driftsintobuffetline | random loose threads

As PPDC scientists, they had rarely gone anywhere, let alone drove themselves, and for the entirety of their stay here, Newt and Hermann had used taxis to get around. It was a big change to now not be able to safely distract Hermann with all sorts of annoying and playful ideas.

Hermann's words gave Newt pause and made Newt think of a suggestion, kind of, that Greg had once made while discussing Miles and Hermann's insecurities.

He squinted at the digital screen on the GPS and nodded. "There should be a place to park around the back."

Newt waited until Hermann had secured the emergency brake before trailing his fingers along the nape of the man's neck. "You know... I like your skinny bod--and I'm not saying it to get you to test out the fold-able chairs--I think you'd look fucking amazing in leather pants."

Hermann drove around to park, pleased once again at the smoothness of the stop. Not that terrible jerking the hover systems often troubled with given their lack of traction.

He folded his hand over Newton's and gave the man a quizzical smile, equal parts fond and disbelieving.

"I doubt that, but perhaps we could try sometime." Hermann leaned in for a kiss, then switched the car off and opened his door to retrieve his cane. "For now let's enjoy dinner."

"I never thought I'd say this, but I think we've outgrown this apartment."

Newt had been browsing beds and other furniture (and feeling very grown up...his apartment while teaching had been mostly Craig's List, handmedowns, and ikea) online and, despite their current two bedrooms and an apartment worth of space, sparse furniture, and far more square footage than either had in the shatterdome, lately Newt had been feeling like the space was just too cramped.

"Is this because I'm pushing 40? Is this what people do then? Expand their living spaces? Is this, like, nesting and pre-midlife crisis? Because I was never a house kind of guy. Never." He huffed and threw himself down on the sofa. "We should get another cat. And a big back yard. I want a yard--I don't know what I'd do with it, but I want it. ...that's weird, right?"

Hermann looked up from his laptop, peering at Newton from over the rims of his glasses. He smiled a bit, then finished saving his progress.

"In all fairness, we've been at war for twelve years. At some point amidst all the uncertainty, I began to desire predictable things. Waking up every morning, not having to worry about an attack.. spend days only concerned with mundane things. Perhaps I'm only 'cramping your style' now that you've more or less agreed to spend your life with me."

He closed his laptop and removed his glasses, easing his legs down from the coffee table. "But really, I think the apartment affords us plenty of space. I must admit a yard does sound nice, however. I could set up my telescope and you could try your hand at grilling on occasion perhaps.."

"Grilling? That is so American it hurts, Hermann. Also, that pun was painful. Cramping my style? Please. You've been cramping my style since we started sharing a lab."

Stability, though, Hermann had a point about that. It was definitely desireable as an alternative to the hectic uncertainty of war. He liked stability, at least with Hermann, liked coming home to somewhere safe and comfortable and pleasant...and permanent. His disappearance earlier had thrown that into question, but they were regaining a sense of permanence now.

"But I think a yard is a definite yes. And another cat."

"Well you are very American, and we're not permitted to live outside of it's borders at the moment."

Tempting as it could be to imagine skipping out on the US entirely and settling deep in Bavaria's long fields and hills. The government could track them and he was sure the consequences wouldn't be enjoyable.

He'd save that for the inevitable day they returned home, probably.

"I suppose we do have reliable transportation now. There's no reason not to start seriously considering it. Given how rare single level homes seem to be, we may need to ask for Miles' contractors after all. Which of course means deciding on something of a blueprint to follow."

"Which you're good at. Don't tell me you don't have a draft started. I'm sure you've got something on that laptop."

He rolled off the couch and paced around until he found a piece of blue chalk and started to draw up a floor plan on the wall. Newt gave them a pool. If they were going to have a home, they might as well get all the amenities.

"We really should look into it now, dude. There's no hold up. We know the marriage thing is happening, we know we're committed to this asylum called Us for life. You know you want to live in the countryside and I think it's about time we kick the city to the curb." A garden? But who would tend it? He erased it and drew a circle to represent a fire pit instead. "We deserve this, Hermann. We deserve to semi-retire in style and be hermit scientists together. This is us getting a life."

"All I have are bookmarks of blueprints actually, but all I know for certain is that I want a single story home and a bathroom attached to our room."

He watched Newton start a crude design and hid a smile.

"Are you certain you're feeling alright, Newton? Wanting to give up city life in favor of retiring to the countryside, becoming a hermit and adopting another child- it's not very rockstar you know."

He threw the chalk at the smug bastard he called a fiancé.

"You, shut up. You do not get to ruin a man and then make fun of him for it. Anyway! Even rock stars get to settle down. Some have kids! Long marriages! Someday I'll have an awesome comeback tour. And you get the pleasure of telling everyone that you got me to settle down-- they don't need to know it's the reverse. Sounds better this way."

He wrangled a new piece of chalk from the box.

"Be nice or I won't put in a hot tub."

Said smug fiancee hardly blinked as the chalk missed its mark and instead propped his elbow up on the couch cushion and leaned his head on his knuckles to watch.

"I thought that's what the smaller circle was," he teased with the same smile. "Anyway, do we really need a pool? You're the only one that might use it and it requires some maintenance I don't believe either of us know much about."

"It's chemistry and scooping shit out of the water with a net. How hard can it be?" He'd buy a vacuum, too. "Also, water is great for physical therapy and you are totally going for a walk in the pool or something, okay? I am not the only one who will use this." He jammed the tip of the chalk at the pool, then at the smaller circle.

"That? That's a fire pit. So we can sit outside. We can go outside now, Hermann. We don't have to live in the basement!"

Hermann half-shrugged, conceding that he could put a pool to use although with dubious frequency.

"We don't live in a basement," he offered in mild protest. "But since we're decided on a pool then, should it be large enough to accommodate your kaiju form? Perhaps with adjusted chemical content to rival aquarium tanks rather than standard swimming pools."

He was possibly overthinking all this already, but there wasn't any pressure on them to decide anything immediately.

Edited 2016-08-04 23:02 (UTC)

He laughed. "Only worth it if you dress it up with all the gaudy coral and maybe a deep sea diver figure, like a real aquarium." That would be a ridiculous sight, but might actually be comforting, if he could get over feeling like a pet. Then again, pet was better than world-destroying creature.

" I don't actually plan to spend a lot of time as a Kaiju, mind you... I mean, unless you'd like me to? The drift is nice, practice might be good, but I thought it scared the shit out of you, dude."

"Well it did," he admitted, amusement fading. "And I expect it will startle me several times more. But I don't want to be afraid of you, Newton. And I'm sure you don't want to be worried about that all of the time. Not to mention you may want to swim or submerge as a kaiju and we're not going to be living on the ocean for that to be easy."

Hermann hesitated, fussing a bit with his sleeves.

"Now I'm not saying it's going to be an overnight adjustment, but we probably should try to reach some level of comfort with it eventually- preferably before our wedding."

"Well, I don't know if this helps or scares you more, but you would be able to touch me, if you wanted or needed to. My blood is still an issue, that hasn't changed, but anything else--skin, saliva, waste, anything else is safe. So I'm basically a big alien dog? Sort of. I'm still your boyfriend, let's be clear: I'm not your pet, but you get what I'm saying. I look scary, but I'm me."

Newt crossed the room to kneel down in front of him and reached for Hermann's hands, trying to draw them away from the nervous gesture.

"I don't expect it to be easy, but, uh... It's me. It's me in there and if you want a signal, a Drift thought to reassure you? Just name it. If it helps to have a safe word or whatever, it's yours. Okay? We're totally not gonna be defeated by this."

His fingers curled into Newton's hands and he sighed, nodding.

"Of course not. Logically I understand it's you, but the world has been afraid of the Kaiju for a very long time, Newton. It's going to take some time until I'm truly comfortable around you in that form. And naturally, that's going to require exposure."

He rubbed his thumb over the back of Newton's hand and the smooth, very human skin of them. "Should likely try for simple proximity first, and then touch. The amplified Drift will help with it I'm sure."

The world had shifted.

Never before had Hermann ever considered himself any sort of criminal- and still didn't really- but nor had he ever considered associating closely with known criminals. The offer had shaken him a bit- not because it had happened, but because he was actually starting to think it sounded like a halfway decent idea. Worse, it wasn't even Newton's influence.

The Drift was muddled with conflicting thoughts, emotions, worries, and confusion. Raina would want an answer before too long however, so it was time to talk about it. And with Sophie hanging out with a friend for the afternoon, there was no better time.

Hermann took a seat next to Newton on the couch, waiting until the next commercial break to mute the television.

"Newton.. we need to make a decision."

Newt reached for the remote automatically, to take it back, ready to turn the sound back on, attributing Hermann's nerves to a number of other things.

"I'm telling you, man: Kang has like, zero interest in being best man. But if Qubit doesn't come back, we can make him and Miles flip a coin."

Hermann held the remote out of Newton's reach, unimpressed by his attempt at redirection. Right now, he wasn't interested in talking about their wedding, and placed the remote on the side table out of immediate reach for both of them.

"I'm talking about the discussion we had with Ms. Raina."

"Alright," he dragged the word out cautiously, glaring at the game of keep-away. Newt tucked a leg up and turned halfway to face Hermann on the couch. "What about it?"

Frustration welled up, and if he hadn't just put the remote out of easy reach, he would've switched the television off entirely.

"Are you being purposely dense? I told you we need to make a decision. She won't wait weeks more."

Edited 2016-11-27 05:40 (UTC)

"Yes, Hermann, I'm being intentionally dense because my fiancé promised me we could at least be married before we went about doing anything stupidly criminal that could get us killed," he snapped. "And we are NOT married. And, that same fiancé of mine took in a thirteen? Fourteen? year old girl who now we have some responsibility for, and if you remember my argument against your remote attack ability for Super Squad months ago, it was that you were endangering this household. So, yes, Hermann, I'm being dense because I'm waiting for you to talk to me, argue, sell me on this plan of yours."

"We'll be married on the first!" And really, he wished that was all they had to worry about now.

But they did have Sophie to consider, so it was more than just that. Hermann sighed and rubbed at his forehead.

"I don't have a plan this time, Newton. That's what this is about. Of course, I understand there are dangers. But we're also unemployed at the moment, and don't have any research prospectives. We've agreed we need information, and that we're willing to go to lengths for it. But how far is that, and how can we still protect Sophie?"

"How can we protect Sophie when I doubt we can even protect ourselves? Do you even think we can keep this a secret from her? Because I think she's going to find out, and from there, she either will want in, or she'll want to tell someone."

How far ARE they willing to go, though? How far could this end up going? He hadn't fully understood Qubit's need for the rules for the Super Squad, but he was considering them now. Working for Qubit had been like working for the Marshall--a little illegal, but with regulations and good intent. Working with Raina wouldn't necessarily be like working for Chau--which, had its appeal, but really...--but it was still criminal and it could decalibrate Newt's already wonky moral compass. The extent one could be asked to go to for information...

"I don't want to kill anyone, Hermann. At least not if there's other ways. Beyond that, I'm probably willing to explore our options, but I don't want to kill or torture people--or experiment on them without full consent. I'm here for science, but I know how science can be abused."

Hermann shuddered. "No Newton, we will not be killing or tormenting anyone. They're willing to fund us in exchange for access to whatever we uncover. I'm sure information about the Porter is part of that agenda."

And really it was unbelievable that he was arguing on the side of this where Newton was cautious, but it had to be debated.

"..We're strong, Newton. They don't need to know how much."

random loose threads

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Sometime after the Kaiju test

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late Nov?

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