Luke rubbed a calloused hand down his face, huffing quietly as he jogged down the stairs. He had been in his room all morning, laying in bed while looking on his phone, which actually meant mulling over the previous night.

"Luke," His mother called from the nearby kitchen.

Luke swiftly redirected his course and pushed a smile onto his face as he steered himself into the room, humming in greeting.

"Alice is coming over with the kids. They're probably spending the night. The twins will have to sleep in your room again." She turned away from the stove, spatula in hand, to shoot him a sympathetic smile.

Luke immediately groaned, neck arching his head back to look up at the ceiling.

"They love their uncle!" She protested with a smile.

"They never leave me alone!" Luke shouted, the smile on his face easily contradicting his statement. Sarah Kazansky only chuckled lightly in reply, shaking her head at her son's dramatics before turning back to the stove.

"Hey," Luke began, his quiet lilt returning to his voice. "You know where Dad's at?" He murmured, shuffling his feet anxiously. He had been bored out of his mind the entire morning. Scrolling mindlessly on his phone had worked for the past four hours but he could only take so much.

"Um," Sarah spoke, thinking for a moment. "Well, he should be in his office." She offered up with a small shrug of her shoulders.

Luke nodded before awkwardly realizing she wouldn't have caught the gesture. "Thanks." He murmured in sincerity as she had possibly cut his potentially long search short, before moving back into the hallway. The door to his father's office was slightly ajar, a universal sign that he wasn't up to anything important. He gently grabbed at the handle, slowly opening the door enough to peek his head in.

"Hey," He said in greeting, leaning further into the room. "You busy?"

Iceman turned from his desk, giving his son a small smile and a shake of his head. Luke merely nodded his own, moving to shut the door quietly behind him. His father opened up an application from his desktop, quickly typing away at the keyboard as Luke made it to the seat beside him. He looked to the monitor as he sat, reading it silently.

'What's wrong?'

Luke turned his gaze to look at Iceman, noticing the man's furrowed brows. His father could read his emotions so easily, even when he was attempting to hide them. It was infuriating at times but as a whole it was a good trait to have. Especially with how often Luke's reluctance reared it's head.

"Just, um.." Luke faltered. "Just training." He shrugged noncommittally, looking down at the hands clasped together in his lap. The sound of typing forced him to look up.

'You're hard on yourself. Don't be.'

"Easy for you to say, Admiral." He murmured with a half smile, shifting minutely in his seat. His father showed off a small smile of sympathy before turning to his keyboard once again.

'Leadership may not be a strong suit, but you're one hell on a pilot.'

Luke immediately leaned back in his seat, craning his neck, and placing the palm of his hand over his eyes with a groan.
"Jesus, Dad! Does Maverick text you everything?"

'I care about you.' Was typed out hurriedly, Iceman's eyes flooding with immediate concern.
Luke's hotheadedness immediately cooled down at that. His father had a way, intentional or not, of making him immediately feel bad for his outbursts.

"I know." He decided to say, sighing as his neck leisurely turned to the side to face Iceman again.

'Keep your head on your shoulders. I'm proud of you, mission leader or not.'

Luke's gaze softened at the monitor, eyes growing weary with emotion.
"Even though your kid didn't place first in Top Gun?" He half joked.

His father fixed him a glare universally familiar to every child, fingertips jamming into the keys with determination. He turned back around to stare expectantly at his son.

'I was immensely proud of you when you placed second. Cut it out. I'm too old for your antics'

Luke raised his hand up to lazily salute him with a beaming smile, earning an annoyed expression to form on the other man's face.

'How's Bradshaw's boy?' His father typed in quietly after a few moments of comfortable silence.

"Um," Luke began, racking his brain for what he could say about the other pilot that would satiate his old man's curiosity. The only right answer to that question would be everything. Iceman was a "leave nothing out" type of man, which had been infuriating throughout his school days.

But in this instance, did his father really wish to know all of the details? Did he need to know about the way Luke's eyes softened when he thought of Rooster, or the way his brows furrowed when he realized he was thinking too much about him. Should he know that Luke's ears roared like a F-18 flyby whenever Rooster stood to close to him. Should he leave out the fact that every time he went to The Hard Deck, his eyes would scan the crowd as soon as he opened the door in search for an open Hawaiian shirt tacked onto a six foot, mustache clad man.

Maybe he should.

"Yeah," Luke clears his throat, silent for a moment. "Yeah, he's doing good. Rooster's good." He clarified, nearly ready to physically reprimand himself for his stupid mannerisms. His father only smiled at his awkwardness, hand moving to grab at his shoulder lovingly before turning to the computer after a moment. It took him a while to type it out, piquing Luke's interest immediately as the younger of the two sat up.

'Tell your friends they're welcome anytime. Just give a forewarning so your mother can lock up the liquor cabinet.'

Luke leaned forward with a smile, huffing out a laugh.

'I'm serious.' His father typed out, though his face said otherwise. 'One repeat offense and they're out of here.'

"Yeah, alright." Luke acquiesced, smile still plastered on his face.

A light rapping on the door caused him to jolt, looking to the entrance before shooting his father a questionable glance. His father's face gave way a relaxed expression, to which he immediately settled. The door opened to reveal Maverick who seemed presently surprised to see Luke there.

"Hey, kid." Maverick murmured in greeting with a smile.

"Hey, Mav." Luke returned the smile, before turning in his seat to look at Iceman.
"I gotta go. I'll be out with friends tonight, yeah?" He explained, still feeling the childish need to run everything by his father.

'Alright.' Iceman began, typing fervently. 'If you and your buddies get wasted, I don't want you coming home and waking your nieces.' He then immediately turned around to pat at his son's leg adoringly.

Luke nodded his head lightly, quickly smiling. He moved to stand, placing a hand on his father's should to give it a small squeeze.

"Love you, don't have to much fun without me, alright?" He jerked his head towards Maverick with teasing eyes.

"Oh we won't." Maverick chuckled with a shake of his head, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back on his heels comfortably.

Iceman raised his hand to gesture the "I love you" sign to which Luke smiled before moving toward the door, nodding at the two before swiftly exiting.