Chapter Text
Rocky is usually moving all the time. People used to get irritated with his constant swaying and fidgeting and wandering. Grace seems to be similar in this way. He paces and throws his little ‘hacky sack’ up and down, or throws a ball at Rocky to bounce it off the xenonite barrier, or just talk talk talks. Rocky’s not sure if that’s more of a human thing or a Grace thing. They’re probably both giving each other somewhat skewed impressions of each other’s species.
The point is, it’s unusual for either of them to be subdued for too long, so Grace notices that something is off with Rocky much more easily than he would have liked.
Rocky is finding it hard to move today. This happened before, when he was alone and hopeless, some stupid ancient instinct to freeze and not draw attention to yourself when you’re vulnerable. Except that doesn’t do much good when you’re the only living being for years in any direction, or when you’re on a tiny spaceship with an incredibly intelligent alien who doesn’t even need sound or movement to ‘see’ you.
“Are you feeling okay, bud?” Grace asks. “You’re not sick are you? Cuz then you’d really have to let me sample your DNA. You know, for science and for your health.”
“Not physically sick.” It takes more effort than it should just to force a couple words out.
“But you’re not okay,” Grace concludes. He’s dropped the joking tone and sits on the floor next to Rocky, leaning against the wall.
“No,” Rocky admits. “Cannot stop thinking of my crew. About Grace also in danger because I could not fix things. The sadness makes me slow. Stupid flaw of biology.”
“Mmm,” Grace makes his thinking noise. “Humans have that problem too sometimes. And I know you know this, Rock, but I’m gonna keep reminding you: none of that was your fault. Your people have never seen ionizing radiation on this scale before, there’s absolutely no way you could have prepared your ship for it. And I’m exactly where I want to be. You’ve given me everything Rocky, and even if you hadn’t done anything for me, I would still choose to come back for you a hundred times over.”
Rocky shivers and makes a high keening sound. He doesn’t want to explain to Grace that this is ‘crying’, but at least Rocky’s version of crying isn’t so gross and wet.
“Oh buddy,” Grace tries to press himself closer, thankfully understanding the sentiment without an explanation. “I’m here, I got you. What can I do?”
“Grace sing… question?”
“Of course.” He leans his head against the xenonite and taps his fingers a few times. Maybe for Rocky or maybe just absently as he thinks, but Rocky taps back anyway. Grace smiles at their hands and begins to sing.
“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you
Please don’t take my sunshine away.”
Rocky presses his claw against the wall where Graces body is leaning and he can feel the vibrations in his chest. He wants hear more, wants to crawl inside and curl up in his ribcage. When the melody starts to repeat, Rocky hums some harmony along with him. It feels wonderful to let their voices blend together.
“The other night, dear, while I lay sleeping
I dreamt I held you in my arms
When I awoke, dear, I was mistaken
So I hung my head and cried
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you
Please don’t take my sunshine away.”
“Grace!” Rocky scrambles to stand and bounces his carapace up and down. “Can hold you in my arms!”
“You- you could? Like for real?”
“Yes yes yes! I go now, Grace wait.” Rocky holds up one finger to signal wait and Grace responds with the same adorable rising tone chuckle that he did the first time Rocky mimicked his ‘wait’ gesture. It sounds even more beautiful now that Rocky knows for sure it is a laugh, and knows the person making it.
Rocky’s xenonite body suit, modeled somewhat after Grace’s spacesuit, has been finished for a couple of days. He’s tried it on and carefully monitored the ammonia levels, heat insulation, and flexibility while Grace slept, but he hasn’t shown Grace yet. Grace’s emotions are strange—and lately so are Rocky’s—so it is difficult to know the best way to introduce big changes.
But as Grace says, ‘there is no time like the present.’
Rocky is a little rushed as he puts on the exosuit, but he checks the seals carefully and does one last check of the external temperature to be sure the very long hug Grace will no doubt want will be comfortable for him.
When he returns to Grace he is ecstatic.
“Oh my god!” Grace falls to his knees and embraces Rocky, then quickly pulls back to examine the suit with his eyes and run the sensitive skin of his fingers all over the surface. The way he perceives the world is endlessly fascinating to Rocky. “Holy moly, Rocky, this is incredible! You’re incredible!”
“Suit feels okay on your skin, question? It is not too hot for you, question?”
“No, it’s perfect! It’s like…” Grace grins. “It’s like a warm hug.”
Grace embraces him again, and Rocky wraps three arms around him in return. He is careful not to crush the soft fragile human, trying to squeeze with slightly less force than Grace himself uses. He uses one claw to pet his hair and Grace thunks his forehead against Rocky’s carapace.
“Thank you,” Grace murmurs. “This is even better than I imagined. You really are amazing, you know that?”
“Yes, Rocky is very smart and talented, you say this often.”
Grace laughs again, it’s quickly becoming one of Rocky’s favorite sounds.
“Grace sing again. Want to feel it.”
“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…”
It’s incredible. Grace’s large lanky frame is practically surrounding Rocky, and his song resonates through both their bodies. Rocky had thought he might never get to feel this again. He went 46 years without hearing another living being, and then the universe gave him this strange beautiful disgusting creature who is so alive that Rocky can hear his heart beat wherever he goes. The general noisiness of Grace’s existence had been reassuring enough, but this all encompassing musical embrace feels like salvation. His saving Grace, once again.
“Love love love,” Rocky hums.
“You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you…”