Returning to TOPGUN — especially as the instructor rather than the instructed — was a little bit daunting, but Pete was ready to whip these guys into shape the best he could with a jackass like Hangman on the team. Not to mention Rooster, Goose’s son, which would definitely be a challenge, but hey, since when was Pete “Maverick” Mitchell not ready for a challenge, huh?

Iceman had pulled his strings, and had also told him he’d be getting a partner to work with so he didn’t have to take all the weight, which was good, but also— who was this guy? Would they rub him up the wrong way? Most likely, because he didn’t take well to being ordered around, it was the first thing to know about him.

But his spirits lifted when he saw you, his old flight buddy — the woman to have beaten everyone out for his class’ TOPGUN top graduate — walking down the hall. “You’re my partner?” No way, no fucking way, this was unreal, you were back? Man, he owed Ice about fifty beers.

A laugh left Pete’s mouth, cause who would’ve known that you’d be back to teach at TOPGUN? Last he heard of you, you were kicking ass in dogfights for the Navy. “Fuck, Ice, that son of a bitch.”

You’d been the only woman when you were in TOPGUN with Pete back in ‘86, and you were the best pilot the program had ever seen, and wow, he was stunned, excited, ecstatic to see you back in the building— Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, that scheming son of a bitch, he really made the right call.