Chapter Text
"Morning." Simon mumbled, pressing a small kiss against Grace's clavicle.
Grace groaned, eyes barely opening.
"Early." He mumbled against his pillow, burying his face against it.
"Rocky's at the door." Simon sighed, and as if on cue, Grace heard a small tap against their front door.
"One day, just one, for a good sleep in, please. Cheese and Rice." Grace grumbled.
"You could say "Jesus Christ" you know." Simon chuckled, reaching down to slip on his pants.
"Can't swear in this economy. Especially around the rocklings." Grace hummed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and reluctantly sitting up.
"It was your idea to mess around on the beach last night." Simon retorted.
"Okay, no, I seem to remember you sneaking off and sulking until I came to help." Grace corrected.
"By what, fucking on the beach?" Simon grinned mischievously.
"Okay, no, again, love-making on the beach, which I really truly hope none of the Eridians see ever, especially R - O - C - K -Y." Grace whispered, spelling out Rocky's name.
"Right, love-making, either way, we knew there was school today, so I'm blaming you for that." Simon replied.
Grace glanced around the room, the synthetic sunlight peeking behind the blinds. He gave a loud yawn, reaching upwards and stretching out his arms.
Simon struggled to shove up his pants, awkwardly slipping and falling back onto the bed. He huffed angrily as Grace stood and walked around, and reached down automatically to help pull up Simon's pants.
"I can do it." Simon muttered, slightly annoyed.
"I know, but we have school later, and the kids don't need to see you grumpy." Grace chirped.
Simon rolled his eyes, letting a smile grow across his face.
"Whatever."
-
Another rap at the door came abruptly, slightly louder then before. Grace chuckled, and slipped his own pants on quickly. Simon slid one of Grace's cardigans over his bare chest, and followed after Grace. Simon reached over and grabbed one of the laptops sitting on the kitchen table, he turned it on preemptively for Rocky.
"Well howdy!" Grace said, swinging their front door open.
"Rocky wait long, Adrian at school now, why long wait, question?" Rocky said, tapping one of his many feet against the ground.
"You waited maybe five minutes, bud. Simon's a slow waker, you know that." Grace grinned, glancing over his shoulder to see Simon giving him a look.
"Really?" Simon muttered, letting out a low chuckle.
"Oh absolutely, you were just asleep and grumbling like two minutes ago. I was there, I definitely know." Grace added, turning back to Rocky.
If a rock could give him a look of non-belief, Rocky would absolutely be the first.
"Grace lie, Grace always sleep long. We know, statement." Rocky responded.
Grace put his hands up and shrugged.
"You can't prove anything."
"Rocky can prove, you on ship always sleeping, take too long for sleep, not as good as Eridians at sleep, statement." Rocky responded, turning to begin the trek down the slope.
Grace shook his head, turning back to watch Simon grab the laptop and slung it under his arm, heading to the door. Grace reached over and grabbed onto Simon's waist, leaning forward and pressed a chaste kiss against his scarred cheek.
"You're genuinely a dork." Simon mumbled, face slightly red at the attention.
"Okay, no, I'm a nerd, theres a real difference. Being a teacher makes me a nerd, a dork is someone who likes musical instruments." Grace said matter-of-factly.
"Oh so you admit you are a nerd, huh?" Simon snickered, as they followed after Rocky down the slope.
"If I'm a nerd, that makes you a..a...awe fudge, I can't think of anything. Give me a few minutes." Grace sighed in defeat.
Simon let out a sudden laugh, startling Rocky before he turned around.
"Simon laugh too loud, Grace not that funny, statement." Rocky added.
"Right, my bad Rocky, he's definitely a nerd, can't help but laugh at him about it." Simon winked down at Rocky.
"Nerd, question?" What is nerd, question?"
"Me, apparently." Grace grumbled, as they turned the corner to the edge of the shore.
A large glass wall sat between them, with maybe thirty rocklings and Adrian settling in on the rocks. Rocky shuffled over to the wall, and pressed himself within it. He easily dissolved into the wall, before scuttling over and settling beside Adrian.
Adrian's greenish hues shone from behind the glass, as they leaned against Rocky in a form of embrace. Rocky trilled merrily as Adrian trilled back, their voices harmonizing in a beautiful way that still made Grace astonished.
Simon settled the laptop down onto their make-shift desk, and waved his hand awkwardly at the many rocklings behind the wall. The rocklings all chirped quickly, squealing and harmonizing with each other.
Grace clapped both his hands, and pointed at them.
"Morning class! We got a lot to go over today, we got the anatomy of humans to go over, and then we have a quick test of how cells work within our body." Grace said, as the class erupted in singing and trilling.
-
A little while later, Simon found himself staring at the water again, as the class dispersed back into their homes. Simon approached the water and sat back down, taking in a deep breath of fresh ocean air. He never knew what it was like to experience this, and knowing he was getting to experience it every day still overwhelmed him sometimes.
Simon closed his eyes and let himself remember the day he met Grace, and he sunk back into the memory like his feet against the sand.
-
"Who the fuck are you?!" Simon screamed, blood splashing against the tub he was being kept in.
A strange alien being scurried around the floor in an opaque ball, an electronic voice heard over the speakers.
"Grace other human yelling, Rocky fear, scared, scared, scared." The alien said, as another being barreled into the room.
A man with glasses half-skewed on his nose rushed into the room, his breathing erratic as he looked towards Simon. Simon immediately shut his mouth, eyes widening at the angelic man standing at the doorway.
The man ran over to the alien, and leaned down and pressed his hands against the glass. The creature stopped scurrying at once, as he whispered something Simon couldn't hear against the glass. The man patted the glass in an affectionate way and turned to face Simon.
"So sorry, really wasn't expecting you to wake up so soon. Armando is fantastic at healing, huh? Our next step was to give you a proper bath, but you woke up quicker then I thought! Uh, cheese and rice, well my name is Grace, Ryland Grace. And this is Rocky, he is an Alien, but hes actually an Eridian and we are on his way to his home to hang out there for awhile, and we just happened to find you in your uh, ship? I guess? It was floating out in the middle of no-where covered in blood and..I think gore? And surprisingly, Mary, which is the ship you're on, alerted us to a human within your ship and so we saved you and uh-" Grace gasped, voice erratic and fast.
Simon barely kept up, and wrapped his blood soaked arm around his legs. He looked down to see a patch of wrapping and gauze surrounding the stump of his other arm, and felt a flash of phantom pain. He hissed and hesitantly reached over to press against the stump.
Memories flood back in a million different ways, surrounding his psyche as he saw the eel and its jaws crushing his ship. He let out a deep screech as his eyes rolled back into his head, and fell down against the tub, the last thing he felt was two soft hands cradling his head as he felt like he floated away, as they gently caressed him.
"Mama?" He murmured, before settling into a deep sleep.