So in the no dungeon/everyone is human au I have going on, the Mordecarl of it all happens when Carl and Donut need a roommate after The Breakup (something their friends privately celebrated. There was talk of a "Congrats on Finally Leaving Your Unfulfilling Relationship Holy Fuck" cake but it was decided that was probably insensitive considering the ensuing custody battle).
Nobody in the friend group can put up Carl and Donut despite everyone being more than willing. Especially not with the newest factor: Donut's new puppy Mongo. He's a random stray she and Carl found abandoned in the street. Despite Donut's burning hatred of dogs she declares this pathetic creature her new baby and begs Carl to keep it. Carl knows damn well Donut is projecting her complicated feelings about the breakup/custody battle onto this thing. Unfortunately his guilt over how chaotic Donut's life is wins (as well as her sad wet eyes) and they have a puppy now. An as-of-yet untrained one who's appearance can be most kindly described as undeniably fugly. So that narrows the pool of potential roommates down even further.
The recommendation of Mordecai comes with the warning that he's one miserable bastard, especially if he decides he doesn't like you. But he's desperate enough for someone to share rent with that he's willing to move his lab to his room instead of the third bedroom. Said lab is also the reason he's not too attached to his security deposit. And even though he's not a teacher, he did do a program in the summer so he's had a recent background check. He'll do. Katia passes his information to Carl.
Mordecai thinks the resulting email waiting in his inbox one Wednesday portends ominous things for his future. He doesn't exactly want to live with two strangers and an unruly dog, but at this point who the hell else can he ask? He's scared off all other academics with his personality. His few remaining friends either live too far or know him too well to ever want to bunk with him. He has no family anymore. Nobody he's close to. And he'd rather eat glass than live with students. So strangers and a dog if he doesn't want to move it is.
Their first meeting could have gone better. Mordecai was surly, Carl was stressed to the point of being snappish, Donut was bratty, and Mongo was bitey. Despite that the Royal Court of Princess Donut move in to their new adress the next day because frankly, there's no other options. Once at a permanent place Donut wastes no time properly training Mongo. Mordecai is impressed despite himself how she keeps at it. He ends up giving her some tips one morning and that's what really breaks the ice. He still thinks they're weird as hell of course. But in an endearing way now.
From there he slowly finds himself looking forward to the end of his workday when he can see his roommates. He starts helping Donut with homework. He's distracting Carl when Bea has her for a weekend. He sneaks the damn dog an occasional treat. And Carl for his part is inviting Mordecai to spend time with his and Donut's friends and they slowly worm his way into his heart too. He even ends up getting along with Quasar, the foul-mouthed custody lawyer Carl found on Craigslist of all places. Mordecai goes from someone who's only bright spot was the distant light of retirement to someone with standing Friday night plans.
The fact he's ass over teakettle in love with Carl hits him like a bat to the face. He does not take it well. Nevermind the fact falling for a roommate is always messy, Carl just out of a long term relationship! He's a stressed out single father! The age difference! There are so many reasons Mordecai needs to curb his feelings. But then Carl will do something nice for him, like fix a squeaky door without being asked or grab him his usual from their favorite takeout place and he's back at square one.
If Carl is honest with himself (something he avoids doing with the skill of a trained acrobat the way he's jumping through all these mental hoops) he probably started feeling something other than friendship for Mordecai when he came home from work to find him showing Donut an experiment in the kitchen. It's something small. But the fastest way to Carl's heart is to be sweet to Donut. And this was an experiment that Mordecai clearly put a lot of thought into making fun for Donut. He'd gone out and bought supplies specifically for it even. This is swiftly repressed. Partly because getting a crush on the guy you live with is never a good idea and partly because he's been locking his bisexuality in a mental box for years now. It is going to take more than a nice moment to unlock it. So what if he finds himself staring sometimes? Guys can admire each other's features sometimes. It's not gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it just doesn't apply to Carl. He's straight.
Plus, he really shouldn't get involved with anyone until the custody battle is over. Donut is his first priority. There's also the weird letters he's been getting. They're filled with some very specific information. Carl really doesn't want to drag anyone into that. The last one mentioned some... explicit details about what the sender wanted to do to with Carl's feet. He doubts they're going to take "sharing" well.
Donut is pretty sure something is going on. Carl and Mordecai are acting like the people in her shows when they're in love. And it would be nice if Mordecai stayed. She likes living with him. Carl smiles more now.
Against all odds, they start to drift to the same page about their feelings. They're not about to jump into each other's arms yet, but there's a little less denial now. A win is a win.
And then Carl gets the call about Asher.
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