Chapter Four

[Accusations.]

.

.

.

.

. A few weeks after their dinner, Jerry opens the front door, smiling widely once seeing his childhood friend standing before him. Inviting him inside, he watches the man easily carry a large crate of sealed beer bottles, all filled to the top with the alcohol. Jerry leads him to the kitchen, where he sets the crate on the counter and turns to the man, slowly removing his thick, black coat. "Thanks for having me." Kurt smiles and stays in place when Jerry moves across the kitchen.

"Of course, it's about time you come over." Jerry takes an unpopped popcorn packet out from one of the cabinets and places it in the microwave. Humming softly, Kurtis looks around the kitchen, taking in his surroundings.

"You have a lovely place." He says whilst he follows Jerry back into the living room, where he lays his jacket on the sofa.

"Thanks," The man replies, moving to give his friend a hug. Wrapping his arms around him, Kurt rubs Jerry's back, his smile slowly fading into a worried face.

"Dude, you're freezing." He pulls away and hands him his jacket from the couch, helping him into it. "Wear it for as long as you need to." He rubs Jerry's biceps in an attempt to warm him further, the man blushing ever so slightly. He nods and looks away quickly, He's so sweet... Kurtis pulls him back into a hug, they hold one another tightly. Jerry presses his face into Kurt's neck, silent as they stand there for a few moments longer.

"Am I interrupting something?" The two move away from each other, enough to see Rick standing in the dining room doorway as he eats their popcorn, but still have their hands on one another.

"Oh, not at all." Kurtis lets go of the older man's son-in-law. "Hello, Rick. Your beer is on the counter." He walks towards him, Rick nodding whilst he moves to pull out his wallet.

"Forty-two dollars, right?"

"Yeah, yes, please." He shoves his hands into his pockets, nervously accepting the money from the older man. The kids are at school and Beth at her job as a horse surgeon, leaving the three men alone in the residence. Kurt tucks the money into his fat wallet and hides it back into his backpack before taking a seat on the couch.

"Could I get m-my popcorn back?" Jerry asks in a soft voice, standing in front of Rick with a little smile. Rick rolls his eyes and holds the packet out to him, moving his beer from being clenched between his armpit to his hand.

"No." Rick mutters before watching Jerry move to the television, opening his bottle and leaning against the doorframe. "What're you rascals up to?" Jerry hums, slight discomfort in his eyes - though Rick had been acting somewhat polite to him for the past while, he cannot help but feel this is only an act, a way of getting Jerry to soften up to him and do as he pleases, whenever he pleases.

"Just going to watch Star Wars together," Kurt says quietly, Jerry putting in the DVD. "I'm not that much of a fan of Star Wars, but I like sci-fi." He laughs softly, Rick hums, sipping from his beer.

"That's so lame," Rick moves to the front of the screen, Jerry seating himself next to the farmer. "You'd rather watch some boring movie franchise than do literally anything else?" Jerry sighs, pausing the movie as it begins to play, he looks at Rick with an annoyed expression, trying to hide his fear.

"What do you want, Rick?" He asks, defeat in his voice. A huff slips through his nostrils, silence shortly after as he moves his gaze to the side, hands in his pocket and holding the glass bottle. He frowns slightly, his face serious.

"I want help with this experiment I'm doing." Rick tells them with a dominant tone, peering forward. "Morty's busy with a test, promised him I'd leave him for today." He glances between the two, Kurt with a curious look on his face and Jerry giving him a nervous face. "It won't kill you, I just need to aquire a little something and you two can be back to watch Star Trek after." He explains, making his way to the garage, "Now, c'mon, I'm not in the mood to bring out Zymph."

"It's Star Wars..." Jerry mutters under his breath as Kurtis rises to his feet, a sense of wonder in his eyes. He looks at Jerry for a moment, the man slowly looking up at his guest - who gives him an assuring smile, hand laying on his shoulder. As the man stands, a large, purple being with rocks covered in moss and crystals sticking out from her skin, eyes black and a teeth spiky. Armor and a brown cilt cover her parts, anger on her expression. The two men latch onto one another as they shout out of fear, Kurt trying to make a run for it whilst picking Jerry up with him - but the creature grabs ahold of them and sprints to the garage. She drops them to the ground, the two shaking slightly. Rick, leaning against the counter with his arms folded, rolls his eyes and pulls out his portal gun, Kurt's eyes widening at the sight of it.

"Woah..." He slowly lets go to Jerry, the creature shrinking to the size of a squirrel and hiding out in her little birdhouse. Maybe he's not so different after all... Kurtis moves closer to Rick, pointing towards the gun. "I've seen that before, a green liquid thingy." He strokes his chin at this, he's more comfortable with Rick, though he doesn't fully trust him, he knows he is the type of person to raise a fist only after being provoked. Richard tenses at his knowledgeable of the gun - regret of pulling it out dwelling in his mind. Jerry glances at Kurt for a moment, raising an eyebrow at him.

"It's a portal gun," He says calmly, he could never assume the worst for the man, always thinking the best of him - idolizing him in a way. Rick narrows his eyes at Kurtis for a moment longer, before shooting a portal in front of the workbench.

"Ladies first." Rick eyes Jerry, a frown appearing on his face, the two not noticing Kurt whilst he moves to the portal.

"Thank you, how thoughtful." Kurtis smiles, about to step through before Jerry pulls him away. "Yes?"

"Is this some trick to get us stuck in some random universe, Rick?" Jerry asks, Kurtis pouts [A 'Morty face' will be addressed as a pout, thank you.] and looks between the two, curious and confused.

"No, I'm serious." Rick rolls his eyes. "I genuinely need help, okay?" He groans in annoyance and hops in, Kurtis and Jerry following hand in hand after sharing a look. They emerge into a forest of pink and blue cotton candy trees, the grass a light violet and the sky baby blue. The air fresh and smells of cinnamon buns and freshly baked cake. The duo look around in awe, Kurtis pulling Jerry along when noticing Rick walking away. They all roam around the forest, daisy-like flowers growing in the grass.

"Wow, this place is beautiful!" Jerry grins, Kurtis nodding in agreement.

"Just in and out, girls, no need to jerk off to the sights." Rick belches, climbing over a fence - the two wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't done so, too invested in their surroundings. Kurtis starts climbing up it, stopping to help Jerry to the top. He hands on his feet on the other side and holds out his hands to catch Jerry, which he successfully does and sets him down gently. They follow the older man to a small, pink cottage, various purple and blue wooden planks between the pink. The two share a look, I have a bad feeling about this... Jerry thinks to himself, impulsively taking Kurt's hand in his - he knows Rick would do something insane, something they wouldn't expect at this very moment.

The scientist turns on his heel, causing the duo to stumble backwards, staring intently at Rick as he reaches into his coat pockets. He tosses them two futuristic guns and faces the front, pulling out a much larger gun compared to theirs. "Ri-!"

"Sh!" Rick cuts his son-in-law off, and leans against the wall beside the door, holding the gun ready to aim at the people inside. Kurtis cocks his gun and readies it, glancing at Jerry to see if he's alright, before giving Rick a nod. With this, Rick kicks the door down and starts shooting red lazers at the inhabitants, Kurtis attacking those who try fighting back, and Jerry stands in the back, fearful. The farmer and scientist clear the place of living aliens, the farmer pulls his partner into the cottage before shutting the door and checking for any sign of habitants coming over, through the stained glass.

Rick starts scavenging the place, ordering Jerry to search the corpses. Jerry gulps as he approaches a bleeding out creature, feeling anxious staring at it. Jumping slightly, he turns to his right when feeling a hand gently grab his shoulder, he relaxes seeing as it's only his friend, who nods his head to the door. "You keep watch, I'll search them, okay?" He rubs his back softly before crouching beside the corpse, "Just tell us when you spot anyone."

Nodding, a bit shaken at the subtlety Kurtis portrays, Jerry makes his way to the door and leans against it, watching through the window. Finishing up, the three rush out of the cottage, running through the forest together. "Come on, Rick, shoot a portal so we can go back!" Kurtis instructs, holding the head of an alien on his hip and a bag of jewels over his shoulder, Jerry carries a crate of bottled liquids and gases, some have tiny creatures inside. Rick, on the other hand, holds only a case in his hand, the other his gun.

"How about this... traitor?!" Rick huffs between words, moving to throw a punch at Kurt. He misses however, stumbling forward as Kurt skids into the grass, pushing Jerry behind himself. A frightened face turns with rage at the sudden attack.

"What the hell?!" He shouts, flashbacks of that night - that dreadful night - comes flashing back. The rain, the strong sent of alcohol on his breath, flooding through his head. I need to get that gun thing, get Jerry and get out of here. He tells himself, throat tightening slightly.

"How the fuck do you know about the portal gun, huh?!" Rick shouts, walking towards the man as he backs away, Jerry holding onto him for dear life. "How come you didn't mind killing the people, taking their things, let alone hold a gun?!"

"I'm a farmer! I have guns! Heck, I gut fish and kill chickens for their meat, I'm normalized to this!" He argues, feeling somewhat lightheaded by the similarity of the scene before him.

"You didn't answer me about the gun." Rick hisses, the look in his eyes sending chills down Kurt's spine. He grits his teeth, I'm stronger than I was back then, I'm not a kid anymore. I can protect myself now. I can protect Jerry better than I did, I will protect him. He huffs, pointing the gun he had received from Rick at its creator.

"Why does it matter? You'd kill me no matter my response." Kurtis stands in a stance, an adrenaline rushing through Jerry as he jumps in front of Rick, panicked and confused.

"Guys! What's going on?! Can we just go back?!" He asks, waving his hands frantically at the two. Rick and Kurt stay in their spots, Jerry afraid they would hurt each other - morely of Rick hurting Kurtis. "Can we please talk about this and be reasonable?"

"He's like that parasite, Jerry! Sleepy Gary!" Rick glares at Jerry briefly, lowering his voice. "He's just trying to get into our family to get to me, he's using you."

Kurtis scoffs, "Why would I ever do that? I could never hurt Jerry!" He tosses the gun to the ground, raising his hands. "You want to fight me?! Then mess me up! Make me bleed out in a forest again, fucker!" Jerry pauses for a moment, turning to Rick with a horrified face. Richard states silent for a second longer, face still as he slowly connects the dots.

"Again?" He echoes, Kurtis throws his hands up and starts backing away, anger on his face.

"Yeah! Fuck, let's ruin another one of Jerry's days! It's what really gets you off, huh?" Kurt doesn't look down at Jerry when he approaches him. Rick sighs, anger melting away. Kurtis stands tall, calming himself once noticing the shift of emotion on Rick's face. The older man looks at the two, Jerry behind Kurtis as the farmer stands in a stance, his upper body looking more relaxed however.

They remain silent, staring at one another as they all wait for someone to speak - Rick moves to pick up the gun and shoves it in his pocket, looking at Kurt over his shoulder. "It wasn't me. I'm sure it was just another version of me, James." Kurtis sighs, bowing his head to hide his teary eyes.

"I know..." He whispers, his ears ringing, as Rick shoots a portal onto a tree, the three all walking through and into the garage. They leave the items on the counters and Kurtis moves to the garage door. "I need to go." He says in a monotone, Jerry grabs ahold of his overalls.

"No, please stay!" Jerry begs, Rick scratching in one of his many boxes.

"Yeah, we need to talk about this, James." Rick declares, eyeing the two as they stand there silently.

[20 May 2022.]