"What Am I To You?"

Deploy

Ice shook his head and sighed.

"When do you leave?" Ice asked him sadly. Maverick looked at his phone and then looked at him.

"3 hours." Ice cursed under his breath and sat back down. "I don't understand why they say they want to get you out of the navy and continue to sent you on deployments..."

"They're hoping I die in combat. It's their cheaper way of getting rid of me." Maverick said as he sat down next to Ice. He gently reached over and took his hand into his and sighed as he noticed the sun was setting.

"I'll be gone for... 6 months to a year." Mav said. Ice squeezed his hand and sighed as he looked at him. "Come back okay?"

"Yes sir." Mav said as he met his gaze. He leaned forward and kissed him. Ice kissed him back sadly.

"Good..."

Hangman walked into the flight prep room with his flight suit on and started to pack the clothes he had in his locker. He thought he could get some other stuff when he got there.

Maverick walked in as well with his flight suit on as well. He grabbed his gear and helmet. "Are you going to let Rooster know when you're leaving?" He said.

"I'm sure you just told him that I'm going with you. If he is willing to chat with me before I'm gone for six months, then we will see me farewell." Hangman said as he grabbed his helmet.

Maverick watched him walk out and just sighed. Hangman walked out to his jet as the sun was setting. He started to do preflight, walking around his F-18.

He walked over, checking the leading edge of the wings. He was distracted a majority of the time though.

A part of him didn't really wanna see Rooster. He thought I was really unfair for him to pry that information about him like that, but, he really wanted him to see him off.

The fear of going on missions with conflict unresolved always bothered Hangman, which is why he always made sure to get his affairs in order, which reminded him...

He pulled out his phone and called his mother.

"Hey mom..." he said as he continued his walk around.

"Sweetie! How are you?" She said as she moved around the kitchen. He smiled softly and sighed.

"I'm preflight right now actually. I'm getting ready to deploy again." He said as he walked up to the front.

"Oh my goodness... again. Sweetheart I hope you're resting properly and that everything is going smoothly." She said. He looked at the plane as she said that. He didn't have the heart again to tell her he was doing shitty.

"Yeah. Everything's going smoothly." He said as he stopped and saw maverick heading out to his plane with Iceman. He felt something switch in him.

He realized Rooster wasn't coming. "I have to go mom. Love you." He let her say her goodbyes and hung up. He dialed Roosters number and didn't care if he answered or not.

He went straight to voice mail.

Hangman frowned and left a message.

"I see how it is. We have a small disagreement and... and you can't even say bye. I see... goodbye, Bradshaw. Don't call." He hung up and climbed into his jet. He pulled his helmet on and closed the canopy.

Iceman stood there and looked around. He noticed Rooster never showed up.

He saw Hangman call Rooster angrily. He sighed and knew they were done.

"Pete." Iceman said as the wind went through Mavericks hair. Maverick walked over and smiled softly. "You alright Ice?"

"Yeah. Just getting tired of you leaving before we can spend any time together." Ice said with the smallest sliver of disappointment in his voice. Maverick nodded in agreement.

"I will try my hardest to make it less frequent." He says as he leaned forward and kissed Iceman. Ice kissed him back and gripped Maverick shirt slightly.

"I'll come home." Mav said lovingly.

"I know." Ice smiled softly as he took a step back and watched as hangman shoved his phone into his pocket. Ice just sighed and backed away from the jets as they roared alive.

Maverick took off after hangman. He hooked up to hangmans intercom, knowing something was wrong. "You alright?" Maverick asked.

Hangman was silent for a minute.

"I hoped... he would apologize and see me off... but. He didn't." He said sadly over the coms. Maverick sensed the anger and sadness over the coms. Maverick knew something was going to happen between the two of them eventually.

"He's... I don't even know what to say." Maverick said as the sun set completely. They were almost to their ship.

"Just wished he didn't pry that information out of me..." Hangman said sadly.

Ice got back to the house and saw Bradley watching TV with the rest of the group. The others had no idea that Hangman was getting deployed...

Ice clenched his fists and walked into the living room, turning off the TV. Rooster looked at Ice Annoyed.

"I'm sure there's a reason why you did that?" Rooster said. Ice glared at him which was a cue for everyone else to leave.

"You mean to tell me... you're sitting here as your boyfriend is being deployed into an active combat zone?" Iceman said.

"He didn't leave yet. So it's not a big deal. Dang." Rooster said. Ice  suddenly realized there was a miscommunication here.

"Oh shit... you have no idea." Ice said. Rooster looked concerned as he stood.

"No idea about what?" He said as he pulled out his phone. His gaze changed from annoyance to disappointment. "Shit..." he lowered his phone and rubbed his neck, nervously trying to figure out what to do as he felt tears pricking at his eyes.

He didn't want to hurt Hangman. He never wanted to.

"This is awful..." he said as he sat back into his chair. "And... We left it at bad terms.." rooster felt angry at himself, and everything that he did and said.

"Now.... He won't speak to me. He's broken up with me..." rooster said as he looked out the window. He shook his head and got up.

"I'm so stupid."