Morty was conflicted, which seemed to be the new normal for him. He'd made his decision, he'd agreed to come back.
       But he felt like he'd been suckered into it again, like he was guilt tripped to come back. He'd survived five years without that man, managed to go weeks after seeing him and having Rick find that, after all these years, Morty was alive. He'd managed on his own, he'd done so good. He'd been successful as a man, as a religious individual. He'd done beautifully, running children's Spanish classes, teaching bible study, holding adult bible classes. He'd been clean, he'd been good. 
       He hadn't thought anything 'bad' or 'dirty' in four years. Hadn't seen somebody nude, hadn't even looked at himself. Hell, he'd stopped shaving everything because he didn't have to. He'd read every book he'd wanted to, learned how to cook on his own. He'd become the very definition of a house-spouse. He'd performed the duties of an individual spending every day at home, taking care of the kids, even though he hadn't had any. He hadn't cursed until he'd seen Rick again. He hadn't doubted himself until he saw the man again.
        It was hard, slipping back into the lifestyle he'd once led. No, Morty did not go immediately into dancing. He told Rick he'd need a little while to get back into all of that. He remained in his own house, sharing the home with Sam still. He didn't want to hurry back into his life. To do that would be murder.
       It had taken everything in the brunet to jump into the shower and spend an hour shaving carefully. He'd felt significantly colder, though it could have just been him mind playing tricks on him. It was just weird, running through that process again. 
       He'd avoided staring at himself in the mirror for any amount of time, until just this morning. He'd lost weight, developed a smaller, firm body type. His stomach was what he'd wished for years ago, a flat surface instead of the pudge he'd hated. His body, hairless, again, was the strangest thing for him. He hadn't taken the time to investigate his own body type until two days after agreeing. After that almost regretful 'okay'.
       But there was no backing out now. He'd called ahead to apologize, to say he wouldn't be accepting the position after all. John Schelan was dead to the world now, taking the place of Morty Smith. The brunet was going to revitalize his name if it was the last thing he was to do.

       Currently, he was gathering his things from his home, throwing a few objects into a knapsack. He was going to visit Gary, having asked Rick not to say anything to the bouncer, and the man would meet him there later. Sam was out, having left on a walk to meet with somebody. Morty was fairly certain he was seeing somebody and didn't want to be open about it yet. But he wasn't one to press for answers.
       The brunet walked from the house, locking the door behind himself before hopping into his vehicle. He frowned at the light scrape on the side, remembering that Sam had slipped and knocked into the car once. With a huff, the brunet made his way from the short driveway, weaving through cars as he made his way to Gary's. The man should be home, but if not he Morty would be meeting Rick at his house instead.  
       Morty had sped down the highway, pulling off and creeping down back streets now as he soon found his friend's house. The lights were on and it looked like Rick had beaten Morty there, the man's mustang in the driveway near Gary's Impala. Morty remembered how he had referred to it as 'his baby' and found it to be a rather pleasant memory, pulling up alongside the lighter colored vehicle and grabbing his bag. He stepped out, creeping up to the door. When he was certain his appearance was alright, knowing Gary wouldn't care if Morty was comfortable leaving his shirt in his bag, he knocked quickly on the door, pulling a serious expression and holding his cross up.
       When the door opened, Gary peered out curiously, his eyes widening as he saw the brunet. "Hi, I'm your local pastor. Have you heard about our Lord and Savior recently?" Morty questioned, still holding the necklace up. Gary gave an airy laugh, staring like he simply could not believe the brunet was in front of him. Morty soon found himself in one of Gary's classic 'bear-hugs', fighting to breathe as the man seemed to refuse to let him go. "Oxygen," Morty dramatically rasped, squirming in the man's hold.
       "You got smaller," Gary muttered as he slowly let the brunet wander freely. Morty nodded, stepping into the home when Gary stepped aside. "Had a problem taking care of myself for a while." Gary nodded, closing his door. "Sam told me about that. I heard everything that happened in your life. Heard you ran a circus for a while, maintained the main attraction."
        "Ah, well, you know me. Always looking for attention," Morty joked, stealing the couch before Gary could take it. "Muahaha," Morty laughed triumphantly, tossing his bag to his feet.
       "I heard circus." Morty spun at the sound of Rick's voice, finding the man walking in from the kitchen. "Pop-Tart whore," Morty mumbled, staring at the silver package before he spun back and settled onto the couch. "I could fight back and call you an attention whore," Rick stated, inhaling half a pop-tart. Morty rolled his eyes, fidgeting with the cross. "You'd be jealous," he taunted. "I was a great circus performer." He threw a hand to his forehead, dramatically staring up into the nonexistant light before he smiled and looked back down. 
       Gary laughed now, shaking his head. "You cheated with your act." Morty glanced curiously now, "Do tell."
      "Come on, there's no way you coulda done it. Sam was making stories up." Gary stated. "What?" Rick questioned, tossing his pop tart wrapper to the nearby end table. "What the hell did he do?" 
       "Hold on," Gary urged, holding a hand up to Rick. Morty huffed, "Y'all better believe me, because I will not tolerate being called a liar." The brunet grabbed his phone, playing a round of Tap-Tap-Dash as he continued listening to what Gary had to say. "So what you're telling me is, if I randomly have one of those damn things lying around, you could do the act?" Gary challenged and Morty was interested. "It sounds like you do have one lying around, and if this is a sex joke, I want out of it."
       Morty watched as he successfully made Gary laugh, catching a confused stare from Rick before the man was typing on his phone again. "I'll have you know, I am a major 'Medieval Times' fan. Being the nerd that I am, I spontaneously bought a decorative saber for Gene, but he didn't want it in Arizona. So, if you give me five minutes to get over the emotional trauma and to dig it up, I'm going to give you a challenge and let you do what has got to be the most dangerous thing I'll ever let you get away with on my watch."
       Morty shrugged, smiling now as he shooed Gary away. "What the hell's going on?" Rick questioned, setting his phone screen down on the end table. "Just wait a minute," Morty urged, going back to his phone. "I learned a new trick, and it really weirded the kids out at every circus I ran, down at the church."
      "You know, I went by one of those once, I think. Pretty sure I was gonna go, but I had Gary with me, and he'd said something about me being too drunk to be in public." Rick mused thoughtfully before he shook his head. "God, I can't believe you've been right here this whole time."
       Morty shrugged, setting his phone down now. "Yea, well, it was fun saving your ass and all. You literally called me an angel, and I was about ready to kick Gary's ass." 
       "You an' me both," Rick grumbled, grabbing his phone when it vibrated on the table. Morty sighed, waiting for Gary to return as he wondered, honestly, what Rick was discussing now. There were a lot of things he wanted to know. He wanted to know what else the man had gotten up to as he lived without Morty, wanted to know if it was all just a drunken, drugged-up haze or if it was decent, spent with Amber.
        Morty didn't have time to wonder very long as he heard Gary walking back down the hall, the man returning with a large wooden case. "Alright, now this thing hasn't been used for anything, not even decoration. It's gotta be the cleanest thing in this house." Morty peered curiously as Gary undid a few latches along the case, flipping the lid to reveal a pristine saber. "Woah," Morty muttered, moving his phone out of the way as he stared from the tip of the saber to the designs on the handle. It appeared to be that of a dragon, an intricate design carved into the dark handle. The saber was roughly the same size as the one Morty had used from the church, give or take a few centimeters.
       "Wha-- Why the hell do you have a sword, one. And two, what the hell is that doin' there for?" Rick questioned, setting his phone down. "I have learned the secret to the most provocative circus act in existence," Morty announced. Carefully he grabbed the sword, weighing it in his hands and going over the handle. "Alright, this is the weirdest thing I can do at this point, I think," Morty grumbled. He checked the height of the saber curiously, finding that he couldn't do this indoors unless he knelt down. "We gotta go outside if you don't mind, or I have to kneel, and... no." Morty glanced now at Gary, finding the man shrugging. "I feel like you're stalling, but sure, kid." Morty huffed, showing Gary the height difficulty now. "Fine," the bouncer grumbled, leading Morty outside. "Hold on!" Rick grumbled, following the two. "What the hell are you doing with that?"
       Morty shrugged, stepping from the porch and out into the driveway. "You two just stay there," he pointed at the two, having them remain on the porch. "Kid, I got emergency services on here," Gary pointed out, holding his phone up. "I promise, you won't need it." Morty laughed lightly, judging the saber again as he shifted his bare feet on the gravel driveway. "You cannot freak out and make sudden sounds because I'll screw up. Then you might need those numbers."
       Morty found Rick staring in more than wonder now. A part of him must have some understanding of this now. "Rick, grab your phone." Gary stated, watching the man pull his phone from his back pocket. "If I know you, you're gonna wanna record this." Rick furrowed his brows at the man, slowly pulling his camera up. "Alright, I guess," he mumbled, eyeing Morty curiously.
       The brunet shrugged, lifting the sword. "This thing better be clean," he grumbled, running his tongue along both flat sides several times to make it easier. "Oh, hell no," Rick called out. "What the hell are you doing?"
       "Just hush and deal with it. I've done this a lot."
       "Yea, well you got both of us worried now." Rick called once more. "Well, guess you're gonna have to deal with it."
       Morty ran himself through the process, lifting the saber now. He kept himself rather calm, holding his tongue away from the saber as best he could as he bent his knees, leaning back slightly. He heard Gary gag and tried not to laugh, biting down halfway on the saber just to stop himself from laughing before he continued. Slowly, the brunet found the handle. He bit down on the saber to keep it from moving any further and held his arms away from himself, hearing Gary gag again. "Alright, enough," the bouncer called out. "You win, now quit before I get sick."

        Morty grinned, slowly pulling the saber back up and holding it away from himself as he wiped his chin. "I told you, Gary," he stated after a minute. "You almost made me die, gagging up there. I was perfectly fine!" Morty laughed now, handing the saber off to a hesitant looking Gary. "God damn, I should just let you have your fun with this thing." Morty laughed, shoving Gary lightly and walking back up the steps. He found Rick staring at his phone, peering curiously. The man was rewatching the video and Morty laughed, drawing the man from his thoughts as he quickly tucked his phone away. "You're always learning new tricks," he stated after a moment. 
      "Yea, well, I get bored easily, always looking for something new to do." 
       "Alright," both turned to find Gary walking back out, shuddering as he glanced at the brunet. "I don't think I ever wanna see that again. Now come on. I need to watch tv and get my mind offa such a traumatizing experience."
       "Oh come on," Morty laughed, following back into the house. "I mean, kids everywhere loved it. What's so wrong with, y'know, inhaling a sharp metal rod?" Morty laughed at the end of his statement once more, settling onto the couch before either could steal it.
       "It's just so.." Gary shuddered, flicking the tv on. "I don't wanna relive that. Let's just watch some calming, not gory, tv."
       "Aw, Gary," Rick complained, sitting in an end-chair. "You're no fun."
       "Yea, whatever." Gary grumbled. "I'm still papa bear."