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Grace wasn't sure if he'd ever felt more exhausted than he did now - like he was practically dead on his feet - which was saying something considering the shape he arrived to Erid in.
He hadn't slept the past two nights, too overtaken by work and too nervous to sleep without someone watching him now. Rocky and Adrian, both of his usual watchers, had needed to leave the city for a briefing, something about a project involving Eridian travel to Earth within the next few years, leaving Grace alone.
He'd reassured them over and over that he would be fine, that he'd gone so many years without someone watching him sleep before he met Rocky, that it would be a nice break for all of them to get away from each other.
Grace thought he'd be fine. Oh, how wrong he had been.
The first night had been okay, too busy grading papers and planning future lessons to even notice that he'd forgotten to sleep - a habit that carried over from years of working at the middle school and late nights spent studying in the library for his doctorate. Grace knew he'd be fine, a little tired, but not unable to function. He was used to it.
The second night had been harder. He'd tried to make sure he slept, but he couldn't bring himself to pass out for more than maybe half an hour if he was lucky. Not having someone to watch him was more difficult to deal with than he'd expected.
He'd felt exposed, unsafe without someone to watch over him and understood now why Rocky was so adamant about Grace watching him sleep after they first met. Grace was struggling with a few days, Rocky had been alone for 46 years. He didn't know how Rocky managed.
After hours of trying to sleep and failing, Grace gave up, threw in the towel and decided to busy himself instead, finding things to do - cleaning up his house, organizing his papers, digging through the computer for topics to cover in class, and even binging movies he hadn't seen yet. It helped to pass the time, but Grace still felt so weird not having someone there with him.
It reminded him of his first months drifting in space in the worst of ways: alone, no company, wanting connection but unable to have it because nobody was nearby. He hadn't been completely alone in so long, it felt like it was suffocating him.
When the sun rose - the programmed lights illuminating his biodome slowly - Grace could have cried from relief. Day had broken and with it the promise of contact with his student pebbles, company, if only for a little while.
Ignoring the ache for sleep that his body demanded, Grace dressed, drank a coffee, and trudged to his classroom, not bothering to even eat breakfast.
His feet dragged slightly as he walked, nearly causing him to trip in the sand a few times - always living up to his name, of course - until he reached his classroom: a stone paved area with a wall of xenonite for his students to see him though. Finally, he wasn't alone.
"Good morning everyone!" Grace greeted, waving a hand at his students and receiving chirps and the clicking of claws in response. "Today is going to be a little different. I want to show you something from Earth culture," he explained, neglecting to tell them that he'd chosen this because he'd been too tired to try and memorize everything he'd need for a lesson.
"What is it, question?" One of the smaller pebbles shouted at him, bouncing in their seat.
"It's called an audio-book," Grace explained, hooking his computer up to the speaker and ensuring that it would translate into Eridian properly. "You remember how we talked about how my eyes receive light to let me see, question?"
Chirps were the response, an unsurprising resounding 'yes'. He should have figured that would be it, Eridians had a near photographic memory that put his to shame with ease.
"Well," Grace continued, "my eyes are able to do something called 'reading' like that, similar to how you are able to read anything raised. Audio-books are like your books, but they are read by someone, making them audible. This means that someone who can't read the words, like you guys, can still enjoy the material."
"Cool," the class breathed out together.
Earthen culture had been a topic of fascination lately, so this was the perfect time to introduce them to it.
"I'll be letting you guys listen to a book called 'The Hobbit'," he explained, taking a seat at his desk and overlooking the class of pebbles, all unable to stand still. "It's a story inside of a fictional world, one unlike Earth, but it's a very popular Earthen story. If you like it, there's more books too that we can listen to."
"Yay!" The pebbles cheered as Grace yawned, his body willing him to rest, but he fought against it.
"Yes!" Grace cheered back with as much enthusiasm as he could muster from his tired body. "Now, I want you all to pay attention to the story because you're going to have to write about it," he said, met with groans from the class. "I know, I know, but it's only one page, okay? It's just your opinion about the story, so no need to get too worried. Let's start," he concluded, pressing play on the audio-book and letting the Eridian-English translator do its job.
The voice was soothing, a relaxing bit of background noise for Grace as he leaned back in his chair, the soft breeze coming off of the ocean lulling him into resting his eyes. For just a moment. And then longer.
It hadn't taken the class too long to notice something was off with their teacher. He was as hyperactive as the pebbles were, constantly needing to move or fidget with something, rarely sitting at his own desk for more than 10 minutes. But now, he'd been sitting there, legs up on the desk and head rolled against his shoulder for almost an hour.
"Is Mr. Grace okay, question?" Iggy asked softly, getting up from their row and creeping towards the xenonite, hoping to get a better read on their teacher. "He hasn't moved in over 2700 seconds."
The rest of the class slowly pushed their way up to the front as well, careful to not make much noise and ignoring the audio-book, too concerned for their teacher.
"His internal sounds have slowed," Aron added, peering from side-to-side, hoping to capture new information.
"I think he's entered a sleep cycle," Golem added, tilting their carapace in curiosity. "He's still alive, just slower."
"Didn't Mr. Grace say something about Rocky and Adrian leaving a few days ago, question?" Luna asked. "Don't they usually watch him sleep, question?"
"I think they do," Graveler concurred. "We always see at least one of them go back to Mr. Grace's lodge at night. They probably watch him sleep."
"Oh, poor Mr. Grace," Iggy sighed out. "He hasn't had a sleep cycle because nobody has been there watch him."
"He must be tired then," Luna voiced softly. "We watch him for now, let him rest."
Quiet sounds of agreement rippled through the class as they all moved as close to the barrier as they could, climbing on top of the jagged edges, before settling down, no longer listening to the book, their attention focused on their teacher as he rested. They would watch over him.
~~~
It was dark by the time Grace's eyes flickered back open. Night had fallen and he had no idea how long he'd been out.
"Crap," Grace muttered to himself, forcing himself to stand up as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.
"Mr. Grace awake! Mr. Grace awake!" Graveler cheered and Grace's attention shifted to the xenonite barrier that separated him and his pebbles.
The majority of it was no longer see though, instead being taken up by numerous pebbles pressed up against the wall, some hanging off of edges, all staring at him.
"Uh… Why are you all still here, question?" Grace asked, stepping up to the barrier. "It's late, you should all be home."
"Mr. Grace sleep," Aron responded, stomping their tiny cobble legs as they explained. "We watch."
Grace's heart melted at the sentiment, turning him into a leaky blob of emotion as tears flooded his eyes.
"Oh, you didn't have to do that," he explained to them softly, wiping the tears from his face. "I would have been fine to sleep alone."
"No. No sleep alone," Iggy argued. "Not safe. Always watch sleep. Rocky and Adrian no here. Pebbles watch sleep."
"Thank you guys," Grace whispered softly, pressing a hand against the xenonite. "I appreciate it."
"Mr. Grace would do same for us. Mr. Grace no need sleep alone again, make sure never happen again," Boldore responded, met with chirps of agreement from the class.
Oh, Grace thought to himself. What did I ever do to deserve you guys?