Chapter Text
With the end of exams, the promise of freedom draws close as the summer sun begins to warm up the city.
But for Sulley, not everything is looking as hopeful as he wants for the end of the academic year. That of course being things related to his friend… or confusing best friend crush to be precise. Although conversation with him and all around general acknowledgement of Sulley’s presence seems to be improving drastically, the memories of what he had with Mike and how things had played out still plagues his mind from time to time.
Amidst the chirping birds and sunlight breaking through the windows in the mornings, and with the settle of noise at night-time, Sulley finds himself thinking about it a lot. The kissing, the party, Mike… Over and over again, trying to remember all the small details that make up the whole story.
He would often scold himself, because deep down he knows that pondering about what had transpired wouldn’t change things. Mike has already said that he wants them to be friends, and only friends. Nothing is going to change, and things might not ever return to how they were.
Yet, a small voice that nags him the most in these quite times of solitude is what convinces him that it just doesn’t make sense. Mike’s body language, the way that he blushed and stuttered, or at least his frickin’ sexual advances in the past! How could one night change their relationship so quickly? He desperately wants to ask Mike but fear as well as heartbreak has got the best of him.
Sulley wants to peel his whole face off just thinking about it because Mike and this romance thing is just so confusing!
Getting up from the sofa after paying little attention to the TV after half an hour, he makes his way to the bedroom with the intention to waste even more time on his switch. He reaches the door and opens it with expectations of an empty room, since everyone seems to be busy today. It seems like Sulley is the only one around here with nothing to do and without any particular ambition anymore.
But when he steps into the bedroom and finds a green monster at the desk, drowning in thick books and stationary, his depression suddenly evaporates into the clouds in his head, and his nerves spike.
“Oh, Mike?” he meekly says.
Mike jolts at the realization of his presence; his book having enchanted him into nonreality. “Ah! Sullivan? Y-you surprised me.”
James flushes when he realises he had startled him, “Oh, sorry. I just…” he stutters as he scratches the back of his head “I didn’t think you were going to be here. The house is pretty silent.”
“Oh…” he sighs, a small smile forming on his face “Ah, well, I don’t have much going on right now so...”
Silence swallows up the room and both monsters avoid the other’s eyes.
Sulley looks down at the desk to inspect what Mike could possibly be caught up in other than study and can’t help but chuckle when he sees that it is, in fact, new and thicker textbooks for the next academic year. “Seriously, Mike? We’ve only just finished exams… How are you still studying?” The sight of Mike reading that book is actually hurting him. This monster doesn’t know how to take a break.
Mike looks seemingly frustrated at him. “Sullivan, unlike some lazy fuzzballs around here, this is a very important matter for me. If I want to graduate with a masters, I can’t afford to stop now!” he says, determination strong in his voice.
James laughs, and doesn’t think twice about stopping him from doing as he pleases; if that really is what gets him off.
“Okay, you have fun with that. This lazy furball on the other hand,” he grins as he lifts himself up onto the windowsill and retrieves the game console sat next to him, “is going to actually enjoy the summer off playing games without any disturbances from any nagging roommates.”
Mike turns in his chair to glare at him “You owe me for the endless amounts of help and “nagging” I gave you thank you very much.”
Sulley laughs but can’t beat him to that since it’s true.
The conversation dies out as both monsters become sucked into their mutual books and video games. But through the loading screens, Sulley starts sneaking a few looks up at Mike.
And he feels like his head is going to burst from heat. Mikey twiddling his pencil in his mouth and frowning ever so lightly at his textbook is so SEXY to him. He knows, he's a fucking weirdo, but it just isn't fair!
After all this time he spent on actual studying, and trying to fix every mess he made, why is it that God STILL insists on testing him? And no amount of games seems to be helping him get Mike off his mind. He deserves his reward that's right in front of him, so why does this annoyingly cute monster deny him?!
"Uhh... Sulley? What's wrong?" Mike asks, because Sulley hadn't realised that he had unintentionally been glaring at his now concerned friend for the past 5 minutes. "Did I do something?"
"...yes." Sulley grumbles under his breath; much too silent for the green monster to understand as Mike returns an estranged one eyebrow raise. “Um… Sorry I uh- didn’t mean to.” Sulley manages to stutter. Oh jeez, now he’s just made Mike feel super awkward…
“Alright, whatever you say bud…” Mike says slightly concerned, before turning back to him again, “what are you playing?”
“Oh, uh” he begins, caught off guard by the sudden question, “Mario Odyssey.”
Mike makes a sound of curiosity, looking down at the switch and back to Sulley who feels a little frozen, even with the sun heating his back through the window, “mind if I watch?”.
“You… wanna watch?”
“I can be interested in games as well you know. I’ll have you know that I was the highest scorer in my school in both flappy chicken and chocolate crush.” he exclaims, standing up proudly from his chair to make his way next to Sulley on the windowsill.
“I don’t doubt that I guess…” Sulley laughs, scooting over to make space for his smaller friend, feeling a little less frozen and more so boiling hot as Mike moves himself closer to his side to peer down at the screen in his hands.
With sweaty hands, Sulley begins to play the game again, but the smaller monster's eyes following his every movement is making him hesitant.
“So, what do you do?” Mike asks.
“Well, it’s quite a chaotic game but, you basically travel to different kingdoms and complete a string of tasks as you go. You uh, want a go?”
“…Alright.” he chirps and takes the console to continue where Sulley left off.
Mike begins to wander around the map, figuring out things here and there. Sulley enjoys watching him scowl when he doesn’t quite have a grasp of a certain control and grin victoriously at the screen when he achieves understanding of a task or action.
“You should try it like this” Sulley says, and without thinking, he uses his broad shoulders and long arms to stretch around Mike and hold his hands onto the console above Mike’s. He feels Mike tense at the sudden close contact, and Sulley immediately pulls back.
“Ah, sorry. I wasn’t thinking…” he blushes, and internally shouts idiot idiot idiot at himself as a mantra in his head. He looks back at Mike and… Mike’s looking up at him whilst very clearly tense and embarrassed.
“I-it’s fine Sul’… I don’t mind.” he says as he looks back down at the screen.
Sulley isn’t sure if he should take that as forgiveness or permission to touch him. Either way he is very unsure of how to appropriately respond next.
But to his surprise, Mike is the one to act first as he moves himself closer to Sulley, their hips brushing against each other. He moves into Sulley and motions with his hands “So, show me big guy.”
Sulley’s heartrate spikes through the roof and his hands start to feel sweaty again as he looks down at the smaller monster leaning into him. “AA-ah sure! So just do this and then…” He stumbles through his words quickly and feels Mike’s heavy gaze on his hand movements.
Mike takes the console back and continues to play as Sulley simply gazes down at him, but in an effort not to get caught, he glances up a few times to look at Mike’s eye movements and facial expressions, the cute curl of hair hanging down from his cap, his pouted lips and…
He’s looking too much again. But concentrating on the game is becoming increasing hard with every move Mike makes as he brushes ever so slightly against Sulley.
“Oh, sorry Sul’. I’ve been playing long enough, haven’t I?” Mike meekly laughs as he gestures for James to take the switch back. “Plus, I should get back to hitting the books.”
“Oh, no problem. You should take a break anyway. I enjoy watching you… I MEAN PLAYING the game… Aha.”
Oh God, you idiot James.
Mike looks up at him and Sulley feels like his face is on fire. But he doesn’t see any signs of his best friend being upset, but instead what looks like nerves, like first kiss make a move nerves. Argh, he was overthinking the situation again.
But Mike doesn’t even look away and both monsters are flustered and hesitant, so close together and only inches apart and Sulley could just lean in and kiss him there and then. “Sulley?” Mike almost whispers up at him, cheeks red and eyes hesitant, and Sulley’s heart could just explode. Mike isn’t backing away, he's waiting for him! Does Mike want him to make a move? He could kiss him and-
“BOOOOOYS! We’re back!”
A shout comes from outside the door from Ms. Squibbles and both monsters jump away from each other, faces bright red, feeling like they’ve been caught red handed.
Mike is the first to move as he puts the console back onto the windowsill and walks towards the door. “I guess I’ll go see what they got up to!” he proclaims loudly, and proceeds to open and close the door in stiff motions behind him.
James is left, sitting on the windowsill, wondering what the hell just happened.
And could anybody’s timing in this bloody house be ANY WORSE?
He wants to kick himself for not moving faster. He was about to kiss him! What if that was his only opportunity to do it!
But did Mikey really want him to? If James didn’t know any better, it seemed as though Mike was intentionally allowing James to be closer to him and kiss him. The way he shuffled closer to Sulley and hesitated at the last second in that moment, gazing up at him with those eyes; basically defenceless. If Mike really doesn’t like him, then he’s certainly not doing a good job at closing himself off to help James move on. He’s making him go crazy!
Suddenly, someone opens the door and Sulley’s heartrate picks up again.
“Sulley?” Squishy peers around the door to look for him. “Ah! We’ve brought back some snacks and rented a human horror DVD for tonight! You coming to join?”
“Uh, sure Squishy! I’ll be out.” he sighs. Sounds like fun; it’s not like he has anything else to do. But he doesn’t want to make Mike feel awkward by coming outside right now if he wants to avoid him after whatever it was that happened…
“Okay! Oh, and make sure to wear your PJ’s!” he shouts, running off before Sulley can protest. He picks up the console left on the side and glances down at the unsaved game and thinks about his hands over Mike’s.
He decides to have a nap.
When he opens the door to the living room, everyone has already gathered around the TV screen, chatting excitedly amongst each other. They notice Sulley’s presence and Squishy frowns at him. “We’ve been waiting lazy pants! Unfortunately for you, most of the snacks have gone now!” he admits almost proudly, sticking out his tongue.
Sulley strolls over without a thought about replying, instead looking over to see Mike on one side of the sofa and yep, as he guessed, he’s avoiding eye contact. Next to Mike is Don, who seems to be motioning for James to sit in the empty spot beside him.
“Glad you could join us big guy! You haven’t come out to hang out with us in a while it seems.” Don says, chuckling slightly in an attempt to remain light-hearted. That kind of made Sulley feel guilty, though, because it is true that he has been less up for activities since the end of exams. “You doing okay?”
“…I’m doing okay, thanks Don.” he smiles, “Those exams really depleted my energy levels, but I can’t pass on hanging out with my main monster crew anymore.”
“Does that mean you’ll join in on lunchtime poetry with me tomorrow?!” Art beams from in front of him, sat with the other smaller monsters in a row on the floor under various blankets.
“That’s if he’s even awake at noon…” Mike scoffs to his surprise, and everybody chuckles.
“Yeah, whatever,” he grins, “You guys just don’t know how to really enjoy vacation.”
“Oh, and I suppose by your standards that would include simply taking up the oxygen in the house and being a waste of space.” Mike, again, hisses back.
Well, it was good to know that they will always be on banter terms.
“Well it definitely doesn’t include waking up at 6 AM in the fucking morning-” Sulley barks back, but immediately regrets his choice of words.
“LANGUAGE!” Ms. Squibbles shouts from the kitchen, making Sulley jump and look down in guilt at the four monsters now smirking up at him for getting caught.
“…Start the film already.”
It’s 10 minutes into the film, and Sulley hasn’t been paying any attention to anything that has transpired, his attention fixated on the walls as he stares off into space, thinking about earlier.
Did Mike want me to make a move?
No, he doesn’t want that with you.
What if he’s lying?
This mental battle in his head between himself is just one of the many that he has only a daily basis. Most of the time, it ends with him thinking to himself that he shouldn’t be overthinking or overreacting, because he didn’t want to cause anything that might create more distance between him and Mike.
It’s not like he isn’t happy with how they are right now; him and Mike are gradually getting onto better terms with each other, and the stiff awkwardness has begun to be less apparent with every passing day. But he couldn’t lie about how his heart really felt; he still really likes Mike and it’s also become increasing apparent with every passing day that this feeling is going to be very hard to shake off if he is going to move on.
He just isn’t convinced. Even after Mike had told him about his regrets about that night, and his regrets about the whole semester that they spent studying together, he believes that deep down Mike must feel something for him besides their friendship.
He feels shuffling movements to his left which snaps him out of his train of thought, and notices Don wiggling to the edge of the sofa. Maybe he’s uncomfortable?
“You okay Don? You seem a little tense?” he asks, also wondering if he's taking up too much sofa space again.
“I’m just a little tired I guess,” he smiles, “You know, I think I’m going to hit the hay.”
He leans on his hands to lift himself up and wobble out of the way of the monsters on the floor. “Enjoy the film kids! Don’t keep Ms. Squibbles up too late, will ya?”
“Won’t do! Goodnight.” the monsters reply, eyes glued to the screen in curiosity and bewilderment at the gore.
Sulley then suddenly notices the empty space between him and Mike on the sofa, and it hits him that Don might have got up on purpose. His instinct to close the distance itches as he glances over at the monster to his left and catches Mike’s eyes looking towards him. Both immediately look away, and Sulley feels both awkward and overjoyed.
He looks over at Mike again, who’s got his eyes glued to the screen now, and James tries to read his body language.
But he can’t read body language for shit. So, feeling bolder, he decides to move to the middle anyway.
The movement causes Mikey to bounce slightly upwards from the pressure, and he looks up at him in surprise. Before he can say anything, Sulley thinks up an excuse.
“I uh, wanted a better viewing spot in the middle.” That sounded like a perfectly good reason, right?
“…Right.” Mike responds, eyes looking away from him again. But Sulley notices his body relax and, a few more minutes into it, their arms are brushing against each other’s again, but neither pull away.
Sure, he wants to hold his hand, or wrap his arm around Mike’s smaller frame, or even snuggle against him, but this is still good enough for him. Like this, it feels like he is getting closer to Mike again, and things were becoming more comfortable between the two.
When the two boys return to their bedroom, Sulley walks anxiously behind Mike and waits until they’ve stepped into the room to say something.
“That was as boring as the cover looked! Those guys love that crap.” Mike snickers. He turns around to look at Sulley and that’s when he realises that he’s just standing awkwardly in the doorway, which snaps him out of his trance.
“Well, you know that Squishy has a strange obsession with human horror.” he chuckles, a little forcefully, back.
“Squishy was always a-, Sulley?”
Without realising, his body is moving towards Mike on its own and before he knows it, he’s reaching to touch his arm as he stares down at the startled monster, the darkness hiding any sign of nervousness on his face. “Mike… I-” He isn’t sure what he’s doing, or what it is that he wants to say. But god he just wants to touch him one more time.
“W-what are you doing, Sulley?” Mike stutters, pulling his arm away from Sulley’s grip.
He doesn’t want you.
Oh. Right.
“N-nothing… Sorry…” he meekly replies, and lets his arm swing back to his side, regret and heartache beginning to swallow him up.
“…Goodnight Sul’…” Mike utters as he brushes past him to climb into the bottom bunk, sounding almost as dejected as Sulley is feeling in this moment.
Climbing up into his own bed, Sulley feels like an utter fool. He already knows deep down that Mike doesn’t want that, and Sulley was just about to make matters worse all over again. But he just couldn’t control these feelings.
Sulley tries to remind himself of Mike’s feelings.
“Last night was a mistake.”
He begins to try and blink away the tears as he suffocates himself into his pillow.
“It was wrong.”
…
“I like you, a lot!”
…
It takes Sulley a while longer tonight to fall asleep, listening to the light breathing beneath him and holding a hand to his mouth in an attempt to stifle his sobs.
The next day, he receives a text from Johnny asking if he would like to hang out at their place. And in his desire to be anywhere other than in this small house with little privacy to be found anywhere, he decides that he’ll go.
“I’m heading out to the ROR’s place, see you guys later!”
“Ugh, tell them they suck while you’re there.” Terry replies.
“But don’t say we said it!” Terri nervously adds.
Heading out the door, the sunshine hits him and he already feels like he’s melting. Luckily, the ROR’s place isn’t too far. He heads down the road with a positive mind frame for the day, hoping that Johnny might have something fun planned to distract his thoughts of yesterday.
When he arrives, he finds most of the group already hanging outside of the place, blowing up what looks like balloons…
“Yo guys, what’s going on?” he calls out as he approaches, taking note that Randall is not to be seen anywhere thank fuck.
“Blue! You came just in time.” Johnny smiles, getting up to walk towards James to give him a solid whack on the back. “The girls at PNK wanted to have a water balloon fight, so we couldn’t say no.” he winks.
“But you’ve gotta give us all an equal chance at playing with the ladies Sullivan, Johnny already agreed to that rule.” Chet barks, “I’m not being outshone by you two jocks!”
Sulley snickers and rolls his eyes “Sure. I couldn’t really give a shit about those girls anyway.”
“Oh? So, who is it you would give a shit about?” Johnny pushes in a teasing manner, and Sulley is completely caught off guard with that one.
“…No one in particular.” he lamely replies. Johnny simply raises his eyebrows at him in curiosity.
“Come sit down and help us out. We ran out of balloons, so we’re making do with these.” Johnny waves a condom packet in front of him. “They’ll be tougher to burst but it’s always fun to tease a little first.” he purrs.
Sulley reluctantly sits next to him. “So… where’s Randall anyway?”
“He’s got a cake stand down near your place today for his new job.”
“Hmm,” Sulley thinks as he considers getting something on the way back. And then a thought hits him as he watches the tough ROR monsters interacting with one another, either mean-spiritedly or somewhat bored and passively.
“…It’s nice that you guys support him with his baking. I mean, no offence, but I didn’t take you guys as the type to welcome in a guy that likes to bake.”
Sulley looks to his right to glace at Johnny who, thank God, didn’t seem to look pissed at his comment. “I certainly don’t mind. He can cook for us, and once you try his food, you’d want him to stick around.” he smirks.
“Well, he certainly bakes well. Shame about the hostile service.” Sulley mutters.
Johnny laughs at that, “I suppose it depends on who he’s serving. He can prove to be quite obedient and polite when he wants.” Sulley raises an eyebrow at that, wondering if there is some other meaning to that.
“So, big blue. We haven’t hung out properly since our party last semester.” he casually says, but Sulley completely tenses, unsure on where this conversation might be leading to “Was everything okay back then? Seems like Mike was pretty upset about something…”
Sulley takes a moment to think about his words, but his hesitation makes all five members look up at him in curiosity, giving him cold feet.
“Uh… right. Well, you know that Mike is not the type to go to parties or even drink. It just got the best of him!” he shrugs. Johnny and Javier look at each other in disbelief, almost saying something between each other telepathically before they glance back at Sulley, who looks away in awkwardness.
“Well, okay then. I hope everything is good between you and your small dude.” Sulley can tell that Johnny knows that something is up between him and Mike, and maybe that’s why he’s being nicer than usual today.
“Alright, we’ve already made tons Johnny, let’s go play with the PNK girls already!” Chet exclaims, jumping up in excitement.
Johnny gets up and claps at the boys who are awaiting his orders. “Alright boys, let’s go play.”
Soaked in water and sweat, Sulley finds himself hidden behind a brick wall to hide from the PNK girls who were A LOT more faster and stronger than they appear to be. Suddenly, a force hits the back of his head and he stumbles forwards from the impact, water splashing down his back. “Haha! Got you again Sulley Wulley~!” one of the girls exclaims, giggling a little too sickly sweet.
Out of reflex, Sulley reaches into his pocket and lobs his last remaining water balloon at the girl, which bounces pathetically off her shoulder, only to splash on the floor.
He turns to run away from the sounds of giggles and screams, but a hand catches his arm and tackles him to the ground. He looks up to find another PNK girl holding one of the condom water balloons up in her hands, a horribly evil smile spread across her features.
“You mine now~”
Sulley is genuinely terrified of these PNK girls. Who thought that this would be fun?! He tenses, and he waits for impact to the face, but feels a splash of water hit him as he watches a water balloon come into contact with the girl’s face.
Suddenly, he’s being yanked up and taken by the arm.
It’s Johnny!
“Dude, you’re my hero!” he pants as he follows him into the ROR building. Johnny shuts the door behind him and locks it, looking through the window for any possible followers.
“We should be safe now blue.”
He slides down the wall in exhaustion, laughing and panting as Johnny begins to ring his clothing. “Those girls really are monsters.”
As he catches his breath, he looks up at the other big guy who’s staring at him fixedly. “…What?” Sulley asks, frowning in curiosity up at the hostile-looking monster. Suddenly the atmosphere has changed, and Sulley feels very much on edge.
“I know you don't want to talk about it... But what really happened between you and Mike big blue?”
Welp, he should’ve seen that coming.
Sulley knew that he couldn’t play games with him. If he played along with the lie, Johnny would most definitely get pissed at him. But at the same time, he didn’t exactly feel comfortable telling, out of all the monsters in this university, the ROR leader about his secret gay crush drama.
Sulley sighs, pulling his knees closer together “Look, it really doesn’t matter now. What happened, happened. Things between us are going just fine and…”
“Bullshit.” Johnny frowns down at him.
Sulley, in his frustration, frowns back, “How would you know what’s going on between us?” Why is Johnny being so pushy about it, anyway? He’s not usually the type to care about other monster’s problems.
“You’re very easy to read, James, and so is the green one. You’re both unhappy.”
Well, he definitely isn’t happy, but he wouldn’t say he is that unhappy per se… He just needed to overcome his own feelings. Mike on the other hand… “Mike’s unhappy because of me.” he mutters, looking down at the ground gloomily, “I forced him to go to your fucking party, no offence, and he hated it and then he…”
“What?” Johnny sighs, somehow sounding irritated about the whole scenario that he isn’t even apart of, “He told you he hated you?”
He sighs again but looks up at Johnny this time. He can tell that the other monster is serious, and Sulley doesn't really feel like being dishonest anymore “No… he told me he liked me.”
Johnny looks bewildered at first, but then laughs loudly, his amusement echoing throughout the empty house. Sulley is finding it hard to understand what’s so funny about any of this.
“Then why aren’t you idiots dating already?” he laughs. Sulley hesitates at that, caught off guard from his response of the idea of them both dating.
“W-well… He took it back. He said the whole thing was a lie.” Johnny went silent again, and Sulley’s heartache begins to feel heavier. “He regretted the whole thing. I fucked up.” James brings his hands to his face.
“Well, that you did do.” Johnny comments, pushing the dagger deeper into Sulley’s chest. “You fucked up because it sounds like you didn’t tell him properly.”
Sulley looks up in surprise at him now.
“You like him, don’t you?”
Well, there isn’t really any point in denying it now. “…Yeah.”
“Then fucking tell him properly.”
“I have-” Wait, has he? After all this time, contemplating and thinking about what Mike said and meant, he hasn’t even wondered about what he hadn’t been able to say to him!
“Oh shit.”
Johnny laughs at him, probably feeling triumphant that he’s got Sulley to realise that he hasn’t tried to confess wholeheartedly to Mike.
“And what Mike said was bullshit, too. That fucking green smurf has given you goo-goo eyes ever since you almost got kicked out of here. He likes you alright.”
Sulley holds his hands on his knees tightly, trying to process everything that Johnny is trying to say and what he wants to say to Mike. But, why is Johnny saying all of this? Why does he even care about what happened? “Why are you supporting me? Don’t you think it’s… I don’t know, wrong?” he asks, hesitantly looking at Johnny now.
Johnny pauses, but then smiles down at him. “I don’t think it’s wrong, big blue. I just think it’s very obvious and it’s very irritating to watch. You guys belong together, right?”
Sulley looks up at Johnny in awe, completely taken aback by how frickin’ NICE Johnny is being.
“Now go talk to that green turd before I kick your ass out of this house.”
James is determined. Striding down the street, although soaked head to toe, he confidently picks up his pace in an effort to get home faster. Once he arrives home, stood in the doorway with dripping wet clothes and hair, Ms. Squibbles comes to his rescue with freshly ironed clothes and warm towels.
“Thanks Ms. Squibbles, I’m sorry about coming here in such a state.” he laughs guiltily as he steps out of the bathroom in a freshly cleaned vest and shorts.
“Oh, that’s quite alright,” she chirps as she begins to load the washing machine “I’m glad to see that you’ve been having some fun!”
Well, fun is a little far fetched to say the least. But no more about that. Sulley needs to see Mike!
“By the way…” Sulley begins, causing her to look up in curiosity “is Mike around?”
She smiles sweetly at him in an almost knowing manner and gestures towards the bedroom, “He’s where he always is!”
James turns to face towards the direction of the bedroom and takes small strides. Now that he’s here, he has to think about what exactly he wants to say. He hadn’t really planned it out in his head. Should he just wing it? But if he winged it, something would definitely go wrong. He’d screw up, or Mike would shut him down, or they’d fight, or…
Just MONSTER UP SULLIVAN. Just walk in there and take Mike by the shoulders and…
But before he is able to reach the door knob in front of him, he hears a voice.
Voices for that matter. Sounding like Mikey and… is that Art?
Sulley can’t help it, he leans his head against the door to listen in on their conversation.
“I just feel like I’ve made a huge mess of things... If I hadn’t started this, things wouldn’t be the way it is now.”
Sulley’s heartbeat speeds up immensely and he uses his free hand to grab onto the excess material of his t-shirt in a poor attempt to slow it down or cover the loudness of the thumping.
“I understand why you’d feel that way, but I think you’re thinking about it all wrong. Sulley definitely doesn’t think this is all your fault whatsoever.” he hears Art say.
Mike’s talking about it… Art’s got him to open up! Sulley feels his face warm up and is quick to clasp a hand over his mouth to steady his breathing in fear that the loudness of his quickening heartbeat might be heard.
He needs to find out for sure how Mike feels, and right now he doesn’t care if he has to do it the dirty way.
“But Sulley’s just like that isn’t he? He is always putting people before him, even if most people don’t realise. Meanwhile, all I’m doing is putting books before everything…”
“You’re the exact same, Mike! You’re the first person who ever believed in us lot you know, and you’ll stop at nothing to get the best grades for us.”
Sulley smiles warmly at that.
“But just because you might have pursued something, doesn’t mean your necessarily to blame for anything like what you’re saying. From the sounds of it, you both really like each other and simply had a misunderstanding!”
Mike takes what feels like an eternity to reply, and Sulley feels like he’s going to go insane and probably slam the door open in hysteria.
And then he finally hears Mike groan.
“Ughhh, but why did it have to be him? The most irritating, popular chick-magnet on campus! Not to mention my best friend!”
Sulley is now only seconds away from bursting.
“Um, Sulle-”
“WooAAHHHHHHH!” he screams, jumping to face behind him to see the owner of the voice, only to stumble and fall against the door, which thus opens and leads to his fall on the bedroom floor… in front of the two monsters he had been spying on.
He has now caught the full attention of Mike, Art and, oh that’s who it was, fucking SQUISHY, as he lies facing the ceiling on the hard, wooden floor.
“Ow…” Sulley moans, reaching to ease the top of his head.
“What the hell! Are you okay dude?!” Art shouts just as loudly as Sulley, falling onto his knees to hesitantly hold his lower torso. Squishy has also fallen to his knees.
He really needs to stop making scenes in this house…
“Ah- I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!” he cries, “I-“
“What the hell are you doing?!”
Only one monster in this house talks to him like that when he gets hurt…
“Can you not live for one minute in this house without causing chaos!” Mike spits. But it’s not with the usual cutting tongue he uses, but with what sounds like hesitation, or even slight panic.
Oh.
James looks up at Mike to see whether he knows he had heard everything… and finds him to appear a lot more flustered and tense than he hoped. Shit, he needs to think of something, now!
“Uhh… I was just gonna tell you guys that...” Sulley looks away in embarrassment and curses himself afterwards because that just makes you look even more guilty, idiot! “that… Randall is doing a cake sale across the road and maybe you guys didn’t know, if you… liked cake?”
Oh crap. That’s the first thing he thinks of?! He’ll have to go with that shitty story now…
Mike briefly holds a confused frown and looks away from him and towards Art and Squishy who instantly say “Oh man!! Let’s go!”
Both dash out of the room, forgetting about the big monster on the floor and the smaller, confused monster standing above him in the room.
Okay James… you got this…
“You okay?”
“Huh?” Sulley breathes, looking wide-eyed at Mike who’s still staring away from him with a red tint across his face. “Oh, um, yeah. I’m okay.”
“…Did you really come to tell us that?” Mike looks at him now, and he looks so… vulnerable. It upsets Sulley to know that he is causing that look.
And now Sulley is frozen in place. He can’t find the words to answer him without either sounding REALLY SUSPICIOUS or without admitting that he was being a sly dog. “Uh… Y-”
“Boys!” Ms. Squibbles calls, making Sulley jump again because everyone in this house is out to trigger a heart attack in him. But his anger is extinguished by knowing that she just saved him from another possible cock up on his part.
She looks to Sulley, still lying on the floor, with surprise. “What are you doing down there, sweetie?”
He jumps to his feet and stands unwavering as if he’d never even been down there. “Huh? Oh, uh nothing. What’s up?”
She blinks but doesn’t question it further as she adds “The others forgot to bring money for the cake stand! Won’t you be dears and chase after them for me? And then you can both buy a cake each!”
Mike is the first to casually reach out his hand and motion her to hand him the money, avoiding all sight away from Sulley who is still wincing slightly at the stinging pain from his head injury. He’s going to feel that tomorrow.
“I can go alone.” Mike says suddenly, causing Sulley and Ms. Squibbles to both look at him with questioning expressions. “I can bring you guys back something as well.” He begins to make his way to the end of the room to kneel down and put on his shoes, leaving Sulley stood watching him, wondering if it would be better to let him go alone to save what could possibly be a very awkward walk.
He changes his mind when he sees Mike turn around, expressionless and what looks like with tiredness.
“No, I’ll come,” he states loudly to set his intentions clearly, and goes to shove his trainers on from under the bed. “I’ve got nothing better to do in here.”
Mike doesn’t respond with words, but Sulley sees him freeze and relax momentarily as he turns to signal that he is ready to leave, putting on his best I’m ready to go get cake and not make this awkward smile.
“You can bring me back a slice of sponge cake if they do any, that would be lovely!” Ms. Squibbles says excitedly, “Just make sure you don’t buy Squishy too many, I’m worried enough about his sugar levels.”
“Can do!” Sulley chirps, the forced energy of his words dying at the end as Mike swiftly brushes past him towards the door and exits the room. He supposes that that’s his queue to leave as well and goes to follow. Both him and Ms. Squibbles catch each other’s eyes as he walks past, and she stops him by the shoulder to give him a soft pat and a small smile. Sully looks down to the sudden pressure on his shoulder and to her again, and her thoughts are transparent to him; her concern but kind support being shown plainly. He smiles back as best he can, looking away briefly because he’s undecided on his emotions and words.
“Come back safely.” she says, her words bringing back thoughts from that night. Sulley simply nods and keeps eye contact, and then walks out the door to catch up to Mike.