Spilling Guts

Part 90 - Crayons

After being excused from the meeting, Will wandered back to the bed in Med Tech, grabbing a fresh box of tissues from the nurse's station. The part of him that hated being idle wanted to veer off course and grab something to do with his hands from his desk. Mindless patent files, some paper to fold, or a pencil so he could sketch out an organizer for his tea cupboard, but his industrious sliver of self was small and tired, lost under the crowd that demanded rest and a bed.

Louis grumbled in his ear the entire way back. "It's fucking extortion!"

Will toed off his slippers as he eyed an envelope on his pillow. A ridiculous neon green bow taped to it. "The heck?"

"What?" asked Louis.

"A letter?" Will weighed the envelope, thick and heavy, and shook it gently. It didn't feel like it contained a buzzer or confetti. But there were enough gadgets in Watch Two he wouldn't put it past Reese and Beni to do something "creative". He opened it. A get-well-soon card that doubled as a coloring sheet of an alien in a spaceship, with four crayons wrapped in foil. Three vitamin-C packets tapped to the inside. "Huh. Welcome to the sickie club. Recover soon, Nate and Franklin. That's thoughtful."

"Agreed, recover soon," added Louis.

Will put the card on the side table with the tablet and headset. He climbed into the bed and dragged the blanket over his lap. "What would the committee have done if you hadn't agreed to a second host?"

"Same thing Cetz did, chain me to a desk. Paperwork until I caved in to their demands."

Will paused in fluffing his pillow. "Cetz chained both of us to our desks. You haven't stayed there. You wrote a thesis on the Devil's Neckbrace."

"Technically still paperwork," Louis protested. "You have the file, there's paper involved."

"The committee let you have a choice at least." Will rubbed at his running nose, eyeing the coloring card. He needed something to do, why not coloring? Technically paperwork. He started filling in the background with black. "And they took Justin Cowl off the table."

"Hell of a choice. I got to choose between two people. If the hosting agent didn't have to know about me already, I would have picked Megan or Teegan. Teegan actually. The committee wouldn't want Megan since her foot's in a cast. If I wasn't limited to just agents, I would have picked Cetz, or Rachel."

Will frowned. "Why not Beni?"

"Its... really stupid."

"What?"

"I've seen Beni inhale a platter of chili fries like it was a Pringle chip. But she so... petite. She can climb like a monkey, skate faster than any of us can run, and is a damn quick draw, but... she's tiny. Can you imagine her swallowing me?"

"No." Will didn't think the size of one's stomach was relative to one's body size, but he could understand Louis' reasoning. He switched to the blue crayon, filling in the lighter patches of inky space so it would look deeper. "And the only reason I can imagine Reese doing it is because I made him under duress. Though sometimes they deserve duress."

"Are you still pissed at Beni and Reese for the confetti thing?"

"It wasn't the confetti that earned them my wrath." Will's snotty misery abated for a small wave of productive anger, turning the wheels to an appropriate punishment for-

"Is it for calling you Billy?" Louis asked, smirk oiling his words. "Really?"

Will growled, and was glad the foil wrapping around the crayons kept them from snapping in his grip. "They did more than that. Music and cutouts were involved."