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Grace slowly opened his eyes. Rocky was still opposite him on the other bed. He was tinkering away with something between his claws and didn’t notice Grace was awake for a moment. He lifted his carapace when he sensed the change in Grace’s face and heartrate.
“Grace awake! Good good good!” Grace blinked a few times, for some reason he was still super tired. He hoped it was just because he’d slept badly.
“How long was I asleep?” Rocky packed his things into his pouch.
“Grace asleep for thirty one thousand, three hundred and thirty eight seconds. Longer than normal.” Grace blinked a few times. He’d slept for nearly nine hours and he still felt exhausted. He really hoped it wasn’t because of what he thought it was because of.
Grace threw the quilt back and sat up at the edge of the bed. His body felt heavy but not sore or painful. He tried to stretch but his arms were lead. He held them above his head for a moment but let them fall to his sides again. It was his worst nightmare, it was a depressive episode. He knew they were bound to happen but everything had been fine so far.
Rocky tilted his carapace, like a dog tilting its head when confused.
“Grace, okay, question?” Grace often forgot how perceptive Rocky was. Grace took a deep breath and let out a big sigh. His hands began to shake as his throat became tight. Grace’s eyes began to sting as tears filled his lower eyelid.
“No. Grace leak again. Is gross.” Grace chuckled a little at Rocky’s disgust. The little bob up and down he did was enough to get the tears to fall from his eyes. He quickly swiped them away from his cheeks before they could fall and hit his shirt. He took a deep, shaky breath in and tried to release the breath in a slow but put together manner. Instead what came out was a shuddering sob. This just seemed to completely release the flood gates.
Grace shook as the tears completely overtook his body. There was no way for him to hold them back now. His entire body was shaking with each sob. He buried his face in his hands. If he could at least hide his cries from Rocky to make him more comfortable then it was better than nothing.
“Grace, question? Grace shaking. Bad bad bad. Grace sick, question?” Grace couldn’t deny the concern in Rocky’s tone. It just made him feel worse for making Rocky worry about him over nothing.
“No— no. I’m alright— I just—” Grace tried to pull himself together. He took another deep breath in but it just made his sobs worse. Rocky leaned back in what Grace thought was disgust. “I’m sorry, I can’t help it.”
Grace threw his legs over the other side of the bed away from Rocky before sinking to the floor. If he could help make Rocky more comfortable right now, he would. He knew Rocky didn’t like it when he cried — or “leaked” in general.
Grace heard the sound of Rocky clattering his way down his tunnel and into his ball. Grace assumed he was going to roll away into the lab. As far away as he could get from Grace and his snotty crying.
For some reason it made Grace cry harder. He pulled his legs to his chest and hugged them as hard as he could. The pressure helped to get his shuddering breaths under a tiny amount of control.
He wasn’t sure how long he was sitting there, curled up, crying into his knees, but he was disturbed by a large object hitting his leg. It didn’t hurt or anything, it was just there to get his attention.
He wiped his eyes and looked. It was Rocky in his ball.
“Grace hug Rocky, statement.” Grace couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face as he practically launched himself at the Eridian. Rocky repaid it in kind, the thunk of his carapace against the Xeonite wall and the heat from his body comforted Grace.
They must have stayed like that, Grace’s arms wrapped around the top of the ball, his legs wrapped around the bottom of the ball. Rocky pressed against Grace’s chest, singing to him, making the walls of the ball vibrate as he did, for a while.
By the time Grace had stopped crying, his arms and legs were dead from the awkward angles they were at. Grace leaned back from the hug at the same time Rocky did.
“Grace feel better, question?” Grace nodded wordlessly as he cleaned himself up a little. Granted using his sleeves as a tissue was kind of gross but he didn’t actually have any tissues to hand right now.
“Grace talk about why leaking, question?” Grace twiddled his thumbs for a moment before looking back at Rocky, who seemed to be doing the equivalent of twiddling his claws.
“I don’t know what came over me, pal. I’m sorry. I know you don’t—”
“No. Grace no apologise. Grace sad. Rocky fix, statement.” Grace smiled at his friend.
“I don’t know if you can fix this, bud.” Rocky scooted closer to Grace, adjusting his ball so the mesh panel was in line with Grace’s calf. Rocky stuck his claw through the mesh so it rested gently on his leg. It was nice, it kind of grounded him in the moment.
“It’s called depression. Do you remember we discussed mental health in humans?” Rocky nodded his carapace. “Well, depression is when you become really really really sad. Sometimes there is something that triggers it like trauma or losing a loved one and sometimes, it can just get to you.” Rocky tapped a claw against the floor for a moment.
“Simulation room help, question? It has mental health mode, question?” Grace nodded.
“Yeah, let’s go watch a film.”
“Rocky film again, question?” Grace chuckled. That would be the eighth time they’d watched it.
“Yeah alright.”