Grief of the Past |A Pete Mitchell Headcanon Dabble
"If the sky that we look upon
Should tumble and fall
Or the mountain should crumble to the sea
I won't cry, I won't cry
No, I won't shed a tear
Just as long as you stand, stand by me"
Summary:
Maverick can't let a day go by where he doesn't think about the man that once stood beside him. His best friend. But then he realizes his true calling is right in front of him, being the dad to his son.
Words: 602
(Tags: @bayisdying, @itzyogurl92, @notyoursbutlewis. I KNOW IT'S MAVERICK BUT IT'S ALSO A SOBFEST SO LET ME LIVE)
If there was one thing Maverick could’ve had back it would’ve been his friend Goose. The man who had him as his best man at his wedding, his ashes nothing but dust in the wind.
His dog tags sat at the bottom of the ocean rusting away.
Maverick was sitting at the small pier that reached out to the ocean from behind the hard deck. He looked back seeing his best friend’s son chat away without a single worry, his appearance looking just like his father’s.
Perhaps, Rooster was supposed to be some sort of replacement.
Maverick didn’t know, he didn’t have an answer behind the way that Rooster was exactly like his father. His mother would’ve hated the fact he took the whole Goose appearance, everytime her eyes landed on a photo of him she would act like everything was fine, but in reality.. it wasn’t.
His eyes shifted back over to the drifting ocean, he was greiving over the past. The way that Goose would scoff and strut his way towards the barracks after Maverick would pull a dumb fly-by.
The conversation they had just days before his death, the words. “I just want to graduate.” Ingrained in his mind.
Goose never got that wish.
The death grip that Maverick had on his lifeless body out in that freezing cold ocean, his hands covered in a warm deep red from his dear friend.
The guy screeching at him to let him go, he couldn’t let him go. He was his only family, part of him blamed himself for Goose’s death.
The way he tried his best to resist breaking down in front of young Bradley, the kid didn’t understand. His mom was in too much of an emotional wave to be able to explain death to her four year old son.
Maverick just stood by, his heart shattered like glass on a floor. His hands trembling remember the sight of Goose’s blood on his calloused hands, his scarred hands.
The way Carole repeated that he would’ve flown without him.
It should’ve been him, not Goose.
He should’ve been the one who died that day.
The person that should’ve died was Maverick, not the man who had a family and a heart of gold.
Goose was the one who included Maverick in everything, the moment he was gone.. Maverick became a shadow, he couldn’t talk to people without his confidence builder right beside him.
Maverick still felt like a shadow, needing someone like Iceman to help him carry through… but then he lost him too.
He lost Goose, shortly after Carole, and then Iceman. The people that made his life a better place.
He just couldn’t lose anyone els-
“Mav?” Bradley’s voice was calming as the boy was looking at him, wearing his dad’s old blue surfer themed Hawaiian shirt. “Penny said you might be out here..”
Maverick looked back, his eyes looking at Bradley like a loving parent.
Bradley gave him a warm smile. “Are you ready to go?” He asked.
Maverick nodded. “I think so.”
He eventually joined side by side with his best friend's son as they were walking up the small hill of the beach, Maverick stopped midway and looked back at the ocean once more, standing awkwardly on the sand so he didn’t lose his footing.
“Thank you, Goose.” He muttered under his breath, as he went to catch up to Bradley.
The sound of seagulls growing dull, the sand under his feet leaving him.
This was it.
This is all Maverick could’ve asked for.
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