Denise, that bitch on tumblr

TGM AU - Jake/Bradley

themes: single dad Jake, friends to exes to friends (to lovers), Daggers as found family

"Jake's being evicted," Nat greets Bradley when he opens the door. "He and Louise need a place to stay."

She's already squeezing past him, shrugging out of her jacket like she means business and throwing it on the couch on her way to the back of the house before Bradley can process her words. There's a room there that’s supposed to be an office but Bradley had no use for it, so it's been mostly used for storage and the occasional overnight guest that didn’t want to share his bed.

"Wait, what?" Bradley follows her down the hallway, trying to make sense of everything. "I thought he had the rent figured out. He told me so!"

"You know how he is. He probably hoped for a last minute miracle and now his dumb ass – and his daughter's – are sitting on the street."

Nat steps into the office slash storage room and puts her hands on her hips. "How can one person collect so much useless stuff, Bradshaw?"

"Y'know," Jake said, sounding sleepy and comfortable. His head was on Bradley's chest, his soft strands tickling Bradley's chin. Jake's feet were somewhere to the side, both of them sprawled out on the floor. Bradley tightened his arm around his husband's chest and hummed for Jake to go on.

"I thought this might be kitschy," Jake said. "But I think she's gonna like it."

"She's gonna love it," Bradley said.

They had found a pack of glow in the dark stars in an old box in Bradley's storage when they had hunted for Bradley's old crib in there.

He had remembered immediately how his mom had put up the glowing stickers for him as a child and how much he had loved looking up at the "night sky" every time he had gone to bed.

Their daughter was about to be born within the next couple of days and with the stars now up on the ceiling, they had finally finished setting up her nursery.

Bradley came back to his shared office with Jake to see the other Lieutenant Commander sit in his desk chair, balancing his feet on Bradley's desk, hands folded in his lap and a gleeful smirk on his face. Bradley stopped in his tracks, considering the fact that Hangman looking that smug couldn’t mean anything good for him.

"Why is your ass in my seat, Hangman?"

Bradley sighed and walked around his desk, ready to physically remove the man if necessary. He had just gotten a talking to from Cyclone, which had resulted in him doing overtime today to get his long overdue paperwork filed. He wasn’t in the mood for Hangman's shenanigans.

Instead of responding, Hangman nodded at something on his desk Bradley hadn’t caught sight of between the mountains of paper. Cyclone was right to call him out on it, but he didn’t have to like it.

In between lay an envelope with a red lipstick print addressed to "Lieutenant Commander Bradshaw". Bradley blushed, throwing a glance at Hangman and swiping a hand over his mustache.

"What is this? A prank?"

"Looks like you've got an admirer, Rooster." Hangman put his feet down and made space for Bradley behind the desk, his eyes curious. "Well? Open it."

Bradley ignored him.

"Can I have my seat back?" he asked, or rather demanded. He raised an impatient eyebrow when Hangman didn’t move.

"Come on. I need to know who it is."

"Why? You jealous?"

Bradley sighed again, even more dramatically. He picked the envelope up, a little curious himself.

The lip print looked like a woman's and he wondered what fellow servicewoman's idea of flirting this was. He was usually pretty good at picking up on flirtations; and he hadn’t had a flirtatious encounter in a while. Maybe he had missed some clues.

"Maybe."

When Bradley glanced over, Hangman just smirked. It looked a little strained though.

Interesting! Did Hangman have a crush on someone from base?

That didn’t sound right to Bradley. He had never seen Hangman flirt with anyone seriously, or take someone home from the Hard Deck for that matter. Now that he thought about it, he got even curiouser. Why had he just never thought about who or what Hangman might be into? That box had sure been opened now, though. He would have to ask Nat for some deets; she always knew who was into whom.

Since Hangman didn’t move, Bradley took the second best option and leaned back against his desk. He opened the letter.

A laugh escaped him as he read the note. He held it out of reach when Hangman leaned over to sneak a look at it.

"What does it say?" Hangman huffed.

"None of your business, asshole."

"It's from the lunch lady, isn’t it. I see her sneaking you extra heaps of mashed potatoes all the time."

Bradley smirked and opened his drawer to put the envelope and note inside.

"Betsy does love me," Bradley said.

Hangman glared at him. "So what, you gonna get off your perch for whoever that is from?" Hangman nodded at the now closed drawer. Bradley noticed a weird edge in his voice. He put more stocks in the Hangman Has A Crush idea.

"You seem strangely invested in my love life, Hangman.“

"I just need to know who looked at your ugly mutt and thought, I gotta ride that mustache."

Bradley guffawed and shoved at Hangman to finally free the seat. "Can't see the appeal, huh?"

There was a moment before Hangman waved hin off. "Nah," he said and got up. He sent a last glance at the closed drawer as he made his way back over to his own desk. "Must have a case of really bad taste, though."

_____

The note.

Dear Bradley,

I paid Plato five bucks to put this on your desk to fuck with Hangman.

Yours truly,

Nat 💋

____

Author's note