Chapter Text
“What do you miss most?”
You pause and look up from the microscope of astrophase. He isn’t looking up from his own, of course he isn’t. His glasses, for once, straight on his face with his blonde hair a messy pile. After a few beats of silence, you respond.
“I’m not sure.” You let out a small laugh, trying to find the ugly humor to your next words. “Probably my memories.” Dr. Grace responds, trying to add humor to his voice.
“You can say that again.” The ugly truth of your words hangs in the air.
“What about you ?” You finally look back down at the tiny astrophase within your microscope, the tiny black dots moving around like a dance. A dance that is killing your sun and, eventually, your planet.
“Probably solid food and not paste. Some good old junk food that’d kill me in 20 years.” Silence falls after a few chuckles from both of you. You continue to watch the astrophase and watch them interact while Dr. Grace sighs and moves away from his microscope.
“This achieved nothing of importance. Not even memories of doing this before.” He leans back in his chair and rubs his hands all over his face, skewing his glasses into a more natural position. One arm on his ear while the other is on his temple.
He slowly turns around and looks to Rocky behind him, napping in his xenonite “cave”.
“He has been napping for a while, should we wake him?” You weren’t as close to the alien, or knowledgeable, as Dr. Grace was.
“No, he’s okay. He usually sleeps for a long time when we are in the lab together….He asks about you, you know.”
“Really?” You usually spend your time in your cabin or in the pilot area, attempting, and failing, at becoming the new pilot.
“He thinks he could have offended you.”
“Really? How?”
“Who knows his logic, something about possible cultural differences.”
You continue to talk to one another. As the talk of Rocky’s cultural differences continued, it slowly shifted at talking about cultural differences about each other. Evolving to subtle jabs.
“Okay, okay at least I don’t have science themed underwear.” He sits up from his leaned position, mouth agape. The dramatic capabilities of a 34-year-old man coming out in full swing.
“Wow, okay. That was low. My scientific tendencies are not as obsessive as you’re making it sound.” He crosses his arms now. Almost pouting as he tries, but fails, to glare at you.
“You state a scientific fact whenever you feel the need, want, or opportunity.”
“....are you saying you don’t like my facts ?” You have to giggle as he looks genuinely offended at the idea of underappreciated scientific facts.
“Well, they do have a charm.”
“That’s what I thought!” He stands up, almost in triumph at winning a silly argument. You both laugh at the absurdity of it all. Once the silence comes to an end, you stand there in the quiet atmosphere, staring at each other in comfortable silence.
A tiny tap breaks through the silence, both of you looking towards Rocky, discovering he is awake. The tall blonde immediately drops down to a crouch to be on a similar level to Rocky.
“Sorry, Rocky, did we wake you up?” Dr. Grace uses a soft voice, one he used on students when they were one-on-one. A soft melody like noise comes out of Rocky. The computer failed to translate it. “..What was that?” The next noises were translated perfectly.
“...Cannot explain what the word means. It is sound.”
“That's ok bud, can you try to explain it? Is it like a sigh?”
“Need a word.”
“I can help too.” You sit on the floor next to Dr. Grace, who moves into a sitting position as well.
“It is when you miss someone and you want to see someone. Very much.” Rocky fiddles with his front to arms, his hand like appendages fiddling and pinching one another. Dr. Grace responds first.
“Longing?”
“Yearning?”
“That is probably a better word for it.” Dr. Grace types ‘yearning’ into the computer as a translation. “What are you yearning for?” Rocky was quick to answer.
“Adrian.” Quiet follows the admission.
“Oh, Rocky…” You respond quietly.
"Miss Adrian. A lot. Leaky blob has another blob. Rocky…Rocky doesn’t have another Eridian.” A soft and sad breath comes out of Dr. Grace.
“It’ll be ok Rocky, we’ll get you home. We’ll save the stars.” His voice is soft and soothing. One that would be used to make a promise to a sad or lost kid.
“Yeah and we’ll always be here for you. Even if we aren’t Eridians, we still love you.”
“What’s that word?”
“Which one, Rocky?” Dr. Grace reaches for his computer again.
“The second to last one.”
“Love?” Your voice comes out, trying to mimic the teacher’s soft and soothing voice. Rocky moves his body in a way you’ve learned to interpret as a nod. “ Loving is caring for someone. Wanting them to be as happy as possible.” Dr. Grace stares at you as you give him a definition.
“Rocky loves leaky blob and blob.” Rocky settles back down into a curled position, clearly going back to bed. You both, once again, fall into a comfortable silence, watching the rock like alien nap.
You leave for a bit to grab some pillows and blankets for you and Grace. When you come back you see Dr. Grace nodding off slightly, giggling, you throw a pillow at him, waking up. He opens his mouth to reprimand you, but stops and looks at Rocky. He turns back to you and gives you a playful glare, not wanting to wake the sleepy alien.
You both make a sleeping spot on the floor so you stay within sight of Rocky while also being able to watch him. You whisper softly, hoping to not wake up the alien.
“Do you think Rocky feels left out sometimes?”
“I suppose it’s possible.” Dr. Grace responds in a quiet voice. You look towards Dr. Grace, his glasses falling off his face while in a sitting position.
“Is it possible for you to wear those correctly??” Without warning, you reach out and fix his glasses on instinct. Straightening them to correctly fit on his face. You suddenly realize what you’ve done, slowly pulling away. Dr. Grace looks just as shocked at your movements as you are, slightly tensed up. You can feel your face becoming warmer. “There, Dr. Grace, that’s better…” You are barely about to speak the words, your voice tiny and quiet.
“Ryland…”
“What?”
“Call me Ryland.”