#jakecore

i just. need more aus where jake is ice's kid because it's just a literal TROVE of untapped potential. hangman's a hypocrite for bringing up the goose-maverick connection but in his mind, HE never brought up his connection to iceman. he doesn't talk about it. he did his time without speaking a single word. natasha is the only one that knows (part of the story, at least) because she caught jake with ice at the top gun graduation. she just assumes he was headhunted from the academy by iceman, or something along those lines. jake's bio file is locked up tight for his own safety (kids of admirals, let alone COMPACFLT are in serious danger even when in service of the country, even from their own service members) and maverick only knows who he is, who he belongs to because he'd recognise the kid he held at only hours old, grinning at ice who looks like he'd burst with pride, anywhere, would recognise him from all the times him and ice sat in bunk rooms and break rooms, passing pictures of bradley and jake between each other. they kinda look like brothers, hey, mav, ice says because jake's hair is starting to blonde out from his dark toddler hair while bradley's is starting to darken into an adult colour. there's still more than half a decade in age difference between the two boys but he and ice play the they could be brothers game. maverick tries to play the they could be brothers game when they're recalled to top gun, but jake is too much like ice and bradley is too much like him to play together. it's like watching history repeat. only there's no goose to lose, this time, just the two boys he watched grow up.