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Goose held the cigarette between his lips as he fumbled about trying to find his lighter. Once the cold metal landed in his hand, it was always the other pocket, he flicked it on. Orange flames lit up against the overcast sky. A sizzle came as the cigarette lit, that first inhale always managed to ease any tension. He turned to Ice, leaning on a post as they hid from the rain.
"Don't tell Carole about this, okay?" He said, taking a drag. "She's not a big fan of smoking."
"Why do you do it then? You seen to do everything for her,"
"Stress relief," he said. "And the past few weeks have been a little stressful, so, I'm smoking."
He then added with a chuckle, "But if you ask her what I do for stress relief she'd probably say 'her'."
He heard Ice laugh. It was a rare occurrence really, even when he knew him in the Academy he was never one to laugh too much.
"How long are Mav and Slider going to be?" He asked.
Ice shrugged, "They said they had some questions for the doctor, so they could be ages, Ron used to doctors so is usually quite thorough,"
Nick thought back to those days before the Navy. There was one night, in the rain, when Ron came to him in tears and told him everything about his family. His sister used crutches and had seizures, something they told him he could have.
"He really cares about you, and Carole," Ice said.
"Good, I think I do too," he tapped his forehead. "Had a lot of time to think about it, you know, coma and all."
Ice just gulped and shuddered. He'd been told about how guilty he felt. The Iceman who made no mistakes, responsible for almost killing one of his team? He'd tried to tell him it wasn't his fault, apparently everyone had, it had been ruled an unfortunate accident. Not that he listened, of course.
"Mav cares a lot, too, more than people give him credit for,"
They both knew he meant himself. Nick gave him a reassuring smile that didn't seem to do much.
"Most of what he does is because he cares, just doesn't show it like others do, that's all," he said, taking another drag and tapping the ash off the end onto the floor.
"Yeah, cares-"
There was something strange about the look on his face. A glimmer at the thought of Mav, he knew plenty about those, but another, more uneasy flash told him there was something else.
"What is it?" He asked.
Ice rubbed the back of his neck.
"Look, when you, Carole and Ron hooked up, she might've taken that to mean you two were open to go with anyone, because-" he closed his eyes then blurted out. "-because I saw her kissing Mav when visiting you and thought you should know."
He laughed around the cigarette and watched the smoke puff out of his lips like a dragon. Ice was fairly confused. He guessed he should give him an answer.
"I'd hope so, I mean, they do love each other separate from me,"
He knew it was a tad unfair to say he enjoyed the confused look. Maybe it was because Tom hardly ever showed any sign that he was invulnerable and he wanted to take advantage of that, just a little bit.
After a moment, though, he put him out of his misery, "I've been with Carole and Mav since 1979, Tom, she's not cheating on me," he said. "Although, I appreciate you telling me, not everyone would."
Ice took a second. He moved his hands around and mouthed things to himself. God, it was really entertaining, but open relationships were confusing, so better explain.
"I started dating Carole in early 1979, then we started dating Mav, now we've got a thing with Ron,"
"Right, that kind of makes sense, yeah," he said then looked down.
That glimmer was back. Nick had a feeling there was another reason for this conversation. He could guess as to what it was, he’d seen the looks between him and Mav. Him, Carole and Slider actually put bets on how long it would take for them to get together. Nick was thinking he may win.
"All of your relationship stuff makes my dilemma seem easy," he said,
Nick nodded at him while taking a drag. Ice sighed and raked a hand through his hair. He met his gaze as if pleading not to talk but Goose wouldn't take no for an answer, not about matters of the heart.
"Fine, I've been hooking up with Ron as long as he's been my RIO, but since Top Gun, and more since your accident, I think I've been falling for Mav," he carried on. "And I've been fighting myself over having to choose when I didn't even realise I could choose both."
Nick shrugged, letting smoke curl up his face, "I mean, they're both up for being with multiple people, so it's not like that'll be much of a problem."
Then, he thought of the nights he'd spent listening to Pete complain endlessly about Tom. Nick was invested in this rivalry, kind of, but not this much. He wasn’t talking non stop to Carole about Ron, well, not in a negative way anyway.
"I had an inkling, anyway, so I think you may have a shot."
Tom's eyebrows darted up. Hope flashed on his face. For a moment, he was just Tom, not the unbreakable Iceman.
"An inkling?"
"Yeah, it's called Carole Bradshaw." They laughed. "She knows people more than me."
And as if they summoned her, a car pulled into the hospital and stopped outside the doors. Nick tried to put out the cigarette in time but she must've been too eager, as she was already running out of the car. Her look of glee fell as she realised what he was doing.
"Nicholas Bradshaw, what are you doing?"
He didn't say anything as the cigarette hung from his lips. Ice was trying not to laugh behind him.
"Smoking."
"Why?"
"I was gonna say stress relief but that feels silly, now."
"Cancer and COPD and lung disease are not silly, Mister." She plucked it from his lips. "I don't want to see you doing this again, it's a dirty habit."
He nodded, "Uh hu, very dirty."
She gave him a smirk and kissed his nose.
"Gimme the rest,"
He pouted as he handed over the packet of cigarettes and cheap disposable lighter.
"What were you two talking about anyway?"
Ice stopped laughing all of a sudden. Nick stopped pouting and gave him a grin. He started to shake his head but it was too late.
"Tom was that telling me he's been holding a flame for our dear Peter, oh and his own dear Ronald,"
Her smirk held as she circled his middle with her arms.
"Really?" She said, then looked up at him again. "Means you might win the bet."
"Bet? What bet? You were betting on me?" Ice exclaimed.
"Perhaps."
She nuzzled her nose with Nick, "We may have put a bet on who would make the first move, and Nicky may have said you'd make the first move."
Nick went in for a kiss but Carole pushed him away, muttering something about him tasting horrible from the cigarette.
"Yeah," he said to Tom, giving up on getting a kiss. "So if you could just go for it I'd really appreciate the 80 dollars, okay?"
Ice chuckled but Nick made sure not to. His smile dropped as Mav and Slider finally exited the hospital. Slider took his place by Nick’s side, slipping his arm behind his back. Mav settled against the post Ice was lent against.
"I'm serious," Nick said.
Ice tried to get him to shut up but it was too late. Mav didn’t like to be out of the loop, that was one of the reasons behind his imposter syndrome, so turned to him with a wistful gaze.
"What's he serious about?"
It was fun to watch Ice splutter. Red filled his cheeks as he fought about whether he should go for it like Nick said. They met eyes, Goose nodded with a smile.
"What's this about?" Slider whispered.
"I told him about all mine and Carole's relationships and it gave him the nudge to tell Mav how he feels," he said, leaving out the bit where Ice talked about wanting to be with him.
"Right, nothing to do with the bet, then?"
"Nope," he said and kissed his cheek with a wink.
By the time they'd finished talking, and Ron's face had cleared of being flushed, Ice had made his decision.
"Maverick, Pete-" he gulped, then stood upright as if he'd been called to attention. "I like you, when are you free for a date?"
Ron spat out in uncharacteristic laughter. Nick joined in with his goose honk and soon Carole's giggle was part of the chorus.
"What?" Ice asked.
"Oh my god, you're awful at asking people out," Ron said, wiping tears from his eyes.
Tom snarled, "Oh yeah? Well when are you free, dumbass? I wanna take you out too."
"What with a sniper or something?"
"No, for dinner," Ice went sheepish again. "With Mav, too, if that's cool?"
Ron's mouth snapped shut. Nick knew that look well, he and Carole made him look like that often in the bedroom.
"Yeah, yeah, I-I'm free Saturday."
"Me too," Maverick said, much more put together, although Nick knew he'd fall apart later.
"Good, we'll sort it out later, yeah?"
They all nodded. Tom avoided all eye contact, Ron was still fumbling whereas Pete seemed strangely pleased with himself. He lent on the post like Frank Sinatra and gazed at Ice for a moment.
Carole smacked her hands together, "Come on, kiddos, in the car, I've got a cake at home and a four year old trying not to eat it, so the clock's ticking as to whether it'll still be there when we get back."
Pete pushed himself off the post as Ron helped Nick to the car. He just saw Pete approach Tom and kiss his cheek. His words, "Looking forward to the date," floated as he was packed into the car.
They waited a minute or two for them to come inside. Rain hammered the ceiling, why did it have to rain when they were in California, as they left them to have a moment. Until Ron got impatient and opened the window to shout at them.
"Get inside, dickheads, I'm going on that date too!"
"Not for long with that attitude," Ice called back as he climbed into the car.
"Yeah, idiot," Mav reiterated while sticking his tongue out.
"Don't start that, pipsqueak, or I'll steal Goose and Carole off you."
Nick rolled his eyes and shook his head at Carole. She pulled away from the hospital, from those horrible memories, and listened to them all argue.
"Are you done? Are you all done now? Because I'd rather be back at that hospital if you're not."
That shut them up.