Another random one-shot. This is what happens when I read Newt and Hermann fanfics at midnight and then decide to write something of my own.
I don't claim to own anything. The fabulous Guillermo del Toro owns the wonderful movie Pacific Rim and all associated characters. I am simply playing in his sandbox.
Some Semblance of Normalcy
The buzzing in the back of his head was incessant, and only seemed to grow stronger whenever he was around Hermann.
Whether that was good or bad he couldn't tell.
Newt Geiszler was certainly not regretting their Drift into the Kaijus's hive-mind tough; nope.
(But he couldn't help but wonder if the Kaiju experienced similar feelings when near other Kaiju.)
The Shatterdome was still celebrating, though now preparations were being made to take it down (though Marshal Herc Hansen was firmly against it, wanting to rebuild a few Jaegers in case the Kaiju and their Precursors came back). Newt had been congratulated and was giving congratulations, but always he kept a lookout for Hermann.
(And half the time he just knew where the other man was; occasionally he had to peer through the crowd but there was just that tingling, buzzing thing in the back of his brain telling him where Hermann was.)
Hermann seemed to shy away from the attention, and - Newt seriously wondered how stable his Pons equipment was. He kept getting feelings of nervousness and also some excitement that were definitely not his own...
(Later. He'd figure it out later.)
He frowned at the mirror the next day. His eyes were a dull green. They were not supposed to be a bright, glowing, Kaiju blue. Also, his canine teeth were not supposed to be that sharp. And his fingernails did not want to cooperate; no matter what he did they seemed to want to resemble sharp little claws. (And hadn't he just cut his fingernails a few days before the canceling of the apocalypse?)
The buzzing in the back of his brain increased, and a feeling of fear and awe - that was not his own - washed over him.
He set out toward Hermann's room, and found the man waiting right outside his door.
His eyes were blue too. Hermann Gottlieb's eyes were supposed to be brown though, not Kaiju blue.
"Are we turning into Kaiju?" Newt blurted, not caring that they were in the hall and anyone could walk by and hear them. In fact, Tendo Choi was walking by at that moment and gave the two an odd glance - but then shrugged and continued on, unconcerned.
Hermann sighed. "Maybe. I-I don't really know." I'm scared of not knowing.
That thought was definitely not Newt's. Hermann blinked, seeming puzzled - no, he was puzzled. Newt could feel it.
"What's happening to us?"
"...I don't know."
Newt began checking his skin daily for any signs of scales, and kept an eye out for extra appendages randomly spurting from his body. Hermann seemed less concerned, and by the end of the week, as the celebratory mood in the Shatterdome finally quieted down, Hermann seemed to have stopped looking for any other side-effects of their Drift all together.
"It would have happened by now, Newton," Hermann told him, elongated canines glinting in the light. "Aside from the iris pigmentation change and these new elongated canines and fingernails, there are no other side effects that are emerging and so just put it out of your head already!" That way it can get out of mine.
Newt blinked, and then frowned, studying Hermann. "No, dude, there's something else."
"And what, pray tell, is that, Newton?"
"Aren't you getting...weird feelings? That aren't your own? Sometimes random thoughts, too? And there's this incessant buzzing in the back of your head too, am I right?"
Hermann blinked, and Newt still wasn't used to those glowing blue eyes. "Yes... And you are too."
It wasn't a question, but Newt nodded anyway. "And - this is gonna sound weird - but I always know exactly where you are."
"The same with me." Hermann paused, glanced around even though they were in their lab and no one ever came into their lab unless they needed a report. "I am fairly certain it's a lingering affect of-"
"Drifting with a hive mind," Newt finished breathlessly. Hermann nodded, but Newt now frowned.
"So...where do we go from here?"
By some miracle Marshal Hansen managed to keep the Hong Kong Shatterdome up and running, under the basis that even if the Kaiju don't come back, some other alien species might try something sooner or later. Newt really hoped it was later.
As the techs built up new Jaegers and potential pilots were found acceptable Drift partners, the six of them did a world tour - Newt, Hermann, Herc, Tendo, Mako, and Raleigh. They talked about Drifting, about Kaiju, about Jaegers, about saving the world. Hermann and Newt earned a few strange looks but once they explained their Drift with the Kaiju hive mind people looked at them with awe - like they were rockstars.
(Told you we were gonna be rockstars!
Newton, please shut up already.)
When they got back to the Shatterdome they went back to their lab and carried on as normal; Newt had some Kaiju samples left, and continued to dissect them to try and understand just how the Precursors made them; Hermann began mapping out the Anteverse and worked on how the Breach was created, it's dynamics, and how the Precursors got their hands on such technology.
(It's worth mentioning that they never called the Precursors by name; the things were scary, haunting, and they made it a point to never bring up their actual name in conversation - mental or verbal.)
When the Kaiju samples ran out Newt began working with Hermann, and they still bickered but that was just how they worked best.
Mako and Raleigh began training new recruits, and K-Science grew a little in staff number, but always Hermann and Newt worked together in the same lab, when asked about their strange eye color and their teeth and sometimes even nails by newcomers, they simply shrugged and replied in unison, "Kaiju Drift." it scared some away, but others seemed nonplussed by it.
Sure, the world had almost ended and because they had helped save the world they could go out and get normal jobs if they wanted, but for them this was normal.
Neither would change that for the world.
A/N: because these two give me such feels. I suppose this can be read as platonic friendship or something more, but I myself prefer the friendship idea.
For those wondering, I had already explored the scientists having a lingering neural connection in my other drabble Beasts Under Your Bed. Then I was reading a few transformation fics last night and there was one where it starts with their eyes changing color, and I was like, "Well whatif their eyes change and maybe their teeth get sharper or something but they don't fully change into Kaiju?" Thus, this was born. Hopefully some of you guys enjoyed it.