Maverick was happy. Sort of. Yes, he still cried his heart out once every few days and had nightmares even more frequently, but other than that, he was doing ok. He had finally bonded a bit with the other pilots now that the tension was gone after the Top Gun trophy had been handed over. Eating in the mess hall was painful without Goose but the silence was thoroughly filled with the pilots' bickering and laughing.

It helped that he had Ice back. Ice was testing him again, pushing his boudaries and playfully irritating him like before, but a soft shimmer lay over his icy eyes that made his gaze all the more welcoming. Maverick had to admit that he had searched Ice's gaze at the start of Top Gun merely for the icy chill that companied it. He can't deny that fact, but people were looking at other people because of exterior all the time, why shouldn't this be different?

But the last few days Maverick appreciated Ice as Ice increasingly more. Ice was smart, funny, proud and an absolute cute as fuck dork and Maverick loved it. He was confused by his warring feelings between being overly happy because of love or overly sad because of grief. Apparently these emotions can co-exist.

But the best part was that Ice seemed to flirt back. While he wasn't the one that initiated physical contact, he always lingered when Maverick touched him, never shying away like so many had done before. Ice started conversations more frequently and even smiled sometimes.

One time, Maverick had even elicited a genuine, barking laugh from Ice when he was being silly with his spaghetti (clearly the carbonara was the superior sauce so why they always gave them this tasteless red stuff, Maverick never understood). Maverick could only stare in awe after the fact and had coasted on the image of Ice's smile for hours.

It was that day that Maverick was lying in bed reading a book. His mind went to many different places however so he didn't grasp much of it. It was a boring story anyway.

He plonked the book unceremoniously on the ground and groaned. While being melodramatic, he suddenly knew Ice was standing for his door. He didn't know how or why, but he could feel his cold presence through the door. Maverick should have been weirded out by this feeling if he was a normal person, but he wasn't normal so all he did was walk to the door to open it.

When he was going to grab the handle, three quick knocks made the door shake a bit. Maverick opened it and it was indeed Ice that was standing in front of him. Ice had his eyes down and his shoulders were slumped.

Maverick invited him in. Ice was almost shaking and after Maverick had assured him that everything Ice could say would be fine (Maverick himself had murdered his mother and best friend so worse than that could whatever Ice was going to say to him not be), Ice started to spill.

Ice apparently had been born too cold (Maverick suspected as much) and had liked Maverick at first only because Maverick was hot (pun intended). Maverick almost laughed at that. He himself had had those thoughts dismissed only a few days ago and now that's what Ice was worrying over?

The only reason Maverick didn't laugh was because Ice had started to cry flipping blood which was cool, horrifying and incredibly sad at the same time. Maverick was at a loss to what he could do until he remembered his skin was hot. He gently laid his fingers over Ice's painfully shut eyes and the effect was immediate. Ice slumped sidewards against him, sobs wrecking through his body while water streamed down his face.

"Thank you," he said softly and all the feelings came crushing in on Maverick (which they tended to do sometimes as if he had severe emotional lag) who felt his own eyes water as well. He let the wave of feelings sink in while it was quiet and then he started to think. Ice was clearly deeply troubled by the fact that he had 'used' Maverick for his warmth, so maybe Maverick could show him there was more to him than the blonde thought?

Maverick tested his theory and it worked. Ice and him pretended they had never met before and traded stories until the deep hours of night. Somehow they had changed positions to Maverick sitting upright against the wall and Ice slumped against him, his cold body a much better AC than Maverick could wish for (and oh, had he wished many times for an AC on the carriers before).

While Maverick was in a second rendition of his story about how he had burned a painting when he was little (very little, as he only remembered it because it was his mother's favorite story) he felt Ice's breath getting slower and he saw his eyes falling shut. That was the purpose of telling the story again so Maverick smiled.

While Ice slept, Maverick watched him. He followed the softened features of his face with a finger just above it, careful not to touch and wake the sleeping beauty. He sighed and smiled softly while watching more. In contrast to the man who was sleeping in his lap, Maverick was fully awake. His fire grew a bit every time his eyes went over the sharp cheeks, frosted tips and oh so long eyebrows again and again.

Without consciously meaning to do it, Maverick brought his lips closer to Ice's forehead and softly caressed it, reveling in the coldness of the skin that contrasted so heavenly with his own hot lips. Maverick groaned with pleasure and felt a different sort of fire (although fueled by his internal fire) pool in his abdomen. His eyes fluttered close while his breath hitched in his throat and he felt himself growing harder every second.

Maverick pulled the sleeping man against him and rocked a bit with his hips. The icyness that radiated from Ice's back on his dick made both fires erupt into all-encompassing flames that took over his brain and made him groan louder. Filthy images flooded his brain about what he was going to do next while he rocked again against the sleeping man.

Suddenly something hit him with full force and made him lose his lust instantly. Ice was sleeping. Wtf was he doing? Bewildered, Maverick pushed Ice away from his body. His fire burned almost painfully from inside him and demanded the coldness of Ice's body so Maverick had to fight to keep Ice at an acceptable distance. His breaths became more erratic while he tried to block the images that had surfaced again, stopping his dick from becoming hard again and at the same time hold Ice at an arm's length.

He tried and tried and fought against his fire while he felt sweat pooling in his neck and his heartbeat quicken. He closed his eyes and tried to block the stream of images and flames like you would block a spewing water beam by pushing your finger over the leak in the pipe. But just as the finger on the pipe only makes the water escape sidewards instead of up, Maverick felt the fire escape out of his body instead of staying within.

He opened his eyes and almost screamed in terror. Around them on the matrass were hungry flames that lit the room and cast Ice in a morbidly dancing light. They weren't big yet, but growing every second. Maverick swallowed a frightening scream and clambered out of bed. On his knees he patted all around Ice, who was miraculously still sleeping through it, to eradicate the flames. His eyes watered from the smoke and emotional tears as he slammed harder and harder on the matrass.

He could get the flames to die but only barely. Ice's skin was red but not injured but the duvet was a smoking, black mess. Maverick carefully lifted Ice to get the blanket away while tears mixed with the ash and leaving Maverick's hand stained black. When he had thrown the blanket away, he stood in the middle of the room, his chest heaving and stomach painfully contracting because of the lingering smell.

Maverick hurried to his closet and grabbed a bag. He threw his clothes in and used the air freshener in it to relief the room of the smell of smoke, but his nose was still filled with it, however much artificial scent he sprayed around. Maverick rushed to the door and opened it like a madman. He ran out of his room without looking back.

He didn't look back because he knew he would turn around immediately and he couldn't do that. He couldn't go back to Ice again, he couldn't endanger him anymore. Ice would be safe without him, without his fire.

Or that was at least what Maverick made himself believe.