Nobody Likes Mondays (Part 1)

A/N: Huh, finished this chapter a week earlier than suspected! Don't expect this to a regular occurrence though. But I guess you could say I'm sort of aiming for weekly updates with these but fortnightly seems more probable in the long term.

Mike is ridiculously easy to write. I enjoy Sulley and Randall but Mike is much easier for some reason. Or at least I hope he is and I'm not deluding myself with the idea I'm getting his voice down.

My version of Betty is kind of an ass to Mike sometimes (heck I warned you, Betty is pretty much an original character in some ways- only thing we know is Sulley likes her and knows her in some capacity). Her line is in an advertisement so I don't think it can be used to indicate her personality too much anyway. My version does not get on with Mike too well but then considering George's snickering over Mike being in trouble when he was looking for Sulley in the original film I have to wonder if he's that popular to begin with. My Betty likes Sulley well enough though (in a very platonic way I'll stress), but then most people (sans Randall) do. Heh. Also ugh, I'm getting attacked by plot bunnies everytime I write this fic. Plot bunnies which will probably never happen too. (Look to the bottom of my user profile for details if you're actually curious).

Current plot point summary: Sulley told Randall he could talk to him but he may be out of his depth. Meanwhile Randall is implored by Waternoose to recruit Fungus to make up for lost time.

Updated a week early. Next chapter to be posted in the week between 2nd-9th June.


Randall- 2 a.m

He jammed the keys into the lock, turned the door knob and flicked the light switch as he stepped through.

The small apartment flickered into focus and was exactly as he left it. It was sparse in decoration with its cream coloured walls save from a dark leather sofa-bed he'd got second hand with mismatched chairs. There was a tell-tale drip from the tap in the small kitchenette area which he still hadn't got round to fixing. Even as he glanced upwards he noticed that, once-again there was the damp patch his land-lord hadn't looked into. He sighed as he cast an eye over to his answering machine, on a small set of drawers where his alarm clock was also kept. An all too familiar red light was blinking.

He pulled the front door shut with his tail behind him and stared at it before immediately sinking into his old sofa. He moaned a little, out of both a strange combination of relief at the familiar comfort and irritation at what was to come.

"Well let's get this over with," he said to no-one in particular as he hit the 'play' button with his tail.

'You. Have. TWO. Messages." The voice replied. "First Message: 6:12 P.M."

"Randall, you know who this is." Randall groaned. Of course, who else would call him? "Anyway, with regards our discussion earlier I believe I may have come up with a solution." The voice paused. "In any case I believe you have an Assistant on the scare floor, a Mr Jeffrey Frungus I believe? It would probably be best to look into whether he could be recruited for your project and see if he can be trusted. Look into it by Monday."

Straight and to the point; the message ended there.

Fungus. Waternoose wanted him to recruit Fungus to the project.

He lifted a pillow beside him and muffled a scream into it.

Half the time he almost liked working on the damn machine because it got him away from the prattling idiot. Now he was expected to spend even more time with him? This was too much.

But wait, there was a second message! Perhaps he'd changed his mind and come to his senses? He could only hope, even if that was perhaps a fool's errand.

"Second Message: 7:03 P.M."

"Um, uh hey Randall." He sat up.

"Sullivan?" he said in disbelief to himself.

"Boy I hope this is the right number. Uh, I looked this up in the book and well, it was the only Randall Boggs there but um. Yeah. Hang on." There was the sound of scuffling and the sound of springs indicating he was sitting down on a bed.

"Right um, well this is Sulley and I just realised when I told you you could talk to me I never actually knew if you had my number. So here it is: It's 555-42897. That's 555-42897. I uh, don't have a cell phone but I'll be in most of the time, except work. But, uh I guess that's obvious and you'd be at work too anyway so you could talk to me face to face."(Randall could practically hear him forcing an all too wide and awkward smile)."Oh- and I go grocery shopping at 10.30 on Saturday but I'm back just after lunch so, uh any time other than then is probably fine. So um, feel free. Hope you're okay. Bye." There was the sound of further shuffling and a cough before the phone was put down again.

Randall looked to the answering machine as if it could give him an explanation for this.

Of course the machine proved to be entirely unhelpful in this department.

He sighed, forced himself upwards from the sofa and switched off the light again before turning back to it.

As if he'd fall for that. It wasn't as if he really cared. He thought as he moved back towards the sofa again.

He erased Waternooses message first.

He played Sullivan's one more time before erasing it too.

Grunting he lay on the sofa-bed, placing his first pair of arms behind his head as he stared at the ceiling, willing himself to sleep.

Back to the grindstone come Saturday, or rather later on Saturday at least.


Monday Morning

Celia

Celia sighed as she turned her head set off. Briefly she physically took it off and began glaring at it as the source of her current troubles. Suffice to say she had not been looking forward to today, but then Mondays were hardly ever fun for her, especially now in light of further down-sizing and cut benefits which could be on the horizon.

Currently the Complaints and Customer Services Department's future was in flux and so (temporarily) some of the work load was falling on her and other employees until various issues were straightened out. Monday also tended to be the day of choice with which people would lodge complaints of almost any nature. This was usually as this day held the complaints people had been saving up over the weekend. There was nothing quite like a self-entitled monster screaming down the phone at her acting as if whatever screw up which had been made was her own personal fault. While she normally held a calm and even tone on the phone it sometimes took a lot out of her. Seeing her boyfriend and friends was really the only bright spot of her day.

But it was far too early for most of them to be here, she thought, rather sullenly. She leaned on her right arm, holding her chin and sighed wistfully.

"Oh hey Celia! I was uh, wondering if I could ask you something?"

She snapped back into focus. Thank the gods. Her prayers had been answered. A break from this. She hadn't even noticed him come in!

Celia looked up in surprise. "Oh Sulley! Of course!" she smiled pleasantly, not fully taking in his own strained smile in her delight. "You're early this morning." She leaned over the desk and looked around her "But where's-"

"Sulley!" Mike exclaimed with a wheeze from the front door. The metal lunch box he held in his hand fell to the floor with a clatter as he gripped the side of the door handle.

"I- hold a second." He gasped holding a finger up. "Hold on, hold on."

Sulley and Celia glanced at one another.

Mike finally sighed and then set his eye on Sulley glaring all the while.

"I can't believe you just left me like that!" he exclaimed accusingly at his friend as he moved closer. Sulley groaned. "What you think my job is easy or something that you can just do it on top of your own today and leave me in the dust? Because if you feel that way-"

"Look Mike, calm down." Sulley replied. " I don't think that at all. I'm sorry okay, I just really had to get here and-"

"How did you get here before me anyway? I was driving and you just hop out of the car and say you'll walk and see me there?!" He threw his hands in the air. "That. Is . Rude!" he exclaimed pointing and waving his finger at him with each word. "You probably hurt my baby's feelings." He said mornfully.

"It's a car. It doesn't have feelings." Sulley said flatly.

"You take that back!"

"Traffic was bad. It was taking too long and well as you can plainly see walking actually got me here faster. I have… I have things to take care of, okay? Sorry."

"We're early. Why you wanted to cut training short this morning Mr Marshmallow and drag me out the door had better be im-"

"Oh Googly bear- are you really going to just argue when you could be giving me a hello kiss?" Celia suddenly teased.

Mike's annoyed expression suddenly dissolved in a ray of light. He grinned as he glanced up at her, his argument momentarily forgotten.

"Oh Smoopsy Poo, how utterly rude of me for me to deny my lips upon your wondrous skin." He chuckled to himself as he took her hand, kissing it immediately afterwards.

Sulley coughed and scratched his head, glad of the interruption, if not all together comfortable with what it involved.

"Uh, I don't mean to be rude Celia, but I was wondering…."

"Oh yes, of course Sulley. You wanted to ask me something." Celia smiled as Mike looked on annoyed at his romantic advances being interrupted, "Ask away."

"Well I was wondering, has Randall- you know Randall Boggs checked in to work yet today?"

"Oh!" She said looking surprised. "Let me just check here…" she trailed off, typing at a small computer. "Mmm, yes, Mr. Boggs checked in over an hour ago according to these records. Before I started, so I didn't see him."

Odd. Sulley thought. Or maybe it was normal for Randall. He couldn't be sure after all.

Mike peeked over the desk. "Why are you looking for that big jerk?"

"Any ideas where he might be?" he asked, pushing the smaller monster down with two of his fingers and ignoring Mike's question. Mike's eyelid and brow lowered at this as he looked up at him.

Celia however looked thoughtful. "Well maybe the Cafeteria, a lot of monsters go there for Breakfast after all."

"Okay. Thanks Celia!" Sulley said, immediately brightening. "I'll go check there."

Celia stared after him curiously. It was odd, but before he'd lit up like that she'd barely noticed his earlier look of concern.

"Hey, Sulley!" Mike called after him, causing the few other monsters to look round at him. "If you think that lizard is up to something you really should let your Assistant in on it!"

But he was already gone.

"Geez, talk about all the big-headed inconsiderate-"

"Is Sulley okay Mike?"

Mike at first startled looked up to her, his expression softening. She only called him Mike when she was particularly worried. "He's actually been acting a little strange all weekend. But eh, he'll bounce back, he always does." He shrugged, waving his hand dismissively, his previous held annoyance forgotten once more. "Now my dear, what can brave Sir. Michael do for his beautiful Princess this fine morning." he said, bowing and holding her hand.

Celia laughed, retracted her hand and looked to her right. "Well I am a little hungry myself. I could do with a snack but… I can't leave my post. Even though I did skip breakfast today." She grimaced as she looked at the phone which connected to her headset. Talking to yet another annoyed customer or former employee on an empty stomach was hardly appealing.

"Ah ha! Then I shall go on a noble quest! To breakfast!" he raised his finger dramatically.

"Oh Michael. You know how that place gets on Mondays. Don't go to too much trouble."

"Nothing is too much for my Smoopsy-Poo" he said brightly. "Onward!" he exclaimed, scurrying off in the direction Sulley had been heading in.

Celia laughed.


Sulley

It is a multi-universal constant that no-one, be they human, monster or an energy entity unbound by physical structure truly liked Mondays.

Even when someone genuinely liked their job most of the time these feelings could become instantly forgotten come Monday morning, when after two days (in which getting up was purely optional) the individual was forced to rise a few hours earlier then their body otherwise wanted to.

One attempt to raise employee morale in Monsters Inc- especially in light of some difficulties the company faced- was to introduce 'Muffin Mondays': because happiness was somehow locked inside baked goods. To be fair, for many employees this was true. Those who came early to work could be greeted with a 3 for 1 offer in fresh muffins in the cafeteria.

Of course one could say the inevitable blood bath which would result over the limited amount of baked goods was yet another reason to dislike Mondays, at least in Monsters Incorporated. Which Sulley was unfortunately in the middle of right now. He wasn't even sure why he was here. He liked them, true (though not as much as Mike possibly did, judging by the trickle of drool leaving his friends mouth), but his mind was elsewhere to the level where he was almost afraid of stepping on someone smaller than him. Also, given the force of movement from behind as they surged forward, this seemed to increase in likelihood with each passing moment. He was pretty sure someone's tentacle was poking him in the back and someone else's hand was dangerously close to something just a tad lower. It took all his willpower not to simply snap and push his way out. He didn't want muffins this badly. Not really.

Still he supposed Mike's mere force of personality was keeping him locked in the queue despite his ever pressing desire to get away from here. He did feel kind of bad for ditching him and how he'd been acting earlier.

He was just worried. It was difficult to distract him when he was looking for something; or rather in this case someone.

Randall was no-where in sight. Sulley somehow doubted that was due to him using his blending technique to snatch a muffin and get out with all his limbs intact. (Not that he'd blame him, given the circumstances, he thought as he swatted George's hand away).

Though perhaps he should have expected this. He wasn't sure he could remember the last time he'd seen him in here for lunch let alone breakfast. For some reason the fact: "Randall isn't here" had never even registered in his mind as unusual. It was just normal really not to see him around much except on the Scare floor or the locker area.

But on thinking on it, it wasn't normal. He bit his lip.

He was silently stewing on this until he reached the head of the line. He hadn't even noticed until Mike nudged him and he noticed the wide gap in front of him.

"Monstropolis to Sull'" he called, "Your turn you big lug." He shook his head as Sulley looked around sheepishly at a few of the monsters behind him who were tapping their feet impatiently.

"Oh- Oh right, uh huh. Sorry." He said slipping an extra note to the stressed out server before selecting three of them. He was finally free! He still had some time before he had to be on the Scare Floor, so it was possible to do a once over of the locker area to see if he could bump into who he was searching for.

As it happened however, Mike may have snapped him back into focus at the right moment.

"Just be quick about it Fungus" he heard a familiar growl coming from the main door looking into this very room. "We haven't got all day."

He glanced to his left. Sure enough there was who he had been looking for all this time pushing his stammering Assistant through the door.

"Just hurry up and stop stammering! Gods be damned..." he snorted, his voice too low for almost anyone else to here, unless they were paying attention.

Well. Here goes nothing. Sulley thought.

"Hey Sulley." Mike said as he moved away. "Sulley, get back here!" he exclaimed. "I can't reach these muffins by myself! They're too high up! Don't abandon me. Again." He emphasised dramatically.

But once again it seemed Sulley hadn't heard him. Mike huffed and tapped his own foot impatiently. He just didn't understand what was with the guy lately.

"Oh come on Mike," said a soft voice "It's not like you're helpless without him." Mike turned around and scowled.

"Oh hey Betty. Didn't see you there." He said dryily as she moved forward, glaring as she nudged him forward impatiently.

"If I can't reach the damn things how on earth am I going to get one for my beloved Celia, mmm? Tell me that Miss Smarty Pants." he folded his arms and pouted. "Nudging me won't get them down any faster sister." He then looked at his nails. The large line behind them groaned. Not another set back.

Betty rolled her eyes, stepped forwards and stood on her tip-toes reaching towards the goods.

"Here," she said flatly, placing three muffins in his arms within moments. Silence reigned for several moments, and George right behind him, chuckled.

"You are taller than me you know." He flushed as she turned around and collected her own share.

"Barely." She replied, spinning one of her muffins on one of her fingers. She smirked at him before elbowing one of them upwards like a basketball. George snapped it up in his mouth and grinned.

"Thanks!" he said, muffled from the treat. He belched in satisfaction.

"Show-off." Mike muttered.


As Sulley stepped through the doorway and Randall looked at him, he felt all his previously held self-confidence strip itself away. He'd had a plan- of sorts- for when he eventually saw him again but it seemed that now, getting to the actual event, his mind went completely blank.

He coughed. Randall just raised a brow at him, crossing two pairs of his arms as he looked back towards the coffee machine he was in front of, waiting for the polystyrene cup to fill.

Sulley suspected Randall had a more meaningful relationship with the various coffee machines in the building than anyone else in the company. He certainly spent enough quality time with them. He began to rock on the heels of his feet as he waited. He stopped however as soon as Randall glared at him. He supposed it did look like he was in line for his own beverage and was trying to rush him.

"Um, hey Randall, how's the coffee?" her asked, after he'd grabbed the cup and taken a sip.

Okay, this was good. Just be casual. Everything would be fine.

"Why? Want to spill it for me again?" he replied dryily.

Or not.

"Um, no. No. Of course not. That was an accident and I'll never do it again." He babbled gripping the muffins and resisted the urge to rock slightly on the heels of his feet again. He was suddenly glad he was covered in fur. He was sure that he would have been flushing an attractive shade of salmon pink otherwise. He'd completely forgotten about that incident until now.

"I was joking Sullivan. Sort of." He said, stifling a yawn. "Just don't get any ideas and watch where you're going for once." He warned. Sulley relaxed. It wouldn't do to have them both on edge anyway even if he'd been serious.

Randall looked over the other monsters side and glared towards the door behind him.

"Um, I'm pretty sure Fungus will be some time." Sulley suddenly said in understanding. "The line was pretty long behind us there."

"Ugh perfect." he said, sounding repulsed. "Little delicate chicken bean just has to have his little food fix in the mornings."

"He has to eat Randall," Sulley said sounding reproachful. "And you have your own little fixes in the morning." He said glancing down at the rapidly emptying coffee cup.

"Give me a break Sullivan I have a head ache." he grunted. "I don't need breakfast anyway. I'm fine with coffee. I'm not some pansy who cries for food every hour of the day."

Sulley frowned at this and looked ready to object. Sure sometimes people skipped breakfast if they'd slept in, but it sounded like he'd been up earlier than most of the other employees here. And scaring or being a Scaring Assistant kept you on your feet. It was natural to burn more calories than at a desk job. It didn't sound particularly healthy to him.

Suddenly however Randall's stomach began to gurgle itself, in objection perhaps at its owners statement. At this Randall seemed to blush, his fronds beginning to flare. He glared at Sulley as if daring him to say something.

It was said that in almost every member of the Sullivan family, regardless of their gender or actual age, was a 70 year old grandmother dying to get out. Usually in an attempt end world hunger. It just needed the right situation in which to express itself. Of this, Sulley himself was of no exception.

"So you haven't eaten breakfast? That might explain the headache." He thought of Fungus. "Well, partly anyway."

"Did I ask for your input?" Randall snapped. At first Sulley said nothing for a few moments. He glanced down at the bundle of food in his arms before looking at him again.

"Want a muffin?"

Randall narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"It's Monday. I have spare muffins."

He said nothing but looked skeptically at him.

"Surely you can't say no to a muffin. Everybody likes muffins."

Randall looked at them.

"No." he replied flatly looking him dead in the eyes, briefly destroying his statement of truth.

"What are you scared of it? Come on they're like giant cupcakes." While he didn't know Randall that well, he did know he couldn't resist a challenge no matter how absurd if his past interactions with Mike were any indication.

Randall glowered at him.

"No they're not like cupcakes. Not really. And you're ridiculous. I'm not scared of a damn muffin Sullivan. Are you high or something?"

"Scared of a muffin. Hey you were always better at studying than me, what phobia would that be anyway?"

"… give me the damn muffin Sullivan."

He snatched a blueberry flavoured one from the pile and scarfed it down with some choking.

"Chew Randall." He said, lightly patting him on the back. Randall knocked his hand away scowling once again.

"What are you? My mother?" he replied swallowing. "See, all gone mom." He opened his mouth sticking his tongue out. Immediately afterwards he felt a burp erupt. He hunched his shoulders in mild embarrassment and glanced around him.

"Better? Head ache going down?" he smiled.

"Oh shut up Sullivan." He said, now looking at his hands as if picking nails which weren't there, but if anything he almost sounded amused, even if he still was perhaps a bit annoyed.

Sulley simply beamed in reply and at this Randall snorted at his expression. Perhaps it really wouldn't be so bad. He could do this. Randall wasn't so hard to talk to after all.

"Ah! James!" Sulley froze, his smile becoming a fractured imitation as he heard the all too familiar and friendly voice calling from lower down the hall…


A/N: Oh Sulley you should know better than to tempt fate. But then I may be doing that myself by trying to vaguely incorporate parts of the prequel before I can even see it (July in the UK! -Sobs-). Monday for Sulley, Randall and others (the most wonderful day of the week!) will continue for one more chapter. Expect it to be posted somewhere between the 2nd and 9th of June. Thanks for all your lovely reviews on the previous chapter!