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Chapter Text

Bradley wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he went to flight school, but the blonde Texan loud mouth was definitely not it. He guessed he had thought that everyone would be similar to him; set on following a path that would get them to their end goal without anyone getting to hold them back. But those around him, those that were also following the same path to learn how to be a fighter pilot, were focused while also more than happy to let loose and have fun when time allowed. 

Bradley had promised himself when he was fourteen and realised that he looked at the boys the same way that his friends looked at the girls in their year that he would never let that stop him. He would stay happily single and focus on joining his dads in the air. But then he walked into the classroom for the first time and his eyes settled on one Jake Seresin. His heart stopped and all he could do was watch him in wonder. 

Jake Seresin filled the space around him. He was loud and drew attention to him. But he was also guarded and hidden. It was something that Bradley couldn’t really explain, but he wanted to get to know Jake. He wanted to know the deepest secrets that no one ever dug deep enough to find. He wanted to know the real Jake. He wanted to know the Jake that let his eyes sparkle and a soft grin grow when he didn’t think anyone was watching him. 

Bradley was fortunate enough that in most classes he sat with both Jake and Bradley’s best friend, Natasha Trace. It gave him a chance to watch Jake, to notice the little things, like how he would draw spirals and little aeroplanes in the margins of his notebooks. It was something that he found sweet, something that proved that none of them were really adults yet. They were all in their early twenties, they all had so much to learn about life, but yet the United States Navy was actively training them to be ready to die or take a life. 

“Hey Bradshaw, you okay?” Bradley hadn’t been aware that he had drifted off into his own thoughts as their instructor was discussing the risks of ejecting. He knew the risk already, but instead of being upset that his dad was part of the teaching material, he had been distracted by Jake. He had been more interested in his thoughts about finding the deepest secrets of the man sitting beside him. 

“Yeah, I’m good, man. Just… that’s my dad, you know,” Bradley answered as he bumped his shoulder off of Jake’s. He knew that he wasn’t, but he had lost his faith in anyone being there forever. He didn’t know how to admit that he was anything less than okay because then it felt like Maverick was right all along and he wasn’t ready to become an aviator. 

He was grateful that Jake didn’t say anything, that instead he just returned the shoulder bump and then went back to focusing on the lecture they were sitting through. Bradley couldn’t focus but he was happy to know that if he needed it, Jake would distract him. 

It wasn’t mentioned. After they walked out of the classroom, Jake didn’t ask anything about it. He just continued being his normal self and it was exactly what Bradley knew he needed. So when they were sitting in the mess hall eating their dinner, he didn’t expect Jake to drop down into the seat next to him. No words were shared between them, it was just a bump of the shoulders and then they focused on eating their dinner. 

Everyone else that was around them, they were happily chattering away, but there was a limit to how much Bradley could bring himself to care as the nightmares he had had about his dad kept floating to the forefront of his consciousness. But the gentle pressure of Jake’s knee against his leg, the occasional brush of their arms, that was what kept him grounded. It was as if there was something about Jake that just reminded him that he was there, that reminded Bradley that he was in the present and the horrors of the past were just that, a thing of the past. 

“What’s your plans now?” Jake suddenly asked him just as they finished their meals. It was unexpected. They would sit together in classes, nod in passing, but they didn’t spend time together outside of class. 

“I’m probably going to study, why?” Bradley answered as he pushed himself to his feet and picked up his tray. As he turned to look at Jake, he couldn’t stop the smile, not when he saw the nervousness that was dancing in Jake’s eyes. 

“Do you want company? You seemed a bit down after the ejection lesson,” Jake gave his explanation quietly, shyly. It lacked the normal cocksure attitude that the younger man proudly displayed. That was the only reason Bradley would ever give someone if they asked why he so readily agreed. 

“Sure, and thanks for being there, you know, earlier,” Bradley was not normally this shy, but he knew that it was the sense of peace that he got from Jake that brought the quietness out of him. He was scared of chasing the other man off. So with a quick nod, he followed Jake to get rid of their trays and then they made their way towards Jake’s room instead of the library like Bradley had been intending. 

“Not a problem, I’ll try and always be there, when I can,” Jake answered as if it was nothing. It was something that he couldn’t understand when they were normally so competitive, at each other’s throats to prove that they were the best and they deserved to be there. 

And somehow that was the end of it. They just continued on, walking shoulder to shoulder towards Jake’s room. 

Chapter Text

Jake’s first deployment came later than the rest of the aviators he had been at flight school with due to his mother suddenly dying and his fathers rank being enough that the request to go home was granted, no questions asked. But during that time he had kept in touch with a few of those who had been in his class. Javy ‘Coyote’ Machado who had managed to worm his way into the role of best friend since they had been at the Academy. 

Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw had been another he had kept in touch with. Despite all the postering that they both did he knew that Rooster had his back and if it came to it, Jake wouldn’t walk away. But still it had been nice when he had received a text the day of the funeral telling him that he could grieve however he wanted and if he needed to talk, Bradley would answer. 

It was nice to have him there. It was nice to know that he would listen. But now, Jake was deploying and it meant that he wouldn’t get to call Bradley when the grief became too much. It meant that he couldn’t subtly flirt with the older man without any worries of someone reporting them. And honestly, he was dreading it. 

But regardless of how he felt, Jake knew that it was what he signed up for. So with an almost overwhelming sense of dread, he stepped onto the transport that would take him to meet up with the ship he was being deployed on and took his seat. There was nothing he could do but hope that the next six months went quickly and the sky soothed any cracks that started to show through. 

What he didn’t expect was for a member of the ground crew to come up to him on his second day aboard the carrier and ask him if he was Hangman. He hadn’t done anything to deserve anyone knowing his name, not yet at least. He hadn’t even been able to fly yet. But still he had decided to make the most of the deployment, even if he felt like he was behind everyone else. 

“Yes, can I help you?” Jake knew he was being curt but he didn’t know how else to respond. Being people friendly wasn’t something that he had actually learnt. No, it was just something he was expected to do. 

“Cool, Rooster asked me to tell you that he’ll see you soon, but until then, he’ll still answer whenever.” That was all the man said before he turned around and walked away. It confused Jake, but more than that it made him wonder what Bradley had meant but saying he’d see him soon. Jake was meant to be out on the carrier for a minimum of six months, but the whispers before he left were that most deployments for aviators were getting extended past the six month mark. 

He would deny it if anyone were to ever ask, but there was a sense of comfort that came from the fact that Jake knew he could phone him and he would answer if he wasn’t flying or in a briefing. The idea of still having that link, that comfort was what he needed. 

There was a monotonous factor that came with being an aviator on a carrier. You spent most of your time doing the same thing over and over again. But for Jake that was the type of mind numbing routine he needed, it was what allowed his brain to shut off. Well that and flying. Being in the sky, flying like a bat out of hell. That was what he really needed. 

But the monotony changed suddenly and without warning, a month or so later when the transport came in to drop off those who were either returning from leave or had been given a new deployment and to take those who had been granted leave or had finished their deployment home. Jake ignored it, he knew no one he cared about was coming in and no one he cared about was leaving. He had kept himself to himself for the duration of his time aboard the carrier. The closest he came to having any form of relationship with someone was the passing greetings from Rooster’s friend. 

But then, as he was heading down to the mess after a hop the same day that the transport had arrived, he was assaulted by a sudden hug around the shoulder just before he entered the mess. It brought him to a halt with next to no warning. No one on the carrier touched him; he was impenetrable, he cared for no one. 

There was something comforting about the arm around his shoulder that he couldn’t put his finger on. He had felt it before, he knew he had, but the surprise stopped him from recognising it. So he just froze in surprise. 

“Did Alex not tell you I’d see you soon?” 

There was laughter in that voice. But that voice. He knew that voice. He knew it singing in the shower at sunrise, he knew it singing in a bar long after sunset, he knew it swearing like a trooper when something went wrong. He knew that voice. He knew it. 

“Bradshaw, as I live and breathe.” He wasn’t sure what made him say it. Maybe he just wanted to confirm that he was alive, that this wasn’t the afterlife because he had burned in on the last hop without even realising it. 

“Roo, not that I’m not happy to see you, but how did you end up here?” He didn’t mean to cut Bradley off but he couldn’t understand it. He had been told that he would be on his own; he had been told that he would just have to deal with whatever happen aboard the carrier. 

“I asked my Pops for a favour. I thought you could use someone to watch your back,” Bradley answered as he forcefully started to push Jake into the mess hall. It didn’t matter to Jake. All he could feel was that sense of calmness that he had grown used to at flight school. 

“You said your dad was dead.” Jake shrugged Bradley off of him and turned around to settle an unimpressed and confused look at him. He could still remember the day that had cemented their reliance on each other. It had been the day that his dad was spoken about in their ejection lecture at flight school. 

“Yeah, like my biological dad. He died when I was two, but I still have my dad, well my godfather, and then there’s also my Pops, he’s my dad’s wingman. Does that make any sense?” Bradley answered as they went to pick up their trays. He nudged Jake’s shoulder with his own; he wanted Jake to know about him, but he was scared to. 

“No, but you can tell me later.” 

Later eventually came, two months later, when word spread around the carrier that a 4 star admiral would be visiting. Everyone knew there had been issues but no one thought it would be enough for an admiral to actually visit them. 

As the name filtered down the ranks, Admiral Thomas “Iceman” Kazansky, Bradley started to pull away and Jake began to get more and more curious. He could still remember Bradley mentioning that he had asked his Pops for a favour, and that favour had been what had placed them both on the same carrier.

“Hey Roo, remember that explanation you said you’d give me, might be time to do it,” Jake decided as he and Bradley had been walking side by side back from their jets. There was something there, something that he knew was making Bradley nervous. 

“Remember how I told you that I had two dads growing up excluding my biological dad. Well, Goose, my bio dad, was a RIO and backseated for…” Bradley started as he tried to figure out how to explain. He knew that Jake had been there when they had spoken about his dad’s accident in flight school but he didn’t know how much of it remembered. 

“Commander Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell, then only a lieutenant, the only pilot with 3 air to air kills and the wingman of the legendary Admiral Thomas ‘Iceman’ Kazansky…” Jake trailed off as he recited what he could remember learning about Bradley’s biological dad. He could remember being so excited to learn about the legends that were Iceman and Maverick. Hell he had even mentioned how hot their TopGun photos were to Bradley… and the chicken had never said anything. 

Jake let it process for another minute before he decided he was insulted that Bradley had never stopped him lusting over his dads rather than being angry that he had never told him that they were his dads. 

“You let me go on and on about how hot Admiral Kazansky was back in ‘86 and you never once thought to tell me that I was thirsting after one of your dads. Wasn’t that awkward for you?” Jake wasn’t sure that his reaction was what Bradley was expecting but it was true. He felt more guilty about the fact that he had made Bradley listen to his lust over his Pops; he would have hated it if the roles were reversed. 

Bradley just leaned against the wall and laughed as the paused. His hand came to rest on Jake’s arm, the warmth from it almost scalding his skin (although that could just be Jake’s imagination). 

“Honestly, it felt good to have a friend who wasn’t trying to get close to me in order to meet them. And I know what my dads looked like when they were at Top Gun. I grew up going to the beach with them, I’ve seen plenty of women try to get their number.” Bradley managed his explanation between laughs as Jake could only stand there with his arms folded. 

“I promise, your dads being who they are, doesn’t change a thing. I’ll still mock you for being a chicken.” It wasn’t the perfect response but it was good enough and did the job.

Chapter Text

Bradley didn’t know what to think. He didn’t know what to do. His hands wouldn’t stop shaking. The tears wouldn’t stop falling. He couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t make anything work. 

His world was ending. That was all he could think about. 

He had already lost his biological dad. He had watched his mum fade away as cancer and grief overwhelmed her. He had watched three of his uncles die either as a consequence of PTSD or while deployed. 

But he never once considered the fact that something could happen to his dad or his Pops. They had always been indestructible. They always made it home, they had always kept that promise, but now Bradley was an adult and had to face the fact that he might just lose his Pops. 

He was meant to be adult, he was an aviator who got sent into war zones in a F18, but the idea of his Pops not being on the end of the phone to talk to him in Polish when the nightmares got to be too much, that was the most terrifying thing in the world. 

All he wanted was for someone to tell him that it would be okay. He wanted someone to tell him not to worry about his Pops, that the man was invincible and would always be there. But he was an adult, and that meant that he had to be strong for both his dad and his Pops. He had to be there, he had to let them lean on him without them ever knowing that he was falling apart. 

He wanted to tell someone what was going on, he wanted to talk to someone but he couldn’t. He couldn’t tell anyone who his Pops was without the fear of accusations of nepotism. He knew that he was in an extremely beneficial position to be able to call one of the highest ranking members of the Navy his Pops but sometimes he wished he had a normal family. Two normal dads with normal jobs. 

But he knew that without them both being Naval Aviators he never would have followed them into the navy and fighting fighter jets. And knew that without that he never would have met Jake. 

Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin, his best friend and fellow pilot. Jake Seresin, the Texan cowboy who also held the key to Bradley’s heart. Jake, who was the only one who knew who Bradley’s dads were and didn’t care. He couldn’t imagine his life without Jake for as much as he drove him mad at times with his taunting, he knew it was Jake’s way of caring, it was Jake’s way of pushing him to be the best so he always came home. 

He wished he could phone Jake, but his other half, his best friend, his rock, was out in the middle of the ocean on a carrier and he didn’t know when Jake was next allotted time on the phone or computer. He was meant to be there with Jake; he had been there until a week ago when his Pops had collapsed and he had been sent home on the first available transport. There were some benefits to who his Pops was, but it didn’t help the fact that he felt like he was drowning and the only person he could tell wasn’t available. 

His dad and Pops had gone to bed hours ago; his Pops had only relented and agreed to go after Bradley had promised that he would follow suit as soon as he had finished his beer. He knew that it was wrong to lie to his Pops, he respected the man so much, and not just because of his rank in the Navy, but he couldn’t break the way he needed to when he knew they might be there. At least now, sitting on the steps up to the porch, the sun long ago having set, he could let the tears fall and his sobs leak out into the darkness. 

His safe place had always been in a hug from his Pops. Even when he tried to push both his Pops and his dad away after the fiasco with his papers, he couldn’t bring himself to find anywhere else that he could call his safe place. 

The only place that had come close to that feeling of safety was once again a person. He wasn’t sure how he had managed it, but Jake had managed to place himself safely in the same ranks as the man’s childhood heroes. Something had happened between them that day at flight school, and while it took a while for them to get here, he was glad to say that they had. It might all have to be in secret like the relationship that his Dads shared, but it was worth it; he just wished that he could talk to Jake. 

He needed someone. Something. Anything. 

If it had been anyone else this was happening to, he would have gone straight to his Pops. He would have gone to Iceman and told him all about how scared he was; but he couldn’t. How could he go to the man who was potentially going to die and tell him that he was scared of that happening? He wasn’t a kid anymore; he had already been enough of a burden on them. 

He didn’t know what to do. Bradley knew that he was just frozen; he couldn’t bring himself to do anything for fear of breaking the quiet and something else happening. But then, the quiet did break and suddenly the shrill ring of his phone could be heard. 

It was late enough that he knew it could only be one person. Jake. The only other people who would phone him no matter the time were in the house behind him. 

Jake. The one person he wanted to hear from. 

“Jake…” he managed to say the other pilots name before the first sob escaped. 

“Breathe, I know you’re scared but breathe and then you can tell me what’s going on,” Jake’s voice was the only thread that Bradley could bring himself to hold on to. It was as if he was the buoy that he had found while lost at sea, which if Bradley was to really think about it was concerning, but he couldn’t help but love the man for always being there. 

“My… Pops. Cancer…” Bradley couldn’t say anything more than those three words. But somehow, Jake knew. He knew how scared Bradley was, how Bradley felt like his world was falling apart. 

“I don’t know when I’ll next get leave, but I promise, I’ll be there as soon as I can. First flight to San Diego as soon as I can get my leave,” Jake’s promise from Flight School echoed in Bradley’s ears. Jake was his constant. Even with miles and oceans between them, even as the world collapsed around one of them, they were still there for each other. 

“I appreciate it, Jake, but…” A sob stopped him from continuing. This was the part that was really breaking him. Despite the fact that Iceman had raised him alongside Maverick since he was two years old; the Navy refused to allow him to be restationed to North Island or Lemoore. In just a matter of days, he was going to have to leave his Dads to fight the cancer on their own as he was sent back to join Jake and the rest of his squadron on the carrier. “I’ll be on the transport back to the carrier on Thursday.” 

Bradley wanted to keep the resignation and dread out of his voice, but he couldn’t. Now that he didn’t have to be the strong one, because that’s what he and Jake did for each other, he couldn’t stop himself from feeling everything he had fought to bury since he had been put on the transport off of the carrier. 

“Okay… so what do you need? What can I do?” The question could have sounded dismissive to anyone who overheard Jake, but Bradley knew that it was his way of asking how he could support him best. It was just another one of those things that was uniquely Jake and only Bradley got to witness. 

“This… this is all I need.”

Chapter Text

When it happened, Jake could only be glad of three things; 

One: his reactions were quick enough to save his wingman before he had to pull the ejection handles. 

Two: Rooster had been stationed out in Japan and so he was not there to witness the incident. 

Three: Don’t ask, don’t tell had been lifted so that meant that Rooster would be told what happened and not have to wait to hear it from someone else. 

But overall, Jake knew that it was a horrible place to be. They were all told that they might someday have to eject but no one wants to and no one enjoys it. There were so many risks involved in the situation that it was a terrifying prospect for any aviator. 

The thing that was haunting him however was his memory of the day they discussed the 1986 accident at flight school, the day that had started this thing with Bradley. He was in a very similar situation to the one that Bradley’s father and dad had been in. He was floating in the ocean just hoping that someone would come along to pull him out sooner or later. 

His body ached in a way that could only be explained by his having some form of serious injury. Hopes and prayers were all that he had left. 

His wingman should have made it back to the carrier. The enemy plane had been successfully shot down. He had done everything that he could but he knew that it might not be enough. 

If search and rescue didn’t arrive soon, then he would be in far more trouble than he could hope to come back from. The black spots that would drift into his vision told him that he was losing more blood than was good for him. He was cold enough that he felt as if he was never going to be warm again. 

There was no amount of hot chocolate, hugs and blankets that would ever warm him again. He could only hope that the dark speck in the sky was rescue because there was no way that he could keep his eyes open any longer. 

Jake was surprised when he finally opened his eyes. He hadn’t expected to see daylight again but given how sore and cold he felt, he knew that it wasn’t the afterlife because there was no way he could suffer this much in death. He also figured that there was no way that the COMPACFLT would be sitting next to his bed if he was dead. 

“Sir?” Jake’s single word question set off a chain of coughs that resulted in the highest ranking member of the Navy pressing a hand to his shoulder in order to help him sit up. 

“Take a breath, Seresin, everything’s going to hurt for a while. Whenever you’re ready, there is someone who wants to hear from you. But for now, just relax.” Each sentence was clipped, the tone harsh, but it was almost as if he cared. 

Jake could only look at the man as he finally stopped coughing and the Admiral held out a cup for him. He was almost convinced that he was hallucinating this entire event, but there was something just out of reach in his thoughts that told him he needed to stay present in the situation. 

“Why?” Jake couldn’t help but feel embarrassed as a sharp spike of pain stole the rest of his sentence. He wasn’t important enough to warrant this kind of visit. He was just a lieutenant. Sure he had shot down an enemy pilot, he was the only one of his generation to do so, but that wasn’t enough to warrant this sort of visit. 

“Why am I here? Well, when my son calls to ask if I know anything about the aviator who just got an air-to-air kill, I take an interest. That and I know how scared Bradley is and this means he can speak to you sooner.” 

And just like that every idea that Jake had of Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky being scary disappeared. The man was a certified softy for his kid. 

And Bradley was going to pay for keeping that a secret. 

“Do you know… how long…” Jake never managed to get the question out. He didn’t quite know what he was asking; how long until he could fly, how long until he could speak to Bradley? 

“How long until you’re back in the cockpit? A month, maybe a bit longer depending on how that ankle heals. How long until you can speak to Rooster? About an hour until he’s back on the ground.” Iceman’s response was factual as he also did the typical parental reaction of reaching out and taking the cup form him as Jake’s hand started to shake a bit. 

“Thank you, sir, I’m sorry that Bradley bothered you with this,” Jake said as he leaned a bit deeper into the pillows behind him. He didn’t want to be rude, but he felt unbelievably tired. He wasn’t sure if that was normal or not, but he wasn’t convinced that he could fight it off. 

“I will wake you when Rooster calls.” That was an order and Jake was smart enough not to argue with his highest ranking commanding officer. 

Jake wasn’t sure what had woken him this time, it wasn’t pain so he could only guess that he had received some form of painkiller while he had been asleep. He kept his eyes closed for a moment as he got his barings, and it was only then that he realised he could hear a voice speaking softly from the corner of the room. 

“He’s okay, a broken ankle, mild concussion and harness bruising. I’ll wake him for you and you can talk to him yourself, okay, Gosling. But I promise, he is fine, remember that.” 

And that moment was when Jake remembered everything. The ejection. Waking up to his boyfriend’s Pops being in the room. The fact that Bradley’s Pops was the Commander of the Pacific Fleet. 

‘Thanks Pops. Sorry for being…’ 

“Don’t finish that sentence Bradley. We all know why you were scared. It is justified,” Iceman’s voice grew louder as he started closing the distance between where he had been standing and the bed where Jake lay in confusion and relief. He still wasn’t sure how to process what had happened or the fact that his boyfriend had sent the highest ranking member of the Navy to make sure that he was okay. “I think Seresin would like to have a word with you now.” 

Jake’s confusion is the only explanation that he had for why he didn’t realise that the man had crossed the room to his bed until there was a phone being pressed into his hand. He just looked at the man for a moment before the older man nodded at the phone and proceeded to step out. Now that was something that he had expected; the Command of the Pacific Fleet had just left him, a man he had never met before, with his personal phone. 

‘Hey baby.’ Bradley’s voice was full of fear and concern but it was also the best thing in the world to hear. It had been too long since they had last been able to talk, and the truth was all Jake had wanted since he realised that he wasn’t going to be able to land his jet, was to admit to Bradley that he was all in. ‘Are… how are you, eh, feeling?’ 

“Rooster…” Jake could just barely breathe out the callsign. It had been so long that they had been pretending that they were friends and nothing more that it was just the expectation whenever they spoke. 

‘Don’t do that again, baby. I don’t know what I’d do without you.’