Work Text:
Simon had been living on Erid for awhile now. Grace did the math, and told him it's been about two years since he arrived. Well, two years in Earth time. Could be a long time in Erid time. Either way, it's not like Simon ever understood any of it.
He barely remembers his time on Eden, he barely remembers the blood ocean and the monster that killed him. He remembers drowning, and morphing into his own monster, but he can't remember surviving, or how he managed to end up in Grace's arms in the middle of fucking space.
He does remember kind blue eyes and he remembers feeling safe for the first time in his life. He knows now that even if hes not quite sure what his past was, hes quite sure of the future before him. The one laying beside him every day.
Simon remembered very little, but he remembered his mother, and remembered most of his pain of being The Butcher. He knew he wasn't meant to be someone saved, but the memory loss did grant him the freedom of never remembering the extent of what he did.
He told Grace everything he knew, which was still very little, but it was enough for Grace. He didn't shy away from all the fucked up pain he caused and went through. And Grace looked at him dead in the eyes and said he forgived him.
It was as if Simon would always be enough for Grace, more then enough Grace would ever be able to say.
There are things Grace teaches Simon about Earth culture. Simon knew most of the ideas of what Earth and its humans do. He knew about death, and the life cycle, and he knew about plants and how stars formed before they burned out in his world. He knew how to play cards and knew how to make food from the small scraps he was allowed.
He knew basic human needs and how to open his heart, because he knew that his mother would want him to. It took a long time for Simon to trust Grace, to trust Rocky, or to put his trust into the world around him.
When Grace and Simon grew closer, and found they had similar stories, it brought them to a form of relationship Simon knew he hadn't ever experienced.
Simon couldn't remember if he ever had a partner in his life, if he ever kissed, if he ever had sex. He didn't know if he ever experienced quite like anything Grace was willing to share with him, and he hoped to only ever experience it with Grace.
Grace was gentle, and kind, and so patient. Their touch-starved bodies came together as one, and any moment after was always spent holding hands, arms on shoulders, hands on waists, or kisses on cheeks. Simon couldn't get enough, and Grace was always so eager to provide.
It was bliss, to the simplest of terms.
-
One day Simon had asked about things Grace wanted when he was on Earth, and he said something that confused Simon.
It was a day like any other on Erid, with Rocky off to help Adrian set up for Grace's class for tomorrow. Grace decided a class presentation was due for human traditions, and Rocky and Adrian were hard at work in creating metal displays to showcase each one.
Simon stood at their kitchen counter, leaning against it as he chatted with Grace.
"So, Christmas I think I get. Halloween is a weird one." Simon pointed out, as he glanced down at his plate of blueberries.
He ate another quickly, glancing over to Grace in an interested expression.
Grace looked up at Simon, his glasses hanging off the bridge of his nose. Simon could never understand how Grace could work like that, but Grace explained he would do his best work with skewed glasses.
Whatever that actually meant, Simon had no idea.
"Yeah, Halloween was always a weird tradition. Kids going to strangers houses for candy? Big oof." Grace said, shaking his head.
He went back to writing in his papers for tomorrow's class, his foot tapping against the floor in a sort of weird beat Simon never recognized.
"What other weird traditions do you miss?" Simon asked, curious.
"Hmm, good question...love a good Thanksgiving. We celebrate with a bunch of food and watching sports, particularly one called Football! I know nothing about sports, but my dad was always more of a sports kind of guy." Grace replied.
"Isn't that Christmas? Celebrating with a bunch of food?" Simon asked, confused.
"Well, technically yeah. But Christmas you get presents and a visit from Santa." Grace added, pointing his pencil at Simon with a smile.
"Oh shit, forgot about Santa. Thats so fucking weird." Simon laughed.
Grace did a small shrug with his shoulders and went back to writing.
After a beat, Simon had a thought.
"Was there any traditions you never got to do?" Simon asked.
"Oooh. Good question. I guess...probably celebrate my birthday properly. Never really had many friends, well, at all. So I never thought about the day that much. Oh, and I guess I never got married, but that definitely won't ever happen." Grace laughed, a tinge of sadness in his voice.
"Okay, I get the birthday thing. We'll celebrate that whenever you want. But whats married?" Simon asked, closing the distance between him in Grace.
He sat in the chair across from Ryland, glancing down at the millions of notes he seemed to scribble down.
"Oh snap. Yeah, well..okay how do I explain getting married...?" Grace muttered, sitting back in his chair and tossing his pencil against the table.
He stretched out his arms and cracked his neck, before he placed his elbows onto the table and placed his head in his hands, deep in thought.
"Well...when two people love each other, and they want to commit to each other forever basically. They sign some special papers and have a big party, both wear nice clothes and they both walk down the aisle to uh...commit with a priest..." Grace trailed off, his face growing pink as Simon leaned close to listen to every word.
"Go on." Simon said.
"Right. Uh, and they get married, exchange something called vows, where they said nice things about each other and then they kind of party for a long time. Usually it also means a big cake is brought out, and the couple dance together. Its a whole thing." Grace said, waving it off.
Simon furrowed his eyebrows, trying to imagine something so big.
"That's a lot of things to do." Simon said, contemplating the idea.
"Oh sure. Its wild how big a wedding can be. I never did it myself, so I can't compare." Grace replied.
"So, when do you know you want to be married?" Simon asked, looking over to Grace.
Grace's face reddened quickly, looking back down to his notes.
"Well, one person asks another person if they want to be married to them. They use something called a ring, or something thats special to them to show the other person they want to be with them forever." Grace mumbled, embarrassed.
"Huh." Simon said, leaning back into his chair.
He slumped for a moment, deep in thought, and had a strange idea.
"Oh." Simon finally said, as he went to grip his pendant.
He slipped it off his neck and stood up, before circling the table. Grace looked up to him confused, before Simon slipped the pendant onto his neck.
"So, do you want to get married?" Simon asked, as Grace's mouth opened in shock.
"Are you..serious?" Grace asked, his body trembling.
"Well, sure. I love you, and I think your t-shirts aren't too bad. Plus, I love the way you are so damn selfless. You brought me up from the depths of a fucking blood ocean, Ryland." Simon said, squatting down to Ryland's height.
He went to take Ryland's hand within his, and squeezed it.
"Now I guess, you go?" Simon asked.
"Oh-Oh! We're getting married right at this moment. Oh fudge. Okay." Grace stuttered.
He quickly turned to face Simon, and gestured for Simon to stand. He took Simon's hand and placed his other hand against Simon's waist.
"I love you too, Simon. I can't see myself without you, and I love building up our life here. I love how strong and how you're willing to learn from your past mistakes." Grace smiled, eyes tearing up.
Simon smiled up at him, before he went to pat against Grace's chest. He traced the pendant beneath his fingers.
"So, are we married then?" Simon asked.
"Well, there is one more thing to solidify it." Grace said.
"Oh? What-" Simon began, before Grace leaned down to seal it with a kiss.
Simon hummed into the kiss, and closed his eyes. Grace pulled away and enveloped him in a hug, as tightly as he could. He wiped the tears out of his eyes, his body wracking with joy.
"Gosh, I love you." Grace mumbled.
"I love you too. So, what does a marriage usually do?" Simon asked, as Grace pulled away.
"Well...you can do a lot! We're committed, and today will be our marriage anniversary, so we celebrate it every year...and I guess we could swap last names too, but-" Grace said, unsure.
"Oh. So I can be Simon Grace?" Simon asked, causing Grace to get out a small gasp.
"You...want to take my last name?" Grace asked, eyes again brimming with tears.
"I can't remember what mine was, and yours sounds more like a real prayer. Of course I'll be Simon Grace, and hell, we don't have to celebrate that anniversary thing every year, we can celebrate it every day if you want." Simon pointed out.
Grace let out a watery laugh, and leaned down to kiss Simon again and again.
"I'd love to, Simon Grace."