Who: Shawn and Gus What: Shawn wants to go to the Muppet portal When: April 21 Where: Muppets Portal Rating: low
“Gus! Gus!” Shawn was at the Youth Center where Gus worked and he was practically vibrating with excitement. Gus seemed to be leading some sort of arts and craft thing for some kids and Shawn was ducking and weaving through tables and chairs to get to his best friend. “Gus!”
He made it up to where Gus was. “GusGusGus!” Shawn caught a glimpse of a bowl full of glitter. Unable to help himself, he grabbed a handful and dramatically said, “Gus!” one more time before throwing it up into the air so that Gus was showered in the sparkling glory.
–
After a lifetime of friendship with Shawn Spencer, Gus was pretty good at tuning out his best friend and kept his focus on the flower pots the kids were painting. When they dried, they would be planting flowers and learning how to take care of them. It was a good jumping off point for teaching them how to grow herbs and vegetables, something productive and meaningful they could do with their time.
When he felt himself covered in glitter, he sighed, ignoring the kids’ laughter. “Shawn,” he said, a warning note in his tone. “I’ll be right with you.” He gestured towards the office, indicating Shawn should wait for him there. After a futile attempt to brush off the glitter, Gus accepted that this wasn’t going anywhere for a long time. “Keep painting,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”
Gus went to join his best friend in the office, not bothering to try his irritation. “What do you want Shawn?” he asked. It couldn’t be anything bad or his friend wouldn’t be practically vibrating.
*
In the short moments that Gus had left him alone in the office, Shawn had managed to take the coloured Post-It notes and started making a big ‘M’ on the wall. When he heard Gus enter, he spun around. “I have one word for you Gus…. Muppets. And then I have two words for you. Muppets PORTAL.” This was his entire explanation, but Shawn didn’t think he had to elaborate.
–
His left temple started to pulse with the beginnings of a headache. A headache named Shawn. He looked at his friend’s handiwork and then gave him a puzzled look. “What do you mean?” Gus asked. Was the town being overrun by evil muppets? Probably not, given how cheerful Shawn seemed to be. “Or is there a portal to Sesame Street or something?”
Admittedly, that did sound kind of cool, even if he was still irritated by the glitter thing.
*
“Uh, not Sesame Street Gus. Muppet Street.” Okay, so that wasn’t a thing, but he knew his best friend would be able to figure out he meant it went to the Muppets. “Which is probably a good thing otherwise we’d have to listen to people tell us what the number of the day is and spell every other word we use when we go visit them.” Shawn said this matter-a-factly like they’d already planned to go to the portal… because he assumed Gus would want to go asap.
–
Gus made a face at Shawn’s words even though he knew better than to try correcting his friend by pointing out that Muppet Street was not a thing. Especially because Shawn wasn’t wrong; Gus did want to go and meet muppets, something he never realized was a life goal until this very moment.
“I have a couple more hours of work,” he said. “Then we can head over.” After he got a shower and some non-glittery clothes too.
*
Shawn looked shocked briefly, then recovered. “Gus, did you just say a couple more hours of work? That’s valuable portal time! We can’t just let this portal go to waste because you want to paint flower pots!” Shawn clearly felt an urgency, much like he did when a new movie came out he wanted to see or there was a new ride at Disneyland.
–
“Shawn,” Gus said with a heavy sigh. “I need my job and I’m pretty sure my boss would frown upon me leaving to go hang out with muppets.” And he certainly wasn’t about to suggest that he take the kids from the club on a field trip. Keeping Shawn out of trouble would be more than enough.
He wondered if his friend considered taking his wife with him instead of Gus. They had the same boss, and could even possibly swing calling it a research trip. “Where’s Juliet?”
*
Maybe Gus wasn’t going to suggest it, but this was Shawn’s next thought. “She’s at work too and also said the same thing.” Which, ugh, why was everyone so ‘responsible’. This was a once-in-a-lifetime portal!
“Why don’t we just bring the kids? It can be educational! I’m sure they have flower pots that need painting over in Muppet World.”
–
“Absolutely not,” Gus replied immediately. “I am not taking on that responsibility. Even though it’s Muppets, anything could happen.” Living in Madison Valley for nearly three years meant that Gus didn’t trust much of anything. And after spending almost forty eight hours trapped in the TARDIS because of crazy robot bugs, he was more on edge than usual.
It didn’t surprise him that Juliet tried to put off Shawn too. Between the two of them, they usually managed to keep him under control. “Why don’t you go find outfits for us to wear when we go over,” he suggested. They would probably be completely outlandish, but it would be a good distraction for his best friend for a couple of hours.
*
Shawn was looking displeased with the reasoning until Gus dangled the idea of costumes in front of him. His interest then clearly piqued. “Outfits you say.” Shawn did like a good outfit and he knew his best friend also enjoyed them from time to time. Plus now he had a whole costume department to raid since he worked at the theatre and he so rarely got to dress up anymore for undercover cases.
He paused dramatically like maybe he was still going to protest before his whole demeanor changed and he agreed. “Outfits! What a great idea Gus! What better way to use the portal’s algorithm to our favour than dressing up a certain way so our Muppet selves can be just as awesome.” At least this is what Shawn suspected. He wasn’t sure if they’d be Muppet-fied, but he certainly hoped so. “Don’t worry Gus. I’ll find us the best outfits there is and it’ll put everything else to shame. Statler and Waldorf won’t be able to heckle us, we’ll look so good.”
–
Listening to Shawn, Gus had a strong feeling he was going to regret this, however, he knew it was still safer than taking a bunch of kids through the portal. “Why don’t you meet me at the TARDIS in a couple of hours? You can bring the outfits and if there’s anything we need adjusted, the TARDIS can do it. Then we can head out.”
It would give him time to text Martha and Juliet and make them aware of the plans, just in case.
*
With the promise of going to the portal and being sent on a mission, Shawn was much more appeased. He gave a nod and then a dramatic salute like he was an officer in the army. “You got it.” Then he winked at his friend before turning to the door. He held up his arm dramatically. “To the costume closet!” Then left like a man on his mission.