Chapter Text
Maverick Mitchell was dangerous. A cowboy of the skies. Iceman Kazansky was perfect. Ice cold, no mistakes. They lived up to their call signs.
Ice despised maverick with every fiber of his being. It should not have been possible for someone so reckless to be accepted into TOPGUN. And yet. His methods were so completely outrageous, they put the entire team at risk. But they worked.
Mav had never hated anyone more that the iceman in his entire life. Sure, ice was taller than him and cleaner than him, but that didn’t make him a better pilot. There was no freedom. TOPGUN was no place for a glorified autopilot.
And yet.
The rivalry continued, opposing sides and views and opinions merging into one unit. The dynamics would ever be understood, but it worked. Unity evolved into a begrudging respect, and then something more.
Iceman liked Maverick first. He saw the innocently boyish joy in his eyes when he spoke. He recognized his dangerous side, but also saw the compassion. He saw the boy. He saw the potential. He recognized that Maverick could be a good man. He could be a good pilot. He would be a great pilot.
And he was.
They were two sides of the same coin. They were born in the same era, the same time, with the same mindsets. They were the same and the opposite. There was not a difference. Their family was the same kind of family. Ice did not like his family. Mav did not like his family either. They were the same people. They had the same hopes and dreams, the same desires. They were each other’s mirror.
And then, one day, the two sides of Maverick and Iceman were split apart. He had to choose. Maverick had to choose. And he made his choice. He chose Iceman.
It was only later that he understood why.