Chapter Text
The room was dimly lit, jackets thrown over the lamps to add to the ‘atmosphere’, curtains tightly shut to keep out the sunlight. Goose wondered when they’d been reduced to playing poker in broad daylight with kids fresh out of the academy. One minute they’d been in Reno, Mav laying a handsome watch down on the card table, and the next, they’d been here. Actually, Goose thought, that was probably exactly why. He’s not sure exactly what Ice had said to Mav after that incident, but he doubted it had been pleasant.
The poker table was crowded with young ensigns, their grins wide as they traded jokes and slid chips back and forth. Maverick leaned back in his chair, smirking like he had the game locked down. Goose sat beside him, feeling markedly less sure. He’d folded right at the beginning of the hand, and if he’d had his way, they’d be long gone.
“I’m telling you, Goose,” Maverick whispered, “this hand is gold. We’re going to clean these kids out.”
Goose squinted at the cards Maverick was flashing at him, a pair of eights. “Mav, it’s not exactly a-”
“Shhh!” Maverick said, cutting him off. “You’ve got to sell it.”
Across the table, an ensign with a cocky grin tossed in a handful of chips. “Are you going to fold, Sir? This isn’t the legendary Maverick I’ve heard about.”
Goose saw as Maverick’s grin widened and turned dangerous. “Legendary is right, kid, I don’t fold.”
Goose sighed, shifting uncomfortably as Maverick shoved his remaining chips into a pile. “All in,” he declared with a flourish.
The ensigns sat forward, looking excited, and Goose tugged at Maverick’s sleeve. “Mav, that’s all our cash, maybe we should-”
“Relax, Goose,” Maverick said with a wink, “I’ve got this.”
When the next ensign raised the bet, Maverick hesitated, glancing down at his rapidly dwindling resources. Following his gaze, Goose’s eyes widened.”Mav, we’re tapped out.’
Maverick looked at him desperately, clearly unwilling to give in, getting a look in his eye that Goose did not trust one bit.
“Hey, Goose,” he said slowly, “how about your chain?”
Goose lifted a hand to the silver chain around his neck, an anniversary gift from his wife. “Are you kidding me? If we lose it, Carole will kill me!”
“Don’t worry,” Maverick says earnestly, “I’ve got this in the bag.”
Under the pressure of the table’s eager stares, Goose gave in, unclasping the necklace and placing it on the table. Maverick slid it into the pile of chips and cash, and as he watched it go he had the feeling he was making a terrible mistake.
“Show me what you’ve got!” Maverick said confidently, shit-eating grin plastered onto his face.
The ensign flipped over the cards one by one, and Maverick’s smirk faltered. “What?” he spluttered, staring at the straight flush in front of them. “That’s impossible.”
The room erupted into laughter as the ensign collected his winnings, deftly pocketing the chain. “Better luck next time, sir,” he said, saluting them with mock seriousness.
Maverick leaned back in his chair, looking a little less confident. “It was worth a shot?” he offered.
“Was it?” Goose groaned, “What am I going to tell Carole?”
“Just tell her you took it off to shower and left it in your locker. There’s another game tomorrow, and we’ll win it back.”
The thought of lying to Carole had Goose’s pulse racing, but he supposed there was nothing else for it. “Remind me never to listen to you ever again, Mav,” he said. “Come on, let’s go home.”
Carole was setting the table when Goose and Maverick walked in, both trying to act casual but failing spectacularly. Goose restrained a groan as Maverick shot her an overconfident grin. Goose, meanwhile, could barely meet her eyes, reaching up to fiddle with the chain, stopping short when it wasn’t there.
“Hey, honey,” Goose said, cursing when his voice came out higher than usual.
Carole looked up at them, suspicion in her eyes. “You’re home early,” she said, eyeing them both.
“Yeah, just felt like calling it a night,” Maverick says smoothly.
“Uh-huh,” Carole said, looking at Goose curiously. He could tell she knew something was up, but she didn’t know exactly what. She studied him for a moment before smiling sweetly and Goose allowed himself some hope that she might drop it. “Bradley’s not gonna be home for an hour or so. Why don’t you two take a seat and I’ll get you some beers. ”
Maverick grinned at Goose, clearly thinking they’d gotten away with it, but Goose still wasn’t sure. Carole’s tone was cheerful, but her words weren’t quite right. He usually had a beer when he got home from work, but Carole usually had him pour her one too, and she’d usually enlist him for help finishing dinner while they talked about their days.
“I‘ll get ‘em, don’t worry, babe,” Goose said, his voice still coming out too quick for his liking. “We can help you finish up.”
“Oh no, I’ve got it,” Carole said sweetly, “You and Pete just go on and get comfy.”
“Thanks, Carole,” Mav said, shooting Goose a smug grin. “Me and Goose’ll be on dish duty.”
“Sounds good.” Carole smiled, shooing them toward the living room. “And while you’re in there, be sure to get your story straight on whatever happened to your chain.”
Fuck, Goose thought, she was onto them. He felt the blood drain from his face as he tried to form words. Unfortunately, Mav spoke up first. “Man, you must’ve left it in your locker!”
“Aw, jeez, my bad, babe. I uh- took it off to shower, must’ve forgotten to put it back on after,” he said quickly.
“You never take it off to shower,” Carole said, folding her arms.
“Well, this time he did!” Maverick interjected, giving Carole his best grin. “He said he didn’t want it to get rusty. Can you believe it, our little Goose finally learning to take care of his things?”
“This true, Nick?” Carole asked.
“Well, I-”
Carole exhaled. “I think you better both start talking and don’t even think about lying to me again.”
Wincing, Goose saw no other option, and he launched into a frantic explanation, Maverick interjecting, their voices overlapping as they desperately attempted to soften the story somewhat. All the while, Carole stood in silence, expression darkening with every word.
By the time they finished, Carole’s arms were crossed so tightly Goose was half surprised she hadn’t snapped in half.
“Let me get this straight,” she said, her voice calm but deadly. “You two joined a poker game, lost all your money, and then bet away my anniversary present?”
Neither of them dared to respond.
Carole stared at them for a moment longer. “I need a minute,” she said, turning and walking out of the room.
Goose slumped down in a chair. “We’re dead.”
“You, you don’t think she’s calling Ice, do you?” Maverick asked. “She wouldn’t,” he said quickly, answering his own question with what Goose would call a healthy dash of denial.
“Oh, wouldn’t I?” Carole’s voice came from the other room, and Goose froze, watching as Maverick looked like he might bolt.
Carole walked in, back phone in hand, and pushed the speaker button. “Go ahead; they can both hear you.”
“Gentleman,” Ice began, “Carole just told me quite the story. Anything you’d care to add?”
“She probably about covered it,” Mav said hesitantly.
Of course, Ice wasn’t going to let them off that easy. “So, if I have this right, you two decided to join a poker game with a bunch of ensigns ten years your junior and lost all the cash you had on you. And then, instead of cutting your losses, you decided to bet away a very thoughtful and sentimental gift from Carole— all because Maverick had an ‘unbeatable hand’ that turned out to, in fact, be beatable?”
Neither man spoke up, so Ice continued. “That wasn’t rhetorical.”
The silence was deafening. Goose shot Maverick a glare, but he ignored his eyes, clearly trying to strategize his way out of the lecture as if they were in a dogfight. They weren’t; Goose knew that there was no escaping from Ice when he was like this.
“Well,” Goose began hesitantly when it was clear Mav wasn’t going to speak up. “It wasn’t really all of the cash, just, you know, most of it. And Mav’s hand did look pretty good at the time.”
“Pretty good?” Ice asked, tone cold and dripping with derision, “You bet a thoughtful anniversary present on a pretty good hand? Tell me, Goose, what was it he had, a full house?”
Goose glanced at Mav desperately, looking for a way out. “Pair of eights.”
There was silence on the other end of the line, and then, “A pair of eights,” Ice said, clearly unimpressed. “I see. So not only did you lose the money, but you lost it and the chain because you trusted Maverick’s gut instead of common sense. Have I missed anything?”
Goose opened his mouth to say something, anything, but Ice clearly decided he wasn’t done.
“Maverick, do you have anything to say for yourself?”
Maverick, who had been conspicuously silent until this point, shifted uncomfortably. “In my defense, Goose thought it looked pretty good too!” He gestured wildly at Goose as if this was going to save him.
“Me?” Goose said incredulously. “You were the one who kept saying, ‘Trust me, this is in the bag.’”
“Enough,” Ice said, steely voice cutting through their bickering. “We haven’t even talked about your real shining moment tonight, gentlemen.”
Ice let the silence stretch, and Goose swallowed hard, guessing what was coming.
“Let’s revisit your brilliant plan,” Ice continued, sarcasm in his voice heavy. “After losing the money and the chain, instead of admitting what you’d done, you decided the best course of action was to lie to Carole. What was it exactly that you said?”
“I told her I took it off to shower and left it in my locker,” Goose mumbled, unable to look up at Carole.
“It was to buy us some time!” Maverick piped up, “We were going to get it back.”
Goose gave his best friend a glare, almost cheerfully wishing that Maverick would drop dead before he could dig them in any further.
“Maverick,” Ice interrupted, tone sharp enough to make both of them flinch, “stop talking before you make this worse, if that’s even possible.”
Maverick, for once in his life, wisely shut his mouth, though he shot Goose a look that clearly read ‘you’re on your own,’ as if he thought he’d been helping. Goose resisted the urge to strangle him.
“That’s quite the story, both of you,” Ice said finally. “You deserve everything Carole’s about to give you. And Maverick? If I hear one thing from Carole about you even complaining, you’ll be having a long conversation with my paddle the moment I get home.”
“Yes sir,” they both said quickly, Goose seeing Mav pale from the corner of his eye.
“Carole?” Ice said, tone softening instantly. “They’re all yours.”
There was a click of the phone, and they were alone with Carole, who was giving them a look Goose knew all too well.
Goose groaned, rubbing his temple. “Ice was the warm-up, wasn’t he?”
“You bet Mav’s pair of eights he was.”
“We’re sorry, Carole, honestly,” Mav said. “We’ll take our lecture without any complaints, and then I’ll get out of your way.”
“Oh, I think Tom about covered it with the lecture,” Carole said, “And you aren’t going anywhere until I after I take my hairbrush to the both of you. But first, we’re gonna deal with you lying to me.”
Goose’s eyes widened at that. It had been in the back of his mind since Carole had seen through their story about the chain, but Goose had hoped that Maverick being in the mix would change things.
“What does that mean?” Mav asked out of the side of his mouth as if Carole wouldn’t hear him.
“It means I’m gonna wash your mouths out with soap before I bust your butts.”
“What?” Maverick asked, as if he hadn’t heard correctly, “You can’t be serious. We’re grown men!”
“What do you think, Nick? Am I serious?”
“She’s serious,” Goose said glumly.
“Ice has never done that!” Mav whined. “He wouldn’t!”
“Maybe he wouldn’t, but he’s certainly on board with me doing it. We discussed it on the phone. But if you’d like me to call him and get confirmation for you, I’d be happy to oblige,” Carole said sweetly, her threat hanging in the air.
“I–,” Mav started, but for once, the self-proclaimed smooth talker was at a loss for words. He looked down at his lap. “No, ma’am.”
“Then you two can march yourselves into the bathroom, and we’ll get this done,” Carole ordered. Both men looked at each other and grimaced, neither wanting to take the first move. He sent one last imploring look toward his wife, but she’d clearly had enough. “Do I really need to start counting?”
That got Goose up and moving, with Maverick right on his heels. He didn’t know what would happen if she got to three, but he figured it either included her hairbrush, another phone call to Ice, or some horrifying combination of both.
“Both of you, take a seat,” Carole ordered when they reached the bathroom, her tone firm.
“Yes, ma’am,” Mav answered, sitting down on the edge of the bathtub. Goose was always impressed with the way Carole got Mav to bring out the honorifics. He’d seen Maverick take the most stomach-twisting dressing down from Iceman without batting an eye. His wife was fearsome, for sure, but Ice’s lectures always made Goose feel like shaking in his boots, even if they weren’t directed at him. He knew part of Mav’s obedience had to do with Carole’s ability to call up Ice, but there was something more. Maverick respected her.
Seeing no other option, Goose sat down on the toilet seat cover next to his irate wife. This wasn’t the first time he’d been in this position, but it was the first time he’d gone through this alongside Maverick. If it was anyone else, Goose might worry that he’d never speak to him again. But Mav was family and Goose had no doubt of that. And besides, Goose thought grimly, Ice had made it perfectly clear that he was willing to discipline Goose for off-the-job offenses too. They were very much in the same boat.
Carole took two bars of Ivory soap out of the medicine cabinet. One was brand new, still with the crinkly plastic wrapper on it. The other had already seen some action already; it had first found the inside of Goose’s mouth when a then eighteen-month-old Bradley had dropped his toy car and yelled the word “motherfucker” after learning it from his daddy. It came out more like “mudderfudder” but Carole’s face told Goose she knew exactly what their son was trying to say.
Flipping on the tap, Carole ran the fresh bar under the water, lathering it up until it was coated with bubbles. Stepping past Goose, she crouched down to face Mav. “Open up and bite down.”
Goose studied his feet intently, not wanting to see the look on Mav’s face as the soap hit his tastebuds. Once Carole was satisfied with Mav, she stepped away and turned back to the sink, lathering up the second bar. They’d been through this before, so as soon as Carole made eye contact with him, Goose knew to open his mouth. Carole deftly stuck the bar in his mouth, and Goose forced himself not to spit it out. He bit down on the soap and felt it coat his teeth and the back of his tongue.
“Five minutes, boys. Then we’ll talk.”
The five minutes ticked by agonizingly slowly. The taste of the soap made him want to retch, and the fumes burned his nose and eyes, especially once the soap started to cake his mustache. He felt like a naughty kid and the world's worst husband all at once. After a few minutes, he risked a glance at Mav, who looked just as miserable as Goose felt.
Carole noticed him looking over. “Yeah, that’s right, take a look at each other and see if it's worth it to egg each other on in this little cover-up act.”
Mav looked up at Goose and let out a rueful chuckle around the soap. Gooster snorted a little too at the absurdity of the situation. He glanced over at Carole and thankfully she didn’t seem upset. His wife was good at reading people and Goose knew she was picking up on the regret both of them were feeling.
“Alright, Pete, you can rinse,” Carole said, the sternness still clear in her voice. Goose expected her disappointment wouldn’t dissipate until after she’d taken her hairbrush to his ass. Mav yanked the bar out of his mouth up and bolted over to the sink, spitting the remaining soap into the basin. He started rinsing his mouth, and Goose hoped Mav would hurry up so he could have his own turn.
“Okay, that’ll do it. You’re not gonna be able to get much more out that way. Go get yourself a glass of water and wait for me and Nick in the living room.”
“Yes’m,” Mav said, still grimacing at the taste in his mouth. He scurried out to the kitchen, leaving Carole and Goose alone in the bathroom.
“Me?” Goose asked, pointing to the bar in his mouth. He knew he could manage any other words around the soap, but he hoped Carole would get that he was asking for permission to rinse as well.
“Not yet,” Carole said. “This isn’t the first time you’ve lied to me.”
“Baby, please,” Goose tried, the words coming out garbled.
“No more talking. Just sit there and think about if it was worth it.” Goose didn’t need any more time to think; he knew it wasn’t worth it. He was never, ever lying to Carole again. Of course, he said that last time, but here he was, biting down on soap again. He really, really needed to stop listening to Maverick.
“Alright, rinse,” Carole said, taking the bar from his mouth and putting it back in the plastic container she kept it in. Goose hurriedly rinsed his mouth as much as he could, but he knew from experience that the taste would linger for the rest of the night at least. Maybe Carole would let him have a beer after all was said and done. Or hell, he’d even settle for one of Bradley’s Capri-Suns if she’d let him. “Go join Pete in the living room. I’ll bring you a glass of water.”
Goose nodded, not wanting to speak with the taste of soap still lingering in his mouth. He shuffled out to the living room and sat down on the couch next to Mav. His friend looked at him, horrified. “That’s happened before?”
“Yeah, a few times. Carole really doesn’t like lying,” Goose paused, remembering. “Or cursing in front of our toddler.”
“Mudderfudder?” Mav asked, grinning at him. He’d told that story to Mav, minus the soaping, and the whole squadron had called him that for a month.
Goose gave him a small grin back. “That was the first time.”
He could see from the look in Mav’s eye that he was delighted at this news. His glee was short-lived as Carole came back into the room carrying a glass of water and her hairbrush. She handed the water to Goose, who gulped it down gratefully, and stood in front of them with her arms crossed.
“I trust you both learned a valuable lesson about lying to me,” Carole said.
“Absolutely,” Goose replied.
“Maverick?”
“Yes, ma’am, no more lying.”
“Alright, let’s get this over with then. Mav, you’re up first. Jeans down and bend over the arm of the couch.” Goose started moving to give them the couch, but Carole put her hand up. “You can stay right there.”
Goose grimaced but stayed put. The couch was long enough that Mav had ample room to lay his torso over the arm, but Goose still felt it was too close for comfort. Once Mav had dropped his pants and gotten into position, Carole took up her position behind him. “I’m not gonna bother lecturing, but I want you to think about how you ended up in this position and what you’re gonna do better next time.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Maverick said. Goose looked away, but he could hear the thwack of the brush as it came down hard on Mav’s ass. He winced, partially in sympathy, partially in anticipation for what was gonna happen to his butt next. The fact that they weren’t going over her knee gave him hope that this would be a quick spanking, but even so, Carole wasn’t pulling her punches. Goose could tell from the sound that the hairbrush was landing on Mav’s clothed butt and his bare thighs in equal measure.
Carole kept going until Maverick was flinching with each one, gripping the couch cushions with white knuckles. He started making little involuntary noises, the ones Goose was familiar with from a decade of being paddled alongside Mav. He couldn’t see from his angle, but Goose would venture a guess that Mav’s ass was bright pink by now.
Finally, after a flurry of swats to Mav’s thighs that had him groaning into the cushions, Carole put the hairbrush down on the coffee table. She rubbed a tender hand across Maverick’s back. “Alright, you’re done; you took that well. Catch your breath, and then you can stand up when you’re ready.”
After letting Carole dote on him for a few seconds. Maverick straightened up, face flushed but eyes dry. As Mav bent down to pull his pants back up, Goose caught a glimpse of his friend’s thighs out of the corner of his eye. Ouch.
“Trade places,” Carole ordered after a moment, the softness in her tone replaced with grim determination. Goose could tell she wanted this done almost as much as he did. He reluctantly got to his feet and shuffled past Maverick, trading sympathetic nods as they went, Goose for what just happened and Mav for what was about to happen.
Without needing to be told, Goose dropped his pants, letting them fall to his ankles, and bent over the arm of the couch. If they were alone, Carole would definitely have made him take his briefs down as well, but he was pretty sure she was gonna let him keep them up with Mav there. Not that they hadn’t seen each other’s war wounds in the locker room, of course.
Just like with Mav, Carole didn’t wait long before bringing it down sharply against Goose’s behind. It wasn’t as heavy as the paddles he’d been on the receiving end of from practically all of his COs, Iceman included, but it still packed a mean sting, especially when it found his bare thighs. The worst part was that Goose could never predict where it was going to land next. Carole spanked randomly, landing two or three swats in one place, then landing a single one in another until he was shifting his hips involuntarily to get away from the sting.
By the time Carole had covered every inch of his butt at least twice, most places three or four times, Goose was feeling pretty damn sorry about this whole mess. He should never have listened to Maverick about his pair of eights being a sure bet, and he really shouldn’t have offered up his wife’s anniversary present to him as collateral. And lying to his wife about it? He was never trying that one again. One final set of hard swats to his bare thighs drove that point home well and good.
“Alright, hun, you can stand up,” Carole said softly, rubbing her hand across Goose’s back.
Goose pushed himself up with a grunt. It wasn’t the worst spanking he’d gotten, not by a longshot, but it wasn’t a walk in the park either. Reaching back to give his ass a good rub, he turned to face his wife. “I’m sorry. It was dumb of me.”
“It was,” Carole said, but with no bite behind it. She wrapped her arms around his waist and Goose buried his face into her hair, absorbing her forgiveness. He’d figure out how to get the chain back from the ensigns, even if he had to buy it back from them. He owed Carole that much.
Carole pulled away after a moment. “Alright, fix your pants. I think Mav’s starting to worry that he’s gonna get a show.“
He’d had almost forgotten his best friend was even there until he looked over and Mav was looking at them in mock horror, the same way Bradley did whenever his parents kissed. “Much appreciated.”
Rolling his eyes, Goose tugged his pants back up. He wasn’t sore enough that they really hurt to pull back up, but the denim trapped in the warmth uncomfortably, reminding him of the punishment.
“Go put some sweatpants on, and get some for Mav too,” Carole said fondly, but with some mischief in her eye. “Bradley’ll be home from karate practice any minute and you know he’s gonna wanna show you what he learned.”
Goose groaned. “Can’t we just have a movie night?”
Carole just laughed. “Nope. You know he’s gonna be extra keyed-up because Uncle Mav’s staying the night. You two get to burn the energy out of him.”
“Oh, I’d planned to head out after dinner,” Mav said.
“Not a chance,” Carole replied, going over to where Mav was sitting, now propped up on his hip, and kissed the top of his head. “I told Ice I’d keep an eye on you tonight.”