Chapter Text
“Hello savior Rocky! It’s a pleasure to meet you! I’ll be your personal assistant.”
Personal assistant? Rocky didn’t ask for a personal assistant. He looked to the other Eridian. They are about the same size as him. They sound younger. He understood now. This wasn’t just a personal assistant; this was a student. Rocky is no teacher. He is not patient like Grace is. He is not suited to teach anyone.
“I am not in need of a personal assistant.”
“Oh, I can just observe, I will not get in your way.”
“You would be more suited watching the other engineers.”
“Forgive me, the other engineers said to watch you...”
“Watch me?”
“Oh, I don’t mean it in that way. They just made it seem like you wanted an assistant.”
“Well, I don’t.”
The other Eridian froze. They made a low sad note and backed away.
“That is ok I understand I will leave.”
Rocky was being rude. Adrian and Grace always got on to him about it. Ever since he got back it seems like he could only get along with Adrian and Grace. He tolerates the scientists that work on the dome. They aren’t his friends. He doesn’t even talk to them. He doesn’t think he’s ever talked to them without Grace or Adrian present. He doesn’t know what’s wrong with him. He knows isolation could affect someone and he was alone for so long. But he’s not doing bad. So, what he prefers the presence of his mate and his best friend. They were worried about him. Everyone was. Because everyone seemed to care so much about what he was up to. Only Grace and Adrian truly cared. He only needed them.
Rocky thought back to when Grace had first met some of Adrian’s scientist friends. Grace went to Rocky saying how he ‘hit it off with them.’ After reassuring Rocky he had not actually hit them. From then on Grace would talk about his new friends and work. He would talk about his kids. Rocky would listen. Rocky didn’t understand Grace’s need for work. Maybe because humans got bored so quickly. Rocky knew that well from the trip here.
Rocky now finds himself working on a project that he only intended to do for Grace’s gift. He works alone. The other engineers talked to him sometimes, but he mostly worked quietly. They would check on him and sometimes even ask him questions…it was nice.
“Rocky?”
Rocky shifted his focus away from what he was working on and to the door of his workshop. It was ♩♫ ♪, the head engineer that convinced him to work with them.
“♩♫ ♪, is everything going smoothly?”
“Almost. I have a lot of respect for you. It is an honor to have you be a part of this team…however you aren’t a part of the team.”
“What do you mean?”
“You spend most of your time locked in your workshop and then hurry home. You turned away the assistant I sent…We just…around here we work as a team- "
“I understand…I haven’t been on a team in a long time…I understand if you want me to leave.”
“No, I want you to stay. I was actually hoping you would join me and a few coworkers. We are going to a show down at the park.”
“What about the telescope?”
“It will be here when we get back.”
Rocky respected ♩♫♪, He remembers working with them all those years ago. However now they were starting to annoy him. It was like they didn’t respect Rocky. Ever since he got back everyone has respected Rocky a lot. He spent years in space alone holding out hope to save his people. He didn’t understand what ♩♫♪ was trying to do. He thought about what grace would say… Well Grace has made friends with some of the other scientists, not to mention his kids. Maybe Rocky should try to do the same. ♩♫♪ was right the telescope wasn’t going anywhere.
“Ok, I will come.”
♩♫♪ made a pleased hum and Rocky followed them to the park.
Rocky hasn’t been around so many other Eridians in a while, excluding the thrum to help save Grace. It wasn’t a huge crowd. It was more of a small group who sang while everyone enjoyed their day in the park. It was him, ♩♫♪, and 3 other coworkers. They were talking about their lives outside of work, about their partners and pebbles. It was ok. It reminded him of when he went over to the biodome to talk to Grace. Grace would talk about his day, and Rocky would talk about his. He missed Grace.
“What about you Rocky, do you have any plans later?” One of his coworkers piped up.
“Yes, I will probably visit Grace.”
“How is he adjusting to Erid?” Another coworker hums.
“He is well”
Silence followed for a short moment. A short moment that felt like it lasted forever.
“That is good! We are all very excited to meet Grace.” ♩♫♪ broke the silence and everyone hummed in agreement.
“He will probably be very excited to meet you. He loves meeting new people…you know before his first day of class he wouldn’t stop talking about it. I think he had lesson plans for the next couple years. He can be very passionate.”
The others laugh.
“My partner is the same way. They went on this expedition to study the rock layers of Erid and when they got back, I swear it’s all I heard about for weeks.”
The others laugh. Maybe this wasn’t that bad.
—--------------------------------------
Rocky continued to work on the telescope with his coworkers. After work sometimes he and some of his coworker friends would even hang out. After a few more weeks the telescope was complete! He might have accidentally let it slide to Grace that they were building something for him but it’s ok. He was just so excited to show Grace and for him to meet his new friends.
He practically ran over to Grace’s house. He found him asleep on his couch. He will scold him later for sleeping somewhere that will hurt his joints but right now he was more focused on the surprise.
“Grace it is time to wake up!”
Grace groaned awake. Rocky loved the ability to wake his human when he wanted. Once he got Grace going, he brought him to the new extension that held the telescope. Rocky opened up the door and Grace followed him inside.
Rocky studied Grace’s face. He has learned a lot about human expression over the course of their friendship. He watches Grace’s face go from confused to shocked.
“Is…is this a telescope?”
“Yes! So, you can see stars!”
“Rocky I don’t…I don’t know what to say. I…I love it! Thank you Rocky!”
There it was. The reason he did all of this. Grace looked so happy.
“Rocky had a lot of help, couldn’t have done it without new friends!”
Rocky’s coworker hummed happily watching the two friends.
“This is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me.”
“Test it out!”
Rocky watches as Grace sits down in the chair and looks through the eye piece. Grace hunches over to do so…they will have to adjust the height later.
“How does it look?”
Grace didn’t respond. That is strange…Perhaps he should move closer. Humans found comfort in proximity especially in their line of sight or range of hearing. They of course preferred sight. Before Rocky could say anything again, he saw Grace flinch. Rocky was concerned now.
“Is Grace ok?” Rocky moved closer to Grace quickly. When he got close, he saw he was no longer looking through the eye piece. The eye piece sat in front of him as he seemed to look at nothing. This was not good. He heard Adrian asking everyone to leave. They must have figured out what was happening as well. Rocky has seen this happen many times. Grace was remembering something. He moved to Grace and pressed himself into his side. Sometimes contact will help bring him back.
“It is ok, Grace. I’m here. Everything will be just fine.”
Rocky knows this falls on deaf ears. Grace hardly ever hears him during memories, let alone comprehends an alien language. Sometimes memories aren’t bad. Grace will space out for a moment and slowly come back with a story to tell. However sometimes memories would stir new emotions. Grace would come back overwhelmed and stuck in whatever emotions he was caught up in. Rocky could tell this was going to be the latter. Grace was crying. Rocky hated when Grace cried. He used to hate it because of the gross leaking but now he hates it because he knows it means Grace is sad or scared. Rocky hums a calming song to him and waits for him to come back. He knows he can’t force it, so he just waits.
“N-no…please” Rocky hears Grace whisper after some time.
“Grace, ok? It’s ok Rocky is here.”
“No no please it’s not fair.” Grace continued to mumble and Rocky pushed himself into Grace as much as he could. He grabbed Grace’s hand with his claw. Grace was slowly coming back but wasn’t quite fully back yet. He just needed to be patient. He continued to hum to him.
Rocky jumps in surprise when Grace pulls his hand away from Rocky and pushes himself off the chair and onto the floor next to it. His hands moved to his head. He rocked his body back and forth still mumbling nonsense. Rocky moved to him, moving a claw to his shoulder.
“Grace? Can you hear me? Everything is ok.”
Grace started to cry again but harder this time. His rocking was frantic and his hands moved to pull on his hair.
“Grace! Is Grace ok? Please answer!”
“Why” Grace cried out. “What did I do?”
“It’s ok! It’s Rocky! You are safe!”
“R-rocky?”
“Yes!”
Grace tilted his up to look at Rocky. He sobbed as he wrapped his arms around Rocky.
“It’s ok, everything is ok now. It was just a memory.” Rocky hugged Grace back. Hugging wasn’t a natural thing for Eridians but Rocky would never turn a Grace hug down. They sat there for a moment in each other's arms until Grace calmed down enough to talk.
“I’m sorry Rocky I ruined your big surprise.”
“You did not ruin the surprise. You were still surprised; I was just also surprised.”
Grace laughed at his joke. They continued to sit on the floor, sitting right next to each other, Grace leaning on Rocky.
“No, your new friends, I was supposed to meet them.”
“It’s ok, you will meet them another day. You are my friend first.”
Grace’s eyes begin to water, almost sending Rocky into a panic.
“It’s ok really they will understand”
“No no, it’s…it’s just…I’ve really missed you and…I’m so happy you’ve made friends but I… I was so worried you would forget about me.”
“I can’t forget and I never would even if I could. You are one of the most important people in my life. You come second only to my mate, even then it’s a close second. I wouldn’t be here without you. I care very much for you.”
Grace wraps his arms around Rocky again and cries into his xenonite suit.
“I love you too, Rock”
Once they pulled away again and Grace seemed in control of his emotions, Rocky asked about the memory. He didn’t want to drag him back into it, but he wanted to comfort his friend.
“It was about my parents…well specifically my dad. He wasn’t the best parent…that’s a bit of an understatement. Let me just start at the beginning. My mom bought me a telescope for my birthday. My dad found out and broke it. My parents fought about it, and he ended up locking me in the closet overnight.”
The silence that followed was thick. Grace didn’t know what else to say. He supposed he should probably mention all the dreams and everything else he remembered. So, he does. He tells him everything. He tells him about all the dumb stuff his dad would get on to him about. Gender role stuff Rocky will never understand. He tells him the nights he spent at his grandparents. He told him about the nights he spent locked in the closet because that night was not the only night that happened. He remembers it happening so many more times.
“I am so sorry your male parent did that to you… You didn’t deserve that. You deserve so much better. I cannot change the past, but you will never be treated that way here. I promise I will never break your telescope. It’s all yours and you can use it whenever you want.”
“Thanks Rocky…I’m sorry I didn’t tell you anything at first…I just…”
“It is ok. I understand. You were worried I was too busy with new friends. It is ok. I was worried about the same thing. I was having trouble making new friends. If it weren’t for ♩♫♪ I would have never made any friends. If I had just talked to you about it, I probably would have made friends a lot quicker.”
They laugh at each other for a moment. They were idiots worrying over each other when they really should have talked to each other.
“Promise to come talk to me if you have any issues and if those engineering guys are ever mean to you, I’ll show them who they’re messing with.”
“Only if you promise to talk to me if you have any issues including bad memories.”
“Promise”
“Promise.”
—---------------------------------
“What will you call this one?”
Grace had spent weeks looking at the stars and connecting them into fun constellations. He named the one with Sol and Tau Ceti in it, The Fire of Life or Ignis vitae in Latin. They were the two solar systems other than this one that have life so he felt like it should have a cool name. See the name could mean the two stars or fire that supports life or the fire that hurt life as Tau Ceti is where astrophage is from. Tau Ceti is also the place they found a solution to astrophage. The double meaning was to show respect to all that died to astrophage but also shine a light on all life on Earth and the life in the Tau Ceti system. Grace won’t lie; he felt pretty clever with that one.
“Hmmm I’m thinking about Melody Major and Minor.”
“Very cool! What does it mean?”
“Well, I wanted to find a constellation that resembled a fox, you know that cool Earth animal I told you about? Well, I found one and I was just going to name it something like phoenix fox or something silly like that, but then I saw a similar constellation near it that looked like a smaller fox… So, I thought maybe I would name this one after my mom. Her name was Melody…Melody Grace.”
“Great name, everyone will love to hear about it!”
About a week ago now Grace finally properly met Rocky’s new engineer friends. They were really nice. He was happy Rocky was getting out more now. He thanked the main engineer, who he gave the name Marissa, for helping Rocky. He also thanked all of them for the telescope. Rocky would always tell them about every constellation he made. It was fun. He found himself wishing his mom was here to look at the stars with him but now, she was. She was always with him.