Hi everyone!

Thank you sooo much for the feedback on the previous chapter! I`m glad you enjoyed it, and it`s great to hear your opinions on my story:)

I hope you`re up for the next chapter today, number 14! Things are getting interesting now, as Sulley and Randall are growing closer..! This chapter focuses mostly on Sulley`s feelings for Randall, and the crush is becoming clearer. Yay!

I don`t really know what else to say about this one, except I hope you`ll like it; read, review and meet me again at the bottom!

Chapter 14: These Feelings Inside

Mike Wasowski had been worried about his best friend for the past few weeks. Sulley had been extremely busy with the big re-opening of Monsters Inc., and there had been days where the big monster had been so stressed out he`d forgotten which news-station he had been talking to. There had been days where Sulley had forgotten to lock the apartment after leaving for work, and nights where Mike had found him sleeping in front of the TV. There had been evenings where Sulley had ordered pizza and forgotten to pick it up. He had forgotten to call his mother for her birthday. He had forgotten to call Mike`s mother for her birthday. Being CEO was obviously harder than it seemed, and Mike couldn`t remember the last time Sulley had looked so tired.

Mike had calmed down when his best friend began to spend some time with Sophie Boggs. The green one thought that had to be exactly what Sulley needed, someone special to spend time with in order to think about something else than work for a while. And perhaps Sophie could even be the one? She seemed really nice, and Mike had been encouraging Sulley to spend more time with her, hoping it would eventually lead to something more.

But when Sulley had announced that he had gotten himself a side-job a couple of weeks ago, Mike had seriously begun to question his friend`s sanity – especially when he heard what kind of job it was; Sulley was taking care of Randall Boggs, their former enemy and rival. The crazy lizard-monster who had tried to kill them both a month ago was now in Sulley`s keep, and Mike had troubles allowing it to sink in. He already knew Sulley as an extremely good-hearted and sensitive monster, but he never would have guessed that he would spend almost every single minute of his free time trying to help Randall recover from his depression. And although Mike had been supportive towards his best friend, it hadn`t been without worry; he had spent some sleepless nights thinking about what exactly was going on with Sulley these days.

But last Saturday, while hanging out with Sulley and Randall, Mike had received an eye-opener, something that suddenly made everything perfectly clear to him; he couldn`t believe he had been so blind, why hadn`t he noticed before? He had spent a big part of the day in the company of the two other monsters, and there was just something about the way Sulley`s eyes had been on Randall all the time, something about the way he looked at him. Something about the blue monster`s sudden clumsiness around the purple one, something about the way Sulley always made sure Randall was alright, something about the way Sulley looked when they accidentally touched… Mike knew that what he had noticed couldn`t possibly be mistaken; James P. Sullivan was falling for Randall Boggs.

Mike was thrilled. Or… he still wasn`t a big fan of Randall, it would take more than just a day to get over years of not getting along. But he had decided that if the lizard turned out to be his best friend`s special someone, then so be it; the only thing that really mattered was that Sulley was happy. And Mike was sure he would warm up to Randall eventually. Maybe.

The green monster still didn`t know whether Sulley had fully realized what was happening yet, but it surely didn`t seem so; on Sunday, the blue monster had spent the entire day with Randall, and as far as Mike knew, nothing more had happened between them. Apparently, they had been out for a walk before spending the rest of the day with Gladys Lorenzo and some card-games. Mike knew Sulley could be a little too slow for his own good sometimes, and it didn`t surprise him at all that he didn`t seem to know what was going on. But Mike knew; and he was more than willing to give his friend a solid push in the right direction if he had to.

It was Thursday afternoon, and Sulley sat in one of the corners of Randall`s couch, looking at a TV-show through drowsy eyes. Randall was placed in the other end of the couch with a teacup and a pillow; his two sets of feet were hidden underneath a blanket and his eyes glanced at the TV through black-framed glasses. The lizard had started to wear his glasses in the presence of Sullivan earlier that week, and when Sulley looked over at him now, it became clear to him that he had won the purple one`s trust once and for all; Randall would never have allowed Sullivan to see him like this if he didn`t consider him a friend.

By now the two monsters were both tired from another one of their walks around the streets of Monstropolis, and they were also comfortably full from Sulley`s dinner; two boxes of microwave lasagna that he had miraculously managed to burn. Randall had experienced some serious problems with believing his own two eyes.

Sulley took a glance at Randall in the other end of the couch every once in a while; he didn`t know what to think. He had spent every morning and afternoon of both that week and the previous one with the lizard, and they were getting along hardly without problems now; they were able to talk about almost everything, and Randall actually seemed glad about having the blue one over.

Sulley enjoyed Randall`s company as well. In fact, he enjoyed it a bit more than he had expected; he actually found himself thinking about the purple monster at work. Every time they accidentally came near one another his heart skipped a beating. When he looked at him, he wanted to smile.

Sulley wasn`t stupid; he had been in love before, and recognized the feelings he was experiencing at the moment. Besides, Mike`s implications when he dropped him off on the outside of Randall`s apartment every morning couldn`t be more obvious – the green monster would always wish him good luck while giving him a blink, and then he always started humming a love-song as Sulley got out from the car and closed the door behind him as quick as possible.

But still, despite all the signs, feelings and implications; the furry monster felt unsure. He just didn`t know, he didn`t understand; he had never been…could he possibly be…- he even had a hard time just thinking about it -…crushing on a guy..?

And as if the situation wasn`t tricky enough at the moment, there was yet another thing that troubled Sulley; Randall. He didn`t know how Randall felt, and even less so how he would react if he knew how Sulley felt about him. The two had grown so close now, but it was nothing less than a miracle that they had managed to become friends in the first place; and Sulley was afraid he`d scare Randall away if he brought the subject up. Love and romance happened to be among the few things they didn`t talk about. However, Sulley realized that he might had to bring it up if he ever wanted to know how the scaly monster felt;

"Randall?"

The lizard turned his head in order to face Sullivan, and noticed that he looked a little uncomfortable;

"Yeah..? You okay?" The purple monster`s eyes narrowed even more behind the glasses; Sullivan seemed nervous.

"Sure, it`s just… I was just wondering…" Sulley didn`t know where to put his hands. "It`s just…" He had a hard time finding the right words, but when he saw the look Randall was sending him he eventually sat up straight and got himself together;

"Have you ever had a girlfriend?"

Randall`s eyes widened a little, and he didn`t answer the unexpected question straight away. Eventually he shook his head and glanced at the other, not knowing where he was going with this;

"No."

Once the little word escaped his lips, Randall realized that this was the first time he had told someone he had never been in a relationship. He quickly asked Sullivan a question in return as an attempt to silence the echo of his own statement he could still feel hanging in the air;

"How `bout you..? Girlfriend..? Or a ya just happy with Wazowski?" He added the last sentence to make himself feel a little better, but it didn`t help much. He took another sip of his tea.

"Well, I`ve been in a couple of relationships, but… nothing serious…" the blue one admitted;

"…and I haven`t been seeing anyone for a few years now".

"Okay".

An awkward pause followed. It wasn`t the first time silence ruled between Sulley and Randall after they`d become friends, but this was by far the longest and weirdest one yet.

"Do you want to come back to work?"

Sulley`s sudden change of subject came as a pleasant surprise on Randall. He let out a breath and was thankful for not having to give away more humiliating details about his non-existing love-life;

"Work?"

"Yeah -" Sulley seemed happy about the new subject, too – at least his facial expression had gone back to normal; "Everyone else got their old jobs back when I took over the company. You can have yours too, if you want it".

"But I`m a scarer -" Randall didn`t understand; "What am I supposed to do there?"

"I think you could pull off laugh-collecting..!"

The lizard took a moment to think; he hadn`t even been thinking about getting his job back. In fact, he had been so depressed he hadn`t been thinking about working at all. But now when he was starting to feel a little better and gave it a closer thought, he realized that eventually, he would need to do something else than just hanging out with Sullivan and Gladys in his apartment;

"I don`t know… Maybe, but… I`m not sure… I`m not sure if I`m ready yet".

"I didn`t mean right away, you need to fully recover first! But when you`re feeling ready, all you have to do is tell me, and I`ll re-hire you".

"I`ll think about it".

Randall took another pause. He wasn`t sure he wanted to spend his days trying to make human children laugh. And he wondered what it would be like to return to Monsters Inc. after what had happened there, and his face reflected his fear as he thought about it. Sulley understood what was on his mind;

"Don`t worry about the others; I`ll explain it to them".

"I still need to think about it".

"No problem".

"Have you told Sophie yet?"

Sulley shook his head. He hadn`t told Sophie her brother was back, but he intended to do so very soon; she had invited him over for dinner again tomorrow, and he planned to tell her then. However, Sulley hadn`t told Randall he was eating dinner with his sister, as he feared it would lead to jealousy and misconceptions;

"I haven`t found the right occasion yet, but I`m gonna tell her. Don`t worry".

"Good".

Randall seemed satisfied with the answer. Sulley looked over at him again, and felt a strike of sadness as he remembered that he wouldn`t be able to see him tomorrow due to his "date" with Sophie;

"Do you think you`ll be fine spending tomorrow with Gladys, Randall?"

"You… you`re not coming over..?"

Sulley was pleased to hear the disappointment in Randall`s voice, and hurried to explain;

"In fact, I can`t come over tomorrow. I have an early meeting at work, and in the evening I`m going to… visit my parents."

"Okay… Are you coming over for Saturday?"

Randall sat up and glanced at the blue monster. His emerald eyes were twice their normal size when he had the glasses on, and Sulley felt like he could stare at them for hours; the colour was incredible.

"If you want me to..?"

"I think… That would be nice…" The lizard could feel how his face turned hot, and he looked down at his own feet; inviting someone over was difficult for him;

"…are you coming over?"

"Do you want me to?"

"Yeah".

"Fine! I`ll come!"

"For dinner?"

"Sure..! I can come for dinner..!"

"Only if you let me make it; you`re a terrible cook".

Sulley didn`t exactly know what was happening; Randall had just invited him over for dinner? The blue monster was so excited over the suggestion that the comment to his own cooking didn`t even insult him, and he accepted with an ear-to-ear smile;

"Great!"

Randall looked at him for a little while, before he suddenly rose from the couch and headed for the kitchen. He came back right away, writing something down on a piece of paper.

"What`s that?" Sulley was still startled from the invitation and didn`t know what else to say. He jumped in his seat as the tip of Randall`s tail brushed against his leg when the purple one slithered back to his own part of the couch.

"A shopping list; If I`m going to make dinner, I want fresh ingredients, not that microwave-crap of yours…"

Randall finished the list and handed it over to Sulley; "Think ya can pick this up on your way over here on Saturday? I`ll prepare the food in front of ya, perhaps you`ll pick up a trick or two; heaven knows you need it."

The furry one nodded as he chuckled. The Randall he knew was on his way back, alright; although with a big improvement - Sulley knew there was something more to him now. He took hold of the list, and as he did, his hand touched Randall`s; it caused them both to withdraw straight away and avoid each other`s eyes.

Mike was waiting for Sulley in their apartment when the blue monster made it back later in the evening;

"How`d it go today?"

The green one smiled, and followed his best friend into the living room where they both sat down in their chairs.

"It went well… He`s doing so much better now, he -"

"Yeah yeah, but how`d it go..? Did ya tell him?"

"Tell him what?"

"You know".

Sulley`s expression made it more than clear to Mike that he didn`t know, and the little one let out a deep sigh;

"Sulley; did you tell him how you feel about him?"

The furry monster could feel himself blush from the tip of his tail and all the way up to the top of his horns. He wasn`t very keen on discussing his feelings about Randall with Mike, as he wasn`t a hundred percent sure about them himself yet;

"No, I didn`t tell him…anything…" He rose from his chair; "Is there any food here, I`m starving, wanna order something, I can -"

"Sul, Sul -" Mike raised his hand to shut him up, and put on a more compassionate face;

"It`s okay. It`s all brand new, I understand".

"I just don`t know what`s happening, Mike…" Sulley sat down again and placed his hands in his lap; his eyes focused on something that appeared to be miles away.

"I know".

The pause that followed was just as awkward as the long one in Randall`s apartment earlier that night. Sulley and Mike were normally able to talk about everything, but this subject was difficult for both. Eventually, Mike was the one to break the silence (as usual);

"When are you going to see him again?"

"Saturday. I`m having dinner with Sophie and Rex tomorrow, remember".

"Have you told him about that?"

"No, I thought it could…lead to misconceptions".

"You don`t want him to believe you have something going on with his sister".

"Something like that… But I`m seeing Randall again on Saturday, he wanted me to come over, he`s going to make me dinner, and -"

"He`s making you dinner?" Mike`s eye grew even wider with excitement;

"Sulley, that`s like a… a date!"

Sulley was about to say something, but Mike beat him to it;

"…and that`s actually a little perverted, Sul; you`re having a date with Randall on Saturday, and a date with his sister on Friday!"

"The dinner with Sophie`s not a date, I`ve told you that like a million times!"

"But the one with Randall is, huh..?"

Mike smirked at Sulley, who`s answer was to blush again and look away; but the green one was pleased to notice that a shy smile was present in his face.

Okay; what do you think? About the chapter, about the interaction between the characters, about Sulley`s crush on Randall, about the whole package? Please do tell me.

The next chapter will focus on Sulley`s "date" with Sophie, I have already started working on it. Rex will be in it, and Sophie will learn that her brother is back in the monster world.

There are big events in all of the upcoming chapters now, I`m so excited! Hope you are, too;) I have also started planning how Sulley and Randall`s first kiss is gonna go. I still haven`t decided who should make the first move, though… Hmmm, what do you think?

I got to go now, please come back to check out the new chapter on…let me see… Sunday or Monday…I think..!

Take care:)