big trouble in little sanchez

INSANE INSANE INSANE.LIKE . ARE YOU KIDDING ME. rick cheating on his grandsonboyfriend with a SECOND grandsonboyfriend because ONE WASN'T ENOUGH ? and caring enough to HIDE IT ? framing the entire thing like an affair and titling the episode after a romcom? morty finally getting to be the bitch he didn't get to be in Unmortricken ? "he has a big ol crush on you," "sorry he made it weird," what the hell, ???? what the hell was that????? the subtext has become text.... morty foaming at the mouth with jealousy and rick showing his hand at every fucking turn.... it feels like s3 again in the best way....

at face value it does bother me they continue to make morty look so dumb/weak in comparison to EM, but i know there's a reason for this... truly i think morty has the same brains and fighting capacity as EM, and their base personalities are almost identical - they're both petty, manipulative, selfish, stubborn - but our morty is held back by rick's abuse; he's needy and insecure and fawning, and he becomes even less competent around EM because he FEELS less competent. morty made that comment about EM being smarter and about not being able to do his chemistry homework, but the truth is that when morty truly cares about something and feels sure of himself, he can do so much. he can disarm neutrino bombs ! he can manipulate rick fucking sanchez ! he was cleaning up rick's messes without rick and he has an incredible amount of fighting experience - he fights almost all of the same battles rick does. the only reason he isn't as skilled or snarky as EM is because 1) he doesn't need to be and 2) rick won't let him be. rick takes care of all the engineering all the most dangerous fights; rick keeps morty's confidence low and his reliance on him high; like any abuser, rick feels like he needs to keep morty down or morty will eventually leave him. he needs all that control because he's paranoid.

and he's paranoid because he's obsessed with morty, with being his Everything, with being the person morty loves most in the world. but paradoxically he can't ever be 100% confident in that love and can't ever have 100% of morty because he's abusing him !!! and he's too afraid to ever pull back completely on that abuse. he can't risk losing morty - even if he thinks morty will probably stay with him, the possibility that he'll assume his own agency and separate from the rickandmorty codependency is too agonizing. at the same time, he can't dig his heels in too hard or he will lose everything that makes morty morty, all the things he loves that he is in denial about loving.

so sorry for the late answer i'm notoriously shit at answering asks but THANK you for the kind words and thank you for asking. my favorite rnm fic of ALL TIME, and the fic that has inspired me not only to write better rnm fic but better prose in everything i do, is this is not an exit door. there will never be another bitch like this is not an exit door. there will never be another rnm fic as gutting and clever and worthy of attention as this is not an exit door. if you like my writing, you will love this is not an exit door.

im a huge fan of anything sheeplaurelzzz writes but my all-time favorite is and my grandson wants the sex robot. there's also If that's the only way I don't want to be saved which is disgusting and horrible and such a good exploration of rick's abuse.

borrowed time is my favorite newer fic, a masterclass in brevity, cutting and clean. stunning little work investigating the insanity that was the s8 premiere.

and finally, A SUNNY PLACE FOR SHADY PEOPLE is the only good take on the miamis ever written, possibly.