MM: Why the Jonny Gossamer books skip the long-term aftermath. (Hint: it's boring.)

[invented_dice]

Guess what?

Even the infirmary in Milliways is boring when you're not quite up to leaving the room on your own power yet.

(Actually, Harry kinda thinks he is. He's just not in any shape to deal with the kinds of things that can go on in Milliways. It can get a little rockier than, say, your average hospital cafeteria.)

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[finaldiscussion]

Knock, knock.

[invented_dice]

Oh, god, please let that be someone interesting - yes! Harry brightens.

"Hey," he says. "Come on in."

Harry looks . . . like a hospital patient on the mend, pretty much. Not well enough to be out on his own, but a thousand percent better than he looked when he came in. His left arm is in a sling, cradled close to his chest to minimize movement while something that is making a subtle mechanical hum works away on repairing the bone and tissue in his shoulder.

[finaldiscussion]

"I am here to alleviate your boredom."

He saunters in, leaving the door half-open just as it was when he arrived, and pulls up a chair beside Harry's hospital bed.

"You're looking much healthier than the last time I saw you," he remarks.

[invented_dice]

"Doc says healthy enough to be bored is a good sign."

Harry doesn't look convinced.

"I'm just trying to remember that it beats being shot at." Or doing the shooting.

[noshitgreg]

Knock, knock.

[invented_dice]

. . .

"No."

Seriously?

"No. You. Out."

He's not that desperate for entertainment.

(And what if Perry stops by?)

[noshitgreg]

He expected a poor welcome, but not that poor. It stops him in his tracks for a moment.

"I-"

Nope. Still speechless.

[invented_dice]

Amazing how being shot and stuck in the infirmary does absolutely nothing for Harry's social skills.

He just stares at Holmes. Waiting.

[inhandcuffs]

About half an hour after Stark leaves, he appears in the doorway again. Holmes is nowhere to be found.

"Hi. Sorry. I know it's none of my business, but if I don't tell him when he's being an asshole, he'll never learn."

[invented_dice]

Harry hasn't been left to entertain himself entirely on his own, of course - he has a stack of magazines from various eras/countries/planets, some of which are even interesting. He was pretty much okay after that last explosion of humiliating awkwardness with being left alone with them for the rest of his life the afternoon.

And he hadn't expected Tony to come back, not really. So he's kind of surprised and not one hundred percent thrilled as he looks up from an article entitled "Top Five Towns Engulfed By Mysterious Sinkholes."

"- Hi. Uh, no, that's fine, these things - happen. You know, I hear that you gotta rub their noses in it right away before they forget or they won't know why you're doing it, so."

[inhandcuffs]

He grins. "Yeah, exactly. So whatever. You want me to grab you a beer or something, or would it interfere with the-" he waves vaguely at Harry's shoulder "-autosurgeon?"

This is his signal that he is completely willing to never talk about it again. Sometimes not being subtle is a good thing.

[invented_dice]

Harry relaxes, flipping his magazine shut. The number one mysterious sinkhole engulfment will have to wait.

(We bet you can guess.)

"A beer sounds great," he says. They never said no beer.

Possibly because they under(over?)estimated his potential guests.