SFGurl

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

“Reid’s with them?”

Your pen stopped moving.

Not enough for anyone else to notice, maybe. But enough.

Jake noticed.

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?”

Jake’s eyes cut to you.

You couldn’t hold his gaze.

That was answer enough.

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 in his truck because you always forgot one.

But you had never said boyfriend.

Evan knew he had found something. You saw it in his face.

Jake didn’t hesitate.

“Yeah,” he said. “I am.”

Your chest went tight.

Evan looked back at you. “That true?”

You tried to answer. Nothing came out.

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. “You still do this? Make someone else clean up after you, then act like you had no choice?”

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.”

“Don’t,” 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 once. “No.”

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.”

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 didn’t 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.”

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.”

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.

“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. “You always did like making things bigger than they needed to be.”

You swallowed. “Go back inside.”

“See?” Evan said to Jake. “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. You always liked someone doing the dirty work.”

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. “You always were 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.

Graduation had the whole school buzzing with excitement, you included. Mainly because you were graduating with your two best friends by your side, Katie and Bob Floyd. They weren't twins but they were Irish twins, even if that meant Katie was still 17 when you three graduated, and wasn't allowed to go on the trip that you and Bob were going on.

You two had been planning it since you learned Bob was going to boot camp instead of college. The two of you were taking a road trip to Yellowstone and planning on camping there for a few days before heading back. It's part of the reason you two decided to take Bob's truck instead of your small car.

The drive was part of the fun, the two of you using your mom's gas station credit card for gas with her permission. It truly wasn't a surprise that you two spent the whole time singing and making jokes.

You both spent the time visiting the sights and spending a lot of time just sitting together at the campsite in front of the fire. Bob was currently tending to it while you sat wrapped in a thick blanket. Bob sat down next to you and you wrapped the blanket around him to keep warm together. "Are you scared?" you whispered, your voice almost carried away by the wind.

Bob looked over and down at you, his face pensive. "Not of going, but of leaving," Bob answered.

You leaned closer to Bob, his body heat seeping into you. "I'm scared of both," you admitted softly. "I'm scared you'll come back different and I won't know you anymore."

"Even if I change, I'll still be the same Bob to you. I promise you'll always know me," Bob muttered, wrapping his arm around your waist.

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You took a deep breath and walked into The Hard Deck, a part of you knew Bob would be there but you also wanted to surprise Katie. You saw both Floyds standing in the back by a pool table that was also surrounded by men, and one woman, who you assumed was Bob's team.

Katie was speaking when you walked up. "No, Tulip and Bob don't get along anymore," Katie said.

You had a smile when you wrapped your arms around Katie's shoulders from behind. "I didn't know you were talking about me," you mused, laughing as Katie spun around to hug you.

Your eyes caught Bob's for a moment, a tight lipped smile on your face before you looked back to Katie. "What are you doing here?" Katie squealed.

You shrugged, stepping all the way down the stairs so you weren't having to look down at her. "Oh you know, just got a promotion," you hummed, crossing your arms. "I'm moving here."

Katie squealed again, pulling you into another hug. "Are you seriously moving here?" Bob asked, his voice clipped.

Katie rolled her eyes as you raised an eyebrow. "I am, looks like you're stuck with me again, Robert," you stepped closer to him, reaching up to grip his chin and tenderly running your thumb along his jawline. "Learn to unclench your jaw, it isn't healthy for you, baby," you pouted before dropping your hand, clearly teasing about what the others have turned his call sign into. "I'm getting a drink!" You called over your shoulder as you walked off.

The Daggers were all watching you walk away before Jake whistled lowly. "How'd you piss her off? I'd like the same treatment," Jake teased. The glare Bob sent Jake's way was enough for everyone to understand in that moment you were off limits.

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You didn't exactly remember how you got conned into letting everyone help you finish moving in, but they were and you were grappling with the fact Bob was back in your space. You didn't hate him, as much as you made it seem like you did. Maybe that's why you subconsciously kept telling people what to do until Bob needed a task and the only one left was helping you build the vanity and chair in your bedroom.

That's how you got to where you were, with Bob sitting on the floor and building the vanity. You had tried to help, but it seemed to be better if you just stuck with folding laundry and let Bob build it on his own. The others peeked in from time to time, always making sure the silence was because you both were still just doing your own thing and not because one of you killed the other. "You know, I never took you for someone to have a vanity," Bob finally spoke, tightening a screw.

You scoffed, keeping your eyes on the shirt in your hands. "Why's that? You think I'm too ugly or something?" you spit out, worried that, yeah, Bob thought you were repulsive.

Bob was silent for a moment, something written in his expression you missed by refusing to look at him. "No," he said almost too quietly for you to hear. "You're gorgeous, you just didn't care to spend all that time on makeup in high school."

Something in your eased a little, you realistically knew Bob didn't find you repulsive. You knew Bob was too nice to ever find anyone not even a little attractive, but to have him tell you that you were gorgeous? That was almost too much for you to handle. "Things change," you offered softly, the most civil you two have been in years.

Bob looked at you then, his expression open and soft with exhaustion written on the edges. "Yeah, I guess they do." The space between you two felt bigger than it was, like Bob was looking across a chasm for you when really he was only a few feet away. It was odd, being so close physically but so far in reality.

You finally looked at Bob, bone deep exhaustion and hope written across your features as you did. A part of you wanted to close the space, to rush into Bob's arms and hug him, but you stayed planted on your bed. "When you're done, you can just put it against that wall. I'll figure out where I actually want it later," you whispered, looking away again.

You swore you could hear Bob's heart break from your spot and you felt horrible. "Figures, you're scared of commitment," he muttered.

Hiding the way you wanted to sob at his words, you huffed and rolled your eyes. You let the next words slip before you could stop them. "If I recall correctly, I'm not the one afraid of it, you are," you shot back.

Bob went to respond, his mouth open and the response right there, but Katie popped in at that moment. "Oh good, you haven't killed each other. Tulip, will you come help me with your kitchen really fast?" Katie asked, her smile small but sincere.

You stood, sparing a glance at Bob while you did so. "Yeah, lead the way," you told her.

Bob watched you leave after his sister. If he closed his eyes, he could almost make himself believe he was back in high school and sitting in his room while you and Katie laughed in hers. If Bob closed his eyes, he could convince himself he was back to when he could hold you close and not be scared you'll snap at him.

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It wasn't new for you to join the Daggers and Katie at the beach, not after you had been living in San Diego for two months now. Especially not when it was the weekend and you didn't live too far from where they liked to hang out. You were laughing as the others played football, choosing to lay on a towel and read a little.

It was getting late and the others had found a public fire pit empty. There were barely enough seats for everyone and you were rounding up the end of the group as you all walked. Bob ended up next to you while everyone talked about what seat they wanted. And you just couldn't help yourself when you turned towards Bob, raised your hand, and gripped his chin again. "If you weren't you, I'd say this would be the seat I'd want to take," you muttered, pausing your walk with Bob.

The others were safely away from you two, watching the scene from afar and being able to pick up what you two were talking about. "You could still take it, if you're ready for that kind of commitment," Bob shot back, his eyebrow raised.

"Do they realize how flirty they are?" Jake asked Katie quietly, making sure his voice didn't carry.

Katie blinked and heaved a sigh, annoyance lacing her tone. "I have no clue, I can't tell if they want to fuck or fight half the time," she responded.

By the time you and Bob finally reached the others, there were two seats left. Which put you and Bob on the same small bench together. You bit your tongue and sat down, trying to not think about Bob's warm thigh pressed against yours.

All while Bob was trying not to think about how easy it would be to throw his arm around you and pull you into his side. How easy it would be to keep you warm from the late nigh breeze with the warmth from his body. How easy it would be to press a kiss to your head as the others told stories that may or may not be over exaggerated. Did Jake really hook up with five people in one night or did he just like the way everyone looked at him with various looks of disbelief?

Suspending your faux hatred for the man next to you, you leaned into his space a little. You craved the warmth you felt radiating from him, the way he acted like a shield of sorts against the wind. Bob decided to finally give into his urge and take pity on you, throwing his arm around you and pulling you close. "This means nothing," Bob told you, trying to keep appearances.

You hummed a little. "Yeah, it means nothing," you agreed despite the way you cuddled into his side more. Despite the looks the others threw your way, but said nothing in fear that you two would start fighting in that weird flirty way you always did.

And for that night, where you were against Bob's side like you belonged and Bob's arm wrapped around you like it was always meant to be, you both pretended that was the normal. Both pretended that it meant nothing, but knowing it meant everything to be this close again.

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You watched as Bob talked to a girl at the bar, both of them red cheeked and laughing. You were nursing a beer and a permanently broken heart. It sucked, loving someone while pretending you hated them. But Bob hurt you, you couldn't forget that. Even as you downed your beer and stood, walking off to the back deck.

The breeze felt nice, even if it was a little cooler compared to the other nights. You missed the back door opening and someone walking out until Bradley was standing next to you. "Are you good?" he asked, his eyes out on the horizon like yours was.

There was a beat of silence before you answered. "Just needed a break," you offered, your voice soft and broken.

Bradley nodded, looking at you with thoughtful eyes. "Does it have anything to do with a certain WSO flirting with that pretty brunette at the bar?"

You huffed a laugh and forcibly rolled your eyes. "What Bob does isn't any of my concern," you hissed.

The laugh you heard was oddly comforting, you could vaguely remember the laughter you heard from an old video that Bradley and Pete watched once. Bradley and his father laughed the same, but Bradley had the softer edges from his mother too. "Sure, and he didn't look like his whole world crumbled when he looked for you only to not see you once she left him alone," Bradley had a raised eyebrow. You went to answer when the door opened again, Bob standing there looking like he wanted to interrupt but wasn't sure he should. "I've gotta piss," Bradley announced, leaving you and Bob alone.

Bob joined you at the railing, his brows furrowed. "Why are you out here?" Bob asked.

You scoffed, looking back to the horizon. "Why do you care?" you questioned. "I thought you were having fun with that brunette," you added, trying not to sound too hurt.

It was Bob's turn to scoff, his forearms resting on the railing by yours. "She was nice, but she wasn't interested in more than a night."

"What? Is Robert Floyd too good for a one night stand all of a sudden?" You turned towards him, crossing your arms. "Or are you scared that she'll tell you it was all a mistake in the morning and leave you heartbroken?"

Bob was blinking at you for a moment before anger crossed his face. "Oh, you're one to talk. You've been flirting with my friends left and right, but you've turned down each of them," he accused, his voice sharp. "So what? Are you too good for a one night stand? Are you scared they'll say it was a mistake?"

Those words hurt you more than Bob could realize, your eyes stinging with tears. "You don't get to say that," you whispered, stepping closer. "You don't get to say that I'm scared of someone I trust saying I was a mistake, not after what you did," you hissed before leaving him alone on the back deck.

You were out in the front parking lot by the time Bob caught up with you again. "Tulip!" Bob called your name.

"Oh, fuck off, Bob!" you shouted, spinning and catching sight of all the others. "Just leave me alone."

"No! You don't just drop that and leave."

"Oh, but you could? You could drop it and pack up and leave for boot camp?" You walked up to him, poking him in the chest as the others closed in scared you'd actually start to hit him. "You act all nice and kind, like you've done no wrong. You act like you're a saint who cares about others all the time and never wants to make someone uncomfortable, but I know the truth. I know the real you, Robert Floyd, and you can't pull that shit on me. You can't pretend to be all high and mighty to me, ok?" You didn't let him answer before you stormed off, getting into an Uber.

Katie looked away from the car that you were leaving in to her brother. "What the fuck did you do, Bob?" she asked, her eyebrows raised and arms crossed.

"Honestly? I'm not sure," Bob responded, the truth because he really didn't know what you were talking about. Especially since he was convinced it was you that was pretending to be someone you weren't.

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When you were invited to go to a year round haunted house by Bradley, you didn't think Bob would be there, let alone that you'd end up paired with Bob. Which was mortifying all in its own, not including the fact that you were paired with the one person who knew how badly you jumped when you got scared. That you got paired with the one person who knew you'd feel more comfortable holding his hand. So, of course, despite the anger that was still between you two, Bob let you hold his hand. Every time you jumped, Bob laughed a little but made sure you let you move closer to him, and position himself between you and the scare actor as you walked passed them.

Bob knew you were going to be there, Bradley had told him the plan everyone came up with. Bob was against it, putting you in a situation where you were forced to lean on him for comfort while being scared seemed a little too cruel. But everyone else was already paired up and in line, so you had to pair up with Bob. Katie had told everyone how badly you jumped when scared and you stop fully paying attention to your surrounding when you're scared too.

It was that recipe of things that had you tripping in one of the rooms, falling to the floor with a dull thud as you used your arms to make sure you didn't hit your head. Bob and one of the scare actors helped you up, but you hissed when you tried to put pressure on your ankle, tears welling up in your eyes. "You two can leave through here," the scare actor let you know, opening an emergency exit door with a comforting smile even though they were covered in makeup.

Bob and you thanked them as Bob helped you hobble to his truck, his arm firmly curled around your waist. You wanted to say some snarky remark about how you might think he loves you by the way he was holding you, but the stressed look on Bob's face made you swallow it.

You reached his truck, thankful you took an Uber now, and whimpered when your ankle accidentally hit the side of the door. "Hey, it's ok, I'm going to take you to urgent care, ok?" Bob wiped one of your tears off your face.

You wanted to offer him a smile but you, wanting to deflect, spoke before thinking. "You don't have to pretend like you care," you told him.

Bob sighed, shutting the door before getting into his seat. You pursed your lips and tried not to cry over the pain radiating through your ankle. "I do care about you," Bob whispered after a few moments, his voice soft. "I know I give you shit and I know you hate me, but I do care." You stayed silent, too many thoughts running through your head and not enough to courage to voice any of them.

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The doctor's office was white and stale smelling, which was better than you thought it might be since it was an urgent care. How you got stuck with Bob being the only one there when you hurt your ankle, you'd curse out the entity that was in charge of that decision when you found out. But for now, at least he was keeping all remarks to himself as he helped your hobble into the back before they placed you in a wheelchair.

They just had to take your word on how tall and how much you weighed for the intake form before you where wheeled into a room. There you waited until you got seen by which point you had already figured it was only a sprain, which you were right. The entire time Bob and you had not exchanged a single word, both choosing to stay quiet instead. "Now, you'll be able to move around with crutches but you'll also need to wear this brace," the nurse helped you put the brace on. "Though this may be a good time to get your boyfriend to help around the house more," she winked.

"Oh, we're-"

"I was already planning on it," Bob cut you off as you glared at him. "Thank you," he thanked the nurse before you two were leaving.

Bob's truck was in sight and it boiled your blood, reminding you of when you two used to get along. "Why the fuck did you let her think we were dating?" you hissed, looking over at Bob for a second.

That was a mistake since you almost tripped over a rock with the crutches, only for Bob to catch you. "Because it was easier than explaining that we actually hate each other, but I was the only one who could help you," Bob snapped back, opening the passenger door and helping you in.

You watched Bob shut the door, place your crutches in the back, and get into the driver's seat. "I don't hate you," you whispered, your voice small. "You piss me off, and sometimes I want to strangle you. But I only strongly dislike you," you clarified.

Bob's sigh filled the truck and you feared you just told the truth only for his to hurt you even more. "Could have fooled me," he muttered, his blinker the only sound in the truck for a moment. "I don't hate you either, I never have," was all Bob said.

The rest of the ride was quiet, even as Bob helped you into your house. You paused at the door, hearing Bob's footsteps already heading back to his truck. "Thank you," you called to him, shutting the door before Bob could even look back at you.

But Bob did look back and he caught a small glimpse of you before the door shut. A part of Bob told him that this was you closing the door for good, that any hope he had of you two going back to how you were was gone. But he refused to let that happen, he refused to lose you forever. All he needed was an opening, one where he could talk to you without anyone else around. An opening where he could figure out why you hated him so much.

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Katie had texted you a while ago asking if you needed anything, you sent back a small list and told you that she could drop it off tomorrow. She sent back a thumbs up and told you that she'd be there for lunch tomorrow with everything that you needed. You just wanted to spend the first day you didn't need crutches alone and able to hobble around your house without someone worrying about you falling over.

The TV was droning on but you had your eyes on the front door, you had heard the lock click open and now you were waiting to see if it was your demise or just someone coming over. Bob walked in and you couldn't tell which option was correct, even as he held a bag full of the things that you needed. You were laid out on the couch still as Bob put the bag down in your kitchen and walked into your living room, the dull throb in your ankle ever present. "We need to talk," Bob's voice was stern but something in his eyes told you that he'd leave the moment you told him to.

Still, you couldn't help the next words that came out of your mouth. You were scared after being so vulnerable with him in the car a few days ago, you didn't know how else to deal with it. "So you decided now was the time? When I can't walk away?" You crossed your arms and stared at him.

Bob heaved a heavy sigh, his back straightening a little. "I'll go if you tell me to," there was a pause, "do you want me to?"

You blinked at him, slowly shaking your head as you sat up. Even upset with him, you never wanted Bob to leave you. "What do you want to talk about?" Bob watched as you made sure your ankle was still propped up even as you shifted positions, your blanket being shifted with you as if it were a shield of sorts.

Then, once you were settled, Bob sat down on the other end of your couch, letting you rest your leg on him when he took over the spot the pillow was. "That night, did you mean it when you said you loved me?"

Tears pricked at the back of your eyes and you could feel your throat wanting to close up. "I don't want to talk about that night," you muttered, your voice thick.

"But I do," Bob didn't raise his voice but you flinched like he had anyway. Not because he sounded mean or because he made some wild gesture, but because Bob sounded like a broken man pleading for salvation.

"I did," you admitted softly, uncrossing your arms to mess with the blanket you had thrown over your lap. "I always have. Even when I tried so hard not love you, and believe me when I said I tried hard, I have always loved you."

You figured now was a good time as any to be honest, even if you were scared. And Bob figured now was the time to finally get the answer he had been looking for. "Then what did I do? Why do you always run from me?"

"Because you said it was a mistake," your voice cracked and your eyes watered. "You woke up the next day and said that it was a mistake. You took my virginity Bob, I love you and I trusted you, and you told me that you loved me too. Only to say it was a mistake." Suddenly it all made sense, the way you kept throwing around him being scared of someone saying being with him was a mistake. How you kept saying he had commitment issues. When you blew up after watching him flirt with a girl and told him that you knew the real him, even if you were wrong.

"I didn't," Bob paused with a sigh, getting off the couch to kneel on the floor next to you but making sure to replace the pillow under your ankle. He reached out to wipe your tears before speaking again. "I didn't mean that what we did was a mistake," he whispered, remorse etched into every inch of his expression. "I meant I should have waited until we got back home, I should have taken you out to dinner before getting us a hotel room so we had a real bed away from our parents. It shouldn't have happened at the camp grounds of Yellowstone on an air mattress while the two of us were freezing. You deserved better than what I gave you."

Something in your chest cracked and you reached out to grip Bob's shirt, pulling him to you so you could bury your face into his neck. "I'm so sorry," you sobbed, holding him tighter. You truly felt horrible, you had spent so long pretending to hate him over a misunderstanding. You had wasted so much time because you were scared to bring up the morning everything changed. You took what you heard and came to a, understandable, conclusion.

Bob held you to him, already adjusting you two so he could sit on the couch with you in his lap and your ankle elevated. "No, I'm sorry. I thought you understood what I meant and it never even crossed my mind how it sounded to you. God, I was always wondering what I did to lose you after finally being able to tell you that I love you," Bob let your keep your face buried in his neck.

The air settled around you two, both of you processing everything said. Finally, you lifted your head to look at Bob with puffy eyes and tear stained cheeks. "I'm sorry I've spent so long being a bitch," you whispered, your chest lighter than it has been in years.

"Hey, don't call the love of my life a bitch," Bob whispered back, a teasing lit to his voice that made you laugh a little. "And I'm sorry for being mean back."

You smiled at Bob, a real one no matter how weak it was. "Where does this leave us?"

"Wherever we'd like it to," Bob hummed, smoothing a hand down your arm so he could lace your fingers together. "But I just want to you to know you're it for me."

"You're it for me too, Robert Floyd," you leaned in and connected your lips for the first time in eleven years.

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The Hard Deck was humming with a lingering layer of excitement, fleet week had just ended and all the regulars were back in their rightful places. Bob was sitting in the back with Katie as everyone talked about various topic, not a more than three people talking about the same thing. You weren't there yet, something everyone picked up on. Bob could hear the murmurs over who was going to bring you up and if you were coming, so he jumped in before they could say anything. "I was going to wait until Tulip got here, but since she's late," Bob really did try his best to sound pissed off at the thought of you. "I've got a girlfriend," Bob announced.

Katie did her absolute best with hiding her disappointment, but Bob could see through her. "Congrats, man!" Mickey was the loudest out of the others congratulating him, and Katie finally joined in.

Bob let them before speaking again, checking his phone to see that you were texting him about being 10 minutes out. "Actually, can she come tonight?"

Everyone exchanged looks, wondering if it was be smart to let Bob's girlfriend and you be in the same building. "If you're sure that her meeting Tulip is a good idea, then yeah," Bradley spoke for everyone.

"Great, I'll let her know," Bob gave them a thumbs up before sending you a message that they all fell for it. There was a tension in everyone but Bob while they all waited for either you or Bob's girlfriend to show up. Bob almost felt bad, but these were the same people who were the reason you were currently sporting a sprained ankle over them trying to get you two together.

Finally, the tension snapped. "Are you completely sure that you want your girlfriend and Tulip to meet this early?" Katie asked her brother.

Bob didn't answer her since his phone went off, only for it to be you sending Bob a message that you were here. "She's outside, wait here," Bob told them, heading towards the front door. The others watched him with various degrees of concern.

You were getting out of the Lyft you took from work when Bob exited the doors, your driver helping you out. "Thank you," you smiled at her and slowly walked over to Bob.

Bob met you halfway, he knew you didn't need them anymore but he had more peace of mind when you were still using the crutches. "How are you?" Bob asked.

You hummed, leaning in to kiss him. "Better now that I don't have to use the crutches and I know you're taking me home."

Bob led you inside, keeping you hidden from the others until you reached the back. "I thought you were bringing in your girlfriend," Jake said, leaning against the pool table.

You crossed your arms and leaned against Bob, his arm firmly curling around your waist now that you were stationary. "He did," you said simply, barely finishing your two words before the others were congratulating the two of you loudly. Bradley and Jake both loudly confessing they had a bet going on about you two.

Katie squealed and hugged you tightly, even as Bob kept his hand on you just in case you lost your balance. "Oh my god! I can't believe it," she giggled, pulling away to look at you two together. "I'm so glad you two fixed whatever happened."

You smiled, looking over at Bob to already find him looking at you. "Me too," you reached up to grip Bob's chin, tenderly running your thumb over his jawline.

"Oh god," Bradley groaned, "you two are about to be so much worse than you were before."

Both of you shrugged, but it was Bob that answered, "We absolutely will be." Bob leaned down to press a kiss a gentle kiss to your lips while the others cheered despite the fact they were wondering if you two getting together was worth the PDA you were about to put them through.

➽──────────────❥

When you moved there, it didn't take you long until you met Bob and the dagger squad. You were walking down the beach. They were playing some kind of football that you didn't recognize, and the ball flew into your direction. You threw the ball back to them and Bob caught the ball which then helped him to win the game. You chuckled as you saw how they celebrated when Bob won. You started to continue your walk at the beach when suddenly you heard someone running behind you.

"Hey wait." You heard and turned around. It was the cute guy that caught the ball when you threw it over to them.

"Hi." He said shy when he saw that you really turned around and stopped.

"Hi." You said back a bit nervous. You talked for a bit and Bob invited you to go to the hard deck with them. Normally, you wouldn’t say yes so easily but there was something about this group and about Bob that made you say yes. You spend the night at the hard deck with them, getting to know them and somehow being there with them felt right.

With every day that you spend with them you got closer and they felt like a family. All the nights that you spend with them at the hard deck, all the movie nights, the days that you spend at the beach or the times when you would just sit together and enjoy each other’s company made you feel like you finally belong somewhere.

From the beginning Bradley felt like an older brother to you, he always wants to make sure that you’re comfortable and that you’re not feeling like an outsider. The first time that you noticed that was when you were at the hard deck, some of the others were getting some drinks or haven’t arrived yet. It was only you, Bradley and Jake. A guy came over and wanted to flirt with you, but you were not interested, Bradley noticed it first and quickly walked closer to you and put his arm around your shoulder and made sure that this guy leaves you alone.

Natasha quickly became your best friend, you started to spend a lot of time together, sometimes you go shopping together or you just talk. It’s nice to have her as a friend, you can talk about things with each other that you can’t talk about with the others. When you’re together, you’re always laughing and teasing the guys which annoys them a bit.

Jake is always flirting with you, but it is always in a fun way and you both know that there is nothing more than friends going on between you two.

Mickey, Javy and Reuben are always fun to hang out with. You enjoy their company and the inside jokes that you have with them always make you laugh.

And then there is Bob. Every time that you are near him you start to feel butterflies in your stomach, whenever he laughs you start to smile and then you quickly looked away to hide it, but Bob noticed, of course, he did. Bob noticed everything, your cute smile, the way you start to ramble when you talk about something that you love, the way that you always start to smile when you hear your favorite song somewhere and he also notices how you always get quieter when something was wrong. On those moments he tries to be there for you without making a big deal out of it. Sometimes he would lead you away to somewhere quiet, to just sit there or he starts to tell you something to distract you. Bob always wants to make sure that you feel safe, and he definitely feels more than what a friend should feel.

One evening you and Bob sneaked away from the others and Bob asked you out on a date. Even though you were so in love with him you hesitated at first, there were things from your past that kept you from saying yes.

“We can take it slow, we don’t have to rush anything.” Bob said gently without pushing you as he looked at you with that soft smile. That same soft smile that always gives you butterflies and wants you to be closer to him.

Everything felt right and like you finally belong somewhere. You have Bob, your caring, sweet and perfect boyfriend and you have found your friends that feel like family. Everything was going good until there was suddenly someone from your past. You were out with the others when it happened.

A local festival has opened in San Diego, and it was Mickey’s idea to go there together. After you went on some of the rides together you walked in the directions where some of the booths were to get something to eat. Bradley and Jake were going at the front, arguing over something stupid which made Natasha roll her eyes with a smirk and Javy chuckled. Mickey and Reuben were talking about a new movie, and you and Bob were walking a bit behind. Bob was gently holding your hand and telling you about a book that he was reading when you suddenly heard a voice that sounded so familiar. Then another voice appeared and you froze, memories came back and suddenly it felt like you were back at your childhood home.

It couldn’t be them, right? You were so far away from your home…why would they be here? They didn’t even know that you’re here in San Diego.

“You okay, baby?” Bob suddenly asked softly and with a hint of worry in his voice which made you look over to him.

“Oh, umm yeah.” You mumbled and suddenly noticed how far away the others were and realized that you had stopped walking when you heard the voice and how you held onto Bob’s hand tighter.

“You sure?” Bob asked and gently reached to tuck a piece of hair behind your ear.

“I just thought that I heard someone.” You said and Bob nodded slowly. He was worried and a bit confused about why hearing someone made you react in that way, but he didn’t want to push you, especially not here.

Later at night when you were cuddling in bed with Bob’s arms wrapped around you, you finally decided to tell him about why you moved here. You told him everything. You told Bob about your parents, how they never supported you, how they never really showed you love, about how they made you feel like you are not good enough and about how you finally feel at home, here with him and with the others. With every word that you said Bob started to hold you a bit tighter. He placed a soft kiss on your forehead that lingered there a bit longer.

“I wish you didn’t have to go through that.” He whispered and placed another kiss on your forehead.

“You’re enough and you’re so loved, maybe not by your parents but from me and those other idiots. I love you.” Bob said with so much love and gently placed a kiss on your shoulder and then on your cheek. Then you looked up at him and gave him a slight smile.

“I love you too.” You said and placed your hands on his cheek to pull him closer, Bob smiled and leaned closer to gently kiss you.

A few days later you and Bob were at a coffee shop, you were having a good time when you suddenly saw your parents walking past the coffee shop. Your grip on Bob's hand tightened and your smile dropped.

"Love?" Bob asked and you looked back at him.

"They're really here."

"Your parents?" Bob asked and you nodded slowly.

“Yeah, they just walked past.” You said and he put his arm around you, pulling you closer to him.

"I've got you, you don't have to face them alone." Bob whispered and pressed a soft kiss to the side of your head.

It was a sunny day, and you were sitting at a blanket at the beach watching Bob and the others play dogfight football. You were wearing one of Bob's oversized shirts, looking at them with a smile. You were so focused on them that you didn't notice the people that walked in your direction and then stopped right in front of you.

"Y/N?" The person said in that familiar voice and it immediately made you freeze. You looked up and your breathing started to go faster as you suddenly saw your parents standing in front of you.

"What are you doing here?" You asked and stood up from the blanket.

Bob was in the middle of the game when he looked over at you and saw what was happening. Bob was too far away to see who you were talking to, but he immediately started to worry when he noticed how tense your shoulders were and that your hands started to shake. Then you looked over to them and your gaze searched for him, Bob knew that something was wrong. He didn't care about the game anymore and started to quickly jog towards you.

"Bob?" Mickey shouted and the others looked at Bob confused as he suddenly jogged away. But Bob didn't care to explain, getting to you was more important.

The moment Bob reached you, his hand instantly wrapped around you, and he pulled you closer to him. Silently telling you that he is here now and that you're not alone.

"And who are you?" Your dad asked and looked at Bob with a raised eyebrow.

"Robert Floyd and you must be her parents." Bob said and your dad gave him a short nod. Then your parents looked back at you.

"It hurt when you just moved away without getting in contact with us. We haven't heard from you in so long." You couldn't speak because you were so in shock about seeing them and your hand started to hold onto Bob's shirt tighter. Bob looked at you, gently rubbed the back of your hand and then he looked back at your parents.

"You were the one who hurt her first. Always giving her the feeling of not being good enough and not supporting her even though she is one of the smartest, funniest and one of the best people that I know." Bob said while looking at your parents and holding you close. Your mom took a deep breath and shook her head.

"That's not fair." She said and your dad nodded.

"It's not fair how you treated her." Bob said serious and raised his voice a bit. Your dad was about to say something when Bradley and the others walked over.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Bradley asked and it almost made you tear up as you saw them all standing there worried about you.

"Nothing, we're done here." Bob said.

"Done here? You don't get to decide that." Your dad said.

"You don't get to decide that either and you don't deserve our time." Bob said and turned to you.

"Come on baby, let's go." Bob whispered and started to lead you away. The others were confused but Bradley and Jake made sure that your parents didn't follow you. When you were a few more steps away from them and turned in the other direction Bob wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into a gentle and warm hug.

"I've got you my love." He whispered as he placed a soft kiss on your forehead. Your voice began to shake, and your hands held onto him tighter. Your chest tightened further and your hands started to tremble.

"Hey hey, love look at me." Bob said gently, you hesitated for a moment but then did as Bob said. Bob gently placed his hand on your cheek and his other hand reached for your hand to ground you.

"Let's take some deep breaths together, okay?" Bob said softly and you nodded slowly.

"Just follow my pace." Bob whispered steady and inhaled slowly. You tried to follow his breathing, but you couldn't do it, then you tried it again.

"That's it love." Bob whispered while his thumb gently brushed your cheek. He continued to take some deep breaths with you and with every breath you started to calm down a bit more.

"You're doing so well." Bob said quietly.

When your breathing finally started to balance out, Bob pressed a kiss to your forehead, lingering there for a moment. Then he pulled you back into his arms, holding you close and gently rubbing your back.

"I've got you baby, always." He softly said and your grip on him started to lose a bit. Bob pulled back just enough to look you in the eyes.

"Thank you." You said quietly and he gently squeezed your hand.

"You don't have to thank me, darling. I'll always be there for you. I love you."

"I love you too Bobby." He gave you a soft smile gently kissed your cheek.

"Can we go home?" You asked and he immediately nodded.

"Of course, yeah let's go home." Bob said and reached for your hand. You slowly walked back to your blanket where the others were standing, your parents were nowhere to be seen. Natasha was the first one who decided to say something.

"Are you okay?" She asked worried and you wanted to lie, to just brush it off but they knew you too well.

"You don't have to lie." Jake said gently and surprised the others with that a bit, but they all know that Jake has a soft spot for you, actually they all have.

"I'll be okay." You said and they nodded.

"We'll go home now." Bob announced and the others nodded. Mickey and Javy started to fold your blanket while Natasha reached for your bag and Bob's backpack. She handed both to Bob and gave you a soft smile.

"Take good care of her." Natasha said and the others nodded.

"Always." Bob said and then started to lead you to his car. He had his backpack around his shoulder, your bag in his hand and with his other hand he was holding your hand. When you were both in the car he immediately reached for your hand again, not wanting to let go of you. The drive to Bob and your place was quiet but it was a comfortable silence. Now and then, Bob looked over to you, to see if you’re okay and he gave your hand a gentle squeeze.

When you arrived at home Bob led you to the couch and guided you to sit on his lap and wrapped his arms around you. You laid your head on his chest, and he started to draw some gentle traces with his thumb on your arm, to soothe you. For a few minutes you just stayed there like this, holding each other and it made you feel safe in his arms.

“I didn’t think that seeing them again would make me feel like this.” You said and looked at him. Bob stopped the traces on your arm but only so that he could tuck a piece of hair behind your ear, his thumb lingering on your cheek for a moment.

“It’s okay, love. It’s normal that some memories came back and made you feel like this but you’re not alone, you’ve got me and I’m not going anywhere.” He said and pressed a soft kiss to your forehead.

“I’m so glad to have you. I love you.” You said.

“I love you too, so much.” Bob whispered and pulled you closer again, holding you tight.

Taglist:

@iristheplanet16 | @lovesflourmorethananything | @teascorner |

Notes: I wasn’t going to write something for Mother’s Day but I really missed this series and thought this would be sweet

This is technically a part of the Baby on Board series but can be read separately!!

This is dedicated to all the moms out there reading Bob Floyd fics on tumblr (if there even are any lmao, if so Hi!!)

I would dedicate this to my mom but idk if she would appreciate this lmao but just know I love my momma!! 🫶

-Iris/Mars

Words: 0.8k

You stretch, enjoying the sunshine streaming in through the window feeling weirdly really well rested. You reach over searching for your husband in bed only to find it empty. You frown, glancing over your shoulder confused as to where your husband was. Which reminds you that you hadn’t even heard Mad cry at all this morning which was strange. You slowly get out of bed rubbing your tired eyes and head into the kitchen.

Once there you found our missing husband and silent daughter, Madeline is in her portable bassinet while Bob is at the stove seemingly cooking something. Your eyes rake over your husband admiring the view of him, sweatpants and only an apron, dare you say your favorite look on him. “Wow it must be my lucky day if i’m greeted with this first thing in the morning” You call, walking further in the kitchen, stopping on your way to pick up Mad.

Bob whips his head around like he just got caught doing something he shouldn’t, he quickly does something on the stove and then turns around to face you. “Nope nope, back to bed” Bob replies quickly. He grabs Mad out of your arms and ushers you out of the kitchen. “Can’t let you spoil your surprise, go back to bed.” Bob instructs, gently nudging you back to your room.

You laugh but follow along confused. “Umm ok? Thank you? I’m not sure what this is for”

Bob makes you sit back down on the bed. “It’s Mother’s Day.” He replies as if it explains everything.

“Sweetheart what does that have to do with me-” You start to say but you cut yourself off. It’s Mother’s day, it’s officially your first Mother’s day as a mother. You melt at that realization. “Awww it’s my first official mothers day!” You gush taking the person that made you a mom out of Bob’s arms and hold her close.

“Yes it is and I'm trying to plan a Mother’s day surprise and you are trying to ruin it for yourself” Bob huffs “So please baby, stay in here. Relax, read a book, watch a movie, just stay in here and let me finish up my first surprise.”

You raise your eyebrow at the word ‘first’ but push it away. “Fine fine, i’ll stay here” You say settling back into bed, Mad still cradled in your arms.

“Good, It shouldn’t take long and also” Bob bent down and grabbed Mad out of your arms again. “I’m taking care of her today, It’s Mother’s day meaning you, the mother, shall rest while I, the father, shall take care of our darling daughter” Bob explained as if this was the most obvious thing.

You snort, “Ok fine, just as long as I take care of her on father’s day while you relax” You try to reason.

Bob just looks appalled at the idea “What?! No, I still take care of her on Father’s day, she’s who made me a father so I take care of her while you relax”

“Oh so I just never do anything? You do all the hard work” You question, eyebrow raised.

“Yeah yeah pretty much” Bob says with a shrug but breaks out into a dorky smile.

You roll your eyes but have a bright smile on your face “Oh get out of here before your surprise burns or something” You tease, gently smacking his arm. Bob just bends down to press a kiss to your cheek and exits the room moving Mad’s hand to wave goodbye and heads for the kitchen.

~~~

Almost an hour later Bob returns with a small charcuterie board of different fruits and breakfast items, with Mad attached to his hip “Happy Mother’s Day momma” he says, placing down the tray of food and setting Mad in her crib.

You stretch and sit up, “These are from the both of us” Bob says heading back into the hallway and returning with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and your favorite chocolates. “Believe it or not Mad picked the flowers, she made the cutest little grabby motion towards them and I just had to get it” Bob moved to set the vase on your nightstand

“Awww thank you baby! I love them so much” You lean in to press a quick kiss to his lips.

Bob moves to settle down at the edge of the bed putting your feet in his lap to start massaging them, "that's not all later we’re gonna go to that farmers market you love, then a picnic at the park, and to end the night Mad is gonna go have a little sleepover with grandma and grandpa” Bob sends you a dorky little wink that still ends up making your heart flutter and blush.

“Sounds perfect to me” You say with a bright smile

“Perfect day for the perfect momma” Bob gushes, moving to crawl up the bed. He presses a kiss to your lips “Happy Mother’s Day my love”

It was hard to see stars in Miramar, given the light pollution, but if you squinted enough, you could just make them out. You gazed up at the sky, letting your thoughts wander. You’d been at Top Gun for a couple of months now, which was sometimes hard to believe. Hard to believe you made it onto the Dagger Squad and that the Navy saw it fit to keep the squadron around for similarly dangerous missions.

Under Maverick’s tutelage, the Dagger Squad worked like a well-oiled machine, at least, it did now. It had been pretty rocky at the beginning, given how everyone was vying for the limited spots on the mission and whatever the hell Rooster and Hangman had going on. You couldn’t really picture yourself with any other team, though.

“Make out any constellations?” The voice roused you from your thoughts. You turned your head to the side and spotted Hangman walking up beside you, his shoes in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. Speak of the devil.

“You see right there?” You pointed into the sky, Hangman’s eyes following. “That’s Ursa Major and I think that one over there is Canis Major cause the brightest star is Sirius.” He sat beside you in the sand, silently handing you off the water. You took it, but didn’t comment.

“You good? You kinda dipped out without telling anyone,” he asked.

“Too stuffy in there. Plus, I never get to enjoy the sand like this.” To emphasize your point, you scooped a handful of damp sand and watched it fall from your fingers.

“Like what? All up in your ass crack?” Hangman laughed, showing off his teeth. You huffed out a laugh, not at all willing to stroke his ego with a real one. You couldn’t remember a time, if ever, that the two of you had had a one-on-one conversation. Usually, your interactions were limited to group settings, where he would say something stupid and slightly chauvinistic or shamelessly flirt with you and then he’d get dogged on by the rest of the team.

“No.” You made a show of rolling your eyes, turning your body to face him. “I meant at night and without hordes of people around. There’s something very calming about digging your feet into the sand and listening to the waves.” You wiggled your toes for emphasis, the sand on top falling away.

“What, like this?” Hangman asked, burying his own feet into the damp sand. He folded his arms around his knees, copying your body position. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in before letting it out, the tension slowly leaving his frame. “That is nice,” he admitted.

The conversation lapsed into silence, the two of you choosing to instead embrace the tranquility. Hangman kept his eyes on the horizon, listening for the crashing waves and gentle laps as they crossed the beach, while you returned to gazing at the stars.

Jake “Hangman” Seresin was a deceptively complex man. On the surface, he presented himself as an arrogant, yet incredibly proficient, pilot and an even cockier womanizer. While those aspects of him were certainly true, you could sense there was more to him that he buried beneath all that macho bullshit.

You had seen it first hand after he risked his life to ensure that Maverick and Rooster made it back from the mission in one piece. You remembered the way that sinking dread had settled over the reserve Daggers as you heard the news that not only had Maverick gone down, but Rooster, too. Hangman hadn’t given up on them, he’d stayed poised and ready to assist in their rescue and it was because of him that there had been a celebration rather than two funerals.

Jake Seresin had proven his call sign wrong that day; he hadn’t left his teammates hanging. It was hard not to admire him in some small way after that. Although, you probably would never voice it; no need to stroke his ego even more.

“So, why Squeaks?” he asked, breaking you out of your thoughts. You turned to face him, but immediately turned away at his shit-eating grin.

“It’s really stupid,” you tried to dissuade him.

“Most call signs are, that’s just how it goes.” There was that smile again, all bright and charming. Your resolve cracked, not that it was that strong in the first place.

“It’s because of my shoes,” you admitted, hanging your head dramatically. You’d come to love the call sign, but retelling the story of how you got the name was still just as embarrassing.

“Your…shoes?” he asked, clearly amused.

“I just wanted to be comfortable on my day off; I didn’t know my slides would squeak so loudly,” you cried out, your tone exasperated. “My squad immediately started in on the jokes and the name Squeaks just stuck,” you sighed out, burying your feet deeper into the cool sand.

Jake let out a full-body laugh, his shoulders shaking with the weight of it. You glared at him half-heartedly, even as you felt your cheeks burn.

“Knowing you, this makes complete sense.” He swiped tears from his eyes, clearly exaggerating the motion to get a rise out of you. All the while, his smile never faded once. He caught the way your eyebrow raised and rushed to say, “Not an insult!”

“Uh huh,” you replied, dryly. “How else am I supposed to take that?” you teased, no heat behind your tone. Under the starlight, your eyes twinkled with mischief.

“I never thought the call sign fit you well, you know? I thought it was a quip about you being as quiet as a mouse or something and that’s just not you.” Jake leaned back on his arms and stretched his legs out, his gaze following the patterns of the night sky. You watched him curiously, wondering where he was going with this. “You have your quiet moments, sure, but you always speak your mind when it matters. You’re determined and persistent and even after you got assigned that call sign, you still wear those god-awful shoes.” Your breath hitched from the intensity of his speech.

“Wow, I didn’t know I had my own stalker,” you joked, trying to settle the uncomfortable feeling rising in your chest. You hadn’t expected such high praises from Jake of all people. To a pilot like him, you figured you fell in as background noise, but he had seen you in a way no one else had in a long time.

“Not a stalker, just observant.” He smiled like it was a secret between the two of you. It sent butterflies throughout your stomach, a feeling you thought you’d never have over Hangman of all people. “I notice a lot about you,” He said it off-hand, like it wasn’t a big deal. Your cheeks warmed from the attention.

“Oh yeah? Like what?” you asked hesitantly, almost afraid of his answer.

“Like how you get easily irritable if it's too hot outside, which it usually is because it’s California, or how you doodle on the margins of mission briefs if the meeting drags on for too long.” Jake took a deep breath before continuing, “How you reapply your lip balm every hour or so because your lips are always dry from biting them.” You blinked owlishly as he finished. Out of everything you thought Jake might notice about you, it was the small things that stuck out to him.

“I don’t know, that sounds pretty stalker-like, Jake,” you said with a laugh, trying to diffuse the building pressure between the two of you. You couldn’t put a name to the feeling, only that you knew it was starting to slip into something not appropriate between colleagues, but it was hard for you to care when he was looking at you with those eyes. He looked at you like you were the center of the universe, like there was nothing else he’d rather be doing at that moment than talk to you.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you call me Jake before,” he admitted. His smile softened, as if he knew he had found a crack in your armor. It was true, in all the time you’d spent with the Daggers, you had kept the barrier of first names between Jake and you, in part because of his excessive play-flirting.

“Didn’t want you to think you had a chance,” you admitted, looking up at him through your lashes. He looked a little shocked at your answer.

“And now?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at you. He fiddled with his fingers, that smooth Hangman persona reduced to anxiety. You licked your lips in thought of how to answer him, all too aware of his eyes following the motion.

“Now, what?”

“Now do I have a chance at a date with you?” His tone seemed sincere, happy even. His words hit your heart like an arrow, but your traitorous mind was already running the scenarios for how this could play out. There were too many ways it could go wrong.

“...No.” It felt untrue to even say it, but you couldn’t let one single night with Jake sway what you already knew about it, even if it pained you to see the way his face fell into confusion. “Just because you flirt with anyone who has a pulse does not mean I’m going to let you disappoint me.” Jake’s eyebrows shot up at your accusation.

“Why are you so sure that I’d disappoint you?” he asked, earnestly. He continued on before you could answer, already rushing to defend himself. “I may be a flirt, but I am not a cheater. If you said yes to me, you’d be the only one.” You tilted your head at his words, involuntarily envisioning what it would be like to be with him in such a way. It was crazy how hours before, you wouldn’t have even given him the time of day outside of team-bonding hangouts. Now you were seriously debating spending more one-on-one time with the man. Your nose twitched at the thought. “Oh come on. I’m just gonna keep asking you out until you say yes, y’know?” he said, putting on that award winning smile once again.

“That’s more likely to earn you a restraining order than a date,” you deadpanned, raising an eyebrow at his audacity. You feigned a yawn and brought your hand to your mouth, using it to conceal the smile that tugged at your lips. You couldn’t believe you were actually falling for Jake Seresin’s charms. Maybe you needed a trip to the base’s medical unit.

“Now, hold on.” Jake raised his hands up in mock surrender. “I know how to take a rejection.” You interrupted him with a snort. “But you hesitated to say no. Look, I know in the past I’ve been–”

“Aggressively arrogant and sexist?”

“Hard-headed,” he finished, pursing his lips at your add-ons. “Please, just give me one chance. One date and if I blow it, we never have to mention it again. I promise.”

“You promise? You’re not gonna parade it around for your boys?” That was the last thing you needed, to be known as easy while on a naval base.

“I promise,” Jake reassured you. “Me and you will be the only ones who’ll know. Scout’s honor.” He even held up three fingers to make the pledge to you. You had to stifle a smile at his ridiculousness.

“Fine,” you agreed, getting up and dusting the sand off of you. “You get one date, Seresin. Better make it good.” You held your hand out for him to take and he did so eagerly, pulling himself up off the ground.

“I think I did a pretty good job at this pre-date, so I think I’ll be fine.” There was that cockiness, but it didn’t bug you like it normally would.

“Hmm, I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.” With your shoes clutched in one hand and the water bottle Jake had given you in the other, you began the trek back to the Hard Deck. “Goodnight, Hangman,” you called out over your shoulder, pleased that the darkness would conceal from him the smile on your face and the heat on your cheeks.

“Goodnight, Squeaks,” he yelled back, his voice carrying over the crashing of waves. Once he watched you sneak back into the bar, he took a deep breath and released it before turning his gaze upward. Staring at the same stars you had pointed out earlier, Jake suddenly felt the calmest he had felt in ages.

It had been that way ever since you were a kid. Just the sight of the tiniest speck of blood made your skin crawl. It wasn’t always easy, considering the thing you were so afraid of lived just beneath a thin layer of skin, so easily breakable that just a scrape could reveal a crimson red that would send you into an irrational and uncontrollable state of panic. But you had always managed. Turning your head away and squinting your eyes closed during medical check ups and blood drawings, always being careful of the parts of your body that could easily get scratched or scraped — especially your hands… just some little things you were extra careful about in order to live a normal life.

Not a lot of people actually understood your phobia, most thought it was stupid and downright ridiculous. And you partially agreed with them, but that was the thing with phobias, they weren’t meant to be reasoned. They were, by nature and definition, irrational. Besides, this was not something you could do anything about, so really you just let all the dumb jokes and question roll off you. You had to admit some questions were quite funny though. If you were feeling down, you’d remember that one time Mickey asked you if that meant that you were afraid of your own period blood and it would still make you laugh as hard as when you’d first heard it.

Some people were scared of clowns, others of spiders or snake, some were even deathly scared of the ocean and could not set a foot in it. Your fear was blood, and in some way you were grateful for your brain to have selected that phobia among the thousands that inhabited and plagued the human mind, at least this one kept you out of harm’s way most of the time, never would you be caught attempting something stupid just to receive validation, or prove yourself. That’s how you decided to see it.

And right now your blood was quickly flowing towards your legs, seemingly preparing to choose the ‘flight’ option over the fight. Except that there wasn’t anywhere for you to run in the cramped confine of your cockpit.

Your ears were ringing and you could feel your blood pumping in your ears, your heart jackhammering through them. The only thing your mind was able to register was the loud, incessant beeping of your jet, while an urgent, mechanical voice was urging you to pull up. You could faintly hear Maverick’s voice through the comms, screaming at you to eject but his instructions were wildly overridden by the adrenaline coursing in your veins. The mission had seemed pretty simple on paper. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing you couldn’t do with your eyes closed. And yet.

You wouldn’t even be able to explain how and when everything started going to shit. Oh well, maybe you could. It all had started when Maverick designated you as Jake’s wingman, that alone should have warned you about how this mission would end, up in flames. Quite literally.

A louder beeping overtook the first one, this second one was higher, almost screeching, so loud in fact you thought you felt you eardrums pop for a second. A quick check to your panel control showed you that you right engine was on fire. Jesus fucking Christ could this get any worse ?!

How could a mission on your own soil could go this wrong ? You guessed the very little time of preparation for it and having to cooperate with a squad from another base you knew nothing about certainly didn’t help. And a close fly by with another pilot and their wingman had sent both Jake and you into an unrecoverable flat spin.

“Y/N !” Maverick’s voice finally came through the panic fog clouding your brain, “there’s nothing you can do, eject, now !”

Cursing, you grabbed the handle situated in between your legs and pulled as hard as you could. You had never had to eject before, and you prayed you’d never have to do it again. For a split second after you pulled the trigger, you must had pulled something like fifteen G’s, your body flew out of your cockpit while your jet continued its supersonic descent towards the ground.

You were thankful your instincts kicked into gear to somehow try and maneuver the parachute, trying to secure you a safe landing on the ground. The loud sound of your jet splitting the air had you turning your head at the last second, just in time to catch sight of your precious, multi million dollar SuperHornet crashing into some nearby trees in a roaring and deafening sound. Your heart fell down at the pitt of your stomach and an uncomfortable and dreadful shiver shook you at the realization that this could’ve been you, had you not listened to what your wise instructor was yelling in your ears.

Landing was rough. Your legs couldn’t quite maintain you upright with the speed at which you hit the ground, the force of it sending you stumbling forward, even rolling in on yourself. Flopping miserably on your back, you were just thankful you didn’t break your legs or impaled yourself on some tree. You got up on shaky legs and hastily put your parachute away in its bag while trying to contact the base.

“Maverick…? Rooster…? Phoenix…?” You tried, without receiving any answer on the other end, you tapped the side of your helmet where the microphone and speakers were, “anyone ?”

No answer.

Shit, the comms must have gone to shit when you ejected or hit the ground. Well, at least you weren’t on foreign soil so there wasn’t any immediate danger you had to worry about. Looking around you caught yourself thinking that there were worse places to land in after an emergency and possibly deadly ejection. The grass was bright green where you had tumbled, trees were standing high and proud, guarding the borders of what looked like a valley that led to some hills. That was definitely a contrast compared to the sandy and arid grounds of San Diego, and it was a surprisingly welcome one, despite the situation.

You were turning on your beacon when the roaring sound of a jet’s engine made you jerk up. Immediately looking up, you spotted Jake’s jet, spinning at uncontrollable spin towards the high trees. Your heart stopped in your chest, surely he had already ejected and had safely landed somewhere near the end of the valley ? There was no possible way a pilot like him — no matter how much you hated admitting how good he was — still thought he had a chance of coming back from a spin like that—

But your lingering fear suddenly hit you full force in the chest when Jake’s engine sputtered on and off, the undeniable sign that Jake was still inside, trying to pull up his F/A-18.

Good god was he fucking dumb sometimes !

You watched, frozen and powerless as his jet continued its supersonic descent towards the trees. It was like time had stopped for a second, a suspended moment where the only thought flashing painfully in your mind was : Jake is going to die. This is it. After all the shit he’s pulled, his fucking ego is gonna take him out because mister thinks he’s just that good that he would be able to recover from an unrecoverable spin.

But before your thoughts could spiral anymore and your heart stop completely at the prospect of losing the one man you claimed you hated body and soul, you saw something fly out of the jet, mere seconds before the metal bird crashed though the trees. You inhaled sharply, a breath that felt like breaking through the water after being under for too long. And before you could think about it any longer, your feet were already carrying you towards where Jake’s parachute was falling.

Helmet in hand, and heavy gear slowing you down, you still sprinted as fast as you could through the trees, mindful of potential holes and roots. Jake hadn’t even been no where near close the altitude he should have been at to eject safely, he’d been alarmingly low and you feared that his parachute wouldn’t slow his fall enough. Damn him and his stupid fucking ego.

Calling out his name as you got near where he should have landed, the lack of response was making your skin prickle with anxiety and dread.

“Jake ?” You called out, voice growing more desperate than you’d ever admit it.

You stopped, intensely listening for any answer back when—

“Over here !”

His voice felt far away and…strangely strained. You desperately tried to ignore how your heart clenched, no matter how much you hated him and could not stand him, Jake was still one of your squad mate, it was normal to worry about him, right ?

Swallowing the lump in your throat, you resumed your dart in the direction of his voice, and after a full minute of sprint in your entire gear, your lungs were screaming, and a side stitch was beginning to puncture your left side. But you didn’t stop, continuing to run towards him.

And finally, when you felt like your legs were actually about to give out, you spotted Jake, sitting up against a tree, facing a clearing. Rushing one last time to get to him, Jake’s face seemed to illuminate when he spotted you.

“Took you long enough,” he said when you kneeled down next to him, “thought you were about to leave me here for a second.”

You glared at him, catching your breath, “keep up the attitude and I just might do that.”

His infamous smirk slowly pulled at his lips as his eyes took you in.

“You hurt ?”

“No, you ?”

Jake shook his head and you eyed the way his helmet was weirdly placed on his lap.

“Are your comms dead as well ?”

“Yep.”

“Did you activate your beacon ?”

He let out a laugh at that, “Jesus Lightning, do you think it’s my first day in the navy or something ?”

His arrogance rubbed you the wrong way, like it always did.

“It might as well be !” You snapped a little, “I mean what the fuck was that, Seresin ? Ejecting at low altitude could have gotten you fucking killed ! But let me guess, you thought that the great Hangman would be able to undo an unrecoverable spin ?!”

Jake watched your hissed rant with raised eyebrows, and despite yourself you noticed how strangely pale he looked.

“Careful,” he cooed, seeming all too satisfied by what he chose to be worry over him and not pure infuriation over a stupid and downright unprofessional behavior, “your soft spot for me is showing, but don’t worry I won’t tell the squad, I know how you like to keep your feelings secret.”

You scoffed, shaking your head, “I still don’t know how you haven’t got suspended for all the shit you pull,” you said, choosing to entirely disregard his take on how you allegedly felt for him.

“I’m too good,” he grinned, and your heart did something weird in your chest when you noticed his smile looked weirdly strained, forced. The pitt in your stomach felt like it was getting deeper, clawing away at your insides, a discomfort that only grew stronger the longer you stared at Jake, “they can’t afford to put their best pilot on the bench.”

Letting out an exasperated sigh, which Jake keened at, annoying you apparently being his second favorite thing behind flying, you began to get up.

“Let’s move in the middle of the clearing, so search and rescue will locate us better and it’ll be easier for them to land and come get us.”

“No.”

Dusting your flight suit once you were standing on your own two feet, you frowned down at Jake.

“The fuck you mean ‘no’ ?” You could feel yourself getting irrationally irritated, a familiar recurrence whenever you spent just more than a few minutes in Jake’s presence, you took a deep breath to try and swallow back the anger bubbling up in your throat, “I’m sick of your shit, Seresin. So stop being an asshole whose sole purpose is to disagree with me for a second and do what I say.”

“Come on, don’t be so mean Lightning.” He tried to joke, but the usual glint in his eyes was missing, he took in a labored breath, “besides moving is not gonna change a thing for search and rescue, don’t worry.”

Stopping for a moment, you got a good look at him. He was acting weird. He hadn’t so much as moved an inch ever since you had found him, he was just sitting there, his stupid helmet sitting on his lap covering a good chunk of his side with one of his hand seemingly under it.

“Why is your helmet on your lap ?”

“Why not ?”

You let out an incredulous laugh at that, “seriously, what is going on ? You’re being super weird it’s kinda starting to freak me out.”

Jake seemed to freeze, if only for a second.

“I’m not acting weird, you’re the one freaking out over nothing and asking weird ass questions. Just sit down and wait for search and rescue.”

But you stayed right where you were, towering over him — which didn’t happen often — and stared down at him, crossing your arms stubbornly.

“I—“ he started, before wincing almost imperceptibly, “I got a bruise, that’s all. Hurt myself when I landed.”

“And what, you’re telling that it’s the bruise making you act like that ?” You let out disbelieving scoff, “I mean are you hearing yourself ? You sound insane ! I don’t know about a bruise but you definitely hit your head when you landed, that’s why you’re saying weird shit.”

Jake didn’t answer, he just stared right ahead, past your standing frame, a far away look in his eyes. Worry began to seep into the hollowing hole in your stomach, maybe he had actually hit his head and he had commotion ? Or worse, what if he had brain damage or internal bleeding or something ? Just the thought made you shiver in horror. If he was truly hurt, it was best not to move him. You eyed him intensely, as if you could somehow get a look inside of his head to make sure he was okay.

You watched as he readjusted himself against the tree with a groan, the movement making his helmet roll right of his lap, revealing his second hand, very obviously pressing down hard on his side.

“Mmh, applying pressure on a bruise,” You mused, squinting your eyes at him in sarcastic fashion, “is this a new technique I haven’t heard about ? Did you attend a new medical seminar I wasn’t invited to ?”

“Will you just stop talking for two minutes, please ?” He asked, voice breathy.

“I mean, shit, honestly I never pictured you as a masochist, you were always more of a sadist type in my mind.“

That finally made him look back at you and you promptly ignored the slight and short lived feeling of relief it gave you. A grin made its way back on his lips, it was strained but it successfully illuminated his face, for a moment giving it the flair it usually held.

“Glad to know this is something you have clearly thought about,” he huffed out, “if you were so curious you should have just come to me my dear Lightning, you know I’d be more than happy to prove your theories.”

Seeing him joke and tease you like that eased your discomfort, and you turned around, pretending to look at your surroundings while you were hiding the small, incontrollable smile pulling at your lips.

“I mean this place seems pretty quiet, I guess we could give a go to outdoor sex if you’re open to it.” His smug voice said behind you.

“Okay shut up now.” You chuckled despite yourself, keeping your back to him to not give him the idea you were happy to see his quick wit was back.

Your eyes took in the forest that spread out in front of you, the cool wind coming from the clearing behind offering you some relief from the sweat clinging to your uniform. It honestly looked beautiful.

Just as you were about to turn back around, your eyes landed on a random piece of wood lying on the ground and—

You froze.

Whole body becoming rigid, the hair on your nape standing up, nervous system kicking in your flight or fight reflex for the second time in an alarmingly short time span.

The piece of wood was long and wide, chips coming off it, and the end of it was covered in a deep and thick crimson liquid.

No, no, no no no—

Your breath hitched in a pathetic choked up sound, one that held every bit of the terror paralyzing your body. Your stomach churned violently.

Behind you, Jake, alarmed by the sound coming from you, anxiously followed your line of sight, and he cursed under his breath when his eyes landed on the piece of wood.

“Lightning, look at me.”

But you couldn’t move. Your gaze was still fixed on the blood dripping from the piece of wood, staining the forest ground and painting it in that fateful color. Jake’s voice barely registered in your ears, it felt like a distant echo, drowned out by your own heart beating loudly and frenetically in your ears.

“Y/N.” His voice called out again, uncharacteristically gentle, and calm despite the situation, “look at me.”

And you don’t know why, but something in you instinctively listened to him this time. Slowly turning back around, your legs were shaky and threatening to give out at any time. When you were facing him again, your heart lurched, because your eyes didn’t immediately settled on his face, instead landing on the hand that was desperately applying pressure on his side. That same hand that was now stained in blood, the thick liquid coming through the gasps between his fingers. And now that you were looking, the fabric of his flight suit underneath his hand was ripped, letting you catch a glimpse of a deep hole into Jake’s flesh, one that was profusely leaking blood.

Funnily enough, your own blood drained from your face so fast it almost made you dizzy, and a horribly frightened sob left your lips. You didn’t remember your legs giving out but suddenly you were on your knees again, next to Jake.

“Don’t look at it, look at me.” Jake said again, his voice somehow breaking through the terror fog holding your brain hostage.

Your breath was coming out ragged as your eyes finally found his, bright green irises that held nothing but an eerily calmness in them.

“It’s okay, don’t look at it, just focus on me, everything will be alright.”

“What the fuck, Jake ?!” You exploded once it seemed your vocal chords were not entirely frozen by fear anymore, “what— “ you choked up on a sob and only then did you realize the ocean of tears dripping down your cheeks, “what happened ?! Oh my god—“ you felt a sudden wave of dizziness hit you as your eyes quickly darted back over to his wound, like despite the bone chilling fear you were still attracted to it like a magnet.

“It’s nothing, I told you I got hurt when I landed.”

“You told me it was a bruise !” The end of your sentence ended in a desperate cry, your hands were shaking on your lap, chest heaving furiously with each frenetic breath you took.

“It’s barely a scratch,” he assured, and the soothing tone in his voice did not have the intended effect, only drowning you further in panic.

How the fuck was he so calm right now ?

You could feel your chest contract, and suddenly it felt impossible to take a full breath, it felt as if your lungs were somehow too small, sheer panic was settling deep inside your bones with no apparent prospect of leaving.

“Lightning, don’t freak out, it’s gonna be okay, everything is fine.”

There were so many thoughts swirling in your head. The protocol for when someone got hurt during a mission, the knowledge that Jake was bleeding out in this fucking clearing while acting like everything was fine, the black dots obstructing your vision…

“Just take a deep breath for me, yeah ?” Jake’s calm voice reached your ears, “turn around if you want, you don’t have to be near me. You can even wait in the clearing for the helicopter.”

The fact that was he straight up proposing you abandon him so you didn’t have to endure the sight of him bleeding out broke your heart and only worsened your sobs.

“Y/N, it’s okay. You’re okay, everything is fine, I promise,” he soothed again, his voice never wavering no matter how much in pain he must’ve been in.

You took a deep breath that did little to calm you down, but it at least cleared your thoughts a little.

This wasn’t right. Jake wasn’t supposed to be the one reassuring you right now, he was fucking bleeding out for God’s sake ! You were a fighter pilot, amongst the best in this entire world. You had been trained for this and you’d be damned if a little blood was blocking you from doing your job and saving your squad mate.

“Move your hand,” you said in a shaky breath, definitely not as assertive as you had intended, your eyes fixed on him.

“What—?”

You didn’t give him the time to comprehend, instead blindly removing his hand from his side and putting both of yours, and pressing down, hard. He winced, letting out a pained groan and you ignored the pinch in your heart.

For the first time ever since you found him, he seemed to be the one panicking.

“No, hey, hey hey what are you doing ?”

“I’m helping you,” you supplied, with tears still raining down your cheeks, “this is the protocol. And besides you weren’t putting enough pressure on it.”

You squeezed your eyes closed as Jake’s blood started to push back against your hands, the warm liquid trying to spill through your hands as you desperately tried to keep it there. The sensation made you shiver in pure horror and disgust.

“Hey, Y/N, I don’t want you to freak out on me, yeah ?” His hand, the one that wasn’t stained in blood, hovered over your shoulder, unsure if he should touch you in your emotional state.

Your eyes remained closed, trying to focus on anything else rather than Jake literally bleeding out beneath the palm of your hands. The wind brushing your face and the sound the trees made swaying lightly because of it, birds chirping in the distance, the grain of Jake’s strained voice…

“Why didn’t say anything ?” You asked, your voice coming out as a shaky whisper.

When his answer didn’t come fast enough, your eyes snapped open, scared that he might have lost consciousness, but Jake was just staring at you, the faintest of smile pulling at his lips.

“Is that a serious question ?” He laughed a little, wincing when his chest shook a bit from the force of it, “no offense, Lightning, truly, but I don’t know if I would have been able to handle you fainting in my state.”

‘My state.’ You didn’t like that, didn’t like that one bit. His face was paler than you’d ever seen it, his natural Texan tan nowhere to be seen. His green eyes were missing their usual brightness and the underside were horribly dark and sunken.

You were about to say something, probably tell him to shut up, when blood suddenly came rushing out of his nose.

“Shit—“ he cursed before rapidly putting a hand over his nose, frantically wiping at the blood that just kept on coming out. “Don’t look, it’s okay.”

Your heart was beating so fast and hard against your rib cage it was borderline painful. This couldn’t be good.

“Y/N, please don’t look.” Jake’s voice sounded almost pleading now as he was desperately rubbing the blood away and keeping his hand in front of his nose, making him sound nasally.

Blood.

There was just so much of it. Never in your life had you seen so much of the dreadful crimson liquid, and you honestly didn’t know if you were more likely to throw up or faint at this point.

And lingering at the back of your mind, came another whisper of your mind, one that was progressively and terrifyingly becoming louder and louder, overtaking all your senses. There was a lot of blood, yes, and Jake was the one losing it.

Jake was bleeding out, alarmingly fast, out in the middle of nowhere while the only thing you could do to help him was just keep your hands on his gaping injury and prayed that search and rescue would hurry the fuck up.

“Look away, sweetheart, please.” He said again, tilting his head back lightly, as much as he could really, in an attempt to stop the blood from leaving his nose.

But not looking was not gonna change a thing anymore. Because somewhere along the lines, the fear had shifted. Blood still very much terrified you, no doubt, but right now you were covered in it, and yet, you weren’t dead, you hadn’t fainted and the world was still spinning.

And still, something was very, very wrong.

Jake’s nose bleed seemed to have calmed down, he finally put his hand away, which was bright red, and stared at you.

“You know, you are doing much better than I thought you would,” he praised, and given the situation it absolutely shouldn’t have made your stomach flip, “look at you, could it be that the great Lightning has finally conquered her fear ?” He grinned.

You didn’t know if you should be happy he was joking again or not. Your hands had begun shaking again where they were pressing against his bloody side, you still couldn’t bear to take a look at it but you knew by the way it was still profusely leaking blood against your hands, and by how big the piece of wood looked a few centimeters away from you that his injury must have been deep, way too deep.

Very unaware of your internal breakdown, Jake just kept on talking.

“I didn’t even know it was possible to overcome a phobia as deep as yours, but hey, I guess there’s no stopping you, huh ?”

“Stop talking,” you said, trying to hold in a fresh wave of sobs, unwanted images of him lying dead in your arms kept flashing through your mind.

What the actual fuck was search and rescue doing ? It wasn’t like you were on the other half of the fucking planet, you weren’t even on the other half of the country !

Jake didn’t pay any mind to your order.

“At least crashing was good for something in the end.”

Him saying that while literally bleeding out was physically tearing your heart apart.

“Shut up.” You said through clenched teeth.

“Hey I just thought about something, if I die out here you’ll become the best pilot in the squad, perhaps I should be worried this was your plan all along—“

“Shut up ! Shut up, shut up !” You snapped, eyes wide and staring straight at him with a mix of despair and fear, “stop fucking talking about dying ! It’s not funny, and for fuck’s sake stop wasting your breath saying useless shit, just shut up !”

Tears were freely raining down your cheeks now, and you didn’t know how it was possible you still had any left to cry.

Jake was stunned for a second by your outburst, he just stared at your for a moment before his expression broke into something undeniably soft and gentle, his features morphing into something you’d use to approach a frightened animal.

“Hey, hey, I’m sorry, that was a joke.”

You didn’t think you had ever heard Jake apologize in all the time you’d known him.

“Well it’s not funny !” Your bottom lip quivered, another pathetic sob threatening to break out.

“I know, I’m an idiot,” he said, “you’re right, that wasn’t funny.” His voice was low, acting like a soothing balm on your own open wound, the one ripping your heart apart at seeing him like that.

His hand that had been awkwardly hovering off and on above your shoulder finally made contact, squeezing you lightly. And his touch completely finished to break your heart. You burst out in a very inelegant sob, you couldn’t even see through the tears clouding your vision. It was the inevitable consequence of enduring all the events of the day, the mission going to shit, the ejection, the crash, the blood, Jake…

“I don’t want you to die,” you cried out, completely exhausted and at the end of your rope, “so stop saying that.”

“I’m not gonna die, sweetheart,” his thumb rubbed gentle back and forth on your clothed shoulder, occasionally squeezing it.

“But you’re b—“ a hiccup interrupted you, “you’re bleeding out !” The word alone burned on your tongue.

You heard the sound of a zipper opening, trying to blink the tears away you saw Jake open the top of his flight suit before his blood stained hand, the one that wasn’t on your shoulder, came down to take one of yours that was still pressing on his open wound.

“No, no, no Jake— you need pressure—“ you tried to say when he took your hand away, guiding it to his chest.

“It’s okay, honey,” he soothed, “just don’t look down, remember ?” he added when your eyes almost darted down to both of your bloodied hands.

Jake, while maintenant eye contact with you, his green eyes holding an almost tender glint, guided your hand up to his chest, right over his heart.

“You feel that ?” He asked, voice slightly hoarse due to the effort and the pain, but never ever losing its gentle edge.

And sure enough, underneath your palm, was the steady beat of Jake’s heart. A calm and rhythmic thump-thump that didn’t waiver and the rational part of your mind wondered how he could stay so calm under such circumstances, and it probably should have worried you a bit, but the irrational part of your brain, the one that had been running on fumes ever since you spotted the first speck of blood, seemed to finally quiet down a bit.

You let out a breath you didn’t even know you had been holding all this time.

“Yeah, that’s it, see ? I’m okay, it’ll be fine.” His hand was placed right on top of yours, his warmth seeping into your skin and radiating in your entire body.

Your fingers flexed a bit against his clothed chest, a sudden urge to feel more of him, make sure that his words were real, that he was truly gonna be fine, shook you. Jake gave you a reassuring smile and between the tears that still blurred your vision, you took the time to look at him. His blond hair was disheveled and darken by dirt, his jade green eyes held an immense tiredness to them but the tender glint in them, directed towards you, never ever left. There was some dried blood just underneath his nose, and a bit of it also on his lips, that still held that little reassuring smile. His whole face was livid, as pale as a ghost and the visual stripped him of his usual Hangman bravado. Objectively, he wasn’t looking good right now, he looked sick. But somehow, to you, he still did, looked good. There was something so vulnerable and tender about him right now, something that was slowly stitching back together the pieces of your heart Jake had himself, involuntarily, broken.

But being yourself, there was no way you’d be able to properly express the overwhelming whirlwind of emotion taking your body hostage, so instead—

“You look like shit,” you said, sniffling.

Jake let out a chuckle, the sound alone warming you from the inside out.

“Yeah, well, you don’t exactly look like you could run a marathon either, sweetheart.”

That made you laugh. You didn’t even want to think about what you must looked like right now, blotchy and red eyes from the tears, cheeks stained with the salty liquid, hair wild from the ejection… But you didn’t see any disgust or reject in his gaze. Only fondness.

Suddenly feeling bashful under his stare, you made a move to look down but before you could, Jake’s hand that was on your shoulder moved quickly, surprisingly so for someone that injured, catching your chin with two of his fingers, preventing you from looking down at the bloodied mess on which you still kept a firm pressure with your free hand. Instead, he made sure your gaze stayed right on him. This quiet gesture that so blatantly showed how much he cared about how you felt, which definitely felt ridiculous next to his predicament, just sent a sudden rush of affection run through you.

Not knowing what to do of this overwhelming urge, but nonetheless needing to express it, to get it out, to show him, your body acted on its own. Your hand still on his heart, you leaned in and gently placed your lips on his forehead, hoping the soft press would somehow convey every bit of what you were feeling. You stayed perhaps a bit too long for a conventional forehead kiss. Almost imperceptibly, you felt his heartbeat quicken under your hand, the realization making a warmth akin to the first summer rays spread out in your body. When you pulled back, there was a flash of something unreadable in Jake’s eyes.

“You’ll be okay,” you said with a tiny smile, lips wet from your tears and voice hoarse from your sobs.

And truly you said it more for yourself than him.

Jake reciprocated your smile and squeezed your hand, “you’re so brave, Y/N.” He said, full of admiration, and just a tiny bit choked up.

Before you could add anything, tell him how ridiculous it was for him to say that while he had to step up and be the rock for the both of you while he was on the verge of dying, the faint and distant sound of propellers could be heard coming from over the clearing. And just seconds later, the search and rescue helicopter came into view.

The biggest sigh of relief left your lips, you felt the tension slowly leave your body. You, not without regrets, retracted the hand that was on his chest to put it back on his wound, the added pressure made him groan.

“Sorry, sorry, I know,” you said, “it’s almost over, Jake, we’re almost out.”

He smiled at you, and you tried to ignore the ridiculousness of you trying to comfort him at the last minute, while he had spent the entire time trying to calm you down.

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

The helicopter landed in the clearing, as close to you and Jake as possible, and seconds after six people from search and rescue came rushing towards you. They carefully hosted up Jake on a stretcher and up in the helicopter, all the while your hands never left him.

“Alright, Y/N, you can stop now, he’ll be fine, we’re gonna clean and bandage him up,” Martin, the main medic, told you just as the helicopter was taking off to the air.

But you hesitated. With the stress and emotion, the time you had spent out there in the clearing had felt like an eternity, and it felt scary to let go of him now, even though you knew it was to leave him in better hands. While deep in your thoughts, you didn’t register Jake asking for a cloth, it was only when you felt his hand land on top of yours that you got out of your anxious trance.

“Everything’s fine now, remember ?” He said gently as his eyes bore into yours, “they are gonna take good care of me, you can let go.”

His hands very gently took yours off his side, cleaning them with the cloth all the while keeping eye contact with you.

“But I don’t wanna leave you,” you said in a breath.

It was a strange feeling, to feel so open and raw emotionally, a state that had been forcefully provoked by the unfortunate events of the day.

“You’re not leaving me, you’ll stay by my side, right ?”

He let out a small, fond chuckle when you nodded almost solemnly.

“Nobody’s making you leave, baby.” He said, tossing the cloth away after wiping your hands clean of his blood.

“Jake ?” Martin grabbed both your attention, “we’re gonna put you under,” he explains, showing off an oxygen mask, “we’re gonna start patching you up while on the way to the base’s hospital.”

Jake nodded before looking at you.

“You gonna kiss me goodnight ?” He asked, his characteristic smirk making a return on his face.

Wordlessly, and perhaps a bit too happy by him prompting it, you leaned in, placing your lips in a delicate kiss on his forehead, one hand coming up to cup his face. You heard him let out a little breath as you pulled away and placed another lingering kiss on his cheek.

“Sleep tight.” You smiled as a tear rolled down your face, not out of fear or sadness but simply out of feeling too much in such a short amount of time, and you quickly wiped it away.

Martin put the mask on Jake’s face.

“Alright Lieutenant, take a few deep breaths for me.”

Doing as he was told, Jake was looking at you with furrowed brows.

“Hey, don’t cry,” he lazily protested, voice already slurred from the anesthesia kicking in.

“I’m not crying,” you assured, a genuine smile stretching your face, “it’s fine, go to sleep, Hangman.”

“I prefer when you call me ‘Jake’.” He whined.

Yeah, he’d be gone any minute now.

You chuckled, “sorry, Jake.”

“That’s better,” his eyes fluttered closed and opened again, clearly fighting the anesthesia, “and when I wake up you can find out.”

“Find out what ?”

“You know…” he trailed off, his eyes closing entirely now, “if— if I’m a masochist or not…”

You burst out laughing, and even in his dazed and near coma induced state, Jake smiled at the sound.

“We’ll see about that, cowboy,” you said when your laughter died down a bit.

And just like that, he was out.

Looking at him just a second longer, feeling your heart settle down at knowing he wouldn’t feel any pain and would be taken care of, you moved away from him, letting the team of medics do their job. Martin kneeled beside Jake and began to cut his flight suit open around his wound. Removing the fabric, about to reveal just how bad the injury was, he paused and turned to you.

“You’re not afraid of blood, are you ?”

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Author’s note : I have mixed feelings about this fic, the idea had been in my head for soooo long and I fear I failed the execution of it, but oh well, I hope it was still good for you !

I’m gonna repeat myself but I do not have a phobia of blood at all so if the way I wrote reader’s reaction seems unrealistic I’m really sorry, please do let me know if it’s so unrealistic that it stops being enjoyable to read, I’ll try to change it if that’s the case

Also if you’ve read my others fics Saltwater Monster and 8-pool meltdown you might notice a pattern, that I desperately need to be comforted by Jake, and those fics are my most popular ones so I’d say we’re all in this together !💞

Finally (god sorry I’m talking a lot) a huge thank you to @berrybigpossibilities who agreed to read the first part of the fic when I was feeling really down about it and gave me their opinion, it helped a lot to finish it so thank you again !🫶

jake 'hangman' seresin

─ ⊹ ⊱ Oneshots ⊰ ⊹ ─

Pushing It ♡☼

jake seresin x reader - established relationship

You love pushing your boyfriend’s buttons. And this time, you do so with the help of a little internet prank. Having it end in a way you weren't expecting it to.

─ ⊹ ⊱ Blurbs/Moodboards ⊰ ⊹ ─

Arcade Date Moodboard ☼

mickey 'fanboy' garcia

─ ⊹ ⊱ Blurbs/Moodboards ⊰ ⊹ ─

Being CEO Mickey's Assistant ☼

Falling For Firefighter Mickey ☼

robert 'bob' floyd

─ ⊹ ⊱ Oneshots ⊰ ⊹ ─

Bullseye Kiss ☼

bob floyd x reader

Bob can't seem to miss the target, even after indulging in one too many drinks at the Hard Deck. You find this suspicious, causing you to challenge him with a prize he can't refuse.

─ ⊹ ⊱ Blurbs/Moodboards ⊰ ⊹ ─

Coffee Shop Date Moodboard ☼

At first, you and Bob were just friends but there already was a special connection between you two from the moment you met him at the hard deck. After Jake introduced you to everyone, he went to play darts with Javy, Bradley played pool with some of the others, and you were left standing beside Bob. You and Bob started to talk about everything and nothing. You laughed and had a great time together, you shared some fun stories and Bob told you a bit about working with Natasha and the others. Now and then you could see Jake looking over to you and Bob, his gaze was protective but Jake knew that he didn’t really needed to worry because you’re with Bob and he is a good guy.

The months passed and with every month Bob and you got closer to each other. At first Bob was just showing you around the town, then you started to spend some time at his placed watching tv or just talking. Afternoons that you spend with them all in the bar ended with Bob bringing you home and spending the night talking and laughing about anything that came to your mind. You loved spending time with Bob, he made you feel happy and with every day that you spend time together your feelings for him started to grow. Bob felt the same way about you and always got so excited when you would join them at the bar because that usually means that he can bring you home afterwards and you’ll spend some time together without anyone else around.

Of course, Jake knew that Bob brought you home, but he didn’t know about all the nights that you and Bob spent together, talking, laughing and sometimes you’d end up falling asleep in Bob’s arms.

After a few months of being friends, Bob finally asked you to go on a date with him. It was when he drove you back home, after you all spend some time at the beach. The whole evening Bob was a bit quieter and deep in his thoughts. During the drive he didn’t say anything and you got a bit worried. When Bob walked you to your apartment door, he was still thoughtful.

“You okay Bob?” You asked softly and he nodded.

“Yeah, yeah everything’s okay.” Bob said and fixed his glasses which made you smile.

“Are you sure? Because you’ve been a bit quiet today.” You said and Bob hesitated for a moment.

“Actually, there is something that I wanted to ask you for a while now but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea.”

“Just ask me and we’ll find out.” You said with a smile and Bob nodded nervously.

“I like you a lot and I would love to take you on a date if you would let me.” Bob suddenly said and you began to smile.

“I would love to go on a date with you, Bob.” You said with a smile and Bob’s nerves started to ease.

“Yeah?” He asked with a smile and you nodded.

“And what about Jake?” He asked. You both knew that Jake is very protective of you.

“I don’t care about what Jake thinks, I like you Bob and I’ve been waiting for you to ask me out.” You said and Bob chuckled.

“You have?” He asked with a grin, and you nodded.

“Then I’ll better plan something special for our first date.”

Three days later you were on your first date with Bob. When he picked you up Bob gave you some beautiful flowers and then you drove away. He drove to the beach, and you had a picnic there. It was soft and so romantic. You stayed until sunset and Bob held you close as you watched the sun go down. As you shivered Bob gently placed his jacket over your shoulder. He whispered something in your ear that made you giggle and then he softly kissed your cheek. On the drive back to your apartment Bob held your hand softly and you sang along to the music on the radio making Bob smile. When you arrived back at your apartment you didn’t immediately walk out of the car. Bob still held your hand and looked over to you with a soft smile, you smiled back and leant closer.

“We need to do that again.” You whispered and Bob leant even closer.

“Definitely.” He said softly and slowly let go of your hand, so that he could cup your cheek and then he gently kissed you. The kiss was slow and soft and the perfect end to a perfect first date.

On the next date you and Bob decided to keep your relationship a secret, at least for a while. You were going on secret dates without telling anyone, Bob was sneaking away from the others during their break at the base to call you even though he didn’t have much time but hearing your voice always made him smile or feel better. On some days you were both sneaking away from the others at the hard deck to spend some time together and on some days you both just didn’t join and lied to them with reason why you didn’t join. You both hate lying to them, but you also kinda enjoyed to have your relationship as a secret, just for you two. Secret dates, secret hand holding or kisses at the bar when you thought that no one was looking.

Of course, Jake noticed that you looked happier lately, but when he asked you, you only said that you just feel happy here in San Diego. Jake knew that there was more to it, but he didn’t push it right then, he was just glad that you were happy. Jake knew that you haven’t felt that happy in the last year and finally seeing you smile like this and knowing that you were happy made something in him soften.

It was a normal day like any other. Bob came over to your apartment after he picked up some groceries that you asked him to, so that you could cook something together. Bob placed the groceries in the kitchen and then greeted you with a soft kiss and a gentle hug. You melted into his hug and Bob let out a satisfied sigh, burying his face in the crook of your neck and placing a soft kiss there.

“Could stay like this forever, just holding you close like this.” Bob mumbled and gave you another gentle kiss.

“I wouldn’t say no to that.” You whispered with a smile and felt how Bob placed another kiss on your neck, this time a bit more passionate.

A bit later Bob took your hand and slowly led you into your kitchen. You and Bob started to prepare everything for the meal that you wanted to cook. You were in the middle of cooking when you suddenly got a phone call. Bob gave you a soft nod, and you reached for your phone and went into another room to take the call.

Bob was in the middle of cooking when your apartment door opened. Bob stopped in his tracks when suddenly Jake entered the kitchen. Jake looked confused and froze when he saw Bob.

“Floyd?” Jake said in confusion and walked a few steps closer.

“Hi.” Bob said slowly and then turned around to turn on the stove.

“Hey.” Jake said back still confused about why Bob was in your apartment.

“What are you doing in my sister’s apartment?” Jake asked, rising an eyebrow.

“I’m cooking spaghetti with a self-made tomato sauce.” Bob explained and Jake looked at the kitchen counter that was laid out with all the ingredients.

“Right and why exactly are you cooking in my sister’s apartment?” Jake asked.

“Oh well, she asked me to.” Bob said like it was obvious.

“You drove through the entire town to come to my sister’s apartment and cook for her?” Jake asked slowly, trying to understand why Bob Floyd was in your apartment. Bob was about to say something when you suddenly came back to the kitchen.

“Sorry babe, my friend needed to tell me something important.” You said but then froze when you noticed Jake standing there.

“Babe? Wait what’s going on here? Why is Floyd cooking in your apartment and why are you calling him babe so casually?” Jake asked and looked from you to Bob and then back at you, trying to guess what’s going on.

“Jake.” You said and looked over to Bob who gave you gentle nod, which made Jake tittle his head. Jake looked at you more carefully and noticed that you were wearing a sweater that was way too big for you and definitely not yours, then his gaze landed on your neck, and he caught a hickey there. His confused look turned into knowing

“Wait, you two, you’re dating?” Jake guessed and you nodded.

“Yes, me and Bob are dating.” Jake nodded slowly.

“And since when?” He asked carefully and you hesitated for a moment, nervous that Jake would get mad. Bob softly reached for your hand and gave your hand a gentle squeeze. Jake noticed and his gaze softened a bit.

“For about 5 months now.” You said.

“5 months and you didn’t tell me. Why?” Jake asked thoughtfully. Bob gave you another gentle squeeze as he noticed that you started to feel a bit emotional about the situation.

“Because you’re, you. You’re overprotective.”

“I’m not that overprotective.” Jake said and you raised an eyebrow, making Bob chuckle.

“Are you sure about that, because you literally scared the last guy away that I was dating.” You said and Jake began to grin.

“Okay, yeah that’s true but he wasn’t good for you.” Jake said and you knew that he was right.

“You could’ve just told me, about you and Bob. It’s a bit weird seeing you this close right now but I really don’t mind.”

“Wait, you mean that?” You said surprised.

“Yeah, I mean it. I see how happy you have been the last few months. I just want you to be happy, that’s all I need.” Jake said softly and you smiled at him. Bob was taken aback by how soft Jake was at this moment, he was not used to this side of him. Then Jake turned to Bob his face serious again.

“But Floyd, if you hurt my sister.” Jake didn’t need to finish his sentence because Bob was already interrupting him.

“I won’t.” Bob said seriously and Jake nodded.

“Good, but we still need to have the brother talk.” Jake said with a smirk and you let out a groan.

“It’s alright sweetheart, I can take it.” Bob said softly and you smiled at him. Then you looked back to Jake and remembered that he didn’t even let you know that he was coming over, which sometimes meant that he needed something important.

“Wait, why did you come over, did something happen?” You asked and Jake wanted to play it off.

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Are you sure?” You asked.

“I can give you two some space?” Bob asked slowly and you looked over to him with a soft smile and then looked back to Jake.

“No, it’s alright. I’ll leave you alone so that you can finish cooking and maybe I’ll just come around later or something.” Jake said and a few minutes later he was gone.

“That was a bit weird, right?” Bob asked and you nodded.

“Yeah, but I’m so glad that he doesn’t mind.” Bob nodded with a smile and gently wrapped his arms around you.

“Me too.” He said and kissed your cheek.

You didn’t want to tell Jake like this but you were glad and happy that he didn’t mind about you and Bob dating, but you were still a bit nervous about the brother talk that he wants to have with Bob, but it will probably turn out alright.

Taglist:

@iristheplanet16 | @lovesflourmorethananything | @teascorner |

Beautiful colors of pink and violet were painting the sky, the sun beginning his descent towards the western aerosphere. It had shined brightly throughout the entirety of the squad’s monthly beach day, bathing your skin in warmth and golden light.

“For fuck’s sake, Javy ! You guys can shoot down a target from two hundred feet while flying at Mach one but you can’t aim a volleyball for shit !” You snapped, dusting the thousands of grains of sands from your book and towel.

Next to you Natasha was hiding a laugh behind her own book.

Pointing a finger at her, you warned, “don’t you dare laugh at me, Nat.” You got up to brush off more sand off your legs, “that’s why I hate going to the beach with them, there’s nothing less relaxing on this earth,” you mumbled out, a frown making the lines on your forehead prominent.

“My bad, Lightning !” Jake called out, his hands around his mouth to amplify the sound, though his tone was very much not apologetic, and the smirk stretching his lips only fueled the irritation simmering under your skin.

Glaring at him, you debated for a second on yelling back a piece of your mind, indulge into this game he seemed to initiate anytime he could. Riling you up, provoking you and then simply grinning like an idiot when you eventually ended up taking the bait.

But for once, you decided to be the bigger person. So you settled on raising your middle finger high enough that he could very much identify what lovely sign you were throwing his way.

“I love you too, darlin’ !” He yelled back.

You rolled your eyes so hard you feared for a moment that they’d get permanently stuck.

“Careful, you’re blushing,” Natasha snickered, still lying next to you.

Scoffing you flipped her off as well, “which side are you on ?”

“The side of love, darlin’.” She smiled in a perfect imitation of Jake’s Texan drawl.

You couldn’t have contained the laugh that broke out of you even if you tried, “shit, you actually sound just like him.”

“I know,” she cooed, obviously proud of her trick, “is it turning you on ?” She inquired, wiggling her eyebrows at you.

A shocked laugh escaped you, “Geez Nat—“

“OH MY GOD WHAT TIME IS IT ?” Javy’s sudden gasp made you both jump as he came running towards you, where all of the squad’s stuff was and he started abruptly digging through his bag.

“It’s seven.” Bob supplied after a quick look to his watch.

“I was supposed to meet my mom for dinner fifteen minutes ago,” he explained, panicked as he was hastily grabbing all his stuff and throwing it carelessly in his bag. “Jake, can you drive me ?”

Usually, you carpooled to avoid bringing everyone’s car and having to park too far away if the beach was busy that day.

“Let me think about it…” Jake walked over, deliberately slow, pretending to think it over.

Javy groaned, not in the mood to entertain his friend’s antics, “come on, man.”

Jake sped up a bit, raising his arms in mock defense, “alright, alright, don’t throw a fit mama’s boy. I’ll drive you.”

As he was gathering his own stuff, you suddenly saw him frown, and then frantically look around. Lifting his towel, emptying his bag only to pack it again, passing his hands in the sand in visible hope of stumbling upon something…

You were about to throw in a witty remark when you noticed something missing on his wrist.

His watch.

His father’s watch.

In its place was now a tanning line. A ribbon of whiter skin surrounded by his Californian and natural Texan tan.

It didn’t take a genius, nor being Jake’s best friend to know how precious that watch was to him, or to guess that it might have been one of the last few things left from his dad.

He wore it at all times. There weren’t much occasion you had seen him without it ever since you’d met him. It had stayed securely around his wrist all throughout Naval Academy, and then had stayed through every one of his deployment until he got permanently assigned in San Diego. During every flight, every mission, every exam even, every casual outing… You could always see the watch rest proudly on his cuff. Perhaps it was the only thing about him Jake didn’t feel the need to flex, a quiet legacy he carried around with him, feeling the weight of it in his every move, every decision.

The only times he ever took it off was during underwater training and at the beach if he went for a swim. Surely a watch like that was waterproof and even capable of descending a few feet deep, but the fact that Jake was unwilling to bring it with him in an environment it was specifically designed to survive in, was only another proof of its value to him.

He never talked about it. Never ever voiced the words ‘my dad’ out loud, but everyone knew. You knew.

Javy was ready to go, packed bag at his feet as he hastily threw in a t-shirt over his head, “Jake ? Are you good to go ?”

Jake froze for a moment. It was rare to see him display anything other than sheer haughtiness. And it weirdly tugged at your heartstrings to see him look so lost for an instant.

You were about to help him look for his watch — sure you hated him, but that didn’t mean you didn’t feel empathy for him losing something so precious to him, when—

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.” He said a bit absentmindedly, his eyes still frantically looking around as he stuffed, slightly violently, all his stuff in his backpack.

He quickly got up, threw the bag over his shoulder as Javy was waving everyone goodbye and starting to make a run for Jake’s truck.

You watched Jake with a shock you hoped wasn’t too visible. Yes, he was the emotionally constipated type, never one to speak about feelings or do so much as even mention or acknowledge them, but surely when he was about to lose, perhaps forever, the one thing that probably meant more to him than the whole world, he would say something, express himself, let it out.

And you knew that if he’d speak up right now, the whole squad would stop everything and help him look for it. Javy would run right back on the warm sand and rampage through the entire beach if he had to.

Surely, he had to know that the squad wouldn’t see him as weak over getting a little panicked upon losing the one item he held so dearly in his heart ?

But you watched, stunned, and for some reason with a weight pressing down on your chest, as Jake looked one last time at the beach, eyes boring into the sand as if the distance would give him some perspective and help him spot the watch in a nanosecond.

“See you on Monday,” he threw to everyone over his shoulder, soundly halfhearted as he turned around and began to walk towards his truck, joining Javy.

The image stuck with you for some reason. it was like seeing him willingly abandon a piece of himself behind, and for what ? Just so he could hold on to his ‘feelings make you weak’ Hangman persona ?

If you had been closer to him, and in any place at all to call him out on this, you would have screamed at him. Yanked him back by the collar and prohibited anyone to leave this beach until the watch wasn’t back on its rightful place, on Jake’s wrist.

“I think I’m gonna head out as well,” Reuben spoke up, “does anyone want me to drop them home ?”

“Me please,” cheered Mickey, dusting some sands off his chest.

“Yes, please. Thanks Reuben,” Bob smiled, gathering his things.

“I’ll ride with Y/N, we’re gonna head back as well, right ?” Natasha turned to you.

If you had been able to say anything other than insults and provocative remarks, you would have reassured him.

If you had been able to consider yourself his friend, you would have helped him look for it.

“Y/N ?”

But you were capable of none nor were you any of those things.

And still—

“Actually I’m gonna stay a bit longer,” you blurted out without really thinking about it.

“You sure ?” Natasha questioned, skeptical.

“Yeah, the sunset is beautiful, it’s still warm and my book is getting really good, I’ll stay for a bit.” You assured, as if trying to convince yourself more than Natasha.

“Alright,” she conceded, still eyeing you a bit suspiciously, “be careful, you text me when you get home and don’t forget that Penny’s right next door if you have any problem,” she pointed to the Hard Deck which was facing the beach.

“Yes mom,” you chuckled as she playfully rolled her eyes at you.

As Reuben’s car drove away, you stood there for a moment. Watching the waves crash on the beach, the soothing sound of it blending with the distant echo of music coming from the Hard Deck. This beach wasn’t an especially popular one, and you marveled for a second at being the only person standing there.

Why had you stayed ?

You kinda had blurted it out without any real thoughts of what you would actually do once left alone.

Because you hadn’t stayed for the sunset or your book, in fact, the book was getting a bit boring if you were honest.

Jake’s expression when being met with the realization he’d lost his watch suddenly flashed into your mind and it made your heart clench. And perhaps it was what prompted you to start digging in the sand where his towel had previously been lying.

“I can’t believe I’m fucking doing this,” you muttered to yourself while rummaging through the sand, the watch couldn’t be far… right ?

You didn’t even notice when the warm light of the sunset got subsided by the sharp, white one of the moon.

The spot where the squad had previously established its camp was empty. You didn’t find anything apart from a few seashells and a colony of small crabs that you had probably woken up from their slumber.

You probably should have gone home. The watch obviously wasn’t there. But then your gaze drifted out towards the ocean… the guys usually played volleyball closer to the water, perhaps Jake had lost the watch around there ?

The cold breeze coming from the ocean had started to pick up as you searched the grounds of what was previously the volleyball court.

And when you didn’t find anything there, you moved on to other parts of the beach, trying to remember and retrace the entirety of Jake’s steps during the day. Your knees were aching from being constantly on them, hands pruned from the wet sand you’d been digging up, nails completely darkened by the grains. Your phone was slowly dying, using all its battery to shine inside the holes you were digging up, desperate to see a flash of silver. And it was cold, so, so cold. The wind was getting stronger, making you clutch your hoodie tighter around yourself.

The moon had well settled into the sky now, an indicator of just how much time you’d spent there.

You had wanted to give up, oh so many times. But everytime you had wanted to get up and leave, an image of Jake’s face would flash back into your mind. The way he had looked back at the beach, like he was saying goodbye to his dad a second time. And every time, without fail, your brain had conjured images of him getting home, and calling his mom back in Texas, telling her about how he had lost the watch and the image was just too painful for you, enough to bring unwanted and in your opinion, unjustified, tears to your eyes if you thought about it too much.

Anyone could have argued you were being overly dramatic over a guy who you proclaimed your hatred towards from the rooftops. And you would have agreed. But you wouldn’t leave this beach until the watch was secured in your hands.

You were on your hands and knees, near shore where the water was gently lapping up at the sand, bringing new things and taking away some when—

“Y/N ! Is that you ?”

Penny’s voice from the front of the beach made you jumped.

“Jesus Christ, Penny !” You exclaimed, a hand over your racing heart, “you scared the shit out of me !”

Jogging up lightly to meet her, you saw her frown when she took in the state of you, her worried face illuminated by the Hard Deck’s sign.

“What are you doing out there, sweetheart ?” She asked softly, and you could perceive the same tone in her voice she’d use with Amelia sometimes, no doubt that her maternal instinct were kicking in, seeing you all alone, covered in sand and digging up holes in the dark.

“Oh I was— I lost my bracelet earlier, you know we had our beach day with the squad ? Yeah, so the bracelet means a lot to me and I— I couldn’t leave without it.”

You pestered Jake for being emotionally constipated but you couldn’t even admit to Penny, of all people, sweetest woman alive who’d never judge you, that you were doing this solely for him.

“I see,” she said, an empathetic smile pulling at her lips, “I’ll help you.”

“No don’t worry Penny, it’s alright, promise. I’m all good.”

Was there a sick part of you that wanted to be the one to find Jake’s watch ? Maybe, you would deny all of it thought.

“At least I’ll wait for you, I just closed the bar.”

“Don’t worry,” you repeated with the sweetest smile you could mutter out at the moment, “I won’t stay much longer anyway.”

“You sure ?”

“I am, thank you though that’s really nice of you.”

“Could you at least activate your location please ? And also text me when you get home, okay ?”

Saluting her you let out a chuckle, “I will, Penny. Promise.”

“Alright.” She conceded, bregrundly.

She knew this beach was safe, otherwise she would have never left you alone. You parted with a warm hug and watched her drive away, similar to how you’d watched your friends leave a few hours ago now… God, had it been really that much time ?

You were beginning to lose hope, Jake’s watch seemed to have truly vanished, and you tried to ignore the heavy feeling sitting on your chest that came along with this conclusion. Telling yourself to check towards the west side of the beach before leaving, though you knew it was useless, you couldn’t really recall Jake going there, you still crouched, and began to dig, again…

Phone flash blasting in the dark, the light reflected on something then…. Silver !

“Oh my god !”

You rubbed your eyes to make sure the sight in front of you was real and not the fatigue making you hallucinate. But it was real, the small silver circle was still there.

“Oh my god !” You exclaimed again in a laugh, immediately digging in.

And sure enough, the watch was there. Covered in sand, but there. You carefully inspected it for damage, but other than the general dirt, it seemed fine.

Turning the watch over, your eyes caught something. The initials of who you could only guess was his father were delicately engraved in the metal, G.S. Before you could even think about it, your thumb passed, almost tenderly over the gravure.

A small, disbelieving laugh escaped you again, and it was incredibly chocked up. You didn’t even notice you’d been tearing up until you felt something wet roll down your cheeks.

Quickly you wiped the tears off, a feeling of embarrassment creeping up your neck even though you were the sole person standing on this beach, moonlight illuminating your figure.

Forcing your emotions to settle down, it was only a watch for Christ’s Sake, you practically ran all the way back to your car. It felt as if your whole body was buzzing, and you couldn’t explain this weird feeling of excitement and… was it fulfillment ?

A genuine giddiness was coursing through your veins as you drove home, you couldn’t wait for Jake to have his watch again. See him settle, knowing his father’s legacy was in him, like it’s always been and always would be, but the physical representation of it, back on his wrist. The comforting weight of it bringing meaning to every one of his moves.

The excitement kept you awake once you were home, so you took the time to carefully clean the watch. You physically couldn’t give it back to him like that. And soon enough, once you were sure that there was not even the tiniest grain of sand left in any notches, only then, did sleep finally caught up to you.

The sun wasn’t even up yet when you made your way to base the next morning. You had decided that you would just leave the watch in his locker, he didn’t need to know who found it, and maybe he wouldn’t be too happy to see you holding his father’s watch, considering you hated each other…. Right ? At least that’s what you told yourself.

Arriving in front of his locker, you opened his numbered lock, honestly who was stupid enough to put in their birthday as a password ?

But then, anyone could argue that it was weird you knew his birthday, as someone who hated him so much.

Refusing to give this any more thought, you neatly placed the watch in his locker, on a little rag. You made sure one last time that it was perfectly clean, made sure it was not askew, made the sure the rag wasn’t wrinkled…. And for a moment it felt as if you were stalling.

“My god, I need to get a grip,” you mumbled to yourself, finally closing the locker door, a bit more forcefully than you had intended.

“I’m telling you, my mom is obsessed with getting me in a relationship !” Javy complained to Jake on their way to the locker room, “last night she just kept showing me pictures of her friends’ daughters and being like ‘you two would make an adorable couple’ like, oh my god, can’t a man go at his own pace ?”

Jake only hummed, not exactly in the mood to discuss Javy’s mom self proclaimed matrimonial agency.

Each of his step was heavy. Heavy with the lack of sleep and the mass pressing down on his chest. The missing weight on his wrist made him feel strangely stripped bare, like a piece of himself was missing, left where he had abandoned it on the beach the night before.

When Jake had gotten home after dropping Javy off, he had cursed himself. He couldn’t believe he had actually walked away, without even taking the time to look for the watch, no he had just left.

He had to refrain back tears when his mom had called him that night, asking him about his day, and he hadn’t had the courage to tell her what had happened, consumed by sorrow and shame. He felt pathetic. He spent that entire night sulking, thinking about how ashamed his father would be if he saw him like that. It felt like letting him down.

“Like she doesn’t get that I don’t want to settle down, I mean not yet anyway—“

“Yeah, tell her you want to keep bringing girls home from the Hard Deck every weekend for a little while longer, I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to hear it.” Jake finally answered Javy’s rant, trying to give his remark its usual wit.

“You fucking jerk, you’re supposed to be on my side !” Javy whined, opening up his locker.

Jake was abort to retort something but the words died on the tip of his tongue when he opened his own locker.

He froze.

He was met with his watch. Neatly placed on a small rag, looking as new as the day he had received it from his dad, just a few days before losing his battle against cancer.

His heart skipped a beat in his chest. How ?

Jake stayed there for what felt like an eternity to him, but was only a few mere seconds, just staring at the watch. He could faintly hear Javy next to him still talking, now rambling about how his mother compared him to his cousin or whatever, but the sound of his voice was drawn out, an echo in Jake’s ears.

With shaky hands, he gently grabbed the watch and immediately turned it over, eyes fixed on his father’s initials that he traced with a tender pass of his thumb, and his heart clenched, suddenly overwhelmed by a wave of emotion.

He had no idea how the watch had gotten there, and perhaps it should have worried him a bit more — whoever this was had cracked the impossible code of his locker for Goodness’s sake ! — but he chose to pay it no mind.

Now Jake wasn’t superstitious or a believer of any kind, far from it, actually. But in this moment, he chose to believe that whatever, whoever had found his watch and brought it back to him, had somehow been missioned by his father, who had probably been very upset about his son being so careless with the precious time teller.

Jake knew it was stupid, truly. His father, from the beyond, somehow orchestrating a whole plan to find the watch left on the beach and leave it in his locker on base, was a stupid theory. But the thought of it made a warmth spread out in his chest and his eyes sting slightly. So he decided that for once, he would let himself believe in a little stupidity.

This weird mix of euphoria and serenity hadn’t left him the entire week. He felt good, more confident now that the watch was back on his wrist. And he would sometimes just stare at it for a few moments, in amazement and incredible gratefulness for having been given a second chance, that’s how he saw it. And he would honor his father in every action he took while securely wearing the watch.

He had found a new vigor, a new desire to win, one that made him better, he thought. Though the squad would probably argue it just made him more insufferable.

So that’s with a pumped up step that Jake walked into the Hard Deck that week end, closely followed by everyone.

“Alright, what do you guys want ?” He cheered, still in an exceptionally good mood.

The squad all gave him their orders before going to find some seats, you merely grumbled a ‘nothing that comes from you’ and somehow, Jake understood it meant a virgin mojito.

He made his way to the bar, patiently waiting for Penny to finish off her conversation with a customer.

“Hey, sailor !” She greeted with a smile when she saw him, “what can I get you and the squad ?”

After he told her, she started to prepare the drinks on front of him, making small talk, asking about training, how life was on base when—

“Oh by the way,” she seemed to remember, momentarily stopping the making of your virgin mojito to look at Jake, “do you know if Y/N found her bracelet ?”

Jake frowned, confused.

“Um, I don’t know. I didn’t know she had lost a bracelet,” he said, head turning slightly to look for you in the crowd and he suddenly frowned more, looking back at Penny, “in fact, I didn’t even know she wore bracelets, her wrists are usually bare.”

“Oh, because I saw her last week, after your guy’s beach day. I closed the bar a little earlier than usual because it was pretty quiet, and she was there, digging in the sand, looking for her bracelet. I proposed to help her but she said she was fine. It was quite late though, so it really must have mean a lot to her, that’s why I was wondering if she’d found it. But I’ll ask her myself later then, thanks Jake.”

Penny’s words had the effect of a sledgehammer hitting Jake right in the chest. The realisation dawned on him and he froze for a moment, not sure what to do with the newfound piece of information.

“You okay ?” Penny asked him, his shock seemingly visible on his features.

Her voice got him out of his trance.

“Yeah, yeah I’m good, thank you for the drinks Penny, talk to you later !”

He made a beeline for the spot the squad had settled in, their usual one, next to one the pool tables. He absentmindedly handed the drinks to everyone, keeping your virgin mojito in his hands and making his way over to you. His heart was beating so hard in his chest that it was borderline painful. It seemed as though his vision had zeroed in on you, only you. Images of you on the beach at night, cold, alone, tired but still looking for his watch flashed into his mind and he felt a knot get caught up in his throat.

He barely heard the ‘thank you’s’ the squad threw him.

Leaning over some of the high tables near the windows, you were watching Mickey, Reuben and Bob engage in a heated game of pool.

“No Mickey it’s still my turn,” you watched with a smile as Reuben interjected his friend, “you sinked the cue ball so I get to shoot twice, gosh you’d think that you’d know the rules after playing literally every week end !”

You snorted, amused by their banter. And out of the corner of your eye, you saw Jake walking towards you. Expression unreadable but his step visibly determined.

Arriving in front of you, he practically shoved the drink in your hand.

“I told you I didn’t want anything,” you said, monotonously, nonetheless still grabbing the glass.

Any excuse was good enough to start a fight with him.

You turned your gaze back to the pool game unfolding in front of you, but when the quick wit you were expecting from him never came, you turned back to him, frowning.

His jade green eyes were trained on you. Chest rising up quickly, like he’d ran a marathon before coming here. You didn’t think you had ever seen him so… moved.

“You good ?” You asked, letting your tone convey the tiniest bit of concern.

Jake took a shaky breath, “why didn’t you tell me ?”

The hand that was bringing the glass to your lips froze halfway through.

“Tell you what ?”

“My watch.” Was all he said, eyes still boring into yours, seemingly looking for answers you were absolutely not intent on giving.

Your eyes quickly flicked to the leather band sitting proudly on his wrist.

You had noticed it all week, how it was right back on shining on his cuff. How Jake had seemed to smile even more cockily than before, brighter. And you hadn’t been able to ignore the weird, warmth feeling spreading in your chest every-time you had caught him eyeing his wrist with a flash of pride and cherish.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you replied, forcing yourself to keep an annoyed tone as your eyes flicked back up to meet his.

“There’s no use in lying, I know it was you.” He said, voice firm and steady despite the whirlwind of emotions threatening to choke him up, “why ?”

You weren’t known to give up that easily.

“Jesus Seresin, I literally told you I have no idea what you’re talking about, go win at darts or something, leave me alone.”

Swallowing uncomfortably under his prying gaze, you silenced the tiny voice in your head that was telling you just how much similar to Jake you were in terms of showing feelings.

Facing your stubborn resolve in not telling him the truth, Jake let out a small, humorless laugh, “Y/N I just want to thank you properly, so please, for once, just let up.”

Let up. Stop fighting me for a second, was really what he was saying. And looking at him be willing to be honest and open for once did something to you.

“I did it because you looked all pathetic, okay ? And really, I didn’t want you sulking all day on base and mess up every training.” you finally conceded, tone annoyed despite the loud thumping of your heart in your chest, “besides it was just underneath where you had put down your towel, so really you could’ve found it if you had put a bit more effort into it. But I guess that it’s just another thing I’m better at than you, huh ?”

It was a complete lie. And both of you knew it.

Just the fact that you had been the only one to notice he had lost his watch told him everything he needed to know. And he knew from Penny that you had stayed well past midnight looking for it. To see you in front of him, knowing the length you had been to for him — despite what you were saying — made his heart do something inexplicable.

And Jake moved before he could think any more about it. He slightly bent down to wrap his arms around you, slipping under your own and hugging your middle, bringing you into his chest, chin resting on your shoulder, head touching yours.

All your muscles stiffened on instinct. The contact took you by surprise and you stayed frozen like that for a second, letting him hold you without reciprocating the touch.

He was warm, very warm. His arms were tightly wrapped around you, one draped across your shoulder blades and the other one across your waist. His body was firm against yours and for a moment, you almost thought you could feel the thumping of his heart against your chest. Your head was resting just shy of the crook of his neck, on his shoulder, and despite yourself, you caught a whiff of his smell, residue of jet fuel, his expensive cologne, the warmth of his skin and something so undeniably him it almost made your head spin.

“Thank you,” he whispered shakily, a small crack in his Hangman armor.

Those words and his tone felt like a detonator, hearing him sounding so small almost broke your heart. It only took a second after that for your arms to wrap around his neck. And as soon as your arms made contact, you felt his whole body relax and melt into you.

“You don’t have to thank me,” you whispered back, rubbing his back comfortingly.

He seemed so small in this moment and it pulled at your heartstrings to know he was letting you be the one to seem him like that.

“You don’t know how much this means to me.” He murmured into your neck.

Oh, but you did. That was the whole reason you had done it.

It seemed as thought the entire bar had gone quiet, leaving only Jake and you, wrapped up in each other. You had no idea how long you stayed like that. But you certainly weren’t complaining, your arms tightening around him was met with the same intensity from Jake.

But the sudden sharp sound of a glass hitting the floor and shattering in pieces took you both out of the peaceful and comfort trance the embrace had took you both in. And you both found yourselves pulling away, reluctantly.

You noticed the slight pink hue dusting Jake’s cheeks, and his green eyes were bright, almost glassed over, shining with unshed tears.

God knew that if you had the courage you would take him into another embrace right here and then, and not let him go until the first rays of sunshine peaked through the windows, or realistically, probably until Penny kicked you out.

But unable to succumb to your deepest desire, no matter how much you wanted to, you instead fell back into your old ways.

“Try not to lose it again, cause I won’t get it for you next time.” You warned, though your tone was missing its usual bite.

You would.

You would do it all over a hundred times if needed.

Jake let out a laugh, a bit choked up, but a genuine one nonetheless.

“I promise.” He said in a smile as bright as a thousand suns.

And you had a scary realization then.

That in fact, there was not a lot you wouldn’t do to see him smile like that again.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

author's note : I have had this fic idea for literally forever and I’m so happy I finally got down to write it.

I really wanted to kinda ‘dig deep’ into Jake’s character here, I hope it worked and that I was able to do him justice. He’s my baby I love him so much.💞

"... Watch you and your friends play basketball and fix cars," you say.

He rolls his eyes in all their hazel glory and punts the basketball into your hands. You receive it with an oof, jogging over to his driveway where there's a well loved metal hoop, sans net.

"Horse?"

"No, you always win with that stupid backwards shot,” you whine, dribbling the ball slowly at your feet.

"Hmm. Sounds like a skill issue, babydoll.”

You stick your tongue out in protest, bouncing the ball to him.

"Alright, let's scrimmage then,” Bradley says with a familiar spark in his tone.

"One on one? Not fair, you're like a million miles longer than me."

"Indulge me, sweetheart. I'll go easy,” he hums. Damn those Bradshaw genes and the charm that comes with them.

You scowl lovingly while grumbling: “Fine. But if you win, you owe me.”

"What exactly do I owe you?"

Oh, but it’s far too cheeky to stay between friends. The only thing less fair than a scrimmage is the way he smirks. Like he’s got a sweet secret he’s keeping from you.

"Dunno yet"—he chuckles at your annoyance—"A favor?"

"Too broad. How ‘bout a date?"

And suddenly you're kinda winded. Because, yeah, you've had this cute banter thing since you were young but it's never come to anything. Now you're adults and you miss him when he's deployed and he plays basketball with you because it feels like it’s all he has anymore. So before you can say anything, your brain is nodding for you. Sure this wager—a date— might be a bad idea down the line, but at least it'll be a hell of a lot of fun in the moment.

"Alright, hot shot. Let's see some ball,” you huff.

"First to 7. Go ahead and tip us off.”

He passes the ball to you and you immediately go for the three pointer, not expecting it to get anywhere near the hoop. Yet somehow you get it in one try. He turns to you with a ‘how the fuck’ expression painted on his face.

"I don't know! I don't know, I thought it would be funny!" you howl through your breathless laughter.

"Oh, it's funny alright, but don't go thinking that counts for three points,” he says, sweetly jabbing you in the side with the ball tucked under his arm.

"Aw, scared I'm gonna win?"

"Terrified,” he says. Maybe letting on a little more than he'd like to admit. Because the idea of taking you out and getting to show you off is just about making his blood sear like it's pressurized to high hell.

He tosses you the ball, you pass it to him, and you immediately go to body slam him. You feel young again, like there are no responsibilities except homework packets and curfew at sunset. He feels it too through a chuckle, grabbing his own sides when you keep missing layups.

"Stop laughing! 'S not funny, I can't even get—fuck! Just take it." And you sling the ball at him in defeat.

"Spoil sport. I'll show you how it's done."

Rest assured, Bradley jogs up to the basket while you skip after him, watching him sink the layup in one shot.

"Now we're even,” he coos, leaning in. Just to throw you off, you think.

"You sure? Cause I'm pretty sure I remember smoking your ass with a three pointer."

"One point. This is not real basketball. We're playing one basket one point,” he huffs, stepping back to dribble the ball proudly.

"Well, if I'd known, I wouldn't have put so much effort into—"

"Blah blah blah, c'mon, less talking more playing!"

You swat at the ball in vain, but he has it so strong in his grip he has to laugh, pivoting away from you and making yet another lay up. He’s smug, turning around and shrugging while you’re exasperated, hands on hips.

"Giving up so soon?" he teases.

"It's hard chasing after your long legs, Bradshaw!"

"No, I'm not buying it. Come on, take this one."

He hands the ball over and crouches face to face with you, giving you a wink. There’s a part of you that hesitates in his face like this, calm with a heart racing like a hummingbird. But you go for the fake out anyway, skirting around his other side when he whines about foul play.

But he stops you just before the basket, practically wrapping himself around your back. When you try to pivot or throw the ball, he grabs you around the middle and you squeal. He finally sets you free when you drop the ball.

"Hey! Speaking of foul play!" you shout, watching him beeline for the hoop.

"Don't hate the player!"

He swoops the ball coolly into the basket with a low whistle.

"Nothing but net, baby! Did you see that!"

"What is that, four?" you chuckle, seeing his face light up

"I'm racking 'em up. Careful, or you might actually have to go out with me."

And suddenly you remember the stakes, squinting at him wondering why he's playing so hard just for the bit. He snags the ball from you and sprints down the court, taking a weak shot that smacks the backboard and falls through the hoop easily. Bradley turns to you with a pinched brow.

"You didn't even try and stop me. Where's your head at?" he hums.

"Hmm? Oh, got distracted by... a bird,” you say, gesturing lazily at the sky.

"Oh, I see. You were thinking about our hot date, huh?"

"No.”

"Yeah, you were. Don't let me get in the way of your daydreams, sweetheart."

"I wasn't daydreaming! Just give me the ball."

He's laughing self-assuredly with a broad grin on his face, passing you the ball which you dribble around him, slowly making your way down the court. He lets you inch down the side, your back to him. One glance over your shoulder catches him staring at your ass with his lip caught snug between his teeth.

"Quit staring, Bradshaw!"

"Sorry, had to do some daydreaming of my own,” he says with a cool chuckle with a soft pink flush across his cheeks. You smile fondly at the way it creeps across his chest, too.

But you roll your eyes anyway and flit past him, finally tossing the ball in the basket.

"Feelin' the heat yet?" you tease, getting in his face like you want to fight. Though that’s far from the truth.

"Felt it a long time ago, doll. Let's get this show on the road."

You play mostly clean except for the occasional catcall. Or two. It only makes him laugh and flex his bravado under the attention of a pretty lady. You both score another point, putting you at four and six. He passes you the ball in a quick motion.

"One more and you know what that means,” he says. He’s date-minded, especially if it’s with you. His long time sweetheart and classic girl next door with the vocabulary of a sailor.

"I'd like to see you try,” you tease.

"Oh, you're about to."

You dribble it past him, but he's mighty fast, crossing the driveway in just a few strides. It’s just then you stop and think: win back the basketball champion title you never had and show Bradshaw who’s boss on his own turf. Or, let him win. Go on the date.

The thought swirls around in your mind for a second longer as a droplet of sweat kisses Bradley’s cheekbone. Then: fuck it.

You place the ball gingerly in his hands, and, on instinct, he goes for the immediate lay up. It’s only after the ball flies back through the hoop and lands squat in his grip that he turns to you with a puzzled look on his face.

"Did you just… give me the ball?"

You shrug with a cheeky smile

"It's all relative,” you coo.

"Bullshit. You gave it to me. You wanted me to score."

"Who knows why we do anything."

"Oh, you little—" He lets the ball fall from his palms and down the driveway, rolling into the gutter with a soft thud. Not a second longer, and his arms are outstretched, catching your waist and walking you backwards until you trip on the grass, tumbling back onto the lawn with a shriek of laughter.