Archive of Our Own ^beta

1. Bob

When Bob had first been exposed to Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin that night at the Hard Deck, he’d very much accepted that despite Hangman being an Omega, he wasn’t… normal.

Not that Bob believed that Hangman should act a certain way just because he was an Omega. It was actually quite refreshing to be around an Omega who had an ability to not give a shit about anything but himself and not be afraid to push back against the other single seater pilots that were typically Alphas and didn’t like Hangman’s attitude.

It was more that Hangman acted like he didn’t need anyone’s approval because he already had it, and Bob couldn’t understand that.

At least… he didn’t understand it until the day that Maverick had dragged them all to the beach for dogfight football.

It was extremely commonplace to see even unmated service people in the military wearing privacy patches over where the mating bite lay, eliminating any need for people to question the age of any bites or why some people weren’t mated. Even Maverick, who everyone knew was mated to the Commander of the Pacific Fleet and been married to him for almost as long, wore one. Mating bites were still so intimate between an individual and their mate that it made sense to really keep them secret, especially in a squadron in which not everyone knew each other or had become comfortable with one another yet. Combine that with their scent blockers, and no one could tell who was mated and who wasn’t unless they chose to disclose the information.

Or were blatantly obvious about it like Fanboy and Payback were, but that was a different matter.

Hangman though…

He was one of the few that even if they didn’t wear patches and block scents, he wouldn’t have expected the other Omega to have a mating mark underneath his privacy patch. He seemed too… extroverted. But even that couldn’t explain Hangman. Something about him didn’t seem to scream that he wanted to be settled down, to have someone to go home to, or to even have to think about. He worked alone and, as much as Bob hated to admit it because he was a nightmare to work with, Hangman worked well when he was relying on himself to get everything done with an efficiency that Bob hadn’t seen on other aviators.

Dogfight football did in fact make Bob realise just how complicated a person like Hangman could be.

And how much he truly did love breaking the stereotype.

The second that Maverick announced they were spending the day at the beach, the aviators all started to behave like pups, ripping shirts off and already trying to push each other into the water. They were Naval personnel, they’d be able to swim.

Bob was the only one to not bother taking his shirt off - say what you will, but he was pretty sure most of them hadn’t put on sunscreen and he didn’t plan on heightening his skin cancer chances, thank you very much!

Hangman, though, he took his shirt off.

Bob had never thought himself to be someone who stared at his other aviators a lot. There just wasn’t a need.

Except Hangman made that difficult it seemed. It wasn’t even that the man was in shape, which he was. He clearly spent a lot of time in the gym and liked to look good if the posturing and the grins at the Alphas on the squad was anything to go by. And Hangman did look good, there was no denying that. He had a confidence in his body that most people would struggle to learn, but appeared second nature to Hangman. As though the lingering looks from Alphas meant nothing to appraise him when he had everything he wanted in his own confidence and love of himself. Almost like Hangman knew his body was worth more than anything anyone could ever say to him about the way he looked, and Bob couldn’t quite work out why.

It was only when Hangman started limbering up, stretching his arms out above his head with his sunglasses-covered eyes fixed on where Bradley was talking to Phoenix, no doubt plotting how he was going to try and kill the Alpha through the game, that Bob even caught the glint of it in the sunlight.

They were supposed to be listening to the rules that Maverick was laying down, but clearly Hangman must’ve felt Bob’s eyes on his body, as the other Omega turned just enough that he could lower his sunglasses and wink at Bob. Almost instantly, his cheeks reddened, both from being caught looking and from the suaveness of Hangman’s personality.

He may be an asshole but by god was he a charming asshole.

Before anything could get said, dogfight football began, and holy hell was it brutal. Hangman had thrown himself into the middle of it all, being thrown around by the Alphas who either didn’t care or had forgotten that Hangman was an Omega, whilst Bob hung back, being more strategic and watching the others to know when the right moment to attack was. Whatever Maverick’s motive was, whether it was to get them to act like a team or whether it was purely to get their anger towards each other out, it was effective, Bob had to admit.

When Maverick called a break, forcing all of them to retreat to where they’d dumped their stuff and take long swigs of water, Bob siddled up beside Hangman, smiling back at him when Jake looked up from tapping away on his phone to smile at him. He was texting someone, and before now, Bob would’ve expected that the man was texting Coyote, his only other friend on the squad and probably in the world too. Considering that Coyote was right there and Jake was also laughing to himself, Bob’s other theory might be proven correct.

They all stank of sweat and their underlying pheromones pushing through the scent blockers from the numerous dunks in the ocean and general sweat soaking their skin. But even then, as Bob watched them all laugh and continue to argue about who was winning, it felt like they were getting somewhere. Like they had the chance to become a team. Maybe. One day. If Maverick, and whatever strange old man logic the older Omega had, would ever work out how to convince this lot to fly faster, fly with less rigidity and more recklessness.

It was a concerning thing to think about, but Bob did think the only way they’d all come home was if they flew more like Maverick, and perhaps even a bit more like Hangman.

He’d never really been able to understand why Hangman flew like he needed to be back on land as soon as possible. Not when he was an absolute natural in the sky and the only one of them that was capable of keeping up with Maverick.

Now, as he watched Hangman scratch absently at his side, fingers dancing over the stretch marks that were faint but dotted across his skin, clearly old but something that Jake had no intention of hiding, Bob perhaps understood it.

If he had a pup, if he had a tiny person back home, maybe even a mate who looked after the pup when Jake was deployed, it made sense. Jake had a reason that none of them did, a need to fight and fly fast and bring himself and his team back alive so that a tiny baby Seresin had their Mom to tuck them in at night and give them cuddles and remind them how damn loved they were.

If anyone was going to do that, Bob knew it would be Jake.

Jake was an asshole, but he protected the people he loved. And his pup would be the most protected person in the world if Jake was protecting him.

He caught sight of Jake’s phone just as he lent down to drop it back into his backpack, the lock screen lit up and showed a young pup that looked around five or six years old, wide green eyes and a cheeky grin and blonde hair that made him Jake’s double. Jake’s tiny twin that he’d grown and birthed and raised and loved.

If Jake went on the mission, Bob knew he’d find a way to convince Phoenix to help keep Jake safe. Even if the Alpha wanted to refuse, she’d listen to her backseater, even with no explanation.

Phoenix trusted Bob, and Bob needed Jake to come home.

He couldn’t stand by and watch as a pup lost their parent.

And when they went up to the Hard Deck later, and Jake just happened to linger behind to talk to Admiral Simpson and ‘ask a question’, Bob made sure that the rest of the team were hustled indoors and didn’t catch the soft graze of Cyclone’s fingers over Jake’s stomach, or the way that Jake cupped the back of the Alpha’s neck to pull him in and brush a kiss over his lips.

Jake had a pup and a mate to take care of. And Bob would help the man keep his family safe no matter what.

Cyclone, though, that was certainly an unexpected pairing that he never would’ve put money on seeing exist. And whilst he himself wasn’t into older men, he could see why Jake would fall for the man, especially when the Alpha looked at Jake like he was the most beautiful and special thing in the world.

A pup and a mate…

Hangman truly was the most unexpected Omega that Bob had ever come into contact with, and maybe, it could be refreshing.

If he could just tone down on being an asshole, of course.

2. Maverick

When Maverick walked in for his briefing with Cyclone and Warlock that morning, he’d expected the pair of Alphas to be in their usual positions - Cyclone behind his desk looking like he regretted the day he ever opened his emails to be told he was getting temporary custody of Maverick, and Warlock to the right of his desk next to Maverick.

That morning, however, when Maverick was given permission to enter Cyclone’s office, Warlock was sitting behind the man’s desk, playing mindlessly with a pen as he read through Maverick’s lesson plan.

“Where’s the bossman?” Maverick asked, sitting down before Warlock could tell him to. The two went back, and Maverick didn’t see a need to be polite, not when the Alpha didn’t demand it. He’d never been one for appeasing Alphas anyway, he’d been an unwanted Omega in the fighter pilot programme in the eighties for Christ’s sake, he was used to pissing off Alphas and higher ranking officers.

He was just lucky that Warlock didn’t care about either his gender or his position in the Navy.

“He’s going to be late, he told us to go ahead.” Warlock said, motioning for Maverick to start explaining what was in his lesson plan. Normally it was Cyclone running the jig, letting Warlock focus on going over Maverick’s plans for the day that were written down, whilst he focused on grilling Maverick to see if he’d slip up and say something he hadn’t written down. It hadn’t happened yet, Maverick was too smart to let it happen, but it was fun either way to watch him try.

“Two foxtrot teams and two singles going up this morning, canyon run and practising the speed. It’s that which is getting them down. I need them faster.” Maverick summarised as Warlock nodded.

“I need you to change who is going when,” Warlock said as he ran his finger down the list, though Maverick heard the edge that told him not to fight back. When Maverick remained silent and simply lifted an eyebrow, Warlock continued, “Lieutenant Seresin. If he can even get up, he needs to run this afternoon. Swap him around with Rooster. Have them run at separate times. But Hangman cannot go up this morning.”

“What’s happened?” Maverick said, instantly on edge. He had a soft spot for the prickly Omega, knowing that he was, without doubt, an absolute dick but he was a damn good pilot who didn’t let anything stop him. For him to not be able to go up…

It had to be serious.

Hangman flew like the plane was an extension of his body, and to take time out was like he was having a limb amputated. It didn’t make sense.

Suddenly, any wonder about where the Airboss was went out of the window now that Hangman was out of commission for the morning.

“He hasn’t slept at all. He’s had some family issues and has not slept a single minute all night. He’s a liability.”

“He’s on base?”

“Last I saw he was asleep on the couch with Coyote watching him in the break room,” Warlock nodded. “The Admiral has already signed off on Jake having the morning off. He’s… he looks like shit, Maverick. He’s exhausted, so whether he can even get in the air is a mystery.”

Noting away the knowledge that Cyclone had already signed off on this which was… intriguing to say the least, Maverick nodded. He had a duty of care to all of his aviators, but the trio of Omegas on the squad, including Hangman, seemed to get an extra little bit of care from Maverick. “I’ll check on him before classes. Coyote can be on Jake’s squad today if we need to readjust so that he is protected.”

The briefing finished up not too long later. Warlock was happy to let Maverick do whatever he wanted (within reason) and Maverick was happy to do what he had planned.

After he checked on Hangman, of course.

When Maverick reached the break room, Jake was still curled into a ball, something clutched in a ball to his chest and his head resting on Coyote’s lap as the Alpha ran his fingers through Jake’s hair. Jake looked extremely young in his sleep, face slack and lips slightly parted, and his shoulders moving slightly with each deep inhale.

The bags under his eyes and the slightly pale tint to his skin were the only outward signs that something was wrong with Jake, but Maverick noticed the way that Jake was scrunched in to himself, protecting his heart and clutching onto whatever his safe item was to give him comfort when he clearly felt completely out of control. There was a slight sourness to his scent, barely noticeable considering Jake was still wearing his privacy patches, but everything about the Omega reeked of sadness and exhaustion and self-hatred, for some damn reason.

“Morning Cap,” Coyote said softly, rumbling slightly when Jake seemed to stir just enough to send him back to sleep. “Come to check on him?”

“How is he doing? Warlock said he didn’t sleep.”

With a deep sigh and a slight shake of his head, Coyote looked down at Jake. “Absolutely exhausted. He’s cried as well, so he’s going to feel like shit when he wakes up. Tried to tell him it wasn’t his fault, but he’s real good at shelving the blame for everything, even when his Alpha told him it wasn’t his fault, it’s just one of those things. He feels bad.”

He tried not to outwardly react when Coyote said that Jake had a mate - he’d not exactly denied reading the Daggers files when Ice had checked that he had, and he knew had he read them, he’d know Jake was mated. But Maverick liked to learn about his aviators the good old fashioned way: in the air with nothing but physics and maths on their side, and a healthy dose of self-preservation that liked to play walkabouts sometimes.

“Are you good to stay with him until he’s ready to be with the others? It would mean you don’t get to fly until this afternoon, but I know-”

“We’re pack bonded, and with what happened, I think he’ll need me,” Coyote cut him off to say. “It’s fine, Cap. I’ll look out for Jake.”

“Shhhh, Jakey sleepy,” Jake mumbled nearly inaudibly. His hand came up, letting go of the blanket that Maverick could now make out he was holding to pat aimlessly at Coyote’s face.

“You go back to sleep, babe, it’s alright.”

Jake nodded, eyes still shut as he breathed out. He brought the blanket up to nuzzle into before hiding his face in it. Coyote stayed still as Jake fidgeted, both of them watching as Jake got himself comfortable and let out a sigh as sleep overtook him again.

“And his Alpha?” Maverick said quietly to not wake the other Omega again. “They are good to him?”

The look on Coyote’s face was almost disarming, as though he knew something that Maverick didn’t but would want to know, beyond just knowing who Jake’s Alpha was.

“Oh yeah, Cap. He’s real good to Jake. Loves him a lot. It’s Jake’s story to tell, but trust me, the guy is good to him.” Coyote almost sounded amused, but Maverick chose not to look into it. He could figure out who Jake’s Alpha was at a later date. Maybe he didn’t even want to know, not if the look in Coyote’s eyes was anything to go by.

Even once Maverick was in the air, he was still thinking about Jake. The Omega was certainly complicated and Maverick hadn’t bothered to read Jake’s file to see his story, he’d always much preferred getting his pilots under his hands to know what he was dealing with, especially when it was a young Omega who Maverick knew to be… an acquired taste. And Jake was one of those Omegas who Maverick knew was a bad taste for a lot of the brass. The kid was good, too good even. And untouchable because of it.

Jake being an Omega would’ve pissed off a lot of the old school brass who Ice was still trying to carefully push out, but Jake being an Omega who was fucking brilliant and had a confirmed air-to-air kill and was a TOPGUN grad who had graduated top of his class and was still one of the best of the best…

It’s a recipe for disaster and Maverick couldn’t help but be concerned about who Jake had fighting in his corner for him.

After running the course with the morning squad, Maverick called a break, giving the aviators a chance to shittalk the complexity of the mission and himself a chance to go and check on Jake. He’d still not made an appearance in the ready room, and Maverick couldn’t help the little rumble of anxiety in his system that something must be deeply wrong if Jake was still not up and ready to fight to be the next one in the air.

Maverick had expected to find Coyote still with his packmate when he arrived, with the two of them needing to find a way to wake Jake up and check on him, perhaps even cajole him into a medical visit if he was still exhausted and looking bad.

The corridor was empty as Maverick approached, giving him the privacy him and the younger Omega would need.

Only, Maverick was forced to stop dead with his hand hovering inches above the door handle as he looked through the window of the door to see Jake was still curled up on the sofa, though now his eyes were open.

That in itself wasn’t alarming. The Omega still looked tired but he seemed alright.

It was the presence of Admiral Simpson sitting on the coffee table in front of Jake, talking inaudibly with him, that was alarming.

Simpson was an Alpha. An Alpha who was known for not giving a shit about someone’s secondary gender aside from expecting the best from them. He’d not questioned any of the Omega's positions on the Dagger Squad (in front of Maverick, anyway) and he’d seemed perfectly civil when Maverick had seen him interact with the Daggers and any other Omega or Beta around the base.

But Jake-

He was vulnerable. Stuck on the sofa with an Alpha inches away from him, sleepy, exhausted, perhaps not even in his right mind to deal with a threat, and Maverick didn’t like that one bit.

His hand tightened around the handle, moving to open the door and intervene, when he watched as Jake started laughing softly in a way that Maverick had never seen him do before. Jake didn’t show his emotions beyond that damn smirk that seemed painted onto his face, but the softness in the curve of his smile and the crinkle of his eyes as he laughed was very unnatural to see even if it seemed perfectly natural in that moment on Jake. Even the way Cyclone smiled at Jake seemed… normal, and so Maverick pulled back, watching them interact. Just for a second longer.

He had Ice on speed dial after all and if he thought his Dagger Pup was in danger, Cyclone would be in the middle of the ocean before they could even cry wolf.

He watched instead as Jake eventually rolled onto his back, scrubbing his hands over his face before scooting up to lean his back against the armrest and accept a cup of coffee that Cyclone passed him. Cyclone watched Jake bring the coffee to his chest, whilst Maverick kept his eyes on where Cyclone’s hand lingered against Jake’s elbow, almost as though he was watching to make sure that Jake didn’t drop the mug.

Even though it was harmless, there was something in the gesture that Maverick didn’t like, and so he pushed the door open, just in time to hear Cyclone, unnaturally gently but not treating Jake like he was completely inept talking softly to him.

“Go up when you’re ready, no one cares if you take the day off. You’ll catch up and outfly them all anyway.”

“I know,” Jake said softly. “I’ll be fine. Thanks though. And thanks for getting it sorted. Oh, hey Mav.”

“Jake,” Maverick acknowledged with a nod, before looking at Cyclone and doing the same when the Alpha whipped around to see who had interrupted them it seemed. “Admiral.”

“Maverick.” Cyclone replied with little ability to hide the disdain in his voice, even when Jake laughed softly and shook his head. He did look back down at Jake as he rose to his full height, giving him a look that Maverick couldn’t see, however made the younger aviator smirk around his coffee cup and look up at him with a cheeky look in his eyes. “Drink up, Lieutenant.”

“Will do. Catch ya later,” Jake nodded with a lazy salute fraught with insubordination as he took a sip. There was foam on the corner of his mouth but neither he nor Cyclone seemed to acknowledge Jake’s slight messiness, regardless of how uncommon it was for the Omega to be anything but pristine.

Cyclone left the room with a nod to both of them, shutting the door carefully behind himself.

He never once acknowledged Jake’s lack of respect towards his rank…

There was no scent of distress in Jake, nothing that implied he didn’t like Cyclone’s closeness to him nor the way that Cyclone was speaking with him. Jake’s fight or flight hadn’t kicked in, so perhaps, for once, Cyclone wasn’t being… well… Cyclone.

Which was to say, maybe for once Cyclone wasn’t being a massive dick.

“Everything okay, Lieutenant?” Maverick asked as he sat on the coffee table in front of Jake.

Jake simply hummed and took another sip of his coffee. “The Admiral was catching me up on some things. It’s all good, Mav.”

“Are you sure? Where’s Javy?”

“Told him he could go and get ready for the hop. Admiral Simpson is fine, Javy knows him and I can be on our own together.”

“Not many people feel like that about Simpson.”

“I was an instructor for him before,” Jake shrugged. “Worked together for a couple of years so I’m used to him. He’s alright. Lets me get away with having a nap on the sofa in his office when I want one.”

“Are you feeling better now?” Maverick asked as he raked his eyes over Jake’s frame. There was more colour in the Omega’s face, his eyes not quite so sunken looking and his body not quite as tense. There was still a pale redness in his eyes as though he’d cried recently, but nothing about his scent indicated distress. Actually, now that Maverick realised it, Jake’s very naturally crisp yet sugary apple scent was permeating the room, as though he’d taken off the scent blocker privacy patch that Maverick knew he’d been wearing that morning.

Jake simply hummed and took another drink. “I am good, Pops. I’ll be fine to fly this afternoon. Got to show the rookies how it’s done, yeah?”

“Cyclone is right,” Maverick admitted even though such a short statement did pain him to say. “No one will blame you for not flying today, you’re up there as the best, Jake. It’s okay to have a day off.”

“I think flying will make the rest of my day easier,” Jake corrected. “My pup will want to know what I did in the air and if I have to go home and tell him I didn’t fly, it’s going to be another sleepless night for us all.”

For a moment, Maverick said nothing. He just blinked.

A pup?!

Jake was exhausted because he had a pup?!

Since when?!

Was Jake supposed to even be on this mission? Was his pup old enough for Jake to be back? Not that Maverick thought Omegas shouldn’t be in the air just because they had pups, no Sir not at all. But Maverick knew that there was a leave Omegas took to make sure their pup was well, and if there was a sleepless night maybe that meant a newborn that still needed him, or even a toddler with attachment issues that-

“He’s six years old, Mav,” Jake interrupted, clearly able to see the turmoil on the elder’s face. “Absolute shit night of nightmares that are unrelated to me, his Daddy, or our jobs. I am more than capable of carrying out this mission, Captain, and if you pull me from it or do not have me on it purely because you know now that I have a pup, I will make sure the seven rings of hell rain down upon you, Sir. I’m a parent, I’m not incapable. Understood?”

“Loud and clear,” Maverick agreed without hesitation. He offered Hangman a smile, trying to show that he didn’t think him incapable purely for having a pup. If anything, having a pup that was six and maintaining a happy relationship with him was more powerful than most could understand. “But your pup-” Maverick saw the walls fly up in Jake’s eyes at someone addressing his baby. “He’s okay? After the nightmares, I mean?”

Jake closed his eyes for a second and breathed out, putting the coffee cup down on the table as his body seemed to sink under the release of pressure that Maverick didn’t care that he had a pup, only that his pup was okay.

“Think so. He’s with his Daddy for most of today. We tried to divide and conquer last night. His Daddy held him and tried to calm him down because he knew I was flying today so he wanted me to try and sleep, but it was truly every five minutes he’d wake up screaming. And if one of us wasn’t in his immediate grasp, the screaming got worse. He had a real damn shit time, and made us feel goddamn awful because there was nothing we could do other than cuddle him and soothe him and that.”

Maverick cooed sympathetically as Jake lamented his pup’s struggles. He’d never even dreamt that Jake could be as soft or open as he seemed to about his pup, not picturing him of all the young aviators Mav had worked with in recent years to be one of the first to settle down and have both a long term relationship and a pup old enough for school.

“Nightmares are awful, especially when they can’t explain it or the logical way to try and explain them away doesn’t help, aren’t they?” Maverick agreed as Jake nodded, remembering how much trouble himself, Ice and Carole had when Bradley was young and missing his own father. He was scrubbing his hands over his face again as though to bring some life back into his tired bones.

“So neither of us slept at all. I know-” what Jake went to say was cut off as he yawned around the words. “-au said he was going to talk to the base psychologist, see if they’ve got any advice on how to help him. Hopefully it’s just a one off, but with how bad they were, he thinks it’s worth just getting a heads up on how we can help him in the future.”

Fuuuuck why did Jake have to yawn around his mate’s name so that Maverick wouldn’t be able to figure out who Jake was mated to? It had to be someone in the Navy, or at least connected to it somehow if they were talking to people on base, but still. There was no way Mav could work it out without invading Jake’s personal file and reading things that the Omega hadn’t wanted shared with the squad yet. And something like a mate, a pup, a family, it deserved to stay as private as Jake wanted for as long as he wanted. Even if the Alpha did seem like a decent enough person.

Jake may be far from Maverick’s favourite Dagger, but he had a soft spot for the Omega regardless and was unable to switch off the pack-omega-leader part of his brain that saw the Daggers as his and needed to make sure that all of his pups were well looked after by the people they’d chosen to mate with. Jake was an acquired taste, but surely his mate had to understand that if they shared a pup together.

And if the mate in question was looking after the pup today and willingly talking to a psychologist to try and get their pup help, taking the burden off of Jake as the Omega, maybe he was a good one. When so many Alphas still believed that childbearing and raising responsibilities were solely down to the Omega, even in the modern age, it warmed that tiny flare in Maverick’s heart that hoped the times were changing.

To be fair, he also was acutely aware that Jake was Hangman, and if anyone was going to have an Alpha whipped into shape and sharing responsibilities, it would be him. Hangman was clearly protective of his pup and wanted the best for him, but he also seemed calm, ready to have others step up and raise his kid when he couldn’t do it all the time. Not when he was an active duty aviator after all.

“How’s the flights been this morning, anyway?” Jake suddenly asked, swinging his legs off of the sofa and sitting up properly before taking his coffee and downing it. “Has Rooster gotten off of his perch yet?”

Rolling his eyes, Maverick took the opening for what it was. A chance for Jake to put Jake away and get out Hangman, to switch off from worrying about his pup and instead return to training for the mission.

“You really need to get over your hangup on him.”

“Not me with the issue, Pops,” Jake winked as the dark smirk crawled across his face. “Some Alphas just push too much, but I think you know that, don’t you, Sir? Gotta put ‘em in their place, ain’t we, before they get too big for their boots. Or stuck on their perches too long.”

Shaking his head, Maverick sighed fondly and passed Jake his coffee back. “Drink up, Admiral’s orders. And I’ll tell you the gossip from the flights.”

“Admiral’s orders,” Jake repeated, though much softer and with a fond little smile that, just like with Coyote, made Maverick feel as though something was blatantly obvious in front of him but he hadn’t put the jigsaw together enough yet to see the bigger picture.

Though with Hangman, maybe it was better if Maverick didn’t know everything. Something about the kid just screamed to let the information come to you as and when Jake wanted it to. Now wasn’t the time. And frankly, Maverick didn’t want to know at that point.

3. Rooster

Being chosen for a suicide mission wasn’t exactly a feeling that you could become acquainted with without facing the futility of your own existence. Knowing that for the Navy, the mission was the goal and as much as Maverick tried to emphasise it was also for all of the pilots to make it home, Rooster knew, deep down, that the Navy couldn’t care less as long as it got what it wanted.

And what it wanted was the uranium plant gone.

If he went down, it was a loss for the Navy and for Aviators.

If Maverick went down, well, it would be a loss for Aviators but Rooster knew that the Navy couldn't care less about losing Maverick. If anything, they’d probably, albeit subtly, celebrate. Ice would bring the Navy to its knees and drown them all one by one if he knew they were celebrating losing his mate.

And Bradley...

He had no idea what he would do. He couldn’t lose Mav, that much he knew. But he also couldn’t exactly just talk to the Omega, to go back to how things were before Maverick had changed the course of Bradley’s life with no explanation.

Losing his Mom had been traumatic, no doubt about it. Watching this strong and fantastic and no nonsense lady who had been dealt blow after blow since losing her mate getting struck down by cancer when she was still so young and had so much life still to live scarred Bradley’s young brain.

It was only having Maverick, and by extension Ice, around that stopped Bradley from spiraling. Having their small, but so damn important pack, with Ice showing Bradley how to be a good Alpha, not one of those knothead bigots that treated Omegas like shit and Mav being… Mav had been vital to giving Bradley the strength for what he did now.

He’d never give Maverick shit for being an Omega. It made no difference to him. Maverick was beyond the rules of gender and order, and doing what he wanted was so ingrained in the man’s personality that Bradley had never even considered there to be another option for how an Omega should behave.

Hangman showed it just as much.

In actuality, Bradley had never properly realised that Hangman was an Omega, automatically chalking up the man’s asshole personality to either him being an Alpha or that just being an asshole was how the man was preprogrammed. Maverick wasn’t an asshole in the way Hangman was. Where Maverick simply enjoyed pissing people off for the fun of it, Hangman didn’t like people - he thought himself better, thought others being unworthy of sharing the ground and the air with him, thought he was God’s gift to the universe and other pilots should be grateful to spend their short time on the planet with him.

When he’d realised that Hangman was an Omega, Bradley finally understood that it was both. He enjoyed annoying people, and he also needed it as a means of protection for being an Omega. People gave the man shit for his secondary gender. Bradley just gave him shit for being Hangman.

The man didn’t care about anyone but himself, and as much as Bradley was terrified at flying the suicide mission, terrified of flying with Mav, terrified of losing him, or losing any confidence the man had in him for thinking he was capable of carrying out this mission, the idea of letting Hangman have Mav’s back was even worse.

Hangman being Dagger Spare was bad enough - could he really be trusted to come and help if needs be?

He didn’t care about anyone. Hangman was a lone wolf, and as Bradley stood staring out over the ocean as the carrier moved as silently as it could through the night on its course for position where he’d inevitably be flying to someone’s death, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and tilted his head up to the sky.

“Keep us safe, Dad,” he murmured, words inaudible against the noise of the waves. “Get them home, Mom.”

Bradley wasn’t suicidal by any means. But at the same time, all he wanted was to be a kid and get a hug in his mom’s arms. If getting his team home meant they were safe even if he wasn’t, so be it. The squad needed to get home - Bradley just needed to fly well enough to not be the cause of death for any of them.

He’d always been a clingy pup, wanting his Mom around and clutching onto her. Losing her had been like losing a limb, at times still being dragged down by the phantom pain of thinking he could hear her shout his name only to get jolted back into reality that he’d never hear his Mom’s voice again. Not until they were reunited with his Dad’s arms around them both when he finally, if he ever could, made it to the pearly gates.

Sometimes Bradley was grateful beyond means that he’d not found someone he wanted to settle down with and have pups - he wasn’t sure how he would find the strength to fly this mission if he was stuck thinking about a future he might not get. A history that would most likely repeat itself and repeat the Bradshaw curse of dying before you got to see the people you love grow old.

With a final look up to his parents, Bradley turned on his heel, intending to head back into the bunks and try to get some sleep.

“Are you sure you want to stay with Javy tonight? You know you don’t have to.”

Bradley stopped short as he started to walk down the carrier upon hearing Admiral Simpson’s voice.

“It’s where I need to be,” a familiar voice came back. “If I sleep anywhere else I won’t be ready for tomorrow.”

“You don’t need to be Dagger Spare, you know this.”

“Yes I do, you know this,” Hangman argued back. “I should be doing the damn mission, you can’t trust-”

“They’re trained to do their jobs, Jake. Stop undermining your team.”

“I’ll stop undermining them when I start to believe they won’t all kill each other out there. It’s a suicide mission for a reason, and I don’t trust them to get the result you need.”

“I need you back here safe and alive. That’s what we need, Jake.”

“And you need that uranium plant destroyed, or else that’s it. Job gone. The Pentagon has us all up in flames because the best aviators in the world couldn’t do one measly job.”

“I don’t care about the damn plant, just don’t die.”

“You can’t ask me that,” Hangman muttered, causing Bradley to strain his ears to hear the teetering off of their argument. “You know the one thing you can’t ask any of us is to not die out there. We can’t control that.”

“I don’t care,” Admiral Simpson repeated. “Do not die out there, Lieutenant Seresin, that’s an order.”

With a tired scoff, Hangman replied, “Yes Sir, Admiral Simpson, Sir.”

From his perch behind the wall, Bradley just caught sight of Admiral Simpson’s hand on the back of Hangman’s neck, fingers brushing over the spot where his privacy patch sat covering what Bradley assumed was nothing on his neck. Hangman’s hand came up to squeeze at Admiral Simpson’s elbow, his eyes closing momentarily as his head tilted sideways to brush his nose against Simpson’s wrist.

Hangman had always, from Bradley’s experience, been the type of man who enjoyed attention from others. He’d been an absolute pain when they’d been on a deployment together, preening himself in front of higher ups and getting their attention, their praise, their awe so that he could get further, progress up the ranks faster. Hangman loved when his name was in other people’s mouths. Any attention was good attention after all.

He just hadn’t expected him to be manipulating Admiral Simpson of all people. The cold, brash, didn’t give a fuck about anything but the Navy Alpha who barely even liked looking at the Daggers half of the time because they wound him up so badly.

Bradley really should’ve expected that he’d end up seeing Hangman flirting his way to the top of this detachment - it was second nature for him after all.

Maybe that was one of the reasons why Admiral Simpson didn’t like Mav, didn’t trust Bradley. He wanted Hangman up there, wanted Jake to be the one flying and receive the accolades that came silently from running a classified mission. Hangman was Simpson’s pet project, and Bradley and Maverick had ruined all of his plans for getting Hangman higher by being in the way. By Ice being in the way.

“I know you got a fucked up childhood but did no-one teach you it’s rude to stare and eavesdrop on a private conversation?”

Dragging himself out of his thoughts, Bradley shot Hangman the coldest look he possibly could muster as the Omega stood, smirking, with his arms crossed across his chest. “You really don’t know when to just shut the hell up, do you, man?”

“I know my manners,” Hangman grinned. “You however…”

“Clearly no one ever taught you not to bother people.”

“Says the man who was eavesdropping on a private conversation.”

“Is that what you call that?” Bradley scoffed. “How many Alphas does that make it now, Hangman? You can’t resist ‘em, can you?”

Humourlessly, Hangman laughed, shaking his head as a coldness fell over his eyes.

“You know, I really was prepared to just ‘you saw nothing’ our way out of this conversation, but if that’s how you want to be, then let’s go tail to tail, Bradshaw,” Hangman snapped as he stepped closer to him. His finger jabbed at Bradley’s chest, the movement hard and almost pushing him back. “I don’t give a rat's ass what your opinion of that was. You hate me, fine. You think I’m a slut, okay sure. You hate Maverick, whatever. You’ve got some weird fucking hang-up on Omegas that you need to get the hell over you intolerant shit-”

“I don’t have a hang up!” Bradley attempted to argue, however Hangman barrelled on, ignoring anything he could say.

“- Because not every Alpha an Omega talks to is because they want their cock in them. Sometimes you want a person who is going to tell you to come back alive because this shit? It’s fucking dangerous, and you don’t seem to care. You don’t care about anyone but yourself and your itty-bitty little trauma like you’re the only person to ever suffer. Get over it. You’re on this mission, and you’re going to fly this goddamn mission. And you bring everyone home, got it? Get off your damn perch and don’t make us mourn anyone because you couldn’t learn how to be a team player. You think I can’t? Look in the mirror, Rooster. And bring this team and yourself home.”

“Didn’t know you cared about me like that, Hangman.”

“I don’t,” Hangman told him defiantly with a look so intense it reminded him of when Ice had, extremely rarely, ever disciplined him as a kid. “I couldn’t give less of a damn if you intended to kill yourself out there. Not really. But here’s the thing. You’re not going to because you don’t like Maverick. You’re not going to risk the safety of every other damn pilot on this mission because you are stuck thinking about yourself like a thick headed Alpha who can’t see anything but his own little prejudices. This isn’t about you. It’s about all of us. The team. You fly like your damn ass is on fire and you come home. Some of us have reasons to go home, and I’m not going home stuck dealing with the trauma that you killed yourself because you’re stuck on your perch and won’t accept help. Get yourself together Bradshaw or I’ll sabotage your jet myself. And get the hell over the fact that I’m an Omega. No one but you gives a shit. Get over it.”

“I don’t care that you’re an Omega! You’re just an asshole. And stop bringing Mav into this.”

“I’ll do whatever the hell I want,” Hangman snapped. “You was the one to bring Mav into all of this. You brought him into this the first day of training. No one gives a shit but you. Pops trusts you for whatever reason. Show some basic damn respect, Bradshaw.”

“Pot meet kettle.”

“At least I don’t pretend I’m not an asshole.”

There was a moment after Hangman snapped that Bradley truly believed he was about 0.4 seconds away from ending up in a fist-fight with the Omega. The pair of them were inches apart, Hangman’s jaw tensed as he looked Bradley up and down, almost like he was preparing for the best place to plant his fist and do the most damage he could.

Much like he’d done when they were at flight school and Hangman had made his feelings on Bradley’s flying very clear and the matching black eyes they’d rocked had certainly made an impression on their CO’s and the distance that kept them separated following them into their careers.

“Fine,” Bradley eventually muttered. “I’ll do exactly what you want, Mama Bear.”

Something flashed in Hangman’s eyes at the term, almost like it hit a nerve that the Omega hated.

Probably the reminder that he was an Omega, something Hangman never really seemed to enjoy people reminding him off.

“Lieutenants. Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

Neither of them wanted to be the first to break from staring each other down, the energy in the tightness of the carrier corridor electrifying as Hangman bit back the urge to get violent.

Tilting his head up slightly, Bradley looked down at Hangman, much like he had that first night in the Hard Deck before the detachment had officially begun with the scent of bergamot and seawater assaulting Bradley’s senses every time that Hangman moved. Clearly someone didn’t believe in scent-patches.

“Lieutenants!”

“Run along Rooster,” Hangman drawled, smirk crawling across his skin. “It’s past your bedtime.”

“Yes Mom,” Bradley jeered back just to see Hangman’s fist clench with the desire to punch him.

“Both of you, to your bunks, now.”

They were broken apart by Admiral Bates getting in between them, the Alpha pushing them to opposite walls and planting himself in front of Hangman. He turned to look at the fiery Omega, giving him a silent look that Bradley couldn’t see that resulted in Hangman rolling his eyes and stalking off without a backwards glance at Bradley.

“If I hear of you disrespecting your fellow aviators by nature of their secondary gender again, you will face disciplinary action, is that understood, Lieutenant Bradshaw?” Admiral Bates said calmly with a crisp curve of his eyebrow.

Taking a deep breath, Bradley sighed as he nodded. There was no use explaining that it wasn’t Hangman being an Omega that was the issue - it was him being Hangman that was the issue. “Yes Sir.”

“Now to your bunk,” Admiral Bates ordered. “You have an early start, Lieutenant Bradshaw.”

Bradley nodded and headed off in the opposite direction to Hangman, trying to push all thoughts of asshole Omegas who thought they knew best down.

Maverick. Hangman. They were aviators that Bradley truly could do without seeing tomorrow, but tomorrow was going to be it. Make or break. A win or a loss.

A career ended in flames or a career that was going to be forever marred by the loss of someone, maybe Bradley, maybe someone else.

Or no one, like Hangman wanted.

For once, maybe Bradley would let Hangman get what he wanted.

4. Fanboy

Knowing you were going on a suicide mission versus actually going on a suicide mission were two very different thought processes, and as Mickey stumbled around the carrier, the last few hours of his life swam before his eyes. He knew Reuben was around, his Alpha giving him some space to process what had happened to them and their friends, but also acutely aware that his Omega needed to have some time to wander and reassure himself that he was back on the carrier, all of their squad was, and everyone was safe and accounted for.

Injuries were prevailing, and their mental wellbeing was going to be fucked for the next little bit, but they were home. They were alive. And they were going back to their families.

Frankly, all Mickey actually wanted was to get home with Reuben and sleep for a week.

As he wandered the corridors, Mickey headed towards the break room. They’d left some snacks there earlier, and whilst he didn’t particularly want something to eat, he knew that once the crash hit him fully, he’d not want to get back up for food, let alone go wandering for more when Reuben inevitably stole half of his food.

Having a mate was absolutely delightful until you had to share your shit with them because they were evil and masters at the puppy dog eyes.

As he approached the break room, the faint scent of overwhelmed but slowly calming Omega permeated the air. It was unusual to be able to smell someone on the carrier in the communal areas - everyone wore privacy patches with in-built scent blockers regardless of mate status to ensure that people didn’t feel uncomfortable talking about a hypothetical other half. Some people still wore wedding rings anyway like Admiral Simpson or carried them on their tags like he’d seen Captain Mitchell do, but the patches put everyone on the same level and stopped a lot of issues from scents becoming overwhelming when the spaces on carriers were a lot tighter than back on land.

For an Omega to have taken off their patch, it must’ve been something important.

Silently, Mickey walked closer. The door was ever so slightly propped open like someone had left and not shut the door fully behind themselves. The faint sound of someone talking hit him next and Mickey slid up against the wall. He wasn’t eavesdropping per se, but he knew what an uncomfortable Omega smelt like and he knew that they needed each other's back. If something was wrong, Mickey would go and find Captain Mitchell, knowing the older Omega would protect any of the Omegas on the carrier if needed, or at least try and fix the matter himself without resorting to needing someone else.

Much to his surprise, he didn’t quite expect that the person he’d be listening to, hearing the soft melodic rise and fall of his voice that sung with heavy Texan exhaustion in his accent and the scent of souring apples burning, was Hangman of all people.

“And are you being a good boy for Tía Maria?” Hangman- no, Jake, asked, his voice impossibly soft to a level that Fanboy didn’t even think possible for the other Omega. Mickey paused in the doorway, giving Jake privacy as he talked to whoever the person was time to process the question. He had no idea who Jake was speaking with, didn’t even know who this Maria was, but Jake was so unbelievably gentle that Mickey almost wanted​​ to break into the room and curl up under Jake’s arm and have the other Omega treat him softly.

It was only when a tiny voice came back that Mickey began to realise what Jake was dealing with, and how babying Mickey would be so far down on his list of priorities Mickey might as well ask Cyclone to look after him.

“Hmm, Momma.”

There was a beat of silence before Jake softly asked, “Baby, what’s wrong? Talk to Momma, what’s got you sad? It’s okay to tell me, darlin’. You won’t be in trouble, I just want to help.”

“I miss you, Momma,” the little voice replied, almost inaudible both from the volume and from the emotion catching in his throat. “I want you and Daddy to come home!” the voice broke as they sobbed out for Jake to come home.

Mickey didn’t even know that Jake had a pup, let alone a mate who was probably also active service and far away from their pup too. He’d not really considered having pups himself one day, and yet Mickey ached to find a way to send the guy home so he could be reunited with his baby and calm his broken heart. And he wasn’t even Jake’s biggest fan…

“God, baby, I miss you so much too.”

Mickey sneaked a look around the doorway, finding Jake sitting on the floor against the wall under a window and white-knuckling his phone as tears rolled down his cheeks. He looked as broken as his pup sounded, only just able to hold it together by nature of being older and more in control of his emotions.

“Momma please-”

“Baby, I promise you, I promise me and Daddy are coming home. We’re both safe, we’re both coming home. I promise, baby. Baby, baby look at me, look at Momma. You can ask Tía Maria to talk to Uncle Javy if you want, but I promise you that me and Daddy are coming home. We’ll be home in a few days and we can cuddle and watch movies and go to the park and do all sorts of things, but I promise it means Momma and Daddy are safe and are coming home.”

Mickey watched as Jake tried to keep calm, tried to explain to the pup who it seemed didn’t want to listen and was seemingly getting increasingly hysterical. The scent of Omega in distress only seemed to get worse as the pup’s tears got louder, more distressed themself, almost to the point that Mickey could hear the pain emanating from the pup.

“Caden, look at Momma. Look at me, baby. You’re getting yourself into some big emotions right now, and that’s okay. That’s normal when we’re overwhelmed and upset and scared. But we need to make sure you don’t get poorly, baby. Don’t make yourself sick. Breathe with Momma, baby. That’s it, big breath in. Hold it. And let it out. That’s my superhero! You’re so good at this Cade, and again, baby. Do it again for Momma. Big one in, wow you’re doing amazing sweetie, and let it out. Amazing, Momma’s so proud of you, baby boy.”

Even Mickey followed Jake’s instructions, trying to stay calm himself as Jake’s scent soured in upset at not being able to help his pup in person. Jake still had tears in his eyes, but from experience Mickey knew that as long as he didn’t let them fall, the signal on the carriers was just bad enough that his kid wouldn’t see Jake suffering almost as much as he was.

“What are you looking at?” Payback whispered suddenly and made him jump a mile into the air. Automatically, Mickey pushed his mate back, keeping him away from where Jake was extremely vulnerable and his pup even more so.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it. Just-” Mickey sighed, leaning into Rueben for a second and breathing in the comforting scent of his Alpha as he softly rumbled to try and calm whatever worries were running through his younger mate. “-Can you just keep people away from here for a bit. Omega shit, you know?”

Rueben didn’t know. But he knew enough, and if he could just hear another voice hidden in the room and smell the hints of Omega worry that weren’t emanating from him, he said nothing.

“Got it. Text me when the coast is clear, yeah?” he murmured. His hand came to rest on the back of Mickey’s neck for a moment and squeezed, his nails scraping over his skin and sending a calming soothe down his spine.

“I love you.” Mickey pushed up onto his tiptoes to softly brush a kiss over Rueben’s lips and squeezed at his waist in a silent thank you. Reuben nodded and pulled back, looking left and right to check that Mickey could have his request of no one bothering them, before leaving.

Jake was still talking away quietly with his pup, though now it sounded like the pup had stopped crying and Jake was back in control.

“When Momma?”

“Soon, I promise,” Jake said softly. “Daddy has already ordered the carrier back, everyone’s safe, and we’ll be docking in a few days. When Daddy is done in his meeting, I’ll get him to call you, okay? And we’ll stay on the phone with you until you fall asleep, is that alright? I love you, baby, so much.”

“Love you Momma,” the little voice replied. When Mickey sneaked a look around the door, he could see the tears streaming down Jake’s face and prayed that the pup couldn’t see them either. Jake looked broken in a way that Mickey had never assumed the other Omega could - too full of himself and too selfish to give a fuck about anything other than himself.

Seeing how Jake reacted now, seeing his heart breaking into a thousand pieces all because he wanted to hug his baby and couldn’t, Mickey had to repress a whine and the need to go and comfort the other Omega. To find out who his mate was and order him to get his mate home faster, to give the little boy on the other end of Jake’s phone the hug that he so desperately needed. That Jake obviously needed.

Mickey went to find him a coffee instead.

It seemed the next best thing he could offer when he couldn’t find Jake’s mate nor give him the pup he desperately craved.

By the time he returned, two scorching cups of styrofoam rocket fuel disguised as coffee in hand, the room was silent again. Distress and a hint of anger that Mickey assumed was from Jake feeling helpless stank out the corridor.

When Mickey walked in, Jake was sitting with his head tilted back against the wall, eyes closed and taking deep shaky breaths. He’d stopped crying, but he didn’t look any better. If anything, the deep exhaustion made him look worse.

“Hangman?” Mickey said softly to not alarm the other Omega. At any other time, Mickey would’ve assumed that Jake would’ve heard him already, would’ve noticed him standing outside. Instead, as Jake slowly opened his eyes and stared across at him, Mickey could tell that he was too deep in himself and his wallowing feelings to notice anyone else. Gently, as he held out the coffee cup, he said, “Hey, thought you might need this.”

Jake scoffed as he rubbed at his raw eyes before scraping his hands down his tear stained face. “God yeah, thanks, man.”

Mickey lowered himself to the floor beside the other Omega, pressing tight against his side to try and offer some comfort. Jake cupped the styrofoam cup in his hands and gently blew on the surface.

For a while, they sat in silence.

“How much did you hear?” Jake asked.

“Not much, mainly heard you trying to calm a pup down?”

“My baby, Caden,” Jake confirmed and blew out a breath as he dropped his head back with a thud against the wall behind him. “God, don’t have pups, Fanboy. All they do is break your heart.” Jake scoffed as he wiped at a stray tear. “Best fucking thing to ever happen to me that kid is. And still hurts all the damn time being his Momma.”

“How old is he?”

“Six. And he’s used to me deploying. Hates it, naturally, but also thinks I'm the coolest person ever and so it’s okay for Momma to go and be a superhero. But it’s the first time I’ve deployed with his Daddy, and that’s what’s upsetting him. He’s not used to us both being gone.”

He’d already gathered that whoever Jake’s mate was also happened to be Navy and important enough to be on the boat at the same time as Jake. He’d never expected Jake to speak so candidly about his life though. The Omega was a locked chest of secrets, barely letting anyone in or anything out. In the two minutes Mickey had been sat beside him, he’d learned more about Jake than Fanboy had ever learned about Hangman.

“I didn’t know you’d been mated for that long.”

“We’ve been together nine years,” Jake said solemnly. “And our pup… God, man, he’s awesome. But he wants us home so bad. He never asks us for anything, he knows he can’t make us make promises. It’s the first time he’s ever begged us to come home. And I was this close-” Jake held his pointer finger and thumb millimetres apart in front of them both. “- To trying to ask for expedited evac. But his Daddy can’t leave yet, and our pup will be just as inconsolable if I go home without his Dad.”

“How long until he’s free to call him?”

“I have no idea,” Jake sighed as an errant tear that he quickly tried to wipe away like he didn’t want Mickey to see rolled down his face. “He’ll be stuck in meetings until we get back. Probably even be stuck in meetings when we dock. And my kid will hate me even more if I don’t bring his Dad home.”

“He won’t hate you. He wants his parents, it’s normal. Any kid wants that.”

“But I promised him-”

“And he’ll forgive you. The second he sees you on the tarmac, you and Javy and his Daddy, he won’t care. He wants you safe, he wants you home. And you’re coming home. You told him that already.”

Jake nodded, though it was clear he didn’t believe him.

“I don’t want to hurt him more than I already do by being Navy,” Jake whispered in an extremely rare moment of pure vulnerability. “I know what I was getting myself in for when we had him. My mate and I both knew it was going to suck, but fuck I just want him back and to never hurt him again by leaving.”

Carefully, giving Jake enough time to pull away if he wanted, Mickey slid his arm through Jake’s and tied their hands together before dropping his head onto Jake’s shoulder. The tension in Jake’s body rocketed at the casual touch before dropping when he squeezed Mickey’s hand and moved to nose at the buzzed hair on Mickey’s head.

“You can break your kid’s heart by going to the grocery store, Jake. You can hurt him by cuddling with his Dad and not him. You can be the worst person in the world to him because you slept for an hour longer than he did. He’s a kid. They’re going to get upset with everything thousands of times, but do you know what he also has? A complete adoration for you. I could hear it in him, you’re his superhero. He’s not going to hate you, he’s just worried and doesn’t know how to express that fully. He’s a kid, Jake,” Mickey repeated as he felt Jake nod slightly and a wetness hit his scalp from the tears that Jake had tried to hold back finally dropping. “And I promise you, man, that the second he sees you, he’s going to not care about anything but getting you back in his arms. You want to hug him? I guarantee he wants to hug you twice as hard. And you’ll get to do it. Soon.”

“He’s right, Lieutenant.”

Mickey’s head shot up, dislodging Jake as he took in Admiral Simpson staring down at them both.

“Admiral,” Jake nodded tiredly. “How much longer?”

“Thirty hours, Lieutenant, and then you’ll be back in Caden’s arms.”

“Any chance you can make this boat row faster?”

“That’s not how a carrier works, and you know that.”

“Worth a shot,” Jake smiled tearily at him before looking at Mickey. “Thanks, man.”

“No problem,” Mickey smiled back and squeezed softly at Jake’s arm. The Omega still stunk of sadness but he didn’t have that ‘world ending and I want nothing to do with living’ stench anymore that had plagued his scent when his pup had been crying. At least he’d managed to help somewhat. “You gonna be okay?”

“I’ll be fine. Promise. Gonna phone Pup again.”

“We’ll get it sorted, Lieutenant Garcia,” Admiral Simpson said sharply, with an undertone that Mickey had no idea how to understand. Jake didn’t seem stressed by the Admiral’s presence, and the Admiral hadn’t taken his eyes off of Jake.

Maybe, just maybe, when he was back in Rueben’s arms later and he finally gave himself a chance to process Admiral Simpson seeing him off and taking his place at Jake’s side, he should’ve questioned how the hell the Admiral knew Jake’s child’s name. And maybe, just maybe, he’d have put two and two together and realised that Admiral Simpson being there and Jake phoning the pup might be connected.

Instead, he did none of that.

“You know, Cyclone’s not a complete dick,” Mickey had murmured softly in the tightness of their bunk as Rueben already fought to stay awake enough to hum and show he was listening. “He was nice to Hangman.”

“Least someone is,” Rueben muttered barely audibly and tightened his arms around Mickey as he nosed at his bite mark, a silent non-order to try and get him to close his eyes for as long as they could get away with.

Mickey closed his eyes, images of Jake leaning into Admiral Simpson dancing through his mind and shook it off.

Maybe he was more tired than he realised.

5. Phoenix

With the newly minted Dagger Squad sticking around, it was only to be expected, especially with this generation, that they’d all end up following each other on social media. And Phoenix, knowing this, and with an intense adoration of being a nosy fucker, loved having a deep dive scroll through her new teammates instagrams.

Of course some of the squads instagrams she already followed like Rooster and Halo, or Fanboy and Payback. Bob used his purely to comment on and like other people’s posts and send her the occasional meme but wasn’t a poster himself. Coyote’s mostly consisted of photos of his wife, Maria, and sometimes Hangman, Fritz’s held a concerning amount of storms but Phoenix didn’t have time to unpack that (and to be fair, Phoenix wasn’t sure she even wanted to unpack that, because as lovely as Fritz was, there was definitely a screw loose up there and that was a-okay with her), and the Ivies treated instagram like her mother with terrible photos and lack of cohesion but in a way you couldn’t help but find charming.

It was Hangman who had the most… unassuming feed, it could be said.

Unassuming being code for the fact that when scrolling his account, it hadn’t been anything like she’d expected.

Of course there were the typical photos that aviators always had, ones of him in the cockpit or standing with his jet. The skyhigh photos when you were thousands of feet in the air and the ocean was expansive and deeply scary but inspiring in a way that made you want to fly harder, faster, higher to see what else you could uncover. A handful of photos featured Coyote, naturally, considering everyone had thought the pair were together until Hangman had gagged and Coyote laughed so hard they nearly took him to medical until they’d met his mate.

Phoenix had even had some fun zooming in on a photo of Jake with the Vigilantes and stalking their profiles, finding photos of Hangman in various states (both across the US and beyond, and as a result of drinking) over the years. And if she happened to screenshot one of Jake looking utterly terrible, ready for the moment that she needed to wind him up, that was between her and her photo gallery.

By the time she made it back to Hangman’s feed, Phoenix had almost forgotten that her mission here was to stalk Hangman himself.

And when she made it back to six months prior on Hangman’s feed, to where there was a black and white photo posted on its own, it was safe to say that Phoenix was caught incredibly off guard.

As she stared at it, she almost started to believe that it had to be a glitch. That she was somehow still on one of Jake’s old squadmates rather than Jake’s own. After zooming in and out, double checking that the username above the photo read h_ngm_n, and then reloading the app in case it was glitched only to find that the picture remained, Phoenix had to accept that there wasn’t a glitch.

No. It was real. And Phoenix didn’t fucking understand what she was looking at.

It was a black and white photo of a young pup laughing at the camera and his arms wrapped around the stem of a number 6 balloon. His hair was covered by a tiny cowboy hat and though he was clearly laughing, Phoenix could see the mischief shining in his eyes that screamed he was Hangman’s clone.

It was Hangman’s caption that ultimately ended up catching her the most off-guard.

h_ngm_n: six years of you, pup. momma and daddy love you❤️

Hangman’s profile was private, meaning no one would see pictures of his pup without his permission. Everyone knew the man was an Omega. After all he loved flaunting the fact that he was better than so many of them regardless of his secondary gender amidst all the stereotypes that he should be ‘bad’.

But to know he was pupped.. that he had two confirmed air to air kills and was living a normal life, to have a pup that he apparently threw dinosaur themed birthday parties for and let call him Momma… that wasn’t the Hangman that Phoenix knew.

After taking a scroll through the comments, she saw ones from usernames she recognised and expected to be there, Coyote and his mate’s being the most obvious ones. There was a couple that she recognised from stalking the Vigilanties which was both a surprise that they knew about Hangman’s pup, but also unsurprising considering Hangman had been with the Vigilanties long enough that it was probably almost inevitable that they’d find out about his pup.

To then spot both Fritz and Omaha of all people in the comment section was most surprising and unexpected.

wil-e-coyote: happy birthday to my favourite man!!!!!!!!!

fritz: baby seresin is a grown up😭😭😭😭😭😭
h_ngm_n: @fritz he is in fact a baby, stop lying, fritzy

maria.machado: beautiful boy❤️❤️

omahanotnebraska: happy bday super hornet!

Clearly, Jake’s pup wasn’t as much of a secret as Phoenix thought he was if more of their squad knew about him.

Coyote didn’t count, naturally.

For an unbonded pair, it was clear the two were more family, more like brothers and packmates than anything else. Coyote had probably even known that Hangman was going to have a pup before whoever had knocked Hangman up would’ve known considering the borderline concerning co-dependency the two of them had.

But for Omaha and Fritz to know…

She wasn’t sure if she’d ever even see Hangman talk to either of them, let alone know them well enough that they’d follow him on instagram and know his kid well enough to see him both grow up and have a nickname for him. Two nicknames, even.

Though it did bother Phoenix that Fritz had called Hangman’s kid Baby Seresin, meaning she wasn’t going to be able to work out anytime soon who Jake’s baby daddy was. Clearly an active parent if Jake’s caption was anything to go by, and she was sure she’d smelt something Alpha rich and heady on him before, familiar in a way that made her nose tingle but not enough that she could assume it had to be someone like Coyote. It toed the line between familiarity and putting her on high alert.

And Phoenix couldn’t work out why.

Why the scent of Alpha on Jake’s skin didn’t seem right, but no one would dare to question it or who had left it there.

For someone who was always up in everyone’s business, Hangman did a remarkable job of keeping his own business close to his chest. No one saw in, and no one could get out of him what he didn’t want them to know.

Beyond being Texan, an Omega, and one of the best fighter pilots on the planet, Phoenix realised that actually, she really didn’t know anything about Jake Seresin.

Well, all that and that apparently he had a pup that was six years old and had a Daddy that adored him as much as Jake did.

Even when they’d been at the Academy together, Jake had been closed off, keeping to himself and not letting anyone in despite being one of the most popular in their year. It was discerning, to say the least, to realise that even after years upon years of knowing the other, Phoenix was no closer to knowing Jake Seresin than she was to understanding why Bradshaw was, well, Bradshaw.

She was still working on getting that story out of him.

But Hangman-

He loved being the centre of attention, and with him having what Phoenix believed to be the first official Dagger Pup even if he was born many years before the squad ever formed, Hangman was probably going to love being the one to show off about his kid.

If they were even lucky enough to meet said kid.

Hangman didn’t trust easily by nature, regardless of his secondary gender making him naturally even more protective of his pup, and there was no guarantee he would even let people talk about him. Especially someone like Phoenix who had a reluctant but somewhat frosty relationship with the Omega, born from years of conflict and their combined inability to communicate healthily.

Taking a chance, Phoenix pressed the send icon underneath the photo and selected Hangman’s profile. She tapped out a generic ‘you have a pup?’ message and sent it off before scrolling back to Hangman’s profile and resuming her perusal of his page. Phoenix didn’t expect a response anytime soon, and so it was safe to say she jumped slightly when the banner hit the top of her screen with Hangman’s reply only a minute later.

h_ngm_n: Are you stalking my profile, Trace?

phoenix: dude don’t act like you don’t do the same
and don’t evade the question

h_ngm_n: I’m not, I’m simply asking if you’re stalking my profile. Didn’t think I’d be one of the ones you find an interest in doing it for

phoenix: eh i’ve done it to all of em
nothing like getting to know ur squad by deep diving their socials
now answer my question

h_ngm_n: Well, considering the caption, I feel like if you need to ask me that your reading comprehension skills might need some tutoring
I can ask pup to lend you his school reading books. He’s up to level 5 now, should just be advanced enough for you

Phoenix rolled her eyes as Hangman didn’t necessarily confirm that the kid was his explicitly, but was still enough of an asshole that she knew he wasn’t denying anything. If he was bothered by Phoenix finding out about his pup, he’d have blocked her and pretended that she saw nothing.

phoenix: ha ha very funny
seriously man, you’re pupped? how come you haven’t bragged about him?

h_ngm_n: How exactly am I supposed to bring him up when we’re working? Just casually in the air and be all ‘by the way everyone, just thought you should all know that I pushed a child out of me six years ago and he’s fucking awesome’?

phoenix: honestly can kinda see you doing that
he’s cute though, looks just like you do. thought it was one of your baby photos at first

h_ngm_n: His Daddy says the same. He thinks Caden is my twin, but I see his Daddy in him so much

phoenix: and will we get to meet dagger baby and mr. dagger baby’s dad? gotta check they’re good enough for a member of our squad

h_ngm_n: Purely because I want to watch you try and inevitably struggle to shovel talk him, I’ll ask him if he’s up for it

Tucking away the knowledge that Jake’s little boy was called Caden to the back of her mind, Phoenix stared at the message for a moment. They could come back to Jake’s kid’s face and name another time when something about the wording of his message stopped putting her on edge.

Phoenix knew that Jake wasn’t likely to let anyone control him - he was Hangman for Christ’s sake. The only Omega that Phoenix knew with more guts than Hangman was Maverick, and she knew how easily he could bend his Alpha to his every will. Phoenix had assumed Jake would be the same. As strong and feisty as he was, Jake needed someone on his level, someone to challenge him but also push him whilst still bringing him back down to earth when he got a bit too lost in the clouds.

But for Jake to think another Alpha, one like Phoenix who had always been known to fight and argue and stand their ground against others, especially in the military where secondary genders were still the subject of discrimination for some and she wasn’t scared to fight back against it, would struggle to shovel talk Hangman’s Alpha, it made her wonder what kind of man Hangman had mated.

Had he ended up with someone who was too strong, too controlling for Jake? Someone who couldn’t understand the Hangman persona and tried to make him some meek and serving little Omega who did exactly as they were told regardless of what they wanted?

Hangman had never seemed the type to want pups or a mate. He was too busy learning how to thrive by himself.

And yet he had a mate, and a pup, and Hangman thought it would be hard for Phoenix to shovel talk the Alpha…

Why was that…?

Taking a breath, Phoenix tentatively tapped out a message that could make Jake hate her, or could be the start of saving the one Omega she’d never anticipated needing help.

phoenix: he doesn’t MAKE you keep pup and him a secret, right?

h_ngm_n: What do you mean?

phoenix: like, you WANTED your pup right? you WANTED him to be your baby daddy? you weren’t forced into it at all, right?

h_ngm_n: OH
Yeah no, we’d been together for over three years when the pup was born. We just keep the relationship quiet because of the Navy. He’s the best Alpha and Daddy to our pup. It’s fine phoe honestly
Thank you for asking though

phoenix: no matter what, we’re a squad. don’t feel like you gotta keep secrets from us if you don’t want to, or if you feel unsafe to. 11 of us have got yours and dagger baby’s back

h_ngm_n: I appreciate it

Phoenix left him on read as she breathed a sigh of relief, knowing Jake well enough by now that any attempt to be ‘soppy’ or overly kind would just push the Omega into thinking she had an ulterior motive.

Instead, she went back to scrolling his profile, leaving a like on the photo of Dagger Baby and then hunting out more photos of him. It was rare Jake ever posted his pup, and as she scrolled and flicked through some carousels, she realised that aside from some photos where he was being carried on a man’s back that definitely wasn’t Jake, he also never posted photos of Mr. Baby Dagger’s Daddy.

From what she could tell, Mr. Baby Dagger’s Daddy was slightly taller than him, dark haired, and, if the smile that Baby Dagger shot at him was anything to go by, an incredible parent. Someone that a guy like Jake needed.

Jake had never been Phoenix’s favourite person. Nor had she been his. But there was a soft spot there for the mouthy Omega and asshole who couldn’t help but push them. Push them to be the best and push them to come home.

It kind of made sense now, she did have to admit.

Baby Dagger was lucky to have someone like Jake in his corner.

Before she could stalk further, her scrolling was interrupted with a facetime call from Rooster, distracting her away from figuring out who Jake had entrusted his heart.

If she’d have managed to scroll a little further, Phoenix would’ve seen the photo that Jake had posted - the one captioned ‘Mom and Dad hit the town’ - in which both himself and Cyclone were in their dress blues, ready for the Navy Ball. It was years old, and had been their first date night out since baby Caden had been born. Jake had, naturally, been smirking at himself in the mirror as he’d snapped the shot, whilst Cyclone had been unable to do anything but smile fondly at his younger partner with his arm wrapped possessively around Jake’s waist.

Anyone who saw the photo would see the look in Cyclone’s eyes that screamed much Cyclone adored Jake.

If she had seen it, Phoenix would’ve been more prepared than she was for the night that it all came out to happen.

+1. The Squad meet the Pup

The day that the squad finally met Jake’s pup was about as planned as The Mission.

Which is to say that they had a plan that they attempted to execute. Said plan promptly went off the rails, and, naturally, the plan was thrown away.

By throw away, Jake did indeed mean adapt to it on the fly like a well trained naval aviator was prone to doing.

The Squad had mentioned going to someone’s, probably Rooster’s, house for a movie evening that Jake had easily turned down. Even after picking up his kid from school and spending time in Beau’s office with him, he’d much rather spend his evening with the two of them than the squad he’d been stuck doing flights with all day. And when Caden had discovered he had his parents' full attention for the evening, he’d instantly demanded that they go and see Aunt Penny and he be able to practise his pool skills.

With the squad safely away from the Hard Deck, Jake had agreed and the three of them headed off to the bar. It was still somewhat quiet - way before the evening rush would start to populate with personnel looking to get drunk for the weekend. It helped that Jake knew Beau was going to stick by their side, watching their son carefully and probably being the highest ranking individual in the bar unless Admiral Kazansky turned up for some reason, meaning they were going to be safer than Jake normally experienced when he just went out drinking with the squad and had to deal with drunken Alphas thinking he wanted their attention.

There were only two people in the world who Jake wanted attention from - one he’d birthed, and one he’d mated. Anyone else was irrelevant to him as long as he had the two loves of his life.

“Watch your angle,” Jake pointed out as Caden stood on his tippy-toes, tongue slightly pointing out of his mouth as he eyed the table to see what he could hit with the cue ball. The cue itself was nearly double the pup’s height, but as Jake watched him with that calculating stare in his eyes, he knew that his kid didn’t see anything as an obstacle other than the green ball he was trying to aim for.

“Momma, I know what I’m doin’!” Caden protested, glaring up at Jake across the table.

“You’re going to hit the blue.”

“No I’m not! I know what I’m doin’!”

“I wonder where he gets that attitude from,” Beau murmured as Caden attempted to reach even taller on his toes. The Alpha pressed a distracting kiss to Jake’s neck from his spot at Jake’s side as Jake threw his elbow back to slightly whack Beau in the stomach.

“He’s an angel, just like his Momma,” Jake corrected. Both of them pointedly ignored Caden whispering shit as his shot went wide and hit the wrong ball. Blue, just as Jake predicted.

“And his Momma is also one of the people I get the most disciplinaries for,” Beau pointed out. Jake, like an adult, simply stuck his tongue out at Beau. Beau softly smiled at Jake, rolled his eyes, before pressing a kiss to his lips. As Jake chased after his lips, Beau murmured, “I’m going to get a drink before you start fighting. Don’t start battering each other with the cues whilst I’m gone, okay?”

“Yes Sir, Admiral Simpson, Sir,” Jake cheeked with a mock salute before diving away when Beau tried to pinch his side for his cheekiness.

“Yes Sir!” Caden parroted with a grin that was all Jake and the same mock salute. Beau simply repressed the laugh at their kid’s attitude and left them to it. Caden truly was all Seresin no matter how much Beau had been a very active and very good part of conceiving the pup, and ended up paying the price of it every day when he had to deal with the tiny clone of Jake.

Jake watched his mate walk away for a moment, enjoying the view of Beau’s broad shoulders underneath his uniform shirt and the pure commandment in his stance. Sue him, Jake had the triple whammy of competency, authority, and uniform kinks - he was allowed to ogle the man he loved in a bar if he so wished. Beau leaned his forearms against the bar and chattered with Penny as she got their drinks together, whilst Jake, somewhat reluctantly, turned his attention back onto his pup.

Caden knew he had to wait his turn until Jake had taken his shot, but it didn't stop him from walking slowly around the table and eyeing up every possible shot he could make with a cold and calculating look in his eyes. Jake was the only player Caden couldn’t straight beat in a match yet, and he knew it bothered his pup. Just like his Momma, Caden liked to be the best at everything straight away.

So, naturally, Jake had to go and take his shot perfectly and make his kid scowl at him. After cleaning up the table, Jake looked over to where his son was staring at every move Jake had made, calculating what he could learn from it. He had a determined look on his face as he nodded and ordered ‘again, Momma’.

“You break this time,” Jake told him. Beau was still chatting away with Penny so Jake kept his attention fixed on Caden’s stance instead. “Baby, hang on,” Jake said and propped his cue on the edge of the table to squat down behind Caden. “Lift your elbow more here, that’s it, you’ll get a harder break. Good boy, now pull back-” (Jake did make sure to duck out of the way as Caden swung his arm and cue back) “-And bring it forward, excellent! Good job, baby!”

As the balls exploded across the table, two of the stripes dropping into corners, a satisfied smirk broke free on Caden’s face.

“Told you I got it, Momma.”

“You did amazing, baby,” Jake agreed as he pressed a kiss to Caden’s head and pushed himself back to his feet. Caden lent back against him for a moment, eyes darting across the table again to see what he wanted to aim for based on the cue ball’s position, with Jake running his fingers through his pup’s soft blonde hair to brush his apple scent against Caden’s skin that was already coated with Beau’s thick Alpha scent from his time in his Daddy’s office. Jake’s eyes stayed fixed on Caden, offering him a soft smile when his pup looked up to give him a toothy grin.

He’d never anticipated having pups, and yet every time Caden grinned at him like that, Jake thanked the flying gods that they’d blessed him with that little piece of perfection.

“Think am gonna go for the green ‘gain,” Caden murmured as he tilted his head back and forth to work out the trajectory. “And then the yellow.”

“Excellent plan, baby,” Jake agreed. It’s what he would’ve done, after all. He’d trained his pup well.

Caden didn’t quite have to go onto the tips of his toes to reach the cue ball this time, but still had to readjust his stance a couple of times before he could satisfactorily get the swing he wanted on the cue. Normally, when they were at home, Caden pushed around a little stool to make it easier for him to reach. But in public, Caden enjoyed showing off too much to think about needing a stool.

Jake had no idea whatsoever where Caden got the love of showing off from.

Anyway-

Pulling his cue back a couple of times, Caden was just about to take a punt on the shot when they were both startled away by a voice interrupting their match.

“What voodoo magic shit is going on here that Bagman’s been de-aged?”

Jake saw Caden whip his head around to look directly at him, disturbed by the new and unknown arrivals, whilst Jake focused on staring, with as much concealed distaste as he could, at the very people he’d planned on not seeing at all.

“Daggers,” Jake drawled. “Thought you’d all be drunk at Rooster’s by now.”

Carefully, as though to give off an air of indifference but in actuality checking how the squad were reacting, Jake traced his eyes over all of them. Phoenix was throwing an amused look in his pup’s direction and Jake knew that if he looked over-

Yep.

There was Caden glaring up at Rooster, who was staring back at him.

The rest of the squad were ping-ponging between Jake and his little boy. Aside from Bob. Bob just looked pleased. What an angel Bob was.

Beau was still distracted talking to Penny, some other guy that Jake knew he’d seen around the base before, and Javy, so it was down to him and his kid to fuck with the squad.

“Anyone would think y’all have never seen a pup before,” Jake drawled. His instincts were screaming at him to grab hold of Caden and shove him behind him and protect him from the squad. Logically, he knew Caden was safe. Aside from his Alpha being very much present and not afraid to quite literally destroy the squad if need be, Jake knew that Penny would rather break all of their necks before letting them harass a kid.

And there was the fact that Caden looked like he was seconds away from trying to ram his pool cue into Bradshaw’s throat if needs be.

Jake still had no idea whatsoever where Caden got that look from…

Anyway-

“Hey Super Hornet,” Omaha eventually interrupted, dragging Caden’s stare away from Bradshaw for just a moment in order to wave at the Beta. “How ya doin’, old man?”

“I’m too good to be true, Omaha,” Caden drawled in a perfect imitation of Jake’s accent. Growing up in California had softened the southerness from his son’s voice he’d picked up from Jake, no matter how much Caden tried to still say he was Texan.

“There really are two of ‘em,” someone muttered. Caden chanced a look over at one of the Daggers before rolling his eyes and staring across at Jake.

“Momma, are they dumb?”

Jake snorted at the put-out tone in his pup’s voice at the ineptitude of the Daggers. Caden had listened to many conversations from his parents over the past couple of months regarding the Daggers in some capacity, and it was truly such a fantastic parenting moment for Jake to realise there was no way of filtering his kid when it got to annoy the people he himself enjoyed annoying.

“Sometimes, baby,” Jake agreed. “Not everyone is as good as me.”

Caden hummed and looked back over the Daggers again, smiling at Bob (naturally), Omaha, and Fritz for a moment before fixing his eyes back on Bradshaw. “Hmm. Makes sense. They look silly.”

“Your Mom is sillier,” Bradshaw corrected only to end up with a pool cue pointed menacingly at him.

“Take that back.” Caden punctuated each word with a step closer to Bradshaw.

“No.”

“Yes!”

“No!”

“Yes! You’re mean! Take it back!”

“No!”

“Caden,” Jake called out suddenly to drag his pup’s attention away from bickering with Rooster. He wasn’t sure, but Caden did look devastatingly close to trying to kill Rooster, and he didn’t fancy explaining to Beau how their evening had taken a turn. Instead, he nodded his head towards the table, with Caden following and easily distracted. “Drop down and take the shot.”

With a final glare at Bradshaw, Caden nodded with so much acquiescence that Jake had to hide his smirk. “Got ya, Momma!”

Phoenix shook her head with a smirk at Caden’s cheek as the rest of the Daggers seemed to shock themselves out of their surprise.

“When you said he’s your twin, I didn’t think you meant you transplanted your personality into him too,” Phoenix said as they watched Caden take the perfect shot and hit the green exactly as planned. The ball sank easily and Jake nodded his approval with a soft smile and a wink when Caden sought him out in the midst of the squad. Caden grinned, dimples popping on each cheek, as his green eyes shone with pride at getting Jake’s approval.

“He’s so cute, what the hell…” Fanboy murmured. “Dude, he’s the cutest pup I’ve ever seen!”

“Gets his good looks from his Momma,” Jake smiled fondly.

“And his attitude as well,” Javy pointed out as he threw his arm around Jake’s shoulder and nuzzled his temple in greeting after finally joining them.

Jake simply threw his elbow back into Javy’s stomach in retribution.

“Momma! Don’t hit Uncle Yo-Yo, that’s naughty!” Caden scolded much to the amusement of the Dagger Squad who all collectively started laughing and needling Jake for being told off by a child that barely reached his hip.

Caden’s green eyes narrowed at Jake until he reluctantly muttered an apology in Javy’s direction. Satisfied, Caden turned back to the table to start dissecting his next shot.

“Can we just acknowledge how fitting it is that Hangman’s pup knows how to play pool better than most of us?” Yale pointed out. They were all back to watching the pup and how similar to Jake his movements were. The confidence with which he stalked the table, the slight head tilts as he weighed up his options, the narrowing of his eyes when he’d remember Rooster was there and he felt like glaring at him.

“Don’t play against him though. He’s a scam artist,” Javy said as his godson stuck his tongue out at him. “You are! You scammed me last time we played.”

“Can’t help that I’m better than you,” Caden sang playfully, only to squeal and duck under the table when Javy advanced on him. Just before Javy could grab hold of his ankle, Caden dropped the cue with a clatter onto the floor and flung himself out towards Jake. “Momma! Momma save me!”

Jake caught him easily, laughing as Caden scrambled up his front. His little fingers clutched at Jake’s uniform shirt, no doubt leaving it with little crinkles in that Beau would inevitably iron out for him, but Jake didn’t care. He could never care. Caden could mess up his uniform as much as he wanted as long as he continued to giggle as infectiously as he did and clutch onto Jake like he was the only safe place he could ever need.

Caden rubbed his nose against Jake’s mating mark, breathing in the scent that ran deep in his skin as Jake pressed a loving kiss to his soft blonde hair.

“Thanks, Momma,” Caden mumbled before sneaking a glance at Coyote to stick his tongue out at him.

“Cheeky little shit. Just like your Momma,” Javy grumbled and tickled the back of Caden’s knee with a grin.

“It’s not my fault you’re too slow!”

“For a Coyote you sure don’t have the speed,” Jake easily interjected to agree with his pup. Javy was more than used to being ganged up on by Jake and his pup - they were family after all. The Alpha had never once expected anything less.

“The Navy cloning experiments rumours are true…” Fanboy murmured as Jake and Caden gave matching cheeky smirks to Coyote.

“Or, Hangman just raised his kid to be like him: a show off,” Rooster pointed out.

Before Jake could say a word, to defend his pup or honestly start fist fighting with Rooster just for the hell of it, Caden, in true Seresin fashion, whipped his head around and screamed.

“DADDY!”

Jake had barely a second to pull his head back out of range to prevent Caden from accidentally headbutting him as he launched out of Jake’s arms and went running to where Jake saw his husband approaching on the edge of the group.

Now, normally, Jake took any excuse there was to ogle his man with their pup and see his biceps strain under the weight of throwing their six year old in the air. Beau’s uniform fit the man perfectly, as though it had been designed with him in mind.

But this time, knowing what was coming, instead of watching to see Caden jump into his Daddy’s arms, Jake fixed his attention on the Daggers, who, aside from Javy (naturally) and Bob (somehow), all had a consistent look of astonished fear in their eyes.

Especially Bradshaw, which was nice.

No doubt he was remembering their little… encounter on the carrier.

When Jake did look over, Beau was holding Caden in one arm and two bottles of something in his other hand with practised ease. Caden wrapped his arms around Beau’s neck, his little hand resting over Beau’s mating bite as he nuzzled against his jaw, comforting himself on Beau’s scent.

“Momma showed me his friends,” Caden murmured.

Beau looked over to Jake, raising an eyebrow at him when he saw Jake’s smirk combined with Caden nuzzling him like he’d done nothing wrong. After pressing a kiss to Caden’s hair, Beau asked, suspicion evident in his voice, “Did he? And were they polite to you?”

In his peripheral vision, Jake just caught the minute wince on Bradshaw’s face as Caden leaned back to look his father in the eyes before he flicked a dismissive hand over his shoulder in Bradshaw’s direction. They both caught the way Beau’s eyes narrowed as he followed Caden’s movement.

“Most of ‘em. Momma was right though, Bradshaw’s a bitch.”

Throwing his head back, Jake laughed loudly at Caden’s unfiltered assessment of Bradley’s character, whilst Beau shook his head with an exasperated grin at Cade’s language.

“At least you used it in the right context,” Beau sighed and looked across at Jake, knowing it was his doing that Caden knew exactly how to describe Rooster. “And what did you do to antagonise him?”

“Nothing!”

“Admiral Simpson, Sir, he’s right. He was defending Hangman after Rooster was rude. He didn’t start it,” Fanboy interrupted before Beau could pull the stare on Caden that forever made the pup admit the truth.

“He’s right, Cy,” Javy shrugged. “Pup and Jake were being mean to me, Rooster interrupted, Fanboy called Cade a clone. Jake didn’t do nothing for once. Nor Cade.”

“Uncle Yo-Yo called me a scammer, Daddy,” Caden pointed out just to bring his Daddy’s attention back to him and try to drop his godfather in it just for the hell of it. Truly a Seresin through and through. Jake was so proud.

“That’s because you are a scam artist, my little Pup,” Beau said gently before stepping through the crowd of Daggers to hand Jake his beer as Caden squawked incandescently. Beau’s own was put down beside them (alcohol free because Jake had convinced him to drive for the evening) and Jake made sure to wrap his lips around the bottle opening and take a deep swig. The Alpha’s eyes flashed with want as he adjusted his hold on Caden and watched Jake’s throat bob as he swallowed.

“Thanks,” Jake murmured, winking at him before leaning in to press a kiss against Beau’s cheek. “Got you trained well.”

Beau said nothing as he pulled Jake into his side, both of his boys wrapped in each arm as Jake lent against him with his elbow resting on Beau’s shoulder with Beau’s finger tips resting ever so slightly in the top of Jake’s trousers.

“Hey Phoe, still wanna shovel talk him?” Jake asked with a grin when he saw the female Alpha staring at Beau’s firm grip around Jake’s waist.

“Why is she shovel talking me?” Beau asked. “What did I do?”

“Because you love me, you wanna kiss me,” Jake sang just to make Beau roll his eyes even as the corners of his lips curled up in a smile. Everyone noticed how Beau didn’t deny it. “Or because you married me and mated me and put a baby in me and she thought you were making me keep that a secret.”

“How was I making you keep it a secret? Half of the Navy knows you broke my hand when Caden was born.”

“But they didn’t know that,” Jake pointed out. “But now they do! So-” Jake turned to the Daggers with a dramatic flare, most of them still staring at the little family with shock-horror as they no doubt remembered all the hours of shit-talking Admiral Simpson to the man’s very mate and mother of his child. “-Daggers, Phoenix, meet Mr Baby Dagger’s Daddy, Beau. Or as y’all can call him, Admiral Simpson.”

“Jake,” Beau admonished. “They can call me Beau, or Cyclone when we’re off the clock.”

“I said what I said,” Jake grinned.

“Daddy! Aren’t ya gonna threaten Bradshaw for being mean to Momma?” Caden interrupted with a pointed glare at the Alpha who he’d taken an instant dislike to. God, he really was his mother’s child, Jake thought fondly. He was so proud.

“Caden, if I threatened everyone who was mean to Momma, I’d never get anything done.”

“But Bradshaw’s mean!”

“And he will be dealt with if he does it at work again, do not worry,” Beau reassured. Caden still didn’t look impressed, and probably wouldn’t be until Jake told him that Rooster had been shipped off to the middle of the Atlantic ocean.

If people thought Beau was protective of Jake, they’d clearly never met the pup that would happily try and sabotage someone’s plane if they were mean to his Momma.

And everyday Jake thanked the heavens that Caden was still too small to reach a plane or they’d have to hide Bradshaw’s jet and Jake didn’t fancy explaining to Admiral Kazansky why his pup had an issue with an Alpha that was over five times older than him. There were only so many times that Jake could sit there with a straight face as he listened to Admirals complain about the power his six year old had without realising.

In Jake’s defense, that was all Beau’s fault.

Their pup had his Daddy wrapped around his little finger from the second that Jake had even suggested he was ready to perhaps start trying for pups, let alone when he’d finally been born and Beau had taken one look at him and given Caden the exact same look that he’d given Jake when he’d finally agreed to be his.

Whatever Caden wanted, Caden got. Beau was whipped for his boys and Jake knew both of them took full advantage of it.

With Caden still tucked up in Beau’s arms, Jake watched as their pup found Bradshaw again, glaring at him. He saw the subtle side eye that Caden threw to Beau, seeing him distracted by getting his own drink, and quickly grabbed Caden’s arm to drag it back down when he realised Caden was about to flip Bradshaw off.

He didn’t need Beau to know him and Javy had taught Caden that yet.

By the suspicious narrowing of his eyes that Beau shot him, he knew full well what Jake had stopped. Caden’s matching glare only seemed to cement it.

“You can’t keep bullying Bradshaw, Cade, or you won’t be able to play pool for the rest of the night, okay? I know you don’t like him, believe me kid I get it, but you have to learn to live with him existing like Momma has to,” Jake gently explained. Beau laughed softly at Jake’s way of parenting, obviously feeling Caden tense in his arm just like Jake would when someone would tell him to do something he didn’t like. However when Caden reluctantly muttered a ‘fine’, Beau kissed their pup’s head once again and carefully set him down on the floor.

Caden still lent back against Beau’s legs but brought his hand up to tie with Jake’s, playing with his fingers mindlessly as he stared out at the Daggers assembled before him.

Careful to not dislodge Caden’s anxious grip on his fingers, Jake squatted down beside him and pulled his pup’s attention to him.

“What do you want to do here? It’s your call.” Caden raised an eyebrow, silently prompting Jake to continue. “Either, we can go home, Daddy will take us home and we can make dinner and watch a movie or whatever you want to do, or we can stay for a bit longer. You can play pool again or just hang with Daddy, talk with Uncle Javy, even just stare at people if you want. I don’t mind, you’re in control here.”

For a moment, Caden said nothing, only looked out at the Daggers again. Beau’s hand coming down to stroke through his hair made him look up at his father, shooting him a smile before looking back at Jake with a newfound confidence in his eyes.

“I wan’ play pool, Momma.”

“Yeah? You can do that,” Jake grinned back. “Who do you want to play with?”

“Uncle Yo-Yo. For money ‘gain.”

“Right call, kid.” Jake held up his hand for Caden’s to fist bump against and moved back to let the pup run over to his godfather.

Coyote was already smiling, powerless not to when Jake’s pup was around, as Caden stopped in front of him with a grin.

“Uncle Yo-Yo, do ya wanna get your ass kicked at pool again?”

“In your dreams, Hangbaby,” Javy smirked as he grabbed a cue and threw it to Caden. They both knew Caden was going to wipe the floor with him, he was Jake’s boy after all, but it was never amiss to try and antagonise the kid to work harder, faster, smarter.

As the two moved over to the pool table, Caden picking up from where he’d left off (and perfectly hitting the green and then yellow as predicted) and Javy taking over Jake’s shots, Jake stood up and lent back against Beau. Automatically his husband’s arm went around his waist again, pulling him in against his side and squeezing at the dip of his waist in a silent show of support.

They were both acutely aware of the stares from the Dagger Squad. Even Omaha and Fritz were both staring. They’d known about Caden, but Jake had always been deliberately evasive about who he’d chosen to love and be the father of his child.

As he dealt with the staring and mild looks of what were bordering on horror, he felt like he’d made the right choice.

Beau’s thumb was running back and forth against Jake’s side as he tried to pull the tension out of Jake’s system. Automatically, his eyes fluttered shut when he felt the brush of Beau’s lips against that spot behind his ear that drove him absolutely insane, a soft sigh of relief falling from his lips when Beau tightened his grip and pressed harder against the sensitive spot.

“You look gorgeous,” Beau muttered as he trailed his lips up to bite lightly at Jake’s earlobe, enveloping Jake in Beau’s rich bergamot-seawater scent that he’d loved for years. It wasn’t often that they were able to be physically affectionate in public, not that either of them were massive fans of it. An arm around the waist or a holding of hands, a kiss here and there was typically the extent of it.

But now, when they didn’t need to be quite so careful to hide this from the Daggers, from those who Jake had to begrudgingly let into his life, Beau seemed eager to indulge a little.

“Why Admiral,” Jake drawled, opening his eyes again to look at Beau. “If a boy didn’t know better, he’d think you’re flirting with him.”

“And if I was?”

“I’d say you better take me home.”

“Maybe I will,” Beau murmured with another kiss to Jake’s jawline. “Coming back for the kid in the morning?”

“You talking about Caden or Javy there?” Jake asked, laughing softly as Beau indicated that he truly could be talking about either of them. With a mock sigh, Jake regretfully said, “I think we’ll have to rain check that taking me home offer, Admiral. What kind of Momma would I be to abandon the pups at the bar?”

“I’ll hold you to that rain check, Lieutenant,” Beau replied with a kiss to Jake’s cheek.

“God, they are real attractive together aren’t they?” Jake heard someone mutter, probably Fanboy, just loud enough to drag his attention away from Beau.

After being successfully distracted by Beau, Jake turned back to the Daggers. Bradshaw was still staring like he could happily never see Jake’s face again and it would still be too soon (which after their… discussion on the carrier pre-mission was probably true), Phoenix had a pensive look that screamed she wanted nothing more than to beat the shit out of Beau which was interesting, and Payback was currently standing with his arm around Fanboy’s neck and his hand over his mouth (no doubt proving Fanboy to be the one who had pulled their attention from each other).

“I’m guessing y’all got questions,” Jake drawled. He lent back against Beau slightly, rested his hand on Beau’s forearm as it slid around to splay his hand across Jake’s tummy, and stared out at the Daggers.

None of them made a move to talk.

With a sigh, Jake rolled his eyes. “Yes, I am mated and married to the air boss of TOPGUN. Yes, we met when I won, no I didn’t get his cock in me until after I graduated. Yes he’s Caden’s father, he’s a fantastic Daddy, and he didn’t have shit to do with me on the mission other than to yell at me for launching without permission. And yes, Fanboy, his cock is phenomenal.”

“Jesus wept, Jake,” Beau snapped as he dropped his head onto Jake’s shoulders, shaking slightly with silent laughter whilst Fanboy’s eyes lit up with amusement. “Did you really need to say that?”

As he waved his hand flippantly, he squeezed Beau’s forearm lovingly. “Cade’s not listening, it’s fine.”

“Doesn’t mean your friends need to know details of our lives.”

“Oh they already know,” Jake replied with a shark-like grin. “They just didn’t realise I’ve been talking about the same man consistently for nearly a decade.”

“Y’all have been together for nearly a decade?” Halo interrupted before they could start bickering.

“Yes, ma’am. Nine years, many arguments, and a baby later and here we are,” Jake replied with a wink. “And a broken hand for my wonderful Alpha by yours truly.”

“You broke his hand?” Yale asked, looking down at Beau’s hand still tucked around Jake’s waist whilst Beau rolled his eyes.

“I remember him having a broken hand…” Bob murmured with a glance over to Caden and back to Beau - no doubt the Omega realising the timeline of when Beau’s hand was wrapped up and Caden’s appearance in the world.

“Fucker got me pregnant, so I broke his hand during the labour. Quid pro quo ‘n all that.” Jake took a swig of his drink, smirking around it, when he saw particularly Phoenix but a handful in general of the Daggers turned a glare onto Beau.

Beau, more than used to Jake’s dramatics, simply sighed. “Yes, I apologise so dearly for getting you pregnant with the baby you formally requested we have, so sorry for following your instructions, sweetheart.”

“You didn’t warn me it was gonna hurt that bad!”

“I’ve never been in labour, how would I know?!” Beau argued.

“You’re the old man here, you’re supposed to be full of wisdom. Not my fault you didn’t think to warn me.”

“It’s a universal known bit of knowledge that childbirth is painful, Jake.”

“Doesn’t excuse you not warning me,” Jake sang with a grin as Beau rolled his eyes. Before the argument could devolve any further, no doubt perfectly timed by Javy, the pair were interrupted by Caden pushing his way past the Daggers and loudly jumping to a stop in front of Jake.

“I beat Uncle Yo-Yo ‘gain, Momma! Look!” Caden flung his fist up, showing a dollar bill clutched in his fist for Jake to see.

“That’s my clever boy,” Jake grinned and bent down to press a kiss to his pup’s hair.

“He’s still a scam artist,” Javy grumbled as he joined the little family and ruffled his godson’s hair lovingly.

Caden popped a grin up at Javy, all teeth and dimples on display with pure cheekiness in his eyes.

“Is he wearing a miniature version of your uniform, Bagman?” Halo asked suddenly, bringing all of the Daggers' attention onto the young pup, only now realising that Caden was indeed matching his parents in khaki.

With a smirk, Jake nodded and nudged at his son lightly. “Show them your wings.”

Caden spun around, grabbing at the top of his little khaki shirt and dragging it away from his chest. Halo and Fanboy both knelt down, Bob following with Yale and Fritz quickly after as they looked at the badge pinned to Caden’s chest where Jake’s wings normally sat.

“It’s a velociraptor,” Caden told them proudly. Any anxiety that had leaked into his bones at the arrival of the Daggers had quickly dissipated, helped by both the pup’s own cockiness and the knowledge that, even at six years old, he knew he had the upper hand.

“That’s an awesome set of wings, Super Hornet,” Halo said gently, grinning at Caden when he blushed slightly at the soft Beta. “Are velociraptors your favourite?”

“Yeah, ‘cause they fly like Momma does, and they’re old, like Daddy!” Caden explained. He immediately whipped his head around to watch as Jake fell about laughing, head dropping back onto Beau’s shoulder as the man in question rubbed his hand over his face in exasperation at their child.

“Why I decided to procreate with you is a mystery,” Beau muttered, only audible for Jake. “He’s your bloody double and I can’t escape it. Ever.”

Even as he shook with laughter, Jake pressed a kiss to Beau’s cheek. “Best decision you ever made.”

The pair of them looked down at Caden who now had all of the Daggers enraptured by him. Someone had flung him up to sit on the edge of the pool table in the brief moment that Jake hadn’t been watching him, and Caden was living for his audience paying attention to him. Even Bradshaw, who hadn’t seemed best pleased by the existence of the pup or who had fathered said pup, wasn’t able to look away from him. Caden’s dimples were on full show, his eyes shone with happiness, and his little body was vibrating as he laughed loudly.

“Best decision I ever made was falling in love with you,” Beau murmured and pulled Jake’s shirt slightly to the side to press a kiss to his mating mark. “He’s just a beautiful added bonus.”

“He seems alright, doesn’t he?”

“I think he’s just unknowingly growing his family without either of us being able to stop him,” Beau agreed. They both watched Caden, watched him bounce his eyes between the Daggers who were all vying for his attention, trying to learn more about Hangman, about Jake, now that they had someone in front of them that didn’t seem to mind spilling anything they asked.

“I think he’s going to be alright.”

“I think everything is going to be alright,” Beau said.

And maybe, just maybe, no matter how much Jake hadn’t wanted to share the truth with the Daggers, how much he wanted to keep his family to himself where he could keep them safe and keep them protected, the Daggers knowing wasn’t the worst thing that could happen.

Neither he nor Beau had wider families, they’d made their own over the near-decade they’d been together, built their pack on friends that had become brothers, and a son that brought them all together.

The Daggers though, against Jake’s will, might have just become his family.

That was certainly something he would need to think about.