“I’m just a child, but im not above violence”

Insert some family tragedy or some shit, either way, he goes straight. Hides it. Doesn't tell a soul, not even Slider. Changes the station every time they play a Nick Rivers song on a Throwback Thursday and claims it's because he hates "that sugary poppy bullshit."

No one figures it out for years. He goes to Top Gun, he falls in love with Maverick, he starts spending the weekends and holidays and any time they want with him and the Bradshaws, and then comes Bradley. Little baby Bradley, who wasn't even fucking alive yet when Nick Rivers quit, is the first one to figure it out and it's all because the kid interrupts Ice's poor attempt at a good night story one too many times, so he gives up and tries to sing him a lullaby instead.

And instead of finally closing his eyes, Bradley gasps and sits up and says, "You sound like the guy on the radio!"

Internally, Ice freaks the fuck out. Outwardly, he smiles and winks and makes Bradley promise to keep it their little secret, in exchange for no more terrible good night stories.

And in the end, that's how Mav figures it out too. He overhears one day, pauses in the doorway to watch Ice stroking Bradley's hair and swaying to his own rhythm and leaves again before either of them can notice him.

Because, listen. I personally headcanon that Nick, at least post-movie, understands that the world is a joke, and that he can bend the rules of absolutely everything. Science, logic, you name it. He could make two plus two actually equal five if he wanted to.

There's a bit in the movie where he breaks the fourth wall, and he uses the Nonsense to his advantage a couple times (chasing away the bikes, rising up in his parachute, those kinds of things), so in my head, Nick is a guy who understands that things don't have to work like they're supposed to, if he doesn't want them to.

But imagine Tom Kazansky who knows that. This straight laced, ice cold, no-nonse bastard who knows that if he ever has to eject too low, he can just. Slow down. Tom Kazansky who could win a dogfight by playing tic-tac-toe in the sand. Tom Kazansky who can stay underwater for like ten minutes and come out completely dry.

Tom Kazansky who, if he wanted to, could probably make his jet twist and bounce, and shrink and stretch like a harmonica to evade enemy fire. During Layton, if anyone actually saw him when he was alone in the sky with those five MiGs, they'd probably pass out. Fuck knows Maverick is shocked enough that he almost forgets he's been freaking out.

"What the fuck was that?!" Slider screams from the backseat when the last MiG finally leaves, completely hysterical, frantically checking if all of his bodyparts are still where they're supposed to be.

Now hear me out, Chris is a child prodigy who seems to not want to be known as one, he's overly excitable and very autistic and adhd, so when he graduated from Pacific tech he needs somewhere to escape too

And as we know Ice went to the academy and we only have an idea of how old he is, so let's say he's a year older than Goose and they went to the academy at the same time

So Chris made up this fake person, Thomas Kazansky, and with the help of Lazlo he created this entire person that he turns himself into because he doesn't want to be a child prodigy anymore he just wants to be a person

And yeah Tom may graduate top of his class but he's still just Tom, not Chris Knight, child prodigy and he loves that Tom Kazansky becomes an easy mask for him to use

But it all comes crashing down around him when Peter Mitchell, Mitch's cousin who he met while Mitch's family visited Pacific Tech goes to Top Gun with him