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To his credit, Newt waits. He waits as long as he can stand to, after all the things he’d seen and felt through their shared Drift, and all the things he knows now.
He waits until they’re out in an empty stretch of corridor leading to medical, and he turns, leans in. His hand cups the back of Hermann’s head tenderly, the other moving to Hermann’s waist, and he can feel every nerve singing in anticipation.
Hermann’s immediate revulsion slaps him in the face, before Hermann even pulls away from his hold, and Newt reels. He’d been so sure, those things he’d seen and felt, that had been Hermann, Hermann having all the same thoughts and feelings that he’d had, for all those years. Infatuation, love, betrayal, rejection, hurt, desire, confusion, fear, love, always love. That had been both of them, hadn’t it? It had to have been, it wasn’t all him. He’d seen himself through Hermann’s eyes. He’d felt so much.
“Oh! Newton, no–” Hermann’s voice is soft, brokenly apologetic in a way Newt has never heard, and he reaches out when Newt draws back, catches his arm. “I didn’t mean– I just–”
“No, it’s– I mean, if I made a mistake there–”
“You didn’t.” Hermann promises. His grip on Newt’s arm is firm, almost too tight, perfect. “Newt, you didn’t. I… Earlier, after we– When I was… indisposed…”
“When you hurled?”
Hermann makes a face. “Yes, right, well. I haven’t exactly had the chance for–”
“Dude, if that’s all–”
“Newton Geiszler, I am not having a tongue coated with bile the first time I kiss you. I plan on doing it properly.” He snaps, though it’s not the same tone as their fights. It’s still Hermann, still snippy and brittle and brusque, but the topic alone warms it all up, and the way Hermann’s ears turn pink don’t exactly hurt things.
“Oh, you plan?” Newt bobs his eyebrows, laughing when Hermann swats at his shoulder.
“Medical first.” He insists. “And then you may walk me to my room.”
Medical is exhausting, the whole thing lasting far too long, and Newt half wonders if he’ll even be awake for the kiss Hermann has planned. They shuffle down to Hermann’s room in borrowed scrubs,
“Come in?” Hermann asks, and Newt wishes he could say he felt more awake hearing it.
“Yeah.” He nods anyway. “Fair warning, if you were planning on having me wait here while you brush your teeth, I might be snoring by the time you’re done.”
Hermann’s smile is too warm, overpowering for a moment, a tenderness no ex-lover has ever turned on him, and Newt thanks his lucky stars for stumbling into it, because he’s never had a knack for saying the right thing before, but Hermann looks at him like he’s done so perfectly. He’s sure he hasn’t, but then, maybe the recent Drift has at least communicated his desire to, maybe once in a while that’s enough.
“Then I will kiss you good morning.” He nods, disappearing into his bathroom.
Newt is still awake, if only barely, when Hermann finishes– he listens through the door as Hermann brushes and flosses and uses mouthwash before coming back to bed, and he welcomes him with an open arm.
Hermann’s bed is real, with a nice mattress, with enough space for both of them, though not space for either of them to sprawl out. Still, it’s enough. Newt doesn’t want to sprawl, anyway. He wants to fold their bodies up together tight and small, into something safe, into Hermann’s heartbeat thudding through his own ribcage, into Hermann’s lungs expanding with his own breath, into something new knit out of their newly-shared selves, a single self.
It’s enough, though, he decides. Enough to wrap their arms around each other beneath the covers, sighing against each other, Hermann propping one leg carefully over Newt’s, Newt sliding into place with no verbal prompting needed.
In the morning– likely the afternoon– when Newt wakes, Hermann is gazing into his eyes, close enough that he doesn’t need his glasses to make out the details of his eyes, the way the little crinkles around them deepen and multiply with his smile. They’re the sweet, warm brown of rich earth, or a welcome cup of coffee. Either way, they remind Newt of something life-giving.
The kiss is sweet, too, and warm. Gentle and slow the way waking up should be, with the war over. At least, until they’re both very much awake, the press of their bodies close together confirming just how awake– just which parts of them are particularly awake. Newt groans at the way Hermann’s hips twitch into his, and the way Hermann kisses him harder.
“Is this part of your plan?” Newt teases, when Hermann’s mouth does leave his. He’s a little too breathless to be very effective at teasing, and Hermann’s chuckle is low and rough, sends shivers down his spine in such a good way.
“I had a contingency plan made.” Hermann teases back, licking his lips and doing his best to rake his eyes over Newt, considering how close they’re still pressed. Still, it communicates the idea.
Newt laughs, pulling Hermann in for another kiss. “Trust you to be prepared. How many ‘contingencies’ did you plan for, exactly?”
“Oh, you’ll just have to help me run through all the scenarios I had planned for.” He grins, giving Newt’s lower lip a little nipping at. “It could take a long time.”
Newt kind of hopes it takes the rest of his life. He doesn’t really have any plans of his own now.