I'm more of a vidder than a writer, and I haven't written a fanfic in a year. And because I fail at finishing chapter fics, I thought it was better to put my energy in a one-shot. And this fandom needs more fics, so I thought I'd give it a try :D
This fic takes place during Junior year. I think that's all you need to know??
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Troop & all that jazz. All from the creative mind of Max Burnett ;D
"Oh come on! I would have never stood a chance against him," Jake spoke directly to Hayley. Although he turned back around to roll his eyes, she was quite aware what he was doing even with his back turned to her.
"How do you know?" Hayley argued back.
"Are you kidding me?" Jake kept marching forward, traipsing through the mud, "I know you, and your rep couldn't handle it,"
Hayley was offended, "I can't believe you think I'm that shallow."
"I don't think your shallow, but you hate taking risks without being fully sure of the consequences," Jake said surely, "I know you."
"Well, you don't know everything about me" Hayley yelled following close behind. He turned back around, taking her by surprise.
"Really? I know you would never sell yourself short, especially for some loser guy! You have more confidence than anyone I know and wouldn't let anyone treat you like some average girl," Jake was about to rant on some more until Hayley interrupted him.
"You really think that highly of me?" she asked him seriously.
"I was just saying what I know… and I also know you have a hundred pillows on your bed, but the one you sleep on is in the closet, which is completely ridiculous by the way." Jake turned away fast and quickened his pace.
This aggravated Hayley, "See you always do that!"
"Do what?" Jake asked confusedly holding tightly the pulse blaster in his hands.
"Say such sweet things, but then play it off like you don't mean it," she explained.
"I don't know what you mean," Jake stammered out.
Hayley spoke in a much softer tone, "Why can't you just say how you feel? If you could just be honest with me, instead of playing games…"
"Me? play games? You're the one who keeps playing games," Jake said accusingly. "You know Brian doesn't appreciate you, and the guy socked me in the face once!" Jake shouted while motioning to his once black eye, "you were just trying to make me jealous." Jake finished his statement proudly with an "A-Ha" look on his face.
"Well maybe I was hoping I could push you to take a stand for once in your life!" Hayley retorted.
"There you go again, always PUSHING. What if I don't want to be pushed? I'm a man; I can do things for myself," Jake said regaining his pride.
She scoffed, "A man? Really, a man that owns a stuffed bunny"
"Beaver!" he corrected her.
"Um guys," Felix stuttered nervously. They turned back and simultaneously shouted "WHAT!?" only to find Felix pointing ahead of them.
They were in the middle of the woods on a mission to capture a Kaiju, but it was a giant Behemoth that was currently glaring right at them. It plowed its arm into the ground sending a wave through the earth.
The tremor caused the three friends to scatter in different directions. The monster charged forward to where Hayley had been flung. She tried to regain her composure quickly but her martial arts skills didn't stand a chance against such a massive creature. The two boys had been deposited in opposite directions and once the result of the small but effective quake had dwindled, headed toward the monster.
Felix found Jake's pulse ray near where he had fell, and despite not usually being the one to handle machinery, began to aim it toward the Behemoth. Then he saw its hand reaching down picking up a person he immediately identified as Hayley. Quickly, he shot with his eyes squeezed closed, and hit right in the monster's core purely by luck. He immediately fainted following his surprise success.
Jake who was coming from another side of the woods could see the monster in the distance. His body ached from the fall but he had luckily landed in a bush. He brushed off some leaves and stood up twisting his body to get a kink out of his neck. He looked around and once he focused his vision, he found Hayley in the monster's hold. He instinctively ran toward the creature and sped up as he saw the Behemoth get shot by a pulse sent by Felix. Once he got close enough, he stood beneath the creature as it released Hayley from its grasp. Hayley screamed as she descended but fell silent when she found herself in Jake's arms.
"About time, Superman," she joked poking fun at Jake's current rescue position, but was seriously impressed with Jake's strength.
He smiled down at her. "Actually I prefer more cunning comic-book heroes like 'The Shield'." She rolled her eyes at her friend. As the rest of the monster's body crumbled to the ground, he ran her to so safety.
Once they had escaped danger, he helped place her back to the ground but her arms remained wrapped around his neck. She blushed noticing she was still holding on and brought her arms back to her sides and began to walk away. She was about to go check on Felix, but she felt a warm touch on her arm that stopped her in her tracks. Suddenly she was facing back into Jake's dark brown eyes.
"Don't go back to him," he said firmly with both his hands placed on her shoulders
"We need to check on Felix," she responded stupidly but she quickly realized that's not what he was referring to.
"I meant it." Jake stated.
Her eyes crinkled in confusion.
Jake brought his hands down and stuffed them in his jacket pockets as he elaborated, "That day, two years ago, when I told you you were special. I meant every word. I just didn't want to scare you away because that would mean losing you."
Her heart leapt into her throat and her lips began to tremble. The feelings she had that day, and every other moment he made her feel like this (which was getting quite frequent these days) was coming back to her again.
"I'd love to say that the thrill of fighting monsters is going to be what I miss most when we retire next year," he said taking her hand in his, "but I'm really going to miss having Felix and you, Hayley alongside me." He squeezed her hand when he mentioned her name.
"We'll still have your back…I will always have your back" Hayley managed to choke out.
He raised his other hand and grazed her cheek. She fought back tears as he leaned forward without a hint of hesitation. He didn't taste like week old pot roast, or cheese puffs. And he kissed her with the same emotion as he used to speak those kind words. He picked her up as her legs were hardly giving support to her body. She wrapped them around his waist and he backed up against a tree. She smiled against his lips and with her arms around his neck, ran her fingers through his messy curls. He slowly lowered himself to the ground with her still in his arms, and she repositioned herself on his lap without letting go of his lips.
The tree swayed in the wind and a large branch swooped down and swiftly knocked her out of his arms.
"Ouch!" she shouted tending to her bruised arm. He reached to help her up but both directed their attention to a fellow troop member in the distance.
"Jake! Hayley!" Felix called after them. They both got up off the ground in an instant and stared at each other and back at Felix.
Their two jaws dropped at the sight of their friend.
"Felix, your face..." Jake began.
"Yes, I realize," Felix said sounding annoyed. "And I wouldn't have to have faced off against the Kaiju alone, if you had come searching for me instead of making out by a tree!"
The two blushed feeling embarrassed and guilty. Before either could speak, Felix peeled the tentacle off his face.
"Ha, I Gotcha!!" He shouted. The two stared at each other in confusion.
"Why?" Hayley questioned him appropriately.
"You said I couldn't pull a fast one, well you would be wr—ong!" Felix sang joyfully.
"Yeah Felix, it's my birthday!" Felix began to victory dance as he turned back to head out of the woods and back to HQ.
Jake and Hayley laughed as they trailed behind Felix. Jake casually offered his hand to Hayley and she took it happily as they continued their journey back.
Meanwhile, the large tree they had been leaning against morphed into a frustrated teenage girl. "I knew it!" shouted Laurel.