Tales from the Jaeger Pilot AU
- Some background for the snippet below: Newt and Hermann are jaeger co-pilots, this bit takes place probably 6 months into their assignment together after graduating academy. Newt also has yet to get his first tattoo which will be the one they’ve just defeated
- I HC that Hermann is not a huge fan of casual touch so…
- …when a drunk Newt burst into Hermann’s bunk room one night post “successfully defeated a Kaiju” mission, basically rendering Hermann trapped on his couch while he snored away in dreamland, it sent Hermann down a spiral of rumination on his ability to get close to people
Here’s a rough snippet of a larger bit of story I’m poking at that goes along with this pic:
Then there had been the letters from Newton, the anticipation churning each time he flipped open his post box, and the relief that came with the knowledge there would only ever be words on paper between them, keeping him safe and Newton at a distance.
Ha.
He stares down—one arm tucked behind his head, the other still holding the burning nub of a cigarette like a lifeline—and wonders if anxious anticipation and cultivated distance are all he’ll ever be capable of. He’s mesmerized by the steady rise and fall of Newton’s head pillowed against his stomach. How easy it would be to just reach out and…touch.
His fingers twitch.
You’ve been a menace to me for 6 years.
Three years of letters. Then three years since the letters had stopped, when Newton ceased being nebulous words safe on a page, and burst loud and colorful and real, into Hermann’s life at the academy.