A Day Out

For HipsterRed (formerly RegularFan101)

A/N One of the stories happened to my friend. Guess which one. ;)

Mordecai sits on the couch, playing video games, dressed in a light blue jacket. He's gone through all their games in about a couple hours and honestly, he's bored out of his mind. He looks to his right to where the raccoon should be and stares at the cold controller, a frown on his lips.

"It's not fun without you here." He says, annoyed. "Why'd you have to go to Dons on my day off?" He groans and turns off the system. Leaning back in his seat, he slaps a hand on his face and sighs.

He hears footsteps descend the stairs and takes his hand away, listening till they get to the bottom step, then turning his head to see who it is.

He smiles and jumps off the couch, throwing his control on the seat and walking over. "Hey Benson, wanna hang out?"

Benson stops, surprised for a few seconds, then he relaxes and smiles. "No, sorry Mordecai. I've got a ton of paperwork to do." He walks to the door, grabs his dark red jacket on the coathanger and tugs it on.

Mordecai groans. "Please? Rigby's not here and I'm bored out of my mind."

"Why don't you play vid-"

"I've gone through all of them."

"Ok, how about you go to the coffe-"

Mordecai shakes his head. "It's shut today." Then he resumes the pouty face. "Please Benson? I'll work extra hard tomorrow."

Benson pauses. He takes a few seconds to think about this, then raises an eyebrow. "Do you promise?"

Mordecais pouting breaks into a grin. "Yes."

Benson finally smiles. "Ok. I'll hang out with you. But you better keep that promise."

"I will. Don't worry."

Benson opens the door and before he can take a step out, Mordecai runs past him.

"Last one to the arcade is a rotten egg!"

Benson shuts the door, a brief frown on his lips, but when he hears the click of the door, he smiles again and walks down the steps.

"I'm not chasing after you Mordecai!" He calls. The blue jay keeps running.

"I can't hear you! I'm too busy winning this race!"

Benson shakes his head at his employees immaturity, but he goes after him anyway. He breaks into a sprint and he soon catches up with the blue jay, laughing.

Mordecai leans against the door. "I...win..." He pants.

"Yeah...I agree." Benson's puffed. "I...haven't run like...that in...ages."

"Obviously." Mordecai says, smiling. He's got his breath back.

Benson takes a deep breath and when he releases the air, he's matching the blue jays expression.

He nudges Mordecai in the arm. "Shut up." He says jokingly, earning a light nudge back.

Mordecai laughs and opens the door. Benson walks in and the door shuts behind them as Mordecai steps beside him.

"Ok, which game first?" The blue jay asks. Benson's too mezmerised by the games to answer. It's bringing him back to childhood and for a moment, sudden nostalgia rips through him.

"Benson?"

"Huh?"

Mordecai laughs. "I said, which game dude?"

Benson looks at him. "You're making me choose?"

"Yeah. You've never been here before, so you should choose. I'll go along with whatever one you pick."

Benson smiles and looks around. He points at a blue box with donkeys on the side. "Super Donkey Broes. That was the very first video game I ever played."

"Wow, really?" Mordecai says as he follows Benson to the game.

"Yip." Benson pops a quarter in the slot and gets in position, his fingers hovering the buttons. "It brings back so many memories."

Mordecai smiles and steps beside him as player two. "So you could say you're an expert right?"

"You'll have to see for yourself, won't you?" Benson counters back.

"Oh, it's on." Mordecai says. The game starts and it turns out, Benson is an expert. They play three rounds and the gumball machine wins all of them. Frankly, Mordecai's impressed.

Next, they head to the go-karts, where a man with shaggy hair is setting up the karts. The place is empty, giving Mordecai and Benson a chance to talk without being overheard.

"Wow Benson, I didn't know you could play video games like that."

Benson laughs. "You could say I'm...an expert."

Mordecai smiles and punches him lightly in the shoulder. "Whatever. I bet I'm better at you are with hand held video games."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure I'm sure."

"Alright." Benson shrugs and looks back at the man. "You'll have to organise a time then."

"I will. Maybe when I've got the day off again?"

"That sounds good."

Their conversation ends when the man straightens and sees them. He's dressed in a worn beige jacket and from afar, his hair's greesy. "I've set up the karts so just take your pick. You only get 5 minutes on these things so don't run the oil." He laughs as if it were a hearty joke. Mordecai and Benson glance at each other, confused. "Just the two of you?"

Mordecai nods. "Yip."

"That'll be $15."

Mordecai rummages in his jacket pocket and brings out the cash. He slaps it in the mans hand then he goes around him to the carts. Benson follows. The man walks away, out of sight.

Mordecai picks a green one and Benson picks a purple one.

They start their engines and race. As the carts pick up pace, Mordecai gets in the lead. They do a circuit then Benson races ahead. Mordecai guns the engine and speeds up, and after doing one more lap, Benson falls behind and Mordecai wins the race. But he doesn't have time to do a victory dance. The man appears again and he smiles a yellow-toothed grin at the duo as they get out their carts.

"Thanks." Mordecai says. Benson nods at the man then follows the blue jay out the door.

They go through everything they can think of, from a restaurant to laser tag. Truthfully, Benson's never had this much fun in his life and he never believed that the one person he'd open up to most would be his employee. They're at a cafe; the last stop for the day.

He laughs as he bites into his sandwich. Mordecai's telling a story about when he and Rigby were younger and Rigby got gum stuck in his hair when he was a teenager. Benson finishes the sandwich just as Mordecai finishes the story. He smiles and takes a sip of his coffee.

"You got any funny childhood stories Benson?" Mordecai asks, amused.

Benson puts his coffee down and swallows the caramel down before answering. "Oh no. You don't want to hear them. Along with being funny, they're also pretty embarrassing."

"Aw come on. I'm sure one wouldn't hurt to tell."

Benson smiles, caving in. "Alright." So he launches into a story about how his sister ate a fly in her pie once without realising it. It's awkward, it's cringinly bad, but Benson's smiling, despite it being his sister.

By the time the gumball machine finishes, Mordecai's laughing hard.

"She actually bit into the fly?" Mordecai asks, semi breathless from laughing.

Benson nods, making Mordecai chuckle. "Like, the guts and-"

Another nod. Mordecai bursts out into giggles. "Oh man thats bad! I feel sorry for her. Really. And you never told her?" He asks surprised.

"Nope."

Mordecai laughs again. His laughter dies down and he looks at Benson. "Do you see your sister often?"

Benson shakes his head, making Mordecai regret asking the question. Seeing the expression on his face, Benson says quickly. "No, no, it's fine. I just...I don't get to see her that much, you know? I moved away from home at 16 when I joined "Hair To The Throne" and I never saw her since. But that's what happens, right? The further away you get from home, the further away you get from your family. I do get phone calls from her, asking me how I am and all that, but I just haven't seen her for a really long time."

Mordecai falls silent, taking it all it. "Well, it's good that you keep in contact with your sister. And if you don't mind me asking, how was it when you were in "Hair To The Throne?"

Benson shrugs. He finishes off his coffee. "It was alright. That little piece of fame was all I needed to get me kicked out though."

Just like before, Mordecai regrets bringing it up. "Oh, I-I'm sorry Benson, I-"

"It's fine Mordecai." Benson smiles to reassure Mordecai he's ok. "I just don't talk about it much that's all."

"Oh." Mordecai sighs. "I don't know. I just feel a little uncomfortable mentioning your life..."

"Well, if you don't wanna mention mine, do you mind if I mention yours?"

"Sure." Mordecai says. Benson thinks. He starts with an easy question, unsure if Mordecai is comfortable with delving deeper into his life.

"Do you have any siblings?"

"I've got an older sister."

"No brothers?"

"No brothers." Mordecai confirms. He smiles. "I've got a pretty bad story about my sister if you wanna hear it."

"Shoot. We've already heard one about mine, so it only seems fair we heard one about yours."

"Ok then." Mordecai makes hand gestures and funny expressions as he tells Benson the story of when his sister got car sick and she puked in the back of their car. Except it came out of her nose.

Benson's in stitches. "Okay, that's waay worse than my sisters. You win."

Mordecai grins at the memory. "I have pictures if you wa-" He says, reaching into his pocket for his wallet.

"No, no. I'm fine thanks." Benson lets out one last chuckle.

"I'm kidding. As if I'd take pictures of that mess."

Benson laughs again. "Of course." He stands and throws his cup in a nearby bin. They exit the cafe, both smiling and laughing about the stories they told each other.

Mordecai walks Benson to his apartment since it seems polite to do this after a big day out with his boss. It's night time and there's a half moon in the sky.

They stop at the buildings door, but Benson doesn't go straight inside. He stands there on the pavement. Mordecai smiles.

"Thanks for hanging out with me Benson."

"No problem. You know, I've never opened up that much to someone before."

"Really?" Mordecai digs his hands in his pockets and rocks back and forth on his heels.

Benson nods. "It felt good to get some of it off my chest, not to mention some of those things, I've been holding in for a long time."

"Well, you're lucky you picked me to tell them to 'cause I won't tell a soul."

Benson looks at him, smiling. "You promise?"

"Cross my heart." The blue jay motions a "cross" on his chest, making Benson laugh.

"I hope you're as good at keeping promises as you say you are."

"Hey." Mordecai laughs. "You know me well enough to know that that answer is "yes I am."

Benson rolls his eyes, amused. "You've still got your end of the deal to hold up."

"Oh, right, the chores. Yeah, can I take the day off tomorrow?" He makes a face.

Benson frowns. "What? No. You're doing them-"

"Only joking Benson." Mordecai sticks out his tongue. "I told you I keep my promises."

"It hasn't been proven yet, so technically, you could be wrong."

Mordecai laughs. "Maybe. Well, I better get back to the park. Rigby'll be wondering where I am."

Benson smiles. "Okay. See ya tomorrow Mordecai."

"Later Benson." Mordecai spins on his heel and walks away. Benson watches him leave and waits till he's through the park gates before pushing through the door of the apartment building, smiling.