Chapter Text
Wow. What a day!
To say Ryland was intrigued was an understatement.
He wanted to know about Simon. Wanted to see what he liked, what he didn't like. He wanted another friend to add to his birthday meal list because goodness knows he's too old to count his cat as a guest.
And without his furry friend, that left only one... Adrian. Who, actually will be here very soon. He'd prepped his house and… cleaned… enough. He never expects company, so his house was… accessible, by that, he meant, everything was somewhat where he knew it was, which resulted in a chaotic look. Mounds of mystery pop quizzes, crosswords, and mugs filled his office while his wardrobe had developed a mountain of cardigans that had a habit of slipping off the hangers.
It was organised by his standards. Not by others, which is why he does a 'grace blitz' when he knows he's having company.
Hoover haphazardly, make sure his washing is away (no one should be seeing graces science themed underwear, it's embarrassing!)
And put things in drawers.
Adrian was coming round for their usual catch up they have bi-monthly. Both are busy people, Grace teaching, and Adrian dipping in and out of science projects whilst working as a librarian during the day. They do enjoy their catch ups, it's good company for both of them, and goodness knows they both need it, they were both solitary people. They functioned well on their own, even if Adrian had to adapt to her new quiet. They operate on quiet, but both of them know deep down they need the occasional human interaction, even if both of them were horrible at it in their own unique way. Yes, Adrian was equally poor at social norms herself. Bless their amazing vocabulary, but they talk like they came from a book that had been translated 100 times over. Her language is formal and direct. Seriously, while Grace steps on eggshells all the time so as to not cause conflict, Adrian really has no capability of sugarcoating anything. Which, in a strange way, is why they go well together. The yin to a yang, the equal opposing forces in their lives.
Aw, Ryland is getting sentimental thinking about it.
Thank goodness the doorbell to his place rings.
Saved by the bell (literally). He skidaddles over to the door and unlocks it, greeted by one of his favoured familiar faces.
Standing before him, clad in a long, white skirt with charming patchwork and ruffles pooling tidily at her ankles, and clad in big timberland boots, is the lovely Adrian. Shrstands at the door with a straight posture leather messenger bag slung across her plain, white t-shirt, nestled by their hip.
She smiles, holding a board of exotic looking cheeses, pate, and crackers up by their chest, her olive cheeks dimpling into a sweet smile, her face, now framed with brown hair which now has some teal ends, a new addition as they wanted to feel 'youthful again' (her words, not graces) after a child at the library she works at happily said she was 'like a big ancient grandma in a pretty person body’.
"Hello, friend Grace," she says calmly, adjusting the big board of charcuterie in their hands.
"Hi Adrian" he reciprocates, letting the lady in. She is carrying a lot, a lot more than he brought to the kitchen table the night he was in change of food. He bought a greasy bag of Chinese takeout, she likes it though, she likes most things Grace does. "Come on in, come on in! Pop the board in the coffee table, Rocky won't hop up, he's snoozing" Grace explains as the other sidesteps Grace's mountain of shoes.
"You expect company and still have mess? You really won't change" she smiles as they enter the cozy living room.
The teacher has already popped open a bottle of wine, pouring two mismatched glasses from his cupboard. Watching the red liquid slosh in. All of his glassware was either gifted or bought in 1s from the thrift or Ikea, so no one in his drawers are the same, ‘a metaphor for life’, he thinks when he's had a few too many wines.
Adrian takes this opportunity to grab a cheese knife out of their bag, wrapped neatly in cloth. She knew Grace wouldn't have prepared to say, he is an ex scientist, he really is disorganised. Having a different excuse every time he forgot to put his notes away, or not washed up. She arranged the cheese knife and two little ceramic plates on the coffee table, before a big mewl is heard by her legs.
"You said Rocky was asleep?"
"Yeah! He's in the- oh! Hey buddy!" Grace beams as he walks in with two glasses, handing his friend the fuller of the two as he takes a sip of his.
"Sorry A'...thought he was on his throne.”
His throne being Grace's clear egg chair in his office. The minute Rocky was introduced in the house, he claimed that as his domain, so Grace just decided to leave him, after many many attempts to get him to shift. Eh, even with a comfy pillow for the feline, it was cheaper than a cat tree anyway, so Grace just moved one of the dining table chairs to his office. The sacrifices he made for that damn cat.
"He was, he probably heard the door. Or the food, you know how he is." She smiles, occasionally scratching the cats ear. Rocky has splayed himself across Adrian's left foot, affectionately looking up at them, purring. As soon as Grace had revealed that he was getting a cat and naming it as an homage to her late husband, she practically glued herself to the animal. Always offering to cat sit the moment Grace needed to be out of the house longer than 8 hours. She loved the critter, even if she'd never admit it out loud.
"You should really stop feeding him so much, he's getting chubby"
"As if that doesn't make him cuddlier- and he's not chubby, he's big boned."
"Grace, it's physically impossible for a cat's bones to grow in width" she gives him a look, her teal eyes glinting with mirth. "It's okay though. It makes him similar to how Rocky was" she grins, fussing the cat as a tired brown paw reaches to swat her hand. Grace smiles. He smiles because he knows she's not mourning. It's different… it's like she's having a wander through the museum of her husband in her mind, appreciatively, not sadly. He commends her for making that distinction.
She looks up after promptly scooping the cat up as he squeaks out a chirp. The two chat about various subjects for a while, languidly picking what peaks their interest in their mind and voicing it to the other, their flow of conversation mimicking a lazy river, free and content. They duo in and out of subjects like Adrian’s new stock of books in her library that focus on ancient civilisation and rich culture, they talk about their old jobs, reminiscing and joshing about old times, their method always easy, and as always, the conversation will always flip back to a general check in, the logical conclusion to their lazy river of chatter.
"How was your day, Grace? Anything interesting happen?" Adrian tilts their head, teal eyes peering at Grace. He practically vibrates, oh yes, some days he and barely any updates for his friend, the most interesting thing being a new printer or helping a fellow teacher redecorate. But boy oh boy, something interesting indeed happened. Adrian seems to sense the excitement in Grace , he really was terrible at hiding it, so she tilts her head, making a nearly imperceptible 'hm?' Grace hears. Of course he does, and my god.
He takes it as a go ahead. It's a mere second before he's rambling. "so, I get in and I see a new bag- wait, that sounds boring , hah-- but the bag is important to the -- the plot!"
"How can a bag be important in any way?" she asks, raising a brow. They work on logic and facts, so obviously, a bag, let alone a brand-less, boring bag, is not going to spark much interest out of Adrian.
"Because it was new!" Grace says, spreading a generous amount of cheese on his circle cracker as soon as his confused friend lifted the cling film trapping all of that charcuterie goodness. "A' it was a bag I hadn't seen, which means new people! and i like meeting new people , even if they do think I am a little...you know"
"I do not know, you are wonderful, you know I think highly of you" Adrian curtly says, as if Grace thinking he's obnoxious (he is) is something punishable. "But anyway, do carry on" they nod, mimicking their friend and grabbing a cracker, mirroring his motions, but adding some ham to theirs too. Grace scrunches his face up at her scold, rolling his eyes as his frames slip down his nose in a charming manner. But, as usual , he does what he's told, and carries on. He explains how he'd practically willed his projector to break, and it worked by sheer coincidence, something Adrian has to laugh at. muttering something under her breath like 'silly Grace' and that he should have just knocked on the utility cupboard door (AKA, social death , as grace dramatically inputted.) And then he told her about Simon.
Simon who would give Adrian a run for her money in the directness department.
Simon who Grace thought was very, very cool, he felt like a child who was cautiously eyeing up the new kid.
"He seems nice" is how Grace manages to quantify all of his wandering thoughts into a rather anticlimactic sentence.
Adrian notices this, and her face practically flattens. Neither her or Rocky could ever hide their emotions.
"Nice." They repeat, the word slipping of her tongue as if she's disgusted with it. "Grace, you have a degree in molecular biology… you can do better than… that, use words," they gesture wildly with their hands, waving her cracker and exotic cheese around with it. Rocky lazily followed it with his slitted eyes, licking his lips. Greedy kitty.
"What?! Nice is a word!"
"No, use words"
"He— he's ..he seems really...mysterious...and he's kinda like you- like he's very...curt? He just kind of says stuff, doesn't flower it up" he manages, stammering a little as he finds his words, feeling like a blank dictionary. He takes Adrian's intent listening silence as a go ahead, and finds himself rambling and spewing all the thoughts he’d been keeping locked up.
“He was really mysterious too, like he barely talked, this is his new job, and he had one before and he didn’t say what and it’s like- it’s different from a new teacher because teachers are straight to explain, you know. And he obviously doesn’t need to explain so it’s like, I want to find out”
“People don’t go spewing their life much, Grace” Adrian shrugs. “Not a teacher thing, a Grace thing” she smiles softly. “I think you just want a friend.
Grace frowns, his whole face scrunching up into a pout. Adrian is always right. It’s infuriating. But he won’t give them the satisfaction.
“I do not.”
“You do”
He raises his arms, before letting them fall into his lap like dead weights, huffing, a scene akin to a teenager whose secret had been sniffed out.
“Well, you know! Friends are nice! Not that I need anymore than I do” he lies, jutting his face to the side, shaking his head. “I dunno, he seems cool- and it’s like, I feel like it’s too late to befriend the tiger teachers- I tried , and we’re acquaintances. I can’t seem to get past that.” He reasons.
Adrian makes a noise. A resigned one, closing her eyes momentarily, like puzzle pieces and gears were clicking and whirring behind their eyes, before they sip their wine, and eventually says “You do need more friends, Grace” she smiles, she doesn’t add the last bit, it bit being something along the lines of, ‘or a mate, partner, life long companionship however you want to call it,’ she just listens, knowing he won’t take kindly to that, he’s the most unadventurous bachelor out there.
“Yeah, I can’t keep counting my cat as my friend, even if he reps someone who I love,” he says, glancing at Rocky, who is now fast asleep, a large, furry blob rising and falling content on the librarian's lap.
Adrian nods in agreement, chucking. “Indeed, maybe you’ll have three people at your birthday party soon” she giggles melodically. Stroking the cat's purring head.
“Maybe” Grace muses, propping his chin up with his hand, his stubble prickling his palm. “Maybe I can get more than three words out of him” he muses, biting his lip.
He says this about most, but in all actuality, the words aren’t the problem… mostly. Even if Grace made a quiet friend, he’d be okay with short, un-decorated conversations, he’d had friends like that in the past! No, it was more of him that was the issue, cliche, but true. It wasn’t that Grace was cold, far from it! He loved chatting, that much was obvious, but whoever he’d try to make friends with, his mind would hit this… this clear wall. Clear in appearance and reason, though he never admitted it was a problem he was aware of. Clarity and acceptance is a luxury for a trailed mind. So pretending he doesn’t know provides a cushion to the harsh reality… But he knows he doesn’t open up enough.
Sure at the start he appears to be an open book, but ask Grace about his previous job? The missions he desperately tried to save? The mantra of ‘it’s not betrayal, it’s belief, I’m not betraying you, I’m believing in you’ that haunts him? He slams shut, a Venus fly trap. Previous friendship prospects have ventured down the line, because why wouldn’t you? A mid thirties man with a degree in molecular biology and a past government job…any one would be curious, but they hit that wall. Well, Grace does, and he can’t will it out of himself due to the tangle of guilt and festering anger that drags him back there whenever he thinks about it. Hell, the only reason Adrian knew was because their husband worked with Grace. They saw how much it closed him off, how high the glass walls have claimed. She never mentions it though, she used to, but it became futile. Which is why she raises a brow and gives him a look he ever so slightly shrinks at, nodding at her, a silent communication, a splint ‘I know, so do not dissect me.’
And they nod again, ‘I will not, but you should’ is what their gaze says.
Silence falls over them at the subtle debate, only broken by Rocky’s snore, which breaks the tension a little. He stirs, a little sound coming from his nose, akin to a low vibration.
“That’s a new one,” Adrian smiles, scratching behind the cat's ears.
Grace grins, his words turning into a slight chuckle at the end as he says “I haven’t had that one either, maybe it’s a sign he’s becoming an old soul, snoring and curling up”
His friend nods, laughing as well as, a soft thing. “Indeed, this gives you another reason to befriend Simon, he won’t fall asleep at your party” she cheekily quips. Making Grace roll his eyes and chuckle.
The two naturally lapse into conversation again, like always, they always seem to find something floating about to latch onto. They chat, they drink and they eat, Adrian pointing out which cheeses are new, which are from certain countries, which are inspired, and Grace enjoys it , though he wasn’t a fan of the crudley named ‘stinking bishop’ sorry England.
Time ticks away, the two not realising how late it got before the librarian hazards a glance at her and watch, making a chirp of suprise at it. “Oh, it’s midnight Grace. I am keeping you up” they pick Rocky up, who lets out an annoyed sound at being picked up and planted on the sofa. Clearly, he has a preference for human shaped pillows. They chatter for a little while longer as Adrian orders an uber, not wanting to take the bus so late, Grace agrees.
Adrian gets up, leaving the cheese board for Grace, saying she’ll pick it up when best suits him, which he half jokingly, half adamantly makes her at least take some of the cheese home (the stinking bishop was the first to go). They trot to the door, Grace opening it up as they shrug their brown coat on. He gives them a big hug, murmuring. “It was great to see you , a’
They hug back, giving the teachers shoulder a squeeze , smiling. “It was,” she grins. “I will let you know when I’m next free, yes?”
“Definitely” Grace says, nodding eagerly. “You know me, I’m always free.
“Maybe you won’t be so free if you let Simon into your little world.”
“A…”
She fields her head, parting his shoulder and smiling softly. “Have a think, don’t rush, take your time, he’s not going anywhere anytime soon” she reassures. Grace softens, nodding. The librarian hops down the step to his door, trotting down the drive, giving him a wave as her ride rolls towards the driveway. He waves, making sure she gets off of the drive safe. Smiling to himself as he scoops up the glasses and plates to dump into the kitchen for tomorrow, he thinks. Maybe he can let his walls down, it will be difficult, but he sure as hell can try…
Maybe Simon was the way to do it.