The Quail and the Owl

The Quail and the Owl
2017
“Hey, Brother! You up for some coffee?” Tendo asks as he strolls into the lab at an ungodly hour, his dark pompadour somehow still pristine. Hermann sighs and rubs his eyes behind
his glasses before pushing away from his desk and placing his spectacles on a pile of papers. His leg throbs from sitting so long and his aching wings have been bound much longer than he intended.
“I could use a bit of caffeine, yes. Thank you, Mister Choi.” [new paragraph] 
Tendo scoffs and holds the mug just out of Hermann's reach. The mathematician quirks an eyebrow in question.
“I've told you, man, it's Tendo except around [Suits] or I'm trying to impress a potential date.” He grins at Hermann's scowl. “Now, be a good boy and you'll get your treat.”
“I am not a dog, Tendo.” But I am a monster, Hermann thinks to himself and frowns in sadness. [new paragraph] 
Tendo sees it and immediately hands him the coffee, his own face mirroring Hermann's in concern.
“Hey, I don't know what you just thought of, but stop it. You're getting better from that mess; don't fuck it up now.”
Hermann considers before he replies. Tendo is his only friend at the Shatterdome: his siblings are so far away and everyone else only tolerates him because of his work. Tendo at least seems to like being around Hermann—for some unfathomable reason.
“It's just . . . difficult to forget . . . her.” The mug of coffee is comforting and warm in his hands and Hermann can see by the shade of grey that Tendo has doctored it just as he likes. Tendo pulls up a nearby swivel chair and swigs his own pure black java before answering.
“Yeah, it is, isn't it? Man, I thought I'd never get over my last girlfriend. But you just got to keep going, you know?”
“I don't see the point.” Hermann says immediately and with resignation. He's lost so much because of just existing. His mother, Edan, her—it's not worth the pain to grow attached. Tendo smacks Hermann's good knee and Hermann has a vague sense
of déjà vu. I should stop associating with people who hit me when they're angry, he thinks with amusement.
“Doctor Hermann Gottlieb, that is a shit thing to say! Love is always worth working for!” Hermann would smirk at Tendo if he wasn't so serious (and if he weren't so depressed). Tendo has always had a interesting “free love” attitude to life, and it's both aggravating and endearing. “Besides, who wouldn't want a hot brain like you?”
“She didn't.”
“You two were incompatible because she wanted you, Brother. And there's nothing wrong with not wanting sex, might I remind you again.” Tendo drinks and Hermann takes a moment to do the same. He schools his expression as neutral as possible. It still hurts so much, months later, to even think of her; how will he ever get over her? He never got over Edan, either.
Was this truly his life? Was the pain from binding his wings not enough punishment? Was his shattered leg from his foolish attempt to fly not enough? Was his mother's death because of him not the end of it? Was Hermann destined to always mourn stillborn romance as well?
“Hey, hey, hey!” Tendo reaches out a hand to take Hermann's shoulder as tears force their way under his eyelids that close to stem the tide. Hermann has mastered silent weeping, but he can't stop what his friend notices. Hermann gives up and opens his eyes. His heart hurts with guilt and love at the concern he sees in Tendo's face.
“I'm sorry, I am, I'm just tired. The new Breach data is—“
“Look, no, don't, ok? You don't have to apologize.” Tendo kneads Hermann's shoulder and the other man is too tired to flinch away. “You're allowed to be upset, angry, sad, whatever about it. You just broke up less than a year ago! And then the whole 'End of the World' thing isn't doing anyone any favors.”
“I'm just so tired.” Hermann says by way of explanation, knowing that Tendo will understand. He's tired of being alone and unwanted. He's tired of being in constant pain. It's only a desperate hope for some form of peace and regard for his few loved ones that have kept him going.
“I know, Hermann. You've had a hard life, I know. But it's going to get better, I promise.” Tendo says with a gentle smile, so unlike his usual bravado. “I mean, who knows where we'll all be in ten years? Hell, we might all be dead, so at least you'll be no different from anyone else!”
It's a morbid joke, to be sure, but the exhausted Hermann is grateful enough to Tendo that he laughs weakly and dries his eyes on his collar.
“Perhaps. I do hope that our work here will keep us from that future, however.”
“That's the spirit! And you've got that pen pal, the lizard guy? He's cute!” Tendo waggles his eyebrows and Hermann blushes. Doctor Newton Geiszler is cute, but Hermann has no energy to discuss his correspondence with Tendo at three in the morning. His developing crush on Doctor Geiszler just might be part of that decision as well.
“That doesn't matter in the slightest. His ideas about the Kaiju are brilliant and he's an interesting man, nothing more.”
Tendo laughs, slings back the rest of his coffee, and lets go of Hermann's shoulder. “Whatever you say, Brother. But let it be said that anybody that tatted up is probably a pretty open guy. Might be worth a bite, is all I'm saying.”
“Hmmm.” Hermann says with a noncommittal shrug as Tendo rises to leave.
“But seriously, dude. Don't give up on being happy. If anyone deserves it, it's you.” Tendo's parting embrace of Hermann's thin hand is gentle and warm and Hermann is acutely aware of how much he loves the LOCCENT technician. “We're gonna win this war, and you're gonna be happy. I'm gonna do my damnedest to help with both.”
Category:Ficlet
Category:Ficlets with tweaks
Category:Pages in need of tags
Category:Birds of a Feather storyline
Category:Hermann
Category:Hermann (ficlet)
Category:Tendo
Category:Tendo (ficlet)
Category:Anchorage Shatterdome (setting)
Category:Anchorage Shatterdome