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It was a nice spring day in Fightertown, California.
You could hear the distant roaring of jets as you made your way out to the main hangar. Phoenix and Bob, along with Payback and Fanboy were up against Maverick in a dogfight, and you had no doubt that your friends were having a hard time defeating the Ace.
You were supposed to meet with George, a mechanic, to talk about the controls on your F/A-18, the throttle had a slight delay response and you wanted to get it fixed as soon as possible. Flying a fighter jet was hard enough as it is, you didn’t need any more added difficulties.
You leaned against the right wing of your Super Hornet, checking your watch. George must have been held up by something important, he wasn’t usually late. Luckily, you didn’t have much to do this afternoon so you just pulled out your phone, patiently waiting for him.
“Who’s a good boy ? Who’s a good boy ?”
Your brows furrowed almost instantly, was that…. Jake’s voice ?
God it sounded so different now, the permanent smug and cocky tone to his voice completely gone, replaced by a soft cooing, one that let his southern drawl flow more smoothly than when he was gloating about his higher score sim.
You crooked your head, trying to see where he was between all the jets stored in the hangar. Who was he talking to like that ??
“You are, you are a good boy !” His voice echoed again in the silence, reverberating on the metal paneling of the hangar.
You started walking in the direction in which his voice was coming from, more confused than ever. Again, Who was he talking to like that ?? Was there a part of you that wished you were the one he was talking to in that tone ? — Yes, but that was a problem for another day.
Finally you saw a glimpse of his side, he was crouched behind a jet, you couldn’t see his face yet, hidden by the nose of the Super Hornet.
“Okay Hangman who the fuck are yo—” You were cut short when you finally rounded the jet, Jake coming in full view now, as well as his interlocutor— You stopped dead in your tracks, the sight making you heart skip a beat, or stop entirely for a moment, you’re still not sure.
Jake, still in his flight suit, crouched down, his features softened in an expression of pure wonder and adoration, his gaze turned down on the sweetest, most adorable golden retriever puppy you had ever seen. Jake’s right hand gently scratching behind the puppy’s ear, whose eyes were closed in delight and tail flapping happily on the hangar floor, raising a small cloud of dirt each time it did.
That might have been the cutest thing you had ever been given the chance to witness in your life, and you were not sure the right words existed in the English language to describe how Jake looked right now. His beautiful green eyes crinkled as his focus was entirely absorbed by the adorable fluff ball in front of him, the most gorgeous of smiles had taken a comfortable seat on his face. He looked… Ethereal. Breathtaking. Perfect.
That realization almost knocked the air out of your lungs, your heart aching in the most wonderful of ways.
His head turned to you, having heard you coming, and to your surprise — and secret delight, the smile didn’t leave his face, it widened.
“Oh Lightning look who I found ! He was just wandering around the hangar !”
God help you he looked like a child discovering Christmas came early. It pulled at your heartstrings to see this side of him, and you almost had to turn your back to him, the sight of him, so happy and adoring with a puppy in his arms wasn’t one you were prepared to see when you woke up this morning — one that was definitely proving to be too much to handle right now.
You forced yourself to get a grip, there were more important things to focus on than Jake’s stupidly good looks, his warm jade green and adoring eyes watching the puppy, his tanned forearms wrapped protectively around it— okay, yes focus.
You crouched next to Jake slowly, not wanting to scare the puppy away.
“How did he even get in here ?” You asked, stretching out your hand to place it in front of the dog’s nose, letting him sniff you before petting him gently on the head.
Your shoulder was almost brushing Jake’s now, and it took everything in you not to inhale deeply upon smelling just a whiff of his cologne mixed with Jet fuel and something so undeniably him.
“I don’t even know” He answered, the smile never leaving his face, he turned his gaze back to the puppy, “anyway I’m glad I found him first.” His voice taking back on this impossibly gentle cooing tone, the kind you only use with babies and animals.
You chuckled a little, not expecting that.
“Why ?”
Jake gave you a look and shrugged like it was obvious.
“So I can keep him.” He simply said, like it was as immutable as telling you the earth orbited around the sun. The puppy was now tucked comfortably against his chest, so at ease.
“Hangman, I really don’t wanna ruin this moment for you,” you started carefully, “but this dog probably has very loving owners who are looking everywhere for him.”
“Well apparently they don’t love him enough to keep him from infiltrating a guarded military complex completely unsupervised.”
You laughed again, unable to keep a straight face in front of his childish behavior.
“I mean, there is one way we can know for sure if he has a family, we could take him to a vet and ask if he has a microchip ?” You suggested. There was a clinic not too far away from the base.
Jake’s face brightened a notch, if it was even possible.
“Look at you Lightning, always so resourceful.” He said teasingly, a twinkle in his eyes.
You turned your head away for a moment, desperately trying to hide the bashful smile you couldn’t refrain, and the oncoming blush you could feel already warming your cheeks.
“Alright let’s go.” Jake declared, securely and protectively holding the golden retriever in his arms as he stood up.
You stood up as well and both of you started walking to exit the hangar. Right as you were passing by your F/A-18, you saw George walking towards you.
“Oh Lightning you’re here ! Sorry, I was held up in a meeting with Cyclone.”
“It’s okay no worries !”
“Should we go over your jet’s issue right now ?”
“Oh well— um…”
You turned to look at Jake, puppy snuggled against his chest, the eagerness from before having temporarily left his eyes. You could physically feel your heart ache at the sight.
And then the words left your mouth before you could think twice about the consequences.
“George could we actually reschedule ? I’m really sorry, I just— I have something I need to do.”
George took one look at you, then one long look at Jake, whose smile was already returning and eyes impossibly gentle and adoring upon gazing down at you. He smirked softly.
“No worries, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
You thanked him and started heading towards the base’s exit along with Jake and the puppy still in his arms. You couldn’t believe you had actually said that. Refused to go over your jet’s problem with your mechanic — just to go to the vet with Hangman and his lost and found golden retriever puppy ? Jake was silent next to you, but you just knew, you knew it was only a matter of seconds now before he—
“So.“
Yep, here we go.
“That was quite the reaction back there,” He said, the self satisfied smirk evident in his voice — you refused to even look at him — as he gently scratched behind the dog’s ear, who was making little satisfied sounds that almost resembled purrs. “Can’t believe you decided to come with me and furball here to the vet instead of reviewing very important calibrations on your jet.” His voice dipped, playful, “If I didn’t know any better I’d say you definitely have a thing for me.”
You scoffed, hoping it came across as indignation and not for what it really was, a bad attempt at trying to hide how flustered you were.
“Oh please, I’m only coming along to make sure you don’t abduct someone else’s dog.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night sweetheart.”
Whatever response you had already loaded and ready to go upon hearing the first few words of his sentence, died instantly at the last one, sweetheart. You wish you had the fight in you to retort him to shut up, to never call you that again, never even think about it. But the warmth that spread in your whole chest — down your legs, along your arms and meeting the tip of your fingers, flushing up your face, painting your cheeks in a pink hue that couldn’t lie even if it tried — just at the sound of this little word coming from his lips ? Rendered you absolutely useless. You barely managed your next words.
“Shut up.” You mumbled out, devoid of any aggression.
He only chuckled in response, the sound warm and low and not at all helping your current predicament.
When you finally reached Jake’s truck, you hopped into the passenger’s seat, Jake on your side and carefully handing you the puppy so he could go around the truck, to the driver’s side.
You were so busy watching Jake the whole time —an embarrassing thought to admit, even to yourself — that you didn’t take the time to truly appreciate how cute this little fluff ball was. The puppy was happily wagging his tail, soft brown eyes staring up at you. You cupped his adorable little face and murmured in a cooing voice close to it :
“You are sooo cute aren’t you ? The cutest.”
“And here I thought I was the sole owner of this title.” Jake playfully sighed as he took place on the driver’s seat, buckling himself.
“And what gave you the impression ?” You scoffed, equally playful, and uncharacteristically willing to entertain his antics.
“Well I don’t know,” he started with a smirk, eyeing your face, “maybe it’s those rosy cheeks of yours every time you look at me that gave it away.”
Your jaw went slack as you turned to look at him, heat rushing to your cheeks once more, heart threatening to escape your rib cage from how fast it was beating against your chest. You didn’t see any realistic way you could get out of this without him catching you in an obvious and frankly, embarrassing lie.
“Okay smarty pants, just start the damn car.” You just mumbled out, snuggling the puppy protectively against your chest.
Jake chuckled once more, his gaze lingered on your face for a second longer. Not failing to notice the pink hue your cheeks were once again adorned with, as well as the way your eyes were doing everything in their power not to cross his. He slightly bit his bottom lip at how cute you were looking right now, desperately trying to refrain himself from flustering you further with another smug remark. He finally detached his stare from you, turning the key in the ignition and putting the address of the clinic on his phone.
The drive was a relatively short one. You decided to focus all your attention on making sure the puppy was comfortable on your lap and entertained, petting him, whispering sweet things that were only meant for his adorable floppy and fluffy ears. Every few minutes, Jake couldn’t help but stealing glances at you, the sight of you in his truck, with a golden retriever puppy on your lap felt strangely domestic and his heart leaped at the thought that maybe this could be real, that this could be what his life might look like if you both started being honest with each other and stopped ignoring the simmering tension between you.
Jake parked the car on the clinic’s parking lot when you arrived, and before you even had time to unbuckle your seatbelt, he was already out of the car and on your side of it. He opened up the door for you, his hands stretched out, ready to take the puppy from you so you could get out. You gently passed him over. And the puppy seemed happy enough to be back in his arms. Jake secured it firmly against his chest with one strong arm, making sure the puppy was well seated on it before stretching out his free hand to you.
You looked at it, then back up at his face, his eyes devoid of their usual teasing and smug twinkle, the only thing left was eagerness. And before your brain could even think of brushing him away with a deflecting and snarky comment like ‘keep that hand to yourself Hangman, I don’t need you’, your body instinctively reached out for him, grabbing his hand and leaning on it as you climbed out of the car.
“Thanks.” You said, still intent on avoiding his gaze.
“No worries.” He all but answered with a dazzling smile.
You both made your way to the vet, and Jake once again opened the door for you, despite still holding the puppy. Has he always been that gentlemanly ? Have you just been refusing to see it all this time ?
Fortunately for you, the clinic was looking pretty empty as you made your way to the front desk. There was just an elderly man with a black cat that was matching its owner’s gray hair, waiting on a chair.
“Hello,” Jake greeted with a characteristic charming smile, “we found this little guy wandering around our military base, we wanted to see if he has a microchip, to know if he has owners, if that’s possible.”
The woman behind the desk, a sweet lady in her sixties, looked up from her computer and melted at the sight of the puppy in Jake’s arms.
“Awww he is so cute !! You three would make an adorable family !”
Your heart skipped a beat.
“Oh no we’re not—“
But Jake cut you.
“Thank you, we’d definitely love to keep him if we can, we’ve been thinking about adopting a dog for a while now, I guess it’s the universe sending us a message !”
You practically gave yourself whiplash turning your head to look at him, bewildered. What was he saying ?? Though you were confused by his antics, you couldn’t help the warmth you felt at the lady thinking you were a couple and Jake so easily playing into it. Like it was believable, like you two could actually be something.
Jake turned to you, chuckling softly at your expression.
“Close your mouth honey, you’re gonna catch a fly.”
You didn’t even notice your jaw was hanging open until now, beyond embarrassed, you quickly closed it. The front desk lady let out a soft laugh, muttering out a low ‘God, young love is so beautiful’. She typed a few things onto her computer and looked back up.
“You guys are lucky, it’s pretty calm today, you can just wait a few minutes right here and the doctor will be right with you.” She smiled as she pointed out the little chairs to the left, which served as a waiting room.
You both thanked her and went over to sit down.
“Why would you let her believe we’re together ?!” You whisper yelled as soon as you were out of earshot from the front desk.
Jake just shrugged, smiling from ear to ear.
“Well sweetheart, I didn’t exactly hear you deny it, you know there is no shame in admitting you liked it.”
“Liked it ??” You scoffed, opting for trying to sound deeply and truly offended.
He only hummed in response, green eyes never leaving yours, all the while still petting the puppy on his lap who was now playfully trying to bite his fingers.
“That’s just ridiculous,” you started, not even knowing where your sentence was going or how to defend yourself, “yeah ridiculous that’s what it is, it’s— I mean you’re— I don’t even—“
You cut yourself off with a frustrated huff, deciding to put an end to your own suffering “Yeah anyway you get what I mean.” Praying that he would just — for once in his life — shut up and drop it.
But of course, he wouldn’t be Jake “Hangman” Seresin if he did.
“No I actually don’t, enlighten me darlin’.”
There he was again with the pet names. You weren’t sure you could handle all of this for much longer before you accidentally blurted out something you were not meant to or just totally told on yourself. And right as you were about to answer something that would probably dig your own grave, the universe decided to give you a break.
“Alright sweeties, the doctor will see you now !” The lady from the front desk called out to you, “Right this way.”
You couldn’t help but let out a small relieved sigh, happy to catch a break from Jake’s unrelenting flirting — or were you really ?
Jake just threw you a look that said that this conversation was nowhere near being over, and you didn’t know if you awaited the next moment you’d be alone together again with dread or excitement. You were led inside the vet’s consultation room. The veterinarian was a kind looking man in his forties, he gave you both a warm, welcoming smile, and it widened upon gazing down at the puppy that Jake had gently put down on the examination table.
“Hello little guy,” he greeted the puppy, gently petting his head, “alright tell me, what brings you in here ?”
Jake explained the situation.
“And so we wanted to know if it was possible for you to see if he has a microchip ? See if he has owners ?”
“Yeah that’s absolutely doable.” The vet, Dr. Martin as it was written on his scrubs, nodded as he rummaged through some drawers to retrieve his pet chip scanner.
When he found it, he turned it on and as he was about to scan between the puppy’s shoulders — where the chip would be if he had one — you could sense that Jake was a bit fidgety. He’d put his hands in his pockets, inhaled a bit more sharply than usual, something that would go unnoticed by everyone, but not you. You knew Jake had gotten his hopes up about genuinely keeping this puppy, and you found it cute to see him be a bit nervous about the reveal on whether or not this puppy already had a family. You gently placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly, in an attempt to comfort him in case Dr. Martin didn’t deliver the news he so desperately hoped for.
Jake seemed surprised at the contact at first, his brows raised as he turned his head to make eye contact with you. When you smiled up softly at him, his features relaxed into an expression of serenity as he placed a warm hand above yours, squeezing it affectionately. Dr. Martin’s voice pulled you both out of the trance and kept you from drowning into each other’s eyes :
“Seems like this little guy doesn’t have anyone.”
Jake physically lightened up, you could feel the relief radiating from him as well as the excitement at the idea of getting to adopt the little fluff ball.
“California laws are a bit strict with strays though,” Dr. Martin said gently. “But I can get you intent-to-adopt paperwork. You’d foster him during the hold period, and if no one claims him, you’ll be able to adopt him officially. How does that sound?”
“Sounds amazing, thank you.”
Dr. Martin nodded with a smile before stepping out to go get the paperwork, leaving you alone with Jake, without forgetting about the puppy of course. You noticed then that your hand was still on his shoulder, and his hand was still very much holding yours in place, you were suddenly very aware of how warm his skin felt against yours. You quickly retracted it, opting for a casual tone when you started talking again, hoping he wouldn’t catch on the fact you just pulled your hand from his like it had suddenly burnt you.
“So,” You began, clearing your voice slightly, “excited ?”
He looked at you for a moment, absentmindedly petting the puppy again, debating on whether or not he should torment you further by bringing up your earlier conversation or even the way you just pulled out your hand from under his, and walked away to the end of the examination table, so you were now on opposite sides. Jake decided to let it go — for now.
“I sure am,” He answered. “I’ve been thinking of names ideas, what d’ya think about Lightning ?” He asked, teasing smirk returning in full force.
You let out a laugh before taking on a fake apologizing tone.
“I’m sorry Hangman, but I fear this one’s already taken.”
He played into it, feigning disappointment.
“Bummer, I thought it was a really cute name.”
You let out a chuckle as you diverted your eyes down on the examination table, unable to hold his beautiful green gaze when he watched you so intensely.
“Well, if I can’t use Lightning,” he continued, giving you a playful pointed look, “you’re just gonna have to find me a better one.”
“Oh Hangman, always deflecting responsibility on others.” You sighed teasingly.
His only answer was a small, soft chuckle. He turned his head back to the puppy, who was adoringly gazing up at him while wagging his little tail. He scratched behind his ears — which seemed to be the absolute all time favorite move of the little furball — and placed a soft kiss on the top of his head. You almost had to tear your gaze away again from how sweet it was, your heart feeling as if it was being squeezed inside of your chest. You discreetly took out your phone to snap a picture of it, one you’d probably be ashamed of later for how long you’d end up staring at it.
And for a moment you looked from the puppy to Jake, and from Jake to the puppy, and it seemed as if they had somehow been carved from the same stone, only brought to life into different shapes.
“He really is the most beautiful boy isn’t he ?” Jake spoke again, affection dripping from his voice, still looking down at the puppy.
But your eyes were fixed on Jake as you agreed, a small, almost enamored smile pulling at your lips.
“Yeah, he really is.”