The next morning while his friends slept, Randall went into the kitchen to make his cupcakes for them. He owed Brooklyn the bike ride anyway. No one ever gave him that much fun before.
Smiling now that his good vision was back since his earliest youth, he was able to find the ingredients such as flour, eggs, and such. He already knew the gargoyles liked some sweet things like cake from what Broadway had told him that his brothers enjoyed.
I hope they like it, and not screw up with it, the lizard monster thought. He also hoped he still remembered how to make them because he hadn't made any since college.
Swallowing, Randall set out the things he needed and prepared the dry and wet ingredients. He knew this was going to take a while to do.
Xanatos and Owen were walking by talking about business when suddenly they heard noise in the kitchen. Looking at each other, they went to investigate. And to their surprise; they saw Randall baking, covered in flour, sometimes an egg or two on the floor but stirring in the wet and dry ingredients now.
"And what are you up to?" David asked, brow raised. This made Randall jump, turning around.
"Oh! Uh, just a surprise treat for my friends…" Randall muttered awkwardly, now knowing this must make him not look so tough. Owen couldn't help the smallest of smiles on his face. "Well then, we won't bother you, I'm sure they'll enjoy them," he said. Randall grinned shyly from Owen's statement, nodding. David too inclined his head and the two went about their business.
….
It took most of the day, but he finished his two batches of cupcakes by the time Elisa came around. The top row of cupcakes said You're my pals on the icing. Elisa found a tired and flour covered Randall just sitting in front of the tv but pleased with himself.
"Hey, Randall," Elisa greeted. Randall saw her, smiling. "Hi. Finished a little something for our friends. Cupcakes I once made when I was young." Elisa was happy that Randall was willing to go through the trouble to please his new friends.
"That sounds good," she said. Randall wiped his forehead. "Was hard but hopefully worth it. How long until they're awake?"
"An hour," Elisa informed. Randall was grateful. That gave him time to clean up so they didn't expect it. The cupcakes needed to cool anyway. He had questions though.
"Elisa, are there any other gargoyles besides this one clan?" he asked curiously. Elisa was surprised at his question but gladly answered, shaking her head.
"Not by a longshot. At first when I met them, they thought they were the only six. Me, Goliath, Angela, and Bronx encountered many others including Japan, in Guatemala, and London, England. Gargoyles live there, too. Plus, there's also the Mutate Clan led by my brother who was turned into a mutate by Dr. Sevarius."
Randall's fronds went up from that at the idea of being turned into a mutated gargoyle but wondered what he could look like as one. Too bad he didn't know any spells.
"Perhaps sometime you can meet my brother and his mate, Maggie. I'm sure they'd welcome you," Elisa then suggested. Randall felt unsure since he was a purebred monster.
"You sure? They were once human and may not like me…" he muttered. Elisa put a hand on his upper arm. "I'll talk to my brother before they meet you and explain everything about you helping the clan out. And maybe you can bring some cupcakes too. Claw will probably like them." Randall's lips went upward just a little. Yeah. That sounded good.
"Gotta go wash up; can you make sure the cupcakes are ok until they wake? Don't want them to see them yet, it's a surprise," he asked. Elisa nodded when going into the kitchen while Randall quickly cleaned himself in the bathroom.
Meanwhile, the clan all awoke. Angela noticed that Randall wasn't there. "Hey guys, where's Randall?" she asked. The Trio shrugged. "I'll look for him," Brooklyn said, going indoors. As soon as he had gone in there was Randall, looking rather shy.
"Hey, Rand. What's new?" The red gargoyle asked.
"Well… I-I wanted to do something for you guys as a thank you for allowing me into your clan, and for that bike ride. It's-it's in the kitchen," he said nervously. Brooklyn tilted his head, curious, following his friend, the others behind.
Randall went in, Elisa having put the cupcakes on a plate. He smiled; she did a good job. Brooklyn's eyes widened; this was definitely a surprise. "Whoa, where did these cupcakes come from?" Broadway gasped in surprise too, he hadn't remembered making these!
Hudson saw the vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with white or purple icing on them with lettering: you're my pals. The elder gave Randall an awed gaze.
"Lad, was this you?" he questioned. Randall's cheeks heated up again. "Y-yeah. Was that ok?" Angela came up, hugging him. "Of course it was, it was a wonderful surprise! Thank you!" she said. Randall hugged her back, glad that his hard work was finally appreciated. Goliath too was pleased at how much effort their new friend put into his treats.
The gargoyles went to try them while Broadway made other food to go with it; having it be turned into an official party. Brooklyn smiled from the taste that bounced off his tongue. The cupcakes were light too. Randall sure knew how to bake.
"Randall, these tasted great! I guess it sometimes can be fun to have surprise cupcakes for breakfast!" he said. Randall grinned. "Probably," he chuckled. But deep down, Randall knew that sooner or later, he would have to tell his new family about his bad past.
That's gonna be hard… he thought with his fronds lowering but tried ignoring it when just enjoying a party with his friends.
….
When the party died down, Randall eventually decided to at least tell some part of his past while leaving out the bits about nearly harming a human child. The clan would hate him for doing such a thing anyway.
He went up to Goliath. "G-Goliath? I-I wanted to talk to some of you about my past troubles. I wasn't always a cupcake making guy," the lizard mumbled. Goliath raised his brow but nodded. Randall never felt so nervous before. Bronx nuzzled him to ensure he was calm. Randall chuckled softly, petting him.
"Back in Monstropolis, we had an energy crisis. You remember what I had first explained with us scaring kids only for powering our energy since we didn't use electricity to power that up?" he asked. The clan nodded.
"Well, our former CEO, Waternoose…" Randall growled a little from even saying that name. "He went a little crazy over the energy crisis, having the nerve to even steal kids from the human world and use a machine called the Scream Extractor to suck out their screams." Randall said with his head down.
Elisa was troubled by that idea. The Trio gazed at each other in disgust at using such physical harm on human children.
"It did more than suck scream, however. I saw firsthand that it could suffocate you. The reason is that Waternoose blackmailed me into working for him, threatening me to do it." Randall said, leaving the bits out about him willing to work for Waternoose and going far into harming a girl for it. Brooklyn flinched, feeling pity for his lizard friend.
"When we got caught, I was falsely accused of siding with Waternoose, getting illegally banished to the human world, and that's how I ended up here…" Randall finished in a sad tone. Goliath frowned slightly at the fact that Randall had been with a bad person. But from witnessing his actions along with helping the clan, he could sense good in Randall Boggs.
"At least you didn't support his actions, my friend. And I'm glad you found your way among us," he said. Randall though felt the feelings of burning guilt. He just couldn't say what his full past was. Doing so could cause him to lose his friends for good, like Wazowski. And he just couldn't risk it, he couldn't.
"Thanks, Goliath. All I want now is to forget Waternoose, the Scream Extractor, and my whole past altogether," he said in a shaking tone. Broadway attempted to cheer him up.
"Hey, ya got us to spend time with, and we don't like to see you upset," Broadway said. Randall felt happy tears come. Lex grinned. "I still have tons of my favorite video games to play with you, too!" he offered.
"And should you still want to break the ice about your past, we'd be happy to help," Brooklyn then suggested. Randall swallowed but was glad they were willing to go all out for him. "Sure, I'll keep that in mind," he replied.
After that, the clan and Randall simply hung out together until Randall felt tired out and went to sleep, wishing the clan good morning when they went to turn to stone.
