Chapter Text
It was quiet in the Human Bio-dome. Warm waves crashing onto the shore, machinery behind sound proof walls keeping the cool. Inside, there was a human house, homed to Erid's only human, who are occasionally visited by two planet locals.
One of them being a hero of two stars, and the other being a brain behind the dome.
The time for Grace's sleep was slowly approaching. They had only an hour or two to just huddle in bed, doing their own thing. Grace, reading one of the many physical books from the Hail Mary, Rocky happily working on another sculpture, and Adrian reading their book.
It was nice.
…
Then Grace let out a sudden gasp, heart racing— the other two not knowing if it was due to pain or something else. He snapped the book shut.
"Rocky, Adrian!"
"What!?" Rocky stood up, obviously freaked out. "What's happening? Anything wrong!?"
Adrian stayed silent, attentively listening.
"I just remembered something." A smile, then Grace turned to the bigger Eridian. "How did you two meet exactly?"
… Oh.
Rocky let out a low whistle before slumping down, letting their entire body relaxed. Okay, nothing was wrong. Grace was not having a heart attack nor were one of his veins exploding, good.
However, Rocky sensed another thing: Adrian's full attention on him, and Rocky knew it wasn't the good type.
"Rocky," Adrian's tone of voice was something Rocky had not heard in a while: they were suspicious, and maybe, just maybe, slightly mad. Either way, Rocky was so screwed. "You haven't told your dear friend about it?"
The smaller let out a long note, which was the Eridani equivalent of: "Uhhhhhhhhh—"
Grace pushed himself up on the bed in a proper sitting position. His eyes were currently darting back and fort between the two, eagerly waiting for an answer. He didn't seem to be aware of Rocky's current situation.
"Rocky, my dear sweet-song." Rocky's so fucked, all he could do was hear Adrian speak. "A four year long journey, stuck in the same place— were you really rotting your cores with mindless stories that whole time?"
Rocky tapped his claws together with a whistle. "Uhm, to be fair— I needed something to distract myself from me missing the dramas here— wah!"
With Grace's sudden giggles, Rocky let out a mock-pained note when Adrian (lovingly and playfully) smacked the top of his carapace. "Adrian! Why'd you do that— ow!" Another smack.
Grace snickered at the scene, "well, I did ask about it before, actually."
Adrian placed their limb down, but not before giving their love a gentle pat on his carapace. "Oh, did he now? What did he say about us?"
Rocky quickly recalled his answer to Grace's question all those years ago, and he quickly prepared for another smacking.
"Well, for context— I'm pretty sure this was when we were making the chains for the fishing trip." Grace explained, then turn to Rocky for some clarification. "Right, Rock?"
"Yes."
"Okay, so I asked the same question. Out of curiosity, you know?" Grace leaned back on the headboard, crossing his arms. "But all Rocky said that you guys met in school?"
Rocky sensed that Adrian was a bit flabbergasted and he scrambled into the conversation. "Translation error! I uh— we didn't have a shared word for it yet, but I'm pretty sure it's the equivalent of university."
Grace's eyes lit up at that. "Oh! New information! But that's all I know." A shrug. "Well, actually— I do know Rocky confessed first?"
…
Rocky got smacked on his carapace once more, and he cried. "Wahaha! Adriaaaannnnn—!"
Grace burst out of a laughter when Rocky got smacked on his carapace the third or fourth time at this point.
"Stop!" Rocky whined. "Adriaannn! I'm sorryyyyy—"
"Blasphemous! How blasphemous!" Adrian yelled out with extra drama as they continued their attacks, Rocky shielding himself from them. "Four years! Just listening to mind-rotting stories!"
Their human was still roaring with laughter, clutching his stomach as he listened to Adrian's scoldings and Rocky's whining.
"We— wah!" Smack! "We talked! We talked, Adrian!"
"About what?" Adrian placed their limb down.
"Uh," a pause. Rocky scrambled for an answer. "Eridian… Media— drama?" … Smack! "I'm going to Grace!"
Rocky heard Adrian's low giggles as he pathetically crawled over to Grace, hiding under his human's squishy arm. Grace let out a snort as he quickly took Rocky under his wing, giving him a pat.
"I don't think using me as a shield is ideal, Rock." He commented as he snuggled closer.
Rocky chuckled. "This time, it definitely is."
Adrian position themselves into a loaf, "you're still an idiot."
Grace felt Rocky let out a thrill— a loving teasing one. "Hehe, your idiot! You confessed first!"
"Technically not. You were the one making the moves—"
"Okay, okay!" The human butted in, feeling a bit left out with no context. "I still have yet to know how in the world you two met."
Adrian adjusted their position to a more comfortable loaf, setting aside their own book. "Well, I'm sure this story is long overdue for a storytelling— a fault by a… Certain someone."
A slight irritated note was tossed over to Rocky, who caught it proudly and cherished lovingly.
Grace turned to the bigger Eridian. "I want every single detail."
Adrian cleared their vents, "we met in the university of…"
University of Zircon (All names will be provided by Grace from now on), was one of the oldest known universities on Erid, and a very high-ranking one at best. It offered almost, if not, every course possible. From science and technology, to media and the arts.
Adrian was a student in engineering in their 3rd and final year (In human standards). They passed all of the exams with very impressive scores, and they constantly surround themselves with people on the same grade as them. Upcoming doctors, potential life changing artists— Adrian had potential.
The problem was, they were a tad bit stubborn— especially with their final assignment for the first semester. They needed final assignment to be accepted by at least one of professors, or even an official mentor to accept it in order to make it to the second and third— aka the rest of the year. They needed this final assignment to be approved in order to graduate.
And they for some reason designed a blueprint for a machinery that worked with natural running waters.
Natural waters on Erid were harsh, and hot. They constantly flowed in rapid speeds that felt like punches when hit. Any unfortunate Eridian who gets caught in these waters would eventually have their vents flooded with it— and they would be quickly swept away to their unexplored deep oceans with no mercy.
So, safe to say— Adrian had expected the negative comments from their peers. But the assignment stated they wanted something new— something different, so Adrian gave them that! Okay, technically Adrian knew that it wasn't exactly new, the better definition would be that they were inspired.
Inspired, by a fail invention from centuries ago— but with their modern technology, some reshaping and redesigning couldn't hurt. Thankfully, their professor, Prof. Banner, somehow saw the potential and accepted the draft. Thank gods.
The next step for their semester long project was simple: attend the lecture where Prof. Banner of engineering and Prof. Stark of mechanics will be hosting, to partner up with a randomly selected mechanical student from Prof. Stark's course. For the next two semesters, the 3rd years of Engineering and Mechanics classes will collaborate on a project, learning how to work with each other, and to design a prototype for their thesis to finally graduate.
Was Adrian excited? No, not really, but they knew their peers are. Adrian knew that all they needed to do was to make a new acquaintance for the rest of the year, make their idea come to life with a prototype, and graduate. Still, Adrian was confident enough with actually working with tools, they knew that they weren't just good at calculation and sketching out blueprint designs. Just like how a good mechanic would be good at designing their own blueprints from scratch. Oh well, as long as this mechanic student was a good partner.
The professors at the front called out multiple names, announcing their pairs, and letting them leave the room to begin their project. The people in the lecture room began to dwindle, and anxiety rose within Adrian. They glanced at the draft of their draft that was etched into their piece of thin stone slab. Was their design that bad that somehow other professors and mentors saw it and told Prof. Banner to disapprove of it somehow? Surely not, there shouldn't be any last minute changes for this sort of thing. This was their key to graduating.
Adrian didn't realize it, but there were only two students and two professors left in the room.
"Adrian." Prof. Stark called out, almost making Adrian let out a shock note.
They quickly got up, stuffing their draft into their bag and climbed the stairs down. As they got to the two, Prof. Banner gave them a hum in acknowledgement.
Prof. Stark proceed to call the last remaining student, "Rocky."
Adrian finally placed their focus on the other— and the first thing they noticed was this was not a 3rd year student. Confusion hit them, confusion should not hit them. Were the professors somehow mistaken?
"I sense some confused notes coming out of your vent, Adrian." Prof. Banner commented. Rocky stood beside the other professor, having this nervous and bashful demeanor around them. Adrian paid no attention to the other student at the moment. "Not to worry, Professor Stark will explain everything."
None of the student spoke. They just awkwardly gave each other a glance, but laid their attention only onto their professors.
"First of all, Adrian— what a very interesting idea you have made, I'm very sure my student here will gladly find a way to help fix up a prototype." Prof. Stark stated. Adrian glanced at Rocky, who had been nervously tapping his claws together. "I'm sure you two will work very well helping each other— Rocky is actually in the 1st year."
Adrian stayed silent. They were going to have to work with someone in the 1st year instead of the 3rd. Okay.
"And Adrian, you have my word— Rocky has shown great potential. He is able to think of every possible way to make your idea happen." The professor continued. "His mechanical skills are advanced. So advanced that he stated, if possible, wishes to skip the 2nd year and go ahead to the 3rd."
"And what does that have to do with me?" Adrian was getting antsy.
Rocky's carapace froze for a second at that question, Adrian didn't care. They can't just become some sort of test for another student. This is their final year!
"Like what I said, your draft design for this project was— different." Prof. Stark continued.
"And it's not like you skipped a year or two as well before university!" Prof. Banner reminded Adrian.
"To put it simply, the main thing you two have in common is that you want to prove that you are more capable than what others may think." Adrian's professor lectured, letting out an exciting sound. "This is new! This is exciting— so let's see the entire room with a single tap, and have you two work together." They turned to Adrian. "Despite my approval, I still have my doubts and think that your idea will kill."
Adrian froze, they felt a gaze from Rocky which they could not deceive what it was. Was it judgemental, concerned?
Prof. Banner let out one last note, "and I want you to prove me wrong and be correct about how we can work with our water."
"Who knows, you two may get a chance to change our views of engineering forever." Prof. Stark added.
… Adrian processed these words. They were pretty sure Rocky was probably on the verge of a panic attack.
"Alright, off you two go— and final clarification," prof. Banner stated. "By the end of the 2nd semester, there will be a project festival where each student will present their first prototype of their work. By the end of the third— you will present your final prototype to all of the professors of all kinds. Your final thesis, Adrian, and Rocky's first. Best of luck to the two of you."
… Ugh.
"Ohhhh this is so exciting!" Grace curled his legs further in, leaning on Rocky even more. "You two started talking for a massive thesis project? That's so cool! I bet you guys made such a great duo!"
A beat of silence. A few seconds later, Rocky thrilled in laughter underneath Grace's arm, shaking rapidly. Adrian did the same.
This left Grace very confused, "what? Am I wrong?"
"Uhm! Well—" Adrian calmed down. "Of course— we do make such a great duo, like you said. Moving on, though— Rocky, be prepared to be very embarrassed."
Rocky stopped laughing. "Oh no. Grace— hide me, hide me—!"
Before Grace could protest, Rocky was basically nuzzling into his side, trying his best to hide from the world, ahem, his world, Adrian. "Hey— Hey! Rocky! That tickles— Rock!"
"Hide me from the shame of my past—"
"Adrian— pfft! Adrian! Continue the story!"
Rocky was a student in mechanics. While he liked designing his own ideas occasionally— that was mostly reserved for fun figurines and small sculptures, his hobbies. The skills he honed made him good at replicating items, and following instructions. He later then learned how to calculate and think of any sort of potential fatality within a design just by looking at a blueprint.
Rocky was smart, basically, and perhaps a bit impatient. They weren't really having a good time at university.
Sure, yes— he should be incredibly thankful that he managed to get into this university. Everything he needed for whatever project he had, they were able to provide. The professors were great, the dorms were fantastic— his roommate, not so much.
It was a good first semester, but my goodness, Rocky was a bit… He was all by himself most of the time. All of his friends went to other places. Of course, that was inevitable— but that meant not knowing what they were doing for months, only receiving an update via mail.
Sure, he had some friends from the lectures— but they had other friends. What about his roommate, Calvin?
Calvin was constantly somewhere else. Rocky means that in a metaphorical and literal sense. Metaphorical since Calvin would always go out and listen to dizzying music, coming back to Rocky's dorm in the Eridian equivalent of drunk. Or, meeting with people outside of the university to open their vents and dump a certain mix of chemicals to make them, well, the Eridian equivalent of being high.
Calvin almost walked in on Rocky eating for goodness sake. Rocky still didn't know how the hell the Eridian even got here— he didn't even know what they were studying.
The only good thing was Calvin at least had friends to watch them sleep, but dorms were recommended for a reason: so each student has someone to watch them sleep. With Calvin having their own life, Rocky had to resort to frequently go to the local sleep-watch area in the campus, since he had nobody to watch him sleep. It was a bit embarrassing, because he was basically telling the world that he had no one.
So wanting this torture to end and maybe not spend it again the second year— perhaps with all of these good scores, prototypes and projects he built himself all receiving high praise, he should at least suggest it to his professor whether it'd be possible for Rocky to skip 2nd year.
It was an awkward silence in the office. Rocky sitting there, across from Prof. Stark.
All his professor told him was: "I'll think about it."
Those next 3 weeks were tiring, waiting for the 1st semester to end.
So he had replay the scene in his head when Prof. Stark told him to attend the lecture in the 3rd year lecture hall. What.
What did they mean by that?
He really tried being unseen, really, he did. And he was a bit successful. The thing about being an average looking Eridian was that he could literally be a background character in theaters.
So as the student dwindle— that was when Rocky sensed them.
Adrian.
Rocky knew about Adrian, just a tiny bit. Rocky knew that they were smart, definitely— it was a bit obvious. People constantly come to them for advice— and they somehow have the time to join in almost all of the engineering thrums. How exhausting could that be? Rocky had only join two of them, and they made him want to pass out each time. Plus, they were friends with people! As in people. Upcoming doctors, historians, authors— actual people to make good connections with!
All Rocky had was a lousy roommate who disappears every other day.
And lastly, Adrian was very pretty. They were large, carapace almost smooth, like it was almost delicate to touch. Their natural sounding voice sounded like literal winds gently swaying against a set of bells, echoing together— how??? They were the sculpture-perfect student.
And Rocky was slightly jealous.
He's smart, he knows it— yes, the two were aiming to perfect a different set of skills, but Rocky wanted friends. Why does Adrian get to have them?
Now, here they were— in a sound-proof study room, with a table that was far too big for just two Eridians because they could not find any other study room that wasn't occupied.
"You can take a look at the draft," Adrian placed a piece of stone slab on the table. "Wait, I have some carving materials if you need to copy or change some things— I think I have a spare stone slab in my bag—"
"I have my own, thanks." Rocky told them.
Adrian paused, then let go of their bag and sat back down. "Okay…" A beat of silence. "Just take a look— and we can discuss when to meet to continue this. My next class is in 30 minutes."
Rocky mentally noted that. He lifted the stone slab and—
The fuck? A machine that gains its power from the flowing water in their rivers? Rocky stared at the design, rereading the notes a couple of times. Okay, Rocky got it— he knew that this machine can help with factory work— he saw the potential, but…
"Who approved of this design..?" Rocky whispered to himself.
"Pardon?" He nearly dropped the stone slab— he had been so used to talking to himself that he completely forgot that Adrian was here to listen. "Say that again?"
Rocky adjusted his position to look more professional. "I said nothing."
"No, I heard what you said." Adrian scoffed. "Professor Banner approved of it. Besides, that's just the first draft— your job is to check for any potential changes."
Rocky decided that he did not like this attitude— and from just a single comment? "I'm getting to it. Forgive me for asking a question."
Adrian said nothing, leaving Rocky in a rather awkward silence. The smaller took one more look at Adrian's draft.
"Why build it with this material?" He questioned.
"Which one, Rocky?" For some reason, Rocky was getting more pissed off the more Adrian spoke to him.
"Neonite." Rocky tapped on the stone. "Why that?"
"It's a common material used in our structures."
"I— ugh, I know that." He decided that he was going to match their energy.
"Ask your questions properly." Adrian let out a sigh. "Goodness knows how many times I've been told that— might as well warn you about it as well."
Way to remind him that they're older and wiser, he guessed— even if they may be the same age.
"Why neonite specifically," Rocky moved on. "When you know it would get constantly hit by the waters?"
"It's a sturdy and light material. Easy to lift and build with."
"But erosion is there, Adrian." Rocky told them.
They paused for a moment. In that moment— that was a sense of pride within Rocky. Had he managed to make Adrian have a second thought on their actions.
"Hm," Adrian leaned forward slightly. "What's your solution then?"
Ah, shoot. "Uhm," Rocky looked back at the stone. "Xenonite?"
"Why xenonite?" Why was Adrian trying to test him like they were a professor themselves?
Rocky stuttered in shock for a second, "It's— it's xenonite, Adrian. How— okay, it's xenonite, most of our important structures are made with that and it's light and indestructible—"
"That's the problem." Adrian interrupted, and Rocky closed his vents quickly. "It's indestructible, yes, and it's light. It will be swept away by the waters easily."
Adrian held a claw out for their draft back, and begrudgingly Rocky gave it back, practically pushing it into their claw. "Don't you think I've forgotten about the waters."
Adrian placed their draft back into their bag. "I need to go."
"Hey— wait a minute, we need to schedule!"
"We meet here every time we are done with our lectures that end at the same time. There."
Rocky processed Adrian's words in bewilderment. Why the hell was this Eridian giving him literal riddles to meet? Don't they want to graduate or something?
"You're not even going to give me a copy of your schedule?" Rocky followed them out of the door. "I don't know when you have your engineering lectures! I don't even know what other classes you attend!"
"Exactly. You just need to know Prof. Banner's schedule for the 3rd year this year." Adrian sounded like it was obvious. "And I didn't mean to imply that you need to know my personal schedule. I thought that'd be obvious."
Rocky heard his vents huff in frustration. Only in frustration, definitely.
"Unless, of course." There was that very irritating mocking tone in their voice. "You want to know more about me, for some reason."
"Ugh— getting back to the point— why do I have to ask your professor?"
"They are technically your professor now."
"I— you— no one can just ask a professor that—!"
"Rocky," Adrian stopped, and Rocky tripped. "I want to graduate, okay? And I know that you want to skip 2nd year for whatever reason."
The other stayed silent, mostly in confusion.
"And while you are right— just go ask the professor I've had for the past three years." They leaned forward a bit, and lowered their tone. "I've been here longer than you will be either way if we're gonna make this work. Go ask for a copy of the schedule."
Rocky malfunctioned a bit, not having heard Adrian speak like that before. Then, he panicked. "Damn— you really don't want me to know where your dorm is, huh?"
…
"I'll see you next week, Rocky." Adrian leaned back, and walked away— disappearing into the campus crowd.
When Rocky came out of Prof. Banner's office, Rocky took a look at whatever the hell Adrian meant.
Ah. Let's meet every Tuesday and Friday.
How simple. How dramatic.
Both of them will be having fun, definitely.
"You two didn't like each other?" Grace gasped, making the other two laugh.
"It was a rivalry, basically." Adrian answered.
Rocky chimed in after. "No no, I think rivalry is too dramatic."
"Pfft, I was the one being dramatic." The bigger replied.
"You seriously didn't want to give Rocky your schedule?" Grace said through his giggles. "Were you that petty?"
Rocky was giggling as well when Adrian responded, "I was young, I was angry— for some reason, I thought I had a disadvantage."
"Still! A schedule?"
"Adrian just didn't want to let me know what they were, haha." Rocky stated.
"Okay, then what happened after that?" Grace questioned.
"Nothing much really— plus, it's time for you to sleep." Adrian got up to lift Grace's quilt up.
The human's eyes widened. "What— no it's not!"
"It is already an hour before Earthly midnight— a bit passed your bedtime." Rocky moved away from Grace to let him lay down.
"You saying it like that makes me sound like a child, you know that." He groaned a bit when he heard Rocky laughing at him. "But come on— what do you mean nothing much? You guys haven't even told me what you said to each other to become mates!"
When Grace laid down, Adrian laid the quilt over his shoulders. Rocky loafed just beside his head, bring a hand over to Grace's head to brush his hair— but not forgetting to put away his glasses before that.
"We'll continue tomorrow night." Adrian answered softly.
"You're really leaving me on a cliffhanger." Grace pouted.
"Yeah, Adrian, how dare you."
"Haha, Rocky, very funny." Adrian gently nudged the front of Rocky's carapace. "Go to sleep, Grace. We'll watch."
"Fine, but you better tell me the whole thing tomorrow." A yawn, and his eyes close with a soft smile.
Adrian chuckled. "We'll hear about that."