#[ ʸᴼᵁ'ᴿᴱ ᴬ ˢᵀᴿᵁᴹ ᴼᶠ ᴳᵁᴵᵀᴬᴿ ᴵ ᴺᴱⱽᴱᴿ ᴷᴺᴱᵂ ᴹʸ ᴸᴵᶠᴱ ˢᴼᵁᴺᴰᵀᴿᴬᶜᴷ ᵂᴬˢ ᴹᴵˢˢᴵᴺᴳ :: ᴀʀ & ꜱʟɪᴄᴋ ]

[countlessrealities]

@slickmcrty sent: “Please don’t fuck this up, Rick. He’s like the nicest Rick ever.” for AR (him talking about E-Rick)

Rick glared as his mouth curled down into a scowl. Was he being judged for how he handled his relationships by a fourteen-years-old? Seriously? The little shit knew nothing about that stuff. Sure, he had a little boyfriend, but that hardly made him an expert.

He, on the other hand, had experience. He also had a shitty record, with a divorce and a dead daughter, but that didn't count right now. He knew how to deal with all this. Flirting, sex, dates, presents. Feelings in themselves were harder to handle, but...he had his strategies and methods.

As for the fact that most of said strategies and methods revolved around either avoidance or "fake it until you make" behaviours, that was for him and him alone to know.

"A-Alright, first of all, none of your business," he hissed at the teen, failing not to sound defensive. "I-It's my love life, s-so let me worry about it. S-Secondly, fuck you for assuming that I-I'll mess it up."

The kid knew some stuff about him, but he didn't know what mattered. He didn't really know him, so he had no right to judge him.

Still, that didn't change that Morty was right, did it? He was a fuck-up. He had ruined all his most important bonds, platonic and romantic alike. So, he was well aware that he could have easily ruined what he had with E-Rick too. Hell, deep down, he was expecting himself to do it, sooner or later.

He destroyed everything he touched, always and anyway, as his past history had proved over and over. His boyfriend would have been better off without him, and he knew it. However, he was greedy and selfish and he refused to be the one to spare him and let him go.

Looking away from Slick, he took a long gulp of liquor from the ever-present bottle on the coffee table. As he swallowed, the annoyance drained from his expression, replaced by a gloomier emotion.

"...L-Listen, I'm trying, alright? H-He's one of the truly fuckin' decent people I know, s-so...I'm trying to do right by him. H-He deserves at least that."

{ @mcltiples - mentioned }

[countlessrealities]

Small personalised relationship tags dump !

@slickmcrty - AR & Slick

@thesafaribaggirl-returns - Mabel & Kaban

[countlessrealities]

@slickmcrty sent: “Rick, can you help me with something?” for AR

Slick's words were met with the sound of several tools come crashing down on the floor...and on something softer, which was most likely Rick's body judging from the muffled curses that came with the noises.

That kid really had the worst timing. Somehow, half of the time he managed to show up while he was very, very busy. One of these days, the little shit would have walked on something he could never unsee and he would have no one to blame but himself.

The black market dealer rolled his eyes as he pushed himself out from under the weird machine he had been working on. Once upon a time, back when he was still trying to get rid of Morty, he would have barated the teen for the intrusion. Nowadays, things were different.

"T-This has better be important," he grumbled in Slick's direction, sitting up and crossing his arms over his chest. "I-I'm on a deadline here, s-so hurry up and spit it out."

[countlessrealities]

@slickmcrty sent: "Merry Christmas, Rick." Slick held out his presents which were a bottle of premium liquor and a tool he'd been needing for awhile respectively. (for AR)

If it had been up to him, Rick would have let Christmas come and go without even acknowledging the festivity. Sure, it wouldn't have been easy with the Citadel shining with lights and decorations, but he would have made do. He had in the past, so there was no reason why he couldn't have done it again.

Unfortunately, since Slick had become a permanent fixture in his life, it was no longer only his decision. The teen respected his lack of holiday spirit, but in return the black market dealer had to respect that the little shit enjoyed Christmas. Which meant walking around the stands and let SR treat them with hot chocolate and other idiotic Earthen traditions.

Presents were a small silver lining in all that. He was thankful that Morty had never tried to go out of his way to get him something "special", because Rick wasn't sure that he could have stopped himself from laughing in his face. Booze and the odd additions, instead? They were not only welcome, but also appreciated.

"D-Daaaamn, kid, how many of my money did you spent on this?" He joked, reaching out to briefly ruffle Slick's hair before snatching the bottle out of his hands. The best way to honour the present was to have a taste, after all. "K-Kidding aside, thanks. I-I've been needing a new one of those for ages."

He waved the tool, before tearing the bottle open and taking a long gulp. Right after he had swallowed, though, his eyes widened, as a thought hit him.

"Oh, s-shit, I almost forgot. I-I got you something too!"

Without waiting for an answer, he dashed to his workbench, rummaging around until he found what he was looking for. The next moment he was dumping a thin, square device in the boy's hands.

"I-It's a holo-book," he explained, pointing the button to turn it on and off. "S-Since you have a boyfriend now, I-I thought that you would need to know the stuff." A wide smirk opened on his face, the kind always came whenever he was about to say something Slick didn't want to hear. "I-It's real fuckin' detailed an-and there are plenty of pictures."

[countlessrealities]

SR and AR do you know what you’re gonna get slick for Christmas?

Unprompted asks || Always accepting !

AR rolls his eyes, exaggerating the gesture on purpose, and then he lets out a small scoff, almost to say that the answer to that question was so obvious that it shouldn't have been asked to start with.

"O-Of fuckin' course I know. W-Who do you think I am?" He claims, and yet the too smug smirk on his face seems to claim otherwise. "I-I already got it, a month ago or-or something."

From where he's standing next to him, SR eyes his best friend with a mixture of surprise and suspiciousness. If there's something the black market dealer hardly is not, that's a planner, so there's no way that he has picked the gift in advance. He must have stumbled on it somewhere, during his deals and trips, which means that it could be literally everything.

All the guard is left with is hoping that it won't be something too bad or dangerous.

"I-I already got his present too," he answers, once he has made sure to have glared at his alternate enough. "I-I hope he'll like it. T-The two of us don't know each other well yet, b-but I know what Mortys tend to like, s-so...hopefully it's something that applies to him too."

{ @slickmcrty - mentioned }

[countlessrealities]

@slickmcrty sent: "Do you think I could meet your best friend?" for AR

At the question, Rick paused mid-gesture, one of his hand stretched out towards the bacon he had been about to add to the pan. Electric blue eyes found the teen from above his shoulder and he quirked a brow at Slick, the expression holding a hint of exasperation.

Why the fuck did the little shit want to meet SR? From what he had heard, the boy had had nothing but bad experiences when it came to Ricks. Yes, AR had been mentioning his best friend perhaps a little too often and how he was different from most of his other alternates, but that didn't seem like enough.

Never mind that one of his initial plans to deal with his assigned Morty had been to pawn him off to that very same Guard Rick.

"I-If you must," he grumbled, rolling his yes a little as he finally dropped the meat in the already sizzling oil. "B-But the guy is busy, w-works shifts and all that shit, s-so we'll need to, you know, schedule it."

He usually dropped in on SR unannounced or broke into the other's apartment and waited for him to come back, but Slick didn't need to know that. Still, he was finding it harder and harder to say no to the boy these days, even if he hated to admit it.

"I-I'll text him and see w-when he's free. J-Just don't fuckin' tell him about the shit I-I get up to, alright? H-He's a guard, an-and he takes his job very seriously. T-There's only so much he'll close an eye on."

With a huff, the black market dealer returned his full attention on the breakfast he was making.

"B-But damn, what's all this sudden interest in my personal life? W-What's next? Y-You're gonna ask to meet t-the guy I'm fucking too?"

...Shit. Maybe he shouldn't have mentioned that.