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Due to the errors of an idiot, you weren't able to attend the special detachment training with your husband. After their leave time is over, you join the Daggers at the Hard Deck, but they don't seem to know about your relationship with their resident blond until Phoenix makes a proposition.
A/N: I have no idea where this came from, but I'm sort of stuck watching the Top Guns again, so have this. Title is from the song Any Man of Mine by Shania Twain.
"I will b-buy your drinks for every outing we ever have t-together if you sing karaoke to H-Hangman," Phoenix slurred, just slightly, enough to be noticeable. Which, for Phoenix, meant she was damn near plastered.
You didn't really blame her for getting drunk. The Daggers were all in the States again after being sent on one more deployment back to their squads before getting reassigned together as a special detachment unit.
Apparently, the beloved late Admiral Kazansky had made one last demand in his will that- after the enrichment plant mission- had opened the eyes of all of the stupid fuckers who were running the assignments in the Pentagon. He was still covering his wingman's ass even from the grave, the amazing bastard, since he had added that Maverick would be in charge of that detachment until he hit his required retirement age. After which he could guest lecture as long as he damn well pleased, given his service to the Navy. Also, the frankly ridiculous number of black ops missions the man had run in the course of his career that had miraculously become public knowledge shortly after Ice's passing.
Getting the gang back together at the Hard Deck was a celebration that had been a long time coming. Bradley had been the last person back, due to some shitty weather that delayed him for a total of 17 hours, between one flight being delayed, another cancelled, and missing a layover. He had gotten in at 1AM that morning, napped for a solid 15 hours, and been ready to party hard with the rest of the Daggers.
Which meant that now there were 13 naval aviators packed into the Hard Deck drinking too much and kicking their next few days of leave off to settle in.
"Bitch, you have yourself a deal," you replied, laughing, much less drunk than she was, but buzzed enough that the possible humiliation wasn't quite registering with the same ferocity that it normally did.
There was also the added knowledge that you were married to Hangman, which the other Daggers hadn't realized quite yet.
Probably because you'd broken your left arm, your right leg, and a rib in a truly stunning consequence of shitty mechanical upkeep on your aircraft. After a bird strike in a training exercise, your canopy hadn't cleared totally when you'd been forced to eject following dual engine failure. You'd broken your arm on the canopy on the way out, your leg on the shitty landing when your emergency chute got tangled with your primary chute, also due to shitty upkeep, and the rib was a result of the horrible combination of both of those things.
Jake had been pissed when he'd heard about it. Had he not gotten orders for the Dagger detachment, he would've been using the mechanics on the ship for all they were worth.
As it was, during the hearing, Maverick has somehow gotten in and stood there, brooding, whenever someone tried to minimize the damage done to you, as well as how much worse the damage could have been.
Apparently, having one of the Layton heroes, Team Leader of the Daggers, and the sole survivor of the Ghostrider training incident was more impactful than seeing you in two separate casts and cradling your ribs.
All that to say, Mav might have figured the connection out, but the other Daggers certainly hadn't.
Which meant that you were about to have the time of your life, likely at the expense of some of Jake's facade, as well as some of your mystery, but for the overall benefit of your sense of amusement.
You were also glad that you and Jake had come almost straight from the airport from visiting his family in Texas, which meant that you were in jeans that you looked like you'd been poured into, cute heeled ankle boots, the sort of shirt where you had to be careful where and how you bent over, and a cute light green flannel over it.
Jake also happened to be wearing his cowboy hat for a change, something he didn't usually wear out when he was stationed on a base.
He had gotten shit from some of the Daggers before Bob had showed up wearing his too, one arm around Phoenix's shoulders.
"The question now," you told Phoenix as you both headed over to the jukebox, "is whether the lovely Penny has the song that I want on here."
"And what song is that?" Phoenix inquired.
"You'll see," you muttered, scanning through the availability. "Ah ha!"
"Find it?"
"Oh yeah," you replied, grinning.
As soon as the music started playing, Jake shot up from where he was trouncing Rooster in pool.
He locked eyes with you as you started singing along to the song that had originally made Jake sure that he had fallen in love with you.
"This is what a woman wants," you began, grinning. "Any man of mine better be proud of me
Even when I'm ugly, he still better love me
And I can be late for a date that's fine
But he better be on time"
There was a little dance involved for this song, curtesy of your friends from high school that you had gone to a dance class with. Even years later, Jake was still watching you with the same expression he'd had then: gobsmacked and wracked with awe.
"Any man of mine will say it fits just right
When last year's dress is just a little too tight
And anythin' I do or say better be okay
When I have a bad hair day"
You tossed the little bits of bangs that had come out of the braid you'd worn your hair in, grinning even as you sang. The rest of the Daggers were catching on now, watching you, then Jake, back and forth.
"And if I change my mind
A million times
I wanna hear him say
"Yeah (yeah), yeah (yeah), yeah, I like it that way"
Hilariously, just as Jake had done in that bar where you'd met, he was nodding along, his eyes never leaving you, even as Payback waved a hand in his face, much to the amusement of literally everyone who had noticed.
Including Phoenix, who you could see was recording with her phone, clearly trying to muffle whatever noises she was making as she watched.
"Any man of mine better walk the line
Better show me a teasin', squeezin', pleasin' kinda time
I need a man who knows, how the story goes
He's gotta be a heartbeatin', fine treatin'
Breathtakin' earthquakin' kind
Any man of mine"
After making your way over to Jake, you stole the hat right off his head with a boy smile, putting it on your own. He wrapped an arm around your waist, not stopping you, but holding you.
He did let you go when you pulled out of his reach though. Because of course he did.
"Woo!
Well, any man of mine better disagree
When I say another woman's lookin' better than me
And when I cook him dinner and I burn it black
He better say: "Hmm, I like it like that, yeah"
That earned a slightly different look from Jake, since you had actually done that, once, as a slight test of his temper. Not that he had blamed you, after you'd explained, but he had been slightly surprised when it had happened.
"And if I changed my mind
A million times
I wanna hear him say
"Yeah (yeah), yeah (yeah), yeah, I like it that way"
Not something that happened much in your relationship. Jake had been raised by a no-nonsense Southern woman. He was used to the way that you made up your mind and stuck to your guns about it. But he did tend to agree with you about it.
"Any man of mine better walk the line
Better show me a teasin', squeezin', pleasin' kinda time
I need a man who knows, how the story goes
He's gotta be a heartbeatin', fine treatin'
Breathtakin' earthquakin' kind
Any man of mine"
Again, not something that had ever been an issue in your relationship. (Something that would bring Phoenix great pain, when she learned that Jake wasn't actually compensating for anything.)
"Woo!
Let me hear ya say
"Yeah (yeah), yeah (yeah), yeah, I like it that way"
(Any man, any man, any man)"
"Any man of mine better walk the line
Better show me a teasin', squeezin', pleasin' kinda time
I need a man who knows, how the story goes
He's gotta be a heartbeatin', fine treatin'
Breathtakin' earthquakin' kind
Any man of mine"
"Woo!"
Jake was apparently drunker than you thought, because you didn't get through the whole song before he was kissing you breathless, much to the amusement of the Hard Deck. There were cheers all around.
You grinned into the kiss, digging your hands into his hair.
"Liked the song?" you asked when you parted for breath.
"Who put you up to this?" he hissed.
"Phoenix, promised me drinks for every outing we ever did if I did it," you admitted. "Figured you wouldn't mind."
"I love you." The breathless, lovestruck sound of his voice told you that he was just as in love with you in this moment as he had been when he had said 'I do' at the alter on your wedding day.
"I love you too," you replied, grinning.
"Also, you know what takin' my hat means, right? Not that I mind seein' you in it."
"Hm, I know, I'm looking forward to it," you promised, wrapping your arms around his shoulders.
"So, what the fuck do the two of you have going on?" Rooster asked, wandering over.
"Daggers, meet my wife," Jake said, smirking as he tightened his grip on you.
"It's nice to officially meet you all," you said, grinning.
"You're married?!" resounded throughout the Hard Deck, directed at Jake.
You threw your head back laughing at the looks on their faces, especially with how red Jake was getting and how betrayed Phoenix looked.
"Yeah, going on three years now. And we were dating for five before that," you told them when you calmed down.
"Damn," Phoenix said, looking impressed.
"Damn," Rooster muttered, with much more feeling, handing her a roll of bills.
The sight had you bursting into more laughter, turning into Jake's shoulder to muffle some of it.
He pressed a kiss to your hair, and you could feel the smile he imprinting there.
"Oh god, I see it," Payback groaned, making everyone else laugh too.
The atmosphere was a light one. Given what everything that had happened, it was good to see, and it was nice to know that you were able to provide everyone with some levity.
"It's good to be home," you told Jake as everyone veered off into other conversations.
"Yeah," he agreed, grinning down at you, nuzzling close.
all i want for 2026 is that gigantic rancid AI bubble to finally burst in such a catastrophic way that the consequences will be so good and i'll never have to see another AI generated image ever again
"ummm actually that wouldn't happen because-" playing!!! i am playing!!! come play with me!!! i even set up the sandbox with extra shovels!!! don't smack the barbie out of my hands!!
we are doing improv!! pick up a blorbo and yes and with me!!
talking about politics, ai or feminism to people irl will have you feeling like wow you're really going on with your life with your eyes ears brain all shut
i'm shooting myself in the foot here but i feel like suo taking to the role of a protector so early on in the series was probably more instinct than logical reasoning.
suo definitely has A Thing about touch, but he's so quick to try and reassure other people through comforting shoulder pats (sasaki & nirei)
suo likely didn't want to get attached, considering his affiliation with RC and his awareness that him being a furin student would have to end eventually, but he still went out of his way to lift sakura & nirei up anyway.
I've watched plenty of power fantasy anime's in my day, and I expected wind breaker to be another one of those "social outcast proves everyone wrong by rising to the top" animes when I started it. Instead I got a DECONSTRUCTION of that kind of genre about community and reformation and how you will rarely get out of a tough period of your life without outside help, and how abuse and trauma takes repeated love and care to combat, and how that can make accepting help from those around you difficult. If you even care
✧ characters; hajime umemiya, haruka sakura, hayato suo, mitsuki kiryu, jo togame, ren kaji, yamato endo
✧ tags; secret relationship/dating, not suggestive but depends how you look ig
✧ e.txt: NAH BC I WAS SHAKING, lmk if I fucked up endo massively pls. I kinda like it a lot. kinda am not sure if it feels like him. i'll get better at it I promise. for himst and the endo girlies (me) <3
