Chapter Text
“You’re undercooking them,” Grace unhelpfully pointed out.
“No, I’m not,” Simon countered. “You’re just a freak who likes his pasta crunchy.”
Cooking had never been Simon’s greatest talent, mostly because he’d never really needed to do it. Rations were handed to them directly on Eden and the rare times he got to eat any home-made food was when his mother felt motivated enough to cook them something different. Even in Filament station they resorted to dry rations that Grace had compared to the dry ramen he’d had to eat on the Hail Mary when Simon told him about it.
Even after he had started living with Ryland he hadn’t been the one who needed to cook, frankly he hadn’t even offered to because he had no idea of where to even begin. After a while though, Ryland had deemed it necessary to teach him how to cook (it may have been because Simon had complained one time about Ryland’s cooking and he had taken that personally, hitting him with a ”Well why don’t you do it yourself, then ?”). That was what had led them here this evening, with Grace looking over Simon’s shoulder as he watched over with the upmost attention the Eridian rendition of spaghetti that was currently boiling on their stove.
“Well, you’re a freak who likes to eat unripe strawberries, you have no place to talk,” Grace argued, lightly headbutting the side of Simon’s head to emphasize his point.
Simon could practically hear Ryland’s pout in his voice and he couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought.
“You’re the one with the weirdest taste, Ry,” Simon said, leaning back against Ryland who wrapped his hands around his waist in response. “you’re dating me.”
“Oh don’t start,” Ryland replied, a falsely exasperated lilt to his voice.
Ryland then rested his head on Simon’s shoulder before deciding to change the subject.
“How have your peonies been growing by the way ?”
“They’re doing great,” Simon replied, always eager to talk about his beloved plants. “You’ll need to come and see them after lunch.”
After the Eridian scientists had gotten down the technique to replicate Earth’s flowers, a whole section of them had decided to specialize themselves in that field, aiming to give Simon as many different seed as possible. Simon hadn’t complained in the slightest, although their garden didn’t exclusively compose itself of flowers. They had plenty of vegetables growing there and, to Simon’s delights, trees. As close to real trees as you could get here.
That didn’t mean that the fake tree grove had been abandoned, though. In fact, it was still one of the pair’s favourite sanctuaries. They had the sound of birds there and Grace found that he greatly enjoyed listening to them, even if they were just recordings.
“Ah- careful, the water’s boiling over-!” Ryland suddenly exclaimed, slightly startling Simon.
“Shit-“ Simon grabbed the pot with his left arm (that didn’t risk being burnt, on account of the xenonite) and hurriedly brought it to the sink to let it cool down.
“Well, at least now you’re sure they won’t be ‘undercooked’,” Ryland teased.
“Oh, shut up, it’s not like they burned.” Simon responded.
“No, honestly, I think that my first attempt at making pasta went worse than that.”
“Just set the table, Ry,” Simon said with a smile.
Their meals were usually spent in silence, but today however, Simon had the feeling that there was something tense in the air. Specifically, like something was bothering Ryland, and by extension, it was bothering him. It was usually Ryland’s job to worry about others, Simon was still pretty bad with all the emotional stuff, but he also knew damn well that if he didn’t ask, Ryland wouldn’t open up to him. Despite everything, the urge to seem perfectly fine and happy at all time didn’t leave him. And he had the gall to call Simon out on his poor emotional regulation.
“What’s wrong with you ?” Simon questioned, and internally cringed at how blunt the question had sounded. He was trying his best, okay ?
“Mh ? What, me ?” Grace asked, looking up from his plate he had barely touched (and Simon had a hunch that it wasn’t because of his poor cooking skills). “I’m fine, why’d you ask ?”
“Don’t try to lie to me, man. We’ve been living together for years, I can practically feel that there’s something bothering you.” Simon pushed.
Grace seemed to stiffen at his insistence. He knew he wouldn’t escape Simon interrogation that easily.
“It’s just me overthinking, Si, it’s nothing you should worry about,” Ryland said, almost like he believed what he was saying himself.
“Uh-uh, and does that overthinking concern me ?”
Silence.
Of course.
“…Kind of ?” Ryland said with a shrug, looking even more uncomfortable as the seconds passed.
“Then it is something I should worry about.” Simon concluded. “You can tell me about it, I won’t be like, mad or anything.”
“Promise ?” Ryland asked, and Simon snorted.
“What are you, five ?” he joked, before adding, “yes, I promise.”
Ryland looked slightly relieved at that. He took a deep breath before exposing his issue.
“Rocky came to talk to me this morning, he had two good news. One is that Earth’s sun is on the way to recover its full brightness.”
“Oh- woaw, that sounds great,” Simon exclaimed. He’d never been to Earth himself, but he new how much it mattered to Ryland.
“Yeah, it is,” he said with a slight smile on his face. But then his nervousness came back full force as he continued. “And he also told me that the, uh,…Eridian mechanics have finished fixing up the Hail Mary and have loaded it with fuel. He said that…that if we wanted to leave to settle on Earth, we could.”
Oh ?
“A-and, you know, I told him I’d think about it but really I don’t think I’d have…much to do on Earth. I mean, my place is here, with you, with Rocky, with Adrian and with the kids, so…I don't think that going back to a planet where I never really felt like I belonged is for me, but…”
Oh. Simon could see where this was going.
“…But I figured that you, you might want to…see it for yourself. I mean, I’ve told you so much about Earth and every time you seem so passionate about it and I know that the trees we have here are good but…It’s not real Earth and…and you deserve to live the life you deserve.”
And despite himself, despite knowing that the situation was not at all appropriate, Simon huffed a laugh and smiled, resulting in Grace’s anxiety shifting into confusion.
“That’s what’s been bothering you ?” Simon asked incredulously. “Ry, do you really believe I’d abandon you for a planet I’ve never seen in my life ?”
“Well…” Grace trailed off, his confusion now morphing into embarrassment.
“Ryland, darling, you are the life I deserve,” Simon said, his voice taking on a softer tone. “Everything we have here is real to me, it’s more real than anything I’ve had before. I don’t give a shit about having a life on Earth if it means being away from you and from our home.”
Simon reached across the table to take Ryland’s hand in his own. The other had a faint smile on his lips now and he had that teary look in his eyes Simon was pretty much accustomed to.
“The only place I truly belong is at your side. No matter where you are, I will stay with you.”
“Simon…” Ryland whispered, his smile growing and tears beginning to fall from his eyes.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Simon reassured. “And I like to think that neither are you.”
Grace let out a relieved sigh, the tension leaving his shoulders all at once.
“You won’t get rid of me that easily,” Grace said cheekily despite the happy tears still staining his cheeks.
“I hope so,” Simon said more casually, “because tonight we have the movie night With Rocky and Adrian and it’s your pick.”
At that, Grace brightened like he had actually forgotten their night plans. They usually spent their movie nights with just the two of them but Rocky had been complaining about not spending enough bonding time with the humans, so Adrian had requested they tag along for this once.
“Oh my gosh- I forgot about that,” Grace said. “Actually, I have the perfect movie idea-“
“It better not be La La Land again,” Simon cut him off.
“I know other movies, I’ll have you know,” Ryland replied, his face scrunched up in the most adorable way.
“Sure, but if I have to hear you sing along a musical one more time I very well might strangle you.”
“Or slit my throat with broken ceramic ?” Ryland joked.
“Holy sh- you’re impossible” Simon hissed back.
And as the pair’s laughter echoed through the halls of their home, as they enjoyed each day of their lives together, sometime bad, sometime good, as they healed from their past wounds together, the certitude they had been looking for all this time finally came as a truth in their lives.
Truly, finally, everything would be okay.