Chapter Text
Something had shifted between Jake and Bradley over the last hour or so. Jake was struggling to pretend like he wasn’t enjoying it.
Bradley wore possessive like a second skin. Comfortable and confident. It was taking all of Jake’s willpower and concentration to not jump him in the middle of the bar to show his appreciation for the way he handled the asshole who had been hitting on him.
Jealousy wasn’t something he had ever found attractive before – having dealt with enough overentitled partners in his life who thought that just because he looked at them twice that meant they now owned him, he had long since gotten bored with the predictability of it all – with Bradley though, Jake wanted him to stake his claim so that everyone could see who he belonged to.
It was maybe a little irrational considering the reality of their situation, but Jake felt like a fire had been lit under his skin because of Bradley and he wasn’t exactly rushing to extinguish it. While hearing him almost spit out the words, “he’s married,” to deter that asshole should have been at least somewhat alarming, all it had ended up doing was fanning those flames to the point where Jake was now struggling to keep them contained.
Everything about Bradley was intoxicating.
The arm he had slung around the back of Jake’s chair was a hair’s breadth away from touching his shoulders.
Close enough to burn.
There was only a small sliver of doubt in the back of Jake’s mind that still protested it all. Most of his reservations had been beaten into submission by Javy’s advice to just go with the flow.
After they had watched Bradley very unsubtly drag Marco to the bar with him to talk, they had dissolved into a fit of giggles over the trainwreck that was Jake’s personal life. Given that the other options were crying, lashing out in anger, or hightailing it straight out of Nevada with his tail between his legs, Jake thought it was a pretty reasonable reaction.
“I genuinely, and I say this with love, but I genuinely do not know anyone else in the world that this would happen to,” Javy said. “Like, what the fuck Jake, how is your luck this bad?” Jake just shook his head, ignoring the tackiness of the table while he buried his head in his arms. Javy patted him on the shoulder as he murmured, “it’s gonna be okay, buddy.”
“How?”
“I mean, it is pretty easy to get divorced…”
Jake sat up again just for the purpose of glaring at Javy before he relented and said, “Mom’ll be asking why it took me so long to get my first one under the belt.”
“Hey, you never know, maybe it’ll finally shock her into showing her emotions like a normal person.”
“Dude, you have got to get over the Botox thing.”
“Her face doesn’t move, Jake, she looks like a mannequin.”
Jake raised his eyebrows as he waited for Javy to let the argument go again, knowing he would huff and get back to the topic at hand once he felt like he had impressed how confusing and unnecessary he thought it was upon Jake for the billionth time. Jake’s childhood had been punctuated by his mother’s plastic surgery obsession just as much as it had her divorces, so it was barely worth acknowledging anymore as far as he was concerned. The whole concept had never really been on Javy’s radar until after he first met her though, and he had fixated on it with a morbid kind of fascination ever since.
“Anyway, that’s only, like, one of the options, right?”
“What?”
“I mean, you could just-”
“If you say ‘see where it goes’ I will hit you.”
“-see where it goes.” Jake thumped his shoulder. “Ow, hey!” Javy smacked Jake’s arm with the back of his hand. There was a short scuffle as they both fought to get the last hit in. “Okay, okay. Dude, stop. Jesus, I’m just saying, what’s the harm? You obviously like each other. Who cares if this is like one of the strangest ways to start a relationship?”
“Okay, first of all, we’ve known each other for like a day, so I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself-”
“Look me in the goddamn eye and tell me you don’t like him.”
“-and secondly,” Jake continued with another glare, “even if he does like me now, it’s just this weird Vegas version of me, and it’s probably just because of like solidarity with this whole fucked up situation we’re in. There’s no way that would last in the real world. He’d hate me once he got to know me.”
“That’s not true.”
“You don’t have to protect my feelings, Jay.”
“You know it always amazes me how fucking arrogant you can get when your self-esteem is literal dogshit.” Jake rolled his eyes, but Javy stumped him with another question before he could argue back. “What do you have to lose?”
“What?”
“I mean, look, if you give it a go and it doesn’t work out or you get divorced straight away, it’s the same ending, right? What do you have to lose by trying apart from a little bit of pride when you eventually have to tell me that I was right?”
Jake struggled to drum up an appropriate response to explain to Javy just how deluded he was. His silence only served to encourage the smugness.
“Just give it some thought? And try talking to him, you know,” Javy nudged Jake, “like a couple would.”
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
Jake didn’t respond again, though this time it was more because his attention had snagged on the way Bradley’s shoulder muscles bunched up as he leaned against the bar. He could feel Javy’s grin even if he couldn’t see it and made a point of not giving him the satisfaction of a reaction.
“I’m pissed I got cheated out of my chance to be best man by the way.”
“Mighty confident that would’ve been you, huh?”
Javy pointed at him, “that title is mine, even if I wasn’t invited to the goddamn ceremony. Oh, speaking of, can you update Phoenix? She’s been blowing up my phone all day ‘cause I haven’t told her anything.”
“She’s gonna laugh at me.”
“The longer you leave it the worse she’s gonna be.” Javy clapped a hand on Jake’s shoulder as he stood. “Hey, at least by eloping you got out of having the whole squad there…”
They had both laughed at the idea, probably harder than was fair considering that it was their friends they were talking about, but the literal chaos that that would have been was enough to send chills down Jake’s spine. He pulled out his phone once Javy left for the bathroom and drafted at least a dozen different messages to the group chat to update them, deleting each one before it was sent because the words never came out in quite the right way, until he was interrupted by that asshole and his overly insistent offers to buy Jake a drink.
Jake had taken to twisting Bradley’s ring around his finger in an attempt to expel some nervous energy as he tried his best to participate in the conversation going on around him. None of them had even so much as batted an eye at Bradley’s behaviour (aside from the self-satisfied grin Javy had given him when Bradley ended up with his arm around Jake) but Jake was starting to tweak a little bit because it felt like he had stepped into some kind of twilight zone.
He suspected Javy had picked up on the fact that he was getting less and less okay with things as the evening progressed because he collared Marco into a game of darts the literal second that a board was free.
“I could’ve handled it myself.” Jake said, confident he wouldn’t have to clarify what he was referring to as he broke the brief silence he and Bradley had lapsed into once they were left alone.
“I know. Doesn’t mean you had to though.”
That right there was exactly what Jake had always feared.
Self-sufficiency had been his comfort zone for as long as he could remember. Relying on other people was dangerous and Jake wasn’t sure he would ever be ready to open up enough to let anyone else in. Javy was the exception to the rule, not a goddamn pioneer.
“So,” Bradley straightened up to face him better and in doing so pulled his arm away from Jake. “We should talk.”
“Yeah.” Jake let out a long breath, “do you-”
“I don’t-”
“Sorry, you go-”
“Oh, shit sorry, you g-”
They both huffed as they kept talking over one another. Bradley reached out to take Jake’s hand as he gestured for him to go first. His thumb brushed over the ring that Jake was still wearing almost absentmindedly as he said, “I don’t do relationships.”
Something visceral cracked in Jake’s chest at that admission.
It sounded like the start of the end.
Maybe they weren’t as on the same page as Javy had thought.
All he could do was listen as Bradley started to ramble, struck dumb with the realisation that he had wanted to do the stupid thing and give this a go.
“I never have. I mean I think the longest I’ve ever dated someone was for maybe two months or so? And the only reason that lasted for as long as it did was because I was sent on this training course before I could break things off with him, and I didn’t even realise that was the case until he called me up to bitch about the fact that I hadn’t kept in touch while I was away. So, like, I need you to understand that when I say I have no idea what I’m doing here, I mean that in the most literal sense…”
Bradley took a breath, his eyes flitting over Jake’s face like he was searching for some kind of reaction Jake wasn’t sure he was capable of giving him just yet.
“And I will one hundred per cent understand if you’d rather just call it quits now. You know, we can sort out the paperwork, draw a line under it, and pretend like it never happened if that’s what you want. But…” Bradley’s hand tightened around Jake’s. There was a flush seeping across his cheekbones, but he didn’t try to hide as he finally said what Jake had been hoping to hear all along. “Well, I’d really like the chance to take you out on a proper date, no pressure or anything, just to-”
“-see where it goes?” Jake ignored the way his voice cracked as he finished Bradley’s sentence.
“Yeah.”
Bradley graced Jake with a small, hopeful smile which warmed him to his core, but he was unable to return it just yet, no matter how much he wanted to.
“Are you sure?” Bradley frowned at the question like he couldn’t quite figure out what Jake was asking him. “Because the same applies to you here. I don’t want you to feel like you have to do that out of some, like, sense of obligation or whatev-”
“Obligation?”
“Yes.” Jake pushed past the incredulous look on Bradley’s face as well as the hurt in his tone, needing to get his point across regardless of whether Bradley was going to take it as an insult or not. “I don’t know what kind of impression I’ve been giving you today, but I am not an easy person to get along with.” Bradley scoffed, which only confirmed Jake’s suspicions. “And I’m self-aware enough to be able to admit that fact. Even if this does just end up just being one date with no strings attached, I can’t promise I’m gonna make things easy for you.”
“Good.” Bradley had a defiant look in his eye which made Jake wonder if he might have finally met his match. “I like a challenge.”
“Are you sure?”
He needed to know; he couldn’t allow himself to get his hopes up until he had an answer. Bradley’s gaze softened as if he had just caught up to what Jake was really asking him.
“Yeah. Yes, Jake,” he shrugged and offered Jake a bashful smile. “I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.”
“Okay.” Jake held up a hand to forestall whatever Bradley had opened his mouth to say next, “but I reserve the right to divorce you if this date sucks.”
Something predatory came over Bradley as he settled more comfortably back against his chair. “Oh, baby, don’t worry about that. I’m gonna sweep you off your goddamn feet.”
Jake had a sneaking feeling that whatever this thing between them ended up as, it would be good for him in the long run. It had the kind of potential he wanted to treasure either way.
He cleared his throat, not bothering to hide how that promise had affected him since it looked like Bradley had already picked up on it, and asked, “so you live in San Diego?” Setting them off on a much more direct version of the getting to know you game Marco had started earlier.
They chatted for a long while, uncovering the cornerstones of vital information about one another without getting too bogged down in the heavy stuff. There were a few different topics they were quite transparently skirting around, but for Jake’s part at least, that was more because of the setting and the exploratory mood they were in than an active reluctance to share those parts of himself with Bradley.
If they were going to do this properly then their secrets would reveal themselves eventually, but they didn’t have to cover it all on the first night.
Besides, if he had to pour his heart out about his darkest moments for his new husband, Jake would prefer that that went down in the comfort of his own home rather than the middle of rush-hour in a Vegas dive bar. Sue him, he liked his privacy.
By the time Javy and Marco made their way back to the table, Jake thought he had a decent enough understanding of who Bradley was for now, even if he knew this was just the tip of the iceberg.
“So, this is in no way the craziest thing that’s happened today,” Marco said as he leaned against the back of a chair, “but did you guys know we’re staying at the same hotel?”
Bradley huffed, eyes sparking with amusement as he rolled them at Jake. He had no idea whether Bradley had noticed that fact when they left for breakfast that morning, but he seemed unfazed by the revelation as he said, “of course we are. Do you wanna head back?”
“Cody’s all pissy about his plans getting wrecked, and, who was it? Phoenix?” He looked to Javy, who nodded with a pointed look at Jake which he studiously ignored in favour of the table, “has been non-stop texting Javy all day, so I think our friends are feeling a tad neglected.”
Returning to the car was supposed to have been uneventful, but that pesky little folder was still waiting for them. Javy slipped it onto the back seat between Bradley and Jake like it wasn’t a loaded gun threatening to destroy the hard-won comradery they had spent the last few hours cultivating.
Shit.
They couldn’t not look inside, but neither of them even so much as glanced in either its or each other’s direction until the car pulled up to the valet booth in front of the hotel. Bradley reached out to gingerly pick it up when Jake made no move to take the initiative and hugged it to his chest as they headed in the direction of the elevators.
Because of how last minute their trip was, the squad had had to settle with having different rooms all over the hotel, drawing straws after they had checked in to see who got which room. It was pure luck that Jake had ended up with some space to himself, just down the hall from where Omaha and Javy were sharing. Cody however, had apparently splurged out for Marco’s party to be based in some big, fancy penthouse suite. A fact Marco seemed embarrassed to admit as they explained this to one another while waiting for an elevator to arrive.
Jake’s gaze trailed up from the folder in Bradley’s arms to meet his eye, a more tantric energy sparking between them as they discussed their sleeping arrangements. He tilted his head in an unspoken question, grinning as something settled in Bradley’s shoulders and he gave Jake an almost imperceptible nod in answer. For all Jake knew with the way they could barely look away from one another, there could have been neon flashing signs above their heads announcing their intentions, so he did have to laugh at the surprise in Marco’s voice when he asked where Bradley was going as he followed Jake and Javy off the elevator once it stopped on their floor.
“Where the fuck do you think, Marc?” Bradley waved the folder at Marco where he stood with a hand out to prevent the doors from closing, offering him a much more innocent explanation than Jake would have bothered with. “Tell Cody I’ll make it up to him.”
“What am I telling the others?” Javy asked after Marco was gone, under no illusions about what was really going on as he was made to watch Jake drag Bradley down the hall.
“Whatever you want,” Jake replied. He swiped the key card to open his door and pushed Bradley inside. “Have fun with it.”
Bradley’s hand darted out to grab the front of Jake’s hoodie and the rest of the world ceased to exist. He braced his hands either side of Jake’s head as he pushed him back against the now closed door and leaned in to brush the tips of their noses together. Jake tried not to give voice to the whine clawing at the back of his throat as Bradley pulled away again, but it was a losing battle. It ended up coming out strangled and desperate. Bradley chuckled, a deep, throaty sound, and did the same thing a second time.
Jake felt riled up enough to pout as he whispered, “what are you doing?”
“Savouring the moment.”
“Oh?”
“I can’t remember our first kiss, so I don’t intend to forget this one.”
Christ.
Bradley had hardly done anything, and yet Jake’s knees felt weak.
He didn’t stand a chance at surviving this.
Bradley brought one hand down to cup Jake’s jaw, brushing his thumb along his cheekbone before his grip tightened and he tipped Jake’s chin up to the right angle for their lips to slot together in a fleeting, almost imperceptible, brush of contact. Just as Jake thought he might implode from frustration, Bradley’s control snapped. He surged forward to pillage Jake’s mouth with the bruising kind of pressure that left heads spinning and fingertips tingling.
Jake had never been kissed like this before.
Bradley was all consuming.
He was that bit taller, so when he pressed in closer – flattening himself against Jake as if the minimal space that had been left between them was still too much – it felt like there was no escape. Bradley took and took and took, and all Jake could do, all he wanted to do, was let him.
Lost in the slide of Bradley’s lips against his, the slight scratch of his moustache, the heady way he had licked into his mouth and stifled Jake’s gasp with a groan of his own, Jake barely registered that he was being directed further into the room until the point that they parted due to a sudden height difference when the backs of Bradley’s knees hit the edge of the bed and he sat down.
Now that was a sight Jake could get used to.
Bradley leant backwards a little, bracing himself on his hands, his thighs splayed in an obvious invitation for Jake to take a seat. It was tempting, but Jake had the sudden urge to be a much more active participant in this than he had been so far. Bradley wasn’t the only one with moves worth showing off, after all.
Crossing his arms in front of him, Jake grabbed the bottom of his hoodie to pull off over his head and dumped it on the floor in front of him to cushion his fall as he dropped to his knees. Bradley cursed under his breath and caught Jake up in another heated kiss, cradling his head in his hands like he was something precious while Jake’s fingers worked to free Bradley from the confines of his jeans.
“God, Jake,” Bradley’s voice had dropped a few octaves. Jake hoped he wasn’t shy about being vocal because all he wanted was to get lost in that sound. “What are you doing to me?”
“I haven’t even started yet.”
“Oh, my apologies,” Bradley dropped his hands with an air of reluctance. “By all means carry on.”
When he started to pull back, Jake hooked an arm around his neck to kiss him again, just because he could, before turning his attention to the prize in front of him, stroking languidly up and down Bradley’s inner thighs. His breath hitched as Jake’s nails scratched against his skin, driving Jake wild with how responsive he seemed to be.
“Ask nicely.”
Bradley rolled his eyes but he didn’t seem bothered by the delay, “are you always this bossy?”
“Only one way to find out.” Jake smirked at the way Bradley’s muscles twitched under his palms and batted his eyes as he stared up at him. “C’mon, sweetheart, tell me what you want.”
“You fight dirty.”
Jake grinned as one of Bradley’s hands lifted up to cup his jaw. His thumb smoothed over Jake’s cheek and then down to trace along the line of his bottom lip. There was a contemplative glint in his eye like he was debating whether to be difficult and push the issue or cave and give Jake what he was asking for. Jake stuck out his tongue, feeling smug about the punched-out groan Bradley tried and failed to swallow as it hit the tip of his thumb and he sucked it into his mouth.
“Fuck, baby… you’re gonna be the death of me.”
Yeah, Jake was hoping he would be.
All he wanted was to get his lips on Bradley properly but they were locked into this game of chicken now, and while Jake was more than willing to submit on any given day, even preferred it if he was being honest, he needed to know that Bradley could give him this, relinquish control, when he asked because that give and take was important to him.
He stared upwards, imploring Bradley to understand.
“Please. God, Jake, please. I want you so bad.” Bradley let out a long, shuddering breath, pushing his thumb down more firmly onto Jake’s tongue. “You’ve been driving me crazy all day, you have no idea.”
If Bradley had been feeling even a fraction of what Jake had, especially over the last few hours, then it was a wonder they had lasted this long without ripping each other’s clothes off.
“Look at you. Down on your knees for me, so willing… I bet you’d do anything I ask if I just say please, wouldn’t you?” Jake nodded. “Yeah, I thought so. Christ, baby, I wanna take you apart. Will you let me? Please?”
Jake whined, more than ready to move things forwards. His hands shifted up to ease Bradley out of his boxers as Bradley released his jaw. Jake mourned the loss of his touch for just a second before Bradley’s fingers started carding through his hair instead.
That was the last straw.
Jake gripped the base of Bradley’s cock with one hand and licked a stripe up the underside, revelling at the way Bradley’s fingers tightened in his hair almost involuntarily. He sank down on Bradley, breathing through his nose and embracing that familiar stretch, before bobbing his head up and down a few times in a faster pace than he usually started with, incapable of drawing this out for too long.
Bradley didn’t seem to mind.
He lavished Jake with enough praise to take him to the edge of the floaty headspace he adored until his voice cracked as he came all of a sudden, sounding a lot like it had taken him by surprise. The heavy, breathless way he panted, coasting on that high, made Jake feel very good about himself while he swallowed and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“My turn,” Bradley said after having leaned forwards to capture Jake with another fierce kiss. He encouraged Jake to stand with him and shucked off the rest of their clothes in turn before manoeuvring Jake into stretching out across the bed. “Jesus, look how fucking pretty you are.”
“Stop.”
“No.” Bradley tucked his palms under Jake’s hips to leverage him further up the bed, settling into the space Jake created between his legs. “You’re fucking gorgeous, baby, I can’t believe how lucky I am.”
Bradley started trailing down Jake’s neck to suck a mark just above his collarbone before he paused and pulled back with a frown like something had just occurred to him. “Uh, probably should have asked this before, but do you have any-”
“Shit,” Jake’s head thunked down onto the mattress with a frustrated groan as it clicked what Bradley was asking. “No.”
Of course he didn’t.
It wasn’t like he had been expecting this.
Bradley snorted, “me either. So, we need to get better at planning ahead, huh?”
“You can say that again. I think there’s lotion in the bathroom if you-”
“Fuck, that’s too far away, baby, I’ll make it up to you next time.” Bradley’s self-assurance was stupid hot. As was the thought that moving just a few steps away from him right now was too much distance for Bradley. His fingers tightened on Jake like he couldn’t bear to be parted from him for even a second. Bradley ducked his head to kiss Jake again, starting up a grind with his hips which had a groan catching in Jake’s throat. “Gives us somethin’ to look forward to.”
It was a slow, careful, exploratory build up, but Bradley did eventually wrap a hand around him, finally giving Jake’s as yet neglected cock the attention he was desperate for. With how wound up he felt by that point, it took nothing more than a handful of strokes to get him off, leaving him giddy and breathless as he made a mess of Bradley’s hand and his chest.
After making out for long enough that everything started getting a little too tacky for comfort, Jake cajoled Bradley into joining him in the shower where they went about making the most of round two, the hotel shower gel giving them a slick enough slide to work with as Bradley fucked between Jake’s thighs.
If they were any younger, Jake thought they might have been able to squeeze in a third, but the stress of the day started to catch up to him and he ended up having to stifle a yawn against Bradley’s cheek in the middle of yet another make-out session where he had been pressed up against the bathroom counter in the process of them drying each other off.
“Is it okay if I stay here tonight?” Bradley asked into the crook of Jake’s neck where he had started pressing soft kisses.
Jake frowned, pulling back to meet his eye, “course. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“I just-,” Bradley shook his head, glancing away as a blush started blooming across his cheeks. “I’m worried I might be coming on a little strong. It’s alright if you want some space, I won’t be offended.”
“I want you to stay.”
“But-”
“Bradley, stay.”
Jake stared him down with a look he hoped was conveying how little he wanted to be argued with right now. If the way Bradley’s mouth clamped shut was anything to go by, it must have been. He dragged Bradley behind him, enjoying his evident amusement as he allowed Jake to arrange them in the bed to his liking, cocooning himself in Bradley’s arms like that space had been made just for him. They had switched the lights off, but neglected to close the blinds, so there was enough light coming through the window to see by as Jake tangled his fingers with Bradley’s, not quite ready to sleep just yet.
“I think we could be really good together,” Bradley murmured, the words muffled as he pressed his lips against the back of Jake’s neck.
“Either that, or it’s gonna be like mutually assured destruction.”
“Mm, I can’t wait to find out.”
Jake chuckled, feeling weirdly calm about everything. Truly content for the first time in a long while. He drifted off somewhere in the middle of their whispered conversation, lost in the intimacy of sharing the gossipy kind of secrets that were better left to the safety of late-night confessions.
When he woke the next morning, Jake felt far more comfortable about the fact that he was sharing a bed with someone than he had the day before.
Jake extracted himself from the cage of Bradley’s arms as gently as he could once he was fully conscious, reluctant to disturb him when he looked so peaceful. On his way back from the bathroom, he was distracted from smiling at the way Bradley was now laid out on his back, snoring away with no cares in the world, when his gaze snagged on the folder which had been abandoned on the desk.
It stopped him in his tracks so fast he almost tripped over his own feet.
More than anything he was surprised at the sudden surge of curiosity that sparked inside him. Yesterday the folder had been like a ticking bomb. Something to be feared. Avoided. He had almost bolted the moment it hit the counter in the chapel and he had been forced to confront the physical evidence of his own idiocy. He hadn’t been able to speak the entire time they were in there, terrified as reality hit him, relying on Bradley to navigate their way back to the safety of the car while he spiralled through a distinct lack of memories and tried to fit them into a pattern that might explain why he had done this.
After the example his mother had set, he had promised himself that marriage was a commitment he would respect should he ever find himself in the position of loving someone enough to commit his life to them.
So much for personal integrity.
The rest of their time together, the person Bradley was, last night, waking up this morning, Jake had to wonder if in the end he might be able to keep that promise.
Bradley had asked for one date. They were going to see what happened. Take it slow. No matter what, Jake believed wholeheartedly that they were in this together, that Bradley was just as scared as him but also just as willing to give things a go anyway, and maybe that was enough.
They wouldn't know if they didn't try.
Jake knew he probably (definitely) should have waited until Bradley woke up so that they could do this together, but he couldn’t help himself. There was a small part of him that knew this was something he needed to do on his own. If he was going to freak out, he didn’t need witnesses. Especially not Bradley, and especially not when Bradley had been so worried about overstepping just last night. Accidentally giving him the wrong impression just because Jake couldn’t control his emotions felt like a recipe for disaster at this point.
Jake flipped open the folder without thinking about it much more and was immediately blindsided by the first photo.
It immortalised that déjà vu moment Jake had had the day before of Bradley slipping the ring onto his finger. His dad’s ring. The same ring that Jake was still wearing.
And yet somehow that wasn’t even the most earth-shattering part.
No, that honour was saved for the look on Jake’s face as he stood watching Bradley, looking at him like he was his whole world.
It was terrifying.
Exciting.
Nerve-wracking as all hell.
Seeing such indisputable evidence of something he could still barely remember made everything so much more real.
Jake was preoccupied, trying to work out how he was supposed to be feeling, so he almost didn’t notice the phone ringing underneath the folder.
If he had been thinking a little more clearly, he might have pieced together that it wasn’t his, since his was still stuck in the pocket of his jeans wherever they had been abandoned, but he wasn’t, so he didn’t, and he answered it without even checking who was calling.
“Hangman?” Mav’s incredulous tone was enough to snap Jake back into the present. “Did I- no… why are you answering Bradley’s phone?”
“Uh,” Jake tried to act rationally, but his mind was drawing a complete blank, so in the moment he panicked. Naturally, shouting, “wrong number,” and hanging up on Mav before throwing the phone behind him was the smartest thing he could do.
Bradley let out a startled grunt as it hit him, “the fuck?”
“Shit, sorry,” Jake said, grimacing with guilt. He turned to face him just as the phone started ringing again.
“One morning I would like to wake up nice and peacefully in this room,” Bradley grumbled. Just like Jake, he didn’t check before answering the phone, so Jake wasn’t surprised when he shot up into a sitting position or that he glared in response to Jake’s shrugged apology for the lack of warning. “Mav, slow down, I can’t understand you.”
Jake laced his hands over his head, trying to decipher the complicated message hidden in Bradley’s expression whilst he placated his uncle. It wasn’t like it was Jake’s choice what to tell him, after all. That decision was entirely Bradley’s. Jake would support whatever he wanted and could only hope the look he was giving Bradley in return said as much.
“Wait, just- jeez I just woke up Mav, gimme a sec.” Bradley muted the call. “Mav can recognise you just by the sound of your voice?”
“Apparently, yeah.”
“Good to know,” Bradley nodded, looking like he thought it was anything but. “Uh, any preferences on what I tell him?”
“He’s your uncle.”
“Right.”
Jake sucked in a deep, steadying breath and moved to sit on the bed cross-legged, taking Bradley’s free hand in an attempt to reassure them both. “I don’t mind if you wanna pretend like I don’t exist for a bit.”
Bradley frowned, but he unmuted the call again without breaking eye contact with Jake. “Sorry Mav, I wanted to check with Jake bef- what else am I supposed to call him? No- I- oh my god- because obviously he didn’t introduce himself with his goddamn callsign…”
He flopped backwards on the bed as the conversation continued, looking put out until Jake followed his lead and curled up against his side again. Jake tried not to listen in too much out of respect, but he couldn’t not notice the way Bradley skirted around the actual details of how they met.
The words ‘Jake and I got married’ weren’t mentioned at all.
Jake didn’t realise quite how exposed he was feeling until he figured out that that twinge in his heart was disappointment at the fact that Bradley had decided not to tell Mav the truth.
When Bradley ended the call, he dropped his phone on the bedside table and started drawing meaningless patterns down Jake’s arm. “You good?”
Jake hummed, not quite sure how to put his feelings into words. He stood by letting Bradley choose how to handle that, and though he couldn’t ignore how much it hurt being treated like a secret, he refused to make Bradley feel bad for the decision he had made, whatever his reasoning might be.
“Sorry about him.”
Jake snorted, consciously letting it go. He rose up onto one elbow so that he could look Bradley in the eye. “He was pretty surprised, huh?”
“Mm, horrified. Us meeting seems like his worst nightmare.”
“What a compliment.” They laughed together, which settled Jake enough that his resolve crumbled and he felt like he had to ask, “you didn’t tell him?”
“Yeah,” Bradley brushed some of the longer strands of Jake’s hair out of his face, “but only because they’re camping at the moment and I didn’t want Ice to be stuck in a tent with a pissy Mav for the rest of the week. We can tell them in person when they get home.”
“Ice?”
“His husband. Also navy, if you were curious about that.”
Huh.
It struck Jake again just how severely he had underestimated the whole closed book vibe Mav gave off.
“Why do I have the awful feeling Mav’s married to someone stupidly high up the chain of command?”
“Because you probably know him well enough to figure out that he doesn't get away with half the shit he does by the grace of god.”
Jake scoffed at the accuracy of that observation and then shook his head when it clicked that he had brushed past a vital part of Bradley’s explanation. “Wait, we?”
Bradley’s grin was beatific as it set out a clear challenge for Jake to step up to. “You’re technically part of the family now, we’re in this together.”
“Well, that’s not terrifying.” Bradley chuckled, seemingly satisfied with that answer, and went back to drawing patterns across Jake’s skin. That same self-assurance that Jake had been so attracted to yesterday now felt like it was designed just to torture him. “Is he actually gonna be pissed about it?”
“He’s gonna freak out.” Bradley snorted as Jake pulled a face over that before clarifying, “because he missed out on the ceremony, not ‘cause he’s gonna be, like, bothered by my life choices. He’ll probably find that part hilarious.”
Oh.
That made sense.
“Were you worried?”
Jake sighed, debating his answer for a long moment before it occurred to him that he was as reluctant to lie to Bradley as he was to pass this off like it didn’t matter. “I care about his opinion.”
“You know he cares about you too, right?”
Jake hummed, not quite believing him but also unwilling to bring the mood down with his insecurities.
“He’s talked about you guys so much over the last few weeks. Kinda thought I was gonna get replaced by some asshole named Hangman as his favourite kid. Do you know how stupid I feel right now finding out you’re the same person?”
“No, I think you should tell me all about it,” Jake murmured as he moved to straddle Bradley.
Whatever Bradley might have said next was cut off by Jake kissing him, harsh and punishing, trying to put into action the confusing mix of emotions whirling about in the back of his mind.
Later they would have to go back to reality, and more literally San Diego. Back to their real lives where they would have to figure out how to make space for each other in a way that might end up being permanent. Bradley had his job; Jake had another deployment looming. They had their families to tell. A relationship to define. There was a lot about this new thing between them that was complicated and they had barely scratched the surface of dealing with it.
But that was later.
Right now, Jake was going to savour the goddamn moment.