But then you came to Top Gun Academy and met Jake “Hangman” Seresin. At first, you were skeptical of his intentions because you’ve known plenty of guys like him before and not all of them had the right ideas about you. But Jake was nothing but kind to you.

The first time you two met was one of the most genuine interactions you’ve had during your time in the service. You were walking out to the jets when Jake ran up behind you and caught your attention.

“Hey!” It startled you at first because the majority of your class was male and you tried to keep your distance. You turned to him and prepared for the worst.

“Hey,” you sent him a polite smile.

“You ready to fight up there?” You had been learning about dog-fighting and today was the first day of being up in the air to practice.

“I think I’ll be okay, you?”

“Of course, I mean, I am the best pilot around,” you let out a loud laugh.

“Is that so?”

“Yes ma’am,” he winked at you. You stopped at the side of your jet and narrowed your eyes at him, smirking, “Well I guess we’ll see, Bagman,” you teased as you climbed into the vessel. 

Jake stood there with an almost pout-like expression, “It’s Hangman!”

“Sure it is!” Jake smiled as he walked toward his own jet. 

After getting the all-clear, you were up in the air, you hovered lower than the other two jets, as you were posing as the enemy. The other pilots hung close to each other, you could hear them over the comms, “Where is she?”, “She bail on us already?”, “Maybe she never left the ground”. Your anger only grew as you heard the other pilots talking about you, but your confidence only rose when you heard Jake’s voice, “Now boys, let’s give her a chance, she might take us all out,”

You began your attack by dropping your altitude, you had learned this move from dad’s close friend who had taught you to fly from an early age. You heard the others continuously wonder where you were, that’s when you shot up in between the two jets. 

“Miss me?”

As the others recollected themselves from the surprise attack, you used this to your advantage, you pulled yourself around and managed to take out the second jet, but Jake was still flying. “You’re out!”

“Damnit!”

You followed Jake after the other plane headed back to the hangar, “Come on, Bagman, this the best you got?”

“Oh, no, Darlin’ I’m just gettin’ started,”

After minutes of chasing each other around in the air you managed to get yourself under him, you dropped your speed and let him fly ahead, then as he pulled ahead you increased your altitude and speed and managed to “shoot him down”.

“You’re out, Seresin!”

“Fuck,” Jake swore and headed toward the ground. 

When the two of you got to the ground, you weren’t surprised to see him standing at the base of your jet. Although, you were surprised to hear him congratulate your work instead of criticizing it. 

“Well, I guess I’m not the best pilot around,” you smiled at him, climbing out of the jet.

“You definitely gave me a run for my money, Seresin. You’re just not quite on my level yet,” winking at him, you left him standing on the runway, being more intrigued than ever. 

-

Weeks have gone by since you had officially met Jake and it had been a couple weeks since the two of you had become friends. To be honest, you had never thought you would have any friends, but Jake had definitely proved you wrong. 

The two of you had been hanging out almost every day after work at the Hard Deck or one of your two houses. To say you were enjoying it was an understatement, it was something you looked forward to from the time you arrived on base to the time you left base. 

Jake was enjoying your time equally as much, if not more than you. Unbeknownst to your knowledge, every time he saw you, he fell harder for you. But he especially liked how you challenged him, it was a different experience than he had ever had with anyone else. 

Everyone else that he had been with would go with him anywhere, anytime, just for the asking, but you gave him something to chase, someone to pine over, and he loved every minute of it. 

It was 2 weeks before the two of you graduated from the Academy and went out into the world and the two of you sat on your couch on opposite ends, thinking about graduation and the time after that. You didn’t want to leave each other, but tonight there was a thick tension in the air.

“I got my assignment today,” your voice was softer than ever, Jake turned and looked at you. 

“So did I,” he paused for a moment, “Listen, Viper, whatever happens-”

“We’re gonna be okay, Bagman,” you teased, cracking a smile from him for the first time that night, “You’re only going to miss my great piloting skills when your ass needs to be saved,”

“You’re damn right, Darlin’,” you looked away for a moment then back to him.

“I’m sorry, Jake,”

“What for?”

“Tonight’s been weird and tense, there’s just been a lot going on and I’ve had so much on my mind,” you apologized. You were heading out to fly all over the world and it was so exciting but you were terrified of what would happen in the future. Of course, you had been prepared for this all of your life, but now that it was actually happening, it seemed a lot more difficult than it sounded. 

Jake had a lot on his mind as well, but it was much different from what you were worrying about. While you were thinking about your career, he was thinking about you. You two had created such a strong bond during your time together and he didn’t want to lose that. 

It felt like for the first time in his life, Jake Seresin was scared. Scared of losing you, scared of leaving you, scared that you might find someone better than him. 

You scooted over to his side of the couch and curled next to him, resting your head on his shoulder, he felt as if his heart was going to pound out of his chest. You watched blankly as the TV played reruns of Friends, and you ended up falling asleep comfortably on Jake’s shoulder, not long after you, he rested his head on yours and fell asleep himself. 

The two of you never really talked about that night again, but graduation came faster than you would have liked. You were moments away from being shipped off to Italy and Jake to Hawaii. Just what he was afraid of, you two were going to be on opposite ends of the world, with limited to no communication. 

He walked you to the rest of your squadron, “I guess this is it,”

“It’s not goodbye forever, Jake,” 

“You don’t know that,”

“Well, we are the best pilots around aren’t we?”

“I suppose,” he chuckled dryly,

“If you’re the best pilot around, you better come back to me, Seresin,” you told him, bumping your arm into his. 

Come back to me. That’s all he needed to hear. In this moment everything was perfect, he was so close to you, if he just leaned in a couple more inches...

“Kazansky!” 

You turned around to see your commanding admiral calling you in, you turned back to Jake giving him a quick goodbye, “Don’t die, Seresin, I’m going to be expecting to see you again,”

You ran off before he could say anything, his heart dropped as he watched you walk away, possibly being the last time. 

-

It had been almost a year since you had left him for Italy, but now you were all being called back to Top Gun for a top-secret mission. 

The first night at the Hard Deck all of the pilots were getting to know each other, while knowing most of them, you couldn’t help but to look for Jake. It was a bittersweet reunion, “Bagman,” 

He turned thinking that Phoenix was back to bother him, but when he saw you, his eyes lit up, “VIper? I didn’t know you were stateside!”

“What, I spend 8 months oversea and you don’t think I’m good enough to fly with you anymore?”

“I don’t know, you definitely give me a run for my money, but I don’t think you’re quite on my level,” he smiled, quoting you from the first time you flew together. 

You laughed, “I’m going to get a drink, you want anything?”

“Yea, that’d be great,”

As you walked away, Coyote came up next to Jake, “An admiral’s daughter? Really Seresin?” 

“It’s not like that, man,”

“Sure it’s not,” 

-

Rooster and Hangman had been butting heads recently and while you weren’t close to Rooster, you had to side with him on this one. 

“What? None of you wondered about the tension? How Rooster’s daddy flew with Maverick,”

You scoffed at him, “And what, Seresin?”

“All I’m saying is that I knew there was something else goin’ on,”

“My father flew with Mav, so what difference is there between Rooster and me?”

“Mav was there when little Goose-” Rooster jumped up and lunged toward Jake, the rest of the team jumped up and pulled them apart, you took Bradley’s side and the look on your face made Jake realize how much he had just fucked up.

- 

Dogfight football was something that seemed to ease the tension for a quick moment of bliss. You were able to forgive Jake for his outburst after much convincing from him. 

It was now sunset and you and the rest of the Dagger team were running around the sand tossing around a football. You and Jake were head to head, “You’re going down Kazansky,”

“I don’t think so,” you smirked at him. The next game started and you ran at Jake, trying to push him back from Phoenix who was playing quarterback, you thought you had him but at the last second, he grabbed your waist and brought you to the ground. 

You smiled up at him after Phoenix had scored, “Help me up?”

He reached out a hand to you and you pulled him down, him landing on top of you. Fanboy saw the scene and yelled out, “Get a room!”

You were used to the teasing, but not about Jake. Somehow this time felt different. Jake saw your face drop as Coyote whistled and laughed, “Seresin’s trying to climb the ranks, huh?”

You got up and rolled your eyes, laughing dryly, you walked over to your towel and bag. Jake ran over to Coyote and smacked him on the back of the head, “ What the fuck, man?” 

“Come on, Hangman, I’m just playin’,”

“I don’t fucking care, asshole,” he made his way over to where you were sitting in a chair near Halo and Phoenix.

“Viper..”

“Fuck off, Jake,” Phoenix yelled at him, but he ignored her. 

“Can we have a minute, please,” he asked you, you wanted to say no but you just couldn’t.

“Yeah, alright,”

You got up and walked up the beach with Jake, he stopped you when you were far enough away from the others. 

“You know it’s not like that, right?”

“Jake, I really don’t care, okay it doesn’t matter,” you began to walk away but he grabbed your wrist and pulled you back to him. 

“It does matter because it isn’t like that, and you and I both know that. You’re not just another hookup to me, you’re not just a friend, you’re so much more than that and I hoped that you would have seen it by now.”

Oh. Oh.

“Jake-”

“No, I need to say this,” 

“Jake-”

“I’ve loved you since the first time you shot my plane down in that dogfight almost a year ago and ever since then, I’ve just fallen in love with you more every day since then,”

“Jak-”

“And I know you probably don’t feel the same, but I just had to tell you because I couldn’t hold it in any longer. When you left for Italy and left me standing there, it was the scariest moment of my life because I thought I was going lose you,”

“Jake stop!” He looked at you, scared of what you were going to say, but you didn’t say anything, you leaned forward and kissed him hard and passionately.  You pulled away and he looked at you shocked.

“Jake, I’ve loved you for so long, but I didn’t think that you felt the same, I thought I was just... there, I had no idea you felt that way,”

“You were never ‘just there’, you’re everything to me and I’m sorry I didn’t say it sooner, I was just- I was scared. Scared of losing you, scared of losing what we had,”

“You’re never going to lose me, Jake, I can promise you that,” he smiled dearly at you and kissed you again.

“Do you wanna get out of here? Maybe watch reruns of Friends like we used to?”

Life as the sister of Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky was hardly ever easy, especially when he had the tendency of being the protective older brother. Though it wasn’t all bad, when you found yourself in one of the most popular bars in Fightertown USA celebrating your brother’s achievement with all the other pilots of Top Gun. Though surrounded by handsome pilots, Ice had a strict policy of no dating Navy pilots, and he had drilled harshly into the heads of his fellow pilots and crewman that you were off the market to any and all forms of Navy men. You snorted at the thought taking another sip from your beer mug as Iceman conversed with you about the different maneuvers he had to perform during his most recent dogfight. Normally you would be interested in your brother’s exploits but tonight you wanted to have fun and enjoy the night talking with others (maybe have some potential relationships open up). Not be the untouchable sister of the elite pilot in the whole Navy that everyone was told to avoid and not touch.

“You okay,” Ice finally interrupted your moody thoughts as his eyes searched yours worriedly.

“Yeah fine,” you replied looking away and sipping more at your beer. “Just a long week Ice. I’m really tired.”

“You could have just told me you didn’t feel like going out tonight. I would have understood.”

“And miss the chance to celebrate my big bro’s achievement? Heck no!”

“It’s not that big of a deal,” he answered though his body language proved he thought otherwise than his spoken words. 

You snorted punching him in the shoulder, “Some of us have to make do being lowly nurses working long shifts.”

“What you do is really important,” Iceman cut you short never one to let you demean yourself or compare your line of work to his. “There’s no way that I’m not proud of you because you aren’t a Navy pilot like me. You’re job as a nurse helps more than I ever will.”

“Chill out there Ice,” you chuckled a little bitterly. “I know how you pilots like your ego stroked.”

Before Ice could retort several pilots came up to you two, slapping him on the back before pulling him away from you towards one of the pool tables sitting in the middle of the bar. He looked back towards you reluctantly before tapping another pilot sitting at a table on the shoulder. Ice spoke a few words and then he nodded before getting up and making his way towards you still standing at the bar. You rolled your eyes turning away, another babysitter to watch over you while your brother played pool. Just when you got rid of one killjoy, the first killjoy hires a second one. While waiting for this newest lookout made his way to the bar you begin to plot on how you could possibly escape this torture when you caught something out of the corner of your eye. One of the waitresses that had gone on break about thirty minutes ago was making her return and she was heading straight towards your incoming bogey. This guy Ice sent didn’t seem to be the brightest or most trustworthy and your intuition proved correct when he forgot completely about you and went straight to the poor waitress that just wanted to finish her shift. But sacrifices must be made for the greater good of your sanity. You made your escape while everyone was distracted. Which was just outside the bar because you did ride here with Ice. You didn’t mind sticking around though and enjoying the view outside with the beach right outside the door with a beautiful sunset coloring the scenery with different purples, pinks, and oranges.

Taking a seat on a salt crusted bench you enjoyed the sounds of waves crashing against the beach and a salty wind stirring your hair. The fresh air felt good on your flustered cheeks when the front door opened. You jumped afraid that you had been found when a different pilot you had never seen before stepped through the front door. You were afraid Ice sent him to find you but by the stumbling steps of this pilot and the buzzed look on his face he was just looking for a good place to cool off or puke his guts out. You turned away losing interest despite his handsome features. Yes your brother’s friends were all attractive in their own way this one was more your type. Close cropped dark sandy colored hair and a square jaw that could cut steel. He wore sunglasses so you couldn’t tell what color his eyes were, but you know you shouldn’t find out since Iceman would have a fit if he even knew that you were entertaining the thought that a pilot was one of the most absolute handsome creatures you had ever seen. You chuckled again causing this new guy’s attention to cut over to where you were sitting.

“Heeeyyy,” he slurred while waving at you. Even that small motion was causing him to stumble into the doorway of the bar. “Nev’r seen you ‘ere before.” He continued like he hadn’t been close to kissing the splintery wood of the doorframe.

“Yeah this is my first time being here,” you admitted thinking the conversation would end there. You jumped a little when he took a seat right beside you on the bench leaning right up against you.

“Y’here for th’ booze t’,” he continued to converse with you, barely as he was on the verge of being hammered, and you couldn’t decide if he had a death wish or just didn’t know that Iceman is your brother.

“Well I’m here with my brother to hang out so not necessarily here for the booze,” you answered scooting away just a little as his arm kept bumping into yours from his close proximity.

“Ooo luk’y me,” he smirked settling an arm on the back of the bench this time. 

Though he was being controlled mostly by the liquid courage you couldn’t bring yourself to fear this weird man for being so forward. It was a nice change of pace as everyone else had been avoiding you like the plague. Yes you had accepted to come for your brother’s sake and you were so very proud of him, but you wished that he would have a little more faith in you at picking out who you let woo you. Though you probably weren’t giving the best impression being basically cuddled by a drunken Navy man who had one too many drinks and was on the verge of making poor decisions. But he was fun to talk to and you found yourself losing track of time as you both conversed and he continued to flirt shamelessly at times, especially when you told him you were a nurse. It wasn’t until you heard a commotion inside did you realize you had completely forgotten about Iceman. The door to the bar burst open and a steaming mad Iceman.

“Slider,” the normally professional pilot roared making his way towards the man who had made himself comfortable right by your side. 

“Ice whaat ‘s your dealll,” Slider whined when the angry pilot lifted him up by the collar of his shirt. “Is she y’ girl?”

You made a gagging noise while glaring at your brother basically lifting your new friend up with nothing but rage fueling him.

“As if,” you scoffed wrenching Slider (who you now knew his callsign) from your fuming brother. “He’s my brother and he’s also a killjoy.”

“Killjoy,” Ice turned on you this time.

“You heard me,” you stepped forward sick of listening to him while he sucked the fun out of everything. You could understand his no pilot rule but despite Slider being on the verge of plastered he hadn’t done anything untoward towards you. “You invite me here to celebrate you and I agreed cause I wanted to be a good sister and have fun with my brother. But then when I get here you basically tell everyone I’m off limits and I can’t even begin to make conversation with anyone you’re friends with because they think that as soon as they do they’re going to be torn limb from limb. So excuse me if I talk to the one guy who was too stupid to know who I was.”

“Heeyyy,” Slider pouted his flush cheeks becoming redder.

“No offense,” you smiled, happy to know that despite seeing Iceman’s rage he continued to stick around.

Iceman sighed rubbing at his neck sheepishly. He could admit when he was out of line. Despite wanting what was best for you at all times, he could be overprotective and a jerk at times.

“I’m sorry,” he finally apologized before looking back to his back seater. “But really? My RIO?”

As soon as he asked you, you got a sly grin pulling at your full lips.

“So he’s not a pilot?”

“Technically,” Iceman paused seeing right where you were going with this. “Don’t you dare.”

“He’s not a pilot Iceman,” you stuck your tongue out at your brother grabbing Slider’s hand. “C’mon big boy I want to take a walk on the beach!”

Iceman stepped forward to follow before earning a finger in his face.