Chapter Text
As far as Maverick was concerned, 1989 was not shaping up to be his best year. In May he got canned after two months of being a Top Gun instructor for what the Navy called “unorthodox” teaching methods. Then Charlie dumped him that same day, something about him being too reckless or some shit, he wasn’t exactly listening. Or maybe that was his problem, the not listening thing. But since his ass was being sent from Miramar down to North Island, it would save on the commute to go see her.
Mav thought his luck had changed when he ran into Penny Benjamin again at a bar the first day down there. He told her he needed a place to stay and couch crashing became a long term thing instead of finding his own place between training and hoping on that call for deployment, the latter Penny took as a slight personally against her that he’d rather be living dangerously than ever seriously consider settling down together in the near future. She wasn’t going to waste time on it, and so once again six months later, he found himself single and at a bar, looking for another couch to crash on.
It was packed in there, as Penny had chosen to boot him the same day it was announced the Berlin Wall came down, and if people wanted an excuse to drink and celebrate, that would certainly do it. Maverick did find room down near the jukebox to squeeze in, leaning on the counter as he nursed his bottle while Heart poured into the airwaves.
I hear the tickin' of the clock
I'm lying here the room's pitch dark
I wonder where you are tonight
No answer on the telephone
And the night goes by so very slow
Oh I hope that it won't end though
Alone
“Well if it isn’t my favorite wingman.”
Maverick looked over his shoulder, the beer bottle still firmly planted on his lips when he saw Iceman standing beside him, nearly choking mid sip. “Christ, Ice! Don’t sneak up on me like that.”
“I’d hardly say I snuck up on you. More like just appeared,” Ice said with that smile he’d always give Maverick that was a mix of intimidation and flirtation, propping an elbow on the end of the counter. “How long has it been, Mav? Haven’t seen you since you left for Top Gun early this year.”
“Yeah? Guess it has been that long, hasn’t it? Well since then I’ve been fired once, had my heart broken twice, and now this jukebox has it out for me with the breakup song.”
Ice turned his head towards the music, shaking his head when he realized what song it was. “Mav. That’s not a break up song, it’s a pining song. Here, listen closely to this part.”
You don't know how long I have wanted
To touch your lips and hold you tight, oh
You don't know how long I have waited
And I was going to tell you tonight
But the secret is still my own
And my love for you is still unknown
Alone
“Huh.” Maverick never did actually take the time to interpret what was being said before. He sorta just registered automatically in his mind that a song called ‘Alone’ would be a post situation and not pre.
“And here I thought you were the musical theater guy.” Ice smirks and starts sing-talking along, enough for Maverick to hear but not draw attention from others.
“Till now I always got by on my own
I never really cared until I met you
And now it chills me to the bone
How do I get you alone?
How do I get you alone?”
“Clearly you know that song well.”
“It was my karaoke song of choice.”
“Any particular reason why?” Maverick cocks his head to the side with a soft closed lip smile. Ice couldn’t tell if Maverick ever figured out the truth that Ice had it bad for him ever since they met despite his attitude towards him. It wasn’t exactly like Ice had been overly subtle these past few years, though knowing Mav, it all probably went right over his head. But maybe the months apart did them some good; maybe he was able to reflect on every look, every touch, every time he was only inches away from his mouth and only the fear of getting discharged was enough to hold him back from finally closing the gap.
“What, you figure it out?”
Maverick’s lips parted to reveal teeth, that cute awkward smile of his that always drove Ice insane without Maverick realizing it did. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I did. You found a girl you like, you’re just too scared to ask.”
Well. He got points for being half right.
“Sure, Mitchell. I like someone.” Ice spots the bowl of nuts and takes a couple to occupy his mouth instead of feeling the need to further explain.
“And you want your wingman in the sky to be your wingman on the ground.” Now that smile of his was going from cute to devious, and Ice needed to switch gears before it got to a point he wouldn’t be able to back out from.
“Yeah, maybe. But enough about me, you said two heart breaks since I last saw you? Please, enlighten me.”
Ice did the best he could trying to keep a straight face as Maverick recalled the past six months since his misery started, glossing over the more interesting stuff on how exactly he was fired from Top Gun in favor of how Charlie went off on how he was never going to change or that Penny thought he care more about being airborne doing his job than being on the ground trying to have a relationship with her. Finally he got to the all important part of why he was sitting here alone in the bar, homeless and hoping he’d find someone to crash with before he has to force himself to maybe finally get his own place or be sent back to the barracks.
“Must be divine intervention that brought us together tonight, as I bought myself a place off base just last month and have been moving in all week.” Ice looks down at the nut bowl when his fingers hit nothing but bottom; all that mindless eating whenever Mav goes off into girlfriend trouble is such a bad habit. “All I got is the bed in there, though. No couch.”
“That’s fine, we can share it.”
Ice froze, expecting more of a ‘don’t mind, I’ll sleep on the floor’ kind of offer as opposed to him sharing the same damn bed with him.
“How do you know it isn’t a twin size?”
“What, you? Finally planting roots on your way to being Commander, with a lady you’re looking to woo? I don’t think you’d waste money on a twin when you’re looking to settle.”
Sometimes, maybe Maverick wasn’t as dumb as he acted. “Alright. It’s a queen.”
“Then perfect.”
There was that smile of Mav’s again, simultaneously looking like it knew all of Ice’s deep dark secrets while being absolutely oblivious.
“Well I don’t think the guys would miss me much if I left,” Ice nodded over in the direction of the group Maverick only knew a couple of; he guessed both of them had been keeping different companies all this year. “But they are also the ones who brought me so unless you can take me home-”
“I can.”
“Please tell me it has at least four doors.” That goddamn smile again. “Two? Four wheels? Mav-”
“Just say good night to your little gang and meet me outside,” Maverick says with a laugh as he tosses a couple bills on the counter by his empty bottle to cover his tab, clapping Ice a couple times on the shoulder as he makes his way towards the exit.
“That little shit,” Ice mutters, once again subconsciously trying to grab a few more nuts to chew out his frustration on before, cursing that he forgot it was empty. He makes his way back to the group he came with and lets his previous ride know he was taking off with someone else waiting outside.
“Hope she’s cute, Kazansky!” one of them hollered after him. God, he hopes Mav was parked away from the windows.
He found Maverick already straddling his Kawasaki, his mechanical steed that was almost as wild as he was, revving up his engine as he waited for his hesitant passenger. “You sure we’ll both fit?”
“The girls fit just fine.”
“Yeah, well I’m taller than them. But I guess you being short enough makes ups for- hey! Goddamnit, Mav!”
Maverick pulled forward in retaliation for the vertically challenged comment as Ice tried to swing his leg over, laughing as Ice almost lost his balance. “You deserved that. Now you want a ride or not?”
“Hey, I’m not the one who needed a ride, I think you’re the one who needed a place to sleep tonight. So if anything-” he flicks the back of Maverick’s ear, “-you need me more than I need you.”
A low growl escaped Maverick’s throat as his head turned sharply after the flick, but Ice was right and he wasn’t about to turn down the only hospitality he was gonna be getting tonight. Ice finally gets on behind him, unsure of where to put his hands to hold on.
“You can just grab my hips, Ice. Unless you wanna do a full hug if you’re scared you’ll fall off.”
“It’s not the falling off I’m scared of, Mav. It’s the-” Ice stopped abruptly. He could tell the truth, and either Maverick will approve, be offended, or just think it’s a joke but at this point, what’s the harm in trying? Leaning forward all the way up against him, he whispers in his ear, “It’s the falling in love with you if I hold you so close I’m scared of.”
Maverick just snorts; Ice wasn’t expecting his heart to hurt from that but it did. He also didn’t realize how quiet he went on him until Maverick finally asked for directions, giving them to him as Maverick headed towards the lot exit. Ice would have pulled back up if he could, but Maverick shot out so fast once he hit the road that Ice had no choice but to wrap around Mav’s torso to prevent aerodynamics from fucking with him.
Ice didn’t care if his head was practically resting on top of Maverick’s; even when Mav was finally forced to stop at a traffic light, he kept hold of his embrace with his head facing away from the left-lane traffic, eyes closed and murmuring to himself as if blocking out the rest of the world would make this feel more real, more private.
“Geeze, that song really must be stuck in your head, Kazansky.”
“Mmm song?”
“The one from the bar, your so-called karaoke song. You’ve been humming it most of the time since the last stop light.”
So he had without realizing it now that Ice thought about it; he got a little too comfortable, let his mind just start playing his mental playlist without his consent. But even then, Maverick was still too oblivious to notice that Ice was just subconsciously implying what he was feeling through musical coding.
“Yeah?” Ice asks with a small laugh as he lifts his head up to look at him. “So how do I get you alone, Mitchell?”
Maverick turned his head towards him, looking confused by the question more than reading the subtext. “Aren’t we alone right now?”
“Your observation skills are impeccable, Mav. Light’s green.”
Ice’s place wasn’t that far from the base; it was small like the rest of them on the street, an ideal kind of starter home, nothing fancy. If anything, the palm trees lining the street made the whole area seem more exotic than it really was. Maverick pulled up into the driveway and Ice offered to let him put the motorcycle in the backyard in case anyone got the bright idea to steal it in the middle of the night.
“Nice yard,” Mav casually commented as he rolled the bike in back, sticking it on the concrete area meant for a nice patio setting.
“Well if it was daylight out you’d see the grass is half-dead and there’s weeds to be dealt with.”
“I meant it more as a nice yard like when you have kids for them to play around in. Bradley… Bradley would like it.”
Everytime Maverick thought he was getting better, that he’d finally put Goose’s death behind him, there would always be something to bring him right back to that day. Something as dumb as seeing an empty yard for the guy’s kid to run around in, apparently.
“You see them often? Goose’s family?” Ice gets the back door open and ushers Mav inside before the sight of the yard brings him to tears.
“Not as much as I should. Maybe they can come here so Bradley can play out back.”
“Inviting people over like you own the place, huh, Mitchell?” Ice grinned at the thought, though, of Mav owning the place with him. He wouldn’t mind it if he invited friends over, the two of them hosting like a real couple. But first, maybe he should get up the nerve and be outright blunt about his feelings before he starts pretending what life would be like if they were together. Maybe tomorrow, if he feels like it.
Maverick was planning to spend his time exploring Ice’s place, asking why a single man would choose to live off base in a house like this instead of just staying in the barracks. Maybe Ice was more serious about this mystery girl than he thought and was just being prepared in case it all went well. But every time Goose crosses his mind in some capacity, he gets withdrawn, something Ice noticed when he didn’t even have a reply, sarcastic or otherwise, about him just inviting people over without Ice’s consent. So Ice just showed him the bedroom, where there was only the queen bed short on heavy layers due to the summer heat surrounded by neatly stacked boxes yet to be unpacked. All Ice asked of Mav was that he just take his jeans off because he didn’t need whatever his ass had picked up to be carried to bed.
Ice gave Maverick plenty of time to fall asleep on his own while he went about idling his time in the kitchen, deciding maybe right then that’s when he should unpack some of the kitchen boxes so something other than the coffee maker was put in its place. There really wasn’t much left to put away other than the set of dishes, silverware, and glassware he used on base to go in the upper cabinets, and a couple pots and pans when he tried to cook for himself.
Breakfast. Maybe he could cook Maverick breakfast. He did buy eggs and bacon earlier that day, just something simple, nothing fancy. The little shit can’t complain, Ice is the one putting up with him, although, very willingly. But they always say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.
He’s rolling the pan handle in his hand, mesmerized by the large black rotating circle when he thinks he hears Mav finally snoring down the hall. Good thing, too, since he was clearly starting to get tired if he was hypnotizing himself with kitchenware.
—
Something felt off in the middle of the night to Ice. There was a pressure that he didn’t feel when he first went to sleep, one on his back and another in the middle of his side. His dream self wasn’t quite ready to surface to figure out what it was, but when he felt it move a little, he was finally able to regain consciousness.
Looking down, he sees a hand that isn’t his flung over his side, and following the arm up to the shoulder that stopped below his own, it occurs to him what it was that was lying up against his back side. Ice bites his lip when he feels the warmth of Mavericks’ steady breathing hit right below his neck with every exhale; did he do this on purpose? A habit of his with Penny and he just forgot whose house he was in tonight? He wasn’t going to complain, hell, he was doing all he could to not take advantage of it. But even that will power grew weak, and Ice carefully moved his hand to rest it on top of Maverick’s, letting his fingers intertwine with his.
It was a good blissful ten minutes before Ice felt Maverick stir a little, the rhythmic breathing stopped and about half a minute later it must have hit Mav what the situation was as he jerked his hand away with a barely audible shit!. Ice didn’t react, just letting his hand fall naturally, not surprised that Mav made a mistake. Sure, he was disappointed but also amused and honored that he felt comfortable enough to do that in the first place, even if it was another person who was on his mind. By now, Mav could probably tell Ice wasn’t asleep, and Ice was just waiting for him to make up some excuse as to why he did it, either now or in the morning.
What Ice wasn’t expecting was for Maverick to put his arm right back where it was and tuck his face back into his neck. And when Ice waited a moment to retake his hand, it was Maverick who wove their fingers back together.
Maybe this idiot finally figured it out.
—
If it wasn’t the sound of the Kawasaki that woke Ice the next morning, he could have sworn he had dreamt the whole night, with the only other bit of evidence that yes, Pete Mitchell had been in his bed, was by the way the sheets were thrown back on the side he slept in and the dent his head made in the pillow. But no, what happened last night was very much real, and if Ice wasn’t paranoid about why Maverick suddenly departed that morning without so much as a goodbye or a note, he would have made some crack to himself about being ‘alone’.