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Plus one part four

Jake "Hangman" Seresin x f!reader

Summary: After running away from Jake she realizes that maybe she's really into him and that scares her.

Part one. Two. Three.

Warnings: wound, mention of blood, insults

Jake didn't have time to see it coming when she slipped out of his embrace and almost ran away. He was so confused that he stood there for a moment before he finally regained the use of his legs and tried to catch her.

"Y/N!"

He lost sight of her as she rushed into the building, glanced around to finally see her in the distance entering the ladies' room. He slipped between the guests to reach the place and when he was about to arrive there, he saw Erin entering in her turn. He stopped, couldn't see himself throwing the bride out of the bathroom at her own wedding and he preferred to avoid drawing attention to themselves, even if it was probably already too late.

Running a hand across the back of his neck, he raised his face to the ceiling and let out a sigh. Why had she reacted like that? Had he gone too far? This evening had brought them closer than they had been able to get in almost a year, he didn't think he was wrong in thinking that she shared a mutual attraction, well he had believed it up to that point and she hadn't really tried to put him on another track. Perhaps she had had a reason of her own for having reacted in that way. In any case they were going to have to clear things up.

•

She entered in hurry in the toilets and rushed to the sink, opening the tap on cold water she put some on her face to make go down again the inferno in her cheeks due to what had just happened with Jake and her race to leave him in the lurch. She turned off the tap and put her hands on either side of the sink and looked in the mirror. At the same time Erin slipped inside the room and walked towards her with a worried expression on her face.

"Something's wrong Y/N?"

She put a hand on her shoulder looking at her in the mirror. Y/N took a deep breath before turning to her. She needed to release what was in her heart and talk to a friend.

"Erin I like you a lot you know that. I have to tell you something but promise me you'll keep it to yourself."

The bride nodded before checking to make sure no one else was in the bathroom, indicating to her friend to continue. She then told him about her masquerade with Jake, the fact that he had offered to be her date to save her from having to endure yet more questions and pained looks, dates arranged by the aunts to meet their nephew, explained to her that she had felt for some time an attraction for her neighbor that she didn't think he shared given the number of women passing by his house and the lack of attempt to get closer to her if it was the case, and finally his attitude tonight, and his more than closeness to her.

"He turned me upside down. I panicked so I ran away, left him hanging there, oh my god what is he going to think? Maybe it offended him?"

She placed the palm of one of her hands on her forehead, the other on her waist and Erin put one hand on her shoulder and the other on her arm, amused to see her friend in this state, which was quite rare.

"You have a crush. But it's not a big deal, everything will be fine." She tried to reassure her.

"What if I just forgot? I've spent so much time alone that if anything I've forgotten how to behave! "

"Calm down. There's nothing to forget, it doesn't get forgotten and the way he's leading the way I'm sure you'll have no trouble following in his footsteps." Erin chuckled, "You should go back before he thinks you've really run away."

Erin replaced a few wild strands of Y/N's hair, hugged her quickly before gently throwing her out of the bathroom before she could protest. Y/N looked around looking for the blond head and saw him on the side of the dancefloor where he had been kidnapped by a group of older women led by Tilda. She smiled amused as she saw him giving them his charming smile, the conversation looked lively and he looked like a fish in water.

His bow tie was undone, the first buttons of his shirt unbuttoned and his sleeves rolled up over his muscular forearms, he was so attractive that a wave of heat spread through her, thinking about what had happened in the garden. She turned on her heels to look away and cool her mind and was served by running into Harvey, Noah's grandfather, a small man approaching a hundred years old with two hairs on the rock fighting a duel, hunched over and walking with his cane as fast as he could to escape his wife. A tender smile stretched her lips.

"Oh darling! I haven't had a chance to see you yet. How are you?"

He put a hand on the young woman's arm, Harvey and Jody were Noah's grandparents and both having grown up together, they had become hers by proxy, especially the only ones for her, who had never had the chance to know hers.

"Harvey, very good, what about you, still running from Jody?" She sneered.  He glanced behind him.

"She's going to get my skin. I don't know how she hasn't done it in 70 years of marriage... She's baking me to a crisp."

She smiled, to tell the truth she hoped that one day she too would live something as long as these two, a tough love, a complicity and a support to any test.

"Darling, who’s this man that brought us? Is he treating you well? "

She almost lost her smile and had to make an effort to keep it and not worry Harvey with a sudden broken face. Lying to others had been one thing, lying to them was another. And this she hadn’t thought of before.

"Jake is my ... friend." She finally said in a way that didn't stray too far from the truth. "And he treats me very well." She reassured him in a soft voice accompanied by a smile.

"He'd better. Otherwise I'll take care of him."  He said as he made his cane dance, signifying that he would attack Jake with it.

Harvey patted her on the arm before resuming his frantic run to escape Jody.

And it was the case, he had treated her wonderfully well all evening, he had proposed to accompany her and he played his role wonderfully, she took her courage in both hands and turned around ready to join him. With what he did for her, she owed him an explanation, that is to say, she had totally panicked.

Passing her hands on her waist as if to avoid false folds on her dress she moved towards them before stopping suddenly. How was she going to manage to pretend anything after what had just happened, was he going to reject her? She took a deep breath as if to give herself courage and resumed her way. Arriving at their height, the women around her noticed her presence and gave her a smile. Positioning herself near the pilot, she slipped an arm around his.

"Oh Y/N there you are."

"Sweetie this man is wonderful, make sure you don't let him go."

Jake laughed and she had a little laugh too, she felt his gaze on her and without her expecting it under the circumstances, he leaned in and placed a kiss on her temple.

"Oh I consider myself the luckier of the two."

The women giggled and took their leave to move on to their next victim. Not daring to meet his eyes she contemplated the guests on the dance floor.

"Is everything okay? You seemed to be in a hurry to leave."

A grimace formed on her face after she bit the inside of his cheek too hard.

"I -." She was cut off by a young woman she knew all too well, but never thought she'd run into here.

"Y/N honey! You won't mind me borrowing your date!"

Jake didn’t have time to react that the young woman took him the hand embarking on the track leaving Y/N on the spot the open mouth.

"What the fuck did just happen?"

At a glance she spotted Noah chatting with some people she didn't know and went to meet him.

"Would you excuse us for a moment?"  She took him by the hand and led him further away.  "I can't believe you invited her." She said turning to him and he understood immediately who she was talking about.

"Wow wow." He says, holding up his hands in defence. "Do you really think I would have done that? Y/N please."

"Really Noah? What the hell is Brandy doing at your wedding?"

"Would you believe me if I told you that it was granny Jody who invited her? She plays Crazy Eights every Tuesday with her grandmother and she was so proud of her grandson's wedding that she invited her, and because she thinks we've always been friends since middle school, thought it would be a good idea to invite her granddaughter too."

"What?" She asked stunned after shaking her head. "Noah, this girl is a psycho! I ended up with a bowl cut because of her! Do you know what it's like Noah to have a bowl cut in high school? I was teased all the way through the end of it because this crazy girl decided to cut my hair off in the middle of Mrs. Harris' history class! Because she thought I was trying to steal her boyfriend 'cause I was put in a study group with him."

Noah looked at her almost horrified, she was the one who looked like a nutcase now.

"Okay okay, this episode obviously created a real trauma in your adolescence, but she's just there as a guest, and you hadn't even seen her until then. Besides, I made sure that no pair of scissors were accessible." He said on the tone of the joke what earned him a dark look from the young woman. "No? Still too early to make a joke? "

She grabbed him by the arms and turned him around to see Brandy wiggling against Jake. He made a face that didn't escape Y/N and didn't reassure her.

"You don't think that ..."

"Think what?"

"That she would try to steal Jake from you for revenge?"

"But revenge for what?!" She replied in a hysterical tone.

"Look, I'm sure you're worried about nothing. Besides, you only have to see the way Jake looks at you to understand that there's no risk of him going elsewhere."

She raised her eyes towards her friend under this revelation. How was Jake looking at her? Noah passed his arm around her shoulders and kissed her on the cheek while giggling before moving away, leaving her ruminate.

One look at the dancefloor was enough to make her blood boil and she went to sit back down in her seat, mumbling. On the way she stopped at the buffet and took a plate and filled it with small cream puffs to try to appease her frustration. Seeing a waiter about to pass behind her with a bottle of champagne she intercepted him and took possession of the bottle from which she poured herself a glass. She leaned back in her chair, a glass of champagne in one hand, a cream puff in the other. She was fulminating to see Brandy laughing like a bitch while making eyes at Jake, who had obviously already forgotten that he was supposed to be in a relationship. While she was literally shredding a little cream puff to get over her nerves, she met his gaze and thought she would explode when she saw a spark of mischief in his eyes that she knew perfectly well since it was the one that animated his gaze when he teased her. He does it on purpose. She realized whereas he made rock Brandy backwards, revealing to the whole world her fabulous neckline. He was trying to make her jealous. While he slipped his hand in the back of her enemy to approach her, she saw a rictus stretching his lips, staring at her. Clenching her jaw, she drank the contents of her glass in one go, looking for the courage to get up and remove her pseudo boyfriend from the dirty hands of this bimbo. This little game lasted a little while during which their gazes clashed, and she hadn’t even realized that under the annoyance she had tightened too much her glass in her hand, this one breaking without noise in her palm. It was only when Erin, who was chatting with the people sitting next to her, realized that drops of blood were strewn on the floor that she looked up worried at her friend.

"My god Y/N what happened, you are bleeding!"

The other people around the table then gathered around her, picking up the broken glass and gathering towels to put on the wound. Jake, who hadn’t taken his eyes off of her, abruptly left Brandy alone in the middle of the dancefloor to run to her after seeing this small group gather around his presumed girlfriend.

"Y/N, you okay?!"

He made his way through this little group to kneel down in front of her worried and take her hand in one of his, the other sliding on her cheek making sure she was okay.

"What happened?"

"What the hell were you doing with her?" Said she dryly the tears starting to rise as she began to feel the pain in the palm of her hand.

His worried look gave way to a slight amusement.

"Jealous Y/L/N?"

"Shut up Seresin and fucking kiss me."

A huge smile stretched his lips revealing almost all his teeth and sliding his hand from her cheek to her neck, drew her to him to kiss her, as he had never kissed any of the bimbos who sneaked out of his house.

Well guys, this is the crucial moment. I hadn't planned on going further than one chapter and today we are on the 4th. The story can end here or it can continue in the fluffiest way. Please, let me know in the comments, even if it's just a thumb up 🙏, if you want to see this adventure continue beyond this wedding.

The unexpected visitor

Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x f!reader

Summary: All day long Jake waited to come to take care of his girl who turned him on by texts, he certainly doesn't expect who's waiting for him.

Warnings: NO MINORS +18, explicit sexual content, oral sex giving and receiving, swearing

"Can't wait for you to come home."

A smirk stretched his lips as he read the text before putting his phone in his pocket and grab his helmet joining the rest of the squad for today's exercise.

They had been texting each other hot all day and Jake was just waiting for one thing, the end of the day to get home and honor his fiancée the best way he knew how. That is, between her legs. When the day finally came to an end he didn't hesitate to rush home, jumping out of the car and rushing inside the house he let the door slam behind him to announce his return before happily exclaiming from the hallway into the living room.

"Baby I'm here!" He took off his shirt and pants while walking through the house looking for her. “Spread your legs wide open for me I'm coming! Also I'm gonna fuck your little mouth so hard you won't be able to talk for a few days. Fuck, Love I'm gonna destroy you." He froze in place as he came into the living room dressed only in his boxers and saw her sitting in one of the armchairs, a man sitting across from her on the couch, both of them looking at him dumbfounded. Jake's smile tightened with embarrassment.

"Honey, Father Edwards came to visit us unexpectedly, to talk about the wedding, could you put your clothes on please."

Father Edwards looked down at his glass of water clearing his throat, Jake, still with his embarrassed smile on his face apologized before walking backwards into the kitchen picking up his clothes as he went.

 "If you'll excuse me for a moment." In a strangled, high-pitched voice she rose to join him as their guest replied with a nod.

 "You could have warned me!" He exclaimed whispering so that the priest wouldn’t hear them.

 "I didn't have time! How was I supposed to guess you would go home claiming you wanna fuck me. Jesus .. what he is going to think .. '' She put her hand on her forehead, the other on her hips. "Okay, put your clothes on and shut it. Let me handle this."

She starts to walk away before coming back to him and kissing him, he was turned on by her authority.

"That said, I still can't wait for you to destroy me." She said with a low voice before heading to the living room, provoking a smile from ear to ear to Jake who followed her.

She returned to her seat, Jake taking his place beside her, nodding with a pinched smile to Father. "Father Edwards, you look great."

"Jake, nice to see you again. I had come to see you to discuss your wedding ceremony." With a proud smile Jake took one of her hands that she had crossed in her lap and clasped it in his, a smile she returned, " I haven't seen you since when you came to me to ask me to officiate."

"Oh yeah, we've been busy with work a lot."

"You know it's customary to have an appointment before that to make sure of your ... motivations, that it's a commitment that you're making in good conscience. To make sure that you're aware of what it means, to answer your questions and discuss how the ceremony will go."

Unlike Jake's family, his future wife's family had never been very religious and a civil one would probably have required less preparation. Nevertheless, it has been finally decided that the civil ceremony would be followed by a religious one in order to agree with Jake's family and to please them. They didn’t intend to start their life as newlyweds with a conflict between the two families who couldn’t agree. So that's why today Father Edwards found himself sitting on their couch at the least opportune moment.

"Well at least there is no doubt about your motivation for this wedding, you do really love you both. " He said amused which disconcerted the young lovers in front of him.

"Always done with love padre." Jake threw happily and proudly, too much for the young woman's taste.

"Jake for God's sake please don't say more words."

"Um, dear child, don't involve Him in this please. Well, I'm gonna leave you ... you two certainly have things to do." He winked at them and she just wanted to bury herself deep underground. "It would still be a good idea to make an appointment soon to discuss all this."

All three of them got up and they walked him to the door.

"Thank you for coming Father Edwards and ... I'm sorry, truly."

He put a hand on her shoulder still amused. "It doesn't matter my child. I don't see that every day, fortunately."

Once he was out, she closed the door and leaned against it.

"Well we will be lucky if he still wants to marry us."

Jake who had remained in the background, hands in the pockets of his jeans, held back from laughing and she felt like hitting him for this embarrassing situation.

"I'm sorry ... That's wrong, I'm not."

She rolled her eyes before returning to the living room, the pilot on her heels. As she bent down to clear the coffee table to take the glasses back to the kitchen, he put his arms around her waist, burying his face in her neck.

"Please now can you let me fill you."

His words were met with an elbow to the stomach that made him laugh and tighten his grip around her.

"You're so a classy man Seresin."

"Hey! You turned me on all day long and I've been waiting all day for this to happen. You should have known what was waited for you once I came home. "

"That's my fault now?! Do I need to show you the texts to refresh your memory, you're the one who initiated this." A plaintive sound came out of his chest as she headed for the kitchen, following still glued to her.

"I know. But this is my way to show you how much I love you."  Her laugh that he loved so much rang in his ears as she burst out laughing and sliding his hands over her hips to turned her around. "You can't imagine the pure joy I feel to know I'll be able to hear that sound for the rest of my life." He took the glasses she still had, one in each hand, and placed it behind her on the work surface. Passing his arms under buttocks he raised her to sit on it then slipped his hands on her hips.

"Is it bad to want to make love to the girl I love?"

"You always want to, it's like your first human need." She joked, resting her hands on his shoulders.

"That's because I love you so much darling.” Coming to kiss her neck he carried her back to sit her on the kitchen table lower than the countertop, allowing him to be just the right height between her legs.

"Now, are you allowing me to show you I love you?" He asked whispering in her ear which made her feel thrills down her spine.

Without waiting more, he went up her dress on her thighs, caressing them of his hot hands, of a hand in the hollow of her kidneys he approached her so that she can be on the edge of the table. He placed his lips on hers mixing his tongue with hers, her hands sliding on his chest to his waist to catch his shirt that she removed him making him raise his arms, the sight that it offered her made her bite her lower lip what excited more the blond who came to caress her over her underwear. The sudden presence of his hand on her crotch made her flinch with surprise and she contracted her thighs encircling more firmly his waist. Depositing kisses on her collarbone, going up towards her ear he withdrew her panties to come then slip a finger in her, causing her to squeak. He added a finger, fingering her with his index and middle fingers, caressing her clitoris with his thumb. Her movements of pelvis and the acceleration of her breath intensified the excitation of Jake which manifested itself by the hardening of his member tight in his jeans. A hand in his nape, the other on his wrist, she squeaked so strong of pleasure that he could have come just by listening to it. A hoarse moan of his share resounded in her ear that accentuated her excitation, she wanted some more, more than to feel his fingers in her. He withdrew it from her slowly to let her feel all the movement and came to squat in front her open legs, going up his hand of her thigh to her chest  meaning to her to lean back in order to better open to him. Placing her legs on his shoulders he plunged his face between her thighs and she let escape a cry of pleasure by feeling his wet and hot tongue lapping her intimacy.

"God Jake!" In a lively gesture she clutched his hair and arched her pelvis to better offer herself to him. The tip of his tongue caressed her small button of flesh so sensitive what made her tremble of pleasure, he made the turn of it with the tip of his tongue before sucking, alternating the two. He felt her clitoris swelling between his lips what provoked him a smile of satisfaction. With his tongue he went through her wet slit feeling her almost to fail, her breathing was jerky, her movements of pelvis more insistent, she couldn’t wait any more. He straightened up and came to offer her her own taste on his lips before murmuring against hers.

"You get me so excited when you squeal like that."

She laughed a little as she felt his excitement through his jeans.

"Yeah, I can feel it and I think I can fix it." He raised an intrigued eyebrow and bit his lip as he saw her get off the table and come to her knees. In a split second she undid his belt and unbuttoned his jeans before sliding it with his boxers down his thighs. She threw him a vicious glance whereas he slipped a hand in her hair. When she took it in her mouth he tilted his head back with a sigh of ecstasy, he liked to feel himself in her and this in all possible ways, this one being by far his favorite. Her tongue wrapped around his length, which she went through at a slow pace at first then she accelerated feeling his grip tighten around her hair. The tip of her tongue played with his foreskin making him moan of pleasure. When she took him again in mouth Jake gave a blow of kidney to come to sink in her throat. When he looked down at her he saw that she had one hand around his member, caressing herself with the other, he liked to see her excited and making herself feel good by giving him pleasure. His own increased tenfold he began a long series of brutal back and forth to feel himself go to the bottom of her throat pressing on the back of her skull. She ended up withdrawing to take a big breath, small tears beading in the corners of her eyes by the feeling of his cock tapping in the bottom of her throat. He helped her to stand up by taking her by the hands and wiped her tears with his thumbs before coming to kiss her passionately and to sit her down again on the table. His arms around her, their two bodies pressed one against the other, their intimacies caressing.

"Jake please.." She moaned.

"What sweetheart?"

"Take me now."

He inserted himself then in her, she was so wet that he slipped easily, leaned on her a hand on the table, he passed his other arm under one of her knees to raise her leg and better sink in her. The sensation of her sex contracting around his doubled his pleasure and he shook his head as if to clear his head while the pulsations of his heart became stronger. Their two pelvises dancing together, him giving big knocks to go more deeply in her and her to receive him better, the sound of their skins clacking one against the other mixed with the short breaths and the moans. Her hands clutched the edge of the table to which she clung desperately not to fail.

"Shit, this table won't ever handle this." He joked burying his face in her neck, pressing his lips against her burning skin, one of her hands dropped the edge of the table to come and press against his nape, in which she planted her nails to which he responded by growling and biting the skin of her neck on which he was going to leave a hickey.

"Ja.. Jake, Please go faster."

"This babe wants more uh? Ask and you'll receive." Without releasing his face from her neck he grips her hips firmly controlling the movements of her pelvis against which he comes crashing faster at her request making her scream louder.

"Fuck Jake! I can't no more!"

"Come for me babe, come around me and I'll fill you up."

While she tightens abruptly a last time around his waist, the orgasm invades her tearing off a cry of pleasure bringing Jake to his paroxysm and joining her, pouring in her, tightening his embrace and moaning in his turn. Out of strength she releases her size of her thighs, and slides her arms around his nape snuggling against him. They remain one moment in that position, him between her legs his arms around her, hers around his nape, taking back their breaths, exhausted by their frolic.

"See how much I love you?" He says his lips against hers with a smirk making her laugh.

"Never doubted about it. I love you so much too Jake. Never leave me."

"Never been in my plans Love. I'm gonna make you mine forever."

Who Did This To You? (Hangman)

Pairing: Hangman x Female!Reader (no use of y/n)

Word Count: 10.2k because I have no self control

Summary: In your most vulnerable hour, Jake 'Hangman' Seresin is the one to find you, and the one to ask you the ultimate question. "Who did this to you?"

Warnings: Mentions of Abuse and DV (NOT committed by Jake), nongraphic description of resulting injuries, a very one-sided bar fight, mention that a character is going to therapy, insults and confrontation by a past abuser. (This story is a who did this to you trope. While it is only dealing with the 'who did this to you' aftermath of what was done, please keep that in mind.)

Notes: This is just an excuse to write the who did this to you trope. This is self indulgence at its finest.

“Who did this to you?”

Your head shot up a little too quickly at the unexpected company, and the world began to spin all over again. With a groan, you laid your head back on the bartop, hoping the flat wood would help the world right itself faster.

You’d been lying there with your forehead pressed on the cool wood of the bar, sitting directly under an air vent, for the better part of thirty minutes. The Hard Deck’s AC was working overtime to keep the heat outside, and the rush of cold air blowing down the back of your shirt was doing wonders for your sore arms and back. 

“Hurricane, who did this to you?”

You hadn’t been expecting anyone to be there. Everyone else was down at the beach. You thought you’d have some time alone to lick your wounds and cover your bruises and emotionally recover from what had happened that morning. Penny was too busy watching Maverick. The aviators were too engrossed in a new game Maverick had invented called dogfight volleyball, and the bar was technically closed at this hour. You thought you could slip by and start your shift sight unseen. 

“Hurricane,” The voice was firm, but not demanding. Underwritten with a tone of concern that was very uncommon to that particular voice. “Hurricane,” it repeated. 

You opened your eyes and rolled your head to lay facing the voice’s direction and made eye contact with Hangman. 

You knew it was him before you turned, but for some reason you still did. 

Backlit by the sun’s rays bouncing off his perfect golden hair with an open button-up billowing in the sea breeze, he stood in sharp contrast to your current state. Like an angel stepping out of heaven and into hell. 

In some ways, this was your worst case scenario. Hangman was definitely not your favorite pilot and was very close to your least, and he was certainly not your friend. You were at best frenemies and even that was a stretch. The pair of you had been constantly bickering and making snide comments behind the other’s backs since practically the moment you made eye contact with each other. He intentionally made your life difficult behind the bar, and you rang the bell on him on multiple occasions. 

He was responsible for everyone calling you Hurricane. You’d come crashing through the doors on your first day working at the Hard Deck with a torrential downpour following you in from outside. A drowned cat would’ve looked less soaked through and pathetic than you, and the moment Penny introduced you to the squad, he’d made a snide remark about the Hurricane you brought with you. The rest was history. It became like a callsign to them; your name long forgotten by most. The only pilot who didn’t call you Hurricane now was Bob, and it ground your gears just a little bit more every time you heard it. 

On the other hand, this might’ve been the best case scenario. Hangman wasn’t someone who was going to make a big show of this. He wouldn’t rush down to the beach and ask for help. He wouldn’t fawn over you or ask you if you were okay a million times. He wouldn’t expect you to cry on his shoulder and incessantly pick at you until you broke down. 

“Who did this to you?” Hangman took a step in from where he’d frozen in the door out to the patio.

His expression was like his voice, hard and firm with undertones of the worry that anyone would be feeling in this situation. Hangman wasn’t the nicest guy you knew, but you knew from the other pilots stories of the many times he’d saved their lives that he wasn’t evil, and you didn’t doubt for a moment that he’d at least be somewhat concerned even if he didn’t care particularly for you. 

“You already know who.”

It was true. Devin had been in the bar about once a week for the last six months that you’d been dating. He’d made the rounds through the aviators, none of whom particularly liked him but all of whom had been polite enough not to say anything… except Hangman. 

The second Devin left after his first introductions, Hangman had made his distaste known. ‘Something’s off about that guy,’ he’d said before the door even closed. Phoenix had teased him about being jealous that his snarky banter was no longer the center of your world, but you’d seen it for what it was. A combination of being angry he wasn’t the center of attention and looking to defy you at every turn that was a uniquely Hangman blend. 

Hangman approached you slowly, taking one deliberate step at a time. Every step with such obvious forethought that it gave you the time and the option to back away. A detail you wouldn’t have expected from such an ego-centric man. 

You didn’t back away. Hangman was a lot of things, most of them negative, but you could say with absolute certainty that you weren’t afraid of him. For all the times you’d yelled at him, you’d never been scared of his physicality, and for all the times he'd yelled at you, his hand had never so much as twitched. 

Standing beside you, under the harsh glare of the fluorescent lights that threw your skin into sharp relief, Hangman had a full view of the damage. 

“That fucker,” his voice was a harsh, raspy whisper, “I’m gonna kill him.” His hand seemed to lift of its own accord. Flat, open palmed and always within your line of sight, he reached up and stroked his fingers along your cheekbone with a feather-light touch. 

“I already dumped him.” You don’t know why you felt like explaining yourself to Hangman of all people, but maybe it was the determination in his eyes. The way he stared down at your cheek like his eyes could will the twing of pain away. 

Hangman gave a half-hearted, inattentive nod. “That’s certainly a start.” He looked like gears were turning in his head, like he hadn’t given up on his first idea. 

A flood of memories came back to you. 

‘The only active duty pilot with a confirmed air-to-air kill.’ Coyote, introducing Hangman.

‘We call him Bagman, cause he’ll kill anyone and get anyone killed. He doesn’t seem to mind.’ Omaha commenting on Hangman’s aim at the dartboard. 

‘That’s his second air-to-air kill.’ Bob, telling you what he could about the mission they’d just come back from. 

‘Hangman’s deadly in the sky. I wouldn’t wanna cross him.’ Rooster, finally being honest about what he thought of Hangman, after the blonde saved his life. 

Hangman had killed before, and in his line of work, with his level of skill, likely would again. He definitely didn’t mean what he said, certainly not literally. He wasn’t about to rush out to his truck and go hunting Devin in the streets, but it wasn’t something he of all people would say entirely jokingly either. 

You slowly sat up in your chair. The world was spinning less now. Whether that was because the nausea was finally passing or because Hangman’s hand stayed on your cheek, grounding you in the moment, it was unclear. “I appreciate your concern,” you hedged, “but really, I’m fine. I can handle myself.”

Hangman snorted and let his hand fall away. “Obviously you can; you already kicked his ass to the curb on your own. Doesn’t mean I’m not gonna kill him for good measure.” Hangman hopped up on the bar and swung his legs over. 

You probably should’ve objected to his comfort level invading your workspace. Penny was very explicit that no one was allowed behind the bar who didn’t work there and even more explicit that that applied to all naval aviators. Somehow, though, you doubted Hangman would rat you out, at least not today. 

“Are you going to tell Penny?” Hangman mozied around behind the bar, picking up a rag and tossing it over his shoulder. He was looking for something, but he didn’t seem inclined to ask. You weren’t any more inclined to offer. 

It would’ve broken whatever moment was passing between you. Caring? Camaraderie? You weren’t sure, but there was certainly some level of understanding that remained largely unspoken. 

Hangman found what he was looking for in short order anyway. He flipped open the ice cooler and pulled the rag off his shoulder, filling it with a scoop of ice and tying the ends. 

“Not now,” you were disinclined to bring it up to Penny. 

The Hard Deck was a Navy bar, and Penny had made a lot of powerful friends. Hell, you had a lot of powerful friends if you were willing to use them; one of them, or at least a powerful person who was willing to help you, was standing right in front of you. You could only imagine what would happen to Devin if you told anyone. All of it would be deserved of course, but you doubted most of it would be legal. And that really wasn’t what you needed right now, and you weren’t ready to have that conversation anyway. 

“Hold this to your cheek. You wanna get the swelling down,” In a reversal of roles, he leaned against the bar in the place that was normally yours and offered you his makeshift ice pack. 

You took it with a quiet, “Thank you.”

Hangman nodded with a thoughtful expression, watching your hand raise it to your cheek, “I’ll let you tell them in your own time, but you’re going to go to someone to help you through this until then… professionally.” 

It wasn’t a question. He wasn’t leaving room for debate. It was an order as plain as any he got in the Navy. 

You nodded wordlessly against the ice pressed to your face. It was a reasonable expectation, a reasonable request. You weren’t sure if you needed it or not, but you supposed that was the point. You weren’t sure. Better to go too soon than too late. 

“Good,” Hangman sighed, seeming relieved, and pushed off the bar. His muscles flexed with the motion, bulging against the short sleeves of his open button-up shirt. They remained tense as he crossed his arms over his chest. His teeth gritted behind his closed lips. “I’ll keep him out of the bar.”

“Hangman, you really don’t have to-” 

“He hurt you.” Hangman cut you off with a dismissive wave of his hand. He looked serious, deadly serious. “That’s all I need to know. He’s not welcome here anymore.”

Before you had the chance to respond, not that you were entirely sure how you would, Hangman’s eyes left yours, staring at something over your shoulder out towards the beach.

“Do you have any makeup for that cheek?”

Your head turned, and you saw the outlines of Penny and Mav, arm in arm, making their way back to the bar. “Yeah,” you replied, “But my shoulder is a different story. I need to go find…”

Hangman jerked his button up off his shoulders and balled it up, tossing it across the bar to you. “Go quick. Put this on.”

“Hangman, I-”

“Go.” Hangman urged, and you ran off before Penny could see the two of you.

—------------------------------------------------

Your phone kept buzzing in your pocket, but you didn’t have time to check it.

You thought you knew what it was. Phoenix demanding to know why one of Jake Seresin’s shirts was wrapped around your shoulders. Hangman’s weren’t as distinctive as Bradley’s, usually solid colors with a barely-there logo on the pocket. None of the guys had noticed you were wearing it, but you knew Phoenix had the moment she came back in from the beach. She’d shot you a disappointed, skeptical look and immediately begun whispering to Bob as they walked away with their drinks. 

Penny hadn’t been much better. She hadn’t identified which pilots’ shirt it was like Phoenix clearly had, but she was two steps away from asking when the evening rush began to pour in without any sign of slowing down. 

The Hard Deck was slam-packed, and none of the bartenders had a second to spare. The newest class of TopGun recruits were graduating within a week, and it seemed that everyone had turned out for the upcoming occasion.

The bar was crowded with faces new and old. All of the graduating pilots were scattered around, and most of their instructors had made their way in at some point. Some of the pilots had families, wives and girlfriends, who had flown in and accompanied them to the bar that night. There were more than a few old friends in town to visit or siblings using the graduation as an excuse to get away. 

Even most of Mav’s squadron was there. Penny’s old flame had claimed a spot by one of the dart boards, and his lieutenants were all taking turns trying to dethrone Hangman as the king of darts. Normally, they would have migrated to the pool tables by now, but the bar was too crowded for even TopGun’s finest to leverage their way into skipping the line to have a game. 

One of the soon-to-be graduates hunkered down at the bar, some asshole who was billing himself as the new and improved Hangman, kept snapping his fingers at you to try to get your attention from behind the bar. You were dangerously close to ringing the bell on him the next time he did it, and Penny’s fingers were clearly itching to do the same. Tragically, neither of you thought that was a very good idea. Tonight might’ve been the one night where it was simply too busy to ring the bell.

There were so many people you couldn’t see past the sea of bodies pressing in around you, and it was a miracle that you didn’t bolt from the claustrophobia.

Marg after marg. Old fashioned after old fashioned. Beer after beer. The line never seemed to stop, and it was taking its toll on you. Tonight was simply not your night.

“Go,” Penny’s hand touched your shoulder and made you jump, spilling some of the tequila shot you were trying to hand off. “I’ll clean that. You look like you need a break. Take five.”

Normally on a busy night, you would’ve protested, insisted you could hold down the fort and done your best to help Penny push through the rush, but not that night.

Your shoulders slumped in relief, and you ducked under the gap in the bar without much of a second thought, pushing your way through the people towards the door to the kitchen. There was a ‘broken’ stool by the door to the kitchen that was in fact not broken at all but had a sign taped to it that said it was specifically so it was open for when workers were on break. The seat provided some much needed relief for your aching feet and even more aching shoulders.

Shaking cocktails was really aggravating the bruises just beneath the button up wrapped around your shoulders, and you found yourself hurting almost twice as much as normal this shift. That might’ve been why you felt like you were moving in slow motion the whole time. That or the sheer number of people had simply made the task seem insurmountable.

You were just closing your eyes and leaning back against the wall when your phone in your pocket buzzed again.

It wasn’t really a conscious decision to check it, more habit than anything else. And really, you hadn’t expected it to be anything that bad. You hadn’t heard from him all day. 

But there it was. His name. His name a half a dozen times over the course of your shift. Each text progressively more urgent and pressing than the last.

‘I’m  still coming to pick you up from work.’

Bile rose up in your throat, and you suppressed the overwhelming urge to bolt. The room was suddenly too hot and too crowded, and there were too many faces. Faces you recognized and faces you didn’t. A wash of faces that was the perfect place for him to hide, to wait, to lurk around for the opportune moment to reveal himself.

You couldn’t do this, couldn’t deal with this. Not here. Not now. Not in front of all these people. Not alone. 

You did the first thing that came to mind. 

It was stupid really. You couldn’t explain why it occurred to you, why you acted on it so immediately, why you thought it was a good idea at all. It probably wasn’t; it could just as easily have backfired in your face as anything else. But your gut told you it was what you should do. Really, your gut didn’t so much tell you as wrench you in that direction with an undeniable force. 

“Hey can I talk to you for a sec?” 

Hangman was an easy man to find, even despite the crowd, strutting around the dart boards like he owned the place, which he very nearly did, rubbing the other pilots noses in his shots that were somehow better blindfolded than theirs were with sight.

You interrupted him boasting loudly to Fanboy and Payback about how he didn’t even need to practice. Perfect marksmanship just came naturally to him. The rest of the pilots were all gathered at the high tops near the darts boards, mostly rolling their eyes. They were having some kind of tournament, or rather a competition to see if anyone could take Hangman down. 

Payback seemed almost too happy for the interruption, but Fanboy was a bit more perceptive, at least at the moment. Fanboy’s eyes darted away to Phoenix’s table, and you saw the jerk of his head when he caught her eye. Funneling the female aviator’s attention in the direction of what was unfolding. 

You, wearing Hangman’s shirt since he disappeared for half an hour earlier that day, asking to talk to him alone near the end of your shift. You knew exactly what it looked like. 

“Sure.” Hangman’s tone was completely casual, not giving anything away, but when his back turned on his companions, his eyes were burning. You quickly looked away from his gaze and led him from the group.

“I wasn’t checking my phone.” The words were tumbling out of your mouth the moment he was out of the others’ earshot. You didn’t even bite your tongue long enough to turn around. “He’s been texting me my entire shift. He was supposed to be my ride home tonight, and I think he might show up soon.”

When you faced Hangman, you knew the panic in your voice and in your eyes was painfully obvious. Now that you were semi-alone with him, with someone who knew, there was no hiding how much it jarred you. Your hands fumbled with your phone trying to show him the flood of texts you’d gotten, unnoticed, over the last two hours. 

Hangman didn’t look down even as you turned the phone to show him. His jaw was already clenched; his expression was agitated, visibly angry. His eyes weren’t looking at you or the phone. They were searching the faces in the crowd similar to the way yours had only moments before though far more thorough. The honed, trained eye of a military fighter pilot meticulously picked through the crowd for its target, finding nothing. 

“Could you…” You hesitated to ask. It was such a ridiculous request. Just yesterday, Hangman would’ve been your absolute last choice to be in this position with; you would’ve risked handling it alone before asking for his help. But here he was. The only one who knew. The first one you asked. “I’ll give you a round on the house for it. I just… Would you mind giving me a ride home? I don’t want to stumble on him alone.”

Hangman didn’t hesitate or pull his eyes from where they continuously scanned the crowd, as if his gaze alone was enough to keep a threat at bay. “No beers required, Hurricane.” The words seemed to be coming out of his mouth even as you offered. Like he’d already decided what he was going to do the minute you told him the problem. “Wait here a sec? I’ll handle it.”

Hangman walked the short distance over to the bar, glancing back over his shoulder at you every few steps like he was making sure you hadn’t disappeared, and flagged down Penny. Something on his face must’ve told her it was urgent because she forwent several regulars and big tippers demanding drinks to beeline towards him. He leaned over the bar and whispered something in her ear, gesturing back in your direction. 

Penny looked concerned, and she nodded along with what Hangman was saying until he turned to leave. 

“If Penny asks,” Hangman put a hand on your shoulder, a firm grip holding you to his side as he led you through the throng of people towards the exit, “a guy was bothering you, and I drove you home cause you were scared of him.”

“Not entirely a lie,” You mumbled, shifting closer into Hangman’s side.

No one tried to stop you. No hands reached out for you. No one called out your name. You made it through entirely unscathed. You could feel eyes on you, but they didn’t raise the hairs on the back of your neck. You doubted, highly, that they were Devin’s. More likely, Hangman’s squadron were watching him retreat from the bar with you under his arm without so much as a goodbye. More likely, they were plotting and planning the questions they were going to hound the two of you with the next time they saw you. More likely, Phoenix was pointing out to everyone that you were wearing Hangman’s shirt.

—------

“Does he have a key?” Hangman didn’t break the silence until he’d turned onto your block, until he’d brought his truck to a slow crawl, looking for your tiny, inconsequential cookie cutter house in a row of tiny, inconsequential cookie cutter houses. 

Yours was pretty much the only house without a Navy flag or Navy paraphernalia of some description sitting in the yard or stuck to a car in the driveway. The neighborhood was not far from the Hard Deck which was not far from the base, and the tiny houses geared towards first-time-buyers were crawling with Navy pilots and newlywed military couples who wanted to live offbase.

You were on the second sidestreet, the third house on the left. Hangman already knew the way without instruction. Penny had conned every Top Gun pilot with a car into driving you home at least a couple times. And while Hangman was usually the pilot she was least willing to ask, he was also the only one who was guaranteed to always be sober. 

His question came out very sober. His usual lilting, teasing tone had dropped off somewhere today and never fully returned. 

“He did. He… he told me he lost it, but…” You both knew better than to believe that.

Hangman pulled into your driveway and flicked the truck into park and turned it off. “Tomorrow I’ll drive you to the hardware store, and we’ll change the locks.”

“You don’t have to…”

“Do you feel safe with him having a key?” Hangman cut you off. He was looking down at you with just a touch of condescension, so classically Hangman. Like he knew the answer already, like he knew you knew the answer already, and that you were silly if you pretended not to or refused him. 

You knew where this was going, and you thought about lying, just to relieve Hangman of whatever false sense of duty or obligation he had imposed on himself by being the one to find you at the Hard Deck. But it was way too late. Hangman wasn’t stupid, but he was incredibly, irritatingly stubborn. And he’d already set his mind to helping you through this. “No.”

“Then tomorrow morning I’ll change the locks.” Hangman threw his door open and hopped out of the truck. It slammed closed behind him as he circled around to your side. You made to open your door, but Hangman beat you to it. “Alarm services are expensive,” He continued, offering you a hand, “but they make door jammers that have sound alarms on them at least, and my sister bought some cheap window versions a while back that I could help install.” 

You took Hangman’s hand and dumbly followed him up to your door as he rambled on about extra door locks and doorbell cameras. All options that you could pick up tomorrow for him to put in. 

“That’s too much effort,” You halfheartedly protested as you spun your keys around trying to find the one to your front door. 

There really weren’t that many keys. There were a couple to the Hard Deck, one to the shed where Penny kept beach supplies, and one to Devin’s place that you hadn’t returned. They were all distinct shapes and colors, but you couldn’t seem to focus long enough to find the plain silver key to your own door. Maybe because you knew there was another one, exactly like it, somewhere across town at that moment.   

“Not if it makes you feel safe.” Hangman leaned back against your door frame, his eyes skimming up and down your block as if he was still on alert in the crowded bar, still looking for signs of trouble, signs of him. 

“Would you…” Your words trailed off as you watched his darting eyes. The question came bubbling up before you could stop it, before you even really thought of it. It was less a question and more a response to his vigilance, to the thought that his vigilance might be warranted and necessary. 

“Would I…?” Hangman didn’t let it go. His eyes turned to look at you.

You chewed at your bottom lip, debating if it was worth asking, debating if it was necessary. 

He probably thought it was, if his mannerisms were any indication, if his talk about alarms was any indication, if walking you to your door and watching your back were any indication. 

“Would you come in?”

Hangman raised a doubtful eyebrow, sure you didn’t mean what those words usually meant.

“Not like that, it’s just… You’re right. He probably still has a key, and if we can’t fix it till the morning…”

Understanding seemed to wash over his face, and Hangman kicked himself up off the door jam. “If it’ll help,” he immediately conceded. “I’ll sleep on your couch.”

“It…” You hesitated, but only for a moment. “I think it would.”

The silence inside your home was almost palpable. It was late enough that going to bed wouldn’t have been awkward for either of you, but neither of you were tired. And neither of you seemed up to faking being tired just to get away. 

Hangman sat on one end of the couch, and you sat on the other. At some point, you mustered the effort to turn on the tv. The local news was a quiet, bland drone of background noise cutting through the still air around the two of you.

You felt like you should say something. Maybe ‘should’ wasn’t the right word; maybe you wanted to say something. But either way you didn’t know where to begin.

You had only ever been alone with Hangman when he was dropping you off as a favor to Penny, times that were filled with snarky jokes and constant nagging from both of you, and earlier that day in the bar. You weren’t close. You weren’t friends. You were barely acquaintances. He was only here because he was in the right (or wrong, depending how you looked at it) place at the right time.

“Thank you,” That seemed like a good place to start. “For today, thank you.”

“You have nothing to thank me for.” Hangman countered quickly. His eyes stayed on the tv, though they were clearly out of focus staring at the screen. 

“I do though. You could’ve told everyone.”

“You weren’t ready for that.” He added it under his breath, countering without cutting you off.

“You could’ve left me to finish out my shift.”

“Not with him coming to the bar.”

“You could’ve left after you dropped me off.”

“He has a key.”

“You could’ve turned and walked out the door when you first saw me at the bar.”

Hangman let out a heavy sigh, not of annoyance or exasperation but a sigh weighed down with duty and concern. “No, I couldn’t.” 

Your eyes met his over the center of the couch, and a breath rushed out of your lungs under the intensity in his gaze.

—-------------------------------------

You woke up in your bed, mouth open, with more than a little drool pooling on your pillow. 

You had no memory of falling asleep there, of getting into bed, of going to your room at all. 

You remember being on the couch, talking to Hangman. You remembered the way his eyes, intense, open, and honest, compelled you to speak. The way you couldn’t bite back the story pouring from your lips. The story of Devin asking you out, of falling for him in those early weeks, of how he changed after you committed to him. The story of what he did that night, of his buddies who sat back and did nothing, of the jokes you heard the three of them cracking as you ran from the room.

You remembered Hangman crossing the space between you and putting a hand on your arm, how cautious he was touching you, how much time he left you to pull away, how gentle his touch was against your skin. You remembered throwing yourself into his lap, sobbing into his shoulder as he held you against his chest and rubbed soothingly up and down your back, whispering promises that that asshole would never hurt you again. 

You didn’t remember anything after that. You must’ve fallen asleep in his lap.

Sitting up, you found the answer to your unasked question.

A folded piece of notebook paper sitting on the pillow next to you:

‘Thought the bed would be preferable to sharing the couch with me. If I’m wrong and you wake up in the middle of the night and don’t want to be alone, you can always wake me up. If not, I’ll have coffee ready for you in the morning. - Jake.’

As you read, his words the night before echoed in your head to the beat of a nonexistent drum as you read the note once, then twice, then a third time.

‘No, I couldn’t.’

You carefully folded the paper up and tucked it in the top drawer of your bedside table. 

True to his word, Hangman was wide awake, standing in your kitchen pouring himself a cup of coffee when you walked out of your room. 

“H-Hi,” you stuttered.

Last night, in the comfort of darkness, with exhaustion clouding over your mind and his arms holding you close, it had seemed the most logical thing in the world to open up to Hangman. And with the light of day glinting through the windows, with him dressed in the button up he’d wrapped around you the day before, with him lounging back against your counter as he sipped from your favorite mug, with an overconfident air that was too comfortable for any normal person’s first time in your home… It was odd to think that feeling hadn’t changed, that you still felt able to bare your soul to him, that you didn’t feel a need to run back into your room and get changed or freshen up, that you were perfectly comfortable being seen by him like this, a tired quaking  mess with puffy red eyes.

Part of you expected to walk out into your kitchen to an epiphany that you’d made a horrible mistake, that Hangman was exactly as much of a cocky asshole as you thought he was two days ago. But the epiphany never came.

“Morning,” Hangman took a sip of coffee and set the mug aside. He looked casual, at peace, like this was just another day, like he’d done this a million times. “I’m ready to go whenever you are. I found the toolbox in the bottom of your coat closet. Hope you don’t mind. We’ll probably need a few things if we’re gonna do anything more than replace the locks.”

“Y-Yeah,” You grabbed a mug off the drying rack and crossed the room to pour yourself a cup of coffee from the pot beside him, your shoulder brushing passed his as you poured. “Sounds good.”

“Hey.” Hangman seemed to immediately pick up that something was plaguing your mind. He didn’t reach out for you like last night, quite the opposite. He took a step away and turned to face you, crossin his arms over his chest, “If you want to be alone, I’ll head out. I’ll go to the store, pick up the locks, and change them myself. You can have time to yourself if you need it.” 

“No,” You immediately countered his obvious misinterpretation of your mood. “I-I don’t think I want to be alone. I’m just… antsy I guess.” 

He didn’t seem to fully buy it, but he let your excuse hang. “Okay then, we’ll head out when you’re ready.”

—----------------------

All day, as Hangman worked around your house first changing the locks then installing alarms then fixing a window that wouldn’t lock and then righting a wobbly chair leg that had absolutely nothing to do with your safety, neither of you mentioned the note he left or you crying in his arms or falling asleep on his lap or his quiet ‘No, I couldn’t’.

—--------------------------

You made a vow to yourself when Hangman finally left your house late Saturday afternoon. You were never going to ring up his card at the Hard Deck again. It couldn’t really repay what he’d done for you, the feeling of safety he’d brought to you in what was probably your most vulnerable moment so far on this earth, but you knew he wouldn’t want anything more showy. Hangman loved being the center of attention, but somehow you knew he wouldn’t want attention for this. 

True to your vow, the next Saturday evening, Hangman was on his third beer and had, unwittingly on his part, not paid a dime.

The Hard Deck was far less crowded that night. The graduating Top Gun candidates had all flown away, and only those currently stationed at the base, mostly Maverick’s squad, and some locals remained. A few dozen patrons milled around a room far larger than they needed with maybe a dozen pressed up to the bar. Most of the dozen fell under your responsibilities at the moment. Penny had, unintentionally, abandoned you not long before when Maverick had wandered in and taken up his usual stool. 

Omaha and Halo, the first aviators to arrive, had claimed one of the pool tables early in the night, and the rest of the squad had started rotating through matchups. It appeared Fritz was on a hot streak, one that was no doubt about to end as his next opponent in line was Hangman. 

All seemed right with the world. The constant buzz of voices, the crooning of the Goo Goo Dolls song that Bob had selected on the jukebox, the ready flow of beer to your usual patrons. Everything was fine.

Until the door opened one last time. Not that places of business ever ‘expected’ anyone because they hardly sent out invitations to come buy beer, but you really weren’t expecting anyone else that night. All the regulars were already inside.

The door banging against the wall as it was flung open was enough to draw your surprised eyes up to the entryway. 

Face lit by the sun setting over the beach through the windows on the opposite wall, he was unmistakable as he marched into view flanked by his two buddies. They immediately began scanning the room. 

Your breath rushed out of your lungs, exhaling in a gust that you couldn’t hold back any more than the wind. 

No, no, no. He wasn’t here. He couldn’t be here. He couldn’t confront you here. He couldn’t corner you alone.

There was no time to think, no time to check with Penny if it was ok to leave your station, no time to get to the door or bolt out the back. 

‘I’ll keep him out of the bar.’

It was your first instinct when you saw the text the weekend before, and it was your first instinct when you saw him that night.

“Hurricane?” Penny called after you as, without so much as a word in her direction, you ducked under the gap in the bar and made a beeline for the pool tables. 

You barely heard her, and if you did, it didn’t register. 

“Jake,” his real name leaving your lips was enough to draw most of his coworkers’ attention, all those in earshot at least. You grabbed his arm the second he was within reach, inadvertently clawing his skin with your nails as you pulled him up from where he was hunched over the pool table lining up a shot. 

Jake laughed and shrugged off your arm before he even turned around and saw who it was. “Hey,” he rubbed at the red marks in his skin, “I was just…” 

The words died on his lips when he turned and saw the panic in your eyes. It was brimming up inside you, overflowing and choking you off from every other sensation except the desperation for Jake to understand.

He knew better than anyone that there was only one thing that could make you look like that, feel like that. His head jerked up immediately in the direction of the door, as if he could sense the direction of the impending doom.

You watched the lighthearted smirk that constantly plagued his lips fall away. You watched the light in his eyes cloud over in darkness. As his gaze went up over your shoulder to the door, where one of the three men with angry expressions and dark eyes spotted your back amongst the khaki uniforms and began moving. 

Jake’s arm twisted in your grip and grabbed you by the elbow, jerking you unceremoniously behind his back. There was no time for pleasantries, no time to be nice about whatever he was about to do.

“Fanboy, stay with her.” Jake ordered over his shoulder to the nearest aviator. His gaze didn’t waiver from the three men approaching, even as he issued commands.  

Most of the aviators in Mav’s squad were scattered around the room. Mav was at the bar talking with Penny and Halo. Fanboy and Coyote had been watching Hangman school Fritz, who was being hyped up by Payback. Rooster was at a table not far from the pool game talking to a pretty girl. And Phoenix and Bob were half spectating from their perch by the jukebox discussing something that had gone wrong in a training run that afternoon. 

Fanboy caught you and held you up as Jake pushed you in his direction. “What’s going on?”

Jake didn’t answer. He side-stepped in front of you, half blocking you from view, and walked to the edge of the pool area. There was a buffer zone between himself and you. He was the first line of defense, and he was giving the second, Fanboy, room to react. 

“You fucking bitch!” If Fanboy didn’t know what was going on before, he instantly caught on. 

Fanboy’s arms tensed around yours. His back went rigged, as if a commanding officer had just called him to attention, and he curled away, pulling you back behind him and putting his body in front of you as a shield. Even with Fanboy hovering in the way, his body didn’t hide Devin’s eyes. They sought you out around Jake’s frame and over Fanboy’s shoulder; they found you huddled up behind the Navy uniforms and the fancy stars pinned to the pilots chests. No number of medals pinned to Jake’s chest could stop the chill that ran down your spine in response to the venom in Devin’s tone. You wanted to look away, but the daggers in his gaze skewered you in place, held you hostage. 

You wanted to curl up and hide, preferably behind Jake... Well, preferably in a home far away from there wrapped in heavy blankets with many deadbolts between you and Devin with Jake vigilantly standing guard at the door. 

Devin tried to walk straight past Jake, like he didn’t even see him. Jake wasn’t having any of it. 

A thick, muscular arm stuck out across the length of Devin’s shoulders as he tried to pass, holding him back.

Devin wasn’t a very big guy. He was well toned, but he was no naval aviator. He was no Jake Seresin. Jake had about an inch on Devin, but his well built frame made up for their near identical height. Devin had never been one to hit the gym hard while Jake certainly was, and it showed. It showed in the way a single arm without so much as a brace didn’t move even as Devin walked straight into it. 

If the rest of the bar weren’t looking when Devin shouted that you were a bitch, they certainly were when he glared up at Jake. “Out of the way you fucker!” 

Jake getting out of the way was about the last thing you wanted to happen, and Jake seemed disinclined to oblige either. His arm didn’t move from where it blocked Devin’s path, even as Devin glowered up at him.

The staring match lasted only a moment before Devin, impatient as always, gave up and turned back to glaring at you. He shouted, unnecessarily loudly, across the minimal distance between the two of you, “You changed the locks on me?” 

There was shuffling behind you and the sound of something clanging onto the pool table. 

You couldn’t bring yourself to turn your head away from Devin, couldn’t look away, couldn’t let him out of your sight. But there was the sound of footsteps as first Coyote, then Fritz, then Payback came into range in your peripheral vision. 

None of them knew what this was about, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out where this was going. And any idiot could tell whose side they would be on in a fight between Jake and Devin. 

“She didn’t. I did.” Jake declared at a similarly loud volume, pulling Devin’s attention back on him, demanding Devin shift his focus off of you. “You got a problem with that, you take it up with me.”

Devin took a step back, finally abandoning his futile attempt to confront you in favor of squaring up to Jake. 

As Devin stepped back, the trio of pilots stepped forward. Fritz approached first, joining Fanboy in front of you. Payback followed after Fritz, lingering halfway between him and Jake, a bystander ready to step in if things got out of hand.

Coyote, however, had no questions about how any altercation would go down. His hand came down as he walked up behind Jake, slapping down reassuringly on Jake's shoulder to let him know he wasn’t alone. Coyote flanked Jake at such a close distance that it made it impossibly clear that, if this turned into a fight, it would not be three on one. 

It wouldn’t even be three on two for that matter. Devin’s buddies, who had crossed the bar with him had hung back a few feet, giving Devin the space he wanted to scream at you or confront you or whatever else he had been planning before Jake intercepted. The duo found themselves with two bar tables between them and Devin. One of which was, ever so unfortunately for them, occupied by none other than Bradley Bradshaw and his drinking companion. 

Devin’s friends would be forgiven for not realizing that they were offering up the chance to divide the group in half. Bradley, per usual, wasn’t in his Navy uniform, and a guy in a faded Hawaiian shirt didn’t exactly look intimidating. At least not while he was sitting down chatting up a pretty girl.

Seeing the escalation Coyote invited, and flashing his eyes to where you cowered behind his squadmates, Rooster got to his feet with a slow, lithe push off the table in front of him and turned his back on Devin. Not even bothering to give the belligerent asshole, currently one on two against Hangman and Coyote, the time of day, he turned his entire attention to the backup Devin brought with him. 

Never in your life had you been scared of any of the naval aviators, but there was something especially intimidating about the incredibly casual way Bradley put himself alone in a fight against two men. His relaxed stance, completely unbothered by the numbers game he was playing. His head, cocking to one side to crack his neck, and then the other. 

“You the latest pilot she’s spreading her legs for?” Devin snarled up at Jake, completely oblivious to what was going on behind him and unconcerned by Coyote’s presence. 

Jake was entirely unphased. His voice was calm and steady even as Devin’s got more and more red with each passing moment. “No, but I am a friend. And if you have a problem with her you’re gonna have to go through me…” Jake added as an afterthought, “And him,” jerking his head to Coyote.

“You think she’ll fuck you if you play hero?” Devin spat out the word fuck as if the thought of you and sex in the same sentence disgusted him. “You don’t gotta try that hard to get her to spread.”

Jake shrugged and casually dismissed the comment. “That’s really not my business or yours.” 

“She is my business; that’s my girl.” 

Devin jabbed a finger over Jake’s shoulder in your direction without looking away from Jake, and you instinctively shrunk further back behind Fanboy. Until you felt the material between your fingers, you didn’t even realize that your hand had reached up to fist the back of Fanboy’s uniform. 

You didn’t know, logically, why you were afraid. Whatever Jake was doing, he was doing a marvelous job of keeping Devin’s eyes off of you. You were absolutely certain that Devin would have to knock Jake out to get to you, not that he could even manage that. You were also absolutely certain that even if he did, he’d still have to make it through Rooster, Fanboy, Fritz, Payback, and Coyote, not to mention the dozen Navy guys from other squads currently spectating who would jump in to assist, or Penny or Mav. There was just something about his finger pointing at you, accusing you, that made that feeling of helplessness bubble up inside you again, that made you feel pinned, trapped under his hand.

“I’ll do whatever I want with her.”

It was like Jake knew or could sense your growing bubble of fear. He leaned ever so slightly to one side, like he was simply shifting his weight from foot to foot, before standing back up straight in between Devin’s finger and you.  

“Not anymore.” Jake declared firmly. “You’re already about a mile closer to her than I want you to be.”

That declaration made Devin’s lips twist up into something akin to a smirk. “I’ve been a lot closer to her than this.”

Jake’s shoulders tensed, and for the first time it seemed like Devin got to him. “I know exactly how close you got.” His voice darkened, and you could practically picture the look in his eyes, practically knew it by heart from the night you told him what Devin had done. “Where I’m from, we don’t treat women like that.”

Devin laughed humorously, heading tilting back to let the single tone ring out in the air. “Well we aren’t where you’re from. That’s my girl, and I’ll do what I want with her.”

You shivered involuntarily, like someone had dropped an ice cube down the back of your shirt. It sent a chill through you to think of Devin alone with you, doing what he wanted with you. You remembered what he did the last time he had that power over you. You couldn’t let it happen again.

“No,” It took a moment to register that Jake was the one snarling, not Devin, not even you. The word came out in a hiss between his teeth. “You’ll do what she wants. And right now she doesn’t want you here.” 

For whatever reason, Devin was getting to Jake. The unshakeable, unflappable Jake Seresin was rising to a rolling boil under the surface of his skin, and there was nothing he could do to hide it. From the tone of his voice to the tension in his shoulders, to the way his fingers twitched in and out of a fist, Devin and what he was saying was under Jake’s skin.

Devin saw it; you could tell. You couldn’t see his eyes around the bodies between the two of you, but you saw his posture change, his stance open up and his chest puff out. He leaned in and sneered, “She needed to be put in her place. She looks better roughed up anyway.”

You felt their eyes on you. The squad. The whole bar. None of them were actually looking at you. None of their heads turned, but you knew every one of them was staring at an image of you in their minds. Maybe they all figured it out before. Maybe they knew when Devin walked in or when Jake escorted you home. Or maybe they didn’t know anything at all, but either way Devin just gave them confirmation.

Payback was no longer content to play the bystander. His shoes clicked on the floor, echoing in the silence that existed throughout the bar as Jake and Devin sparred. He flanked Jake’s other side, shoulder to shoulder with him as Coyote had been since the confrontation began. 

Coyote didn’t move an inch except for the hand at his side that clenched into a fist. 

Jake took a step closer. But for the inch of height difference, he stood nose to nose with Devin as he said, “Where I’m from, a man lays his hands on a woman, and you take him out back and put one between his eyes.”

Devin pushed up, must’ve stood on his tiptoes to do it, to close the gap with Jake, to put himself on the same level as the pilot. “She’s mine, you fucker.” Flecks of spit, visible even at your distance, splattered against Jake’s cheek. “Get the fuck out of the way.” 

Devin’s hands came up and shoved Jake in both shoulders, hard.

Jake’s shoulders didn’t give an inch. His feet didn’t budge. His posture didn’t change. 

Jake’s voice dropped low, so low you barely heard it. If a single soul in the bar had been focused on anything other than the confrontation at hand, if the jukebox hadn’t run to the end of its queue of songs and left the bar in silence, if any more distance had been between the two of you, you wouldn’t have heard the rough, guttural retort from somewhere deep inside Jake’s chest, “You’re really, really gonna have to make me.”

Without warning, Devin swung.

He was standing too close to Jake, almost chest to chest with the taller aviator. There was no good angle from which to strike, and his arm took a wide arc away from his body to get the necessary momentum and distance to hit at Jake with any force.

It was like it moved in slow motion, Jake’s head turned, his eyes following the direction of the swing as it approached his face.

You gasped and clung tighter to Fanboy, who blindly reached back to clutch your arm, pulling you in closer to him.

The fear, entirely for Jake, was also entirely unnecessary.

Jake’s head leaned to one side and effortlessly avoided the blow. Devin stumbled a couple steps to the side as his momentum carried him past Jake.

It gave Jake the space he needed to counter, not with a wide, slow hook around to the side of Devin’s face, but with a swift, firm uppercut to his jaw.

The connection sent a crack echoing through the bar, and Devin’s entire body went slack before he even hit the floor.

Coyote caught his arm before he could collapse, not that it did Devin any good to be under Coyote’s care instead of Jake’s. Coyote’s grip was so tight on Devin’s upper arm that you were sure it would bruise not just the skin but the muscles underneath.

Jake bent down over the other man and bent a finger up under his jaw. Devin’s head tipped up into Jake’s face without any protest and fell back to bob loosely to one side the moment Jake wasn’t supporting him any more.

“He’ll be out cold for a while.” Jake declared, glancing up to give Coyote a nod.

Coyote dropped his grip on Devin and let him crumple unceremoniously to the floor.

“Now,” Jake left Coyote to deal with Devin, stepping over the unconscious body on the floor as one might step over a puddle in the street. He ambled over to Rooster, whose presence had been more than enough to hold off Devin’s two buddies for the brief ten seconds of fighting, if it could even be categorized as a fight.

“Are you two,” Jake wagged a finger between Devin’s two friends as he came shoulder to shoulder with Rooster, “the ones she told me helped him out last week? Cause I gotta bone to pick with them too?”

“No, we didn’t!” The shorter of the two declared loudly. “Look, we don’t want any trouble.”

Jake’s head turned to glance back over his shoulder, and for the first time since Devin confronted you, you made eye contact with Jake.

His eyes were hard, cold, unfeeling. He wasn’t angry anymore. He wasn’t upset or worried or fearful or any of the other emotions you felt warring inside of you. The mask was back on, the unflappable exterior that only you had seen beneath before tonight. He wasn’t waiting for them; he was waiting for you. A good soldier, waiting for his orders.

Imperceptibly to everyone but Jake who was watching you like a hawk, you shook your head. This had gone on long enough already tonight. You just wanted it to be over.

“Well then,” Jake turned back to the two friends in tow. “Why don’t you take your buddy and get out of here?” Jake stepped close, towering over the shorter one as he added, “Tell him if he comes back round here to bother her again; I will spend the rest of my life making sure he’s too afraid to even look at another woman.”

Beside Jake, Rooster began casually cracking the knuckles of his fist one by one, presumably for emphasis.

There was a dull thud that drew the quad of men’s attention back towards Devin.

Payback was squatting over the unconscious man. He’d seemingly been rooting through the other man’s pockets. The sound of his wallet dropping back onto Devin’s back was the noise that drew the men’s eyes and everyone else’s watching as a result.

Payback was waving a credit card in the air in Jake’s general direction.

“Good idea,” Jake wandered over and snatched up the card. “Call it payback for disturbing the bar tonight.” Jake’s teasing smirk was back as he used Payback’s callsign. He abandoned the group to amble back towards Penny at the bar, and his absence seemed to break the tension.

The patrons, scattered around, all began slowly turning back to their tables. The conversation was quieter, hushed whispers that were no doubt mostly about the fight they’d just watched ensue, but their eyes seemed to have drank in their fill of the scene.

Under the watchful eye of Rooster, with Coyote and Payback standing by, Devin’s two friends draped their friend unceremoniously across their shoulders. Despite the struggle they were clearly having, not a soul offered to help as they stumbled under his weight out of the bar.

“I hope they have to drag him to the car.”

You jumped and turned your head to find that at some point in the chaos Phoenix and Bob had come up on the other side of the pool table as a last line of defense.

“Please, I hope they faceplant in the gravel.”

You let out a humorous laugh at Phoenix’s comment as your body finally slumped under the weight of the evening, resting back against the pool table with a huff of air.

“Are you…”

“Fritz, if you ask me if I’m okay, I will walk out of this bar right now.” You held up a finger to silence him.

You were not okay. You would be okay, one day; you knew that much. But that day was not today.

In the distance, like you were hearing an echo from the other end of a long tunnel, you registered the bell ringing for a free round. Your vision was tunneling too, but you could make out Jake was leaning across the bar, ringing the bell himself as he slammed Devin’s card on the bar in front of Penny.

Maverick, always present in front of Penny’s bar, slapped him on the back and whispered something in his ear, but Jake seemed, for once, thoroughly uninterested in his commanding officer.

His eyes, you thought, appeared to be focused on you. He left the bar before he even got his own free drink and headed straight back towards the pool tables.

Coyote and Rooster tried to talk to him, but he brushed him off. By the time he reached Fanboy, still awkwardly hovering in front of you, his destination was clear, and Fanboy slid right out of his way.

“Come on,” Jake held out a hand to you. “Penny won’t mind if you don’t finish out your shift.”

It wasn’t a tunnel you were looking through now so much as a camera, the lens zooming in and zooming out, narrowing and expanding your field of vision around Jake.

Jake, the only thing in the world right now that felt safe, that felt ok.

You numbly, clumsily, flung your hand out to grasp his, and as his fingers laced through yours you thought you might have a different answer to Fritz’s question, not that you’d ever voice it.

—————————————

“Thank you.”

It was about an hour after you and Jake had left the bar.

He’d walked you out the back door of the Hard Deck and down the beach for the better part of half an hour before the two of you wordlessly agreed to find a comfortable spot to sit down in the sand.

The silence had been more comfortable than you ever thought silence with Jake could be. Every time he’d driven you home from the Hard Deck, he’d felt the need to fill every available moment with some kind of noise, compulsively turning up the volume on the radio or making snarky, sarcastic commentary about anything that passed by the window. Silence was not Jake Seresin’s forte.

Yet the silence between the two of you had felt like a comforting blanket, wrapping you in understanding. He already knew what happened between you and Devin; the hard part of that explanation was over. He already knew why Devin was there that night, what must have prompted him to show up, what he was hinting at in front of the whole bar. He knew nothing else about you, but he knew this, knew every detail of the most painful moment of your life, and he accepted it without question, gave you what you needed without question, helped you without question.

“You don’t have to thank me for doing the right thing for once in my life, Hurricane.” Jake murmured. “It’s a nice change of pace.”

You wished you could deny that, say that Jake was a great guy, say that he always did the right thing or that he was a good man. But the truth was he often wasn’t. He was flawed, deeply so, rude when it was uncalled for, inappropriate when the moment was serious, lewd when he should have been respectful, confrontational when he should have been kind. He was as flawed as any other human being, maybe more so.

But when you needed him he was there. When no one else was there, he was there. And that, to you, forgave any multitude of sins.

“What did Mav say to you when you left?”

“What?” Jake did a quick double take, looking down at you beside him. “Oh,” He chuckled to himself. “He said, ‘Good man, no push-ups tomorrow when I shoot you down.’”

“Well,” you smiled, “I owe you a lot more than a few push ups.”

“You owe me nothing.”

You squeezed his hand, his fingers which had been laced in yours since he led you out of the Hard Deck, “How about a second chance? If I remember correctly we didn’t get off to the best start.”

Jake smirked, “Not a chance am I starting over. You’re still my Hurricane.”

So obsessed

Filet Mignons and Parking Spots

Summary: Against your better judgement, you agree to have dinner with the human equivalent of a Hangnail, aka Jake Seresin. A follow up to Matcha Lattes & Parking Spots!

Warnings: Language, lots of banter, Jake getting turned on by women who are mean to him.

This was ridiculous. Absurdly so. 

He clearly wasn't taking you to dinner because he actually wanted to learn how to park better. He was hoping he could win you over with that small town billboard dentist ad-smile and be allowed into your pants. 

Which wasn't happening. No way in hell was he coming near you.

You refused to give him your address. Like hell he was going to learn where you live. 

You: I've listened to way too many true crime podcasts to give you my address. You've already shown signs of being a psychopath with how you got a Matcha latte with zero sweetener. 

Hangnail: ooo what's your fav podcast? :) :) 

You couldn't tell what was more annoying: his insufferable overall being or the fact he responded to every insult with a question whose goal was to learn more about you. 

Like he actually wanted to get to know you. 

As your grandmother would say, "His cornbread ain't done all the way in the middle."

And yet, here you were, outside the restaurant, waiting to see if this douchebag could show up on time. You didn't have high hopes, considering his parking skills. 

"Hey gorgeous." 

Fuck, right on the dot. 

Your lips couldn't help but part when you turned around and saw the bouquet in his hands. 

He brought flowers. The red roses popped against the anemones and white narcissuses. A yellow satin ribbon wrapped around the stems. 

"Figured the goddess of love deserved some gorgeous flowers," He grinned. 

You wanted to gag. 

"You're supposed to take them." You couldn't decide what was worse: that stupid, nearly blindingly white grin or the Texan accent that laced his words. 

You hesitantly took the flowers. They were pretty. But they were also given to you by a dude who couldn't park. 

And who drank skim milk. 

"They're the flowers associated with Venus, the goddess of love," He said. He looked so proud of himself, you could see him dying to pat himself on the back. 

You rolled your eyes, "Yes, I also had a Percy Jackson phase and went on Wikipedia to look up what was associated with each God. Also, these flowers are associated with Aphrodite, not Venus." 

The living embodiment of a graduated frat bro shrugged, undeterred from your comment, "I mean, they're basically the same." 

You took a step back, "No they are not….Jesus Christ, I have to teach you how to park and the difference between Roman and Greek Mythology?" 

He just continued to smile, "Told ya I need that second date." 

"You need someone to inspect that head of yours," you scoffed, trying to ignore that warm feeling swirling around your stomach as he opened the door to the restaurant for you. 

The human hangover had the audacity to laugh at your comment, "My squad said the same thing today." 

There wasn't going to be enough alcohol to get through this evening. 

—------------------------

You were stunning, absolutely gorgeous. The soft lighting casted a soft glow across your face, highlighting your beautiful features. 

Jake was surprised when you pulled out a marker and a sketchpad. You were keeping your word. You were committed. 

He loved it. 

"So your speed affects the angle you can pull your- are you even listening, Flyboy?" 

"To you? Of course," The lovesick look that had taken over his face remained. It would be cute, if it wasn't so insufferable. 

You scoffed, "Alright, then paraphrase it for me. You do know what that means, right?" 

You looked ethereal as you stared up at him through your lashes. Your brows were raised to indicate your low hopes for him. The way your bottom lip slightly jutted out, forming the most adorable frustrated pout Jake had ever seen. 

"Based on your calculated average of my speed, I need to decrease my that by about forty-five percent, which would put me at going thirty five and a half miles per hour. This would increase my adjustment time by," he moved his head back and forth as he paused, briefly counting, "....twelve seconds, which will allow me greater control of switching from a ninety degree angle to hundredth and twenty." 

"You pulled that out of your ass," you deadpanned. 

"Do the math if you don't believe me." Jake leaned back into his chair, crossing his arms as a smug grin spread across his face. 

He didn't know why Javy was so worried. He was winning her over in no time. 

"Wow," you looked up from your phone after toying with the calculator app on your phone, "You can do more than just count to one hundred and smile?" 

"Darlin," he chuckled, "You don't become the only current generation aviator with two confirmed kills by coasting on good looks alone." 

Boom. Stuck the landing. Jake was internally scoffing at Bradshaw's comments from earlier, about how he'd be lucky if he left this date with no wine thrown at his face. 

Jake knew he'd have you falling for him in no time, especially after you learned exactly who you were with. 

Your face remained the same, apart from a raised eyebrow, "Only two?" 

The corners of your lips turn upward into a smirk as that cocky grin of his faltered. 

"Within the first month at my last place, my cat brought me four mice and two birds. Just saying," you brought your wine glass to your lips, savoring the few moments of silence. 

Jake was thankful he had put the napkin over his lap. It perfectly covered the semi he had been sporting since y'all sat down. 

"Birds and mice are not the same thing as what I've done," he nearly huffed. 

You grinned, shrugging your shoulders, "I think they're pretty comparable." 

Jake huffed, "No they are…." 

Oh. 

You were trying to rattle him. On purpose. And it almost worked. 

He loved it. It was fun, listening to your every word. The fact he actually had to try to see what impressed you. And boy, did he want to impress you. 

"Um…are you two ready to order?" Your waiter asked. It wasn't the first time he had come in at an odd point in the conversation with zero context. 

You were thankful, because it meant that you wouldn't have to deal with the Abercrombie and Fitch wannabe model's stupid stare. The one where his green eyes literally sparkle and a dreamy smile plastered his face. 

"I'll take the hanger steak, medium rare, but with no caramelized onion butter and instead of the garlic mashed potatoes, I'll have the asparagus," you told them. 

"I'll have the filet mignon-" 

"You're at a steakhouse and you're ordering a filet mignon? The most basic steak?" You scoffed at him. 

"Oh, so you're also a meat expert too?" Jake asked, his tone playful. 

"My dad was a butcher. It's just soft, there's no other redeeming qualities about it. Ribeye or Hanger is better," you explained as you rolled your eyes. 

"Alright, then I'll take the ribeye. Medium rare." 

You weren't expecting him to actually listen to you. You were expecting a scoff, an eye roll, a comment about you being too smart, too obnoxious, too annoying. 

As if he could sense your confusion, he elaborated, "You said your dad was a butcher. Makes you more than qualified to speak on which cut of steak is the best." 

It was uncomfortable, how he hung on to your every word. How he remembered little details. When you mentioned earlier that you had walked to the restaurant, he asked what true crime podcast you listened to on your way here. The way he approached all of this like it was normal, like it was the expected thing to do. 

"Also, I have mints, if you want them. No need to avoid great food." 

"What the hell are you talking about, GI Joe wannabe?" That feeling of uneasiness began to morph into agitation. 

"Look, Venus, you don't need to avoid garlic and onions. I got plenty of mints, so whenever you want to kiss me, just say the-" 

A bread roll landing right between Jake's eyes interrupted him. 

"I have IBS and avoid dairy so I don't spend the next two hours on the toilet, it has nothing to do with kissing you, you Chippendale reject!" 

"So you think I'm attractive enough to be a Chippendale?" Was all Jake took from that conversation. 

The second bread roll that landed against his nose made him process what you had actually said. 

"So what do you eat when you're sick?" 

You should have ordered an Old Fashion. Wine wasn't strong enough for this. You pressed the rim of the glass to your temple, hoping the pressure would be enough to wake you up from this nightmare.

"How did you go from me talking about avoiding dairy so I don't shit myself later, to that?" You would have thrown a third bread roll, but the look your waiter gave indicated you might get kicked out of the restaurant for it. 

"It's an important question. Because you can't have Mac and Cheese, or pasta, or broccoli cheddar soup. So what do you eat when you're sick?" Jake repeated, unaffected by your comments. 

He was quite impressed with your aiming skills. He imagined the two of you at the Hard Deck, laughing while you threw darts, a gold wedding band adorning your left hand- 

"I mean, hard cheeses don't really bother me that much, it's pure cream and milk I really avoid," you shrugged, "Usually I order something with noodles and sauce, like Pad See Ew." 

He tapped a finger against his chin, which you were pretty sure could crack a nut with. 

"Good to know." 

"Good to know?" 

"Yeah, it's always good to know what someone likes to eat when they're sick." It was frustrating how you couldn't get a read on him. Was he truly being genuine or was just a dumbass? Or both? 

You scoffed, "I don't know why, considering I don't plan on getting sick anytime soon." 

"I hope not, I want to see you again sooner rather than later," He smiled, those darn dimples showing again, "but it's good to know for the future." 

The future. 

There were so many reasons to throw a bread roll at his stupid face. His heinous parking skills. His stupid callsign. The fact he kept insinuating that he would see you again. 

It would have been easier if he was just a jerk who was looking to get into your pants. That's what you were used to. Folks who saw you as just another notch in their belt, not someone worthwhile enough to date. 

Instead, he had an ego bigger than Texas, couldn't park to save his life and had questionable taste in caffeinated beverages. 

“Y’know, I think I finally figured out who you look like,” you said before taking another sip of your wine. 

Jake smiled before twirling that toothpick, which you really wished he'd stopped doing because it was extremely distracting. 

"Oh really now?" He asked, a devilish smirk on his face. 

"Yeah," a smirk of your own formed, "Pretty sure I saw your face in one of the stock images my college used for their responsible drinking course every freshmen had to take. You were the frat douche in the polo with a red solo cup, right?" 

He laughed. Full on, threw his head back and laughed. 

"You're fuckin' hilarious Venus. I could listen to you for hours," He told you after composing himself. 

Fuck, he meant it. 

You straighten your shoulders as you look across the restaurant, trying to seem as uninterested as possible, "Lucky for you, there's a lot about you I can critique. You just might get your wish, Officer Headache." 

"It's Lieutenant," he corrected, though the smile remained on his face. 

You put your hand over your heart, feigning guilt, "Forgive me, Lieutenant Headache." 

Jake couldn't be mad. You were clever, seeing that he had picked his rank being more important than getting his call sign right. 

He loved it, how clever you were, how witty you were. Talking to you was exhilarating, similar to how he felt when he was flying. 

"So why did you join the Navy? Did being an Abercrombie model not work out?" You asked, taking a bite of your bread roll. 

Jake chuckled as he shook his head, "Actually, I worked for Hollister." 

"Wow, thanks for telling me you peaked in 2009." 

"Oh, like you didn't have a less than desirable job in college?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. 

He was trying to egg you on, but you didn't mind. It was nice to see that he could do more than just give you heart eyes. 

"I was a barista all through college because I had some dignity." 

"So you are a coffee expert!" His sea green eyes lit up when he spoke. That, combined with how he pointed a finger at you, it was…cute. 

Wait, what? No. He wasn't cute. He was annoying and cocky and insufferable and agitating. 

He was so close. Jake almost got a smile out of you. You were warming up, he just had to be patient. 

He most likely wouldn't get a kiss tonight. But that was fine, he could wait. He had a whole lifetime ahead of him. 

"Guess so. Which, to me, means that I can continue to shit on your beverage choices," you shrugged. 

"You say it like listening to you talk is a bad thing."  

Usually it was for other folks. Why he was an exception was mind boggling. 

"But long story short, when you join the Airforce, you get shipped out to the middle of nowhere. I already grew up with that, and wanted a change. The ocean was a getaway." 

"Huh, I'm surprised. You can say something that's not completely insufferable." 

He loved pleasing you. Jake made a mental note to text his mom later that she would soon get her desired daughter-in-law. 

"I'm more than happy to keep surprising you Venus." You gagged. 

Thankfully your food arrived before he could say any more. You made a mental note to give your waiter a generous tip. 

The roasted asparagus looked amazing and you couldn't wait to take a bite out of-

"Wait! Don't eat that." You looked up at him, your fork inches away from your mouth. 

"It has butter on it," Jake explained, causing your eyes to roll. 

"I go here multiple times, it does not-" 

"Excuse me! What is this roasted in?" Jake asked a nearby waiter, picking up your plate.

"Uh, ghee I believe?" Well, that explains why you always felt bloated after eating here. 

Jake shook his head, pointing to you, "She's got a dairy allergy." 

The waiter apologized, taking your plate away and assuring you that they'll bring something out quickly. 

"Here, have some of mine while you wait." He moved his plate over to you. 

"I'm not going to sleep with you," you blurted out. After all, that had to be why he wanted to play the hero, right? Lieutenant Headache could get fucked if he thought that was enough to allow him into your pants. 

"I'm aware." He didn't sound broken up about it. Perhaps he already had a list of other girls he could call after your date ended. 

"And that doesn't bother you?" You leaned back into your seat, crossing your arms over your chest. Your mind kept trying to think of his offensive driving skills and not the fact that no one had ever paid that close attention to your dietary restrictions before. 

"I didn't do that in hopes it would let me into your pants. You said it made you uncomfortable. So….I don't want you to be uncomfortable," he smirked, "Besides, I can wait, Venus. Got a whole lifetime." 

You scoffed, as this Great Value brand Captain America was unbelievable, "Is that your way to tell me that you plan to kidnap me or something?" 

Jake grinned, "Nah. Just plannin' on marryin' ya." 

"I think you need to get your head checked." He couldn't be serious. There was no fucking way. 

Why would he? You were mouthy and sharp and loud and….he's had heart eyes ever since you first yelled at him in that fucking parking lot. 

Oh God, maybe he was serious. 

"Maybe you should learn how to park properly first before you think of marriage." You begrudgingly took a bite out of his steak, ignoring the soft smile that plastered his stupidly handsome face.

"More than happy to show what I've learned from you." You looked up. He was serious. 

Which was how you found yourself sitting on the grass, watching the human Hangover show his newly learned parking skills. 

"How was that?" He yelled, sticking his head out of his offensive Jeep. 

You waltzed over, taking your time as you circled the perimeter of his car. 

"You're awfully close to the line on the right," you observed. 

Jake scoffed, "But I'm within the line."

"You ever tried to park when some asshat in a big car is nearly over the line? Oh wait," you paused, "you've been that asshat. Anyways, it's next to impossible. So you're still a dick when it comes to parking." 

"So what you're saying….is I need more lessons?" Jake asked, leaning out the window of the driver seat. 

He didn't want lessons. He just wanted another date with you. It was so obvious and- 

"Definitely." 

Regret hit you as soon as you saw how his eyes lit up and a wide smile spread across his face. 

"So we're going on a second date?" 

"It's not a date. You need lessons, that's all." 

"Lessons….over dinner?" Jake was hopeful. You were reserved and he didn't blame you. But he could see cracks, a wall that was slowly but surely chipping away. 

"I'm picking the restaurant as you've shown with your steak choices that you still can't be trusted. And no, you're not picking me up. The verdict is still out on whether you're a serial killer or not." 

"Whatever you say, Venus." Jake made a mental note to tell Bradshaw and Phoenix to suck it tomorrow morning because he has gotten a second date with no wine thrown at him, just three bread rolls. 

It was then he realized you had leaned forward and it was the closest he had ever been to you. He could see every mark on your skin, all the different shades of color in your eyes. 

Man, he hoped y'all's kids would get your eyes. 

You were mentally kicking yourself for allowing him to get so close. The smell of cedar wood was overwhelming, you wanted to gag. His face looked ridiculously smooth, aside from the light stubble that graced the lower half of his face. 

And now you could see how his tongue and lips moved that damn toothpick, flipping it around effortlessly- 

Nope, you had to get the fuck out of here. You were not about to get caught staring- 

"See something ya like, Venus?" He asked, his voice low. Damn it, had he leaned in even more? 

You took a deep breath before pursing your lips into a sickeningly sweet smile, looking up at him through your eyelashes. 

"Yeah, I do…" you voice was breathy as you titled your head up, getting closer to his face. You smelled like cocoa butter and your chest was pushed up against the car door and crap, could see the bulge he was sporting in his lap? 

Fuck you were inches away from his lips. Jake mentally scoffed at his squad, what the fuck were they worried about? 

"A second free dinner. Please thank Uncle Sam for me next time you see him!" With that you walked away, leaving him hanging. 

After taking a few steps, you looked back and couldn't help but giggle. He was in the same position, his eyes widening as he processed what you had done. 

You were going to be the death of Jake Seresin. 

He couldn't fucking wait.

And thanks to that fakeout, he could see your hands up close, confirming that a pear-shaped gemstone would look best on your left hand.

------------------------------------------------------

@abibliophobiaa @wildbornsiren @maxmayfield @hangmanapologist @sebsxphia @mothdruid @stranger-nightmare @xbamboowishesx @theharddeck @princessphilly @rae-gar-targaryen @shrimping-for-all @mygyn @another-tblr-fangirl @alana4610 @cherrycola27 @annie-franny @whatislovevavy @sugarcoated-lame @ouralcohol @topaz125 @hoe-on-the-range @gigisimsonmars @verdandis-blog@mxgyver @princessofglitterland

Seeing Red | Masterlist

According to the Red Queen hypothesis, a species needs to evolve and adapt in order to survive because its competitors are doing the same.

Or how a young woman who wanted to be a lawyer ended up being a well-known naval aviator, hiding a big secret.

Please note that half of these 'texts' were written as sneak peeks of future events that are subject to changes in case the writer decides to explore a different path or idea. Thank you.

Chapters

Conversations from the past: Red - Jake

Conversations from the past: Red - Javy

Ch. 0.5: Off with his head

Dagger babes - 1 - 2

Jake - Red

Ch. 1: A war between us

Ch. 2: Used to it / Dagger babes - 3

Little Mitchells

Liam's Protection Squad

Jake - Red

-

Jake - Red

-

-

Red - Jake

SO CUTESY AND FUN!!!

Barbie Girl 💄 | Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin Imagine

Takes place before, during, and after the events of Top Gun Maverick

TGM Masterlist

Characters & Pairings: Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin x Barbie!reader (romantic), dagger squad (platonic)

Content warnings: light profanity, fluff | female!reader (she/her) | wc: 4.3k

Requested 📨 yes/no (for @kayla-swiftly)

Premise: They say the sky is the limit and anything you set you’re mind to will be achieved as long as you’re dedicated to it. For most people that testimony is nothing but a mere fantasy. But for one woman, with too many dreams to count on her fingers, she took that statement to heart. Proving you can be anyone you want to be and maybe even a few others give or take 😉

Note: Anyone else obsessed with Barbie lately?? Omg y’all I saw the movie last week and absolutely fell in love and i had this request from around the time the final trailer dropped and knew it was the perfect time to write this. I know I know I haven’t been living up to my promise of being consistent but man they having me working my ass off at my job. Also I’ve been traveling and I saw Big Time Rush last night (i felt like a teenager again and it was amazing 😭) anyway I hope you enjoyed this and let me know what you think!

—————————

“Hi, Barbie!” The familiar greeting fills Y/n’s ears as it does every morning she arrives at the hangar. With it comes an instant smile, hand raising to wave at the person responsible for it, “Hi, Phoenix!”

“Hey there, Barbie,” winks another friendly face.

“Hiiii, Hangman,” her tone is playful like his, turning energetic for Bob when he goes, “Hiya, Barbie!”

“Hi there, Bob!”

“Hey, Barbie.” “Good morning, Barbie.” “What’s up, Barbie Girl.”

“Hello, Rooster.” “Good morning to you too, Fanboy.” “Nothing much, Pay. And yourself?”

Unlike her fellow pilots, clad in their deep green flight suits, Y/n stood out in the crowd for hers was a little unorthodox when one thinks of a naval fighter pilot's uniform.

It was pink. Completely as in her combat boots were also the bright color and the patchers were white and pink tones rather than red, blues, black and any other color seen in the ones attached to her coworkers arms. ‘Barbie’ in pink cursive writing instead of traditional bold Times New Roman lettering.

And don’t forget the little flower dotting the ‘i’.

Growing up, Y/n took ‘you can be anyone and anything you want to be,’ quite literally. At no point was it a joke to her when she would tell her friends and family, “oh I’m gonna be a fashion designer and Olympic Gold medalist when I’m older,” “I wanna go to space, fly in planes, and see all the wonders of the world,” “I’ll be a doctor, a teacher, and movie star!” They’d smile and laugh, thinking it was adorable for a little girl to dream big. No way would it be possible to achieve all of those careers. Everyone only gets one life to live and time goes so fast one can only set their eyes on one path and hope for the best.

But Y/n was a dreamer. And if you’re going to dream, might as well dream big.

All through middle and high school people took Y/n’s intelligence for granted. Focusing more on her beauty rather than brains, it came as an under shock to everyone when Y/n had the credits to graduate at the ripe age of 15. Exceeding in her standardized test scores with a high school resume taking up three pages with extracurricular and academic achievements, she had colleges from all over the country begging for her to apply.

Stanford. Cornell. Pratt. Juilliard. NYU. John Hopkins. Harvard. UCLA. Duke. Top medical and law schools. Ivy League universities. Performing Arts schools calling for auditions after sending scouts to watch her perform in school plays and dance recitals. Coaches from high ranking NCAA gymnastics teams sending emails after emails.

So many to choose from….And so the story of Y/n L/n becoming a real life Barbie Doll begins.

Setting her eyes in New York, Y/n attended not one but two of the best schools in the country. While obtaining her bachelor’s in both astronautical and aeronautical engineering at NYU Y/n also completed a two year degree in Fashion Business Management at the Fashion Institute of Technology. During this time she continued training for the Olympics in hopes of making the 2008 Beijing team in gymnastics.

“How do you do it?” Her roommate at NYU constantly asked. “You go from here to FIT, working on two degrees that are completely on opposite sides of the spectrum and career paths,” she emphasized with hand expressions, “and still have enough to time to go to the gym to practice, eat three meals a day, have all your assignments done early, and sleep a reasonably about of hours each night.” Letting out an exhale, her roommate looks at Y/n as if she’s an alien from another world, “What’s your secret? Are you some kind of Barbie doll the government created as a test robot?”

Each time Y/n would pause, think for a moment before smiling, “I don’t know if I should find that as an insult or compliment, but I’m gonna chose it as a compliment and say it’s because I want to live a life where I can look back on and go, ‘I took a risk and tried something new even if it didn’t look possible but it was all worth it.’”

By the time Y/n turned 20 she had accumulated a vast list of credentials to her name. The list included getting her fashion business degree at 17, Bachelors in astronautical/aeronautical engineering at 19–receiving her Master’s for it at 20–An Olympic Gold and Silver medalist, dancing with the Radio City Rockettes, performing with the NYC Ballet Company in their rendition of Swan Lake, landing a role on Broadway, walking a runway at NY fashion week, and appearing on episodes of SVU, 30 Rock, All My Children, Sex and the City, and Ugly Betty.

So yeah, New York was a success in experiences for Y/n.

Following the high note, she packed her bags to leave the golden apple for the flashing lights of Hollywood, California. This time Y/n was working on her doctorates at USC, running her own business with her fashion degree called ‘Dream Closet’, and auditioning for film and tv shows.

Hollywood was a dream come true just like New York. Again she attended two different schools, this time flight school and USC. During the day she was occupied running from class to the hangar and then the observatory. Coaching dance and gymnastics on the side, designing clothes for her online shop which developed into a pop-up chain store in malls across America.

It wasn’t long until Y/n’s name grew into nationwide popularity. People started realizing the Y/n L/n who won the Gold and Silver medals in the 2008 Olympics was the same one responsible for the most recent fashion trends and guest starring on their favorite tv shows. What really set it in stone was when Y/n landed the role of an engineer officer in the 2009 reboot of Star Trek, going on to appear in both the 2013 and 2016 sequels.

Impressive was the only word her costars could use to describe her. What else was there?

Anytime there was a question involving, “who’s most likely to become president?” “Who’s most likely to try something new or create a new hobby?” “Who’s most likely to win a Nobel Prize?” Along those lines…the answer was obvious.

“Oh Y/n,” Zoe Saldana waves her hand, “Always.”

“Yeah,” Chris Pine agrees with a laugh, “That woman, I-I don’t know how one has the energy to do all that she does—a-and still want to do more.”

The Interviewer laughs with them, “didn’t she just race in the Daytona 500 last year?”

“Yes!! And she did a song with Lady Gaga when they were on American Horror Story,” Zoe’s tone is in absolute awe, “All while teaching at USC and creating new technology at NASA.” Chris lifts a finger.

“Don’t forget she had her own Mac Viva Glam line a couple years ago.” Zoe made a sound along the lines of ‘see what I mean,’.

“I’m telling you, she’s gonna be a name in the history books.”

What all has Y/n accomplished career wise? Let’s take a look.

Model, dancer, actor, singer, fashion designer, entrepreneur, athlete, engineer, race car driver, and professor.

And now she can add pilot to the list. Although she got her license to fly way back in 2009, Y/n didn’t put it to use full time until 2016, wanting to wait until after the release of Star Trek: Beyond to say goodbye to Hollywood for the time being and set forth on her next adventure.

Boy did it come as a surprise what she had planned.

The Manila folder containing her resume hit the desk of the Admiral, his eyes wide as saucers. “You wanna join the Navy?” Reading the front page for a fifth time, Cyclone glanced back at the woman in front of him. Doctor Y/n L/n. Or is it professor L/n? “And you wanna be one of my pilots?”

“Yes, Sir.”

”Ma’am, I apologize if this comes off as offending,” he really didn’t know any other way to put it. “But you are more qualified than any person on this base. Doctorates in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Southern California,” he counts off on his fingers, “you recently developed a groundbreaking advancement in space technology that’s going to help our astronauts—on the road to becoming a Nobel Prize nominee.” He raises his eyebrows, “And this is only what relates to this career field. I’m not even mentioning your acting, athletic, and fashion credentials. Why join the Navy?”

Y/n only offers a shrug, “I think the better question is, why not?” Cyclone lets out a sigh.

“What did you say your callsign was again?”

“Barbie.”

There was no stopping the small smile trying to break free, “I should’ve guessed.”

After completing OTS there was much debate on what Y/n’s rank would be coming into the Navy. Civilian lawyers and physicians often are Lieutenants (O-3) right away, but considering Y/n had two doctorate degrees and her pilot license they felt it was only fair for her to come in as Commander (O-5). From there Y/n was sent to North Island to attend Fighter Weapons School.

Better known to its flyers as Top Gun.

Y/n was used to the looks she received on a daily basis. From head to toe she was covered in variations of pink depending on what she was feeling. When teaching her briefcase and pantsuit were baby pink, in the labs her coat was hot pink, at auditions she wore pink leather jackets. Even her race car for the Daytona was pink.

Shoutout to Mac cosmetics for the sponsorship.

So it’s no surprise her flight suit would be the color she was known for—despite it being out of regulations.

Being more qualified than your superiors had its perks.

If she could have a pink F-18 she would but unfortunately that wasn’t possible. That was okay for Y/n. After all, she managed to get her own custom flight suit. One which had everyone having to do double takes whenever she walked into a room.

“Is she wearing…?”

“How the hell did they allow that?”

“Does that mean I can have mine in purple?”

Her first day at Top Gun Y/n met Natasha ‘Phoenix’ Trace. They were paired as roommates in the dorms and quickly became good friends. Phoenix was beyond amazed with Y/n’s accomplishments and experiences. Every conversation led to a new discovery. “Do you ever burn out?” Nat stag criss crossed on Y/n’s satin pink bed sheets, admiring her wall of photos from when she traveled to see all the wonders of both the ancient and modern world. “I feel I’d be a walking corpse from exhaustion. And you mentioned you’re still running and designing clothes for ‘Dream Closet’?”

Y/n removed her diamond studs, placing them on her desk she was using as a vanity. “I have a team dealing with the business side of things for the brand. I’m still CEO and creative director—usually I work on designs for a couple hours before bed to prepare for the next launch.”

Nat was in awe, “I have to ask….what’s been the best career you’ve done so far?” A common question Y/n heard, there was never a true answer. She loved every career. They all had their perks and their flaws, but at the end of the day it left her satisfied she achieved them.

“I don’t know yet,” she spoke truthfully, “I still have a few to check off on my list. When that happens I’ll let you know.”

Fast forwarding to 2019, Y/n answered the phone to Admiral Simpson’s voice with the news she needed to report back to North Island for a highly confidential mission. The details were unknown, but Y/n packed her bags, loaded her pink vintage corvette convertible and high tailed it to sunny San Diego.

The squeals initiated by Y/n and Nat the moment she stepped foot in the Hard Deck had heads whipping in their direction. “Hi, Barbie!” Nat’s arms opened for a hug.

“Hi, Phoenix!” Y/n accepted the embrace, still grinning ear to ear. The guys around them were looking at each other like, ‘what the…?’ Y/n wasn’t in her standard Khakis like they were—minus Rooster. She bore a pink denim number with matching boots with her hair curled and pink eyeliner surrounded by tiny rhinestones.

“You got selected too?” Nat complimented her outfit before cutting straight to the point.

“For the special detachment? Looks like it,” she winked.

“What happened to the Artemis program? Weren’t you up as a candidate?”

“Oh I still am,” Y/n affirmed proudly, “They’ll be announcing who’s to be selected in the coming months. So for now I’m still with the Bounty Hunters. Plus,” she leans in to whisper, “this will look good on my resume.” The two giggle before Y/n drifts her gaze to the boggling gazes in front of her. “Oh! I’m sorry for being so rude. I’m Y/n L/n,” extending her hand to the first person who’s name tag read Fitch, Y/n added, “But you can call me Barbie.”

“Barbie,” the blonde holding a pool cue repeated like a question, “like the toy Barbie?” Nat chuckled, throwing an arm around her friend after she was done shaking everyone’s hand as they introduced themselves.

“Fellas, if there is anyone who is a life sized version of Barbie, it’s this one right here.”

“Now, Phee…” Y/n’s tone was that of, ‘Don’t start.’

“It’s true,” the pilot defended. “Not only is she Commander Y/n ‘Barbie’ L/n,” jaws drop, “but she’s Professor and Doctor L/n.” The jaws hit the floor, “On top of founder, creative director and CEO of ‘Dream’s Closet,’” Javy makes a sound, familiar with the brand, “Emmy nominated actress,” Fanboy chokes on his water, “Olympic Gold Medalist and soon to be astronaut for the Artemis program.” By now all the guys are on the verge of losing their minds.

Bob rapidly blinks, “uh—.”

“Now I’m not an astronaut yet,” Y/n points out, “I’m a candidate for one.” Nat scoffs lightly.

“They’d be stupid not to pick you, Barb,” she then slaps her side, turning back to the guys, “Oh and how could I forget Broadway, Vogue, and the Daytona 500.”

“Daytona 500!?” Payback practically screeches.

“You were on Broadway?”

“—featured on Vogue—?!”

“Wait a minute I recognize you from Star Trek!”

“—How in the hell—.”

“Guys, guys!” Y/n laughs with her hands slightly raised, “Please, one at a time.” They were in for a long night of questions and story times. And just like Nat was years prior when she first roomed with Y/n at Top Gun, the officers were in complete amazement over the woman in front of them. Never had they met anyone like her.

“Wow,” Jake whistled once she finished bringing them up to date on her most recent careers. “You really are a real-life Barbie.”

“Shhhh,” a finger went to her lips, followed by a wink, “don’t tell Mattel.”

And thus the dagger squad was formed. Two and half weeks of hell bearing training preceding a face-with-death mission brings people closer. Every morning Y/n arrived at the hangar to a chorus of “Hi, Barbie.”

She waved at Reuben, “Hi Payback.”

“Hey there, Barbie Girl,” Javy threw her a peace sign.

“Hiya, Coyote!”

“Good morning, Barbie,” Rooster tipped his hat.

“Mornin’, Rooster.”

“Hi, Barbie!” “Hi, Barbie!” Her favorite duo harmonized.

“Hi, Bob! Hi, Phee!”

And for some closer than others….

“You know I was thinking,” Jake commented, taking Y/n’s hand before leading her to the pottery class he signed them up for. Every Friday night was reserved for date night. Dinner and a movie. Walk on the beach. Spending $20 worth of quarters at an arcade. Attending a comedy show. Paint and sip. Following the successful mission, Jake and Y/n hit it off and began seeing each other.

“Famous last words.”

“It’s not bad,” a chuckle left his lips, stopping at the door. “I just thought it was funny. You know how you’re basically Barbie?” His cheeky smile resulted in her mirroring it.

“Yessss.”

“This means I’m pretty much your Ken, right?” The question makes the woman visible ‘awe’. Jake ruffles a hand through his hair and gives his best blue steel, “we kinda look alike. Don’t you think?”

Laughing, Y/n kisses his cheek, “I mean…name a more iconic duo than Barbie and Ken.”

“Barbie and Hangman?”

“Exactly.” It was safe to assume what their Halloween costumes were going to be.

Time went on, missions were run. And after a year of anticipation—though it felt like forever, it was finally announced in 2020 Y/n would be one of the astronauts selected to be part of NASA’s Artemis program launching in 2024.

Making Y/n the first woman to go to the moon.

The call came in from a restricted number when they were in a meeting, and knowing she was to expect a call within the month everyone quickly shut up so the pilot could answer.

She excused herself to leave the room, staying in front of the window so the team could see her. Throughout the conversation Y/n’s expression remained neutral to the point none had a clue whether the news was good or bad. Only when she reentered the room did they get the answer.

“I’m going to the moon!!!”

“Ahhh!!!!” The team exploded in an array of cheers, Y/n jumping up and down, careful not to drop her phone that was in her hands when Jake lifted her in his arms.

“I’m so fucking proud of you!” Despite being unauthorized to show pda in uniform, Jake gave her a big kiss on the lips, not caring who saw. “You are the most exceptional human being on this planet.”

“Jake,” tears welled in her eyes, which he kissed away. Her heart filled with warmth and gratitude. Feeling on top of the world with her closest friends supporting her.

Once all calmed down and they finished the meeting, Mickey jumped from his seat, “Come on Barbie, let’s go party!” Everyone sped to the Hard Deck to celebrate the news. Mav bought the first round, followed by Payback.

“Guys you don’t have to do all that,” Y/n said once she realized they all agreed to buy her drinks for the night.

“We want to,” Nat tapped her beer with Y/n’s cocktail glass, the guys voicing agreements. “For years you’ve been dreaming about this and it’s finally happening. Your hard work is paying off and we want to celebrate—show you we love and appreciate you, Barbie.”

Y/n fought back tears, never afraid to show her emotions. Some may find it childish or thinned skin, but to Y/n that was what being human was all about. “I love you guys.”

“We love you!” The voices echoed together.

The night had been going well with the squad hanging out by the pool tables like they usually did when Y/n approached the bar to pick up the next round Mickey was paying for. Not paying attention to those beside her, she smiled at Penny and repeated the order before waiting patiently.

But what’s a night at a bar without someone who lacks boundaries.

“You must be the one they call Barbie,” a voice says, flirtation seeping through the words. Glancing to her right, Y/n recognizes a gentleman from the flight line whose name she could not recall. “You’re quite the talk around base. In fact, weren’t you in some Hollywood blockbuster?”

“Yes,” she politely responds, keeping the answer short. Though she was known to be a sweetheart and kindhearted to anyone she met, Y/n could tell where the interaction was heading toward and did not feel comfortable entertaining it any further. “A long time ago.”

“I’m Lieutenant Paul Billings,” he extended his hand, and she immediately clocked he was trying to show off his rank. ‘Boy he’s in for a treat.’

Not wanting to make a scene, she accepts the handshake. “Commander Y/n L/n,” there was emphasis on the Commander, displaying the woman was of higher rank and therefore a silent warning to Billings to not cross a line.

There was a flash of surprise on his face. Y/n held back an amused laugh, ‘guess you didn’t hear everything.’

“Something the matter, Lieutenant?”

“No,” he brushes it off, “Nothing. Say,” he nods to the bar, “can I buy you a drink.” Did he not just hear her order a round for the people she came with?

“That’s kind of you,” she starts just as Penny arrives with a try full of cold beers and her usual cocktail. “But I’m all set, thank you.” Hands moving to take the tray, she jumps slightly at the feeling of his own coming to her wrist.

“What about lunch this week?”

“I’m sorry but I am spoken for, Lieutenant,” removing his hold, Y/n takes a step away.

Now Paul had lost his reasonable composure. Scoffing, he says, “What? Am I not enough for you?” The question results in her raising a brow.

“I beg your pardon?”

He makes a face, “You think because you’ve done all these careers and occupations that you’re better than the average person? I’m not a pilot and an actor or researching the cure for cancer while creating a documentary series,” venom seeps through his tone, obviously depicting his jealousy, “Basic is not up to your standards, so you have to throw our failures in our face as if we don’t already know.”

By now a crowd has formed. Jake started moving the second he noticed Billings etching too close to his girl, followed by Nat and the others who were ready to back him up. Behind the bar, Penny was fixing to ring the bell until being stopped by Y/n’s wave of the hand.

“Are you done?”

Paul’s expression was that of, “what?” No audible response was voiced therefore Y/n continued.

“Okay, I’m gonna go ahead and say this, Paul,” Y/n drops her shoulder. The change in body language let Jake and her friends know she wasn’t taking anything that the man said personally. “I know I should be offended by your insults and insinuations, but the truth is I’m not.” A small smile forms on her lips, “I don’t view myself higher than anyone because of what I accomplished. The only person I do that to, is myself—because I don’t have to prove to no one but me that I am capable of achieving what I set my mind to. And yeah,” a light chuckle escapes, “I’ve set my mind to a lot of things—way more than the average person. But that doesn’t mean you or anyone else can’t do the same.”

Pausing Y/n takes a breath before exhaling, “You look at me, and hate the way it makes you view yourself. Makes you believe you’re a failure because you didn’t follow the path you hoped to make for yourself.” Paul’s expression shifts to one of solemnity, like he was thinking of his younger self who had dreams and aspirations. Mourning what could have been.

It made Y/n sad for him. Empathetic despite him attacking her. “One thing I’ve learned over the years…is time is what you make of it. Life is about taking risks. You can still set out to do whatever it is you wish, as long as you’re committing to taking the risk no matter how scary it is. Sure you’ll find obstacles and it’ll feel like the whole world is against you. But determination will guide you through the walls, and you will be successful so that you can look back and think, ‘it was worth it.’ As cliche as it sounds,” she couldn’t hold back a laugh, “Barbie isn’t a person or an object you can obtain. Barbie is a mindset. And you have to unlock it in your own way, Paul.”

It was so quiet in the building, a pin could drop and everyone would hear it. Their looks of awe, admiration, and even newfound motivation by Y/n’s speech. Impressed by how classy she handled what very well could have been a scream match between rival squadrons.

Behind Billings the Dagger squad stood with proud smirks at their friend. Especially Jake, who caught Y/n’s eyes and threw her a wink. Nat gave the woman a salute, a silent gesture to say, ‘you inspire me everyday.’

And Billings? Well he was at a loss for words.

Patting his shoulder, Y/n grabbed the tray of drinks, “I wish you luck, Paul.” Thanking Penny, who gave her a proud nod and replied, “this ones on the house,” Y/n returned to her friends where she was met with a sweet kiss from Jake, claps on the back and “You go girl!” “Tell them who’s boss.” “Damn, you made me wanna go out there and live life the way I should.”

“What’s stopping you, Javy?” she handed him a beer, “the world is your playground.”

A couple hours later it was time to call it a night. Hugs went around, promises to meet up the following night and tabs were closed.

On their way out, Jake dropped a kiss to Y/n forehead, pulling her close to him as he led her to the door of the parking lot, “So what’s next for you, doll? You’ve proved you can be anything and anyone you chose to be,” he grins at her, “What will you set your mind to now after space?”

“First, I want to write a book—I think that’s something a lot have been waiting for me to do. Afterwards, well, I’ll have to wait a couple more years, but,” The corner of Y/n’s lips lift up before flashing a dazzling smile, “I’m thinking….the Oval Office is in need of a makeover. Don’t you think?”

Then, before he could answer, Y/n turns her head in the opposite direction as if she’s trying to find a hidden camera. Makes eye contact with you, the reader, winking before turning back to Jake where she sets off on her next adventure.

…………….

TGM Tag List: @avaleineandafryingpan @caitsymichelle13 @poppyalice2001 @cutelittlepotatofry @luckyladycreator2 @americaarse @elenavampire21 @back-tooo-black @wildellaa @artemissunn @pinkpantheris

how in the world does this post only have 54 likes.....this is godly master piece 😍 definitely a recommendation 👇

Heart's getting soft (Jake "Hangman" Seresin x fem!reader)

Summary: It felt so nice, so normal. Having you in his arms, as you laughed and chatted with his sisters and mother. For a second, he forgot it was all fake.

A dash of angst, lots of fluff, a little smut, and a Christmas fake-dating trope.

Warnings: dysfunctional families, cursing, friends to lovers, fake dating, bed sharing, slow burn, mutual pining, very brief miscommunication, smut, unprotected p in v, very brief oral (f receiving), fingering, breeding kink, not beta'd.

A/N: Finally! I started this thing back in November but anytime I opened the draft I just kept staring at it. It's finished!! I didn't plan on this being so long, but oh well. There's still 1 day left of my 700 follower celebration

Wordcount: 18K

There weren't many things that left Lieutenant Jake Seresin terrified. Fear was a pretty unfamiliar word for him. He was raised not to be afraid of anything.

When he was four years old and cried in his parents’ room, because he heard a noise at night, his father scolded him.

Men don’t cry.

When he fell and scraped his knees, he swallowed the whimpers that were threating to escape and stood up, acting as if the blood trickling down his leg didn’t bother him at all.

You’re weak. I didn’t raise you like that.

When he was 17 and the girl he was dating broke his heart, he never showed it. He told her she couldn’t possibly hurt him, if he never loved her to start with. She couldn’t see through his lie. She couldn't see the broken pieces of his heart lying on the floor.

Love is pathetic. It makes you weak.

When his best friend’s plane was almost shot down, his eyes started tearing up and his throat got tight. He blinked the tears away, without anyone even noticing they were there in the first place. He never showed fear in front of anyone else, instead he bottled all of his emotions up. Javy was okay, after all. What was there to cry about?

Emotions were a weakness and he wasn’t supposed to be weak.

He didn’t fear heights, instead enjoying the rush of adrenaline he felt anytime he was up in the sky. He didn’t fear death, after so many brushes with it. He knew everyone would die one day and he seemingly made peace with it. Yes, there were still some things on his bucket list he wanted to experience, but he felt like he still had so much time to do them. There was no rush.

But one thing that still made the hairs on the back of his neck stand, his heart drum wildly in his ears and his blood run cold, was his father.

Commander William Seresin was a tough man.

He never cried, wanting to keep the image of this heartless, cold monster, because he thought that would make people respect him. He never told his children he loved them, never hugged them, never showed positive emotions. How else would they learn discipline? Love won't teach them to be tough.

Commander Seresin wasn’t a good father, he was far from it.

How can a father make his own children feel so worthless? He always hid his insults behind “words of encouragement”, because he wanted his children to be the best.

You should be better. This isn't anything to be proud of.

As if that made hearing those words any easier.

For this very reason Christmas was a sore subject to Jake. He didn’t spend it with his family since he moved away from home when he was 18.

He missed his mother’s cooking and decorating the gingerbread house with his sisters. He missed sitting around the Christmas tree and watching those dumb Hallmark movies in the living room, even if he complained the whole time.

His mother was pleading with him, begging him to come home this year. He had his answer ready, on the tip of his tongue: I have a mission, I won’t be able to make it there for Christmas. But hearing his mother’s desperation made his heart clench painfully.

So now here he was, having a dilemma, and there was only one person that could comfort him. You.

You and Jake met back at Top Gun all those years ago. You didn’t start off as friends. Hell, he was sure you wanted to punch him any time he as much as looked at you.

Jake was an arrogant asshole, everyone knew that. So of course he started out by teasing you and flirting with you. You didn’t take his shit and humbled him. And as hard as it was for him to admit, he’s been whipped ever since. At first it was just a stupid crush, one that made him feel like a 13 year old, who kept twirling her hair and giggling as she wrote in her pink little diary with one of those fluffy pens.

But then the years went by, without hearing much about you. He thought his luck has run out and he wasn't going to see you again. It's not like he could just reach out to you. You weren't exactly friends.

And then you got called back for the mission. After so many years, you met again at Top Gun. You were just as beautiful as before, just as feisty, but something changed. You were softer when you spoke to him, welcoming. You still bickered like children sometimes and teased each other, but you also became somewhat of a safe haven for each other. Without ever saying it out loud.

Somewhere along the line, after things started to blur between friendship and something more, he fell in love with you. You did too, but Jake was a blind man. He never believed someone like you could ever want someone so broken. If he only knew you had so much more in common, that you were just as broken, he might have changed his mind.

That didn't mean he didn't hope. His eyes lit up anytime you hugged him, or called him over to your place to watch a movie and cuddle. He felt like he was going into cardiac arrest anytime you were near him. He’s pretty sure everyone figured it out by now; not like he could do much to hide it anyway.

Jake’s tired mind wasn’t able to catch up with how fast his legs took him to your house. You didn’t know about Jake’s family issues, nor his own. But just being close to you could bring him a peace of mind like nothing else could.

He found you sitting on your terrace, in a warm Christmas sweater with Rudolph on it, what he presumed was hot chocolate in your hands and a fluffy blanket wrapped around you to protect you from the cold. You looked so cute. He smiled unconsciously, before he realized he was staring at you. He cursed under his breath, realizing just how fucked he was. Running a hand down his face, he walked up to you.

When you finally noticed him, you grinned, pulling up the blanket so he could sit down next to you.

“Hi.” Jake swore his heart skipped a beat, hearing your tired, soft voice.

“Hi, Angel.” you smiled, rolling your eyes affectionately at your callsign.

Of course, you got it from Jake. He was always teasing you with cheesy nicknames, but for some reason, this one stuck. You were mad at him at first, but you got over that with time. He found the death stares you gave him absolutely adorable.

He still kept telling people, very proudly, that he gave you your callsign.

Jake sat down next to you, pulling you closer to him, wrapping the blanket around the both of you. You handed him your cup and he took a sip.

“God, how can you drink that?” he asked, grimacing. He knew you had a sweet tooth, but this was too much, even for you.

“It’s hot chocolate, Jake.” you scoffed.

“It’s too sweet.”

“It is not.” you protested. He loved how defensive you got over the smallest things. Teasing you was always fun.

“You’re gonna get diabetes.”

“Well, it will be worth it.” He shook his head at your antics, but his smile gave him away.

A comfortable silence took over, before Jake frowned, looking at you. “What are you doing out here?”

“It's supposed to snow.”

“So you decided to freeze your ass off?"

“Why do you always have to ruin my fun?” you pouted, trailing your nails down his chest, the action making Jake’s heart beat faster. It was unbelievable how easily you turned him on. He had to bite his tongue in order not to tell you how much he wanted to take you on this fucking bench, before he ruined everything.

“I mean look at it, it’s beautiful.” you said, nodding your head towards the view in front of you. Jake hummed, running a hand down your arm.

You started telling him about the movie that you watched, which you thought he would also enjoy. Small things like this always made his heart leap, knowing that you were thinking about him just as much as he was thinking about you.

But halfway through he stopped listening to you, instead turning his face to look at the sky. The moon was full, illuminating the street even through the slight fog. Every house on the street was decorated with Christmas lights, some more than the other, and he realized how right you were. It was indeed beautiful. He didn’t think there was anywhere he’d rather be than here with you in his arms, right now.

When he didn't respond, you realized he wasn’t listening to you, and although you wanted to be offended, you sensed there was something bothering him. Jake didn’t want to admit it to anyone, but you sometimes knew him better than he knew himself.

“Okay, talk.” you said, putting the hot chocolate (that was now cold) on the table, turning your body towards Jake. He whined at the loss of your body warmth against him, reaching his hand out to pull you close again. You sat farther away from him, dodging his attempt, and gave him a stern look.

Jake sighed. “Talk about what?”

Your gaze softened when you heard his defensive tone. “What’s going on, Jake?”

“What do you mean? Nothing is going on.” He deliberately avoided looking into your eyes, hoping you wouldn’t push it. But you just looked at him, your eyebrow raised, your face screaming something along the lines of Cut the shit. He still didn’t know how you figured him out so easily.

“My mom wants me to go to Texas for Christmas.” he said quietly, so quietly you almost missed it.

Although Jake didn’t talk about his family, you could sense there was some tension. Anytime his father was brought up, his jaw clenched, his eyes void of emotions. It was just a fleeting moment, so short you wouldn’t have even noticed, if your eyes weren’t always on him.

“And you don’t want to?” you asked, shuffling closer to him.

Jake let out a humourless chuckle. “Not really.”

“Why not?” you asked, instantly noticing how his body tensed next to you. You winced, regretting your previous question. You didn’t want to push him too much, scared that he would just build those walls you were pretty sure you already knocked down back up. “If I’m pushing, you don’t have to answer.”

“No, it’s-it’s fine.” he let out a shaky breath, running his hands through hair.

“I don’t really have a good relationship with my father. He’s not really the loving parent type, y’know?” If that wasn’t an understatement.

“Yeah, I get that.” you said, thinking back to your own parents. You knew exactly what he meant. “You don’t have to go. You can just make something up.” You reached your hand out to wrap it around his wrist, rubbing his skin with your thumb.

Jake nodded. “I know, I thought about that. But my mum will be sad and I haven’t spent Christmas with them in years.”

You hummed. “How can I help?”

Jake caught your hand, intertwining your fingers with his, still avoiding your eyes. “I didn’t come here because of this, I just-“ He couldn’t find the right words to express how much you helped him without even knowing it. “You-“

“I what?” You caressed his hand with your thumb, hoping to soothe him. You knew Jake was shit with words, especially when it came to talking about his emotions. Sometimes he got frustrated with himself for it and you wanted to let him know that it was okay.

“There's just something about you that makes me forget about everything else when I'm with you." You looked at him, a little surprised at his admission. He turned to look at you, knocking your knees together. “Don’t tell me you didn’t notice I always come to you after a hard day or if neither of us can sleep.”

You smiled softly, your heart clenching in your chest with the affection you felt towards this man. “I did notice. I’m honoured.”

You bit your lip, thinking about something. “Would it help if I was there with you?”

You spending Christmas with him? He would definitely say yes. You spending Christmas with him and his mother and sisters? He would also say yes. You spending Christmas in his childhood home, with him and his whole family, which included his father? Hard pass. The last thing he wanted was for you to find out what kind of a childhood he had, so you had just another reason to write him off as a lost case. As if he didn't already give you enough of them.

Jake shook his head. “I couldn’t ask you to do that. Don’t you have plans with your family?”

You sighed. “You’re not the only one who’s family sucks.”

“I’m sorry.” he said sincerely. You did mention that you weren't on the best terms with them, but he didn't know it was so bad you weren't even going home for Christmas.

If you weren't spending Christmas with family, would you be spending it alone? Maybe he should tell his mom that white lie and just stay with you. Hang a few mistletoes around the house so he could kiss you at least once and then laugh it off afterwards.

You shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s okay. If I have to deal with your issues, at least I can ignore mine.”

Jake pouted at you, acting offended. “Mean.”

You grinned. “I am.”

As much as he would've loved to say yes, he shook his head. “Still. You don’t know what you’d be getting into.”

You rolled your eyes, exasperated. “Jake. Just answer the question.”

He sighed. “Yes, it would help me immensely if your cute ass was there to calm me down.”

“Then I can come.”

“What should I even tell them? Hey this is my friend Y/N, she’s here because I don’t want to deal with dad’s bullshit alone this year?” That sounded ridiculous and weak. His father wouldn't even let him step through the threshold if he told them that. 

“Lie and tell them I’m your girlfriend. We’ve been dating for a while, but you didn’t want to tell them unless we knew it was serious.” Jake was taken aback a bit at how quickly you came up with a cover story, before he even really realized what you said. You wanted to play his girlfriend. 

Girlfriend. Which meant there would be hand holding and hugging. Not that you've never done that. But you've never done that while pretending to be his girlfriend.

This would be different. And maybe...maybe he would finally get to kiss you. But now wasn't a good time to think about all the things he'd like to do to you as part of your little plan.

Oh, you were good. It was getting harder and harder to say no.

You sensed that he was contemplating, thinking about this whole thing. You knew Jake enough to know what would work on him. “Tell them I don’t have anyone to spend Christmas with either. And since you’re such a lovely boyfriend, you don’t want to leave me alone, so you’re bringing me home with you.”

Jake groaned, closing his eyes. “God, you’re so good at scheming. It’s so hot.”

You giggled, the sound stirring something deep inside him. He wanted to make you laugh all the time. 

Jake sighed then, finally nodding. “Okay. I will call my mom tomorrow.” It's not like your suggestion was so bad. He just hoped it wouldn't end in a catastrophe. He looked at you one last time, wanting to make sure that you thought this through. “Are you really sure you want to do this?”

“Absolutely.” He looked at you, still not convinced. “Let me be a little selfish." You smiled softly, sadness passing through your eyes for only a brief second. "I don’t want to be alone either.”

“You won’t have to be ever again.” When you looked into his eyes, you knew he meant it. You looked down at your intertwined hands, your cheeks flushing with warmth.

Both of you stood up, as the night got a little colder. His arms wrapped around you, pulling you into a warm hug. “Thank you, sweetheart.” You buried your face into his chest, inhaling his cologne that you loved so much, before finally saying goodbye. You watched as he walked away, disappearing into the night.

That night, Jake lied awake in his bed, unable to sleep, his mind too occupied with you. He thanked the Gods he didn't even believe in, and his lucky star, that he got to meet you.

The next morning, Jake woke up to a text from you, reminding him to call his mother. He smiled, sending you a short response.

Javy, like the amazing friend he was, was hyping him up through text messages, reassuring him that this was an amazing idea. Wasn't spending time with you alone exactly what Jake craved?

Maybe Javy also had a selfish reason for doing this. He just couldn't watch you two dance around each other without either of you making a move, while Jake whined about how much he liked you. It was becoming unbearable to the point he was thinking about spilling Jake's biggest secret to you in order to help his friend (and himself).

Jake clicked on his mom's contact, finger hovering over the call button. He found at least 20 reasons why this was a bad idea and 20 reasons on why this could go terribly. But those 10 reasons on why you playing his fake girlfriend was the best plan you ever came up with were enough for him. There was no one else he would want to do this with. So he called her and waited anxiously, before she picked up. 

“Jake, sweetheart. Is everything alright?” He could hear the worry in her voice, which made him smile. 

“Hi, mom. Everything’s fine.” he reassured her, making her let out a breath. “Oh, good. Made me panic a little bit there.”

She always worried. He might've been an adult, old enough to take care of himself, but that didn't mean her mind was at ease. Jake could still remember her cries when he told her he was joining the Navy.

At least one of his parents cared.

“Don’t worry, everything’s fine. Just wanted to ask you something.” 

“What is it, honey?”

“I was wondering if I could bring someone home.” Jake closed his eyes, rubbing his forehead. Why was it so hard to say those words out loud? He practiced those exact words so many times in the past hour and he still couldn't get them out. Maybe if his father didn't teach him his whole childhood that loving someone would make him vulnerable and that it was a bad thing, maybe then it would be easier.

He sighed shakily. “My girlfriend. I wanted to ask if she could come with me.”

He heard as she took in a sharp breath. Was she shocked that he was dating someone? Was she shocked that he was bringing them home? Or shocked he was going home at all? “Oh, honey. You didn’t even tell me you were dating someone. What’s her name?” He could hear the smile in her voice, which made him smile in return. 

“Her name is Y/N. We’ve been together for a few months, but we wanted to keep it quiet until we figured out where we’re heading.” It's a good thing he got pretty good at lying about anything by now. It came completely natural. At least this lie wasn't going to hurt anyone.

“Oh, of course. Is she not spending Christmas with her family?”

“She doesn’t have anyone to spend Christmas with, mom.”

She cooed sympathetically. “Oh, poor thing. Of course she can spend Christmas here. You never brought anyone home, I’d be so happy to meet her.” I'm happy you're going to meet her too. It's not you I'm worried about.

But Jake knew there was no point in making his mother sad, so he didn't say those words out loud. “That’s great. Thank you, mom. I will tell her that. How are you?”

“We’re getting by, baby. The last few months have been chaotic thanks to our newest family addition.”

Ah, yes. His little nephew, Noah.

“I can’t wait to meet him.” Jake smiled, thinking about the little boy. He got his sister's eyes and her personality. At just two months old, he was already just as stubborn as her.

“I’m glad you’ll be home for Christmas.” His vision blurred slightly as he teared up. “Me too, mom. I have to go now, we will talk later, okay?”

“Bye, honey. Tell your girlfriend I said hi too. Love you.”

“I will. Love you too.” He ended the call, letting out a breath.

That part was done. Now he just needed to make sure both of you would survive the holidays.

“So you’re going home with him for Christmas?” Phoenix asked, while you were sitting and drinking at Hard Deck. Rooster was sitting next to her, munching on some peanuts, giving you a questioning look.

He was way too judgemental for someone who was sitting in a Hawaiian shirt in the middle of December.

“Yeah, why?” you shrugged, acting like it wasn’t a big deal. But it was and you were freaking out. You were about to go to Texas with Jake, meet his family, all while pretending to be his girlfriend.

Rooster and Natasha looked at each other, before giving you the are you serious look.

Rooster spoke up. “That doesn’t sound very friendly.”

Natasha agreed with him. “His parents were okay with him bringing a stranger to their home? On Christmas?”

Oh. Right. You forgot to tell them the most important part. “He told them we’re dating.”

Their eyes widened, mouths hanging open. “What?!”

You rolled your eyes, groaning. You should've guessed they would make a big deal out of it. “I told him to say that, there’s no need to panic, jeez.”

Phoenix turned to Rooster with a smirk. “I bet you 20 that they’re going to fuck at some point.”

“At this speed, it will take them 20 years to get there. You will get a dollar for every year.”

Bradshaw thought he was really fucking funny with that quip. He didn't even realize he was in love with Natasha yet, so you're one step ahead of him.

“Can you guys stop? Me and Jake are friends.” Just friends. Unfortunately, that was true. And it didn't bother you at all. Nope. 

Rooster raised an eyebrow. Were you really that blind? “Friends my ass. You’re way more than friends. Don’t tell me you didn’t think about banging him. I saw how you looked at him when we were on the beach.”

Of course you were drooling when you saw him running in the sand shirtless, skin all shiny as if someone poured a whole bottle of baby oil on him, which made him look like a model during a calendar photoshoot. 

You groaned, exasperated. “He’s hot, you can’t deny that. But you know Jake. He doesn’t do relationships.”

“He didn’t do them before. Have you not noticed that he didn’t sleep with anyone for months now?” Matter of fact, you did notice. You kept looking at him at the end of every night you spent at the Hard Deck and he never once even looked at another woman. Maybe he just got bored of meaningless one-night stands? But Bradley didn't share that opinion. “Unless he's practicing celibacy, I'd say he's waiting for someone special."

“Why wouldn't he tell me then? He's the most confident person I know, if he wanted me he wouldn’t keep that a secret."

Bradley shrugged. “He's probably just as scared to lose you as you are.”

You were about to tell him just how dumb that sounded, because this was Jake you were talking about. Jake, who wasn't scared of anything. But what if there was at least a small chance that they were right? Before you could overthink it, Rooster spoke up again. “Anyways, we will see after you come back. Trust me, there is something going on there.”

Natasha smirked teasingly. “Pack some pretty lingerie, I feel like you will need it.”

“Fuck off.” you grumbled. 

That's when Jake walked over to the table, putting down your drinks. “Did I miss something?”

You shook your head, sending your annoying friends a death glare. “They're just being asses.”

“Say the word and I will fight them.” Nat and Bradley looked at each other, as Jake wrapped an arm around your shoulders.

“My hero. But there's no need for violence.” Jake grinned at you, before getting into a conversation with Rooster.

Natasha nudged you with her foot under the table, while you shrugged innocently.

Throughout the days leading up to your flight, Jake was restless. He wanted to make sure everything would be perfect. He warned his family not to bring up any embarrassing stories, hide all the baby pictures, not be too pushy or overbearing. Everyone reassured him that it would be okay. They never saw Jake like this, so concerned about what someone else might think of him. His mom teased him, telling him how cute it was. 

And then there was you. He wanted to make sure you weren't nervous, or that you didn't change your mind. So the next step was to talk about boundaries and make up a story on how you got together, all while hoping that one day, he could take you home and you wouldn't have to pretend anymore. 

"So, I assume we can do all the things we usually do, like hugs, hand holding and cuddling?" Jake asked, sitting on your couch as you both ate the take-out he brought. You nodded in agreement. That wasn't too much PDA. You could definitely do that.

Jake hummed, digging his fork into the rice. "What about kissing?" he asked, looking at you to gauge your reaction.

You stopped chewing, as you looked up at him with wide eyes. "Kissing?"

He shrugged. "Cheek kisses, forehead kisses. Maybe a small peck here and there." You were just imagining what it would be like, finally being able to feel his lips against yours, when you felt his foot nudge yours to bring you back to reality. "But if you want we can fully make out in my room, I don't mind."

You rolled your eyes, shaking your head. But you agreed to the kisses anyway. How could you not?

"And how did we get together?"

"Obviously, you fell in love with me as soon as we met the first time years ago. After lots of begging from your side, I relented and finally went on a date with you." He grinned at you, wiggling his eyebrow.

You scoffed, shaking your head. "Not a chance in hell you're telling that to someone."

Jake laughed but nodded. It didn't take him long to come up with a better story. "We met again after a couple years and I finally had the balls to tell you I've had it bad for you since we met for the first time." If only the whole sentence was true.

You nodded, smiling a little. "Yeah. That's a good story."

After that night the days went by in a blur, before the calendar was showing the big X, the day of your flight.

You were squeezing his hand the whole flight, trying to take his mind off the things that made his thoughts race. But before either of you knew it, the taxi was turning into the street, his house visible in the distance. 

“It’s gonna be okay.” you reassured, giving him a soft smile. If his heart wasn't already beating out of his chest, it would definitely sped up right at this moment. You were almost there. Inside his childhood home, where his parents and siblings would all meet you and welcome you with open arms. Except for his dad. And isn't that exactly what he's been terrified of since you brought this up? It's terrifying, knowing that you might look at him differently once you find out what kind of a person his father is. 

The car stopped in front of a big 2 story house, decorated from top to bottom. Jake took in a shaky breath, squeezing your hand briefly. “We’re here.” 

He handed the money to the driver, as you both got out. Like a gentleman, he took your luggage, and lead you inside. 

You heard the rushed footsteps coming towards you, before you saw his mom standing in the doorway with tears in her eyes. "Oh, I can't believe you're here." She hugged her son, as you quietly watched, taking in the peaceful expression on Jake's face. You knew he missed his family. He talked about them a lot. You were glad you could be here to support him as much as you could.

His mom pulled away, looking at you. "Mom, this is my girlfriend Y/N." Jake introduced you with a smile. 

"It's so nice to finally meet you." you said politely.

As it turns out, the Seresin's are huggers. "Come here." She pulled you into a tight hug, before looking you over. "I'm so glad my son brought you home." 

"I'm glad I can be here, Mrs. Seresin." you said, hoping you were making a good first impression. You really wanted them to like you.

"Call me Pam." She waved her hand with a chuckle. "Go and unpack. I prepared everything you might need, but if I forgot anything just let me know."

"Thank you, mom." She nodded, looking at her son one last time, before leaving you two.

"Come on, sweetheart." Jake took your luggage and lead you upstairs into his room.

You whistled, surprised at how not-Jake his room was. "I definitely imagined your room with a bit more playboy posters."

Jake put his hand on his heart, acting insulted. "How judgemental of you." 

If his father wasn't so strict, he definitely would have had them, but you didn't need to know that.

You took your time to look at all the medals hanging on his wall back from his school days, before looking at the only picture he had framed in his room. It was of him and his sisters, back when they were younger. You smiled, putting the picture back down, before unpacking your stuff.

Jake kept stealing glances at you, still in disbelief that you were really here, in his home. He was about to spend Christmas with you. 

Once you were done, you went back downstairs to wait for his sister. Jake made you sit down on the couch, after his mom assured you she didn't need any help in the kitchen. He brought you a tray of cookies, as you quietly watched some Christmas cartoon playing on the TV. 

The door opened, both of you looking up when you heard someone complaining under their breath about the snow. You instantly recognized Jessica from the pictures Jake showed you. Jake took your hand, both of you standing up to walk over to her.

She looked up, her eyes twinkling with the reflection from the Christmas lights. She had a big smile on her face, showing her excitement. Jake let go of your hand to hug her, but she shooed him away, looking at you expectantly. 

Jake rolled his eyes. He knew his sister would instantly love you, why was it surprising that she was more excited to meet you than to see him? “Jess, this is Y/N, my girlfriend. Y/N, this is my younger sister, Jessica.”

You smiled at her, a little unsure if you should shake her hand or hug her. So instead, you just stood there awkwardly. “It's so nice to meet you.”

Luckily, she didn't seem to mind. Instead she took charge, walking towards you with open arms. “Oh, come here.” She hugged you tightly, like she was really looking forward to this. Which was surprising considering that Jake only told them that you were dating two weeks ago. “It's nice to meet you too. I can't believe he kept you away from us for so long!” she looked at her brother, scolding him, before she let you go to hug him. 

“I had my reasons.” Jake whispered, not wanting to think about that right now. He was just happy to see his little sister.

She sighed, nodding with a sad look in her eyes. “I know you did.”

She turned back to look at you, while taking off her coat and scarf. “How are you finding Texas?”

“It's nice.” 

“She's lying, she hates Texas.” You rolled your eyes, silently thanking Jake for throwing you under the bus like that. Traitor. He just couldn't let go of that time when you told him (after way too many tequila sunrises, so it's not like that should count) that you despised his accent, country music, cowboys, and all of Texas.

One of those was a lie and that was his accent. You only said you despised it because you didn't want him to know the effect it had on you.

Also the cowboy thing, was maybe half a lie. He was wearing that stupid fucking cowboy hat and looking so good, it took a lot of self-control not to do what Big & Rich were saying. You didn't really know where you would find a horse to save, but you had already picked the cowboy you wanted to ride. 

And okay, maybe you didn't hate country as much as you said, especially when Carrie Underwood was playing. You knew some of her songs word for word. But he didn't need to know any of that. 

She scowled jokingly. “How did he convince you to get together with him, then?”

“His good looks and charm?” If she only knew that the only reason you became such good friends was because her brother was absolutely unbearable and wouldn't leave you alone and maybe you kind of liked it. And now, years later, you weren't strong enough to resist his charm.

Just then, a man walked through the door, holding a baby car seat. Jake shook his hand, exchanging a few words, before Jess introduced him to you. “This is my fiancé David and our son, Noah. David, this is Jake’s girlfriend, Y/N.”

“It's nice to meet you. She hasn’t stopped squealing the whole way here, she couldn’t wait to meet you.” You laughed, happy that Jake's family was so welcoming and kind. You heard a small cry coming from the car seat, as you both finally looked at the baby. He was covered in a fluffy blanket, only his little face visible. Both you and Jake cooed, as you saw his little pout transform into a grimace, before his cries got louder. 

You wrapped an arm around Jake's torso, leaning your head on his shoulder. “He's so adorable.”

Jess chuckled, shaking her head. “Want to borrow him for a day?”

“If you guys want to have a night off, you can leave him with us.” Jake offered, looking at you for approval, as you nodded. 

“Okay, we're definitely taking advantage of that offer.” 

David nodded, grinning. “As cute as he is, we're exhausted.”

Jess looked a you pointedly. "We should definitely have a girls night. Leave the kid to the men, go out, have fun. Drink.” 

Pamela walked in, interjecting. “If Jake can let go off her for more than 5 minutes, that is.”

All of you laughed, except for Jake, who found it very not-funny. “Stop.”

His mom shrugged. “It's true. The poor girl hasn’t had a second to breathe since they arrived.”

Everyone slowly left the hall, leaving you two behind. 

Jake groaned, burying his face into your neck. “I'm regretting this already.” His breath tickled you, making you squirm in his arms as you laughed. 

“I'm not. They're nice.”

He sighed, pulling away from you slightly. “Yeah they are.” 

You could feel how tense he was the whole time, knowing he dreaded the second his father would walk through that door. Your heart broke for him, as you wanted nothing more than to hold him in your arms and comfort him.

You held his face in your hands, making him look at you. “Hey, everything's gonna be fine. I'm here.” He nodded reluctantly, really wanting to believe your words. 

“Come and eat, you're probably all starving.” Pamela shouted, getting your attention. 

You walked to the dining room, before Jake spoke up. "We're not waiting for dad?"

She shook her head. "No. He said we should start without him."

You sat down next to Jake, who reached out to hold your hand under the table, making you smile. You all chatted, as everyone kept asking you all about your relationship. 

It felt so nice, just sitting there with Jake. You got a glimpse into what it would be like to be his girlfriend and you loved every second of it.

The laughter died down when the front door opened, all of the Seresin's getting uncharacteristically quiet. 

You saw the change in Jake the second his father walked in. He pulled away his hand from yours, his smile vanished, his relaxed posture became tense as he straightened out, almost like the person wasn't even his father, but his superior in the Navy. It made sense. He did mention he followed in his father's footsteps. Just like he mentioned that he was a Commander. You should've realized this sooner from everything he told you. Jake probably never had a father, a parental figure. Instead he had a military man, who wanted to form a mini-me out of his child. A perfect soldier. 

Which was why he wanted to be perfect at everything, why he was the most competitive person you ever met. Why it was so hard for him to let anyone in. 

He didn't want anyone to see how imperfect he truly was. If only he know that was exactly what you all loved about him. Hangman was a selfish, egoistical bastard. Definitely someone his father would be proud of. But Jake Seresin was the sweetest, kindest human, with the biggest heart. That's why you fell in love with him. 

You frowned when you saw his jaw clench, wanting to reach out, so he would know he's not alone. But you were scared he would get defensive and that would only hurt and embarrass you. So instead you just gave him space, hoping that he would tell you if he needed you. 

His father walked towards his seat, sitting down. Jake gulped, swallowing the nerves, before speaking up. “Dad, this is my girlfriend Y/N. Y/N, this is my father.” His voice wasn't soft or carefree like a few minutes before. It was monotone, almost harsh.

His father finally looked at you two, eyeing you quietly.

“It's nice to meet you, sir.” you smiled, lying through your teeth. You were sure he knew that though, if not even his children were happy to see him. 

William hummed, but didn't do anything else to acknowledge you. He looked at his son, sneering. “I'm surprised you’ve found someone that wants to put up with you.”

The fake smile on your face disappeared, your blood boiling as the man sitting opposite you started to eat his dinner as if he didn't just insult his child. What a piece of shit. 

You could feel your heartbeat ringing in your ear, too scared to look at Jake. You didn't want to see the heart-broken look on his face. But once you had enough courage to face him, what you saw was even worse. Your Jake was gone, in his place was sitting a man drained of any emotion, his face blank, almost like he was detached from reality. Cold and distant. 

It almost made you cry, with how much your heart ached.

You decided to reach out your hand, intertwining your pinkies. His finger twitched, making you think he would hold your hand, but he didn't make any move. He just sat there, staring ahead. 

It was a defence mechanism he developed in his childhood. Act like you don't feel anything, make everyone else believe you don't feel anything and maybe one day, you can make yourself believe that it doesn't hurt.

Everyone continued to eat their dinner in silence, except for Jake. He couldn't eat, feeling like he was going to throw up any second. He could already picture it; once you got up to his room, you would tell him that this was too much for you. There was no way you could ever love someone like him. He was going to lose you. 

You hoped the tension would die down eventually, but his father didn't share your sentiment. 

"You would think that at thirty years old, you would at least have a higher rank. As my son, it's your duty to make your family proud. You need to be better." he grumbled bitterly, disdain coating his voice. "I didn't raise you all to be disappointments." Did this man hate his own children for him to talk to them like this?

You really tried to bite your tongue and keep it in, but you couldn't. Not when you heard how he talked to his own son. So you took a breath, trying to keep your voice steady, but to no avail. You were too angry for that. “Your son was one of the top 12 graduates from Top Gun. He has 2 confirmed kills.” you said through gritted teeth, your voice laced with venom. “He's an amazing pilot and an even better person.” You hoped Jake knew how much you meant that. 

You stood up, trying to form a smile as you looked at his mom apologetically, before looking back at that poor excuse of a father. "If you will excuse me. I lost my appetite." 

You needed to calm down, before you ruined anything even more. But you had more than enough things you still wanted to say. 

As soon as you were out the door, Jake's fist clenched, nails digging into his palm, as he looked at his father with anger. "Can I be dismissed?" 

He nodded, before making sure he knew he already formed an opinion about you. "You should teach your girlfriend some manners." Jake knew what that meant. He couldn't even keep his girlfriend in line? What kind of a man was he?

Jess joined the argument, having much less patience than her brother. She didn't try to keep her voice low like him, didn't try to hide the tears in her eyes. At least she learned how to handle her emotions, unlike him. "She's right and you know it. You should learn to appreciate your children before you end up all alone." 

"Like there would be anything to miss." his father said, without any anger in his voice, which was felt even worse. It meant he has already given up on them.

Of course. One of his daughters had a child out of wedlock. His other daughter was dating a woman. And his only son wasn't man enough in his eyes.

Jake stood up from the table abruptly, knocking his glass over. His hand was shaking, jaw clenched as he tried to control himself, before he did something he would regret. Instead he tried to think about you, about what you've done for him. He looked at his sister, to make sure she was okay. She nodded for him to go, as she also stood up from the table, before he left. 

The door to the room opened and you heard Jake’s footsteps coming closer and closer to you. Your back was turned to him, as you watched the snow that was falling. 

“Are you okay?” he asked, voice hushed.

Was he really asking you if you were okay? You sighed, turning to face him. “I’m sorry for that. I just couldn’t listen to him berate you.” You lasted exactly two minutes. Not too bad. Usually, you would have been much harsher if someone insulted the people you cared about.

“Come here.” he said, outstretching his hand. You hesitated for a second, before taking his hand and stepping closer towards him. Jake pulled you into his arms, your palm coming to rest on his chest to feel his steady heartbeat. His hand came to rest on the side of your face, thumb caressing your cheek softly. “I’m not mad at you, okay? Don’t think that even for a second.” he assured you.

“You stood up for me, that was…” He could never find the right words. But they weren't needed. You understood. You always did. 

“Of course I stood up for you. He was talking bullshit. You’re great at what you do, Jake. You know that. Don’t second guess yourself.”

He smiled, kissing your forehead. “I’m glad you’re here with me.”

No matter how dysfunctional his family was, you knew there was no place you would rather be than here with him. “Me too.”

As it turns out, his father barely stayed at the house. The marriage between Jake's parents had been crumbling for years, the love long gone. 

The good thing was, after you and Jake calmed down, you could return to the living room knowing that his father would be gone.

You were ready to apologize to everyone as soon as you stepped in, but they didn't even acknowledge what happened at dinner. 

Jessica looked up, Noah in her arms. "Look who woke up." She stood up, walking towards you two. "Wanna hold him?" She looked between you and Jake, waiting for you to decided who should hold him first. 

You looked at Jake, nodding at him. "He's your nephew."

"And you're my girlfriend." Jake grinned, the word rolling off his tongue with ease. He loved the feeling in his chest whenever he called you that. He also loved the way you looked up at him with wide eyes, flustered. "You can hold him first."

You nodded. "Hi." You took the baby into your arms, sitting down on the couch with him. You booped his little nose, while he looked at you with wide eyes, mouth open as he let out little gurgling sounds. "You're so cute!" He grinned at you, as if he understood what you just said. You caressed his chubby little cheek with your finger, feeling content just sitting there with the little one.

Jake watched as you cradled little Noah in your arms, his little fingers wrapped around your finger. As if he needed another thing to add to the list of things that make him soft for you. He was whipped. He could hear Javy's voice in his head, the one that was always telling him to finally make a move. But what good would it do if you would kill him soon anyway? Because if you kept looking at him with those eyes, while grinning at him, his heart would eventually give out. 

“You're in love.” Jessica teased, coming up from behind him suddenly. 

“What?” he scoffed with an incredulous laugh. Was he really that transparent?

Who was he kidding? Of course he was.

Jess knew her brother. He never looked at anyone the way he was looking at you. But she also knew how hard it was for him to accept his feelings. He never knew how to handle them. She hoped he would realize he deserved to be loved, just like everyone else. And if there was one person that could make him realize that, it was you. You were strong and stubborn, keeping Jake in line. It was like you were made for each other. 

She had half a mind to just let it go, knowing that Jake wouldn't admit it, but decided against it. There was no fooling anyone. “I've seen the heart eyes you've been giving her.”

“Well, she looks good with a kid on her arm.” That at least wasn't a lie.

Jess smirked, a knowing look in her eyes. “You just wish it was your kid, don’t you?”

Jake shook his head, but the smile on his face was enough to prove her right. “Maybe in a few years.”

Her smirk softened into a smile, as she patted his shoulder. “You would be a good dad.”

He looked at her, surprised. “You think so?”

“I know. You always took care of us. Of me, Kim, mom. You wouldn't be like him. I know that."

He didn't really think about fatherhood that much, but when he did, he thought about his own father. Jake's biggest fear was always that he would turn out to be like him. What if he became a coward like him? What if he couldn't love his child right? What if his kid grew up to hate him? Hearing those words coming from his sister meant more to him than she would know. “Thank you.”

She smiled at him, before nodding in your direction. “Go after your girl, she looks like she needs the help.” Jake looked at you, chuckling when he saw you trying to pry your hair out of Noah's hands. 

"Need some help, baby?" Your heart almost burst out of your chest at the nickname, while Jake, oblivious to all that, reached out to help you untangle your hair from Noah's fingers. 

"Thank you. You wouldn't believe the strength these babies have." Jake wrapped an arm around your waist, leaning into your side. "Here, hold him." You handed the little boy over to Jake and regretted it instantly. 

Did seeing Jake with a baby make your hormones go crazy? Did it make you feel absolutely feral, because you wanted him to put his baby in you, while your heart also beat wildly because it was the most adorable thing you've ever seen? Yes, yes and yes.

You blamed his big, strong arms and the way he used that soft, baby-talk, while holding the little one so carefully, like he was scared he'd break any second. His protective nature always made you a little horny, but god, this was new. It was too much. If he continued on like this, they'd have to sedate you, before you started acting like a rabid dog. 

Jake caught your eye, smiling at you. You hoped he didn't see the drool in the corner of your mouth. 

You were thankful he didn't call you out on your obvious staring, instead, he just smiled at you. "Want to go for a walk?" 

You nodded, as he passed his nephew over to his sister.

Jake took you out to walk around the streets, both of you admiring the beautiful Christmas decorations. He wanted to reach out and hold your hand, or wrap his arm around your shoulders to pull you closer to him, but he decided against it. 

Instead he tried to take his mind off of how much he wanted to hold you and started a conversation. “So? Did you enjoy today?” Except for the part where you went toe to toe with his father, of course. 

His soft smile got bigger as soon as he saw your contagious grin as you practically started skipping next to him. “Are you kidding me? Your nephew is the cutest baby I’ve ever seen.”

The words left his mouth before he could stop them. “I bet we could make a cuter one.”

You swore your heart stopped for a second when you heard those words, but you tried to not let it show. You hoped to god it didn’t show. Instead you grinned again, nudging his shoulder with yours. “Wanna be a daddy, Seresin?”

He really had stop getting affected by you so easily, but hearing you say that word…let’s just say he wouldn’t mind hearing it a few more times, in a different situation. Not like talking about you having his baby wasn’t making him feel some type of way either.

He tried to clear his head of the dirty thoughts and get back to the conversation at hand, but with him thinking about you all pretty and round, while pregnant with his child, it was hard.

“Yeah, one day.” he smiled and you could feel the happiness radiating off him as he thought about it. “I always wanted to have kids, a big house, a happy family.” He looked at you for a second, then back at the ground. With you was left unsaid. “Something that I never had.”

You wrapped your arm around his, leaning your head on his shoulder, while continuing to walk. It wasn’t comfortable at all, but you were yearning to be close to him so bad, it didn’t matter.

Jake leaned his head on yours for a second, kissing the top of your hair.

“I’m just not sure if I could be a good parent though.” he sighed. “I didn’t really have the best example growing up.”

You shook your head, squeezing his arm to make him look at you. Both of you stopped walking, turning to fully face each other.

“You’d be amazing.” you reassured him with a smile. “I’ve seen you with Noah. You’re amazing with him.”

“Yeah, but having your own is different after all, isn’t it?”

You nodded. “It is. But I know you, Jake. You just have to let people in. Work past your issues. I feel like you talking to me about this so freely means you’re on a good path.”

He looked at you, not believing that a person like you really existed and chose to be friends with him. Every day you surprised him more and more, and he should’ve gotten used to it by now, but he still couldn’t help but feel surprised about how amazing you were. “You’re so incredible, you know that?”

“I try.” you giggled, the sweetest sound he ever heard. Was there anything he could ever find at least slightly irritating about you?

He pulled you closer to him, his cold fingers caressing your cheek. “You're way too good for them. They don't deserve you.” he said in the softest voice you’ve ever heard him talk in, and you saw the unshed tears glistening in his eyes. It made your heart thump wildly in your chest.

At first you were confused, before you understood who he meant. Your family. What did you do deserve someone like him in your life? You weren’t sure, but you were grateful nonetheless.

You smiled, biting your cheek to stop your lip from wobbling. “Let’s go back inside, I’m freezing.”

Jake nodded, turning around to walk back towards his house, his arm wrapping around your shoulders. He let out a breath, closing his eyes for a second to savour how good it felt to have you this close. “Want me to warm you up in our bed?”

You glared at him jokingly. “Stop pushing your luck.”

The words just kind of went over your head. You haven't really thought about what he meant. Which meant you didn't understood why he was acting so weird once he closed the door to his room behind you.

“So.” Jake started, looking awkwardly around the room, which was very out of character for him.

“So?” you looked at him confused.

He motioned to the bed and you realized why he was acting the way he was. Of course, there was only one bed. Of course, you were going to sleep in one bed, because you were dating. Not like you’ve never shared a bed with friends before. But you were never attracted to those friends.

“Are you cool with sharing?” he asked, scratching the back of his neck. He hoped to god you would be. This was the thing he’s been looking forward to the most. But if you didn’t want to, he’d respect your decision. It’s not like he’d ever do something you weren’t okay with.

You just chuckled, rolling your eyes playfully, trying to act like you weren't about to jump out of your skin. “If you can keep your hands to yourself.”

Jake sighed, looking you up and down. “Can’t promise anything when you look like that.”

You shook your head, turning away to hide your grin from him.

“Wanna take a shower first?” he asked, switching on the light in his en-suite bathroom, before he looked back at you with a smirk. “Or we can share.”

“I will go first. Thanks for the offer though.” You gathered everything you needed, before walking to the bathroom. As soon as the door closed, Jake let out a breath. The day turned out better than he expected. He had you here with him and that was all that mattered. 

Minutes later, you walked out of the shower. Jake wanted to make a joke about how long you were inside and that you probably already used up all the hot water, but the words died on his tongue the second he looked up at you. He felt like a cold shower was exactly what he needed right now. 

You, oblivious to what was going on inside his head, wrapped a towel around your head. “The shower’s all yours.”

Jake stood up, clearing his throat. “Thank you, sweetheart.”

He couldn't look away from you. The way his shirt (which you denied stealing from him after an impromptu sleepover at his place) barely covered your thighs, leaving your legs exposed. He could see your hard nipples through the material, and as you turned around to look for a pair of socks in his drawer, the shirt rid up enough to expose your black panties and your round ass. He had to bite his lip to not let out the groan threating to leave his mouth, as his hands itched to touch your soft skin. 

He walked over to you just as you found the perfect pair of fluffy socks, but instead of heading to the bathroom like you thought, he paused in front of you. He reached for the hem of your shirt, pulling you closer to him. Your legs moved on their own accord, a little wobbly.

He wanted to kiss you, touch you, pull you on top of the bed and show you just how much he wanted you. Goosebumps rose upon your skin, as you rolled your bottom lip between your teeth, biting down. You could hear his heavy breathing, before he swallowed and let go of you. He looked you over one last time before leaving to the bathroom. You were tingling all over, confused, but really turned on. 

How were you going to survive this week?

Once Jake got back, he saw you laying there in his bed, wearing his shirt, looking so cute and hot and his heart and dick both agreed that it was the best sight he's ever seen. 

Meanwhile you were just about to lose your mind, seeing him only in his boxers and knowing that he would be sleeping like that next to you.

He laid down next to you, turning the light off. His arm was behind his head, as he laid on his back, while you were on your side, facing him. 

You cuddled before. He could just shuffle closer to you, pull you into his chest. No big deal.

He turned suddenly, so he was also on his side, before putting his hand on your waist and pulling you closer to him. He could hear your steady heartbeat, as he ran his hand up your bare thigh and side. He inhaled sharply when he heard a small noise coming from you, before clenching his fist into the hem of your shirt.

Your hand was on his warm chest, his heartbeat steady under your palm. You had to fight the urge to ran your hand down his abs, as his soft breathing slowly lulled you to sleep.

The last thing you remember before falling asleep, was Jake pulling you flush against his chest as he wrapped his arms around you. 

Waking up in Jake's arms for the very first time felt so good, you were questioning if you were really awake.

When you looked at him, you were mesmerized by how pretty he looked. You were looking at the way his eyelashes kept fluttering softly, when he suddenly spoke up, spooking you slightly. 

“You're staring.” he said, his voice deep and hoarse, as he opened one eye to look at you. 

Flustered, you looked away from him, rolling your eyes. “Can't help it.”

Jake grinned, pulling you closer to him to kiss the top of your head. He hummed, nose brushing along your jaw. "Good morning, beautiful.”

His good mood was contagious and there was no stopping the smile forming on your face. “Morning, handsome.”

“How did you sleep?”

You haven't slept that good in years. His body kept you warm all night, like your personal heater.

“Good, and you?”

Jake sighed, content. “I woke up with the most beautiful woman in my arms, so.”

You had to bury your face in his chest, hoping he wouldn't see how flustered he made you. “Shut up.” You pulled your face away, looking into his eyes when you felt how empty your stomach felt. "Breakfast?" 

Jake thought about it for a second, before he caged you underneath him, careful not to put his whole body weight on you. "Or we could stay here, like this." 

You laughed, wrapping your arms around him, caressing his back. "Until?"

"Forever."

"Forever sounds good." If only it was that easy. You smiled softly, kissing his cheek. You didn't even realize what you did, but Jake did. He was surprised you couldn't feel his heart beating out of his chest. "But I'm hungry."

He groaned, kissing the side of your neck where your face was buried, before standing up. It was your turn to get all worked up over how good his lips felt on your skin, even for that brief second. 

"Stay here." he said, putting on some clothes, before running downstairs. He came back a few minutes later with a tray.

“Breakfast in bed?” you asked, sitting up.

Jake hummed, kissing the top of your head. “My girl deserves the best.”

You smiled, shaking your head, as you both ate, content to just sit with each other in silence. That was the best thing about your friendship with Jake. There was no awkwardness when neither of you talked, you just enjoyed each other's presence.

When you got downstairs, you were instantly ambushed by Jessica and Kim, who arrived in the morning.

Kim gasped, looking you over, before looking at her sister. "You were right, she's gorgeous."

You were looking between them, a little embarrassed, while Jake only stood there, proudly showing you off.

Kim noticed you standing there, playing with the sleeve of your hoodie, before she realized she hasn't even introduced herself. "Oh, I'm sorry, manners. I'm Kim. Welcome to the family." she said, pulling you into a hug, which made you laugh. "Hi, I'm Y/N. It's so good to finally meet you."

"You're telling me!" She pulled away, punching her brother in the shoulder. “Jake talks about you so much. We had a little bet going on about how long it will take him to ask you out.”

Jake talked about you to his family?

Jake froze for a second, his mind going blank. He told them not to bring those things up. "Can you not-"

Kim waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, hush. You're already dating, what does it matter."

“Mom told me about the dinner yesterday." She gave her brother a sad look, before looking at you with an appreciative smile. "What you did was very cool."

You felt Jake’s arm curl around your waist, as he rested his chin on your shoulder. "I just couldn't listen to the bullshit he was saying." You shrugged, like it was no big deal. You had no idea that it meant the world to Jake.

"Still. I'm sure Jake appreciates it." As if to show she was right, he squeezed your hip, before kissing the top of your head affectionately. 

Jess cleared her throat, changing the topic. “Anyways, mom is already planning your wedding. Speaking of which, summer or winter wedding?”

You were taken aback, as you stuttered out a response. “I-I think fall?"

Jess cursed under her breath, turning to leave. “We will have to re-plan everything from the start.”

You looked at Jake with a raised eyebrow. “They're just kidding, right?”

He gave you a look, before taking your hand and leading you to the living room. 

There were presents and wrapping papers scattered across the floor, as Jess and Kim sat next to the Christmas tree, wrapping the presents.

Jake pulled you into his lap, as Pamela sat down next to her daughters, to help them. 

"You guys are so cute." Jess cooed, as Kim nodded. "I've never seen Jake so in love. I'm happy he found you."

Indeed, Jake was a very good actor. You almost believed him yourself. You smiled. "I'm happy I found him."

It felt so nice, so normal. Having you in his arms, as you laughed and chatted with his sisters and mother. For a second, he forgot it was all fake. 

You turned to look at Jake, noticing how quiet he was. “Tired?”

He had a far-off look in his eyes, as if he wasn't present in the room at all. “Hm?” He rid himself of the thoughts swirling aimlessly in his head, before looking at you. “Oh no, just thinking.”

You hummed. “About?”

“Stuff.” he shrugged and you knew you wouldn't get anything else out of him right now.

“Fine, keep your secrets.” you teased.

“You two would have really cute kids.” Kim spoke up.

“I know, I said that too.” Jake grinned, thinking about it. You and him having children. You having his children. The thought always made his heart race. He felt you squeeze his hand, as you relaxed against his chest. 

The hand that wasn't holding yours was laying on your ribcage, dangerously close to your belly. He wanted to put his hand on it, just for a second, to imagine what it would be like. The perfect life with you.

“Well, when am I gonna have another grandchild?”

Jess rolled her eyes. “Mom, leave them alone.”

Kim squealed, agreeing with her mother. “No, I need another nephew or a niece to spoil.” She looked at you two expectantly, waiting to know when you were planning to take your relationship a step farther.

You looked at Jake, raising an eyebrow jokingly. “Well, Jake?”

He scoffed. “Why are you looking at me? You will be the one that has to carry the little spawn for 9 months.”

“And you're the one that has to make the spawn.” 

While you were having a little staring contest, his sisters already started talking about how they would spoil your child. Since the attention wasn't on you anymore, you found enough courage to lean closer and whisper into Jake's ear seductively. “Wanna go upstairs and practice, daddy?”

You felt his whole body tense, his fingers digging into your ribs. You looked at him innocently. “Did I say something wrong?”

Jake chuckled, but there was no humour to it. “You know exactly what you said.” he rasped, voice so low it sent chills down your spine. “You'll be the death of me.”

After David and Noah got back, you spent most of the time with Noah in your arms, which made Jake pout like a little kid. He just wanted to hold you and have you to himself for a few minutes. 

All of you were having an amazing time, but the good mood only lasted so long. 

His father arrived, making himself known by slamming the door so loud you were sure even the neighbours heard it. 

You squeezed Jake's hand, hearing his shallow breathing in your ear. 

His father walked into the living room, eyes searching the room, until he found Jake. "Son." He motioned for Jake to follow him and you reluctantly let him go. You watched as he walked out of the room with a worried expression and the way everyone else was acting didn't really help you calm down. 

Jake closed the door to his father's study, not bothering to sit down. He knew his father wouldn't have anything nice to say to him.

"She's a pretty one. Mouthy but pretty." Jake's first clenched, as he gritted his teeth. 

"Is that why you called me here?" He didn't want to ruin Christmas for his family, but if his father insulted you once, he couldn't be held accountable for whatever he'd do next. 

"How long do you think this one's going to last? How long before she decides you're not worth it?" It felt like Jake's been stabbed in the heart, as his father brought up his greatest fears without any regards to how it would make him feel. 

"She's not like that."

William shook his head. "You have so much potential. She's only going to slow you down. Kids, marriage, love. That won't make you happy."

Jake chuckled humourlessly, licking his dry lips. "Stop acting like you care about my happiness. You don't even know me."

"I know enough. You're my son. We're not good with emotions." Jake clenched his eyes shut, trying not to think about his father's words and how true they were. "She's going to leave and it's going to hurt. Better end it now before you can get too attached." 

He didn't say anything, just stood there leaning against the door with his head hung low. 

"Do you really think, that once she gets to know who you are inside, she's going to stay?" 

Jake looked up, shaking his head. "You don't know Y/N. She's going to stay."

His father hummed, raising an eyebrow. "Is she?" He didn't even try to hide the disappointment he felt for his son. "She's going to find someone better. There's always someone better."

"You're just bitter because there's no one left in this world that cares about you. But I won't let you ruin this for me." Jake stormed out, angry. You stood up, reaching for his arm as he rushed out the back door, but he shook you off. 

"He's going to the tree house." Kim said, giving you your coat. The words you wanted to say died in your throat, as you swallowed. I'm not sure he wants me to follow him.

As if Kim saw your inner struggle, she smiled. "Trust me, he needs you."

You put on your coat and boots, before following him. Behind their garden, there was a small forest filled with trees. You followed the path, noticing a big tree house in the distance. 

Once you finally got there, you climbed up the ladder, finding Jake sitting on the old, worn-out carpet. 

You sat down next to him, putting your hand on his shoulder. “Jake?”

He smiled, leaning into your touch without looking at you. “When I was younger, I always sneaked out past my bedtime to come out here.” He could still remember the stinging sensation his father's palm left behind after he came hoke covered in mud and rain one time. He climbed down the stairs quietly, in his pyjamas and slippers, before running out of the house, only a small flashlight to in his hand. He wasn't scared of the dark or the animals that were lurking there. He knew who the real monster was. “It was always so peaceful and calm. I didn’t have to listen to my parents fight, or my sisters cry in the other room.” His voice broke a little, as a tear fell from his eye. “This was my safe place.” He smiled, before it turned into a grimace as the tears kept coming. He finally turned to look at you apologetically. “I shouldn’t have brought you here. I’m so sorry for all of this.”

You shook your head furiously. “Hey, none of that.” You reached out, brushing his tears away. “I want you to know that whatever he said was a fucking lie, okay?”

He looked anywhere but at you, trying to pull his face away, but you didn't let him. “No, Jake, look at me.” you begged quietly. “Please, look at me.”

It was hearing your voice break that made him finally look at you. You smiled, caressing his face. “You’re amazing. You’re so brave and courageous and kind when you want to be.” Both of you laughed at the last part, knowing it was true. “I don’t regret coming here, because the thought of you having to go through this alone scares me more than whatever your father can do or say. You achieved so much and everyone else is so proud of you. Don’t let him ruin you.”

You pulled him into a hug, wrapping your arms around him as tightly as you could. “He’s not going to scare me away from you.” you added, hearing the pained whimper escape from his throat as he buried his face into your neck. “I’m so glad I met you.” he whispered against your skin softly, as you smiled, thinking back to the first time you met. 

When you got back, after everyone made sure Jake was okay, he pulled you away from them. "I'm going for a run to clear my head. Will you be okay here?"

You nodded. "Yeah, go. Just be careful, the roads are slippery. It was freezing all night." He always got butterflies when you acted so protective and caring. It was just one of the reasons he fell in love with you. He wanted to pull you in and kiss you breathless, right under that fucking mistletoe you were standing under, obliviously. Instead he nodded, giving you a tense smile. "I will be."

While your boyfriend went for a run, you decided to help his sisters bake some cookies. Somehow it evolved into you sharing embarrassing stories about each other, but mostly about Jake. 

When Jake got back, he found you all laughing in the kitchen, an album with his baby photos open in front of you. He groaned, ready to tell everyone off for breaking their promise, but then you looked at him, your eyes twinkling and your smile so big it was hurting your cheeks. You walked up to him, kissing his cheek. "Did you have a good run?"

He nodded dumbly. "Yeah."

You grinned. "Good. Go shower real quick and get ready. We're going to the Christmas market." He shook his head with a smile, but did as he was told.

You decided to facetime with Nat and Bradley while Jake showered. You didn’t really have time to keep them updated, which was probably for the better given the last 12 messages you had that were all asking if you have already banged.

But right now you needed to get some things off your chest.

“So, how are things?” Nat asked.

“Tense.”

“Between you and Jake, or his family?” You wanted to tell them about the previous night, the way Jake looked at you and how he acted, but ultimately decided against it. 

“Between me and his dad, between him and his dad.” You sighed, running a hand through your hair frustratedly.

“But the rest of the family loves me.” 

Bradley scoffed. “Of course they do, who wouldn’t.” But that wasn't why they've been dying to talk to you. He bet Natasha another 20$ that you would be the one to make the first move, while Nat's convinced it's going to be Jake. Both of you are stubborn as hell, so it can be either, really. “What about you and Jake? Come on. Don’t leave us hanging. That’s your boyfriend’s job.”

You ignored the fact that he called him your boyfriend, because in the last two days you got so used to calling Jake that, you barely even noticed it anymore. Before you could decide where to start,  the words were spilling out of your mouth. “He told me we would have cute kids.”

Nat punched Bradley in the shoulder, telling him she was closer to getting her 40$ than before. “Jake wants kids? Jake wants kids with you?”

“I’m sure he was joking.”

“Come on, stop doing that." 

Just as you were about to answer, the door to the bathroom opened, Jake walking out in just a towel wrapped really low around his hips. You couldn't pull your eyes away from his Adonis' belt, as you imagined just trailing that V shape with your finger. Or mouth. You moved your eyes up, over his very nicely shaped body, over his six-pack and his pecs and that definitely wasn't the outline of his cock under the white towel, right?! 

“You okay?” Nat asked, pulling you out of your thoughts.

“Yeah, yeah, just uh-” Everything was fine. Your brain just stopped working, because it got overheated. 

Bradley knew who you were looking at like that. You were going to kill him for this but it would be worth it. "Is that drool?" he yelled out, making you screech as Jake laughed in the background. 

"Fuck off!" you said through gritted teeth, before ending the call. You were mortified, unable to look Jake in the eyes. Instead, you were already drafting the message you were going to send to your best friend for being a dickhead. You squeezed your eyes shut, hoping you would just die on the spot, so Jake wouldn't get to tease you about this. 

You opened your eyes, rather reluctantly, when you felt his hand on your chin, as you met his green eyes. Your eyes strayed, again, but it's not like he could blame you for that. The towel was like, really, really low. Like, you were scared it would fall off low. 

“See something you like, sweets?” Jake teased, his face so close to you you could feel his hot breath on your face. You gulped, nodding. “You know I do.”

Jake's smile widened, his face leaning closer-

"We're leaving in five minutes!" Kim shouted, before you heard her footsteps disappear as she ran down the stairs. 

Jake swallowed, nodding his head with a small smile, before he picked out some clothes and went back to the bathroom to get dressed. 

You just kept sitting on the bed, wondering what would have happened if Kim didn't interrupt you. Was he really about to kiss you?

You couldn't get that thought out of your head even as Jake pulled you through the crowd of people an hour later. His hand was holding yours in a tight grip, as you walked next to him. You got separated from his family halfway through, almost as if Jake did it on purpose. Which he did. He wanted to spend some time with you alone, without anyone else. 

“Jake?” You were both admiring the lights, when you heard a feminine voice somewhere from behind you, making both of your head's turn. You found a pretty blonde looking at your boyfriend, an unfamiliar feeling in your chest. You should've expected to run into a few of his exes or one-night stands. Why was it even bothering you?

“Stacy?” Jake asked, almost like he didn't believe the luck he had to meet her here. You had to ignore the urge to roll your eyes, as Stacy ignored your presence. Maybe she was too busy ogling Jake and didn't even notice you were there. Who could blame her. 

“Hi. Oh my god, it’s been so long since the last time I saw you. How have you been?” 

You could feel the jealousy running through your veins like lava, setting everything on fire, when you heard him chuckle. “Great, great actually. I just came home for the holidays with my girlfriend.” 

It was over as soon as he looked at you with that heart-stopping, panty-dropping smile, as he wrapped an arm around your waist to pull you into his side. You guessed that Stacy and him didn't end on good terms, otherwise why would he keep up the charade when his family wasn't near? 

You saw her smile drop when she saw you, turning into a bitter grimace, which made you smile. “Oh, that’s nice.”

“Yeah, I’m so happy she finally got to meet my mom and my sisters.”

“Have you been dating long?” She wasn't giving up. Damn. How desperate can one person be to try and get with someone's boyfriend in front of them? You eyed her, hoping she caught the judgy stare you gave her. 

“Few months. Definitely not long enough for me to say that I’m looking forward to spending forever with her, but…” Jake spending forever with you? That almost got a laugh out of you. You needed to admit though, he was a good actor. 

“I’m so happy for you.” she said in a high-pitched voice, something you both knew was overly-affectionate and fake. Her face screamed something entirely different. “I have to go now. But hopefully we will see each other again soon.” Hopefully not. She kept her eyes on Jake the entire time, as if waiting for a response. But she didn't get any. It did make you feel a little smug. You leaned into Jake's side, smiling into his coat. 

When she realized Jake wasn't going to say anything, she looked at you. “It was nice meeting you…” she trailed off, realizing she didn't know your name. “Y/N." you introduced yourself with a grin. "Likewise.” Not.

She said her goodbye, before leaving.

You looked up at Jake. “Ex?”

“Something like that.”

You nodded, looking away from him, a bitter feeling taking over as you thought about her. You were envious of whatever they had together. 

“You okay?” Jake asked, pulling you out of your thoughts. 

“Mhm.” Oh yeah, just peachy. 

He was looking at you with an unreadable expression, a smile on his face. He reached for your hand, intertwining your fingers with his. “Let’s go, we still have to buy the best gingerbread cookies you’ll ever eat.”

“The best? You’re setting the bar a bit too high, don’t you think?” you teased.

“Trust me on this. You’re going to love it.”

And he was right. They were the best gingerbread cookies you ever had. He also bought you hot chocolate with little marshmallows in it. 

You moaned as you took a sip of the drink, savouring the sweet, chocolatey taste, while it warmed you from the inside. "This is the best hot chocolate I've ever had." 

“Can I get a taste?” Jake asked innocently. 

You stopped walking, handing him the drink. “Here.” 

Instead of taking it, he pulled you closer with an arm on your waist, not giving you any time to panic before his lips were on yours. He sucked on your bottom lip, before you felt the tip of his tongue asking for access to your mouth. You almost dropped the cup when his tongue met yours, the moan he let out starting a Niagara Falls in your panties. 

He pulled away not long after, giving you one last dizzying kiss. “You’re right.” he said breathless, staring into your wide eyes. “Taste’s amazing."

Were you just supposed to go about your day as usual after that? Because it was definitely affecting you more than it was affecting Jake.

So the first thing you did once you were back at their house was locking yourself in the bathroom to call Natasha. To no one's surprise, Bradley was there with her.

"He kissed me!" you said as soon as she picked up, not giving her the chance to even say hello.

"What?" she exclaimed. "Tell me everything."

What was there to tell, really? That was pretty much the whole story. "He just...kissed me. And now he's acting like nothing happened. It was probably part of Jake Seresin's fake-girlfriend premium package." you groaned frustrated.

Bradley, the voice of reason, spoke up. "Just talk to him about it." And if you were braver, you would have agreed because you knew it was the easiest way to find out if Jake felt the same way. But you weren't so talking to him wasn't an option.

"I don't want to ruin our friendship over a meaningless kiss."

Bradley sighed, fed up with you two dancing around each other, but understood. "Jake's head over heels for you. I'm sure he's going to bring it up later."

"I hope so." you said with a sigh, as you listened to Nat and Bradley while they told you everything that happened in the last few days that you missed.

But neither of you actually brought up the kiss. Jake acted as if nothing happened and you were doubting yourself too much to ask him what was that about. You were scared he would dismiss it, find out that it didn't mean to him nearly as much as it meant to you. 

But the tension could have been cut with a knife. It was unbearable. And everyone noticed.

"Are you two okay?" Jess asked, once she caught you alone. 

Were you okay? You weren't sure anymore. "Uh, yeah. Why?"

"Both you and Jake have been acting a little weird ever since we got back." You felt like you were backed into a corner.

"No, it's-" It wasn't okay. You sighed. "It's going to be okay. This has just been a bit much for the both of us." you smiled, trying to make yourself believe your own words. 

She bought it though, nodding with a small smile. "Yeah, I get that." Before she left the room, she looked at you one last time. "Don't let him push you away." 

"I won't." you promised. 

But it was hard when Jake refused to meet your eyes. When he left the room as soon as you stepped inside. How he spent way longer in the bathroom than you knew was necessary, just so he didn't have to talk to you. 

"Jake." you called out his name as soon as he walked back into the room, but before you could say anything, the words you dreaded were coming out of his mouth.

"I'm sorry." he sighed, not even looking at you as he pulled back the covers and laid down on the bed. "About that kiss." he clarified, like you didn't know what he was sorry for. Was that all it was? An action he regretted doing? As a final stab, he answered your silent question. "I shouldn't have done that."

So you were right. It really meant more to you than it meant to him. You nodded. "It's fine. We talked about the boundaries, so it's-" You took in a sharp breath, your eyes tearing up. "fine."

You laid on the bed as far away from him as possible, turning your back to him. Jake's heart clenched in his chest. He wanted to reach out and pull you into him, but he couldn't. He tried to ignore the way you trembled as you tried to hold back your sobs. He tried to pretend he didn't hear the soft whimpers leaving your mouth. Tried to make himself believe he didn't want to wipe your tears away and comfort you. 

No weaknesses. No weaknesses. No weaknesses.

Maybe his father was right. Still, he didn't regret a single second of loving you.

He stayed up for a long time, long after you fell asleep, just watching you in silence. And if a few stray tears fell, wetting his shirt, no one needed to know that. 

But what else was he supposed to do after what he overheard? You found the kiss meaningless and didn't want to ruin your friendship over it. He would make sure it wouldn't get ruined.

When Jake woke up the next morning, your side of the bed was already empty. For a second he panicked, running to the closet to look if your stuff was still there. He let out a sigh, when he saw that dumb Christmas sweater he bought you last year, before putting on his sweats and running downstairs. He found you sitting in the kitchen, alone.

You looked up at the sound of his footsteps, startled. "They went shopping for some last minute Christmas stuff." you explained, when you saw his confused look. 

Jake nodded, trying to ignore the palpable awkwardness in the room. 

"I made you breakfast." you said, voice so quiet, like you didn't want to be heard. 

"Thank you." You nodded, standing up to leave. Jake's hand reached out for you, pulling you back. 

Just tell her you're sorry. Tell her the truth. Tell her you love her. 

But Jake was a coward. He didn't say any of those things. 

"Want to help me devour those gingerbread cookies?" A quiet peace offering. It wasn't much, but it was a start. You nodded with a small smile, as he put the plate on the kitchen counter, both of you eating in silence. Until your phone pinged, the screen lighting up to show a new text message. Before you could reach out and take it, Jake was already smirking, having read it. "Natasha wants to know if you brought that lingerie and if you put it to good use?" He looked at you, raising an eyebrow. 

Oh. 

You were going to kill her. 

You jumped, reaching for your phone, but Jake put his hand behind his back. "Give it back." 

"No, no, no. What lingerie and why haven't I seen it yet?" You were back to joking and teasing each other, that was a good sign at least.

"Jake, give me my phone." you groaned, knowing that there was no way you were getting it form him. "She was just teasing me, that's all. I didn't bring any lingerie." 

He hummed, eyes trailing over your body. "What a shame." His voice was low, sending chills all over your body.

You and Jake were now chest to chest, as you tried to reach for your phone, your hand landing on his lower back. “Hey, don’t get handsy now.” he scolded you jokingly, making you roll your eyes. “I’m pretty sure it was you that said no inappropriate touching.”

“Shut up.” you grumbled, taking a step back. 

“In the kitchen, none the less.” He shook his head. “And to think I thought you were oh so innocent.”

You scoffed. “Just because I don’t do one night stands doesn’t mean I'm innocent.”

Jake smirked, straightening out. “Prove it.” he challenged, knowing you wouldn’t back down.

You were taken aback for a second, your heart pounding in your chest, before you nodded. “Fine.”

“Yeah?”

“Uh-huh.”

Jake wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you flush to him. You gulped, hands shaking slightly as you put them on the side of his neck, before leaning up. You had to stand on your tiptoes, about to grumble about how Jake wasn't making this easier for you, when he leant down, connecting your lips. It wasn't soft, like the one in the Christmas market. It wasn't slow. No. This was passionate and hungry, rough, teeth clashing and tongues caressing each other. Jake kissed you exactly the way you dreamed about being kissed by him. 

You inhaled his scent, your lungs filling up with his cologne, as your hands tangled in his hair, pulling on the strands. This earned a groan from him, his fingers digging into your hips so hard they were about to leave bruises. His hands explored your body, trailing up and down your back, before settling on your ass, squeezing the soft flesh. 

You whimpered into his mouth, hands trailing down his pecs, playing with the chain of his dog tags. Jake pulled away suddenly, looking into your eyes intensely.

"What I said yesterday..." Oh. Here it comes again. You shut your eyes, trying to block everything out as you prepared for the blow from his next words. But it never came.

Jake held your face so gently in his palms, knowing that this might be the last time he has the chance to have you this close. "It's not that I didn't want to kiss you, I did. So badly." He took in a shallow breath, swallowing the lump in his throat. "But I heard what you said and I don't want to ruin our friendship either. If you don't want me, I will deal with that, but I can't lose you."

Your eyes opened, widening as you thought back to the conversation you had with Natasha and Rooster. Of course the idiot only listened to the worst part and misunderstood it.

You shook your head, clutching at his shirt, scared he was going to walk away from you and disappear any second. "You won't lose me. I thought the kiss was meaningless for you." You put your hands on the side of his neck, pulling him down so you were on eye-level with each other. "I wanted that kiss. And I want you to kiss me again."

And Jake did so without a second thought.

You were so occupied you didn't hear the front door opening, nor his family walk in. 

“Oh, are we interrupting?” Jess asked, as you pulled away from each other, embarrassed at being caught making out as teenagers. 

You could feel your body flush with warmth, scrambling to say something. You just kept opening and closing your mouth, stuttering, before getting out something that finally resembled a sentence. “No, I'm sorry.”

Were you sorry? Because if they haven't interrupted, you're pretty sure you would have ended up pressed up against the kitchen counter and you wouldn't be exactly opposed to that. Still, you were sorry for being caught, sorry that they had to see you like that. 

You looked at Jake, trying to see if he looked at least half as embarrassed as you, but you found him looking down at you, with a look in his eyes you couldn't really describe. It was soft and loving, and for a second you thought that maybe you should've listened to Natasha sooner. 

His mom waved her hand dismissively. She was young and in love once upon a time too. “Don’t apologize, darlin.”

Jess nodded, amused. “Yeah, I mean Noah was conceived on the couch here so.”

That got Jake's attention, making him look at her horrified. “Ew, what?”

“Hey, don’t act like you weren’t groping her ass when we walked in.” 

You hid your face in his shoulder. “Oh my god.”

Kim shook her head with a smile. “Still wanna help with dinner, or would you rather make out with my brother?” 

You pulled away from Jake, avoiding his eyes. “I will help with dinner.”

Jake on the other hand couldn't keep his eyes off of you. If Javy was there, he would tease him for that look he had on his face. He was smitten, whipped and he couldn't even try to deny it anymore. 

You felt him stare at you, as you looked up to find him smiling at you. You tried to hide your own smile, but it was hard when he didn't even try to make his staring subtle. 

Jake couldn't take the tension anymore. The way you were looking at him from across the room while biting your lip was driving him insane. 

You were only half listening to what Kim was saying to you, especially when you felt Jake's presence next to you. 

You caught his eye, raising an eyebrow. He caught your wrist, pulling you out of the kitchen and up the stairs. "Jake. Your family-" 

"Trust me, this is better than them having to watch us eye-fuck each other across the room." he said, closing the door behind him.

He pushed you against the closed door, eyes gazing into yours with a hunger you never saw in them before. He was breathing heavily, chest rising and falling rapidly, as his hands gripped your clothes. He wanted to tear them off you, but not before he could make sure that you knew what you were getting into. Because he was in it for the long run, and he hoped to God that you were too. So he licked his lips, putting his hand on your face to lean your head up. "Do you want this?"

The tip of his thumb was caressing your bottom lip, making your lips part. You nodded your head, not trusting your voice. But Jake shook his head, not moving an inch from that position. "I need to hear you say it." His tone was desperate, pleading. "I need to know that you want me." He leaned his forehead on yours, not breaking eye contact.

In that moment you saw the person Jake was trying so hard to hide. The scared, insecure man, that wanted to be loved so badly, but was terrified he wasn't good enough to be loved. You saw him now; all of him. The good and the bad parts equally and you loved all of them.

"I want you, Jake." Your voice was just as breathy, just as desperate. And all it took was one kiss and the promise of something more to come. 

Jake let out a disbelieving huff at hearing your words. "I want you too, baby." The second his parted lips touched yours, you were opening your mouth for him. Jake walked you blindly over to his bed, your hands pushing on his shoulders until he sat down on the edge. You pulled away from him to take off your shirt, as Jake looked at you in awe. You climbed on his lap, connecting your lips again, as he trailed his hand down your body, touching you everywhere he could. 

As good as your ass looked in the leggings you had on, he wanted them gone to get more access to the one place he desperately wanted to touch right now. Jake turned, pressing your back against the mattress, his fingers gripping the band of your leggings and pulling them off. He threw them somewhere carelessly, not pulling away from your lips for a second. 

He felt like he needed your lips on his to keep living. He needed you to breathe, like you were his oxygen. 

And in a way, maybe you were. 

You let out a breathy moan when you felt his hand sneak into your panties, as he found your clit with ease. "Jake."

He loved the way you sounded saying his name, while he pleasured you. He buried his face in your neck, revelling in the small sounds you were making as he played with you. 

"Need your fingers." you whimpered, tangling your fingers in his hair. Jake let out a shaky breath, nodding. His minds still hasn't fully caught up with what was happening. Like it was just one of his dirty, wet dreams that would end with him waking up painfully hard.

But your hands on his body reassured him this was all happening. It felt too real, too good to be a dream. There was no way his unconscious mind could come up with this.

He helped you take off your bra, before pulling your panties down your legs. You climbed up the bed to lay on the pillows, Jake going after you with a predatory look in his eyes that made you shiver. 

Once he was face to face with you, as he caged you under him with his arms on either side of your head, he started kissing your neck, biting, before soothing the soft skin with his tongue. 

Your hands were gripping his dog tags and the shirt he still had on. As you started pulling it up, he broke away to pull it over his head, before getting back to work. He kissed down your chest, licking and sucking on your hardened nipples, his big hands palming your breasts. 

You never really felt anything when guys did that, but you were convinced you could've cum just from watching Jake's tongue tease your nipple. It felt overwhelming. 

He kissed down your sternum and stomach, until he was face to face with the part of your body you really wanted him to lick. You whimpered as his hot breath hit your wet pussy, while he put one of your legs over his shoulder to get better access. You were writhing on the bed, silently begging him to do something. 

Jake was too mesmerized to notice just how much you needed him. His fingers slowly spread your wetness, as he pushed a finger inside you. He watched as his finger disappeared until only his knuckles were visible, before pulling it out. It was slow, he wanted to explore your body, before giving you what you wanted so badly. His pace was steady. In and out. In and out. Then he curled his finger up, hitting your sweet spot. You thought you were going to lose your mind, a conviction which only got stronger once you felt his tongue on your clit.

"Jake." you moaned his name, sounding so sweet for him. He added a second finger, picking up his pace. He was watching your face contort in pleasure, your hands gripping the sheets as you tried to silence your moans. 

"You're taking my fingers so well, pretty girl. Let's see if you can take three." He looked in awe as your pussy swallowed his fingers up, the other hand coming to hold your hips down so you wouldn't move around that much. "Looks so pretty. You're gonna look so good full of me."

You could feel your wetness gush out of you every time he pulled his fingers out, before thrusting them back again.

He pulled out his fingers, replacing them with his tongue. His hands were on your thighs, nails digging into your skin as he lapped up your sweet juices. 

"Jake. Please." you begged, needing more. When he didn't as much as look at you, you thought about the reaction you got for him to another word, and decided to play dirty. "Daddy." you moaned.

Jake groaned against you, eyes catching yours, before he pulled away. "That's so hot." He wiped his chin with his hand, gaze darkening. "Say that again."

"Please, daddy." you begged, breathing heavily. "Fuck me."

Jake smirked darkly, unbuttoning his jeans. You sat up, pulling down the zipper, before he finally took them off. You could see the prominent bulge in his black briefs, your hand reaching out to palm him through the thin material. He threw his head back in pleasure as you dipped your hand into his boxers, swirling your thumb on the head of his cock.

"Sweets." he warned in a low voice, knowing you were teasing him on purpose. You bit your bottom lip, grinning, as you pulled down the final piece of clothing, revealing the leaking tip. He saw the way you licked your lips, groaning, before he pushed you to lay down on the bed. "Want that mouth next time. But I need to be inside you now."

"Want to practice now, sweetheart?" he asked, voice raspy, bringing up the conversation you had a few days ago. You moaned, nodding your head furiously. 

Jake let out a whimper as he swiped the head of his cock through your folds, getting his cock nice and wet. "Yeah? Want me to put a baby in you?"

You whimpered, tears threatening to spill from your eyes because of how badly you wanted this man. "Yes, please."

"Beg for me, sweetheart. Beg for my cock."

"Please, please fuck me, Jake. I need your cock."

He finally pushed the head in, putting his hands on either side of your head to hold himself up, as his lips found yours again. You whimpered from the slight pain, as Jake slowly pushed his whole length in, bottoming out. He gave you a few minutes to adjust to his size, before he started moving.

He couldn't believe he was finally inside you. You were naked, moaning and writhing underneath him. 

He set up a steady pace, thrusting his hips so roughly, your moans were now a constant noise in the room. That, and the wet, squelching noises your pussy made, along with the slapping sounds of skin on skin. 

You wrapped your hands around his neck, bringing his mouth to yours in a heated kiss. His dog tags were cooling your warm skin, and the sight of the metal with his name engraved on it laying between your tits as they bounced with every move, brought out something possessive from somewhere very deep inside him. He growled, a deep, low sound, that made your walls clench around him.

"I love you." His mouth was moving, the words coming out without him having any say in it. That didn't mean he meant them any less. Your breath got caught in your throat, your eyes watering at his confession. He buried his face in your neck, moaning when you clenched around him again. "I love you so much, baby. You're so perfect for me."

Your heart was threatening to burst out of your chest from the happiness you felt, your hand going to the back of his neck to make him look at you. You could see the slight insecurity in his eyes, as if he was scared you would tell him you didn't feel the same. Like that was even a possibility. "I love you, Jake." 

He whined, kissing you, pouring all of his emotions into it.

"You're close, baby, aren't you?" he asked, feeling your walls flutter around him. You nodded your head with a hum. His hand trailed down your body, his fingers playing with your clit. 

"Come for me, sweetheart." he whispered into your ear, grunting when you dug your nails into his shoulders. "Cum so that I can fill you up."

"Jake." Your walls squeezed around Jake, as your orgasm hit you like a freight train. You've never cum so hard before, your vision going black as you let out a loud moan.

Jake groaned into your neck, thrusts becoming erratic and unsteady. "Fuck, baby."

"Cum inside me. Please." you whined. Jake thrusted into you a few more times, before you felt his hot cum fill you up, his hips stilling. 

Once you both came down from your highs, he pulled out of you, making you whine at the emptiness you felt. He laid down next to you, pulling you into his chest. 

"That was..." Jake started, not finding the right words to describe just how good it was. 

But you understood. You nodded your head, letting out a small laugh. "Yeah."

Jake never thought that the holidays would end with him dating the girl of his dreams, but life always throws a few surprises your way. A real Christmas miracle.

To make everything even better, his mom decided to ask for divorce. The relationship was dead anyway, and if that meant the holidays would be peaceful from now on, it was worth it. 

“I like her.” Pamela told her son, as you were both saying goodbye to his family, ready to go back home.

Jake smiled, looking at you affectionately. “Yeah, me too.”

"Don't let her go."

He chuckled, as you walked back towards him, leaning into his side. "There's nothing that could make me do that. She's stuck with me." he joked, kissing you.

“Come here." His mom teared up, bringing you into a hug. "Thank you for making my son happy.” she said sincerely.

“Thank you for raising such an amazing son.” 

You were meeting at Bradley's place to celebrate Christmas together and exchange some gifts with the rest of the squad. Neither of you talked to your friends about what happened yet and you knew Nat and Rooster were both waiting to ambush you as soon as you stepped through the door. Just like Javy, who's been pestering Jake ever since you two got back. Every head turned to the front door, as you and Jake walked in, laughing. 

Jake stepped under the doorway, pulling you into him with a grin. You raised an eyebrow questioningly, as he looked up innocently. You followed his line of sight, noticing the green plant, tied with a red ribbon. "Oh look. A mistletoe." 

You smiled, rolling your eyes at his antics. Still, you leaned closer. "I guess, it's tradition." Jake grinned wider, pulling you in for a slow kiss. Your friends whistled, not one bit shocked that this was happening. Once you pulled away, he smiled at you lovingly, before intertwining your fingers with his. 

Rooster and Natasha ran towards you first, looking between the two of you.

"You owe Natasha 40 dollars." you told Rooster with a grin, earning a laugh from Nat as she pocketed the money. 

Javy patted his best friend on the back, before giving you a hug. "I'm glad you two finally got your shit together, because this was becoming a little tiring." 

Both you and Jake laughed bashfully, as he pulled you into his side, arms wrapping around your waist. He kissed your temple, finding your eyes. “This Christmas might’ve been a disaster, but I’m glad I could go through this with you.”

“I’m glad I could be there.” You smiled, squeezing his hip. “I forgot what it’s like to be a part of a family.”

Jake smiled softly. “You will always have a family while I’m alive. I mean, my mom already calls you her daughter-in-law.” 

You grinned. “Can’t disappoint Pam, now can we?”

“Definitely not.” he agreed, pecking your lips.

Taglist: @shawnsblue @imahoeforchrisevans @eddiemunsonownsme

Masterlist (WIP)

Jake “Hangman” Seresin

Sun Bleached (completed) *18+

Part 1- I Got You, Honey

Part 2- Sleeping on the Blacktop

Part 3- Pure Gold

Part 4- Colder Heavens

Part 5- God Must Hate Me

Part 6- Sex on Fire

Part 7- Lost

Part 8- Red

Part 9- Be My Baby

Part 10- I Know the End

Part 11- Like Real People Do

Rain Soaked (sequel to Sun Bleached) *18+

Part 1- Bags

Part 2- My Blood

Part 3- Good 4 U

Part 4- Happier Than Ever

Part 5- Sick of Losing Soulmates

Part 6- Sweater Weather

Robert “Bob” Floyd

The Quiet Ones (Coming Soon) *18+

Spencer Reid

Yes, Daddy (completed series on ao3) *18+

Yes, Daddy

Yes, Sir

Sorry, Daddy

Nothing, Daddy

Goodbye, Daddy

I Love You, Spencer

James “Bucky” Barnes

Switzerland (Coming Soon) *18+

Lauren’s Fic Recs - Top Gun: Maverick

Folks, when I tell you this took me ages…anyway, please enjoy all of these amazing writers’ works. Don’t forget to leave comments if you like something. You never know, it could be the thing to make someone’s bad day better (maybe like and reblog too, but i’m not about to get into that pressure game. However, it is important to support, so please consider it). 

I am going to update this as I find more. If you have a fic rec (your own fic or someone else’s), send me an ask so I can add it here (anon or not, up to you).

Ok guys, have fun reading!

Keep reading

Stephanie’s Masterlist

Thank you so much to everyone for reading my works, all your likes, reblogs, and comments make my day!

I am currently writing for Top Gun. My requests are OPEN so please drop into my ask box, even if it’s just to say hello! Work is picking up for me so I can’t promise when they will be done, but I will do my best! :)

Keep reading

Masterlist

Hangman

Series:

Church Encounters (collaborative fic with @Igg5989)

Chapter 1 ; Chapter 2 ; Chapter 3 ; Chapter 4 ; Chapter 5 ; Chapter 6 part 1 ; Chapter 6 part 2 : Chapter 7 ; Chapter 8 part 1 ; Chapter 8 part 2 ; Chapter 8 part 3 ; Chapter 9 ; Chapter 10 ; Chapter 11 ; Chapter 12 ; Chapter 13 ; Chapter 14 ; Chapter 15 ; Chapter 16 part 1 ; Chapter 16 part 2 ; Chapter 17 ; Chapter 18 ; Chapter 19 ; Chapter 20 ; Blurb request ; Chapter 21 ; Chapter 22 ; Chapter 23 ;

Side chapter 1 (nsfw)

Side chapter 1.2 (nsfw)

Side chapter 1.3 (nsfw)

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Set it up

Part 1 ; Part 2

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Malibu

Part 1 ; Part 2 ; Part 3 ; Part 4 ; Part 5 ; Part 6

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Easy Peasy

Part 1 ; Part 2 ; Part 3 ; Part 4 ; Part 5 ; Part 6 ; Part 7 ; Part 8 ; Part 9 ; Part 10 ; Part 11 ; Part 12

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Friendly jealousy

Part 1 ; Part 2 ; Part 3

----

Lost and Found

Part 1 ; Part 2 ; Part 3 ; Part 4 ; Part 5 ; Part 6

----

Oneshots:

Protector

Saviour

I miss you

A Thing

New Years Kiss

Blowjob fic request

Fine

Revelation

Love, Actually

Sick

7 Deadly Sins: Wrath

Diner Girl

Unexpected Surprise

I do

Glass elevator

Hangman x Kazinsky Reader

_______________________________

Rooster

Series:

----

Oneshots:

The way you look tonight

Hate fuck

Dick appointment

In your arms

7 Deadly Sins

Travellin' Soldier

Impact

Rooster x Phoenix x daughter!reader

___________________________________________

Phoenix

Series:

----

Oneshot:

Surfin' USA

Watermelon lip balm

Surprise

7 Deadly Sins: Envy

Period

_______________________________

Bob

Series:

Bad day

Part 1 ; Part 2

----

Oneshots:

Brother of the year

7 Deadly Sins

Secret

The Game

____________________________________________

Maverick

7 Deadly Sins

____________________________________________

Coyote

Smut

____________________________________________

Iceman

____________________________________________

Luke Tillerson (Outer Range)

Bad date

____________________________________________

Happy reading and don't forget to send me requests :)

Avery’s TopGun:Maverick Recommendation

hello! this is a list of my favourite TopGun: Maverick fics. it is mostly hangman and rooster (with a bit of love for my favourite wso). i absolutely adored every single fic/series on this list and hope some of you do too! also i didn’t include the warning for the fics, mostly because i forgot and didn’t feel like going back, but in general they are 16+, but please follow what the writers have put as the age limit. 

Keep reading

When we were young

Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x original female character (Carey Davis is you)

Summary: Jake and you had been friends since you can remember but as time goes on you can’t help yourself for falling for Jake. Because of fate and some other reasons Jake ends up marrying Melissa, your best friend, and your friendship with Jake falls apart. Years later, you and Jake find each other again and things haven’t changed as much as you thought, for better or for worse.

Childhood friends to almost lovers to strangers to lovers

Tw: Curse, drinking, smoking, shitty dad, mentions of divorce, bad writing and mistakes since English's not my first language.

Italics: Flashbacks

Part 2

1. When we were young

“My God, this reminds me, of when we were young”

You hear someone call your name, but the loud music and the noise of your friends laughing and talking doesn't help you to find whoever's calling your name. You frown lightly as you look around and when you can't find the person who's yelling your name you return your attention to the conversation your friends are having.

You take your glass of beer to your lips and you give it a drink. When someone taps your shoulder you can't help to jump slightly and you notice your friends’ eyes on the person behind you.

You rub your hand on your lips wiping away the trickle of beer that fell from your lips as you jumped. You turn around, only to find “BRADSHAW!” standing there wearing a hawaiian shirt and with a beer on his hand.

“What the hell are you doing here?” He yells at you since the music’s loud and with a huge smile on his face that he manages to infect you “I’m living here actually” you yell back and he leans his head closer to you so he's able to hear you right “Guys!” you yell at your group of friends and you grab Bradley by the arm “This one here’s Bradley, Brad, those are Penelope, Chris and Jackie” you say pointing at each one while you introduce them to Bradley, they nod at him as a greeting and Bradley raises his beer.

Bradshaw leans down a little again to whisper on your ear “Wanna get out of here?” You nod at him immediatly and respond with an almost unhearable yup. “Be right back” you yell at your friends, they nod at you and Chris blows you a kiss that you return to him.

You follow Brad as you both make your way through the crowd, you get to the stairs of the house and when you go down you start to hear the music further away. As soon as you step on the huge garden of the house you sigh and you put out the cigarrette against the wall and throw it in the trash can next to the door.

“How long have you been living here?” Brad asks you making you return your eyes to him “Six months, six months and a half maybe” You shrug and after taking a sip of his beer Bradley offers it to you which you gladly accept “You were definetly the last person I expected to find here” you take your hand to touch your chest and you fake being hurt “Ouch” He laughs and shakes his head “No, I mean like... the last time I saw you, you seemed so settled on Texas, wait! Are you still with Gareth?” You nod at him “I’m still settled, just not in Texas, and yeah, he’s actually here... somewhere” You point at the house when you explain that to him and he nods before making a gesture telling you to follow him.

"There’s some people I want you to meet," he says and you walk beside him. You basically go around the whole house to get to the other side of the patio where there is a group of guys sitting at a table drinking and laughing out loud. You approach them and the first to notice you is a tall guy with a mustache "Rooster, you've got my beer, right?"

Brad tenses a little bit and before he says anything the guy speaks up again “No worries, Bradshaw, who’s your friend though?” He points at you and you crack a smile “Carey, Payback, Payback, Carey” You're extend your hand and he shakes it nodding at you respectfully before turning his head to look at the crew "Anybody want a beer?"

The only woman on the table raises her hand and holds up two fingers on the air and Payback nods at her before making himself towards the entrance of the house. Bradshaw and you get closer to table and as if you were someone extremely important Bradley makes an anouncement to introduce yourself to the group.

"Guys, this is Carey. Carey, those are Phoenix, Bob, Fanboy, Fritz, Coyote and-" he stops pointing at them and clears his throat, trying to call the attention of the guy turning his back to you while he's talking to a woman, the guy doens't seem to care so Bradley points at him and calls his name, well, his callsign "And that's Hangman"

The blonde tall guy finally turns to pay attention to Bradley and when he looks at you, you notice his lips parting and you cross your arms raising an eyebrow.

"Melissa, you need to calm down" you were telling your friend Melissa while you were walking next to each other towards the football training yard "How am I supposed to be calmed? What if he doesn't like me?" You rolled your eyes at her "It's possible" Melissa stopped walking at turn to you bringing her hand to her chest, you giggled at her action "I'm kidding, Mel, I mean, Jake's an idiot but never a bad person" Melissa seemed to relax after you told her that and sighed "Don't joke about that, Carey"

You giggled again and started walking again with her following you. You got to the football yard and make your way through the already seated people on the bleachers. You ended up sitting on the third row covering your faces with your hands since the sun was exactly on you.

There were eight minutes left of the match and while you waited for it to end anxiously sitting and moving your foot, Melissa spent those eight minutes cheering the "team" when in reality she was cheering Jake, and Jake only.

The bell rings and that's when you know that the game's over. You noticed Jake jogging towards your direction and you waved at him, when he approached you he went for the hug but you stopped him quickly "Not sweating like that, Seresin" He rolled his eyes and without a warning attracted your body to his hugging you. You pressed your hands against his abdomen pushing him away and after a couple seconds he finally let you go "Jake! You're disgusting!" He giggled and then winked at you "You adore me"

You rolled your eyes at him giggling too "What the hell are you doing here, DVD? This isn't your natural habit" You rolled your eyes at the stupid nickname he used on you and then you pointed at Melissa "Jake, this is Melissa, she's my best friend... Melissa, this is Jake, but you already know that" You said the last part in a whisper, making Melissa laugh awkwardly and she waved at Jake, who gave her a smile and returned to look at you

"I thought I was your best friend" You touched his left shoulder and looked at him directly in the eye "You're not special, babe... Ew! I forgot your sweaty!" You quickly took your hand away from his body and he laughed at you making you laugh too "Anyways, I just wanted you to know each other"

Melissa was standing awkwardly beside you and for someone who usually speaks A LOT she was extremely quiet, Jake on the other hand was starting at you while he cleaned the sweat off his face with a little towel "You should come home for dinner tonight, you haven't visited us in three days, the family's started to worry" You rolled your eyes jokingly at him and nodded "Yup, I'm in"

Jake gave you a genuine smile and you smiled back "Okay, you better go... To clean yourself and we-" you grabbed Melissa by the arm "Should get going to class"

"Yes ma'am" He nodded at you and then stepped closer with his open arms to hug you making you stepped back raising you arm in front of you, making a stop sign "JAKE! STOP!" He only laughed and then said "Fine, I'll hug you tonight"

You giggled before turning around and started walking away with Melissa on your side, you didn't know exactly what it was but something made you turn your head to look at Jake once again, who was still staring at you as you were leaving.

///

You weren't exactly sure why you did it, it probably was the fact that she begged you the whole day, but there you were walking towards the Seresin's house with Melissa on your side

When you stepped on the porch of the huge house you noticed Melissa fixing her dress and you whispered to her "I told you to wear jeans" she shook her head in denial "How am I supposed to make a good impression on my future in laws wearing jeans, Carey?" You rolled your eyes jokingly as you scoffed and then you rang the doorbell.

Jake's youngest sister Leslie opened the door and as soon as she saw you she threw herself over you "CAREY!" You giggled while you hugged her and when you separated she turned to look at Melissa and you began to explain "She's Melissa, my best friend" Leslie hugged her too and then looked at me again, frowning "I thought my brother was your best friend"

"He is also my best friend, Les" She nodded at you, understanding, and then moved from the door so you could get in. It didn't matter how many times you've been here, it didn't ceased to surprised you how huge and gorgeous their house was. It was a huge rustic wooden house with some modern touches to it.

You went straight to the kitchen, knowing exactly who you'll find there: Jake's middle sister, Lauren, and their mom, Maria, hurriedly cooking dinner "Can I help you with something?" Both of them turned to look at you with a huge smile on their faces "DVD!" Lauren said excitedly making mama Seresin hit her lightly on the arm and you moved your lips telling her "It's fine", Lauren giggled and mama Seresin started speaking "You forgot about us, Carey"

You shook your head in denial still smiling at them "I didn't, Jake stopped inviting me" Mama Seresin moved to the sink to wash her hands "You know he doesn't have to, you're always welcomed" You smiled at her widely and she smiled back before moving closer to Melissa and she extended her hand to greet her, Melissa shook it smiling nervously at her "Ma, she's Melissa, Melissa, that's the one and only Mama Maria Seresin" Mel smiled at her and Ma said"It's a pleasure to meet you, Melissa"

"The pleasure's mine" She responded. You noticed Lauren struggling with a cooking pot so you spoke up "Let us help you, ma" You were sure Ma was going to answer with a "nothing" like always, but this time she put two cutting boards, two knives and a bunch of veggies on the bar of the kitchen "Can you help me cutting these?" You and Melissa nodded at her and sat on the bar chairs to start cutting the veggies.

It surprised you when Melissa finally said something "Why did you call her DVD?" Lauren laughed at her question "Y'know how her name's Carey Davis? Well, her initials are CD and where do you play those?" Melissa seemed to got it pretty fast and answered "DVD" Lauren nodded at her still giggling and even though the whole nickname was pretty stupid, you all laughed at it.

You heard the back door opening and you didn't need to look to know that Jake's home. He was wearing shorts, a black T and a cap, that he took off when he entered the house "Carey! Oh... Hi Melissa" He awkwardly waved at Melissa and she didn't hesitate for a second before waving at him back. Jake was confused, you could tell and you gave him a smile, almost like saying sorry for brought her over, considering that everytime after dinner you had a night talk before you went back home.

Jake cracked a smile that you read as it's fine and pointed at you "You owe me a hug" You turned in the chair and he made his way towards you and hugged you as soon as he was close enough to you, you graped you arms around his body and he leaned down his head a little bit and whispered on your ear "She's so in love with me, Carey" you put your mouth against his shoulder to avoid laughing out loud "I know, so don't be a prick with her" You didn't see your face nut you were sure that he rolled his eyes and then you broke the hug.

"What are we eating, Ma?" Jake asked her mom approaching her to give her a kiss on the forehead and then he messed up Lauren's hair, making her punch him on the shoulder "Chili, with veggies, that I hope are cut by now" You sat down on the bar quickly to finish cutting the vegetables and you noticed that Melissa finished cutting them already and was staring at Jake and she was not being subtle about it, making you giggle.

///

You brought the last pot to the table and sat down on the dining table at the same time as everyone else. You sat between Lauren and Leslie and Melissa was sitting next to Jake and in front of you. Mama Seresin was between Melissa and Lauren and John Seresin between Jake and Les. You noticed Jake tensing when his dad sat next to him and he looked for your eyes, you gave him a reassuring smile and Ma broke the ice "Well everyone, go ahead"

The rest of the dinner went pretty well, Jake's sisters were asking Melissa a lot about her and she was gladly answering them and somehow John Seresin wasn't throwing his classic hateful comments.

We were eating dessert when Melissa turned to look at Jake and then looked at me "How did you two become friends?". Jake looked at you and seemed to be waiting for you to respond first but you were waiting for him to respond, so when you responded, you did it at the same time

"When he hit me with a ball!"

"When we were in elementary!"

You both looked at each other and started laughing at the same time, he told you with his eyes to go on and you did "When we were on elementary I went to the restroom one day, and in our school to be able to get to the restroom, you needed to cross the sports patio, so yeah, I was walking towards the bathroom and I saw a group of kids playing basketball and for obvious reasons I moved to the other side of the patio to avoid being hit by them, but it didn't work anyway because when I was about to get into the bathroom I didn't saw a ball coming my way so it hit me exactly on the face-" you stopped for a second and you laughed at your own anecdote

"And well, it hit me, hard. My nose started to bleed and one of the kids ran on my direction and asked me if I was fine, I said yes although my nose was bleeding big time, he told me that I didn't look fine and after insisting a lot he took my to the nursing. He was so worried that he waited for me to came out even after the nurse told him it wasn't anything serious, he took me to my classroom after that and at the end of the day he waited for me on the entrance of the school, he apologized again although by that point I told him that I was fine for the eleventh time and he still didn't seem to accept it so I told him that if he was really sorry he will walk me home, he accepted and little did we know that we lived on the same street"

"That kid was Jake, obviously, and after that day he started waiting for me so we would walk to  school together and we've been inseparable since"

Jake looked at you with an expression you never saw in his eyes before, it was almost as if he was admiring you and when he noticed you staring at him, he shook his head and rasped his throat "She just can't get away from me" You rolled your eyes at him making him laugh

"Also, Carey is his only friend since my son is incapable of having male friends, he's like having another daughter" John Seresin spoke up for the first time on the whole evening and you noticed how Jake's jaw clenched and looked down at his hands under the table, you moved your left foot to touch his leg and he looked up at you forcing himself to smile.

Lauren broke the uncomfortable silence by saying "Let's pick up the table", you nodded at her and stood up taking one of the pots with you as Lauren was picking up the plates and cutlery, Ma was about to stand up too but Lauren stopped her and she mouthed a thank you at you, then Jake stood up too and took the other pot from the table, ignoring the fact that his dad was looking at him with a quizzical expression.

When you got to the kitchen you found Jake leaning against the bar with a glass of water on his hand "Jake-" he cut you off, not in a rude way though "It's fine, Carey, it's not like I care anyway" he was looking down at the glass of water but still you tried to catch his eyes "But you do care, Jake" he didn't say anything else and you didn't either, you just walk towards him and hugged him.

It took him a second to adjust and accept the hug but once he did he graped his arms around your waist and placed his head on your shoulder. You weren't sure how long you stayed like that but you separated abruptly when Lauren got in the kitchen, she looked at you and laughed "Geez, calm down" You were scratching the back of your neck and Jake took the glass of water on his hands again. Lauren walked out of the kitchen and you followed her, not without giving Jake one last look before going back to the dinner room.

“Jake Seresin” you say as he stares at you, completely surprised at your presence “From beyond the grave” He scoffs and walks towards you, he gets close to you, but not too close “Hi” he says and you give him a clearly fake smile. He opens his mouth to say something else but he’s interrupted by Bradley, who's seems to be confused at your interaction “You know each other?” You look at Bradley again and he's frowning. You both respond him at the same time.

“We were in school together”

“We were best friends”

Jake and you look at each other and if you knew him still, you would say that he was hurt by the way you described your relationship with him, but you don’t know him anymore so you can’t really tell.

Bradley’s looking at you both intrigued and with a playful smile on his face “You should rehearse that” he says playfully and leaves you to joins the rest of the guys on the table. Jake takes the beer on his hand to his lips and he frowns when he realizes that it’s empty “Want a drink?” He asks you and you nod at him as a response.

He starts walking to the house and you follow him, noticing how he’s turning his head to look at you until you get to the kitchen. Once you’re in it, you notice how the music is quiter than before and how the kitchen is not as crowded. You take a sit on the coffe table on the corner of the room. Jake opens the refrigerator and takes out two beers and opens them with the bottle opener embebbed on the wall, he extends his hand towards you and you grab the bottle, not without thanking him first.

He leans on the wall with his shoulder against the wall and you take a drink “So, how do you know Rooster?” You swallow the beer before responding him “He’s a friend of a friend, we were introduced a few years ago and we’ve been friends since then” Jake nods and takes a sip of beer “I assume you fly with him?” Jake nods again “Yeah, I do, but we’re not really friends” You’re the one nodding now and you’re unsure about what to say about that, but you don't have to think much because Jake speaks up first "How do you know I fly though?" He asks you and you scoff "Jake, I might not be your friend anymore but that doesn't mean I'm not close to your family anymore"

He raises and eyebrow "You're still close to my family?" You nod "Pretty close actually" He has that surprised expression on his face again and you begin to explain before he asks "I asked them not to tell you, if that's what you're wondering" he shakes his head slowly, like processing what I'm telling him and then he speaks again "So you live in Texas again?"

"I lived there for a while after college, but a few months ago I moved here with my boyfriend" He nods again and his expression is an unreadable one "And where is he?" He asks me and you make a hand gesture "He's in this party, somewhere" You take a drink of your beer again and you notice Jake's evading looking at you "What about you, Jake? Where's Melissa?" He turns to look at you abruptly when he hears that name.

"How would I know?" He says that with a cutting voice and it surprises you making you frown, he continues speaking "For you being pretty close to my family, it surprises me that you have no idea" You still have confused written all over your face so he finishes his explanation "We're getting divorced, Carey"

Your lips parted lightly and you feel your eyes opening in shock "I'm sorry, Jake" He scoffs "Are you really?" You roll your eyes at him and stand up ready to leave when he shakes his head and grabs you lightly by the arm "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that" You place your hand in top of his to take it away from your arm "Whatever, Jake, you clearly haven't changed" He shakes his head again and you speak again "I'm going to go find my-" You're cut off by an arm graping around your shoulders and a kiss on your forehead, Jake stops grabbing your arm and you realize who it is

"I was looking for you" you say making your clearly drunk boyfriend blush "And I was looking for you" he says and tips your nose with his index finger, he leans down to kiss your cheek and whispers on your ear "Are we leaving?" You nod at him and turn to look at Jake again "Jake, this is my boyfriend Gareth, Gareth, that's Jake Seresin"

Gareth opens his mouth exaggerated and points at him looking at you "He's Maria's son?" You nod and Gareth extends his hand to shake Jake's, which Jake shakes reluctantly as he asks "You know my mom?" Gareth nods "All your family, actually, I met Carey through Lauren" he slurs his words and you put your arm around his body to give him equilibrium. Jake looks at you, more confused than before and you just shrug.

"Anyway, I'll-” You correct yourself "We'll see you around I guess" Jake only nods and you turn around and start walking away almost dragging Gareth with you

You hear Jake's voice calling your name as you're stepping outside of the kitchen but you pretend to not hear him and you keep walking away.

When we were young

Pairing: Jake “Hangman” Seresin x original female character 

Summary: Jake and you had been friends since you can remember but as time goes on you can’t help yourself from falling for Jake. Because of fate and some other reasons Jake ends up marrying Melissa, your best friend, and your friendship with Jake falls apart. Years later, you and Jake find each other again and things haven’t changed as much as you thought, for better or for worse.

Childhood friends to almost lovers to strangers to lovers 

Tw: Curse, drinking, smoking, mentions of divorce, hangman is secretly a softie but he’s also a jerk, mentions of protected sex in like one line lol, bad writing and mistakes since english’s not my first language.

Italics: Flashback

Part 1

2. Somebody else

“I don’t want your body but I hate to think about you with somebody else”

As soon as Jake opens his eyes he has to close them shut immediatly again since the way his head is hurting is insufferable. He grunts and curses under his breath as he squeezes his head with both of his hands. He rolls on the bed turning his back to his room’s wondow only to find a blonde woman, completely naked, sleeping next to him.

he lets out a heavy sigh and turns around again, half opening his eyes because of the light that’s entering his room. He sits on the edge of his bed for a while he tries to remember how he ended up on his partment with a girl but the only thing he seems to remember’s that he saw you again and then you left with your boyfriend and that’s about it.

He slides up his boxers and starts walking towards the kitchen.

Jake doesn’t waste any time and as soon as he gets to the kitchen he turns on the cooffe machine and leans on the kitchen island, dialing his mother’s number. It only rings once before he hears her mother’s characteristhic “JAKE!” and he can’t help himself to crack a little smile “Hey Ma!”

“How you doin’, baby?” Ma asks him as she cleans her kitchen and Jake yawns covering his mouth before answering “I’m fine, how’s everyone there?” 

“We’re all good, hun, we’re having a barbecue today” God, he misses that “God! I miss that” His mom smiles through the phone “And I miss you, Jake, we all do” Those words make him feel like he’s being hug by her and it feels great, especially because he really needed to hear that.

“Ma, can I ask you something?” Ma scoffs shaking her head “I knew you called me for something” Jake shakes his head too and lets out a quiet laugh “No, I mean, I did call you for something, I called you because I love you and I love talking to you” His mom rolls her eyes and articulates a simple “mmhm” waiting for her son to continue. “Why didn’t you tell me you were still in touch with Carey?” He doesn’t say it as a reproach but it still causes his Ma to tense after hearing the question “How do you know?”

“She told me” He responds and Ma can’t avoid cracking a smile “So you did find each other” Jake frowns at that, confused about what she said and what she means by that “What?”

“Well, I know she’s been living in San Diego and when you told me you’ll be stationing there I started to hope that you’ll find each other again, I just didn′t expect it to happen so fast though... How is she?”

Jake sighs “She’s got a boyfriend and she hates me, I think she’s fine”. Ma sighs too and even thought Jake can’t see her, she was giving him a pitiful smile “Rightfully so, Jake... and yeah, Gareth, he’s a good guy, did you meet him too?” Jake responds with a simple “mmhm” and Ma continues “If it makes you feel better hun, she always felt happy for your success, no matter how hurt she was with you, the least you can do is be happy for her”

He nods slowly, understanding but still processing the fact that he’s just finding out that you never stopped cheering his success even after what he did to you. His mother’s voice takes him out of his thoughts “Did you tell her about Melissa?” she asks and he puts the phone on speaker as he pours the hot coffee on his cup “I did... and I fucked it up after that”

“Of course you did, hun, you always do” Jake chuckles and gives his coffee a drink as his mom speaks up again “Are you going to see her again?” He shakes his head in denial and feels an undescribable pain on his chest that he tries to ignore by clearing his throath “Nope, I doubt we’ll bump into each other again”

“Hun...” She starts saying but Jake cuts her off “Nah, it’s fine, I mean, don’t I deserve that?” Ma frown slightly, not sure about what he meant exactly “What do you mean?”

Jake sighs again “I broke not only her heart but all of her like it was nothing, maybe the least I deserve is her hating me forever” Ma stares at the phone unable and unsure about what to say so the only thing that comes out of her mouth is “She doesn’t hate you, Jake”

Jake rubs his face with his hands before speaking up again “Anyways, Ma, I need to get ready and send Melissa the papers, can I call you later?” Ma nods slowly “You know you always can, hun, I love you”

Jake smiles while he says “I love you too, Ma”

He cuts the call and as he does he notices a text message from phoenix

Phoenix: Dinner tonight with the team, you in?

“It took you like two hours, Jake!” You said as Jake returned to the table with a tray full of ribs and mac and cheese “Well, it took you two hours to get ready to come here,so I guess we’re even”. You rolled your eyes at him and you were about to answer when your stomach roared, loud, making Jake and Melissa, who was sitting next to you, laugh “Geez! Someone’s hungry”

You kept your straight face for a second, pretending to be mad but it didn’t last long because you lost it and laughed along them “Can we eat now, pleaaaaase?” you asked and Jake nodded as he slipped into the sofa, sitting in front of you and Melissa.

He served you some food on a plate and put it in front of you, staring at you as you were concentrated and ready to start eating. You grabbed a rib and took it to your mouth.It was amazing, so amazing that you rolled your eyes as you were eating it and the only thing you were allowed to say was a “mmmmmm”

Melissa turned to look at Jake and he looked at her quickly before returning his eyes to you and you just shrugged. When you finished eating it you cleaned your mouth and spoke up “This is fucking good”. Jake nodded “Told you this ribs are the best” well, he certainly wasn’t lying, you thought

Melissa finished chewing and spoke up, for the first time in the whole afternoon “I have to admit that this is my first time eating this”. Jake, who had his attention on the rib on his plate, turned to look at her abruptly with his eyes wide open

“Are you serious right now?!” Jake asked, looking directly at her and she nodded nervously “Yeah... my mom’s not really a fan of meat” she said and shrugged as Jake was nodding slowly, like processing what she just said. “I just can’t believe you never tried ribs before, are you even a texan?” Jake asked her, with a serious face and you couldn’t help but giggled about it.

“Actually no, I’m from San Diego”, Jake looked at you and then at her again with a raised eyebrow and he seemed fascinated and curious about that fact “Why did you move here?” he asked her and you turned to look at your friend, who was failing to hide her exciment about being noticed and questioned about her by Jake “A few years ago my dad was stationed here while my mom and I were still living in California and my dad kinda fell in love with this city and asked my mom to move here, so we did”

“Wait, wait! Stationing? Your dad’s a pilot?” Melissa chuckled and nodded and you noticed how Jake’s eyes lightned up, then Melissa spoke up again “Yeah, how do you know?”

“I want to be a pilot too” he said causing you to opened your eyes abruptly and you frowned your eyebrows, it was surprising to you, but it wasn’t that he wanted to be a pilot that surprised you, it was the fact that he never told you that, and you knew that he didn’t have to tell you everything that he does but you couldn’t help to feel hurt about it “Do you” You asked and he guided his eyes to look at you

He shrugged “I mean, I’ve been contemplating the option for a while, but I’m still not sure” he said and you just nodded watching him returned his attention to Melissa and you weren’t exactly sure why but all of a sudden you were mad with Melissa althought you weren’t sure why

“My dad could help you with it if you want, I mean, he could clear some of your doubts and things like that” Melissa said and Jake nodded with a huge grin on his face “Yeah, that-that would be really cool actually”

Jake turned to look at you and and gave you a smile and you returned it, then he spoke up “Carey could give me your number so I text you about it”. He was staring at you and you forced a smile and nodded but you were feeling irritated about this whole thing but again, it was your idea to introduced them and you knew that Melissa was head over heels for Jake, so why were you feeling mad about it? 

You didn’t know and you also didn’t know why you stopped listening to them as you watched them talked like they’ve been friends since forever and decided and put all your atenttion on the food you had in front of you 

Were you jealous? No, you couldn't be, Jake was your friend, your best friend and you were his, you couldn't be jealous, also, you loved Melissa and you wanted to see her happy, right?

You shook your head and slipped out of the coach as you said “I’m going to the restroom” but none of them seemed to heard it.

///

After dropping Melissa off her house Jake turned to look at you as you had your atenttion on the road “She’s cool” he said taking you out of your thoughts and making you frown “What?” you said as you turned your head to faced him and he was the one that had his eyes on the road now

“Melissa, she’s cool” he said rolling his eyes and you simply nodded and looked at the road too, he didn’t say anything else and you didn’t say anything either. You both spent like ten minutes in silence until you noticed Jake slowing down and parking the car on the side of the street, you looked at him only to find him staring at you “Are you okay?” Your frowned, completly confused as why he parked the car and why he was asking you “mmh, yeah, I’m fine, Jake, why did you stop?”

He shook his head, causing his hair to messed up a little bit “No, you’re not, what is it?” he asked and you frowned even more “I have no idea what you’re talking about” he cracked a playful smile and you rolled you eyes “C’mmon, tell me”

“There’s nothing to tell you” You said and you were starting to feel annoyed at this whole thing, he must’ve not noticed it because he kept going “Wait! I know what it is, you’re jealous”

“I’m not jealous”

“You are jealous, Carey’s jealo-”

“I’M NOT FUCKING JEALOUS!” you cut him off, louder than you expected and he stared at you with opened eyes and then he shooked his head again “I-I’m sorry, I was just teasing” He said it with a sadness on his voice and you felt guilty “No, I’m-I’m sorry Jake” You rushed to say and he nodded without saying anything so you kept going “I’m not jealous, it’s jut that- why didn’t you tell me you want to be a pilot?”

He returned his attention to you and you gave him a little smile that he returned before speaking up “I was going to, you were going to be the first person I’ll tell once I was sure”

You turned to look down at your hands as you were playing with them and you quietly, almost unhearbly said “But now I won’t be the first” Jake frowned and he wasn’t sure if he heard you correctly “What?” You shook your head and faced him again “Nothin’, nevermind”

“No, what did you say?” You rolled your eyes again “Nothing, Jake, it doesn’t matter, can we go now?” He shook his head in denial and took the keys out of the steering wheel “It does matter to me, Carey!”

“You know what, I’m gonna walk” you said as you grab your bag and opened the door, heading out, and Jake followed you “Are you serious right now?” he yelled as you were walking away and you didn’t stop nor turned to look at him, but you felt him walking behind you “Carey! C’mmon! I dont’t even know why you’re acting like this”

“THAT’S THE PROBLEM!” You yelled at him without stopping your walk and you weren’t exactly sure when or why there were tears forming on your eyes

You step out of the car and fix the jumpsuit you’re using before starting walking into the restaurant. The girl on the entrance approaches you and asks you if you have a reservation, you shake your head in denial and tell her that you’re coming with Bradley Bradshaw. She nods at you and grabs her notebook, when she seems to find him on the list she says something like “Yeah, he’s on table 4, it’s outside on the terrace” and she points at the huge glass door that leads to the terrace.

You thank her and star walking towards it, you’re like an hour and a half later so everyone must be here right now, even Gareth. As you approach the table you noticed every single one of the guys, and girl, that Brad told you would come, except that there’s someone he certainly didn’t mention

JAKE SERESIN, again.

He probably wasn’t expecting you either because when he notices you his lips part a little bit. You’re not sure how long you stare at him but it’s like you get caught in the moment, and that moment is stopped by Bradley’s arm wrapping around your shoulders.

You notice that Jake’s also taken out of his thoughts by the shaven-head guy sitting next to him when he hits his ribs with his elbow causing Jake to throw his elbow away and giving a drink to the glass he has on one of his hands.

“You made it!” Brad says and you look at him smiling, kinda faking that smile “Yeah, I almost- Oh sorry guys, hello, hello!” You say as you wave at everyone on the table and they all return the waved and some of them say things like “Hi” and “How you doin’?”. You move your eyes seeing all of the people there and when your eyes get to Jake he nods at you as a greet and you do the same. You return your eyes to Brad “Where’s Gareth?” you ask him

“He left because he thought you weren’t coming” he answers you with a serious face and you’re not sure if he’s joking or not “Really?” you ask with your eyebrows frowning causing Rooster to laugh at you “Nah, he’s in the bathroom”

You roll your eyes while you giggle too and he guides you to your chair, luckily for you, you were sitting between Phoenix and Gareth and Jake was sitting on the other half of the table, at least it’s not going to be that awkward you thought. 

Like five minutes later Gareth returns to the table and gives you a kiss on the cheek before sitting next to you, you turn to look at him and he gets closer to your ear “When did you get here?” You move your head so your mouth’s on his ear now “Like five minutes ago” you whisper and then you both return your atenttion to the anecdote one of the pilots is telling.

You’re unsure about how long it’s been in between laughs and anecdotes told but you notice that the sky’s dark now, and because of all the drinking and eating you excuse yourself to go to the restroom.

When you get out of it, you don’t return to the table right away, instead you walk towards the exit of the restaurant and you turned around the corner of it, leaning your back on the wall and lighting up a cigarrette that you had in your bag. You exhale the smoke as you shigh throwing your head back

“Since when do you smoke?” he asks you and you don’t need to look at him to know who it is “Since when do you care?” shit you think after those words come out of your mouth, curtly and more agresive than you intened “I’m so sorry, that was-”

He cuts you off while he shakes his head and stands next to you with his back leaning on the wall too “Nah, it’s fine, I deserve that I guess” You don’t know exactly what to say and you also don’t know exactly why your heart’s beating faster than before, so you just put the cigarette in front of his face as a question which he responds to shaking his head lightly and moving your hand and the cigarrette away from his face “I don’t smoke”

You shrug and give it a smoke again, returning your atenttion to the sea, even though it was pretty dark outside and you can’t barely see it. You feel Jake’s stare on you but you try to ignore it, he returns his stare at the sea and like three minutes later he moves his head to stare at you again, this time you turn to face him “Jesus Jake, just say it!”

He scoffs and takes a second before speaking up “I didn’t know you’ll come, I promise” he says pretty fast and throwing his hands on the air, making you scoff quietly and nodding at him “Yeah, I figured”. He doesn’t say anything else so you turn to see at the sea again. It feels funny how you’re just as awkward as you were back then and how even though you both are silent it doesn’t really feel uncomfortable.

Jake takes his eyes to you again and just stares at you, without saying anything for a couple of minutes “I missed you” he finally says and it’s not the fact that he said that what surprises you, it’s the way your heart jumped as you heard that what surprises you and it takes you a microsecond to adjust at the way your heart’s beating at this point, you try to shake that feeling and act as if you feel nothing about it and sarcastically say “Yeah, right”

You look at him and his expression is serious and he doesn’t have that cocky smile on his lips “I mean it, Carey”

“Well, it sure didn’t seem like it, Jake” You say, letting all those feeling you thought you got over overcome you and your voice and throws his head back, frustraded and sad maybe? “But I missed you too, Jake” You don’t know what posseses you to say that but you do clearly shocking Jake or at least that’s what his face says. He clears his throat before speaking up again “I’m sorry”

Your frowned, confused about what he’s apologizing for “Huh?”

“I’m sorry... for everything, I-” He stops himself “I shouldn't have been scared and I shouldn't have done what I did to you, you-you didn’t deserve that”

You shake your head trying to stop the tears that are forming on your eyes and you feel your chest being punch and hurt by all the memories that are coming back to you as he says that. You stare at the floor, knowing damn well that if you look at him you’ll cry 

“I know you want nothing to do with me, I get that and I promise you that after tonight I’ll stop bumping into you but I really need you to know that I’m sorry for everything and if I could I would totally go back and make things right, but I know I can’t and again, I’m sorry”

He says that pretty fast, almost as if he was on a rush and you feel a lump creating on your throat and you notice a tear falling on the floor. Those were the words you wanted to hear from him since you were younger and now that you heard them you’re not exaclty sure how to feel about it. At this point the tears are coming out of your eyes non-stop and you star blinking fast to avoid them.

Jake’s never really been good with emotions so he spins on his heels nervously, wondering what he should do. He steps closer to you and places a hand on your shoulder, rubbing it slowly “I’m going back inside so they don’t suspect anything weird, is that okay?” He asks you with a soft voice that you haven’t heard in a while and you only nod, still looking down at the floor.

When he takes his hand away from your skin you feel your shoulder cold and empty, he’s about to return to the restaurant when he stops after hearing you calling his name “Yeah?” He asks and you finally stare directly at him and you find funny how the way the light from the restaurant’s lighting him makes him look like a god, even though he’s more like a devil “Thank you... for saying that, it means a lot”

He nods and cracks a little smile that you try to return, then he turns around and returns to the restaurant.

You weren't sure for how long you’ve been rolling back and forth on your bed so you grabbed your phone to check the hour: 2:44 am

You grunted annoyed about the fact that you couldn't sleep and you had classes tomorrow. You rolled again to put your phone on the night stand again when it started ringing

Jakey 

You didn’t even hesitated before picking it up “Jake?” You asked whispering and he answered you with his raspy voice “Were you up?” You nodded, even though he couldn’t see you and you answered him with a simple “mmmhm”

“Fine” he started saying in a whisper too “Do you want to talk?” you made another “mmhm” sound and moved on your bed to sit with your back against the backrest “I’m sorry for today, well, yesterday, I don’t know what happened”

You couldn’t see him but you were sure he was nodding before speaking up “Yeah, it was a strange day... but I really liked it” you didn’t know why you smiled at the but you did “Did you like it? Did you like seeing me losing my shit?”

“I like seeing you doing anything to be honest, even losing your shit” Your heart stopped for a whole minute and it wasn’t until you heard Jake’s voice again that you realized that you were still alive “I’m sorry, what did you say?” you asked him since you weren’t sure you really paid atenttion to what he said before “I said that you don’t have to feel jelaous about Melissa”

“Oh my god, are we going there again?” You heard Jake giggling through the phone and you smiled to yourself “Okay, let’s pretend you weren’t jealous today, yesterday I mean, but what I’m trying to say is that you should never feel jealous about anyone because you’ll always be my best friend and no one’s gonna change that, okay?”

“Geez Jake, you’re so corny” You heard him laughing laughter then and you laughed too covering your mouth with your hand “I’ll never tell you anything nice again, dvd”

“Noooo, I’m kidding Jake, I adore you too” you said in between laughs causing Jake to laugh along you

“Fuck!” Gareth grunts as he comes and gets outside of you, taking off the condom and throwing it in the trash can next to the bed, he gives you a kiss on the lips before grabbing his phone, you sit on the edge of the bed and you put on your panties and Gareth's shirt.

You stand up as you grab your phone from the little table next to the bed “I’m going to the kitchen, you want anything?” you say and Gareth shakes his head in denial still looking at his phone “No baby, I’m good”

You serve yourself some water as you get to the kitchen and lean on the island of the kitchen with your phone on the other hand, should you? shouldn’t you? You keep staring at the number, unsure wheter it’s a good idea to call him or not. FUCK IT you think and click on the green button. You’re shaking your feet anxiously as it rings for the third time and you start to regret calling before you hear a grunt on the other side of the call and a raspy voice saying “Hello?”

You feel nervous? for some reason and your mind goes blank so the only thing you’are able to say is “Jake?”

He wakes up completly after hearing your sweet voice and you feel your heart racing as you wait for him to respond “Yeah, it’s me, is everything okay?” He asks with an extremly quiet and soft voice but you catch a glimp of worriedness on his voice “Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just that... I really like seeing you today”

He stays silent for a moment and then he says “Well, technically it was yesterday but-” you cut him off by giggling and you hear him chuckling harder on the other side of the line “Shut up, Jake!”

“Okay, okay, sorry, go on” You shigh and keep going “It’s just that I was thinking about... yesterday and it remind me of how much I miss having you in my life and-” you stop yourself and scratch the back of your neck nervous, you’re not sure wheter you should say it or not and Jake’s not sure where you’re going with this but he can’t stop smiling at the fact that he’s hearing your voice “Would it be too crazy to ask you if you want to be in my life again?”

Jake’s smile got wider, he actually had not smile like this in years and you could feel him smiling when he finally speaks up “Nothin’ would make me happier, Carey”

Tag list: @kkrenae​ @malindacath​ @seresinhangmanjake​ @notanordinaryprincess95 @fangirling-4-ever @shanimallina87 @deeahhmaa @anya7802

This is so cute!!!

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

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."

------------------------------

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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