Chapter Text
Newt is admitted to the hospitable after passing out and falling down the stairs: breaking his arm and hitting his head. He says he just forgot to rest and eat because he was so caught up in his work; and didn't lie because he had been working for 35 hours without sleep but the part about forgetting to eat had nothing to do with his forgetfulness and more to do with how he is anorexic. Newt has a lifetime full of mental issues, the worst of them being his self-hatred and body image problems. Newt is a biologist so -he likes to think- he can keep himself alive with very little food and a lot of coffee. While his happy and easy going attitude can trick everyone into thinking he's ok, he can't fool the trained medical staff at the hospital, they see that he is extremely underweight and with very low blood sugar.
Hermann was in a car crash where his lower body was crushed under the car, he had a lot of surgeries and the doctors managed to not lose either of Hermann's legs but they are fearful that the muscles will never be strong enough for Hermann to walk again (the left leg is the worse of the two). Hermann also will have chronic pain in his lower back because of the crash.
Hermann wakes up for the first time very suddenly like he woke from a nightmare his eyes are far away and he looks way out of it, he then starts to scream in pain, but his screams are soft and his voice is very scratchy; his heart monitor is what gives away that he is in pain because it starts to speed up very fast in till it sounds like never ending high pitch scream. That’s when doctors and nurses come running in and the close the curtain cutting off Newton's sight of his roommate but not the sound.
The next time Hermann wakes up he has much more pain meds in his IV drip so he's still out of it but at least he isn't screaming in pain. Hermann, high off pain meds, asks Newt if 'he could turn off the TV because the bees were too red'. The third time Hermann woke up it was 3 AM in between the nurses' shift changes; their conjoining room's divider was pulled back so Newton could see and also here when the strange man awoke with a start. His heart beat speeding up but not enough for the machine to alert someone. With a deep and scratchy voice he asked
“Where am I? What's going on?” His voice grew more frantic and he asked “Why can't I move my legs?”
Newt had been reading when this had all started so he shined his illegal reading flashlight towards Hermann and said
“Hey dude, try to stop freaking out” he then shone the flashlight on to himself and states “We are at the hospital, I'm your roommate, the name's Newton Geiszler but you can call me Newt. And I have no idea about the lack of feeling in your legs. I'm not doctor, well actually I am but not that kind of doctor, but I'm willing to bet it has something to do with why you are the hospital.” Newt talks in a low and calming voice late into the night in till he is sure the man is asleep again.
After a week of the both of them in bed rest they moved to rehab. But because they both bicker with each other like an old married couple all of the nurses ship them so when they are moved the nurses suggest to the head doctor that they would recover better if they had a friend with them, so end the end they are in the same room together again and they both wine and bitch about it but secretly they are both really happy that they are not alone. Once Newt's in no danger of having any underlining brain damage from his fall and his arm is in the cast, a doctor comes in (it looks like Hermann is sleeping but he isn't) and the doctor says that Newt has to get his weight up or their might be more medical problems. Newt pales at this and the doctor realizes that there might other reasons for his underweight, newt then reassures the doctor he is fine that he feels fine but the doctor is not going to fall for it and he suggests Newt should talk to someone about it. And the way he says it sounds more like a command than a suggestion.
After lots of complaints Newt finally says that he will go to an anorexic recovery and support group. But before he leaves he gets Hermann's email address.
So Newt is trying to get healthy and Hermann is trying to regain his leg function and all the while they are emailing back and forth, they talk about anything and everything. They both find out that they are both geniuses in their fields, newt in Biology of amphibians and reptiles, specializing in endangered animals; Herms in Mathematics. They also talk about their progress; before Newt left Hermann told him that him that he had indeed been awake when the doctor had come in and talked about Newt's problem. And that he didn't think any lesser of him. They have a tearful moment.
When they finally meet face to face again Newt is still having problems with his self-image but he isn't starving himself to death, and Hermann has a very bad limp and more often than not he has chronic pain and can't stand or walk even without his cane. But they become friends, then best friends, then something even more… boyfriends ;)