Tasteless Salty Apple.
"I act scary, Mike. But most of the time, I'm terrified."
His pupils dilated to full black as he flipped the switch on the wall, turning the lights off.
He could hear the noise of the air conditioner as he stood near the entrance of their room. They'd just moved in to the apartment a couple of months ago, so the cool breeze in the room made him feel like he was somewhere important, but he was somehow relaxed. Being home alone made him feel an unusual type of tranquility.
It wasn't like Mike to show up late, and much less common for him not to show up at all. This had been going on for the past few weeks. Sulley wondered if maybe he'd finally been doing his paperwork like he was supposed to, or if maybe he'd gotten caught up with so much overdue paperwork, but that wasn't like him either. Something was troubling the green monster, and he'd soon find out what.
He was genuinely worried about Mike, but after hours of waiting he went to bed without him. He walked through the door and looked over to Mike's side of the room, finding an empty bed and a messy desk, a sign he was slowly losing the qualities he had during his freshman year at university. He started to wonder if it was something he'd said that drove him away. Was he to blame for this? It was hard to sleep with those thoughts swirling around in his mind. The silence didn't help either. The only thing making the silence bearable was the fan spinning over their room. It was set at the lowest setting, making an almost faint sound that eased him to sleep. He closed his eyes from the drowsiness, and just as he felt himself slipping away he heard the front door open.
He looked over at the clock and saw a different time on it. 'How long have I been asleep?' He slowly walked through the hallway and stopped to look in a mirror. His fur was a little messy, so he must've been asleep for quite a while. He overhears Mike in the kitchen making himself a midnight snack when he hears him call his name.
"Sulley?"
"Oh, hey Mike. I was just getting ready to go to bed."
"I had to stay up late for some confusion over at work. Something about a 2319. It turns out this orange fellow that we went to school with got an internship there and he's the one that caused it. Oh, and you know the new staff member? What was her name? Roz? Anyway, I'm getting a strange feeling that she just doesn't like me for some reason. But other than that, I think I'm coming off as a very likable monster."
Blown away by Mike's little speech, Sulley could only manage, "That's great, Mikey. Here I was, worrying about you."
"No, no. Everything is great. I think I might be getting promoted really soon. This might be the opportunity I've been waiting for."
"You seem to be focused on work a lot recently, aren't there other things you want from life? Things you want to do?"
"Actually, there is one thing, but I feel like the pieces already starting to come together. You might not know this, but I was quite a romantic back in highschool. It was when I got these that things started to fall apart." Mike said, pointing at his braces. "But, I think what I've been looking for might've been with me all along."
Sulley was a little taken aback by this and couldn't help but suspect that Mike was referring to him and that he might be implying a homoromantic relationship. "Gee, Mikey.. I can't tell you how shocked I am to hear that."
"Would it be too much to ask if you could meet me at Harryhausen's tomorrow after work?"
"Gee, this is kind of sudden, but no, not at all."
"Alright then, it's a date."
He looked over at the clock, it read 7:30pm. It was his day off, so he'd used it to sleep in from the other night, but he soon recalled his appointment with Mike. He tells himself he really should've set up an alarm; Mike was probably already there, so he does his best to dresses up as quickly as he can. He was a little nervous; that place was for classy monsters, it was the type of place you'd take someone if you were trying to impress them. The people there felt they were above their nature, superior than the ones that embraced it, so he wore a hat to cover up his horns.
Once at the restaurant he saw Mike through the window, but he wasn't alone. He was with a monster he'd never seen before, Celia.
"Sulley, this is Celia. Celia, this is Sulley." Speaking directly to Celia he continued, "I met Sulley back at university. We had a few rough edges when we first met, but there's a lot more to him if you really get to know him. Don't let his appearance fool you, he's got the eyes of a human, but the heart of a good-natured monster."
"That's actually the first thing I noticed about you, your eyes." Celia commented.
His family was known for having remarkable genetic makeup, their eyes were always hazel, yet his were a cerulean blue, most definitely the recessive in his genetics, bringing variety to the table. There were other monsters who shared the same trait, but in his family tree he was, unique. His eyes weren't very appealing to the people in the restaurant since humans were known to have them and humans were considered toxic. That being one of the reasons he didn't like the place.
"So, how'd you guys meet?" Sulley asked.
"Well," Celia began, chuckling to herself as she held a glass of wine in her hand, "I was coming out of the theater and it started pouring heavy rain, so there I was, soaking wet; teeth chattering, freezing cold and then he came up to me. And he looked at me straight in the eyes and he said, 'Need an umbrella, miss?'" She chuckled. "I thought these things only happened in the movies, you know? The pounding heart, the sweaty hands and the shaky legs." She sighed, "He sent me flowers for weeks, and he said he'd love me forever, and now here we are."
"She's hoping to get a job at Monsters Incorporated as a receptionist pretty soon." Mike whispered over to Sulley.
"Wow, that's great! You guys will be working close to each other, I'm really happy for you guys."
"I have to admit I haven't been entirely honest with you, Sull." Mike said, wrapping his arm around Celia, "I've been keeping her secret from you, I wanted to surprise you."
"Oh, trust me; I was very surprised."
"She was actually a student back at MU. We were in the same room when we were getting registered for classes. Isn't it funny how fate brought us together?"
"Oh, Googley Bear!" Celia giggled, placing a smooch on Mike's cheek.
Sulley tried to discern the awkwardness of his situation by looking away.
Mike caught on and broke it up by asking, "So, how about it, Sulley, have you ever had a girlfriend?"
"No, not really."
"That's alright, pal. You just haven't found the right person yet. I'm sure there's someone out there for you."
"That's not why, it's just I've never really cared about objective behind it."
"What about your family name, your legacy?"
"That's the problem, girls want kids and I don't want the same thing that happened to me to happen to my kid. I feel like all my problems can be traced back to my name. The expectations, pressure, etc. I'm already considered the next Sullivan, imagine my kid's expectations."
"What about love? Aren't you lonely?"
"I've got you, Mikey. We've experienced so many things together not a lot of people get to experience, we've been friends so long it's like. . . we're family. And that's all I've ever wanted since the fourth grade, to share my life with someone who cared about me."
"Uh, Sulley?" Mike said, putting the menu in front of them to make their conversation private. "What are you trying to do, Sulley?! Turn my first date into an Emotional Monsters Anonymous meeting? This might be my one chance to impress Celia! If you want we can talk about this when we get home, just. . hmm.. Not In Public!" Those last few words were whispered, but audible from across the table.
Sulley put the menu down, working on an awkward smile as he opened his mouth to speak, but Mike beat him to the punch.
"Sorry about that, my friend Sulley just had a little slip of the tongue."
"Yeah," Sulley chuckled, "I just- we both agreed to save that for later."
Celia was left both speechless and confused as to what she'd just witnessed. That's when the waiter showed up.
"Are you ready to order?"
-Later That Night-
After walking Celia home, Mike and Sulley didn't speak on their way back. Time seemed to move in slow motion for Sulley; he hadn't seen Mike this upset in a long time. He knew Mike would not forgive him for ruining his date so easily, it would be a while before they were cool again. He let that sink in for a minute, and there it was again, the unbearable silence. The only noise they heard was the wind and that of the apartment keys as they approached their apartment.
Once inside, they left the lights off as the moon's light shone brightly through the window. Mike approached a small table as Sulley hung up his hat. Mike placed his hand on the back of a wooden chair, not really in the mood to sit down. He had his back turned to Sulley when he said,
"So, uhm.. Sulley, I-I didn't know you were afraid to get involved with others, I thought it was because you thought you were better than everybody else. If it's not that, then what is it?"
This startled Sulley, he didn't expect the reason Mike had been so quiet was because he was worried about him. For Sulley, this was worse than having Mike be mad at him, but he felt Mike deserved an honest answer.
"I wasn't always like this, Mike. It was only after I started to realize the motives behind others. They were only interested in my name and my family's wealth; they seemed interested in me, but they were just using me. I didn't know who I could trust. Because of that I built this barrier, this façade, this character; I became what everyone expected from me, the toughest and scariest monster in Monstropolis, and I lost myself in it, now I don't know how to let the right people in."
"How did I get through it?" Mike asked, hoping the answer laid somewhere deep inside his answer.
"I'm not sure. You made your life open for the world to see. You were so honest and idealistic, you didn't come across as one of them."
"Don't you see what's going on?" Mike asked, turning around to face him. "You don't have friends because you're afraid to open yourself up to others. You've gotta just let things happen. Don't plan for them."
"How am I supposed to do that?"
"It's not as hard as it may seem, just try being a little more optimistic about things. Some people might think of you as intimidating, so just show a little concern for others."
Mike wasn't sure if Sulley would actually do that, but he seemed to be impressed with his suggestion. He felt a sense of accomplishment, like he would be responsible for the future wellbeing and recovery of his best friend; he was glad he'd said that.
"This is not the life I wanted, Mikey." Sulley began as he stared into the ceiling, "I thought it was going to be temporary, but look at me, look at this place. We've barely just moved in and we're struggling to pay rent. This isn't exactly what I had in mind when we agreed to do this. Maybe things could've been different if I'd been more-"
Mike didn't know what to say, things were worse than he thought.
"It might look like I don't care, but I do. Maybe too much."
Mike stood still, feeling helpless and devastated for not being able to help his friend.
"And you know, I think the worst part is feeling like you can do something about it. And at the same time, knowing you're the reason things are the way they are, all while questioning if it's even worth it."
Mike silently got up from the table and head over to his room. He could feel Sulley's eyes on him the entire way.
"Promise me this will stay between us." Sulley said as Mike stopped to listen. "I don't want the guys at work to know. I don't think they'd understand." Mike turns to leave once more, "I trust you, Mikey."
It was then that Mike realized that his suggestion was easier said than done, so he decided to do something that might make Sulley hate him, but he cared about his friend more.
The next day he went to work earlier than usual, stood on the door of his manager's office, knocked thrice on the door, walked in and spoke, "Jerry? I'm worried about Sulley."
Author's Note: The cover picture is "Mike and Sulley" by placitte2012 on deviantART. Some of the dialogue in the story was taken from the casting for the video game "Heavy Rain".
