A/N: Now, this isn't as long of a delay as last time gratefully. I'm wondering if people still read this. Let me know if you do, because I haven't seen a thing change in a while. Anyway, we're moving on. Yes, I still keep up with recent Regular Show events. It's why I ended the last chapter like I did.
Mordecai felt his heart was actually going to pump out of his chest and kill him. This is something he did not want to do, but facts that Cupid brought to light made this unavoidable. Plus, he would probably vomit at the prospect of keeping up a facade any longer. It not only be bad for him, but also for Stacey. He stood outside of the library and waited. And waited. And waited even longer.
"Where the heck is she?" Mordecai said, checking the time on his phone. She was over a half hour late. "This is ridiculous."
He began to dial her number and it went to voicemail. Mordecai angrily stuffed the phone in his pocket and left.
"She stood me up. Not cool," Mordecai said, before Cupid suddenly teleported in front of him with a woman at his side. "Hey."
"Hey. Since you seem to be open as of now, you want to hang out?" Cupid asked.
"Sure. Since Stacey stood me up," Mordecai said, causing Cupid to smile.
"I thought you liked Margaret. Or do you plan on having a menage trois?" Cupid questioned with a teasing smile. Mordecai frowned.
"It's the principle of the thing. She stood me up. Whether I like Margaret or not, that was a jerk move," Mordecai said, before pointing at the woman. "Who's she?"
"This is Venus. Remember that bet I won? She owes me an infinite amount of favors that she can't refuse. Aside from anything self humiliating, degrading, painful, or disgusting. One of those is to have her apologize for messing with your love life like it's a game," Cupid said. Venus looked like she swallowed a particularly disgusting lemon.
"I'm sorry for messing with your love life. But I blame you for getting me in this situation," she said, pointing at Mordecai.
"Hey, not my fault. I thought I was over her too. Apparently not," Mordecai said, raising his hands in surrender.
"Still, the fact that Venus of all people owes me an infinite amount of favors is particularly amazing. For one, she's buying the lunch," Cupid said, looking giddy.
"Luckily I have an amount of money that would allow me to buy planets, so all is well and good. And at least you have a fair taste in food places," Venus said, shrugging.
"Where are we going?" Mordecai asked.
"Steak me Amadeus," Cupid said, making Mordecai suddenly choke on his spit.
"Why there?" he said, pounding his chest as tears started streaming down his face and clearing his throat several times over. (You know how your eyes get watery if you cough hard enough? Basically that)
"Well, because the food's amazing for one. It's secluded, so no one sticks a nose in our very hard to explain conversations for another. And I kind of wanted to mess with your head. Just try to forget what happened and enjoy the food," Cupid said, placing a sympathetic hand on Mordecai's shoulder.
Mordecai took a deep breath and nodded. Cupid grinned.
"That's the spirit! Now, I know if we try to teleport there that'll garner some unwanted attention, so I got this!" Cupid said, holding his arms out toward a convertible. "A small space in the back, but it would fit either of you."
"I'll sit in the back. It's fine with me," Mordecai said, shrugging. Venus turned toward him and smiled for the first time.
"Well, well. We have actually have a gentleman standing near us," she said. Cupid looked very affronted.
"And what am I? Chopped liver?" he asked, crossing his arms.
"More like chopped fruit," Venus said, grinning.
"That was a low blow and you know it," Cupid said, crossing his arms.
"What does she mean by that?" Mordecai asked.
Venus gestured for Mordecai to come closer and she whispered in his ear. Mordecai stifled a laugh at this bit of information, but it was quickly squashed when he felt something wet behind his ear. He jerked back, placing a hand on the spot.
"What was that?" Mordecai asked, noticing Cupid looked particularly disgusted.
"That was Venus' tongue. Just remember what I told you," Cupid said.
Mordecai's eyes widened and he looked at Venus surprised. She just gave him a flirty grin that looked too good to be human. But it wasn't, remember?
"Oh man..." Mordecai groaned, placing a hand on his forehead. The fact he had Venus after him was more than he could bear. Hopefully she was just joking around. Hopefully.
"Can we go?" Mordecai asked, feeling particularly uncomfortable.
"Please. Before Venus' flirting makes me lose my appetite," Cupid said, fake gagging. Even though Mordecai was getting the same feeling, he couldn't resist teasing Cupid about it.
"Jealous much?" Mordecai said, grinning teasingly.
Venus raised an eyebrow at Cupid, which caused him to roll his eyes.
"Please. I know all of the miles on that..." Whatever he was about to say was cut off by Venus whacking Cupid upside the head with a big rock.
"Ow! Not cool!" Cupid yelled, rubbing a hand on the bleeding and swelling spot.
"Neither was the very non-PG phrase you were about to say. If you had told him that, I would've sent you to stay with Hades for a few days. He likes me, so I can manage that," Venus threatened.
"I could just use one of my limitless favors to make you not to," Cupid reminded her.
"That still won't stop me. You want to keep trying your luck?" Venus said with a devilish smirk. Cupid started sweating a little bit.
"Ok, fine. I'll keep your past out of this," Cupid said.
"Thank you," Venus said, before smiling warmly at Mordecai and gesturing her hands out to the car. "Shall we?"
"Please," Mordecai said, hopping in the back.
The trip itself only took about 10 minutes. Yet it felt much quicker while you were with Venus. Disregarding any first impressions of what he had on her the first time, it was more centered around the fact that she just liked to have fun. On Mordecai's expense, but compared to other acts that happened with the gods, her way was pretty tame. Even if it turned Mordecai's emotional state into a pile of putty.
They arrived, Venus paid the man upfront, and getting a table was no problem.
They all took a seat and opened the menus.
"Steak easily," Mordecai said.
"Same here," Cupid said.
"Don't know about you, but I prefer the cream brulee," Venus said, with a very suggestive look at Mordecai, who in turned a bright red. He may like Margaret, but he's only human and Venus is a goddess. Of beauty and love at that.
"Oh God, I'm going to puke from that mental image," Cupid said, heaving.
"You should be used to it by now. We've hung out before," Venus said.
"Yeah, that was when it was over in 10 seconds because you could actually get an impulsive action from them. This... it's something entirely different. You can't get one from Mordecai," Cupid explained.
"I'm sure going to try. Men of sterner stuff have failed to do so. Only a handful have been in love enough to not act," Venus said.
"Why me?" Mordecai groaned, face planting into the table. Cupid clapped a sympathetic hand on Mordecai's shoulder.
"It's the hard life you live. But you should be flattered that she's trying. That says loads about your self-control and how desirable women find you. It's a big boost to your ego if anything," Cupid said, shrugging.
"Suppose you're right about that. It's still awkward," Mordecai said.
"True, but you start to get used to it," Cupid said.
"Hey, isn't that Stacey?" Venus said, pointing and not sounding surprised at all.
Mordecai's face turned into one of disbelief as, sure enough, Stacey was sitting there and kissing with a guy. Mordecai didn't looked very bothered by the development. On the contrary, he looked quite calm as he said this.
"Well then. That solves that problem," Mordecai said, turning away. He didn't seem bothered at all by it.
"You're not going to try to get her back? You have been trying to break up with her, but at least your intentions weren't wrong," Cupid said reasonably.
"Just how to do you expect me to get her back? A prank? I'd be doing that for a long time to make it sufficient enough to make up for it," Mordecai said.
"Well, this is I why I come prepared," Venus said, getting up and walking off. She ended up returning with... Margaret.
"Seriously?" Mordecai said, instantly turning a bright red and face planting himself on the table. He could hear a chair scrape outward, but he kept his head down. At least until a slender hand tapped his shoulder. He lifted his head up for a brief moment and saw that she was staring at him... differently. It was a stare so hard, Mordecai was surprised that it didn't burn holes through him with the intensity of it. It was a cross between nervous, yet passionate.
"Margaret?" Mordecai asked confused. She bit her lip before speaking.
"No regrets," Margaret simply said before grabbing Mordecai's head and locking lips with him roughly.
Mordecai instantly gave into the kiss. He remembered this feeling. It gave him an intense feeling of elation, like he was suddenly injected full of helium and started floating.
When they broke, Margaret somehow had turned even more of a brighter red than her feathers. Mordecai seemed to have a shocked, but happy look on his face.
"Well, how about that. It did work," Venus said, making Mordecai looked at her shocked. She just smiled slyly at him.
"You planned this?" Mordecai asked.
"Of course I did. I pulled a lot of strings to do it, and it required quite a bit of foreseeing, but as you can see, it worked. Now you've got no problems, right?" Venus said.
"No, not at all," Mordecai said, nodding. "I assume you did the same thing as Cupid's arrows?"
"Sort of. My trick is stronger. With a hint of lust in the mix. If Margaret wasn't so nervous about doing this, she'd likely be doing a lot more than kissing," Venus said, smirking.
Margaret turned a bright red, and looked ashamed for a minute.
"What's wrong?" Mordecai asked in concern.
"It's just... I was dating something currently. This... I didn't plan on. It's just wrong," Margaret said.
"I don't think so. Look over there," Cupid said, pointing.
Facing their direction was not only Stacey, but Margaret's boyfriend in question, Del Hanson. Margaret looked shocked for a long minute. She truly was at a loss for words.
"No regrets, right?" Mordecai said.
"None," Margaret said, locking lips with him again.
Cupid grinned.
"And I thought you were cold hearted," Cupid said, nudging Venus.
"Well, I made the guy suffer long enough. I'd say he deserves a break. Plus you helped me with making Del and Stacey be attracted to each other so just about everyone would be happy. Without you or me, they'd likely make decisions that they would spend years regretting," Venus said.
"Ain't that the truth?" Cupid said. "I'm just glad it's over." Venus accompanied that look with a devious smile.
"Who said it was done?" she said. Cupid paled before glancing at Mordecai and Margaret.
"Oh, boy. This can't be good..."
A/N: Well, there it is. Quick developments, but I'm kind of trying to rush this story. I really want to focus on my other stories. Not the fact that I'm uninterested in it. It's the fact that my other stories have sequels, while this one doesn't. I have a lot of work I need to do on those. Anyway, I'll see you all later.