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Morty was on strike.
No adventures, no tool fetching, no hanging out, and, to his own dismay, no interdimensional television.
Not a single moment spent together with Rick unless it was breakfast or dinner, when it couldn't be avoided, and even during those times he refused to acknowledge Rick.
When Morty first suggested it, Rick had laughed. "You r-really think that I need- that I want to- want you around?" He asked.
"I think you do." Morty said, his arms crossed and confidence high despite Rick's dismissal. "A-a-a-and I'm not gonna sit here, and have you lashing out at me l-like I'm some kind of burden!"
"NeEUuUWwsflaaAAUSh, Morty. You are." He pokes the child in the chest. "You are a little burden. Y-y-you should feel lucky, that I take- that I let you on th-these trips!"
"Oooh yeeeah, suuure," Morty says, sarcasm dripping off the words, "I'm sooo lucky that my alcoholic g-grandfather takes me to m-m-monster infested planets where I can almost- nearly die!"
"Okay, but did you die?" Rick says, turning away and drinking from his flask.
"No, but-"
"So would you rather you did die?"
"Th-that's not the point!" Morty yells.
"Now, see, Morty, that's the difference between people like- between you and me." Rick turns back around and jabs a finger in Morty's direction. "You don't have a point." He points back at himself. "And I am- I make- I have a point. I have all the f-fucking points."
"You don't have shit." Morty says. "I have the points. I have so many points, Rick! It's c-c-crazy! Like a- like a points orgy over here."
"Then where are they?" Rick asks, looking around exaggeratedly. "Because I don't fuckin' see them. I thought I was s-s-signing up for a steamy hot points orgy, but all I see is- I don't see shit."
"Because you're incapable of seeing my points, Rick! Because y-y-you refuse to see my points!"
"Well if they're naked and ready for a party then I wanna see them, show me them."
"You know what? No! I'm n-not g-gonna show- not gonna show you shit! My points don't want you at their orgy!"
"Everybody wants me at their orgy!"
"Well not m-m-my points!"
"Well then your points can go fuck themselves!"
"They already are!" And with that, Morty storms out of the garage, slamming the door behind himself.
That was three weeks ago. After about a week of Rick playing along and ignoring Morty himself, the second week he kept bursting into Morty's room at night, drunk as a skunk, waking up the young boy babbling about whatever dumb adventure he wanted to go on.
Morty would cling to his sheets and refuse, kicking at the grabby hands trying to drag him away. That didn't deter Rick, but what did was Morty screaming for his mother.
Beth did not take well to being woken up to drag her alcoholic father out of Morty's room, but she would do it anyways. Rick would grumble but he wouldn't disobey when Beth told him to go to bed for the night.
Beth put up with this three times, then she threated Rick that if she was pulled from her slumber even one more time to put his old ass to bed, she'd put him into a permanent sleep. It was an obvious bluff, but that was the end of that.
So Rick resorted to sulking. He was grumpy and annoyed, snapping at anybody who tried to talk to him and glaring daggers at Morty. Not that Morty saw those glares, since he wouldn't look up at Rick, but it was more of for Rick's benefit.
Morty is bored out of his mind.
'School kind of fucking sucks.' He thinks to himself, now that he's fully attending each day. He's more well rested but he's still nodding off in class, the material is just so droll. His grades don't seem to improve, even though he's completing assignments and homework. 'Maybe I really am dumb.' He thinks, looking down at a big fat 'F' on his test.
Things aren't doing much better at home. Since he's resolved to avoid the tv, he spends most of his time in his room, and there's only so many times he can jerk off in a day until it becomes painful. He tries to study and ends up napping and drooling all over his textbooks.
It gets to the point where he's hanging out in Summer's room, ignoring her requests that he, "Get the fuck out."
He lays on her bed while she sits at her desk, texting on her phone and ignoring the homework in front of her. It's quiet, but the fact that by just being here he is passively annoying his big sister is amusing enough to him that he stays.
"Okay, seriously," Summer says, "You have to get out. Tricia and Nancy are coming over."
"I can't believe you forgave Tricia after her- after she took Ethan from you." Morty says, not moving at all from his spot.
"Wasn't her fault." Summer shrugs. "Ethan told her he was single, she didn't know. Plus she totally dumped his ass, so like, it's fine." She stands up and walks to the side of the bed, towering over Morty. "Now c'mon, get out."
"Ugh, c-can't I like, stay?"
"Nope, move it."
"Come onnnnnn." Morty whines. "It'll-It'll be fun. Y-you know, different. Don't you wanna shake things up a little?"
"Wow. You must be really lonely without Rick." She crosses her arms.
"I'm not-"
"Or you're watching way too much porn and have a very skewed idea of what a slumber party is like. Sorry to spoil things, but we don't get topless and have pillow fights that turn into make-outs."
Morty's face turns red. "I-I-I-I d-d-didn't think- I-I-I wouldn't- Gross! T-that's gross, Summer! You're gross a-a-and you have no idea what I look at o-on-"
The sound of the doorbell interrupts them. Summer sighs. "Look, Morty, stay or go, it really doesn't matter. Just... Try not to be a creep to my friends, okay?"
"Got it." Morty says, nodding.
She goes downstairs and returns back up pretty quickly. Nancy walks in and her eyes widen when she spots Morty chilling on the bed. "Oh," She says, "Hey Morty."
"Hey Nancy." Morty says, waving a lazy hand and smiling. "It's good to see you again."
"Yeah, good to see you again too." Nancy says, shuffling into the room and dropping her bag on the ground.
Tricia is right after, and she smiles bright when she sees Morty. "Oh, hey there." She waves enthusiastically, making her boobs jiggle.
"Boobs." Morty says, unintelligently, as his eyes catch the movement and he momentarily forgets his sister's only request.
"Ugh, Morty," Summer says as she pushes Tricia further inside and follows her in, "I gave you one rule."
Morty shakes his head to snap himself out of his dumbassery. "Oh, right, sorry. Uh, h-hello Tricia. Sorry about that..."
She giggles and bites her lip, looking at Morty with hooded eyes. "Oh, I don't mind..."
"Yes, you do mind." Summer says, scowling at her friend. She turns to look at Morty. "Oh, forget it, this isn't gonna work. Get the fuck out Morty, before I get mom."
"No, no, no." Tricia says, "Let him stay, this'll be fun."
Summer turns her glare back at her friend. "What kind of fun can we have with Morty?" Tricia opens her mouth to reply but Summer places her palm over her mouth and continues speaking. "Uh-uh, think twice about that, bitch."
Nancy shrugs as she cuts in. "We could give him a makeover." Three sets of eyes turn on her. "What? You guys are always complaining I won't let you give me one, so... Why not give him one?"
Summer grins smugly as she turns to Morty. "Well, Morty, what do you say? You can only stay if you let us doll you up." She looks victorious.
Morty would love to crush that smugness. "Sure." He says with a smirk. "G-go crazy."
Summer's face falls but then turns to one of resolve. Oh, if her little brother wants a battle. She'll give him hell.
Morty doesn't know how girls keep all this crap on their faces. It's sticky and dry and just... Weird. "My face feels heavy, like it's- Is it supposed to feel like that?" He asks, looking in the mirror.
"Yeah." Summer replies, looking her brother up and down. She had intended this to be a punishment, and yet... Well, Morty looks great. Maybe a little clownish with the amount of make-up on his face, but if they had held back a little...
Morty's thin little frame, his big doe eyes, his delicate skin. He'd be a cute girl, that's for sure. With the little dress they managed to pull out of the back of Summer's closet, something from when she was much younger that managed to avoid getting thrown out, all Morty is missing is a wig and they could parade him around as Summer's little sister.
"Hold on..." Summer says. She heads into her parent's room and checks the closet and yup, her suspicions were right. She comes back and dumps a small, curly brown wig onto Morty's head, adjusting it so it fits just right. "I have no idea why this is in dad's closet and I'm kind of worried now."
"You found this in- how do you know it's dad's, not mom's?" Morty asks.
Summer shrugs. "Guess I don't know for sure. Just an inkling."
Morty looks at himself once again and wow. He's... Beautiful.
"Do a princess twirl for us, Morty." Tricia says.
"A what?" Morty asks.
"A little spin." She does a little spin in place herself. "Like that. Show it off!"
Morty spins in place, his dress lightly fluttering up. The girls cheer. He grins. He really can't stop looking in the mirror, he looks so pretty. The soft pink dress, his soft pink lips, his soft pink blush. He feels confident, he feels good.
"Hate to admit it, little bro," Summer says, smiling at her little brother. "You look better in that dress than I ever did."
Morty giggles and it's feminine and normally he'd feel so embarrassed but he doesn't, "You guys did a really good-great, a great job."
The girls all take pictures of him as he poses, not thinking about what might happen with those pictures, where they might get posted, who might see them. He's too busy giggling and enjoying their fawning attention.
"Alllright." Summer says, snapping one last photo of Morty. "Let's go watch a movie now." She heads to the door and snaps her fingers. "C'mon girls, downstairs."
Morty hesitates for a moment, isn't he avoiding the tv? Eh, who cares. He follows the girls down as they pile on the couch. He's sat in the middle, in between Summer and Nancy. Tricia takes his dad's armchair.
Summer puts on a movie, and it's what seems to be a slasher movie, except in a universe where people can only die by diseases, not physical damage, so the slasher just goes around coughing on people and their serial killer mask keeps getting in the way and thwarting their own killings.
It's kinda funny, and Morty isn't nearly as scared as he would be with a normal horror movie. About halfway through, during a tense scene, a shadow looms over them, tall and wiry. "Hey, wh-who's the new chick?" Comes Rick's voice, slightly slurred.
They all jump and turn to look at Rick, holding a bottle of indeterminable alcohol and staring right at Morty. Morty stares right back, a look of panic overtaking his face.
"Grandpa, say hello to your new granddaughter!" Summer says, holding her hands out to gesture at Morty.
Rick's eyes widen as he recognizes Morty under the clothes, wig, and make-up. "M-M-Morty?" He whispers.
Morty ducks his head, embarrassed, but then narrows his eyes and raises his head back up. Why should he feel embarrassed? Why should he cower? He's not ashamed, and he still has a point, Goddamnit! He holds himself with confidence. "Damn right!" He says.
Rick keeps staring, mouth slack. He sways a little on his feet. After a moment long enough to definitely qualify as 'awkward' he turns around and heads back into the garage.
"Your grandfather is kind of weird..." Tricia says, biting her lip, "But-"
"Tricia." Summer says, gritting her teeth. "Just shut the fuck up."
They've moved on to the sequel where the slasher has gained so many diseases they've died and now their spirit is haunting people and giving them ghost diseases or something really stupid, Morty can't quite concentrate. He's thinking about the argument again and how annoyed he is that Rick won't just give him his dues.
It's not like he's asking for anything huge. Just a compliment here or there, a little recognition. If there's anything Morty desperately needs, it's positive attention.
Maybe that's why he feels so nice in his little make-over. As annoying as the make-up feels on his face, all the little touches and attention on him was so nice. When the girls complimented him and cooed over him it made his heart feel swollen with happiness.
The movie is reaching a climax, the camera shaking as the slasher unleashes plagues upon the people in the movie, when the ground starts shaking under their feet.
"What the fuck?" Summer questions as the ground starts to crack. "What the FUCK?" She says a lot more panicked as the house splits in two.
Ricks runs out of the garage, face pale. "Shit, fuck, sh-sh-shiiiiit!" He curses. He looks up into the sky and everybody follows his gaze. Theres tons of spaceships in the sky, firing what looks like big pulses of air at them. As the pulses hit the house, the ground shakes and more of the house crumbles.
"Grandpa, what the hell?!" Summer asks, turning to glare at Rick.
"It's the snoglezplats." Rick says. "I stole their sacred orb of whaaUAUuGHtever the fuck. Th-th-they must've followed me because," Rick turns to Morty and says through grit teeth, "Someone wasn't cloaking me."
Morty crosses his arms, his pout pretty on his dolled up little face. "That's funny, I-I-I thought Rick didn't need anybody. Thought I was just- just a burden."
Rick clenches his fists. "You have one job you little-"
"Can we save this shit for later?" Summer asks as she dodges a falling piece of ceiling. "We're kind of under attack right now."
"Fine." Rick says, he turns and heads back towards the garage. "Every-URRRP-everybody who wants to kill aliens follow me."
"Uh...?" Nancy nervously hums.
"Everybody else," He waves his hand dismissively, "Fuck off, get t-to somewhere safe or some shit, I don't care."
Rick enters the garage with just his grandchildren. Seems the two girls weren't up for the fun part. Whatever, their loss. Rick burps heavily as he pulls up his anti-spacecraft arsenal. He chucks Summer a gun which she easily takes and immediately gets to work blasting aliens.
He lightly passes the smaller gun to Morty. "SurprIIAIsed the little- the little princess wants to get her hands d-dirty." He mocks as he grabs his own gun and gets to work taking out the alien menace.
"Sh-shut up, Rick." Morty says, annoyed but also springing into action, taking out the spacecrafts. He grins cockily. "Y-you're just mad that I pull it off so well."
"Yeah, I wanna pull it off..." Rick mumbles under his breath, so low Morty doesn't hear. He's distracted, staring at Morty as the kid tumbles around, dodging incoming fire and falling debris. He doesn't notice the crack forming under his feet, not until it opens up and he falls, barely catching the side as his gun clatters down. "Holy shit!" He yells.
Morty looks back to see just the hand of his grandfather, barely holding onto the edge. "Rick!" He yells, running back for the older man. He stands at the ledge and looks down at the old man.
"Holy shit, Morty." Rick says, and it's clear he's in rant-mode. "Do you see this shit, Morty? I'm barely hanging on, you gotta- you gotta pull me up, Morty. I-I-I'm gonna fucking fall and d-die, Morty. Morty, grab my hand, grab my hand, Morty!" He reaches his other hand up.
Morty starts to reach down then pauses. "But do you really need my help, Rick?"
"Morty, this is not the time-"
"Why? B-b-because right now I'm right?" Morty says, glaring, "As soon as I pull you up, you're gonna- you're gonna say that you could've gotten up on your own easily. I don't-"
The ground cracks more and Rick loses his grip, but before he's plummeting into a freefall, Morty has both his little hands grasped around his wrist, holding him up. "Morty!" Rick shouts, significantly more panicked.
"Rick!" Morty shouts back in return.
"Fuck, Morty, I need you, Goddamnit. I need you!" Rick admits.
Morty has a little smile on his face before it turns to strain as he pulls as hard as he can, pulling Rick up. As soon as Rick is back on solid(ish) ground, Morty giggles a little, glad to have gotten his way.
"By the way," Rick says, standing himself up. Morty's stomach drops, this is where he says that isn't true, where he insults and belittles Morty. "I could totally URRP see up your dress."
Morty flushes, but he doesn't have time to dwell on that. There's aliens to kill.
The dress is fucked. So is the house, but at least all the aliens are gone. The three are getting their high-fives in when the station wagon pulls up.
"What the fuck happened?" Beth asks, anger clear in her voice as she looks at her ruined home.
"And why is Morty wearing that?" Jerry asks as he gets out of the driver's side.
"Jerry." Beth says with grit teeth. "That's really not important compared to our fucking house!"
"It's still weird." Jerry says with a shrug.
"It's not weird." Rick says, defending Morty. "H-h-h-he looks great. And, uh, I can fix the house."
"Can you fix it," Beth says, stalking towards her father, "Before I strangle you?"
Rick burps, loud and long, allowing Beth to get right up in his face. "Sure." He replies.
He heads back into the garage and taps rhythmically on the wall, allowing a panel to fall open. He looks around briefly before turning the knob about three-fourths of the way. Then he turns and bolts, "Run, run!" He yells. "GeEEUUGHt-get out!"
Everybody follows him across the street. The house starts to shake and then quickly reforms itself from the rubble it became.
"Wooah!" Morty says, awe in his eyes. "Wish we had that after that part- I-I-I mean, before..."
"That's what gave me the idea." Rick says with a shrug. "Why waste all that effort fixing it when I can just make the house fix itself?"
"I have to admit," Summer says, "That's pretty cool, Grandpa."
"Yeah, b-but if there's anybody inside they'll get trapped in the drywall. Or worse..."
It's silent for a little bit. Morty breaks the silence. "Aw geez, I hope your friends weren't inside."
There's the muffled sound of screaming and Summer facepalms. "Ugh..."
"Not my fault, I told them t-to get somewhere safe." Rick takes a long drink of his flask. "I-I'll get the saw..."