my very late (due to an absolute lack of inspiration until recently) half of a fic trade with @christian-latte-anon!!! set pretty immediately after Pacific Rim, I hope you like it Anoni!!
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1. Neither of them has really had a real friend before. This is something they're both aware of, now, thanks to the drift, and something they leave unspoken. They're only really becoming real friends now, even after years of knowing each other. It's odd. You can long for something your whole life and then when you finally have it, you have no clue what to do with all you've ever wanted.
2. Ghost drifting is even weirder. Newt wakes up in the morning not knowing if his dreams were his own, Hermann's, or if they belonged to Something Else. He tries not to think about that too hard, or it gives him a headache. He makes coffee and heads down to the lab just like normal, even though nothing is normal anymore, but he can pretend like it is, right? Nobody is going to bother him. He's too abrasive and loud for interviews like Raleigh and Mako are getting, important but not enough for most of the world aside from the nerds to really care. While he's at it he steeps a mug of tea and leaves it sitting next to the chalkboards. He knows without meaning to that Hermann will show up soon.
3. That, too, may be a symptom of their drift. How long Newton was waiting there for him, Hermann doesn't know. But he knows he was, and the warm, if oversteeped, tea beside his desk when he arrives in their shared lab for the first time since the Breach was closed is proof of this. Hermann stands, puzzled, at the steaming drink for a long minute. His hands feel empty and so does his mind, which is unusual. He does not know what to do with the gesture, if it is in fact a gesture. He doesn't even know how to tell what a simple cup of tea in the morning means. He must be, he thinks, losing his mind. Maybe Newton did that to him, too.
4. "You're supposed to take the tea bag out at some point, Newton," are the first words Hermann speaks to him and honestly Newt isn't even surprised. Some things never change. That's nice.
"Whatever," he says over his shoulder, trying to sketch the things he saw in the kaiju's mind and failing miserably. "You could just say thanks, you know." It sounds like any number of arguments they've had before, but it isn't the same as all those. Whatever they were fighting over for all those years, for Newt's part anger and frustration at not being listened to and at the loss of what he had thought they had as pen pals, isn't really a fight anymore. Did drifting one time really do all that?
There's a haughty sniff from Hermann's side of the room. Then, "...Thank you."
Newt spins his chair around hard enough he almost flings himself out of it. He stares, eyes nearly popping out of his head, at Hermann as the other man actually picks up the mug of tea and begins to drink it. "Dude."
"Yes?"
5. Newton is staring at him with that intensity usually reserved for kaiju body parts. Hermann arches an eyebrow in his direction.
"So, like... what now?" Newt asks.
Hermann frowns. "What do you mean?" He responds, as if he isn't asking the same question himself.
Newt shrugs, fidgets with the cuffs of his shirt. "Like, what do we do now?"
"The study of kaiju isn't going to end just because they can't reach us anymore, Newton," Hermann sighs. "You won't become obsolete for some time, I'm sure."
"That's not what I meant. I meant, like, this. Us. Whatever."
Hermann decidedly ignores the tense note in Newt's voice. He can offer that dignity, at least. "I am not planning on going anywhere if you aren't," he says stiffly. This is going to be a trial, he can already tell. He's never had a friend, let alone been one to anyone else. If this is a bid for that, it's going to take some work. He finds to his surprise that he's quite willing.
"You sure?"
"Yes, Newton, I'm sure."
