Disclaimer: Regular Show and all of its characters are the property of J.G. Quintel. I do not own any of the characters from Regular Show used, and am only a fan.

Cover art was created by MyDifferencesSaveMe

Edits to chapters 8-25 are in progress.

It was a cold, crisp day. The park was filled with the vibrant colors of fallen leaves, all mounding together on the ground to create a collage of Autumn foliage. Although, less could be said from the perspective of a certain blue jay and raccoon.

"Gah! We're never going to finish this!" The small mammal complains.

"Not if you keep whining. Just get back to raking, Rigby." his taller companion retorts.

"It's too cold to! I'm going to freeze to death, just trying to rake up some stupid leaves!"

"Dude, you're the one with fur. Don't even start complaining about it being cold." Mordecai says, slightly aggravated. "We're almost done. Let's just hurry up and finish before Benson gets mad."

"What does he have to get mad about? I don't see him out here doing anything." Rigby says, flailing his arms around in a fit of childish rage.

"I don't see you doing anything either." Mordecai chuckled.

"Whatever, dude! How much longer?" Rigby asks impatiently.

"Well, if you would actually help..." Mordecai says, gesturing in the direction of the few remaining leaves.

Rigby let out a groan, frown remaining plastered on his face. "Fine."

It had been a slow past couple of weeks; the visitors have seemed to be coming less and less. Of course, that just meant there was less work for Mordecai and Rigby to tend to. Benson had still been pushing them just as hard, still constantly threatening to fire the two, yet to no avail.

Though, while the number of assignments for the pair had lowered, the effort that was put into said assignments seemed to do the same, mostly on Rigby's behlalf.

"Finally! We're done!" Rigby exclaimed triumphantly.

"No thanks to you." Mordecai laughed.

"STOP TALKING." Rigby screamed, walking over to his friend.

"Here, give me your rake, I'll take it back to the supply shed while you go back inside, before you die from freezing to death in forty degree weather." The bird said, rolling his eyes.

"Thanks, bro," Rigby says reaching out and placing the rake in Mordecai's grasp. Feathers and fur brush one another, and the raccoon's face can help but heat up. Ah, that's right. Rigby had one of those dreams this morning.

"Uh…dude," Mordecai starts. "Are you okay?"

"No!" Rigby spat in surprise. "I must be getting sick from being out here so long; I told you it was cold out here!" the raccoon explained, clearly taken aback from his friend's comment.

Mordecai just looked at him blankly for a while, eventually just taking a deep breath and heading off to the supply shed.

"Then hurry up and get back to the house! I'll meet you inside." Mordecai calls to his friend.

"Jeez, what was that?" Rigby muttered to himself. Tension between the two of them was growing thick, at least on the raccoon's side at least.

Things were getting worse day by day, and the mammal wasn't sure how much longer he could suppress the emotions that bubbled beneath the surface. Rigby wasn't entirely sure how he felt anyways.

Rigby couldn't remember when it first started, but he found the feelings grow stronger seemingly everyday. But hey, Mordecai was a pretty awesome guy with some pretty awesome features. His smile, his laugh, his voice, an endless list of features began to arise in his head. Rigby loved being friends with Mordecai, but recently, it just didn't seem to be enough.

At night, when he lay alone on his trampoline, smothered in the dirty laundry that he calls a blanket, endless dreams of his friend's body against his own. Silken feathers pressed against soft fur, heat resonating from Mordecai; heating him, melting him. While he did have the occasional dreams that lead to a cleanup the morning after, all he mainly wanted was a more intimate relationship with the blue jay, love, not just lust. Not to say he wouldn't take that opportunity if it were to arise...

Though, Rigby's lack of competence wasn't the only thing preventing these plans from happening. Of course, Mordecai had to have already formed an attraction to someone else; a robin by the name of Margaret. Rigby couldn't really bring himself to hating the girl, but the fact that she was so oblivious only pushed Rigby further. She couldn't value how lucky she was.

"Hey, dude." Mordecai greets, walking through the kitchen door.

"Oh, uh… hey." Rigby responded, still slightly lost in his thoughts.

"So I was thinking of heading over to the coffee shop for a hot cup, since it's so cold out…"

"Aw, I don't wanna go to the coffee shop!" the raccoon frowned. Prime example of Mordecai's obvious affection.

Rigby knew that if he went to the coffee shop, it'd be nothing but the bird babbling over Margaret for an hour with Eileen breathing down the back of his neck.

"Well, I never said you had to come," Mordecai said with a slightly confused expression, "I just said I was going to go over myself. So you know- it's up to you to tag along."

"Yeah, but we're like a package deal, you know? So I just figured..." Rigby answered, embarrassed. "Are you even going for coffee, or are you going to see MAR-GA-RET?" Rigby teases, enunciating each syllable.

Now it was Mordecai's turn wear a blush. "Well, uh, I guess... I guess a little of both…"

"Aw come on, dude! Why are you so focused on trying to get Margaret to like you?" Rigby says, aggravated. "We could actually do something fun, like play video games. Does the coffee shop have video games?- I didn't think so!"

"Well, no. But it has Margaret."

"I fail to see the good in that." the raccoon yawned.

"Dude, Margaret's cool!"

"Pff." Rigby scoffed. "She has a new boyfriend almost everyday that we visit! She's a total whore."

"Dude! Not cool! She's not a whore, she just uh... dates a lot of people..." Mordecai trails off. Rigby just sat there with his eyebrow raised, a grin draped across his face. "What does it matter if I want to go see her?" he asks, crimson on the bird's face intensifying.

"I'm just trying to say there are better people out there is all..."

"Pf. Doubt it. I like Margaret more than anyone I know."

Rigby's heart dropped upon hearing that, eyes becoming glassy as pressure built up in his chest. Rigby could understand Mordecai's affection towards Margaret, but it was remarks like the one his friend had just made that ate away at him, especially when he was in a mood like this.

The raccoon was able to handle them every now and then, but he wasn't going to pretend that he hadn't been put through hell at times because of this same reoccurring female.

"DUDE, SHE DOESN'T LIKE YOU. She never will, when will you accept that?" Rigby laughed, "She's dated everyone, practically the entire town! Yet, she's never seemed to be the slightest bit interested in you."

"What the hell, dud-"

"So why don't you give up and move on? Your obsession with her is getting pathetic." Rigby finished, leaving them both quiet. The pit in Rigby's stomach was beginning to grow as regret became more prominent. Why the hell had he just done that?!

Mordecai remained silent, and headed off towards the door.

Rigby faltered. "D-dude, where are you going?"

"To the coffee shop," was the bird's response, opening the door and stepping outside.

"But I already sai-"

"When are you going to learn that my life doesn't revolve around you?" Mordecai cut in. Jeez, he was pissed now.

"I never even-" Rigby began.

"You never even what? Do you have any idea how much it pisses me off that you act like I'm your property? Who the hell cares if I go and talk to Margaret?!" Mordecai yelled. "It's my life and I don't know why you think you're in charge of it all of a sudden."

"How do you think I feel?!" Rigby screamed back, growing defensive. "You put this girl you hardly know above your best friend and you expect me to be okay with that?!"

"You're more of a tumor or a leech than a friend." Mordecai laughed, the raccoon looked at him in utter disbelief and letdown. "And why should I care how you feel about all this when you can't even respect how I feel?"

Rigby didn't answer, just sitting at the kitchen table quietly and waiting for it to be all over. He always messed things up between the two of them, and one of these days he's have to end it the only other way he knew how.

"That's what I thought." Mordecai muttered, slamming the door behind him and leaving Rigby to himself.

The raccoon bit at his lip, balling up his fists to try and hold himself together as tears began streaming down his face. Rigby was far past broken at this point. He was sick of this same damn barrier, sick of Margaret, sick of Mordecai.

Rigby's small framed started to tremble, the raccoon sniveling weakly as he broke down into full-on sobbing. But that was all he was, wasn't it? Weak. He couldn't last on his own without Mordecai. Rigby was exactly as the bird has said; a tumor. A parasite.

The mammal slammed his head down onto the table, muttering under his breath that was beginning to fog up the glossy surface of the wood. The only sound that could be heard throughout the house was the sound of Rigby's breakdown, as well as the 'ticks' and 'tocks' of the clock in the adjacent room.

"I can fix it.", Rigby whimpered with his muffled voice. "I can fix it."