Work Text:
“Do you have a minute sir?”
“Sure.” Pete cocks his head and widens the door to his office, “come in.”
Hangman swaggers inside the room every bit the confident pilot Pete has so far seen him be. “Recovered from your day of exercise yet sir?”
Pete thinks to the dogfight football game and smiles. “Somewhat. Obviously gave the old bad back trouble and I need a walking stick to hobble about with after keeping up with you kids but I think I'll pull through.”
“The team building was a stroke of genius, I’ll give you that.” There's a cocky Hangman lilt to his smile but Pete thinks his compliment is genuine.
“Thanks. I’ll send over my next ideas for you to give the once over and you can advise me of any amends.”
Hangman smiles and Pete lets him get away with his comments. Dogfight football was days ago now but if Hangman needs a bit of banter to work himself up to whatever the hell he’s here for then Pete can happily afford him that. He has bigger issues than a mouthy pilot.
Hangman doesn’t seem to be in a hurry though now he’s broken the ice so Pete needles him. “I haven’t yet known you to be lost for words Hangman.”
Hangman actually huffs out a laugh. “I live to consistently exceed expectations Sir.” Pete turns and wanders to the desk hiding the smile on his face. He dislikes the formality of being across the desk from one another but they are in his office so they may as well sit. Hangman pulls his chair close and sits bolt upright. Nothing else on his face or voice carries any obvious nervous energy but it is radiating off of him. Pete has no idea where this is going.
“Water?” He offers the pilot.
Hangman shakes his head and gets to business. “It wasn’t my intention to seem like you were to blame for what happened with your wingman. I also should not have bought it up in such a public setting. I wanted to apologise.”
Pete swallows the breath that catches in his throat. Goose lives in his head every single day but it still blindsides him when someone brings him up unexpectedly. Including now. Especially then.
Pete leans closer. “That’s what you’re sorry for, really?”
“I’m sorry for hurting Bradshaw but I didn’t bring it up thinking it would be the basis for a heart-warming chat made of rainbows.”
“Tell me why then. What goes on in that head of yours?”
“He’s in the past. Bradshaw is. And yeah, maybe he’s got a past to be caught up in but it won’t do him good here and now to fight ghosts alongside everything else on this suicide mission.”
That knocks Pete as much as being reminded of Goose had.
“And who says it’s a suicide mission?”
Hangman waves his hand. “I do. You do.”
“Do I?”
Pete’s worried for a split second Hangman’s overhead things around base but he knows conversations have been hush hush and were basically sealed as top secret before the pilots even made it to base.
“It’s what you’re preparing us for. It couldn’t be clearer. I don’t know what everyone else doesn’t understand about that.” There’s some emotion lining his voice now but Pete doesn’t know him well enough to place it. Hangman’s clearly smart enough to understand what he’s been trying to teach.
“Go on.”
“I’ve read everything about you I could get my hands on, you know that?”
“And?”
Hangman rests his hand on the edge of the desk and taps his fingers as he speaks. “You’re beyond decorated because you’re literally the best but you’re not higher up the ladder because you don’t play by the rules. Which incidentally is likely what makes you the best. You care. You care about the job getting done well and about those doing the job. It sets you apart. Then there’s us. We’re all the best pilots assembled in once place so it needs the best to teach us which means we aren’t good enough as it is and this is urgent. Then you have the applications of everything you’ve been teaching us and stringing them together to be used in real time once the mission hits. And we haven’t done it yet. We’re the best but we haven’t mastered these single mission aspects never mind done them in succession and under life or death pressure.”
His understanding about the mission and implications is truly beyond what anyone else has grasped. Pete’s beginning to feel like they’re close to broaching the true reason for Hangman’s visit
“Go on,” he says again but gently this time.
“You’re worried. With good reason.”
“So are you.” Hangman shrugs but Pete’s having none of that. If the pilot wants to show up and talk then that’s what they’re going to do. “You can pretend all you like Lieutenant but although you were - and this is my professional opinion - acting like an asshole your words were ‘a man flies like Mav here or a man does not come back.’" If any pilots hadn't understood Pete’s intent before Hangman's little speech they sure as shit did afterwards.
“Yes.”
“You’re not wrong.”
“No.”
“So. Why are you here? This isn’t it. You already know you’ve shown me you understand the true gravity of the situation even if you weren’t in a gracious mood when you did so. You’re not here to show me you’ve listened when I’ve talked.”
Hangman’s posture has never dipped below straight but he seems to straighten up even more and as he begins to talk whatever is to come must be the reason why he’s really here.
“I’m here to talk about you sending me on the suicide mission instead of Rooster.” Pete decides to not push that logic. He thinks by now the class have likely all realised it is a two man race between Rooster and Hangman.
“I know you think Rooster isn’t ready and that you’re better than he is -”
Jake shakes his head. “That’s wrong. Sir. I’m not pushing because I think I’m better. Don’t get me wrong I’m always pushing to be the best but you aren’t scared of competition from someone you don’t think is good and he is my competition. Always has been. There’s no cause to worry about someone you know can’t beat you.”
Pete cocks his head to that. Why is he pushing Bradley so hard if he wants to be the best? Wouldn’t you step back and let your competition fall? Let your own performance speak for itself? He decides to just ask the question.
“Why push your competition then? Wouldn’t it be easier to not strive them on?”
Hangman’s cheeks lightly redden and his hand returns to his lap so he can clasp his fingers together. “It would be easier but where’s the fun in that? No sportsmanship in not beating the best is there?”
“You sound like a pretty solid team player for someone who plays so much on his callsign being Hangman.” Hangman shrugs but he fidgets in his chair and it gives away his fake nonchalance. “It would do you well to remember you are not your callsign.” He’s trying to extend an olive branch but Hangman doesn’t want it.
This isn't making sense. The Hangman that Pete has seen has been about proving himself. Showing how capable he is. The Hangman he’s seen wouldn’t sit and try to manipulate something away from others. He wouldn’t need to. But Pete can’t understand the angle. Not yet. So he asks the question flat out.
“You’re here to try and convince me to give this opportunity to you over another pilot?”
“Yes.”
Pete frowns and leans back to study the pilot in front of him. His disappointment must show to Hangman and it’s Pete’s sharp eyes that catch the slight shift in his body language as a result.
“Then, Lieutenant Seresin I would suggest you to continue to try your best in training and I will select the best pilot for the job at the end.”
Hangman shakes his head. He swallows and looks Pete in the eye. “Why don’t you select it on the basis of making sure the best man is still available after this one mission ends?”
“It’s down to the pilot best for the job. That's why we're all here.”
“Maybe it shouldn’t be.” He’s biting his bottom lip and Pete wonders if the toothpicks are more than a fashion accessory, if they’re a nervous habit disguised as showboating and he’s missing the comfort of one now.
“Hangman if you want this you need to be the best man for the job. I can’t base the decision off of anything else. You need to put your money where your mouth is.” That was the wrong thing to say and Jake shakes his head slightly and stares at the ceiling for a couple of seconds.
“I’m not here to try and underhandedly take something from another pilot. I’m here to tell you that if you’re agonising over sending someone to their death to just send me. No hard feelings.”
That leaves Pete breathless for a moment. He’s not here to steal glory. He’s here for the exact opposite reason.
“Hangman -”
He’s spared from having to figure out what to say when he’s interrupted. “There’s clearly something between you and Rooster. I don’t know why the idiot doesn’t seem to understand you’re protecting him. So just spare him and send me.” He should feel some stroke of protectiveness over hearing Bradley be called an idiot but there’s almost a fondness to Hangman’s voice that Pete would like to understand. Would like to hear again.
So although Hangman knows it’s a two man race he seems to think it’s a done deal and he's here to change that. Pete wants to ask him what his reasoning is for assuming Rooster’s already been chosen but that isn’t the issue here. “I can tell you honestly I haven’t decided yet.”
And isn’t that the devastating truth.
“He hesitates.”
“You don’t play well as a team and this isn’t a solo mission. Perhaps your abilities could make you do it when the time comes but you need the faith embedded in your team before you get in the air and the time for that is quickly passing.”
Hangman is silent and it affords Pete the opportunity to consider the fact that the pilot is here under completely selfless not selfish circumstances. He runs through the conversation so far and re-frames everything in that light.
“Hangman…this is not your decision to agonise over, it’s my burden. My choice...and if the worst does happen it will be on me.”
“It doesn’t have to be. A burden, I mean. You can choose to send me. I won’t let you down. I’ll finish the mission. I’ll do whatever it takes to get the team home.”
The team home. Pete doesn’t think that Hangman is including himself in that.
“Jake, has it ever occurred to you that the spare in this mission might be key? That they must also be someone I can trust? That their job could be harder even if they don’t get off the ground - and let’s hope they don’t need to. The spare will hear everything. Will be powerless to stop things from happening and if they get to fly they’ll have to catch up, help, have no idea what they’re going to find and possibly pass the fresh wreckage containing a teammate on the way.”
Hangman looks like he has not considered that and both men sit lost to their thoughts.
Pete has been wrecking himself over this choice. It would be hard enough without the personal aspect involving Bradley what with all the questions over suitability and each pilot’s strengths and weaknesses. Pete cannot deny the Bradley factor has been messing with his head. Of course it has. Pete might be one of the Navy’s most formidable pilots but he’s still human.
He really does face losing Bradley forever. He chooses Hangman and Bradley walks away from him again never looking back except in anger and always being under the impression Pete doesn’t think he’s good enough. The second option is Pete attending both Goose and Rooster’s funerals probably before organising and being present at his own. He isn’t focusing so much on the fantasy options; ones of mission success and emotional reconciliations. They almost seem harder to stomach.
He knows that if Hangman is truly the better pilot for the job he will have to pick him and he’ll try and justify it to Bradley but it’s unlikely he’ll understand.
Then there’s the unmissable mountain of tension and competitiveness existing between Bradley and Jake. Pete’s seen enough over his years to know something is going on under the surface, a history he’ll never be witness to and may never understand exactly. But he does know enough to think that if Bradley was facing losing out to a different pilot that it might not sting so much.
And now Hangman’s thrown another curveball at Pete’s logic. Is it tempting to shake the mans hand and thank him for his service and send him on the mission with a furious misguided Bradley safe on the ground hating his guts? Is it tempting to allow himself the grace of less guilt if the worse happens knowing that Jake served his country and offered the sacrifice freely? Of course it is. It makes the decision harder.
At least at first it does. Because for a couple of minutes Pete allows himself to consider the offer but then he takes his eyes back to the straight backed hard faced pilot in front of him. Lieutenant Jake Seresin is sat simultaneously as closed off and as bare as Pete has seen him thus far. He’s trying to give nothing away without realising he’s laid everything out in the open in the process.
Hangman hiding his feelings takes place in the form of Hangman smirking and peacocking and goading. Jake Seresin however, is hiding nothing right now. What Jake doesn’t know is that if there’s one other man serving in the navy right now who is as bullheaded, sure of his skills, and as self-destructive as he apparently is, it’s him. Fate shoved Jake in front of Pete Maverick Mitchell; perhaps the only man here with enough overlapping insight to get a good read on him. Jake's offer might well have had more weight to a different man.
Pete extends a hand over the table and Hangman’s shoulders fall in relief. He shakes it gladly and Pete realises too late he has made a mistake and Hangman must think this is an agreement.
“You’re a good man Jake.”
Hangman squeezes his hand before he lets go. “I think we both know that’s not true Sir but maybe this is a way I can make things right.”
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“No. This is not me agreeing to anything.” Hangman’s mask falls openly for the first time. “The decision will be made based on who is best for the mission. That’s all I can promise you but I can promise it you honestly. The both of you are perfectly capable of watching my back and delivering for the team so it’s about the skills to fit the mission and it cannot come down to more than that.”
Hangman looks devastated. What the hell is Pete missing here? Something isn’t right.
By all rights, Captain Pete Mitchell should be spitting mad. How often does a Lieutenant try and dictate their own orders and question decisions like this? But Pete’s brushing that aside because he is desperate to scratch the surface of the other man. Every single time Pete has ever questioned orders or stepped out of line he's been convinced he's right. So Jake must believe in what he is fighting for more than anything.
Jake’s sitting here trying to beg for his opportunity. But not for glory. No, he wants the suicide mission so no one else gets hurt. And both men have had no pretences this entire discussion that the other man in question for the mission is Bradley so that’s what Jake is here for. But why? What is it about Bradley that’s led Jake here?
Bradley who is fighting for the mission too and who is fighting for glory, but not for bragging rights. For personal glory over Pete. He’s fighting to prove himself because he thinks if he wins this he’ll prove Pete wrong and he’ll show himself worthy. The kid thinks Pete pulled his papers because he thought he wasn’t good enough and Pete might never get the chance to undo that damage.
The key here, is that in fighting to prove Pete wrong it means Bradley will be fighting to come home.
It no longer feels like Bradley and Jake are chasing that same end.
“Jake you telling me you know you’re at peace with expecting to not come home is not as reassuring as you think it is.”
“Find someone who will care Sir.”
“I care. It’s what I’ve been fighting to get across to you all.”
“You’d get over me not coming home.”
What finally unlocks the puzzle for Pete is what Hangman leaves unsaid here. That Pete would get over Jake not coming home where he wouldn’t get over losing Bradley. It seems like he and Jake are both in agreement there and at that point the realisation hits him like a building falling down would.
This man is in love with his goddamn godson and Pete probably isn’t going to live long enough to be forgiven by either man never mind invited to the wedding.
The eye contact lasts for only a few seconds and as Jake looks away like he’s been scalded Pete is sure he’s right. He’s certainly not going to spook the other man by opening that can of worms though.
“Quite frankly Jake I am tempted to refer you to the on base psychiatrist for your suicidal tendencies.”
“But if you did you’d have to self refer or live a hypocrite?”
Pete can’t help but show his smile but when he speaks he’s deadly serious. “Hangman this mission needs teamwork and I need to send people who haven’t decided already they won’t come home.”
“Why is it a bad thing?”
“Because you are not disposable. If this mission boiled down to me deciding who I should sacrifice it would be easy because it would be myself. If I could choose the outcome I would but I can't make guarantees any more than you can despite the fact it seems we're both trying to do so.”
They sit in silence and Pete stares out the window watching dust blow over the tarmac outside as he thinks back to his own initial briefing on this mission where he had made clear that his personal priority was to see the pilots return home.
He closes his eyes for a second as he thinks about the newest, rawest, part of him and his final conversation with Ice. Where he had begged Ice to send him. ‘Don’t ask me to send someone else to die. Don’t ask me to send him.’
If Jake survives this and Pete retires the Navy aren’t getting the reprise they think they will be. They’ll be getting Maverick 2.0. Another pilot that seems to exclusively walk a very thin line.
It seems, he and Jake are on the same line of thinking. But that does little to reassure Pete who knows his own head and recognises his own self-destructive behaviour and is now being forced to look into a mirror with a reflection that looks like Lieutenant Jake Seresin.
Jake has achieved the exact opposite of what he came here to do.
Pete thinks Bradley might have the fire within him to survive this mission out of spite alone.
Jake has decided if he goes then he’s taking the place of someone not coming home.
The silence allows the words that have been slamming into his mind and his heart ever since they were thrown at him by the person he loves more than anything to flood back. He looks at Jake who seems curious, like he knows Pete is lost in thought and unwilling to break the silence. He hears Bradley tell him ‘no one to mourn you when you burn in’ and it hurts no less now in his memory than it had in that room in person. The fact that Bradley himself had told him he wouldn’t care if he died…It seems Jake Seresin isn’t too concerned about people mourning him either.
What a pair they make.
He could send Hangman and have an alive Bradley continue to hate him.
But he could also risk the lives of others on the team if Hangman takes that attitude in the air. He might think he’s doing good and risk everything. And most of all, how can Pete send him and have him climb into his jet thinking he was sent because Pete agrees he is replaceable? He can’t do that.
He shakes Jake’s hand again as they hover in front of the door to his office and he grips his hand with both of his own to keep the pilot in place. He wants something big and meaningful to say to the man in-front of him but doesn’t think whatever he can say in this moment now will resonate as he intends.
He settles for repeating the promise he’s already made. “Whatever decision is made is based off the mission alone. You are an exceptional pilot and you’re a good man.”
Jake nods, “Thank you for your time Sir.”
True to his promise when the time comes Pete chooses Bradley.
He thinks Bradley’s determination to prove himself gives better chances of being welcomed home over Jake’s insistence it’s okay if he doesn’t return.
In the end though Hangman sees the skies that day anyway when he flies without permission and saves both their lives. He plays the part of the spare with compassion and grace and an unshakable fearlessness to ensure his team comes home. He shakes Bradley’s hand on the carrier a different man and Pete knows he will watch every upwards mile that this man’s career stretches.
Pete owes his life both physically and also in the form of Bradley to this man. Jake has shown himself to be one of the best men he knows. He will be the very best of the Navy. Any pilot a part of his team should be happy to work with him if he can only learn to be happy working with himself.
Perhaps that is the next big mission they should prepare for.