Work Text:
“Damn those Apex bastards! They’ve ruined everything !”
Walking into his cousin’s office, Arthur winced at the sound of fists slamming into a desk. He usually didn’t see Catherine in such a state; although, given the current events, he couldn’t blame her for snapping.
He cleared his throat to catch her attention, before asking, “Should I come back later, then?”
Catherine froze, fists still pressed into her desk, and drew her head back to give him a side-glance. He could faintly hear heavy breaths coming from her, before she spoke.
“I’m...fine. Just recovering.”
“Technically, that doesn’t answer my question. Do you need some more time alone?”
She shook her head. “No...I’m available to talk right now.”
Nodding his head, Arthur drew closer. He could see that all her monitors and tv screens were turned on; some played footage from the recent incident while others were simply paused. Papers with furiously scrawled handwriting littered her desk - scattered due to her outburst moments ago.
“It just so happens I came to discuss…” His eyes briefly lingered on the monitors. “To discuss what happened. The damage hasn’t been as bad as the 2019 incident - thank god - but now we’ve-”
“Discovered something game-changing.” Catherine cut in.
Arthur coughed, before continuing. “Yes, the Hollow Earth. Although, I was going to address how we’ve lost a significant amount of trust from the people again. For days, all they knew was that Godzilla was attacking cities for no reason. Even after we reveal the true cause of all this, there’s still going to be people who won’t look at him, or Monarch, the same way again.”
He paused to straighten himself out, keeping himself from getting riled up by his own words. “It’s just as you’ve said. Apex...they’ve ruined-”
A sudden growl interrupted him. “They’ve ruined the relationship.”
Arthur blinked. “Er...yes, I guess you could put it like-”
“Will he even care once she hatches again?!”
“Alright, what the hell are you talking about?” Arthur stepped forward, so he was now directly by his cousin’s side.
She looked up at him, eyes ablaze. “I’m talking about Godzilla! Didn’t you see his fight with Kong? The way they were looking at each other?! God, the homo-eroticism was - pun intended here - titanic! I couldn’t even pick up the same kind of sparks in his fight with Ghidorah - and Ghidorah’s electric!”
Dull, tired eyes clashed with her passionate ones. All Arthur could do was...stare. Stare in utter silence.
“...You could’ve just told me now was a bad time.”
“It isn’t, I swear!” The response came out as a near scream. “I- I’m just…”
Her body slouched with a sigh. “Even I’m beginning to prefer Kongzilla over Mothzilla, and that’s been my OTP for years. It ticks so many spicy boxes, Artie! Enemies to lovers. Angst. Miscommunication. Belligerent sexual tension. Mothzilla has a lot going for it too, but...y’know, sometimes fluff isn’t enough. Sometimes you want pain. Does that make sense, Artie?”
“Artie” was quiet.
“Okay, I feel like I’ve lost you now. What part don’t you understand?”
Blinking, he lightly shook his head. “Hm. Maybe...everything you’ve said since I got here? You do realize you are concerned with the love lives of giant, ancient creatures that most likely care little for your…‘shipping’ shenanigans, is what I’d call it.”
“Shenanigans?” Catherine asked, only to smirk right after. “Not really the insult you might think it is.”
“I meant no offense.”
She waved her hand. “Oh, I know. I’m just messing around with you, Art-”
He glared.
“Dr. Brown. Just jesting.” After an absent-minded nod, she continued on, “Now, what was it you came in here for again? Apparently not Kongzilla.”
“Regretfully, no.” Arthur coughed and straightened himself up again, getting back into his usual, professional air. “There’s just a lot on my mind right now, due to recent events. We lost-...”
He swallowed hard, and rephrased swiftly. “Dr. Serizawa sacrificed much for his vision of human-Titan coexistence. He sacrificed himself for Godzilla, still barely a few years ago. Now all of that might have just been flushed down the drain.
“I just want to know why. Why his very own son - Ren Serizawa - was at the helm of this monstrosity. I’ve yet to come across any answers for that - either we don’t know, or the information is classified and I don’t have the right credentials to even know of its existence.”
Sighing, he finished off with, “Surely...surely Ren had to know the ramifications of what he’d be doing. Surely he’d know the pain it’d bring his father if he were here. Or perhaps that is why he made his choice? I’m not sure yet if we’ll ever know…”
The cousins locked eyes once he was done; Catherine’s softer eyes were glossy and her hands were clasped together.
“Oh, Artie…”
Once again, Arthur cleared his throat. “Apologies. I got...personal there, for a second.”
“No, no, you’re fine, Arthur. I get it. I may not…” Her feet shuffled underneath the desk. “I may not show it as much either, but I’ve been worried for the Serizawa’s, too…”
A silence filled the room as both failed to come up with more to say. For a moment, Arthur considered cutting things off right there. Before he could, though, Catherine brought something up on her largest monitor. It was a still image of Godzilla’s face close-up, taken from the Hong Kong battle.
Arthur furrowed his eyebrow at it. “Are you returning to work, then?”
“No, this is for you. To feel better.”
He turned his head back to her, confusion intensifying. “I...fail to see…”
“He’s smiling.”
Returning his gaze to the close-up to study it again, he had to admit that the mouth of the lizard certainly seemed curled up into a grin. A pointed, toothy, terrifying grin. One could even call it a sneer.
“And if you play the clip this is from…” Catherine continued. “You can hear him laugh. Not too loud, though. More like, under his breath. Easy to miss at first.”
He once again brought his attention back to her, face contorting in questioning disgust. “And why would that make me feel better?”
His cousin only pouted her lips back at him. “It’s been calming me down. I quite enjoy the Goji grins n’ giggles. I hope we can catch more samples in the future. For, uh...for study purposes.”
“I will pass, thank you. For both receiving this clip and capturing any further.”
It was at this moment the phone rang, and Catherine quickly plucked it off the receiver. “Office of Dr. Catherine Watterson, resident Titan relations manager and body language enthusiast, bestest of the two cousins speaking~ How may I help you?”
While Catherine listened to the caller on the other end, Arthur wrinkled his nose.
“Ah, maybe, I’ll have to check!” She peered over at her calendar. “Which night are we talking…?”
…
“Oh, this night? Yeah, I’ll definitely be there, although I’ll have to ask him...Thank you, though!”
As soon as Arthur heard the phone beep, he jumped in, “Is that your official work phone greeting, Dr. Watterson?”
Catherine giggled. “Only when you’re around, Arthur~ But don’t worry, it was just Shawn extending an invite. Bunch of folks are going out for drinks while there’s still room before the work avalanche to breath.”
“And he did this via work phone and not by personal cell?”
“Relax, bossman! It’s basically organized by the company, anyway!”
That didn’t keep him from subtly groaning. He crossed his arms, and briefly closed his eyes tightly in thought.
Once he opened them, he asked, “So, you picked up drinking, Watterson?”
She hummed a negative with a slight shake of her head. “At first I was just planning on getting something non-alcoholic. But then you were quiet, and it gave me some time to think…”
“I’ve never had a doubt you could…”
She blew a quick raspberry, before continuing, “Based on the immediate reports, Madison Russel’s friend dunked the conspiracy guy’s flask on Apex’s MechaGodzilla computer, right? Or something like that?”
Ather gave a nod.
“Well, it’s only fitting then, to have at least a glass in honor of that victory. After all, apparently if alcohol didn’t exist, we’d all be vaporized by robo-beams right now.”
Giving a moment to consider it himself, Arthur found himself agreeing with the logic. “I suppose I can allow myself an exception this time as well. Where should I direct my driver?”
“What? No, Artie, you don’t need to call any rich folk services, I can drive-”
He brought his face in close, speaking in a low tone, “Watterson, if you wish for even an ounce of alcohol to enter your system, you will accept being a passenger.”
Pursing her lips at him, she sighed. “Fiiiine. But I get to pick the music!”
“I’ll accept that deal. I have earbuds, after all.”
He drew back, tapping on his smartwatch to swipe through his contact list and memorizing the address Catherine ended up having to google. It would be a rare sight for Monarch staff to see him in a casual setting. Although, maybe it’d do him and everyone some good to be out of the office.
Ultimately, there’d be a lot in store for them in the near future...