Cold As Ice

Maverick is back?

Ice smiled and posed for the camera. He then smiled and posed with the trophy, but he felt empty inside. All the other pilots were there and there was even a spare seat in honor of Goose but Maverick was not. Ice sighed. This was supposed to be the best day of his live, but all Ice wanted to do was crawl back into his bed and never come out of it again.

While was talking with a few pilots about the past month, Slider suddenly elbowed him into his ribs and Ice turned around to ask him what the hell he was doing when his heart stopped. In front of him stood Maverick. Maverick with the fire in his eyes that shone bright and proud again. If Ice could cry, he would have done so by the sight of the man in front of him because he was back.

"You're back," he said.

"I am," Maverick answered and he grinned. Ice grinned back and accepted the congratulations that followed wholeheartedly. Maverick was his old self again. Ice couldn't be happier for him.

The meeting was immediately ended because there was apparently a mission to be flown. Ice shoved everything away and focused, they could do this.

On the Enterprise, they got their briefing. Sounded like an easy job, but something that could become dangerous in a blink of an eye. Ice glanced to Maverick and saw him swallowing at the mention of the possible danger. If Iceman didn't know that Maverick basically stood for fearlessness, he would have said Maverick looked afraid.

Orders were given and Ice saw Maverick relax a bit when he heard he was going to be the back-up pilot. While Ice stood up to go outside, he thought about the different scenarios of what could happen in this mission. Would Maverick be needed? And if so, would he do it, could Maverick do it? Ice doubted that and he voiced his concerns by the commander. While he said it, he felt Maverick's gaze on his back, but he didn't turn.

It was only when he was strapped into the cockpit that he realized the feeling of Maverick's gaze on his body hadn't disgusted him like it had done the last week. But adrenaline over the mission quickly took over and a few minutes later, he and Slider were soaring through the sky and he had all forgotten about his earthbound problems.

It was only a few minutes later than that when Hollywood got shot out of the sky and Ice had not one but five MiG's on his tail. He was focused, but knew five MiG's were too much for him alone.

"Ice, what's your problem?" Maverick's voice came over the radio. He sounded steady and Iceman allowed a tiny sigh of relief to escape his mouth.

"090 at 180 miles," he answered while swirling and spinning to keep the MiG's from getting missile lock. Maverick was coming and even if he wasn't coming, there were always the alert fighters.

"Catapults are broken, no alert fighters for a while," someone on the radio said. Shit.

"Maverick, how about some help over here?" Ice asked, not really succeeding in keeping his voice calm.

"He is on our six, Ice, but it seems like he's not engaging!" Slider shouted suddenly and Ice cursed. Come on, Mav!

Ice tried his hardest to not get hit by the MiG's, but with every second the chance of a rocket blowing their plane to smithereens was getting bigger and bigger.

"Come on Mav, we gotta help Ice!" he heard Merlin say and he wanted to shout "Yes you do!" but at that moment a MiG appeared right in front of them so he had to break hard right and thus lose his breath. Merlin's plea didn't help, because Mav stayed out of the fight.

"Goddammit, Maverick!" Ice cursed, followed by a quick: "I can't get him of my tail!" when the MiG was indeed staying behind him. Ice's heart jumped to his throat while he tried to get that plan off his tail more desperately with every sharp turn and rolling dive.

"Ice, I've got your MiG dead ahead!" Maverick said suddenly and his voice was determined and steady.

"Oh thank god," Ice murmured under his breath.

Together, they managed to shoot down two MiG's while not getting shot in the progress.

"Maverick, we got a MiG coming around for our tail! We gotta get out of here!" Ice heard Merlin say.

"I'm not leaving my wingman!" Maverick bit back and Ice's heart swell from pride. He was wrong and could never have been more wrong in his life about something than he had been about Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell. It became clear to him now, when he was soaring through the sky with four MiG's trying to kill him, that he could trust Maverick.

They beat two other MiG's together, flying side by side in a sort of dance trough the sky. It was the best flight Ice had ever flown. The other two MiG's fled and Maverick and him flew back to the carrier.

"Mustang, this is Maverick, requesting flyby?" Ice heard Maverick say and he knew instantly that Maverick was going to buzz the tower with, or without permission. He actually laughed out loud at that and steered his plane next to Mav's. They locked eyes and Ice grinned. Mav grinned back and together they buzzed the tower.

"Holy shit, Ice. I think you've just broken a rule!" Slider whooped behind him. Ice just grinned at that.

When they were on the ground, surrounded by happy men, Ice went to Maverick first. The shorter man grinned at him and he grinned back, completely lost on words.

"You are still dangerous," he shouted, because that was what he had engraved next to Maverick's name in his brain.

"But you can be my wingman anytime!" he finished and he felt, to his surprise, that he meant it.

"Bullshit!" Maverick shouted, but his eyes were sparkling happily.

"You can be mine!"

Ice grinned. Maverick moved towards him and before he knew it, Ice was engulfed in a hug so tight he could not breathe. Or maybe that was because a sudden wave of something flooded his systems and made him want to cry and shout at the same time. Nobody had ever hugged him like that. Nobody had touched him without recoiling at least a bit the first time. But Maverick was not nobody. He was pressed into Ice like Ice was the best there was and he pressed his head onto his neck, like he was searching for the coldness of Ice's body. Ice trembled from the emotion but returned the hug, letting Maverick's warmth engulf him.

He closed his eyes and for the first time in his life, felt perfectly content with who he was and how he was feeling.