#[[ but then he plunges into teenage angst -eyeroll- ]]

[countlessrealities]

@shctupmeg sent: "So, awhile back Morty killed my parents. So I live with my grandparents now. Yay!" for Morty and Summer (her breaking the news over a picnic of baked goods)

When he had agreed to Meg's idea of having a picnic in their backyard, Morty hadn't expected much from it. Just quiet downtime and awesome baked goods. Summer would have been on her phone the whole time as per usual and he had been planning to keep his mouth occupied by chewing the food as slowly as possible not to directly interact much.

He realised how mean that might sound, but it wasn't that he disliked Meg or didn't want to spend time with her. She was supportive and a great listener, two things the boy truly appreciated, since he had been around people who were the opposite of that all his life.

The issue was that, these days, he always felt a little awkward around her. He couldn't tell if it was because they were dating the same person, or because they were trying to understand whether or not they wanted to be a couple too or because, much his chagrin, he was jealous of her relationship with his counterpart.

Most likely a mix all of those three things and who knows what else.

When it was just the two of them, Morty could set those feelings aside and focus on the present, but having Summer silently judging him from behind her phone made it impossible to.

On top of that, the last thing he would have anticipated was for Meg to drop that bomb on them, with no warning and in that forced cheerful tone.

The morsel of cupcake Morty had been in the process of swallowing went down the wrong pipe for the shock and Summer looked up from her phone, eyes widened in surprise.

An uneasy silence stretched over them, interrupted only by the boy's constant coughing. In the end it was the redhead to speak up, reaching out to slap her younger sibling on the back, to help him not to choke to death.

"Geez, and I thought that my little brother was the slaughterer," she commented, with a snort, sounding mildly impressed. "And your grandparents as in, like, your filthy rich grandparents? The one who got you that sick necklace you show me? That's, like, so rad."

Pity that Jerry's parents weren't as wealthy. She could have gotten a hot funeral picture and being getting to live with someone who would spoil her rotten.

Once he had managed to get his coughing under control, Morty pushed his sister off, shooting her a glare. The crazy bitch knew that she wasn't helping hitting him like that, but of course she had kept doing it anyway.

"Wh-...FM did what?" He stuttered out, sounding much more incredulous than Summer had been. And with reason. The redhead had a point, between the two of them he usually was the more aggressive Morty. "H-How? And...Why?"

He knew that Meg's parents were awful and that they openly abused her without second thoughts. Yet, there could have been plenty of other ways to get rid of them, without his counterpart having to do the dirty work directly. He and Rick had made plenty of people disappear, and he was sure that their other selves had to.

"T-That's...I don't know, i-it doesn't sound like him...?"

Yet, as he spoke those words, even he himself didn't sound too convinced. He knew far too well of what he and his counterpart were capable of. They would have committed every crime for the sake of something they believed in and, even more, for someone they loved. Now, he had been aware that his other self was in love with Meg. He had heard him saying it a couple of times, and it was pretty obvious from the way he looked at her. Yet, somehow, hearing about this particular act was what made the idea truly hit him and he couldn't help wondering what the fuck he was doing, foolishly trying to make a place for himself with them in...that.

Morty's stomach churned as a bundle of emotions he couldn't name grew inside it. He felt like an idiot, reacting like that, but he couldn't help just how out of place it made him feel.

He couldn't stay there with her, nor under his sister's too sharp gaze, anymore. He needed to go and hide somewhere for a while.

"Uh, I...I just...I just remembered that I was supposed to, uh, h-help Rick with...a thing! Y-Yeah! Sorry, it's...I really have to go or-or he'll get mad at me."

And with that he jumped on his feet and dashed towards the house, without waiting for an answer. The cupcake he hadn't finished remained on the blanket, completely forgotten.

Summer stared after her brother retreating form for a moment, before rolling her eyes and dropping her eyes back on the screen of her phone.

"Geez, what a drama queen. Boys, am I right? They just can't, like, handle emotionally charged situations."

{ @advnterccs (Morty) - mentioned }