Chapter Text
“Adrian! Your human keeps attacking mine!” Rocky whined to his mate.
“Simon, question?”
“Yes! Keep getting mad at Grace! Make Grace upset!”
Adrian was going to ♪♫♫ that good for nothing…
“Adrian will fix. Sleep, Rocky,” Adrian soothed their tiny mate, petting him to make him give up fighting sleep—a habit he’d gotten from Grace, they had no doubt.
“Can you stop bein’ so fuckin’ loud?” Simon hissed at Grace, who was in the kitchen talking to Rocky over his communicator.
“I—Sorry, I didn’t—“
“Fuckin’ asshole,” Simon muttered, glaring at him over his shoulder as he went back into his room.
“I—I’m gonna step outside…” Grace mumbled to Rocky.
“Bad Simon! Bad bad bad! Simon hurt Grace feeling, question?!” Rocky asked, already clearly disliking Simon.
“No, he’s just—he’s scared! Don’t get mad at him for being defensive. That was good! He was verbalizing what he wanted. It just… was a little mean, but it’s progress!” Grace defended, closing the door behind him and sitting on the porch instead.
“Other human mean! Grace not mean to Simon!”
“He was rescued from a moon covered in oceans of blood, I expected him to be a little fickle. I’m fine, Rocky. He’s not hurting me.”
Rocky made a discontent noise.
“I know, I know. It’s just for now, okay? He’ll get used to me, I know he will. I’ll make him so comfortable with me he won’t even realize!”
So, Grace’s plan wasn’t working very well. He was trying, he really, really was trying to make Simon comfortable with him, but nothing seemed to work.
He tries to offer Simon a helping hand on a project? Simon takes it as an insult to his singular arm.
He tells Simon that he’s always there in case the other ever wants to talk? Simon takes it as an attempt to try and figure out his secrets.
He offers to help Simon move something into his room? Simon takes it as an attempt to try and see his personal space.
There was just no reassuring that—
Deep. Breaths. It wasn’t fair for Grace to get upset with him for something he couldn’t help. He had clearly been around an extremely unsafe environment so Grace needed to just… lay back and let him get used to it. Trying to force all of this comfort onto him would only make him clam up and hide away so he doesn’t have to deal with…
Yeah.
Okay.
He can do this!
He just has to… wait.
Simon would come around.
Eventually.
Right?
…
…Right?
Simon was getting really tired of Grace’s “good guy” act. It was pissing him off.
Everyone has something they want, he just couldn’t figure out what Grace wanted. The guy had everything! He had an entire team of Eridians devoted to keeping him happy!
Simon had one too now. Ugh.
Simon just wished Grace would outright tell him what he wanted. If he knew, then he wouldn’t be so on edge all the time.
The way Simon viewed it, Grace had literally everything but someone to fuck. Seriously, he didn’t have any other human companions besides Simon and he highly doubted the scientist would fuck those rocky things.
So, chances are, Grace wanted sex from Simon. But the little fucker wouldn’t say it! He didn’t even suggest anything! Hardly even stood around Simon most of the time. It was almost sad.
He wasn’t very observant, so Simon was able to watch him without him noticing quite often. He looked distant half the time, either lost in thought or ultra focused on whatever he was working on.
Simon was a little pissed that Rocky wasn’t half as unobservant as Grace. Whenever he came over to talk, Simon would have to busy himself to look like he wasn’t staring at Grace all of the time. It made eavesdropping a lot harder.
But fine. Simon would manage. He would rather struggle to listen than be caught and upset Grace. He hadn’t ever seen the guy upset and he didn’t know what horrible shit he’d have to do to see it.
Rocky didn’t ever bring it up to Grace, but it was clear he noticed. Once, he pulled Simon off to the side while Grace was distracted and interrogated him on why he kept making Grace sad.
Sad? Simon made Grace sad? He didn’t even do anything to him! He told Rocky as much, too.
“No, wrong. Simon upset Grace. Too hostile. Simon mean to Grace!”
“I’m—it’s called self preservation, Grace should try it out every once in a while.”
“Ugh! Rocky not know why mate like Simon!” Rocky growled and stomped off.
Simon didn’t know how Adrian had mated a little shit like that.
But, once Rocky brought it to his attention, he did start to notice little signs of distress in Grace. When he walked into the room (and Grace noticed), he would clam up a little and try to look busy and excuse himself. He was nervous and scared around Simon, that was his best guess. He didn’t care, that was his problem.
Didn’t care.
Not one bit.
Even if Grace looked so…
Nope! Don’t care!
Grace didn’t know what was wrong with him!
He had been putting off grading a bunch of papers in favor of keeping everything sane around the house with Simon now being around, but he didn’t think that grading some papers should take this long! His head hurt and he was pretty sure he accidentally marked the wrong thing on the answer key so he had to go back and regrade all 48 papers he just did…
Grace pulled himself away from his desk.
Water. Kitchen.
Grace goes to the kitchen for some water, but he stops dead in his tracks when he sees Simon already in there. He stood in the doorway for a second, trying to figure out if it would be safest to turn around and leave when Simon saw him.
He looked like he was… baking? Something? That’s besides the point, when he saw Grace, he growled in irritation.
“Why are you awake right now?”
“I—sorry, I’ll just—I’ll go—“ Grace babbled, stumbling back and accidentally running into a stool, tripping over it. “Sorry! Sorry—“ he stumbled and picked up what he knocked over.
“Are you drunk?”
“What? No! I’m grading papers.”
“And you came to the kitchen because?”
“I was going to get a glass of water.”
“And you’re not because I’m a freak you can’t stand to be around, right.” Simon came to this conclusion entirely on his own accord, clearly.
“No! No, it’s not like that! I just—I didn’t want to get into your space and—“
“I’m not scared of you, asshole.”
“I didn’t mean that! I just didn’t—“
“Look, can you just shut the fuck up and go away? I only waited until night so that I wouldn’t have to be around you and now look at what happened, you still butted your way into my peace!”
“I… I’m sorry—“
“Go!” Simon hissed, like he was yelling at a dog.
Grace fled with his tail between his legs.
After that, he didn’t really leave his room all that much. He left for his classes once Simon would typically be back in his room and he came back when Simon would typically be in the garden and not paying attention. He avoided him like the plague, not because he was upset with Simon, he just… he knew Simon didn’t like him, so he tried to stop pushing himself onto him.
He spent all of his time in his room either making lesson plans or grading papers, and he occasionally talked to Rocky over the communicator or did some research for the Eridian scientists.
He was so focused on not being around Simon that he forgot that he had to take care of himself too.
His hands were shaky and his vision was blurry, he didn’t even realize it until it was too bad to function around. It was… he didn’t know what time it was, actually. But Simon was probably asleep and wouldn’t be leaving his room for a while.
He stumbled to the kitchen to grab a glass of water, but even that was just so… eugh. He felt like he was going to fall over, so he sat on the ground. He felt so weak and feverish, he didn’t know what to do when his vision started going dark. Fainting? Oh, yeah, he’s fainting.
Distantly, he worried what Simon would think of him if he saw him like this.
Grace’s head hurt. He felt like a truck ran over him. Then backed up and ran over him again.
The lights were too bright and it was too quiet, he didn’t want to be up but he felt restless and unable to sleep. He opened his eyes despite himself and hissed in pain.
He weakly tried to sit up, but abandoned that attempt and looked around instead. He seemed to be in his room, but that didn’t make sense since he’d passed out in the kitchen.
He tried to lift his hand, but it was too heavy, like something was holding it down. When he glanced down, he had to do a double take. Simon was holding his hand, head down over his forearm and fast asleep.
Grace felt like his hand was tingling, the first actual contact he’d had with another human in years. He couldn’t believe it. Simon? Willingly holding his hand? Had he actually died and this was heaven?
There was some very indignant noises and stumbling in the other room that dragged Grace’s attention to the door before Rocky scrambled through.
“Grace! Bad bad bad! Grace terrible!” Rocky said, along with another string of notes that Grace had come to know were curses. Thank you, Simon.
“I know, I know. I’m sorry, Rock. I didn’t realize…”
“Grace not realize! Grace never realize! Grace make Rocky Adrian worry! Grace make bad choices! Grace irresponsible and stupid! Rocky not trust Grace take care of Grace!” Rocky scrambled onto the bed and continued pacing.
Grace felt bad, he really did, but he had better things to worry about than his health.
“Simon’s asleep here? He… how did I get to my room?”
“Grace distracted! Not listen! Adrian! Rocky will ♪♫♫ Grace if handle! Adrian handle!” Rocky chimed, making a noise of stress and irritation before flopping on the bed and covering his carapace with two of his limbs. Drama Queen.
Adrian fit their way through the door and situated themself on the floor, loafing and still easily towering over Simon. “Rocky need sleep. Put off sleep cycle. Worry. Stress. Apology for mate,” Adrian said.
“It’s okay. I should be the one apologizing for not taking care of myself. How long have I been asleep?”
“Sleep for 14 hours. Simon keep watch. Is worry too.”
“Simon? I… I didn’t think he liked me all that much. Thought he’d be happy I was ill. Unable to fight him or anything. Not that I would! Just… peace of mind.” Grace sat up, making a small, pained noise.
“Simon very worry. Not good at talk. Brought Grace to bed and call Adrian. Stress over Grace illness. Cares.”
“Simon brought me here?”
“And help heal. Give medicine and put cold on Grace head to cool fever. Was worry Grace die. Not seen Grace sick before.”
“Oh… that’s right. He’s only been here for what… three months? I was taking fairly good care of myself before so he hasn’t seen this side of me yet. Well, now he has.” Grace grimaced.
“Yes. Simon decide keep Grace healthy. Adrian tell Simon Grace bad at take care of Grace, Simon take care of Grace instead.”
What?
“What? I—nononono, I can’t possibly ask him to do that! He already has to put up with so much because of me, I don’t—“
“Grace let Simon take care of Grace. No more excuses.”
Grace was speechless. Why would Simon do that? He hates his guts!
Doesn’t he?
Grace was annoying. Simon didn’t think he was wrong for believing that.
That little shit was so pushy and kept trying to get Simon on his good side for no reason. He was evil, Simon just didn’t have the proof yet. But he would show his true colors eventually. They always do.
Admittedly, he had been distancing himself from Simon ever since he yelled at him. Hadn’t seen him all week, actually.
Simon would catch the occasional glimpse of him slipping in or out of the house for his classes, but other than that he stayed in his room and didn’t come out.
He was embarrassed by how lonely it was.
Grace had always been there before, nervously hovering and checking in like Simon was some scared animal. He wasn’t, but he did miss the company. It felt like he was back in that ocean.
Simon wasn’t even sure if Grace was eating, now that he thinks about it.
He probably was. He’d been taking care of himself just fine before this.
Adrian did mention how poorly Grace used to take care of himself, though…
And how often he puts off his needs when he gets hyper fixated on something…
He was fine.
Definitely.
…
Probably.
Simon woke up in the middle of the night to a soft thunk in the kitchen. He guessed it was just Grace, so he wasn’t too worried, but he figured now would be a good time for him to corner the little shit and see if he’s taking care of himself. Not that he couldn’t do it literally any other time, he just wasn’t awake enough to worry about having to actually talk to the guy right now.
He went into the kitchen and saw… nothing? That was odd, he’d most definitely heard the noise in here. He walked around their kitchen island to look through the window and see if he could maybe catch a glimpse of Grace if he’d gone outside, but his foot hit something with a soft thump.
Simon glanced down and was flooded with irritation. Grace. Asleep on the floor. In the middle of the kitchen? Did this guy have no spatial awareness? First he doesn’t let Simon go a day without breathing down his neck, then he refuses to even be in the same room as him, and now he’s passing out on the kitchen floor?
Not even bothering to swallow his growl of irritation, he kneeled down and shook Grace’s shoulder. “Hey. Get up. Are you even listening? I said get up, asshole,” Simon hissed.
Grace didn’t so much as stir. It pissed Simon off, since the little shit had the audacity to be such a heavy sleeper in the middle of the kitchen. Simon refused to carry him to his room.
Then, Simon rolled Grace onto his back and froze. Grace was pale… and his breathing was extremely shallow. He pressed his wrist to Grace’s head and found that he was burning up as well. What the fuck?
“Shit.” Simon picked Grace up, trying to be a little gentle with him. He was fragile, as much as Simon hated to admit. Omegas typically were.
He carried him to his room and sat him on his bed, taking note of the lack of a nest there. Why didn’t Grace have a nest? Omegas needed nests in order to stay healthy and sane.
…Unless Grace was a beta.
Simon felt a little ashamed of himself for assuming that Grace was an omega. Just because someone was physically delicate and tinier than him doesn’t mean they're an omega. Just because someone’s good with children and teaches doesn’t mean they’re an omega. Just because someone covers their scent glands but still leaves a muted scent of sugary fruits doesn’t mean they’re an omega. Simon felt like a total asshole for assuming as he pressed a cool cloth to Grace’s forehead.
He’d always been more open and good at reading people compared to the rest of his brothers, but that little perk wasn’t good for Grace. He was confusing and so different from what Simon had always seen, there was no doubt that his reading ability would be useless on Grace. He didn’t know why he’d ever assumed. Grace did so many typical omega things, but he did a lot of odd, new things too. Maybe they just had cultural differences. There was no way an omega could function without a nest, it would drive them up a wall!
Simon remembered his first time seeing an omega without a nest. It was in prison, they’d just been admitted. He’d felt bad for them at first, thinking they were just stuck in here like he was. That’s what he assumed about everyone until proven otherwise. He was proven otherwise every time.
They had killed all of their children. All five of them. It was a large amount by far, most omegas were lucky to successfully birth even one since resources were so scarce. They were a danger to themselves and others, so they were put in a contained area without anyone else. They weren’t allowed any bedding since they couldn’t be trusted to not tie a noose and hang themselves, so they had no nest.
They clawed a hole in their own chest two days later.
Simon shuttered at the memory.
So. Grace was a beta. That was good. Simon felt ashamed in himself for it, but he was glad Grace wasn’t an omega. Omegas were physically weak, and Simon wouldn’t have to worry about fighting him if it came down to it, but he was remarkably weak for omegas in distress. If Grace was an omega and decided to weaponize his pheromones, Simon knew he would lose and he couldn’t afford to let that ever happen. Betas wouldn’t harm him.
The thought of Grace being an alpha was also quickly dismissed. Too docile and non confrontational.
He was struck with a memory from while he was being moved back here. He was still extremely sick and Adrian was trying to figure out how to take care of him properly.
“Grace human say alpha humans aggressive. Mean. Simon alpha, question?” Adrian asked through their crude translator.
“I… yeah. I’m an alpha,” Simon grumbled back. Adrian had already told him a little about Grace. Told him how they were bringing him to another human so they would be safe and with company.
“Simon no hurt Grace. Promise.”
“I won’t hurt Grace. I’m not that kind of… I… I’ll try not to hurt him. I can’t promise that I won’t, but I’ll try.”
Simon had been doing a terrible job.
Sure, technically he’d never laid his hand on Grace before, but he’s hurt him in so many other ways. Shit, he was ill now because of him!
He needed to get help. Adrian would help.
Simon briefly thought about calling Rocky since he was Grace’s best friend, but that was quickly dismissed since Rocky would probably rip him a new one for letting Grace get to his current state.
He just needed to call Adrian.