"What Am I To You?"

Limits

The boat made it to port a few days later.

Bob was relocated to the military hospital as soon as the ship docked into the port. Rooster, Phoenix, Hangman, Payback, Coyote and Fanboy all went back to their living quarters per the order of Maverick.

Rooster went to his room. He took a deep breath as he closed his door behind him. He felt his costume of calm and collected start to fall.

Everything that happened in the past few days was a lot. He almost lost Maverick...

He almost didn't get to say goodbye.

That scared him the most. Not being to at least say something loving towards the end. He looked down and rubbed his neck. He almost lost Hangman. 

He almost lost his wingman.

He just sighed and walked over to his couch and sat down as he held his head. As he sat in silence his phone started to vibrate. He sighed and answered it without even looking.

"Hello?" Rooster said annoyed.

"Well I'm sorry for interrupting you, but you can't possibly be forgetting you have a roommate who you have Locked out." Hangman said bluntly.

"Oh shit. Sorry." He hung up and opened the door as Hangman limped inside tossing his bag by the couch. Rooster watched as Hangman winced as he gripped his side slightly.

"We're heading to the airport tomorrow. My parents booked them the wrong day." He said as he went to his room.

Rooster watched him go to his room, only feeling thankfulness rise in his chest. Being able to see his wingman, roommate, and rival walk around complaining about packing for tomorrow made him feel relief.

"Sounds good to me. I guess I should start packing." He said as he grabbed his dress uniform and carefully put them in a uniform bag. He grabbed his suitcase.

Rooster suddenly remembered he was playing the boyfriend. "Since I'm playing the boyfriend, what do I need to know?"

Jake looked at him suddenly. He totally forgot about that. "Oh uh, my moms name is Carol, my dads name is Jack. I have two sisters, one who is a colonel in the Army, Joy, and my sister who is getting married, Annie." He said as he tossed his socks into his suit case.

Rooster sat down and listened to him talk about his family.

"We live in Texas in a real pretty farm house. It's all white, has a cute Pickett fence and all that. And! It's near the beach." He said with a smile growing on his face.

Rooster watched in amazement. He was almost stunned.

"I love going by the water at night and just taking a deep breath and enjoying the sounds of the waves and just gazing at the sky. It's..." he sighed with a soft smile as he closed his suitcase. "... it's amazing." He said as he glanced at Rooster.

Rooster was listening intently. Jake looked faintly surprised. "You look enthused?" Jake said.

Rooster chuckled and stood up. "It's nice hearing that you have a nice family." He said as he grabbed a few hoodies.

"Any boundaries for being your pretend boyfriend?" Rooster said as he grabbed a few more things from his closet.

"Uhh... hm. I'm not too sure." Hangman said as he actually started to think about it. Did he have any boundaries for this mission?

Mission? No... wedding.

"Just ask before you do anything drastic in front of my family." Hangman said as he placed his bag by the door, and then promptly started to pack his carry on.

"Gotcha. Guess we're gonna test the waters with this." Rooster said as he placed his bag by his door. Rooster looked at Hangman.

"I wonder what the infamous Hangman's limits  are." He said teasingly.

Hangman felt his face getting warmer. "Hah... I wonder." He said making it sound like a challenge, but then immediately regretting it.

"I'll be right back. I lended Bob something..." he rushed out of their apartment and walked down the hall and quickly knocked on Phoenixs door.

He continued to knock until she opened the door. "Wh-"

He walked in and sat on her couch. She looked at him confused. Her hair was down and she was in casual clothes.

She sighed and walked over to Bobs room and closed the empty rooms door since he wasn't back yet.

"Whats wrong?" She said utterly confused.

"I told my parents I had a boyfriend and now they want to meet him and my pretend boyfriend is now Rooster and he's gonna meet my parents AND he said he won't cross my boundaries." He said almost in one breath.

She sighed and plopped right next to him. "First off, good move I should use that if I ever have to go to a wedding, second, just be vocal if he happens to step over one." She said.

He looked at her slightly. "I'm nervous..." he muttered.

"No shit. Your crush is now playing your boyfriend and you guys actually get to relax for once, and he's meeting your family. I'd be nervous too if I had to do that with Bob..." she said as she sat back.

She patted his back. "Just be yourself okay?"

He nodded and sighed as he stood up. She stood up as well and looked at him. "Just be yourself and everything will be alright." She smiled.

He suddenly hugged her and nodded. "Thank you..." he made a mental note to send her flowers to say thank you.

He pulled away and walked out. She chuckled and waved. "He is something."

Hangman walked back into his room and saw that Rooster was done packing. He was laying on his couch texting someone.

"Well... our flights leave at 7 tomorrow morning. Let's get to the airport at 5, okay?" Hangman said.

"Sounds good." Rooster said as he lowered his phone and got up. He said his good nights as he went to his room to go to bed.

Hangman sighed and went to his room and closed his door. He took a deep breath and just kept himself staying positive.

He thought about how him and his ex ended things. He hoped that him and Rooster wouldn't end things like that.

Anything like that.