sweet talk

let me fly

chapter eleven

Rigby darted into the bathroom, and opened the toilet lid before throwing up, heaving violently into the bowl. He was sweaty and trembling, and his heart raced. It was in the middle of the night.

And his anxiety only seemed to get worse.

Following the statement of "getting over his fears", Mordecai pressured him, convinced him that they would go to the pond the next night. They had to clean it anyways, a few weeks ago, only to forget. So that can be their excuse if anyone asks.

But after the pestering and crying and clenching of fists, trying to explain, Rigby was thrown into the next phrase: "Nonsense! We'll be fine." And then, Rigby agreed, only reluctantly.

Now he was shaking in the bathroom, sick and anxious, and restless. Delliao was going to get what he wanted, only more.

They were going to die.

The door opened, suddenly, and Rigby nearly jumped out of his fur, turning to see Mordecai standing in the doorway. His eyes widened some, and he rushed to Rigby's side.

"Uhhh... I almost forgot you were sick."

"Almost?!" Rigby groaned.

This earned a small, sheepish chuckle from the other, and he eyed Rigby with small worry. And then they looked at each other, and Rigby savored his gaze, his beauty.

"I could so kiss you right now."

Mordecai's eyes widened, and Rigby slammed a hand over his mouth. Did he just say that out loud? His heartrate only quickened, running a million miles per second. He was shaking still.

"Uhhh... please don't. That'd be kinda..."

"N-no, I know. We're both guys, best friends... it'd be wierd." It took all of his guts to finish that sentence, and they were met with a small pause of agonizing silence.

"That's... are you gay, Rigby?" Mordecai whispered.

Yes, Rigby wanted to say. I'm gay. I've been gay for so long, Mordecai, and you were too focused on girls to notice. I'm gay, Mordecai. Gay for you.

But instead, he whispered, "There's no label to it."

Mordecai looked down, and gently grabbed both of Rigby's hands, but he was shaking too. The buzzing bathroom light seemed to brighten as the two looked at each other, time and space crawling to a slow.

"Do you like me, Rigby?"

Rigby felt a sense of anger overcome him. "It's not like you would like me back, anyways, Mr.I-Made-Out-With-Margaret-And-Won't-Go-Back," he snapped, pulling his hands away. A small blush dusted across his face, and Mordecai flinched, quickly looking down.

He could almost believe he hurt his feelings.

But Mordecai didn't respond, only angering him even more. He tried to snap, to speak out. It came out as more of a rasp, however. "At least react, dude!"

The blue jay looked up, and Rigby winced when he saw that tears were filling his eyes. He quickly blinked them away, looking down at his lap. "Y-yeah..."

This caught Rigby off guard, and he leaned forward. The auburn raccoon opened his mouth to say something more, but Mordecai was already on his feet, walking out the room. It left him guilty, and he looked down shakily at his hands.

He didn't mean to hurt him. He just wanted to protect him, to stay by his side forever.

The room seemed to be colder now that Mordecai was gone, so he rose to his feet and retreated back to their room. He saw Mordecai sitting on the bed, looking almost uncomfortable. It hurt Rigby that he had hurt him, and he sat across from him on his bed.