54 Newmann
54. “I don’t hate you. I could never hate you. That’s the problem.”“Okay, you know what?” Newt slammed his scalpel down onto the lab table harder than what was probably safe, stripping off his gloves so he could storm up to his co-worker without getting acidic Kaiju Blue all over the place. “I’m done! I’m done with this shit!”“I drew that line for a reason, Dr. Geiszler-”“Fuck you and fuck your line, Hermann!” That made the other man pause on his way down the ladder. Not Herms? He wouldn’t complain, but it was unusual for Newton to actually call him by his name.“You are acting like a child.” He picked up his cane from where it was resting, facing his fellow scientist with his head held high. Newt wasted no time getting up close and personal.“That’s exactly what I’m talking about! I’m sick of this! Look, arguing and bickering and bantering and all that shit- that’s fine! I dig it! But I’m so sick of you talking down to me, man! You’ve been in my head, you know I hate that!” He spoke animatedly as always, hands flying and gesturing with every word. “I’m not an idiot! I have like, six doctorates! Stop talking to me like I’m fucking stupid!”“Perhaps I would be more inclined to meet with you as an equal,” Hermann began evenly, unmoved by Newton’s emotional outburst. “If you actually acted the part.”“What, so- so just because I don’t have a stick up my ass that makes me a moron?” He gestured to himself, a look of mock-surprise on his face. “Oh, well, why didn’t I think of that! Why don’t I just go steal some of my grandpas old cardigans and refuse to find joy in anything? Will I be deserving of your respect then, Hermann? Would I be smart then?”“Actually behaving like an adult of any kind would be a decent start.” Hermann was an immovable object, faced with an unstoppable force. He seemed almost bored with the argument, if he wasn’t so clearly irritated.“God- You’re impossible! I was in your fucking head and I still can’t understand you!” He threw his hands up in dramatic defeat, huffing in annoyance as he let his arms drop. His shoulders slumped in something like defeat. Then he shrugged, shaking his head, at a loss. “I just don’t get it, dude. I really don’t. What did I do to make you hate me so much?”Newt zeroed in on Hermann’s reaction to that. His shoulders tensed, his grip tightened on his cane. He turned his head, finally looked away and scowled.“I don’t hate you.” He admitted finally, spitting the words as if they were the most revolting thing to ever have been in his mouth. “I could never hate you. That’s the problem.”“...Dude.” Newt ran a frazzled hand back through his hair before spreading his hands out palm-up in front of him. “How the hell is that a problem?”“You have been in my head Newton,” he gritted the words out, finally back to glaring at the man before him. “Do not ask questions you already know the answer to.”He could never love me.Something Newt had thought a thousand times, but there was something strange when it flashed across his mind this time. It didn’t quite fit with all his other thoughts. It had the sort of strange essence of a ghost-drift, both foreign and familiar, both disconcerting and comforting.I could never hate you. You could never love me.“Man,” Newt whispered, laughing in disbelief simply because he could not deal with serious situations without inserting a bit of humour. “For a smart guy, you can be real stupid, Herms.”Hermann opened his mouth to argue, indignant, but then there were hands on his shoulders and Newton was suddenly up close and personal in quite a different way.“Is it cool if I- Can I kiss you right now?”God, I wish you would.“If it will shut you up.”“That’s the spirit.” He grinned just before leaning in, closing the space between them.
