OC pairing for a mutual! First time with an OC that’s not my own, but of course I love Rick and Morty so much how could I pass up a request that was simply SO Beautiful!
Today was the day Rick decided he was not going to let Morty get away with skipping out on another adventure. Every other week it was “school work” this and “important conversation with Jessica” that.
“As if.” Rick muttered to himself as he tinkered with the cloaking device on his ship.
A little bit of drool jumped out of his mouth as he spoke, but he simply licked his lips and gulped down some off planet alcohol from his flask. The longer he lay on his back with his particle level in hand the more he got worked up. Every turn of his vortex screwdriver reminded him that neither Morty or Arrow were around to help him. There was little sobriety left to keep the mad scientist’s mind from spiraling down a path of fury. Arrow had been a part of their lives for a long time now – long by Rick standards anyway – but the maroon haired man had disrupted the dominion Rick had over Morty. In a way the reprieve was welcomed, since there was the large part of his heart that loved his grandson to death and disliked the maliciousness of his own nature; Arrow proved to be a more tender mentor for Morty which had allowed the boy to blossom into less of a snively mess.
Rick’s heart began to pound in his chest when he thought about Arrow, with his sharp tongue and careful eye. The younger man had saved him time and time again, never failing to be a loyal companion on every half-cocked errand to a different dimension. Rick shook his head violently in an attempt to clear the warm feeling growing in his chest. It was easier to be frustrated than to admit he was biting back the… L-word.
His pity party had gone on long enough. An adventure was what he needed! Morty would be coming along this time. That was a fact. After sliding out from under the car, he threw the tools on to the workbench in a cavalier manner and acquainted the last of his drink to the half digested contents of his stomach.
“Mortyyyyyyyy!” The old man belted out.
There was a cheerful edge to the call, but overall it sounded like he was gargling the name.
Portaling to the top of the stairs meant avoiding the obnoxious task of climbing them, but a small voice wondered if he could catch a glimpse of Arrow in the middle of some mundane task on the walk to his grandson’s room. Maybe he’d be trying to open something in the kitchen that was just giving him more trouble than it was worth and his pointy ears would twitch in the pissed off way they do, or he’d be seated at the dining room table with a snack, and Rick would catch that all too famous flash of his sharp teeth. Each thought sent a tingle down Rick’s spine.
His feet carried him through the threshold of his garage into the rest of the Smith’s home. Half lidded eyes scanned the kitchen and dining room with mild disinterest as they both turned up vacant. The stairwell proved easy enough to manage since it did little compared to nights spent navigating crowded Nizellin festivals or infiltrating Gromflomite mother ships. It seemed Arrow had gone off on his own. That was fine, all Rick needed was the chance to lay one hand on Morty and they’d be off! Nothing the boy could do could prevent him from being dragged through a portal. Not tonight.
While running one hand through his tousled hair, the old man used the other to grab a vial from his pocket that was filled with fluorescent orange liquid, a stimulant he had got as a gift from Squanchy. He popped the cap off with his thumb which sent it shooting down the hall in the direction of Summer’s room and threw his head back as he gulped it down.
“Let’s go, baby! Rick and Morty one hundr…"
The scientist trailed off as his hand rested on Morty’s door, which was cracked open just enough for a beam of light to spill into the hallway. Almost imperceptible, there was singing coming from inside. A voice Rick could pick out in a crowd.
”…I hear the wind call my name
The sound that leads me home again
It sparks up the fire, a flame that still burns
To you I will always return…"
Holy shit. The first thing that came to Rick’s mind was the recognition of the steep drop in his stomach. His mouth twitched at the corners as he tried to register what to do, torn between throwing the door wide open or staying transfixed like a statue in the doorway.
“… I know the road is long
But where you are is home
Wherever you stay,
I’ll find the way…”
Delicate fingers pushed Morty’s door open just a bit more, the whisper of a breath escaped withered lungs, and brown eyes widened as they absorbed the sight before them.
His grandson had his head resting in Arrow’s lap, while the man gently ran his fingers through the brunette curls, the look of concern in that arctic gaze paired with the melody that practically caressed the ear drums blessed enough to hear it struck a chord in Rick’s very soul. Everything about the moment was tender. Any resolve about the events of tonight quickly faded. Instead a hundred memories flashed behind his eyes.
“… I’ll run like the river,
I’ll follow the sun
I’ll fly like an eagle
To where I belong…”
A horrible day, blackened by the onslaught of violence from Sanchez’s oldest friend. It pained him too greatly to fight whole heartedly. Each blow Birdperson dealt him felt in some way deserved, so his own willpower came and went like a paper boat on the open sea. It had been Rick’s selfishness, his inability to let go, that had brought them to this, then suddenly the only thing standing between Rick and razor sharp talons is a little lizard man, hair shifting ever so slightly in the caustic breeze of enormous wings, but his demeanor not wavering in the slightest. Instead his lips are set in a determined frown while his eyes gave away the rift the fight tore inside him. He’d chosen Rick instead of his cousin by proxy, and that act alone made his cybernetic heart squeal with glee.
“… I can’t stand the distance
I can’t dream alone
I can’t wait to see you
Yes, I’m on my way home…”
The inside of Rick’s ship, flying through the galaxy at a hundred light years an hour without paying attention to their surroundings, instead every molecule of his being is focused on the shy looking figure before him. Arrow’s voicing the concern that the scientist had – not so gently – pulled out of him as one would whisper at Confession. He was afraid of being left behind, afraid that one day he’d annoy Sanchez for the last time and be betrayed like so many times before. Rick did not push for any more details after that, instead he looked out the windshield in an attempt to hide the sympathy that plagued his features. The rage was almost its equal, but he knew the poor man might misplace such a negative reaction. He was engulfed with a furious vengeance against anyone who had harmed such a kind soul – but that distress was something Rick did not quite understand himself.
“… Now I know it’s true
My every road leads to you
And in the hour of darkness
Your light gets me through…"
He absent mindedly tugged at the roots of his electric blue hair. The breaking of a few strands under the force brought him back to the present moment for just a second. Butterflies not only fluttered in his stomach, but threatened to take flight straight out of his esophagus, which would only prove to give away his presence. That was something he could not allow, because for the first time in a long time, peace had washed over him. Solace, in this private moment between the two most important people in his fucked up life.
Rick bit his lip the second such a thought slipped through his mental defenses. Why should such a thing surprise him anymore, though? When it came to Arrow every carefully built barrier cracked eventually. He was the vine that grew no matter how many times you chop it down, the roots tenderly weaving their way between the bricks until the whole structure is compromised. Rick had never been one for pruning anyways.
“… You run like the river
You shine like the sun
You fly like an eagle
Yeah, you are the one
I’ve seen every sunset
And with all that I’ve learned
It’s to you I will always, always return.”
His sweet voice quieted, Morty’s head still lay in his lap, maybe he had drifted off or maybe the melody had been as calming to him as it had to Rick that grasping the contentment for just a few minutes longer would be enough. Arrow’s head snapped up when he thought he caught a familiar green glow out of the corner of his eye. A soft smile donned his lips, but the bedroom door remained partially closed, and the hall seemed almost drearily quiet. Rick was in his own bed, wishing sleep would overtake him soon, hiding away those few minutes in his garden walls.
@residentclown ‘s OC. For you dude, I hope you like it! I went through so many emotions writing it lol
