Top Gun AU where Ice magically gets turned back into a child for reasons I won't explain, and it's something that lasts no longer than a couple of days.
Slider is left with little kid Iceman, who isn't quite Iceman yet, he's just Tom. But never Tommy because his father thinks nicknames are juvenile, despite the fact the kid is hip height.
He has to take care of the kid until it wears off, he can't leave baby Ice all by his lonesome. The boy has big baby blues, yet to shed the puppy fat for a chiseled jawline and he seems to tiptoe around Slider the minute he realises the man is navy.
He manages to wheedle his way into Tom's trusted circle pretty quickly. When the kid accidentally knocks over a glass with clumsy, nervous hands, he outright picks the boy up to stop him from touching broken glass with his bare fingers.
And instead of giving him the punishment or scathing lecture he awaits, he explains to the miniature version of his ice cold pilot that he simply doesn't want him to cut his hands or hurt himself.
After that he learns that women are absolutely correct in that the best way to carry a child is on your hip. Tom is scrawny, something Ron knew before the man grew into his build. As a kid, he's just little and baby deer like.
He lets Tom think he's sly when the boy curls his fingers around the collar of Slider's t-shirt. Never tugging, simply holding for comfort.
Ron is certain that if Tom remembers anything when he's back to his adult self that he'll be utterly mortified. That does not stop him from taking several photos of little Ice eating whipped cream directly from the can because his eyes lit up when he found out he was allowed to do so.
Nor does it stop him from waving the kid around in the air and making plane noises as he squeals and giggles. Because as abnormal as the situation is, that's still his Iceman, his pilot, his best friend and he'll take care of him regardless of the circumstances. It's a plus side getting to let Tom be a kid, even if for such a short period of time.
He's heard enough to know the other man wasn't afford the luxury when he was a child.
He's also a selfish man who experiences great joy when he finds out that running a hand through Icicle's hair has the same effect as it does on Iceman, in that it makes him sleepy and cat like.
It's strange. Everyone knows Iceman is ice cold, no mistakes and rarely any mercy. As his RIO, Ron also knows Tommy, who can fly just as well hungover but twice as snippy. Who thinks Star Trek beats those "fucking Star Wars movies," as he calls them. Who is weirdly opinionated on the what types of soup are permitted in which seasons, because apparently there is such a thing as a warm weather soup and a cold weather soup.
There are flashes of Iceman in the kid. His resting face is blank; on Ice it looks tactically impassive, on the kid it looks like one sad little boy.
He still tilts his head whenever he's thinking over a question, a habit Ice had consciously rid himself of before they got to Top Gun.
Where Ice would smoke, the kid bites at his knuckles. Something Slider has stops by carefully tugging his hand away from his mouth.
He blinks in surprise whenever Ron can read what he's thinking, something Ice isn't aware of nor will Ron ever tell him about because it's endearing. He knows that Tom trusts him completely in the air, but occasionally the man will still falter at the idea of being known when his feet are on the ground.
When his Ice is back, the man refuses to speak a word of what happened outside of threatening to maim Ron with his helmet unless he bins the plethora of baby Tom photos he had printed.
As the taller of the two, therefore the man with the final say in the decision based on a rule he decided on the spot, he will not be getting rid of the pictures. No amount of elbowing can change his mind.
Only after several drinks weeks later does Tommy ask him why he hadn't bothered seeking out someone else's assistance in such a strange event, or outright dumping him somewhere else until he was back to normal does Ron realise that the idea had never crossed his mind.
