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Maverick quickly downed the glass of water that he asked for and waved off the people in the small diner who were staring at him with a mix of concern and curiosity. He gave them a small smile before limping out of the diner without so much as a word.
Once his feet hit the sidewalk, he was hit with a wave of pain down his left leg. He looked down to see that he was bleeding through his flight suit from his knee down to his ankle. There would be no telling out bad it was until he opened it up, but it hurt to put any sort of pressure on it.
“Fuck me,” Maverick muttered to himself as he ran a hand over his face.
He managed to catch sight of a CVS not far from the diner and hobbled in that direction.
Maverick was well aware of the stares that he was getting from all of the people in this small town that were just going through their daily business. He kept his head down, unsure whether or not it would feed into their fear. The last thing that he wanted was to have to talk to someone about what he was doing either, so trying to ignore everyone around him seemed like the best available option.
When he finally made it to the CVS and stepped in, one of the cashiers took one look at him and blanched. He tried to wave her off as he continued forward, head lowered back down into his shoulders. He muttered something under his breath as he headed to the burn and minor cuts isle. Realizing that he forgot a cart, Maverick began to pile bandages, gauze, and other supplies that he could use to clean his leg in his arms, trying desperately not to drop anything.
He grabbed a splint as well, thinking that if he was able to brace his leg slightly that it may help with the pain that walking brought. There was no saying exactly when EVAC would be there, and Maverick didn’t want to waste time in discomfort if he absolutely didn’t have to.
Arms full, Maverick limped back to the counter and set everything down in front of the cashier that had been staring at him when he first walked in. They made eye contact for a split second before the woman looked away, quickly scanning and bagging his supplies without a word.
“That’ll be 47.50,” she announced after a moment.
Maverick reached back into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, thankful that he actually took it this time. He opened his wallet and pulled out a 50. The lady took it and gave him his change, nodding to him as he took the bags and headed back outside.
The trek back to the field that he crashed in was a longer walk than he remembered, and one that Maverick wasn’t sure he would be able to make. His left leg was practically on fire, throbbing with each step. He did his best to ignore it as he continued forward, finally seeing the field at which he crashed, and relaxed once he saw it. The final couple steps he took towards it seemed to be the worst, and he collapsed unceremoniously beside his brightly colored parachute.
Maverick was just about to dump the bags out on the grass when his phone began to vibrate. He reached into his back pocket and pulled it out, seeing Iceman’s name flash on the screen. His stomach dropped in the realization of what he would have to say to him, but he definitely couldn’t ignore it.
He answered the phone and put it on speaker. “Hey, Ice. How’s my wingman.”
‘Where.....are....you?’
Maverick visibly winced at the rough quality to Ice’s voice. He knew that it was the cancer, and that it was extremely difficult for Ice to talk, not to mention painful. It wasn’t often that they actually spoke on the phone, Ice much preferring to text to save his voice. However, some situations required actual talking, and this seemed to be one of them.
“Uhhh....not 100% sure.” Maverick reached down and tore the bottom of his flight suit up from his ankle all the way up to his knee. He huffed out a pain filled breath with teeth gritted as he stared up at the sky, face twisted in pain.
‘Mav?’
“Sorry, just—uh dealing with something here. Keep talking.” He grabbed a bottle of water that he had gotten from CVS and unscrewed then cap. He drank a quarter of it before using the rest of it to douse his leg, watching the blood turn pink as it ran down his skin.
‘What happened?’
“I know you already know.” Maverick gave a brief pause and began to clean the deep scratches with rubbing alcohol doused cotton balls, gasping in pain. “Damn, that burns.”
There was a pause on the other end. ‘You pushed....it to.....far.’
“Yeah, that’s exactly what happened. I fucked up again.”
‘Why did you....do it?’
“I don’t know. It just kinda happened, Ice.” Maverick used fresh gauze to dry around the wound before placing more gauze on it, not nearly taking as much care as he should have when he began to bandage them up, wrapping it so tightly against his leg that he could practically feel his pulse from his ankle.
‘You could’ve been....killed.’
“And would that have been the worst thing?” Maverick instinctively winced after he said it. He had sure said some stupid things in his time, but this was one that took the cake. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that. Shit, that was so stupid of me to say that!”
Maverick swore that he could hear Ice sigh from the other end, and he wished that he could see his wingman face to face to apologize. Ice had been through so much in the past couple years, fighting cancer and the numerous surgeries and infections that came with it. He had never given up, never complained, and had continued to keep up with his Admiral duties to the best of his ability. It was beyond low to wish death upon himself when Ice woke up and stared death in the face everyday. Sometimes his mouth reacted quicker than his mind.
‘Are you okay?’
Deniability of what was said; that’s just great.
“Just a few cuts and scratches,” Maverick lied easily as he tightened the bandages once more before securing them with some liquid skin. It really wasn’t the best mechanism to do it, but it was one of the things he generally always kept in his pocket for emergencies such as this.
‘You’re lying to me.’
“Didn’t want to worry you,” Maverick broke in as he leaned back with his arms braced behind him, breath quickening as he thought about what he had to do next. “I swear, it’s not that bad. I just need a little bit of time.” His voice suddenly cracked as he reached back for the splint, the pain radiating down his leg so intensely that he saw stars spark in the corner of his vision.
‘Maverick!’
“M’okay,” Maverick breathed as he opened the splint and measured it against his ankle and calf. The fingers on his opposite hand trailed down his leg, breathing heavily through gritted teeth as he found the most tender area, and where a break was possibly likely. Oh how he hoped it was just a sprain or a twinge; he really couldn’t afford for it to be broken right now.
‘Mav, keep talking to me. I need to make sure you’re okay.’
Hearing the worry in Ice’s voice—and knowing that he was the cause of it—Maverick shook his head to clear it, eyes blinking to ward off the tiredness that just seemed to hit him at full force.
“Okay....okay....uh did you hear it that I made it to Mach 10? Surely pissed off a few people with that one I’m sure.” Maverick placed the split against his flesh and used the Velcro to secure it, teeth gritted together against the pain. “Would’ve given a million bucks to see the look on their faces, especially that Admiral who’s been breathing down my neck for months. Real pain in the ass, Ice.”
‘You didn’t need to push it that far. You went over Mach 10.’
“Yeah, I know. Just couldn’t stop.” Maverick gave another gasp when he finally had the split tight enough and secured around his leg. It certainly wasn’t a permanent fix whatsoever, but it was better than nothing.
‘You never did know what to stop.’
Maverick huffed out a genuine laugh before picking up his phone and setting it on his lap. “Don’t make me laugh, Ice. Hurts like hell.”
‘Did you call EVAC?’
“Nah, called 911. Just like to here the, ‘what is the nature of your emergency’ question.”
‘Maverick.’
“Yeah, yeah, I did. Don’t worry; they’ll be on their way in a bit. Something tells me they’re taking their time on this one. I don’t know if you know this, but this wasn’t the first time I’ve crashed.”
‘Really? I had no idea.’
Maverick chuckled once more and longed to reach out into the phone and give Ice a playful shove, just like they used to do when they were a lot younger. However, he quickly chased that thought away, knowing that Ice wasn’t the same healthy man that he had once known. Cancer had done a number on him physically and it hurt Maverick to think about. He knew that wasn’t fair, considering that Ice was the one who had to live with it and not him, but he would be lying if he said it didn’t pain him to see how sick Ice had become.
‘You still there?’
“Yeah, I’m still here.” Maverick shifted again, fighting to find a more comfortable position. “Just thinking of where I’d like to look to see the sunset. Think it might take that long for EVAC to find me.”
‘There’s a tracker on that aircraft since it’s military. It won’t take that long.’
Maverick couldn’t tell if Ice was trying to convince himself or Maverick of that fact, but he let him go regardless. “I know, still just messing with you.”
There was another brief pause on the other line and Maverick was almost certain that Ice had hung up.
‘The anniversary was the other day. Didn’t know if you remembered or not.’
Maverick tipped his head up to the sky and closed his eyes. “I remembered. I meant to send a card, but it just didn’t seem right. I guess I thought he deserved more or something, but then time got away from me.”
‘You should say something to him sooner rather than later. I have a feeling you may be seeing a lot more of Savant soon.’
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Maverick suddenly heard harsh and congestion filled coughing coming from the other end of the phone. He pulled his head away from the speaker of the phone, heart breaking as he heard Ice struggle.
The fit went on for an uncomfortable amount of time until Ice finally grew quiet. Maverick couldn’t stop himself from grabbing at his phone with sway hands.
“Ice? Ice!”
‘No need to yell,’ Ice rasped, voice even rougher than prior if that was possible. ‘I’m alright. Not quite used to all this talking anymore, I’m afraid.’
“Then you can just listen if that would be better? I don’t want you to cause yourself any pain,” Maverick explained quickly, a lump rising in his throat that he could be the cause of Ice’s discomfort. “Did you see that Rooster is at the top of his class?”
Ice gave a pause.
“Wait, of course you know. Hell, you probably follow his career even more than I do, huh?” A beam of pride surged through Maverick, though knew that Rooster would be appalled to know how excited he was for him. It was something that Maverick struggled to grasp ahold of that Goose’s son wanted absolutely nothing to do with him, and still very much blamed him for his father’s death. He would never know that Maverick felt the same, often begging late at night to the universe that it had been him that died instead of Goose.
‘Mav—‘
“I hear that he may even be able to give us a run for our money. Well....maybe when we were a little younger. I doubt he could out maneuver us now,” Maverick continued feverishly.
‘Maverick—‘
“I hope he doesn’t go on nearly as many dangerous missions as they had us go on. Us going is one thing.....him? That is something that would panic me a little.”
‘Pete!’
Maverick’s head whipped around to look at the phone, his heartbeat stalling in his chest. “Sorry,” he muttered.
‘I know you don’t like anyone to use your first name, but that’s the only thing I could think of to get your attention. You need to let this go, Mav. You’re spiraling.’
Maverick choked out a laugh as he rubbed the side of his face with his blood streaked fingers. “I haven’t seen him in years, Ice....years! Fuck, without those pictures I get, I wouldn’t even know what he looked like. But he looks so much like Goose.”
‘You’d always know. There’s no way you would be able to forget that kid even if you tried.’
Of course Ice was right, since when was he not? “Yeah, you’re right. Damnit, I hate when you’re right!”
Maverick could faintly hear Ice laughing until it turned into even more congestion filled coughs. Maverick longed to take some of that pain away from him, but he was so far away and there was no way he could do anything to comfort him from his current destination. In fact, the pain was beginning to spread and Maverick wasn’t sure how long he could even pacify himself before he was the one that would search out some sort of comfort in the situation.
Maverick continued to wait for EVAC and found himself shifting back against his parachute, bunching it up into a makeshift bed. He laid back on it with his hands folded onto his stomach, sighing heavily.
‘Mav, you alright?’
“Yeah, Ice, just taking a little bit of a rest before I’m potentially thrown out of the Navy.”
‘You won’t be thrown out. I wouldn’t let that happen.’
“I know, but I fucked up big time here. I’m not sure anyone is going to be able to forgive that quite so easily.” Maverick’s eyes began to close, and every time he pulled himself from slumber, he felt exhaustion pull on his tired limbs all the same. “And I can’t keep asking you to cover for me. I think my luck may have just run out.”
‘Don’t talk like that! You are far from finished!’
Despite hearing the anger in Ice’s voice, it hardly stirred anything in Maverick. He rolled his ankles tiredly and began to drift off, wondering if he even wanted EVAC to find him.