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“Mmm, no understand.”
“What? I just explained it to you!” Simon groans and leans back against a rock on the beach.
He wishes he was talking to Adrian instead but Rocky knows Ryland better, which is unfortunate. Simon and Rocky have learnt to tolerate each other enough for Rylands sake but they still very much do not like each other.
It started with his arrival to Erid. After his traumatic experience with the eel and that god forsaken moon, he was found by some Eridians after they detected his sub in their orbit, he doesn’t know how he got there or how his sub managed to survive in space but it did and now he’s on Erid.
He woke up after being on Erid for a few weeks, his last memory being him fighting for his life and he woke up in a panic, attacking the first person (or alien) he saw, who happened to be Ryland Grace — a human scientist from Earth, who had already been living on Erid for a few years.
He pounced on him, broke one of his arms and his nose, which he somehow accomplished with only one arm. He’s since apologised, Ryland assures him there’s no hard feelings but Rocky has hated him ever since. Which is why Rocky could be acting so difficult right now.
In the past few months, Simon has realised that he has fallen in love with Ryland. He’s never been in love before, never been in a relationship but this feeling he has for Ryland can’t be anything else. He realised it when he began to stare at him for a moment too long, when he started noticing little things about him — like how he always blows three times when he has a hot drink to cool it down — and he loves the way Rylands nose scrunches up when he laughs.
He doesn’t know what do to do about it, despite coming from almost identical planets, they come from different galaxies, what if they don’t ’do love’ on Rylands Earth? Or what if Ryland simply doesn’t like him back? That’s why Simon has come to Rocky, he knows Ryland best.
Simon sighs and rubs his face, “I like Ryland, I like him. Y’know like…like you and Adrian.”
“Ooh understand!” Rocky bounces his carapace up and down then he stops abruptly, “Simon want Simon and Grace to be mates, question?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” he answers, in his galaxy they would be called boyfriends but he wonders if Ryland would use the term ‘mates’ too.
Rocky clicks his claws, he doesn’t like Simon and he definitely doesn’t like the idea of them being mates but if this is something that Grace also wants then it’ll make him happy and if Grace is happy then Rocky is happy.
Rocky makes a sound that Simon has learnt means he’s sighing, “ok, Rocky help.”
“Yes! Thank you,” Simon says, “so what do you think I should do?”
“Don’t know, don’t know much about human courting,” Rocky says, the computer he was given has a lot of things on it about human anatomy and psychology but nothing about how humans interact socially.
Simon pulls his legs up into his chest and rests his arms on them, “I don’t know much about human courting either,” the ‘Quiet Rapture’ made them lose most of humanity’s history, Simon has no clue what kind of things his ancestors would have done to acquire a partner.
Rocky clicks his claws and sways side to side, he’s thinking hard, “Rocky know Eridian courting, Grace know Eridian courting, try that, question?”
Simon makes a face, “Grace know Eridian courting, if Simon do Eridian courting then Grace knows Simon want to be mates! Yes?!” Rocky stomps his legs in frustration.
Simon’s face lights up once he understands what Rocky’s saying. Ryland has and still is studying Eridian culture, he does know all about Eridian courting or at least he should, if Simon does it, Ryland should understand what Simon wants. It’s a pretty genius idea.
“Alright well, what should I do first?”
1. Dancing and singing
Dancing, singing and mimicking are a huge part of Eridian culture, before the courting starts the suitor will sing and dance, if the admiree copies the dance and the song, that means they accept the courtship and the actual courting can begin.
Simon can’t sing, he can’t really dance either, Eridians don’t really ‘dance’ though, not like a human would. Rocky showed him a few moves that he used when courting Adrian and the ‘dancing’ is more akin to how birds and sea creatures ‘dance’. Once he figured that out, he researched as much as possible on different animals courting dances. It turned out to be a little useless as a lot of them really only work if you have colourful feathers or shiny scales. Simon has neither.
He’s not going to give up though!
Rocky insists that being shiny doesn’t matter as long as the dance itself is good and Ryland dances back. Simon then spent the next few days coming up with and practicing a dance. He felt completely ridiculous but this is how it’s done on Erid.
Simon stands on the beach waiting for Ryland to come down, he shifts on his feet trying to shake out his nerves. He hopes what he’s set up looks romantic, it’s ’night’ so he’s got some candles that the dome’s science team were able to make and there’s light music playing from the computer that Ryland let him borrow. He doesn’t know if the song is actually romantic but it sounds romantic so it should be good enough.
“Simon?”
Simon almost shoots out of his own skin, he’d gotten so lost in his head he hadn’t noticed Ryland standing in front of him.
“What’s all of this?” Ryland asks, gesturing to the candles.
Simon takes a deep breath, this is it! “I want to…show you something.”
He begins the dance, he crosses his right arm over his chest then lifts his left arm over his head. He sways his hips to the left then he swaps his arms and sways to the right. He repeats that a few times, Ryland watching intently. Simon moves onto his next move, which had been a move Rocky showed him. He turns around, back facing Ryland. He looks over his shoulder and shimmies them in a circular motion, moving his hips with them.
He turns back around and takes a few steps towards Ryland. He hold his arms against his side with his forearms pulled up to his chest. He leans forward and wiggles his arms while shimmying his shoulders then he leans back and repeats the move. Ryland begins to laugh, Simon falters thinking that Ryland is laughing at him. Embarrassment creeps up and his face flushes but then Ryland starts to dance too.
He copies Simon’s dance, leaning back when Simon leans forward and vice versa. They continue to dance together, twirling around each other and laughing. They stop when the song finally ends.
“Gosh, I haven’t danced with someone in so long!” Ryland laughs, face flushed and out of breath.
“Did you like it?” Simon asks nervously, his hearth thumping.
“Yeah, it was great! I had a lot of fun,” he answers.
Simon blushes and smiles. It worked! He accepted! Now he can move onto the next stage.
2. Showing off
All Eridians are good at something, a special skill or talent that is unique to them; the way they sing, something relating to their job or it could even be how big or small they are and how their size benefits them.
There are many engineers on Erid but Rocky is the best due to his unique ability, he can create anything in a matter of seconds using a wide range of materials that would normally take a whole group of Eridian engineers to achieve — this is why he was he went on the mission and why he was the only engineer.
Simon doesn’t really have any skills, nothing that he could really show off anyway other than him excelling at killing people — which he still hasn’t and will never tell Ryland about — with his earth and the other planets disappearing, there was no way any of the humans left could pick up hobbies, they didn’t even have anything that kept them entertained.
Well, there’s a couple things that Simon is good at but he doesn’t know if he’d call them ‘skills’. On Eden he’d been an excellent caretaker even though his nickname had been ‘the butcher’. He and his brothers were always getting into trouble so he’d gotten pretty good at patching them and himself up, often stitching his own wounds. He was also the strongest, able to lift almost anything and he’s only gotten stronger since the mutations made him taller.
This is perfect timing as Ryland was wanting to rearrange the house a little bit but he threw his back out and hurt one of his arms trying to lift something that he definitely shouldn’t have tried to lift alone. While Rocky had absolutely freaked when finding out that Grace had gotten hurt, he had — reluctantly — agreed to not help with taking care of Grace so that next stage of the courting process could be done.
“You want this outside right?” Simon asks, pointing to the dining room table. Another table had been made for them after Simon moved into house so they could have their own places to eat at even though Ryland explained that they didn’t have to do that since eating is not a private thing for humans. The Eridians made it anyway and now they have two. Ryland decided that he wants one of them moved outside so that they can eat out there without having to sit on the ground.
“Yeah but it’s pretty heavy, you should ask Rocky…for, oh,” Ryland trails off when Simon hoists the entire table over his shoulder and carries it outside. He blinks a few times, impressed by Simon’s strength. He could barely lift one side, Simon carried the whole thing while having only one arm! (Simon usually wears a prosthetic but it gets itchy when he gets hot)
Simon slides to door closed behind as he comes back inside, “you want anything else moved?”
“No, that was the last thing-ow!” He yelps as he tries to sit up against the couch causing a sharp pain to shoot up his back. Simon rushes over but Ryland hold up his hand.
“I’m ok! I’m ok,” he insists.
Simon frowns, “I can help Ry, what do you need?”
“No I’m fine, I just need-ow!” He shouts as he tries to sit up again, his eyes brim with tears.
“Ok I think you need to lay down,” Simon leans down and puts his arm around Rylands side, “I’m gonna take you to your bed, put your arms around my neck.”
“You only have one arm!” Ryland cries.
“Ryland,” Simon says gruffly.
Ryland sniffles, he wants to argue but the look on Simon’s face tells him he shouldn’t. He wraps his arms around Simon’s neck, scooting carefully to the edge of the couch. Simon moves his arm under Rylands legs and gently lifts him up, holding him tight against his chest. Ryland squeaks and clings tighter as Simon moves him to his room. Simon sets him down on his bed.
“Thank you…sorry,” Ryland apologises, ashamed he had to be carried.
“It’s ok, I like taking care of you,” Simon admits, face heating up.
Ryland blushes, “oh, ok,” he reaches up and squeezes Simons bicep, “these muscles definitely aren’t for show huh?” He rips his arm back, embarrassed.
Simon doesn’t notice Rylands embarrassment, too busy beaming from the praise to his strength. He flexes his arm, “yeah I’m pretty strong,” he finally notices Ryland and is then embarrassed by his own actions.
“Um, I’m gonna…go, so you can rest,” he says, face completely flushed.
“Yeah sure…thanks…again,” Ryland replies, his face a deep shade of red.
Simon goes to his own room, he sits on his bed and rubs his face. Despite his embarrassment, he’s happy. Rocky said that once his ‘showing off’ is praised or even acknowledged, that means another one of his advances as been accepted and he can move on to the next stage.
3. Gift giving
This part of the courting process is essentially the ‘dating’ period for humans, it’s the longest and for Eridians can last years. Humans don’t live as long so it’ll only last for a few months at most.
Rocky gave Simon a malleable form of xenonite, allowing him to be able to make things for Ryland, small statues of earth animals, jewellery and decorations for the house. Ryland is always overjoyed by the gifts, immediately displaying the statues and decorations, always wearing the jewellery when Rocky or any other Eridians visit. It makes Simon’s heart swell, he’s got one more gift to give before the final stage of this courtship.
This gift was actually Adrian’s idea, Simon wanted the final gift to be big and extravagant, something that Ryland will love that isn’t just a little statue. Rocky suggested talking to Adrian about it, them being a scientist as well as the one who manages the biodome. They suggested doing something with plants, they — all of the biodomes scientists — were able to clone the makeup of the remaining plants that were left on the Hail Mary. This means they can eventually make more food options possible but as of right now all the plants can do is bloom into flowers.
This is still perfect as Ryland will have moments where he cries about his life before the mission; his students, the food, the other humans and nature, the flowers he’ll never be able to smell again but now he’ll be able to! Adrian, Rocky and Simon all worked together using transparent xenonite to make a greenhouse for Ryland to grow his own plants in.
“Hey Ry? I want to show you something” Simon says nervously. “But you have to close your eyes first.”
Ryland giggles, “oh? It’s a surprise?”
“Yeah and I think you’re really gonna like it,” Simon smiles warmly.
Ryland giggles again and covers his eyes with his hands, Simon leads him outside, holding onto one of his elbows. He positions Ryland in front of the greenhouse — they quickly set it up when Ryland was out teaching his class — he wrings his hands nervously, wiping his sweaty palm on his pants.
“Ok, you can look now,” he says excitedly, barely able to keep the nerves out of his voice.
Ryland takes his hands off his face and opens his eyes, he gasps at the sight in front of him. The greenhouse is huge, more than fifty plant pots lining the walls, some are hanging from the ceiling. Ryland walks in, eyes wide and slack jawed. He dips his hand into a pot, it only has soil in it, he rubs it between his fingers. It’s not just soil but Earth soil.
“How…?” Ryland shakily asks, a few tears falling down his cheeks.
“I wanted to do something nice for you, this-the greenhouse was Adrian’s idea, they’re one hell of a scientist, huh?” Simon chuckles.
“You did this…for me?” Rylands sobs, he runs and throws himself onto Simon, squeezing him in a tight hug.
Simon’s face goes red, “y-yeah well, you’re always talking about how much you love plants, so..uh, here,” Simon reaches into his pocket and pulls out a few small sleeves, labelled in Eridian letters.
He hands them to Ryland, who is still crying. Ryland inspects the sleeves, turning them around in his hands and holding them over his head. He opens it and pours some of its contents out onto his hand.
“Seeds…” Ryland rubs them with his thumb.
“Adrian found a way to clone the ones from the Hail Mary, so…Ry?” Simon trails off as Ryland begins to cry in earnest, sobs making his whole body shake and fat tears running down his red, blotchy face.
Ryland envelopes Simon in a tight hug again, sobbing into his shoulder, “this is- this is perfect, thank you, thank you,” he says between sobs.
Simon doesn’t respond, he wraps his arms around Ryland, holding him tight.
4. Proposal
The final stage of the courting, asking the admiree to be your mate, or in this case, Simon asking Ryland to be his boyfriend.
Eridians propose by giving the admiree a rock, if the admiree accepts they will give the suitor a rock in return. The rocks symbolise their future children, it’s incredibly simple and outdated as not all Eridians couples have children but it’s a tradition they’ve had for centuries.
Simon and Ryland won’t be able to have children, both of them being men but the meaning behind it is what matters. Simon wants to spend the rest of his life on Erid with Ryland as his partner.
He first had to find the perfect rock, colour doesn’t matter to the eridians as they can’t see it but it’s important to Simon, Ryland only deserves the best. Simon spent days trying to find the perfect rock and he eventually found it, it’s not too big, just a little bigger than his palm and it’s pale blue with flecks of green and brown. It look like the Earth.
He stands on the beach, waiting for Ryland to come down, much like how the courting began. He moves the rock between his hands, its heavy and its purpose is even heavier, symbolising their future together.
“Simon?”
Simon takes a deep breath, he kneels on one leg in front of Ryland, he bows his head and raises the rock over, lifting it high over his head.
“Ryland Grace,” he starts, “this rock symbolises our love, please accept it and become my mate,” he says, emotion thick in his voice.
“What?!” Ryland shrieks.
Simon whips his head, “what?”
“Where is this coming from?! What do you mean our love?” Ryland asks, face red.
“Our- our love? You accepted my courting dance and all of the other courting stages, this is the final stage?” Simon explains confused.
“What are you-…oh,” Ryland cuts himself off when the realisation dawns on him, “this whole time you were doing an Eridian courting ritual for me?”
“Yes? I-I…Rocky said you would have understood?” Simon says, dejected. Ryland didn’t understand, does this mean he doesn’t want to be mates?
“Why didn’t you just ask me out?” Ryland asks.
Simon cocks his head to the side, “ask you out?”
“Yeah, like a human would?” Ryland shrugs his shoulders, face still bright red.
“Is that how…humans do it?” Simon rubs his face, he has no idea what Ryland is talking about.
“Did your galaxy not do that?” Ryland questions, he thinks hard, sure they come from different galaxies but their Earths can’t have been that different.
“Well, with only about a thousand humans left, we were partnered up in breeding pairs. We weren’t given a choice on who we could pursue,” Simon answers bitterly, while he preferred being on Eden than in prison, he still hated not being able to have a choice.
“Oh…” Ryland looks at the rock in Simon’s hands, it looks like the earth. His heart tightens thinking of all the things Simon had done over the past few months, the dancing, taking care of him, the gifts and now this. He should have realised it but he’s always been oblivious when someone is in love with him.
He shouldn’t have been so oblivious though considering he’s in love with Simon too.
“Wait here for a second,” he says, running to the house. A few days ago he had found a beautiful red rock with flecks of white and black. He hadn’t known what to do with it then but he knows now.
He runs back to the beach and holds the rock out to Simon, “I have a rock for you to accept too, if you’ll still have me.”
Simon’s eyes widen, “you do want to be my mate?”
“Yes, I’m sorry I freaked out, it just seemed so out of the blue! But I understand now and I do want to your mate,” Ryland says with a small smile.
Simon’s heart flutters, they exchange rocks and stare at each other but then Simon’s face falls into something expressionless.
“What do we do now?”
Rylands face turns impossibly redder and he shifts on his feet nervously, “we could kiss?”
“O-ok,” Simon’s never kissed anyone before but he’s seen people kiss, so it shouldn’t be that hard, right?
They lean in close, noses almost touching. Ryland swallows hard, his throat tight, Simon licks his lips, mouth dry. They part their mouths, only centimetres apart-
“It work?! Grace, Simon mates?!”
Simon and Ryland knock their heads together, startled by Rocky’s voice, Adrian trials behind him, scolding him for ruining their obviously private moment.
“Apology, try to give privacy but Rocky get too excited,” Adrian explains, they smack Rocky on the top of his carapace.
“Apology, apology, apology but Grace, Simon mates now?” Rocky bounces around, even after all of the months helping, he still doesn’t really like Simon but he’s very excited at the idea that Grace now has a mate.
“Yes, Rocky, yes, Simon and I are mates,” Ryland says exasperatedly.
“Happy, happy, happy,” Rocky continues to bounce around, making high pitched trills. “Now Simon, Grace make pebbles.”
Ryland flushes, “Rocky!”
Adrian smacks Rocky again causing him to fall into the sand. Ryland and Adrian scold him for being so intrusive but he ignores them, still trilling and flapping his arms, half buried in the sand. Simon doesn’t pay mind to any of it, too busy looking at the rock Ryland gave him.
He smiles, the reality of it all resting comfortably on his shoulders, he has a mate or boyfriend, both work, but he has someone. Someone he can finally trust and love.
He always thought his brothers and sisters were ridiculous to believe that going to another galaxy would give them their happy ending, who knew they’d end up being right.