Work Text:
After a decade of waiting for their mates to return, Adrian, and some of the other eridians whose mates and close family were chosen for the mission, start doing some expeditions of their own. The ships they use are much smaller, lacking the large workspaces and renewable food sources that the first ship had, but they didn't need that. The goal of their expeditions was to explore the immediate area. Maybe the data that they found about how the astrophage was affecting nearby stars would help their mates. Maybe finding out how the astrophage infected new stars would be the final puzzle piece to save Erid. As things were, they couldn't do anything but wait and hope, distracting themselves from the thought that their mates may never return.
About two years before Rocky returned, Adrian set of on a solo mission into a patch of dark matter. They knew that the astrophage avoided the stuff, probably because heat didn't transfer well through it, but trying to move it was proving to be difficult. This hindered both testing and the implementation of a solution if they found one. While testing how this new material worked, Adrian heard a blip approaching their ship.
It was relatively small and slow, drifting more like an asteroid than another ship, but as Adrian's ship approached, they heard that there was a creature, living in the junk of metal. Adrian quickly started making a habitation sounder to make contact with the creature. They found that roughly half of the craft was filled with a dense biological liquid, and the other half was filled with a mix of several different gasses.
Adrian created a small habitable space for the creature in the tunnel, though they had to take some of its liquid, that wasn't something that this small ship could synthesize. They then waited. And waited. Finally after ten minutes with no response they decided to send in a probe, to make sure the creature knew they were there. It broke through the plate of metal separating the creature and entered the ship. Adrian listened as the creature scrambled up onto a ledge to be above the pool of liquid, and away from the drone, and hummed a quick apology. The liquid must have been part of a technical issue that the creature had yet to fix. Maybe a food synthesizer, since it was a dense biological material. Their ship was banged up enough that it wasn't surprising. Checking the readings again, Adrian decided to add more oxygen to the gas in the atmosphere, as the levels had dropped as the creature vented into the air. That appeared to calm it down and, once Adrian had drained the liquid into an auxiliary storage, the creature slumped onto the floor, theoretically entering a sleep state.
After searching the immediate area for hints about where this creature came from, and finding none, Adrian decided to bring the creature home. Who knew, they could help with the astrophage problem, or connect them to scientists who knew how to fix it. It wasn't just because Adrian was broody. It wasn't just because they missed their mate and wanted a living being to take care of. They have been doing fine with just the support of their community.
When they returned to Erid, Adrian made the creature its own enclosure. They also realized that the liquid was not any sort of food, but that only raised more questions of what it was for and why it was all over their ship. It was frustrating to teach it anything, as it took multiple times for it to recognize a single word or phrase but, after a bit a trial and error it could reliably say 'yes', 'no', 'good', 'bad', 'food', 'water', 'sleep', 'watch', 'help', 'sorry', and 'thank you'. Besides the issue with its memory, the creature was reasonably smart, only needing to be asked once to watch Adrian sleep before it realized that the act was important for eridians.
---
Simon was pretty sure he had become an alien's emotional support pet. He wasn't necessarily complaining about it, he had as much food as he wanted, and all he had to do was listen to the large rock's musical rambling and watch it when it slept. He was okay with this quiet life. It allowed him to get used to what the eel had done to him.
There were often other rocks hanging around and talking to his rock but, besides the times when it had Simon follow it out and about with that suit he needed to put on in order to survive in the atmosphere that was unreasonably uncomfortable, he was living the life of luxury. While his rock had stopped trying to teach him the language after basic communication was established, Simon was able to figure out a lot about the rock, just from observation. He knew his name, the names of his rock and the rocks that frequently visited and that his rock was depressed because someone wasn't there. He knew it was someone that his rock missed because the phrase that made it sad and seek him for comfort had a distinct underlying melody that he had only heard when a name was said.
Simon didn't know how much time had passed before his relaxed routine was destroyed. It started with some of the other rocks bursting into the lab area where his rock was working and saying things that were too overlapped for Simon to understand. His rock then rushed out with them and Simon was left alone. While this wasn't that unusual his rock usually gave him a bit of warning before it left, along with an estimation of when it'll be back.
Simon started to worry when his rock hadn't come back by the time it usually slept. This also wasn't the first time but the time with which the other rocks had come to get it had been panicked. That worry only grew when another rock came in to watch him sleep. He started to pace the room ignoring the rock trying to get him to go to sleep.
"What's going on? Where's my rock?" He didn't bother to use the few words that he knew in their language. It wouldn't make much of a difference, they already knew he was agitated. The rock tried to offer him some food pellets but he just knocked the tray out of it's hands and continued pacing around the room. His rock was probably fine, there was probably just a new discovery that was made. It was probably just to engrossed in this new breakthrough that it had spent the night in the lab. But what if his rock was hurt? What if it had suddenly decided that it didn't need him anymore? What if it was dead?
Simon needed to calm down before he had a panic attack. Maybe if got in the suit they'd take him to his rock. The rock that had been trying to soothe him seemed confused when he started putting the environmental suit on but by the time he was done it looked like it understood. As they stepped out of his room, his guide took a moment to call out to another rock, who ran ahead. He was lead through a familiar section but, instead of meeting his rock at one of the docs, like usual, he was nudged onto one of the ships. This did not help his nerves.
After a short trip the door opened into another environment. It was set up like Simon's living quarters, with an area that could be passed through if you had a suit on. Unlike Simon's house half of the hall was also portioned off to be what he assumed was the rock's atmosphere. He decided to step through the barrier entering the unfamiliar atmosphere. But, it didn't feel so unfamiliar. If he ignored all the rock creature's stuff it almost looked like a station. It was much cleaner and well maintained than any station he had seen, but it looked like human machinery. He reached out to touch the hull but before he made contact his rock made itself known with a huff.
Simon had known his rock for long enough to know he was being lectured for being impatient but he couldn't find it in himself to be sorry. His rock was okay. He still hummed out a 'sorry', to placate it, if nothing else. It accepted his apology and started to nudge him down the hall. Simon understood that his rock was taking him to meet someone but who they were meeting gave him pause. That was the name of the person it was so sad about.
He barely had to time to come to terms with this fact before he was shoved into the next room. There was a smaller rock sitting in a less advanced looking environmental suit that perked up as he entered. It immediately started talking but Simon completely ignored it once he saw the rest of the room. This ship was definitely human made. There was a whiteboard with English on it, colors everywhere, and a bed.
A bed with an unconscious human on it.
---
Rocky didn't know how to feel.
On one hand, he was home, Adrian was here, he finally got to sleep with his mate watching.
On another hand, Grace was sick. He had been steadily getting worse as time went on, sleeping longer and being less energetic. It had gotten dramatically worse when Grace opened a sealed compartment. He had been trying to open it through the entire trip but had only managed it last week. He was disappointed in what was inside. After that his body temperature started to rise, he threw up the water he drank and couldn't keep down any food. It was terrible.
On another hand, they were on Erid now, which means more people to help figure out what's wrong.
On another hand, they probably had no idea how to treat a human, so Grace may stay sick or even die in spite of the help.
On the last hand, Adrian said something about adopting an alien while he was gone, so maybe Erid would know how to try.
Rocky was just waking up when one of the technicians on the ground used the radio to call. Adrian, the absolute angel that they are, took care of the call. From the snippets that Rocky paid attention to, their pet was getting antsy and they had decided to let it up to the station. Rock was all for the idea, once he found that could wear an environmental suit, since it may help distract him from Grace. Grace who was just lying there, occasionally making uncomfortable noises, dying.
When Adrian brought their pet in, Rocky realized how much more he knew about humans than the average eridian. He knew that humans could have less limbs, neither dying from the loss of them or regrowing them. He knew that the strings that come from their head and such were called hair and was simply ornamental, growing in time. And Rocky knew that that creature was a human.
They might know how to save Grace.
Sure they had some extra parts but most of their parts were the same fleshy parts as Grace. Rocky jumped up, the words spilling out of his mouth before he could form a coherent thought. Questions and pleas for their help, Rocky couldn't have told you all he said but he knew he was desperate.
The human suddenly lurched forward, extending his hand out towards Grace, but, the moment before they touched him, they stopped. They stood there for a moment before they started to dismantle their environmental suit. Adrian reached forward with a cry, trying to stop them but Rocky stepped forward and stopped their mate. "Don't worry, I think they're a human, like Grace. The atmosphere should work for them."
"A human? But they're so different. It only has the limbs
The human had successfully gotten out of the environmental suit and was cradling Grace's face in their hand. As Rocky watched their hand trailed down to Grace's neck, two fingers pressing into an area where the blood was closer to the skin. After a few seconds they relaxed, finally acknowledging the eridians in the room.
"Solid sustainance." The human spoke in eridian. It was bad and missing several defining tones but it was eridian.
"You rejected solid sustenance before you came up here, why do you want it now?" With how Adrian reacted to the request the human speaking eridian was not a new thing.
When the human next spoke it was in human. "You stupid rocks, the food's not for me it's for them, they've got a fever and they're starving!" Rocky couldn't help but bristle a bit at the insult, but he let it slide. They were trying to help Grace. The human threw their hand up, running it through their hair, letting out a long breath, like Grace did when the science wasn't scienceing. "Solid sustainance, liquid sustainance, assist." This time they gestured violently towards Grace.
By the time Adrian puzzled out their request Rocky was already picking up the radio and requesting all of the supplies that have been used to take care of the human. They nodded, starting to maneuver Grace with their hand. "Assist?" They even stomped their foot in punctuation like a proper eridian.
It took a second to figure out what they wanted help with but he quickly realized that they were trying to prop Grace up. That was probably a good idea. Rocky remembered when Grace had tried to drink laying down. There was water everywhere and he had acted like he was drowning in the couple of drops of water that he had inhaled.
By the time that Grace was properly situated the supplies to take care of him had arrived. The human took their time looking through everything offered to them, grabbing things as they went. They ended up back at Grace's bedside with a jug of water, a piece of clothing, a nutrient slurry, and a bowl of dry nutrient pellets. They started by soaking the clothes in water and draping it over Grace's upper face. They then dumped out half of the pellets before using their teeth to open the nutrient slurry and pour it into the bowl with the pellets. They then took what Rocky thinks Grace called a spoon and mixed it up into a mush, which in a way reminded Rocky of what eridians ate.
The way that the human fed Grace was just as weird as the rest of it. They would place a single spoonful of food in Grace's mouth before closing his mouth and rubbing his neck. After the muscles in Grace's neck had constricted a couple of times the process would start over again. Only half of the bowl was gone when they set it aside, but Grace was breathing better already.
"Watch." The human grunted, barely paying any attention to Rocky or Adrian as they settled into their vigil, and Rocky just, accepted it. They would watch Grace for now so Rocky and Adrian could talk, figure out what happened with each other while they were apart.
---
Grace woke up slowly. The fact that he woke up at all was a bit surprising. He hadn't expected the locked cabinet to contain vodka and dormant disease. Now he was paying for his curiosity. Taking stock of his body, Grace realized that he felt better than when he fell asleep. His fever must have broken during the night. His stomach also hurt less, though it still aches painfully when he paid attention to it. Maybe Rocky had been right about the other eridians being able to help him.
When Grace finally opened his eyes he was met with the interior of the Hail Mary. There were some new editions to the interior though. On one side of the room there was a large pile of assorted things. They were labeled in eridian so Grace had no idea what was inside the various bags and boxes. On the other side of the room there was, something.
At first glance they could be human. Besides a missing arm their silhouette was the same as any other human, but the longer you looked at them the weirder it got. Instead of nails on their remaining hand, they had dark claws that merged into the rest of their hand. Looking at their exposed skin Grace could see patches of what looked to be fish scales, with what looked to be gills curving around their neck. The most inhuman part was their face. One side was normal but the other, Grace didn't want to know what had caused that. Most of the skin appeared to be scar tissue but around his mouth there were rows and rows of teeth. They jutted out from the skin at unnatural angles, reaching out of their mouth in ways that evolution would never allow. Finally there was their eye. Yellow with black sclera and, looking right at him.
Grace froze for a moment when he realized that the humanoid creature was looking at him.
"Hello." The last thing that he expected was the creature to speak to him, in perfect English too.
"Hello." Grace raised his hand in a little wave as he responded. They apparently took this as an invitation to approach, picking something up as they got closer. The nerves got the better of him and he started to ramble. "I know that it's probably rude but I have to ask what you are, or maybe I should be asking what happened to you. I mean I think you're human but also you don't look entirely human and it's a really long way away from any human occupied space so-" A spoonful of relatively tasteless mush was placed into his mouth.
"I feel like introductions are in order. My name is Simon. We're on a planet full of living rocks who are surprisingly kind. The. Additions, are either due to radiation, a giant eel thing, or we're actually dead and they're a punishment for sins that I've committed in life." After Simon was done he removed the spoon from Grace's mouth, allowing him to continue speaking.
"Um, my name's Grace, or well my last name's Grace, my first name is Ryland, you can call me that too, you'd be the only one though, since Rocky calls me Grace, and I wouldn't be surprised if the other eridians also called me Grace since there's a direct translation instead of Ryland which-" Another spoonful of mush shut Grace up. For how relatively bland it was it was surprisingly filling.
"How are you feeling? Your fever broke a few hours ago but that wasn't your only problem. How does your stomach feel?" Grace noticed that with each of Simon's questions his leg bounced. That made Grace wonder how long he'd been staying with the eridians to pick up something like that.
"Yeah, I'm good, or well I feel better at the very least, no longer starving. I've got a question for you though. How are you here? Also why are you here? I mean." Grace allowed himself to fade off into silence. He gladly accepted the next spoonful of mush to do something besides sit in the awkward silence.
Simon thought for a second before he responded. "I don't know how I got to this planet. I have a vague memory of my rock prying open the sub to save me but, how the sub got into space, I've got no idea."
"Your rock?" Grace couldn't keep the teasing time from his voice.
It did exactly what Grace wanted. Simon blushed brightly and practically shoved another spoonful of mush at him. Grace couldn't help but giggle at his embarrassment. "Yes, my rock. I'm ninety percent sure that I'm it's emotional support pet and it's not like I can pronounce their names." Simon scraped the last of the mush from the bowl, shoving it into Grace's mouth before grabbing one of the pillows that Grace was leaning against.
Grace yelped as he fell those few inches back, pouting at the other man as he relaxed back into his bed. He was way too tired to have only been awake for half an hour, but that was probably due to his health. Simon barely paid him any mind, poking his head out the door. It looks like he found what he was looking for, since he called out down the hallway. Grace heard the scuttling of feet that meant an eridian was approaching.
Simon ducked back into the room, making himself comfortable sitting against the wall near where he had been when Grace woke up. A large eridian soon entered the room. Grace was startled out of gawking at the massive creature when Simon spoke, or well hummed, in eridian. "Watch, sleep."
"Of course." The eridian responded respectfully. The last time Grace had tried to say anything in eridian Rocky had laughed him out of the room. Grace pouted harder. "Watch both sleep." Grace only noticed that the eridian had approached him when they spoke. A gentle claw pressed on his forehead, pushing him down into the bed.
He tried to fight it but in the end that much pouting is very tiring.
—
Adrian was dealing with their emotions. There were a lot of them right now.
They were joyous that their mate returned, but, it was only their mate, and celebrating the fact that he returned felt like abandoning those whose mates didn't to their grief.
On top of that, their creature, who had stayed by their side for the past two years, who watched them sleep when they couldn't bear anyone else seeing his grief, was the same species as the one who saved their universe.
Which leads to Grace. Grace saved their mate. He found out how to manage the astrophage. He was willing to sacrifice his own life to ensure that Erid would survive. And he may be dying. That was the root of the problem right there. Adrian could see how much Grace's health was weighing on Rocky, and in their own way, they could understand. They had only known Simon for two years at this point, and even then they wouldn't say that they were anywhere near as close as Grace and Rocky were. For example, Adrian had just been told by Rocky that his name was Simon. However, just because they don't know their human as well as Rocky does, doesn't mean that they don't have an idea of how devastating it would be if his favorite little human died.
Adrian is glad though, that at the very least Simon is just as possessive about them as they are of him. Rocky had teased them about what he overheard. He found the flippant and slightly disrespectful possessiveness of ‘my rock’ to be absolutely adorable, and didn't hesitate to tease them as they returned to the room.
Here they were though, nothing to do but watch the sleeping humans and think. Rocky’s mood had improved dramatically since Grace woke up and, though he went back to sleep pretty soon after that, the fact that he woke up at all was a real weight off his shoulders.
Adrian decided to relax while they could, they had a feeling that once Grace was up, things would get very busy around here.
—
Grace was trying really hard not to judge Simon. The bland mush that Grace thought was just there to not upset his stomach was apparently all there was to eat. Well, technically you could separate the mush into flavorless nutrient shake and flavorless human pellets. The more he learned the more he believed Simon when he said he was an emotional support pet.
Simon's house had the same vibe as the food, slightly sad but you can tell that Adrian was doing their best. There were all the necessities, bathroom, shower, bedroom, lounge, there was even a kitchen, which wasn't used because all the food was the aforementioned bland pellets. However everything was the same color of xenonite gray. Grace thinks that if he had to stay here alone for two years he would have gone crazy.
Simon did mention something about a submarine and giant eel monster, as well as probably having a near death experience before arriving on Erid, so Grace isn't going to judge his standards for luxury, at least not to his face.
Lucky, Rocky was more than excited to make earth on Erid. Grace didn't have to do anything that might make the only other human on this side of the universe dislike him, or see him as a snob.
The scientists had found that the liquid that they had found in Simon's ship could accelerate the growth of living things. Simon refused to let Grace see it though, and even though he'd been accepted as a fellow scientist by the eridians, they decided that Simon's say was final, at least in reference to his ship.
–-
The annual mating day was quickly coming up and Rocky hated that he couldn't spend it with his mate. It had only been a couple of months since they returned from the stars with the news of the deaths of the rest of the crew and their loss still sawhung heavy in the hearts of the mates of those who died.
Rocky yearned to curl up in Adrian's warm embrace but he knew it would be a mistake. This should have been their twentieth mating day together, which meant that they were close enough to start the next generation together. If it would only cause social distress then Rocky would do it in a heartbeat but Adrian had grown close to the widowed mates while he was gone and they cared about what they thought and felt. Having kids mere months after telling them that they were never going to see their mates again felt cruel but Rocky still didn't like it
That's why Rocky was doing the next best thing, making them a courting gift. The only problem was that, Adrian had changed while he was gone. Nothing drastic, but, they arranged the nest differently. They had scars on their carapace that hadn't been there when he left. After everything they'd both been through Rocky was terrified that he'd make a gift that Adrian hated and they'd realize that he wasn't worth waiting for. That the years of isolation had eroded away every part of him that they loved.
So Rocky decided to play it safe, make a utilitarian gift like the ones that he had won them over with in the first place. The only issue is, he has no idea what to make. As Rocky’s mate, Adrian had been elevated to the top of their field, which means that any gadget or tool that Rocky could build for them, they already have, made by someone who has spent their life making that tool specifically.
There is one tool that is so obscure and niche that no one would even think about making it. Yes, it wouldn't technically be a present for Adrian, but they cared for Simon so much that giving him a gift was basically like giving Adrian a gift, through osmosis and all that.
—
Rocky had never really understood gifts. It was something that Adrian had figured out when they were just courting each other. Anything he needed he would make himself. Anything frivolous he would find a use for. He knew that people liked to see their gifts used and appreciated but he had never quite figured out how to do that. Adrian accepted that that was just how their mate was after he used the quarts from a price of jewelry that they had gifted him to make a voice recorder. No, Adrian knew that the actual gift didn't matter as much as the reassurance that he had properly accepted it. To avoid the stress Adrian got creative with what they gave him. Raw material, interesting textures, abstract concepts. Some of Adrian's family scolded them when they found out, calling them self centered and saying that their gifts only benefited them, but Adrian knew Rocky. They knew his every quirk and anxiety. They knew when he was just pretending to be happy and they hated it when he felt like he had to lie to them to save their feelings.
So when Adrian found that there had been a couple meals that Grace had squirreled away and forgotten about, they decided that Rocky would enjoy a new set of building blocks to play with his human with.
—
Simon is pretty sure that anniversary gifts or whatever is happening here are supposed to be given to the person you're celebrating the anniversary with, not their dog.
The way that Rocky was proudly presenting him with a prosthetic arm made him think otherwise. Maybe it's some sort of power play? The arm is technically Adrian's so maybe he was thinking that they could control when Simon could use it? That wouldn't be very effective though. He had long since gotten used to only having one hand, the only thing taking away the prosthetic would do is be annoying. On top of that, they already had all the power in this situation. They had given him everything, from the roof over his head to the very air he breathed. Threatening to take that away would be much more effective.
“Is that garlic?!” Grace’s excitement broke Simon out of his spiral. ”There's so much here! Tomatoes and chili and wheat. How did you guys do this?”
“Grace didn't eat everything on ship, so Adrian was able to work with scientists to reverse engineer earth flavors. Adrian grew plants for some too. Simon was great help in labeling plants and flavors through earth thinking machine.” It was still a bit odd to be able to understand what Adrian and the other rocks were saying at any point in time but Simon was getting used to it.
He was getting used to this life, one that he had never deserved. And it was odd to be loved so unconditionally. But, if that's what was decided for him then this time he wouldn't fight it.