Shipping Gay Pilots Since 1986

Then someone said a name you hadn’t heard in nearly two years.

“Reid’s with them?”

Jake noticed.

Your pen stopped moving. Not enough for anyone else to notice, maybe. But enough.

He looked over at you before the rest of the group had even finished walking in. His smile faded a little, not gone completely, but changed. You felt his attention land on you and forced yourself to write something on the clipboard in front of you.

It was nonsense. You wrote the same number twice.

You heard him before you saw him.

Evan Reid had always had a voice that carried, the kind that didn’t need much volume to make sure everyone heard it. He stepped into the hangar with a grin on his face and a patch on his shoulder that made your stomach drop. He looked almost exactly the same. Maybe a little older. Maybe a little broader. Still neat. Still polished. Still so good at looking harmless when other people were watching.

You lowered your head, but not fast enough.

His eyes found you.

The grin widened.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Evan said. “Didn’t know they were hiding you out here.”

The clipboard bent slightly in your hand.

Jake’s head turned.

The hangar didn’t go quiet. Not properly. People were still talking and working around you, but your little corner of it shrank down to Evan’s voice, your heartbeat, and Jake watching from across the floor.

You made yourself look up. “Evan.”

“Just Evan now?” he asked, walking closer. “That hurts.”

You felt your mouth go dry. “You’re here with the visiting squadron?”

“Few weeks.” His eyes moved over you in a way that made your skin crawl. “You look good. Different. But good.”

You didn’t know what to do with your hands. You set the pen down carefully, because if you kept holding it, you were going to snap it. “I’m working.”

“Still good at that,” he said. “Acting busy when you don’t want to talk.”

Jake had started moving before you even looked for him.

He crossed the hangar without rushing, but people got out of his way anyway. His expression was easy enough from a distance, almost casual, but you knew him better than that now. His shoulders were set. His jaw was tight. He had noticed the way your voice had gone flat and the way you hadn’t taken a full breath since Evan said your name.

“Everything good?” Jake asked, stopping beside you.

You hated how badly you wanted to step behind him.

Evan looked Jake up and down, then smiled like he’d just been handed something interesting. “Seresin, right? Heard about you.”

“All good, I’m sure,” Jake said.

“Depends who’s talking.”

Jake smiled, but there was nothing friendly in it. “Usually does.”

You picked up one of the folders from the bench. “I need to take these to admin.”

Evan shifted before you could step away, not blocking you outright, but close enough that you had to stop. It was such a small move. Nothing obvious. Nothing anyone could write down in a report. Just his body in the wrong place and yours reacting before your brain caught up.

Jake saw that too.

“Move,” Jake said.

Evan looked at him, amused. “Sorry?”

“You’re in her way.”

The amusement stayed, but his eyes sharpened. “She can tell me that herself.”

Jake’s smile dropped by half an inch. “She shouldn’t have to.”

You could feel people starting to notice now. Javy had gone still near the doors. Bradley was watching over the top of his coffee cup, brows drawn together. One of Evan’s squadron mates muttered something under his breath, but Evan didn’t look away from Jake.

You forced yourself to step sideways. “It’s fine.”

Jake didn’t look at you when he answered. “No, it’s not.”

Evan laughed softly. “Still doing that, huh?”

Your fingers tightened around the folder.

Jake glanced at you then. “Doing what?”

“Letting someone else speak for you,” Evan said, eyes still on you. “You always did like that. Made things easier.”

The shame hit so fast it almost felt physical.

You looked down at the floor. You hated yourself for it. Hated that he could still do that with a few words and a room full of people. Hated that Jake was seeing it. Hated that Evan knew exactly where to press.

Jake stepped forward.

Not much.

Enough.

“You want to try that again?” Jake asked.

Evan’s grin twitched. “We got a problem?”

“I’m waiting to see.”

You looked at Jake. His voice was calm, but that was what made it worse. He wasn’t posturing. He wasn’t performing for the room. He was giving Evan one chance to stop, and everyone who knew Jake could see it.

Evan saw it too, but he didn’t back off. Men like him rarely did when they had an audience.

He looked past Jake to you. “Guess you’ve upgraded. Good for you. Does he know why you ran from Lemoore, or did you leave that part out?”

That was answer enough.

Jake’s eyes cut to you, but you couldn’t hold his gaze.

Evan made a small sound, pleased with himself. “Thought so.”

Jake turned back to him. “You’re done talking to her.”

Evan’s smile thinned. “That’s not your call.”

“You sure about that?”

“You her boyfriend?”

The question landed between you before you could stop it. You and Jake had never really labelled it. Not because it wasn’t there, but because it was easier not to say it on base, where everyone saw everything. Late nights had turned into mornings. Coffee had turned into dinner. Arguments had turned into him keeping your favourite hoodie that he wore in his truck because you always forgot one.

But you had never said boyfriend.

“Yeah,” he said. “I am.”

Evan knew he had found something. You saw it in his face. Jake didn’t hesitate.

You tried to answer. Nothing came out.

Your chest went tight and Evan looked back at you. “That true?”

Jake shifted again, blocking more of you from Evan’s line of sight. “You’re not asking her questions anymore.”

That should have been the end of it.

It wasn’t.

Evan leaned slightly to the side so he could look at you around Jake. “He's no different to the last one. You have to have someone else clean up after you, then act like you had no choice. Pathetic.”

Jake moved so fast you barely registered it. One second he was beside you, the next he had Evan backed up against the side of the workbench, one hand fisted in the front of his flight suit. Tools rattled against the metal surface. The hangar went quiet this time.

“Hangman,” Bradley warned from across the room.

Jake didn’t look back.

Evan lifted his hands slowly, but he was still smiling. “Careful. Lots of witnesses.”

“Good,” Jake said. “Then everyone can hear me.”

You took a step forward. “Jake.”

He didn’t loosen his grip, but his voice changed when he spoke to you. “I’ve got it.”

“Please dont,” you said, quieter.

That made him look at you.

For a second, the anger eased enough for you to see the worry underneath. He was still holding Evan, but now he was looking at your face, checking you the way he always did. Trying to work out what you needed before you could decide whether to tell him.

You shook your head once.

Jake let go.

Evan straightened his flight suit with a smug little tug. “Smart.”

Jake stepped back, but only because Javy had appeared at his side and Bradley was coming in from the other direction. Phoenix was there too, eyes locked on Evan like she was memorising his face for later.

Maverick’s voice cut through the hangar from behind them. “What’s going on?”

No one answered for half a second.

Then Evan smiled again. “Misunderstanding.”

Jake laughed, "no its not.”

Maverick looked at him.

Jake pointed at Evan without taking his eyes off him. “He doesn’t go near her again.”

Evan scoffed. “That supposed to be an order?”

“No,” Jake said. “That’s me being polite because my commanding officer just walked in.”

Bradley muttered, “Jesus.”

Maverick’s gaze moved from Jake, to Evan, to you. He took in the folder crushed against your chest, your pale face, the way you were standing too still. He didn’t know the details, but he had been around long enough to read a room.

“Reid,” Maverick said. “Outside. Now.”

Evan’s expression shifted. Only for a second. Then the smile came back. “Sure.”

He walked past Jake, close enough to brush his shoulder on purpose.

Jake didn’t move.

You wished he had. You wished he had stepped back or looked away or done anything other than stand there, still and ready, because Evan would remember that. Evan remembered every slight. Every challenge. Every person who made him feel small.

Maverick followed Evan out, taking one of the visiting squadron leads with him. Noise slowly crept back into the hangar, but it was wrong now. Lower. Careful.

You looked down at the folder in your hands.

The corner had bent.

Jake turned toward you. “Hey.”

“I need to take these to admin.”

“No, you don’t.”

You tried to step around him. “Jake.”

He didn’t block you, not like Evan had. He just moved with you, keeping his voice low. “Look at me.”

“I’m at work.”

“Look at me.”

You did, because pretending you couldn’t hear him was somehow worse.

His face changed as soon as he got a proper look at you. “You’re shaking.”

“I’m angry.”

“You’re scared.”

“I said I’m angry.”

“Okay,” he said. “Then you’re angry.”

That almost broke you.

You hated that he didn’t argue. Hated that he let you have the word you could survive instead of forcing the one that would make you fall apart in front of everyone.

“I’m fine,” you said.

Jake nodded, but he didn’t believe you. “Sure.”

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Agree like you don’t.”

His mouth tightened. “Then don’t lie to me like I’m stupid.”

Your eyes stung immediately, which made you furious.

Bradley had moved close enough to hear, but not close enough to be obvious. Phoenix took the folder out of your hands before you realised she was there.

“I’ll take these,” she said.

You gripped the folder for a second too long.

She looked at you, calm and steady. “I’ve got it.”

You let go.

Jake watched your hands curl into fists at your sides. “Come outside.”

“I can’t just leave.”

“You can take five minutes.”

“I don’t want everyone looking at me.”

“They already are,” he said, then softened it when your face changed. “So let them look at my back instead.”

That was such a Jake thing to say that you almost laughed. It came out wrong, more breath than sound, but he heard it.

He held out his hand.

You stared at it.

Taking it felt like admitting something.

Not taking it felt worse.

You put your hand in his, and he led you out through the side door into the narrow stretch of concrete behind the hangar. The noise dropped as soon as the door shut. Outside, the air was warm and smelled faintly of jet fuel and sun-baked tarmac. You pulled your hand free the second you realised you were still holding his.

Jake let you.

For a moment, neither of you spoke.

He stood a few feet away, close enough to catch you if you went unsteady, far enough not to crowd you. You hated that he knew how to do that. Hated that Evan had been in the same room for five minutes and made you feel like you were back at Lemoore, checking doorways, answering texts too fast, learning which arguments weren’t worth having.

Jake leaned back against the wall. “Was he the reason you transferred?”

You looked out toward the runway. “Yes. And the time before that. He was also the reason.”

Jake breathed in slowly through his nose. “Okay.”

“That’s it?”

“No,” he said. “That’s just what I can say without getting myself in trouble.”

You rubbed both hands over your face. “He never hit me.”

Jake’s expression changed.

You knew how that sounded. You had said it too quickly, like it was a defence. Like it proved something.

“I didn’t ask that,” he said.

“I know.”

“But you felt like you had to tell me.”

You looked away.

Jake went quiet for a second, then said, “What did he do?”

You laughed, but there was no humour in it. “Everything else.”

His jaw clenched.

You kept your eyes on the runway because it was easier than looking at him. “He was charming at first. Everyone loved him. He helped me settle in. Took me places. Introduced me to people. Then it turned into him needing to know where I was all the time, who I was with, why I didn’t answer a message fast enough. If I talked to someone too long, he’d make it a thing later. If I wore something he didn’t like, he’d joke about it until I changed. I couldn't look anyone in the eye bacuse I was worried he was going to accuse me of 'eye-fucking' them.”

Jake didn’t interrupt.

That helped.

“It got worse after I tried to end it,” you said. “Not all at once. Just enough to make me think maybe I was overreacting. He’d show up where I was. He’d tell people I was unstable. He’d make it sound like I was the problem. Eventually I stopped going anywhere I didn’t have to. Then I put in for a transfer and left before he knew it had been approved. But then he followed me there. I didnt wait for it to get bad again so I put in another transfer as soon as I could.”

Jake’s voice was rough when he spoke. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

You glanced at him. “When?”

“When we started spending time together.”

“That’s not first date material.”

“We didn’t exactly have a first date.”

That got a tired smile out of you. “No. We had you stealing my fries and pretending it was flirting.”

“It worked.”

“Debatable.”

He didn’t smile back for long.

You looked down at the concrete. “I didn’t want to bring him here. Talking about him felt like giving him space in my life again. And I didn’t want you to look at me differently.”

Jake pushed off the wall. “Differently how?”

“Like I’m weak.”

He looked genuinely angry at that.

Not at you.

Never at you.

“You think that’s what I saw in there?”

You shrugged, hating yourself for how small it felt.

Jake stepped closer, then stopped when your shoulders tensed. “I saw you go quiet because someone who knows exactly how to hurt you walked into your workplace. That’s not weak.”

You blinked hard, trying to will away the fuzzy edges to your vision.

“Don’t be nice to me right now.”

“I’m not being nice. I’m being accurate.”

You huffed a watery laugh despite yourself.

The side door opened before either of you could say anything else.

You both turned.

Evan stood there.

Alone.

Your body reacted before your brain did. You stepped back, and Jake moved forward at the same time. It was immediate. No discussion. No hesitation.

Evan held up one hand. “Relax. Just wanted a word.”

Jake’s voice went flat. “No.”

Evan ignored him and looked at you. “Don't do that. Acting like things are bigger than they needed to be.”

You swallowed. “Go back inside.”

“See?” Evan said to Jake, gesturing towards you. “She can speak.”

Jake took one step toward him. “I told you not to talk to her.”

“And I’m telling you this has nothing to do with you.”

“You made it my business when you cornered her in my hangar.”

“Your hangar?” Evan laughed. “God, you really are exactly what people say.”

Jake smiled once. “Worse, probably.”

Evan’s eyes narrowed.

You knew that look. The first crack in the charm. The moment he stopped finding it entertaining.

He pointed at Jake but spoke to you. “This is who you picked?”

Your stomach twisted. “Don’t.”

“He looks useful,” Evan said. “A little easy to wind up, but useful. I'm not surprised she hooked you in man. Just be careful. One wrong move and she'll try and ruin your career.”

Jake moved again, but this time you caught his wrist.

He stopped.

You hadn’t meant to touch him. But your hand was around his wrist and his pulse was strong under your fingers. He looked down at your hand, then back at Evan.

Evan saw it too.

His face changed.

Not much.

Enough.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said. “You’re actually with him?”

Jake’s voice dropped. “Careful.”

Evan stepped closer, ignoring him. “After all that crying about needing to be alone? After making me look like the bad guy because I wouldn’t let you run around doing whatever you wanted?”

Your grip tightened around Jake’s wrist.

Jake looked ready to put him through the door.

You made yourself breathe.

Then you let go of Jake and stepped out from behind him.

Jake turned his head slightly. “Y/N.”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not.”

“I know,” you said. “But I need to say it.”

Jake didn’t like it. You could tell. But he stayed where he was.

You faced Evan properly for the first time since he had walked in.

“I didn’t make you look like anything,” you said. Your voice shook, but it held. “You did that yourself.”

Evan blinked.

“You followed me. You checked my phone. You told people things about me that weren’t true because you knew they’d believe you before they believed me. I left because I didn’t feel safe around you anymore.”

His face hardened. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

Jake took half a step forward.

You lifted a hand slightly, and somehow he stopped again.

“No,” you said. “That doesn’t work anymore.”

Evan scoffed. “What doesn’t?”

“That. Saying I’m dramatic so you don’t have to answer for what you did.”

For the first time, Evan looked past you toward Jake, like he was checking how much had landed.

Jake was staring at him with open disgust now.

Evan’s jaw tightened. “You really want to do this here?”

“You came out here.”

“I came to talk.”

“You came to make sure I was still scared of you.”

He smiled, but it looked forced. “Are you?”

You wanted to lie.

Jake shifted behind you. Not in front. Just enough that you felt him there.

“No,” you said.

It wasn’t fully true.

But it was true enough.

Evan stared at you for a long moment. Then he leaned in slightly, lowering his voice. “You should be.”

Jake caught him by the front of his flight suit and drove him back against the wall before you could move.

Not hard enough to injure.

Hard enough to make the point.

Evan’s head hit the metal siding with a loud clang.

Jake leaned in close. “That was stupid.”

Evan grabbed at his wrist. “Get off me.”

“No.”

“Seresin,” you said, but your voice wasn’t as strong this time.

Jake kept his eyes on Evan. “You don’t threaten her. You don’t follow her. You don’t speak to her unless she speaks to you first. You don’t look at her like she owes you something. And if I hear you’ve been asking anyone on this base about her, I’ll make sure every person you report to knows exactly why.”

Evan tried to laugh. It didn’t come out right. “You think I’m scared of you?”

“No,” Jake said. “I think you’re used to scaring people who don’t want to make a scene.”

That shut him up.

The side door opened again.

Maverick stepped out with Bradley behind him.

Maverick took one look at Jake’s hand on Evan’s flight suit and sighed. “Seresin.”

Jake didn’t move.

Bradley’s eyes flicked to you. “You okay?”

You nodded once.

Maverick stepped closer. “Let him go.”

Jake waited one more second before he released Evan and stepped back. Evan straightened, breathing harder than he wanted anyone to notice.

“He put hands on me,” Evan snapped.

Maverick looked at you. “What happened?”

Evan answered first. “We were talking.”

“No,” you said.

Everyone looked at you.

Your heart was beating too fast, but you forced yourself to keep going. “He followed us out here after being told to stay away from me. Then he threatened me.”

Maverick’s expression changed immediately.

Evan laughed. “That’s not what happened.”

Jake turned his head slowly. “You sure you want to lie right now?”

Maverick looked at Bradley. “Get Cyclone.”

Evan’s face shifted. “For what?”

“For a conversation you’re not going to enjoy,” Maverick said.

Bradley stepped back inside without another word.

Evan looked at you then, really looked at you, and there it was again. That old warning. That promise that this wasn’t finished.

Jake saw it.

So did Maverick.

“Reid,” Maverick said, voice sharper now. “Eyes on me.”

Evan looked away from you.

You let out a breath you hadn’t realised you were holding.

Maverick pointed toward the door. “Inside. Now.”

Evan went, but not before brushing past Jake with his shoulder again.

This time, Jake let him.

Barely.

Maverick watched Evan go back into the hangar, then looked at you. His voice lowered. “Do you want to make a report?”

Your stomach dropped out.

Jake looked at you, but he didn’t answer for you.

That mattered.

“I don’t know,” you said.

Maverick nodded. “Okay. You don’t have to decide this second. But he won’t be left alone with you.”

You swallowed. “Thank you.”

Maverick looked at Jake next. “You. Walk it off before you do something paperwork can’t fix.”

Jake’s jaw flexed, but he nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Maverick went back inside, leaving you and Jake outside by the hangar wall with the runway noise filling the gap.

You turned to him. “You shouldn’t have grabbed him.”

“No,” Jake said. “Probably not.”

“You could get in trouble.”

“Yeah.”

“Jake.”

He looked at you then. “He threatened you.”

“I know.”

“I heard him.”

“I know.”

His face tightened. “You shouldn’t have had to stand there and say all that just to be believed.”

You looked down at your hands. They were still shaking, but less than before. “I think I needed to say it for me.”

Jake went quiet.

When you looked up, he was watching you differently. Not like you were breakable. Not like he pitied you. Just like he was trying to understand the shape of something he hadn’t known you were carrying.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” you said.

“I get why you didn’t.”

“That’s not the same as it being okay.”

“No,” he said. “It’s not.”

You nodded, because that was fair.

Jake leaned back against the wall again, keeping a little distance between you. “For the record, I do not think you’re weak.”

You gave him a tired look. “You already said that.”

“I’m saying it again.”

“Jake.”

“And I’m going to keep saying it until you stop looking like you expect me to change my mind.”

Your throat went tight.

You looked away toward the runway, where heat shimmered above the concrete.

After a moment, Jake said, “Boyfriend, huh?”

You turned back to him.

His expression was still serious, but there was something else under it now. A small attempt to give you something normal to hold onto.

“You said it,” you replied.

“Didn’t hear you correct me.”

“I was busy trying not to throw up.”

“Not exactly romantic.”

“No.”

He nodded. “We can work on that.”

You laughed before you could stop yourself. It was small and shaky, but real enough that Jake’s face softened.

Then he held out his hand again, not pushing, not assuming.

This time you took it without staring at it first.

Jake’s fingers closed around yours, warm and steady. “Come on,” he said. “We’ll go find Phoenix. She’s better at making reports sound less terrifying.”

“And you?”

“I’m better at making impressions.”

You looked back toward the hangar door Evan had disappeared through.

“For what it’s worth,” you said, “you definitely made one.”

Jake glanced at you, and the corner of his mouth lifted.

2-3 weeks later summer break ends and the kids have to start school, and Jake starts his job properly, and it's all fine and they settle into a routine. The kids walk to school and that's absolutely wild to Jake, who has always been a city boy. But he's a damn good doctor, and he genuinely cares about his patients, and people like him (he's replaced an old guy who is well into his 70s when he retired (saying he'd retire when they found a replacement), and he comes by and visits Jake and Jake playfully calls him old-timer...)

And so it goes - there are those painful firsts - the first day of school without their mom there, birthdays, etc. Jake is trying his best, he really is. Everyone around him is telling him he's doing a great job, but he still doesn't feel like he's doing ENOUGH. His youngest still cries themselves to sleep every night, his eldest is grumpy/angry with him constantly and the middle one is just... too quiet. And also really fucking clingy all of a sudden.

Then there's the school fall fair about six weeks into the school year, and he's been reassured that he'll enjoy himself, that the kids will enjoy it. They've been in town for nearly three months now, it's a Saturday so it's not like he can use his job as an excuse not to go. So he drags the kids along, determined to try and make things as normal as possible. Determined to have fun.

Thing is it's busy, and it's at the school which the kids now know well and Jake loses them. Can't find them and won't let go of his youngest's hand, scoops them up into his arms as his eyes frantically search for his other two. His heart is pounding in his ears and he's starting to freak out, and then he see his kids, sitting either side of this man who Jake has no idea who he is, but he's kind of acting on fear and adrenaline and stalks over, sharp words on the tip of his tongue but as he gets closer he hears him say;

"Grief is love with nowhere to go... it's okay to feel sad and miss your mom..."

And then the guy is looking up and meeting Jake's eyes and he looks sad and Jake's fear/anger just dies in the face of it, but he manages to croak out that he was worried about where they'd run off to. Then the guy is standing, reaching out his hand, introducing himself as Bradley, and Jake manages to say his name...

"I know who you are Dr Seresin. I think everyone in a two-hundred-mile radius knows who you are."

Jake's not sure how to take that, but he nods, asks the kids if they want to go on some of the rides and then Jake's telling Bradley it was nice to meet him, Bradley returning the sentiment with bland politeness that Jake finds annoying for some reason he can't pinpoint. Then Jake's leading his kids away;

"Coach B doesn't have a mom or a dad... they both died when he was a kid."

The rest of the time at the fair Jake learns that Coach B is the baseball coach at the school (middle child LOVES baseball), so Jake assumes he's also a teacher at the school. So Jake does the community minded thing and joins the PTA, because he's got to meet other parents. Maybe he'll meet the teachers.

He doesn't.

Or at least, not the one that has maybe sort of piqued his interest.

He's not going to be so obvious as to ASK, also he's pretty fucking busy, three kids, his job, a house which has a yard that he has to maintain. So he doesn't have much time to himself anyway, but sometimes at night he wonders. Daydreams. Gets annoyed at himself for even thinking about it.

Despite all that he finds himself agreeing to help with the school fundraiser, which includes a carwash from the county volunteer fire brigade members and Jake hasn't seen any of them, but he also knows he's probably being pranked somehow and they're probably all friends with the old retired doctor who has actually been a godsend, covering night-time callouts and any weekend emergencies because apparently he simply can't retire.

Now Jake doesn't really use his car other than to get groceries every weekend from the town over which is large enough to have a decent sized grocery store. So his car is dusty, but getting is washed seems like an exercise in futility but he also knows the $10 will go directly to the school so he goes along with it...

And then he's there. Bradley. Coach B. Wearing a wet t-shirt and just as wet jeans and even if it weren't wet Jake's pretty sure it would be tight anyway and he makes some type of embarrassing sound. And Bradley is apparently one of the volunteer firefighters. Jake really didn't need to add fuel to the fire of his imagination and he feels all sorts of weird for having several indecent thoughts while in public and also with his kids there. He was late figuring out his sexuality, raised and expected to marry a woman and that's what he went with, but he figured it out eventually. Wonders if he'd have figured it out sooner if he'd been faced with this...

And thus begins this delicate dance between them, because Bradley is suddenly fucking everywhere Jake looks. Jake does finally learn that Bradley's REAL job is an agricultural pilot, and that he works all over, but this is where he calls home. And Jake is all like 'I've made a friend... it's all he is' and Bradley is also reading from the same playbook. But they're watching each other.

Meanwhile the entire town is watching them.

Jake's kids are watching.

There's taking things slow and then there's letting the glaciers win by a landslide...

(Townsfolk are split on WHY they're going so slow. Public opinion is split on they're being slow because Jake's grieving his late wife (when in fact Jake's been divorced for five years...), versus going slow because they don't want the kids to feel uncomfortable, versus pretending they're just friends because they're worried the generally conservative townsfolk will be unaccepting - cue said townsfolk sticking rainbow stickers up in shop windows and bumper stickers because they refuse to lose the doctor or Bradley because they think they're bigots.)

And then it's a passing comment from someone, not even to Jake himself, he just overhears it, about how Bradley and Jake are together and he's like WE ARE??? SINCE WHEN???

And he's not going to confront Bradley about it, but he does ask the kids if they think he and Bradley are dating (and there's been a whole lot of emotional upheaval in the last 12-18 months, but they're slowly getting there, Bradley has been helping obviously). Anyway, kids are all looking at Jake like he's stupid.

"Are you not dating Coach B?"

And Jake's like... huh. Well.

"No... I don't think so?"

"You don't sound so sure..."

And really, Jake isn't sure anymore.

"Would that be okay?"

Again they're all looking at him like he's stupid and Jake's like... okay. They are definitely my kids.

Now he just needs to figure out a way to ask Bradley out.

On a proper date.