Work Text:
All throughout the day, the lab was chaotic. Newt blasted music and sang along as he carved into large pieces of kaiju, sometimes using machinery to get through their deep skin and muscle layers. Hermann yelled at him to turn that awful noise off at once, which only caused Newt to grin and turn it up louder.
It didn’t take long for them to get involved in a fight over any of the above.
However, past one in the morning, or sometime around there, it was as if all fight dissolved from both men. Exhaustion began to set in and anything but the imminent apocalypse felt petty and ridiculous. The lab grew quiet as the machinery was powered down, the music stopped bursting through the speakers, and the yelling died down.
The lab became a soft symphony of a the scratch of chalk on a board or pencil on paper, softly stifled yawns, and the sound of pacing across the floor.
The quiet was comfortable but nervous, as the night seemed to put in perspective just how absolutely real the threat of death was, that the kaiju wouldn't stop coming, that the breach could open and people would die and die and die.
“Do you want to go to the mess and get coffee?”
Newt broke the quiet.
Hermann nodded, stifling a yawn.
It was always good to get out of the lab, because the walls would sometimes feel like they were closing in, and the numbers on Hermann’s board stopped making sense, and he would write and write and not recognize anything when he surveyed his work.
They walked slowly through the empty hallways, the only sounds in the normally busy halls was Hermann’s cane tapping across the metal floor and their footsteps. It seemed as though everyone else had called it quits hours ago, and Hermann wasn’t quite sure what time it was.
At the mess, Newt brewed himself coffee and Hermann made himself tea. Newt grabbed a couple apples for the both of them.
They sat together at a table, across from each other, quietly drinking their beverage of choice and eating their apples as they enjoyed the quiet of the large mess hall.
Newt yawned unashamedly, not even stifling it a little bit. His whole body seemed to yawn as well, exhausted completely. He looked so young and vulnerable with his wide eyes and his ridiculous hair, mussed up from running his hands through it as he worked.
Hermann realized two things in that moment:
1. He didn't really remember when he last slept. It could have been over twenty-four hours ago, which the more he thought about it, the more likely that seemed.
2. He was completely in love with Newton Geiszler. Not like a little bit, but like he had jumped off the high dive and was drowning in the deep end.
His heart sped up at the realization and he wished that this wasn’t their situation. He wished that the world wasn’t ending, because maybe they’d have a chance then, if they had more time and less responsibilities.
And then he stopped wishing, because it was ridiculous. He knew all too well that wishes didn’t come true, and they just made you bitter. He tried to calm down, breathing deeply and counting. Numbers would always be the best comfort for him.
“You alright?” Newt asked through a mouthful of his apple.
“Yes, just exhausted,” Hermann lied, looking into his mug.
“Me too, dude. Maybe you should get some sleep, I don’t think you’ve slept in like, two days,” Newt suggested.
“Well if I have to sleep, so do you,” Hermann countered. “You haven’t slept in just as long.”
“Fine, fine, fine, I’ll sleep too,” Newt replied.
They finished their food quietly, just enjoying the company that each other provided. It was strange to see a room that was designed for large groups of people to house only two. Hermann found himself glad Newt was with him, or else it would be incredibly lonely to be here all alone.
“Perhaps we should get a coffee maker and electrical kettle for the lab,” Hermann suggested.
“Nah, I like to have an excuse to get out of the lab for a bit,” Newt replied. A quiet with you was an unspoken part of the sentence, a piece that Hermann caught, but knew would remain unspoken.
“I suppose so, I just thought it would be practical, but I, too, enjoy coming here,” Hermann replied.
“I think we should go to bed. You must be ridiculously tired since you agreed with me on something,” Newt said with a grin.
“I agree with you on plenty of things, Newton," Hermann replied seriously.
Hermann watched from the corner of his eye as Newt’s grin grew wide and dazzling.
They walked out of the mess hall together, at a slow pace for Hermann’s bad leg.
The hallway was mainly dim, with lamps on every so often, casting shadows on the wall.
They arrived outside Hermann’s room quickly, and Hermann unlocked the door and let himself in.
“Okay, I’m gonna go to my room for sleep,” Newt told him.
“Do you want me to walk you over?” Hermann asked.
“It’s literally right across the hall, dude, I can go by myself,” Newt replied.
Hermann tried to squash the disappointment quickly. “Alright.”
“Good night, Hermann. See you in probably four hours,” Newt told him with a soft smile, that spoke of complete and utter exhaustion.
“Goodnight, Newt,” Hermann replied softly.
Newt left quietly and Hermann fell asleep almost immediately as his exhaustion pressed down on him hard, weighing in all at once.
As Newt fell asleep, he focused on the fact that Hermann had called him Newt, not Newton, not Dr. Geiszler, but Newt.
He fell asleep smiling to himself.