The Next Step

***

They’d spent the rest of the day beforehand there in Mexico City and they drove back down to Zihuatanejo straight after. It was late when they pulled up outside the house. Maverick went down onto the beach; it was still warm out, the sand clinging onto the last remnants of the day’s heat. He kicked off his sneakers and dug his toes in the sand.

“I think Carole had fun,” Ice said, dropping down beside him, pulling off his black combat boots and stuffing his socks into them. “And the girls. I like them.”

“She did,” Maverick replied, lying back. He was getting sand in his hair but he didn’t care – it wasn’t like the shower didn’t work. “And the girls liked you too.”

“I’m glad.” Ice lay down next to him. “They deserve it.”

Maverick’s eyes adjusted; he stared up at the stars and tucked his hands under his head. All he could hear was the ocean and that was drowning out even the sound of their breath. It was so peaceful, and Ice was right there, so close. He didn’t want to move and break the moment, so he didn’t. He just lay there, staring.

“I’m going inside.” Ice’s voice was low; he sat up and Maverick turned his head to look at him. “Don’t be long.” And he stood, walking away.

“Hey, Ice,” Maverick called, sitting up, turning.

Ice turned back, silhouetted against the deck lights. “Yeah?”

“Wait for me. I’ll walk in with you.”

---

They didn’t sleep together. Well, not in the down-and-dirty sense, but Maverick did manage to fall asleep while Ice was in the bathroom. He woke up the next morning to the smell of Ice’s cooking in the kitchen and went down feeling like a complete ass.

“I’m sorry about last night,” he said, smiling sheepishly as he slid into a seat. “Y’know, I don’t usually…”

“Hey, it was late, you were tired.”

“Yeah, it was. I was.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Ice turned, frying pan in hand, and served up the bacon. “Here, have some breakfast, forget about it. There’s always tonight.”

Maverick smiled and Ice set the plates down on the table, sitting himself down opposite.

“So, how did you meet Carole?” he asked, and that was it – Maverick talked and talked for over an hour, telling him all about how he’d met Goose, how Goose had met Carole, the day Goose had found out that Carole was pregnant with Sean, the day Goose had asked him to be Sean’s godfather. He told him about Goose’s funeral, and Sean’s. He even ended up telling him about his father’s, though he didn’t really know why. And Ice just listened. It wasn’t until afterwards that Maverick realised just how much he’d needed to let it all out.

Then, when he was done, Ice came around the table in his ugly Nike sandals and blue shorts, and he kissed him. He leant down, slipped his hand around to the back of his neck and pressed his lips to his.

“Do we have to wait ‘til tonight?” Maverick asked, as Ice pulled back and straightened up.

“Not at all,” Ice said, and they disappeared upstairs.

---

There wasn’t much clothing between them – just shorts, sleeveless t-shirts – and they made light work of shedding them as they reached Ice’s room. They didn’t close the door and they left the window open; the breeze blew in off the Pacific and they stood there as the curtains fluttered, as the air swirled around them and cooled their heated skin.

Ice kissed him slowly. His hands were on Maverick’s shoulder and one cheek, the pad of his thumb resting by one closed eye. Maverick had hold of one of Ice’s biceps, his other hand teasing at the back of his neck. When Ice drew back they weren’t gasping for air; Maverick just felt warm. He found himself smiling.

Ice pulled him down onto the bed, but slowly so their legs, torsos didn’t clash but found the right places against each other. Maverick ended up on top, lying against Ice, braced up on his forearms as their lips met again. Ice’s thighs were wide apart and Maverick lay between them, trapping their cocks between them both; they were hard but they were really in no rush. It was like time had ceased to have a meaning there in that warm place, though they were a little too consumed to notice.

“I want you,” Ice said lowly, and Maverick couldn’t say he was surprised by the sentiment. The words though, they surprised him. They way Ice spoke, it was like a confession, and made something inside Maverick pull tight with anticipation for what that meant.

He started to move, to shimmy off to the right on Ice’s double bed so he could lie on his stomach and wait, but Ice stopped him with a quick squeeze to his forearm and a twitch of his leg. “I want you,” he said again, looking Maverick in the eye, “in me.”

It was unexpected. So far it had all been pretty one-sided, Ice on top, Maverick underneath. It was a weird change in dynamic, not that he could say he didn’t want it. God, he wanted it.

He took him on his back. A quick scramble in a holdall for the lund Mnd Maverick was buried in him balls-deep and gasping without even really knowing how he’d got there. Ice held onto his forearms like his life depended on it and moaned as Maverick moved inside him. When Maverick heard that sound it took every ounce of will left in him not to lose it completely, but he couldn’t do that. He wanted it to last.

And last it did. They went slowly, maddeningly slowly, letting the pressure build up inside as they moved together. It coiled down low in Maverick’s stomach, tighter and tighter ‘til he tingled with it, almost ached with it. He bit down on his bottom lid hed he came. Ice, teasing his own cock between them, wasn’t too far behind.

For a moment Maverick stayed right there, looking right into Ice’s eyes. He didn’t know for sure that anything had changed between them but it felt like it had; the way Ice was looking at him, touching him, said it had. Then he pulled out and lay dowxt txt to him, close enough that their shoulders touched despite the size of the bed.

“I think we should do that again, later,” Ice said.

Maverick smiled. He couldn’t help but agree.

***

They didn’t really have long left after that; it was just after 10am as they lay there and they had to check in at the airport back in Mexico City by the same time the following day. They went downstairs, took a dip in the ocean. They came back in and Ice rustled up some salad for lunch. They vegged out on the couch and watched some TV and while Ice was calmly translating the local news out loud, Maverick went down on him. The catch in his voice, the unexpected gasps, made Maverick all the more enthusiastic.

They went back to bed in the afternoon, not that they actually slept. But it was so comfortable, the looks, the touches, the way Ice smiled that made Maverick feel warm down in the pit of his stomach. Ice kissed him, his lips, his neck, and Maverick pushed inside him slowly, face-to-face. He couldn’t say it was just fucking anymore. He wasn’t sure what it was.

They were out on the beach at sunset, lying on a blanket on the sand. Maverick brushed his hand over Ice’s shoulder and Ice looked at him with the sunset in his eyes. It was a truly perfect moment.

“I almost wish we didn’t have to go back,” Ice said.

Maverick smiled. “Yeah, almost. ‘Cept for the F-14 in hangar two with my name on it.”

“Yeah, Maverick. Except for that.”

They lay there for over an hour, until it was dark and they could see the stars in the sky. Eventually they started to get cold, lying there with their shirts open wearing shorts; Maverick sat up to button his shirt then turned and looked down, and found Ice was watching him serenely, blue eyes dark from lust, or maybe that was just his imagination. But Maverick honestly couldn’t help it – he leant over, bent down over Ice and kissed him.

Ice pulled him down, right down ‘til they were touching almost lip to toe. One of Ice’s hands fumbled under Maverick’s shirt and came to rest on the small of his back. Maverick just braced himself against the sand and pressed against him as they kissed.

But soon Maverick drew back, moved back to the side and sat there cross-legged on the blanket with his gaze fixed on Ice, who was still lying there with that same look on his face. He licked his lips and Maverick felt like his heart skipped a beat, not that it really did.

“I think I love you,” he said, not really sure why he was saying it except maybe that the ocean and the stars had made him do it.

“I know,” Ice said, and he smiled vaguely, still watching him. He folded his hands on his chest. “This really isn’t a good idea, is it.”

Maverick shook his head slowly. “No, it really isn’t.” He sighed. “We should stop.”

“We should.” Ice sat up. “But I don’t want to.” He leant in and kissed Maverick quickly. “We’ll just have to be… careful.”

“Very.”

Ice nodded. “Very,” he agreed. “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” Maverick nodded. “Now let’s get inside – it’s freezing out here.”

---

They didn’t really talk the next morning. They woke up early and packed, Ice made breakfast and they ate in virtual silence. Then they threw their stuff in the rental car and left. A car ride and a thankfully short haul plane trip later and they were back on US soil. Ice drove him home; he wanted to ask him in, but in the end he muttered something about doing some laundry and Ice went home.

It felt like the morning came too soon. Before he knew it his alarm was beeping loud enough to wake the dead and it was Monday. Time to meet a new class. Time to place a new bet. He did just that – Duck and Duke, based more on the names than any deep-seated feeling that they might actually win. Then he drove home again.

It was… weird. It wasn’t like he hadn’t spoken to Ice because he had – they’d discussed a few training initiatives, they’d spoken in Viper’s office, they’d talked hockey with some of the students over lunch – but it was like there was nothing between them. It was like Ice had just turned it all off and they were back to square one, or square whatever, back when they’d first gone back to Miramar as instructors. It was like Mexico had never happened.

Except that it had, and Maverick wasn’t sure he could forget it. He wasn’t sure he’d want to if he could. He went to sleep with the sound of the ocean on a faraway beach in his ears, and woke the same way, to another day.

He went in determined to talk to Ice but the moment he set eyes on him all his resolve melted out the bottom of his boots. It was stupid – he’d woken up missing him and they’d only woken in the same bed just a handful of times. He’d missed his breakfasts when he’d poured out his cornflakes and that was much more understandable – Maverick was one of those guys who could’ve burned water. But then he saw him and he couldn’t even speak. So he manned the simulator instead.

He taught two classes – one solo and one with Ice – then stopped to watch Charlie teach hers. He thought maybe he wanted to regret leaving her, regret not waking up with her, having a regular relationship, but aside from the fact that he found himself lost in her lecture, he realised that staying with her wouldn’t really have solved a thing. Not a single thing. And the only thing that he regretted was hurting her.

The class ended and the students filtered toward the door, Maverick with them. “Commander!” Charlie called. Not that there were many commanders in the room, but she still could have meant someone else so he kept walking. “Maverick!”

He stopped – an impressive feat in the strong, steady flow of students heading for the exit – and walked over to her desk.

“I talked to Carole,” she said as the last student left the room. “She and the girls had fun in Mexico.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” he said, suppressing a frown as he wondered where this was going.

“I hadn’t realised Ice was going with you. Carole said he phoned her for you, but I didn’t realise you two were friends.”

Maverick shrugged. “Well, I couldn’t hate the guy forever.”

“I guess not.”

She picked up her bag, turned, began to walk away; Maverick watched her as she headed to the door. Then she stopped.

“I thought it was going to be awkward working with you after…” she said, turning to face him. “It’s not, for me. I hope it’s not for you either.”

“You know, I never meant to--"

“I know,” she said, smiling, cutting him off. “We could try to stay friends.”

“I’d like that.”

“So then you can take me out for drinks Friday night.” Her smile brightened.

“I’ll see you then.”

And this time she really did walk away. He watched from the doorway ‘til she turned the corner and slipped out of sight. He was glad she wasn’t angry – things were so much better this way. Because he really hadn’t meant to hurt her.

He spent some time in the gym, showered and left the base late. He tried to tell himself he’d needed the workout but really it was just a diversion tactic. There were things he didn’t want to think about and as long as he was running, rowing, lifting weights, nothing seemed to intrude. And of course, there was the added bonus that he’d get off to sleep in a snap and snore soundly ‘til the alarm woke him.

That was the theory, at least. The reality was, however, that he lay awake ‘til 2am. So much for that plan.

***