bel is your local top gun obsessed loser

everyone knows maverick and goose are bestfriends and that they do the dumbest shit together all the time. whether in the air or on land, those two are never not fucking around, and the rest of the tg86 class love it. there's never a dull moment with goose and maverick in the mix

one day goose and mav snuck into all their classrooms early and whenever jester sat down there was a whoopie cushion, every. single. time. the first time it happened heatherly jumped a foot in the air and hollywood laughed so hard his hat fell off, which of course caused everyone  to laugh. so much so that jester, red in the face, made them all run laps until they stopped laughing. even viper cracked a grin at the outrage on jester's face, and winked at and mav and goose because he absouelty knew that they did it, and by the end of the day everyone else  did too.

another time, for sundown’s birthday, chipper left base early, because of course he did, and bought a pie. so when he and sundown sat with the rest of their class for breakfast in the mess hall, after everyone sang (butchered) a rendition of happy birthday, chipper told him to close his eyes, before smacking him in the face with the pie, a bright smile on his face as he yelled, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUNSHINE!" and then took off with sundown hot on his heels and pie all over his face. goose got a great polaroid of the whole thing and chipper  keeps it on the inside of this locker. sundown was still yelling about his hair having pie in it later in the day and did the same thing to chipper on his birthday. then it became a tradition for all their birthdays to pie each other. viper even got in on it and did it to ice, now that was a great polaroid.

another time, maverick and ice made a bet, and ice lost so his punishment? having to ride with maverick, on his motorcycle for a whole day. slider nearly pissed himself when he heard about it because everyone knows that mav rides but no one hates that thing more than goose and ice, especially since maverick refuses to wear a helmet no matter how many times they both try and get him to. mav swears they have meeting on when they team up to harass him about the helmet, but nevertheless ice lost and was now holding (clinging) to maverick for dear life as goose and slider were talking beside them. slider was leaning on goose with tears in his eyes as he watched ice yell at maverick about "not letting him die" before they had even started riding, hell the bike stand was still out, which mav pointed out to a very unamused iceman, sighing, maverick turned around and lifted ice's helmet up (he still wasn't wearing one) and kissed him softly, "ice, baby, i'm not gonna kill you okay? trust me." and ice begrudgingly did, so when mav lifted up the kickstand, turned around and reved the engine, ice relaxed just a little bit, then mav, being the lovely asshole boyfriend he is, turned around and sped down road with ice yelling in ear about how he was going to break up with him once he was off the damn bike and goose and slider, now watching with hollywood and wolfman heard ice yelling from down the street.

  when ice ice baby came out slider, mav and goose made it their ringtone for ice, and he has never been more unamused.

 goose and carol had ice and maverick watch bradley once and poor baby cried so hard when ice and mav left to go home because, "his uncles are so cool” and “he doesnt want them to go.” and from then on they've babysat him every time goose and carol need them to, and once when the four of them all went on a double date, hollywood and wolfman offered to watch him, and when they came home the three of them were cuddled up on the couch with hollywood's hat on bradley’s head, with him on hollywoods chest and wolfmans arms around both of them. goose took a picture and left them there before turning off the lights, carol decided that the pilots would get pancakes as a reward tomorrow morning and bradley got a few more cool uncles to brag about at school.

being with rooster, jake thinks, is a lot like a prolonged sense of deja-vu. they’ve done this song and dance so many times now it shouldn’t feel as good as it does. but, as rooster slides his tongue along jake’s neck, he feels a buzz of adrenaline and familiarity flow through his body.jake is a simple man, with simple needs and rooster, is by far his greatest need.

they'd just gotten back to land from the ship. the suicide mission reopening old wounds. jake saved bradley's life, and mavericks, and he'd do it again in a heartbeat. as soon as they were alone, they left no space between them. pouring years of hurt and heartbreak and love into that kiss, they finally pulled apart with teary eyes and promised whispers of change in their relationship. they'd exchanged dog tags, jake gave bradley one of his, and bradley vice versa. it sealed that promise they'd made to themselves and eachother, a promise for the better.

as they fall into bed again for the umpteenth time since they’ve entered the navy, it feels like riding a bike. something he knows how to do, something he’ll never forget.

they’ve always been attached, dating or not, but since they’ve stopped, rooster has felt the need to separate them. jake can count on one hand the number of times rooster has called him by his first name since they stopped dating. after the breakup, it was always his callsign.

whether they were dating or not has never really affected them sleeping together, jake privately thinks they were always meant to be togther in someway. always connected, always there. that bond between them has been everpresent for so many years and jake misses how they used to be.

he misses their bond. he craves his touch and hearing his laugh. he misses tracing his scars in the dim light of their bunks, but most of all, he misses hearing anything but the forced indifference in bradley's tone when he says his name.

so jake, now set with his task, stops rooster from kissing down his neck and pushes him on his back, straddling him, jake leans down, a hand going to rest on rooster's abs under his shirt. “bradley, baby?” jake drawled in his accent, “won’t you say my name?" and jake could feel rooster stiffen underneath him, and turn his head away, he knew exactly what hangman wanted, but bradley was as stubborn as his namesake and he knew it would drive hangman crazy if he didn’t say it. so with a bat of his eyelashes and a cock of his head to the side feigning innocence, bradley smirked up at the gorgeous blonde on top of him “yeah hangman?”

jake, the bastard, reachers forward and chokes him lightly, leaving rooster breathless and flustered, “that’s- that’s not fair.”

“all’s fair in love and war, darlin’” and with that Jake did what he did best, live up to his callsign. using every trick he knew to get bradley as close to the edge as he could then leaving him there until he said his name.

eventually, bradley, red in the face and pretty tears in his pretty eyes relented, crying out a loud gasp of, “JAKE!” as hangman finally let him have his release. panting, flushed and embarrassed, bradley groans as he finally calms down enough to look jake in the eye, already picturing the knowing, smug look would be on his face without even having to turn. “see, it wasn’t that hard, was it pretty boy?” and bradley could only groan, shifting so that he was ontop, “asshole.” he said as he shifted again and drew a noise from jake, “yeah, but you love me.” jake said back confidently as he pulled bradley down by his waist into a searing kiss. feeling bradley smile into the kiss with a soft smile and an even softer, “yes, I do jake,” was enough for jake to kiss him a little deeper, and fall a little more in love with the man (if that was even possible).

(this is based on my own experience with this song recently)

sitting in bradley bradshaw’s prized baby blue bronco was a luxury that was afforded to jake seresin regularly. while he loved his truck and takes it with him every deployment he can, he also loves sitting pretty in rooster’s car, while his boyfriend keeps one hand on his thigh and the other on the wheel. 

another common luxury jake liked to indulge himself, was whenever they reached a red light, he kissed at a specific pulse point on bradley’s neck, feeling it start to flutter as he started sucking and twirling his tongue along his throat and down, down, down, until the light turned green and he pulled away, sitting upright with a smirk on his face and bradley’s grip on his thigh tightening, his face pink.

doing just that, lead to where they are now, pulled into a random parking lot about 25 minutes from base where they definitely should be, with jake’s phone hooked up the the bronco’s speakers. he was sat in bradley’s lap, legs on either side of the man with a hand in his curly blonde hair, kissing him like his life depended on it when the song came on.

his song— slow ride.

laughing into the kiss he leaned to turn it up when he felt bradley’s hands snake around his waist, pulling him closer and oh rooster had started to kiss jake’s neck— though kiss generous description for it. it was more like an attack, wet lips and suction, licking around jake’s golden skin, doing ALL the right movements and jake was on cloud nine, leaning his head back for better access which means he accepted defeat because there’s no way that bradley wasn’t leaving marks on his neck. jake was mouthing along the words as he started moving his hips, bradley’s big hands tightened around his waist, drawing sounds and broken gasps out of jake.

“slow ride, take it easy,” jake mouthed into the kiss, grinding down onto bradley, “slow ride.”

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.

“mav— pete.”

“i know.”

“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.”

bradley “rooster” bradshaw got his callsign because he was always the first one up. always. 6am here comes bradshaw whistling down the hallways to some song from 1980 something, a wide smile on his face as he took his happy ass down to the mess hall to grab a snack before his morning run.

it was infuriating because no matter how early is was, here comes bradshaw happy as a clam, smiling wide as he sits next to everyone else struggling to find it in them to wake up. god bless whoever is his bunk mate because like when a rooster crows, once he’s up, you’re up.

mikey called him a rooster once as a joke when he was complaining about being his roommate and the name stuck. (no one knew that his dad’s callsign was goose, so really there was no way of knowing that when someone had called him rooster for the first time it made him a little teary eyed, but he took the name in stride, and branded himself as rooster bradshaw) (but really he was just happy for the new name because there was no one around in his life to call him bradley anymore)

on the flip side, javy machado was always up late at night. why the man chose being in the military for his career of choice when he’d never been in bed before midnight a day in his life is really something he thinks about often, but nevertheless javy can’t sleep if the time isn’t at least 0000.

he was tried everything, from warm milk to melatonin, no matter how tired he is, he just can’t sleep early in the evening.

when he was a kid, his mom used to let him watch cartoons to fall asleep, and what was always on late at night was Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. it became such a comfort to javy that whenever it was on he could turn his brain off and sleep.

eventually, the team caught on and after more than a few nights of them finding him asleep and the cartoon playing in the background, the name caught on and stuck. (when javy told his mom she laughed and laughed because she’d never have guessed a random cartoon she put on for him as a kid would become so important to her baby’s life) (she always sends wile e. coyote themed gifts on javy’s birthday and it caught on to the rest of the team who do it now too) (his original callsign was new orleans but coyote just felt right)

out of all the boys, hangman is probably the best at sticking to a sleep schedule. his in bed by 11 and up at 6 (“cause to keep looking this good you need to get a lot of beauty sleep, javy”)

rooster likes drinking tea in the morning (with excessive amounts of honey) but will drink coffee (4 sugar, 3 cream)

payback and coyote can’t think without at least smelling coffee and mikey only gets starbucks and is a sucker for seasonal drinks and anything diabetes inducing. payback will drink any and all coffee and coyote just wants his black.

jake drinks sweet tea, but because he’s jake he has to drink a SPECIFIC sweet tea and “the farther north you go the worse it tastes”

hangman has unpromptedly complained about sweet tea for 40 minutes uninterrupted (phoenix timed it) but they can all begrudgingly agree that he makes a damn good sweet tea so they let him talk as much shit as he wants to.

phoenix, when she can, takes the longest of them in the bathroom. when she’s not on military time and she has the space to do so, she has a 10 step skin care routine, 5 steps for hair care, an avid collector of face masks and a BEAST at manicures.

when she’s deployed she doesn’t really have time to think much about her appearance much besides keeping it in military standard and not in her way, but when she’s off? she just needs a day to herself? you bet your pretty ass she’s in her bathroom with her hair wrapped in some treatment, painting her toes a pretty pink with music blaring in the background.

she’s given all the boys a a manicure at least twice and hangman and rooster let her do their makeup when she wants to.

she will not hesitate dig tweezers out of her purse and pluck all their eyebrows until they look good.

bob, ever the sweetheart, is the main subject of her beautifying and it is not uncommon to find the both of them wrapped in robes with phoenix helping bob apply a face mask. (she got them both matching robes for christmas and they are very cool and badass, thank you very much seresin)

bob is real southern, born and raised in tennessee and put him, jake, javy and rooster in a room together and suddenly gone with the wind is having a reunion. they all bring out the southern in eachother and damn do they sound good.

bob and hangman always bring a set of boots with them when deployed. (hangman, the texan, prefers ariat boots but bob much prefers a stetson)

hangman and halo love to gossip, they are known for it. callie doesn’t let on that she probably knows your deepest darkest secret but jake can and will let everyone know if he feels so inclined.

when they’re stationed together it’s like gossip girl has suddenly come to base because if something happens, they probably know it. (callie doesn’t start gossip but jake loves starting a good rumor and he’s a terrible influence)

their best to date is spreading a rumor that yale and harvard fucked in a storage closet on base and though they never confirmed anything, their blushing faces and avoidant looks every time someone brings it up was enough for everyone to know it wasn’t completely baseless and hound them for info (they’ve never said anything to date but everyone’s waiting for them to get drunk enough to spill the details)

phoenix did volleyball in high school (captain her junior and senior year and varsity since sophomore) and is amazing at it. (when the squad play beach volleyball it’s always a race to pick nat) but in her freshman year she was a flyer her school’s cheer team and she made varsity the next year and loved it, and if volleyball and cheer didn’t clash seasons then she absolutely would have stuck to it.

rooster did varsity baseball up until college. when mav pulled his papers he decided to go to college until he could reapply and he got a full ride scholarship to play baseball and study aviation at the university of virginia and if he wasn’t dead set on going to the navy he could’ve gone pro.

jake was the captain of his high school football team and took them to first place at nationals two years in a row as the star quarterback and got offered a full ride to the university of texas at austin (go longhorns) to play at a d1 level but he turned it down to go straight to basics.

fanboy has a terrible sweet tooth. put anything sweet infront if of him he can and will devour it but he never had a cavity. javy however, was a metal mouth with braces for 4 years and then he got his wisdom teeth pulled right after they came out. (jake has always had his straight, crest 3d white smile and javy’s always a little bit jealous when he sees it)

jake, the bastard, never had an award phase growing up, rooster and bob however, went through some tragic emo phases and parents facebooks have since been off limits because wow those were embarrassing times. (it’s okay because bradley has pictures of nat from her parents of her as a kid in middle school and threatens to show the team baby nats adorable plane themed 9th birthday party)

payback has reading glasses that make him look like a grandpa and rooster wears contacts.

**important to note

-goose lives, just injured after the canopy incident so mav still flies with merlin for the mission and icemav still become wingmen

-most of these are set after they all graduate top gun

ice and maverick have always thought the other was attractive, it wasn’t a very well kept secret if their time at topgun was any indicator, and anybody with eyes could tell that they wanted to be with each other and finally, finally they fell into bed together after months of dancing around eachother and their feelings and it was eye opening for the both of them. mav looked ready to bolt when he woke up next to him because ice meant more to him than a quick fuck but he didn’t know how to tell him that and didn’t want to fuck anything but between them, but ice held onto him with, the patience of a saint knowing that he’d just gotten maverick to see his feelings and he wasn’t letting him go anytime soon.

they talked it out with only a few shed tears before maverick pushed ice back down onto the bed and showed him just how much he meant to him. (mav called goose and told him everything, with carole right there behind him chipping in and adding her own comentary) (apparntly goose owed her five dollars because she knew that it was going to happen soon after the mission, goose thought it would’ve happened taken months) (mav rolled his eyes at gooses’ lack of faith in his ability to get with a guy he liked but didn’t rebut it because he never thought he’d get here with ICEMAN of all people)

mav and ice do NOT take things slowly, as neither of them are known to be passive about what they want. they already spend most of their time together during the day as their stations together, but now they have an excuse (they didn’t need one before) to spend even MORE time with eachother and they are insufferably in love.

ice who drinks coffee in the morning not because he needs it to wake up, but because he likes the taste. mav who needs coffee to even think about starting the day, so ice, who wakes up first, makes mav’s coffee first then his own. (he likes seeing mav all soft and sleepy in the morning, and he’s always rewarded for his efforts with a happy grin, a soft kiss to his cheek and a “thanks sweetheart,” in mavs delicious morning voice, but he likes to say it’s because it’s the only time mav isn’t running his mouth)

mav runs warm but ice, ironically, runs warmer, so they buy the best a/c money can buy because ice is a tactile mother fucker and can’t sleep without at least one limb touching mav at all times.

everytime ice gets deployed somewhere different than mav (which is hardly ever because the navy recognizes how fucking good they are together) maverick relishes in the free space because while ice curls up to go to sleep, mav spreads fucking eagle. legs and arms out starfish style (though he is always very happy to have his personal extra limb back in bed with him)

ice sleeps on the left and mav sleeps on the right, though sometimes when mav gets sick or ice isn’t there, he’ll sleep on ice’s side.

ice rarely gets sick, he has seasonal allergies that he takes medicine for but when he does get sick he gets SICK. he’s coughing and hacking and he can’t breathe and everything that could go wrong goes wrong. mav always knows when ice is sick because he gets cold and clammy and miserable.

ice never takes being sick seriously and will try and go back to work without much care and it takes mav (and slider usually) to coerce him back to bed with a good book and promise to keep with updated on any changes back on base.

mav on the other hand sneezes twice in a row and swears he’s dying, but he’s just dramatic. mav gets sick A LOT. the weather changes and he’s down with a head cold. he’s also allergic to cats and ice’s family has three fat, spoiled tabbies named mimi, stella and princess and they LOVE maverick.

however, poor mav can’t even be near anything they touch because he’ll break out in hives. he will however down as many benedrill as he can and play with them because he loves them just as much.

his attempts to convince ice to let them get a cat always end in a resounding no, because ice actually likes having his boyfriend not in severe medical distress because a cat so much as looked at him

being sick is one thing but when it comes to the big stuff like injuries, broken bones and the like, no one takes it more seriously than ice. as soon as something feels off, ice is at the base hospital asking them to look over it, he doesn’t want to jeopardize his flying at all.

on the other hand mav gets such an adrenaline kick whenever he’s in the air that he doesn’t feel any injuries until it’s too late.

once he wasn’t strapped in properly in the tomcat and tuned a corner so sharp he rammed his elbow against the canopy and it shattered. goose heard a sickening crack come from mav’s general direction and the groan that he let at the turn and immediately told mav that he had to land the plane. mav asked goose if he was okay and all goose could do was gape at his idiot of a best friend becuse there’s no way that if goose heard the crack from somewhere in mav’s body over the roar of the engine that mav wasn’t feeling at least something.

eventually, after he got mav to land after he stubbornly stupidly insisted he was fine and that he needed to finish his training, goose flagged down medical and when they arrived mav’s flight suit was drenched in blood at the arm and he was leaning on goose just trying to breathe through the pain because the adrenaline he had from flying was gone and the pain kicked in real fast and all he remembers is someone touching his elbow and how much it burned and white hot pain coursed through his body .

he’s told later in the hospital that he passed out, eyes rolling back and that with his maverick fucking luck he actually landed on his elbow, injuring it more before anyone could catch him. he then passes out again, though this time it’s medically induced by anesthesia as he’s being prepped for surgery.

the next thing he knows he’s waking up in a hospital room on base with a cast on his elbow and ice sitting at his side. once he’s wake ice looks at him for a few seconds, looking at him worriedly as he breaths out a soft, “jesus mav,” under his breath. then remembers he’s upset with maverick and loudly recalls all the details for him and yells at him for 25 minutes for being so stupid for keeping himself in the air injured and bleeding and how one day he swears mav will kill himself in the cockpit and when he does ice will dig him up and kill him himself because, “pete you’re not dying by anyone’s hands but mine.” and mav stopped listening because ice had obviously not realized the slip but maverick did and wow did it make his heart beat faster because that was the first time ice had said mavericks name. not mitchell, not maverick but pete.

so pete leaned up and smiled so wide it made ice pause because there’s no way mav was smiling through his lecture (if being called a reckless fool by your boyfriend was considered lecturing) and then he felt mav pull him by shirt collar with his good hand and kiss him speechless. “that’s the first time you’ve called me pete, tom.” and wow ice loved hearing his name on mav’s lips so he just smiled back, “yeah, well maybe ill do it more if you aren’t so stupid.” and all mav could do was laugh and kiss tom again within an inch of his life.

goose, who came to visit with bradley just sighed and covering his kids eyes and clearing his throat loudly. ice and mav jumped apart quickly and blushed, before mav smiled as bradley (who’d been let down by goose once they’d separated, smiled widley at his godfather, “MAV! daddy said you got hurt cause you were dumb so im here to make you feel better!” and ice chocked out a laugh as mav shot his best friend a look, “oh did he, well your daddy must love me very much if he brought my favorite godson over to see me” and goose and ice just rolled their eyes fondly because mav and bradley did this little routine so often it was second nature, “but mav im your ONLY godson.” “that’s why you’re my favorite baby goose.”

it made mav and bradley happy so no one had to heart to tell them it was a corny joke, because it was cute to see mav so happy. everyone could tell just how much he loved the kid and bradley loved his godfather just as much.

mav smiled wider, if that was possible, and picked bradley up with his good arm and placed him on his lap. ice sat next to the two of them and goose on the chair beside of mavericks bed, and the four of them just chatted, well it mostly consisted of goose and ice ragging on mav for being a bad influence of bradley, and for being dumb in general (calling him a dumbass in as kid friendly a way as they could) when carole was about to join them and saw just how happy and relaxed they all were, so she snapped a picture of them, which made them all turn to her at the flash. “whatcha up to honey?” goose had asked as he called his wife over to join then and pulled her on his lap, “oh nothing, just admiring our family.”

jake had always known he liked boys, he known when johnny from next door made his little heart flutter when they played together as kids back in austin. jake's mamma, kelly, knew and somedays, jake thinks his dad, mark, a big gruff commander in the navy, knew too.

mark spent so much time putting jake in church and "manly" activities that jake barely had time to think about anything but god, getting into the naval academy, and making football captain.

church service was every wednesday and sunday and jake sat next to caroline willis every time, his boots knocking against her low heels, and their hands brushing accidentally when they reached into the pews for the same bible, a blush would dust her cheeks, matching the pretty red colour of her hair every time, and jake would smile back politely, drawing his hand back so she could grab the bible. his dad would nod at him from across the pews encouraging him every time he did.

he had tried to get jake to take her on a date but his mom chimed in saying jake should focus on football and jake's never been more grateful for her.

one day though, caroline didn't sit beside him, but terry mcadams did and jake was ass over tits for this boy. terry was a very good-looking guy on the football team with jake, a tall dark-skinned exchange student from jamaica, with a pearly white smile, a dimple on one cheek, and an accent that had jake swooning every time he heard it, and jake couldn't help but  stare at him whenever he got the chance.

so when jake's boots knocked against terry's church shoes, and their hands brushed when they went to stand up at the intermediate point of service, terry winked at jake and nodded his head for jake to follow him, and that's how jake ended up having this first kiss and his first spiral with religious guilt within the same night (but god was it worth it for the smile terry kept giving him when they returned to their seats when service started again)

jake's feelings for terry overcame his fear of god and his father so they dated in secret and jake even let terry meet his mama, and only his mama, officially as his boyfriend before he went back home to jamaica at the end of their senior year, leaving jake with a sweet kiss and pretty words dipped in a smooth accent and when he took jake’s virginity the night before he left. (jake cried the whole day after he went with terry’s exchange family to drop him off at the airport, curled into his mom’s arms because jake had been in love) (terry was in love too, and he went back home with a jake sized hole in his heart)

 years later, jake swears he's never felt that feeling for anyone again until he met a boy in basics after he'd enlisted. bradley fucking bradshaw, he was tall, lanky, and had the worst mustache jake had ever seen, seriously, the thing looked like it had come straight out of a porno from 1989, but god, he was beautiful and jake got on his knees and prayed that night that the feelings he had would go away, but they only got worse. (of course they did) 

every time jake saw bradley— rooster as jake had learned he was older than him by 4 years and already had his callsign, jake blushed from his head to his toes, and javy, his new friend could only laugh when he saw them together, shaking his head and telling jake that he has it bad as if he already didn't know that.

nevertheless jake tried everything to get bradshaw out of his mind. (to no success)

being the biggest asshole in a 10ft radius came as easy to jake as breathing but no matter how many times he and bradley butt heads jake would find himself wanting the other boy more and more, and if jake's bruised lips every time bradley dragged him into some supply closet and kissed him silly whenever they argued was anything to go by, bradley wanted him just as badly.

it all came to a head later when they were at top gun, jake and bradley were neck and neck for the top gun trophy, and one night after a few hours at the hard deck making eyes at each other, bradley took jake home and laid him on his bed like he was made of glass and kissed him so sweetly it made jake's head spin. bradley made him feel beautiful, whispering words of assurance, words that if jake thought hard enough sounded like confessions, pushing into him and drawing sounds and feelings out of him that jake had never felt before. at some point jake had started crying, his father's words bouncing around in his head right there with his pastor condemning him to hell for even thinking about another man, but none of that mattered, when bradley bradshaw grabbed his face gently, wiping away his tears and kissing him softly, "it's alright darlin', just focus on me okay pretty boy?" and who was jake to deny him anything, so he kept his eyes on bradley as he felt himself come undone with bradley right there behind him.

after they were done, jake felt bradley clean them both up, wrapping them both in a blanket and running his hands up and down his side, whispering sweet nothings and praises in his ears as he fell asleep.

the illusion was shattered the next day when bradley, ever the gentleman, dropped jake off at his house on base with a kiss (one so soft jake would've thought it was an apology) and a dead look in his eyes, "it's better if we don't talk about this again, okay?" and with that, he drove off in his bronco leaving a piece of jake's heart right with him.

going inside he stalked past javy who looked surprised to see him in tears and locked himself in the bathroom, taking off his shirt and seeing bradley's love marks and handprints on him, and all he could do was fall to his knees and pray and beg and sob for forgiveness because this was surely god's punishment, a reminder of the night he'd spent in bed with a man, a night laying in sin with a man he'd let tell him false words and mark his skin, and jake was going to live in this hell knowing he couldn't have him knowing what was waiting for him on the other side.

payback and fanboy (!)

mikey gracia had spent the first 10 years of his life in puerto rico, living with his abuela claudio, his abuelo martin and his tio pedro before his mother, strong, beautiful woman named maria, made enough money to move the two of them to new york. mikey was floored, everything was so big and no one cared that his english wasn’t the best.

the kids in his classes all helped him get better, they even showed him cartoons and books that he’d never seen before back in pr. star wars, sesame street, g.i joe! there were so many and mikey talked his mama’s ear off everyday, and on weekends when she’d saved enough money, they’d go to the movie store and pick up some of the movies that he’d been talking about with his friends and talk about them all night and commit them to memory.

reuben fitch had lived in chicago his whole life. his mom was born here and met his dad when they were stationed abroad and they settled down and had him and his sister tish (tishana)

reuben loved chicago, he loved his friends, and his family. he was captain of his high school basketball team and vice-captain for the football team. he was valedictorian and graduated with a 4.0GPA and enlisted to the navy the summer after high school ended. he’d always known that he wanted to join, his uncle was a retired SEAL and his grandfather had been in the air force, but it was his mom and dad that really solidified his want to join.

she was an ex-navy nurse, and had saved countless lives. she had met his dad, a SEAL, when he was struck down in combat when he was 25, and kept him alive long enough for him to take her on a date. then one date turned into two and the rest was history.

reuben had always known he’d follow in his family's footsteps and rank up, but then his uncle took him to an air show when he was 15 and the rest was history. he wanted to fly, he was going to get his wings and no one was gonna stop him.

during basics, he met this short kid from new york, mikey, who talked his ear off about star wars so much that reuben actually felt like he had watched all the movies and decided that they were going to be friends.

he’d met others like natasha trace, a badass who put some kid in his place after he tried to gibe her shit for her being one of the omly girls in their class, and bradley bradshaw, he was four years older than the rest of them but he and natasha were joined at the hip and and bradley had fit right in with their little group without a second thought.

mikey and reuben has been assigned as pilot and backseater together and it was a match written in the stars. they were efficient and reliable. reuben was a kick-ass pilot and mikey had a great eye, he was also creepily observational and a great shot when he was focused. between the two of them, most people didn’t stand a chance. then they got sent to top gun where they made history coming second only behind phoenix. (bradley had gotten sent to top gun the year before them and won his own trophy easily)

mikey was the first in their group to get a callsign, “fanboy” it was so fitting as no matter where they went or what show they watched, mikey always had some fact at the ready to geek out about.

phoenix got here’s next after her engine gave out randomly during a hop and her plane went up in flames, but then she came through the cloud of smoke mostly unscathed and earned her callsign within the hour.

bradley had gotten his next, mostly because whenever they had to wake up at the crack ass of dawn, rooster was already up and whistling, like he was happy to be awake so early (it was mikey that started calling him a rooster in their group then it stuck)

reuben got his last, “payback” he wishes that there was a cool story or that it was a funny nickname, but his sister tish had always called him a petty bitch. and whenever anyone decided to run their mouths or make a dumb bet, you can bet your sweet ass reuben was right there waiting for them with a wicked smile. (he also never let anyone forget that they owed him anything. wether it be money, a drink or a favor, nothing was forgotten)

reuben was very athletic, always had been, and he was built, but he could not play golf for the life of him, and mikey who never cared much for sports was killer at mini golf, and he never let reuben forget it.

mikey was great at bowling, he likes to claim it’s because he’s a back seater, but reuben gives him a run for his money every time. (no one wants to go bowling with them anymore because they’re extremely competitive)

for his birthday one year, fanboy took payback to puerto rico and reuben had the time of his life, he claims that puerto rican food is the only food that’s better than his moms. so for christmas the same year, reuben took mikey back to parents place in chicago and mikey had the time of his life.

thank you to @MVRlCKS on twt for letting me use a tweet of theirs for inspiration!

***important to note this is set a few years later than cannon, tg86 class has already graduated with mav and goose winning the top gun trophy and ice and mav are already together

the day it happened was a regular exercise, they were training for a mission they were scheduled to go on the next week. it was a bird strike, then a spin, and maverick remembers telling goose to watch the canopy. then they were in the ocean, with maverick clinging to him for what felt like hours. the doctors had broken the news to him after he regained consciousness and all he could do was nod, the tears came later when ice had come to see him and it really hit that goose— nick, was dead, and it was all mavericks fault. oh god, he had to tell carole and bradley that nick wasn’t coming home. he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think, all of his energy was gone and the only thing keeping him up was ice’s arms around him. eventually, it all got too much and they had him sedated because he wasn’t calming down.

ice was left to stand in the hospital room and he had cried. cried for goose and for maverick and the bradshaws. cried because it really had hit him that goose and was gone and he wasn’t coming back, and he’d taken a piece of maverick’s heart with him.

carole had arrived sometime later, her eyes pink and puffy and little bradley not any better, it's obvious that they had just come from goose's room. so ice bent down to bradley’s level, he had grown to love the kid, seeing him as much as he did because of maverick, and ice’s heart broke just a little more as he held bradley close and picked him up, feeling him cry in ice's arms as he pulled little boy close, “it’s gonna be okay baby goose, i promise.” ice stood and opened his other arm out to carole, feeling her walk into his arms cry just like bradley. ice knew that this was going to be hard for all of them. mav and goose had invited him into their little family and they’d accepted him wholeheartedly, and now goose was gone, and if ice held both bradshaw’s a little bit closer, that was no one’s business but his.

eventually maverick had woken up and both the bradshaws were curled up together, sleeping on a couch in his room, adamant that they weren’t going anywhere until mav woke up. “hey baby,” ice had said softly, going to sit on the small hospital bed beside maverick and pull him to his chest, “carole and bradley came to see you, they’re not upset mav, no one is.” and maverick looked at ice with bloodshot eyes, the pretty green that ice had come to love were filled with so many emotions ice knew he’d never fully undetsand, “how- how can they not blame me, goose is gone.. because of me. if i’d been more careful, or something, anything! he’d still be here.” but ice wasn't having it, he wasn't going to let maverick go down this road, not by himself at least, "mav, you know there’s nothing that you can do in a bird strike was it happens, this isn’t your fault.” and maverick just closed his eyes as the fight left his body, going slack against ice, “i don’t know what to do without him ice.. i just don’t know.”

the following weeks were rough to all of them, the funeral was held back in virginia, the four of them flying out and seeing goose and carole’s families at the funeral, and mav had broken down again when mr. and mrs. bradshaw, who’d become the parents he’d lost when he'd met goose all those years ago, pulled him in for a hug and cleared him off any wrongdoings, still calling pete their son.

carole had been handed the flag and the four of them took a few days to themselves back in virginia, before flying back to miramar. by the time they got back ice knew mav wasn’t doing well. he and carole had spoken about it because they knew he’d take it hard, but this was much worse than they’d both imagined. maverick had retreated into himself, holing up in his and ice's room with a sweater goose had given him years ago and some sweats, he hadn’t left their room in days, he wasn’t eating, he could barley sleep without a nightmare waking him, and ice doesn’t know the last time he’d heard his partners voice. it was bad.

carole had admitted quietly to ice that the only reason she wasn’t in the same state as maverick was bradley, and ice himself being there for them, hugging him with all her strength she kissed his cheek softly before grabbing her things to go home, “please be there for pete, tom. i don’t know if he’s going to make it through this without you.”

carole nicole bradshaw has loved nick bradshaw for a very long time, and in those long years she remembers when he went from nick to goose in her mind. she remembers when he introduced her to maverick and she loved the two of them fiercely.

she knows that her husband is a worry wart, especially when she and mav get together, which carole finds a bit hypocritical since he and mav get into more touble than she does but she’ll allow her big scary goose to honk all he wants.

she knows, from maverick. that his original callsign was mother goose and carole laughed herself silly the first time she heard it and goose huffed and puffed until he gave her big stud a kiss for his pouting. but carole can’t help but think it fits.

when she was pregnant with bradley goose was beside himself with worry, and maverick was right there with him. between the two of them carole hadn’t needed to lift a finger, one them bled her hair back while her morning sickness was wringing her dry and the other cooked breakfast for the three of them. then bradley was born and carole knew that whatever happened, that little boy would never be alone, because the look pete and nick gave him when he was born, that was nothing short off love and boy did they have it bad.

once bradley started getting older, and goose and maverick climbed the ranks higher and higher, she got invited to all sorts of navy events: balls, cool outs, football games. she then met the rest of the squad on goose and mavericks graduation day, and (boy did her nick look sexy in his dress whites) but eventually she noticed the other pilots started calling her something, a nickname she guessed. at first it started at mrs.bradshaw, then when she insisted they her carole, and hollywood misheard her and called her caroline, it spiraled from there.

bradley had ran up to her after being hugged by goode and maverick and smiled so wide carole thought he was gonna burst, “mama goose!” carole was so taken aback she laughed, “what did you say baby?” and bradley withall his little body said very seriously, “daddy is goose, and you’re mama, so you’re mama goose!” the rest of the pilots around who’d heard bradley’s little voice laughed, and carole tipped pink, “i think i like that, baby” so then mama goose was born. the whole class has started calling her that now.

when ice had been formally introduced as tom, pete's partner, by pete after he’d been coming round for family dinners as iceman, pete's wingman, he smiled, “mother goose, mama goose. how’s it goin?” and carole just rolled her eyes, then when she saw chipper in the grocery store, he offered help her take her bags back to the bronco, with a tip of his hat and smile, “hey mama goose, how’s big bird?” “oh chipper, you know goose hates that name.” “yeah mrs. b that’s why i call him that.”

the name had stuck so much that for her birthday maverick had gifted her a patch that she sewed onto a jacket with the name mama goose right on it.

fanboy and phoenix (!)

* natasha phoenix trace is cuban-american and lived in miami before her family moved to arizona (hence the name) and mikey fanboy garcia is puerto rican and lived in pr before his family moved to new york and then california— they both speak spanish and argue over which country is better, switching between english and spanish and then trying to drag the other daggers into it but they decidedly keep their mouths shut and don’t get involved but by the end of the night phoenix and fanboy are drunk on rum and giggling to themselves talking in hushed tones and broken english as the rest of the daggers coerce them into going home before they can persuade rooster into playing another song on the piano so that they can sing (scream) it in spanish

* nick “goose” bradshaw is so fucking attractive, everytime i watch tg86 im just staring at him cause he’s just perfect, the perfect husband, father, best friend, mother hen and they really don’t make them like him anymore. everytime he’s with carole they look so inlove and happy and i wish so badly that he didn’t die because now he never gets to see bradley grow up, and he and carol never get to be more inlove and have more kids. they never get to give bradley more time with the both of them. nick never gets the chance to have more anniversaries with carol, never gets to brag at a highschool reunion and he doesn’t get to smile or laugh or age past a 20 something Lt. in the Navy.

* goose and mav don’t get to go on anymore adventures, they don’t get to buzz the tower and they don’t get to teach bradley to drive or how to fly, goose doesn’t get to see mav and ice sort out their differences and become wingmen and partners. he doesn’t get to see mav settle down with ice and see how mav opens up and they go from maverick and iceman to pete and tom, he never gets to see their loving banter and he doesn’t get to be the best man after dadt is repealed, he doesn’t get to walk pete down the aisle, to smooth out his collar and say “you look great honey” and have pete smile up at him and say “thanks dear” while he hands pete off to tom and smiles.

* nick never gets to meet natasha trace and see the spitfire of a best friend she is to his son, he never gets to see bradley play great balls of fire for his friends. nick never gets to teach bradley the piano and he doesn’t get bradley’s first days of school, parent teacher conferences or birthday parties, homecomings or prom. he never gets to meet the charming southern bastard who’s so much like maverick with his confidence and his way of flying like there’s no one in the air but him, his jet and the clouds that makes his sons knees weak. he never gets to see how jake “hangman” seresin worms his way into bradley’s heart, never gets to see the soft smiles or the heartache, the breakups and the messy t in between, never gets to meet what would be his son in law.

* nickalus bradshaw will never get to see his son get his wings, he never gets to know “rooster” bradhsaw who looks so much like him it hurts. he never gets to see his son graduate top of his class, or become valedictorian. he doesn’t get to cheer at baseball games or go on fishing trips.