Disclaimer: I do not own Rick and Morty or Gravity Falls at all. Just a fan. Please support the official release.

Author's Note: Hey guys, just for some backstory, this story is set in an AU where the confrontation with Ford and Stanley hasn't happened yet. So, Stan and Ford have an ok relationship right now. Don't worry, sibling confrontation will happen. This story is going to be some fluff fun, some romance, some plot, and of course, our favorite...angsty. Because flawed characters leave so much room for it. Please let me know what you think will happen and your thoughts. I love hearing from you guys. Rated T for language (Rick mostly) and some sexual talk but rating may change for future chapters. Thank you, and enjoy.

Chapter 1

You know that feeling when you walk in a party and just know something bad, or weird, or dangerous is going to happen? Yeah, that's exactly how I felt walking into this party.

It was Rick's 21st birthday. He could now legally destroy his liver and no one could stop him. Zech, an alien friend of ours, decided that a surprise party in Rick and Stanford's apartment was the ideal way to celebrate. Stanford only agreed if the noise stayed at a relatively low level, but as this party had aliens invited and drunk college students, he quickly gave up on the hope of a tame gathering.

I parked my car outside the apartment building. It was chilly out. I could see my breath as I blew out and tucked my hands into the pockets of my red jacket. I hadn't been to this place since mine and Ford's birthday a few months prior. The rundown sidewalk and unkempt yard was just as I remembered it. It was a nice sense of familiarity since my life hadn't seen anything close to routine in a while. It was nice to see some things hadn't changed. I went up two flights of stairs and counted down four doors. Faint music could be heard outside the apartment door. Which was a surprise when I opened the door and heard just how loud it really was in there.

I walked in and saw streamers and balloons everywhere, loud music was blaring through the speakers, and everyone there was running around with either a pipe or solo cup in hand. This was a 'Rick' party for sure.

After a few hellos to some people and creatures I recognized, I found Fiddleford McGucket, my brother's best friend. He was wearing a button up shirt with a sweater vest and bowtie. His normal business casual attire seemed fitting for a rowdy, disgusting, college party I guess. Another nice since of normalcy in my messed up life. Fighting through the sea of creatures and college students, I strolled up to him.

"Hey McGucket, how you holding up with this?" I shouted over the music as I touched his shoulder.

I must have startled him, because he nearly jumped out of his shoes with a yelp. He looked at me, let out a short sigh, adjusted his glasses and spoke. "Stanley, I give up. I tried to keep the noise down, but that is just not going to happen." He glared at a group of people behind him. There are too many aliens, and people, and I mean what is that?" He pointed at an octopus looking creature currently chugging as much as it could out of the beer keg as a surrounding crowd cheered it on.

I laughed a little at his look of shock at the alien. I guess I was just numb to the space and weird stuff at this point. After years of Stanford talking my ears off at night and Rick's constant jabbering about stars and space travel, nothing really surprised me anymore.

"Your guess is better than mine, man."

I looked at him realizing he was holding a drink. "Whoa! You're drinking tonight?"

He looked down at his cup and shrugged adjusting his glasses again. "I decided I might should go ahead and finally try it tonight. I'm only having one." He assured me and sipped his drink grimacing at the taste. "You're just in time though. That guy...ummmm... Squanchy? He should be bringing Rick any minute now, so you didn't miss the 'surprise.'" He made a jazz hand gesture.

I could tell poor Fiddle was really not into this whole party scene, but he always loved surprising people, so he could at least enjoy that part. "Awesome." I replied scanning the room again. "Hey, where's Ze-"

"STANLEYYYY PINES!" A voice interrupted me.

I looked in that direction and saw Zech making his way through the crowd. "There's my main man. Glad you could make it."

Zech was an interesting guy. I'm sure Rick could tell you what species alien he was, but I had no clue. He almost could've passed for a human. Well, besides his two short antennas buried in his ruffled orange hair and his blue skin. Other than that, totally looked like a human.

We high fived and went in for a short hug. "Wouldn't miss a chance to see Rick wasted and no doubt make a fool of himself." I laughed. Seeing that Zech's green eyes held a small tint of red, I asked "You gettin' messed up tonight?"

He quickly shook his head. "Not too much man, just a slight buzz to get my courage up." He looked both ways and gestured me to get closer. "Hey-" he whispered and pulled me away from Fiddleford. "I think tonight's the night, Stan." I couldn't control them as my eyes widened in shock.

It was known that Zech had a rather large crush on Rick. (Which makes sense why he would want to be the one to plan Rick's big surprise party.) I had a hunch that Rick probably knew about Zech's feelings toward him or at least had suspicions, because on occasion he seemed to tease Zech with a flirtatious grin, laugh or comment that clearly had another meaning. Such as 'Wow Rick, you look great. Are you performing tonight?' To which Rick would respond 'maybe, if you're lucky,' and then quickly laugh it off. He never acts on anything though. So, that led Zech to do something bigger and ballsy to grab Rick's attention.

"Night for what?"

"I'm gonna do it! I'm gonna fuck Rick Sanchez." He laughed.

Um, his bluntness almost made me choke. I was shocked with his immediate jump to...well...sex instead of 'hey, I'm going to ask Rick on a date' or 'I'm going to tell him I like him.' I was a skeptical. I mean, I didn't take Rick to be the 'date' type, but at least let the dude know your feelings before...well...that.

I brushed it off. "Wow... not even gonna take him to dinner first?" I joked, trying to hide my dislike for the situation.

He let out a cackle. "Dude, I planned that bitch a surprise party. That's way better than dinner. He better put out." He laughed again. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but either way, something felt off.

Before I could respond with advice on how not to fuck up his chances, a voice piped into the conversation cutting off Zech's laughter. I knew this voice, but I didn't like what it said at all.

"Well, he's put out for just about everyone, and certainly for a lot less, so I'd say your chances are looking good."

I looked over to see my brother stumbling over with a near empty solo cup in his hands. His usual perfectly styled hair was in disarray, his shirt was have tucked and his glasses were sitting on his face at an angle. I had never seen my twin so thrown together. I whispered "Ford, what the hell?"

"What, Stanley?" He sighed in annoyance as he got closer. "I'm just telling you what I observe. I mean, he's my roommate, and I can tell you this, his bed is always warm." He sipped his drink again. "Ya know, cause he never sleeps alone."

I never pegged my brother as a shit talker. "Ford, c'mon knock it off. You've had enough to drink for now." I tried to laugh it off.

Ford glared daggers at me through his drunken eyes. "He gets the same gift from anyone that will give it to him. Just throw the dog another bone, Zech." Ford went in for a half assed high-five and missed.

I excused myself as I grabbed my brother and pulled him away to a quieter place in the small apartment. I've never seen my brother drink. I mean, I saw him sip something on our 21st birthday a few months ago, but I've never seen him REALLY drink, and what I was seeing, I didn't like. He wasn't himself at all. "What is with you, man? Huh?" I questioned as I straightened his glasses.

Stanford sipped his drink, seemingly unfazed by my attempts to make him look more like himself. "Stanley, you know how I feel about Richard." He said emotionless, and I did know. I knew he didn't care for the guy most of the time.

He didn't like that Rick was just as smart as him, and did as good in school without putting in as much effort. Nor did he like that Rick was always loud and had all his friends over all the time. He didn't like that Rick played his guitar at full volume, that Rick kept the apartment hot all the time because he claimed to always be cold. He didn't like that Rick left his clothes everywhere, or that he stole Ford's cinnamon to put into his coffee in the morning. He. Didn't. Like. Rick. I just didn't know it was to the point that he would talk about him this way to other people. I thought I was the only one he voiced his frustrations to. Ford was usually a confrontational person. Like, he would just tell Rick how he felt and then they'd hash it out as roommates and get over it.

"Ford, it's not cool to talk like that about him. I'm sure you just don't know the whole story, and you don't want to be known as someone who talks shit." I tried to smooth thing over.

Stanford chuckled and rolled his eyes at me. "I'm not saying anything that everyone doesn't already know, Stanley." He went to sip his drink again, finding it was empty. "I'm sorry if you're the last to find that out about him." He blinked slowly. "And I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just letting off steam. He's-" he searched for the right words as he dragged his hand down his face "he's just not that great a guy, Stanley."

Didn't he realize that this was the same Rick we grew up with? The same Rick that shared black eyes with me standing up to someone who made fun of Ford? Was Rick really not himself anymore and I just hadn't seen it? I mean- I knew college changes people but, the Rick I always pictured was the nerd that we went to grade school with. I had seen him a few times while he was in college, but he didn't seem that different to me. Just partied more. But who doesn't in college? Right? I take a breath and try to gather myself when I'm snapped out of my thoughts as paper is shoved in my hands.

Ford started to slur his words a little more. "Hey, forgetthat I s-said anything though ok? This night is supposed to be fun right?" He rolled his eyes. "This is a song that Zech wrote for us to sing. The lyrics aren't great but he thinks it w-will be funny." Ford explained as he started to sway. "Listen, I'm going to go get another drink. Do you want anything?"

"Uh, sure. Anything's good with me."

Ford nodded and disappeared into the crowd. I took a glance at the lyrics that were given to me, and realized that Ford was right. These lyrics were really, really bad. The parody was just us calling Rick a bitch, saying his dad was a dick, his mom was a hooker, and he was the most perverse person on the campus. All things I was tired of hearing tonight already. But it did seem like the kind of shit Rick would find funny. His humor was...unique. He always liked dumb things that others would probably just groan at, but would send him into a fit of laughter. Hell...were we sure he didn't write it?

After reading over the less than brilliant parody lyrics, I look over to see McGucket standing on top of the beer pong table trying to get people's attention. The players groan in annoyance as Fiddleford tries to get everyone's attention. "Hey guys, lets bring the music down ok?" He said politely. And after he repeated it a few times to deaf ears and finally ended up screaming, they did. "Ok. That's better. So, Squanchy is bringing Rick up now. So everyone get in places, turn off the lights and-"

"And make sure you sing the song out real loud everyone!" Zech yelled across the room. There was an array of 'whoos,' profanities and screams throughout the small apartment, as I saw Ford returning and handed me my drink.

"Thanks Ford."

He mumbled a response and started to drink again. Suddenly a redheaded girl shoved a tray in my face. "Hey! Birdperson made brownies! They're dope!" She yelled.

"Ah. No thank you. I'm good tonight."

She lowered them from my face and then offered them to Ford, who extended his hand towards the tray. I steered his hand away. Deciding that drunk Ford was already a little unbearable. I didn't want to know what a crossfaded Ford was like. The girl got the hint and went off. Stanford looked at me again.

I sighed and tried to steady my swaying twin. About that time, we saw Zech walking by not very discreetly with some condoms. Ford stopped his momentum and started talking to him.

Touching the small plastic packages, he slurred. "Zech...woooow. Are you feeling extra lucky tonight or something?" I was really starting to hate drunk Ford.

Zech laughed. "Yeah. Kind of am actually."

"And with Sanchez...right?"

Zech nodded. "Uh, yeah?"

Ford wrapped his arm around Zech's shoulder.

"Well in that case...I would wear three." Ford cackled pointing at the condoms.

Before I could scold my twin again, (Wow I never knew the roles would be reversed) someone's voice piped up above the crowd.

"They're here guys! Places!"

I looked over my lyrics as we all started to get in our 'surprise' positions. Everyone was talking or shushing the people talking as we all huddled close. Zech scooted next to me, Ford and McGucket. "Dude, when he sees this surprise party, he's gonna die!" He whispered.

"We should be so lucky." Ford mumbled. I gave a harsh glance over at him but he just looked at me and shrugged.

"Everyone shut up!" A girl voice screamed.

We heard mumbled voices and laughter as the door was being unlocked. We all sat in anticipation as the door was opened and we saw two silhouettes.

"Come on Rick! Squanch on the lights! It's dark!"

The lights flashed on and everyone stared at a very confused looking Rick Sanchez. He started laughing as everyone screamed the terrible lyrics at him. It was clear he didn't know what we were actually saying due to the pink tint of his eyes and how large his pupils were, but he seemed amused nonetheless. He stumbled around laughing and clutching his stomach at his friends as we all finished the song with a resounding "Happy Birthday, Bitch!"

We all cheered at the end and Zech made a beeline for Rick.

"Happy Birthday!" Zech said as he approached the birthday boy.

A girl voice yelled as she ran up to them. "Zech planned the party, Rick!" She elbowed Zech and he stretched and flexed.

"I mean. I planned some of it."

Rick was still laughing to himself-clearly in his own world at the moment. He caught come deep breaths and tried to steady himself by placing a hand on Zech's upper chest. "Thanks, tha-thank you. This was veeery sweet." He chuckled.

Zech looked at Rick and then to Squanchy who seemed pretty proud of himself. "Um, Squanchy, he's loaded. What happened to him?"

The catlike alien placed his hands on his hips in a huff. "Well, you told me to keep him busy." Squanchy squealed in defense.

Zech rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but I didn't mean-"

"Well ya should've squanched otherwise." Squanchy said as he headed towards the drinks.

The crowd of guests swarmed around the guy of honor and I decided to stay back and let Rick's friends go up and talk to him first. I'd see him eventually. However... watching, I noticed that he kept looking my way almost asking with his eyes if I was going to say 'hi'. So, I nodded and gestured with my cup. Hoping he'd get the message that I'd talk to him after. Almost instantly, Zech was blindfolding Rick and spinning him around. On the other side of the room, an alien was bringing out a piñata shaped rather like a...well...a male organ... it was...umm...uh...a penis. It was shaped like a fucking penis. Dear God, this party was getting weird, and that was coming from ME! I feel a hand on my shoulder, and turn to see Fiddleford eating something.

Thankful for something to get my attention off the 'main event' of the party, "Hey man, whatcha got there?" I scream over the music.

His eyes are wide and he starts laughing holding what I now realize is a brownie... "Stanley! These are sooooo good." He laughs again.

I groan. I didn't come to this party to babysit. "You do know those are pot brownies, right?" Fidds was mid bite when I asked so I got a muffled

"Oops" as a response before I decided I needed to figure out how many he had that night.

As I tried to push him to the couch he stops and turns to me with a scream. "Stanley, did you see the piñata?"

Groaning at my interrupted momentum to the couch, "Yeah Fidds, I did. It was-uh-pretty crazy." I laughed uncomfortably.

Fiddleford laughed genuinely with me and then leaned in close. "Yeah, haha, I wish Ford's piñata was that big!" He snickered again.

"OKAY. Nope." I held up my hands in front of me. "Enough of that. I don't want to talk about this anymore." God, this party was making me so uncomfortable. It seemed like I was the one holding it all together, and I DID NOT sign up for it.

The party went on with few hiccups after that. I mean Fiddleford did clear out most of the chips, and people took time giving the birthday boy lap dances (who I still hadn't gotten to wish a happy birthday to do to my babysitting gig with the other two nerds.), a couple of people had asked Rick to do shots with them which he was more than happy to do, and a hivemind showed up after the piñata game had ended. But other than that, the party seemed to be going rather well. I needed a smoke break after getting Fiddleford to finally sit down though, so I pushed open the sliding door and went out onto the small patio they had outside to enjoy my reward to my myself.

The night was peaceful. So much quieter than inside, that was for sure. I was surprised how well that little sliding door held all the noise inside. It was so muffled I could barely hear it, much less make out what song was playing. I lit my cigarette and relaxed looking out at the foggy night air when the door slid open behind me. "God, McGucket," I groaned. "I told you to stay on the couch." I heard a small chuckle as the door was slid shut.

"Guess again, Pines." A familiar voice spoke up. I turned around and saw Rick standing there holding the door handle. Finally getting a good look at him I saw that he was wearing a blue tank top and black vest, ripped black skinny jeans and some black combat boots. He looked smaller than I remember, but then again, it had been a little while since I'd seen him.

"Rick, hey man!" I exclaimed, not only because I was happy to finally talk to my friend, but also do to relief that it indeed wasn't Fiddleford. "Happy Birthday! I'm sorry I didn't say it sooner."

Crossing his arms, Rick responded. "Yeah, I was wondering when you were gonna talk to me." Rick stepped up next to me putting his hands on the railing. "Your ass has been f-fucking avoiding me all night." I rubbed the back of my neck and shrugged, grinning awkwardly. "Gonna share?" He gestured to my box of cigarettes. "It is my birthday." I smiled and pulled one out. He lit it taking a deep breath and exhaled into the cold autumn air. The smoke seemed to dance under the streetlights that shined down on their rundown sidewalk.

"So, how have you been, Lee?" He asked, making sure to really hit the nickname he had given me years ago.

I looked at him. "Ya know. I can't complain too much. Things have been better, but have been a lot worse ya know? Just living it up right now. Staying on the road with the Stanmobile."

"Still a dumb name."

"She's my baby, don't talk about her that way." I defended. "Besides, you named her." I inhaled again as I grinned.

He exhaled again as he murmured something in agreement. An uncomfortable silence made itself known as we stood there. I couldn't put my finger on why things felt so uncomfortable so quickly. "What about you? How's school?" I asked, breaking the silence.

Rick laughed sarcastically. "School's not a place for smart people, Stanley. You're lucky you figured that out sooner than me."

I was taken aback. Did Rick just kind of say that I'm smart? Me, smart? That had to have been the drugs and alcohol talking.

"But, you and Ford, you guys love science and stuff. Isn't that what you are getting to do?" He scoffed. " Are you guys are still tied for that Valentinorian thing? Like smartest class person?" I pried.

"Valedictorian." Rick corrected. "Emphasis on the, 'dick'." He inhaled again. "It doesn't mean anything. It's just a title that says you kissed the m-most ass and stayed up the latest working on homework that was pointless anyway."

"Well, to some people I think that's important, Rick. I know it means the world to Ford."

Rick scoffed again. "And, no. We aren't getting to really work on science. Not the stuff I'm wanting to work on anyway." He flicked the end of his cigarette and ashes fell to the ground. "Your brother doesn't care for the stuff I want to do either. I-I don't think he wants- don't think he likes me that much anymore."

I didn't know what to say. I couldn't tell him the things Ford had told me in confidence. But, I mean, he was a friend of mine too. Gah! I didn't like being in the middle of things. I finally decided to just let it hang there. "Well, you have always done whatever you wanted to, Rick, especially with all your science stuff. And if that title really doesn't mean anything to you, maybe you could just let him have Valdic-Valent.." I stopped. Rick stared at me. "The ass-kissing award thing."

Rick laughed again. "Haha and let your brother have something over me? No way, Pines. It's too much fun pissing Ford off, and holding this-holding that over his head is the easiest way to do it."

I looked at him and he looked at me as we started laughing softly. We laughed for a second, then continued to smoke. Standing in silence, I saw Rick occasionally looking over at me like he wanted to say something. At first I thought it might just be because he was drunk and/or high, but after like the third time, I figured it was because he really did have something to say. He was really trying to keep his cool, and while he was a fantastic liar, I'd known him for way too long for him to successfully hide something from me. Something was eating at him, and I didn't like seeing him this way.

"Is McGucket okay?" He asked running his hand through his wild hair. "Saw him giving you a diffi-a hard time."

That wasn't what he wanted to say. I inhaled my new cigarette. "Yeah, he's just fucked up."

"Well, that makes two of us." Rick turned his head away, and I turned to say something about what drugs Squanchy had given him when the door slid open again. Zech slipped outside with a loud laugh.

"Hey! There you are, Rick. I was looking all over for you! You coming back inside?"

I saw Rick tense up when he heard Zech's voice."In a sec-in a m-minute, Zech." He responded without looking up.

"Come on Rick, come dance with me. Leave old, Pines out here. Sure he's boring you with his stories." He laughed loudly.

Rick refused to look at Zech. Again, I couldn't tell if it was the drugs he had been given making his eyes dance around or if he was simply avoiding Zech on purpose, but Rick's eyelids looked heavy as he finally turned his head to face Zech.

"Zech, next song. I'll find you." He inhaled his cigarette again.

"You might not be able to." Zech chuckled "You know with the being high and drunk and...you know.." he rambled. He chuckled awkwardly again as Rick stared at him. He tried to recover by coughing and finally reached for Rick. "Anyway, I was thinking Rick, maybe later you and I could-"

"Zech," Rick cut him off and exhaled slowly. "-I'm talking to later." He half whispered as he gestured slightly towards, surprisingly, me...

Thank you for reading. Please review and let me know your thoughts. See you in chapter 2!

-Jedwyn