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The hallway was the same hallway he had walked down many times before. Of course it was, it was his mom's house. He should have felt perfectly at peace and in control in the place he had grown up all his life.
But Squishy wasn't. Not now at least. Not when he was standing in front of Mike and Sulley's room like an idiot. It was closed and he knew he should knock or something but he would always freeze right before he did.
“Hey, Squishy,” Terri said as he and his brother walked by. They stopped when their friend just silently waved without taking his eyes off the door.
“Uh,” Terry said, “What are you doing?”
“Shhh,” he whispered, “I don't want them to know that I'm out here yet.”
“Are you spying on them?”
“No, that's weird. I wanted to see if Sulley wanted to hangout with me, you know, while we had a break.”
“Oh,” Terri said, “Then why haven't you knocked on their door yet?”
“I'm nervous. What if he doesn't want to? What if he thinks I'm weird?”
“Squishy, everyone thinks we're weird,” Terry said.
“But,” Terri added, “You should just knock and ask. He's our friend now. And an Oozma Kappa brother.”
“True,” Squishy said, “But usually when I ask people if they want to hangout, they make up some excuse and then it's awkward because then I have to pretend like I believe them and-”
“Oh, for crying out loud!” Terry shouted. He marched him and his brother over to the door and knocked, much to Squishy's horror.
“Just a second!” Sulley responded from the other side before opening it, “Hey guys, what's up?”
“Well, um,” Squishy said, “I was wondering, since we are Oozma brothers and that's almost like real brothers, if we could, you know, maybe….hangout out?”
“Sure, we still have time to kill. You wanna tag along too, Perrys?”
“We would, but we were just about to practice our card tricks,” Terri said, “We don't want to get out of shape.”
“Alright,” Sulley said as he held his door open, “I guess it's just you and me.”
“Wait, you're letting me into your room?”
“Well, this is your house,” Sulley said as he closed the door behind Squishy, “Make yourself at home.”
The smaller monster marveled as he looked around. Sure, he had seen this room thousands of times, but it felt totally different now. Especially since it was housing someone practically famous.
“So, what did you have in mind?” Sulley said as he sat down on a box.
“Huh? Oh, right.” He really hadn't even planned anything. “What were you wanting to do?”
“Uh, well I was just leafing through a photo album that my mom put together for me, but you probably wouldn't find that fun.”
“Oh no, I love looking at old photos!” Squishy said.
“I don't know. Some of the picture….are kind of embarrassing.”
“Are they more embarrassing than that photo the ROARs took of us at the party?”
Sulley paused for a second, then handed Squishy a new looking, hardcover, yellow book. “Fine, but be careful with it. Most of those pictures are almost as old as me.”
Holding it like it would crumble with the slightest misuse, Squishy open to the first page. The photo taped to it showed off a crying puff of blue fur with pink polka-dots. “Aw! Look at your little face!”
“Let's just skip a few pages,” Sulley said and quickly flipped to the middle of the book.
On one page was a photo of a younger Sulley, probably only nine or ten, holding a screaming face shaped trophy.
“Wait, I actually remember that one,” Sulley chuckled as he pointed to it, “My grade had a scarring competition.”
“I bet you won it easily.”
“Yeah, actually. Half the class didn't even try because they knew I would win.”
“Woah.” Squishy pointed to the next page, this one holding a picture of a slightly older Sulley and a huge behemoth behind him, both appearing to be roaring at the camera. “Is that-”
“My dad? Yep, that is the Billy Sullivan.”
“Wow, he's so scary and this was years ago!”
“Yeah. He's the one who taught me how to scare.”
“Oh, you're so lucky. I haven't had any real training, except with Mike, you, and the guys.”
“Really? Not even from your parents?”
“Neither one of them were scaring majors. Mom says that my dad tried to be one but they turned him away pretty quick. And I think my mom could of done it, but she didn't. Now that I think about it, I can't think of a family member who became a scarer.”
“That….sucks,” Sulley said, “But hey, that just means that you'll be the first.”
“You really think so?”
“Sure. You do have a gift for sneaking up on monsters.”
“Maybe then I can make my last name mean something, like yours.”
“Yeah,” Sulley said, though his voice had gone from enthusiastic to mellow.
“What's wrong? I mean, it won't be near as good as a Sullivan but-”
“No, no, I wasn't saying that it won't be. Just….nothing.”
“Oh, okay,” Squishy mumbled. He wasn't sure what he had said to upset him but he mentally scolded himself all the same.
Sulley showed him more pictures of himself and his family, stopping to explain a few. When they got to one that showed a recent picture of him, his dad, and other scarers at Monsters Inc., Sulley's mood dropped again and this time he slammed the book closed.
After a few seconds, Squishy mumbled, “I-I'm sorry.”
“For what?”
“I must have said something to offend you, didn't I?”
“No, it's not you….it's-”
“Training in the front yard in five minutes!” Mike yelled from downstairs, “And if anyone is late, the whole team is doing extra laps!”
“We'd better get going,” Sulley said as he stood up and put the photo album on the desk.
“Yeah,” Squishy said as he followed him out.
“That was excellent work gentlemen, but there's still room for improvement before the ‘Avoid the Teenagers’ event tomorrow,” Mike said as he walked in front of his tired team, “So before then, I want everyone improving. Now go get some rest.”
“Don't have to tell me twice,” Don said as he and the others began their way back into the house.
“Mike,” Squishy said as he stopped him, “Can I talk to you really quick?”
“Sure.”
“Well, you know Sulley better than the rest of us since you two are roommates and all, and, well I was wondering if you could help me apologize to him.”
“Uh, yeah, what happened exactly?”
“Earlier today, we were hanging out and he was showing me some old photos and something I said made him upset. He told me it was nothing but I could tell I did something.”
“Can you remember what you said?”
“Well, all I remember is saying something about one day having my last name as good as his. Could that be it?”
“Absolutely,” Art said as he came out the front door.
“You know it's rude to eavesdrop,” Mike said.
“Not if I'm helping a friend,” Art countered, “Now, most monsters that are cool and scary and big like Sulley are alpha dogs.”
“Alpha dogs?” Mike and Squishy said at the same time.
“Yep, they demand to be the toughest and the best,” Art said as he flexed, “Takes one to know one. If they feel that someone is challenging their dominance, then they take it as a threat.”
“That does sound like him,” Mike said, “But I'm sure there's more to it than that. I mean, why would he find Squishy threatening?”
“Michael Wazowski,” Art scolded, “Are you saying that Squishy couldn't threaten his dominance?”
“No, not once did I say that!”
“Squishy, in order for this to be resolved, you have to challenge Sullivan to a scare off.”
“What?!” Squishy yelled, “But I don't want to challenge him. He's way bigger and scarier and….well, he's a Sullivan!”
“Plus, we don't need any conflicts right before an event,” Mike reminded them.
“We'll do it tonight,” Art said, “That way there will be time to wind down. If we don't take care of this, Sullivan or Squishy might try to prove he's better during the event, costing us the match and ending our lives.”
“But I don't think that I'm better than him,” Squishy said.
“Not with that attitude.”
“Hey, guys,” Sulley said as he stuck his head out the door, “Mrs. Squibbles wants to know if we wanted pizza tonight. She's buying.”
“Sullivan!” Art pointed and yelled, “Squishy challenges you to a scare off!”
“Art!” both Mike and Squishy yelled.
Sulley was stunned for a second, and then started laughing. “No offence, but that doesn't sound like a good idea. I mean, I'd scare the poor guy senseless! He wouldn't have a chance.”
Squishy nodded, then glared at Sulley when he fully heard what he said, “Hey! You didn't need to say it like that….even though it's true.”
“Woah, not need to doubt him,” Mike said, “You'd be surprised by what he could do.”
“He's improved, I'll give you that,” Sulley said, “But he would have to do something pretty dramatic in order to scare me.”
“That sounds like a challenge,” Art said, “Or are you too scared to take it?”
“Wait, guys,” Squishy started, but no one seemed to hear him.
“Hey, I'm never too scared to accept a scare off challenge,” Sulley said as he stepped fully out the door, “Name the time and place and I'm there.”
“Guys!”
“In the basement an hour after dinner,” Art responded.
“One hour,” Sulley repeated, then looked at Squishy, “You'd better use everything Mike taught you, because you're gonna need it.”
“But….but I didn't….” Squishy started to say, but the behemoth was already back inside the house.
“Great, now we got this to deal with,” Mike said, “And yes we want pizza!”
All throughout dinner, Squishy was tense. He barely ate anything and he loved pizza!
Whenever he looked over at Sulley, his heart dropped. The bigger monster would go from playfully taunting him to giving him advice along with everyone else, but that wasn't what scared Squishy. What scared him was how calm Sulley seemed. He ate almost an entire pizza by himself and was leaning back in his chair like he had nothing to do after this.
'Of course he's calm, he's only going against me,’ he thought to himself.
“You okay, Squishy?” Sulley said, “You seem kind of pale.
“Uh, y-y-yeah I'm fine. Just a...little nervous.”
“No need to be nervous,” Don said, “It's just a friendly warm up between a fellow brother.”
“It's much more than that,” Art said, “This match could either restore the balance or topple the order completely.”
“Well, then prepare to be toppled, Sullivan!” Sheri yelled dramatically, “Because my boy is about to whoop your-”
“Mom!”
“Guys,” Mike said, “No matter what the outcome is, we need to remember that we are still a team. So please don't take this thing too seriously.”
“I won't,” Sulley said, “And I swear that I won't be a sore winner either.”
It sounded like Sheri said something in response to that but Squishy was no longer listening. He just stared at the floor, hoping that it would swallow him up and take him away until tomorrow when this whole thing blew over.
“Then we'll start it now,” Mike said, cutting into Squishy's thoughts.
“Starting what?”
“The scare off,” Terry said, “We have to do it now or else we'll go past bedtime.”
“Now?! B-but don't we have to set up?”
“Already did that,” Art said, “Downstairs is ready.”
“Come on, you aren't trying to chicken out now, are you?” Sulley said.
Everyone looked at him and he froze. He could just say no and come up with every excuse not to do it, but if what Art said was true and this was the only way for Sulley to be friends with him, then-
“No, I'm doing it,” he said as he struggled to fake confidence, “I was just wanting to warm up a little, that's all.”
“So you're hiding under my bed because you don't want to do the scare off?” Squishy's mom said from on top of the bed.
“Yes and I'm not coming back out until tomorrow.”
“Well, why did you agree to it if you didn't want to do it in the first place?”
“I didn't agree to it, Art agreed to it for me!”
“I can barely hear what you're saying, Sweetie.”
He sighed, crawled from under her bed, and sat next to her. “I said that I didn't want to do it. All I wanted to do was apologize to Sulley for accidentally challenging his dominance.”
“Oh, men and their testosterone,” Sheri said as she shook her head, “You can explain to them all you want that you aren't challenging them but once you step into their territory, the slightest hint of superiority is threatening. That's why I had to show the guys at my high school a thing or two. Once they knew who the real boss was, they respected me more.”
“But I don't want to be a boss. I just don't want Sulley to be mad at me anymore.”
“The more you avoid doing this, the longer this will go on. And if you don't show him you have what it takes to be in his territory, he won't treat you as an equal.”
“But he's so much scarier than me.”
“Sweetie, he may be big and he may have a big, loud roar but you can do something he can't.”
“What?”
“You can scare without making a sound. Don't worry, Sweetie, you've got this,” Sheri said as she hugged her son, “Go show him what a Squibbles got!”
“Alright, gentlemen, clean scares only,” Mike said after everyone gathered in front of the basement door, “You must scare your opponent as you would a human child. That means you can't touch them, you must be sneaky, and above all, you have to make them scream in order for it to count. Understood?”
Both Squishy and Sulley nodded.
“Me and the other Oozmas will be the judges. Whoever makes the other scream the loudest, wins.”
They all headed downstairs. In the middle of the floor sat a couple of wooden boxes pushed together with an old mattress on top to make a bed. Immediately surrounding the bed were jacks and wooden blocks, followed by puddles of what appeared to be water. On the right of the bed was a tall cardboard box painted to look like a dresser while on the left was a giant stuffed animal of an eight legged monster. Surrounding the makeshift room were more cardboard boxes, all of which were painted with pictures of clouds, toys, and unicorns.
“You made all this, Art?” Terri asked.
“Yeah, had to change my schedule around a bit, but yeah.”
“Alright, heads or tails, Sulley,” Mike said as he pulled out a coin.
“Heads.”
Mike flipped it into the air and caught it as it came back down. “Heads, so Sulley goes first. Take your positions, guys.”
Terry, Terri, Sheri, Don, Art, and Mike all moved over towards the washer and dryer while Squishy got on top of the bed. The lights were turned off and everyone became quiet.
Squishy was beyond scared now. He had no idea where Sulley was or where he was planning to jump out from and the anticipation was almost enough to give him a heart attack.
“Just relax,” he whispered to himself, “Don't scream and you'll be fine.”
He jumped when he heard one of the cardboard boxes in front of him move. He stared at that spot until he swore he heard something next to him. He turned and nearly fainted when he saw the behemoth standing right next to the bed. Before he could say anything, he was hit with the biggest roar he could think of. It was so loud and forceful that it blew off his hat, but he was sure that everyone could still hear him screaming.
“Nice scare done by Sullivan,” Mike said when Sulley had finished, “Next up is Squish- are you okay?”
Squishy was frozen in a silent scream on the bed and he didn't show any signs of moving.
“Oh my gosh, you killed him!” Sheri screamed.
“Hold on,” Sulley said and waved his hand in front of his frozen friend's face. After a few times, he flinched.
“Uh, wha, did I die?”
“No, but you did scream.”
“A lot,” Terry added, “A lot a lot.”
“Okay, Squishy, you're up,” Mike said, then pulled the small monster off to the side, “Not to worry you, but Terry is right. You're going to have to pull one hell of a scare to beat Sulley. Do you think you're up for it?”
“I guess.”
“No, no guessing. Are you up for it?”
Squishy took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah. I might not win, but I'll show him what I've got.”
“That's the spirit. Are you ready, Sulley?”
“Yep, ready when you are,” the behemoth responded.
The lights were cut off again and again all was quiet.
Sulley felt confident as he sat on the bed, even going as far as to lay down. Secretly, he was a bit nervous of being scared. He never liked being scared and Squishy had improved a lot, but he knew it would take an impossible scare by the little guy in order to make him scream as loud as Squishy did.
So when he heard one of the cardboard boxes move, he just calmly looked in that direction. He didn't see him, but he knew Squishy was on the move. He looked towards the giant stuffed animal and nearly peed himself when he saw that it had been moved closer and that a few of its legs were propped on the bed right next to him.
He silently laughed at himself for getting scared by that. “Nice trick, but you're gonna have to do better than tha-”
Something slid across the floor on the other side of the bed and he swirled around, only to find the ripples of a recently disturbed puddle.
His heart beating a little faster now, he looked around the bed, expecting to find the smaller monster crouching there but didn't. Instead, he jumped when the fake dresser fell over right in front of him.
“Okay, we don't have all night,” Sulley said as he tried to sound impatient and not borderline frightened, “Where's the scare?”
He got his answer when one of the surrounding boxes to his left moved closer to him. It fell over and to his surprise, the stuffed animal was behind it and not by the bed where he had last seen it.
He backed up but froze when he heard what sounded like breathing. He closed his eyes, turned slowly, opened them….and was relieved when there was nothing there.
Only to have Squishy jump up with a look of horror on his face.
Sulley yelled and nearly fell off the bed as he flinched and fell on his back.
“That was amazing!” Sheri yelled as the lights turned on. She ran over and hugged her son.
“That spooked me,” Don said as he and the others walked over, “And I saw where he was half the time!”
“That was….how did you do all that?” Sulley asked as he sat up.
“I don't know,” Squishy said as he smiled, “I just used what I could do and well….I guess I got lucky.” He stopped smiling when he realized that Sulley was frowning.
“As impressive as that was, Squish, Sulley didn't yell as loud as you did,” Mike said, “So he wins.”
“What?!” Sheri said.
“It's true,” Terri responded, “Scarring is all about how loud the kid screams.”
“So the same thing goes for a scare off,” Terry said, “If we had scare canisters, it would clearly show that Sulley won.”
“Yeah, he did. Sorry, Squishy,” Don said.
“Well, I order a recount!….yeah, he won,” Art said.
“Great job, James,” Squishy said.
The only response he got was Sulley moving by him while he made his way for the stairs.
“What did I say?” Squishy asked.
“It's worse than I thought,” Art said, “He must feel that his dominance is even more challenged.”
“I'm just gonna talk to him,” Squishy said as he hurried to the stairs.
“Yeah, tell him to put a sock in this whole Alpha thing!” Sheri called after him.
Squishy ran and didn't stop until he found Sulley about to go into his room. “Wait!”
“What?”
“I'm really sorry for whatever I did and don't tell me that I did nothing. You've been acting weird since earlier today and I'm not sure if it's a dominance thing or-”
“Dominance?”
“But I-”
“Just stop! You didn't do anything wrong.”
“But-”
“You've actually done a lot right. Squishy….why do you want your last name to be like mine?”
“W-who doesn't? Your family is so cool and so are you. You're like a little version of your dad-”
“No I'm not, I am not.”
“But you both can scare the pants off of anyone.”
“He can. And he didn't get kicked out of the scaring program or piss off the Dean and he certainly didn't flunk every test or make a total fool of himself.”
“.....I don't understand. I know that you've messed up but you're still cool.”
“Only because of my last name,” Sulley said, “You want to be like my family, not me.”
“Maybe at first,” Squishy said, “But I've met you, not your family, and I've seen how scary you are.”
“You can be so much scarier than me.”
“What?”
“I've been using the same tired old tricks that I learned when I was a kid. I tried to do something new downstairs and I nearly tripped on the stuff on the floor. And it didn't look like it, but you nearly scared me to death. What you did was amazing!”
“But I didn't win.”
“You should have! The only reason I won is because you're already afraid of me. That wasn't even my loudest roar….”
“....Earlier today….with the photos….you slammed the book on one of the last pictures. Was it because I kept talking about your dad?”
“....I guess….”
“I'm sor-”
“Stop apologizing! It wasn't just that. I'm expected to live up to him and everything he's done. We were at the factory that day because he was showing me around and introducing me to all of his co-workers, saying that I'd work with them soon. I watched them scare and I was terrified. Not of them but of the fact that I knew that they were way out of my league.” He shook his head. “And my dad still boasted about how good I am….I'm a screw up.”
“No you're not. You've screwed up, but you aren't a screw up, if that makes any sense. We're all here in this brotherhood because we've hit a low point. Saying that you're a screw up is saying that we all are, too.”
“You guys are different. You all deserve to be in that program more than any of those other monsters. Far more than me.”
“James-” Squishy started but stopped when he heard someone come up the stairs.
“I'm washed up, Squishy, so stop trying to be like me,” Sulley said quickly before going into his room and closing the door.