Chapter Text
"Si? You in here?"
Ryland's voice filtered through the multitude of leaves and vines of the greenhouse, reaching Simon, who was crouched in the far back.
"Yeah." He called back easily, standing with a small basket under his arm, now full of various fruits and vegetables.
Adrian weaved it for him after hearing Simon rant about how the previous basket kept slipping from his arm under nearly any weight at all.
"Basket built for human using two arms, not one. Adrian will fix." They had said like it was no problem at all.
Simon made his way to the front of the greenhouse, following the mop of blonde hair and the artificial breeze coming in through the open door. He was eternally grateful to Ryland for having the greenhouse built just a few weeks after he had rescued Simon. The small building had quickly become one of his favorite places to spend his time.
"Any good harvests?" Ryland asked with a warm smile as soon as he spotted Simon, tilting his head slightly just to meet Simon's eye before he rounded one of the taller plants.
"Yeah, should be enough for dinner, I think," Simon replied with a short, satisfied nod.
"Good, good, good. That's awesome."
A pause.
Ryland shifted from foot to foot.
Simon nodded once more, then moved past Ryland, walking back to their home. He knew Ryland would follow. Sometimes he liked checking in on Simon just for the sake of doing so. Simon didn't mind it; he often did the same.
The two of them were able to move around each other easily now. Simon would never take that for granted. He knew how…difficult he was in the beginning. How strained their relationship was at the start.
"You weren't difficult, Simon. You were just scared." Ryland told him one night, curled up on their couch, his laptop forgotten on his lap as he focused all his attention on Simon. "Plus, you always apologized right after…even when I told you that you didn't need to be sorry."
Simon had grumbled something as a response before leaving the room to busy himself with anything but looking at Ryland's earnest expression.
"How was work?" Simon asked as he shouldered their door open, heading straight for the kitchen.
"Great! The kids were asking about you again." Ryland grinned, standing next to Simon as he began to wash the produce.
"Were they?"
"Of course! They love your plant lessons."
"Lessons" was a strong word for what Simon did. Sometimes, when the greenhouse needed minimal care, Simon would stop by to check on Ryland. He was always met with a bright smile and happy chirps and whistles.
The kids would always ask to hear from him, and Ryland encouraged their curiosity. They mostly asked about the greenhouse, and Simon always answered.
Plant lessons.
"I'll try to stop by again soon," Simon answered, handing Ryland the produce to dry off. He accepted his job easily.
"I think they would like that, yeah."
Another pause.
Ryland began to shift again.
Simon knew Ryland was psyching himself up to say something. He got in his head like this sometimes. It stressed Simon out at first, and he had vivid memories of snapping at Ryland to just spit it out. That was when he was worried that his time here was limited; now he's not so afraid.
So, their evening stretched on the same. They talked about what they would make for dinner and prepped it. They took a break on the couch, just enjoying each other's company, before ultimately neither of them could sit any longer, and they got up to properly make dinner. Throughout each of these moments in their routine, Simon would notice Ryland shift more than usual—which was saying something—or just look at Simon like he could somehow project his words into his mind—which he could not. Out of all the mutations he had ended up with, mind-reading was not one of them. Rather unfortunate for times like this, but they made it through.
For dinner, they landed on baked potatoes, one of the first foods Ryland said he asked the Eridans to engineer. Ryland claimed that they tasted like the "idea of a potato", but Simon didn't mind. He didn't have a reference for what they were supposed to taste like in the first place. According to Ryland, most of the food they grew tasted like "the ideas" of what they were supposed to be. The Eridans could only do so much in terms of flavors for foods they had no framework for. Ryland said it was a marvel they had a taste at all. Simon was inclined to agree.
Dinner passed by without a hitch, quieter than usual, given Ryland's own internal turmoil rather than the space between them being filled with his thoughts and ideas. By the time they were cleaning up, Simon couldn't take it anymore. He put the cloth he was using to wipe the counter down and looked at Ryland, really looked at him.
Ryland met his eye a few times as he washed the dishes before realizing that Simon wasn't looking away.
"Uhh…Something you need, Si?" he asked, like Simon was the one being weird.
"What's up with you? Why are you so-" He moved from foot to foot in an example before continuing on "-shifty today?"
Ryland opened his mouth to say something.
"And don't say it's nothing because you've been doing this all evening. Is everything okay?" Simon's eyebrows were pinched together as he looked at Ryland, trying to read his expression.
"Yes! I mean, no. Well- It's-" He sighed as he dried off his hands and leaned against the counter.
Simon waited for him to continue.
"Remember when you and Adrian caught that-" Ryland opened and closed his hand a few times "that blip…out in space."
Simon gave a slow nod. Simon was helping Adrian out a few weeks ago, learning how to repair eridan tech, when a small blip came across their radar. It wasn't something that happened often, so he suggested that the eridans kept…for lack of better words…an eye out for it.
Just last week, while Rocky and Adrian stopped by, they mentioned that the blip was getting closer, but it didn't look like a threat.
"Just a meteor passing, perhaps," Adrian suggested with an unsure hum. "Rather close…but perhaps."
"Yeah, of course I remember." Simon answered, "Did something happen to it?"
"Yes! No! It's- Ugh!"
Another pause as Ryland worked out how he wanted to frame his words.
"It's a ship," he finally said, rather quickly. "A very…very small ship…with a very small person inside."
Simon straightened up, eyebrows still furrowed. "What? How do you-"
"The Eridans brought her in today. She's in a coma."
"Holy shit." Simon breathed out. "Holy shit!"
"Yeah, I uh-" Ryland cleared his throat. "I only found out right before I came to tell you…I personally think you should have been the first to know, given how you found the blip and all, but you know Rocky can't keep a secret for long when we talk and-"
Simon's gaze fell as he began to think before it shot back up to look at Ryland. "Have you seen her? Is she okay?"
Ryland shook his head, "I came to tell you right after Rocky told me, the Eridans are doing all they can to keep her vitals steady, but I think Armando should take a look at her-"
"We should go see her," Simon stated before turning to leave the kitchen, slipping on his shoes at the front door.
"Yeah, okay!" Ryland replied quickly, following Simon.
Before they made it down the small steps, Ryland grabbed Simon's hand gently.
"Hey," He started, waiting for Simon to turn to look at him before continuing, "Sorry for taking so long to tell you, I didn't know how to bring it up without being like 'Hey Simon! How's your day going? Oh, by the way, there's a human child on Erid now!' "
Simon shook his head with a small smile. "It's fine, Ryland. You didn't- did you say a child?"
"What did you think I meant by 'very small person'? "