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Dr Ryland Grace is a fraud.
Not because, after all this time, he still hasn't told Rocky he didn't volunteer for the Project Hail Mary mission.
Not Because, after deciding to gift Rocky an Earth Computer, he deleted any trace of that particular Denmark UNESCO conference Stratt thought was important enough to include in their libraries.
Grace was a fraud because, right now, he was making Adrian uncomfortable by feigning ignorance of Eridian Courting Rituals.
"Grace make this? For Adrian, question?" Rocky's mate asked while nervously clicking claws towards the lab tube Grace was holding up.
"Of course," Grace shook the tube a little, "I was playing around and isolated this bacterium that produces a sound similar to the jewelry you like to wear."
Sound was a BIG part of Eridian Courting Rituals, from mating calls to gifts of dangling jewelry made of materials that resonated differently when they came together.
Grace knew all this, when Rocky conveniently disappeared for a Thrum after Grace asked for learning materials on Eridian culture, The Human had to turn to a more reliable source.
And the parents of his school of pebbles did not disappoint. From scientific papers to steamy romance novels, Grace read all of them. He even held an adult class where they could ask questions about humans in exchange for answering Grace's questions about Eridians.
All without Rocky and Adrian knowing. He wanted so badly to be mates with them but in no way did he want to disrupt the status quo. Rocky and Adrian were true soul mates and Grace was never going to do anything to cause even the slightest crack between them.
Didn't stop Grace from fantasizing about it though, about what would happen if they accepted him. Dreaming of their wedding and nest and growing old together.
So he made Rocky a boxing ring, complete with an authentic bell, subtle but meaningful. Rocky was beside himself with excitement to shadow box and dance around the ring.
Adrian was harder, a no nonsense being who only knew the word shenanigan to stop Rocky from indulging in too many of them.
If Grace owed his life to Rocky he owed his continued existence to Adrian. No request was too small or bothersome. What Grace thought might be frivolous, like he was seemingly ungrateful, were noted by Adrian and made top priority.
"After all," Adrian explained, "What is point of keeping Human alive if Human not satisfied with being alive, Statement.."
So Grace convinced some of Rocky's employees, two of the Biodome Shell maintenance crew he nicknamed Pauly and Shore, to give him all the research Adrian had produced. To give Grace an idea of what Adrian might enjoy.
And Grace then developed something. On Earth it was a new and up and coming science, the sound bacterium made. To a human the sound was negligible but to an Eridian ear it had the potential to be loud. So Grace breeds E.Coli until he finds the right one and bottles it up and puts a chain on it.
"You're right, it's dumb," Grace pulls back at Adrian's continued hesitation, "Don't wor-"
"No," Adrian stops Grace's hand from moving by gripping his wrist. Grace could tell Adrian was preoccupied with something as the grip was too tight and would bruise, something Adrian is normally extremely careful about.
"Adrian," Grace spoke gently, "are you okay? Question?"
Adrian didn't move for a count of 6 seconds but then quickly grabbed the tube and started running to the airlock, "Thank Grace! Exclamation."
Grace smiled as he watched the retreating Eridian. An excited Adrian was a happy Adrian and an Adrian who could do science was an ecstatic Adrian. Grace was pleased he worked on making the strain that could live in an ammonia rich environment.
Once the airlock sequence was completed and Grace finished counting to 112, enough time for Adrian to get out of hearing range, Grace let out a breath. He was going to be caught courting his best friend and best friend's mate any day now but the days until then Grace was going to cherish.