Staying In Tonight

"Dude, hurry up," Mordecai shouted up the staircase impatiently, "we're gonna be late!" He wrapped his knuckles on the staircase railing a few times, waiting for a response but received only silence.

"I'm coming up there, Rigby," Mordecai stated, placing a foot on the bottom stair.

"No! Don't come up here," Rigby wailed out, scurrying along the bedroom floor, "I'm not ready!"

"You've been in there half an hour, how are you not ready yet?" Mordecai asked, travelling up the staircase.

"I'm just not ready yet," Rigby groaned, slamming the closet door shut in frustration.

He had been planning this for months. What to say, what to do, where to do it all. It had to be him to say it. But now there was only half an hour before their rendezvous and he was completely rethinking the whole thing. It was a stupid idea that he had to get out of.

Mordecai rolled his eyes and made his way over to the bedroom door, "I'm coming in, Rigby."

There was no answer. Mordecai took this as a sign it was okay to open the door. He grasped the doorknob and turned it, pushing the door open to reveal a small brown furball curled up on the trampoline in the corner of the room.

"Rigby?" Mordecai asked, concerned, taking a step into the room. He closed the door behind himself and turned back to his friend, still balled up, unmoving.
"I'm not going, man," Rigby huffed out, squeezing up tighter.

"But this was your idea," Mordecai chimed, walking over to the raccoon.

"I know… but," Rigby unfurled himself and rolled over to face Mordecai, groaning, "I don't want to go now."

Mordecai sighed, visibly annoyed, "I already bought two tickets," he snapped, "Zombie Dinner Party three, man!"

Rigby curled back up, sighing, but not answering the bird.

"Yesterday you were too excited to sleep, you kept me up until four in the morning, and now you won't leave the room?" Mordecai questioned, sitting down next to the trampoline, "this isn't you, dude."

"I just don't want to go anymore," Rigby sighed, still tightly wrapped up in himself.

Mordecai scratched the feathers on his head, confused as to his friend's behaviour, "why not?"

"I... I don't have anything to wear…"Rigby whimpered.

Mordecai snorted, trying not to laugh at Rigby's reason, "really?"

"Shut up!" Rigby hissed.

"Rigby, you know I'm not wearing anything, right?" Mordecai reassured, looking down at himself before looking back up to Rigby, "this isn't like you, you hate wearing clothes."

"I'm not explaining myself to you," Rigby groaned again, unfurling and sitting up, "just drop it."

Rigby stood up and walked over to the bedroom door, opening it, "you wouldn't understand, Mordecai," he muttered, walking out and closing the door.

Mordecai groaned, standing up. He pulled out his wallet and the two tickets from within it, crumpling them up and tossing them on the floor. Why was Rigby acting like this? Why now? He walked over to the door and made his way downstairs.

Mordecai reached the bottom of the staircase, turning to see the raccoon sitting sullenly on the couch. He walked over and sat down next to him, Rigby shuffling away from him subtly, "we don't have to go out if you don't want to," Mordecai reasoned with his friend, looking down at his own hands, "we can go rent a movie."

"It's not the same," Rigby whined, slumping over. He looked over at Mordecai and back to the ground, "forget it."

"Something's up," Mordecai questioned, looking back over at Rigby, "you're not normally like this unless you're not getting your way with something." He rubbed the back of his neck stressfully, looking at the ceiling. "What's the problem, Rigby?" He asked, looking back over at Rigby.

"There's no problem. Why does there need to be a problem?" Rigby muttered, still looking sullenly at the floor, "I don't want to go see the movie and I don't want to rent one either."

"Why did you ask to go see it then?" Mordecai questioned further, shuffling closer to Rigby, "you've been begging me since the trailer came out and now you don't want to go because you don't have clothes to wear?"

"It's not that!" Rigby snapped at Mordecai, a look of discomfort and sadness and anger mixed on his face, "You wouldn't understand, man. I said drop it." He noticed Mordecai had moved closer to him and scooted further right.

Mordecai noticed him move away, "Wait..." He mumbled, the idea hitting him, "I know what this is..."

Rigby looked up at Mordecai in shock. No, his friend couldn't know... could he? Rigby panicked his heart racing in his chest.

Mordecai crossed his arms and glared at Rigby, "you don't want to go with me," He insinuated, looking at Rigby with a more saddened expression than before.

Rigby went from shocked to relieved and guilty. "No, no... That's not it," He pleaded, his heart sinking, "that's not it..."

Mordecai's expression lightened, his shoulders slacking, "I'll stop asking," he warmly smiled and stood up, making his way over to stairwell, "Well, if we're not doing anything tonight-"

"Wait."

Mordecai stopped, turning back around to face Rigby. Something was definitely up, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Rigby was never this upset.

Rigby was still looking at the floor, twiddling his thumbs, "I want to say something." He looked up at Mordecai with a look the bird had never seen before.

Mordecai made his way back over the couch and plopped down right next to Rigby, curious as to what the raccoon felt he needed to confess, making the raccoon even more nervous than before.

"I have something to say," Rigby sighed shakily, his body twitching as he went on, "I was going to wait until the after the movie to do this but..."

Mordecai waited a moment, "but what?" he asked, knowing Rigby was not going to continue.

Rigby didn't say anything, just looking at his friend with and expression on his face Mordecai did not recognise in Rigby's arsenal of expressions. He sat there, speechless and unable to continue. He couldn't tell Mordecai. He couldn't say those words from fear of what would happen if he did.

"Look, dude, I don't have time for this," Mordecai grumbled, "when you figure out what you're trying to say-"

He was cut off again, but this time by something that surprised him more than he had ever been before. He looked down to see Rigby wrapped around him in a... hug? Rigby was... hugging him? Mordecai's face turned four shades of red before he came to terms with the event before him.

"What are you doing?" He asked suspiciously, not too sure on how to respond to this sudden action taken by Rigby, or what his friend was even up to.

Rigby's eyes shot open and he leapt back from Mordecai, crashing into the arm of the couch. He blew it, and he began to brace for what was about to happen.

"What was that?" Mordecai laughed a bit, still surprised by his friend's action, "Did you just hug me? That's... new."

Rigby laughed nervously along with his friend, still unsure about where this was going to head. He had just done something he never thought he'd do. He couldn't find the words to what he wanted to say, so he thought he'd express them in a different way.

"Yeah, I was just joking around," Rigby lied, not sure on how to go forward with this. He had made a huge mistake on his part, and he was hoping that Mordecai would be his usual self and just shrug it off.

"Well, I better get going. I'm sure Benson wants us to clean the... garage or something," Rigby lied, sliding off the couch as he did. He started on his way to the front door when he felt his feet lift off from the ground, now kicking around in the air, "What the hell?"

He came crashing down on Mordecai, who had picked him up as he made off. "What are you doing Mordecai?" He yelped, struggling against his friend, "Get off me you hole!"

"I know what this is, bro," Mordecai chuckled, "I'm just doing what."

"I don't want this!" Rigby yelled, still flailing about with all the energy his little body could muster.

Mordecai squeezed him tighter in a half attempt to calm him down, "isn't this what you wanted?"

Rigby screamed and flailed to no avail, the bird being much stronger than he was. He was too panicked to think about what was happening. He started to calm down, slowly realising what was actually happening.

"Why didn't you say anything, Rigby?" Mordecai asked sincerely, his arms slightly loosening on the raccoon.

Rigby closed his eyes, still unsure what was playing out before him or what Mordecai's game was, but he knew that Mordecai knew now what was up, "I... didn't want to make things awkward between us," the racoon went on, "and you had your thing with... her."

"You didn't seem to mind trying to ruin things any other time," Mordecai stated matter-of-factly, "why is this any different?"

Rigby sighed and brought hands to rest on Mordecai's, his heart picking up more and more speed, "this is different, man."

"I can see that," Mordecai agreed, his hands taking Rigby's in and holding them. He could feel Rigby getting more anxious, and he was starting to feel it too. This wasn't how they're usual dynamic was.

"So, where do you want to go from here?" Mordecai asked, rubbing Rigby's shaky palms with his thumbs.

"Why are you asking me?" Rigby questioned.

"I want you to make this choice," Mordecai looked down at Rigby, "this is your call to make, dude."

Rigby was dumbfounded. Was Mordecai really saying he'd be okay with it? He swallowed and thought for a moment.

"I want to try this," He sighed shakily, unsure of anything that was happening. Was this happening? It felt like a dream that he'd fallen into sometime between curling up on the trampoline and walking downstairs.

Mordecai let go of Rigby's hands, "Then we'll try, " he smiled, rolling Rigby over, quite easily, so they were now belly on belly. He took Rigby by the head and brought their lips together.

Rigby eyes shot wide at what was happening and he tried to pull away. But somewhere through the kiss, he stopped. Rigby closed his eyes and let the moment happen between them, his arms wrapping around Mordecai's neck as Mordecai's arms wrapped around Rigby's neck.

Their lips parted and they both opened their eyes, staring directly into each other's dreamily.

Mordecai smiled cheekily and began to scratch the back of Rigby's head affectionately, "I always knew you had a thing for me."

Rigby cooed and closed his eyes, smiling, "Shut up."


A/N: Okay, so I whipped this idea up in about 5 minutes while toying with some ideas for a bigger project, so I decided to write it down today. I'm looking at starting something BIG soon, something I can commit to and try to improve my skill. This was just supposed to be this cute little fic with no intended purpose besides Morby feels. So yeah... There hasn't been any editing beyond what I spotted while writing and re-reading it. It's nice to play around with these ideas though, and jot them down when they start to boil, isn't it?

Thank you for reading my work, guys. I really, really appreciate it.