#some tearjerkers on here. take care of yourselves darlings

[oathkeeperoxas]

TOP GUN / Icemav fic recs part 3

Good morning aviators, I am here with yet more fic recs! As always, I've tried not to repeat authors in the below, but if there here then I would also recommend opening their profile and checking out the rest of their works :D

Rec list 1 here

Rec list 2 here

now it's us https://archiveofourown.org/works/45161386 by @icemav86

“There was nothing to say, no alternatives, so Maverick dragged Ice to his bedroom and did his best, that day and until Ice left with his packed duffel over his shoulder, to show Ice how he felt about their impending separation, to communicate I need you, I’ll miss you, will you miss me? in every touch and gasp and moan. All of that went unsaid, though, Ice leaving on a warm spring morning with little more than a chaste kiss and a mutual agreement to keep in touch.” After three months apart, Maverick and Ice reconnect.

Love the comparison here between Mav feeling free in the sky and grounded with Ice. The boys use their words!! Very good and hot get together (properly) fic.

Love etc. https://archiveofourown.org/works/34701868 by @m-madeleine

A hospital visit and progress, of sorts.

Developing relationship and quiet moments where the two of them are figuring each other out – I adore how this author writes them.

Working on Nathan Hale’s Eulogy https://archiveofourown.org/works/47643871/chapters/120085639 by @lambourngb

The last words of Nathan Hale were inspiring to the generations that came afterward, but they were considered apocryphal by scholars. Propaganda that was repeated over and over again meant to keep a nation fighting for its freedom and independence. At the same time, the truth slipped away into a place where the living would never know it, and the dead were beyond caring. He wondered what his own final words would be; Thomas ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, COMPACFLT, a great naval officer, the second-best pilot, and a decent man. He hoped they would be ‘I love you’ to Maverick, but he was worried it would end up being ‘I’m sorry’ instead. [Tom has to find a way to break the news of his diagnosis to his wingman and partner, Pete.]

Get your tissues ready for this one!! I did in fact cry reading it. The emotions and the build and development of the icemav relationship through this gentle ending is so very satisfying.

leave a tender moment alone https://archiveofourown.org/works/44548714/ by vulcanx

Five times Maverick walks in on others in compromising positions and one time someone walks in on him kissing his husband.

Very classic 5+1 that I did enjoy!! The +1 icemav has me INCREDIBLY soft, I am such a sucker for the two of them being able to live and love in the open, which this fic amply provided 💖

The good part makes everything else incidental https://archiveofourown.org/works/48098077 by @adevotedreader

What Tom had not expected was that despite the exhaustion, the bloat from steroids, the soreness from surgery and radiation, and the mental exhaustion of just staying alive, he could still look at Maverick and feel the tendrils of arousal spark to life in his mind. The spirit was willing though the body had no hope of rising to the occasion. And, more shockingly to Tom, Maverick still felt attracted to him.

The two of them figuring out how to love and live even with everything that has happened to them!! Very soft and tender, very full of big feelings 💖

newsworthy https://archiveofourown.org/works/48089791 by @gracedbybattle

The Honorable Thomas Kazansky, SECNAV, retired from his post Saturday, June 11th, following a well attended ceremony in Alexandria, VA. Before departing, he was kind enough to impart a few words with Variety on his compelling career and enduring legacy.

Outsider pov and social media fic!! Two of my most beloved things to see in fics, all smashed up together. I very much enjoyed the look at what our main characters might look like to those outside what we know of them. The whole fic being in italics is a bit killer on my eyes, but it’s worth persevering through!

Running on Empty https://archiveofourown.org/works/46914424/chapters/118176517 by @wordsonamission

Maverick has spiraled down to a very low place. Although he was cleared of wrongdoing in the accident that caused Goose's death, he still feels that he bears responsibility for the tragedy. He's ready to leave the Navy to keep from hurting anyone else when Slider finds him hiding in an off-base bar and drags him back to the housing unit he's been sharing with Iceman during Top Gun. Maverick has a breakdown and Ice and Slider try to put the pieces of Maverick's broken heart back together. Maverick and Ice are also dancing around feelings that they're afraid to address. Maverick is left with a huge choice: does he stay in the Navy or start a new life as a civilian? Chapter one fills in the gap in the movie starting where Charlie tries to tough-love Maverick into flying again and Maverick going to see Viper at his house. Chapters two and three follow the plot of the rest of the movie.

Mav whump my beloved!! He’s definitely going through it in this fic, but he’s got some external support and love that helps him through the roughest parts. A really good dive into what Mav’s headspace might have been looking like immediately after Goose’s death, with a solid icemav relationship that shows their steady beginnings.

(I Love You) A Bushel and A Pallet https://archiveofourown.org/works/27142859/chapters/66285392 by @boasamishipper

"Only you, Mitchell," Ice says, "could possibly manage to get a concussion in a fucking Costco."

Domestic icemav my beloved. This author writes them so wonderfully, the dialogue and the set up for the fic are absolutely perfect and a real treat to read.

Rivalry https://archiveofourown.org/works/11851326 by thedevilchicken

Ice has always liked to be the best at everything he does.

Ice figuring out what he wants and how to love and what competition means when you’re also in love with your rival.

time = distance ÷ speed https://archiveofourown.org/works/36308572 by omnidirectional

Maverick hasn’t seen Iceman in years. But inevitably, they always cross paths again sooner or later. Five (plus one) potential timelines in which Maverick meets Iceman again 35 years later; some more on the comical side, others less so. Or, a pre-emptive strike: Six scenarios I’d prefer to see than whatever the actual sequel turns out to be. (If it ever comes out.)

WHEN I SAY I CRIED. As the summary suggests, this is a 5+1 focused on possible ways Top Gun: Maverick could have gone. The way the author ties each (tragic, comedic, wistful, ridiculous, heart-rending) of the 5 times into the +1 is genuinely awesome and I love how it plays on the 5+1 format. This was one of the first icemav fics I read and oh boy was it a doozy of an introduction to this ship!!