Even the Shatterdome had to celebrate New Years.
And a celebration it was. Lights, music, booze, the whole ordeal. Somehow the command center managed to stretch their already small budget to include the necessary supplies for such a party. The cafeteria was completely transformed, a party committee, that could possibly be lead by one Newton Geiszler, put together an elaborate and beautiful setup. The tables were pushed aside to the walls for easy sitting areas, with glowing things of kaiju liquids placed in the centers as centerpieces. The massive opening was made smaller with glowing shells of jaeger batteries lining the entry. Strung up lights in addition to the kaiju centerpieces made the tall room have a warm glow, but it still was dark enough to dance the night away. Every speaker in the dome was brought into the room, carried up the stairs and propped against the upper floor railings. The tall ceilings made the music bounce off the walls and echo throughout the metal base. Originally a playlist was created with Newton's heavy rock flair and the classic taste of Tendo, but it was quickly forgotten real DJ was Mako.
She had the perfect mix of house and pop, new and old. Nonetheless, she wasn't up on the railings behind a desk egging the crowd on, she quietly went through her songs and queued them up on her phone. Each song hit the crowd perfectly. Throughout the night she sprinkled Newton and Tendo's song choices, earning happy cries of recognition from the crowd and smiles of thanks from the two guys. Tendo was still sober, okay maybe a little buzzed, but even a Kaiju might decide to appear on this night so the command center and the rest of the Jaeger pilots had to be ready. The Kaidonovskys stood above on the rails of the second floor, watching over the room. Tendo could have sworn to see them take a swig of something clear out of a flask. The triplets were on the dance floor, moving as if they were in the midst of a neural handshake. The rest of the pilots were dancing or mingling too, but alert and ready to go to action if need be.
The rest of the base was not so sober. Technicians, contractors, mechanics, engineers, scientists, janitors, cooks, and anyone else was out dancing on the floor. If they weren't dancing they were laughing and talking over the booming music as they sat at the tables lining the walls. Otherwise, they were mingling at the cafeteria serving table which had been converted into a bustling open bar.
Newton had not seen the Pan Pacific Defense Corps base be so happy in months, not since the United Nations cut funding for the Jaeger programs. He shook his head and took another sip of his beer. The whole party was going off without a hitch, but the hours of working and planning for it had suddenly got to him. He decided he could use something a little stronger. He wandered over to Mako who stood at the end of the bar making amiable small talk with some friends as she intensively went through her phone for the next song to play.
She looked up as Newton approached and gave him a glowing smile. Geiszler seemed to have made her think of something because she quickly looked back at her phone and chose the next song just as the last one ended.
"Ah, Alabama Shakes, how did you know I liked this song?" Newton said over the low strums of the electric guitar in "Don't Wanna Fight." He went to lean up against the bar beside her.
"I do not know Mr. Geiszler, something about it reminds me of you!" Mako called back as the lead singer crooned the lyrics.
Newton laughed in response and he turned to the bar and called for a shot of whiskey. Maybe the burn might drag him out of his reverie, it was not like him to be out dancing at his own party, or any party at that. Knocking the shot back he turned back to Mako, but she was already buried in her phone, as intent on DJing as her training for the Jaeger Academy. He tapped her on the shoulder and gave her a wave and smirk before turning away to go find something to rejuvenate his energy.
Even with everyone in the entire Shatterdome, except for Stacker Pentecost who had nobly volunteered to man the command center in case of an emergency, Hermann still did not want to go to the party. He only went to the cafeteria to pop his head in, long enough to catch Mako's eye who looked up from her intense scrolling of her song library to give him a smile, steal a few nice German beers, and to get out as soon as his limp would let him. As he crossed the room to the bar he saw Newton's head bobbing up and down as he danced. Hermann allowed himself a smile, he could image Newton's rolled up sleeves becoming unrolled and his tie flapping about as the song's tempo sped up.
After successfully obtaining the beer Hermann darted across the room back to the doors as fast he could. He hugged his cane tight to his body as he dodged the flailing limbs of his co-workers dancing on the floor. He escaped with his beers shoved in his pockets and his glasses and cane still on his person, so he deemed it time to retreat back to his own little space.
He arrived at the K-Science lab ready to sit down. Oddly enough he let himself wander to the clean and shining autopsy table instead of his usual desk. He had insisted that Newton clean the smelly, entrail-strewn table before he ran off to help set up the party since Hermann would be left with his calculations. Now the chalkboards were empty and the lights were dim, it was around 10:30. Hermann hobbled over to the table, leaned against it and cracked open his first beer, letting his mind wander as he did so.
Even though Newton was busy dancing up and down he did not miss Hermann's stooping figure slip behind the bar to grab a few bottles. He stopped dancing as Hermann passed, ducking and weaving through the throng of sweaty bodies. Geiszler smiled as Alabama Shakes screamed "I don't wanna fight no more," through the cafeteria. He figured he would probably go bug Hermann later, but right now he wanted to dance.
An hour later around 11:30 Newton's glasses were foggy and his hair was messy. His breath tasted like whiskey and he was happily relaxed. He stepped out of the cafeteria to cool down, the room had heated up as more and more people pooled onto the dance floor as the clock neared twelve. He let his feet guide him, subconsciously heading to his place of solace.
In the distance "I Wanna be your Dog" by the Stooges played, and Newton felt himself slip into nostalgia, Mako had chosen something from his playlist. The electric guitar made the hair stand up on the back of his neck as he walked through the tall doors of the K-Science lab. He breathed in the faint smell of ammonia and chalk, taking in the site of the clean lab table.
"So messed up, I want you here," echoed off the walls from the cafeteria as his roaming eyes stopped when they fell upon the square back and the sharp haircut sitting on the edge of the table facing the massive chalkboard on the other side of the room.
Hermann's hums to the song bounced off the walls as Newton felt himself walk across the room in a near haze. If he was not so focussed on crossing the room he would have been surprised to notice that the German scientist was an Iggy Pop fan too. The guitar rift guided him to stand beside Hermann as the greenish glow of the massive specimen containers behind them cast their shadows across the floor. Next to their shadows sat a few beer bottles, with another being nursed in Hermann's hand. Hermann looked up at Newt as the other man naturally leaned back against the table next to him.
"Now we're gonna be face-to-face," floated through the air as Newton looked down at Hermann. A million biting comments raced through his head but he resisted saying them, Hermann had not said anything patronizing, yet.
But instead of a jab, he got a monotonous but not nearly as eloquent as usual greeting, "happy New Year Dr. Geiszler," and a slightly crooked smile from Hermann.
Newton blinked, and felt his heart beat a little faster, but it did not slow it just got faster as the music got ever so louder. "Now I'm ready to close my eyes," was heard faintly in the distance.
Newton did not know if it was the music, the atmosphere, or the alcohol that made him do it as he tentatively put his hand back on top of the table he was leaning against. Purposely he let his fingers gently lay on top of Hermann's. He let them linger for a couple seconds too long until he moved them to prop himself up as he boosted himself back onto the table next to Hermann. They sat in silence as the Stooges ran through the air between them, "and now I'm ready to feel your hand…"
Hermann was lost in Iggy's voice and increasingly aware of the body heat radiating off of Newton. He had been sitting on the cold metal for the past hour, lost in calculations and thoughts. First Newton's shadow had awoken him, but then his fingers had sent a jolt through his body. That touch had brought him out of his haze but at the same time sent him into another one just as quickly. Hermann did not know what he wanted. His mind screamed to stand up and take a seat elsewhere - anywhere away from the man sitting next to him, but his heart and his body told him to scoot just an inch over to the left. To gently brush his thigh against Newt's.
As soon as that thought crossed his mind the song ended and the spell all but broke. Hermann was suddenly aware of his surroundings, and how he was mildly turned on and drunk. He could not even arrange his thoughts to identify the new song. His eyes glanced around for something to focus on and noticed the clock. It was 11:45. Fifteen minutes until the new year.
Hermann realized with a start that if Newton stayed here he would start a brand new year with one of the people who he usually thought was completely insufferable, but for some reason this time he did not want Newton to go. He enjoyed looking at his lab partner's face out of the corner of his eye; especially how Geiszler was not ruining the silence for once by opening his mouth.
"Happy New Year to you too Hermann," Newton's voice broke the silence. Hermann had thought too soon and figured it would be useless to try to correct his title. "You're missing a very fine party if I do say so myself, but it appears you're having one all on your own," Newton continued with a cheeky smile.
Hermann glanced down at the beer cans neatly stacked on the floor below him and chose to ignore the comment.
"Mind if I join you?" Newton softly asked moments later. He picked his hand up and fixed his askew tie and pushed his hand through his hair - a nervous quirk Hermann had picked up on during their time working together.
"If you insist Dr. Geiszler," Hermann said, his reluctant tone not nearly as convincing as usual. He moved his head back up to resume staring at the chalkboards and Newton followed his gaze.
"Tell me something about math Hermann," Newton said abruptly, but at Hermann's following silence he added a quiet, "please."
Usually, Herman would go on to lecture Newton about being more specific or go on about interrupting his thoughts, or anything at all to avoid explaining something so vast and wonderful to someone who would never understand. This time he decided to be softer, he may as well go into the new year with a lighter tone after all. The world was dark enough as it was with monsters appearing from the ocean.
"Math is… a language that we are still deciphering. Still solving, still translating," Hermann said after a moment of thought. "Mathematics are never wrong, the mathematician is at fault if something does not work. Numbers are as close as we get to the handwriting of God. At this point, math is the only thing that is certain in the world that we live in."
Newton had asked the question to break the silence, anything to distract him from the thrill he had felt after jumping up on the table next to Hermann. He had felt it before with that man. When they had gone out of the Shatterdome to get something to eat as it rained outside. They had sat in silence as the rain fell on the roads outside and the cars ran through puddles. The neon lights bounced off of the reflections and cast a warm glow on the sharp angles of Hermann's face. Even back when they began corresponding in school he had felt it as he received a new letter from his German pen pal. Even all the bickering and irritation at one another gave Newton a slight feeling of giddiness. All of the moments of the past hit him at once. Maybe it was the alcohol and the distant bass making the warmth in his body swell and blossom. Sitting next to the analytical Dr. Gottlieb made his heart pound a little faster and his cheeks feel a little warmer, so when Hermann replied with thought and kindness it surprised him.
"That's… beautiful Hermann," Newt said sincerely, turning to look at the mathematician, his glasses falling to the end of his nose because of the sharp movement. He brought his hand up to push them back up the bridge of his nose as Hermann's head moved quickly to stare back at Newton, Newton's hand frozen in the air. Slowly Newton fixed his glasses and without a second thought moved his hand forward to rest it on Hermann's cheek.
Hermann was lost. His mind went a million directions at once as he was transfixed by Newton's green eyes staring back at him. His heart rate became even more erratic and his mouth went dry. He did not know what to say.
And he did not have to.
Newton moved on autopilot, gently moving his hand to trace Hermann's cheekbone as he pulled their faces together. Newton kissed Hermann as Hermann's hands dropped the beer he had been clutching, moving them up to press against Newton's chest. They moved together, years of tension suddenly disappearing as they moved naturally against one another. In the distance the music was getting quieter as the countdown from 11:59 began. The pair in the solitude of the K-Science Lab could care less. Their minds were only on each other as they kissed and buried their hands in the other's hair.
It was one hell of a way to start the new year.