PS!: This takes place in an alternate universe in which House dies.
This takes place, well obviously, after that.
Enjoy! :D
Kutner thumbs the black Expo marker and taps it softly against the wooden table. No one in the office pays any attention to him. They're all deeply engaged in their word searches, magazines, or mindless staring at the wall, but he's pretty sure he knows what they're all thinking.
What the hell are we all doing here?
There is no House, there is no case- sure there's Foreman, but he isn't doing much right now either. Staring mindless at your dead boss's chair and tennis balls is hardly accounting for doing anything really, and he wasn't even sitting! And he's not making them do anything at the moment either, so what kind of new boss is he? Is it always going to be this way? 'It wouldn't be too bad,' Kutner thought, 'only then I would need to start bringing things to do to work.' Thirteen and Taub were smart to bring things with them on their first day back since the incident. Thirteen chews on her pencil while contemplating a word for something; Taub thumbs through a Money magazine, which he's almost finished with, but he has an entire stack to go through so he'll be busy for a while.
Still playing with the marker, an idea comes to mind. He stands up and walks over to the white board and begins drawing dashes. Taub and Thirteen look up from the squeaking; Foreman's head doesn't turn until she asks the raven-haired doctor what he's doing.
"Let's play a game." He steps away from the board to reveal a hangman set up. "There are four words, twelve dashes total. Who wants to start?"
Thirteen's the first to join in, "A?" Kutner adds the letter into the second dash of the first word and the third word, which is a single dash.
"Are you serious?" bemuses Taub.
"I?" She guesses again, Kutner smiles.
"You're on a roll!" He writes the letter in the first dash of the second word.
"This is childish and insensitive. Why would you choose to play hangman at a time like this?"
"Right now you're losing, Taub." He smirks.
"It is kind of awkward timing." agrees Foreman and he finally sits at the round table with the other fellows.
"It's only awkward if you make it awkward." Kutner points to him, "Any letters?"
The neurologist gives in, "O?"
"Always start with the vowels, it's a good strategy." Kutner compliments and scrawls it on the second dash of the last letter.
Taub shakes his head and turns back to his magazine. He's not going to participate in anything of the sort, their boss just died and it doesn't seem appropriate. 'If Kutner wants to act immature, then so be it. I'm not going to be dragged into it.' Then the ex-plastic surgeon considers that perhaps it's the young doctor's way of coping. After his parents died he ate a box of Lucky Charms, so reverting back to the child inside could be his defense mechanism? He looks up from his reading when he hears Foreteen laughing.
Kutner ends the sentence with an exclamation mark and proudly clicks the cap back on the marker.
T A U B
I S
A
L O S E R !
"Very funny," he sneers at their grins, "Very mature."
Kutner trying to raise spirits the way he always does, in his childish ways.
This was meant to be a scene in a story I'm writing but it's been three years already and I haven't made as much progress as I wish I would've. So instead, I'm just going to post this and maybe some other snippets I deem worthy XD
Please read and review! I'd love to hear what you have to say! (: