Chapter Text
While Grace slept, Rocky did something unprecedented. He also fell asleep. In the living room on the couch. Rocky curled up inside of the human suit and allowed himself to rest. It was against his own hard wired code to be awake and doing something while Grace slept in the next room— Grace kicked him out when Rocky pulled up a chair.— Give Grace credit, the five year old jumped up and pushed Rocky out. "Out out out!" He declared in a shout of three to let Rocky know how serious he was. Then the door was shut in Rocky's face.
"Oh. Serious serious serious!" Rocky muttered as he stared at the door that was now firmly shut. He kind of expected Grace to relent like he had when they were on the ship. But this five year old wasn't having any of it.
"Very very very!" Grace yelled through the door.
"Sassy..." Rocky huffed and crossed his arms.
So, Rocky was in the living room. He sat on the couch and... he fell asleep. He didn't even have memories of doing it. Just that his body went still inside of the fake body and he'd wake up. Rocky jumped in alarm once he realized what he had done.
Thankfully, Rocky hadn't slept for long. When he woke it was still night time and Grace was still asleep. He could see Grace's little body laying in bed, his breathing even and loud. Good, good, he was okay.
Rocky wished he had the time, but the clock on the wall that ticked didn't have raised numbers, so he couldn't see it properly. So, he supposed he'd just have to do something to pass the time until Grace woke up.
Well, first thing first. There was something on his leg. Rocky would glance down and see some sort of creature resting on him. It was small, oblong, had tiny legs, and tiny antennas that twitched every so often. Rocky could see inside of this creature and saw it had a tough exoskeleton and squishy insides. It's legs weren't smooth but were stiff with sharp spines.
There was a disgust creeping along Rocky's carapace that had him shivering the longer he stared at the creature.
Rocky didn't like this creature.
He brought his hand down, but in a way that the palm was up. He then swiped with all he could and sent the creature flying— He didn't expect the creature to come back! It had wings and it was coming right for him—
Bang!
That was the sound of his two xenonite hands hitting one another was loud. Rocky was shaking. When he pulled his two fake hands apart he saw squishy residue. It made Rocky squeak in disgust. "Disgust..." he could see the wings, the body, the antenna's all separated from what was once it's body.
He quickly looked for something to clean his xenonite hands. He would settle on what he's seen Grace do. He walked to the bathroom to wash the bug off.
Once it was off and his hands were clean, Rocky went to dry his hands, but found the fabric used to be dirty. And if Rocky could hear that this fabric was dirty, then it must have been dirty dirty dirty—
"That's it!" He declared in frustration. This place was too messy messy messy for Grace to be living in! He knew what needed to be done and by any deity that could hear him, Rocky was going to do it! That's what he told Grace he was therefore anyways, right?
So, Rocky got to work. First he grabbed the towel, then he would grab all the other towels that were in a corner in the bathroom. Upon removing them from the corner, he saw some sort of growth within the towels themselves. "Dirty dirty dirty!" He would take these towels and put them in a basket he would find nearby. "Dirty clothes in here." And that's where he started first. He would run through the house. Any article of clothing or cloth was taken and put into the hamper.
In the bathroom he would find the towels with growth, another smaller hand towel that was behind the toilet. He'd find another hand towel in the shower, and he'd find a set of undergarments. All in the basket.
Next was the living room. Thankfully, there wasn't much in the way of cloth or clothing. What he found most were socks. Socks socks socks. It wouldn't surprise Rocky if Grace had no clean socks and was just taking what he could find strewn across the living room floor. All went into the basket. Next came the kitchen. Mostly hand towels, into the basket.
The real mess was in Grace's own room. However, Grace being the smart kid he was locked the door. Fair enough. Rocky could take the hint—Even if it did hurt him a little on the inside. So, that would have to wait. He didn't know how to clean clothes or do laundry just yet. No, Grace never taught him on Erid. He also knew that Eridian cleaning of clothing was a lot different than human, If he— Grace.— needed something cleaned he often did it himself when he had alone time.
"It's typical for humans to do their laundry when they have time alone to do it. It's kind of a private affair. We typically don't like it when other humans see our undies." He told Rocky with a smile as he grabbed his basket and put it on his hip. "Give me, like, five minutes, Rock. Just to get this in the washer then we can get the movie going—"
Is it weird to miss your best friend when he was technically in the next room?
Rocky sighed and in a moment he pressed himself against the door. He could see Grace just fine. He was breathing and alive...
But it wasn't the same.
The melancholy had swept him up in a storm and for an aching moment he nearly fell to this knees. Rocky, the alien inside of the human suit, gave out several sorrowful notes as he tried to keep the suit upright. The thing was mimicking his sadness and he wondered if it were crying. He felt like crying but Eridians just couldn't cry. They sang and to him singing just didn't feel like enough to express the feeling inside of him. The hollow ache that Grace had inadvertently left behind when he died.
Rocky used his index finger to tap against the door. The rasping gentle just a 'tap tap tap'. Like when they first had met back in space. A greeting.
Naturally, Grace wouldn't wake. The tapping was too soft.
A part of Rocky was happy he didn't wake Grace up. Another part of him wanted to hear that 'tap tap tap' repeated.
Of course, it wouldn't.
Rocky pressed his head against the door and then sighed softly. "Right..." He then turned around and went back to cleaning.
There were those oblong bugs everywhere. They flew and Rocky found he didn't like that. When they flew he'd want to run to the other end of the room. They reminded him of a type of bug on Erid. A bug with a circular body and an opening filled with rows of sharp teeth on the top of it's circular body. The opening, like with Eridian's, was it's soft spot. These bugs—"Sharp flyers" as called in Eridian.— were pests and liked to get inside of nests to feed off of anything really. Rotten meat, soot on the walls, chipped carapace pieces, anything. Unlike these oblong bugs, however, the only way to kill a sharp flyer was by grabbing one end of it's circular mouth, then the other, and pulling it apart.
At least with these oblong creatures they squish a lot easier.
Rocky would pick at the trash along the floor, he knew that humans had things called 'trashbags' and he would find those in the kitchen. He started to see a difference as he picked trash up. He determined trash was anything crinkly, messy, or anything that had fuzz. He learned from Grace that fuzz was bad when it came to food. "Gross." Rocky threw a tin can into the bag. There was lots of fuzz.
As the night dwindled on, Rocky would do lots. Lots lots! He would clean the kitchen table, moving the cups to the kitchen counter— then he realized there really wasn't a lot of space on the kitchen counter so he moved it to the table again this way he could also start taking plates and other dishes out of the sink. Boy, did he hate that. The dishes had more bugs, not just the oblong bugs, but round plump bugs with thin wings, as well as tiny bugs with fat bodies and no visible legs. Oh, and fuzz, lots of fuzz. However, he didn't throw these dishes out. No, he would instead scrape the old food—and bugs— off into a trash. He would then methodically pile the dishes by size on to the table with the cups that have been stacked neatly into one another in order to create more space.
Then, there was a noise, a loud noise that had Rocky seeing Grace's room a lot more vividly. The noise was a high pitch trilling that didn't end until Grace turned slapped his hand down on something and made the sound stop. Grace was now awake.
Grace would sit on the edge of his bed, stretch for a moment before hopping up and leaving the bedroom. Rocky would peek around the corner, but not stop what he was doing. "Hello, Friend Grace, did you sleep well?" Rocky inquired and this had made Grace jump and shout. The boy put both of his hands up, but would just as quickly lower them. He would then rub at his eyes and moan slightly in a sort of sleepy frustration. Something he'd done a lot when he was alive and Rocky would try to engage with him too early.
"I forgot you were here..." He muttered before yawning. "What are you doing?"
"Cleaning. This place messy messy messy." Rocky explained while he continued what he was doing. Grace came slowly padding in. Rocky could see him messing with his fingers nervously. Grace was looking around at all Rocky had done.
"Sorry it got so bad..." The boy muttered softly.
"Hm," Rocky hummed as he scraped another plate. "Not Grace's fault. Grace just a hatchling. Needs to be taught how to clean proper." He then put the plate with the others it size. "Yuck!" He jumped when he saw a legless bug on his hand and he swatted it away. “You need to eat.” He commented more to himself than to Grace. “But not a lot of food in home…”
“I can eat at school.”
Rocky hummed and opened the fridge. He then pointed in. "Those oval things, what are they?" He inquired.
"..." Grace gave Rocky an incredulous look. "The eggs?"
"Eggs!" Rocky yelled almost happily. Eggs are protein, that's great!
"Yeah, I can't use the stove, Momma said it's a big 'no-no'." He told Rocky softly. "I can microwave the eggs, I've done that for scrambled, but they taste weird. So I don't touch them." He scrunched his nose.
"Okay... What time does Grace go to school?"
"I got an hour, that usually gives me time to watch Sesame street! I usually eat breakfast there if I can, but I have to be quick."
"Rocky see. Well, Grace get dressed and ready and Rocky will try to make Grace breakfast."
"Really?" Grace asked sounding more than a little shocked. He would push his glasses up so they fit on his nose right. "Is it really part of the program for you to feed me?"
"Does Grace want to be taken away?"
"Oh! No!"
"Then go! No more questions!" and Rocky gave him a push.
Grace hurried off.
Now...Rocky has never seen Grace cook anything that wasn't a 'me-burger.' So this next part was going to be a learning experience... but Rocky was a quick learner.
Thankfully, he would find the pans, he knew he needed one called a skillet. All the pans were clean, probably because the five year old couldn't be near the stove. He twirled one in his hand, something he's seen Grace do a few times, before setting on the burner. He then stared at the knobs. "For meat Grace would use half way point. So for Eggs, Rocky should use lower temperature..." and he would twist the knob.
There was a clicking noise and then nothing happened. Just that clicking sound. Rocky stood there rather unsure of himself and his abilities to understand human technology—
"You need the lighter—"
"Hm?" Rocky looked down the hall to see Grace now standing there, he was half dressed. He had pants on, but no shirt.
"The lighter in the drawer next to you, You gotta use it! It's a gas stove—" and then his little eyes went a light. "Are you like Clara's daddy and you have an electric stove?!"
"Uh... Rocky doesn't understand..." He admitted. For Grace, the stove they made for him was one that was given through the scientific papers that was on the Hail Mary. So, Rocky could only theorize that it was electric. This stove in front of him, was completely new.
Grace came over, he opened the drawer and handed Rocky a lighter that was rather long. "Use this, make a flame, put it against the burner. Then voosh!" He mimicked by expanding his hands out.
Rocky looked at the lighter and figuring out how to click it to life was pretty easy. Once he got a small flame going he would put it up against the burner—
Voosh!
Rocky nearly dropped the lighter in his alarm when the gas took the flame and ignited. Grace wasn't joking!
He stared at the flame for a moment. It was contained to one burner and that was pretty neat. It didn't spread or get any bigger or smaller. Not until Rocky adjusted the flames with the dial and watched them get bigger and smaller. "Ohhh..." He trilled in happiness. Still, he couldn't get distracted. He put the pan down on the burner and went for the eggs. What he knew, he knew from watching movies with Grace. Humans didn't eat the shells, they cracked the eggs over and on to the pan.
So that's what he did. The egg sizzled. He watched as the translucent part slowly began to turn white. He was doing it! Rocky was cooking human food! He knew what to do next, wait for it to go white, take a spatula, one he found in a drawer next to the oven— along with more oblong bugs. It made Rocky let out a noise when one flew above his head. Still, he grabbed the spatula and gave it a quick wash the best he could.
He then turned back to the egg, ready to flip— it broke. He stared as part of the egg stayed stuck against the pan. Rocky stared at the pan. He didn't understand—
"Did you grease the pan?" Grace came up beside Rocky. He would then grab his tiny ladder that was under the sink and pull it up next to Rocky. He popped his head up and stared at what Rocky had done. "No...you didn't grease the pan. Here, let me help." and He was gone. He went to the fridge and grabbed the container with the lid. "This is butter! use this." He opened it.
"It's fuzzy." Rocky commented noting the small fuzzy bits. "Fuzzy bad bad bad."
"Nah, it's fine so long as you go around the fuzzy bits." and Grace grabbed a flat looking knife—
"No." Rocky put his foot down and grabbed the container from Grace. "Fuzzy bad bad bad! Fuzzy mean food is bad! Statement!"
"Well, technically yes but the fuzzy bits is because...well.." and Grace's face suddenly became pouty. "I did the one thing momma said not to do and used the same knife I used with jelly. So the rest of the butter is fine, this fuzzy bit is from the jelly!"
"... Why is grace eating butter and jelly together? Question."
"...I ran out of peanut butter..." and his shoulders slumped visibly at this.
"...Okay..." and Rocky put the butter down on the counter. "Grace listen to me." He would then have to squat the body down so it was looking like he was looking directly at Grace. "Rocky is...new to a lot of things. But Rocky knows a few things. Rocky knows you don't eat food with fuzzy bits, no, we aren't just moving around the fuzzy bits either. Rocky also knows that Grace needs food."
Grace swallowed hard. "I have food."
"Not that Rocky could see."
He then quickly rushed to the fridge, opened it, and pulled out the squares. "I have cheese! I still have three slices left!"
"Grace need actual food, statement. Proteins and vitamins. Not...that."
"Oh..." and Grace put the cheese back. "I was waiting until I was out of cheese to go shopping. Momma has emergency money, but it's for emergencies." Grace would then say as he put the cheese back.
"You don't think this is an emergency? Question."
"..." Grace put his hands together and rocked back and forth on his heels. "Maybe it is... I just don't like to go shopping. Whenever I do, a lot of people ask questions because I'm alone. One lady even called the cops once. Thankfully, I managed to slip away..."
"Oh." Rocky whispered.
"So, I try and put it off for however long I can." He bit at his lip "I was really hoping Mommy would be home by now..." and his eyes became glassy as he sucked in his lips.
"..." Rocky wanted to pry. He wanted to pry so badly, but Grace didn't trust him and he wanted that trust more than anything. So, he held off on asking the obvious question— for now. Instead he reached down and patted Grace's head. "Go put on Sesame street. Command. I'll be there to watch in a moment. Statement. Also, Rocky sorry. Grace's breakfast will just have to wait until he gets to school. Statement."
Grace sniffed. "It's okay..." he then turned around and returned to the living room. Rocky himself would turn around. He turned the stove off— the egg now burnt fully to the skillet.— and removed it from the heat. He'll clean it later.
The TV was turned on and it seemed none too soon as the theme was in the middle of playing. The tune was high pitched and sung by children—
"Sunny day! Sweeping the clouds away!"—
"Rocky know that song..." He whispered, his body twisting around just as he did inside of the suit. He started to walk towards it.
—"On my way to where the air is sweet
Can you tell me how to get
How to get to Sesame Street?"
Rocky used his detail gun to point at the TV as the show played.
He absolutely knew that song...
When Rocky woke from his sleep, there was a song in the air. One he didn't recognize. It wasn't one of Grace's usual songs that he liked to play on repeat. No, it was different. the voices high pitched, belonging to human children no doubt.
They were on the Hail Mary, still trying to figure out the Petrova line, figuring out a lot of things actually. Rocky stretched as the music continued for a few more bars. Something about a street.
Grace, who was suppose to be watching Rocky, was instead sitting at a desk and looking at his laptop. It wasn't uncommon to find Grace in the same room, but doing something absent mindedly while Rocky slept. Grace was humming along to the tune, the arm of his glasses in his mouth.
"Sunny day...chasing the...clouds away... on my way to where the air is sweet..." His voice was low as he muttered along. His head rocking slightly from side to side. "Can you tell me how to get...how to get to...sesame street..." He was watching something. He looked so relaxed. He wasn't his usual borderline anxiety attack self.
"What Grace—" Before Rocky could finish, Grace screamed, turned, and slammed his laptop shut.
"Rocky!" He would say not in anger but surprise. His voice went up an octave which usually would make Rocky laugh. Grace then leaned on his laptop, putting his elbow on it for good measure. "Wha—what you doin' bud? I thought you were sleeping."
"Rocky did sleep. Statement. What Grace watch, Question?"
Rocky sensed embarrassment when Grace looked away. "Nothing important to the mission! Don't worry about it, Bud. I just...wanted to go down memory lane, I guess..." He then looked down at his laptop. He tapped it with his fingers a few times before shaking his head. "It's silly, I just... Never mind, okay?"
Rocky stood in front of the TV listening to the music began to fade out. Grace turned back to look at him and he smiled. "You can sit next to me if you want." He patted the area next to him.
Rocky would slowly sit down. He couldn't explain this rush that hit him. He felt...a mix of things. Excitement...a weird giddiness...and a sadness that weighed over him like the worlds worst blanket.
Grace wasn't so shy around him anymore. In fact, Grace was more than happy to snuggle up next to him as the show played.
Rocky was seeing a side of Grace that Grace had previously kept hidden. A side of him that he was embarrassed about and Rocky didn't understand why.
Sesame street had different segments, each puppet having their own time. With Big Bird having the most time out of all the other characters. "Big Bird is my favorite." Grace had told Rocky at one point. "But I like Elmo too."
Rocky... did not like Elmo.
Elmo was loud. Elmo was obnoxious.
But Grace loved Elmo. Every little joke Elmo made, Grace laughed. Elmo sang, Grace clapped along to the song. He loved the way Elmo referred to himself in third person— wait a minute....
He decided he didn't want to think too hard about it now that he was thinking about it.
Still, when the show was over, Rocky would admit, it was a decent show. It kept him engaged at the very least. Humans were good at that, he learned. With their shows, songs, books, and movies, they had so many things that could keep the mind completely engaged. Not that Eridians didn't have those kinds of things, they did...kinda. Just not to the level of humans.
"Well...I gotta go to school now." Grace then got up and walked over to his bag that was hanging off of a chair.
"Right. You have to learn." Rocky got up and helped Grace.
No sooner had he gotten the bag around Grace's shoulders was there a noise from the next home over. It was loud and had Rocky turning towards it. It really must have been loud, because Grace looked towards it as well.
"Sounds like Clara's mommy is back from jail." He muttered. "I'll probably hear about it when I get back from school. Clara will probably try and hide away here."
Rocky could hear a snippet of the argument now that he was focusing on it. The woman was mad about being in Jail for the night and the man was mad at her because she got arrested. That's what he understood anyways. There was a lot of colorful words being tossed around.
"Oh, word of the wise if you're still going to be here: Clara is allowed in, her sister Carrie is not."
"Okay, Why?"
"Because Carrie is a thief. She came in once and stole Mommy's jewelry. Mommy just couldn't prove it was her, but she knows." Grace pouted. "Plus she's mean! She's mean to Clara and to me. Sometimes she has friends with her, and they're mean too." Grace then pouted a little. "She had a man with her one night. He kept trying to come in. Thankfully I put a chair under the handle because he knew how to pick a lock..." Grace fiddled with his shirt hem now. "I like Clara...I don't like Carrie."
"...Clara is close to your age, isn't she, Question?" Rocky just couldn't see another child acting in the way Grace had described. Granted he didn't know much on human children...
"She's eight."
"If she's eight, then how old is her sister, Question?"
"Seventeen."
"Hm."
Rocky wasn't surprised at such an age gap. Namely because Eridians often had such a gap between siblings due to their long life span. Heck, Rocky himself had siblings born last earth year. "Well, Rocky will keep all that in mind." He then told Grace as he took it upon himself to fix Grace's collar. "Come. Rocky will see you to your school—"
"No need," and Grace puffed his chest out. "I'm a big boy!" He said proudly. "I've been walking myself to school since I started kindergarten!"
"If Grace is sure—"
"Yes, I'm sure, just keep doing what you need to do! I'll be back around three, and I guess we can go shopping, or maybe even go to the— hm...I need to think about that one, but I'll be back! By Rocky!" Grace then waved him goodbye as he went running out the door.
Rocky watched him go and his smile began to fade as he watched his friend get smaller and smaller the farther and more quiet his footfalls became. Then, when Grace was truly gone, Rocky fell into a chair. That hollow empty feeling still inside of him, but yet, he wasn't defeated. A little lost, maybe, but not defeated. He looked at the home, at how much of a mess he still had left to clean and he stood up and returned to what he was doing when he first woke up.
This time added with the ambient sound of fighting neighbors.
Rocky almost hated to admit it, but the longer he stayed, the more Grace revealed about his situation...
The more Rocky wondered: "Why stay?"
A part of him knew why. It was obviously Grace's mother. He was staying for her sake.
But where was she? and what did Grace know that he wasn't telling Rocky?
Those were the real questions.
Rocky would just have to be a little patient a little longer it would seem.
Funny thing: They had left the TV on when Grace went to leave. It turns out there was another episode of Sesame Street playing. It had Rocky's attention as he cleaned up. Then Elmo came on and the TV went off.
Rocky did not like Elmo!