#tgm fandom

For a moment, you paused, standing in your hallway and looking at who was at your door. He just waved, awkwardly. 

Well, at least you weren’t the only one feeling it.

“Is everything okay?” you asked him as you unlocked your screen door. 

The weather had been too hot recently, so your door was already open. 

Jake nodded. “Yeah.”

Others might have been confused by the question being asked without any happy smile or pretense. But, considering he was at your door, it wasn’t uncalled for that your first thought would be that something was wrong. 

“Okay,” you nodded, hoping Jake would explain why he was standing on your porch at four in the afternoon. Or, on your porch at all. 

Thankfully, he did. “I heard- well, Penny told me- Actually, Amelia told her mom and I just happened to be there so she-she told me, too and-”

“Hangman.”

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay?”

You nodded, slow. “I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

You nodded, again. “Pretty sure. Last week I had a boyfriend, this week I don’t. I don’t think there’s much to worry about.”

Jake took in a breath. “Right.”

He was still standing on your front porch. “Do you…wanna come in? Out of everyone, I didn’t expect you, like, at all.”

Jake nodded. “Me neither.”

“I don’t know what the hospitality code is,” you told him, honestly. “But…it’s hot and…I made fresh lemonade.”

Jake shrugged, shifting on his feet to try and feel less awkward. “Sure, I could go for some lemonade.”

You nodded, opening the screen door a little more. “I guess…come in then?”

“Shoes on or off?”

“Uhh, off. I-I mopped earlier.”

Jake nodded, following your preference. 

“So,” you said, pouring two glasses of fresh lemonade, as Jake walked further into your house and met you in the kitchen/dining space. “Amelia told you?”

“Uh, yeah. Kinda. Well…yes.”

“Here you go,” you said, handing him the glass. 

“Thanks. I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?” Jake asked, noticing the array of colours on your dining table. 

“Oh, no. Just…trying to pick a colour is a lot harder than I realised.”

Jake’s gaze travelled over your entire being as you looked at your dining table. Your house was almost spotless. 

He didn’t know what he had been expecting. He knew, from others, you kept a tidy house. But, after a break-up? Your entire house was…freakishly clean. 

Not psycho-medical clean – though, after finding out what your ex had done, he wouldn’t judge you if it was. But…clean like…wiping memories clean. 

The entire house smelled of lemon lysol and bleach. There wasn’t a spec of dust or dirt to be seen. Not a single streak on your windows or cabinet, or your counters. The oven looked brand-new, and so did the sink. 

And you…

Jake had seen you enough times to know you were clean and tidy. It was a very rare occurrence that he saw you with a hair out of place, looking frazzled. It was also rare he saw you look…comfortable. Don’t get him wrong, he’d known you long enough to know you were comfortable with yourself but he’d never seen you…like right now. 

Rather than a trouser suit and heels, or pressed jeans and clean trainers, you were in a very old t-shirt. The kind you keep at the back of your closet and pull out when you need to get shit done or feel comforted. Old paint splatters, torn and faded writing. 

It looked soft against your skin, and skimmed your thighs. Under its length, the calming colour of your cotton shorts poked out. Your hair, which was usually neat, even when it was in a blow-out, was tied into a messy knot at the base of your skull. 

“Want some help?” Jake asked, motioning to the nail polish colours. “I do have sisters so I have some experience.”

“If you ask me what vibe am I going for, I’m gonna tell you now that I don’t know.”

Jake chuckled, taking a seat across from the one that was already away from the table. “Well, for starters, we can take this one out.”

“Why?” You asked, sitting down in your seat. 

“Because you wore that last time I saw you.”

You were too tired to question how, or even why, he knew that. 

“Okay.”

In the space of two minutes, Jake had whittled your options down from seventeen to one. 

A fresh mint green. 

“Seriously?”

Jake just looked at you, calmness in his eyes. “It symbolises freshness and a renewal.”

You stared at him. “What?”

“Don’t judge me for knowing what colours symbolise.”

“I’m not. I’m just…shocked.”

“Well,” he held the bottle up to you. “What can I say? I’m full of surprises, sweetheart.”

Taking the bottle from him, you sat forward and unscrewed the cap. The prep for your nails had been finished before Jake had knocked on the door. Halfway through painting, you smudge the paint a little. But, before you could ask, Jake held out a q-tip soaked in nail polish remover. 

“Thank you.”

“Told you, I have experience.”

You nodded, cleaning up the edges. “Your sisters taught you well.”

“I’ll tell them you said so. They’ll be thrilled to hear it.”

“The team's worried about you,” Jake said after you had finished. “They haven’t seen you around The Hard Deck for a week. Or on base.”

“So they sent you to investigate?”

Jake shook his head, sitting forward. “No. I came here because…I don’t actually know why. Amelia told me what happened and then…I was here.”

Rather than ask questions, you switched subjects just a little. “I’ve been busy.”

“Cleaning?”

“I did that today. No, with work.”

“You’ve still been going to work?”

You shrugged. “Just because my relationship ended, doesn't mean the rest of the world ended with it.”

“That’s true but–”

“It’s better for me if I work.” You cut in. “It keeps me distracted from…dealing with what happened.”

“That doesn’t sound healthy.”

“Neither does burning down his life,” you said. “At least, this way, I don’t sit and overthink everything at once. I don’t let the anger consume me. I…can take a step back. Judge it. Find some…clarity and then…try and find a way to move on.”

“Still,” Jake took a sip of his drink. “If you ever want to burn his life down, I know of at least a dozen people who will help you. Myself included.”

You chuckled, quietly. “Thanks.”

“I’m sorry for what he did to you.”

You just shrugged. “It is what it is. I can’t…change the past. Or his feelings. Or his opinion of me.”

“He’s an asshole, Y/n. You deserved better. You deserve better.”

You just nodded, rolling your lips together. Logically, you knew he was right. But…you’d been with your ex for so long, and had suspected the truth he’d told you that you couldn’t bring yourself to agree with Jake. 

“Truth is,” you looked away for a moment, before looking back at Jake. “I think I knew. I knew he was settling. I knew he wasn’t happy.”

“Settling? Is that what he told you?”

You looked down at where your two hands were lightly gripping your lemonade glass. You couldn’t look at Jake, not fully, not while you told him. It was hard enough re-living the memory in your head. 

“We, uh,” you sniffed, willing the tears away. “We had been talking– discussing our relationship for a couple hours. And, I’d asked him to tell me the truth. His truth. And he did.”

“Y/n-”

“He said that I was the one guys settled with, not the one they looked for.”

It had hit you like a punch to the gut, then. But now it was hitting you like a freight train. 

“A-and it’s…well, it’s the first time it’s been phrased like that. But…” You looked up at your ceiling, quickly wiping the falling tears away. “It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve been told something like that, you know? I don’t even know why I’m getting upset-”

In barely half a second, there was the sound of wooden chair legs scraping across your kitchen tiles before Jake was by your side, hugging you. 

And you just cried. 

“I’m really sorry.”

Jake shook his head as he crouched beside you, keeping his arms around your frame as he pulled away. With the back of his fingers, then his thumb, he wiped away your tears. 

“No. You have nothing to be sorry for. Your ex is an asshole. And a liar, to boot. Y/n…you are so much more than what he thinks.” 

Jake wanted to kick your ex into next Sunday. And the Sunday after that. And the one after that. Until he felt as much pain, as Jake currently did with anger. 

“And so much more than whatever – whoever said things like him. Jesus, you are a powerhouse. And a knock-out. I have seen you walk into Navy bars and have everyone in there following your orders before they’ve even asked your name. You’re allowed to cry. You’re allowed to hurt, and feel hurt. You have nothing to apologise or be sorry for.”

Then, he placed one hand in yours, gripping it tightly, before laying his other gently at the side of your face. 

“Sweetheart, I need you to look at me when I say this. You are a wonderful person. You are smart, and strong, and capable of doing…pretty much everything. In fact, I don’t think there’s anything you can’t do. Kinda annoying really.” Jake mumbled the last bit. 

You chuckled through your tears, tasting the salt on your lips. 

Jake smiled at you. “But you are and deserve so much more than those assholes have ever tried to make you think.”

Taking a breath, you nodded, holding his hand. “Thank you, Jake.”

Jake nodded. “I mean it. You are a true wonder, Y/n. Don’t let anyone try and convince you you’re not.”

On the brink of tears again, but for a separate reason, you leaned in and hugged Jake. And he didn’t hesitate in hugging you back. 

“Just to be clear,” Jake said into your hair. “If you do ever want him to, you know, disappear…you’ve got a shit-ton of people who would help and wouldn’t bat an eyelid.”

You chuckled. “I’ll think about it.”

Surprisingly, or maybe not so, Jake stayed for the rest of the evening. 

He ordered your favourite take-out. You asked how he knew, but when he gave a half-arsed excuse about Natasha mentioning it a while ago, you couldn’t help but wonder what the real answer was. 

Was it the same reason he knew what nail polish colour you’d last worn?

You’d asked him about his family – mostly his sisters. You wanted to know more about the women that had trained him so well in the art of nail polish colours. 

Out of all the films that were on your streaming services, he’d chosen one that you actually found comforting. It was also one you hadn’t seen in a while. Your ex didn’t particularly like it, so you’d just…not watched it. 

It was somewhere, a few days later, as you were surrounded by multiple piles of books – some you owned, others you had just bought since Jake had knocked on your door at eight in the morning – that you realised Jake had done more for you, as a friend, in less than a week than your ex had done for most of your relationship. 

He’d said he was taking you for coffee, then for lunch at the Hard Deck. Penny wanted to see you and you needed to get out of the house before the smell of lysol killed you off. 

As a treat (though it seemed to be his plan anyway) Jake drove you to the bookstore where you bought most of the books on your TBR list. They were also the books you’d avoided buying because your ex said there was no room for them, despite four of the shelves in your bookcase holding one or two picture frames and a plant. 

He actually listened when you talked. And, when you didn’t, he encouraged it. 

Before everything had happened, you and Jake hadn’t exactly been close. Truthfully, you hadn’t even been friends. You thought, he thought you were too uptight. And you thought he was a fuck-boy turned slightly competent adult asshole. 

Any conversations you did share before you cried in his arms, in your kitchen, had always been shut down pretty quickly. 

But now? You found conversation easy with him. For every question he asked you, and you answered, you wanted to know the same about him. And, he answered you as honestly as he could. 

“Let me help,” Jake said as he stepped back into the room. 

“It’s okay,” you told him, as you teetered on a chair to reach the top of your bookshelves to shove a heavy basket on top. “I’ve got it.”

Where you expected him to just agree and walk away, Jake stood his ground. “You’re gonna fall.”

“I’m fine.”

“Sweetheart, I know you like doing stuff on your own. But, just because you can, shouldn’t mean you have to. Please, let me help?”

With a sigh (how the hell are books this heavy? They’re condensed in a basket), you balanced the basket on your knee as you stood, praying mantis style, on top of the chair. 

“Please?” He asked, again, holding out his hands to take the basket. 

“Just so you know,” you said, finally handing him the basket. “This goes against every fibre of my being.”

“I know it does,” Jake smiled, holding the basket under his arm whilst holding out his hand to help you down. 

Once you were finally down, he stepped onto the chair and in one smooth motion, lifted the basket on top of the bookshelf and pushed it back. 

“Thank you for letting me help you.”

You nodded, trying to remind yourself that you could accept help and didn’t have to push through to do everything alone. “Thank you for helping me.”

Jake smiled, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to your cheek as if it was the most natural thing in the world. “Come on, I made dinner.”

“Oh, thank you god!” You turned around quickly, heading towards your landing. 

“Thank god?” Jake laughed, following you. “Thank me, I made it.”

“Thank god and thank Jake!” You shouted, practically skipping down the stairs. 

You’d been so busy organising your bookshelves, you'd almost forgotten about dinner. The second Jake had secured the new shelves to the wall, he’d left you to ‘talk to your books’. 

You’d denied that you talked to your books, until you apologised to them when you accidentally dropped a hardback onto a set of paperbacks. 

Before you knew it, more than six months had passed since your break up. And you’d never felt more free. Or more loved. 

Jake had helped hype you up when you decided to get back into the dating game. Between himself, Natasha and, during one facetime call, Jake’s sisters – you’d been on a total of three dates out of a potential ten. 

And they’d been…nice. 

Until one got too suggestive, another bailed half-way through the date to go on another one, and one had admitted he already had a girlfriend. 

“He’s an ass, but at least he was honest.” Natasha took a sip of her beer. 

You shrugged, taking a sip of your own drink. “True. But, still.”

“Yeah…bar on the floor?”

You nodded. “Just about.”

“Actually,” Natasha sat up. “Maybe not. Am I right in saying I saw you and Bagman at that new coffee place the other morning?”

“Probably. What about it?”

Natasha smiled. “Think there’s something there?”

“Between…me and Jake?”

She nodded. “Why not?”

“We’re just…friends.”

Natasha laughed. “Sure.”

“We are!” You sighed in laughter. “Look, Jake…helped me after everything that happened. Our friendship is still in its early days, technically. And…I don’t know if I’m ready for another relationship yet. I like my space.”

“Even more when Jake’s there.”

“I won’t deny that…maybe it’s…nicer having him around.” You tried to hide your smile but you were failing. “But, seriously, we’re just friends.”

“Okay, fine.” Natasha agreed. “But when you two get married, I want people to know I called it first.”

Just a little over a year since your break-up, you didn’t realise just how close your reality would come to Natasha’s request. 

With a rare weekend off, and with multiple errands to run, you and Jake decided to do them together. 

He needed to pick up a few orders from the hardware store, drop off some dry-cleaning, and pick-up his click and collect orders from the bookstore. Meanwhile, you needed to do a bulk stock of groceries, return a clothing order, and having a look around the bookstore wouldn’t hurt. 

In the hardware store, whilst Jake marched off with the customer sales rep to find the correct size of his items, you’d wandered off towards the paint sample and card displays. 

By the time Jake had finished, and came to find you, you had a handful of different coloured cards. 

“Thinking of redecorating?”

You hummed. “Maybe. Depends on if I prefer a different colour.”

Heading out of the store, neither you nor Jake noticed the wandering stare of a man, who was with his girlfriend as she picked out bathroom tile samples, followed you and Jake’s hand that gently rested at the bottom of your back. 

By the time everything was done, and you had another pile of books to add to your collection, yourself and Jake had stopped off to pick up dinner and headed back to your place. 

The next day, after doing a drop off at the recycling centre, yourself and Jake had decided to stop off at a small diner. 

“Booth or counter?”

Both of you agreed on the counter. Between the two families of five on either ends of the room, the strollers at the end of a few others, and the time of day; it was safer and easier to pick the counter. 

You’d be able to hear each other, at least. And keep out of people’s way as they wrangled their kids to sit down and eat their food. 

At the counter, Jake sat facing you, your legs loosely slotted in between his own. The waitress took your order, and returned with two coffees whilst you both waited. However, somewhere between one of the families leaving, and a couple entering, your conversation with Jake over paint colours got cut short. 

“Y/n?”

You did a double take over your shoulder as you heard someone say your name. But, the minute you realised who it was, you wished you’d pretended to ignore them. 

Jake’s hand that had been resting loosely on his thigh shot out, discreetly to your knee.

“Simon?” 

He smiled at you. Jake wanted to punch him in his teeth. 

“Hi. Hey.”

“Hi? What…what are you doing here?”

He was still smiling, a little out of breath. The kind of smile that says he’s pleasantly surprised to see an old friend. Except, you weren’t an old friend. And you had no interest in ever seeing his face again. 

“I just…we decided to stop in.”

“We?” Jake asked. 

Over his shoulder, Simon motioned to the woman who was sliding herself into one of the empty booths. 

“Does she know you’re talking to me?”

“I-I was coming to order, anyway. I just…” Simon’s gaze flicked between yourself and Jake. “Actually, I wanted to say…I’m sorry, are you two together? Or could I have a minute alone with-”

“That’s none of your business. And, no.” 

Simon stood back, offended. “I don’t know who you are, but we actually-”

“There is no ‘we’. And he can stay.”

“Y/n-”

“I never wanted to see your face again, but you seem persistent. Say what you’ve got to say and then move the fuck away.”

Simion sighed, looking between you and Jake, clearly annoyed. 

“I saw you guys yesterday. At the hardware store, right?”

You squeezed Jake’s hand. 

“Are you stalking her?” 

“No! No! We were picking out samples. Honestly. You can ask my girlfriend. But…Y/n, when I saw you…I made a promise to myself. If I saw you again, I’d talk to you.”

“And say what, Simon?”

“That I made a mistake,” he said, eventually. His voice went low, and soft. As if it was a secret he only wanted you to know, even though Jake could fully hear him. “You…you were great. Really. I-I’m trying to build my life with my girlfriend now, but-”

“I swear to god, if you say you’re still in love with her-”

“Jake.”

Jake stopped talking, but he continued to shift in his seat as you held his hand. 

“Clearly, your boyfriend is the protective type.”

“After everything you did to me, if you’re about to profess your undying love for me, then I don’t blame him.”

Jake’s murderous gaze didn’t leave Simon’s face, but his ears did perk up at the fact you hadn’t corrected Simon. 

“Look,” Simon took a step closer. “What I’m trying to say is…I should have settled with you. We had it good, right?”

“Don’t touch me.”

“I’m sorry,” he lifted his hand that had been reaching out to hold your arm. “But, we did, didn’t we? Surely, you can remember?”

For a moment, Jake got worried when you didn’t answer Simon. Your gaze just seemed to travel across his before it fell onto the woman sitting in the booth, waiting patiently. 

Then you moved. 

“Stay here,” you told Jake before ducking past Simon. 

“Uh, Y/n- wait-”

Jake stayed where he was, and watched what was happening. And, apparently so was the waitress on the other-side of the counter. 

She just smiled at Jake before turning back to watch what was about to happen. 

Reaching the booth, you stopped. You seemed friendly enough, introducing yourself to the woman. She shook your hand with a welcoming and warm smile. Meanwhile, Simon looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him whole. 

Then the pleasantries began to fade. 

The woman looked from you, and then to Simon. Jake couldn’t hear what was being said, but he figured there were a lot of questions. Then a lot of pleading from Simon just before he tried to lay a hand on your arm again. 

Both yourself and the lady told him to back off. 

You seemed to be apologising, but explaining something. The woman shook her head and looked at you with a thankful look in her eyes as she explained something else to you. 

Scooting out of the booth, the lady hugged you. Then turned to Simon. On the table, there was an old cup of coffee left. 

Lifting it, she splashed it across Simon before looking at you once again with a thankful look. She also handed you a business card before leaving gracefully. 

Meanwhile, you looked at Simon and said something before you turned your back on him for good. 

Looking at Jake, you gave a relieved, if slightly awkward, look. 

“What happened?”

“Uhh…” 

“A lot to unpack?” Jake asked as you sat back down, and the waitress was called away to another table.

“Yeah,” you said, letting out a surprised breath. “She gave me her business card. Our next coffees are on the house.”

Jake looked at the business card. It was the same title and logo of the small coffee chain you had both been attending almost religiously. 

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah.”

“Feel good?”

You nodded. “Definetly.”

“Well, let's wait til the waitress gets back. She seemed interested, too.”

You chuckled, looking down at the business card, feeling elated. But, then it dawned on you. 

“I-I’m sorry for not correcting him, about the boyfriend thing.”

Jake shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I don’t want you thinking I ignored it on purpose, or to make him feel jealous or-”

Jake smiled at you. “It’s okay. Besides, let him feel jealous. He’s an ass who didn’t appreciate you. He’s also an ass who didn’t deserve you.”

With a smile, you reached for Jake’s hand and squeezed it three times. “Thank you.”

“You looked pretty badass dealing with him.”

“It was a long time coming.”

Jake nodded. “I hope you’re proud of yourself. Because I know I’m proud of you.”

You didn’t have time to respond further than a smile because the waitress suddenly appeared once more, armed with a dozen questions and compliments. 

A few hours later, you and Jake pulled up to The Hard Deck to find most of the Dagger Squad running around on the beach, playing football. You stopped to talk with Penny, where Jake told her she should be proud of you, before he was called away by Coyote. 

Pressing a kiss to your head, he held onto your hand only letting go when he got too far away, making you promise you’d come outside with Penny. 

“You two look cosy,” Penny smiled, raising her brows as Jake disappeared outside. 

“It’s been an eventful day.”

“Eventful weekend. I saw you two grocery shopping.”

“Penny.”

Penny just smiled, leaning on the bar top. “Call me old fashioned, but that’s usually reserved for either roommates or couples. And, since I know you both live separately and alone…”

“It’s not like that. We’re just…we’re friends.”

“Who hold hands?”

“Well-”

“And kiss?”

“Casually. And never, you know, on the lips-”

“And are inseparable?”

“We’re not-”

“Don’t even bother trying to deny it.”

With a defeated sigh, you gave up. Penny just chuckled. 

“You can admit you have a feelings-”

“Whoa, hey, no. No- there are no feelings.”

Penny’s lips curved up. “But there is something?”

You sighed. “Okay. There might be a…” You rolled your eyes, feeling awkward as you admitted the truth. “Tiny, miniscule- like, so small it’s practically insignificant, crush on Jake. But, I mean, come on!”

You pointed your hand to the window where he was playing football with the rest of the squad.

“He’s smart, and capable. He doesn’t make me feel like shit. He’s my friend. And…he looks like that.”

Penny chuckled. “Sweetie, you don’t have to defend yourself to me. Or even to him if you were to tell him.”

“What? No. No, no, no.” You shook your head. “That can’t-”

Penny ignored you. “That boy had been pining after you for so long, I don’t even know how he hasn’t killed your ex for doing what he did.”

“What?”

Penny nodded. “Oh, yeah. A little pathetic, really. Sweet, mostly. But a little pathetic.”

“Seriously?”

“Have I ever lied to you?”

Your eyeline drifted between Penny and Jake. 

“You’re sure?”

“Sweetie,” Penny smiled. “The first day you walked into this place, that boy was falling all over himself trying to talk to you. Then, when he found out you had a boyfriend…I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man so jealous. It was all he could talk about for months. Any time he didn’t see you, he always asked about you. Natasha banned the topic of you for a couple months, unless you were in the bar. And the second Amelia told him what happened– Y/n. You’ve never seen a man move so quickly.”

As shock settled into your bones, you sat down. 

“You’re kidding.”

“I am not! Honey, that boy has been in love with you from day one.”

“But we’re friends!”

Penny gave you a gentle smile, and held your hand. “A lot of people will stay in situations where, even if they’re desperate for the whole thing, the small pieces are better than nothing at all.”

You were completely in shock. “But he…he helped me with dates.”

“He might be a fighter pilot, but even they get scared once in a while.” Penny patted your hand. “He’s a good man, Y/n. All of his actions haven’t been just because he likes you. They’re a part of his reasoning, but…he’s a good man. Who has been in love with you for so long, he’s willing to help you find your ‘forever person’, even if that person isn’t him.”

It was a lot of information to take in at once. You’d only processed a third of it by the time Natasha had come running inside to drag you out to help her. 

Between herself, Bob, Payback and you – you defeated Jake’s team by the skin of your teeth. 

“No hard feelings?” You asked, standing over Jake as he lay down in the sand. 

“I think I’m dead.”

You giggled, holding your hand out. “Come on, Hangman. I’ll get you a drink.”

With a groan, he lifted his arm and clapped his hand into yours. As he stood, he threw an arm over your shoulder, whilst you kept hold of his hand and started to walk towards the bar. 

“That is the last time I ever trust Bob.”

You laughed. “That’s just your bruised ego talking.”

“Oof- harsh.”

“I think you’ll survive,” you smiled. 

You managed to act normal, for the most part. But what Penny had told you continued to play on your mind. 

Jake liked you? He had feelings — feelings stronger than friendship — for you? Since the beginning? 

No. That can’t be—You gave an internal, mental gasp. Then the dread quickly started pouring in. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Oh…fuck!

You felt horrible. 

You’d known Jake Seresin for, what? Four? Almost five? Years. And in that time you’d done nothing but completely misjudge him.

Well— to be fair. From the stories Jake had told you over the last year about his childhood, his teen years, his time off-base from the Navy…your judgement was pretty spot on. 

But that didn’t change the fact that you’d held it against him. Jesus, no wonder he hated your guts.

Yet, that was the thing. According to Penny's accounts of things, he…didn’t. Quite the opposite, in fact. 

But— 

You grumbled, tossing over in your bed and staring at your moonlit ceiling. You’d been going over Penny’s testimony in your head for literal hours. 

You had a million and one questions you wanted to ask. But, despite mentally going to each of the Dagger Squad for their opinions (all of whom gave a similar result as Penny). There was only one person who could answer all your questions and give you the right answers. 

You groaned again, slapping your hand onto your face. 

“Jake?” 

Poking your head through the door of The Hard Deck, you looked around hoping to find him. But, after no reply came, you stepped further inside, lifting the sunglasses from your head and folding them in your hand. 

“Jake?” 

He was nowhere to be seen. You had been stressfully asleep when your phone had loudly woken you up, a little before seven in the morning. 

“Jake?!”

“Hey.”

A surprised sound came from your mouth as you turned, finally seeing him. 

“Hi. What’s going on?”

Walking closer to you, he laid down the box of supplies in his arms onto the table. “Rooster called me – it’s kinda an all hands on deck situation.”

You nodded. “Okay. What happened?”

Jake’s face was washed in frustration and sadness. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

Walking you into the backstore, you saw it. The back supply room at the back of the kitchen was covered in water. There was a pool of water at your feet, just under an inch deep. The damp was firmly making itself at home in the walls. A lot of the cardboard boxes were slowly melting, along with the paper straws and napkins. 

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Pete’s gone with Penny to wake up her plumber. He wasn’t answering his phone. Rooster got called in for a meeting, so he called me. And then I called you.”

You nodded, “Okay. Okay. Yeah, we can…try and salvage this.”

“Sorry to wake you,” Jake apologised, but you shook your head. 

“No, it’s good you called me. Penny got a mop and bucket round here?”

Jake nodded, pointing to the bar. “Back there. I’ve been trying to get most of the stuff out for now. I shut the water off, but I swear this thing is still rising.”

For the next two hours, you and Jake worked to save, salvage and soak up everything in the supply room. Meanwhile, Penny stood over the shoulder of her plumber who had sworn to her that his work wasn’t the problem, only to find out it was. 

There had been a small leak for months and then, in the middle of the night, it decided to push past the dam. 

Over the following week, whilst Penny was getting the backstore fixed, you were trying to find the courage to ask Jake the truth. But, the longer you tried, the more your anxiety grew. So, you took a step back. 

You’d watch his actions. You’d try and listen to his words more. Maybe something would give the truth – his truth – away to you so you didn’t feel like an idiot when you would ask him and find the answer to be he just saw you as a friend. 

That turmoil carried on for a month. 

For every slightly friendship fueled gesture, there was a glaring romantic gesture staring you right in the face. In a crowd, he’d hold your hand. At the bar, he knew your drink order. He knew your work schedule well enough to know when to call you, or when to text you. 

But during those moments: his eyes were on you during the conversation, his hand lingered on your hip and waist when he stood beside you, if you were intentionally separated in a crowd and you looked for him…he was already looking at you. 

The bar had practically been on the floor before you got to know Jake. You also didn’t want to warp that into something that was just made up in your mind because other people were convinced, too. 

“Earth to Y/n!”

Nearly jumping out of your skin, you turned your head and looked at Jake. He was standing in your backyard. 

“Jake?”

He smiled at you. “You really need to get security cameras or something. I could have been an axe murderer.”

“I’ve got cameras,” you told him. “And you could never be an axe murderer. They’re the silent type.”

“And I’m not?”

“You're chatty.”

Jake chuckled, walking up the steps of your back porch. “Yeah, my mom always got that on my report card.”

You chuckled. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

Jake shrugged, taking his usual seat in the deck chair beside yours. “What can I say? If I wasn’t in the Navy, I’d be a reporter. Or a talk-show host.”

You chuckled, again. “I can see that for you.”

“Thank you. Now, you wanna tell me why you didn’t hear that massive lock on your side-gate?”

You shook your head, avoiding his eye contact. “It’s nothing.”

“Can’t be nothing. I was standing there for, like, half an hour!”

“It was not half an hour,” you said, rolling your eyes at Jake’s dramatic tone.

“Might as well have been. Talk to me, what’s going on?”

“Nothing-”

“It’s not nothing-”

“Jake-”

“It’s not nothing,” he said. “Seriously. What’s going on-”

“Do you like me?” 

You blurted out your question before you could stop and think about…literally anything else. 

Jake’s facial expression faltered. “W-what?”

Despite the pang in your chest as you saw his face shift, you decided to become a masochist. 

“Do you like me?” You asked him, again. “Because…someone told me something and with how I’ve been feeling recently…I’ve been trying to figure it out, Jake. And…I can’t. I can’t even trust my own judgment of it because, if it’s what I hope it is but not what I think it is– my brain is trying to sabotage it. Whilst trying to keep my feet on the ground.”

Jake remained still, apart from leaning in just a little. “And what do you hope it is?”

You felt your heart begin to pound in your chest, as well as your cheeks heat. “I don’t want to say.”

“What do you hope– why?”

“Because I don’t want to be right. And I don’t want to hope for the wrong thing.”

Throughout your head, you were reminding yourself that Jake just saw you as a friend. That you both would only ever be friends. 

But your heart was hoping for more. 

“What?”

His confusion just solidified your reality. So, taking a panicked breath and standing, you turned to him. 

“You know what, just– just forget it. This was stupid. I-I’m sorry.”

“Y/n-”

“You should probably go. I-I’ll see you when I see you. I’m sorry for saying…just literally everything.”

“Y/n, wait-” Jake stood as he watched you try and find your bearing before making a beeline for your screen door. 

“Goodbye, Jake.”

Just before you could reach out to tear open your screen door and walk into your home, where you fully planned to bury yourself under the covers of your bed and wait for the next apocalypse, Jake pulled you back. 

A grasp of your hand, a tug of your arm and you were spinning quickly into his arms where he kissed you. 

His hand held your head steady, and despite the shock, you closed your eyes. After a moment, you kissed him back. The second you did, his other hand finally settled against your skin. With his fingers first skimming your bare thigh, slipping under the short dressing gown and then firmly anchoring you to him, he pulled your entire body flush against his. 

“I like you,” Jake confirmed, breathless. “I more than like you.”

“You do?”

Jake nodded. “Yes.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“My brain needed a second to catch up.”

“I meant…before. Why didn’t you tell me anything…before?”

Jake swallowed. “The first couple years, you seemed happy with someone else. When we finally became friends…you seemed to finally be finding you, again. I love you, but I wasn’t about to jeopardise that for you.”

“What about the dates you helped me with?”

“I didn’t know. I didn’t know if I would be someone you’d…” Jake took a breath, loosening his grip on you. “If I wasn’t, I wanted to make sure you found someone who saw you. You deserve the world, Y/n. You deserve someone who sees that, too.”

“Jake…” 

Every emotion within you felt like it had been dialed to eleven. Tears were brimming in your eyes, but you didn’t know if they were from being overwhelmed with relief, worry, fear, love or frustration. 

And Jake caught them in an instant. 

Anchoring his hands by your neck and shoulders, he held onto you. And you held onto him, your fist gently gripping at his t-shirt. 

“I’ve…I am in love with you, Y/n, And I have been for a long time. But, first and foremost, you are my friend. I want the best for you and I’ve had a long time to deal with the fact I might not be that person–”

“Jake, please. Please.” You were definitely crying. “You have to know that you are. You are that person for me. I know you. I wish to God I’d known you sooner. But I know you. And I know myself.”

Reaching up, you leaned in to kiss him and he met you instantly. Through the tears of overwhelming emotion, Jake’s kiss was untamed and constant, with a wisp of desperation. Whilst you flushed yourself against him, he was careful in walking you backwards to lean against the porch post. 

His heavy boots clunked against the wood, but he made sure to avoid your bare feet. 

Bracing one hand against the post beside your head, he lifted you with his arm and sat you on the beam of the porch. 

“I love you.” 

Gently, he wiped away the drying tears from your cheek. 

“I love you.”

“What did he say?” Bradley whispered, snapping you out of your thoughts. Usually, the two of you would try to watch the movie until around the thirty-minute mark, and then one wandering hand or a lingering kiss later and it would be completely ignored. For you, however, tonight’s movie was long forgotten the moment he had turned it on.

“Hm? Oh, I didn’t hear him. Sorry…” You smiled at him sheepishly.

“You good, angel?” He cocked his eyebrow as he turned to face you. The warm amber of his irises bore into your face with adoration and slight concern. “You’re not thinking about breaking up with me, are you?” He feigned worry, clutching over his heart. You swatted his arm playfully with an eye roll.

“I’m just a little thirsty… Do you want anything from the kitchen?” You offered, feeling a little silly as he simultaneously took a swig from his bottle of beer. He pretended to think for a moment.

“Yeah, get me a glass of you.” He grinned, leaning down to catch your lips in his, stifling your giggle as you cringed with an exaggerated scoff at his cheesy remark. Bradley Bradshaw, dad joke supreme.

“On second thought, maybe I’ll decide to break up with you when I get back, Dadshaw.” You teased, pushing his curls from his forehead, earning you a perfect pout from his plump lips to which you gave a lingering kiss. There it was.

If you were being honest with yourself, you were growing restless with the over-the-clothes grope sessions that regularly took place the last few months. While they were exciting and enjoyable, there was a particular itch that you just couldn’t scratch, even on your own. Your thoughts would drift to him at night as you imagined what being with him would be like, and any time your unskilled fingers fumbled to bring an unfamiliar feeling to that place deep inside you, you would immediately withdraw your hand. The longer things continued on like this, the antsier you were getting and if Bradley was feeling the same way, you would have been none the wiser. He was aware of your predicament and he, ever the gentleman, always let you set the pace and never asked anything of you that you were not comfortable with. His mother raised him better than being any other way. “I promise I’m not some bible-thumping prude.” You would promise him from time to time during these exchanges. He never asked you for your reasoning, but he knew it was just a matter of trust. He would just simply smile and assure you there was no rush, that he would never pressure you to go further than you wanted.

In truth, however, the idea of being your first anything excited him. He felt a little guilty for having that thought in the first place but he couldn’t help it. Any time he tried to get any information from you about what you had done before, just out of sheer curiosity, you would quickly skirt around the subject and bring up anything else. He would never press you on the matter, but he could tell when you were hesitant and very intentional with your movements during impromptu make out sessions behind the bookshelves in the library during study breaks. But he also noticed when something changed inside of you: the time he pulled you into the office of the professor he was TA-ing for when they were out for a few days. When he decided to be spontaneous and clear the professor’s desk of clutter to push you onto the surface, you didn’t exasperatedly scold him or get flushed and embarrassed like you normally would. You simply continued on, pulling him into you, your kisses and touches… hungrier, but he continued to let you set the pace, and while it didn’t go much further, he could feel the desperation growing there with you. That was a week ago, right before midterms, and neither of you had talked about it since.

He tilted his head at you as you winked and sauntered away, making your way out of his room and down the hall toward the kitchen. After nervously gulping down half of the water in your glass in an attempt to slow your heart rate, you stepped into the bathroom off the side of the galley. You gripped either side of the sink as you bent over the counter to face yourself in the mirror, inhaling deeply before letting out a shaky breath. “You can do this. It’s not a big deal. Everyone has done it… Just not you,” you furrowed your brow at your failed pep talk. You had been in your head about this for a couple months, and especially all week as he made a habit of sweetly coaxing you into staying over every night of spring break with him to cuddle every time you would start gathering your belongings to leave. You worried that you wouldn’t be nearly as good as the other women Bradley had already been with, and you often wondered why he was even waiting around with you in the first place, especially when other girls on campus would throw themselves at him had they been given the chance. You had even brought this up to him a couple times before, how he was wasting formative college experience time with you, which was always met with, “Baby, I don’t want anyone else,” or, “Sex isn’t the only important thing in the world.” Sure, not the only thing, but surely still pretty important to someone like Bradley Bradshaw.

“No, you’re not backing out of it. Get it over with. Everything will only get easier from here on out.” You told your reflection definitively. You reached up under your skirt, hooking your panties with your thumbs before tugging them down your legs. You had hoped this bold of a move would spur you on to go through with this, either by your own actions or even by Bradley discovering you bare, as you knew he would often absentmindedly run his thumb against the underwear lines at your hip when he cuddled you. After giving yourself one last look-over in the mirror, you took a deep breath before turning off the light and exiting the bathroom.

Bradley snapped his head up when you reentered his bedroom, giving you a cheeky grin. “Are you back to break up with me, angel?” He has no idea what he’s in for tonight, you thought, but then quickly humbled yourself by the fact that, well, neither did you.You sauntered over to turn off the television with the remote before tossing it away to his textbook-ridden desk. The sudden silence and the way he was looking at you was making you lose your nerve, so you walked over to his stereo to pop one of his CDs in the player, Smokey Robinson’s Smokey, pressing the repeat button and then skipping until the player display read the number 9. Baby Come Close started softly through the speakers, and you remembered the first time he had you listen to it with him.

“This right here… is lovemaking music,” he proclaimed, wiggling his eyebrows at you, only half-joking. Your eyes widened as you playfully swatted his arm, causing him to bellow with laughter. “But make no mistake, it sounds so much better on vinyl.”

“Then why aren’t we listening to it on vinyl?” You teased, prodding his chest with your finger.

“The thought of keeping my collection here with me at school when I live with these idiots makes me shudder, honey. Get real.”

Bradley’s expression was puzzled as you crawled across the bed to straddle his lap, cupping his face and running your thumbs over his smooth skin. He beamed at you nonetheless. “What are you –” You cut him off by gently tilting his chin upward and placing a slow, sensual kiss on his lips. Your lips moved perfectly in sync as he sat up a little straighter, placing his hands on your hips. You shakily reached for one of his hands before setting your discarded lace panties in his palm. He pulled away to look at the delicate fabric and blinked a few times before slowly sliding his other hand under your skirt to grip your bare behind. He softly drew a circle on the skin there with his thumb. His touch felt like static and left goosebumps in its wake, making you shiver. It suddenly clicked in Bradley’s mind as he remembered what he told you about this song, it made his chest constrict. You nervously bit your lip as you watched him short circuit in real time. Bradley took pause as he met your eyes, full of both lust and uncertainty. “Are you saying…”

“I’ve been wondering what it feels like, how you feel, for a while,” you admitted softly, fidgeting with the hem of your skirt. Bradley swallowed hard, his heartbeat in his ears as he hung on every word you said. Your gaze shifted to focus on your hands as you nervously stated, “I don’t want to wait any longer, Bradley. I think I’m ready.” Your eyes fluttered closed as he hesitantly caught your lips again. He grinned into the kiss and pushed your shirt up slightly to rub his calloused thumbs along the soft skin of your waist. You sighed into his mouth as your lips parted, which Bradley took advantage of by sliding his tongue to massage against yours in your mouth.

“We’ll take it slow. I’ll take care of you,” He promised after a long moment with a heavy breath, slowly inching a hand further up your tee to palm your breast and pinching your nipple through your bra, enough for your breath to catch in your throat. “Is this okay?” His eyes snapped to yours expectantly, and he smiled softly when you nodded. Bradley pulled your shirt upward over your head and tossed the material to the floor. He took a moment to marvel at the lacey red bra that matched the underwear in his hand before attaching his lips to your neck and flinging your panties aside. You sighed, bringing your arms up loosely around the back of his neck to run your fingers through the curls at his nape. He raised a hand to cradle your jaw, his thumb gently nudging it to angle your chin to give him more access, and his other expertly sliding up your back to unhook your bra with ease. You sighed in relief as the restrictive material fell down your arms and tried to fight the bashful feeling that washed over you. You felt your face flush as you realized Bradley was the first person to see you this way, all hot and flushed on top of him. He blinked as he took in the sight of your bare chest. “Absolutely perfect, angel.”

You experimentally ground your hips down onto his and the friction of his denim jeans against your bare core made you whimper. You could feel his hard cock through the stiff material separating you, and you desperately wanted more. Your shaky hands fumbled with the button of his pants as you kissed down his jaw and along his neck, placing hot, lingering kisses on the somewhat-fresh scars that stretched across his skin. He chuckled softly, placing his hands over yours to steady them as he guided the button out of the loop.

“Relax, baby. We can take it nice and slow,” Bradley reassured you before lifting you from him to shimmy out of his jeans. But before you could touch him again, he wrapped his arms around your waist and flipped you over, gently placing you underneath him. He rubbed your sides as he shifted his weight on top of you, pushing you into the plush of his mattress. He supported himself on his forearm as mouth latched onto your right nipple, his free hand massaging your other breast. You moaned softly, you felt him smile against your soft skin. Bradley’s tongue swirled around the bud, and he released it with a pop before moving to the left one. When you arched your back, instinctively pushing up against his mouth, he groaned, His hand wandered to your thighs, rubbing them each for a while before slipping between them when you opened them slightly. He nudged your thigh to open wider with his knee. “Am I going too fast?” He asked, stopping his mouth on your skin to look up at you. You shook your head with a nervous smile and he placed a kiss on your sternum. “Tell me what you like.”

“I — I don’t know.” He furrowed his eyebrows at this confession.

“Show me how you do it when you touch yourself,” He requested, and stopped his movements when you opened your mouth to speak… and then closed it. “You’ve never touched yourself?”

“I have! Well, kind of. I either got bored, or whenever I felt anything building I just… stopped.”

“So… You’ve never came before, even on your own?” He prodded delicately, and you sheepishly shook your head. Bradley suppressed the moan at the back of his throat. He wet his lips with his tongue. “Oh, honey. I can’t believe you’re this innocent,” he said more to himself than to you, which made you feel a bit self-conscious. He noticed you tense. “No, baby, no, that isn’t what I mean. You’ve just been so… I never would have guessed.”

“I would understand if you didn’t want to keep going.” You offered, shifting uncomfortably. Bradley’s expression turned incredulous as he rapidly shook his head.

“No way is that deterring me from you. How about we find out what feels good together, okay?” You nodded and let out a shaky breath as his middle finger slowly slid through your slick and ghosted over your clit. An unexpected sound squeaked from your chest and you flushed when he met your eyes. “Soaked already. Is this all for me?” He shot you a lopsided grin, and smirked when you whimpered and nodded. You bucked your hips against his hand, a silent plea for any type of friction, and he obliged by rubbing your bundle of nerves in slow circles. This felt so much beyond anything you could have possibly done on your own, the unanticipated movements of his touches. You felt like your body was on fire.

“Bradley,” you pleaded, your legs starting to scramble. He held your hips down with one hand and slid his middle finger into you with the other, wordlessly obliging, slowly pumping it a few times before curling it upward and hitting a spot that had you arching your back and letting out a sharp gasp. “Oh!”

“How’s that?” He asked smugly, chuckling slightly as you could do nothing but dumbly nod and blink up at him, not exactly answering his question but it was definitely an answer all the same. He watches you with an amused grin as he repeated the motion with his skilled digit, eliciting a strangled moan from somewhere deep in your sternum.

The rumors you always heard about him before you got together were true, he certainly had magic fingers. The sounds he was pulling for you made him thank the high heavens that he had ears, and that his roommates had left town for the week. He kissed down your stomach and your breath hitched as he continued down, down, down. Bradley raised his eyes to meet yours, immediately softening at your slightly panicked expression. “May I?”

“I… Yes.”

“If you don’t like it, we can move on,” He beamed his reassurance at you earnestly. “But I promise I’m going to do everything I can to make you feel so good, baby.” He teasingly kissed along the outside of your thighs, chuckling when you squirmed, desperate for any kind of contact. Suddenly, feeling his hot breath against your core, he placed a slow, delicate kiss against you before spreading you with his fingers, then licking a thick stripe upward.

“Oh, my fucking –” Bradley attached his lips to your clit, alternating between licking and sucking. You could feel yourself getting impossibly wetter. His tongue dipped down to your weeping hole, teasingly plunging into you every so often. You didn’t know what to do with your hands as they scrambled to find purchase in the sheets. He guided one of your hands to his hair, your other following suit, and when your fingers tangled into his tresses, he groaned at the tug.

“You taste so good, honey,” Bradley breathed, and his voice was so raspy and full of lust it caused you to buck your hips slightly against his mouth. The comment made your cheeks heat up, almost embarrassed. He hummed against you, the vibrations adding to the immense pleasure he was already giving you. He pulled his mouth away and brought up two digits two your wetness, slowly teasing your entrance, making you whimper pathetically. “I love the little sounds that you make when I’m teasing you.” It was unlike anything you had ever experienced before. He pushed his fingers into you slowly, allowing you time to adjust to the slightly uncomfortable stretch, before curling upward against your walls and moving them into you at a steady pace. You felt that unfamiliar feeling start to rise in your stomach and your legs began to shake.

“Bradley – I can’t – I think I’m gonna –”

“Come for me, baby,” He growled against you, harshly sucking your clit as his fingers sped up a bit. You cried out in complete ecstasy as you came undone under him, tugging his face impossibly closer into your core. He rutted his hips into the mattress as he watched you, desperate for friction, and continued to work you through it. You would have felt embarrassed about the way you convulsed if you hadn’t heard through the cotton filling your head, “Holy shit, you’re so fucking hot.” As you came down from your high, you hissed from the overstimulation as he kept at you. You pushed his head back involuntarily and he chuckled before kissing the inside of your thigh apologetically. You tried to take a moment to catch your breath as he continued to kiss your thighs and around your heat. “Was that alright?”

You heaved a laugh at the question, you felt him grinning against your belly. “Something like that,” you quipped, meeting his eyes. He looked so in love, just watching your already fucked out expression as you tried to find your way back down to Earth. You ran your fingers through his hair, he pressed his cheek into your thigh. “I want that all the time.”

“I am so, so happy to oblige.” He suggested, experimentally going back down to kitten lick at your soaked cunt. You giggled, shaking your head.

“I wanna touch you too,” you stated breathlessly. Bradley cocked an eyebrow at you as you sat up and pushed him to lay backward to sit between his knees, reattaching your lips to his collarbone and eagerly kissing down his chest and abdomen. He chuckled, bringing a hand up to gently hold your hair out of your face. His finger lovingly swept a circle over your cheek. You boldly and playfully licked a thick stripe up his torso, causing a strained groan to bubble from his throat, before returning nip down to the waistband of his boxers. Your sudden confidence had quickly dissipated as you looked up at him with wide eyes. This was the first time you’d seen him this way, in this position. Bradley was so beautiful. He had been hitting the gym pretty hard in preparation for his hopeful, second-round acceptance into flight school come graduation next year and it was definitely paying off, though you admit you still liked it when he was a bit softer in the middle. He gave you an encouraging grin as you began to pull the material downward, his cock sprung free and slapped up against his abdomen. You blinked, dumbfounded, as you took in the sight of him. “I…”

“You don’t have to do anything.” He stated firmly with a soft smile, bringing a hand to brush the hair from your face once more. You furrowed your brows and shook your head.

“Teach me?” You gazed at him expectantly. “Show me how to touch you. Teach me how to make you feel good, too.” Fuck. He nodded, swallowing hard. He took your hand and brought it to his lips for a quick kiss before guiding it down to secure gently around his length. He tightened his hand over yours slightly, signaling you to tighten your grip a little. Taking his cock in your hand, you hesitantly pumped it a few times before surprising the both of you by boldly licking the precum from his tip. It was surprisingly pleasant but maybe it was because a soft, strangled moan bubbled from Bradley’s lips, which was enough to make you squeeze your thighs together. You wanted to do everything you could to hear that sound again. He sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth, humming in approval as you hesitantly took him into your mouth, swirling your tongue around his length until it hit the back of your throat. You gagged but recovered smoothly as he guided you to bob your head. You hollowed your cheeks as you sucked on his length and pumped what you couldn’t fit with your hand, just like you saw in the videos you sometimes watched in preparation for this moment.

“Are you sure this is your first time?” Bradley chuckled and sighed as his head fell back against the headboard. You couldn’t keep the cocky grin off your face as you repeated your motions. You figured he was exaggerating your skill for your benefit, but you didn’t care. The sounds leaving him were deliciously filthy, reassuring you that you were doing all the right things. “That’s it baby, just like that. So fucking good for me,” His hand gripped a fistful of your hair as he thrusted his hips toward your face slightly. You gagged but recovered immediately, though you could feel your embarrassment flushing your cheeks. “Shit, sorry, is that okay?” You hummed in response, the vibrations adding to Bradley’s pleasure so much so that he huffed out a string of curses. You could feel your wetness begin to drip down the side of your thigh, and you were getting a little antsy.

“Bradley…” You whined as you pulled back for air. Your body stiffened as nerves consumed you once more. “I want… I need…”

“What do you need, honey?” He questioned gently, pulling you up to him to catch your lips. He expertly flipped you back onto your back, slotting his body between your legs. You could feel him over your heat, causing you to experimentally buck your hips upward to grind against him. “Tell me what you need.” Bradley hissed as you whimpered. He fumbled to pull a condom from the box of his bedside drawer, planting wet kisses on your outstretched arm on his way back to you.

“Please fuck me,” you requested boldly. The filthy words from your lips made him throw his head back with a groan. “Bradley, please.” He tore the foil packet open with his teeth and pumped himself a few times before rolling the condom down onto his length. He kissed up your neck back to your lips as he positioned himself at your entrance, running the head of his cock through your slick folds.

“Let me know if you want me to stop, okay?” He kissed you sweetly. You smiled at him with a hesitant nod. You figured you would feel a lot more embarrassed than you did, feeling pathetically naive and innocent to be experiencing this for the first time at your age, but he never put the thought that he felt that way in your mind. Bradley was never condescending, he never talked down to you or made you feel like something too pure or too delicate to touch. He slowly pushed his tip into you, causing your eyes to water and screw shut. Your fingernails dug into his shoulders and your body went rigid.

“Angel, I need you to relax your muscles. I don’t want it to hurt,” He bit back a moan as he continued to fill you once you relaxed. “Do you want to stop?”

“No.” You stated firmly. It didn’t hurt as bad as you were told it would, it was more uncomfortable than anything. He waited for you to adjust to him, idly planting wet kisses over the length of your neck and collarbone as he whispered sweet praises in your ear.

“You’re doing so good, baby,” Bradley cooed. “You’re taking me so well,” After several minutes, you shifted your hips slightly in attempts to ease the discomfort, and… Oh. You moaned slightly at the new electricity inducing feeling that coursed through your body. Bradley picked up his head to reattach his lips to yours and pulled his hips back slightly before slowly thrusting back into you. You gasped, your eyes fluttering open to meet his. His dilated pupils fixated on your own as he found his rhythm, pushing deeper into you while increasing his pace. His sweet moans were music to your ears, and yours to his. You were a whimpering mess underneath him, grabbing fistfuls of sheets as he ran a hand down your thigh to wrap your leg around his waist. “You’re so tight.” A deep-seated groan emitted from the back of his throat as his thrusts became sloppy, his fingers digging into the skin of your hips. He took one of your hands in his, interlocking your fingers and bringing them to rest on the mattress above your head.

“You feel so…” You moaned before your lips latched onto his neck. “Fuck.”

“I love listening to you,” He admitted blissfully. “I never could have imagined the sweet noises you make.” You whimpered at his words. He hastily snaked a hand down between the two of you and started rubbing tight, fast circles on your clit. The added sensation with him thrusting into your dripping core at a dizzying pace, repeatedly hitting just the right spot, was almost too much but so perfect. His praises kept stoking that building fire in the pit of your belly, and watching him watch you sent you over the edge once more. Your vision went white as a string of curses fell from your mouth. Your legs began to shake and the rest of your body stiffened.

“Bradley, oh my – fuck!”

“That’s it, good girl,” He groaned at the sight of you writhing underneath him. He sucked a mark into your collarbone to contain the melodies escaping him. “Baby, I’m gonna come,” Bradley rasped as he buried his face further into your neck. You brought up your other leg to tighten them both around him, bucking your hips to meet his thrusts as he came undone on top of you. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” You had never seen such a beautiful sight, watching the muscles of his bicep contract as he held himself over you while he fell apart. He lazily peppered your neck with hot kisses, sucking marks into your skin, and after a few moments, he begrudgingly lifted himself off you with a huge grin plastered on his face. He would have stayed there forever if you let him. “How are you? Was that okay?” You giggled at his concern, shaking your head in disbelief.

“It was perfect,” you hummed in contentment. Definitely worth the wait, and now I know what I’ve been missing. Bradley’s phone began to ring, and when he lifted it to check the caller I.D., his smile faltered for a split second.

Mav

He hastily declined the call. Maverick was continuing to not get the hint of months’ worth of rejected calls and Bradley refused to let him ruin another perfect moment in his life right now.

“Who’s calling so late?” You joked. Fucking Maverick on his fucking Pacific Standard Time.

“Telemarketer, probably,” Bradley lied, cupping your face and kissing your lips sweetly. “What do you say we just skip the first day back tomorrow and stay in bed all day instead?” His grin was anything but angelic, borderline shit-eating, as he began to kiss his way down your neck to your chest. You erupted into giggles, pretending to push him away.

“Bradley!”

Baby Come Close was still thrumming through the speakers on repeat as you held each other, and neither of you were in any rush to end the perfect night. You both desperately wished that you could have stayed here forever.

You and the squad celebrated the end of Boot camp at the hard deck tonight. Graduation was tomorrow, everybody was excited. You? Not so much.

The diner was almost empty, the neon sign outside casting a soft glow on the vinyl booths. You stirred your coffee, the clinking of the spoon the only sound breaking the silence between you and Fanboy. He'd been so animated just moments ago, recounting a particularly daring flight maneuver he'd witnessed, but now he sat quietly, sensing the shift in your mood. "You okay?" he asked, his brow furrowed with concern.

You sighed, "Yeah it's just, I'm nervous for tomorrow." You said as you look at him, tears swelling in your eyes. He gives you an sympathetic look and gives you a soft smile.

"Oh honey. There's no reason for you to be nervous! We will all be there for each other on our big day." He says putting his arm around you. The tears fall from your eyes, surprising him. "I know it's just nobody is showing up for me. I joined this to prove to my family that I'm better than they thought but-" You sob as he pulls you into his arms. "But they won't even be there to see me.

"You should've heard my mom's voice when she got the call that were graduating. She didn't even care." You continue sobbing in his arms. "Hey, hey baby look at me" fanboy says bringing your chin up with his finger.

He wipes the tears from your face and kisses your cheek. "I will always be there for you. I know it's not the same as having your family there but just know you are not alone." He says hugging you tight. A knot formed in your stomach as you still thought about graduation tomorrow. you had no idea who, if anyone, would be there to tap on your shoulders, the signal of family support.

Fanboy's still holding you in his warm and tight embrace. "We're your family now. And we've got your back, always." He squeezed you. his eyes filled with a sincerity that melted away the last of your problems. Maybe, just maybe, you had found the family you'd always longed for. The thought of tomorrow still lingered, but for now, you were grateful for the support that was holding you.

Hope you guys enjoyed pt.1! Again so sorry for the delay and like to be tagged in pt 2 and Iceman x reader.

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You spun around on your boots seeing Rooster looking at you with a cockeye, “Yeah, I’m good.” You stuck your thumbs up like a toddler who had just been caught doing something.

“You just ran me over.” He deadpanned, not satisfied with your answer.

You sighed, “Just a little pissed off Rooster. I was this close to finally getting Mav.” You pinched your fingers together, “Locked on and all. But he literally just stopped midair, did a flip or something and locked on to me.” You balled your fists up.

Rooster laughed seeing your unmitigated frustration walking closer to you, “Well damn, I missed quite the show.”

You could feel your hands beginning to tremble. Meaning that the adrenaline that was coursing through your veins was beginning to wear off. You cursed yourself and now Rooster because these pushups were going to be 20 times harder with dead arms, “Really quite the show.” You grumbled beginning your walk over to Hondo again.

This time he stopped you, grabbing your arm, “Yes, Rooster?” You stopped turning back to him.

“What’s the matter Kazansky?”

“Why does something have to be the matter? Why can’t I just have an off day?” You fired back at him, surprising even yourself. Way too aggressive for you. Your bad mood was stemming from this mission. You were terribly nervous, too nervous for your own good. Maverick had successfully broken into your mind, freaking you the hell out. Him shooting you down for the final time this afternoon really sent your thoughts into a whirlwind. Life or death. You really didn’t want to die. You finally felt like you were really starting to get good at all of this, finally finding your groove.

“Woah, Y/N. Relax.” He stood there with his hands crossed against his chest observing you. He noticed your shaking hands and your standoffish demeanor. However, Rooster telling you to relax was doing the exact opposite of what he intended. Indeed not very relaxed. You were stressed, more stressed than you’ve ever been tenfold. You thought you knew how to cope but your mind was starting to falter. At the worst possible moment too.

Mav popped around Bradley curiously looking at the duo, “Something wrong?” His lips parted slightly waiting for one of you to speak. The situation didn’t look great from Pete’s standpoint. He landed his jet with the intention of giving you a little shit about having to do the pushups. He stated walking over seeing you not doing pushups but looking rather agitated standing in front of Rooster. Rooster looked concerned as he eyed you up and down.

“Nothing’s wrong.” You snapped at him this time. Mav took the teeniest step backwards surprised by your response. He had quite literally known you his entire life, never once seeing you snap the way you just did. He turned to Rooster sending him off with his eyes.

He placed an arm around your shoulder pulling him into you, “What’s up kid?” He asked after Rooster was out of ear shot. You let the breath of air out that you were unknowingly holding in.

“You shot me down again.” You mumbled looking to the ground. Mav decided to wave Hondo off this time letting you skip your pushups for whatever conversation was about to go down.

“Just like the other thousand times, Kazansky. What’s the big deal?” He chuckled releasing you from the shoulder hold he had you in. You felt so vulnerable under Pete’s gaze as he turned to study you. He was somebody you had grown up around, who taught you everything you knew, yet you felt incredibly nervous about it all. You felt small as he inspected you, so small.

“I had you though!” You threw your head back reliving your failure, “I had a kill, and I still didn’t get it.”

Maverick frowned, guiding you out of the hangar. You weren’t sure where the two of you were off to, but you let him lead you, “Kazansky.” He sighed as he took a seat on the outside of the hangar facing the water. He patted the dirt he was sitting next to signaling for you to join, which you did, “Talk to me kid.”

You leaned your head against the cold metal steel of the building. The cold feeling euphoric against your sweating head, “You don’t get a second chance out there Mav.”

He nodded, “I’m aware.”

You wanted to squeeze him, he wasn’t getting the turmoil you had put yourself into, “If I can’t beat you, what makes you think I’m good enough for this Pete.” You buried your head into your heads feeling your frustration building up.

“What we aren’t going to do is that.” He grabbed your wrist gently attempting to get you to look back up at him, “Remember, I need you all here Kazansky. Every bit of you.”

“I’m trying.” You looked to him, “But all I hear in my head is you repeating, ‘this is life or death’”.

“It is.” He spoke harshly. Your brain wanted to start spiraling again but he continued, “And let me tell you something Y/N. You are the only one who has completed the course successfully. You are the only one here who has done that so far. You. Just you. You are the only pilot here who has even gotten close to shooting me down. You. Just you. And you are the only God damn pilot that made me think you’d get me. You Y/N. Just you.” He pointed his finger to you, speaking right from his heart. You were sure you were going to burst out into tears hearing this from him, “Do you hear me Kazansky?” He asked.

You nodded your head up and down, “Yes sir.” You spoke with more confidence than you had all afternoon. You were honored that he said such kind things to you. But you knew he wasn’t lying or joking around in any way. He really did think those things of you.

“Y/N.” He turned his whole body to face you, “I’m going back to make my final decision with Cyclone and Warlock.” He paused waiting for you to look him in the eyes, “Can you do this Y/N?”

You had to. You were the best. You couldn’t let his words send you into such a panic. You wanted to do this. You needed to do this, “Yes Pete. I can do this.”

He nodded after abruptly standing offering his hands to pull you up. Once you were both standing he place both his hands on your shoulders, “I know you can do this Y/N. I need you to know you can.”

His confidence in you was all consuming. It lit that fire beneath your ass that was burning so brightly when you showed up. Your flame kept getting smaller and smaller after every time you’ve been struck down. Leave it to Maverick to find it again for you, “I can do this Pete.” You spoke with such confidence it drew Mav into his signature grin.

“Good. Now go get changed. I’m not saying you’re in but…” He winked at you before heading off to the war room.

You slowly made your way back to the locker room, taking your time to change. What you didn’t expect to see when you left the locker room was the blonde haired pilot that made your heart do questionable things. You about lost your mind when he smiled at you, waiting for you.

The two of you decided you wanted to take things slow, ultra-slow. Too slow in your opinion. It was more of Jake’s idea with you going along with it, not wanting to screw whatever this was up before it started. He took you to a nice dinner on Saturday. You got to put on a nice dress and wear your hair down for him, a very rare occurrence. He showered you in sweet compliments and little touches throughout the night. He stopped at your doorstep giving you a gentle kiss on your forehead. When you whined and asked him to actually kiss you he just said, “I will darling, I promise I will.” Pulling you into a hug instead. You attempted to pout your way into a kiss just making him laugh instead.

That Dagger Squad met at the Hard Deck that Sunday for one last get together negating any plans you and Jake were going to make. The two of you had to play it cool, painfully cool. You actively had to remember not to look at him smiling. Phoenix caught you looking over at him a few times shaking her head at you. The two of you made sure you were the last to leave. Getting to chat for a few before you needed to part. He again kissed you on the forehead. You decided not to fight him this time knowing Jake would do what Jake wanted to.

You were sure the tension between you and Jake on top of all the pressure from the mission was what caused you to almost break earlier. You couldn’t understand why Jake wouldn’t kiss you especially after hearing all the stories about his previous escapades. You knew it wasn’t you. He wanted to be around you, to be close to you. He put his hands on you whenever he could. On the car ride to dinner, he placed his hand on your thigh. He grabbed for your hand when you walked in making sure to constantly touch you throughout dinner. Even when he refused to come inside he was still holding onto you.

You had only confessed your feelings two days prior, yet he was driving you crazy already. These feelings were all so new and fresh for you. You finally understood what those girls were going through in college, this man was making you feral.

“Where’ve you been?” He asked softly reaching for your hand. You looked around making sure nobody could see before taking it softly. You ran your thumb over his knuckles as you studied his hand. You didn’t notice the chills that went up his arm from your touch.

“Talking with Mav.” You turned your face looking up to his. His eyes gave him away. They looked like they didn’t quite believe what you were saying. Something about the way he was squinting at you gave him away this time. You knew you were going to have to understand his eyes if you wanted to understand Jake.

“All good?” He asked as he mimicked your actions, rubbing his thumb across your knuckles this time.

“Mhmm.” You wanted to lean into him, just melt into him. But you also didn’t want to let anybody know just yet, it was all too new.

He just watched you as you found his hand fascinating. He let you divulge as much or as little information as you wanted. He found you so effortlessly beautiful. With your hair slicked back and in full military uniform you just looked so profoundly stunning to him. He wanted to cup your face getting you to look to him, but he couldn’t, not in these hallways. He knew he really shouldn’t be holding your hand either. He just couldn’t resist when he saw you come out of the locker rooms. You looked like you were battling with something in your head before your eyes landed on his. Your reaction to seeing him nearly sent him spiraling. Your face lit up when you spotted him. He knew he was a goner.

Which is exactly why he was resisting you with every ounce of strength he could find. He wanted nothing more to take you home and have his way with you. He wanted you, every single piece of you. He wanted to study you. To explore you until he had nothing left to. He also knew that you were unlike any woman he had come across. You challenged him more in the three weeks he’s known you than any other person has in his life. You would never back down a challenge, not even when the guys are ganging up on you. You would flip them the bird and move on with your day. You were also the wittiest woman he’s come across. You made it seem like he knew what he was going to say before he even said it. Don’t even get Jake started on how sweet you were. Truly, you were just a kind person. Even with the quick wittedness you still came across as nothing but kind.

He also knew how much you wanted him. It killed him to say no to you. It was endearing just how bad you wanted a kiss from him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to hold out that much longer.

“We should get to the classroom then.” He said softly.

Snapping out of your thoughts you looked up to him, “Yeah, guess it’s the moment of truth.” You bit your cheek not trying to think of the ramifications of the mission. You were sure Mav was going to pick Jake, absolutely sure of it. This sudden realization sent another wave of panic through you. You were really going to have to get this shit under control if you were going to be one of the few chosen.

He tugged your arm lightly before dropping your hand. You frowned but knew it was for the best, you never knew who was going to be walking around the corner. Once you reached the door you motioned for him to go on, “Go, I’ll wait a few before coming in.” You were being extra cautious. If there was anybody who was going to notice you two walking in together very late it’d be Phoenix. You weren’t ready from an ass-chewing from her just yet.

He nodded giving your arm a squeeze once more before heading in. You could see his demeanor change from his softer side with you to Lieutenant Jake Seresin, everybody’s pain in the ass. You waited a few more minutes before joining the rest of the Dagger Squad. You slid into the classroom as nonchalantly as you could. Phoenix met your eye questioning why you were back to much later than the rest of them. As you passed her you gave her the ‘I’ll tell you later’ look.

You slid down in a seat next to Harvard. The two of you had become quick friends after Yale’s accident. Yale was grounded a week ago due to a concussion and a broken leg after a bad ejection from the practice plane. The entire ordeal scared the living shit out of everybody in the Squadron. But he was fine, obviously upset he no longer had a shot. Yale also felt incredibly guilty after leaving Harvard high and dry. Mav started pairing Harvard with different solo fliers. Harvard seemed to click with you and Rooster the best. You enjoyed flying with Harvard, but it was a change. You were used to going solo. You enjoyed the challenge, the two of you fully taking it head on. You still secretly wanted to fly this mission alone.

“Miss Lava.” He tipped his head in your direction.

“Mr. Harvard.” You bowed back to him. Little things like that provided you comfort with your potential new air partner. Admittedly you tried avoided flying with a Wizzo as much as you could. You’d never say no to flying with one if it was needed but Mav’s past was always in your mind. Your dad told you just how bad it was for Maverick after he lost Goose in that freak training incident. So, you opted to fly solo.

“All good?” His brow lifted waiting for your response.

You smiled at him, getting tired of the question, “Oh yeah, you know how bad I am at pushups.”

He chuckled, “I see those guns, don’t lie Kazansky.”

“Shut up, Aardvark.” You rolled your eyes using the nickname you had unintentionally given him in the last week. Maverick was on your ass. You just couldn’t shake him. You had Harvard yelling in the comms getting you frazzled as you avoided getting target locked. There was so much going on you couldn’t think of his callsign for the life of you and Aardvark unfortunately came out instead of Harvard. You supposed Aardvark sounded like Harvard backwards.

He snorted, “You’re not going to drop it are you? My callsign gets a callsign now?”

You nodded leaning back into your seat hoping to catch a glimpse of Jake. He was sitting further up in the classroom next to Coyote. The pair seemed to be talking about something seriously. You brought your attention back to Harvard knowing you weren’t being very discreet, “Only for you Harvard.”

You noticed his eyes looking towards where your eyes had just left, yep you were being too obvious. He smirked eyeing you like he knew something, “Seresin hey?”

“What are you talking about Harvard?” Gaslight, gaslight, gaslight. You gave him a blank look, a slack expression.

He leaned forward giving you a small, delighted smile, “I’m not stupid Kazansky.”

“Did I say you were?” You questioned back to him, horrified how quickly he picked up on it.

“You like him.” His lips twitched into a smile as he narrowed in on you, observing your reaction.

You thanked your lucky stars that you put makeup on today, praying that it was enough to cover the tomato face you inevitably had, “Do not.”

“Yes you do.”

You turned so fast to him giving him a wild-eyed look, “Do not.” You repeated yourself. You weren’t sure how obvious you had been in front of the crew, but it looks like Harvard noticed. You thought you were doing a pretty good job of hiding it.

“Then why do you act all weird when you’re flying with him?” He cockily raised a single eyebrow.

Your lips parted ready to respond but nothing came out, your brain was failing you, “I have no idea what you’re talking about Aardvark.” You scrunched your nose turning away from him slightly.

“You’re unbelievable Kazansky.”

“You best believe that.” You threw him your most charming smile.

He shook his head laughing silently to himself. He was about to respond but the classroom doors opened with Mav, Cyclone and Warlock following closely behind, “Showtime.” Harvard clapped his hands.

The squadron was silent, everybody on edge to hear the assignments. Mav took a spot leaving only five pilots being selected. All eyes watched as the three men took the center of the room.

Mav looked at each pilot individually before continuing, “It has been an honor flying with you. Each one of you represents the best of the best. This is a very specific mission. My choice is a reflection of that and nothing more.”

He took a pause before Cyclone stepped in. Cyclone was cold. Even colder than your dad. You kept your eyes on Mav as Cyclone spoke, “Choose your two foxtrot teams.”

Mav smiled, “Phoenix and Bob.” He nodded to them before continuing, “Rooster and Harvard.” Your heart sunk knowing it was either you or Jake flying solo. Mav continued, “And your wingman. Lava.” You gave yourself a mini fist pump.

You turned to Harvard giving him the biggest hug, “We did it.” You clapped your hand on his back. You were so caught up in your emotions you almost forgot Jake, almost. Mav didn’t call Jakes name. You desperately wanted to go over to him. To pull him into a hug. To tell him he’s still the best pilot here. Jake would never admit to anybody but this one was going to hurt him. You saw just how hard he had trained through the last few weeks. You saw how he went from an incredible pilot to an exceptional one. You were genuinely surprised by Mav’s decision. There was one thing you learned early though, Mav always had his reasons.

Jake and Coyote sat at their desk as the rest of the Dagger Squad congratulated each other. After each hug and conversation, you had your eyes immediately went back over to Jake. You caught his eyes a few times seeing just how sad they looked. He softly smiled each time you made eye contact making you feel worse each time. You were sure Harvard was watching the two of you communicate silently just knowing he was going to give you shit for it later.

Jake walked out before the congratulations ended. You mentally forced the frown away from your face, this was supposed to be the best moment of your career. All you could think about was making Jake smile though. You wanted his full on Jake Seresin toothy grin that sent your heart racing. The one that could light up any room.

Despite everything you noticed his truck hadn’t left the lot even being the first one to leave. You walked over to it seeing Jake sitting there. He was deep in thought as you strolled up to him returning the soft smile from earlier. He unlocked the door motioning you to join him.

“Hey.” You said while jumping into his truck.

“Hi.” He didn’t turn to look at you. Your heart fell as you thought about what to do, what you could do.

Turning your full body to face him you spoke, “Jake, I’m so sorry…”

He cut you off, “Don’t be darling. Can you come here?” He opened his arms waiting for you to scoot across the bench style seating to him.

“You’re not worried about them seeing?”

He shook his head, just wanting to hold you. He wasn’t mad. He wasn’t really that sad. He was disappointed that Mav didn’t see him as good enough to fly. Jake knew you were going to be picked. He was almost certain he would’ve been too had Rooster not flown the way he had been recently. He was a backup, sure, but it just wasn’t the same as flying. He wanted to fly with you.

You happily obliged scooting yourself into his arms. You leaned your head onto his shoulder breathing him in. Quickly becoming obsessed with his cologne. The second he wrapped his arms around you pulling you in, you knew you were home. The instant relief and comfort such a simple gesture gave you was astonishing. As cheesy as it sounded, all your worries melted away as soon as he was near. You craved his physical touch.

“I don’t care right now.” He sighed resting his head on top of yours, “Just want you.” Your body felt nearly weightless at his words.

“I want you to.” You wrapped your arms around his torso squeezing him lightly.

He placed a kiss on the crown of your head whispering, “You’re so pretty.”

The chill that coursed through your body was nearly lethal. You were so weak when you heard his sweet words, “You can’t say that if you’re not going to kiss me.”

His laugh reverberated throughout your chest sending a small smile to your face. You closed your eyes fully taking him in.

You frowned when he pulled back from you, “It’s cute when you pout like that.” He took his free hand gently placing it under your chin. He ran his thumb along your jawline. He was fully taking you in now. You were looking at him with those big dopey eyes begging him to kiss you. It’s all you wanted, you wanted it more than getting selected for deployment.

You blinked slowly letting him hold your chin, “I wish you were going to be up there with me.” You sighed looking away from him. He wouldn’t let your head move out of his grasp, so you settled on moving your eyes away from him.

“Me too. More than anything, sweetheart.” He let your head go pulling your entire body into his, having your head rest on his chest. You were so profoundly comfortable with this man you didn’t think twice. You listened to the steady beat of his heart as he brushed through your hair. He was so soft. So gentle with you.

 “But you’re going to do amazing up there. You’re going to be the best damn pilot up here. You’re going to hit that Uranium facility. And then you’re going to come back home. You were picked Y/N. You.” He kept brushing through your hair feeling you tense around him. His words driving the fear of not coming home back to him, Mav, and your dad. He continued trying to ease your stress, “You were picked. Mav picked you because he knows you can do it. You, Y/N Kazansky. One of the best pilots I’ve ever seen.” You shivered relaxing into him feeling terribly vulnerable at his words. He was comforting you right now when you were meant to be comforting him.

“Jake,” You brought your head off his chest, “Thank you.”

“Anytime beautiful.” He dopily smiled at you, “Let’s get you back home. Need to rest up before tomorrow.” He squeezed your thigh removing himself from you completely. You didn’t like that part, untangling yourself from Hangman.

“If we must.” You grumbled unhappily.

You didn’t realize that just being around him improved his mood. Your gentleness made his heart soar. Nobody had been so gentle with him before. He was Hangman, the cocky aviator who could get whomever he wanted. Why would he need somebody to be gentle with him? He was fine, he was getting through it just fine. Yes, you challenged him, but you never pushed him too far. When he needed the comfort there you were right there for him.

He was growing to adore the way you pouted when you didn’t get your way. Your eyebrows would stitch themselves together, nose crinkled up and lips parted. Jake just knew it was the way you got through to your dad, Admiral Kazansky. He was also sure it wouldn’t be much longer before he started caving to that face as well.

You and Jake talked for a few more moments before you left and got into your car. Your mind was swimming in thoughts as you drove back home. You knew you needed to get your head in the game before you all deployed the next morning. When you got home you changed before laying down on the couch. You were a big ball of anxiety not sure how to get yourself to stop thinking.

You pulled your phone out dialing the only person you knew could help, “Y/N.” You heard the smile in his voice.

“Dad.” You let out the big breath you were holding in.

“I heard. Congratulations.”

“Mav?” You questioned.

“Yes. Gave me a call not too long ago. I’ve been waiting on yours.”

You smiled, that was so like him, “Yeah sorry, talked with some of the other pilots for a little bit.”

“Getting along okay?” He pressed. What did Mav tell him? Mav was far too unobservant to be catching you ogling Jake.

“Mhmm.” You hummed placing him on speaker, “Getting along great.”

“So, I’ve heard.” He chuckled.

“What’d he tell you?” Groaning you got up to grab a drink from the fridge.

“Oh, nothing Lieutenant.”

“Dad!” You laughed, “Tell me.”

“Why are you getting so worked up about it kid?.” You heart dropped into your butt. He had to know. He had to know something. He was right though. You didn’t get worked up about stuff like this ever. He knew something was off. Your dad knew you better than you knew yourself.

“I’m not.” You replied, lying.

“Well, that’s good. I’m glad you’re getting along with everybody.”

“You know that’s not why I called you dad.” You ran your fingers through your hair.

He paused knowing the lighthearted conversation was shifting into something far more serious, “How are you feeling Y/N?” He asked, genuinely checking in on his daughter. Not many things scared Admiral Kazansky. Not even the throat cancer he beat. But his daughter doing this mission? That scared the living shit out of him. His little girl, his pride and joy was about to deploy for one of the most serious missions he’s ever seen. He knew the risk of you not returning were far greater than anything else you’ve previously done. He was so scared, but he couldn’t let you know this. He had to be your rock right now, somebody to help and guide you.

“I’m a little anxious, dad.” You admitted. You unknowingly began nibbling on your lip as a release.

“That’s okay. I’d be shocked if you weren’t. You need to find a routine.” He spoke softly trying not to raise the anxiety that was already bubbling in you.

“Routine?”

“Before big flights. You need to find the routine that helps you relax. Like a hot bath and a book, you like those right?” He asked.

You couldn’t help the stupid grin that spread across your face. He knew you so well, “Yeah dad, that sounds like my perfect night.”

“When we hang up I need you to do that Y/N. I need you to take your mind off it. You can’t think up there Y/N.”

You nodded, “Don’t think. Just do.” You recited Mav’s favorite lines to your dad. You had grown up flying with your dad and Mav. You always heard Mav yelling, “Don’t think. Just do.” Repeatedly through the comms. When it was your turn to actually start flying the planes Mav made sure to give you a lesson in ‘Don’t think. Just do.’ Mav scared the living shit out of you when you took your first jet up in the air.

You’d been flying with your dad for literally as long as you could remember. You learned how to fly a plane when you were ten. Of course, your dad was sitting right there with you, but he gave you full control and let you at it. He always said that it was a little secret between the two of you fully knowing your mom would throw a fit if she knew. These were civilian air crafts, naturally. Your dad had some pull unfortunately not taking a jet out for a ten year old pull though. You were a natural picking up on everything rather quickly.

You weren’t allowed to fly solo until you turned sixteen, thanks FAA. The day you did though you were up in the air on your own, your dad cheering you on the entire way. He made sure he was in the tower giving you instructions as you went about. You’ll never forget the look on his face when you landed. You’d never seen him so happy as he scooped you in his arms spinning you around telling you how proud he was of you.

The day you turned 17 you got your private pilot license. You, of course, passed with flying colors. Your dad threw a big party inviting anybody and everybody. He loved showing off your talents. Classic Iceman. You had yet to graduate high school but was further ahead than anybody in your class. You had your dad to thank for that. A Naval Academy graduation, Naval flight school, Top Gun, and a few deployments later you knew you were ready. You were more ready than anybody before you. You’ve wanted this your whole life. Don’t think, just do.

“Don’t think. Just do.” He repeated back to you.

You took a deep breath feeling better. He always made you feel calmer, “Thank you, dad. You always know what to say.”

“Give ‘em hell Y/N. Give them hell kid.”

“Yes sir.” Your eyes crinkled from the smile forming across your face. That was always his favorite line. Give ‘em hell. You would do exactly that for your dad, give them hell.

Don’t think. Just do. Go time.

Your F-18 was idling waiting on the go from command. Second in line. Eighteen hours ago you were in Miramar training. Now you were halfway across the world. You took a deep breath knowing you’d get the all clear soon.

You tapped the picture of your family, for good luck, “Let’s have a good flight.” You stuck your thumb up signaling your readiness.

“Dagger One, up and ready on catapult one.” Mav spoke through the comms. You let your breath out, letting it go one last time.

“Dagger Spare, standing by.” Jake spoke. Here it comes.

“Dagger Four, up and ready.” Phoenix came through.

“Dagger Three, up and ready.” Rooster this time. Showtime.

Your turn, “Dagger Two, up and ready.” Time slowed down like it always did when you were launching. Your best days included launching yourself from an aircraft carrier.

You heard the faint, “Send them.” And you were off just milliseconds after Mav was gone. Time to go.

“All systems online.” You confirmed to yourself. You flew to the left of Mav solely focusing on what the next ten minutes would be. Get in. Get out. Dog Fight. Breathe.

“Dagger Attack.” Mav spoke. You maneuvered your jet behind the Dagger One squad coming up on the valley quickly. Locked in you followed Rooster, close. You probably were a little too close, you weren’t going fast enough. Rooster wasn’t flying fast enough. Thirty seconds in you heard panic over the comms, Rooster was not flying fast enough. Maverick was far ahead trying not to leave his wingman, but Rooster was making it hard. You gulped knowing what was on the other side of the climb, knowing how bad it could be for the Dagger Squad if he didn’t pick up the pace.

Another thirty seconds pass with everybody yelling at him to pick up the pace. You shook it off focusing on flying behind Rooster, as close as you could. You were getting nervous now, having over ten seconds to make up.

“Impact. Enemy runway is destroyed!” Command let the Dagger Squad know. Really no turning back now. Focus. In. Out. Dogfight.

Another thirty seconds go by. Rooster finally kicked it into high gear. You thanked your lucky stars knowing Mav needed to be locked in to drop those bombs.

You were able to speed yourself up hightailing it behind Rooster and Harvard. Phoenix and Bob not far behind you.

“15 seconds.” You spoke getting Dagger Four ready. Mav and Rooster just made their climb and dive into the mountain. Things really felt like they were going in slow motion as you were approaching the Uranium enrichment plant.

“We’ve got impact! That’s a direct hit!” You heard Harvard cheer from the Dagger One squad. Breathe. Your turn.

“Go time.” You punched it seeing the first climb ahead of you.

“Dagger Two, status.” You heard Mav breathing hard. No fucking way he was talking to you while climbing that mounting.

“Almost there Mav. Almost there.” Your eyes were locked on, ready for it.

You pulled up breathing erratically forcing the plane into positions it did not want to be in. Just a few more seconds and you could breathe. You flipped the plane descending into the mounting spotting the blown up entryway.

“Bob, where’s my laser?”

“Working on it Lava.” You heard Phoenix and Bob both breathing heavily.

“Hurry up Bob.” You spoke to yourself starting to panic at the time crunch.

“Laser eye locked on.” Bob spoke calmly.

“Bombs away.” You hit the button praying for a hit. The second the bombs were dropped you pulled up, hard. You hardly heard the “Bulls-eye!” celebration as you were climbing the mountain. The G’s you, Phoenix and Bob were taking should’ve knocked you out cold. You vision started getting hazy fully knowing you were hitting 10 G’s. You squeezed every muscle in your body trying to get the blood pumping back into your brain. Focus. Get out. Dogfight.

The gasp you took once you finally crested the mountain was not for the light of heart. You had half a second to your thoughts before the SAM’s started firing.

“Fuck.” You muttered fully comprehending what was going down. You got in. You got out. Dogfight time. You punched it letting Phoenix and Bob know, you couldn’t lose them. They were your wingmen. Don’t think. Just do.

You were firing flares and bullets galore. You knew you needed to conserve them but there was just too many SAM’s coming in every direction. Phoenix was yelling. Mav was yelling. You were yelling right with them trying to get everybody out of it alive.

You felt a sense of peace wash over you as your flares were depleting far too fast. You used too many diverting a missile away from Phoenix. You used the last few blowing a missile up from behind.

“I’m out of flares.” You spoke, eerily calm into the radio. You rolled away right from the middle of the action trying to think of what to do, anything to do. What would Iceman do? They wouldn’t think. They would just do.

You grunted maneuvering every which way and direction. Fuck, there was so much going on.

“Smoke in the air!” You heard Phoenix yelling.

“Shit, I’m out Phoenix.” You panicked. No flares. Only bullets, that’d do you no good. Time to race and hope for the best.

“Evade! Evade!” Mav screamed into his comms. Horrified at what he saw happening before him he sprang into action.

“I can’t shake them!” You went right and left, up and down trying to get the missiles off your ass.

Mav flew above you releasing his flares. Eyes wide you let out a guttural scream when you saw Mav’s plane take a direct hit, “Mav! No!” You cried.

“Dagger one is hit! I repeat Dagger one it his! Maverick is down.” Phoenix yelled to command letting them know what was happening out in the field.

“Dagger one, come in!” You cried into the comms, desperate, “Did anyone see a parachute? Dagger one!” No response. The three planes began their flight back to the carrier. You couldn’t focus. Mav was down there.

“Lava! Those bandits are closing we can’t go back.” Phoenix tried to reason with you. You were breathing hard. You couldn’t believe your ears. They would just abandon him? Your Uncle Mav?

“Lava, he’s gone. Maverick’s gone.” Bob spoke up this time.

You shook your head, they didn’t understand. Fuck it. You dipped out of formation disobeying orders. Phoenix, Bob, Rooster and Harvard screaming at you. Ignore. Go find Mav. You flew as fast as you could. More screaming into the headset. There, a helicopter down below. It was firing at something. Mav?

You locked target, giddy with excitement. You released one of your only offensive missiles left. You watched as the helicopter exploded, unsure if Mav was down there. What you really hadn’t thought about was being defenseless and within SAM range again. You were hit almost immediately after you hit that helicopter. Lucky for you, you ejected.

You were wrapping your parachute up when Maverick came sprinting into your view. He was alive, cool, maybe you would be able to figure this one out after all. You went to greet him, but you received a rather hard push into the snow instead.

“What the hell Mav!” You yelled.

“You alright?”

“I’m fine.” You groaned standing back up, “That hurt though.”

“What are you doing here? You think I took that missile so you could be down here?” He yelled.

“Jesus Christ Mav! Did I not sure save your life?”

“I saved yours!” He huffed in frustration, “Ice is going to skin me alive, Y/N Kazansky. What the hell were you even thinking?”

“You taught me not to think!” You yelled back to him.

He clenched his fists in frustration, beaten on that one, “Well, it’s good to see you.”

You grinned laughing a little, “Good to see you too, Mav. Got a plan?” You smiled sweetly to your daredevil uncle. He always had some sort of plan. You found your way to the blown up air strip curious as to what he was thinking. You both jogged to an unmanned hanger. An F-14 sitting there, just waiting on Mav. He instructed you on what to do. Somehow finding a strip or concrete that could take the jet.

To your absolute astonishment the damn thing made it up in the air. Not after you making fun of it, calling it a museum piece. Mav instantly defended the worn down jet. You thought it’d be smooth flying back to the jet. But to your absolute horror two jets flew up next to you speaking a foreign language. Busted. You worked in the backseat to try and get something going, flipping every breaking you could. There was a reason you were a pilot and not a Wizzo, this stuff did not come easily to you.

“Come on Mav. Don’t think, just do.”

“Hang tight kid.” Mav began his crazy array of piloting shit, you getting to witness it front and center. Immediately taking one of the jets out.

“Smoke in the air!” You cried trying to help him out as much as you could.

“Flares. Now, now, now!” You let them rip from behind you defending yourself.

Mav dived getting low. Claiming that the terrain would confuse his targeting system. You gasped when the bullets came flying. Life or death.

“We took a hit!” You yelled.

“Brace yourself.” He almost stopped the jet hopping over the one that was chasing the duo. Mav unleased a flurry of attacks on the jet.

“You got them Mav!” Mav nailed the jet sending it down.

“Yes! Mav!” You shrieked happier than ever. Mav was certifiably the most insane pilot you’ve ever been around. You couldn’t believe what he was doing in the jet.

You thought you were all clear until you somehow managed to get the radar on. “Oh fuck.” You gasped seeing something not friendly pop up on the scan.

“Mav we got another one! Where is it?”

“On our nose.”

You were sent into a panic seeing a missile coming straight at you. Mav dodged the missile and the plane.

“We’re out of flares Mav.” You yelled not believing it was happening for a second time.

The bullets from the fifth gen started firing right at the inferior Tomcat, ripping into the back of it, “This is not good.” You cried looking behind you. Mav moved the aircraft back and forth somehow dodging most of the bullets.

“We took another hit!”

“No, no, no, no, no.” You heard Maverick begin to panic. Shit. You knew it was serious when he was sent into a frenzy.

“We can’t outrun this guy. Pull the ejection handles the second I tell you.” Mav spoke quickly realizing how dire the situation was.

“Mav wait!”

“Lava there’s no other way.” He pulled the aircraft up not giving you a second to argue with him.

“Eject, eject, eject. Lava, pull the handle! Eject!” Mav cried.

You tried. You really tried with all your might but the handles above you wouldn’t budge. You tried once more with no luck. A cold shiver ran through your body as you realized it really might be over for you.

“It’s not working! Mav!”

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry Ice.” He whispered. Your blood ran cold hearing the target lock. You tried with all your might to get the ejection handles to work.

As your luck would have it you heard an explosion from behind you. The jet had exploded out of thin air. That was until Jake came on through. You let out a cry realizing you’d make it home. It was hard to accept you’re the fate of death knowing what could happen at any time. It had never felt so serious before that moment. You would still love flying. You just had a newfound respect for it after this one.

“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. This is your savior speaking. Please fasten your seatbelts, return your tray tables to their locked and upright positions, and prepare for landing.” You and Maverick both let out a laugh. You crying a little. Giving him a thumbs up.

“Hey, Hangman, you look good.” Mav spoke after catching his breath.

“I am good, Mav. I’m very good.” You could see the smugness from as far as you were. He’d never let you live this one down.

You and Mav had a not so spectacular landing without a tailhook or landing gear. You sat there for a moment collecting your breath not really believing you’d made it back with hardly a scratch.

“You good?” Mav asked.

You laughed, feeling more euphoric than anything, “Yeah Mav, I’m good.”

The Tomcat was surrounded by crew and pilots alike celebrating your arrival back safe and sound. Mav was swept up by Hondo and Rooster. Phoenix cried bear hugging you.

“You stupid fucking idiot Kazansky.” She released you letting Jake have at you.

“I had to Phoenix.” She shook her head.

“Your boyfriend wants a word.”

You spun around seeing Jake looking very un-Jake like face looking back to you. He was happy to see you. You could tell that much. He just looked terrified?

“Are you fucking insane? Do you have a death wish?” Jake asked as he pulled you aside from the celebration grabbing your shoulders, shaking you back to reality, “Y/N!” He pushed you up against the inside aircraft carrier’s walls lightly.

“I’m sorry Jake!” You tried prying his hands off you, but he wouldn’t relent. He wasn’t hurting you by any means. He needed to touch you. To know that you were real. Jake couldn’t comprehend the last 45 minutes. First Maverick getting shot down he fully expected to scramble. Then, the worst news he could have heard, Dagger Two had been hit. He felt his blood drain right out of his body, finding it hard to breath.

“You’re sorry? You were dead Kazansky. Dead to the military. They wouldn’t let me go.” He let out a frustrated groan. Not sure how to express himself to you.

“I had to. That’s Pete. I had to Jake.” You couldn’t look up to him. It was finally hitting you just how dumb you had been. Your dad wasn’t going to be too thrilled about this one.

“Please look at me.” He spoke more calmly, chest heaving in and out. Obliging you looked up to him fully seeing the distress on his face, “I thought you were dead Y/N. For forty minutes I thought you were gone.” A single tear rolled down his face. Shit. Fuck.

You reached up wiping it away with the pad of your thumb, “But you saved us.” You spoke so quietly.

“I shouldn’t have had to.” He leaned his forehead against yours pushing you back up against the wall completely, “What were you thinking.”

“I wasn’t.” You admitted for the second time that day.

He cupped your face with his hands, “Can I kiss you?”

Eyes wide you responded, “Here? They’re all going to see.” You looked out onto the deck seeing everybody still celebrating. You were pulled away quickly from the chaos by Jake not fully getting to celebrate just yet. Celebration first then comes the inevitable punishment. You did disobey direct orders.

He shook his head looking at you like you were the most important thing to him, “I don’t care anymore. I thought you were gone. I thought I was never going to be able to kiss you Kazansky.” He looked at you with those lovesick eyes.

“Finally.” You grinned pulling him into you. He kissed you softly not wanting to mess this up. You, however, wanted more. You flipped him around, so he was leaning on the wall backed up against it. You pulled him in closer kissing him with more fervor. You pressed your body into his making sure he felt the friction you desired. Parting your mouth, you allowed him entrance.

He felt every ounce of your eagerness. Happily kissing you more aggressively than he anticipated. The two of you were no longer just kissing one another, you were full on sucking face. He stifled a grunt as you kept pressing yourself into him.

He broke the make out up knowing he would never hear the end of it if he had a hard on when he rejoined the celebration, “Jesus Christ Lieutenant, you can’t do that here.”

You giggled staring right at his mouth, you wanted more. So much more. He looked so damn hot standing there a little dazed with a semi-swollen mouth, “Sorry Hangman.”

He licked his lips knowing exactly what he wanted to do to you later, “Doesn’t seem all that sincere of an apology.”

You winked at him, no apology whatsoever, “It’s not. Now let’s go.” You took his hand dragging him back out onto the deck joining right back in where you left off.

“Well, aren’t you just a vision.” Jake whistled when you opened your front door. He handed you a small bouquet of flowers, “For you my dear.”

“Lilies!” You grinned grabbing the flowers from him gingerly, “These are my favorite.” You smiled up to him.

“They’re the ones from that pretty dress you wear sometimes.” He blushed lightly, not sure why he admitted that to you. Jake wanted to tell you everything. He learned this quickly in your relationship. The first few weeks he struggled not to pick his phone up to call you about something inconvenient that happened. You had to keep your phone on silent, getting in trouble for having it on as you were back in class.

You were originally stationed out of Virginia Beach, far away from your family. After the mission, and the ass chewing from your father, you were transferred back to Miramar. Again, you were convinced it was your father pulling strings because Cyclone wasn’t your biggest fan these days after you disobeyed his orders. You were reassigned as a teacher at Top Gun. You did your best to stay away from Cyclone, but it was hard, Top Gun wasn’t a big place.

Jake was previously stationed in San Diego, at the base a little further South. You couldn’t help but to be excited when you were transferred back to Top Gun. Jake was down the road. Mav literally lived a few blocks from you and your family was within driving distance.

You jumped in headfirst at Top Gun, you were used as the Maverick of training in the field. You loved beating aviators that were much older than you, all cockier than the next. You loved knocking then down a peg, humbling them a bit. You were worried that your flying career was over with the transfer. Your fears were moot when you were given your next set of orders, a mission in the middle east. That wasn’t for another few weeks though.

You set the flowers in a vase and topped it with water. Smiling stupidly at the flowers. You were floored that he noticed something so small. You hurried back over to your charming date.

“You noticed that hmm?” You kissed him on the cheek smiling sweetly at the man. You weren’t sure but you thought you loved him. You wouldn’t dare admit that anytime soon knowing you’d sound crazy, but he was incredible in every way. It was the small things he did that made your days so much easier. He would make sure your car was filled up, bring you flowers, order you dinner, made sure you never opened a door when he was around. You couldn’t help but to fall in love with him. You were only a month and half in, but you knew. You knew he was it for you.

“I notice everything about you sweetheart.” He tapped your nose with his pointer finger. Grabbing your hand, he walked you to his truck opening his door for you, “You really do look beautiful.”

“Thank you, Jake.” You shook your head at him loving the flattery but shy about it nonetheless.

He nodded winking at you thinking how cute it was when you shied away. He knew how comfortable you were with him, but the simplest comments would make you shy away. He still had something up his sleeve.

The drive to the beach was mostly quiet albeit the radio humming away. You loved the comfortable silence between the too, never feeling the slightest bit awkward. You always moved closer to him making sure to not distract him too much when he was driving. You either played with his hand or he with yours. Seemingly not ever wanting to ever let him go.

He parked. Jumping out quickly to get to your door before you could. You laughed as he just beat you this time, “You know I can get the door.”

He cocked an eye, “Sure you can. But you won’t.” He took your hand helping you down.

He grabbed a picnic basket and a blanket out of the back leading you to the beach. You loved the beach at sunset. The colors in the sky, the birds chirping away, the people flying kites. Everything about it made you happy. Jake picked up on it quickly, you were always suggesting sunset walks or swims. He was learning to love it just as much as you did.

He laid everything out letting you pick which spot you wanted, “This is wonderful.” You softly smiled to the man who captured your heart.

“I know how much you love the beach sunset. Why not dinner and a beach sunset.” He grabbed your hands squeezing them.

“You’re so sweet.” You couldn’t take your eyes off him, sunset be dammed, “Phoenix never believes me when I tell her how it’s going.”

He grumbled, “You tell Phoenix?”

“Yeah, and Halo.”

“Kazansky.” He sighed peeking back up seeing your amused expression. He couldn’t stop the smile that spread brightly across his face.

“Seresin.” You giggle admiring the way the sun reflects off him.

“Gosh you’re pretty.”

“So are you.” You replied quickly. Suddenly feeling flustered by him as he scooted closer to you.

He chuckled reaching for your face, “Sweet girl.” He leaned in further sending your heart into a frenzy. He stopped just short of your lips letting you finish the kiss, only if you wanted to.

You wanted too, closing the gap quickly. You felt him smile as you kissed him. You just adored him. He only stopped when he heard your stomach grumble.

“Let’s eat.” He grinned handing you your dinner.