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She finds him in the living room crouching over the coffee table. Rick was mumbling drunkenly to himself which doesn't strike her as weird. Just another completely normal morning. What makes her pause is the quiet sniffling following the sloshing sounds of his flask. Summer stops at the bottom of the stairs. Was he actually?...
Quietly, she approaches from behind. Over his shoulder she can see a photo album laid out. Pictures of her and Morty as children are strown across rhe pages. A young Morty looks up at the camera with a wide and innocent smile. He'd been a happy child despite the lonely teenager he'd grown up to be.
The floor creaks. Rick jolts. His head snaps up to look back at her.
"Summer the fuck? Don't fuOooHgcking sneak up on me like that!"
He slams the album shut, pushing it away like he hadn't just been crying over it. As if it had magically fallen open in front of him by accident.
"Could've sh-shot a hole right through your head!"
Summer ignores the poorly constructed misdirect. She comes around the side of the couch and gestures to the album with a tilt of her head.
"Missing Morty huh?"
"Fuck you!"
She holds up her hands. "I know I'm a teenager and it's in my DNA to be sarcastic, but I'm not actually trying to be condescending right now."
Rick grumbles, still on edge. But he deflates nonetheless.
"He'll probably come back any day soon. I doubt he's having that good of a time at Dad's."
Rick winces. The two had had a huge fight a week before. Pissed off, Morty had packed up his shit and announced he was going to move in with Dad for a bit. (Jerry and Beth were on yet another break.) Refusing to say when he'd be back.
It had been a particularly nasty one. Their shouts had shaken the whole house. Beth had been at work at the time but Summer had been home. She'd heard them all the way in her room WITH her headphones on. It had taken her aback. She was used to the two butting heads over every little thing. But this, whatever it had been, had been massive. Sure she easily could have snuck downstairs to see what the hell was going on, but Summer wasn't an eavesdropper. Well, okay fine she was, but she didn't want to know what kinds of weird things Rick and Morty fought about! So she had put her headphones back on and turned the volume up.
The Smith family had all since learned long ago never to get in-between the two when they were fighting. They'd sooner turn and tear off the head of anyone who tried, only to immediately go back to screaming at each other.
It was odd to think that Morty was the only one to stand his ground against Rick in the way that he did. Their mother would never fight with Rick like that. Sure they had their fair share of arguments, but Beth never went all the way. Pulling back the reins of her anger ever so slightly, too afraid to truly say something awful lest Rick decide to leave.
Summer fought with him too, but not of Morty's caliber. Not with wet and heated shouting matches that resulted in a few broken chairs and glasses. She'd never physically attacked him or tried to punch him. She'd never gone into his workshop and trashed it. She'd never dare. Rick's ire was something she'd rather avoid.
Aside from Jerry, Morty was the most submissive person Summer knew. He practically rolled over for bullies at school. He wasn't outspoken. And as much as he wanted to be accepted, he was a bit of an introvert masquerading as an extrovert. His whole life Summer pegged him as spineless. Which was an awful thing to think, but it was the truth.
Rick brought something out of him, something angry and defiant. Morty pushed back. He yelled and got aggressive. He'd kick and scream and holler. It was amazing to think he was still the same little brother who had cried at the end of every Disney movie growing up.
Rick leans back onto the couch, face scrunched and indignant. He only ever got mopey when he and Morty were at odds. Which admittedly happened a lot. But he was especially moody today. He was trapped at home with no one to go out adventuring with. She felt kind of bad for him. He'd been getting steadily worse every day Morty remained at Jerry's.
"Hasn't returned any of your texts huh?"
Rick scoffs. "Like I'd text that little shit."
It was a pride thing. Of course it was. Summer has seen this a million times with her friends. Just last month Carly had sat on her bed crying her eyes out because Jason hadn't texted her in three days. It wasn't exactly the same scenario but it was the same principle.
"You know, I was thinking about visiting Dad today. See how he's doing."
Rick doesn't turn his head, but his ears perk up.
"Then again," Summer hums to herself. "I don't have a lot of gas money right now. I'm trying to save up for this super cute dress I saw online."
Rick is looking at her. She very deliberately does not grin.
"If only I had enough money to do both."
Rick curls his lips into a snarl.
"I mean, it'd be nice to talk to Morty and see when he'll be coming home. But I probably can't afford to."
"How much do you need for your fucking dress?" Rick snaps.
"$120."
"For a piece of fabric??"
Summer folds her arms. "I don't judge you for walking around in a sweater and lab coat all the time!"
Rick gets up and stomps away. No doubt to retrieve his wallet. She can hear him grumbling as he walks up the stairs.
"Thank you Grandpa Rick!"
He flips her off.
-
Summer knocks three times. Each time is met with silence. She sighs. She crosses her arms and shifts her stance. There's no sounds from behind the door, no footsteps coming to greet her. She peers in through the window. The blinds are drawn. She can't quite make anything out.
"Dad? Morty!" She pounds on the door again.
Neither of them had answered her texts when she drove over. Were they even home?
She's contemplating on whether or not to just leave when the door finally opens. Morty blinks wearily at her. It was still weird to not have to look down on him anymore. Morty had hit his growth spurt and he was as tall as her now. He would probably surpass her soon.
"What are you doing here?" He says in a grumble that suggests he'd been asleep.
"Checking up on you dummy."
She pushes past him inside. "Where's Dad?"
"Grocery store," Morty says.
Summer opens the fridge. There's an apple, expired milk, and some ketchup packets. How is it Jerry still couldn't take care of himself? It was pathetic. The second Beth kicked him out of the house for any reason he would literally fall apart.
Speaking of which…
She looks back at Morty who has flopped back down onto the couch. The indents suggested he'd been there for quite a while.
God he was just as bad as Rick. At first glance you wouldn't guess it, what with Rick being the obnoxiously crass and rude person that he was. But Morty chose to hang out with him anyway. He had grown from a pushover into a whiney, self-entitled little asshole in the making. She knew just how much Morty liked going on adventures with Rick despite his complaining. And he would get stupidly pissed if Summer ever tried to get Rick to take her out without him. It's not her fault that she and Rick knew how to party properly. Morty would just ruin the vibe and say "aw geez" all night. Total mood killer.
"When's the last time you took a shower?"
She looks around the motel room in distaste. Jerry always picked the worst ones to stay in.
Morty lay face down on the couch, pressing his face into the cushions. "Dunno."
It comes out muffled. Summer taps her foot on the floor, waiting. Any minute now Morty would cave...
"... how's Mom?"
"Good. She misses you. We all do."
Morty turns his head. His eyes glance up at her then back down again. He sighs. He brings his hands up and scratches his palm.
"Oh my god just ask Morty!" Summer snaps.
Morty flinches into action. "Wh-what's he been doing?"
It's said in almost a pout. Unbelievable.
"Acting like an overgrown man child, stumbling drunk all over the house. Mostly sitting in your room and crying. You know, the usual."
Morty turns his head into the cushions again. But not before she catches the sadness on his face.
"I th-thought he'd come by now."
Summer pauses. What the hell did that mean? She holds the question back, but only barely. One couldn't pry too much in this sort of situation. It made the other person clam up more often than not. She needed to let him tell her on his own.
Sure enough, Morty speaks again.
"He normally... he'd just burst into my room and--and yank me out for an adventure. Even if I'm m-mad at him."
Summer flicks her hair over her shoulder. That actually sounded quite horrible in her opinion. If she was dating a guy that ignored her wishes like that she'd dump his ass. If a girl wanted space you should damn well give her her space.
"That sounds clingy."
Morty huffs, mumbling something incoherent.
"Morty, I can't hear you."
Morty lets out a long suffering moan. Then he flips over on his side to face Summer.
"Objectively, I know it's bad. But I mean, it's his own stunted way of showing that he c-cares. Even if it's fucked up."
Morty lays his head back and looks up at the ceiling.
"It's been a week and he still hasn't come by. Fucking asshole refuses to break!"
It occurs to her, in this moment, this entire thing had been a way to get back at Rick. Morty had been waiting for Rick to show up the second he'd left. Rick was not a patient person. And he had shown a disregard for letting Morty have a personal life time and time again. Morty had wanted to force Rick to have to show up at Jerry's door--his least favorite person--and humiliate himself by apologizing first.
Devious little genius. She wonders if she should be impressed.
She chooses instead to roll her eyes. "You guys obviously want to forgive each other. So get over whatever this is and just call him."
Morty frowns. "I'm not crawling back to that asshole! If anyone is going to be apologizing it's h-him!"
Jesus. These two.
"Whatever."
She throws her hands up and heads for the door. She's not going to stick around this pity party and convince someone who doesn't want to be convinced. Summer already had her money. She'd done her part.
-
It's two more days till she sees him back at the house. Morty and Rick are sitting on the couch watching TV like they didn't just have the world's biggest fight. But instead of being on opposite sides of the couch or even sitting side by side as usual, Morty is sitting on the floor in between Rick's legs. His feet are stretched out under the coffee table, hands holding a mug of hot chocolate. Above him, Rick's hands are draped over him like an octopus. His head resting atop Morty's.
Just another normally weird day in the Sanchez-Smith household.
-
"I'm just saying, he's like a total silver fox!"
Carly was not handling the break up well. She never handled any of her break ups well. But it might have all been going to her head because now all she wanted to do was date older guys. Like way older. Waaaaaaay older.
"I mean if he's a sugar daddy yeah, go for it. But what's the point if he isn't rich?" Summer says.
Carly frowns. "Stability? Maturity?"
"As someone with experience hanging around an older man, I can tell that is not always the case."
"You mean your grandpa?" Carly shifts her stance.
"Yeah."
Carly smiles. "I dunno, Summer. Isn't he like a genius?"
"Ew no! Do not go there! I swear Carly!"
She laughs. "Don't deny it! He's definitely still got something going for him! Even for a 70 year old!"
Ugh. Summer feels a shiver wrack up her spine. Thank God Rick didn't frequent the school that much anymore after Beth made him limit adventures to after class. Some of these high schoolers were absolute sluts. And she didn't trust Rick not to dick any of them down.
The bell rings. Carly breaks off to go to her class. Summer waves goodbye to her. She turns down another hallway to head to her own classroom. As she walks she spots her little brother. He's blushing red and talking to Jessica. Summer walks past and feels a sting of pity. Poor thing. He was never going to--
"So anyway I was hoping you could make it!" Jessica says.
Summer almost trips and falls.
"The bonfire starts at seven, but everyone will probably show up at eight!"
Was she actually inviting Morty out?!
Morty shuffles uncomfortably. "O-oh, um, well I kinda already have plans with my grandpa."
The hell? What the hell was he doing? Summer turns fully around now, aware that she is staring openly.
"Well how bout you just swing by for an hour? It'll last till midnight."
Morty runs a hand over the straps of his backpack. "Mmm, he'll probably just pop up and drag me away anyway. B-better not."
Summer cannot believe what she is hearing. Morty turning down a chance to go to a party with Jessica? Was he insane??
She listens with rapt attention as Morty tells her he'll try to make it. Jessica smiles at him and leaves. The second she's gone Summer pounces.
"Dude what the shit is wrong with you?"
Morty flinches, startled at Summer's presence. He hadn't even noticed her standing there.
"W-what?"
"She was giving you signals! She literally invited you herself!"
Normally Summer wouldn't be so invested in her brother's love life. But he never shut up about Jessica! It had been so annoying for so long! What changed?
"There's no way I'm gonna believe that bullshit excuse about Rick!"
Morty swallows. "I just, uh, I just don't wanna go. There's g-gonna be lots of people there. And Brad's gonna be there... it's t-too much."
Summer squints her eyes at him. She looks into his very soul. He avoids her gaze. Her eyes widen.
"Wow," she says, understanding dawning upon her. "So you're like over her, over her?"
Morty blushes harder.
"Why couldn't you just say that?"
There was nothing wrong with it. People lost interest all the time. Especially in high school.
Morty shrugs. "Dunno."
Wait a minute.
Summer squints her eyes again, peeling back his flighty responses and dodgy answers.
"Oh my god you have a new crush!"
"How do you keep doing that??" Morty squeaks.
"Trade secret." She smirks.
Morty rubs a hand over his face. It would be fun, she muses, to tease out the name of this mystery person who managed to finally tear his gaze away from the beautiful perfect Jessica. But the bell had rung three minutes ago and she'll be late if she doesn't leave now.
"Don't think you're off the hook," she says, turning to go. She points a finger at him. "We'll talk later."
-
Morty refuses to talk. She had to give it to him, he was stubborn. She didn't get what the big deal was though. Why was he so tight lipped about it?
So of course she started to think up theories: that this secret person was older, that they didn't go to their school, that they did go to the school but not as a student, that it was an alien with freaky tentacle arms. (She's aware of Morty's hentai festish due to thin walls.) It could be any number of things.
But try as she might Morty won't say a word. She does have the gender down though. Morty was a horribly liar. And when she'd tested one of her theories it worked like a charm.
"So when are you gonna tell me your new boyfriend's name?"
"He's not my--" Morty's bit his lip.
He'd clammed up again after that. She's rather proud of that one. But unfortunately that had been it. No more information had been revealed. It's frustrating because she shouldn't even care. It was probably someone stupid or weird and it wasn't like it mattered anyway because Morty would never make a move. He was a sissy like that.
Sure he'd shoot his shot on random catgirls from outer space, but someone he legitimately liked? He'd spontaneously combust, unable to handle the pressure of his own feelings.
Summer stands over the stove as she makes herself some mac n cheese. Beth sat at the dinner table working on her laptop. The clicking of keys filled the room. It was quiet.
Upstairs there's a shout. It's a common occurrence, nothing to get worried over.
It's followed by a thud. Then another thud. More shouting erupts.
Summer stirs the pot adding more cheese. Her gut would suffer for it later but she didn't care. She'll just pop a pepto bismol pill and hope for the best.
The thuds continue. Loud footsteps thunder down the stairs and crash into the living room. Summer briefly wonders what they're fighting about now. Did they ever take a break? She swears they were worse than mom and dad. At least her parents kept their arguing to petty squabbles. But Rick and Morty had to be dramatic bitches about everything.
Laughter churns her thoughts to a halt. Summer looks up from her pot. Another thud and more giggles follow.
"Oh y-you think you can handle this Morty?" Rick growls playfully.
Summer steps out in view of the living room. To her disbelief Rick and Morty are armed with pillows, swinging and whapping each other in the face.
"Any weapon is deadly in my hand motherfucka!" Rick shouts.
Morty ducks and lunges behind the lazy chair.
Rick may have been in his 70s but he'd never matured past his 20s. It was simultaneously a good and bad thing.
Summer turns back to the kitchen. Her mac n cheese would be ready soon. Maybe she should add some bacon bits?
Just as she reaches up to take a bowl out from the cupboard Morty races past her. Rick follows hot on his heels.
"Boys! Don't knock anything over!" Beth says without looking up from her laptop as they race around the table.
Morty stops, hiding behind Beth. Rick throws his pillow. Morty dodges and it hits the wall behind him. It knocks over a picture frame. It falls from the wall and breaks upon impact on the floor.
They freeze, both panting as they stare down at the mess.
Beth taps her fingers angrily on the table. They speak at the same time.
"Sorry sweetie."
"Sorry Mom!"
Beth sighs.
"Well whoever started it can clean it up," she says looking right at Rick.
He bristles. "What? I didn't do it!"
Beth raises a brow.
"Honest!"
Beth looks back at her son. Morty tilts his head with wide eyes.
"He's lying mom! He c-came into my room and attacked me!"
Beth turns back to Rick. She doesn't see the sly smirk Morty adopts on his face. Rick looks at him betrayed.
"You little shit!" He grins. Respect.
Summer grabs a portion of her meal and scoops it into her bowl. She watches as Rick begrudgingly cleans up the broken glass. He grumbles the entire time as if the job didn't take two seconds to do, big baby.
As soon as he's finished he lunges at Morty. He picks him up and slings him over his shoulder. Morty yelps, kicking his feet and laughing.
"Be in the garage, sweetie!"
He carries Morty off like a caveman. Beth chuckles and sips her wine. Summer bites into her mac n cheese. She supposed this was better than the fighting.
-
She doesn't remember what she came into Morty's room for anymore. Only that after she'd rummaged through his desk drawers, she'd found a picture of Rick stuffed inside. It was an old one, taken from one of the family albums no doubt.
It's not the sight of a younger Rick that makes her pause. It's not how he's winking at the camera. It's the white, sticky substance covering the photo that has her mind screeching to a halt.
Something clicks, like a door handle.
Oh.
"Summer?
She turns slowly. Apparently it had been the door after all.
Morty looks down at the open drawer. His eyes widen. His lips tremble.
"I-it's not what you think!" He rushes forward and slams the drawer shut. "It's not... it's n-not…"
Summer recognizes the signs of an oncoming panic attack. He clutches his head, breath coming out in short spasms. Thinking quickly, she guides him over to the bed. Morty collapses immediately. He reaches out weakly. Summer follows the line of his outstretched arm--the waste basket. She grabs it and pulls it over. Morty takes it and holds it tightly against his chest.
He sits there wheezing and crying. Summer rubs at his back, trying to calm him. She doesn't say a word. She doesn't let her mind wander over the new information. She just focuses on Morty and only Morty. Don't think about it. She keeps rubbing circles over his shoulders and waits until his breathing returns to normal.
Eventually his breathing evens out, but his shoulders don't relax. The tension is thick in the air. Rick hangs over them, unavoidable. Morty speaks an eternity later.
"How can you even stand to t-touch me?" He whispers wetly.
Disgust and shame swirl in his eyes. Summer doesn't look away. She won't lie. This was jarring. It wasn't the normal levels of weirdness that she was used to handling. This was an entire other level of insanity.
But even still...
"I guess I just, I'm not all that surprised?"
When she thinks about it, it was both utterly shocking and yet simultaneously obvious. Hadn't she'd already known deep down? That they were always too close?
"You guys were always weird. I suppose it kinda makes sense."
Morty sniffs, wiping the snot away.
"Plus you're constantly spending time with each other. So there's that."
She scratches her cheek, unsure how to proceed.
"So, Rick's the new guy you're crushing over huh?"
Morty hangs his head.
"That must suck."
Morty lets out a pitiful laugh. "Yeah. It does."
"Does he, uh, does he know?"
"Yeah."
Oh. Okay then.
"He gave me the whole planetary mindset speech. He doesn't care. We can still be Rick and Morty."
Well that's good. That was something right?
Morty's shoulders droop. "I'm a horrible person."
Summers brows furrow. "Morty, you can't help your feelings. It's not--"
He cuts her off. "I'm not talking about my crush! I'm talking about the fact that I tried to f-f-force him into something I sh-shouldn't have!"
Summer freezes.
"Morty what happened?"
She thinks about the massive fight a month ago. Was this what that had been about?
Tears gather in Morty's eyes. He weeps into his hands.
"I wanted to just see, you know? Just once what it was--what it was l-like. Nothing overly sexual. Just a k-kiss or something." He shakes his head. "I told Rick I could use the memory gun on him. Erase it from his mind so he didn't have to know he'd t-touched his grandson."
Summer sucks in a sharp breath. Oh shit. This sounded like way more than just a crush. Morty had changed because of Rick. He was growing up. This thing they had, it was bigger than she'd realized.
"I'm f-fucking disgusting!"
He shoves his face into his knees. Summer has no idea what to do. This wasn't like Carly and her boyfriend. This wasn't like Morgan with her flings. This was so much worse.
She sits there in silence, listening to him cry. She's always known what to do before, but now her words fail her. She doesn't know how to help him.
"Hey. Hey, it's fine. It'll be fine Morty."
"It's not fine, Summer!" She winces at his ferocity. "Who--who the fuck goes and falls in l-love with…"
It catches in his throat, a sob wiggling it's way up.
"I'm a freak!"
He mutters it on repeat. He clutches the blanket muttering over and over.
"Imafreakimafreakimafreak…"
He was regressing, panic rising once more. Anger spikes through her mind. Summer grips at Morty's shoulder and shakes him once hard.
"You're not a freak!" She snaps into his face.
Wide eyes stare at her. Morty blinks. His tears have stopped falling. Summer swallows and tries again more gently.
"You're not the first person in history to develop feelings for a family member."
Granted the last time she read about this type of occurrence it'd been about a Florida man and his daughter boning in the backyard in full view of their neighbors. But she doesn't need to tell him that. The point was that it wasn't unheard of.
"I mean, back in the old days people married their cousins all the time! It was literally commonplace."
Morty hiccups, rubbing a hand over his face. Summer's gaze softens and she smiles.
"It may not be conventional, but you're normal Morty Smith. You're normal."
He leans into her shoulder, crying into her blouse. She hugs him to her chest. She may not be able to do much, but she could do this for her brother. She could be there for as long as he needed.