Hating That I Love You

Chapter 1

June 1986
It was a day like every other.
Iceman and Slider had just finished their daily patrol, sweating and grinning, laughing at their wingman's joke.
"If your wife could hear you now, she would divorce you on the spot man!" Slider was laughing out loud.
"Don't bring my girl into this!", came the responding scream of their colleague and friend, Catcher. Iceman grinned. "Don't get your panties in a twist Catcher. We got a shower waiting for us."

"Kasanzsky, Kerner! Get over here, the commander wants to speak to you."
One of the mechanics yelled their way.
Ice and Slider shared a look. They had finished a perfect patrol, with no flaws and mistakes. There was nothing they could hold against them.
Wiping some sweat from his forehead, he mentioned for Slider to follow him and started to make his way towards his commander's office.

Before they could even knock, their commander was already opening the door, a serious look plastered onto his face.
"Lieutenants, it seems you've been blessed by the heavens." At this point, their commander was grinning like a mad man.
"Have fun at Top Gun! I'm looking forward to seeing you boys win."

And if Iceman had a grin, brighter than the sun plastered onto his face, no one would ever find out.

July 1986

The sun in Miramar was bright, shining right into Iceman's face, as he went down the stairs leading down from the plane.
He was exhausted and ready to fall into bed, after having been on an eight hour flight, his eyes not dropping once. After all, he was a pilot, there was no way he could fall asleep in the air.
Ron was right behind him, thankfully still awake and energetic, ready to drive them to their destination.
As he took the last steps, he spotted a man waving to them, he was in uniform and as he and Ron came closer, he realised the man was his superior and nudged Ron to do a Salute with him.
"Lieutenants Kazansky and Kerner ready for duty, sir!", he shouted out and studied the man in front of him.
"At ease Lieutenants, I'm commander Heatherly. You boys had a rough flight, let's get you to base and housing. The action will start tomorrow.", he came across as serious but fair and soon started leading them to a military car.

When they arrived on base, Iceman curiously watched the sky, seeing jets taking off and getting ready to land. A known feeling of excitement entered his gut.

"Stop making heart eyes at the jets and get moving!", Ron called out and he followed him with a scowl.
A secretary showed the around and gave them the keys to their shared house.
"It's about fifteen minutes from here, just drive down the street and watch out for the numbers.", they told them and finally Ice was reuniting with his beautiful black Honda CRX. He sent a silent thanks to the navy, grateful for the service, that made sure their cars where at the place they needed them to be (Yes, he had to pay for it, but there were greater problems than that).
Ron had left his car with his parents in Wisconsin.
When they finally entered base house 21, they were surprised to find themselves having to different bedrooms and a relatively large space for kitchen and living room.
He carried his heavy backpack into his room and after successfully changing the sheets of his bed, he couldn't resist and fell into dream land.

Five hours later, he awoke to the sound of his best friend screaming. "What's going on?", he asked and watched a giant black spider crawl up their wall. Tom knew he had misjudged the situation, he hated it, the house, the spider and the annoying screaming of the person he would be living with for the next few months.

[...]

The next day, he and Ron were sitting in a class room, surrounded by other naval aviators, just as excited as they were. He had seen a few old colleagues, Wolf and Holly, who he had flown with a few months ago and Chipper and Sundown, who graduated in the same class as him.
Commander Heatherly walked to the front and introduced himself as Jester, giving them a brief description of their next five months. He went on to introduce their teacher, Viper. A man with an aura that screamed authority and power. The first man to win Top Gun. Iceman knew not to underestimate his superiors, but fellow aviators?
He knew he was the best.
In that moment he spotted Goose. And wasn't that ironic, back in Annapolis, they had joked about being the best and now they found themselves at Top Gun.
What really catched his attention was the man next to his old friend. He could see dark brown, almost black hair and watched as the man spinned his pen in his hand.
Was he nervous?
The question answered itself as the guy turned around and stared right into his eyes.

The first thing that Tom noticed was beauty.
Because those piercing green eyes stared right into his soul.
The second thing he noticed was cockiness. A smug grin challenging him. The guy raised an eyebrow at him and turned around, leaving Iceman to stare at the back of his head.
He zoned out after that and only really got back into reality when Ron had snorted at the cocky guys remark of being the best. Part of him wanted to box that smirk out the guy's face and another wanted to laugh and prove him wrong.
When Viper dismissed them, he got to see the guy standing. He was short and seemed to share a brain cell with Goose.
When they passed him, he couldn't keep himself from interacting with them.
"The plague for the alternates is down in the ladies room.", he said and grinned at Ron's raised eyebrow.
Goose had laughed too loud to mean it, and followed the cocky guy out.
"You guys know who mother Goose's pilot is?", he heard Chipper ask and listened to Wolf's answer.
"He's Maverick. Pete Mitchell, pretty cool guy, but he's a nuisance in the sky. Adores trouble and flys like a maniac. He's good tho, I heard that Admirals never know if they should love or hate him."

Mitchell? He had heard that name before, but never in good speeches. The story of Duke Mitchell's betrayal was known in the navy and Ice honestly wondered what his son was doing in the Air.
And he knew that Maverick was the one who took Cougar's place. Left him out to dry with the Migs and snatched his spot.
Yea there was no way he would be flying with that guy.