“Be Curious, Not Judgemental.”

And he returns as a clutzy goofy boy?? Oh we’ve won i love this guy (i got so much second hand embarrassment but he’s such a cutie 💕)

Yellow Flags- https://archiveofourown.org/works/70148661

And Anything of the Colonel’s- https://archiveofourown.org/works/70310501

So the other piece of media in the crossover? THAT’S RIGHT you weren’t expecting it but it’s Ted Lasso, my other lovely interest which is so awesome and you should all watch it.

(A little but of context beforehand, Ice and Mav are not married- while they were basically a functioning married couple but boyfriends.)

ANYWAAAYS- So in this AU, three years before the events of TG:M, the President met with the Prime Minister, and the two wanted, Admiral Kazansky, with his experience as COMPACFLT, to move over to London to help out the Royal Navy and the British Pacific Fleet as a sort of consultant. At the time, Ice wasn’t even gonna take it, but with Maverick always working on DARKSTAR, and at that point Ice and Maverick had gotten into their first big fight that they couldn’t resolve and led to a break up (mostly about Mav doing dangerous shit and Ice couldn’t take it anymore in fear of losing him), Ice surprisingly accepted, and it just so happened to be by the end of his term as COMPACFLT, so he left without any issue.

It just so happened that at the exact same time, a Ted Lasso and Coach Beard were moving to Richmond after being hired as Manager and Coach of AFC Richmond. The two met Ice at Heathrow Airport, and Ice makes a fast friendship with Ted and Beard. And there’s even a funny little moment where Beard tells Ted “Ted that’s the former Commander of the Pacific Fleet” cause of course he knows that. And once Ice realizes that he doesn’t really need to be present all that much and that the Royal Navy doesn’t need him that often, he starts tagging along with Ted and Beard to coach AFC Richmond. And turns out, Ice is really good at it. He manages to make close connections with everyone, and the team worms their way into his heart. Especially Roy, Jamie, Ted, Rebecca, Keeley, and Sam. And when Ice is made a Coach (i wanna say late into Season 2), Americans and British are both utterly shocked, because you’re not expecting the former Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet to be a coach for your favorite Premier League team. But yea, needless to say, Ice is happy.

Now this is what Ice thinks of those around him in Richmond! Ice views Ted like a close friend, and has often given advice to Ted when he realized he needed a moment of guidance, as well as Ted proving he too can teach Ice at times, but they always have loads of fun together! With Rebecca, he views her like a younger sister, and enjoys her takes on things as well as just how much they have fun (he also fucking hates Rupert so Sassy and Nora also love him). Ice and Roy are a great duo, and it took a little bit, but the other wormed their way into each other’s hearts, with Roy having another father or grandfather figure in his life again. Ice views Jamie like he does the rest of the players on AFC Richmond, like a son. Just one that needed a little more guidance than the others (and a stable father figure- Ice is really good at that huh?). Ice thinks Keeley is a blast to have around, and he finds her a unique friend to have in his corner (Keeley thinks he’s great at girl talk). Ice thinks Sam is wise beyond his years, and that he’s a promising young man who he knows can grow with the help of those around him. Oh and you can’t forget the friendship between Ice and Beard, who very much get each other and respect one other a lot. Ice likes the fact that Beard just knows things and doesn’t question it (hence why he, Beard and Roy get along so well). And finally, on the rare occasions where Ted has Henry over in Richmond, he views the kid like his own grandson, and just loves him to death.

Oh and don’t worry my fellow Icemaver’s, because Ice and Mav still love each other deeply, and make things up to each other! I’d wanna say Mav shows up like mid Season 3 (after the team have their friendly match in Amsterdam) and they end up resolving things. The funny thing is, the events of TG:M actually line up perfectly with when the Season 3 finale takes place! So Ice ends up going hone with Ted and starts a new term as COMPACFLT. So yays all around!

And here are some fun little add on’s to the Top Gun and Ted Lasso fun:

- Ice mostly prefers to not speak, but he still can, even if his voice is just a little hoarser and older nowadays. He only does so because it sometimes can become painful to do so.

- The team see Ice talking as if it were some really important thing since he wants to say it out loud instead of signing it. They also all learned ASL just to understand him, y’know once they all grew to love him.

- All the players in AFC Richmond call him Coach Ice, with exceptions like Roy, Rebecca and Keeley all calling him Ice, and Ted being Ted, he often calls him Icers.

- The reason Ice was allowed to stay with Ted in those early days was because he grew on both Rebecca and Ted very quickly, and the three are often a tight knit bunch.

- Ice is actually part of the Diamond Dogs! And he thinks it’s all very fun.

Funny story, this AU led me to making one of my favorite crackships (not so much crack but you get the gist), Cyclone and Ted. I can SO see them dating it’s literally unreal.