Chapter Text
There was a quiet, polite knock at the window. When there was no response, a few seconds later, they knocked again, slightly louder. Then, at the edge of a sort of panic, they knocked on the window, loudly. To that, Rocky sat up with a tired groan. Slouched over on a crate, he yawned, stretched his arms above him and then popped his back. He had a terrible crick in his neck. As he started to crack his neck, there was another, again polite, knock at the window. Rocky turned to look at it and saw a somewhat older woman looking in. Rocky quickly stood up and went over to the door.
The woman spoke, asking, “Are you alright, young man?”
Rocky gave a tired, yet genuine smile, “I’m perfectly alright.” Then, Rocky’s grin faltered slightly and he raised an eyebrow, “Uh, why do you ask?”
She pointed to Rocky’s middle. She somewhat quietly exclaimed, “Your suit!”
He looked down. Oh, yeah. His suit was practically drenched in blood in some places, both from the Marigolds and from Mordecai. Mordecai! Rocky had to go talk to him. Indeed, looking at the woman through the window, it seemed to be somewhat late into the morning.
“Oh, it’s supposed to look like that.”
“It is? It looks like you’ve had a terrible accident.”
“Yeah, it’s a, um, new fashion trend.”
“Oh dear, I hope not. If I see more gentlemen looking like that, I might faint!”
“It’s not too popular yet.”
“I should hope so.” The woman sort of dusted herself off. “Well, I’m glad to see that you’re alright. I was worried there had been some sort of an accident. Or worse— a murder!”
“Nope. Nothing like that here.”
“Grand,” she smiled. “Have a nice day, then, young lad.” And she walked out of the alley, seeming satisfied with the fact that Rocky was okay. Rocky waited for a short bit longer, in case she returned or anything like that. But when almost a minute had passed, he quickly yanked open the trapdoor and descended into the limestone halls.
He paced down the tunnel, towards the establishment. At some point, he passed the bloody rags and pile of corpses— it was already starting to smell rather unpleasant. Regardless, he continued. Really, Rocky couldn’t believe he had slept for so long. Or, actually, he remembered falling asleep very late into the night, which might have explained why he was so tired. On top of that, his head hurt, he was terribly thirsty, and his arm was sore.
In the establishment, he went over to the loveseat that Mordecai had been resting on and found that Mordecai wasn’t there. Instead, there was a neatly folded pile of clean clothes. Rocky picked it up and— it was his clothes. Perhaps Freckle had left them at some point? If so, he’d have to remember to thank his cousin; Freckle had brought his lucky tie. Anyway, it was a good idea to change into said clothes, especially if his were going to make people think he’d been nearly murdered.
Rocky pulled aside into the tunnels, just in case someone were to come down from the café entrance and see him changing; it was certainly unlikely, but still. He nearly had to peel his undershirt off him, as in certain areas the blood had seeped all the way through and had matted the fur on his chest and stomach. He’d have to take a shower at some point. Soon, hopefully.
Having changed, he messily folded his bloody clothes and held them under his arm as he went back towards the garage. He returned to the dim room and set his clothes on the crate he’d been sleeping on. And then he went to the nearly completely broken door, which frankly ought to be replaced after the multiple break-ins, and he shoved it open, walking out into the humid air.
He pulled around the corner, towards the café. And glancing through the glass, he saw Mordecai inside, with Ivy and Freckle. In front of Mordecai was a plate stacked with eggs and toast. Rocky relaxed slightly; at least Mordecai was eating breakfast. Rocky pulled open the front door and stepped in. Ivy looked up at Rocky as he walked towards the counter. Mordecai noticed Ivy and looked over as Rocky started to grab a seat at the counter.
“Mordecai! How are you? Doing any better?” Rocky asked, sitting down next to Mordecai.
Rather quietly, Mordecai responded, “I’m okay. My arm still hurts.”
“Do you have anything to relieve the pain?”
“An analgesic? No. And as for alcohol, I’m wholeheartedly ruling that out.”
“Oh. Well, did you at least sleep alright?”
“I slept better than I expected, really. I can’t imagine the same is true for you, though. I heard from your cousin—” Freckle’s ears perked up and he glanced back over, “that you slept on a crate.”
“Oh, uh, yeah. I had a hard time falling asleep. I guess I passed out sitting in the garage.” Rocky leaned over a bit. “Was that you who left me some clothes, Freckle?” Freckle leaned slightly to look at Rocky and nodded. “Thank you,” Rocky smiled.
Mordecai cut a bite of egg with his fork, using his right hand. Rocky noticed that Mordecai looked exhausted, as he basically just stared straight ahead, chewing his food. He also noticed that Mordecai didn’t have tea, which seemed surprising.
“Ivy?” Rocky asked.
Ivy looked up from a couple of meters away. “Yeah?”
“Could you get me a coffee? And, uh, Mordecai some tea?” Mordecai raised his eyebrows slightly, then had the faintest smile as he subtly shook his head, looking down at his breakfast.
“Got it,” Ivy nodded.
The two boys were silent for a moment. Then, nearly whispering, Rocky said, “So… last night.”
“Which part?” Mordecai asked.
“You know which part,” Rocky smirked. “You meant everything that you said?”
“I… have a hard time recalling all of the details of last night. I forget just about everything after Quackenbush started operating. But from what I remember, yes; of course I meant it.”
“Bit of a jerk for waiting so long to tell me if you knew how I felt,” Rocky joked.
“I could have shot you and escaped instead.” Mordecai took a bite of his toast
“You wouldn’t have done that, though. Right?”
Mordecai swallowed. “I wouldn’t do that now. ”
“Good enough, I guess.” Rocky somewhat loudly shifted positions in the seat. “So, uh, what does all of that mean for us?”
“What do you want it to mean?”
Rocky put his hand on the back of his neck, suddenly feeling slightly bashful. “Well, I like you a lot, Mordecai…” Rocky exhaled. “Do you… do you think you’re ready for another relationship? I’m asking out of respect, not, um, any sort of… pity or, uh, whatever. Not contempt or something, right? I just—”
“You don’t need to explain yourself. I know your concern’s genuine.” Mordecai set down his fork, sat upright, and pushed up his glasses. “Viktor and I… went our separate ways truly not that long ago. I would be lying if I said I was past all of that by now.” Rocky looked at Mordecai with a sort of compassion and empathy that Mordecai rarely received. “I miss him occasionally. I wish, for both of our sakes, things hadn’t gone the way that they had. But I think talking to Viktor about it has helped us both out immensely. Which is to say, then, that I believe I’m ready for a relationship— that is, if you’re willing to perhaps help me out from time to time.”
“Of course. I wouldn’t be a good partner if I wasn’t there for you, anyway.”
“You want us to be dating, then?”
“God, what a charmer you are,” Rocky quietly chuckled.
Mordecai tried to hide a smirk. “You’re going to make me change my mind.”
Rocky smiled, “Sorry, sorry.” He cleared his throat. Still quiet, “Yes, I wanna date you.”
“There you go, then. That’s what it means.”
“...What’s next, then? What do we do now?”
“ Now? Perhaps you get yourself some breakfast before I finish mine.”
“I wouldn’t have thought you could eat that much.”
“I used a lot of energy last night. As well as blood.” He took a bite of an egg and quickly swallowed it. “Besides, I might not be able to eat all of this.”
“Of course. I’m glad to see you having a big breakfast. You need to recover, right?”
“Yes. Just know that no amount of concern from you is going to make me eat until I vomit.”
“Yeah, obviously.” Rocky inhaled. “Anyway, that wasn’t really what I meant; I’m sure you knew that. What I meant was ‘what do we do, say, later today, or later—’”
“Here’s your coffee, Rocky,” Ivy stated, walking over.
“Oh, thank you,” Rocky tiredly smiled as she set it down in front of him. He suddenly felt just how exhausted he really was. Had he really only gotten maybe four or five hours of sleep? He was gonna need more coffee— and, indeed, something to eat.
“And tea for you, Mordecai,” Ivy offered, setting the tea down in front of Mordecai.
“Thank you, Ivy,” Mordecai said. As Ivy turned to walk away, Mordecai spoke up again, “Oh, and some pancakes for Rocky, if you would.”
“Of course.”
Mordecai turned to Rocky. “You look like you need to recover nearly as much as I do.”
“Oh no, is it that bad?” Rocky half-grimaced. He took a big sip of coffee.
“I’m exaggerating. Slightly.” Mordecai took a sip of his tea. “You look good in that suit, though.”
“You look… wait, your clothes aren’t all bloody and ripped up.”
“Oh, right. Freckle fetched me some of your clothes, also. I took a shower earlier.”
“Ah. Well, you look nice in my suit.”
“I’ve only been wearing your suits for the past month or so.”
“And? Your report?”
“You have a decent taste in fashion. You’re a bit short, though.”
“No I’m not!”
“You are a bit.”
“Hmph.” Rocky crossed his arms.
“Adorable.”
“Oh, well,” Rocky blushed slightly. “Anyway, what was I talking about?” He paused for a moment. “Oh. So, what do we do now?”
“We can talk about that a little bit later.” Mordecai sipped his tea. “Perhaps in private.”
“You’re right. I don’t—” he caught Freckle staring at the two of them, before he quickly turned away. “Yeah, we can talk later, alone.”