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The first time Jake Seresin gives a father’s day card is the first time he shows his hand to a superior officer. Coincidentally it’s also the first time Bradley Bradshaw sees how many lives his family has touched.
—
It’s a stupid idea. He doesn’t even know where he got the notion. But it stays stuck in his mind, niggling away for a month. Father’s day (or Mother’s day) for that matter aren’t really discussed. It’s a dangerous territory for most of them. Jake counts himself lucky he hasn’t buried a parent yet. He remembers overhearing a conversation he shouldn’t have, between Bob and Bradley. Orphans. Bradley just had the sheer luck of having Maverick, Bob wasn’t as lucky. From what he heard before ripping himself away was the mumblings of an aunt with more children than she could already care for.
So he’s lucky in that sense. Not that he considers himself unlucky in others.
He grew up in Texas. In all honesty he’s surprised he never ran into the dark horse Robert Floyd before the Uranium mission. Not until much later, when the dust settled after the mission, do they both discover they rode bulls in rodeos growing up. The fact makes him smile. A mysterious man if he’s ever met one. He’s lucky because he’s never buried a parent. But he got the shitty dad. Nothing new, nothing special.
Still, he doesn’t know what makes him think of this idea. Yet it sticks. And he cannot shake it.
—
Jake knows after the fight during training Maverick is suspicious of him. He hopes that in the months since that he’s become less suspicious, maybe that’s in part to Admiral Kazansky, or Ice as he insists on being called because he’s this close to retirement I don’t really care.
Quickly, he realises that Maverick is impulsive in all aspects of his life. When he becomes fixed on something, he doesn’t let it go. That means that Bradley’s old school work is lining the walls of his house. Soon that spreads to the rest of the daggers. Shit, there’s a paper mache F-18 on the mantle piece because what the fuck Ivys?
Hell, Bob found an old book report which he shyly produced when it started to become a trend. Up until this point, Jake has refused to give anything. He doesn’t tell anyone that most of his stuff was thrown out before it left school gates.
Iceman is more reserved but equally enthusiastic. Gently, he reels Maverick. The attention over Bob’s book report is, by the wizzo, unwanted. The admiral expertly redirects the energy into finding a place to put it, rather than smothering the blond. Ice scared him for a long time. The energy surrounding him made him anxious. Yet the more BBQs and beach days that occurred, the less he felt anxiety creeping into his bones every time he spoke to him.
Once that fear melted, he found the comfort that others found from the Admiral. His dry wit and sage advice gelled seamlessly with a compassionate ear, a sturdy shoulder. More than once Jake found himself sitting in silence, simply being drawing comfort from the steady man.
Then there’s Maverick who’s borne the role of father with pride for years. It exudes from him. One look and yep, that’s a dad. The only thing he’s missing is the dad bod but he’s got the jokes. He fears treading on toes, seeking advice from him. It’s not a line he dares to cross with Bradley. But Maverick crosses it anyway.
One night on the tail end of winter in North Island, Jake had marched the shoreline for over an hour. Nothing particular on his mind except an angry irritation, seemingly from nowhere. It left him snappy and restless. Out of thin air (or maybe the Hard Deck), Maverick appeared and they talked until the restlessness went and the tide receded from where it threatened to spill over his eyes.
—
Buying it is almost enough to put him off all together.
How much are cards meant to cost?
Is it meant to look shitty so he can play it off as a joke? Or serious enough so they knew he’s not just fooling around?
Jake refuses to ask anyone because what kind of idiot doesn’t know what sort of card to buy. By now he’s stood in front of the card stand for ten minutes and he’s pretty sure there’s a pair of siblings waiting for him to go so they can look for themselves.
So he snatches one without looking at it and fills it out with a shitty ball point pen rattling around in his car. There, that feels like a universal experience…right?
—-
Tom almost dismisses the unaddressed envelope, prepared to write it off as Jehovias Witnes or something like that. But there’s something in the print handwriting that looks familiar. Familiar enough to make him falter.
“Hey Pete,” he calls. “Come here for a second.”
His husband pads barefoot across the kitchen, still in pyjamas. “What is it?”
“A card, I think.”
He tears the envelope and pulls the card free. There’s an attractive snort shared between them at the front cover.
HEY DAD, YOU DID A GOOD JOB BUT I STILL DON’T KNOW HOW TO CHANGE A TYRE
“Who’s it from?” Asks Pete craning to see over Tom’s forearm.
Tom opens it, swapping the card to his left hand so he can put his right around Pete’s shoulders.
I don’t know what the protocol is for today, this is the first card I’ve ever given. That’s probably not what you’re meant to say..
Happy Fathers’ day.
Thank you.
For everything.
Hangman J.S
It’s followed by the pre-printed message but neither of their eyes get that far.
Jake Seresin gave them a father’s day card.
—
The next pseudo-family gathering there’s something nestled amongst bills and acquired school reports that takes pride of place in the centre of the fridge. A magnet keeps it firmly closed against prying eyes but it stays centre stage all the same. Jake falters when he sees it, but doesn’t say a word. No one needs to know the truth. But across the room, Bradley sees the stetson falter, head bobbing in a sly double take.
He knows the truth. It’s the first time he sees, seriously, the impact that Ice and Mav have had on his friends, his…
The daggers have brought Maverick back to life, Ice shows a carefully hidden softness more often. But the two men’s effect on the squad? He sees it for the first time when Jake’s eyes sift through an anxious mixture of emotions.
No one else needs to know that he catches a brief sheen in the cowboy’s eyes.