Cold As Ice

Born Cold

When he was born and the doctors measured his body temperature to be a solid two degrees lower than average (with a skin temperature of almost five degrees lower), they reckoned it was a strange anomaly and that his temperature would rise within a few hours.

Tom does not remember a day when he had felt comfortably warm. He had tried to explain to his parents how he felt, but since they couldn't see anything different on his body (no goosebumps or shivers) there was nothing that they could do about it.

The cold per se wouldn't be such a bad thing, but on Tom's sixth birthday, his other malfunction rose. When Taylor scared him as a joke, his fingertips were suddenly covered with ice. When he went to school and a kid called him a 'freaky blonde', his hands were covered in a thin layer of ice in an instance. If he wanted to cry his feelings out, he would cry blood, because his tears froze in his tear ducts instead of running down his cheeks.

So, Tom Kazansky became cold. Ice cold, no mistakes, no emotions. Over the years, he became very good at this persona and it was therefore no surprise that his callsign became Iceman. It didn't bother Tom, or Ice, that much, the only thing he had to do is fly, and fly like there was nothing else about him that would manner except his achievements in the sky.

Nobody knew about his malfunctions, as he called them, and nobody deserved to know. Therefore, relationships with other people were hard, especially the cuddly relationships as people tended to shy away from his cold touch (except Marc with his malfunctioning hot- and cold receptors, but Marc ended up to be a douchebag so that didn't last very long either).

At flight school however, he became friendly with a few people, but nothing groundbreaking (despite his parents' not so subtle hints that he would have to make some real friends). This ended when his classmate Ron 'Slider' Kerner barged into the men's toilets only to find Ice on the ground, covered in ice and crying blood. One of the other students had pushed his buttons one too many times and Ice had fled to the men's bathrooms after. Slider had said nothing and helped Ice clean and defrost himself before leaving. Ice had waited anxiously for Slider to say something, to make fun of him or call him a freak (which he was), but Slider didn't do any of that and just treated Ice like a friend.

Ice told Slider everything after two weeks of silence and they were inseparable ever since. That is why Ice turned around when he heard someone addressing his friend jovially when they were hanging out in the bar before their Top Gun classes would start. The man happened to be Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw, who Ice knew from flight school. Goose was accompanied by someone Ice had never seen before.

Ice glanced over the other man. Short, muscular, brown hair, burning green eyes and a smug smile playing around on his lips. Ice reckoned he would be the 'Maverick' everyone talked about: reckless, cocky, arrogant, dangerous. Someone to watch out for, because although Iceman had no doubt that he would defeat this arrogant persona (which it was; Ice knew enough about holding up a persona that he could recognize one when he saw it) on the ground and in the sky, he knew that he could end up crashing and burning if he wouldn't be careful.

But Ice knew his manners, so he accepted the hand Maverick gave him with a tiny grin. When their skins touched, a blazing fire ran through Ice's arm and blossomed in his chest, warming his insides pleasantly. Ice widened his eyes marginally and a slight huff of surprise left his mouth.

"Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell," Maverick said and he slowly released Ice's hand, his fingers lingering for a tad bit longer than absolutely necessary. Maverick glanced subtly at his hand and back at Ice while tilting his head slightly in surprise. He didn't look afraid or distasteful though and Ice felt his breath get stuck in his throat.

Nobody had ever done that. Nobody had ever touched him more than necessary, always shying away from his icy skin. Ice swallowed quickly and introduced himself before falling into a conversation about Cougar or something before retreating quickly. He stepped away and leaned against the wall, his mind blank. The fire inside him was slowly dying, but still keeping him warm. Ice felt his whole world tilting on his axes and apparently something must have shown on his face because Slider bumped him briefly on his shoulder and raised his eyebrows.

"Hey, what's up man, you good?" Ice swallowed. He didn't know what to think or feel right now. There was only one single fact displayed in his brain, so baffling that he couldn't quite grasp it yet.

"I'm warm," he whispered, his voice full ofdisbelief.