Pride & Prejudice & Partridges (J.Seresin)
Pairing: Jake 'Hangman' Seresin x plus size!reader, Jake 'Hangman' Seresin x librarian!reader, Jake 'Hangman' Seresin x Garcia!reader, Jake 'Hangman' Seresin x latina!reader
Word Count: 4580
A/N: Written for @jupitercomet's 12 Days of Christmas Challenge. I had Day 1-Secret Santa. This is also my first Top Gun Maverick fic, so go easy on me! I want to thank the wonderful and amazing @jobean12-blog for letting me bounce ideas off of her and helping me break through my writer's block. Also, many, many thanks to @navybrat817, for her firsthand knowledge of Navy life and for answering my countless questions. You two rock!
Triggers: Death of parents (just mentioned, no specifics), negative talk about self, body image issues. Angst with a happy ending.
‼️⚠️I do not give permission for any of my work to be copied, translated or reposted anywhere else but on my own blog.⚠️‼️
Masterlist
You were content with the quiet life you led. Working as a librarian on a US Navy installation allowed you that freedom. NAS Miramar wasn’t small, but it wasn’t huge either. When you worked in the public library system, you were busy quite often…and it was starting to wreak havoc on your mental health. Luckily, around the time you were trying to decide what to do with your career, your brother, Mickey ‘Fanboy’ Garcia, called you to let you know he was going to be stationed at NAS Miramar for the foreseeable future to be part of the now permanent Dagger Squad.
So, you moved to San Diego and onto the installation with Mickey, leaving your hometown behind (it didn’t really bother you to leave because your parents had been gone for several years and your introverted nature didn’t grant you close friends). He helped you get the job at the library and that was that.
The day you finished unpacking your things, Mickey told you he was going to take you out to meet the rest of the squad because the only person you knew was Reuben and you needed to meet some new people in your new home:
“Are you sure that’s okay? I don’t want to invade your group or anyth--"
“Sis…really? This night is for you! I’ve told them all about you and how excited I am to have you with me again.” You smiled big and giggled.
“Aw, you’re such a sweetheart, aren’t ya little bro?”
“Shut up”, pouted Mickey. You grabbed his hand and pulled him to you.
“Thanks. Te quiero, hermanito.”
“I love you too.”
When you and Mickey arrived at the local watering hole, The Hard Deck, you were instantly greeted by Reuben. He pulled you into a tight hug, calling you Little Garcia (which was a ridiculous nickname, seeing as how you were older than Mickey by a year). Shortly after that, Bob, Rooster, Phoenix, and Coyote showed up. You were all sitting around one of the pool tables, drinking beers (in your case, it was an ice cold Dr. Pepper because you weren’t big on drinking) when you heard the most suave and cocky sounding, Texas accent ever:
“What do we have here?” You saw Phoenix roll her eyes and smile.
“Little Garcia, this here is Bagman.”
“Hangman.”
“Whatever.” Hangman laughed and pulled Phoenix into a hug. When she let him go, he turned to look at you.
“So, you’re Fanboy’s sister.” You nodded.
“Y-yes. That’d, uh, that’d be me.”
“Well m’dear, we’re all really happy that Fanboy has you close by again.”
“I’m glad to be here Hangman.” He smiles big and sits on the barstool next to you.
“Please, call me Jake.”
“Okay, Jake.” If this man keeps looking at you with those gorgeous green eyes, you were going to melt.
“So, tell me Little Garcia, what do you do?”
“I’m a librarian. I’m going to be working on base and living with Mickey”, you replied. “Since I was moving down here, he managed to get out of the barracks and into a small house on base.” Jake clapped his hands together and looked around at the group.
“You’re going to be living on the base? That means you deserve your own callsign!” The rest of the squad voiced their agreement. “The question is, what do we call you?”
“How about Libby?” suggested Bob. He made a face when everyone groaned. “I know, I know.” A few of the others made their own suggestions of library related callsigns before Jake stood from his spot next to you.
“I’ve got it!” Jake turned back to you with a huge smile on his face, “How about…Dewey?”
You felt heat crawling up your neck because of the way he was looking at you, like you were the only woman in the room. You knew that that wasn’t possible, that someone as good looking and amazingly talented and a hero like Jake would never look at someone like you that way. Why would a man who looked like he was crafted by Zeus himself look at a chubby librarian twice, when he could have women like Phoenix, or your cousin Isabella (who stole the first boy you ever really had a chance with, away)?
“I like it. Thanks, Jake.” He pulled you into a hug, squeezing you tight.
Oh Lord. You were in trouble.
That was a year ago. Over the last year, it was like you became an honorary member of the Dagger Squad. They became the family you and Mickey were missing. Most of them came to visit you at work. One of those people was Jake. The first time he came by, a month after the two of you met, you were shelving books and he’d snuck up on you, giving you a moment worthy of fan fiction itself.
You stepped up onto the plastic footstool and filed the book in its spot, on the topmost shelf. You had an earbud in and were singing quietly along to “Remember Me” from Coco since you very rarely ever got someone in the library this early in the day, which meant you didn’t hear the door open, and you didn’t hear footsteps coming towards you. You felt something tap you on the shoulder and you let out a scream, feeling yourself tilt backwards. You squeezed your eyes shut and braced yourself for the inevitable pain, but it never came. Instead, you felt the warm embrace of familiar arms.
“You can open your eyes now, darlin’.” Opening one eye, you saw Jake smiling at you. “Sorry I scared you, Dewey.”
“Oh, it’s not a problem. I should’ve been paying more attention and–” It was then that you realized Jake was holding you bridal style. “Oh my God! Jake! Put me down! You’re going to hurt your back or something and I’m going to get in trouble for breaking government property. I’m way too hea–”
You would’ve rambled on had Jake not stopped you.
“Dewey. I’m going to need you to relax. You’re not going to mess up my back and you’re not going to get in trouble. I have trained a long time and I don’t want to sound like a cocky bastard–” You gave him a judgmental eyebrow raise and a Look. “Okay, you have a point.”
“Seriously Jake, I don’t want to hurt you!” Jake rolled his eyes but put you down carefully. “Thank you. I know you work out..I mean look at you, of course you do. I just-lifting weights and doing bench presses is one thing, Jake…”
“Dewey…”
“Thank you for saving me from getting hurt”, you say before Jake can continue with whatever platitudes someone as good looking, built, and thin as him can come up with. You smooth out the skirt of your bright red button front chiffon dress and look up at him since he has at least half a foot on you. “Is there something I can help you find today, Lt. Seresin?”
Jake’s jaw clenched and you could tell he wanted to say more. What you couldn’t figure out was why he seemed to care this much about how you thought of yourself. He was just a friend.
“Uh, no…no.” He ran a hand through his light brown hair. “My sister is coming to visit next week with my nieces for Family Weekend. Are y’all doing anything special?”
“Of course!” You gave him a big smile and proceeded to run through the activities that were planned.
The following week, you got to meet Jesse and Isla Seresin. The bonus was getting to see ‘Uncle Jake’ in action first hand and you hated it because every minute you spent in his presence was making you fall in love with him. This was something you didn’t want because you knew you couldn’t afford a broken heart. Not again. You’d only recently been able to put your heart back together finally coming to term with the loss of your parents. You weren’t going to let a crush derail that progress.
Over the next 10 months, Jake visited you at the base library often, acting like that first conversation between you two never happened. You’d ask after Isla and Jesse, how school was going and when they’d be back to visit again. Jake would even bring you gifts from the girls for their ‘favorite librarian’ when he’d come back from visiting them.
Sometimes Jake would come to the library because he needed to research something for a mission or because he needed to develop some sort of lesson plan now that he was an instructor at TOPGUN. Sometimes he’d come by just to chat. During those chats, you found yourself opening up to him. One day in October, almost a year after you moved to San Diego, Jake and some of the squad were at the library helping with the Halloween Festival for the kids the library staff was throwing in the parking lot. You and Jake were manning the ‘Balloon Dart’ booth, chatting away the time while waiting for some new challengers.
“You know Dewey, in all the time I’ve known you, I don’t think I’ve ever asked you what your favorite book is”, said Jake.
“Is this you asking?”
“Mmhmm.”
“Pride & Prejudice”, you replied, keeping your eyes on your feet. “I know, you don’t have to say it. It’s totally cliché.”
“It’s not cliché at all. It’s a good book.” You looked up at Jake’s comment.
“You like Pride & Prejudice?”
“Your Lizzie Bennett is showing, you know.”
“Sorry.”
“No worries. I read it for school, and I just really liked it”, said Jake. “So, why is it your favorite?”
“It’s one of the first books my mom and I read together”, you replied. Smiling sadly, you continue. “She’d read me a chapter a night. It took a while, but we finally finished it. Afterwards, we borrowed the six-disc BBC mini-series from our local library and watched it all in one day. Colin Firth was so handsome and a perfect Mr. Darcy. Then in 2005, she surprised me with tickets to the movie as a late birthday gift and I just adored Matthew MacFadyen’s version of Darcy. It fed my love of reading, which then inspired my choice in career. Before they died, mom and I had been looking for the ‘Peacock edition’ of the book that was released in 1894. It’s one of the most valuable and gorgeous versions because of the cover and illustrations by Hugh Thomson. I had almost tracked one down, but then…”
You looked away, not wanting to let Jake see you cry, but were unsuccessful. Jake reached over and tipped your face up so he could look you in the eye, and wrapped his free hand around your ample waist, pulling you closer.
“I’m sorry about your parents. It can’t have been easy for you and Fanboy.” He placed the hand he’d had under your chin on your cheek and wiped away the few tears that escaped.
“It wasn’t. He hides it better than I do, but he was just as broken. It’s why I’m so thankful for Reuben and the rest of you. When I couldn’t be there for him, all of you were…so, thank you, Jake.”
The way he was looking at you made you weak in the knees, and you saw him leaning towards you. Was Jake Seresin about to kiss you? Unfortunately, you wouldn’t find out because as he got closer, one of the kids ran up to the booth and you two jumped apart.
You watched him closely, out of the corner of your eye, the rest of the night. You made sure you were always busy with the kids or whatever else was needed at the booth so that you weren’t available to talk with Jake. You could tell he wanted to say something about what happened, but you really didn’t want to deal with the rejection and the explanation that it was a mistake.
As Jake was explaining the rules to one of the kids, you saw her mother fluffing her hair and adjusting her ‘assets’. She put on the biggest (fakest) smile she could when Jake turned his attention to her. You rolled your eyes as you eyeballed the diamond on her left hand. Did she think that he would just ignore that she was married and fall into her bed? You knew Jake was imperfect, but he would never stoop that low.
You loved him. You knew that now, because you gave up on trying to not fall in love with him months ago. You hoped it wasn’t obvious because you didn’t want to be that chubby girl who was in love with the hot guy and acted like a stalker. Becoming that stereotype was not going to happen.
Over the next month, you did absolutely everything in your power to avoid Jake Seresin. You changed your shifts at work as much as you could so you wouldn’t be there when you knew he had free time and if he came in when you were there, you made sure you were busy or your coworkers would take care of him for you. You didn’t go out to the Hard Deck on the weekends or anytime you knew he’d be there.
The week before Thanksgiving, you were at work when you received a visitor.
“Dewey?” You looked up from your work to see Phoenix in the doorway of your office.
“Hey Phe! Come on in.” She stepped into your office and took a seat across from you. “So, what brings you by?”
“We’ve missed you”, she said. “All of us.” The underlying meaning in her words didn’t skate past your understanding.
“I-I just can’t Phe. I won’t be able to get over him if I’m around him constantly. And I have to get over him because when he eventually finds someone–”
“Dewey, he doesn’t want to find anyone else.”
“Nat, I’m going to explain something to you, okay?” You took a deep breath and continued, “Men as good looking as Jake or Rooster or any of them don’t go for women like me. I know I’m not ugly, I never said that, but I am fat. It’s just a fact. Someone who takes care of himself like Jake is expected to be with a woman who looks like you. Like the high school trope, the quarterback and the cheerleader. I’m just the nerd who helps tutor the quarterback. Who, like an idiot, falls for him and thinks that because he was so nice to me, maybe I should tell him how I feel. When I do, he goes and laughs about it with his cheerleader girlfriend and all the other jocks.
I reached too far Nat. Like I said, I need to get over him because I need to be able to be around him when he finds his cheerleader.”
Phoenix huffed.
“I didn’t know you felt like this.”
“I’ve been dealing with this since I was a kid. I was compared to my cousin and how she looked.”
“Why didn’t you come talk to me?” Phoenix leaned forward and took your hand.
“Phe, you’ve got enough on your plate, enough to deal with”, you reply. “Besides, you’re not my therapist. I didn’t want to burden you with my problems. I’m already enough of a burden to Mickey. I’m his older sister and he thinks he has to take care of me.”
“Can I say something now?” she asked, and you nodded. “You are not a burden. Not to me, not to Jake, and especially not to Fanboy. He’s your brother and he loves you. Before you moved here, he may have smiled and joked around, but it never really meant much. He was just okay. After you let him know you were coming to San Diego, you should’ve seen how happy he was. His smile was huge, and his eyes didn’t look empty. You’ve made all of our lives better.”
By the time she finished, tears fell silently down your cheeks.
“Thank you, Phe. I love you, you know.”
“I love you too, Dewey.” Phoenix came around the desk and pulled you into a tight hug. “Believe it or not, this wasn’t the only reason I came to see you.” You pulled away and wiped your cheeks.
“What can I help you with?”
“Some of us are having a Friendsgiving thing next week. I wanted to know if you and Fanboy wanted to join us.”
“Um…”
“He’s going to Texas to see his family.”
“Okay then.”
Friendsgiving with Rooster, Phoenix, Reuben, and Mickey was one of the happiest times you had. After dinner, Phoenix brought out a small basket with several small pieces of paper.
“What’s this?” You looked over at your brother with a questioning look.
“Last Christmas, we all decided that a Secret Santa with the squad would be fun. Since it was a hit, we’re doing it again.” He took the basket from Phoenix and held it out to you, “It’s your first time, so you get the first draw. No take backsies, unless you get your own name.”
“Got it.” You closed your eyes and shoved your hand in the basket, rooting around for a few seconds before finally grabbing a paper. You unfolded it, shielding the paper from prying eyes. You smiled at the ‘Bob’ written on the paper. You were close enough with Bob and knew the perfect gift for him.
“When do we have to have the gifts ready?” you asked the group.
“Penny’s having a Christmas party at The Hard Deck next month on the 15th”, said Rooster. You felt your stomach drop. You weren’t making any progress in getting over the feelings you had for Jake, and you didn’t think you were ready to see him again.
“Awesome. Can’t wait.” Bob came in for Book Club all the time, so you could slip him his gift then and not have to worry about being at the party. Everyone would be so busy enjoying it, they probably wouldn’t even notice you weren’t there. How wrong you were.
Now.
Sure enough, the day before Penny’s Christmas party, Bob stopped by the library. He loved his gift; you’d gotten him a cookie decorating class that was online and prerecorded so he wouldn’t miss any of the days because of work and emphasized intricate decorating techniques.
He gave you a kiss on the cheek and a big hug in thanks, promising you the first batch of cookies he made with his newfound knowledge. Before leaving, he asked if he’d see you the next day at The Hard Deck. You felt bad about lying but told him no because you had to take care of something important. In reality, you were going to hide out at the library for a few hours and then go home.
So, you did. Your phone started going off only a few minutes after everyone was supposed to be arriving at The Hard Deck. You ignored the texts from Phoenix, Mickey, Bob, and Reuben and were about to shut your phone off when a call from Mickey came through.
“What?”
“Where are you?”
“I’m busy.”
“You’re a bad liar, you know, hermanita.” You rolled your eyes.
“Is there a reason you’re calling Mickey?”
“Everyone is wondering where you are.” You could hear voices and the jukebox going in the background; it sounded like a good time. “And I mean everyone.”
“Mickey…I can’t, okay? I won’t be a novelty or something he bides his time with until he finds someone better, someone prettier. Someone thinner and more appropriate for him.”
“That’s complete bullshit. And Hangman is a lot of things, but that isn’t something he’d ever do. Please believe me. When I met him, I thought he was a complete dick. The only one who didn’t was Coyote, and that’s only because they’ve been friends for years, so he knows how much of a good man Jake is.”
Mickey went on about Jake’s pros and as you were about to cut him off and hang up, you heard another voice.
“Fanboy, who are you talking to?” Jake. He’d seen your brother having a heated discussion while on the phone, and since he hadn’t seen you yet, he put two and two together.
“Don’t you say a word Mickey. Don’t you do it.”
“Um…”
“Fanboy, is it Dewey? Where is she?”
“I’m under orders to not say anything.”
“Bullshit. Tell me. Now. I need to talk to her.”
“No.” You knew your brother and you could hear his resolve weakening in his voice. Suddenly, you heard what sounded like a scuffle on the other end and shouts of Give it back Hangman! before another voice came on the line.
“Dewey? Dewey, please, tell me where you are. I need to talk to you.” You pressed ‘mute’, so he wouldn’t hear you starting to cry. “Please darlin’. Tell me where you are.”
You almost broke at the pleading in his voice. You didn’t understand why he was so determined about seeing you. You were just friends. You took a deep breath and unmuted the call.
“I’m sorry Jake, but I’m not going to do that.”
“Darlin’, pl–”
“Goodnight Jake.” You hung up and put your phone on ‘Do Not Disturb’, so you could listen to music while you did some shifting and didn’t have to worry about phone calls interrupting you.
You were in a Metallica-type of mood, so you chose the correct playlist and put in your earbuds. ‘All Nightmare Long’ transitioned in to ‘Master of Puppets’ (your favorite song), and you shimmied along the aisles, shifting books around so they weren’t so tightly packed together.
Once again, you were so distracted by your task and the music, you didn’t hear someone knocking on the front door of the building or even walking in. He heard you, though. Jake called out for you, but when he didn’t get a response, he went to check your office. Seeing your things still there, he was dead quiet to find out where you were...until he heard you singing.
‘Come crawling faster (faster)
Obey your master (master)
Your life burns faster (faster)
Obey your master
Master!
Master!’
Jake took the stairs two at a time, finding you in the graphic novel section. You had your back to him, and he knew you were going to be mad, but he just had to. Unbeknownst to you, he tiptoed up to you and tapped you on the shoulder.
You let out an almighty shriek and spun around, your feet getting tangled together. Jake launched himself forward and caught you before you could fall and get hurt.
“You okay Dewey?” You smacked him on the chest and pushed him away.
“Jake Seresin! How could you do that to me?!” You pulled your earbuds out and pocketed them. You looked over at Jake and were glad to see he was looking slightly ashamed.
“I’m sorry darlin’.”
“What are you doing here Jake? I wanted to be alone.”
“I needed to see you.”
“Why? What could you possibly have to say to me right now? There’s a party with everyone there and yet you’re here, wasting your time with me.” You crossed your arms and leaned against the shelf.
“First of all, you’re not there, so not everyone is there.” Jake reached behind him and pulled a wrapped, rectangular something he’d tucked into his back pocket. “Secondly, I needed to give you this. I’m your Secret Santa.’
“You could’ve just given it to Mickey to give to me.”
“Dewey, just take it, please.”
“Fine.” You reached over and took the package from Jake’s hands. You were carefully unwrapping the gift when Jake spoke up.
“Why have you been avoiding me?”
“I haven’t b–”
“Don’t lie to me. I may act like an idiot, but I’m not one. Anytime I go to visit you, either you’re not there because you changed your schedule, or you get one of the others to deal with me. When we all get together at the Hard Deck, you never show. Fanboy feeds us whatever lie you tell him, but I know better. I know you, something happened to make you avoid me and the others.”
“Jake…” Before you could continue, you pushed the wrapping paper of the gift to reveal a book. A copy of the ‘Peacock Edition’ of Pride & Prejudice, originally published in 1894, making this a first printing. You carefully opened the book to look through it. No creases, the spine was perfect for a book that was almost 130 years old, and it was beautiful.
“Do you like it?” In your astonishment, you’d forgotten he was standing there.
“Jake, Jake, I-I-I can’t believe you remembered?”
“I did.” You felt tears starting to form and threatened to fall down your cheeks.
“Jake, I c-can’t accept this. It-It’s too much.”
“It’s not too much darlin’. I just hope it makes you feel closer to your mom.” The tears fell in a steady flow now. Jake rushed forward and took your face in your hands. “Please don’t cry baby.”
You shut your eyes and basked in the feeling of his hands on your cheeks.
“Why did you do this Jake? This isn’t something you do for a friend for a Secret Santa gift.” You hear Jake chuckle.
“Open your eyes darlin’.” You took a deep breath and slowly opened your eyes to look into green ones. “You know why, Dewey.”
“I need you to say it. I won’t believe it unless you do.”
“I love you, Miss Garcia.”
“Jake…” You gave him a big watery smile.
“I know you have your reservations because of some weird reason that you think you don’t deserve me just because of the way you look. Baby, that can’t be further from the truth. I love you because of who you are, of what you’ve overcome, of what you’ve done–”
“I’m just a librarian, Jake. I’m not anyone special. But you, you’re a literal hero. I read, you fly planes and save the world…how could I ever measure up?”
“Darlin’, you’re a hero too, to the girls. I can never talk with Isla and Jesse without hearing Miss Garcia this and Miss Garcia that and When can we see Miss Garcia again, Uncle Jake? They were both having trouble with their reading, but after meeting you, they’re the top readers in each of their classes.”
“I–” Before you could say anything else, Jake surged forward and kissed you. You’d only ever been kissed a few times in your life, but this blew the other kisses out of the water, it obliterated them. It reminded you of The Princess Bride, and the thought brought a smile to your face.
When the lack of air finally became an issue, you pulled away and leaned your forehead against Jake’s.
“I love you too, Jake, so much.”
Jake smiled that perfect smile of his and kissed you again. So focused on the kiss, neither of you heard the footsteps up the stairs, and didn’t know Reuben, Mickey, Rooster, Coyote, Phoenix, and Bob were watching the two of you make out until Coyote spoke up.
“Yeah buddy! Get your girl!” You and Jake broke apart in surprise.
“What the hell guys?!”
