Hurt

Written by: WritersBlock1

Unfortunately, it couldn't have been any ordinary day, especially for Morty. He was running alongside Rick, almost out of breath just to get to the ship. While most people had unusual days such as almost hitting a squirrel or receiving unwanted compliments, Morty was risking his life every time he went on adventures with Rick. They were being chased from Gilorpians when they tried for a second attempt to get through customs with Mega Seeds. This time Morty was a little lucky, he didn't have to shove the seeds up his ass.

They finally reached the ship in time to escape narrowly from the army of Gilorpians and zoomed into the galaxy of space.

"W-We did it! W-We did it, MOR-ERTy! We finally got the Mega Seeds with-without shoving them up your ass! I'd say that's a pretty good accomplishment, don't you think?" Rick exclaimed happily, unscrewing the cap of his flask and taking a celebratory drink.

Morty, on the other hand, didn't happen to feel the same way. "Y-Y-You know what, Rick?! I-I say it all the time but this is the last straw! I can't believe you were willing to just let those people amputate my penis for these stupid seeds!" The boy was red in the face whilst still trying to catch his breath.

Rick rolled his eyes as he continued driving. "Look, Morty, it was all part of the plan. Obviously you still kept your pe-EURP-nis. Y-Y-You don't understand the type of science I can do with these seeds, Morty! I mean, d-don't you remember the last time we got these seeds? They disSOLERUP-ved in your ass, Morty, and you were a genius for about two seconds. What a waste."

The boy felt his eyes narrow at the old man. "You know what, Rick? Take me home. I don't wanna go on adventures anymore!"

Rick was actually surprised but then again he wasn't. He knew the kind of kid Morty was and how he overreacted sometimes…. Sometimes too much that Rick actually had to smack him.

"You know, it's not really fun to be a buzz kill, Morty. You gotta learn to live life once in a while, take some fucking risks in your life, kid. Or else always regret what could've been." Rick concluded that with another swig from the flask.

"Take risks!? Really!? I didn't think taking risks meant that one of my body parts had to be removed! Take me home, Rick! I'm done!" Morty was fuming at this point if Rick hadn't noticed already. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared out the window of the ship, waiting.

Rick quirked a brow at his grandson. He was actually angry with him and usually Morty wasn't one to hold a grudge or even demand to go home during adventures. The only reason for Morty to be acting out had to be because something must've been bothering him.

Rick decided to inquire, as much as he was certain he was right, he did anyway. Morty was an easy target after all. "Geez, Morty, since when did you start acting like a little turd all of a sudden?"

Morty glanced away from Rick and looked out the window. "It's whatever, Rick, j-j-just take me home."

Rick of course, decided to press further. "W-What? Did that JeSSUER-ICA girl you like so much never text you back to get laid or something? Or-Or, wait! I know! Goldenfold is still giving you shit about passing math? Am I right?"

Morty remained quiet and was breathing heavily as he continued to stare out the window. He was still angry but now it seemed that he wasn't so angry at Rick but it was about something else. The two of them sat in silence with Rick sitting displeased.

"Well, fine, whatever." Rick sighed and took another swig from his flask. "We'll go home I guess… whiny little motherfucker." In a swift movement, Rick turned the steering wheel and made a sharp left, changing the direction in which they were aimlessly floating through space to get to the route back to earth.

On the way back it continued to be silent. Rick had no problem with it but in the silence he kept thinking about what was bugging Morty. Normally, Rick didn't really care about what anyone else felt or how they felt. But there was something about how Morty was acting that revealed to Rick that maybe it was something a little bit closer to home…

"Well, anyway, I'm gonna need you, Morty, for when I get these Mega Seeds back home. Now I have some turbulent juice in a box in the garage and I think with both the Mega Seed and the juice I should be able to make a healing-type of serum, so what you'll need to do is— "

"Rick, I'm scared that mom and dad will get a divorce." Morty cut him off as he finally spoke in a much calmer tone.

Well, that didn't take long. Rick rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Morty, your mom and goofy dad aren't going to get a divorce. They're too hopelessly afraid to be separated for the right reasons."

It was then that Rick noticed Morty's voice had changed when he spoke again. "No, Rick, I'm serious. I-I-I couldn't sleep one night and I actually heard them fighting… I mean, they were whispering but still fighting."

Rick sighed heavily, obviously annoyed. "Yeah, so? Parents fight all the time. Do I seriously need to have this talk with you about when adults fight that it doesn't mean they don't love each other? What were they even fighting about, who's hogging the blankets?"

Finally, Morty turned to him with tears brimming his eyes. "They were fighting about you, Rick! I-I-I don't know how it started but dad was pretty pissed off that mom will do anything so that you don't leave her like you did all these years! But mom said she doesn't care and dad pretty much said that she's choosing you over everyone else!"

Rick sat quietly as Morty explained. He sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose. Before he had the chance to say anything himself, Morty trailed off. "That's why I want to go home, Rick. I-I just want to go to my room and not see what happens. I mean, I know mom and dad haven't always been the happiest but I never thought it would be this bad. They're my parents, Rick, I-I mean I know you don't really care but I do and it hurts."

There was a brief moment of silence and Morty could feel Rick's powerful stare. The both of them stared at each other and blinked.

"Y-Ya done, with your bit, Morty?"

The teen glared and wiped his eyes before the tears could fall. "R-Really, Rick?! That wasn't a bit! I told you how I'm feeling and that's all you can say to me?"

Rick unscrewed the cap to his flask again. "Y-You know, Morty, you just never listen, do you? Look, I'm sorry that you feel scared about your parent's marriage but like I said, love is just a chemical reaction that compels animals to breed. Marriage is just a funeral, Morty. D-Don't worry yourself too much about it. If it happens, it happens. There-There r-EAORLL-y isn't much else to say."

The old man took another swig from his flask, satisfied with his answer but he knew that Morty wasn't fine with it. The truth was, despite being in a similar situation, Rick never truly understood it through the point of a view of a child. It was true, when Rick returned to Beth's life he never really asked her about how she felt all those years. It wasn't because he didn't care but he figured it wasn't worth really talking about. It was the past and it should remain there, why waste time on things you can't change?

When they finally got home, Morty started to head for the garage door that lead back inside the house.

"Oh, so now you're just gonna ignore me, Morty? You still mad at me with your pathetic, whiny self?" Rick followed after him with the Mega Seeds tucked safely under his arm.

Morty turned but looked sadly to the floor. "No, I'm not mad. I'm just … I-I-I'm just going to go in my room. I'll be down for dinner."

Rick quirked a brow and watched his grandson quietly walk down the hall and head upstairs. He knew Morty was just going to mope around until then. Rick shook his head and closed the door to the garage. He didn't have time for useless, family garbage that didn't really concern him. Or, at least it did but it was never brought up to his attention until now, but he'd remain quiet about it until anything happened. (Which, Rick knew nothing would ever happen unless his daughter had the balls to drop Jerry's pathetic ass.)

Rick sat in his chair at his desk and started to work. However, the more he worked the more he thought about the family life here, especially the effect it was having on Morty. He rolled his eyes to himself and grabbed one of the laser knives and started to slice one of the Mega Seed in half. He reached for his flask again in his lab coat pocket and found that he pretty much finished the whole thing.

"Damn," He peered inside through the neck of the flask to truly see if it was gone. He sighed out of annoyance and walked back inside the house to the kitchen. He opened his cupboard to find his booze only realize… none of the bottles that he usually kept were there. He furrowed his brows as his eyes darted back and forth.

He stepped back to think. "Huh, that's weird… I literally had five bottles and an extra just in case. Who the hells been drinking my shit?"

Rick had his suspicions that it was probably Summer who had taken his booze but he decided to hold off until he was sure. As much as Summer was like any normal 17-year-old teenager who texted on her phone all day, had drama with boys, and was trying to find herself in the world, all of that could draw to even more unwanted drama to which Summer and her friends could've taken Rick's Hennessy to "chill out."

The more Rick spent time in the garage working, he couldn't help but be disturbed by the pathetic fights between his daughter and lousy husband. Rick hadn't noticed the fights in all honestly since he didn't really care about what happened to his daughter's marriage, but after what he experienced today with Morty, he decided to mentally observe from the distance.

It was just his luck when Jerry walked into the garage unexpected.

"Out." Rick didn't even bother to swivel around his chair to look at him but heard the angered footsteps stomp over to him anyway.

"No, Rick! This is my house! I'm not going to let you tell me what to do in it!" Jerry was already on the edge and it would only be icing on the cake.

"Y-You're right, Jerry. It's your house but I'm the one who uses the garage more than you do. So technically, the garage is mine." Rick said nonchalantly and reached for a pliers nearby on the table before continuing. "So in other words, I can tell you what to do when you're in my garage."

Jerry frowned and was close to grinding his teeth. "You know what, Rick—wait, how does that make any sense when the garage is part of the house? Just—forget it! That's not the point of me coming in here!"

Rick still hadn't acknowledged Jerry's presence and reached for his flask, only to remember how it wasn't filled due to the fact that all his booze was gone. He glared at Jerry for only a second but was sure that Jerry wouldn't be stupid enough to go into his cupboard in the kitchen.

Finally, Rick stood up and crossed his arms over his chest. "So then what is the point, Jerry? I'm kind of in the middle of something and I'm completely dry right now. I'm not in the mood for your pathetic talks you call a lecture."

Jerry narrowed his eyes at the old man but continued anyway. "Well, you're gonna be in the mood, Rick! What's wrong with Morty? He barely is himself anymore. He doesn't even talk to us and just goes to his room all day and night!"

Rick remained stoic and actually scoffed. "Huh, wow, s-so what are you trying to say? That I'm somehow responsible for how Morty's been acting lately? I'm surprised you had the balls to even accuse me in my face, Jerry."

At that, the other man threw his hands up in the air. "Yeah, you know what, Rick? I've got balls! Yeah, BIG ones! So big that YOU can't even handle them." Jerry narrowed his eyes at Rick to add some type of dramatic effect but to no avail. It was the same time that Beth had overheard all the commotion and walked into the garage. The first thing Rick noticed was that she looked as if she had been crying earlier from how puffy and red her eyes were.

"Oh, perfect timing, Beth! I was just trying to talk to your father about our son and his behavior." He walked closer to her and said in a low and anxious voice. "Maybe you wanna… talk to him?" Jerry needed a lifeline.

Rick rolled his eyes, still amazed that his daughter married such pussy. "L-L-Look, if you want to know what's wrong with Morty, why don't you go upstairs and ask him. I-I mean, last time I checked Morty's your son, isn't he? Maybe pay attention to him every once in a while."

The last comment obviously was enough to trigger Beth to create more tears to brim her eyes. "That's the thing, Dad, he won't let us in. I'm surprised even you hadn't noticed how he's been acting."

Rick quirked his brow and shrugged. "What's there to notice? He comes with me on adventures, he almost dies half the time but survives, we come home, eat, he goes to sleep. He's fine with me." He shook his head at the nonsense.

"L-Look, I'd hate to be the bearer of bad news because I literally haven't had a drink in the last few hours but I'm going to anyway. Morty would rather tell me what's bothering him than for you two ding-dongs because you're his parents. Kids notice shit that obviously their stupid-ass parents don't see and worry about it. If anything, Morty's probably just sitting up in his room listening to 21 Pilots." Rick took a moment and pushed his sleeve up to look at his watch. "Now what time does the liquor store close? I've gotta make a run soon."

Again, Jerry took the stand to assert himself. "Well, you know what, Rick? Maybe Morty's worrying stems from the fact that you're really the cause of all the suffering in this house!"

"Jerry! Don't say that!" Beth spoke up but it was already too late.

Rick furrowed his eyebrows and glared. "O-Oh, really, Jerry? I'm the cause of everyone's suffering? Your son probably wouldn't be doing anything useful in his life if it wasn't for me coming around in the first place!"

"Dad, please, stop!"

"HA! You've got some ego, don't you, Rick? You think just because you're some genius scientist that everyone should bow down to you? And I thought I was pathetic!" Jerry retorted.

"Y-Yeah, yeah, you are pathetic! Because my daughter got pregnant and had to marry a whiny dipshit like you!" Rick's voice dripped with malice that was continuing to crush Beth more than was intended.

"Both of you, stop right now!"

Jerry took a step forwards towards the old man. "Yeah, well, at least I'm not the pathetic one who decided to just walk out on his family for twenty years like some people!"

"JERRY!"

Rick took a step that actually made Jerry back down. "Y-Yeah! A-And you're no better than trying to make a loveless marriage work for the sake of the kids either! So fuck you, fuck your marriage, and," Rick pushed past Jerry, almost slamming him into the garage wall. "Get the FUCK out of my way!"

"Dad, please!" Beth called after him but he already left the garage and out the front door. He'd walk to the liquor store if he had to.

In fact, Rick didn't go to the liquor store at all. Might as well go to a different dimension to get reckt, right? But the more he medicated himself with alcohol from aliens and different planets, he also busied himself by gathering some more unknown specimens and supplies to bring back with him. By the time Rick had decided to return back to Earth it was already late in the evening. The house was quiet and dark, most likely everyone was asleep.

Rick walked through the portal of the dimly lit garage, but was surprised to see someone was already sitting in his chair.

"Oh, y-you're still up, Morty? Listen, you'll never guess—" But Rick stopped short. The closer he had gotten to Morty he suddenly realized all the bottles of booze that he'd been looking for earlier were strewn about, drunk to the very last drop.

"Jesus, Morty! You drank all of my vodka?! W-What the fuck? What's the matter with you?" At this point, Rick was more upset at the fact that his grandson drank his alcohol and didn't even consider saving him any. Then again, something told him he should've seen something like this coming and it was irritating that he doubted it.

Morty managed to actually swivel the chair around to face Rick. "What… W-What's the matter, Rick? You got a p-problem wi-UUR-ith me drinking? W-Why would you care? Y-You don't care about a-a-anything…"

Rick stepped back for a moment and examined his grandson. The kid was totally trashed and looked like hell. The combination was in fact a deadly one for most people but for Morty, who could be pretty loud on his opinions and ideas, drinking alcohol would only turn him into a blathering idiot.

"Listen, Morty—"

But the teen cut him off. "I c-couldn't sleep… I can't stop th-thinking about mom and dad… A-All the fights… I-I just wanted to f-ORRH-get for a while… I-I don't wanna care a-anymore… It seems to w-work fine for you…"

Rick stood in silence and inhaled sharply. There was an overwhelming wave of emotion that washed over him and it pained him from his chest all the way to his throat. For moments that followed after, Rick let down the walls he had put up, (even against his family) and suddenly felt guilt. His mind quickly raced to the heated argument he had with Jerry. Maybe it was true he added to the family's suffering more than how they lived before… and for Morty to even try to explain himself drinking into a coma furthered the truth.

Rick sighed to himself. Like they say, drunk words are sober thoughts.

Suddenly, he was brought back to reality when Morty stood on his shaking legs. He hadn't even managed a couple of steps until he collapsed onto his hands and knees and started vomiting right before Rick's feet.

"Jesus, Morty!" The old man knelt down beside him, his hand gently resting on Morty's back as the teen continued to vomit onto the garage floor. As much as Rick had witnessed friends and even himself in Morty's position, seeing his grandson in this type of shape wasn't what he wanted. The more he understood Morty and spent time with the teen, the more he realized how much better he wanted Morty to be than Rick himself. He wouldn't ever admit it but Rick did remember when they all had accidentally split time in half and how he had sacrificed himself so Morty could live. (Obviously, Rick would never admit it to anyone else but himself.) He cared for that kid, even if he did say he was a real thorn up in his ass and proved him to be a piece of shit (mathematically) in grandpa's world, there was a piece of Rick that cared, even when Evil Rick proclaimed that a true Rick doesn't care about a Morty.

As soon as Morty caught his breath, Rick stood up and went to the washer and dryer to find a wash cloth. He walked back and knelt in front of Morty this time. Rick reached his hand out and gently tilted Morty's chin up and proceeded to wipe off his grandson's face. In Morty's eyes, Rick saw how tired he was and at the same time the hurt and fear inside like a child's. He'd seen this kind of look before ... he'd seen it before in Beth.

Once Morty was cleaned up Rick wrapped one arm around the teen to help him to his feet. He said nothing while leading Morty out of the garage.

"I c-can walk, Rick. I-I'm not a kid." Morty's voice slurred even as he stumbled a little in his grandfather's grip.

Rick rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you're not a kid, you're a fucking embryo, Morty!" He couldn't help it, he had to let some of his guilt-driven anger out somehow.

Rick lead Morty to his room instead. No use in dragging someone who was drunk all the way upstairs. He gently sat Morty down on his cot-like bed and went to a small desk that was nearby. He opened the drawer and found a small white pill. Rick found an empty glass in his room and filled it with water from the kitchen sink with the white pill fizzing and dissolving quickly. When Rick reentered his room again, Morty was laying on his side, half awake and barely coherent.

"Here, take this," Rick held the glass out to the teen but then decided against it. He moved to sit down next to him and pulled him up to learn against his shoulder. At first, Morty protested the moment he felt the glass against his dry lips.

"Damn it, Morty! Drink this and go to sleep!" Rick barked to which was a familiar tone that even a drunk Morty knew better to listen. His hand reached out to grasp the cup and Rick helped him drink it down. Rick leaned down to place the glass on the floor. He got up and moved Morty to lay on his side. The boy was already closing his eyes by the time his head hit the pillow. Rick pulled up the blankets and tucked Morty in. He could already hear the hushed breathing from the teen's nose and when Rick pulled away, he gently placed his hand on Morty's head. He stood there for a few moments until he couldn't anymore and walked out of the bedroom and shut the door behind him.

Rick still felt that lump that had remained in his throat. Slowly, his body slid down the length of the door and he crouched. He folded his arms on top of his knees and buried his face.

"Be better than me, Morty."

Hey, readers! Long time no write!

If you've followed my writing or my activity so far, I wrote that I would be publishing with Amazon. It's still in the works but I've been doing other things called LIFE LOL. Plus within the last year, a group of friends introduced me to this wonderful TV show that I'm on the edge for season flipping three! Gotta be patient I guess.

Hope you all enjoyed this little one shot. If you've known or have read my works from before, I like punching people in the feels right in the gut. (Plus, I'm a firm believer that Rick does care about Morty, so I'm not gonna argue on that haha) I was inspired also by this fan art: imagur dot c.o.m gallery/IvA8O

Maybe I'll write more Rick and Morty to preoccupy my time LOL Reviews are always welcome :)

-WritersBlock1

PS: title was also inspired by Hurt- Nine Inch Nails