1. Chapter 1 (1/2)
in which newt is a great singer and nobody knows it
(there's a gap of a few months between each segement in case i haven't made that clear x)
hermann yawned, rubbing his eyes and cursing as he made his way towards the lab. there was nothing more annoying than being halfway to sleep when an algorithm decided to make sense all at once. well, maybe one more annoying thing, but hermann was far too tired to even think about his lab partner right now.
he was about to push through the door when the silence was interrupted by the sound of bare feet running across into the lab and tiny, hiccoughing sobs. hermann looked through the round window in the door, and saw ten-year-old mako wrapping her arms around newt's waist. the biologist set his scalpel down hurriedly; of course he's still working, the man has no concept of time management, hermann thought, and if there was any concern there at all, it was definitely, completely due to his sleep-deprived
ain. definitely.
"hey, cutie, what's up?" newt asked, ruffling mako's hair and leading her- somewhat awkwardly- to the couch in the corner of the lab. "you have that nightmare again?" hermann hovered outside the door, still intent on writing down his formula but not wanting to barge in uninvited.
mako nodded, wiping her eyes with the heel of her hand. "i'm sorry, b-but nobody else is awake, and you s-said this wouldn't bother you." she glanced at the kaiju specimen on the other side of the room, looking ashamed. "i can go if i'm interrupting something-"
"aw, hey, c'mere . it's okay, i'm just mooching." he pulled her into a hug, smoothing down her hair. "you wanna talk about your dream?" he looked more… together, like this, hermann thought as continued to wait awkwardly outside the room. less manic genius, more of a friend.
"i- no, i'm sorry, i can't. i just want to go to sleep. my mother used to sing to me if i had a bad dream, but now-" mako looked down, embarrassed, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.
newt, on the other hand,
ightened. "singing? hey, i can do that. if, uh, if that's okay," he added. hermann winced, half from newt's tactless enthusiasm and half from the fact that really? the self-proclaimed worst singer in the shatterdome was offering to sing a lullaby for a frightened child? he
aced himself, turning to leave- he'd almost rather he forgot the equation than have to endure newton's singing- when he stopped still.
it was common knowledge in the shatterdome that newt geiszler was a bad singer. almost everyone had come into the lab at one time or another to hear him massacre the high notes of any given muse song, and hermann had had to deal with it every day for years. so there was absolutely no way that the voice singing the maccabees in a gentle tenor could belong to newton. no way at all.
he turned back to the window, staring as newt crouched beside the sofa, still singing to a now half-asleep mako. hermann blinked, rubbed his eyes, but newt was definitely the one making those notes. those on-key, actually pleasant notes. hermann watched him with wonder, unable to look away as he reached the chorus, and couldn't stop a smile drifting onto his face as newt's voice rang out, wavering slightly, but clear. there was something peaceful about it all- in the way he hit the notes that were barely within his range, the way mako was falling into a sleep which would almost certainly be undisturbed. hermann had seen newt in so many different states of mind, seen him manic and depressed and excited and determined, but he was certain that before this moment, he'd never seen newt so happy.
he smiled to himself, deciding the equation could wait until the morning, and turning his back as newt's song drew to a close. he deserved this little moment of happiness. and if hermann was a little more patient with him in the lab the next morning, it was purely coincidental, of course.
/
"cradle me, i'll cradle you,
i'll win your heart with a woop-a-woo,
pullin' shapes just for your eyes…"
the standard-issue lamp cast lines of artificial light across the room, slanted and hazy and almost like sunrays, as hermann faded into consciousness to the sound of music and running water. waking up without an alarm and an entire tank of coffee wasn't a common phenomenon in wartime, so hermann planned to put the one day of leave they had a year to good use; namely, by staying in bed as much as he possibly could, preferably next to newt, if he could keep still for longer than five minutes.
he rolled onto his back, scowling at the empty space on the bed beside him. apparently, part two of that plan had gone wrong already. that explained the sound of the shower- hermann wondered absently if there would be any hot water left after newt, but decided not to get his hopes up. after a moment, he realised that it explained the music, too, and he smiled. newt was singing again.
"so with toothpaste kisses and lines,
i'll be yours and you'll be…"
hermann stared at the dust sparkling in the artificial lamp light, thinking that there were certainly far worse ways to wake up than this. he still didn't understand why newt couldn't sing like this everyday; it'd certainly subtract at least a fifth of their daily arguments, but then again, they were at an excellent level of arguing, which increased both productivity and healthy rivalry, thank you very much tendo please keep your nose out of our business. it was a shame, though, that nobody else but mako and himself knew he could sing like this. maybe in the future, a little persuasion could be used, but for today… for today, hermann was content to lie watching the dust, and keep newt's voice within the confines of the shower's steam.
"lay with me, i'll lay with youwe'll do the things that lovers doput the stars in our eyes…"
for today, hermann was content to allow himself this moment to fall idiotically and completely in love with newton geiszler.
/
hermann heard newt before he saw him, and silently admitted to himself that listening to newt singing- properly singing- wasn't a terrible way to start a day of work. as soon as he pushed through the door, though, newt glanced up a little guiltily, deliberately mangling his notes and singing in the fake, screeching voice that hermann had originally thought was natural.
"why do you insist upon doing that?" hermann sighed, crossing over to his desk and powering up the computer.
"what, be awesome? sing amazingly and seem both punk rock and suave at the same time?" newt held up his hands, almost sending a piece of kaiju liver onto hermann's side of the line. "for a super-pedantic scientist, hermann, you sure can be vague sometimes."
hermann narrowed his eyes, snatching up a piece of chalk. "you know exactly what i'm talking about, newton."
"nope, dude, not a clue." newt looked innocent- a little too innocent. "if it's about the volume, dude, you know where i stand on that. file a complaint, that'll get your spirits up."
"i see what this is," hermann said, smirking, as he turned to his chalkboard. "you're embarrassed."
"hermann, you're seriously gonna have to use your mouth-words, man, i got nothing."