Chapter Text
Maverick was reckless, and the Daggers knew that. But he wasn’t reckless for no reason. He did things to protect his team, things that had pissed off almost all of the Admirals. Time after time, Admirals had threatened suspension or permanent grounding. Every time a suspension or permanent grounding had been close to being cemented, his guardian angel stepped in and kept him in the air. His guardian angel knew better than anyone how much he loved flying, and being a fighter pilot wasn’t just what he was, it was who he was. He wasn’t willing to give that up that easily. Other admirals hated him but they respected his guardian angel, and that was what kept him in the air. What his guardian angel also knew better than anyone, was that he was never reckless unless it was absolutely necessary, and there was no other way to get out of a situation. He did what had to be done to keep everyone alive, even if it meant putting his own life at risk and pissing off an Admiral or two. While other admirals may not have agreed with the way Maverick did things, it was why he was so damn good at what he did - he wasn’t willing to lose anyone on a mission if there was a way to avoid it. He’d lost Goose back in 1986, he’d be damned if he was going to let anyone else die. He was thankful there was one Admiral who saw things the way he did, and was willing to stick his neck out for him.
Iceman was one of his closest friends, and his husband of nearly 34 years. Maverick was thankful to have him in his corner. Between the incident with the Darkstar, and taking an F-18 to run a course to prove to the students and himself that it could be done, Ice had saved him from permanent grounding or suspension more times than he could count. And he appreciated it more than Ice would ever know. He was lucky to have Ice having his back and standing up for him, and he knew it. Though they had started as rivals, they had eventually found a mutual respect for each other. And while Ice still thought Maverick was reckless (and teased him about it constantly), the one thing that made him different from the other Admirals was he understood why Maverick was the way he was. He didn’t always appreciate the fact that Maverick was willing to risk his own life to save the people on his team, but he did respect it. If anything did happen to Maverick, the one thing that would bring Ice peace, was knowing Maverick had died doing what he loved - he belonged in the sky, and Ice knew that. Maverick did always do everything in his power to make sure he made it home, and made a promise to Ice, as dangerous of a promise as it was to make, that he would come home to him.
It annoyed the other Admirals to no end that if they were trying to make a case to permanently ground Maverick, or to suspend him, Ice would swoop in and veto the decision or just start listing reasons why suspending or grounding Maverick would be a horrible idea. He wondered how long it would be before the Daggers started to question how the hell he kept getting out scot-free.