Maverick loves nicknames. Goose used to call him honey; everyone knew Mother Goose.
If he's standing in a position that makes him taller than Iceman, he'll call him Icicle. They all get a kick out of calling Wolfman a pupdog whenever he's a little too whiny. Hollywood gets woody when Mav thinks he's acting like a dick.
He calls Slider by his legal name just to annoy the other man, stops briefly after Ron declares him St. Peter, saint of the heightless. Proceeds to ask the man if huffing the clouds counts as a substance abuse.
But his favourite nicknames are the ones he uses behind closed doors. Calling Tom "sweetheart" for the first time and watching him go red from the tips of his ears down to his chest, swearing to call him it at any given opportunity.
Getting swatted whenever he calls Tom "baby", because the man thinks it's corny and juvenile, but Pete keeps calling him it long after his hair greys.
Avoiding Tommy because that's Ron's nickname for Tom, and Pete understands, more than most, the importance of nicknames between close friends, what and when they can represent. Iceman might be Pete's sweetheart, but he's Ron's Tommy.
The fond mutter of Ice calling him an asshole, because if he was truly angry, he'd call Maverick a "little prick". To express his ire and make a dig at Pete's height all in one, Ice is good at multitasking like that.
"Second-best pilot." He's less fond of that nickname; it stays in continuous use. The first time Ice uses it, Pete has a psychosexual reaction that he would prefer to never remember again, which, coincidentally, Ice loves bringing up.
And on a one-time occasion, when Tom is sporting a fever and half delirious, the blonde tugs him close, sticks his sweaty face in the crook of Pete's neck and calls him, "My wingman." It will always be the most memorable of them all.
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