𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐬𝐚𝐦 | 𝐏𝐚𝐜𝐑𝐢𝐦/𝐈𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐏

𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

❝𝐃𝐔𝐃𝐄, 𝐘𝐎𝐔 really haven't changed at all."

"I can't say the same for you." Newt's left eye is back to its normal colouring. Free from burst blood vessels and reminders of drifts gone terribly wrong.

They both look younger, they are younger. Bags under eyes reduced down from Precursors and guilt to simple late hours and work troubles, wrinkles to smile lines, eyes with life in them, hope. Trauma hasn't taken much affect on their faces yet.

"So, why are we like this?" He reaches down to his wrists, free of red raw marks where handcuffs had been. Tattoos are bright. Yamarashi's claws intricate, not ruined with scars and scratches. His favourite tattoo hasn't yet become the bane of his existence. He's thirty-three again, a Kaiju groupie with curiosity in his eyes.

"I suppose I calculated wrong."

"Doesn't sound like you." Newt smiles. It feels easier, he doesn't want to linger on why.

"Yes, well. I haven't been much of myself these past few years, Newton. I'm not sure any of us have."

"Herms-"

"Charlie, come on, dude! The yuck puddle isn't gonna clean itself!" The door opens, revealing a stubbled man wearing a muscle shirt.

"I'm telling you, man, you can't clean that shit. It's like, alive." A voice that sounds suspiciously familiar speaks from behind the man. Hermann hears it too, he looks to Newt, a frown better resembling 2037 Hermann.

"Well at least- what the fuck..." He finally looks at Newt, "Hey, Charlie... get in here, man."

"Woah, dude."

"Did you expect this, or is this another one of your miscalculations?" Newt says to Hermann.

"I, uh- yes. This is quite strange."

"So, is this guy my doppelgänger? Holy shit, is this evil me?"

"With all due respect, Newt, I think you would be the doppelgänger, being a man who has acted like an supervillain not too long ago." Newt makes a fake-offended face, and Hermann smiles. He misses their younger selves, although they're still the same.

You're saying that like it's a bad thing, dude. Supervillains are sick."

"Are you guys finished being gay, so we can talk about why the hell there's two Charlie's here?" Both men frown, and muscle shirt drags them out of the bathroom.

Newt pulls a chair out for Hermann, and helps him -with great difficulty, given the height of the stools- sit up at the bar.

"Hey, can I get a beer? I mean, I only have Yuan, so I can't really pay, but like-" Hermann glares at Newton, who simply flashes him a grin.

"Nah dude, it's on the house. Hot, young Charlie wants a beer, I'm not passing that up." Muscle shirt rounds the bar to grab a bottle from the fridge, and Newt drinks it with glee. He hasn't had beer in years.

"Dude, don't call my evil twin hot! What the hell, Mac?"

"I mean, come on, Charlie. The guy has tattoos. Plus he's not an old man like you, so..." Newt raises his brows at muscle shirt's -Mac's- comment. Hermann has a familiar glint in his narrowed eyes, and it takes alot for Newton not to smirk.

"Well technically, I'm fourty-seven. It's just the breach that like, de-aged me?" Newt butts in.

"Hey, boners! What's- why the hell is there a hot Charlie here? I don't think I can handle more than one Charlie, you guys." A blonde woman and a man wearing a blue shirt burst through the doors, and Newt can feel Hermann practically vibrating.

"Oh, come on! He's not hot!"

"Charlie, even I would have to agree with Dee on this one. You've let yourself go, bud." Blue shirt crosses his arms.

"Hey, if it helps, my real, old man body looks pretty much the same. You're good." He pats Charlie on the arm, and it feels more than strange.

"Dennis, you asshole! Stop stealin' my goddamn money to buy your expensive shampoo. Hey new Charlie." Newt waves to the old, short man who enters the building, and he wonders how many more goddamn people he'll have to interract with.

"So, now that Frank's here," Dennis claps, ignoring Frank's past sentences entirely, "Why the hell are there two Charlie's?"

"Ah, well. I think I can explain that." Hermann finally gets a chance to speak up, which is immediately shut down by Charlie.

"Wait, Science Bitch! That's who you look like!" Followed by many versions of 'oh yeah, I see it' from the gang.

Hermann puts his head in his hands. He doesn't think he'll ever be able to get through to these people.