Caitie

“You know, I’ve got to give it you. You managed to get my attention without disrupting my friends and I,” you told him, taking a seat next to him.

“Well, you didn’t look like you wanted to be interrupted,” Jake said easily, swirling the whiskey around in the glass. He kept his tone light, even though he was buzzing underneath his skin. Jake couldn’t really put a finger on what exactly it was about you that made him so nervous. But you did. 

And it was different than talking to the people Jake just wanted to take home. He didn’t just want to take you home. He wanted to take you home and keep you there. Which kind of made him sound insane since he just met you like five minutes ago.

“Good call. It definitely makes you more likable already.” You leaned your elbow on the counter turning to your side to look at him, drinking him in. When you told him your name, he was sure it burned into his brain, never to be forgotten. 

“Jake Seresin.”

“So, Jake. What’s someone like you doing drinking by yourself?”

“I was feeling restless at home, so I thought I’d come out here for a drink. Friends were all busy so I came alone. You’re welcome to join me, though,” Jake suggested and you only smiled, as if you knew something he didn’t. Sliding a piece of paper to him, you pushed your chair back, leaving Jake puzzled. 

“I am busy tonight. But you can give me a call, if you're lucky I am free.”

With that, you joined your girlfriends, who were standing by the door, clearly laughing at him. Jake guffawed at first, staring at your number on the counter and back to you. Winking, you exited the bar and Jake only huffed out a laugh. 

Well, apparently he wasn’t taking anyone home. At least not tonight. You really got him good.

///

After Jake called you, not even 24 hours after you first met, you had your first date at a nice restaurant he picked. One date quickly turned into two, three, seven? Jake wasn’t sure. He stopped counting by the time you had turned up on his doorstep with a pizza on a random Monday evening. And it’s been nice. Really nice even. He couldn’t remember the last time he enjoyed another person’s company so much. Right now, you were standing in his kitchen, trying to figure out dinner. 

“Can you help me chop up the veggies? If you have a second cutting board,” you said, halving the cherry tomatoes. Jake complied, pulling another cutting board out of the cupboard, taking the leafy greens - bok choy he presumed - out of the water. With narrowed eyes, he reached for the knife, his eyes never leaving the cherry tomatoes.

“What’s your problem now?” you asked with a sigh, dropping the tomato, the knife still in your hand as you looked up at him, clearly exasperated. 

“... I don’t like tomatoes.”

“My god Jake, don’t be such a baby.” You rolled your eyes at the minor inconvenience, but Jake made a sound that suspiciously sounded like a whine. Your head was turned away but he could tell you were laughing by the way your body was shaking. 

“You didn’t seem to mind them on your pizza.”

“That’s different,” Jake argued, cutting the butt off of the bok choy. “That’s marinara sauce. Not tomatoes.”

“Is it a texture thing or a taste thing?” you wanted to know, pouring the halved cherry tomatoes in the bowl, checking on the shrimps in the stock. 

“It’s a tomato thing,” he sniffed and you muttered under your breath. Jake was sure it was profanities. 

“I’m not going to leave it out of the soup, but I won’t put that many in your bowl, okay? Will you at least try it?”

You had put the wooden spoon down, hands wrapped around his bicep and with the way you were looking at him, Jake was sure he’d do anything you would ask him too. 

“Fine,” he grumbled, begrudgingly, his frown only disappearing slightly when you kissed his cheek, returning your attention to the stove. He watched as you put the finishing touches on dinner, only grimacing slightly as the tomatoes were added. 

As you plated the bowls, Jake ripped open the package of chopsticks you brought, guessing correctly that he did not have them in his drawer, setting the table as well as he could. You brought the two steaming bowls to the table and sat down, looking at him. 

“Go on, try it.”

Jake somewhat clumsily picked up the noodles with the chopsticks, draping them on the spoon before adding a tomato, with a pointed look in your direction, before putting it in his mouth, humming in surprise. 

“The tomato is actually not that bad,” he admitted and you danced  in your chair in victory. 

“Told you so,” you gushed, digging into your own bowl. The two of you spent the next couple of minutes in silence, with the occasional slurp by Jake, not having mastered eating with chopsticks quite just yet. 

“You know when you offered to cook dinner, I was expecting something like chicken alfredo or some steak and gravy, not shrimp tom yum,” Jake said in between bites and you chuckled, placing your chopsticks on the bowl. 

“There’s nothing wrong with pasta or steak. I love that, but if you have it for lunch and dinner every day, you quickly get tired of it, trust me. When my best friend and I used to live together, I was the one cooking for like 90% of the time because Brad is a disaster in the kitchen.”

Jake paused, the name sounding somewhat familiar, but it quickly moved to the back of his head as your story progressed.

“I got tired of pasta, so I just started looking for more recipes, branching out a bit. And it’s definitely come in handy, I never have to wonder what I should cook for dinner,” you said with a shrug of your shoulders. 

“That probably takes a lot of stress off your shoulders. I mostly eat on b- work. I eat at work,” Jake corrected himself quickly and you narrowed your eyes at him. “So I don’t really cook that often.”

You opened your mouth to say something, but apparently decided against it when you closed it again, finishing your dinner. After the two of you were done, you left Jake to do the dishes, not even fighting him on it as he offered to do it, instead making yourself comfortable on the couch. 

When Jake was done, he walked to the living room, pausing in the doorway as he wiped his hands off, watching you tapping on your phone. “You know, “ he started, kneeling on the couch, “other people would fight me to do the dishes.”

“I made dinner,” you pointed out, looking at him with raised brows. “Quid pro quo.”

“I was kidding, I would’ve cooked for you if you had let me,” Jake needled, trailing his hands up your leg and you only watched, amused. 

“Anything I can help you with, mister?”

“I was just wondering if you had planned anything for dessert…” Jake hummed, his fingers hooking into the waistband of your shorts, the other hand ghosting over the buttons. “Otherwise I have some ideas.”

“Oh yeah?” you asked, your eyes dark, and Jake could tell that you were getting antsy. “What’s on the menu?”

“You.”

Jake scooped you up, throwing you over his shoulder, having you squeal, as he carried you into his bedroom, throwing you on the bed, not very gentleman-like. 

You didn’t seem to mind. 

As with everything Jake did, he didn’t waste any time, flicking the buttons of your pants open before he pulled them down swiftly, leaving you in your underwear. You propped yourself up on your elbows, and Jake looked up at you with a smirk before he literally buried his face in your pussy. 

Using his hands to lift your thighs, Jake took his sweet time licking in between your folds and hearing you gasp was music to his ears. Pushing closer against you, he hitched one of your legs over his shoulder, plunging his tongue into you. 

“Oh god, Jake!”

Your hands had found their way into his hair, tugging, not quite so hard that it was painful, but enough that it made him fuck you with his tongue even harder. The way you moaned over him drove him crazy and he grunted into you. His cock was uncomfortably straining against his jeans, but he was determined to make you come first, so he kept swirling his tongue against the bundle of your nerves until you were shaking. 

“I’m close,” you writhed out and Jake detected a hint of surprise in your voice. He was tempted to ask about it, to tease, but at this point it would be kind of mean and he was pretty sure he’d regret it, so he filed it away for later. 

Applying a bit more pressure, while holding the same rhythm, Jake swirled his tongue around you, lifting his eyes just at the right moment when you fell apart, your whole body shaking as you did. 

Satisfied, Jake pulled away from you, biting his lower lip with his teeth, a shit-eating grin on his face after having made you come like that. Your chest was heaving as you recovered from your orgasm, eyes shut. 

“I was that good, huh?”

“Shut up,” you muttered with a huff, dragging him up next to you so you could kiss him, while your hands were steadfastly busy with undoing his belt. Jake’s mouth was still glistening with you, but you didn’t seem to mind, as you eagerly kissed him. When you finally undid his pants, you wasted no time, immediately wrapping your hands around his cock and Jake moaned into your mouth, while you lazily jerked him off, hand slick from his pre-cum. 

“‘m gonna ride you,” you mumbled against his lips, and he merely grunted in agreement, his hand reaching for your shirt, before he pulled it off over your head, tossing it somewhere on the floor. Throwing your leg over his waist, you straddled him, his cock just barely touching your ass. Jake reached up to unclasp your bra, sliding it off your arms and you pulled on his shirt impatiently. 

With a laugh, despite his rock-hard cock, Jake took off his shirt and you immediately put your hands all over him, groaning. 

“God, you’re literally sex on legs.”

“You know I really ought to eat your pussy more often if it gets you like this,” Jake grinned and you huffed, fingers brushing over his abs. 

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Jake.”

Leaning your hands on his chest, you bent down to kiss him, while one hand reached down to guide his cock against your entrance and Jake’s eyes fluttered shut in pleasure when he was engulfed by your warm walls. 

“Oh fuck me…” you sighed, throwing your head head, adjusting to his length and Jake’s eyes fluttered open, smiling lazily at you. 

“That’s the plan, if you’d start moving,” Jake said with a slap on your side and you glared at him, before you started to move, your eyes rolling to the back of the head. He’d never get tired of this sight, watching you fuck yourself on his cock with so much pleasure. Grunting when your nails started digging into his abs, he reached up to cup your breast, his mouth salivating. You laid your hand over his and squeezed; when your eyes fluttered open, staring directly at him, he nearly came then and there. 

“Jesus fuck, you’re killing me,” Jake choked out, dragging you off his cock. Before you could start complaining, however, he already had you on your back, lining up against you, and plunging in, making you moan. 

The sounds that filled his bedroom were obscene and he’d feel guilty for his neighbors, if he actually cared. You wrapped your arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss, as he pounded into you, which apparently wasn’t enough for you, judging by your legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him in deeper. 

“Harder,” you moaned against his mouth and he’d roll his eyes if he wasn’t enjoying himself so much. Of course he obliged. Your moans turned into cries of pleasure and Jake leaned his head on your shoulder as he thrusted into you, biting at your neck. 

“Are you going to come for me, hm?” He whispered against your skin, the sound of his cock driving in and out of you, constant. “You going to come all over my cock?”

“Yesyesyesyes,” you whined, your back arching when the second orgasm hit you, your entire body shaking. 

Jake followed quickly after, spilling his cum inside of you with your name on his lips. Carefully pulling out, he rolled to the side, as the two of you caught your breath. He pressed a soft kiss to your side, before he reluctantly stood up, knowing he’d needed to clean up, grabbing a towel from the bathroom. Kneeling in between your legs, he carefully wiped you off, making you hiss. 

“Sensitive!” 

“Sorry,” Jake said, not feeling sorry at all, wiping himself off as well before tossing the towel in the hamper, curling around you. A comfortable silence fell over you as Jake drew circles into your skin. 

“So…” Jake started, drawling a bit. “You sounded a bit… Surprised when you came the first time.”

Jake could literally see you rolling your eyes, even though you had your back to him. 

“No one has ever made me come with their tongue before,” you then said and Jake inhaled sharply, feeling a sense of pride and also possessiveness at your words. Pulling you a bit closer, he nipped at your neck, smiling. 

“Where’s my award then?”

You rolled in his arms so quickly, Jake had barely time to react, and that was saying something. In a matter of seconds, you were back on top of him, giving him a devilish smile. Jake gulped at the sight of you, his cock half-hard again already. 

“I was trying to give you some time to recover, but if you’re so eager…”

A few seconds later, you had your mouth wrapped around his cock and he was seeing stars like he was flying at night.

///

With a sigh, Jake pulled the helmet from his head, shaking out his hair. The squadron’s been testing out some new planes for the past weeks and today Jake very much experienced the limits of those planes. He couldn’t even wait for the others and headed straight to the changing rooms, putting his helmet in its designated space on his way. Unzipping his flight suit, he let it drop around his waist, stilling when he passed his locker. Without thinking for too long, he opened the locker, reaching for his phone. 

Sweets: hey

Sweets: idk if I can do dinner tonight, work’s been tough

Sweets: don’t be mad

Furrowing his brow, Jake was disappointed you’d cancel dinner so last minute, especially because you’ve been looking forward to the reservation for like a week. So you must be really down, then. Jake bit his lip, thinking for a second before he decided to call you, phone already ringing against his ear. 

“Hello?”

You sounded small, exhausted. Jake’s never heard you like this and he wasn’t sure if he liked it. What happened to make you, someone who was so inexcusably bright and happy all the time, sound so… Down?

“Hey. It’s me. Are you okay?”

You laughed, though it didn’t sound very happy. “Um, no. Not really. I’m sorry I had to cancel so last minute, I was really looking forward to eating there.”

“No, no. It’s completely fine, don’t worry about it,” Jake looked up when the door to the changing rooms opened, and Javy stepped in. Jake shushed him with a finger on his mouth, turning his phone the other way. “I could maybe pick up some food there and come to your place afterwards. How does that sound?”

Javy raised an eyebrow at him and Jake laid his palm over his mouth. 

“That actually sounds good. Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay. I’ll see you later.”

“You’re the best.”

Javy side-eyed him as Jake hung up the phone, stuffing it back into the locker. Jake didn’t say anything as he stripped out of his flight suit, but he could feel Javy’s eyes staring at the back of his head. 

“What was that?”

“What was what?”

Javy rolled his eyes. “Didn’t know that things were getting serious with the bar girl. That was her, wasn’t it?”

“She has a name,” Jake pointed out and Javy sighed. “She’s not feeling very well and she has been looking forward to that restaurant for like a week. It’s not a big deal.”

“I know it’s not. I was just surprised. I am happy for you, man.”

Javy squeezed Jake’s shoulder and he huffed, hiding his smile before shrugging his hand off of him. God, Javy was so nosy sometimes. Jake knew he only had good intentions but he was pretty sure that Javy was going to pull a stupid stunt like give you the shovel talk when he’d introduce you to him. After Jake showered, he got dressed and drove to the restaurant to pick up several things from the menu. Packed with two take-away bags, Jake made his way over to your place, knocking gently on your door. 

There was some shuffling on the other side of the door before it opened, revealing you. You gave him a small smile and Jake put all the bags in one hand, wrapping his arm around you and pressing a soft kiss on your forehead. He realized that it was very much a boyfriend move, but a kiss on the lips just didn’t seem appropriate, and he didn’t just not want to kiss you. So a forehead kiss it was.  

“Come on, I already set the table,” you said, pulling him inside and grabbing the bags from his hands. While Jake took his shoes off, you put the take away boxes on the table, opening the pizza box before sitting down. 

“Do you want anything to drink?” 

“Just water is fine.”

Jake walked to the kitchen, opening the fridge to grab a water bottle for you, stilling when he saw a six pack of his favorite beer standing in the corner. Breathing out a laugh, he grabbed a beer for himself and a water bottle for you, getting back to the table. If you noticed the beer in his hand, you didn’t say anything so neither did he. 

///

Sweets: you up for a movie tonight? the new marvel movie looks great

Jake: what’s marvel?

Sweets: you’re joking right?

Jake: no

Jake stared at the small ellipses that kept popping up and disappearing, meaning that he had just riled you up on another level. Obviously he knew what Marvel was, Fanboy recently took the whole squadron out for the new Spider-Man movie when it came out. You couldn’t be friends with Fanboy and not know Marvel. When five minutes had passed, and the ellipses were still there, Jake decided to let you off the hook.

Jake: I was kidding. Of course I know what Marvel is.

Sweets: i hate you.

Snorting, Jake fingers flew over the screen of his phone as he replied to you, tensing when he heard steps coming towards him. Quickly, he slipped the phone into the pocket of his flight suit, only to relax again, realizing who it was. 

“Who’s got you smiling at your phone like a fool?”

“None of your business,” Jake said lightly, reaching for his phone again, the message to you still unfinished. Jake leaned away when Rooster tried peeking on the screen, but apparently he saw enough.

“You didn’t tell me you had a girl!”

“You never asked.”

“She must be a saint to be putting up with you,” Rooster joked and Jake huffed, a fond smile on his face. 

“You have no idea.”

“Hey, why don’t you bring her around for my birthday?” Rooster asked and Jake smirked, already having thought of it. “I think all of us would like to meet the girl who can tame you down into a puppy.”

Honestly, Jake wasn’t sure if you’d actually wanted to meet his friends. Were you at that point to meet each other’s friends yet? Is that where the relationship was headed? 

“Watch it, Rooster,” Jake bellowed, though without any heat. “And I was actually thinking about bringing her, but I think she’s busy.”

“Aw, that’s too bad. But bring her around for drinks sometime?”

“We’ll see. I don’t want to chase her off by introducing her to you group of ragtags too soon.”

“Introducing who to us?”

Jake groaned when the rest of the squadron joined, Phoenix raising a meticulously groomed brow at him. 

“Ooooh, does Jake have a girlfriend?” Halo teased and Jake rolled his eyes, brushing her hand off his shoulders. 

“You know, now that you mention it, he has been constantly glued to his phone and ditching us instead of coming to the bar,” Payback hummed in thought, throwing his arm over Jake’s neck. “I thought we were friends.”

“Friends may be a bit of an exaggeration.”

“Don’t tease him, he’s a man in love.”

Jake couldn’t help the flush on his cheeks and everyone started hooting. He threw a dirty look at Javy, his supposed best friend, who definitely will be demoted to friend, soon if he didn’t stop airing out his dirty laundry. Jake looked at Rooster, for some type of support, but the other man only shrugged with his shoulders, having the time of his life. 

“Just for this, I will bring her around even later than I already planned to,” Jake huffed. “Now come on, I have time for one drink before I go meet her.”

For the entire time Jake was at the Hard Deck, the squadron continued teasing him. Jake was annoyed, but he knew that you would love this. God, the worst thing is, you’d probably fit right in with the people Jake called his friends. When he finally announced his departure, they all yelled at him to send regards to you and that they would meet you soon. With a head-shake, Jake made his way home, changing into his civvies and drove over to your place. 

You were already standing out by the sidewalk, climbing into his car when he pulled to a stop. 

“Hi.”

Leaning over, you kissed him sweetly on the lips, before dropping your hands in your lap. “Thanks for driving.”

“Sure thing.”

You spent the entire drive to the movie theater talking about your day, without mentioning your jobs, and exchanged theories about the new Marvel movie. At the movie theater, you did the old dance and grab of paying for the tickets, with Jake paying and accepting defeat when you slapped your card out for the drinks and popcorn. 

During the movie, Jake spent most of it staring at you, instead of the screen and he realized how right Javy was. He’d got it bad for you. After the post-credit scenes have rolled, you turned to him to say how his theory was so wrong, only to find him already looking at you. 

“What?”

“Do you wanna spend the night?”

Caught by surprise by his, admittedly, very random question, you pursed your lips in thought, before nodding. “Sounds good. But I need to eat, I’m starving.”

“We can’t have that, now, can we,” Jake drawled, grabbing his hand and pulling you up. “Come on, I know a pretty good taco place.”

The taco place was on the way to Jake’s house and it wasn’t anything special, really. It didn’t even have tables, so you and Jake had to eat your tacos by the curb of the parking lot the taco truck was parked in. 

“My friends were hassling me about meeting you today,” Jake told you, wiping his hands with the napkins and you raised a brow at him, swallowing the food in your mouth before answering.

“Were they now? And what did you tell them?”

“I said that they can meet you when I deem them worthy enough.”

Snorting out a laugh, you shook your head, throwing the last of your taco in your mouth. You shoved his forehead gently, which was kind of demeaning, but Jake smirked at you, wrapping his arm around you. 

“They told me to bring you around tomorrow-”

“You know I’m busy, I already told you,” you cut in and he gave you a look. 

“Yes, I know. I was listening to you.”

“Good.”

You got to your feet, dragging Jake with you. “Come on, let’s go.”

Jake took you home, and while it was a bit odd to have you with him while he got ready for bed, it wasn’t something that he couldn’t imagine getting used to. But when you crawled under the blankets of his bed, Jake had to pause a bit, that image burning in his head.

When Jake woke up the next morning, he felt your warmth pressing into his body and he smiled before he could even open his eyes. 

“I can literally feel you staring at me,” you mumbled into his chest, leaning back to blearily look at him, your brows furrowed.

So definitely not a morning person then. Noted.

“You must definitely still be asleep then, because I am definitely not staring at you.”

Huffing, you buried your face in the crook of his neck again, groaning. “What time is it?”

Jake reached for his phone, squinting his eyes at the bright screen in the otherwise dark room. He usually liked to keep his curtains only partially drawn to get woken up with the sun rise, but you had vehemently complained against it when you got in bed the night before.

“Ten-ish.”

With that, you started stretching like a cat, almost taking Jake’s eye out in the process. You sat up, wiping your eyes and you had to be the most adorable fucking thing he’s ever laid eyes on. “Do you want to get breakfast before I have to go home? I need to run some errands before I head over to my best friend’s tonight.”

“Sounds like a plan, sweets.”

The two of you got dressed, and got ready in the bathroom, and Jake merely watched you in the mirror as you blinked, brushing your teeth. 

“How many cups of coffee do you need before you’re actually awake?”

“Ask me again after I’ve had my first cup,” you mumbled, mouth full of toothpaste. 

When you were finally done, Jake draped your button up over your shoulder, before herding you to the car, driving to the closest breakfast diner. Luckily, it wasn’t that full and Jake managed to find a booth, quickly flagging down a waitress to order. It was nice out, the sun out and bright, though there was still quite a morning chill. 

You leaned your head against his shoulder as you sipped on your coffee, sighing softly, having opted to sit next to him, instead of on the other side of the booth. 

“You know, I get it now.”

“Get what?”

“Why you never wanted to sleep over. You’re almost like a kitten, all small and complacent.”

Glowering, you side-eyed him. 

“You wanna say that again after I’ve finished this cup?”

Biting back a laugh, he wrapped his arm around you, pressing a firm kiss on your temple. “There she is.”

You finished breakfast while occasionally swiping at each other before you paid the bill, raising a brow at Jake, daring him to fight her for it. He didn’t. 

This time. 

Twenty minutes later, Jake’s truck rolled to a stop in front of your apartment building and you unbuckled from your seat. 

“Hey, before you go,” he stopped you, grabbing your hand gently. “What do you think about coming out for a drink with me and my friends sometime?”

You tilted your head at him, a small smile on your face. Jake actually got nervous the longer you took to answer, but you instead grabbed him by the nape of his neck, pulling him over the console for a kiss, in which Jake nearly lost himself, before you leaned away, biting your lip. 

“I’d like that.”

Climbing out of the car, you gave him one last smile, before you shut the door, heading inside your building. Jake couldn’t help but chuckle at himself, shaking his head and making the drive back home. He spent the rest of the day doing some paperwork he had been pushing off, trying to get the rest of the squadron to not completely escalate regarding Rooster’s birthday present and occasionally texting you. When it rolled around seven pm, Jake got changed and made his way over to an old hangar of Penny’s dad, where Rooster was holding the party. 

“Awe, you didn’t bring your girl?” Halo immediately asked when he got out of his car, having waited with Javy by the parking lot. 

“No. And seeing you prowling around here like this, I’m glad I didn’t,” Jake replied dryly, patting Javy on the back before they walked inside the hangar. 

“You can’t blame Halo. You’ve been holding out on your mysterious girl for so long, the suspense is literally killing us.”

“Don’t be so dramatic, Javy,” Jake sighed, plucking his aviators off his nose. “You’ll meet her when you meet her. Now come on, Rooster’s over there.”

They broke up Rooster and Maverick, whose eyes were suspiciously misty, to embrace the other aviator.

“Hey man, happy birthday,” Jake said, hugging him tightly, clapping his back. “Let’s hope that this year’s finally the year where you shave off that mustache of yours, yeah?”

Rooster beamed at him, apparently having a few beer intus already, his cheeks red. 

“Yeah yeah, Hang. I know you love me. I’m glad you came.”

Soon, the hangar filled with the rest of the squadron, Payback and Fanboy bringing in Rooster’s birthday gift - an entire cardboard box full of the most brightly colored hawaiian shirts they could find, and yes, Jake was outvoted - and they were currently trying to see how many shirts Rooster was able to put on before he’d suffocate. 

With a fond shake of his head, Jake grabbed a beer from the cooler, snapping the bottle cap off. He was glad to have found this team. Before the mission, he only had Javy, and occasionally Halo, whenever she was stateside. Jake wasn’t sure what it would’ve looked like to you, if he was only able to introduce to you one and half friends, because he just didn’t have more. This was better. 

Pulling another swig from his beer, Jake checked his phone for any new messages from you - nothing - when there was a commotion by the front. Jake couldn’t see exactly what it was through the crowd, but then Rooster emerged with a huge grin, holding a cake in the shape of a… Was that a rooster in a Hawaiian shirt? 

Someone clearly had a good taste in humor. 

Rooster placed the cake on the table before wrapping his arms around a girl, the one who brought the cake presumably, and kissed her soundly on the cheek. She looked vaguely familiar and Jake furrowed his brows, staring at her, until recognition dawned on his face. 

It was you. 

He watched as Rooster took you around, introducing you to everyone and Jake’s eye twitched. The two of you looked awfully comfortable around each other, with tons of physical contact. You and Jake hadn’t been dating long, but he thought that you were on the same stage as him when it concerned your relationship, especially after last night. Were you cheating on Rooster with him? But you wouldn’t do that, right?

And Rooster hadn’t mentioned dating anyone, has he? Or was Jake just not listening again?

By the time Rooster finally brought you around, Jake was crawling out of his skin, not missing the fact how your eyebrows rose up, before you shook your head, smirking. Jake was barely listening when Rooster introduced you.

“... this is Hangman. This one shoved Jeremy Maguire into a bush of roses when he tried to steal my scooter and we’ve been best friends ever since.”

Blinking, Jake stared at you, not having processed the information just yet, while you only peered at him, mouthing Hangman? at him.

“Hi, nice to meet you, Hangman,” you drawled and Jake furrowed his brows in confusion. Childhood best friends? he mouthed instead.

Rooster, however, was completely oblivious to your exchange. “I’d tell you not to hit on her, but I know you wouldn’t be able to handle her, so you better watch out,” he told Jake, before turning to you. “I’ll go grab some plates and a knife for the cake. Are you okay?”

“Yeah yeah, go on, B,” you said, waving him off. Rooster pecked you on the cheek, nodding at Jake before disappearing into the back of the hangar. 

You, on the other hand, turned your full attention to Jake, crossing your arms. “So. Hangman, huh?”

Jake sighed in exasperation, finishing the last of his beer. You watched, and Jake, checking over his shoulder that everyone was otherwise busy, grabbed you by the arm, dragging you outside the hangar. You leaned against the wall, a smirk dancing on your lips.

“Your best friend Brad is Rooster?”

“It’s not like you didn’t know his name is Bradley, Jake,” you shot back, jabbing his chest. “You should have told me that you’re flying for the Navy.”

In hindsight, Jake probably should’ve been able to put two and two together. Now that he thought about it, there were so many instances where you were basically screaming at him that Rooster was your best friend.

Small world indeed.

“You didn’t want to know!”

“God, I should’ve been able to tell with that ego of yours,” you sighed and Jake snorted. 

“Didn’t seem to mind my ego last night.”

You rolled your eyes at him and god you were so beautiful when you were annoyed. Brushing his hand up your arm, Jake fixed the strap of your dress.

“You look nice.”

Scoffing, you fixed him with a look that Jake knew meant that you were unimpressed. Straightening his shirt, you batted your eyelashes at him. 

“What does Hangman even stand for?”

Jake smirked broadly. “You’ve seen me naked. You know what it stands for.”

“Fucking naval aviators will be the death of me,” you muttered before dragging him in closer, pressing your lips on his. Jake groaned quietly, kissing you back while one hand cupped your cheek, the other resting on your waist. 

“Seriously?”

Immediately you and Jake sprang apart, as Rooster only looked at you, blinking unfazed. Jake waited for Rooster to grab him by the ear or something, for desecrating his childhood best friend, but he only shook his head at Jake. 

“It took you five minutes to fall for her charms, huh? I expected better from you.”

“I- what?” Jake was at loss for words, mentally prepared for defending himself, but apparently that wasn’t necessary.

You smirked coyly at Rooster, your hands smoothing over Jake’s shirt. “He’s tongue guy,” you said, as if that explained everything. 

Evidently, it did though, as Rooster’s eyebrows shot up, his face a mixture of shock and surprise. “Holy shit, he is?”

Jake was extremely confused at this point and he very much did not like how he was the only one in the unknown. Was this how it was always going to be at this point? He wasn’t sure if he liked that. Rooster wrapped his arm around Jake’s shoulder, laughter rumbling in his chest.

“The hell is going on here? Am I in the middle of some weird shovel talk or something?” 

“No, she is definitely capable of taking care of herself, Hangman.” 

“What’s that even supposed to mean?” Jake grumbled and you beamed at him, your eyes twinkling. 

“Wait, he doesn’t know yet?” Rooster asked gleefully, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Wait, you didn’t pull that weird job thing on your first date again, did you?”

“It normally doesn’t even backfire like this. How should I have known that you guys know each other?”

“What’s with the job thing, anyway? Isn’t this the best time to tell me now?”

“Oh oh, can I tell him please?” 

“Jesus, fuck off, Bradley,” you huffed, giving him a shove. Jake glanced between Rooster and you, actually getting concerned. 

“What is it you do for a living, sweets?” He then wanted to know. Rooster, having noticed his tone change, cackled, rubbing his hands together like the little shit he was. Sighing, you glanced at Jake, before telling him what you did for a living.

“Are you kidding? Now that’s not really fair, is it?”

author's note: anyone any guesses as to what dreader's job is?