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It's late at night. Grace is busy in his lab studying the microbes that Rocky supplied him with earlier in the week. Simon just got back from meeting with Adrian about expanding the green house. He sees Grace’s cane by the door, and calls out.
“Ry? You in?”
“Uh-huh! In the lab!” He yells without looking up from his microscope. Right now, all they can grow is root vegetables. Given their freezing atmosphere, the insulation the dirt gives them means they can eke out some things similar enough to carrots and potatoes. And those specific species are all from the south of Erid, where it’s considerably cooler. Grace is trying to selectively breed some fruit trees, or anything that can grow above ground.
“Have you left this lab today?”
“Technically, no.” Grace gestures to the clock that reads 1 AM. “But I did leave yesterday.” Simon hums.
“I'm going to bed,” He waves his hand above his head as he leaves. “I better see you next to me within the hour,’ he calls out behind him. Grace doesn’t answer, already back to business. He turns his attention to the petri dishes where he’s trying to germinate multiple different generations of seeds. Nothing he has done has stuck so far. Maybe if they were planted outside the biodome, then brought inside once stable enough?
2 AM comes and goes, then 3. And Grace is working as diligently as ever. He hears footsteps come up to the door and whips his head towards the clock. Shoot. He starts protesting before Simon can even open the door.
“I am a grown man and can-”
“I don’t want to hear a damn thing. I'm going to start opening shit up and pouring it on the floor.” Hm, that's new. “You’re the one that told me after 24 hours of no sleep, the human brain is at the same functioning level as it is when drunk. That is a huge lab safety risk, Dr. Ryland Grace.” Damn, he’s been had.
“Well then maybe I should have a few drinks. Cancel it out, PEMDAS style.” He goes to grab his water bottle and knocks it over instead. “Right, yeah. Let me clean up. I'll be right in.” Simon leaves once again.
When Grace walks into the bedroom, Simon is sitting against the headboard, reading. He pretends to not notice him eyeing him up and down when he’s changing. Grace takes his glasses off and slides into bed.
“Tell me about what you're reading?” Simon clears his throat and starts in a low voice.
“This girl wishes her brother away to some kind of monster by accident.”
“How do you wish away someone by accident.”
“Well she did wish him away, but she was being theatrical and didn't think it would actually happen. Anyways, now she's making her way through a maze to get him back.”
“Hm. Mind if I read too?” Simon nods and they both move towards the middle of the bed. They tangle themselves up in each other, ensuring they’re both comfortable and can see the pages. Grace gets so cozy he hardly notices his eyes sliding shut. Simon nudges him awake.
“Are you even reading?”
“Huh? Yeah, yes. I am. I’m just thinking about how much more I would enjoy it if you were reading it out loud.”
“Shut up,” He says with a grin, “you just wanted an excuse to cuddle.”
“I don’t need an excuse,” Grace runs his hands down Simon's leg,”When I’ve got allllll this right here.” Simon laughs
“What the hell does that even mean?” Grace inhales, savoring the smell of the other man.
“I don’t know, maybe we can find out if you start reading.” Simon scoffs, but complies.
“Sarah went over to him. The ladder looked unsafe to her. It was constructed of an odd assortment of bits of wood, planks, and branches . . . “
Grace listens to Simon’s deep voice continue the plot of his maze book. His brain tries to run off and think about the seeds, but he wrangles it back with minimal effort. They lay there for years or for hours, he can’t tell, before he finally drifts off to sleep.