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barbiewritesstuff · 2 years

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Church Encounters: Chapter 5

-- Part 5 of the fic I am writing with @Igg5989, you can find this fic on her tumblr and her Ao3 account :)

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Taglist: @acarboni21 @unsurebuttrying @dempy @peaches-1998 --

“I need to ask you something,” Jake said, leaning on your kitchen table with his arms behind his back.

“Okay…” You replied with a smile and a playful squint. Jake had been behaving a little strange all day. He had been on the phone before picking you up for church. You had seen him park in the driveway and chat animatedly for twenty minutes, occasionally glancing up at your apartment before finally knocking on your door. Then, at church, he seemed distracted. Jake had stumbled over his words during ‘Our Father’ and had to start again.

He sighed, like he was nervous before launching into his question, “Thanksgiving is coming up, I was wondering if you wanted to travel down to Texas with me and meet my family”?

Things had been going well with Jake, but you hadn’t expected to meet his family so soon, “I would hate to bother your family like that.”

“It wouldn’t bother them. In fact, they asked -- no, sorry -- they demanded I bring you down. It’s up to you, though, I don’t want to force you,” He said, obviously nervous you would say no.

“Well, if they demanded, how could I possibly refuse?” You said with a smile, you loved Jake, his family would be okay too, right?

“There is something though…” Jake hesitated, “I may have mentioned to my mother that you make killer cinnamon rolls, so she asks that you make them at some point.”

“You mentioned my cooking?” You asked, touched that he would pay you that kind of compliment.

He smiled at you before giving you some reassurance, “Duh, you’re a great cook!”

“Jake, that is so sweet,” you said, caressing his face with a gentle hand, gently running your thumb against his cheek. You leaned in to brush your lips against his, you pulled back suddenly, startling Jake out of his reverie, “Which cinnamon rolls did you mention? I’ve made you multiple kinds.”

He paused for a second, clearly trying to remember, “Oh. err, I don’t remember.”

“Oh bother -- err -- I think I made you cinnamon rolls with an espresso glaze, the chocolate orange rolls cinnamon rolls, the dulce de leche rolls, and the --” Jake cut you off by grabbing your face with both of his hands and pressing his lips into yours in a passionate kiss that left you feeling a little dizzy.

“Baby, they were all great, you don’t need to worry,” He laughed before pecking your lips again and placing a gentler kiss at the crown of your head.

“I need to pick,” You giggled, moving away to pull something out of the oven. The second it came out, it filled the room with a delicious aroma that made both of your mouths water.

“What’s that?” he asked, looking at the pan with interest.

“French toast casserole,” you said, giving him a smile as you got out plates and serving utensils.

As you sat down to eat Jake laughed before saying, “I’m going to have to double my time at the gym at this rate.”

“Alright then, if you’re going to be like that, I guess next week we’re eating coffee and a slice of plain toast,” you said sassily, mostly joking.

“Now don’t make fun of that, it’s a perfectly respectable breakfast to have,” Jake said through a mouthful of french toast.

You put your fork down, looking at him with concern, “Please tell me that’s not what you usually eat.”

He shrugged, not seeming to notice your worry, “Not always, sometimes I treat myself to Frosties.”

“That’s sad, Jake,” you said, picking your fork back up.

He gave you a brilliant smile before letting out a roar of, “It’s Grrrrrreat!”

After that conversation, you found yourself entirely unable to shove the image of a groggy Jake eating toast and washing it down with a steaming mug of coffee. You knew you were probably making it look much sadder in your mind than it was in reality, but your brain couldn’t imagine him eating it in any other place than in his almost empty kitchen, lit by a broken lightbulb. In your mind, he sported one of his saddest kicked-puppy looks, too. Unable to take it any longer, you left for the store, only managing to hold off for twenty minutes after Jake left your apartment. You already owned some disposable containers and trays so you only grabbed the ingredients you would need for your mission.

Once you had acquired all the necessary items you made your way back home and into your kitchen where you got to work. You preheated your oven, taking care to use that time to make yourself a coffee and to pull up your favourite playlist. Then, you made the muffin batter, dividing it into three separate bowls. In the first bowl, you emptied a pack of blueberries and pecans. In the second bowl you put chocolate chips, and in the third bowl, you cut up some strawberries. After folding in the extras, you greased your tray and poured the batter into paper liners.

Then, in case he wanted something savoury, you set about making some breakfast burritos. You cooked the sausages, bacon and eggs in a pan. While they cooled you mixed the ingredients for homemade tortilla wraps. While they cooked, you quickly pulled cheese out of the fridge and then, after waiting for a few minutes, you set about assembling.

Once the breakfasts were done, you moved onto the lunches. As the autumn months were advancing into winter, you opted for chicken soup and a butternut squash quiche. You made quick work of chopping the vegetables, shallow frying the onions, celery, ginger and garlic in some olive oil and then adding some stock. When the oven pinged and the muffins were ready, you pulled them out of the oven and replaced them with some squash to roast.

You had forgotten to buy your usual stock cubes, but luckily, you always kept a jar of homemade chicken broth on hand. Then, once the stock was happily simmering, you added the aromatics and the chicken breasts. To finish off the soup, you removed the breasts once done and pulled them apart, dividing them equally between seven containers and ladling equal amounts of broth into each. Then, you paused. Should you have added noodles to the soup? Would it be too late to add them now? Deciding that the soup needed noodles, you boiled water on the stove and added the vermicelli noodles to the containers.

The quiche was just as easily done. Once the squash was roasted, you set it out to cool and mixed the filling. You rolled out your crusts into two different pie dishes and poured the filling into the crust after adding the squash. You popped it in the oven for another twenty minutes.

Once the actual cooking part of your mission was done, you packaged up the goods and left to find a box big enough to hold two weeks’ worth of food. Finding none, you resigned yourself to packing it all up into shopping bags before loading it in your car and making the way to Jake’s apartment.

You knocked on the door but received no answer. Realising the time you figured he must be at the gym, so you let yourself in with the keys he had given you and put everything you had brought into his fridge. Before leaving again, you left Jake a note with the magnetic letters he kept on his fridge to write down his grocery list.

Two hours later, after you had come home, showered and folded yourself into your chair for a day of reading, a knock rang through your home. You opened the door to find Jake, still in his gym clothes and soaking wet from the rain. Before you could fuss over his dishevelled appearance or invite him in, he bridged the gap between the two of you in one step, knocking his mouth against yours in a bruising kiss.

Jake broke the kiss to say, “Holy shit, I love you,” before peppering your face with pecks.

“What happened to watching our language?” you giggled out, his afternoon scruff scraping against your cheeks.

“Fuck that,” he mumbled against your skin, “What did I do to deserve you?”

“What are you talking about?” You asked through your laughter.

“Now, don’t play stupid. I saw your note and I saw what you did, you didn’t have to, sweetheart,” He said, taking your face in his hands, “But I am so grateful that you did.”

You giggled at that, looking up at him with pure love in your eyes. Jake saw the look in your eyes, “What could I possibly do to repay you?”

You grew stern,“Nothing, don’t even think about trying. I will not accept anything.”

----

“Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Y/n, happy birthday to you!” Your sisters sang through the whatsapp call. They both had individually texted you early in the morning to wish you a happy 26th year on Earth but now that the time was a little more appropriate, they had all called to sing and cheer as you blew out the candle on the single-serving slice of cake that you had bought at the store.

Work had been hectic this week for no good reason. They had kept the team late almost every evening and you were far too tired by the time you came home to even think of baking a cake. Especially since Admiral Simpson had hinted towards a promotion and Jake had been working hard towards it. You knew he would try, but the likelihood of Jake being able to swing by before night time was low.

“So, what are you doing on your special day? You seeing that mystery boyfriend of yours?” One of your older sisters, Audrey, asked, a sly smile plastered on her face.

“He’s not a mystery, I’ve told you about him” You said with a laugh.

“Yes, but until I meet him, I’m not convinced…” She winked, you always loved her sisterly teasing.

“Oh, leave her alone. I say he’s real, I mean there has to be at least one smoking hot catholic navy pilot running around,” Your other sister, Annemarie, said a shit eating grin on her face.

“Oh, yeah and the likelihood of a guy like that dating our darling sister? Zero,” Audrey joked. “No, in all seriousness, we think it’s great that you’re settling down. So, are you seeing him today?”

You had been about to tell her no when your front door opened and the sound of someone dropping a duffel bag echoed through your empty hallway.

“Baby?” Jake’s voice rang through the apartment. Your sisters looked at you wide eyed through the screen before letting out squeals, both of them talking at the same time, “OMG is that him?; Let us see him!; Hello! Mystery boyfriend!”

You could hear Jake’s warm laughter fill the entryway of your apartment before his footsteps started towards you. Giving your sisters a stern look you said in a whisper, “Don’t you dare embarrass me.”

Both of them rolled their eyes at you, Annie speaking up first, “We aren’t that embarrassing.”

Jake chose that moment to appear behind you, one hand on the table and the other on the back of your chair. He planted a kiss on your forehead, a quiet, “Happy birthday,” spoken just to you before he acknowledged your sisters.

“Hello ladies, it is a pleasure to finally meet you, even virtually,” he said, his signature cocky smile plastered across his face.

You rolled your eyes at his act, Jake could be the sweet man you loved and the cocky pilot he tended to try and show off.

Audrey and Annemarie both stared at you through the screen, Audrey recovered from seeing him first, “Oh my lord, Y/N, you didn’t tell us he was like hot hot.”

Jake laughed, his brilliant smile easing the nerves you felt at your sister’s blurted comment, “Audrey, he is literally standing right here.”

Annie had finally gotten over her shock as well, “Are you real? I’m going to need you to hold up a spoon to verify because oh my GOD, Y/N your man is liquid fire!”

Jake disappeared off screen for a split second, and came back with one of your spoons. He held it in front one of his eyes and made a face, your sister, seemingly satisfied, leaned back into the chair she was sitting in and thought for a second.

“So, Jake… Do you… have any friends? You know, not for me… but Audrey is getting up there in age and…”

Jake let out a laugh at that, “Well we have this old man on the team, goes by Rooster. He would be handsome if it wasn’t for that thing he calls a moustache on his face.”

“Oh, I love a moustache! You know the ones? The seventies looking ones!” Audrey said excitedly, you laughed at her reaction.

“Pornstaches?” you asked, a smile on your face.

“... Hey, hey, hey, we don’t use that word, how do you know that word?” Annie asked, outrage etched over all her features.

“Annie, I’m not five. I work in the Navy, you know, I know words…” you stuttered out, a blush spreading over your face.

Annemarie squinted at you, “That better be the reason. You know the Lord doesn’t look kindly upon that sort of thing, and I do not want to be the only one in the family that makes it to heaven, got it?”

Annemarie paused for a second for your head shake before turning her attention to Jake, “And you, hot stuff, I like you because you make her happy, but don’t go corrupting her any. I don’t want to be lonely up there.”

“I’m on my best behaviour ma’am, I promise,” he said, a softer smile on his face now, the cocky one from earlier tucked away.

“Jake is a Youth Minister, you don’t have to worry about his behaviour,” You said, trying to steer the conversation away from your earlier mishap, but your sister was undeterred.

“If I hear of any funny business, I will buy myself a plane ticket and come whoop your ass in person, do you understand? That goes for both of you.”

The call didn’t last much longer after that. Your mood had soured somewhat. Annie was a very protective older sister, sometimes at the expense of whomever she had been protecting.

“What are you thinking?” Jake asked, noticing your muted behaviour.

“I’m sorry about Annie” You mumbled, looking at your shoes with your arms crossed in front of your chest.

“No, it’s okay. She’s protective, it’s sweet.” Jake said, guiding you into his arms for a loving hug.

“So you don’t mind?” You asked, nuzzling further into his chest.

He let out a sigh, “I mean, she terrifies me. But, nothing she could possibly do would have any effect on how much I love you, so…”

“You’re adorable” You said, hiding your face in the jacket he wore over the uniform as he peppered kisses on your face.

Jake hummed in agreement, “I’m in love.”

“Lucky girl, what’s her name?” you asked, playing coy.

He hummed again, “You know… I don’t remember…” He joked, “You know what I do remember, though? It’s her birthday today,” Jake added.

He let go of you and stuck his hand in his pocket to retrieve a small box. He motioned with his finger for you to turn around, before brushing your hair out to the side. You saw something golden pass before your eyes, and then felt something cold rest against your chest, but before you could bring your hand to touch it, Jake was already guiding you towards the full length mirror in your bedroom. He stood behind you to observe your reaction.

The necklace he had gotten you was a beautiful delicate golden rosary with a thin chain and a small white bead for each holy mystery. For a moment you couldn’t think of what to say. You couldn’t read Jake’s expression, your eyes seemingly unable to leave the necklace.

“What do you think?” he asked, nerves obvious in his voice.

“Jake…” You breathed out, “I don’t really know what to say… It’s -- it’s beautiful”

Jake seemed relieved. He stepped closer to you, hugging you from behind and bending down to deposit a gentle kiss at the back of your neck. You let out a quiet gasp at the feeling of his hot lips so close to the cold material of the necklace.

Jake coughed, “I’m going to go shower, I’ll be right back.”

You stood in front of the mirror, admiring the necklace. How the crucifix hung low enough to almost disappear beneath your tank top, how delicate the chain was, and how well the gold complemented the colour of your skin. You didn’t realise how long you had been standing there until Jake came back up behind you. He was wrapped in one of your towels from the waist down, his chest on full display.

“Sorry,” he said, a blush covering his face, “I forgot to grab my duffle bag before I jumped through the shower.”

“I’m going to need you to wear a shirt, Jacob. Otherwise I might need a cold shower,” you said, your voice teasing.

He laughed at your comment but his eyes heated up in the mirror’s reflection, “Honey, I’ve been taking cold showers since the day I met you.”

“We met like… three years ago…” You said, quickly doing the maths.

“Yeah…” He mumbled, “That’s a lot of cold showers.”

You turn to smile at him, a blush covering your face, “You better get dressed Lieutenant.”

Jake looked you over one last time before walking out towards your front door, grabbing his duffle bag and walking past you back into the bathroom, you hear the shower turn on again and you laugh. Hopefully you wouldn’t kill Jake before he said ‘I do’.

Once the shower stops and Jake is dressed, he resurfaces to find you wiping down the kitchen counters.

“Why don’t we go out tonight? Meet the team,” Jake says, coming up behind you.

You let out a short laugh, “I’ve met them. We’re friendly, even,” you can hear his snort behind you at your sass.

“I mean for drinks, you little ball of mischief,” He snorts

“Wow, is this the best you have? ‘Ball of mischief’? I’m not a puppy,” You laughed, then, striking up a serious pose, you added, “Try again.”

“Try again? You want me to try insulting you again?” Jake repeated, incredulous yet amused

You hummed in agreement, “You can’t do it better than Annie, anyway. She once called me a Bejewelled Harlot when I dared to wear a watch to school.”

Jake looked you up and down, “You sure you want me to do this?” He asked, you nodded in response. Jake opened his mouth and nothing came out.

After a moment of silence he said, “Nah, it’s the best I got. Sorry. I think I love you too much.”

“I think you’re a coward, you dirty little rat bastard,” you fired back, wanting to know what he was thinking.

Jake burst out laughing. After a minute of hysterics, he folded at the waist, slowly guiding his descent by grabbing onto the kitchen counters before finishing on his back, lying down on the kitchen tiles.

A minute later Jake still hadn’t recovered. His phone rang. He handed it to you and you unlocked the phone with your thumbprint.

“It’s Y/n” You announced to Coyote with a smile on your face that Jake trusted you to answer his phone.

“I was calling to see if you guys wanted to join us at the bar,” Coyote’s voice shouted over the noise.

You laughed, Jake must have known they were going out, “Yeah we’ll be there, what time?”

“Like, in twenty? We’re already here,” he shouted again before continuing, yelling at someone in the background, “Dude what the hell?” before the line went dead.

“Well, I guess we are going to the bar,” you said, looking at Jake’s still laughing form.

“Rat bastard? I can’t believe you called me a rat bastard,” He giggled, slowly calming down and then immediately devolving into laughter again.

“Come on, Honey, time to go” You said, gently nudging him with your foot

As you made your way out of the house, Jake in tow, you realised that you didn’t want to carry your purse for the night. Turning to him you asked, “Do you think you can put my ID in your wallet? I don’t want to carry my bag tonight.”

“Of course,” he said, a warm smile on his face as he tucked the offered card carefully into his wallet. He took your hand once you had locked the door behind you and helped you into his truck.

—

Jake pulled into the bar’s parking lot and you could see why Coyote had been yelling at someone earlier, the place was packed to the gills. Shooting Jake a nervous look, he placed his hand gently on your thigh, “Hey you’ve got me here, you don’t have to socialise if you don't want to.”

You laughed at that, “You’re probably right, you do enough socialising for the both of us.”

He placed a gentle kiss at the crown of your head, “My little wallflower. You’re so cute”

Jake exited the car, quickly jogging around the vehicle to open your door. He held you close as you entered, one arm swung over your shoulder in a protective fashion. You were lucky that Jake was both buff and tall, as he made his way through the crowd with ease. He stopped his course once he found the rest of the team, huddled in a little corner, shooting poisonous glares at a posse of civilian men, crowding their usual pool table.

“Bagman, Dove, nice of you two lovebirds to join us,” Phoenix said, pulling you away from Jake and into one of her own hugs, “Happy Birthday, girl” She whispered into your ear.

“Thank you,” you whispered back, before pulling away from her embrace some, “Where’s Halo?” you asked.

Phoenix nodded her head towards the bar, “Apparently she found some guy to talk to, I doubt it’ll last long, he was a civvie.”

“Wow, has she finally disavowed the entirety of the military?” You chuckled.

“No, she’s still holding out hope for the Admiral. I keep telling her he’s married, but you know…” Phoenix said, her tone exasperated.

“I really would rather not know,” You laughed. Jake had disappeared with Coyote to find himself a drink. You realised a second later that you hadn’t given Jake a card to pay with, you’d either have to run a tab, or stick to water, but before you could decide, Jake had already come back with your drink.

“Here you are darlin’,” he said, handing you the cool cup, a pretty pink liquid inside.

You gave him a smile before saying, “I forgot to give you my card, I can pay you back tomorrow.”

“Honey, as long as you’re with me, you’re never paying for anything again.” He shot you a wink.

As you took a sip of your drink, you hummed appreciatively, Jake had picked out something fruity that tasted delicious, “What’s this?” you asked him, impressed with his choice.

Jake gave you his cockiest smirk before leaning in close to whisper in your ear, “It’s called Sex On The Beach.”

You laughed at the name of the drink. The burning of your cheeks alerted you to the growing blush there at Jake’s antics.

Jake pressed a kiss to your cheek quickly before pulling back, dropping his arm around your waist as he joined Coyote in conversation. Laughing, you were content to watch the team converse around you, sipping your drink and swaying to the music, you almost hadn’t noticed Halo and Vegas appear in front of you.

“So, you were Hangman’s mystery girl, then,” Halo asked, her tone more challenging than happy.

“I guess,” You replied with a shrug, why was she acting so cold?

“I hope you’re careful,” Vegas said, leaning in closer so that Jake wouldn’t hear, “The Catholic School Girl act is really cute and all, but guys like him don’t go for girls like you. Well, not for your personality anyway…”

You stared at her in shock for a moment, sometimes you weren’t sure that you could be her backseater, “I don’t --” you stuttered out before being interrupted.

“Oh my God, you are so naive. You know he just wants to sleep with you right? Just so he can brag about it to his friends… You’ll be his little trophy virgin…” Halo cut in, smiling deviously, “Anyway, enjoy your drink…” she said before walking off, Vegas hot on her tail.

You frowned into your drink, Jake bought you a Sex On The Beach to be funny right? He said that he wanted to take things slow, to do things right by you. That didn’t mean earn your trust to take your virginity and leave, did it?

You shook your head violently, Jake would never do that. He said that he loved you. Hell, he picked you out of a burning plane, risking his own bodily harm, to save your life. He wouldn’t do that if he was just in this for sex.

At the shake of your head, Jake glanced down at you, “You okay? Drink too strong?” he asked, sounding concerned.

You tried to give him a smile, “No it’s perfect, thank you,” you said, but by the look on his face, you could tell that your act wasn’t fooling him.

Before you knew what was happening, Jake had excused himself from the conversation with Coyote and gently pulled you outside. He pushed you up against the wall of The Hard Deck, looking into your eyes, his hands holding your biceps gently, “What’s wrong? Have I done something?” he asked in a rush, worry evident in his eyes.

“No you haven’t done anything, nothing’s wrong,” you tried again.

Jake let out a sigh, “Sweetheart, you aren’t fooling me any. Why do you look so sad?”

“I just…” you started, your voice catching on the emotions that were running through you, “Halo and Vegas said some things to me.”

“What did they say?” he asked, looking confused.

“Well, they just told me that guys like you don’t go for girls like me. That the only reason you’re dating me is to take my virginity like some kind of trophy, like it's a game to you,” you choked out, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill from your eyes.

Before Jake could say anything, you continued, “They made it sound like you had been bragging about it, like you bought me this drink because it had sex in the name.”

When you looked up at him again, the look on his face broke your heart. He was looking at you with hurt and anger in his eyes, his grip on your arms tightened slightly before he pulled you to him, crushing you against his chest in a hug. You felt him burrow his nose into your hair at the top of your head.

Then you heard his voice, the sound resonating in his chest as it met your ears, “I would never do that. Not to you, or to anyone. I love you. I love you so much that the thought of what they said to you makes me feel physically sick. I told you we’re taking this slow, for both of us, and I meant it. Okay?”

You nodded your head into his chest, sniffling up the last of your tears. You knew that he wouldn’t do that, he was too good of a guy to do that, but you needed to hear him say it. You pulled out of his embrace, looking up at him. As you opened your mouth to speak, he continued.

“And I bought you that drink because I thought you would like it. It’s sweet just like you,” he said, his voice low and his eyes dark and full of anger.

You leaned up and pressed a soft kiss to his lips, before it could get to be too much, you pulled away from him, “You know me so well, sometimes it's scary,” you said with a genuine smile on your face.

Jake gave you a half hearted laugh, “Let’s get back in there before they start up with the inappropriate jokes again.”

Taking his hand, you let him pull you back into the crowded bar. Instead of heading for Coyote though, Jake made a bee-line for Bobby.

“Hey Bob, will you hangout here with Dove for a minute? Gotta hit the head,” Jake said, giving Bob a look that meant business.

“Absolutely, I heard that she is celebrating tonight anyway,” Bob said, giving you a smile, “Happy birthday!”

You got lost in conversation with Bob, but as the minutes passed, you started to wonder where Jake had gotten off to. He was a guy, it didn’t take ten minutes to use the bathroom. Standing on your tiptoes to see above the crowd, you spotted him standing on the deck with Phoenix, both of them were yelling at two women who you recognized almost immediately as Halo and Vegas.

As much as you hated confrontation, it warmed your heart that Jake was so mad on your behalf he felt the need to stand up to them for you. A genuine smile covered your face as you continued conversing with Bob, you could ask Jake about what he said later.

That night, on the way home, you fell asleep in the front seat of Jake’s truck, your head resting gently against the window. Jake looked over to your sleeping form and smiled. He lowered the volume of the radio, despite the oddly fitting song playing at that moment. When he pulled into your drive, ‘Isn’t she lovely’ still whispered its melody inside the cab.

Jake carried you inside, gently depositing you on your bed before kissing your temple. Pulling each of your shoes off, he threw the afgan you kept on the end of the bed over you carefully. He knelt next to you, his hands in front of him before doing the sign of the cross and interlacing his fingers together.

“Hail Mary, full of grace! The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Angel of God, her guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits her here. Ever this day be at her side, to light, to guard, to rule, to guide. Amen”

With one last kiss pressed to your forehead, Jake made his way out of your bedroom, turning off lights in the apartment as he went. He locked the door behind him before jogging through the cool November air back to his truck. He fell asleep that night with a smile on his face, your relationship might have been tested tonight, but you didn’t forsake him.

—

The next morning you woke up groggy, unsure of how you had gotten into your bed considering that you didn’t remember getting home, only part of the ride there. You must have fallen asleep on the drive, Jake had soft pop on the radio and you weren’t sure how that kept him awake.

Checking your phone, which had been plugged in on your night stand, you unlocked it to find a few texts from him.

Jakey <3: Made it home safe, I love you

Jakey <3: I’ll be by with Starbucks in the morning

The last message had come through at just after one in the morning, it was only eight now, so you figured that you had some time before he made his way over. Climbing out of bed, you showered quickly, desperately wanting the smell of stale beer off your person. After getting dressed, you prepared a quiche for breakfast. Glancing at the clock, it was only nine, Jake slept late on Saturdays, and you hadn’t the heart to wake him.

You had missed a few days in your journaling bible due to the hectic training schedule and your birthday yesterday. Sitting down at your dining table, you laid out the few prayer cards you had, your bible, and your journaling notebook.

You looked up the chapters that you had missed reading, and started on them. Highlighting and underlining the parts that stuck out to you. You placed sticky notes on the pages with the most profound scripture, things to come back to in the future, writing annotations down in your notebook. Suddenly, you felt a pair of hands on your shoulders and you jumped.

“Jake! Oh my gosh,” you said, letting out a surprised squeal.

Jake laughed at you for a moment before saying, “Sorry honey, didn’t mean to startle you. Thought you knew I was here with all the noise I made coming in.” He picked up his bag from the floor, and the coffees from your side table.

“Sorry, I get really into it sometimes,” You explained, adding a quiet, “Thank you,” and a grateful smile as he handed you your beverage. You popped the lid open to smell the drink, trying to guess what he’d ordered you. You recognised it immediately, its smell both creamy and sweet. You hadn’t had a caramel macchiato in years.

“S’alright” Jake said. He walked round the table, dropping his bag on the floor again and drew a chair, “Mind if I join you?”

Jake pulled out his own Bible out of his bag and opened it after taking a large swig of his coffee.

You smiled at him from across the table, “I didn’t know you’d come so early, I haven’t got breakfast cooked yet.”

“Don’t worry about it baby, I’m not too hungry yet,” he said, taking another sip of his coffee. Jake paused, “Sweetheart, you know you don’t have to make me breakfast, right?”

You gave him a confused look, “What are you talking about?”

“Like, I appreciate it, obviously, but you don’t have to,” Jake said, trying to explain what he meant.

“No, I know, but I like doing it,” You replied. A relief washed over Jake’s face and he leaned back in his chair. “Okay, good. I don’t want you to feel like you’re obligated.”

“Never obligated,” you said with a smile, “I do it because I want to. You might be the Navy’s best fighter pilot or whatever they say but you need to be taken care of too.”

The look Jake gave you made every bit of cooking you had ever done for him worth it. He motioned you to him with his fingers, leaning across the table, he caressed your jaw with his hand before kissing your lips. There was a certain amount of hunger in each kiss you shared but you can easily say that if there hadn’t been a table between the two of you, you weren’t sure Jake would have been able to pull himself away.

“What can I ever do to deserve you?” Jake asked, his lips almost still pressed to your own, his short pants brushing over your face.

You gave him a soft look before saying, “Protect me, honour me, love me.”

He kissed you one more time before pulling away, your hand held in his as he laid out his bible and began to read and you did the same.

Jake picked up his pencil, underlining something in the passage he was reading. His bible was nothing like yours, not covered in yellow and pink highlighter, purple pen, and blue sticky notes. But everyone had a method, and you couldn’t say that you faulted him for wanting to stick with something a little less permanent.

As you bent your head down in concentration, trying to make your way through the book of Genesis, you heard a rumbling sound. Looking up at the table, you saw Jake pretending that his stomach hadn’t just growled so loudly that it was audible.

“Are you hungry now?” you asked, laughter in your voice.

He blushed lightly, “Maybe a little.”

You squeezed his hand once before letting go, your palm missing the warmth of his, “Well let me put the quiche in quickly then, we can keep reading while it bakes.”

When you returned to the table, you were disappointed that his free hand was now occupied, tracing along in the text so he didn’t lose his place. Trying to push it away, you focused back on your bible,

“Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.”

As you made your way through one of the most famous stories of the bible you kept getting interrupted by Jake, he kept peering over at you curiously, like he was trying to figure out where you were at or what you were reading. Eventually, you were curious as to what he was doing, “You okay over there?” you asked him.

“Yeah, I’m good. Sorry, just curious what you are reading today,” he said, a little embarrassed from being caught.

“It's okay, Genesis is where I am today, Noah’s ark actually,” you say, peering over at his bible you ask, “What about you?”

“I’m in Luke, reading up about the birth of Jesus,” he said, “My family always recites it for my nieces before bed on Christmas Eve so I usually look at it a little bit before then to make sure I know it well enough to improvise it.”

You give him a smile, “That’s so sweet,” you said.

“Yeah,” Jake replied, rubbing his hand through his unstyled hair, “I also want to do that for the little kids at church this year. That way they can enjoy the mass too. Since I am one of the Youth Ministers, I do get a say in how the mass goes if it will help retention”

You smiled at the thought of Jake reading to a room full of kids, he will be the best father in the future. As you focused on reading, Jake cleared his throat, “Would…err…would you mind reading aloud again? I really enjoyed that the other day…” he asked sweetly.

“Of course,” you said with a smile on your face.

Picking up your bible from the table, you began to read from it aloud,

“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.[d] Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.”

You noticed that as you read, Jake closed his eyes like he was trying to picture what you were saying in his mind. You opened your mouth to continue reading, when the timer for the quiche went off, startling Jake out of his reverie.

You lifted yourself from your chair and opened the oven, pulling out the quiche and placing it on top of the stove. You returned to the table while it cooled down a little bit, wanting to finish the section before you ultimately got distracted.

“I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.””

“Speaking of food to be eaten,” Jake says, giving you a cute smile, “I think that quiche is probably ready.”

You put your bible down, slipping your grandma’s prayer card into it to hold the place with a laugh, “I think you’re right.”

You served up the quiche while Jake cleared off the table. As you set the pieces down, you held hands over the food quickly praying, “Bless us oh Lord these gifts which we are about to receive, through our bounty though Christ our Lord, Amen.”

With that, the two of you began to eat. Jake, as always, scarfed his down like you were going to take the plate from him, and got up to get seconds. When you had both had your fills, you washed the dishes as Jake put them away, a comfortable silence settling between you.

Returning to the table, Jake brought his bible back out, “Can I read to you now?” he asked.

“That sounds lovely,” you said, taking your seat and closing your eyes waiting for him to start.

“Okay, I was almost at the end,” he said quietly, before launching into the scripture,

“So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”

As Jake read you found yourself becoming more and more tired, his deep voice was perfect for reading out loud. You could see how he was a good Youth Minister, able to advise his students but also able to speak so smoothly.

Before you knew it the passage was done, and Jake was packing his bible up. He looked over at your tired features, and as if he could read your mind, asked, “Do you want to watch a movie?”

“That sounds great,” you said, getting up from the table and making your way into the living room. You don’t remember what movie Jake picked, because once you had snuggled up to him under the sherpa blanket you had laying on the couch, your eyes closed and you slept through the whole thing.

#fanfic #top gun fanfiction #top gun x reader #top gun maverick #fanfiction #hangman x reader #original fic #jake hangman seresin #jake seresin #hangman top gun

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lgg5989 · 2 years

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Church Encounters Pt 5

-- Part 5 of the fic I am writing with @barbiewritesstuff, you can find this fic on her tumblr and my Ao3 account :) Check out my Masterlist for the other chapters!

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