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Grace groaned loudly from his spot on the floor. Would the bed be comfier? Yes. Did he want to move? Absolutely not. Never.
Everything hurt.
He was definitely crying.
Could you possibly fault him for that?
He just wanted to blame Stratt, his recent solution for everything that went wrong, but this just could not have possibly been her fault.
She had assumed he would have died within maybe a year, she had been generous with his supply of T. But still.
"Grace die, question?" Rocky asked nervously. He then added: "Grace leaking."
"I wish," Grace mumbled. "No, I'm fine, buddy," he said louder.
"What happen, question? Grace hurt, question?"
"Yes, I am hurt. But not in a way you could fix or you've ever experienced." He sighed and rolled over to curl into a ball.
"Explain."
Grace sighed.
"I'm off my T and having the worst cramps ever. I thought I calculated correctly, but I messed it up and now I'm on my period. I don't think Eridians have this," he explained, squeezing his eyes shut. Frick this hurt.
"T is drink or letter, question? Period is punctuation, question?"
"I can see why you would think that, they definitely are, but these are human terms that borrow the same sounds. T is short for testosterone. It's a human hormone that I take since I'm trans. Stratt thought I would die, so she didn't pack me much. It's still more than I thought, but still not enough. I was rationing, but I messed up when I should take my next dose."
"Humans are confusing. Don't understand 34th word," Rocky said before Grace could've possibly conceptualized how to explain a period to an alien with zero biology in common.
"I don't know why you would think I can remember what word was the 34th word I said, Rock," Grace responded, sitting up slightly.
"Grace say since Grace is word Rocky don't know."
Oh god, he was gonna have to explain this to Rocky, wasn't he? An alien who knew next to nothing about human biology or social conventions? Crap.
Pull it together, act normal.
"Oh, yeah, trans." Nailed it. "I'm transgender. They assigned me a sex at birth, but it didn't align with me so I took hormones associated with the other sex to feel more like my self."
"Ohh, understand. Explain more, question?" Rocky requested, tilting his carapace slightly.
"So you don't understand?" Grace asked with a laugh. He could feel Rocky's annoyance. "Sorry. Humans generally have two assigned sexes. That's not even close to true, but we can get into that later. Some people just don't feel like their assigned sex matches up with who they are on the inside and they identify as something else. That's me."
"Ohh, understand. Eridian word is ♬♪♩♩♪. So why Grace hurt, question?"
Amazing. Great. This was gonna be fun to explain. All he had to figure out was how.
"I have an organ that, upon realizing it will not be having a baby, sheds the lining it set up to keep the baby comfortable. Since I messed up when I should be taking my T—that usually keeps the shedding at bay—I'm on my period, which is what humans call that shedding process. And because my organ is literally shedding part of itself and expelling it from my body, I'm in pain."
"Ohh, understand. What Rocky do to help, question?"
God, Rocky was so kind. Too good. Crap, he was gonna cry again.
"Usually, chocolate or a heating pad does the job when I don't have any pain killers, but I don't have either of those either."
"Rocky is warm," Rocky said softly. Grace teared up before considering it.
Rocky certainly was warm, his atmosphere was way hotter than Grace's. And Grace didn't really have another solution. But Rocky was also extremely heavy. And Grace didn't want to actually die, and he didn't want to be the first human to die of being crushed by a friendly alien. Or just die from alien related causes for that matter. Because wouldn't that be embarrassing.
Eh, screw it.
"You sure are! Is there any way you could not completely crush me, though?"
"Yes yes yes. Rocky only put two legs on Grace. Rocky fix."
Grace could sense that if Rocky had a mouth, he would be smiling.
Man, having friends was the best.
Grace lay happily with Rocky's legs covering his midsection.
The xenonite suit blocked the worst of the heat, but it was pleasant. The weight also helped.
"Grace okay yet, question? Rocky get up, question?" Rocky asked quietly.
"Nah, you're stuck here, pal," Grace responded, putting his arms over Rocky's to keep him in place.
"Oh, okay. Whatever Grace need. Rocky fix tea later."
He had borrowed the word for the drink. Grace laughed.
"I believe in you. I'm gonna nap here now. Will you watch?"
"Yes. Rocky watch."