Chapter Text
“Have you felt any more suicidal tendencies?”
“No.”
“Any thoughts of harming yourself? Burning, cutting?”
“No.”
The psychiatrist nodded and jotted down some notes in her notepad, her glasses sliding down slightly over her nose. You fiddled with the hem of your shirt. All you wanted was to get out of this place. You’d spent seven months in this hellhole, without as much as a squeak from any of your friends or family, not even to see if you were okay. Seven months of meaningless activities and uncomfortable therapy sessions. Seven months of being completely alone.
“Well then… honestly, I can’t really see a reason to keep you here any longer. You’ve been making great improvements in the last two months. The only gripe I have is that you don’t have any sort of safety net outside the facility to fall back on…”
You shrugged. “I’m used to riding solo.”
“What about Nate?” The psychiatrists questioned, furrowing her brows. You frowned, crossed your arms and shrugged again. She didn’t seem to accept the answer and pushed; “You mentioned he was a close friend, practically family. He lives in the same town as you, doesn’t he?”
“I’ll be fine,” you muttered, “I don’t want anything to do with him. Besides, I’m gonna bounce as soon as I get the chance. There’s no way in hell I’m staying in that town. Not after everything that’s gone down.”
The woman nodded at you, sympathy clear in her eyes. “I understand. Do you have any plans on what you’re going to do? Besides moving?”
“Get a job I guess. I’ve been thinking about getting a dog. And I’m staying away from… people. If I could I’d move to a fucking cottage and live alone like Yoda for the rest of my life.”
“That last part isn’t particularly forward thinking,” she pointed out, "but I understand your apprehensiveness regarding relationships of any kind.”
You knew she was right, to a certain extent. But after everything that had happened, you just wanted to keep to yourself. You were actually trying to get better this time, and you weren’t going to let someone else ruin that for you.
“In any case,” the woman continued, “as long as you keep taking your medication and try to get a daily routine going, I think you should be able to go off on your own without a hitch.”
You nodded, and watched as she slid a piece of paper over to you. All it needed was your signature, and you were free to go.
***
It wasn’t exactly an ideal day to move. The rain was pouring down hard, making the roads hard to navigate, and the car harder to keep under control. Still, this was better than staying another minute in your old apartment. Just looking at the building after getting back from the psych ward was bad enough, so you made the move a quick in and out thing. You didn’t own a lot of things, so most of it could be crammed in your car, despite its small size. Any furniture was as good as useless to you, given that it was technically Nate’s old stuff that you had borrowed, and he’d come back for it after hearing of your move. You didn’t mind though, an air mattress would more than suffice until you could afford a real bed.
You drove for a long time, at least two hours you guessed. You’d easily killed another thirty minutes trying to find your stop. Hunched over the wheel, you tried to look at the street signs through your windshield with squinted eyes. When you finally saw a sign that seemed to have the right address on it, you carefully made a turn into your new neighborhood. It was a bit bleak looking, though you tried telling yourself it was the weather.
After making a final turn to park your car, you decided to leave it on and listen to the radio for a bit. Just to see if the rain would die down so you could go inside without getting drenched. Honestly if it didn’t, you were seriously considering spending the night in the car. The gate to your apartment building was at least five minutes away. You’d break in your new apartment completely soaked.
A few minutes went by, and you were halfheartedly listening to the cheery radio host making extremely forced jokes about current events. Suddenly, a careful knock on your window caught your attention, and you turned your head. Outside was some kid, giving you a weak wave.
“Hey, would you m-mind letting me in? I-i-it’s really coming down.” He asked, his voice muffled by the glass between you.
You looked at the individual with a cautious eye. He couldn’t be older than fifteen. He was shaking from the cold, and the yellow t-shirt he was wearing was soaking wet. Not really giving it a second thought, you opened the passenger door and motioned for the boy to come inside, to which a relieved look overtook his face as he made his way around the car.
“Th-thank you...” He mumbled, his small frame violently trembling. You turned the heat all the way up, and reached into the backseat of the car to pull out a blanket.
“I don’t have much else to offer.” You said with a weak smile. The boy shook his head and smiled back at you.
“This i-i-is more than enough. Thanks again." He paused. "I’m M-Morty.”
“(Y/N).” You replied, shaking his hand. It was quiet for a while after that, so you took the opportunity to properly observe the boy. Water was falling in droplets from his messy brown hair, and he had slight bags under his eyes. He seemed to be rather apathetic about his situation, staring out the windshield with blank eyes and a slight frown. You decided to take initiative.
“So why are you out in this weather? It’s not ideal for an evening walk.”
Morty looked down at his legs and shrugged. “I uh… I was out with my grandpa. We had an argument. N-nothing big but he… he kinda left me here.”
His answer caught you by surprise, and you had to do a double take. "You grandpa... left you. Out here?"
"Y-yeah, but it's all good. My mom's probably gonna question him about where I am when he gets back home, so he'll- he'll be forced to pick me up anyway."
You pondered over Morty’s predicament for a moment, before turning the car key and grabbing the wheel. “I’ll drive you home. Just tell me where to go.”
***
Morty’s neighborhood definitely looked nicer than yours. Very typically suburban. On the way there you’d gotten to know him a little better, and despite being pretty awkward, he was a nice kid. Apparently this kind of thing wasn’t a first for his grandfather to do, which even if you didn’t say it out loud to Morty, pissed you off to no end. What kind of person would be cruel enough to just leave their grandkid behind without a second thought? As you pulled up on Morty’s driveway, you supposed you’d find out soon enough. Trying your best to make your hoodie protect you from the rain, you stepped out of your car, with Morty quickly going ahead of you up to his front door. He let you inside first, before stepping inside himself and closing the door behind him.
“Morty, is that you?” A female voice called out from somewhere in the house.
“Y-yeah mom it’s me.”
A short moment went by before a middle-aged blonde woman stepped into view, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel. The sight of you clearly caught her off-guard. “Morty, who’s this?”
“This is (Y/N), she drove me home.” Morty said with a smile, and you gave Morty’s mom a wave.
“Sorry for the intrusion.”
“Oh no, not at all!” The woman laughed. “I’m just glad Morty’s back safe. Thank you... (Y/N), was it?”
You nodded, and the blonde shook your hand. Her eyes were tired and focused, and despite her smile, the hidden look on her face suggested she was exhausted, but from what was unclear. “I’m Beth. Now, Morty, what were you doing out at this time, in this weather? I thought you and- oh my god… dad!”
There was a short silence, before a rough voice yelled back;
“Wh-what?!”
“Did you leave Morty out in the rain all by himself?!”
At first there wasn’t an answer, only an uncomfortable silence, before another figure appeared, walking out from what you presumed was the living room. Morty’s grandfather. He was tall and lanky, with spiky blue grayish hair and an odd choice of accessory; a lab coat. He had a deep scowl on his face, and seemed to refuse to move beyond the door frame, deciding to lean against it.
“Honest to god Beth, I didn’t realize I’d left him there.” He said, a rather prominent nonchalant tone in his voice.
“You didn’t realize you left Morty out in a thunderstorm.” Beth repeated, squinting at her father, clearly not believing him. “Whatever, just, make sure it doesn’t happen again or I’ll give Jerry free passage into the garage.”
The threat didn’t fall on deaf ears, it seemed, as the scowl on the man’s face became deeper, and he muttered a ‘whatever’.
“So, (Y/N),” Beth said, “would you like to stay for dinner? It’s the least I can do for you after bringing Morty home safely.”
Although you really didn’t want to impose, you couldn’t deny that a homemade dinner sounded amazing. “That’d be great, I just hope it’s not too much trouble.”
“None at all!” Beth responded with a dismissive wave. “It’ll be ready in a few, just make yourself at home.”
You nodded sheepishly, and took off your hoodie to let it dry. As you did so, you noticed from the corner of your eye how Morty’s grandpa was observing you in silence. It was only now that Morty spoke up again.
“That w-wasn’t cool of you grandpa Rick, what if I g-g-get sick?”
“Then I’ll just c-ourrgh-ure you Morty. Stop being such a whiny little tool.”
What the fuck is wrong with this guy , you wondered, frowning as you saw Morty's face fall. This Rick didn’t appear to care much for anything, much less the well-being of his family.
“I’m j-j-just gonna go upstairs and change- change my clothes. I’ll be right back.” Morty said, turning to you. “The living room’s that way, and there’s the dining room.”
You followed his finger in the two directions he pointed, and gave him a curt nod, carefully making your way inside the house. You passed Rick without a word and entered the living room, where a teenage girl was curled up in the armchair. Probably Morty’s sister. She looked up from her phone, eyed you up and down without a word, and then returned her focus to her phone.
“Hello,” you tried, “I’m (Y/N).”
The girl ignored your stretched out hand, but was courteous enough to respond;
“Summer.”
You retracted your hand and pursed your lips, looking around the room as you moved to sit down on the couch. You were quickly joined by Rick, who pulled out a flask as soon as he sat down. With one swift motion he took a swig, before putting the flask back inside his lab coat.
“I guess I should thank you for sparing me the pain of having to pick up Morty myself.”
You couldn’t help but scoff at the comment, shaking your head slightly. “I’m not sure I should tell you you’re welcome or tell you to eat shit.” You remarked, unable to stop the honesty from spewing from your mouth. Clearly you weren’t the only one suprised by your honesty, as both Summer and Rick turned to look at you, the latter of which let out an amused hum.
“I thought the good samaritan was supposed to be just that.” He pointed out, and you shrugged.
“I don’t play nice with assholes.”
Rick stayed quiet for a moment, seemingly very perplexed by your attitude. After a moment of consideration, he took another swig from his flask.
“Fair enough.”
There was a short silence, before Beth’s voice could be heard from the kitchen;
“Dinner’s ready!”
***
Despite Morty’s asshole grandfather, the dinner was nice. You’d gotten to meet Morty’s dad as well; Jerry, who was a little kooky and obviously quite insecure, but he was nice enough. Currently you were in the kitchen, helping Beth with the dishes, something you’d offered to do as a thanks for dinner.
“So what brought you to town?” The blonde asked, handing you the last of the plates to dry. Thinking it was best to leave out any major details, you answered;
“I just needed a change of scenery. Get away from the family.”
“Oh I can understand that.” Beth said with a weak laugh. “There’s been plenty of times I wish I had the opportunity to just pack up and leave, you know?”
You nodded in agreement, placing the plate on the counter.
“In any case, it was very nice to have you here for dinner. It’s hard to entertain guests with my dad running about.”
“He seems very… eccentric, for a lack of a better term.” You noted, wiping your hands on a towel. “I’m gonna have to apologize for calling him an asshole.”
“Don’t worry about it. He is one, and he can really get on my nerves sometimes, but I still love him.”
“Not everyone could say that. I envy it.” You admitted. Beth gave you a sad half-smile.
“He doesn’t always make it easy.”
“I can imagine.” You chuckled, and started to move out to the hallway, with Beth right behind you. Morty was waiting by the front door, with the blanket you’d lent him in his arms.
“Here, thanks again.”
“No worries.” You said, ruffling the teen’s hair. “It was nice to meet you all. Even you, Rick.”
Your added comment made the man raise an eyebrow, but he didn’t say anything back. You waved goodbye to the family, and went back out into the rain.