The funniest thing about Icemav is that they are the fidgetiest boys. You expect it from Mav, but it's less expected from Ice, even though arguably Ice might be worse than Mav -- he certainly steals more stuff to fidget with than Maverick does.
Mav is always moving. Always darting around. He talks with his whole body. Shuffling his feet. Bobbing his knees. Openly assessing every room he's in (and he tends to do this when he's in a situation he wants out of -- such as at the very beginning when they're yelling at him about taking Penny up in a jet -- because it means avoiding eye contact).
Ice is a primetime fidgeter. He's looping pens around his fingers, flipping quarters up and down his knuckles, swirling his iced vodka, screwing around with his watch. He may not be jumpy like Mav is, but he sure as hell isn't still.
Worse is that the more time they spend with each other the more they start to pick up where the other left off. Mav starts making origami out of Ice’s gum wrappers, and Ice now has a tendency to “walk-and-talk” when before he didn’t have the urge to do that — he’s just gotten used to doing it with Mav.
Seeing them sit together at a booth? The two of them can't stop. Think Goose and Slider would accuse them of being human oscillators. Goose would probably nudge Mav in the shin to get him to stop bobbing his leg, and Ron would grab Ice by the shoulders and shake him.
When they finally get together? Well. They match each other's energy and then compete over it. Ice touching one place, Mav grabbing another, just constant. At the same time, though, they also would try to settle the other. They know what's just fidgeting and what's a stress tell, even though they wouldn't have the words for that yet. Mav's hand coming up over Ice's if he's whipping a pen around his hand real fast, stilling him, maybe even replacing the pen with his hand if they're in a safe place to do so. During an argument when Mav starts trying to check out because he doesn't want to get yelled at and looking anywhere but at Ice, Ice can say, "Mitchell. Look at me," because he wants to make clear he's not about to start screaming but they do need to get through this.
Carole’s the only one who thinks to ask them directly about it when they all — Slider, Goose, Little Goose, Ice, Mav, and Carole — are all out to brunch together on one of their few mornings free.
“Are all pilots this twitchy?” Carole teases them. “Is it a requirement?”
Both Ice and Mav say at the exact same time, in damn near perfect sync: “The best ones are.” Carole and Goose burst out laughing. Slider points at them. “You two. Have been spending WAY too much time together.”
They both just shrug. Truth is, they don’t even know the half of it (though Ice imagines they’re figuring it out). As it stands, Ice hands Mav another gum wrapper, and Mav takes the pen for the check and gives it to Ice to twirl, and they remain content to fidget until they get the receipt back and can all head home.
