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The storm was strong, Benson kept yelling the crew to get in the basement of the park house. He made sure that the basic needs were stored, he had learned his lesson from the last time. As the guys walked-ran- into the basement, Benson kept the megaphone in his hand. All of a sudden, a crashing sound came, making Benson jump slightly. He looked behind, seeing the car that crashed into the tree fall off the tree onto its front Benson was going to ignore it before the door of the car opened with a figure rolling off it.
"Fuck, not again!" Benson muttered. "Someone just crashed into a tree AGAIN, god!" he ran towards the figure, praying that it wasn't Skips- well, Walks again. He grabbed the figure's one arm as Mordecai ran towards them, grabbing the other arm of the figure. The person was pretty light, Benson could have probably carried them himself but it was faster with Mordecai. The two rushed to the basement with the passed out person, Rigby and Skips closed the door behind them. Benson dumped the person in Mordecai's arms to check the stash, leaving the guys alone. Mordecai laid the person, who had their hair covering their face to the floor. Skips seemed tense as the crew stared at the small person-the person was shorter than Benson, a little taller than Muscle Man- below them. Mordecai hesitated before reaching out and pushing the person's hair out of their face, causing the crew outside of Benson to break out in gasps. Benson looked behind, raising an eyebrow.
"What's wrong?" He asked, approaching the crew. When he saw the persons face, he froze, his eyes widening. A shiver ran down his spine as he covered his mouth before lights went out.
...
Benson paced around the living room as the crew stared at the person sitting on the couch, looking awkward. Benson was muttering curses under his breath. After a while of trying to cool off and failing, he faced the person. Himself. Himself from, what, 15 years ago? The long hair, the skull shirt.. Fuck, it wasn't even his new-at-the-park era. It was himself from when he was still a part of Hair to the Throne. The bandages on his hands made it clear. Benson remembered the incident that caused it. The incident that his hand went through his drum set. The two Benson's stared at eachother. Well, not two Benson's. Benson and Tyler.
"How did you even come here?!" Benson yelled, making Tyler jump off his place. No onre besides Skips understood why Benson was so mad at seeing his old self. "What are you doing? Are you high, huh? What's your deal?!" Benson reached out, grabbing Tyler by the arms and shaking him. Skips sighed, pulling Benson back from Tyler who seemed terrified.
"Chill, Benson. What's with the rage?" Rigby tried to lighten the mood. Benson turned to him this time.
"He shouldn't be here! Oh my god, I'm going to be sick. Call Techmo, we need to send him back. He needs to be out of this timeline!" Benson yelled at Skips. Skips normally wouldn't put up with the bullshit but he didn't say anything this time. He knew this was rough for Benson. The manager probably didn't know how to handle seeing a version of himself that he absolutely despised.Benson genuinely hated his Hair to the Throne phase. Obviously he did. He looked like he wanted to strangle Tyler, who seemed genuine mortified by the older version of himself.
Suddenly, Mordecai spoke up, trying to break the tension. "Uh.. Hey, Bens- no.. Uh.. Little Benson?"
"..Tyler. I use Tyler."
"What? Why? Your name is Benson." Rigby argued.
"It's Benson Tyler!" The two same guys snapped. Benson pinched the bridge of his nose, looking like he wanted to bang his head into the wall. Looking at Tyler only made him angrier as he started to mumble curses in Turkish under his breath. The curses that left Benson's mouth made Tyler frown.
"Why are you cursing me out?! None of this is my fault!" He yelled. Somethings never changed with Benson, huh? Before Benson could start yelling, Mordecai cut him off.
"Alright, Tyler. Talk to us, dude! What happened? How'd you end up here?" He asked in a gentle tone, not wanting to intimidate Tyler any further. Tyler tried to recall the events as Benson rolled his eyes.
"He was high. Weren't you? You were high, you always are!" He accused, probably rightfully since.. It was himself, after all.
"Do you ever shut up?" Tyler snapped. "God, what a shame that I grow up to be a nagging bitch like you!"
"YOU FUCKING CRACKHEAD-" Benson charged forward to Tyler, just to be caught by Mordecai. He kept trying to attack Tyler.. Come to think of it, did this count as a self harm attempt? Tyler crossed his arms, still badmouthing Benson. None of the two were backing down, huh..?
"Bens-" Mordecai tried to interfere but Benson kept yelling at Tyler. "Dude-" yelling again.. "Skips- some help here..?" Skips sighed. Tyler was starting to yell, too.
"Benson Tyler Dunwoody." Being called by both their full names made the two wince. Pops looked at Tyler, touching his hair and inspecting him in general. Mordecai finally was able to let Benson go, putting the gumball machine on the floor. Benson stayed close to Mordecai, crossing his arms. He didn't want to look at Tyler. Facing his past was.. Uncomfortable for him. He stared at Tyler's arms, biting his lip. Seeing the freshly healing scars hurt him deeply. The past he ran away for so long was right in front of him, he was forced to face it. Skips had taken the situation so well, why couldn't he do the same? He tightened the fold of his arms, seeming as if he was hugging himself rather than crossing arms.
"Welp, this was fun." Tyler exclaimed sarcastically. Standing up. "Now, what can I do to have fun?" Benson narrowed his eyes, his nails going into his metal-like skin. Mordecai caught on pretty quick, shooing his hand away from his arms. Benson didn't look at anyone, just sunk into Mordecai's side. Tyler looked at Rigby, pointing at him. "You seem fun. Let's go do something."
A grin grew on Rigby's face, he nodded before Benson's voice rose. "Rigby, no. If you go with him, you're fired." He threatened, making Rigby roll his eyes and plop into the couch. Skips sighed, taking his phone-that he learned to use about a few months ago,swallowing his pride- out to call Techmo. Tyler crossed his arms.
"Dave would hate you." He mumbled, making everyone just freeze in place. Everyone knew about Dave at least a bit since Benson had a picture of them together in his office. Skips was the most shocked out of all, not including Benson. He knew all the details about Dave like Benson knew every detail about Mona. Benson seemed ready to beat Tyler up or cry. Fuck, mention of Dave had hit deep.
"Look at yourself." He suddenly directed, making Tyler pause. "You're everything Dave hated. At least I've been trying to improve, you dumbfuck-" Skips cut him off, Tyler can't know everything after all..
...
Tyler had been sent back successfully and without any harm. Benson was quiet the whole day, didn't even yell at anyone. He seemed to have a lot in his mind, zoning out quite often. After the shifts ended, Benson had stayed for nightshifts but.. He couldn't bring himself to work. He grabbed his jacket, putting it on and stuffing his cigarette and lighter into the pocket of it. He walked out of his office and up the stairs, straight into the attic that's next to Mordecai and Rigby's room. He gently opened the door, walking through the attic. He stopped in front of the window, took a deep breath before opening it and climbing out into the roof. He found a spot to sit. He lit the cigarette up, thinking about everything that happened today and, well, thinking about Dave. Dave's death anniversary was coming up. He had to take a day off to visit his friend's grave... Fuck, he missed Dave. The sight of his head being ripped off didn't leave Benson's mind, taking place in his worst nightmares. He took a drag of his cigarette before he was snapped out of his thoughts with someone calling out his name.
"Benson..? Is that you-?" Mordecai called out, and when he realized it was indeed Benson, he climbed to the roof. "Can I sit?"
"..you should be sleeping. But, yeah. Make yourself comfortable.." Benson mumbled. After Mordecai got permission, he sunk down next to Benson, two soda cans in his hand. He put them between the two, leaning back.
"I heard you moving around and wanted to check. You never know if it's your insomniac boss or an intruder." He teased lightheartedly, gaining a soft smile from the manager. "Well.. What are you doing here?"
"I couldn't sleep or work, so.. Cigarette break." He explained. Mordecai seemed to accept the explanation.
...
"Wanna talk about it..?" The bluejay offered, looking at the moon.
"I'm not sure.." Benson admitted. "He-I- I don't know.. It just hurt."
"Why do you hate that version of yourself so much?"
...
The silence stretched on, Mordecai was ready to apologize before Benson started.
"It's my worst version, he might be famous, fun and everything.. But he's also a wreck.. You know.. It was right after Dave passed away. It was my relapsing phase." Mordecai's heart shattered inside him. "Basically, i became a drug addict.. I partied all the time and I was high all the time.. Those parties.." Benson looked down, his arm unconsciously going over his gum dispenser slot to cover it. He took a drag. "Those parties hurt. That's all you need to know about them." A sigh escaped his lips. "You know.. Dave.. He was my rock, the one stable thing in my pathetic fucking life.." His eyes welled up with tears, making Mordecai's heart break further. "After his death.. I.. I don't know. I tried a lot of ways to end it. I hated myself, god! I felt responsible for everything! I was almost going into a mental hospital but those fuckers didn't let the doctors to admit me.. I hated everything. I was harming myself left and right, attempting.. And the irony? I never chickened out. All my attempts were failed! I.. Fuck, it hurt to see that version of me again." Mordecai was mortified. He took a deep breath, pulling Benson into a warm, deep hug. Benson finally let the tears run loose, wrapping his own arms around Mordecai. He sobbed into the fluffy bird's shoulder. His noticibly smaller hands gripped Mordecai's for as he sobbed, holding onto Mordecai for dear life. Mordecai's large, furry hand was sprawled on Benson's back, rubbing the smaller male's back up and down as he pulled him close.
"Shh.. It's going to be alright, Ben.. It's going to be alright. I'm with you." He pressed a gentle kiss to the top of Benson's head, letting him sob his heart out. Benson was not used to this. But it felt great. Mordecai felt great. The warm, fuzzy feathers were a great contrast to Benson's cold, metalic skin, making the boss sink further into the warm embrace of the slacker. Well, more so, his slacker. He took Mordecai's scent in, loving the scent of shampoo and cologne on Mordecai. It comforted him, brought in a sense of familiarity. He rested his cheek on Mordecai's shoulder, catching a glimpse of the way the bluejay's talk wagged slightly. He pulled back, looking up at Mordecai, his face flushed both because crying and because he was flustered.
"Thanks, Mordy.." He muttered, making Mordecai smile.
"Always, Benny." Mordecai replied, making Benson smile softly.
The two watched the sunrise, a comfortable silence taking over both of them.