swoop in with your lacrosse stick and your fraternity connections.You'll keep getting promoted for no reason.”

“I need that food,Thirty-two dollars. Keep the change.Thank you.”

“Is this happening? I will not forget this.” She states with a heavy sigh turning around as the delivery guy walked out.

“Whatever,Wait. Sir?” She called out after the other college student as she rushed after him,her sneakers pattering on the cold tile.

“Sir,There are two dinners.One for me and one for her, so we could split it.” She states in one last final hope though she knows she should cut loses.

“I can take one to my boss and you can take one to yours. Please. This is DEFCON 5.” Pleading with faint tears in the corner of her eyes,as she looked up at the older man.

“DEFCON 5's the good one. Everything's safe, international travel's fine.” Jake stated calmly,looking down at the girl who’s hair was falling out of her bun,quite messy.

“DEFCON 1! You know what I mean.” She sighed seeing he was messing with her as he was smirking.

“What are the meals?” He opened the bag forwards to her unable to not just give in.

“Okay,I'm gonna take her the truffle mac and cheese,You can have the burger.” Neveah takes the food out of the bag motioning.

“Are you insane? I won't give him a plain hamburger,He has taste.” He said playfully in a mocking way.

“Okay,I'm gonna fix this,okay?” She told him.

“See what I'm making? It's a truffle cheeseburger with kale,This burger could win awards. Pickle is my dinner.” She stood back up after,following him to the elevators.

“No, no, no. What?” Jake told her.

“I won't give him a truffle cheeseburger without a pickle.” He chuckled

“I wanna be paid back tomorrow, 8 percent interest, liquidity preference.” He walked into the hallway pressing the button to the elevator.

“Do I look like I can afford interest?” She started off by saying glancing back at him after also pressing the button to the second elevator to the other side of the building.

“I steal my toilet paper from the office bathroom.” She tells him.

“You should learn to keep cash on you.” He chuckled walking into the elevator before turning around to look back her way.

“You should remember to order dinner before everything closes.” She couldn’t help but talk back seeing that smirk on his face.

“You know that pickle? That aforementioned pickle?” He smirked as it slowly turnt into a grin.

“That wasn't for my boss. That was for me.” He picked the pickle up,taking a bit out of it as the doors started to close.

“You're a monster.” Nevaeh states as her last words before her doors shut as well.

Nevaeh started her day,by getting a phone call by a childhood best friend Natasha Trace.Nevaeh saw Natasha as almost more of a sister figure then her own sister.

She hurried to get dressed,Natasha was at work and needed help.There was a dangerous mission and knew because of her dad she knew how to be in a dog fight an asked her.

She walked into the deck with her and Maverick talking about the mission,but she couldn’t help but freeze seeing her sister Sawyer,her hand was bloody but that’s not what made her freeze.

“Ember?“ his words were laced quietly with shock as he pulled Nevaeh into a hug,a embrace that Nevaeh hadn’t felt in a really long time.Secretly Nevaeh hadn’t physical touch,it had became a thing after her first relationship,the guy was nothing near a gentleman.

Nevaeh clung to him in shock, it had been years since she had seen him but there was always that kinda familiarity between the two even as years has passed so felt like they had always been near each other side.

“Ember?” Nevaehs sister came around the corner questioning the two of them. “What kinda nickname is that?” Sawyer laughed.Nevaeh looked up at jake before nervously looking back at her sister registering that he didn’t know,Sawyer was her sister.

“Oh-I get it,you know hangman from you failed colleges days right?” A faint smirk laced upon her sisters lips.

“You know what” Nevaeh moved away from Jake.

“I’m sick and tired of you acting like your so much better then everyone else but we all see it,I mean come on you have always been in dads shadow and the fact you go by frostbite” Nevaeh tried her best to keep her cool glaring at her sister for insulting the fact how she knew Jake.

“It’s honestly sad you feel the need to shove everyone down to your feet like your so great at being this pilot but you” Nevaeh let out a faint nervous laughter.

“Hey let’s not shame anyone on the job,at the end of the day it’s hard and tiring and anyone willing to do it deserved credit” rooster stated

“You will never be dad or anything close to him.” Nevaeh took Sawyers coffee from her.”you will always be in his shadow,is it that bad for wanting to be known for something else then just your fathers daughter?” She asked her sister that curious.

“What’s so bad about being yourself,why hide behind his legacy and following so close in his shadow,why not make your own and make a difference” Nevaeh finished off saying only to be bitch slapped by her sister.

“Don’t even act like your so much better,you were never home,you ran off to college” Sawyer glared at her.

“Trust me I’m here to help out a friend,something you clearly don’t know how to do,an then I’m on my way because I have a life back home,helping others.” nevaeh explained to her sister though she felt jakes hand grab her pulling back into a hug,over the moon to see her again but not saying anything.

Nevaeh went to ask Jake why he never came to see her before he left but was interrupted as Maverick came in confirming she was there and saying they all had to talk in a group and had to head out as soon as possible.

After they all had grouped together and talked about what the mission would In tell,they were up and in the sky ready for the mission,but Nevaeh worried about Jake who she now knows as hangman,but she knew she couldn’t.He knew what he was doing,she had to shut it off,all of it and she did.

The wind howled and sea surged upwards nearly to the flight deck of the Aircraft Carrier USS Eagle Hawk.The carrier plunges,driving its bow into a wall of grey water.The deck pitches forward and back rolls left to right,and yaws in a

corkscrew motion.The entire behemoth rises and falls in the typhoon-driven swell.

A loud roar went overhead as silver wings flash by a cockpit,fiery jet exhausts. A forty ton monster drops at one hundred and twenty knots into an area the size of a tennis court in a controlled crash.

The showers of sparks and the loud screech’s of rubber and metal startled Nevaeh sense it was her first in a dog fight but she had been in jets tons of times before with her father.

The gear hits the deck,The hook catches and a Three wire F-14 tomcat is slammed to a halt.It’s one of the scariest things Nevaeh would say she’s seen.

It’s the most dangerous maneuver in aviation and just another day at the office for a Naval Aviator.The landing signal officer leans almost horizontal into the winds.He holds the pickle,

controlling the landing lights and speaks into a microphone.His calm, professional commands confirm the extreme conditions.

The landing signal officer commanded,power-power..do not climb,hold what you got.

Another tomcat flew over the ramp and it slams The pilot hits full power, catches the wire, slams to a stop, The carrier control approach officer watches a blimp on the radar,reaches for his microphone key.

Above the clouds while looking down,the cockpit sides by a pilot, then intercept radar officer barely illuminated by the orange glow of their instruments.The fuselage gracefully swells to two enormous air intakes,then variable angle wings,swept back for high speed flight.

Twin tailbooms cant outward horizontal stabilizers make constant adjustments. Enormous twin jet exhaust ports glow red in the moonlight.

They all become aware of the wind whistling and the jet engine sounds not to mention the radio static.The pilot,ice frost aka Sawyer,is calm and steady.The Radar Intercept officer in the backseat,was rooster,a wildman,always an edge of humor in his voice.A UHF transmission breaks in.

STRIKE:

“FrostBite,THIS IS STRIKE.WE

HAVE UNKNOWN CONTACT INBOUND

MUSTANG.YOUR VECTOR ZERO NINE ZERO

FOR BOGEY.

Almost immediately the RIO picks up a target and responds Rooster contact 20 left AI 25, 900 Knots closure.

Frostbites wingman Come in on the cockpit with stenciled name and call signs: LT.

Sawyer Kazansky is the pilot, FrostBite.

In flight suit and oxygen mask,we can only see his eyes.they are confident.In his mid-twenties, he is lean, hard, athletic,the archetype fighter

pilot.His rear-seater is LIJG. Walter Merlin wizard.

“Frostbite I’ll I.D him,you hook ‘em” rooster tells Sawyer.

Frostbite peels off to right,to high cover position; 5 o'clock.

Nevaehs heads up display glows dimly on the windscreen.Directly in front of the stick, two CRT screens display data.The bottom screen shows a radar sweep.Wedged between the instruments is snapshot of her father with a 2 month-old baby and a two year old,which was her and her older brother William.

Rooster closing fast,Phoenix this is rooster one one seven contact one bogey, 090 at 15 miles 900 knots of closure.

Phoenix informed him to look for the trailer.

“I don’t see anything” rooster states back into the radio.”you have trailer?”

Frostbite”s F-14 Flying in combat spread, 1 mile abeam,higher.

“Negative Phoenix,looks like he’s single” rooster informs her.

“Neva-ember hang back and watch him,here comes one.” Sawyer states

INT. 117 - COUGAR'S COCKPIT

Closing at 900 knots, The Mig is a speck, then a flash and roar,a knife-edge pass at 300 feet. It rockets past her left wing tip and disappears.Nevaeh kicks rudder, whips the stick

screams into al tight turning roll and dives after her.

She slams the throttle forward to ZONE 5 AFTERBURNER.Frostbite sees a second Mig drop from above onto Sawyers tail.

“Bogey on your six,I’m on his” frostbite swings after him,lights it.

All four jets scream down in a power drive.They punch through cloud cover into the soup.Sawyer is closing on the first Mig when a shocking

BLIPBLIPBLIPBLIP

tone breaks into their headsets.

“I’ve got a six strobe,he’s locked on us” rooster states In the start of a panic.

“It’s Mig 21 they don’t have radar missiles” Nevaeh tells him.

“Well let’s hope you are right” rooster stated back.

“What is she doing?” Nevaehquestioned her own sisters ability to do the job.

“She's pissing me off” rooster says serious for the first time as he turns sideways to try to look.

Ember swings mad gyrations, cutting back and forth across the front Mig’s tailpipe,trying to break the lock-on. The tone grows more insistant.

“I can’t shake him” nevaeh speaks into the radio.

“What’s Mig one doing Nevaeh” Sawyer kinda sassed angrily.

“maintaining course straight for hangman and Bob” Nevaeh confessed.

“Stay with him” rooster tried to order her,the tone arows steadv.

BLIPBLIPBLIP

“That's missile lock!” Rooster panicked for the first time.

“He better be kidding” Nevaeh radios back.

“Eveball to Asshole,Hope nobody burps!” Sawyer tried to joke to lighten the stress.

“I’ll lock on them,frostbite” Nevaeh sighed being amateur work.”gotcha covered,nobody move”.

“I’m up here to nevaeh” Sawyer stated.

“ROGER,frostbite.“ Nevaeh stated coldly.

“Okay boys, pull out with your hands up and nobody will get hurt.”Up front, Ember checks her gunsight..She gets I.R. lock..

“We're locked on Mig,why doesn't he disengage?” Nevaeh asks yawning

“These guys are getting on mynerves” rooster sighed looking at Sawyer before looking back at the paneling.

“Ember to rooster,Bandits turning away” rooster states.

But Nevaeh pressed forward,two mig’s stay on her tail.Nevaeh’s tomcat breaks left,leaving Sawyer wondering she doing as she dives into dense cloud.Two mig’s still follows.“They are still on you,Nevaeh” sawyer radios.

In the clouds still hearing the tone.

BLIPBLIPBLIP

no F-14.She scans the sky frantically,while rolling the aircraft.Suddenly,She feels presence.

She looks straight up and behind her.A few feet away.a Tomcat slides into position and behind herA few feet away,a TOMCAI slides into position canopy to canopy, an incredible feat of flying.

Sawyer and Nevaeh at him,frostbite slides even closer,canopies nearly touching.The Mig pilot acknowledges them with a weak wave.Frostbite stares for a moment,then flips him the bird.The Mig pushes negative G,hard down and away.He heads for the deck.

“He’s running for it” Nevaeh states to her sister.

“Ah, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” Sawyer chuckled as she looked back for a split second to rooster.

“Speaking of feet,fuel's down to 4.0.We're gonna get them wet unless we find a Sonoco station.” Rooster told Sawyer as he pointed to her meter.

“Nevaeh this is Sawyer I’m getting hungry,let’s head for the barn.” Sawyer states to her little sister

“Ember where are you?” Rooster asks concerned.The landing officer stood on the plunging deck,peering into the roaring night.“Frostbite one-one-five,this is hangman,wx three hundred,one mile visibility with heavy rain.”

FINAL INBOUND BEARING THREE-FOUR ZERO.

DECK IS MOVING.

“This is crazy,How the hell we supposed to land on something we can't even see!” Nevaeh radios at everyone.

“Hey if it was easy,everybody would want to come up here and do it” goose chuckled at the fact. “Instead it’s just us”

They were all commanded to read their needles,Sawyer telling them they were down and left and to concur fly her needles,as they now say in the center.

ROGER. CALL THE BALL.

“I don't see the Call the ball ship!?” Sawyer panics.

Rain tattoos the canopy as a gust rolls

the Tomcat.she straightens it,agust flips it again.

The Carrier lights appear and disappear through the storm.

“Ember” rooster yells in the radio panicking.

“A walk in the park,Rooster.You with me?Rooster…you with me?” Nevaeh kept pushing on in the radio.Rooster is thrown about as the wing dips, straightens, dips.

“Help me with this one,I'm really screwed up.” Sawyer asks rooster knowing he knows more because all the story’s from maverick from his dad.

“Bring it left,Bring it left,you're high.” Rooster says.

“This is crazy” Hangman exclaims

“What is?” Sawyer asked hangman confusion lingering in her voice.

“Wait!” Nevaeh panicked realizing something.

“Hell!.. Somethings wrong!”

“What?,What is it?” Sawyer asked her.

“Were upside down!” Nevaeh told them not not knowing how they didn’t know.

“You're crazy,We're level.” Rooster stated

“Can't you feel it? I'm hanging in my straps!” Nevaeh raised her voice at them.

“They must be broken. I'm hanging in my straps! We're inverted!” Nevaeh panicked but stayed calm.

“We're not! Trust me! We're okay.” Sawyer chuckled not taking her sister serious.As their radio radioed back from the deck,it was maverick.

“Nevaeh is right you guys are upside down,this is gonna be scaring and I know what your thoughts are but listen to her she knows what she is doing” maverick ordered them as heaven felt that rise on panic having that pressure of keeping everyone safe.

“Well what are we doing Nevaeh” Bob said from behind hangman.Nevaeh knew better then to second guess,second guessing is how people get killed..but telling them to eject..this is the same situation that happened with goose and she understands how much rooster must be going through.

She took a deep breathe before radioing.

“Eject”

“What” rooster yelled into the radio in full blown panic.

“Rooster,eject dam it.” Nevaeh yelled at him as they did,all of them landing in the cold water safety.

Hangman wasn’t why,but in that moment he would only picture them back in college when he realized he was dating the wrong kinda girls for the wrong reasons.He remembered falling in love with Nevaeh but he never confessed and he doesn’t see himself confessing anytime soon.

As everyone got back to the deck they were met with their brother who was angry for the first time.

“are you serious right now you guys are up there fighting and arguing in a dangerous situation and dad just died” William yelled at them.

Sawyer had froze as she fought back the tears as she rushed off not wanting to be seen as she cried.

Nevaeh felt numb and like she couldn’t feel her body as she sat down,looking at her brother pulling him into a hug.Nevaeh may of been the family baby but she still couldn’t help but to baby her brother.

“I’m so so sorry,I should of been there.” Nevaeh told him as she tried to stop herself from crying,she had always been the one to hold everything together for her siblings,she pushed everything down to her toes like her dad did.

“You didn’t get to say goodbye” William told her as that realization hit her and it stung like hell..

“Fuc-“ nevaeh was gonna let it out,every little thing that was killing her but Jake already knew her,knew what it was gonna be as he covered her mouth from behind bent down behind her.

Nevaehs face reddened he hasn’t did that sense the second time they met when she yelled at his boss,but something about this was different as she reached up moving his hand away from her mouth,an helping her brother up.“You did great up there,your father would be so proud of you,you made the right call and you did the best thing of with not second guessing that’s the true heart of a pilot.” He smiled at her patting her on the shoulder before walking off.

“Well if that wasn’t weird coming from Him” William faintly laughed though his heart was heavy with the news.That night Nevaeh couldn’t bring herself to go home,instead she was in jakes room.Eating pizza with him trying to push it down,that’s one thing she learnt how to do from her father,push things down and shove them down and never let them up.But that was her dad,her best friend and hero how could she not.She glanced up at jake who was faintly smiling at her happy to see her eating secretly knowing it could be worse and she could be turning down food.

“What” she mumbled with pizza hanging out of her mouth as she stood up climbing into his bed and stealing his blanket.

“Nothing” he smiles sitting beside her putting on a documentary like the older days between their friendship.

“I’m just proud of you,your first time flying and you kept us all safe” he smiled nudging her.

Nevaeh took the pizza out of her mouth.”it’s not my first,my dad he-used to take me as a baby strapped to him.It found it important to make sure his youngest remembered him in case anything happens,until then he never wanted me to leave his side” she sat her pizza down laying down cuddling into jakes side.

“Im a horrible daughter” she confessed.

“No,no,no don’t you dare say that you are a amazing daughter,sister and friend.Everything is amazing about you and that’s something I’ve known sense I met you” he confessed looking down to already see you were asleep,with a heartbroken look in your face.

He pulled you close to him as he fell asleep holding you.When morning came you weren’t there and that gave him the small panic because you never leave a cuddle session.

He got up stretching as he got a shirt on heading out into the hall to see you with maverick and your sister who was with rooster,while you had William behind you.

“Look I can’t really do this,I can’t sit here and act like that’s normal that we wrote a dam letter because I don’t wanna know what that’s says,so you read it or whatever,I’m okay with how things were left off.I might of not told him goodbye but I told him I loved him,and he’s not really gone he’s still within us all,watching over us.hell he was probably the one who gave me that idea yesterday” Nevaeh confessed as she walked away.

Later in the day she stayed behind to help Phoenix with the decorations for the navy gala though she didn’t understand their point of celebrating but she didn’t know it was for a memorial for her father.

She watched as hangman and her sister and rooster walked out but she didn’t question it,Nevaeh had turnt music on and started putting things up eventually Maverick and Bob came,it seemed like it took forever.

The deck room was filled with navy blue colors and white,her heart shattered but also melted seeing maverick turn her to the side and hung a Portrait of her father,Tom Kazansky aka iceman.

“He adored you,you know” maverick told her.”it was always something about his baby,he always figured he would die young especially after what happened to goose and you were still going,he didn’t want to go out and you not remembering him.

“Trust me I’m gonna remember him for the rest of my life and I’m gonna make sure his legacy and his memory lives on forever but I also know he would want us to have our own lives I don’t know what’s going on with Sawyer,she’s trying to act like she is him and it’s not healthy.” Nevaeh told him as he told her he would talk to her but to just take it slow today.

The late afternoon came and the deck started to glow with faint white lights but even brighter navy blue ones,as people slowly showed up she couldn’t help but realized after trace laughed that she still wasn’t ready as she hurried to her room feeling the cold concrete under her feet.

She had put on a faint pink dress with a slit up the side that was covered in different types of flowers,she remembered that was the dress she wore when she graduated and that’s when her father told her how proud of her he truly was for taking her own path and find something that makes her so happy to do.

Nevaeh had pinned one side of her hair back so it came over her other shoulder just slightly,as she got back down everyone was basically there as she walked over to talk to Bob and trace.

Nevaeh felt the pain ease from her heart as she saw her brother smiling talking with Maverick as she walked over to them.

“Hey boys” she smiled seeing them.

“Hey kid,how are you doing?” Maverick asked concerned for her starting to have seen her as a daughter and hoping she would stay for be maybe even his partner when he flew.

“I’m doing gre-“ she laughed as she was cut off by her brother excited with news.

“Guess what!?” He exclaimed with a smile.

“Maverick asked me to come to topgun”

Nevaeh chuckled before glancing at Maverick.“Just trying to recruit all the Kazansky kids hm? Old man” she teased

“Hey I am not-I’m not old” he tried to defend himself as William patted his shoulder.

“Keep telling yourself that if that’s what keeps your ego boosted” he teased back yet again.

“Im going to get a drink,you guys want anything?” She smiled as her brother shook his head reminding her he didn’t drink as Maverick said he was great for right now.Nevaeh made her way to the bar.

She got up to the bar,getting water and ice in a shot glass,something she remembered from her father.you don’t drink at around others so you can be focused on their true actions but nevaeh wished she had as she looked over seeing Jake leaned over a drink sitting whispering something in her ear,his hand gently under her jaw his thumb gently stoked her jaw.

Neveah got up quickly laughing at herself for being stupid,it never meant the same thing to him as she walked back over to maverick and her brother as she heard jake call out to her and his voice breaking slightly but she ignored him.Maverick was willing to dance with her as she took his hand walking out to where everyone else was,neveah would help but laugh at the song choice,But she let it drown out as she felt calmness rush over her dancing with Maverick she trusted him with every part of her,her father trusted and loved him,so she did.When the song was over she thanked maverick and told him she would always be here for him no matter what it was,her father loved and trusted him and she was the same way.

She went to the bar grabbing a bottle,and paying the bartender before heading into the hallways.

“Hey,hey-hey wait up please” Jake called out after her.

“I can explain please-just let me” he begged her seeing the pain laced behind her eyes.

“Jake I seriously don’t wanna talk tonight,that you In there I don’t know.” She pointed out to him.

“I don’t know you,and you don’t know me” she states before walking away to the elevators.

“But I do-and you know me” his voice broke and his eyes were glossy.

“No you don’t-you used to know me.You think you know me but you don’t we are not in college Jake,it’s been years you don’t know one thing about me” she states.

“I do,I know how you cry over football games,an they way you hate certain foods but sometimes mixed they are okay,you love the color blue because it match’s the sky at night and that’s when we went up the fire escape.” He started but soon interrupted.

“No blues my favorite color because it’s a reminder of peace,i can’t stand football games anymore,an I don’t eat foods mixed,your idealistic Verizon of me is when I was in college,I ain’t her so do me a favor-yeah?“ Nevaeh pressed the elevator button as she opened the vodka bottle.

“Leave me alone and go back to your fake model crush,because I’ll let you in on a secret she doesn’t love you she doesn’t know anything about you,like you don’t know me.She just wants to sleep with you” Nevaeh drowned the bottle to half in one go as she got in the elevator,him following her.

“Growing up I got to see a bunch of different jobs to figure out what I really liked.” Jake told her as he went to reach for her hand but she pulled away to drink from the bottle.

“Can you not talk about women like that,god men are all the same” she grumbled upset.

“I love you so much,your not hard to get at all.Nevaeh you are hard to earn,it’s so much better” he gently held her cheek in his hand scared he would truly lose her this time.

“You displayed a total lack of character when it mattered the most” she told him the truth as she glanced at the button nervous why it took so long.

“I know” he told her sighing sadly.

“Jake you have the Romantic and sexual personality of a seventh grader”

“Seventh?” Jake chuckled shocked at her comment. “I mean at least high school”

She tilted her head looking at him unsure what to think about his comment.”you wear uniforms everywhere”

Jake had been confused at first but slowly caught on to what she was getting at as a smile appeared on his face.

“Your a know it all” he said trying to smile at her.

“You are unbelievably bad at pool” she faintly smiled as she watched as the doors opened but looked back at him.

“You’re a swore winner” he said serious that time. “An when you text you use to many exclamation points”

“An yet” she asked him,thinking his response would have to do with the standards she didn’t fit into but he had held her hand leaning down ti kiss her,his hand slowly making it to the left side of her hip as they kissed while his other was laced in between her hair on her back if her head,her hand was ever so gently on the side of his face near his jaw.

Having went to your room,the both of you contemplated laying an just watching a documentary or showering after being in a room with so many sweaty people,though you weren’t actually to dirty.

That smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth as he rolled a toothpick around his lips and picked the towel up off the ground probably left from trace.

“Some people say I'm so in touch with my feminine side that I could be a woman” he said.

Nevaeh tried her hardest to not make the comment she had pressed into her brain that maybe then he would be kinder to women.

He had turnt to be such a jerk that it made no logical sense for you to be attracted to him. What,was this the kind of guy you could end up with him,you were unsure.Jake had always found himself going from one girl to the next even in his college days.

Your stomach sank,uncomfortably with your own thoughts but the smile you were fighting down to have your best friend back.

“Well I’m going to shower,I know I took one before but being around so many people while they were sweating is kinda making me feel gross” Nevaeh laughed.

But Jake followed you into the bathroom,which wasn’t to concerning to Nevaeh.Back when they were closer he had even been in the shower and she would randomly come in to tell him something that wasn’t crazy important,but it was the facts of the news of a game,so to her it had been.

"Everyone else is at downstairs and I'm bored” he stated hearing the water start.

"Then go to down there” she chuckled was she started washing up quickly wanting to rest,letting a groan fall from her lips reaching her hand out of the curtain.

“Towel please” Nevaeh dragged on her sentence pleading knowing he wouldn’t ever turn her down when she did.

Wrapping around the towel before opening the curtain,she froze in her spot like a deer in head lights.

The toothpick dropped from his lips and landed on the warm damp floor.

“Someone pinch me," he muttered all these years he’s never seen her like that,even at the pool or beach she wouldn’t swim around people she was the kinda girl to Just sit and read.

Nevaeh rolled her eyes at him. “Don't flatter yourself,pretty boy.”

The stream of water behind her had reached boiling point,Nevaeh barely felt it as the two of them stared at each other for a long time.Nevaeh broke first,feeling so tiny under his gaze.

He closed the distance between the two of you in two steps and pulled Nevaehs face into his hands,kissing her deeply.

Nevaeh immediately dropped the towel,going against every bit of common sense her brain was trying to scream in her ear,and pulled him into the stream of water.

Jake ran a hand up from Nevaehs waist to rest on the middle of her back and hummed into the kiss,even more desperately than it had been.The two of them backed into the shower until her back hit the wall,He held her up against the wall by her waist for a minute,then pulled back and moved his head to avoid the stream.His gaze raked over her naked body

"God, I've wanted you for so long," he breathed, taking a step so he was pressing her into the wall

He grinned and grabbed her hips suddenly while she hesitantly jumped,wrapping your legs around his waist when she realized what he wanted.He held you up against the wall with nothing but his hips.

"Fuck,your so wet for me already." He chuckled somewhat teasingly as he kissed her softly this time.

“No,I’m wet because we are in the shower” she laughed not understanding what he had meant which Jake adored.

water roll down Jakes forehead into his pretty blue Nevaeh couldn’t help but think,watching as he was fighting to hold it together with her pressing against him.

“Jake,just screw me already” she whispered in his ear giggling.His middle finger pressed into yourentrance and made her cry out.The long,slow feeling of him sinking it into her was only compounded by his stunned expression as he stared deeply into your eyes before watching his finger slide in and out of Nevaeh before He swallowed,forming his next words carefully.

“But I wanna..um..we don't have to..." He hesitates with his words as you freeze up in fear.

"I want to." She confesses to him.”you have been the only guy in my life who wasn’t been a asshat to me,you have always been there”

"I want to, too, but we don't..” he worried this would change things between them or worried he would hurt her.

“Jake Charlie Seresin” she state coldly which surprised him,Nevaeh was never cold,she was the sun in the winter to melt the bad things away.

She could see the look in his eyes as she pulled away from him,embarrassed as she wrapped herself up and got dressed in a hurry,she understood where he came from but…was she not good enough?

She shoved it away as she put on one of jakes sweatshirts and cuddled into bed,reaching out to him smiling as he cuddled up to her.

“True crime?” He asked her as she nodded,tangling her leg in between his as she closed her eyes feeling safe in his arms for the first time in a while she knew she would get a good nights rest.

“Are you gonna take mavericks offer and stay?” He asked her hoping she would as his lips gently laid on her forehead,cuddling her closer protective.

“Jake I love you,I do but this isn’t my life.” She hesitated knowing her words would break him.

“Just because I wanna go home and back to my job doesn’t mean we can’t be together,I know it will be hard but that will just make our time together more special” she told him hoping he wouldn’t call off their new found old love because of this news.

“I suppose so” he kissed her shoulder closing his eyes. “I love you more then any of the English words I know” he tried to lighten the mood glad he was able to still call her his.

While few weeks passed by after Neveah left,they called every day when they were to tired to drive and would see each other basically every other day.

Jake woke up in the morning beyond exhausted yawning after being on the phone with you for hours,feeling awful he had feel asleep.

“What are you watching trace?“ he asked her seeing Sawyer making coffee.

“These videos Sawyer showed me,Nevaeh went back to being a bounty hunter but it looks like they broadcast all of it and it’s actually pretty funny,I didn’t know she had so much sass in her” trace chuckled as Jake sat beside her watching his girlfriend on the video.

Nevaeh had a new work partner was named Hailey diaz a two were standing talking about who was on the papers.

“Jake and Kyle” Nevaeh states moving back and fourth antsy.

“Klyer,kyle” Hailey corrected that there were three of them.

“I know their fucking names” Nevaeh sassed looking at her sarcastically most likely.”dumbest trio ever”

“We know,you know,we know your inside,So don’t be a dick come out and talk with us or it can go the hard way.I’m like really in the mood for the easy way fwi,tired been a long day” Neveah radioed over the truck speaker so they could hear from within the house.

“So if you could just do us the favor and come outside,bullets are expensive the cost of steal has went up so your gonna get fucked up,then what.” She yawned before re radioing back which made Jake chuckle at his girlfriends behavior as he grabbed coffee.

“Your car is outside your literally home,don’t be a bitch” she said as she sat the radio down.

“Looks like they wanna play today” her partner Hailey said.

“I don’t” nevaeh groaned grabbing the radio.

“Your moms a bitch”

“Now we have to knock on the fucking door like peasants” Nevaeh slammed the truck door but there wasn’t any hint of anger it was more just sass and joking around,which Jake loved to see her happy and not stressed.

“Try the horn?” Her partner asked

“Hailey” she raised her voice.“You can’t talk through a horn” shaking her head as headed to the house,their was that dynamic of one knowing what they were supposed to do,the other being a total dumbass which always seemed to make the perfect duo.

They were quickly interrupted from their video as Sawyer dropped her phone taking the computer from them.

“Her partner just texted me,to watch the new video before it gets out to too many people,their work won’t let family be notified-somethings not right” Sawyer stated in a panic,she may of never got along the greatest with her sister but it didn’t mean she didn’t love her,because she did and she would do anything for her.

The voice that played out in the new video at the start wasn’t sawyers but it explained every bail enforcement,officer or anyone in the law makes a letter to leave to family,in case something ever went wrong.

The voice he recognized,it was your voice but sounded few years younger then recently when he last talked to you.

“Hello everyone,Nevaeh here.If your hearing this I am dead.” Those words coming from your voice made Jake feel like he couldn’t breathe he didn’t wanna live in a world so cruel knowing you weren’t breathing in it.

“So let’s sit down and have one final chat,my real name is Nevaeh I had one of my partners jokingly call me ember one time as a joke from my college days.” The longer he heard her goodbye he felt like he was loosing air to breathe as he felt trace pat his back to make him focus on breathing so he didn’t pass out.

“But that’s all for me,thank you all for supporting these lovely people I have worked with over the years,including myself.If I had another hundred lives i think I would choose to be myself and jakes girlfriend ever single time as they were my happiest days of my life,I hope I could make some of you laugh.Until the next life,I love you”.

Hearing that final I love you is what did it for Jake,he broke-the first time he had ever cried.

“My heart hurts,In a way it hasn’t hurt ever-you both probably don’t know this but I’ve always been in love with Nevaeh,I’ve always looked up to her and everything she’s stood for even before I knew my own path in life.she was a inspiration,a source of comfort in times of sadness and loneliness” he tried speaking but found his voice giving out.

“That’s gonna be the last video she’s ever gonna have a hand help making” Sawyer couldn’t believe that she just lost her baby sister.

As they continued to watch the video,he couldn’t help but to hear you smiling and laughing again,they made the video to be a complication of the cases that got on her nerves the most that brought out the sassiest Neveah.

Your voice rang out of the speakers on the computer,the very last time they would ever be able to hear your voice.

The end of it all read out in lines of a poem they showed was taped to your locker,within the bail enforcement office.

There lived a great warrior,who conquered the land.stood strong with a smile a blade in his hand a sign for courage and freedom for truth.

drew blood for gods and inspired the youth,they will raise statues for him write poems about his tales.they will sing victory’s and raise cups of ale.remember the laughter and salute the sky’s,so that hero will never die.

He rests somewhere now where there is no need for war,some call him a hero for the weight he bore,yet if he was here he’d say I’m just a man,And if your still breathing do all that you can And live every day to love who you will become.



[honsvous]

Colder Then Embers

Content warnings:adult themes,cussing,Top Gun kinda behavior,Truth of Reality

Summary:A new instructor is brought to Top Gun for Training Purposes and not everyone gets along,past feelings and new feelings come to light as well as the unexpected.

Part1

“Half of you will pass the elimination,one of you will be designated as mission leader.The remaining half will remain as reinforcements.” We were let in on as he kept pacing back in forth before eventually stopping in middle the room.

“Your instructor is also a Top Gun graduate,he has real world experience in every mission you are expected to master.Their achievements are legendary,he is widely regarded as one of the best pilots this program has produced.”

As he continued on Jake had looked back and leaned into the palm of his head sighing.

“Oh my god” Jake grumbled before looking forehead again.

“Introducing Capitan Pete Mitchell,Maverick” he finished stating as he walked off Maverick stood in the middle of the stand now looking at everyone.

“Günaydin,Fat guides I assume you all know the contents within the book that leads to know everything about this program” Maverick had started his speech off by.

“That’s right” Jake also known as hangman smirked back at him,before glancing back at Bradley Bradshaw who was Goose’s son but Maverick already knew this.

“Your enemy knows too,but what your enemy doesn’t know is your limits-I intend to find them,I want to test and force them to see what you know today.show me what you can do” Maverick nodded at everyone.

As he glanced at you,something about you screamed at him he wasn’t sure what it was.

“Rooster?“ Bradley glanced up seeing Maverick looking at him.”Bradley Bradshaw?”

“Yes sir,but let’s leave formality’s aside,are you gonna have me kicked out of the team?” Bradley asked genuinely worried.

“It’s up to you not me” he told him as he glanced over at you as everyone was heading out.”an you are?”

“That’s none of your concern,you know my call name and that’s all you need to know.You are our instructor I will not be friends with you,I know who you are and I would rather keep it where you don’t know me” you spat at him as you walked away leaving him to mumble under his breathe.

“Good morning airmen,your captain is speaking” he had started the drill off with.

“Welcome to basic flight maneuvers,as reported our exercise today is dogfighting.Guns only,No missiles.We will not go below the 5,000 feet limit.You have to work as a team and shoot me or else” Maverick commanded to everyone.

“Or what,sir?” Bob asked Maverick.

“Or I’ll shoot you” he stated back to him with a faint smirk on his face.”if I shoot one of you,you both loose”

“This guy needs a ego check” Jake chuckled messing with a replica of a jet.

“Let’s make this game a little better shall we?” He continued on confusing everyone for a moment.

“What’s on your mind” Bradley who was known as Rooster,Gooses son asked him.

“Whoever gets hit first should do 200 push-ups.”

As it came to it,an everyone got back on the ground Rooster had to be doing 200 push-ups as Maverick and Rooster couldn’t help but listen in on your conversation.

“What’s your story with Maverick?” Hangman asked you as he sat down the replica of a jet,back on the table as he looked at you.

“It’s a story that stays between you and me understand” you glare at him in a threatening way as he held up his hands smiling defensively.

“He was a Goodman” you confess to Hangman who was truthfully curious what has had you this way all morning.

“Was?” Sitting up confused as he asked what you meant by that.

“He was in the academy with my father and Roosters” saying this left him more confused,while rooster and Maverick looked at each other trying to think.

“He doesn’t blame him for goose’s death but I do I know he had something secretly to do with it,an the way he used to treat my father I hate that.My fathers a great man and a amazing father.” You finally confess what it had been as he stood up facing you.

“Wait so,who’s your father?” Hangman spoke as he glanced to the doorway with everyone coming in shocked as Maverick spoke.

“Tom Kanzansky’s daughter,the famous iceman” as he said this you felt your blood run cold rushing over to him only to be pulled back by rooster.

“Keep my fathers name out of your dirty mouth,you are dangerous and you shouldn’t be teaching any of us,what you wanna teach us so you can get someone else killed?” You raised you voice shoving rooster.

“Don’t ever lay your hands on me alright,I’m done with all of you.My father was right about you,your nothing but dangerous and you don’t see it because all you see is the shit you want to happen” you snapped.

the look on your face screamed your father,weather it was flying or putting someone in their place you were cold-cold as ice especially when your sarcastic angry side came out.

“Oh I’m so sorry” you glared stop Maverick with a smile on your face.

“would you like me to be like everyone else you and your men take advantage of?” You step up closer to him not caring he was above you,you weren’t the one to back down not ever.

“To be the one to lie or to romanticize the lies” you spat seeing Trace slightly agree with you.Mimicking a desperate girl,”your the only one for me,don’t leave and stay the night” mouthing fuck you as you walked out of the room leaving mostly everyone confused or shocked.

Having went to the bar near,you talked with the bartender for a while just to clear you head drinking out of a short glass filled to the brim with ice and smaller amount of water,it made no sense to anyone else if they knew.You took after your father on only one thing you believed to be the only thing,you didn’t drink not ever no matter the occasion was.

You knew without even looking Rooster who had always been your best friend was watching you as he sat by Maverick and some blonde who was another bartender,you hated how he made you feel while all you thought about was the upfront you were taught as you got up from the bar stool.

You knew they were still watching you and the way you held yourself together as you walked over to the others around the pool table and smirked while hangman causally let flirting slip knowing you wouldn’t ever flirt back,though you did at-least this time as you pulled him down gently to be closer to your height as you let you lips meet his,feeling a rougher hand gently as it could be on the left side of your cheek as his thumb gently rubbed over your jaw in middle the kiss.

[sometimesanalice]

Between Friends

Summary: Bradley and you don’t talk about that Spring Break. But a single question asked during a night out at the Hard Deck might just change things between the two of you forever.

Pairing: Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw x Female Reader

Length: 11K

Warning: smut (including loss of virginity), brief mention of underage drinking, and college!bradley in a backwards hat

(Author's note: Happy Birthday Jordan! I wrote this just for you! Look at me keeping secrets from you! Enjoy!)

𝐍𝐎𝐖

Rooster couldn’t control his bouncing leg.

That night at the Hard Deck had started out like any other: good music, good drinks, good people. Over the course of the evening, he’d found himself seated between you and Bob in a lopsided circle with the rest of the Daggers around a few tall tables that had been pushed together just shooting the shit.

It was all fun and games until swapping stories about embarrassing middle school moments turned into cringing over first kiss stories turned into Seresin grinning like a shark asking about how everyone’s first time went down.

Rooster felt his pulse kick up with every collective laugh and groan as his friends went one by one sharing how they’d lost their virginities. Because with each passing story, it meant that you were one person closer to going. And for the first time in his life- even after over two decades of friendship- he didn’t know what your answer was going to be.

So he is just as shocked as his teammates are when you tentatively reveal, “So, um, my first time was with Rooster.” He doesn’t miss the way all his friends’ heads snap towards him. 

All eyes are on the two of you, and you’re pointedly looking anywhere but him.

Rooster had been anxiously waiting to hear the story of your first official time, the one that was with someone who wasn’t him. He didn’t realize that you still considered him your first.  He’d figured that part of your history had long been overwritten by whoever had been lucky enough to catch your eye and make your heart race in a romantic way.

The two of you had never talked about it in the after.

Not once, not ever.

He didn’t care that people knew, he just wasn’t expecting it.

Jake starts the group out of its stunned silence by slapping a heavy hand on top of the table, nearly sending some bottles to the floor, “I knew it! I knew y’all couldn’t have been friends all this time and not have tried it out at least once.”

“Jesus Christ, dude, chill,” Javy mutters. He’s always been the better of the two about reading the room.

Trying to spare you from being put on the spot even more than you already were now, Rooster mumbles through the way he’d lost his to a girl from his AP Econ class after a playoff baseball game.

He stares at the way you’re nervously picking at the label of the Blue Moon he’d grabbed for you when he went to get a refill of his own. He can practically hear the way your brain is buzzing. He wonders if you wish you could take back the words from where they are sitting on the table with the collection of bottles and peanut shells for everyone to see.

Bob being the team player that he is starts talking about how he’d lost his one summer in college to another camp counselor, going into more detail than he’s ever given before, probably trying to redirect the attention to himself to give the two of you a moment to regroup.

Rooster makes a mental note to tell Penny to put all of Bob’s cream sodas from now on on his own tab.

He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do here. Or where to look. Or where to put his hands. He wants to talk to you, but there’s no good way for him to go about it without drawing even more attention to the two of you.

You were supposed to be going on a first date tonight, but he’d talked you into canceling to hang out with him instead. He likes having all of your attention on him. And maybe he’s been a little selfish with you, because he doesn’t like to share you with anyone else. You’ve always been his best friend.

Rooster likes that he gets to talk to you whenever he wants now, and that it doesn’t feel like a never-ending game of catch up anymore. In the year since the Uranium mission, he’d felt like all the fragmented pieces of his life had finally come together. He’d reconnected with Mav, he was living in the same city as his best friend, and he had a place he could finally call home.

He didn’t just want the highlights with you, he wanted everything in between too. There’s no more distance due to time zones and scheduling times to call because now you only live 20 minutes away from him. And the next time he comes home from a deployment, he knows he’ll get to look forward to seeing you there waiting for him.

He feels like he’s learned so much more about the grown-up version of you over the last year than he has in the last ten.

Jake jumps in barely a breath after Bob finishes telling his story. “Well, we all know it’s not the first who matters, but who was the best.” Rooster doesn’t trust the gleam in his eyes or the sharp smile on his face. “Since Bradshaw cut you off before, how’s about you go first this time, darlin’. You can tell us about who knocked your socks off. Maybe this time he’ll let you finish, if you know what I mean.”

It’s thinly veiled snooping disguised as chivalry, and it doesn’t fool anyone. Nat’s eyes dart to him briefly, trying to get a read on him.

He’d been 21 at the time. And while he knows more now that he did then, he also knows his name isn’t going to be coming out of your mouth for a second time tonight.

Rooster takes a sip of his beer, needing something to do.

He knows you’ve been with other people. You’d lived with your ex for over a couple years, for fuck's sake. But it was like an unspoken agreement between the two of you to not talk about your sex lives with each other.

His leg starts bouncing again and he realizes he really doesn’t want to hear this. Not because of his ego, but because he doesn’t know what to do about the knot that’s formed in his stomach.

Your mouth opens and closes a couple times before you speak, “That title would also go to Rooster.” The admission is soft, but sure. 

Where his heart had been pounding before, now it feels like it had stopped completely.

It’s been 13 years since that Spring Break. 13 years and he’s still your best?

Barely five minutes ago, he hadn’t known where to look. But now? Now he couldn’t stop staring at you.

He just didn’t understand why you still wouldn’t look at him back.

𝐒𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊, 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟎

When you’d floated the idea by Bradley about visiting him at UVA for Spring Break during your weekly phone call, you’d been braced for the disappointment of him already having plans. It was his Senior year, it wouldn’t surprise you if he wanted to go out with a bang and make the most of it. Especially since he would belong to the Navy soon enough.

But he’d taken you by surprise when he started enthusiastically listing off all the places he wanted to show you, planning out your trip like a well-seasoned travel agent before you’d even booked a plane ticket.

You’d started looking up airfare before you’d even hung up the phone. And thirty minutes later you had a confirmation email flagged in your inbox after elatedly charging that aisle seat to the credit card you only used for emergencies.

It had been close to a year since you’d last seen him. He usually spent his Winter Break with your family, but this year he’d stayed on campus for the holidays and it was the longest the two of you had ever been apart since you’d first met him when you were 8.

And maybe that’s why it took you so long to spot him in the Arrivals area of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport.

You’ve always prided yourself in being able to pick Bradley out of a crowd anywhere, but in your cursory glance you hadn’t recognized the tall, broad guy with the UVA shirt pulled taut across his chest and wearing a baseball hat backward on his head. It wasn’t until your third searching pass that you’d caught the lips that were quirked up in amusement and those familiar brown eyes trained on you as he leaned ever-so-casually against the faux wood paneling on the wall waiting for you to notice him.

He’d filled out in the months since you’d last seen him. He was more toned than you remembered him being with definition in places where there hadn’t been before. His face had more distinct angles and less baby fat cushioned curves. Still a bit boyish, but he was well on his way to looking like a man.

Bradley raised his hand like he was going to wave, but then he’d mimicked casting a fishing line in your direction and reeling it in. And it was so endearingly stupid- so him- that you couldn’t help but take the bait and made your way towards him with the biggest grin on your face.

You’d ignored the jittery flutter in your stomach as you’d weaved between people and luggage. You’ve never been nervous around your best friend before. There was something that had on your mind a lot as the days to your visit inched closer, but you’d shoved that out of your mind, because you were finally standing in front of him in person for the first time in months. 

“Hey, kid,” he’d greeted you, taking your bag, “Charlottesville must have known you were coming, because she’s going to be sunny for you all week.” As soon as you were within arm’s reach, he tugged you right into his chest for a hug. You could feel the unspoken I missed you in the way he squeezed you just that bit tighter before releasing you.

Then he was dropping an arm over your shoulders and steering you towards the exit and driving you into town in the beat-up car he’d bought after selling his prized Montero, the car that Mav had given him for his birthday.

You’re only there for a week and Bradley doesn’t waste a single moment of it.

After dropping your things off in his dorm room, he takes you straight to campus where he gives you the Official Bradley Bradshaw Certified UVA Tour. He buys you lunch from one of the food trucks in the Amphitheater “for sustenance” before taking you to see the highlights. You start with the Rotunda and then the academic village, making a special pitstop at the Whispering Wall for you to tell it a secret. And then he takes you on a more historical tour, like showing you the exact route he used to streak The Lawn and pointing out the place he’d puked after his 21st birthday.

It’s clear he’d put so much thought into your visit because it seems like there is never a down moment. By the end of the third day you’re more surprised that you don't wake up every morning with a printed itinerary on your pillow.

He sneaks you into the Slaughter Rec Center to rock climb, claiming he had a person on the inside with the right connections. But really from what you could tell, the pretty girl at the check-in counter clearly had a crush on him. He takes you to the batting cages he likes to go to before Dead Week, and spends the time there equal parts making fun of your power swing and trying to fix it.

You get your revenge the next day standing outside of the imposing columns and massive doors to the Fralin Art Museum. Skeptically eyeing the sculpture in the front of the building that kind of looked like a giant wisdom tooth, you mentioned, “I didn’t realize you’d become such a patron of the cultural arts.”

“Hey now, I like artsy shit,” he’d said, only mildly affronted.

You snorted at that. “Is there an exhibit on beer pong and blunt rolling you wanted to see?” Through the window you’d spotted some large landscape oil paintings in ornate gilded frames and carved marble busts of what you assumed were probably of some of the Founding Fathers.

“You just missed that one, it was last month,” Bradley lobbed back, opening the door for you.

“What a pity,” you’d said with a dramatic sigh, “Guess we’ll have to settle for some tasteful nudes instead.”

“If we’re lucky,” he’d muttered under his breath, as you passed under his arm.

And then you’d felt the corners of your mouth kick up.

Turning around you’d pressed your finger to his chest, whispering so the person behind the ticket desk didn’t hear you, “Twenty bucks says you don’t make it thirty minutes in there.”

He narrowed his eyes, taking in your sly grin, “You’re on, kid.”

It’s the easiest $20 you’ve ever made.

The two of you call it a truce only after he tips your kayak into the still chilly Rivanna River.

Later that night, he takes you to a party on “Mad Bowl” that one of his frat friends was hosting. The backyard was all strung up with red and green Christmas lights like they had been too lazy to take them down after the holidays and decided it added to the outdoor ambiance instead of packing them away.

He was still just as protective over you as he was back in high school. Spending the whole night keeping an eye on you and handing you drinks that he’d uncapped himself using the opener that he had on his keychain, the one that still had the little fighter jet charm you’d given him ages ago dangling from it.

The days pass all too quickly as he shows you all of his favorite spots.

You knew UVA wasn’t where he’d originally wanted to be- where he thought he’d be- but you were happy that he seemed happy here.

But in between the late-night microwave ramen and movie watching and crossing off all the things on Bradley’s Spring Break To-Do List, there’d been something you’d been wanting to talk to him about. But you were having so much fun with him, you’d missed your best friend over those long months apart, and you didn’t want to ruin the time you had left with him here.

It lingered at the back of your mind like a phantom hair that you can feel, but can’t ever seem to brush off no matter how many times you attempt to. You felt like you were waiting for the right time that you weren’t sure would ever come. And if you were being honest, you weren’t entirely sure you would even be brave enough to ask if the time came.

The two of you had woken up way before the sun this morning.

If anyone other than Bradley had asked you to wake up before 5 AM to go hike to watch the sunrise, you would have laughed at them. But because it was Bradley, you’d set the alarm without comment. Even though he did have to gently pry you out of his roommate’s bed- with the fresh sheets he told you he bought especially for your visit- and lace up your shoes for you.

The views at Humpback Rock had been worth the hour hike up to the outcrop of craggy rocks. The sunrise painted them a stunning shade of soft orange as the rays illuminated evergreen covered hills and valleys that extended in front of you to the skyline. You and Bradley watched it in silence, shoulders pressed against each other  as you took it all in.

You’re cozied up on your bed for the week, flipping through a book you’d brought with you, but hadn’t touched at all until now when Bradley comes back from the showers. His hair is still damp and the ends are starting to curl a bit.  

He drops a Styrofoam cup of coffee on the nightstand next to you.

You hadn’t been sure what rooming with him would be like, the two of you together 24/7 since his roommate had left to go home for the break.  But it felt like you were two kids at sleepaway camp getting away with mischief rather than two broke college students only pretending to get away with mischief.

He sits down at the edge of his bed, his elbows resting on his thighs, “So.”

“So?” you repeat, blowing on the hot coffee before taking a sip.

“Are you going to tell me what’s been up with you?”

You wince, and it’s not because the coffee tastes like tar. 

“What do you mean?” you try to ask casually.

Bradley gives you a look that says you don’t fool me, kid. “You’ve been squirrely. I didn’t want to press it, but I can tell there’s something on your mind.” He takes a sip of his own milky battery acid. “Are classes going better since you switched majors?”

You nod, looking anywhere else other than at him.

“How are things with your Dad?”

You offer him a shrug.

He sighs your name in exasperation. You can tell he is trying to tamper his frustration at your lack of cooperation.

“Is it a guy?” Bradley tries again.

You swear you feel your heart stop, because you knew what you wanted to ask him, but you didn’t know how he was going to take it.

You fiddle with a string on his roommate’s comforter. “There’s something I wanted to talk to you about,” you admit, tentatively, “But I’m nervous.”

Bradley’s eyebrows pull together as he sets his coffee aside, “C’mon, it’s just me. You can talk to me about anything.”

“It’s more of a question.” One you’re still deflecting from asking.

“Ok, well you know you can ask me anything.” His tiny dorm room feels even smaller as the two of you try to read the other’s face.

Taking a deep breath, you ask the question that’s been rattling around in your brain for weeks.

“Bradley, I was wondering if you’d be my first?”

Less than ten words. That’s all it takes to tilt Bradley’s world off its axis.

He’s loved getting to show you around UVA this week. It wasn’t where he thought he’d end up, but he hadn’t lost sight of where he was going. He was going to be a Naval Aviator one way or another. He just also got to have a normal college experience too, one he’d been excited to share with you.

Bradley had originally been invited to go stay with one of his friends at his family’s beach house, but when you called and asked about coming to visit Charlottesville, it was an easy choice for him. He’d pick you every time.

It had been even better getting to cross off some of the things on the bucket list he’d made for his Senior Year with you in tow, like the hike he’d taken you on this morning.

He loves the views from up there and thought it would be something you’d like too, but he’d never done the hike early enough to catch the sunrise before. It was actually something he was planning on going the morning of graduation as a symbolic way to end his time at UVA, but getting to do it with you was special in its own way.

And while he’d caught you lost in thought more than a few times over the last few days as he showed you around, he never in a million years would have ever expected you to ask him that.

Bradley knows all the words you just used, but they don’t make sense to him in that order.

His brain is working in overdrive trying to figure out if there is any possible way he could have misinterpreted you.

“Your first…”

You take another deep breath and tip your chin up in resolve before looking him dead in the eye, there’s so much vulnerability reflected in them, “I haven’t had sex before, Bradley. And I’m really hoping that my first time can be with you.”

Bradley wants to tell you to put your Styrofoam cup down because he’s worried the tight grip you have on it might crush it, but he feels like the wind has been knocked out of him.

He didn’t realize when his leg started bouncing until he sees you glance down at it.

Shooting to his feet and off his bed, he goes to lean against his recently decluttered desk. There’s too much restless energy coursing through him to just sit like he isn’t completely reeling. 

“Shouldn’t you want to do this with someone special? Like with rose petals and all that shit?” He scrubs a hand over his face. Rose petals and all that shit? God, he sounds like such a fucking dumbass, but he’s struggling to keep up.

And if he’s being entirely honest, he’s pretty surprised to learn you’re still a virgin. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but he knows you’ve had at least one serious boyfriend since you’ve gone to college. He figured that you got asked out all the time. He saw the way that some of the guys in his buddy’s frat were looking at the pretty girl with the dimples and big smile.

The girl who just asked him to be her first.

He hates the way your shoulders have slumped forward, like you’re trying not to cave in on yourself, “So, you don’t want to?”

“I didn’t say that.” His answer takes him by surprise.

The only other sound in the room other than his pounding heart is the whir of the air circulating in his dorm. 

“Would it help to make a pro con list?” you offer, less than helpfully with a little shrug.

“Jesus Christ,” Bradley mutters under his breath, looking up at the speckled ceiling trying to decode the flecks like tea leaves. “She’s cracking jokes like she didn’t ask me to make her come.”

“Technically, I didn’t say anything about that. I just asked you to be my first.”

“I’m not taking your virginity and not giving you an orgasm,” he states, and your eyes get wide. He runs his hands through his hair. “Sex makes things complicated, kid. We’ve got a good friendship.”

You sit up straighter on his roommate’s bed and bring your knees to your chest. It exposes the backs of your thighs and he has to shake the mental images of skin on skin out of his head.

There’s a look on your face that tells him you feel ridiculous even asking him, “Do you think you’re going to fall in love with me or something?”

“No,” Bradley says, honestly.

He knows you’re just trying to make a point.

The two of you have been friends for over a decade. He knows he cares about you- he always has- but he couldn’t imagine what anything other than just friendship would look like with you.

You nod in agreement, like you had been anticipating the answer before you’d even asked him the question.

“And do you think I’m going to fall in love with you?” you ask, your head tilting to the side.

He doesn’t even blink, “You can do better than me.”

And he means it.

Even if there was something more between the two of you, you’ve always been too good for him. And knowing him, he’d find a way to fuck it up. You’re the last person in the world he’d ever want to hurt. He’d let you down before, he doesn’t want to do it ever again.

You shoot him a disappointed look, like you don’t like hearing him say that about himself. And he’s oddly touched that you’re defending him against himself. 

“You’d literally be doing me a favor.”

Bradley is still surprised that he hasn’t ended this conversation yet. The two of you were supposed to go to the movies, but that definitely wasn’t happening now.

“I’m not saying no,” he says, “But I need you to help me understand. Why me? Why now?”

“Bradley, I want it to be with you because there’s no one else I’ll ever feel as comfortable with as I do with you,” you explain.

He watches as you unfold yourself and climb off the bed, coming to stand in front of him. You gingerly reach out and put your hand on his forearm, like you don’t want to startle him. Not that he’d be able to move anyways since it feels like the soles of his feet are cemented to the floor.

“I keep waiting for it to not feel like such a big thing, but every time it seems like it’s going to happen, I freeze. And I know you’d take care of me, and I’m not talking about orgasms.” You stumble over the word a bit, not fully meeting his eyes as you say it. “It’s scary enough as a girl and I’m worried I’m going to be too in my head with anyone else. But I also don’t want to look back and have any regrets, and I know I wouldn’t have any with you.”

The mention of regrets makes his stomach twinge. His heart feels like it’s hammering in his chest. He doesn’t know what to say.

You are looking at him with such open sincerity. He has never been good with talking about his feelings, he’s always been the type to bottle things up, while you have always worn your heart on your sleeve. It was just another way that you were braver than him.

“I know it’s a lot,” you say, letting go of him to take a step back, like you want to give him breathing room, “So if it’s too big of an ask. Or if it’s not something you’re comfortable with-”

Bradley shakes his head cutting you off, “It’s not that at all, kid. I just haven’t done this before.” Your eyebrow scrunches together in confusion. “I mean, I have,” he corrects, “But it’s not the same. All the girls I’ve been with had already had experience. And if we were going to do this, I would want to make sure it’s as nice for you as it can be.”

“So you’d be my first and I’d be yours? Well, kind of.” You give him a little smile, it’s a shy but hopeful thing. There’s only a hint of your dimples, but it’s enough. And he feels that practical part of him that had been holding back soften at the sight of it.

He doesn’t think he’s ever said no to you, excluding the times you tried to get him to give you his beer at the house parties he took you to in high school, and that was more out of self-preservation from a healthy fear of your mom than anything else.

When you wanted to learn how to drive a stick shift? He took you to the abandoned parking lot, it didn’t matter that you didn’t have your learner’s permit yet. When you wanted to learn how to throw a punch? He was making sure you knew not to tuck your thumb under your fingers, so that you didn’t break your own thumb instead of someone’s nose.

He’s always had your back and you’ve had his. That’s how it was between the two of you.

You’ve already said it, but he needs to hear it again, “You really want to do it?”

“I really want it to be you, Bradley. I really want to do this with you. I trust you the most.”

He’s always been willing to help you with anything you’ve ever asked of him, why should this be any different? What’s a couple orgasms between friends?

“Ok,” Bradley nods. If it’s to reassure you or himself, he couldn’t say. “I’ll do it. We can do it.”

Your eyebrows raise in surprise, like you were fully prepared for him to let you down gently, “Really?”

You didn’t ask for his why he was agreeing, but he was going to give it to you anyway.

“I don’t think I’ve told you this, but I lost mine to Samantha Prescod after the game against Centennial that got us a spot at State that year,” he waits until he sees the recognition cross your face before continuing, “But I had also just learned about my mom’s diagnosis and I was trying to find anything I could do to not think about it.” He rubs at a spot underneath his collarbone, it never got any easier talking about his mom. “I think she assumed that I’d done it before, because we didn’t really talk about it. She was there and into it, so it just sort of happened. Actually, I’m pretty sure she only slept with me because she wanted to make her ex-boyfriend jealous, because they got back together like three days later.”

It’s probably for the best that Samantha Prescod lives on the other side of the country now because you look livid. Your eyes spark with anger and disbelief on his behalf.

“It was years ago, it’s fine, kid” he shrugs, trying to brush off your concern. “But if I had a do-over, I don’t know if I’d make the same choice again. And that’s not something I’d ever want for you.” You deserve the rose petals, but he’ll do his best for you. “So we can do it, but I have one condition.”

The relief on your face and the way the tension in your shoulder releases only solidifies his decision.

“Tell me,” you say, taking a half-step towards him, “I want you to be comfortable too.”

Bradley pushes off his desk and meets you the rest of the way, “If you even think you’re feeling uncomfortable- about any of it- I need you to tell me. And we’ll stop and figure out where to go from there. If it’s a change of position, if it’s a full stop and order pizza instead, we’ll do that.” He pauses and reaches out to tip your chin up. “I’ll do whatever you need, got it?”

You throw your arms around him, and his wrap around you just as easily. Your hair smells like the travel sized shampoo he’d picked up for you, figuring you wouldn’t want to use his 2-in-1. You murmur your thank you into his shirt followed by a fuck Samantha Prescod that makes him squeeze you just a bit tighter to him in affection.

When you step back and look at him, your lips twitch upwards, “What’s with the look, Bradshaw? Don’t tell me you’re going to lie back and think of England?”

That makes him chuckle, your joke lightening the mood in only the way that you can do. He rolls his eyes in equal parts exasperation and fondness.

“God, I haven’t been this nervous since I lost my own virginity. I was so stressed I was going to blow my load in two pumps and lose my street cred.”

You snort and send him a smirk, “Well, you must have done just fine. I overheard some glowing reviews in the girl’s bathroom on more than one occasion.”

“I maybe lasted ten trusts, but I had the good sense to eat her out after,” he admits, and then tacks on for good measure, “I’ve gotten better since then.”

“What a stud,” you tease.

This is easier, this feels like the two of you. This should be fun, it shouldn’t feel serious. He can make it good for you.

You look up at him shyly from under your lashes, “So how do we do this?”

He feels like he only just wrapped his head around the idea of it, but now he was facing the very real possibility of seeing you very naked very soon.

“You want to do it now?” Bradley blinks.

“I mean, if you’re up for it.” You scrunch your nose when you realize you’ve made a terrible double entendre. “No pun intended, I promise.”  

He wipes his hands on his pants.

“You sure?” he asks again.

“I’m sure, Bradley. As long as you are too.”

He nods, “Then I guess we just…”

He’s not sure where he was going to go with that. But he’s spared from being roasted by you for making some sure to be lame birthday suit joke because you’re untying the bow on the soft lounge shorts you’d thrown on after your shower from the hike, and all the words get trapped in his throat.

You don’t look at Bradley as you slide your shorts down your legs. And you definitely don’t look at him when you pull your shirt over your head, leaving you in only a soft green mesh bra and your cotton underwear. They’re mismatched, but sex with Bradley wasn’t originally on the Spring Break To-Do List agenda for today.

In fact, you hadn’t even been sure you were going to go through with asking him until he brought up the point that he knew you had something on your mind because you apparently had no poker face.

While it felt like you had a swarm of butterflies whirling in your stomach, you also knew wholeheartedly that this was the right choice for you. Everything he had said had solidified that for you.

You weren’t sure how you were ever going to thank him for this, but you had a lifetime of friendship with Bradley to figure it out.

His room cast in the soft afternoon light, the blinds only partly closed. There are little streaks of gold that line the plaid comforter on his bed. He’d been right, Charlottesville had stayed sunny just for you.

As you climb into it and situate yourself against his pillows, you can help but notice just how much his bed smells like him. It’s not the spicy scent you associated with the High School version of him. The woodsy and warm scent embedded in the threads of his sheets suits this grown up version of him.

You feel equal parts overdressed and underdressed in your bra and underwear. You know the latter are going to come off eventually, so you make a split-second decision to just take them off yourself under his covers. The idea of Bradley helping you to pull them off later seems like it would be too intimate based on the way the thought of it makes your cheeks heat up.

It’s practical, you’re being practical, you think to yourself.

You chance a peek at him and are surprised to see that he hasn’t budged an inch. It’s almost like he is waiting for you to get completely settled before he dares to move a muscle. His eyes are trained on the pile of your clothes on the floor, he looks lost in thought.

“Bradley?”

The sound of your voice seems to kickstart him into action.

He shucks off his shirt in that kind of reckless way that seems to be ingrained in boys and then unbuttons his pants. You’re torn between feeling like you should give him privacy and wanting to watch. What you were expecting is the way he takes the time to pick his clothes up before folding them over the back of the chair at his desk.

Your mouth goes dry as you take in the sight of his body, the diffused light perfectly outlines the shape of him. His broad shoulders are rounded with the muscles he’s gained from whatever exercises the NROTC has been putting him through. Your eyes dip down to his defined chest and over the ridges of his abs. You’ve seen him in swim trunks plenty of times, but seeing the way the muscles of his thick thighs fill out the black boxer briefs he was wearing was entirely new to you.

Bradley approaches you and then pauses as he bends down to collect your pile of clothes on the floor, his hand hesitating only for a second when he reaches for your underwear. He drapes all of your things on top of his on the chair and makes his way back to you.

The gesture makes you melt a little like a soft serve ice cream cone on a summer afternoon.

You lift the corner of the cover for Bradley and he climbs in next to you. You move closer to the wall, trying to make more room for the bulk of him in his small bed, and he shifts in even closer into you until your bodies pressed tight against one another. The curves and angles of the two of you slotting together like pieces of a puzzle.

It feels like the two of you are teetering there on the edge of something. You both know exactly where it’s going, but are unsure of how to make it from Point A to Point B. Both waiting on the other person to make the first move.

He rests his warm hand on your stomach, the muscles there jumping on their own under his touch in anticipation. Your faces are close since you’re sharing his pillow. His brown eyes are searching yours, probably looking for any sign of hesitation that you don’t feel.

“Tell me how you’re feeling.” It’s not a question, but a request.

“Overwhelmed,” you admit, “But in a good way.” He runs his palm lightly up your stomach and back down, soothingly.

“Good, that’s good,” Bradley says, clearing his throat, “You’re supposed to feel a little ‘overwhelmed, but in a good way.’” You feel your lips pull up at his gentle teasing.

He smiles softly at you. His face has always been so familiar to you. The pink from his scars have finally faded, but you wonder when his eyes start crinkling around the corners.

You let go of the comforter to run a finger down the top of his nose, “I don’t know how this has stayed so straight.” He’d been in more than a couple fights in his teen years, including one that had sent him through a sliding glass door.

“Probably the combination of a little luck and the fact that none of those guys could throw a punch,” Bradley smirks. He shifts on his side, propping himself up on an elbow looking down at you, still running his hand along your stomach. “What have you done so far?”

His fingertips circle your bellybutton and your stomach swoops like it’s on the swing carousel ride at the fair.

“Some over the clothes stuff…” you stammer. You’re having trouble focusing because all your attention is on his big hand and how it feels against your oversensitive skin. “And I have a vibrator, but ah…”

You’re so keenly aware of his hand. With every lazy circle he makes, he has you wondering if this is going to be the one where he finally moves his hand lower. That part of you in flutters in expectation because you know it’s coming.

You let out a shaky huff when his fingers trails back up your stomach.

“What is it?” Bradley’s hand stops moving. “What are you thinking?”

“Honestly?” you say, trying not to squirm, “I’m getting really horny and you keep teasing me.”

He presses his lips together like he’s trying not to laugh at your overshare, and there’s amusement in his eyes.

“You know, some people call it foreplay,” he drawls. You’d roll your eyes but his fingertips are by your bellybutton again and you want him to keep going. “You ready for more?” You nod a few times because if he doesn’t touch you soon you might just crawl out of your skin. “Ok, gonna stop ‘teasing’ you now.”

This time his hand doesn’t stop at your bellybutton, it keeps moving down, down.

You stutter over a breath when Bradley’s fingers touch your clit. You feel yourself melt a little further into his mattress. He’s making easy circles, letting you get used to someone’s fingers other than your own on the most sensitive part of you. Your hands are clutching tightly to his comforter, unsure of what else to do with them.

“Spread your legs a little wider for me,” he murmurs. You feel your face heat up. He’d just given you a direction, but it sounds almost indecent coming out of his mouth.

You shift, moving your legs apart further for him, until he secures your left between his own, opening you up even more. You know you’re wet and now he does too. Bradley’s fingers slide easily over you as he increases the pressure on your clit. You can feel the intensity of his gaze on you watching for your reaction as he figures out what you like the most.

It doesn’t take him long to learn your body. You don’t know whether to be impressed with him or embarrassed with yourself at how quickly he’s worked you up.

Your breathing feels so loud in your ears in the quiet room, every breath and sigh is amplified. There’s a certain thrill in not knowing how he’s going to touch you next, your own fingers pale in comparison now.

His warm breath coasts down the side of your neck causing you to shiver at the sensation. It makes goosebumps break out along your arms and your nipples pull taut.

He notices. Of course he notices.

“Are you cold?” His voice is low in your ear.

“No, I-” Oh god, you’re right there. “B-bradley, I’m-” You’ve made yourself orgasm plenty of times, but you’ve never shared that part of yourself with anyone else before. No one knows what you sound like or what you look like when you come. But now, Bradley was going to have the piece of you too. A whine escapes you without your permission.

“It’s ok, kid, I’ve got you.”

You’re seeking and searching, but it’s Bradley’s fingers that have the answer.

And you come with your stomach twitching and hips jerking as he murmurs praise in your ear.

His fingers slow down, featherlight on your clit, but your heart is still racing when he rasps, “There’s one, you up for another?”

Bradley loves that moment during sex when he hears that first gasp or moan. He loves learning what sounds of satisfaction he can pull from his partner. He loves knowing he earned it. But he never in his life could have ever anticipated hearing those sounds from you.

In his bed. Because of him.

He didn’t expect the lick of heat that curled up his spine at the shape of your legs and the curve of your ass as you were stepping out of your shorts. He’d never seen anything so strangely endearing as it was watching you shimmy your underwear off under the shield of his covers.

Every hitch in your breath made his blood run hotter in his veins. He was trying to control his cock, but he’d started getting hard the second you’d pulled your shirt off. Your bra was some kind of sheer thing that left nothing to the imagination, and while he wasn’t trying to check you out- because that’s not how it was between the two of you- he couldn’t help the way his eyes flickered down.

You’re slippery, wet, and warm. And he knows he can make you come again.

“Do you want me to use my fingers now?”

You crack an eye open at him, it’s the first time you’ve opened your eyes since he first touched you. Your eyes are bright in that way that only comes with an orgasm. “I thought you already were.”

“Such a smartass,” he grins.

Bradley changes the unhurried circles he’d been making on your clit to the upstroke that made your hips jerk up into his hand the first time he’d tried it. The little noises you’re making have him fighting the urge to grind himself against you for some relief of his own. He’s still got your knee tucked between his own; where there had been a hint of polite space between your bodies, the way you’re writhing now has him pressed up against your hip.

You gasp, breathily, “Oh, you’re hard.” The disbelief is evident in your voice, but it’s the look in your eyes that he doesn’t know what to make of, something like surprise.

He’s been trying to be a gentleman, this is about you and not him. There might not be anything romantic happening between the two of you, but this was hot and he was more than a little turned on. And he knows you are too because he can feel how wet you are under his fingers.

“’Course I am,” Bradley says, nudging his nose against your temple, “I’ve got a pretty girl in my bed half naked.” He didn’t want you to feel like you were in this on your own, so he lightly rocks against you. He wants you to feel him, he wants you to know he is into this too. “Are you ready more?”

“I’m ready, I want more,” you confirm, wrapping your hand around his bicep.

Your breath hitches as he teases you with just the tip of his finger.

He’s been told before he has big hands and thick fingers, he’s always taken it as a compliment in the past, but now he’s scanning your face for any trace of discomfort as he sinks one into you.

Your eyebrows twitch then smooth out and your mouth drops open as he starts pumping his finger into you in a smooth rhythm.

“That feels nice,” you sigh, airily.

He knows you like it when your hips tip up just a fraction. His comforter is bunched around your waist and your nipples are peaked against the see-through fabric of your bra. He gets his thumb on your clit and you whimper as you tentatively roll your hips against his fingers.

Bradley hums his approval, “Atta girl. There you go, find what feels good for you.” His voice sounds low even to his own ears, a throaty rumble. He feels you clench around his fingers and it sets his pulse racing. It’s a piece of information he tucks away for himself.

He’s gentle on your clit, but now that he knows you’re into it he’s setting a more purposeful pace with his fingers.

You’ve got your bottom lip pinned between your teeth, like you’re trying to swallow down your sounds. He didn’t realize how much he liked hearing these new sounds from you until you started trying to muffle them. On the next slide of his finger into you, he knows exactly what he’s looking for.

You suck in a sharp breath of surprise when he finds it.

“Is that the right spot, kid?” He sounds so smug. You curse and your hand clutches at his shoulder. “You want to try a second finger?” he murmurs into your ear.

“Yes,” you rock into his hand, “Yes, please.”

“Whatever you want, Miss Manners.” His chest feels like he’s taken a shot of Fireball. “You’re so polite when you’re trying to get your way.”

“I’m always polite,” you challenged weakly, pressing your head further into his pillow.

“Mhm,” he indulges, fondly, “You’re the sweetest girl I know.”

And then he fills you with two fingers.

“Jesus, Bradley,” you gasp, offering more of yourself to him.

Your nails dig into the muscle of his shoulder as he lets your whimpers and whines guide his hands.

The two of you have your eyes fixed on the way the tendons of the visible part of his forearm are flexing before it disappears under the covers as he works you.

Bradley curls his fingers into that spongy part of you and your hand flies to his wrist, gripping him tight. It makes him pause, worried that he might have pushed you too far too fast.

“No, no. D-don’t stop,” you plead, desperately, “I’m so close. Keep going, please.” You squeeze his wrist encouragingly.

“Sorry, sorry,” he soothes. He focuses his efforts on that spot again now that he knows you weren’t wanting him to slow down, but rather trying to hold him in place. His fingers inside of you and his thumb on your clit working in tandem to get you there again.

“I just- yes. Like that. Oh fuck. Keep doing that. Oh my god. Please, Bradley.”

He’s heard you say his name a lot of different ways, but never like this.

Your back arches and you twist yourself towards him, burying your face against him and keening into the hollow of his throat as you come around his fingers.

You jerk and writhe into his hand, your knee slips free of his and your thighs clamp together around him. Bradley rolls off the arm he’d been leaning on and brings it to cradle the back of your head, pulling you closer and holding you to him as he steadily works you through it until you’re loose-limbed in his arms.

He waits until your rapid pants have evened out before he slips his fingers from you. The displeased sound that you make makes the corners of his mouth twitch. He should have known you’d be bossy. He rubs gentle circles into the divots at the base of your neck as you come down.

Bradley can feel your lips graze the side of his neck when you finally speak, “So, um, let me know if you need a letter of recommendation or anything. I’d be happy to pass one along to your next partner.” You languidly prop yourself up on his chest and he notes with pride that you look a little flushed. “But, seriously, I get it now.”

He huffs a laugh as he toys with the end of your hair, “I’m glad it lived up to the hype. Well, at least that part of it.”

You press your lips together like you’re deciding something, tracing idle shapes on his stomach, and he can’t decide if he thinks you’re doing it without realizing it or if you’re the one doing the teasing this time. Your eyes flick down to his visibly hard cock and he feels his face heat up, “Can I?”

“Do you want to?” Bradley wants this experience to be everything you need and want it to be, but something about the tables turning here and the idea of you being the one to touch him like that makes his heart pound.

“I want to make you feel good too,” you softly tell him, resting your chin on your shoulder. The tender way you’re looking at him makes his teeth ache.

“Ok, but only for a little bit,” he agrees. Bradley knows he’s walking a tightrope with this, he’s aching and more than ready to be touched, but he doesn’t want to come all over your hand.

He plants his feet into his mattress and lifts his hips enough to pull off his boxer briefs, sighing in relief as his cock bobs free.

“That can’t be average,” you mutter under your breath.

He doesn’t know if you meant to have said it out loud but he smirks all the same, “I’ve never been average a day in my life, kid, Grade A student here.”

A groan slips out of him as your tentative fingers grasp his cock. There’s a lack of finesse in the way you touch him, your hand isn’t nearly as well-practiced as his own. He wraps his hand over yours, guiding your strokes as he shows you just what he likes.

“You can grip it a little firmer,” he coaches. You nod studiously, like you’re going to be tested on it later. Together the two of you work him from root to tip.

Bradley had never given much thought to his size until now. He knew he was big, but seeing that your thumb couldn’t reach the tips of your fingers when your hand was curved around him was an ego boost he didn’t know he needed.

You get more confident with every glide up and down the length of him. Your tricky thumb sweeps over the tip, collecting what precum had gathered there, and it makes your hand slide easier over him. When he accidentally thrusts into your hand, you grin and there are those dimples again.

“Ok, ok,” he blows out a shaky breath, stilling your hand with his. “We gotta stop or I’m going to come. And I’m not about to be a one pump chump.”

“It sounded like you’re more of a ten pump chump, if I remember correctly,” you tease, looking all too pleased with yourself. “Don’t worry, Bradshaw, your street cred is safe with me.”

He shakes his head in amused disbelief, “You’re such a goddamn menace. I knew I shouldn’t have told you that part.” He surprises the both of you when he wraps an arm around you and rolls to pin you under him.

And it’s like all the air is sucked out of the room because your thighs are cradling his hips and his cock is resting heavy on your stomach.

Neither one of you dare to move. He’d give anything to know what you’re thinking right now, he feels out of his depth as he watches you watching him.

His tongue feels thick in his mouth, “Are you on-”

You nod before he even finishes the question.

“Do you have-”

He nods before you finish yours.

“What did you promise me?” he prompts, squeezing the dip of your waist.

You hold up your pinky to him, “I’ll tell you.” He wraps his own crooked one around yours and gives it a shake.

Bradley doesn’t know what comes over him, but he drops a kiss to your shoulder as he reaches over you into the drawer of his nightstand to fish out what he needs. He’s thankful when you don’t comment on it because he wouldn’t even know how to explain it.

He leans back on his knees and rolls the condom on with practiced ease, then flicks open the cap to the bottle of lube he’s also grabbed and drizzles it over his cock.

“Am I not…” you trail off. He doesn’t think he’s ever heard you sound this shy with him before.

“You’re plenty wet,” he assures you, pumping himself- once, twice- just enough to coat himself, “But this’ll be good too. I think you’ll like it.”

Bradley settles back over you, one arm braced by your head and the other on your hip, as your hands come up to rest lightly on either side of his ribcage. He rocks against you to demonstrate; the head of his cock nudges your clit with each silky pass. You exhale heavily at the sensation as he eases you into the motion of it, as he shows you what it’s like with another person.

You’re holding him close, and in just a moment the two of you will be the closest two people can be.

He makes only enough room to reach down between your bodies, only looks away from your face long enough to line himself up with you. There is such trust in your eyes as you gaze up at him, it’s not something Bradley takes for granted.

You nod, your fingers stroking his sides.

God, does he want this to be good for you.

He takes a breath.

And then he’s shifting forward and pressing in.

Bradley thrusts into you with all the careful gentleness you’d expect from him.

His thumb skimming along your forehead as he pushes in, in, in.

When he found that spot inside of you with his fingers, you thought you were going to fly away from the intensity of it, but then he’d pulled you into the safety of his arms and you felt like you could fall apart because he’d be keeping the pieces of you together.

He’s been so good to you. He is so good to you. He’s the best person you know.

The more of him he gives you, the less you feel like you can catch your breath.

You feel hot, hot all over. And much fuller than you’ve ever been.

Some sound must make its way out of you because Bradley offers you a low soothing noise before you feel his lightly chapped lips against your temple.

There’s something about this that reminds you of the time he tried to teach you how to skateboard. Always waited until you told him you were ready, until you found your balance. He’d held your hand as you cautiously rolled along the sidewalk, you were less worried about falling with him by your side. Only this time, his hand is on your waist and the only movements are his hips against yours as he rocks into you.

Little by little. Inch by inch.

You clutch at his biceps at the slight stinging sensation and you feel him hesitate.

“It’s just a lot,” you whisper. His fingers flex on your waist.

“You’re doing so good, just a bit more,” Bradley murmurs, encouragingly.

There’s pressure, there’s a give, and then there’s relief when his hips finally, finally meet yours.

“Shit,” he curses under his breath.

Your eyes had flickered shut somewhere along the way. You open them to see that Bradley’s face and chest are flushed pink, the muscle of his jaw flexing. The furrow between his eyebrows is so deep that you release your grip on him to smooth out the lines with an unsteady fingertip.

He reads the question in your eyes.

“You’re just really tight,” he grits out, voice strained.

You assumed that was a good thing, but he’s holding himself so tense above you that now you’re not sure. “Do I-,” you fumble over the words, “Does this feel good for you?”

He huffs an incredulous laugh, and brushes back some hair from off your face, “You feel really fucking good, sweet-”

Your whimper cuts him off when he pulls out a fraction and then pushes back in.

His brown eyes take you in as he does it again, more this time. Pulling out just a bit- just enough- and then filling you again. The discomfort fading more with each thrust as he guides his hips to yours until yours are tilting up to meet his seeking more.

It’s a conversation between your bodies, the give and the take of it all as Bradley introduces you to this new unspoken language. You feel yourself flutter around his cock, stretched wider than you’ve ever been.

You feel that heat spreading underneath your skin again as he surely and steadily pumps into you. It feels like your nerves are on fire. You didn’t expect to even come once and you’re well on your way to a third.

He reaches down and hooks your leg over his hip. His hand slides up along the outside of your thigh and under your ass, tilting your hips up towards his even more. He’s so much deeper like this. Your hands slide into his hair, tugging at his curls.

“Bradley, I-I think… I feel-”

 “You’re gonna come,” he rasps, nodding at you. Encouraging, coaxing.

He grinds his pelvis against your clit with every deliciously slow roll into you.

Your mouth drops open at the feel of it, it’s better than anything you’ve ever imagined. You don’t think your faces have ever been closer than they are now. Bradley is breathing your air, and you’re breathing his. Bradley’s pupils are blown wide, his heavy-lidded eyes are locked on yours. You didn’t know there could be so many shades of brown. His curls are a mess and it’s all because of you. He licks his lips and your breath catches in your throat when his eyes dart down to your parted mouth.

His next thrust into you hits that spot inside of you just so right that it has you gasping.

It’s so good, it’s too good, it’s overwhelming.

You wrap your arms around his neck clinging to him, your face buried against him. Bradley drops his head to your shoulder, you feel his lips brush against your clavicle. Your head moves away on instinct, making more room for him if he wants to do it again.

You get lost in the feeling of his cock hitting you in all the places you’ve heard about and read about, but have never felt for yourself until now. He’s still got your ass gripped in his hand, whereas your hands can’t stay in one spot. They’re tangled in his hair, running over his shoulders and down his abs, gliding over his back aided by the sheen of sweat he’s worked up.

You’re not trying to hold yourself back, but it feels like you’re standing on the tallest diving board at the pool, your toes curled around the edge, but still too nervous about the drop to jump.

“C’mon, kid. You’re right there,” he breathes hard, “I need you to come for me. Just one more.”

He gets his fingers back on your clit and it’s the end of you. Your back is arching so much you think you might snap. Your toes curl so tights they may never unfurl. The force your orgasm overtakes you, demanding everything you have up to offer and then some.

You hear Bradley’s moan as you pulse around his cock, trembling under him as the waves of pleasure wash over you. His hips stutter against yours, finally losing that steady rhythm he’d set, you pull him tighter to you and it’s not long until he comes too.

It’s all white noise. All you can feel is your heartbeat pounding, until little pieces of the world come back into focus.

The hum of the fan.

The beam of warm afternoon light through the blinds.

The smell of the now cold coffee on his nightstand.

In the after, you’re all too aware of every place your body is touching Bradley’s.

He’d somehow managed to roll on his back and had taken you with him. He was literally just inside of you, but yet it feels like your leg draped over his thigh is somehow more intimate. A prickly self-conscious feeling settles over you. Unsure of what the rules were for friends who just had sex, you attempt to peel yourself off of him, but the heavy arm over your waist keeps you in place.

“Come back here, kid,” Bradley mumbles, his eyes still closed, “I need to cuddle after I come, so I’m gonna need you to indulge me here for a moment.” He strokes a soothing hand down your back. And while he says it’s for him, you know he’s still trying to take care of you.

He hums when you lay back down. You set a hand on his chest. He reaches for it with his free one and threads your fingers together. It makes you melt further into him.

You feel a little different. But mostly, you feel like a weight you didn’t know you’d been carrying had been lifted off of you.

Your first time was everything you hoped it would be. You were safe and cared for, and you already knew, you’d never have any regrets about it. And it was all because of him.

“Thank you, Bradley,” you say, softly.

“Anything for you, kid.”

Your early morning catches up with you as you lay there, warm and secure. Your eyelids get heavier with each pass of Bradley’s hand along your spine. And you drift off to the sound of his heartbeat under your ear.

You’re still you. And Bradley is still Bradley.

It was just… something between friends.

A few hours later the two of you are still in his bed.

Only now you’re clothed and swapping the cartons of Chinese food that he’d ordered while you’d napped against his chest, and fighting over the fortune cookies watching some reruns of old sitcoms. You couldn’t hear their laugh tracks over your own.

The last couple of days you had at UVA fly by just as quickly.

You don’t know how, but the two of you managed to cross of all the things on his Spring Break To-Do List. And before you knew it you were back at the airport.

Bradley had insisted on walking you in, wanting to see you off.

Neither one of you has ever been good with goodbyes. So you don’t give him one, instead you reach for your bag and tell him, “Ok, see you in June.”

Bradley doesn’t let go, clearly confused, “What the hell are you talking about?”

You grin because it feels like a checkmate.

“You didn’t think you’d be getting that diploma all by yourself, did you?”

He looks thunderstruck.

You and your mom already had the plane tickets and hotel room booked. Your stepdad wouldn’t be able to come, but he was planning on sending your mom with one of the cakes from his family’s bakery. You’d been tasked with finding out what flavor, carrot cake or peanut butter- Bradley’s two favorites- but you could iron out the details with him later.

You’d had a busy week, plus it was more fun this way.

Bradley tugs you into his arms, yours wrap around him just as easily as they always have.

“June?” he asks into the crown of your head.

“June,” you promise.

And when he lets you go- for real this time- it’s with a smile that takes up his whole face.

He doesn’t say goodbye either, “Be good, kid. See you in June.”

𝐍𝐎𝐖

You avoid Rooster for the rest of the night.

And Jake too, for that matter. Bless Javy for finding ways to distract him because you could tell than man was chomping at the bit for more details. But you’d already given him more than enough.

You could have lied, you probably should have lied. It might have been easier than feeling like you’d hung up part of yourself on the drying line for everyone to see. But in that moment, the thought of lying and saying anyone else’s name other than Rooster’s had made your stomach turn.

Because it was the truth, he was your first, but he was also your best.

When you come out of the bathroom, there’s no missing Rooster. He’s leaning against the wall by the entrance. It takes him a moment to notice you since he looks lost in thought, but when he does you feel pinned to the wall by the intense look in his eyes.

He stands to his full height as you approach, you know he wants to talk about it.

You shake your head at him, “We don’t need to do this.”

“No, kid, we really do.” He takes you by the arm and leads you to a quieter spot away from everyone else.

“It was just a game,” you start before he can, “And now I know more about everyone’s sex life than I ever wanted to.” He crosses his arms over his chest at your attempt at deflection. “Look, I’m really sorry if that was something you wanted to keep a secret or just between us. I should have asked you first if that was ok to share.”

“I don’t care about that.” Rooster waves you off and takes a step closer to you, his eyes searching yours. “All this time and I’m the best you’ve ever had?”

“Are we really doing this? Here and now?”

You peer around him to look and see if anyone is watching the two of you, it feels like a showdown. But all the Daggers are occupied, probably on purpose. You’ve never seen Mickey with such a serious look of concentration on his face.

“Here and now,” he confirms.

You feel flustered, “Rooster, it’s been 12 years and we haven’t talked about it once-”

“Bradley,” he cuts you off. He takes another step towards you, so you’re toe to toe with him. “I’ve always been Bradley to you.”

The tension that had crept up in your shoulders releases a bit.

“Bradley,” you say, softly. “Listen, I’ve had a lot of good sex since then. Great sex even.” He presses his lips together and nods. “And with other men, if I felt like they weren’t putting in their best effort I’d kick them out because the bar was set very high early on.”

You see him fight back a smirk.

“That’s my girl,” he murmurs, with pride.

Your breath gets caught in your throat, you know he hears it because his eyes take on a richer shade of brown. You both feel the shift, tension churning between the two of you.

Taking a deep breath, you continue, “But I was telling the truth when I said you were my best. Probably because of the way you made sure I knew that you cared. I don’t know how to describe it. It was just different with you.”

You feel his finger graze the back of your hand.

The sounds of the Hard Deck fade into the background as you stare at each other. Entire conversations are being had as you look into his eyes and he looks into yours. Words and sentences spoken with glances.

Just friends don’t look at each other like this.

“It’s never been like this,” you whisper, “We’ve never been like this before.” You gesture at how close he is to you.

How he’s almost got you backed up against a wall.

How he’s looking at you like you’re his.

“I know.”

He says your name and your heart somersaults in your chest.

“I want to see your tattoo. I keep finding myself looking for it when we’re all at the beach. And then I get annoyed, knowing that people have seen it and I haven’t.”

“My tattoo? Bradley, what-”

“I want to see your tattoo,” he repeats like it’s a fact. “And I want to punch Seresin in his smug face every time he flirts with you.”

You roll your eyes, “Jake doesn’t flirt with me, not really. He just likes riling you up.”

“What if I said I wanted to try this as more than friends.” Bradley settles a large hand on your hip. “What if I said that since you’ve moved here I’ve had a hard time keeping my head on straight.”

“Bradley.” His name falls out of your mouth so easily now that it can.

“I want to take you home with me. I want to kiss you. I want to make you come. I need to know if you sound the same in my bed. And then I want to take you out for breakfast and buy whatever fancy coffee you want and as many pancakes as you can eat.”

You’ve been told that you wear your heart on your sleeve, but he has always worn his on his face. There’s no mistaking the open want on his face.

“Bradley, it’ll be different this time.” For so many reasons.

Because it’s not a favor being asked. It’s not some new experience being tried with the person you trust the most, with everything. You’d be on equal footing. It wouldn’t be a friend helping a friend, the two of you would be crossing that line between friends and more because you want each other in that way.

“I want it to be different, sweet girl,” he says, cupping your face in his familiar hand, “I’m ready for it to be different, if you are.”

He looks from your eyes down to your parted lips.

“We didn’t do that last time,” you whisper. Feeling brave, you reach out and run your fingers along the buttons of his shirt.

“No, we didn’t,” he agrees. His eyes are trained on his thumb as he skims it under your lip. “And that’s a damn shame.”

Bradley’s face is all you can see. Warm eyes, a still-straight nose, and a soft smile that is for you and you alone.

He dips down and your eyes flutter closed, your head tipping up on its own in anticipation.

His lips brush your cheek. It’s not enough.

You tug on his collar, but he chuckles and kisses your cheek again, lingering longer this time.

“I’m not kissing you for the first time around the corner from a bathroom,” he rasps.

You open your eyes and see the amusement in his. He always did like teasing you.

“Oh, where do you plan on doing it then?”

“Outside your front door, like a gentleman,” he says, like it’s obvious.

You can’t help but grin because Bradley Bradshaw can’t wait the extra 10 minutes it would take to drive to his place instead of yours. He wants that kiss just as badly as you do. You watch as a matching smile to yours blooms across his face.

It feels normal to slide your fingers between his much larger ones. It feels right as you lead the way out of the Hard Deck with him only a step behind you.

As it turns out, he only makes it as far as the Bronco before he’s spinning you back towards him and pressing you against it. His hands are on your hips and yours are wrapped around his neck as he kisses you for the very first time.

Bradley kisses you like a man who knows what he wants. And what he wants is you.

It’s not tentative in the way that first kisses usually are.

He kisses you like he knows you.

Because he does.

Later, when he closes the door to the Bronco for you, it feels like the end of one thing. But as he slips his fingers into yours when he backs out of the parking space it feels like the beginning of something new.

That night tangled in Bradley’s sheets- he’d kissed you at every light which made those extra 10 minutes it took to get to his home worth it- he makes your back arch and your toes curl as he makes you come with his fingers and mouth and tongue and cock. His lips dropping kiss after kiss on every part of you that he can reach. Because he can, because you want him and he wants you. 

The way he touches you tells you that he remembers it all.

He was you first, but what you wouldn’t learn until later, is that he would also be your last.

And he’d be the only man to ever have your entire heart.

Happy Birthday Jordan! An AU just for you! 💖 I adore you and I hope this year is the best one yet!

A big thank you to @callsignspark and @ofstoriesandstardust for their help and beta reading and their woogirling! I appreciate you two so much!

Author's Note: this was a "what-if" AU set in the 'Like I Can' universe! If you want to read about what really happens you can read it here!

You can read more of my stories here!

Taglist:

@gretagerwigsmuse @sehnsuchts-trunken  @callsignspark @notroosterbradshaw @tongue-like-a-razor @laracrofted @ofstoriesandstardust @bradshawsbitch @starryeyedstories @top-hhun-main @startrekfangirl2233 @callsign-viper @teacupsandtopgun @angelbabyange @oneelleandaneye @mizzzpink @cornishkat @alana4610 @20th-centu-fairy-girl @pono-pura-vida @donttouchmycarrots @eg-dr3amer3 @whaledots-blog @a-beaverhausen @hangmanscoming @mandolin22 @theweekndhistorybook @lilpeekabooze @high-bi-imgonnacry @ahintofkiwistrawberry @ruewrote @spiderman-stilinski @jayniebop @my-soulmate-is-mycroft @imaginecrushes @keyrani @chicomonks @artemissunn @mayempress @eddiemunsonreader

[simpforrooster]

howdy, darlin'

Jake 'Hangman' Seresin x F!Reader

Reader and Jake find themselves sharing a hotel room for Phoenix's wedding.

A/N: ah yes my friends. a slight enemies to lovers with a one bed/room trope. this one is def going to have a part 2.

"You can't be serious." You couldn't have heard the clerk correctly. You called and booked weeks ago. No. Months ago. As soon as Phoenix told you the wedding date. There is no way they don't have you booked.

"Jake Seresin. Check again." You hear to your right. Dread washes through you. Ugh. The gorgeous blonde you love to trade insults with.

"Sir, I don't have you on the books. We do have one queen room left, you are welcome to it."

Jake rolls his eyes, and before he can reply, you look at your clerk. "I need that room."

Jake turns towards you and gives you one of those cocky smirks. "Well, howdy, darlin'. Didn't expect to see you here."

"Save it, Bagman. I'm her best friend. Of course I'm here." You turn your attention to the clerk. "Gimme that room."

Jake's eyes go wide, and he faces back to the lady helping him, who absolutely seems to be under his spell.

"Well, I do believe I was here first. What say you give me that room." Jake leans his chin on his hand, giving the girl a heart stopping smile. It takes everything in you not to make a comment.

The clerks exchange a glance, neither wanting to touch this with a ten-foot-pole. They don't even know the two of you, and even they can tell you can't stand one another.

"Let's flip for it," Jake suggests, turning back towards you.

"Can't you just stay with the bridesmaid you're going to end up taking home after the rehearsal?"

Jake smirks. "You're the only single one." This gets an eyeroll out of you.

"Let's just share it, we're both adults. We need a place to stay, before they give the room to someone else."

"I'll need a credit card, ma'am," your clerk says.

"Pay the man," you tell Jake. Jakes gives you a long onceover, but he doesn't put up a fight. He pulls out his credit card and lays it on the counter.

"You owe me, Darlin'," he murmurs, giving you a wink, and for the first time, that wink sends your stomach aflutter.

***

"One bed?!" you screech after the two of you finally get up to the room.

"Did you not hear her say 'queen room'?" Jake rolls his eyes. "Did you expect a room fit for The Queen? Obviously, I am sleeping on the floor."

You shake your head. "You paid for the room, I'll sleep on the floor."

"You're insulting my southern hospitality. Trust me, my mama raised a gentleman, for the most part." He smirks and throws in a wink. "Sleep in the fucking bed, please."

Knowing the argument was over, you toss your suitcase onto the bed. As you unpack the weekend's dresses to hang in the closet, you feel Jake's eyes on you. A blush falls across your cheeks. How in the world are you going to handle being in this small room with him. Especially with him looking at you like this. He's never given you this look before.

"Why don't you like me?" Jake asks, pulling you from your thoughts. He's reclined back in the one lone chair in the room. His arms rest on his stomach, fingers interlaced. His eyes trail up and down your body again. A small smirk sits on his face. "Come on, it's obvious."

"I don't not like you, Hangman. I don't want to get caught up in your world, is all."

He leans forward, elbows on his knees. "What do you mean my world? Military guys don't do it for you?"

"I couldn't care less about you being in the military. My dad is and he and my mother have a great relationship. I'm talking about your cycle of girls."

Hurt flashes across his face. "Well, consider yourself lucky then. You're not my type anyway." Jake doesn't say anything more, and heads into the restroom. The shower turns on a few seconds later.

It's your turn to feel hurt. Of course you're his type. You're breathing.

***

"Jake has been mean mugging every guy who's wanted to talk to you tonight," Phoenix tells you. The formalities of the rehearsal were over, and y'all were onto the drinking portion of the night, in the hotel bar.

You immediately filled your friend in on everything as soon as you saw her. Phoenix has always maintained that Jake has the biggest crush on you.

"He's probably thrilled to have you all to himself," she adds.

"Don't you have a fiancé you could go talk to you?" you lightly push her shoulder, eliciting a laugh from her.

"I do, and I am trying to work on getting you one. Come on, I'm telling you, Seresin is in love with you."

"Bob!!" you call out, causing a few people to look over at the two of you. "I need you to come get your fiancé, please!"

Bob comes over after finishing his conversation with Maverick, grinning as he takes in his fiancé. She does look beautiful in her short white dress, having decided on the one with the big bow on the back. She mentioned wanting something "girly" since Bob sees her in her flight suit 99% of the time.

"I can't believe you're going to be Mrs. Floyd tomorrow," he tells her, pulling her back against his chest, placing kisses all over her face. "She trying to play matchmaker again with Mr. Seresin?"

You nod. "Always."

Bob takes Phoenix off, and your heart longs for what they have. It's not that you're dying to get married, or anything. That can wait. You just want a Bob. A partner in crime. A constant. Someone who knows your Starbucks order, and can quote your favorite movie with you.

You know that man isn't a Hangman. He isn't the relationship type. He's the one you have fun with. The one you bring home to piss off your parents. Which is why most of what comes from your mouth is abrasive when it comes to him.

"Come dance with me," a gruff voice says into your ear. Jake's hand finds its way into yours, and he pulls you out onto the makeshift dance floor in the bar.

Jake expertly pushes you across the dance floor, and the alcohol has finally made it's way into your head, causing you to feel a little lighter.

"I didn't think I was your type," you quip. "That really hurt my feelings, you know." You don't mean for that to slip out.

He is quick with his response. "Well you hurt mine, so we're even."

The two of you sway to an old love song, neither of you speaking. Jake keeps his green eyes on yours, and the intensity of his stare almost knocks you off your feet.

"I bet Phoenix is loving this, she thinks you like me," you giggle. Uh oh. A giggle and you're spilling secrets. You've got to get out of here and back up to your room.

Where Jake will follow you back to. Because of the shared room.

Jake doesn't acknowledge what you said. "Rooster is going to let me bunk with him tonight. I wouldn't want to give anyone the wrong impression of you being caught up in my cycle of women."

Jake twirls you one more time, and leaves you alone on the floor.

What game is he playing??

masterlist.

[warnersister]

Personal Space

Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw x reader

Summary: you love your personal space. Unfortunately, Bradley also loves your personal space.

You never understood why Bradley stuck around. Since the academy you’d preferred to stick to yourself; get your head down and get the job done. Especially with a surname like Mitchell. You didn’t want your father and grandfather’s reputation to negatively proceed you, and by the time people had put two and two together as to whom loins you came from: you’d made your own reputation so Maverick never made much of a difference to it.

But still, having dinner in the mess you’d sat down, when someone came and thudded down next to you and began eating themselves. “I’m Bradley” he said when you finally looked up at him. You raised a brow “Bradshaw?” You ask and he nods: you recognise him from the photos your dad pinned up in your two’s hanger. You hum “and you are?” He asks “not important.” You reply, deciding you’d lost your appetite and stood to clear your plate “good talk!” Bradley said, but you were already walking away.

He’d next encountered you when you were running around the academy, early morning; before any naval training would take place. He hummed and decided it was perfectly acceptable to interrupt your jaunt with his presence. “Hey! Up so early?” He asks as he tries to match your pace from a standstill “could ask you the same.” You reply bluntly “well I wanted to get a run in before-” “well there’s your answer.” You reply, cutting him off. “You run really quick.” He says as you try to keep your pace increasing to shake him off “goodbye, Bradshaw.” You say, pulling your sunglasses over your eyes and taking off at a pace he couldn’t sustain. He just stops and shakes his head smiling, you were funny.

Eventually, you’d both gotten up in the air and were quick to earn your callsigns “Rooster” and “Hen”. Bradley earned his because he was up before the chickens, you’d earned yours because the chicken kept fucking following you around like you were his mother. You were sat on the aircraft carrier, your trainee group learning how to land on a ship deck and you’d finally gotten a moment of peace that evening. You sat on the edge of the deck, feet dangling over the edge as you watched the sunset, not moving when you hear someone slip into the space between the barriers beside you.

“Oh look my chick is back.” You mumble sarcastically and Bradley laughs loudly at you. “You love me really” he says, looking at you as if he wanted to you agree with him “you seem to keep telling yourself that, don’t you?” You hum, turning to watch the sea lap against the grey metal. You can feel him fidgeting beside you, as if antsy to say something. “What?” You ask, finally turning to look at him. “What?” He repeats, looking at you with raised brows “you want to ask me something. You’re fidgeting.” You point out “so ask me or fuck off” you say, turning away again. “Your last name is Mitchell” he says and you roll your eyes “you can read and hear. Two things I’ve learnt today.” You huff, again, with sarcasm. “Are you related to Pete Mitchell?” He asks, looking at you and nearly holding his breath “you finally put two and two together?” You ask and he lets out the breath.

“Yeah, he’s my dad.” You say after a while “I was a whoopsie baby my mother didn’t want anything to do with” you tell him. “He used to fly with my dad.” Bradley almost whispers, voice just a few octaves above. “I know” you nod “he’s practically wallpapered all over our hanger.” You say “so are you” you eye him. “He pulled my papers” he says, again after a few moments of silence “I know” you say “do you know why?” He asks “yes.” You reply, and he could tell you weren’t going to elaborate. “Y’know I’m not a fan of your dad, but I really like you.” He says and you just look at him with a blank face. “Yup” you hum to yourself and he raises a brow “just as Mother Goose was described” you say, and Bradley’s face immediately lights up with a huge grin, stretching and arm around you and pulling you into his side.

“Get off me.” “Yup, yep, sorry.”

For your first deployment, the academy set it up that you’d at least be with one person from your training squadron, and today the list of names were coming out; they were scribbled on the back of a napkin and pinned to a notice board.

“1. Haywood & Solomons, 2. Hughes & Shelley & Omaha, 3. Cooper & Parker & Cromwell & Smith, 4. Bradshaw,” you crossed your fingers as someone read out the names, then yours was read alongside Bradley’s “oh for god’s sake” you grumble, turning to see Bradley practically jumping for joy. “This is great! Me and you, Hen!” Rooster cheers and you just stare at him “should’ve called you leech cause you’re acting like one. Calm down.” You instruct and he tries to chill out, but the cheeky smile on his face was indiminishagble.

He only became more unbearable then, with you every working hour, your wingman on the missions you’d fly, inseparable despite your complaints. “Where’s your boyfriend?” Hawk asked you, as he came to sit with you for lunch. You shush him loudly. “Woah woah I only asked where he was.” “Speak his name and he shows up. I’m trying to hide.” you say in a hushed voice “plus he isn’t my boyfriend” “sure” he scoffs but the daggers being shot into his head silenced him easily.

“Hey Hen! Hawk” Bradley greets as he sits down. You grunt and point an accusatory finger at Hawk “this is your fault, jackass” you say and he laughs at you, him and Bradley engage in conversation as you just eat, having learnt the skill of drowning him out. “What about you, Hen?” Hawk asked, drawing your attention away from your plate and up to the two men alongside you, you raise an eyebrow - letting them know you were insinuating that you weren’t listening to their conversation.

“Do you want a family?” He ask and you just nod “really?” Hawk asks “that’s cute, didn’t take you for a family gal” he jokes and you harshly kick his leg under the table “kids and everything?” He asks after the pain subsides. “Yup.” You say and Bradley hums “I didn’t know that” he says and you just look at him “you never asked.” You reply simply, and that was true: he hadn’t. He was quite prepared to spend the rest of existence chasing after you, whether that meant giving you your first kiss on your deathbeds.

The two of you even went to Top Gun together, training to be the finest naval aviators of them all. And boy, you two fought to be the best; tongue and teeth, blood sweat and tears, everything. The decision came down to one final dogfight. “May the best aviator win” Rooster jokes, sticking out a hand to you. You eye it and internally question if you were insane, before leaning up to peck his cheek. “Prepare to loose, chicken.” You say, leaving him frozen in his place while you head to your plane. That day, Bradley was seriously off his A-game, and you came out on top.

A Mitchell finally Top Gun.

“Congratulations!” Bradley says excitedly on graduation day when you victoriously lifted the trophy above your head. You turned to him and he leant down slightly - you weren’t stupid, you knew what he was intending to do. “Thank you, Brad.” You say, turning to walk over to where your father was stood - knowing that was probably the only time Bradley wouldn’t follow you. That was the first time you’d ever called him anything short of Bradley Bradshaw.

“I’m so proud of you honey” your dad says, hugging you tightly and you embrace him back, smiling widely “thank you, dad” you respond and he looks behind you where Bradley was stood a while back, watching the ordeal. “Is that-” “yes” you tell him and your dad just looks at you “I wouldn’t get all teary he follows me like a lost puppy” you grumble but he just grins “he’s a good kid, hon.” He says and you shake your head “he’s definitely something”

“So how does their relationship work?” Bob asks Hangman, watching Bradley talk your ear off and you just staring ahead into space, blankly. “You see Bobby my boy,” Jake begins “Hen loves her personal space” Bob nods “Rooster also loves Hen’s personal space.” Bob nods again, now understanding. “Haven’t they done everything together though?” He asks “I think it’s more the fact that Hen does something and Rooster just kinda goes with it” Phoenix said and Bob hums, as Bradley continues to converse one-sidedly with you.

“He means well” you hear from beside you as you stare out from the hanger, turning to see your honorary uncle Tom walking towards you, you run towards him as he embraces you tightly “hey Ice” you smile, sweetly. “Hey sweetheart” he croaks. “I mean what I said.” He states and you raise a brow “he means well” he nods towards the man doing his required push ups on the ground with Hondo. “I know, Ice.” You tell him. “No, I don’t think you do” he hums and you raise your eyebrows at him. “The kids in love with you. You’ve either got to let him in or tell him to get out.” He says, “you’re living together for goodness sake”. “It was cheaper” you argue “we both know the accommodation is subsidised.” He states, matter-of-factly, patting your shoulder as he turns to go talk to your dad when he walks into the room.

It was true, you and Bradley were sharing accommodation. “Hey Hen, they’ve offered us shared accommodation back in Miramar” Bradley says, coming over with a pamphlet. “Why?” You ask, taking it out of his hands. ‘Married couple accommodation’ it states and you raise your brows “you getting ahead of yourself, Bradshaw?” You ask and he shakes his head “the guy assumed our callsigns were cause we’re a couple” he tells you and you just hum. “Well I’d rather stay there than in an apartment.” You say simply, giving him back the leaflet and refocusing on the plane you were working on repairing. “Seriously?” He asks, voice overly hopeful. You look at him and shrug “just go get the damn house, Bradshaw. Before I change my mind!” You say and he grins, turning and breaking out into almost a jog to head to confirm your living situation.

You take a moment of hesitation, before loudly groaning and heading out onto the tarmac, getting down and doing push ups alongside Rooster. He turns his head and looks at you and you just raise your brows at him. “Hey honey” he grins “hello Bradley” he nudges your hip with his own. “I’ll drive us home.” You tell him, and he raises his eyebrows “Home?” He asks and you huff “okay, Bradley I will drive the two of us back to our shared accommodation that we accidentally got given.” You say and he laughs loudly “home sounded better.”

Then after the mission, the whole Dagger squad got permanently stationed in San Diego, other than deployment, so they urged the new additions to the base to buy their own properties closer to base rather than on it. You and Bradley were sat in the Hard Deck, a long time before it was open, the rest of the Daggers spending time on the beach while the two of you were scouring Bradley’s laptop for a property. Well, Bradley was.

How about this one? He turns his screen to you. You shake your head “I want grass in the garden. I want to plant flowers” you say as you point at the paved back of the house, explaining that it’s a waste of money to have it ripped out. Bradley nods “Mkay, garden” he says, moving back to look again.

“How about this one? Beach front, close to the running track for you. Only a walk from the Hard Deck. White picket fence, really” he hums, turning the laptop again “garden?” You ask and he nods “garden.” He nods with a grin. “Shall we go look?” You ask and he raises a brow at you. “You said it’s a walk from the hard deck. Let’s go.” You say, putting the address into your phone and immediately recognising the street name, Bradley quickly falling into step with you as you walk towards the property.

You look at it and place your hands on your hips. Bradley was right. Pretty damn perfect. “Can I help you?” A lady asks, walking outside of the house, clipboard in hand. “Oh no, we’d just seen this property online and wanted to take a look.” Bradley tells her. “Well I’ve had a no-show on a viewing. How’d you like to take a look?” She suggests, motioning to the open door. “Okay” you nod, following her into the house.

“Obviously the kitchen, living room, even a deck out back with a huge garden and high fences” she says nodding out the window and you hum. “Out the side there’s an entrance straight to the beach” she motions, then starts heading up the stairs “three bedrooms, attic space, bathroom” she says “I’m guessing it’s just you two at the moment?” She asks “oh we’re not-” Bradley begins “yes, just us.” You confirm, shutting him up. “Okay, so there’s a large room for your bed and then if any new additions are to join, you have the space for them” she smiles and leads you back out front.

“It’s not cheap, it’s California. So I understand if you’re not prepared to pay that much money, do you mind me asking what you do?” She asks “we’re naval aviators.” Bradley says “stationed here?” She asks and you both nod “ah! I get why you’re looking for a property here!” She says and Bradley looks at you. “I really like it, Roo.” You say, and Bradley has to stop his jaw hitting the floor at your nickname. “It’s your call, honey” he says and you look at the lady and smile as she offers her hand “we’ll take it.”

“How shall we split the payment?” You ask Bradley as you walk back to the Hard Deck after organising a meeting with the realtor to actually finalise all the kinks and bumps. “I don’t mind doing the down payment then we’ll take it in turn paying the loan” he suggests “we can get a joint bank account and do it that way” you say and he agrees as you settle back into your seats at the Hard Deck. “Where’ve you two been?” Hangman asks “we bought a house.”

One evening, after you were all moved in and were hanging out at the Hard Deck after a long day or routine flying, you were sat outside with Rooster; watching the sunset. “When are we getting married then?” You ask and he spits out his beer “what?” He asks, eyes wide and getting progressively more giddy. “Well we live together, we have a joint bank account, and Jake keeps telling me we’re practically married. So when are we getting married?” You ask as he hugs you tightly “whenever you want, baby” he says, kissing the top of your head and pulling a ring out of his pocket to get on his knee. “Will you marry me?” He asks and you raise a brow “didn’t I just say that?” You ask bluntly “just say yes, please” he begs and you nod “yes. Yes I will marry you, Bradley Bradshaw.” You confirm as he kisses your lips gently.

“Okay get off of me now.”

[senawashere]

Carolina?

Summary: Who is Carolina? Is she the other woman? And why Bradley is talking about her in his sleep?

A/n: I wrote this like 2 or 3 years ago for another character and i wanted to post again🤭

Warnings: tooth rutting fluff actually. Maybe a bit angst. And a bit smutt at the end. Hehehehe.

Bradley always talked in his sleep,most of life. So you were ok with it. But one night,everything chances.

You slowly wake up to a chill in the air, realizing that Bradley has closed most of the windows once again, as usual.

The room is dark, and the digital clock on your nightstand shows 4:28; you've only been asleep for four hours.

As you turn to the side, you see Bradley curled up in the blankets, lying on his side with his back turned to you. You approach him, pulling the blanket closer for warmth, and snuggle up to your husband, wrapping your arm around his abdomen. You drift back to sleep with you melting in his embrace, emitting a low, soft purr from his curled lips.

He feels so warm and resilient against you that you bury your face into his back, inhaling his scent, placing a few kisses on his shoulder blades before laying your head on the pillow. You hear Bradley's gentle murmurs as he returns to his dreams. When you open your eyes, you lift your head slightly, leaning towards him in hopes of understanding what he's saying, but his words are jumbled.

"Brad?" you whisper, wondering if he's about to wake up.

"Baby..." he murmurs, and then you hear something inconsistent.

"I'm here," you say softly, kissing his shoulder. He usually calls you "baby," so you assume he's talking to you.

"Baby... My baby..." he repeats, and as you smile at the thought of him dreaming about you, everything shatters with a single word.

"Carolina... Carolina, baby… my…girl"

Wait a second, who is Carolina?

It wakes you up faster than an alarm. As you sit up, looking at your still-sleeping husband, talking about someone named Carolina in his dreams, you're left puzzled. You don't know anyone by that name, so she must be someone Bradley knows, and that's concerning.

"Carolina... beautiful..." the words spill from his lips, almost inaudible but piercing your ears like a punch to the chest.

Lately, he's been so confused, but you haven't thought much about it, attributing it to all the work he put into his job and getting promoted. However, now you see it in a different light.

And yes you know his mother’s name is Carol but the problem is Carol and Carolina are not the same.

Or are they? No probably not.

Could Bradley be spending time with another woman? The thought of him cheating on you didn't cross your mind. Everything seemed so perfect; you were planning the moving somewhere else next summer, and he didn't seem regretful of his decision to marry you.

But then who is Carolina? And if she invaded his dreams, how important could she be? More important than you? It made your stomatch flip.

Afterward, you struggled to sleep, tossing and turning in bed for hours.

Bradley stops talking afterward, turning his face up, and while you lie awake next to him, going through every possible theory in your mind, he simply sleeps peacefully, unaware of your racing thoughts. As the sun begins to rise on the horizon, you're already out of bed, perched on a kitchen stool with your laptop, hoping to find a clue Bradley left behind as you delve into the history.

But what if he's really doing this? If he's cheating on you, he wouldn't be foolish enough to get caught like this. Right?

You make tea and reluctantly check his socials that he follows almost everyone he knows. You hate stalking your husband with the thought of him cheating on you but now you want to know if something strange is happening. Unfortunately, or fortunately, nothing suspicious comes up. Most of the accounts are from people who works with, either with people you know,his old friends, or his family members and some of his dads old friends.

No sign of another woman.

That’s good. Right?

Bradley wakes up to an empty bed. It's strange that you're not cuddling him or holding onto him like a koala bear. He blinks his swollen eyes a few times, adjusting to the low light, and straightens the other side of the bed where your body used to rest. Since the room isn't even that cold, he knows you've been up for a while.

Yawning and rubbing his eyes, he throws on a sweatshirt and slowly exits the room, sliding his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants. He notices you immediately, curled up on the edge of the couch, looking out of the window. Your forehead is creased, indicating something is bothering you.

"Hey, honey, the bed was cold without you," he murmurs, walking towards you with slow steps, sitting beside you on the couch near the window.

You look at him, your jaw clenched,on verge of tears and even though you didn't want to start like this, the truth about the morning overwhelms you.

"Who is Carolina?"

Confusion is evident on his face. It's not the kind of thing that someone doesn't know what or who is being talked about. Carolina is a real person, and Bradley knows exactly who she is.

"What's this about now?" he asks, leaning back, putting some distance between you two, his arm dropping over the back of the couch,confusion is clearly visible all over his face.

"Do you know anyone named Carolina?" you push, narrowing your eyes.

"I do... well, I mean... it's not what you think honey really..."

"You talk in your sleep, Bradley."

"What?" his eyes widen.

"You often murmur incoherently, but last night, you kept repeating the name Carolina, and... you even called her baby. You called her baby! You only call me baby. "

The revelation dawns on him as you watch, and he takes a slow breath, exhaling gently. This is going to be more complicated than you anticipated.

"I'm telling you, but promise not to think I've lost my mind, okay?"

"You're scaring me, Bradley," you breathe out. "Tell me. Please."

"Okay, okay," he says, inhaling deeply and then nodding slightly. "Do you remember... the day when we thought you might be pregnant, about like five months ago?"

"Of course, I remember," you nod,biting your lip.

Your period was late, and you had vomited in the morning. Bradley had taken a test, and you both sat on the cold tile floor of the bathroom, waiting for the results. It came back negative.

You felt relieved, but a part of you wondered how it would have been if you were pregnant. Something in your head told you it wouldn't have been a big deal, but the timing wasn't right because you two were just about to get married and it would have been nice to get married first before having a baby.

"A few days after that... I had a dream."

"A dream?" You furrow your brows, unsure where this is going.

"Yeah. It was about you and me, and... we had a baby. A little girl. It wasn't something crazy; you were breastfeeding her in our bed, and I was watching you, and then I was holding her, rocking her to sleep and she was sleeping in my arms... It felt real, and when I woke up... I felt like something was missing."

You listen to him carefully, your lower lip tense, and your heart pounding in your chest.

"Since then, I've been having similar dreams. At least twice a week. Always the same baby, always with you inside, but we do different things. Sometimes we bathe her,sometimes we play tickling,sometimes we walk in the park, and sometimes she sleeps in a stroller... Once my mom and dad were in it and one time I saw Mav and Penny too, God, it felt so real," he confesses with a shaky breath. "The last few times, we didn't even have her with us. We gave her a name."

"Carolina? Her name is Carolina?" you softly ask, pushing yourself closer to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

"Yes. She looks a lot like you, but her eyes are like mine. A perfect mix of both of us, and... I couldn't shake it off. Sometimes I wake up after a dream, and I feel like something has been taken away from us, it feels so real,I miss her even though I don't know her."

"Why didn't you tell me about these dreams, Baby?" you whisper, placing a small kiss on his shoulder.

"It felt super foolish, and I didn't know how it would make you feel. I knew we talked about trying for a baby after the wedding, and I thought bringing it up would upset you," he shrugs, planting a gentle kiss on your forehead.

As you sit on the couch, silence falls between you two, your head resting on his chest, his arms around you. This wasn't the outcome you expected. None of your theories came close to the truth Bradley just revealed.

"I was thinking about the same thing...for a while." you say.

"About what?"

"About having a baby. If the test had come back positive, how would it have been?"

"And...?" He leans back to look into your eyes.

"I wouldn't have aborted it," you admit honestly, and Bradley takes a slow breath, gently kissing your forehead. "Do you want to... start trying for a baby before we talk about,Bradley?"

"It can wait," he replies, looking as if he's afraid to say something that might upset you. "If we continue what we're doing, it's okay..."

"But I want to know what you want, Bradley. Tell me."

He takes a deep breath, running his tongue over his lips before speaking.

"I think I want it." The way your heart explodes at his words is undeniable. Realizing that he feels exactly the same way now brings tears to your eyes.

"It would probably mean a blow to the squad if we start now and succeed," you laugh, watching his eyes glimmer.

"That would be the best thing that ever happened," he chuckles, confessing, "just the thought of going on adventures while our baby grows under your heart... God, I could just cry just thinking about it."

"So," you grin, slyly teasing him as you hold his chin with one hand. "Carolina?"

"It could be something else if it's a boy."

"I like it," you murmur, nodding. "We can add it to the list. But before we start making lists, we should probably start trying for a baby, don't you think?"

He doesn't need more encouragement. As you both laugh and kiss, you find yourselves in your bedroom in an instant, clothes flying off as you fall onto the bed. Giving him a passionate kiss before he undresses you, you can't help but whisper, "I love you."

Ekkkk full of cuteness🥹🥹

I'm tagging people who might be interested:@ohtobeleah @sebsxphia @callsigns-haze @sailor-aviator @sorchathered @greenorangevioletgrass @teacupsandtopgun @roosterforme @floydsglasses @lyn-js @bradshawssugarbaby @torchflies @its-dee-lovely @its-the-pilot @friedchips94 @bradshawsbaby @hardballoonlove @perfectprettypisces @topguncortez @hangmanapologist @bradshawsbaddie @shanimallina87 @djs8891 @themusingofagothicsoul @the-romanian-is-bae @mamachasesmayhem @jessicab1991 @iefitzgerald-blog @charcole-grey @waterriseslew @desert-fern @promisingyounglady

[ohtobeleah]

Was It Over? // Jake Seresin

-> Series Masterlist

Summary: When Jake is tasked with taking his kids this festive season, he never though he’d get a call in the middle of the night that would change his life. Marriage is tougher than it seemed on paper—but whats harder than accepting your marriage is crumbling around you is watching you ex wife slowly fade away.

Warnings: Character Death. Sick!reader. Breast cancer diagnosis. Jake Seresin x F!reader. Angst, hospital & medical inaccuracies. SLOW BURN ROMANCE/ANGST. Inaccurate medical information. Relationship turmoil.

Author Note: Masterlist subject to change as series is still a work in progress. Descriptions, word counts and titles may vary.

-> Chapter One: [The Diagnosis] The last thing you ever expected was to be diagnosed with breast cancer. To make matters worse? You’d been separated from the love of your life for just shy of a year. How do you tell the love of your life you might be dying? It’s simple really— You don’t. (Out Now) 2.1

-> Chapter Two: [Chemo & Charisma] Jake arrives in Rhode Island to accompany his three kids back to Houston Texas the next morning. He expects it to be slightly awkward, but something he doesn’t expect is to be cryptically seduced by you—his ex wife. (Out Now) 4.6

-> Chapter Three: [V For Vendetta] When your stomach can’t handle the Chemo medication, you empty the content of your stomach. While doing so, you and Jake come to a crossroads about your relationship going forward. (Out Now) 4.5

-> Chapter Four: [Parental Guidance] Jakes Mother simply cannot understand what he saw in you, your mother simply cannot comprehend why you left Jake. (Out Now) 4.1

-> Chapter Five: [Why Do They Call It Love?] Jake spends time with his side of the family and your kiddos in Texas. The lies quickly come to an end though when an overworked and overwhelmed nursing student makes the wrong call to your not so emergent contact. (Out Now) 5k

-> Chapter Six: [Chaos & Conflict] As panic consumes Jake after finding out about your current medical condition, Jake calls your mother to fill in the gaps. Nurse Lydia escapes being taken to her supervisor and Jake lets lose on his mother who tries to stop him leaving. (Out Now) 4.4k

-> Chapter Seven [Faucet Failure] Jake makes his way back to you after finding out the truth. While under sedation to give your brain some rest, you remember the good times and the bad with your husband. (Out Now)4.6

-> Chapter Eight [Oh, Honeybee] Jake can’t accept why you’d keep such a life threatening situation a secret and you can’t accept why he suddenly seems to care. (Out Now) 4k

-> Chapter Nine [The Pomegranate Theory] Jakes still trying to wrap his head around what’s happening with your health. Doctor Ignatii oversteps? And you settle in while Jake helps you write some of your newest book. (Out Now) 4.3

-> Chapter Ten [The Potato Head Society & The Other Guy, Jarred?] Jake helps you shave your head in hopes of keeping your power and control. Facing your own mortality makes you question your faith in a higher authority and Jensen and Jake met for the first, and what you hope, will be the last time. (Out Now) 4.0k

-> Chapter Eleven [The Man] When Jensen and Jake butt heads over who’s what to you, it blows way out of proportion to an extent so high, that Jake lashes out. (Out Now) 5.6

[multifan2022]

Used to be yours

Masterlist

You were never part of Bradley's plan. The plan consisted of two things, getting into the Navy, and being a pilot. But the day he met you was the day his list grew, grew to include you, the constantly forgotten best friend of his most hated classmate. Jake Seresin. He would never forget his Tapout ceremony, because that's where his real story starts. 

You had known Jake your whole life so it wasn't really a surprise when he asked you to come to the ceremony. His father had also hated you for at least your entire friendship with his son. You, in his eyes, were nowhere near good enough to be associating with the Seresin Heir. It didn't matter that you had money of your own, sitting away in a trust fund. In Jacob Sr's eyes you were just the kid from town who's daddy had died in the line of duty. 

It didn't matter that said daddy had died while on call as a firefighter.. 

So when you were told to buy your own ticket, get your own hotel room and rental car you really weren't surprised. What did surprise you though was Jake barely even saying hi to you before he was introducing some girl to the rest of his family. The snarky smile she gave you and the little finger wave of condescension turned your stomach. The little life that Jake had unknowingly left there the night before not yet protesting, but the action caused your heart to squeeze in pain. Without having to speak, since no one was listening anyways, you walked away and to the bathroom. 

Your heart broke slightly when you came back and the entire Seresin family was nowhere to be seen. They had left, off to some fancy dinner without you. Jake had left.. without you.. suddenly the receipts for this trip flashed in your mind. The money for the ticket, room, the car you rented. The pretty black dress and shoes you bought to wear. All money wasted.. 

At least it was wasted until you turned around and noticed a group of high ranking Military men standing looking sadly at something. Side stepping a little you looked past them to see another man, still standing at attention, clearly waiting for no one but waiting all the same. You didn't know what took you over but suddenly you couldn't look away. Your feet moved towards him without thinking as you took him in. 

He was beautiful. Beautiful in a broken kind of way, the same way you always saw in yourself when you looked in the mirror. Scars on his neck and face came into view the closer you got. And when his brown eyes locked onto yours it was like the entire world faded. Like you could see yourself introducing this man to your friends, to your grandma. Taking him to your dad's grave without him laughing or being awkward like Jake did the one time you took him there. 

Bradley was shocked to see someone walking towards him. He wanted to turn and see who you were really looking for but he knew he was the only one left out on the field. He had seen Natasha pause wanting to turn around and tap him out. He could see her now from the corner of the field watching as this beautiful girl walked towards him. You stopped just in front of him and whispered a small hi. Clearly you were embarrassed, he was too. But when you asked in a voice much stronger if it was okay for you to tap him out he almost sagged in relief. When your hand came up to tap him on the shoulder tears filled his eyes. 

Without asking his arms wrapped around you, yours easily coming around to hold him just as tightly. For some reason seeing him left out on the field waiting for someone who couldn't show up made you understand him on a level that so many other people couldn't. You ask him to go to dinner with you and the two of you spent the entire night talking about your parents and his. Expressing how grateful you both were to have someone in your life for you, it was your grandma for him, his Uncle Maverick. Maverick was due back the next day meaning that when Bradley practically begged you to meet him you couldn't turn it down. 

The next morning when Bradley opened the door to the home he and Maverick were temporarily sharing, the wind was knocked out of his lungs. He had never been more sure than in that moment that his parents were truly looking out for him as his eyes took in the Hawaiian style dress sundress you were wearing. You mistook his awed look though, quickly explaining how your parents got married in Hawaii and how after your mother passed away your father took to wearing Hawaiian shirts to try and honor her memory. And how even after he passed away you tried to continue that tradition. 

Bradley stopped you with a soft smile even though inside he wanted to strangle whoever it was that made you feel so self-conscious about it. Gently he grabbed your hand and guided you up to his makeshift room pulling out a Hawaiian shirt that belonged to his dad and telling you a very similar story. It was the start of what would become a fairytale-like story. 

Three months later you were storming from Seresin family ranch and sprinting for your car. Positive pregnancy test fisted in your grip as Jacob's words replayed over and over in your mind. "No son of mine will be drug down by a bastard child." "You're just a sad little girl who's looking for a family" "He will never love you". After Jacob SR demanded he pay for an abortion you stormed out. His mother caught up to you on the porch, promising your child a trust fund and enough money to care for a baby for 18 years if you just swore to never tell Jake. 

You were suddenly thankful that your plane ticket was for the same day. Bradley was coming home the next day and Mav had asked you to pick him up from the docks. You were beyond excited to see him. Your love for Jake had faded every single day as you talked to Bradley. You were terrified to tell him though that there was a baby growing in you. One that was put there by someone who went out of his way to make Bradley's life harder. Someone who used the fact that Bradley's parents had passed away as a reason why he wasn't good enough to be a pilot. 

The next day your phone rang as this giant ship got closer and closer to the dock. Bradley had been staring at his phone for 10 minutes waiting to get enough service to call. He just wanted to know when the soonest he would be able to see you. He could hear the deep sadness and worry in your voice when you said you were waiting on the dock for him. He thought nothing could dampen the pure excitement he felt knowing that someone was waiting for him, especially someone he loved as much as he loves you. But he was proved wrong when he saw how puffy and red your eyes were. How your bottom lip quivered the closer he got. The only thought then was what he would do to make you feel better. 

And that's what he did for the last 10 years every decision Bradley Bradshaw has ever made has been made with the utmost care. When he adamantly wanted nothing more than to continue dating you. When he said he wanted to be there for the birth of your daughter. Another year later when he got out on one knee and asked you to become his wife. When two years later he begged you to let him adopt and make her officially a Bradshaw.  And potentially the biggest decision he's ever made to date, was made last week when Cyclone pulled all of the aviators and officially made them the dagger Squad. Everyone besides Maverick, Cyclone and Phoenix were shocked to hear the mustache man say that he needed to call and talk to his wife. The guys all sat around talking about how none of them had even known Bradshaw was married.  

Jake scoffed and rolled his eyes when Phoenix told him in a very hard voice that it wasn't any of his business. Jake never understood because no matter how hard he tried to reconcile and create a friendship with Rooster the man just constantly blew him off. It didn't matter how many times he apologized for bringing up his dad. Or for screaming nepotism when he found out that Bradley had grown up with Ice and Mav. Bradley held strong that he couldn't forgive some of the things the man had said. But Jake didn't know Bradley wouldn't forgive him for the words that he spoke to you. 

Bradley remembers the devastation on your face when you called Jake to tell him you were pregnant. It had taken Maverick and himself two months to talk you into it. And it was something Bradley hated remembering, hates that he had a hand in. Because he will never forget the look on your face when Jake told you he couldn't be friends with you anymore. That being friends with a young, single mother was bad for not only his family's reputation but his own. That he didn't want his higher up thinking he hung out with people who made bad choices. He hung up before you ever got the chance to tell him who the baby belonged to. 

Two months later an envelope arrived in the mail, inside were papers that broke your heart even more. Paperwork signed by Jake stating that he wanted nothing to do with any potential child. Bank account information as well as trust fund information for your daughter from his parents with a letter from his mother apologizing that they could have nothing to do with you or her. 

You never spoke to or of Hangman again, until your husband called and told you he had a possible permanent assignment. Told you the details and who would be there. You wanted to say no. Wanted to tell Bradley to come back to his previous team, back to the small home you had made for yourselves. But you could hear the underlying excitement in his voice. Could see the hope shining in his eyes even over Face-time. You knew being close to Mav and Ice would bring him joy. Being at TOPGUN made him feel closer to his father. Would give him an opportunity to become an instructor. You knew that you couldn't allow your past to destroy something beautiful in your future. Even if you knew that Rooster wouldn't complain a single time if you said you couldn't do it. But for him… you could do anything. 

Even at that something was seeing Hangman. And yes that was what you were going to call him because the person you remembered as Jake was the first person you had ever fallen in love with, a boy from your childhood who would do anything and everything to make you smile. Hangman was the guy who left you at his Tapout ceremony. The guy who left when he found out you were pregnant. The guy who had hung you out to dry and never looked back. While you were ridiculously grateful that he had saved your husband and surrogate father in law, you couldn't forgive him for everything else. 

That's why now Bradley was standing on the tarmac nervous as hell. Because he hadn't seen you or his daughter in months and of course Hangman had to be here with the group. Claiming he wanted to see everyone's happy reunions. Bradley had sent you a text stating that the blond was here, he just hoped you would see it before you got off the plane. As he watched the tires bounce on the ground he got a text. 

BeautifulGirl: Hen wants Mav to catch her off the stairs like always. Catch me BradBrad? 

BradBrad: Always Beautiful. Be the last off for me. ❤️

He leaned over and showed the text messages to Maverick who chuckled and shook his head even though deep down he absolutely loved having a tradition with his granddaughter. So together they stood and waited watching as Phoenix's girlfriend came rushing down the stairs screaming for her. As Bob's little sister brought over his dog, and as Payback reunited with his two daughters and wife before moving forward. 

Bradley turned back looking at the group, happy to find that Coyote and Hangman were being introduced to Payback's wife so they were too busy to watch. As soon as they reached the bottom of the plane stairs a beautiful little blonde girl with sea-foam green eyes threw herself off the second to last step and into the arms of her Grandpa, both of them laughing. Pete gently stepped out of the way so that you could throw your arms and legs around your husband pressing your lips together all in pretty much one movement.  He wrapped one arm under your butt, holding you too him while the other wrapped around your neck. It was a feeling neither of you would ever get used to or tired of. 

Being together, touching each other in any way was addictive. The two if you were always touching. Whether it was holding hands or Bradley's hand resting on your back or you sitting on his lap, you were always touching when you were together. Next to you you guys could hear Mav and Henley giggling. Bradley smiled whispering to you "I'm chop liver to her when Poppas here" you nodded brushing your fingers down his cheek. Mavs voice broke the little bubble around the two of you. "How about we go get some lunch and ice cream then my little Henny can stay the night." 

Hangman watched from the other side of the tarmac as Rooster and Maverick each carried someone away from the plane and towards Bradley's Bronco. There was something in the back of his mind and in his heart screaming to get a closer look. To know who this little girl was in Mavericks arms. To just see the face of the woman that was so tightly held against Bradley. But as he went to take a step forward Phoenix laid a hand on his chest and gave him a hard look while shaking her head. When he looked back up the little family was already loading into the Bronco. 

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PART 2