carpe noctem// rick and morty

fan meet

entering a house had never been more stressful, aster was almost disappointed in herself that it'd been stressful this time. once they were through the door, aster felt the intense need to fan girl, being the huge geek she was.

in her defence, it wasn't every day she got to enter the house she had been seeing almost every time she opened netflix.

"where do i take off my shoes?" she asked, turning to summer.

"why would you take off your shoes?"

"...because we're indoors? is there a reason i shouldn't?"

"not really but we don't take off our shoes in the house usually."

"really? thats normal?" aster couldn't fight her instinct to grimace

"you are telling me you take off your shoes when you enter the house?"

"yeah..." aster was concerned, VERY concerned. why would you want to drag all the dirt and germs you are carrying under your shoes inside the house? was that really how things were done there?

she felt very uncomfortable walking around a stranger's house while wearing shoes, but also if everyone else was doing so it might have been even more unhygienic if she walked around barefoot, so she just let it slide.

sighing, she waved her hands in a dismissive motion.

"nevermind then, forget about it"

the kids left their bags at the base of the stairs and went to the living room. aster followed in their steps, looking around the seemingly unreal (to her) house. objectively it was a perfectly normal house for a family living in the suburbs, to aster however it was almost as unbelievable that she was there as it would be to say that jesus christ was seen smoking weed and skating at your local skatepark.

entering the living room, she was both disappointed and relieved to see that rick was absent. she didn't really know if she would've been able to react in a manner that didn't make her seem crazy at the moment.

"we still have some time until lunch, so what do you want to do?" summer asked.

"well i still haven't understood how aster came to the school" (m)

"oh yeah i'd like to hear more about you, you did tell us during lunch but i didn't get it" (s)

"well it's not that impressive really, i just ended up here cause i attended a summer program for gifted teenagers hosted by seattle university. i stayed here all summer, even after the program ended because id met one of the students going there. he offered me to work at the cafe he owned because id told him i wanted more allowance money, and things kind of took off from there."

"no way you're kidding" summer was in disbelief

"so things like that can actually happen" morty agreed

"i mean yea, now i live in an apartment complex right by the cafe. It's a bit far though, so jasper will be dropping me off every day until i can get a license myself."

"wait is jasper that really hot uni student that was waiting by the school gate on a motorcycle this morning?" summer seemed really invested in the story, which made aster feel unreasonably proud.

"i mean if he had short black hair and a dragon tattoo on his neck, then yeah that was him. he doesn't really like the type to own a cafe, right?" it was nice having something to brag about, aster realised.

"damn girl you really hit the jackpot huh? i wouldn't want to leave either if i were you haha."

summer was right, when you manage to meet such handsome people, get a job that is both easy and aesthetically pleasing, a free apartment styled to your exact taste, not to mention the immense freedom you gained, you really don't have much of an incentive to leave that place.

"so you and that guy, what is the deal with you two?" (s)

"yeah tell us" (m)

"he's just a friend you guys, i haven't known him long enough to be anything else"

"aw that sucks, it'd be perfect if you were together", summer made a dejected face, "but at least you can meet someone at school. i mean, a ton of people were looking your way at school today."

"yeah summer's right, there's a ton more fish in the sea, y-yknow?" morty looked a bit embarrassed to say this, aster realised, but she didn't give it much thought.

"thanks, guys, but im not really big on dating, i mean ive never been in a relationship before."

"no way, really? i would have never guessed" (s)

"yeahh, there haven't been many chances for that to change haha"

as the siblings continued to ask aster things, she noticed beths head appearing at the doorway. she told the three that lunch was ready, and that they could eat anytime.

"want to go eat? i got pretty hungry during all that talk" said morty, to which both summer and aster agreed.

and so they made their way to the table, where both the parents were already seated and an extra seat was made for aster, right next to the empty one that she assumed was for the family's genius.

all seats had a plate of food served in front of them, which could only mean that the whole family would be dining. aster had a crippling feeling she would get indigestion that day, and as she sat down her gut feeling proved to be correct.

the door to the dining room opened, revealing the person she'd been wanting to see most...