Welcome to the park...more specifically, welcome to the park as it was in 1961..
The park and the city around it were the same as they are today pretty much. Well, except that the trees and the air were cleaner, everything was more primitive and liberalized, and no one liked to shower often.
Oh wait, that's just big ol' Mitch, commonly known as Muscle Man...
He and his buddy High Five Ghost were hanging by an oak tree near the snack bar with those two wussies, Mordecai and Rigby. It was Friday, which meant the four would meet by that tree and they'd each share their news to see who had the most interesting life at the moment.
Most weeks, Muscle Man would somehow win when he'd talk about how he scored with Starla, and unfortunately get into detail sometimes, TOO much juicy details. But hey, nothing's better than scoring with a chick, right?
Maybe things would be different this Friday..
Muscle Man cleared his throat and rubbed his nose on his shirt. "Alright girls, I'll go first."
"Lemme guess.." Mordecai said, crossing his arms. "You scored with Starla again?
"And you're gonna tell us how she broke your ol' lady's water bed?" Rigby added as he chuckled and touched knuckles with his best friend.
Muscle Man rolled his eyes. "You guys are just jealous. I bet you two have never been past 2nd base!"
Rigby scratched his head. "Jealous of baseball? OW!"
"He's talking about chick action, man!" Mordecai said as he punched him.
HFG decided to speak up. "Well..I found an ancient Roman coin on the floor the other day-"
"Pfft, that's boring!" Rigby interrupted. Of course, he wasn't the only one bored with HFG's 'news'. HFG never does anything that exhilarating except the usual crazy nights out at the bar house and maybe watching some kids fight at the drive-in. Muscle Man's been trying to get the little guy out more, though, which is good 'news' nonetheless.
After Rigby rolled his eyes at the ghost, he grinned and slicked his hair back. "Unlike you, I caught myself a foxy fox~!"
Muscle Man and his friend gave questionable looks and chuckled, while Mordecai just crossed his arms, looking away.
Go ahead and brag about it, you jerk..
"You know," Muscle Man started. "One of the very few things you're good for is lying." He grinned. "You know who else lies a lot?"
"Ugh! I'm not lying, you toad!" Rigby angrily interrupted.
"Oh yeah? What's her name then?"
"What does she look like?" HFG inquired.
Rigby looked at his paw carelessly. "Margaret. Beautiful red hair and feathers, rockin' body, and her funbags?"
The two suggestively grinned. "Yeah?"
Rigby grinned and nodded. "Big enough to sleep on, baby!"
The three proceeded to 'OOOOH' while Mordecai rolled his eyes and looked away, acting like he didn't know them as a family walked by, the parents covering their childrens' eyes.
"You guys are chumps, you know that?"
Muscle Man chuckled. "Aw, what's wrong, Morde-cry? Jealous cuz Rigby's gettin' lady action?"
Rigby glared at Muscle Man. "Of course he's not, he's happy for me. Besides, he rejected her before I came around."
"WHAT?" Muscle Man and HFG said simultaneously.
Mordecai rolled his eyes and sighed. "I didn't technically 'reject' her, I just-"
"Just nothin'!" Muscle Man interrupted. "You don't just tell a foxy girl to go run off a short pier, you gotta take her in your arms and go to home base with her!"
Mordecai shrugged. "I-I..it doesn't matter anymore, okay?"
Rigby nodded. "Yeah, just let him be, he didn't like her anymore, that's all." He nudged Mordecai. "So buddy, what news you got that I don't already know about?"
Mordecai stared blankly and gulped. He couldn't tell his actual exciting news, he just couldn't..
"I uh...I saved up more cash for that 12 inch TV to put in the living room."
HFG raised an eyebrow. "That's it?"
"Yeah, really," Muscle Man chuckled. "The TV in our camper's a 16-incher."
Mordecai glared. "Well atleast I'm willing to let the others watch programs on it, you guys just hoard it and watch Candid Camera all weekend!"
Muscle Man shrugged. "So what? We paid high dough for it and-" He stopped as his eyes met two men a little far away...dangerously close to each other.
"Another conversation for another day.." He told them all as he angrily walked towards the two.
Meanwhile, one of the men, Barry, was caressing the other man's hand. His name was Shiloh, nicknamed 'Shy' for obvious reasons.
"Oh Shy, the aloe leaves sure did some wonders for your silky smooth hands~" Barry cooed to him.
Shiloh smiled. "I'll be sure to keep my mittens off in the winter then, honey." They shared a hearty laugh together. They didn't get to laugh much longer as the green man with greasy hair walked up to them, staring at them both with a condescending look on his face.
"Aren't you two aware of the local law?"
The two looked at each other, clueless.
Shiloh then smiled at the man. "Oh, we're not from around here, we're just visiting from out of town-"
"I don't care where you're from," Muscle Man irritably said. "This is a fairy-free city, so you better get out 'fore I call the sheriff."
Meanwhile, while Rigby and HFG were having a thumb war, Mordecai watched the fight between the threesome unravel. From what he could see, the two started to cry after they stopped arguing and proceeded to run out of the park, not wanting to be harassed by the plump green man anymore.
Mordecai shook his head and leaned against the tree, trying to hide his anger as Muscle Man walked back.
"Everything alright?" HFG asked.
"Yeah, just a couple fairies, I took care of 'em though." Mordecai twitched at Muscle Man's use of the word.
Rigby nodded and smiled. "Nice! Show 'em who's boss!"
Mordecai walked away as the three shared a 'manly' laugh. Rigby called to his best pal as he walked away.
"Mord, where ya goin'?"
Mordecai looked back and lied. "I gotta use the john, I'll be a while." With that, he walked off without another word.
He decided to walk back to the house, picking a stray feather off of himself as he walked back, feeling sorry for himself all of a sudden. He sighed.
Oh well, look like it's another night of Solitaire..
He pulled out his card deck and ruffled them around, going into deep thought. He was just so unsure of...everything. Especially his dingbat of a best friend..
It's nothing, really. He knew Rigby didn't exactly hate the people, he just thought what the common public thought, which was 'Homos are bad and everyone else must hate them!'.
Mordecai despises Muscle Man even more for using the term 'fairy', which was a common-nown nickname for homosexuals, specifically men. The town was, like I mentioned earlier, pretty laid-back with most things except for when it comes to 'fairies'. Their type could only show themselves wherever they were welcome.
And that's why Mordecai can't share his 'actual' news..
Ah, Benson...the other reason he was heading back to the house. Benson..his employer and boss, who scolds him when he doesn't do things right..and even when he does nothing at all with his furry comrade. Gosh, Mordecai used to hate that grumpy gumball machine man with a fiery passion when he first started to work there, but after a while...things changed..
Mordecai and Rigby had been employed at the park for about 3 years, give or take, and over time, you could say that Mordecai's grown up a little bit, unlike Rigby. Mordecai, like Rigby, started as a boisterous young adolescent that did almost nothing but play around at work, atleast until Benson would stomp up to them and yell things like "Get your butts back to work or I'll end you two here and now!" and the most common one: "You bozos give me a headache, and you're about to get migraines when I'm through with ya!"
Soon, Mordecai transformed to a more chilled, lively individual. He still liked to joke around a bit with his partner in crime, but he now had a clean moral compass that he wanted to keep, and he soon started to be a bit concerned about his boss, hoping he doesn't end up getting a heart attack or something of that nature. Even after work hours on weekly game nights, he still turned red over the smallest isssues.
On a slightly brighter note, Mordecai realized just recently that Benson began to mean more to him than just a boss and a sorta-friend. He'd even got to know the man a little better when they went out drinking a couple nights ago. They didn't drink anything too strong though, just a few shots of scotch whiskey to ease their moods, which definitely benefited the older gumball man by a longshot.
Mordecai wondered if...maybe..just maybe...Benson felt the same way about him..
H-he's gotta, right? I-I see the way he looks at me while I'm working, when he thinks I'm not looking whenever I'm in the kitchen. And how could I forget the time Pops put on that Carl Jenkins record? Man, when 'Honey Don't' came on, he snapped his fingers and smiled as he bobbed his head all around, hell, he even began to dance a bit! I had never seen him enjoy himself so much before, he was like a whole different guy..
..and after the song ended, he caught me smiling and giggling playfully at him, and I swear he started to blush...and I think I did as well..
Mordecai jumped out of his thoughts as he finally reached the front door. After he opened it and came in, he instantly ran into the 'happy man' himself.
"Oh, hi Benson! TGIF to ya!"
Benson raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, Mordecai?"
He smiled. "Thank golly it's Friday, of course!"
Benson nodded. "Ah, yes, same to you." They walked near the stairs as Benson looked at his clipboard. "You've made yourself somewhat useful today, I'm assuming?"
"Yeah, I-I cleaned the fountain up a little bit, but I left Rigby to do most of the other chores. I had put in a lot of work yesterday, you know?"
Benson nodded. "Yeah yeah, I thank ya for that, kid, but I guess I-"
"Whatareyoudoingtonight?"
Benson didn't know how to respond since the bird had abruptly said that sentence so quickly.
"Uh...come again?"
Mordecai mentally facepalmed himself. Why did his inner emotions come out at the worst times?
"I-I guess...I just wanted to know, you know..what you were, uh, doing tonight, on a..." He looked out the window, Benson did as well. "On a nice night such as this.."
Benson shrugged. "I'll go home and do what I usually do; sleep and wait for Monday to show its face. Why do you care?"
Mordecai started to sweat and he shook his head. "N-no I-I was just wondering, you know? I just thought...maybe you'd wanna have a little fun is all.."
Benson gave him a slight grimace. "With you? C'mon, Mord, I'm not as young as you, why would you wanna hang around me anyway? I-I'm not even that interesting.."
"You play a mean game of solitaire," Mordecai replied. "I've never seen anyone play Forty Thieves as well as you do, Ben. You're a champ."
Benson blushed at the nickname. Ben? W-where'd he get that from?
"Aside from that, you seem...pretty hip and all."
Benson smiled. "Y-you're not so bad yourself, Mordo. I-I gotta say, you've really matured through your years of working here. I can see you reaching the stars someday."
..And hopefully I'll be there with you...
Mordecai smiled and gulped nervously. "Benson, I-I have something to tell you, please don't get mad, please PLEASE don't get mad..."
"What is it? You can tell me, go ahead."
He tried his best to get the words out. "I-I...I love you!" After he suddenly burst out with that confession, he hid his face into his wings, avoiding contact with the possibly-infuriated gumball machine.
However, he felt the metal hands gently touch his wings as they pulled them away from his face. Now Mordecai was able to see Benson's face..
...and he's never looked happier..
Soon, Benson got closer to Mordecai's face and gently kissed the other man, holding onto his fluffy wings as he shared 30 seconds of passion with his employee.
After they broke apart, they smiled.
Benson caressed Mordecai's face. "I love you as well, Mordecai. I-I've kinda wanted to do that for a..a long time, I must admit..."
Mordecai grinned. "I know you couldn't resist a hunk like me."
Benson rolled his eyes and lightly nudged him. "Oh, you think the same thing, kid, and you know it."
"I do, indeed." They soon shared a passionate hug. A thought entered Mordecai's mind and suddenly shocked him.
"Benson, what about the..you know.."
They stopped hugging. "The what?"
Mordecai rubbed the back of his neck. "The damned city law about...two men..in love."
Benson sadly nodded. "Yes, I despise it too." He rubbed his arm and looked around. "It's one of the reasons I didn't tell you at first.."
"I don't give a damn about the law, though," Mordecai said with confidence. "Love has no laws or rules, it's free as a butterfly, free to share with whoever you're happy to be with."
Benson smiled at the bluejay, impressed. "You're quite the speaker, Mordecai." Mordecai blushed as he continued. "I agree, though. Let's not worry ourselves about it. We can't let it stop us from being..together."
Mordecai smiled. "I'm glad you're able to be a rebel once in a while, Mr. Rulebook."
Benson grinned. "Hey, that's only because it's related to my job, and I gotta make rules so things are safe around here. But I'll be damned if the city thinks I'll let 'em put restrictions on my love life!"
"You tell 'em, sir!" They shared a laugh, and noticed the time. "Ah darn, Rigby and the others'll probably be back soon."
Benson shrugged. "Eh, don't worry about them. I have some 'papers' you need to fill out in my office." They both started walking up the stairs as Mordecai caught his hint.
"Ah, you mean check out Pops' new Chuck Berry record?"
Benson playfully shushed him.
Mordecai quietly chuckled. "Sorry, heh."
"We're gonna have to create our own special morse code, atleast until the law disappears."
They finally got to Benson's office. While Benson sat on the desk next to the record player drinking from a silver liquor flask, Mordecai pulled the record out of the case.
Mordecai looked at it for a second. "Hey Benson?"
"Yeah?"
Mordecai walked over to the record and placed it on the player under the needle.
"You think we'll be able to tell the others about 'us' someday?"
Benson slowly took a sip from the flask and genuinely looked into Mordecai's eyes.
"Only time will tell, Mordecai." He paused, putting the flask down. "For now, let's just keep it as our forbidden secret."
Mordecai said no more as he placed the needle down onto the record, and peacefully smiled as 'I'm Talking to You' played.
Instead of dancing by himself, Benson took Mordecai's wings and pulled him towards him as the guitar strummed at the beginning. He was dedicating the song to him as he sang along, pretending that Mordecai was the 'girl he knows'.
'Let me tell you 'bout a girl I know. I'm talkin' 'bout you.
I met her walkin' down a uptown street.
She's so fine, you know I wish she was mine.
I get shook up every time we meet.
Nobody but you.
Yeah, I do mean you.
I'm just tryin' to get a message to you.'