Be careful

because butterflies

can be wasps,

When your stomach flutters,

and your hand shakes

and your cheeks flush,

sometimes it's not love,

It's pain.

- a.r.


Chapter 1: Pecuniam Uiro/The Silver Haired Man

I awoke with sweat dripping down my face, yet again. Why have I been having the same dream every night for the past week? Slowly lifting myself up off the bed, I look around at my surroundings to reassure myself that there is no Silver Haired Man looking at me with those bright blue and green cat eyes. Fucking hot. Wait... 3am? Typical. Of course I woke up at the same time, just like with every other night.

Although it were the same dream, it grew more and more intense. Starting out with that same strange man who I've never seen before, staring back at me with those piercing blue and green eyes. Even in my dreams, it gave me shivers. He was sexy, no doubt about that. Long silver hair and a defined, muscular body that made my heart skip a beat every time. But the thing that got me was the look that he gave me; I have never seen such a beautiful man glare at me with such power in his eyes, that made me sceptic whether the look was of adoration or of pure lust. How could someone even bring themselves to give a stare like that to me? Afterall, I am a small, green round ball, with one eye and have everything to give. A man like that would be blessed to have someone like me. But then again, I would be blessed to have someone like him. I know for sure I would be blessed, because I wake up with a solid boner every time.

It was hard to fall back to sleep, so I just preoccupied myself by watching tv, and relieving myself to people with silver hair and a muscular body. A man can dream... literally. Time flew by quickly, and suddenly, Sully stood at the foot of my bed, giving me a quizicle look after looking at my screen. I don't care, I keep it up to show dominance.

"What the fuck are you watching?"

Great.

"Does it look like I give a fuck? Don't question me, I do what I want."

He gave me an exasperated sigh and left my bedroom. Good. How dare he judge me like that.

9am arrived way too quickly, and Monsters Inc. is already too busy for my liking. Randall is already getting on my nerves, interrogating me on my paperwork and whether I have filled them out already. Roz was being an old bag and pestering me about other paperwork that's overdue. Sully was angry because another monster was on top of the leader board, making him second place.

"Mike, is there something wrong with me? Have I lost my touch?"

Oh fuck my life, he's overthinking again.

"Obviously not? Remember you did insist that we do less doors yesterday."

"Well then, I guess that means we have to do more doors today."

Now I'm a good best friend to Sully, no, scrap that, I'm a great best friend to Sully, but today was not a day I particularly wanted to stay back just to help satisfy Sully's ego.

"Dude, I fully understand where you're coming from, but you can't really expect me to stay back yet another night for you to come out on top of the boards again."

"Are you kidding me, Mike? After all I've done to help you with everything, you're just going to treat me like this? Do I need to start naming a few favours I've done for you in the past?"

"No."

"The time I got you out of losing your job because you didn't do your paperwork?"

"Stop."

"The amount of times I've covered your ass just so you could go out on dates with Celia?"

This guy can't be serious.

"Or maybe the whole of Monsters Inc. would like to know about your little silver hair fantasy?"

"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there big boy. Fine. I'll go set up a million doors, using your key card by the way, I'm not taking the fall if we get in trouble for taking more doors than we should, just to keep your ugly blue behinds rank up."

The big fella thanked me as I walked off in the distance to get this shit started. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish, and the sooner I can go to sleep.
That face… That body… That hair… I need to finish what I've started. There was no way anyone was going to prolong that for me.

Seventy doors were now summoned and ready for Sully to terrorize the kids that awaited within. But by the forty eighth door, I was beyond irritated. As each door was finished, each one made my frustration grow.

"Do you think you can finish each door a little quicker, big guy?"

"You realise Mike, you can't hurry up a kid into feeling fear. Otherwise the job won't be done properly. You see that rank up there? It won't move an inch."

"Well Sully, maybe if you were just a little bit more scarier, your rank wouldn't be suffering as much."

Judging by the look I received, I knew I might have pushed a nerve too far. But at this point, I didn't care; I wanted to go home.

"Yeah? Well let's see if you can do a better job. Go on, try and scare the shit out of a kid. I've never seen you do that."

I can't believe he went there.

"You fucking went there. If that's what needs to be done to make things go by quicker, then I'm all in. Go on then, get my door ready."

As Sully was getting my door ready, I was psyching myself up for the challenge. The only way I knew how to do that was imagining my grand prize at the end was a drop dead gorgeous angel waiting for me at the finish line.

"Oh your highness, your door is here."

Turning around and looking at the door that Sully had picked out for me, it was rather different than the ones I was used to picking out for Sully. It was worn and dusty, as if it hadn't been used in a while. Paint was stripping back from the frame, revealing dark oak wood behind and a faint fluorescent green glow protruding from the small cracks in the wood.

"What door is this? Why is it glowing green?"

"Just get on with it big shot, who cares if it glows. A true scarer wouldn't question it, but would waltz straight in there and scare the kid on the other side."

Getting beyond sick of his attitude, I began to fade into the room, leaving Sully behind. What was unbeknownst to me, a shadowed figure lurched out of the corner of my eye and grabbed me, shoving me into a bag.

Bowling bag. Of course. Could this day get any worse?