A/N:Hi guys – this is my first stab at a Regular Show story and my first time actually posting anything I've written.I hope you like. Please review - comments, questions and/or constructive criticism are appreciated. Enjoy!

Disclaimer – I don't own Regular Show.J.G. Quintel is the mastermind behind the characters and he is a genius, might I add.

Rock Bottom

Mordecai looked out the window on a sullen, stormy afternoon. A flash of lightening, followed by a loud crack of thunder caused the whole house to shake. The park grounds were barely visible through the downpour. The weather matched perfectly with his current mood.

Just twenty-four hours previously, Mordecai had been on top of the world. It seemed like everything was going his way. He had a good job as a groundskeeper at the city park. It didn't pay much and there wasn't much room to grow, but it gave him enough to get buy. He got to live rent-free in a beautiful two-story house on the park grounds complete with all the conveniences a twenty-three year old guy could ever want – a bed, a bathroom, a kitchen and (most importantly) a TV and video games. The best part of the job was the relaxed atmosphere that allowed him to pretty much do whatever he wanted as long as he eventually did what his boss, Benson, asked of him. All that and he got to hang out all day with his best friend, Rigby, and his other friends who worked at the park. He was happy with the job for now.

The park was awesome, but what really had him thinking that things couldn't get much better was a beautiful girl named Margaret. Mordecai had the biggest crush on her for years, but was always too shy and nervous to make a move until a few weeks ago during a night up on Lookout Mountain where they had gone to watch a meteor shower. It took everything he had to finally summon the courage to kiss her after failing to do it so many times. To his surprise, she readily returned his kiss and they had been happily dating ever since.

Last night, his plan was to take her out to the most expensive restaurant in town and officially ask her to be his girlfriend. He had worked so hard doing chores for everyone in the park so he could afford to pay for the meal. In exchange for favors, his coworkers had given him their "Amadeus Dollars," which were gift certificates to the fancy restaurant that all of the park employees had received for Christmas. Everything was going to be perfect.

Things got off to a shaky start at the restaurant because the "Amadeus Dollars" turned out to be counterfeit. The FBI got involved and it turned into this big ordeal, but that is a whole other story. The part of the evening that he couldn't get off his mind was the thirty seconds between the time he said, "Margaret, will you be my girlfriend?" and her reply "For the first time ever I feel like I'm in a relationship that could actually go somewhere, but I just got accepted to my dream school. I really like you Mordecai, what we have is special, but I may never get this opportunity again. I'm sorry, but I can't be your girlfriend." He could see the mixture of joy and sadness in her face as she spoke the words that made his world come crashing down around him. She was going off to college, over a thousand miles away.

He knew that it wasn't fair to either of them to promise a monogamous relationship to each other at this point. The long distance thing just doesn't work for most people – especially not a beautiful and intelligent college student like Margaret. She would have guys hitting on her every time she turned around. The very thought of this made Mordecai sick to his stomach. How could he ever compete with that? He had some higher education, having gone to Art School for a couple of years, but he knew that he was no match for the campus jocks and frat boys who would all be striving for Margaret's attention.

Although she tried to hide it, Margaret had silently cried during the drive back to her place from the restaurant—showing that she did have real feelings for Mordecai. The last few weeks had been amazing. They'd had a great time together and she even invited him over for a BBQ to meet her parents and extended family. He was the only guy Margaret had ever brought home that her dad actually accepted. It had seemed like a future together was inevitable…until she got the acceptance letter. He wanted to comfort her and tell her that things would work out for them, that he would wait for her as long as it took, but he knew that it would be in vain. He had no doubt that he could wait that long – it's not like he had girls lining up to date him—but he didn't know if she would want to wait and he didn't want to pressure her by asking her. Mordecai: under his happy-go-lucky, where's-the-party exterior, he had a heart of gold and was forever trying to do the right thing.

Thunder rumbled again, bringing closure to the scene that had kept playing over and over in his head. He had been moping around in a daze all morning. Margaret would be getting on a plane and flying out of his life in less than two hours and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"Are we going to play, or what, man? Or are you going to just sit around staring out the window all day?" Rigby's voice started him. The raccoon had just come out of the kitchen carrying a huge bag of chips in one hand and a plate full of leftover pizza in the other. He stuffed half a slice of pizza in his mouth, then plopped down on the couch and picked up the game controller.

"Sorry Rigby, I was just thinking about something. I'm not really in the mood for video games right now." Mordecai replied.

"What? What do you mean you're not in the mood to play video games? This is Double Dragon, man! What the hell is wrong with you?" Rigby retorted through a mouthful of pizza. It was just in his nature to be insensitive and usually oblivious to other people's feelings. Although he was the same age as Mordecai, his personality was more like that of a hyperactive teenager.

"I just don't feel like it right now. Give me a break, Rigby." Mordecai replied softly. He was completely not himself today. Usually, he was always in an upbeat mood and never passed up on an opportunity to have fun.

"What's the matter, still thinking about Margaret?" Rigby drew out her name in a whiney voice. He had nothing against her personally, but he had been a little jealous as of late because of the amount of time Mordecai had been spending with her – instead of hanging out with him.

"Leave me alone, dude." Mordecai replied, getting annoyed.

"Just get over her, already. What's the big deal? She probably doesn't even like you that much or she wouldn't be leaving." Rigby said, putting down the game controller and throwing his arms up in exasperation. In his own way, his intentions were to make Mordecai feel better by blowing off the situation like it was no big deal, but he was really only making things worse.

"Shut up, Rigby! You don't know what you're talking about! She does so like me, but this is an opportunity she can't pass up. "

"Whatever man, you don't need her anyway. Forget about her and let's play Double Dragon!" Rigby pressed.

"I said no, Rigby. Just drop -" He was interrupted when an overweight green man in his twenties entered the room followed closely by his ethereal friend.

"Hey ladies, what's going on?" Muscle man asked in his gruff voice. "Me and Fives can't finish any of our work because of this storm. "

"Mordecai is just being lame and acting like a loser just because Margaret ditched him. He won't even play Double Dragon with me." Rigby pointed a finger at the depressed looking blue jay sitting on the couch.

"Tough luck, bro." Muscle man said.

"I'm not a loser, Rigby. You're the loser! You wouldn't know what it's like to love someone because you've never even been on a date, much less had a girlfriend!" He stood up and pointed his finger at Rigby. "You're so immature and no one even likes you. Take that, LOSER, and leave me the hell alone!" Mordecai shouted, growing angrier by the second because Rigby wouldn't let it go.

"You just got told, bro!" Muscleman exclaimed. High Fives nodded in agreement.

"STOP TALKING!" Rigby yelled, not liking the way this conversation had turned on him.

Skips, a seven foot tall Yeti, poked his head out of the kitchen. "What is all the yelling about?" He asked in his guttural baritone voice.

"Oh yeah?" Rigby goaded, ignoring Skips's question. "Well YOU'RE such a loser that Margaret probably isn't even leaving to go to school. That was probably just an excuse to get away from you because you're such a big LOO-SER!"

"That's it!" Mordecai balled his wing into a fist and planted it square into Rigby's jaw. The raccoon stumbled backwards, clearly shocked. He quickly regained his balance, gritted his teeth in anger, and lunged straight at Mordecai with fists flying. The two inseparable friends started a full blown, out-to-draw-blood, fist fight – something that had never happened during their longtime friendship despite all the teasing and arguments between them in the past. Mordecai just snapped, unable to deal with Rigby's relentless taunting on top of his loss of Margaret.

"Whoa bro, they're really kicking the crap out of each other!" Muscle Man muttered to High Five Ghost, but made no effort to stop them.

Skips ran over and attempted to break them apart. He grabbed Rigby by shoulder and flung him backwards, out of Mordecai's reach, placing himself between the two. That didn't stop the blue jay from trying though. ''I'LL SHOW YOU WHO'S A LOSER!" Mordecai kept yelling between gulping in air and flailing his fists in the air. Blood trickled from a gash above his left eye. Skips braced his chest to keep him from Rigby.

"Oh yeah? BRING IT THEN! I'll tear you limb to limb!" Rigby shouted, but didn't move from the 'safe zone' just out of Mordecai's reach. He knew he was ultimately no match for Mordecai.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" Benson, their boss, shouted as he ran out of his office. "MORDECAI AND RIGBY! END THIS, NOW!"

"He started it!" Rigby accused without missing a beat.

"Bullshit! I just wanted you to leave me alone! Was that too much to ask, Rigby? I didn't want to play video games and you just wouldn't give up – 'Mordecai is a lame because he won't play video games. Mordecai is a loser. Margaret is leaving you because you're so lame!' Mordecai imitated Rigby's high-pitched voice, still struggling to get free of Skip's grasp.

"Well that's because you were being a loser!" Rigby shouted. "Who sits around all depressed over some girl leaving anyway?"

"Shut up, Rigby!"

"BOTH of you SHUT UP! If you don't stop this crap right now, YOU'RE BOTH FIRED!" Benson threatened, his temper rising to the breaking point. The two friends often had that effect on him.

"Fine!" Mordecai said, finally jerking himself out of Skips's grip. "You know what? I'm not going to sit around here and take this shit. I'm out of here!" He shoved past Muscle Man and High Fives and walked out the door into the storm, slamming it behind him.

An awkward silence crept over the room as they all stared at the door for a few seconds. "You should have left him alone, Rigby." Skips said. "You just couldn't drop it, could you?"

"But it's not my fault! He..he…It's not my fault!" Rigby tried to defend himself, but was unable to come up with a good reason why Mordecai was to blame.

"It sounds to me like this IS your fault, Rigby because you don't know when to shut your mouth!" Benson's eyes burned a hole accusingly through the raccoon. "I hope you're happy now!"

"But I.." Rigby dropped his shoulders and hung his head as if it suddenly dawned on him what he'd done.

"I'll go get him. It's pouring out there." Skips offered.

"No, just let him go cool off. He'll come back eventually." Benson said. "As for you Rigby, you're going to do his jobs and your jobs for the rest of the day! Now get back to work, or YOU'RE ALL FIRED!"

A/N: A lot of this chapter was mainly background - things start to pick up Chapter 2, which is coming soon. I have seen Laundry Woes so I know what happens after Margaret goes to college on the show, but just humor me. R&R