Chapter Text
Simon had only been outside of the spaceship twice. Once, before meeting Grace, when he was still stuck in that ocean, the vile red liquid seeping all around him, taking him as its own, eating him alive
Until- the light.
Bright, all-consuming.
A rush of air and smell and white.
He didn't see much before his vision turned red, but he saw a man.
Convinced he was an angel, he accepted death for one final time.
Or so he thought.
*
It was a long process. Adjusting to his life on the Hail Mary, adjusting to not being in prison, and adjusting to the mere concept that was Rocky.
But he managed, he managed particularly well from what Grace told him, and he started to feel like a real person, for quite possibly the first time ever.
Today was a special day. It marked three months since Simon had first come aboard, and Grace wanted so desperately to do something special for him.
A spacewalk. And Grace hated being outside the ship!
But Simon didn't get motion-sick, and he hadn't yet had a chance to experience… anything. From one space station to the next, since all the stars were gone, he had hardly even seen pictures, or had only heard tales from one adventurer, or dreamer.
And Grace wanted to show him the magnificence of the cosmos, of the place that had become his captor for so many years. So many, he had started losing track.
Thus, on that fateful day, Grace tugged Simon up out of his bed, through the halls, Rocky chirping happily as he followed the pair out of the usual routine and towards the airlock.
"What… What is all this?" Simon asked, his tone guarded, but not entirely closed off.
Grace was practically a ray of sunshine all on his own. "I wanted to do something special today. You told me how, where you remember being, whatever universe, or planet, or galaxy that was… You never really got to see the stars. And I've always loved the stars! I think it's probably what got me into this whole predicament, if you will, and… it's not to say that they're a bad thing, just-"
"Grace."
The scientist paused mid-ramble, the gravelly voice with a gentle (semi-frustrated) tone bringing him back to the present moment and away from the first time he ever noticed the stars.
"Right. Right, right, right." Grace laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck and tugging his glasses down, hanging off one ear in a way that always irked Simon.
Spinning around once to regain his bearings, Grace gestured to the suit on the wall- his. Red, with his name, the goldwings, the NASA logo, the whole shebang. Nothing special, something Simon had admired more than once while thinking about where he had come from.
"This is my suit, as you well know," Grace chimed, "and I was thinking how you've never seen me use it before!"
Simon raised an eyebrow suspiciously, smirking just a tad. "Oh yeah? What, are you gonna go off on a little spacewalk for me?"
Grace rolled his eyes, hiding how flustered Simon's tone always made him. (Well, it wasn't really just the tone, but he would continue lying to himself.)
"No, silly…" He pulled aside a curtain beside it, one Simon had never even considered, and started beaming like two beams of sunshine.
Complete and utter awe.
A second suit. Which didn't surprise him at all, the ship had been designed for three people after all. But this suit was a beautiful, deep shade of blue, not too bright, and the left arm had been adjusted to properly fit Simon's "cast", something that made his heart ache just a little.
It was his size, he could just tell, and the name on it even said his own name, albeit in some shaky, unmistakably Grace handwriting. It's messy, frantic when it doesn't need to be, but it's his name, clear as day.
"Why….?" Simon breathes, touching the fabric gently, as if a light wind could ruin the fragility of the moment.
"I wanted to walk with you," Grace admitted.
Simon stared. Like… Like outside?? Like, walk out there???
"I've never been outside." Admittedly, a bit more blunt and a bit more harsh than intended, Simon winces internally, but says it anyway.
After a moment of hesitation, Grace continued, cautiously, "Well… I know. But, but I thought it could be nice! Even if it's new, you've been out before; you used to live out your whole life, right? On stations, even if they weren't this one. But I wanted to go, with you, even if both of us aren't that experienced, even if we're not like, really good astronauts, even-"
Another pause, sensing Simon's sigh before it even left his lips.
"I wanted to show you everything you haven't seen yet." He concluded, softer now.
Everything inside of him wanted to shut the idea down right away, but something made him hesitate.
Even if he had come to accept the fact that Grace was, in fact, not an angel, Simon still had a hard time doing anything against what Grace wanted. He had given him life, after all, and then made that life worth living. So, if Grace wanted to show him…
"I guess," he conceded softly, "but you can't wander off, or play jokes on me, or anything like that. I've enough of space as it is, but I'm doing this because of…. Well, for you."
The scientist lit up once more.
"R-really?? Okay! Uh, uh, yeah! Here, I can help you get suited up; it's a little trickier than it looks, especially when we're in zero gravity…"
Simon snickered, a dry chuckle suppressing all the anxiety he felt at the thought of leaving the solid ground he had grown so fond of.
Anything for Grace.
*
It was scary- for both of them. It was nerve-wracking and probably more trouble than it was worth, but finally, they were tethered to the ship and drifting out just slightly, into the cosmos, above a beautiful planet that Simon had helped position them over, being a much better pilot than his anxious counterpart.
The planet was blue and purple and red, and a million other tiny colors sprinkled throughout. It was so different from the harsh, cold, dim reality Simon knew. Nothing had ever been this colorful, this bright, this accepting. Nothing had ever welcomed him into its space, nothing had brought him such a profound sense of awe.
For all he could remember, his whole life had been darkness and bloodshed. Misery. Death.
And now, he found himself in a combination of the most terrifying moment and the most beautiful moment he could ever dream of.
His eyes flickered to Grace, who was smiling underneath his helmet, watching each cloud form and dissipate on the planet, eyes wide-eyed with the kind of wonder Simon had always admired, always searching for the next beautiful moment, the next beautiful planet.
A familiar ache began in Simon's chest, watching as the only person he had looked at the universe as if it had everything to offer him, as if all was right and all would be alright.
He had plenty of words to describe the feeling. That wasn't the issue.
But he didn't dare to admit a single one of them to himself, and definitely not out loud.
Instead, he turned back out to the sea of colors, gas, liquid, whatever. Beautiful.
"Isn't it nice?" Grace asked finally.
"It's a hell of a lot more than nice," Simon huffed softly. "It's breathtaking."
"See? Wasn't it worth it to come out here?"
"…Seems like it."
Grace grinned, opening his mouth to speak again.
"BORING! Grace and Simon friend take a long time!"
Grace chuckled to himself as Rocky's voice warbled over their speakers. "Sorry, bud, just let us have this, yeah? Remember what we talked about? Moments?"
"Moment done yet, question?"
Simon, feeling a little queasy despite (or because of) all the adrenaline, wandered towards the entrance to the ship on shaky legs.
"Moment done." The man replied, tugging on Grace's cord to bring him with.
"Moment done, I guess," Grace sighed, "but it wasn't that bad…"
"Wasn't bad at all." Simon chimed back, hardly glancing back at Grace. Even if the pull in his chest demanded him to, he was 'stronger' than that.
As they decompressed, Grace watched Simon carefully, helping him out of his spacesuit where he needed it- life with one arm in space was a little harder, believe it or not.
Reentering the ship, Rocky was already rolling around, chiming happily.
"Grace and Simon-friend back from pointless trip, statement!"
Huffing, Grace rolled his eyes. "It was not pointless! See, the thing about being afraid of something is that you have to face that fear eventually, and being out of the space station for us was our… Was our conquering of that fear, and that's…"
Rambling again, but this time, he kept speaking, and Simon just snickered to himself.
Sure, the trip was nice. But in his eyes, being here with Grace made it much nicer.