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seriouslyseresin · 4 months
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Sundays Are for the Boys | Hangman x Reader
Summary: Football Sundays are a sacred tradition amongst Jake and his friends, and he's quick to make sure you know that. But when the boys discover your favorite drink in the refrigerator, Jake makes an exception to his rule.
Warnings: Fluff, language, a tiny bit of smut, 18+
Length: 2600 words
Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x Female Reader
Seriously, who let Jake on my masterlist!? Written for Pick Your Poison! Banner by @thedroneranger
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Dating Jake came with one firm rule: Sundays were for watching football with the guys. 
"I mean it," he'd told you months ago when you first started dating him. "I host every week. They come over around ten when the games start, and they don't leave until after the last game ends. No wives. No girlfriends. Just a cooler filled with cheap beer. Sundays are for the boys."
At the time, you thought it was cute that he wanted to spend the day with his friends. "That's adorable," you told him, kissing his cheek. But by the time football season arrived, Jake was already in his Dallas Cowboys jersey, shaking you awake on Sunday morning at nine.
"It's almost game time, Baby. The guys will be here soon."
You looked up at him from his bed with a little smirk. "You're really into this, huh?" 
He kissed your forehead and started to pull you to your feet as you laughed. "It's a thing. I told you this months ago." He patted your bare butt as you looked around for your clothes from the night before. "It's week one, and the Cowboys play the Eagles in the early game. I love putting Payback in a bad mood."
You kissed him before you slipped your underwear on. "I know you do."
He was antsy, and you knew he wanted you to leave, but you also knew he didn't want to say it as he kissed you over and over again. "Baby, you gotta go," he finally whispered as you smiled against his lips. 
"I know, I know," you replied, still amused as you finished getting dressed and packed up your stuff. "Go Cowboys."
Each week, your relationship progressed, but this little routine stayed the same. Jake would inevitably wake you up by nine if you weren't already up. He would be wearing one of his many Dallas Cowboys jerseys. He would walk you out to your car and tell you how much he loved you before you left him to entertain his friends. 
But one Sunday, you woke him up with a blowjob on his birthday. And you took your time with it. Did you have a bit of an ulterior motive? Sure. But it didn't detract from the fact that you wanted him to enjoy himself, and you certainly made sure he did. He was coming hard at exactly 9:42 with his hand on the back of your head and his cock tapping your throat. 
"Oh, fuck!" he groaned. "Fuck!" 
You licked him clean and grinned up at him before kissing his hip and whispering, "I love you, birthday boy." Then you climbed out of bed, kissed his lips and started to get dressed. "It's almost ten. I'll head out."
You saw him waver a bit before he nodded. Then his doorbell rang, and you just knew it would be the guys starting to arrive. He kissed you deeply one more time before pulling on his blue and gray jersey and some gym shorts. "Take your time getting dressed. I'll go let them in."
"Sounds good," you replied. And twenty minutes later, after you'd fixed your hair and put on the tiniest bit of makeup, you waltzed out into the living room where there were now six guys spread out on Jake's sectional couch with an open cooler of beer on ice in the middle of the floor and bags of chips seemingly everywhere. 
It was kind of fascinating, getting to catch a glimpse of this carefully curated world that he worked so hard to keep private. Your plan was to quietly sneak out the front door, but you had to stifle your laughter as you heard Bradley tell your boyfriend, "Your Cowboys look like a bunch of fucking pussies this week."
"You're one to talk, dipshit," Jake replied without missing a beat. "The Steelers are 2 and 4." He went back to sipping his beer.
"Both of you are delusional," Coyote told them as he cracked open a can and shoved a fistful of chips into his mouth. 
You skirted around the outside of the room as you eyed them in their various colorful jerseys while you thought they were completely focused on the game. Then you heard Fanboy call your name. "You're leaving?" he asked, looking at you as he ate some beef jerky.
"Yeah," you said with a little laugh as Jake got up to peck you on the cheek. "You know, Sundays are for the boys and all that."
Just then, the Cowboys scored a touchdown, and Jake hoisted you up in the air as you screeched in surprise. Half of the guys groaned, and half of them cheered, but your boyfriend held you tight as he tossed aside his empty beer can and said, "You can't leave until they kick the extra point." So you just stayed there, your feet not even touching the ground as Jake held his breath, and then the Cowboys went up by one more point. Then Jake walked you to your car, nipping at your neck the entire way.
"Don't you have to get back inside?" you whispered as he filthy kissed you, pressing you against the driver's side door. 
"I will," he grunted. "Feel like you're my lucky charm right now."
He kissed away all your lip gloss and messed up your makeup, but when you finally drove away, you had a smile on your face.
------------------------
"What are these things?" Reuben called from the kitchen. Jake turned to see what he was holding up.
"High Noons," he replied before focusing back on the game. "My girl's obsessed with them. It's like a fancy hard seltzer."
"Can I try one?"
"Yeah," Jake told him, knowing he'd just replace them later for you. 
Javy was currently sitting on the floor, practically in tears as the Saints gave up another touchdown to the Dolphins. Mickey's loud cheering had everyone else laughing. "Dude, you'll lose your voice again like last week," Bradley told him as he accidentally spilled potato chips all over the floor before picking them up and eating them anyway. 
"It'll be worth it if the Saints lose!" Mickey cheered. 
"Hey, what's that?" Bradley asked Reuben as he chugged the High Noon can and belched. "Some sort of girly shit?"
"Yeah, it's fucking good."
A minute later, everyone was drinking them, including Jake. "This is delicious," Bob muttered.
"For real," Reuben agreed. "Your girl has good taste."
Bradley snorted as he opened another can. "Not in guys." He and Reuben started cracking up at Jake's expense while he rolled his eyes. 
Then Javy was on his hands and knees crawling toward the TV and shouting, "Get him! Get him! That's a fucking sack! Fuck you, Fanboy! Fuck you, dude!"
The room was in chaos as Javy ground the potato chip crumbs into the carpet. When Jake's phone vibrated, he saw it was a text from you and realized he kind of wished you were here right now.
I miss you. Are you having fun with the boys?
He smiled as he checked the time. The Cowboys game would be starting in less than an hour, and they always seemed to play better whenever you were in the room for those fleeting few minutes before you left him to his Sunday tradition. He tapped his fingers on his thigh and contemplated texting you back. 
"Hey, Jake, are there any more of these things?" Bob asked, holding up his empty High Noon can. It was a testament to how good they tasted that Bob was even drinking one in the first place. He absolutely hated beer.
"I don't think so," Jake muttered, almost to himself as he read your text again. "Let me check." He started his response to you and then finished it after he looked in his nearly empty fridge.
I miss you too, Baby. Where did you get those High Noons? The boys drank them all, and they loved them. I'm going to need to stock up.
When he looked up from his phone, Javy was on his back, kicking his feet in the air, because the Dolphins had scored another touchdown. "No!"
"Hey, Hangman, you're out of chips," Bradley complained, shaking the empty bag into his open mouth before frowning. 
Now Mickey was dancing around Javy on the floor as the final score of the game flashed across the bottom of the screen. His Dolphins had beat Javy's Saints, and Reuben was already changing the channel for the next game that was about to start. But you had texted back again.
Why is that so adorable? I'm just about on my way home from lunch with the girls. Want me to stop and get another case or two? Maybe some snacks? I can drop them off.
Jake grinned; even the idea of you stopping by for a few seconds made him smile. He texted you back letting you know that he loved that idea, and then he stepped over the chaos on his floor and dropped down next to Reuben. Just as the intro to the Cowboys and Steelers was starting up, Jake said, "My girl's stopping by with more of those drinks and some snacks, so please behave while she's here."
"We will," they all replied in unison, though he highly doubted that would actually be the case. 
Then the game started, and they were all distracted, because it was Jake's team against Bradley's team. "Your precious Cowgirls are going down," Bradley muttered, practically licking the inside of the chip bag.
Jake realized he was hungry too as he flipped him off, and he could hear Reuben's stomach growling. The Cowboys were looking terrible in the first quarter, and now Bradley was sitting on the edge of his seat as the Steelers were poised to score a touchdown.
But then, just when you walked in carrying some fresh High Noons and a platter of hot wings, the Steelers threw an interception, and the Cowboys ran it back all the way for a touchdown. "Fuck yes!" Jake shouted, practically ripping the food and drinks out of your hands to get to you. "Come here, Baby. Come sit on my lap."
"Seriously?" you asked, clearly surprised as Jake pulled you along with him while the other guys tore into the seltzers and chicken wings like they were wild animals. Well, everyone except for Bradley who was on his knees on the floor, staring at the TV in shock.
"Thank you for the food and the High Noons," Jake drawled, grinning against your neck as he held you close. "You're the best." 
"You're welcome," you replied, really getting into the game now. "Cowboys are already up?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Bradley groaned. And it just kept getting better from there. Jake got to have you snuggled up on the couch with him while he ate wings and drank seltzers all afternoon. 
When you tried to leave at halftime, the guys whined for you to stay, and Jake pulled you closer to him. "Baby, no. The Cowboys have done nothing but get touchdown after touchdown since you got here. I need you to stay."
You laughed and opened a High Noon for yourself with an amused look on your face. "Alright, Jake. Whatever you need."
-----------------------
When you woke up on Sunday with Jake kissing your neck and whispering, "Time to get up," you groaned. You were still exhausted from working all week, but you stretched and slowly got out of bed. "Where are you going?" he asked, reaching for you as you stood and looked at him.
"Home?"
He shook his head like he couldn't be more confused. "Why? Baby, the Cowboys play at ten. The boys will be here soon."
"Yeah...." you replied, reaching for your clothes. "That's why I'm leaving. Sundays are for the boys."
Now he was honest to god pouting. "But, I don't want you to leave. I love watching the games with you, and the guys keep my place cleaner when you're here. They actually belch less too. Really, overall, they are much less insufferable. And besides..." he whispered, grabbing your hand and pulling you back into bed. "I think you're my lucky charm."
"Really?" you asked as he pinned your hands above your head on the pillow. 
"Mmhmm," he hummed as he kissed you. "You make my team do better, and you make me happy. Stay."
You were melting at his touch. "Well, how could I say no?"
The following week, Jake was opening a seltzer for you, and when you looked around, all of the guys were drinking them. Mickey tapped his can to yours. "These are delicious. I feel so sophisticated. You're a genius."
The week after that, Javy ordered pizza only after discreetly asking what your favorite topping was. "The rest of them would eat cardboard with red sauce on top of it, but I want to make sure you get the kind you like."
The week after that, Reuben and Bob both jumped up to get you a new can when yours was empty, and Bradley begrudgingly said, "I still like you even though Jake fucking ruined you by turning you into a Cowboys fan."
You started staying later and later, and you noticed that Jake filled the cooler with fewer beers and more seltzers each week. And on the last Sunday of the regular season, the guys showed up with a sad looking, half crumpled up gift bag and handed it to you as you rearranged the pretty charcuterie board you'd been working on for them. 
"What's this?" you asked, peeking into the bag at some pink fabric.
"It's for you," Javy said. "You're one of the guys now." 
Jake grinned at you from the open refrigerator where he handed out High Noon cans to everyone. "You knew about this?" you asked him as you reached into the bag and pulled out a pink Dallas Cowboys jersey with your own name on the back. 
"Of course I knew about it, Baby. I had to tell them your size."
"Thank you," you whispered as you looked at it, tears filling your eyes and blurring your vision. "I love it." When you looked up at them, they raised their seltzer cans in a toast to you, and you ran to Jake's bedroom to get changed.
You had your own jersey color now amongst the rainbow of teams everyone rooted for, and Jake kept you close as the Cowboys played. The cooler of slowly melting ice offered up High Noons to you and the boys, and by the time it was getting dark outside, you were standing next to the TV with your hands in the air. 
"Ready?" you asked them a little loudly as you giggled, but you weren't the only one who was tipsy and silly. "Here we go!" You led them in a hideous, off-key rendition of I've been waiting all day for Sunday night. After weeks of watching football, everyone had all of the ridiculous lyrics memorized, and it ended in laughter as you curled up next to Jake on the couch.
"I love Sundays," he said, his arm slung around your shoulders. "And I love you, Baby."
You kissed his cheek and whispered, "Sundays are for seltzer drinkers."
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You slowly infiltrated, and now Sundays are yours. Thanks @thedroneranger for making pretty mood boards like this one and letting us write about them. And thanks @mak-32 and @beyondthesefourwalls
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seriouslyseresin · 4 months
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he can captain my yacht any time 👀
The Intern Part 2 | Rooster x Reader
Summary: Five minutes into an interview with you, and Bradley knew he was in trouble. You were attractive, funny and smart, and now the summer was stretching out before him like an obstacle course he would have to navigate carefully. At least a visit from an old friend should be enough to help him work through his frustrations.
Warnings: Language, mentions of smut and masturbation (eventually 18+)
Length: 4200 words
Pairing: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x Female Reader
The Intern masterlist. Check out my masterlist for more. Banner by @mak-32
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When Bradley got to the Avio headquarters the following morning, he rode the elevator up to his office. He'd already eaten breakfast, gone for a long run and taken a shower, and he was still one of the first ones here. Except for Judy. He smiled when her desk came into view as he turned toward his office door. She was sweet, and it scared him a little bit how much she reminded him of his mom. She was a widow with one son in college, and Bradley would be lost without her. 
"Morning," she said, handing him his mail as he walked past without her even looking up at him. "You have a very busy day, and I already turned on your coffee maker."
He really needed to give her another raise. "Thanks, Judy. Hey, what time is that interview I have?" he asked, flipping through the stack of envelopes in his hand. 
Now she looked up from her computer and met his eyes. "Nine o'clock. And it's Ted's daughter."
"I know," he replied with a small smile. 
"Do you really think she would be a good fit? You'll be working on the yacht for weeks, and all she has is a graduate degree and a daddy with a bankroll." She handed him your résumé with a concerned look.
He shrugged as he skimmed the page again. "She has some related work experience. She volunteered to run the finances for a handful of Philadelphia based charities every year. Her references include the Philadelphia deputy mayor. But you're right, she's pretty green. I'll take this with me," he said as he held the résumé up and headed for his door. "Let me know when she arrives."
"Will do," Judy muttered. 
Bradley made himself another cup of coffee before he settled into his seat. His office had a fantastic view of the Pacific Ocean in the distance along with the Naval base at North Island where he'd spent several years working. Sometimes he missed it, other times he didn't. Flying was in his blood, but after five air-to-air kills, it seemed like he'd given up enough of his soul to the Navy. Now he was helping oversee the design of software components that would help keep aviators safer in the air. 
He turned his gaze from the view outside back to your resume. Your name at the top made him smile, and the more he read about you, the more he liked. None of the other people begging him for a job in his department had the same level of academic chops or philanthropic endeavors you did. And he couldn't imagine you begging for a single damn thing, ever. He tapped his keyboard, wondering what your LinkedIn profile looked like. 
Well. Your photo was gorgeous. It was professional looking without a doubt, but he knew better now that the way your smile tilted a little higher on one side meant you were about to deliver a line that would make him laugh. He wondered if you'd had the photographer smiling nonstop, too. 
Bradley paused with his fingers on his keyboard, but he couldn't help it. He typed your full name into the search bar and sorted it by images. There were more headshots of you from academic articles and a few newspapers, but when he scrolled he almost spit his coffee out. There was one of you wearing that same bikini you had on yesterday. When he clicked it for more, it took him to your private instagram page. 
He stared at that tiny thumbnail before he closed his eyes. Really, the way you looked wasn't why he asked you to come here today, and he'd spent a good portion of last evening trying to focus on anything other than how it felt to have your body pressed against his while he held you.
"Fuck," he grunted. He really needed to get laid. He made another mental note next to the one about Judy's raise. He would call one of his friends with benefits and get that taken care of, because if you agreed to join him for a couple months on the company yacht, he'd probably see that bikini again and again. And there was no way he could touch Ted's daughter. Not like that. Even if he wanted to.
And that thought brought him back to the main reason you would be here in the next few minutes. What kind of information could he get out of you? Bradley noticed that the profit and loss sheets from several departments didn't seem to add up. That had been the case for two quarters in a row. When he mentioned it to one of the harried looking accountants one floor down, he told Bradley they wouldn't have time to run an unnecessary audit before next quarter started. 
Someone in this company was doing something shady, and Bradley wanted to know who it was and why. He'd gone over those numbers for days, double checking his math. He knew he wasn't crazy, but he didn't know who he could safely take this information to, especially when the specs on the software they were creating was considered top secret. 
"Your interview is here," Judy's voice suddenly announced through his intercom.
Bradley quickly closed out of the photo of you in a bathing suit that was still on his screen and slammed his laptop shut. "Send her in."
A few seconds later, Judy was holding the door open for you, and you thanked her as you strolled in like you owned the company. Your hair was styled in some sort of clip, and you were wearing a perfectly tailored black suit. Bradley shook his head; it was rich that you called him out for his proclivity for Armani when yours was probably worth three times as much. His gaze drifted down your legs. Your black and white heels were the kinds of things he would love to have thrown over his shoulders in bed, and the bit of white silk peeking out above your jacket buttons reminded him of your skimpy pajamas. 
Inviting you here was a terrible idea. 
You smirked as you ran your right index finger along the charm from Tiffany's that hung from your necklace, and then you reached out to shake his hand over his desk. "Mr. Bradshaw. So lovely to see you again today." Your voice was playful, and Bradley gestured for you to take a seat while he tried his best to gather his thoughts. 
"I was a little afraid you'd show up in your bathing suit," he said, and you nodded as you crossed your legs and set your leather portfolio on your lap. 
"I can certainly understand the cause for that concern," you replied, not missing a beat. "However, I promise you'll see nothing but Armani suits from here on out if I end up coming to the office every day. Now what would you have me do for you all summer? Fetch your coffee? Give you the abridged version of the Wall Street Journal? Sit in on pointless meetings in the conference room across the hallway?"
"That's just it," he said, tilting his head to the side and taking in your neutral expression. He hardly knew what to do with the fact that you made him feel warm and slightly uncomfortable when you were being sassy. "We wouldn't be here at all. And actually, you could wear your bathing suit and swim half the time for all I cared."
Your eyes lit up immediately as you leaned closer to his desk. "This sounds like a trap, but please, carry on. Tell me more."
He chuckled as he moved a little closer to you as well. "I'm being tasked with taking a few weeks to a couple months on the company yacht in the Mediterranean. I have the technical knowledge as well as the access to arrange meetings with members of Avio's European sales team to close some deals. This is all top secret information, but since you've got the right connections, I'll go ahead and tell you that the US government has given us the greenlight to sell our software to a select list of countries."
You licked your lips, and Bradley could barely focus as you said, "So you'll be the one calling all the shots. And you need to have access to some of these countries to schedule meetings and dinners and cocktail parties. You'll be working from the yacht in much the same capacity you are currently working from your office, still expected to head the research department here. But you'll have the added workload of trying to answer questions and sell the software in Europe? Did I miss anything?"
Bradley's eyes went a little wide as he chuckled. "No. Not really."
You were smiling now. "This sounds like half work and half sorority party, and let me tell you, I am more than capable of making both of those things go as smoothly for you as possible."
"Yeah," he said, his voice a little raspy now. "But you'll have to put up with me. And some of these clients have been known to be a little difficult in... a variety of different ways." Bradley's mind drifted to last summer when he'd been on the yacht for a week as well as the summer before that. The wealthier a man becomes, the more he seems to think he could have whatever he wants, and Bradley had seen some wild shit. "But I'll do my best to keep you comfortable and safe. The workload will be intense, to say the least. But it'll all be happening on a one hundred and thirty foot superyacht." 
You eyed him carefully. "This sounds like it was custom made for me, so you either want me or you don't, Mr. Bradshaw." 
Bradley smiled, and his gaze followed your hand as you touched that pretty charm again. "Oh... I want you plenty. Something tells me yachts and Mediterranean vacations are something you simply grew up with. I'm just trying to sell myself now."
The way you laughed reminded him once again of that night in December when you asked him if he wanted to share a bottle of wine with you. "You're very persuasive, Mr. Bradshaw. I can practically smell the sunblock and taste the pasta from here." You bit your lip and considered him, and it felt to Bradley like you could see every flaw and indiscretion inside of him. "Where did you go to school anyway? Yale? Brown? No wait... you look like a Princeton boy to me."
He shook his head as he pointed to his college diploma on the wall. "I went to a state school." 
You gasped, and your eyes went wide as you muttered, "Jesus," while you read it. "Political science? At the University of Virginia? Oh... you should be lying to people. I mean, at least say you went to Dartmouth."
Bradley tried and failed to hold in his laughter, because you truly looked scandalized by this turn of events. "Aww, come on, Ivy League. It's not so bad."
You sputtered with laughter, too. "Did you just call me Ivy League?"
"I sure did," he told you, still laughing. "It's about ten times nicer than what I was going to say."
Your soft gasp as your eyes positively lit up made Bradley's heart beat a little faster. "Well, what were you going to say?" you asked before biting your lip. 
Shit. You were trouble, and you knew it. "Never mind. My lips are sealed. Can't say that to Ted's daughter."
You sighed and rolled your eyes. "You're no fun right now, but I'm sure as soon as I get you loosened up in some Armani swim trunks on the yacht, you'll be an absolute pleasure for me to deal with."
The way Bradley's cock was twitching should have been warning enough. He was about to get in over his head. But all he could say was, "Does that mean you want the internship?"
Your smile tilted up a little higher on the one side. "Oh, absolutely." Then you stood before him looking like the cat who got the cream, and Bradley had to hope for the best as he stood as well. He could mark this as the first time he'd ever become slightly aroused during an interview, a sign that he desperately needed to get laid. 
He shook your hand and said, "We leave in a few days. Judy will help you get your visas in order. Sound good?"
"Sounds perfect, Mr. Bradshaw." 
The way you here still holding his hand and calling him Mr. Bradshaw left his voice barely louder than a rasp. "Judy and I will be in touch."
You turned and shot him a smile over your shoulder as you headed for his office door, and Bradley dropped back down in his chair. He'd call Callie about getting together to hook up before he left for Europe, but he had another more important call to make first. He cleared his throat as he opened his contacts and then put his phone on speaker. He was greeted with a familiar voice filled with laughter.
"Rooster! When are you going to get that yacht warmed up for me?"
Bradley just shook his head and said, "Hangman. You're not going to believe who my summer intern is."
------------------------------
You were floating on a raft in the pool wearing your second favorite bathing suit when you were greeted by the sound of your father's voice. "I sincerely hope you know what you're doing by wasting your time right now."
"Daddy," you greeted with a smile. "My day was a complete and utter success."
He checked his watch as he said, "Please, elaborate."
You had the trump card, but you knew all too well what it would be like if you didn't. Instead of lecturing you like you could tell he wanted to, he smiled when you said, "I have a job."
"Where?" 
"Avio."
He nodded in appreciation as he said, "I am actually impressed right now. You managed to secure an internship at the company I've spent decades with, and you did so without me knowing anything about it. Which department?"
"Research and development," you replied smoothly.
His eyes went wider. "With Bradley Bradshaw?"
Your tummy swooped, and you sucked in a breath at the mere mention of his name. Spending weeks working with him and entertaining guests with him was going to be... well, something. "Yes. With Bradley Bradshaw."
"Sweetheart," your father said. "He had a career in the Navy."
"Yes. He was an aviator," you recalled from his Avio bio.
"That means he's not going to put up with any nonsense. You don't make him repeat himself, and you don't give him attitude. I'll know immediately if he's displeased with you, I'm sure."
Bradley didn't seem stuffy. He'd already encouraged you to pack your bathing suits. Hell, you were determined to get him to join you in some fun. "Well maybe not immediately as he and I will be on the Avio yacht in the Mediterranean."
Your father stared at you, speechless. Finally he said, "I really don't know how you managed to get exactly what you wanted, but I applaud you, Sweetheart. Well done. I know it sounds fun, but you'll be kept very busy. I hope you know what you're in for."
When he finally wandered back inside after you promised to join him for dinner, you soaked up the last few rays of the dying sunlight. Then you made a mental list of everything you needed to spend the next few days packing as you brushed up on your French and Italian.  "J'adore mon travail. Amo il mio lavoro. I love my job."
--------------------------
Bradley was still chuckling as he got off the phone with Ted a few days later. Your father tried to warn him that you could be a bit of a handful. Like Bradley wasn't fully aware of that fact. As if he hadn't known since December. He could practically hear your disdain for his alma mater and your delight in international travel from his condo.
He was stacking his suits up in his extra bedroom along with several pairs of shoes, and he shook his head as he looked down at his swim trunks in his hands. They actually were all Armani, and you'd have a field day when you realized it. Or perhaps skinny dipping would become a thing?
Fuck. He needed to stop thinking about you like that. Callie Bassett was on her way over, so that should help alleviate some of this tension. He'd been friends with Halo for over a decade, and she had slowly and naturally turned into a friend with benefits over time. She was still in the Navy, and she was discreet. It was easier than having a girlfriend. It was all he had time for. 
As he organized his suits, he remembered you told him he looked like a Princeton boy. He could just picture you with a parade of preppy assholes following you around, and he wondered if you ever slummed it with anyone like him before. It made him want to pack some of his casual clothes including his Virgina baseball cap and his worn out golf shorts. So he did. 
Then his doorbell buzzed, and he went to let Callie in. He needed this taken care of right now. She smelled good, and she looked cute. She always did. And she wore something a little skimpy just for him. The kiss on his cheek in greeting quickly turned to her lips brushing his as she said, "I haven't seen you in weeks."
"Been busy," he replied, taking her by the hand and heading for his bedroom. "And I'm leaving for Portugal on Saturday."
"How long?" she asked, pouting a little bit as Bradley reached for the hem of her dress and eased it up and over her head in one fluid motion. 
"Couple months," he whispered, taking in her soft, naked body with his gaze. 
"Months?" she whined as he wrapped his hands around her waist and smirked at her. 
"Don't even act like we are anything close to exclusive, Cal. Now... how do you want it?"
She licked her lips and looked up at him with those familiar dark eyes just as his phone rang in his pocket. He didn't hesitate or check the number; he never did. "Bradshaw."
"Hey, State School. I have a few questions for you."
Bradley froze with your voice in his ear and Callie's fingers on his zipper. He grunted softly as she eased it down and touched him. He just knew if he closed his eyes and listened to your voice, he'd probably finish in her hand within two minutes. 
"Ivy League," he rasped, taking a step back away from Halo who was now standing before him completely naked and rolling her eyes.
"Are you busy?" you asked, and Bradley looked Halo in the eyes without remorse as he answered you.
"No. I'm not busy. I can talk." He held up one finger and zipped himself up as he left his bedroom in favor of his office. "As long as you tell me how you got this number."
You laughed as he sank down into his desk chair. "You think it's exclusive or something? Judy gave it to me. And it's probably listed on the company website."
Brat. He narrowed his eyes, adding a note to his mental list to make sure it was not listed on the company website. "What can I help you with?"
"Well, I'm packing and hoping for a little input from you."
"On Thursday night at nine?" he asked. "And don't you have a butler to help you with that?"
"Like you have anything else going on?"
Bradley thought about Callie waiting in his bedroom, but instead of ushering this call along, he asked, "What did you pack so far?"
You sighed. "Sixteen bathing suits, piles of lingerie, and sunglasses. And I'm only kind of kidding."
Fighting the urge to ask for more details, he said, "Unfortunately I can't let you wear any of that in front of potential clients. So throw in some suits and dresses."
"Some suits and dresses? You'll need to be a little bit more specific, Sir." 
Sir.
That one word was echoing through his mind along with your bratty tone, and he had to take a deep breath. "Why don't you bring the suit you wore when I interviewed you? That looked good. And so did the dress you wore to your father's holiday party. The dark green one."
There was a pause before you said, "You remember what I wore to the party?"
"Yeah," he grunted, rubbing his hand over his face in frustration. "It looked nice. Pack some cocktail dresses, too."
"How many should I pack?"
"How many do you have?"
"Do you really want me to answer that?"
Bradley laughed. "I'm sure you know better than I do what you should wear."
You scoffed. "You're acting like you've never spent a summer on the Avio yacht before."
"I haven't," he replied easily. "Just a few days here and there. I'm sure I'll be learning things from you."
"Then you'll be learning from the best."
He bit back a groan as he said, "That's what I'm counting on. That's why I hired you."
"I won't let you down," you promised, and Bradley believed you. "I'll see you at the airport on Saturday morning. Don't forget your swim trunks."
You ended the call before he could say another word, and now he was convinced you had called him simply because you could. If he was frustrated before, it was nothing compared to the way he felt now. Spending weeks on end with Ted's daughter was supposed to help him get to the bottom of the messy business with Avio, not cause other issues to arise. 
He unzipped his pants, intent on touching himself,  before jolting to his feet. "Shit," he muttered as he left his office and went back to his bedroom. "Cal?" he called out. "Sorry. It was a work call." But he was completely alone. He laughed as his phone vibrated in his hand with a text from her.
Have a great time in Europe. Don't bother calling me when you get back.
Bradley was sure he'd hear about this from his old friend Natasha when Callie bitched about him at work. But it didn't really matter. After she had a few weeks to cool off, she'd come back when he needed her again. For now, he'd take matters into his own hands and hope that would be enough.
----------------------
Your father insisted upon seeing you off on Saturday morning which gave Bradley a few minutes alone with him. He was listening to Ted as he watched you struggle with your seven pieces of Dior luggage on the tarmac next to the chartered airplane. 
"Bradley, you don't know what you've gotten yourself into," your father told him with a laugh. "She's tenacious though. And whip smart. Make sure you challenge her, because she will certainly challenge you."
Now Bradley laughed as he shook Ted's hand. "I'll do my best."
"If she gets to be too much, just leave her in one of the marinas with her passport."
He would never do that to you. He doubted it would ever come to that. In fact, he was already impressed by the way you took care of things for yourself. Sure, you looked like you belonged in an ad for designer gym clothes with your leggings and soft hoodie zipped over your sports bra. But you were also taking your luggage from the back of the black Mercedes-Benz G-Class yourself.
"I can assure you that she and I will be just fine, Sir."
"What have I told you about calling me Ted?" Bradley received a friendly cuff on the shoulder before shaking his hand and turning toward you. 
He picked up the last two pieces of your luggage at the same time and carried them to the cargo hold while you trailed after him. "I don't need help," you told him as he stowed them away. Then you added, "You look weird out of your Armani."
"I look weird?" he asked with a laugh as he glanced down at his chinos and Oxford shirt.
"A good kind of weird. Like when you wore that Fair Isle sweater last year."
Bradley examined your pretty face, and you didn't look away. He remembered the dress you wore to Ted's holiday party, and you remembered his sweater. Right now he was wishing he'd joined you for that bottle of French wine that night, something he'd remedy on the yacht. A flood of bad decisions just waiting to happen filled his mind as he said, "Go say goodbye to your father. It's almost time to go."
"Yes, Sir," you told him with your chin held high and a smirk gracing your lips. Bradley stood at the bottom of the stairs while you flung your arms around Ted and kissed him on the cheek. Then you came strolling his way once again, and he followed you closely up the stairs as you turned back and softly said, "I'm all yours."
--------------------------
Ivy League spells trouble for Bradley, but at least he knows it. And he didn't get an ounce of relief before getting on that plane. What could possibly go wrong? Thanks @mak-32 and @beyondthesefourwalls
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467 notes · View notes
seriouslyseresin · 4 months
Text
The Intern masterlist (Rooster x Reader)
You barely have a minute to yourself after graduating at the top of your Ivy League class before your father insists you find an internship. Your days of lounging by the pool and partying are numbered as he has an endless parade of his colleagues visiting the house. But one of them is familiar to you in a way that warms your skin just like the San Diego sun. And it turns out, Bradley Bradshaw may just have the answers to all your problems. And those answers might be waiting for you on a yacht in the Mediterranean Sea.
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roosterforme masterlist. Banner by @mak-32
General series warnings: language, smut, age gap, boss/intern dynamic, violence, 18+. Check each chapter for specific warnings.
Prologue
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
521 notes · View notes
seriouslyseresin · 4 months
Text
The Intern Part 2 | Rooster x Reader
Summary: Five minutes into an interview with you, and Bradley knew he was in trouble. You were attractive, funny and smart, and now the summer was stretching out before him like an obstacle course he would have to navigate carefully. At least a visit from an old friend should be enough to help him work through his frustrations.
Warnings: Language, mentions of smut and masturbation (eventually 18+)
Length: 4200 words
Pairing: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x Female Reader
The Intern masterlist. Check out my masterlist for more. Banner by @mak-32
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When Bradley got to the Avio headquarters the following morning, he rode the elevator up to his office. He'd already eaten breakfast, gone for a long run and taken a shower, and he was still one of the first ones here. Except for Judy. He smiled when her desk came into view as he turned toward his office door. She was sweet, and it scared him a little bit how much she reminded him of his mom. She was a widow with one son in college, and Bradley would be lost without her. 
"Morning," she said, handing him his mail as he walked past without her even looking up at him. "You have a very busy day, and I already turned on your coffee maker."
He really needed to give her another raise. "Thanks, Judy. Hey, what time is that interview I have?" he asked, flipping through the stack of envelopes in his hand. 
Now she looked up from her computer and met his eyes. "Nine o'clock. And it's Ted's daughter."
"I know," he replied with a small smile. 
"Do you really think she would be a good fit? You'll be working on the yacht for weeks, and all she has is a graduate degree and a daddy with a bankroll." She handed him your résumé with a concerned look.
He shrugged as he skimmed the page again. "She has some related work experience. She volunteered to run the finances for a handful of Philadelphia based charities every year. Her references include the Philadelphia deputy mayor. But you're right, she's pretty green. I'll take this with me," he said as he held the résumé up and headed for his door. "Let me know when she arrives."
"Will do," Judy muttered. 
Bradley made himself another cup of coffee before he settled into his seat. His office had a fantastic view of the Pacific Ocean in the distance along with the Naval base at North Island where he'd spent several years working. Sometimes he missed it, other times he didn't. Flying was in his blood, but after five air-to-air kills, it seemed like he'd given up enough of his soul to the Navy. Now he was helping oversee the design of software components that would help keep aviators safer in the air. 
He turned his gaze from the view outside back to your resume. Your name at the top made him smile, and the more he read about you, the more he liked. None of the other people begging him for a job in his department had the same level of academic chops or philanthropic endeavors you did. And he couldn't imagine you begging for a single damn thing, ever. He tapped his keyboard, wondering what your LinkedIn profile looked like. 
Well. Your photo was gorgeous. It was professional looking without a doubt, but he knew better now that the way your smile tilted a little higher on one side meant you were about to deliver a line that would make him laugh. He wondered if you'd had the photographer smiling nonstop, too. 
Bradley paused with his fingers on his keyboard, but he couldn't help it. He typed your full name into the search bar and sorted it by images. There were more headshots of you from academic articles and a few newspapers, but when he scrolled he almost spit his coffee out. There was one of you wearing that same bikini you had on yesterday. When he clicked it for more, it took him to your private instagram page. 
He stared at that tiny thumbnail before he closed his eyes. Really, the way you looked wasn't why he asked you to come here today, and he'd spent a good portion of last evening trying to focus on anything other than how it felt to have your body pressed against his while he held you.
"Fuck," he grunted. He really needed to get laid. He made another mental note next to the one about Judy's raise. He would call one of his friends with benefits and get that taken care of, because if you agreed to join him for a couple months on the company yacht, he'd probably see that bikini again and again. And there was no way he could touch Ted's daughter. Not like that. Even if he wanted to.
And that thought brought him back to the main reason you would be here in the next few minutes. What kind of information could he get out of you? Bradley noticed that the profit and loss sheets from several departments didn't seem to add up. That had been the case for two quarters in a row. When he mentioned it to one of the harried looking accountants one floor down, he told Bradley they wouldn't have time to run an unnecessary audit before next quarter started. 
Someone in this company was doing something shady, and Bradley wanted to know who it was and why. He'd gone over those numbers for days, double checking his math. He knew he wasn't crazy, but he didn't know who he could safely take this information to, especially when the specs on the software they were creating was considered top secret. 
"Your interview is here," Judy's voice suddenly announced through his intercom.
Bradley quickly closed out of the photo of you in a bathing suit that was still on his screen and slammed his laptop shut. "Send her in."
A few seconds later, Judy was holding the door open for you, and you thanked her as you strolled in like you owned the company. Your hair was styled in some sort of clip, and you were wearing a perfectly tailored black suit. Bradley shook his head; it was rich that you called him out for his proclivity for Armani when yours was probably worth three times as much. His gaze drifted down your legs. Your black and white heels were the kinds of things he would love to have thrown over his shoulders in bed, and the bit of white silk peeking out above your jacket buttons reminded him of your skimpy pajamas. 
Inviting you here was a terrible idea. 
You smirked as you ran your right index finger along the charm from Tiffany's that hung from your necklace, and then you reached out to shake his hand over his desk. "Mr. Bradshaw. So lovely to see you again today." Your voice was playful, and Bradley gestured for you to take a seat while he tried his best to gather his thoughts. 
"I was a little afraid you'd show up in your bathing suit," he said, and you nodded as you crossed your legs and set your leather portfolio on your lap. 
"I can certainly understand the cause for that concern," you replied, not missing a beat. "However, I promise you'll see nothing but Armani suits from here on out if I end up coming to the office every day. Now what would you have me do for you all summer? Fetch your coffee? Give you the abridged version of the Wall Street Journal? Sit in on pointless meetings in the conference room across the hallway?"
"That's just it," he said, tilting his head to the side and taking in your neutral expression. He hardly knew what to do with the fact that you made him feel warm and slightly uncomfortable when you were being sassy. "We wouldn't be here at all. And actually, you could wear your bathing suit and swim half the time for all I cared."
Your eyes lit up immediately as you leaned closer to his desk. "This sounds like a trap, but please, carry on. Tell me more."
He chuckled as he moved a little closer to you as well. "I'm being tasked with taking a few weeks to a couple months on the company yacht in the Mediterranean. I have the technical knowledge as well as the access to arrange meetings with members of Avio's European sales team to close some deals. This is all top secret information, but since you've got the right connections, I'll go ahead and tell you that the US government has given us the greenlight to sell our software to a select list of countries."
You licked your lips, and Bradley could barely focus as you said, "So you'll be the one calling all the shots. And you need to have access to some of these countries to schedule meetings and dinners and cocktail parties. You'll be working from the yacht in much the same capacity you are currently working from your office, still expected to head the research department here. But you'll have the added workload of trying to answer questions and sell the software in Europe? Did I miss anything?"
Bradley's eyes went a little wide as he chuckled. "No. Not really."
You were smiling now. "This sounds like half work and half sorority party, and let me tell you, I am more than capable of making both of those things go as smoothly for you as possible."
"Yeah," he said, his voice a little raspy now. "But you'll have to put up with me. And some of these clients have been known to be a little difficult in... a variety of different ways." Bradley's mind drifted to last summer when he'd been on the yacht for a week as well as the summer before that. The wealthier a man becomes, the more he seems to think he could have whatever he wants, and Bradley had seen some wild shit. "But I'll do my best to keep you comfortable and safe. The workload will be intense, to say the least. But it'll all be happening on a one hundred and thirty foot superyacht." 
You eyed him carefully. "This sounds like it was custom made for me, so you either want me or you don't, Mr. Bradshaw." 
Bradley smiled, and his gaze followed your hand as you touched that pretty charm again. "Oh... I want you plenty. Something tells me yachts and Mediterranean vacations are something you simply grew up with. I'm just trying to sell myself now."
The way you laughed reminded him once again of that night in December when you asked him if he wanted to share a bottle of wine with you. "You're very persuasive, Mr. Bradshaw. I can practically smell the sunblock and taste the pasta from here." You bit your lip and considered him, and it felt to Bradley like you could see every flaw and indiscretion inside of him. "Where did you go to school anyway? Yale? Brown? No wait... you look like a Princeton boy to me."
He shook his head as he pointed to his college diploma on the wall. "I went to a state school." 
You gasped, and your eyes went wide as you muttered, "Jesus," while you read it. "Political science? At the University of Virginia? Oh... you should be lying to people. I mean, at least say you went to Dartmouth."
Bradley tried and failed to hold in his laughter, because you truly looked scandalized by this turn of events. "Aww, come on, Ivy League. It's not so bad."
You sputtered with laughter, too. "Did you just call me Ivy League?"
"I sure did," he told you, still laughing. "It's about ten times nicer than what I was going to say."
Your soft gasp as your eyes positively lit up made Bradley's heart beat a little faster. "Well, what were you going to say?" you asked before biting your lip. 
Shit. You were trouble, and you knew it. "Never mind. My lips are sealed. Can't say that to Ted's daughter."
You sighed and rolled your eyes. "You're no fun right now, but I'm sure as soon as I get you loosened up in some Armani swim trunks on the yacht, you'll be an absolute pleasure for me to deal with."
The way Bradley's cock was twitching should have been warning enough. He was about to get in over his head. But all he could say was, "Does that mean you want the internship?"
Your smile tilted up a little higher on the one side. "Oh, absolutely." Then you stood before him looking like the cat who got the cream, and Bradley had to hope for the best as he stood as well. He could mark this as the first time he'd ever become slightly aroused during an interview, a sign that he desperately needed to get laid. 
He shook your hand and said, "We leave in a few days. Judy will help you get your visas in order. Sound good?"
"Sounds perfect, Mr. Bradshaw." 
The way you here still holding his hand and calling him Mr. Bradshaw left his voice barely louder than a rasp. "Judy and I will be in touch."
You turned and shot him a smile over your shoulder as you headed for his office door, and Bradley dropped back down in his chair. He'd call Callie about getting together to hook up before he left for Europe, but he had another more important call to make first. He cleared his throat as he opened his contacts and then put his phone on speaker. He was greeted with a familiar voice filled with laughter.
"Rooster! When are you going to get that yacht warmed up for me?"
Bradley just shook his head and said, "Hangman. You're not going to believe who my summer intern is."
------------------------------
You were floating on a raft in the pool wearing your second favorite bathing suit when you were greeted by the sound of your father's voice. "I sincerely hope you know what you're doing by wasting your time right now."
"Daddy," you greeted with a smile. "My day was a complete and utter success."
He checked his watch as he said, "Please, elaborate."
You had the trump card, but you knew all too well what it would be like if you didn't. Instead of lecturing you like you could tell he wanted to, he smiled when you said, "I have a job."
"Where?" 
"Avio."
He nodded in appreciation as he said, "I am actually impressed right now. You managed to secure an internship at the company I've spent decades with, and you did so without me knowing anything about it. Which department?"
"Research and development," you replied smoothly.
His eyes went wider. "With Bradley Bradshaw?"
Your tummy swooped, and you sucked in a breath at the mere mention of his name. Spending weeks working with him and entertaining guests with him was going to be... well, something. "Yes. With Bradley Bradshaw."
"Sweetheart," your father said. "He had a career in the Navy."
"Yes. He was an aviator," you recalled from his Avio bio.
"That means he's not going to put up with any nonsense. You don't make him repeat himself, and you don't give him attitude. I'll know immediately if he's displeased with you, I'm sure."
Bradley didn't seem stuffy. He'd already encouraged you to pack your bathing suits. Hell, you were determined to get him to join you in some fun. "Well maybe not immediately as he and I will be on the Avio yacht in the Mediterranean."
Your father stared at you, speechless. Finally he said, "I really don't know how you managed to get exactly what you wanted, but I applaud you, Sweetheart. Well done. I know it sounds fun, but you'll be kept very busy. I hope you know what you're in for."
When he finally wandered back inside after you promised to join him for dinner, you soaked up the last few rays of the dying sunlight. Then you made a mental list of everything you needed to spend the next few days packing as you brushed up on your French and Italian.  "J'adore mon travail. Amo il mio lavoro. I love my job."
--------------------------
Bradley was still chuckling as he got off the phone with Ted a few days later. Your father tried to warn him that you could be a bit of a handful. Like Bradley wasn't fully aware of that fact. As if he hadn't known since December. He could practically hear your disdain for his alma mater and your delight in international travel from his condo.
He was stacking his suits up in his extra bedroom along with several pairs of shoes, and he shook his head as he looked down at his swim trunks in his hands. They actually were all Armani, and you'd have a field day when you realized it. Or perhaps skinny dipping would become a thing?
Fuck. He needed to stop thinking about you like that. Callie Bassett was on her way over, so that should help alleviate some of this tension. He'd been friends with Halo for over a decade, and she had slowly and naturally turned into a friend with benefits over time. She was still in the Navy, and she was discreet. It was easier than having a girlfriend. It was all he had time for. 
As he organized his suits, he remembered you told him he looked like a Princeton boy. He could just picture you with a parade of preppy assholes following you around, and he wondered if you ever slummed it with anyone like him before. It made him want to pack some of his casual clothes including his Virgina baseball cap and his worn out golf shorts. So he did. 
Then his doorbell buzzed, and he went to let Callie in. He needed this taken care of right now. She smelled good, and she looked cute. She always did. And she wore something a little skimpy just for him. The kiss on his cheek in greeting quickly turned to her lips brushing his as she said, "I haven't seen you in weeks."
"Been busy," he replied, taking her by the hand and heading for his bedroom. "And I'm leaving for Portugal on Saturday."
"How long?" she asked, pouting a little bit as Bradley reached for the hem of her dress and eased it up and over her head in one fluid motion. 
"Couple months," he whispered, taking in her soft, naked body with his gaze. 
"Months?" she whined as he wrapped his hands around her waist and smirked at her. 
"Don't even act like we are anything close to exclusive, Cal. Now... how do you want it?"
She licked her lips and looked up at him with those familiar dark eyes just as his phone rang in his pocket. He didn't hesitate or check the number; he never did. "Bradshaw."
"Hey, State School. I have a few questions for you."
Bradley froze with your voice in his ear and Callie's fingers on his zipper. He grunted softly as she eased it down and touched him. He just knew if he closed his eyes and listened to your voice, he'd probably finish in her hand within two minutes. 
"Ivy League," he rasped, taking a step back away from Halo who was now standing before him completely naked and rolling her eyes.
"Are you busy?" you asked, and Bradley looked Halo in the eyes without remorse as he answered you.
"No. I'm not busy. I can talk." He held up one finger and zipped himself up as he left his bedroom in favor of his office. "As long as you tell me how you got this number."
You laughed as he sank down into his desk chair. "You think it's exclusive or something? Judy gave it to me. And it's probably listed on the company website."
Brat. He narrowed his eyes, adding a note to his mental list to make sure it was not listed on the company website. "What can I help you with?"
"Well, I'm packing and hoping for a little input from you."
"On Thursday night at nine?" he asked. "And don't you have a butler to help you with that?"
"Like you have anything else going on?"
Bradley thought about Callie waiting in his bedroom, but instead of ushering this call along, he asked, "What did you pack so far?"
You sighed. "Sixteen bathing suits, piles of lingerie, and sunglasses. And I'm only kind of kidding."
Fighting the urge to ask for more details, he said, "Unfortunately I can't let you wear any of that in front of potential clients. So throw in some suits and dresses."
"Some suits and dresses? You'll need to be a little bit more specific, Sir." 
Sir.
That one word was echoing through his mind along with your bratty tone, and he had to take a deep breath. "Why don't you bring the suit you wore when I interviewed you? That looked good. And so did the dress you wore to your father's holiday party. The dark green one."
There was a pause before you said, "You remember what I wore to the party?"
"Yeah," he grunted, rubbing his hand over his face in frustration. "It looked nice. Pack some cocktail dresses, too."
"How many should I pack?"
"How many do you have?"
"Do you really want me to answer that?"
Bradley laughed. "I'm sure you know better than I do what you should wear."
You scoffed. "You're acting like you've never spent a summer on the Avio yacht before."
"I haven't," he replied easily. "Just a few days here and there. I'm sure I'll be learning things from you."
"Then you'll be learning from the best."
He bit back a groan as he said, "That's what I'm counting on. That's why I hired you."
"I won't let you down," you promised, and Bradley believed you. "I'll see you at the airport on Saturday morning. Don't forget your swim trunks."
You ended the call before he could say another word, and now he was convinced you had called him simply because you could. If he was frustrated before, it was nothing compared to the way he felt now. Spending weeks on end with Ted's daughter was supposed to help him get to the bottom of the messy business with Avio, not cause other issues to arise. 
He unzipped his pants, intent on touching himself,  before jolting to his feet. "Shit," he muttered as he left his office and went back to his bedroom. "Cal?" he called out. "Sorry. It was a work call." But he was completely alone. He laughed as his phone vibrated in his hand with a text from her.
Have a great time in Europe. Don't bother calling me when you get back.
Bradley was sure he'd hear about this from his old friend Natasha when Callie bitched about him at work. But it didn't really matter. After she had a few weeks to cool off, she'd come back when he needed her again. For now, he'd take matters into his own hands and hope that would be enough.
----------------------
Your father insisted upon seeing you off on Saturday morning which gave Bradley a few minutes alone with him. He was listening to Ted as he watched you struggle with your seven pieces of Dior luggage on the tarmac next to the chartered airplane. 
"Bradley, you don't know what you've gotten yourself into," your father told him with a laugh. "She's tenacious though. And whip smart. Make sure you challenge her, because she will certainly challenge you."
Now Bradley laughed as he shook Ted's hand. "I'll do my best."
"If she gets to be too much, just leave her in one of the marinas with her passport."
He would never do that to you. He doubted it would ever come to that. In fact, he was already impressed by the way you took care of things for yourself. Sure, you looked like you belonged in an ad for designer gym clothes with your leggings and soft hoodie zipped over your sports bra. But you were also taking your luggage from the back of the black Mercedes-Benz G-Class yourself.
"I can assure you that she and I will be just fine, Sir."
"What have I told you about calling me Ted?" Bradley received a friendly cuff on the shoulder before shaking his hand and turning toward you. 
He picked up the last two pieces of your luggage at the same time and carried them to the cargo hold while you trailed after him. "I don't need help," you told him as he stowed them away. Then you added, "You look weird out of your Armani."
"I look weird?" he asked with a laugh as he glanced down at his chinos and Oxford shirt.
"A good kind of weird. Like when you wore that Fair Isle sweater last year."
Bradley examined your pretty face, and you didn't look away. He remembered the dress you wore to Ted's holiday party, and you remembered his sweater. Right now he was wishing he'd joined you for that bottle of French wine that night, something he'd remedy on the yacht. A flood of bad decisions just waiting to happen filled his mind as he said, "Go say goodbye to your father. It's almost time to go."
"Yes, Sir," you told him with your chin held high and a smirk gracing your lips. Bradley stood at the bottom of the stairs while you flung your arms around Ted and kissed him on the cheek. Then you came strolling his way once again, and he followed you closely up the stairs as you turned back and softly said, "I'm all yours."
--------------------------
Ivy League spells trouble for Bradley, but at least he knows it. And he didn't get an ounce of relief before getting on that plane. What could possibly go wrong? Thanks @mak-32 and @beyondthesefourwalls
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seriouslyseresin · 6 months
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easy, girl
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jake “hangman” seresin x f!reader
no body grinds your gears quite like the blonde-haired, blue-eyed aviator and you’ve had enough of it. 
t/w: some cursing, a little angst, some innuendos, fluff at the end 
my first fic! 
“Hey, honey,” a sickly sweet voice calls from the pool table as your join your fellow TopGun classmates. “Didn’t know you would be here.” 
You roll your eyes at Jake “Hangman” Seresin. The bane of your existence. 
“Not sure why you thought that. They called back the best of the best. I mean, I did finish first in the class, didn’t I?” you quip back. 
Coyote hoops and hollers behind Hangman, but stops as soon as Jake throws him a look over his shoulder. 
Before Hangman can hurl an insult towards you, a handsome mustached aviator sticks his hand out to you. “Rooster. What do they call you?” You swear there is a twinkle of flirtation behind his eyes. 
“Easy,” you respond. 
“Wanna know why, Bradshaw?” Hangman steps up next to the man you just met, pool game forgotten. “Tell him, Ease.” 
“Because I am the easiest to get along with,” you cross your arms over your chest. You hate how silly it sounds coming out of your mouth. 
You could kill Hangman for coming up with that call sign for you. He had meant it as an innuendo, of course, and you spent your entire time at the academy squashing rumor after rumor. 
“Mhmm. That’s why,” Hangman nods. He slaps Rooster on the back. “Maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll learn the real reason tonight.” Jake winks at you before turning back to the forgotten pool game. 
Rooster turns back to you and grins. “Need a drink?”
You smile. “Please.” 
As Rooster grabs your drinks, Phoenix finally makes an appearance. You thank your lucky stars you won’t be the only girl going through…well whatever it was they called you back for. 
“My girl!” she screams as she locks arms around your neck and pulls you into one of her famous chest-crushing hugs. She introduces you to Fanboy and Payback once she releases you. 
Rooster returns to the group, two drinks in hand, and gives Phoenix a small side hug. You didn’t miss the look Jake shoots you, as Rooster throws an arm around your shoulders, taking a swig of his drink. You lean into him a little, not being able to ignore the thrill of a guy giving you attention. 
“Watch it, Easy. You don’t want to live up to your name. You just met the guy!” Jake calls from the pool table. He holds your gaze as he sinks a pool ball without looking. Coyote hesitates laughing once he sees the look on your face. 
“What’s your problem, Jake?!” you call out to him. You pull out of Rooster’s embrace as you stalk up to the man. Something unreadable crosses his face when he registers that you called him ‘Jake’ rather than ‘Hangman’. 
The cocky façade falls back onto his face as quickly as it went away. “Hey, Bradshaw, you know who gave her her callsign?” 
Rooster rolls his eyes. He’s got to have figured out by now, that regardless of how mad Jake makes you, he’s the only guy that’s ever had your attention. Whether it be for better or worse. 
“I am guessing you did,” Rooster replies, taking another swig of his drink. Phoenix has taken my place next to him. 
“Jake, please don’t,” you whisper, keeping your gaze on the ‘Seresin’ of his uniform. 
There you go with his first name again. You can count on one hand the number of times you’ve called him Jake. And two of those times were tonight. 
The first night you met Jake, you got insanely plastered. I mean, stopped counting your Trulies after number 5. 
You were so excited to have gotten into TopGun and you decided to celebrate. Of course Jake was the first person you met at the welcome party. He was as charming as he was infuriating. Because it would be too perfect for him to look the way he does, and be nice, right?  
Once he realized you were way past your limit, he pulled you down from the table you were singing on, and tucked you under his arm. He tossed a wad of bills to Penny, and you called out to her that you would be back the next day to clean off your shoe prints from the table. 
She answered you with a laugh, telling Jake to take care of you. 
Under the protection of this huge naval aviator, you snuck a hand around his waist. “Where are we going? Are you taking me to your room?” 
Jake’s chest rumbled with laughter under your face. “Easy, girl. As hot as you are, I am not about to take advantage of your drunkenness.” 
This stopped you in your tracks, causing Jake to stumble a bit. 
“You think, I’m hot? God, I must really be drunk.”
Jake didn’t respond, he just held out a hand to you. You took it and followed him to his car. Your night ended with him tucking you into your own bed, and turning out the lights as he left.
The two of you never discussed what happened. When it was time for callsigns, Jake’s cocky attitude was back, he said, “I’ve got one for, Y/L/N. Easy.”
He shot you a wink, knowing most of the guys in attendance saw you leave with him the night before.  You had never been so embarrassed. 
No one truly knows what went on that night, but they all assumed Jake took you to bed. He never corrected them when they cracked a wise comment. You knew then you could never be with him. Especially if he was soft and sweet just the two of you, and a raging dick around other people.
“Please,” you whisper. This time you looked up into his gorgeous blue eyes, silently pleading with him not to bring that rumor here. 
Your pleading doesn’t work, because Jake locks eyes with Rooster. “Yeah I gave it to her. Ask her who she went home with her first night in Fightertown USA.” 
Tears sting the back of your eyes. Pushing Jake with all your might, you send him back only a step. 
“You’re such a dick!” Turning on your heels, you rush past Penny, who was leaning pretty close into her old flame, Maverick. 
~
“I thought I would find you out here,” Jake’s voice pulls you head from where it was nestled between your knees. Nothing could calm you down quite like the beach at night. 
“Go away, Hangman,” you grumble.  
“Aww, you’re done calling me Jake? I have to admit, I thought it was insanely hot. You should see the way your pretty mouth curves.” 
“Fuck off!” you tell him. Pushing up in the sand, you turn back towards the Hard Deck. “If you didn’t get the message, I came out here to get away from you.” 
Jake reaches out and grabs your arm, pulling you back to him. In his embrace, you almost give into the scent of mahogany cologne. The same smell he had all those years ago the night the two of you met. It makes your head spin. 
Instead, you bring your hands to his chest and try to push him off. When he doesn’t budge, anger takes over. You repeatedly slam your fists into his hard body. 
“Easy, girl.” he whispers. 
The comment takes you back to that night. It turns your stomach the same way it did all those years ago, and he has no idea. 
“Why do you hate me?” you ask. 
“Is that what you think?” his voice is low. “How can you seriously think that?”
You pull back to look him in the eyes. Those damn blue eyes. His hands rub up and down your back, and this is the most intimate the two of you have ever been. Goosebumps run down your arms as he brings one hand to cup the back of your neck. 
“Why do keep letting everyone think I slept with you when we both know it isn’t true?” 
Jake leans down to your ear. “Because if they think we’ve slept together, it keeps them away from you.” A soft kiss from Jake under your ear causes your eyes to fall closed. 
“Why in the world would I want those hunks to stay away from me?” Your mind drifts to Rooster, and his flirting. You could see yourself falling for him. Another kiss from Jake causes the thought to fly out of your head. 
“Come on, Easy. Use that intelligent head of yours, please,” he practically begs, tapping your temple. 
There is no way Jake likes you. There is no way. You’ve watched him flirt with every girl with a heartbeat. 
Including yourself. 
“But you never pursued me again after that night.” 
“You wouldn’t let me.“
“Can you blame me?”
Jake lets you out of hims arms to push a hand through his hair. “I couldn’t. If I told them the truth and one of them made a move on you, I just, I don’t know.” he trails off. His back is to you as he looks out to the ocean. 
“I’d probably kill them. Like I was close to doing to Bradshaw in there.” He still hasn’t turned to look at you. All of his insistent flirting had merit. Jake Seresin liked you. 
“That’s how you want to show me you like me? By pulling my hair like we’re in elementary school?” 
Jake finally turns toward you. “As if you haven’t been pulling mine back.” That smirk is back on his face, and you swear you gain five years of life every time he gives it to you.
In an instant you’re back in his arms. “Do you want to tell Rooster to fuck off, or do you want me to?” he asks me. 
“Be nice to him,” you chide. “He seems like he’d be a great friend.” 
Jake rolls his eyes. “Friends don’t undress friends with their eyes.” 
“What about when you do it?” You ask. 
He lets a chuckle fall from his lips, lips that I suddenly want on mine. “Yeah, well, we’re more than that.” 
“Since when?” 
He groans. “Shut up.” Jake closes the space between you and ignites your entire world as his lips meet yours. 
a/n: thanks for reading! I’ve been playing around with the idea of writing for Top Gun and bit the bullet today! I hope you liked it! 
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seriouslyseresin · 6 months
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Twin Fire Signs
Summary: When the majority of your squad intentionally leaves you drunk and alone at a bar, you resign yourself to finding your own way home and dealing with your wounded pride in peace. But then your phone rings, the name of the last person you expected to be calling you on a Friday night flashing on your screen. You know you shouldn’t answer, but too much tequila has never led to great decisions. 
Pairing: Jake Seresin x Reader (no use of y/n)
Word Count: 5.2K
Warnings: language, drinking
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You were drunk. 
There wasn’t really any denying it now, just like there was no denying that you were alone without any of the people you came here with. It took a complete lap of the bar and waiting outside of the bathrooms for an eyebrow raising amount of time for you to accept it, but it was an inevitable conclusion now: your team, your squad, had ditched you. By the looks they had exchanged in the ready room in the tower, you were sure the invitation had only been extended as a courtesy and that none of them had expected you to actually say yes. Which was fair, because up until this point, you hadn’t. But you decided to accept on a whim, high off the adrenaline from the phenomenal flying you had just done, mixed with a lapse in judgment and a previous night of feeling particularly lonely. You had been off-brand craving social interaction. Now, you were regretting it and remembering why you preferred being alone. They had bought you a few shots, and all it took was a quick trip to the bathroom for you to come back and all of them be just…gone.
You never should have let your guard down. 
There was a reason you had declined nearly every invitation from them to go out for drinks, and it wasn’t because of your desperate need to keep work separate from your private life. You knew the people on your squad were assholes, and you knew they didn’t like you all that much. You were the lone Lieutenant Junior Grade amongst a squad of Lieutenants. On top of that, the first woman of said rank to not only make it there, but be handed the trophy at the end of Top Gun. 
You were good. Very good. You knew it, and so did the rest of the squad you had been assigned to when, following your win, you were transferred from Corpus Christi and stationed at Top Gun permanently two months ago. You had come in and blown them all out of the water, and none of them particularly liked it. 
You should have known that something like this would happen tonight. 
You tried not to let it bother you as you plopped down on a barstool. The bartender, an older man tattooed from his bald head to the tips of his fingers, slid a glass of water in front of you with a roll of his eyes. You gave what you hoped was an appreciative thank you and hiccuped as you took your first sip. After downing half the glass and a handful of bar pretzels, you fumbled with your phone, looking through several rideshare apps to see which one would get you the cheapest and quickest ride home so you could sulk in private. 
You were debating if the extra ten bucks for a ride that would show up five minutes quicker was worth it when your screen switched over to an incoming call. Your eyes widened in shock at the name staring up at you. 
Lieutenant Seresin
Oh no. Oh no. 
It was almost 10pm on a Friday night and Hangman was calling you. And you were drunk. He hadn’t come out with you all tonight, but that wasn’t uncommon. If you were an outcast in one regard, he was an outcast in another. Your squad wanted little to do with you, but they worshiped him. But instead of humoring them, he spent the majority of his time with the special squadron he was also assigned to, who were spread out amongst other teams on base. 
You didn’t think that he'd said two words to you that weren’t criticism or a challenge since that day. So why the hell was he calling you now?
You considered not answering and letting the call go to voicemail. You stared at the name for so long weighing your options that the screen darkened as the vibrations stopped. You heaved out a sigh of relief, only to squeak in surprise when the phone started vibrating again. 
You tried to take a deep breath when you answered, a slightly high pitched “Hello?” being offered. You winced when it was quickly followed by a hiccup, and then another.
“Are you drunk?” 
Fuck.
“Um. Yes.” 
You winced at your answer. Being blunt was one of your many character flaws, but you probably could have tried to have a little more tact, considering who you were talking to. 
“Are you still at Lumpys?” 
“Yes,” you answered automatically, but your brows furrowed as your alcohol soaked brain processed his words. “Wait. How did you know that?” 
“Are you okay?” he asked, completely ignoring your question. The bar was so loud around you that you had a bit of trouble hearing him, but that last tequila shot must have done you in, because you could hear annoyance, certainly, but you thought maybe you heard concern, too. You took a gulp of your water to try and clear your mind, because there was no way. 
You must have taken too long to respond because he snapped out your name, your first name, and you almost gasped at the sound of it. You don’t think he’s ever actually said your name before; the deep timber of his voice sent a shiver down your spine. 
Oh no. 
Now was not the time for your thoughts to run away from you into that territory. 
“I’m drunk,” you said dumbly. 
You could practically feel the pause on the other end before he let out a sigh of your call sign that sounded almost angry. 
“Are you safe?” he asked, since you hadn’t directly answered his question on being okay. You took in your surroundings with a long glance, your normal ability to clock everything delayed. 
Lumpys wasn’t the nicest place. You had never even heard of it before tonight. It was dark and loud and smokey despite the laws prohibiting it in California. It definitely wasn’t a military bar, that was for sure. You wondered for the first time why the rest of the squad had chosen this spot when the Hard Deck was so close to base, as well as two or three other bars that were frequented by uniforms not of the biker variety. You swallowed the lump that formed in your throat when you realized that maybe they had done that on purpose, because you were coming with them and they knew they wouldn’t stick around. From the end of the bar, the bartender glanced at the water in front of you to see if a refill was needed before rolling his eyes again and looking away as he cleaned glasses. 
“Well,” you drew out, pushing down the unwanted emotions suddenly hitting you. “I can’t decide if the bartender is a giant tattooed teddy bear or a gang enforcer. Could go either way, honestly.”
He cursed on the other end and you thought maybe you heard the sound of a vehicle starting. You weren’t really sure, thinking maybe the loudness of the bar was making you hear things, but then his next words affirmed it. 
“Don’t move. I’ll come get you.” 
Your eyes widened and you sat up straighter in the barstool you had been slumped over in. “Wait, what?” 
“I’m coming to get you.” 
“No, no, you don’t have to do that. I was about to get an Uber or something-” 
He said your first name again, and it set butterflies loose in your stomach that you tried desperately to catch and put back in the box they came from. His voice lowered into something gentle, a tone you hadn’t heard in weeks from the fellow aviator. “Just hang tight. I’ll be there in 20, maybe less.” 
You thought about arguing with him and insisting that that wasn’t necessary and you could make your way home just fine by yourself. Even if you were sober, you’d have been in charge of finding your own way home tonight. Quarterback had given you a ride from base after work, and you had assumed you’d be able to catch a ride back, too. But he was long gone with the rest of your squad. 
“I…okay,” you finally said, accepting your fate. 
He hung up without a goodbye, and you were sure if this was a regular phone call, you’d roll your eyes at how rude the gesture was. But all you could focus on at this point was the sound of your name in his voice and the fact that he was apparently coming to get you. 
You were fucked. 
You chugged your water, some of it spilling down your chin in the process. When you set the glass down it was with a little too much force right as the bartender walked by. You winced at the annoyed look he shot you. 
“Sorry,” you mumbled. He refilled your water with a glare and without a word, moving onto other customers before you could say anything else. You took another gulp of it with a grimace and then set your head in your hand, taking in a deep breath. 
Your team leader, Hangman, Jake, would be picking you up from the bar, because the rest of your squad had abandoned you after you had taken a few too many shots. 
The same one who you had more respect for than anyone else, who you’ve also maybe harbored a crush on since you came to Top Gun, and who had barely looked at you since you almost kissed four weeks ago.
Great. 
Lieutenant Jake “Hangman” Seresin was a legend in the small population of aviators in the US Navy. He was truly the 1% of the 1%. You tried to model a lot of your own career and techniques after him. It helped that you seemed to be similar on an instinctual level, and you had the same indifferent attitudes. Standoffish, as some would say. You both knew you were good, too good to be true in a lot of ways. You had earned the right to have the attitude. 
You had been thrilled to be assigned to the same squad as him. You were excited to learn as much as you could from him, to befriend him. And that’s what it had been, at first. The two of you flew together well, and it translated on the ground. He noticed the similarities too, and didn’t hesitate with sharing notes and advice with you. He was so passionate and intelligent about what he did, and that’s what drew you to him first. He knew what he was doing and wasn’t ashamed of it, and that had attracted you more than anything. His good looks certainly didn’t hurt, though. 
You had taken to spending time together between hops, and eventually, started talking about more than just flying. It turned out you had a lot in common outside of the Navy, too. He was so easy to talk to. But then almost a month ago, you had been alone in the rec room, talking about the previous night's Cowboys game, of all things, when he had suddenly stepped into your personal space. 
His eyes had been dark and intense, and you could feel the heat emanating from his body. The intoxicating combination of his cologne and the smell of jet fuel that you had started associating with him had been even more palpable that close together. You thought he was going to kiss you, to finally give into the tension you thought had been building, and you wanted him to. But then just as quickly as he stepped forward, he had pulled away, leaving you hanging and confused.
And you’ve been that way ever since.
After that moment, things had been different between you. He barely spared you a second glance when you were on the ground and criticized everything you did when you were in the cockpit. You had tried to speak with him, to understand what the fuck had happened, but Jake Seresin was just as good at evading on the ground as he was in the air. So you buried your feelings as deep as you could inside of yourself and tried to mark him off as just another asshole who wasn’t worth your time.
But damn if the alcohol and the way he said your name and sounded something like concerned didn’t have your heart racing and you questioning everything. 
A little over fifteen minutes and another glass of water later, a shiver ran through your body. You turned your head right as the door to the bar swung open, eyes meeting the unmistakable figure of the aviator occupying your mind. He wasn’t donning his usual khaki uniform or flight suit that you were used to seeing him in — snug jeans hugged his legs and a white shirt clung to his chest, and you realized it was the first time you’d seen him so casual. Your lips parted slightly as you watched him look around. He stood in the entrance, scanning the room with narrowed eyes and a clenched jaw. Your heart skipped a beat when his eyes finally locked onto you.
You raised your hand in a pitiful, unneeded wave, and in the dimly lit bar, you swore you saw some of the tension leave his shoulders. He started making his way through the crowd to you immediately. You watched him with wary, cautious eyes. 
“You alright?” he asked. His demeanor remained stoic, but those intense green eyes that you had admired for so long seemed to hold a blend of concern and something else you couldn't quite decipher. From this close up, you could see the way they flicked up and down your body as if assessing for himself your current state. 
“Yeah,” you said softly, feeling flushed under his scrutiny. “I’m fine.”
He gave a slight nod, his gaze lingering on you for a moment before he turned to the bar. Without a word, he pulled out his wallet and slipped his credit card from the leather. Your eyes widened. 
“Wait, Hangman, no.” 
You scrambled for your wallet in your tiny small crossbody bag, but before you could get the zipper opened, your self-appointed savior waved you off and handed his card to the approaching bartender. You watched in defeat as the card was swiped and handed back and his signature scrawled on the receipt all in what looked like one smooth motion. Why had you not thought to pay your tab before he had shown up? You were never going to live this down. 
“Finish your water and we’ll go,” he told you as he slipped his wallet back into his back pocket. 
“It’s my third glass since you called me. If I finish it I can’t be held responsible for your upholstery.”
You squeezed your eyes shut as soon as the words left your mouth. You rubbed at your temples with a groan, your face twisted into a disbelieving grimace. “Please tell me I didn’t just say that.”
To your surprise, Hangman let out a chuckle. Your eyes popped open in shock. His laughter was a rare occurrence in your presence these days, and the butterflies in your stomach fluttered wildly at the sound. Damnit.
"You did," he replied with a faint smirk, his stoic demeanor cracking just a bit. You groaned, and the blonde laughed again before he glanced around the bar, his expression settling back into something more serious. “Are you ready?” 
You slid off the barstool, feeling slightly unbalanced on your feet. When you stumbled, he reached out to steady you. You sucked in a breath. It was a simple touch, but it sent a jolt of electricity through your body. For a moment, the two of you just…stared. It was almost reminiscent of that day. But then a bottle broke from a few feet away, shattering the moment — whatever it was — right along with it. Hangman cleared his throat and dropped his hand back to his side. 
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get you home.” You thought maybe you saw the faintest hint of red creeping up on his neck before he turned away, and your mind struggled to rationalize it. 
Once you were outside, the cool night air hit you, and it was a welcome relief. You breathed in deeply as you followed behind him to where his large black truck was parked. You knew from one of your conversations before that he had boughten it last year when he was stationed in California after only ever leasing vehicles before. It was a way for him to establish roots now that he was given the opportunity to settle in one place. 
The lights flashed as he unlocked it, opening the passenger door and motioning for you to get in. You hesitated for a moment, wondering if this was really how your night was going. You chanced a glance at the man holding the door open and he raised an eyebrow, clearly wondering what the hold up was. You could have laughed at the irony. It took you a second to realize that you had. 
“What’s so funny?” he asked, and you felt the heat of embarrassment in your face. 
“Nothing,” you muttered, and you turned away before you could say or do anything else to make a fool out of yourself. 
The leather seats were comfortable when you clumsily climbed in, and the interior of the car was immaculate, crisp and clean just like you often thought he was. It didn’t surprise you a bit. Hangman settled into the driver's seat, and you couldn't help but steal glances at him as he started the engine. He handed you his phone to put your address in and as country music played quietly over the speakers, he put the truck in drive. 
You didn’t know what to say, and Hangman seemed content with the quiet. You watched him from the corner of your eye as he drove, the muscles in his arms flexing with every turn of the wheel. You couldn’t help but wonder what those arms would feel like around you, holding you against him. It was a dangerous thought, and you shook it off before it could take root.
You closed your eyes and leant your head back against the seat as you let the wind from the open windows cool your skin. The effects of the alcohol were slowly wearing off, leaving your mind clearer, but no less confused. Being in his presence like this was still throwing you for a loop. 
Why had he dropped everything and shown up for you tonight, after doing everything professionally possible to avoid you for the last month? Why had he ignored you to begin with? 
Why did you even care? 
Neither of you spoke the entire way, and all the questions in your head were like a stoking fire that was rapidly sparking by the time he turned into your apartment complex. Instead of dropping you off in front of your building, he pulled into one of the visitors spots and put the truck in park. He didn’t kill the engine, though, and you wondered if that meant something. 
For a moment, you both just sat there, staring straight ahead. You could feel the tension between you, slowly but surely simmering. You knew the smart thing to do would be to get out of the truck. Thank him for coming to get you and go inside, and then come Monday morning, go back to the same routine. You knew you were capable of it — you had mastered the art of indifference years ago.
“Think you’ll make it upstairs?” he asked, disrupting the silence. You frowned at his choice of words, feeling just the tiniest bit offended. You knew how it looked, being drunk and alone. But he was the one who took it upon himself to show up. He had no right to judge you. You couldn’t help the scoff you let out. 
“You didn’t have to come get me, you know. You didn’t have to call at all.” 
His eyes widened before they squeezed shut, and it was almost like he realized the tone of what he said. You shook your head with a sigh, suddenly so unbelievably tired. 
“Thanks for the ride,” you mumbled. You unbuckled your seatbelt and leant down to grab your purse from the floor. “I’ll see you on Monday.”
Hangman’s hand shot out and grabbed your wrist before you could open the door. You turned to look at him and found him staring at you intently, his green eyes dark and brooding.
“Wait,” he said, his voice urgent and rough. “I’m sorry.” 
“Are you?” 
He said your name in such a way that you knew nothing would follow it, the blonde at a loss for words for once in his life. 
"How did you know where I was?" you blurted out, the words escaping before you could censor them. But the question had been plaguing you since he called, so you didn’t backtrack. You felt like you had a right to know. 
You could see the tension in his jaw before he spoke. “Quarterback.”
You raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Quarterback told you where I was?”
“Yes.”
“Did he call you, or….?”
Hangman let out a long sigh, tilting his head back to rest against the seat. “The squad was at the Hard Deck like they normally are, being obnoxious —” 
“Like they normally are?” you couldn’t help but interrupt. He cracked a half smile, the faintest hint of amusement in his eyes as he dipped his chin in agreement. Your shared tolerance level for the other members of your squad was something you had discussed at length before. 
“Like they usually are. I asked them where you were, since you were the only one not there and I had heard you tell them yes earlier. He told me they left you at Lumpy’s. They thought it was funny.” 
You nodded slowly, processing the information. You’d be lying if you said it didn’t sting, just a little bit, that they went as far as going somewhere out of the ordinary just so they could leave you there and make you the punchline of a joke. You let your eyes close and sulked in the feeling for a brief moment. You didn’t need these people. You didn’t even particularly like them, outside of being in the air. But damn. You swallowed thickly and shook your head, as if to completely dislodge the feeling. You supposed them ditching you wasn’t necessarily surprising. You knew how they felt about you, just as they knew your opinions, too. What you were surprised about was that Hangman had bothered to ask about your whereabouts in the first place. It was almost like he cared. Almost.
“So why’d you come?” you asked, still trying to understand. “I could have gotten an Uber.” 
For a long moment, he just stared, and you looked right back. His expression was hard to decipher. The streetlights outside cast shifting patterns of light and shadow across his face, and you felt like he was seeing right through you. Still, he said nothing. The silence stretched on, tension growing thick in the air. You couldn’t stand it. 
You were about to ask him again, to demand an answer, when he finally spoke. His voice was low and measured, a hint of anger looping through the words, and you shivered at the tone of it. 
“They had no right to leave you there like that. I couldn’t — I had to know you were okay.” 
You stared at him, feeling something deep and aching stir inside you. You didn't know what to say, didn't know how to react.  Everything was suddenly so much more complicated than it had been before.
“Jake…” you whispered, and you don’t know if it was the way you used his first name over his callsign or if he was just finally ready to get it off of his chest, but it was like the single syllable finally cracked the floodgates open. 
“I was seeing somebody,” he said. You sucked in a deep breath at the words, a soft “oh” falling from your lips. He continued on before you could think to say anything else. “For a while. Almost a year. She’s exactly what I always pictured I wanted, you know? She travels a lot, but we were figuring it out. But we were serious.” 
A beat passed, and you cleared your throat in the silence of the truck. You almost felt awkward when you asked, “Were?” 
He nodded, clenching his jaw, before laughing in a way that sounded more self-deprecating than you had ever heard from him. “I’m a lot of things, darlin. But I’m not a cheater, physical or otherwise. It wouldn’t have been so easy for me to catch feelings for someone else if she and I were meant to be together. And the way I had started to feel…” 
He cut himself off with a shake of his head, gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles turned ghostly white. You processed the words slowly, mulling over them over and over again as you tried to figure out the implications behind them. 
“About me?” you dared yourself to ask, your heart beating hard in your chest and damn near holding your breath after you did. 
He met your gaze head on, his green eyes blazing with an intensity that made your breath catch in your throat. “Yeah,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “About you. I think I’ve been feeling this way for a while now, but it wasn’t until that day in the ready room that I realized I couldn’t keep denying it anymore. I care about you more than I should.”
The weight of his words was heavy, and you felt a flush start to creep up your neck. It was like all the air had been sucked out of the truck, leaving the two of you suspended in a moment that felt both infinite and fleeting. You didn't know what to say, didn't even know exactly what you were feeling right now. You never thought he would feel the same way that you did, to the point where he had apparently broken up with a girlfriend you had no idea about. But then he hadn’t said anything, hadn’t acted. 
You had no idea what any of this meant. 
You opened your mouth to speak, to ask him, but before you could get a word out, he leaned in and pressed his lips to yours. You gasped against his mouth, but his lips were warm and firm and you couldn’t help the way you relaxed into it. It wasn’t more than a press of your lips together, neither of you moving to deepen it, but it left you dizzy like it was the most intense kiss of your life. 
When you pulled back, you were both breathing heavier, your foreheads pressed together. 
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, voice thick with something that felt emotional. “I shouldn't have...not yet. But I had to know what it felt like.” 
You swallowed, focusing on one word.“Yet?” 
Hangman, Jake, nodded, and the silence stretched on for a long moment. You were still reeling from his kiss, the emotion, your own confusion over your feelings and what it all might mean. Then he sighed, loud and deep. From this close, you could smell the peppermint from the gum he always chewed on his breath. He pulled away so he could look into your eyes and cupped your cheek. The smile he gave you was tinged with sadness and longing, and the strangest mix of hope. You knew before he said anything that nothing would be happening tonight. 
“I’m not…I’m not ready yet,” he said softly. Even though you knew something of the sort was coming, there was a flash of disappointment. He must have read it on your face, because he was quick to try and reassure you. “It’s not you. It’s just…I just ended it with her. And I’m still confused as hell over what I feel for you. I think you both deserve more than me rushing into something without figuring that out. Please understand.” 
You nodded, even though you weren't entirely sure if you did. You wanted him, that much was clear. But you also didn't want to be someone's rebound. You wanted something real, something meaningful. And you were willing to wait for that. You just hoped he was too. 
“Okay," you whispered, taking a deep breath. "I understand.” 
He smiled at you again, a small, sad curve of his lips, before leaning in to press his forehead against yours. "Thank you," he murmured, his breath ghosting over your lips. "You're amazing, you know that?"
You wanted him to kiss you again. You ached for it, almost. But you knew if you closed the distance that you’d be going back on everything he had just asked for and the understanding you had promised him you had. So instead, you swallowed thickly and pulled away from him all together. He seemed to understand the distance you were creating and released another deep breath, clearing his throat. 
"Thank you," you said, your voice barely above a whisper. "For coming to get me." 
He nodded, and the two of you fell into silence again. There was something in his eyes that made you think he wasn't done yet. "Can I walk you up to your door?" he asked, his voice laced with a hint of desperation. 
You hesitated for a moment, unsure if it was a good idea. But at the same time, you didn't want this moment to end, either, even if it was just a few more minutes. "Sure," you finally said. 
The two of you got out of the truck and made your way up to your apartment, the silence between you heavy. He was walking so close that you could feel the body heat radiating from him, and you were starting to feel hot all over. When you reached your door, you turned to face him, unsure of what to say. You drew your bottom lip between your teeth as you stared. 
"Thank you again," you said softly.
He nodded, his eyes searching yours for a moment before he let out a deep breath. "Of course,” he said, before leaning in to press a soft kiss to your forehead. Your skin tingled when he pulled away. “I'll see you Monday?" he asked, his voice uncertain. 
You nodded. "Yeah, I'll see you then." 
He stepped away, staring for just a moment longer before he whispered out a goodnight and turned and walked back down the hallway. You watched him go, a strange mix of emotions swirling inside of you. You didn't know what was going to happen between the two of you, but you thought maybe you were ready to find out. You turned to your door and pulled out your keys, taking a deep breath before unlocking it and stepping inside. 
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Main Masterlist
Notes: More of The Blonde One™️needed to be added to my masterlist. I hope you enjoyed whatever this was lol. Likes/comments/reblogs are the best encouragement!
Thanks to @roosterforme @mak-32 @thedroneranger for the help! And to Mak for the prettiest banner that finally gets to see the light of day😍
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seriouslyseresin · 6 months
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the authors note of all time
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seriouslyseresin · 6 months
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sunshine / jake 'hangman' seresin x reader
heyooo !!! the fic I've been teasing for the past few days is finally here ! I don't know that I'm fully happy with it but I've invested a minimum of 25 hours into this and I had to metaphorically put the pen down at some point. I hope you enjoy, as always please please please let me know what you think!
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sunshine / jake 'hangman' seresin x reader
add yourself to my taglist
feel free to buy me a kofi if you like my work!
based on this request! here is your fic @gryffindormarveltwilight :)
word count: 14k (estimated read time: 60 minutes)
warnings: language, drinking, some suggestive humor, brief rooster x reader/allusions to rooster x reader, navy inaccuracies, terrible descriptions of flying a fighter jet pls forgive me
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Sitting in your superiors' stuffy office underneath dim fluorescent lighting the only thing you could think of was that your best friend was right. A point that you didn’t want to admit to anyone, let alone her… but that was also a lie, the biggest thought dominating your headspace was her brother. Jacob Seresin. She’d told you a thousand times over to get ahead of it, that you couldn’t keep this secret forever and to just come clean to him and your family but you’d dug your heels in, insisted this was the right way to go about things, and god did you hate eating your words. She was fucking right. 
You were reminded of Thanksgiving two years ago, one of the events in a long list of near-misses where your secret almost came to light.
“Sunshine, your phone keeps ringing, do you want me to get it?” Jake asked from across the couch. You were fully immersed in your novel with your legs stretched out and resting against his, you hadn’t even noticed your phone… or anything else for that matter outside of the world you were holding in your palms.
“Just silence it,” you said as you flipped the page.
“Wait a minute,” he said and the shift in his tone pulled your attention to him. He was staring at your phone screen in shock… or was that confusion? “How the fuck do you know Rooster?” he asked and your blood ran cold.
“What?” you asked and he flipped the screen around to reveal Rooster’s contact photo. You thanked your previous self for cropping yourself out of it because this was going to be hard enough to explain without the addition of you in your khakis. “Oh,” you chuckled, hoping to just brush it off entirely as you sat up. “You know, I kind of forgot he was a pilot, too. I met him a few months ago when I went to San Diego for that convention.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me you happened to meet another naval aviator?”
You shrugged, “I didn’t think you knew him.” You knew he did. “We met in a bar and hit it off, we’ve kept in contact since.” 
“Are you like… a thing?” he asked, disgust evident in his tone. 
You laughed, “no, you know… it is possible to meet someone in a bar and not immediately jump their bones.” you said, trying to deflect this conversation in its entirety. 
“Nope, you’re not flipping this around on me.” Damn it. “I find it awfully suspicious this is the first I’m hearing of Rooster… by accident no less.”
You sighed, “fine, you caught me. I’m secretly a naval aviator too and Rooster was my wingman on a mission in Eastern Europe,” you said, and you didn’t try to sound innocent or sarcastic, just the right amount of indifference for him to not believe you.
He chuckled, “yeah of course you are, and I’m not an aviator, I’m actually a fucking astronaut.”  He added an eye roll for dramatic effect. “At least make your lies believable, sunshine, you know you’d never even make it to basic because I’d have killed you before then.”
You let out a laugh but there was no humor in it, “you’re right… me being in the Navy is definitely far fetched.”
“Top Gun, sir?” you questioned, trying to focus your thoughts on the present and he nodded… not even fully looking at you as he sorted through paperwork on his desk.
“Despite your insistence on keeping your achievements quiet, you’ve caught the attention of a lot of people. Mission is need to know, and apparently I don’t make the cut,” there was a bitter taste on his tongue as he spoke the words. “All I know is the best of the best from every aviation squad are headed west.”
“Yes, sir. When do I leave?” 
“You’re on a plane in six hours. Go home, pack, get your affairs in order. You report for duty at 08:00 tomorrow.”  Six hours. 
“They think I’m a research assistant to a fucking archeologist, Sadie! I mean, how stupid could I possibly be!” Your voice was shrill as you shouted in the general vicinity of your phone perched atop your dresser as you threw things into a duffel bag. You weren’t even concerned with what you were packing, you were more concerned with the fact that the single thread holding your intricate web of lies together was unraveling right in front of you. “You were right the other day when you said he already knows, he just… doesn’t know it’s me. I’ve heard of the infamous Hangman, there’s no way he hasn’t heard of Viper.”
“Just take a deep breath, I mean… I won’t say I told you so, even though I totally told you so.” Good thing she won’t gloat. “What’s the worst that can happen? He’ll be shocked, he might yell at you, he might rat you out to our parents but, maybe that’s for the best.”
“Maybe it’s for the best that everyone finds out I’ve been lying to them about what I do for a living for eight years?” you nearly shrieked as you rooted through your drawers for your one good swimsuit.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to stop taking online archeology courses on the off chance people ask you for specifics? Which… no one ever has because you picked a boring fake job to have, or wouldn’t it be nice to actually be able to tell your parents about your job, your achievements? Did I tell you that Jake actually mentioned Viper to me? Said something about some elusive hotshot pilot very few people have ever actually seen but their exploits have been heard everywhere.”
“Sadie, I called you because you’re supposed to be helping,” you groaned.
“Am I not?” she asked, genuinely sounding innocent and you just glared at the phone… and though she couldn’t see it, she definitely felt it all the way back home in Texas. “You know, you never actually told me how you got Viper as a call sign-”
 “You know what, I have to go.” you said abruptly, cutting her off.
“What are you-” you didn’t bother listening to the rest of the sentence as you hung up and quickly dialed a number you hadn’t in months.
“Hey sunshine,” Jake’s voice rang throughout your room and normally the pet name bestowed on you from a very young age, meant to be ironic considering you’ve never had a sunny disposition, would have been comforting but now it just made you feel sick. “What are you up to?”
“Hey you,” you breathed out. “I just got off the phone with Sadie and I figured I’d give my favorite Seresin a call,” you joked and his laughter on the other end did nothing to ease your nausea. 
“I’ll be sure to tell her you said so. Where are you calling from this time?” he asked and you thought there might be a winch in your chest, each sound from his end of the phone cranking it tighter and tighter.
“Uh, I’m actually stateside for a bit… lab work,” you lied. “What about you, jetsetter? Where’s the Navy got you now?” You were fishing.
“Also stateside, at least for now. Your timing is actually impeccable, I’m packing for a last-minute detachment and you were always better at that than me.” He was referencing all the times you’d wander up into his room just minutes before leaving for one of your shared family vacations, finding him standing in front of his closet with a blank look on his face and an empty suitcase on the bed, leaving you to do it all for him.
You chuckled nervously, “after all this time you still can’t pack a bag without my input?”
“Well, you’ve never forced me to figure it out for myself and the times I’ve had to go without I ended up with all the wrong things.”
“I’m pretty sure this is weaponized incompetence. Where are you headed?” You already knew the answer, but there was a small flicker of hope burning within you. 
“San Diego, all I know is I’ve been recalled to Top Gun.” he answered and you felt your heart drop into your stomach.
“Well,” you started, clearing your throat, “definitely some shorts and t-shirts, maybe a few of those ridiculously tight short-sleeve button-ups you always insist on buying… but none of the bright colored ones, they’re awful.” you said and he laughed. “Throw in those green swim trunks if you plan on heckling any innocent women simply trying to enjoy some sun and surf.”
“Heckling innocent women, how do you know I’m not the one being heckled?”
You laughed, “because I know you, you’ve been a heartbreaker since age ten.”
“I prefer the term rolling stone,” he protested and you laughed again.
“I’m sure you do Mr. Rock n Roll but that is not the perception. Your mother worries.”
“Did she call you again?” he asked, voice going up an octave.
“Oh yes, she asked me if we crossed paths in Bosnia… because, of course we would have while I was in Bahrain, said I needed to talk some sense into you.”
“When were you in Bahrain?” he asked and you internally groaned. You’d said too much. But then again, as you looked at the clock it didn’t really matter how much you said. You could say hey Jake, by the way… I’ve been in the Navy all this time, I’ll see you soon! and it wouldn’t make a damn difference.
“Uh, you know… just a few months ago.”
“Huh, I almost went there a few months ago,” he said and you could hear the contemplation in his tone.
“Small world,” you said breathlessly. “Shoot, urgent text from the lab… I’ve gotta head in, call me when you get settled in San Diego?”
“I will, when this deployment is over I was actually going to try and get some leave… come visit you if you’re still stateside, if that’s alright?”
“Of course it is, I’ll talk to you later.” You fell backwards onto your bed with a huff as you disconnected the call, “son of a bitch.”
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The red neon sign above the Hard Deck used to be a comforting image, a port in the storm, light illuminating a pathway towards a night of blowing off steam but right now it felt more like the flicker was mocking you, laughing as you prepared to walk through those doors and undo years of lying and manipulating those closest to you. You knew he’d be there. You were. There was nowhere else for aviators to go when arriving in town. Well… nowhere else aviators would go.
“Oh dear god,” you mumbled to yourself, keeping your head low as you waited for your beer. You saw Phoenix strutting across the bar with Fanboy and Payback in tow and the voice that rang out from the pool table made your blood run cold. Of course he was already here.
“What do we have here? If it ain’t Phoenix,” he said, fixing her with that famous smirk as he stood upright. “And here I thought we were special, Coyote. Turns out, the invite went to anyone.”
“Fellas, this here’s Bagman,” she introduced as you carefully approached, mindful of where you were positioning yourself as you started to slide back into your work persona.
“Hangman,” he corrected.
“Whatever.” she dismissed. “You’re looking at the one of only two naval aviators on active duty with confirmed air-to-air kills.”
“Stop,” he said, and you couldn’t help but chuckle and the faux-display of modesty. Always a showboater.
“Mind you, the other guy was in a museum piece from the Korean war.” she smirked, you’d been deployed with her a few times and you always found her ability to outpace the men refreshing and oh-so-needed in the Navy. 
“Cold war,” Coyote corrected.
“Different wars, same century.” Payback said.
“Not this one,” Fanboy added.
“Who are your friends?” Coyote asked, gesturing to the two of them as they introduced themselves. “And I’m assuming this other aviator with a confirmed air-to-air kill will be gracing us with his presence tonight?”
“Her presence,” Phoenix said, narrowing her eyes as she corrected his assumption. “Call sign’s Viper, if you two made the cut then she definitely did.” 
“Ah, Viper.” Jake chimed in and you felt your ears burn as you watched him from your spot behind a beam. The way your name fell from his lips in such a condescending way made your eyes narrow. “You know, I’ve heard an awful lot about this Viper but… I’ve never laid eyes on her. Pretty sure she’s just a myth, what do you think, Coyote?” he asked and his friend nodded his head.
“You just can’t stand that the person holding you in a draw is a woman.” Phoenix quipped and you couldn’t help but smile.
“No one’s holding me in anything, darlin’, but I can’t say I’m not excited to finally meet this elusive pilot… set the record straight on who’s number one.”
“Oh Jakey,” you tutted, finally emerging from your spot behind the beam as you approached the table and you ignored the way he was physically caught off guard, quickly standing from his perch on the pool table. “I wouldn’t hold your breath because it sure as shit ain’t you.” You looked him up and down once for good measure. “Bagman, and Hyena, was it? Names Viper, pleasure to meet you.” You held your hand out for Coyote with a smirk rivaling Jake’s. For all the fear you had about your secret coming to light you knew you had to come in strong, if you showed up with your tail between your legs like your old teenage self, scared of Hangman’s wrath you’d never get out from under it during training.
“So, you’re not a myth,” Coyote responded, shaking your hand but you weren’t looking at him… you were looking at Jake who’s eyes seemed like they were about to bug out of his head as they scanned you, clad in a matching khaki uniform. 
“No, but she is a legend,” Fanboy piped in and you chuckled at the reinforcements.
“Hey V, knew you’d turn up sooner or later,” she said as she pulled you in for a quick hug and you reached out to squeeze both Payback and Fanboy’s shoulders in greeting. “And who’s this?” Phoenix asked, not picking up on the tension rising between you and Jake as her eyes glanced at the man sitting in standard-issue glasses to your left.
“Who’s who?” Coyote asked, not noticing he was there at all. She looked directly at him as he brushed peanuts off his lap. “When did you get in?”
“Oh, I- I’ve been here the whole time.” he answered with a cute smile on his face and you couldn’t help but chuckle at his earnestness. 
“Man’s a stealth pilot,” Jake finally chipped in, seemingly recovering from your shocking arrival but his eyes still held a lot of questions you knew you’d be hearing later. 
“Literally.” Coyote added.
“Weapons Systems Officer, actually,” the man corrected.
“With no sense of humor,” Jake sighed and you narrowed your eyes at him as he passed the pool cue to Phoenix before he made his way to the bar and you took the opportunity to slip away and follow him.
“Penny, my dear,” he started, leaning against the bartop. “I’ll have four more on the old timer.” he said, eyes darting to Maverick and you knew he’d regret saying that later. Everyone else might have been alarmingly slow at connecting the dots but you knew his presence here wasn’t a coincidence. As far as you knew he was supposed to be in Arizona acting as a test pilot.
“Unprepared for an ambush?” you asked and he sighed, you watched as his bicep flexed when he gripped the edge of the bar.
“You could say that,” he replied dryly.
“Doesn’t sound like the Hangman I’ve heard of… always so prepared for everything,” you shot back and he turned to look at you, expression steeled.
“Well, deception sounds exactly like the Viper I’ve heard of.” You couldn’t be surprised, verbal volleyball with him was always your forte and this time he had genuine cause to be upset. “What the hell are you doing here?” There it was.
“Recalled, same as you.” you answered, as if it was really that simple.
“In the Navy,” he clarified. “You didn’t think to mention this when we were on the phone four hours ago? Or better yet, when you joined?”
“Thought this would be better face to face.”
“What, were you calling just to get information from me?”
“I like being prepared, wanted to know what I was walking into.” you replied, keeping your features calm as you looked up at him.
“And you couldn’t have prepared me for seeing my little sister’s best friend in front of all my colleagues?”
“Your colleagues? Thought I was a little more than that,” you responded, focusing your attention forward and subtly nodding to Maverick who was sitting across the bar in lieu of a proper greeting. “You’re a professional, Hangman, I think you handled it well.”
“Like how well you’ve handled lying to your entire family? How was that dig in Bahrain, by the way?”
“Needed to come up with something to account for all the traveling and lack of contact,” you answered, cutting through to the question beneath the question.
“And where do they think you’re off to now?” he asked as Penny set the beers in front of you. “You know, just in case I need to cover your ass.”
“Croatia. Called them before I called you and Sadie.”
“Sadie knows?” he asked, shaking his head in disbelief. “Why the hell did you keep this from everyone?”
“Are you forgetting the chaos that ensued when you told everyone your plans after high school?” you asked. “Besides, I did tell you in no uncertain terms, you just turned it into a joke.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Thanksgiving a few years ago? When Rooster called?” you prompted and you watched his face fall. 
“Oh my god,” he muttered. 
“Yeah, I knew you wouldn’t believe me which is why I said it to get you off my back… and what you said about killing me before I even made it to basic just proves my reasoning was right to not tell anyone.”
“Wait, so Rooster really was your wingman on a mission?”
“Several.” you answered.
“I don’t understand, I first heard of Viper six years ago. How have we never crossed paths?”
“I asked to keep my accomplishments on the downlow, they thought it was modesty but really I didn’t want you finding out through a Navy newsletter. Truthfully, I don’t know how we haven’t been on detachments sooner, that was just dumb luck.”
“Dumb luck,” he scoffed, looking you over once more. “God dammit. I am happy to see you,” he finally conceded and you let out a laugh.
“Really? I’m not convinced,” you replied as he pulled you in for a tight hug.
“Meant what I said too,” he started, picking up two of the beers and nodding for you to grab the others. “I do intend on winning this tie between us.”
You laughed again, “good luck with that, bud.” you shot back as you walked back to the pool table. You were aware of the questioning eyes but you had no intention of filling anyone in at the moment.
“Bradshaw, as I live and breathe,”Jake said, swiping Bob’s pool cue as you gave Rooster a one-arm hug.
“Hangman, you look… good,” Rooster responded, apprehension clear in his voice and you shared a look with Phoenix.
“Well, I am good, Rooster.” he replied, lining up and taking his shot. “I’m very good, in fact, I am too good to be true.” You rolled your eyes as you watched Phoenix give Rooster an exasperated look.
“So,” Payback interjected, “anyone know what this special detachment is all about?”
“No, a mission’s a mission, that don’t confront me.” You watched in amusement as he made his way around the pool table, oozing arrogance. You’d heard the stories of the cocky pilot but seeing it before you, in stark contradiction to the Jake you grew up with, was jarring to say the least. “What I want to know: who’s gonna be team leader? And which one of y’all has what it takes to follow me?”
“Hangman, the only place you’ll lead anyone is an early grave.” Rooster replied and you watched Jake continue his path with an overwhelming urge to smack the smirk off of his face. If you wanted to, you knew you were the only person here who could get away with it.
“Well, anyone who follows you is just gonna run out of fuel.” Jake shot back, “But that’s just you ain’t it, Rooster? You’re snug on that perch waiting for just the right moment… that’s never gonna come.” He finished, stepping closer. “I love this song,” he added before walking away.
“Well, he hasn’t changed.” Phoenix sighed.
“Nope, sure hasn’t.” Rooster agreed and you chuckled.
“If only you knew how untrue that was,” you said, eyebrows raised as you looked after him, a man almost completely unrecognizable to you now. You were almost impressed that he was able to suppress this new side of himself when he went back home just as easily as you did.
“Thought you were in Bahrain,” Rooster commented and you spared him a quick glance.
“Thought you were in Japan,” you replied simply.
“Looks like your intel is outdated,” he said and you finally looked over to him with a smirk.
“Same goes for you.” You nudged his shoulder with yours, “good to see you, Roo.”
“Does anyone here have a normal relationship with one another?” Coyote asked, watching as Rooster disappeared and as you went to steal some of Bob’s peanuts. 
“This is like a dysfunctional summer camp reunion, Coyote. When have we all been in the same room at the same time?” Phoenix answered.
“Any thoughts as to how this is going to play out?” Jake asked, sidling up beside you as you ordered another beer and you didn’t even look in his direction as you watched Penny mix a drink for someone.
“Thought it was just a mission… none of the details confront you,” you responded and he didn’t miss the air of mockery in your tone.
“I meant between us,” he clarified and you glanced at him out of the corner of your eye.
“Thought we were just colleagues.”
He shot you an unamused look, “are you really going to be like that?” he asked and you shrugged.
“Matching your energy, Hangman. Have to say, I was hoping the rumors were false.”
“Oh yeah? And what rumors are those, Viper?”
“The rumors that you’re an arrogant asshole. Imagine my surprise to find the Jake I know nowhere in sight.”
“Well, imagine my surprise to find out the girl who used to steal my sweatshirts and whine if I didn’t cut the crust off her sandwiches in the Navy with a reputation of being a calculated bitch.”
“I’m a woman in the Navy, what’s your excuse?” you fired back and he nodded his head appreciatively as if to say touche.
He sighed, “I just mean… we have history, how do you want to go about that?”
“Pretty sure everyone here has some form of history with each other, I don’t see why we need to go about it any particular way.” you shrugged and he narrowed his eyes at you.
“Why do I get the feeling this is going to be a long detachment?”
“Probably because you’re right.”
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“I just don’t understand why you can’t be a team player. You’re taking this whole Hangman thing too far,” you snapped from your side of the booth. “I’m sick of doing push ups because of you.”
“Ever considered it’s just because you’re the one that’s failing?” Jake asked with a smirk.
“No, it’s just because you’re a shitty wingman, always have been.”
“Now what is that supposed to mean?”
You laughed dryly, “Christmas? Two years ago? You had one job, be a decent wingman. You can’t do it on the ground and you certainly can’t do it in the air.”
“Hold up. Christmas two years ago? What do you mean?” Phoenix asked, having
overheard your latest round of ripping into Jake as she was walking by and you let out a sigh.
“Bagman and I grew up together,” you finally came clean and you gave her an exasperated look as she did a terrible job at masking her shock.
“Wait, like grew up grew up together? As kids?”
“My best friend is his sister,” you explained as briefly as you could. “Well, that makes a hell of a lot more sense than my theory,” she said and you furrowed
your brows.
“What was your theory?” you and Jake asked at the same time.
“I thought you two had slept together on a deployment,” she shrugged and you blinked in surprise. You looked at Jake and waited for him to respond because you were at a loss for words at the implication.
“Your quickness to assume I’ve slept with every woman I’ve come into contact with is frankly insulting,” he said and you bit back a laugh.
“But not entirely untrue,” you muttered.
“Please tell me you have embarrassing stories about him,” Phoenix pleaded and you let out a full laugh now.
“Oh, I definitely do.”
“That will remain in the vault because unless you’re forgetting, I have stories too.” Jake chimed in and you rolled your eyes.
“Hold on, I’ve been deployed with both of you, and mentioned both of you to each other, how is this the first I’m hearing of this?” she asked and you noticed the way almost everyone was not subtly listening in.
“Our families didn’t have the warmest reaction to him joining the Navy, let alone to be a fighter pilot… so I just kept it to myself when I did. Jake didn’t know until last week,” you answered.
She shot him a weird look, “I always forget you have a real name… makes you too human,” she muttered before slipping away and you chuckled. 
“Cat’s outta the bag now,” he said, eyeing you over the rim of his glass as he took a drink and you didn’t miss the way his pupils dilated as Rooster came into his field of vision.
“Buy you a refill?” he asked you and you nodded, allowing him to pull you up and lead you to the bar. “So, you and Hangman have history?” You realized he must have only caught a piece of your previous conversation.
“Mmhm,” you confirmed, “Seems everyone has history with him, including you.” you said as the two of you sat down on the bar stools.
“Nothing beyond the obvious.”
“And what’s the obvious?” you asked and he smirked, sliding a fresh beer towards you.
“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” he said and you raised your eyebrows at him before he chuckled. “Thought it’d be good to catch up… haven’t heard from you since our last mission.”
“And whose fault is that?” you shot back, with Rooster it was always about what was unsaid. On the surface you weren’t even sure this would be considered a conversation, too much back and forth with not enough shared in each passing remark.
“You know how it is,” he shrugged and you nodded.
“How was Japan?”
“How was Bahrain?” You stared him down before cracking, a smile spreading across your face as you laughed.
“You know I can’t tell you.”
“You know I can keep a secret. Besides, what are friends for?”
“Oh, are we friends now?” you countered, amusement clear in your tone.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize we weren’t.” he shot back.
“Our last communication was you sending me a photo of bird shit on your canopy with a series of emojis that I’m honestly still unsure the meaning of.”
“That’s peak friendship,” he laughed. “What is the story with you and Hangman and why was I not allowed to tell him we knew each other?”
“He’s my best friend’s brother,” you said and realization passed over his features. “He’s a little… protective, and I knew he wouldn’t respond well to me being in the Navy.”
“Ah, well that explains why he looks like he wants to kill me everytime I get close to you,” he said and you looked over your shoulder to find him glaring in your general direction and you let out a laugh.
“That’s just his face when it comes to you.”
“No, pretty sure it’s more than that,” he replied and you raised an eyebrow at him as if to say elaborate. He reached down to grab your stool and yanked you closer, forcing your legs to slide in between his and smirked as he brushed a strand of hair behind your ear while you just looked at him with wide eyes. “I give it five minutes, tops.”
“Five minutes for what?” you asked, coming out a little more breathless than you were hoping for.
“The way he looks at you is far more intense than just being his sister’s best friend… I’m just testing my theory,” he said, voice low with how close the two of you were.
“And what do you think these test results will yield?”
“I think he’s going to stew over there for a moment,” he said leaning closer as he looked over your shoulder and nodded slightly, “just like he’s doing right now… and then when I make any sort of indication of taking this further he’s going to come pull you right out of this chair and drag you off.” 
“Hmm,” you hummed, deciding to lean into it if only for the fact that your life was so hectic you had no time for attention like this… even if it was for show, and you let your fingers absentmindedly drag along his forearm. “And how are you going to indicate taking this further?” you asked, your eyes almost daring him.
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” he teased, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips as his fingers trailed along your thigh.
You gave a half-hearted shrug, “contrary to popular belief, I’m not immune to a little flirting… real or not.”
He frowned slightly, “I know you’re not immune or are you purposefully forgetting our first mission?”
“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about,” you replied and now it was your turn to smirk. You saw something in his expression shift, like he was accepting the challenge you’d just given him.
“Do I need to remind you?” he asked, inching closer and your breath hitched when his hand rested on your neck. “Because I remember it quite vividly,” he whispered in your ear and you couldn’t help the shiver that raced up your spine. 
“I think it’s coming back to me now,” you said as he pulled back to look at you and he chuckled.
“Incoming.” you furrowed your brows at him as he leaned away but before you could ask him what he meant you felt a strong hand wrap around your arm and yank you upwards and suddenly you found yourself being pulled across the bar and one glance back to Rooster only revealed a smug look that said I told you so. And he did.
“Get off of me!” you yelled as you pushed Jake’s hand off you, crossing your arms over your chest as you glared up at him and squinted your eyes to shield from the sun setting over the beach… now just a handful of yards away in your new location. “What the hell is your problem?”
“I could ask you the same thing.” You just gestured for him to explain. “Rooster? Really?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Please tell me you’re not that dense,” he said and you could see the disappointment in his features but what you couldn’t figure out was why. You just shook your head and threw your arms out in exasperation and he sighed. “Do you really think flirting with Rooster is a good idea?”
You let out an indignant laugh, “you think that was flirting?”
“Okay, I know you’re not that dense.” 
“I know this has been difficult for you to wrap your head around but I have friendships on this squad outside of you that have been in existence for years. Whatever you think you saw was me catching up with an old friend.”
He scoffed, “and he just had to have his hands on your neck and thigh while doing so?”
“And so what if he did? I’m failing to see where this is any of your business and why it gave you the right to physically remove me from my conversation.”
“Figured I’d save you from making a mistake because it’s never a good idea to get involved with someone on your squad… especially on a mission as hard as this one.”
“You would know wouldn’t you?” you countered. “Speaking from personal experience?”
“Don’t do that, you always find a way to turn it around on me.”
“Maybe because you’re always the one in the wrong!” you shouted. “I know that me being here is weird for you, and I know it’s been an adjustment having me in the air with you but that does not give you the right to act like you have for the past eight years. I am not your kid sister’s best friend anymore, I am not a teenager that needs you to bail her out when guys get handsy.”
“Well, you’re definitely acting like a teenager who needs me to bail her out before she makes a mistake that could follow her around for the rest of her career.”
“You are the one acting like a teenager right now! In case you haven’t noticed because you’ve been too busy strutting around like you’re god’s fucking gift to us all, I’ve built an incredible career for myself, and I’m pretty damn good at what I do… I have to be, right? Because I landed myself here with you. Or do you think that was just a fluke? The only reason this is new to you is because I diminished myself to hide from you because I knew you couldn’t deal with the fact that I can handle my own shit now.”
“You think lying to everyone is handling your shit? You hid because you were too much of a coward to own up to it.”
You let out a bitter laugh, “I lied to everyone because they worry. Your mother cries every day you’re on deployment. Your sister calls me twice as much. Your dad goes to church twice a week. My parents check their phones every hour waiting to see if yours sent them any kind of update. It’s easier for everyone if they believe my traveling and being out of service range is because I’m safe and sound, digging up old relics. I lied because I knew you would act like this and I lied because giving our families some peace of mind was worth more to me than getting credit for everything I’ve accomplished.”
He was silent for a moment as he processed what you’d said, and he took a step back as silence permeated the outdoor patio. “I don’t think it was just a fluke,” he finally said and you let out a sharp exhale.
“Well, obviously it wasn’t, I’m a much better pilot than you.” you joked and he gave you a deadpan look. “Every time you snap at me in the air, or dismiss me in the training room, or conveniently occupy yourself elsewhere when my previous missions become the center of focus, you're only reinforcing the reasons I kept this from you. I didn’t want to. Of course I wanted to tell you of all people, I just… didn’t want to feel like I used to when we were growing up. Like the little kid you got stuck with.”
He sighed, “well, now I feel like a jackass.”
You shrugged, “well… you kind of are a jackass.”
“You’re not the little kid I got stuck with, sunshine. I just-”
“I get it,” you cut him off. You wanted this conversation to end before it got too deep, and you could tell by the look in his eyes you were about to jump headfirst into a conversation neither of you were ready for. “Come on, buy me a beer to make up for what a jackass you were.” 
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You were on your third run through of the mission today, probably the dozenth this week and each time something went wrong, or you weren’t fast enough, or nothing went wrong and you were fast enough but you missed the target. Between this and Maverick’s constant reminders of just how impossible this mission was, you were finding it hard to push through the noise and focus on your objectives… something that had never been an issue for you in the past. You’d made a career off of keeping your head down and doing what was expected of you no matter how difficult it was but this? Each time you stepped into the cockpit you couldn’t help but think you were training for your death.
“Talk to me, Bob,” Phoenix said as you flew above the dry terrain. You could feel the clock running out, both on this run through and your mission training in general.
“We are twelve seconds late on target, we gotta move! We gotta move,” Bob replied.
“Copy, try to stay with me,” you said as you increased your speed.
“Wait, who’s that?” Bob asked and you cocked your head slightly, waiting for further information.
“Blue team, you’ve been spotted.” Maverick’s voice rang throughout your headset and you winced.
“Shit, it’s Mav.” 
“What the hell is he doing here?” Phoenix asked,
“I’m a bandit on course to intercept, blue team what are you gonna do?”
“He’s twenty miles left, ten o’clock. Seven hundred knots closure.” Bob supplied.
“Your call, what do you want to do?” you asked Phoenix, looking over your shoulder in the direction of her aircraft.
“Continue, we’re close. Stay on target.”
“He’s swinging around to the north,” Bob said as you began to brace yourself.
“Stand by for pop-up.” 
“Be ready on that laser, Bob,” Phoenix ordered.
“Copy, I’m on it.”
“Blue team, bandit is still closing,” Maverick reminded you and you felt tension settling in your muscles.
“Popping now,” you communicated as you sharply moved to a steep incline. You gasped for air as the weight crushed you backwards into your seat. “Talk to me, Bob. Where’s Mav?”
“He’s five miles out, he’s coming fast.”
“Target’s in sight,” Phoenix said.
“Where’s my laser, Bob?” you asked, already feeling the panic creep in.
“Deadeye! Deadeye! It’s no good. Sorry, I can’t get a lock.”
“We’re out of time, I’m dropping blind,” you said with a slight shake of your head as your thumb hovered over the button as you tried to drop it at the exact right moment. “Fuck, I missed,” you sighed as you began your steep climb out.
“That’s tone,” Maverick said and you could hear the disappointment in his voice.
“Maverick’s got missile lock on us.” Bob groaned.
“Shit, we’re dead,” Phoenix cursed.
“Blue team, that’s a fail.” You let out a sharp exhale as you ripped your mask off in frustration. No matter how hard or how many times you tried you were always so close without ever actually making it. “That’s enough for today.” Maverick said as you leveled out and you navigated to flank him. “Bird strike! Bird strike!” he shouted as you tried to avoid the onslaught of birds but it was no use, you felt your jet become unsteady as one flew directly into your engine.
“Shit, left engine’s on fire. Climbing,” you said as you yanked up on the yoke. “Throttling back, shutting off fuel to left engine. Extinguishing fire,” you narrated as you ran through your mental checklist of everything you needed to do. “Fuck, it’s still spinning. Trying to restart,” you tried to keep your voice and your nerves steady but it was no use, the erratic beeping filling the cockpit was threatening to pull you apart.
“Viper, it’s on fire! Don’t start-” Maverick started but you cut him off.
“Throttling up.” You watched as everything flashed at you and you tried to regain control as you quickly lost altitude. “Extinguishing right engine.” Everything was in failure and you were running out of options.
“Viper, punch out.” Maverick ordered as your jet hurtled towards the hillside in a spiral. “You can’t save it. Eject, eject!”
“Fuck, ejecting! Ejecting!” you shouted as you pulled the handles between your feet and the last thing you remembered was watching your plane burn in.
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You awoke in a panic, gripping the sheets as a distant beeping accelerated your heart rate and as if on autopilot your hands grabbed for the controls but there was nothing but fabric. “Hey, hey you’re okay,” you heard and you let out a sharp exhale as you saw Jake sitting beside you, leaned forward in his chair with concern written all over his face.
“I don’t- what the hell happened?”
“Bird strike. Thank god you punched out in time but you lost consciousness on the way down. Doc said you’re fine, they’re coming to discharge you soon,” he explained and you nodded as you began to calm down.
“Jesus,” you whispered before another wave of panic rolled over you. “Mav? Phoenix and Bob?” you asked, realizing you’d been so wrapped up in your own cockpit you didn’t even know if the voices coming through your headset were for you or if they were struggling with their own aircrafts.
“They’re good, Mav stopped by earlier to check in and everyone has been blowing up the group chat asking for updates,” he chuckled as he rested a hand on your leg.
“Just another thing to tack onto the long list of failures with this mission,” you sighed, running a hand through your hair.
He frowned at you, “hey, no one faults you for this. You can’t control bird strikes,” he reassured. “Everyone is just glad you got out.” His thumb was rubbing reassuring circles against your thigh and you took a deep breath as you tried to shake off the way he was looking at you. It was concern and… something else you couldn’t place.
“Jake, I don’t… I don’t think everyone’s going to come back from this,” you whispered, it was a universal truth, everyone had thought it at one point or another, Maverick had basically said it without being explicit, and you knew damn well Cyclone didn’t care about casualties so long as the mission was completed. “We can’t even get through dropping the bombs, we haven’t even accounted for SAM’s or bandits.”
“If anyone can do it, it’s us.” he said, voice firm and you knew it was a defense mechanism. He wouldn’t come out and say it but he shared the same fears you did. “Come on, let’s get you up, everyone wants to see that you’re alive and well for themselves,” he diverted but you knew better. He just didn’t want to get into it with you because if he did he wasn’t sure he’d be able to flip the switch back. He had to stay focused and so did you.
The drive to the Hard Deck was silent, much like a lot of your time had been with Jake recently and it made you want to rip your hair out. You couldn’t deal with the hot and cold, one minute you felt like nothing had changed when he brought you your coffee exactly how you liked it, or when you were doubled over in laughter by the dart board and the next he was distant, blowing you off entirely and pretending you were no more than a colleague. You knew things wouldn’t be like how they were back home, this was work and the lives of you and your team were on the line. There were more important things to focus on but when you watched him let loose with Coyote after-hours or humor Fanboy while he talked about some nerdy tv show you couldn’t help but think it felt like a knife to the back. 
“Easy, I know you’re sore even though you’re pretending you’re not,” he said softly as he helped you climb out of the car and you just gave him a deadpan look.
“I’m not pretending,” you protested and he smirked.
“Sure you’re not,” he agreed, even though he really didn’t.
“There she is!” Fanboy cheered as you walked in and you gave a bashful smile, hiding your face behind your hands to shield yourself from the commotion. “How are you feeling? What’d the doctor say?” he asked as everyone looked at you intently.
Bob elbowed him, “you are under no obligation to share your private medical information,” he said, clear disapproval in his tone at everyone’s nosiness.
You chuckled, “it’s okay, Bob. No concussion, nothing broken, just some light bruising in my ribs. Still cleared to fly so it looks like the competition hasn’t been knocked out yet,” you teased.
“Thank god, I couldn’t stand it if you abandoned me,” Phoenix said with a warm smile as she wrapped an arm around your waist carefully. “Are you allowed to drink?”
“It’s actually been encouraged,” you joked and she nodded before disappearing.
“Glad you’re okay,” Rooster said, giving you a sheepish smile. “Scared the shit out of all of us.”
“I like to keep you on your toes,” you replied. “Since I almost died today and all…” you started and he rolled his eyes.
“Oh, so you’re milking this?”
“Mmhm,” you smirked. “Since I almost died today, think you could go play a little something?” you asked and he shook his head with a chuckle.
“For you, I think that can be arranged.” you watched with a small smile as he did his usual routine of yanking the cord of the jukebox out of the wall before sauntering over to the piano. You loved watching the bar crowd around him, watching your new and old friends sing along and bust out terrible dance moves. It made it a little easier to forget the impending doom you were all facing.
“Did you make that happen?” Phoenix asked, placing a glass of bourbon in your hand.
“Not like I had to try very hard,” you laughed, watching as she nearly ran over to join him.
“You’ve always been so good at that,” Jake said, appearing beside you suddenly and you tore your eyes away from watching the fun for a moment to look up at him.
“What’s that?”
“Bringing people together,” he answered, gazing down at you. “This could have been just another detachment. Forced friendship while we’re stuck with each other before we go back to our normal squads, but nothing about that looks forced to me,” he said, turning back to watch Bob twirling Phoenix around, Payback and Fanboy doing the robot to a song completely unsuited for such a dance, Coyote and Rooster singing at the top of their lungs.
“Thank you,” you said and he pulled his attention back to you, an unasked question on his face. “For staying with me, it was nice having you there when I woke up.”
He shrugged, “no problem, you’re Sadie’s best friend… pretty sure she would have flown out here just to kick my ass if I didn’t.” Your face fell for a moment but you quickly recovered.
“Right, just Sadie’s best friend,” you muttered, polishing off your drink in one swig. Suddenly you felt silly, of course that’s only how he saw you. You were naive to think the ‘friendship’ you’d built over the past two decades was nothing more than the fact that you were in his life because of his sister, because your families had bonded over the daughters who couldn’t stand to be apart for more than twelve hours. The quarterly phone calls and drinking sessions past midnight over the holidays were nothing more than circumstantial. 
“Sunshine-” he started but you gave him an empty smile.
“Need a refill,” you said before walking towards the bar and Penny saw you coming, saw the look in your eyes and was quick to pour as soon as you’d set the glass down.
“Gave everyone quite a scare today, you alright?” she asked and you nodded. You knew she wasn’t really asking you about your ejection but you were content to pretend she was.
“All good, comes with the territory,” you chuckled and she gave you a knowing look.
“That one’s on me, consider it your unofficial hazard pay,” she joked and you took a moment to lean against the bar as you collected your thoughts. You couldn’t help but feel stupid  to think that even with the rigors of the job and learning curve of being around each other professionally you’d find some sort of groove resembling the one you settled into back home. You wondered what the hell that even was when you were home. He was always the highlight of your holidays, someone who understood you even though he didn’t know it. You looked forward to sneaking into his room when everyone had gone to sleep with a bottle to talk shit about your families and you shook your head as you sat in the embarrassment of thinking he could have looked forward to that too.
“Sunshine, I didn’t mean-” he started as he approached you and you just shook your head.
“It’s fine, I get it.” you said, focusing your attention on Rooster who was still fiddling with the keys while everyone went back to their groups and listened to it as background noise. “Training is almost over and when the mission is done we can go back to our squads and you can forget about the little kid who’s been following you around for twenty years.” 
“I don’t think you’re a little kid, I really didn’t mean anything by-”
“Jake.” you cut him off, turning to look up at him. “Really, it’s fine. With any luck after this we won’t see each other until Christmas so… maybe it’s better if we just focus on our own shit. We have enough to worry about.” You walked across the bar and slid onto the bench with Rooster who gave you a questioning look.
“Everything okay?” he asked and you nodded, taking a swig of your drink. 
“What do you say to a little Great Balls of Fire?” you asked, resting your head on his shoulder for a moment and with just a few of the opening chords he’d pulled everyone right back in just like he always did.
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“It’s been an honor flying with you,” Maverick started as you all stood at attention. “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.” 
“Choose your two foxtrot teams,” Cyclone said and the tension in the room was palpable.
“Payback and Fanboy, Phoenix and Bob.” You smiled softly, that’s exactly who you would have picked.
“And your wingman,” Cyclone added and you felt the anxiety settle in the pit of your stomach. It was between you, Rooster, and Jake… You knew there was a complicated history between Maverick and Rooster, and despite your instability with Jake you didn’t want to be pitted against him.
“Viper.” he called out and the first person you looked at was Rooster who was doing a great job at masking his feelings and he shot you a tight smile. You glanced forward to find Jake looking at you and he gave you a slight nod. You thought getting picked for this mission would feel better than this, but you only felt sick.
“The rest of you will stand by on the carrier for any reserve role that’s required. Dismissed,” Warlock said and your limbs were slow to catch up with your brain as you began to move for the exit to head back to your bunk. You’d been training for weeks yet you felt entirely unprepared. Maverick stepping in as team leader restored a bit of your confidence but even with him leading you knew the odds of actually pulling this off and everyone making it back were slim. Part of you was relieved it was you and not Jake, or Rooster. Rooster still had a legacy to fulfill, and Jake simply wasn’t finished. He had a lot left to learn, and a lot left to accomplish.
“Hey,” Rooster called after you, jogging to catch up and you stopped in front of your door, looking around at the crowded hallway and you subtly nodded for him to follow you. “Congratulations.” he said as you closed the door behind you.
“I’m sorry,” you started but he shook his head.
“You have nothing to be sorry for. You earned this, I know better than anyone how good you are in the air. Mav made the right call… I’m only sorry you aren’t team leader, we all thought you would be.”
“If it makes you feel any better you would have been my wingman if I was,” you offered and he chuckled.
“Not Hangman?”
You sighed, “I trust Jake implicitly on the ground, but… I can’t in the air, and he hasn’t had the best reaction to seeing me in this environment. You on the other hand I know I can trust in the air. You’ve saved my ass several times,” you said with a soft smile.
“Only as often as you’ve saved mine,” he replied. “I think you need to look at Hangman’s attitude towards you through a different lens.”
“What do you mean?” you asked as you slightly tilted your head in confusion.
“It’s not that he sees you as his little sister’s best friend, or the kid he can’t seem to escape… it’s the fact that he doesn’t see you that way, and now he’s forced to face it every day.” 
“If he doesn’t see me that way, then what way does he see me?” you asked, struggling to put the dots together and he just smiled.
“I can’t do all the work for you.” he said, pulling you in for a hug. “I’ve missed having you around, V.”
“I’ve missed having you around too, Roo. Let’s be actual friends when this is all over… which means no more sending me photos of bird shit on your canopy,” you said with a laugh.
“I told you, that’s peak friendship!” he said and you pulled away when your door creaked open.
“Sorry, am I interrupting?” Jake asked as he poked his head in, clearly uncomfortable and you and Rooster both shook your heads.
“No, I was just leaving… I’ll see you before, yeah?” Rooster asked and you nodded, giving his arm a squeeze as he walked past. “Hey, don’t think, just do, right?” he said before leaving and you nodded.
“Don’t think, just do.”
“Sure you two aren’t a thing?” Jake asked as he walked in, glancing behind him to make sure he was gone and you chuckled.
“Scout’s honor,” you replied.
“I just wanted to come congratulate you,” he said and you let out another soft laugh.
“Seems everyone wanted to do that,” you said. “Thank you, I’m sorry you weren’t picked.”
“Don’t be, you were right. You’re the better pilot,” he said and there wasn’t an ounce of dishonesty in his tone. “I need you to have a clear head while you’re up there, but… can we talk when this is all over? I handled this completely wrong and I don’t want to forget about the girl that’s been in my corner for twenty years when we go back to our old squads.” you smiled at the way he rephrased what you’d said earlier.
You nodded, “I’d like that.”
He moved towards the door but turned back to say, “I know Sadie’s your best friend, but just so you know… you’re mine,” before he left and you let out a sharp exhale and flopped onto your bunk as the door shut behind him. You put your hands over your eyes as you let what both Rooster and Jake said sink in and it left you with far more questions than you had when you entered this dorm… so much for having a clear head. You heard the door push open and let out a groan, sitting up to see who was coming to mess with your head now but quickly turned sheepish.
“Jesus, hello to you too,” Phoenix muttered as she walked in and set something on her bunk. “Saw both your boyfriends leave,” she said with a smirk and you rolled your eyes before laying back down.
“They’re not my boyfriends.” you protested and she just laughed.
“Sure they aren’t. How are you feeling?”
“How are you feeling?” you shot back as she sat next to you.
“Terrified, but we’re as ready as we’re going to be.” You sat up and turned to face her fully.
“I’m really glad you’re flying with me, Phe. How badass are we? Not one but two women selected for the uber secret, uber dangerous mission?” you asked and she let out a laugh.
“Super badass, now we just gotta make sure we come home so we can brag about it.”
You stood on the platform with nerves rattling you to your core. You took a deep breath and shook your limbs out as you looked up at your jet.  You reached up to press your hand to its exterior and said, “no funny business today, alright? I wanna come home.”
“Sunshine!” you heard from behind you and turned to see Jake jogging towards you. You stood in silence for a moment before he pulled you in for a bone crushing hug. “You give ‘em hell, okay?” You nodded when he pulled away and you watched him walk to his own jet where he’d be sitting as Dagger Spare. You made eye contact with Maverick who gave you a nod that you returned, a silent exchange that solidified you were in this together.
“Dagger One, up and ready on catapult one.” Maverick said in your ear and you exhaled forcefully, willing any reservations to leave your body with your breath.
“Dagger Spare standing by.”
“Dagger Four, up and ready.”
“Dagger Three, up and ready.”
“Dagger Two, up and ready,” you said as you focused your mind and pushed out anything but the mission. You weren’t going to think about what Rooster had said, or about what Jake wanted to talk to you about when this was all over, and especially not what you were hoping he wanted to talk to you about. Blocking out the noise was what you were good at, and one of the reasons you were selected. Get in, get out, go home. That’s all you had to do.
You launched off the catapult and fell into formation behind Maverick and listened for the command to fall below the radar. The ocean was closer than it had ever been before and somehow it felt so different from your proximity to the ground during training. This was real. This wasn’t a simulation.
“Feet dry in sixty seconds. Comanche, Dagger One. Picture.”
“Comanche, picture clean. Decision is yours.” 
“Copy,” Maverick replied and waited for a beat before saying, “Dagger attack.” Not that it was an option before but there was no turning back now. You watched the tomahawks fly over your head as you assumed attack formation and marked your time as you entered the valley and rounded the snowy ridges. “First SAM site overhead.”
“Looks like we’re clear on radar, Mav.” Phoenix said.
“Let’s not take it for granted.” You knew they were there but you chose to ignore the presence of the SAM’s above you. Worrying about them now wouldn’t do you any good, you had plenty of time for that later. Your only concern was staying below where you could trigger them.
“We got two minutes to target,” Bob said and you checked your radar, increasing your speed.
“Stay with me, Payback.” you grunted as you overtook a curve.
“I got you,” he confirmed.
“We’re picking up two bandits. Single group, two contacts.” Comanche informed and you furrowed your brows slightly.
“Comanche, what’s their heading?” Phoenix asked.
“Bullseye 090, 50, tacked southwest.”
“They’re headed away from us, they don’t know we’re here,” you replied.
“The second those tomahawks hit the airbase those bandits are gonna move to defend the target, we have to get there before they do. Increase speed,” Maverick ordered and you nodded to yourself as you did.
“We got you Mav, don’t wait for me,” Phoenix responded. You lagged as you finally saw one of the SAM’s, a visual you were trying really hard to avoid and your breath caught in your throat as some of the noise started to creep in.
“Stay with me, V, don’t think.” Maverick said to you and you nodded to yourself again.
“Just do,” you finished as you pushed forward on the throttle.
“Jesus, Viper,” Payback shouted in your ear and you chuckled.
“Come on, Payback, you with me?” you asked. “Watch your heads,” you warned as you navigated through a bridge.
“Right behind you!” he confirmed after Fanboy let out some expletives that let you know they were still tailing you.
“Phoenix, stand-by for pop-up strike.”
“Dagger Three in position,” she replied. You heard their grunts through the headset as they fought against the gravity trying to pull them backwards.
“Get me eyes on that target, Bob!”
“Dagger Three, standby, Mav… Standby… I’ve got it!”
“Target acquired, bombs away.” Mav said and you felt your body stiffen as you waited for confirmation.
“We’ve got impact. Check, direct hit! Direct hit!” Bob yelled and you felt a wave of relief that disappeared as quickly as it had washed over you.
“Dagger Two, status.”
“Almost there, Mav, almost there,” you replied as you flew over the ridge.
“Fanboy, where’s my laser?” you asked as you grew closer to the target.
“V, there’s something wrong with this laser… Shit! Dead eye, dead eye, dead eye!” Fanboy shouted and you cursed under your breath.
“Come on, we are running out of time. Get it online!” you yelled back.
“I’m trying!”
“Come on, Fanboy!” you heard Payback say and you were running a risk analysis in your head.
“Nearly there, nearly there!”
“There’s no time, I’m dropping blind.” you said, voice calm and steady as you focused on the target.
“Viper, I’ve got this!” Fanboy tried and you wanted to reassure him but you couldn’t.
“Pull up. Bombs away, bombs away!” you said as you pressed your button before pulling up.
“Bullseye, bullseye, bullseye!” you heard command say but you couldn’t focus on anything as you tried to get oxygen to your brain, the force was compressing your lungs and you could feel the edges of your vision darken as you let out breathless pants.
“We’re not out of this yet,” Maverick grunted. “Here it comes.” you listened as they communicated, trying to evade the SAM’s. “Viper, status.” You wanted to answer but you couldn’t as you flew over the ridge and onto the radar.
“Oh fuck,” you muttered, looking overhead as the missiles launched. “Smoke in the air!”
“SAM on your six, Viper!” Payback warned.
“Deploying countermeasures,” you called as you slammed the button. “Negative contact.”
“Dagger one defending.”
“Talk to me, Bob!”
“Break right, Phoenix, break right! Mav, nine o’clock! Nine o’clock!” It was pure chaos as they exploded overhead.
“Viper, two more on your six!” you heard someone say but you couldn’t tell who.
“Dagger Two, defending,” you said as you hit your flare button.
“Payback, SAM on your nose.”
“Dagger Four defending.”
“Viper, tally, tally, seven o’clock!
“Talk to me, Bob!”
“On our six!”
“Dagger Two defending.”
“Phoenix, break right!”
“I see it, I see it!” Everyone’s voices were overlapping as you tried to look out for yourselves and each other, in all your years in the Navy you’d been in some pretty fucked up situations but this one just felt different. You yelled out to Phoenix and watched as she came close to taking a hit, and you could hear Fanboy’s panicked shouts trying to keep up with what was going on around you. You thought that if you had the time you might throw up, but you didn’t.
“Dagger Two, defending,” you said as you looked over your shoulder to see two on your tail. “Fuck, I’m out of flares!”
“Viper, evade, evade!” Maverick shouted and you whipped your jet around but shook your head.
“I can’t shake ‘em! They’re on me, they’re on me!” You watched Maverick’s jet pass overhead as he deployed his flares but gasped when one hit his tail. Your heart sank as you watched what was left of his jet fall out of the sky and tears pricked at your eyes that you quickly blinked away.
“Maverick!” you yelled, trying to turn in your seat to look for a parachute.
“Dagger One is hit! I repeat, Dagger One is hit! Maverick is down!” Phoenix called out as the wreckage of his plane floated down around you.
“Dagger One status? Status!” you asked with no answer. “Anyone see him? Does anyone see him?”
“I didn’t see a parachute,” Payback replied.
“We have to circle back.”
“Comanche. Bandits inbound. Single group, hot. Recommend dagger flow south. One minute to intercept.” There was a pause before you heard, “All daggers flow to ECP.”
“What about Maverick?” you asked, chest tightening at the thought of leaving him behind. You couldn’t. You wouldn’t.
“Dagger Spare, request permission to launch and fly air cover,” you heard Jake in your ear and you didn’t realize how badly you’d needed to hear the sound of his voice.
“Negative, spare.”
“Dagger, you are not to engage. Repeat, do not engage.” You gripped your controls as you listened to them ask you to acknowledge you heard the order but it all sounded muffled.
“Viper, those bandits are closing,” Phoenix said. “We can’t go back.”
“V, he’s gone. Maverick’s gone,” Bob added and you could hear the sadness in his voice but you weren’t accepting that. You thought of Rooster… of him telling you Maverick had pulled his papers and how despite how angry he was you could see through it to the hurt. He’d lost his father and alienated his only male role model. You thought of him listening in back at the carrier, the regret you knew he would be feeling as he realized Maverick was gone.
“I’m his wingman,” you said firmly. “Daggers flow back to carrier.” you ordered.
“Viper?” “What the fuck are you doing?” Fanboy asked.
“Dagger Two. Return to carrier.” You heard command say but you ignored it.
“Maverick is down which means I’m team leader now, I’m not leaving him behind.”
“Viper, you can’t do anything for him,” Phoenix tried.
“Only if I don’t try. Return to carrier, now.” you ordered again as you flipped around in pursuit of where his jet had fallen. You flicked off your radio and disconnected the overlapping chatter filling your ear. You whizzed back through the canyon and saw Maverick running through the snow covered clearing, trying to evade a helicopter and you used the element of surprise to your advantage… swinging around behind it.
“Dagger Two, deploying missile,” you narrated as you pressed the button but then let out a breathless laugh as you made contact. “Don’t really know who I’m saying that to.” You moved to circle back around and unknowingly triggered a SAM that quickly intercepted you and you cursed as you pulled up on your ejection loops.
You hit the ground with a thud and rolled over onto your back as you let out a groan. “Son of a bitch,” you muttered, “I am so sick of ejecting.” Your muscles ached as you worked on rolling up your parachute and you lifted your head to see Maverick running towards you.
“You alright?” he yelled and you nodded as you stood.
“Yeah, I’m good. You alright?” you asked but were caught off guard when he sent you flying backwards into the snow. “Oh, Jesus,” you muttered as you hit the ground, again. “What the fuck?” you yelled as you got up.
“What are you doing here?” he asked as you threw your helmet to the ground.
“What am I doing here?” 
“You think I took that missile so you could be down here with me? You should be back on the carrier by now!”
“I saved your life!” you shouted.
“I saved your life, that’s the whole point.” he countered and you narrowed your eyes at him as you dusted the snow off your jacket. “What the hell were you even thinking?”
“I’m your wingman!” you shouted, throwing your arms out in exasperation. “That means something to me beyond the mission. I haven’t lost anyone yet and I don’t intend on losing anyone today.” He stared at you for a moment before letting out a sigh.
“Well, it’s good to see you,” he finally said and you put your hands on your hips as you tried to catch your breath.
“Yeah, good to see you too… so, what’s the plan?” you asked and he just gave you that famous Maverick look that said you probably weren’t going to like it.
“You’ve gotta be shitting me,” you said as you looked at an old plane through your binoculars. “An F-14?”
“I shot down three migs in one of those,” he pointed out and you just gave him an incredulous look.
“We don’t even know if that bag of ass can fly,” you countered.
“Let’s find out!” he said before taking off and your eyes widened.
“Mav!” you whisper-yelled after him. “Okay,” you muttered as you followed suit, stumbling into step with him as you walked out into the open, trying your best to act natural. “There’s a lot of people around.”
“Yeah.”
“There’s more over there.” you said as you looked around as subtly as you could. You knew this mission would be unlike anything you’d ever faced but you really weren’t anticipating being in enemy territory on foot.
“Okay.” he said, looking around. “Let’s start running.”
“Yeah, run.” you agreed, chasing after him into the hangar.
“Once I give you the signal for air, you’re gonna flip this switch until the needle gets to 120. When the engine starts, you gotta pull out the pins and disconnect everything. You understand?”
“Yeah,” you nodded, watching him power it on.
“Once I’m up, stow the ladder,” he yelled as he climbed up and you were quick to fold it away behind him. You gave him a thumbs up as you flipped the switch and watched the dial and when the engine fired on you ran around the jet pulling everything out.
“Ah, shit,” you huffed, struggling slightly as you jumped up onto the wing and climbed into the backseat. “Jesus, this thing is old,” you commented as you looked over everything and tried to make sense of it.
“Canopy?” he asked and you confirmed you were clear.
“Both runways are cratered,” you pointed out. “How are we gonna get this museum piece off the ground?” You looked out the window and furrowed your brows. “Hey Mav, the wings are coming out.”
“Yep.”
“Why are the wings coming out?” you asked but he didn’t answer. “Holy shit, are we really using a taxiway as a runway?” You were absolutely terrified but you’d be lying if you said there wasn’t a small part of you that was absolutely exhilarated. 
“Just hang on,” he said and you flew backwards in your seat as he took off. “Come on, come on, come on.”
“Mav?” you asked, looking ahead of him at the structure you were barrelling towards. “Holy shit,” you muttered as you closed your eyes and felt the wheels lift off the ground. You looked down and switched your ESAT on, hoping they’d see you and send reinforcements.
“Alright Viper, get us in touch with the boat.”
“Working on it, everything’s out. What should I do?”
“First the radio. Throw the uh… the UHF2 circuit breaker. Try that.”
“Sure, I’m not looking at like three hundred breakers or anything… got anything more specific?”
“I don’t know, that was not my department,” he answered and you nodded.
“Where’s Bob when you need him?” you muttered as you leaned down to fiddle with what you could find and your eyes widened when you looked beneath you. “Mav, tally two, five o’clock low. What do we do?”
“Okay, listen. Just be cool. If they knew who we were, we’d be dead already.”
“That’s comforting… what’s the plan?”
“Just put your mask on. Remember, we’re on the same team.” you watched as they pulled up beside you. “Just wave and smile.” You forced a smile as you watched the other pilot gesture with his hands but it wasn’t anything you were familiar with.
“What is that, what’s he saying?”
“No idea. I have no idea what he’s saying.”
“What about that one?” you asked as they changed gestures. “Any idea?”
“Nope, never seen that one either.” Maverick played dumb as he tapped his helmet and gave a thumbs down. “Shit, his wingman is moving into weapons envelope. Alright, listen up. When I tell you, you grab those rings above your head. That’s the ejection handle.”
“Can we outrun them?” you asked, not exactly keen on the idea of punching out for a third time in as many weeks.
“Not their missiles and guns.”
“Then it’s a dogfight,” you said, and he sighed.
“An F-14 against fifth-gen fighters?”
“It’s not the plane, it’s the pilot. What would you do if I wasn’t here?”
“But you are here,” he said and you could hear the apprehension in his tone. “I don’t intend on losing anyone today,” he repeated your earlier words.
“So don’t. Come on, Mav. Don’t think, just do.” He was silent for a moment and your hands flew to brace yourself as he jolted to the side and laid into one of the other jets.
“Tell me when you see smoke in the air,” he ordered and you twisted in your seat to watch behind you.
“Smoke in the air! Smoke in the air!”
“Hang on!” He dropped a missile and led the other plane directly into it.
“Splash one! Splash one!” you cheered, still trying to find your bearings as the plane jolted around. “Here comes another one!”
“Viper, flares, now now now!” he called and you pressed the button, watching as they intercepted the missile. “Splitting the throttles, coming around,” he said as you grunted and placed a hand on the ceiling. “Give me tone, give me tone.”
“You got him, Mav!”
“Taking the shot,” he said as he deployed and you watched the other plane do an evasion maneuver you’ve seen before. “What the-”
“Holy shit,” you said, watching him practically float past your canopy. “What the fuck was that?”
“Hang on, we’ve gotta get low. The terrain will confuse his targeting system.”
“Here he comes!” you shouted as he was hot on your tail.
“Talk to me, Viper, where is he?”
“He’s still on us,” you managed to get out as you bounced from side to side of the canopy. “We took a hit, we took a hit!”
“Damn it.”
“Come on Mav, do some of that pilot shit!” 
“Brace yourself.” You quickly rose in altitude and you struggled to get a breath in as you went careening back into the valley. “I’ve got tone, taking the shot.” he said and you watched the other plane take it out with countermeasures. “Out of missiles, switching to guns.”
“You got him, Mav!” you yelled as the distance lessened.
“It’s not over yet,” he replied. “One last chance.” You watched him use his last round of ammunition to rip into the top of the other jet and you let out a cheer when it crashed into the rocky hillside.
“Yes! Splash two!” you said before you went back to fiddling with the controls, trying to recall anything from initial training back in the day and you exhaled in relief when the system in front of you came to life. “Mav, I got the radio on!”
“Outstanding, get us in touch with the boat.”
“Copy that,” you said just as alarms started ringing. “What the fuck? Where even is he?”
“He’s on our nose,” Maverick said and you really wished you didn’t hear the dread in his tone. “We’re out of ammo. Smoke in the air, Viper, flares!” 
“That was way too close,” you said. “We’re out of flares, Mav! Shit, he’s already on us.” you grunted as bullets began hitting your jet. “This is not good!” Maverick did his best to try and evade but it wasn’t any use. “We took another hit!”
“No, no, no. no!”
“We can’t take much more of this!”
“We can’t outrun this guy, we gotta eject.”
“What?” you yelled, panic creeping into your voice.
“We need altitude. Pull the ejection handles the second I tell you to.”
“Mav, wait-” you started but he cut you off.
“Viper, there’s no other way. Eject, eject, eject!” he ordered and you reached above you to pull on the loops but they were stuck. “Viper, pull the handle, eject!”
“It’s not working!” you yelled back, still trying. “Mav!” You were still rising in altitude and you pressed your hands against the canopy as you realized this was it. You weren’t getting out of this. You thought of Jake, how he was going to have to tell Sadie… how it was going to fall on him to tell your parents not only were you in the Navy but that you were dead. You thought about Christmas Eve’s with him in middle school, dancing with him at his senior prom because even though you were a freshman he’d much rather have danced with you, and laughing at his old school photos while he watched you walk around the museum that was his childhood bedroom with a bottle of whiskey in your hand. It’s not that he sees you as his little sister’s best friend, it’s the fact that he doesn’t. 
“Oh my god,” you whispered, realization washing over you. I know Sadie’s your best friend, but just so you know… you’re mine.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” Maverick said and you flinched when you heard an explosion but exhaled in relief when you realized it wasn’t you. You turned to see what was left of the enemy jet floating down to the water as an F-18 emerged through the smoke. Your eyes were wide as you tried to process what was happening… were you actually dead? Is this what the afterlife is?
“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, this is your savior speaking.” Jake started and you let out a breathless laugh as he pulled up beside you. “Please fasten your seatbelts, return your tray tables to their locked and upright positions, and prepare for landing.”
“Jake…” you said, looking over at him in disbelief.
“Hey sunshine,” he replied. “I’ll see you back on deck.” he said before flying ahead of you and you couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled past your lips as the adrenaline worked its way through your system.
“Maverick is downwind. No front landing gear. No tail hook. Pull the cable and raise the barricade,” Maverick communicated as you buzzed the tower and you giggled.
“Cyclone hated that,” you muttered and Maverick chuckled as you circled around and felt a jolt. “For the love of god, please don’t tell me we just lost an engine,” you sighed.
“Alright, I won’t tell you that,” he replied. You grunted as you hit the deck and flew forward in your seat at the impact before coming to a screeching halt. You were both silent for a moment, in disbelief that you actually made it back. “You good?” he finally asked and you nodded.
“Yeah, I’m good,” you answered as the canopy raised and you were met with the cheers of all of the crewmen and your teammates. As your feet hit the ground it actually crossed your mind to drop to your knees and kiss the disgusting tarmac you were so grateful for but you had someone to find. Phoenix threw her arms around you and you reciprocated the hug but you were searching the crowd over her shoulder, muttering half-hearted thanks to the people congratulating you and you pushed everyone away as you started walking.
“Sunshine!” you heard and you turned around and finally saw him. You exhaled sharply as you ran towards him but he held out a hand that stopped you in your tracks. “What the hell were you thinking? I thought you were dead,” he shouted over the commotion and you knew you probably should have been apologizing, or explaining yourself but instead you just smiled as you looked up at him. You could see about a dozen emotions on his face, but the one you were focusing on was the one that had been there all along… you’d just been too slow to realize it. “Why are you smiling? This isn’t funny, you really scared the shit out of me. That was reckless, and it- I… Fuck sunshine, I love you so much, I can’t ever go through thinking you’re dead again. Are you even- shit, are you okay? Let me look-” you knew he wasn’t going to stop on his own so you reached out and grabbed onto his flight suit with a smirk, pulling him into you and pressing your lips to his. He reciprocated immediately and you smiled into the kiss as you wrapped your arms around his shoulders. He lifted you off the ground as the cheers magnified around you.
“About damn time,” Rooster muttered from beside you but you didn’t care.
“I love you too, idiot,” you said when you pulled away and he set you back down but kept his arms firmly around your waist. “Chalked yourself another kill, looks like I’m going to have to even the score.”
“Always so competitive,” he said with a shake of his head before kissing you again and you pulled away when you felt a hand on your shoulder to see Maverick. He was looking at you with so much pride and gratitude that was only mirrored on your own face.
“Thank you for saving my life,” he said and you felt tears prick at your eyes.
“Thank you for saving mine, sir,” you replied and held out your hand for him to shake, but when he took it he only pulled you in for a hug. You watched him start to disappear into the crowd and quickly turned to grab Rooster by the collar and you gave him a look that had his eyes widening in fear. “I didn’t do that for Mav, I did that for you. Go,” you said firmly, shoving him in the direction Maverick had gone.
“You know, you could have just told me. You didn’t have to be an ass about it,” you said, looking up at Jake who rolled his eyes playfully.
“Where’s the fun in that?” he asked as you hit his arm. “I didn’t know… not until I thought it was too late,” he said, voice lowering as he stepped closer and placed a hand on your cheek, brushing his thumb against your cheekbone to wipe away a falling tear.
“I thought I’d realized too late,” you whispered as he pressed his lips to your forehead. 
“Now we have all the time in the world… after we get our asses handed to us for deliberately disobeying orders,” he said, pulling away when he noticed Cyclone approaching and you chuckled as you looked over your shoulder.
“Hey, if we get dishonorably discharged at least we’re alive and have each other, right?” 
“That’s all we need.”
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ONE YEAR LATER
“Cheers to the one year anniversary of Dagger Squad,” Phoenix said as all of your glasses clinked together and you couldn’t wipe the smile from your face as you looked around the room at your team.
“And begrudgingly, cheers to Cyclone who, in his own words, completely disagreed with our tactics and lack of respect for authority, but couldn’t deny the overall effectiveness of our squad,” you added as everyone laughed and you leaned into Jake beside you. “Happy Dagger-versary everyone.”
“Cheers!” everyone shouted as you sank back into your previous conversations and you looked up at Jake as you took a sip of your beer.
“It’s our one year too,” you pointed out and he smirked down at you.
“Don’t you worry, sunshine, I’ve got a whole thing planned,” he said and you smiled as
you rested your head against his chest. “How lucky am I to have had you following me around for the majority of my life?”
You pulled away and playfully hit his arm, “when you say it like that it makes me sound so juvenile!” you protested and he just laughed.
“Hey, those are your words. Besides, you’re the one who followed me into the Navy…”
“And hid from you for eight years!” you said, pretending to be mad but your laughter gave you away.
“It’s okay, you just wanted to follow in the footsteps of the greatest pilot in the world. No one could ever blame you for that.” he teased.
“Are you conveniently forgetting you admitted I was the better pilot?”
“Yeah, but then I saved your life, so…” you narrowed your eyes before leaning up to peck his lips.
“Thanks for that, by the way.” 
“Anytime, sunshine… anytime.”
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seriouslyseresin · 9 months
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every morning i wake up girltired and girlsleepy and i girlvow to go to bed early that night and every night i girlbetray myself
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seriouslyseresin · 9 months
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y’all should reblog and put in the tags what your first concert and your last concert were, and what your next concert will be if you know
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seriouslyseresin · 9 months
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Bradley “ROOSTER” Bradshaw Top Gun: Maverick(2022)
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seriouslyseresin · 10 months
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Listen… I am obsessed, as I’ve said before, with Sugar Daddy!Jake and Sugar. And I’m a sucker for being taken care of so the blurb about the migraine and bad day was my jam but it got me thinking… Jake needs taken care of too sometimes, and I’m dying to know what that would like when he’s having a bad day and just needs a little tlc
Sure thing bby😊 prepare for extra soft!Jake
Lift Me Up–Jake Seresin (An Arrangement Series)
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An Arrangement Masterlist
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word count: 1.7k
Feedback, asks, comments/reblogs mean the world to me!
Enjoy!
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You were just finishing up some boutonnieres and corsages for another wedding when your watch buzzed on your wrist. At a quick glance you saw Rooster’s name appear but you didn’t read the message yet because you had to finish wrapping twine around one more set of flowers. Your wrist buzzed again, and again but you were adamant on finishing this before being distracted.
Once it was wrapped and tightened, you scrolled through your notifications, messages equally from Rooster and Phoenix.
Rooster: are you coming to the hard deck by chance?
Phoenix: are you busy tonight? Please say no, Bagman is extra sour
Rooster: we’re all begging. Hangman’s in a terrible mood.
Rooster: WE ALL NEED YOU
Phoenix: please babe, he’s bad
“What in the world?” you mutter as you read through the frantic texts. 
It’s only a little after five, what could Jake possibly be doing that both Rooster and Phoenix are reaching out to you? You place your finished flowers in the boxes and set them on the shelf in the fridge and gather your things. Reynolds is waiting for you in his usual parking spot, his smile turns into a frown at your own troubled expression.
“Is something wrong?”
“Can we go to The Hard Deck? Something’s wrong with Jake…”
“Really? He didn’t text me…” Reynolds scratches his chin as he opens your door. “But we’ll stop by and see what’s going on.”
“Thank you.”
The bar isn’t that far from your shop and for a Thursday night, it’s pretty packed with cars and pilots loitering onto the sand. 
“Should I come in with you?” Reynolds asks.
“No, I’ll be okay. Maybe wait for a bit in case we need to drive him home,” you say and get out. 
Some of the other pilots say hello to you as you pass them but you barely smile because you’re growing concerned for Jake. Is he drunk and he’s acting belligerent? Is he sick and refusing to go home?
You weave through the crowd finding Rooster near the back by the jukebox and pool tables. There’s a loud crack! followed by a collective groan and someone cursing Jake’s name. 
“Penny’s gonna ban you from ever entering her bar again,” Rooster shakes his head and moves out of your way.
You see Jake holding a splintered cue stick, one half of it is on the pool table and his face is hard, stony. His brows are furrowed in a permanent scowl as he tosses the broken stick on the table.
“I’ll replace it. Give me another one,” Jake snaps his fingers but no one moves. He turns around snatching one from the holders and you push yourself in front of Rooster.
“Thank God you’re here,” he mutters. “Hangman, time to go home.”
“No, I’m not ready to go home, Rooster. Not until I win a game of pool and–Sugar,” he stops himself short when he turns around and sees you. He drops the new stick in his hand as if he’s caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “What are you doing here?”
“We called her to come get you,” Phoenix says. “It’s been a long day. Go home.”
“I thought you were working late,” Jake says, ignoring the others completely. 
“I got caught up,” you walk towards him, hand reaching for his cheek. When you’re close enough his cheek falls into your palm effortlessly. You can feel the tension in his jaw. “You had a bad day?”
“Wasn’t the best, no,” he murmurs as you bring your other hand to his other cheek. You rub at the circles under his eyes, noting how they’re bloodshot. 
“Let’s go home.”
“Okay.”
He follows you willingly, walking past his friends who stare at your retreating backs dumbfounded. They insisted he should go home hours ago but he refused and then you come in saying only a few words and he follows you not a problem. 
When the two of you get back outside you let Reynolds know he can go home. Jake says he’s fine to drive and you want to ask him what happened but his body language is screaming annoyance. He keeps one hand on your knee and you trace your finger over the grooves of his knuckles, circling over the back of his palm. 
His silence is so loud when you’re finally home and he slams his door when he gets out. He opens yours more gently, his hand held out to you, his gaze soft as he looks at you. You take his hand and close your door behind you, following him closely into the house.
“Can I make you anything?” you ask quietly. 
“Do we have tomato soup?”
“I’m sure Rhea keeps it on hand,” you smile, continuing to stroke his hand with your thumb. “Do you want grilled cheese with it?”
“That sounds good,” he nods.
“Okay. Why don’t you go take a hot shower, the food will be ready when you’re done.”
You squeeze his hand, debating on kissing him but he turns away and heads towards the stairs. You skip to the kitchen grabbing the necessary things to make the soup. Of course Rhea bought the best type of canned tomato soup and you took two out since you hadn’t eaten yet either. While the soup is heating up in the pot you begin on the grilled cheese using the panini maker. 
You’re humming ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ as you look in the freezer for dessert. Jake loves sundaes with chocolate syrup and sprinkles. You stir the soup, make another grilled cheese and then Jake struts in. You were hoping he’d take a longer shower, letting the hot water worry away his tight muscles. 
“Hey,” you smile loving how fluffy his hair is looking already. He has on your favorite shirt, the NAVY one and a pair of plaid pajama pants. “That was a quick shower.”
He moves past you and turns the soup down on low so it simmers. Then he places the grilled cheese on a hot plate and covers it up.
“The soup is just about done. Aren’t you–ahh!” you squeal when he lifts you up onto the counter. You open your legs and he slots between them, his arms moving behind your lower back. 
“Wanted to be with you,” he mumbles.
“Jake…what happened today?” you ask resting your arms on his shoulders.
“I couldn’t beat my times today and in the meetings following, I was used as the example of what not to do. I don’t know what happened, I couldn’t accelerate fast enough. So I wanted to blow off steam at the bar, prove to everyone I can do it all.”
“I’m sorry you had a bad day. It’s okay if you can’t do it all, you know, I think you’re pretty perfect already,” you encourage. “You’ll beat your times, just keep practicing and you’ll get there. Want me to come yell at your officers for singling you out?”
“No, that’s okay,” he chuckles slipping his fingers under your shirt. He draws circles on your skin. “It wouldn’t do much, you’re too adorable.”
“I can be feisty if I need to,” you put on a tough face, “I can scream and shout about how you are the best pilot there is.”
“Thanks Sugar,” he smiles. He turns his head so he can kiss the inside of your forearm then sighs. He keeps kissing up your arm until he’s by your shoulder and you turn his head so you can press your lips to his. 
Your arms tighten around each other, and your legs hook around his hips. His kiss is hurried and hot, his fingers hot on your bare skin as he shifts them up under your shirt. One hand moves to your stomach, his lips feverish as they transition to your jaw and neck. You toss your head back gasping, his fingers graze the side of your breast as he sucks on your neck. 
Your hips involuntarily rut against his, fingers tangling in his hair. Your body is electric from his touch and kiss. His hand on your lower back rocks you forward, his lips moving to your collarbones and in between your breasts. 
“Jake,” you whimper enjoying the sensations but then he stops. 
He removes his lips from your breasts, his breath hot and wanton on your skin as he recollects himself and pulls you back up in a sitting position. You stare at him quizzically.
“Sorry, I got a little carried away,” he exhales.
“I wasn’t telling you to stop,” you shake your head suddenly feeling ashamed. 
“I know. But I don’t want to rush anything, wanna take my time and give you the proper attention you deserve,” he says pulling your shirt back down. “And not when I’m upset about work.”
“But–”
He shushes you with a soft kiss. 
“Don’t forget how much you tempt me on the daily, Sugar,” he says on your lips. “You made me my favorite comfort food, so let’s enjoy that okay?”
You nod and hop down the counter, your legs a little shaky from that quick but intense makeout. You ladled the soup while he gathered plates and silverware. Still feeling a little dejected, you sat on one of the stools and began to eat slowly. When Jake joined you, he dragged you closer to him, the stool grating against the floor. Then he lifted your legs onto his lap and smiled.
“Want you as close as possible,” he says then starts to eat. You smile into your spoon.
When you’re finished eating, you move into the living room climbing onto his large couch. 
“Pick your favorite movie,” you tell him. He decides on 10 Things I Hate About You and when he turns around, you pat your chest as a place for him to lay. 
He jumps onto the couch cuddling onto your chest, basically laying on top of you with his arms and legs wrapped tightly around you. His overexcitement makes you laugh and you start to play with his hair. That calms him down fairly quickly and you scratch at his neck.
“You’ve no idea how good that feels,” he groans. 
“Oh I know, it’s my specialty, remember?” you tease and kiss the top of his head. You move your hands down his back, scratching it lightly and he groans again. 
“Don’t ever stop,” he sighs.
You remain that way for the whole movie, one hand scratching at his back and the other petting his hair thinking the whole time how you never want to stop.
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seriouslyseresin · 10 months
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guilt & hangovers.
rhett abbott x reader.
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→ description: rhett soothes your worries from the night before.
→ c/w: drug and alcohol use, recovery, sobriety, hangovers, swearing, titty touching, kissing, food.
→ a/n: as i go through recovery, i’ve found it comforting to myself to write these pieces. i hope it brings any level of comfort to all who read! <3
→ my ‘sobriety’ masterlist can be found here! my main masterlist can be found here! 💌
Your eyes squinted open slowly, peeling awake to the sunlight falling through your lacy curtains on your bedroom window. The reflection of the morning sun in your eyes shot to your headache immediately, making you wince. Your mouth felt full with cotton and your body ached a little. Rhett slipped in through your bedroom door with a warm smile.
“Good mornin’, gorgeous.” You gave him a kiss in response as he curled back into bed next to you. You propped yourself up slightly to lie on Rhett’s chest, humming in content. You were slightly hungover, but the warmth of your lover soothed your head.
“Y’ had a good time last night?”
“I think…” You questioned yourself as you played back the night behind your closed eyes. You remembered everything, which was the first good sign, but you were slightly on edge at Rhett’s question. “Oh God, why d’ y’ ask? Did I do somethin’ stupid?” You grumbled and winced again, burying your face further into his chest as you awaited his response.
You felt his chest vibrate with a chuckle and he soothed his fingers through your hair to reassure you. “No, no, darlin’. Just in the truck home, y’ were smilin’ to yourself, talkin’ about how happy y’ were, how much y’ enjoyed the night.”
“Oh.” You hummed back to Rhett. A small smile graced your lips with relief. “Yeah, I remember that.”
You do remember. That was good.
You both lay there in a domestic and blissful silence for a while. Rhett didn’t let go of holding you close to his chest as you let the morning sun wash over you both, slowly waking you up for the day. It was a rare Sunday when you had no ranch work to do urgently, hence the chance to have a drink last night. You were planning to enjoy this Sunday like you did best together. Wrapped up in the bedsheets and making home cooked meals. Your stomach grumbled at the delicious thought, but your mind was still pre-occupied with more pressing matters. Rhett’s question, again. That triggered something in the back of your mind. Past memories clouded your senses and you just had to ask one more time—
“Y’ sure I didn’t do anythin’ stupid?”
He chuckled again and squeezed you tightly to his chest, wordlessly reassuring you. “Why y’ askin’ so much, baby?”
“I guess, I just… I feel, guilty?” You rounded off your statement with a questioning tone. You weren’t sure what this feeling was. You instinctively drew your nail beds to your teeth as you chewed on them with nervous hesitation. Your nails had grew in the last couple of months. Without the constant gnawing from your swinging jaw once a bag of powder was soaked through your nerves, you had no real reason to constantly bite them. None the less, Rhett was there as a wordless reminder, drawing your fingers away from your teeth to play with them mindlessly. Deep down, he was purposefully distracting you, but on Sunday mornings such as these, he enjoyed feeling out each crease and indent on your hands.
“Don’t,” Rhett’s voice came almost a beat afterwards. “Y’ had some drinks, got a good level of ‘drunk’ and came home to me. No drugs, nothin’. It’s ok to have a bit of fun. You’re doin’ so much better now, y’ shouldn’t feel guilty for that.”
You were still laying on his chest and listening to the rumble of his morning voice through your ear, staring ahead and taking in his words. Your eyes traced over the pattern on your lacy curtains. You registered his words, but the guilt.
The fucking guilt.
It was gnawing away at your stomach like you would your nails.
“But d’ you remember what—”
Your proposed, and self inflicting argument against yourself, was cut short by Rhett barking out a quiet laugh. “Nope, nu-uh.” He clicked his tongue between his teeth and you sat up to look at him now. He wetted his bottom lip with his tongue as he shook his head, still with a small and knowing smile on his face. “I know you, your group knows you, your support worker knows you. You’re doin’ so, so fuckin’ well, darlin’. I won’t let anyone tell my diamond girl ‘ny different.”
“Okay.” You mumbled with a loving smile gracing your lips. You were still feeling a little too hungover to argue, and, you knew Rhett was right.
“Okay.” He agreed with you and outstretched his large calloused hands to cup at your jaw and squeeze on your cheeks. “C’ ere.” He pulled you down to meet him again and placed one, two, then three, repeated kisses on your lips. As he parted with a wanton and low groan, he asked the one question that he knew would make all your worries disappear in an instant.
“Y’ want a fry up?”
You comically groaned, almost similar to how you would when Rhett’s face was buried between your thighs. You let your eyes roll back into your skull and you flopped down dramatically onto the mattress, withering with obscene pleasure at the thought of your lovers famous fry ups.
“Fuckin’, please.”
A playful smile was still plastered on your lips and Rhett’s lips, mirroring your humor in seeing you react like that. He leaned down once more to kiss you again, expanding his palm to give your bare breasts a squeeze before leaving you in bed to make a start on breakfast.
“Grab the laptop, put on what y’ want, my sweet thing.” He called out to you from your shared bedroom doorway.
taglist: @beachbabey @tallrock35 @currentlybradshaw @unmistakablyunknown @iloveprettyboysblog @wkndwlff @flames-thebitch @peachystenbrough if you would like to be added or removed, please let me know! <3
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seriouslyseresin · 11 months
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horsemanship | rhett abbott x reader
disclaimer: first time writing for darling rhett, please give feedback I love hearing from y’all! also let me know if you want a part 2 where they fuck on the meadow cause I’m down for that.
warnings: me waxing poetic about horses I guess! gn!reader, fluff
description: after Royal takes a nasty tumble, and the cattle needs moving - who better to help rhett work than you?
tags for people who might enjoy this: @theharddeck @lt-bradshaw @rhettabbotts @roosterforme @mak-32
It was early morning. For some it might even still be late night, some stumbling home along lonely paths - frightfully lost in their mindless stupor. It’d never occur to judge those for whom this hour was late, it was enviable. Living life to the fullest, taking all that it has to offer - that had to be admirable, right? But this hour was early, not late.
Stifling a yawn, bleary eyes searched for those perfect pair of jeans - the ones that were worn and comfortable for a day in the saddle. A worn long-sleeved t-shirt adorned your upper body already, along with a beat up dark green crew neck jumper. Finding the jeans, doing them up slowly and finding a suitable belt and shoes - you grabbed your water bottle and gear and headed out to the stables, grasping a baseball cap from the hanger by the door.
It had been late last night when Royal Abbott called your residence. It was rare that Royal ever asked for favors, so you knew it must've been rather dire. There had been a storm the previous night, and it seemed as if his cattle might've gotten spooked at the thunder - and so they had migrated to the wrong field for the season. He would've moved them himself, but he'd taken rather a nasty tumble earlier, and whilst he was certain he could make it - Cecilia would likely kill him if he tried. He grumbled in to the receiver that Perry and Rhett could probably manage it on their own if you couldn't help, and you heard Cecilia scowling in the background. A third rider would help if there were strays. She was of course right. So with a smile you'd hung up the phone, eager to spend the day with one of Royals' sons.
Growing up surrounded by all types of animals, you'd learnt early that a lot could be learnt from them. They signal clearly what they’re feeling - you just have to be perceptive enough to pick up on them, a notion that not many people seemed to hone in on these days. Everything had to be done efficiently and fast, which left little room for interpreting a live animals feelings. Animals expressed their feelings without regard, and you figured humankind could learn something from studying them.
Horses especially, are one of the most expressive animals there is. To the uninitiated they might seem like they just eat grass and swish their tails to lazily swat away flies, but if you knew their language you could tell a lot about them. Their signals were so subtle, the flick of an ear, the widening of the eyes, a shake of the head or a lick and chew all meant something different. You knew that you could tell a lot about a man from how he treated his horse, and how his horse treated him.
Royals’ steed trusted his rider, the rider was his leader and the horse seemed confident that Royal would not lead him astray. They were companions, with an understanding that not much more was between them than that.
Perry’s horse ignored his calls, probably because he could tell that in Perry’s eyes - the horse was just a means to an end. A way to get from point A to point B, and a tool to get his job done. It wasn’t that Perry mistreated the animal, it was just that Perry lacked the soul to truly understand his horse in the deeper way that others could. According to you, it said something of his character.
And then there was Rhett. His horse should hate him, considering he had a red mare. Mares were notorious for their mood, and red ones were considered the worst in the mood department. Mares seldom let people touch them, and if they did you would probably get a little nip in the side, an annoyed stomp of the hoof - or a high pitched whinny to let you know that she was not likely to do as you asked - unless you asked very pretty.
Rhett’s mare didn’t like a soul in the world except Rhett. When he called her name she came trotting, ears perked up forward and a low, comforting neigh always welcomed him. He had built such trust with his mare, that he could ask her of anything and she’d ask almost no questions. She still had her days, after all - she was still a mare. It was in her blood. But on the days she figured she knew best, Rhett took it in stride - often with a laugh and a smile if she got a bit cheeky with him, giving him a little buck or a kick of the leg as he spurred her on.
Growing up near Rhett you’d seen the blood sweat and tears he’d put in to make his mare trust him. You’d lost count of the times he’d landed on his back in the gravel, and always getting up with a smile “I’m sorry, sweetheart - I asked the wrong way didn’t I?” It made your heart clench. He knew that it was never the horses fault if there was a miscommunication, he hadn’t asked the right question. He’d started working her from the ground, in one of the round pens, to gain her trust in him to lead her. She was skittish at first, and very stubborn. But Rhett took it all in stride, speaking softly, moving slowly and taking it all in her time.
You think maybe that’s why you fell in love with Rhett. How he treated his mare spoke volumes about his ability to love, to cherish, to listen and to understand. He was attentive, he had a soft soul that gave so much to others and asked for so little back. You could tell he wished that someone would put in enough time to truly understand him too, the way he understood his mare. As you saddled up your beautiful buckskin, you couldn’t help but wish that he’d let that someone be you.
As if the animal beside you could tell that you were deep in thought, he gently nudged you with his muzzle. It was his way of saying - so you’ve saddled and bridled me, attached my saddle bags and gear, are you going to get on today? Chuckling, you placed your baseball cap on your head, put your boot in the stirrup and hoisted yourself easily up on his back. You gave your horse and appreciative pat before gently smacking your lips to make him walk. As you rode towards the Abbott ranch, the sun had started to drown the pastures in a pale orange glow.
The steady movement of your horses walk made your hips move slightly in time with the gait, and it felt as natural as if you were walking yourself. The saddle, being well worn was comfortable, it had to be with the hours you’d need to spend in it. This was second nature to you, as easy as breathing. Nearing the Abbott stables, you spotted Perry and Rhett leading their horses out of the stable. A small chuckle escaped your lips as you saw Rhett’s mare clack her teeth at Perry’s horse. Perry had led him far too close to Rhett’s mare for her liking, and Rhett glared at Perry as the latter struggled his way up in the saddle.
“You know she doesn’t like that,” you heard Rhett grumble, as he gave his mare a soothing pat before swinging himself up in the saddle with ease. This was like breathing for him too. Rhett gave his mare another appreciative pat before letting a murmured "Good girl," slip from his lips, probably subconsciously. It made your cheeks heat up slightly, and you figured it best to make your presence known.
“‘Morning fellas,” you smiled as your horse halted in front of the two men. Perry smiled and nodded towards you, fixing his reins before he let them touch his horses neck to signal he should turn towards the pasture to begin walking.
Rhett smiled as he took in your appearance in the morning sun. It was almost enough to take his breath away. “Morning, sunshine” he smiled as he softly asked his mare to walk next to yours - at a respectable distance of course. Though your horse and his mare got along better than the mare and Perry’s horse.
You smiled, and had to take a deep breath as you took in Rhett’s riding attire. He wore his cowboy hat, something you secretly loved about him. Along with jeans, cowboy boots and a thick, old and worn jacket with a faded aztec print on. It had probably been Royal’s at some point.
“Been a while since I saw you,” Rhett continued, as the sun rose higher in the sky as you searched for the herd. You ducked your head, wondering if you should confess.
“I’ve been to all of your rodeos lately, but you haven’t seen me,” you spoke softly, offering him a sheepish smile. His eyes widened, as he turned his upper body towards yours, his brows furrowed a little as he spoke “No way, I would’ve seen you! Why didn’t you come up to me afterwards?”
“You were surrounded by your family and some girls and I didn’t want to be a bother,” you rambled, feeling your cheeks heat up in the cool morning air. Rhett let out a low chuckle before shaking his head.
“You never bother me, sunshine,” as he spoke, his keen eyes had spotted the heard, and he only had to give you a look before you’d spurred your horses on to start working.
You worked the cattle well into the afternoon, and as they were now peacefully walking towards their correct pasture, Perry asked if the two of you could handle the rest - he needed to head back to pick up Amy from school. Rhett and you nodded as your horses walked behind the heard, waving at him as he steered home.
Rhett looked beautiful in the afternoon sun, a thin sheen of sweat had gathered on his forehead, and in the junction of his throat. He’d since long shed his jacket, fastening it to the saddle in preference of riding in a black, tight t-shirt. You bit your lip softly as he caught you gazing at him. He smiled softly at you, and his beautiful blue eyes felt as if they saw right through you. It was as if he could anticipate your every slight mood swing, and he averted his gaze with a hint of a smile tugging on the corner of his lips. Suddenly you felt like his mare. He didn’t want to scare you off.
“Rhett?” You spoke softly, your voice almost drowned out by the sound of the wind rustling the leaves on the trees.
“Yeah, sunshine?” you licked your lips.
“Do you ever think of me?”
You’d come to a halt, having led the cattle to the correct pasture. You let your horse graze for a bit as you turned to look at Rhett. His eyes were soft, and a lopsided smile adorned his face. He didn’t answer right away, instead dismounting his mare and tying up her reins. He took a few short strides before he stood beneath you, his palm spread on your jean clad thigh. Instinctively, you knew he was asking you to dismount as well. You swung your leg across the horses neck, sitting side saddle for a moment, before you felt Rhett’s strong hands on your hips as you slid down from the saddle.
“Hi,” he whispered with a charming smile, his face so close to yours as he held your hips.
“H-hi” you stuttered out, and Rhett groaned.
“Do I ever think of you, sunshine?” he repeated, leaning into your body, letting you feel his broad chest with the palms of your hand, could feel his slightly erratic heartbeat and the steady rise and fall of his chest as he inhaled and exhaled. His arms had wound around you and rested at your lower back.
“You are always on my mind,” he whispered, his lips gracing your ear softly, his breath ghosting over your neck before his lips followed its path. Your hands gripped his t-shirt, wanting to pull him impossibly close to you and never let go - you wanted him with you, always. Wanted to feel his body against yours like this for the rest of time.
“Rhett,” the whisper of his name, tumbling breathlessly from your lips sounded like a song to him, and the whisper seemed to echo in the mountains - as if you had spoken his name to the gods above and made him who he was. Rhett retreated from his position at your throat, looking into your eyes, trying to read your very soul. He licked his lip, and slowly reached a hand up to tilt his hat back a little - giving you plenty of time to spook, to flee - but your smile lit up the autumn afternoon, and Rhett let the tip of his nose gently touch yours lovingly - teasing you by letting it caress yours.
“Rhett” you spoke again, his name now an impatient prayer that sunk so deliciously into his own skin.
“Yes, sunshine?” He murmured with a smile, his lips so close to yours that you could almost feel them move.
“Kiss me.” it was a breathless question, a whine almost - needing him to take from you what you were willing to give him. You swore you almost heard him whimper at your tender request, but you couldn’t be too sure as he’d closed the gap between the two of you, slotting his pink lips against yours in a searing kiss. He inhaled sharply at the feelings that small kiss stirred deep within him. It didn’t just shoot straight to the gutter as it normally would, but it started a storm of emotions deep within his chest, like an ache that had been slumbering but was now awoken and soothed at the same time.
He broke free to let your name fall from his lips, and it surprised him that tears were burning in his eyes.
Your soft smile and reassuring touch told him that he had finally let you in. Had finally let you be the one to see him and cherish him as he was. He almost beat himself up for not seeing it sooner.
“It’s always been you, hasn’t it, sunshine?” He spoke softly, his hands fluttering over your body in disbelief.
“I’ve wanted it to be me,” you confessed, smiling at the storm of emotions playing on Rhett’s face. You could tell this was overwhelming for him. You were afraid he’d never been loved unconditionally before, on his terms. “But I wanted to give you time. I wanted to understand you first, and I feel like I do now,” you continued, pushing a stray strand of his hair behind his ear, tucking it neatly into his hat.
“And you’ve been here this whole time,” he hiccuped, feeling the emotions drain from his high strung and stressed body.
“And I’ll continue to be here for as long as you need me,” you smiled, pecking his lips sweetly. Rhett’s eyes fluttered close at that statement, his breath stuttering in his throat as he thought of the implication of that.
The notion that maybe you could love him, all of him, as he were. Without having to leave, without having to change. He was good enough to you just as he was now. Rhett. He let his forehead rest against yours, and your eyelids fluttered closed too as you drank in the feeling of the late afternoon sun warming your face. Inhaling the sweet puffs of air that left the lips of the man you now felt you truly understood.
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seriouslyseresin · 11 months
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Okay but like Rhett dating you, a personified ray of sunshine and you telling him "I always feel better with you by my side"???? He's not used to people actually wanting him he'd be so soft 😭😭😭😭
you had known of the infamous rhett abbott your entire life. wabang was a smaller town with even smaller schools. but you never interacted until one weekend when the cowboy came waltzing in to the local animal shelter your family owned.
he had to do community service for getting in trouble once again after having one too many at the handsome gambler. you didn't know what to think of him at first. he had a scowl on his face, his cowboy hat tipped low. your dad didn't care for him, your mom thought he was bad news but you - you knew there was something there under that hard exterior.
rhett loved the animals. he'd help you clean the kennels and get the pools set up when it was warm outside. he made you laugh. and when he asked you on a date, his face turned cherry red and he stumbled over his words. like he was nervous. you made rhett nervous.
you fell hard and fast for rhett. he had this soft side to him that he never showed to anyone else but you. he couldn't believe that you, someone who shined a light on his darkest parts, could love him.
you were laying in bed with him one night. your bodies pressed close together in the darkness and your fingers brushed over his chest softly.
"rhett," you whispered, as if you were scared to wake him if he had been asleep.
"yeah, sweetheart?"
"i just- i just wanted to tell you that- that i always feel better with you by my side. i feel like i've waited my whole life for you."
all rhett could do was pull you in to a bruising kiss, a stray tear or two streaming down his cheeks. he finally felt that love that everyone talked about. a love that felt warm and welcoming and accepted you. a love he had been yearning for. he had his sunshine on a dark day and you would always be there to remind him that he was worth everything.
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seriouslyseresin · 11 months
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new rules
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summary: "Don’t pick up the phone, he’s only calling because he’s drunk and alone. Don’t let him in, you’ll have to kick him out again. Don’t be his friend, you know he’s going to wake up in your bed in the morning. If you’re under him, you’re sure as hell not getting over him."  rating: explicit (18+ mdni) pairing: bradley 'rooster' bradshaw x f!reader word count: 8.5k (this got away from me sorry y'all) warnings: angst (lack of communication!), idiots pining, PiV (unprotected), oral (f receiving), hangman x phoenix (blink and u will miss it), no use of y/n.  notes: thank you to @waklman for letting me bounce ideas off you! im very nervous abt this one, i feel like its dif from my other stuff so pls pls let me know what u think! my other works are here
Friends with benefits is maybe an inaccurate way to describe what’s going on between you and Bradley. Friends? Sure, since he asked you if you were using that bench at the beach and then he’d introduced himself. With benefits? You’re not sure if they really could be classified that way.
Bradley’s almost always a perfect gentleman. 
He doesn’t ignore you in the daylight, but the two of you never talk about the way he finds himself in your bed most nights rather than not, drunk or sober. 
It had started one night when you’d turned down an invitation to go to the Hard Deck, instead choosing to do a night of self care. You’d spent too long doing your eyebrows and managed to get a sheet mask to fully cover your face for once. You lost count of how much time you spent in the shower as an indulgence, and threw on the comfiest clothing you owned. Then, you sat yourself down in front of your TV to numb your mind with some perfectly trashy reality television.
Around 11:30, your phone had rang. Picking it up and squinting at the brightness, you saw Bradley’s face grinning back at you, the picture from one of your many beach days since you’d met. 
Despite your best instincts you’d picked up. What if he was stranded? What if something had happened? You’d steeled yourself for the worst. 
Instead, Bradley had just opened with a simple, “Hey.”
“Bradley? Is everything okay?” You could hear the noise of the Hard Deck in the background, but it had been yelling and there weren’t any sirens. 
“Yeah,” His sigh had come over extra loud through the speakers, “Just uh, was just thinking about you.”
“Okay,” What the hell? You remember mouthing the words to yourself as someone on screen had thrown a drink in someone else’s face. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
He hadn’t responded to your question, instead he’d just said, “Are you at your apartment?”
“Yeah, I’m here. Bradley is everything–”
“I’ll see you soon.” And with that, he’d hung up with a definitive click. 
You’d stared at the dimming screen of your phone for probably almost five minutes. Surely he couldn’t have been that drunk–god, was he planning on driving? Calling him during that was probably a bad idea.
Great, leave it to Bradley to stress you the fuck out on a Friday evening when you’d been aiming for peace. You’d tried to refocus on your show, but you weren’t even paying attention to the words. 
No more than five minutes later, there had been a knock at your door. You’d stood slowly, not sure that this was actually happening. 
You’d opened the door to a Bradley with flushed cheeks and a glint in his eye, leaning against the railing outside your apartment. It was only after a moment of silence that you realized you were wearing an old Navy shirt of his, loaned to you at the beach a few weeks ago. You could feel the way his eyes started at your legs and dragged up your frame, taking everything in.
“Bradley?”
He’d pushed off the railing and backed you into your apartment, letting the door swing shut behind the two of you. You’d backed into the living room til your back hit a wall, your heart in your throat. You couldn’t look away from him, not with the way he’d been crowding into your space, leaning into you.
“Hi, sweetheart.” His voice was a tone he’d never used on you before, and you remember the way your heart had hammered in your chest. 
He’d been so warm and so close, setting all of your nerve endings on fire. It wasn’t that you hadn’t realized that Bradley was attractive–the man’s whole job was to stay in shape and be clean cut. He was beautiful. But you’d kept that to yourself, afraid of crossing that line, afraid that you’d ruin something that was turning out to be one of the strongest friendships you’d had in years. 
You still feel that fear, despite all the lines that have been crossed since that moment.
The way he’d kissed you had wiped every thought from your head. His hands had slid up your thighs to grip at your waist under his shirt hanging loosely on you. His mouth had moved smoothly against yours, making you sigh and wrap your arms around his shoulders. 
By the time the two of you had made your way into your bedroom, he’d lost every piece of clothing but his briefs and his dog tags. They’d dug into your sternum as you’d pressed yourself against him, the cool metal warming quickly between the two of you. 
The way your blood had been rushing in your ears from adrenaline had drowned out the way he’d murmured to himself as he’d kissed down your body. He never did pull his shirt off you. He’d simply maintained his grip on your hips, lifting your thighs over his shoulders as he’d pulled your panties down and licked desperately into you.
Your hands had gone to his hair out of reflex. He had been rocking you steadily and you think you’ll always remember how you felt when you’d realized it was because he was grinding his hips against the bedframe, so turned on from getting his mouth on you. 
He’d eaten you out like a man starved, his nose bumping into your clit as his tongue fucked you. It had been messy and loud but you hadn’t cared about the neighbors or your dignity, not with the way his fingers had finally curled into you. 
“Bradley,” You’d gasped when you finally came, back arching and fingers tightening in his hair to the point where your knuckles ached.
He’d held you through it, had let you rock your hips against his face and not complained at all. In fact, he’d seemed delighted by the way you’d let yourself just feel, pleasure wracking your body and consuming your mind in a haze.
Kissing his way up your body, he’d slid his hands under the shirt and groped you gently. You remember the way your mind had stayed cloudy and you’d floated, tethered only to the real world by the way his thumbs flicked gently at your nipples.
“I’m here, I’m here,” He’d panted into your mouth as you whined when he’d sat back slightly to kick off his briefs and hitch your thighs over his waist, “I’ve got you.”
The first time Bradley had ever slid his cock into you, you knew you’d never be the same, that you’d never be able to go back. Not when he’d kept himself hovering over you just barely, propped up on his elbow, with his lips still brushing yours and his dog tags catching in the sheen of sweat along your sternum. Not when he rocked into you inch by inch, making the world around you blur into nothingness. 
You’d let yourself fall apart under him, let yourself sink into the mattress and just take whatever he was willing to give you. He’d fucked you deeper and more gently than anyone before–to this day, you’re not even sure you can classify it as ‘fucking’, that always felt too vulgar for the way he’d brushed his lips over your cheekbones and murmured sweet nothings. 
But saying Bradley had, and still does, made love to you means trying to find something from nothing, means discerning some sort of level of connection he’s never made clear. You’re not trying to break your own heart more than you already are.
In spite of that, you can’t forget the way he’d held you like you were precious, like you were everything to him. He’d cum inside you with a guttural moan, a punched out gasp at the way you’d clenched around him. It had made you realize that was all you’d ever wanted, Bradley warm around you and inside you, him making you feel complete in a way you hadn’t known you weren’t whole before. 
He’d been a perfect gentleman when you’d both come down, easing out of you so he could clean up. He’d massaged your thighs and hips where you were sure you would’ve been aching the next morning if he hadn’t, had apologized under his breath at the fingerprints now dotying your hips. He’d thumbed at the collar of the Navy shirt where it had stayed on your frame the entire time, looking pensive but never saying anything.
You’d woken up alone the next morning, a sticky note on the bedside table reading–Had to run for work. Thanks for having me over. A messy heart and a hastily scrawled Bradley closing off the message. 
And so it went. So it goes. 
During the day, you and Bradley are the paragon of good friendship–he’ll send you memes when he gets access to his phone in between flights and lessons, you’ll pick him up after work to go to the beach. The two of you don’t talk about it–because what is there to talk about? 
No words are ever exchanged about the way that Bradley clears out a drawer for you at his place, you just find a few of the things you’d left at his place in there one day. You never give back his Navy shirt, not when you find yourself wearing it more often than not. Nothing is said about how you start picking up his favorite flavors of ice cream and his preferred brand of coffee creamer, you just make a habit of throwing them into your cart when you go to the store.
And everything is fine. It really is. You disregard the side glances from Phoenix and Bob as they see you leave with Bradley on Friday and Saturday nights, you ignore the way Hangman wiggles his eyebrows at you when Bradley insists on paying for your drinks. Just friends, is all. Just friends.
They can make their assumptions, whisper while you’re out of ear shot, but they don’t see the quiet, comfortable domesticity that you and Bradley engage in when the two of you are alone. You go back to his after beach afternoons since it’s closer to your favorite spot, and the two of you will shower (separately) and make dinner together. Sometimes you’ll sleep over if you’re working remote the next day, sometimes you’ll go home.
On weekends, Bradley picks you up in the morning, trunk holding a cooler full of drinks and snacks, and you two will go to the beach again or go on a hike. Sometimes Phoenix or Bob or the whole crew will come along, sometimes they won’t. 
Just friends. And it’s fine.
Until everything isn’t fine. 
Bradley and you have been at this for a few months now, and you can feel yourself cracking. You’re reaching out to kiss him when you do wake up together, before your brain is awake enough to stop you, reminding you that that’s not what you two do. On an outing to a boardwalk teeming with life and populated by those games you can win stuffed animals at, you resist the urge to press him against the railing of the pier and lick the taste of your shared gelato cone out of his mouth. 
When the dam finally breaks, it begins like any other night. You have a margarita and a half in you, some concoction that Phoenix insisted you try that’s actually good. Bradley’s already done a rendition of My Way at Penny’s request, but for now the jukebox is blaring some 80s hit Hangman picked out.
You can feel yourself swaying to the beat, just letting the warmth of the moment sink in as you’re surrounded by your friends, the people you love. 
“Hi,” Bradley breathes into your ear as he sidles up next to you, his arms coming to settle around your waist. You can feel his warmth through the flimsy fabric of the dress you’ve got on.
“Hi Brad,” He hates it when people call him that–lets you get away with it though. “What’cha doin’?”
“Waitin’ for you.” He leans his entire body weight against you, making you slump against the table you’re standing next to.
“Ah! Bradley, stop it.” You try to stand, but the way he’s laughing makes it hard to shake yourself from his grip, “What do you mean you’re waiting for me? I’m waiting for you.”
The grin he shoots you is electric, and for a moment you think he’s going to kiss you, right here in the middle of the Hard Deck, with all your friends around and in Penny and Mav’s line of sight. That thought makes your heart skip a beat.
“Come home with me?” He whispers, just barely letting his voice rise above the background noise, and when you don’t respond immediately, “Or let me take you home?”
That’s all it takes, really, for you to agree. The way he’s so willing, so malleable, for you. You’re leading him out by the hand without responding to his questions, making your way to the Bronco that’s parked in the back corner of the lot. 
Bradley keeps the foolish grin on his face the entire time he drives back to your apartment. The warmth radiating from him doesn’t abate when he licks into your mouth once the two of you are inside. One of his palms rests against your heart, the other working its way up your thigh and inside your panties that are already damp. 
“You’re so good to me,” He murmurs, dipping his fingers below your waistband and brushing through your curls, feeling just how slick you are. 
All you can do is whine as he picks you up and makes his way to your bedroom. For once, he doesn’t trip or stub his toe on anything, and it somehow heightens the intensity. Normally, you and Bradley seek comedic relief of some sort, something to cut the tension and keep it from making your chest tighten in a way that feels like a warning. This time, you aren’t granted any such reprieve.
He undresses you slowly and deliberately, letting his fingertips drag lightly up your sides and over your shoulders. He shrugs his Hawaiian shirt off easily, and lets you yank his wife beater over his head without complaint. 
Then, the two of you are just staring at each other, both panting lightly. You’re propped up on your elbows, staring up at him only in your panties. Bradley’s got one hand about to pop the button of his jeans, but he’s frozen. You feel like you can’t move but also like something might be changing. 
You don’t want it to change, you don’t want to lose Bradley in more ways than one. If this is what he’s willing to give you, you don’t want this to change. 
He nearly falls over when his foot gets stuck in his jeans, and even that doesn’t break the tension. Once he’s climbing over you, enveloping you, kissing up your stomach and neck, you forget all about decorum and keeping up appearances.
The whine that echoes around the room is pathetic and high pitched, but it’s the only way you think to communicate to Bradley how bad you need him in that moment. His hips are rocking gently against yours and you want the layers gone, you need to feel him. 
“I know, sweetheart, I know,” And his hands are around your hips, dragging your underwear off you unceremoniously. 
Although he makes a good attempt at going down on you, you don’t let him. You dig your fingers into his shoulder and yank at his hair to keep his face level with yours and kiss him desperately.
“I want to eat you out, please?” The depth of his voice sends a shiver through you.
Normally he wouldn’t even have to ask, but you don’t want that right now. You just want to feel him inside you. 
“Need you in me, please,” You take a heaving breath before the pleading spills out of you, “Pleasepleasepleaseplease–”
He shushes you as you scrunch your face up, not knowing how else to convey your desires in that moment, “Okay. I’ve got you, it’s okay.”
You almost wail in protest when his fingers slide into you. You can’t figure out why you feel like you’re burning up from the inside out, why you feel so fucking needy. 
“Sweetheart you gotta let me prep you somehow, just–” 
You feel like the embarrassment might kill you when you keen at the feeling of his fingers inside you. The way you’re trying to be good, you really are, because he does have a point. Plus, you have to be fair to Bradley, this isn’t just about you. 
So you hold still, let him work his fingers in and out of you as you pant and clutch at his shoulders like a lifeline. His mouth presses against yours, works its way over your cheeks and down your throat. He sucks a mark gently into your collarbone, and you ignore the way your brain reminds you about having to cover that up for work. 
He doesn’t shut up the entire time, just keeps telling you how good you’re doing for him, how good you feel, how he’s been thinking about this all night. The world seems to go right-side up again when he pushes into you. 
You whimper at the way he rocks his hips ever so gently before pulling out. He kisses you again and again, only letting his lips leave yours so he can kiss your forehead or cheeks. The motion of his hips is a steady tempo, he keeps time with your breaths that turn into moans when you start feeling that telltale coil in your stomach. 
He runs his tongue along your teeth and you’re done for. You clench down on him and dig your nails into his skin, bucking your hips up as your orgasm washes over you like a tidal wave. 
Bradley fucks you through it like every other time, yes, but this time there’s something about the way he stutters out a moan and his hips match the faltering rhythm as he finishes right after you. The shallow rocking of his hips continues and you try to ignore the prickling of tears at the corners of your eyes. 
Something tells you that this time, you shouldn’t have let Bradley take you home. When he pulls his face back from yours and he rolls the two of you onto your sides without pulling out, he’s got this look on his face that screams unspoken words. He cups your face and strokes your cheekbone with his thumb without saying anything. 
The two of you are quiet as he cleans you up, as you dress yourself in another one of his shirts.
When you wake up the next morning, Bradley isn’t there. It doesn’t shock you necessarily, sometimes he stays, sometimes he has to leave to be on time for work.
What does send a terrible feeling trickling down your throat and into your stomach is the post-it, all four square inches covered in sloppy hearts. Bradley had signed his name in the bottom left corner, characteristic chicken scratch labeling it as him even if the name wasn’t enough.
This has to end.
Don’t pick up the phone, he’s only calling because he’s drunk and alone.
You last about three rings before you cave in, waiting for the sound of his voice to echo around the apartment. You’re holding your breath.
“I knocked.” Is all he says before you’re on your feet, making your way to the door.
There he is, and although you know he isn’t really drunk, you know he’s got a beer or two in him from the way he doesn’t try to hide how he looks at you. You hate the way you’re weak for him.
You’ve been caving to him more than once a week since that first night, since Bradley had knocked your world off kilter. Though you’re in bed together almost every night, whether at his place or yours, you don’t have sex nearly every time. Part of you thinks that might make it worse. It really had been fine at first, but the first morning you’d cried at the sight of that sticky note covered in hearts, you’d known you had to try and put an end to this.
“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” He tries, a crooked grin splitting his face as he walks toward you, but you know he doesn’t mean his words at all. 
“Bradshaw, have you been drinking?” You want to not want this, want to not want the way his gaze pins you down, the way the length of his body against yours just feel so right.
Let him being drunk and you being sober be the excuse, you beg silently. You can’t manage to force out that maybe he should go home, sleep this off in his own bed. You can’t find it in yourself to tell him to leave, to reject his advances. Watching as if outside your own body, he shuts the door behind him and walks up to you. 
Your chest aches with unconfessed feelings when he takes your face in his hands and lets his forehead rest against yours. His lips are soft and warm against yours, his mustache tickling you lightly when it brushes against your face. The whine you let out matches his soft groan, and the two of you stand there making out for a few minutes, almost as if you’re both content to just drink each other in without further motives. 
“I’ve got you sweetheart, I’ve got you,” And he’s picking you up.
You yelp at the way you’re suddenly lifted from the ground and you bury your face in his neck. You hate heights, your feet off the ground anything more than a few inches sends you spiraling in short order. But it’s Bradley who’s holding you, and some part of you knows he’d never let you fall, never let you crash into the ground. 
The way you two fall into your bed is too natural, it makes your stomach churn. His fingers find their place on your hips, around your thighs. It’s all too easy. You wish it would be a bit more awkward, that the chemistry could be imagined or false–instead you’re confronted by the way your bodies flow with one another’s all too easily. 
Again, somehow, you’re in nothing but his Navy shirt. 
Maybe I should give it back, the thought flits through your mind and you feel guilty immediately. Bradley always seems to take a special sort of pleasure from fucking you in his shirt, and you selfishly want to keep that bargaining chip, to have something that tethers him to you. If he won’t come back to press you into your sheets, then maybe he’ll come back one last time to get his shirt when this inevitably unravels. 
“Sweetheart,” He groans softly when his fingers reach the way you’re embarrassingly wet between your legs. 
It takes everything in you not to jerk back from his touch–you still don’t know how to confront the way you’re so responsive to his touch. His mere presence.
“I missed you.”
It slips out before you can stop yourself, your lips part and you breathe the words before you can do anything about it. He chooses that exact moment to dip a fingertip into your fluttering, but empty, hole, and you arch your back and moan. Instead of responding, he kisses you hungrily, all pretense gone. 
This isn’t something entirely tender, not anymore. He’s searching for something, a certain reaction, with the way he adds and then curls his fingers inside of you. He finds it when you jerk underneath him at the way he pets at that spot inside you you can never seem to reach on your own. 
He mumbles against your lips, “There you go,” As you squirm under him, the press of his fingers inside you relentless.
He works his fingers in and out of you, not taking anything in return. It’s all you can do to hold on to him and whine pitifully. Every sensation feels amplified, feels electric because it’s him. 
The two of you settle into a familiar rhythm for as long as it takes for Bradley to make you cum the first time. You’re rocking against him through the aftershocks and you can feel the way he’s hard against you through his clothes.
He’s still dressed. The realization sends a bolt of shame through you, but it doesn’t linger long. 
He’s shoving his jeans down his legs, not bothering with wiping his hand clean and you shiver at the thought that he’ll have to put them on again, you streaked across them. He makes quick work of his boxers too, and it occurs to you that he must’ve lost his shirt somewhere along the way when he presses his bare chest against your still clothed one.
“Bradley, Bradley,” You chant, “Take off my shirt.”
It’s the most demanding you’ve probably ever been with him, but he laughs at you anyways. There’s a glint in his eye as he sits up, his hard cock bobbing between his thighs. The sight of his naked form between your spread legs makes you swallow hard and your mouth water. 
“I like you in my shirt.” There’s something unsaid there, something about claims and ownership that isn’t truly possession, but a reminder of who belongs to whom regardless.
You pull it off your head in protest, and grab his wrist to drag him back down to you. You let yourself indulge in trailing a hand down the firm planes of his body down to where he’s smearing precum against your thigh. He’s heavy and pulsing in your hand and a light hiss rushes through his clenched teeth when you grip him tightly and twist with your wrist. 
“Fuck, fuck, not gonna last if you–” Bradley cuts himself off with a groan as you swipe your thumb over his head. 
It’s your turn to laugh, “You just got here.”
“Well, have you ever had sex with yourself? It’s tough out here–give a guy a break.”
The both of you dissolve into giggles at that, as you try to imagine how you would look sprawled under yourself. You can’t picture it, but the image of Bradley under or over you makes you think you might understand. 
He lines his hips up with yours once you’re both done making fools of yourself at the thought of you having sex with yourself (it reminds you of a drunk hypothetical you’d spent thirty minutes on with Hangman once–would you have sex with a clone of yourself?). 
The first push of him inside you cuts through the lighthearted mood immediately. It always shocks you how perfectly he fits inside you despite his size, how incredibly full you feel when his hips meet yours. The gentle friction of the neat curls at the base of his cock against your clit always provides a stimulation that makes your brain go fuzzy. 
The snap of his hips against yours is more intense this time, a sort of rhythm that makes you briefly think about the way the headboard might start knocking against the wall. But all thoughts, really, fly out of your head when Bradley brings a hand up to your nipples, the steady stroke of his fingers over the swell of your breasts as practiced and knowing as everything else he’s doing to you. 
All you can do is run your hands down his back, scratch your nails against his skin ever so often when he brushes against something so sweet and perfect inside you. You clench around him just to see the reaction it’ll get, and you’re rewarded with a broken groan.
“You’re not fighting fair,” He gasps, and he hitches one of your thighs up so he can press more insistently into you. 
You have a clever comeback somewhere in you–something about how you weren’t aware that the two of you were fighting, but it’s swallowed as he presses his lips into yours again. He seems absolutely intent on showing you exactly how you make him feel because the sensations of pleasure become overwhelming. 
“Fuck sweetheart, you feel perfect, god you’re so wet for me,” He’s rambling mindlessly, but you let it happen, clinging to any expression of emotion, any sliver of dedication in his tone that you can hold on to til the next time you find yourself in this position. 
You know he’s close when his grip on your thigh tightens forcefully and the strokes go from long and deep to slightly shorter and stunted. He’s grunting and gasping, but it’s all the best thing you’ve ever heard. 
“Come for me Bradley, I want to feel you,” And at that, he follows your orders, listens to you for once in his life. 
Everything is hazy as he keeps himself hovering over you and continues to rock his hips. You start to try and tell him he can pull out before his fingers find your clit and he dives back in to kiss you passionately. 
Bradley is a perfectionist at heart, an overachiever. You suppose it isn’t entirely ridiculous that that extends to his performance in the bedroom–he’s insistent you finish every time, and always more than him. Feeling the way he’s still warm and heavy inside you, his lips firm against yours, brings you over the edge more quickly than you’d like to admit. 
Still, you heave a shuddering gasp and let the pleasure wash over you. It’s overwhelming and all consuming, but he’s there through all of it til you feel yourself come back into your own body. 
You think he might be writing something on your skin, the way his finger loops and dips softly over your hip bone as he kisses you gently. He’s softening inside you and you can feel the mess the two of you made under your hips, except he isn’t moving, not yet at least, to rectify that situation. 
For once, you don’t push him to go clean up or scold him for another set of ruined sheets, you just let yourself bask in the moment as you imagine a world where the two of you will talk about this in the morning. You think of a timeline where this is where you end up because it’s where you’re meant to be, not because it’s something you’re choosing despite how it hurts you every time. You think of a place where Bradley is yours and you are his, wholly and completely.
Don’t let him in, you’ll have to kick him out again. 
“Didn’t you have a date tonight?” You breathe into his mouth.
Bradley just hums in response, brushing his lips over yours, down your jawline and your throat. His breath comes in warm puffs over your collarbones before he pulls back.
Hands pinned above your head, you squirm under his gaze. There’s something so intense about the way he’s looking at you, but you can’t bring yourself to squeeze your eyes shut to avoid it. Both of you lost your clothes somewhere on your way to the bedroom, and you’re thinking about how to persuade him to be the one to pick it all up when this is inevitably over. 
He smells like expensive cologne, and he’s got some product in his hair that made it difficult for you to brush your hands through it earlier. Plus, Phoenix had been dropping unsubtle hints earlier in the week (Hangman had affectionately called her out, a little sigh following— “You’re being such a shit stirrer.”)
“Bradley,” You try again, this time with a slight whine.
Did he seriously ditch some girl that’s probably been waiting on their date all week for this?
He responds by whispering your name back to you, the same tone undercutting the way he says it, “That doesn’t matter, I’m here now.”
The urge to keep complaining rises in you but he preempts your worries by licking into your mouth when you open it. 
He presses you into the mattress, weighing you down as he kisses you languidly, as if he’s trying to taste every part of you, as if he’s trying to memorize the sounds that escape you when he does. The warmth of his body makes your mind fog, and for the time being, everything else but this goes quiet. 
Distantly, you know that in the morning, he’ll have to leave. At the very least, he’ll have to go back to his to grab his stuff for the beach, a change of clothes. It isn’t kicking him out, but watching him leave again and again has started to build this pit at the bottom of your stomach. 
It would be different, you think, if the two of you were together. Because then, him leaving wouldn’t mean much where there would be an implicit promise and understanding that he was going to come back. Every time he closed the door behind him, you swallowed the fear that that would be your final memory of him. 
You’re selfish though. And you want to focus on the feeling of his touch instead of thinking about how you may never get to have this again. 
He makes it easy. Bradley pulls his shirt off and his dog tags make a gentle clinking sound as they hit each other and then finally come to rest on his chest. He looks like a god, backlit by the setting sun coming through your windows. 
This is how you want to remember him. Smiling down at you as he dives back in to kiss you breathless, twitching when you skim your fingertips up his sides because he’s ticklish. 
He makes short work of your shirt and sleep shorts, then his jeans are discarded. He stops briefly when his fingers reach the waistband of your underwear, a silent question that you answer by lifting your hips and letting him pull them off you. 
Every time he’s between your legs, he has this reverent look on his face, and it makes your chest twist at the fact that this time is no different. He holds your thighs open gently but firmly, and he presses his face into your pussy. Then, his tongue is darting out and licking up your core, flat and wide. 
You’d asked him once, if he likes going down on you. With a gleam in his eye, Bradley had said it was second only to being inside of you. You think of that as he eats you out enthusiastically, as you bury your hands in his hair and pull. 
He slides his tongue in and out of you, curls it around your clit and sucks in a way that makes your back arch and your thighs clenched around his head. Then, he’s slipping a finger inside and fucking you slowly with it. It makes you shiver as you realize how close you are. 
“Sweetheart, fuck, you taste incredible,” He murmurs, more to himself than anything else, pulling back briefly to make eye contact and you feel the way your breath quickens at the intensity of his gaze.
It only takes a few more minutes of him licking into you, tonguing at your clit, and adding another finger before you feel that familiar swooping in your stomach, before you’re choking out his name. Your back arches so much it aches, but it’s all you can do as the pleasure is all consuming. Bradley works you through it like every other time, holding you and letting you take what you need from him.
Then, he’s on you in an instant, kissing you furiously and sliding his hardness up and down you, covering himself in your slick. It’s filthy and sloppy but neither of you seem to mind. He lets himself rut against you til you’re hooking your legs around him and digging one of your heels into his back.
“Alright, alright,” He’s trying to sound nonchalant, but you know he’s more affected than his light tone lets on. 
The first push into you is always the most intense, but you suck in a deep breath that you force out through your teeth.
“I know, I know,” He croons, pressing little kisses all over your face as you adjust to him.
Bradley inches into you slowly, inch by inch. The initial stretch subsides til it’s replaced by the sweetest feeling of fullness, the way you can feel all of him. 
If there’s one thing the Navy’s good for, it’s the sheer strength Bradley possesses and has to maintain. You feel it in the way he fucks you, his back muscles rippling as you hold on for dear life. You feel it in the way his hips press into yours, shunting you slightly up the mattress.
For a while, the only sounds in the room are his hips meeting yours and the slick between the two of you. Momentarily, he pulls away from kissing you to look down to where he’s disappearing inside of you, that ring of you collecting at the base of his cock. His groan is guttural and broken. 
“Fuck, Bradley, it feels so good.”
He leans down again to kiss you sloppily, and the simple action of him burying a hand in your hair and twisting his wrist makes your heart skip a beat. He always knows exactly what you need when you need it. 
“C’mon, come for me, sweetheart, let me feel you.”
And because you’ve never been able to deny him anything, there you are, hurtling over the edge again. He’s everywhere around you, inside you, and his tongue in your mouth is the last thing you need to feel that wave crest inside of you. Bradley’s moan is deep as he feels you bare down on him and he follows you shortly after.
The moments after, when the glow is still settling and your mind is still hazy, are your favorite. Your mind is too foggy to focus on the fact that you know he’ll be leaving, but present enough to feel the way he doesn’t stop pressing kisses to your lips. You’re cognizant of how he cleans you up tenderly and presses his fingers into the skin of your thighs and hips just to watch it dimple. 
In those precious few minutes, that’s all that exists to you.
Don’t be his friend, you know he’s going to wake up in your bed in the morning. If you’re under him, you’re sure as hell not getting over him. 
You’re trying to ignore him, you really are. You start going to the beach an hour earlier than you usually do, hoping that he’s maintaining his schedule. Every tall brunette jogging across the sand sends your heart into overdrive. 
You still see Bradley when you go to the Hard Deck for a drink, but you keep a respectable distance between the two of you. If Phoenix mentions a round of pool, you jump at the chance, while asking Bob and Payback if they’d like to be the opposing team. You ignore the way your heart jumps into your throat when you can feel his eyes on you. 
Every note of Great Big Balls of Fire feels like a stab in the chest, and you hold back tears of frustration when you see some girl wrap her arms around his neck and rock along with him as he belts out the lyrics. You’re a fool. 
You’ve been ignoring his calls about Saturday morning beach runs and the memes he sends during the day go unanswered except for the little reactions iPhones let you send. You suppose it’s only fair that he gets to ignore you a little bit too.
Your little charade doesn’t last long, not truly in the grand scheme of things. Bradley doesn’t put up with you skirting his advances for long–he knows what he wants and he’ll be relentless til he gets it. And right now, he’s trying to corner you. 
And you’re weak for him. You should’ve known from the start that you wouldn’t be able to resist him. You can’t even now, even when you’re only getting him in pieces.
It’s not exactly your bravest moment to be hiding slightly behind Phoenix so he can’t see you (if you can’t see him, he can’t see you, right?) while she stares at you with an endlessly amused expression in her eyes. She doesn’t move to expose you, though.
“What’cha doin’?” Her tone is light, but you can tell she means business. 
The two of you are friends yes, but she’s known Bradley for a million times longer. There’s some girl-girl solidarity, but if you were in her shoes, you might have a few bones to pick about potentially throwing Bradley to the wolves on this one. You wonder for a moment if he’s been talking to her about all this, but again, is there even anything to talk about?
“Just uh, trying to see where Hangman’s at?” You sound like you’re asking her a question, and she quirks an eyebrow. 
She stretches the syllables of her next word out, letting it hang in the air, “Right. Even I don’t look at Hangman with that sort of intensity.”
That’s not entirely true, but you don’t really feel like getting into a competition with Phoenix of all people, over who’s looking at whom how. 
“Sweetheart? Can we talk?” 
You’d let Phoenix distract you for just a split second, and there he is, in all his glory. Bradley is beautiful, yes, but he looks tired. His sunny’s are hanging haphazardly from a floral button down that looks like it’s maybe seen better days, and he’s got dark circles marring the perfect tone of his tanned skin. 
This time, Phoenix just side-steps you and lets Bradley into your space. 
His presence is just as affecting there, in the middle of the Hard Deck, as it was the first time you saw him on the beach. Even with how tired he looks, he’s still glowing just slightly in the evening sun.
“Hi, Bradley,” You breathe, not daring to speak louder, as if that would make the moment real. 
You can feel Phoenix’s eyes on you, the way that Bob and Payback are starting to let their attention drift to from the game of pool. This, you don’t want anyone else to be witness to. This is something between just the two of you. You don’t really need the whole world to witness your imminent heartbreak. 
“I don’t want to do this here, is my place okay?” He looks so nervous, as if you’re going to push him away. It’s funny really, what you know is about to happen, and yet he still looks like this is about to break him entirely. 
Nodding, you let him lead you out of the bar. It feels like deja vu, how however many weeks ago you were tracing these exact steps but making your way towards a very different fate. 
The two of you are silent in the Bronco, and Bradley doesn’t bother turning the radio up to belt along to the 80s classic on the radio. Everything feels like you’re underwater, like the world is out of focus. You think you might start crying, but you try and swallow it down, be an adult. 
Pulling into the driveway, it’s silent in the car when he turns the engine off. Neither of you go to get out, but you know you can’t sit here forever. This had to happen at some point, had to come to a close. That doesn’t make getting out of the car and waiting for Bradley to unlock the door any easier, though. 
You toe off your shoes and let him get you a glass of water. Then, you’re standing on opposite sides of his kitchen, the pristine shine of the countertops and appliances making him feel a thousand miles away. You two are usually tumbling in, mouths locked together, or walking in with groceries, prepared to spend a comfortable evening cooking and watching a movie. This is everything coming apart at the seams. 
“Bradley,” You start, not really knowing where you’re going, but just wanting to break the silence.
He looks distraught and your stomach drops with guilt. 
This is your fault. 
He says your name once as he settles back against a countertop, and it hangs in the air between the two of you, til he starts speaking again, “I’ve been trying to figure out where I went wrong, what lines I crossed, and I guess at some point I realized it was all of them. I shouldn't have pushed you, I shouldn’t have–”
“I thought that that was all I could have of you, so I was selfish and I took it.” You say, the words tumbling out of you before you can stop yourself from interrupting him, but still unable to tear your eyes away from him, “But I was hurting you. I still am, and god, Bradley, I’ll make it up to you somehow, I’m so sorry.”
It’s almost funny, really, the way you’ll look back on this moment a year from now and laugh at the way the two of you are talking past each other, unwilling to acknowledge that your deepest desires could be attainable. But for now, all you can feel is the guilt in your veins, your heartbeat pounding your chest. 
“What?” He’d looked at the floor for a moment, but when you finish speaking he’s looking at you intently. “What did you say?”
Taking a deep breath, you steel yourself and start from the beginning, “I thought that you coming to me, like that, was the only way I could have you. And, and maybe it was me taking advantage because you were sometimes not super sober, but I would never–”
“I was always sober. Every time. I would never do that to you. What do you mean that was the only way you thought you could have me?” Bradley’s standing fully now, not leaning. 
“I thought you drank before, to, y’know, make it tolerable.” You regret the words as soon as you say them, “Sorry, that’s–you’re not that kind of person.”
He smiles ruefully, “I’m still focused on the part about that being the only way you could have me.”
Here it is. 
“I love you, Bradley. And not just as a friend, but more. But I didn’t want to push that on you, and so I thought–”
“You love me?”
A beat.
“Yes.”
Then, he’s laughing in that hysterical way when people are so overcome, the only way it’ll escape them is if they double over in giggles. But he’s trying to compose himself as quickly as he started. 
“I tried to tell you so many times how I felt, I left you all those post-it notes, god, I thought you were seeing them and just didn’t feel the same.”
“I-I don’t understand.”
“The hearts. That’s how I,” He heaves a shuddering breath, his voice thick with unshed tears, “That’s how I told my parents I loved them before I could really write. I was saying it to you every time I left.”
“You love me?” You’re crying now, and he squeezes his eyes shut til tears run down his cheeks too. 
His laugh is bitter but you know that’s not directed at you, “Was the sticky note covered in hearts not clear enough?”
You feel the way your cheeks warm and your stomach churns as you try and defend yourself, “You were thanking me for letting you sleep over?”
At that, he laughs, genuine this time, breaking the sadness that has been building in the air. Finally, he makes his way across the room to you and crowds into your space, wrapping you in his arms and pressing his forehead to yours. His eyes are closed. 
“Sweetheart.” It’s a warning, a plea, and a prayer all in one. “I meant every heart, every I love you, from the very first one I left.”
“I kept them all. In my bedside table.”
Then his lips are on yours. The kiss is salty, reminding you of all the emotion that’s been building for the past few months, every moment you didn’t confess, every moment you assumed the worst, it’s all there. But you don’t want to dwell on that now, now that you’ve heard him say something plucked from your wildest dreams.
“Say it again,” You whisper when his lips leave yours ever so briefly as the two of you are stumbling to the bedroom.
And he does. As he’s undressing you, he says it. He mumbles it against your lips and into your mouth. 
He says it against your bare skin as he presses you into his bed, the sheets smelling like him before he puts on cologne. It’s muffled momentarily by the way he takes one of your nipples into his mouth, but you feel the way his jaw works anyways as you cup his face. You let your legs fall open around him and feel the way he slides his fingers into you.
When he’s pressing into you, he’s saying it. I love you, I love you, I love you.
In those moments between start and finish, when the world falls away and all you know is the warmth of his body against yours, the slight slick of sweat on your skin, that’s when you think you realize that he means it. The motion of his hips is deep and insistent, as if to try and leave a permanent reminder that he was there. 
You’re crying, you realize. And he’s kissing the tears away like it’s the most natural thing in the world, pressing his forehead to yours as his lips keep forming the words. At some point, you’ve started saying them back to him too, choking them out despite everything so that you know that he knows that you love him.
When you finish, it feels like a supernova exploding inside of you. It starts in the center of your body and pushes its way to your fingertips til you’re gasping for air and he fucks you through it. Bradley cums moments later, filling you with his warmth in a way that’s both familiar and still thrilling. 
He rolls gently off you, and you hiss as he slips out. That’ll be a mess to clean up. 
But he’s looking at you, brushing your sweaty hair from your face, and his eyes are shining so brightly that it feels like looking at the sun. You want to look away, but you think that losing your vision in return for staring at the way his eyes crinkle in genuine happiness is well worth the price. 
I love you, he mouths. And you believe him. 
You whisper it back.
tagging: @sebsxphia @roosterbruiser @bradshawburner @gretagerwigsmuse @sometimesanalice @joaquinwhorres @roosterbruiser @roosterforme @bradshawsbitch @seresinsweetie @notroosterbradshaw @genius2050 @peachystenbrough @rhettabbotts @theharddeck @wkndwlff - tagging ppl either by request or whom i feel like are horny for bradley soooo pls let me know if you'd like to be added/removed
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seriouslyseresin · 11 months
Text
Brother's Best Friend - Part 4
Jake Seresin x F!Reader
A/N: Did I write an angstier version of this chapter and then rewrite the last half entirely because y'all deserve a fluffy read? Yes, yes I did. Thank you for all your wonderful ideas! I've got them all lined up for future chapters hehehe So don't be blaming me for the heartache you're inflicting upon yourselves XD Muah!
Summary: The trials and tribulations of falling for your brother's best friend.
CW: Swearing, suggestive language, protective Jake
WC: 2000+
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Masterlist
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“You have a what?” Jake exclaims, nearly choking on his coffee.
“A date,” you repeat, smiling giddily at both him and Bradley. “We met at pub night last week and we’ve been texting.”
“Texting?” Jake raises his eyebrows skeptically. He looks over at Bradley as though he expects him to express an opinion, but Bradley just rolls his eyes and shakes his head.
“Be careful,” your brother says, returning his attention to the plate of scrambled eggs before him.
You snort. “In what way?”
“In all ways,” Jake chimes in, clearly annoyed that Bradley has nothing else to add. “Guys are dicks so keep your guard up.”
You give Jake a humorous look. “Not all guys,” you say.
Jake nods at you. “All guys.”
You shake your head with a laugh. “This isn’t my first date, Jake.”
“Just work under the assumption that all guys are dicks, alright?” he says. “That way, when he turns out to be a dick, you won’t be shocked.”
You set down the jar of jam you’re holding and let out a sigh. Since the incident with couch girl, Jake has gone out with three different women, which, to be fair, is normal for him. Still, you’re just about done pining over your brother’s best friend, whose signals you’ve clearly misread. If guys are dicks, then Jake Seresin is exhibit A. “He’s actually super sweet,” you say, taking your toast out of the toaster.
“Don’t be fooled,” Jake mutters.
Bradley grimaces as he looks up at you. “He’s not wrong.”
“I have dated plenty of nice guys,” you say. “Just because the two of you are assholes to women, doesn’t mean all men are.”
Bradley claps a hand to his chest. “Me?” he cries in disbelief.
Jake puckers his lips and gives you a sheepish grin without disputing your claim.
“I’m not going into this with your negative energy,” you say, waving your arms at the two of them. “Because maybe he’s nothing like you.”
“One could hope.” Jake shrugs.
Bradley eyes him dubiously. “Just be careful,” he repeats.
“Don’t worry, it’s just dinner and a movie,” you say, bringing your breakfast to the table.
“What movie are you going to go see?” Jake asks.
“I don’t know,” you reply. “We’re going back to his place so probably something on Netflix.”
Jake sets down his fork and knife and stares at you. “You’re going where?”
You ignore Jake’s outburst and take a bite out of your toast. “I’ll be home late,” you say, mostly to Bradley. “So, don’t wait up.”
Jake stares at you. “You can’t just go to some random dude’s home,” he says.
You cock your head at him inquisitively. “Interesting advice coming from someone who brings home random girls almost daily.”
Jake presses his lips together and exhales moodily. “That’s different.”
Bradley smirks, eyeing him expectantly.
“How?” you ask.
Jake rises from his seat and lifts his coffee cup. “Do whatever you want,” he says. “Bradshaw, let’s go, we’re gonna be late.”
Bradley gives you a resigned sort of look and shoves one last piece of toast into his mouth. “I’m driving,” he says with his mouth full.
“You better not be blocking me in!” you yell at their backs as they head for the front door.
That night, your date drops you off at the end of your driveway, leaning in for a kiss before you exit his car. You give him a quick peck and a tight smile before stepping out of the vehicle, knowing that, despite the evening having been pleasant enough, you’re probably not going to pursue the relationship further.
He asks about seeing you later in the week and you peek back through his car window and respond with a polite maybe because perhaps the guy deserves another chance. You walk up to the porch as he drives away, and then try the door before searching for your keys in the dark.
The door is unlocked, so you walk in, flicking on the light, and the first thing you see is Jake as he steps away from the window facing the driveway and places his hands on his hips.
“He didn’t want to walk you to the door?” he asks sternly.
You grimace at him. “Why are you here?”
“Bradley had to stay late tonight so I came to make sure you got home alright.”
You blink at him coolly. “And that involves spying on me?”
“If I were spying on you, you wouldn’t know about it,” Jake retorts, starting for the kitchen. “You hungry?”
“I just came from dinner,” you remind him, taking off your heels.
You follow him into the kitchen, dropping your purse on the floor as you go. You’re suddenly feeling extremely tired. Jake opens the refrigerator and starts taking out ingredients for a meal while you walk past him and land on the couch in the living room. Jake cranes his neck to look at you over the island. “I’m making spaghetti,” he calls.
“Knock yourself out,” you reply, closing your eyes.
You hear Jake step around the island and enter the living room, and then you feel the depression of the couch as he plants himself down by your feet. You open your eyes again. “Yes?” you say.
Jake watches you blankly for a second before finally blurting out, “How’d it go?”
You furrow your eyebrows, still confused by his interest in your dating life. You pull your knees up so that your feet don’t keep sliding into him and pretend like you aren’t at all intrigued by his question. “Fine,” you respond nonchalantly.
Jake nods although he doesn’t look entirely satisfied with your answer. “Still think he’s nice?”
You eye him wryly. “Very.”
Jake raises his eyebrows. “Too nice?”
You make a face at him. “What’s too nice?”
Jake shrugs. “Boring.”
You give him a flat look. “This perspective explains so much,” you say, pointing at him reproachfully.
Jake laughs. “Girls don’t like nice guys.”
“I like nice guys!” you exclaim, sitting up with renewed energy.
Jake eyes you skeptically. “Sure, you do.” His gaze sweeps over your face in a slightly provocative manner and you get the sense again that he might be into you. And this possibility sends a rush through your body that makes your head spin. However, you remind yourself that, if this were, in fact, the case, Jake wouldn’t be going out and sleeping with a new woman every other night, because that would be counterintuitive. Besides, you are getting over him, anyway. You are well on your way to recovery.
You shake your head at him and lean your back into the armrest of the couch.
“You dressed up for him,” he notes, meeting your gaze as you glance up at him.
“Would you rather I undressed for him?” you ask pointedly.
Jake blinks at you uncomfortably. He looks like he might be sick. “Don’t joke about that,” he says, rubbing his forehead anxiously.
“You started it.”
“I just meant ” – he sighs without looking at you – “I just meant, you look good.”
“Then just say that,” you retort. “Without being a dick about it.”
He turns to look at you with an apologetic sort of cringe contorting his features. “Guess I’m not a ‘nice’ guy,” he mutters, complete with air quotes.
You stare at him, wondering if he’s hinting at something. You kick him in the leg with your foot. “Don’t be weird.”
He chuckles. “Come on,” he says, rising from the couch. “Let’s eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“But I want company,” he says with a slight whine, bending forward to grab your wrists and pull you up off the couch.
You let him lift you to your feet, your body crashing briefly into his while you find your balance. Jake releases you instantly and takes a step back, holding his hands up as though he doesn’t want to be held responsible for initiating the contact.
“Sorry,” he mutters quickly.
You give him a look. “I said, don't be weird, Jake.”
Three weeks later, you’re sitting with Jake on a patio, waiting for Bradley to bring the three of you drinks from the bar.
“Can I ask you a question?” you say tentatively, making sure that Bradley is still inside the pub.
“Shoot,” Jake responds, downing the last of his beer.
“It’s about my boyfriend,” you say.
Jake cringes. “He’s your boyfriend now?”
You shrug. “I mean, I guess. We haven’t really formally established our relationship status.”
Jake nods. “And you want out?”
“What? No!”
“What’s the question, then?” Jake raises his eyebrows.
“It’s about the sex,” you say, stirring your drink with your straw to avoid looking at him.
“The what?” Jake exclaims, reaching for his empty glass of beer and bringing it to his mouth before realizing there is nothing left.
You clear your throat and glance up at him, slightly mortified. “It’s… it’s good, it’s just” –
“Woah, woah, woah!” he shouts, leaping up from his seat as though your words have burned him. “I don’t want to hear about that!”
You give him a flat look. “Jake, I literally found you naked on my couch last month. The least you could do is give me some guidance.”
Jake squirms. “I’m not – I can’t,” he stammers. “I don’t think I can listen to this.”
“Why not?!”
Jake lets out a dramatic moan. “Why don’t you ask your brother?”
“For advice on my sex life?” you hiss.
“Don’t you have friends?” Jake asks, dropping back into his seat.
“I need a guy’s opinion.”
Jake lets out an irritable sigh and gives his head a slight shake to indicate that he’s still not on board with this turn of events. “Don’t you have guy friends?”
You nod. “I do. And you’re one of them. Are you not?”
Jake stares at you defeatedly. “How detailed is this going to get?”
You glance over your shoulder to check on the crowd of people waiting for drinks at the bar, looking for your brother. You spot him nowhere near the counter, chatting up a stunning brunette, and resolve that you have at least fifteen minutes alone with Jake. You turn back to him and say, “That depends on how helpful you want to be.”
Jake whimpers. “I have no alcohol left.”
You roll your eyes. “Have mine,” you say, sliding your cocktail across the bistro table.
Jake takes the glass from you, his hand wrapping momentarily around yours before you let go. “Okay,” he says, taking a big gulp. “I’m ready.”
“Okay,” you say with a hesitant sigh. “So, the thing is, he really wants to try” –
“Nope, no, nuh-uh,” Jake says, shaking his head. “I don’t want to know.” He buries his face in his hands.
“Dude, I need your help!”
“You want my advice? Here it is,” he says, leaning into the table so suddenly that you jerk backward just to prevent a collision between your two faces. “Doesn’t matter what he wants to try if you’re not comfortable with it.”
“But it’s” –
Jake holds up a hand. “I don’t care what it is. If you’re sittin’ here talkin’ to me about it, it means you don’t want to do it.”
You stare at him, wondering when Jake Seresin had the opportunity to amass such profound wisdom. You furrow your eyebrows. “Even if it’s, like, supposedly a normal thing people do?”
Jake hooks his eyebrow; you’ve piqued his interest. “That’s what he told you?”
You nod slowly.
Jake lets out a long, heavy breath through his nose, his lips pressed tightly together as his jaw clenches. He studies your face with a look of concern. “You tell that asshole that the next time he pressures you into doing anything, he’s going to have to deal with me.” Jake takes another swig of your cocktail and then adds, “And your brother, of course.”
You grimace. “He’s not pressuring me. It just… was brought to my attention that there is a particular thing that we could be doing – that many people do – that we’re not currently doing – that… ugh, it would be so much easier if you just let me tell you what the thing is!”
Jake places a hand on your knee. “If you tell me what the thing is, I might hurl.” You groan in frustration while Jake pats your leg sympathetically. He shakes his head. “I knew this guy was gonna be a dick.”
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