Chapter Text
Natasha “Phoenix” Trace wasn’t one to let her emotions show.
Not to the degree of emotional repression she had to witness daily around these macho men around her who seems to think that ‘emotion’ is the name of an incurable disease, but ever since she decided to make it in a man’s world, she realise something has to give if she wants to be taken seriously. It wasn’t a big sacrifice to trade the strawberry daiquiris that she’s very fond of for the drier pale ales, and if along the way she finally met the silly boys who see her as ‘one of the guys’ simply because she could beat them at the pool table, then she’s not complaining.
And besides, she wasn’t a very emotion driven person in the first place. And crying in the back alley of a bar because her boyfriend of 2 years just broke up with her is definitely on the list of things Natasha would never want to do.
So when it happened, she’s mortified.
Even more so when she realised that someone is staring at her from the side of Hard Deck’s building corner, a small alcove that she had hoped would hide her from view.
With a harsh swipe on her cheek and a silent prayer that the dim light is enough to hide the state of her face, Natasha drew herself up to her full height and breathed, “What do you want, Bagman?”
Because holy fuck, what luck does she even have. Still coming down of the squad’s ‘We’re all alive, oh my god, we all made it through the The Mission without losing anyone’ high, just to see a two paragraph text that told her she’s been dumped. Risking her life to follow her dream only to be told that she’s too ‘career minded and an absent lover’, that ‘I get you’re following your passion, but I don’t know if I can start a family with a woman who kept putting her job first’.
God, now that she think about it, did she really give 2 years of her life to this asshole?
Busy with her wallowing, Natasha had somehow missed it when Hangman came closer and ended up standing in front of her. She wanted to bristle over the closeness and the way he’s looking at her; because okay, the guy saved one of her best friends and their mentor and ended up not being as much as an asshole as she remembered him being, but it would be a lot better if he could take a hint and take a hike.
Instead of following her internal wish however, Hangman just kept staring. First at her face then down to the phone she realised she’s clutching like a lifeline, and back to her. Like he was assessing something.
Natasha scowled and wiped her face again. What a shame that it didn’t seem to manage to completely dry her cheeks and remove the puffiness in her eyes.
“Bagman, can you please—“
“You know what you need right now?” he cuts her off suddenly, “You need an outlet to vent,”
With a blink of disbelief, Natasha stared at the cockiest pilot to ever grace the Navy since 1986 - because she heard stories about Maverick, even if the much older version seems to have mellowed out by tons - and slowly replied, “You’re… are you suggesting I vent about my failed relationship to you?”
Hangman gave her a weird snort, “What? No, why would I want to subject myself to that?” he then smirked, and cocked his head to the direction of the open air around them, “How’d you feel about karaoke?”
“Shout out to my ex! You’re really quite the man! You made my heart break and that made me who I am!”
Her throat felt raw, but Natasha felt like that’s probably because she’s been screaming-singing every heartbreak song known to man for what felt like hours now. She paused her singing to drink - Strawberry daiquiri, her one true love - and let Hangman’s surprisingly screechy singing voice tear down the private room on its own.
“Here’s to my ex, hey, look at me now! Well I’m all the way up, I swear you’ll never, you’ll never bring me down!”
“Okay, I know what our next song should be,” Natasha crowed over the speaker, clumsily grabbing for the tablet to scroll down the list of songs. She pressed ‘OK’ with more temerity than needed for the poor touch screen.
A microphone enhanced ‘ew!’ reverberated through the room, courtesy of her singing buddy, who took a peek from over her shoulder, “Taylor Swift, Phoenix? Really? When we’re out here holding a funeral for your relationship? Don’t be a basic bitch,”
“Excuse me! Singing Taytay Swift after a break up is part of the American culture!” she swiped at him playfully, and managed to grab the tip of his elbow only, “And you’re one to talk about basic bitch, I know ‘Thank You, Next’ was your choice,”
To his credit, Hangman didn’t even deny it. He simply picked up his microphone higher, enough that it bumped his upper lips and sang the beginning line of ‘Cry me a River’ extremely off key, “You were my sun, you were my earth, but you didn’t know all the ways I love you!”
Natasha was sure that they rented the room for 2 hours tops, but when the apologetic manager told them that they’re going to close soon and to settle their tab, she was surprised to realise that it was nearly early in the morning, and they have been away for almost 6 hours. They were still giggling like a pair of naughty school children truanting class on the way back, Jake - fuck it, they just spent the night crooning ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ badly, he’s ‘Jake’ now - driving because he barely had any to drink.
“Okay, I admit it. I do need that,” Natasha admitted with a sigh, thumping her head against the headrest of the passenger seat as the last of the night’s excitement slowly left her. She glanced to the side to see Jake smugly smiling, and for once, felt fondness instead of irritated, “Thanks, I really appreciate it,”
The smug smile lasted for another second before it softened down to something much more friendly, “Been there, done that, regrettably bought the shirt. And you know what, it’s a hell lot healthier then, say, ended up binge eating Ben & Jerry’s for weeks while tossing all the stuff he ever bought you in a box you swore you’ll throw away but only could ever stare sadly at,”
A sharp laugh escaped her, “Oh god, that sounds so specific, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have laughed,”
There was a brief moment that she’s afraid she offended Jake by laughing - and wasn’t that a concept, being hesitant of offending Hangman - but he giggled all the same, even if it started to hold a hint of melancholy, “’s alright. It was a while ago. I’m pretty much over it,”
It’s very clear from his tone that he’s not, not even in the slightest.
Yet, as curious as Natasha is, she held back.
Instead, she enjoyed the breeze that passed through the open sunroof of her Nissan Maxima, letting her eye flicker close as she took a deep breath. The closest karaoke spot in Coronado was a good 40 minutes away from NAS North Island, and Jake seems to have taken the scenic route to go back to their temporary lodging. Above them, the sky was still dark, yet there is a telltale brightness that’s starting to seep in, telling them that dawn of a new day is quickly approaching upon them.
Natasha took a deep breath, and sighed, “I think I was just with this guy because I was scared of being alone,”
There was a beat of silence between them, until Jake gave her a hum of acknowledgement. He’s listening, and he wanted her to continue.
So she took the offer, “Look, I love flying, I love being a Naval Aviator, but I also look at all of my friends, you know, starting a family, having kids, just being in a loving relationship, and kinda, sorta, want that too,” she sighed, dark eyes peering up to the sights that passed around them, “But with this kind of life, when I don’t even know where I would be sent to next, it’s pretty much impossible, you know?”
Jake was still silent, with occasional quiet nods here and there. It felt like a fever dream, to know that there would be a time in her life where she could ever deeply appreciate the existence of one Jake “Hangman” Seresin, but here she is.
“I don’t even know if I actually do love him, to tell you the truth,” Natasha murmured, unsure if it’s even audible. But then Jake turned to her, and she knew he heard, “But he stuck around, and that was good enough for me,”
Well, until he didn’t.
Soon, the familiar outline of NAS North Island came to view, and it didn’t take long for them to reach the lodging complex Natasha stayed in. Coincidentally, the first ray of sunshine began to peek from beyond the horizon, and it felt almost poetic. It’s a brand new day, and a new step of her life.
Jake pulled up in front of her temporary housing. His own is only a few minutes walk, he told her, after he refused to take her car for the day to drive himself back home.
Natasha was about to make her way inside, when she heard her name being called. ‘Natasha’, not ‘Phoenix’. Her actual name and not a callsign.
She’s still sort of reeling from the realisation that Jake Seresin is actually a pretty fun guy to spend time with. Having him call her by name is honestly mindblowing.
“What’s up, Jake?” she decided to return the favour, and could feel the moment it is equally surprising for him to hear her call him by name.
The moment quickly passed, when Jake shifted his weight on his heels, and rather bashfully - will the surprises ever end today - told her, “Don’t stick with something that’s just ‘good enough’. You’re a fucking amazing woman and a damn good pilot, Natasha Trace. You deserve someone just as awesome as yourself,”
Maybe there is such thing called too much strawberry daiquiris, Natasha decided, because her being drunk is the only explanation why that simple comment was enough to make her tear up. She doesn’t think she had a self-esteem issue, Natasha knew that she is damn proud of herself and her achievements without needing anyone to validate her.
But, it was still nice to be told that by someone else.
And at that moment, she really, really appreciate Jake Seresin.
Instead of telling Jake this, though, Natasha squint her eyes at him - partially to also suppress the burgeoning tears - and asked with playful suspicion, “Are you hitting on me? Is that what tonight’s all about?”
It was just a joke; being a woman in the military gave her enough experience to know the kind of behaviour guys would take if they really wanted to get in your pants, and Jake’s behaviour throughout the night couldn’t be any further removed from any of that. But even knowing that doesn’t make her less shocked over the way his eyes widened and the vehement, almost creeped out way Jake shook his head and exclaimed, “What?! Ew, no!” the blond cringed, “You’re great and all, Nat, but no,”
Natasha bit down her laugh, and teased further, “You sure, Bagman? Cuz I might be lonely enough that I can spare a space over in my bed right now,”
“Eugh, don’t even,” Jake shook his head again. He then paused, looking oddly hesitant before he continued, voice slightly lowered, “You… you don’t have the kind of ‘equipments’ I’m looking for, if you catch my meaning,”
Oh.
Oh.
Oh yeah, meaning caught. Meaning caught so hard.
She obviously took too long to reply though, because Jake suddenly look uncomfortable, and fuck, he just volunteered an information Natasha could tell is not something he openly tell people, because they’re in the fucking military, and DADT might be a thing of history but that doesn’t mean that everything is now rainbow and sunshine for people who had the kind of inclinations that Jake has. And she just took that in with silence.
Natasha racked her brain for an answer, a comfort words to say to assure him she won’t tell, that his secret is safe with her and that she appreciate him sharing this bit of information with her. Unfortunately her brain is as empty as a cartoon wallet with a fly buzzing out of it.
Instead, what came out of her loose mouth was, “Oh good, wouldn’t want to go out with a guy with better ass than mine, anyway,”
It was with a chiming brays of laughter that they seem to have established a newfound friendship.
Following the success of The Mission, to make up for the fact that they’re not getting any sort of awards due to the secret nature of the entire operation, the entire Dagger Squadron was awarded with a month long break and a pat on the back from Very Important People.
One of said Very Important People turns out to be the COMPACFLT, Admiral Thomas “Iceman” Kazansky himself, who also gave them a different type of award; the front row seat of him headbutting Maverick in anger, then proceeding to kiss their squad leader and mentor within an inch of his life.
Rooster’s face had turned all shades of red, complete with the tortured moan of “Ice, Mav, please, for the love of god, get a fucking room. You guys always do this shit,”.
Which is an unexpected window to what guy’s childhood look like, once they found out about the actual history behind his hostility to Maverick.
With a month of free time, a number of squad members had predictably decided to go and visit family, or used the well deserved break to actually take a break. Omaha left the day after they arrive on land to visit family, with Harvard, Halo and Coyote following the day after. Payback, Fanboy, Yale and Fritz apparently made plans to go on a road trip heading towards some kind of convention in New York for the week, with the surprising addition of Warlock into the mix. Apparently geekiness and love for pop culture surpass military ranks.
Bob left to visit family on the third day, being picked up by some bigwig family member that was important enough that he greeted Admiral Kazansky by name. Rooster decided to spend time with his pseudo-dads somewhere in Fightertown, visiting the childhood home he inherited from his parents with them. There wasn’t much talk about their plans once they are down there, but there is a silent understanding between everyone who knew that he’s trying to mend bridges with Mav.
Which means that really, it just left Natasha and Jake. Natasha’s parents weren’t even living in the country anymore, having decided they wanted to spend the rest of their retired life in some obscure European town while touring the continent, and she already had plans to see them for Christmas. Jake had long since cut ties with his family except for an older brother, who was visiting said family.
Natasha came storming into the quiet mess hall with a pair of tickets held like a weapon, which she slammed down on top of the table in front of where Hangman was sitting only by himself, nursing a cup of coffee and wearing lack of sleep like a second skin.
“They’re doing a classic movies marathon down in Village Theatre this evening starting from 1PM. I got us both tickets,” She said in lieu of any greeting and with a wide grin on her face, “Third movie on the list is The Notebook,”
Jake blinked at her once, and slammed his hand right next to her and the tickets, “Fucking sold. What time are we leaving?”
In all honesty, Natasha held no particular love for cheesy romance movies, and the thought of spending time and money to watch one frankly sounds terrible. But she got another text from Shitty Ex-Boyfriend asking when she could come over to pick up her stuff from his apartment (which she knows is just a single toothbrush and a couple of clothes she won’t miss), and she’s both incensed and heartbroken and she needed the appropriate company for it.
Jake had mentioned yesterday, in between shouting the karaoke room down, that he watched The Notebook about 50 times. She figured after giving her a blast of a night, she could return the favour.
The old, retro movie theatre was pretty quiet, even for a matinee showing. They came about 15 minutes after the first movie has started - due to Natasha being unable to decide if she should go with popcorn or candies, and Jake’s fussiness about the amount of butter on his popcorn - and there was only about 2 other couples in the auditorium sitting near the back, and an old guy on the front that wore the theatre’s uniform.
“You’re fucking blind, Nat,”
“I am so not!” Natasha hissed, chucking a single kernel of popcorn and hitting bullseye on Jake’s temple. They gave up on trying to be discreet with their commentary and whispering when it’s clear that one couple already left and the other is very clearly making out on the back, being even louder than they were, “The actor looks so much like Mav! Well, Mav if he was like, 10-20 years younger, but still! How are you not seeing this?”
“All that Mav and this guy had in common is that they’re both in the Navy, but in very, very different branch. Now can we please give timeless classic ‘A Few Good Men’ the attention that it very clearly deserve?”
By the time The Notebook finally played on the wide screen, the last couple also walked out, shimmying out of their chairs in what could only be described as a walk of shame. Natasha gave their retreating back a glower, and clicked her tongue, “Good riddance. Can’t stand happy couples right now,”
Jake snorted inelegantly, chewing on his popcorn.
Natasha had never actually sat down and watch The Notebook in her life, and she could definitely decide on her first viewing that it is just as depressing as she thought it would be. How anyone could even enjoy it enough to watch it more than 1 time is honestly baffling to her.
She tried to make this opinion known to the person who apparently does enjoy having their heartstring tugged, but paused as she turned and took a note of Jake’s face.
If there is one word that she could choose from, then Natasha would probably use the word ‘wistful’ to describe the faraway look on the blond pilot’s face. It’ll be easy to just say that he’s very immersed in the movie, swayed by the drama of star crossed lovers. But then the scene shifted to the two characters on the beach, and from the corner of her eyes, Natasha watched as Jake’s lips slowly moved along with the dialogue.
“You think in another life I could’ve been a bird?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like reincarnation,”
“I don’t know,”
“I think it could,”
A soft, sad smile curled across his lips. His eyes were glassy, almost unfocused, and Natasha wondered if Jake’s even still watching the movie right now, or if there is something completely different going on in front of him.
He was still mouthing of the dialogue with the kind of precision and timing that could only come from repeated, obsessive watching.
At least, until the point where—
“Now say you’re a bird too,”
“If you’re a bird, I’m a bird,”
Jake’s words faltered by the end, and he looked away from the screen, down to his lap as he took a shaky breath.
(Also, it didn’t look like he was saying ‘bird’ in the end, like the dialogue did. In fact, Natasha was pretty sure he mouthed something close to ‘roo’ before he stopped)
“You okay?”
The way that Jake jolted from her quiet questions made her think he might’ve forgotten she was even there. Natasha felt like she should be offended, considering that she’s the one who forked over the money for this, but she was simply concerned.
He shook his head, now floppy blond hair falling over his forehead. This way, Jake looks soft, unlike the hard edged, proud Hangman.
That’s probably why Natasha wound an arm around Jake’s shoulder and pulled him against her smaller frame. There’s not a single bone in her body that’s in any way attracted to him - possibly helped by knowing that there is no way he is attracted to her either - but every single one of those bones wanted to cuddle him and give him the option to lay his head on her shoulder.
He took the offer not a second later.
“I still have it, you know. The box full of stuff he ever gave me,”
They ended up in a diner not far from the theatre, a 24 hours family restaurant that’s quite crowded considering it’s nearly the witching hour. Natasha paused from chewing on their shared plate of onion ring, trying to meet Jake’s sad blue eyes, even though he doesn’t seem to want to meet hers. The brunette swallowed, and took a sip of her milkshake slowly while carefully considering her next words.
In the end, she settled with, “What’s in it?”
Jake huffed and smiled at the question, still looking down at his plate of half eaten cheeseburger, “A couple of stuff. There’s this plushie keychain he won for me at some state fair in Virginia Beach. Ticket stubs for a Cowboys game we watched together, this cute little mug that said ‘They always say Yee Haw, but never ask Haw Yee’,” He giggled, and it sounded wet, and a little like it was hiding a sob, “A copy of The Notebook Blu-Rays. God, we watched the shit out of back then,”
Natasha gave him a commiserating smile, but felt a bit off balanced as she did. It’s only been a day since she’s been dumped and honestly, all that Shitty Ex-Boyfriend made her feel at this point was just dull anger and far away regret. Jake was very clearly still in love with his ex, even though a long time has obviously passed.
“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but,” she bit her lower lips, considering twice, thrice, four time whether or not this is a good idea. She went for it anyway, “How’d you guys broke up?”
Immediately, Natasha felt terrible for asking, because if it was even possible, Jake looked even more miserable. She was about to apologise and told him to ignore her when he sighed, “Commitment, I guess,” the blond muttered, while half-heartedly nibbling on a piece of fries, “I guess I was going too fast for him. I’m needy, I can admit that much. And selfish. But I just… I just love him so much and want him to love me just as much,”
While Jake seems to have his own sad little flashback, Natasha silently wondered what someone who could earn Jake Seresin’s entire love might be like. Jake is obsessive, one has to be to be the kind of pilot that he is; Passionate, willing to push boundaries, unparalleled in terms of determination. It helps that now with them being on a much better term than they were the start of The Mission, Natasha is willing to admit that Jake was brilliant in many ways, overshadowed by his own ego and off putting arrogance.
(But then, looking at him now, she wondered how much of that was really him, and how much of it was a necessary facade, the same kind she herself puts up just to be accepted in this world she choose to be a part of)
She imagined what it would feel like to have all of that focus he seems to have for flying aimed at her, at anyone at all, and figured that there’s only two ways it could ever end; either they’ll thrive under it, or drown until they don’t know which way is up.
This ex might sadly be the second one.
“And he wasn’t willing to meet you in the middle?”
Jake scoffed derisively, old wound being scrapped open none too gently, “No. Everything was too much for him, apparently. Even though I was the one who made all the first steps, the one who has to keep making an effort. No, he’ll never take a single step until it was all too late,” he shrugged, trying for nonchalance and shooting way off the mark, all the way to ‘caring too much and failing to hide it’, “And now it’s far too late. Far, far too late,”
He bit the rest of the fries, chewed on it briefly before tossing back his glass of coke like it’s hard liquor. Maybe he wished it was.
“Because even if I slow down for him, what difference would it make if he never even move from his precious fucking perch,”
Somehow, their random outings ended up being a near daily ritual of sorts. They went to the beach, bothered Cyclone enough to allow them to test drive new jets, spent nights in Hard Deck for drinks and free anecdotes from Penny about Mav and Ice during their heydays, had movie marathons over at each other’s places, and basically trying to fill in their break with as much activity as possible.
By the time the Dagger Squad were recalled to North Island about 2 weeks into their 1 month long break, they were tight as thieves. Jake was like the annoying older sibling Natasha never wanted, and Natasha could tell that she has become his family of choice, to replace the one he had no say of.
It was a development that seems to surprise the rest of the squad, judging from the bugged out eyes look Rooster was sending them when Natasha hand fed Jake a piece of her bacon and cheese fries while they’re all having drinks in Hard Deck.
“You guys look,” Bob, shy Bob was the first one to break the silence on the table over the sight of their squabbling, sounding a little bit too close to choking, “Close,”
“Fuck no, I hate her,” Jake piped up cheerfully, with an arm around Natasha’s shoulder. His nails were a rainbow of colours in odd squiggly pattern, courtesy of one too many drinks and a bunch of Tiktok videos on nail arts. It matches her own, albeit with much clumsier stroke, “She ordered pizza with olives for pizza night. Nat’s evil to the core,”
“I don’t want to hear that from the guy who dipped french fries in his milkshake,”
“It’s a mix between sweet and salty! It’s a cuisine all on its own! Just say you don’t have taste and go,”
“Oh I’ll go, and I’m taking my Netflix password with me. Say bye to Season 2 Too Hot to Handle marathon,”
“You’re evil, you’re so freaking evil, I don’t deserve this,”
“Oh I get it,” From Jake’s left, Coyote nodded exaggeratedly, lips pressed thin, “I left you alone for 2 weeks and suddenly I’m not longer your best friend. I guess all these years covering your ass from the wrath of literally every wingman you left behind means nothing, huh Jake?”
Jake reached out to pull Coyote close, and press a noisy, wet kiss on the side of his best friend’s temple, “Aw, Javy, don’t be sad. You’ll always be my first, baby,”
‘Damn straight,”
Natasha turned, and caught sight of Coyote’s eyes looking at her. There’s something measuring there, like he’s trying to judge something about her at first. It disappeared just as quickly as it appeared, and he shook his head playfully as he bump his fist against her arm. A gesture of camaraderie, she realised, him seeing her as an equal in the heavy burden and honest privilege that is being acknowledged as someone precious by Jake “Hangman” Seresin, pilot extraordinaire and abandonment issue in human form.
She returned the gesture by taking a swig of Jake’s drink - earning herself an offended squawk - and leaned over, “If we team up for movie night, we can veto The Notebook after watching it 3 nights in a row,”
The grin Coyote gave her was blinding, “You’re on,”
The ended up teaming up against Jake to veto The Notebook for real. Natasha’s starting to reconsider the benefit of this when it turns out that Javy’s favourite movie is 1995 Batman Forever.
“I swear to god, Nat, you need to get your eyes check. You know we stopped having Mad Men marathon because she won’t stop doing this? She kept saying the main character looks like Cyclone. How am I supposed to watch it after that?”
“Are you both blind?! That guy looks exactly like Admiral Kazansky!”
“C’mon Nat, don’t ruin my favourite movie like that,”
So it turns out that the reason why they were being recalled is this; the performance of their squad during The Mission has shown a lot of Very Important People the benefit of having a specialised squadron for critical operations that required human critical thinking, reaction speed and most importantly, split second decision making skill. A squad composed Top Gun graduates, the cream of the crop from even the top 1% Naval Aviators seems to fit the bill quite nicely.
The only difference being, that Mav would no longer be their leader.
“I’ll still be an instructor at Top Gun,” he told them once the pomp and ceremony was over, and they all traded stiff dress blues for casual clothes and Cyclone’s stuffy office for the hustle and bustle in Hard Deck, “And they say they might call me from time to time in a consultant capacity. But that’s about it,” with a dazzling smile, he turned to his side, where Admiral Kazansky is watching him with the same amount of adoration, “We realise we have a lot of responsibilities, but we also want to give retirement a go and spend more time with each other,”
Admiral Kazansky, who apparently was still recovering from long bout of throat cancer, understandably did not say anything. Instead he pulled Mav’s hand between his and pressed a loving, slow kiss to the back of it, and it felt just as deep as any ‘I love you’ could be.
Natasha watched their little interaction, two Navy legends who found love in each other despite everything, and wondered if she could ever experience something like that for herself.
“The break was great, but I really did miss flying,”
Natasha nodded in whole-hearted agreement, eyes never leaving the skies where Rooster’s flying with Payback and Fanboy as his wingmen, their chatter streamed over to the radio in the far side of the room, “ I get what you mean. Jake and I practically bullied Cyclone to let us test drive the new F-35A. It was amazing,”
“Really?” at the palpable excitement, Natasha can’t help but look away from Rooster’s brilliant flying towards where Bob was sitting next to her, eyes wide and expectant, “What was it like?”
Bully her, but she really did love talking about aircrafts.
It wasn’t until Rooster, Payback and Fanboy made their way back that Natasha finally glanced at the time and realised that she had spent nearly an hour talking about racing Jake to reach Mach 1.6. She could feel her face heating up, and ran a hand through her hair with a grimace, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, Bob, I didn’t realise how long I was talking. You could’ve stopped me any time—“
“Oh, uh, but why would I?”
Natasha blinked, almost owlishly so, “Well, you know, I was talking your ears off about the F-35A and that impromptu hop with Jake, I got so swept up in it,”
Bob gave a little laugh, “Yeah, you kinda did,” he nodded, and turned a little shy when he added, “But, I don’t mind. You’re always so passionate when you talk about aircrafts. I… I like… listening to you talk about them,”
“Oh,” was all Natasha could offer because… well, what else can she say? That’s not the reaction she’s used to getting when she gets on one of her talkative moods, especially about her job, “Well, thank you, I appreciate that. But I mean, I did talk for almost an hour—“
“Phoenix, I think you could talk about aircraft to me for a whole day,” Bob cut her off in a single gush of breath. His face was slightly red as he did so, “And I won’t ever get bored,”
Somewhere nearby, Fanboy was calling for them to hurry and make their way to the changing room.
He was subsequently ignored.
“You ever heard of a guy who’s willing to listen to you talk about something for an hour, and then when you apologise, he told you he could hear you talk a whole day and won’t get bored? Is that even a thing?”
Jake’s eyes were glued to the TV, where they’re watching Scream Queens. Because apparently he decided to take revenge on her threat of withholding Netflix from him through getting Disney+ subscription and holding it over her head this time.
Well played, Jake, well played.
He hummed, seemingly considering her question. Either that or he was overtly enjoying the cup of ramen noodles he apparently only let himself have every 3 months or so.
“So? What do you think? Is it a thing? Like, a whole hour about a single topic,”
“Sounds fake but okay,” he said in the end, “He’s probably lying to you just so you won’t feel bad. That or he’s so deeply in love with you it’s not even funny,”
With a frown, Natasha sat up from her recline on the sofa, her hair falling loose from the bun she usually had it in, “Bob’s not in love with me,”
It was hard to hear over the sound of Chanel Oberlin’s squeaky chatter, but Jake’s ramen slurping had stopped abruptly. Natasha only noticed this when she saw Jake looking at her from where he’s seated on the floor, his eyes wide and mouth hanging open a little.
Unnerved, she nudged his back with her toes, “What are you staring at me for?”
Jake shook his head, and went back to his ramen and his show, “Nothing. Also forget what I say, it could be a thing. It could totally be a thing,”
“Huh,” Natasha slowly nodded, and lied back down.
The scene on the TV changes, and Natasha sat back up in a flash, pointing to the screen, “Holy fuck, that golfer guy looks just like you!”
“Oh my god, Nat, stop! None of us looks like any actors!”