Work Text:
1989
Everyone knows Iceman is “Ice Cold”. It’s his slogan, his motto, his trademark. Dating the Iceman isn’t much different, Maverick has figured out. He knew what he was getting into when he started dating Ice, he’s never hid his personality from Maverick, and Mav has done the same. The nice thing about starting out hating each other is that they never cared for what the other thought, so they were honest from the beginning. Ice has always known the fragile, yet rebellious man Maverick is and Maverick has always seen through the confident façade Ice shows, knowing deep down he just strives for perfection and validation. It worked for them when they finally got tired of each other’s looks and flirty comments, when after a hop they did together teaching at top gun, Ice had pinned Maverick to the desk in his office and done things that had probably never been done on Miramar.
It’s been a month since said incident and Maverick was still getting used to dating The Iceman. Mav had certain expectations in partners, he was used to being touched constantly, holding hands, hugs, kisses, but he was also used to only dating women. It’s not that he hasn’t done anything with men, he just never found a man worth risking his career. He had realized a year after their first mission as wingmen that Ice was worth it to him, and thinking back at all the comments Goose made, he had realized it before Maverick even knew he liked Ice as a person. Goose was always perceptive like that. Ice, compared to the others Maverick has dated, never touches him. He doesn’t show affection through words, and while they do have sex often, there’s never much outside of that. Maverick has never been that insecure of a guy, but he’s worried this doesn’t mean as much to Ice as it does to him. It’s not like he wants Ice to risk others seeing them together either, but even in private it’s not much. Maverick tries to reason with himself, maybe this is just how Ice loves. He’s calculating and distant in every aspect of his life, maybe he is in this one too.
It doesn’t do much to quell Mav’s concern. And what does Maverick do best? Dumb decisions he doesn’t think through. He starts to distance himself from Iceman, to see what Ice would do if they stopped being physical, maybe it will make him realize he wants this just as much as Maverick does and start to show it more. It’s a not a good plan, it honestly just hurts Maverick more and more as he does it. Ice doesn’t even seem phased by the lack of Maverick in his life at the moment. It's been a little over a week since he started, and Ice has barely shown any sign of caring.
Not until after a hop where one of their students almost has to eject, it rattles them both to their core.
After checking on the pilot, winter was his callsign, Ice had demanded to speak to Maverick in his office. Mav could see the tight lines of concern on Ice’s face, but only if you knew how to look for them would anyone else be able to pick up on the detail. He knew they were both thinking of Goose, the blame and guilt they both shared over the accident fueling the start of their friendship.
Iceman closes the door to his office, locks it, and is on Mav in a second pulling him into a hug.
“Are you alright?” Ice mumbled into Mav’s hair, not necessarily in a gentle tone but gentle for him. And Maverick pulls him in tighter because God is it everything he has been hoping to have for over a month. He has been hugged by Ice before, but this is much more intimate, his head is in between Ice’s jaw and collarbone, and Ice had his face in Maverick’s hair. Maverick would give up his wings to stay here forever, and it shakes him again how much Ice means to him after knowing him for such a short time.
Mav realizes he hasn’t replied to Ice and nods into his neck. “Just… shaken is all. Too close.” He’s talking in half sentences, he knows that, but everything about this moment makes him feel like a raw, exposed wound. Ice somehow holds him tighter and he feels the pin prick of tears at the corner of his eye, begging to spill over and ruin Ice’s flight suit. “I know he didn’t have to eject, I know everyone’s okay I just…”
“Yeah.” Is all Ice says because Mav knows he gets it. He’s missed him this past week of trying to distance himself, missed the way he smelled of jet fuel and old spice. He smelled welcoming and who was Maverick to not be welcomed like this? He hears Ice take a deep breath and say softly, “Why have you been avoiding me, Pete?” And fuck if that doesn’t do something to his insides, the way he says his given name, like no one ever has before. There is so much care and precision in that one word it drives him insane. Maverick couldn’t handle this.
“I thought that this, us, didn’t mean as much to you as it does to me.” The admission lifts a weight off his chest, finally getting out all the concerns he has, and since he’s started, he might as well keep going. “You never touch me, Tom. We have sex and that’s it. You never want to hold me afterwords, you don’t…this sounds dumb, but you never tell me you want this. I feel like I’m going insane trying to read what you want. And then today you do this and it’s all I’ve been wanting for weeks, and I can’t go back to not having it. Having you, as a whole. I want to date you, Tom. I want to be with you and fuck the Navy and their rules. I would risk it all to be with you. If that’s not how you feel, speak your piece now before I make even more of a fool of myself.” He feels out of breath by the end of it, between this and the almost failed hop he’s not sure he can take much more emotional flaying today.
He feels Ice pull away gently and cup Maverick’s face with the same hands he flies a jet with, and it isn’t lost on Maverick the duality of the man in front of him now, “Pete Micthell you’re it for me. I need you to understand there has never been anyone I’ve felt this way for, and I’m sorry for making you doubt that for a second.” There is so much conviction in his voice that if Ice used the same tone for anything else, he could be convinced the sky is red and water is blue. But ice is using this tone for him, to show how much Ice cares for him and he's dizzied with the realization. Ice continues, voice just as strong “I am horrible at showing the people I care about just how much I hold them dear, I should’ve warned you before we ever became this, but no matter what I don’t physically show or say, know that I am feeling it all the same. You are the only person I want to see when I wake up in the morning, and the only person worth risking it all to be with. Please, all I ask is never doubt that again.”
And all at once, Maverick feels his tears finally break past his water line. All he can do is pull Ice into a passionate kiss. He knows he will grow to love this man with all his heart and cannot wait for what comes for them in the future. Laws be damned.
He feels Ice kiss back just as passionate, just as loving as Maverick and now he just feels silly for his doubt. Of course, Iceman, cold and calculating, is bad at showing how he feels. It’s something they can work on, and something Maverick will grow to love with the rest of the man standing with him.