2+2
title: 2+2
characters: natasha ‘phoenix’ trace x gf!reader (callsign: dove)
rating: 13+
words: 3k
theme: established relationship, not so secret relationship, and they were roomates, just gals being pals
warnings: fluff, silliness, the dagger squad are idiots, mentions of homophobia, cursing, drinking
summary: 'secret relationship is that which is known to them but unknown to people'
how long does it take a team of aviators to put 2+2 together and figure out their friends are dating?
a/n: just something a little sweet and silly while i work on the other parts of the fly me to the moon series.
When you and Natasha first got together, it was long before top gun and even before the two of you joined the navy, you were high school sweethearts falling for one another in freshman year but neither of you brave enough to make a move until senior year after you had both come out to your friend circle, At that point you decided to keep it among your friend group, the pair of you not sure how your conservative military family members would react.
And then you both enlisted into the navy and saw first hand how being gay and out in the military was not necessarily safe after another member of your basic camp was basically run out due to homophobic bullying, and you both realised that it might be better if you keep your relationship between the two of you and the decision followed you through your time at Top Gun and throughout all of your deployments.
Including the uranium mission and after when you both got permanent assignments at Top Gun, you as a full time instructor and Natasha splitting her time between instructing and dagger squad missions. It wasn’t deliberately a secret at this point, just a habit you had fallen into after many years of fear of what would happen if you were to be out in the navy and it wasn’t that you didn’t trust the rest of the squad, the two of you trusted them completely but you had just got so used to keeping it between the two of you that it was hard to break. But ever so slowly, the habit started to break and one by one the members of the squad began to figure it out.
Bob was the first one to find out about a month after the uranium mission, and it was a complete accident how he found out. He and Phoenix had a rough training session and had to eject from their plane which resulted in a quick visit to the doctor on base to make sure they were okay, after he had been checked on and was given the all clear he headed over to Phoenix’s room to see how she was.
He was expecting a nurse or two to be lingering about, taking notes and fussing as they usually did, what he was not expecting was for you to be in the room with Phoenix and he certainly was expecting to see the two of you in a gentle embrace, one of Natasha’s hands on your waist while the other held your cheek gently and your arms wrapped around her shoulder to pull her as close to your body as possible as you shared a kiss.
Thankfully, the two of you are so wrapped up in each other you don’t notice Bob enter, or leave as he quietly slinks out of the room with wide eyes and a flush on his face with his heartbeat drumming in his ears as embarrassment from walking in such a private moment fills his entire being. He decided to leave the medical wing and allow the two of you the time alone.
It was the next day, as Bob and Natasha sat listening to the other pilots as they went through the training exercise for their next mission in a few weeks time, the pair grounded until the next day on the doctor’s orders, that Bob let’s Natasha know that he saw and he promises that he won’t tell anyone. It isn’t his secret to tell and he was not about to out the two of you when you weren’t ready.
Natasha is shocked, alarm bells ringing her mind (something she is sure is a trauma response after her family didn’t respond well to finding out she was a lesbian) and fear settles in her stomach as she turns to Bob with wide eyes. A feeling that quickly settles as Bob promises to keep your secret. Over the next few weeks, she finds it nice to actually have someone to talk to about your relationship, about how happy you make her and her plans to marry you one day.
The next person to find out is Rooster, almost a full month after Bob. It happens late one night when he’s a little drunk and you and Natasha are helping him into your home to put him to bed in your guest room. It wasn’t the first time he had been to your home, he had been over many times for drinks and pizza nights, the three of you enjoying a movie night at least once a month that included wine and a bitching sessions because, despite how much he denied it, Rooster was one of the biggest gossips in the dagger squad. But it was the first time he was actually spending the night.
He had never considered your sleeping arrangements, seeing as you lived in a 2 bedroom he just assumed one was Natasha’s room and the other yours but when he hears you muttering the word ‘guest room’ to Natasha as you both discuss what to do with drunk giant who was stumbling around the living room of your shared home, it sends his mind reeling for a second. Guest room? That meant you and Natasha shared a room. Why would you and Natasha share a room?
And then the realization hit him like a ton of bricks and suddenly a lot of things started to make sense, how the two of you were attached at the hip, how you were a little touchy with each other, hands always finding some part of the other to rest on, how your eyes always found each other no matter where you were in the room, the fact that you were fucking living together. Everyone, including him, thought you were just friends, best friends and nothing more but now it made sense to him.
As the pair of you guide him into the guest room, he throws his hands around your shoulders and he whips his head between the two of you, a goofy smile plastered across his face.
“I’m happy for you guys and I promise not to tell” You roll your eyes at him but a smile makes its way onto your face, one that Natasha matches and the two of you know that even though he’s drunk, he’s telling the truth.
The next ones to figure it out are Payback and Fanboy, with Mickey figuring it out when he spotted the two of you out on a coffee date on one of your days off and there was just something about the way the two of you were sat so close together, practically in each others laps, with Natasha’s hand resting on your thigh that screamed more than friends.
Now, Fanboy wouldn’t consider himself a gossip, wouldn’t be one to go around starting or fuelling rumors, but Payback was his best friend and as Fanboy watched you and Natasha interact around the base and at the hard deck he was simply starting to burst at the seams needing to tell someone what he saw. So a week after he saw, when it’s just him and Payback in the locker room (something he double and triple checked) he asked the question that had been burning at the forefront of his mind, “Do you think Phoenix and Dove are a couple?”
Payback turns to his back seater and best friend, a questioning look on his face and one eyebrow raised, as he halts the action of putting his t-shirt on, “What makes you ask that?”
Now, Payback had his own suspicions, he was one of the most observant people in the group and had noticed the way Natasha’s hand would linger on your lower back when you were walking through a crowd or when you were standing at the bar at the hard deck, almost as if she was creating a barrier between you and the people around, he had noticed the way your eyes would linger on Natasha as she maneuvered through the hard deck on a busy night, watching to make sure she was okay and that no one tried to touch her, your body tense and ready to step in at any second if there was any indication that she was in trouble.
He had noticed the way the two of you looked at each other, eyes full of nothing but loving and gentleness, even as you argued with one another, noticed the way each of you would smile as the other walked into the room as if the two of you shared a secret the rest of the world couldn’t know. It was obvious to anyone who paid attention that there was something more there, but Payback just assumed you were really close friends, practically family seeing as he knew the two of you didn’t have the best relationship with your parents but now that Fanboy has suggested it might be romantic the puzzles pieces seem to fit into place and he can suddenly see the pure love that radiates from the two of you.
“Saw them on a date the other day, seemed real close.”
Fanboy says it casually and Payback knows he has no issues with the two of you being together, no one in the squad would, but they’re both well aware of the implications it could have on your careers and how others on the base treated the two of you. Payback shrugs his shirt on and turns to his friend, “If they are, it’s not our place to out them”
Fanboy nods his head as he leans against his locker with his arms crossed over his chest, “Not our place. But we should at least let them know we know.”
Payback agrees with his friend and the next day, the two of them approach you as you’re doing some maintenance on your plane. Payback hs a shy smile on his face and Fanboy looks like the cat that ate the canary as they enquire about your relationship with Phoenix and you don’t have to say anything for them to get their answer, the way your face lights up and a soft smile forms on your lips tells them all they need to know and they promise to keep your secret until you’re ready.
Next to find out is Coyote almost 4 months after the uranium mission during a small get together at Rooster’s place to celebrate his promotion to Lieutenant Commander, the entire squad was there (minus Hangman who had traveled home to see his parents for their anniversary). Everyone is scattered throughout the small living room, Payback and Fanboy are standing in the corner, Coyote is sitting on the couch with Natasha at the other side while Rooster and Bob set up the game of beer bong Bradley insisted they play while you get yourself another beer from the kitchen. You were planning on sitting in between Natasha and Coyote, but Fanboy had planted himself down before you could but you simply shrug your shoulders and decide to sit on your darling girlfriend's lap.
Coyote chokes on his beer at the sight of you bending down to place a kiss to Natasha’s lips before slipping onto her lap with your back against her chest where she slips a hand round to rest on your thigh and places a kiss against the groove where your neck and shoulder meet.
Your turn to look at Coyote, wondering if he was okay before your eyes widened ad you cringed letting a “Fuck” slip past your lips as you suddenly remember not everyone in the room knows about your relationship with Natasha and bury your hands in your hair, but Natasha simply smiles and places a small kiss to the corner of your hair, “It’s okay dove, he was bound to find out eventually.”
Coyote’s look of confusion turns into a smile as he regards the two of you, you looked happy together and he couldn’t fault you for wanting to keep it secret so he let the fact that you kept it quiet go and instead asks the one question going through his mind, “How long has this been going on?”
You smile sheepishly as you lean further against Natasha’s back, her chin placed on your shoulder, “Senior year high school” You bring your beer to your lips as you feel Natasha turn and place a soft kiss to your cheek that has you flushing. You were used to Natasha’s affection, she loved to pepper your face with kisses, but it was new to have it done in front of other people, especially the team. But it was nice to finally be able to show affection in front of the people who mean the world to you.
“And the rest of you know?” Coyote points his beer accusingly at the other men in the room with a raised eyebrow, they all nod sheepishly and rub at their necks awkwardly as they all explain how they figured it out.
“Wait, wait, is Hangman the only one who doesn’t know now?” Rooster looks around the room, watching the faces of the other pilots as the realization comes over him that their missing friend had no idea about the two of you as a couple.
“Oh we can make this fun, how long do we think it’s going to take him to figure it out?” Coyote loves his best friend, truly he does, but he was not going to miss the opportunity to mess with him and so the bet started on how long it would take Hangman to figure it out and or/find out,
It's a whole year after the uranium mission, and eight months after Coyote finds out that Hangman finally finds out that you and Phoenix are dating, he’s the last of the squad to know and since Coyote found out there has been a running bet on how long it will take. Payback had lost long ago, saying he would figure it out 2 months after Coyote did and Bob and Rooster are currently leading with their bets of a year and they say that Hangman won’t actually figure it out (or believe it) until you’re walking down the aisle.
They were half right, while it is a year later that Hangman finally finds out, it isn’t you walking down the aisle that gives it away but rather the pair of you walking in with pretty silver bands decorated with jewels on your ring fingers, the two of having proposed at the same time the night before.
He has to do a double take and almost chokes on his beer at the sight before him, head whipping around to take in the faces of the other pilots around him expecting their faces to mirror his own but they were all just looking at him with amusement in their eyes.
“Okay what the fuck is going on?” The two of your have joined the group at your usual spot, nestled into the corner with the pool table, and you meet Hangman's gaze with a questioning look as you cock your head to the side. He uses his beer to gesture between you and Natasha frantically.
“You two! What is going on?”
Natasha rolls her eyes at the dramatics, pulling you into her side and wrapping her arm around you shoulders as yours wrapped around her waist and she placed a kiss to your hairline, “We’re engaged Bagman.” You gently hit Natasha’s chest and glared at her slightly letting out a quiet ‘be nice’ that causes her to let out a small chuckle and look to Hangman once again, “We’ve been a couple since senior year of high school, we kept it quiet because our families didn’t react well and we saw things when we first joined the navy that we knew it would compromise our safety if we were to come out.”
Hangman nods his head in understanding, dropping his arm so it now rested on his side but his eyes watch the other pilots, remembering their reaction when he first saw the two of you and how they weren’t reacting to the news.
“You guys knew!?” The disbelief is clear in Hangmans voice and his annoyance is obvious as he glares at the other pilots around him who are all nodding. Hangman felt a little betrayed if he was being honest, believing that you had told the other pilots about the relationship and had just decided to keep him in dark for whatever reason. You're quick to see the sadness in Jake's eyes and are even quicker to respond.
“We didn’t tell them if that’s what you're thinking, for the most part they figured it out or saw something they shouldn’t have. We weren’t keeping it from you because we didn’t trust you, we do trust you. I wanted to tell you after Coyote found out but the rest of them,” Your eyes narrow as the rest of the guys shrink away from your gaze, “Wanted to see when you would figure it out.”
“Oh we all had a bet going on how long it would take you to figure it out” Coyote sips from his beer as he sees some of the annoyance and tension drop from Hangmans shoulders at your reassurance that you weren’t deliberately keeping him out of the loop, “Pretty sure Rooster and Bob win.”
Hangman turns his glare strictly to Coyote, who barks out a laugh at the look, “Even you Javy?” Coyote places a hand to chest and pretends to be hurt before letting out a laugh at his best friend's reaction.
“Oh come man, how many bets have you made against me before?” Hangman rolls his eyes but he has to agree with his friend, he had made many a bet against Coyote in the past so it was only fair he had made one against him in return.
Hangman turns back to you and Phoenix and smiles at the two of you,you had the purest smiles on your face and looked just so in love and perfect for one another that he would drop the bet for now. Hangman raises his beer in a small toast that the rest of the aviators follow.
“To Phoenix and Dove, may forever treat you well”

















