‘don’t you want your favourite character to be happy???’ no? i want my favourite character to be interesting. i want me to be happy. which sometimes involves my favourite character being in exquisite agony
i just think if you set aside the whole “these two feels like exes” vibe they have in their very first scene, it’s so utterly clear from that moment that hangman wants roosters attention and he wants it bad and his brain’s helpful advice is “insult him”
like jake “i picked out a song that’s about how slow and hesitant you are as a pilot but it’s also explicitly about sex” seresin saw rooster arrive and went “ah yes, here’s my chance to get his attention” and that he sure does. jake “i’m going to watch you and maverick talk on the airstrip” seresin, brow furrowed as he tries to figure it all out. jake “i’ve memorized your face so well that i can spot your DAD out of a blurry black and white photo” seresin. he pushes and pushes, obviously as a defense mechanism, and then we have jake “i’m going to stare at the panel of my plane in distress as i hear that you’ve been shot down” seresin who then takes off against orders like ???
jake hangman seresin is In Love with rooster the entire time and you cannot convince me otherwise !