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Grace had only complained once or twice about the lack of human contact since he and Rocky met. He didn't want Rocky to feel like he didn't appreciate the efforts he took to get close- He did, truly appreciate it all. He couldn't imagine what his life would be like without Rocky by his side. But since he got to Erid, the lack of real, human connection has took a toll on him.
He begun to spray his past crewmate's colognes and perfumes on items around just to feel like someone else had been there. Like he wasn't the only human in the entire solar system. He would make his various blankets and pillows into the shape of a human and sprawl himself over them, wrap a rolled up weighted blanket over his shoulders for a crude imitation of a hug. It didn't work.
Eventually, he began resorting to listening to videos of heart beats, breathing, even some affirmations that he would usually just laugh at back on earth.
Rocky noticed quickly, and almost immediately went to Adrian about it. The two banded together to create something to help Grace. Eventually, they found it. They could make synthetic human bodies, almost like the robots on the outsides of Eridian spaceships.
Hypothetically, if they could figure out a way to generate an entire human being genetically different than Grace, they could make themselves human bodies. It was risky and definitely going to be difficult- they'd have to figure out a way to make the bodies either compatible with both temperatures and climates, or somehow automate the process so they didn't need hands on attention. They would also need some way to confirm the bodies were working properly. They didn't understand... anything, about sight, or most human senses for that matter- they didn't even have musculature in their limbs, so it would be a learning curve.
Rocky asked Grace oh-so-kindly to lend him one of the many laptops he owned, ("Grace give Rocky laptop now." was very kind, thank you very much.) and got to work.
Days turned into weeks, then months, and eventually a year had gone by of nothing but experiments, tests, and occasional prodding at Grace which resulted in several suspicious inquiries about why exactly Rocky needed to know about what the difference between European and Americans was and why he was digging into the history of earth so deeply he was talking about species of extinct animals Grace had never heard of.
And then... it happened. Rocky had decided his body was up to his standards, and with the combined effort of Adrian and himself, managed to insert himself into the body.
His eyes slowly squinted open. It burned, almost. Not physically- he couldn't describe the sensation. His hands flailed up, grabbing at his face. Dull nails dug into his skin and he jolted like he'd been shot. A strangled noise came out of his throat. He rolled over, and opened his eyes again. This was more manageable. Nice and dark. Slowly, he peeked to the side until he saw the dull light filling the room. His jaw was slack, and he realized he was drooling as he felt it dribbling down his chin. He wiped it away, pushing himself up. He had given himself 4 arms- why wouldn't he?- so he was atleast stably propping himself up. "A-aachh..." He slurred. one hand came to his jaw, feeling inside his mouth. He ran the pads of his fingers across the sharp ridges of his teeth, then further back. He hit the back of his throat and winced. He hummed around his index and middle fingers, feeling the vibrations. He slowly pulled his hand out.
Standing was worse than he expected. He launched himself straight up, expecting nothing too different- he was wrong. He fell forwards, banging his face into the bed across from him that held Adrian's currently lifeless human form, crashing onto the ground in a heap of twitching muscles. "Hhaggh-,," He groaned, writhing weakly. His vision spun- dear god, how did Grace live like this? The world was terrifying. He scrambled onto all fours, (all sixes?) and began to slowly drag himself towards the tunnel that lead all the way into Grace's dome through a Super Secret Entrance!
The treck to the dome was possibly worse than concussing himself on a metal bed frame. The xenonite was slippery with condensation, and was angled at a point where every single movement could send Rocky down like a water slide. He made it though, due to smart thinking he had added handles similar to a ladder inside the tunnel- also... based off the Hail Mary. He just kind of assumed the Hail Mary was the peak of human enclosures.
He eventually made it out, and... wow. He slowly rose to his feet, looking around. Slowly, he stepped forward- and... fell face forward and began tumbling down the small grass hill. He eventually came to a stop sprawled on the gravel ground, panting. He wasn't sure if he had been screaming or not, but whatever he did was loud enough to alert Grace.
Grace had been peacefully lazing about, procrastinating on making himself dinner, when a high pitched, cracking shriek echoed throughout the dome. He shot up. That wasn't an Eridian. Oh god, were there different aliens? Do they eat humans? How are they in here? He rushed to grab a weapon- which was just a kitchen knife, and slowly opened his door. The dome was dim, the low lights on the ceiling glimmering and bouncing off the water.
He slowly walked outside of his hut, holding the knife in front of him like he'd seen in horror movies. He wasn't sure if that's actually how you were supposed to do it but he was much too frightened to think further on it.
"Grace!"
Grace froze. Slowly, he took more time to scout out the surroundings, and he saw it. Something clearly human- almost. He fiddled around with his keychain he kept in his pocket, shining the mini flashlight out over the beach.
A tan man laid on the sand- nude and bleeding from his nose and lip. He had blue and dark brown, almost scar colored tattoos over his body, the blue too pigmented to be a natural human tattoo. "Hello Grace! It is Rocky!" He said too loudly and too pronounced, squinting directly at the light. Long, graying brown hair flowed down his shoulders, curling at the ends, and he had bright yellow eyes.
Grace stood there silently for a long moment, jaw slack. "Rocky?!" He suddenly shouted, dropping the knife and running down the hill, stumbling a bit before falling to his knees at Rocky's crumpled form. "Oh my gosh! How did you- What- Holy crap!" He stammered, his hands nervously hovering before reaching out, cupping Rocky's cheeks with both hands, wiping away the sticky blood with his thumbs. "You're a human!- Kind of! How did you do that?! Is this real? Are you real?"
Rocky slowly blinked, staring up at Grace. His jaw fell slack again. His lower pair of arms held himself up, the upper pair going to cup Grace's cheeks back. "Rocky is real, yes-" He was interrupted by a thumb wiping the blood from his chin.
Grace let out a breathless laugh. And then a sniffle. "Oh my god." His voice cracked. He wrapped his arms around Rocky's shoulders, heaving him up into a hug. He buried his face into the crook of his neck, tears leaking from his eyes. He couldn't tell what he was feeling. All he knew was that he was holding Rocky, skin to skin.
"...You don't have any clothes on."
"Rocky forgot."