Chapter Text
“I want a pup.”
Mav looked nervously at Goose across the kitchen table; gnawing on his bottom lip as he waited for the words to sink in to his best friend’s brain.
“They’re in the cupboard,” Goose mumbled around his biro; frowning down at the morning paper, his attention rapt and unmoved from the day’s crossword. “You know where they are, Mav.”
Mav squinted at Goose, trying to work out what he meant. Then huffed in exasperation. “Not a cup, Goose. A pup! With a P!”
“Oh.” Goose glanced at him briefly, and then holding the biro between his teeth, he picked Bradley up out of his high chair and handed his son to Mav to hold. “Here, have Bradley.”
Mav took Bradley automatically, and set him on his lap. “I don’t mean Baby Bird. Though obviously I love and adore you, Smoosh.” He pecked Bradley on the crown of his head; downy-soft blond curls tickled his cheeks. The four year old had picked up the nickname Smoosh from where he had a tendency to just smoosh his food on his own face and anyone who was within hand-splatting vicinity. Mainly Mav if he was being honest. Even though Bradley was a bit more of a tidier eater now, the name had stuck. Bradley giggled and nuzzled his face into the crook of Mav’s neck, always seeking out his vanilla scent. “I meant one of my own. I want to have a pup, Goose.”
“Right now?” Goose scratched at his temple in thought; puzzling over number six across. “I’m a little busy with the crossword, honey.”
“Goose.” Mav kicked him lightly under the table; Goose grunting dramatically in response. “Oh, that didn’t hurt. And I wouldn’t have kicked you if you actually paid attention to me. I’m being serious. I want a pup of my own. I’ve decided I want to be a mom.”
The Alpha who had been his best friend for years, ever since Mav had run away from the foster home that was more like a prison, and Mav had literally bumped into him and Carole by the railway tracks, stared at him with wide eyes. Goose and Carole had taken one look at him way back then – scrawny with barely anything to his name, but a stubborn attitude and a lack of fear to bite anyone who thought he was an easy target because he was small and an Omega – and taken him under their joint wing. A pack of three. That then became four when Carole had given birth to Bradley.
Mav hadn’t mentioned any desire for pups though before now, so he wasn’t surprised that Goose was surprised.
“Y-You’re not joking?”
“No.” Mav shook his head; averting his gaze and focusing on playing with Bradley’s socked feet, a feeling of vulnerability washing over him.
“You want a pup of your own?”
“Yeah. I do.”
Goose hummed, as he processed what Mav had told him. The crossword and biro placed on the table; Mav now had his full attention.
“Who are you going to have a pup with? Because unless you’ve been holding out on me, honey, you don’t currently have an Alpha.”
“No, I haven’t,” Mav huffed out a soft laugh. “You know I’d tell you if I was with someone, And I don’t know who I’m gonna have a pup with – not yet anyway. I…I’ve decided I’m going to go down the artificial insemination route, y’know? There’s no Alphas who are single that I trust to fuck a baby into me the natural way.”
He was very cautious and picky when it came to who he got into bed with. Sure, he flirted with nearly everyone because it was fun, but he didn’t trust many people to look after him properly when he was showing his soft underbelly. Truth be told, he’d only slept with two people (Penny Benjamin when he’d been nineteen – the female Alpha easily dragged into trouble, though her father wasn’t a fan of his; and Charlie Blackwood – another female Alpha who he’d had a fling with during Top Gun before calling it off after Goose’s accident to help look after him with Carole). Mav was attracted to both male and female Alphas, he’d just not gotten around to being with a male Alpha yet, well because, to put it bluntly, most of them were usually assholes.
“What about me?” asked Goose.
His heart warmed at the offer, but still he rejected it. “Goose,” he reached over to rest his hand on the Alpha’s; other arm wrapped around Bradley’s chubby little belly to keep the pup tucked into him where he started to snooze as he sucked his thumb. “You’re my best friend and I love you, but I think Carole would have something to say about you knocking me up, don’t you?”
“Yeah, ‘Can I join in’, probably?” Goose drawled, making Mav laugh.
“True. But in all seriousness, you’re mates and I’m not getting in the way of that, even if we’d no doubt make beautiful babies.”
“You know we’d do it, Mav. We love you and want you to be happy.”
“I know.” Mav squeezed Goose’s hand and then sat back in his chair; cuddling Bradley because the pup always soothed his inner Omega. “But it’s a no. I’m doing this my way.”
“Okay then.” Mav sighed in relief at Goose’s easy acceptance. “You going to tell the guys?”
Mav frowned. “The guys?”
“Yeah, Ice and Slider.”
“Why would I…?”
He was confused. He was friends with the two Alphas; it was almost impossible for them not to become close after the Layton mission. A bond formed like that hard to break. And Mav liked Ice and Slider (more than he probably should if he wanted to get into specifics, which he didn’t), but he didn’t understand why the Alpha pairing – because they were together romantically as well as being pilot and RIO – would want to know about what Mav planned on doing with his uterus.
“They’d want to know, Mav.” Goose looked at him pointedly, but what the point he was trying to make was, Mav had no clue. “Trust me.”
“Alright…” Mav shrugged, accepting that Goose knew what he was on about. If Ice and Slider just looked at him weirdly, like he thought they would, then he would be nice and not tell Goose, ‘I told you so’. “I guess I’ll mention it. I’ll need to speak to Viper and Jester anyway. Tell them that I plan on getting pregnant – though I’ve not sought out an appointment yet for the insemination part, as it’s taken me all week to pluck up the courage to tell you—”
“Aw, honey.”
“—so they can make plans for when the time comes to cover me with the classes, because I won’t be able to fly and stuff. And I’ll tell Ice and Slider too. I’m sure they’ll be interested.” He snorted, rolling his eyes.
“Trust me,” Goose repeated. “Why do you want a pup, anyway? Not many Omegas go it alone. Though obviously there’s more than there used to be.”
Mav bit his lip; gently swaying Bradley side to side against his chest. “Because I love flying, but I realised, more than I ever had before, how quickly everything can change – with the accident and stuff – and I want to be able to give any pup I have the life I didn’t have growing up. I don’t want to leave it too late, or prioritise flying and realise it’s a mistake years down the line.”
“Oh, Mav. You know I don’t blame you, right?”
Hop 31 would always be ingrained in Mav’s mind. They’d come so close to losing Goose for good – just an inch to the right, they said. It would’ve been death rather than a broken neck. Thankfully Goose had recovered, though he didn’t fly anymore. Mav didn’t blame him. Not after a scare like that. It had taken months of physical therapy and determination for him to be fit and healthy again, but here he was a year later, and he was okay; albeit had the occasional twinge in his neck that lasted a while.
Mav handled it the worse out of the three of them; the idea of not having his platonic soulmate around almost paralysing him with fear. If it hadn’t been for Carole – being steady as a rock and her usual sunshine self, refusing to let their world dampen – then he didn’t know what he would’ve done.
He just knew that now everything was back to normal (though Mav taught at Top Gun now with Ice and Slider rather than fly on missions, and Goose wasn’t his RIO), that he didn’t want to wait until the next big, horrible accident to show him that life was fragile and could change in the blink of an eye. He wanted to be in control of the change instead.
“I know,” he smiled softly at Goose. “But still.” He covered Bradley’s ears with his hands; not wanting to spook the pup. “You could’ve died and I just – I could’ve died too. And we’re both so young. I’d have died and I’d have never had the chance to be a mom. And I don’t want to wait until someone miraculously falls in love with me and says they want a family together, because life is too short to wait on other people to make it happen. So, I’m being my callsign, Goose, and I’m going it my own way.”
Goose sniffed; looking at him with pride in his gaze. “Well, I’m behind you every step of the way, and I’m here for you for whatever you need, honey. Carole will be too.”
“Thanks, dear.”
“Just make sure you tell Ice and Slider though yeah? Before you make your appointment.”
“Alright, alright. Jeez. I will. They’re not going to care though.”
Goose just looked at him like he’d work out soon enough, just how wrong he was. Mav really hated that look.