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"Hey, Jody, I'm going over to have lunch with Ryland. Call if you need me," Colt said as he walked past his wife's home office on his way out the door. Now a full year since Ryland had returned home, it still felt surreal to be able to spend an afternoon with his brother again. They tried to hang out at least once a week and were constantly texting and usually called each other at least once a day as well. Colt was so grateful to have this second chance with his brother and he was not going to waste it.
Colt stopped at the gate outside Tom and Ryland's home and waited for the security guard to buzz him in. "Mr. Grace, good afternoon. Dr. Grace put you on the list for today, so you are good to go." Colt nodded his thanks and drove though after the gate opened for him. The security around his brother's home might seem a little over the top, but he did have an alien roommate, so it seemed like a necessary precaution in case someone wanted to abduct the guy. Not to mention all the paparazzi that would be camped out on their front step if given half a chance. All the security guards were people Court had personally vetted and trained, so Colt felt confident that Ryland was in good hands.
Once in the house, Colt called out to Rocky to ask where Ryland was. Asking the Eridian was always the fastest way to find anything in the house. The house had undergone some unusual modifications before Rocky was moved in. For starters there were tunnels throughout most of the rooms to let Rocky access the house without needing to be in his ball. The only rooms he didn't have tunnels in were the bedrooms and bathrooms. Tom and Ryland had made sure those rooms even had the walls insulated with material thick enough that Rocky couldn't hear through them. Apparently he had been a bit too free with his suggestions for improving their "mating practices" when he first moved in. Allowing an alien unregulated access to the entire internet had been a wild choice in Colt's opinion. Rocky also had a suite of rooms at the back of the house that were fully his, with his hot as hell ammonia atmosphere stinking up the place and everything. It kind of creeped Colt out to be honest, knowing that there were rooms in his brother's house that would literally kill any human who wandered in through the freaking airlock installed in the garage.
Rocky answered Colt's question with a series of notes that was then translated through the house's speaker system for his benefit. "Hello Grace egg-mate Colt. Grace is in kitchen. He is making food. Disgust."
"Thanks, Rocky. And you know you can just call me 'Colt', right? I don't need the whole title every time I come over. We didn't even hatch from an egg like you are implying!" Colt complained, but it was mostly in jest. He'd grown fond of the little rock spider dude and they both liked teasing each other.
"Rocky knows all about human reproduction. Colt and Grace same embryo split in two. Both come from same egg! Although, if you no like that, I could call you 'horse-boy' since that's what your name means." Rocky teased.
"No, that's okay. We don't need to do that." Colt protested as he headed to the kitchen to see his brother.
Ryland looked up from the sandwiches he was making and greeted Colt, "Hey, good to see you. Are you and Rock still arguing about what he calls you?"
"Hey, Ry. Yes, we are because he's being ridiculous. He wants to call me 'horse-boy' now!" Colt whined.
Ryland snorted at that. "Sounds like one of your middle school bullies when you put it that way. Rocky, you can just call him 'Colt' you know."
Rocky scrambled into the room via a tunnel near the ceiling. "Can. Don't want to."
Colt sighed, "We sure he needs to wait for his people to come get him? We could probably scrape together enough astrophage to send him away right now. Let me call Claire and see what she says."
"That's enough, both of you," Ryland said, breaking out the teacher voice. He handed Colt a plate and gestured toward the living room. "Let's go watch a movie. I still have a ton to catch up on."
**********
They had just finished watching Mistborn and were contemplating watching the next part of that trilogy when Tom arrived home. Tom headed straight for the living room and gave Ryland a quick kiss before saying hello to Colt and Rocky. "What's up?" Tom asked as he squeezed in next to Ryland on the couch. He always refused to sit anywhere but right next to where Ryland was when they were both home together.
"We're still getting me caught up on all the pop culture I missed while saving the world," Ryland answered.
"And yet he still refuses to watch the one movie I actually acted in," Colt said, staring accusingly at his brother.
"It's about me! I think I might die of embarrassment!" Ryland protested.
Tom put on an offended look, "You make it seem like we would have made a bad movie about you. Who do you think we are?!"
"Rocky want to see Grace movie!" said the enthusiastic alien as he held his screen reader up and added to the pressure on Ryland to watch the movie.
"Okay, fine, but if I die of embarrassment, I'm haunting all three of you," Ryland finally relented.
"Wow, Jody will feel so left out if you don't haunt her, too," Colt said.
**********
Ryland had tears in his eyes by the end of the movie, but he hadn't keeled over in mortification, so it was a win in the eyes of Tom and Colt. "See, that wasn't so bad!" Colt said. "They even gave me an Oscar for that!"
Ryland sniffed and dabbed at his eyes with a tissue. "Okay, it wasn't bad. You guys made me look like a hero and I don't know how I feel about that, but it was a good movie."
"You totally are are a hero, babe," Tom said squeezing him tight. "And I'm not just saying that because I'm in love with you. You literally saved the world. If you aren't a hero, I don't know who is."
Colt looked at his brother and brother-in-law and said, "You know what would be cool? If we did a re-release of the movie with some of the actual footage from your mission logs interspersed in there. To show what you were up to while we were back here freezing our asses off." Colt was already texting Jody about the idea as he spoke.
Tom nodded, "That's actually not a bad idea. A lot of people have been asking for a sequel since you got back, but I think an extended cut with Hail Mary footage might be even better."
"Yes! Rocky want to be in movie! Rocky will be a star!" clearly Rocky was approving of the idea.
Ryland, remembering how ridiculous he looked in some of that footage was more than a little apprehensive. "Can I at least have a say in which clips you use for this nonsense?"
"Of course, Sunshine." Tom reassured him. "We will make you even more of a star than you already are."
"Great. I'm so excited." Ryland said, totally deadpan.
"Yes, excite excite excite!" Rocky added.