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Grace smiled softly as Rocky moved anxiously around his home; Adrian sat beside him and made a comforting noise though it didn’t seem to have any effect on Rocky.
“It will be alright” Grace said softly, though his own heart was racing at the thought of Rocky leaving him, even if it was only for a week or two.
They had been back on Erid for over 6 months and most of their days were spent together, either Rocky and himself or Adrian and himself or all three of them together. They talked about everything, did all sorts of experiments, constantly coming up with ways to improve Graces ability to live and integrate into Eridian society. It was fun.
It had been rough at the start, he’d been sick, starving after the long journey to Erid. It had taken him a long time to recover but he was finally feeling better, not great but better and so Rocky could no longer put off visiting the families of the crew members who didn’t make it on the Blip A. Rocky was not happy to be leaving him, even though he knew this was something that he had to do.
Grace lent into Adrian and they both watched Rocky in amusement as he continued to rumble around the room. He smiled as Adrian pulled him into their lap, well the circle of their legs, the warmth relaxing him and his eyes started to drift closed as a claw came up and began to stroke through his hair.
“Two weeks!” Rocky grumbled and Grace felt his heart rate start to spike; Adrian pulled him closer.
“Two weeks?” he said quietly. They hadn’t been separated for longer than a few hours since he’d sent the beetles to earth and gone back to save Rocky. Rocky had stopped and Grace could tell he was watching him intently before quicker than you think a rock shaped alien could move, he was in front of Grace, touching, running his claws down his arms, clearly trying to reassure them both.
Grace leant out and ran his own hand over Rocky. Adrian pulled Rocky in as well and he carefully rearranged his limbs so that Grace didn’t get squashed. They regularly did this after Grace had taught them the value of cuddling. Eridian’s weren’t naturally touchy feely, but it meant a lot that Rocky and Adrian made an effort for him. He just hoped it didn’t make them uncomfortable.
“We not have to go” Rocky said and Grace could tell from the quaver in the words that Rocky was upset.
“You do have to go” Grace said gently. “The families deserve to hear what happened to their family members.”
Adrian let out a trill of agreement.
“Not want to leave Grace.”
Grace felt his face heating up and he leant against Rocky.
“I will miss you so much” Grace said quietly. “But this is important.”
Grace started to extricate from the cuddle, sometimes it was hard for him to remember that they were just friends. When Rocky and Adrian held him like this, it made him feel like perhaps they could be more. He knew it wasn’t possible and he’d never wish to come in between Rocky and Adrian. But still… he guessed it was that yearning for companionship. Something he hadn’t struggled with on Earth but which he longed for now on Erid
He straightened his glasses as he stood awkwardly between them.
“Besides I’m going to be so busy with the other Eridians who are coming to meet me, I’m sure the time will just fly by.”
Rocky let out a loud screech that Grace had never heard him make before. He jumped in surprise. Adrian made a noise as well and he looked between them, both clearly agitated.
“Given instructions for other Eridians.”
Grace rolled his eyes affectionately, “I’m sure everything will be ok.”
Rocky started hustling him over to the bed, “you sleep, we watch.”
Grace had a moment of panic at the thought of not having Rocky here to watch him sleep. It was silly, he’d gone most of his life without someone watching him sleep, but he’d gotten used to it now and didn’t like the idea of sleeping alone anymore.
“Someone else watch you sleep tomorrow” Adrian said with a shake of their carapace, and he got the feeling she wasn’t very happy about it either.
Grace relaxed back onto his bed, pulling his blanket up higher around him. Normally whoever was watching him sleep would start working on whatever task they had bought with them to keep them entertained while he slept but this time they both settled quietly on the ground focusing on him. He thinks they’re trying to reassure him before they leave the next day. He appreciates the thought.
Grace awakes slowly to the feeling of comfort as someone rubs his head, he hears a soft noise but by the time he properly gets his eyes open and wakes up he’s alone. His chest aches at the thought of weeks with no Rocky and no Adrian, they had been a constant for him since arriving on Erid.
He’d barely gotten out of bed when there was a knock at the door. His heart leapt, thinking maybe Rocky had come back but no, when he opened his door, it was to a new Eridian. They seemed a little bigger than Rocky and had a pretty purple colouring.
They bounced excitedly and Grace couldn’t help but smile at the enthusiasm. He decided to call them Charlie.
“Good morning” Grace said warmly and the Eridian skittered in happiness.
“Hello” Charlie chirped back. “We talk?”
“Of course,” Grace said, happy not to wake up alone, moving out of the doorway so that Charlie could come inside.
They moved around his home, exclaiming over multiple things.
“Charlie is biologist” Charlie said as he turned to him. “Study living things.”
“That’s very cool” Grace said.
“Charlie study Grace?”
He chuckled, “we can talk, run some experiments together if you like?”
“Yes, yes yes” Charlie said happily.
They had studied him quite extensively to create his dome, but he supposed there was always more to learn. He knows that Rocky had been keeping everyone at bay to give him time to settle in, but he was excited to meet some new Eridians.
“More Eridians waiting to meet.”
“Oh” Grace said.
“We set up roster.”
Grace started laughing, he supposed at least he wouldn’t be lonely.
“What noise?” Charlie asked.
“Oh, it’s a noise I make when I’m happy, when I think something is funny.”
“Understand. Heard about from Rocky speech, different to what I think.”
“You know Rocky?”
“He give big talk to Eridian scientists. Everyone knows Rocky. Rocky and Grace hero.”
Grace felt himself blushing.
“Oh, no. We were just doing our best, trying to help.”
Charlie did a little shake.
“Too modest.”
Grace deflected “So what did you want to do?”
“Sleep” Charlie chirped.
“Sleep?” Grace asked in confusion.
“Watch you sleep, wake you up, science.”
“Ah” Grace said in understanding “you want to study how I sleep?”
“Yes.”
He could understand why that would be an area of interest for many Eridians.
“I’m sorry but I only just woke up I won’t sleep again for another 12 hours or so.”
“12 hours? Not now?”
“No. Sometimes we nap during the day but not always.”
Charlie made a funny little sound, “I come back?”
Grace thought about it for a moment, he felt a little sick at the thought of someone other than Rocky or Adrain watching him sleep but he couldn’t deny the company would be nice.
“Sure. That would be nice.”
Was that a weird thing to say? But Charlie made a happy little rumble, so he guessed it was alright.
That spent the next hour talking about his sleeping habits, why and when humans sleep even the purpose of a blanket.
“I’ll see you later” Grace said with a smile as Charlie bounded out the door. It didn’t take long before there was another knock on his door. Huh, guess there really was a roster.
This Eridian was more sombre, quieter, calmer than Charlie had been. He decided to call them Coral due to the pretty shine that covered parts of their legs.
“Greetings” they said.
“Hello” Grace nodded. “What would you like to talk about?”
“Food” Coral said bluntly. “I make food better for you.”
Grace blinked before crying out, “yes! Let’s do this.”
Coral seemed taken aback before deciding to just roll with it and continue.
After Coral left, hopefully with some new ideas on how to make his food more appealing it didn’t take long for another knock on the door. He opened it again to find another Eridian standing on his doorstep. And so, it went for most of the day, he had a steady stream of visitors throughout the day, all with their own specific area of study they wished to pursue. It was very interesting and a little overwhelming to meet and interact with so many new Eridians.
He thinks most of the meetings went well, aside from the one who had nearly broken his door down trying to escape after he’d had an attack of the sneezes and the one who had tried to shake his hand and accidentally squeezed too tight, hurting his finger. He thinks it might be broken but they had bandaged it and though it still ached he definitely wasn’t complaining. A sore finger was worth everything he was getting to experience.
When he heard a knock at the door again, he was tempted to tell them to get lost, feeling a bit exhausted even though he had enjoyed his day. But then he remembered Charlie was coming to observe his sleeping and he hurried over to the door, smiling down at the purple Eridian who bounced in the door like a long-lost friend.
“Grace sleep?”
He smiled at the lack of greeting before realising just how exhausted he was.
“Yeah… sleep sounds great” he mumbled quietly as he climbed into bed, pulling the blanket up around his chin.
“I observe tonight” Charlie said as they climbed up on to the bed before carefully lowering itself to hover over him. This was normally Rocky’s position, and he felt a pang as he realised this was the longest, they had been apart in years. He felt tears prickle his eyes.
“Eyes leaking.”
He let out a hiccupping sob.
“Grace sad?”
He nodded, Rocky must have explained the leaking eyes thing, probably so it didn’t scare anyone off.
Charlie lowered himself further so that his carapace was actually resting on his chest. It felt wonderful.
“Warm?”
He nodded.
“Rocky said warmth comforting.”
“It is, thank you. You don’t have to stay like this though, if you don’t want to.”
“Want to. Don’t want Grace sad.”
“Th-thank you” he tried to pull himself together, gosh he was probably making a fool of himself.
Charlie started making a soft noise, close to a hum that immediately had him relaxing.
He rubbed his face on his pillow. “Night” he mumbled.
+++++++++++++++++++++
He rolled over when he first woke up, stretching before reaching out to the warmth beside him on the bed. He rubbed his hand over it, before snuggling his face closer.
“Mmm Rocky, good morning” his voice was rough from sleep.
“Charlie.”
His brain took a moment to catch up, then he started to blink his eyes open.
“Oh” he gasped. “Charlie!” He pushed himself back, falling off the side of the bed and crying out in pain when he hit his sore finger against the floor.
“Apology apology!”
“Hey, no it’s alright. That was all me, I was expecting Rocky that’s all. Forgot he was gone.”
“Understand. Miss Rocky.
“Yeah.”
Charlie gave a little wiggle, “move in sleep.”
Grace appreciated the change of topic.
“I do. I’m still asleep but humans naturally move in their sleep.”
“Make noise in sleep. Sound like this…”
Charlie started to make a grating noise, and he couldn’t help bursting out in laughter.
“That’s snoring, a normal noise that some humans make when they sleep.
“Not all?”
“No not all humans.”
He started to explain what he knew about snoring while Charlie listened intently. While he talked, he stood up from the floor and climbed back into bed, he cradled his hand against his chest. They talked for a while longer before Charlie got up to leave.
“Hand hurt?”
“It’s nothing” Grace said flippantly.
Charlie made an understanding noise
“Again, tonight?”
“Yeah, sure” Grace said, perking up. He followed Charlie out and they walked along the beach together.
“Eridians come soon.”
“Oh, I better go back and get ready then” Grace said with a jump and an awkward shuffle back towards his home. Charlie made a ringing sound Grace recognised as laughter. He smiled back before scurrying back inside and getting ready for his day.
Thankfully he didn’t have as many visitors today, he wondered if Charlie had told them how exhausted he had been the night before. It had been a good day though; he’d spent most of it with an Eridian who was interested in his beach. They talked about everything from water to waves, sand and the different animals that live in the ocean. It had been a lot of fun. An Eridian named Florence rebandaged his hand, his finger an ugly purple colour but thankfully Eridians didn’t see colours so they weren’t aware of the problem, taking his word that he was fine.
He’d just washed up and had something to eat when a knock at his door told him that Charlie had arrived.
“Hello” Charlie said as he made his way inside. “Day good?”
“It was” he then launched into a long rambling story about his day after a while he realised he had been talking non-stop.
“Sorry” he said with a blush.
“Why apologise.”
“Oh, I was probably boring you” he said sheepishly.
“Ocean interesting. Charlie study living things.”
Grace smiled, “there are a lot of cool living things in the ocean.”
“Grace tell more.”
“O-of course I can” he said as he settled into bed, this time Charlie settled beside him rather than over him and he realised this was the position they had woken up in. He didn’t even realise he had fallen asleep until he was waking up, blinking groggily as he tried to look around for what had woken him, only to find Charlie right in his face.
“Wh?” he mumbled incoherently as he tried to sit up.
“Grace wake at small touch” Charlie noted and he realised that Charlie was running an experiment.
“Go back to sleep.”
He could tell from the inflection it was a question, so he laid back down, “usually.”
Grace let his eyes close, not finding it hard to fall back asleep, thankfully.
When he awoke again the next morning, he found he was curled around Charlie again, soaking in their warmth with a happy sigh. He didn’t move away like the day before instead enjoying the contact.
“Grace awake” Charlie asked and he made an affirming noise, without opening his eyes.
“Grace not wake when Charlie move around room. Human sleep inefficient. Could be hurt.”
“It’s not very likely” Grace said around a yawn.
“Possible.”
“Yeah, it is possible.”
Charlie skittered off the bed and Grace could tell they were agitated.
Grace tried to reassure them, but Charlie was not having a bar of it.
“Watch you sleep.”
“Yeah, that’s what we’ve been doing” Grace said confused.
“No watch Grace sleep” Charlie argued and Grace realised he meant he would protect him in his sleep. He felt himself getting emotional so took a deep breath.
“Yeah, sure, that would be great. Thank you.”
Charlie did a happy jiggle and left without another word and Grace took that to mean he would be back again that evening.
So that’s how his new routine began, he would spend his day working with different Eridians on all sorts of things to do with both Earth and Erid. His nights were spent with Charlie, who periodically ran different experiments while he slept and then grilled him with questions in the morning. He had even watched Charlie sleep, the Eridian had asked and of course Grace had accepted. He knew what an honour it was to be asked, it meant that you were trusted completely and he couldn’t help but feel warm all over that Charlie trusted him that much.
He asked about Rocky and Adrian every day, he could tell Charlie and the other Eridians found it amusing but unfortunately, they didn’t have much to tell him.
A few weeks later he woke to loud banging at his door, he startled awake, but Charlie was already rushing over.
“Grace! Grace!”
He shot up out of bed scrambling into the next room to see Rocky and Adrian waiting for him. He fell to his knees and flung his arms around Rocky holding him close as he teared up.
“You’re back. I missed you” he croaked burying his face into Rocky’s carapace.
Many arms wrapped around him holding him close.
“Miss miss miss!”
He hissed in pain as his hand was bumped, causing Rocky to move back shimmying in worry.
“Hurt?”
“I’m alright” Grace said tearfully, just happy that Rocky was back with him.
“Grace not taken care of” Rocky said with a stamp of one of his arms and Grace couldn’t help but chuckle fondly.
“I was very well taken care of, don’t worry about it buddy.”
“Hurt hurt hurt” Rocky said angrily.
Grace leant over to try to soothe him but Rocky spun around.
“Who this.”
Grace stood up, “Rocky this is Charlie, Charlie this is Rocky.”
Charlie made a little dancing movement that he could tell meant they were excited to meet Rocky.
Rocky made an angry vibrating noise, kind of like a trumpet that caused Charlie to scuttle back in fright.
“Why here.”
“Watch Grace sleep.”
Rocky pulled him gently against him, mindful of his injury.
“Grace mine mine mine” and after a pause “and Adrians.”
Adrian made a noise of agreement, but Grace spluttered, his cheeks pinking as he struggled to get up from Rocky’s hold. He could not move an inch.
Charlie made a distressed noise.
“Grace friend Grace friend.”
“We’ve just been working together, they’ve been keeping me company while you and Adrian have been gone” Grace interrupted, feeling bad that Charlie was upset and confused why Rocky was so distressed. Sure, his arm was injured but these things happen, quite a lot to him actually, that’s what happens when you’re as clumsy as he is.
“This” he said waving his injured hand around carefully, “is no big deal and had nothing to do with Charlie.”
Adrian hurried over and carefully took his arm in two of theirs. Touching it gently and making a low humming noise as they examined it. Then both of them started checking his whole body for other injuries. Grace knew they didn’t have to touch him to check him, but they both seemed to like it. Knew that touch was very important to humans.
He felt all warm and fuzzy at the care, and he leaned into the touches with a sigh.
“Go” Adrian hummed and Charlie hurried to the door.
“Come back tomorrow” Grace called after them “and thank you for being my friend.” He didn’t want to lose Charlie just because Rocky and Adrian were in a mood.
“Apologies apologies” Rocky chimed, even as he hurried Charlie out the door.
As soon as the door closed Rocky was back at Grace’s side. He pulled both Grace and Adrian into his arms and Grace just wanted to understand.
“What is happening right now?” he asked in confusion, reaching up to run a hand down his face, hissing as his bumped his injured hand. This only cause both Adrian and Rocky to start fussing again.
“We missed you” Adrian said. “Did not like someone else watching you sleep.”
“You’d rather I slept alone?”
“With us” Rocky said forcefully.
“Right” Grace said slowly. “But you weren’t here, you had each other to watch you sleep I had no one and Charlie helped me with that.”
Rocky made a sad noise.
“Why do you care who watches me sleep, anyway?”
“Rocky Adrian don’t want Grace to mate with Charlie, want Grace to mate with us.”
Grace felt his brain white out, trying to process what Rocky had just said.
“What?” he croaked.
Adrian made a shy anxious noise. “We want Grace.”
“Want me how?” Grace asked, needing confirmation of just what was happening here.
“As mate as mate” Rocky said earnestly.
“But you have each other, why would you want me?” Grace couldn’t understand it, Rocky and Adrian had been together for many years, were happy together, they didn’t need him.
“Love Grace” Rocky said and Adrian made a noise of agreement.
He felt tears spring to his eyes, “you love me?”
“Love love love”
“Love love love”
They both cried out, so enthusiastically that he fell quiet in shock.
“Grace love Rocky and Adrian?” Rocky asked, coming closer.
He thought for just a moment, but the answer was obvious.
“Of course I do, I… I just didn’t think that you thought about me that way. You have each other.”
“Grace stupid” Rocky said.
“Stupid stupid” Adrian agreed.
They wrapped themselves around him and he couldn’t help but smile, reaching out a hand to touch both of them.
“I love you both.”
“You sleep we watch.”
“Oh, thank you but I just woke up.”
“Charlie watched you sleep then. Rocky Adrian watch you sleep now.”
They both started herding him towards the bed, he stumbled a little but made his way on to it. He supposed a nap did sound pretty good, especially if it helped to reassure them that there was nothing going on with Charlie. Like he would ever be interested in anyone else.
Rocky settled over him, Adrian to his side. They were both touching him and each other, and Grace felt his chest warm at the moment. He leant forward and place a soft kissed on Adrian and then on Rocky, feeling the warmth coming from them both as he closed his eyes.