#'man you're really pale my dude here's some sunscreen'

[greyias]

After encountering a game breaking bug in the first five minutes I now have a cute little half-elf Paladin girl now. It only took me three tries, and apparently her 3.0 self is rolling terribly in comparison to Aravyn Prime. She has failed every single check and it's starting to get a little hilarious.

(I'll probably not post too much in the way of spoilers, but if you want to opt out of bg3posting, you can filter out #grey's bg3 tag)

[newtgottlieb]

admittedly, the actual prompt on this one got a little away from me but uhh its there in the end so i did good enough <3 i had a lot of fun on this one!

(Content Warning for mild references to nsfw :] )

-

It's blazing hot. So hot, even, that Hermann has finally opted to wear shorts for the first time in who-the-fuck-knows. Maybe in forever, Newt muses to himself; The guy certainly acts like he's been working a nine-to-five job ever since he left the hospital after his own birth. Newt chuckles at the image of a baby Hermann standing on a stool at a chalkboard, dressed up in his signature sweater, collared shirt, and slacks.

"Newton, do you suppose I need to put sunscreen on my legs?" Hermann is looking at him, a bottle of spray sunscreen in one hand. Newt bites his lip in a poor attempt to conceal a smile. God, Hermann is cute.

And horrifically pale, but they'll fix that up. Probably.

"Uh, yeah dude, you look like a vampire and you'll probably burn like one too. Speaking of, don't use that spray screen, it's not really strong enough. Here, I brought some of the lotion stuff." Newt starts digging through his bag to find the sunscreen he'd stashed along with four bottles of water and a giant bag of mixed nuts and dried fruit (among other things). He's just spotted it, when:

"Oh I, er, I find the lotion kind to be dreadfully uncomfortable to put on," Hermann says. Newt's eyes flick up and catch the faintest tinge of red in his cheeks, and judging by how they'd only just stepped out onto the beach a few minutes ago, Newt guesses it probably isn't a sunburn. Cute.

"Like, just to get it on your hands? Or the whole- thing?" Newt makes a wide gesture with one hand.

"The, ah, the, the first one." Really, Hermann being embarrassed or flustered is not something that Newt's used to but it sure as hell is something he wouldn't mind seeing more of.

"In that case I can totally just put it on for you, Hermann," Newt grins. Hermann flushes much deeper at this, but doesn't object- rather, he nods once, chewing at the inner portion of his bottom lip.

"I suppose you can- that is, it wouldn't hurt..." Newt pops open the bottle's cap.

"Well give me your arm, then. Promise I'll be gentle on your old man bones!" Newt pokes his tongue out at Hermann, just a little. Hermann only raises his eyebrows at the quip, but while Newt lathers sunblock over Hermann's noticeably bony arms his gaze stays glued to the wall, the floors, anywhere but Newt.

Hermann's modesty and ability to get flustered at the drop of a hat despite having done unspeakable things with Newt post breach-closure really amplifies the humor of the situation, Newt thinks.

He resists the urge to prolong the procedure for Hermann's benefit, who has started going through little full-body shivers every few seconds. The job is done after a few minutes- to what Newt is sure is utter relief on Hermann's part, he doesn't have to rub Hermann's chest or back because of a dark blue rash guard that Newt doesn't anticipate him removing (though Newt wouldn't mind if he were to remove it, but he'll spare Hermann the request; Newt's a courteous guy, after all. Even if he enjoys the mental image of Hermann sputtering whilst his face turns a deep crimson).

"That's it! Well uh, I guess I didn't get your face, but you've got your hat, so that's alright." Newt waves at Hermann's amusingly wide sunhat, complete with a wide red ribbon sitting above the brim (CUTE!).

"Thank- Thank- Thank you, Newton." Newt can't hold back his sickeningly sappy smile anymore. God, how had Newt (Newt!) managed to get such a fucking adorable boyfriend?  He gives Hermann a peck on the cheek (turns out he didn't need to ask Hermann to take off his shirt in order to elicit such a response at all!) and drops the sunscreen back in his drawstring bag. Newt makes to pull Hermann out into the surf, but Hermann pulls back.

"You're supposed to let it dry before getting wet."

"Oh my god, Herms, don't tell me you've actually followed the directions on sunscreen bottles your whole life."

"Excuse me?"

"I bet you also follow every direction on the conditioner bottle to the letter, huh? Right down to 'leave in for a few minutes?'" Hermann makes a confused face at him, and Newt's smile spreads into a gleeful grin.

"So that's how you get your hair so soft! No wizardry involved. Incredible!" Hermann swats him in the arm.

"You're insufferable," he mutters with no venom.

"Aww, I love you too." Newt kisses the back of Hermann's hand and pulls him out from under the shelter of their umbrella, and this time Hermann doesn't react fast enough to stop Newt from leading them both straight into the blue waves. Not Kaiju blue, just the light turquoise of regular ocean. It's cold on Newt's ankles, but the contrasting heat from the sun on his back balances it out to only a light and temporary discomfort.

"Hasn't it been forever since you've been anywhere like this?" Newt exclaims over the white noise of the water crashing into itself. Beside him Hermann is smiling, smiling so wide it's like they've collapsed the breach again. Newt's heart squeezes at the sight. So many long years of grimaces and frowns haven't made the man's smile any less brilliant, Newt thinks dreamily before realizing he's been staring at Hermann for a bit longer than he'd intended. Hermann hasn't seemed to notice, though. He's studying the water, maybe the way the water is moving or how the sand is being kicked up with each lapping wave. Newt hadn't thought they'd gotten out nearly far enough to see fish, but he sees a few tiny ones dart between he and Hermann. That makes the final topping on Newt's emotional cake, and he feels his eyes start to fill up.

Man.

It had been a while since anything had been this good, huh.

And yeah, half the ocean is still filled with toxic alien blood and nuclear radiation from the fallen jaegers, and thousands of people died in the past few months, but this... this is something that Newt hadn't expected to ever see again.

His tears spill over fast enough that he's almost embarrassed about it, he hugs Hermann tight to his chest and hears him ask what's happened in a low panic.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm just really, really happy right now," Newt stumbles out in a watery voice. It's true, but Newt feels like he's just acted out the final line of a painfully cliche romance novel. Hermann doesn't try to wiggle out of the embrace for once (despite his supposed rules about PDA which he ignores half the time anyways), just stands and lets the water flow around their ankles while Newt buries his face in Hermann's shoulder.

"Would you like to go get some ice cream to calm down, love?" Newt has to choke back an actual sob at the pet name and nods.

They almost trip over a bag on their way to the docks, and they spend 5 minutes deciding between three flavors, and they share a stupidly expensive banana milkshake with only one straw, and everything is okay.