Chapter Text
"Rick, are we doing anything for Valentine's Day?" Morty enquired, as he approached the workbench.
"Seriously?" Rick grunted. He lifted his welding goggles and gave Morty an annoyed look. "Valentine's Day's adolescent bullshit, ya little idiot."
"Yeah, well, I-I am an adolescent, Rick," Morty reminded him.
"Yeah..." Rick agreed discomforted. "I try to forget that, honestly."
"An-and a bit of affection from my supposed boyfriend wouldn't go amiss, ya know? I-I mean you're not always great to me."
"Not great to you?" Rick scowled. "Didn't I get you a dragon once? Or a lightsabre? And how many... how many novelty guns have I made you, huh? Morty?"
"There's more to relationships than giving me stuff, Rick. How about giving me a-a bit of respect on occasion?"
"I do respect you, Morty!"
"You just called me a little idiot! I didn't even do anything!"
"Yeah, well... I... I didn't say it aggressively," Rick muttered. He put his goggles back on and turned his attention back to his project.
Morty wasn't prepared to be ignored. "Rick... do you really love me? I-I mean... sometimes I get the feeling you don't, you know?"
Rick sighed. "The fact I've kept you around even after you've fucked up, broken shit, messed up missions, and... and been a general pain in my ass not prove it? M-most Ricks would replace a Morty like you. Have I ever tried to replace you, Morty? Huh?"
"Uh, yeah! With two crows, remember?"
"Have I ever tried to replace you with another Morty?" Rick clarified.
"No," Morty agreed. "But that's a pretty low bar, Rick."
Rick dumped the goggles and ran an exasperated hand over his face. "Fine! What do you want then? Wh-what's a high-enough fucking bar, Morty?"
"I just want to do something for Valentine's Day without you mocking me or making it out to be a big chore! An-and that's pretty low bar too!"
They stood scowling at each other for a bit, then Morty stormed out and slammed the garage door behind him.
Rick just stood alone and stared at the slammed door.
Well, now he'd upset him...
Okay, fine. Valentine's Day, it was then.
If Morty wanted proof that Rick loved him, Rick could do that. How though? What were things people did to prove their love? Morty wanted something for Valentine's Day. So... some kind of grand romantic gesture, then. What would qualify?
Taking Morty on an exquisite alien break? Not really, they did that all the time.
Buying Morty a promise ring? No, he'd just said it wasn't about giving him stuff. Anyway, a promise ring was more of a girl's thing really.
Getting a tattoo of Morty's name? No, he'd only lose it again the next time he switched bodies. Besides, anybody could do that. What was the point of being the smartest man alive if you just did things that anybody could do?
He sat at his work table and gulped down a beer to help him think. Just the one, he was actively trying to cut down on his drinking. What was something really meaningful he could do to prove his love to Morty? Something that only Rick Sanchez could do?
Wait...
What if...
Instead of tattooing himself, he tattooed...
Rick rolled up his sleeves, spread out his starchart out across his worktable and pored over it with concentration, circling certain stars which would be visible from Earth in a specific pattern.
Yes...
Done!
He pinned the chart to the inside window of the ship and took off into space.
As he arrived at each selected star, he released a burst of plasma energy from the ship that would accelerate the star's natural lifespan and drive it instantly into supernova status. This probably wasn't very environmentally sound, actually, but who cared?
After a long night of work, Rick arrived back on Earth just as the sun was coming up. His handiwork was still just visible but was quickly fading from sight as the sun's rays lit up the sky, drowning it out. He gave it a quick once-over glance, just in case, but there were no mistakes. For once, he'd done his job perfectly. He took a quick nip from his hipflask as a nightcap and headed into the house to brush his teeth and hit the hay.
He didn't wake up again until sometime in the afternoon, by which time Morty was at school. Morty's whereabouts didn't actually make much difference right now as he'd have to wait for the sun to go down to show him the surprise anyway. Luckily, the sun set relatively early at this time of year, but he was impatient for evening to arrive, and stayed impatient all through the afternoon while he worked on another project, and all through dinner.
Finally, the sun was fully set and the night sky fully visible. Rick checked the stars and grinned to himself.
President Curtis shook his head as he gazed out the main window of the oval office. "Sanchez..."
Dr. Wong took in the sky as she walked to her car for the evening and made a mental note to talk to Rick about this at their next session.
Summer glanced up from her phone and noticed something was odd about the sky. She hurried to the window to get a better look and grinned happily. Wait till Morty saw this.
Morty was making a token attempt at doing some homework when Rick crashed into his room.
"Morty!" he yelled. "I've got a surprise for you! Come on!" He grabbed him by the arm and yanked him out of the room like in the early days.
"Oh geez," Morty muttered. Rick hadn't done this for ages now. He hurried after him to avoid losing his footing and being dragged along on his backside. It had been a long time since Rick had been this enthusiastic about showing him something, he realised as Rick pulled him hastily down the stairs, and he was concerned about the possible outcome.
"Okay, close your eyes!" Rick insisted as they reached the front door. He covered Morty's eyes with his hands and led him out onto the lawn. "Nearly there, baby... Okay!" He positioned Morty where he wanted him and released him. "Look at the sky!"
Morty gazed up into the night sky. "Geez, Rick, what the hell did you do?!" he blurted out.
A succession of supernovas burned brightly in the sky, highly visible among the smaller, less bright stars. The position of the bright dots spelled out words when seen from Earth...
RICK AND MORTY
FOREVER
"Wrote us in the stars, baby," Rick grinned, ruffling Morty's hair. "Happy Valentine's Day."
"Geez!" said Morty again, which was what he usually said when he couldn't think of anything to say. His eyes started brimming with tears as he looked at the stars. "Rick..." He swallowed a lump in his throat. "I love you!" He spun around and hugged his grandfather tightly. "I love you so much, Rick."
"Love you too, baby boy." Rick smiled, his face in Morty's hair. "And the whole world can see I love you now... well, not exactly the whole world but... ya know, the whole northern hemisphere anyway."
Morty just chuckled and wiped his eyes.
Rick looked him in the face. "I-I know I'm not great at showing affection, Morty. But... you're honestly everything to me. And... I promise I'll, er... I'll make an effort at not throwing casual insults at you so much in the future."
"Thanks, Rick. That means a lot too."
"I'm afraid it's not really gonna last forever though, Morty," Rick explained. "I-it's not even gonna last a year. Supernovas usually only burn for a couple of months at the most. It'll start disappearing in a few weeks and it'll be gone by the summer."
"Well, hey, th-that's still some time. Anyway, I guess the effort you put in is the main thing, right? I-I mean it must have taken you a lot of work and planning. That's the important thing, ya know? That you cared enough to go to all that trouble."
They stood together, admiring the stars for a while until Morty suddenly remembered something.
"I got you something too. Wait here." he hurried back into the house and returned holding something. "Happy Valentine's Day, Rick."
It was a cute photo of them both in the garage that had been set into a crudely carved wooden frame.
"I made the frame myself, in woodwork class," Morty explained.
Rick smiled as he took it. "It's great, baby. I love you."
"Love you too, Rick."