Chapter Text
"That's it!" Jerry declared, slamming his hand down on the kitchen counter. "I don't want my son hanging around that Rick Sanchez kid anymore! He's a bad influence on Morty!"
Beth's face remained emotionless, taking a sip from her wine glass. "Morty's been skipping classes, failing tests, and he hasn't done any homework for weeks! He's been coming home later and later each night and it's all because of this 'Rick' character!" Jerry took a deep breath, calming himself down. "Beth, I'm putting my foot down. Morty needs to stop being around Rick."
Morty listened silently from the living room as his father ranted. This wasn't the first time Jerry had made a comment about his and Rick's friendship, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.
In all honesty, Morty doesn't even know how he became Rick Sanchez's friend. The coolest kid in school had no reason to hang around a pathetic nerd like Morty, yet he did for some reason. Morty sighs and pulls out his phone.
Morty
My parents are talking shit about you again
Quickly after, Rick texts back.
Rick
lmao fuck them
Rick
but you know this means you owe me one adventure to wherever the fuck i want
Morty's eyes pause on the word adventure. Something about Rick that made him different than other juniors at his high school, besides his colorful language, alcohol addiction, sex life, was that he was the smartest kid in the multiverse.
He had a spaceship in his garage, though it does look like a bunch of trash piled on top of each other to form a stereotypical UFO shape, he had a portal gun that allowed him to go anywhere in the world- no - the universe, and he had these crazy gadgets and guns that did all sorts of weird stuff.
Somehow, Rick picked Morty of all people to go on these crazy adventures with. Morty didn't know why, but seeing the opportunity to make even one friend, he quickly took it, even if that means risking his life day after day for a kid who's so popular, he tends to even forget Morty exists in school.
Beth's angry voice snapped Morty out of his thoughts, reminding him of the reason he was still in the living and not retreating back to his room. "Jerry. Can't you see Morty finally has a friend? He's finally happy and you just want to take it away from him?"
Jerry stared at her incredulously. "Of course, I'm happy my son has a friend. He's been so alone for so long, I love that he's made a friend. But this friend is a horrible influence What if Morty's out there doing drugs? Or-"
"Or plaguing some poor classmate of his with an unplanned, teenage pregnancy?" Beth spits out, venom lacing her voice.
Morty's eyes widened as his father sputtered pathetically. "My son is finally happy in life and doesn't want to fucking kill himself anymore. I can't believe you want to take this away from him." Jerry glared at Beth, appalled she'd even bring up Morty's... incident. "Ex-fucking-cuse me? You're going to bring up Morty's attempt at suicide for this? Morty doing something so stupid has absolutely nothing to do with Rick being a shitty kid!"
Morty didn't get to hear the rest of the fight. Tears pricked in the corners of his eyes as Morty quietly went up to his room, and he quickly wiped them away. He hated being reminded about the time he tried to kill himself. He was in a horrible place, the bullies were even worse than before, Summer acted like he was an annoying piece of gum under her shoe, and his parent's marriage was starting to really fall apart. And hearing Jerry call it stupid really hurt him. He was going through a horrible time in his life, and he hated thinking about how not angry or sad Jerry looked, but the fact that he looked disappointed that Morty would try that.
His parents being disappointed in him was something Morty couldn't live with. He tries his hardest to please them, but with Rick taking him out of school all the time, it's no surprise to anyone that his grades aren't exactly praise-worthy.
Taking a deep breath, he pushed his door open, shocked to see a blue-haired boy sitting on his bed, swinging a portal gun around with his fingers. Glancing at Morty, Rick rolled his eyes. "Took you long enough. Your parents are go- going the fuck off on each other, I'm surprised you stayed to listen that long."
There was something about Rick's expression that made Morty confused. While Rick tried to keep his face from looking pissed, his facade slipped from time to time, letting Morty see that something was pissing him off.
Immediately assuming he did something, Morty apologized. "So-Sorry, Rick," Morty said quietly. He always disliked pissing Rick off because he thought that if Rick got sick and angry with him around, he'd leave Morty alone again.
Rick's expression softened for half a second before it returned to his usual nonchalant look. "Whatever." Rick pulled his flask out of his pants pocket, taking a long sip, glaring at the wall. "Uh- R-Rick?" Morty asked, flinching slightly when Rick turned his glare to him. "What- What are you doing in my- in my room?" Morty asked, swallowing nervously when Rick just stared at him.
Shrugging, Rick replied, "I can't remember. Must noOURHt've been important." Burping loudly, Rick took another long swig, tossing his now empty flask on the ground. "D'your parents have any liquor?" Rick questioned, ignoring the annoyed look Morty gave him.
"Rick," Morty sighed, placing his palm on his temple. "What are you doing here? My parents will freak the crap out if they catch you in here!" Rick glanced off to the side a little before snickering. "I think they're already 'freaking the crap out', Morty." Just as Rick said that Morty heard glass shatter followed by a loud curse and more arguing
Morty bit his tongue to stop the tears. All he wanted to do was go into his room, pull the covers over his head, and cry. But it'd be weird if he started sobbing with Rick in the room. Rick looked at Morty, obviously seeing that the boy was for some reason close to tears. Groaning, Rick patted the spot on the bed next to him, inviting Morty to sit there.
Morty eyed the bed suspiciously before slowly moving to sit next to his friend. Without thinking, Rick slung his arm around Morty's shoulders, pulling the boy close. Both of the eyes widened slightly, equally surprised by Rick's actions.
"You look like you're about to start sobbing, moron," Rick explained as if trying to tell Morty that it was the only reason he was being this physically intimate. "I don't know fucking why. I've been telling you your parents' marriage was turning into shit but you never listen. You never fucking listen." Rick added that last part quietly, muttering a low reminder that he needed a bigger flask. Or just more than one.
Morty smiled slightly, relaxing more into Rick's hold. They stayed like that for a moment, before Morty's door was roughly pushed open. Rick shoved Morty away, making the brunette fall off the bed. Ignoring the aching feeling in his heart, Morty whipped his head to the door to see his sister barging in.
"I hope you aren't masturbating or something," Summer says, covering her eyes with her hands. "Oh- Oh jeez, Summer. You- You really should knock-"
"Ohmygod, Morty if you're fucking jerking it-"
"No! No, I'm not. Just still," Morty exclaimed, his face flushing red. Summer took her hand away from her eyes and smiled at Morty. "Morty, tomorrow you and I are throwing the most insane party fucking ever!" She smiled. Morty's blood ran cold. A party? In their house?
"Mom and dad are leaving for some therapy-couple counseling shit or whatever for a whole week! Seven straight days of getting high and wasted!" Summer says happily. "Oh wow- that's -that's fun," Morty says, putting on a convincing smile, which satisfied Summer enough to make her leave.
Looking around his room for Rick, Morty was dismayed to find that he had left. Getting off of the floor, Morty rubbed his head, trying to ignore the feeling of his heart clenching. Why did Rick leaving and pushing him off like he was a bug bother him so much?
Sighing to himself, Morty got under the covers of his bed, pulling them over his head. Morty preferred crying under the covers, it made him feel less insecure. He could almost never stand to look at himself in the mirror, but he was almost certain that his crying face looked ugly. Crying under covers made him feel safer from the eyes that weren't in his room nor even watching him.
Once he let the tears flow, it was almost impossible to stop them. Salty tears streamed down his face and onto the sheets under him. He had to bite his lip as to not alert his family anything was wrong.
He felt like such a sensitive baby sometimes. He'd always get the urge to cry whenever his parents argued, whenever Summer would pretend to not know who he was in school, even when Rick would pretend not to see him or seemed to forget who he was in public. Like he was embarrassed to be around Morty.
The thought brought more tears to his eyes. He always felt like his stupidity was an inconvenience to Rick, especially when the smarter of the two had to stop in the middle of explaining what an invention does to explain a big word Morty didn't know. Sometimes Morty wondered why Rick even kept him around. He once thought that it was because Rick liked having him around, but that thought was quickly shot down when he realized how stupid it sounded.
Morty was so busy trying to hide his sobs, that he didn't hear or notice when a green light flashed behind him. Rick stepped through the portal grimacing at the shaking figure of Morty under the covers.
Rick reached his hand out, tempted to go over and wrap his arms around the crying boy. Of course he couldn't, but it didn't stop Rick from thinking about doing it. Scowling at his feet for even thinking about comforting Morty, Rick spared him one last glance before walking through and closing the portal again.
Rick would just have to wait for Morty to be in a better mood for the adventure.