Pillow Fight
For VT- Thanks for the inspiration, even if you didn't know you provided it. :)
Marco flipped his pillow over to the cool side and buried his face in its welcoming sponginess. So tired from that last fire on Sepulveda, he craved a quiet remainder of the night. He sighed deeply and allowed his weary eyes to close.
And then...something wasn't right. His eyes popped open and glared up at the ceiling. He kicked off the light-weight blanket that covered him only from the knees down and sat up, furrowing his brow and scowling at the fluffy cushion encased in Fire Department Standard Issue white cotton. This was not his pillow.
His pillow was softer, with a comforting kind of "pifffff" sound as the air that accumulated from Marco's enthusiastic pummeling exited the zippered case. Marco's also had a certain scent that had ingrained itself into the actual pillow and not just the case- a mix of his after-shave, toothpaste and of course, smoke. This one smelled like...hot dogs.
Naturally, his first suspect was Chet. Marco's bunk was next to Chet's, Chet often switched things surreptitiously when he wanted to, and Chet was the type of guy to do stuff just because he could. Though typically Chet's target was Gage, it wasn't unheard of for The Phantom to play a trick on another unsuspecting crew member. Cans of water flung at him from an opened locker door he could handle, but to steal a guy's pillow? Not cool, man...not cool.
Chet hadn't returned from the day room yet, so Marco stretched himself over and snatched Chet's pillow from the bunk and pulled it over to his. He sniffed it and squashed it and felt around inside the case for the frayed half of a tag that was barely attached to it. It wasn't there! This was not his pillow either. Still sitting up on his bunk, he lobbed Chet's pillow back to its rightful place and glowered around the room.
Cap was an honorable man and would never stoop so low as to snatch another man's pillow. Of that much, Marco was certain.
Mike? Hmm...maybe. He'd been warned long ago by his Uncle Cesar to "watch out for the quiet ones". He was going to check.
Marco eased himself from his bunk, taking care to make as few squeaks as possible and stepped quietly over to the snoozing Engineer. All he had to do was sliiiiiide the pillow out of Mike's hands, check it for the tag, maybe sneak a whiff...damn! Mike grunted in his sleep and rolled over, clutching the pillow tightly in his muscled hands. A minute too long of hesitation and Marco was out of luck.
That left Gage or DeSoto. Roy didn't seem like the type to invade another man's personal space just to get his hands on a preferred pillow, but he did have dorm-duty this morning; he could have easily tested each pillow to find the perfect one. Naturally that would have been Marco's, and Roy could have made the switch without anyone being the wiser. Marco's eyes shot daggers at the paramedic, who lay on his side with one hand curled under his pillow. He snarled under his breath, "DeSoto, if that pillow you're canoodling with is mine, you're toast!"
Deciding he could kill two birds with one stone, he crawled on all fours across the floor and in between John's and Roy's bunks. Johnny suddenly snorted and flipped over, and one long, gangly arm flopped to the side of the bed, narrowly missing Marco's head. Gage's pillow was hanging on the edge of the bed...it was so close...Marco reached over and ever-so-gently tugged open the pillow case and slid a hand inside. He skimmed his palm over the surface and wiggled his fingers to the back of the pillow, searching for the half-tag he was sure he'd find. Gage scooched his chin deeper into the downy fabric and snuggled unknowingly on top of Marco's hand. Lopez froze, afraid to move and startle Gage, who would most certainly jump up and cause a commotion.
Marco waited a few seconds until he was certain Johnny was soundly asleep again and placed his other hand on the dozing paramedic's forehead, lifting it juuuust enough to facilitate removing his hand from the pillow case. Once achieved, he forgot himself and let John's head fall back to the pillow. Gage mumbled something unintelligible and Marco ducked to the floor to remain unseen.
Gage's pillow hadn't been Marco's after all, and now there was only one bunk left. Marco made a face at Roy's slumbering form. It surely must be DeSoto now; Marco was certain of it. "How could he?" Marco snarled under his breath. "A fireman only gets a limited amount of decent rest when he's on shift. After battling a fire for hours, a guy just needs his familiar items of comfort, that's all. You just don't mess with a man's pillow!"
Roy had since turned over again and was barely laying on the edge of his pillow. The rest of it was just...there, waiting for Marco to check it over. Silently, Lopez wrapped his fingers around the corner of the starched white cover and gritted his teeth as he desperately tried to pluck the pillow from under Roy's head.
Suddenly, another pillow sailed across the room and smacked Marco directly across the head. He let a loud "Gah!" escape and wildly looked around to see where it had originated.
"Hey, Lopez! Whaddya' doin'? You looking for that?" Chet hollered, uncaring if he woke the others.
Of course, the others did awaken, and Cap flipped on the small bedside lamp, sat up and snarled out, "Kelly! There had better be a damned good reason for this!"
Both Johnny and Roy now sat up on their bunks, looking down at a mortified Marco, still clutching Roy's pillow in his hand.
Chet laughed, "Ask Marco, Cap. He's the one on the floor in the middle of the night."
"I just...I was looking for..." Then Marco jumped to his feet and tossed Roy's pillow back to him. "Which one of you guys has my pillow?!" he demanded. "Roy, you had dorm duty, what did you do with it? This one is not mine!"
John's eyebrows rose and his jaw fell in disbelief. Roy just sat and blinked at Lopez and Cap rubbed a tired hand over his own bushy brows. Only Mike continued sleeping, unmoving, and snoring quietly.
Chet cackled delightedly at Marco's irritation and crawled into his own bed. "Niiiice pillow, this one is," he smiled, and began obnoxiously fluffing his own feather-filled bolster.
Roy finally cleared his throat. "Marco, I did have dorm-duty, but headquarters sent over all new pillows this morning. We all have new ones."
"We what? But I...that was my favorite pillow...I've had it for three years, man! Three years we make do with the same pillows and now that I'm used to it, they go and change them on me?"
Chet giggled from beneath his blanket, Cap smirked and laid down, Johnny shook his head and fell back on his bunk with a groan, and Roy smiled sadly at Marco's consternation.
"Guess so, pal," he muttered. "Better get some sleep."
Marco retrieved the new pillow Chet had launched at him and trudged back to his bunk. He stretched out, pulled the blanket back up to his knees, and tried to get comfy with the unfamiliar pillow. The squishiness was adequate, he decided, but the scent was just all wrong. But it would have to do.
Finally, sleep claimed him and before long, he was restlessly dreaming.
"Come back!" he called, as he chased a giant, fluffy-white hotdog through the streets of Carson.