Chapter Text
He Said What?!
Ice laughed when Rooster told him, after two days of building anxiety. It was not the reaction Rooster had been expecting. He tried not to shift uncomfortably in his place as the Admiral laughed at him.
“Ohh, you were making him feel real good weren’t you?” Ice asked with a large smirk on his face, just when Rooster was considering just walking away to save what was left of his dignity.
“Sir?” This was, once again, not the reaction Rooster was hoping the Admiral would have.
At least not to Rooster telling him that Maverick had cried out his father’s callsign right before Rooster had tossed him over the cliff of his third orgasm of the night. Rooster had stuttered in his movements, but Maverick had been too far gone to do anything but cry out and then immediately pass out, leaving the younger man to stare at him wondering what had just happened.
“How many did you give him that night?” Ice asked, still smirking, clearly amused at what should have been a therapy session with tea and possibly a hug, and instead was turning out to be some massive regret on Rooster’s part.
“ Sir ?” He asked again, this time a little squeakily. He darted his eyes left and right to make sure Hangman wasn’t around…lurking in the corners of Ice’s office. Right. He was officially losing it.
Iceman rolled his eyes. “Orgasms, son. What number of the night were you on?” The Admiral asked as if this was a completely common question to ask someone.
“I…we-...three.” Rooster admitted, feeling his face burst into flames and vowing never to speak his problems aloud to another human being ever again.
“That explains it.” Ice said, smug. “Well done, son.” He nodded at Rooster, looking like he was considering shaking his hand.
“Sir? I don’t understand .” Rooster said, trying not to let his utter desperation at the situation show.
Ice blinked at him. Then understanding dawned on his face. “Oh right, I forget you weren’t around back then. Then again, if you were, we’d probably all be in jail. Makes sense.” Ice said, mainly to himself it seemed.
Rooster tried not to pull his own hair out and scream.
“Listen here, son.” Ice said, wisely and leaning in close, prompting Rooster to do the same. “I know it may be a little…odd to you, especially considering the circumstances, but getting Mav to cry out Goose during sex is the highest form of flattery.”
“Really.” Rooster said, in a tone drier than the Sahara desert. Ice raised an eyebrow. “Sir.” Ice lowered the eyebrow.
“It means that he’s overwhelmed. You’ve taken him there , if he was a lady your bed would be soaked, he’s done, he can’t take it anymore but you’re not stopping and he’ll kill you if you even think about it. So what does he do? He cries out for Goose because Goose is- was, his lifeline. His solid point grounding him to the world. You get him to scream Goose, it means you’ve won at sex with Maverick .”
Rooster was pretty sure his jaw was on the floor. Ice kindly waited for him to pick it up.
“I-...we, uh, he -....”
“In our day, it turned into something of a competition.” Ice reminisced fondly. “Of course, I always won, but the journey son, the journey was where it was at.”
“Does he know he does it?” Rooster asked before he knew his mouth was going to make human sounds. Somewhere along the way, he had completely lost control of the situation. And now he was just along for this ride through his Admiral’s memory lane. Which involved explicit memories of his current lover. Fantastic.
“Depends. If Goose was there, he would reach out to him. Your dad was great at that kind of stuff you know?”
No Rooster did not know, because oh god no , but also he was trying to process-
“You fucked him with my dad in the room?!”
Ice laughed in his face. “You think the barracks are small today? Sometimes we would get shipped out for months at a time, they would cram us four to a room. You think Mav’s got energy now, you should have seen him at twenty, bouncing off the walls, trapped on a warship for weeks before they even let him touch a jet. Son, I’ve fucked him with your dad on the same bed .”
Something inside Rooster died a slow, wheezing death. “But-..he told me-...he said -...”
“Oh,” Ice said, after a long minute of staring at Rooster moving his mouth with no discernible communication, “They never did anything together. It wasn’t like that.” Ice assured him.
“Really?” A blossom of relief uncurled within him. Maybe this wasn’t so incestuous.
“Really. Goose mainly held him down for me. Or curled up with him afterwards. Or just held him if he was squirming too hard when I was giving it to him. Good man really, the best cheerleader to get Mav over the finish line if he thought he was done before I wanted him to be, if you know what I mean.” Ice winked at him.
Rooster revisited the blessed thought of ending it all.
“I-...”
“So really, don’t worry. He probably didn’t mean to, I’d be flattered and move on.” Ice said, but this time, there was something in his eyes. Something that made Rooster stand up straighter.
Ice didn’t care that this was weird for Rooster. This wasn’t about Rooster. This was one of the few coping mechanisms Maverick had in place, and Ice’s eyes were suddenly promising a world of hurt if Rooster decided to get sensitive about it.
For Maverick.
“It's no big deal.” Rooster said. He tasted the words on their way out and was shocked to find that they were truthful. “Thank you, Sir.”
“Good man. Say, when you see Maverick, tell him to hit me up, it's been a while since we’ve had a drink or two.”
“Yes, sir.” Over his dead body.
“Dismissed.”
xxxx