Hey writer friends! There's a fun, all-fandom, writing/art event taking place for fall. Cozytober! This is their second year and since they don't have a tumblr page, I thought I'd share the prompts!
For anyone participating in any of the other big fall events (@sicktember @whumptober @flufftober ) these prompts actually meld really well with those.
For more information about Cozytober rules, as well as a text version of the prompts, check out their AO3 Collection page [Here]
I thought about Mav passed out at his work desk with headphones on and it spiralled into this whole thing
Mav always felt a little lonely.
Even when he had people around him who loved him, he always ended up on his own one way or another and felt that loneliness seeping in. Goose was the first to notice. Before Goose's trips back to Tennessee to see Carole included Mav, he would come back to base to hear about how his pilot had lost a bit of his shine while he was away.
That's when Goose started making the recordings.
It was a small gift, but it meant the world to Mav. A brand new walkman, headphones and all, and a single cassette tape. This tape didn't have music on it, no, it contained a three hour recording of Goose reading though the F-14 Tomcat Flight Manual and adding in his own comedic commentary.
He wasn't sure what Mav would think of it, but when he returned home from another trip and found his pilot curled up asleep on the lounge, headphones on, walkman clutched in his hands, the tape run through, he realised he had made the right decision. Once Mav stirred, realising Goose had returned, he pulled the RIO onto the couch and thanked him for how thoughtful and considerate of a gift it was. That it made him feel less alone.
Goose continued the recordings. They were simple things he could make while completing other work. An hour recording here of Goose rambling while he completed chores, half an hour recording there of Goose muttering while he completes some paperwork. Even after Mav started joining him on his trips to Carole and they inevitably became attached at the hip, Goose continued making recordings. They grew more sincere over time, telling Mav that he was loved and he was strong and could get through anything.
Maverick was very glad he continued making them. It was a piece of Goose he could always carry with him.
Because one day, Goose wasn't there anymore.
Ice was never quite certain why his wingman was always listening to music on a busted walkman, but he never questioned it.
That was until he was packing Mav an overnight bag after an accident and Mav had specifically requested the walkman. Ice had taken a closer look at it and seen the writing on the cassette.
‘GOOSE - 12’
Curiosity got the better of him and he pulled on the headphones and pressed play.
“Y'know, Mav-” It was Goose's voice, Ice realised with a pang deep in his chest, “- I'm pretty sure, by like, most, if not all, the laws of aviation, you should have broken our Tomcat's airframe several times over. I honestly don't know how she's still together-” There was the clinking of dishes and sloshing of water along with the distinct sound of a bristly, sudsy brush scrubbing metal. “- What sort of demon did you make a deal with to manage this? I'm not arguing, I'd rather not face a board of inquiry again, but I'm curious.”
Ice paused it.
He realised very quickly what the cassette was and that, judging on the number, there were more of these.
Mav was always listening to Goose talk.
He packed the walkman into the overnight bag with much more care than he offered possibly anything.
Mav stared.
He blinked once, then twice. But it changed nothing.
There was a cassette sitting on his bed. On it, was scribbled a name and a number.
‘ICE - 1’
Beneath it was a small, simple note.
‘Listen to me.’
Mav pushed the cassette into his walkman and, sitting down, let it play.
“Hey, Mav. Sorry if this is weird for you, it sure feels weird for me. I- uh- I realised what the walkman is for. I'm sorry I teased you for it, it's not dumb and old. I know Slider thought you were pretty cool for having one. He's got one too. But anyways, I found a recording of Goose and I realised why you have this so I thought, y'know, maybe I could make you some new ones? To make up for the teasing at least. I mightn't be as good as Goose but I'll give it my best shot. I've got a book here, I'm just gonna read it out loud for a while, okay? Okay. Here we go…”
Mav listened to the whole thing in one sitting. It was long and sweet and Mav felt something aching inside him, something that hadn't ached in a long time.
Every week or so, Mav would find another cassette in his room with an increased number on it. It was just Ice for a while, but then he found one labelled ‘SLIDER - 1’. Then another a few months later labelled ‘HOLLYWOOD - 1’, then ‘WOLFMAN - 1’. His collection grew as more people helped continue Goose's legacy.
The day he found ‘VIPER - 1’ he felt like he was five again. Viper's recording was two hours worth of him recounting childhood stories of Mav, stories of him with his parents, of just his parents, and deployment tales of his dad.
Once Mav buys his first proper home, an old hangar out in the Mojave Desert, he builds a small shelf to hold all of his cassettes instead of keeping them in a bag or a box. It's then, when they're all neatly organised together, that he realises just how many he has.
The original thirty-one from Goose.
Three from Carole.
One short one from Bradley.
Seventeen from Iceman.
Ten from Slider.
Seven each from Hollywood and Wolfman.
Four from Chipper.
Three from Sunny.
And, so far, Two from Viper.
He doesn't feel so lonely anymore. Everyone he loves has put time and effort into making sure he doesn't feel alone. That instead, he feel loved.
And he sure does.
Even now, years down the track, Ice will stumble upon Maverick passed out at his work desk late at night ontop of a half finished project, with his old walkman next to him, headphones on, listening to Goose laugh his way through the Tomcat manual.
mav is the one who takes charge in their relationship, domestic life-wise, decision-making wise, etc.
and i don't mean big life-changing decisions (those are usually made together), I mean that mav leads their life as in: what they're doing that day or on their day off, what they're cooking, who they're meeting, what they're wearing, what chores they need doing, how their house looks, etc. This extends to some stuff that can be serious at times (and if they turn serious, they will have discussions about it together), like parenting bradley or career advancement/choices - ice also takes mav's lead.
there are three factors to this:
mav is an extrovert, ice is an introvert. if it was up to ice, they'd spent their whole life just the two of them, locked at their house with little to no outside contact (minus slider and the stray cats ice likes to feed - mav will argue slider is also a stray they occasionally feed because ice likes him...). and sometimes, mav likes that and thinks they need it (ice more often than him) but he also wants them to have some form of social life.
ice is in charge everywhere else. his whole work life is making decisions for others and calculating what's best and keeping discipline in place all around him. he honestly likes to be told what to do at home and have his brain just rest and switch off and know planning everything is taken care of by mav. to some extend, he also knows that if it was him making decisions and taking the lead, it'd also take so much more time because he'd overthink and overanalyze even the smallest things while mav just goes with his instinct/feels. and if he's really honest, mav is so much better at managing their domestic life than him (ice didn't have the best examples as a kid, lived with a lot of house help hired by his father managing everything, etc).
ice is smitten. everyone knows. their friends know (they ask mav if ice is free if they want to do something that involves ice or if they need ice for something - which slider finds fucking hilarious, but also not really surprised since he met shy little tommy in usna at the age of 18 and had once been his keeper). their coworkers know this (ice's secretary doesn't schedule his calendar without mav's input). the whole navy knows it (what wouldn't this man do to keep maverick in the air?).
and it's not like ice minds - if he minds something, he speaks up, okay, he's a grown ass man, he can tell his partner he doesn't like something. usually, even if mav asks him to make a decision on something, like what to make for dinner or which shade of curtains he likes more, ice will just say, 'doesn't matter, you pick,' because that's genuinely what he thinks.
In which Jake and Iceman met well before the mission so far back that Jake is still a toddler/kid.
So Jake is the son of a high ranked Admiral and newly appointed Admiral Iceman has been invited to his first let's say Gala and being Iceman on the outside he looks calm but on the inside he's a nervous wreck.
Standing at the back of the room hoping not to get noticed he jumps when he feels something slip into his hand only to look down and see what appears to be a two year old wearing a fluffy onesie of an aviator uniform with dark blonde hair. In the child's mouth is a pacifier with a cartoon plane on it and in his other hand is a blue blanket which seemed to be covered in cartoon pictures of navy ships and planes.
Not knowing what to do he stands there nearly five minutes until he feels a tug on his hand only to look down to see the kid looking up at his with his hands raised up. Feeling flustered he can't help but pick the child up too used to Bradley doing it to him and Maverick it's just become instinct. He feels the kid lay his head down and not even a few seconds later he feels the calm repetitive breathing of a now asleep toddler in his neck.
It's not until hours later another Admiral comes up and asks to take Jake Seresin that Tom realises whose kid he's holding the COMPACFLT kid of Johnathan (call me John kid) Seresin. He can't help but feel a loss as he hands the kid over to his Dad and they walk off.
This process repeated over the years and it was known to all people at the get togethers that Jake loved Unca' Iceman.
Then it stops and it's not until a year after Jake's disappearances from these get togethers that he gets the offer of COMPACFLT and Tom's emotions take a head dive when he knows what that means.
Johnathan Seresin is dead. (From Cancer (Just like Carol) just like he could if he doesn't get his throat treated)
Jake's last living parent was dead and Tom hadn't even realised.
( He doesn't even know where Jake was. If they meet again will he recognise him)
He feels like his family is no longer complete even with his Flying obsessed Husband and kid Bradley.
Skip to years later and the suicide mission has passed.
He beat the cancer and all the dagger squad is at the beach celebrating.
And it's not until later that evening when everyone is tired out an adult with dark blonde hair comes up to him and hugs him.
He stiffens but instantly relaxes and hugs back when this now grown kid says...
"It's good to see you uncle Iceman"
And he can't help but feel his family is complete with his husband and Bradley made up and the kid he hasn't seen in years is finally back in his arms.
He can't help but think everything is going his way finally.
(Now who does he do the shovel talk to when he finds out Bradley and Jake have been dating. He knows he's walking Jake down the Isle SHUT UP MAV HE'S DOING IT JAKE'S HIS KID. YOU'VE GOT BRADLEY.)
Ice: Bad news, Slider locked himself out of his assignment
Ice: Good news, we don’t have to wait around for a locksmith
Ice: Bad news, Goose finds it very concerning that I know how to pick locks and tried to unlock my “tragic backstory.” I was too embarrassed to admit I only learned lockpicking to impress cute guys
Ice: Good news, a cute guy saw me do it
Ice: Bad news, it was Maverick and since he’s already seen me fall out of several trees, cry because I saw a fawn that was really small and knows I was a Boy Scout for half my life, he’ll never think I’m cool no matter what I do. It’s too late. He knows.
germansingergirl
areudirty
prguitarman
tangentwithtanner
gracieabrams
