<3 I was wondering.... are you gonna do another fic? I loved grounding.
Do you think Jake is a horrible flirt? I bet he flirts with Layla and thinks Marc getting protective of her is funny. Plus she blushes horribly. She isnt used to the suave cool flirtations.
thank you!! and i am! the fic i'm working on now is marc and steven focused and i feel like i need to finish it before i move on to more jake and layla stuff. its all the same post-canon continuity as "grounding" and "carving" and actually take place between them, so i feel like i need that baseline before i continue past "carving" in the whole course of events i have going.
In short, yeah, Jake can be a bit of a flirt. He goes out and socializes in ways Marc and Steven would not. In my Aroace Jake (which has a lil treat at the end you might like <3) and Jake and Music hc’s/metas/rants, I mention as much. He’s got a communal connection in ways Marc and Steven don’t. On top of his cab-driving work in meeting people constantly, he'd go to a bar, a dance club, a diner (eyes emoji), etc. and be a face among the masses, big passing ships in the night energy. Jake doesn't let himself have "real", long-lasting relationships with those around him (with exception to Gena and her kids at this point, though who can blame him? He tells himself it’s for the diner food and the good coffee, but it’s for Gena’s and her boys’ companionship more than anything), but he does get to be someone's late-night (one-night-only) friend and companion. It's anonymous, almost. Temporary, no lasting consequences.
I see Jake as aroace, and for him, flirting is just another tool in the arsenal of social skills he’s cultivated. It’s often pretty fun too. While he’s a master of masking and socializing, I think he does have trouble picking up people’s social signals about romance especially, at times. Practically, the difference between fun, playful banter between friends and a good portion of romantically-and/or-sexually-charged banter (i.e. flirting) is pretty slight.
After a night trading jokes and challenging conversation, tearing up the dance floor together with someone(s) I could see someone making a move and/or inviting Jake home and it surprising him, more in the early days of having a night life of his own than later on. He does perfectly well when someone’s attraction is made clear and explicit in their words, but he’s had to learn to anticipate the possibility of someone’s attraction even if not explicitly stated.
That’s all more about how Jake responds to flirting, but Jake himself? He lives for the banter, the back-and-forth, the game of it. He’s not going to initiate the flirt, but if someone sends a clear cue to do so? He’s down. Most of the time, anyway. Jake banters and jokes around with anyone he meets, and he takes as much enjoyment in the platonic banter as he does the romantic. It’s a game, and he’s strategic, thoughtful. He’s piecing together the puzzle of this other person, seeing how they respond and what’ll make them laugh, what’ll make them playfully nonreceptive versus genuinely nonreceptive. Flowery language, suave confidence, cheesy lines, compliments, subtle innuendo, jokes, sharing stories, talking life, physical closeness, dancing, intensity, gentleness, or just. Him being genuinely himself, not trying to perform the socialization.
It’s when nothing else has satisfied the other player in this game that he lets go of the performance. And sometimes, that’s what pulls people in the most.
I think when people make a move to be physical with him, to invite him home, I think sometimes he accepts. It’s more game, more back-and-forth, more dancing, and, above all, it’s fun.
He never stays the night, never sleeps over. His companion(s) for the night is that: for the night. And they know it. Jake may perform, but he doesn’t lie or mislead. The performance is him, heightened, more than it is someone else.
Now, finally, to Layla. Jake doesn’t flirt with Layla. At least not for a long time. In the early days of being known to and well-into being *accepted* by Marc and Steven, he’s incredibly careful in how he interacts with Layla. Beyond the occasional half-irritated “hermosa”, Jake wouldn’t dare. He’s not going to cross that line. Layla isn’t his. She isn’t anyone’s, but she certainly isn’t his. They didn’t have a relationship, even if he’d pretended to be Marc around her on occasion in the past. That still wasn’t for him. Marc and now Steven's relationships with her are their own. Jake is so used to and inclined to try and stay out of their way, of their lives, of course he’s going to keep his distance. It doesn’t occur to him that she’d want to get to know him, who he is. Beyond what he does for his brothers. But him.
It takes time, but eventually, they become legitimate friends. It doesn’t start with flirting, it starts with Jake stating compliments of her as fact. Because they are, of course. Just observations. Maybe someone disrespects her or belittles her, and he gets angry, of course, but he goes off about how fucking wrong this hijo de puta is, that she’s a genius and, frankly, a saint for not kicking the bastards ass then and there, that they’re fucking lucky to have been in the same room as her, much less have the privilege of her competency and talent brought to their work, I can’t fucking believe this idiota, you’re too fucking good to deal with this shit. Mierda. Fuck.
And Layla is just staring at him, this being the most affection he’s ever shown her. A little more time, more growing comfortable in their dynamic as a system and with Layla, perhaps they’re about to have a night out, maybe for a mission, where they need to dress up, and Jake’s taking lead on recon, and he sees her all done up and, unlike Marc’s stunted speechlessness turned physical affection, Steven’s astonished showers of compliments, Jake? Jake tells it like it is. This ain’t gonna work.
Why?
You’re gonna fucking kill everyone in this joint when we step through the door.
Cue Layla’s confused, surprised look.
One look at you and every poor bastard in there’s heart is gonna stop. Can’t get intel if you’ve dropped all the sources by being so fucking gorgeous, hermosa.
Layla’s face heats up immediately and she laughs, taking his arm in hers as they head out.
From the back of their mind, Jake hears, Kinda cheesy, man.
And then, I dunno, Marc, I thought it was lovely. And it’s not like he’s wrong.
No, I know, trust me. She’s… she’s something.
You should be a poet, jefe.
Shut up.
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