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Maurice popped up into the familiar room that belonged to Brian. The kid was… thirteen or fourteen now? Whatever, it didn’t matter. He turned to the bed, but instead of seeing the usual energetic boy waiting for him, he was met by a pile of blankets thrown on the bed. Maurice frowned and yanked the blankets off the bed as roughly as he could. “Up and at ‘em!”
A loud thunk sounded as Brian fell out of the bed with the blankets. The boy groaned and sat up, rubbing his head. “What do you want..?” He mumbled as he stood up shakily.
“Whadda’ya mean? Come on, let’s go play a game or something! Or bother your brother maybe? If we’re quick between beds I could probably take you to mess with other kids!”
Brian sighed and climbed back into the bed. “Not today,” He said sleepily.
“What? Whadda’ya mean ‘not today’? When else?” Maurice jumped onto the bed.
Brian sighed again and looked at the monster. “Look. I have fever of a hundred and two right now. I am not entertaining you and your pranks for at least a few days.”
Maurice frowned. He knew what a fever was and he also knew that they were a total fun-killer. He looked Brian over. He looked rough, messy hair, flushed face, and glassy eyes with dark circles under them. “Well, then just a few pranks?”
“None, Maurice.” Brian’s voice was firm, despite being so hoarse from the sickness. He managed a weak glare at the monster before he laid down. He groaned irately though as he felt Maurice start to shake the bed. Brain sat up and turned his bedroom light on before laying back down and rolling over onto his stomach to bury his face in his pillow.
Within a minute Brian’s dad came into the room. “You awake, Bud?”
“Yeah…” Was the muffled reply.
“Well, no wonder,” His dad said. “You light’s on. Your mom and I are turning in to bed now, try to get some sleep, alright?” He turned the light off after hearing his son’s muffled reply. He closed the door softly and left the room.
“Please just let me have a night of peace,” Brian pleaded when he heard Maurice’s footsteps get closer again.
“Oh, come on!” Maurice whined. “You always have excuses. You have to study late, you need sleep because of plans the next day, you wanna stay up late talking to your girlfriend on the house phone.” The lack of an immediate denial of Keirsten being Brian’s girlfriend was what proved more than any words, appearance, or fever could, that Brian wasn’t feeling well.
“I’ll let you do whatever with me when I’m better, promise,” Brian tried to bargain.
“Or…” Maurice started, not quite convinced someone could be sick enough to give up fun. “It’s Friday today, we have some fun, then you have Saturday and Sunday to be sick and boring.”
Brian rolled over to glare at Maurice. “If I agree to this will you let me suffer peacefully over the weekend?”
“Most likely.”
Brian sighed and forced himself up. “Fine. But not all night and nothing too crazy.”
Maurice jumped up and pumped his fists into the air. “Alright! You got a deal! We taking our chances and going the monster way or just messin’ with your brother?”
Brian sighed. “You’re sure it’ll be fine if we’re quick down there?”
“Eh, almost sure.” Maurice sighed, lifted up the bed, and pulled Brian under with him. He didn’t even wait a moment before dragging Brian away, ignoring the boy’s protests and cries.
Maurice laughed as he pulled Brian up into the third house. “Alright. Let’s have some fun.”
“I thought we’ve been having fun…” Brian mumbled, his words slurred. Even though Maurice was doing most of the work he could feel it all taking a toll on him.
“Yeah, but you gotta step up now too, Bri. Come on,” Maurice left the room, waving Brian after him.
Brian sighed and sluggishly followed Maurice out. When he found the monster he was in the kitchen going through food and drinks. “Bri, find all the bread products you can and soak them in the sink over there.”
Brian looked in the sink. Maurice had plugged the bottom of it up and filled it with water, not bothering to take out the dirty dishes, resulting in the water to be filled with random bits of food and sauce. Brian forced himself to start searching the cabinets for bread products. He managed to find a loaf and a half of bread and some bagels. He unceremoniously threw them into the sink and sat down at the table, putting his head in his hands. He heard the sounds of Maurice wandering around the house but didn’t pay much attention to it.
“Hey. Hey, wake up.”
Brian groaned. “No…”
“Come on.”
Brian cried out in surprise as Maurice wrapped his arms around the smaller boy and carried him back upstairs, slung upside down over his shoulder. “What are you doing?!”
“You fell asleep, I woke you up. Now, we’re going back to your place.”
Brian sighed in relief. He couldn’t wait to go back home. His condition had worsened overall and he was surprised he had managed to last three houses. Or one house. He should have put his foot down and stayed in bed. Not that it would have stopped Maurice from picking him up and forcefully removing him from the house, but that was a different story.
When they got back to Brian’s room Maurice dropped the boy onto the bed and laughed as Brian scrambled to right himself. “You seemed pretty out of it, Bud. Not that fun.” He clicked his tongue.
Brian sighed. “I told you already, I’m sick.” He grabbed his blankets again and pulled them around himself, curling up under them. “I’m not gonna be fun. Not until I’m better.”
Maurice frowned and poked Brian under the blankets. “I’ll knock some fun into ya!” He laughed at his own joke and poked Brian again.
Brian sighed. “Go away.” He rolled over away from Maurice. He heard footsteps walking to the other side of the bed, presumably to keep bothering him. He groaned. He wanted everything to go away and leave him alone. The sickness, the troubles, Maurice, school, friends, everything.
“Not gonna do that,” The playful tone Maurice had was infuriating.
“Don’t you have to go back under before the sun comes up, anyway?”
“Nah, I took ya home early since you looked so miserable and tired back at the houses. I got a few more hours!” The bed lowered as Maurice sat on it next to Brian.
Brian was surprised. Maurice was always selfish and entertainment-oriented, yet he took Brian home early just because he fell asleep? He had to be missing something. Maurice wouldn’t give up a night of fun just for him. Brian sat up and looked over at the blue monster. “Why did you actually take me back?”
“Whadda’ya mean? I already said, you fell asleep and looked downright miserable, so we came back here.”
“Yeah, but why? How does it benefit you that made you do it?” Brian asked.
Maurice looked hurt. “Bri… is that actually why you think I do things? For my own benefit only? Brian… I took you home because you didn’t look good… none of it had to do with me…” His voice was quiet and didn’t hide how much Brian’s words had hurt his feelings.
“Of course I do,” Brian said simply. “That’s always how you’ve been. Selfish and driven by what’s fun and what benefits you.”
Maurice shrunk into himself slightly, just barely noticeable. “Oh… I see…”
Brian felt a wave of guilt when he noticed the way Maurice’s shoulders drooped and his gaze fell away from Brian. He hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings, he just wanted to speak the truth. He wanted to find out why Maurice had taken him home. “Maurice… I-I didn’t mean… that.”
Maurice looked back at Brian. “Yeah, you did, Bud. And it’s fine!” Maurice tried to force his cheeky, playful look back onto his face. “It’s true ya know… I am selfish.” At the last part, Maurice’s poor attempt at indifference fell completely. “I am…”
Brian watched as Maurice got off of the bed and sat on the floor, his back against the side of the mattress, facing away from him. “No… I really didn’t mean it,” Brian said. “I’m sorry, I was just upset and tired. I’m sorry, Maurice.”
“It’s fine. I’ll admit it in a heartbeat. I can be selfish. I’m selfish more than I’m not, to be honest,” Maurice gave a forced, dry chuckle. “But… I was really trying to not be this time.”
“I can see that now… But I just…” Brian trailed off, unsure where to go next.
The two sat in awkward silence for a bit until Maurice spoke up again. “You’re my only friend, Bri.”
That got Brian’s attention, Maurice had said something like this before, but it was just a comment made in passing after Brian’s parents said they would be separating. Brian looked over at Maurice. The monster hadn’t moved.
“I’ve never befriended a human before. I scare ‘em, mess with ‘em, blame ‘em for things I do… but never befriend them. Until you came along,” Maurice turned to look at Brian. “I mean, sure I have the other monsters, but they’re just as bad as me, arguably worse. You’re my only actual friend. I just wanted to make sure you were okay…”
Brian felt even guiltier than before. “I didn’t know you were so lonely…”
“Eh, it’s not really lonely. I enjoy being alone sometimes. I don’t think I could bring myself to befriend someone else. It’s hard and I don’t really know how. Besides, other people tend to be loud… I don’t really like that, ya know?” Maurice gave Brian a smile before sighing and continuing more seriously. “Anyway, what I’m tryna’ say is, you’re my best and only friend, Bri… I do care about you. I know I can be selfish, and I’m sorry. Alright?”
Brian nodded. “Alright… I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t have said that. I know that you care. And you’re not always selfish,” He cracked a teasing grin. “Only most of the time.”
Maurice laughed and got up again. “Buddies?” He asked, holding out his fist.
“Buddies,” Brian agreed, giving the monster a fist bump.
Maurice laughed, for real this time, as he jumped back. He came back over and messed up Brian’s hair with his hand. “So! I’ma stay here ‘til ya fall asleep. Then, I’m out.”
Brian nodded. “I doubt you’ll be here too long.” He could already feel himself starting to need to fight to keep his eyes open.
“That just means I won’t get bored!” Maurice walked across the room before throwing a box at Brian. “Show me what to do.”
Brian picked up the box. Some playing cards he had. A small smile tugged at his lips. He had once tried to show Maurice how to play a few different card games, but the monster had shown no interest whatsoever. “Come sit, then I can.”
Brian sighed. “This… was not how everything was supposed to go…” He looked around his room. Maurice had taken to eating—or at least biting pieces off of—several of the cards, and the remaining cards were thrown across Brian’s floor and bed. “I have no clue who won, and nearly half of my cards are either eaten completely or chewed on!” Brian held up an ace of spades that was missing nearly the complete top half and waved it in front of Maurice’s face. “You ate my cards!”
Maurice made a dismissive gesture. “They don’t taste half bad.”
“You’re not supposed to eat them, Mau-” Brian got cut off when he was overcome with a harsh coughing fit.
Maurice jumped in surprise when Brian started coughing. He glanced around the room, unsure of what to do. Eventually, he moved closer to the boy and gently patted his shoulder with an unsure laugh. “I’m not really sure what to do right now…” He said awkwardly to Brian.
Brian stopped coughing and sat back up. He looked up at Maurice. The monster looked completely unsure of what he had been doing. “You were fine,” Brian tried to reassure him.
Maurice spread his arms a bit. “I want confirmation that I don’t have to be the one who comforts people when they’re sick or upset,” He said after a moment.
Brian laughed. “That’s fair.” He didn’t mention that it was probably a good idea since Maurice was both a monster and bad at comforting people. He wasn’t up for upsetting him twice in one day. Brian flopped back onto the bed and rolled onto his side.
Maurice watched him for a moment. “You goin’ to bed already?”
“I’m tired and it’s close to two in the morning now,” Brian said. “Let me sleep…”
Maurice nodded. “But I’m staying until you do.” He sat cross-egged on the edge of the bed again, watching Brian carefully.
Brian sighed and bit his tongue to keep from snapping at Maurice to leave him alone. Instead, he closed his eyes, knowing he wouldn’t be able to get any sleep while he was being watched. That turned out to be proven wrong quickly though, as he fell asleep within minutes.
When Brian woke up the next morning he immediately realized how much of a toll the previous day had taken on him. He groaned out loud and rolled onto his stomach, burying his face in his pillow. His headache had worsened by double at the least and his stomach was a churning mess.
“Brian?” His mom called as she came into the room.
Brian rolled over and looked at her. “Hi, Mom.”
“Not feeling any better?” She asked as she came over and put a hand on his forehead. “Hm… obviously not. Do you want anything to eat or drink?”
Brian shook his head. “Just keep the lights off, they hurt my eyes.” Lights. As soon as his mom left, Brian looked around the room hurriedly. The cards were all picked up and the box was back on his bookshelf. Did Maurice do that? He wondered to himself. He shrugged and laid back down.
The rest of the day was a blur. When Brian was awake he was curled up miserably and taking different medicine (Which didn’t taste like cherry at all) or downing cough drops like candy. Other than those times, he was asleep the whole day.
Eventually Brian woke up again. He rolled off of his stomach and onto his side. The clock said nine-thirty at night. His parents were probably in bed already and watching something on the television. He sighed and sat up so he could go get some medicine. He blinked in surprise when he was met with Maurice sitting at the foot of his bed. “Hi… Maurice. How uh… long have you been there?”
“An hour and a half give or take.”
“Just watching me sleep?”
Maurice nodded.
“And you see no problem with that..?” Brian asked, slightly disbelieving.
“Nope! I figured ya wouldn’t wanna be woken up.”
“At least you had a reason for it…” Brian got up out of the bed shakily.
Maurice jumped up with him. “Woah! Where ya goin’ there, Bud?”
“Downstairs to get some medicine,” Brian said, casting a look around the room to check for anything that might be obviously broken or stolen.
“I can get it, you stay here.”
Brian bit his lip. “I don’t think that’s a good idea… Not that I don’t trust you! But medicine is a very specific thing and you’re uh… How do I word this? Not very careful?” Brian gave Maurice a sheepish grin. That shouldn’t be something that would hurt his feelings.
Maurice tilted his head consideringly. “Yeah, I’ll give ya that. But it’ll be fine.”
Brian sighed. “How about I go and you can come with me if you’d like.”
“Works for me!” Maurice smiled at Brian and started downstairs.
“Hey, I said follow me!” Brian called. He sighed and followed the monster downstairs. When he got there Maurice was already digging through the cabinets. “Maurice, move.” Brian opened an overhead cupboard and reached up for the cold and flu medicine. His fingers brushed the side of the bottle but he couldn’t quite reach it and he felt too sick to risk climbing up on the counter. Just when he was about to go get one of his parents, Maurice reached up and grabbed it, handing it down to Brian. “Here.”
Brian took the medicine with a mumbled thanks and put it on the counter to measure some out. He looked at it carefully. “Does that look like it’s filled to the thirty line?” He asked.
Maurice crouched down so he was eye-level with the medicine cup. He picked it back up and poured a few drops back into the bottle before rechecking it. “Now it is.”
“It was literally just a few drops…” Brian said as he took the medicine cup and downed it. He washed it out in the sink and put the medicine back in the cabinet, paying very little attention to Maurice’s explanation about why he made it exact. I think he’s explaining it at least… Brian thought to himself, unsure of what the monster was talking about. He closed the cabinet and walked over to the couch. He picked up the remote and turned on the television, setting the volume on low. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Maurice sat next to him, snacking on an apple he had stolen from the bowl on the counter. “What show is this?”
Brian shrugged. “Don’t know. I just put something on.” His words getting quiet and slurred again.
Maurice noticed immediately. “Sounding a bit tired there.” His tone was a mix of teasing and actually caring. Brian would never get used to the fact that Maurice was capable of being gentle and caring. It didn’t seem right.
Maurice took the remote from Brian and checked what was on. “Sounds boring, sounds boring, sounds boring, seen it, seen it, sounds boring, sounds boring, seen it, sounds boring, seen it, seen it, seen it, started it but got bored,” Maurice continued to rattle off his opinions based off of the titles and whether he had seen it or not.
Brian wasn’t feeling well enough to even get annoyed at Maurice’s antics. He just watched as Maurice flipped through the channels, giving short comments or opinions on each. After a while, Maurice’s voice started to sound faint and Brian blinked a few times and shook his head, jerking himself back to the present. “Found something yet?” He asked tiredly.
“Nope, not yet,” Maurice said before continuing his rambling.
“You’d be a good auctioneer,” Brian said quietly.
Maurice stopped talking. “What?” He asked. Brian was too quiet when he was sick, it was hard to understand him.
“Good auctioneer… You talk really quickly,” Brian explained. “Like an auctioneer.”
“I don’t talk that fast,” Maurice objected.
“Yes you do,” Brian insisted. “You’re usually talking my ear off a mile a minute.”
“Okay… that might have a bit of truth to it… But ya can’t blame me completely, I just like to talk when I find someone I like.” Maurice put his hands up defensively.
“You haven’t stopped talking since we met,” Brian pointed out/
“Maybe I’ve liked ya since we met,” Maurice countered.
“You sound gay,” Brian said.
Maurice choked on his apple, laughing. “I what?”
“You sound gay.”
Maurice started laughing again.
Brian watched as the monster laughed, unable to figure out the reason behind Maurice’s amusement. Was he gay? Could monsters be gay? What was so funny? Brian watched as Maurice continued laughing for a bit more before he messed Brian’s hair up with his hand. “What’s so funny?”
“You are, Bud” Maurice said. After hearing that, he realized just how tired and out of it Brian must be to say something like that so randomly and out of the blue. But that didn’t change the fact that it was funny.
“Are you gay?” Brian asked, not surprised when Maurice broke down laughing again.
“Who knows, maybe I am, maybe I’m not,” Maurice said dismissively.
“That’s not an answer,” Brian said as he leaned against Maurice’s side, tired and worn out from his sickness. The cool leather of the monster’s vest was nice against his cheek.
Maurice chuckled. “And you said I seem gay.” Despite his teasing he put his hand on Brian’s shoulder. The sick boy seemed relaxed in this position, and Maurice wasn’t about to mess up one of the only forms of comfort he could provide.
Brian shrugged and played with one of the zippers on Maurice’s vest. “You’re wearing your vest again…”
“It’s a new one. I’ve had it for a few days now. Haven’t you noticed?” Maurice asked.
Brian shrugged again and kept toying with the zipper, otherwise not moving from his position.
“I can’t stay here forever, ya know,” Maurice said when Brian didn’t move. “I gotta leave when the sun comes up.”
“It’s only ten… You have eight hours or so,” Brian said after glancing at the clock.
“Ya want me to stay here the whole time?” Maurice asked, slightly surprised. He knew that he and Brian had made up since Brian’s comment the previous day, but he didn’t expect to be wanted the whole night again yet.
Brian nodded. “If that’s okay with you.”
Maurice smiled. “Sure!” He picked the remote for the television back up and chose a rerun of a sitcom episode that had recently aired. He took another bite of his apple and watched the show attentively with Brian.
Brian tried to pay attention to the show but as the episode went on he felt himself getting more and more tired. He vaguely registered the way Maurice would laugh at some of the jokes. He sounded quieter, but Brian couldn’t tell if it was because he was tired or if Maurice was making an effort to not disturb him. Either way, it was a nice break from how loud the monster usually was. He managed to make it almost completely through the episode before his eyes slid closed and he fell asleep against Maurice’s side.
Halfway through the second episode that was playing Maurice cast a glance down at Brian, the boy hadn’t moved in a while. Maurice blinked before a small smile found its way onto his lips. “Ya were more tired than you were lettin’ on then, huh, Bud?” Maurice picked Brian up gently—but awkwardly—and carried him upstairs back to his room. He struggled to open the door without jostling the boy. “Wow, you’re heavier than you used to be, Bri,” Maurice said quietly to no one. He managed to open the door and get into the room after a minute. He gently put Brian onto the bed and clapped his hands and rubbed them together as if he were dusting something off of them. “It’s roughly ten-thirty, ten forty-five, and Brian is sleeping like the dead.”
Maurice sighed as he went back downstairs to turn television off. This would be a long, boring night.
Brian wasn’t sure what time it was when he woke up or how he got back into his bed, but he immediately sat up and swore under his breath. He got out of bed and half-walked, half-sprinted into the bathroom before crouching in front of the toilet and heaving roughly before throwing up the small amount of medicine and food he had eaten today. He gagged twice more before more bile and vomit came up. He rested his arm on the side of the toilet and put his head down on it, shaking and trying not to cry. He closed his eyes to try and block out everything happening around him and forget the nausea he felt. I should probably get my parents and tell them, Brian thought to himself.
Footsteps entered the bathroom, but Brian didn’t have the strength to open his eyes and look at whoever entered. They were too heavy to be his mom’s steps, but too light to be his dad’s. Eric maybe?
“Ya don’t look too swell there, Bri.”
Oh. It was Maurice. He hadn’t left yet. That was nice to know. Brian heard the sink running for a moment before a small dixie cup was pressed to his lips. “Drink,” Maurice said.
Brian gave the smallest shake of his head. “Not for ten minutes… then… ice cube…”
Maurice sighed. “Gotta complicate things, huh?” He gently rubbed Brian’s shoulder and put the cup on the counter. He bit his lip and tried to remember what else he could do. He grabbed the cup again and poured the water in it onto Brian’s neck. The boy jumped initially but then relaxed again.
“Wet rag… cold… on neck…” Brian instructed with his eyes closed, slurring his words.
Maurice nodded and jumped back up from where he was sitting. He grabbed the rag that was hanging up to dry your hands with and ran it under the cold water. He paused, wondering whether he should wring it out or not. He paused before snapping it once and then setting it on Brian’s neck. “That good?”
“That’s good… Thanks…” Brian hoped he wasn’t talking too quietly for Maurice to hear.
“No problem, Bri.” Maurice kneeled down next to Brian and waited until he was given more instructions. He waited patiently for a few moments before he started to get bored and fidget. He tapped his fingers on the sink next to him and bobbed his head to a song in his mind.
“Maurice… please stop tapping…” Brian said, still not opening his eyes.
“Got it!” Maurice moved his hand back. Within a minute he had started to tap again without noticing.
“Maurice…”
“Right. Stop that,” Maurice sighed. “But it’s hard to sit still,” He complained. The only time Maurice remembered sitting completely still was when he was watching television with Brian the other day, and even then he was snacking on an apple and had the television to watch.
“You don’t wanna sit still? Okay, go downstairs and bring me some of ice,” Brian instructed.
“Just ice?”
“Just ice.”
Maurice shrugged and got up. He went downstairs and grabbed some ice from the fridge. He brought it back up to Brian and put it in the boy’s hand. “Ice.”
Brian opened his eyes. “I meant in a cup or something…” He said, looking at the stray pieces of ice in his hand.
“Well, ya shoulda specified if ya wanted that,” Maurice defended. “You said to get you just ice, so I brought you just ice.”
Brian sighed. “Sometimes I question whether I should sign you up for an autism test, but then I remember it doesn’t matter because you’re a monster.”
Maurice scoffed. “I’m not autistic. Have you seen how social and talkative I can be?” He gestured to himself.
“I know someone who’s autistic and very talkative and social. Sometimes too much so. And I’ve also heard you when you go on rants about what you like.” Brian picked his eyes up and put one of the ice cubes in his mouth before putting the rest in the previously forgotten cup of water.
“I’ll give ya ADHD, but not Autism,” Maurice said, recalling a time that Brian said he probably also had ADHD. “Compromise.”
“There is no compromise here… You’re definitely AuDHD. It’s so obvious it’s nearly painful.”
“No, Bri, I’m Maurice.”
Brian sighed. “Not your name-”
“I know,” Maurice interrupted. “It’s a joke.” He rolled his eyes.
Brian sighed again. He wasn’t feeling up to dealing with this right now. He slowly and carefully got up, taking care not to send himself into another round of vomiting. “Maurice, listen very carefully to these next instructions.”
Maurice nodded.
“Go downstairs. Go into the top cabinet to the direct left of the fridge. There’s bowls. Bring one to my room in case I get sick again.” Brian spoke slowly and clearly, as if he was dealing with a five-year-old. Maurice acts like a five-year-old sometimes. It’s like he’s nineteen going on five.
Maurice nodded again and left the room, going downstairs.
Brian listened to the monster’s receding steps for a moment before going back to his room and getting back into bed. He didn’t lay down in fear of upsetting his stomach again, instead he sat up and brought the blankets to his shoulders. He would tell his parents tomorrow that he had thrown up. He didn’t feel like waking them up. Besides, he had Maurice. Brian gave an amused huff. “I’m not sure if that’s terrifying or comforting.”
“What?” Maurice asked as he came into the room and set a bowl on the floor next to the bed.
“Nothing,” Brian said dismissively.
Maurice frowned. “What is it?” He asked again. “What is it, what is it, what-”
Brian put a finger on Maurice’s mouth and made a ‘sush’ sound. “You’ll wake my parents.”
Maurice nodded and stopped talking. He went back over to Brian’s dresser and brought the box of playing cards over again, getting into his usual cross-legged position on the edge of the bed. He tossed the box in Brian’s lap, what he wanted clear.
Brian sighed. “You ate half of the cards, Maurice, how are we supposed to play like that?”
“I brought back like… twelve more cards that were scattered around the monster realm.”
“Twelve cards isn’t enough…”
“Whatever! It’s fine, let’s play!” Maurice took the box and dumped the cards over the bed. He quickly dealt the cards out, not bothering to keep them neat and organized in any way. “There! Cards! Let’s play already, I’m bored.”
Brian sighed. Maurice had been coming around here instead of having his usual fun out scaring children. “Sure, let’s play.”
Maurice cheered quietly and grinned. He pumped one fist in the air and used the other hand to pick up the cards.
Brian picked up his own cards and started to play a game of war with Maurice, choosing to ignore the half-eaten cards and play as normal.
Brian woke up the next day feeling slightly better than the previous day. He still didn’t feel ‘good’, but he was feeling better, which was certainly a step in the right direction. His cards were once more put away and on the dresser, once more courtesy of Maurice. Brian carefully got out of the bed and put a hand on the nightstand to steady himself before pulling on Maurice’s old vest and heading downstairs. He rubbed his eyes as he walked downstairs and into the kitchen. He was met with a nightmare of a sight.
Cabinets were left open, bowls and plates thrown were everywhere, all over the counter and knocked over in all the cabinets. Another two were shattered on the floor. A few cups were strewn around the kitchen and a glass seasoning bottle was broken and the seasoning was scattered across the floor. “I’m going to guess this was also courtesy of Maurice.” Brian sighed and started to clean up the kitchen, glad he was feeling better today than yesterday.
After about half an hour Brian had gotten it all cleaned up just as his parents were coming downstairs. A bit of luck he was beyond thankful for. When his parents came down they took one look at their son and noticed that he looked slightly better. “Brian, you’re downstairs! Are you feeling any better?” His mom, Holly came over and put her hand on his forehead. “Your fever’s definitely gone down.”
Brian smiled at his mom. “Yeah, I’m feeling better too. I still have a headache and chills… but otherwise I feel better!” He chose not to mention that he had thrown up earlier, not wanting to worry his parents all over again.
His mom smiled. “That’s great, Brian. But you should still take it easy today.”
Brian nodded, thankful for the day of doing nothing, but also wishing he could go out and have an enjoyable, engaging day. Being in the process of recovering from a sickness was always a curse and a blessing. “Can I go put something on the television?”
“Go ahead, I’ll make you breakfast,” His mom told him as she put her hand on his head.
Brian forced a smiled to hide his discomfort. The only person who he liked touching the top of his head was Maurice when he wanted to mess up his hair. And he wasn’t even a person, he was a monster. He walked over to the couch and sat down with his knees to his chest, grabbing the remote and putting something on. He was met with a gruesome image from a horror movie. “Goodness! Who put that on?” Holly cried.
Brian shrugged and immediately switched it off of the channel and onto something else. He went back to the sitcoms that had all been skipped over before and put on one of the shows he had been seen before. It was an all-day special of the show and its reruns. He let the show play, listening to his parents’ small-talk in the background. Eventually his brother Eric came and sat down next to him. “Oh! I like this show!” Eric said happily as he sat down.
“We can watch it then, just don’t blame me if you get sick.”
“I won’t,” Eric said as he moved closer to Brian’s side. He sat against his side in a brotherly fashion and the two watched the show sitting side-by-side together.
“Hey, Brian,” Holly cried to her children after a few episodes of the show. “where did you get the vest that you’ve been wearing for the past few years? It just appeared one day and you’ve worn it nearly daily.”
Brian looked down at the vest Maurice had given him. “Oh. A uh… a classmate gave it to me.”
“Oh, really?” Holly asked, excited, “Who’s your new friend? Is it one of the three that you usually hang out with?”
“Uh, no, none of them,” Brian said, trying to come up with a cover story.
“It was the older brother of a transfer student,” Eric cut in. “I was in class with the younger sister and Brian got to know the older brother, who gave him the vest. The younger one was named… Reena. And the older one was named…”
“Morris. His name was Morris,” Brian said. “We had an argument before he left though, so he gave me the vest before he left as an apology gift.”
Brian’s parents looked content and dropped the subject.
Not to self, Brian noted mentally. Write down the cover story for Maurice and the monster world sometime and show it to Eric so we can tell the same story when we have to give an answer. He turned back to the show and kept watching with his brother, barely registering his parents eventually coming and sitting down to watch with them around noon.
When night rolled around Brian was the first to get up. “I’m tired, so I’m gonna head to bed early, if that’s alright.”
“Of course it is, Sweetie,” Holly said as she got up and placed a kiss to Brian’s forehead.
Brian gave her a smile and grabbed the plates from lunch and the boxes from the takeout they had ordered for dinner. He threw the boxes in the recycling pile and the plates in the sink. He headed up to bed afterwards, waving over his shoulder and calling out a ‘goodnight’ to his family.
He immediately flopped face first onto the bed, ignoring the way the pins on the vest dug into his chest. “Maybe I should ask Maurice… if he-” He was interrupted by a yawn. “Wants the… pins… back…” Seconds after he finished speaking, Brian was out cold, not even completely in the bed.
Brian woke up slowly, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He glanced his room and his attention was drawn to a familiar shadow in his room. Maurice, cross-legged on the floor playing war with himself, going back and forth between each side. “Ace of hearts wins. Seven of spades win. Queen of diamonds wins.”
Brian listened as he announced the winner of each round. “Maurice..?” He called out, his voice heavy with sleep.
Maurice turned around. “Hey there, Bud! Didn’t know ya woke up!” He walked over to Brian and messed his hair up before sitting down next to him. “Feelin’ any better?”
“Yeah, still tired though.” As if to prove his point, a yawn interrupted Brian’s sentence.
“Hey now, don’t go doin’ that, you’re gonna tire me out,” Maurice warned, poking Brian’s chest.
“Oh yeah, meant to ask you. Do you want these pins back?” Brian gestured to the vest.
“Nah, I can collect ‘em all again.” Maurice made a dismissive hand gesture.
Brian’s jaw dropped. “You found all of these yourself?” He asked in surprise. He knew that Maurice had probably just stolen them from people because they were shiny and interesting, but that was still a lot of pins.
Maurice laughed. “You’re darn right I did! It took a while, but I want you to have ‘em now. Like I said, I’ll get more. Two for one deal!” Maurice got up close to Brian, his head right next to the boys, horn pressing into Brian’s temple. “Vest and the pins in exchange for giving me a bit of fun!” Maurice laughed at his own joke and backed up from Brian, going back to where he was originally sitting.
Brian smiled and forced a laugh at Maurice’s joke, hoping it didn’t sound forced. He moved out from under the blanket and walked over to his closet, digging through it.
Maurice was beside him in seconds, crouched down next to the boy. “What’re we lookin’ for?”
Brian shoved a balled-up blanket into Maurice’s hands. “Hold this.” He went back to digging through the things thrown in the closet without even waiting for a reply from Maurice. Brian frowned. “Where is it..?”
“Where’s what?” Maurice asked again, getting impatient now.
“You’ll see, just give me a minute…” Brian threw a few different blankets and light jackets across the room, some hitting Maurice as they flew through the air. When Brian found what he was looking for he turned around and Found Maurice waiting next to him, still holding the blanket. He had a hoodie hanging from his horn with a mix of amusement, impatience, and irritation on his face. “Found it?” He asked.
Brian nodded and walked over to the bed with a box, gesturing for Maurice to follow him. He sat down on the bed in front of Maurice and set the box he had found in between them. He opened it up and showed it to Maurice. “This is my pin collection.”
Maurice’s eyes lit up as they caught the shiny pins in the small box. He didn’t wait for permission before reaching out and grabbing the box, taking out the different pins and examining each. Eventually he found a pin of a black baseball bat that had blue flames at the tip.
Brian nearly laughed out loud when he saw Maurice’s eyes widen upon the discovery of the new pin. “You like that one?”
“Yep. I think I’ma take it for myself when ya fall asleep.” Maurice set the pin back in the box.
Brian laughed and grabbed the pin. “You can have it, I forgot I had it until you found it.” He reached out and pinned it on Maurice’s vest by the top just below the shoulder strap.
Maurice smiled. “First of the collection!”
Brian gestured to the box. “You can take any of them. There’s no more room for any pins on the vest you gave me so… go crazy.” Brian regretted his word choice immediately, but watched anyway as Maurice took the box back and laid out all the pins to look at. Eventually he started struggling to keep his eyes open and fell asleep against his headboard, leaving Maurice to go through the pins alone.
Brian woke up from his nap a few hours later when the sunlight started to stream through the windows and into his eyes. Sunlight… Brian jolted up from the leaning position he had fallen into after he fell asleep. Maurice! Brian put his head in his hands. He had fallen asleep and left Maurice alone. That was both rude and dangerous. He saw his box of pins on the side of the bed next to him. Brian opened it, expecting to see nothing left in it. Instead, it appeared nearly the same as when he had first found it, if he hadn’t seen Maurice going through the pins he would have assumed no one had touched it. He dug through it a bit and confirmed that the baseball pin he had given Maurice was gone.
“I can’t remember the rest well enough to know what else he could have taken…” Brian mumbled to himself as he closed the box and set it on his nightstand. He laid back down, not wanting to get out of the bed. It was warm under his blankets.
But all good things come to an end as his dad came into his room an hour or so later. “Brian, hey, wake up.”
“I’m already awake.”
“Then get out of bed.” Without another word to his son, Glen left the room.
Brian sighed and rolled over, forcing himself out of bed. He went over to his dresser and pulled on some black jeans, a shirt for a metal band he didn’t even listen to, and then pulled Maurice’s vest over it. He ran a hand through his hair and headed downstairs to the kitchen.
“Good morning, Brian!” Eric called from the table where he was begin served pancakes by their mom.
“Hey there.” Brian sat down next to his brother and waited to be served his own breakfast. He nodded his thanks when his mom put the food on his plate.
“Feeling better today?” Holly asked.
“Yeah, actually,” Brian said, realizing for the first time that he wasn’t feeling nearly as bad as he had been recently. “I feel… good today.” He gave his family a smile.
Eric cheered. “Yay! That’s good!” He hugged Brian from the side then dug into his breakfast after a quick prayer.
Brian smiled and started on his own food. He was excited to get to go out with Maurice again. The monster would be ecstatic about it, finally getting to go out and have some more fun and make more families upset.
That night Brian was already awake and waiting for Maurice when the monster appeared. “Maurice!”
Maurice came out from under the bed and spread his arms. “Hey there, Bud!” He still had on the pin that Brian had given him, but he didn’t have any others on the vest.
“You didn’t like any of the other pins?” Brian asked.
“I took a few others, but I don’t wanna put ‘em on the vest. I’ma keep this one on it by itself since it’s special.” Maurice spread his hands.
“What makes that one special?” Brian asked.
“Ya gave it to me! I mean technically the others were from you as well, but this one is different.” Maurice messed up Brian’s hair for a moment. “Feelin’ better yet?”
Brian nodded. “I feel fine today!”
Brian expected Maurice to get excited and drag him away to cause trouble, or maybe jump on him in an attempt to mess around or do something else of the sort. But instead, he got a tired smile from the monster, lacking most of its usual energy. “That’s great, Bud. But uh…” Maurice slapped his hands on his thighs before clapping them together and sighing. “Think we could maybe take it easy for a few more days?”
Brian’s jaw nearly dropped. “Aren’t you the one who always wants to drag me around and go crazy?”
Maurice nodded but shrugged. “Yeah… But I’m just a bit worn out today, ya’know?”
“You? Worn out?” Brian asked disbelieving.
Maurice spread his hands.
Brian was still trying to process how this could be possible when Maurice started coughing. He was jerked out of his thoughts and watched the monster. “You alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. You dust this place, Bri?” He asked as a halfhearted joke before coughing again and wincing in pain a bit.
Suddenly something clicked into place. “Maurice, did you catch the virus I had?”
Maurice scoffed and waved a hand. “No way! I don’t get sick, Bri.” He gave Brian a weak smile.
“Yeah you do, you’re sick, Maurice! Admit it!” Brian pressed.
Maurice growled. “Fine! Maybe I’m a bit under the weather, but it’s fine! Nothin’ that’ll stop me.”
Brian laughed. “But it’ll make you take it easy?” He teased
Maurice glared at him and started to say something back before he got cut off by another coughing fit.
Brian sighed. “Sorry, Maurice. Guess it’s my fault.”
Maurice shook his head. “Ah, it’s fine. I’ll be over it quickly, don’t worry.” He put his hand on Brian’s head again and messed up his hair.
Brian gave Maurice a small smile. “Well… wanna play a game of war then?”
Maurice grinned at Brian. “Thought you’d never ask.” He climbed onto the bed cross-legged as Brian grabbed the cards and brought them over to the bed.
“You’re free to come by still, you can just hang out here,” Brian said as he dealt the cards.
“Oh, I’ll be around,” Maurice promised. “Like I said, this little bug ain’t gonna slow me down.”
Brian laughed and put down his first card, knowing that Maurice would be taken aback by how crappy being sick could be. He’ll be fine, Brian thought to himself. He’s dealt with much worse than a cold before. He placed his next card when a thought occurred to him. If I have to be the one who deals with him when he comes around… Please tell me he’s not the dramatic type when he’s sick…