Do You Hear The Jaws Theme Or Is It Just Me?
His first month working at the shatterdome was great. He got to analyze all sorts of kaiju pieces and see just what made his kind tick. It was wildly fascinating for him- it wasn't like his makers had ever held lessons in kaiju biology. Sure, there were some articles and scientific journals that explored kaiju biology that he had studied in college, but hands on experience was way better.
Together he and Honey Lemon got to dissect and pick apart rare pieces of the kaiju that had crossed over before him. There were lots of late nights pouring over their notes trying to figure out how to defeat them.
Fred didn't even know how to defeat them, and he was one of them. Not that he could tell any of the humans that- he'd be turned into a living specimen to experiment on. He really didn't want that to happen.
Despite all their resources, research for solutions was still going slowly. There was only so much one could do against giant monsters set on destroying humanity.
It wasn't all bad though.
For one, he got to learn a lot more about the Hamada brothers. And not in like a creepy, borderline stalkerish way either. He had actually formed a fast friendship with them. He, Honey, the Hamadas, the chief LOCCENT officer Wasabi, and a jaeger technician he nicknamed Gogo had become a tight knit circle. To be fair, Tadashi and Hiro had already been friends with the other two before Honey and Fred joined, but the way they all acted made it feel like it had always been the six of them together.
It was nice to have close friends.
"Freddy, aren't you ready for lunch?" Honey's voice broke through his thoughts. He startled from his position slouched over a nail sample and looked sheepishly at her head poking through the door.
"Sorry. I just got caught up with work I guess," he laughed, rubbing the back of his neck.
She frowned, squinting her eyes a little. "Don't overwork yourself, okay? Come take a lunch break- Wasabi made sushi!" she said, returning to her usual chipper self.
"Oooo- that does sound good. Gotta respect someone who knows how to cook." He pushed back his chair and stretched his arms above his head to relieve the tension in his back and shoulders. He heard a few quiet pops. Both a sign of an excellent stretch as well as a sign that he had been hunched over too long.
"Of course! Everyone's already waiting- we thought you were just lagging behind a bit, but I guess you didn't notice what time it was," she chattered away as they strolled to the cafeteria. He made a few remarks, but for the most part he just let her lead the conversation. He was kind of tired.
"There he is! There's our resident kaiju fan boy," Hiro cheered when they approached the table their friends were at. Little flecks of rice sprayed out from his mouth, making their tablemates shrink away in disgust.
Tadashi jabbed him not so gently in the side. "Don't talk with your mouth full. We're trying to eat here, and your poor manners are going to ruin our appetites."
"It's highly unsanitary," Wasabi added, wiping not so subtly at the table with his napkin. Hiro just rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at them- fortunately without food on it this time.
"Whatever," Hiro shrugged. He plucked another roll of sushi from the container in front of him.
Wasabi, well organized, considerate germaphobe that he was, had prepared each person at their table their own container of sushi for lunch. They were labeled clearly with their names attached to yellow sticky notes. Fred briefly wondered when the man had time to do all this, but then decided that Wasabi was probably one of those crazy people who only needed to sleep like 3 hours a night to function like a normal human being.
Honey slid into the spot beside Gogo where her lunch was already missing a few rolls.
Fred's lunch sat untouched and situated right across from Tadashi.
Now, let it be known that Fred may have developed a not so little crush on the jaeger pilot, and most of his friends had noticed right away. The one exclusion was Tadashi, thank goodness for that. Unfortunately this meant that the rest of his friends did their best to prevent Fred from ignoring his feelings. So, it was no coincidence that the spot across from his crush was the only one available.
He would have sighed at the ridiculousness of it all, but then Tadashi would have asked what was wrong. And he couldn't explain that to him. That was almost as bad as telling him he was actually a kaiju. Almost.
Instead he sat down on the bench and did his best to appear nonchalant about it.
He absolutely was not going to focus on how breathtaking Tadashi looked, or how his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled at Fred, or how soft his hair looked.... Nope, he definitely wasn't thinking about any of those things.
"So, you guys are finally testing out Amaterasu Bold today right?" he asked, ignoring the warm fluttery feeling in his stomach.
Tadashi and Hiro both gave a crisp "affirmative" and the group devolved into a debate about what they thought was going to happen. Hiro was sure there would be no issues at all, Gogo said they would probably set the hangar on fire, Honey scolded her and said it would go fine, Wasabi didn't even answer- he was too busy trying to figure out the best way to put out a massive fire- and Tadashi looked a little hesitant about it.
Not for the first time, Fred was reminded that Tadashi hadn't wanted to return to jaeger piloting in the first place. He told Fred that the reason he came back was because Hiro was having such a hard time finding another drift compatible pilot.
He flicked a grain of rice at Tadashi to get his attention while the others argued. He did his best to convey the question, "Are you okay?" through his expression.
Tadashi smiled weakly at him in response. He must have been nervous, otherwise he would have tried harder to convince Fred that he was alright.
"Oh come on! Tadashi and I are the dynamic duo of the century. No one else is on par with our awesomeness," Hiro said, crossing his arms and sticking his chin out defiantly.
"Don't let the Summers hear you say that. Or Thalia. She'd kick your ass," Tadashi chuckled.
Hiro scoffed and shot his brother a look of betrayal.
"He's got a point, pipsqueak. You wouldn't stand a chance against her," Gogo chimed in right before she popped a large pink bubble in his face. And seriously? Was she chewing gum the same time she was eating? Because Fred had a lot of weird non-human habits, but even he didn't do that.
"I'm taller than both of you!" Hiro exclaimed, whipping an accusing finger back and forth at them. He was right of course, but they didn't care about that.
"Doesn't matter. You're still the youngest, so that makes you a pipsqueak to us," Gogo deadpanned. She and Tadashi shared a look of triumph over Hiro's sputtering.
The rest of their lunch break was spent with Hiro arguing long and hard against them while everybody else ignored him.
"Yo, nerds- you guys going to come watch Hiro and Tadashi test out Amaterasu?"
Honey and Fred looked up from the skin tissue they'd been examining to blink at Gogo.
"Oh, is it that time already?" Honey asked, staring wide eyed at the clock above the doorway. She and Fred had a bad habit of getting swept up with work and forgetting their other obligations. Not that they were actually obligated to go. They just wanted to go to give their friends moral support.
She cleaned up their notes while he carefully packed away the tissue sample for later use.
"I can't wait to see what happens! Oh, I hope it goes okay. Tadashi looked a little worried," Honey said, bounding out the door to the hallway.
Fred followed at a slightly more sedate pace. He wasn't quite as eager for the momentous occasion. Yes, he was excited that Amaterasu Bold was finally getting back into action, but that didn't mean he wasn't concerned about the strain it would put on his friends.
"I'm sure they'll be fine," he lied, trying not to look as anxious as he felt. All he could think about was how the last time the Hamadas had been in a jaeger together they'd ended up in the hospital. And that it had been his fault.
It felt wrong for him to be there to support them when he'd been the cause of their woes in the first place.
It would have been suspicious if he'd refused to go though, so he repressed all his negative emotions on the matter in order to show his friends that he cared.
But he couldn't help but feel as though something was going to terribly wrong.