Chapter Text
It isn't like Grace thought everything would go perfectly once he was on Erid. Despite Rocky's trilling songs about his home planet, promising that they would find a way for him to live out a life on a rock designed to kill him in about 45 seconds, that Grace would be beloved by the Eridians, that he would be a hero, there was still the fact that they intended to arrive to a planet at risk of death by the sun going out in a strange ship with an alien who wants to stick around for the next 50 or so years, please and thanks. Oh, and did we mention he can't breathe the air, can't eat the food, and is dying reasonably quickly, so we gotta figure this out pretty fast.
All that being said, if Eridians had been suspicious about him, had refused to help, had let him die in orbit and studied his bones, Grace would have understood.
But most Eridians really seem to like him, which is both overwhelming and also really nice. Grace had been loved by his students, and he maybe had something he would have described as friendship with Stratt before she sent him to be executed in space for the good of humanity. But he had always struggled with the rest of it, being an adult human with other adult humans. He had always felt a little like he was behind a piece of glass.
Which makes the fact that he probably has to live in a hamster ball for the rest of his life a little ironic, actually. Make the barrier real, but this time in Xenonite. He's had plenty of practice with that in the ship, but the barrier between him and Rocky had simply ceased to feel like a barrier at all in the long days on the Hail Mary.
Anyway, it's good that a lot of other Eridians seem to like him, because Adrian, Rocky's Husband? Wife? Partner? Mate seems like he would very much prefer if one Ryland Grace, hero of Earth and Erid, dropped dead tomorrow.
Okay, maybe Grace is being dramatic, but still, it's increasingly difficult to draw any other conclusion
Rocky had been a little evasive at first, about why Adrian wasn't visiting him. First, the space elevators weren't stable enough, and only project 'keep Grace from dropping dead' staff were considered critical.
And to be fair, he had been in a teensy, very small coma when they'd arrived in orbit.
But still, he'd been mostly stable for at least a week now, and he's had other visitors in the past few days, and he still hasn't met Adrian, so Grace is pretty sure he wants him dead.
His gums are bleeding again, because he has scurvy, and Grace swallows the blood, thinks about his own failing body, and thinks, join the club, dude.
—
♫♬♬♮♪♬ is one of the first Eridians he meets in the hospital. Or, well, the version of the hospital he's in, which is actually his own ship, half sunk into structure built to support and extend it while the centrifuge in the middle spins, providing gravity for him.
He's hooked to tubes and wires, some from Armando, the robot, and others from unfamiliar equipment that must have been constructed to keep him alive. It's become far too common of an occurrence, since he was blasted to space, to wake up in the ship hospital. Sometimes he feels like he's some kind of freaking red shirt from Star Trek.
He thinks ♫♬♬♮♪♬ is the closest thing to a nurse they have here. They introduce themselves in Eridian, and the translator between them spits out a smooth, female voice. Grace thinks he's probably being a sexist jerk for making his nurse alien a woman in his mind, but decides to call her Ella.
Ella explains that he's very sick for a human because he hasn't had enough food (The coma slurry had been designed for a one way trip, not for extended travel and for moving around and piloting a space ship, and he'd been supplementing with higher and higher doses of Taumoeba as the journey went on) and they are trying to make sure he doesn't die.
Ella says that Erid would like him not to die. He agrees, and wishes she understood the word for ice chips because his mouth is so dry he feels like he could cough up dust.
He falls back asleep after that, and they next time he wakes up, Rocky is there, and he's saying "Grace awake now question" and he's so glad to see him that he bursts into tears.
And so his first weeks on Erid go.
—
His recovery is slow. Calories are easy, but the ones he's been eating are empty of any actual nutrient content. Energy without vitamins required to run and maintain his body and without any of the building blocks in his food, his body has been harvesting anything it can to survive.
He isn't so much in pain as he is bone deep exhausted, to the point where he feels more like a sludge blob than a person. He knows his bones are full of holes, which is pretty rude because they feel like they weigh 200 pounds each. He feels as bad as he did the first few days after he first woke up on the Mary. Maybe worse, because this time there's nothing he can do to help himself. He can hardly lift his head. He asks where Rocky is, and he's always there.
Ella and Armando do hoist him out of bed a few times a day and make him walk around, but beyond that he seems to be expected only to sleep and (sort of) eat. He has some form of feeding tube in his stomach, but Ella tells him they are hoping to have a proper food source for him soon, something he can chew. She tells him about the work many scientists are doing to keep him alive, and he dazes in and out of sleep, or something close enough to sleep that it fades the hours and days away.
Rocky is always there, and when he isn't Grace doesn't know about it. He tells him about everything the Eridians are doing to stop the Astrophage from continuing their devouring of their sun, which sounds like essentially a rocket bourne vaccine. Grace is sure he would understand it better if he wasn't trying not to slowly die of malnourishment.
Ella is his main nurse, and she's becoming a friendly and familiar presence. Her carapace is a mottled green, shot with veins of white. She's pretty, really, the kind of stone that someone might wear on a necklace. Is that a violent thought on Erid? He obviously isn't going to kill Ella and mount her body into a necklace.
Somehow, Ella must know that he's having these thoughts (perhaps he told her in a bout of delirium?) because one day she brings him a beautiful piece of rock the same colour and pattern as herself, and offers it to him in a way he can only describe as shy. He doesn't think much of it, besides it being a lovely gesture, until Rocky is visiting the next day, and he picks up the rock, inspecting it like it's a dead mouse or something.
"Grace what is this question" Rocky asks, sounding annoyed.
"Oh, Ella left it," He replies
"Ella left this question," Rocky says, and Grace smiles, shrugs "Yeah, she's really friendly, said it was from her home rock? Whatever that means,"
Rocky makes a noise that isn't so much a trill as it is a growl, and when Grace wakes up next he realizes the rock Ella left him is gone.
—
The abdominal feeding tube stays for only a few more weeks before he can switch to NG. Rocky is away, dealing with one of the Thrums who are working on keeping Grace alive, which is good because removing the feeding tube is a deeply unpleasant process. Armando handles it, because Ella might have an iron stomach for an Eridian, but there are some thing even she can't handle.
When it's done, he sits on the edge of the medbay bed and looks at himself in the vaguely reflective surface of the wall.
He winces when he catches sight of his torso, the bruises speckled up his side, the curvature of his ribs. They're dark enough that he can see them, even in the not-mirror. What's worse is most of them are from the pressure of his own skeleton. He wonders if they can figure out some kind of pressure reducing pillow to help him not be crushed to death by his own bones.
He might not be dying anymore, but he certainly looks like a guy who was dying pretty frickin' recently. Well, he has no one to look pretty for except himself, really. Eridians don't have eyes, and he knows he's pretty freaky looking in comparison to what they're used to.
He's sitting on the edge of the bed as Armando cleans and bandages the hole left by the tube, looking and feeling like a wet rag, and that's when he meets Adrian for the first time.
The first thing Grace thinks is that Adrian is really big, like dramatically bigger than Rocky. He knows Eridians grow pretty much constantly, slowing down when they hit maturity, but Adrian is the size of a small boulder. Ella and Rocky are both on the smaller side. Is Adrian much older than Rocky? Is Rocky a cougar chaser, or is this a common size difference?
The second is that he's really fucking pretty. He almost looks like he's made of Jade, and Grace knows that it's the same green rocks that are embedded into Rocky's carapace, and Adrian has the familiar dusty brown. They're like wedding rings, and that is cute as heck.
Rocky is excited for them to meet, dancing from side to side, clattering his legs around as he moves between his Mate and his friend.
"Adrian meet Grace exclaim. Grace meet Adrian exclaim. Mate exclaim."
"Grace," Adrian says, and it's in the neutral tone of the computer, but he swears it feels frosty. "Honour to meet you, I am Adrian. Mate of Rocky."
He swears he isn't projecting, but it feels like Adrian is marking his territory, reminding him he's Rocky's mate. He feels a stirring of something in his chest like jealously. Which is a weird fucking thought because Rocky is a rock shaped alien, and Grace isn't his anything. Well, he thinks they're something, because they saved two planets together, but they're not like…anything. Grace won't be anything with anyone ever again, actually, which is a thought that makes him wanna screamcrysob, so he abandons it.
"Ella is here," Adrian says, which strikes Grace as kind of rude, but maybe not. Ella has returned from wherever she was hiding during the detubing process, and has clattered back into the room. She's very small, compared to Adrian.
"Hello Rocky, Adrian" Ella says formally, raising two arms up in a small greeting.
"Ella leave Grace ♯♫♪♬♬♮ question" Rocky says, sounding a little abrupt. Ella shifts slightly, her mottled legs skittering on the floor as she backs away from the two aliens. Grace has no idea what is happening, but settles in to watch, fascinated.
"Ella did not realize that Rocky Adrian had ♬♪♪♩♬♬ on Grace," Ella says, and the word is unfamiliar in the computer and Ella's tone is up-down-up.
Rocky pauses, and Ella says "Unless there is no ♬♪♪♩♬♬ question" And she sounds a little smug now.
"Grace. I come back later. Need discuss with Ella" Rocky trills suddenly, and Grace blinks, feeling very confused.
"What? No, I wanna meet Adrian," He protests, and Rocky clacks his claws, a happy trill that makes Grace want to grin.
"Grace wish for Rocky Adrian to stay over Ella question" Ella asks, and she seems almost upset. Still, he's learned a lot about not putting human emotions and experiences on Eridians, so he just says "I guess if I can only have one, that would be my preference. Uh, statement."
Rocky doesn't have a face, exactly, but Grace swears he looks almost triumphant as Ella makes a noise that feels sad, and Grace thinks he's said something very stupid.
"Good, Good, Good! Rocky will stay with Grace," Rocky says, and jumps up ungainly on the bed, his scuttling legs in his exosuit trampling far too close to his organs for comfort. By the time he looks up, Ella is gone and Adrian is near the door, turned away from the room. Grace isn't sure if he is guarding the door, or trying to leave the room. Maybe he hates that Rocky is Grace's friend?
The next day, he gets a new nurse he dubs Patrick. He doesn't see Ella again.
—
A few weeks into his conscious time on Erid he is able to try a small spoonful of something like a broth. It doesn't really taste of much, beyond salt and maybe something like fat, but it opens up a yearning for food in him that feels so immense it takes his breath away, and he kind of moans like some kind of pornstar.
"Why Grace make reproduction noise question" Rocky asks. He is perched on some kind of chair in his hospital room, watching Grace intently as he eats his soup. Eridians don't really use chairs, but Rocky likes them. A consequence of adapting to the Mary.
"Feels good to eat," he says, slurping another spoonful of soup and enjoying the feeling of something in his mouth after long months of nothing. "Involuntary sound," He adds, and Rocky clacks his fingers together along the side of the bed. Grace is able to get up from bed more and more, and broth is a big step up from dead Taumeba and coma slurry in terms of flavour.
"Rocky like sound statement" Rocky says, and Grace blushes and chooses not to tell Rocky that this is a weird compliment
Rocky tells him his daily updates, how the star vaccine is going, how work is going on a permanent home for himself.
"Where's Adrian?" Grace asks after a while, because he's only seen the other Eridian a handful of times in the past 60 day cycle.
"Adrian work on biodome for Grace," Rocky says "Adrian want Grace to have ♭♬♬♫♫ when he is better,"
"New word," Grace notes, taking another spoonful of broth before his energy stores finally gives out and he has to abandon his spoon on the tray table.
Rocky hums, shifting slightly from side to side "Many Eridians want to meet Grace," he said finally "Grace healthy enough for visitors question"
Was he healthy enough for visitors? He supposed he was. He was able to get up and walk short distances now, even without the help of Patrick.
"Who wants to visit?"
"Mother rock," Rocky said "And also all of Erid," As always, no tone, but Grace projected wry amusement into it anyway.
"Mother Rock?" Grace asks, curiously. He and Rocky had talked extensively about the government and civil structures of Erid, but it didn't sound that familar.
"They are ♩♪♪♫♬♪, protectors of Erid," Rocky says.
"So, a big deal they wanna meet lil old me?" Grace jokes.
"Grace" Rocky says "You are ♫♪♯♬♫♫, you save Erid. They want to meet you because honour for them."
"We're going to have to upgrade the memory on the translator, you're using so many new words," Grace says, and doesn't address the any of the other stuff. "So they wanna visit me, huh?"
"Yes. Big honour to visit Grace. Mother Rock excite excite excite, want see Grace when first arrive. Rocky and Adrian say no, Grace very sick, need rest, but politic Thrum thinks will help."
The idea of Rocky telling the sort of president(s) of Erid that Grace would meet them when he was damn well ready made something warm and kind of gooey flair in his chest. He didn't look too closely at it. He might still die after all. There was no need to distress himself with complicated emotions until he had to.
"Thanks, Rock," Grace said, smiling a little dopily. His life was so fucking weird, but at least he was still alive, and had Rocky firmly in his corner.
—
The Mother Rock was represented by five different Eridians, each with distinct rock types. The tallest one, who probably would have come up to Grace's ribs if he was standing up, seemed particularly charmed by him. They also appeared to be made of large bubbles of lava rock, black carapace alternating between shiny obsidian and matte black lava bubbles.
Rocky and Adrian are here, too. They're standing near Grace, but sort of behind him, as much as possible. Adrian doesn't really fit properly, and Rocky would prefer to crouch in Grace's chest, but it still feels a little like having his two alien guard dogs. If he's honest it's really dang nice.
"Grace savior of Erid! Grace is ♮♬♬♩♯♩♩♩♩," said the smallest Eridian, who is a crisp blue and white, like sodalite but somehow more vivid. Grace wondered what texture they would be. Medium smooth, maybe.
"Grace is ♬♩♯♩♩" Rocky says suddenly, drawing himself up on his legs to be taller. "Rocky Adrian are ♬♬♩♯"
"Is this true question" says one Eridian, turning to Grace, something almost surprised in his tone.
"Yes?" Grace asks, because the translator is good, but he has no idea what any of that meant. The longer Grace is here, the more it becomes clear that they'll need to figure out something else, especially accounting for Eridian sentences structure. Grace can't expect everyone to use grammar and word choice intended for a baby forever.
Still, he has scurvy, so this is pretty low on the list of priorities. Certainly under 'keep as many teeth as possible' and 'have bones that don't crumble', but still. On the list.
"Savior Grace will be safe on Erid," said the smallest Eridian, mostly to Rocky and Adrian "Grace will have home on Erid as long as Savior Grace want."
"Thank you," he says formally, wishing he wasn't in a hospital bed and looking like shit. Not that any Eridians would know he looked like shit, but it still reminded him of being dragged in front of everyone on Stratt's vat, sick and sweating, to explain how he had bred the Astrophage.
Soon enough Rocky loudly says that Grace needs to rest. On the way out the black lava rock Eridian, who he decides looks like a Greg, sort of, also leaves him with a familiar, shiny chunk of stone that matches their carapace.
—
Adrian hates Grace, he's pretty sure. He never visits unless Rocky is here, and when he does he always stands close to the door like Grace might bite him or something. He's also really big, so the quarters on the Mary pose problems for him.
But Grace doesn't want Adrian to hate him, so he tries to chat with him as much as he can. Especially now, because Adrian is here without Rocky, and Grace is determined to make this work.
Adrian has come with some designs specifications for the biodome, this time for a house to be constructed inside for him to live in, and she shows them to Grace. It's really nice, actually. He's been on the Mary for so long, but it has never been a home for him. It's been a place of terror, and joy, and he met and lived with Rocky on it, but it isn't home.
This place will be his home, if only because Grace will never see his shitty apartment in San Francisco again. He wonders if Stratt cleaned out his stuff. Wonders if he has a memorial on earth somewhere, or if there's a display cabinet with his photo and items from his house for strangers to gawk at. Maybe one in China and Russia, too.
"Thank you for making me a place to live," Grace says instead, pushing back those thoughts. Adrian has been humming a little, and the deep rumble of him feels like the engines of the Mary are accelerating. Grace hates that it's deeply comforting.
"Is not thank worthy. Rocky Adrian Mate Grace, build house," Adrian says, shifting slighting on his feet. He does this sometimes, acts almost nervous around him. Grace has to remind himself that Adrian isn't a human, and isn't accustomed to Grace the way Rocky is.
"Well, on earth it would be worth being thankful for," Grace says, rolling his head from side to side on the pillow. He had been sitting up before, but when he started to sag down from exhaustion Adrian had demanded he lay back down.
"Dome will be complete soon," Adrian says, leaving the Xenonite pieces he's been using to make blueprints that Grace can envision without sonar on the tray table. It's helpful, being able to see walls in this 3d format. He was even going to have a bay window. What it would like onto, he had no idea. But still, a window! It's exciting stuff.
"Yeah? I'm excited. I've been on the Mary for flipping years now, and in this bed for way too long," Grace admits, feeling silly to admit it to Adrian. He's lucky to be alive, and he tries not to complain too much.
Adrian is silent, and then says "Rocky will be building dome. He is important engineer, want make Grace home. Might not visit as much while dome being built."
He's gained nearly ten pounds back in the two months since the Eridians have figured out how to distill protein from his own cells, but is still supposed to be in bed when he isn't working on muscle exercises, so he has a lot of spare time while his body rebuilds. A lot of Eridians visit during the week, mostly to gawk or ask questions,and he has a medical team, but he always misses Rocky.
Rocky is what he looks forward to the most. He'll be pretty alone until the dome is finished and he has an environment that won't kill him. Grace suspects this will be not so good for his shredded mental health. He's already going a little crazy, because he can't find the shiny black rock he's been keeping on the bedside table that the mother rock Eridian had left.
"Oh," Grace says, and he wonders how the sinking in his stomach sounds to Adrian.
"Adrian will visit if Grace wants question," Adrian says, and oh, yes okay, this is the chance Grace has been looking for. Spend more time with Adrian, feel less weird about being the third wheel in an alien marriage, and everything would work out. And Grace probably won't go crazy and bash his own brains out. A win-win.
"Yes! Yes, that would be nice. I want to know you better," Grace says, something like relief in his chest. Adrian makes a low, vibrating note and the rumble feels good, good enough that it makes his eyes droop closed, winds him slowly into sleep.
When Grace wakes up, Adrian is still there, watching him sleep.
Maybe he doesn't hate Grace after all.
—
"Stupid to do that. Grace is stupid question" Adrian says a few weeks later, and Grace isn't sure if he learned to be rude from Rocky, or if they started dating because they were both frickin' mean.
Adrian swings between watching Grace rest, and asking him questions about earth when he visits. He has a lot of questions about ocean animals, and about the human body. Grace let him count his ribs and measure the jutting bones of his pelvis a few days ago. It had been kind of fun.
He thinks Adrian is some type of biologist, which is why he's so involved in the planning of Grace's dome.
"It's just a muscle movement based on memory," Grace says, rolling his eyes. The stupid thing he's doing today is chewing his broth, which he can't really help. His jaw muscles want real food so much, he's been chewing and grinding his teeth while he sleeps as well. Adrian, after insulting him several times for this failure, constructed him something similar to a night guard to protect his teeth, which is helpful at least, even if he occasionally wakes up thinking he's on the Mary, coming out of his coma and desperately trying to breathe around the ventilator.
Rocky had visited this morning and had made his day. That made him feel a little lame, but he's had to convince himself that being attached to the alien who had saved his life in countless ways was just a normal thing. He's working on the dome, and whenever he visits he eagerly updates Grace on the status of his new home. They're working on some more atmosphere fail safes, no engineer wants to be the one who kills the squishy human savior via ammonia leak.
Grace has one mission, and that is to rest, and eat, and try to build some muscle back up. It's easy on paper, but much harder in practice. The broth today has collagen, and something they think might work as a calcium replacement that doesn't make him throw up.
At least he's warmer these days. One of the best parts of being on Erid, and being surrounded by Eridians all the time is the warmth. The Mary had been cold, and space was even colder. As his supply of food had dwindled, he'd gotten colder, too. Many nights had been spent with Rocky pressed against the Xenonite barrier as Grace slept, ensuring he stayed warm. He had to admit that he missed it, sometimes. The feeling of being curled up as close to Rocky as he could, both of them craving their own people, and finding solace where they could.
His fingers and toes are always warm now, especially since he's getting some form of regular calories, but especially because Adrian has appointed himself Grace's personal space heater. He's close to the bottom of the bed, working on some kind of screen. Grace can see that it has scrolling data on the screen in the textured dots of Eridian numbering.
His warmth, even though the Xenonite barrier is comforting.
"Solid food ready to test soon. Grace ready to try question" Adrian asked as Grace finished chewing his soup.
"What, really? Yeah! Yeah, oh my god, imagine chewing…" Grace trailed off
"Disgusting human," Adrian said "You are chewing already. I can hear it,"
"Yeah but not real chewing, you won't get it. You don't have teeth," Grace says, rolling his eyes. When he rolls his eyes at Rocky, the other alien always knows and calls him out on it. Adrian must not know the sound yet.
"Adrian will watch and make notes question" Adrian asks from the end of the bed.
"Sure," Grace said, because he would maybe say anything to make sure he got solid food. He wasn't going to think too closely about the fact that the food would be, in some form, made of his own meat. The broth was his own fat, too. It was important that Grace focus on how cool this was scientifically, and didn't get too freaked out by the auto-cannibalism.
Plus, Adrian seemed like he wanted to hang out with him for a while, which was cool, because Grace really wants Adrian to like him more.
—
"So are you gonna watch, or?" Grace asked one day cycle later as Adrian delivers the first solid food Grace had seen in over six months.
Well, solid ish. The bowl on the table contains about a tablespoons worth of something that could, if he squints, be diced up salmon. It's closer to diced up Grace, but he is choosing not to think about that. He lifts the spoon, blinks, feeling more stressed out than he's been in a long time.
Grace knows there are Eridians in the other room watching him. They had opted to be far away from the food experiment, and given Grace's propensity for throwing up and crying when eating, he gets it. He's been leakier than usual since he arrived.
Adrian gives him a thumbs down, which makes him laugh a little. The other alien must have picked it up from Rocky.
All of Erid has been working hard on having him not die. He needs to like this.
He raises his spoon, and puts the food in his mouth.
The human cell slurry tastes somehow exactly like pork ramen powder, and it's so good it's kind of ridiculous.
Grace finds himself laughing, almost giggling as he chews solid food for the first time in forever. His tongue feels a foreign to him, his jaw weak. He's lost more teeth than he cares to think about from malnutrition, and his bite feels a awkward. But still, Food! Solid food. No slurry or broth or tube liquids. He can eat. He can live.
He realizes he's crying silently, hot tears dripping down his cheeks. This happens with embarrassing frequency the longer he's on Erid. It's probably something to do with the amnesia and the sheer amounts of stress he's been living with since the sun started to dim all those years ago. Probably a good helping of space PTSD wasn't helping. Unfortunately, he thinks mental health care on Erid might not be able to deal with the stuff he has going on in his head, so instead he cries and swallows his pork ramen flavored meat slurry.
"Is it normal for him to leak question" One of the Eridians asks through the speaker clipped on Adrian's carapace. Adrian replies "Yes, Human are very leaky," and for once doesn't follow up with how disgusting that is. It kind of feels like one of the best interactions he and Adrian have had.
Grace sobs again as he takes his second bite of the contents of the bowl before he puts the spoon down. It was a tiny amount of food, but he feels exhausted just from eating it. His stomach twists, and he swallows once, twice, waits to see if he'll be able to keep it down.
"It's good," he says after a few seconds, the clenching in his stomach retreating to tolerable levels "I don't think I'm going to throw up,"
"What is throw up question," asks one of the science team through the speaker, and Grace just says "You don't wanna see it, trust me," when Adrian makes a noise like he might explain.
After he eats, most of the other Eridians leave, back to the lab or wherever the team in charge of his food works. The scientist heading the team behind today's successful experiment arrives, and Adrian retreats to his usual place by the door.
Grace is back in bed, resting and digesting. He feels like a big snake, his shrunken stomach protesting at the stretch of the two bites he'd taken.
"I am researching human food," the Eridian who stayed says, and Grace decides to call this one John Waumbuck, because it was the name of a guy Grace taught with on earth who always ate these really fancy bento box lunches his wife made in the staff room. He was also kind of a creep, so it works with this, especially since Adrian has mentioned that the Eridians who work on his food project are considered unique for their interest in his eating.
"What does Grace like to eat question," John Waumbuck asks, and Grace tells him about chicken noodle soup, about sushi bowl, ice cream and steak and burgers. He talks a lot, and wow, he didn't realize how much he missed food but holy heck he missed food, and if it takes having a pervert in the kitchen, so be it.
John Waumbuck says "Favourite question"
"Like my favourite food?" Grace asks.
"Yes favourite food of Grace" John Waumbuck says. Grace blinks for a second and thinks about it. He used to love ramen at this dumpy little place on Cornelia Ave, but being on the Mary with her stash of noodles has stripped any love of it from him. He liked pizza, too, and meatloaf sandwiches from Greta's diner and fuck Grace misses earth for such a sharp moment that he nearly gasps with it.
"Burgers I think," he says, finally. He liked burgers. They were good . Dependable. Easier to make from protein slurry than anything else.
"Grace describe burger. I try to create," The Eridian says, bobbling up and down in what Grace thinks is excitement.
After John Waumbuck leaves, Grace and Adrian are alone again. It's not awkward anymore, but he still misses the easy conversation with Rocky. They had been together so often that they'd started speaking like each other. Talking to him is as easy as breathing, mostly.
"Grace and Rocky become very close in space statement," Adrian says, and Grace finds himself tensing.
"Yeah, I mean, it was just us, " Grace says, feeling awkward. He knows Rocky and him are weird. Co-dependant. You can't not be after what they went through, it's science. He just hates talking about it, because he feels like at some point an Eridian is going to say 'Hey, you should be more normal about your friend because he has a partner and also you're different species'.
"Rocky Grace have a bond, strong bond." Adrian says "Adrian wonder what bond is stronger, sometimes,"
Grace knows. It's the one between Adrian and Rocky, a bond that survived being parted for over 50 years. Grace and Rocky, well, they're best friends, and it's not like Rocky and him hooked up or something.
"You don't need to worry about us," he says quickly.
"Adrian not worried," Adrian replied, and ow, Adrian doesn't need to act like a jealous girlfriend.
Oh.
Oh no.
Does Adrian think Grace is the other woman?
He supposes in any other circumstance, your partner going away to save the world and coming back with someone else attached to them at the hip and told everyone they're sticking around it would look pretty bad.
But there was was everything else of it that made the difference. Plus, it wasn't like he was having sex with Rocky. That wasn't even, like, a thing. How could they have anything approaching sex, even if they wanted to?
Abruptly his mind supplied a few ideas about how a human could have something approaching sex with an Eridian, and his stomach clenches in something distinctly not disgust.
Grace is now sitting in a room with Rocky's husband and thinking about sex with Rocky. He knew that even with the alien stuff accounted for, that was pretty fudged up. He is the other woman.
"Ah, Adrian I'm pretty tired, might go to bed," Grace says, feeling arousal and a healthy dose of guilty humiliation, which wasn't making him any less horny.
"Grace has blood rushing to penis. What is stimulus question" Adrian says. Grace swallows and thinks pretty seriously about killing himself. He'd survived a lot, but there has to be a line.
"Just thinking about human things. Some privacy would be nice," Grace says, blood rushing to his face this time.
"Strange human. Arousal nothing to be nervous about," Adrian says, before getting up and leaving the room, and Grace swears he lingers at the doorway as though hopes Grace might call for him to return. He can't even jerk off, because the Eridians will hear it, and if his heart rate gets too fast the machines attached to him will freak out.
Fuck, Grace needs to get laid. Too bad he's the only human he'll ever see again. The thought is enough to dampen his arousal, and he rolls over onto his front, presses his face into the pillow, and yells.
—
Three cycles of consultation later John Waumbuck brings him a burger, sort of, and a brown dappled rock that matches his carapace.
Grace freakin' moans when he takes his first bite of the me-burger. He'd expected to be freaked out, but when John Waumbuck had placed a brown disc of ground meat, still steaming on the plate his mouth filled with so much drool he'd almost choked on it. He's sure he'll have a little bit of a freak out shortly, but for now, it's amazing.
He only realizes a short while later, after he's eaten three entire bites of me-burger, that John Waumbuck had watched him the entire time. Yuck. Maybe he's inheriting taboos from Erid already, but he feels kind of skeezy about knowing the guy gets his rocks (hah) off watching him eat.
He mentions it to Adrian later that night, and Adrian makes a noise that Grace has never heard before, a grumbling groan that sounds pained, and changes the subject.
The next morning he hears what must be an Eridian argument. His translator is struggling to keep up, but the gist of it seems to be that Rocky and Adrian are upset about something. Grace can't imagine what, unless it's something terrible like the burger was actually poison and Rocky is upset that John Waumbuck has killed his pet human.
Well, at least he had a solid meal before he went.
After a few minutes, Rocky appears in what would be a doorway and says, "Grace want Rocky Adrian question" and Grace says yes, because of course he does. Rocky is his best friend, and Adrian his his husband who Grace is going to make like him, if he can.
Rocky makes a noise that can only be triumphant, and then return to the hallway. The argument continues on for a few more moments, tonal shrills up, up and up until his ears tingle. He gently probes at the back of his mouth where he can feel the gaps from where his teeth had fallen out in the worst of the scurvy.
After a few more moments, he hears the sound of Eridian feet on the floor, and Rocky and Adrian appear, Rocky holding a dish with a me-burger above his head triumphantly.
"Where's John Waumbuck?" Grace asks, and he swears that Adrian and Rocky look conspiratorial, which is impossible but there you go.
"Grace no worry," Rocky says, depositing the burger on the tray table "Grace need approve sand for beach by tomorrow. Rocky bring updated samples."
John Waumbuck doesn't come back, but the Me-burgers stick around which is great because he really likes how they taste, and he needs the protein to build muscle.
Grace is getting stronger every day, and has been working on moving around. The dome is nearly done, so Rocky is around a bit more than he was.
Right now Rocky is skittering ahead of him as they walk one of the short hallways on the guts of what used to be the Mary. She's been drastically changed in the 5 months he's been recovering in the room he woke up from his coma in. Huge slabs of black and clear Xenonite have been added to allow for more space, and to support the spinning of the centrifuge that allows him to experience normal gravity. It's good, because for the first time in years Grace maybe isn't going to die soon, and he needs to worry about things like arthritis again.
The dome is being pressurized now, filled with air he can breathe. Tomorrow, as long as the atmosphere stays steady, they can begin the process of moving him to the dome. Grace is terrified, but he's trying to focus on how happy he is to be this close to Rocky.
Rocky turns around runs back to Grace. The Exosuits allow the Eridians use of their limbs and hands in a way that had been impossible on the Mary, and Rocky seems to enjoy patting Grace on the leg and knee as they walk, partially to steady him, but maybe also for a point of contact between them. The suit design allows warmth out at a higher rate, but Grace is still a little preoccupied with thinking about how a hug with multiple Eridians would be in these suits. Warm, he imagines. Nice. Hugging Rocky and Adrian would be amazing. He might get crushed to death, but what a way to go.
He's distracted, and somehow a little horny, which makes him kind of sad, which is why he asks it.
"Rocky does Adrian like me?" He asks, because he's some kind of teenager with a cosmo magazine and a crush apparently.
"Adrian like Grace very much" Rocky says, with a happy trill of song "Grace like Adrian question"
"Yeah, Adrian is great," Grace says, pushing his foot against one of walls of the Mary, stretching his tight foot muscles out. His legs ache with the strain on his muscles.
Everything aches, actually, all the dang time.
"Just, wanted to check. I don't want him to think I'm like…" Grace says, trailing off.
"Like what question" Rocky says, having paused and settled down beside where Grace is stretching.
"I don't know, hogging you?"
"You cannot turn me into a porcine animal," Rocky says, and for a moment Grace thought he might have pissed the alien off, before he remembered that tone or emphasis were just his own brain trying to add emotional turmoil to everything. Because Rocky wasn't pissed at him, he was just confused by a weird turn of phrase.
"Yeah, it doesn't really mean that, bud. More like I take a lot of your time," Grace tried "And I want to make sure Adrian is okay with that"
"Adrian spend time with Grace too question" Rocky asks, pressing against Grace's leg. He's very warm, and he savours the warmth through the exosuit. It's like having someone leaning their back against his leg. It feels nice.
"What? Oh yeah, he does. I just," He swallows, feels a little weird, but presses forward "Like on earth if someone is friends with someone married to another person, they might think they want to be more than friends. Like if I was trying to take you from Adrian," He does not add anything about the implications of that, because sex is something he doesn't think about that often, and Eridians are egg-laying rocks. He's just been around aliens too long, and his sex drive is fucked up now. It's fine. it's jut conditioning.
"Grace cannot take Rocky from Adrian" Rocky says finally and Grace smiles, and pretends that he doesn't feel any irrational stab of sadness. He doesn't want to take Rocky, but sometimes he thinks he wants more of Rocky than he can ever have.
Rocky and Adrian will be together long after Grace is bones and dust, joining the atmosphere of Erid. Grace is just temporary, so he might as well enjoy it, right?
—
The day Grace is able to move into the Biome is kind of crazy, because he hasn't been on earth in decades at this point, really. But this is sand, and pebbles, and an ocean, even if the temperature is like dipping his finger into a pot of boiling water. Grace is definitely crying a little bit, Rocky and Adrian following him as he walks slowly around. He's barefoot, his toes in the pebbles. He doesn't sink down the way he would on earth (beneath this sand is Eridian base rock, not water or more dirt) but it feels identical.
And the scale of the place is kind of staggering. The Mary was small, it's rooms designed for function, not long term comfort. They were all supposed to die before the comfort became a major issue. This dome has been designed for wide open space. He could jog! He's never willingly jogged before, but he could. In a few years. With a knee brace or two.
He'll need a quicker way to get around the dome as he ages, he thinks. The gravity on Erid will be worse than on Earth. Maybe Rocky can figure out how to engineer a bike. They could install a bike path and it would be like he was back in Seattle.
Without consciously thinking about it, his knees are bending to lower him into the pebbles. They dig into his knees, leaving tiny wet pebble marks. He's sniffling a little, but not crying anymore.
"Grace happy question" Rocky asks as he scuttles up beside him, Adrian following, and Grace laughs, breathes in what feels just like a foggy beach in San Francisco, thousands of light years away on a planet that should kill him 1000 times over.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm happy," He says, and then bursts into tears again.
"Grace very leaky" Adrian says, and Rocky says "Yes," and tenderly puts his arm over Grace's shoulders.
—
The house is gorgeous. A little bungalow, right on the fake beach. Lots of windows for sunlight, when he wants it.
Adrian has been explaining the biome settings to him, noted that they've built it to cycle through a California year based on the meteorological data contained on the computers Grace had given Rocky from the Mary.
The house is small, but safe. Designed for a human on Erid. They'll move Armando the robot arm in as well, to assist him with day to day tasks.
Rocky is tapping a lot while Adrian speaks, moving from side to side. He seems anxious, showing everything to Grace. He wishes he could express what this means to him, this chance at life in Erid. He hadn't been ready to die, but he had never felt ready to live, either.
He thinks he feels ready to live here on Erid.
In the main room, there are smooth organic shelves built into the room. There's a small space above what is more or less a couch, and Grace thinks a TV would have gone there in an earth home.
It isn't empty though. On the shelf are two rocks, one a familiar brown, and the other a jade green. Before he knows what he's doing, Grace leaves Rocky and Adrian and is picking the rocks up.
Rocky gives a happy, subsonic trill that feels like a hug to his nervous system. Still, he can't get too comfortable. He's got a hypothesis.
See, Grace might be new to Erid, but he's noticed the rocks.
Ella. John Waumbuck. The Lava Eridian from the Mother Rock. Stones left for him to find, but never remarked upon. They had all disappeared within a few days of them arriving, often after a visit from Rocky or Adrian.
He hadn't been losing his mind at all. He's been getting stolen from! He thinks about giving Rocky and Adrian a piece of his mind, but when he turns to look at the two of them, and his heart gives a deep tug of affection.
"Do you like rocks question" Rocky asks, and he's practically dancing from side to side. Adrian is mirroring him, but less effusively. They're both being weird as hell, and Grace can pick up enough cultural clues that these rocks aren't just decoration.
He runs his fingers over the brown rock. It's rough, and kind of warm, and intersected with a familiar spot of green. Grace blinks, and then, force of being hit by a bus, he realizes that this is part of Rocky's carapace.
He's touching Rocky. No exosuit. Just the rough, pitted texture of him.
That means the green one is part of Adrian.
Grace makes a low noise, rubs his fingers over both of the rocks. Adrian is a little smoother than Rocky, and up close Grace can see variations in the green tone of his carapace so much more clearly than he can in the Xenonite suit.
Rocky and Adrian have given him parts of their carapaces, Grace realizes with a jolt.
He pets his fingers over both of the rocks again, marvelling at the texture, before he puts them back down, turns to the Eridians in the room, and says "I think you need to share some stuff with me,"
—
"So," Grace says, "The rock thing,"
"Grace likes ♬♬♬♬♯ question" Rocky asks, twitching from side to side. They're back on the beach, which feels more like neutral territory somehow.
"Need a word, bud," Grace says, feeling affectionate and exhausted. Touring the dome had sapped his energy away and he was still overwrought with emotion.
"Word is like commitment object," Rocky says after a moment.
"Commitment object?" Grace asked, wrinkling his nose and trying to think of human examples.
"Yes, object one gives to show commitment," Rocky says. Grace hums, thinking.
"Object very important. Show commitment in big big way," Rocky offers after a moment, and then taps very deliberately onto the green section of his carapace. There, embedded into him is a rock the colour of Adrian. Medium rough, Rocky would call it.
Commitment items he knows about are far and few between, and there's only one he can think of that would have the right amount of significance.
"Word would be wedding ring," Grace says, lips feeling a little numb "Usually grouped with wedding, family, celebration, commitment. Binding symbol used for human pairs,"
"Yes," Rocky says "Wedding ring,"
"So these are weddings rings?" Grace asks. They were very pretty, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out why they would give him wedding rings as a house warming gift.
"Yes" Rocky says.
"For you and Adrian?" Grace clarifies, just to be very, very sure.
"Yes, Rocky Adrian Grace wedding ring," Rocky says, and Grace replies before he thinks about it, forcing a grin onto his face.
"That sounds like you wanna marry me, bud," He says, rolling his eyes for emphasis. Hah hah.
"Of course Rocky want marry Grace," Rocky says, the whistle of his voice sounding distinctly exasperated.
What.
"What?" Grace asks, because today has been a day. If the bruise wouldn't stick around (iron deficiency still wreaking havoc on him) he would pinch his arm to ensure he was awake.
"Grace stupid. Rocky not know why he like stupid," Rocky says, because he's an asshole.
"Rocky, be polite," Adrian says, sounding infinitely patient with his Mate.
"Adrian Rocky Grace marry ring together. Good good good," Rocky says, practically rubbing his hands together like a fly.
Grace wants to avoid jumping to conclusions, and decides that asking clearly is the best course of action. Grace opens his mouth with full intent to say 'Hey buddy, it sounds like you're proposing I join your alien marriage as a third?' But what comes out is "Rocky, you gotta level with me because I don't know what you mean,"
"Grace is stupid about mating question," Rocky says
"Mating?!" Grace yelps, because he had been thinking a platonic, emotions only marriage. Not that he was thinking about marriage at all because he was this only human here and thus would have to marry himself and absolutely not Rocky. Or any other Eridian.
"All humans cannot be this stupid or would not be a species," Adrian says, and his tonal voice sounds amused. "Your human is a stupid one, Rocky,"
Grace feels a little bit like a puppy being cooed at and flushes.
"Our human is a stupid one," Rocky corrects, and Grace is annoyed but also incredibly fond of his best friend and, by extension, his husband. Still, if this is a serious proposal for his hand in marriage, it sucks. He doesn't hesitate to express this to the Eridians.
"Okay frick both of you actually, this is the worst proposal ever, if that's even what this is," Grace snaps. He slaps the sand for emphasis, hoping the vibrations feel annoyed.
"Proposal yes. Grace say yes, be mate Rocky Adrian," Rocky says, fully ignoring Grace's complaints. That isn't new. After years in space together, you got good at ignoring complaints.
The carapace chunks were about the size of his palm, and this was like a wedding ring, except Grace couldn't absorb the rock into his body the way an Eridian could.
"Holy shit does that mean all those other Eridians were like, asking me to marry them?" Grace blurts out, head spinning. Wow, maybe Eridians were way freakier than he thought.
"Yes. Very rude, especially when Rocky make clear Grace is ♭ø♪♩ to Rocky Adrian," Rocky chimes, sounding frustrated and a bit angry.
Huh. So at least a handful of Eridians have proposed marriage to him since his arrival on Erid. But none of them have ever come back after leaving a rock, and shortly after their rocks have gone missing as well. Something occurs to him, and Grace narrows his eyes and points an accusing finger at Rocky, and then swings it sideways to also indicate Adrian.
"Oh my god have you two been like, running off other Eridians from dating me?" Grace says torn between laughter and anger.
"Yes. Rocky have ♬♬ø on Grace. Other Eridians try but Rocky makes clear Grace not want marry anyone else," Rocky says, unapologetic.
"Rocky humans usually date before marrying," Grace says, as though that is even close to the top of reasons this was insane.
"We have been dating. Grace stupid question," Rocky asks.
"We are not dating!" Grace says, because he thinks he would have noticed if he had acquired a boyfriend in space. Not that Rocky is a boy, but Mate seems a little too much for him to handle right now.
"We spend time together. Rocky feed you. Save Grace life twice. Build Grace a home. Watch movie and travel. Dating," Rocky says firmly, as though Grace is being purposely dense.
And Grace admits that laid out like that, they had been dating. Still, even if he had been, on paper, dating Rocky that didn't mean he would be some kind of homewrecker.
"You have Adrian already!" Grace protested.
"Yes Rocky have Adrian and also now Grace," Rocky says factually.
"Rock. It's…look. Humans don't usually do it this way. Marry people who are already married. It's illegal, actually in a lot of places," Grace says, feeling baffled by this conversation. Again, in the grand scheme of things, polygamous client marriage should not the biggest issue. But still.
"Human stupid statement," Rocky says, stomping his foot for emphasis.
"How can you rear children effectively question?" Adrian asks at the same time.
"I'm not saying it's effective," Grace says, because he can see how more spouses would make a family easier. Humans just haven't been traditionally great at holding down relationships with one mate, let alone multiple others.
"Rocky love Grace. Grace love Rocky question" Rocky asks, sounding somehow fucking stubborn.
"You don't need to ask, bud. You know I love you," Grace says, rolling his eyes. Loving Rocky isn't something that changes. It's the only north star he has left.
"So ♭♫♫♪ Rocky Adrian," Rocky says
"Rocky," Grace says, because he thinks might be in the middle of being bullied into a plural marriage with two aliens, and surely you should protest at that.
"Grace being stupid," Rocky says, after a few seconds of silence.
"No I'm not! Marriages are, well, romantic on earth. Spouses usually have sex!" Grace says, as though this is his last chance at out running some kind of very fast, Eridian marriage train.
"Rocky Adrian have sex with Grace. No egg but still ♭♫♫♪♭♫♫♪" Rocky says, as though this is obvious.
Grace stops everything for a second, because he thinks his entire body is glitching. It's not like he hasn't been thinking of thought of sex with Rocky. He's just a guy, who's been in a spaceship with a hot (temperature wise) and loving (emotionally) Rock for a long time. It would have been weirder if he didn't have confused feelings about Rocky. But Rocky had a mate, and while it seemed like Adrian was okay with whatever the heck was happening here, it still felt kind of kind of like Grace was the happy family annihilator.
"Okay well Rocky, Adrian doesn't even know me that well, let alone want to have sex with me," Grace said, because everyone in a human alien sex triangle had to be willing, unless it's was some other kind of porn situation which called for the opposite. Which he hasn't ever thought of in detail, obviously.
"Adrian much desire Grace," Adrian says, like he's stating a simple fact.
"I'm sorry what?" Grace asks, because he was pretty sure Adrian tolerates him at best, and maybe that tolerating was edging into something like affection.
"Adrian biologist," Rocky says "He is much excited to see Grace mate."
"He is?" Grace says, and then turns to look at Adrian, and repeats "You are?"
"Yes, very much so. Adrian is prepared for human sexual fluids exclamation" Adrian says.
"Okay well, thanks I guess for wanting to have sex with me, I think," Grace says, feeling a little overwhelmed, and kind of horny, not sure which is worse.
"Grace want have sex with Adrian Rocky question," Adrian asks back.
"I..I uh," Grace says, and despite his best efforts imagines it. What the heck would that even entail? Rocky is warm, and Adrian would be, too. The flexible Xenonite could act as a barrier. Like a condom. Oh god.
"Adrian can detect raised heart rate and blood flow to penis," Adrian exclaims and Rocky taps his feet in delight.
"Grace aroused by Adrian Rocky!" Rocky says, clicking and chirping in a way that makes Grace want to chirp back, like a baby bird or something. This situation is ridiculous. He's in space, getting asked to have a space threesome. George Lucas can suck it, Ryland Grace is way cooler than Han Solo.
"Look, I kind of thought I would just never have sex again," which, huh, once said out loud that sounds really depressing, and not at all cool. Rocky taps against the beach again, this time a little angrily as though Grace is being the ridiculous one here.
"Grace stupid. If Grace wants sex, Rocky Adrian have sex with Grace, exclamation,"
That's…that isn't. What.
"There isn't even a way for us to have sex," Grace says, instead of something normal like "I'm not attracted to aliens and don't want to have sex with my best friend and his mate," because Rocky is startlingly good at knowing when Grace is lying.
"Grace so stupid statement. Rocky engineer, Adrian biologist. Figure out sex. Smaller problem than save stars," Rocky says, which isn't untrue, really.
"I didn't even think Adrian liked me until about thirty seconds ago," Grace says, because he really didn't.
"Adrian like Grace!" Rocky protests, and Adrian does the same, trilling note of something like sadness in his vocals. Grace thinks he might have hurt their feelings a bit, and he feels bad, but. But.
He just sort of thought Adrian viewed him as a high maintenance pet that Rocky insisted on keeping, despite it being difficult to keep alive. He doesn't think Adrian wanted him dead, exactly, but it must have been difficult to have Grace here. An obligation with a tank habitat, and a special diet
"I'm kind of like a lizard, or maybe a unique fish. Or a horse," Grace says thoughtfully.
He's just felt that he was something to keep alive to Adrian, but only loved by Rocky. It's difficult to recalibrate those expectations, let alone consider the sex thing. People don't usually want to fuck lizards, right?
What the hell is he even thinking?!
"Grace stupid statement. No more questions. Rocky Adrian show Grace," Rocky says with an air of finality.
What the heck has he gotten himself into?