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It started out almost unnoticeable.
Every once in a while, there would be the faintest of aches in Morty's back teeth. It hardly warranted concern and he didn't even question it because the pain was so fleeting. He assumed it was just something that would go away on its own.
So he chose to ignore.
Nearly half a year passed, before he realized the pain had gotten worse.
But it was right around the time he and Rick had begun hunting down Prime, so Morty simply assumed it was the stress that was getting to him. He was likely grinding his teeth in his sleep. Once they finally killed Rick Prime and Morty was no longer stressed, he was certain the pain would fade.
Unfortunately, that isn't what happened.
In hindsight, he should have known it would continue to get worse, given the kind of luck he seemed to have.
The pain gradually got much worse. As the weeks passed, the pressure and ache in his jaw only grew, until it became a throbbing that was impossible to ignore. Not only was the pain making it difficult to sleep at night, it got to the point that he started to dread having to sit down to eat meals. He could barely take two bites without his teeth throbbing in protest.
Morty thought he'd been hiding it well enough, but it eventually became bad enough that his family noticed one night.
"Are you feeling alright, Morty? You've barely eaten anything tonight." While Morty had been a picky eater as a child, Beth had helped him grow out of that, so it was very concerning to see him now just pushing his food around his plate, instead of eating it.
Morty wasn't entirely sure he wanted to bring up his tooth pain. The last thing he wanted was his family making fun of him for being "too sensitive" or something. ".....yeah, I'm fine."
Morty fucked up.
He took too long to answer and his hesitation now drew the attention of the one person who would be able to figure out what was wrong.
Rick.
His grandpa was studying him, eyes narrowed in suspicion as he tried to figure out what Morty was hiding. "The fuck you are. You've been picking at your food all week."
Rick had apparently been much more observant than Morty thought and he frantically glanced at his parents, hoping they hadn't caught Rick's last two words. "So what? You don't always eat at every meal."
"But when I do, I actually eat all my food. Spill it, Morty. What the hell's been going on? You aren't suffering from an ED, are you?"
An eating disorder?
"WHAT? No!" That's what Rick thought was wrong with him? Despite the serious topic, the thought almost made Morty laugh. He figured he could share the actual truth since it wasn't nearly as bad as that. "My back teeth just hurt, okay?!"
Instead of laughing, like Morty expected, Rick merely nodded. "Your wisdom teeth are probably coming in. You should have said something sooner."
Beth's expression, which had become horrified at the mention of an ED, mellowed out and she went back to eating her dinner. "Don't worry, Morty. I'll schedule an appointment with our dentist tomorrow morning."
Now, Rick actually did let out a laugh. "Don't bother, sweetie. I can remove them."
"Uh, Rick. Isn't that something a professional should do?" Jerry looked skeptical at the suggestion of Rick doing it and he sent his father-in-law a dubious look. "Since when are you a dentist?"
"Since I removed Summer's wisdom teeth last year. Without any complications, I might add." He probably shouldn't have mentioned it. Summer had made him promise he wouldn't say anything and she was going to be pissed that he'd now broken said promise.
"You pulled Summer's teeth out?"
The attention in the room shifted to her and, just as Rick predicted, Summer sent him a nasty glare. "Asshole, you said you wouldn't tell them."
"Don't be a baby, Sum-Sum. It's not a big deal."
Apparently, Jerry didn't agree with that statement. He was more worried then Beth and he immediately noticed that. "Beth, he pulled our daughter's teeth out. How are you not freaking out?"
"Jerry, he's replaced severed limbs and he does regular maintenance on his own cybernetics. He can obviously handle removing a couple of teeth."
Rick nodded in approval at her defense of him and turned back towards Morty. Even if Beth gave him the go ahead, he would ultimately leave the choice up to his grandson. It was his mouth and his teeth, after all. "It's your decision, Morty. But if you want your dad to waste money on an actual dentist, then you better say something now."
Anyone else might have chosen the dentist, but Morty knew Rick was more than capable of pulling out four teeth. Hell, his grandpa had once regrown Morty's hand after he let a train sever it from his body. If anything, Rick was probably overqualified to be pulling teeth. "You can pull them, Rick."
If it was even possible, Jerry's jaw seemed to drop even further and he stared at Morty incredulously. "Are you sure, son? I would personally go with the dentist."
Morty wanted to roll his eyes at his dad's insistence for a "professional" dentist, but he didn't want to hurt his dad's feelings. Jerry was just doing his job as a father and was trying to do what he thought was best for Morty. "I trust Rick, dad."
"Thank you, Morty." Rick sent a pointed glare in Jerry's direction. He could sort of see where Jerry was coming from. Being the worrier he was, Jerry wanted someone who had experience, someone who'd gone to school, to do this. But Rick was the smartest man in the universe, so he was obviously a little offended that Jerry didn't think he could do this.
~
Morty knew Rick would get around to pulling his wisdom teeth out eventually. Considering it wasn't life threatening, Morty didn't really think it was a high priority, however his grandpa apparently seemed to think otherwise.
When Morty got up for school the next morning, he'd barely taken two steps into the dining room, before Rick was dragging him towards the garage. "Wha- Rick! I'm going to be late for school."
"Are you kidding me? You aren't going to school today. I told you last night I was gonna pull your wisdom teeth."
Morty's eyebrows shot up at that. It had been less than twenty-four hours since that conversation. Morty had honestly expected Rick to put it off for a few days, a week at most. As they entered the garage, Morty realized the workbench had been cleared off and the smell of cleaning products was strong in the air. There were a number of tools laid out, as well as an oxygen mask hooked up to a homemade anesthesia machine. Rick had clearly been preparing for this all morning. "Wait, you're doing it right now?"
"I already got the go ahead from Beth."
When his grandpa patted the countertop, Morty hesitated to get any closer. It's not that he was scared to let Rick pull his teeth out. He just wasn't sure how long he'd be stuck on bedrest once they were pulled.
It didn't take Rick long to notice his hesitation. "What's wrong? Not backing out, are you? I told you to let Jerry know if you wanted a quote unquote "professional dentist" to do it."
"No! It's not that. Isn't the recovery period like two weeks? We were supposed to go to Boob World this weekend and I don't want to miss that."
Rick laughed at that. His grandson sure had his priorities figured out. "Trust me, it's not going to even take two days to heal. Did you even realize I'd taken Summer's wisdom teeth out?"
Now that Morty truly thought about it, he realized Rick was right. His grandpa mentioned it'd been some time last year, but Morty couldn't remember seeing or hearing about Summer's teeth being pulled. It was likely Rick had a serum or potion that expedited the healing process. With the knowledge that he wouldn't be missing their weekend plans, Morty quickly hopped up onto the workbench and let Rick guide him onto his back.
"You ready, Junebug?" Rick carefully hooked the mask around Morty's head and only turned his attention to the anesthesia machine when his grandson nodded. "Okay, count back from twenty."
"Twenty...."
"Nineteen...."
"Eighteen...."
"Seventeen...."
"Sixteen...."
~
"-ty. Mortyyyy."
Morty slowly came out of the drug induced sleep and the first thing he became aware of was Rick's voice softly calling his name. The second thing he noticed was both a numbness and dull pressure in his mouth. Morty's eyelids felt so heavy and he groaned as he struggled to open them. He finally cracked his eyes open and found Rick leaning over him, though his grandpa's face was rather blurry. "Mnghh.... whaaa.... Rick...?"
"There you are. Welcome back to the land of the living. How you feeling, Junebug?"
"Ma' mouf hurt."
Rick huffed out a laugh at that and gently pulled Morty's hand away when his grandson tried to reach for the gauze in his mouth. "Of course, it's going to hurt. You did just have teeth pulled."
"You gonna put sh'ome healing gel in ma' mouf?"
"I have a special one I use for dental work. When I change your gauze out in a few hours, the next ones will be soaked in it."
A few hours.
The anesthesia that had been used was clearly wearing off because the pain was slowly coming back to him, alongside his awareness. "It hur-sh, Rick."
"I know, buddy. Why don't we get you up to your room for a little nap?"
Morty wanted to protest that he wasn't tired, but a nap did actually sound nice. He was tired and his head felt strange. In fact, Morty's whole body felt strange.
All light and floaty.
Did that mean he was going to start floating?
Morty tried to focus, but his eyesight was still a little hazy and it was hard to tell if he was sitting still or not. He tightened his grip on the counter beneath him, suddenly terrified that he might just float away if he let go of it.
"R-Rick...." His voice came out surprisingly shaky and it was clear Rick hadn't been expecting it either, based on how quickly he turned around.
"What's wrong, Morty?"
"I f-ink m'gonna float away if I le'go."
It took less than two seconds for Rick to figure out what was going on and he had to fight the grin that was threatening to break out on his face. Summer had exhibited the same loopy behavior when she'd first woken up, a side effect of the anesthesia.
Rick swiftly crossed the room and helped Morty down from the counter. "You aren't going to float away, Morty. I promise. Do you trust me?"
"Of cour-sh I do. I love you, Grandpa Rick." Morty didn't call him 'grandpa' often, usually reserving it for moments of snark or sarcasm. But, every once in a while, Morty would use it affectionately. "You have to sh-ay it back, Rick."
"Geez, demanding, aren't we?" Despite the complaint, there was no venom in his voice. "You're high as fuck right now, Morty. You aren't even going to remember this conversation later."
"You do love me, don' you?" Obviously Rick loved him. Morty already knew this, but he still couldn't keep himself from getting emotional over it.
"Yes, Morty. I do love you."
"Aww, Rick." Morty's bottom lip trembled and his eyes glazed with unshed tears as he clung to Rick's arm. "I love you, too."
It was a little funny to see how different Morty's post-anesthesia behavior was from Summer's. His granddaughter had been rather agitated and snippy coming out of anesthesia and it was something Rick really hoped he'd only have to experience once. God forbid, Summer ever have to get her appendix removed. If she did, Rick was going to suggest taking her to an actual surgeon.
Morty, on the other hand, was a vulnerable, emotional mess. This was the second time in the span of five minutes that Morty told Rick he loved him and he had a feeling his grandson was going to say it several more times before the anesthetic finally wore off.
"Come on, Junebug." Rick led him into the house, but they were stopped by Jerry as they passed by the kitchen, and he gratefully took the ice packs from his son-in-law.
"How's he doing, Rick?" Jerry grinned when Morty unsteadily waved at him, the dopey grin on his son's face an obvious sign that the anesthetic hadn't quite worn off yet.
"He's clingy. Aren't you, Morty?" Morty had yet to let go of Rick's arm, though he was certain it was because Morty was still afraid of "floating away", even if his grandson would later try to deny it. "Come on, kiddo. It's bed time."
"Bye, dad. I love you." He was only faintly aware of his dad saying it back because he suddenly realized Rick was standing next to him and he also realized he hadn't yet said it to his grandpa. "I also love you, Rick."
"Yeah, so I keep hearing." Jerry snickered at that and Rick glared at him, but it wasn't nearly as effective with Morty clinging to his arm. He led Morty towards the stairs, but it quickly became obvious that his grandson was in no state to walk up them. He lifted Morty off his feet and carried him up the stairs, only setting him down once they were in Morty's room.
"Thank-sh for takin' care of me, Rick. You're the besh grandpa. I love you."
Rick was gentle as he tucked Morty into bed, carefully positioning the cold packs under Morty's swollen cheeks. Despite hearing the admission of love yet again, Rick couldn't really find it in himself to be annoyed. As sappy as it sounded, it was nice to hear Morty say it. "I love you too, Junebug. Now, get some sleep and I'll check up on you in a little bit."