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“Dude. You need to chill out, you worry too much!”
Newt slid down to the floor on the front of the couch, the back of his shirt scrunching up to his shoulders before he straightened it, beckoning the increasingly large kaiju pup toward him.
Meathead loped across the metal floor, armored tail and stubby claws clacking loudly. It flopped into his lap, headbutting his arm and nearly crushing his legs with its worryingly rapid weight gain. It was nearly the size of a full-grown Newfoundland, but notably wider and bulkier. The way it threw itself around proven destructive on more than a few occasions, despite efforts to make the lab more kaiju-friendly.
“Awww, baby,” Newt said reflexively, using its increasingly ill-fitting pet name.
It made a strangled sound, pulling itself even more into his lap, looking expectantly at Newt’s adoring eyes. Was it trying to tell him something? Something it wanted? Newt felt the fledgling neural bridge reverberate in the back of his mind, but he was still learning the subtleties of hivemind communication.
So far so good, he thought.
Hermann surveyed the interaction from a distance as he sat as his desk, leg bouncing slightly, a development since their drift. He was nervous... Visibly and viscerally nervous about this relationship. Of course on some level, he still psychically resonated with Newt. Hopefully the biologist would have the wherewithal to monitor the neural link between his partner and his personal kaiju... right? Hermann’s eyes fluttered closed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, understanding the connection but unable to shake the concerned feeling nonetheless.
Newt looked up when he heard Hermann clear his throat.
“The unpredictability of this situation...” A slightly worried tone accompanied Hermann’s voice as he trailed off, looking back at his partner. The kaiju pawed onto Newt’s abdomen, angling to nuzzle him as he giggled. Hermann watched him revel in the attention, squishing the baby creature’s neck rolls, a kaiju shar pei.
“Oh my god, LOOKIT you!!” Newt cooed.
Meathead bobbed its head happily. Those horns, Hermann thought, half wincing at how close they got to catching Newt in the face. They’d clipped his glasses before… it was only a matter of time before the creature really hurt him. A sigh forced itself from Hermann, despite his focused effort for composure.
A slow moment passed as a pensive look came over Newt’s face. The baby kaiju angled its head and hooked one of its horns on Newt’s arm, jolting him out of his thought. Meathead pulled him, hard, shifting his weight off balance and dragged him on hands and knees across the lab towards Hermann.
“Baby!! Wh-- AHHH! FFFFF--“ Newt swore, sprawled out on the floor as he pulled his hand out from underneath Meathead’s scaly body. Bright red scrapes covered the back of his hand and up his wrist, nothing serious but enough to make him hiss in pain. He shook it reflexively. “Fuck, ow! Hey, uhhh, Hermann? What the hell?” Newt sputtered.
Hermann had been vocally opposed about Newt ‘playing God’ since the very beginning, something Newt assumed Meathead could sense from their link, so the biologist was confounded when his literal creation beelined for Hermann’s desk with him in tow. Raising an eyebrow, Hermann stretched over his work and grabbed a bag Newt hadn’t noticed. He unzipped it, picking out a fittingly sizable piece of rawhide for the sizable creature, then rested his elbow on the arm of the chair, holding the treat away from himself.
“Well.” Hermann wondered briefly if this insight was on account of the drift or because Meathead had more acute olfactory senses than he realized.
Hermann had never been allowed to have his own pet when he was a child, but he had helped with a few neighborhood dogs. He figured that, as long as Newt’s living, breathing life’s work would be sharing this space, they might as well get along. He had noticed that Newt’s mood was generally elevated and more level than usual with the fledgling kaiju around, and of course, Meathead was a wonder of science. For that, at least, Hermann owed it a modicum of respect.
“I thought I would lend a bit of my own expertise to the situation,” Hermann explained as Newt shifted to sit on his legs. “I understand it isn’t a pet, and I know it has intelligence,” he rolled in his chair closer to Newt and Meathead. “Shall we see what we can teach it?” He still felt out of his depth, but he trusted Newton enough to accompany him.
Newt’s expression brightened.
“Yeah man, sure!!” He slapped his thighs with his palms excitedly. “Whaddya think, lil guy? You ready to give Hermann a hard time? Yeah? Yeah you are!” The wrinkly form climbed itself up into his lap again, squawking with affection.
Hermann had to admit, the creature was not entirely unfortunate looking.
“First, let me see that hand before it gets infected…”
---
Newt cleared a large area in the middle of the lab, the baby kaiju close on his heels as he made sure there was enough room for excitement and error. The two scientists were some fifteen feet apart, Newt on one knee still fawning over his child and Hermann standing as solidly as he could, bracing himself with a tight grip on his cane, ready to get bowled over at any moment.
“Newton, please pay attention… I only have the energy to train one creature today.”
“Yep! Let’s do this!” Newt popped up from the floor and clapped once before rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
“GAUOO!!” Meathead vocalized, surprising both of them and prompting a high-pitched giddy laugh from Newt.
Despite Hermann’s skepticism, and to Newt’s delight, Meathead was even more responsive than either had anticipated. But, not before making good on the enthusiasm to give Hermann a hard time. After twenty minutes of increasingly frustrating effort trying to get the creature to ‘bleibe’ (stay), Hermann handed the reins over to his partner, coaching him on gesture and tone. Newton was surprisingly attentive and receptive to criticism due to the low thrum of adrenaline both of them were feeling. Hermann was even able to sense Newt trying some neural commands in addition to his traditional approach.
An hour later, Newt had the kaiju ‘bleibe’ and ‘sitzen’ (sit) nearly every time he ordered, making sure not to baby the ‘baby’ as per Hermann’s dictation. Neither were surprised at how fast it picked up directions but they were still quite impressed.
“I’ll admit, Newton, I’m proud of you,” Hermann said with a small nod. He was even starting to feel a bit more via the neural bridge as he suspected he would… not just with the kaiju, but with Newton as well. A smile spread across his face as he turned and walked to the couch, sitting down with a satisfied exhale.
Newt gave Meathead a pat on the nose before he strode over. “C’mon Herm, you gotta gimme more credit than that,” he said motioning to the pup as it followed him. “Or, give them more credit…” Newt added, christening their student with a pronoun. He plopped down on the couch next to Hermann with a grin, the cushion bouncing with his weight. He threw an arm behind the other man and gave him a playful scratch on the back of the head.
“Don’t worry Hermann, you’re still my favorite.”
Meathead gently rest their head on Hermann’s lap, tail swishing back and forth, their body wagging with the movement. The look Hermann was able make out on the kaiju’s face mirrored Newt’s dreamy expression as he gazed at both of them.
Surrounded by lovable idiots… Hermann rolled his eyes.