Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They haven’t talked about that night. It’s been ages and neither of them has said a word about it. Mordecai hasn’t meant to count the days, but he also knows it’s been three weeks on the dot.

Things are different now, even if they don’t acknowledge it. Sometimes Mordecai catches Rigby looking at him. He’ll have a quiet, contemplative look on his face. Open his mouth as if to say something. But he always bails at the last second. Mordecai never calls him out on it. There’s a semblance of normal left in what they have now that neither of them want to break.

He can see the way Rigby’s been thinking about it in other ways too. He’s distracted. He’s not losing less at videogames, but only because Mordecai is equally distracted. They both fell asleep on the job 3 different times. Tonight is the second night in a row Mordecai has laid awake thinking. Wanting. That feeling of them. Of everything that they are to each other. Of every inside joke. Of every adventure. Of collaboration and trust and love. And annoyance. That too.

“Fuck it,” he says suddenly, his conviction surprising even himself. He sits up in bed, blanket falling into his lap, and looks over to Rigby’s trampoline. Rigby is looking right back at him. He looks as tired as Mordecai feels. Yet, here they both are, awake. Mordecai can’t help but think back to the first time they fused. The similarities are striking.

He pulls his blanket to the side and hauls himself out of bed. “Dude, do you want to-“

“Yes,” Rigby interrupts. There’s no hesitation, just an unwavering certainty.

Mordecai smiles slightly and strides across the floor to their closet. The boom box is in the middle, right beside the tapes. Stashed hastily and left unused since their first time fusing. He pulls both out and places them in the middle of the room. The music is still quiet, volume set the same as last time.

This time it only takes two songs to fuse.

He grins and stretches, splaying his wings out as he reaches overhead. After getting settled, he slips out the door and heads downstairs.

He spends the night drinking sodas and playing videogames. Only heading back upstairs an hour before they need to get up.

For the next few days, they fuse every night. He spends his time fucking around, doing anything that seems fun. Which is really just their usual. Drink soda, play video games, eat snacks. The learning how to fly is new though, and probably his favorite. He feels like a character in a show, even if he crashes most of the time.

He’s out one night, gliding over the moonlit park and basking in the cool night air, when a thought pops into his head. If only I could show Eileen this. It’s harmless, just a random fleeting thought. But it does get him thinking. They haven’t told Eileen yet. And shit, neither of his components are good at relationships but even he can figure out that you should tell your girlfriend when you’re in a… something, with your best friend.

The idea of telling her makes his stomach sink. And yet the idea of not telling her is almost worse. It's an awful back and forth and he realizes maybe they need to talk about this.

He tucks his wings to his sides and dives down. His landing isn’t pretty, but he doesn’t fall or faceplant, so he’ll take what he can get. They need to talk, now. Face to face, unfused.

He doesn’t really want to unfuse. But they need to figure out what the fuck to tell Eileen because right now his heart is racing and his breathing is erratic and he’s terrified of something. Of losing Eileen maybe. Or of people finding out. It’s hard to tell which one feels worse.

Their defusion is a lot less graceful than usual. Mordecai stumbles a few steps back and clutches at his chest, trying to slow his breathing. A panic he knows didn’t come from him races through his veins. As he fights to get his heart rate back to normal, he can hear Rigby yelling beside him.

“Dude. Calm down.” Mordecai tries to tell Rigby but the raccoon doesn’t notice, to busy ranting about something. Mordecai keeps speaking, “It’s fine. We just won’t tell anyone.”

Rigby whips around to glare at him, “Dude, are you serious?! Eileen is like, crazy smart. If I don’t tell her, she’ll know something is going on!”

“What? Who cares?? We shouldn’t tell her. What if someone else finds out?” There’s a bitter taste in the back of his mouth and something in his chest aches lightly.

Rigby’s face twists and he bares his teeth, “You might not care, but I do! I get that you’re insecure and embarrassed about our-,” he sputters for a moment, gesturing incomprehensibly with his hands, “Us! but I don’t want to lose my girlfriend.”

“So Eileen matters more than this?” Mordecai asks without meaning to. It’s a dumb question and they both know it. If him and Rigby were still together after everything they’ve been through, then something like this wouldn’t be the thing to break them. But Mordecai has always been the smart one – and the more responsible one – of their duo. And Eileen is smarter and more responsible than he’s ever been. She’s funny and kind too. If Rigby did want to replace him? He hit the fucking jackpot with Eileen.

“What? Wait-” Rigby pauses and looks intently at Mordecai. Whatever he sees makes his eyes go wide and he throws his head back laughing, “No- ha- no way dude! You’re jealous aren’t! Dude, you’re totally jealous! Admit it!”

“I’m not-” He starts to deny it. Of course he’s not jealous, that would be dumb. He’s better than that. But memories of a void, and a microwave, and watching Rigby turn to dust are a bitter reminder of what happened last time he acted like this. He’s not- He won’t do that again, “Okay, yeah. I guess. Maybe just little.”

“Dude that’s hilarious.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. We can be done, and you can go back to Eileen like it never happened.” As much as he hates to admit it, Rigby is right. Eileen is crazy smart. She’d figure it out anyway. Then things would just be much worse later, and it’d probably turn into some wild thing where they almost die or destroy the park. They’re on thin ice with Benson as it is. They can’t afford to deal with another adventure right now.

Plus, Eileen isn’t a bad person. She… Rigby and Eileen deserve each other.

“How are you eve-” He tries to start asking, but Rigby frantically cuts him off.

“Dude, no, what?! You can’t just bail on me now!”

“I’m not bailing on you! You’re the one ditching me for Eileen!”

“What? No! No. I- I… I love Eileen but…” Rigby makes a face, “I love you too dude. …Ew. I can’t believe I just said that.”

“…I don’t want to be some third wheel just so you don’t feel guilty.”

Rigby glares at him, “One, that’s exactly what you did to me when you got with CJ. I did work for you for week so that you could go hang out! And you didn’t even thank me! I had to nearly cripple myself just to prove a point! B, I would never do that to you dude. You’re my best friend.”

“…Did you just forget how to count to two again? Because you just said one and B to make your points.”

“Stop talking! I only forgot how to count to two one time!”

“Heh. You are right though. I’m acting like a total loser. Let’s go figure out how to stop Eileen from dumping you.”

“Took you long enough.” Rigby says, rolling his eyes.

“So, what are you going to tell her?”

Rigby shrugged it a manner that just made him look more panicked than nonchalant, “I haven’t figured that out yet. I was too busy comforting an insecure baby.”

Mordecai glares, but he can’t be mad. Rigby isn’t wrong. God. Rigby has been right a concerning amount lately. Eileen’s rubbed off on him. “You’re an idiot, you know that?”

“Hey!”

“…Let’s go ask Skips?”

Rigby grins, “Dude yeah! Skips knows everything! He can totally help.”

The raccoon turns to head to Skips’ place, but he doesn’t make it more than a few steps before he turns back around. “Are you gonna be a baby about this too, or can I tell Skips?”

Mordecai briefly considers saying no. Rigby can just find a different way to explain to Skips that he needs help, one that doesn’t include their… whole thing, that they have going on. But it is kind of central to their whole situation. And it really matters to Rigby. “Yeah, Skips has seen all kinds of crazy stuff anyway.”

Rigby nods, then turns and starts booking it towards Skips’ house. Mordecai darts after him. He manages to get ahead of Rigby for a second, long legs offering a small advantage over him. The raccoon pushes back ahead of him, fast on all fours. It quickly becomes a race to see who makes it to Skips’ first.

Mordecai is in the lead as Skips’ house comes into view. He’s so close to victory he can taste it. Only for Rigby to snatch it from him. The raccoon catches up to him and then surges ahead. He looks back at him to stick out his tongue, but Mordecai just grins. He can see the confusion on Rigby’s face, and just grins even wider. He sees the look of confusion shift to a look of terrified realization. It’s too late though. Rigby crashes into Skips’ door at full speed, knocking himself off his feet. He ends up in a heap at the bottom of Skips’ door.

Mordecai cackles, only to have the exact same moment of realization. He hadn’t stopped running either. Oh sh-

He trips over Rigby and crashes shoulder first into the door, his head hitting it a second later. At least the fall is cushioned, he thinks as he collapses on top of Rigby. For a moment he just groans, everything hurts.

He hears Rigby start snickering. Then the raccoon starts laughing. He starts to laugh too, though admittedly he’s wheezing more than laughing. When they finally stop laughing, he goes to get up and- oh. They did it again.

He leans back against Skips’ door as he blinks and looks around. He just keeps doing this doesn’t he? It’s like now that they’ve figured out they can fuse, it’s all they want to do. All he wants to be.

He really should figure out a name for himself at so- the door he’s leaning on very suddenly goes from there to not there. He tries to balance but his wings drag him back, “Oh no-“

The ground is hard and… furry? He looks up only to be met with a very disgruntled, and annoyed, looking Skips. Which, yeah, that’s fair. He did just fall backwards onto the guy’s chest after waking him up in what he now realizes is the middle of the night.

Skips takes a step back and he falls the rest of the way onto the floor, ending up halfway in the yeti’s house. Which, ow. “Dude, why’d you-”

“Who are you? And what do you want?” Skips grunts. Though it’s really a bit more like a growl. Or a snarl maybe? Regardless, it doesn’t matter. The noise is vaguely angry.

“What do you mean? I’m... mh. Ah. Right.” Despite confirming that, yeah, Skips could know, they never actually planned out a way to tell Skips. Then again, they always manage to figure out something on the fly, and it always seems to work out in the end, so. It’ll probably be fine. Definitely. 100% “I’m Mordecai, and Rigby, but uh. Fused.”

Skips raises an eyebrow and looks them up and down then makes kind of hmm noise before nodding. The yeti steps out of the doorway and skips further into his house. He lays on the ground for an embarrassingly long time before it registers that that the door was left open for him and he should go into the house.

He glances in a few of the rooms looking for Skips. The open layout of his house makes it easy to find him. Skips in his kitchen, or at least his rather small version of one. Not that he can really judge the lack of appliances, he basically lives off of cereal and microwavable food.

It's quiet while he tries to figure out what to say. He goes through different ways to say what he wants to say and ask what he wants to ask. None of it feels right though. At some point Skips passes him a cup of tea and leans back against his counter.

“I don’t know what to tell Eileen,” he doesn’t mean to say it. He just blurts it out. It’s not anything like what he was planning to say. But he can’t exactly unsay it so he groans and rolls with it instead. “I don’t know what to tell Eileen about all…” he gestures to himself, “this.”

He takes a sip of tea to calm his nerves.

“Hmmm… this is. Good,” he says, spitting it back into his cup rather indeiscreetly. He turns and places it on the counter. As he looks back, he swears he sees Skips’ mouth twitch into a smile. That jerk probably knew he would hate it.

He smiles too, but it fades into more of a grimace. “Rigby likes Eileen. Really likes Eileen. Mordecai… he doesn’t. Not in that way. We can’t just keep dating but- ugh! This is dumb. Feelings are dumb.”

He doesn’t know what else to say, so he doesn’t say anything. After a moment Skips asks a question, “Do you like Eileen?”

He hesitates, it’s a question he’s been asking himself over and over for the last few minutes. He can’t figure out the answer.

“I don’t know,” he admits quietly, leaning his head back to stare at the ceiling panels. God why does everything always have to be so complicated? Maybe. Maybe it doesn’t have to be. Maybe he’s making it more complicated than it needs to be. “But I know I don’t want to lose her.”

“Then tell her that,” Skips huffs, looking at him like it’s the most obvious thing. He looks at them like that a lot. “I’m no good with all this romance stuff, but it seems to me like you two need to sit down and have an honest conversation.”

Man, Skips is always right. It would be frustrating, if it hadn’t gotten them out of so many other situations. It doesn’t make the answer any easier to stomach. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. But- But I want to have to choose!”

He throws his arms out to the sides, letting them fall back down a second after and burying his talons in his head feathers instead, “…If I have to choose between this, or her. I would pick being me. And hate that! I don’t want to have to pick."

Skips looks at him, then sighs. “You don’t get to make that decision. Whether or not Eileen is in your life is her choice too.”

He lifts his head back up and stares at Skips for a few seconds. “…Dude, when did you get so good at emotions?”

“I’ve been working on it,” Skips takes a sip of his tea, looking away. “Ever since I accidentally killed Rigby.”

“Haha, yeeeeah. I still think we missed a golden opportunity to prank everyone.” He ignores the way the mention of Rigby's death sends a pang of grief through his chest.

It’s quiet for a few. Skips drinks his tea while he fidgets and thinks over their conversation. He breaks the silence to ask a question still unanswered, “So does the liking tea come with old age? Because that,” he gestures over to his still full cup resting on the counter, “that tastes like dead leaves and dirt had a baby with a skunk.”

Skips smiles and lets out a quiet huff of a laugh, “You get used to it. Now, get out of my house. It’s late.”

He laughs, “Awww what, does the old man need his beauty sleep?”

Skips huffs, shifting to reach out and take his cup from the counter. He carries both to the sink and rinses them out. As the immortal places them in the dishwasher he heads back towards the door.

He waits in the doorway to thank Skips, but when the yeti gets to the door, he holds up a hand to stop them from talking. Skips just nods at him and then shoos him out the door. He stands outside the door for a second until he hears the sound of the dead bolt latching. Groaning he buries his head in his hands.

He can do this. He can tell Eileen.

Tomorrow. He'll tell Eileen tomorrow.

Chapter Text

It takes two days for Rigby to work up the courage to go to Eileen's house. Not that he's scared or anything! He just, was busy, with work. Mordecai comes too. He doesn't ask the bluejay to do so, but when he says he's going to Eileen's house, Mordecai just shrugs, pauses his video game, and grabs the cart keys on the way out. 

He'll never admit it, but he appreciates having someone else there to come with him. He appreciates having Mordecai come with him. They talk about the most recent Strong Johns game the whole way there and by the time they reach Eileen's house, Rigby realizes that he hadn't been thinking about what comes next at all. Maybe he can do this. 

As he steps out of the cart he beings to feel his heart race. But it's fine. He's fine. He's just going to talk with Eileen. By the time they're at her doorstep his breathing is going a little funny. He can't fully inhale. But it's fine. He'll be fine. He reaches up to knock on the door. His hands are shaking. They're just gonna talk. And Eileen won't break up with him.

Oh god Eileen's definitely going to break up with him. What is he going to do? He doesn't know what to say- What if she- There's no way that she-

Rigby flinches as he feels something touch him. What's- oh. Oh. Mordecai is gently running his fingers through Rigby's fur. The sensation is grounding. A reminder that whatever happens, he's got Mordecai. His breath hitches a few times, but after a few tries he manages to take a deep breath, focusing on the sensation of his fur being pet. He takes another deep breath, and then another. 

After a few minutes, he's calm enough to feel embarrassed instead. God he couldn't even knock on the door. But Mordecai doesn't mock him, just keeps running his fingers through Rigby's fur. Until suddenly he stops, Rigby starts to complain, but he's cut off by the door in front of them opening. He hadn't even knocked, how did she even know they were there?

"Oh hey guys! If you're here to talk to Margret, she's at work right now, but she should be back in," Eileen glances down at her watch, "an hour or two. You're welcome to come on in though!" She steps back from the doorframe, holding the door open so they can come inside. 

Rigby steps into the house, feeling a little like he's sealing his fate as he passes through the doorway. Eileen shuts the door behind them and then heads towards the kitchen. 

"Want anything to drink? I've got some sodas in the fridge. There a new flavor that came out sparkling winter snow. Which like, who is making these nam-"

"No, I'm good," Rigby responds. He really wants a soda right now, but he's pretty sure the carbonation won't help with the pit of dread in his stomach. 

"Yeah, I'd take a soda," Mordecai responds. The asshole. He could have at least tried to show some compassion for the fact that Rigby can't have one right now. 

He can hear the fridge open and then Eileen leans out of the kitchen to toss the soda to Mordecai. It soars in a perfect arc and nearly hits Mordecai in the face. He would laugh, but he's still too nervous to feel much more than panicky and definitely not scared. 

Eileen looks at him thoughtfully, then concern bleeds into her voice as she asks, "Oh, okay, uhm. I've got snacks? I've even got some of those cheesy nacho chips you like?" 

Rigby hesitates. He really likes chips, and really, really likes those ones, but his stomach roils and he realizes that favorite kind of chip or not, he can't have them. "Uhhh, no, I'm not hungry." 

The look of concern on Eileen's face only grows, but now there's something else too, determination, maybe? When she asks her next question, it's gentle, but not really a question as much as it is a demand. "Okay, what's wrong? You never turn down food. Especially not free food." 

"Nothing!" Eileen raises an eyebrow and levels Rigby with a look that screams 'really?' "Really! There's nothing going on! I just, maybe, have something I want to talk to you about."

Eileen rakes her gaze over Rigby, searching. Then, hesitantly, she looks over at Mordecai, who suddenly looks very interested in the packaging on his soda. She looks back and forth between them a few more times, making that face she does when she's thinking something through, eyebrows slightly pinched, face drawn tight, an analytical look in her eyes. Running through options, possibilities. He usually loves to see it because it usually means he's about to be one carnival prize richer or get to watch her school some idiot who thinks that he's smarter just because he's a guy.

Right now he just feels like he might start hyperventilating. 

He can watch as the realization hits her and her face falls and she just seems to crumple slightly. She nods, slowly, like she's running through everything again, like she doesn't want it to be true. He kind of feels like he's being stabbed, is that normal? It's just, he had hoped, that maybe she would, just, be okay with it. She starts to speak again and Rigby doesn't want to listen to what's going to come out of her mouth, but all she says is, "Okay, lets," she takes a deep breath, "lets sit for this."

Rigby nods, because what else can he do? She walks over to the couch and he follows, sitting next to her. Mordecai awkwardly stands there for a second, looking at the couch. There's not much room between left on the couch, the only seat left is between Rigby and Eileen. Rigby watches as he looks over at the kitchen longingly, like he'd rather be anywhere than this conversation. Still, he doesn't leave, he walks over and sits down on the arm of the seat closer to Rigby.

Rigby opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. Eileen sighs and speaks first, sounding rather resigned, "You're breaking up with me."

Rigby panics for a moment, because oh god, she did it, she broke up with him. Then his the words catch up to him and he pauses. "What? No. No! I'm not breaking up with you!"

"I understand," She looks heartbroken, not even meeting his eyes, "I get that you and Mordecai are dating, and you decided to break up with me. But don't make me be the one to end this." 

Before Rigby can even try respond to that, Mordecai cuts in, "Dude, are we dating? Why didn't you tell me? I wouldn't have agreed to help you talk to your girlfriend if I knew we were dating."

There's a moment of silence. For a second, he thinks Mordecai is serious and is about to tell him to shut up. Then he sees the grin on the bird's face and smiles as well, "Ewwwww. You're not even my type anyway."

Mordecai opens his mouth to say something else, looking rather offended, but Eileen cuts in looking between the two of them, "Wait- are two not-" Eileen groans and buries her head in her hands, looking rather embarrassed, "But then what did you need to talk about? Why is Mordecai here? What's going on?" 

Rigby yelps as Mordecai hits him in the shoulder, "Hey-" 

Eileen whips her head up to meet Rigby's eyes, "Did I get you pregnant. Oh god- I'm not ready to-"

"NO! No. I'm not pregnant," he shouts as fast as possible. His face burns with shame and he's never been more thankful that he has fur to hide it. 

"Then, what do you want to talk about?" She looks utterly baffled. Even more than when he intentionally tried to confuse her just in order to surprise her. He has to tell her doesn't he? She's not going to figure it out. 

"Mordecai and I..."

"Mordecai and you...?" She asks patiently despite her need for answers.

"Wefused." It comes out as a less of a sentence and more of a jumbled noise. He takes a breath. "We fused. And we might be in love? And I don't want to stop dating you? And I really don't want to stop fusing. And I don't know if we'd want to date you like that. And I-"

"That's it?" Eileen asks, looking like the world has been lifted of her shoulders. Rigby thought she would be mad, or disgusted, or confused, or sad. He did not think she would be... relieved? 

He shoves himself off the couch, flinging his arms around as he yells, "That's it?! What do you mean that's it?! I just told you that me and Mordecai-" "Mordecai and I" "what? I- whatever. Mordecai and I fused! And want to keep fusing! And I still want to date you! But I don't know if we- our- the fusion would be interested in you? And you don't care????"

"No." She says like it's just that simple. Like she's making a cup of coffee or changing the channel on the TV and not actively breaking Rigby's whole understanding of relationships. It stops him in his tracks, arms mid frantic gesture. 

"What?"

"I don't care if you want to keep fusing with Mordecai. Well, no. I do care. I don't have a problem with it."

"What."

She sighs and looks at him so fondly it takes his breath away. "Rigby. I love you, but you can be kind of an idiot sometimes. When we started this relationship I told you I wasn't interested in monogamy and you agreed to that. We had a whole long talk about it?"

"Yeah! Of course! I remember that! ... what's monogamy?"

Eileen groans and buries her head in her hands. Rigby can hear Mordecai snickering behind him. "What? What is it?"

"Rigby. Monogamy is only dating one person at once. What you agreed to was that we could both date other people." She looks, somehow, both amused and ten seconds from having a breakdown, "If you didn't understand, why didn't you ask when I was explaining?"

The answer is honestly more humiliating than whatever she's thinking. He was so delighted that she agreed to be his girlfriend he forgot to pay attention, "I got bored?"

She shoots him a look that says that she definitely doesn't believe that, but she doesn't press. "Okay. Then we'll have this conversation again. We can work out the rest of it later, but for now, lets at least get this figured out. Are you open to the idea of both of us being able to date multiple people?"

He pauses. That's... kind of perfect actually. He could date Eileen and have whatever he has with Mordecai at the same time. "That's an option? Why wouldn't everyone do that?"

"It's going to be harder. We'll have to talk, a lot, to make sure everyone is on the same page and having their needs met. You're going to have to be able to talk about your feelings."

That sounds terrible. And embarrassing. He looks over at Mordecai, then Eileen. He groans, being as loud and annoying as possible, "Fiiiiiine. I'll talk about feeeeeeelings. But only because I have to."

"Nobody is making you."

"...I want to. Because," he says the next part even though it makes him want to, just a little bit, curl up in a ball and hide, "I care about you guys."

Eileen just grins at him, "I love you too Rigby." 

He lunges forwards, crushing her in a hug. "How'd I get so lucky to have a girlfriend like you?"

He buries his head into Eileen's shoulder, curling up against her. There's a rumble in his chest, a content purr that starts up without his meaning to. Eileen wraps her arms around him, and they sit there for a while, basking in the moment.

Then, Eileen sits up slightly and speaks up, "Mordecai, come on. Get over here." 

He can't see Mordecai from where he's sitting, but he can imagine the way the blue jay would startle, then freeze up like he's not sure what to do, then stumble over his words trying to answer. Sure enough, Mordecai speaks up a second later, "I- uh- I don't- I shouldn't intrude."

"Dude. It's fine. Come on." Rigby mumbles from his spot in Eileen's arms.

"Are you sur-" Before Mordecai can finish his question, Rigby can feel Eileen's arm move. She yanks Mordecai down onto the couch behind Rigby. Mordecai wriggles around for a second, maybe trying to leave, maybe trying to get comfortable. Either way, he quickly gives up and leans against Rigby. Rigby doesn't think that he's every been this content in his life, curled up between the two people he cares about most. 

They stay like that for a while. Eventually, him and Eileen start talking about the basics of their relationship and what they're okay with. They agree to have another conversation later, about the more serious stuff, without Mordecai. The stuff that's less relevant to him and more just about their relationship. After that's agreed upon, the conversation shifts from boundaries, to their relationships, to eventually, Mordecai and Rigby's fusion.

"You know. I would like to get to know you two as, uhm, what is your fusion's name?" 

"We... don't actually have one." Mordecai mutters sheepishly.

"Oh. Do you want more time to figure out who you are together before we meet?" She asks genuinely.  

He barely thinks it over, glancing once at Mordecai to make sure he's on the same page. They lock eyes and after a minute or so he shrugs and looks back at Eileen. "We'll figure it out later. We don't need to have a name to haaaang ouuuut!"

"OOOOOOH!" Mordecai and Rigby shout in unison.

Used to their antics - sometimes even in on them - she just keeps talking, "Alright. I'm free on Sunday?

"Yeah, that should be fine." Mordecai agrees. They technically have weekends off anyway. At least, as long as they don't have work left from the week, which is why they rarely actually have weekends with no work. 

The conversation shifts away from relationships and plans after that. Which good, because it was starting to get boring. Instead, Eileen goes on a rant about how the commercial fishing industry has damaging effects on fish populations and how pollution is killing the local wildlife after their most recent mayor make restrictions looser or something. Stuff she's talked about before, but he listens anyway. Especially because he knows he'll get to go on a ramble about video games next.  

Him and Eileen order pizza for the three of them, an extra large with extra cheese and pepperoni. He devours his first two slices, hungry now that he finally feels like he can eat. He takes it slower with the third, cracking jokes with Eileen, just having fun. At some point, Mordecai stumbles into the room, bleary eyed and yawning. 

Rigby calls out around his mouthful of pizza, "Dude mh've ghm mhhzza."

Mordecai slumps into one of the kitchen chairs and holds out a hand. Rigby slaps a slice of pizza into it. Margret gets home not too long after. She grabs a slice too. They talk the night away, joking and playing cards.