#trailsofpaper

Okay, so! Originally, Fighter Pilot AU wasn’t a Sebastian x Lewis idea, it was a Charles x Pierre idea. The thought was that Pierre was minorly injured in a training accident that killed another pilot (Anthoine) and was medically retired from the Navy. They’re all in the US here, I’m sorry. I can’t work the logistics of another nation’s military system. So Pierre is medically retired, goes into private pilot school, and meets Charles who works (and here the logistics get fuzzy) as part of the flight crew for this luxury private jet company that Pierre is going to be flying with. Seb is (was?) going to be his co-pilot/instructor figure, and it’s about Pierre adapting to civilian life and civilian flying and coping with his grief and learning to love Charles and the people around him. 

But then! More Lewis Fighter Pilot AU content popped up when he raced the jet in Austin. And I think this is when @foolhearts and I batted the idea around for a couple days. Basically: Seb & Lewis are pilots at Top Gun, which is no longer at Miramar, it’s at Fallon, which is in the middle of nowhere and while I’m sure it’s got some built up infrastructure for the base, doesn’t have a lot going on. It’s not *super* far from Reno, but. Well. Let’s just say there are reasons I didn’t go to grad school there. (Reno is, to be fair, ABSOLUTELY gorgeous, worth a visit, and I’m sure can be made a lovely place to live.) 

Anywho! So enter Seb & Lewis who are there for the prestigious and serious Top Gun program. This part tracks pretty well with the movie - they meet and immediately there’s sparks. Hatred or chemistry, who can tell? There’s a lot of back and forth, some pull-em-out-and-measure moments, etc. They annoy each other, have mutually decided This Is My Rival, and most of their classmates have more or less fallen into one of the two camps. 

So one day the base organizes a weekend trip down to Vegas for interested single military personnel (this is a thing the military does - day trips and weekend trips to go skiing or scuba diving or just into a big city with a few organized activities and then back - troop morale etc etc. Would they do this from Fallon to Vegas? Cannot say.). Lewis signs up and he realizes Seb is going too, but whatever, he can deal. It’s not like he hates the guy. On the bus ride down they make some dumb bet about hooking up with someone over the course of that evening when they go out, and anyone who loses has to be the lackey of some sort for the rest of the weekend. Plus be mocked mercilessly for having no game. Rules are simple: You can’t hook up with someone known to be married (this is a military code of conduct rule), you can’t pay for sex (cheating, also against the code of conduct), and you have to have someone who can vouch for your success with a reasonable level of confidence. They tack on there that the sex must be sober and consensual, with sort of an evil eye “that should be obvious” proviso. 

And then they’re off, welcome to Vegas, babyyyyyy. (Sidebar, this is not something @foolhearts and I discussed, but I think Jenson and Daniel have to be in this fic. Like. They gotta. Jenson can be Lewis’ wingman and Daniel can be Seb’s.) They all go out and Lewis starts chatting up this lady and Seb decides he’s going to be a pain in the ass and steal Lewis’ girl so they end up going back and forth with her all evening - she is clever and not stupid, gets her free drinks and has her fun dancing and then peaces right on out! Good for her! But it’s too late for Lewis and Seb to find anyone they feel comfortable checks the “sober” box at this point - they spent all evening working the one lead and now they’re SOL. But neither of them wants to admit defeat, so they’re workshopping ideas and one of them is like. Well, we could. I mean. Together. Right? That would count?

It wasn’t against the rules! It’s not against policy! They didn’t get super clear in the rules about what “sex” entailed, so they figure they’re probably safe just. Giving each other blowjobs? They both kind of wanted to suggest handjobs but thought they’d be getting off too easy and didn’t want to seem like a coward, so. That’s how they end up back in one of their hotel rooms laughing and nervous like they’re going up for the first time all over again. But it’s like. They’re both SO serious about being not good in front of the other guy, lol. So it’s kinda hot, really, and they fall asleep in the same bed like, still half-dressed and whatever. 

The next morning there’s an accounting taken and everyone is so dumbfounded when they say “each other” that nobody even questions it because like. If that’s a lie they’re willing to wear they probably deserve to win anyway? There’s a couple guys who lost the bet and they do have to go get coffees for people and give tokens up or whatever - Lewis and Seb are very smug about their clever plan. 

But that changes something fundamental in their interaction! Because after they get back to base, Seb isn’t irritating to Lewis like “I want to strangle him” anymore, he’s irritating like, “I want to put him up against the wall I want his dick in my mouth I want my mouth on his dick what is going ON.” One of them (maybe Seb?) HAS fooled around with guys a little bit before so this isn’t quite as shocking but like. I mean Lewis is objectively a gorgeous man but he really hadn’t thought about it before and now he like, can’t stop thinking about it. 

And they’re in this small town where an unmarried pilot is prime real estate and it’s hard to just, get a quick easy orgasm, and really, they’ve already done it once, so. It turns into another time. And then another, and then it’s not just blowjobs, because they’re both hyperactive border collie adrenaline freaks. It’s FWB, they maintain, but they’ve also started to respect each other a lot as pilots. Except that Lewis still thinks Seb is too particular and clinical and Seb thinks Lewis is too reckless and takes unnecessary risks. They have a massive fight about it, tails are stepped on, and they don’t talk for like a week.

Then there’s a training accident that kills Jules. And they meet up after but they don’t have sex. Lewis shows up to Seb’s and they barely even talk, just get blackout drunk on the floor together. Neither of them even knew him all that well but. It’s a stark reminder. The next morning, hungover and miserable, Seb makes them both coffee and then they curl up in bed and once they can think a little bit they talk a little bit - nothing like a confession, except they both have to admit their fear for the other’s safety, the way they think more about each other. The way they care about each other, now. And it gets them back to a good place. 

That’s the summary of what was discussed! Handwave handwave Top Gun is only 12 weeks so whatever time distortion needs to happen? Would pilots at TOPGUN (which only admits the top 1% of all naval pilots) go on a weekend trip to Las Vegas? They’re probably going to different squadrons in different places so what happens to the relationship after school? These logistical issues are acknowledged but not addressed, lol. So @foolhearts add anything I forgot, but I think that’s the main body of what we talked about back in October. 

Tag for all headcanon stuff is: this is fighter pilot au

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