The sun crept ineptly through the closed gray blinds, and clashed on the hard wood paneling in awkward strips of orange.
Rigby's left hind leg twitched occasionally to the obnoxious soundtrack of his own snoring, and he occasionally tossed and turned on his small trampoline bed. The trampoline's short metallic legs lightly thumped against the wood as he did so.
Normally, Mordecai could sleep through this uncomfortable and infuriating beat of snores and knocks that rang out just a few inches from his own bed; though this morning, he lay in a gross heap of shivers and aches outstretching his entire being. His head felt swelled and congested, and he struggled to contain his sneezes.
This was dumb. It was probably just a side effect of all those sodas last night. This was just a minor cold, a small set back in his daily slacking. His body lugged itself in an upward position, and he found the room slowly wobbling…like videogame lag. At least, that was the best way Mordecai could liken his surroundings to.
Mordecai coughed into his left wing noisily.
The raccoon's odd beat gradually ceased now, and he rubbed his ringed eyes, squinting.
"Dude…that's like, louder than my snoring. You alright?"
"Y-yeah," Mordecai replied hoarsely, and blushed terribly at his scratchy voice. "…I'm fine."
"You don't sound like it, man. But anyway, you seem well enough to work with me today. I'm not gonna let you use your noisy coughing as an excuse to leave me alone to do your work!"
"Dude, I'd never leave you. Don't worry. That would be lame," the blue jay laughed, and then unexpectedly found himself in another coughing fit, making his throbbing throat ache worse.
He stopped coughing, and an uncomfortable silence filled the room like a noxious vapor, choking both of them. Both slackers had a previously established policy that if one of them should fall ill, the other will stick through it and help the other through the day if said sick slacker wasn't too ill. Though in the years they had worked here, it had never actually been done before.
Rigby's mind rattled with inane situations that could happen. Would Benson fire him if he found out he was hiding that Mordecai was sick? Would…he fire both of them if that happened? Would some terrible monster try to kill both of them if they went through with this? Okay, the monster seemed more probable than Benson firing them for good. Rigby shook the dumb questions away.
"I don't think you should um…talk though, you know. You do sound pretty bad, and Benson might make you take the day off or something…and I don't wanna be aloooooneee…" Rigby began to whine, as he ran out of the room on all fours.
The park gang sat chattily as they normally did on fair mornings on the steps of the park house, as Benson nodded and looked over his clipboard coolly.
"So for today's duties, I think we sh—Rigby! You're on time today!" The gumball machine cracked a smile in awe. "Nice!"
"Oh! Um, back to about today's duties and stuff, can Muscle Man and I yank the weeds today? Near the back of the park house? It's pretty bad there." Hi Five Ghost glanced at Benson hopefully.
"Is 'yanking the weeds' hip lingo for something you shouldn't be doing?" Benson squinted suspiciously at the small ghost.
Muscle Man interjected rather obnoxiously, to steer attention away from his floundering best friend. "Um, no bro! We were just hoping to tidy up the new garden that was planted there. Geez, Benson. We won't do it then!"
"No, no…that's, that would be-" Benson's voice paused abruptly at the sight of the ghastly white Blue Jay that stood in the doorway in front of him.
"No." He grew red, and gripped his now reddened head, and faced opposite of the group.
"What's wrong, Benson?" Mordecai sat on the wooden steps groggily.
"I can't have sick employees working, you know the policy. Now go back to bed or something, I'm letting you have an excused sick day. You're obviously in no shape to work."
"But Benson! I'll be alone! And I don't wanna mow the lawns by myself," Rigby lamented, while pleaded with fake tears.
Mordecai's surroundings grew foggier, and he grew a bit queasy.
"I'm sorry, dude. I just don't feel well…at all…sorry…" He clambered for the wooden side of the stairs, and wobbled inside the park house. As he achingly did so, Rigby's complaining dulled to an odd whisper in the background. The only thing Mordecai could make out from the chatter as he shut the door was a small mutter from Skips, wishing him well.
He flopped on the sofa, feeling disgusted with himself. That was a dumb policy he and Rigby had fashioned anyway.
Almost immediately, his phone vibrated. Mordecai gasped-and then, coughed reflexively-realizing Margaret was probably dialing him for confirmation about their hang out later at Eileen's house. He sighed, fumbled the touch pad woozily to answer the call.
Margaret chirped on the other end. "Hey Mordecai! Are we still on for later? I was thinking we could watch this funny movie called Brain Blasters, where these aliens with no butts have to figure out why everyone's laughing at them. It's so terrible, it's great. Oh, but if you have any suggestions or whatever, that's cool. It's good to have some variety. Sorry I'm rattling off things so fast…I just had my first coffee in like, forever since moving back…and I'm just-" She laughed, and collected herself. "…a bit hyper is all. Anyway, we're still good for later, right?"
Mordecai hesitated for a few seconds before speaking.
"I'm…I think I have the flu…I don't think we can. But maybe next week?" he gazed up at the ceiling through glazed eyes. "I'm so sorry, Margs,"
"Oh no, you poor thing! You sound terrible, too! I totally understand…but like, if you want, I can come over and be your helper for the day. I had the flu recently, so I think I'll be okay." She twirled her pale yellow phone's extension cord around her fingertips. This could be slightly heard through the receiver, and Mordecai quietly chuckled at her cute habit.
"I don't wanna get you sick, but that would be cool if you're okay with it," Mordecai replied, slightly blushing.
"Okay! And I will be fine. You worry too much. Just get yourself situated on that couch…and don't move a muscle. I'll bring over some comedies and medicine. We'll make today awesome."
"W-well…okay! Thanks Margaret!" Mordecai smiled thankfully, and blushed a bit. Though whether it was from his sickness or lingering feelings for Margaret, he wasn't sure.
"No problem. I'll be there at three. See you then, Mordecai!" She hung up with a loud clang from her receiver, and that was that.
For the next few hours, Mordecai laid his shaky, thin frame on the white sofa, listening to park members' passing conversations. Rigby bragged about mowing three feet of grass, and Mordecai didn't have to look to know that Skips had undoubtedly rolled his eyes in his usual manner. Muscle Man and Fives were scolded by Benson for doing the wrong type of "weeding" behind the park house.
Skips had occasionally checked on Mordecai to see if he were faring better, though by that point Mordecai had slipped into a feverish sleep.
The sun had traced its way on to the coffee table in front of the sofa, and the TV's bulging screen loudly glinted in retaliation to the aggravating sunlight. A loud doorbell interrupted the silence. Mordecai bolted awake, and sat straight up.
"Margaret!"
"Mordecaaaiii!" The Robin beamed, and set down a tote bag. "I brought some stuff…"
She placed a stack of DVDs on the coffee table excitedly, and pulled out a bottle of flu medicine, along with a box of tissues.
"You sound really bad, so I brought some stuff that would definitely help."
Mordecai blushed furiously at Margaret's generosity, and clenched his hands that lay under a thick cover of sheets involuntarily. He then happened to notice, that among the comedy films Margaret had brought, she had carried with her one lone romance film…was that…intentional?
"So let's pick a movie…" Margaret quickly listed off ten movies that she had brought, and Mordecai took note of her mentioning the romance film twice. He began to sweat.
"You want to watch…Puppy Love? I mean, it seems kinda cute so…" He laughed hoarsely.
"Sure!" Margaret hastily popped the disk out of its case, and eagerly dashed over to the DVD player. "There…it's all set. Now let me get under those covers, too."
Mordecai bashfully grinned at her request. It was a nearly sweltering 80 degrees outside, and there was no way she was doing that out of physical comfort. She settled next to him, under two sheets, and then suddenly recoiled a bit in poorly concealed disgust.
"You're so clammy," The Robin suddenly blushingly blurted out.
"O-oh, sorry."
"No, no, it's fine. I don't know what else I was expecting," She set down the remote on the coffee table, and placed her dainty, feathered hand on Mordecai's chest. "Now that you're sick though, your feathers are all fluffed out. You look like a dork." Margaret playfully interjected, with a laugh.
"Hey now, you're the dork. You didn't have to come here and be my helper. But you did."
"But how does that make me a dork? Are you an expert on dork things?" Margaret narrowed her eyes teasingly.
The birds giggled for a bit, albeit joined by trying coughing—and finally focused on the romance movie.
Margaret began to stroke Mordecai's puffed out chest, slowly, and found his heart.
"Are you afraid of this movie, or something? Your heart is going wild," She gazed into his eyes.
"Yes, I'm afraid of a few puppies falling in love, obviously," Mordecai said jokily, "It's so scary, Margaret. You know what would help me settle my nerves?"
Don't pull a Mordecai.
"A hug?"
"A…yeah."
The two birds hugged each other tightly, and Margaret hid her smile in Mordecai's soft shoulder.
"Thanks," Mordecai managed to whisper hoarsely on Margaret's shoulder.
"I'm going to be honest," She tangled herself free from their tight embrace. "I hate this movie. I also hate every single movie I've brought with me today. But if it meant finally being able to spend time with you, it would be worth it. And it was. I don't care if you're on the verge of losing your voice like today, or whatever. It's always sweet seeing you, and I missed that when I went to college."
The Blue Jay blushed madly at her comments, and felt compelled to offer another thanks, but his voice left him at that moment. Instead, he coughed, and looked at Margaret appreciatively. He motioned toward his throat awkwardly, and laughed silently.
Margaret nodded knowingly, and continued. "I can keep talking, if you want. I made a bunch of friends at college, but nothing beat hanging out with you, Rigby, and Eileen. Oh! And if you're wondering, I've made amends with CJ after uh…well, you know. Just in case you weren't aware. She's awfully sweet! And enjoys action movies. We're planning to have an action movie night this Saturday, too. I'm glad our relationship didn't stay sour after New Years, you know?"
She nuzzled against Mordecai's once more, and blushed again. It was so soft, it was nearly unavoidable to snuggle. Mordecai joined in, and stroked her feathers as well, while snuggling.
The both of them had been so invested in their conversation and cuddling, that neither had taken notice of the credits rolling.
"I…love you too," Mordecai choked out.
Margaret blushed wildly, then proceeded to get up from the couch.
"I should probably head out, Eileen's making sushi tonight. Or, attempting to. Then again, I have no right to judge her. I can't cook at all outside of the coffee shop," She chuckled. "Anyway, thanks for having me over. See you another time, dude!" The Robin started towards the door, and looked back with a blush still obviously on her face, then left.
Yet again, Mordecai found himself alone on the couch. Though he couldn't talk, or move much, his heart fluttered; his face reddened in love, and he sought solace from this lovely but overwhelming feeling in the couch cushions, as he mashed his face into them. He finally settled again, and drifted off into a long slumber, his mind decelerating and processing what had just occurred.
The feeling that lingers after your crush leaves is undoubtedly the best feeling to exist.