#maybe even slider x ice x mav implied

[friend-lover-traitor-narrator]

Flufftober 2024 - Day 5: Hurt/Comfort

Ice gets a short glimpse of Maverick after hop 31, before Maverick gets ushered into the medical ward, before Ice and Slider get ushered into the medical ward, too. With every fiber of his bones, Ice wants to walk up to him, comfort him, tell him that it wasn't his fault. But he can't, he can just watch him from afar because they aren't friends. Basically, they are nothing to each other, rivals maybe if such a thing even exists outside fiction, but that's it. No connection that would justify comforting or being comforted by the other. Still, he wants to comfort him because it fucking wasn't Maverick’s fault. If at all, it was his, Ice's, fault. His jetwash. Him being reckless, just once. He could blame Maverick for that, pushing him to his limits and beyond. But he doesn't. It's his fault. Maverick has nothing to do with it.

He doesn't remember how he ends up on Slider's couch but here he is now. Slider is sitting next to him, talking. Ice isn't listening. He can't. Maverick's voice, distorted through the comms and panicking, still echoes through his head. Will probably haunt him forever. It's his fault. It's his fault. Only his. Maverick will never forgive him. Ice will never forgive himself.

He doesn't remember how he ends up with Slider's curls in his face but here he is now. It's dark outside by now and he's still on Slider’s couch. Slider's asleep, snoring softly, lying on top of Ice, chest to chest. It should feel uncomfortable and wrong but it doesn't. Slider's weight, the even movement of his body with every breath… it's weirdly soothing.

Ice knows he's just woken up but each time he closes his eyes again, he sees Maverick's empty eyes when they dragged him into medical, and his voice is ringing in his ears, desperate and frantic.

“It's not your fault,” Slider mutters. Ice doesn't know if he's awake or not and he doesn't reply.

At some point, he must have fallen asleep again because he wakes with a start. Slider's still on top of him, still asleep. It's still soothing but not enough. Reluctantly, Ice wraps his arms around Slider's torso, places his hand on the small of his back. Maybe it'll help.

“You'll be fine, Tom. He'll be fine, too,” Slider mumbles only seconds later and Ice removes his hands, feeling caught. This is wrong. It's wrong to sleep like this, so close to another man, but Ice can't make himself move away. He knows it's wrong but it feels too right, too comfortable, too soothing.

“How do you know?” Ice asks in a whisper.

“I just know. Trust your RIO,” Slider replies and presses his lips to Ice's shoulder for a second. “And now put your arms back around me. I want to continue sleeping.”

Ice doesn't know what he'll make of all of that when the morning comes but he does as he's told, wraps his arms back around Slider's waist, even nuzzles his nose into his curls and falls into a dreamless sleep.

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Flufftober prompts by @thepenultimateword