#tg headcanons

like, Goose is eternally Mav's closest friend, closest family, closest person, however you want to look at it- Goose is Goose. no one takes the time to take a peek around the rumors before Goose. no one takes the time to consider whether Duke Mitchell's kid might be anything more than a piece of a rotten legacy. Maverick is the stand-in scape-goat of nigh on two decades' worth of pent-up feeling in the Navy, from fellow officers to COs and Admiralty alike, and the first time anyone ever offers him a hand with the burden is when Goose makes a grab at carrying the load. Maverick doesn't really know much about connection until Goose. he doesn't know much about what it's like to care or to be cared for. he doesn't have a good rubric against which to compare these things in his life.

he barely remembers his father, clinging to a photo, to his own hope as a son for a world where his old man did it right, to the stories of anyone who might've known him. and his memories of his mother are tainted, too. she used to call down from her room, asking me to play it over and over and over again. i got so sick of it. he tells the story like it's this fond and typical tale of a mother and a son, and to Mav, it must be. but, if we read between the lines, there's more. like her grief and its’ consumption of her, the partial abandonment of her child in the wake of it, the demands of a young mother’s undoing placed upon her even younger son. unfair no matter how understandable and no matter how tragic.

and then, that was it. foster care, and a whole lot of nothing in particular, relationship wise. then the Navy. then accusations, side eyes, strong words and sometimes, if he isn't fast enough, stronger fists, and then... Goose.

and Goose isn't a saint, exactly; isn't the greatest guy to ever walk the planet, or anything, not objectively. but he was raised to be kind, and he doesn't like to see somebody punched down on, and if you endear yourself to him, he's got a patient streak a mile wide. if you don't - well, he can have a mouth on him, too. it all lines up pretty much perfectly for Maverick Mitchell, from the first day the taller, lankier stranger is assigned to his backseat.

but those lucky days are numbered, and Goose is gone all too soon. a handful of too-short years. their early twenties, as best. Goose had known Carole for longer.

so, yes, he learns what he knows about friendship, about family, about connection, all from Goose. but the first time he gets to really make use of those things that he’s learned- is with Carole.

Carole, the only person to look him in the eye unapologetically after the accident, without shame or fear or pity. Carole, the only one to acknowledge the greatness of the loss that they’re all going through (all of them, Mav included). the first person who does not say that he must let go, move on, accept that it’s the first loss of many, after only a few hours, a few days. (and Ice of course, who in some ways does this too- but they are rivals until that moment and they do not know each other. they aren’t able to look one another in the eye or be vulnerable. and while i think this interaction has a lot to do with Ice becoming so important in Mav’s life later on, it’s just not the same to Mav then as someone he knows and trusts being there for him in that moment, is it?) the young widow Mav feels responsible for making, who touches his cheek and says god, he loved flying with you, Maverick. who says, without saying as much aloud, please don’t feel guilt for the way that this happened, it is horrible, but he died doing what he loved, flying with you, and he would never regret it, even if he knew.

and while TGM is intentionally vague about the between-movie happenings, a lot can be inferred (and inferring things is my 9-5, so i shall!!! thank u for humoring me) from what Mav says. his mother never wanted him to fly, not after what happened to Goose. she made me promise before she died. i was trying to be the father he’d lost. i just wish i would have done it better. Mav knew Carole for the rest of her life- until her death; by extension he knew Bradley. for most of his childhood, it seems, if not all of it; Mav was there with them.

Carole tells Charlie, i’ve known Pete for a lot of years, and i just love him to death. we don’t know what Carole means, exactly, when she says “a lot of years”, but as long as Goose did at least is a safe assumption. adding onto that the years to follow before her death, and that’s at least… ten years? maybe fifteen years, depending on when you think her passing occurred. either way a long time. and yes, eventually, he will have known Ice for longer; but only because of the solemn march of time after Carole’s death. Goose told Carole everything, including the stuff about Mav- (Goose tells me you’re in love with one of your instructors!)- and all of a sudden, Carole is the only living person who really and truly knows him. Carole is Mav’s oldest living friend, closest friend, for a long, long time.

you’re the only family i’ve got. Mav said it to Goose, in full sincerity, only days before the accident. and of course, he means Goose, but there’s no doubt he means Goose’s family, too. to see the smile on his face as they arrive off of the plane to visit, to see him walking with baby Bradley on his hip- this is his family, and now Goose is gone. and now, the only family Mav has left are Carole and Bradley.

there are holidays, birthdays, visits on leave, letters exchanged, life plans made and shared. he was there for her child- helped to co-parent her child, maybe, depending on your personal interpretation (and we all know mine is that he Very Much Did Do That lol). and i just think about… everything. about tearful phone calls and rambling letters and family dinners. about a day trip to the beach or a parent/teacher meeting or help around the house when he’s on leave, about a repair to the Bronco or a hand with the groceries or can you pick Bradley up from practice tonight? I’ll be a little late at work.

this foster kid from nowhere who didn’t know anyone, who didn’t have anyone, who learned what connection, friendship, and family meant when Nick Bradshaw hooked a lanky arm over his shoulders in the locker room and from that moment on, took him under his proverbial wing- this kid is a grown man with a life that has people in it, people he relies on who rely on him. Carole was never just Goose’s wife to Maverick. she’s his closest friend, the person he trusts most, his family. he’s there for her throughout her grief, and likewise, she is there for him throughout his. throughout everything else, too. the daily on and on, and the special circumstances- legal concerns, medical concerns, parental duties, it’s all there. in so many ways, he lives his life with her, right up until the end.

and at the end, he’s there, too. he plans her funeral, he makes the arrangements. he buries his closest, oldest friend. for the second time. (and let’s all agree not to think about how he’ll have to do this a THIRD time too, later on, because AAAAAA) and this time, he steps in for her child, too. he makes and keeps her deathbed promises. he allows the rest of his life to be (seemingly) irrevocably, irreversibly changed by those promises- for the worse. and he does it all for Bradley, yes, we know and talk about this fact often- BUT he does it all for Carole, too.

Carole Bradshaw, who really is one of the most important, most influential people in Maverick’s life. if not THE most. she doesn’t get much screen time, and she isn’t even mentioned by name in TGM (a crime!), but i am forever ill thinking of The Ways that she influences his character, his story, how he influences hers, about what their friendship looks like, about what they do to navigate all these difficult life situations together. some day i will write very long fics about this but i don’t have the time right now. so have this headcanon-adjacent long-ass analysis post that is not objective and that comes from the depths of my brain and the its-missing-Carole-Bradshaw-hours of it all.