The sun rose over the Hong Kong bay and filtered through the window on which rolled some droplets of rain from the night. Newt rolled over lazily, sighing, as he felt the sunbeams on his bare thighs.The room was already getting warmer.
“Morning babe… You awake…?” he whispered, putting an arm on Hermann’s side.
“Now I am…” he whispered in a husky voice. “Please, five more minutes…”
Hermann wasn’t a morning person.
—
I spent so much time on this thing it’s insane, like, I started at about 6 in the afternoon and finished at 2 in the morning??? At first I only wanted to work anatomy (╥﹏╥) when this this happen…
i got all ur song prompts but i hope its ok that i went with this one!! i love hermann realizing he’s in looove
It’s not the realization itself that distresses Hermann. He’s always figured something like this was bound to happen eventually, after all; Newton is his oldest friend, as well as his oldest rival, and they spend every waking moment together. And Newton isn’t exactly bad-looking. It’s simply the manner in which the realization comes to him. Hermann could’ve stomached Newton winning him over with some grand noble gesture–perhaps Hermann slips and falls from his ladder and Newton catches him, or Hermann forgets his coat in the lab one day and is cold and Newton insists Hermann take his leather jacket. He could’ve stomached catching sight of Newton in sweatpants looking soft and sleepy in the morning, or becoming distracted by Newton’s laughter, but of course it isn’t any of those things.
Hermann realizes he’s in love with Newton when Newton goes off on a tirade about processed snack food, of all things.
I was thinking about Newt’s apartment in Uprising. It’s very clearly NOT his style, but at the same time ehhh he’s finally living like a rockstar, right? Fancy clothes, fancy view of the skyline, fancy new friends. So besides the alien hivemind he won’t can’t get out of his heads, maybe his tastes have matured. He’s older, he’s changed, shit like that happens.
But there are two thing that stand out to me besides “shiny apartment with weird wall texture”. One is purely HC, and the other is a bit of meta.
My angsty self-indulgent HC:
While there’s some art on the walls (we know he’s a fan of posters), there isn’t a SINGLE musical instrument anywhere to be found. In the first movie the lab has so many (like even a trumpet? which must’ve driven Hermann batshit crazy??). So we can probably chalk it up to “Precursors have destroyed Newt’s identity and the instruments had to go.” Sure. So that’s where my hc comes in.
He watched himself sell each one. At first there were justifications. “Hong Kong base is closing, and I can’t take this upright piano with me, so I’m gonna hock it.” Over time the justifications became a bit more flimsy. “It’s not like I have anyone to play with, plus I’m SO busy with work now, so I guess I gotta get rid of these bongos.” (Like not having anyone to play with and being busy didn’t stop him when he was working for the PPDC?) And eventually he sold all of his instruments except his very first guitar. That one he tried to fight Them over. Not only was it his first guitar, it was also the instrument he learned music on, period. It wasn’t high quality, but it did come with a lot of memories, and it was covered in stickers. He decorated his guitar the way he decorated his body with tattoos. It was a roadmap of his life. But because it held such sentimental value, They REALLY wanted it gone. And They won out. The night he sold it to a pawn shop for wow a grand total of $35 he cried. He didn’t cry a lot these days (bc when things were getting a bit too overwhelming and real, he’d just have a niiiiice long chat with Alice), but getting rid of that guitar was like losing the last piece of who he was. Maybe not even “like” losing the last piece. Maybe that was it, and Newton Geiszler was officially gone.
The second point is some meta from the movie. Just a small thing (and others have prob pointed this out but oh well)…
With how spic and span his ritzy, modern apartment is (complete with fruit bowl, balcony seating and everything), you can tell he spends the vast majority of his time in the chair in his bedroom. There are fast food wrappers, takeout boxes and other junk strewn about, which is very out of place compared to the atmosphere of the decor.
So idk maybe Newton Geiszler isn’t officially gone after all. Some habits die hard, and damn he loves a big mac. But it’s a funny thing to put into the scene as subtle background/character building. It does kind of highlight how much he drifts with Alice (to the point where it’s unhealthy), but to me it also gives a bit of hope. Newt’s still in there, and given an inch he’ll absolutely live like the lovable mess he is deep down in his heart. And if you ask me, that’s Pacific Rim Uplifting right there.
For treating me like an insignificant little joke of a man.
[Newt’s] got a fancy new job, he’s been separated from Hermann…so he’s kind of not himself, there’s no one keeping him real, so to speak… and he misses the man that he’s in love with.
The Only Way Out is Down (76568 words) by Avelera Chapters: 14/16 – Treachery, part 2 – Newt Fandom: Pacific Rim (Movies) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Newton Geiszler/Hermann Gottlieb Characters: Newton Geiszler, Hermann Gottlieb, Jake Pentecost Additional Tags: Post-Movie: Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018), Literary References & Allusions, Coma, Rescue, Newton Geiszler is a Dork, POV Newton Geiszler, Newton Geiszler Recovery Arc, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Dreamscapes, Past Relationship(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, The Drift (Pacific Rim), Drift Side Effects, Hell, Inferno AU, Stream of Consciousness, Worried Hermann Gottlieb, Explicit Language, Past Mind Control, POV Hermann Gottlieb, Precursors are super dead, Memory Loss, Memory Alteration, Bickering, BAMF Hermann Gottlieb, Kissing, Canon-Typical Violence, Injury, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Explicit Sexual Content, Consensual Sex, Hurt/Comfort, Seduction, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Angst, Trauma, Therapy Summary:
The invasion of the Anteverse was successful, and the Precursors have been destroyed, but Newt still hasn’t awoken from his coma and doesn’t respond initially to Drift attempts from Hermann to wake him.
But when one day a connection is established, Hermann and Newt find themselves in a mingled mindscape that seems informed by Dante’s “Inferno”. Together, they pass through the Nine Circles, nine memories of Newt’s years under Precursor control in the hopes it will help free Newt from his own head.
Yet questions linger: how much did the Precursors take from Newt, to what lengths will Hermann go to free him, and is the other even truly there, or merely a rabbit of the other’s making, a wish fulfillment fantasy that they’re chasing into the abyss?
— Oh my GOD I can’t believe the rewrite is finally finished. Thank you all for your patience. If you’ve set up for the subscription alert, you’ll know I actually posted this in the middle of the night because I was so desperate to get it out there but I wanted to do one more cleanup pass before I posted the chapter alert here. I hope you enjoy!
This was both, by far, the scariest chapter and my favorite. So, so good.
Avelera 