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Hermann is in love with Newton.
A groan—an utterly pitiful, defeated noise, at that—tears itself from Hermann’s throat at the realization. He slowly lowers his forehead into the palms of his hands, elbows braced on the table in front of him, and he shakes his head.
How long? How long had he been infatuated with this ridiculous man and not known? God, he’s known the scientist for years, hated him for years, and apparently at some point or another, became friends with the man and fell in love with him.
It doesn’t make any sense. Newton has always been the source of Hermann’s exasperation and prolonged migraines. Being acquainted with Newt, let alone having to work alongside with the man, was hands down the most physically exhausting part of Hermann’s day (this coming from the guy who interprets predictive analytics as a full-time occupation). Never once could Hermann recall a day when he could describe his time in the K-Science laboratory as harmonious.
There was always some petty argument to be had between the two. There was always a disagreement in the way one or the other conducted procedures. There was always one little comment or gesture that inevitably led to the scientists slamming down their work in a flurry of rage and screaming at each other from across the room until their throats ached, sore and dry. There was always something.
And now suddenly, instead of shutting himself in his room after a long day in the lab and collapsing into an exhausted heap on his mattress and immediately falling asleep, Hermann is left wide awake, his thoughts running wild—thoughts about Newt—keeping him conscious, making the blood under his skin thrum and pulse in a quickening pace, laboring his breath just ever so slightly but nonetheless distractingly noticeable, leaving an intangible weight sitting in the pit of his stomach.
He gave up on trying to sleep and left his quarters to take a walk through the halls of the Shatterdome. Hermann now sits at a table in the nearly empty cafeteria at God knows what hour. Head still pillowed in his hands, Hermann looks down and stares absently into the contents of his untouched cup of coffee, now gone cold.
Hermann can’t stop thinking about Newt. He thinks about anything and everything. The way Newt dresses in the same crumpled outfit for four days in a row. The way Newt’s hair never stands straight in any one same direction. The way Newt’s voice cracks into an almost deafening high pitch when he gets too excited. The way the colorful inks on Newt’s arms stand out in stark contrast to the rest of his skin.
Just Newt, Newt, Newt.
Memories of just the previous afternoon play on repeat in Hermann’s head, especially. Hermann had paused in the midst of triple-checking a formula on his chalkboard when he noticed the unusual silence that had settled in the lab. He had turned around from his work only to see Newt on his respective side of the room, walking to and fro, transferring pieces of Kaiju specimen from one table to another, with a pair of ear buds clipped in his ears. His lips were moving, silent, in-sync with whatever song he was listening to. There was a bounce in his step as he walked; an ever so subtle resemblance to dancing.
Hermann had stood in awe at the scene before him. Newt was lip-syncing and dancing and he couldn’t stop himself from unceremoniously staring. Hermann shook himself out of his trance as soon as he could and was about to speak up—to say something, anything, nothing—when Newt stopped in his tracks, thrust a gloved fist up and over his head, threw his head back and mutedly belted out a long, flourishing note, his eyes shut in pure concentration, the muscles in his cheeks and neck jumping against his skin.
With a warm heat creeping on the back of his neck, Hermann pivoted around in one swift motion back to the chalkboard and proceeded to mindlessly re-read the same few lines of equation for an ambiguous amount of time.
Oh hell, he had fallen hard for the man.
Hermann groans again, more loudly this time.
The sound of approaching footsteps brings him momentarily back to reality.
“Heya, Hermann,” a voice chimes to Hermann’s side. “Up pretty early, huh?”
Hermann minutely lifts his head to look up and see Tendo standing by the edge of the table. He blinks wearily in greeting.
“Yeesh, you don’t look too hot, man,” Tendo says. “Something on your mind?”
“Newton,” Hermann grumbles.
Wait a minute. Dammit.
Hermann’s arms drop from his face and nearly spill his coffee everywhere. “N-nothing!” he sputters swiftly, “I meant to say ‘nothing.’”
Tendo nods, completely unconvinced. “Ah. Gotcha.”
Hermann coughs, fiddling with his hands before settling them in his lap.
Before the looming silence becomes too awkward, Tendo sips loudly from his own mug of coffee and smacks his lips. “So... Newton, huh?”
“Tendo,” Hermann hisses at the man, “I told you, I was not—“
“Yeah yeah, I heard you,” Tendo replies easily. “But seriously, I’m just gonna come right out and say it: you’ve totally got a thing for that guy.” He raises his eyebrows suggestively.
Hermann shakes his head, a little too quickly to appear completely innocent. “No. That’s utterly ridiculous.” Hermann manages to keep his voice more calm this time, so as to not raise suspicion; however his hands tremble slightly in his lap. “Not to mention, the idea of such a thing is completely unprofessional. How could you even think something like that?”
Tendo snorts into his mug. “I dunno, man. It’s pretty obvious to see, in my opinion. I could go ask a couple of other guys around here about what they think, ‘cause I bet you they’d agree with me.”
“No,” Hermann says, the fight in his voice weakening. “No, please don’t do that.”
“Come on, Hermann,” Tendo coaxes, “I’m here to help. What’s going on with Newt that’s got you all riled up?”
Hermann sighs. It’s way too early for this conversation. Tendo isn’t going to shut up any time soon about this. What’s the point of even denying it now?
“I… I don’t know what to do,” Hermann says. “I’ve only just figured out my own feelings about Newton. I’m not sure if it would be wise of me to say anything or to do anything about… how I feel. I don’t want to repulse him or cause him to leave or anything.”
Tendo keeps quiet after Hermann’s made his confession. It starts to worry Hermann until Tendo steps forward, leans his hip against the edge of the table, and looks down.
“He likes you too, you know.”
Hermann scoffs. “Preposterous. The man must think I’m more of a hindrance than anything.”
“I doubt that,” Tendo replies. “I’ve seen what Newt’s like when he’s around people he actually hates. Believe me, it’s different with you. Behind all that bickering you two do, you’re both actually crazy about each other.”
Hermann thinks to himself that it would be unwise to believe in a possibility that his feelings for Newt are requited. Hope is unreliable. There is no truth behind hopeful thinking unless there is evidence to back it up. He has none.
Tendo smiles knowing that Herman is in deep thought about the possibility. “Just tell him.”
“What?” Hermann asks, taken aback.
“Tell Newt how you feel about him. Ask him out to dinner or drinks or whatever! You’ll never know how he feels about you unless you do something about it, you know?”
As reluctant as Hermann is to admit it, Tendo is right. The best way to find something out is to address the problem head-on. Evidence can be found and… hope can be acquired.
Hermann exhales a shuddering breath and scrubs a hand over his face. “Fine. I’ll do it.”
“Yeah! Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Tendo whoops and lifts a fist into the air.
“Oh dear God, what am I getting myself into?” Hermann mumbles and shuts his eyes.
Tendo laughs, “Only the smartest thing either of you two have ever done since you came here!”
Hermann glares, uncertainty clear on his face.
“Seriously, man. You’ve got this. Both of you’ve got this.” Tendo lifts himself up from the table. “I’ve got your back in this, Hermann. Trust me.”
With a final smirk and a wink, Tendo takes his leave.
Hermann sits alone once again in the not-as-empty-as-it-once-was cafeteria and stares down into his now stone-cold cup of coffee and fights the urge not to cradle his head in his hands and groan.
~~~
To Hermann’s great displeasure, it’s only a few hours later that he finds himself sitting at his desk in the science lab. After the conversation with Tendo, he headed back to his room to attempt sleep once again. Surprisingly, he actually managed an hour or two despite the newly acquired jitters pertaining to his lab partner.
Newt hasn’t arrived in the lab just yet, which Hermann is thankful for. His nerves are completely on edge in anticipation of what he’s about to attempt.
He needs to tell Newt how he feels. One way or another, he needs to get this off his chest.
All the while, Hermann pushes his thoughts and predictions about the potential consequences away to the side. He is a man of science and predicting outcomes using science, so the habit comes naturally, but this is different. Emotions are different than numbers and statistics. Emotions are unpredictable.
And hope… Well, Hermann likes to be hopeful, when he can be. The human race has become pretty good at being hopeful within the last decade, so it’s reasonable to think that some of that biased optimism may have wiped off a little on Hermann as a result.
He can do this. He can definitely, absolutely do—
The jarring sound of the door opening causes Hermann to jump so high in his seat he nearly falls over. Hermann quickly recovers from his shock and hunches over the paperwork on his desk in an attempt to look busy. He tilts his head just the slightest in order to glimpse at the owner of the familiar boot-clad footsteps coming his way.
Newt enters the lab, a steaming mug in each of his hands and a colorfully frosted toaster pastry balanced between his lips. Hermann bites back a grin at the endearing sight.
Reaching Hermann’s desk, Newt gently places down one of the mugs—its contents appearing to be coffee—and then walks over to his own desk on the other side of the room.
“Thank you, Newton,” Hermann says, genuinely appreciative. It wasn’t often that either of the two brought each other food or drink, so this was a nice surprise.
“No problem, dude,” Newt calls back. Or at least, that’s what Hermann assumes he says, since Newt’s words are muffled by a mouth full of pastry.
Newt hums quietly to himself as he situates himself at his work station, absentmindedly brushing papers and various tools out of the way with his forearm. Hermann tries and fails to keep his gaze off of Newt’s movements. He inhales a deep breath through his nose in an attempt to keep the loud thump-thumping of his heart at bay.
“Oh!” Newt suddenly exclaims. “Herms, I’ve gotta tell you something!”
Hermann raises his eyebrows, wary. “Yes?”
“I had the weirdest dream last night. Listen to this.”
Oh boy. Hermann prepares himself for the upcoming onslaught.
“Okay, so I don’t really know what was going on but apparently I was an employee in this shoe store. I don’t know if it was actually a shoe store, but there were a lot of shoes just lying around. So, I’m behind this counter just doing my thing and for some reason there’s this old lady shuffling around in the corner of the store with a walker. I don’t know why she was there but she was—just wait a minute, it’ll make sense later.”
Hermann nods, making an effort to follow along.
Newt stands up from his chair as his storytelling becomes more enthusiastic. “Then out of nowhere, this big guy barges in through the front door and stomps his way over to me. His face was covered, so I dunno what he looked like, but he was wearing a plaster cast around his arm, which made no sense by the way, because immediately he just starts flailing his arms around and yelling at me, ‘Pepper! Give me all the pepper you have!’” Newt imitates in a mock version of the dream-man’s gravelly voice.
Hermann patiently continues to listen to the bizarre story, occasionally sipping his coffee. There’s an end, and hopefully a point, to all this soon enough…
“The crazy guy keeps shouting at me to find him some pepper so I start frantically looking through the shelves but all I’m finding are shoes, so I yell back to the guy ‘Dude! We don’t sell pepper!’ but he just keeps yelling his invisible face off! I start getting worried that the guy’s gonna bash me in the face or something, but then suddenly,” and Newt gesticulates wildly with his arms, “the floor is collapsing and a giant spaceship is rising out of the ground! A freakin’ spaceship! Then the old lady in the corner is flying and she’s suddenly piloting the ship and then all I hear is this creepy-ass cackling as the spaceship takes off.”
“Wow,” Hermann deadpans. There was a promise in there somewhere that something was going to make sense, but that didn’t seem to be the case, in the end. “That was it, then?”
“Yeah.” Newt grins, a bit out of breath. “So what’d you think?”
“Well, I doubt any of that particularly means anything. Except maybe that you shouldn’t go to bed when there’s still a ludicrous amount of caffeine in your system.”
Newt’s grin falters a little at Hermann’s reply. “Yeah, but did you think the dream was… engaging, or anything?”
“No, not particularly,” Hermann answers frankly.
Newt frowns. “Oh. Okay.”
Hermann notices Newt’s dejected expression and asks, “Why did you feel the need to tell me about all that?”
Newt sputters an incoherent noise and brings a hand up to scratch at the back of his neck. “Uh, well… you know, I just thought that, uh, you might have found it interesting or something? I dunno, I thought it was kind of funny.” Newt looks down and shuffles his feet. “Might’ve… made you laugh or something…” He coughs. “Guess I was just thinking aloud. That’s all.”
Not paying Newt’s sheepishness any mind, Hermann curtly replies, “Hmm. Some things are better left unsaid.”
Newt makes an offended sound. “Oh yeah? Well, I bet your dreams aren’t anything worth talking about either. Are they, huh?”
Hermann doesn’t respond to that. Like he said, some things are better left unsaid… Especially dreams that may or may not involve a very particular colleague of his. Hermann shrugs his shoulders passively in reply and looks back down at his desk.
“Yeah, I didn’t think so,” Newt grumbles and sits back down at his work station.
Silence falls over the room after that. Newt begins working on whatever he’s working on and Hermann continues to think about Newt.
Maybe he was a little too harsh on Newt just now? The man was only trying to make humorous conversation. Hermann could have reacted a bit nicer and then maybe Newt wouldn’t have made such a sad face…
God, the day’s only just begun and it already feels like Hermann’s soured the air between them. How is he going to be able to confess his romantic interest to the guy if he’s already upset him for the day? Maybe this was a bad idea after all…
Hermann mentally chastises himself. No. No, he needs to tell Newt his feelings today. He has to or else neither of them will ever see any new results as for what the two of them can become, if anything. But Hermann still has hope for something different—something wonderful.
Oh, but what will he say to Newt? How does he bring the topic up? Hermann can’t even remember the last time he was in a situation like this before, so he can’t find much to go on. Should he just blurt it out? ‘Newt, I’m despicably and helplessly in love with you?’ What if he tries to be subtle and flirts? Heavens, he can already see the man bursting into laughter at whatever he would say.
Dammit, what should he do?
“All right, Herms, you are freaking me out, man,” Newt announces, “What the hell are you thinking about?”
Hermann startles out of his thoughts upon hearing the sudden outburst from Newt.
“E-excuse me? What are you talking about?” Hermann somehow manages to retort with an even voice.
Newt narrows his eyebrows skeptically. “For the last fifteen minutes you’ve totally been out of it. And whatever it is you’re thinking about, I don’t like it.”
Hermann feels the blood drain from his face. Oh God, was he really that obvious? Or… maybe Newt is just more observant than he thought.
“I don’t—I don’t understand what you mean,” Hermann says.
“Well, first off, you’ve just been sitting there, still as a rock, staring at absolutely nothing. And you’ve got this weird look on your face like the world’s about to end—actually, scratch that, bad example—like you’re in the waiting room at the dentist’s office about to get a root canal or something. Also, you’re totally not thinking about numbers or anything because you’re not doing that muttering-under-your-breath thing that you always do when you’re thinking about work.”
Newt had noticed all of those small details? Has he really been paying that much attention to Hermann?
“And, not to mention, you’re not wearing your dorky reading glasses, which, pfft, makes it all pretty darn obvious that you’re not actually doing anything.”
Okay, maybe Hermann was just an obvious wreck of a sight to see.
Newt gestures his arms, as if showcasing the evidence before him. “There you have it. You are totally up to something fishy.”
Hermann clears his throat, calm demeanor marginally restored. “Newton, I believe that you are looking far too deeply into something that isn’t actually there. I blame the excessive quantity of sugar you have consumed this early in the morning for your unreasonable hypothesis.”
“Hey!” Newt retorts. “I am useless without sugar in the brain. Okay, dude? Don’t diss the sugar.”
Hermann’s lip twitches with amusement. A wave of admiration towards the man before Hermann settles over him and warms his skin. He suddenly doesn’t feel as nervous as he was before. His cold feet have begun to thaw.
Thankfully, Newt drops the subject and carries on with his work again. However, Hermann does stay more aware of his surroundings this time and he manages to catch Newt looking at him every other minute, to which Newt squints and does an ‘I’m watching you’ gesture with his fingers.
It’s now or never, Hermann supposes. Now is the time to speak up and just… tell him.
Hermann takes a deep breath. “Newton. There’s something that I need to tell you.”
Newt stops fiddling with whatever tool he’s holding and focuses his full attention on Hermann. “Yeah?” he questions warily.
“What I’m about to say may be a bit of a shock to you, or it may seem… inappropriate, to which I fully understand if you react that way.”
Newt raises an eyebrow. “Go on…”
Hermann swallows and tries his best not to let his voice quiver too much. “I—well I don’t want to make things uncomfortable between us, so if anything I’m about to say upsets you, I would ask you to please try to… forget it, if I may be so selfish.”
“Whoa whoa whoa, dude, what are you trying to get at here?”
“What I am trying to ‘get at here,’ Newt, is that—“
“No no, hold on a minute,” Newt says, realization washing over him, “I remember the last time you got all weird like this.” He waggles a finger accusingly in Hermann’s direction. “Last time you pulled this kind of stunt was right before you tried to get Pentecost to transfer you to a separate lab!”
Hermann sighs at the abrupt change in topic. “Newton, that was one time and it was an impulsive decision on my part that I regretted shortly after,” Hermann replies. But really, one could hardly blame him after that one horrible incident with the Kaiju intestines. He shudders to even think about it.
“Yeah, but now you’re doing the same exact thing as before and I can tell you’re bringing me some bad news!” Newt’s voice has heightened to a yell. “I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if you already got consent from the higher-ups to get one of us transferred out again! Like seriously, I know you don’t like me!”
Oh hell. He’s definitely going in the wrong direction with this. That’s the exact opposite of what Hermann is trying to tell him!
“Newton, please, you don’t—“
“Nope. I don’t wanna hear any of your excuses, Hermann,” Newt continues shouting. “I totally get it, all right? I really freaking do.”
This is getting bad. This is getting really bad.
“No, Newt, you need to listen—“
Newt huffs out a humorless laugh. “Dude, I am aware that I am like the most annoying human being ever. Like I even annoy myself sometimes! I just never shut up and I never do anything right and I’m the worst lab partner ever and I’m always pissing everyone off and, really, I don’t know why anyone would like me, especially you, Hermann.”
“Trust me, that’s not—“
“I wouldn’t blame you at all for wanting to leave. Seriously, I—“ Newt’s voice falters, “I wouldn’t blame you, but I wouldn’t want you to go. Because I know that sometimes we’re not always at each other’s throats a-and together we’re the two smartest idiots in this entire joint and… I like to think of us as friends, in a weird kind of way.”
Hermann gapes, at a loss for words.
Newt takes a shuddering breath and speaks again, his voice much quieter than before, “So, what I’m trying to say is that I’d rather you didn’t leave because I really, really, don’t want you to go.”
He had no idea. Hermann had no idea that Newt cared so much about him…
After finally grabbing a hold of his senses, Hermann stands up from his seat. “Newton.”
Newt, as if suddenly aware of what’s just happened in the last minute, gasps and throws a hand over his mouth. “Shit, I said too much,” he muffles under his palm before lowering it and shouting, “Forget that! Forget all that stuff I just said!” He starts backing away slowly, lengthening the distance between him and Hermann.
Hermann raises his voice and takes a step forward. “Newton.”
Newt covers his ears with his hands and turns around, facing away from Hermann. “Nope! Pretend that never happened! Nope nope nope.”
“Newt.” Another step forward.
“Just drop it, man!” Newt walks away to the other side of one of his work stations. “I don’t want to hear it!”
The next time Hermann takes a step, Newt crouches down behind one of the counters.
“Leave me alone, dude! I’m just gonna sit here, so you stay over there and don’t do anything.”
Hermann rolls his eyes and steps forward until he’s around the table and facing Newt, who’s now completely sat on the floor of the lab, legs hugged to his chest. “Newton, you utter fool, listen to me.”
Newt whines, but eventually looks up and meets Hermann’s eyes. There is fear and embarrassment written all over his face.
After Newt’s emotional outburst, Hermann had felt a great deal of guilt upon discovering the strong insecurities that Newt felt about himself and his relationship with Hermann. He felt guilty for not knowing just how much Newt really had cared about their unspoken, yet very palpable, friendship. But he also felt sympathetic and… hopeful. Just how much does Newton care about him if he’s reacting to such great lengths to hide himself and his feelings?
Only one way to find out.
Hermann smiles lightly. “Newton, I’m not leaving you. I hope that I never have to.”
Newt’s eyes widen and his mouth hangs open, an unspoken question unable to voice itself.
“What I wanted to tell you, Newt, is that I have feelings for you. Romantic feelings.”
There. It’s out. Hermann can already feel an enormous weight lift from his shoulders. But now there’s the cloud of possible rejection and doubt looming over him…
Newt’s eyes are almost bugging out of his sockets. “Wh—wait really? You… you like me?” He points to himself, mouth still agape with disbelief.
“Yes.” Hermann nods and shifts his weight on his cane a bit.
Newt relaxes his legs, letting them slide to the floor, and he combs a hand through his hair. “Y-you’re not kidding here are you? This isn’t some joke?”
Hermann shakes his head. “No. I would never joke about something like this.”
The look of shock on Newt’s face manages to amplify to an even greater level as the meaning behind Hermann’s words finally sinks in. “Oh my god!” he exclaims and throws his head back, hitting the paneling of the table he’s leaning against.
Hermann waits and watches the still-gaping Newt. He’s not sure yet if this reaction is a good sign or a bad one.
Newt looks up at Hermann and he almost looks like he’s about to start crying. “Hermann…” he whines. “Oh my god, you big dope. I love you, too!”
If it wasn’t for the sincere look in his eyes, Hermann probably wouldn’t have believed Newt. But… there it was. There was his evidence. Newt just told Hermann that he loves him.
This is… incredible. Hermann lets the relief—the knowledge of reciprocity—wash over him.
With confidence restored and an overwhelming sense of joy about to buckle his knees, Hermann decides he definitely wants to sit next to Newt right now. He eyes the flooring, questioning how clean of mysterious substances it may be, but promptly tosses the concern aside. Trouser stains be damned. Hermann walks over to Newt’s side and begins to lower himself down to sit.
“Whoa, dude, your leg,” Newt says, worry in his voice, as he raises his arms to steady Hermann.
One of Hermann’s knees is already on the ground when he replies gruffly, “I’ve already made it this far…” He ignores the soreness in his leg as he settles himself on the floor until the pain eventually dulls away.
With Hermann now by Newt’s side, the two scientists turn to face each other. Their eyes meet and relieved smiles slowly spread across their faces.
“I can’t believe this is happening right now,” Newt grins. “A whole year of me failing at trying to be subtle and wooing you over, and then finally you speak up and actually say something and I just… Argh! I feel like an idiot right now!”
Hermann tilts his head in confusion. “What do you mean? ‘Trying to be subtle?’” He can’t recall any specific moments where Newt had tried to flirt with him.
“You know, I would… try to make you smile, every now and then. Like today! I brought you coffee and I told you about my stupid dream hoping that it might have made you laugh a little, which, heh… it didn’t.” Newt shrugs. “I was just… I was too scared to come out and say anything or make a move. Man, I had no idea that you even liked me as a person, let alone thought I was attractive.”
“Well, you were definitely wrong there,” Hermann says with a smirk.
Newt chuckles. “Yeah, totally.” He pauses. “So, why’d you wait so long to say anything?”
Hermann sighs. “If I am to be completely honest, I only just came to terms with how I felt in the last twenty four hours.”
Newt’s jaw drops for a moment before he breaks into a fit of giggles. “Dude. I gotta admit you totally beat me to the punch when it came to saying anything, but man, you sucked at putting two and two together."
A laugh bubbles up from Hermann and then they're both laughing. Newt leans his shoulder gently against Hermann’s as they catch their breaths.
This… this is real, Hermann thinks to himself. He actually managed to confess his feelings, and by some miracle, Newt returns them. Hermann hasn’t felt this happy in a long time. He’s really going to have to do something nice for Tendo in the future as thanks…
“Newt?” Hermann asks.
“Hmm?” Newt hums happily in response.
“Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?”
“Dinner? Oh, you mean like a date? Y-yeah! Yeah, totally! That sounds great!” Newt replies eagerly.
Hermann smiles. “Good.”
Comfortable silence blankets the two for a minute before Hermann starts to feel Newt twitch besides him.
“Uh, hey, Hermann? Can I ask something?”
“Of course.”
A faint blush tints Newt’s cheeks. “Would you, uh—would it be all right if we held hands?”
Hermann chuckles lightly at the request. “Yes, Newt. It would be very all right.” He reaches between their bodies and takes Newt’s hand softly into his own.
Newt immediately curls his fingers around Hermann’s. He stares at their joined hands in awe. “Oh my god,” he mutters, “I’m holding hands with Hermann Gottlieb. This is so surreal. Am I dreaming right now?”
“I should hope not lest a giant spaceship emerge from the very ground we sit on,” Hermann teases, referencing Newt’s earlier whimsical tale.
Newt retaliates by gentling elbowing Hermann’s side. “Seriously, dude. This is like the best day of my life right now.” He raises his gaze to look back at Hermann, his eyes positively shining with glee.
In return, Hermann squeezes Newt’s hand fondly.
Today really was beginning to look like one of the best days of Hermann’s—now joined with Newt’s—life. He smiles to himself and leans his head back against the counter wall, closing his eyes. He basks in the warmth of Newt’s frame leaning against his own and the calloused hand tightened around his palm. Hermann imagines that the only thing that would make today better would be a break to finally relax and take a short nap. He’s starting to think he might be on to that right now…
“Hey, Hermann?” Newt says, breaking the silence.
“Mmm?” Hermann mumbles drowsily.
“I’ve got a packet of Kaiju gummies in my pocket. You wanna share?”
Hermann cracks open an eyelid and peers at the cute, expectant look on Newt’s face.
Well, it’s not like he was planning on getting up from the floor anytime soon.
“Sure.”