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They never talk about it really, not before, during or after.
It starts when she hugs Hangman just a little too long, lingering as they pull apart and Jake takes the opportunity to bump his nose against hers, a gamble he hopes doesn’t fall flat. He gives her his most charming smile and she doesn't roll her eyes.
In the dining hall while cheap, warm beer is being handed around Rooster slips a hand into Jake's hair singing some 80s classic and he leans into his palm. They dance around together laughing and screaming, just thankful to be alive. They both can feel Natashas eyes on them, sitting back watching behind her can. When she’s distracted by Bob, Rooster slips a arm around her waist and spins her around, eliciting something Hangman definitely thinks is a squeal, something he teases her relentlessly about.
After two hours of shouting and celebrating the rig's dining hall becomes sweltering hot and Jake peels off his undershirt, earning stares from both Phoenix and Rooster. The latter swallowing hard, which Natasha tracks with her eyes unashamed. They are all sticky and wet and it doesn't help that they all had competed in a shot gun competition, one that Phoenix had unequivocally won.
None of them could tell you when the decision was made, but when things were at its peak, Natasha slipped her hand into Roosters and led him out of the room, Hangman following slowly behind after she gave him a look.
They stumble over each other into a supply closet, kissing whatever bare skin they can find. Bradley doesn’t dare leave a mark on Natasha but when his mouth latches onto the soft skin below Jake's collar bone, Jake moans so loud Natasha has to cover his mouth with her hand while laughing and Bradley doesn’t stop until he knows there will be a mark the next morning.
They don’t do much more than kiss, all still too shaky from Bradleys brush with death. They find comfort in feeling each other's breaths on their skin. Jake holds them both firmly at their waist, crushing them both against his chest using the wall to keep him upright. Natasha has a hand firmly in Bradley's hair, the other running up and down Jake's arm in a way that in another context would be seen as reassuring. Bradley is all over the place, his pace changing erratically. One second deeply kissing Natasha with the same concentration he gives his flying and the next he's kissing up and down Jake's chest at breakneck speed, leaving all three of them breathless. It’s crealy the side effects of the mission, but isn’t that what this all is?
Jake's hand only starts to inch towards Bradley’s button when there's a loud knock on the door. Payback coughs extremely loudly and exaggerated:
Look I don’t want to know what you three are getting up to in there and I never want to. But we are about to dock so please clean yourselves up.
Getting off the rig, they don’t say a word about it but they all slip into Roosters Jeep and drive over to his place. By the time they arrive the adrenaline has fully worn off and they all drag themselves into the house. They follow Rooster blindly into his bedroom, thankful he’s got a queen sized bed and strip themselves down to their underwear and crawl into the bed.
It goes like this: Natasha crawls in first, claiming the left side and curls into a ball facing the rest of the bed. Jake shrugs and jumps into the middle, forever the show off, and lifts his left arm to let Natasha use him as a pillow; she does. Bradley stands back for a moment and looks at them, studying their curves and muscles, happy he can finally do this, that he can finally allow himself to look at them. They look back, both amused by his unashamed ogling and Jake pats the empty space beside him:
Plenty of room buddy, don’t leave us hanging.
Yeah Bradley, that's his job.
He chuckles softly and turns the lights off before jumping in and landing half on Jake and half in his spot making them all laugh and forget for one moment how exhausted they are.
Long after their laughter has died down and they all are about to drift into sleep Jake whispers into the darkness,
I didn’t think I’d see you two again this morning. I’m really happy I was wrong. They don’t say anything because there is nothing to say. Nothing that can make it better or worse, it's just what it is. So they drift off to sleep and never talk about it.
A month later Phoenix gets deployed overseas and Hangman is sent on a top secret mission, something he is annoyingly smug about. Rooster decides to stay at Top Gun with Maverick,
Someone got to hold down the fort, he explained but they all knew he liked the calm and needed it for a bit after everything.
There's a send off thrown at Hard Deck, including Maverick footing the whole bill because Jake snuck his phone onto the bar and a tough football game on the beach. The night ends with the three of them falling into bed together, something that they had begun doing every night and unlike their first, they took their time.
Bradley spent most of the night memorizing their bodies, kissing every inch of them, remembering every sound they made. He didn’t want to forget the way Natasha threaded her hands through his hair when he kissed her hip bone or the way Jake groaned when he realized Bradley was marking him again. He lightly danced his fingers in the crook of her knee to hear her again and strained to listen to every inflection.
He watched them kiss, fascinated by the way Jake submitted to her immediately. Out there, in the real world Hungman fought Phoenix on almost every decision, always wanting it his way. But in here, in their small little pocket world they had built for themselves, Jake kneeled in front of her when she asked, and looked up at her with a pleading warm look that made Bradley melt. For a while he just laid there and watched them, watched them say goodbye to each other. It was tough for both of them, to leave each other and leave Bradley behind and the fear and uncertainty of what was ahead made them bolder than usual, more frantic and desperate to touch each other and feel their heartbeat thrum under their skin. At one point, while Bradley was above him and Natasha watched, Jake pulled her wrist to his lips and mouthed over her pulse point, assuring himself he would feel it again.
They keep this up until the sun starts to rise, and she has to remind Jake he has a 9 am call time as he slides his hand between her thighs, and he should at least shower before he sets off. He pouts like a child making Bradley laugh. Jake cocks an eyebrow and asks what's so funny before diving down to kiss him and it takes Natasha pulling them apart for them to stop.
If we join you, will you please get in the shower.
He doesn’t answer, but the smirk on his face tells her she gave him exactly what he wanted and the three cram into Bradley's, correction, their shower and wash themselves clean. Natasha washes her own hair in the middle while the two lather each other's hair over her, boxing her in between their arms. She feels safe between them and locks the feeling away in her heart for when things get bad out there. They both drop kisses onto her shoulders at the same time. She knows immediately they plan this and isn’t the slightest bit surprised when she feels Jake's arm wrap around her middle and Bradley starts to lick up her neck. She knows she should stop this, tell them they can’t let their Hangman be left out to dry but then she remembers she doesn’t know the next time she’ll have them both in her midst and she leans into Jake as a silent permission and things progress from there.
In the doorway Jake kisses them both goodbye several times. He makes it all the way to his car and throws his bag in the back before he comes running back and kisses them both again. They shove him off with a smile and he drives off into the sun. Natsasha leaves that evening, Bradley driving her to the base before heading off to meet Maverick. He kisses her softly behind the car so no one will watch them and just gives her a nod before she walks away. When she gets to the briefing she finds a small envelope matching one in Jake's bag, inside, with no note, is a newly cut key to Bradley’s home. A quiet invitation to come back, to come home.
Natasha is anything but surprised because while they didn’t talk about it, with them, they never really do.