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Thing is the UST is now through the roof, but they're completely oblivious to it, as well as how the other may or may not feel. However they both pretend to be a little more drunk than they are, using alcohol as an excuse to say things, all while being pretty much sober.

So they're all-out flirting with each other, both of them thinking the other is QUITE DRUNK to be responding this way, and it just kind of spirals into them dancing together, then finding a quiet spot and making out. Then agreeing to go back to a hotel room (and each of them swinging wildly between WANT and GUILT and mentally trying to talk themselves both into and out of it simultaneously...) Until:

"Fuck, wish you didn't have to be drunk to want to fuck me..."

Aka - Cow-eyed Bradley always drives during the day because Jake is blind as a bat in sunlight and can’t see shit. (Or equally dark-eyed Nat or Javy, if Bradley isn’t available)

Aka - it’s why he’s got those cute little crinkles around his eyes (he’s always squinting during the day, even wearing sunglasses)

Aka - Jake’s always a little pissy during the day (because he’s blind as a mole rat, and has a chronic headache, and it pisses him off), but he mellows out and turns almost sweet in the evenings when he can finally open his eyes all the way to focus on something.

Aka - “Phoenix, where is he, I can’t see’im!” No shit Sherlock, boy can’t see shit in sunlight. (Headcanon that It wasn’t that bright during that flying scene, but it was Jake’s pov and it felt like he was flying INTO the sun. Mav used his own green-eyed experience to knock the new green-eyed kid down a few pegs lol)

Aka - the daggers hearing “why’s it so fucking bright out here?! 🤬😩” multiple times a day when they have to venture outside.

Aka - the cowboy hat isn’t just a Texas thing, it’s so he can shade his eyes from the torture device that is the sun.

Aka - several people (including an admiral) lowkey think Jake is a vampire from the violent, visceral reactions he has when he goes outside into sunlight. (He straight up flinches and hisses sometimes)

Once his eyes finally adjust he’s better (not good, but at least the light doesn’t sear into his brain still), it’s just the transition of going outside from inside that is pure agony and makes him want to claw his poor aching eyes out.

Bradley, Nat and Javy are his official guide dogs during daylight hours. Sometime he just fully closes his eyes and latches on to somebody’s shirt (or hand/belt loop in Bradley’s case) and lets them lead him where ever he needs to go.

Whiskey In Mind Top Gun: Maverick | Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw/Jake “Hangman Seresin | 2,849 words | Rated M

"Thanks for the drink," Bradley says, spinning the glass between his fingers before taking another appreciative sip. "How'd you know my brand?" The man laughs, and Bradley watches the movement of his throat, the curl of his lips. "Well now," the man says, and there's a trace of country in his vowels that Bradley can't quite tell if he's imagining, an illusion conjured up by the influence of his surroundings. "There's certain things you can just tell about a guy."

or; Bradley, Jake, and meeting for the first time. Again.

featuring: aggressive flirting, strangers to lovers except not that at all, tongue-in-cheek daddy kink, and a lot of really fed up friends

Exactly 100 words for @topgundrabble (and also for @shorelinetides)

Huddled around Javy's phone, the squad peers down at the photograph with mixed surprise and delight.

It's Jake.

It's Jake in the world's tightest pants and a cropped t-shirt. There's a chain around his waist. His hair is free of its usual strictures, artfully messy. There's a pride flag slung over one shoulder. He is covered in glitter.

"Bradshaw, you run into Hangman at the Pride parade yesterday?" Natasha asks, sweetly. Across the room, Bradley looks up, startled, and frowns.

"Uh, yeah, I think I…. saw him. How'd you know?"

Nat's grin is predatory.

Bagman's just jealous cuz he was still doing pushups

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Please don't steal my work, and live long and prosper! <3

Bradley swallows, gaze intent on the headstone ten yards away. His heart is rabbit quick in his chest, thumping rhythmically against his sternum like a war drum. If Jake wasn’t holding his hand he’s pretty sure it would be trembling. “Yeah, I am.”

Jake squeezes his hand once.

With a slow, soothing breath, Bradley pulls them over to the gravesite. “Hey–” his voice cracks, forcing him to clear his throat before trying once more. “Hey mom, I’d like you to meet my boyfriend, Jake.”

“It’s nice to make your acquaintance, ma’am.” Jake says, even ducking his head slightly in a bow.

Bradley smiles. “We’re uh, it’s the Pride parade today, so we’ll be heading there after this. But I wanted to introduce you two.” A beautiful butterfly lands on Carole’s headstone, wings fluttering. Bradley takes it as the sign it is.

.

Jake "Hangman" Seresin is always walking around with a toothpick in his mouth. If he's not actively eating or drinking, he's absentmindedly chewing on or fidgeting with a toothpick.

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw notices as much when they're deployed together at North Island for the Dagger special detachment. Leaving the TOPGUN briefing room to go out on a hop, on the tarmac after landing, at the Hard Deck after a long day-- there it is, the toothpick, always in his mouth.

One day, about a week into the detachment, Bradley invites Nat to his place to catch up over dinner. He decides to make those little slider sandwiches with the toothpicks through the middle since they're low-effort and delicious.

He realizes, right before he heads home for the day, that he's nearly out of toothpicks. He decides to stop at the on-base commissary to get more, and when he reaches the aisle with the toothpicks, he sees Jake Seresin himself putting a box of them in his basket.

He makes eye contact with Bradley and smirks at him, and as Bradley goes to take his own box of toothpicks, he realizes Jake took the last one. A lot of people must have needed toothpicks today.

By the time Bradley turns around, Jake is gone.

Half of Bradley's sandwiches are sentenced to having no structural integrity. It's a tragedy, really.

For the remainder of the mission training, Bradley swears Jake is purposefully chewing on toothpicks more often, just to rub it in his face. Sometimes he even has two in his mouth at a time, and he makes sure to get in Bradley's face as often as possible when that happens, just so he sees the toothpicks he barely missed.

At some point, Bradley starts to want to just pluck that toothpick out of Jake's mouth and chuck it away. He can't stand Jake flaunting the toothpicks at him all the time. That desire gets stronger over time, and somehow Bradley doesn't realize that that's not normal.

Their "rivalry" grows into full-blown aggressive flirting as the mission approaches, and naturally, Bradley and Jake are the only two people who are oblivious to the others' feelings (and, honestly, their own).

They both realize it on the carrier returning from the mission-- Jake was a little too distraught when Bradley's plane went down, and Bradley was a little too happy that it was Jake, rather than anyone else, that came and shot down the Russian jet and saved him and Mav.

A few days after they get back, once Bradley's been released from medical observation, he's standing out behind the Hard Deck, leaning against the porch railing, watching the moon rise over the San Diego Bay.

He hears the door open and gently shut behind him, and someone leans against the railing beside him. He doesn't even need to look-- he knows by the characteristic dramatic sigh and the smell of that cologne that it's Jake.

And when they finally meet each other's eyes, nothing needs to be said. They both finally know, and as Bradley puts one hand on Jake's waist and Jake loops his arms around Bradley's neck, he finally gets the chance to pluck that stupid toothpick from Jake's mouth and toss it into the sand.

.