#Jake seresin has horrible parents

[oh-surprise-its-me]

Bradley buying Jake the target weighted Dino but hiding it because he’s afraid of Jakes reaction because he doesn’t have good memories associated with stuffed animals, but loves the weighted blanket Bradley got him months ago. So he stashes it in one of the Christmas boxes (it’s July, Jake definitely shouldn’t open that closet any time soon.)

He forgets about it for a few weeks until Jake finds him in the bathroom, Jake is carrying the Dino and he just kinda holds it like a baby.

Jake just staring at it asks if it’s a present for his niece since it was in the Christmas box, he looks so sad as he asks if it’s for someone else that Bradley immediately breaks.

He pulls Jake into his arms and tells him he found it and couldn’t resist buying it for Jake. Jake who tears up and holds the Dino with one arm and Bradley with the other. Jake who wanted stuffed animals when he was younger but his parents would laugh at him for being a ‘homo’. Jake who has a box of soft things both his sisters stashed away for him growing up that he keeps tucked under their bed.

He pulls Bradley to bed and lays down tugging the older man on top of him and putting the Dino on Bradley’s shoulders it’s eyes are peaking over Bradley’s curls.

[justalonelyslytherin]

Legacies | Eleven

Previous Chapter | Masterlist | Next Chapter

Pairing: Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin x Kazansky!OC

Summary: The time for the mission has come. While the team risks their life, coming too close to death, Jake is left to deal with the guilt his reaction left him with.

Warnings: military inaccuracies, mentions of dying, mentions of parental death/parental loss, mentions of killing someone in combat, air combat, dealing with the aftermath of it

Wordcount: 3.1k

If you enjoyed reading this, please consider leaving a comment or reblogging. I don’t allow for my content to be copied, translated, or reposted on other websites/apps. I ALSO DO NOT GIVE PERMISSION FOR THE USE OF AI IN ANY OF MY WORKS! Please don’t steal my work.

A/N: I already mentioned it in another chapter, but I think now the time has come to permanently implement and switch to a bi-weekly update schedule. One week is just too little for me to adequately write the chapters (to my standards) without stressing myself out. I'm going to try to stick with the update times but if needed I'll postpone it for the sake of good quality content.

Taglist: open, message me or comment to be added, will be put as reblog

True to his words Ana didn’t return to the base following the funeral. But contrary to them, Hangman wasn’t happy with the situation.

It bothered him.

His anger toward her had long vanished, leaving behind dread and a new annoyance focused solely on himself and his stupid actions.

Mixing with it was the feeling of irritation he felt now that she was missing. It felt different without her there. They were missing one person in their group and everyone was well aware of it. Hangman perhaps most of them all. 

Never before in his life had he been so affected by the lack of one's presence. The moment she’d been officially taken out of the lineup for the mission he’d nearly stormed out of the room. Guilt and shame fought to overtake him. To no little part he’d been at fault for her absence, he was well aware of it. 

Even though his rational thinking wanted to tell him that the loss of her father was reason alone to sit out a mission with such dire stakes, where even one millisecond of distraction could cost one’s life, the other parts of his brain screamed at him.

Your fault.

It bothered Hangman. More than he’d ever admit and more than he could ever possibly hide. Her absence left a gaping hole unable to be otherwise filled. It felt different without her there. Empty.

In the days to follow he’d been an emotional wreck. Constantly irritable, tense, and snippy. A fuse so short anyone breathing in his direction was bound to set him off. He dangled on a dangerous path toward exploding at any moment. 

Not even his otherwise impermeable cocky attitude, the mask he had built up so meticulously, could hide his true emotions. For the first time since he became Hangman, his walls weren’t enough.

None of the others could be blamed for his irritability. Once more it was his own fucking fault. He, all alone, was to blame for it. And perhaps that was what made it this bad. Well aware of his role in the dilemma, Hangman couldn’t help but still be upset about it.

If he was honest with himself he had never been angry at her, not directly. He’d been angry with the situation. Not understanding it and on top of it misinterpreting it. On any other occasion he would have forgotten it, let it be, and moved on. But he couldn’t. 

He could not move on from this. 

Not with Ana. 

He couldn’t do that to her and he couldn’t do it to himself. But there also wasn’t any way for him to fix it. Not right now.

Not when he was in the middle of the ocean, stuck on an aircraft carrier, bound for the most dangerous mission of his life.

Yet all he could think about was the woman he’d wronged so horribly.

“It's been an honor flying with you.”

It was an entirely new experience for him. Being distracted. Unable to focus solely on the mission. Never once in his entire career had that happened to him. No, that wasn’t entirely true. It had happened once, early on, and nearly cost him the career that had been just in the wings. 

That’s when he’d been still Jake Seresin in the navy, not yet Hangman, which had soon after changed. He’d made up his mind. Nothing and more importantly no one would ever distract him from his dreams, from the career that had almost ended before it had even started.

“Each one of you represents the best of the best.”

For nearly ten years, he’d lived after this principle, becoming Hangman but also becoming perhaps the best naval aviator of his generation and the only one on active duty to have a confirmed kill.

“Choose your two foxtrot teams.”

As new and unusual the sensation was, he’d tried to keep on track. Stubbornly he’d commanded his thoughts back to the mission, punished himself for any stray thought by reading the mission briefings, the F-18 manual. 

“Payback and Fanboy. Phoenix and Bob.”

It didn’t work. Not as good as he’d liked for it. He was distracted enough for it to be noticeable. 

“And your wingman.”

Green eyes focused forward as he braced himself for the pick.  He’d been sure to have the spot in the pocket the moment he’d set foot in San Diego. The moment he’d seen them, first Rooster waltzing into the Hard Deck in civilian clothes and then shortly after Ghost at the bar, he’d known they were his competitors. The three of them.

They’d been the frontrunners for the position of mission leader. And had it been him from that night in the Hard Deck two-ish weeks ago standing here in the hangar now, he’d been just as sure of having the spot of wingman too. Present-time Hangman wasn’t so sure of it.

Maverick stared straight ahead, jaw tense and eyes full of a sadness and misery he’d never seen in their instructor's eyes. Not even on the day of the funeral. Maverick had been filled with sadness, grief, and loss. There had been an acceptance in his eyes that day, now he looked torn, refusing to acknowledge the present, the reality of what lay before them but more importantly the difficult decision that lay immediately before him.

“Rooster.” Mavericks' voice was dismal as if he’d predestined an awful fate over them.

To his great surprise, Hangman wasn’t surprised not to have been chosen. In a way, he’d already known it. He wasn’t ready, wasn't good enough for it.

Not in the technical sense. Ana’d been right. He wasn’t enough of a team player for the mission. It was where Rooster excelled, surpassing him miles ahead.

The Hangman – the Jake – at the beginning of the training, not even three weeks ago, would have reacted differently. Disappointment still filled him, but the Jake then would have not been able to accept it. He wouldn't have been able to see the fault in his ways, to admit his fault.

A small and twisted part of his mind hollered that he’d deserved it for wronging Ana. 

He knew that Maverick hadn’t chosen him for apparent reasons. His inability to be a team player and the lack of attention in the last days more than clear to see for everyone had cost him the spot, had he ever had it at one point. Maverick had said it himself: My choice reflects that and nothing more.

Outside on the deck the blonde waited for Rooster. They weren’t friends, yet Hangman didn’t want to let him leave for the mission without having spoken to him first.

He hoped that the brunette was ready. That he and Maverick could work together, jump over their shadow to fly the mission. Both had been limited, held back by their shared past – whatever it entailed – too caught up with their demons to realize what was needed for the mission. 

Rooster was surprised, coming face to face with him. Stopping in his stride the two men stood across another. The brunette looked at him questioningly. Under the observant, guarded look all words Hangman had carefully laid out in the last couple of minutes left him all at once. 

His tongue was tied, clued to the bottom of his mouth. Suddenly his lips felt dry and his throat had closed down entirely.

“You give ‘em hell!” He managed to utter, voice strained and close to cracking. Hangman wasn’t even sure if Rooster had heard him over the noise of the jets. Rooster’s eyes followed him, burning into his side until he was past the brunette.

“Dagger one is hit! I repeat, Dagger one is hit! 

Maverick is down.”

Phoenix’s crackly words coming over the radio comms sent a shockwave similarly big to the blast of the SAM hitting, through Hangman’s body. A shot of pure electricity raced up his spine, culminating in a deafening, mind-numbing sensation as the shock settled over him.

Over the comms followed Rooster’s stricken and panicked calls, requesting for their team leader to respond, to show any sign of life.

There was no response.

This couldn’t be happening. Maverick was the most qualified out of them all, the one with the least chance of crashing or getting hit, yet out of all of them it had been him.

No, actually it was him who was most likely to be hit. Maverick made it clear from the beginning that he’d protect his wingman, that he’d protect Rooster just as much as he would every other aviator under him.

For it to actually happen was entirely different from the possibility of the scenario.

“Comanche. Bandits inbound. Single group, hot. Recommend dagger flow south. One minute to intercept.”

Still no sign of Maverick, not even a parachute. Jake's teeth were grinding on another, back ramrod straight, hands balled into fists. Here he sat, strapped into his jet, on short standby to aid them. Why wasn’t he in the air with them?

His breath came in uneven, short bursts. Entirely contrary to how he was taught to stay calm and unaffected. Entirely opposite to how Hangman should act. How everyone expected him to act. Damn them, damn everyone. Damn the stupid fate.

Jake refused to believe that they could lose Maverick this easily. If his legendary exploits were anything they showed that to get rid of this man, death himself would have to step up and lead him to the gates of the afterlife. He refused to believe that they wouldn’t come back with everyone on their team from this mission. He refused to accept Maverick being gone.

They hadn’t lost him.

She couldn’t have lost him. Not another one. Ghost had just lost her father. If she now lost Maverick too, how would that wreck her?

She’d already suffered too much, much of it at the hands of him and Jake wouldn’t let her suffer even more, wouldn’t let her have to grieve another person. Even if that meant he had to go get Maverick on his own.

Jake scrambled, reaching for his mask. 

“Dagger Spare requests permission to launch and fly air cover.”

With bated breath and furrowed brows, hands ready to clasp his mask on entirely and get ready for take-off he waited for a response from the control room.

“Negative, spare.”

Disappointment and anger flushed him. Jake scrunched his face in annoyance, mask dropping to dangle down his side.

“Damn it.”

His balled fist hit the top of his thigh in anger. Sinking down back in his seat, the straps strained against his chest. It hurt, the space tight as his heart clenched in pain. Pain for Maverick and Ana.

Touching down with the jet back onto the deck felt great. But not even the euphoria and the adrenalin kick after the successful albeit close-cut mission could keep his thoughts of Ana away.

The high that had swept over him after shooting down the fifth-gen fighter and thus saving Maverick and Rooster came to a plummet the moment Hangman climbed down his jet.

His feet hit the deck, flight crew rushed all around him to aid Maverick and Rooster for their return. Eyes scanning the moving crowds where the duo seaters had gathered after coming back with the rest of the team, he stopped abruptly, a deep frown forming on his face.

Too late did he realize the person he was looking for wasn’t even on the ship. He was looking for her – subconsciously – to share the excitement, the high of the win, the success they had worked so hard for. 

She wasn’t there and it may well have been his fault entirely. 

All at once the euphoria of the mission, the relief that Maverick had survived the crash and both him and Rooster the following chase back to the carrier, his second shot down, it all seemed hollow and meaningless. None of it brought joy anymore. 

Hangman felt guilty, he felt angry, and sad. And on top of that the realization, just as it had happened the first time, that he had taken the life of another person – another human – perhaps a guiltless one and for certain a life the same as those of his colleagues, like his, swept over him. The weight of it crashed into him full front, nearly taking him off his feet.

His breath grew heavy and labored, each intake harder than the last as a mechanical vice wrapped around his torso and squeezed him tighter and tighter. He couldn’t breathe and it made him dizzy.

Smoke from the wrecked F-14 drifted over the deck, the flight crew littered the space around the jet. Maverick and Rooster. He had to make sure they were actually alright. With shaky, unsteady legs Jake started to march, quickly transitioning into a jog toward the crowd,  weaving his way through the cheering figures until he stepped up to Rooster. 

With every step from his jet he’d gradually forced himself to appear calm and collected, even though the sweat trailed down his skin in heaps, it stung in his eyes and left a salty taste on his lips. By the time he stood in front of the brunette nothing but the slight flaring of his nostril indicated his troubled mind.

Jake was genuinely glad Maverick and Rooster appeared to be alright. The brunette, even with what had happened shortly before the mission with Ana, grinned at him. It was a grin that – for the short moment of it – made him forget the horrible guilt running through every cell of his body.

A relieved grin brightened atop his face as they looked at each other, Jake ultimately holding his hand out to him to shake. In congratulations. Rooster took the hand, shaking it.

“You shot yourself another kill.” 

Although well-meaning, the words left an aching pang in his chest, his grin momentarily dimming. 

Remember who you are. 

And so, with another grin, even brighter now and entirely Hangman, he answered “That makes two.”

While everyone else was still swapped up in the celebration of the successful mission, Jake had withdrawn inside. Somewhere quieter, somewhere he could be alone.

In his hand lay his phone now. All his thoughts had centered on Ana once more after he quelled the rising panic in him. Her contact opened on the dim screen in front of him, he had his thumb hovering over the call button.

For the last ten minutes, he’d been stuck in this position. Going between hovering over the icon and changing his mind. To call her or not to call her. What would he say if he did? 

Before he could pull through or back down Jake was startled. Rooster appeared along the hallway, coming towards him. He quickly put his phone down, locking the device, its screen turning black. Not fast enough.

“If you think she’d even answer you are mighty stupid.”

The words were clipped and strained. Nothing of the friendliness, the truce between them, was left. Rooster now eyed him with open animosity, arms crossed in front of his chest.

“The only reason I haven’t killed you for what you did to her was the mission. Regulations may keep me from doing anything right now but don’t think I won’t take the chance once we are off this damn ship.”

Gradually Rooster’s voice had become more furious and resentful. Not that Hangman could blame him for it.

“You had no right to say this to her. Who the hell do you think you are, to accuse her of something that doesn’t even concern you–”

The realization came over him like a wave. Of course, how didn’t he realize that Rooster must have known from the beginning? As close as the two of them were. 

“–Not like you are going to have anything to do with her after this mission. You like shooting people down, don’t you?”

Seething jealousy filled him at the thought that Rooster had known all along. “You done now? I get it. I was an asshole and I made a huge mistake. I was already regretting it before you had to rub it in.” 

Jealousy was an ugly thing, almost as rotting as his hurt had been at the funeral, he added as if it was entirely blasé “Why do you even care so much?”

“Because she is family. The Kazansky’s have been there for nearly my entire life. I’ll be damned if I let you hurt her even more.”

With every word, Rooster came closer to him. Dangerously close. Now they stood nose to nose, with the slightly taller brunette staring down at him murderously.

For a moment Jake wasn’t sure if Rooster would do something more, go against regulation, and beat him up here and there. Instead, Rooster walked past him, shoulder bumping harshly into his.

That night, long after the mission when they were already on their way back to home port, Jake was lying in his bunk.

The dim, blueish glow of his phone lit up the confined space. Opened was a chat window. An empty one.

A lengthy message was already typed out in the little box, the obnoxious arrow taunting him to send it off. Just as with the call button, his thumb hovered over the arrow.

It would take little effort for him to send the message off. His eyes jumped up to the name on top of the window. 

Ghost.

In the end he deleted the message.

[seasonsbloom]

heaven is a place. hangman

pairing ; jake seresin x female!reader

synopsis ; hangman gives you something to think about, and then you stop thinking.

wc ; 3k

warnings ; 18+ only, minors do NOT interact; explicit language, explicit sexual content (semi-public, mentions of oral m receiving, spanking, some making out, grinding, mostly just sexual tension), there is explicit consent in this but both of them are a lil drunk so...?

note: .... oh god I don't know? no beta we die like goose and carole and iceman and any other parental figure in bradley's life except tom cruise because he has a deal with the devil apparently

If you were any more familiar with the guidelines of Californian criminal law, you might be able to predict just how many years you will spend behind bars. As is, all you know is that you're about half a minute and one crooked smirk away from committing actual homicide.

"This is a horrible idea," you say, staring at the bottleneck pointing right at you. A dawning sense of horror tips the pitch of your voice onto an upward trajectory. "Do not lock me in a storage closet with Hangman."

By all accounts, you should have known that playing spin the bottle with this group of people would end in disaster. But maybe you've had a drink or two too many (so what?), and maybe the whole staying at a bar after closing thing had gone to your head (okay?), and, yeah, alright, maybe you'd sort of been hoping you might get to make out with Fanboy once, just to test your theory about quiet ones and tongues (can you really be blamed for that?). Can't the universe cut a girl some slack?

Apparently not, seeing as here you are, smack-dab in an actual nightmare. You are a grown woman who should have known better, and you have no one to blame for this but yourself.

"What's the worst thing that could happen?" Payback asks, grinning until he catches sight of your death glare across the table. "Right. Don't answer that."

There's a commotion as several chairs are scraped back. You catch sight of Hangman himself getting up, smirk in place, fingers hooked into his belt loops. Immediately, your eyes focus back on the condensation stains on your coaster. Things always go a little haywire when you look at him for too long.

"I'm not going," you say as you feel somebody stepping up behind you, and you preemptively grab onto the sides of your chair until you feel your knuckles straining against the skin. "You can't make me."

"That's where you're wrong," Natasha sing-songs, and then your chair is abruptly yanked backward with enough force it tips onto the rear legs, and your own feet lift into the air. You yelp.

Bradley's face appears above you, looking a tad sheepish, and he says, "Sorry."

Traitor, you think, but get beaten to it by a wolf whistle from Payback. "Get her, Trace."

You don't have time to react before she has you by the arm, still grinning like the cat that got the cream. Or the devil that got the soul. "Natasha Trace," you protest, making a grab for your glass and missing narrowly as she drags you out of your seat. "Let me go right now."

Usually, dropping her real name into a conversation has some kind of impact on Phoenix. Right now, though, she seems to be having way too much fun to let herself be stopped by the mere insinuation of your wrath.

"No way," Natasha says between peals of laughter. "Fate has decided."

"It's an empty beer bottle, dude. That's not fate."

"Semantics." She's steering you toward the Hard Deck's storage room by the elbow, completely ignoring any attempts of resistance you put up. Your heels, digging into the floor, scrape audibly across the hardwood floors, and honestly, no fair with all that stupid Navy training. If you had biceps like her, you'd be hightailing it out of here by now. "Just go like a lady, man. Even Seresin isn't being this difficult."

Which is suspicious, honestly, but you don't have time to think about it. The dark rectangle of the doorway looms before you like a gate to hell. You change tactics. "Trace," you say, blinking rapidly as she pushes you on and on, "I'll buy your drinks for a week."

No reaction.

"A month?"

No reaction.

"Okay, let me check my bank account and I'll go up to a year, yeah, come on, man, I…."

You've reached the doorway.

"Sorry, girl," Natasha says, and she doesn't sound sorry at all. "No deal. This is for your own good."

Then she pushes you into the darkness, and the door slams shut behind you. The lock turns with a resounding click.

"And I'm bumping your time up to fifteen minutes," Natasha calls through the door, sounding so cheerful it turns your stomach. "Just for being annoying."

For a second, you just stand there, arms dangling by your side, mouth slightly agape, trying to wrap your mind around the absolute betrayal you've just experienced from someone who's supposed to be your best friend. Then the shadows to your right move, and Hangman says, "So. Come here often?"

You flinch. "Jesus Christ," you mutter. "You wanna give me a heart attack?"

"Depends on the context."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Your eyes are still adjusting to the darkness, but you think you see a movement that reminds you of a shrug. "I wouldn't want to give you a heart attack in a football stadium or anything. I would, however, want to give you one in bed."

Your mind whirrs, then you think, Hold on a minute. You spit, "You want to murder me in bed?"

Hangman splutters. "That's not what I… I mean…"

You let him have it out with himself, testing the doorknob instead. It won't budge, not that you really expected it to. With a sigh, you drop your head against the door for a second, resigning yourself to your fate. You know Natasha too well to think banging on the door, begging to be let out, would do anything. That girl is stubborn as a mule. From outside, you hear the low hum of the music, the excited chatter of your friends.

This was supposed to be a good night.

"... besides," Hangman is saying as you tune back in, "You hardly know me anyway, it's not like…."

"Oh, give it up, Hangman," you mumble. You turn to face him, even though that doesn't really matter with the lack of a lightbulb, and lean against the wall, crossing your arms. You're beginning to recognize the outline of things, of half-empty beer crates and abandoned mops. "I hate you. I'm never going to sleep with you."

He huffs. "You don't know what you're missing out on."

"What's there to miss? A three-minute rut and an STD? You probably couldn't find the clit even if you would ever bother trying to look for it." You rub your hand across your forehead, suddenly exhausted by this incessant, infernal back and forth between Hangman and you. You've been turning in circles for so long that it's giving you motion sickness. "Let's just sit out the next seven minutes and not talk, please? Your voice makes me want to smash my head into a wall."

There is nothing but silence for a while, and you're so grateful you consider a sudden religious epiphany just to have some higher entity to send a gift basket to. Then Hangman's voice sounds once more from the darkness, "You're a brat."

You open your mouth to retort something scathing, but a hand on your waist stops you. Long fingers curve around your hipbone, press into your flesh gently, and even over the layers of your clothes, the touch makes you shiver. When Hangman speaks next, his voice is much closer.

"Do you even know why you hate me?"

"What the fuck are you doing, Hangman?" you choke out from between grit teeth, and to your own horror, your voice sounds just a bit breathless. "Are you going crazy?"

He chuckles, that sound that haunts your darkest dreams and worst days. "Well, do you? Know?"

His fingers wander up your flank, tracing your rib bones like he's tracing piano keys. Your brain shortcircuits. 

"I… I…” Your stuttering is cut short before it can really take off as Hangman's nose knocks against yours, as his breath ghosts hot across your mouth. "What are you doing?"

He pauses. "You want me to stop?"

The silence hangs between you, thick and mounting. You breathe once, twice, assess the situation. There's nothing threatening about Hangman, nothing between you but the certainty that he'd listen if you told him to stop. Only. Maybe. Maybe you don't want that? Which just solidifies the suspicion building inside you: You must be going crazy.

Slowly, you shake your head.

Hangman accepts the answer with a hum and a drumming of his fingers into the spaces between your ribs. "So what about my question then? Why do you hate me?"

"I don't... I'm not..."

"I changed my mind. Don't answer that. I don't even wanna know," he mutters, his voice a rumble in his chest, and he's so close you can almost feel it rattling your own ribcage. "I bet you wouldn't even know how to. I bet you don't understand anything you feel when you see me."

Here's what you should say: Yeah, I do understand what I feel when I see you, Hangman. It's hatred. Pure fucking hatred. I hate everything about you, your stupid smirk and your stupid mouth and your stupid white teeth and your stupid blond hair and how you look like the actor Greta Gerwig would have cast for Ken if she were a fucking Republican. Every time I see you, I fantasize about punching you. 

Instead, you can't find a single word. Your mind is wiped clean, your head an empty chamber echoing the sound of his voice. A loud exhale fills the space between you.

"But I know how I feel when I see you," he goes on. "I know what I wanna do to you. You wanna hear, duchess?"

You can just so bite down on a whine at the sound of that name, hips rocking forward half an inch. It's a mess. You're dizzy, the darkened silhouettes you can make out swimming around the room as if your field of vision has been flooded. In your chest, your heart is beating up a storm.

The worst part is the insistent, horrible thrum of want in the pit of your stomach. That tugging between your legs.

What the fuck is happening?

"I won't go on unless you tell me to," Jake says. One of his hands comes up to pinch your chin between his thumb and forefinger. "Come on, baby. Tell me."

You release a shuddering breath. Is there not enough oxygen in this room or something?

"Tell you what?" you ask, some pathetic, desperate attempt to preserve some of your dignity. A last stand for your sanity.

Those fingers on your ribcage curl around your side, squeeze a little tighter, and your self-restraint escapes you on a gasp. "You wanna hear," Jake repeats, his voice slow, his words clear, as if he thinks you're some idiot who won't understand him, and god, you should hate him, you do hate him, this is Jake fucking Seresin after all, the goddamn bane of your existence, the object of all your fistfighting desires (and fuck you especially, Anthony Bridgerton), only right now you also think you'd sell all your earthly possessions just to get him to keep talking to you like this, and when the fuck did that even happen, "all the things I wanna do to you?"

If you could remember Natasha Trace's name right now, you'd be cursing her.

But you're also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to... Yeah, that one's definitely not appropriate in this situation.

"Okay," you say, your voice barely more than a whisper, your hands trembling where they're curled against the wood of the door, "alright."

Jake's chuckle has your toes curling in your sneakers. "Ah, no, duchess. I'm not gonna make it that easy. How am I supposed to know you really want it?"

You blink. "Well… I… huh?"

"You gotta ask nicely," Jake says, and you just know he's smirking. Can see the shape of it through the darkness, as if his mouth is slathered in neon paint. Can hear it in his voice.

"No," you protest, but it's so weak you wonder if he even heard. At this point, it seems obsolete anyway.

Jake's fingers let go of your chin, tracing up the side of your face instead, over your cheekbone, the slant of your mouth, and then down. His thumb presses into the dip of your cupid's bow, then against your lower lip. You grit your teeth before you do something stupid like sucking on it. Or getting on your knees.

"Be a good girl," Jake whispers, "and beg."

If there was any common sense left in you, those words burn it right out of your synapses. A fever thrums through your veins.

You're speaking before you realize it, words a little slurred by the pressure of his thumb on your lip. "Please," you say, in a voice that barely sounds like your own. "Please."

Any slither of dignity you might still have left evaporates on the spot. And good fucking riddance, too.

He hums. "Almost there. Please, who?"

Well, now he's just being mean.

But then his thumb digs a little more insistently, and your mouth drops open, and you're tasting the salt of his skin, and who the fuck ever needed dignity anyway? What an outdated concept when you could be getting dicked down in the Hard Deck's storage room instead.

"Please, Jake," you whimper. And then once more, for good measure, "Please, Jake."

Suddenly there's the pressure of his chest solid against your own, hip bone knocking against hip bone, thigh slipping between thighs. His thumb sinks into your mouth, and now you can't do anything but suck on it, wrap your lips around it, take it as deep as he'll allow. Your brain shuts off entirely. Windows sound and all. Black screen. Fuck sleep mode.

His nose rubs over your cheekbone, strokes to your ear, followed by the wet drag of his mouth, and you tip your head to the side to give him better access, pliant and boneless and moldable. "First," he whispers into your ear, and his exhale tickles, "I'd get you on your knees for me. Would you do that, hmm? Get on your knees and show me how good of a girl you can be? Suck me off real good, get me all wet with your spit, and fucking behave for once?"

Your mouth feels dry, even as you're distantly aware you're probably drooling all over his hand. A sound escapes you in answer, something like a whine or a groan or anything else equally embarrassing.

"You like that idea, hmm? My cock in your mouth?" You nod a little too rapidly, forcing your head deeper down on his finger than planned, pushing your tongue down. You choke, and Jake pulls his thumb an inch or two back even as he says, "You want it, duchess? You wanna feel how hard thinking about your pretty little mouth makes me?"

He doesn't really wait for an answer, pressing himself against your thigh instead. The hard line of his cock, the idea that nothing but fabric is separating you, that you made him like that, has your eyes rolling back in your head. You don't want to know how wet you are, and he hasn't even touched you yet. Not really, at least.

You open your mouth wide enough that his thumb slips out, dragging a wet trail over your chin, and then you gasp, "More."

Jake is close enough you can see it when he raises an eyebrow. "Now that's not very polite, is it, duchess?"

He's probably right about that, but then again, it's pretty rich to talk about politeness when you're literally Jake Seresin. The man has more enemies than teeth-whitening strips.

So you demand again, "More."

Jake's mouth tips up into a smile. "Which brings us to the second thing I'd do."

Pressed flat against the door, you wait with bated breath.

"I'd get you out of this little skirt," Jake says, tugging at the hem of said skirt, fingers just so skimming the edge to scrape across naked skin, "but I'd leave on your panties. And then I'd take you right over my knee and spank you 'till you learned how to behave."

You're pretty sure if Jake's thigh wasn't still slotted between your spread legs, you'd go sliding right to the floor. You are a bowl of ice cream left out in the sun. You are an iceberg and it's global warming time. You're a house and somebody left on the oven. You are a car and the brake cable has been cut. You are a train on a half-finished track. You are…

You are saying, "Oh. Oh. Please, please…"

Then Jake's fingers are back, two of them this time, diving deep enough you're choking again, hands flying to grasp at his service khakis, heart beating a million miles a minute, head spinning spinning spinning…

His voice is in your ear, muttering, "Fuck, duchess, the things I'd do to you, the way I'd fucking wreck you until all you know is my name, until you'd never think you hate me again, until you're my good girl..."

You're pretty sure you sob, hips bearing down on his thigh, clit knocking against strained muscles, and something builds in your stomach, trickles down into your center, something that feels suspiciously like an orgasm, only that's impossible, and you know that, even in the state you're in.

"Is that what you want, duchess?" he asks, and he's breathless too now, rutting against your hip, hiking your leg up his waist, opening you up for him even further. "You wanna be my good girl?"

"Yeah," you say, before you can think better of it. "Yes, I wanna be your good girl, Jake, please let me, please touch me, please fuck me, please, please, please…."

Then Jake's fingers disappear, and he replaces them with his mouth, just for a moment. It's a desperate thing, this kiss, all tongue and teeth and bite, wet and open and desperate, and you cling to him, you want him, you want to eat him up, you want him to devour you, you want, you want, you want…

He goes as quickly as he came. Pulls back, adjusts himself in his pants, rearranges his hair, deposits you on a crate on the floor. If you had any wherewithal, you'd be grateful that he didn't just let go of you. Your legs still feel like jello.

"What…" you begin, and your voice is a wreck, your head reeling, your body tingling with the evaporating yearning of something…

Your answer comes in the form of a door being ripped open. Natasha stands, silhouetted by the light, with her hands on her hips.

"So," she says, "did you guys figure it out?"

Jake, looking in the wash of golden lamp light to all the world like nothing happened in here, like this is a normal situation, like he didn't just drive you to the brink of your sanity just with some dirty talk, turns to you. "I don't know," he says, grinning from ear to ear. "Have we, duchess?"

And then he leaves. Just struts out and leaves you there. 

You open your mouth, pause, buffer, then close it again. What the fuck are you supposed to say?

"Duchess?" Natasha repeats, staring at you. "Oh, fucking hell, man. You guys are such idiots. Can't you just stop fighting?"

You'd answer her, but you still haven't regained the speaking ability you lost somewhere between that game of spin the bottle and Hangman's tongue down your throat.

"Fuck it," Natasha grumbles. "We'll just do this again next week. And the one after. At some point, you guys will just have to have it out."

She follows Jake, and suddenly you're alone. Alone with the pieces of everything you thought you knew strewn all around you. You blink into the dark.

So. How long for double homicide?

[spidervee]

hi friend (can I call you that i’m sort i’m horrible with talking to people) i had an idea for your requests for our very own hangman! i was thinking it could be jake loving women who are mean to him 😂 and in this case the only thing I could think about was jake going to a school when he goes with javy to pick up his niece and for when he sees navy’s niece’s teacher, jake openly flirting with her and she just shuts him down and he falls in love with her

- @jake-seresin

uhm yes absolutely we are friends! besties, loves, amores, peas in a cute lil pod! 🌻💛 for you, @jake-seresin and of course, I’d be remiss not to mention that my absolute favourite Jake x reader who is a little bit mean to him writers @withahappyrefrain and @tongue-like-a-razor who absolutely crush this trope

I adore the idea of Jake being with a snarky reader and he’d totally become smitten with an elementary school teacher who has paint in her hair and she’s wearing pyjamas on the day that Jake shows up because it’s pyjama day of course, but they’re the ones with the unicorns on them that she bought specifically for school days like this and maybe a little bit of her snark is mortification that a living Ken doll who looks way too good in service khakis is outside her classroom

Javy’s niece calls him Uncle Jake because he’s practically family and Javy always calls Jake his brother anyways. Javy is fake insulted when his niece (Theresa, but Tessie for short) runs straight to Jake. You and Javy share a laugh about it but when you turn away to chat with another pair of moms picking up their son, you completely miss the silent conversation Jake and Javy have with their eyes and some pointed facial expressions

Mostly Jake raising his eyebrows to ask what your situation is and Javy shaking his head as in “don’t you dare, man” and Jake scrunching up his face like “why not? and why didn’t you say she was so cute?” and Javy giving him the “so help me, Jake” look

But then you’re turning back around and their faces go slack and Javy is saying goodbye and Tessie is running back for one last hug and then “C’mon Uncle Jake, can you come over to watch tv?”

Javy’s like “Yeah, c’mon Uncle Jake.”

Jake nods, but there’s no other parents in the room and only a few kids so why not shoot his shot? He lingers as Javy and Tessie start walking out of the room, but just as he opens his mouth, you hold up your hand and shake your head. Quietly, you tell him that you don’t date students’ family members.

Jake grins and is all like “I just wanted to compliment your outfit, Teach.”

And you’re furious but also furiously warm inside and you scowl at him, but it’s adorable because there’s a little blue paint smeared under your chin and Jake has to resist the urge to brush his thumb against your skin to swipe at it.

“It’s not my normal choice,” you defend yourself. And Jake’s grin only grows, damn him and his stupidly perfect smile.

���I’d like to see you in something else,” he mutters, the innuendo obvious but not lewd. You roll your eyes. “Charming,” you reply. “But I already…”

Jake interrupts—the asshat. “That rule can’t apply to handsome family friends.”

“Oh, especially to them. But in that case, I guess I could let you take me out to dinner.”

Jake is so smug at having secured a date that it takes him a solid ten seconds to realize you just insulted him and he thinks he might be in love.

[ff7-has-taken-me-over]

Look I know logically this wouldn’t happen or whatever but stfu and accept the story of it alright? 😂

So Bradley’s gotten Mav finally, after all this time he’s finally gotten the man he’s loved since he was 15 and he fucks it all up.

He’s arguing with Hangman over something absolutely ridiculous, they’re both drunk out of their minds and it just escalates. Before he even knows it it’s the morning after, he’s waking up with a splitting headache and there’s an arm around him that isn’t Mav’s.

He’s got scratches and hickeys on him that he can’t hope to hide from his actual lover and his stomach drops with the realisation of what he’s done. Hangman doesn’t know about them, nobody does since him and Mav weren’t really the public type of people.

The blond doesn’t know why he’s freaking out, is kind of even offended because ‘hey. I’m not that bad rooster.’

Rooster’s too busy trying not to throw up though, stomach coiling and chest constricting as the night before comes back to him piece by agonising piece.

He avoids Mav for a while after that, willing the bruises and scratches to go away and making up every fuckin excuse he can think of in order to save face for just a little longer.

But karma’s a bitch, though for some reason this feels like divine reckoning. Like his parents themselves are making this happen because he’s betrayed their closest friend and they’re so disappointed in him for it.

Maverick pops up uninvited one day, wanting to surprise him since he had been ‘busy with teaching’ and they hadn’t got to see one another. Bradley’s just coming from the shower, mourning the fact that Seresin had to go and make the largest hickey he bloody could for whatever damn reason.

When Rooster comes out Mav’s there and he swears he can hear the man’s heart break with the way his smile drops right off his face. The captains eyes shoot to his neck - to the fuckin hickey - before he’s looking at him with a horrible mix of betrayal and understanding.

Like he knew that at some point Bradley was going to do this to him and he was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. And it sucks that Rooster went and confirmed it all within a matter of months of finally convincing the man that they were what he wanted. What he still wants.

Bradley’s already trying to make excuses, stumbling his way through explanations as Maverick leaves in a quiet rush. He won’t look at him and it hurts so much, but he knows that he has no right to even feel that when he’s the one that fucked up here.

When they get to the door Hangman’s there and Bradley seriously wonders if his parents are about to pop up next just to take Mav away from him themselves.

The other pilot looks between him and Mav confused, the latter looking at him for a moment before he’s figuring out that he’s the one Bradley cheated with. And he’s not even mad when he turns to Bradley, looking so painfully resigned and trying his fuckin hardest to give Rooster a smile that he hates.

“I’m glad you could figure yourself out Lieutenant. I’m happy for you.” Bradley wants to deny it, get on his knees right in the entryway and beg and plead to the older man. Anything to get him to stop looking at him like that.

Mav looks toward Hangman, smile turned watery and hand shaky as he pats the pilot on the shoulder briefly, “Look after him Seresin. He’s a handful.”

Suddenly Jake’s looking at Bradley with wide eyes, face looking every bit the betrayed and hateful mask that Maverick should be wearing instead, “What the fuck did you do Bradshaw?”

Mav doesn’t stick around though, merely sniffs briefly before walking out. Ignoring every one of Bradley’s calls and Jake’s shouting so he can get on his bike and drive away. Away from Bradley and his utterly stupid decision.

“What the fuck Bradshaw?! You used me to cheat on Maverick? What the hell is wrong with you?!” Rooster is suddenly so very angry, with himself and Hangman because if the blond hadn’t challenged him then none of this would have happened. And if Bradley had even an ounce more self control and integrity then it never would have crossed his mind either.

He’s swinging around, already throwing accusations because he can’t stand the bundle of emotions inside of him. Wanting to desperately wake up and find it was all just a horrible, horrible dream that his mind conjured to scare him. But Jake‘s still there, getting in his face with more anger than the night they slept together.

“Answer me son! Why the fuck would you do that to him?!” Because they all cared about Maverick. They loved him in their own ways and looked up to him like children with their favourite superheroes. When Mav got hurt they all got protective of him, tried to make it better in any way they could.

But now Bradley’s the one at fault and there isn’t a chance in hell the rest of the squad won’t find out. They’ll more than likely ostracise him for it and he won’t even blame them. Would’ve done the same if it was anyone else that had fucked up this badly. But he’s the idiot and he’s gonna have to deal with the consequences.

[heartsofminds]

wait what do you mean jake’s dad has a redemption arc once he moves out??

lol meaning his dad is definitely not as mean or horrible once his son moves out. partly because they all pretend like the cheating thing didn’t happen?? and also because his dad wants to be involved in his granddaughter’s life and you KNOW Jake Seresin would be QUICK to revoke their right to see her the minute his dad cuts up and says some out of pocket bullshit.

there’s a sweet moment in the one shot i have planned when jake is like so defeated in his parenting once his daughter is older and he has to work on separating daddy’s little princess from her being her own person and wanting her own things in life. he and his dad have a heart to heart about it while they visit texas. obviously, the emotional abuse and just awful time jake experienced in that house aren’t forgotten, but it certainly helps Jake put some things into perspective and just makes him more aware of his own shortcomings and feelings.

[mountainrooster]

I posted 22 times in 2022

That's 22 more posts than 2021!

11 posts created (50%)

11 posts reblogged (50%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@demxters

@callsignvalley

@rooster-soup

@seasonsbloom

@avi8tors

I tagged 21 of my posts in 2022

Only 5% of my posts had no tags

#jake seresin - 6 posts

#top gun maverick - 6 posts

#jake hangman seresin - 6 posts

#tgm fanfic - 5 posts

#robert bob floyd - 5 posts

#jake seresin x reader - 5 posts

#tgm fanfiction - 4 posts

#fics like this inspire me to continue my own wips - 3 posts

#bob floyd - 3 posts

#top gun maverick fanfiction - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 112 characters

#it's like when you pick up a puppy by the scruff and they just dangle there looking at you with those puppy eyes

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

ROBERT "BOB" FLOYD

STANDALONES

gorgeous [coming soon]

= five moments bob floyd was the most gorgeous man in the world

See the full post

19 nkotes - Posted October 12, 2022

#4

Midnights is Jake seresin coded. Mastermind is Hangster coded. All up for discussion.

20 notes - Posted October 24, 2022

#3

callsign? you mean my military assigned gamertag?

32 notes - Posted November 14, 2022

#2

jake "hangman" seresin

standalones

bedside lover

wish you were sober [coming soon]

See the full post

37 notes - Posted October 13, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

WIP WEDNESDAYS

10/18/2022

I have 11 WIPS on my masterlist and no self-control so we'll see where this goes. the tagging on this is going to be a nightmare

wait for it [rooster x gold star kid reader]

= (gold star child: someone who has lost a parent in active service) i saw a tumblr post a set of images related to this song and you cannot tell me that "wait for it" from Hamilton is not the most bradley "rooster" bradshaw song ever. 

my mother was a genius / my father commanded respect / when they died they left no instructions / just a legacy to protect

and everything hangman says about him "waiting for the perfect moment that never comes". this would probably be a series that starts in high school to post uranium mission. anyways they're both hard-core achievers and perfectionists because where they're headed, a little mistake could mean death, something they both know very well. 

[angst, friends to lovers slowburn, hurt/comfort, some character death]

at my worst, I worry you’ll realize you deserve better. at my best, I worry you won’t. 

= definitely a bob or hangman standalone, maybe both. someone says something particularly harsh to hangman and he starts to wonder why you love him, and if you were just settling for him in the first place. bob is shy and not actually insecure most of the time, but surrounded by pilots that are more open and confident, he's worried he isn't good enough for you.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AU

= HOLY CRAP @jupitercomet's "je te laisserai des mots" little women inspired fic is so GOOD. I like little women but pride and prejudice with jake. imagine it. reader would either be a jane type or lizzie type, but I'm way better at writing jane types (see: I am not very witty but I am very kind). you and your sisters have to try and marry rich so that you can save the family from extreme poverty when your father dies and you happen to meet jake at the ball where your first impressions of him are actually horrible. definitely a series.

[enemies to lovers, banter, fun dagger squad relations, period drama pride and prejudice au]

See the full post

52 notes - Posted October 18, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[sebastianstangirl01]

Can you do a part 2 of “woah baby” but the birth or something like that? Love your writing btw!!!!🫶🫶

Woah Baby: Part 2

Title: Woah Baby: Part 2

Pairing: Jake “Hangman” Seresin x Mitchell Reader

Summary: You and Jake are counting down the days until you welcome your baby into the world. It may be sooner than you thought.

Warnings: labor, language

Authors Note: so many of you have asked for this so I hope you like it!! Gif does not belong to me, the rights are to the rightful owner!

It’s been officially 8 months since you found out you were pregnant with Jake Seresin’s baby. After escaping the wrath of your brother and honorary father you all sat down together and had an adult conversation about what was going to happen.

You and Jake decided it was best if you moved in together so he could be there with you every step of the way during the pregnancy. So far Jake has been the best boyfriend you could ask for he has been to every doctors appointment, he has taken care of you through the morning sickness, the horrible back aches, the swollen ankles, the unpredictable mood swings. Through it all Jake has been by your side.

Maverick and Rooster jumped into the grandpa and uncle roles quickly, your baby already had their own nursery filled with toys at both of their houses for the nights when you and Jake would need to catch up on some sleep allowing them to take the baby for the night.

The rest of your friends were great too. It turns out Phoenix and Bob had a bet going all along that you and Jake were together, Phoenix ended up becoming $100 richer.

The boys had come over and set the nursery up while Penny, Phoenix, and Amelia helped you sort all the baby clothes and the gifts you got from your baby shower. At the end of the day your nursery was painted gray with pastel blues and greens since you both decided to wait and be surprised by the gender, you and Jake treated everyone to some pizza and wings as a thanks for their help.

That next week Jake had to go to base to run some drills with The Dagger Team as a demonstration to the new Top Gun students, all of them had decided to stick around Top Gun and teach while occasionally going on some missions. The Uranium Plant mission gave everyone their fill of danger and adrenaline, now they were all ready to settle down and leave that stuff to the newer generations.

“Jake I told you I’ll be fine. I haven’t had any Braxton Hicks in 3 days, Penny and Amelia are coming over anyway for lunch.” You told Jake who was against the idea of leaving you at home all alone since you were getting close to the due date.

“But what if you need me and I’m not here? What if something happens with the baby?” Jake asked wrapping his arms around your waist as you stood leaning against the kitchen counter

“Well there’s this really cool thing called a cellphone, so I can call you directly if I need you.” You teased making Jake roll his eyes and you giggle wrapping your arms around his neck. “I appreciate how worried you are Jake, it just proves how great of a father your going to be. But I promise we’ll be ok.”

Jake sighed but nodded knowing you were right, he has been so worried about every little thing since finding out you were pregnant. It turned out that Jake’s parents had lost a baby when Jake was about 12 and ever since seeing how much losing a child destroyed his parents he’s terrified of anything like that happening to him and you.

“If anything and I mean anything happens. If you even need me to come home and make you a sandwich then you call me.” Jake said kissing your forehead making you smile

“I will. I promise. Now go before your late.” You said giving Jake a peck on the lips before handing him the lunch she made him

“I love you.” Jake said holding his lunch in one hand while letting his other rest on your swollen stomach. “And I love you.”

You giggled as the baby immediately kicked the spot Jake’s hand was making him smile as he rubbed in little circles.

“We love you too. Call me during your lunch break if you get time.” You said and Jake nodded giving you one last kiss before leaving.

It’s been a few hours Penny and Amelia got to the house not long after Jake left and you guys have been binge watching all the Jurassic Park movies.

“I still don’t get the appeal of resurrecting billion year old killer dinosaur’s.” You said rubbing your belly as you snacked on some roman noodles

“They never learn.” Amelia shook her head tossing a piece of popcorn into the air and catching it in her mouth

Penny sat in the arm chair and chuckled at the two of you, you were on the 3rd movie and always without fail found something to critique about each one.

You jumped a little in your seat as you felt another kick to your lower stomach, for the past few minutes you have been having uncomfortable cramping sensations in your lower stomach and the baby has been kicking you like crazy.

“You ok?” Amelia asked noticing the uncomfortable look on your face making Penny immediately look over towards you

“Yeah, just cramping.” You said wincing as another kick was felt

“How often?” Penny asked sitting up while you looked at her with furrowed brows

“In the last 30 minutes maybe 5 minutes apart.” You said breathing deeply

“Are you kidding me? Y/N! Your in labor! We have to get you to the hospital!” Penny exclaimed quickly rushing over to you

“No I’m not, there’s no way. It’s too early.” You shook your head not wanting to believe that you could actually be having your baby today

“Sweetheart it’s not too early, I had Amelia when I was 33 weeks and your already at 35. Amelia call Pete and tell him to get Jake to the hospital, Y/N let’s get you dressed and get your stuff together.” Penny said helping you stand as Amelia nodded and grabbed her phone.

“Pen I’m scared. I’ve been so busy thinking about the pregnancy it’s self it’s like I forgot that I actually have to go through agonizing labor to bring the baby into the world.” You said feeling anxiety bubble in your chest

“I was scared too, but you have Jake in your corner. He would never let anything happen to you and he will be there with you every step of the way. You will never have to worry about being alone there are so many people who love you and are so excited to watch you and Jake become parents. Everything is going to be ok.” Penny soothed and you nodded taking a deep breath. “Now let’s get you to the hospital.”

You had never been in more pain in your entire life then you were in this moment, your water broke shortly after you got to the hospital. You were about to get an epidural when they realized that you were actually allergic to the medication they use so now you unfortunately have to do the labor completely drug free.

“I hate this. It hurts its hurts so bad.” You gasped in between cries as you went through another round of contractions.

Penny hadn’t left your side since you got to the hospital, she had Amelia waiting outside so she could show Jake where to go when they got here.

“I’m so sorry sweetheart. Do you want to try to walk around some?” Penny asked dabbing your forehead with a cold wet wash cloth

You nodded shakily and Penny helped you shift into a sitting position on the edge of the bed before helping you stand, she wrapped one arm around your waist and held your hand.

“Deep breaths.” Penny instructed you as she lead you around the hospital room

You tried your best to follow Penny’s instructions but let out a cry as another contraction hit this one much larger than the others causing your knees to buckle. Penny quickly wrapped her other arm around your waist and held you up before slowly lowering you down into the chair in the corner of the room.

“Your ok. Breath through it honey.” Penny said holding both your hands and helping you breath through the contraction

“I’m here! I’m here!” Jake exclaimed as he ran into the room with Pete and Bradley behind him

“Jake.” You cried in relief as he ran over to you allowing you to lean against his chest. “It’s horrible. It’s so horrible. I can’t have any medicine. It hurts so bad.”

“What do you mean you can’t have any medicine?” Jake asked surprised, he was under the impression that you were going to be able to have an epidural and hopefully be able to relax a little

“She’s allergic to the medication. They can’t give her any pain medicine she has to do it naturally.” Penny said with a sympathetic tone

“Oh honey. I’m so sorry.” Jake sighed, he couldn’t imagine how much pain you were in right now. Normally you have a very high pain tolerance so to see you in tears at the pain you are in right now has him feeling horrible

“We’ll give you two some privacy. Your doing great sweetheart.” Pete said kissing your forehead before leaving the room with Penny

“Your doing so well sis. I’ll be right outside if you need me.” Bradley told you and you nodded before he left the room

“Let’s get you back into bed.” Jake said and you nodded allowing him to scoop you into his arms and carry you back over to the bed. “I’m sorry your in so much pain.”

“Just hold me please.” You mumbled scooting over and Jake complied kicking his boots off and sliding into bed next to you.

He helped you lay on your side and spooned you from behind resting his warm palm on your lower stomach hoping to relieve some of the pain.

“Oh that feels good baby.” You sighed at the warmth as he gently rubbed circles on your stomach

There was a knock on your door and your doctor peaked her head in with 2 nurses behind her, you had requested very limited people in the room not wanting too many people making it too hectic.

“Hey there momma. I’ve come to see how far along we are, do you mind if I check your dilation?” Dr. Gardner asked

“Go ahead. Just get this kid out of me.” You sighed as Jake and one of the nurses helped you onto your back while the other nurse helped get your legs into the stirrups

“Are you sure there isn’t any medicine you can give her? What about morphine?” Jake asked rubbing your forehead

“Unfortunately we can’t use morphine during labor because it can risk Y/N’s blood pressure dropping too low. If she is still under 9 centimeters then we can try a warm bath to help sooth the pain.” Dr. Gardner said as she finished washing her hands and putting on gloves, she sat down in between your legs and began examining your cervix. “Well I’ll be damned. Y/N your at 10 centimeters, it’s time to push.”

“What? It is?” You asked as the two nurses started getting everything ready for the delivery and Dr. Gardner put her gown on before replacing her gloves with a brand new pair.

“It’s time, I want you to take some deep breaths then when you feel your next contraction coming don’t fight it. Let your body tell you what to do, if you need to push then push.” Dr. Gardner said as the two nurses stood next to your legs

“Jake. I’m scared.” You whined feeling tears build up in your eyes causing Jake’s heart to clinch

“I know you are. But I’m right here and I promise I won’t let anything happen to you, everything is going to be ok. This will all be over before you know it and then our baby will be here. I love you so so much and I’m so proud of you.” Jake said kissing you and rubbing your cheek soothingly

You nodded and took a few deep breaths before whining as you felt another pain coming along.

“Ow ow ow!” You exclaimed scrunching your face up in pain making Jake wince but grab your hand so you can squeeze as hard as you need to.

“Ok Y/N push.” Dr. Gardner instructed

You yelled as you pushed as hard as you could, it felt like you were being ripped apart from the inside out. Everything hurt and the burning sensation between your legs was almost excruciating. You pushed until you literally lost your breath causing you to flop back against the bed panting.

“Good. Good job. Take you a breather then push on your next contraction.” Dr. Gardner said

“Jake.” You whined gripping onto his arm and hiding your face in his chest

“Can I get in bed behind you?” Jake asked and you desperately nodded

Jake gently helped you sit up and slid into bed behind you, you sighed in relief as you slouched back against his chest.

“Lean back against me honey. Try to get as comfortable as you can.” Jake said kissing your cheek as you leaned your head back against his shoulder

Before you knew it you were pushing again, Jake held both your hands and pressed his chest to your back helping you sit up as you pushed.

“I see the head! Give me a big push Y/N!” Dr. Gardener said and you pushed as hard as you could until you felt the pressure in your stomach disappear

Your ears were ringing as you leaned back against Jake but the unmistakable sound of a shrill scream knocked you out of your daze. Dr. Gardner smiled from behind her mask as she held your screaming baby up between your legs.

“It’s a boy!” Dr. Gardner exclaimed and you cried tears of joy

You could feel Jake’s chest shake from behind you and peaked over your shoulder to see tears falling down his face. He caught your gaze and cradled your face before pressing his lips against yours.

“I love you so much. Thank you for giving me a son.” Jake praised making tears fall down your face as you smiled

“I love you.” You smiled before turning back towards Dr. Gardner who smiled holding your son

“Do you want to do skin to skin?” Dr. Gardner asked and you frantically nodded

“Yes.” You said as Jake helped unclip the top of your gown allowing your naked chest to show. “Are you doing it too?”

“Yeah.” Jake nodded slipping his shirt off, you had both read somewhere that both parents and the baby having skin to skin was a great bonding experience

You leaned back against Jake’s chest as the baby was placed onto yours causing the crying to stop as your baby felt your warm skin soothing the coldness he felt from being out of the womb. Jake placed his hands over yours as they gently rested on your baby’s back.

“Hi baby boy. I’m your mommy.” You sniffled as the baby cooed and you pressed a kiss to his forehead

“We’re so excited to meet you little guy.” Jake spoke causing the baby to let out a satisfied whine making him smile

“We’ll get you both cleaned up then give you some privacy before visitors.” Dr. Gardner said as one of the nurses gently took your baby to clean. “No tearing which is very good. You’ll definitely be sore for a few days and no sex for 6 weeks.”

“Damn it, I forgot about that part.” Jake said making you laugh

After both you and the baby were cleaned up and you got changed into some comfortable pajama shorts and a tank top that snapped at the straps making it easy to breast feed, Jake was now sitting next to you on the bed still shirtless as he watched you feed the baby for the first time.

“Does it feel weird?” Jake asked tilting his head as he watched the baby nurse making you chuckle

“A little. Feels like my nipples going to pop off, not much different then when you do it.” You said making Jake chuckle as shake his head as he kissed your forehead

“What can I say, I love your boobies.” Jake smirked making you laugh

“Boobies? How old are you?” You laughed making Jake shrug. “I think little guys full.”

“You want me to go get everyone?” Jake asked clipping the straps of your tank top back into place

“Yeah sure. How do you think Pops and Bradley are going to react to his name?” You asked with a nervous smile

“I think they are going to love it. I’ll be right back.” Jake said kissing your lips before carefully kissing the baby’s forehead

You smiled down at your baby in silence he was staring up at you with big green/blue eyes that he got from your blue eyes and Jake’s green.

“You are going to be so loved you know that? I only wish you got to meet your grandma and grandpa, they would have doted on you. But we have some really good people who will make sure you have the best life. I love you so much my baby boy.” You smiled gently bringing your finger to trace over his nose, a nose you could swear was a replica of your fathers

Jake came back through the door with a smile as Pete, Bradley, Penny, and Amelia followed behind him all with excited grins.

“The others are in the waiting room, they wanted to give all of us a minute.” Jake told you sliding back into bed beside you, his arm automatically settling around your body

“How are you feeling momma?” Penny asked moving closer

“Tired. But good.” You smiled before turning to Bradley and Pete who were looking at you with misty eyes. “Pops. Brad. I want you to meet Nicholas Pete Seresin.”

Bradley smiled and tears filled his eyes at the name as he came to your bedside. You looked up and saw Pete with tears spilling down his cheeks making you tear up.

“It’s perfect.” Pete smiled coming to your bedside

Jake gave you a kiss before standing up and accepting a hug from Penny, knowing that you needed a minute with Pete and Bradley.

“He’s perfect Y/NN. God he’s so perfect.” Bradley smiled kissing your forehead

“Thanks Brad.” You smiled before turning to your honorary father. “Pops? Do you want to hold your grandson?” You asked and Pete shakily nodded

“Of course.” Pete exhaled as he gently took baby Nick out of your arms and cradled him in his arms. “God he looks just like Goose.”

“He does doesn’t he?” You asked with a small laugh as you leaned against your brother

“He’d be so proud kid. They both would.” Pete smiled and you nodded shakily

“I wish they were here.” You said tearfully

“They’re here.” Bradley assured you with a tearful smile. “They’ll always be here.”

Soon after, everyone got to come back and see the newest addition to the Dagger team with Phoenix and Rooster being named godparents and everyone doting over baby Nick. Everyone eventually piled out letting the new family of three have some time together.

You and Jake were laying together in bed with Nick cradled against Jake’s chest fast asleep with a full stomach and fresh diaper.

“I never thought I would have this.” Jake said breaking the comfortable silence. “I never thought I would have a woman who I love more than anything in the world or a son who makes me feel an amount of love I didn’t think was possible. You have given me more than I could ever ask for and I love you so much for it.”

“I love you too Jake. Thank you for being here with me.” You smiled resting your head on his chest next to Nick

“There’s no where else in the world I’d rather be.” Jake smiled looking at his new family.

Taglist:

@daughterofthereaper02

@luckyladycreator2

@calpurniatypes

@littlebadariell

@qnfluvr

@raefoxiegirl

@maverick-wingman

[sunlightmurdock]

My Future in You | 0.5 | Bradley Bradshaw x Reader

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Synopsis: Bradley’s twenty-two years old and not where he’s supposed to be. He’s supposed to be out of the academy by now. Instead, he’s retaking his senior year of college and praying to god that he gets into flight school. Mav’s gone, his mom’s gone. He’s mad at the world. Then, a hook up at a Halloween party changes his future even more than he could have imagined.

Warnings: accidental pregnancy, puke warning! Morning sickness,, angst, drama etc etc, enemies to lovers if you wanna call it that, early on pregnancy hormones, meet the Seresin’s, Bradley’s a dick but less so in this chapter than the previous ones wooo. Smut, no pinv but I’m tagging it nonetheless

…

It’s two in the morning and you’ve been throwing up since eleven.

Jake’s sitting on the floor beside the toilet, holding your hair, while Bradley’s sitting on the edge of the bath with his chin resting on his fist. Jake was more attentive three hours ago. Now he just has one hand loosely holding your hair into a ponytail, his head leaned back against the wall behind him.

“She’s gonna have to go to the hospital if she doesn’t stop puking soon.” Bradley points out. He checks his watch and confirms that it has, in fact, been three hours. He rests his fist against his temple just to stretch his neck a little. Jake looks across at him. He knows that Bradley’s right. Each sip of water they’ve given you has just made you puke more. You’ve got to be nearing dehydration at this point.

Bradley has a headache. After drinking half a bottle of champagne because your Mom kept filling your glass up each time she saw it empty, his buzz is wearing off and just leaving him tired and grumpier than usual.

“No hospital!” You insist, resting your elbows on the edges of the toilet seat, breathing hard. Bradley rolls his eyes.

Jake pats your back softly as you move back to sit on the floor. You grab the glass of water next to you and take a small sip. Your head is pounding. You thought you had gotten away Scot-free without any of this morning sickness crap.

“He’s right, you might need fluids or something,” Jake says gently, not wanting to upset you any further. “It might be good to let a doctor check you out, make sure everything’s fine?”

“I’m fine.” You insist, blinking hard. “Mom and Dad can’t know.”

Bradley scoffs, staring at you from his perch on the side of the tub, “What are you going to do? - Show up with a kid in nine months and hope they won’t be mad?”

“Seven months.” Jake corrects him.

Bradley swallows. That doesn’t seem that far away.

You turn to look at Bradley. You open your mouth to bite back at him - it was going to be a good comeback too - and then it hits you again. Bradley winces as you lurch forwards, leaning over the toilet and retching violently. He makes the same disgusted face he’s been making the entire time and looks away.

You were much hotter on Halloween.

Jake kicks Bradley’s shin. It’s all he can manage without moving.

“Can you two leave? - I don’t want you to see me looking so horrible.” You breathe out. Jake doesn’t care, he’s more concerned that you’re going to pass out and hit your head if you’re left to your own devices. Bradley moves to stand, stilling again as Jake glares at him. Bradley settles back down on the edge of the tub.

“You don’t look horrible, you - you have that pregnant glow.” Jake smiles. Bradley has to bite his cheek to keep from laughing. He doesn’t see any kind of glow. What he has seen was you emptying the entire contents of your stomach over the past three hours.

Bradley shakes his head softly as he straightens his stiff back out.

“Think your parents are gonna wonder why you’re so sick all of a sudden.” He points out.

You and Jake turn to look at him together. He shrugs his shoulders.

“Just saying.”

Jake looks at you. You look at him. Bradley’s right. Tomorrow, well, today - is Christmas Eve. Your mother will be expecting whole-hearted and enthusiastic participation in a whole range of festivities.

“Oh my god, baking.” You realise. Just the thought almost makes you gag, Jake flinches - extremely aware of the fact that your mouth is aimed at him currently. He knows what you’re talking about. Your mother always spends all of Christmas Eve morning baking. Anything and everything. All kinds of sweet goods to take to church in the afternoon.

It’s usually about five hours worth of butter, sugar and enough mixing to make even Jake’s arms hurt. The thought of inhaling nothing but cinnamon for five hours is enough to make you hurl again.

Jake looks across at Bradley.

“Bradley’s sick?” Ellen frowns. Jake stands before her and nods his head solemnly, it’s about six in the morning now. Jake’s running on fumes. You’re finally sleeping, so is Bradley. The three of you were up more than half of the night.

“Yeah, I thought I heard someone throwing up.” Lauren comments. Jake hopes that she shuts up and doesn’t mention anything about hearing three voices in that bathroom.

“Oh, I hope it wasn’t something he ate.” Ellen sighs regretfully.

Jake shakes his head quickly, “No, no. Everyone else’s fine, I think he probably picked up a bug while we were travelling.”

“Where’s your sister? She up yet?” George asks.

“She’s taking care of him.” Jake answers, laying the groundwork for where you’ll be for the rest of the day. George pulls a face, then turns away. Everyone knows that you’re George’s favourite. It’s no secret, because George makes no effort to hide it.

Lauren resents this fact. She has worked so hard to make her father proud in every sense of the word. Then there’s you. Effortlessly smart, two years ahead of where you should be - you’ve never had to work for his love a day in your life.

Ellen smiles softly, “She’s such a good girl. Make sure she’s bringing him plenty of water, alright?”

“Sure. Is it alright if I help out baking instead of her?”

Bradley tosses and turns in the travel cot until he’s woken up by retching. It felt like he was asleep for minutes. He checks his watch and it’s eleven. He got a good couple of hours. The bathroom is shared between your room and Jake’s. He presses his palm into his eye socket and rubs probably a little too hard as he stumbles to the bathroom.

You were smart enough to lock the door on your side, but he wanders right in from his side. You look up at him, kneeling in front of the toilet. He’s still half asleep. He’s wearing blue checkered pyjama pants too low on his hips and he doesn’t have a shirt on. He’s tanned and somehow his curls look even better smushed with sleep - you really hope that he’s flexing because if his abs look like that standing still then you might cry.

You’re hunched on the floor, wearing an old pyjama shirt and no pants. You had forgotten the door opened on his side. Jake always knocks. Bradley moves silently to sit down beside you. He leans his head back against the wall and folds hiss arms over his chest, then closes his eyes. Is he trying to go back to sleep?

“You don’t need to be in here.” You breathe out, flushing the toilet and leaning your temple against your fist.

“Promised Jake I’d get up if I heard you throwing up.” He says without opening his eyes. You whine gently, pushing away from the toilet and laying down on your back. Bradley opens one eye to check that you didn’t just pass out, then closes it again.

You rest a hand on your stomach and groan.

“You should eat something,” Bradley comments. You just groan again. You can’t think of anything you would like to do less than eat right now. More eating just means more puking. “I’ll text Jake. What do you want him to bring you?”

It’s as he opens his eyes to slip his phone out of his pocket that he notices you aren’t wearing pants. That’s not all he recognises. Those are the same red panties that he had stepped over on the floor of his room on November first. He smiles slightly, then turns his attention back to his phone.

“Oranges.” You mumble dejectedly.

“Don’t you think that’s kind of acidic? - How about-“

You open your eyes and turn your head towards him, narrowing your eyes. He stares at you. “Oranges.”

He nods his head, “Fine. Oranges. Don’t come crying to me when you’re throwing up again.”

“What do you usually eat for breakfast?” You ask.

“”Eggs. Cereal. I dunno, why?” He answers you. You rest a hand on your stomach over the t-shirt, eyes closed, still exhausted from the night before.

“I’m thinking that maybe your spawn is mad at me because I’m not feeding it what it wants.”

Bradley chuckles. He glances down, noticing that the shirt has ridden up slightly. It’s still weird to think that you’re carrying his kid. You don’t look different yet.

“You want eggs?” He asks.

“How do you like your eggs?” You mumble, draping an arm over your eyes. The bathroom light hurts. Everything hurts, you’re so exhausted.

“Scrambled egg whites. Little pepper.” He answers, already knowing that you aren’t going to like what he has to say. You immediately pull a face and prove him correct.

You groan and frown, “That made me hate you a little bit more.”

“Oranges it is, princess.” He says the last word mockingly. You push yourself to sit up and sigh softly, brushing your hair back off of your face.

“Can he bring them into my room? I’m gonna go back to sleep.” You decide. He can’t think of anything that sounds better, he’s exhausted too.

Jake receives the text downstairs and closes his eyes. He sighs softly, then walks over to the fruit bowl begrudgingly.

“Night. See you two in a couple of hours.” Bradley agrees, standing up and heading back out into Jake’s room. He swings the door shut casually behind him and you’re left standing there with one hand on your stomach. You two.

You don’t know why that makes you feel as fuzzy as it does. Considering it’s clearly the one running the show currently, you figure it’s because the baby likes that it’s finally being acknowledged. Not that you’re just lonely. You smile to yourself as you walk back into you room and crawl back into bed.

Jake brings you your oranges and about a gallon of ice water before you manage to fall asleep. The next time you wake up, it’s two. Bradley’s nudging your shoulder. You whine and shrug him off.

“You need to get dressed. Your parents want you to go to church.”

Your eyes shoot open as you turn to face him.

“I can’t!”

“I know that!” He answers back, tugging the duvet back off of you. You pull your shirt down to cover your ass and frown at him, scrambling to sit up. You give yourself a head rush. “Get dressed, tell them I’m too sick and that you can’t leave me. Five minutes. Just hold it together for five minutes.”

The shower is too hot and the steam makes you dizzy. You force yourself to apply make up that makes you look a little less sick. Your hand grips the handrail tight as you walk down the stairs. Your family is in the living room. Jake’s biting his cheek and praying to whoever will listen that you don’t pass out right now.

You do what Bradley said. You say exactly what he told you to say.

“Sweetie, we always all go to church on Christmas Eve together.” Ellen persists as she frowns slightly.

“Sorry, Mommy. I just really think that someone should stay back and make sure Bradley’s okay.” Every fibre of your being is working to hold it together right now. You do your best to not look sick.

“Shouldn’t Jacob stay with him?” George disputes.

Jake swallows. He looks between you and your father.

“Daddy, Jake couldn’t take care of himself if he was sick, let alone somebody else.” You answer.

“She’s right. He’s better off with her staying to help. Puke grosses me out.” Jake answers quickly. He can’t help but notice the way you’re clearly trying to hold it together. He shoots a glance towards your parents, who seem oblivious so far.

Your mother nods. She steps forward to kiss your cheek. You step back quickly.

“I think I can hear him puking. I’m gonna- I’ll- I’ll catch up with you guys later!”

You rush back upstairs.

Jake loosens his tie slightly. He smiles sheepishly at his other sisters.

Bradley glances towards the bathroom as he hears you slam the door on your side once more. He hears the lock on his side turn, meaning that he’s shut out. He walks over to the window and waits until the cars are out of the driveway and headed towards the road. Then he ventures down into the kitchen.

You feel like the worst of it is over, it’s just that now you feel weak.

“You okay in there?” Bradley knocks softly at the bathroom door once he returns. He scrunches his face up as he’s answered simply with more violent retching. He knocks again softly.

“I got you some water.” He says gently.

It takes a couple of minutes, but the door unlocks. He turns the handle and opens the door just enough for him to step inside. You’re sitting on the floor beside the toilet with your head in your hands.

“Here.” He closes the door behind him and moves towards you. You feel his arm brush yours as he sits at your side. You take the glass from him and look down at the ice in it, then sigh softly.

“How’re you feeling?” He asks tenderly. You could snap at him, and it would be so easy to. But you don’t. You lift the glass and press it to your forehead, sighing softly at the cool sensation soothing your headache.

“Amazing.” You joke tiredly.

“Google said crackers would help, but all your Mom had was trail mix.” Bradley explains. He sets the plastic jar between the two of you. You want to laugh, but you’re just too tired to do it. He glances around the bathroom. It’s nicer than the one he had growing up.

“Is it okay if I kick you out so that I can take a bath?” You feel icky. You’re ninety-percent sure there’s vomit in your hair.

“Sure. Can I get you anything?” He pushes himself to his feet quickly.

You shake your head and take a sip of the water, “Thanks. This was good.” This was good. He did good. Bradley softens slightly as he looks at you. He leans down gently, tenderly resting the back of his palm against your forehead.

“You’re really warm.” He says softly. You’ve been throwing up for two days straight, of course you’re a little sweaty. You open your mouth to bite back at him. “Why don’t I run it for you? — You sit by the window and get some fresh air.”

You close your mouth and blink at him.

Bradley extends a hand towards you. Literally an olive branch. You reach out and take it slowly, letting him help you to your feet. He grabs the trail mix jar from the floor and presses into into your open palm.

“You want bubbles?” He asks. Your eyes widen slightly. You know that Jake has clearly bullied him into being nice to you, but you wonder what Jake could have possibly threatened him with to make him be this nice to you.

“Please.” You nod. He nods to show that he understands, then turns his back to you, turning his focus to the bathtub. You walk away from him, still reeling. You wonder if Jake threatened him into being nice to you.

Either way, you aren’t complaining much. You do as he says, sitting by the window and resting your head against the cold glass. You pick at the trail mix. It does help a little.

Rooster doesn’t take long. You listen to him pottering around in the bathroom for a little before he steps back out into your room.

“All ready.”

Your knees wobble as you stand up. Turns out, puking for almost two days straight really takes it out of you.

Bradley crosses the room, “You okay? — I can come in with you. I don’t want you to hit your head and die or something.”

That’s nice. He doesn’t want you to die. That’s reassuring to hear. Up until this exact moment, you would have guessed that he felt the exact opposite. Still, you shake your head at him.

“I don’t want you to see me naked.” You frown. Bradley shrugs his shoulders,

“I already—“

“I don’t want you to see me naked anymore!” You correct yourself. Bradley smiles at you softly. He nods his head.

“Fine. Do me a favour, though and don’t knock yourself out getting in the tub.”

You walk over to the bathroom and close the door. Considering the fact that you slipping is a possibility, you leave the door unlocked — just so he doesn’t have to break it down.

Bradley turns. He looks around your room. He walks over to your trophies, examining them. Not one of them isn’t for first place. Apparently all Seresin’s are freakishly competitive. He hopes his kid isn’t.

He looks down and there’s a picture of you, framed. If he had to guess, he’d say you’re about five years old in the picture. He lifts the frame to get a better look. You’re in a jersey, holding a soccer ball above your head, grinning.

Bradley stares at the pigtailed girl in the picture for a moment. He can’t help but think about seeing this face. Six years from now. Maybe everything works out and he’s a pilot by then. Maybe you end up having a girl and she looks just like you. Maybe he sees this face down the street.

He sets the picture down.

Does he really want to spend the rest of his life looking at every little girl who looks something like that and wondering if she’s his? — What if she comes out looking like him?

You’re doing this either way. With him or without him. Either he gets to see his kid grow up, or he gets to spend the rest of his life wondering.

He crosses the room and knocks at the door. You flinch and sink up to your neck in the water, staring at the door.

“Can I talk to you?” Bradley calls through the door.

“Can’t it wait?” You stretch your legs out, letting the warm water soak into your trembling muscles. You feel much better already.

“No, I think I need to say this now,” Bradley breathes out. “Can I please come in? — I won’t look.”

“Wha- seriously?” You frown.

“Please?”

“Fine. Don’t you dare look!”

Bradley opens the door and steps in, closing it behind him, locking it. Just in case. He has it in his head what he’s going to say.

You’re plenty covered up by the bubbles. Your hair is wet, you look significantly less grey. It’s incredible how much better washing your hair and brushing your teeth made you feel. You sip softly at the glass of water, then set it back down on the edge of the bath. You sink a little lower.

Bradley’s eyes flicker down to your exposed shoulders, then back up to your face. You narrow your eyes at him.

He pretends that you didn’t just catch him and moves on with his point.

“I… I was thinking, about the, uh —“ Bradley shakes his head as he steps forward and sits at the edge of the bathtub. You instinctively cover yourself under the water, red-faced as you stare up at him. He glances down at the embarrassment on your face.

“The baby.” He says softly.

It’s the first time he has brought himself to say it. It’s a big deal.

You nod uncertainly at him. If he chooses this moment to say something unnecessarily hurtful again, you might actually drown him.

Bradley closes his eyes, willing himself not to panic. Just stick to the plan, say what he needed to say.

“I’m sorry.” Bradley says gently. You turn towards him. The look on your face clearly asks for what? Bradley presses his tongue to his cheek. He panics. He can’t say it. He smiles sheepishly. “That my kid’s got you feeling so shitty.”

You can’t help but laugh at him. There it is. That glow Jake was rambling about. Now that you’re flushed with colour, smiling, laughter slipping your lips, he sees it. He smiles too.

“My kid,” You correct him, placing a hand on your stomach even though it has yet to develop and he can’t see it. You brush your thumb softly over what’s to come. “You wanted out, remember?”

“I did. I do,” He corrects, watching disappointment flash across your features. He swallows. That isn’t what he meant to say. “Still, doesn’t mean I don’t feel bad seeing you suffer through all this for a kid that’s half me.”

“Yeah. I bet it’s your half causing all the trouble.” You grumble.

“Me? — Have you met your family?” He teases. You smile. They are a lot to deal with. Bradley reaches out and brushes a strand of hair back off of your forehead. “You’re just lucky you’ve got my normal in there balancing it all out.”

You bite your cheek. He thinks he has won. You cup your hand and thrash it in the water, flicking warm soapy water up into his face. Bradley’s lips part, he turns more towards you quickly. Accidentally knocking the cup of ice water into the bath.

You gasp sharply, twisting away from the freezing pool of water that just hit your side. Bradley slaps a hand over his mouth.

“I’m sorry,” He’s doing his best not to laugh right now. He raises hands up defensively as you glare at him, “It was an accident!”

He still can’t see your hands under the water. Your fingers curl around the glass, swishing it through the water until you’re sure it’s full. Bradley’s brows furrow. He wonders why you aren’t saying anything.

You lift the glass and dump its warm contents onto the front of Bradley’s shorts. It spills down his leg and onto the tile.

He purses his lips as he watches the water soak through the material, then turns his head to look at you. You smile sweetly.

“Oops.”

Bradley twists his torso, reaching into the water and grabbing your ankle. He tugs you forwards until your head slips under the water. You trash and sit up quickly, gasping. One hand covers your chest the best it can as the other wipes soapy water from your eyes. He laughs. Head back, grabbing his stomach kind of laughter.

You blink as you open your eyes, wiping the soap from them, finding him grinning at you. You glare. Bradley’s lips part in surprise as you grab a fistful of his shirt. He swings his arms out for balance as you tug hard. He catches the wall but still slips. You pull your knees up to your chest as he hits the water unceremoniously, his head knocking on the wall behind him.

“Ow.” Bradley complains, reaching back and rubbing softly at the back of his head. You won. It’s once the compulsive need to win has faded that you realise he’s clothed, half in the bath, and you’re naked.

You don’t have much room to sink under the water. You cover your chest with your hands.

“What? — You try to give me a concussion and I don’t even get to see your boobs? Doesn’t seem fair.” He jokes, rubbing at the back of his head. He struggles to sit up.

“You got me pregnant and I didn’t even get to cum. Doesn’t seem fair.” You answer back. His head spins towards you, brows furrowing seriously. That struck a nerve.

“That’s not true, you came.” He insists. You did, but that isn’t the point. It’s fun to watch him defend himself. You shrug your shoulders at him. “You’re saying I’m not good?”

You shrug casually again, “You were alright.”

“Alright?” He frowns. “You’re kidding, right?”

You scoff, shaking your head at his arrogance. He shifts up onto his knees. You press your legs together, your face straightening as it becomes more serious.

Bradley leans forwards, his hand grabbing the back of your knee as his mouth presses hard against yours. He straightens your leg to make room for himself between them. You grab the back of his neck, gasping softly.

Maybe it’s the eight weeks without physical contact, but your hands shove the wet fabric of his shirt up until he takes the hint and tugs it over his head. It drops to the wet tile beside the bath and his bare chest presses to yours.

His hands grab at your sides, lifting your hips so that he can press himself flush against your core. He pressed one hand to the tile behind your head to steady himself, slipping tongue into your mouth.

Your fingers push up against the buzzed hair at the nape of his neck, missing something to grab at. You pull him harder against you. Your free hand trails along each line of his abs, nails raking over the wet skin.

You push at the waistband of his shorts. He presses harder into you, shaking his head. His fingers graze your navel, skimming down past your hip and over your thighs.

His mouth lowers to nip at your neck. You lift your hips and push them eagerly against him. His fingers move towards the apex of your thighs, he nudges the tip of his middle finger between your folds and bites softly at your jugular, sucking a soft kiss over the tender skin.

He presses a digit into you, pressing his thumb to your clit. He applies light pressure, circling his thumb slowly. You close your eyes, craning your head back to expose more of your neck to him. He tucks an arm under your back, lifting you until you’re pressed flush against him. You press your mouth eagerly against his as he curls his finger into you.

Bradley listens to the sharp intake of air as he works just one finger into you, stroking at your clit with his thumb, and knows that you were lying about not finishing before. He doesn’t mind. He’s happy to show you a second time.

“Good?” He checks softly, pulling back, checking on you sincerely. You furrow your brows and lift your chin. Bradley just observes. Skin flushed with colour, warm from the heat of the room. You look at him through your lashes. He hums, slipping a second digit in alongside the first. Your lips part slightly. One hand curls around the edge of the tub for leverage as you lift your hips for him.

You don’t answer him, so Bradley instead focuses on the other signs that your body gives him. The shudder of your breath, the buck of your hips as they rock eagerly onto his fingers, the speed of your pulse under his fingertips.

Instead, you grab desperately at the back of his neck. You hook one leg around his waist, parting the other to give him easier access. Bradley groans as you nip as his bottom lip, deepening the kiss as you suck gently at the tip of his tongue, then slide your tongue against his. His fingers crook inside of you. Your nails press into the back of his neck.

He pumps the two digits into you, thumb working circles against your clit. He presses more firmly against the bundle of nerves as he feels you try to grind against the motion. The heat of your bodies, the sound of your soft moans against his mouth, the feeling of your nails on his skin. You pull away from his mouth and throw your head back, chest heaving as you mewl under him.

Bradley wastes no time in nipping at the base of your throat. His foreign touch sends electricity through your skin, sending each nerve in your body into overdrive as you whimper for him. The clench of your walls around his fingers, the way your thighs tremble as you struggle to keep them parted for him. It’s embarrassing how you’re falling apart at his fingertips, your head thrown back as his kisses leave you breathless and dizzy.

Your head feels like its spinning.

“Fuck,” Bradley utters out, nipping softly at your earlobe. “You’re such a good actress, this is really convincing.” He teases you, knowing that you were lying about the last time. You wish you had the energy to shoot back at him.

The pit forming in your stomach has your full focus. You’re so, so, so close. You gasp out breathlessly, knuckles whitening around the edge of the tub. Bradley doesn’t stop, thrusting his fingers into you until you’re trembling. You whimper softly as you push yourself up and kiss him hard. He grabs your hips tight with both hands and pulls you into his lap as he kneels.

You grab his jaw and turn his head, giving yourself better access to his neck. Bradley’s surprised by the action, but not complaining. He groans as you kiss feverishly along his throat, trailing your tongue along the vein in his neck before covering the wet line in warm, open-mouthed kisses. He hugs you against his chest, sliding a hand up into your hair, curling it into your roots.

You rock yourself down against the bulge in his soaked gym shorts.

Bradley tugs softly at your hair, pulling you back so that he can kiss your mouth. You faintly hear a car door slam. All of the years of being a sneaky teenager have prepared you for this moment - it’s like a sixth sense at this point - you pull back quickly.

“W-Wait — I think my parents just got home.” You breath out, his lips drag along your collarbone. He kisses your skin feverishly, unphased.

“It’s fine, the door’s locked.” He promises. He tugs softly at your hips, wrapping an arm around you to keep you close against his chest, nosing softly at your earlobe as his mouth works across your throat. He pushes his hips up against your bare core.

You arch your back, pressing your chest tight against his. He’s really good at that. You remind yourself why you’ve never brought a guy home yet. You remind yourself of what happened when your mother found out Beth let her boyfriend go to second base after their senior prom. This would be catastrophic for them to find out about. You push at his shoulders.

“My dad has guns.” You remind him, screwing your eyes shut as he grinds the bulge in his shorts against your bare core. Bradley pulls back to look at you. He lets out a breath and furrows his brows.

“Like… plural?” He breathes. You nod hurriedly at him.

“Fuck.” He looks down between your bodies and leans his head back with a soft groan. There’s a couple of seconds where he really considers risking it. He leans forwards, kissing your mouth once more before he stands. You hear your name being called downstairs.

“You’re supposed to be in bed. You’re sick.” You remind him, watching as he steps out of the bath, his shorts soaking and dripping with water.

“Shit.” He sighs.

“Bradshaw? — You alive?” That’s Jake. Your eyes widen. You grab his shirt from the floor and throw it at his chest. Jake’s at the bottom of the stairs.

Bradley almost slips on the wet tile as he rushes out, swinging the door shut behind him. He darts down the hall, grateful that Jake’s room isn’t far from yours so that he doesn’t have to cross the landing. He swings Jake’s door shut behind him and presses a hand over his mouth.

That didn’t go to plan. That wasn’t the way he had planned to ask to come to the next appointment. Shit. He walks over to his stuff to find dry clothes, eyes going wide as the door opens behind him.

Jake shuts the door after he steps inside. His brows furrow.

“Why are you wet?” Jake asks slowly, stopping to look his teammate up and down.

“Uh…” Bradley’s at a loss for words. He shakes his head. “Your sister pushed me in the bathtub.”

It isn’t a lie.

“Why were you in her bathroom?”

“I was trying to be nice, I ran her a bath!” Bradley defends his actions.

Jake raises an eyebrow at him. “Well, get dressed. My mom made you soup earlier. She’s gonna bring you some. Make sure you look sick, I’m gonna check on—“

“No, don’t, she’s in the—“ Bathtub. Bradley stops himself. Jake turns back towards Bradley. He looks his soaking wet friend up and down. Jake blinks, then focuses his attention on Bradley’s guilty-looking face.

Bradley swallows.

“What is the matter with you?” Jake whispers angrily. “In her childhood bedroom? On Christmas Eve?”

Bradley doesn’t understand why that’s relevant but he puts his hands up defensively anyway.

“I didn’t — we didn’t — we just…” Bradley pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a deep breath. “We just kissed. It was nothing.” Now, that’s a lie. But it’s a white lie to spare Jake from hearing more than he needs to.

“Stay away from my sister.” Jake warns him. You’re confused enough already. You don’t need Bradley messing with your head any more than he already has.

“We’re having a kid together. I mean, don’t you think—“

“No.” Jake points a finger at Bradley accusingly. “Don’t you dare change your mind unless you’re going to change it for good. I swear to god, if you hurt her —“

“I just—“

“I mean it.” Jake interrupts.

“Boys?” Ellen calls out. Jake glares at Bradley.

“One sec, Mom! I’m getting changed.” Jake calls back to her. Bradley hurries into dry clothes, pulling the hood of his hoodie up to cover his wet hair. He shoves the soaking clothes into the hamper whilst Jake rushes out of his church clothes and into sweats.

Bradley drops down into the bed and pulls the covers up. Jake rolls his eyes as he opens the door to his mother.

“How are you feeling, honey?” Ellen asks softly as she steps into the room holding a tray in her hands.

“Better.” Bradley answers softly. Jake rolls eyes. Of course he’s feeling better.

“You’re all red. Do you still have a fever?”

No fever. Just embarrassment, guilt. Bradley shakes his head softly. Jake watches the way that Bradley struggles to make eye contact with his mother.

Jake shakes his head as he leaves the room. He’s getting real sick of all of these secrets already. He crosses the hall and bangs twice on your door.

…

@thedroneranger

@chaoticweirdogeek

@alanadetigy

@itsmytimetoodream

@oldnatgwenaccount

@khaylin27

@bioodforbiood

@luckyladycreator2

@mizzzpink

@mak-32

@cherrycola27

@unordinare

@shanimallina87

[salemfrogtrials]

The first time he loses someone he loves, he's too young to really even understand it. 

Bradley Bradshaw grew up in a home full of photos of his mother and someone he remembered less over time, and it always hurt to realize just how little he remembered. He grew up with his mother by his side, and his uncle, who he realized maybe a little later than most would, wasn't his real uncle, not that it ever mattered to him one way or another. 

He does remember the promise he made to his dad one night, to protect his mother and be there for her as much as he possibly could. 

She died just a little bit after he graduated. 

Bradley Bradshaw lives most of his life followed by death and loss, and sometimes wishes he could just forget it all, even the good memories. 

He learned just how much loss could hurt, no matter the circumstances, when he stopped talking to his uncle, the last person he had contact with who could tell him about his father. 

Bradley learns just how much being alone can hurt when he doesn't have anyone to come to his graduation from flight school, no one he acknowledges anyway. If he comes back to his apartment with a small box full of photographs on his doorstep, he never acknowledges the man who left it there. 

Bradley Bradshaw goes into one of the most elite combat schools the Navy has to offer with the promise to himself that he won't lose anyone again, and the expectation to leave without friends. 

Enter Natasha Trace, who despite his best efforts, manages to crack Bradley open and make him feel safe for the first time in a long time. She's kind and funny and understands that he's dealing with his own things, yet she never needs specifics. Everyone always asks if they're dating, and every single time she just says she's already dating someone else. Bradley only ever met her once before he left Topgun, but Alicia was pretty cool. 

Beyond that, though, he meets Jake Seresin. Jake is something akin to a rising storm. The minute they meet, Bradley knows something is going to occur, but he's almost too scared to ask what. 

They clash horribly that first time, and every time after that. Jake likes to push, push, push until something snaps, likes to win every argument, and he does. Because Bradley can't just not be angry. He's angry he can't talk to his parents, angry he was betrayed by the person he admired most, angry, all the time. Just once, he wants to win the argument. 

Turns out, kissing someone is an incredibly effective way to win an argument and realize that the line between hate and want is very thin, all at once. (at least in his experience). 

What he really only expected to be something stupid he did once turns into a lot more than that, and somehow, he's excited. He feels happy, and alive, and every single time he wakes up in the morning with Jake right next to him, he doesn't feel so angry. 

But, he made himself a promise. He won't lose anyone else, not on terms that aren't his own. Nothing this good stays, especially when you're due to get new orders to go somewhere hundreds of miles away while the person you aren't even officially with anyway gets to meet new people. Nothing lasts, and he knows it can't, because nothing lasts between something so beautiful and something so broken. So he leaves only a letter when he goes, and then promptly changes his phone number. 

Time goes on and Bradley knows that a part of him is still there, back in Nevada with someone he's pretty sure he loved and could have loved him back. He regrets it some nights, the way he left, but still, he goes through the motions of his life successfully, and does his best not to look back. 

Sometimes, though, the past isn't done with you, whether or not you're done with that past. 

He walks back into the same bar that feels like a second home, and talks first with Natasha. It's the same as it always was, and he silently promises to never leave without saying goodbye ever again. 

and as soon as the song changes, he knows who else is here. 

Bradley Bradshaw has lost people in his life, but this time, he's determined to stay right where he is, even if it might hurt.

[icanfixhimclub]

𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 || 𝐵𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑦 𝐵𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑤

Pairings: Bradley Bradshaw x Sister!Racer!oc, Pete Mitchell x niece(?)!oc, (small) Jake Seresin x F!oc

Warnings: Car crash, panic attack, let me know if I missed anything!

Summary: Rooster had never got along well with his sister, and after a almost life threatening crash, he thought he’d never have the chance to apologize

Notes: honestly I just wrote this on a whim

You and you’re brother both had different ways of coping when your dad died. Rooster was only 5, all he really remembers was the singing and the planes, the birthdays and, the ‘daddy’s not coming home’. You however, we’re 8, you remember the stories and the hugs, the late movie nights cuddled up with him, your mom and you, and you remember wanting to cry when you and your mother had to explain it to Bradley, but stayed strong for your younger brother.

As you both grew, you had your own ways of feeling connected to your father, yours a little less traditional. While Rooster clung to the navy pilot, mustache and Hawaiian shirts aspect of your father, you cling to the best memory of him you had.

“Daddy, where are we?”

“We’re at a Race Track honey. Daddy wanted to show you what I used watch when I was your age because your grandpa did it.” Your eyes sparkled at the mention of your grandpa, who you loved dearly. The track was nothing you special, your standard dirt track for people who raced for fun and not for glory.

You remembered the loud sounds of the engines and the way your dad new where to get the best seats and how he seemed happy watching you be so enthralled by what he used to do as a teen. The best part was when you got to go back after the race and meet the racers, most of them your dad had known years before.

Bradley didn’t understand how this made you fell close to him, but you did, and that’s what matters. Before every race, you look at the photo you have from that day, you were sitting in the drivers seat of a car, smiling a toothy grin as Goose stood beside you, outside of the car, smiling just as wide, but looking at you instead of the camera.

There was always a rift between you and Bradley after your dad died. You never cried in front of him, so he believed the idea that you didn’t care, and that racing because of him was just a pity story you used while interviewed. Even when Uncle Mav would talk to him, he never seemed to believe it. It hurt, to think that your brother thought badly of you, even worse when you got into an arguement after ma died, and he said he hated you.

“Do you even care?”

“What?” You breathe, you were trying to leave the room when Bradley’s voiced stopped you.

“Do you even care? Both of our parents are dead and you’re not even crying! You never cried about dad! You’re not even crying now!”

“Bradley,-“

“I don’t want your bad excuse! You never cared! You’re a horrible person, I hate you! I wish you were never born!”

You left the hospital room crying, unlocking your car through blurred vision. It wasn’t the best choice but you had sped to Uncle Mav’s house and prayed he was home. You stumbled out of the car and knocked rapidly, praying he would answer.

“Alright, alright I’m-“ he froze when he opened the door, you were a mess and was just about at the point of hyperventilation. He ushered you inside and you collapsed in his arms.

“He hates me, Mav, Roos hates me, god he hates me so much. And he’s all I have left,” you voices cracked slightly as you gripped the aviator for dear life, “and he hates me. What am I supposed to do? I don’t wanna be alone.” Maverick has felt heartbreak, but holding the girl he almost considers his daughter break down in his arms about having no one brings it to a whole new level.

“Hey, Swan, it’s ok, it’ll be ok, he doesn’t hate you-“

“He does Mav! He says he hates me! He thinks I never cared about dad and mom! He wishes I wasn’t born, I-I didn’t wanna cry in front of him about dad! He was so young, I ha-had to be there for him. And I didn’t want him to see me-me cry for mo-mom.” You were gasping for air as you explained everything to Mav.

“Hey, try to calm down, suffocating yourself isn’t gonna help, deep breathes. You can do it.” He guided you through deep breathes and lead you to the couch to let you calm down.

Rooster had just about cut all ties with you that day. You tried to reach out to him but all he did was ignore you. Then you found out that Uncle Mav pulled his papers for the naval academy and he stopped talking to him too. As Rooster got older, he realized his mistake, when he said he hated you. Rooster never hated you, he hated the fact you loved him too much to cry in front of him.

But it was too late to reconcile now, well over 10 years later. He checks up on you through the media, how you had a recent major win in the Daytona 500. He was proud of you, of how far you’ve come. He hasn’t heard anything about you much, until one fateful day in the Hard Deck, the current nascar race playing on a small tv. Your hot pink Chevy was in the lead, and Rooster smiled slightly before turning back to his pool game.

Loud gasps, and a yell of “Y/n!” from Maverick was heard through the whole bar as everyone turned towards the tv. You car, which was just fine a second ago was flying through the air, hitting a car and rolling onto the ground before getting hit again while upside down, airborne yet again, this time hitting the fencing along the side of the track. Your car was almost unrecognizable, crushed and missing many pieces.

His heart stopped as he saw your car rocking to a stop. Something under the hood was very noticeably on fire and so was your rear end. Everything around him was buzzed out, all Rooster could think about was if you had died, how he never got the chance to reconcile, to hug you again and say he loves you, and he regrets saying he hated you.

What brought him back to reality was Mavericks distressed talking to Penny as she nodded at what he said. Something about ‘2 hour drive’ and ‘I could close up early’. Rooster wakes over to Maverick, despite the dagger teams confused stares. “I can drive us there, please, I need to see her.” Was all Bradley could say. His eyes were pleading as Pete sighed and agree, explaining to Penny and leaving with Rooster.

The two hour drive was filled with silence to the nearest hospital to the track. The both rushed in the waiting room to see your whole pit crew sitting huddled together looking very worried. “DJ,” Maverick spoke first and got there attention, “Where is she? Is she ok?”

“Pete, she’s in surgery. She wasn’t conscious when the pulled her out.” Rooster felt like he couldn’t breath and Maverick just about crumbled to the floor. Surgery went on for another hour until the doctor finally came out.

“To say the least, she would be just fine. She has a sprained neck and left wrist, she also has 2 broken ribs and most likely whiplash. She’s awake now, was fighting the anesthesia the whole time. We’ll allow visitors but I recommend being real quiet. She’s in room 404.”

There was a mumble of ‘thank you’s from the group as the doctor left. “Pete you and…him, should go first.”

“Oh, I’m Y/n’s brother.”

The whole team widen their eyes and looked at each other. They had become your family, so they knew all the stories and they knew about Rooster and yours falling out.

“Bradley, you should go in first, I’ll be there in 10 minutes.” Maverick encouraged. Rooster took a deep breath and made his way to your room.

When he walked in your eyes widened slightly. “D-Dad?”

He chuckled, the anesthesia must have really got to you, “No, Swan, it’s me, Roos.” He took a seat in the chair near the bed and held your hand.

“Roos? Why are you here? I thought… I thought you hated me.”

Bradley looked down as those words sunk in. You’ve gone through almost 10 years of thinking he hated you. “No, Swan, I don’t hate you. I promise. I’m sorry I ever said that, I was just upset. I didn’t get that you were trying to protect me, didn’t want me to see you cry. But-,” he took a deep, shaky breath, “I was the crash on tv, and everything just…stopped. I didn’t want to lose you without telling you I love you. Because I do, you’re my sister, and you’ll always be that, and no matter what I thought, I could never hate you.”

You both were tearing up at this point. “Oh, Bradley. I’d hug but I kinda can’t.” You both laugh softly and Bradley moves to lean over and hug you tightly but now enough to hurt you. You on the other hand was squeezing him as hard as you can, afraid that this is just a hallucination. Just as you pulled back, Maverick walked in too. “Uncle Mav.” Your voice was soft as you smiled.

He came over and hugged you tightly, also careful not to hurt you. He sat down opposite of Bradley, holding your hand too. You caught up on Bradley’s life until the rest of your close pit crew came in and took a seat where they could. You filled them all in on what the crash was actually like, not what you’d just see through the dash cam. They all laughed at your reference to Talladega Nights when you we’re airborne.

(“And I just thought, ‘Yup, I’m flying through the air, this is not good’.”

“Did not! That’s just a scene from talladega nights.”

“No really, I did!”)

The night slowly approached and your crew left one by one, leaving Mav and Rooster to fall asleep with you in the hospital room.

Bonus:

“Holy shit Rooster is that your sister?” Phoenix asked as you walked into the bar with Maverick. You work tight jeans and a black tank top, your nascar jacket on top. Pete went to the bar as you approached the group of aviators.

Hangman let out a low whistle, “Howdy darlin’, I’m Hangman.” His southern drawl made an appearance as he kissed your right hand. Rooster glared as he took a sip of his beer.

“Y/n, or Swan, or Daytona 500 winner, depending on who you ask.” You smirked as everyone stopped to look at you.

“Holy shit, was that you on tv a few nights ago? In the hot pink car?” Coyote asked as you nodded. Everyone asked questions about that for a bit before being fulfilled, when hangman came to you again.

“Care for a game of pool honey?”

“I’m a bit too injured for that.” You help up your sprained wrist as he grinned and held your waist.

“Don’t worry, I could help.” He winked as Rooster groaned.

“Stop flirting with my sister!”

[indynerdgirl]

This Top Gun: Maverick NFL player AU is for @anniesocsandgeneralstore! Thank you for letting me play in your sandbox with your OC! 🥰 I can't wait to read the other TGM NFL player AU you're working on! 💙 And if you haven't read any of Annie's absolutely amazing AUs yet, you need to go do that right now! (also, this was supposed to just be a short & quick summary of my ideas for this au, like three paragraphs tops. it ended up being a five page google doc. whoops. 😆)

================================================ Pairing: Jake Seresin x female Bradshaw OC Tags: This is just pure self-indulgent fluff with just the teeny, tiniest bit of angst Word count: 2,913 ================================================ Ronnie grew up the daughter of an NFL player and she saw firsthand the stress that being the wife of a professional athlete put on her mom and the stress it put on her parents’ relationship as a whole. Plus Ronnie had hated how they had to move every time her dad started playing with a new team. So she swears she’ll never date a professional athlete. 

Her brother, though, follows in their dad’s footsteps and ends up an NFL player himself. He’s recently been traded to the Indianapolis Colts and suggests that Ronnie come live with him for a bit while she’s getting back on her feet after a bad breakup. Ronnie, wanting to get away from everything that reminds her of her horrible ex, agrees. 

While Bradley usually introduces Ronnie to his teammates, he’d been too busy to do so yet and Ronnie had stopped keeping up with the going on's of whatever team Bradley was currently playing for because of her insecure ex (he was totally jealous of her knowing and hanging out with NFL players). So when she decides to go check out the nightlife scene in Broad Ripple and starts flirting with a cute guy (Jake), she has no idea he is a professional athlete, let alone one of her brother’s teammates.

Not only does Jake think Ronnie is cute, he finds it totally refreshing that she has no idea who he is. He’d been getting tired of all the local girls throwing themselves at him just so they can say they’ve been with an NFL player. The two of them hit it off and Jake starts thinking about asking her out on a date. But then during their conversation something something Ronnie tells him how she never wants to be with a professional athlete so something something Jake decides not to tell her he’s an NFL player.

They do end up going out on a date and it goes well enough that they go on several more. Ronnie is starting to think she could see them becoming a thing so when Jake asks her to be his plus one to a work event (and no, he didn’t even stop to think that her going to that work event would out him as an NFL player because his brain kinda stops working when he’s around her), she’s a bit bummed she has to say no because she’s already going to something with her brother that same night. 

Cue Ronnie & Bradley at some kind of Colts charity dinner and Bradley is introducing her to everyone. They walk up to a small group of people and when the guy in front of them turns around, Ronnie almost drops her drink because it’s Jake. And Bradley is introducing Jake to her as one of his teammates. Jake is also shocked to see Ronnie next to Bradley and is even more shocked to have Bradley introduce her as his younger sister. 

Later when Bradley walks off for some reason, Ronnie pulls Jake over into a dark corner. “This is your work event???” “This is the thing with your brother???” they hiss at each other. Jake tries to explain why he didn’t tell Ronnie he was not only an NFL player, but also her brother’s teammate, but Ronnie is so angry at him that she cuts him off. “I told you the night we met that I didn’t want to be with a professional athlete! Was this just some twisted game to you? ‘Oh! Let’s just see how long I can string her along before she realizes I’m an NFL player. Ha Ha, what a laugh!’ Ugh, I hate you!” she hisses at Jake before turning away from him and walking back over to the table she and Bradley are sitting at. Jake tries to get her to talk to him for the rest of the night, but Ronnie steadfastly ignores him. During the drive back home after the dinner, Ronnie tells Bradley about her and Jake. At first Bradley thinks it’s kind of funny that she’d been seeing one of his teammates and didn't know it. But then when he sees the look on her face and hears the crack in her voice he stops teasing her and lets her vent. Ronnie doesn’t talk to Jake for over a week, ignoring all of his texts and calls (the charity dinner was on a Friday night so she ignores Jake for that entire weekend and then all the way to the following weekend).

She’s torn because she really does like Jake (and thinks she might even be starting to love him despite only knowing him for just over a month) but she just can’t seem to get over her aversion to the life of a professional athlete. Not only does she remember the stress it put on her mom and her parents’ relationship in general, but there’s also the fact that her “Uncle” Mav (who was her dad’s good friend/college teammate and they also played on the same NFL team a few times) had his own relationship problems because he was also a professional athlete.

His girlfriend at the time, Penny, hated the constant moving every few years and when she ended up pregnant with their daughter, Amelia, Penny told Mav she was done following him around. She wanted their daughter to have a stable life, didn’t want her to have to be the new kid at school every few years. So she ended up moving back home to California, to raise Amelia close to her family, while Mav decided he still wanted to keep playing and stayed in St. Louis where he was playing for the Rams. 

This started an on again - off again period for Mav & Penny as Mav ended up playing for another 10yrs. Between the time Amelia was born and Mav retiring he had ended up playing for a total of four different teams. Ronnie knows Mav did his best to be there for Amelia and help Penny co-parent, but he still ended up missing a lot and while Mav & Penny are married now (which Penny wouldn’t agree to unless Mav went to couples therapy with her), he’s also admitted a few times to Ronnie that his relationship with his now 14yr old daughter is a bit strained sometimes. 

And Ronnie just doesn’t want something like that for herself or her future children. But again, she can’t deny to herself that she’s starting to have some strong feelings about Jake and she’s just so confused. So after talking to her best friend, Natasha, and Mav & Penny, her parents (they’re both still alive because I say so!), and even her brother, Ronnie decides to give this thing with Jake a chance despite her reservations. 

During that same time period, Jake is convinced he’s lost all chances with Ronnie. Especially after talking with Bradley (who was surprisingly not that upset that Jake had been going out with his sister) and learning exactly why Ronnie said she’d never want to end up with a professional athlete. 

Because he gets it. He’s seen teammates struggle with balancing their career and their personal life. He’s seen teammates miss the birth of their kids because their wife went into surprise labor during an away game, miss kids school plays and dance recitals. He’s seen teammates' relationships/marriages fall apart because of the stress/pressure of being an NFL player’s girlfriend/wife. So he completely understands why Ronnie doesn’t want that life for herself.

And while the Colts don’t lose that weekend, Jake definitely knows he didn’t play his best because he was distracted. For the rest of the week, Jake seriously contemplates the idea of retiring decades earlier than he’d originally planned just because of Ronnie. Because even though they’ve only known each other for just over a month, Jake is pretty sure she’s it for him. He tries imagining his life without Ronnie in it and he does not like that idea at all. 

So he decides that after that Sunday’s game, he’ll find some way to get Ronnie to talk to him, so he can tell her that he’s willing to stop playing if she’s willing to give them a chance. Meanwhile, Ronnie decides that she needs to tell Jake about her decision in person. 

That Sunday's game is a home game and since moving in with her brother, Ronnie’s been dropping him off at the stadium for home games. Bradley, wanting to see his sister happy, helpfully informs her that Jake usually arrives at the stadium about 15-20 mins after him. After dropping her brother off at the team entrance with her customary good luck hug, she parks her car and gets out, leaning against the car and waiting for Jake to arrive. True to what Bradley told her, she sees Jake’s truck pull into the team parking lot 15 mins later. Despite being confident in her decision, she’s still nervous seeing Jake for the first time in over a week, nervous that he’ll have taken her silence to mean she’s not interested and that he wants nothing to do with her.

Jake is checking something on his phone as he starts walking in, backpack slung over one shoulder, so he doesn’t notice Ronnie right away. But as he’s putting his phone back in his pocket he catches sight of her leaning against the hood of her car, arms & legs crossed, a pair of sunglasses on her face. He stops for just a moment before slowly walking up to her & stopping just in front of her. Ronnie pushes the sunglasses up into her hair and gives him a small smile.

Jake drops his backpack at his feet and reaches for her hands. Something something Hallmark movie-esq dialogue happens as they both tell each other their personal revelations. While Jake was 100% ready and willing to walk away from the game that he loves in order to have a life with Ronnie, there is a part of him that is happy that she’s willing to give them a chance while he plays. But he makes sure to tell her that if it all becomes too much for her at any point, he’ll retire, because in the end, she means more to him than football. A soft and sweet kiss happens at some point during all of this and something settles in Ronnie that confirms for her that she’s making the right choice.

With the status of their relationship now settled, Ronnie gives Jake one more kiss for good luck before sending him on his way to get ready for the game and then she heads off to the airport to pick up Natasha who had decided to visit Ronnie for the following week (“you’re my bff, we haven’t seen each other in almost three months and I know you’re gonna need some girl time no matter how Jake reacts to your decision”). After a quick stop at Bradley’s place so Natasha can drop off her bags & change for the game, the two of them head back to the stadium.

Bradley had managed to hook them up with really nice seats for the game so they were sitting in the front row that was right behind the Colt’s team bench (Ronnie never liked being in the family suite anyways, she preferred to be down in the stadium with the rest of the fans). It just so happenes that it’s the offensive players' turn to be announced from the tunnel at this game and Ronnie can’t help the giant grin that blooms on her face as she watches Jake run on to the field after his name is announced, cheering along with the rest of the home crowd. It also brings a smile to her face to hear the crowd cheer just as loudly for her brother when he runs out.

Right before the national anthem, Bradley spots her and waves at her & Natasha before getting Jake’s attention and pointing her out to him. Jake had assumed Ronnie would be sitting up in the family suite so his face lights up with the biggest smile when he sees her sitting next to the field. He winkes at her and Ronnie can feel herself blushing as Natasha laughes at her. 

It’s almost half-time with the Colts down by three and as time expires on the second quarter, Jake scores a touchdown. As the stadium erupts with cheers, Ronnie sees Jake running her way. Without really thinking about what she's doing she leans over the railing as Jake yanks his helmet off and hops up on the bottom rung of the railing that separates the two of them. Ronnie grabs his face with both hands and gives him a quick kiss before he hands her the ball and runs back over to the rest of the team with a giant grin on his face (unbeknownst to her, Natasha managed to get video of the entire thing). Ronnie watches as her brother playfully smacks Jake on the back of the head.

A highlight reel of the first half of the game plays right before the start of the second half and at the end of it, playing out on the two giant screens inside Lucas Oil Stadium, is the clip of Jake leaping up to Ronnie and the two of them kissing. Ronnie feels herself blushing again as the crowd starts cheering as the video ends and the second half begins. She hadn’t wanted to go public with their relationship so quickly, but she had been caught up in the moment and hadn’t been thinking. Ronnie realizes that’s a conversation she & Jake will need to have as soon as possible. 

The Colts end up winning with Bradley scoring the game winning touchdown. He’s smart enough not to run over to his sister but he does do the little sign he came up with for her when he started playing in high school. Not wanting to draw anymore attention to herself, Ronnie decides to meet Jake & Bradley at the players entrance instead of going down to the field. After sending Jake & her brother a quick text telling them where to meet her, she uses her family member pass to get her & Natasha past security so they can use a shortcut through the stadium and get to the players entrance without having to fight their way through the exiting crowd.

It’s a good 30mins before Jake & Bradley are finally able to leave the locker room and meet up with Ronnie & Natasha outside the players entrance. Ronnie, talking with Natasha, has her back to the entrance when she suddenly finds herself lifted off her feet by a pair of strong arms and spun around in a circle while she feels a kiss being dropped on the back of her neck.She laughs as she’s dropped back down and then spun around again to face Jake who grins down at her before leaning his forehead against hers and whispering “there’s my good luck charm” before Ronnie goes up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss. Jake captures her face in both his hands when she tries to step back and he pulls her in for a deeper kiss. 

The two of them are interrupted after a moment by a pointed cough from Natasha and Bradley saying “Just because I’m fine with you dating my sister, Seresin, doesn’t mean I want to watch the two of you make out.” Ronnie & Jake break apart with a laugh and Jake kisses her forehead real quick before letting go of her face and tucking Ronnie into his side as she wraps her arms around his waist. 

Bradley is grinning at them both as he motions Ronnie to hand over her keys. “Seresin, you’re coming over for dinner so I can at least pretend to give you the shovel talk,” he then turns to Ronnie “Natasha and I’ll drive your car back to my place so you & Jake can drive over together. Dinner’ll be ready in an hour,” he says with a wink before turning and putting his stuff in the trunk of Ronnie’s car. Natasha gives the two of them her own wink before climbing into the passenger seat next to Bradley and then the two of them wave as they drive off.

Jake picks up his backpack from the ground where he’d dropped a few minutes ago and walks Ronnie over to his trunk. Not wanting to let go of Ronnie just yet, he manages to stick his bag in the back seat one handed before walking Ronnie over to the passenger side of his truck. He opens the door for her and helps her inside before kissing the back of her hand and finally letting go so he can shut the door. He rushes over to the driver side, hops in and buckles in a rush, barely remembering to put in the key and turn the truck on before he grabs Ronnie’s hand again, giving it another kiss. 

Ronnie laughs at him as he pulls out of the stadium parking lot. “I don’t know how you’re going to be able to practice or play if you can’t seem to let go of my hand.” “I told you before the game, I’m not letting you go anytime soon. You’re stuck with me now, sweetheart. I’ll figure something out,” Jake says with a grin as he drives them over to Bradley’s for dinner.