maskormenacelogs | Use my head alongside my heart [Closed]

They had made it through the porter after some impassioned discussion and hailed a taxi; if Manolo dragged his feet the whole time Joaquin didn't complain. He was a man on a mission and he would see to it that his friend was set up somewhere safe until things cooled down whether he was thanked for it or not.

It was still early when they arrived at the nice complex, a fairly up-scale apartment even compared to their shared house back in Heropa. He knew their scientist friends had money to spare but he hadn't had a reason to visit before now. And right now, he didn't have time or energy to spare dwelling on the poshness of the inner lobby. Joaquin led Manolo up an elevator to the assigned apartment and rang the door bell... to no response.

And it was then that Joaquin remembered his friends had been on vacation just the night before. Damn, had they even made it back? He wasn't sure. Hastily, he started to craft a message to the two of them, hoping he would get lucky and find they were at least on their way home before Manolo got his hopes up about returning to Heropa.

Now with sushi and boba tea, the pair made their way back to the apartments. Newt stole a few kisses in the lift and suggested they enjoy their sushi and then keep riding the wave of this New Year's 'Honeymoon' by spending the rest of the day together. Hopefully the residual honeymoon feeling would last until well into their trip to Hong Kong, make the already great drift-anniversary an even greater high.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened just as Newt heard Hermann's phone go off. He put his hand in the way of the door to hold it for his boyfriend and then stepped out in to the hallway after him. Aside from the occasional roar from Claire's Ripley, and their own shouting matches, their hall had a history of being largely quiet with few visitors. What visitors did come, generally made plans in advance. Like Qubit (And that was where the list stopped. Really, there was no one else).

...Somehow, he didn't think the two men standing at their door were making a casual house-call and all Newt could think was What went wrong, who died, who disappeared, who attacked what (there wasn't a Swear-In today, was there?...no). The last time Joaquin showed up without phoning first, he had a breakdown in front of Starktech. At least, Newt figured, it was probably a good sign this time that Manolo was WITH him, but the visit in general was probably a BAD sign for the honeymoon.

"Hey! Didn't expect to see the two of you anywhere for a while--thought you made it through a whole bottle of tequila the other night. What brings you two all the way to De Chima? If we'd have known you were coming by, we'd have come back sooner."

Honestly, Manolo wasn't surprised when no one initially answered the doorbell. Doctors Gottlieb and Geiszler were incredibly busy men who also happened to be incredibly in love with each other. Of course they were going to take their much-needed vacation time together. Manolo would have done the same. In fact, he may have been just a touch envious, although he was still very happy for them.

Instead of voicing that out loud, though, he was trying to convince Joaquin to just leave the poor guys alone, that they really shouldn't have come here without at least sending a text first -- but then a familiar voice called out to them, making his protests neatly implode on themselves.

Manolo couldn't help but cringe, but he managed to mask it with a wide grin by the time he turned to properly face the two.

"And delicious tequila, it was!" he answered with a laugh that might have been just a bit too cheerful. "Buenos días, good doctors!"

Hermann frowned down at his pocket, hoping no one was trying to call him because his hands were currently full and he'd have to hand everything off to Newton.. But it only chirped once; a text message that could wait until they were inside at least. Perhaps longer, depending on....

Or not.

His frown transferred to the men standing outside their apartment door as he stepped into the hallway, and he experienced the same pangs of concern. Unusual for anyone to visit without forewarning, and he guessed that perhaps the message was from Joaquin. If his phone hadn't been a brand new Starkphone he knew was better than a delayed text message, he might have thought that was the case.

"Yes, good evening. Can we help you, gentlemen?"

There were pleasantries being handed left and right but Joaquin wasn't patient enough to deal with them. He couldn't help it; the situation had left him feeling antsy and he really, really didn't want to drag this out in case Manolo changed his mind about being compliant for once.

"Yeah, good day and everything," he said in a rush, letting Manolo handle the thank yous while he moved them on to more important matters. "I'm guessing you haven't seen the news. There's been an incident in Heropa. I know it's sudden notice, but do you two mind if Manolo hangs out here until things cool down?"

He didn't say anything about staying himself; obviously he was going to go help with the situation. Already he could feel his communicator buzzing with more news breaks about the incident. Maybe they'd be lucky and it would already be over. Or maybe it just got a whole lot worse...

Howdy do to you, too, Joaquin.

Why couldn't it have been something else? Anything else! Manolo wanted to know how rockets work, so we came to see resident space nerd. I found a weird lizard in the back yard, can you please tell me about it. Joaquin wants a fight to the death for Hermann's affection. Hell, yes, even that. Newt was awfully tired of attacks on cities that he could not prevent. He was so done feeling powerless. Wasn't cancelling the apocalypse their ticket out of this kind of crap?

And why Heropa again? Was Hiro okay? Or his aunt? Or Qubit, who really needed to take a break, although Newt could appreciate the being-a-hero thing...?

"Uh." Newt didn't really MEAN to hesitate. It wasn't that he didn't want Manolo to crash with them (okay, maybe he did, but it wasn't anything against Manolo, or even the situation. It had been him and Hermann in the damn lab for so long, Newt forgot what it was like to live with other people in direct proximity); the point was, it wasn't you, Manolo, it was him. "Well," he looked at Hermann, even though he really didn't have to look at Hermann to know what he was thinking. "Sure, I mean, we didn't EXPECT company, so it might be kind of messy and we JUST got back from New York, and I think we're out of MILK," he babbled, crossing the hall to work on unlocking the door, "and we have plane tickets to Hong Kong in two days, but...okay. And hey. I mean, if necessary, you can take my room, I guess?"

And then, as an afterthought as the door swung open, "You're not allergic to cats, are you?"

When Joaquin laid out the real reason for their visit, Manolo's expression grew steadily more somber and withdrawn, the good cheer he'd been displaying moments ago seemingly getting sucked right out of him the more his friend spoke. He felt bad enough for intruding, but it was worse knowing that Joaquin was just going to leave him behind so he could try fighting something neither of them knew much about, alone.

Dr. Geiszler's hesitation wasn't lost on him, though, and Manolo visibly winced. He moved out of the way and made room for the two men to enter the apartment first, an apology on the tip of his tongue before he got derailed by the mention of cats.

"Oh...no, I love them," he said, giving a soft smile in spite of everything.

Clearly Joaquin hadn't cleared the plan with Manolo, if the man's expression was any indication. But that was an argument better saved for somewhere not in the middle of the hall, and Hermann stubbornly ushered their guests inside after Newton. He closed and locked the door behind them, movements agitated as he shrugged out of his parka and hung it up on their coat rack.

"We call her Liebling," he huffed, though it wasn't exactly a name, and Newton was actually more fond of rather discourteous nicknames.

Hermann strode into the middle of their living room, then turned on both of them with the uncanny grace of a man with a cane. "I don't have any problems with Mr. Sanchez staying here for a bit, but what are you doing, Mr. Mondragon?"

Edited 2016-01-08 22:44 (UTC)

Newt's words seemed to indicate that a sudden visit wasn't particularly welcome. That's not unexpected but Joaquin didn't have much of a choice. People were getting turned to stone, for Christ's sake!

He moved rather stiffly, following along but he stood himself near the door, unwilling to make himself at home when he didn't plan to stay longer than it took for Manolo to get settled. On a normal day, he'd be just as willing to make small talk about a cute cat and tease Hermann about having such a doting name for her, but for now he was all business.

"I," he began when he was addressed, "am going to head back and help with apprehending whatever suspects are still at large."

We call her whatever the hell we want, Hermann. She's not a dog. She doesn't come when called.

Alright, he wasn't going to lie, a kind of pissed, demanding, in control Hermann was (hot) a force to be reckoned with and Newt knew when to stand out of the way and let someone else take the full brunt of the storm. Sorry, Joaquin. Meanwhile, Newt was checking the news feed and the updates did not sound good.

Newt had never actually asked Hermann or Joaquin if they had discussed Manolo's death or Joaquin's guilt or anything of that breakdown session. It hadn't been Newt's to discuss. But he could appreciate what Joaquin was trying to do. Manolo was not a fighter, there was danger, and Joaquin wanted his friend as far from that as possible. Didn't mean it was right by Manolo, but Newt could totally understand. So he guessed he could throw Joaquin a bone and try to call off Hermann.

"Okay! So! Manolo's staying with us," Newt declared in a tone that both said, 'okay, that's finalized' and that was also a bit too hasty to be anything but trying to stave off the argument he could hear in Hermann's voice. "That's cool. We can have, like, a boy's night in or something--watch a movie, make popcorn, paint our nails--Joaquin, dude, we have room enough for two. You could totally stay here, wait it out. Heropa is probably a clusterfuck of people looking for the suspects. You might just get in the way."

Manolo's looked between all three men as they discussed what to do with him and whether Joaquin would be staying. His friend's answer, of course, didn't surprise him after their conversation earlier. But it wasn't any easier to hear, and Manolo's gaze wandered to the floor.

He didn't even perk up when Newt suggested that Joaquin stay. The man felt duty-bound to return to Heropa, and with good reason. He was a soldier. He was registered. He wasn't the type of man to hang back while other people suffered, which, quite frankly, was one of the many things Manolo loved about him.

Finally, he said in a quiet voice, "No, Joaquin needs to go."

Hermann threw a look to Newton, then caught sight of Manolo's downtrodden face. Never had he actually seen someone so closely resemble a kicked puppy. Though he fully understood Joaquin's reasons for wanting to leave him with them, he still turned back on the man with a frown.

Heroics. Of course. Like the last month never happened. He threw a hand up, exasperated. This wasn't what he'd hoped to return to, but it couldn't be helped.

"Well I see that I'm outvoted. Very well, Mr. Sanchez will stay here for the night. As for you, Mr. Mondragon.." Hermann stepped forward, brown eyes hard. "You will be.. very careful, as we've previously discussed."

Joaquin could feel it, the tension growing from Hermann at the mention of a dangerous situation and the whirling storm that was Newt's constant manic energy. He knew Hermann wouldn't want him to go but he had to, and even Newton was trying to coax him to stay. He was just about to argue when Manolo saved him and he sent his friend a grateful look, brows raising gently.

"That's right," he agreed, standing up straighter. "It's important that they have skilled combatants on the sidelines in case things get out of hand."

It wasn't like he was trying to be some dummy by rushing in without a plan. He had lived that way back home, sure, but he had also been immortal at the time. He hardly had that to fall back on here, even with the nanites guaranteeing him a life after death.

Hermann could be very daunting when he wanted to intimidate but Joaquin was serious here. "Not to worry, Doctor. I've been trained for this, I won't be throwing myself into harm's way carelessly."

Now would have been a great time to leave, but before that... Joaquin reached out for Manolo and pulled his friend into a big hug, holding him tight for a long moment. Please, stay safe he wanted to say but it was unnecessary. He was guaranteed to be okay in Hermann's and Newt's comfortable home.

Use my head alongside my heart [Closed]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject