AN: This is gonna be a long one boys. Doc said it was 1,396 words long which when I write it on my phone is a lot. I'll place a trigger warning for anyone who gets uncomfortable when talking about injuries sustained from metal and burns as well as the mention of self-harm and suicide in some capacity. That being said, enjoy this chapter I've worked on for a week.

By the time it was 4pm, Morty was already working on figuring out what the fuck to do and Rick was waking up. He watched his grandpa wake up really slow, which was normal, as he scratched his arm. Earlier, he'd burnt his arm while trying to make himself food so he cleaned up the burn as best as possible and covered it in bandages. He then had to take a break from trying to find an alternative power source for the portal gun after he cut himself on one of the pieces of metal. How he did that is a mystery even to Morty himself.

Rick groaned, reaching for what he thought would be his empty flask. To his surprise, it was full. Not just kind of full either. His head pounded from his hangover as he drank out of his flask. He wasn't looking at Morty but he could hear him get up and leave the room. In that same moment he also realized the portal gun was gone. Not like if anyone could've found out a way to use the broken piece of shit that they'd be able to do anything without an adequate power source.

"GODDAMN IT!" Morty yelled from within the bathroom. He was changing his bandages and trying not to spill things everywhere. Obviously based on that yell, it did not go well. "How d-did I get t-this to work earlier y-yet I can't make i-it work now??" He mumbled to himself. He watched the door, knowing damn well eventually Rick was going to come in and see him tending to his own wounds. He failed to remember that locking the door is a good idea. Rick could just walk the hell in if he so chooses to. Morty tried to quickly finish up the bandage change so Rick didn't find him like this and assume the worst.

Rick walked down towards the bathroom. He knew Morty was doing something in there, hopefully not cutting himself or trying to end it all, but nonetheless there was something going on. "M-Morty," He called toward the bathroom door. "Yo-You good in th-there?" Morty starts to move quietly towards the door after finishing up and just opens the door. "I-I-I'm fine, Rick." He replied, refusing to look at his grandpa. He tries to keep his arm and hand from being seen as to not raise any alarm bells. It was probably too late though, given that Rick was looking at the two bandaged areas.

"Th-Then explain this, Morty." Rick demanded, looking at his arm and hand. Morty sighed, he knew he really couldn't lie about something this visible. Granted, he had before with black eyes and broken bones but this was different. No, they were trying to be different is a better way to put that. He started by pointing at his arm. "Burn from tr-trying to make food," He quickly started to explain. Then came the hand. "Cut myself o-on metal wh-while working on the p-portal gun." He sighed and looked up at Rick. He saw his mouth start to open, as if to ask a question but he opened his mouth again first. "D-Don't ask about h-h-how I did th-that with th-the metal. I don't e-even know how I-I-I did it." He quickly said.

Rick still stood in the doorway. There was no way in hell while he was passed out drunk that he couldn't have heard potential yells. Morty's fucking loud when he wants to be, sometimes he can't help it especially with pain. How could he not know about this? Forget the portal gun right now, this is more important than the portal gun. "L-Let me see th-the damage here." He says calmly.

Morty gulps, watching Rick get down on a knee and taking his hands. His left hand was the first thing to be looked at. He slowly unwrapped the bandages. Not too bad. Rick thought, poking at the injury like Morty wouldn't scream out in pain. The cut was most definitely going to become a scar, though it wouldn't be deep. He heard Morty gulp, knowing full well why he did. He took a longer time to unwrap the bandages on his right arm so as not to irritate the already damaged flesh.

Morty winced slightly as Rick took a really close look at the burn injury. There weren't enough sedative-like substances in the world, a bit over exaggerated on Morty's part there, that would make the sensation stop. It had been over seven hours since he first got the burn, but it still hurt like hell for him. There was more poking and he wasn't quite ready to have such a large reaction internally. Stop being so fucking pathetic. He thought to himself. You literally have near death experiences every other week if not more frequently. Goddamn man.

He didn't know how to feel. Morty was going to let Rick do whatever he felt was best for his injuries but he didn't know how good that would actually be for either of them. If something went wrong, either he or Rick would have to become the primary overseer of recovery, and Morty can't do that on his own. "I-I'll (urrp) be right back," Rick said as he stood up. "D-Don't fucking go an-anywhere, ya hear?" He shot Morty a glare and did the "I'm watching you" sign to him.

Morty hopped up and sat on the edge of the sink. I'm a goddamn clutz. He thought to himself, looking down at his injuries. The injury from burning himself would probably be like that for a few days and he hoped and prayed the cut didn't turn into tetanus. God only knows what would happen if he got tetanus and Rick had to deal with that.

The time was almost 11pm which is not an unusual time to be awake by Rick's standards. Besides, fixing the damn portal gun's power source was more important than sleep at this point. Morty seemed about ready to mentally call it a night and let his body follow suit. He sighed loudly while yawning midway through, catching the attention of Rick. "R-Rick?" Morty yawned out. "Wh-What's up, buddy?" Rick replied as he took another swig out of his flask. Morty looks down at his hands while reaching into his pocket for his phone. "I-I miss them," He started, still looking down at his hands. "No ma-matter how shitty th-they are to us, I miss them…"

He generalized a bit there, he was mostly talking about himself being shit on by Beth, Summer and Jerry. Rick didn't respond, instead he got up from his seat and stood next to Morty with his arms open. "We-We're alone here, M-Morty," He mumbled while looking away, trying to hide the obvious embarrassment of even thinking to let Morty touch him. "Come here." He whispers softly.

The weight of Morty's body made Rick almost fall backwards but he stabilizes himself before almost falling on his ass. He was a bit more gentle given the fact Morty did have injuries and he didn't want to make them worse. Morty's arms tightly wrapped around Rick's torso while being careful with his injured arm. He felt a hand run through his curly hair, seeming to relax both Rick and himself at the same time. Not like either of them really needed to relax as nothing that stressful had truly occurred in the past few hours. The two stayed like this for a while, well until it was apparent Morty was ninety-nine point nine percent about to fall asleep standing up.

It was at that point Rick had decided to pick up his zero point one percent awake grandson and carry him up to bed. He'd never admit that he, Rick C-137, had an attachment to a Morty that wasn't even blood related to him within Morty's home universe. He'd never admit this whole ordeal made him very uncomfortable and close to vulnerable not to mention he was more out of control than he had been all fucking year. It's been more of a learning experience than he's willing to say aloud. Once he had put Morty to bed, he closed the door and went back down the stairs. He was going to fix the fuel issue tonight, no matter what it took and how long he'd be awake for.

After Chapter AN: Sorry it took so long! I got swamped with extra school work for my classes and I got invested in this chapter for some reason. I couldn't stop writing it. Anyways, the next chapter hopefully won't take as long to create as I already have it outlined and all the other things I need are implemented into the main document I've been using to write the story.If you feel that anything is too OOC for either of them, please let me know in a PM or a review. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!