Archive of Our Own

Life on Erid came with a lot of adjustments that Grace expected.

He's gotten used to all the differences and nuances with Rocky, so settling on Erid wasn't as huge of a culture shock as he thought it'd be. He had to organise his new assumptions into 'Eridian thing' and 'Oh that's just Rocky', but otherwise, it was smooth adjustment. Grace didn't expect anymore surprises.

Simon was an unexpected surprise but incredibly welcome. When the Eridians announced that they found a 'human-adjacent looking lifeform' in a submarine floating in space. Grace's giddiness quickly turned to terror as he watched them fish out a blood soaked amputee out of the full hunk of metal as he screamed about horrors beyond his comprehension.

Still, Grace was shakily optimistic. His first thoughts had been, Yes! Another human! Someone who will finally get all my weird human things!

He thought wrong.

It turns out, after several days of delirious and confusing conversation they realised Simon was actually, one; a human from 2370, and two; raised in a dystopian hellscape that made Grace want to cry and hug the man when so much as mentioned any part of his miserable life. As a result, they don't talk about it much.

So yeah, he couldn't really talk about Back to the Future with him, bummer, but oh well, at least there was another human to talk to, regardless of their gap in history.

But after a while of living with the other man, something in Grace's brain shoved its way to the front of his mind. Oh I like like him.

Grace always struggled with finding romantic attraction in others. But with Simon, when he first saw his blood soaked face in the medical cot, his immediate thought was Jesus Christ, but his second thought was, wait… he's kinda attractive.

The rabbit hole only grew deeper. His low rumbling voice always settled the jittery thoughts in Grace's fast paced brain. His stoic, gruff demeanour was probably something he should've found rude, but he found it charming. He even found the way he scrunched his nose when confused, which was a lot of the time, was endearing.

People may assume skin covered mostly in various scars and skin grafts from removing the irrigated tissue, unpleasant. Grace found it rugged.

It had been a while into their cohabitation before Grace finally mustered up to courage to want more. But then promptly ran into a mental brick wall of; how.

Grace has had only two partners in his lifetime, his girlfriend in collage, and a boy while in kindergarten who he held hands with for 'too long to be appropriate' according to their teachers. Not a great resume of romantic expertise.

Which meant that now he was face with Simon, gorgeous brooding deeply traumatised Simon, and was completely, hopelessly, out of his depth. But no! He wasn't going to wallow in his pining, he was going to be proactive! He was going to be charismatic! He was going to be woo-er.

If Grace could save the stars, he could romance a man.

It couldn't be that hard, right?

Gifting Flowers

Thanks to the resin trapped sapling that Simon had they were able to propagate it, and ultimately grow it into a tree. Using that, plus the few little plants that Grace had on the Hail Mary, they were able to Frankenstein some greenery together to make a humble little greenhouse extension onto their home.

They made as a surprise for Simon, it was the first and only time he saw him cry happy tears and gave him a hug of his own volition. He relished that moment days after.

The problem was he had given that to Simon as a friend, and how was he supposed to one-up his own actions? Curse you, friend Grace.

The plants they made weren't directly what you'd see in an Earth Botany book. More like the Eridians own personal interpretation of them. One Eridian botanist, who he aptly named Rose, was particularly fond of trying to make more flowers. Like a peony looking thing with a too thick stem and leaves from the oak tree, or a dirt coloured rose whose petals felt as rough as a sandpaper.

Simon had adored them nonetheless. He spent most of his time in that Greenhouse, if not caring for the plants, simply admired at them and enjoying the ambiance of the room as a man who grew up surrounded by nothing but metal and rust.

So in hindsight, Grace should've seen this outcome from lightyears away.

But Grace, running on a lifetime of watching romantic movies, thought, oh! flowers = good.

He waited until Simon was out, wandering on one of his long, thoughtful laps around the habitat. Then Grace went into the greenhouse, and plucked a small handful of the brighter looking flowers clustered by the corner, and arranged them into something of a vaguely bouquet shaped cluster.

Simon shuffled in with a sigh as soon as he stepped through the door. A bad thoughtful walk then, Grace had begun to panic that maybe now wasn't the best time to attempt this. But before he could tuck the flowers behind his back Simon turned to face him.

Simon's usually stoic face scrunched with confusion. "What are you doing?"

"Well- I just, ya know. I just wanted to-" Grace closed his eyes and took a deep breath that did nothing to calm his nerves before he shakily managed out. "I made you, a bouquet."

Simon's expression only twisted further into distress, "Why did you do that?"

Grace felt his measly courage wheeze out of him like a pathetic balloon, letting out a weak little, "Huh?"

After a moment for this brain to catch up with his mouth, he gulped and opened his mouth to try again, then stopped. Started again. "It’s… flowers."

"Yes," Simon said slowly, "I can see that."

Grace swallowed and tentatively added, "…For you."

That landed wrong. Simon’s immediately tensed, not in anger, more like suspicion and concern. He eyed the flowers with pursed lips before slowly drawing out another, "Why?"

"What?"

"Why would you waste them like that?" Simon gestured to the bunch of flowers that were beginning to shake in Grace's tightening grasp.

"Waste them?" he repeated, voice pitching up with growing panic. "I didn’t waste them. I made them into a bouquet. That’s a thing. You… you give it to someone. It’s - it’s a gesture..."

Simon’s gaze didn’t soften. Instead his eyes narrowed, he never got angry at Grace anymore, usually he'd just look fondly frustrated. But now, he just looked close to being rightfully peeved. "They were thriving, they were doing well in the dirt why would you remove them? they're just going to wither away now!"

"I thought you'd like them." Grace finally squeaked out.

"I like them alive," Simon retorted like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He sighed, clearly calming himself down before he go too upset. Then, he promptly took the flowers from Grace's frozen hands, muttering to himself as he searched around the kitchen to find a glass to put them in.

As it turns out, the preservation of plants were a very important part of Simon's religious (cultish) upbringing, mainly taking care of the big important tree until it died and everything went from worse to terrible. So Grace, in his anxiety riddled interpretation of that lecture, realised he just pulled the equivalent of presenting Simon with a dead animal carcass with a smile.

Yeah, he deserved the silent treatment that followed. It wasn't a mean silence, no Simon wouldn't be malicious on purpose. It was more of a polite, distant silence that usually befalls him when his emotions get too big and he doesn't want them to tip over. Which in Grace's opinion, was so much worse.

"I'm sorry," Grace finally bemoaned after caving from four hours of quiet. Keeping his hiding spot behind the doorframe as he watched Simon stare at the flower cluster in the kitchen. Simon didn't react to the pleading, toying with the petals of the flowers, watching it twirl in the mug that Simon stole from Grace's cabinet to use as a vase.

"I'm sorry…" he repeated in a softer hiss, like the volume was the problem.

Simon finally sighed, his shoulders sagging, "I know you didn't mean any harm." He finally relented, turning to look at the meek man. "I… understand the intention, it's just..."

"Murder, plant murder. I murdered your plant babies and present you their corpses." Grace thunked his head against the doorframe, closing his eyes in a wince.

"That's not what I'm trying to say," Simon sighed, giving him a flat look. Then as he turned back to the flowers, as Grace finally decided to shuffle out of his hiding spot and inch towards him. "It's just… they'll last a while in water, they won't immediately die - we just have to… watch them wither." A far off look flashed across Simon's face making Grace grimace once again.

Then, an idea flashed through Grace's mind. "We don't have to watch them die," he started cautiously, saddling up to where Simon was hunched over the counter. He fiddled with his hands anxiously, not even attempting to look him in the eyes. "We could press them, ya know… preserve them." He mimed the motion of smushing something with his hands.

Simon quirked his brow up at the suggestion. "I'm familiar with it… I've never been able to do it before but… that sounds nice…" He turned Grace with a curious look, "How do you do it?"

Grace tried not to visibly perk up at the acceptance. "Okay! first we need some heavy books, which we are in abundance of I have so many science textbooks and-"

As he rambled on about the process, he could see a hint of a smile of Simon as he physically relaxed. Grace’s chest loosened in a way that felt suspiciously like relief.

Not a win, but not a complete miserable failure either.

Cuddling during Movie

So, he has a new strategy. One that he landed on after extensive research, the safest romantic activity known to humanity: A movie night.

They had done movie nights before, but that had Rocky often sandwiched between them and chittering away questions during the film. So this time it was going to just the two of them, one couch, a handful of blanket with the optimal outcome being cuddling.

Grace had his reservations already. Simon had most of his skin exposed to radiation and regrafted back into scarred tissue and that would probably make him reluctant to cuddle. But Simon had accepted his impulsive hugs before, granted, he was stiff as a board, but he accepted them nonetheless.

So, Grace threw a bunch of blankets over the couch, dimmed the light to an optimal moodiness, and mulled over the movie options. One of the few good things about being sent into space forever with no intention of returning to earth, was the surplus of entertainment.

Another plus to movie night was his amnesia. Don't get him wrong, he's gotten most of his memories back but it also meant that while he knew of a lot of movies, he didn't remember important things like the endings or twists. It meant he's wasn't bored out of his mind rewatching them with Rocky and Simon, so he didn't mind it too much.

He decided on The Titanic. Safe, Classic, generally considered The Romance movie, he was a little sceptical on the boat setting but he remember most of the movie being ON the boat, so it should be fine.

Simon walked in as Grace was furiously fluffing up one of the pillows. He eyed the room warily as he stumbled to stand nonchalantly in the middle of the room, pillow now tossed somewhere forgotten.

"What is this?" Simon asked tentatively, hovering at the doorframe.

"Movie night." Grace said, a little too quickly, slightly out of breath from his frantic organising.

Simon's eyes narrowed as they darted between the nest of blankets and the projector. "But we have movie night with Rocky tomorrow night."

"Yes but," Grace replied, sitting down and rapidly patting the empty spot next to him."I thought we could have one tonight as well, just the two of us." He continued with a forced nervous smile, still tapping the cushion.

Simon stayed there for too long before seemingly taking pity on the man's clear begging. He huffed out an endeared chuckle and sat next to Grace. "What are we watching?"

Grace visibly brightened, practically bouncing out of his seat with excited that his plan was going well. He gestured to the screen, his body now more relaxed. "Titanic, the biggest movie of my time." He hesitated, then added with a small, nervous glance,"Fair warning - it is set on a ship in the ocean."

Simon's face blanked out suddenly, his eyes briefly widening before he smoothed his features. He looked at the screen, then back at Grace, weighing something silently."Should be fine." He nodded along with his own statement as if trying to agree to it, sinking further into the couch. "if nothing bad happens."

Grace really should've known better after that, but his overflowing optimism kept him from making any rash decisions. The movie played the first twenty minutes, everything went… suspiciously well.

Step one, the Scoot.

It was during the 'draw me like one of your French girls' scene when he enacted his plan, pretending to adjust in his seat whilst subtly shuffling closer. Luckily Simon seemed engrossed with the film, fair enough, the eye contact Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet give each other is intense.

He shuffled once, twice, he could feel the natural heat radiating off Simon as he slowly, cautiously, leaned into his side. He was way too tense as he did it, all too aware that he might accidentally knock his stump. Simon reacted just the same, immediately locking up in his seat, but not turning away from the heated scene on the projector. They were like to rocks knocking into each other, pretending very hard, what was happening, wasn't happening.

Then Simon took a sharp inhale and Grace accepted the worst. He hates me, he hates me and he's so grossed out, I'm going to throw myself into the ocean even if Rocky designed it to be 'drown-proof'. Then, at the exhale, Simon relaxed, not leaning back into the touch, but still shuffling to be more comfortable with the touch.

Step two, the Yawn.

Grace proceeded with the least convincing yawn he's every attempted, dramatic and loud, yawn. His jaw let out a strained creak as he stretched it wide and lifted his arm into the air in a terribly acted stretch. He paused, before deciding no, he has to commit now, he's in too deep and in a slow, cautious motion he lowered his arm across Simon's shoulders

Once again, Simon stiffened, but even quicker then before, he leaned into the new touch. Grace had to bite his tongue to prevent himself from audibly cheering.

With his plan finally going so well he turns his attention back to the movie, watching as one of the sailors announced to the captain over the phone 'Iceberg, Right ahead!'

Dread hit Grace hard, the sudden memories of him crying over this movie late at night after his collage break up filling his brain. Ohmygosh why did I choose this movie.

As the chaos unfolded on the screen, sailors scrambling to prevent the disaster until the inevitable collision, he felt Simon slowly tense back up. Grace swallowed his anxiety and sneaked a look at the other man. His face was disturbingly blank, not like his usually stoic pensive confusion that he had whilst usually watching a film.

"I-I can turn it off." Grace scrambled, reaching over to grab the remote.

"No… its okay." Simon started, holding his hand up as his eyes remained glued to the projection. He quickly changed his tune once water burst through the ship’s walls. He recoiled with a full-body flinch that hit Grace like a stab to the chest. "Yeah, actually that seems like a good idea."

Grace quickly turned the movie off and awkwardly sat in the silence after. His arm was now like a stick across Simon's shoulders as he stared at the floor, the silence passing like a slog. It took a second, maybe five, before Grace sucked in a breath and blurted out, "I'm sorry."

At the lack of reply, he stumbled over himself further, "That was a terrible pick, Ocean - Ship sinking, everyone probably dying - I really set myself up for failure there and really I-"

"You talk more when you're nervous," Simon answered, Grace would dare to say he sounded almost fond as he turned to look at him. "It was… nice, until… that, did you…?"

"No!" Grace nearly yelled, quickly pulling himself back. "No, absolutely did not remember that part - I probably should've I think it's is like a huge tragedy in history and I'm a teacher-"

"Okay," Simon cut in before he could ramble himself into a hole. He nods slowly, seemingly relaxing upon the realisation that Grace didn't choose the movie out of maliciousness, and didn't that just make him feel so much worse. His face then scrunched as it took in the other mans words, "Wait - This was based off real events?"

"Yeah…" Grace answered dumbly, "Well- not the romance part - just the uh- ship sinking."

"So… the people dying is the only real part of that."

"Yeah," Grace murmured out, his face scrunching as he realised how bleak that sounded.

"…I think, I'm gonna go to bed early," Simon answered stiffly, not meeting his eyes as he stood up and walked to his room without another word.

Grace remained seated, giving the other man a polite thin smile as he shuffled out of his grasp and into his room. He waited for the click of the door closing before burying his face in the nearest pillow and letting out a pathetic, muffled little scream.

A Romantic Walk on the Beach

Grace had a lot of things to be thankful for when it came to the enclosure. The beach was the main thing he was particularly teary about. It was the main feature of the enclosure after all, Grace would already consider it perfect. But Adrian, ever the perfectionist according to Rocky, was always trying to tweak the temperature and waves patterns based off the various videos they were given.

It was also something that Simon learnt to appreciate it, in his own way. He was obviously, terrified of the shore and holed himself up in the house for the first few weeks of living there. But after a good amount of gentle prompting, Grace helped him realise that one, he didn't have to go into the water, and two, the ocean here was very blue and wasn't trying to kill him.

It took Rocky and Adrian showing him to blueprints and announcing they specifically designed it to be 'drown proof for stupid humans' that Simon finally learnt to not be scared of the rolling waves.

Now, Grace would never encroach on Simon's private beach time. He was fairly sure it had become some kind of daily catharsis. If the distant shout of 'fuck you! you couldn’t kill me!' he could occasionally hear through the window was anything to go by.

Yeah, no interrupting Simon's private beach therapy. So, separate walk.

Grace was pacing the living room, muttering potential lines to himself like a madman. Mustering the courage as he whispered to himself in the empty room. He snapped to attention, swivelling around and stiffly propping his hands on his hips.

Simon entered from greenhouse, carrying a crate of gardening supplies against his hip. His sleeves were rolled up, showing a patchwork of scars along his arms, dirt streaked across his cheek. Grace’s stomach did a stupid little flip and his tongue tied itself into a knot.

"Hey!" Grace announced, all too bright and all too chipper.

Simon looked up from his chore, his brow furrowed, "…hey?"

Grace bounced on his heels, fidgeting with his hands, then shoving them in his pockets, then taking them out again. "I thought we could, hang out! You know, take a walk on the beach… together!"

"We hang out all the time." Simon replied, looking confused. "We live in the same house."

"Well - yeah but-" He stammered as he scratched the back of his neck, "This would be like, an intentional hang out, like movie nights."

Simon stared at him for a long time before seemingly taking pity on Grace's clearly anxious disposition. He sighed and dropped the crate he was carrying by the door, patting his gloves before shucking them off. "Okay."

Grace blinked, "Okay?"

"Yeah," Simon shrugged like it was the easiest thing in the word, "sounds nice."

Grace opened his mouth, his eyes darting around, that was… way easier then expected, "Oh" he uttered dumbly.

Simon scrunched his face up, cocking his head with a hint of amusement, "Did you… not want to go for a walk?"

"No - Yes!" Grace yelled out, his brain trying to catch up with itself. "Yes! I want to go for a walk, lets go - right now." The words tumbled out all too fast as he tripped over himself backing toward the door. Simon, with an amused huff, followed and closed the door behind them.

The beach stretched out in its usual perfect, curated way. Coarse sand and gently controlled waves that stretched across the length of the enclosure. It was peaceful, serene, he never got tired of it. Grace shoved his hands in his pockets to prevent further fidgeting. Honestly he didn't think this far ahead.

"So… lovely weather we're having huh?" he started, ensuring he was walking just slow enough to be shoulder to shoulder with Simon.

"It's always this weather" Simon replied evenly, "its simulated to be foggy."

"Right."

Grace's eyes flicked over to the rolling waves with a small idea sparking in his head. Be playful, be spontaneous, Simon has established he's okay with some water, he's seen him dip his feet into the waves a few times now. He inched closer to the waves, leaning over, ready to playfully splash the man as he dipped his fingers into the water.

HOT.

Grace let out a hiss followed by a high pitched squeal, then a series of kid-appropriate curses as he clutched his hand and skittered away from the water. "Hot - Hot, holy fudge why is it so hot!" He shook his hand as he hissed,

Simon immediately stopped and turned around to find Grace hunched over, clutching one hand to his chest while doing an awkward little pain dance across the sand, "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah- Yeah its okay its so okay." Grace rushed to assure, even as his fingers tinged pink against the chilled air. He finally let the wince scrunch onto his face as he murmured, "I think there's an issue with the ocean temperature again."

Simon only tutted in response as he grabbed the other man's hand to get a better look. Grace tried not to heave at how soft his palm was in comparison to his calloused fingers.

"It’s not bad," he murmured, thumb hovering just shy of the reddened fingertips. "Probably won't blister too bad."

Grace, interstellar bilingual, unfortunately, stopped understanding the human language halfway through that sentence. Because, again, Simon was holding his hand.

"This is nice…" he murmured wistfully.

Simon looked up at him, brows furrowed, "Your burn is nice?"

"No- it's just! Um-" Grace fell over his own tongue as he frantically waved his free hand. "Not the burn specifically, obviously. Burns are bad. You know that - well I didn't mean it like that - its just the situation, which is also bad but uh-"

Simon just sighed at his rambling and tugged him along back to the house. Grace let himself be dragged, staring dumbly at their joined hands the entire walk back. He definitely didn't get teary when Simon shoved his hand in the sink to pour cold water over his fingertips and forced himself to stay there even after Simon stepped away to talk to Adrian about, 'something' don't worry about it'.

Later that day, Simon's ocean yelling sounded louder then usual. Grace tried not to feel offended by it.

Spontaneous Affection

He honestly should've seen this one coming. But between Simon accepting his movie cuddle and beach post-burn hand holding, he thought that this was an decent enough attempt. So,

Spontaneous affection.

Nothing planned, Nothing rehersed, just… straight up affection.

Being touch-starved was something Grace wouldn't dare to admit, he knew it was only natural when you've spent a good time alone with the only source of comfort be between a xenonite barrier. But Simon’s touch was so sparse and careful that every tiny little brush of his fingertips were permanently searing into the folds of his brain.

Simon was getting better with touch lately. Sometimes, when Grace handed him things, his fingers lingered until pulling away quickly. Progress!

If Grace could ease him into a casual side hug on the couch, he could ease him into a normal one.

He mulled it over carefully for the next few days, which was a little counterintuitive, considering the whole point was to be spontaneous. But the moment itself came on a random afternoon, just as impulsive and stupid as it was meant to be.

He had just gotten home after another day of teaching the pebbles, walking through the door with a satisfied sigh as he combed a hand through his hair. In the corner of his vision he noticed Simon, hunched over the kitchen counter with the kettle cooling next to him.

"You're late," He murmured, not even looking up as he stirred a mug of coffee, another cup set aside for Grace. It was so… domestic.

Grace let out a breathless laugh as he watched him putter around their small kitchen. Simon hunched slightly as he awkwardly pinned the sugar jar between his hip and the countertop to unscrew it with his one hand.

Then he realised he should probably reply. "Yeah, the pebbles were eager to learn about big cats today. Did you know, Cheetahs can't actually roar."

Simon briefly stopped his task to glance over his shoulder, "Whats a Cheetah?"

"It’s a cat," Grace explained easily, barely batting an eye to his question. He finally stepped inside, toeing off his shoes near the door and tossing his bag on the couch. "A really fast one, like, stupid fast. They chirp instead of roaring like lions do."

Simon scoffed softly, finally wrenching the jar open and putting it back on the counter, "Sounds fake."

"You said that about penguins," Grace replied back with casual ease. "I'll show you a picture later." He trailed off into a murmur as he watched Simon's back as he pottered around. Idly stirring probably too much sugar into his coffee, but Grace couldn't care less. He was just focused watching him.

He could catch a glimpse of Simon's profile over his shoulder, the healed grafted skin leaving a scale like texture on the flat curve of his cheek. The way his hair, damp from a shower, curled over his ears, tied back to leave his eyes unobstructed.

Hug him, stop staring and hug him right now, you coward.

It only took two steps, and he wrapped his arms around Simon’s waist from behind with a content exhale.

"Hey," Grace mumbled into the back of his shoulder with a stupid grin. "I just wanted to say that-"

He quickly stopped as Simon's relaxed muscles suddenly tightened like iron, his shoulders snapping back like a shot while his spine locked upright. Grace barely had time to squeak before he realised his feet were no longer on the ground.

Because Simon had just, without visible effort, grabbed one of his arms and kicked his legs off the ground. He simply, tossed him over his shoulder like a bag of fertiliser. His back quickly hit the ground with a loud 'oof!'. Then a deflated sounding wheezed from his lungs as the pain finally bloomed in his spine.

Grace looked up blearily to see Simon's shellshocked face. His eyes wide with a laser focus as he stared down at the scientists dazed face. "What are, you doing?" He grounded out, his teeth grinding from his calming nerves.

Grace coughed, then wheezed again. "…A hug?"

Simon blanks out, blinking rapidly before looking away. "Oh," he said simply, barely audible. "I'm sorry I-" he paused, tugging at his scalp as he began to shuffle away. Oh no he was feeling guilty.

"No! no it's fine it barely even hurt" Grace tried to reassure as he pushed himself up onto his elbows, offering Simon what was probably the least believable smile of his life. "It was the surprise that just spooked me really."

Simon looked completely unconvinced, staring down at him with a pitched pained look. He scrambled back up at his distress, wincing as his back gave a threatening sting of pain. "Seriously, Simon, it’s okay." he insisted, rubbing at his spine with a grimace that completely disregarded his point.

"No- I should've known better, it's just-" Simon sighed heavily, running his hand across his face. "You can't just grab me like that."

"I know I know," Grace repeated regrettably, raising his hands in surrender before adjusting his glasses so they laid on his nose and not somewhere in his hair. "I should've warned you first, that's on me."

He still looked stricken with guilt, which made Grace seem even worse as a result. He stood there rigid, flexing his one hand open and shut like he was trying to shake the emotions out. Grace moved to grab his cup and couldn't help but grimace again, causing Simon to reel back with a curt nod.

"See? You are hurt."

"Oh yes terribly hurt." Grace agreed with a mock solemnness, "My dignity may never recover from such a move."

Simon gave a stressed hiss, "This isn't funny,"

"No, but if I don't make a joke out of this, I will probably melt from embarrassment."

Simon made a strangled noise in the back of his throat, somewhere between frustration and exasperation as he snatched his cup from the counter and turned away. Unfortunately, it only made Grace snicker more.

"Simon," Grace called as he reached the door. "I'm serious it's okay, you didn't do it on purpose."

Simon paused at the door, looking over his shoulder once before letting out a noncommittal grunt, then popping the door open with his hip and retreating into the greenhouse. The kitchen feel into a quiet lull as the door creaked closed.

"Darn," Grace wheezed into the empty kitchen.

A Heartfelt Dinner

Grace currently had a conundrum, how does one make a romantic dinner when the main food available is DNA-cloned meat of yourself?

They had some vegetables now thanks to the greenhouse which was a nice new diversity, but then that left an alternate problem. Grace was a shitty cook.

Granted, Simon had the palette of a feral raccoon and would inhale literally anything Grace put in front of him. But he wanted it to be special! Not some burnt meat cubes and veggies.

If the answer to a romantic dinner wasn't the food itself, then he'd have to entirely depend on the atmosphere, mood, ambiance.

Luckily, he’d managed to save a few candles from Olesya Ilyukhina’s personal belongings. He couldn’t quite understand why she’d kept them; lighting them aboard the Hail Mary seemed impractical at best. Though Grace had a faint memory of her liking to smell the wax just for comfort.

To finish it off, Grace begged Rocky to make a small cluster of flower shaped xenonite flowers, he knew better to try real ones again. He gladly took the series of rapid fire questions; 'Why Grace need flowers to mate with Simon, Question.' And, 'Why can't Grace simply state mating intent directly, Question.' Which Grace had artfully avoided with the decorum of a human brick.

Rocky, to his credit, accepted none of his excuses, but made the flowers nonetheless .

He set up the table with way too much scrutiny, adjusting then readjusting the flowers and They were in a near perfect replication of the earth's environment, a few little flames won't kill them.

Grace sat, adjusted a plate, then stood up again, walked around the table for a moment, adjusted the flowers, then considered faking being sick to avoid the whole thing, then fixed a tilted crooked fork. As he was battling with himself to commit to his new plan, Simon walked through the door, pausing in the doorframe.

His expression did its usual routine, confusion first, then a flash of suspicion, followed by a cautious flat neutrality.

"What is this?" he asked.

Grace opened his mouth, then closed it, adjusting his posture to hopefully seem even more casual. "Dinner," he forced out.

Simon squinted, looking around at the dimmed lights and candles, "Why is it different?" His eyes caught the small glass of flowers and narrowed. "Is that-"

"They're fake!" Grace cut in, tapping the metal petals with a pointed tap tap. "Completely fake, no real flowers were harmed, in the making of… this," he gestured widely to the table set up.

Simon stared for another good long moment before walking towards the table and sitting down, a small victory in Grace's mind. He scrambled and pushed Simon's seat further into the table, because it was the gentlemanly thing to do. Simongave him a look like he had grown an extra head but didn’t comment while Grace slipped back into his own chair.

When he sat down he realised two things;

Darn, these candles are really intense, and wow Simon looked great in candlelight. The warm glow softened the edges of his scars and caught in his eyes in a warm glow. Grace felt his thoughts derail completely and-

"You made the meat shaped like a heart." Simon cut into his drooling thoughts. Grace snapped back to see him staring down at his plate, head cocked.

"Y-Yeah I thought it would be - ya know…" Grace stammered, fiddling with his fork again. Seeming unable to physically say the word 'romantic', "… fancy."

He winced as he said it, staring anxiously back at Simon's blank face. He had precut the meat to make sure Simon wouldn't have to constantly switch between fork and knife and got carried away. But, yeah maybe cutting cloned meat of himself into heart shaped lumps probably wasn't in the best taste.

Simon shrugged with a brief little 'okay', and began to scarf the food down regardless. Right, dystopian food insecurity.

Grace watched with a pitch of concern as the man practically hacked and inhaled at the plate before his teacher instincts kicked in. "Slow down you're gonna choke," He blurted out.

Simon paused mid-bite, looking up with a raise of brow.

Grace immediately regretted using his mouth. "N-Not because its bad or anything, I mean the food is probably bad I overcooked the vegetables and undercooked - actually I don't know if you can undercook it I'm not sure how 'raw' it can be-"

Simon swallowed, "You’re doing it again."

Grace stopped, gulping down his anxiety, "Doing what?"

Simon gestured vague, his attention still mostly on his food, "The talking."

"Oh." Grace sank lower into his chair. "Right."

"It's fine," Simon shrugged casually like he didn't just unintentionally shatter Grace's feeble confidence. "You do it a lot."

"Right," Grace let out a strained laugh, in his racing mind he fumbled to reach across the table to grab his glass of water in hopes to calm his nerves. His fingers nearly slipped against the glass before he snatched it up and took a long gulp, suddenly feeling unbearably hot beneath the thick wool of his cardigan. "It's just that-"

"Grace." Simon interrupted, his eyes finally flicking up and staying on him with an unusual focus.

"You keep interrupting me!" Grace snapped, flustered, waving a hands in frustration.

"Grace you're burning." He continued, dropping his fork and slowly standing up like approaching a skittish animal.

"That's what happened when you put yourself out there you feel anxious about it-"

"Grace." Simon leaned forward, eyes widening with urgency. "You're on fire."

"OH MY GOSH-" Grace shrieked as he launched himself off the chair. He thrust his arm out as he stared at the small but very real flame flicking idly on the sleeve of his cardigan.

Simon watched in what seemed like a very mild concern. Then, in one swift motion, he grabbed his untouched glass of water and threw it directly over the small flame. The fire dying immediately with a flicker. There was a beat of silence after, only the dripping of wet fabric filling the room.

"You're lucky it was wool," Simon hummed as he examined the charred part of his sleeve. "Less flammable, more luxurious."

Grace stared down at the charred ruined patch of his favourite cardigan while water dripped off his elbow and onto the table in pathetic little dribbles. The room now smelt like burnt lavender and scorched fabric.

In the midst of his wallowing despair, Simon sat back down and took another bite of his dinner, now soggy from the splash.

"You're still eating," Grace murmured, a little shellshocked and confused.

"It’s still good," Simon shrugged, then added without meeting his eyes. "And you made it."

Grace's weak little heart gave a vice like squeeze at the statement, then immediately dropped as he looked down at the mess that was now the table. It wasn't enough for a victory in his eyes, but it was enough to stop him from sampling the Eridian atmosphere.

Simon continued eating with the casual energy of a man who had survived on prison nutrient paste and considered 'edible' a luxury. Grace sat back down and poked weakly at one of the vegetables on his plate, it crumbled like wet paper towel, and so did he.

Fantastic.

+1 The Eridian Way

Grace sat on the beach on a late evening when Simon had tucked himself away for the night, watching the shore push itself in and out. Grace had never cared about romance on Earth, he was fine with simple companionship, his peers, his students. After his dramatic breakup in university, he never really had an urge to try again.

He was fine, comfortable with himself. Even on Erid, he was fine with just the company of Eridians. But all of a sudden, he just looked into Simon's dark eyes and it mattered. But he didn't know years of being fine without romance made him so bad at it.

Then again, maybe he shouldn't base all his romance knowledge off of movies.

"Grace is brooding. Statement."

Grace closed his eyes as he heard the telltale skittering of Rocky's footsteps as he crawls up next to him. "I'm not brooding Rocky." Grace pressed his face against his curled legs.

"Correction, Grace is Sulking. Sad Sad Sad." Rocky thrummed, nudging his carapace against Grace's back to get his attention. "Is Grace thinking about failure with courting Simon Question?"

Grace didn’t answer right away. 'Yes' seemed too defeatist, but 'no' was a lie Rocky would immediately hear in the stutter of his wet human heart.

Rocky nudged him again, gentler this time, "Grace stressed about failing attempts Question?"

"That's a good way to put it Rocky," Grace muttered miserably into his knees.

Rocky tilted slightly, carapace fluttering curiously, "Rocky needs clarification. Human courtship methods appear inefficient, but work for humans in movies - but not with human friend Simon."

"Yeah I thought it'd be similar to the movies too bud," Grace huffed back, running a hand through his blonde curls. "But people are different, Simon's… different." He shrugged, voice affectionately warm.

Rocky gave a trill of agreement, "Friend Simon very odd, more quiet than Grace, very cautious. Immune to romance movie courting."

He threw himself back onto the sand staring up at the sky dome, he looked up to "How did you and Adrian… court each other."

Rocky’s carapace clicked with delight, his arms fidgeting excitedly as he settled into the sand beside Grace. "Rocky and Adrian had very efficient courtship. Very romantic, talk of the cluster after."

Grace groaned into his hands, then dragged them down his face. "Of course you did."

"Eridian courtship much more simple than Human courtship. No room for failure or embarrassment like Grace's attempts." Rocky thumped one of his claws against the sand for emphasis.

"When Rocky brave enough to want mate Adrian, Rocky decided it was time for a final courtship." Rocky shuffled a little, then puffed his chest out proudly. "Rocky and Adrian go to private location, then Rocky announce-" Rocky stood to his full height and stomped his claw, "Rocky want to be mates with Adrian, please accept."

Grace slowly sat back up, blinking dumbly, "You just… said it."

"Yes, that was first step" Rocky tutted like it was the most obvious thing ever. "Then Rocky sing for Adrian."

Grace hummed and nodded slowly. Made sense, Eridians were a very sound based society, from their language to their sight. "Okay…"

"When Eridians show true sincerity to future mate, they sing special thrum," Rocky elaborated with another claw tap, "Then start dance to invite Mates acceptance."

"Dance?" Grace echoed, sounding bemused.

Rocky bobbed up and down enthusiastically, "Yes yes, dance is final part of courtship. While singing, Rocky will begin dance for Adrian to join in and accept, then become mates."

"And Adrian accepted?" Grace summarised.

"Obviously." Rocky chittered confidently, finally settling back down. "Adrian participated after evaluating Rocky’s sincerity, very standard mating ritual."

Grace took a moment to mull over the Eridian's words, "…Let me get this straight." He crane his neck to look up at the sky again, "You walked up to Adrian, said, 'please be my mate', did a little interpretive bird dance and song, Adrian joined in, and… that's it?"

"Correct," Rocky chirped with a flutter of his carapace.

"That's so…" He tiredly rubbed the bridge of his nose, nudging his glasses out of the way. "Painfully direct."

"Direct is good! Ritual minimises stress and anxiety about mating." Rocky retorted, titling to the side. "Grace appears to like maximising suffering when attempting human mating."

"I do not prefer stress," Grace automatically retorted, then paused and amended with a sigh, "Okay, that's fair enough I can see how you make that assumption." He sighed and laid back against the course sand.

"I mean- If I'm direct, and get rejected," Grace sucked in a shaky breath, fidgeting with his hands over his chest, idly fiddling with the fabric. "Then Simon will hate me, and we'll be stuck together, here, with that awkwardness hovering over us until we die."

"Rocky want Grace to be happy," Rocky shuffled closer to pat his claw on Grace's thigh through his xenonite suit. "Grace be happy with Simon. Simon seems happy with Grace."

He let out a heavy breath, a mix between a disbelieving laugh and groan. He brought a hand over his face again, massaging his browline in deep slow rubs.

"Simon very easy to read. Grace just dumb." Rocky continued, his melody low and reassuring. "Grace show too much, Simon show too little, causes," he knocked his claws together, "weird synergy, but work - in silly human way."

Grace stared at the ceiling dome a little longer than necessary, letting Rocky’s blunt words nestle in his chest like a balm, soothing the anxiety that's been plaguing him since he's started this whole thing.

"Okay," He announced in one big breath, nodding to himself. "I can do it, I can be… direct," he glanced over at Rocky who was now wiggling with excitement. "If it goes wrong I'm blaming all my humiliation on you."

Rocky let out a quick series of chitters and warbles, too fast for him to translate but Grace wasn't focusing on that, his mind was already racing as a plan started to shakily form.

First, he needed to go back to their media archives.

Grace was convinced this was actually some kind of humiliation ritual that Rocky lied about. He was now standing on the beach again, his computer teetering dangerously on a stool he stole from the kitchen, trying to will himself to actually commit to what he was about to do.

He considered testing Adrian's 'stupid human drowning proof' tides but he already invited Simon over after dinner, and he didn't want Simon to see him flail in the ocean.

He jumped once he heard the crunch of sand behind him, swivelling around so fast the stool nearly tipped over. Simon was there, walking up the beach, his dark hair framed by the warm light of the late afternoon. He was wearing one of Grace’s sweaters, a dark navy thing that hung off him awkwardly, but endearingly. The sleeve too long for his arm, bunching at his hand, while the fabric also pulled tightly around his shoulders and showed more of his neck then it should've.

"What are you doing?" Simon finally spoke, low and perplexed.

Grace lifted his hand up, eyes closed and seemingly accepting his future embarrassment. "I need you, to not freak out." He said slowly. "If you hate this, please walk away, and we will never speak of this again."

Simon leaned back on his heels, doing his version of crossing his arms, which was just putting his hand on his stump. He nodded slowly, cautiously "…Okay."

Grace took a deep long breath, no going back now. He threw his hands up in the air and announced to the empty beach;

"Grace wants to be with Simon, Romantically! Statement!"

"Grace- what-"

Grace didn't let him finish, turning around to click the space bar on his computer, willing himself to calm down, it was just like karaoke, it was just like karaoke, it was just like karaoke-

Grace listened as the upbeat piano took over the speakers, the noise filling the air between the two of them as he meagrely took a deep breath and prayer, Elton John don't fail me now. Then he started, awkwardly and with a fumble.

"Catch a star if you can, wish for something special…"

He had hoped singing it along with the musician would make him sound better, but it was showing just how off-key he was. He persisted through it, slowly inching closer as he stepped to the beat, arms swaying.

"Let it be me, my love is free,"

Grace’s voice grew slightly steadier, a tiny shred of confidence forming as he inched closer to Simon, eyes darting up now and then. His hips swayed to more of rhythm,

"Sing a song to yourself, think of someone listening.."

He dared to twirl around, his balance only wavering at the end but he quickly regained himself.

"One melody, you're all for me,"

Grace did one more twirl before throwing his arms open, open as he stared at Simon's bewildered face. Grace’s heart thumped furiously as he took a moment to catch his breath, but Simon beat him to it.

"I'm not sure…" Simon cut into the music causing his fumbling to pause. "… what I'm meant to be doing."

Simon just stood there, stiffly, looking genuinely distressed as he back at the other man. His one hand was balled into a fist by his side as the verse played a second time.

"You… can dance, if you want." Grace said, a hint of hope in his eyes as he continued shuffling his feet across the sand. "Or you could leave and-"

"N-No I want to," Simon interrupted, his hand nervously coming up to hug his side. "I just…" He trailed off, suddenly and bashfully avoiding Grace's eyes as he came to a realisation that made his heart incredibly warm.

Oh, Simon didn't know how to dance.

More importantly, Simon wanted to dance with him, even after that awkward declaration.

Instead of retreating into his mind like he had done before when these went wrong, he pushed through it, nodding along without judgement, "That's okay, just do what I'm doing." Grace made a show of swaying his arms and shuffling his feet to the beat.

The song kept going, cheerful through the speaker as Simon copied his movements with painful concentration. When Grace swayed left, Simon leaned right. When he lifted his arms, Simon lifted his singular arm stiffly. He couldn't help but let a little laugh bubble out from his throat, immediately regretting it as he watched Simon instantly clam up.

"No, no, you’re doing good," Grace blurted quickly when Simon lowered his arms. "You’re just… very intense."

Simon scrunched his face up and furrowed his brows. "It's just… weird," he murmured, visibly fighting the insecurity that crept into his tight movements. Gosh, Rocky was right, he was easy to read Grace was just too inside his own head to see.

"C'mere, just let me…" Grace murmured as he shuffled with careful steps. He stretched his arms out, open and inviting, not an ounce of anxiety in his body as he smiled. They were almost chest to chest now as Grace tilted his head slightly. "Can I..?"

Simon paused, eyes darting around his hands frantically before he took a calming breath. Then slowly, he nodded, lifting his own hand up and offering his palm to the other man, slow and cautious. Grace almost threw his head back in relief as the next verse kicked in;

"You're the one like the sun, Shine your love around me,"

Grace gave up on singing, Elton John was obviously better at it and he was too focused to try to recall the lyrics as they go. He slid his hand into Simon's feeling along the callouses of his rough fingers before securing his grasp on them. Then tentatively, he cupped his other hand on his waist, inconceivably light - then a touch firmer as Simon didn't lean away from it.

"You'll always be the one for me,"

With a slow motion he moved their clasped hands with the sway of the music, pushing their palms so he'd nudge Simon along to sway with the rhythm. Simon was still in his hands, but didn't resist as they moved along in slow deliberate circles.

"There," Grace murmured, "Now you're dancing."

"Say the word, I'll be there, Lovin' you forever,"

Simon shoulders, rigid as steel, loosened considerably at the soft compliment. His focused pursed mouth twitched, the smallest smile threatened at one corner of his lips. Grace's eyes caught it immediately and felt warmth bloom in his chest and he couldn't stop the large toothy grin that grew wide on his face.

"We're gonna to a twirl," Grace announced, and slowly took his hand off Simon's hip to lift their arms up, twisting his interlaced hands to urge him to turn around on the spot. Simon very nearly tripped over his own feet, a startled weak protest in his throat. But Grace guided him through the turn, steadying him with the hand on his waist. He laughed softly Simon completed the clumsiest spin in human history and ended up facing him again, his face startled like he couldn't believe his own actions.

"There you go," Grace hummed, disgusting fond. "Perfect."

Grace swayed them gently, thumb brushing absent circles against Simon’s side as if he didn’t even realise he was doing it. Their joined hands drifted up and down, slightly off rhythm but he couldn't care less. Because Simon was right in front of him, allowing this, his eyes constantly darting down to ensure his feet wouldn't trample Grace's.

"Rocky told me about dancing earlier today," Simon finally murmured, focused on staring at their hands, mystified. "Didn't think it was like this."

Grace’s smile faltered for a moment as his brain mulled the words over. "…Rocky what."

Simon finally looked up at him, dark eyes warm with embarrassment and amusement, "He visited this morning, when you were teaching the pebbles." He gave a low chuckle, "decided to randomly bring into conversation the ways Eridian's announce their attraction to mates." He cocked his head to the side, a slight playfulness in his eyes now, "I was curious why he randomly brought it up."

Grace groaned dramatically, tilting forward and muffling it in Simon's shoulder, glasses knocking askew. "I'm gonna throw him back into space," he bemoaned into the wool.

"You wouldn't." Simon retorted easily.

"I wouldn't." Grace woefully agreed. Simon's shoulders shook as he laughed silently at his misery, Grace's head rocked under the motion.

Simon's voice rumbled close to his ear, ever so soothing. "You could've just told me,"

"Maybe," he shrugged, letting the silence stretched between them for a moment. "What's was it like, for you?" He approached gently, the music now long forgotten as they just sway along with the languid tide. "Back there."

Simon hummed for a moment, "There wasn't time for things like this. Our priorities were survival, affection was a comfort, comfort was luxury." He rested his head on Grace's chest as his thumb wandered across their intertwined hands,

The music drifted across the beach, the song had changed a while ago into something more mellow. Simon shifted to stared somewhere past Grace’s shoulder as he continued, "There weren't relationships, those were rare. People paired off sometimes to relieve stress but," his face twisted faintly, "you learned not to get attached to things that wouldn't last."

Grace, for once, swallowed his tongue.

"I didn’t know how to respond to you." Simon uttered quietly, just above a whisper. "I'm still adjusting to this level of… comfort."

He slowly pulled away from Grace's chest, he worried for a second he was going to retreat entirely, but he just turned to look up at Grace. His gaze was firm and resolute, but his words were shaky.

"Simon would like to be with Grace too, romantically." He said carefully, then quickly looked away as he added bashfully, "I just don't know… how."

"That's okay," Grace replied softly, a sheepish laugh rumbling from deep in his chest. "I'm pretty clueless about this too," he added with a tentative, almost apologetic smile. "We can figure it out together."

Simon gave a shaky smile and nod in return, "that sounds nice."

The sand had now started to dip as they had been trailing around in circles for a while now. There most definitely a cluster of grains beginning to build uncomfortably in Grace's socks but he didn't bat an eye.

Grace, after a blissful long few minutes, finally groaned into the wool of Simon's shoulder, "I'm still gonna talk to Rocky about his meddling."

"If Rocky hadn't told me about it," Simon hummed, clearly amused by the other's suffering. "I would've been a lot more confused."

Grace peeked his head just enough to squint up at the man with betrayal. Simon stared back impassively, and traitorously added, "You should probably thank him."

Grace held his stare for a long beat, then straightened back to to look him in the eyes. "I want you to know," he uttered with a solemn seriousness, hand on his chest, "that taking Rocky's side this early into the relationship is deeply offensive and I will never forgive you"

That earned him a smile, a small, crooked unpractised thing that felt all too precious because of that. It made all of Grace's previous anxieties just flutter away in an instant and a resolute confident solidified there instead. Yeah, they were going to be okay.