Fic: Present (April Fic Challenge)

[csi_sanders1129]

Title: Present
Chapters: 1/1
Author:csi_sanders1129
Ratings: K+
Word Count: 528
Pairings/Characters: Hermann Gottlieb, Newton Geiszler
Synopsis: In which a mysterious gift awaits Newt in the lab and Hermann knows absolutely nothing about it.
Comments: Written for my April Fic Challenge 2021, Prompt: Frame. Gen or Pre-Slash. First try at PR fic, I am very late to this party. Comments and kudos would be awesome. Enjoy!

Three months have passed since the Breach was finally sealed. By now the celebrations have ceased, and the recovery has begun as the whole world struggles to find some semblance of normalcy in the wake of what seemed to be the end. Slowly, it seems to be managing. Survivors are picking up the pieces of their lives, cities are starting to rebuild, and governments are re-establishing themselves with all new rules in the aftermath.

But, at the Hong Kong Shatterdome, some things haven't changed at all.

Dr. Hermann Gottlieb is hard at work. He's been pouring over complex mathematical problems all morning in his endeavors to ensure that the Breach stays closed forevermore. The lab is blissfully quiet save for the scratching of pen on paper and the click-clack of computer keys. However, Dr. Newton Geiszler's arrival is as disruptive as always. A few button clicks has music playing over the sound system, loud and distracting. Hermann heaves a heavy sigh and glares at his fellow scientist.

"Good morning, Hermann," Newt greets, cheerful and indifferent to his icy reception. Then, a pause, "What's this?"

Begrudgingly, Hermann turns to look. On Newt's side of the room, propped against his desk, is a parcel, wrapped up in scrap paper. "I do believe," he says, in answer to the utterly bewildered look on the other man's face, "that it is what one might call a gift."

Newt frowns down at it, confusion giving way to skepticism. "Who the hell would give me a gift?"

"Beginning to wonder that myself," Hermann quietly mumbles. Then, louder, "Perhaps you should consider opening it. That is, I find, generally the point."

He does not need to be told twice. Newt tears into the wrapping with all the fervor of a child on Christmas morning. The paper is promptly discarded and the present contained within revealed.

It is a framed piece of artwork. Newt recognizes the style immediately, knows it must have been commissioned from a well-known local artist that specializes in kaiju art. The piece features a beautifully painted depiction of a kaiju with the Hong Kong night skyline in the background. On closer inspection, Newt realizes that kaiju displayed is Otachi, and that there's a baby kaiju present, as well, the one he and Hermann risked their lives and defied all the odds to drift with to get the information they needed to ensure the team's valiant efforts to close the Breach would be successful.

Suddenly, he thinks he knows who this mysterious gift is from.

It is their kaiju, after all.

Newt turns his music down to a much less obnoxious level. He is well aware that Hermann has been feigning complete disinterest in the gift, but this action has effectively drawn his attention. "Don't you want to know what it is?" he asks, a wide grin on his face.

"I do not," Hermann says, pointedly continuing with his work. Then, "I take it you like it?"

"I do," he assures the other man, who seems to relax a little with the affirmation. "Thank you, Hermann," he says, already contemplating the best place to hang it up in their lab. "I love it."