Chapter Text
The first thing that Grace learned about eridians is that they are probably the kindest hearted beings in the universe. At the very least in their galaxy. Barring any new first contacts, he thinks his assessment will hold up.
But the second thing that Grace learned about eridians?
Is that they are terrible at temperature.
Which doesn't even make any sense! They are so good with numbers! All of them, let alone the eridians like Rocky who are utter geniuses at seemingly any branch of mathematics. And yet there is something getting lost in translation here.
Grace has loosely explained the temperatures that humans find comfortable. Or at least the ones he finds comfortable, as he's sure plenty of his fellow humans would find his typical lower, verging-on-chilly, temperature preference unacceptable. But jokes on them because he can't even have that!
Not only is his body not willing to deal with his normal temperature range at the moment, he can't seem to explain to the eridians how humans work in relation to heat in general. He made sure to translate the relevant temperature scales and then had Rocky translate it to whatever eridians use, but no dice. There are still little errors and constant misunderstandings.
For example! Every morning (whenever he wakes from a long sleep-cycle the doctors have designated 'morning') the doctors come in and complete an in-depth check-up. Just to make sure he's not secretly dying after all the time they spent stabilizing him. Or maybe they're just recording information about humans, he's not entirely sure. They could probably squirrel away enough details about being a doctor to a weird squishy alien to write some killer memoirs.
…Grace would actually like to read those. Huh, maybe he should ask.
Back on topic: Okay, so check-up. Fine. Dandy, even! Makes total sense to Grace.
And then the next step in the mornings is breakfast! Again, this makes sense.
What doesn't make sense is that while the doctors and nurses happily hand Grace a tray of whatever concoction they are trying that day to mimic coma slurry and the— typically disgust disgust— shots of various recently synthesized vitamins, they also give him a big cup of water.
Which is infallibly boiling hot.
Like, steam rising, bubbling at the surface, hot. A temperature that he simply cannot drink. Unless he wants his face to mimic his scarred arm and back.
Now that he's doing a little better and eating more often? This happens at every.single.meal.
And this shouldn't really be that big a problem! He can literally just wait for it to cool to a disconcerting (but not harmful) overly-warm temperature and then get on with his day. It just delays his meal a few minutes. Because trust him, you cannot try to consume the vitamin shots without something to wash it down with. Last time he tried… he wasted all the poor 'Grace Nutrition' team's hard work and scared the pants off Rufaida when it uh… Came back up.
Right okay. So he just waits. Allowing the water to cool down. That's fine! He can be patient.
Except for the fact that apparently all the medical care professionals in this place really want to make sure he's both 'eating' and drinking properly. So they've gotten in the habit of sticking around for a few minutes. At least until he starts digging in.
Apparently the only thing the eridians like less than watching him eat is watching him avoid it.
Most of them have gotten really upset and worried. Half of them had been prepared to call a dang code red. Simply for him not eating! Like he was in danger or seriously ill or something… Wait, do eridians have codes like that? (What would they use instead of color? Maybe a particular pitch?)
Still, Grace really didn't want to deal with the hassle of explaining to his entire medical team that he is perfectly fine and not dying at all at during every single mealtime. Plus they get legitimately worried…
So he's started a new tactic! Of distracting whoever happens to be bringing in his meager rations. Starting up a conversation about anything. Literally whatever. Whether that's explaining esoteric Earth concepts like candy stripers in hospitals or asking basic questions about Erid.
Or inquiring about the eridian in question, of course. That always works.
On the plus side, Grace has gotten some great gossip out of this ritual. It reminds him a little of hanging out in the teacher's lounge and getting little snippets of stories absolutely saturated with a catty glee. You think the kids have all the drama in a school? Not even close.
That is to say, he now knows that one of the nurses here, Opal, is going to head home to a proposal one of these days. And has no idea what their mate is planning. Grace is really looking forward to being able to properly congratulate them!
(Also, on the more juicy side— Frank and their mate just added another member to their mated group and… it is not going smoothly. Hey, Grace is rooting for them though!)
So this tactic has worked reasonably well! He's not actually sure how much it makes the eridians forget about the fact that he's not eating given their powers of multi-tasking; they —might believe he is just being foolish and chatty, rambling over breakfast and letting his perfectly normal water and slurry get too cold. But they have all been nice about it. And most of the crew is actually surprisingly happy to talk to him!
(Maybe they realize he can't talk and eat at the same time? Well, not without being rude.)
His new habit should have solved the issue. Except…
He's starting to run out of ideas for random topics.
Really, he could bring up truly anything and he thinks his medical crew will be nice enough to listen for a little bit, but he's trying not to annoy anyone too much. Plus, he knows he probably acts a little frantic during meals and having conversation starters ready to go will probably help. They're going to start getting suspicious otherwise. And then he's going to have to try to explain again that boiling water is very bad for humans to drink and either no one will understand or worse, they'll feel bad about giving him something unsuitable— Or even dangerous! Not that it's been a problem. He's not a little kid, Grace can be trusted with something as simple as hot water. But maybe someone will think he's ungrateful or even lazy for not wanting to simply wait for the water to cool and—
Rocky interrupts his agony by laughing at him.
"Hey!" He protests, grabbing one of his spare pillows and tossing it at Rocky. "This is serious!" The guy should know that already! Grace has been explaining this dilemma since Rocky arrived this morning. Right after another pressure-filled breakfast.
It falls pathetically short of hitting the giggling boulder standing at the foot of his bed. Darn this double gravity— It really messes with his aim.
"Grace being very silly." Rocky announces, crawling up on the bed and grabbing the failure of a weapon in one smooth motion, "Solution already found, yes?"
His solution is rapidly going to become another problem. Grace can practically feel it coming, the awkwardness,"Has the crew mentioned me being weird?" Grace asks, keeping his voice low and glancing at the airlock. He's fairly confident no one is just outside at the moment, but he never really knows for sure.
Rocky crosses the bed, the motion a little ungainly with one hand holding the pillow and another occupied with a small bag that looks almost like burlap, leaving only three limbs for navigation on Grace's unsteady cushioning. But he manages to move without trampling anywhere on Grace.
Always careful, Rocky gingerly steps around Grace's legs, his weight causing the mattress to dip towards him. Holding the pillow out, he says with a ringing tone of joy, "Grace always weird."
Thanks, buddy.
"You always know how to cheer me up." Grace grumbles, taking the pillow as Rocky offers it. Stuffing it behind himself to prop his still-aching body up a little better.
"No, seriously. Humans eating is weird. Disgust. Rocky doubt crew notice anything past the gross." Wow!
"Someone's feeling spicy today." Grace shoots back with a grin. Rocky simply curls up on the bed with a pleased churring noise, just far enough from the head of the mattress that he's easily in Grace's sight, all pressed up against his leg.
Unhelpful. Terrible best friend. Grace ignores Rocky as the eridian opens his little satchel and pulls out something made of xenonite to fiddle with. It looks like a coil for something? Whatever. Grace has bigger fish to fry. He'll ask later.
Going back to his ruminations, Grace tries to figure out how to break it to the medical team that they are kind of really bungling the whole water situation. No, that sounds too aggressive. Maybe he should just focus on coming up with new topics of conversation for everyone. Maybe avoid unnecessary confrontation in the process? Besides, his teams been so wonderful on literally everything else, who is he to complain? On that note, he should probably remember to ask Rufaida about that singing competition they mentioned tonight. That'll probably buy him at least a few minutes at dinner—
As if he senses Grace's worry and totally grounded, reasonable angst about these future distraction conversations, Rocky whistles an unsteady tune that Grace is pretty sure doesn't actually mean anything to an eridian and is just Rocky's way of mimicking a human's annoyed sigh, "Does Grace want Rocky to talk to medical team, question?"
Whaaaaat? Noooo! "No. That's fine…" Grace doesn't make eye contact with Rocky's carapace, looking away, "Maaaaybe?" He adds, cringing at the embarrassing pitch of his own voice. Ugh.
Maybe he should actually make sure first, before they go complaining, "Is there like. A reason? That they keep bringing it in so hot?" Do they just pull it from eridian pipes and so it's naturally just 200 degrees? Is there a purpose or is it coincidence? Are they going to be insulted if Rocky mentions that they keep attempting to give their resident human second degree burns?
"Probably because they are stupid." What?! Rocky!
"Stupid. Dumb. Do not listen to reasonable suggestions and complain when someone tries to implement smart adjustments to tools and hospital room." Rocky continues, a bitter reverb in his tone that Grace is sure would have carried over somehow to his computer voice had the translator still been on. What on Earth— Er, Erid— is he talking about—? back
Oh. Ha, that's right. Grace forgot.
The Great Schism.
At least, that's what Grace has been calling the weird falling out between the Grace-Medical team and the Engineers-of-Grace-Temporary-Medical-Room. At the start, the two teams worked seamlessly together on saving his butt and building this place. Getting the work done so quickly and with so little friction that Grace was in awe.
Then something happened in the last few weeks to cause the doctors and the few engineers Grace sees on the regular to start sniping at one another. They don't even try and hide the sudden animosity; not even from Grace. When he had gotten genuinely alarmed and upset by the sudden mood shift, everyone had jumped to soothe him and promise that nothing was wrong with the hospital or anything like that. It wasn't something Grace needed to actually worry about.
Which obviously didn't stop him from worrying.
Funny thing though is that Grace can't seem to find the actual reason for this emergent rivalry. If there even is one. Everyone he had tentatively questioned on the subject had a different answer. Including Rocky's: 'Doctors just being huge dicks.'
Needless to say, Rocky cast his lot in with the engineers.
"Don't even know how water works." Rocky continues his verbal crusade against the poor medical team, hands moving a mile a second across whatever his project is, fueled by indignant rage. Hm. Maybe Rocky shouldn't be the one to ask them to cool it down a touch.
On the other hand… Grace really doesn't want to be the one to complain.
Surely the doctors can survive dealing with Rocky for one tense, probably impolite conversation. Grace survived six years with the guy in an extremely confined space. He's not that bad.
"Rocky has been banned from Grace hospital room." Adrian announces, strangely calm given their news drop.
Darn it! Grace knew something had gone wrong when he received water at a genuinely drinkable temperature this morning and Rocky hadn't come in to crow about how he fixed the problem.
Groaning, Grace thumps his head back on the pillows, "Was it about the stupid water?" He asks. Hoping that it was some other petty thing that got his best friend banned from the room.
"It was…" Adrian hesitates, "Mm. Mostly about the water." Ugh.
Covering his face with his hands, Grace groans even louder. "Sorry, Adrian." He laments.
"No need for sorry." Adrian whistles softly. "Water was wrong. Needed to be fixed. Grace should have told doctors earlier." He tried! He explained the temperatures and everything! Maybe he didn't mention the water specifically but…
Dropping his hands and turning to Adrian, he asks, "Is Rocky okay? I'm kind of surprised he hasn't tried to bust his way in. Regardless of the consequences." Rocky has been really nice about sticking by Grace as he heals. Almost to a surprising point, getting snippy with anyone who implies Rocky was not needed in the hospital. Or even those who suggest he isn't supposed to be there every moment.
Which… Grace is secretly grateful for. Rocky is very much needed in the hospital. Grace needs his friend in here.
Placing a hand very, very gently on his arm, stroking it once slowly before stilling, Adrian explains, "Threatened to. But ban is only until end of day anyway. Adrian thinks doctors just need break from Rocky." Ha. Okay. That's a relief.
"Rocky's threats that effective?" Grace asks with a chuckle, twisting his arm to return Adrian's gesture and pat at the xenonite suit they wear with the tips of his fingers. He's very slow and careful— Adrian has gotten a little more comfortable touching him, but they still have some hesitance for whatever reason, so he tries to hold back. Give them space to pull away if they need.
"Oh no. Rest of engineer-team said they would picket hospital." Oh good gosh.
"The Great Schism." He sighs. Of course it's still going on. And of course the engineers come to Rocky's aid. At this point, Grace is starting to get worried that his naming might not be overly grand after all; this nonsense is inching closer and closer to an all-out battle.
"Excuse, what is word, question? After great." Adrian hums, reaching over with another arm to pull the translator a little closer to the both of them.
But Grace shakes his head, smiling at the eridian. "Word means 'a big gap', but don't worry about it. Human history thing— I'll show you later." He wants them to appreciate the completely accurate historical reference.
"I would like that." Adrian says softly. And Grace smiles a little wider.
Well, at least he's not going to be alone while Rocky waits out his punishment… Wait, where is Rocky? He went home, surely? Or maybe he's taking the time to visit people. The guy probably has a lot of people to catch up with after so long away. So surely he's not like. Waiting outside the hospital like a lost puppy, right?
"Where did Rocky go? Back to your guys' place?" Grace actually isn't sure where they live.
"No. Would have stewed in anger. Started revenge plan." Adrian responds, a rippling laugh punctuating their words, "Adrian instead send Rocky to store to pick up a few items for the 🎵🎶." Ooh! New word!
New word for Grace this time! Leaning to the side, he scoops the translator up from where Adrian left it, "What was the last word?" Up until now he hadn't needed the Eridian to English translator much and was pretty darn proud of that fact!
"Last word, question?🎵🎶,question? It means— Hm." Adrian pauses, one of their free limbs tangling their claws on his favorite quilt, "A sleeping spot. But temporary." Oh. Interesting! That they have a word for that… is it because of sleep emergencies? Rocky told him that happens sometimes with eridians. Especially younger ones who aren't quite in tune with their sleep-cycles yet.
"Temporary? Like… a camp ground?" Grace asks, trying to find a good translation to input. That doesn't sound quite right though, even as he types in 'camp', he isn't quite sure.
Wait, is Adrian talking about Grace's temporary sleeping spot? Or… theirs? "Are you… aren't you guys staying in your house?" He asks.
"Hm?" Adrian gives him a short hum, "Adrian goes back home occasionally. But Rocky has not been home long since coming back from journey. Only visit a few times." Wait, why?
"But where has he been staying?" Rocky sleeps sometimes in Grace's room for him to watch obviously, and watches Grace sleep in turn. But surely that's not the arrangement for every sleep. Grace figured he went home with Adrian at some point. "Is he… has he been…"
Almost drawing his arm away from Adrian in guilt, Grace tenses, keeping still as he asks, "Has he been staying away from home because of me?"
That—That's not fair. Not at all. Rocky came home. After decades alone in space. After their whole journey, after becoming a hero to his people! He should get to enjoy his homecoming!
Half expecting Adrian to say something comforting or deny Rocky's behavior, Grace is shaken when they sing, "Yes. Of course."
Pulling his arm away suddenly is an accident. Adrian jumps in what he hopes was not fear as Grace covers his mouth.
"Adrian— I'm so sorry—"
The eridian sort of hops up on the stairs, two or three of their back legs balancing on the steps as Adrian leans their upper half and two arms on the bed, "Grace? Is Grace okay, question?!
"Yeah, no. I'm fine." Grace assures them quickly, dropping his hand and forcing a smile for the eridian, "I just— You guys know you can go home, right? You don't need to be stuck here because of me."
Adrian is quiet for a second, a very subtle thrum coming from the crystal structure of their carapace is the only sign they heard him. Then softly, they whistle, "Not Grace fault. Rocky want to stay with Grace. Understand. Grace want Rocky to stay, question?"
Well…
"You guys should be able to go home whenever you want. You can come visit, of course. Rock and you are literally always welcome. But you don't need to…" he trails off. Because Grace…
Really doesn't want them to leave. He doesn't want to be alone here.
"Too far." Adrian says simply. "Not very good for Grace or for Rocky. Beloved Rocky need treatment still, hard to travel back and forth afterwards. So Adrian Rocky stay in camp nearby. Constructed near Grace hospital and eridian hospital. Less movement, easier on Rocky, Adrian, Grace."
Oh? Oh!
Grace makes two realizations in that moment. One, that the main hospital is way closer than he realized, how did they ever get permission to build his toxic atmosphere here,
And that he very much mistranslated that new word.
Probably with a sheepish expression, Grace quickly changes the translation from 'camp' to what must be much more accurate,
'Hotel'. They are staying in a hotel to be near Grace and the doctors.
Much more sensible. And makes him feel less guilty for trapping Rocky here. And hey, if you look at it from a specific angle, him being here is better for Rocky, since so many specialists are all gathered together. They're now some of the few eridian doctors to know anything about space medicine and radiation.
Grace can attest to that with the almost dozen mini-interviews about radiation that he's gone through with the doctors. Every eridian had been so nice and almost apologetic about asking for in-depth scientific explanations while he was still in recovery, but in truth Grace had been thrilled to share all he knew. Not only could it help Rocky with any treatments he might need, but he would be actively contributing to an entire planet's scientific understanding! In a branch of science that's literally being created as they spoke. How cool is that?
In fact, Grace would really love to do some more scientific communication. He would be glad to get into contact with any eridian scientists and collaborate. Although… that might have to wait until he's on slightly more solid ground health-wise. Standing up and walking literally anywhere further than the edge of the room is hard enough; a scientific conference is probably out of the question.
Ah, whatever. He's got time now. Actual time. It's a pretty big step up from being tossed on a suicide mission.
When he smiles at Adrian its much more honest, "I'm glad you two are here." He says, despite his worry of being too much, too demanding of their attention, "I know being stuck here is probably pretty boring… But I'm glad to be here too."
"Yes. Glad Rocky is home." Adrian sings, settling back down in their previous position on the stairs. They really need to bring in like… a chair or something. Whatever fits Adrian. Maybe a cushy platform? Or they could always just ask the engineering team to snag one of the other beds from the Hail Mary. If they can tear themselves away from their fights with the medical team, that is. Ha—!
"Glad Grace is home too." Oh.
Something in his chest goes warm and almost fizzy, Grace glaces away, turning his face slightly, but his dumb grin is almost surely still obvious to the eridian, "Thanks, Adrian." he murmurs.
The feeling in his chest never seems to recede as he spends a few hours with Adrian. Quietly discussing whatever comes to mind. At some point during a conversation about Erid's shockingly effective public transportation (His American mind can't even compute) Adrian gently places their hand back on Grace's. Unwilling to startle them again, Grace makes utterly sure that he keeps his hand as still as possible.
Only breaking contact when Opal comes in with a hissing noise from the airlock and a tray of delicious, delicious slurry and— Ack. A new vitamin test, it looks like. Oh boy.
"Good afternoon, Grace!" Opal sings, chipper and joyful as always. Grace isn't sure what time it is on Erid, but he doubts it's actually afternoon. Opal has been sweet enough to try and pick up on a few human greetings though, attaching them more to his sleep-wake cycle more than any actual clock. And he has to admit, it's been kind of nice.
"Hey Opal!" He greets, mimicking their happy tone. He starts sitting up, knowing it's lunchtime, and he'll need to sit up anyway.
But while he does so, he looks slyly over at Opal. Pretending to reach behind himself to adjust the pillows while shooting a clandestine glance over their… Utterly bare arms. No mating mark in sight. Aw man. Their partner for sure chickened out. Not that he really blames them, Grace can't imagine the pressure of a proposal, but he's still kinda bummed. (At least he has hot gossip for Frank and Rufaida about this development.)
Apparently he 'fluffed' the pillows too long, because Adrian reaches very slowly and cautiously to try and assist him, pulling the pillow up closer to his shoulders to prop him up. It backfires and provides less support for his lower back and spine, but is Grace going to say anything about that? Make Adrian feel bad? No chance.
"So what's on the menu today?" He asks, tapping Adrian's arm in thanks for their effort, "Cheese burgers?" Man, he would do anything for a burger right now.
Despite Grace doing this bit too often for it to be funny in the slightest, Opal is always a good sport and chitters a little giggle, "No, not solid food." He's not sure if they actually have checked what a 'burger' is or is just assuming, but either way Opal settles the tray at the edge of the bed, on the opposite side from Adrian, "But it does have something you will like!" Oh?
Doubtful. Last time Opal said something good was included in his meal plan was when they first tried out a potassium shot. Never again. Until they manage to nail the formula he would frankly prefer hypokalemia.
Separating the taumoeba à la coma slurry and the dreaded vitamin shots (there are two of them this time!) Opal snags the large cup of water and energetically shoves it in his face, "Good water!"
Oh jeez. They sound happy about it, but Grace immediately feels guilty about his complaints. Plus about whatever Rocky said to the doctors. Man, he hopes he wasn't too mean… "Thanks!" He says, taking the cup with a smile, trying to convey his genuine, deep gratitude. As well as a little bit of an apology for having such a terrible friend.
Opal doesn't seem to notice either way, they tilt their carapace to the side, singing, "Yes! We made the water much much cooler for Savior Grace!" Ah. He's suggested to Opal that the title really wasn't necessary, told them that just his name was totally fine, but they acted so sad that he never pushes when they slip up and add it.
"Sorry for the hassle." Grace mutters, embarrassed by his own human inability to simply drink boiling water to appease his hosts. (Ugh, it sounds ridiculous when he says it like that!)
"No! No worry. We make it much cooler from now on." Opal insists. "Was difficult to cool in time for Grace meals— But the problem fixed now! Please no worry." Oh. Is that why it was so hot? They couldn't cool it? He's not sure why exactly that is given their incredible engineering, but it makes him feel even worse.
Still, he doesn't want them to think him ungrateful, so he immediately goes to take a sip, relieved when there isn't a single hint of steam coming off the liquid.
Only to almost choke yet again at the temperature.
Pulling the cup away from his face, he gasps, "It's so cold!"
Somehow the eridians went the opposite direction on the thermometer, swinging like a pendulum from boiling hot to barely hovering over the freezing point. Literally, it feels like this is the coldest they could get it without the water turning into a solid.
Standing up on the bed again, Adrian whistles, "Grace okay?!"
Grace hears Opal make a mournful sound, "Is too cold for humans? We can change it, get better water for Savior Grace!" He sees a hint of their claws reaching to take the cup from him, but the sight is slightly blurred.
Tears have started pooling in his eyes and he quickly blinks them away, shaking his head. "It's so cold!" He repeats, breaking out a huge smile. Putting the cup in one hand, he reaches the other to scrub over his eyes and cheeks to avoid truly embarrassing himself, "It's so nice!" he laughs. Gosh,
You don't know how much you miss ice-cold water until you haven't had it in years. All the recycled water on Mary was room temperature. Since being on Erid he's had his water just a bit too hot. Or tepid at best.
So to have ice water again… "Thank you so much." He says to Opal, "Its perfect." It's definitely going to chill him, as it rightly should.
With a shaky breath, Grace savors his water, letting the ice simultaneously soothe and freeze his throat.
Both the eridians sit back with what he assumes is their equivalent of a relieved sigh. A soft, doubled tone ringing across the room.
Grace swears the new temperature of the water even helps him keep down the terrible nutrition shots. This new one was vitamin K, which is definitely going to be important for his continued bone health in Erid's gravity, but is only marginally easier to drink. They have not improved the taste profiles yet. Grace still has to chug half his water as a chaser after trying to shoot the vitamin as quick as possible. But despite the horrible taste clinging to his tongue, Grace manages a smile.
As he's busy choking down vitamins and taumoeba slurry while fawning over his water, his guests strike up their own conversation. Conversations plural, if the shifting, layered tones are anything to judge by. Trying to parse their words is difficult given that neither of them are using any 'human accommodations', but he's proud when he catches plenty of individual words and phrases, even with the intensity and speed they are speaking at. Grace is pretty sure they are probably trying to distract themselves from the spectacle of a human eating, so he mostly just lets the slightly frantic music wash over him and avoids interrupting.
Only really locking back into the conversation when he's just about done with his meal and Adrian whistles, "Grace?"
When he looks over and gives them a smile, Adrian tilts their carapace in his direction, "Cold water is good, question?" They say.
"Oh yeah! Absolutely." He's almost surprised Adrian couldn't tell solely by his 'leaking', but then again, they haven't had nearly as much time to get used to human expressions of emotions as Rocky has.
But then then they raise a claw, gesturing to around them, "Then is room a good temperature, question? Should room be colder as well, question?" Oh!
Well… the room temperature never really bothered him. Now that Adrian brings it up though, he notes that it is actually pretty warm. The temperature range he gave the eridians was already a little warmer than he would have liked on Earth, but given his recovery leaving him chilled, it has served him well.
Now that he's doing a little bit better he's not quite so cold though. In fact, he hasn't needed his cardigan in a full week. At least as anything other than a pillow or familiar grounding object. Putting it on leaves him just a tiny bit too warm, actually.
Not in an unpleasant way. More like on a summer afternoon, when the air is just warm enough to feel thick. The kind of afternoon that is made partly for sleeping through, lounging for a short nap with the sun at its peak.
His hospital room has some of that same heat, although without basically any of the moisture in the air. It's been nice, though Grace can imagine that it probably contributes to his chronic sleepiness.
Then again, that could just be from the prolonged hunger and his body trying to regain energy and strength.
"If Grace need room colder that is easy!" Opal joins in, "Easy, easy. No worry, we can change it today!" Oh wow. So quick? He's been fretting over this water thing for weeks now.
Of course, they must have some kind of cooling system for the room in place already. They've already managed to cut the ambient temperature down more than a hundred degrees from the natural surface of Erid just to make it livable for him. They can probably drop it down a few notches on the thermostat, no problem.
So far the warmth has worked out great… But it might be a nice change of pace? Just a little cooler. Plus, maybe it would feel like things are getting a little closer to normal. Well, closer to whatever 'normality' he forges for himself on Erid. Testing the waters and seeing if he can handle colder temperatures— It sounds a little dumb but Grace thinks he would be kinda proud if he ends up comfortable with the change. Like dealing with a room a few measly degrees cooler would be an accomplishment.
Fidgeting, Grace brushes one hand down his arm, stroking over the mark Rock left on his arm when he dragged him to Armando in a gentle, repetitive motion. The skin on his arm is layered with old burns, but the scar tissue where his hand gripped is raised above the rest.
Maybe it would be more like… It would be proof that things really are getting better. That the damage can heal. Is healing.
On either side of him, the two eridians are waiting patiently as he thinks, not pushing. Except for the little taps Adrian applies to the metallic bar by his bed. Grace wonders if they're trying to study his expression or if it's like a nervous tic. They do it a lot.
Finally deciding, he nods, turning to both of the eridians, "Yeah. Yeah, I think I'd like that. I mean, I don't need it or anything, so—"
"Amaze." Adrian cuts him off, still managing to sound gentle somehow even as they clearly discredit his very reasonable concerns about inconveniencing the eridian teams, "Talk to medical team today. Talk to engineering team as well."
Opal noticeably twitches, rocking their carapace slightly.
"Separately." Adrian quickly amends.
With that, Opal seems satisfied. Dang, he didn't really expect Opal to be involved in the Schism. They're always so sweet!
"Will ask Rocky to join talk with engineering team. When ban is lifted." Gosh. Grace is still scared to find out what the heck Rocky said to make the others decide that their only option was to ban Savior Rocky from anywhere, let alone this place.
Probably something that is going to haunt Grace for ages. Man, eridians never forget, either! Thanks, you guys." Grace says, pointedly ignoring the future apologies he knows he is going to end up crafting on Rocky's behalf, "I really appreciate everything that you are doing for me. You all have been incredible, and I know it's probably been difficult."
An apology of his own is on the tip of his tongue before Opal shakes rapidly side-to-side, either in annoyance or an extremely violent interpretation of a human shaking their head, Grace isn't sure, "No! No difficulty. Well, some. But good kind!" Opal assures, "Savior Grace has been wonderful!" Aw.
Well shucks, "Thanks, Opal." He says softly. Grace isn't really sure he's earned such clout from his medical team given that they have mostly seen him at his worst (Okay, no, not his utter worst, but close) but he does appreciate them all a lot.
Adrian hums agreeably, but doesn't say anything. Just scoots a little closer to Grace to make contact with his shoulder, pressing the top of their carapace into him as they reach to grab his hand. It's almost certainly the most contact he's had with Adrian at once, and it makes him smile so much he probably looks like a dork.
Tapping on his tray, Opal lets out a short cord that he doesn't quite recognize, but they follow up too quickly for him to ask, "I take the containers back now. Oh! What should I report to the Nutrition Team on taste? Good, bad?" Opal giggles, "What is rating on Grace-Scale?" Urgh. That's also new. They've been testing new slurry recipes. Which is pretty scary. Right now it basically tastes like nothing, and given the concoctions the eridian teams produced for the vitamin solutions have been the nastiest things Grace has ever consumed, he's actually pretty happy with the underwhelming mush. Except for the kinda slimy texture.
"Like… a four?" He offers, even though that was being generous. Most of the food wasn't unbearable anymore, but he also wouldn't say his rating is anywhere close to neutral. He definitely doesn't like it yet.
"Out of six?!" Opal perks up, tilting their carapace and dropping the tray on his bed long enough to do a jazz hands. Whoops.
Not quite willing to rain on their parade, Grace grins and bears it as he adds, "Yeah, I mean, it's okay—"
"Human use base ten." Adrian snitches.
Leaving him with a drooping Opal and even more guilt. "No! I mean— Sometimes we do a five star scale!" He protests. Trying to explain away his poor rating of their admittedly kinda awful food. All the while Adrian whistles a slightly amused tone, holding his hand innocently like Opal shuffling away all low and disappointed isn't partly their fault.
So he has two terrible friends.
When he turns to them with a mock glare, Adrian leans back into his shoulder, and he finds he doesn't have it in him to scold Adrian for being less-than-tactful.
Well. It's not like they were wrong anyway.
Letting the issue lie, he hopes the honest feedback might help the Grace Nutrition team try new options that might be a tad more palatable. Maybe it's not too terrible to ask for food he can taste and stomach at the same time.
For some reason, the thought makes him smile. Grace leans into Adrian slowly, and smiles even more when they don't even seem to react. In this position, he can feel their heat just barely soaking through the thin xenonite suit, soaking into his entire side, "So you were telling me that you guys have bullet trains across the entire planet?"
As Adrian launches back into their story of riding one of the new train lines built for the space elevator, Grace slowly realizes he's feeling the warmth more and more. And now he knows the heat was making him sleepy, because his eyes start to close as he listens to Adrian. Eventually he can feel himself drifting, the warmth pressing more and more into his face as he slips down.
And he can feel the reverb in his entire body as Adrian hums, "Rest well, Grace."
The next time Grace opens his eyes, he realizes instantly that he's no longer propped up on the pillow nor leaning against Adrian. At some point he must have laid down, because he's now tucked under his blankets, his quilt which had been thrown over him neatly is now bunched as he grips it tightly, hiding under the covers in his sleep.
It doesn't stop his shaking.
Braving moving the blanket just slightly, Grace looks in mild surprise at his own hand, wondering why the tremors have returned when he was getting so much better.
When he realizes as the blanket shifts away from his head and shoulders a burst of cold air follows, rushing into his little semi-safe bundle of warmth.
His room is suddenly freezing.
Oh, darn it all!!
Grace thumps his whole face into the pillows, dragging the blankets up and cowering as best he can as his body shakes.
How do they keep doing this?? He knew he should have given them an exact temperature to aim for.
Sighing, Grace pokes one hand out of the covers, wincing when the cold brushes over his overly-sensitive skin. He can feel the goosebumps forming in a way they hadn't since being in the Hail Mary. Maybe even before then, the ship was always relatively cool, but nowhere near frozen like his hospital room is now.
Okay, in all fairness, it's surely not actually freezing. He can't imagine the eridians would allow it to get that cold, they have to know the freezing point of water might mess with a creature who is comprised in large portion of said liquid.
But it feels like it!
"Adrian?" Grace calls from under the blankets. He doesn't feel them or hear them in the room, but he also wasn't willing to remove his shield to check. Plus, they normally stay if he's asleep.
…
But maybe not this time? "Adrian?" He says, a little louder. As if an eridian wouldn't have heard him.
Ugh. Guess he'll just have to die then.
Poking his head out from the blanket and hissing when the cold air hits his face, Grace scans the room. Which reveals no hint of a blue, crystalline eridian. Nor a small, bossy boulder. None of his doctors either.
For all his worry about Rocky and Adrian getting out of the room occasionally, Grace is a little ashamed to admit there is a spike of hurt driven into his heart at the simple fact that suddenly no one is here. He's almost irritated at the idea that Adrian left when he fell asleep. They just… normally don't.
Oh wow. Rocky really got him used to the whole sleep-watching thing, didn't he?
Well. Whatever. It's fine. Adrian had to leave. That's okay…
(It is!)
Although… Grace is putting the dots together. The room is suddenly freezing. Adrian left while he's sleeping, so probably wouldn't have gone far. And likely left for something they thought would be important…
Ah. Yeah, he knows exactly where Adrian went.
The doctors must have wanted to drop the temperature as soon as possible for him. And Adrian went with them. Ugh. He's going to hate explaining that actually he was super wrong, that he cannot handle this cold yet and could you please turn that thermostat right back up?
Unlike the pleasant, if a bit too much, warmth he was dealing with before , Grace immediately knows he's going to have to go through the humiliation of asking them to change the whole thing for him again because he is not prepared to shiver his whole hospital stay. He doubts the doctors are going to want that either when they learn that shivering expends extra energy that he's barely regained.
Unfortunately, Grace can't do anything about the situation just yet. He would love to go find someone but the would require getting through the airlock and walking into ammonia gas heated to at least two hundred degrees.
You know what? That would solve his chill!
Snorting at his own nonsense, Grace pulls the blanket back over his head, patting blindly at the rest of the bed, looking for— Aha!
Sitting up in the cold is even more of a pain than normal, but it's worth it. Because he can finally welcome back a beloved piece of his wardrobe.
Slipping on his fox cardigan, Grace is delighted when he instantly feels a little warmer. Which might be more mental than physical, but Grace'll take what he can get.
As he settled back down he tucks the blanket over and under himself, trying to build out a little bubble of warm protection as best he can, grumbling into his bed as he waits for whoever is next to come in, shivering all the while.
Grace isn't sure how long he was asleep for, his dinner might or might not be coming relatively soon. Shoot, he's going to have to give Rufaida his gossip through chattering teeth.
Not quite comfortable enough to fall asleep again, but decidedly too cold to bother doing anything else, Grace sort of spaces out. His cardigan helps, lowering his shivering by a fraction, but overall Grace just feels himself turning into an icicle slowly as he closes his eyes under the covers.
To be honest, he's not sure how long it actually ends up being, but Grace is delighted when he hears the airlock noise.
And then even happier when a hesitant voice sings, so soft and low Grace doubts he would have woken had he fallen asleep, "Grace? Are you still in sleep, question?"
Hearing Adrian's voice is such a relief, that Grace doesn't hesitate to leave his safe bubble.
Just in time to see a really familiar brown blur flying at him.
Apparently with zero hesitation, Rocky leapt onto his bed, skipping the steps entirely in a feat of athleticism that Grace didn't know his friend could pull off while wearing a xenonite suit.
"Wha—! Rocky!" Grace squawks as the eridian lands on his mattress with an audible thump, his weight nearly bouncing Grace.
Half tangled in the blankets still, Grace barely gets most of the covers removed to face Rocky before the eridian snatches one of his arms in a quick but careful motion,
"Why is Grace shaking, question?!" Rocky warbles. Tone low and upset. He used the word question, but Grace can hear the demand in his voice.
Somewhere to his right, Adrian honks a noise that Grace cringes to realize is probably from fear or horror. Oh dang—!
"I'm okay!" He immediately assures them, sitting up and trying to address both Rocky and Adrian while also not letting the blankets uncover too much of him. He gently tugs against Rocky's hand a few times in a request for him to give Grace his arm back. He's only got two of them! And he needs both to sit up with his weakened muscles lately.
Rocky lets go, but Grace can tell it's very reluctant. It leaves his arm feeling even worse as the heat from Rocky's touch disappears. Grace shivers a little more violently at the sensation and he can see Adrian grow more alarmed as they approach the bed.
Smiling at them reassuringly as he sits back up, he says softly, "Uh, yeah. I'm just a little cold." He admits, "Guess we dropped the temperature a little too quick?"
A mournful note rises from Adrian's carapace, they raise a hand as if to reach for his arm, but never quite extends it.
Rocky in the other hand, freezes in place. Oh no.
Never a good sign.
"Rocky? You okay, bud?"
"Grave is shivering, question?" Rocky says, voice a little too steady for Grace's comfort. "Why Grave shiver—Why Grace room so cold, question?"
"Um." Grace hesitates, knowing that there's a decent chance Rocky takes what he's going to say a little too seriously, "The doctors offered to lower the temperature and see how it felt for me. Oh hey! Got the water thing situated! Thanks bud!" He quickly pivots, hoping to distract Rocky.
But that doesn't help. "Doctors lower Grace room temperature so quick question? Without checking, question?" Oof. Yeah he's mad.
"Not their fault, Rock. Thought I could handle it just a smudge cooler and I was just wrong—"
"How long Grace cold, question?" Rocky cuts in. Oh boy.
"How bad is Grace cold, question?" Adrian adds, their chords a little more quavery than their mate's. They rock and fidget in a way Grace doesn't normally see from Adrian. As if they're really upset. Oh boy!
"It's fine, it's fine," he reassures them. "Not long and not bad at all!" Really, it's not that bad. If he wasn't still down to such an unhealthy weight and had a little better nutritional balance he would be able to deal with this way better.
"I'm totally okay and you don't have to worry— Rocky?" Without another word his best friend slips off the bed and marches right to the airlock. Grace feels the impending danger and calls out a little more forcefully, "Rock! Where are you going!?"
"Talk to medical team." He answers back quickly. Nonchalantly. "Tell them to raise temperature in Grace room. Now." Wow. Okay, yeah. That… probably should happen. But—
"Are you going to be polite about it this time?" Grace asks, exasperated already.
"No. Rocky definitely going to get Rocky banned from hospital again."
Gosh darn it! "Get back here!" Grace barks, letting his annoyance be heard before Rocky gets a chance to get within a few steps of the air lock.
Or at least he tries, he's pretty sure the exclamation comes out more or less as a weak croak, but it's still enough to make Rocky stop in his tracks and turn around, carapace dipped low.
Before he has to berate his friend, Adrian leaps into the conversation, "Rocky love, Adrian will go speak with the medical and engineering teams." They leave his bed side, rushing to the airlock and very gently nudging their mate back into the room with one of their limbs, "Rocky stay with Grace, dear."
"But Adrian—!"
"Rocky stay. Beloved be smart and not get banned. Stay with Grace." Their voice is a little frantic, but gently firm as they nudge Rocky one more time.
Who listens to Adrian and shuttles backwards, leaving the airlock free for Adrian to disappear into. They rush out of sight as soon as possible, probably running to the medical team.
This is why he didn't want to bring up the minor temperature issues in the first place! The eridians have zero faith in his abilities to survive even the slightest amount of hardship. Wow.
…Which admittedly, becomes pretty funny rather than annoying when it's just Rocky grumbling about the doctors 'committing malpractice' and 'murdering Grace' the second he metaphorically turns his back.
"Rocky leaves for few hours. Grace almost die. Rocky is horribly kicked out with no cause and what happen, question?"
Rolling his eyes, Grace can't help a grin as he responds, "I almost freeze to death, sure."
"Exactly!" Oh jeez.
Not able to hold back a soft laugh as the tension breaks, it comes out as a vibrato tone with his shivers. Grace shakes it off and shifts a little closer to the edge of the bed, holding up the blanket with one arm and looking at Rocky, giving the guy his best puppy dog eyes, "Hey, human hug?"
Immediately Rocky stops his muttered, half-serious complaining and clambers back on the bed. Settling in his now-customary spot right by Grace's chest.
They got used to this position a lot during the years to Erid. Before then, even. Starting after the fishing incident and even more so when Grace came back after the taumoeba leaks. Rocky would sit in his ball as Grace curled around it, Rocky pressing as close to the wall as he could, making contact as best as they both could physically manage.
Though it's so much nicer now that they have the new xenonite suits. Now Rocky can literally slide right next to him, separated only by the thin space between the xenonite and his atmosphere. Grace tucks the blanket over his friend and lays down too.
As they both settle, it always becomes a tangle. Grace is pretty sure that's just what happens in a cuddle when one of you has five limbs. Rocky throws an arm over Grace's shoulders once he's laid back, the warmth a blessing as he tucks closer to Rocky. He of course responds in kind, reaching out and holding Rocky with one arm, pulling him closer a little bit like a stuffed animal. One of Rocky's hands lands in Grace's, his claws brushing up and down his fingers. Another near his head, petting his hair softly.
The heat from Rocky is a balm to his shivering body.
His quaking subsides to a much more manageable tremble. Even past the insulation of the suit, Rocky warms the space under the blanket enough for Grace to recover for the most part, his body no longer fighting quite so hard to stay warm. Another familiar feeling.
Literally the only downside is that the heat isn't equally distributed. His front half is getting halfway to toasty while his back feels cold and neglected in comparison. The kind of uneven feeling you get while sitting next to a fireplace.
Listening to Rocky's mostly indecipherable grumbles is almost relaxing once the guy is pressed against him. The vibration soothing. Grace grins as Rocky declares each doctor his enemy and how he's also going to yell at the engineering team for not stopping them being dumb. Harsh.
"Pretty sure they were on a strike or something." Grace defends the engineering team valiantly. Even knowing that Rocky's promises are only jokes. Probably. "Besides, I'm fine." Grace reiterates, closing his eyes as he cuddles closer to Rocky.
The displeased hum that answers him only makes him smile.
Before Rocky can retort, Grace interjects, "Hey, where did you go earlier? Adrian said they sent you shopping?" It's mostly to distract his friend from his disgruntlement, but Grace is also genuinely interested in what eridian stores might be like.
Again Rocky hums, but this time it's slightly higher, more thoughtful. Grace waits for him to take the bait.
As Rocky narrates his grand tale of heading to the store for the first time in decades, avoiding as many people recognizing him as possible, Grace listens with his eyes still shut. Soothed by the voice of his best friend and the warmth he brings.
Just as Rocky wraps up his story, telling Grace excitedly about some bits and bobs he picked up for a few different projects, frustration briefly forgotten, the air lock opens.
"Room will be warm again very soon." Adrian says as soon as they are through the door.
"Better be."
"Oh good! Thanks Adrian." Grace says, trying to speak over Rocky's griping.
Even with his eyes closed Grace can tell that Adrian joins the bedside, standing next to Rocky on the stairs, bracing their front on the edge of the bed. Rocky and Adrian's combined weight almost start tilting the mattress.
As soon as there is a shift, Adrian starts to get off, but Rocky extends one of his free arms and places it on Adrian's carapace, "Adrian beloved join us, question?" Rocky lifts himself up just a little, barely dislodging Grace as Rocky points to the other side of the bed.
Given that both of them are huddled near the edge, there might be just barely enough room for Adrian. If the bed can even withstand the weight.
Maybe it's Grace's tiredness and frozen brain talking, but he thinks taking the chance of absolutely ruining his bed sounds like a great idea, "Yeah, come on up." He mumbles into Rocky's carapace.
It's hesitant, but Grace can hear Adrian shuffle to the other side after some time, the xenonite sliding on the ground briefly and then scraping against the stairs behind Grace. There is a very light dip as Adrian puts a few limbs up on the bed, "Grace is sure, question?"
"Yeah!" Grace cheers, cracking an eye open and turning back to look at Adrian.
With care and caution bordering on anxious reluctance, Adrian crawls into the bed. It gives them a few creaks and groans, but whatever the engineering team reinforced the frame with holds steady. Adrian towers above them both, briefly blocking the ceiling light the eridians stripped from the Hail Mary to install in the room. Their crystal surface reflects the shine right into his eyes, but Grace doesn't mind.
Patting the bed behind him, he encourages them to lay down.
With that same hesitation, Adrian curls up, tucking a few limbs below them and draping the others over Grace. Partly out of necessity, given that the bed, which was meant for one human person, now holds that as well as a big rock and medium-sized boulder.
As soon as their mate is settled, Rock moves one hand to reach past Grace and hold one of Adrian's. Given their relative position,s they end up using his shoulder as an arm rest. Their two arms alone feel like a weighted blanket draped over his covers.
He doesn't mind it though. They all manage to find a decent spot, squeezing together on the bed. Thankfully Stratt allowed the crew the luxury of extra-large twin mattresses.
"Grace is okay, question?" Adrian sings softly.
"Yeah, I'm good." He adjusts to their weight and settles happily.
Especially when he feels their warmth surrounding him, Adrian covering his back and slowly matching Rocky's heat against his chest. Grace can feel his trembles slowing by the heartbeat with the two eridians warding the cold away.
One of Adrian's hands tap his side very lightly over the blanket, below his ribs, near his left hip. The pressure is delicate, like Adrian normally uses, but the pattern is much quicker. Almost antsy.
"Grace shaking slowing… Is Grace still in pain, question?" Pain?
Oh… Did Adrian think he was in pain?
"I'm not hurt, Adrian." Grace assures immediately, "The shivers were just to warm me up. It doesn't hurt." Turning his head just enough to get a glimpse of crystalline, Grace explains, "It's a human thing. Well, actually it's more like a mammal thing. Our muscles shake to generate heat."
Adrian hums. "No pain, though?"
"Nope. None at all." Grace promises.
"Human shiver very alarming." Rocky contributes, "Bad to hear. Especially the first time, Rocky understand."
Geez, he didn't think it would have been that bad a sound! Rocky is dramatic.
His words seems to help Adrian though, who seems to settle down a little bit. Leaning a little bit further against Grace's side with a pleasant-sounding hum. Rocky sings a few notes back to their mate in a croon.
Closing his eyes, surrounded by the eridian-granted warmth, Grace releases a slow breath out through his nose, relaxing entirely next to his Rocky and Adrian. The overly-cool air can no longer touch him in the space they've built. The balance they've struck is near perfect, and Grace feels like his temperature is just right for the first time in a long while.
So the wait for the teams to fix the temperature regulation passes for Grace in perfect comfort.
Warm and relaxed, he rests, listening to quiet, lovely conversation shaped like music.