Calm And Consequence (Top Gun, Ice)

[Wolfwings22]

I had some more free time on my hands and wrote this rather quickly. It has one of my OC characters, Savant, but it mainly deals with Maverick and Iceman. No spoilers for either the first movie or Top Gun: Maverick. Definitely AU, but I wanted to add in as much fluff as possible between the two of them. I hope you all enjoy!

 

Warning for brief mention of blood, stitches, and IV insertion. Please be cautious when reading if these aren’t things you want to read about!

 

 

 

 

 

“Maverick, this is serious.”

Or 

Maverick comes to the infirmary after a mishap and is given the choice of informing his CO or Ice. He goes with the later, even if he has good reason to leave him out of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Savant lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose as he looked at yet another report that he had to file. Why the Navy wanted every single record of when he gave out aspirin or Tylenol was beyond him. Most of the time he was drowning in paperwork instead of actually treating his patients. His only saving grace was that he was four hours into a seventeen hour shift, which gave him plenty of time to go over paperwork and deal with the numerous issues that made themselves known on the cruiser. 

    “Dr. Reeds to infirmary. Dr. Reeds to the infirmary.”

    Savant gave a half hearted chuckle and sat back in his chair in the break room. So much for taking a quick five minutes to himself.

    “It never ends, does it.” He shook his head ruefully and gathered the folders in front of him and held them close to his chest. He reached out and finished the last of his Pepsi and threw it away in the nearest recycling bin. He gave a light cough into a raised fist as he headed across the hall and back into the infirmary to find quite the scene.

    A familiar man was thrashing on a table, shooting glares at techs and nurses as they came closer to him. An IV waved wildly in the air as a nurse tried to grasp the man’s arm to place it, only for the man on the table to snap to the side and knock it out of his hand. The nurse huffed under his breath and went to retrieve it, a curse clear on his lips.

    “Lieutenant, you need to stop moving,” a tech exclaimed. “Your hand is very badly lacerated. You need to let the doctor have a look.” 

    “It’s fine. I don’t need some medic to tell me that,” the man argued as he flung his hand to the side, blood smearing on his shirt in the process. “Besides, there’s no one here I’d trust to patch me up.”

    “Is that so?”

    A wicked grin spread across the man’s face as he lolled his neck to the side to gaze at the doctor behind him. “Savant! I didn’t know you were working.” 

    “Yeah....I’m covering for Dr. Richards. Now, why the hell are you giving my nurses and orderlies a rough time, Maverick?”

    Although roughly about the same age with Savant being slightly older, he was one of the only people that could calm the rambunctious nature of the normally unruly pilot. Sure, he couldn’t completely make Maverick see reason and not act purely on adrenaline and instincts, but if Maverick was going to listen to anyone in the infirmary, it would be Savant.

    Maverick raised his hands in a show of surrender, the cocky smile never leaving his face. “Maybe if they asked nicely I wouldn’t have to fight it.”

    “Nicely,” echoed the nurse that had retreated the fallen IV. “You came in here combative and arrogant. We’re the ones trying to help you, remember that.”

    Maverick opened his mouth to respond, but Savant beat him to it.

    “Officer Johnson, I’ll take it front here,” Savant interrupted, his voice slightly raised in case anyone else decided to chime in. He loathed this sort of disgruntled behavior or bickering in the infirmary when they needed to focus on the task at hand. Life was unpredictable at sea and stressful, adding undo stress between one another was a surefire way to cause distraction and mistakes, which was something that Savant wanted to avoid at all costs. Leave it to Maverick to stir the pot.

    The nurse looked as though he wanted to argue, but a nudge from another nurse had him lifting his hands in defeat and taking a few steps back. The rest of the nurses and techs followed, eager to leave the once combative patient to Savant. Maverick certainly had a reputation onboard by many in the infirmary, one that not many people wanted to deal with even when he wasn’t sick or injured. Savant was the only one that tended to be able to look past it and could actually work with him....most of the time.

    Once the rest of the evening shift dispersed to check on other patients or to do some organizing. Savant was relieved, though it may take him more time to do all the tasks the nurses usually did. It would give him time to talk and catch up with Maverick, even if he would’ve preferred to do it over dinner in the mess hall, or even over a game of cards, anything besides it being because of a medical problem. 

    “One day you’re going to come in here and not chase everyone in here away,” Savant huffed as he padded over to a nearby sink to wash his hands, allowing his hands to stay under the steaming water for longer than necessary before drying his hands and grabbing latex gloves to pull over his fingers. “And maybe let a nurse start an IV instead of making me try to. You’re a hard stick, you know that, and I’m a bit out of practice.” 

    Maverick rolled his eyes and waved him off good naturally. “No one’s saying you have to put in an IV. I’m fine.”

    “Maverick, this is serious! You hand is bleeding like a mother. You’re getting fluids,” Savant told him in a no-nonsense tone. “Just be lucky I don’t strap you down to give them.” 

    Amusement glowed in Maverick’s eyes as he watched Savant work. The doctor reached into a medical drawer and pulled out an IV kit and broke the seal. Savant reached over and hung a bag of saline on a nearby IV pole and primed the line, eyes roving over the line to inspect for air bubbles. After he deemed the line clear, he clamped the end to stop it from dripping and turned back over to Maverick, rolling closer on his stool and motioning for Maverick’s left arm, the one that wasn’t bleeding.

    Maverick gleefully stretched it out toward Savant. “Maybe I’m here just to keep you on your toes.”

    “I don’t get paid enough for that.” Although Savant’s tone was dry, the tender smile that he gave afterwards let Maverick knew just how he felt. “But I guess it’s a nice break from those reports I have to file. Someone comes in and gets a damn aspirin and I have a ten page report I need to fill out.”

    Maverick laughed. “I’ll try to come in to break up the monotony of things more often.” 

    “You better not.”    

    Maverick gave a slight wince as Savant inserted the needle into the crook of his left arm, pulling the needle out a moment later and leaving the small tube. Savant connected the saline to the tube and waited a few moments before nodding at his handiwork. Not bad for someone who hadn’t placed an IV in a hot minute as the orderlies and nurses often did that before he even had a chance to examine the patient. 

    “Now, do you want to tell me what caused this?” Savant grunted as he pushed himself to the other side of the examination table and reached for Maverick’s arm. Deep lacerations traveled up his forearm that would certainly need stitches. His pointer and middle finger were clearly broken, hanging loosely at an awkward angle. The bones weren’t jutting out, thank God, but they would need to be taped with a splint upon first examination. First, though, he needed to wash the blood off.

    Maverick shrugged as Savant began to wash the blood off with antiseptic wipes, to which he discarded after each pass over Maverick’s skin, careful to only dab at the deeper spots so not to cause them anymore trauma. 

    “I just wasn’t watching what I was doing and that piece of machinery came out of nowhere and fell on my arm.” Maverick gave another nonchalant shrug. “No big deal.”

    “No big deal,” Savant echoed. “You’re going to need stitches and your fingers are broken. Where was the rest of your squad?”

    “They were dealing with their own shit. I should’ve been watching what was going on around me. It’s on me, not them.”     

    Savant stifled a sigh and continued cleaning, frowning at the gash on Maverick’s forearm. It wasn’t as deep as he expected, though it was long. Once it was clean he could deal with the stitching, so long as Maverick didn’t move around too much it shouldn’t take more than twenty minutes to do. 

    Savant took one more swipe over Maverick’s skin before reaching for the sutures. “And Ice? Where was he.”

    At the mention of Maverick’s wingman, Maverick’s eyes went hazy. “Don’t call him.”

    “Mav, I have to let someone know about this. Your CO preferably, but I may be able to keep this report from superiors but I have to tell someone.” Savant threaded his needle and held it poised over Maverick’s laceration. It had been a little bit since he had done a stitching of this magnitude and he fought to keep the apprehension from causing his hands to shake. “Do you want any lidocaine? It’ll numb the area.” 

    Maverick shook his head. “No, I’m good.”

    Reluctantly, Savant began, doing his best to be as gentle as possible while pulling the line through. He waited for Maverick to jump, or wince, or even request some lidocaine for the area once they began and he realized how painful it could be. When he didn’t do so, Savant continued his work, fingers sliding over the gash lightly as it started to close, the skin stretched and flesh no longer exposed.

    “Mav.”

    Maverick chewed on his bottom lip as he looked over to Savant, who’s eyes were still on his work. Slowly, they rose to meet Maverick’s gaze, serious yet knowing. “I have to let someone know so they can keep an eye on you. It’s Ice or your CO.”

    “And it can’t be you?”

    “I’m four hours into a seventeen hour shift. Unless you want to park yourself in the corner of the infirmary for the next day or so I would advise you to choose someone else.” Savant tied up the ends of his stitches and reached for a pad of gauze in case of seepage. He wrapped it around Maverick’s arm, tightened it when need be.

    A look of utter defeat showed on Maverick’s face. He wasn’t going to be able to talk his way out of this one, at least not with Savant. Anyone else he may have been able to lay on the charm and find a solution that benefited him more. Unfortunately, Savant wasn’t like everyone else.

    “Good,” Savant murmured. “Once we’re done here I’ll make the call.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Ice smothered a cough into the crook of his raised elbow, pain surging through his lungs. He clutched with his free hand at his chest, pausing in the middle of the hall to lean against the wall for support. The movement under his feet caused his stomach to roll, all concentration fixated on not throwing up in the middle of the hallway.

    ‘Maverick, why did you have to pick now to do something stupid,’ Ice thought s he managed another couple of steps before his nose began to itch and he was forced to duck back into his elbow, stifling five before the itch turned to a faint buzzing that could be tolerated. 

    With a rush of renewed strength, Ice arrived at the infirmary and pushed the door open, praying he didn’t look as terrible as he felt.

    Ice immediately located Maverick toward the left front corner of the room. He drew forward and saw Maverick flash him a cocky smile, yet it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He looked away as Ice came closer, not ready to have the conversation that he knew was coming.

    “I asked them not to call you,” Maverick explained as Ice pulled up a chair to sit beside Maverick’s bed. “I told Savant I would be fine on my own, but it was either you or our CO, and that man wants to have me kicked out of the Navy, so I went with you.”

    Ice rolled his eyes. “He doesn’t want to kick you out of the Navy. He wants you not to be a liability to it.”

    Maverick feigned shock as he pulled one knee up on the bed. “I’m going to be pretend as my boyfriend you didn’t just say that I’m a liability to the Navy.”

    “I didn’t say you were a liability. I said that our CO thinks you are,” Ice corrected.

    Maverick opened his mouth to say something else when Ice turned away from him to cough, this time his elbow pressed so tightly against his mouth to muffle the sound that Maverick was afraid he may suffocate himself. The coughing showed no signs of stopping as tears leapt into Ice’s eyes and his left hand came down to grip the edge of the chair to keep himself from slumping forward. Desperation sounded from every cough with Ice unable to shake it even slightly. 

    The sound of footsteps rushing forward pulled Maverick’s attention and he winced as Savant raced over with a bottle of water in his hand. He came over to Ice’s side and handed him the bottle with the cap already unscrewed from the top. Ice took it gratefully and stole a few sips until his coughing finally began to die down. His chest was still achingly tight and his throat was raw and sore, but at least he was no longer hacking his lungs out.

    Savant frowned as he rested the back of his hand to Ice’s wrist only to trail it upwards to his brow and cheeks. Ice tried to shy away, but a pleading look from Maverick had him stalling. 

    “Damn, that’s certainly a fever.” Savant shook his head gravely, drawing back and crossing his arms over his chest. “I take it this is the reason that you didn’t want me to call Ice?”

    Maverick looked up and lifted his hands with his palms up in an exaggerated shrug. “Oops?”  
    
    “You should’ve told me and I would’ve brought you back to your quarters myself.” Savant let out another exasperated sigh, head shaking as he tried to come up with something besides tearing Maverick a new one. Now he saw exactly why Maverick had so many people at his throat so often. “How long has this been going on?” 

    Ice opened his mouth to answer, but Maverick beat him to it. “A couple days, almost a week I think.” Ice shot him a glare with Maverick looking back innocently. “What? I knew that you would lie if you answered. I’m just telling the truth.”

    Before an argument could arise, Savant motioned to the table next to Maverick’s. “Take a seat, Tom. If this is you after a week, I’d like to check somethings out.”

    “Ooooh, Tom. First name. You’ll in trouble now,” Maverick joked, smothering a laugh in his palm.

    Savant stepped in between Maverick’s line of vision to Ice, waiting as the pilot laid down with his hands rested on his stomach. Savant was quick to stack a few pillows behind his head to make sure that he was inclined, as even from his position he didn’t enjoy the sound coming from Ice’s lungs.  
    
    Savant lowered his hand and took Ice’s wrist, two fingers pressed against the center. “A little fast,” he assessed as he pulled the stethoscope from around his neck and instructed Ice to sit up. He did as Savant requested with a look, a hand clutched in front of his mouth as he coughed wetly before Savant could lay the stethoscope down.

    Ice’s eyes narrowed as he shot a look to Savant. “You did that on purpose.”

    “Hearing what kind of cough it is and what causes it is imperative to how I treat it. I promise I wasn’t doing it to be mean.” Savant patted Ice’s shoulder comfortingly before lifting the end of the stethoscope and placing it on Ice’s back. “Deep breath in for me. And out.”

    Ice complied, taking in as deep of a breath as he could manage before letting it out and doing the same. Tightness clenched in his lungs, but he managed to keep the coughs at bay until Savant had safely placed the stethoscope back around his neck and reached for the hand sanitizer dispenser nearby. The liquid dried quickly on his hands as he grabbed a new pair of gloves and forced them on, the blue latex snapping against his skin.

    Maverick couldn’t help but chuckle. “Are you going to check his temperature the hard way?”

    Savant looked over to the cocky pilot, matching his fire with his own. “I think that I’ll leave that to you later.”

    Ice sputtered, face turned away to cough while Maverick busted out laughing at Savant’s comment. It took longer than Savant would’ve liked for Ice to calm, and when he did he waved off any attempt that Savant made to help.

    “Wrong pipe,” Ice croaked a minute later as he rubbed the tears from his eyes.

    Savant muttered something under his breath as he produced a regular under the tongue thermometer and held it in front of Ice’s face. Ice slipped it under his tongue, the cool metal tip harsh against the warmth his body was giving up. His nose wrinkled the longer the thermometer stayed in his mouth, the tickle returning with a burning vengeance.

    Just as the thermometer beeped, Ice wretched it from his mouth and ducked his head into the collar of his uniform, shoulders hunching forward in effort. “Tschs! Tscsh! Tcshs! Tscsh! Tschs! Tchsh! Tshcsh! Tscsh! Tscsh! Tscsh!” Ice was forced to take an involuntary gasp in the aftermath, followed by a few hollow coughs.  

    “Jesus, Ice. Bless you,” Savant exclaimed as he frantically looked around the infirmary to finally find a box of tissues. They were paper thin and probably from 1970 if he had to guess. He managed to grab it anyway and pass it to Ice, who took them with an embarrassed flush to his face. 

    “He’s been doing that all week,” Maverick explained softly so that prying ears didn’t hear. “He’s been real miserable.”

    Ice blew his nose with a soft honk, pausing enough to glance at Maverick over the tissues. “Mav, knock it off. I’m fine.”

    “Your temperature would beg otherwise. 101.7 is higher than I’d like.” Savant pocketed the thermometer in his lab coat and rested his hands on his knees, attention flickering between both Maverick and Ice. “Here’s what I’m going to do. First, I’m going to start you on an antibiotic regimen to see if we can deal with some of these symptoms with some Tylenol. I also want to run a bag of fluids to help with the dehydration, especially if you haven’t been keeping up your nutritional intake.”

    Maverick proudly held up his own arm to show his own IV. The saline bag was nearly completely drained, though Savant preferred to let gravity take the rest of the bag instead of doing anything to speed up the process.

    Savant forced a small smile as he looked to Ice. “I won’t force you to be here if you don’t want. But, this way I can keep an eye on you....both of you. It might do you good to have a small break from taking care of Mav.”

    “I’m right here, you know,” Maverick announced as he threw his left arm over his face. He peeked from around his pillow a moment later, eyeing Ice delicately. “I think he’s right. Let Savant play nursemaid for a bit.” 

    Although still clearly reluctant, Ice gave a nod of defeat. His nose was buzzing again and he constantly felt on the cusp of another coughing fit. Sleeping in the infirmary sounded a hell of a lot better than in his lower bunk with Maverick above him, voice light with laughter until a spasm of pain would overtake him and he would feel it necessary to squeeze into Ice’s bunk beside him. Those may have been some of Ice’s brighter memories onboard for this deployment, but he didn’t feel that either of them could handle that at the moment. Allowing someone else to take control when they were unable to may be what both of them needed.

    Ice slumped back on his bed with his arms rested at his sides awkwardly. Having the pillows stacked behind him helped him sit up and have a better view of his surroundings. Calmness began to settled through him knowing that Maverick was being cared for beside him under the watchful eye of a trained professional and not Ice himself, who was sick and feverish. They would’ve made do, that much Ice was sure of, but why try when they didn’t have to.

    “I’ll be right back with some supplies.” Savant paused when he noticed Ice shiver. “And I’ll grab an extra blanket. I know where Nurse Russ keeps the extra soft ones.” With a wink he left the two alone to talk, the chatter from the other patients and nurses easily drowning out the possibility of anyone else hearing them. 

    “I really tried not to get him to call you. I know that you need your rest,” Maverick whispered as he stretched out his bandaged arm off the side of the bed toward Ice.

    Ice reached out his own hand and took Maverick’s briefly before reaching back and resting his hands back at his sides. A blush rose high on his cheeks, though he hoped that it would look like it was from his fever instead of embarrassment. 

    Maverick drew his hand back as well, trying not to show sadness at Ice’s reaction. He knew they had to be careful about who knew about them beyond pure rumors. Things were changing, but there were still people that had a problem with how they lived their lives and neither Maverick nor Ice wanted it to impede either of their careers. 

    “Sorry,” Maverick whispered as he shifted over to one side of the bed away from his boyfriend. “I forgot.” 

    Ice let out a tired sigh so not to panic. He hadn’t seen eyes on them, though that didn’t mean much. “I’m just glad that you’re okay.”

    “You know that it takes more than a cut on a hand to take me down.” Maverick chuckled despite himself. “I’m more worried about you. This fever seems like you just can’t shake it. If anyone can help with this it’s Savant.”

    “I know.” Ice coughed to clear his throat. “I’ll feel better in no time and so will you.”

    Silence stretched on between them, neither uncomfortable nor comfortable. Maverick wished only to break it like he always did, to say some joke to make Ice look at him and laugh. The last thing that he wanted to cause was any unrest especially to the man that he cared about so deeply. 

    “Ice?”

    Ice turned his head, sniffing in hard first before he spoke. “Yes, Mav.”

    Maverick lifted his non injured hand and pulled his middle and ring finger down, his other three standing straight up as he gave it a small shake. A genuine smile was on his face as he looked to Ice, almost begging the man to do the same. 

    Ice didn’t hesitate to lift his hand and do the same, giving it a slight jostle. He then pointed to Maverick, and the pilot couldn’t help but turn his face away into his pillow and struggle not to blush. How someone could make him blush like a middle schooler, he had no idea. Yet he wouldn’t change it for the world.

    Maverick laid back in his bed and couldn’t help the giddiness that overwhelmed him at knowing that Ice was safe and beside him. This wasn’t how he thought the night would go, yet right now he couldn’t imagine them being in a better place.

 

The End

[solitaire-au]

This was really sweet! Thank you!

All the Top Gun fic lately on here and AO3 has made me want to watch the sequel, so I went and watched the first one again to remember the plot, and get reminded how wonderful the characters are.

[spn27695]

Superb!!! Delighted to see Savant again !!!!