Chapter Text
Paris was beautiful, really.
Street lights everywhere, beautiful buildings and green plants everywhere you looked.
For Grace, it really was a once in a life time thing.
He's never been to Paris, hell he's never even left the USA for fucks sake.
So when Eva Stratt announced that she, Grace, Olesya Ilyukhina, Martin DuBois, Yáo Li-Jie and Annie Shapiro would go to a gala mostly to honor the astronauts willing to die for earth and humanity's survival, Grace was delighted to go with them.
"I will order everyone's clothing, any color wishes?" She asked.
Ilyukhina immediately raised her hand "i look best in red" she chimed clearly excited to go.
Stratt took notes and then moved over to Anni who's wish was a blue sparkly dress. Then came DuBois who is going in a black plain suit and Yáo agreeing with him.
"And you Doctor Grace?" Stratt asked when she was done taking everyone elses orders.
"Uhhhh-" he thought for a moment.
"Yellow, please" he eventually answered.
Stratt groaned but wrote it down anyways.
"I look horrible in yellow" she said
Grace looked confused.
"What does my suit color have to do with your dress color?"
"We are matching" she answered with a serious face.
Ilyukhina and Shapiro immediately turned their heads towards Grace while Yáo and DuBois kept their heads down, DuBois fidgeting with his hands like he always does.
He looked at Ilyukhina, then at Shapiro and then at Stratt again.
"Why that?"
She rolled her eyes. "You are my second in command, meaning we are matching"
"Oh" he nodded looking at the table. "Well if you want you can choose the color, i dont mind"
She looked at her notepad for a second and then shook her head.
"No its fine, yellow it is"
And with that, the meeting ended.
The flight to Paris was exhausting but peaceful as Annie and Olesya talked, DuBois read, Yáo was on his phone playing some trashy games, and Grace and Stratt worked in silence.
They sat next to each other, Annie and Ilyukhina infront of them and behind them, Yáo and DuBois.
"Everyone smile!" Annie said excited holding her phone up.
"What are you doing?" Asked Stratt.
"I am taking a selfie, duh"
Stratt forced a smile leaning a little closer to Grace.
Not even a minute after the photo was taken, everyone's phones made a sound and suddenly Annie had created a group chat called "the worlds number 1 scientists, and a dictator"
Silently, Stratt had to laugh at that name.
When they arrived at the hotel, it was early in the morning.
They quickly got their keys and then went down the hall, into the elevator and to the 8th floor.
Stratt's room was infront of Grace at the left of her was Shapiro and to her right was Ilyukhina, across Shapiro was DuBois and next to DuBois was Yáo.
Stratt put her luggage into the room and sighed.
She looked around the room taking in its beauty.
Of course it was enormous with a huge bed, a balcony with an amazing view to the Eifel Tower.
Only the best for earth's heroes.
She was ready to collapse on the bed and do some work on her laptop when she noticed something rather small, black and hairy sitting over her bed at the ceiling.
"Fuck" she mumbled to herself
Ok, that was a problem BUT manageable of course she was the leader of the taskforce she could handle a spider.
No she couldn't.
Without thinking twice she ran towards the door and fastly closed it leaning against it.
"Stratt?" DuBois asked behind her.
"Is everything alright?"
She fastly turned around ignoring how red she must look in her face right now.
"Yeah! Yeah of course i am great"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes i was just- i was just about to ask Grace something important"
DuBois nodded and then proceeded "oh by the way, Shapiro and i would go outside walking around the city, thats alright yeah?"
She nodded "yes of course this trip is about enjoying yourself do what you want"
He smiled and waved goodbye.
"Grace" she thought.
Yeah of course! Grace wouldn't judge her for beeing scared of a spider and he would also remove it for her, jackpot!
So she knocked on his door, room 60 and waited.
Only a few seconds later she heard the squeezing of a bed then heavy footsteps and the door opened revealing a very tired Ryland Grace.
He was still in his "why can't you trust atoms? Because they make up everything" T-shirt and his sweatpants.
Eva first looked at his shirt, then at his ruffled hair and eventually pushed him away to enter his room. He went away from the door and put his hands up in the air to make a: "yes ma'am" salute.
He closed the door and turned towards Stratt who was silently judging his luggage that was currently laying opened on the floor in the middle of the room.
His shirts were everywhere, his shampoo was currently leaking out of its bottle and his sleeping pants were hanging over the curtains.
"We arrived 10 minutes ago, did you fight a bear or something?"
He scratched his head.
"I had troubles finding my charger"
Stratt just nodded and turned away from the mess and towards him.
"I've got a problem"
Grace's alarms went on.
When Stratt says she has a problem it could mean two things: the world was going down earlier then expected or she was fighting with some world leaders, either way it was not ideal and most definietly serious.
"Ok shit, how can i help?!"
"You have to come with me"
"To where?"
"My room"
Grace was confused but didn't question it further. She was Eva Stratt after all, she knows what she's doing.
They went out of Grace's room and into Stratt's.
When Grace entered he immediately noticed how disgusting and embarrassing his room looks next to Stratt's.
But, to be fair, she hasn't even touched her luggage yet.
"Can you remove that?" She asked pointing towards the spider on the ceiling.
Grace looked at the tiniest spider he's ever seen, then back at Stratt.
"Excuse me?"
"That, spider can you please remove it?"
She was dead serious looking at the floor while Grace had to crack a smile.
"Eva Stratt, are you arachnophobic?" He asked crossing his arms.
"Yes" was all she answered.
Grace took out a tissue and climbed on the bed. He removed the spider and let it free on the balcony.
"There, all good now?"
Stratt was still looking at the floor thats when he realized she might be embarrassed about it.
"Hey i am not making fun of you, you know that right? You can be afraid of stuff thats pretty normal, i won't tell anyone i promise."
She smiled up at him and nodded.
"Thank you, Grace"
He smiled back and scratched his head again.
"Hey i was about to go outside maybe get food you know my first time in Paris, wanna come along?"
She considered his question for a second and went through everything she still had to do but looking at the city a little just felt too good to decline.
"Sure what were you thinking? The Eifel Tower?"
"No, you'll see"
And with that, they went out of the hotel and onto the streets. Grace was fighting with google maps constantly while Eva told him she could handle it if he would tell her where they are going.
"You probably could but i want to make it a surprise"
He said that, while they went out of the second subway they took wrong now.
"Why are French undergrounds so large?" Grace asked while looking at the enormous hall they had to walk to get to their destination which was hopefully the right subway now.
After 40 minutes, a whole lot of arguing and 2 wrong subways, they finally arrived infront of a beautiful old building.
"Wait, the Opera Garnier? THAT'S what you wanted to see so badly?" Stratt asked Grace while pointing towards it.
"Yes!"
"Not the Eifel Tower, not the Louvre, the Opera?"
He nodded excitedly.
"Yes absolutely"
"Why?"
He thought about it for a second.
"If i tell you, you wont make fun of me?"
Stratt shook her head while looking at the sun still shining brightly while beeing eaten by cells.
"You know about my fear of spiders i fear this is nothing"
They moved towards the entry while Grace explained.
"There's this really cheesy kids movie my students love, we always used to watch it in class together and it all revolves around this place"
She nodded while looking at the inside of the building. The stairs covered in red and gold mesmerized her like nothing else did.
"It's like an orphan girl who wants to be a ballerina and so she goes to Paris all alone and becomes a student here" Grace continued.
"And that's what your students love?"
He nodded in agreement.
"Yeah i guess it gives them a feeling of hope? If you know what i mean"
They walked up the stair and to the main stage.
"I know this place from phantom of the opera" Stratt explained.
"It was my favorite story growing up and is to this day my favorite musical"
To their surprise, there wasnt many people around so Stratt started singing some lines dramatically while leaning on one of the chairs.
"THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA IS THEEEEEREEEE"
Grace laughed and enjoyed the moment. She was constantly stressed recently so this was great for the both of them.
He felt his cheeks get warmer at the sight of her and how happily she was in this exact moment.
"I dont know much about the phantom of the opera, sorry"
She shrugged her shoulders.
"Thats fine, wanna go?"
Grace took out his phone and gestured for Stratt to make herself camera ready and turn towards the stage again, so she did.
"Can we take a picture together outside of the building for my students?"
They took a few selfies together infront of the building and then went a little bit further away from the tourist traps and to a local bakery where Stratt ordered a coffee and a sandwich and Grace got himself a cupcake and a hot chocolate.
Then they sat down at a table infront of a window
"So, you really never watched the movie i told you about?"
Stratt shook her head.
"I dont have kids nor do i work with them, Grace"
She was right, of course she was and Grace was honestly feeling stupid for a second for even assuming she might have seen it.
"If you want, we could have a movie night and watch it in my room? That TV is massive yeah?"
"Where would we get the movie from?"
"Amazon prime?"
"You have Amazon prime?" She laughed.
"Why would i not?" Grace felt offended but jokingly.
"No you are right, why would you not"
They ate in silence for a while and when they were done, they put their tableware away and went out of the bakery.
"Please, let me find the route this time?" She said already getting her phone out of her coat.
"Be my guest"
When they arrived back at the hotel, it was already 6 am.
Shapiro and Ilyukhina were sitting in the main hall of the hotel when they noticed Eva and Grace walking in.
"Hey!" Shapiro said while waving them over.
"Where have you two been?" Ilyukhina asked.
"Outside looking at the city" Stratt answered.
Shapiro and Ilyukhina looked at each other funny but then decided to not say anything and just nodded.
"When does the gala start tomorrow, Stratt?" Ilyukhina asked before her and Grace could dissappear again.
"7 p.m" She answered. "Dont be late!"
When they were at their doors again, both agreed to first change into pajamas and then meet at Grace's room again.
Well honestly, Grace spend more time cleaning up then actually getting ready but by the time Stratt knocked on his door, he was done.
To his surprise, Stratt was wearing a: 'study history and find out that people have been stupid for thousands of years now' shirt.
It reminded him of his physics shirts.
"Wow so cleaned up here" was all she said when she entered his room.
They settled on Grace's bed, Stratt on the left and Grace on the right side of the bed.
He put on the movie and they didnt talk anymore, just enjoyed each others company.
Grace sometimes looked over to her when something happend he liked or just in general when he felt like looking at her which has become quite a lot in the past few weeks.
"I like her" Stratt said eventually when the movie was already nearly finished, it was the first time she talked throughout the entire movie.
"Who? The orphan?" He asked looking at her confused. He wouldn't have expected her to actually accept the movie in a way and even find a positive factor in it.
"No" she said.
"The housekeeper" she exclaimed
Grace nodded. Yeah that fits, they both have the same attitude but he would never say that out loud.
"So, you liked it?" Grace asked once the movie was over.
"Its awful, really nothing makes sense and the story is cheesy but i absolutely get why your students love it"
Grace could work with that, it was an achievement.
"So, tomorrow what's our plan?" He asked when she was just about to go into her room.
"The gala, Grace, the gala" and then she went inside her room leaving him standing in the hallway.
"My friend, you have to do something! Ask her out!" Came DuBois's voice from behind.
Grace jumped a little and then relaxed when he saw who it was.
"What?"
"You clearly like her, make a move that's how i pulled Annie, you just gotta try"
He patted Grace on his left shoulder and then went away into his room.
Grace thought about his words for a little before deciding that sleep would be the best idea now.