III. Comfort

Rigby never liked seeing Mordecai upset. Usually, when the blue jay got upset, he would crawl under the covers of his bed and not say or do anything for a few days. The bird would even go the extra mile and close up the windows with thumb tacks and bed sheets, making sure no light came in; giving the room a truly maudlin look. He took rejection pretty badly, among other things. For example, being dumped by the girl of your dreams in favor for someone "better" who just so happened to walk inside the coffee shop.

"I can be an Olympic class runner if I wanna be," the blue jay moaned from under the covers of his bed. "I really can!"

Rigby sat on the edge of the bed, his feet dangling over, listening to his friend. "I know, bro," he said with little sympathy. He had been through this many times before, and many times before, his friend would sooner or later get over it. The most he had ever seen his friend in a slump this much was when he was convinced he would never find a job. Look where that ended up.

The raccoon sighed and moved over to the lump on the bed, laying down next to it, and placing his hands behind his head. If he was going to be there and suffer with his friend, at the very least he could try and relax a little bit.

"I don't see what's so special about him," Mordecai said, "he's just some human with long legs." The bird then stuck his leg out and showed it off. "I got long legs too!"

"Dude," Rigby started, "she just likes to run around with everyone. She's like a bike with lady pecs on the pedals."

The lump suddenly stood up, becoming a mountain. "That's not nice, Rigby," Mordecai defended.

"Seriously, dude?" the raccoon continued. "Margaret broke up with you yesterday and you're trying to defend her?"

Mordecai said nothing. He thought about it for a bit and slowly stooped back down onto the mattress, his mountain turning into a hill once again.

Another long silence filled the room. Neither one of them wanted to say anything. Mordecai knew that if he said anything, it was probably going to be something depressing and futile, while Rigby knew if he tried to say anything uplifting, it would probably fall on deaf ears. This was part of their friendship. They both felt better in bad times simply knowing that the other was there and listening. Neither of them liked being caring or sympathetic, since they deemed it to be "sick", so just the company of one another was fine with them.

Mordecai rustled around in his cave of blankets, causing Rigby to take notice. When he noticed that nothing seemed out of place, he went back to relaxing on the bed. At that moment, Rigby wished he had some extra cash to buy a portable gaming system or something. This was too boring, and he'd be damned if he was going to actually pick up a book to pass the time.

"I think I'm through with women," Mordecai grumbled underneath the covers. "I think I'm gonna switch over to dudes for a while."

Rigby looked over at his friend in disbelief. This was certainly new. But then again, he had never really seen Mordecai crush on a girl this hard. He had seen the blue jay crush on girls plenty of time, but not this much. She definitely must have been something special to him, even if they only lasted about a month.

The blue jay sat up again, and towered over the raccoon. "You think you could teach me to be dude-wrangler?"

The raccoon groaned under his breath, stood up on the bed, and delivered a swift kick to pile of blanket in front of him. Mordecai crashed down onto the mattress. A second later, his head appeared from underneath them.

"Dude… what the H!"

"Get over it!" Rigby interrupted him. "There are other girls out there, so quit being so melodramatic. You're starting to sound like me!"

That was a pretty low insult, especially coming from Rigby. Mordecai was actually surprised to see the raccoon poking fun at himself. He must really care about his friend if he's willing to go that far.

Mordecai looked away for a moment and then back to Rigby. "C'mon, dude. I'm sick of getting my heart kicked around by chicks." He turned on his side and sighed sadly. "Dudes probably aren't as bad. I mean - look at us! We're already technically a couple."

Rigby wasn't sure if he should be insulted, or take it as an opportunity. The idea of a relationship between himself and his friend did sound pretty appetizing. Still, he dashed that out of his mind, knowing that there was still something a little more important that mattered.

"People just suck, dude," Rigby spouted out as he sat down next to his lump of a friend. "Guys'll do that to ya too. Remember Erik?"

Mordecai chuckled when he remembered the first guy Rigby actually dated. "He was a D-bag dude. Plain and simple."

Rigby smiled when he heard his friend say this. "Well, remember Rebecca, back at the community college?"

The blue jay thought about her too, and how she just up and left Rigby cause he was too "excitable" and "over imaginative". They were stupid reasons to leave someone. Kind of like Margaret, he was beginning to think.

"So don't worry about it, man!" the raccoon continued. "Everyone's like that, ya know?"

Mordecai smiled slightly as he kept in his blanket. He had to admit that he felt a little better about the whole situation when put into that perspective. People were just mean spirited and cruel animals. Truthfully, it sounded more depressing than uplifting, but it helped a little bit. But Mordecai was sure that not everyone was like that though. After all, his friend wasn't like that to him.

He remained there in silence thinking of a few things before finally saying something. "You think there's a girl out there for me?"

What a cliché thing to ask, Rigby thought to him self. He wondered why it was that so many depressed guys had to think that way. Of course there was someone out there for him. They may actually be closer than he thought. Rigby smiled when he thought about that, but once again quickly wiped it from his thoughts. He liked his friendship with Mordecai more than anything else.

"I thought you were switching to guys," Rigby mocked with a grin.

Mordecai let out a quick laugh and eyed his friend seriously. "You're enough of a dude-wrangler for the both of us, dude."

Rigby let a fist punch at Mordecai's shoulder, to which the bird didn't feel a single thing from the blow. Still, Rigby wasn't even trying to hurt his friend. He was just trying to be playful.

Mordecai smiled at his raccoon friend. "Thanks for making me feel a little better, dude."

"Just a little?" Rigby asked. He thought for sure that the bird was 100% now.

"Dude, I still feel like S. Margaret just stomped all over my heart. I still hurt, man."

Rigby sighed, hoping that all was said and done. At least it was progress. Maybe his depression wouldn't last as long this time.

Suddenly, Rigby found him self get enveloped in blankets as Mordecai pulled him close to his chest.

"Sick, dude!" Rigby yelled. "What are you doing?"

"Nothin'… Just huggin'."

"Dude, we don't hug! Remember?"

"Take it easy, Rigby," Mordecai said, "we're not technically huggin'."

He was right, technically. Fur and feather weren't touching, obstructed thanks to the cotton and fabric of the blankets. They weren't hugging. They were just sharing the same blanket. A convenient excuse for the blue jay, who hadn't been in a real hug with the raccoon since they got blazed and embraced each other all the time in high school. That and the occasional drunken moment in their young adulthood.

"Yeah, well," Rigby muttered, "it's still weird."

Mordecai didn't answer him. He just tightened his grip on his friend and remained there, enjoying whatever it was they were doing. Rigby wanted to complain more, but once again knew that the blue jay didn't give a damn about what he said right then. He'd let Mordecai have this one, but the bird owed him now. As Rigby relaxed into his blankety hug, he thought about ways he could get Mordecai to make it up to him.

As much as he hated hugs, secretly, when they came from Mordecai, they were alright.

Sometimes, you just need a little help from your friends!

Until Next Chapter...

Adieu...