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crescents-monster-corner · 3 months ago

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Why do I?: Chapter 2

(A/N):

I'm not dead!!! But my old computer is!! Fortunately, I now have a brand new PC so I should not have any computer problems moving forward. Thanks so much for all the love on chapter one, I really appreciate it!!! I apologize that it took so long for chapter 2 to come out! But I just started the final semester of my senior year of college!!! I don't really have a defined upload schedule but I want to try and have a turnaround time of around one month for each chapter, though that is not gonna be set in stone. In between chapters I want to post art for the fic on my Tumblr side blog (which you can find here: https://www.tumblr.com/crescents-monster-corner ) I may also post stuff like little tidbits that I can't figure out where to put in the actual fic. Next up I'm going to be drawing all the EKO gals, as they're going to appear in chapter 3!!

AO3 (Link)

“Listen I know that because you’re not a scaring major you’re a little skeptical about joining EKO. But I know that they asked you for a reason!” Lily encouraged, clutching her friend's hands in front of her tightly.

“You’re scared to go in alone aren’t you?” Rosa deadpanned, looking Lily dead in the eye.

The purple monster nervously tugged at her collar, her eyes darting around nervously. She let out a nervous chuckle. “Maaaayyyybeeee?”

Rosa sighed shaking her head. “Y’know it’s a wonder you’ve made it as far as you have with these social skills of yours.” Her lower hands rested on her hips like a disappointed mother.

Suddenly a voice called out from the front doorway of the sorority house. “Hey! Are you two gonna stand there all day? Or are you coming in!?” The two girls jumped at the sound, turning their heads to see a fish monster with pale green scales leaning against the doorframe impatiently.

“Oh! Right away!” Lily called, jogging inside. Rosa let out an exasperated sigh before following her in.

The inside of the house was a lot nicer than any of the dorms. Lily had not had a chance to examine it the night prior considering the massive party. But from how clean the house looked as she stepped in, one would not have even known the party had ever happened.

It was surprisingly cozy despite how large the house itself was. The smooth wooden floor was a smooth maple, which complimented the sea salt grey of the walls. There was a long plush rug leading down the hall from the entryway.

Lily looked over to the left of the entryway, seeing Thalia lounging on a couch with her feet propped up on a coffee table. She casually waved over to them. “Ladies! Welcome! Have a seat.” She gestured to the couch across from her.

Lily sank onto the suede couch. Her hands rested stiffly on her lap as she did her best to keep the straight posture she had been practicing. Rosa took her seat far more casually.

“I’m glad to see you’ve decided to consider my offer. I haven’t seen too many girls this year that I considered worthy of recruiting for our sisterhood.” Thalia began, putting her feet down as she leaned forward, pyramiding her hands.

“You see, I’ve become determined to net EKO a win in the scare games before I graduate, and this year is my last shot. We have been consistently getting second place the last three years, but we have always just barely lost to ROR.” Her face scrunched in disgust at the mention of the fraternity.

“So I felt that we needed both a change in strategy and a real heavy hitter.” As she made the statement she gestured to Rosa and then to Lily. “Something the RORs will never see coming.

Rosa cautiously raised a hand. “I’m not entirely following. I’m not exactly sure how I fit into this? I’m majoring in psychology, not scaring. I don’t really see how I can be of much use.” She nervously rubbed the back of her head.

“Psychology, I figured something like that based on your people skills.” Thalia nodded. “You’re exactly what we need. We need someone who can read the others well enough to inform our strategy for the games, someone who can get inside their heads.” Thalia tapped her temple to emphasize her point.

“Lily here’s job is much simpler. You’re our dark horse, a heavy hitter they won’t see coming. You’re especially important this year, because I’ve heard this year's crop of freshmen are especially talented, there’s even someone from a very important family pledging.”

Lily swallowed nervously. No pressure! She looked over to Rosa for emotional support, but the moth monster was deep in thought about what Thalia had told her.

“I know it’s a lot to ask of you two, especially as freshmen, so I won’t fault you for refusing my offer to join. But if you do, you can become a part of MU’s scaring legacy.”

Rosa looked up at Lily, a determined sparkle in her eyes. All at once, Lily’s nerves washed away as she nodded to her with a smile. They turned to look at Thalia. “We’re in!”.

Despite their excitement to begin sorority life, new entries into EKO would not fully move in and be initiated until the end of the first semester. So for the bulk of the fall semester, their job would simply be to hone their scaring and lie low until after finals.

Going unnoticed came easily enough to Lily, she was never the type to initiate a conversation with strangers or raise her hand much in class. She had always been more of the only speak when spoken to type unless it came to people she liked.

When her face was not buried in her Scaring 101 textbook, which she had read cover to cover at least 5 times by that point. She was tutoring Rosa on the basics of scaring, fortunately, Rosa would not have to take any sort of exam like Lily did, so she could focus on just learning the physical act of scaring rather than having to memorize all the different techniques and phobias.

If cramming did have an upside, it was that it can be difficult to notice how fast time passes by. One day the leaves had just begun to turn orange for autumn, the next a thin layer of snow blanketed the ground as the beginning of winter also heralded the end of the semester, and with it the scaring final.

Lily paced around the dorm room like a caged animal, her side of the room looked as though a tornado had passed through, if a tornado was named Lily Blake.

“Where the hell is it!?” She cried as she lifted her bed as if checking under it for the third time would magically make her missing textbook appear.

Rosa watched from the doorway, hat and mittens already on to brave the cold outside. She froze for a second before grabbing Lily by the shoulders, her other hands reaching into the unzipped messenger bag hanging off of her friend’s shoulder. She plucked the textbook in question from its place in Lily’s bag, making her eyes widen even more before sighing in relief.

“Take a deep breath and clear your head Lil’.” Rosa soothed, gently shaking her. “I know this final is a big deal but you’re gonna crush it! You could probably recite this entire overpriced textbook to me by this point. What have you got to worry about?”

“What if… when I get up on that stage in front of the entire class, I just can’t do it… What if I just freeze up, and fail?” Lily looked down at her feet. “It’ll just prove my dad right… That I’m not cut out for this… I can’t work in the restaurant my whole life, I just can’t.”

Rosa gave her a sympathetic look. “The only person on this campus who doesn’t believe in you is yourself. I know you’re gonna go in there and scare the pants off everyone, and then you’re gonna kill it at the scare games! Don’t worry about your old man! He hasn’t seen what you can do!”

Lily wiped away the tears that had been welling in her eyes before pulling Rosa into a tight hug. “Thank you, Rosa…” Her voice was muffled by the fluff on the monster’s shoulders.

The lecture hall was packed to the brim with anxious monsters fretting about the exam that for many, would determine whether or not they were truly cut out to be a scarer.

But Johnny was not worried one bit. He had always known he was cut out to be, not just a scarer, but the best scarer. He was a Worthington, it was what was expected of him, just like his father, and his grandfather before him.

Despite his natural talent, he still saw no harm in brushing up on his techniques by skimming through his textbook again until he was called up to the front, which would not be a while since they were going in alphabetical order by last name.

Javier sat next to him, looking over some flash cards. Over the past few months, the two had become good friends and had a mutual respect for each other's talents.

The insect monster occasionally glanced over to the front row on the other half of the room. Johnny followed his gaze to see a purple monster pouring over her textbook like it was a matter of life or death, her knee bouncing nervously as her red gaze rapidly scanned over page after page.

“You got interesting taste man.” Johnny teased, jabbing Javier with his elbow.

Javier rolled his eyes before explaining. “Nah, man. She’s a friend of my cousin Rosa. She asked me to keep an eye on her 'cause she’s a bit…” Javier struggled to think of a word for it.

“Wimpy?” Johnny added. Making Javier shake his head.

“That’s a bit strong, no she’s… different. I guess that best describes her?”

Johnny looked back over at her again scoffing. “Well if she gets this nervous just from a simulator she’ll never be able to handle the real thing. But hey, that’s what this test is for. Weeding out monsters who can’t make the cut. She’ll probably switch majors or something after this.”

“Blake!” Professor Knight called.

‘That name sounds familiar…’ Johnny thought to himself

The girl sat up straight closing her textbook and skittering over to the stairs leading up to the stage as the simulator reset for the next test. She nervously flapped her large clawed hands, as if it could magically shake the fear out of her.

She stood in front of the simulator, her large eyes wincing under the bright spotlight.

The professor looked from the file on the table in front of him. “I am a 7-year-old boy in a manor in the English countryside with a fear of ghosts, what scare do you use?”

“That would be a haunting approach with a banshee screech.” She answered, a waver in her voice.

“Demonstrate.”

She went over to the door of the simulator, giving herself one last shake-off before grabbing the doorknob.

As the student entered the room it was as if some sort of switch had been flipped. Every step she took was calculated as she nimbly stepped around the toys scattered across the floor. She crouched at the foot of the bed, pressing her left foot down at just the right spot on the ground to make the floorboard creak. The robotic child’s eyes opened, but it remained lying in the bed.

Next, she brushed the end of her tail across the bottom of a curtain, letting out a whispery sigh as she crawled to the side of the bed, just out of sight as the dummy sat.

The student sprung up and let out a high-pitched screech so loud most of the class clutched their ears. Johnny’s ears were left ringing as he stared in wide-eyed shock, the memory of the party from the beginning of the semester flashed through his thoughts. Professor Knight’s glasses were knocked askew in surprise before he quickly fixed them, looking up at the canister meter next to the simulator to see it full.

“G-grades will be posted outside my office tomorrow.” Knight stuttered.

The girl bowed her head in thanks before quickly leaving the stage, grabbing her things, and darting out the door.

The professor quickly recovered from his shock and called the next student up.

Johnny leaned over to Javier. “Did you know she could do that?” He whisper-yelled.

“No fucking way man!” Javier replied in the same hushed volume.

How did a scarer as good as that not set off Johnny’s radar earlier in the semester? He had always made it his business to associate himself with the best scarers on campus, but she had been right under his nose for months.

How interesting!

#johnny worthington #monsters university #monsters inc #oc x canon #lily blake #rosa moreno #Johnny Worthington x oc #fanfic

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crescents-monster-corner · 5 months ago

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Why Do I: Chapter 1

Lily Blake starts attending MU with the goal of graduating with high honors and becoming a top scarer. While also trying to expand her social circle. But then she runs into the new it boy on campus, Johnny Worthington. On paper, he's everything she hates in guys, arrogant, selfish, and reminds her way too much of her high school bullies. So why does she get a strange feeling she can't place whenever he's around?

(A/N):Finally got the first chapter done!!!! It's been a super long time since I posted a fic anywhere so let me know if the formatting is wonky. This first chapter was very OC-centric to establish my characters and what their whole deal is! But there's going to be a whole lot more of Johnny in the upcoming chapters!

AO3 (Link)

The harsh glare of the sun bounced off the shiny metal bumper of the bus and into Lily’s eye in a downright maddening way, but she did her best to avoid making any complaints. Slinging her overstuffed backpack onto her shoulder, and dragging her suitcase from the trunk of her father’s car.

“I can’t believe my little girl is going to the best scaring school in the country!” Her mother gushed, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug that left the young monster wincing.

Lily glanced over her shoulder to see her best friend Rosa being fussed over by her own mother, worrying over her daughter missing anything in the numerous bags held in her four hands.

“Mom I hate to break it to you, but the bus can’t keep waiting.” Lily chuckled, pulling away from the short woman’s embrace. Her mother smiled, wiping a tear away.

“I know, we’re just trying to make the most of this. Right honey?” She said, looking at Lily’s father, who seemed lost in thought for a moment before snapping back to reality.

“Oh! Uh… Yes, we uh… hate to see you go, sweetheart.” He replied awkwardly. Lily tried not to show it on her face, but she could not help but feel a little hurt, her father had not exactly been enthused like most parents would be to find out that their daughter had gotten into such a high-profile school for a career as lucrative as scaring.

Lily’s uncle gave her father a playful pat on the shoulder. “Ah, she’s gonna be fine. I became the monster I am today thanks to MU!” He pulled out an envelope from his faded MU jacket, and held it out to her, but pulled away at the last second.

“Ah, ah, ah, missy! Now this here is money for uh… Textbooks!” He winked “I’m gonna give this to you, but I am expecting something in return for this.”

“Good grades? Like that's going to be an issue for me?!” Lily scoffed.

He chuckled “Nothing that serious kid! You might have this guy named Arthur Knight as a professor, he and I go way back! If you have him as a teacher, tell him I said hi!” He smiled, finally handing her the envelope.

“Last call for Monsters University!” The bus driver announced, making the small crowd jump.

Lily and Rosa quickly scrambled to grab the last of their bags and squeeze onto the bus. Filing into a pair of seats near the rear of the bus, they watched as the small coastal town they called home disappeared into the blur of moving scenery.

Lily let out an exhausted sigh and she flopped back onto the hard mattress. The dorm room was bathed in the warm orange glow of the setting sun outside as Rosa continued to go about setting up all of her personal effects on the opposite side of the dorm.

“You already done packing?” She asked, struggling to hold a poster up to the wall while placing tape for it to hang on.

“Yep, just getting out the bare minimum. I don’t plan on staying in regular dorms for very long.”

“Right, you plan on joining one of the sororities. I honestly still can’t picture it. You, in a sorority I mean. You know how many parties they throw and how much you dislike that sort of scene?” Rosa said as she finished putting the poster up.

“Well, I’ve decided that, since we’re with a whole new crowd of people now, it’s the perfect opportunity to start fresh y’know? Get outside my comfort zone a bit.” Lily leaned forward, resting an elbow on her knee.

“Maybe you can finally get yourself a boyfriend.~” Rosa teased, causing Lily to clam up. Rosa giggled, sitting down on the edge of her bed. “I know! I know! Baby steps! But you’ve been reading fake stuff like ‘Sleeping with the Fishes’?” She pulled a Romance novel out from seemingly nowhere, squinting as she read the title.

“G-gimme that!!!” Lily snatched the book out of her friend's hands, a blush coating her face as Rosa burst out laughing.

“You’ve been living vicariously through these fictional characters since junior high!” Rosa stood up, hands on her hips.

“Listen I’m gonna work on passing my first year, and climbing the social ladder first! After that, I’ll start worrying about messing with guys.” Lily explained

“Well then, I’ll hold you to it!”

The sound of eager chattering filled the old lecture hall of the school of scaring as students eagerly gathered their things to leave for the rest of their first day of classes. The high domed ceiling created the perfect echo chamber for sound to bounce off of the aged dark wood.

Lily weaved her way through the crowd going against the flow of students to try to reach the front of the room. Keeping her limbs close to her body to minimize accidentally brushing against somebody as she moved.

She mentally sighed in relief as she finally broke through to the round open space in the center of the room. Professor Knight was busy clearing his writing off the chalkboard as she awkwardly stood by the table in the center of the room, waiting for him to notice her while her fingers fidgeted with the strap of her bag.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there!” He said with surprise as he turned around, his brows raising over the rim of his large glasses. “Can I help you with anything miss…?”

“Oh! Um, Blake. Lily Blake.” She replied, and his eyes widened slightly in surprise again before looking her up and down.

“Blake? You wouldn’t happen to be related to Kenneth Blake, the scarer, would you?” Knight readjusted his glasses.

Lily nodded. “Yep. He’s my uncle. He asked me to tell you he says hi?” Her voice went from affirmative to awkwardly questioning.

The professor laughed goodnaturedly. “We were roommates back in the day! Oh, he must be grinding his fangs that he’s not the one here teaching you! He always bragged about being the better scarer, but I’m the one who got the doctorate.” Lily was taken aback at the otherwise calm monster going on a small rant. Knight seemed to realize this, as he quickly composed himself, straightening his tie and clearing his voice. “Anyway, he was, and still is, an impressive scarer. You’ve got some big shoes to fill miss.”

Lily swallowed the frog that had magically appeared in her throat. “I’ll try not to let you down, sir.”

The first week of classes was over almost as quickly as it had started, and with the dawn of the weekend came the first semester’s most anticipated event, Rush Week.

Lily nervously fussed over her appearance, trying to smooth out imaginary wrinkles in her shirt. “Ugh, I look like shit. I bet my eyeliner is smudged isn’t it?!” She grimaced.

Rosa shook her head as she sighed. “You’re fine! It's just your nerves trying to keep you from going in there.” She nodded in the direction of the campus’ most prominent sorority for scarers, Slugma Kappa Theta.

It stood as one of the largest houses on fraternity row, with large pale green letters above the front entrance reading EKO. The bump of the music could easily be felt from where they stood in the middle of the cul-de-sac, multicolored lights flashing to the beat from just behind the windows.

“You don’t get it, if I don’t get in I can’t compete in the scare games, and if I can’t compete in the scare games, I can’t win the scare games! And if I can’t win the scare games, I won’t have anything impressive for my resume, and then what company will hire me!” Lily was clutching her horns to the point her knuckles were turning white as she panicked.

“Woah, woah, woah! Calm down, it's going to be fine, they’d be fools not to pick you! And even without the scare games, you’ve still got the skills to go far, I know it!” Rosa placed a reassuring hand on Lily’s shoulder as two more pried her claws off of her horns.

Lily closed her eyes taking a deep breath, steadying herself, her feet planted on the ground as she tried to find her sea legs as her mental ship went over another wave. She was quickly snapped out of that mental imagery at a voice calling out to them.

The pair looked over to see a tall blue insect monster lightly jogging up to them, waving. Rosa broke away from Lily to meet him halfway. “Javi! I was wondering where you were, I haven’t seen you all week!” She exclaimed, pulling him into a hug.

Lily looked on in confusion as the two tall insect monsters exchanged greetings, her gaze flicking back and forth between them. Rosa finally remembered she was there and introduced them.

“Lily this is my cousin Javier! Javi, this is my best friend Lily.” She practically dragged Lily over as she introduced her. Javier gave a small nod, a casual smile on his face. “Sup.”

“What are you doing here man?” Rosa questioned, lightly shaking him on the shoulder.

“I’m rushing, same as you two!” He replied, pointing his thumb behind him to the largest house on the block, ROR.

“Woah, I hear those guys are pretty strict. You sure you wanna go for them?” Lily asked.

Javier narrowed his eyes. “What, you think I’m not good enough to get in?” He leaned in, causing Lily to retreat into herself, had she said something wrong?

But her panic was lifted away as he stood straight, laughing. “I’m kidding! What, can’t take a little joke?”

Lily laughed along nervously as Rosa slapped her cousin upside the head. “Don’t tease her like that!” She scolded.

Lily stood there as she watched Rosa chide him before turning to her. “Hey, Lils. Why don’t you head inside? I’ll catch up with you in just a sec, kay?” Lily meekly nodded before turning on her heel and shuffling towards EKO.

Once she was out of earshot Rosa turned back to Javier. “Can I ask you a favor?”

“What? Let me guess, it has to do with her?” He replied, crossing his arms.

“Yes. Listen I know you’re both scaring majors, so you probably have some classes together. And you saw her people skills need some…work. So could you do me a solid and look out for her a bit for me, I just don’t want anyone to give her a hard time, she doesn’t have a ton of friends other than me. I’m not asking you to be super close to her, just make sure she’s doing alright. Pretty please?” Rosa begged, her upper pair of hands linking together in a pleading gesture.

“Sure, but I am not gonna hold her hand and babysit her.” Javier rolled his eyes.

“She’s three months older than you.” Rosa corrected.

Lily clutched the red solo cup, half-full with a punch that was definitely spiked, close to her chest as she squeezed past the dancing bodies crammed into the living room of the house. The music was so loud she could feel the reverberations in her bones and hated it.

She had caught glimpses of girls wearing EKO regalia but had not had a chance to actually talk to any of them due to getting jostled around by the crowd of partygoers. Her below-average stature certainly did not help as she craned her neck to try and spot a small pocket of space to escape to.

“You good?” Lily jumped at the hand on her shoulder. Whipping her head around to see Rosa. Her pupils had contracted into thin slits against the red of her irises. “Yikes! It only took like 20 minutes of this mess to get to you huh? Let’s get you some fresh air!” Rosa planted a hand on her other shoulder and began steering Lily through the crowd to the back porch.

Getting out onto the porch and away from the crowd felt like coming up for air after being stuck underwater. Lily finally relaxed, even if only a little.

They went to lean against the railing overlooking the backyard. A decent-sized firepit was burning with several people sitting around it smoking. Another, somewhat larger group of girls were gathered around having a very loud conversation. From the looks of things, they were already plastered, swaying back and forth, giggling to themselves.

Lily sighed, resting her chin on her forearms as she watched them. Focusing on something to try and block out the thrum of the music just beyond the sliding glass door. She closed her eyes, humming along a little to the music.

“You gonna finish that drink?” Rosa asked.

“Nah, you can have it.” Lily handed over the cup and watched as her friend downed it in one go.

Her gaze snapped back to the crowd of drunk girls in the yard as they formed into a circle around two of them. And while Lily could not exactly see what was going on, she could hear a very heated argument breaking out.

Her eye twitched with irritation, her tail flicking from side to side. Just when she was starting to calm down and enjoy things, they had to go and ruin it. She stood up straight, marching down the steps towards the cluster, Rosa following in confusion.

“Lil’s what are you thinking?” Rosa bent down to her height to whisper.

“Getting a little peace and quiet. Feel like lending me a hand?” Rosa nodded, bracing for the noise.

Lily thumped her chest and cleared her throat. Taking a more stable, wider, stance she took a deep inhale.

“WILL YOU ALL PLEASE JUST SHUT UP!!!!!!” The shout was so loud it caused everyone in the yard to recoil, covering their ears at the sudden high volume.

There was a wave of silence that overtook the crowd following the cry. Lily smiled in satisfaction at the peace. “Thank you!”

Rosa spread her wings, fluttering over the crowd to land in the center.

“Now ladies, I’m sure that you both have very good reasons for being upset with each other. However, this is not the time or the right headspace to have such an argument. You might say something that you’ll forget in the morning but certainly regret. So let’s save this mess for tomorrow and go home for the night.” Rosa suggested, already guiding one of them back to their group of friends.

Murmurs spread in agreement through the crowd, and it quickly dispersed and they began to drunkenly make their way home.

Suddenly a slow clap started causing Lily and Rosa to turn around. There stood a tall, willowy monster clad in an EKO sweater. “Nicely done ladies!” She smiled, showing a hint of razor-sharp teeth. “Those are some impressive conflict resolution skills Pink!” She turned to Lily. “And did that big screech come from you Purple?”

Lily nodded in response and the girl’s smile widened. “Damn girl! You’ve got some pipes!” She held a hand out to her. “Thalia Simons! President of Slugma Kappa Theta.”

Lily stared at her wide-eyed for a moment before returning to reality. Quickly wiping off any sweat from her palm on her shirt before eagerly shaking the president’s hand. “Lily Blake. And this is-”

“Rosa Moreno!” Her friend finished.

“Well ladies, I know we’ve only just met. But I can see some real potential here! How would you two like to become pledges for EKO?”

Lily was practically vibrating with excitement at the offer. Whilst Rosa looked confusedly at Thalia. “Oh! I’m not a scaring major, but she is!”

“Interesting… Well, the offer still stands! How about you give me your answer tomorrow? Come by the house at around… let’s say... Two?”

Before Rosa could interject further Lily was already thanking Thalia profusely for the offer. And she did not want to dampen her best friend’s mood, they could worry about it in the morning.

(Elsewhere in Fraternity row)

The party at ROR was in full swing as Johnny Worthington bumped cups with his newfound friend Javier. Several older guys wearing the fraternity’s red crowded around him, laughing at every joke he told.

He found it comical that these upperclassmen were sucking up to him, a freshman pledge. But he was used to the fact that his family name carried an extreme amount of weight wherever he went.

Johnny leaned back against the pristine white railing of the balcony, soaking in the praise. When an ear-piercing scream echoed out from the Sorority directly next door.

The conversation halted as they all turned their heads in the direction of EKO. Johnny’s brows raised in surprise. “What the hell was that?!”

#johnny worthington #monsters university #monsters inc #oc x canon #lily blake #rosa moreno #Johnny Worthington x oc #fanfic

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