Rick

finding you was the last thing rick wanted to do.

but you begged and begged in your strange language and he had no other choice- a nagging morty yanking at the hem of his coat.

rick wanted to grab his crystals and dip but it seemed like morty and his everlasting need to help caused his plans to be knocked out and thrown to the side.

he spent a few, unwelcome minutes building you a translator and snapping the thing around your wrist. your voice came out automated and a little funny, but rick wasn’t going for perfection. he listened (not really) as you spoke, hands waving about and voice glitching when you’d say something a little too quickly.

it took a lot less convincing than rick liked- and you were in the back seat of his vehicle (fuck calling it a space ship, he thought that was lame and unoriginal).

morty talked to you. for hours.

and rick would definitely lie and say he didn’t do a few laps around some planets on his way home so the two of you could chat it up.

you didn’t seem to be much younger than morty by your planets status- only younger by a slight bit. he had picked up a few things from your very loud conversation with morty: your parents were killed during some war (how cliche), you could understand english (no shock there, because that’s all he spoke when he saw you), and you were smart.

and he didn’t mean “i know all the digits of pi” smart, he meant “i know how to create an intergalactic war weapon,” smart.

well he’d be damned.

after getting you back to his daughters home and dragging you to the garage, he was sticking you on his work bench and drilling you with questions you could hardly answer.

rick had eventually grown to like you. you couldn’t go home- that much was obvious, and so he let you sleep in a spare room he had built under his own. you were able to eat almost any food which was a win and you eventually learned to speak some english even without the translator (though sometimes you still used it).

morty had accepted you the moment he saw you and he was happy to let you take his place in some missions- too busy fawning over a girl he liked or just wanting to stay home.

“gimmie- gimmie my mask real quick.” he grumbled, sticking his hand out behind him expectantly.

the welding mask was placed in his hand and he slid it on, bright flashes now dulled as he welded some pieces of metal together. you stood next to him, leaning into him a bit as you watched, eyes swirling from the white lights.

pulling the mask off, he looked down at you, brow raised. you were wobbling a bit and he brought a hand out to pat your shoulder, your body jerking with each pat. “thought it was common— common sense to not stare directly into something that’ll burn your retinas?”

his tone wasn’t condescending, more teasing and joking. he tossed the mask to the side, grabbing the metal and holding it out in front of him, squinting his eyes.

“c’mere,” he mumbled, quickly glancing at you form over his shoulder. “s’that look right?”

rick wasn’t one to ask for anything, but you needed a new translator because the one he made half-assed was quickly falling apart. he wanted to make sure this one was right for you, but he definitely wasn’t gonna admit it.