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ironychan · 5 months

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Scary Monsters

@dysphoria-sweatshirt @30spiders @sweatersexual @angrylittlesliceofpizza @writer652

Part 1/? - Rocco’s Closet

Part 2/? - School for Monsters

Part 3/? - The Waternoose Family

Part 4/? - The Terrifying Humans

Part 5/? - Hiding Places

Part 6/? - Nobody’s Fault

Part 7/? - Edge of Disaster

Part 8/? - Caged Monsters

Part 9/? - The Journey Home

About twenty minutes later, Helena Marcovaldo arrived at the door. By then Alberto, Luca, and Harry were seated around the kitchen table, with their rather distracted hostess serving them cioccolata. Harry had ended up standing on the chair, looking rather precarious with his many legs tucked underneath him on the small seat, but he didn't seem to mind. He slurped at the chocolate in delight, and was looking around at other objects in the kitchen with a smile on his face. When Dorotea's mother let Helena into the kitchen, he was thrilled to be meeting a second human.

“Luca!” Signora Marcovaldo said, coming at once to give him a hug. “Santo Tallegio! What's going on?”

“We visited another world inside Rocco's closet,” Luca replied, hugging back tightly. He didn't want to let go. Signora Marcovaldo, with paint-spattered overalls and her unruly red hair so much like Giulia's, was so wonderfully familiar. After those horrible days in the monster world it was almost as good as being back with his own Mom and Dad.

“You did... what?” Signora Marcovaldo asked.

Reluctantly, Luca loosened his grip and sat down again. Signora Molinari gave Helena a cup of coffee, and the boys began to tell their story.

Signora Marcovaldo knew that Luca and Alberto had been missing for a couple of days, because Giulia had told her on the telephone, but nobody had any idea that they'd vanished into Rocco's closet. The two adults looked more and more astonished and skeptical as the boys described how bedroom closets were a portal to another world and the monsters who lived there used screams for electricity... but every time they looked about to protest, they would glance at Harry and say nothing. He was clearly real, sitting there stuffing bombolini in his mouth, and they couldn't argue with that.

“So now,” Luca finished, “we need to get Harry back to his own world, and then we need to help Curtis and Louise. I think we should go back to Portorosso, and then find somebody else who has a monster in his closet.”

“You can't use Rocco's again?” asked Helena.

The boys shook their heads. “His door got wrecked,” said Alberto.

“They'd have to recreate it from scratch,” Harry explained, “and they won't, because he's probably not even scared anymore.”

“It'll be easier in Portorosso,” Luca added, “because people there don't mind sea monsters, so they'll have an easier time getting used to Harry. I think anybody who saw him in Genova would panic.” Signora Molinari had certainly come close. “We need to find a way to get him to the train station without anybody seeing him.”

“I want to see the city!” Harry protested. “It's full of humans.”

“You can't,” said Alberto. “You can see Portorosso, but in Genova you have to hide.”

“I didn't keep you locked up in Monstropolis,” Harry complained.

“You kinda did,” Alberto said. “You put us in that tiny room for the night, and we were too scared to go anywhere.”

“That's your fault,” Harry humphed.

Signora Marcovaldo looked dubious, as if she suspected people in Portorosso would mind these monsters very much. “How can we hide him?” she asked. “I suppose he doesn't do like you two and transform as a disguise?”

Luca and Alberto shook their head.

“How much time do we have? Giada,” Helena said to their hostess, “when are Consalvo and the kids due back?”

“Any moment now,” Signora Molinari admitted unhappily. “I don't know what they'll think when they find him here. It took me years to convince Dorotea the first time that there wasn't a monster in her closet and if she finds out there was the whole time I might never get her to go to bed again.”

“Then we'll have to think of something fast.” Helena looked around the room, trying to get inspiration somewhere. “Do... do you have a baby pram?”

“We do!” Signora Molinari exclaimed, standing up. “Let me find it!”

She dragged the pram out of the attic, stirring up clouds of dust in the process, and found a blanket that could be draped over the top to conceal the contents. Harry rather reluctantly climbed in, and if he settled down with his legs tucked up under him, he just barely fit. Signora Molinari draped a blanket over the top, and the result looked surprisingly plausible. As long as Harry kept quiet, everybody would assume there was a sleeping baby.

They were just in time – when Signor Molinari looked out the window, she found her husband and children approaching the house. Helena grabbed her purse, and the boys fell into step behind her as if they were just leaving. Signora Molinari held the door for them as her family approached the house.

“Lovely to see you as always, Helena,” she said, her voice loud and false. “Oh, and here's Giovanni and the kids! Did you have a good day at the museum?”

“Yes!” Dorotea replied, running up to hug her mother. “Hi, Luca! I thought you went back to Portorosso for the summer.” She looked puzzled as she realized that Luca and Alberto were in their pyjamas, but did not immediately remark on it.

“We just came up to visit,” Luca said quickly, keeping the conversation off their clothes. “This is my friend Alberto. Alberto, this is Dorotea. She's the one who gave me the book about the tomb of King Tutankhamon. This is her little brother, Nino.”

Nino, six years old, waved.

“Piacere! Girolamo Trombetta!” Alberto shook the little boy's hand. If he continued doing things humans thought were weird, maybe they'd assume the pyjamas were just more of the same.

It seemed to work – but he couldn't distract them from the presence of the pram. Dorotea looked up at Helena hopefully.

“Can I see the baby?” she asked. “My friend Bella has a new baby brother, too! Is it a boy or a girl?”

“It's a boy,” said Helena, “but I don't think we should disturb him. He'll be very grouchy. Some other time, perhaps.”

Dorotea looked disappointed, but she and Nino waved goodbye as Luca and Alberto followed Giulia's mother out into the street. Helena breathed out, relieved.

“Are we outside?” Harry whispered from under the blanket.

“Yes,” Alberto told him.

The blanket moved.

“Don't!” Luca hissed.

“I just wanna see,” Harry whined.

“Here.” Luca folded a corner of the blanket back so that Harry couldn't accidentally drag the whole thing off in his attempts to peek out. One of the monster boy's many eyes appeared in the gap, and Luca dropped back a little so that Harry could get a better look around.

“Wow!” he heard Harry whisper.

The city of Genova was certainly very different from Monstropolis. The monster city had been built on very flat land, though with mountains visible on the horizon in the east and, according to one of the maps in the classroom, the ocean somewhere in the west. Genova had mountains to the north and the sea to the south, but the one butted right up against the other rather than the two being separated by a broad plain. The buildings Luca and Alberto had seen from bus and car windows in Monstropolis had been very similar to each other and generally very plain, as if somebody had decided to build as many of them as possible as quickly as they could. In Genova the buildings, arrayed in layers on the hillsides, were all different colours and different sizes, some of them with marker stones to show the date they'd been begun.

“It looks like a city made of Turkish delight!” said Harry. “Hey... is that ice cream?”

“It's gelato,” Alberto told him.

“Be quiet!” Luca urged. There were people around, standing outside shops and houses and talking to each other, or going about other business. Nobody was paying attention to Helena and the boys, but that might change at any moment.

As they passed, Harry turned to take in the freezer of brightly-coloured gelato flavours. The blanket moved, and Alberto and Luca grabbed at it to try to keep it in place.

“Is anybody looking?” Luca asked.

“I don't see anyone,” Alberto told him.

“Then it's okay!” Harry pushed the blanket aside and hopped out, scurrying up to the gelato counter. “Look at them all!”

“Harry! Harry, come back!” Helena hissed. She, Alberto, and Luca gathered around him as he gazed at the frozen treat, trying to shield Harry from the view of the people around him. It was too late, though. The man running the gelato stand had stood up and was looking down at them through a pair of sunglasses, and his pet dog was standing stiff, growling a bit.

“Tino!” the man said. “Basta! Don't scare off the customers!”

The dog, a small brown and white creature with tight curls in its fur, whined and looked up at his master, as if to ask him how he could possibly fail to notice the little monster excitedly reading out flavours. Luca and the others held their collective breath, waiting for the moment the man realized what he was seeing.

“What can I get for you, young man?” the vendor asked.

“That one!” Harry pointed.

The vendor chuckled. “You'll have to tell me the name,” he said. “I'm afraid I'm quite blind.”

Helena leaned on the pram in relief, so heavily it actually tipped back on its wheels. Luca had to grab Alberto so that he wouldn't simply fall over.

“Strac... stracky a...” Harry frowned, sounding it out.

“Stracciatella!” the man said.

“Strachy-a-teya,” said Harry.

“Stracciatella!” the vendor repeated. “Try again.”

“Stracciatella,” Harry got it closer.

“Close enough!” The vendor put a scoop of it in a cone. “It's sweet milk with chocolate.” He wrapped the cone in a paper napkin and held it out.

Harry stood up on the tips of his many legs to take it. “Do you want a son?” he asked.

“That good, is it?” The man laughed. “I'm afraid I already have two, and that's plenty!”

Helena bought gelato for Alberto and Luca, as well, and was handing the vendor a banknote to pay when a father with two children came up to take a look at the flavours. Alberto and Luca quickly moved in between this family and Harry so that Helena could get him into the pram unseen. The father was talking to the vendor and the two girls were staring at the ice cream, so it looked like they might have a chance – until the dog barked as Harry got too close again and the smaller girl looked to see what had scared it.

“What is that?” she shrieked, pointing. Helena quickly spread the blanket over the pram with Harry in it. The girl's father and sister both turned to look.

“Oh, Tino's a lagotto,” the blind vendor said. “He's awfully nervous today, isn't he?”

Tino the dog lay down, putting his head on his paws with a frustrated snort.

“Thank you very much, Sir! Have a nice evening!” Luca called, waving as they hurried away. The younger girl was gesturing frantically as she tried to tell her father and sister that she'd seen a giant spider eating ice cream.

“Don't you dare do that again!” Helena hissed to the blanket. “You were nearly seen!”

“Yeah, but I got ice cream out of it,” Harry replied, his mouth audibly full.

“That was purely to save face,” she said crossly. “Next time it may not go so well.”

Luckily, the gelato seemed to satisfy Harry enough that he was willing to remain in the pram, just peeking out from under a corner of the blanket, for the rest of the trip back to Signora Marcovaldo's apartment. She lived on the fourth floor of a block of flats, and the pram was slightly too big to fit in the tiny elevator, so they had to drag it up the flights of steps while Harry complained they were making him seasick. One of Helena's neighbours paused and offered to help them, but they refused, not wanting him to realize how heavy the pram was.

Finally they manoeuvred the pram down the narrow hallway to number forty-four and squeezed it through the door. For Luca, it was a relief all over again. After living in this apartment for eight months, Luca knew it almost as well as he knew his parents' farm in Portorosso Bay. The little kitchen with the old coffee pot that sat in the middle of the table, the view over the bay, the side bedroom where his and Giulia's beds were. It was all familiar and wonderful.

Nerone the dog came bouncing up to greet them, then stopped short, his ears pricked up and his tail raised. His nostrils flared as he sniffed, and it seemed the corgi would have agreed with his lagotto counterpart in not at all liking what he smelled. The hair stood up down his back.

Luca tried to distract him. “Hi, Nerone,” he said, offering the dog a hand.

Nerone ignored this, and his lip curled as he growled at the pram.

“No,” said Helena sternly to her pet. “Harry is a guest. Luca, put him in the bedroom, would you?”

“Yes, Madame.” Luca took Nerone by the collar and led the little dog firmly into the room he and Giulia shared. Nerone did not want to go, and while he was far too small to actually stop Luca dragging him out of the room, he widened his stance and kept his snarling nose pointed towards the pram the entire way.

“There!” said Luca, shutting the door.

Harry took that as permission, and snatched the blanket off his head. “Whew! I couldn't breathe in there!” he complained, and climbed out of the pram to start exploring the kitchen. The view from the little window immediately caught his many eyes, and he scuttled over to climb up on a chair and look out. “What's that?”

Luca came to see what he was looking at. “Oh, that's La Lanterna,” he said of the lighthouse. “It's four hundred years old.”

“Really?”

“Yeah!” Luca couldn't help being eager to share the thigns he'd learned. “Do you have anything that old in Monstropolis?”

“No way,” said Harry. “The whole city's only half that old.”

“There's actually been a lighthouse there longer than that,” Luca added, “but it got old and fell apart, so they had to rebuild it. I've got a book about the history of the city somewhere.” He almost went to go get it out of the bedroom, but then he heard Nerone's nails scratching at the door. If he opened it, the dog would doubtless come barrelling out.

Signora Marcovaldo, meanwhile, had lifted the receiver from her telephone and dialed zero. “Hello?” she said. “Operator? Yes, can you get me Marsigliese's Drogheria in Portorosso? Thank you.”

Alberto and Luca both came a little closer as the phone rang. When Luca was in school, he'd arranged a time to talk on the phone with his parents every week, but calling unannounced was a little more complicated. Massimo didn't have a telephone of his own, so they had to call Signora Marsigliese, who had one in her shop that she sometimes allowed people to use, and he would go and get them.

“Hello, Carolina?” Signora Marcovaldo asked. “It's Helena in Genova. Good news, I've got Luca and Alberto!”

“What?” asked Signora Marsigliese. “How did they get there?”

“It's quite a story,” Helena told her, “but they're both safe and that's the important thing. Here.” She offered the phone to Luca.

“Hello, Signora Marsigliese,” said Luca, and his first question was, “how's Rocco?”

“Rocco? Rocco's fine,” Signora Marsiglese replied. “How are you? He told me his monster took you two away into the closet and that's all I've been able to get from him.”

“She did,” said Luca, “but it's okay, she's actually very nice.”

“Who is?”

“The monster. Her name is Louise, and I think she needs our help right now.”

“What are you talking about?” Signora Marsigliese wanted to know.

Harry had found Helena's birdwatching binoculars, which she kept in a drawer below the window, but was disappointed once he got a good took at them. “Do you have one with more eyes?” he asked.

“I'm afraid not,” she told him. “Two is pretty standard.”

Harry shrugged and fiddled with them, trying to match the spacing to one of his sets.

“We'll tell you all about it when we get back to Portorosso,” Luca promised. “Can you please tell Massimo and my parents that we're coming?”

“Of course, of course,” said Signora Marsigliese. “They'll be so happy – your parents have been absolutely frantic, and the Pescheria has been closed the whole time you've been gone.”

“Really?” Alberto asked, leaning closer to the phone so she'd be able to hear him. “Why was it closed?”

“Because Massimo can't catch fish when he's out combing the bay for you,” Signora Marsigliese told him. “I don't think he's slept, either. I've never seen him so upset.”

Luca couldn't imagine Massimo being upset. Signor Marcovaldo was in very firm control of his emotions, rarely showing surprise or fear or joy even when everybody around him was freaking out. If he were worried enough that people outside his family could tell, he must be very upset indeed.

Alberto clearly didn't know what to think about that. Even after living with Massimo for a year, he still found it hard to believe that his adoptive father was actually that attached to him, rather than just putting up with his presence. He had often thought that if he were to vanish one day, Massimo would probably be relived to be rid of him.

Signora Marsigliese said goodbye and went to spread the news, while Signora Marcovaldo searched for something the boys could wear besides their stained pyjamas. She pulled out some of the clothes she'd bought Luca to wear in the autumn and winter – they were too warm for right now, but at least they were clean. Luca's things were too small for Alberto, so she knocked on other doors in the hallway and eventually managed to borrow something from a neighbour. This did not include shoes, but he was used to going barefoot.

“Do I have to get back in the pram?” Harry whined.

“I'm afraid so,” said Helena. “We can't risk anybody else seeing you.”

“But it was fine,” he complained.

“Only because the man at the gelateria was blind,” Helena reminded him. “If he hadn't been there's no telling what might have happened. Into the pram.”

Harry scowled as he climbed in, and Helena tossed the blanket over the top. She stowed her own bag in the basket under the pram, while Alberto opened the bedroom door just a crack so that Luca could get a hold of Nerone and put his leash on. The dog had calmed down a bit, but was still very unhappy with Harry's presence. The white was visible all around the dark iris of his eyes.

“Does everybody have their things?” Helena asked.

“We don't have any things,” Luca said. “We didn't take anything with us.”

“Sorry, force of habit,” said Helena. “Let's go.”

The area where Helena lived was a quiet part of Genova, and they didn't pass very many people on the street outside. First they dropped Nerone off with a neighbour who had agreed to care for him. Signora Marcovaldo and the boys all gave him some scratches and said goodbye, and Nerone whimpered as they walked away. He did not like that they were leaving him behind and taking away the intruder he was so angry about.

As they got closer to the train station the city became busier and busier, especially as it was starting to be late in the afternoon. Adults were finishing work for the day, and children, out of school for the summer, were running around shouting and playing. Harry, peering out from under his blanket, was transfixed.

“Look at them all!” he whispered. “Where are they all going?”

“Most of them are going home,” said Luca. “A lot of people in Genova work during the day.”

“What do they do?”

“There's museums, there's the trains and buses, all kinds of things,” Luca said. “Probably a lot of the same stuff monsters do when they aren't scaring people. Please be quiet.”

The train station itself was swarming with people, coming and going on the trains or visiting the little shops around it. Since it was hot out, Helena stopped to buy bottles of sparkling water for the boys. Alberto opened his, while Luca passed one under the blanket for Harry.

“What's happening now?” Harry asked.

“We're in line for train tickets,” Luca whispered back.

“There's music!” Harry squeaked as they neared the office. A radio was playing. “I didn't know humans had music!”

“Of course they have music. Everybody's got music,” said Alberto.

“Sssh,” Helena told him. She stepped up to the counter. “One adult and three children, for Potrorosso,” she said.

“The baby doesn't need a ticket,” said the clerk. She took the money and handed them the tickets, and they continued on their way. Luca stood up straight, trying not to look nervous. Alberto seemed to be doing alright, walking with what looked like a confident strut, but Luca recognized that as the other boy's attempt to prop himself up. Helena was not as good at pretending. She was looking around nervously, hunched over the pram a bit. Even when they made it to the platform and sat down on a bench, she remained bolt upright.

“Can I come out now?” Harry asked hopefully.

“No,” said Luca. “There's still too many people around.”

“You can come out in Portrosso,” Alberto added. “Like we told you, people there are used to us, so they can get used to you.”

Luca hoped Harry wouldn't be there long enough for people to get used to him. It would be one thing if Curtis or Louise or Sullivan ended up living there. They were grownups who could look after themselves. Harry was still a kid, and his mother was probably worried about him, just as Luca's parents and Massimo were worried about them. His father might be upset, too. Even if Mr. Waternoose was a jerk, Harry was still his son, right?

The train pulled up. People who'd been going to Genova climbed out, and the far fewer people who were headed east late in the afternoon trooped on. Once again, a man offered to help Signora Marcovaldo and the boys with the pram, and once again, they refused.

“We're managing just fine,” said Helena, false cheerful.

They found a compartment and sat down, and as the train chugged out of the station again, Helena leaned back in her seat, finally relaxing. As the train started moving, Harry pushed the blanket off and climbed out of the pram, standing on the seat to watch the station disappear behind them.

“I've never been on a train,” he said. “When we go anywhere that's too far to drive, we take Dad's private plane.”

“Your father has his own plane?” Alberto asked.

“Yeah. There's nothing to do and it's really boring,” Harry replied, watching the city pass by.

Helena got up and put her bag on the luggage rack, then shut the compartment door and moved the pram so that it would be in the way. It wouldn't actually stop anyone from entering, but it would hopefully slow them down enough that Harry would be able to hide. The train rounded the bay, and soon was chugging along the coastline towards Portorosso. There would be a couple of stops on the way at other small towns, but it would only be a couple of hours and then they'd be home.

Luca had been wide awake during his first train ride, from Portorosso to Genova almost a year ago. There'd just been so much to see along the way, all of it new and wonderful. When he'd gone home to visit at Christmastime, he'd been much more tired after the school semester, and had discovered that the rocking motion and rhythmic sounds of the train were quick to lull him to sleep. This had happened again on the next train ride, and again on the way back for the summer, even when he'd been very excited to get home. Now, after the last few exhausting days, Luca didn't have a chance. His head nodded, and his eyes drifted closed.

“What's that?” asked Harry, pointing out the window to something.

“That's a Vespa,” said Alberto. “Luca and I are going to have one someday. Right, Luca?”

“Uh-huh,” said Luca, his eyes still closed.

“How about that?” Harry wanted to know. “That looks like a scream station! Do humans use scream, too?”

“No,” said Alberto.

“That's a petrol station,” said Signora Marcovaldo. “It sells fuel for cars.”

“Where do they get it from?” asked Harry.

“I don't know. Hey, Luca.” Alberto poked him. “Where does petrol come from?”

“Out of the ground,” Luca said with a yawn. He moved a little, getting more comfortable. The city continued to pass by, and they eventually left it behind and got out into the countryside, where Harry found more things to look at.

“What about that? What's that?” Harry asked.

“That's a goat,” Alberto said.

“What are they for?”

“I dunno,” said Alberto. “The Paguros' goatfish lay eggs you can eat, but I don't think... hey, Luca,” he poked his friend in the shoulder. “Do goats lay eggs?”

“No,” Luca said with a yawn. “I think they give milk, though.”

“Cool,” said Harry. “Hey, what's that one?”

Luca groaned.

Late afternoon slipped into evening, and the train finally pulled up to the station in Portorosso. Reluctantly awake, Luca looked out the window and saw his parents, Massimo and Giulia, and Signora Marsigliese and Rocco standing on the platform waiting for them. His heartbeat quickened and he suddenly felt more alert. This was it! They were home, and he was going to be able to sleep in his own bed that night! He got to his feet, and helped Signora Marcovaldo get her back back onto the rack under the pram.

“In you get,” Helena said to Harry.

“But we're here now,” Harry said, and pointed to Luca and Alberto. “They said the humans here would be okay with me!”

“They said they could get used to you,” said Helena. “We don't want to spring you on them all at once. Get in the pram.”

Grumbling, Harry climbed in, and the boys prepared to help Helena bump it down the steps again. They were spared the trouble, however, when Massimo was there to meet them. He grabbed the other end of the pram to help lift it over the stairs, though he grunted at the weight. With that done, he turned to Alberto and offered his arm for a hug.

Luca didn't get to see the rest of their greeting, because he was all but bowled over as his parents came to scoop him up. Daniela Paguro held her son so tight Luca felt like she would squeeze the air right out of him, especially when Lorenzo joined her from the other side.

“I was so scared I'd never see you again!” Daniela said. “You are never sleeping in a room with a closet again, you hear me? Never!”

“I love you, too, Mom and Dad,” Luca said.

Daniela finally loosened her grip, and Luca was able to turn and see Massimo holding Alberto out at arm's length and smiling at him. Alberto grinned back with his eyes suspiciously watery – but he was spared the indignity of crying in public when Giulia tackled him from behind, putting him in a headlock and scrubbing at his scalp with her knuckles. This left Alberto laughing rather than in tears, and once she'd thoroughly messed up his hair, Giulia moved on to give Luca a much more gentle greeting.

“Are we done yet?” asked Harry's voice from the pram. “Come on, it's hot in here.”

Happy reunions stopped, and people looked at the blanket-covered pram warily. Signora Marsigliese had been told that Luca and Alberto were bringing a friend with them, and that this fried was even more monstery than they were, but until that moment everybody seemed to have forgotten about it. Now it was time to see if people in Portrosso really could get used to a monster.

“Everybody,” said Luca, “this is Harry Waternoose.”

Helena pulled the blanket off the pram.

Daniela yelped and thrust Luca behind her as if to shield him from an attack. Massimo was less dramatic about it, but he did step forward to be between the pram and his children. Signora Marsigliese gasped, and Rocco tugged on her sleeve and pointed as if to say, see? I told you so.

This only lasted a moment, though, and then everybody seemed to remind themselves that just because something looked odd didn't necessarily mean it was dangerous: the very same lesson Harry's father didn't want the people in the monster world learning about humans. Daniela laughed nervously, and offered a hand.

“Hello, Harry,” she said. “Luca always makes such interesting friends.”

“This is my Mom and Dad,” Luca said.

“This is my Dad,” Alberto added, gesturing grandly to Massimo. “And I guess this is my sister.” He stuck his tongue out at Giulia.

“And this is Signora Marsigliese and Rocco,” said Luca. “That's where Louise found us, was in his room.”

Rocco licked his gelato and glared at Harry. He did not feel like being friendly to closet monsters.

“Will you be staying long?” Signora Marsigliese asked Harry cautiously.

“Yes,” said Harry. “I'm gonna find a new dad and stay here forever, just like Alberto!”

#fanfic #pixar luca #luca 2021 #monsters inc #monsters university #luca paguro #alberto scorfano #scary monsters

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