Laughter Lines

by Anonymous

Summary:

The reasons for the lines on Hermann's face have changed over the years.

Notes:

• For Edgebug.

Hermann didn't used to look as old as he does. The war added twenty years of aging in half that time. Newt remembers when the crinkles of his face tended toward his eyes in laughter lines, when the corners of his lips would quirk up in a permanent smile, when the atmosphere was light-hearted and tended toward the we can do this.
Ten years, multiple attacks and the loss of his family later, Hermann looks like he's seen hell. Well. Maybe he has.
The lines on his face come, not from laughter, but from the constant stress and worry that comes with being the top programmer in a world-saving scheme that no one was sure would even work after the third Jaeger fell.
The furrowing of his brow on a daily basis has caused a permanent crease there. The sour set of his mouth formed the wrinkles that have added to the world-weary expression that seems to be his default now.
But then the war is over. The breach closes, their last two active rangers surface and the world celebrates.

They celebrate.
"Tell me again," Hermann says, referring to the way Newt traces over his face with rough fingertips. "How we will grow old together and you'll make sure I have nothing but laughter lines."
And Newton does.

Notes:

Just realized earlier that the title is also the name of a Bastille song, a band which I've been listening to a lot lately. Not sure if it was intentional or not.