Hi:)
I made it! I promised myself I would have this chapter ready by the end of this day, and now (at 2am) it finally is! Yay! I`m not even tired xD
So, what can I say about this chapter… There`s more bonding going on between Randall and Rex, and there`s more romantic stuff involving Sulley and Randall – I`m sure you don`t mind any of those things;)
Thank you all for the response to my story so far, you guys are seriously the best!
Chapter 21: Taking Risks
The winter-sun`s weak rays didn`t manage to break through the curtains and enlighten the room; Randall had just woken up, and he narrowed his eyes as they wandered across the dark space surrounding him. He quickly realized that he wasn`t in his bedroom, and for a moment he panicked and thought he was back in the shed.
It wasn`t until he recognized there was something warm and living touching his chest and lower left arm Randall managed to calm down; he turned his head slightly to the left and discovered Rex sleeping right next to him, his tiny body curled up against his own, and the soft rhythm of his breathing made the larger monster sink back down against the pillow and relax.
He let out a relieved sigh as the previous night slowly returned to his memory; he had managed to help and comfort his crying nephew. On his own, without Sullivan`s help. He smiled to himself as he looked down at Rex, afraid to move; his little nephew looked so peaceful, and the purple monster didn`t want to disturb him or wake him up - even though his lower left arm was all numb.
Randall didn`t know for how long he looked at his sleeping nephew (and ignored the lack of feeling in his arm); it could be anywhere from ten minutes to half an hour. When the little one eventually showed signs of waking up, Randall`s heart started beating; he couldn`t wait to talk to Rex again, but he was frightened at the same time – what if his nephew had forgotten about last night, and still disliked him..?
Luckily, Randall had no reasons to worry; Rex appeared to remember the talk they`d had in the middle of the night. After a little yawn and stretch he gazed at his uncle through heavy-lidded eyes and sent him a tired smile;
"Hi, unca Wandall..!"
"Hi, Rex!"
Despite trying his best, Randall couldn`t hide the enthusiasm in his voice; Rex remembered. Rex liked him.
The smile on the adult`s face grew wider; he knew he would treasure this special moment forever, so he wanted to memorize every single aspect of it; every trait on Rex`s face, every little feeling – and not to mention every single piece of their first real conversation. So when his nephew opened his mouth to say something, Randall waited with anticipation;
"…I have to go potty..!"
"Oh – okay -"
This he would remember, for sure…
"…you better hurry then…" He moved over and allowed Rex to get up from the mattress and head for the bathroom, and he eventually got up himself as well; only to discover that it was over eight already.
Half an hour later, Randall and Rex were both seated around the kitchen table, eating pancakes for breakfast; as requested by the little monster. There were already stains from jam and syrup at Rex`s side of the table, but Randall pretended not to notice them as he broke some news to his nephew;
"I`m not going to work today..!"
"…okay…"
Rex took another bite of his breakfast – he could barely fit it into his mouth, and more jam dropped down on his chest - and on the table. Randall stared at the mess, but managed to keep himself from cleaning it up straight away. Instead he continued talking;
"…I called in sick when you were in the bathroom…I`ll rather stay here today, with you – we could…I don`t know…play games and…stuff…"
Randall didn`t know whether it was a good idea to call in sick on his first real day back at work, but he didn`t want to miss the chance of bonding with Rex now that they were on a roll. He smiled;
"How `bout it, kid; wanna skip dayscare today?"
"Yeah!"
The enthusiasm caused the little one to accidentally tip his mug over – it fell to the floor and broke, and the hot chocolate spilled everywhere; Randall couldn`t believe the amount of liquid it could possibly hold, and sighed deeply at the sight of the mess.
"I`m sowwy..!"
Rex sniffed when he heard his uncle`s reaction, and Randall felt bad for him;
"It`s okay, it`s okay..! Things like that happen..!"
There was no way on earth he was going to lose Rex`s trust again at this point, so without even thinking, he purposely tipped his own mug over as well – and then there were two shattered mugs and a whole lot of hot chocolate covering the floor;
"See..? It happens to everyone, even me..!"
Rex laughed; his uncle was really funny. He had never seen an adult purposely break something before.
The laughter caused Randall to chuckle as well, until he realized that the floor was now a war-zone, with pieces of shattered glass everywhere; not an ideal combination with a toddler. And the vacuum cleaner was in the closet in the hall…
The purple monster carefully placed a new chair in front of the one he was sitting on, and stepped over at it. Then he moved the first chair forward, stepping over at that one again, moving himself slowly from the table to the door. Rex watched with interest;
"Wha you doing?"
"I…have to clean up the mess in here, so I`m going to get the vacuum cleaner..! And I can`t step on the floor, I`ll cut my feet!"
"A wanna play too!"
"This is not a game, it`s…" He noticed how excited Rex looked;
"…it`s an expedition..! Hurry, get over here – the water`s full of…crocodiles!"
"Ahhhhhhh!" Rex let out a scream and climbed over at his uncle`s chair;
"Caweful, unca Wandall, they ca eat us up!"
"No, they won`t, they`re down in the water, and we`re on this – boat..! We`re safe! But we have to get over to the shore..! Speed up, kid!"
"Aghhh!"
Rex`s attempt at the pirate-growl was the sweetest thing Randall had heard in a while, and a smile was planted on his face for the rest of their expedition; it was even fun to clean up the floor when they`d fetched the vacuum cleaner. Randall never would have guessed that having a kid around could be this much fun, and was completely overwhelmed by his young nephew`s imagination; and his own, when he was around him.
Sulley sat in a meeting at work, but his thoughts were everywhere else.
First of all, he could hardly believe that he and Randall had actually kissed last night. Twice. Neither could Mike, when Sulley had told him about it the following morning. But when the green monster had allowed the information to sink in, he had been overwhelmingly happy, praising his best friend for finally making the first move; and he had kept on asking about it all through their walk to work. Sulley had been pretty patient about it, it wasn`t until Mike had asked him if Randall was a good kisser he had decided not to answer.
Celia had met them once they had arrived at the factory, telling Sulley that Randall had called in sick; it had led to a whole bunch of worries straight away. Was he depressed again? Was something wrong with Rex? Or did it have…something to do with the kissing last night..?
The CEO would have wanted to go over to check on both Randall and Rex right away, but couldn`t get away from the morning meeting; so now he found himself chewing on his pencil and not paying attention at all, just waiting for it to be over so he could get out of there.
Once the meeting was finally over, the blue monster couldn`t leave the room fast enough, and he kept the speed up while making his way through the hallways at the factory heading for the exit. Before he left he told Terrie that he had some family business to deal with, and then finally he found himself out on the street, on his way to Randall`s apartment – frightened and relieved at the same time.
Around half an hour later, all worries were forgotten.
Rex was fine. Randall was better. Sulley was happy. Uncle and nephew got along. Everyone was smiling.
The furry monster was a very welcomed guest, and he came just in time for lunch. Randall and Rex had spent some time baking bread, and Sulley could hardly believe his eyes when he noticed that the kitchen was messy. And the biggest shock of all was the fact that Randall appeared to be fine with it. When the blue one pointed it out to him, he just shrugged, letting out a "no biggie".
They ate together in the living room, and then it was time for Rex to take a nap. The adults spent the hour they had to themselves doing one of Randall`s favourite activities; cleaning. And when the time was up, the apartment was back to its usual standards again.
When Rex woke up again, they all went outside for a walk, and when they returned they were asked over for tea by Randall`s caring neighbour. Gladys had noticed that Rex had moved in, and wanted to get to know him; and when she offered him cookies, he was more than willing to get to know her as well.
Then it was time for dinner, Rex`s much needed bath, and eventually the toddler`s bedtime. And although he tried to hide it, Randall was extremely proud when Rex picked him as the story-reader that night. Sulley was happy about it, too; it was Randall`s turn to shine now.
"…Randall..?"
Sulley gazed over at the monster in the other end of the couch. An hour had passed since Rex had gone to sleep, and the grown monsters had been sitting there ever since. The TV had been on all the time, and the amount of sentences exchanged between them during that hour could easily have been counted on one hand. Sulley felt like they were an old married couple with a kid, and figured that he should probably start a proper conversation;
"…how are you feeling..?"
"I`m feeling fine..! It`s been a good day, Rex likes me, and -"
"I meant how are you feeling about…last night..?"
Randall swallowed. So many things had happened that day, he had barely had the time to think about the events from the night before; the kissing, and the fact that Sullivan had to keep him from going too far…
"I, ummm…feel a little embarrassed, actually…"
"You don`t have to..! I…got too eager, as well…"
A little pause followed before Sulley continued;
"…but I meant what I said last night; I really do like you, Randall."
"…same…"
Randall`s answer was merely a whisper, and as he went on, his voice was even lower;
"…there aren`t many monsters I care about, Sullivan…you see, it`s a risk to care about someone; you might lose them again." He lowered his gaze;
"…not a lot of monsters are worth it…"
"…am I worth the risk..?"
Sulley held his breath; he wasn`t sure if he dared hearing the answer.
Randall leaned closer and placed his head on the blue chest. When he spoke again, Sulley could hardly hear him, as his mouth was buried in thick, blue fur;
"…yeah…"
The blue monster answered by placing his arms carefully around the slender, purple figure in his lap, pulling him even closer; and they remained seated like that for a little while, feeling the warmth from each other.
"…so why did you pull back yesterday..?"
Randall`s question came as a surprise on Sulley, who didn`t really know how to reply;
"…I…I just…thought it was too soon..!"
"…too soon for what..?"
"…ummm…" Oh God, this conversation was awful;
"…for…us to…get that close, we hardly know each other..!"
"…we go years back!"
"Yeah, but…we`ve only been friends for a couple of weeks..!"
"…True…" Randall looked disappointed;
"…I just…"
"…you just what..?"
"…felt like it was right…but if you`re not comfortable, we`ll wait..!"
Sulley sighed;
"…It`s not that I`m not comfortable, it`s just that…I don`t wanna do anything rushed, and…and I`m actually worried about you…"
"Me..? What`s wrong now?"
"Well, you`ve been…unstable, and…I don`t want to…make you feel like I take advantage of you…or anything..!"
Randall`s eyes narrowed behind his black framed glasses;
"…you`re not taking advantage of me, Sullivan..! I happen to know my own good, I`m not a wreck anymore..!"
Sulley couldn`t come up with an answer, so the lizard went on by himself;
"…we`re two adults here; we can do whatever we want."
"…I know…"
"…but since I officially care about you now, I will respect you – and if you`re feeling uncomfortable, or rushed, I`ll wait – you just take your time, you big troll…"
The last part of the sentence was said with a smile, and Sulley replied by taking one of Randall`s hands in his own; and he held it for the rest of the crappy TV-movie they were watching.
They eventually got up from the couch, and Sulley announced that he should head home for the night. Randall walked him to the door as usual, and they shared an embrace. Strong, furry arms was wrapped around purple scales, and as their eyes met, the two monsters allowed themselves to be drawn closer together like the night before.
The first kiss was short.
So were the second and the third.
Time stretched out more on the fourth one, and when they started on the fifth, Randall took hold of Sulley`s fur with his lower set of arms and pulled him even closer; he carefully ran his upper arms through the soft, blue fur on the other monster`s chest, and enjoyed every single second of the magical experience they were sharing.
The blue one`s hands rested on Randall`s back, and as they broke apart, they shared a look that caused their hearts to start beating even faster.
"…are you sure..?"
Sulley`s voice was surprisingly weak, and Randall`s reply wasn`t exactly a yell either;
"…trust me Sullivan; I want this. I really do".
A sixth kiss.
"…are you sure..?"
Randall gazed into the clear, blue eyes right in front of his own emerald ones – and although the owner`s answer was spoken in a voice Randall could barely hear, it sent shivers of the very best sort down his spine;
"…yeah...I think you`re worth the risk too, Randall…"
Two smiles were present, and they both expressed the same; nervousness, insecurity, shyness...and expectations.
…
…well…
…they`re gonna do it. At least they`re gonna try…
Opinions? On what`s going on? On my writing..? *hides face behind a cushion* I have never written something like this before, and I`m a liiiittle bit nervous… But just to calm you down; I'll try my best to make the scene tasteful and not too graphic!
I`m going to bed now, and I hope to find reviews or PMs in my inbox tomorrow morning:) I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope you`ll be back for the next one! It will be awkward (of course), and - I'm sorry to say it - sad. There, I've warned you.
I guess it`ll be ready by the middle of the week, maybe Thursday..? But I can`t make promises, not for the upcoming week; I`ll probably spend some hours in front of the TV, since the MU-release is on Wednesday! FINALLY!
Take care until then, see you around!