Work Text:
Grace groaned as he shifted in what has now become his bed for the rest of his days, the floor. He missed his bed back on Earth, had a shitty mattress that now he seemed to appreciate, either way he would kill to have it back, or a few more blankets perhaps, preferably the knitted ones, not sure if that would help him fall asleep. It’s not that he wasn’t comfortable, his body got used to it a long time ago by now. But his mind… his mind was somewhere else, somewhere dangerous. From flashbacks, existencial crisis to rumination, not to mention anxiety, all made everything so much harder in the least approapriate moment. Harder to keep logic in charge instead of whatever messy emotional storm his brain insisted on replaying right now.
He wanted to sleep. He felt so tired, he definitely needed some rest to keep functioning properly. Except his brain wasn’t getting the signal.
He already told Rocky he was going to sleep, a while ago, and he dutifully accepted his job of watching, just like every time, so he definitely noticed he was, in fact, not sleeping yet.
“I think I’m having trouble sleeping.” Grace exhales in exhaustion, his eyes darting up to where Rocky hovered, performing his role as a watchman… watchrock? Whatever.
“Trouble sleeping… try close eyes.” Rocky replied, although Grace had no intention of him to answer, it was more of like a statement rather than a comment. He huffed a tired laugh instead, shaking his head as if he hasn't been trying for the last half hour.
“Well, it’s easy for you to say, you don’t have eyes! Sometimes it doesn’t work.”
“Like right now, question?”
“Yes, like right now.” He confirms with a last exhale, rubbing his eyes.
“Because Rocky watch Grace sleep question?” His eyes flared up to his direction once again, the answer came out almost instantly.
“No, no, no… it’s not because of that, Rock. Sometimes you have to try harder than just closing your eyes. It’s more… complicated. Human nature is complicated.”
“Grace explain why.” Rocky said immediately, changing position on his spot.
Of course he would ask that.
Grace dragged a hand over his face, already sensing this would spiral into one of those endless conversations and that wouldn’t help him fall asleep either.
“Okay, so sometimes our brains just don’t shut up, like it won’t unplug, you know? You lie down and your stupid brain makes you remember every embarrassing thing you’ve ever done, or you start worryi-...” He cuts himself off, lips pressing together. “Well, I think you get the idea.”
He didn’t want to get in too deep about the (many) reasons why he was having trouble sleeping, instead it was quite the opposite, he needed to forget that, to avoid thinking about it, but God it was difficult. Also, he wasn't sure if Rocky could experience something similar to anxiety either, but he definitely didn’t want to worry him with his negative thoughts.
“Brain malfunction.” He simply answers. He felt glad Rocky hadn't catched up on that.
“Yeah, sure, that’s a way of putting it.”
“How fix, question?”
Grace shifted once again, pulling the blanket closer around himself even though the temperature didn’t really call for it.
“Well, there isn’t a magical solution, there could be many… it’s just stuff humans do to fall asleep, some of them very dumb I must say.”
For Rocky, instead, it sounded more like procedures, even rituals perhaps, about certain steps you follow to achieve a result. Unconscious state in this case. Yet he couldn’t comprehend why there could be different methods to fall asleep, none of them were as effective? Is that what Grace meant by complicated? Rocky could help finding the most effective method, he was sure of that.
“Teach me.” He insists, intrigued about human sleeping rituals.
“Alright, this is the dumbest method, okay? We call it 'counting sheep', some people say it works, I personally think it’s useless.”
Rocky takes some time to process this information, probably trying to find some logical reason behind it. “Rocky not understand” He seemed pretty confused about his answer, he could tell even in the translator voice. Why Grace need to count sheeps to fall asleep? It doesn’t make sense to him. Where do you get many sheeps to count? How does that help? “Why sheep? Why not count humans or rocks or stars or–”
Rocky would’ve name every other object he knew if he didn’t stop him right there.
“I don’t know, bud! I don’t know… someone decided sheep were boring enough to count for some… unknown reason. But the thing is, you imagine sheep jumping over a fence and you count as many as you can before falling asleep.”
“Yes. Rocky agree. Count sheep dumb.” He answers after a few seconds of being silent. Which makes Grace chuckle under his breath, glad that he agrees.“Methods less dumb, question?”
“Sure, next method is… bedtime stories! Someone tells you a story to help you relax, it mostly works for kids, though, so parents would tell a bedtime story for their kid.”
“Yes. Rocky tell story to Grace to help fall asleep.” He mentions confidently,
“Oh, okay, go ahead.” Grace encouraged, having zero expectations about Rocky’s story.
“Beginning story,” Rocky announced, Grace got himself comfortable over the sprawled blankets. “Once, there was… human. Name: Grace.”
Grace snots softly. “Okay, really creative of you.”
“Story must have accurate information.”
“Fair. Continue, then.”
“Grace floating in space. Grace not sleep. This is problem.”
“Okay, very dramatic start–”
“Not interrupt story.” Rocky said, mildly scolding.
Grace bit back a smile. “Yeah, sorry, continue, pal.”
“Grace meet Eridian. Very smart. Best engineer. Solve all Grace problems.”
Grace’s chest warmed a little at that. He bit back his tongue to not interrupt him again, but nodded to silently encourage him to continue.
“Eridian tell Grace: ‘Sleep now’. Grace says: ‘No’. Illogical. Sleep require for function. Eridian explain importance of rest cycle–”
Grace chuckled under his breath, shoulders shaking slightly against the floor. Rocky listened but didn’t stop his story yet. He seemed to be really into it now and he couldn’t help but feel bad to interrupt him again.
Instead, he waited, just listened. Rocky kept going, but his ‘story’ quickly turned into a detailed step-by-step explanation of sleep necessity, complete with what sounded like an improvised lecture on efficiency and system maintenance.
After a while, Grace rubbed his eyes and decided it was best to just stop him there.
“Rock, sorry for interrupting you but…”
“But.” Rocky echoed, waiting for his honest feedback about the amazing story he just made up. Grace couldn’t deny it turned out better than he thought it would, decent for an alien’s first attempt. He could improve.
But his final answer was, “This is… not really helping me relax… at all.”
“Confusion. Rocky provide useful information.” Grace smiled faintly.
“Yes, that’s true… but bedtime stories aren’t strictly about information, they usually have a message. A moral. Something simple for kids to catch up, like ‘don’t trust strangers’, that kind of thing.”
“Rocky understand. Story must teach lesson. Rocky try bedtime story again.”
Grace very much doubted he actually understood, but as he thought, there could be an improvement.
“Okay, try again then.”
“Once, there was human who not sleep. Human become innefficient. Made errors. Risked mission failure. Lesson: sleep when required. Inefficiency result in death.”
Grace's face scrunched in disapproval. That escalated pretty quickly.
“Oh, wow, okay… why did you go straight to death, huh?”
“Stakes must be clear.”
“Yeah, I get that… just maybe not before sleeping.”
'Don’t think about death, don’t think about death, don’t think about death. Forget. Forget. Forget.'
“Grace not like Rocky story, question?” 'Just answer Rocky, just keep talking, you’ll forget about it eventually.'
“I think it’s a great story, you just missed the ‘bedtime’ part.”
“Grace tell bedtime story to Rocky. Rocky not fall asleep. Rocky listen.”
As much as that seemed like an excellent idea to take his mind off that serious matter, he felt unable to. It wouldn’t work, he probably would end up telling a worse story than Rocky’s if that’s possible.
“Sure, pal… but maybe another day. I can’t tell a bedtime story if I’m the one trying to fall asleep, you know?”
Grace exhaled. Trying to clear his mind once again. Eyes closed. But what seemed like a faint yawn escaped his lips. Somehow it was working. Meanwhile Rocky stayed silent, thoughtful, probably trying to come up with another story plot that didn’t involve… any dangerous event happening in the first three sentences.
“You know what might work? A lullaby.” Grace breaks the silence, one of his eyebrows arched. He might have find THE method that will succeed.
“Explain lullaby, question?”
“Well, lullabies are songs that help humans sleep. It works mostly with babies and young children. The mother would sing to sleep the baby. Doesn’t it sound familiar to something Eridians do?”
Rocky seemed a little interested about this one for sure as he saw his limbs move.
“No song to sleep, if asleep we not hear song. Useless.” He explains as if the whole concept lullabies were kind of stupid, or at least that’s how he made it sound.
“It's not that you can't hear it, It’s about helping you relax before you fall asleep. Like the bedtime story.”
He still didn’t seem convinced about the method. His silence gave him away.
“Grace want Rocky sing lullaby question?”
“I thought you said it was useless.”
Rocky made a soft chiming sound, curious. He wanted to try, he made good sounds, melodies as Grace called it. And besides, his whole purpose was to find the most effective way to help Grace fall asleep, so he must try it.
“Rocky make lullaby.” He insisted, waiting for Grace to make himself comfortable again, who chuckled under his breath and settled deeper into the blankets.
What came next was a series of tones. All metallic, layered and oddly precise. There was a clear rhythm, easy to follow, repetitive ‘chords’. Not chaotic, not bad, just a lot. Too many sounds. Grace listened for a few seconds before lifting a hand slightly before talking.
“Okay, sorry Rocky for interrupting your beautiful melody but…” Rocky stops immediately. Appreciating the honest feedback.
“Lullaby not effective?”
“It’s just… a lot. But not in a bad way, don’t get me wrong. The thing is lullabies are simpler. My fault, I probably should’ve told you earlier. It’s repetitive, slower...”
“Understood. Rocky try lullaby again.”
He couldn’t say no to him. Not when he was being so caring towards him. But something told him this could probably go better than last time.
And so, Rocky tried again.
At first it didn’t sound much different. He was experimenting, like a singer warming his vocals. He started low, four tones. Ton-ton-ton-ton. Then another, but this time higher. And then back to lower.
Rocky really catched up on that easily. Of course, he did. He was a genius.
Grace made himself comfortable, breathing in and out in time with Rocky’s alternations between higher and lower notes.
It really seemed to be working. The first proper yawn escaping from his lips. He was doing an excellent job. But he couldn’t help but feel some kind of familiarity with this steady rhythm. Not in a way he could immediately place, yet.
Just two alternating tones, evenly spaced, repeating over and over again.
Grace let his eyes fall shut. His mind still wondering, why does it feel so familiar?
It wasn’t exactly a song. It’s more like… the ticking of a clock, but better, less mechanical. Almost human-natured, instead.
He wanted to tell Rocky it was working, encourage him to keep going, that he was really relaxing now and would fall asleep at any second. He tried, though. But he was sure no words left his mouth. Now there was only one last thought in his head. Why does it sound familiar?
And then it hitted him.
It was no clock.
It was heart. A heartbeat. Human heartbeat.
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.
He couldn’t quite place if it worked because it was guiding his breathing and matching his own heartbeat tempo, but it did give him this strong feeling of being safe for some reason.
Grace didn’t think about it anymore after that. His mind slowly drifting off, unplugging. Didn’t think about Earth, or the mission, or any negative thing his brain usually dragged up at night.
He just listened for as long as he could.
And somewhere along the line, without really noticing when, he finally fell asleep.
Rocky noticed after a while once Grace stopped moving. Feeling proud of finally discovering the most efficient way to solve trouble sleeping, with a lullaby.