Little ficlet.

Notes: I have no idea of the plot or characterizations of Monsters University. I'm just going off the poster we have, glimpsing a shot of young Randall. I also included a random jock monster. I guess you could call it the one on the MU poster, but I don't know his name. So this is a generic jock monster. Just a little interpretation folks.

Kind of angst, not really though. I don't know.

The Dare

Randall tapped his foot impatiently. He did that a lot when he was impatient, obviously, but also when he was feeling kind of...not nervous, just uncertain about something.

He wasn't nervous.

He'd been on campus for just over a couple of months now, and already things were getting a bit crazy.

For a while Randall had enjoyed being a monster with a special ability.

When he'd first done his "disappearing act" he had been nervous, but the coo of a spectating audience was encouraging, and he found it got easier because of that. Admiring monsters fed his ego, but at the same time there were the envious ones. They called him a cheat, and they were the most vocal.

Sometimes Randall couldn't tell if a monster was envious or not, but he could always tell which monsters were using him.

"You gotta get it. Everyone'll think you're awesome," Jaws said. He was one of those monsters.

Jaws was much bigger, but not so bright as Randall. Sometimes, if he was feeling fearless, Randall talked back at him. Other times he kept his mouth shut, because Jaws had a mean right hook, and bruises were painful and made invisibility harder.

Still, it was curiosity more than a want to be "awesome" which made Randall go after the stupid trophy in the sports hall.

It wasn't like he wanted the trophy, or even be awesome, anyway. No he didn't. He didn't even care about sports.

"So..I gotta just pick it up and move it, right?"

"Right," Jaws grinned at him.

"Okay," Randall said, and still found it hard to move.

"C'mon, stupid,"

Jaws shoved him, pretty hard actually. Or maybe Randall wasn't very strong and it was just that easy.

"Ow," he muttered, and turned his head to glare at the other monster.

That was a bad move really, but Randall liked to glare. So he wasn't that strong, but he was pretty awesome at glaring. He knew this because the teachers had told him he was, especially when he showed his teeth.

But he didn't care about being awesome. No, he didn't.

The awesome glare earned him another shove, and this one was definitely harder and intended to hurt. He staggered and had trouble keeping on his feet.

"Don't look at me like that," the other monster said, or more growled. "just do it,"

Randall practiced a wry sort of grin. "okay, great," and he rolled his eyes. He was on a roll tonight. He was fearless, and he wasn't scared.

He shrank back when Jaws raised a clawed fist.

"Okay,okay! I'm going!...jeez."

Not really scared.

He crept forwards, aware that Jaws was still behind him, and he'd follow him a little way, just to make sure he did it.

Randall resented it, but it was no big deal.

At the edge of the building, and just in view of the sports hall, Randall narrowed his eyes and caught sight of the shiny bit of meaningless goal through the open window. There were a few monster's still in there, walking about and talking loudly. Maybe they'd just won something. Randall didn't know or care.

He turned back to Jaws.

"I thought you said they were all gone?"

The other monster rolled his eyes. "it's like...three monsters in there. Don't you want to be awesome, Boggs? Like me?"

Randall looked him up and down, having a hard time not curling his lip and saying something unrepeatable.

"Oh, uh, sure," he said instead. "you're like, my role model. Or something."

"It'll be great," Jaws assured, and took a moment to pat Randall on the head, like he might be a stupid kid. "you're the only one who can do it, after all. With that little disappearing act of yours."

Randall grimaced and turned back to face the trophy room. "let's get this over with, I guess."

Actually he didn't have to do this, he could just run away and that'd be the end of it.

Except it wouldn't be. He couldn't hide from stupid hulking monsters forever. He couldn't stay invisible forever. Sometimes he would've liked to though.

Sometimes he just hated being invisible.

He felt a clawed hand prod him impatiently forwards, and he took that as his cue.

Blending into the background, he ran, not really thinking about anything but the goal.

He was good at running, and being quiet. It was all about stealth. He could recite it all easily, from that last lesson the other Monday. He'd been top of the class in that.

He crawled through the open top window and landed silently on the floor. There were still two monsters hanging out, just talking. It didn't look like they weren't going to leave any time soon.

Randall barely spared them a glance, though he considered he'd probably have trouble with the bigger guy if he was caught. He looked like a real Scarer, and he had a deep voice. Not exactly threatening, pretty friendly actually, but Randall didn't trust it.

He stalked over to the sports trophy, watching the other two monsters out the corner of his eye. They had their backs to him, fortunately, so Randall swiped the trophy in one quick motion, and headed back to the window.

"-hey, what the-!"

Another voice, definitely not one of the two monsters,echoed around the hall, and Randall froze at the window, turning his head to see the Gym teacher staring at him, or more aptly the floating trophy in his hands.

Randall dropped it without thinking, and the clattering sound startled him so much that he jumped.

There were more sounds, like gasps, but Randall didn't care to stick around. He slipped out the window and stumbled across the green, only stopping when he found the sports hall was no longer in sight and he was panting a bit.

He relaxed against a wall, slowly emerging from his invisibility.

"Well. That was dumb," he muttered, then something grabbed his tail.

He was dragged a short way across the ground, and then a booming voice; "stupid dork! what was that all about?!"

Jaws held him tight, too tight really, and Randall felt sick.

"...hey, easy!..." he said, and wriggled a bit, but stopped when he realized it was fairly useless. He'd realized pretty early on that strength was not his strongest point.

"All you had to do was grab the trophy and you screwed it up!" Jaws held him tighter, and Randall choked. "you were invisible!"

"...there were other monsters...I can't turn a stupid trophy invisible too.." Randall shook his head, feeling dizzy.

Jaws released him with an exasperated snarl. "such a cool ability is wasted on a dork like you,"

Randall straightened up, doing as good a job as he could at keeping his composure. For some reason he was shaking, and his eyes hurt. Oh no, not that, no way...

He shook his head again, fixing Jaws another practiced glare. "If you wanted the dumb trophy so much why didn't you just go muscle your way through and get it yourself? you're pretty good at that,"

He knew he'd pay for that, and he actually braced himself, closing his eyes and waiting for something painful to come into contact with his jaw.

Instead a couple of other monster's walked by, and one of them stopped to ask Jaws a question.

"Hey, do you guys know where the engineer lab is?"

Randall cracked open an eye to put a face to his savior's deep voice.

Oh, that guy.

Despite everything, Randall grinned.

"Thanks," the big monster said, as Jaws gave him the directions.

Randall realized he had his chance to escape, and he took it.

He latched, reluctantly, onto the other monster's side, and attempted a friendly grin.

"Er, I'm heading that way myself, so I'll just show you the way,"

"Oh, thanks a lot!"

"No problem, buddy..er...?"

"Sulley, call me Sulley."

"Right."

Randall turned his head to look at Jaws. The big jock was shaking with rage, and it was actually the best thing Randall had seen all week.

He grinned and waved at him, before turning back to Sulley.

"I'm Randall," he said. "real nice to meet ya."

END