Somehow Slider had raised his heavy body again with energy he had put away somewhere deep inside his body (if you were the best friend of an immovably stubborn idiot you would have those secret stashes of energy, just ask Goose...). He swayed a bit but the fiery glare he sent Maverick froze the offer of help on Mav's lips (or like, burned it or something but that didn't sounded that good).

"Let's go," he just said and he started to walk (remarkably fast) to the nearest door.

"Wait, now?!" Maverick asked with a totally not shrill voice while he awkwardly trotted behind him. While he at first had dismissed all the curious looks he had gotten, he felt them burn now quite heavily on his skin and he focused his gaze on Slider's shoulders until they were at the doors.

Slider jerked to a halt as soon as they had closed the doors behind them and turned around in the same motion. He pinned Maverick down with a thunderous stare and said with a dangerously low voice:

"Have you come here to say sorry that you left or just for some other fucking reason, because if it is the second one, then please go back to your little teacher's vacation and don't bother us anymore."

"Jeez, Sli, take it easy, I've just been gone for like a month." (actually exactly forty days, but who was keeping count). Maverick's attempt to lighten the mood had obviously counteracted as Slider's eyes screamed murder even louder.

"It's Mr. Kerner for you, hothead. The only reason I've not pumped a fist in your face a second time is because you might be what Tom needs right now." Slider said and he stalked away again. Frightened by the use of real names and the stern voice, Maverick pulled the smile off his face (which wasn't that hard) and followed Ice's best friend once again (which was actually decently hard since Slider had damn long legs).

The rest of the walk/trot to Ice's compartment was filled with tense silence. Maverick tried to think about what he would find when they would arrive, but his otherwise so creative imagination couldn't quite come up with something. Slider had said Ice was freezing, but what in hell did that mean? You surely couldn't literally freeze, right? It would at least be a pretty remarkable feat on a carrier with not a single AC.

When they arrived at (supposedly) Ice's door, Mav's decently funny thoughts stopped right in its tracks. The door looked normal enough, just heavy steel with a handle and a cart lock, but Mav could feel a cold ooze right through it. This wasn't the fresh winter breeze Mav had associated with Ice. This was cold and painful. This was dangerous.

"Ice?" Slider yelled tentatively. Mav kept silent.

"Ice, are you there? Can I come in?" Slider asked a little louder. Mav felt the cold seep into his bones and he honest to god shivered.

"Slider, this is wrong, something's wrong." Mav said with a feeble voice. The cold clenched his throat and made him gasp. Slider had turned around and was going to say something smart again, but he relented after seeing Mav's face and instead turned to the door again. He grabbed the handle and pushed it down, but the door didn't move an inch.

"Ice, I know the door isn't locked, please let me in!" Slider barked, but the stillness of the door didn't change. Another shiver wrecked through Maverick's body and he yelped. This wasn't supposed to be possible! He was Maverick. He was hot! He couldn't shiver! Maverick started to tremble, but more from fear than from the freezing cold. His breaths which were already laborious, started to quicken.

"Sli, please, do something. Kick the door in if you have to, but get to Ice. Now!" Maverick begged while he felt tears building up in his eyes.

Slider did as he was asked and with a mighty kick, he forced the door to finally yield. Something crashed down on the other side and Slider shared one quick worried glance with Maverick before they both rushed inside.

"Finally, Ice what the fuck did you think you- Holy Jezus!" Slider yelped out as he entered the room. As Maverick saw what Slider saw, time froze.

The whole room was covered in ice. Dark, muddled, ugly ice. The ice seemed to have spread from the lonely bed on the side of the room. Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky was laying on the frozen bedsheets, his body contorted painfully, tortured by the murderous cold. He was still beautiful, even with dark blue lips, eyes heavy with ice and his jaw tightened because of a painful pressure.

What had Maverick done? With this realization, time seemed to be following the laws of nature again and suddenly everyone was moving.

"You see what you have done now?!" Slider yelled at Maverick and the weight of his words crashed onto Maverick's lithe frame and made his knees buckle. The ground came precariously quickly closer as Maverick sagged through his legs.

While Slider tried to pin Ice on the bed, Maverick crawled towards him, his sleeves and pants getting immediately wet. He awkwardly sat up and flung his arm around the dying man. Ice stopped thrashing around immediately and all of his muscles relaxed at once.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." Maverick murmured while he clambered on top of Ice as to cover him with as much of his own warmth as possible. Maverick added tears to the wetness that build up around them as the ice slowly melted and Mav repeated his apologies again and again, hoping he wasn't too late.

"I'll just be, outside for a mo," he heard Slider awkwardly say before he heard him rush away with slippery steps.

Maverick buried himself in the crook of Ice's neck and peppered kisses there, until the skin he touched wasn't deadly cold but just Ice cold. He then moved a bit up to warm his jaw and then his chin and the corner of his mouth and-.

There suddenly grew a racing fire in his heart and Maverick stopped dead in his tracks. His heart thought he was running a marathon and his brain was apparently agreeing because he felt increasingly lightheaded. The fire, his fire, burned brightly in his chest and spread through his arms and his legs, engulfing his body like incurable cancer engulfs healthy cells.

The fire swept over him in waves, frying his brain and vaporizing the water around him. He wanted, no he needed to kiss Ice, to take him now, to feel his heavenly coldness around his scorching cock. Maverick arched his back and drove his needy length against the icy goodness of the unconscious being below him.

This was good. This was perfect. This was terrible. This was wrong. Ice felt so good. Ice was unconscious. Ice was unconscious.

With a painful grunt, Maverick threw himself of the bed. He landed very unsoftly on the ground and groaned again. This was wrong. Ice was still not ok and all Maverick's stupid fire wanted was to quench its own thirst. Maverick felt hot tears run down his cheeks (again) and he slowly lifted himself up, his dick still painfully hard.

The room was foggy and it was hard to see where to go, so Maverick just sat there, catching a few breaths and trying not to break down again. Equal pulls pulled him towards the door and towards Ice and while both were driven by love, the one towards the door won out in the end. Maverick dragged himself towards where he thought the door was, but with every pull, his fire tried to haul him the other way until it felt like he was torn in half and he let out a painful scream.

He had to get out because he would otherwise be hurting Ice and he had to get back because he would otherwise be killing Ice. Maverick slumped down, thinking this must be how the immovable object must feel when hit with an unstoppable force and he whimpered once more.

Ice was going to die, because of Maverick's inability to keep his fire in check. Just as Goose died because of his inability to keep his arrogance in check and Mary died because of his inability to-

"Mav?..." A small whimper filtered through his blazing brain and it was like someone had emptied a water bucket over it. His fire subdued for a bit so the pure fear and desperation but also a sliver of hope and trust that was packed in those three letters could hit his being and rattle it to the core. Something shifted inside him and the fire burned again but this time it wasn't scathing or causing pain. It was harboring, protecting, guarding.

Gone was the all-encompassing need to claim Ice. Gone was the war between himself, his fire and the world. Gone were his doubts and fears about loving Ice. Maverick scrambled to his feet and rushed towards the bed.

"I'm here. I'm here, Ice, I'll hold you and I'm never letting you go," he murmured while he laid down besides the man, whose eyes fluttered open but closed again soon after. Maverick felt a warm wave of protectiveness spread through his limbs because of that trust and while he took Ice in his arms and buried his hand in the golden hair, he whispered a soft vow in the silence between them.

"I promise I'll never let my fire hurt you again nor let it come between us in the future."

Maverick pulled Ice a bit closer. His fire burned happily in his chest while his skin was cooled by the soft cold of Ice's skin. Adrenaline still coursed through his veins, but it was soft and mellow, making him think weirdly sharply while the energy left his limbs at the same time.

He laid there for a while, just content with looking at Ice's relaxed features. He still felt the things Ice's beautiful face did to his body but it was as if it was a campfire in the distance instead of a forest fire in front of him.

Suddenly those elegant eyes he was gazing at fluttered open again. When Ice's gaze locked unto Maverick and the delightfully cold feeling seeped through his spine, Maverick pulled Ice even more close and let out a happy sigh.

"Mav?" Ice whispered and the sheer amount of hope made Mav's eyes water.

"Yes. I'm here, Ice. I-" Maverick whispered back while fiercely blinking to get rid of the wetness. Before he could see again he felt a cold huff of air against his cheek as Ice sighed back in turn.

"I'm sorry I went away." Mav said.

"Will you stay?" Ice asked and Mav gave up trying to blink the tears away.

"I will Ice, I'm so sorry for ever leaving you." Mav said while resting his head against Ice's.

"I love you." Mav breathed and he knew it was true and that it would always be true the moment he said it. He hoped Ice could here this in his voice but Mav took a breath of air to explain himself just to be sure.

Before his lips could form around words however, cold lips were gently pushed against them. Maverick froze in all but his lips. He slowly allowed himself to kiss back, weary of his fire inside him. The fire behaved however (for once) and Maverick felt his mind go blank, like it only could in the sky.

They only parted when something trivial called oxygen was desperately needed and for a few moments they just laid there, gasping for air.

Ice smiled and Maverick swooned because of the way his eyes sparkled. He once again grabbed some air to speak, but Ice once again shushed him with a kiss (to be honest, Ice could shush him like that every day of the week).

"We'll talk later," Ice said.

"Sleep." he ordered and he closed his eyes again. Like Maverick just didn't have the most lifeshattering moment (good moment at least, he had sadly had a couple of bad ones so far) his life so far. The audacity of this polar bear was insane.

But he was and Maverick smiled before he too closed his eyes, hís polar bear.