#jet aviation openings

[fallenneziah]

Last day and I told myself if I didn't get something in I would die. So, here it is. @glitterypirateduck

Military Aviation Pilot Ghost x his unofficial official partner. Cw: Wearing his dog tags, dog tags tugging, Ghost in sweatpants, kitchen sex, make-up sex (of sorts), Ghost with a head injury, messy proposal talks, a little spat. Look, I saw a cool jet gif and my life changed.

A mile high in hopes.

Simon stood outside the runway, watching people walk around along the tarmac and wave signals to the watch towers around. It was getting late, the evening glow had set in and the wrap up for the day crew was soon.

He stood by the wall with his gear and flicked his cigarette ashes down into the ground and smearing them with his boot.

The phone rang several times before he picked up, pressing it to his ear with a little smirk when he heard your voice. "Well well,"

"You in the air yet?"

"I'm answerin' m'phone love. No, I'm not up yet." He looked back at the ground, furrowing his brow and digging the toe of his boot back into the cigarette smudge, lifting the last of the thing to his lips.

"You'll make it home earlier tonight, won't you?" You were currently curled up on the couch, waiting on some dumb re-runs that you weren't terribly interested in. Food cooked away in the slow cooker on the counter, the aroma filling your small apartment with warmth.

"Yeah, yeah I'll be home." He looked up as one of the crew workers came over to him and motioned his finger in a circle.

"Gotta go love, they're putting me up."

"Simon, a little longer."

"Love, I'll be home in an hour or two, just wait up for me, all right?"

You shifted in the blanket and slumped your head back against the couch. You sighed a little and finally relented. "Ok, but I'm not saving you dinner if you aren't home by the time I get to it."

Simon exhaled the last drag of his cigarette and smirked. "Deal." He stamped out the last of the smoke and ended the call. Shouting ensued across the grounds as Simon got his helmet and his mask.

The crew around him did laps of his jet and unhooked the wheels. Simon climbed in and set the windshield down over him. "Here we go, pretty girl." He rubbed the interior over, admiring the blinking lights and the gauges coming to life with light.

He looked down across the crew as the jet was rolled out of the hangar and positioned on the runway. He flicked the necessary switches and looked down at the others around him. Control tower coming in through his head gear.

"Takin' the missus to the mile high club, Riley?"

Simon chuckled, a twinkle sparking in his eye. "Already have."

He started up the engine with the all clear and eased the throttle. The wheels rolled and he strapped on his breathing mask. Before long he was catching speed and pulling the jet up into the air.

"There we go." He smiled, keeping his gaze focused on the sky in front of him until he had the jet leveled out. The air against his wings shredded in splitting white streaks as he set off.

Once he was relaxed he looked around and out at the vast world below. He chuckled deeply and eased on the speed just a tad more.

You sat there, sipping your water as you watched the only thing that was on this late, those dumb soap operas. At the least it was somewhat entertaining.

The street was filled with the golden light of Christmas as the two main characters found themselves outside of a large Christmas tree. "It's beautiful!" She exclaimed, joy written on her face and the breathless wonder of her first Christmas.

You watched intently as the man looked at her with love, before kneeling down and opening a small box. Your silence continues as you rubbed his bare ring finger with concentration.

"Julia.. my dear, sweet love," He gently took her hand. "Will you marry me??"

Her eyes widened, and in a panic she-

The commercial break blasted through the room and your stupor was broken to quickly grab the remote and turn it down.

"Fuck." You grumbled and rubbed your forehead. You pushed the blanket aside and headed to the kitchen to check the slow cooker. You sighed softly and stared through the steamy lid, and then the timer over the dial. Your gaze lingered into your hands, flexing your fingers slightly and examining your nails, then your knuckles.

Your hands came to your chest and you rubbed the finger quietly. You wished he would propose already, it had been years, and you couldn't understand the hold up.

You reached back and fiddled with the chain on your neck, pulling out his dog tags. He had served before, part of him had wanted to start out in the Marines but after a flight crash left him with head trauma, that wasn't as acceptable anymore.

The clock ticked by slowly while you waited. The commercial break finished and the woman in the soap opera embraced her boyfriend-now-fiance, giggling and smiling brightly.

By the time Simon got home it was late. Once again. You were half asleep on the couch in front of your half eaten plate of rice and chicken.

Simon slowly opened the door and closed it behind him. He took off his bike helmet and set it down on the shelf. Unzipping his boots and sliding out of them.

Your eyelids fluttered down briefly. You lifted your head and looked over to the door as Simon came in. "Simon..?"

He tilted his head as he stepped into the darkness of the living room. "Hey sweetheart." He leaned down and kissed your cheek before walking down the hallway. You sat up and checked your phone, seeing how late it was.

You frowned and pushed aside your food. You leaned against the door frame in the bedroom and watched him undress. He slid off his jacket and tugged his sweat soaked shirt off his body.

He flexed and grabbed out his sweatpants from the closet.

"You're home late." You said.

Simon shifted and looked back at you through the mirror. "I know love, I'm sorry. I tried to call."

You slid your phone from your pocket, checking the call history. "You're lying, Simon."

You walked into the room as Simon pulled off his belt, flicking the loop with one hand and flicking it, tugging the belt out from around his waist.

"M'not lying."

You felt yourself start to deflate. Mentally you were done with him. "When are you going to get your head out of the clouds?"

Simon sighed as he slipped into his sweatpants and scratched his stomach. "I'm on the ground, aren't I?"

"That isn't what I meant."

Simon passed you and headed to the kitchen. "Simon, would you look at me!"

"What." He paused and looked at you. "I'm looking at you. What do you want?"

"I want you to stop lying to me."

"I'm not lying, I just forgot ok??"

"You always fucking forget! You forget to come home, you forget to talk to me, you won't even marry me so maybe we can set some things straight!"

Simon was quiet for a moment. He sighed and leaned against the sink, staring at the wall.

"Y'know it's going to be the same answer every time.." He muttered.

"I know, but I don't like that answer. I want to be able to help you, I want to get you medication and take care of you until we're old, but you won't fucking marry me!"

"Maybe because I'm not ready-"

"Then when will you be!?"

"I don't know!" He snapped.

Silence befell both of you. You stepped back and rubbed your hands as Simon went for a glass of water and his medication.

After he took the pills he took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, ok? I'm just... I feel better when I'm up there."

You looked back up at him, your hands still nervously fidgeting. "So, you don't feel good, with me?"

"No, I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that at all. I love... You, I love hanging out with you. But I'm not in a good spot." He whispered a little.

"Then let me help you."

He swallowed thickly. "I can't..."

You shuffled over to him slowly. Simon watched you, his hand tightened on the edge of the sink. He leaned in closer, his other arm touching your hip. "M'gonna marry you.."

"You promise?"

He nodded, leaning down so his forehead touched yours. "I promise.. I'm gonna marry you." He rubbed his thumb against your hip.

You relaxed slightly and tilted your head up to capture his lips. Simon inhaled sharply and leaned toward you. Your hands wrapped around his neck and pulled him toward you.

"Make it up to me for coming home late."

He kissed you back and groaned softly into your mouth. He inhaled and slipped his tongue into your mouth, his hands roaming slowly to the hem of your shirt.

"I can do that..." He muttered through kisses. He back you up until you hit the counter. Your hands roamed across his neck, squeezing his pecs and groaning into the kisses.

Your tongues sloppily pressed together and tangled. He breathed in your scent and lifted your shirt up and tugged it up over your shoulders, breaking a trail of saliva to get it off.

You panted and kissed him again, your bodies colliding together and his hands moved back to unlatch your bra.

You groaned excitedly and leaned back to look into his eyes. "You know I love you?" He nodded breathlessly and ran his hand through your hair, tugging your head back gently and began to kiss your neck.

"Mmn, I love you too."

He grunted and tugged at your bottoms, yanking them down and leaving you in just your underwear.

"You're gorgeous.." He growled and leaned down, his tongue flicking out and licking over your collar bone.

You gasped and gripped his arms. You arched your back and ground into him, your hands roaming and grabbing at the muscles on his body.

He moaned softly and lifted you up onto the counter, spreading your legs apart and slipping his hands to the band of your underwear, slowly peeling them aside. You looked down, his forehead pressing against yours and his thumb pressed against your clit. You breathed out through your mouth and tangled your fingers in his hair. He hummed deeply and rubbing his thumb in firm circles over your clit while listening to your little gasps.

"Fuck…" He kissed your collar again and with his free hand he brought one of your breasts to his mouth. He swirled his tongue around the bud of your nipple and gave it a little tug. Fire sparked in your chest, the air in your lungs seemingly snatched from you before you could think.

Your hands squeezed his hair, and your hips jerked against his hand. He moaned and kissed the valley between your breasts. "Mm, good girl.." He murmured, and pulled his hand away to push down his sweatpants. His cock sprang free and he wrapped his arms around your thighs to pull you closer to the edge, and the tip of his cock brushed against your labia.

You panted softly and reached down, grasping the base of his cock and pushing him into your heat. "Oh- fuck." He groaned and his brows furrowed. "Wastin' no time…" He breathed out heavily and slid into your warm cunt. The thick warm walls contracted around his cock, welcoming him deeper. He stretched you out, his hand returning to your clit to continue pressure on it.

You gasped and rocked your hips, your legs wrapping around his waist. He panted and pressed his forehead against yours, starting a fast pace. His balls smacked against your ass, his tip bumped into your spongey core and your eyes rolled back into your head.

You cried out, the pleasure washing over you and gripping him closer. You never wanted to let him go. His smell washed over you and took you under like a massive wave you couldn't bring yourself to fight. It was like slowly drowning, losing everything so long as he had his arms around you.

"God.. oh god-" You moaned, his lips meeting yours for another kiss. "Simon.." You breathed, and he grunted, his hips thrust faster, his free hand reached up and wrapped around your throat. Your head tilted back and you gasped for air as his thumb and forefinger pressed into the columns under your jaw, making it harder to get oxygen. Your cunt started to drip soaking wet with each thrust. His cock sliding deep pelvis against pelvis, and the pull out. It barely gave your walls a moment before he was sliding back in at a forceful speed.

He watched the fluttering expression on your face and it made his stomach twist in the best way possible. His gaze zoned on your soft lips before gazing down at your cunt taking him so well.

"Simon-!" You choked. His hand shifted down your neck and wrapped the chain of his old dog tags around his knuckles to tug you closer.

"Mine." He groaned, and his thrusts got harder. The sound of wet squelches and skin against skin echoing in the apartment. Your legs tightened around his waist and you gasped as he hit your g-spot over and over. Your walls contracted around him and you let out a cry. Your back arched and you clenched up tightly, a rush of warmth flowing down from your belly.

"Fuck, fuck-!" You gasped and dug your nails into his back. Simon grimaced and tugged you closer. He pulled you off the counter and held you tightly in his arms, locking his arms around you.

You moaned loudly as you came. Feeling his body against you and his ragged breath against your face made your heart pound. He loved you. You shuddered and came hard on his cock, whining when he tugged you closer.

He fucked you through your orgasm, whispering sweet nothings against your ear. Your eyelids fluttered closed, and he kissed you roughly. Your tongue met his halfway. You panted against his lips, and his tongue licked yours, sucking on it.

His own orgasm was building, his balls tightening and his tip dripping precum. He held onto you, slowly shifting you along his cock until his grip relaxed, focused on kissing you. You desperately kissed him, inhaling his smell and chasing the butterflies that filled your stomach every time he gave your body attention. A feeling only his touch could reward you with.

Simon groaned against your mouth and slid his cock out of your cunt. You attempted to move away but Simon gently grabbed you again to keep you close. He caressed your hip and stroked his cock, cumming cross your abdomen.

You panted, looking up at him and then his hand working the last of his orgasm out. "Mm…" You leaned into his body, nuzzling his shoulder.

"Love you."

He panted softly and brushed some of your hair away to kiss your shoulder. "Love you too, sweetheart.."

He smiled tiredly, and looked around. "Let's go to bed."

He helped you and kissed the side of your face, walking to the bathroom to wash up. Using a warm wash cloth against your skin, and then following you to the bedroom. You both laid down and you curled up close to his chest. His arms wrapped around you and nuzzled the top of your head with a gentle kiss.

"I know I forget a lot now… But I promise that your needs and wants will not be."

That made tears start in your eyes. You curled up closer and squeezed him tightly. He smiled a little and rubbed your back. When he was ready, he would marry you. He didn't want to keep you waiting, he just needed some time, and the money. And he would make you Mrs. Riley.

[xveenusx]

And Yet..

Paring(s): jj maybank x fem!reader

Summary: two people who should be together simply can't find their way. In other words, JJ can't let himself be loved and can't let her go.

Author's note: This one is brutal so prepare yourselves. Realistically, JJ would totally self sabotage any chance of happiness because he can't handle how it makes him feel so that's exactly what this is. Thank you for all the feedback on 3 seconds! If you like when it hurts, then this is for you!

Part 1: Three Seconds

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

He left.

It’d been hours and none of us knew where JJ went, only that he left. While JJ storming off was a normal feat, he always came back.

Now normally, I would have been looking for him, knowing exactly where to look. I’d find him and we’d avoid everyone until he felt like he was ready. This time was different. He never looked at me the way he did today.

A look of pure betrayal.

John B had gone MIA with Sarah while Pope and Kie were handling everything we needed to look for the gold. Me? I was trying to find a way to cope with the sudden JJ sized gap in my life.

It was brutal trying to get through the entire day without collapsing. Everything felt dull. I decided going home and hiding out in my room was the only option. It spared me the looks of concern from our friends and gave me the freedom to cry.

My room felt abnormally empty and cold. My stomach rolled as JJ’s words played in a brutal loop. I crawled into my bed where I curled into myself tightly, hugging my knees to my chest to create some type of pressure.

He’ll come back. He always comes back.

I jolted awake to pounding on my window.

“-wake up. He needs you. It’s bad oh my god it’s really bad.”

Scrambling off the bed, I pushed the curtains aside to see Kie’s panicked face. “Kie, what’s going on?”

Her face filled with relief as she pulled me into her. “We need to get to the chateau now. He’s not making any sense and bought all of this stuff.”

Nausea rolled in my stomach.

“JJ-“

She cuts me off. “He needs you.”

I left the house in seconds, hopped into the Hayward truck and we took off. I nibbled on my nails, glancing at Kiara in the drivers seat. Her face was painted with worry and her leg bopped up and down displaying her nervous energy.

Kie moved one hand from the steering wheel and threaded our hands together, squeezing tightly.

Pulling up to the chateau, I see LED lights tangled up on the trees, shining lights reflecting on the yard. How was there power? The hurricane had taken everything out.

Before I could figure it out, I heard a commotion that drifted up the drive way.

“Where is she? You said Kie was getting her.”

My heart jumped to my throat. I hold onto Kiara tighter as we move toward the raised voices.

Something twisted in my chest as I took in the hot tub and lights suddenly decorating John B’s yard.

JJ is shouting at Pope now, slurring his words slightly, before taking a pull of the champagne he clutched in his hand.

“Look man, she’s here. She’s here, JJ. Calm down.” Pope announced, pointing in our direction, before placing his hands around his head and taking a deep breath.

Awareness ran through me. JJ turned his body to face me, his gaze flicked to mine.

He said nothing yet his eyes said everything. There was an openness that seemed to make him vulnerable.

“You came.”

A tug deep in my chest urged me to move closer. “You asked.”

“Okay, now that she’s here. What did you do, JJ? Where did all this come from?” Pope asked, but we all knew the answer.

“I got a jet going straight in my butt right now. Y’all should get in immediately, ya hear?” JJ laughed, the aviator sunglasses slipping down slightly. His blonde hair slick with water stuck to his forehead as he messily poured champagne into a glass. “Salud!”

Pope let out a noise of disbelief, “How much did this cost?”

“Uh, pretty much all of it.”

I moved around, taking in the inflatable floaties that filled up the yard, while biting the inside of my cheek. He spent all of the money.

“Kie, what? Can’t a man have a little luxury in life?”

I tuned out their arguing. There was a reason he acted out and bought all of this pointless shit but I couldn’t figure out what it was. He knew. He knew he needed to pay for restitution.

A blanket of dread covered my body like an old blanket as the consequences of JJ’s actions finally settled in. Another sense of dread hit when I knew I wouldn’t leave him.

“You could have paid for restitution or better yet, helped us buy supplies.” Pope said, shaking his head in clear frustration.

They weren’t seeing this for what it was. Something was wrong. Yes, he was reckless and rash but like I said before, most of the time he does those things because something happened.

“Okay Pope. Well, I didn’t do that. I got a hot tub for my friends,” JJ choked out, “I got a hot tub for my friends. Screw that, I got a hot tub for my family.”

“JJ, what the hell?” Kie whispered.

Something in her voice made me turn back around quickly and that’s when I saw it.

JJ stood at the center of the hot tub, one hand clutching the champagne bottle while the other hung loosely at his side. His gold necklace moving back and forth shining under the lights, but that’s not what caught my eye.

What caught my eye was the purple and blue bruises that littered his chest and ribs. A high pitched ringing filled my ears as my body felt like it began to float.

This. This was the reason he spent all the money.

My hand covers my mouth as I let out a choked sound.

Hearing the noise, JJ turns to me, his face entirely shattered, tears causing the crystal blue orbs to shine.

“Do you see what I did? Look what I did for you,” He cried out as he held out his arms, staring at me with such vulnerability I could feel my knees start to buckle.

Tears freely began to fall from my face as I took inventory of just how many bruises covered his body.

“No, stop being so emotional. It’s fine, everything’s fine.”

My feet moved on their own accord. Fully dressed, I threw one leg over then the other ignoring the burning from the heat of the water.

He reached for me the moment my body hit the water just as my arms circled around his neck. JJ curled his body into me, the champagne bottle forgotten, his arms circling around my waist digging into my lower back, clutching me like a life line.

My legs knocked together as the adrenaline and helplessness kicked in. I began counting in my head my breaths because I knew in this moment, I couldn’t afford to break down.

Not when he was broken beyond belief.

My fingers threaded themselves into his sun-kissed locks, brushing from the nape of his neck to the top of his head and back again. I pressed my lips onto his head, not letting my grip loosen for one second.

“I love you.” I murmured over and over again as sobs wracked his body, his head in my chest soaking my shirt with his tears. “I got you, it’s okay. I’m here, Jayj.”

I glanced up helplessly and see Pope and Kie staring at us, both of them clearly distraught.

I beckon them over with a nod in my head and instantly JJ and I are covered in warmth. Their arms wrapping around us both, whispering words of love to him.

We stayed like that until our skin got pruny, not wanting to move until he was ready.

When the time did come, I could tell by the way his grip on my waist loosened and his sobs quieted down. Brushing the hair out of his face, I brought my face close to his, “You ready to get out now?”

JJ nodded.

“Kie, can you set out some of John b’s clothes?” I asked her, moving to get out. She nodded and pope followed her inside.

JJ followed closely behind me. His fingers laced with mine, trembling slightly as the night air bit at our soaked bodies.

Shuffling into the chateau, our friends were sprawled out on the couch with Kie strumming away at the ukulele.

“I left the clothes in the spare.” Pope said, his eyes locked on JJ.

I shot him a thankful smile, “Thanks, Pope.”

Once we were in the room, I shut the door as JJ shimmed out of his shorts. Ignoring the heat in my cheeks, I grabbed the towel from the bed and began to dry him.

I could feel his intense gaze on my face the entire time. Biting back a smile, I whispered, “Can I tell you something?”

“Please.”

“I really like the hot tub.”

JJ tilted his head back and let out a surprised laugh. The sound of his familiar laugh caused a wave of warmth to crash over me, causing a zoo of butterflies to swarm my stomach.

“It is a pretty sick tub, isn’t it?” He smiled.

“It is. Very kooky of you.”

He narrowed his red rimmed eyes at me, “Take that back.”

I couldn’t have his my grin even if I tried.

“JJ the kook? I could see that.”

He sends me a cheeky smile in return. Bringing my attention back to the task at hand, I drag the towel along his shoulders before heading towards his chest. My hand stalled slightly as I saw how angry the bruises were, the hue of the purple and blue causing my stomach to churn.

My head moved carefully as I pressed my lips softly along each bruise, fluttering my eyes shut. I feel familiar rough hands tangling themselves in my hair and he lets out a sharp breath.

Opening my eyes, he tilted my head back with his fingers gripped the nape of my neck. A storm brewed in the crystal blue eyes, flicking between every emotion.

His thumb slowly drew my bottom lip down causing his eyes to darken with each passing second,” Thank you.”

Tremors wracked my body at how close we were, our breaths intertwined filtering into my bloodstream.

JJ shifted forward allowing his lips to softly brush mine. The moment my lips parted, he pressed his again almost like he was inhaling my every breath.

Pulling back, he rested his forehead on mine and repeated, “Thank you.”

“I got you. I’ll let you change-“ My words got cut off as he grabbed my arm to stop me in my tracks.

“Stay.”

And so I did.

_______________

I blinked at the alarm clock that read 3 a.m and slowly rubbed the sleepiness from my eyes. I could hear the sound of the skeeters buzzing outside the chateau and felt a strange sense of calm at the quiet.

Reaching toward the other side of the bed , my hands were met with empty cold sheets. He was gone.

I closed my eyes tightly and took in a deep breath as I willed for this nightmare to go away. We still had a lot to work through, but I thought after last night, he finally understood how fucking in deep I was. I was all in, completely and utterly in love with him. It’s always been him.

Pushing my body up, I slowly bring the sheet up to my chest covering my naked body from the cold. A sharp tinge of fear hit my chest as I noticed a presence at the end of the bed that was quickly replaced with an immense sense of relief.

JJ sat on the edge of the bed with his bare back facing me, his elbows on his knees, and head in his hands. A small smile played my lips as I shuffled over, my hands slowly trailing themselves over his shoulders and pressed my lips softly against his shoulder blade.

“Can’t sleep?”

His shoulders tensed the minute my lips touched his body. “I didn’t think you’d still be here.”

Confusion filled every fiber of my being as I finally took him in. I could feel the weak stitches that held my heart together suddenly begin to tear.

I opened my mouth and closed it. The backs of my eyes burned as I stared at the side of his face, the face that I spent hours admiring, that refused to even look at me.

“I thought after last night-“

JJ shook his head in disgust and let out a dry breath, roughly tugging at the messy strands on his head.

“We fucked. It’s not like that’s something we’ve never done before. It doesn’t change anything.”

Like I said before, I understand him. I know him and I know exactly what he’s doing. That doesn’t stop every part of me from feeling like I had just gotten kicked in the chest.

“JJ, please don’t do this.” I inhaled a shaky breath as I clutched the sheer tighter to my chest, almost like it was an armor against his cruel words, words that I knew came from a place of panic. Yet, it hurt just the same.

“Do what,” JJ said, getting up from the bed to face me, arms crossed tightly against his chest. “You made it clear what side you were on and it wasn’t mine.”

“Stop twisting what happened. You forget that I know you, JJ. I know you,” I stood on my shaky feet, the sheets wrapped around my body. “You think I dont know why your treating me this way. You’re dad doesn’t decide who you are.”

Desperation burned in my blood as I once again tried to grasp at straws. He was always finding excuses to run from me and each and every time, JJ took a piece of me with him.

“Shut up. I’m not doing this shit with you.”

“You have no idea how special you are do you? How easy you are to love?” It was an honest question, one that seemed to anger him if the clenching of his fists was any indication.

“Stop-“

I cut him off. “Because you are. Special, I mean.”

JJ said nothing. His gaze met mine, and the blue eyes I thought matched the ocean perfectly, showed a battle of emotions.

I took the opportunity to move closer to him, fighting the urge to curl up and cry at the look of utter confusion on his face.

Luke had successfully beat it into him that he was worthless, useless, and would never amount to anything. This, this look on his face was why I stayed.

He didn’t know. He really didn’t know the effect he had on people, on me.

My fingers trembled slightly as I reached to touch the bracelets that decorated his wrist. All of them being gifts from me.

“You’re fiercely loyal to the people you love. The family that you chose for yourself. It’s almost frustrating how you don’t see it,” I muttered, tilting my head up to search his eyes. “I mean, fuck JJ, you took the fall for Pope because you didn’t want his future to be ruined. You went to jail and now you’re on probation.”

“Please, stop.” His plead was weak at best.

My fingers danced along his jaw, my voice wavering slightly at the tightness in my chest. “You sat with my everyday during summer school so I wouldn’t be myself. No one does that, JJ. Especially not here.”

He had to know I was telling the truth.

“So please, listen to me when I tell you that loving you has been the easy thing I’ve ever done.”

Despite the immense beating my poor heart has taken, it still beats with a naive sense of hope.

Hope that sky rocketed when JJ reached forward to twirl a strand of my hair in between his fingers, almost as though he was memorizing how it felt.

“Such pretty little words.” He hummed. “How many other guys have you told that too?”

I recoiled back in shock.

“Pretty little words won’t get you anywhere. You wanna fuck, I’m down. But that’s not gonna stop me from mackin’ on other chicks.”

Then he dropped the strand of my hair, along with every hope that he could love me.

I chose to then focus on my anger that slowly began to bubble to the surface.

“Like who? Your gonna start mackin’ on Kie?” I launched the question at him, my voice raising an octave in disbelief.

“Maybe. At least she knows when to leave.”

“Stop talking to me like that,” My voice broke at the end, the burning in my eyes getting too hard to ignore. “You’re hurting me.”

All I could do was stare.

Here I stood, heart bleeding, begging a broken boy to love me back. And maybe that wasn’t fair for me to ask, maybe it was too much but a large part of me thought he felt something. Even if it was a fraction of what I felt for him because at least it was something.

Anything.

“You’re never going to let me love you, are you?” I ignored the sharp stab in my stomach as I finally said the question I already knew the answer to.

JJ’s head snapped up in shock at my question. “I never asked for you to love me.”

“You showed up to my window every night because you didn’t want to go home. You hold my hand, you kiss me, you fuck me. You come to me when you can’t fucking sleep. You sleep in my bed. You teach me to surf and take me everywhere with you. You ask for my advice and god forbid I don’t answer the phone, you have a melt down.” I was shouting at that point, my voice loud enough to wake up our friends who were sleeping in the living room but I couldn’t bring myself to care.

“You need me, I’m there. You got arrested, I bail you out. You get in a fight, I clean you up. JJ, you showed up in my life and surrounded me. You’re fucking everywhere. How could you not expect me to fall in love with you when you do these things?”

The laugh I let out was one of a broken girl, one who had completely lost herself in a wave of chaos known as JJ Maybank.

The door was right there. And yet, I couldn't get my feet to move.

“Because I don’t fucking understand it, okay? Because I’ve never had the luxury of someone looking at me the way you do and it makes me physically fucking sick.” JJ took several strides until he was pressed up firmly against me, his fingers threading themselves into the nape of my neck.

“The way you look at me makes me feel like I’m suffocating, don’t you get that? And yet, I can’t fucking thinking straight when you’re not by me.” He choked out, his face was white with panic.

I could feel myself start to crumble at his words. Welcome to the club. “Yesterday, you said I wasn't enough for you.”

JJ nodded, his eyes staring straight into me with such intensity I had to swallow.

“You know why I said it. You know how I get. The way you look at me,” He swears pounding his hand against the wall,” Fuck the way you look at me. You make me feel like I can be a better person, that I have the potential to do something great.”

“Because you can-“

“No I fucking can’t. You give me this hope that I can be better and then something happens to remind me that I can’t and it crushes me. It fucking wrecks me.”

I roughly wiped the tears that blurred my vision and asked, “So what are you saying?”

The silence caused the anticipation of his answer to intensify, making breathing almost impossible.

“Sometimes, being with you is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

Can you hear that? It’s the sound of my heart shattering for the last time.

“Then you have to let me go.”

He shook his head,”Thats not what I want.”

“Let me go, JJ. If not for you, then for me because loving you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done. You haven’t even been able to say it back. You completely own me, every thought I have is about you.”

“You own ME.” JJ shouted, his hands in his hair tugging it in anger. “And it completely terrifies me and then I say the first thing I can to make the fear go away just so I can get a moment of peace. I don’t want to feel like this anymore.”

In a way, I couldn’t really be angry with him.

No one’s every really described just how dangerous loving someone can be. How they consume every part of you until there’s nothing left. Until suddenly, you can only breathe when you’re around them. When your very mood depends on the expression of their face. The pure feeling of ecstasy that covers your body in a layer of electricity the moment you’re around them and they look at you.

“You love me,” At my words, JJ looked almost relieved, like he finally understood why he felt so many things at once,” but you can’t let yourself love me.”

And yet, despite this revelation, I still couldn’t bring myself to leave.

A tortured look passed his face as he pressed his back against the wall and slowly slid down.

“You need to let me go because I love you to the point that I cant bring myself to leave. So if you don’t want me, if you can’t be with me then do this for me. If you don’t, I’m going to keep giving you every piece of me until there’s nothing left. “

I guess you never truly understand until it happens. Until you get physically ill when they’re upset or filled with warmth when you see them tilt their head back and laugh. When you see them and suddenly the world is just a little less overwhelming, bearable even.

When every fiber of your being is tuned into one person.

Gripping the sheet tighter, I moved in between his legs and settle myself on the floor. The moment I did, JJ engulfed me in his embrace. His presence soaked through my skin leaving the intoxicated feeling in its wake.

“I can’t,” He shook his head fervently, “ I can’t do that.”

I understood him, because I couldn’t either.

“What are we going to do, Jayj?”

JJ pressed his face against my throat, “I don’t know.”

We weren’t okay, it didn’t take a genius to figure it out. Nothing had been solved and yet, we sat on the floor wrapped in each others embrace.

So I said the only thing I knew to be true and give him yet another piece of me, “I love you.”

“I know.”

There we were. Two souls irrevocably intertwined in a mass of love and hate that were broken beyond recognition. Neither of us being able to leave the other.

And yet, all I could focus on was his inability to say he loved me back.

_____________________

Tags for all those who requested: @trickylittlewitch @maybankslover @bcon24 @chaoticbisous @ifilwtmfc @dullsocietyy @mad-die45 @stuffyownswrld @kaylinfayezink @theywantedplayer

[roosterforme]

In the Line of Duty | Rooster x Reader

Summary: During preparations for a dangerous mission, Bradley finds comfort in writing his thoughts down for his unborn child to eventually read. There's always a chance that he won't make it back, and his final plans involve safeguarding the most important item he brought on his deployment with him.

Warnings: Angst, deployment, pregnancy topics

Length: 2800 words

Pairing: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x Female Reader

This was written to accompany my series Is It Working For You? along with a bunch of my one-shots and other series, but it can be read on its own! Check my masterlist for the reading order.

Bradley was in the same tiny room with the same seven people for the nineteenth day in a row. He was sweating, too aware of his surroundings. He could hear Reuben breathing next to him. He could hear Admiral Turner's wristwatch counting off every second. He could hear the plans being laid out, but he could barely focus on them.

"The political climate is rapidly changing," the admiral said. "This bombing run is essential, however it will undoubtedly lead to a hostile environment for our allies. Getting the timing just right is essential to a successful mission."

He'd been telling the aviators the same things for days, and while Bradley knew somebody's best interest was at heart, he wasn't really sure it was his. Or Reuben's. Or anybody's in this fucking claustrophobic room. But what choice did he have but to sit here in his flight suit, reeking of jet fuel until he was released?

"Also," Admiral Turner said, his voice laced with exhaustion, "we'll be keeping a close watch on the weather. If you fly this mission, it's going to be a rough takeoff and an even rougher landing. And that's not even mentioning the elements you'll encounter in the air."

Bradley could feel it. The aircraft carrier was a massive vessel, nothing like a cruise ship or anything smaller. It was built to withstand typhoons and hurricanes, but he could still feel it. The movement was getting worse by the hour now. There were deckhands and petty officers walking around with seasickness bags. People were running from the mess hall left and right. The only thing that could be said of this small group of aviators in this tiny ass room was that professional fighter pilots had all traces of motion sickness eliminated from their bodies during flight training, never to be heard from again. He wasn't uncomfortable, but he could still feel it.

"And with that final precaution, I've made my selection for the three pilots who will fly when I say it's time to go." Bradley knew it in his bones even before he heard the admiral say, "Vandal. Patches. Rooster. Everyone else will remain on standby. You're all dismissed."

As he stood, Reuben stuck his fist out. "Congrats, man," he said, and Bradley reached out as well to bump fists. Being chosen was an accomplishment; Bradley always wanted to be chosen. He always wanted to perform to the best of his ability. But his thoughts were so heavy now, filled with new hopes and fears. 

"Thanks, Payback," he replied, following his friend from the room and into the noisy reprieve of the cool hallway. There were people rushing around as the two of them made their way to the mess hall. "But if I have to sit in that room for another day, I'm going to lose my mind."

Reuben laughed as he started to load a tray with food. "I love how the weather is too bad for us to do any training runs, but in the same sentence, we're told to be ready to fly a mission in this. It's like they're steering us right into the worst of the storm."

They were. Bradley could tell they were. There was something strategic about the open water location, but they were absolutely heading into the worst of it. He just hoped it would clear up before he was called out on deck to fly. 

"It's a good thing I haven't barfed in a Super Hornet since that very first time," he said, also piling food that he knew would taste like cardboard onto a plate.

"This shit sucks," Reuben muttered, biting into a roll once they reached an empty table. "We got any more of your wife's cookies back in the bunk?"

Bradley smiled as he looked at the questionable meal in front of him. "A few." He bit into the steak and grimaced. Everything you cooked at home was better than this. He'd trade his whole plate of food right now for half of a grilled cheese sandwich made by your hands. Just thinking about it had his stomach growling louder. "You already ate most of them."

Reuben popped another roll into his mouth and chewed it up before saying, "Rooster, you've got a hot lieutenant commander who can cook for a wife. And a baby on the way. Come on, man. The least you can do is spare some more of those cookies."

Once he let his thoughts drift, Bradley knew it would take hours to get focused on his job again, but he couldn't help it. When he left home, you looked the same as you always did. You'd been complaining about your weight gain and bloating for weeks, but you looked just perfect to him. He wanted to get back home to see if you had a bump yet. He wanted to get home and talk to the Nugget. But he'd already been gone for three weeks, and he hadn't been given a single chance to call or FaceTime with you. 

He hated having no idea how your most recent doctor's appointment went. There were probably new ultrasound photos sitting right on the kitchen counter, but it could be weeks before he got to see how much the Nugget grew since last time. He should be a home, catering to your every whim and building the massive jungle gym for the backyard.

"Are you excited?" Reuben asked, breaking through his thoughts. "You've got what, like five more months to go before you're a dad?"

"One hundred and eighty-six days until the due date," Bradley replied with a grin. "And yeah, I'm pretty fucking excited. It's all I can think about." He tried to finish all of the food, but he set his plate aside and said, "Let's go eat some of those cookies."

An hour later, Bradley was sitting in his bunk, nibbling on the rationed baked goods while Reuben snored across the room. He took this opportunity to get out the pink and blue striped notebook which he affectionately referred to as the Nugget notebook. He'd filled half of it with his musings, and he figured it would be full by your due date. It was silly, just his random thoughts and some sporadic story telling, but he liked the idea of his kid having all of this to look at later. He uncapped his pen, jotted down the date, and started writing what was on his mind. 

You'll never guess where I am right now. No really. It would be impossible, because even I don't really know where I am! But it's somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, I know that for sure. And while I'm really, really far away from you and your mom right now, the two of you are all I can think about....

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

The weather was so bad a few days later that the gym was closed. Bradley and Reuben stood in front of the locked door in their gym clothes looking at each other. 

"This is fucking wild," Bradley muttered, deprived of the only activity he could think of to keep himself busy. The hallways were pretty empty at this time of night, but everything still felt more deserted than usual. The dining menus had been pared down, presumably because half of the kitchen staff was too seasick to make everything. He was starting to feel anxious. "Let's go workout in the bunk and then finish the cookies."

"Sounds good," Reuben replied. They took turns churning out sets of fifty push ups while the other ate a cookie. They did this until they were both sweating and all of the cookies were officially gone.

"Now what the fuck are we supposed to do?" Bradley asked, but any response was cut off by a knocking on the door. He jumped up, glanced at Reuben, and then opened the door for a petty officer. 

"Bradshaw?"

"Yeah?"

"You requested a FaceTime call? Report to the lounge in thirty minutes."

"Thanks," he said, heart beating wildly as he closed the door. He rushed around the room, grinning and grabbing everything he'd need to take a quick shower.

Reuben just laughed and said, "Please thank her again for the cookies."

"Will do," Bradley replied, making a mad dash for the showers. If he did the math correctly, he figured it was between four and five o'clock in the morning back home in San Diego. He hated calling you in the middle of the night, especially when you were pregnant and exhausted, but he knew you'd forgive him. And he desperately needed to see your face and hear your voice.

His hair was still damp when he jogged along the quiet corridors toward the lounge and took a seat in front of one of the computers. He quickly entered his credentials followed by your phone number, and then he waited and waited. "Shit," he muttered, gripping the edge of the table, afraid the call was going to ring through and then cut off. But then he heard you screech his name and saw you as you reached for your glasses while the light from the lamp on your nightstand illuminated your face. 

"Bradley!" you practically screamed again, your voice scratchy from sleep. "Roo! Are you okay?"

"Hey, Baby Girl," he said, feeling calmer than he had in weeks as you juggled your phone around and tried to sit up fully in bed. "I'm fine. Sorry it's so late."

"No, no, no, this is perfect!" you insisted, rubbing your eye behind your glasses as you tried to stifle a yawn. "This is great."

Bradley laughed and said, "I miss you so fucking much. Wish I was in bed right there with you."

"Me too," you insisted, and he could see the sincerity on your face. "It got chilly here tonight, and Tramp isn't as snuggly as you are."

He wanted to kiss you. He wished he could somehow dive through the screen and end up next to you where you'd pull him right into your arms. His voice was just a whisper as he said, "Tell me about the Nugget."

Your smile was soft, and you bit your lip. "Dr. Morris said the Nugget looked great when I was there two weeks ago."

"Two weeks ago," he groaned, rubbing his rough hands along his face. "Sweetheart... I already missed so much." When he looked at the screen again, you were out of bed and on the move. "Where are you going?"

You flipped on the hallway light and said, "To get the ultrasounds to show you. I left them on the kitchen counter."

The fact that he knew that's where they would be made him smile. When you propped your phone up next to the stove and turned on the light, he felt tears stinging his eyes. You held up one of the photos so he could see the baby, and he had to blink past his blurry vision. "There's my Nugget," he said, voice thick with emotion as you held up a second image. "Fucking cutest baby I've ever seen."

Your laughter sounded beautiful as you showed him a third one. "I liked this one the best. I think it looks like the baby is waving hello."

"Shit," he gasped. "You're right. I can't wait to wallpaper our bedroom with copies of these."

You pulled the baby picture away, and he could see your face again as you said, "You're probably not even joking."

"I'm definitely not even joking."

You leaned on the counter and got a little closer to your phone as you said, "Another week or so, and I can go in for an anatomy scan."

Now Bradley felt like crying for a totally different reason. "You get to find out if the Nugget is a boy or a girl."

"Yeah," you said with a nod. "But I don't really want to do that without you there too."

Bradley looked at your beautiful face and the perfect curve of your cheek. He imagined a little baby in your arms with the same flawless features. "I wish I could get home in time to hold your hand and find out in person. But you know I don't care one way or the other. The only nice thing is that we can start narrowing down baby names soon. I actually wrote down a few that I kind of like in the Nugget notebook earlier."

Your smile was brilliant as you told him, "I can't wait to read all of your notebook entries. And if you're not home for my next appointment, I'll be practically vibrating with anticipation until I get to tell you if it's a boy Nugget or a girl Nugget."

Bradley opened his mouth to say he couldn't wait to come home and spend a full day curled up with both of you. He was about to ask you to pull his UVA shirt up and let him see what your belly looked like now. But the lounge door swung open so hard, it sounded like it was going to fall off the hinges.

"Bradshaw!" barked Admiral Turner. "It's time. Get into your flight suit."

"Yes, Sir," he said before glancing back down to see your face as you started to cry.

"You have to go," you sobbed.

"I do," he said quickly. "Right now. Listen, I love you. More than anything. You and the baby both, okay? I love you."

"I love you, too," you sobbed as your lips trembled. "So much."

"I'll be home soon," he promised, even though he knew he couldn't guarantee anything of the sort. "I love you."

After he ended the call, he ran back to the bunk where Reuben was already in his flight suit and pulling on his boots. It was late enough now that it had to be dark outside, so he was either about to fly another mission without the use of one of his senses, or they were sending him out at first light. Either way, he knew what he had to do, so he pulled his own flight suit on with shaky hands.

The call with you had calmed his nerves right up until the point when he had to abruptly end it. What he wouldn't give to be back home within a week. He'd drive you to the appointment in his Bronco and hold your hand the whole time. Dr. Morris would let you know if he was going to be the dad to a daughter or a son. His little Nugget.

"You ready?" Reuben asked as Bradley finished lacing up his boots. 

He looked up at his friend as he stood. "Actually, no," he said, pulling his duffle out from under his bed. He started rooting through it as he said, "I need you to potentially do me a favor."

"Sure," Reuben replied, "but we gotta get to the meeting room now, Rooster."

"I know," he mumbled in response as his hands connected with the most important thing he had with him. He held up the pink and blue notebook, his voice calm in spite of his nerves as he said, "Just real quick, you see this? I need you to take this back to my wife if anything happens to me."

His friend was silent for a beat before he said, "Alright. I can do that."

Bradley's fingers tightened around the spiral binding holding together all of his thoughts about fatherhood and how much he loved his unborn child. And now his voice shook a bit as he said, "This is very important to me."

Reuben nodded and said, "Understood. I promise I'll take care of it if the need arises."

"Thank you." Bradley kissed the striped cover and propped the notebook up against his pillow, giving it one last look before he followed Reuben from the bunk.

At first light, Bradley made his way out onto the carrier deck through the rain and whistling wind. The mission was on. The weather was miserable, but the plethora of Naval officers deemed this the best opportunity they were going to get to help their allies. 

It was time. Time for Bradley to trust himself. And if he failed, he trusted Reuben to take the notebook back to San Diego and get it into the hands of his wife. Then you'd take care of the notebook for the Nugget. Because if there was one person who was never going to let him down, it was you.

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

I can't deal with how much I've been hurting my own feelings with these two. Should we start a new series? Would that be okay? A tragic, new series? Thank you for reading about and loving them! Please stay tuned. Thanks @mak-32 and @beyondthesefourwalls

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[mynameismckenziemae]

All of Me

Part 2

(previous part here, next part here)

Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin x You

Summary: You see Jake again, much sooner than expected.

Warnings: 18+ MDNI! Mentions of medical stuff, probable naval inaccuracies, mentions of losing a spouse, etc. Please see disclaimer below also.

•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•

Monday morning greets you like a slap in the face.

Between the jet lag, late night with Jake, and a full day of adjusting to being back home with your son, you were exhausted when your alarm went off.

You wished you had toothpicks to keep your eyes open that morning in orientation… the exact same orientation that you’ve done with every move.

You nearly cried when you were dismissed for lunch.

A familiar voice takes you back to the past as you make your way back to your office for lunch.

It was one of the things you were both excited about and dreading about being back here.

“Ma’am? Lieutenant Commander Kerner?”

You smile as you turn. “Lieutenant Bradshaw, long time no see.”

“Too long,” he agrees as he pulls you in for a quick hug. “God, I can’t believe how big Drew’s getting when I saw him last week.”

“You’re telling me. I swear he grew a foot in the six months I was gone,” you reply, tilting your head as you approach your office as an invite.

“Deployments suck,” he agrees. “He’s looking more and more like Andy every day,” Bradley says softly, following you in.

Some people don’t like talking about their deceased spouses, but you loved hearing it; loved that people remembered him.

“Stubborn like him too,” you mutter with a roll of your eyes.

Bradley laughs, “I think we both know he gets that from you.”

You answer by throwing a crouton from your salad at him.

•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•

Bradley has you laughing through your lunch hour, reminiscing about the trouble you had gotten up to together in your younger years.

You were 2 years older than Andy, who was 2 years older than Bradley and the two of them had grown up together. Ron, your father-in-law, had flown with Bradley’s dad and became one of his honorary uncles after Goose had passed away.

Drew loved Uncle Roo, who often took him overnight for ‘boys nights’; Drew refused to tell you what the two of them got up to, just giggling when you asked.

“Where were you Saturday night? I called but it went straight to voicemail,” you ask.

“I-uh, had a date,” he says, flushing and scratching the back of his neck. He always does that when he’s not telling you something.

“A date? Is that what you call getting your dick wet now?”

“Shut up,” he laughs, avoiding the question; which just confirms it. He sighs before he looks at your wedding ring, still on your left hand. “You know he wouldn’t want you to be alone.”

“I-“ you start but are interrupted by a knock on your door frame.

“Dr. Kerner? Your first patient is all set. Just a routine physical,” your nurse, Sophie, says by the door. You smile at the way her eyes look Bradley up and down.

“Thanks, Soph, I’ll be right there,” you reply, happy to avoid the conversation.

“I’ll talk to you later, Kernsie,” Bradley calls you by Andy’s nickname before rising to his feet as he follows Sophie out. You can hear him introducing himself to her as they walk down the hall.

•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•

You knock and enter the exam room as you grab the chart from the basket outside the door without looking at the name on the front.

“Hi, I-Jake?” Your stomach flips as you see your one-night stand sitting in front of you.

“Reese? What are you doing here?” Jake says, rising to his feet.

How can he look so good in a hospital gown?

“I-,” you stutter, before shaking your head. You’re a professional, act like one. “I’m Dr. Kerner.”

“You’re a doctor?” He repeats, still processing. “You just told me you worked in healthcare.”

“Yes, it is the truth. And said you worked in aviation…,” you trail off, looking at his chart finally. “You’re a fighter pilot.”

Just like Andy was. You definitely have a type.

“I’m sorry,” you continue, shutting his chart. “This is a conflict of interest. I’ll have you reschedule with Dr. Thompson.”

“No!” He puts his hand over your arm. “Can you see me today? Please? Dr. Thompson is booked out and if I don’t get this physical done today, I’m grounded.”

“It’s not my fault you waited until the last minute,” you lecture, quirking a brow.

“I know,” he sighs, removing his hand from your arm. “It’s mine. I just hate anything medical-just never mind. I’ll reschedule.”

His pitiful tone tugs at your heartstrings.

“Just get on the table. If anyone asks, this is the first time we’ve met,” you sigh, gesturing with your hand for him to sit on the exam table.

“Thanks,” he replies, flashing you a dimpled grin that surely gets him into and out of trouble.

You can’t help sneaking a peek at his cute Calvin Klein-clad butt as he turns to do ask you asked.

•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•

He flinches when you snap the nitrile gloves you put on moments later.

“Lay back for me,” you instruct as you pull the footrest out as he reclines. You can feel his heart rate increase when you feel the lymph nodes in his neck down to his armpit.

Yours begins to race as your hands journey lower to palpate the sharp cut of his abdomen.

Good God he’s ripped.

“Next, I’m going to put my hand by your groin to feel the lymph nodes there, is that okay?” Your hands pause on his lower abdomen as you wait for him to consent.

“Yes,” he replies, inhaling sharply when your fingers lift the waistband and dip inside to feel along the line connecting his groin to his thigh. It’s not uncommon for male patients to get an erection during an exam, but it’s a first for you to like the way his cock twitches.

Your face heats as you remember how Andy would let you practice exams on him while in med school. Those “exams” always ended in sex.

Guess you might have a medical role-play kink.

“All good so far,” you murmur as you guide him into a seated position.

“Take a deep breath in,” you request from Jake’s side as you listen to his lungs before moving your stethoscope lower. “Good, again.”

Both your face and between your legs heat when you see the scratch marks down his back that your nails left 2 nights prior.

“Looks like you got mauled by a cougar,” you tease as you run your fingers over the red lines, delighting in his sharp inhale and the goosebumps that follow.

“Maybe I did,” he turns toward you, eyes meeting yours before flicking to your lips.

“Maybe I should report you for allowing someone to damage government property,” you smirk, coming around to stand in front of him.

“You’re the one-wait, you’re fucking married?” He exclaims moments later, zeroing in on your ring when you place your stethoscope on his chest to listen to his heart.

“Shhhh!” You shush him, looking at the door, waiting for someone to burst through.

“What the fuck, Reese?!” He hisses. The disgust in his tone makes you want to curl in on yourself, even though you’ve done nothing wrong.

“Jake, I-“ you start to answer, but he cuts you off.

“You’re wearing a wedding ring and you weren’t on Saturday. Why would ask me to have a drink with you? Jesus, Reese. I don’t fuck married women,” he seethes, looking away. “Who’s your husband? Do I have to worry about getting reprimanded or my ass kicked?”

“Andrew Kerner,” you reply, “and no. He passed away 8 years ago.”

His head whips toward you.

“Drifter was your husband? Slider’s son?” He asks, putting all of the pieces together.

You nod as you begin to check his reflexes.

“Shit,” he pales as he realizes how he just treated you. “I am so sorry.”

“It’s fine,” you reply, “You didn’t know.”

His reaction hurt, but it was fair. You were wearing a wedding ring.

“I don’t wear it to the beach because of the sand and sunscreen, otherwise I usually wear it on my right hand,” you explain, “but when I’m at work or somewhere I don’t want to appear single, I keep it on my left. I’m…just not ready to be done wearing it yet.”

“I’ve heard he was a good man. He sure was one helluva pilot,” Jake says before putting his hand over yours that’s on his knee. You suppress the shiver at the feel of his callouses. “I really am sorry, Reese.”

“You’re forgiven,” you reply, giving him a small smile.

“You know Rooster then,” he thinks aloud, then his eyes widen as his eyes flock to your stomach, your c-section scar. “You’re Drew’s mom.”

The mama bear in you bristles. “How do you know Drew?”

“I transferred here…the same unit as Rooster about 5 months ago,” he explains quickly, picking up you don’t mess around when it comes to your son. “He took Drew to a Padres game for one of their boys days a few weeks ago and invited me too.”

You relax at his response. You trust that Roo wouldn’t take Drew around just anyone

“He’s a great kid, Reese,” he continues. “Takes after you; cute, funny, sarcastic, smart.”

“Thanks. He is pretty great,” you agree. “Now stand up and bend over for me.”

He blushes as he chuckles before he does as asks. “I think that’s the first time a woman’s said that to me.”

You roll your eyes but a laugh escapes as you evaluate his spine. “Alright,” you tap him to stand again, “I’m sure you’ve heard this one before: drop your drawers.”

He flushes further and he laughs as he does as he lets his underwear drop. “Yes ma’am.”

You grab your wheeled stool to sit while trying to ignore the rush of arousal his words send between your thighs as your hand sneaks under the gown.

“I’m going to touch your inner thigh and then your testicles to feel for a hernia with your permission,” you obtain consent again and proceed when he nods.

He looks away, pink still staining his cheeks as your hand moves up his thigh. He hardens instantly, tenting the fabric directly in front of your face.

“Turn your head and cough for me? Good,” you say, looking at the floor. It’s both awkward and arousing; you can’t imagine how he feels. “One more time. Good.”

You rise and nod for him to pull his underwear back on, turning your back on him to remove your gloves and wash your hands to give him an illusion of privacy.

“I’ll step out so you can get dressed,” you say as you dry your hands.

“Just like yesterday morning,” he says, smirking to let you know he’s teasing when your eyes meet his.

•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•

“You’re all set then, lieutenant,” you tell him as you finish charting, “do you have any other questions?”

“Just one,” he replies. “Why’d you leave without waking me up? Or leaving your number? I really like you. I thought we had fun.”

You’re surprise His hurt tone dents the wall you constructed around your heart.

“I did have fun,” you answer truthfully and sigh before you continue. “I don’t get a lot of free time, Jake. That’s why I was at the beach Saturday. I just got back from a 6-month deployment early and Drew was at still Disney with Grandma and Grandpa. I found out yesterday morning they were on their way back and I wanted to beat them home,” you explain. “I saw your dog tags by the door when I was looking for something to leave you a note with and figured I’d see you around since I’m now stationed here. I didn’t expect it quite so soon though.”

“Can I take you out sometime? I’d like to get to know you better,” he asks, hopeful.

His face falls a second later at your hesitation.

“I’m a 38 year old, widowed, single mom. You’re what…30?” He nods once and you continue, “I’m not really looking for a relationship right now; I barely have any time for myself, much less a relationship. You deserve someone young and fun that can do things at the drop of a hat.”

He nods, mulling over your words before he grabs a pen and scribbles something on the notepad sitting on the desk.

He rises and hands you the note.

“There’s my number if you change your mind or just want another night of fun,” he says as he walks toward the door. “I’ll gladly take anything you’re willing to give me.”

•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•

Disclaimer: this is just fiction and fun. A medical provider should NEVER make inappropriate comments/touches, etc. They SHOULD get consent before touching you. Lmk if you have any questions/concerns with this.

A/N: Sorry about the wait, for those of you who don’t follow me closely, I’ve been at the beach on a girls trip for the past 5 days.

So…what’d you think?

As always, any interaction is appreciated but I love hearing what you think in comments/reblogs!

Please let me know if you want to be added to my taglist (sorry if I forget anyone, I won’t be mad if you remind me).

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[trashmouth-richie]

𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐬 

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓: 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐠𝐨 𝐨𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧’ 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠

𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲:  𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬?

𝐭𝐰: 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭, heavy angst! 𝟏𝟖+, 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝟏𝟖+ 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐝𝐫𝐮𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐞, 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐞, 𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 

𝟔.𝟐𝐤 — my goal was 10k let’s all laugh masterlist

a/n: good morrow cousin, don’t mind me just vibin’ anyway— pls ignore the lack of formatting, google docs… count your days. this story still means so much to me, i won’t jump ship on it, and i hope you understand the mental headspace i get in while writing and how 🥰draining and crippling🥰 it truly is 🥲 BUT I DO IT FOR YOU MY LOVERS! ♥️😵‍💫

Sweaty hands were clamped in a bone aching constriction around your steering wheel the entirety of the drive to the club. Watching the whispy curls of dust from the gravel color the powder blue sky, you mutter to yourself.

This was so stupid.

Magenta hued beads hanging from the rearview mirror sway and clack together as you pull the car sharply into the your designated spot towards the back of the parking lot. Flitting a quick glance in the mirror to see if Eddie was still following, you tear your eyes away when the jet black steel of the fender catches the sun's rays, sending a blinding wink into the side mirrors as he approaches, parking alongside you.

This is crazy. This is insane.

Wiping your palms hastily on the ruby stockings pinched to your thighs, you wonder when the nerves in your chest would settle. If your stomach would ever stop churning with the rapid wings of a swarm of angry bees?

Why were you nervous? It was just Eddie.

Your knee bounces of its own accord as you remind yourself of just that. The dry swallow of the tablets you took before he could notice would start working in no time, and then you’d be able to stomach what you were getting yourself into.

Eddie Munson. A childhood friend. Taking a few deep breaths, you open the door into the shared space, and are met with that shit eating grin he never lost.

Here we go.

Green lensed aviators are nestled onto the bridge of his nose, a black bandana snug on his head that you definitely didn’t watch him tie back at your apartment as he straddled the bike before revving the engine and shooting you a daring smile.

Crunching gravel beneath his boots, he stands with hands in the back of his pocket.

“So…” he asks, hooking a thumb over his shoulder towards the club, “when did the Hideout go belly up?”

A sigh leaves your mouth and you turn to get the laundry from the backseat of your sedan, voice muffled, “eighty…-three, I think..” you say strangled like, as you struggle with the bulk of the laundry basket. The strap of your purse is slung over your shoulder when you finally emerge from the car and stand upright to face him.

“Here,” he offers, holding his hands out in offering his help.

Puzzled, you look at everything in your hands, deciding against thrusting the basket of sheets into his awaiting arms, you nod your head towards the car and step out of the way, “sure, my shoes from the back? I just gotta find the keys.”

Switching the basket to your hip you dive into the depths of your purse looking for the keys to unlock the club doors.

Eddie’s fingers curl around the straps of your high heels. A look of bewildered awkwardness coloring his brow. The aching reminder of his actions that damned you to this life were held between his fingers. Cheap leather material, a small brass buckle, plastic.

He slams your door in defeat, hating himself more with each day of being back in Hawkins.

Your hand finagles the key, jingling it out from the mess of your purse. When you look up with a sly little quirk at the corner of your lips for your triumph…Eddie has planted a fake smile on his lips… one that was buried within him before you can see the sadness in his eyes.

“Ready?”

Mrs. Click rattled on and on about WWII, sounding more like the adults in a Peanuts episode every second that ticked by. A loud yawn escapes Eddie’s already slack mouth as he doodles in the margins of his paper, a blue smear on his hand from the ink.

A crumpled ball of composition paper lands on his textbook skidding across the slicked pages and finding home against the wire of his notebook.

Without looking around Eddie already knows who the note is from. A simple scrawled sentence with big loops on the letters and a smiley face after the question mark.

“Lolly wants ‘sketti’ for supper tonight… you in? :)”

His dimples well deep in his cheeks as he scribbles a reply, stealing a glance your way. When Mrs. Click’s back is turned to scratch a hiss of powdered chalk into the board, he lobs the note back to you, hitting your shoulder lightly.

A slow smile creeps across your face as you flatten the note with your palms and read your best friend’s scratched handwriting.

“Hell yeah!”

…

The halls were quiet, Hawkins High students busying themselves with tests and worrying about grade point averages. Not even the janitor Sal was squeaking down the halls.

“If Ms. Judy catches us…”

“She won’t.”

“What about Higgins? I can’t get detention again, my dad will slaughter me.”

“Clove…” Eddie grumbled, stopping his task of picking the lock to look at you with the deepest sincerity, “I promise, we’ll be fine, okay?…just, shit, keep your eyes peeled, I’m almost… there…”

A wicked sliver of a grin plays on his lips.

“Yahtzee, baby! C’mon”

The door to the school kitchen swung open beneath his hand. The smell of Comet cleaner and fresh baked bread invade your nose.

The blade of his knife is closed with a clink on his hip as he bends low with a bow for you to go in first, “let’s go shopping.”

“Set them wherever,” you say nonchalantly, pupils adjusting to the darkness as you step through the threshold into the club.

Walking to the counter and shifting the basket on your hip tossing the keys on the bar, you wiggle off your purse, and turn around to see him standing by a barstool, looking slightly out of place, like a lit Christmas tree in the summertime.

Seeing Eddie in the club, in the depths of sweat and sin was gut wrenching. The club was accustomed to pleasuring pastors and preachers, cops and school teachers. They had all traipsed across the wood floor in their Sunday best, shoes shined to godliness… leaving with lipstick stains and reeking of alcohol. Sin on their breath and in their Hanes.

No, him being here made you feel like your skin was crawling, and that you were about to scream at any given moment.

Heaving the basket onto the nearest table, you take a wounded breath, holding it for longer than necessary to squish your toes along the muddy depth of Lover’s Lake. You spin to avert the lingering glances from Eddie, his eyes burrowing into you like hot steel to butter.

Slotting yourself behind the bar you holler over your shoulder, “park it, I’ll get some drinks.”

Lights flicker and hum an exhausted tune as they slowly shine light to the grim bar, just enough to not be cast in complete darkness.

Eddie grabs the stool in a swift all too cool motion, sliding his long frame over it, the chain on his hip jingling against the wood as he sits, “just water for me…what?” he laughs.

You’re turned facing him with a furrowed brow, holding two of the cleanest shot glasses Queens had in one palm, the other steady on your hip, an annoyed look on your face, “don’t make me drink alone, Slim.”

He laughs again, a loud abrupt sound as he shakes his head, tucking his sunglasses in the neck of his shirt. A modest blush pinking his cheeks as his tongue runs over the sharp edges of his canines.

You haven’t budged, and Eddie finally looks up to meet your stare.

His eyes are glassy, dark and almost a sheen of velvet to them under the shadow of bandana, and the comical yellow rubber of the bandaid.

If eyes were the windows to the soul, you were familiar with his scenery, this particular essence was hurt like you, wounded in the same ways. The past showed through the forlorn strangeness of the last few years like a weathered map with all too familiar paths. Looking into his pools of deep darkness felt soothing in a crippling ached breath.

Features could change but eyes couldn’t, they kept you anchored to him stuck in the void of his mud.

It’s a game before you realize it.

A stare down… in dim light, eyes drying by the second, but it’s Eddie who folds first, no cards left to hold, or rather letting his opponent win. Like old times.

“Always such a headache, huh? Fine,” he exaggerates with a petty eye roll, “you win.” The crooked smirk on his lips gives him away, matching your own.

The two stout glasses clink together against your palm, a bottle of Jameson held by its neck in your other hand, “Not much has changed I see,” you quip, setting them down and pouring the whiskey into the first one, “you still suck at games.”

Eddie cringes as you pour the second, “trying to kill us? Do you not remember what happened on your fifteenth birthday?”

You erupt with laughter, tossing your head back and giggling in that little way he hadn’t heard since you were kids, “oh please,” you snort, thinking back to how drunk the both of you had gotten, “you don’t either.”

Eddie smiles, “probably not the greatest idea I’ve had.”

Sliding a glass towards him you hold yours up, the lights coloring the dark amber into a caramel pool of regret, “to us.”

“To old friends,” Eddie follows, in a grand accent, holding his glass next to yours, “burying the hatchet, stitching old wounds..”

“Alright Shakespeare wrap it up.”

“.. to you.” he says barely above a whisper, his eyes scanning your face, and you shudder involuntarily before tipping the glass against your lips and swallowing the liquor.

It burned on your tongue, hot and unwelcoming, sliding like lava down your throat. Eddie winces, making a sour face as he slaps his glass down on the wood top of the bar.

“Fuck, that's horrible.”

“Ah,” you say, pulling a lever on the tap and putting a tall frosted mug under the spout of draft beer, “it’s not that bad.”

He watches as you pour another beer walk around the bar with one in each hand. His cheeks pink when you smile at him, and he quickly pulls out a stool for you.

Leaning your back against the counter you sip your drink. The bar is empty but the roaring waves of silence crash loud in your ears. It’s strange. Being here with him, would you ever get over seeing him after so many years?

“I won’t lie, Clovie, ’m not much of a drinker.” Eddie admits, rubbing his thumbs along the frosted mug.

“Well,” you say, holding your beer up to your lips, and looking over the edge to meet his gaze, “today you are.”

Taking a generous sip you smile when he follows suit.

“Eddie Munson, back in Indiana,” you tease, elongating the vowels of the state, “never thought I’d see the day.”

He shrugs, tossing long curls behind his shoulder, “missed the scenery.”

You scoff, “yeah the luscious rolling hills of the trailer park really get me feeling like Julie Andrews too.”

He cringes, raising his brows for emphasis, “Those hills have eyes.”

“Eww..” your nose crinkles, “Craven outdid himself with that one, I still won’t watch it.”

Eddie takes a pull from his beer before adding nonchalantly, “that’s cause you’re chicken shit.”

Blowing a raspberry with your lips, your eyes narrow as you spit an insult. “This coming from the guy who slept with his lights on after watching E.T.”

“When he turns white by the river?! Fucker looks like a crushed powdered donut!”

It was easy falling back into the throws of jokes and banter with Eddie. You both giggle like kids talking about movies that had shredded horror as kids but now made you cringe with how poor they were done.

After a particularly long laugh about whether or not you still carried around your security blanket, Eddie sighs, “I thought this was gonna be weird,” Your nerves had calmed at the expense of childlike humor and talks of times long ago, that you finally slide on the stool he had pulled out for you. “us…. this place… Hawkins,” he bumps your elbow with his, “ shit I mean, we’re drinking in a bar, legally! Who would have thought?”

Your grin warms his heart like honey in a cup of tea, “somehow the beer doesn’t taste any better once you’re old enough to drink it.” The sip you took from your frosted mug was far from ladylike.

“You’re right,” he agrees, following your lead and taking a big gulp, “something forbidden always tastes better.”

Right now you felt like Eve, enjoying the fruits of company from Eddie Munson, and your cheeks heat. Rick hadn’t crossed your mind since he drove down the driveway this morning, and you’d like to keep it that way.

“…a motorcycle, huh?” you say changing the subject, “honestly didn't think you were the type.”

He shrugs nonchalantly, a little dimple pitting in the plumpness of his cheek, “Type? Like I need to be a colossal douche to drive one, hell…it’s good on gas, real fast. I got a buddy who fixed it up for me, owed me a favor for a cover up I did on his back.”

“Cover up?” you ask, eyebrow quirked, “like…a tattoo?”

“Yeah,” he says, swiveling on his barstool to face you, rolling his sleeves up past his elbow showing off his tattooed arms in the space between you both, “did these myself, just something I do for fun.”

His skin is embellished more than it is bare. Dark swirls of onyx branched out along his left wrist and up to the rolled fabric of his shirt, and you wonder if it disappeared up to his arm, around his torso? The marks seemed to flow like a river, connecting, gathering, forking this way and that, etching more pages to a story of an unfamiliar tale. You hoped to one day know its origin.

Without asking, your fingertips trace the outlines of the black ink, delicately following the path.

They circled around a rose covered in heavy dark thorns, dripping with blood. It had bloomed in a grassy knob made of lyrics from songs you had never heard. The inscriptions continue to channel along to a long silver dagger with a jeweled embellished handle of pretty emeralds that were shaped in irregular patterns. The dagger sunk into his skin and poked back out, shredding tendons and marrow in its wake… all exposed, coming to a point at his wrist.

It was as if he created his own armor, each intricate drag of the needle serving as a steady reminder that he would overcome. You can’t help the smile spreading on your lips, you had never seen anything more beautiful in your life.

“Should have guessed you’d end up being some sort of artist, Eddie, these are really lovely.”

He smiles, warm and inviting as he reaches for your hand, angling it towards him to get a proper look at the stick n poke tattoo he did years before.

A rough thumb sweeps along your skin, and the whiskey coloring of his eyes pour into yours, “I could fix this for you, make it look better.”

“Absolutely not,” you falsely gasp, “I love it just the way it is… besides you didn’t cover yours up either,” you point to the tattoo on his left hand. The small heart and clover were faded and blown out, a stark contrast difference against the shadowed dark lines around it.

You grin and meet his eyes. “Do you remember how hot it was that day?”

Eddie had always kept that memory at the surface, remembered as if it were yesterday, thinking about it often. As if your hand was still sweating in his, he could practically smell the peanut butter in your hair, feel the dampness on his shoulder from your tears.

“Yeah,” he says with a sad little smile, “I remember getting our asses chewed because we burnt supper.”

The light leaves your eyes and your smile fades, venom on your tongue as you spit, “should have poisoned them both… could have saved ourselves a world of trouble.”

Eddie’s stomach rumbled at the empty hollow feeling it used to play on repeat, if it weren't for you, he would have starved indefinitely.

“Juvy couldn’t have been that bad, THREE meals a day? Shit, practically a cake walk.”

“Yeah, lucky bastards,” you admit, a small lost look on your face as you drop his hand, mind wandering to the long forgotten childhood you were abandoned in. If your dad wasn’t screaming at you and raising a fist it was the neighbors ignoring the hollering and groaning of furniture snapping against thin walls from the Munson trailer. Never a silent hour in the park.

It’s quiet for a few beats as you drink your beer, finishing it a few swallows and leaning over the bar to grab the bottle of Jameson, pouring another round.

“So, the motorcycle, tattooing… you must be fighting off the ladies.”

Eddie laughs, his eyes darting across your face with a quirked brow, “not hardly.”

Rolling your eyes you sip at the bitter drink, “don’t be prude Munson, tell me.”

He scoffs and moves hair from his neck, suddenly interested in the bottom of his drink, “I’m not telling you the woes of my love life, thanks.”

“C’mon..” you pout, showing your bottom lip, “we never got to have talks like this!”

Eddie snorted at the pathetic pout you showed, “yeah and we aren’t gonna start now because there’s nothing to tell.”

Your eyes narrowed into slits as you scowled at him. “You’ve always been such a bad liar, bet your ears are red,” you reach for his hair in a feeble attempt to reveal what you both already knew to be true.

“Quit!” Eddie yells playfully, batting your hand away, “alright yeah, I’ve had a girlfriend or two,” he shrugs, “never anything serious.”

You grin at him lazily, elbow on the counter and your chin in your palm, even though your heart sank a bit at the thought of him loving someone, “ahh, see? That wasn’t so bad.”

Eddie blushes under your stare, “speak for yourself.”

He looks down, rubbing condensation from his mug with his thumbs. “And you? d’you uh… got a boyfriend?”

Your smile fades and you try not to shiver in disgust as you pour another shot. Slapping the glass down hard on the counter as you drain it, “I wouldn’t exactly call him that… it’s more of an… agreement.”

His face breaks into a jigsaw puzzle, “what does that mean?”

“Dont wanna bore you with ‘my love life woes’…” you interject, ignoring him, putting the tip of your finger in his glass and dragging it towards you. Tipping in more Jameson and sliding it towards him.

The buzz was tickling your fingers, a lightness took over your head as the alcohol seeped into your blood.

“Down to the meat and potatoes Slim…why are you home? I mean it’s not as if this shithole holds any happy memories.”

He brought the shot glass to his lips, sipping it down as you pour yourself another.

How did you not know that the only happy memory he had of Hawkins was you? He didn’t know how to tell you that it was the memory of your smile that kept him company when the nights were cold and he didn’t know where his next meal would come from.

He takes a deep breath, “my uncle died,” he squints with a puckered sour face at the burn from the liquor shaking his head, “Al is either dead or on another bender so…” he claps his hands, “here I am… met with his girlfriend today actually.”

You frown, reaching for his folded hands, tapping his knuckles, “‘m sorry, Eddie. Wayne was sweet, respectful, a regular here… to the bar, not the club.”

Eddie rolls his shoulders, trying to untie his tongue to ask the question that burned in him, “when did you um... start working here?”

Your stomach drops at his question, and your nails clack around the Jameson bottle again as you dump yet another splash into your glass. Your answer is muffled behind a choked swallow.

He frowns, racking his brain, “wait.. isn’t that…”

“My birthday,” you fake cheer, eyes too wet for normal conversation, “big 1-8.”

“Jesus...”

Eddie’s eyes shut in horror and your doomed fate. He covered his mouth with a fist to shield you from his quivering bottom lip. It was a far fucking cry from what he could have even imagined.

His eighteenth birthday was no glorious day either but he wasn’t forced to work in a strip club. His stomach churns, making milk into butter at the thought of your naive innocent eyes, and how they had almost hardened to steel in his absence.

The whiskey is working its magic now you’re feeling a little hot behind the ears, fuzzy in your head, dizzy eyed.He stares for a while over at you, watching in disappointment as you get clumsy with the pours, spilling a little on the counter and wiping it away with your bare hand, as you slug down, yet another, shot.

You stand suddenly, stumbling behind the bar and to the chip stand. Your fingers miss the clips in your attempt to release the snacks but they finally find home and you grab a bag, flinging it to him before opening one for yourself.

“Cool right?” you say, struggling to open it, tongue poked out in drunken concentration.

“Y’know I think most kids get a car,” the bag opens sending a confetti of salted crumbs and chips scattering to the counter to be crunched at your feet. Trying not to meet his eyes you talk to the ceiling, “maybe a crisp hundred dollar bill for their eighteenth. Clove? Blisters, a couple of bruises.. oh, and my name! Carved on the bathroom door, for a good time call…”

He’s struck dumb. Shell shocked and blinking back tears. Eddie clears his throat and reaches across the bar for your hand but you pull away from him, instead grabbing for the bottle.

“Welcome back.” you muse before pressing the mouth of the bottle angrily to your lips… foregoing the glass entirely.

Tipping your head back the now tasteless liquor slides down your throat with ease. An expert at coating the agony, you wait for your brain to lose oxygen and beg for an intake of breath, silently hoping you’d drown instead.

Years have passed of you dulling misery with anything you could get your hands on, liquor, pills, a little bit of nose powder… you’d tried most of the things Rick sold. And it worked until you needed more and more. It was a vicious cycle you were chasing.

But with Eddie here? It was nearly impossible to breeze over the truth.

When the bottle, in its near emptiness, slapped against the counter… a pair of dark eyes stare up at you, wide and sad, glossy with tears of shaming guilt.

Eddie couldn’t have guessed that your life was going to end up this way. He was naive in thinking that. Fucking stupid. He should kick his own ass for leaving the way he did, but his options were limited. Still, he’d wear the brunt of this mistake on his shoulders like a heavy cloak.

Your eyes were empty, lost, and he couldn’t handle it anymore. He shook his head slow, voice gravely.

“I owe you years worth of apologies, Clove.”

You’re more than tipsy at this point, and suddenly you can’t form words as your breath is trapped in your throat.

He was practically in tears as he tried his hardest to explain himself, tried to right this wrong.

“I was young, so fucking stupid..”

“Eddie..” As much as you wanted to know what happened it suddenly felt like too much, like your brain would implode, unable to process the heartache any further.

“Just listen, okay? Please?” He’s begging for your attention and you would rather melt into the floor. “I never told you, I never told anyone.”

Thicker than thieves. Eddie knew you like the back of his hand and likewise with you, so what the hell was he talking about?

…

“Check the back, I’m sure the canned stuff is there.”

The kitchen was eerily quiet, filled with sleepy rays of the afternoon sun, loaves of bread set out on the counter fresh from the oven for tomorrow's lunch.

You pad on tip toes to the back room lined with shelves of aluminum cans, and dried goods. You didn’t know where to start.

“How many should we take?” you whisper yell over your shoulder, “Two? Three?”

Eddie’s using his shirt as a basket, filling it full with small cartons of milk, shoving apples in his pockets, “Look for the big ones, then we won’t have to come back for a… oh fuck yeah, come to daddy.”

“Ew, Eddie!”

“Found some cheese!” he cheers, “we could make garlic bread!”

Label after label your fingers skimmed over the cans. Peaches, tapioca pudding, green beans, lima beans, and finally… in a can larger than your head, crushed tomatoes.

“Jackpot,” you whisper grabbing the cans and adjusting them one under each arm, “ready?”

Eddie’s frame fills the doorway, arms bundled with an assortment of goodies, a fresh loaf of bread in a plastic bread sack between his teeth, a joker’s grin wide on his face, “let’s roll.”

…

It was pure dumb coincidence that an exit was next to the cafeteria. You were surprised at the fact that Eddie's jeans didn’t fall down to his ankles from the extra weight of food heavy in his pockets as the two of you ran to his van and sped back to the trailer park.

“We made out like bandits, gonna eat like kings tonight, Clovie.” Eddie’s smile is spread wide as he helps haul the looted school food into your trailer.

Years of yellowing stains from tobacco use shown on every surface, a permanent haze of smoke lingering in the air, baking in the sunlight. Dishes littered the sink in standing dirty gray water, gone ice cold.

“Sorry for the mess,” you explain, reaching into the sink to pull the stopper, “I fell asleep before doing them while reading Lolly her library book.”

Eddie opens a drawer looking for a can opener, “and your dad didn’t come unglued? You must be Irish with that kinda luck.”

“He was passed out, I could have lit the place on fire and he wouldn’t have known, and he was gone before my alarm went off this morning.”

Peeling back the tin lid after pinching it open with the can opener, Eddie grunts, “yeah, my dad left early this morning too, said something about keeping my ‘filthy fucking hands off his stash’ and that he’d be gone for a few days.”

It was an enormous relief when it was just you and Eddie to fend for yourselves. Most teens could barely use the stove to make popcorn, but you had been taking care of yourself and Lolly for years. It was what you preferred.

Reaching for the one good aluminum pot that was stashed above the fridge, you pull it down and remove the magazine clippings of recipes you wanted to try or things that looked easy to make with the very little your cabinets held. “Good, glad they’ll be gone.”

Eddie sucks a tomato sauce covered thumb into his mouth, smiling in a way that made your cheeks heat, “almost like you read my mind.”

He’s hesitant now, fumbling over his words and brushing hair from his neck.

“I, you know I always talked about leaving Hawkins…practically had it all figured out by the time we were thirteen.”

You remember how serious his face was when he cupped your arms in the kitchen, his words branding themselves in your skull like a prisoner counting down days.

He swallows roughly, running hands through his hair, “I… I wanted you to… firstly…I need you to understand that I didn’t want to leave… not without you.”

Playing coy you brush off his serious tone, “.. stop.”

“I’m serious,” he sighs, reaching for your hand and your stomach flips when his calloused palm clamps tight on your knuckles, “you were everything to me.”

“.. c’mon Eddie, that’s just the liquor talkin’ now.”

“t’s not… and with me,” his eyes seem to grow in size as his sincerity leaks through them, “I’d never tell you something like this while drunk.”

You swallow dryly and nod, accepting that whatever he was about to say was true and real.

He takes a sharp intake of breath, as if this particular memory hurt him more than any other. His eyes were growing dark. solemn, and he squeezed your hand as he begins.

“I think it was about a year before I left… we made spaghetti with shit we stole from the cafeteria…”

A pain in your chest blossoms with a thought you hadn’t remembered until now when he reminded you. The taste of cheesy bread in the oven and salty tomatoey spaghetti invade your mind.

“I still can't eat spaghetti.”

A quick smirk dances in the corner of his lip and he meets your eyes, “yeah… me neither, I stayed over on the floor of the bathroom.”

You nod, remembering the sounds of Eddie retching into the toilet while you laid in your bed, a popcorn bowl keeping you company, thankful that Lolly hadn’t gotten sick. Even though you had gotten screamed at for being sick yourself when your dad and Al came back earlier than expected.

“Well, I was awake when they came home. They didn’t know I was there or even awake, and they were talking ‘business’.. you know those trailer walls are so fuckin’ thin, couldn’t not hear them.”

His eyes pinched shut like you would on a rollercoaster when it’s too scary, shaking his head, his other hand clamped over the one he held yours in, rubbing as if he could possibly buff out the callouses.

You can’t do anything but stare at him. Frozen in place. Scared to move, not even breathing.

“They had been talking about how some of their new “talent” wouldn’t be ready to go right away but… goddamn…” his voice cracks and he shakes his head before his demeanor falls and his voice gets quiet almost mute, “they had someone in mind to fill in in the mean time…”

No.

It shouldn’t have been a shock, shouldn’t have gutted you on the spot, usingyour intestines as a jump rope, but somehow, hearing this from Eddie’s mouth made it worse than if you were to hear it from them yourself.

You wanted to run away, to hide and never come out of a dark hole.

“… I hoarded away any nickel I could find, because we were going to leave. Together.” he squeezes your hand on the last word, possibly trying to bring you back to life as you stared ominously at the counter next to your conjoined hands.

The stagnant air is cold between you, and you aren’t sure if you’ve taken a breath within the last two minutes or not. Cold sweat formed on your lower back and any high you were feeling was dull, a competition to fight with your lucidness. Eddie took a few deep breaths before continuing.

“I replay that day over and over… how my dad came home, screaming about how I was a man now, needed to start helping with the family business stop freeloading like my mom… y’ know somethin’ Clove, to this day I’ve never touched that shit, and that was the one and only time I’ve ever seen heroin.” He hangs his head and you shift on uneasy feet.

“Telling him no was my first mistake, But I had to stick up for myself, had to let him know that I wasn’t gonna be like him,” he spoke now through gritted teeth as he admits, “but instead he swung on me,” Eddie chuckles despite the gravity of his words, “got a few good jabs in before he pulled those brass knuckles out.”

Your hand flies to cover your mouth before you realize it’s open in horror.

“I packed the van when I heard him leave, pocketed the cash I had saved up. This was it, we were getting the hell out. You and me, Lolly too… fuck I can’t even imagine how crazy I looked covered in blood,” he sighs then, shuttering like, voice shaking, his eyes wet.

Your heart broke for him. Broke for his demons that followed him around like a shadow. “I… I didn’t even get a knock in on your window before I felt a gun pressed to my head …”

It’s your turn to take a shaky breath, and you can’t hide the burn in your nose or the way your mouth tingled from holding in tears.

His voice is low, broken, “… I didn’t have a choice. It wasn’t just me they were threatening. He made it more than clear how easy it would be to get rid of two kids nobody wanted to begin with.”

Slipping in and out of present time, you imagine how scared Eddie must have been. The look of terror on his face as a grown adult held him at gunpoint. How his own dad hit him until he bled, how he tried to get to you, tried to save you. You were a fucking fool for hating him when the one you should have been hating this entire time was yourself.

“… he followed me to the van… told me he’d fill me full of lead if he ever came back.”

You pinched your eyes shut, imagining him driving away from the only home he’d ever known, from his life, from you.

His voice fades in and out, as he works through the emotions wavering in his body. “I should have come back for you, should have, I dunno.. I’m sorry, Clove.”

It’s quiet as you process everything Eddie has said. The pain you’d shoved down for years is raging towards you like a bull. Red, angry, demanding to be felt. But you would hide from this terrorizing house of horrors for as long as you could, and you step out of the bull’s way, deflecting.

“Music!” you screech out of nowhere, through the thick haze of sadness, “we need music.”

Standing abruptly, sending the now empty bottle of Jameson clattering across the counter, Eddie tries to steady you from across the bar, his cheeks damp.

“Whoa, hey.. you okay?”

“I gotta,” your hands roam over yourself in search of pockets, “…hey you got a quarter?” The floor seemed to move as you teetered toward the jukebox, keeping your eyes on the colorful lights as you walked towards it like a moth to a flame.

“Wai…” he takes a step forward reaching for your hand but deciding against it, hand going limp by his side, his eyes searching inside your own.

You desperately want to break against him, to throw yourself in his arms and let him hold you until the tears dry on your cheeks, but you can’t let yourself be so vulnerable. Not in front of Eddie, not in front of anyone.

“Clove…” his voice is tender, concerned, “c’mon, you need to sit down.”

“No change? That’s okay, Slim,” you squeak, cutting him off in a rush, forcing a fake smile as you silently curse yourself for sounding so derailed, “Gotta change anyway.”

Spinning and nearly tripping over a stool in your attempt to get to the dressing room, you avoid the swelling brown of his eyes like the plague.

“Larry or Kenny should be here in a few, tell ‘im you’re on my tab and you can eat all the wings you want for free tonight, ‘kay? I’ll be back!”

The tears slid before you could stop them, hot pools that stung your eyes like acid. Maybe you shouldn’t have asked…no you definitely shouldn’t have pushed to know the reason why he left.

The bar was still spinning, waves of heat hitting you like an oven.

You prayed that your Eddie would come back to you, come home to save you and take you away from this life, but he’s here now and it’s entirely too much for you to deal with.

Vomit rose in your throat before you could swallow it back, and walking down the ruby carpeted hallway, your stomach empties itself on the floor before you can find a trash can, the wall holding you up as you crumble against it. Heart bruised and battered, despite Eddie’s efforts to mend it.

He stood in the open bar, soul empty and hollow. So many confessions left unsaid were formed but couldn’t quite fall from his lips. The conversation he wanted to have was not the outcome he had hoped for. He yearned for you, how close the two of you used to be and how it was torn away too soon. Time was a thief and the years spent apart ate at him, and all he can think of is the small manila envelope he kept of letters that went unread, addressed to you.

thank you for taking the time to read 💋 i know this chapter has taken for fucking ever to come out but i hope it was possibly worth it🥀

♡tag list: @dashingdeb16 @emxxblog @mopeymopeymouse @pretendthisnameisclever @mommybaby-witch @tlclick73 @figmentofquinn @eddies-stinky-battle-jacket @whenshelanded @micheledawn1975 @3rd-conchord 😭 @leelei1980 @browneyes8288 @emilyslutface @mmunson86 @josephquinnsfreckles @eddiesxangel @elegantkoalapaper @corrodedcoffincumslut @sidthedollface2 @winchester-angel l @mrsjellymunson @joannamuns9n @mewchiili @spacedoutdaydreamer @emxxblog @maybeisthemoon @str4ngergirlw0rld @insertcoolnameherethanks @kellsck @prestinalove @mandyjo8719 @onegirlmanytales @veravee-blog @taintedcigs @eddies-acousticguitar @oeuryale @kthomps914 @bangaveragewhitewine @lil-quinnie @definitionwanderlust @madaboutjoe @eiightysixbaby @writinginthetwilight @jessisacarica @ali-r3n

[shadowsndaisies]

dogfighting 101 - 01: let's make it interesting

wc: 1.3k

synopsis: harvard is a good friend (and petty on your behalf)

main masterlist

athena-verse master post

a/n: hi friends! hope you're all doing well, have some more top gun maverick athena plot.

You got lucky on the first pairing.

“Athena! Harvard and Yale! You're up!”

“Let's go boys, we got a fossil to take down,” you smirk.

Harvard rolls his eyes, throwing an arm over your shoulder, and quietly to you he whispers, “that fossil raised you.”

“Exactly why I get to say it,” you tease, leaning into your friend for a moment.

Harvard shakes his head and pulls you out on to the tarmac. You pause briefly, looking out as Payback and Fanboy pass by, tapping at your shoulders, wishing you luck. Your eyes focus on Bradley though, doing push ups as Hondo counts them. You know the tarmac is blazing, you can feel it through your gear, you can imagine having to do push-ups right now would be miserable. You can even see the strain on his face.

“You remember the rules?” Yale asks as he catches up to the two of you, but you know both of the men caught where your gaze was focused. Harvard’s arm is still tight around your shoulders, and he gives you a squeeze.

“I remember, do you?” you ask, swallowing your thoughts and turning back to the pair.

“Well there was this pilot at Top Gun with us, she gave us so much shit, but hand to God if she isn't the best pilot I’ve ever flown with. She had these rules up in the air, how to focus in, what we leave on the ground, she drilled them into us, really. But, she made us better aviators, hands down,” he teases and you shake your head, happy that these two were your partners for the first go. Brigham turns you with a smile, pushing you toward your jet.

“I think you give me too much credit, Logan,” you muse as you stop beside your jet, grabbing a hold of the ladder.

“Not possible. Show ‘em what this nepo-baby’s made of,” Harvard negates with a teasing tone, tapping your shoulders.

“Yes, sir,” you muse rolling your eyes before climbing up into your jet.

You spot Harvard and Yale as they walk past Rooster. You see the tap Harvard does, stopping Yale, and you watch as he pulls his phone out. The two stopping to snap a photo, undoubtedly teasing him in the process. Yale shakes his head as they walk, and as if feeling your gaze, Harvard turns back meeting your eyes. You know he can see your frown, but all he does is tap at his chest and point at you.

FLASHBACK: TOP GUN

“Why haven’t you emailed him back?”

Brigham’s question catches you off guard, you’d been sat in the Naval Aviator’s lounge at Top Gun. Your laptop open as you switched between Bradley’s most recent email, and a text chain you had running with Amelia about going sailing on your day off over the weekend.

”What?” you ask, turning to look at Brigham.

You liked Brigham, and Logan. They were a good team, and smart aviators. Talented and clever, its makes sense why they got invited to Top Gun. They were also the only two of your class that you actually enjoyed spending time with. They were the only two who didn’t make nepotism jokes as soon as someone realized you were a legacy, that your old man was a Top Gun graduate. They were a solid team, solid aviators, and solid people, you were quickly starting to consider them friends.

”You’ve had that email open on and off the last few days,” he notes casually as he sits down across you.

”You’re a snoop, Lennox,” you deflect with a flat look.

”Guilty, I got two older sisters, snooping was a part of the job, and you make for an easy target, Mitchell,” he shrugs in response. “But it doesn’t answer my question.”

”Not that it’s any of your business, but I never email him back,” you admit honestly.

”Bradshaw, I recognize the name, he’s an aviator too, came through Top Gun last year? Or was it the year before?”

”Yeah something like that, goes by Rooster,” you confirm.

”So what’s the story?” Harvard’s pokes.

”Doesn’t matter,” you shrug off.

”Oh, I get it,” he decides smirking, leaning back as your eyes narrow. “Hook up gone wrong.”

You choke on that, an incredulous look taking over your features. “Ew, no! God,” you scoff.

”Then what?” there’s a challenging smirk still on his lips and you decide that making friends might have been overrated.

”We grew up together. Something happened when he was 18, set him back, made him mad. He blames my dad,” you nutshell.

”So he blames you too?”

“He did. Said some fucked shit, and I decided distance was for the best.”

“That bad?”

“I was raised by a naval aviator for a dad, Harvard. I spent deployments in the PACFLEET Commander’s home. And in every other moment until what happened, I spent with Brad and his mom. What he said, it wasn’t something he gets to walk back by trying to email me life updates,” you bite back, venom in your voice.

Harvard’s hands go up in a second, surrender, he mimes. Your shoulders drop and you look at the roof before taking a breath. “Sorry,” you apologize. “I… I try not to be mad, it was a long time ago.”

“Respectfully, I’ve only known you since we got here, but, if you’re still mad, if it still hurts, then I think it’s justified,” Harvard offers.

“Like I said, it was a long time ago,” you repeat, shaking your head.

“Maybe, but you don’t seem like one to hold grudges, Athena. Whatever he did and said, and you don’t have to tell me, it’s enough for me to know that I don’t think I like him very much.”

You smile softly despite yourself. Just a little quirk of the lip from the blind support you’re being offered. It was so different than the ‘maybe you should reach out’ and ‘hasn’t it been long enough?’ that Sarah, Ice, and Viper would drop, and it’s not their fault you never told them what Bradley said, but you weren’t ready for that, not truly. Brigham in one conversation, had reaffirmed your belief, had brought a comfort that you never realized you needed.

“Thanks, Brig, really,” you say softly.

“Anytime, Athena. You practically kept Yale and I from being booted day one, what ever you need, we got your back, girl, always,” he promises.

You nod softly, willing yourself not to get emotional from the support.

“C’mon, Yale was looking for you earlier, I think he want’s to try that taco place we passed by on the way to the beach the other day,” Harvard offers, effectively ending the previous conversation.

He stands, gently shutting your laptop with a pointed look before offering a hand to pull you up.

You take it gratefully, and pause once you’re on your feet, pressing a sweet kiss to his cheek, “you’re a very good friend, Brigham Lennox, and I am very grateful,” you tell him.

“Let’s go, we gotta get out of here for a bit,” he says dismissively, cheeks pinking slightly.

You nod, and walk in front, he follows after you, handing your laptop back with a smile.

...

You’re brought back from the past as your name is called, giving you the 'all clear' to start take-off protocols. You take a breath and remember the rule, leave it on the ground, a clear head for clear skies and soon enough the three of you were in the sky over the training range.

...

everything: @butterfly-skinnylegend

athena’s tags: @omgbrianab @smoothdogsgirl @bazellawriz @sbrewer21 @inky-sun @djs8891 @rory-cakes @geeksareunique @je6291

[kaitaiga]

Archie “Frost” Campbell Profile

》[Open Profile] Disclaimer: as I’m still working through the lore of Task Force Dagger, Archie’s biography is still quite bare. Everything else is finished :)

General

Name: Archibald (Archie) Charles Campbell

Callsign: Frost

Age: 29

Birthday: 16th November, 1995 -  Newcastle, NSW, Australia.

Face Claim: Callum Turner

Occupation: Fast Jet Pilot (F-35A Lightning II)

Affiliation: Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF - 75th SQN)

Rank: Flight Lieutenant (FLTLT)

Height: 183cm (6ft)

Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Aviation

Languages: English, Spanish, German

Appearance

Hair: Dark brown, wavy hair. Short back and sides.

Eye Colour: Grey

Facial Hair: Pencil moustache

Marks: None

Tattoos: None

Family 

Unnamed Mother and Father

Grandfather (Former RAAF 460 SQN)

Pet: Vader (Black cat with white markings on face)

Affiliates

Task Force Dagger

Captain Lachlan Jones (2CDO)

Sergeant Damien Whitlock (2CDO)

Sergeant Daniel Greenhill (2CDO)

Sergeant Joseph “Joey” Hernandez (CCT)

Talullah Jones (ASIS)

Personality

Myers-Briggs Type: ISTJ (Logistician)

Honest and Direct: Archie is a straightforward, no-bullshit kind of person. Will tell his peers how it is without holding back. 

Observer: Not one to talk much unless needed, Archie prefers to observe and analyse his peers or situation.

Archie is a level-headed person. He is calm and is able to keep his cool under difficult situations.

Archie doesn’t let his emotions drive his thought process. He is a logical person who bases his thoughts and opinions based on research and experience, and can become stubborn when he doesn’t particularly agree with something.

Skills

As a fighter pilot, Archie has inherited a range of skills apart from simply flying a fighter jet. There include:

Mental Skills: quick and accurate decisions, situational awareness.

Technical Skills: navigation, avionics, flight system and weapon proficiency.

Social Skills: effective communication, cooperation and working as a team, leadership.

Air Combat Manoeuvring (ACM), Fighter tactics and manoeuvres, etc.

Mission Planning

Maths and Physics, as well as creativity in situations.

Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE)

Archie also likes to partake in electrical work, commonly seen tinkering with devices and studying mechanical/electrical engineering concepts in his spare time.

Behind the Callsign

At a glance, “Frost” derives from his frosty attitude towards his peers around him. Being one to keep to himself majority of the time and only speaking when necessary, his attitude was often perceived as cold to others, even when he didn't mean it.

Though if you were to ask his squadron and ground crew, they’d tell you that they call him “Frost” due to his impressive flying skills, often leaving onlookers and other pilots frozen in awe. Almost like an advantage over opponents.

Biography

Archie was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia on the 16th of November, 1995. Growing up, Archie would listen to his grandfather’s stories of being a pilot on an Avro Lancaster throughout the majority of WW2. Though a little incoherent at times, Archie still enjoyed them regardless as they shaped his childhood and future to come.

Throughout high school, Archie would spend a lot of time volunteering at an aviation museum alongside his grandfather as a technician assistant, working on maintaining planes on display whilst rambling bits of information of various planes to visitors. Archie would also frequent RAAF base Williamtown, where he would stand just outside the base and watch Super Hornets scream over his head. He wasn’t the type to stand out among his classmates, much preferring to stick his head in a book and soak up as much information as he could on various aviation and engineering topics. He graduated with a top ATAR score of 97.

Thanks to his constant exposure to the Air Force along with his grandfather’s stories, Archie knew he wanted to become a fighter pilot from an early age. In his later years of high school and after, he worked diligently preparing for multiple officer and screening boards during his application process. He managed to score one of five spots out of hundreds of applicants.

Archie then attended the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA), where he pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Aviation. He would be a maths tutor to a few of his peers in his spare time, but most commonly Joseph, his newly made friend who he bonded with over their love for Star Wars. 

Upon graduating ADFA, Archie was sent to Perth to begin his initial specialist employment pilot training (ISET), where he spent a year flying the PC-21. He graduated from Number 2 Flying Training School and was recommended by his instructors to pilot the newly introduced and mighty F-35A.

Now part of 75th Squadron, Archie is posted to RAAF base Tindal in the Northern Territory to continue his training, also managing to deploy overseas to various locations such as the US and Japan.

At some point, Archie was approached and recruited into Task Force Dagger on recommendation from Joseph. Working with TFD would show him his first set of real combat outside of simulations and practice exercises. To be continued…

*(Archie would have been 26 years old when the F-35A was first introduced into the 75th SQN, a few years after he graduated ISET (22-23 years old). For story purposes, assume the F-35 arrived earlier.)

Trivia/Preferences 

His favourite music band is Daft Punk. His favourite song from them is ‘Face to Face’. Also likes Coldplay, Kenny Loggins, Phil Collins, Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, etc.

In his spare time, he also likes to build lego sets and model jets. He’s also a gamer, preferring to play games like Arma 3, League of Legends, Cyberpunk 2077, Helldivers 2, etc.

He likes to wear Rayban Aviators in the colourway black/black or gold/green.

He is a big fan of Star Wars. His favourite movie is ‘A New Hope’ and he also really enjoys ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’. His favourite characters are Wedge Antilles and Commander Wolffe.

He likes to spoil Vader rotten! Buys him all kinds of toys. Even has a Death Star cat house. He has a really big soft spot for Vader which Joseph likes to tease him about, quote: “he is the only one to knock down that icy wall he’s built around himself.”

When Archie chose his aircraft preference, he originally chose the F/A-18F Super Hornet.

If he didn’t become a pilot, he’d become a mechanical engineer. 

After his grandfather passed, Archie carries his ID tags with him as a source of comfort and support. 

Archie was inspired by the character ‘Viper’ from Titanfall 2 and the song “Dodge This”.

[callsign-fox]

Wingman - Rooster

Pairing: Rooster x Fem!Reader

Been sitting in the drafts/Lightly edited

Written with @fanficgirl429 <3

18+ Only // Enjoy xo

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

When you sign on to be a pilot for the Navy as a female, you know you’ll have to put up with egotistical men on a daily basis, however, it’s not until you have to work with them that you realize how incredibly self centered they actually are. 

The canopy to my jet raised and I quickly climbed down the ladder. My wingman, Rooster, landed right behind me and he was currently maneuvering his jet into the assigned spot beside mine. Rooster was not my first choice for a wingman, he wasn’t my second or third either. It was near impossible to work with him and I was sure our superiors were getting ready to ship one of us off to Guam just to separate us from one another. Fortunately for them, we were two of the best the Navy had to offer and so for that reason alone, we were stuck together. 

I glanced up from my current conversation with my flight crew just as Rooster walked by, his head down and stupid aviator sunglasses shielding his eyes. I rolled my eyes as he continued by not saying a word. Of course he wouldn't say anything, he was the reason we failed the exercise.

“That was a disaster,” I mumbled to myself.

I turned behind me just as my friend Phoenix walked by. “What was going on up there?” she asked, watching    

Bradley as he disappeared into the locker room. 

“I don’t know. Why don’t you go ask Bradley and report it back to me?” 

Phoenix shook her head. “No thanks. I’m slightly terrified of him when he’s angry.” 

I rolled my eyes. “Well, he’s an asshole.”

Phoenix glanced back at the locker room before looking over at me. She lowered her voice as she said, “I have to tell you something about Bradley and it’s probably going to make you mad.” 

“Well if it has to do with Bradley, of course it’s going to make me mad.”

Phoenix sighed and began, “Well, I was at the Hard Deck the other night and ran into Anders. Apparently there is a rumor going around about you back in the Academy.” 

My eyes narrowed in on her and I clenched my fist, “About what?”

“Now don't shoot the messenger, you can be scary sometimes too.” 

“Phoenix!” I yelled, losing my patience. 

“Apparently Bradley started a rumor that the only reason you got into Top Gun was because you…” Phoenix trailed off. 

My heart began to race and I felt my cheeks grow hot. “Because I what?” 

“Because you gave Admiral Rhodes a blow job.” 

“What?” I shrieked and quickly began to walk towards the locker room. 

When I reached the door to the men's locker room, I pulled it open and immediately locked eyes with Hangman. A towel hung off his hips, showing off his incredible abs. I tore my eyes away, feeling a blush creep up my neck. 

“Where is he?” I asked. 

Without hesitating, Hangman pointed towards the back, where I assumed the showers were. There was only one shower being used and I walked over and pushed the white curtain aside. 

“Hey!” a very familiar voice shouted. “What the fuck?” 

I took a step back, not wanting to get wet. Bradley reached out and grabbed his white towel from the hook and wrapped it around his waist. I couldn’t help but notice how well built he was. His six pack abs were on full display and I hated how much I wanted to run my fingers along them. 

“What do you want Y/N?” 

My eyes snapped away from his body and I stared into his brown eyes. “I heard a rumor about me. One that you might happen to know about.” 

Bradley narrowed his eyes and nodded. “Yea, I might happen to know what you’re referring to.” 

“Are you insane? What did I do to you besides tolerate you every damn day for the last four years!”

Bradley shrugged. “I’ve been a delight! You have done nothing but drive me insane.”

“You didn't know, the only reason I’m here is to drive you crazy!”

Bradley laughed. “Nope. The only reason you’re here is because you gave Admiral Rhodes a blow job.” 

My jaw dropped and I couldn't help but growl at him. “That never happened! I hate you so much.”

“Don’t worry sweetheart, the feeling is mutual.” 

I took a step forward and shoved him hard causing him to stumble back into the shower, but before I could react his hand grabbed my wrist, pulling me under the hot stream of water. To my amusement my hands were pressed against his chest, and before I could register what I was doing my nails ran down his toned abs to the top of his towel. The moment was over when I pulled my hands away and brushed them through my now wet hair. 

“Do you have any idea how attractive you are when you’re mad at me?” he said, his voice low. 

His words caught me off guard. “Wait, what?”

The hot water was still running over my body and I was becoming increasingly aware of just how see through my white t-shirt was when I noticed Bradley’s eyes looking down at my chest. 

“I know I shouldn't be this turned on right now, but I am.”

I rolled my eyes and pushed a piece of wet hair behind my ear. “You’re such a prick.”

Bradley ran his tongue along his lower lip and smiled. A moment later his lips came crashing into mine. The urge to push him off of me came and went as my hands snaked around his neck and I began twirling my fingers through his hair. 

His lips moved quickly as he placed his hands on my hips, pulling me closer to him. My body was pressed against his and I could feel his erection against my stomach. My core slightly throbbed, begging to be touched by him. 

Bradley’s fingers toyed with the bottom of my wet t-shirt before he slipped them under and pulled the shirt over my head, barely breaking the kiss. My shirt dropped to the floor and I quickly pushed it away with my foot. By now the rest of the guys would have left, but I pulled the shower curtain shut just in case. 

His lips brushed softly against my neck before pressing against my ear and whispered, “Does that mean you want me to keep going?” 

My fingers toyed with the top of Bradley’s towel as I gave him a slight nod. His hands gripped my waist and he swiftly spun us around so that my back was pressed against the wall. Bradley hurriedly unbuttoned my wet jean shorts and pushed them down my waist before dropping them to the floor. He quickly turned off the water as it began to get cold, but not before our lips were once again intertwined. In the mess of clothes coming off, I hadn’t even noticed his towel dropped to the floor, proving to me that the rumors about how endowed Bradley Bradshaw was, were indeed true. 

“Well, well. I guess I won’t ever be able to spread anymore rumors about how small Rooster is.” 

He pulled back, slightly offended. “Wait, what have you been telling people?” 

I let out a small laugh. “What’s done is done, YOU told people I gave an admiral a blow job.” 

“And if you’re any good at it, I'll be sure to pass that on and your spot in Top Gun will have been well deserved.” 

I gave him a small smack on his arm before reaching over and placing my hand against his chest. My eyes locked with his as I slowly began to run my fingers down his chest and towards his stomach. My polished nails left faint red lines on his skin and Bradley looked all too amused as he watched me drop down to my knees. 

Bradley sucked in his breath as my hand wrapped around him. I slowly moved my hand along his length, which by Bradley’s reaction of pressing his hand to the wall to steady himself, was a good move. I gently grazed my tongue over his tip and his free hand instinctively moved to my long brown hair, giving it a slight tug. I smiled as his hips jerked forward, pushing his length further into my mouth. I didn’t miss a beat as I continued with my lips wrapped around him, causing him to let out a deep moan and pull tighter on my hair.

“Y/N,” Bradley breathed, “you need to stop…now.”

I let out a small chuckle before standing up and Bradley immediately pulled me against him. He placed his lips against mine, kissing me quickly. One hand wrapped around my waist, while the other moved up my stomach and towards my chest. His fingers played with my nipple, causing it to stand erect. With each touch, my core throbbed from being ignored by him. I rubbed my thighs together, trying to ease the tension but Bradley noticed. His hand moved from my chest, along my stomach, and towards my core. 

His calloused fingers ran along my center, coming to a stop at my sensitive spot. Two fingers rubbed against it and I let out a moan. Bradley’s lips continued to move against mine and he slipped two fingers inside me. He moved them against me and I could feel my high quickly approaching with each movement. 

“I’m close,” I told him. 

His fingers continued to move and it didn’t take long before my walls were clenching around him. My legs became weak and Bradley placed his hands on my hips, helping me steady myself. It had been a while since I had an orgasm that intense. 

Once I was able to stand on my own, I reached down and placed my hand on his erection. He took a step closer to me. 

“Are you sure you still want to do this?” he asked. 

“If you ask me one more time, I’m going to walk out of here,” I told him. 

“You’re making it really hard to hate you right now,” Bradley said, while placing a hand on the back of my thigh. 

My leg wrapped around his waist, and without hesitation Bradley pushed his length inside of me, my walls stretching around him. A gasp escaped my lips and Bradley smiled.

“You’re so tight.” 

He gave me a moment to get used to the size before he began to move his hips against mine. 

Each thrust pushed me closer to my second climax of the day. I let out a loud gasp as his length hit the perfect spot. 

Bradley smirked as I continued to melt against his touch. 

“I’m so close,” I whispered. 

He reached down and pressed two fingers against my sensitive spot, rubbing it casually. 

Within moments my walls clenched around him and my legs became weak. The humidity from the shower made our bodies sticky and sweaty, which only helped my arousal. Bradley continued thrusting and seconds later he released inside of me, a moan escaping his lips. 

The two of us stood there for a moment, catching our breaths. Bradley stared at me and I smiled shyly, fully realizing that we were both completely naked. I reached for the towel he had hung on the side of the shower and wrapped it around my waist. 

“That was mine.” 

I stepped out of the shower, reaching down and picking up my soaked t-shirt and shorts that had lazily been pushed aside. “These are the only clothes I have with me. How am I supposed to get home?” 

He walked over to his duffle bag that was sitting on the bathroom bench and pulled out a gray t-shirt. “Here you go. I can get it back from you tomorrow, after training.”

“That would imply I am inviting you over to get it, and I haven’t.” 

“Oh,” Bradley said with a wink. “You will invite me over.” And once again there was that attitude I knew and hated.

[ythankucaptainmccoy]

The Cowgirl and The Aviator Ch6

Alright shits about to go down so hold onto your butts! Also hoping you all are enjoying these two as much as I do. I feel like this chapter is rushed IDK. @smoothdogsgirl WARNINGS: Minor Character Death, Military inaccuracies and Mentions of nudity

When you woke the next morning Jake was still asleep on your chest. You didn’t have the heart to wake him up so you watched him until you fell back asleep. Jake woke a couple hours later and listened to you breathing. He eventually got up and ordered breakfast to be delivered. When it arrived Jake got everything sat out on the kitchen table. Jake walked back to the bedroom and leaned against the doorway taking in the way the sun graced your face.

He didn’t want to wake you, but he also didn’t want the food to be cold. “(Y/N) darlin’ food is in the kitchen”, he drawled. You woke slowly blinking up at him then smiled before pulling him down for a kiss. “I’ll be there in just a moment”, you replied. He grinned and headed back to the kitchen. You went to the bathroom to relieve your protesting bladder. When you finally made it to the kitchen Jake was chewing on some bacon. 

You walked over and sat in his lap as his shoulders started moving with a laugh. “You know I have chairs”, he says. “Yeah but your lap is more comfortable”, you giggle. You both enjoy breakfast and every once in a while feed each other something to try. You had to admit you never thought a guy could be so gentle and tender. “What are we gonna’ do today babe?”, you asked. “Up to you I don’t mind as long as I can spend the day with you”, Jake whispers into your ear.

You laugh but try to think of things you both could do. “How about we go sightseeing then go to a club downtown tonight”, you suggest. “Sounds like fun”, he replies. You sneak back to Bradleys apartment grabbing some clothes and heading back to Jake’s apartment. “I’m going to shower real quick”, you explain. He nods as you get into the shower and wash your hair then lather yourself with soap. 

You hear the bathroom door open and the curtain pulls back allowing Jake to step in with you. “Figured we could save water and shower together”, he tells you. There is nothing sexual about it and it’s a relaxing shower as you both wash the night off. When you both get out and dry off you head back to the bedroom to get dressed for the day. Jake gets the truck started as you take a moment to get your phone and wallet from the nightstand. As he drives you grab his open hand as the radio plays a Garth Brooks song.

“That’s something I would like to do again”, you say. “What’s that?”, he asks. “Going to a rodeo. I used to run barrels when I was younger, but when I went off to college all that changed”, you explain. “Tell ya’ what if you ever come with me back to Texas I’ll take you to a rodeo”, he says. “I would love to” you respond. The rest of the day is filled with going to historic landmarks and Jake taking you by the base as you both watch Jets take off. 

Lunch came and went as you ate on the tailgate watching the beach scene. Then you both decided to go back to the apartment to get changed into something more club appropriate. You change into a beautiful black strapless dress that Nat had also insisted on you getting the last time you went shopping. It showed off your curves, you styled your hair and put on some lip gloss. You had to admit Nat was right, you looked damn good and you couldn’t wait to go out.

Jake was still in his jeans but the t-shirt seemed a size small and he paired it with a black leather jacket with his all too familiar aviator sunglasses. If you weren’t going to the club you would jump him right now. Jake looked you up and down whistling as you blushed like mad. “Darlin that dress is killin’ me”, he tells you. “Well let’s go before we change our minds”, you laugh. With that you both get back into the truck and head downtown to a local club.

It’s not very busy which is nice and leaves plenty of space on the dance floor. “What do you want to drink sweetheart?”, Jake questions. “I’ll take a rum n’ coke”, you reply. He goes up to the bar to order your drinks and you look around taking in your surroundings. You look at the crowd on the dance floor and across the floor you swear you see your ex, but before you can get a good look Jake comes back with your drink.

“What’s wrong?”, Jake asks. “I thought I saw someone I recognized, but I must be mistaken”, you reply. You sip at your drink as Jake drinks his beer and once finished with your drinks head out to the dance floor. It does surprise you that Jake can dance and you enjoy every moment of it. You take in his smile, the way he makes you feel and how carefree he is. You do this with a little nagging in your brain saying this could be the last time you see him like this and it makes your stomach feel uneasy.

You push that thought out of your head and get closer to him. At some point you turn around as Jake’s hands find your hips and pull you back to him. He kisses your neck as your fingers find the back of his neck as you both continue to sway with the music. You spend the evening like this and end up leaving the club around nine since he has to be up early. On the way back to his apartment he hands you a key. 

“What’s this for?”, you ask. “It’s the spare key to my apartment. That way you can come over whenever you want even if I’m gone”, he tells you. “Thank you”, you say. He has no idea how much it means to you, but you intend to show him. When you get back to the apartment Bradley is parking at the same time. When you get out Bradley bristles like a feral cat seeing another cat in his territory. “So what’s going on between you two?”, he asks. “Well I took my girlfriend out before we ship out tomorrow”, Jake says, but you can see the dig he is trying to get in at Bradley.

“Girlfriend?! (Y/N) please tell me he’s joking”, Bradley exclaims. “He asked me last night and I said yes Bradley. Don’t act like it’s such a big deal”, you huff. “So he asks you right before we go on a mission he may not come back from”, Bradley argues. “Bradley, I know the risks of dating an aviator. I think you forget that you weren’t the only one to lose a father to flying”, you seeth. Bradley seems to deflate at that, but you hug him even though he is being a jerk.

“I want you both to watch out for each other while you're out there”, you say to both men. “I can do that, but only for you”, Bradley says. “Anything for you darlin’ “, Jake responds. After that little agreement you take Jake’s hand and make your way into his apartment. You both get ready for bed and you automatically cling to Jake’s side. “I didn’t know your father was a pilot”, Jake murmurs as he strokes your head. 

“Yeah we traveled from base to base back east, but ended up settling at the naval base in Virginia”, you reply. “If it’s too much I understand, but how did you lose him?”, Jake asked. “He was away on a mission. They ran into enemy fighters and my dad chose to sacrifice his life for his friend. For the longest time I hated his friend because I didn’t understand at the time, but when I got a little older I found out that he had just gotten married and was expecting his first child. Then I understood why my dad did what he did”, you replied.

Jake felt a tear hit his chest and he pulled you onto him to kiss you. He gently wiped away those tears as he continued to kiss you. “Your dad sounded like a brave man”, he told you. “Yeah he was, but please don’t let the rivalry between you and Rooster come between you all when you're in the air”, you begged. “I swear to you we are a team when we’re up there. I don’t want to lose any of my team even if they can be a pain in the ass”, he jokes. It reaffirms what you thought before that Jake puts on the front he doesn’t care, but in reality he cares a great deal.

That gets a small laugh out of you and you go back to being tucked into his side with your head resting over his heart. The rhythm lulls you into sleep for the night as Jake takes a little longer to fall asleep. He thinks about it and he has never really had a reason to come back from a mission, but now even with this whirlwind romance as his sister would call it he did. It takes a little while longer, but hearing you breath and feeling you there helps him to fall into a deep sleep. 

When the alarm goes off in the morning you groan, but Jake is already getting out of bed to get ready. You eventually get up as he goes straight for the shower. You join him and share several kisses while you both get ready for his departure. “You want to drop me off and pick me up when I get back?”, he asks. “Yeah I can do that”, you say, going to get your keys. When you get down to the parking lot you realize Bradley was already gone. You drive him where he directs you to go to drop him off. 

He got out to grab his stuff and turned to you as you pulled him in for the longest kiss you had ever had. When you went to pull away he chased your lips for a couple more. Jake could see your eyes were shining with unshed tears, but he had to go or he would be in big trouble. “I’ll see you when I get back darlin’. Wait for me?”, he asked. “I’ll wait as long as I have to”, you replied. He gave a two finger salute and walked away as you finally let the tears fall from your eyes. You watched him until he was out of sight then got back in your truck to drive back to the apartment. 

It didn’t feel right to go back to Jake’s apartment when he wasn’t there so you went to Bradleys. It felt so different with Bradley gone to. You had to work tonight so you got an outfit ready and waited until it was time to go in. The rest of the week was much of the same of going to work, coming home using the day to clean, rinse and repeat. Friday was the hardest because everytime you looked at the pool table it was empty of the people you had come to care about. 

You were scrolling through social media when a video popped up about sending your significant other a raunchy photo and seeing their replies. That got you thinking so you decided to hatch a plan. Getting your phone set up perfectly you changed into a new red two piece lingerie set you had bought and took several pictures in different poses. You ended up picking the picture of yourself posed on your knees looking up into the camera, but the angle had a clear view of the whole outfit. 

You looked so innocent and you knew that it would have Jake chomping at the bit to be there. After you grabbed some paper and a pen you wrote a quick letter and put it in the envelope. Next stop was to get the picture printed. You had never been so nervous to print your own photos at a self service kiosk. Afraid that someone would see as you tried to print it as fast as possible. Once printed you bought some stamps and mailed it to the address that Jake had given you.

He had told you he would be gone for at least a month so it was going to have to do until he could come see you in person. Two weeks went by faster than you expected and coming home one night from your shift at the Hard Deck you noticed Bradley’s apartment door standing open. When you looked it was clear that someone had broken in and you immediately called the police. They checked over everything then had you go in to confirm if anything was missing. 

The only thing you found that was missing was a couple pairs of underwear and bras. The police told you they would patrol the area, but it may be best for you to stay somewhere until the door was fixed. You ended up deciding to stay in Jake’s apartment, but it didn’t ease the fear that whoever had broken in and stole your things wasn’t still out there watching and waiting. 

When you told Penny she made sure that you always texted her when you made it back to the apartment. You couldn’t wait for Jake and Bradley to be home because at least them being here would help you feel safer. You only had a couple more weeks to go, but you sent a letter to Bradley to let him know what had happened and that the door had been replaced. You hoped they were doing okay and that they were safe.

The next week went by pretty much the same and you had been taking care of both apartments although you had been sleeping in Jake’s bed. It smelled like him and it helped to relax you after all that had happened. You even did Jake and Bradley’s clothes that had been in the hampers. Folding them and putting them in their respective drawers. You then did a deep clean of both apartments that weekend.

Jake sat down across from Rooster as someone came in yelling mail. Jake didn’t expect anything as Bradley was handed an envelope. To his surprise his name was called and an envelope placed in his hand. He would recognize (Y/N)’s writing anywhere as he stared at the envelope. “What the fuck!”, Rooster cursed. “What?”, Jake asked. “(Y/N)’s letter said someone broke into my apartment and that my door had to be replaced, she said she wasn’t home when it happened”, Rooster relayed. Jake didn’t like that one bit and opened his letter as something fluttered to the floor.

“Shit”, he cursed. He bent down and picked it up realizing it was wrapped in a small self made envelope. He decided to read the letter first, 

“Dear Jake,

I hope you and Bradley are safe out there and return soon. Penny has given me some extra hours to keep me busy, but it only helps a little. I sent a little something in a handmade envelope that I hope you love because it took me several times to get the right look. When you get back maybe you can see it for yourself. Can’t wait until you're back home!

Your Girl,

                                                                                                               (Y/N)

P.S. I HAVE OTHER COLORS WAITING FOR YOU ;)

Jake opened the small handmade envelope and realized it was a photo. When he pulled it out his body was hot and his brain went into overdrive. There you were on your knees looking up innocently and in a red two piece lingerie set. Damn you were trying to kill him before he even made it back home to you. He quickly put the photo into his pocket on his shirt to keep anyone from seeing it. He couldn’t wait to get back home to you, but when he made it back to his room he wrote a letter back.

Penny was calling your name as you read the letter for the hundredth time. He had stated that everyone was doing okay and that he was tired as hell. He also made it known that he couldn’t wait to see you and the lingerie set in person. “(Y/N) are you okay?”, Penny asked. “Oh yeah. I’m sorry that I have been distracted”, you reply. “It’s okay I get it I still get that way when Pete is out there”, she tells you. “Do you think you can close tonight? I have to go pick up Amelia”, she says. 

“Yeah I can close tonight”, you respond. You continue to work until closing as one of the bartenders asks if you’ll be okay by yourself. You told her you would be fine and started taking inventory. You played some music on the jukebox as you swept and mopped. The bartenders had cleaned their stations so you just had to wipe down the bar tops and tables. The whole time it felt like you were being watched, but you shook it off and finished up. 

You kept feeling like you were being watched as you got into your truck. You made it to the apartments and went into Jake’s apartment still not feeling safe in Bradley’s. You showered and got ready for bed making a late night snack. When you climbed into the bed you noticed that Jake’s scent was starting to fade. You grabbed his pillow that still smelled like his shampoo and hugged it to your chest as you tried to sleep not knowing that Jake and Rooster were about to experience something they hadn’t before.

“Keep up speed we should make it out of enemy airspace without being detected”, Rooster called over the radio. “Dagger squad you have two bogies approaching your position”, overwatch relayed. “Rooster, we have to pick up the pace”, Jake told him. “Alright hold on guys, we’re gonna’ turn and burn”, Rooster replied. They increased speed but the wingman following Jake panicked. “Guys you're going too fast we can’t keep up”, Banshee said. “You’re gonna have too, those bogies are going to intercept us if we don’t”, Rooster called back. Jake knew this was bad, but they had already destroyed the target and were almost home free.

The open ocean a couple miles from the carrier. “Holy fuck I’m hit I’m hit!”, Banshee yelled as his WSO Fluke was panicking as well as calling out all the failures. “I’m coming back Banshee! Just hang in there!”, Jake yelled. “Hangman, I'm coming. Phoenix continue to the carrier”, Rooster ordered. They both intercepted the bogies as Rooster was able to shoot one with a missile. “Shit he has a lock on me!”, Banshee yelled. “Smoke in the air! SMOKE IN THE AIR”, Fluke screamed. “DEPLOY FLARES”, Banshee yelled.

“I CAN’T THEY AREN’T WORKING”, Fluke yelled back. Jake opened fire trying to hit the missile, but missed by a hair as Rooster had tone and fired a missile at the bogie. The bogie deployed flares as Banshee and Fluke yelled out one last time as their jet exploded. “NOOO”, Jake screamed. “HANGMAN I COULD USE SOME HELP”, Rooster screamed through the headset. Rooster was using evasive maneuvers and had just deployed flares to avoid the missile. 

“HANGMAN WHERE ARE YOU?!”, Rooster screamed. “I’VE GOT YOU” Jake yelled as he fired a missile. The bogie deployed flares as he turned to go after Jake. “SHIT ROOSTER BOGIE IS ON MY SIX”, Jake informed. Jake had deployed all his flares by the time Rooster was on top of the bogie. “I NEED YOU TO HOLD STEADY SO I CAN TAKE THIS GUY OUT”, Rooster called out. “ARE YOU CRAZY!”, Jake responded. Jake looked down at the photo he had placed in his cockpit.

It was the one of you in your sundress on the beach staring out into the ocean smiling. If he was going to die he wanted to go looking at your photo. Rooster fired and the bogie couldn’t evade in time as the missile made contact. “SPLASH BOGIE! SPLASH BOGIE!” Rooster confirmed. Jake let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and headed back to the carrier with Rooster. When they landed they were immediately debriefed and let go to get some rest. 

Jake, Rooster, Phoenix and Bob sat there knowing that it could have easily been Payback and Fanboy had they not gotten injured. Hell it could have been any of them. It was somber as they all went to their rooms. Jake shared one with Rooster as he climbed into his bunk. He pulled out the photo he had in the cockpit and broke down as he realized he could have died today. He didn’t cry because of his near death today, but the fact that if he had died you would have been devastated. 

You just felt heavy as you willed yourself to go back to sleep. Jake and the others should be back soon and you couldn’t wait to be able to hold Jake again. You grabbed Jake’s pillow again and curled around it. You were wearing one of his t-shirts and it was just as soothing as holding onto his pillow. “Jake come home please”, you whispered. Sleep consumed you within minutes as you dreamed about him coming home.

[whohasthecards]

Hangster AU -- Firefighter Bradley & Best Buy Employee/Aviator Jake

AU where Bradley is a firefighter and Jake is still an aviator. Jake is on a long leave, probably because of the mission, and he takes another job to pass the time. He works at Best Buy.

Bradley comes to Best Buy to buy something, he's still in uniform, so Jake knows where he works at. And they snark at one another, but Jake manages to throw the box of what Bradley needs at him, smirking all the time.

---

"Can we stop debating the merits of 10 different wires and connectors and just give me the box, please," Bradley said exasperated as he held a hand out for the box this Ken doll was holding.

"Sure, here, catch," Jake said shrugging throwing the box lightly at him. "No need to get as red as your fire truck."

Bradley groans, rolls his eyes, and walks away. He was never wearing his fire department shirt in public ever again.

---

Bradley put his keys on in his bronco. And turn it. Engine sputtering.

"Oh come on," Bradley muttered, moustache twitching.

He stepped down again on the brake and clutch, twisting the key. Nada. Bradley groaned and hit his head on the steering wheel wondering who the fuck to call.

He jumped when he heard a knock at the window, seeing Ken doll, looking sympathetic.

He opened the door.

"Need a jump?" Ken-doll asked.

Bradley, sighed, "Yes please."

"Give me a sec to bring my car over."

"Thank you." ---

"Man, you've been having issues with the lights and radio, too? But you just replaced the bulbs, right?"

Bradley deeply sighed and rubbed the space between his eyes, "Yeah."

"That's fucked up, man, good luck, better bring it to the shop for the wiring."

"No comment on the wires on this one?"

"Car wiring is a whole another thing I ain't gonna touch, too much of a headache for me," Ken-doll said, flicking the toothpick in his mouth to the side.

"How do you know so much about wires, anyways? You work with it a lot at Best Buy?" Bradley said going back inside his truck to try to start it.

"Nah, not really, I studied engineering, and my other job. You pick some stuff up along the way."

"You studied engineering and you work at Best Buy!?" Bradley said fingers slipping from the ignition.

"Anything wrong with that?" Ken-doll said, raising a brow.

"No, I mean-- Oh look the car's starting," Bradley said flustered. "Thank you, man, I'm Bradley Bradshaw by the way, incase you need anything, I'm by the fire station." Bradley said holding out his hand.

"It's Jake, and if you need anything from electronic goods to repair, come to Best Buy for a wonderful service," Jake said shaking his hand and winking.

"Should add auto-repair to that slogan."

---

A series of events caused them to meet again. And they hit it off, go one dates and all that.

Jake likes listening to Bradley's stories about his job, and Jake tells him about some crazy customers he had to deal with.

Bradley never asked about Jake's previous job/other job, and Jake,,, forgot.

---

One day, Bradley's station gets a call for a jet having to do an emergency crash landing. And they have to make sure that the area is clear and be prepared for anything that might happen. If the pilot gets stuck or something gets lit on fire.

And they're listening in on the radio with the pilot and pilot's instructor telling him what to do. Calm, steady, smooth, and knowledgeable.

Familiar.

They arrive on scene, get the pilot out, and the instructor comes eventually in a rush.

"Is my pilot, okay?" A familiar voice asked.

"Yeah, we're getting him checked out at the hospital, nothing severe."

He hears the man sigh, "Good."

The man turns the corner, and his eyes flickered to Bradley for a moment, before focusing back on the fire captain.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Seresin, thank you for helping during this incident."

---

"You work in the Navy!?"

"Yeaahhh--"

"You didn't tell me!?"

"I forgot!"

A pause.

"Also does the team know we're dating?"

"The station? No, why?"

"Wanna mess with them?"

"I'm listening."

[cumulo-stratus]

hi sweet max!

I’m here to drop in a request for Aaron x bau!reader, where reader’s just noticing all the little things Aaron does for them in their day to make it better and easier and how THOUGHTFUL HE IS, like maybe he buys their favourite drinks to stock the fridge on the jet and in the office, making sure that their keyboard at their desk is always charged bc he’s there so late at night and he knows they’d forget. maybe he picks them up in the mornings to make sure they get to work on time. Just him trying his hardest to help them out in teeny tiny ways that make a big difference? sorry if this is long or boring I can try something else but yeah! He’s just so cute and thoughtful. Also masc or gn reader is fine, whichever you prefer!! <3

The Little Things

Request- yes/no

Pairing- Aaron Hotchner x gn!reader

Summary- you notice all the little things Aaron does for you everyday (could be read as romantic or platonic)

warnings- like one use of y/n, fear of flying, mentions of eating/not eating

A/N- Rooommmee!!!! Thank you for this absolutely lovely request, I hade SO much fun writing this, and I may have gotten a little bit carried away😅! But anyways he would SO do that- he's a gentleman fs!! Love u Rome 🫶🫶

wc- 2k

Despite the bright, morning light shining through the large rectangular windows, you still yawned for what must’ve been the fifth time in just as many minutes. In your defense the team had wrapped up a case pretty late the night before. Which meant by the time you were in bed and asleep, it was only a couple hours until your alarm went off to go back to work again the next morning. 

Spencer had arrived around the same time as you—you both took public transit to work— so he pushed open one of the large glass doors marking the entrance of the BAU. Both you and Reid offered each other warm, but tired smiles as he let you go ahead of him, holding the door. 

coincidentally, you both start making your way to the small kitchenette in the corner of the large bullpen. since you hadn’t had any coffee yet, you B-lined straight for the old, barely functioning coffee maker. Gideon had refused to get a new one when Garcia mentioned getting a keurig, stating that all the new ones these days were too fancy- a coffee maker did not need a screen. So that's how you ended up with a coffee pot with stains and knicks all over it from constant use. But what you noticed when you approached it wasn't the coffee maker itself. But what was sitting next to it. 

your snoopy mug!

you couldn't help but break out into a grin at the sight of your favorite mug, it was white with an image of the little white dog, sitting on top of his little house in his signature aviator goggles, hat, and a red scarf. Except the bright red scarf trailed out behind him and morphed into the handle of the mug.

Reid noticed your excitement as he poured his own mug of coffee. The pot was about ¾ full, Hotch and Morgan having already got to it. “Nice mug” Reid commented with a smile as he stirred what must’ve been at least 2 tablespoons of sugar. You thought he was smiling because it was a cute mug—which it was—but Spencer was mostly smiling because he had noticed hotch watching from the window of his office. 

Aarons face had one of his rare smiles that actually reached his eyes. He couldn’t help but blush as he watched you fawn over the mug to Reid. A couple minutes later, after Reid had left for his desk, you made eye contact with Aaron, smiling. Then, if he hadn’t gotten the point already, you took a sip of the hot coffee- which you had forgotten was still hot and scrunched your face in pain. It had burned your tongue, causing you to stick your tongue out in pain. Aaron laughed at the silent scene he watched unfold, but you didn't notice as you had already shook it off and walked to your desk. 

Only minutes after you had settled into your desk, JJ stood on the raised walkway above the bullpen, calling for everyone to meet in the round table room. They had a case. You a bit reluctantly, heaved yourself up from your chair, the weight of sleep still wearing off. Derek chuckled, and gave your arm a playful shove. As you walked by Spencer's desk, Morgan mussed with his hair to get his attention, as he was so absorbed in his book that he hadn’t heard JJ announce the case. 

“Come on pretty boy, we got a case-“ Morgan didn’t finish his sentence before you had sped ahead to catch up with Aaron as he made his way to the round table room. “Thanks for the cereal bar by the way, I forgot breakfast on the way out again.” You spoke casually, barely even making eye contact with him, as this was a normal occurrence. You often arrive at work to find a cereal bar, or pastry on your desk with a little note on it. They were usually Aaron reminding you how important it was to eat. 

“you need to eat breakfast you know y/n, it’ll affect your abilities in cases if you're not careful you know” you just rolled your eyes at Aarons comment, he was often very protective in that way. Although it was a bit annoying sometimes, you mostly found it endearing. It showed that he cared. 

Instead of responding to Aaron’s comment, you just took a bite of your cereal bar as you sat down. JJ started going over the case, 3 women in Wisconsin were missing and presumed dead after days of searching. 

”wheels up” hotch called to the team, and everyone almost immediately dispersed to get themselves ready to leave. 

—

As everyone filed onto the plane and took their seats, you followed Aaron, as you and he often bounced ideas of each other well. And for one other reason. but no one else, not even Emily, your best friend (only second to Aaron), knew about it except for you two. 

You had a fear of flying, take off and landing in particular always freaked you out. You knew it wasn't a good phobia to have, considering how much flying you had to do for your job, but you couldn’t help it. That’s where Aaron came in, you would always sit next to him at the tables, and he would always offer you his hand under the table. He never said anything about it, and no one ever noticed. but every flight a minute or so before takeoff and landing he would rest his hand palm up on your thigh in a silent offering of comfort. and every flight for a minute or so after take off and landing he would keep your hand in his, letting you play with his fingers knowing it often helped you ground yourself and refocus. 

That day he offered a small smile along with his hand when no one else was looking. Morgan and Reid were arguing, JJ was scolding them, Rossi was reading a book, and Emily was getting herself a cup of tea. You decided to get yourself something too, after take off of course when the plane was safely en route to wisconsin.

When you approached the tiny kitchenette of the jet the first thing that came to mind was something snarky, like cheetos. JJ always kept them stocked. But then you noticed your favorite as you scanned the small cupboard, cheddar pringle’s! They were cheesy, crunchy and salty- aka the perfect chip. You immediately grabbed them and tore off the lid, excited to eat the crunchy chips. You had only had coffee and a cereal bar to eat so far that day. Aaron watched you walk back to your seat with a contented smile on your face and a small bounce to your step.

When you arrived at your seat you didn't hesitate to plop down next to Aaron and take a big bite of chips. He couldn’t help but laugh a bit at your obsession with the salty snack and decided to comment, knowing he had put them there last case, noticing they didn't have any. 

“oh, looks like you found your favorite, how nice-“ his smile was almost sly and you noticed. It didn’t take long for you to connect the dots that he had restocked them, he often did. And they were often your favorites, your favorite energy drink in the fridge, your favorite protein bars in the cupboard, and your favorite snacks on the jet. 

—

After a long day of profiling in Wisconsin, the team had ordered take out and decided to all sit together around the large table in the conference room that had been provided by the local police department. 

You sat with Aaron to your left, and Derek to your right. THere were 2 trays of food in the middle and various smaller dishes surrounding it. Most of the team was still discussing the case as they served themselves from the various dishes. 

You were the last person to serve yourself, as you had been too absorbed in a conversation with Aaron about where he got his many, very, nice suits. You had learned that Aaron Hotchner gets all of his suits tailored. 

After lots of discussion, and some slightly subpar asian food, the team was ready to get back to work, it was only 9 o’clock, and they were all pretty much workaholics. So reid went back to his many colored markers and his geo-profile. For whatever reason, you hadn’t been able to sleep very well the night before, and due to that you were practically falling asleep standing up. You had moved from sitting into a standing position in order to keep yourself awake a little more. 

It wasn't working. And Hotch noticed this. Aaron used his legs to push up and out of his office chair away from the table to where you were standing about a foot away. He tapped your shoulder to get your attention before speaking. Your head snapped towards him, surprised, as if you hadn’t even noticed him approaching in your trance-like state.

”y/n, you should go back to the hotel, you're no use if you're not clear headed. The team will benefit from you much more if you just get some rest and come tomorrow morning”. You almost immediately tried to protest leaving, but a stern look from Aaron put any protests to rest. Even when you really wanted to protest the idea of him driving you to the hotel, since in his words “you're in no condition to drive, I don't need an agent in a car crash and 3 dead women”. Eventually you had accepted it, as you were too tired to care by the time you and Aaron were on the road to the hotel. 

Aaron left the radio on, playing quietly in the background so the silence wouldnt be awkward. But, number one, you were already half asleep by the time he started driving, and number two, the silence was never awkward with Aaron, you felt comfortable with him.

When you arrived at the hotel, hotch shook your shoulder lightly and you jumped awake saying, “Im awake! I'm here! I'm ready..” before trailing off and yawning. Hotch chuckled as he walked around the car to open your door for you, inviting you to step out in front of him. He walked with you to the elevator and pushed the button for you, always a gentleman. 

When you finally got into your room after struggling with the key for a minute, you flopped face down on your bed with a groan as Aaron watched from the doorway. When he noticed the lamp on he immediately started crossing the room to turn it off, so you could sleep. 

After the lamp was turned off, and Aaron was sure you were okay, and fast asleep, he left for his room in order to change his shirt as he had spilled soy sauce on it at dinner. After making his way to his room down the hall and fumbling with his own key, Aaron made it into his own room to pull out a new shirt. After the long process of taking off his tie and jacket, switching shirts, and putting his tie and jacket back on, he turned off the lamp on the desk near the door. Aaron shut the door behind him quietly so as to not disturb anyone at 10:00 at night.

At first he continued past your room, but then two steps later he changed his mind, turning on his heels back down the hall. He wanted to make sure you were alright one last time before he went back to the police precinct. He had made sure to get a copy of everyone’s room key when they checked in, in case of emergencies. And it wasn’t exactly an emergency, but if you didn't tell, Aaron wouldn't. 

When the door clicked open quietly, light from the hallway bled into the dark room. In front of him lay your sound asleep body, still in its work clothes, passed out face down on the hotel bed. Aaron couldn't help but smile as he approached you, bending down to your level. When his face was level with yours he left a small kiss on your cheek, before retreating back into the well lit hallway and into the night. 

The End

[roosterforme]

MRN headcanons???? Don't mind if I do

What about the first time Jake brings her on base to see his gear/plane? Maybe he takes her up in the air?

The first time she visits him on base, she already knows the rest of the Daggers. So they aren't surprised to see her there. The person who is surprised is Maverick.

When Jake left his lunch at home by accident, you texted him and promised you'd bring it over for him by midday. It was spring break, and not only did you have nothing better to do, you were itching to see what North Island was like.

"You look ridiculously hot in this thing," you whispered against Jake's lips as you ran your hand down the front of his flight suit, skimming the patches with your nails. "Why don't you ever wear it for me?"

He grunted, clearly wanting to do more than just give you soft kisses right now, but the two of you were alone in the aviators' rec room on base during his lunch break. "Don't want you to have to smell all the jet fuel fumes, Darlin'."

You got another kiss just as your hand skimmed low enough that you knew he could feel the pressure along his cock even with his compression shorts on. You were rewarded with a smirk and another little grunt before you pulled your hand away just in time for the door to swing open.

"Captain Mitchell," Jake groaned as you took a step away from him.

The older man's eyes were not unkind as he pulled his aviators down his nose and looked between the two of you. He cleared his throat and said, "The graduate students on the aeronautics tour have gone upstairs into the tower, Miss. Do you need me to show you the way?"

You gaped at him as Jake cradled his forehead in his hand and blushed. "Maverick, this is my girlfriend. Darlin' this is my boss."

Now both men were blushing as you stumbled forward to shake his hand. "It's very nice to meet you," Captain Mitchell said with a small smile.

You glanced back at Jake and winked before you said, "That tour actually sounds fascinating. Any chance I could join it?"

Maverick nodded, clearly still embarrassed, but he said, "Absolutely. I'll walk you up."

[newwritergirl]

Starting over | Part 20

Masterlist

Summary: Bradley and Jake are back in Miramar and are happy to surprise their girlfriend at the base. But when they enter her office they're not greeted with their girl but with an unusual chaos. Where is y/n?

Trigger warnings: 18+, Minors DNI, attempt SA, violence against women, blood, injuries, hospital, language

A/N: Here is the next part of my little TopGun fic. Finally we have our pilots back *.* Thanks for reading =)

Word Count:4.1k +

Jake and Bradley make their way over to y/n's office, when Bob leads Nat into Javy's teaching room, since the recruits have a short coffee break.

A soft knock is the only thing which can be heard in the empty office when both pilots enter the room. Their gazes land on the empty chair behind the desk.

"Where is she?" Jake asks confused when he turns to the other pilot who also looks surprised to see the office being empty.

"Maybe on a coffee run?" Bradley suggests and starts to make his way out of the office to search their girlfriend in the mass, where she probably gets herself a hot coffee.

"Hey, Rooster. Look…" Jake points to y/n's desk and on the floor. Papers and other items are spread across the floor. He takes a step closer to the wooden furniture when a shiny object catches his eyes. He bends down and picks up the plane shaped paperweight.

"What the fuck…" He mumbles when he sees that there's blood smeared on the front of the plane.

Bradley takes a closer on y/n's desk and immediately sees the puddle of dried up blood in the center of the table.

She must've hurt herself. But it's too much blood for a papercut or a cut from her scissors. He holds his breath and his whole body stiffens. Still confused from the bloody statue Jake notices the change in his boyfriend and turns around to see what Bradley just discovered.

"What happened here? Where is y/n?" The blonde whispers to Rooster.

Like two men on a mission they hurry out of the office, searching for someone who can explain what the freaking Hell happened there.

"Where's y/n?" Bradley shouts when he sees Maverick in the hallway on his way over to them.

Pete is more than confused, both aviators look panicked, almost out of their minds.

"She's not there. Her office is a mess, there's blood on her desk…" Jake rambles.

"Hey, slow down slow down. What's wrong?" Pete asks more confused than ever.

Bradley takes a deep breath and explains the situation to their superior. He knows that he has to calm down, the same way when they're on a mission or flying their jets. The three men make their way back to y/n's office.

"I didn't see her today and the Bronco wasn't in the parking lot when I came some minutes ago. I thought she starts later today, we had a big sever breakdown yesterday and she stayed until late in the evening to save some of the data." Maverick explains to the men in front of him.

They have to find her and when the Bronco isn't in the parking lot she's probably still at home. There has to be a logical explanation for the mess and the blood in her office. Maybe she just cut herself and searched for a band aid and just left her office in this mess because it was just too late and she was exhausted. But her office wasn't locked and the blood on the paperweight is also unsettling.

---

Jake drives as fast as he can to their shared home. Despite both men trying to keep calm and find logical explanation for the situation they can't help themselves and have a bad feeling which only increases when they finally made it to their house seeing the Bronco in the drive way with one tire parked in the rose bed.

Not waiting another minute Jake and Bradley jump out of the SUV and both sprint to the front door of their cozy home.

"Fuck, where are my keys." The blonde curses when he searches his pockets for the keys.

"Here let me…" Bradley steps around his nervous boyfriend and opens the door.

Finally entering their home they start to search for their girlfriend frantically. Jake stands in front of her closed bedroom door, ready to enter the room.

"Bradley, her door is locked, she has to be here." Jake says before he starts to knock at the locked door and shouts the name of their girlfriend. With one last verbal warning he kicks down the door but is greeted with an empty bed.

"Bathroom!" The brunette pilot sprints into the direction of said room, the last possibility where the young woman could be.

"Y/n? You in there? Please say something…" But both are confronted with silence.

"Baby, we're coming in…" Jake warns before he kicked down the second door for today.

---

The sight they're greeted with is nothing both could've been prepared for. Before them is laying their girlfriend curled into a ball under her fluffy towel. Ghostly pale, she almost looks dead.

"No! Baby…" Jake is the first one to kneel beside the still body of their girlfriend. The blue tinged lips of the young woman are just another catalyst to spiral further into panic. With trembling fingers he touches her carotid searching for a pulse. Bradley is still standing behind his boyfriend towering above both his partners too shocked to get into action.

"Pulse is steady, but she's extremely cold." The blonde talks into the quiet room.

"Babygirl? Can you hear me?" He softly turns her onto her back to access her body and looking for possible injuries. He gasps when he sees her head laceration and the small blood puddle where her head was positioned before he turned her on her back. The bruise on her delicate cheek and her black eye are a stark contrast to her ghostly pale face. He looks further down and his heart nearly stops when he sees the black and blue hand prints on their girlfriend's neck. Someone has beaten her and chocked her so heavy to leave these prominent hand shaped marks.

"No…" Jake's gasp brings the other pilot finally out of his shock and he also kneels down beside the blonde. Reaching for one of y/n's cold hands.

Hangman pulls the towel which is still hiding the small woman's body further down.

A turmoil of emotions is bubbling in his chest when he sees the full damage. Hand shaped bruises on her shoulders and arms, a dark purple bruise on her side, the blood on her head.

Rage, hate, helplessness and a huge emptiness is squeezing Jake's ribcage.

"Who did this?" Rooster growled when he sees their girlfriend's injuries, clearly inflicted by a human being. He feels y/n's hand switching in his big warm one. "Princess? We're here now, we're back. Can you hear me?" He soothingly whispers rubbing soft circles on her ice cold hand.

"P-p-please not… No…" The woman mumbles when she slowly opens her eyes.

---

She's cold, so cold. The underground she's laying on is also cold and very uncomfortable. Why is she so tired but is not engulfed in the cozy sheets of one of their beds? Y/n hears voices, a familiar mumbling but she can't comprehend where she is. Images of last night blend into her thoughts. Welsh grabbing her, hitting her, trying to sexual assault her. Is he still there? Is he back to finish what Michael once started and he continued? She knows that she needs to fight, for herself and for her future with her partners. Y/n tries to get rid of the warm hand that has her smaller one in a tight but not painful grip. Her other hand balls into a fist in an attempt to catch her attacker. But her whole body feels like it is made of cold unmoving granite. Pain rushes through every fiber of her body and she feels like it doesn't belong to her anymore. She has no control over her shaking and aching limbs. The young woman lets out mumbling noises, she can hear herself whimper but can't stop the sounds that are coming out of her mouth. The pain and the fear have fully taken control over her body and she knows that she stands no chance in case Welsh is back.

"Noo.." is the only word she form. She feels her heart beating furiously in her ribcage, panic bubbling further up in her lungs.

"Babygirl, you're safe. It's Roo-y and Jakey. Come on, show us your beautiful eyes." Jake coaxed her to open her eyes fully.

She knows this voice. It's Jake's warm voice and his signature nickname for her. But it has to be a dream, they're deployed. Maybe she's already dead or she is hallucinating.

It takes her some minutes to be somewhat coherent and register that her two boyfriends are really with her in the bathroom. She feels two warm hands enveloping her right one and she starts to squeeze as hard as she can as if she is afraid that the both men will disappear any second. A heart wrenching sob escapes her parted lips. She tries to sit up, she needs the physical contact of her boyfriends but her broken ribs and her other injuries are making it difficult for her to move her upper body.

"Hey, hey stay still okay." Jake tries to bring her back in the laying position but she grabs one of his arms and gives it another painful attempt to bring herself closer to one of her boyfriends.

Jake finally understands her actions and slowly sits her up. When y/n is finally cradled into the warm chest of the blonde aviator she lets out a painful sob. She survived. Welsh was not able to break her. He hurt her, he traumatized her, but he didn't get the chance to break her fully. She fought for her life and she escaped. Without help.

"Shhh… shhhh. Baby, we're here now, It's going to be okay." Jake says with a thick voice full of emotions.

"Gonna call an ambulance." Rooster says when he softly strokes y/n's bare back cautious of her injuries and painful looking bruising.

"No, no ambulance…please." Y/n throws herself into Bradley arms, fortunately he is able to catch her before she can hit the floor. Her eyes are open wide, full of panic and pain. She knows that she is in need of medical attention, but strangers intruding their privacy, seeing her half naked, bruised and panicked is the last thing she can handle right now.

"It's okay, Princess." Bradley whispers into the shell of her ear when she nuzzles her head into his chest breathing in his familiar scent.

"What did you say, Princess?" The brunette asks when he hears her mumble something into his chest. He feels her shaking so badly and her body is still ice cold. God knows how long she was wet and naked on the cold tiles. "Talk to us, baby." Jake encourages her to talk to both of them.

Y/n lifts her head, pinching her eyes shut when a wave of dizziness overcomes her and her vision turns black for some seconds. Bradley feels her wavering in his arms and cages her trembling body further into his arms.

"I- I fought back. He didn't... He wanted to, but I hit him…" Y/n stammers and squeezes Jake's thigh to ground herself against the strong dizziness which is still makes her head swim.

Bradley feels himself tearing up. Someone tried to sexually assault their girlfriend? He hopes he interprets her words wrong. But his gaze lands on her ripped and bloody blouse which Jake has in his hands now. The blonde aviator lets out an animalistic growl. Y/n shrieks into Bradley's chest afraid that Jake is mad at her.

"…not a slut…I'm not…" She starts to weep desperately, fisting Rooster's uniform shirt into her trembling hands.

"Princess, who did this to you? Do you know who attacked you?" Bradley whispers as calm as possible. They need to know who did this to their girl. Is her ex out of prison and found her? That's nearly impossible. Was it someone they know or just a random attack and y/n an accidental victim?

The young woman in his warm arms starts to weep harder, wet tracks of her tears are marking his uniform. It takes a minute or two before y/n can talk again. She takes a deep breath but whimpers when the pain in her ribcage reminds her of her severe injuries.

"…came into my o-office," she painfully breathes out, "W-Welsh…"

The last thing Jake wants is to scare y/n any further but he has so much rage in him that he has to storm out of the bathroom to cool off.

---

Welsh attacked their girlfriend, hurt her that bad that they have to take to the hospital rather sooner than later. He choked her, beat her and he tried to rape her. Jake had never felt this much hate and rage in his bones. The guy developed from an annoying blighter to a sexual offender. Welsh is now his greatest enemy. The urge to kill that bastard with his bare hands nearly overshadows all of his thoughts. To calm his nerves and not going off the deep end into something stupid he paced around the living room, still hearing the faint weeping and Rooster's muttering out of the bathroom.

He fumbles with the pockets of his now crumbled uniform, searching for his mobile. He needs to call the base and inform Maverick about the whereabouts of y/n. Jake has several missed calls from Pete, Bob and Nat. All probably worried about their female friend. After taking a deep breath to calm his nerves he hit the call button, almost immediately hearing the Captain's greetings.

---

"Princess…shhh." The brunette pilot absolutely understands his partner’s reaction to y/n's words. He has the same rage and hatred in his bones by now, but he has to stay calm. He needs to support the weeping woman in his arms and not let his emotions take over.

"…h-he ripped…blouse…" Y/n's breathing gets more laboured by every word but she needs to tell Bradley her thoughts, she feels like her emotions are going to suffocate her. "…I hit him…"

"You did so good, Princess. So good…" He places a soft kiss to her head, feeling her still wet hair. He knows that they have to take to the hospital, even if she is somewhat coherent now that she even could tell him pieces of the previous events she is far from being okay. When he cradles her deeper into his warm chest he strokes up and down her back to give her even more warmth. A painful cry of the woman in his arms brings him out of his raging thoughts. She's in pain. When he looks down her back he sees the angry bruise on her kidney area. This bastard kicked or punched her in her most sensitive area and hurt her weak kidney further.

"I'm sorry, Princess. I'm sorry. We- we have to get you up okay? You're shivering, we need to put on some dry clothes and we have to take you to the hospital." Her faint nodding against his chest is concerning him. In any other situation, high fever or pain, y/n would've fight tooth and nail to not go to the hospital. Her being content with seeing a doctor is a clear sign how much she has to suffer right now. His heart is breaking even more, if it's even possible.

"I'm going to pick you up, Princess. Gonna change in your bedroom, okay?" Bradley is determined to give her as much control over the situation as possible, even if he is well aware that she is nowhere near to walk into her bedroom or change herself into something dry.

When the pair finally made it into the bedroom he sits y/n down onto her bed. Her small shivering frame leaning heavily against his body as he sits beside her, contemplating his next moves.

"Roo-y…," he hears her saying in a small nearly inaudible voice, "is Jakey disgusted by me?" Y/n's voice quivers as she looks up at the brunette pilot with unfocused glassy eyes.

"Hey, hey, Princess. Don't you ever think one of us could ever be disgusted by you. We love you!" Bradley pulls her into his chest as cautious as possible, hoping that Jake would make an appearance as soon as possible to help him and more important to take care of their girlfriend. It's clear that y/n needs both of them right now.

"He… W-Welsh…" Y/n shivers when the name of her attacker goes over her lips, "he called me a-a s-s-slut…"

"Sweetcakes, you're far from that. You're kind, beautiful, loveable and so much more. We love you." Fortunately Jake finished calling Mav seconds ago and calmed down enough to join his partners and help Bradley with attending y/n's wounds and taking her to the hospital.

Both aviators have a silent conversation and Jake doesn't waste another second and starts to rummage for some dry clothes.

With y/n's favorite leggings and one of his Navy Academy shirts he crouches in front of his partners.

"Y/n, I need to take off your underwear, is this okay?" His cautious question is answered with a slight nod of the woman in front of him.

The whole process of dressing their girlfriend takes a lot more time than both of them would have anticipated. But when she is finally clothed the pain and the shock are back full force. Her eyes are more unfocused than before and she starts to mumble unintelligibly, no longer able to sit up even when most of her weight is propped up against Bradley.

"I called Mav, he enrolled us already in the military hospital. We have to take her in now, she seems to deteriorate. "

---

When y/n is settled in the backseat with her head in Jake's lap, Bradley jumps into the driver's side of Jake's truck. The brunette knows that Jake needs the physical contact of their girlfriend now, he needs to see her breathing and being alive in his lap to keep his calm on the drive to the hospital.

"I think she's burning up, Roo." The blonde aviator notes when he brushes his hands over the clammy forehead of the woman in his lap.

Rooster has the steering wheel in a vice grip, his knuckles already turned white. Images play in his head from the bits and pieces y/n told him earlier. He sees Welsh hitting her, slamming her head against the wall or the desk. He sees this disgusting man ripping her blouse. But Bradley also sees y/n fighting. Fighting against this monster that is much bigger than her. But she made it. He thanks his parents, he thanks God that Jake and he are already back and he prays that this trauma is not going to break her. He knows that he and Jake will be there for her no matter what but he just prays that she still has trust in them. He doesn't know what he is going to do if she is slipping into that shell of a woman she was two years before.

No he KNOWS what they're going to do in this worst case scenario: They will get her out of this and they will be her support system. They love her and this alone is enough to move mountains. A tear slips down his cheek. He's never been so emotional over a woman except for his mother. But y/n is special and nothing can ever change his and Jake's love for her.

---

Y/n's shaking seems to increase during the drive to the hospital. Jake occasionally checks her pulse at her carotid even if she's trembling and whimpering from pain he is afraid that she slips between his fingers. When they stormed into the bathroom earlier she looks so pale and with her blue lips Jake's first thought was that they're too late. That their love is already dead. Even now that he knows she's alive that moment killed something in him. He will never forget these seconds of pain in his heart.

"Babygirl, I got you. You're safe." Jake whispers in y/n's direction when she starts to mumble something he cannot make out.

---

Mav pulled some strings at the Navy hospital that one of the aviators could stay with her in the small cubical of the ER. So Bradley, the calmer one of them, is now looking at the several nurses and the two doctors working on his girlfriend. He already informed them about her previous medical conditions and the previous events, as much as he knows.

Behind the huge glass door of the ER a nervous Jake Seresin is pacing the waiting area up and down. Mav informed him minutes ago that the military police is out there in search of Welsh. But so far there's no sign of the disgusting piece of shit. As much as Jake wants to put his hands on that guy he knows that y/n needs him more than ever. So he tries to work on his rage to be calm for her when he can finally see her again.

A hand on his shoulder stops him to pace another round in the waiting room.

"Hangman…Jake, I'm sorry. I said I will keep an eye on her…" Bob's eyes are bloodshot when he looks up at his blonde colleague. The sudden movement of Jake's arm makes him flinch but instead of knocking him on his ass Jake envelopes his friend into a tight hug. The situation is taking a toll on all of them. They're friends, hell they are family and y/n is a member of that family since she first stepped foot on the base.

"There's no other to blame than that bastard and I need to restrain myself really hard not to go out there and find him myself" Jake growls.

The double door of the ER slides open and Bradley enters the waiting area, looking clearly exhausted.

The blonde aviator doesn't waste a second and hurries over to his partner hugging him into his chest, totally aware that now the cat is probably out of the sack for the other members. But he doesn't care that their poly relationship is no longer a secret between the three of them and Nat.

Slowly the other aviators make their way towards Bradley and Jake hoping for some good news.

When both release the comforting hug Bradley starts to speak not breaking the eye contact with his partner.

"Ehm, where should I start…" he pinches the bridge of his nose, his head hammering with a headache from stress and concern. "They glued her head wound and made a CT which was without noticeable problems, but she has a concussion. Her upper back, the side of her weak kidney is severely bruised, she has three broken ribs on the other side of her ribcage, fortunately they didn't injure her lungs. They put her on a broad-spectrum antibiotic because of her fever and her inflamed kidney. She's sleeping now, which is good." Bradley looks behind Jake to their friends to engage them in the conversation after all they're just as concerned as Jake and him.

Jake knows that there's more. Something must've happened, he can see it in his partners eyes.

Nat is the first one to speak up. "I think it's time for us to go home. Please tell her we said 'hi' and we're here for her and for you two." She hugs both her friends and waits for the other to say their good byes.

---

When their friends finally made their way home or back to the base to help find Welsh Bradley leads Jake to y/n's room. Even if the blonde can't wait to see for himself that their girlfriend is resting and was properly attended to he needs to investigate what has happened during the examination.

"What happened?" He stops his boyfriend by squeezing his shoulder. "You can't tell me shit, man. I know you." He softly strokes Bradley's back, his words came out harsher as he intended to.

"I told them the bits and pieces of what y/n told us what happened. And due to the accusation of SA, they did a rape kid." Bradley grabs Jake's hand to ground himself. He sees pure rage in Jake's eyes. "Hey, Jake calm down. They did it as a precaution, cause she was so out of it and not coherent. I told them that she said she fought him off before he got the chance but they told me it would've been safer when they do the kit. She freaked out. Her high fever… I guess she was back in her office. I heard her screaming and crying. They told me to wait outside during the rape kit… but when I heard her screaming and crying, Hell she begged them to stop I barged into the room. I was able to calm her down, but it was hard to see her in such a state." The brunette aviator is still under the impression of the events. Jake envelopes him in a bone crushing hug. "She was right though. The kit was negative." He breathes out, into his boyfriends shoulder.

"She's our fighter." Jake mumbles before they make their into y/n's hospital room.

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‘You Came!!’ 

Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin x female aviator reader - callsign: Hawkeye

Summary: Hangman is given a backseater to improve his teamwork skills, he belittled it all including her, thinking that it would be  pointless and ridiculous, learning how to seriously depend and care for someone. But that change the minute she couldn’t eject.

Warnings: mentions of angst, thoughts of dying, mentions of vomiting, mean Jake, a jet accident, panicking, fluff in the end.

Two months had passed when Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin had gotten a backseater, named Y/n Y/l/n; callsign Hawkeye.  Cyclone and Maverick believed that it would do him good, help him learn how to work with others and cooperate during team work. And even though everyone thought that it would help him, it only made him meaner, but towards Hawkeye. He belittled her capability, and talent in flying. He was hard on her when they messed up in training and blamed her half the time. (The other times Rooster would step in and make Jake pay for his responsible actions.) Hawkeye everyday tried to prove herself better, which she would, soon she was one of the best backseaters, (After Bob Floyd). But in Jake’s eyes she wasn’t good enough, he always found something to call her out on. And Hawkeye took his every criticizing word like a pro, never making the same mistake again. Y/n’s competition was Jake, and she always wanted to be like him, the absolute best, and Jake saw that, and refused to let her get there. Through all the mistreatment and unnecessary criticism, it was unknown to all that deep down he really liked her, which is why he pushed her away, he was afraid to engage into something that he felt he wasn’t ready for. Y/n had a beautiful heart and a great, tough personality. After he scold her hard she never cried but squared her shoulders and firmly promised that she’d never do it again. When Jake thought he had pissed her off, Y/n would prove him wrong when she’d show up with his helmet showing him that it was sparkly clean, or with a cold soda can of his favorite beverage after a long day. While Jake tried to make Y/n see that she wasn’t good enough for him, she showed him everyday that she was all he needed, and every time Jake saw and realized it more and more, which scared him and annoyed him.

 On their third month of working together, they both were sent on a risky mission. Rooster and Phoenix with Bob were sent with them too. Things had went absolutely well and they even finished their mission on time with no slip ups, until Jake and Y/n were hit with a bad bird strike on their way home. Loud ringing sounds filled the cockpit along with Hawkeyes cries as they started going down,

  “HANGMAN WE LOST BOTH ENGINES WE’RE GOING DOWN!!”

 Hangman tried to restart the whole system and use the backups, but it only got worse when it went to flames as well. He shouted back to Hawkeye to try and fix it or find a solution when he couldn’t find one,

  “Try from back there and see if we can save it!!-“

  “We can’t it’s going down Hangman!! We lost the backups too!!!”

 Huffing loudly Hangman screamed,

 “THIS IS MY JET HAWKEYE! WE WILL SAVE IT!!-“

 Slamming her fist onto the buttons that flashed red all over she argued,

  “Your jet is screwed over Hangman!! We have to eject!!”

 ‘ALTITUDE! ALTITUDE!!’

Jake looked at his altitude scale and saw how they were dropping fast, beginning to spin out dangerously. Though he was angered with the situation and with Hawkeye, he came to the realization that they had to eject. Tightening on his seatbelt and vest, he shouted to Hawkeye,

  “Alright we have to eject we’re dropping altitude fast!! 

Happy to hear that he finally complied, Hawkeye shouted back with a panicked tone,

 “Great! Let’s do this!!”

 After getting the confirmation he needed, Hangman made his next move as he pressed the button to open the cockpit, and pulled on the strings to fully eject. 

In mere seconds he was sent out of the jet, barely catching Hawkeye’s terrifying screams,

  “HANGMAN WAIT! I CAN’T EJECT!! IT DOESN’T WORK!!!”

  A dart of fear pierced Jake’s heart when his mind registered her words, but before he could say anything, the whole jet exploded in mid air, making him cry out,

  “NOOOO HAWKEYE!!!”

His heart beat loud in his ears and the blood had run cold to his feet, his parachute began to drop altitude, and everywhere he looked, frantically, trying to see if he could find Hawkeye in a parachute anywhere, but he came back negative. His mind hadn’t stopped working as he began to utterly hate himself for not ejecting earlier when she had told him to.

 ‘I killed Hawkeye... this is my fault. I should’ve ejected with much more time left to spare. Instead as always I pushed her to her biggest limit, and this time... she couldn’t surpass it. I just killed Hawkeye... and it’s my fault.’

 All Hangman wanted to do was scream until he couldn’t breathe, or find a way to turn back time so he could of made sure that Hawkeye’s ejection worked. But the cottonmouth he felt kept him from screaming, and the reality of having no time travel machines made Hangman sink into his guilt more and more. Down below was a forest of tall green trees, and miles and miles of thick snow. Hangman was able to gear his parachute onto land that was clear of trees so he wouldn’t crash into them. A rough landing he had, from thinking to much about Hawkeye he didn’t focus on how he landed, hence straining his ankle painfully. With a loud groan of excruciating pain Hangman stood to his feet right away, not wanting to spare another second without searching for Hawkeye, no matter how he found her. He believed he had to be the first to see the consequences of his ignorant actions. Up ahead he saw the smoke from the ground rise and form a black cloud in the sky, the pieces that fell from the exploded jet had taken their landing too. Jake moved as much as he could through the thick snow that went above his ankles. The pain he felt only got worse as he took one step after another, screaming for him to stop, but his mind was determined to ignore it and move on. Jake knew that where the smoke was, that’s where Hawkeye would probably be, in the midst of it all. Probably burned up and long gone, the thought of it only made the anxiety of it claw at him and terrify him more. The whirling sounds of the wind sent chills up his spine, it sounded like a cry, a wailing cry of loss. The freezing air burned his skin and touched his aching bones. Once he dreadfully arrived at the scene, he then took a run to approach it faster, seeing how the fire had already died down. Climbing onto what was left of the wing, Hangman reached the cockpit and looked inside, to only see that it was empty, the seat was still there, and so were it’s buckles and latches, but it was empty. Utterly confused as to why it was empty, Hangman slammed his fist onto the broken cockpit window and sunk onto the wing of the jet and began to sob,

  ‘What if she flew out? And her body is laying around here lifeless? What if her death was so so painful and scary? Oh my God I’ll never forgive myself it wasn’t her fault... but what if she’s still alive, maybe on her last breaths of air.. Gosh I have to find her!’

  Wiping his eyes with his sleeve, Hangman leaned his palms on the side of the jet so he could stand up without falling, also trying to get most of the weight off his ankle. Looking around from where he stood in the wing, Hangman saw absolutely no sign of Hawkeye. After sliding off the wing Hangman than began to walk away towards any direction his feet took him, his mind wasn’t thinking straight anymore, it only thought about two things; Hawkeye and her possible death. Swallowing the stone that was in his throat from the pain he felt inside and out, Hangman shouted from the bottom of his heart,

“HAWKEYE!?!!”

Looking all around the snowy ground and the tall evergreens that stood out like a sore thumb in the midst of Queen Elsa’s snow town, Jake began to feel his heart sink as he didn’t hear any sound of life, besides his panicked breathing, or see any movement other than his feet that trailed off looking and searching frantically. Jake’s mind ran millions of miles per millisecond, trying to reassure his mind and heart that indeed, Hawkeye did make it out of the jet on time, before it exploded on them in mid-air. But what began to convince his mind that she hadn’t, was when he realized that the sky had painted itself a darker shade of color, signaling that night time was crawling around the corner, guaranteeing its nearing, and he still hadn’t found her. It began to grow even colder, the chilly air had already numbed his skin and bones, making them feel incredibly useless but shaky. Even his pointy nose began to turn pink and burn a little on the tip, it burned to close his eyes and blink, the rest of his face felt numb to touch. But that didn’t stop Jake from searching, and calling out with his aching, sore throat,

  “HAWKEYE!! CALL O-OUT!!”

Waiting to hear any voice return his plea, Jake had stopped moving in the snow that crunched under his boots, but even then, he was unfortunately met with silence, only the wind flowed and whispered to Mother Nature around him. The beating of his heart was no longer heard in his ears, it was like it had frozen too. It became hard to swallow and to breathe, it was like if he was drowning or suffocating on his own tears he wanted to cry out. Jake felt worse than a failure and was so afraid of the unknown. His emotions swirled all inside of him like a hurricane, and soon it all came out when he sank into the snow onto his knees, and began to heave out whatever was left in his stomach from earlier that day. His ribs grew sore for how hard he was throwing up, but it just kept coming out. Soon he began to cough out the rest of it, and choke on his sobs that wrecked from his chest and broke heart.  Through it all he still tried to be positive to keep himself from panicking, but his mind only told him,

  ‘Did Hawkeye make it out of the cockpit? Did she land safely? Is she even alive? What if she froze?- No no! She’s alive! Hawkeye has to be!! Come on Hangman, don’t live up to your callsign... don’t leave her hanging... we have to find her and bring her home no matter what!!!’

 Letting out a shout of frustration and pain from the cold that burned his body from inside out, Hangman stood back onto his feet, and sucked in a deep breath, before screaming out desperately while turning around and cupping his hands over his mouth to make his call louder, 

 “HAWKEY!!!! CALL OUT!! COME ON WHERE ARE YOU!?”

  Warm tears had already fallen down his cheeks and brought a shaky chill through his whole body when the freezing weather hit against them, his red lips trembled along with his perfect, chattering teeth. The confidence Hangman always felt, had faded a long time ago, he only felt dread and regret, and it only grew heavier and heavier. Until he heard a small cracking of a branch from above him, and soon felt a small piece hit his head, making him look up, and find who he was looking for. He let out a small laugh of relief, and let out some more tears, but of joy this time. 

 Up above hanging on a thick tree branch, was Hawkeye clinging onto her parachute. It had gone caught on one of the thicker branches of the really tall evergreen trees, hence leaving her hanging off of it from quite a high distance. Hangman didn’t spare a second more as he shouted at her while running towards it, ready to climb it or find a way up.

  “Hawkeye!! Hawkeye!! It’s Hangman!”

 Turns out that Hawkeye had unbuckled in the jet and jumped out with her personal parachute before it could explode. And while going down, her parachute got stuck in the tree. Hawkeye’s voice could barely be heard from her being way high up, sounding a little strained though as she shouted back,

  “HANGMAN?! Oh!! Gosh I thought I was hearing things!! But it’s really you!! You came!!! I thought you left me!!”

 Jake’s heart felt a little stabbed at her words, but he couldn’t blame her, his actions towards her had proven that she should expect that from him, but he was also glad, that he was here to prove other wise. Grabbing onto the sides of the tree, Hangman shouted back while trying to grab grip of it,

  “Oh no! I didn’t leave ya! I’m right here! I’m so sorry for everything- I-I’m going to try and climb up-“

  “No no!! What if you shake the tree and-and it moves then I fall off this branch??!”

 Jake thought about her words for a few seconds then let out a belly laughter because he knew that it would be impossible to move or even shake such a thick tree stump. It’d take like... it’s just basically impossible, logically it is. Jake then reassured her with a positive tone,

  “I promise that this tree won’t move, it’s super thick and.. a million years old, it’s been through hell and back I bet, so I’m sure it can endure me.”

  He heard Hawkeye huffed as she put forth sarcastically,

  “Hangman no one can endure you... you’re too much. But I hope this tree makes you an exception... cause- well cause I really want to you to come up here and help me.... I think I broke my arm.”

Jake let a gasp escape his mouth as he took in her words,

“Oh! Well then don’t move it, or move at all, I’m coming.”

  Jake had already started to measure up the length of the tree while listening to Hawkeye, he knew that when he went up, one branch than the other, he’d have to watch his step and grip very carefully, cause the fall won’t be pretty. He saw that It was quite a high climb, maybe about 30-45 feet high, but Jake knew he could nail it, growing up on a Ranch in Texas had Jake climbing onto whatever he could find, from the tall Barn stables and the trees houses he had built with his cousins. 

  Grabbing onto the first thick branch, Jake pulled himself up and began to climb up. A few times he had to stop and redirect his hands or feet when the branches didn’t seem to promising, which Hawkeye would see and call out here and there, 

  “Careful Hangman!” or “Make sure you feet don’t slip off!” “Watch your head!” Each time she called out to him, Jake’s heart would grow in size, feeling warmed by her kindness. Even after everything that had happened and what he put her through, to the point where she was hanging off a tree branch, she still worried about him, selfless and forgiving she was.

 He was now a couple of feet away from where she was. Hawkeye was above him as he stood on a very thick branch under her, and he smiled to himself as he saw her face come into view, she had a few scratches on her face from falling into the tree, but her smile took his eyes off of them. Her arm was clutched close to her chest, not sparing a second to move it, not even an inch. Just as he was about to instruct how she was going to get down without falling but landing onto the tree branch he stood on, the branch cracked loudly as it moved slightly,

CRAAACK!

“Hooooly shit please don’t tell me that this branch just moved.”

Jake kept his original words in the back of his throat and instead said,

  “Ok I won’t tell you. But listen, I need you to start unbuckling-“

 “No no-“

 “I promise I won’t let you fall-“

“So you’re going to catch me? Is that what you’re saying? After all this time of you mistreating me you think I’d trust you?”

Jake hates how she was right but he urged anyway,

 “Ok ok you’re right! But I’m so sorry I mean it!  Sense the beginning I’ve always liked you but I-I didn’t know how to deal with it, so I pushed you away instead.”

 Hawkeye gawked at him from where she was hanging, not believing his words for a split second,

  “A-Are you serious? Hangman why didn’t you just tell me? We could’ve talked it through, like all the other things we talk through when you yell at me.”

 Jake bit his bottom lip and sighed sadly,

 “I know... I’ve just never worked with someone like you... and it scared me... your kindness and perfection scares me, makes me feel like I’m undeserving of it, and I only proved it when I treated you so poorly.”

 Hawkeye pouted at his confession, she knew there had to be a good reason behind how he badly treated her, she just didn’t know that it would be this reason. And when she saw this tough man with his arm reached out to her with tears in his olive-colored green eyes, her heart instantly believed his every honest word. Just as she was about to reply to him, the tree moved even more and shrieked loudly,

 CRAAAAAACK!!!

At hearing Hawkeye’s panicked gasp Jake steadied his feet on the thick branch he stood on, and used one of his strong arms to hold onto the trunk that was next to him, he stretched his free hand towards her as he promised,

 “I’ll catch you, just unbuckle and let go.”

CRAAACK’

Hawkeye felt the branch move even more as it cracked even louder, she held onto her buckle and looked down as she worriedly put forth,

 “Jake are you sure? Cause if I fall I’ll just go straight down I only have one good arm-“

 “I know, that’s why I need you to trust me and just let go.”

Hawkeye took a deep breath then looked down at Jake as she shakily said,

  “O-Ok... I’m going to unbuckle this o-on the count of 3-3.”

 Jake nodded approvingly as he held his arm up stretching his hand towards her,

 “Alright, start counting, the count is on your time, but it needs to be quick, I don’t know how much time we have-“

Hawkeye shook her head nervously as she began to grab on the buckles, trying to undo it, 

 “I know I know... ok.. 1... -“

CRAAAAAAACK!!-

“SHIT I DON’T THINK YOU HAVE UNTIL 3 HAWKEYE!!”

“JUST WAIT I’M SCARED! F-FUCK IT’S NOT UNBUCKLING!!”

CRAAAACK!!-

Jake knew that it took maybe 3 more seconds and the branch would snap, hence sending Hawkeye to her fall, so he took those 3 seconds left, to quickly move from where he stood, and rush quickly to where Hawkeye hung above him, and pulled on her feet. Her buckle snapped opened and she fell down, but Jake was able to catch her from grabbing tightly onto the vest she wore on her flight suit. But with the momentum of the strength he took to pull her down, and how fast she did fall, Jake kind of slipped off the branch he stood on, but he held Hawkeye against his chest as he fell onto the thick branch with her under him. Both let out loud groans of pain as they heard the thick branch finally snap and fall with the parachute. Jake covered Hawkeye’s head and face with his thick arm so the pieces of the branch wouldn’t fall on her face, he clutched tighter onto her when the felt the falling branch hit the branch they were laying on, but thankfully, nothing more happened or moved. After hearing the it finally hit the ground harshly after crashing down, Jake lifted his head slowly from where he hid it in Hawkeye’s neck, and also lifted his arm from her face, to only see the few tears that had escaped her eyes, along with the growing ones. Her mouth was slightly agape and her lips trembled like if she was holding in a cry, and her nose was pink from the cold. Jake didn’t ask anything, he instead he closed his eyes and pulled her forehead against his as he cooed lovingly,

  “You’re ok... we’re ok. I promise.”

A soft sob left Hawkeye’s lips as she let her hand move from his back that she was clinging onto, and held the back of his head, brushing her fingers through his short hair. Jake felt himself shaking from the inside out, he was finally letting the emotions run through him, and honestly, he was very afraid. Hawkeye began to feel and hear his uneven breaths coming out, and she comforted him by simply saying,

  “Just breathe with me... like you said... we’re ok. So just breathe.”

Jake nodded slowly, relishing her words that comforted him instantly. He then moved to sit up, and brought her up with him carefully, to where they sat on the branch in front of one another, with their legs dangling on both sides of the branch. 

 Hawkeye looked up from where she had her eyes locked on Jake’s name patch, and focused her eyes on his green, shining orbs. They both drowned into their gazes, feeling grateful that they had made it out of the situation alive. He then caught himself staring and looked away down at his hands trying not to blush as he said in a breathy tone,

 “h-hi..”

Hawkeye snapped out of her thoughts and looked down again as she replied shyly,

“hi...”

 Jake pointed his hands between them as he said sadly,

  “Again... I’m sorry for how I’ve treated you and for putting you through this... you can get another front seater when we get back.”

Hawkeye shook her head as she insisted,

  “No no... I really like you-“

She then corrected herself while trying not to blush for being so direct, not remembering hat Jake had confessed first,

“I mean.. I’m fine with you, you’re great guy Hangman, you practically saved my life you know? I need someone like you.”

 Jake nodded appreciatively while trying not to blush at her words.

  “Thanks... I’m glad you’re ok.”

 “Me too.. thanks to you... and when we get back.. we’ll work this out ok?”

 Jake’s face lit up, as he nodded happily,

  “Oh-Ok! great!”

Hawkeye then reached for Jake’s hand and held it in her own, giving it a good squeeze to show him that she was being truthful about her words. Jake lifted his other hand and held their holdings hands, sense Hawkeye clutched her broken arm close to her chest. Jake then felt very sorry, he knew it paid to have a broke arm, meaning you can’t fly until it’s completely healed. While he was in his thoughts seconds of silence had passed, before the atmosphere filled itself with Hawkeye’s hearty laughter. She threw her head back and went on, Jake was confused at first, but then he naturally joined along as he continued to hear it and loved how contagious it was. Words didn’t need to be said as to why they were laughing, they just did, the relief of what they went through came out in laughter. Hawkeye sighed loudly while trying to catch her breath, she then giggled,

  “I can’t believe that this happened... like look at us.”

Jake let out a short giggle,

  “Who would’ve thought huh?”

 Raising her good arm Hawkeye pointed out,

 “Right?! No one is going to believe us you know that right?”

 Shaking his head Jake agreed,

 “I know... by at least we do, we know exactly what happened.”

Hawkeye chuckled as she pointed out Jake’s callsign name patch,

 “Yeah.. thank you for coming back, and not living up to your callsign.”

 Jake looked at his name tag and frowned at it, Hangman could mean a lot of things, and one of them was, that he’d always leave his wingman hanging. Although he liked the name sometimes for certain reasons, there were times like today, where he didn’t like it very much. But Hawkeye knew how to make him feel better as she put forth nicely with a cheeky smile,

  “Don’t frown Hangman, I was the one Hanging after all.”

 Jake looked up and joined Hawkeye when she let out a long but cheerful laughter, cause it was true. Hawkeye was the one hanging off the tree in the end. He wiped his eye from a tear that threatened to slip from how hard he was laughing. But he mainly turned his fear into hard laughter, it was  either him laughing hard or crying ugly, and laughter was the better choice. Hawkeye was happy she broke him out of his trance, and felt more relaxed to see him ok, for he was just as terrified as her. After a few seconds they calmed down and held onto the branch while taking deep but refreshing breaths, letting out a couple of breathy chuckles here and there. And they could get lost into one another’s gaze again, the whipping sound of the helicopter blades began to sound loudly, help and rescue had arrived. Jake immediately moved to stand up and signal them, he first made sure that Hawkeye held onto his legs and he began to wave his hands exaggeratedly while shouting at them. 

Minutes later they came down in ropes to tie and take them up. Jake let Hawkeye go first, after he persistently told the medics  to be extra careful with her hurt arm, he watched them attentively as they buckled her latches. Jake gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and a light but meaningful kiss on her forehead before she was sent up, his heart swelled when she squeezed his hand back tightly. Hawkeye sent him a warm and confident smile as she went up, they kept their eyes on each other until she made it onto the helicopter. Then they came back down again, and tied Jake up, pulling him up onto the helicopter safely. Once he got on, he saw how the medics had started treating Hawkeye’s arm, already finishing up by wrapping it securely and putting it in a sling. He quickly took a seat next to Hawkeye after they secured themselves in, happy to see how she had scooted so he could fit comfortably next to her, though their arms and legs still brushed up against one another. Hawkeye leaned towards Jake and placed a loving kiss on his cheek, before leaning her head back against her seat and closed her eyes. Stunned for a second while blushing hard, Hangman took that moment to gaze at her in awe as he saw how relaxed, happy and relived she looked. He then reached over and pulled her head to lean on his broad shoulder, as he said assuringly,

  “You can lean on me... get some rest ok?”

She leaned closer to him and cuddled her face into his shoulder, as she mumbled a sweet,

 “Thank you Jake.”

 Jake patted her thigh softly,

  “anytime..”

Once he felt that Hawkeye’s weight grew heavier on him, meaning she actually passed out in a nice slumber, he too leaned his head on hers carefully, after he gave her head a soft kiss, smelling her hair that was a scent of vanilla and honey. Happy to know she was alive and safe next to him. Hearing her soft breathing and feeling her pressed up against him, was enough for him to pass out as well, while he held onto her pinkie tightly, while their hands rested next to each other on his lap.