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By the time he realized what was happening, it was far too late to do anything meaningful about it. It started an hour or so after he woke up as an uncomfortable pressure in the back of his neck. He'd just assumed he'd slept on it funny and complained a little about it, getting thoroughly roasted by Rocky (⟨⟨Grace injure himself when sleep, question? Grace even more clumsy than thought!⟩⟩) before he just moved on with his day.
Slowly the uncomfortable feeling migrated up the back of his neck to his temples in a dull, but manageable ache that he'd chalked up to not getting enough sleep. He was prone to headaches, but usually he could just muscle through them. They weren't worth wasting his dwindling supply of painkillers. The ache then slowly spread across his forehead as well, like an uncomfortable band of pain was pressing around his head, but it was still manageable, just very uncomfortable and annoying.
It was only when he felt a sharp pain in his right temple and under his right eye that made his stomach do a flip, that he realized he wasn't dealing with a regular headache. He was getting a migraine. Oh great. Just great. If he'd realized sooner, he would've been able to take some Tylenol to stave off the worst of it, but once he reached the stage where he started to feel nauseous, he knew from experience that no amount of painkillers could help him now.
He groaned, dropping his head into his hands and biting back a wince as the movement sent ripples of pain down his neck and shoulders. He was like the stupid frog in that one saying about boiling water (which was false by the way, frogs absolutely will jump out of the water once it's too hot, they're not stupid). He should've seen the signs coming sooner. Instead he was going to suffer for the rest of the day or until he was able to pass out and sleep it off. Fun.
⟨⟨Why Grace make pain noise, question?⟩⟩
Rocky's voice and the translator overlapping it sounded nearly deafening, screeching in his ears and making his head throb in time with each note and word. He couldn't stop himself from flinching as he looked up, eyes burning as the light stabbed them. Rocky was in his ball on the ground next to Grace’s stool, or at least, Grace assumed the brown and green blob next to him was Rocky. His vision was starting to melt a little despite the fact that he was wearing his glasses. Speaking of, Grace realized that the point of contact where the bridge of his glasses rested on his nose burned, like his glasses weighed a ton, pressing into his sensitive skull. He ripped his glasses off his face before he was even really conscious of what he was doing, and the movement made the entire room spin and his stomach lurched.
Uh oh.
Despite the agony threatening to crack open his skull and his eye feeling like it was about to melt out of his head, Grace somehow staggered to his feet, casting his blurring vision around wildly until he saw a small bucket nearby. He scrambled over to it, fumbling to snatch it up in shaking fingers. It felt like it had stuff in it, and Grace couldn't remember or see what it was, but he knew he didn't want to puke on it, so as he collapsed to his knees, falling sideways to thunk against whatever wall or desk was next to him, he aggressively flipped the bucket over, dumping something that clattered out onto the floor, before he leaned over it.
His mouth was filling with saliva and had that strange iron taste it usually got before he threw up. He managed to gasp in one shaky breath before the nausea clawed up his throat and he gagged. The pain was so bad that he felt a bit like he was having an out of body experience. Each heave, coupled with the white hot spike of pain stabbed straight through his eye and out the other side of his skull made him want to pass out right then and there, but somehow he remained conscious.
Finally, after what could've been eons or just a few minutes, he stopped dry heaving, because after the first couple rounds he'd thoroughly depleted the contents of his stomach. He slumped backward into whatever surface he was leaning against, eyes closed and shivering pathetically. He almost dropped the bucket, but caught it blind before carefully setting it aside on the ground. Gross. He would have to take care of that later. No, don't think about that actually the nausea will come back, he thought, grimacing slightly but still keeping his eyes closed.
The roaring in his ears from his blood racing through his body and creating a painful drumbeat inside his skull slowly died down as he sat there, gasping pathetically on the ground. And when it did Grace realized he could hear something else. Something loud that vibrated through his skull and made him whimper in pain.
It sounded like . . . music? And a voice. They were overlapping and echoing around the space, slamming into him from all sides—
⟨⟨GRACE GRACE GRACE GRACE! WHY NO ANSWER, QUESTION? GRACE ANSWER!⟩⟩
His brain finally registered the voice through the pain and fire and he instinctively waved a hand in the direction it was coming from like he was trying to weakly shoo a fly away.
“Shhh,” he hissed, keeping his eyes screwed shut. Gosh this was awful. He hated migraines so much.
⟨⟨Grace!⟩⟩ the notes were high with relief and they made Grace want to die honestly as they vibrated against the spike in his head and made everything feel so much worse. ⟨⟨What happened, question? Why you leak from mouth? Why pain sounds?⟩⟩
“R-Rocky please, quieter, please,” Grace whimpered. He knew Rocky meant well, and this was probably so terrifying for him because he had no concept of what was happening to Grace, but owwwww.
There was silence for a bit, and Grace managed to crack one eye open to look over at the Rocky colored blob next to him through the harsh light. Rocky had gone completely still. Had Grace offended him?
“Rocky?” He croaked, “S-sorry, i’s jus’ loud hurts.”
The Rocky blob shifted a little from side to side before a few quiet notes rang out. Unfortunately the translator's volume remained the same.
⟨⟨Sound hurt Grace, question?⟩⟩
Grace nodded weakly, then winced as the movement made everything spin.
“Yeah, and light. ‘S too bright.”
Rocky shuffled side to side again before asking, almost hesitantly, ⟨⟨Grace dying, question?⟩⟩
Grace jolted, ignoring his pounding skull as he forced himself to sit upright a bit more. He had to slap a hand against the wall to keep himself from tipping over as everything warped around him.
“No! N-no not dying,” he gasped, closing his eyes and pressing his free hand to his throbbing temple as he tried to breathe through the pain, “Just . . . just a migraine.”
⟨⟨New word⟩⟩ Rocky said, and Grace appreciated how he kept his voice low, even if the translator didn't return the favor.
“It’s like a headache, but worse,” Grace winced, considering just curling up on the floor, but staying upright for Rocky’s sake, “Like, really bad,” he added lamely. He could explain the science of it later when he didn't feel like some evil pain creature was trying to hatch out of his skull.
⟨⟨Bad bad bad head hurt⟩⟩ Rocky said, and it almost sounded sympathetic, or as sympathetic as musical notes and a computer voice could sound. ⟨⟨Rocky help, question?⟩⟩
Grace exhaled roughly in what was either a laugh or a sob, he honestly wasn't sure.
“I . . . I just need to ride it out. At this point any painkillers won't. . . won't work. Just gotta suffer until I can pass out. It usually . . . goes away with sleep.”
Grace's eyes were still closed, but he heard Rocky fidgeting in his ball, the edges tapping against the ground as it wobbled with the movement.
⟨⟨Grace say light sound bad⟩⟩ Rocky said ⟨⟨Grace move to bed, question? Try to sleep. Turn off lights⟩⟩
Grace absolutely did not want to try to stand up right now, he knew the movement would only make everything worse, but . . . but he would rather curl up pathetically on his bed then on the floor of the lab.
“Ok,” he said, but it sounded more like a pained grunt then speech. He took a deep breath to psych himself up, before using all his strength to get one foot underneath himself and push off the ground and the wall with his hand still pressed against it.
Everything immediately spun, and Grace honestly felt like the entire Hail Mary was spinning. He could almost hear Mary's voice saying ‘Excessive centrifugal force’ as he swayed alarmingly, swallowing hard so he didn't dry heave again. He tried to open his eyes, but had to immediately slam them shut as the light on top of the pain and dizziness just made everything ten times worse.
He felt something nudge up against his leg oh so gently, but it still made him wobble dangerously, forcing him to slap his hand back onto the wall.
⟨⟨Grace follow. Rocky lead⟩⟩ he felt the nudge again and realized it was the xenonite ball.
Grace squinted down at the ball through barely open eyes and he managed a small nod.
“Thank you,” he replied in a strained voice. Maybe it would've been embarrassing to need help just to walk to his bed, but right now he was in too much pain to care. He deserved a pass to be pathetic right now.
The entire walk there was a haze of pain and misery. It felt like the trip took miles when he knew in actuality it wasn't that far. The only thing that kept him present were the gentle thunks of Rocky's ball against the ground. It seemed like he was moving slower and more deliberate to keep the noise at a minimum. That was nice. Considerate.
Just the thought that Rocky cared enough to try to be as quiet as possible made Grace’s heart twist in a weird way and he felt tears filling his eyes, which he squeezed shut in an effort to stop because crying would only make his head hurt worse. If Rocky noticed, he didn't comment on it, which Grace was endlessly grateful for.
⟨⟨Grace bed⟩⟩ Rocky said after a few minutes, or maybe hours Grace didn't know, the pain was warping everything. The laptop translator was still in the lab, so the computer voice sounded much softer, not grating so hard on his ears.
Grace squinted at the floor in front of him and saw that he'd indeed made it to his bed. He'd long since moved his mattress and all the blankets and pillows that had been packed on the Hail Mary to the floor. Rocky liked to be able to get closer to him in case he had anymore nightmares, and he'd said that Grace couldn't fall off the bed anymore if it was already on the floor, which Grace had been very offended by, but he'd obliged. At least on the floor he could spread out a bit more. The cot was kind of narrow.
He managed to scrape together enough self control to only collapse on his knees onto the bed instead of just faceplanting because he knew that would be absolute agony. The shockwave still traveled up through his body and rattled his brain, but he managed to ride through the nausea and fall forward onto his hands before slumping face first into one of the pillows.
His head didn't feel any better, not by a long shot, but at least he was lying somewhere more comfortable now.
⟨⟨Mary light off⟩⟩ Grace flinched slightly, forgetting for a moment that Rocky was still there. He turned his head in time to watch all the lights in the room dim and then go out completely.
Grace sighed in relief. Normally he kept the lights at a very dim setting at night, the pure darkness freaking him out a little, but right now it was heavenly.
“Thanks Rocky,” he mumbled.
⟨⟨Grace sleep now, question?⟩⟩ Rocky asked, still keeping his notes soft. Grace was honestly impressed the translator in the other room could hear him.
“I'll try but . . . probably in too much pain to fall asleep,” he mumbled.
Rocky hummed softly in a way Grace now recognized as worry.
⟨⟨How Rocky help, question?⟩⟩ he asked again, and Grace could empathize. He knew very well that feeling of pure helplessness as he sat and watched his hurt friend, wishing he could do something to help, but only caught in the agonizing grip of waiting. He didn't want Rocky to feel like that.
He cast his frazzled and slightly on fire mind around for any ideas. He tried to remember any sort of remedies he'd used for his migraines in the past. Like a lot of his memories, it took a bit for something to float to the surface, everything was still a little scrambled from the amnesia, but he remembered microwave warm packs on the back of his neck and his muscles relaxing, the heat leaching away a bit of the pain.
“Sometimes. . . sometimes putting something warm on my neck helps. Relaxes the muscles,” he mumbled, vaguely gesturing at the back of his neck with one of his hands, “Dunno if there's anything on the ship I could use though.”
Rocky hummed again, this time in more of a thinking tone.
⟨⟨Have idea⟩⟩ he finally said softly, before Grace heard the ball rolling closer. He wanted to move to see what Rocky was doing, but the lights were off so he couldn't see anyway, and also moving was the last thing he wanted to do now, so he just laid flopped over his blankets pathetically, straining his ears to try to figure out where Rocky was on sound alone.
It sounded like Rocky had rolled over near his head, and then Grace felt the mattress dip a little behind him as the ball pressed into it. He opened his mouth to ask what Rocky was doing, only to flinch in shock and surprise as something warm brushed the back of his neck.
⟨⟨Apology apology apology⟩⟩ Rocky said quickly as the warm thing retreated instantly ⟨⟨Grace hurt, question?⟩⟩
“N-no,” he said quickly, more confused than anything else, “Jus’ . . . surprised. What was that?”
⟨⟨Rocky hand through flexible barrier⟩⟩ Rocky replied, slowly and softly, the translator voice echoing from far away ⟨⟨Rocky warm. Thought could help. Apology⟩⟩
“No no i’s fine,” Grace hurried to reassure him, his voice slurring a bit. The lack of light was helping, but he was still in a lot of pain, “You can . . . you can try again jus' don' . . . don' press too hard.” Heck, at this point Grace was willing to try anything.
He tried not to tense up as he felt Rocky's hand through the little stretchy xenonite panel brush up against the back of his neck again. When he didn't move he felt the mattress dip a bit more as Rocky pressed closer, and Grace felt his xenonite encased claw fully cup the back of his neck.
The effect was immediate. Warmth instantly seeped from the points of contact, relaxing his muscles and making him melt into the touch. Oh. Oh that felt really nice. The warmth seemed to fight the pain radiating from his neck, smothering it and leaving a pleasant heat behind. If he focused he could still feel the migraine raging, but he let his mind drift, letting the warmth soothe the ache. This was better than a heat pack, warm enough to almost be uncomfortable, but not yet. Perfect.
He hummed softly in contentment before he could stop himself, and he felt Rocky's claw twitch a little against his neck.
⟨⟨Grace ok, question?⟩⟩ he sounded concerned, but Grace was grateful he didn't pull away.
“Yeah,” he mumbled, voice muffled a bit by the pillow as it turned his head a bit further into it. He was starting to feel a little boneless now. Maybe he'd actually be able to fall asleep, “‘S feels nice.”
⟨⟨Oh, good good good⟩⟩ Rocky said softly, his notes sounded pleased.
Grace just let himself drift a bit, focusing on the warmth instead of the pain and trying to quiet his mind. The quicker he fell asleep, the quicker this would all be over.
As he started to hover in that weightless, in-between place on the edge of sleep, he was brought back a bit by a weird sensation. The bed was vibrating slightly, the strange force rippling through his body, making his muscles loosen even more. Where Rocky's hand still rested against his neck, the vibration was even stronger. It felt like one of those vibrating neck massagers, but deeper somehow. As Grace focused on it, he realized he could hear something. A low rumbling noise, barely audible at all. He sort of reminded him of a cat purring, but it was deeper, richer.
“Rock? Issat you?” he asked, wincing internally at how his voice cracked. Man he sounded rough.
The sound and the vibration instantly stopped.
⟨⟨Apology⟩⟩ Rocky said softly ⟨⟨Is low soothing sound. Calming to Eridians. Will stop⟩⟩
“No, no i’s fine,” Grace mumbled, reaching up with a clumsy hand to pat Rocky's still resting on his neck, “Jus’ wondering is all.”
There was silence for a bit, and Grace found himself disappointed that Rocky didn't continue, only for Rocky to ask ⟨⟨Rocky helping, question?⟩⟩
Grace smiled slightly.
“Yeah, you're helping a lot,” he said truthfully, “Might actually be able to sleep.”
Rocky hummed a low, pleased note.
⟨⟨Good good good. Grace sleep, I watch⟩⟩
He began the deep rumbling noise again, and Grace immediately went limp as the vibration almost felt like a full body massage. Rocky started moving his hand back and forth a bit, gently rubbing its heat into Grace's neck, and Grace honestly completely forgot about his migraine, falling into pure bliss.
Who knew rocks were good at massages?
He was asleep before he could even realize he was drifting away.
~~~~~
Grace woke slowly.
His head felt stuffed with cotton and he felt completely wrung out despite having been asleep for . . . however long it had been. While his head currently didn't hurt, it felt fragile, like if he moved at all the migraine would come back with a raging vengeance. So he stayed completely still, keeping his eyes closed and his breathing measured.
Something must've shifted though, because he heard a small inquisitive hum next to him.
⟨⟨Grace awake, question?⟩⟩
The quiet notes and the distant translator voice didn't immediately make his skull shatter into a million pieces, and Grace relaxed slightly. It seemed the worst was over.
“Yeah buddy,” he replied, in more of a whisper than anything else as his voice protested after not being used for a while.
⟨⟨Bad bad bad head hurt gone, question?⟩⟩ he asked hopefully, and Grace felt the mattress dip a little as Rocky presumably leaned closer. At one point he'd stopped rubbing Grace’s neck apparently, because Grace didn't feel it anymore. Probably when he fell asleep. He ignored the small bloom of disappointment in his chest at that.
“Yeah I think so,” he mumbled, “Tired though.”
⟨⟨But Grace just wake up⟩⟩ Rocky sounded both confused and disappointed, and Grace grimaced slightly as he felt bad for leaving Rocky to deal with him like this.
“Sorry,” he said, opening his eyes, only to find that all the lights were still off, “Mary lights on, dim,” he said, not wanting to immediately blind himself. Thankfully, the lights turned on slowly, revealing the dorm room before stopping on the setting he normally kept the lights on when he slept. His head didn't immediately start stabbing him, so he counted that as a win.
With tremendous effort, he rolled himself over, the cotton feeling in his head increasing a little and making it feel heavy as he flipped over so he was facing Rocky. Rocky was indeed in his ball, partially resting it on the edge of his mattress, sitting with his legs curled beneath him, carapace tilted toward Grace while he fidgeted with two of his claws in a remarkably human looking gesture of nerves.
“I'm fine, really,” he said, reaching out to press a hand against the xenonite, “Migraines aren't deadly, they just happen from time to time. In me more than the average human but . . . I've had lots before. Sorry for scaring you.”
⟨⟨No apology⟩⟩ Rocky said quickly, tapping one of his claws against the xenonite for emphasis before pressing it against Grace's hand on the other side ⟨⟨Rocky sorry. Couldn't fix more. Sorry Grace in pain⟩⟩
“Hey, no, you did plenty,” Grace protested, hurrying to push himself more upright. His head wobbled a little too much and he felt both heavy and a little floaty, but the pain didn't return as he managed to weakly shuffle into a sideways lean, using the ball for support, “I would've had a much worse time if you hadn't helped, I promise.”
Rocky tilted his carapace toward him, tapping a few times against the xenonite. Grace tapped back.
⟨⟨Grace sure, question?⟩⟩ he asked meekly after a few moments. Grace nodded immediately.
“Yeah. Absolutely. I would've taken forever to fall asleep without you. You were right, Rocky very warm,” he smiled, leaning up against the xenonite and wrapping his other arm around the ball. Rocky immediately stretched upward to press himself against the other side in their version of a hug.
They sat like that in contented silence for a bit, and Grace felt the exhaustion tugging at his limbs again, but he fought it. He wasn't going to just pass out again on Rocky, that would be rude.
⟨⟨Grace say this happen to Grace often, question?⟩⟩
Rocky broke the silence and snapped Grace out of his momentary stupor, making him blink and lean back.
“Hm? Oh, uh, not too often, but. . . yeah I get migraines pretty often. Usually caused by stress or not enough sleep or a combination of both.”
Rocky hummed, processing the answer. Grace waited patiently while resisting the urge to flop sideways onto his pillow again.
⟨⟨Ok. Rocky make sure Grace sleep enough then⟩⟩ Rocky straightened his legs a bit, looking very determined for a faceless rock creature.
“Wait, what—?” Grace started, a feeling of dread washing over him. Oh no, what had he just unleashed. He didn't get to say anything else, because Rocky was suddenly rocking forward, nudging his side with the ball.
⟨⟨Grace say Grace tired. Grace more sleep. Lay down!⟩⟩
Grace made a lot of confused spluttering noises as his foggy brain refused to give him anything coherent to say, trying to fend off Rocky with his hands. Unfortunately, Rocky was very heavy and Grace had yet been able to move his ball more than an inch, and that was before he was exhausted from his brain combusting.
“I—ok! Ok! I'll lay down,” he finally gasped, flopping back down and giving Rocky his best irritated scowl, holding his hands out to the side in a ‘see? I did it’ gesture.
Rocky thankfully stopped rocking his ball into him, settling back with a happy little shuffle.
⟨⟨Good. Grace sleep more. No more bad bad bad head hurt⟩⟩
Grace huffed, but otherwise didn't say anything. He did want to go back to sleep. He wasn't looking forward to Rocky’s future constant nagging about sleep, more than he already did at least, but future Grace could worry about that. Current Grace was tired.
He closed his eyes and let himself relax, aware of Rocky's ‘gaze’ on him. Before that would have made him wildly uncomfortable, and it did the first few nights Rocky watched him sleep, but now it was comforting. His best friend was there, making sure he was safe.
Grace laid there just relaxing and slowly starting to drift closer to sleep again, when he felt something poke his head. He scrunched his eyebrows and started to open his mouth to ask Rocky why he was poking him if he wanted him to sleep, only to freeze as the poking changed to Rocky’s hand rubbing his head instead.
Grace was a little ashamed to admit he melted. The flexible xenonite let him articulate his claws a bit, and he was now carding them through Grace's hair, ruffling it around while also scratching his scalp. It felt heavenly. He pointedly ignored the mental image of someone petting a cat that his brain mocked him with.
⟨⟨Grace like, question?⟩⟩ Rocky asked when Grace let himself push his head a little into Rocky’s hand.
“Mmm,” he hummed absently, not really coherent enough to offer a proper reply, but Rocky seemed to understand because he hummed back a pleased note.
Rocky kept humming softly, not specific words, just a soothing melody as he played with Grace’s hair, and Grace let himself enjoy it. He'd be embarrassed later.
⟨⟨Grace head wires strange⟩⟩ Rocky said after a bit, and Grace couldn't stop the breathy laugh that escaped him.
“It's called hair,” he mumbled with a small smile of amusement.
⟨⟨Rocky know⟩⟩ Rocky said, sounding miffed, and he poked Grace’s head with one claw, but not hard enough to hurt, before returning to what he'd been doing before ⟨⟨Don’t have equivalent word so Rocky call it head wires⟩⟩
Grace snorted, but conceded to the point.
“I'll have to update the translator later then,” he mumbled, and Rocky chirped in agreement.
⟨⟨Grace sleep now⟩⟩ Rocky said, and Grace decided not to comment on the fact that Rocky had started the current conversation, just letting himself relax instead.
Before when he'd realized he'd started having a migraine, he'd expected a day of agony and misery, but instead he'd had a good nap and was currently getting a freaking head massage. He felt a bloom of warmth in his chest as he smiled. Rocky was literally the best. Grace didn't think he'd ever had someone care about him as much as Rocky seemed to.
“Hey Rock?” He mumbled, voice slurring the closer he got to sleep.
Rocky's hand in his hair stilled for a second before he resumed rubbing small circles into Grace's scalp.
⟨⟨Grace⟩⟩ he responded to show he was listening.
“You're like . . . so awesome, you know that, right?”
Rocky’s hand paused again, and he hummed in a way that Grace didn't recognize, but oddly it sounded almost . . . embarrassed?
⟨⟨Obvious⟩⟩ Rocky said, aggressively ruffling Grace’s hair once ⟨⟨Rocky is the best. Always say this⟩⟩
Grace laughed softly.
“Yeah, you are,” he mumbled, turning his face a little into his pillow, “Thanks for taking care of me.”
Rocky hummed a few notes that made Grace feel warm.
⟨⟨Obviously Rocky take care of Grace. Rocky always take care of friend Grace⟩⟩
Grace's breath hitched slightly, and he fought the urge to cry. Oh. Rocky really had a way of saying the sweetest things like they were the most obvious laws of the universe.
⟨⟨Rocky have to because Grace obviously not take care of himself⟩⟩ Rocky added, shattering the mood somewhat but also making Grace wheeze out a small laugh.
“Yeah bud,” he smiled, “Love you for that.”
It was silent for a bit, and Grace was almost asleep, lulled by the repetitive motion of Rocky combing his claws through his hair, when Rocky softly said, ⟨⟨Rocky love Grace too⟩⟩
The warmth Grace felt had nothing to do with the pleasant heat radiating from Rocky's claws.