Prompt by Wolowizard

There she was. Beautiful red hair, piercing green eyes, and just a few lockers down from Morty. He shuts his locker and exhales nervously.

"You broke up with Brad again?" one of her friends asked.

"Yeah," Jessica answered. "We're just not meant to be."

Morty approached the group of girls slowly, gathering up his courage. He cleared his throat, which sounded like a garbage disposal. Jessica turned around, surprised, and looked at him. "Hi, Morty," she said awkwardly.

"H-h-hi J-Jessica," Morty stuttered. His throat was getting dry, his face flushed, and his hands sweaty.

Jessica looked at him in concern. "Is there something you needed, Morty?"

"Y-yeah," he stuttered. "Will you g-g-go on a d-date with m-me?"

The girl was about to answer when a large hand clamped down over Morty's shoulder, and he felt his heart climb to his throat. He recognized Brad's hand, and he knew this wasn't going to end well. "Are you serious?" Brad asked, spit flying from his mouth and landing in Morty's hair. "You really thought you had a chance with her? Man, you are barking up the wrong tree."

"Stay out of this, Brad!" Jessica interjected.

Brad spun Morty around and shoved him face first into the lockers. "I don't care what she says," Brad whispered in a low growl. "She's mine."

Morty was shaking as Brad pulled him backwards. For a second, he thought he was free, but then he was falling to the floor, landing face down painfully. Brad's foot collided with Morty's ribcage, and Morty coughed in pain. "P-p-please," he stuttered.

"Brad, stop it!" Jessica yelled.

Brad's foot connected with Morty's stomach next, and groaned in pain. Tears were forming in his eyes. "St-stop," he begged.

"No," Brad said, kicking him in the stomach again. "If you're not man enough to fight back, your not man enough for Jessica."

Satisfied with his work, Brad stalked away. Morty started to cry from the pain. Jessica knelt down beside him on the cold, dirty ground. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Just go," Morty said weakly. He grabbed his aching stomach with one hand and lifted himself off the floor with the other. With what little dignity he had left, he walked away towards his next class, knowing he would be teased mercilessly for his tears.

Once home, Morty avoided everyone and hid in his room. He sobbed softly into his pillow to muffle the sounds from his pain and humiliation. He buried himself under his blanket, not wanting to be seen in case somebody intruded on him.

Just as he did so, Rick burst into his room, unannounced. "Come on, Morty, I need your help with something."

Morty quickly dried his tears and cleared his throat. "Not now, Rick," he said.

"Morty. I need your help. Come on."

"Yeah, I'm not feeling up to it right now, Rick, maybe later," Morty said with a sigh. Why couldn't his grandpa leave him alone?

Frustrated, Rick grabbed Morty's leg and began to pull. Morty kicked back. "Rick! I said not now!" he screamed as his grandpa pulled. But his grandpa was too strong. Morty was pulled from his bed, and his bruised ribs hit the hard ground. He screamed in pain, curling up on himself.

Rick suddenly grew very pale. "I'm s-s-sorry, Morty," he said. "I'll just leave you alone then."

And just like that, he was gone. Morty didn't have the strength to stand back up. He just laid on his floor and cried quietly into his sleeve from the fresh pain.

Outside, he could hear Beth yelling at Rick. The asshole deserved it for literally dragging him out of bed. Morty pushed himself up. It looked like it was time for him to save Rick's ass again.

He stumbled out of his room, quickly wiping the tears from his eyes. "Mom?" he called out. "What's going on?"

"Morty!" his mom exclaimed, rushing over to him. "I heard you scream. Did Rick hurt you?"

"No," Morty lied with a smile. "Just teenage angst stuff. Nothing to worry about."

"Oh," Beth replied. "Well then, I'm glad you're alright."

Morty smiled again and walked off. He supposed he could do with a distraction, if Rick still needed his help. Besides, he had to keep up the happy facade for his family.

He walked to the garage, barely managing to keep himself upright. He pushed the door open to see Rick sitting at his desk, just staring at his hands. Morty cleared his throat, and Rick jumped. "Morty!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry about earlier," he said. "Do you still need my help?"

Rick eyed him suspiciously. "Yeah," he said. "Are you sure you're up to it?"

"Positive," Morty lied, smiling.

"Well then -urp-," Rick said, pulling out his portal gun. "Let's go get some plutonium."

Morty was panting so hard that his injured lungs ached. He shouldered the backpack full of plutonium rocks and followed Rick. It seemed they were always running from alien monsters. This one was at least ten feet tall, had three heads, and was covered in purple scales.

Rick was messing with wiring on his portal gun. It had shorted out just a minute ago, leaving them to their present predicament. "How much longer?" Morty shouted, each syllable hurting.

"Almost got it," Rick yelled back.

Morty's foot hit an uneven patch of ground, and he went flying face first into the ground. He screamed as his ribs made contact. It seemed he couldn't catch a break.

"Morty!" Rick shouted, rushing over to him.

Morty only groaned in response as he tried to pull himself up. The monster was getting closer. He couldn't die like this.

Suddenly, Rick was shielding him with his body. "Almost got it," he said. He snapped a wire into place, and the green light lit up. He entered the coordinates as fast as humanly possible and shot open a portal. "Come on," Rick grunted, lifting Morty to his feet by his arm. They rushed through the green portal and landed safe in the garage.

"Morty, are you okay?" Rick asked, staring at him in concern.

"Yeah," Morty lied. "Just had a hard fall."

"Uh huh," Rick replied, eyeing him closely.

"I-I should probably go rest now," Morty replied. He threw down the backpack. "Here's your plutonium."

And with that, Morty headed back to his room, where hopefully he would not be disturbed again.