Hi!

Words can`t describe how happy I am that you guys seemed to like Sulley and Randall`s first kiss – I`m soooo glad I didn`t screw it up like I feared I would do :P Thanks for your response! :)

I know some of you are worried about Randall and Rex`s relationship, but today I have good news regarding it: this is the chapter where things get better between them! The actual scene was one of the first ones I planned out when I first started sorting out my ideas for this story :)

The new chapter starts where the last one ended, in the middle of a very longed-for kiss; I hope you`re prepared for more sweet stuff..!

Enjoy!

Chapter 20: Stormy Weather

An overwhelming moment of pure bliss.

The kiss was longed for and wonderful, and even though Sulley and Randall broke apart after only a few seconds, the experience left them both satisfied beyond explanation; there had been so many moments leading up to this one, and the fact that it had finally come made them both feel weightless.

The blue one opened his eyes and looked straight into the lizard`s face; it had taken on a deep shade of pink – a colour that probably matched the way his own skin looked beneath the fur at that moment. He blinked a couple of times, but didn`t remove his gaze from Randall as he started talking again;

"T-that should pretty much explain it..!"

"W-what..?" Randall noticed that Sulley`s mouth was moving, but didn`t catch what he was saying; he was still lost in the experience they had shared a few moments ago.

"That should explain how I feel about you…" The blue monster wondered if his fur had always been this hot...

Randall`s shade of pink turned even deeper, and his face reflected just how shocked he was. He didn`t say anything, just stared at Sullivan, who could feel sweat starting to gather on the back of his neck;

"I…ummm…what do you say, Randall..?"

It took yet another while for Randall to reply, and when he finally spoke again his eyes were glued on a spot on the wall behind the other monster;

"…I…I thought you were only here out of pity…"

He swallowed;

"…but then there were the signs, the feelings…but I thought I was the only one noticing them – I thought it was only happening inside my mind – I seriously thought I was going insane…"

Randall`s face broke into a sad smile, and the furry monster`s reply came in a voice that was merely a shaky whisper;

"…me too…"

Randall`s eyes left the wall and wandered back to the other monster`s blue ones;

"I…haven`t really felt this way before…"

"…neither have I…"

"…but I…I think I…I mean, I know I…I like you…a lot…Sullivan..!"

"I like you too, Randall…a lot…"

No more words were spoken as they continued to stare into each other`s eyes for yet another while; they had both confessed, and it was a relief beyond comparison that they felt the same way. Randall could feel how his heart was still beating faster than usual, and felt Sulley`s hand on his shoulder – he closed his own upper two around the soft fur on the blue monster`s arms and allowed himself to be drawn towards the other monster`s intense, blue gaze one more time…

When their lips met again, the insecurity had been replaced with passion; it was a welcomed yet unexpected change, and Randall couldn`t help but letting out a little moan as the other one opened his mouth. The lizard placed his upper set of hands on the back of Sulley`s head to pull him even closer, and allowed his lower two to wander across a fur-covered chest; and he could feel his entire body shiver when the other`s hands started travelling down his own neck and spine.

Randall`s breathing went up as Sulley`s hands carefully explored his upper body; the fur felt so soft against his scales, and it tickled in an extremely pleasant way; he moaned again as the hands touched the right spots, and he used his own four to touch the other monster`s chest and back in a variety of ways in return; before slowly moving them further down, desperately implying that he wanted to go further.

The blue one started kissing a bit more aggressively, but then he suddenly broke away and withdrew his hands;

"I-I`m sorry..!"

He looked embarrassed, and hardly dared to meet Randall`s gaze as he allowed his pulse to return to its normal range;

"I-I didn`t mean to get too eager..! I`m sorry – it`s just…I`m sorry..!"

"It`s okay, I`m…sorry, too…"

Randall caught up with his own breathing; he couldn`t believe he had allowed himself to get that carried away. It was only their second kiss, and he had been acting like a desperate teenager – he swallowed, and looked ashamed;

"I really am sorry…"

"It`s fine…it`s fine…it was my fault as well…" Sullivan coughed oddly;

"…I just…think we shouldn`t move that fast, I think we need…some more time…"

"Yeah…probably…"

They both leaned back on the couch and didn`t say anything for a long time. Eventually Sulley got up, and when he spoke, Randall was relieved to hear that his voice had gone back to normal;

"It`s getting late, I think I should head home now..!"

"Okay…Thank you for coming over, it`s been…nice…"

"Yeah…See you at work tomorrow..?" Sulley`s tone was hopeful.

"Definitely".

Randall walked Sulley to the door, and they shared a quick hug; the tension between them was still a bit awkward, but they both smiled as they broke apart from the embrace and said good night.

The weather was changing; the temperatures were on their way up, the snow was wet and heavy, and water was dripping from the rooftops.

Randall stood by the window in Rex`s room and glanced at the clouds that had started to gather in the horizon, before he turned around to look at his little nephew; Rex was sleeping peacefully on the mattress on the floor, and he clung to the blanket that had once belonged to his uncle.

Randall bent down and tucked the sheets a little tighter around the sleeping figure, and as he did he allowed one of his hands to gentle stroke the single frond on Rex`s head;

"…good night, kid…"

Then he got back up and left the room. Something inside of him was beginning to hurt, and he figured he could might as well go to bed, too.

A loud noise woke Randall up. He sat up in his bed, disoriented and with wide open eyes, and tried to figure out what time it was; but the room was way too dark to see what the alarm clock on the nightstand was saying, so he reached for the light switch. However, before he even got to touch it, the room suddenly lit up – and then a new, loud rumbling sound made it feel like the entire room was shaking.

Thunder.

Randall lay down again immediately, and covered himself in the sheets; he even placed the pillow over his head in an attempt to keep the sounds away, but couldn`t help but noticing the rumbling.

He had been afraid of thunder his entire life, and had given up on telling himself there was no danger. He knew that thunder, or at least the lightening, could actually be quite dangerous, so there was no need in fooling himself; it was okay to be scared, as long as no one else knew. Well; except for Sullivan and Sophie…

Randall remembered the day Sophie had told Sullivan about that night years ago, when an eight year old Randall had slept in his big sister`s bed since he was afraid of the thunderstorm raging outside; it was that night the relationship between him and his sister had been healed, and Randall could still remember it - he remembered how scared he`d been and bad he`d cried, and –

He sharpened his ears; a noise had caught his attention. It couldn`t have been caused by the weather, it sounded more like…a cry. He gently removed the sheets in order to listen better, but another loud bang from the storm outside caused him to cover himself up again straight away. He shivered.

But there it was again; the sound. It was a cry, now he was a hundred percent sure. Randall narrowed his eyes and listened again; now it sounded like sobbing.

It took him about ten seconds to realize that the sounds came from his nephew`s room; Randall jumped to his feet and headed for his own bedroom door to see what was going on, but the room was very dark - he fumbled around for a little while and hurt his leg when he crashed into the dresser. Luckily lightening lit up the sky again and provided him with enough light to locate the door, but another loud boom straight afterwards caused him to let out a little shriek as he entered the living room.

Rex had buried himself in his bed-sheets and was sobbing quietly as his uncle entered the room; Randall clearly wasn`t the only one who was afraid of thunder. The grown monster stood still for a moment, but eventually sat down at the edge of the mattress and placed a hand on what he assumed was Rex`s back;

"What`s the matter, Rex..?"

He immediately regretted the question, it was quite obvious what was the matter; but he couldn`t think of anything better to say.

Rex didn`t respond straight away; he just continued sobbing beneath the sheets. Randall stroked his back and tried to calm him down, but yet another boom from outside caused them both to jump again. The purple one tried his best to stay strong;

"…it`s okay, Rex…"

"…I`m scawed..!"

Rex finally poked his head out from his hiding place, and Randall could feel something touch his heart at the sight of his nephew`s face; the little monster was shaking, his wide open, emerald eyes were wet, and tears were running down both of his cheeks.

As in a flash, Randall saw himself; he saw himself as a child, standing by Sophie`s bed, expecting her to comfort him - and now he realized that Rex expected the same thing from him.

There was only one problem; Randall was terrified as well.

He didn`t say anything, just continued to stroke his nephew`s back. Rex continued to cry, and when the lightening lit up the room again he turned invisible. He screamed at the sound of the following, deep rumble, and Randall whispered;

"I`m scared too..!"

His voice was just loud enough for Rex to hear, and the little one re-appeared and looked at his uncle with surprise;

"…but you`we a gwown up..!"

"Grown-ups can be afraid too kid, trust me. It`s normal." He tried to smile;

"…and I`m not just afraid of thunder… I`m also afraid of spiders, the human world, failure…loads of things..!"

"I`m scawed of thundew too…" Rex confessed to his uncle;

"…and I`m scawed of bees and cwocodiles and zombies and the bogey-man and twolls and -"

A new rumble sounded from the sky, and Rex let out another little scream and crawled closer to his uncle, who placed his arm around him;

"…I guess we`re both afraid, then…" He sent another smile in Rex`s direction;

"…but at least there are no bees in here..!"

"…and no spidews..!"

"…or crocodiles!"

"…or -"

Lightening stroke again, and Rex took hold of Randall`s hand and buried his face in his uncle`s chest.

Even though Randall was still afraid of the weather outside, a wonderful, warm feeling came over him with his nephew`s touch; the little one trusted him to comfort him.

"…what do you normally do when you`re afraid, Rex..?"

"Mum make it go away…"

"Well, she`s not here now, unfortunately… Do you think I can make it go away..?"

Rex looked a little sceptic;

"…maybe…but...but you`we also scawed..!"

"…That`s right…what can we do about that…" The purple monster pretended to think hard about something;

"…I think I have an idea…"

"What idea?" Rex looked interested.

"Well, if I help you, and you help me, then…then none of us have to be afraid anymore..!"

"…yeah..!" Rex looked impressed over his uncle`s idea, and started comforting the grown up right away, by patting his arm;

"…don`t be scawed, unca Wandall..!"

"…don`t be scared, Rex..!"

The little one grinned - this was fun;

"…I`ll take cawe of you!"

"…I`ll take care of you too..!"

Rex laughed;

"…you`we ma uncle..!"

"…you`re my uncle..!"

"No, I`m not!"

Rex laughed even more and threw himself against Randall in an attempt to teach him a lesson by tickling him. However, a new stroke of lightening caused him to cry out again.

"It`s okay, Rex -"

Randall counted the seconds it took for the sound to reach their ears;

"…it`s on its way away from us now..!"

"…pwomise..?"

"…yeah…so we should get some sleep now…"

Randall tried to get up from the mattress, but was held back by four small hands gripping onto his tail;

"No!"

"We have to sleep, Rex, it`s the middle of the night..!"

"…don`t go!"

The orange monster stared at his uncle with eyes were still a little watery, and Randall sighed;

"Okay…how about I just sleep here with you..?"

Rex smiled and moved a little closer to the wall, giving the purple one more space. Randall lay down beside him, and felt all soft as his young nephew gently draped the sheets over both of them and leaned against him. The little one stuck his thumb in his mouth, and Randall noticed that he was still clinging to his blanket;

"You know Rex, that used to be mine..! When I was your age, I couldn`t sleep without it!"

"I know…" Rex mumbled with his mouth full of thumb, but suddenly he thought of something and added;

"…you want it back now?"

Randall laughed;

"No..! No, it`s yours now…you need it more than me…"

"…you can bowwow it..!"

The purple monster could hardly believe how goodhearted his nephew was, and offered him a suggestion;

"…how about we share it..?"

Rex gave him a tired grin in reply, and they placed the blanket between them on the mattress. Then they both closed their eyes, and after only a few minutes Rex was sleeping peacefully, comfortably cuddled up against his uncle`s chest. Randall watched him, and for the first time in years, he felt successful; he smiled to himself, and allowed the rhythm of Rex`s breathing to carry him off to sleep.

On the outside of the building, the storm was over – the nasty weather had passed.

Awww..! Family resemblance, they`re both afraid of thunder :)

I hope you liked the chapter, and that you`re kind enough to leave me a review or a PM – those things boost my motivation! I`m a quick updater, sure, but that actually has to do with you; you`re always good at leaving behind response and ideas, and I am so incredibly thankful! :)

So, for the next chapter… I don`t want to kill the excitement and give it all away, but I thiiiiink you will like it..! Remember when I wrote that things would escalate quickly after the first kiss..? ;)

And just to sort things out; Sulley and Randall WILL make love in this story, but I`m NOT going to describe it in detail so it will look like porn or something – that won`t fit with the rest of the story. But I`ll try my best to write exciting scenes without being too graphic and descriptive ;) Wish me luck!

Time has gone so fast since I started this story, and I can`t believe I`ve made it to chapter 20 already. And I can`t believe it will all be over soon… But the truth is, it looks like there will only be six more updates still to come; five chapters and an epilogue. I hope you will all hang in there till the end!

Don`t know exactly when I`ll be done with the next chapter, but I guess it will be published during the weekend; I`m going to be home alone, and that means more time to write :) (it also means a higher intake of chocolate, but that`s another thing…)

Until then, be safe and take care, my lovelies! :)