Mindfullystatic

Chapter 2: Make It Stop

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Zzzp… zzp… zzp…

Rick groaned and opened his eyes to see who had the audacity to call him.

Like damn, just send a text…

And then he realized where he was. He and Prime were tangled in a blue blanket on the couch in his library/“fish room”. After the initial whole-body shock at the situation, Rick noticed that their shared body heat was cozy and he really didn’t want to move. Prime’s clothed legs were warm against his bare ones and Rick was bathing in his scent. He closed his eyes, willing the world to go away.

Groaning again, more forcefully in an effort to heave himself up, he balanced on his elbows, looking around for his pants. 

Bracing for the loss of his cocoon, Rick threw the blanket off and snagged his phone from his pants pocket. Fuck. It was Beth. She was either worried about him or there was some sort of family emergency. Either way, he knew Prime had to leave. A familiar sense of impending loss washed over him. He stared down at his cosmic twin, twisted in the blankets with one arm flung out to the side and the other crushed beneath him. His breathing was slow and regular. He looked so innocent and sweet when he slept. Rick tried to photographically capture the image in his mind, realized he was being dumb, and snapped a picture with his optical implanted camera. Perfect .

Rick sighed. He didn’t want to wake Prime, but leaving him alone down here while Rick went to deal with his family seemed like a worse idea. He could only imagine the wrath he’d face from his twin at being ‘abandoned’.

“Prime…” Rick whispered softly, sitting down beside his twin. “Hey, wake up,” he whispered a little louder, touching Prime’s arm. 

Piercing blue eyes shot open, like he expected danger. 

“Rick—“ he blurted sleepily. “Wha—“

“I have to go talk to my dumb family. You gotta go home.” 

“Mmph,” Prime stretched, blinking his eyes open to try and fight the heavy sleep. “How— how come?” He asked through a yawn.

“‘Cause you don’t live here? I dunno… I’m uncomfortable leaving you around my stuff unattended?” He threw out a couple ideas. 

“Wow, um, okay…” Prime seemed cold, but also hurt. 

“Get mad at me later. Come on, scoot.” He snatched his portal gun from his jacket pocket and shot a green swirling oval toward the door.   

Prime’s eyes flared. “So you’re kicking me out… again… after what I did for you? You know— right before we fell asleep? Or am I that forgettable?” 

It felt like taking a soccer ball to the gut, completely knocking the wind out of Rick’s lungs. 

“You— no— I—.” Rick couldn’t string two words together. 

Prime’s mouth flattened and he glared. “Oh my god, it’s literally the same thing! Just like before! Only now there’s even more people getting in our way.” He punctuated his jab with a short huff of a laugh. “Get sucked off and then boot me out. Classy. Class- ic.” He smirked. 

Rick looked like he was being strangled telekinetically. He wasn’t, which was unfortunate, but Prime was semi-satisfied with the anguish behind his eyes. The old man may have developed a stony facade, but Prime knew he could rip straight through that without breaking a sweat. He knew precisely how to fuck around with his twin’s head and he loved every minute of it. 

“Is it because Dian— “ Prime enunciated her name like a curse word. 

“Shut up!” Rick hissed, cutting him off. 

The portal had zipped closed some time ago. Rick huffed and threw another one like two feet away from Prime. 

“Get. Out.” 

Prime grinned, lips curling into his signature smirk as he cocked his head to the side and stepped backward through the cosmic goo. 

Rick slammed his head into his hands. 

“FUCK!” He shouted as loudly as he could, put on his pants, and marched toward the elevator. 

This had better be a fucking emergency…

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“Okay, what the f—“ 

“Dad! Where were you?!” Rick was cut off by his daughter.

“Fuckin’ hell…” Rick mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m fine. Why in the name of all things unholy did you call my cell?”

“D-did you get the voicemail?” She seemed extremely worried. Rick was honestly hoping there was some sort of emergency. 

“Uh, no. I ran up here ‘cause I thought someone was dying or dead. Either way, what do you need?” 

“Well… dad, no one’s dying, but, uh… it’s mom’s birthday.” 

Rick felt his vision swirl like he’d been pulled up from underwater. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He wanted to impale himself on a stake. Not only had he forgotten his wife’s birthday, he’d spent half of it with Prime’s mouth around his cock. Well, there was always the suicide helmet…

“R-right!” Rick responded, much too loudly, which earned him an uncomfortable look from his daughter. He had an ominous feeling like everything was moving far too quickly again and he needed to press ‘pause’ or a disaster was imminent.

An old idea started to bubble up from the depths of his memory. He’d been meaning to talk to Beth about this anyway. She was likely the only person in the multiverse who might be able to understand. But should he talk to Beth or Space Beth? Both? Separate or together?

Well, fuck. 

“… Sooo, we were thinking of making a nice dinner and maybe playing a board game?” Beth still looked concerned. That sounded like about the most boring thing Rick could think of. He knew Diane would probably rather go out and get wasted, but he worried if he took her out his lips might loosen a little too much. There really wasn’t a win in this moment, so Rick swept away his thoughts and refocused. 

“S-sure, sweetie. That sounds great. Say, uh, where’s Morty?” Rick needed him for a quick errand. 

“I think he’s in his room. That’s where he usually is when he’s not out with you?” There was an implied question mark, like Beth was suspicious Rick actually knew where Morty was and was trying to keep her from finding out. He and Beth read each other pretty well— they were definitely related. 

“Oh, he didn’t get eaten again I promise!” 

“I wasn’t implying—“ Beth started, but Diane padded softly into the room, glancing back and forth at the duo. 

“H—“ Rick cleared his throat. “Happy birthday, s-sugar.” 

Diane made a strange face but plastered over it with a warm smile. “Thank you… Rick.” She said his name softly and something broke inside him. He felt himself spiraling. He needed to get Morty and get out of there immediately. He gave her what he hoped was a grateful smile. 

“L-listen, I need to, uh, grab Morty and we— we’re gonna do a quick adventure. Real fast… lightning… in and out… one-stop-shop…” he kept going, voice echoing in the hallway as he trudged up the stairs. 

Beth and Diane shared a confused, slightly worried glance. 

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“M-morty! Morty, I need your help! You’re the only one who can help me!” 

Morty yelped and slammed his laptop shut. 

“Geez, aren’t you supposed to knock?!”

“I-I don’t have time for your hormones, Morty! Get pants! Hurry!” 

He purposefully turned around to let Morty get dressed. 

“Ready?” He asked when he heard a zip.

“S-sure, Rick… uh, are— are we going on an adventure?” 

“Something like that,” Rick replied, grabbing his grandson’s arm and yanking him back to the garage. 

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“Okay, Morty. Now—“ Rick was out of breath from his frazzled behavior. He tried to take a steadying breath. “We, uh, we need to get more time crystals, buddy.” 

“Aw geez, Rick.” Morty rubbed the back of his head. “I guess I don’t really have a choice, huh?” 

Rick shook his head brusquely. 

“A-alright, fine. But if those weird ballsack guys come back I’m out.” 

“Finee, Morty. You have one get-out-of-jail-free card. But that’s the only one! Otherwise, we’re ride or die! Rick and Morty! Stealin’ some crystals! Rick and Morty forever a hundred years! We’re back, motherfucker!” His manic energy was taking the driver’s seat, as though his idea wasn’t going to be rife with horrific consequences. 

Too late now. I’ve already committed and I ain’t no quitter.

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“Ahhhh!” Morty screamed as the abomination lunged, closing in on them. They were sprinting through a portion of the multiverse outside any known universes— where Evil Morty had taken up residence. They didn’t bother to go that far though, opting to search closer to their own universe. The interstitial space was rife with crystals… and logic-defying monsters.

“Come on, Morty! We don’t have all day! Unless you feel like being digested. Then take all the time you want,” Rick shouted back at his grandson. Morty was struggling to keep up as he had an armload of crystalized xanthenite shards— enough to last them a while, as long as Morty didn’t drop any.

“Aw geez, Rick, I can’t carry all these damn things! Are— are you sure we need all of these?” Morty panted and twisted to the right, narrowly avoiding the maw of an enormous monster. Rick had no idea what it was but they figured it was probably willing to eat them.

“Yes, Morty! I need a fuckload of them for— for a special project. I’ll even let you keep one if you survive,” Rick replied, breathing heavily. His chest was on fire but he knew they had to get out of range of the creature. Rick threw up a portal right in front of them.

“Dodge!” Rick cried, hoping Morty got the message quickly enough. His grandson managed to somersault around to the left and avoided the portal expertly but scattered crystals as he went. Their pursuer barreled through the portal head-on, unable to slow its momentum. The whirr of blades and a significant blood spatter indicated a short trip to the blender dimension. 

“Whew,” Morty heaved, sucking in breaths and willing his heart to stop racing. No matter how many times he almost died, he didn’t think he’d ever get used to it. The best he could do was to take it in stride, staring down the barrel of obliteration and deciding to press forward anyway. 

“Man, R-r-rick, that was fucked up! Can— can we just get home now? I feel like I’m all adventured out for today.” 

He sounded exhausted. Rick felt a little bad, but he was focused on the crystals. Little fucker dropped like a dozen of them… ah well, on to step two. With the pile of crystals they still had left and enough manic energy, Rick could accomplish almost anything— including the task at hand. 

“Y-yeah, Morty. Let’s head out.” Rick fiddled with the coordinates on the portal gun and shot a swirling green oval in front of them. They stepped through and nearly toppled into the garage, chests heaving. Rick gathered the precious crystals and pressed a button on his remote, revealing his safe. He shoved most of them into the lockbox but kept two of them. 

“Here you go, Morty.” He handed over one of the magenta shards and Morty’s eyes were wide with the possibilities. He headed back into the house quickly and Rick sighed. It was definitely a bad idea to give one of these to his grandson, but he had promised. Rick knew he’d have a mess to clean up at some point— in addition to the one he was already in with Prime.

He got to work quickly, rebuilding the time freezing device he used on Beth and Jerry all those years ago. The bile in his throat was telling him what a stupid risk he was taking. He threw back some whiskey from his flask to chase down the burn, wiping his face on the arm of his stained lab coat. He twisted a screwdriver, securing the last panel. He then hooked up vials, one by one, depositing DNA samples from Morty, Summer, Beth, Space Beth (even clones weren’t immune from some random mutations), himself, and finally Prime. It was pretty easy to swab a sample of his drool from the couch...

This feature determined who would freeze along with time and who would still be functional while it was paused. Rick figured it was time to talk to the Beths… he also obviously needed Morty for errands and Summer to keep up on her chores. He wouldn’t admit to worrying he’d miss them if time was stopped for a while. 

Rick sighed, holding the remote aloft, mentally preparing for his cosmic twin to stomp in the moment he pressed the big red button. He closed his eyes and clicked.

Sure enough, mere seconds after he paused the universe’s timeline, Prime portaled into his garage. 

“Yo, what the FUCK?!” His twin threw his arms in the air to emphasize his displeasure. 

“I-errrp-I have some things to— to do,” Rick tried lamely.

“You’re drunk,” Prime observed, his expression stony, hands on his hips. 

“The fuck do you care?! Y-you r-uurp-rather I be sober while you t-torture me?”

“No— Rick— I—“ But he didn’t get to finish his strangled excuse for a sentence because Rick was on him, fueled by the repressed rage he forced himself to swallow when he was at his twin’s mercy— and sober. He shoved him, hard, toward the garage door.

“You know what? Fuck you! I should’ve killed you twice! I should’ve burned your corpse and buried you on some random asteroid outside the CFC, you absolute piece of filth!”

His stutter and testy digestive system dissolved while he laid into Prime, shoving him. He cocked his arm back and, before either of them registered what was happening, Rick’s fist met his cheek with a grisly crunch. 

They stood in silence for a moment, both breathing heavily. 

“I— I did it all for you, you ungrateful dipshit!” Prime broke the silence, the bones of his cheek adjusting back into place, rippling his skin. 

“Wh-wha?” Rick’s vision swam. “You— you did WHAT?!” He roared. “K-killed my family, erased my wife… are— am I hearing you say… that—“

“Yeah, fuckface! You kept pushing me away! And for what? Some Earth chick? A false sense of superiority for not being an ‘absent father’? Are you serious? I did you a huge favor.” Prime was being serious. 

Rick choked on his rage and confusion. Why on earth would Prime think… He crumpled to the floor of the garage, eyes unfocused, tears threatening to overflow.

Prime’s demeanor instantly changed. He sat down next to Rick and pulled him close. Rick was too weak and disoriented to protest, crying into his double’s shoulder for the second time that week. He felt pathetic, the shame overshadowing his other thoughts briefly. Who let themselves become this pathetic? This broken? This dependent? His facade was cracking… he didn’t want this emotional bullshit to leak out into the ‘real’ world— the one with Summer, Morty, Diane, the Beth(s), hell even Jerry, why not? Rick heaved a breath and leaned back, looking into Prime’s eyes. There was a certain naivete swimming in them. Rick had to blink a few times to be sure. 

Then they heard banging on the door— several fists at once. Aaaand, there it was, almost immediately.

“Let us in, fuckface!” Summer screeched. 

“Dad what the fuck?!“ Beth chimed in.

Rick sniffed, trying to make sure he sounded at least somewhat normal. “Uh, j-just a sec—“

“No, Rick! Everything’s frozen again except us! What the hell, man?!” It was Morty whose voice smacked him back into the present. Little shit never followed the knocking rule…

BAM!

The garage door swung open and smacked the wall. A collective gasp followed. 

“R-r-r-rick…i-i-is that…” Morty stammered, trailing off. 

“Goddammit, you idiots! Do you ever wait before barging…” He deflated, energy draining down to his toes. He was fried. 

“Ladies and gentlemen (and all my other homies out there), I present to you my nemesis: Rick Prime.” It was about as good of a response as he could muster.

Everyone started talking at once, a range of emotions spewed his way. 

Prime cleared his throat. When no one noticed, he put his fingers to his mouth and whistled. Everyone froze.

“‘Kay, I realize there are some questions here. Now let’s form a line. Raise your hand if you have a question.” He was being pretty condescending, but nobody seemed to notice. Everybody’s hand shot up. 

“Alright, that’s better. Morty, what’s up?”

“Dude, what the fuck, Rick?! I thought this piece of shit was dead?!” He addressed his question not to Prime, but to Rick. Rick was staring at his lap, unmoving.

Prime answered confidently. “Me too, buddy. Me too.” 

Shocked silence. 

“Wh-what?” Morty squeaked.

“Something happened to the Curve probably.” He shrugged nonchalantly. 

Morty dug his hands into his scalp. “Wh-what are you doing here though!? At my house!?” He screamed, waving his hands at Prime. 

“Catching up?” Prime offered suavely. 

“Oh fuck you,” Rick mumbled at the ground. 

“Hmmm?” Prime leaned toward him. 

“I think you owe us some more answers, dude!” Space Beth spat at Prime.

Prime’s gaze snapped back to the family leering over him and Rick. “Oh, do I?” He raised half of his eyebrow. 

“Who the fuck are you, for one!” Summer threw out.

Prime looked bored, exaggerating the act of inspecting his fingernails. “I’m the OG, honey. The Rickest Rick. The one that started it all.” He stood up with a wicked smirk, curtsying. 

Everyone still looked confused. 

“Come on, Rick doesn’t even talk about me?” He was trying to be sarcastic, but the pain in his question bled through. The family exchanged brief glances, the question bouncing around between them. 

“Okay dad, do you have another tragic backstory— one we haven’t heard?” Space Beth snapped.

That did it. “Fucking hell…” Rick muttered and looked up, exposing his red, tearstained face. “What do you wanna know?” 

They filled the family in with as cursory a history as possible. They were both Ricks, friends before anyone invented a portal gun. They worked together on that, contrary to what anyone else knew, and traveled the multiverse together… it was a bit of a sticky situation when it came to why they went their separate ways. They exchanged glances and both Beth and Space Beth facepalmed simultaneously, but Morty and Summer didn’t seem to notice. 

“It’s complicated—” Rick started but Prime cut him off.

“He was a better person than me. He wanted to stay with his family and I was jealous. I didn’t have a family to go back to because I made the opposite choice.” 

Rick’s heart thudded. He knew Prime was laying it on thick to ingratiate himself but that didn’t stop Rick from drowning in the words. The explanation seemed to satiate Morty and Summer’s curiosity, though they were definitely still confused. Something about the excuse was off, but they were too young to gather the subtext. 

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Prime inhaled deeply and offered the spliff to Rick and he reached for it, taking a hit. They were sitting in camping chairs in the garage, drinking beers, smoking weed. There wasn’t a whole lot left to say; at least not a whole lot either was willing to address.

“So… pausing time, eh?” Prime looked up. He sounded casual.

“Uh, about that…” 

“No. Nope. You’re gonna tell me exactly what the fuck is up.” All the casual drained, replaced immediately with anger. 

“O-okay. Please— I can explain.” Rick threw his hands up in surrender. 

“You better start,” Prime growled. 

“I-I needed a break, Prime…” Rick dropped his face into his hands, expecting to be berated for being weak. After a few beats of silence, he looked up. 

“Don’t we all?” Prime shrugged when he met Rick’s gaze, grinning. Rick smiled back sadly. “Wait, if you need a break… you didn’t freeze—” He threw a thumb at the garage door, scrunching his eyebrow. 

Rick sighed heavily. “The break I’m taking involves a lot of explaining…” 

“Wait. What are you planning on telling them, exactly?” Prime crossed his arms, frowning. 

“I don’t know yet…” Rick buried his face again. 

“I mean,” Prime rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess you’ve got all the time in the world to figure that out, huh?” 

Rick blurt-laughed despite himself, looking up at Prime to see that smug grin aimed his way, lidded blue eyes sparkling with mischief. His twin really was a breathtaking sight, even in the fluorescent lights of the dingy garage. Rick broke the glance, shaking his head subtly, smiling softly. Suddenly, he felt heat on his ear as his twin leaned close, pressing a small kiss on his cheek. Rick side-eyed him. 

“What?” Prime asked with puppy dog eyes. “I missed you.” 

Rick scoffed. “I missed you like a gaping head wound,” he muttered to himself.

“Sure, baby, whatever you say.” Prime scooted his chair noisily, clacking it against the metal frame of Rick’s chair. He threw an arm around his cosmic twin and tilted his head back, closing his eyes, that sarcastic grin still on his face. The joint burnt itself out on the garage floor, unnoticed. 

“I owe you for kicking me out, by the way,” Prime muttered at the ceiling.

“Owe me what...?” Rick didn’t want to know. He had a feeling that ‘owe’ didn’t mean what it usually did. He didn’t bother looking over. 

“Hmmm…I haven’t decided. But it’s gonna be a doozy.” Prime smiled to himself.