dunkirk imagines

pilot - platonic!collins x reader

requested by Dina__Winchester 'reader was a pilot like collins, but she got fished out of the water after him, and ended up getting a fever on the way back' thank you for the rquest! i haven't written for characters other than tommy in forever, so i hope you all enjoy this!

before the war, things had been fine. you were happily chatting with your friends, window shopping at nearby marketplaces, and enjoying the little things. but soon, you were thrust into war. you had chosen to become a pilot despite your gender, getting into the same job as your best friend, collins. you had, of course, assumed that things would be hard for you along the way. it was war, not some silly game. but you had to face sexist men telling you you weren't good enough before you even got into a jet or plane. to make that worse, collins wasn't always there to help you stand up for yourself.

collins also wasn't too pleased about you joining the war. you wanted to help, and he knew that you were too stubborn to be talked out of it. that didn't stop the man from hoping you'd get sent home- sent home where you would be safer than you'd ever be in the midst of the war. despite collins' worries, you had started a bit of a name for yourself. the other pilots were incredibly shocked to find out that you were a better pilot than even you yourself had imagined. they began to look up to you, treating you like somewhat of a sister. you were a bit more confident to be flying, because now you had a team, a team who woud look out for you while you were in the skies.

the boys loved to drink and to party. while you never got too drunk (not wanting anything to happen between you and one of the other pilots), you had fun with them. once, you even taught some of the boys how to dance. 'jesus, y/n, stop stepping on my feet'. collins was always special to you out of all of the other male friends you'd made. many of the other pilots assumed that you and collins were dating or had planned to date, but were always assured that you two were just friends.

but, obviously, nothing was going to stay parties and smiles. training was fun and games, and things didn't get intense until about a week before you were to be shipped to dunkirk. dunkirk was, for you, when things started to actually become real, and you remembered that you signed up to be a pilot so that you could help people. dunkirk had come up out of the blue, and the germans had completely surrounded its inhabitants. not many pilots were sent out to help because, well, they were sent to save the french, and the english still wanted to have pilots incase the germans were to attack them as well.

some pilots who went with you got shot down, and this only made you determined to stay in the air. not only for yourself, but for them. you had been doing a fairly good job of dodging shots and firing them, but then collins' plane hit the water. your heart sunk, and you fought back tears of fear. you had to avenge him. whether he was alive or not was beyond you, and all you could do was pray that he was okay. soon enough, you had gotten hit in the wing. "i've been hit on my left wing." you spoke into your intercom.

"hang in there, y/l/n." one of your fellow pilots spoke. you were doing a good job of staying up in the air for as long as you could, but there was another plane right on your tail. you tried not to panic, heading up as high as you could, swerving quickly to avoid getting hit. your fuel level was getting low, which was very inconvenient considering that you were in the middle of the sea. you were able to shoot at a bomber that was on your partner's tail, but that distracted you, resulting in your left wing getting shot.

"shit!" you exclaimed as your plane started going down. you were trying your hardest to keep yourself steering up, hopeful that you could then land flat in the water. if your plane hit the water the wrong way, you'd be in the water, and it would be next to impossible to not drown. luckily for you, your plane landed almost flat into the water. you fumbled with your seatbelt before getting it off and standing to open up the shield. this wasn't too difficult, and you stood fully, breathing in the clean air. you turned around, spotting a small fishing boat nearby. you frantically waed your arms about, screaming, hoping to call attention to yourself. the boat headed your way, and you quickly noticed that collins was on board. you couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief at seeing your friend alive, and he seemed happy to see you as well.

the boat got close enough for you to grab onto a young man's hand, allowing him to help pull you up. "you're a girl." he spoke in disbelief. it came out as more of a statement than a question, and his voice seemed to be full of awe instead of disgust. you simply nodded, letting go of his hand and mumbling a soft thank you to the boy and to the other man on the boat. your eyes locked with collins and you practically fell into his arms. you didn't cry, but you wrapped your arms around his neck as he picked you up, spinning you around as you giggled.

"i thought you were dead for a minute there." collins admitted, setting you back on the ground.

"come on, i can't die before you get your first girlfriend." collins placed his hand on his heart in mock offense, smiling anyway.

"what would i do without you?"