Chapter Text
M+G in my office.
Ice looked down at his pager and sighed. If it was serious, Viper would’ve paged “911.” There wasn’t immediate danger, except maybe to his partner’s ass.
Rubbing a hand over his face, Ice stood up from his desk, silently praying to whoever was listening not to lose his temper. He loved Maverick and considered Goose his younger brother, but they were the reason he was going prematurely gray.
When he got there, both Mav and Goose were standing at attention in front of Viper’s desk. Sweat was lining Goose’s brow but Mav looked satisfied with himself. That didn’t bode well.
“Sir,” Ice said, pointedly ignoring both of the younger men. “What did they do now?”
“These two geniuses took it upon themselves to demonstrate their infamous inverted pass, using one of the students as a stand-in for the MiG.”
“Have you paddled them yet?” Ice asked bluntly. He might beat around the bush a bit more with another captain, but he knew Viper’s preferred method for keeping students, and junior instructors, in line.
“They insisted that you had approved this special–” Viper paused, looking for the words, “ –addendum to the curriculum. I thought I’d give them the benefit of the doubt and check with you first.”
“Did they?” Ice said, feeling his anger simmering under the surface. “I can assure you I did no such thing.”
“I thought as much.”
“Would you like me to handle this, sir?” Regardless, he was going to be having a good long talk with the both of them about using his name, but he wasn’t sure if Viper wanted to handle the incident itself first.
“I think that would be appropriate, given the situation,” Viper answered before turning to make eye contact with the two younger men. “But if we ever have to have this talk again, I will paddle you myself before insisting that Commander Kazansky does the same.”
Ice smiled tightly. “You won’t need to insist, sir.”
Viper nodded at him, a hint of pride breaking through his stern expression.
“My office, gentlemen.”
Ice held the door open for the two junior officers, barely restraining himself from giving them both a hefty swat as they passed. Mav turned and looked at him as soon as they made it out to the hallway. “Thanks for bailing us out with Viper. He was so pissed! Didn’t understand at all that our reputations were at stake.”
Looking at his partner, Ice was momentarily speechless. He had to hand it to Maverick; his optimism in the face of trouble was impressive. He worked his jaw to keep from yelling. “We’ll talk in my office.”
Ice pointed down the hallway, and for the first time, he saw some understanding in Mav’s eyes. He turned to Goose and couldn’t quite read what he saw there. If it were Maverick, he’d think it was defiance, but that wasn’t Goose’s usual style. Despite his unfortunate habit of following Maverick into trouble, he could usually be counted on to be the more levelheaded of the pair, the one who convinced Mav to own up and take his lumps when he needed to.
Ice pushed open the door to his office and gestured the two inside without a word. When Maverick passed, he shot out a hand and delivered a hefty swat to his backside.
“Hey,” Maverick yelped, glaring at him.
“Front and center,” Ice replied, pointing at the square of carpet in front of his desk.
He took his time crossing the room and taking a seat behind his desk, seeing no reason why the two of them shouldn’t sweat a little more. Maverick, amazingly, looked more annoyed than nervous, though Goose was practically squirming where he stood.
He crossed his arms. “Well,” he said, keeping his voice level. “What were you thinking?”
“It was a teaching opportunity,” Maverick said, as though that would explain everything. “You’ve said yourself that real-world scenarios stick better than simulations.”
“Real-world scenarios?” Ice snapped. “You mean using a student to recreate a stunt that should never have happened in the first place? One that could’ve gotten you and Goose killed? That kind of ‘real-world scenario’?”
“C’mon Ice,” Maverick said with a smile that had no business being on his face. “The kid loved it, said it was the best part of Top Gun so far.”
Ice’s jaw clenched. He could feel his temper rising, but he forced himself to take a deep breath. Murdering his partner before they get to the bottom of this wouldn’t help. He turned to Goose, fixing him with a sharp look. “Goose, do you have anything to add?”
Goose swallowed hard. “I, uh… It wasn’t my idea, sir.”
“Then why did you go along with it?” Ice asked, his voice quieter but no less cutting. “You know better.”
Goose shrugged, an infuriating gesture that was unusual for the younger man. “Thought Mav had it under control.”
Ice looked at him incredulously. “Yes, that’s half your problem; you always seem to think Maverick has it under control until it leads you both here. You’ve seen what happens again and again, and yet you still listen to him.”
Goose flushed but didn't respond, looking as if he’d like nothing more than to disappear into the ground altogether. Maverick, on the other hand, was standing his ground, arms crossed over his chest. Ice turned to him, narrowing his eyes.
“And you,” he said. “Dragging Goose into this and then trying to pin it on me? Using my name to justify your stupidity?”
“That’s not what I—” Maverick started, but Ice cut him off with a glance.
“Enough, I’ve heard your excuses already, and I’m not impressed.”
He paused for a moment, thinking. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to bend your asses over my desk right here, and I’m going to give you a stiff paddling to deal with the incident.”
Mav opens his mouth as if to object, and Ice held up his hand. “Then,” he said, “you’re going to apologize to Viper.” He stops, dragging out the silence. “After work, I’m going to take the two of you home, and we’re going to have a long discussion about using my name to justify your antics.”
Goose paled, and even Maverick began to look rather less sure that he’d make it out of this unscathed.
“Me too?” Goose asked tentatively.
“Yes, Goose,” Ice said, rolling his eyes. “You too. You desperately need to learn when to object to Maverick’s ‘brilliant’ plans.”
Goose subsided, though there was still a look in his eyes that Ice couldn’t place. “And besides,” he finished, “with Carole away, I think someone needs to make sure the lesson is driven home thoroughly.”
“Yes, sir,” Goose said miserably.
“Good, over the desk, gentlemen, and you can drop those flight suits.”
Maverick and Goose exchanged a horrified look that Ice ignored, but in a matter of moments, the two of them were over the desk, flight suits pulled down to their knees, clad only in the usual white t-shirts and briefs.
Ice stood up, opened his desk drawer, and pulled out his small wooden paddle. Hefting it in his hand he admires its smooth surface, worn by several years of consistent use.
Stepping up behind Goose, he felt the man tense and placed a hand on his back. “You’re first, Goose; I want you to think about the choices that led you here and the many virtues of learning to say no to Maverick.”
Goose said nothing in response, but Ice wasn’t bothered. The paddle would do the talking for both of them.
He brought it down hard with a loud crack on Goose’s backside, eliciting a yelp. He wasted no time following up again and again, methodically covering the man’s behind with steady hard swats that soon had him crying out with each one.
When he sensed the man was about done, he applied one last set of searing swats to his upper thighs, turning them an even pink. Hearing a hitch in Goose’s breathing, he stopped, setting the paddle down next to Maverick, who turned his head to look at it with hatred.
“You took that well, Goose,” he says, placing a hand on his back in a gesture he hoped was comforting. He’d always found Goose a little harder to read.
“Thank you, sir,” Goose mumbled.
Ice left him where he is and moved over to Mav, picking up the paddle and resting it against his backside. “Maverick, I don’t even know where to start with you - we’ve talked about this again and again; our jobs can be dangerous enough; there’s no need to make them more so, especially not in order to impress students.”
Giving him no time to protest, he brings the paddle down sharply against his behind, satisfied when Maverick jerks forward, clearly already feeling it. He settles back into the rhythm quickly, layering hard swat after hard swat, landing several in the same place before moving on, knowing that this makes it impossible for Mav to ignore the growing sting.
Sure enough, his partner is soon squirming over the desk, significantly less stoic than Goose had been, trying in vain to escape Ice’s steady aim. A particularly wild wiggle nearly sends him off the desk, and Ice places a firm hand on Maverick’s back, holding him still while he adds a firm round of swats to his bare upper thighs.
“Hold still,” he says firmly, layering a few more in the same place for good measure. When Maverick finally does, he nods in satisfaction, adding two more strong swats to each thigh before placing the paddle on the desk.
“Alright, Mav, that’s all done,” he said softly, rubbing his back, feeling some of the tension easing from his partner’s shoulders.
Maverick moved to get up, but Ice held him in place. “No,” he said firmly. “I want you both to stay right there for a moment; I’ll be right back.”
Unsure if they’d obey, but hoping for their asses’ sake that they would, Ice headed down the hall toward Viper’s office. He knocked on the door, and Viper looked up, his expression curious.
“Well?” Viper asked gruffly. “Gotten through to them?”
Ice nodded. “I think so, sir. They were both looking pretty sorry for themselves.”
“Good,” Viper said, satisfied. “That’s good.”
“I wondered,” Ice began carefully, “if you’d like to step in. I thought it might be worth reinforcing why their actions crossed the line—especially for Maverick. He could do with hearing it from you.”
Viper studied Ice for a moment before placing his pen down on his desk. “You know, Commander, I think you’re right.”
Ice smiled thinly, all teeth, and led the way back to the small office, stepping aside as Viper entered first. Inside, Maverick and Goose were miraculously still in place, the paddle on the floor the only sign they might have moved.
Willing to let that go, for now, Ice turned to Viper. “What do you think, sir? Learned their lessons?”
Viper regarded the two junior officers for a long moment. “I think that depends,” he said, his tone sharp, “on whether they understand how their actions reflected on this program—and the Navy as a whole.”
At the sound of Viper’s voice, Maverick and Goose twisted their heads around so fast Ice was surprised they didn’t fall over. Their expressions, a mix of guilt and panic, said it all.
“You thought this was about pushing boundaries and having fun,” Viper continued, ignoring their looks. “But what you did sent a message. To that student, to everyone watching. That message was reckless. It said you didn’t take the rules seriously and didn’t think anyone else should, either. Do you understand how dangerous that is?”
“Yes, sir,” Goose said quickly. Maverick mumbled something sullenly, earning a sharp look from both Ice and Viper.
“Let me make this perfectly clear,” Viper said, his voice low but firm. “This program exists to produce the best, most disciplined aviators in the world. That doesn’t happen if people like you make it look like a playground. If I see this happen again, Commander Kazansky and I will conspire to make sure you thoroughly regret it, am I understood?”
“Yes, sir,” Maverick said, his tone a little stronger this time.
Taking it for now, Ice nodded. “All right. You may get back up now, both of you and repair dress.”
Viper gave a sharp nod to Ice as he turned to leave. “Good work, Commander. Let’s hope this sticks.”