#how they have all these negative opinions about Mav but Goose was telling Mav to go in for the shot (flying too close to the sun)?

[sadgoosehours]

Icarus by Bastille

You ever think about how one would think Mav is Icarus but Goose is the one who died?

[icemankazansky]

please talk more about neurodivergent mav bc it’s my reason to live n breathe fr

I'm so glad you sent me this ask, because I was asking myself, "Should I make a real post about this?" and then you came and answered the question for me.

Maverick Mitchell is Neurodivergent

Very briefly, for anyone who has questions: The term "neurodivergent" refers to someone whose brain works differently than the majority of people ("neurotypicals.") While neurodiversity is by definition diverse, there are hallmarks of neurodivergence that are common in the majority of neurodivergent people. I'm not here to make definitive statements about neurodiversity; I'm speaking about my read on one, particular character. This is an opinion post. I will also be referring to my own experience as neurodivergent, because this is not a scholarly article and it's my blog, so I'm kind of thinking of it as a 30-some-year longitudinal study.

mav·er·ick /ˈmav(ə)rik/ noun

The definition of "maverick" is, "an unorthodox or independent-minded person," which I fucking love when we're talking about Maverick Mitchell as neurodivergent, because that's literally how he got his name: By thinking differently. That is the definition of neurodivergence, and one of its hallmarks is thinking creatively.

"I'll hit the brakes; he'll fly right by."

Maverick approaches flying creatively. It serves him well, but he's censured for it more than once by authority figures who don't understand the way he thinks. "Aircraft one performs a split S? That's the last thing you should do.... What were you thinking at this point?"

Charlie doesn't understand Maverick's thought process, because it's dissimilar from her own. Neurotypicals often have difficulty understanding or anticipating the thoughts of neurodivergents, and vice versa. (Though both groups can read and predict the thought processes of members of their own group with the same level of accuracy.) Maverick has difficulty explaining his own thought process to her, which is a common neurodivergent experience, because it's loud and busy in there, and my brain just makes connections that I can't always express. A reminded me of B which reminded me of C which reminded me of D and now we're on X and it happened in a split second, and no, I'm not sure how we got here. But that's not what he tells her. What he says is: "There's no time to think up there. If you think, you're dead."

Which leads me to my next point: Neurodivergence can also account for Maverick's motto: "Don't think; just do." Many neurodivergents have strong intuitions, and they often believe their intuition first. Additionally, given the right circumstances, neurodivergents are capable of intense and sustained focus, to the point where the world outside the target just kind of fades away. Neurodivergent thinking is also characterized by being observant, detail-focused, and a good problem solver. If you're intensely focused, and that's how your brain works naturally, then you just take in all these details and the pieces of the problem, and your brain sorts it for you automatically, and you do whatever you're doing like muscle memory. Show the math. Well, I can't, but I got to the right answer, didn't I?

Impulse Control and Emotional Regulation

"Time to buzz the tower, Goose."

Neurodivergence is often characterized by poor impulse control and emotional regulation. We know Maverick has poor impulse control. There are multiple instances across the films where someone lists his many impulsive actions that felt good in the moment but resulted in negative consequences large and small. It's not that Maverick does not know that, for example, buzzing the tower will result in immediate negative consequences. This is not brand new information. He knows. It's just that the impulse to do it is stronger than the voice of logic telling him not to, and he has never learned to control his impulses. Honestly, I have no idea what this feels like for neurotypical people. I feel a difference between a want or a desire and an impulse. Like, "I want a vanilla coke right now. That sounds amazing." I feel desire, and maybe I'm disappointed if I cannot acquire the object of my desire, but it's a relatively small and manageable feeling. An impulse is not. An impulse is a huge feeling, and it's not just emotional; I feel it physically in my body, both this emotional and physical desperate discomfort that I cannot extinguish without Doing the Thing. In many instances, I know I should not Do the Thing. My brain provides all sorts of reasons why I should not Do the Thing. But that doesn't diminish the impulse at all. I cannot feel better until I Do the Thing. Often, once the high of Doing the Thing is over, I have regrets. Those regrets create kind of an impulse hangover, but this feeling (and even the knowledge that I will have this feeling in the immediate future) does not in any way dissuade me from Doing the Thing. You can learn impulse control. It is a skill you can acquire. Maverick has not acquired this skill. And neither have I.

Poor emotional regulation is another hallmark of neurodivergence. It is more difficult to begin with because neurodivergents tend to emotional extremes, so the emotions are much bigger than the ones felt day-to-day by neurotypicals.

"I will fire when I am goddamn good and ready, you got that?"

(Emotional regulation is not just about controlling your anger, but this is the example that I have at hand.) Some people have emotions. My emotions have me. They pilot this craft. I am years into actively working on emotional regulation, and a lot of the time I find myself completely controlled by my feelings, and not the other way around. Maverick has this problem, too. Was his reaction to Sundown above appropriate and proportional to the situation? Probably not. Was it necessary to jump in Ice's face in the locker room after a brief argument? Probably not. But if you don't run your emotions, they run you.

He also has the correlating problem, which is numbing yourself out. Your emotions are too big and you can't control them, so you swallow them, push them down so far that all you feel is numb. Empty. Hollow. It can be like a seesaw: Emotions get too big, cause you distress, so you suppress them; now you feel numb. The other long-term problem with poor emotional regulation is that if you don't deal with your emotions, you can't get rid of them. The treatment for PTSD is processing your trauma. Unpacking it, dealing with every detail, feeling every bit of emotion that's attached. (I just did this last year. It's called prolonged exposure therapy, and it is absolutely the hardest thing I have ever done on purpose.) In the first film, Maverick is still carrying the trauma of his parents' death; in the second, he's still carrying the trauma of Goose's death and losing Bradley. If you don't process your trauma, you have to keep it. That's what PTSD is.

Differences in Social Skills and Awareness

This is where I started the discussion of Mav being neurodivergent the other day. A lot of Maverick's problems with the establishment of the Navy can be attributed to neurotypicals not understanding his creative thinking, or to problems caused by his poor impulse control and emotional regulation, but I think most of it is probably attributable to this. Neurodivergents socialize differently than neurotypicals, and they often have difficulty reading the nuances and unspoken cues of neurotypical social situations. Cain asks Maverick why he hasn't been promoted above captain, and Maverick tells him that he's, "where he belongs" (meaning he doesn't want to stop flying full-time), but in truth ranks above captain require a lot of diplomacy, tact, and social sensitivity, and these are not skills Maverick has. (Which is not a bad thing, unless he's trying to do Ice's job. They have different skill sets; that's not where Maverick belongs.)

Navigating the social minefield of the Navy is more of a large picture issue, so I think that the best examples of Maverick's differences in social skills and awareness are small moments.

"I believe the admiral is asking a rhetorical question."

Maverick does not pick that up. He knows what a rhetorical question is, and he adjusts his behavior when Warlock clues him in, but Maverick cannot pick up the small, unspoken cues that Cyclone is giving to indicate it is a rhetorical question. Maverick takes Cyclone's speech in a very straight-forward manner: He asked a question, so I'm going to answer the question. Neurodivergents often take speech at face value, having difficulty with figures of speech such as metaphor and colloquialisms, because they expect people to say what they mean and mean what they say. There are other cues that neurodivergents pay attention to when communicating, but they're emotional and intuitive, not social or situational. Neurodivergents tend to express themselves honestly and so expect honesty in return. Euphemisms and pussyfooting for the sake of niceties or any other reason is not a natural instinct in neurodivergent communication. "Tact is just not saying true stuff. I'll pass." (That's Cordelia Chase, not Maverick Mitchell, but it's the vibe here.)

Neurodivergence is just your brain working differently than most people's. Like all things, it has its benefits and its drawbacks. But it affects every part of your life and how you live it, because it's how you see and make sense of the world. Maverick Mitchell's neurodivergence makes him who he is.

[29625]

I shall share more AU and story ideas I kinda wanna do in the future while I suffer writing my first explicit penetrative smut (as well as this’s my first time in English, I usually opt for non-descriptive sexy time thingy in my Japanese writing because…dunno, for the vibes.)

1. Blade Runner AU where Mav is Deckard and Slider is Roy Batty. Or Racheal because I say so.

I’m a huge fan of Blade Runner and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and I wanna see the negative before I provide the positive make Mav a deadbeat detective-ish BAMF while simultaneously make Sli a sexually and gender ambiguous synthetic human. I think Slider suits the position of Roy Batty more (and there are lots of sexual tensions and implications of queerness between those two!), but I kinda wanna see the romance arch between blade runner Mav and a smug fashionista Sli. I mean, come on. Sli smoking nonchalantly while Mav tests him? Sli smirking at Mav, saying “Is this shit trying to test me for my homosexuality or what?”? Sli clad in a black fur coat like the true fashionista Racheal/Sli is? Yeah.

2. “Just What I Needed”, but told in Slider’s POV

This popped up in my mind while I was taking a shower. I just wanna take a deep dive into Slider’s psyche as his relationship with Mav develops. In my opinion, Slider is all about being attentive while simultaneously keeping a good sense of humor. He’s jokey and occasionally light-hearted, but, as far as I can tell, he’s not a bully; he doesn’t shame or pressure anyone to obey him, and I kinda noticed he didn’t joke about something someone couldn’t change in the OG movie, like their origins, physical traits, etc. As far as I know, he only jokes/insults someone for their actions and stances (e.g. His banter with Goose. That famous Slimav scene.). Slider is just some guy who wanna have fun while also being caring toward others. He knows how to hurt others—he’s been hurt one too many times—and instead of repeating the endless cycle of hurt and hatred, he likes to be attentive and respectful. I mean look at his tender smile in that graduation scene!!!!

With all that said, I wanna see the story told from Slider’s eyes. What did he think when Mav said he liked his Veal Orloff? Why did he let Mav in and hug him, even though their relationship was not entirely amicable yet? What did he think when they got close, and as a gay man in the military, what did he think when Mav—his supposedly straight best friend—confessed his feelings? What's his backstory? What's on your mind, Sli? I wanna know, and the only thing I can do is to create.

(Definitely featuring more New Order songs in this one if it ever comes true. 5 8 6 is so Slider, man.)

Anyways...back to writing smut!!!! Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!