Chapter Text
12 years after arriving on Erid
The first time Rocky so much as alluded to his idea was a random Tuesday in perhaps the most vague way possible. Very characteristic of him.
“Grace.”
Grace turned his gaze away from the faux sea before him and looked down at his Eridian friend, who was currently standing on the sand beside him. Rocky’s carapace was angled in such a way that Grace had long ago learned meant his full attention was honed in on Grace and Grace alone.
“Yeah bud?”
He let out a low humming sound, usually indicating he was deep in thought.
“Oh come on, spit it out already,” Grace teased, rocking on his bum to gently knock his shoulder against Rocky’s carapace, who sputtered in mock offense. “You’re leaving me hanging here Rock.”
“Apology,” he mumbled. He then remained there for another moment, shuffling his front two claws in the sand before finally asking the question he had been mulling over.
“Have been thinking,” he began, a strangely nervous complexion to his notes that Grace chose to overlook for now. “What if Grace could become an Eridian? Real Eridian, like Rocky. Would Grace want, question?”
Well of course he would. The two had established a few weeks back that Grace had no intentions of ever boarding the Hail Mary again, other than to perhaps teach those interested about the human technology it contained. It now sat in some warehouse-like structure, the Eridians somehow managing to wrangle it out of orbit years ago. It had come down in pieces, but it was relatively unharmed according to Rocky. Not that Grace ever saw it. The idea of getting back on that rickety old spaceship and hurtling back towards Earth, comatose or not, made him feel sick to his stomach.
Life on Erid wasn’t perfect, but Grace felt a sense of belonging here, a sense of purpose, that he never felt anywhere on Earth besides his classroom. Sure, he couldn’t leave his habitat, which he referred to as his biodome, but plenty of Eridians came to visit him here. He spoke to many through the classroom’s observation window, not just including his students, and Rocky was a near constant presence inside the biodome. With Rocky came Adrian, who had warmed up to him more than he could ever have hoped almost immediately. The two kept him in constant company, and rarely did he find himself falling asleep without at least one of them there to watch over him.
Erid’s gravity certainly wasn’t kind to his joints, but he learned to live with it. The aches and pains would only surely grow worse with time, but Grace intended to make the best of whatever the universe granted him here. It's not like he actually expected to make it here, anyway. Turning the Hail Mary around to rescue Rocky, in his mind, was returning Project Hail Mary to its original status as a suicide mission. Even though he knew the fuel aboard would be enough to get him and Rocky to Erid, the food supply would surely not be. But by some miracle (and ingesting a lot of Taumoeba, yuck) they made it. Well, Rocky made it and they practically dragged a half dead Grace out of the Hail Mary after a couple months in orbit but there's no need to dwell on that now.
He recovered and he is happy.
That doesn’t mean sometimes Grace didn’t wish it were different. He’s beyond happy he made it, don’t get it messed up. He wouldn’t have it any other way. But Grace can’t help but feel.. left out sometimes. He will likely never get to see Rocky and Adrian’s actual home (and feels beyond guilty that it's likely collecting dust more than anything these days since the two of them spend most of their time not working with Grace). He can’t properly assimilate himself into Erid’s true culture, which from what he's heard is beautiful and vibrant in ways that cannot be described. He wants to be a real teacher for his students, not stuck behind that stupid wall of xenonite glass. He can feel the gravity slowly crushing his spine. He wants to explore. He wants to run across Erid’s true, solid ground. He wants to make this place his home for real.
But that cannot happen. He’s made peace with it.
It’s fun to imagine, though.
“Well, yeah, it would definitely make the whole ‘not dying in your atmosphere’ thing easier,” he laughed. “Oh, and the gravity. Can’t forget the crushing gravity,” he added with another small chuckle. He did not take notice of Rocky’s lack of amusement. “But that's just not possible. Believe me, I wish it was, but I am happy as I am, really.” Grace turned to Rocky with a warm smile, only to frown at the clear tension in his friend’s posture.
“But Grace will die. Stupid leaky weak human body-”
“Whoa come on thats mean-”
“-cannot survive on Erid for long. Gravity will crush Grace’s spine, joints will fuse, Grace will die.” He stomped one of his front legs (arms? Grace had never quite decided what they were) into the sand with a displeased chirp. “Rocky want to fix. Not want to watch Grace suffer.” He continued to ramble off more extremely frightening things that would inevitably happen to Grace’s body the longer he remained on Erid as Grace watched with an increasingly deepening frown. With a sigh, he reached forward and grabbed Rocky’s carapace (or rather, the xenonite suit covering it) and turned his full body to face the now stock-still Eridian before him. He now sat up on his knees looking down at Rocky with the most patient look he could muster.
“Rocky, we have talked about this. I knew what would happen when I agreed to come down here. I knew your gravity would be difficult on my body, I knew I’d probably have a much shorter lifespan than the average human.” He couldn’t help but rub his thumb in small circles over the triangular faces of xenonite that formed Rocky’s suit as he spoke. “But it's okay. I got one heck of a second chance after what was literally supposed to be certain death for me. And I get to spend it with you, my best friend.”
“But Grace-”
“No, we are not having this talk again.” He shook Rocky slightly. “There are some things that just cannot be fixed. You know this, I know this. I am happy and that is that. Capiche?”
Rocky mumbled something Grace couldn’t quite catch that he elected to ignore. He knew Rocky didn’t like what would inevitably be Grace’s fate, but there was nothing to be done. It just is what it is, no two ways about it. He just sat patiently, leaning back on his heels as he let Rocky stew over his words for a moment.
“Is fun to imagine,” Rocky mumbled after a few minutes of silence, interrupted only by the sounds of the waves lapping the shore just feet away from where the two sat.
“Well maybe we shouldn’t imagine things like that if it's getting you so bent out of shape, bud.” Grace pulled his arms back from Rocky’s carapace only to poke a finger into the center of it, much like how you would to someone’s forehead. Rocky grumbled.
“Rocky is in perfect shape. Grace is not. This is the problem.” He stomped his claw into the ground again defiantly.
“It's a saying. Means you’re getting yourself worked up and stressed over nothing.”
“Well Rocky wants to imagine. Imagine with Rocky, question?” Grace sighed. He supposed he’d entertain him this one time, if only to make Rocky feel better.
“Okay, but if you start getting all existential on me again I’m banning this topic entirely. Deal?” Rocky bobbed his carapace in the Eridian equivalent of a nod, seeming pleased based on the happy chirp that slipped through his vents. “So, what do you want me to imagine?”
“If it were possible, hypothetically, would Grace want to be an Eridian, question?”
“Of course I would,” he flopped back down on the sand, leaning his weight on his hands that were now anchored in the sand behind him. “You know what, there's a movie where something like that happens. Guy goes to an alien planet and gets a new alien body. Pretty good, if I’m remembering it right. Only ever saw it once.” This seemed to excite Rocky greatly.
“Yes, yes!!” Rocky bounced in place a little, a movement that Grace found to be extremely cute. It's sort of like when your dog hops in place waiting for you to throw its tennis ball across the yard because it's just too darn excited to sit still. Though Grace felt Rocky held more similarities to a cat. “What is movie about, question?”
Grace really had to rack his brain for that one, but he was able to form a cohesive enough synopsis regardless. “Its called Avatar,” he began simply. “Not to be confused with the other Avatar. The Last Airbender, about a magic kid, it's this whole thing. Anyway-” he waved his arms about as he spoke. “Its about some dude who ends up on an alien planet that humans decided to colonize and basically turn into a fuel mine even though the native people, they’re called Na’vi, weren’t cool with it. A scientist came up with a way to synthesize fake Na’vi bodies and temporarily transfer a human’s consciousness to it to study the planet and the Na’vi better without needing to wear big bulky space suits. Humans couldn’t survive in that atmosphere.”
“Like Grace!”
“Like Grace,” he agreed.
“Want to watch this movie.”
“Sure thing man, I think you’d like it.” Maybe this would help Rocky get his mind off whatever nightmarish, death scenarios he was imagining Grace in. He’d taken a shine to movies during their long trip to Erid and they still frequently held movie nights. Adrian often joined them these days, which was a welcome edition. They both were enraptured with the concept of a movie more than anything, but Adrian had developed a strong attachment to the Barbie movies. They’d even had the strange suggestion that Grace resembled Ken in the live action one that was released not long before the Hail Mary launch, which he found utterly ridiculous.
“If you could see how bleach-blonde his hair is, you’d disagree.” He had argued.
“Their bone structure is the same, they definitely look like Grace.” Adrian refuted with no less confidence than when they had made the claim initially. And to Grace’s chagrin, Rocky vehemently agreed with his mate. Traitor.
“Will invite Adrian, they will like also.”
“As long as they don’t compare me to another character who looks absolutely nothing like me, they are more than welcome to join.” He said with a playful smirk on his face. “The more, the merrier.”
“No promises.”
—
6.5 years later
The rapping of Eridian hands on his front door stirred Grace from his deep concentration on the laptop that rested on his lap. He had just about every book that had ever been published on Earth stored within that laptop and, as such, decided he might as well take advantage of it. He’d never been much of a reader, at least not when it came to story-focused books, but what did he have if not time?
…
Well okay, maybe he wasn’t rich in that department, either.
He set the laptop aside on the bedside table, only grumbling a little bit at the aches in his back as he did. “Mary, unlock the door please.”
Only a second later came the voice of Mary, the very same robotic voice that embodied the Hail Mary’s response system. “Front door has been unlocked, Dr. Grace.”
“Thanks Mary.”
Moments later, he heard the front door smoothly swing open, followed by the pitter-patter of 2 sets of Eridian footsteps. He could distantly hear notes being exchanged back and forth, but from behind his bedroom door he couldn’t quite make out the words. All he knew for sure is that those were, unmistakably, the voices of Rocky and Adrian.
Ever since Grace fell a couple of years ago and broke his hip, his mobility worsened beyond repair. They’d tried canes, walkers, braces, anything the Eridians could find on their “thinking machine” Grace had given them. And while they helped for moving short distances, like to his bathroom or kitchen to get a midnight snack, Grace was begrudgingly bedbound these days. As such, Rocky and Adrian’s visits only lengthened and became more and more frequent. Adrian even learned to cook using the synthesized foods that were delivered to the biodome for Grace on a regular basis. It took time, but they had mostly grown desensitized to Grace’s eating habits and had become very firm in making sure he ate whenever and however much he should.
There had been one new, very noticeable emptiness within this routine, however; Rocky was rarely around to watch him sleep anymore. Adrian’s company was much appreciated, of course, but Grace couldn’t help but wonder just what was keeping Rocky away. Had he grown bored of watching Grace sleep after so many years? He couldn’t blame him for needing a break, humans do sleep more often than Eridians after all. It was reasonable, if that were the reason. But the only answer he could ever get out of Rocky or Adrian when he broached the matter was ‘Rocky is busy busy busy.’ But with what, they never gave a clear answer. Just that there was some big project that demanded much of Rocky’s time.
“Don’t want to work when Grace is awake.” Rocky had supplied one of the times Grace asked after his absence. “Very very very busy since return from space, Rocky is very desirable engineer now.” He had laughed at that and accepted Rocky’s still all too vague answer with a smile, albeit a strained one. He couldn’t help it, he missed falling asleep to the sound of Rocky tinkering with some gadget or with his arms curled around Rocky’s carapace as he drifted off. Heck, he even found himself missing Rocky’s complaints about Grace’s snoring, of which had become much more frequent the past few years. “Cannot focus with so much noise from Grace. Humans loud when sleep.” His doctors had made note of it, too.
Adrian would frequently be away for long periods of time, too, apologetically leaving Grace with no one to watch him. Sure, humans didn’t need someone to watch them sleep, of which he had told Adrian when they expressed their guilt to him over the matter. “Don’t let me get in the way of your job, Adrian. Humans don’t need someone to watch them like you guys do, remember?” Of which they had replied “Of course I remember, Eridians do not forget.” Nonetheless, he realized very quickly how dependent he had grown on that routine.
Same excuse as Rocky, too. Adrian was just busy with work and didn’t want to waste Grace’s awake time being away. It was reasonable. It was. But it was also getting increasingly lonely and his sleep was paying the price. His doctors were certainly not happy at Grace’s sleeplessness. Though, they weren’t happy about a lot of things regarding his condition lately, so pish-posh. Occasionally a doctor would watch him sleep in Rocky and Adrian’s place in hopes of improving his sleep, though it granted little improvement.
As Rocky and Adrian’s familiar footfall grew closer, their (what he now realized was) tense conversation only continued. It gave him an uneasy feeling. Usually when Rocky visited he would bound into the room, excited to show Grace some gadget he had made or to complain about the biodome team again. Recently he’d been showing off progress on a probe, similar to the Beatles, that they could use to allow Grace to send Earth what would likely be his last ever transmission to them. Studies he’d done on Erid and its residents, video logs that he had continued recording even after disembarking the ship for the final time, and maybe a final goodbye to the planet he loved. But now, even from the confines of his bed, he could feel the apprehension radiating from the main room, leaking in from underneath the door.
To make things worse, he finally managed to make out something that Adrian said, and it wasn’t encouraging.
“You have to tell them.”
Great. Just great. Maybe he was finally about to kick the bucket and Rocky had valiantly volunteered to deliver the grim news, probably finding the doctors unsuitable to deliver something so heavy. Fantastic, just how he wanted to start his morning.
“Rocky?” He called out, the exchange of notes on the other side of his bedroom door immediately coming to a stop. The door swung open only moments later, Rocky slinking in with Adrian following close behind. The two Eridian’s were connected by intertwined claws that refused to separate, even as Adrian turned back to politely close the bedroom door behind them. Neither of them had ever understood Grace’s request to shut the interior doors behind them (‘We can see Grace anyway, even with the door shut.’) but Adrian had remained determined to respect Grace’s illusion of privacy on a planet where a wall in between you really meant nothing to anyone but him.
Rocky looked small, heck Grace would go as far as to say he looked afraid. He’d come to learn Rocky’s body language quite well over the years, thank you very much, and this was a scared Rocky if he had anything to say on the matter.
Yeah, maybe the whole ‘I’m about to die’ theory wasn’t so far off.
“Whoa whoa, what's going on?” Despite his effort to keep his voice calm, he couldn’t help the slightly nervous warble that crept its way in. “Whats got you looking so down in the dumps, bud?” The Eridian shifted uncomfortably as Adrian used their free arms to push him forward.
“Rocky has something important he wishes to share. Is big big big,” Adrian responded in his place once it became clear Rocky did not intend to break the silence himself. Unusual. He hissed, clearly displeased. Adrian only gave a sort-of shrug. “This is why we came, dear. The project cannot move forward without Grace.”
Whoa, hold on. What project?
“I’m sorry, what project are we talking about?” Grace looked between Adrian and Rocky with an urgency that wasn’t there before.
Maybe he wasn’t going to die. But then again, what was with the nervous silence? Something was still wrong, that much was certain.
Thankfully, Rocky finally seemed ready enough to speak, straightening his carapace and letting go of Adrian’s hand. He climbed onto the bed and Adrian crept closer to the bedside, stopping at only about an arms length from where Rocky attempted to give himself some semblance of comfort.
“Grace remember movie Avatar, question?”
All this over a darn movie? God, maybe Grace wasn’t as good at reading Rocky’s body language as he thought. There is no possible way Rocky was this worked up over a movie about a bunch of blue aliens and a corrupt human mining corporation that they’d watched years ago. But, no, even now Rocky shook slightly. He was definitely nervous. What the heck is going on?
“Theres no way this is about a movie, bud, don’t try to get out of whatever this is about now.” Rocky only continued to nervously paw at the blanket that laid over Grace’s legs.
“Not an excuse, is relevant.” Adrian reached forward and nudged Rocky’s leg as he spoke in silent encouragement. “Grace remember talk on the beach before movie, question?”
“My memory isn’t as good as yours, pal. You're gonna have to run me through it.” Rocky let out a frustrated huff at this response, to which Grace added a small “Sorry.”
“Is okay, not Grace fault human brain not good at remembering.” He chose to ignore the dig. Not like Rocky was wrong, anyway, but now was clearly not the time for a joking back and forth over it. Whatever this was, it was serious. He resigned to sitting patiently while Rocky mulled over his thoughts again. He continued to mess with the blanket as he did, a nervous tick of his Grace was more than familiar with by now; whenever Rocky got this nervous, he had to do something with his hands.
“Rocky asked Grace if Grace would want to be Eridian, if possible.”
Oh boy. Almost instantly, that conversation flooded back into his mind as clear as if it were yesterday. He knew where this was going.
With a groan, he lifted his arms in a placating gesture. “Bud, we talked about this-”
“IS POSSIBLE.” Grace flinched as Rocky’s booming voice echoed throughout the room, a stark contrast to how quiet he had been moments prior. Even Adrian recoiled slightly. “Eridian scientists and Rocky and Adrian do much work, study movie Avatar. Find way to make Eridian body for Grace. Permanent body, no more weak leaky body.”
He couldn’t speak. Rarely was Grace rendered totally speechless these days, but what was he supposed to say to that? Good god, there was no way he had heard that right.
“You what?” His voice was little more than a whisper. His whole body felt cold suddenly. Too cold. This was wrong, this was not right. He was asleep. Had to be, cause how else could you explain what Grace was listening to right now?
Clearly alarmed by Grace’s startled reaction, Rocky rushed to explain, which only made Grace all the more overwhelmed. He only heard bits and pieces.
“Take samples of Grace DNA, mix with Eridian DNA!”
Nope.
“Human Jake got new body permanently in Avatar movie, think, why not Grace?”
His head was spinning. He was not real, none of this conversation was real.
“Body is beautiful, beautiful beautiful beautiful, Grace will like.”
They did not grow an entire Avatar inspired Eridian body for him. They can’t. They couldn’t. It wasn’t possible.
“Grace can leave dome! See Erid!”
None of this makes sense.
“Almost ready for Grace! Very very close!”
What the fuck.
“Grace? Grace? Grace, please say something.”
He felt sick. Was he going to throw up? Oh god, he was definitely going to throw up.
“Grace?”
He never should’ve shown him that movie. Oh god-
His spiral was interrupted by a gentle weight coming to lay atop his right hand. He blinked, eyes falling on Adrian, who had shuffled closer to the bed and was now manipulating his hand to hold it comfortably in theirs. It was grounding. In an instant, Grace felt less like he had just been launched out the airlock of the Hail Mary into the endless vacuum of space and more like he was back on solid ground again. Or rather, back atop his mattress. Semantics. But his mind still raced with endless questions.
Adrian seemed to hear them all just by listening to the surface of his face as it shifted. “You are scared.” They stated simply.
“I am not scared,” he tried, but no, he definitely was feeling a bit scared right now. “Okay, maybe I'm a little scared.”
“Your heart rate was 155 beats per minute, you were in a state of panic.” If Adrian was anything, it was observant. Nothing slipped by them, not ever. Where Rocky’s emotions could result in him missing details here and there, Adrian never missed them, especially not something as obvious to the Eridian ‘ear’ as the symptoms of a panic attack. “This is a lot, is okay to be afraid.” Their voice was a melodic purr, calming him as they continued to rub the back of his hand soothingly. He focused as much of his energy on that gentle touch as he could.
Rocky whined anxiously from the foot of the bed, looking small and like he wanted to run from the room if one of Adrian’s claws was not once again anchoring him in place. They only let go once he stopped squirming.
“Let's start again, slower this time,” Adrian decided. Rocky began to speak, only to immediately get cut off. “Rephrase, I start over. Rocky’s talking made Grace afraid. Rocky’s panic will only make Grace more panicked.” Rocky released a disgruntled huff but relented, much to Grace’s relief. As much as he loved Rocky, Adrian was definitely the more level headed out of the two of them. They would definitely be able to deliver a more cohesive, less panicked explanation. “Are you ready?” Their gentle voice asked as they continued their ministrations on the back of his hand. He nodded meekly and they began.
“We have found a way to synthesize an adult-sized Eridian body for Grace to use.”
Okay, so he didn’t misinterpret that. Good to know.
“How?” Grace couldn’t help but ask. If they had somehow managed to pull something like that off, this was a scientific marvel unlike anything he’d ever seen before. Come on, this is fantasy alien technology Adrian claims they replicated! What kind of scientist would he be if he didn’t immediately ask questions? “That's.. I mean seriously, that's just impossible. You can’t just grow a body from nothing.”
Adrian hummed patiently. “Yes, not from nothing. Replicated the process in which Eridians grow in eggs. Except use Grace’s DNA mixed with sample of Eridian DNA. Very complicated.”
“Okay, but how am I supposed to ‘use’ it?” He paused. “Actually, scratch that. Better question, is this body already here somewhere? Where is it?”
“Not far from your biodome. Approximately 2.78 Earth miles in the North-West direction. Body is floating in artificial embryonic fluid in holding tank. Replicates conditions inside egg for best development.” They said it all so simply like it was the most normal thing in the world. Which, Grace supposed, to them it probably was by now. They had to have been working on this for at least 5 years, if not longer. Oh god, how long had they been hiding this from him?
“And uh.. how long did that take?” He stifled a small cough as he spoke.
This time, Rocky responded. “Exactly 6 years, 2 months and 15 days, Earth units.” His voice sounded a lot less frantic now, clearly having calmed himself as Adrian took the reins for a minute. Still, it did nothing to cushion the blow of his answer. Grace had to take a moment to process that and run the math through his head to confirm what he had immediately suspected.
“Holy cow Rock, you started this literally right after we watched Avatar. Barely even 2 months later.”
“Yes, did not know how much time until Grace's body fails. Wanted to work quick.”
Grace just sighed, finally facing Rocky fully. “You did not listen to a single thing I said during our conversation, did you?” Rocky stomped his claw (gently) on the mattress with a huff.
“No, Rocky always listens. But Rocky disagree with Grace,” he straightened his carapace confidently. “And Rocky was right.” Grace put his head in his hands, groaning while Adrian scolded Rocky. Something along the lines of “Not the time”.
This was a lot. Like, a lot.
Seriously, this was not a decision any other human had ever been poised with. An entirely new body? Not just that, but a non-human body? A body made to endure an entirely different set of atmospheric conditions and temperatures than the one he currently inhabits? Heck, he wouldn’t even have the same amount of limbs, and that's not even mentioning the lack of eyes.
As if sensing his apprehension, Adrian raised another claw to rest on his leg, which he didn’t even notice had begun to bounce slightly. It was a habit of his when he grew anxious, something that no doubt Adrian and Rocky both had cataloged years ago within their expansive knowledge on his body language. Their touch was, once again, grounding and almost instantly his leg stilled again. Rocky, however, squirmed from where he still remained at the foot of the mattress.
“Grace.”
He raised his head enough to allow his eyes to peak up at Rocky. “Yeah, bud?”
“What do you think, question?”
Well, he thought a lot of things. Too many things all at once. For one, he couldn’t stand the overwhelming feeling of hope that flooded through him. Grace knew when he turned the Hail Mary around to rescue Rocky that he would die, and while his death was postponed by the Eridian’s hospitality and quick adaption to human medical know-how, he still would never live as long as Rocky. He would be but a temporary blip in his best friend’s life, that much was certain no matter if he made it to Erid or not. He knew this and he accepted it, no matter how much it hurt. But now, here comes Rocky with some kind of magical solution that would give him not only more time with the most important, precious person he’s ever had the honor of knowing, but it would give him the full Erid experience and erase all the human pains in his body. He could leave this dome for good and experience what being Eridian was truly like.
To put it simply, this was a chance to live, like really live. Live in a way that he never even could back on Earth.
But that's the problem. This just was not possible. This whole plan was apparently based on a fictional Earth movie that took place on a planet that literally does not exist with science that doesn't exist. Grace got his hopes up back on the Hail Mary once; back when Rocky had promised him the 2 million kilograms of astrophage needed to power the ship on the long journey back to Earth. He had cried so many times (too many times, according to Rocky) and felt so much hope. Grace could go home. He could look Stratt in her face and tell her everything that he felt once he remembered just how he ended up on that damned ship. He would get to see his students again. New faces, sure, but they would be his kids the second they entered his classroom just as those before them were. He’d buy himself a car with the money the government would no doubt shove at him in hopes of keeping him quiet about what really happened to him, maybe a nice house. And then you know what? He’d still tell the true story because the government, no, the Task Force be damned, he deserved to be petty after everything he went through. And what could they do about it? He literally saved the entire planet. They’d all be dead without his unwilling almost-sacrifice.
But then the Taumeoba just had to learn to sift its way through the atoms of pure Eridian xenonite, the strongest metal Grace had ever seen. Because of course it did. And so, because there was no way he was letting Rocky die of radiation sickness, alone in the vacuum of space, Grace turned that ship right back around and squandered all that hope he had felt for months now. He never regretted his decision, put him back there again and Grace would undoubtedly choose Rocky every time. But the crushing pain of hope being sucked from him all at once upon realizing how the Taumeoba was leaking was a pain he would never wish on anyone. He couldn’t do that to himself again.
Or could he? Not like he’d be alive to feel disappointed if it failed.
Grace’s head hurt. This was just too much. 20 minutes ago he was reading a book about an astronaut who had been stranded on Mars and now, here he was, stranded on an alien planet being proposed with the idea of becoming an alien himself.
“I don’t know what I think,” he groaned, dropping his head back into his hands fully, blocking his eyes from the world. “This is a lot to take in Rocky.”
Rocky was quiet for a moment before he spoke again. “Is Grace mad? Understand if Grace upset. Wanted to be a surprise for Grace, but understand if not good surprise to hide this for so long.”
“No, I’m not mad.”
“Grace seems upset.”
He sighed. “I don’t know what I am right now bud. But I’m not mad at you.” If he wasn’t so overwhelmed with shock right now, he would’ve been flattered that Rocky was willing to go to such incredible lengths just for little old Ryland Grace. He shuffled on the mattress, pushing himself further up the headboard so his back could sit straighter. To his disappointment, Adrian removed their hand from where they had been petting along his thigh, but their other claw remained intertwined with his fingers. They squeezed comfortingly, which coaxed a small smile out of him. Adrian purred.
“I’m gonna need to think about all of this for a while, Rock.”
Rocky bounced his carapace up and down for a moment in eager agreement. “Yes! Yes yes yes, Grace think about Project GRACE for a long time. Long, long time.”
Grace nodded, satisfied. If him thinking about it would make Rocky happy, he would think harder about it than he’d ever thought about anything in his life. He was about to raise his fist to give Rocky a small fist bump, a gesture that had become an almost secret-handshake sort of thing for them, when he paused.
Wait a second.
Before he could stop himself, Grace let out a wheezy laugh. Rocky stilled, confused, and even Adrian flinched back a tiny bit. He raised both arms, hand now freed from Adrian’s claw, waving them in front of him nonsensically as he struggled to regain control of himself. At least he wasn’t contemplating his declining health and the existence of an alien body that contained his very own DNA anymore, he supposed. Gotta think about the positives. “Sorry, sorry,” he wheezed again. “But there's no way you called it Project GRACE.”
“Yes, that is what it is called,” Adrian answered, tilting their carapace much like how a dog would tilt their head when faced with a strange sound they didn’t quite understand. “Why, question?”
“Grace thinks name is stupid!” Rocky accused, pointing a finger at Grace in mock offense.
“Oh come on, you make fun of my ability to name things and then you go and call the project about me by my own name? Talk about unoriginal, dude.” He only doubled over laughing again as Rocky exploded into an angry cacophony of notes, stomping on the mattress as he did. Riling him up never got old.