If I may, if I may, ladies and gentlemen. Please excuse the length of this intro, but I felt as I prepared it the need to fashion a sort of prologue to this story; I shall explain this need with all else, further in.
Originally, as those who've viewed my profile any time since April 2013 will know, I'd been toying with the idea of parodying the opera "Pagliacci" using the universe of "The Lion King". I put up a poll to get others' opinions, but over time I lost interest in the idea. I'm actually glad, because it freed my mind to realize how much more fitting this idea is. It hit me sometime back in December how easily this concept could develop from Mike's ill-fated friendship with Randy, and it seemed too enticing an idea to let slide.
So, the story is an alternate universe in the realm of "Monsters University", caused by a heavy dose of "Pagliacci". In this AU Mike and Randy's friendship is a much bigger deal for Mike than the movie implied; to put it simply, slash is involved. While I intend to keep the characters as true to themselves as I can, naturally a few adjustments had to be made here and there for the sake of flow. Rather than alter the MU characters, however, I've tried to incorporate traits from those of "Pagliacci" along with their already established traits. Mike is in the role parallel to Canio, the main character of "Pagliacci", Randy is parallel to Nedda, Canio's unfaithful wife, and one of the RΩR fraternity members is a counterpart to Nedda's lover, Silvio. I just can't bring myself to openly state which one until it's time to bring him into the picture, but the summary accompanying the link makes it clear enough. It's a rather popular pairing as I've found.
Before we get on with it I also want to inform the readers in advance - especially if they're familiar with this opera or want to learn about it - of a few things. First, I was not able to accommodate every feature from the opera in this story - I could not think of a specific character who would fit as Tonio the fool's counterpart (hence why my opening author's notes are moonlighting as the prologue), and it's not hard to carry out the basic plot without this role, anyway. Second, the characters are not "singing" as if this were an opera (that just wouldn't feel right!), so the story is more like a libretto (to specify which segments parallel the arias, I've started and ended the characters' speech in each one with an 8). And third, I chose the title "Spaventatores" because, as "Pagliacci" means "Clowns" or "Performers" in Italian, I thought it would be best to name this story the Italian equivalent to "Scarers", should there exist such a term. With good fortune I found, after checking the Italian Wikipedia's article on the film, that they do have an equivalent word, and you'll know the rest!
This then, ought to be enough information to make this first chapter understandable. Now watch as it unfolds - on with the story! Begin!
Without a doubt, this was the worst day of Mike Wazowski's life. Everything he'd worked for, everything he'd dreamed of since childhood, gone in a snap. The worst part was that no matter how many times he went over it in his head, he couldn't shake the certainty that - regardless of Dean Hardscrabble's flat statement that he was not a scary monster - had Sullivan not drawn attention to them in the first place he might still be in the Scare Program. Oh, he hated that monster so much right now! The fact that the RΩRs had abandoned Sullivan the moment he was kicked out of the course was the very least of what he deserved for being such a jerk. Not that Mike cared in the slightest what went on with the top fraternity on campus, but whoever they chose to replace him…well, they could only do better.
"Hey, Mike," a voice called quietly from a few feet away. Mike glanced up, drawn from his thoughts, to see a reptilian monster with bright green eyes, offering him a soft, consoling smile. He sighed, then mustered up the effort to return the favour.
"Hey, Randy," he replied, meeting up with his roommate. Randy placed his two right arms around Mike as the pair walked down the steps together, onto the campus grounds. Neither spoke for a moment, but finally Mike decided to break the silence. "So, did you get your results from Professor Knight?"
"Huh? Oh uh, sure. The results, yeah." Randy spoke dismissively, trying to close the subject again. Mike would find out anyway, but right now was not the time to openly state that, while Mike had been dropped from the program, Randy was deemed acceptable and would be continuing in the next semester.
Mike, however, wanted it out in the open, right now. "You passed, huh?"
Randy held his breath, then submitted. "Fine. Yes I did."
"That's what I thought," Mike replied, returning his gaze to document the journey of his feet, treading sadly along the ground.
"I'm sorry, Mike," Randy offered, but Mike cut him off.
"Ha. Sorry? What's there to be sorry about? I've only worked day and night, even over the hols, since I was a little kid, with this one goal in mind, to become the greatest scarer the world has ever seen! Only put up with everyone telling me right from the start that I don't have what it takes, that I'm never gonna be a scarer, that I don't even belong here! And why did I put up with it, you ask? Because I thought, no scratch that, I believed deep down that I could prove them all wrong. That one day they would see just how scary Mike Wazowski really is! And I was almost there, Randy, I could practically taste the A+ on that exam! And then what does that big blue idiot do? He knocks into that stupid can, incites the dean's wrath, and gets us both kicked out! Why? Why drag me into it, Dean Hardscrabble? He started it, not me!"
As Mike poured his emotions out, he did not bestow any acknowledgement to the students passing by them in various directions, casting pondering glances in theirs. Randy noticed, however, and didn't like all the negative attention his friend was drawing to them. "Mike, come on! You're making a scene!"
"Oh, that's all you care about?" Mike snapped, turning on Randy now. "Your best friend's only had his lifelong dream smashed up and rubbed right back in his face, but that's okay! Just as long as he doesn't make a scene and embarrass you!"
"Mike, I didn't say that -"
"Ah - ah - ah! Save it! Spare me the clichés, I already understand! After all, you passed the exam! Hardscrabble wants you back at the end of the break! It must be hard enough to know that your roommate and best friend flunked, because he's 'not scary'! I suppose yelling's only making it worse for you, huh?"
"Mike, Mike!" Randy hissed, gripping the green cyclops with all four hands and shaking him. He glanced around, beginning to fade from view as soon as he saw the many glances of surprise and disapproval they were receiving.
As soon as Randy shook him and vanished, Mike snapped out of it, and looked nervously around at the staring student body. After he had assured them unconvincingly that everything was alright, and everyone had continued on their way as before, he called to Randy to continue with him, and the lizard reappeared, proceeding with Mike towards their dorm.
"I'm sorry, Randy," Mike apologized on the way. "I know I shouldn't take it out on you."
"That's okay, Mike," Randy replied. "Let's just go back to our room and forget about it."
Which they might have done, were it not for a passing student from Scaring 101 who jabbed Mike in the side. "Hey, Wazowski," the fellow sneered, "that was some real slip-up, in front of the dean, huh?"
The two roommates glared at the monster, and Randy grabbed Mike's hand, urging him forward faster, "Come on, Mike, just ignore him."
Mike's attention was not on what Randy was saying, however. "Hey buddy, I'm not the one who slipped up! It was all that Sullivan fellow, and you know -"
"Let's go. Now," Randy pressed, strain entering his tone of voice while he went behind his companion and tried to push him along. Mike kept arguing the point with the other monster, however, and finally Randy snapped, "Look, Mike, you didn't listen to me the first time, and look what it got you! For goodness sakes, let it go!"
At times like this Randy often wished he could make his voice disappear like he could his body. He winced, awaiting Mike's temperamental accusations, but they never came. The cyclops instead turned back to the lizard and mumbled, "You're right." He was. If Mike had just gone with him and not said anything back to Sullivan, then the whole fiasco could have been avoided. It was undeniable that Sullivan had cast the line, but even so, no one could deny that Mike had taken the bait. That was the hardest part of the truth to accept, but it was still part of the truth.
Mike was more glad than ever that he had Randy. In this his darkest hour he had never needed the lizard's sympathy and support so much. Whereas on their own either could be easily crushed - not so much Mike, with his drive and determination - as a team they were virtually invincible. Both of them had trouble befriending others, though it bothered Randy more, but they'd clicked with each other right away. Whenever the stress of studying or campus life in general became too much for one, the other was there to lend a comforting hand… or two. Whenever one had a problem the other was able to help. Yes indeed, Mike knew he'd not been wrong the day he'd told himself that behind the door of his dorm room awaited a lifelong friend… maybe one day something more, he hoped, but for right now, until he knew if Randy did or ever could feel that way about him, he was satisfied with friendship.
"Hey, look out for yourself, Boggs!" Another passerby called, keeping a more respectful distance from the two freshmen than the first one. "I wouldn't feel safe if it was me livin' with that green fireball!" the fellow laughed, mockingly. Mike drew himself up a little straighter, and it was altogether possible that he had not picked up on the sarcasm edging the monster's voice.
"Well…" Randy began, not sure if he should reply, and yet somehow reluctant to stay silent. The monster apparently was not done joking around yet, however.
"Y'know, it's going around the RΩRs gave ol' Sullivan the chop after he blew it in class. Maybe you should offer yourself so they can protect you!"
Randy was becoming more and more uncomfortable by the second. This exchange was bad enough for its intent to belittle Mike, but now it was getting very disturbing for the lizard. The worst part was, undoubtedly, Mike's interjection.
"8 Oh, you think so, huh?" the green monster asked, sauntering up to the other. "Well let me tell you this, Smart Guy. You don't want to make jokes like that around me. You, the RΩRs, everyone here on campus can take this as official: No one, but no one, comes between me and my friend. Yeah, I know, nobody here thinks all that much of me. The RΩRs don't see the scarer in me, Dean Hardscrabble doesn't see the scarer in me, Sullivan doesn't, maybe nobody around us does. And don't think I haven't heard the things they say about me either. But I don't really care. I know I have what it takes, no matter what they say, and I know that somehow I'll find a way to prove it to everyone."
That all-too familiar look of fierce, single-minded determination grew more and more apparent as Mike spoke. In seconds, however, it was replaced with a very different expression. "But for right now let me just make one thing clear: If anyone ever tried to take Randy away from me…" Mike gave a grin which may not have sent shivers down most spines, but would definitely succeed in raising eyebrows. "If anyone tried to separate us, then they'd see just how scary Mike Wazowski can be. You don't wanna make jokes like that, believe me. 8"
Randy found himself wetting his lips with his tongue, what with the air immediately surrounding them supposedly having turned uncharacteristically arid for this location, this time of year. He stepped inconspicuously away from Mike, before slipping and falling with an emphatic groan. His skin assumed the colour of the grass, even as he picked himself up again. In the meantime, Mike's "conversation" with the other monster continued.
"Jeez, you're not like, 'queers', are you?" the fellow drew back in prepared disgust. Homophobe without shame, it seemed.
Just as suddenly as Mike's demeanour had darkened, he was his normal, funny self again. "What? Of course not!" he laughed, waving off the idea. "Come on pal, are you saying two guys can't just be roomies and best buds anymore? That's the joke of the century, it has to be!" Laughing vigorously for a moment he then sighed. "Come on, Randy," he said, patting Randy amiably on the back and leading him away from their now bewildered companion-of-late. Despite the unnatural quality of his sudden good humour, Randy played along, putting on a grin for his roommate. Even so, considering the chilly December weather and his naturally cold-blooded body, his hands all seemed oddly damp…
/
As Randy had about forty minutes to wait till the bus which would take him home for the Christmas break arrived, he decided to use that time exploring the buildings of Monsters University a bit. Without the rush of classes he had the chance to really get a good look at everything, and to allow his mind to dally on more trivial details of the environment. It was something decidedly called for at the moment, for his current thoughts were deeply troubled. Plus, what reptilian without a death wish would want to spend more time outside in this weather than they had to?
It was lucky that Mike's trip home had already been made, otherwise Randy doubted he would've been able to get this alone time. Since that perturbing conversation with that colleague the day of the exam, Mike had scarcely let Randy out of his sight. He'd almost missed the bus which was to transport him back to his neighbourhood, he'd been so busy fussing over Randy's well-being during the Christmas break; was he sure he'd be okay without him, would he remember to keep in touch till they returned to MU (and really, a full and complete update on his statistics every other hour, each day!), and was he certain beyond a doubt that he could survive if Mike went home first?
Mike was generally not a weird guy, but it was irrefutably peculiar how the majority of the time the first thing on his mind was studying and developing as a scarer, but the moment something even looked like a threat to his connection with Randy, it was all the lizard could do to desperately try and calm him down before he went through with that crazy, obscure superglue idea…
It was more than just annoying that Mike was so possessive of him, although that was a keystone to the problem. Along with the obvious obtainment of his graduate degrees, his goal for university was to finally gain the social popularity he'd craved all his life. Things had seemed after the first frat party he'd attended to be falling back into the usual pattern, but as time went on he'd actually managed to make several acquaintances in the student body.* Apparently high grades were - to some extent - considered more "hip" by those at university level than by those in high school. Even so, he found out early on that he had to keep his interactions with other students secret from Mike. He did not need a routine dose of the grief he'd been given by the cyclops in the beginning, over this.
He knew Mike meant no harm by any of it, but Randy found himself increasingly suffocated by the clingy nature of his roommate. Mike was just the sort who put a greater amount of investment into a smaller group of friends, in the long run anyway. Randy tried to tolerate the standards his friend was content to live by, but it truly was not enough for him. He needed a network, a vast group of people who could offer him positive acknowledgement, approval, respect. Sometimes… sometimes it was just agonizingly tempting to sever ties with Mike and switch lodgings, in the heat of the moment.
Randy grimaced, second pair of arms folded across his chest, as he wandered through the hall, submissive to his thoughts. He didn't really want to lose Mike's friendship. For all he smothered him and jealously tried to guard him from interaction with other colleagues, Mike was incredibly fun and upbeat to work or just hang out with, in his better moods. His aura of optimism and aspiration had drawn the lizard to him the day they'd met, and he could even say with a straight face that part of him could still melt over the charm of those qualities. Furthermore, Mike's encouragement and partnership when it came to studying was a big help. Even if Mike would not be in Scaring 101 when the next semester started up, Randy knew he was well-enough informed on the topic of scaring that he could practically take over Professor Knight's job - at least part time. Mike also had a knack for inspiring those he worked with, and for building up their confidence. Randy himself had been so insecure when he'd first arrived at MU. One couldn't say he'd flipped 180 degrees on that score, but since knowing Mike he'd found going from 'testing the waters' to 'wading in' a notably simpler transgression.
Randy stopped at a window which looked out onto the university grounds, so lush and green at the beginning of the semester but so bleak and deserted now. Doing his best to avoid the cool glass - even indoors and adorned with his cosiest sweater, he was still finding it hard not to shiver - he still chose to stop here for a moment, and sat himself down on the floor, leaning his upper arms on the window sill and hugging the lower two inside each other's sleeves for extra warmth.
Not for the first time he wondered just why Mike saw the need to "protect" him so adamantly. He almost believed 100 percent that it was because the green monster was attracted to him, but he had never provided cement for the foundation that this was the case, nor for the foundation that it wasn't. Randy had never seen fit to ask either, so he couldn't lend fact to his suspicions, strong as they were.
If Mike was inclined to him that way, however, it was a crying shame. It was a crying shame, not because Randy was not oriented like that himself, but rather because he was. He'd truthfully harboured fantasies in the start about their friendship blossoming into a college romance somewhere not too far down the road. And perhaps, just perhaps a corner of the reason his glasses had begun to vacation more and more from their job in aiding his vision was a desire to please Mike - he had made the suggestion, after all. It was even flattering the first few times that Mike had barred him off from the other students, trying to make himself look as big and intimidating as possible for a reason other than an A+.
Frankly, though, what had been flattering to begin with did not procrastinate in descending into pure irritation, even anxiety. Ironic. What Mike had helped Randy to rise above he was now suddenly bringing right up to level with him again. He tried not to think about it most of the time, or tell himself that he could take care of the issue later, but the reality was, it had started to look more and more necessary, for both his physical and his mental health, to just take a rain check on their friendship and be away from Mike for some time. That was long before Christmastime was able to offer such sanctity.
It was around that time, too, that one of those secret acquaintances - for many specific reasons a chance find in itself - had begun to take a stronger stand. The unnerved look on the lizard's face transformed, ever so fleetingly, into a hopeful, arguably dreamy smile, and his heart quickly thudded as thoughts of that association entered his mind. The excitement in all those late-night sneak-outs which began under the guise of what resulted from one too many cups of water before bed. The thrill of clambering, blended, out the bathroom window and down from the building, relentlessly charting the university grounds and defying the increasingly threatening frigidity of the outdoors, knowing who and what awaited him at the end of his risk-laden voyage. The glee of knowing that as long as Mike remained unawares, he could continue these midnight rendevous and still maintain harmony in their friendship.
As long as Mike did not find out.
Randy's eyes rested on his reflection in the glass, and he frowned. His memory turned back to what had happened after the exam, focusing on Mike's response to that monster's teasing.
"8 If only Hardscrabble had seen Mike then," Randy confided in his reflection. "You'd almost think he was the kind of monster that can shoot fire out from their eyes. I was so nervous… If I hadn't tripped myself right then he might have figured me out. Ugh, I'd never hear the end of it if he found out - I'd probably never even be able to shower on my own again!"
He gave the Randy in the glass a lofty, disdainful glare. "You're pathetic, you know that? Absolutely pathetic! Afraid of a monster everyone laughs at for ever thinking he could make it as a scarer. Heck, he was just cut from the program, need I stress the point?"
No, he needn't. What good was accusing himself? It wouldn't change the mixture of emotions frothing about inside him, or fix the external problems egging them on. With glazed eyes, he turned his view up to the cloudy sky, threatening rain, or maybe, Heaven forbid, snow. "Come on, Randy," he chided himself. "It's the same way every winter - you're just feeling stuck and sulking because of it." He paused. "Except it's not the cold that's got you cornered this time…"
He then rose from the window-side and resumed his solitary exploration of the building. So much for relaxing with the small details. Eventually he came to another window, out of which Greek Row could be seen. His squinted eyes widened in wonder, despite the fuzzier blur which resulted. Not that the houses were exactly spellbinding examples of architecture, but what went on inside them… well.
"Now frats and sororities. They've got it all," he remarked. "I think Mom said she was with the EEKs, way back. If I could be accepted by a fraternity…" He closed his eyes for a second, imagining the possibilities. "They get all the recognition here, they throw and attend all the parties, everyone looks up to them. That could be me. Going places, meeting people, getting respect. And in a brotherhood you've always got a bunch of people by your side… unless you're a total jerk and screw things up like Sullivan."
His hands all clasped behind his back, he sauntered a few steps in reverse from the window, permitting himself to get a little more lost in his fantasies. "Every kind of security I could ever ask for, and all it takes is an interested frat with an opening. If the winds of change ever choose to blow that way,* my sail's waiting! 8"
He was startled from his fantasies by the sound of clapping close at hand. Very briefly he winced. Great, just great. Oh, in who's presence did he have the misfortune of being poetic? If word got around that he talked to himself even on occasion, especially like that, he'd be cemented as "uncool" forever. Already preparing his internal goodbyes to those dreams he'd just reflected on, he turned to meet the interloper he'd just humiliated himself in front of…
…And became as breathless as an image when he saw who it was.
AN: I like to think I did well with Randy's musings there, but I'm not sure. It had to parallel Nedda's aria "Qual fiamma avea nel guardo/Stridono lassu", but it also had to make sense with Randy's situation. I figured if I could hear the lines in Steve Buscemi's voice, in my mind, then I did it right.
Well, that's chapter one. Until next time, and before we leave for the time being, I'll provide the notes I marked with those asterisks:
1. That's a nod to the part of the "Kicked out of Scaring" scene in MU, where Randy is shown conversing with those other students before witnessing Mike and Sulley blow it for themselves.
2. My guess is, since he's got a poster bearing the phrase "Winds of change", and he also quotes that in "Monsters Inc.", it must hold a lot of meaning for him.