#the way they are aziraphale and crowley and ExR

[cloudysonder]

BirdRick: Trust, Home, and Return

Rick C137 meets BP at a rough point in his life--his wife is dead across the multiverse, and he's decided to dedicate his entire life to finding and killing the man who did it.

He's tired, he's grieving, he's numbing himself with drugs and alcohol and hedonistic, short-term relationships that he can quickly leave behind for the next universe. And at first, it seems like his meeting with BP is gonna end up the same--they start a band on a whim while high off their ass, and they have a wacky, contained adventure--

But after...

Rick stays.

Rick stays with that version of BP in that universe. (we see that version of BP's memories in Rickternal Friendshine, we see him with our Rick, we know they share those memories because of how they travel through his mind) He stays even when things start getting uncool, stays when even when things start becoming "work." He stayed with BP from start to finish fighting a revolution he didn't care about!

He gets that impulse again--that need to get out of this universe and travel to another that's slightly different, that's more fun--Rick is an adventure-junkie before all else, and he needs his fix.

But now it's not so easy to leave.

Now, he has someone by his side who he can leave his back to in a war, who makes the time between adventures less unbearable, who's honest and sincere and believes in the value of life and freedom and is willing to die for it. Rick knows for a fact that nothing matters, that the revolution fails before it begins in infinite universes, that in some universes, the oppressed are the oppressors, that infinity dies and is recreated every millisecond across universes--but he... he likes that BP believes. (He makes Rick feel like life isn't meaningless.)

So...

Come with me. Anywhere. Everywhere.

(Notice how Rick's eye bags have gotten better since meeting BP, notice the soft look in his eyes, the way he moves closer instead of moving away)

BP's the first person he's wanted to stay with since Diane. He tells him everything--the portal travel, the multiverse, the fact that infinite universes exist so none matter--nothing matters! Nothing matters, but you matter... to me.

It's Crowley telling Aziraphale they can go off together, it's Grantaire believing in nothing but Enjolras who believes in everything, it's someone in pain who hates everything but loves one person so, so dearly that they grab their hand and tell them to run away with them--

And BP says no.

The very reason why Rick wants BP to come with him is the reason he can't. Rick, against all odds, likes BP's sincerity, his belief that life matters. And BP, with that sincerity and belief, tells Rick that he cannot follow him, because his universe matters to him.

And Rick leaves, hurt. He shoots a portal, walks through, and it's over.

He can find another BP easily. One that wouldn't say no to him, one that would travel the multiverse with him, that sounds like him, moves like him, acts like him.

But he doesn't.

BP tells him to use the beacon if he needs him. We never see Rick use it. Not because Rick doesn't need him,

but because Rick keeps coming back.

We see a picture of Rick holding a baby Morty in BP's house, even though our Morty has only known Rick for 2 years. Even while traveling the multiverse, exchanging Beths and Mortys and Jerrys, Rick keeps coming to see that Birdperson, in that universe.

There's not much that Rick comes back to. Being able to travel anywhere all the time means that he doesn't really have a home.

His original universe is soaked in grief and self-loathing. Diane's voice blares from his garage speakers and blames him for her death. Everything in that garage is dedicated to finding her killer. Rick only wakes up there sometimes in a miserable haze, torturing himself with photos of her.

But sometimes. Rick finds something wonderful in a different universe. A nice leaf. A pretty seed. A new drug that makes you feel absolutely fantastic.

A grandson.

(Framed photo in BP's house)

And who else would he want to show it to, but BP?

Rick does not have many places to return to. His original family is dead. "Home" is just another word for a base of operations to locate Rick Prime. Staying with Our Morty is just another scheme to get closer to Rick Prime. Rick does not have a home. Rick does not need a home.

Rick Sanchez is a hypocrite.

If he truly didn't care about anything but adventure, there are infinite BPs that would be infinitely more convenient to stay with, to go find and visit, who would say the right things, who would come visit him instead of always making Rick come to him, but, to his great chagrin,

"That's not how any of this works."

Rick Sanchez, the smartest man in the universe, cannot choose who he loves.

He keeps coming back through decades, sharing drinks, stories, his very best discoveries--a moment of peace and companionship between his adventures.

What is that, if not a home?

@birdperselias pls see this