Chapter Text
Mike was living the dream; he and his best friend were CEOs of Monsters, Inc. Laugh energy was finally taking off. He was about to move in with his girlfriend. So why did he feel so blue?
He looked out the window with a sigh, blinking against the bright morning sunlight. He should’ve been excited, happy even, but instead something felt off. Maybe it was the suddenness of it all. Wasn’t it still too soon to move in with her?
—
“Googly bear, I’ve been thinking…” Celia trailed off hesitantly, her arms twisting together as they always did when she was nervous.
“About how gorgeous and funny your boyfriend is?” Mike said jokingly, taking a sip of his drink.
“No, I’ve been thinking about… usmovingintogether.” Her words came out in a jumbled heap, her hair snakes anxious hissing doing nothing to help Mike understand her words.
“Us moving in together?” he echoed, bewildered.
“Yes.” Celia breathed out a sigh of relief. “Would you want to? I mean, you could live here with me!” She gestured to her large penthouse living room. The sunset glowed against the skyscrapers of Monstropolis.
“Oh wow.” Mike blinked, unsure of how to react.
“That would be a big change, schmoopsy-poo, but um if you think we’re ready, I don’t see why not!”.
Celia excitedly began to describe how everything would fit and how they could share her rooms and get Mike’s name on the lease… but Mike was only half paying attention. His mind was spinning. He knew this was what couples did, of course, it was, he just never thought he’d get there. And for some reason, the only real thought racing through his brain was what about Sulley?
—
“How’s it going in here?” Mike jolts back to the present at the sound of Sulley’s voice.
“Oh, hey Sul, umm, it’s going”. It had been a week since he’d agreed to move in with Celia, and despite some half-hearted attempts to stall, it was really happening.
Sulley raised his eyebrows at Mike’s half-filled box, mostly consisting of his alphabetized CDs and “Little Mikey”, his adorable stuffed monster.
“Anything I can do to help?” Sulley asked kindly. Without being asked, he begins delicately folding Mike’s linens. Despite his hulking figure and giant hands, Sulley is actually quite good at folding sheets, towels, picnic blankets, you name it.
“Thank you.” Mike resumes packing his boxes.
“So… are you going to put a new name on the lease?” Mike tried to sound casual, but for some reason, the thought of Sulley sharing this apartment, their space, made him feel anxious, annoyed, and slightly itchy.
“Oh yeah, I thought I might offer it to Randall.” Mike almost hit the ceiling and felt himself getting red until Sulley started laughing. “Relax, Mike, I’m joking!”. Mike lets out a laugh that he hopes sounds genuine.
Sulley had fought to stop the banishment program almost from the second they became the official CEOs of Monsters, Inc., his argument was that the banished monsters became harder to keep track of and that no monster deserved that kind of treatment. While most like the Abominable Snowman and Bigfoot elected to stay, Randall was among the first to volunteer for the new rehabilitation program. He was kept under supervision in a rehab facility where, to everyone’s surprise, he was learning to become a jokester. Sulley made weekly visits to the facility to check on the monsters and make sure they were getting the care they deserved.
After putting the newly folded linens in a box, he turns to the bookshelves where he discovers a photo album. “Wow, Mikey, come look at this!”. Inside the photo albums are the mementos of their successes and adventures. Snapshots with Boo, photos of him and Celia. Pictures of when they finally got this apartment and were no longer having to live paycheck to paycheck. A couple of snapshots of them with Sulley’s family and one with Mike’s mom before she passed away.
“I forgot I made this,” Mike said softly, looking through the pictures.
“You were probably doing this instead of giving Roz your paperwork,” Sulley says with a grin, pointing to the various forms that had been cut up to decorate each page.
Despite knowing him for the majority of both of their lives, Mike had never learned if Sulley had ever had a special monster. The subject had never really come up. Sulley was single when he arrived at Monsters University, and Mike had been with him nearly every second of every day since. And when asked by other monsters, Sulley either changed the subject or called Mike the “best partner I’ve ever had”. But everyone knew their story. They were Mike & Sulley, best friends and polar opposites. Business partners and best friends for life!
When really pressed to remember, Mike does remember a slight change in their dynamic when he started dating Celia, but any awkwardness quickly subsided, and everything was the same again. Plus like it’s not like much changed, they were still Mike & Sulley, just now it was Mike & Sulley and Celia. But now, for the first time in over a decade, Sulley would no longer be a top bunk or even just a hallway away. And Mike was quickly realizing that he had no idea how he was going to cope with that.