sweet talk

now hold on

( I feel like this is starting to go nowhere, but I'm trying hmmnhggggg,, thank you all so much for the support!! 💞 it means a lot )

chapter twenty-five

Rigby woke on the forest floor, and it was dark. His breath rattled in his chest, so much to where it felt almost hard to breathe, like he had just got done running around the House five or six times. He gasped, and wheezed, and  then Mordecai noticed him for a second. His deep eyes were filled with concern as he raised his head to look at him.

"Dude? Are you... nevermind. Dumb question, probably," he chuckled, half-heartedly, and Rigby gave an annoyed look.

"Why are we laying in the dirt?"

"You passed out. I laid next to you, for a bit. Hey, you wanna see something cool?"

Rigby opened his mouth to protest, to say that they didn't have time to see something cool. But he stopped when Mordecai seemed to be on edge, and a bit uncomfortable. Rigby wasn't sure why. But looking at his friend in the darkness of the night, crickets chirping all around, he gave in. "Alright."

Mordecai grinned. "Sweet." Then, he laid down again, his head rested right next to Rigby's. And he leaned in close to him, and pointed at the sky. "What do you see?"

Rigby looked up, and saw the trees. It was harder to see them in the night, but he could see them, leaves fluttering slightly under his gaze. He squinted, trying to see past the leaves, trying to see what Mordecai could be talking about at such a dire time.

"I see stars." He wasn't lying. He could see the tiny dots of stars as clouds rolled passed, lights in the sky that were now noticeable as he looked up. His hands were shaking.

"Yeah!" Mordecai smiled, "Aren't they epic?"

"What? They're just stars. How is that cool?"

Mordecai turned his head and looked at him, and Rigby looked back, frowning. "Stars are super cool, dude. Did you know that every star you see in the night sky is bigger and brighter than our sun?"

"What? But that's impossible!" Rigby sat up, but kept his gaze on Mordecai, "Then how come our sun is so big to us? And it literally hurts to look at?"

"Because the sun is closer to us, dude."

"Oh." It felt dumb when it left his mouth.

They were silent for a moment, and  Rigby could still tell Mordecai was uneasy, uncomfortable with his surroundings. He would fidget his hands, and avert his gaze downwards before looking back at the sky. But before Rigby could ask him why, the blue jay started to speak again.

"We should stargaze more often. Like, just lay out a blanket and look up. And then I can tell you more of my lame star facts." He gave Rigby a lopsided smile as the raccoon laid next to him again, his head starting to throb from sitting up. It felt better to lay down. Especially since Mordecai was laying next to him.

"Yeah, I guess. Hey, are you okay? Why are you so... nervous looking?" Rigby asked, a little too hastily.

Mordecai softened, and he let out a small breath. "I..." his voice grew quiet, "I talked to Skips. And he told me about the demon, and how it's real. And I feel bad, dude. I pushed you away because I didn't believe you. I thought you were going crazy. But now I know--" he turned his head to look at him again, "--you're unhappy."