Morty took a grim sip of his coffee (a small vanilla latte) as he set out for his first class of the morning - Physics 202. It was only ninety minutes long, so it really wasn't bad when you looked at it. That is, if you weren't like Morty, where anything and everything school related equalled bad. Or tiring. Or aggravating. Or made you wanna blow your brains out. Or -

"Hey Morty!" A petite woman with short, strawberry blonde hair was jogging up to Morty, awkwardly darting through the flow of people with the occasional "sorry" when she got too close to someone. Morty smiled and stopped to let her catch up.

"Morning, Abbie. Ready for - for some good ol' morning science?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, every day. Can I have some of that?" Abbie asked, gesturing to the coffee cup. Morty passed it to her wordlessly and she took a few grateful chugs, spluttering as she handed it back.

"Oh God, I scalded myself," she choked and struggled for a moment to regain her composure. She seemed unimpressed by Morty's laughter.

"So! I hear we're going out tonight with the gang," she said with a sly, green-eyed glance. Morty gaped at her.

"How did - Julian was passed out the entire time I was with him after we made those plans. Is he - I mean, is he a wizard or - or something?"

Abbie shrugged nonchalantly. "Fuck if I know. You know he's always tryna get something happening one way or another." They were inside the lecture hall now, along with a good fifty or so students. "I can't fucking wait. I got some shit already." She wiggled her eyebrows.

Morty smirked at her. "You're always so prepared, Abs."

"Oh, Jesus," she shuddered, and the movement looked huge on her small frame. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that? This isn't, like, some cutesy fucking sitcom, dude." With that thought, they took their seats and waited for the lecture on electromagnetic fields to begin. The professor was this redhead MILF that Morty was rather fond of. Made it kind of difficult to pay attention to the material, though.

After an hour and a half of powerpoint slides, the two were free to go.

"That wasn't so bad, now was it?" Abbie asked Morty with a playful smile.

"Nah, I kinda like the concept of electromagnetic fields a - anyway. I mean, they heat up my hot pocket, that's good in my book."

Abbie rolled her eyes, smiling. "What more do you need?" It was time for them to go to their next classes - Morty had Calculus, and Abbie had Anatomy or something like that. "Later Morty, I'm gonna call you tonight!"

"Okay, bye!"

Morty had to walk outside across the lawn to get to his class. Of course it was fucking freezing, it being the start of winter in Seattle. At least it hadn't rained much lately. He shivered and pulled the strings of his hoodie tighter. Regardless of the occasional shit weather, Morty liked Seattle. There were pine and evergreen trees everywhere, the people minded their own business, and no one raised in the city would blink an eye at someone being gay or trans… usually. It was nice. He felt at peace here. He was glad the University of Washington had such a kickass science program, too. He might even stay in the city after he graduated - although he always dreaded the thought of staying in one place too long, if he had to, this is where he'd stay. Still, though. He'd like to travel.

Morty finally made it to the other building, sighing in relief as the warm air from inside rushed into his shivering body. He wondered where he'd ever go if he were to travel, or move around a lot. There were a lot of amazing places on the planet, sure. But… God, it just didn't seem like enough. There was something very… isolated about the idea. You can only go so many places, right?

Morty shrugged and went into his math class.

Rick moaned, carefully rotated his joints, feeling them crack and pop as he rose like a zombie from his bed. The red-orange sun shone through his windows, appearing to set the white walls of his apartment aflame with its glow. It was very quiet. Rick got up and shuffled to take a shower.

When he was finished, and wearing the cleanest clothes he could find, he went back to the Morty Watcher. He was all too aware of the fact that he could easily become obsessed with watching Morty - it had been so long since he'd seen him. It felt like doing heroin after being four years clean and not knowing what to do next - forget about the lapse, or fall back into the addiction.

But fuck it. That's what Rick said when he was addicted to heroin.

So he flipped on the TV once more. It was still on his Morty's channel. At the moment, he appeared to be staring vacantly at the front of a classroom where a thirty or so man with glasses was scribbling formulas across a whiteboard deftly. It seemed to be the same mind numbing math shit Morty was having an aneurysm over last night.

Rick scoffed and got up to refill his flask for the night. Apparently, Morty was just as much of a boring nerd as ever, just slightly more educated. Rick had to admit, he never expected Morty to be able to even approach a calculus level of math. That in itself was very… unMorty-like. Rick could admit that he was slightly impressed by that. No matter the fact that seven year old Rick was doing the same math - he wasn't even on the charts compared to other people.

Rick sighed. Good for him. Maybe the little fucker will actually pull in a decent salary in his mediocre future.

Rick left the TV running as he locked up and headed to The Drinchron, his favorite bar on the planet, intent on cleansing his mind.

Morty let himself exhale in relief when calculus was finally over. It was getting harder each day in that class to stay focused.

However, his demeanor soon grew lighter as it did every time he stepped into his final class, Intro to Cosmology. Although his professor was a creaky old man with a penchant for breaking out into a coughing fit every now and then, it couldn't bother Morty. Often, the only time Morty could even tell it was an advanced college class was by the constant influx of new information. Most of the time it seemed closer to him like an enchanting story his mother read him when he was little, a never-ending tale of fantasies beyond even a child's imaginings. It felt as though he himself was a star that burned with bright, scorching passion. Sometimes he felt more like a lone rock hurtling through empty space, a quiet but peaceful observer to those incomprehensible dreams.

Morty figured this was how everyone felt about their passions. Writing a poem, performing a dance routine, dusting off a skull in a desert, hell, even solving a complicated formula he was sure must bring someone out there this kind of explicit joy. He was grateful to know exactly what he loved with such clarity. Surely, some people don't even know themselves that well.

Morty did. He felt like he always has.

Smiling to himself and sitting next to a pretty Latina girl, he settled in for the lecture on primordial background radiation.

A while after the end of class when Morty was getting over his post-educational high by drinking a smoothie (strawberry banana) and wandering the grounds aimlessly, his phone buzzed and he answered it to Julian's voice.

"Hey loser, we going or what?"

"Now?" Morty asked incredulously, and pulled the phone away from his ear to check the time. He brought it back. "It's only three-thirty, dude."

"Uhhh… has that ever stopped us before?"

Morty sucked more of his smoothie up through the straw thoughtfully, then shrugged. "Only on weeknights. Let's get something to eat first."

"Right on. We'll meet up with Abbie and Tisha later, fuck if I wanna eat with them right now. Abbie's been pissing me off kinda lately. I'll tell ya'bout it later. Meet me… well, I'm kinda broke. Wanna meet me at like, the Burger Place? Down on 55th?"

Morty chuckled. "S - sure Julian, I'll see you in like fifteen?"

"Yup, seeya!" Morty hung up and smirked with a devilish smoothie-sip. Hell yes. Time to get fucked up.