“scare me like that again and we’re getting a divorce” (ice recounting the many times he’s been called to a hospital or waiting to find out if mav is alive)
fact: tom “iceman” kazansky and pete “maverick” mitchell are two of the best naval aviators of their generation. also fact: maverick is a fool who gets injured often.
ever since the mission and their subsequent partnership ice and mav have been spending a lot of time together, and ice’s crush on mav went from kinda there to wanting to put mav up against any solid surface and show him a good time but also get to married and have kids?? (ice isn’t really sure but all he knows is that he’s ass over tits for his wingman and he’s certain he has no chance because while he knows mav will flirt with anyone with a pulse, he also knows that mav doesn’t date)
anyways, all their feelings came spilling out the first time he’d gotten a phone call out of the blue from a hospital. mav had been on his way to ice’s place from base on his motorcycle when some guy ran a red light and hit him dead on, luckily he wasn’t going too fast, but still, the force from the impact threw mav off his bike (and totaled it in the process) and he ended up in the street bleeding and bruised within an inch of his life. the guy hopped out his car and frantically dialed 911, then had a mini melt down when he saw mav’s dog tags and realized he’d hit someone in the fucking military. paramedics got on scene fairly quickly and took mav to the hospital and rushed mav to the nearest hospital.
now cut to ice pacing in his living room because mav was supposed to be at his house 30 minutes ago and the short ride from base to his apartment was only 10 minutes and mav hadn’t told ice about any detours when the phone rang. “kazansky” ice had said as he rushed to pick it up, hoping it was mav (it wasn’t) “hello, this is natalie with western centre medical. im calling because you’re listed as an emergency contact for a lt. pete mitchell.” and all ice could do was breathe out a soft, “fuck.”
he’d listened as natalie rattled on about the accident and pete’s conditions and ice had assured her that he’d be there in 10 minutes. (the hospital was 20 minutes away) arriving and getting inside as fast as possible, he must’ve looked like a wreck because the nurse sitting at the desk quietly showed him the way to maverick’s room after he’d all but demanded to know where he was.
going inside he found mav, his wingman, laying in bed with a shattered collar bone, a nasty gash along his forehead, two broken ribs and a fractured wrist. walking into the room ice sat down heavily in the chair next to him as mav (who just had gotten out of surgery and really shouldn’t have been awake) turned to him, surprised, “ice? what are you doing here?” and while tom knew that maverick was an idiot, but he didn’t know the man was that much of an idiot. “what am i doing here? pete they called me and told me you were in an accident. you’d almost died, and you’re asking me what im doing here? im here for you, sweetheart. why did you think i wouldn’t be here, you’re my wingman.” and ice could see something in mavericks eyes that made him pause, leaning forward he cupped mavericks jaw in one hand, “pete, listen. i know you don’t think people care about you but they do, i do. i care about you so much, and i was so scared that i’d lost you before i could’ve even had you.” and mav, who’d leaned into ice’s hand, eyes wide as he heard his name on ice’s lips, just looked confused. “but you do have me? im your wingman.” and ice chucked dryly as he pressed a small kiss to the top of mav’s head, leaving the other pilot blushing, “i want you as more than my wingman, pete. i want you, in every way you’ll have me. im in love with you mitchell, i have been for a while now.” kiss mav gave him in response just seems to make everything fall into place. “i- i have always wanted you ice, even during top gun, there’s no one else i’d rather be with.” and ice smiled as he felt mav pull him into another blinding kiss.
eventually, once their able to let eachother go, ice asks why mav always seemed off when ice would ask him if he was going to ever settle down with someone and mav responded that he’d always been so touchy at the subject because he’d wanted to date ICE made him feel admittedly a little stupid, but that was a the start a long, beautiful relationship between the two of them. (mav enjoyed ice playing nurse after they got home and ice nearly had a conniption because mav wanted to be up in the air three days after he was released)
unfortunately, the calls never stopped and mav was never quite able to quit being himself (dangerous). so ice was no stranger to waking up in the middle of the night, or being pulled out of meetings because mav ended up in another hospital bed. (ice swears mav’s broken jsut about every bone there is to break but mav says he’s just dramatic) oncce bradley had started staying over at their house more, he too was no stranger to mav’s spontaneous bouts of recklessness. from broken bones to dehydration they’d both swear maverick was either invincible (bradley) or incredibly fucking lucky (ice).
nevertheless one of the worst times ice can remember was a random tuesday. bradley and ice were both at home, with bradley in the living room playing video games and ice on the kitchen working
on dinner. maverick was supposed to be home in about an hour when the phone rang, “hey baby goose, get that for me?" "yeah uncle ice, i got it.”
"hello?" said bradley innocently, "hello, i need to speak with admiral kazansky, is he home?" and bradley knew it was never a good call when people started pulling rank, so bradley muttered a quick , “hold on.” before running to give ice the phone, "their asking to speak to admiral kazansky,” was all bradley needed to say for ice to nod, taking the phone, “kazansky." the officer on the other side of the phone made quick work of his call.
maverick was running a test on an experimental plane, and it went up in flames suddenly. there was no parachute sighting and it had been 2 hours since search and rescue came up empty handed. “oh my god." was all ice could muster as he sagged against the counter and bradley, who'd been waiting the whole time jumped, “uncle ice!" and ice just held a hand up to bradley before telling the officer to keep him informed and hung up the phone.
ice tried to process the fact that this husband, his pete, bradley's father, had been missing for two hours, there was an explosion, no parachute and nothing insearch and rescue. ice felt sick. he was all to familiar with what this looked like and he wasn't prepared to loose his husband, he wasn't. there's no way and oh god— bradley. he'd be destroyed.
ice was spiraling and he knew it, but he also knew that he had to keep it together for the young boy infront of him looking at him with concern in his
my eyes. clearing his throat, ice moved to stand up, pulling bradley to him, looking him in the eyes. "bradley, maverick's missing.”
explaining to your godson (step-godson?) that his father (because ice knew that while mav tried to deny it, bradley was his kid— their kid, and had been for a while now) was missing and how grave the situation looked was the hardest thing ice has
ever had to do. pulling bradley in the rest of the way he felt him sob into his arms and ice was right there with him with tears falling pouring down his face.
the next few ours were devastating, to say the least. ice had talked bradley out of at least 3 different panic attacks and had held him when he passed out, tears on his face as he curled into ice's chest.
once bradley had fallen asleep ice had sobbed quietly thinking about his husband. how'd he'd never get to wake up to mav groaning at the time and curling back into ice asking for “five more minutes hun.” he'd never get a chance to see their next wedding anniversary or see bradley graduate from high school. there was so much ice still wanted to do with mav, but as he started spiraling again he remembered what he'd told bradley. "pete is as stubborn as he is a great pilot, he'll come back to us.”
tom was counting on his husband to come back because he honestly doesn't know if he's strong enough to handle both himself and bradley if mav was really dead.
hours and passed and it was well into the early hours of the day when the phone rang, starling bradley and ice awake and they both stared at each other as ice steeled himself to answer the phone, “kazansky."
they'd found maverick. they'd found him but he wasn't looking good. bruised to all hell. several broken bones and fractures, probably a concussion, a nasty laceration on his neck from where his parachute chocked him and a stab wound in his lower right abdomen where he'd been impaled by a tree branch. ice breathed in deeply trying to calm himself and asked where may was going to be hospitalized.
after he'd wrapped up the conversation he turned to bradley, tears shinning in his eyes. “they found him alive, but he's not out of the woods yet. grab a bag with some clothes for the next week." and bradley nodded quickly before running off and doing just that.
as ice made his own bag and met bradley outside in his truck, bradley demanded that ice tell him all that was wrong with may but ice just shook his head, “not this time bradley, when we get there you'll know. just understand that it's bad, okay?"
and bradley could do nothing more than nod and hold back is tears as he looked at his uncle ice. iceman and maverick, tom and pete, they’d been there for bradley for years— they were his dads and bradley had always thought that they were invincible, but he’s older now, he knows better. he’s lost his mom and his dad and he’s so scared that he’ll lose mav too so he turns to ice and says as much, and he feels ice pull him into a side hug and press a kiss to the top of his head, “i am too baby goose, i’m so scared of loosing pete, but i know he’s strong and i know he’ll pull through. you have to have faith in him, okay?”
ice and braldey drive for hours and hours as they reach the hospital that mav is being held in. he grabs their bags and walks in and he’s met with superior officers and young lieutenants alike, they all snap to attention at the sight of him. ice just waves his hand, “at ease, i’m not here as an admiral, i’m here for the same reason you are, to make sure that maverick makes it out of this okay, so can anyone tell me what i’ve missed?”
a man that i’ve recognized as mav’s CO, steps forward with a nurse and let’s them both know what’s going on— maverick’s out of surgery. he lost a lot of blood in the hours it took them to find him and get him to help. he’d broken 4 ribs and shattered his left ankle, he was burned and bruised all along his back, suffered serve smoke inhalation, and a bruised throat from the string of the parachute around his neck, along with a severe concussion but they’re expecting him to make a recovery.”
ice held onto bradley as he felt the boy stiffen in his arms. they’d both known that mav was going to be badly hurt, hell ice had heard most of these from the initial call they gave to tell him that his husband was alive, but hearing it all listed out? that was a different story. cleaning his throat, ice looked at the officer, “when can i see him?”
ice held onto a shaking bradley as they were brought to mav’s room. opening the door, ice dropped their bags on the floor beside a couch and walked over to maverick, his maverick m, laying on the bed looking so small. he had an oxygen mask on a if possible, looked so much worse than the picture in ice’s head when the nurse was describing his injuries. pete was always so much larger than life, bigger than his small frame, but here just looked like a man.
bradley’s chocked out sob of, “dad,” brought ice back from where he was as he turned to hold their son in his arms again. this couldn’t have been easy for bradley, hell, it wasn’t easy for ice either, “he’ll be okay, he’s alive, he’s gonna wake up and then we can yell at him for being stupid, okay?” and it got bradley to laugh shakily as he held onto mav’s bruised hand.
the next few days were a blur of waiting for mav to wake up and speaking his hospital staff about his condition. he was doing fine, thankfully, pulling through and expected miraculously to make a full recover but it wasn’t going to be easy. intense muscle spasms in his back were expected, along with months of physical therapy, trouble eating, confusion, maybe even memory loss and just overall aches and pains. it was going to be a while before maverick could even think about being up in the air, but doctors were certain that mav would bounce back if he worked hard at his recovery and had a great support system, both of which ice and bradley eagerly reassured the doctors that he would.
on the fourth day of them being in the hospital mav had woken up. doctor’s rushed around him making sure he was as physically okay as he could be, and poked and prodded until they felt like he was alright to take off his oxygen mask, and then felt the three of them in mav’s hospital room to catch up. “h-hey tom, hey bradley.” was the only thing pete got out before bradley was across the room in tears sobbing on mav’s chest, and ice was right there behind him. “we- we thought you died, thought i was never- never gonna see you again. you’re my dad, i can’t loose you!” bradley’s speech was miffed by his tears and mav’s hospital gown but he got the gist of it and kissed bradley’s head, holding his as close as he could with a wince, “i’m not going anywhere okay? i love you, both of you,” he said looking up at ice and tearing up at the sight of his husband and kid, “it’s gonna take more than this to get rid of me.”
bradley nodded as he curled up on mav’s chest as best he could, mindful of his injuries and finally spelt, mav kept one hand on his back, as he felt bradley start to calm down and sleep. “he’s been sick with worry for the past few days, this is probably the best he’s slept since they told us.” ice had said as he sat on the edge of mav’s bed, a hand on his cheek, feeling a vague sense of deja-vu.
“no, pete, you don’t, this time wasn’t like the others, i-i don’t know what i would’ve done with myself, with bradley! we were so scared—“
mav put his free hand on ice’s chest, and instinctively, ice leaned down to let mav kiss him, letting the tears flow freely down both of their faces, “when the engine blew up and the parachute was choking me before i blacked out, all i could think of you and bradley. how i’d never get to see you both again, never get to kiss you again, never get to finish seeing bradley grow up. it was awful, but it doesn’t matter now. im okay, i’ll be okay, and im gonna get through this because i have you both with me. that’s all i need.”
ice sighed as he wiped his tears and kissed maverick again, slowly, pouring all the he hand into the kiss, mindful of the sleeping bradshaw on ice’s chest, “scare me like that again and we’re getting a divorce.”
and maverick could only laugh, “okay ice, i promise i wont.”
maverick, the liar, did not in fact stick to his promise and was back in a hospital bed a less than a year later. (bradley was very amused and ice was not, but he still drove the both of them to the hospital, grumbling the whole way there about idiot husbands and enabling kids)
