#but I’m confident that he’ll learn to do better later on ☺️

[nightswatchdisbandmentera]

“No.” He could hear the defeat in her voice. “Sorry to be of trouble, m’lord. I only … they said the king keeps people safe, and I thought …”

[…]

Jon watched her go, his joy in the morning’s brittle beauty gone. Damn her, he thought resentfully, and damn Sam twice for sending her to me. What did he think I could do for her?

Jon III, ACOK

This is one of my favorite ‘Jon is the king’ passages because it’s less about him being king by birth and more about him displaying one of the core qualities of kingship - that a king’s key role is to protect his people.

Because its adorable that Gilly heard that Jon is a bastard but upon meeting him, immediately bent the knee (as one would to a king) and then entreated him to help her by appealing to the idea that a king protects people. And with a severe lack of kings north of the Wall, Jon Snow is her best shot; yes there’s Mance Rayder but he’s quite far from Gilly.

And how ironic that Gilly appeals to Jon, a mere bastard boy who is sworn to an order that requires him not to hold any lands or wear any crowns. Jon’s closest relation to kingship at that moment is that his brother, Robb Stark, is king (as Gilly is told that he’s a brother to kings). But Gilly doesn’t say, “in the name of your brother who’s the king help me”. She doesnt say, “King Robb should help me”. She asks Jon to help her; she kneels to Jon. She recognizes that he may stand in for her but is probably seeing Jon, the mere boy, as the embodiment of the king’s duty. Really, it’s an interesting study of kingship as a quality outside of any official titles.

But I do think that Sam had something to do with it. Jon went out of his way to protect Sam in AGOT, so Sam probably used personal experience when speaking to Gilly. He understood that Jon is someone who protects people so he went and told Gilly about it; how ironic that Jon questions what Sam was thinking, because did he forget what he did for Sam?

But Gilly upon hearing Sam’s story asked for Jon’s help not in a “please help me like you helped your best buddy” type of way but in a “please help me like a king would” type of way. I wonder what stories Gilly grew up learning of kingship and if she decided that Jon was a king, despite wearing no crown, once she heard Sam’s story. I’m inclined to think that while Sam told her that Jon would help her, she is the one who then connected that promise of protection to kingship.

But there is also a larger theme that kingship isn’t easy, and Jon is just started on his character development here. He may want to help Gilly, but he hasn’t yet began to understand the wildlings as people in the way that he will later on. What Jon fails to do for Gilly here, he does for thousands of wildlings two books later (and will presumably continue to do so into Winds). While he didn’t challenge Night’s Watch tradition to save Gilly and remove her from a terrible situation here, he later challenged this tradition to remove thousands of others from a terrible situation later on; and even paid for it in some way. Thus, he does eventually live up to the ideal that a king protects the people; though how ironic that he protects the wildlings while still being crownless. And there’s also Alys Karstark who will later kneel to Jon and ask him to perform the king’s duty in regards to marriage and inheritance. What a curious display of Varys’ “power resides where the people think it resides”.

#jon snow #jon the king #asoiaf #valyrianscrolls #canonjonsnow #didn’t put in the post but it’s quite interesting how Gilly is connected #to moral choices and moral pragmatism in Jon’s story #there’s this and then there’s also that scene in ADWD where he has to #mentally toughen himself by repeating the ‘kill the boy’ line #so that he can perform a king’s duty and protect someone - mance’s baby #i personally don’t think he was callous or uncaring of gilly’s wellbeing #because we have that one line from sam’s pov where Jon is watching Gilly breastfeed monster #with a sad smile on his face #it’s most likely that jon is still a work in progress and so pragmatism sometimes ties the line of cruelty #however necessary #but I’m confident that he’ll learn to do better later on ☺️ #my stuff

[luminousnotmatter]

Best Laid Plans

a heart day j. h. s. & birdy something

like real people do ‘verse

pairing: Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin x female OC, her nickname is Birdy. ☺️ She’s the same Birdy from this little thing I wrote back in the fall.

warnings: PG-13 swearings. It’s not hurt/comfort in the physical injury sense, but rather in the mental-emotional sense, and even that is just sorta kinda. Other than that….It’s stupidly soft and sweet?? I think that about covers it???

word count: 1,400ish or thereabouts.

summary: Jake has a sweet and adorable Valentine’s Day date night in mind for he and Birdy. But you know what they say about the best laid plans…

author’s note: I actually wrote this last night, originally for the eyes of a precious friend only….but then it sat lurking in my brain all day today, and I’m most pleased with and proud of it and maybe it’ll bring somebody else a little joy too so….here it is. 🥹🫣💞 It takes place in the same ‘universe’ (which I have dubbed Like Real People Do because it’s my favorite Hozier song and also it because said song feels so perfectly right for them.🥹🥰) as the above-mentioned thing I wrote this past fall, only it’s later on down the line for Jake and Birdy. They’ve done the Best Friends To Lovers Upgrade™️ by now. 😉🤭♥️ It is absolutely my intention to write out their story from the beginning, and I have so much of that story already simmering on the stovetop of my brain it’s silly no seriously please somebody anybody can you come and ask me about it sometime and it would make my whole life to yell happily about it with you but until such time as I have more details plotted out and am actually inspired to actually write it from the beginning: I’m gonna just take what inspiration I get and write these two adorables from wherever on their timeline I feel I wanna in the moment.

bonus material: This song is where the lyrics quoted in the mood board come from, and it’s one I’ve loved for a long time. 💞 It’s also on my in-progress playlist for Jay and Birdy. 🥰

tagging: My Katherine @whisperofsong (it’s her with whom initially shared this last night ☺️) and My Bee @bradshawsbaby and My Sunshine @hangmanbrainrot because….because! 😍🥰♥️♥️‼️ Because I wanna!!! And also because they are unspeakably dear friends to me, who always, always, a l w a y s have the most kind and encouraging words and love and support for my silly wordsmithery. 🥹😘♥️♥️♥️

…………………………………………

Birdy isn’t somebody who needs or desires big, over-extravagant romantic gestures. She’s a gentle, easygoing, sweet, and introverted soul. Her favorite place to be is with Jake, she loves him and time spent in his company is the most she asks, on Valentine’s Day or any day.

Jake understands that. Once upon a time, his ego may have told him it was necessary to do it up big for the woman (if any) he was with on Heart Day, to show up and show off and pull out as many stops as possible because how else was that woman going to know what he’s capable of if he wasn’t advertising the biggest and best possible version of himself at all times. And once upon a time, at that phase in his life, he would’ve believed his ego. But now, he knows better. He’s matured and he’s grown and he’s learned, and Birdy, their friendship and their love has been much of the impetus behind this learning and growth and maturation.

So, come their first Valentine’s Day together, he’s got his sweet little plans and not to shine his own shoes, but he’s pretty damn confident that they’re going to be just what’ll make her happiest. Her favorite tiny, old, hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant miraculously does UberEats, so that’ll be dinner taken care of. He’s going to stop by a florist on his way to her house and pick up a bouquet of white and yellow daisies because he knows there’s no flower she loves more. They’ll eat together and talk, he’ll hold her close and his fingers entwined with hers and kiss her sweet mouth and get to hear her laugh (which is up there near the top on the list of Jake Seresin’s Favorite Sounds, among other notables such as the roar of F/A-18 engines and kickoff at a UT Austin football game) and it’ll be a good night. She’ll be happy and he’ll be happy.

But the US Navy? The US Navy has different plans entirely. Unexpected, surprise plans that brutally and efficiently, through one thing happening, then another, and another, and you guessed it: still more things happening, ruin Jake’s plans for his Valentine’s night with Birdy. Leaves him trudging through her front door abysmally late in the evening, pissed off, exhausted, still clad in his flight suit, and smelling of jet fuel, sweat, and hot, dirty tarmac.

He’s not happy. Today was NOT meant to go this way.

Nonetheless, there’s his lady to greet him; rising to stand from her beloved oversized leather armchair in the living room while he bends to untie and toe off his boots by the welcome mat. Baloo is curled up on his bed next to her chair but he lifts his dark head and thumps his tail a few times, excited and pleased to see Jake.

“Stay, Loo.” Birdy murmurs to the dog and he obeys. Albeit with a soft whine of protest. “I know you wanna, but you can say hi in a second. I get to first.” Jake grins the tiniest grin to himself.

The Navyman straightens fully and the anxious and angry tightness in his chest eases a bit because his best friend in the world is looking at him, seeing him, and her eyes are soft and sparkling and safe and *home*.

“Hey, Flyboy.” her voice is a warm hum.

Jake reaches out for her and she doesn’t resist the way he hauls them together so their chests touch and his arms cage her in. He sighs deeply, in and out. “Hi, Little Bird.”

“How was your day?”

“Kinda shit.”

Birdy reaches up to take Jake’s cheeks in her hands, thumbs sweeping his cheek bones. Her brow is scrunched up, a sympathetic frown playing with her lips. “Yeah?”

He sighs again. “Yeah.”

“I’m sorry. Welcome home. I love you.”

Each of the woman’s statements are punctuated, emphasized, by a gentle kiss pressed to a different part of his face; right cheek, left cheek, then finally his mouth.

In tasting her lips, honeyed and soft, the pilot lets his shoulders start to release some of their tension. Neither of them hurry the moment, neither of them want to.

When he must break away for air, Jake rests his forehead to Birdy’s at first. “I love you.”

Those three words feel so right to say to her. They always have, even when it scared the hell out of him to say them. It doesn’t now though.

“Okay, Loo Buddy, you can come and say hi now.” Birdy’s twisting in his arms slightly to call the big black lab over to where they stand. Baloo needs no second invitation. He rises immediately and is by their side in seconds, whole body wriggling with happiness. Jake bends to give him plenty of pets and murmured verbal affection, while keeping one hand gripping Birdy’s hip loosely.

“Happy Valentine’s Day!” she tells him, leaning close and kissing the only part of him her mouth can reasonably reach, his shoulder.

When he straightens once more, Jake’s gaze catches on two things on the kitchen table, over the woman in front of him. A paper bag with the UberEats logo on the front, and a bouquet of white and yellow daisies.

His heart sinks.

His face must fall too because Birdy’s sweet smile falters. “What?”

Jake jerks his chin in the direction of the table.

“That’s dinner. From Morelli’s.” she explains.

Of course she ordered that. He’d smirk in satisfaction at how well he knows her but the bitterness of disappointment in himself tastes too strong on his tongue.

“The flowers?”

Birdy grins. “My Daddy sent ‘em.”

She thinks her father’s gesture is cute and funny and sweet but Jake just nods. His green eyes drop from hers. She misses them instantly.

“Hey…Jay…” she squeezes his arms and ducks her head to try and meet his eyeline as it wanders. “What’s up?”

Jake closes his eyes. It’s not like he’s going to cry, hell no, but they still burn a little. He’s just wore out and pissed at his day and he hates that he couldn’t be the one to show Birdy he loves her with dinner and flowers.

“I…” he swallows and makes himself look in her eyes, grasping for that peaceful home feeling of them again. “I was gonna get’ya dinner. And flowers. That’s…that’s *my* job.”

“Your job?” she blinks at him.

He nods in affirmation. “It’s Valentine’s Day, y’know?” He shrugs.

Birdy’s expression melts into one of impossible tenderness, but there’s a steely seriousness lurking underneath. “Jake,” she breathes out. “Look at me, please?” He’d been studying some loose threads in the collar of her shirt, now he obeys her request. “You did your job already. You worked, hard, all day. You flew planes and kicked ass, damn, I mean, you had shit thrown at you that I can’t possibly imagine being able to handle, let alone, y’know, actually handling it. And now,” she cups his cheeks in her hands once again, “here you are, with me. How can I ask for more? Today or any day?” She drops her hands to his shoulders, squeezing them lightly. “You’re enough.” She’s smiling, her beautiful eyes bright and gaze unwavering, but the wrinkle between her brows betrays the depth of the feeling behind her words.

That tightness in his chest Jake had registered earlier, it’s no longer that of frustration or nerves fried to their last ending. Now that taut ache is one of overwhelming fondness, love and gratitude felt for the woman in his arms, on a level unmatched before he met and fell for her.

His wide, warm palms now lift to cradle her face and he moves in to capture her mouth with his own. The kiss is slow, gentle. Words, emotions from the depths of Jake’s heart are poured into it, unspoken, and he relishes being able to trust that she’s hearing them, understanding them.

Even so, Birdy deserves thing spoken out too. “Thank you, Darlin’.” His warm breath sweeps across the skin of her forehead, once they’ve broken apart, as the words leave his throat. Quiet, low, and ever-so-slightly husky.

She leaves one open-mouth kiss on his jaw, gooseflesh rolling over him in its wake. “Always, Seresin. Always.”

…………………………………………….

Jake Seresin knows that saying about the best laid plans of mice and men, and he’s not about to deny that his day today was a prime example of the truth of that saying….but 12 minutes later, when he and Birdy are seated at the table, eating and talking, and some stupid silly thing he says makes her laugh; eyes squeezing shut and her head thrown back…when that glorious, one-of-his-most-favorite-of-all-sounds rings out…….his plans never mattered much anyway. This does though. She does. With her: Happy Valentine’s Day is damn straight

#Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin #Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin x Reader #Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin Imagine #Hangman x Reader #Top Gun Maverick Fanfic #I Wrote This #Sometimes I Art #💗Like Real People Do💗 #*sets this down gingerly* #*rocks awkwardly back and forth on the balls of my feet for a second* #You like?? I hope so!! ‘Cause I like. 🫣🥹🫣 #♥️💗💞😘‼️