#icesli

[handheldrope]

*hits above 40F* you know what time it is

[guncruise]

for @topgundrabble prompt: matching. i gave up on containing this one.

Ice was wearing shorts. It was the first thing Mav noticed when he arrived at Slider's barbecue, a six-pack in one hand and a bag of paper plates in the other. His habit of arriving late had made him the de-facto "call him to grab what we're missing on his way over," which endlessly benefited the other flyboys, but put a dent in his pocket he was too kind to fill.

Back to Ice. He stood by Slider at the grill, beer already in hand, chatting up his RIO as if no time has passed. Mav set his load down on a nearby table, trying to not get distracted by Ice's calves and the gorgeous way his skin had tanned into a beautiful golden.

His intense staring brought him eye-to-knee with a smudge of black script above his scapula as Ice turned to greet the newcomer.

Mav squinted, trying to parse out the letters. Ad astra per aspera. He had seen that before, on Sli—

"Hey Mav,"

"You have the same tattoo as Slider," Mav blurted out over Ice's greeting.

Ice flushed, Slider descending into crackling laughter, the taller slinging his arm over Ice's shoulders, pulling the blushing man into his side.

"I lost a bet," Ice muttered.

"A very stupid one," Slider added. "But now the world knows he's my friend forever."

The tips of Ice's ears bloomed red like the rest of him.

Mav raised an eyebrow. Friends. "For sure."

[laswells-ashtray]

Goose and Maverick have honey and dear. That's their thing, it's cute if not embarrassing on their part.

Slider originally starts doing it to mock the two, calling Iceman sweetheart, baby, princess and the like when they're alone. Ice throws it back at him with handsome, hot stuff, Romeo and his personal favourite, lover boy.

It's inherently funny, calling out to his pilot only to see Tom peek his head out from around the fridge door, bat his lashes and purr, "What was that, hot stuff?"

They keep it behind closed doors, they're close enough for people to side eye and they don't need the extra attention.

Then he walks in a room to find Iceman, and he shouldn't be Iceman. They're at home, he's supposed to be Tom. His jaw is clenched, eyes narrowed and his left hand is trembling. He's the picture of cold and detached, he isn't the Tommy that Ron knows.

"What happened?"

Tom's hand flexes by his side as he thinks through his words, he's emotionally conflicted. Ron isn't sure if Tom is aware of the tell, but he'll never tell the man. It's enough for him to wrap an arm around his pilot's shoulders and rub his thumb under that one spot below his ear.

"The Admiral is dead."

The Admiral. Admiral Kazansky, a man known for anything but his good parenting. Ron has never had the displeasure of meeting the man but he knows enough, Admiral Kazansky is cruel. He doesn't care for his children as anything more than mere objects to further his image, nothing is good enough.

Tom doesn't talk about the man, but Ron knows a man who shuts down and becomes a scathing shell of himself when he's upset is not a man who experienced a happy childhood.

Ron is the one and only person who could afford to make the move he does without getting thrown to the side, pulling Tom into his arms and rubbing a hand between the man's shoulder blades like he's comforting a child.

"I'm not upset, I should be upset."

It's gut wrenching, to hear a man like Ice so painfully confused.

"S'alright, baby. You don't have to be."

Neither of them ever mention that the nickname was supposed to be a joke, or that Tom melts into his arms after hearing it.

[rainbowsuitcase]

A drabble for @topgundrabble prompt: First Kiss

Tom is used to bracing for pain. When a door gets slammed, a voice is raised, a fist comes up. He knows the signs, knows how to find them, how to deal with them. Don’t run, just brace for it.

He didn’t expect to see them in Ron.

His teeth gritted as he stalks closer, his sharp frowning eyes, it’s all too familiar. Tom digs his heels into the ground, trying not to tremble.

He just said he didn’t want a girl right now. That doesn’t have to mean anything. But Ron-

“I’m gonna try something, yeah?”

Ron kisses him.

[mxrcusflint]

Ice shows up at Slider's doorstep the night before he's about to get married, and it's the right thing they're choosing to do here – unsaid, unbidden, there's no path forward for both of them in the navy if they act on the feelings even if the feelings exist.

it's just – you fly with a man and the same guy is going to be your best man, and you love a woman and she's amazing, and he knows that, and that's the easy path forward for the rest of your respective lives. and Slider's got a girl he's going to be happy with. because you've both talked about, in as much as you can.

but you show up at the doorstep anyways and nothing happens, because it almost feels juvenile to, but there's a hunger to just laying down next to him so you can feel his breath rising and falling on the mattress besides you, the way its been since the Academy and on every deployment, the way it is in the cockpit when he's behind you and you know that that's where your other half is really tethered.

he's leaving the navy at the end of year anyways. you've gotta have kids and settle down, anyways. but before the shoes are polished and the whites are on, before you exchange vows and unlink from the best partnership you've ever known, you allow yourself to be greedy one more time.

[0kazansky]

Need to write slicemav where Iceman already has a crush on Slider and is handling it (repressing it deep deep deep down)

until Slider starts flirting back with Maverick and they get together. Which is fine (it's not)

Ron starts thinking Ice is homophobic because he can't stand to be in the same room as them together. So he's grappling with ending things with Mav when it's barely started or losing Ice forever.

it's not going well for anyone (except mav who has absolutely been fantasizing about his two tall mean boyfriends wingmen the entire time)

[hurtcomforted]

I've gotten stuck on the idea of Slider pining after his best friend for years and never saying anything, because he knows that Ice is so repressed that even if - especially if - he felt the same, he’d be too scared to act on it and it would only hurt them both

[artemoon-wip]

Okay, dang, I wish I didn’t have plans for the night. I want to continue writing this (while not at work lmao).

Here's some more for Hit Record:

"We.. were at a store the other day and the.. owner.. told us about this gig that would pay a lot." Slider tried to explain.

"A gig? Making a videotape?"

"Yeah, so like, it'd basically be a film." Slider said uncomfortably.

"Okay..?" Chipper laughed at how weird they were both behaving. "What kind of film?"

"An adult film." Ice said to his boots.

"Between us." Slider added with a red face.