#ripgoose

Maverick had never complained to anyone. To Viper, whom he knew didn't quite understand him; to himself who nearly walked out without speaking to Carole; to the jury for not punishing him; to Sundown, who was as unsympathetic as Viper; to anybody. He was not angry with any of them. But after hearing the sighs of Iceman he felt, as he gathered his things; he said, "Why aren't you sad enough?"

"I don't understand what you mean."

“Goose is dead,” Maverick turned, echoing what Viper had said. "But you carry on, as if nothing happened."

"Mav, I was going to apologize anyway…"

"No point from now on!" cried Maverick. Wolfman, who was eavesdropping on them, was frightened, but he managed not to make a sound. Even when he saw Maverick, holding Iceman's collar, almost attacking. With his tiny figure, he couldn't have expected that Maverick would seriously harm Iceman, but considering Maverick's bitter rage and the Iceman's inability to defend himself for relating to Maverick's situation, Wolfman chose to remain silent.

"It doesn't matter when anyone gets upset…" Maverick loosened his hands. "It's the same excuse for centuries anyway… soldiers die, but because their deaths are a great act, no-one after them has the right to be sad or cry; because life must go on… because the soldiers left, so that the rest could laugh and be happy…"

Iceman couldn't look Maverick in the eyes, but he could feel them fill with tears, not to mention the trembling in Maverick's voice. If it had been anyone else, any man, Iceman would have hit him hard to make him come back to his senses, but Iceman couldn't move. His hand was shaking too, because it was Maverick. It wasn't anyone.

For Iceman, yes, Maverick was right, nothing made any sense anymore, and nothing mattered any longer; but Maverick was leaving, and when he was gone, everything would be worse. For Iceman. Nothing could stop Maverick. Nobody could stop him from leaving Iceman alone. Iceman hadn't told Maverick, but he had been all alone before he'd arrived. Now there was this danger of Maverick's leaving, too, and couldn't he see that he was going to put himself in Maverick's position too? Couldn't he understand that Maverick also meant Goose to him…? But Iceman could have sworn that for some reason he felt the tone in Maverick's voice, "I never want to go, just do something, find a reason for me to stay." Maybe he was just setting this up himself. To console his own self…

"When I was sure you'd fall…" Iceman said with difficulty. "I knew one of you was going to die. I prayed it wasn't you, Mav. Maybe that's why I'm not upset enough. Maybe it's me that's bad."

Although Mav couldn't believe what he was hearing, he still took a few more steps towards the door, before being stopped again by Iceman's voice.

"In fact, I'm very selfish. I'll ask you to come to graduation, Mav. For me. For you. For us… It's very important to me that you come, Mav. Will you be there?"

Maverick didn't answer. Iceman even doubted whether he had heard the last words he'd said: He was long gone like a ghost. Even with his eyes on the ground, Iceman could feel it. But instead, Iceman heard a different voice:

"He'll come."

"Wolfman?" He wasn't upset. He didn't resent that he just stood there, listening to their conversation. Like Maverick, he felt generally freed from anger.

"Don't you be upset. Something tells me he's coming."

"What if he doesn't show up?"

"The Maverick I know will come. And the Iceman I know won't make himself sad about it that much."

"I can't help it, Wolf… After getting to know him, it's like I'm a different person, now…"

"I know… but you should tell him that."

"I said it enough times… as much as my tongue let me... He doesn't understand…"

"He got it."

"You're not saying all this with conviction… you're just trying to console me…"

"Iceman, please don't let yourself go. What will we be, if you lose himself too…?"

Wolfman's simple words were enough to rally Iceman. From then on, he decided to stand firm.

The first job was to prepare for graduation. He'd go to give his hair the best shape. After that, he was going to have a "neat" iron on his uniform.