#The Rooster and The Ice

[almondcroissantsandink]

they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery :)

(a silly 4-pg comic I've loosely titled Seeing Double, for fun! I know it's only mid-September, but I'm so so so getting into the Halloween mood)

[soronya]

I would say “Icemav walked so Hangster could run” but in reality, Icemav already fucking sprinted.

[aromiekimart]

Another Weiss Queen drawing I did a while back

[took-my-breath-away]

art idea: icemav in the stands at one of bradley’s baseball games (elementary, middle, or high school — i feel like he played for a while). i would love to see them in baseball caps, cheering, with sodas and hot dogs and the whole nine yards.

i love icemav doing different activities (especially on romcom esque dates), so if that jogs anything either, i’d love to see it! thanks for making such great art.

he struggled for months to hit it right, nerves wracking through him.

but this time he waited... for the right moment. it finally came.

[caystar13star]

I really do love the idea of Jake being Ice’s son. They just have that look:

I can’t stop thinking about Jakey, who grew up in the shadow of greatness, with an unreachable standard he put on himself, not dissimilar to Rooster trying to embody Goose.

Tom had no intention of making Jake feel inferior, there was just literally nothing that could stop him from blazing his path to the top of the admiralty. He loved his son, and he did his best to encourage him in everything he did.

He loved that Jake was just as driven, determined to enter the Naval Academy early (though no one would ever do it as early as Tom had). He was an honor student, a great athlete (football and baseball, as he never took to water the way that Ice had).

It was just Jake and Ice when he was growing up. He was a consummate Navy brat, making a name for himself on every base. He did spend his dad’s deployments with his Aunt Sarah and Uncle Slider. They loved their nephew, and they loved sharing stories about Ice with their little Icicle.

They never thought about how much Jake was internalizing these fantastical stories, stories that made Ice seem even larger than life, more untouchable.

Jake heard stories about Mav, too, of course. His dad’s wingman had been in and out of Jake’s life as long as he could remember. He only met Bradley once though, when they were stationed close enough together and Bradley came to spend a few weeks with his Uncle Mav while his mom went to visit her sister (she wasn’t actually visiting, she was starting an aggressive chemo routine)

Jake and Bradley didn’t really click. They were eleven and fourteen, respectively, and had very different interests. Bradley was a little jealous of how Mav and Jake joked around, and Jake was suspicious at how awkward Ice was around Bradley (Tom had a hard time seeing Bradley looking so much like Goose, he never really faced the guilt he had from that cursed hop)

They didn’t see each other again until they met at the Academy. Jake had just turned 17 and Bradley was a bitter, angry 20. Bradley had cut off contact with his godfather, and didn’t particularly relish being in close quarters with Iceman’s only son.

Jake gave back just as good as he got, matching Bradley’s barbed words with vicious cuts of his own. While Ice used his expansive vocabulary and cool tone to arrange the Navy into his own personal chessboard, Jake twirled his sharp tongue like a samurai sword, laying out everyone in his path.

While Jake shamelessly used his personal connections to ingratiate himself to the officers teaching, Bradley acted as if he didn’t even know Captain Wells or Commander Neven. The flyboys who remembered both boys’ fathers at the academy mourned for the lack of affection between the two.

Flight school was a constant source of conflict and competition, and their friends felt pulled in opposite directions, though Javy and Natasha declared themselves neutral as they didn’t want to give up either friend (Nat was the first to suggest that the two needed to fuck out their differences)

Bradley finally found his mark when he bestowed Jake’s callsign. He gleefully pointed out that if Jake kept running off and leaving their squadron hanging, he would never be the leader his father was.

Javy was the one to find Jake crying in the locker room, and he finally got the story out of Jake about how inferior he felt being constantly compared to Iceman. Javy didn’t understand at first, as he had been home with Jake and seen firsthand how proud the (youngest) Rear Admiral Kazansky was of his son.

Bradley was sitting a row behind them in the locker room, listening in shock as he finally found common ground with his nemesis. He understood all too well trying to live up to a Navy legend.

The next few days were peaceful, as Jake (now being called Hangman by everyone) was quiet and withdrawn, and Bradley was thoughtful. It came to a head when Bradley dragged himself to Jake’s quarters, to offer his apology for the callsign situation.

Jake was doing a rather impressive impersonation of Iceman’s patented stare down. Bradley didn’t think he would appreciate the comment though.

Surprised by the apology, and honestly just feeling lonely, Jake invited him in.

Things were good for a while. They had to hide their relationship, with DADT and all, but their closest friends knew and helped cover for them.

Everything fell apart when Mav showed up with Ice to see them get their wings. The way Bradley completely snubbed both (decorated officers) made Jake’s stomach turn. What made things even worse was that his dad introduced Mav to Jake officially. As his partner.

When Bradley chose a post as far away from Jake as he could, Jake accepted that it was the end of their relationship. He would never give up his dad, and the more time he spent with Mav, he knew that he would never give him up either.

Mav kept Jake going through Ice’s cancer treatments, and Jake dutifully woke the older man when his nightmares about the Bradshaw family were too deep to escape. Jake broke his self-imposed radio silence with Rooster only to make sure the man had received the invitation to Mav and Ice’s wedding.

It was only after the Mission, after Bradley and Mav made their peace, after Ice’s second cancer scare was behind them, that Jake and Bradley began to tentatively explore their own relationship.

This was one thing that Jake would accomplish faster than his father.

[whohasthecards]

Bring your grandpa/dad to work day, but Jake got attached to this old man named Tom.

Tom was some old guy he snarked off at a coffee shop once and was pleased when the older man calmly gave a witty retort.

He keeps on bumping into the man in the same coffee shop, but he bumps into the old man at the park and grocery place at well.

Surprisingly they hit it off, and Jake looks forward to seeing Tom even though he'll never admit it. Tom's getting fond of the boy. Especially when he realized 3 months in that this was the same Jake "Hangman" Seresin who saved his husband and Baby Goose.

One day there was a bring your dad/grandpa/son to work day. Jake was talking about it to Tom, sad that he doesn't really have anyone to bring and was planning to call out because even tho Mav is great and Javy's family always welcome him, he feels like an outsider in those events. Tom hesitantly offered to come, not wanting to overstep, and Jake looked overjoyed.

Tom comes to the event and Jake was showing him around the base, and the shenanigans he gets into with his squad (Tom is delighted to gain some more blackmail against Mav). He also starts introducing Tom around, and some people are staring wide-eyed or straight up choke when they see Tom.

Why the fuck is the COMPACFLT here and in civvies!??? AND HANGMAN IS CALLING HIM, TOM???

Iceman makes sure to give his trademark glare to everyone who even thinks about mentioning his title or saying something to Jake. Everyone just snaps their mouths shut and smiles awkwardly.

It continues with Jake dragging THE ICEMAN around like an excited puppy, and Tom looking fond and ruffles Hangman's hair every few minutes. The base didn't realize how young Hangman really is until that day.

Eventually Tom and Jake run into Mav and Bradley and both have their mouths wide open as Jake introduces Tom to them.

Eventually ends with Mav saying, "Hey! I adopted him first!" While pouting.

"He takes after me more," Ice says giving Mav a grin as he slung an arm around Jake's shoulder to pull him against his side.

[pollyna]

au in which Mav speaks a lot about their child, and Rooster gets insanely jealous of someone he doesn't know because he is supposed to be their only kid, okay?!

At least until Mav doesn't invite all the daggers to his home, and Ice is sleeping with said kid on Bradley's favourite armchair. But instead of a human child between the Iceman's arms, there's a cat. The cutest fucking cat ever seeing on the face of the planet but still, a cat.

Months later, Uncle Slider is still teasing him for being jealous of a cat while Ice pats his curles and "as if we would ever replaced you, baby goose."

[the-ace-with-spades]

(sorry this got longer than I thought)

You know what fic I'd love to read?

One where Carole dies but doesn't get anything in order before her death (as is many times the case) and Mav is installed as Bradley's temporary guardian after her death but everything goes wrong very fast

Due to Mav's less than heterosexuals tendencies, Bradley ends up in the foster system. One day a social worker with a police officer just shows up and takes him away from school and he doesn't know what's going on. He ends up in his first not so good foster family the same evening. Mav can't even visit as he is deemed a bad influence and has an ongoing investigation if he is 'fit' to be Bradley's guardian.

He doesn't stop asking about Mav for months. Keeps trying to run away to him (he's about 50 miles away because foster homes are sparse so no dice) and finally his foster 'mom' is fed up with the constant asks to at least try and call Mav so she tells him Mav didn't want him and doesn't want Bradley to contact him.

And because Bradley is twelve, he believes it.

(It's not that Mav didn't try. There was a whole appeal process but Mav had a deployment right after and he couldn't explain to the social workers that no, Bradley would stay with someone trusted while he was gone, because that someone was Ice, the source of his suspected homosexual tendencies. They literally told him he's not allowed to contact Bradley and once he came back from deployment, Bradley was already in a different foster home, a few counties over and lost in the system.)

Bradley spends the rest of his childhood in the system. His first family is dubious and the following ones are a mix of constant hope and disappointment. He has at least two different families foster him every year, until he is sixteen and ends up in a group home. There are only two families that he actually comes close to calling family - a young married couple that stops fostering when the wife is diagnosed with chronic autoimmune disorder, and a couple of teachers that have to drop one of the two kids they foster when the financial requirements to foster raise and decide that Bradley is going to be that kid.

No one ever even thinks about adopting him. He's got good grades and stays on top of school, but that's about what is going well in his life. Some families he's with are average - they let him be and maybe don't care as much for anything that involves him as long it doesn't stir trouble at the fostering agency and Bradley is healthy and safe. Some families are worse - sometimes he is one of the five kids and is expected to stay and be a live-in nanny, sometimes they're only doing it for the money and he has barely anything, barely any food, barely any attention, barely any clothes, barely any school supplies, just so he doesn't cost too much. Sometimes, things get physical - it happens less, the taller he gets and by the time he starts fighting back, he has enough reputation that no one believes it and no one wants to foster him anymore. And group home it is.

By the time he's seventeen, he's enlisted. Just so he leaves the system as fast as he can. It all works out because the Navy fits the bill for his university and NROTC when the time comes - even if he's told he's not a good candidate for the USNA, even if he was told his grades and his achievements should be more than enough, even if despite the circumstances, he managed to meet the same requirements.

Finding out that it was Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell who protested his application and pulled the plug on it is Bradley's second heartbreak.

Bradley bites down any complaints he has about life and enters UVA at 21, with a military scholarship and NROTC bursary. At that point, he doesn't even know if he still wants to go into aviation, it brings so much bitterness in him. But then his grades and his overall achievement are so good, everyone says it'd be a waste if he didn't go to one of the most competitive pipelines. The Navy pays for his private pilot licence when he hesitates, and sure enough, it does feel good.

The pipeline is where he meets Jake Seresin. Jake Seresin, who has two brothers and two sisters and who has jars of homemade jam and chocolate-covered plums sent in a little package from his mom at least once a month. Jake Seresin, who uses all his leave to attend weddings, holiday parties, birthday parties, even a dog's funeral. Jake Seresin, who comes from every Thanksgiving with spare pumpkin pie, who has a new handmade Christmas sweater every year.

Jake Seresin, who, for some reason not known to Bradley, is impressed with how effortless learning to fly is for Bradley, with how much Bradley knows, with how much he leads in the lectures and the flight lessons - most guys find Bradley annoying and cold and Bradley would've agreed with them if any said it to his face. The Navy is the only good thing Bradley's had since his mom died, he has much more time to focus on being good at whatever Navy throws at him and maybe that makes him strange and aloof. But not Jake.

Jake Seresin, who is a competitive asshole that can't shut his mouth for his own good. Who has no idea of personal space, who fills the silence better than a jukebox, who will drill and drill the topic until he gets an answer he can comprehend, who doesn't care what people think of him as long as he knows his worth.

Bradley might have a bit of a crush on him, but it's an annoying crush kind of crush - one he doesn't really want to have, one he doesn't really know what to do with. Jake Seresin, who probably would never look at Bradley twice, especially in that way.

They get separate F-18 training bases and Bradley forgets for a moment Jake Seresin ever existed.

Then, summer of 2011, Jake Seresin gets restationed, right into Bradley's squadron. And he's still his annoying self, inserting himself into Bradley's private space, private time, and doesn't let Bradley have a say in it, at all.

Maybe Bradley doesn't want to have any say in it, deep down.

A few months later, DADT gets repealed. It doesn't change much for Bradley, he's not going to talk to anyone about his personal life. But it seems it changes something for Jake.

Because he asks Bradley out on a date.

Bradley's never really dated. Didn't really have the time to when he was a teenager, moved so many times, and then he enlisted, and then he was in college and NROTC. He slept with people, but he's never dated anyone.

So he gets to know Jake Seresin. Jake Seresin, who despite bringing all that food back with him any time he visits his parents, can't cook at all and who would hang onto Bradley's arm or shoulders whenever Bradley cooked. Who can sew so well that he saves all of Bradley's old shirts. Who can't keep his mouth shut, no matter the circumstances - not in the theatre, not when they eat, not when they just watch a movie at home, not even in bed. Who seems to know every single tune under the sun but can't play a single instrument. Who has elaborate, detailed plans for his life - an admiral by forty, two kids by thirty-five, a nice little house in driving distance to some body of water, a German shepherd or a border collie for a family dog once the house is there, a personal two or maybe four-person plane by the time he's forty-five, maybe co-owning aeroclub by fifty.

Bradley's never before thought about the future.

He never tells Jake even half of the things he's seen and lived through when he was in foster care, never tells him about his pulled application from USNA, never tells him about Mav. He doesn't think Jake would be able to understand, the way his family seems perfect and loving and caring. He doesn't want him to know how many things is wrong with him.

But Jake knows he's got no family, that his dad died in the Navy, his mom when he started middle school, that he's been in foster care for all his teenage years. Knows that Bradley has no one to come back home.

"Don't be a fool, sweetheart," is what Jake tells him. "You've got me."

For the first time in his life at the age of 29, Bradley requests Christmas leave.

Bradley's never had a big family, but there was a time he once had a family - or so he thought, when he was twelve and the illusion shattered - so he thought he'd be okay.

And at first, he is fine. Jake rotates him around like a prize piece, introducing him to his siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, nephews, cousins, grandparents, but it's just two or three people at once. Whenever it seems like too much, Bradley drifts away to the kitchen where he can just stay silent and listen to Jake's mom talk to the various people that come by while he slices homemade ham or he steps out onto the backyard and talks to the kids of all the ages gathered around the makeshift playground.

But then they're right before dinner starts - there are over thirty people in the open space of the house, now that everyone arrived, and Bradley feels hot, suffocating in the crowded space, in the clutter of gifts and food and colorful Christmas sweaters.

And then, before he can take any of it in, he hears Jake, saying in his typical loud and teasing tone, that Bradley can play the piano, and look at that, he could play something Christmas-y before the turkey is done, and next thing he knows, there's over thirty pairs of eyes on him and plenty of people asking questions and making teasing remarks and it all seems so tricky--

He can't imagine himself, in that room, with all those people, feeling comfortable. So he walks out.

Bradley doesn't know how to be a part of a family. There's no reason to try and lie to himself and everyone else.

They don't see each other for years after. The next time they do, it's only the eight weeks at Top Gun. The Jake that Bradley knew isn't there - this Jake is bitter and sarcastic and sharp with his tongue. This Jake wins Top Gun and never looks back at Bradley when he returns to his station base.

The next time they see each other is at the Top Gun recall when Bradley is going through a life roller coaster.

Not only is Jake being the biggest ass not just to him but to everyone, for the first time in twenty years, Bradley sees Mav. Sure, maybe he's not moved on from Jake - he still remains the only person Bradley ever dated - but he's managed to dodge Maverick, and Iceman by association, in all those years he's been in the Navy and now he's forced to pretend all is fine.

And Maverick doesn't make it easier.

He tries to approach Bradley like they're long-lost friends, saying all those things about how he missed him and how Bradley looks so much like his dad. Like he didn't leave him in the foster system when he was a kid and didn't fuck up his application for USNA.

So he pretends he doesn't remember Maverick because that's the easiest given that Maverick is supposed to train him.

On top of that, Jake mixes himself up into Bradley's shit life situation when he overhears Mav trying to get Bradley to 'remember' and 'renew their relationship' and keeps pestering Bradley. Maybe he can tell you more about your childhood, why the hell are you so rude to him, he wouldn't make up knowing you, you know, maybe he's got some of your parents' stuff and can share---

And hearing the love of his life that he let get away because Bradley didn't know how to be part of his family side with the first person that told Bradley he's not enough to be someone's family - well, it's not exactly helping the state of Bradley'e mental being.

So maybe he explodes at Jake, a little bit, in the end. You want to talk to the man who left me behind when I was twelve and the only time he looked back was to tell me he didn't think I was good enough? Then so be fucking it.

Instead of butting into Bradley's life, Jake shuts up and starts avoiding him. Bradley supposes he has what he wanted.

Bradley doesn't care what Maverick thinks or if he changed or if he wants something from Bradley.

He still turns around when he's shot down. It's not like he's got someone to come back to anyway. Not because he cares about Maverick.

"I'm not you," Bradley tells Mav. "I don't leave people behind."

The admittance - that he knows and remembers Mav and wants nothing to do with him, wants to be nothing like him - works. They survive and Bradley doesn't see Maverick again, not when they're in the med bay, not when they're in the hospital in San Diego, not when he gets discharged.

He sees Jake instead, waiting on him at the reception of the unit he had been on, patiently waiting for Bradley to sign his discharge papers without using his broken wrist.

"What, do you have someone else to take your broken ass home?"

In truth, Bradley was just going to take a taxi. Instead, Jake takes the plastic bag with Bradley's clothes and silently leads them to his truck before he asks for Bradley's address.

And in all this mess, the first thing Jake asks him is, "Are you going to stay in San Diego?" because they have the offer to stay there and make their place in Top Gun-adjacent brand new squadron.

"No, I'm going to go back to my base," Bradley tells him. There's nothing for him San Diego, but there's plenty for Jake and he doesn't want to be a barrier.

"I think you should stay in San Diego. With me."

He wishes it was that simple but the truth is, Bradley is still the same.

"I can't be the person you want to have in your life."

"But you already are the person I want in my life."

"I think this is going to end up badly."

"Only if you let it."

Bradley's never really could say no to Jake.

It all seems so easy, when he falls asleep on Jake's shoulder watching Top Gear, but at some point, Bradley knows, they will get to the point when it'll all crush again.

There is also the whole thing with Maverick, their now CO, who appears to be some kind of ashamed now that he finally knows that Bradley remembers what he did - or rather what he didn't do. He avoids Bradley like the plague and it seems to be affecting the squad - because they all love Maverick and Bradley is the weirdo who can't have fun or be friendly. He's just waiting on someone to call him out as the party pooper contrasting to their fun CO and deem the problem, as always, just because he can't pretend to be happy to be around him.

Jake hasn't said anything about the Maverick thing explicitly but he gives Bradley those looks whenever Maverick is nearby and sometimes he makes those quips

[apollos-boyfriend]

the thing about horses is that they know what it means to sin and they revel in it. horse heaven exists yet it is barren because all horses knowingly gallop into the fiery pits of hell when their time comes. they welcome it with open hooves

[blueeyeddarkknight]

TOP GUN NATION!! 🗣️

Brad Koepenick (Facebook) just posted a new picture of Val ❄️ and Miles 🐓 on the set of tgm (funeral scene)! 🥹😭❤️🧊❄️

[military-newsboys]

Ice: [making mashed potatoes] it feels like you don't trust my cooking Mav: [also making mashed potatoes] don't be silly, darling

[hang-a-roo]

Phoenix: Look I get it, most your guys’ fathers are gone or they suck-

- everyone offended -

Rooster: Not mine. I fucking love my dads.

- Mav and Ice doing cute husband things and Ice having Icepops sense -

Ice: ….I think baby goose called us his dads to the squad again.

Maverick tearing up: that’s my boy

[overwhelmed-alien]

“Overwhelmed”

Inspired by a random tiktok I saw today at work (I was working really hard, promise!). Yet another take on the recurring theme in the TG:M fandom of Jake having crap parents. Also just a shameless, self-indulgent “hurt Jake a bit so Bradley can hug the shit out of him” guilty pleasure. Because Rooster looks like his hugs could end wars and bring world peace.

TW: an ED is eluded to but not really expounded on. Vague mentions of dissociative behavior. And Jake’s crap parents, and the consequences thereof. But in the end Rooster makes up for all the bad.

You don’t grow up the way Jake Seresin did and still have the ability to react to situations normally.

His parents weren’t violent. They weren’t physical. He didn’t get beaten or neglected. This was how he justified his childhood. At least they didn’t hit me, right? It’s fine.

The frantic drive for perfection stemmed from something different. Something more subtle than a smack to the face. His mother’s offhand, biting comments about his weight. His appearance. His father’s deep sighs when he brought home an A-. When he didn’t score the winning touchdown. When he was accidentally outted. Little niggling things that, through the years, piled up like bits of rubble and built a wall around his heart, but unfortunately left his nerves frayed and exposed and vulnerable.

“You’re getting those pudgy love handles again, Jacob, maybe you should lay off the carbs. You’re so much more handsome when you’re thinner.” He’d ended up in the ER after fainting at school, the third day he’d eaten nothing.

“How do you expect to get into an Ivy League with grades this disgraceful, son?” He didn’t think a 94 was disgraceful. It was the highest score in his calculus class. He’d ended up in the ER after fainting at football practice, the third day he’d stayed up all night studying instead of sleeping.

“This room is a pigsty, Jake. You’re going to have to get rid of some of this crap.” The shelf of trophies. The little stuffed Bear his grandmama gave him. The poster of some obscure Dallas player. He’d learned that material objects held no value, even if he cherished them. A barren room couldn’t be cluttered and unsightly, and perhaps in an empty room there would be a little space for affection some day.

He’d learned that to be the best of the best meant sacrifice. It meant there was no room for hugs. No room for cheat meals. No room for fun or for love. That greatness was always just there, an unreachable, unattainable goal for everyone else, yet always expected of him. That love was very much conditional, only given when he did his part, and never received because he never could quite meet the goals placed before him.

Failures like him didn’t deserve love or kindness or compassion.

So when Bradley - sweet, endearing Bradley, who’d been raised by a mom so loving she practically glowed - began to shower him with warmth and affection that hadn’t been earned, he didn’t understand. He didn’t know what to do.

At first he balked. He dug his heels in and fought meanly. The resolute confusion he felt under that warm honey gaze made him upset and uncomfortable. It angered him.

It angered him when Bradshaw bought him the little stuffed rooster “because this place needs some kind of personal touch, Seresin, damn.” But “things” were bad. Things sitting around meant clutter, and clutter meant he didn’t deserve love.

It angered him when Bradley started bringing him doughnuts or chocolate with his coffee every morning “because you need a little sweetening up, sourpuss.” Sugar meant more time spent at the gym. Another night with no dinner, because the more weight he gained, the more value he lost.

It used to anger him when Bradley would wrap his whole body around him like a clinging, weighted blanket when he’s shaking to pieces with anxiety, when his mind is telling him he sucks, he’s unlovable, he’s a piece of shit nothing who would never amount to anything.

He used to hate that. Until…

Bradley is at war with Jake’s beautiful, self-depreciating, self-destructive brain. He hates the taunting voices that he knows sound like Mr. and Mrs. Seresin echoing constantly in that pretty head of his, telling him he’s not good enough.

Jake has always had walls. He’s always seemed spiky and snappy and unapproachable, even the moments he’s writhing in pleasure underneath him, he’s something far away, incorporeal, like a mirage in a desert.

It starts to make sense when Bradley meets Jake’s parents at a banquet. The awful, hurtful, stinging things rolled off their tongues as easily as they roll off Hangman’s. There was a difference, though. Every biting comment Hangman uttered in the air and on the ground was a push to do better. A round-about, waspish way of saying “hey, I know you’re better than this, push yourself harder and do what needs to be done”. Bradley saw his cocky aggression for what it was: a plea. Do better so you don’t die.

The words he heard Jake’s parents say clearly said something different. They said - politely, with no regard or hesitation or aggression - we know you can’t do any better, son. Because you don’t have it in you. Because you just aren’t good enough.

And when Jake -because he was Jake then, not Hangman - beautiful, larger than life Jake Seresin curled in on himself, eyes unfocused, hands trembling, arms hugging his own sides in his sharp dress whites, simply nodded in silence, Bradley saw red.

This was Jake. This was THE Hangman, one of the youngest Top Gun graduates ever, the top one percent, one of the best aviators the Navy had to offer, untouchable, heroic Jake. Jake, who’d just gotten an award, the same as him, and while Mav and Ice had gushed and beamed over him, over their entire squad, Jake’s parents simply dismissed him. That was the moment Bradley was called to a new mission, the most important one he’s ever done: to smother Jake with as much love and affection as he could muster.

A car door slammed outside, harder than usual, jolting Bradley out of his reverie.

It had been three years since that award ceremony following the Mission. Two since he presented a ring got a teary “yes” in response. One since the happiest day of his life, when Jake Seresin became Jake Bradshaw. In those three years there were dozens of therapy visits and arguments and make-ups, and an all-encompassing collection of the sweetest, most joyful moments in Bradley’s life. The highs were so high, the lows were still low, but they were manageable now. Jake still shook to pieces sometimes when Bradley lost his temper, raised his voice. But now he saw it for what it was - an argument, all couples argue occasionally. He knew now that it wasn’t Bradley hating him, or leaving him, or withholding affection because he didn’t deserve it. Bradley was trying, too. He was going to therapy, too. The arguments were few and far between these days, and these days Bradley was pleased he saw glimpses of a fierce, self-assured Hangman in them, especially when he knew he was right and Bradley was wrong (which was often enough, Bradley could admit). Their home was pleasantly lived-in and cheerful, not the sterile wasteland Jake’s house used to be. It still held warm touches from his mom and dad when they’d lived here decades ago. Little knickknacks Jake first tolerated, now cherished. The little stuffed rooster bought when they weren’t even dating yet had a permanent home on their couch in the living room, just because. They had tried, hard, and they had finally succeeded.

Bradley knew his husband was having a hard time with this new class. Hell, they all were, but Jake took it to heart. On his way out he’d caught a glimpse of Jake tearing down the hallway to Cyclone’s office, blond hair in disarray. He’d had a flustered, frustrated look about him that Bradley was seeing more and more lately. He was going to have a chat with Beau next week. This batch of kids were giving Jake hell. He gave as good as he got in front of them, he WAS Hangman after all, but behind closed doors that far-away look was beginning to come back. Bradley didn’t remember ever being that young and dumb and cocky, although when he brought that up to Mav the old man had laughed his ass off. But beyond that, he was sure jealousy was making them meaner. Hangman was more of a peer than an instructor, at least in age, and he was still simply the best. Bradley would be damned if he lets a bunch of snotty baby pilots undo all the hard work they’d done.

He had come home early - Jake stuck in meetings the rest of the evening and then running a few errands after - and had started a simple chicken and rice and veggie dinner he knew Jake would eat this late without balking too much. He still didn’t eat enough to satisfy Bradley. One of his love-languages was food, second only to touch. But they were working on that, too, and making great strides. God, he was so proud of him. Of them.

He heard a muffled thunk on the deck beyond the kitchen door. A curse. Another. “Bradley!”

He reached over and turned the stove off, moved the pot to a cool burner. “Roo! Shit, B please!” Bradley opened the door immediately and stepped out onto the deck.

One might think that affection could potentially be a finite thing. That once it hits the precipice it might just begin to dwindle, to fizzle out into nothing. Maybe into resentment or indifference. But every single time Bradley Bradshaw laid eyes on this amazing, beautiful man, he could feel love and affection bubbling forth from what was certainly a bottomless well deep inside him. One day he was going to simply burst from it, and he was okay with that.

“Oh, honey,” Bradley cooed gently. Jake was on scuffed knees on the top step, open briefcase dumped out onto the deck, the broken latch lying uselessly beside it. The uniform he’d picked up from the cleaners was on the ground in a rumpled heap. He was a shivery mess, hands almost vibrating as he tried to collect the flurry of paper scattering in the warm ocean breeze.

He looked up at Bradley with sad, defeated eyes that threatened to spill over. His voice, as strong as ever these days, warbled a bit. “I’ve had a really shitty day.”

“Come’ere sweetheart,” Bradley reached down and hauled him into his arms. Arms that wrapped fully, bodily around Jake and squeezed just the right side of too tight, the mess on the deck forgotten for a time. Bradley’s warm hand guided Jake’s pinched face to hide in the crook of his neck and then stayed tangled in his hair, hips starting a gentle sway that Jake naturally fell into. The sigh that followed came from Jake’s toes, deep and rattling. And then he melted against him. Into him. He simply held his precious boy for a while, guiding him in a sweet almost-dance on the deck in the quiet twilight of their back yard. “I’ll get this stuff, baby,” he murmured into Jake’s ear after a while, kissed it. Jake melted even further. “Why don’t you go grab a quick shower, huh? Then we’ll curl up on the couch and watch that crazy show you like so much.” He felt the beginnings of a grin against his neck, one of the cute ones that crinkled his cheeks. “I made some chicken and rice, I’ll fix us a bowl and get the tv ready. What season are we on, hmm? Forty two?”

That did get a chuckle out of Jake. He sighed again, this one more of a gentle release, and pulled away from the safe haven of his Roo’s neck, swiping at his eyes. He made no move to back out of the arms still caging him in, still holding him together after he almost fell apart. Like always. “Season twelve. Housewives of Beverly Hills isn’t that crazy. They make me feel normal.”

“You are normal, honey.” Bradley smiled down at him and dropped a quick peck to Jake’s pout, running fingers through the tousled, gorgeous blond hair. “You’re the most normal housewife on the block, I guarantee it.”

A strangled guffaw burst out of Jake’s mouth and he began to laugh in earnest. Bradley followed, dropping a few more quick kisses to his husband’s face, making sure his mustache tickled.

Jake no longer had that haunted, spaced out look in his eyes. No longer quivered with anxiety and frustration. “Just for that I’m stealing your hoodie again.”

“Baby, I’d be worried if you didn’t. Now scoot,” he said with a quick swat to Jake’s backside. Jake grinned and swatted him back, but did as he was told, easing the sliding door back to go inside.

“Hey, J?” He called after him, and waited until Jake turned back to him. “I love you, sweetheart.”

Jake’s smile reached his eyes. “I love you, too, B.”

…Until. Until a honey warm, raspy voice finally overwhelmed and drowned out the cold, biting ones in his head with so much love he thought he might burst from it. Until he finally started believing he deserved it.

[wngmn]

Don't think about Ice reading bedtime stories to Bradley and 20 years later, Bradley reading stories to Ice on his hospital bed

Don't think about Ice feeding picky toddler Bradley peas doing airplane noises and 20 years later, Bradley feeding Ice ice chips on his hospital bed

Don't think about Ice updating Bradley about Mav's plane adventures when he misses his dad and 20 years later, Bradley updating Ice on Mav's plane adventures when he misses his husband

Don't think about-

[themarauders-alltheyoungdudes]

After Iceman died Maverick couldn’t listen to ice ice baby without crying

[whohasthecards]

Jake always had to be Hangman in front of the brass and the higher ups, he's always prepared and composed when at work. But, he got soft around Mav, the Dagger Squad, and even Cyclone and Warlock. They see Jake, he lets his guard down around them. So, when Mav invites him for a BBQ, he only expected the Daggers, Mav, Cyclone, Warlock, and maybe the mysterious husband Mav has.

But holy shit, Mav invited the Top Gun legendary class of '86, which consists of current and former high-ranking Navy officers. Including THE COMPACFLT, ICEMAN. Who is Mav's husband. All the Daggers are having fun mingling around and talking to others, but Jake was thrown off.

He was expecting a casual event, he didn't think a bunch of his superiors were here. He never had to interact with his superiors without any prep. Jake awkwardly hanged out at the edges or stuck close to Mav, Cyclone, or even Bradley because he suddenly lost all social skills because fuckfuckfuck his hair wasn't combed, he wasn't in uniform, and his clothes aren't even halfway decent. He's not Hangman and it’s only recently he’s gotten used to being Jake around the Dagger Squad. He was shy and only spoke when spoken too and only started to loosen up when he was primarily surrounded by the Daggers.

Although, when he was hanging by Cyclone, the class of '86 asked Cyclone if Jake was his son, which made Jake flush and look at Cyclone worriedly, afraid that he would be offended. He wasn't. He was flattered.

Mav was confused and worried about Jake's recluseness, but decided to wait until later to confront him about it.

Ice was confused because Hangman was quite far from what the rumors say or even what Mav says. (Later on he realizes that Jake was similar to him. Separating Hangman and Jake like how he separates Iceman and Tom/Ice).