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Iceman feels his stomach clench at the whisper of "Talk to me Goose" over the comms. From there, with the symphony of “I'm hit”'s, “break right"'s, beeping from missile lock, and gunfire, he completely forgets about the uttered words. That is, until he’s looking for his boyfriend and he sees Maverick on the lower deck, looking down at his hands. He approaches the rail and Maverick turns his head slightly to look at him.
“Hey.” Maverick’s lips quirk in a small smile.
“Hi.” He replies. Iceman stops when he’s to the left of Maverick, both of them looking out to the sea.
“What do you have there?” He nods down at Maverick’s hand. Maverick opens his fist and shows Iceman dog tags. Goose’s dog tags. “What are you going to do with them?” Maverick sighs and looks down at them. Iceman turns his head to look at Maverick.
“Let him go.” Iceman’s eyebrows tick up minutely.
“You think you’re ready for that?” Maverick looks up at him.
“Honestly?” Iceman tips his head down a bit in a small nod. “I don’t think I’ll ever be ready for that.” Maverick looks down at their hands, how close they are. He glances behind them before pressing the back of his hand against the back of Iceman’s. “But with a wingman like you by my side, I just might be able to handle it.” Iceman can’t help the grin that pulls at his lips. He links their pinkies together.
“That’s what a wingman’s for.” Maverick gives him a bright smile. He turns back to the sea. With one more look at the dog tags in his hand, he rears it back and throws the tags into the water. They watch the tags splash and sink down. Iceman looks at Maverick's profile, he sees the small smile on his face. It makes his own smile form. Maverick looks up at him and glances around, making sure they're alone. He gets up on his tiptoes and presses their lips together softly. “Mav.” Iceman whispers when he pulls back.
“Follow me.” Iceman lets Maverick unlock their pinkies and follows him through the halls of the carrier. They nod at other navy men as they pass. Before long, Maverick’s holding open the door to his room, the room they requested to share.
“They’re gonna give me any assignment I want.” Maverick says once the door’s closed. He steps closer to Iceman, all but pressing their chess together.
“What?” Maverick smiles up at him.
“Anywhere I want to go, I’ll get to. Some kind of reward for what I did out there, I guess.” Iceman smiles.
“That’s great Mav. Where do you think you'll go?” Maverick looks down at their hands, he intertwines their fingers together and looks back up.
“I want to go where you go.” Iceman smiles softly. “I know you said you want to be an instructor, now that you won you can be.”
“Are you sure? Don’t change your life just for me.” Maverick lifts their hands and kisses the back of Iceman’s.
“My life was already changed the moment you walked into it. I’m just embracing it.” Iceman flicks his eyes between Maverick’s, searching for any uncertainty.
“Okay.” He whispers when he finds nothing but fondness and love in his boyfriend’s gaze.
“This could be complicated.” Iceman shrugs, leaning down until he’s mere centimeters from Maverick’s lips.
“When is it not complicated with us?” Maverick grins, tipping his head up slightly.
“I crashed and burned the first time.” He whispers. Iceman smiles, recalling the time Maverick had sung to him at their home and he pushed him away.
“And the second?”
“I don’t know.” Maverick brushes their lips together. “But it’s looking pretty good so far.” Iceman closes the remaining difference between them, kissing his boyfriend passionately.
“Are we really doing this?” Iceman asks when they part for air.
“Fire or clear, Kazanzky.” Iceman puts a hand on the back of Maverick’s neck.
“Fire, Mitchell.” He pulls Maverick up again, both of them getting lost in their kiss.
Later, Maverick will gather his things and board the plane back to Miramar with Iceman. Later, they’ll break in Iceman’s new house, and even later do the same to Maverick’s. Even later, they’ll drive to California when they can get married. Later than that, Maverick will take Iceman’s last name, becoming Captain Kazansky as his husband rises through the ranks, eventually becoming Admiral Kazansky. Later, Maverick will help nurse his husband through his first battle with cancer. Even later, he’ll hold his hand as he loses the second.
But for now, Maverick curls into his boyfriend as they catch their breath. He feels Iceman place a kiss to the top of his head. He drifts off with thoughts of what’s to come with their time at Top Gun, this time as instructors, as he’s lulled to sleep by the steady drum of his boyfriend’s heart.