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When Grace first found Simon out in the SM-13, he was feral, as any mutating person shoved into a submarine to drown somewhere in an ocean of blood would be. Then, when he finally calmed down and began trusting Grace, he didn’t have anything to do.
He was useless.
He hated being useless.
So, when he learned about the green house sector of the ship, something the builders gave the Hail Mary in hopes the plants could produce a food source for the astronauts, he instantly wanted to help maintain them. Grace had learned about the Eden Tree by this point and figured, this could be Simon’s ‘don’t go crazy room’, so, it was his. A private place all on his own to do with as he pleased.
What Grace didn’t know was that there was a hidden compartment within the ship’s green house containing a letter and packets of seeds, all of which were the scientist’s favorite flowers as he had learned previously. Simon didn’t read the letter. It wasn’t for him and it would’ve been rude to.
So now, every year for the anniversary they first met, Simon picks one of the packs reads the instructions, plants it at the right time, and waits. While he wasn’t exactly the most emotional person, Grace was, so it mattered to him. Besides, Ryland saved him. These gifts were a great way to show how-… well, *grateful* he was.
First year, dandelions, something easy to grow, and maintain. On top of that, he gave Grace the letter. God, Simon was lucky it didn’t spoil the rest of the seeds left in the box.
Second year, stargazer lilies. The Hail Mary had been on Erid for a couple of months at that point, even had a greenhouse built out of the ship and into the dome. Not to mention the two of them beginning to date sometime in between the time they landed and the construction.
Both of those gifts are still alive and loved heavily by Grace. Now, it’s the third year, and Simon has been growing his latest anniversary surprise.
He was even more lucky that Grace didn’t remember his favorite flowers, so every year he has done this, the gift Simon grows is a surprise. This year’s latest was a sunflower.
And now. It was *dying*.
Their anniversary was in three days. *Three days*. He had planned it out perfectly to stay in bloom until then and further more after. He had done everything right! He’d given it plenty of fertilizer on the correct dates that the bottle said with the correct measurements, made his own soil media to make the optimal ground for the plant, talked to it and checked on it every day…
Simon had done all he could to keep it alive. He really had! But nothing is working and he doesn’t know what to do!
So now, here he was, sitting on the ground speaking to his reinforcements, the only stable relation he’s ever seen.
“Rocky think this is stupid, statement.”
“Oh, gee, thanks Rock, that’s really great advice,” Simon murmured sarcastically, hanging his head in his hand, elbow resting on his knee. “Like you don’t freak out at *your* anniversary.”
“Simon so rude! Adrian and Rocky love beautiful! Grace and Simon love weird! Very leaky, very *gross*!” Rocky exclaimed defensive, waving his hand in emphasis.
“Oh shut up.”
“Hm. Has Simon thought about variation differences question?” Adrian chimed in, sitting down beside the human, actually asking something *useful*.
“I did, none of it changed. If anything, me treating it differently made it worse.”
“Given plenty of minerals, water, sunlight?”
“Yeah, Rocky. I’ve been measuring all of those things daily. I thought the stability was a good mix for it…”
“What are symptoms question?”
“I don’t know, the usual wilting symptoms? It’s not giving me any information on what it needs. No signifying shifts in color, no pests, no *nothing*! I swear I’ve tried *everything* and it just-“
“What are you guys talking about?”
Instantly, all eyes- and, well, echolocation? - were on the newest member now ‘hiding’ in the greenhouse. Ryland. Simon’s eyes grew to the size of saucers as he frantically scramble to hide the wilting plant on the table.
“Uhhhhh….”
‘Think Simon, *think*.’
“Plants?”
‘Oh for fucks sake.’
“Oh. Um. Ok,” Grace replied awkwardly, rubbing at the back of his neck.
…
“So, Rocky and I are going to leave now, statement,” Adrian spoke up, hooking one arm around her partner and pulling him to the exit.
“No! Rocky stay! Talk to friend Grace!”
“Simon and Grace need privacy, Rocky. Talk to Grace later statement.”
Rocky continued his list of complaints as Adrian drug him out of the building. Of course, he was not really trying that hard to get out of his mate’s grasp in the first place. Why would he?
“Oh! O-ok, bye you two!” The scientist called after them, and just like that, the only two humans in the entirety of Erid were left in the room. After another moment of silence, Grace wrung his hands together anxiously, and asked, “you- you guys weren’t… talking about me, were you?”
Simon felt the pit of dread in his stomach open wider at the silent despair in his partner’s expression. He instantly stepped forward, taking Ryland’s hands into his only one with a gentle squeeze.
“Oh, Angel, no. No, it- it wasn’t about you-“
“O-ok good. Sorry. I know I sounded really insecure just now but I-“
“Grace.”
“Everyone I love. All in one room. Without *me*. I- I just get worried, y’know?”
“*Grace.*
“I-I mean, it’s not that I don’t *trust* you guys. Oh gods, I hope you know that, Simon, you know that right? Oohhhh gosh, I’m gonna be-“
“*Ryland!*”
The latter flinches, finally seeming to hear Simon once he had called him so firmly. This caused Grace to shrink slightly, as he often felt terrible about getting stuck in such a cycle. It had to be annoying.
“Right, right. Rambling again. Sorry.”
“No it’s- it’s fine, honey. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled like that,” Simon immediately responded, cupping Rylands cheek, which the other leaned into, of course. “It’s just-…” a sigh. “I just didn’t want you to find out this way.”
“Find-… find out what, Simon?”
Yet another sigh escaped the shorter man, heavier this time as he took a step back and off to the side so his lover could get a look at the wilting pot of sunflowers.
The sight drew a gasp from the blonde man.
“You-… you were…”
Simon could never get over the sheer awe in Grace’s voice whenever he gets a gift. Even if it’s the same form of gift, same form of surprise, every year. For someone so smart, he never seems to be aware of such things.
“Yeah… sunflowers. I called Rocky and Adrian in here for advice on how to fix it from…” he trails off, motioning to the pot, “*this*, but it just seems-“
He cut himself off, falling silent for a second before letting out a frustrated groan and sliding to the ground, hiding his face in his knees.
“It seems *pointless*. Nothing I do is helping it.”
…
Great. Now Simon was sulking after letting his angel down in probably the most pathetic way possible. *Eden*, he was a terrible-
Before those thoughts could continue, he heard Ryland move over to him and sit down in the concrete floor by his side. Suddenly, Simon felt the weight of the other’s head on his shoulder, and without even lifting his eyes to see, he just knew his partner’s glasses were askew in that cute way they always were. It caused his body to lose any tension with an exhale.
“I’m sorry, Grace. About all of this. I didn’t mean to kill your gift, and I *certainly* didn’t mean to give you an anxiety attack like that.”
An arm wraps around him, strong and caring in the way the shorter man always loved. He was pulled in close with a kiss to the temple.
“It’s ok, Si. You know how nervous I am, it wasn’t your fault… and, if I’m right, the plant wasn’t your fault either.”
“How? It *had* to have been my fault. No one else was taking care of it,” he mumbles pathetically, yet, of course, Ryland doesn’t think that.
All he thinks is a sad, ‘he sounds so disappointed…’
“Sunflowers are annuals, baby.”
…
Simon finally lifts his head, peaking one normal, one mutated eye up to the man holding him.
“Annual?” He asks.
“Yeah, annual plants die off when they’re out of bloom and don’t grow back. The other two flowers you gave me for our other anniversaries are perennials, which means they come back every year.”
…
“Are you fucking serious?!” Simon blurted out at this explanation, letting his legs go to throw his arm up in emphasis.
Grace jerked back, looking with large eyes at this sudden outburst. “Uhhh… I-I mean, yeah?”
“So I’ve just been sitting here feeling sorry for myself and trying to fix a dying plant that was *doomed* to die and not come back anyways?!”
Ryland simply blinked.
“I-I don’t-“
“SHIT. AND I WON’T HAVE A GIFT FOR OUR ANNIVERSARY THIS YEAR! FOR EDEN FUCKING-”
“Hey, hey, woah,” Grace cut in, cupping the black haired man’s face, his thumb gently swiping away tears that had begun to roll, “Simon, breathe. It’s ok, just-… take a deep breath and try to calm down, alright? You don’t need to get me anything, just you putting in the effort to make me something so perfect is enough…”
He pulls the latter against his chest, rubbing up and down his sharp spine, kissing his forehead as the man he held began to cry out of sheer frustration. All this time he wasted stressing over something that wouldn’t even work. He felt like such an idiot, and worse, here he was upsetting Grace too. He was just an absolute mess.
… but… Grace never seemed to see him like that. Maybe that’s all that mattered.
“Of course Imma get you something, dumbass,” Simon mumbled weakly into Ryland’s shoulder, ignoring how awful he felt about all of this for the moment, how angry he felt at himself. “I love you too much for that and you know it.”
“And I love you too much for you to keep beating yourself up over this,” the scientist replied, pulling away just enough to press their foreheads together, their eyes locked. “I know what’s going on in that big brain of yours. You aren’t a burden or a problem, ok? You’re my Simon. The one who always respects my boundaries and knows what to do when I’m in my head. The one who tortures himself over things like this even when I *tell him* he has nothing to worry about.”
…
“Simon, none of us are perfect. We’re human. Unfortunately. We’re still learning. Things like this are gonna happen, and that’s ok. You’re perfect the way you are and I love you… I hope you know that.”
… aaaand just like that, Simon bursts into sobs. He is certainly going soft, but with Grace, that wasn’t a bad thing, he supposed.
Through his cries, he managed a weak smile and choked out between hiccups, “damn, you’re good. Y-you- *-hic-* needta start taking your own advice, idiot.”
Ryland smiles back with a soft huff of laughter. “I’m not the only one who needs to take their own advice. But hey, I’ll say it as many times as it takes to get through that thick skull of yours!” he replied teasingly, nuzzling his head against his lover’s, eliciting a wet chuckle.
“A-at least I’m not blind.”
“Ohhhhhohoho, you’ve done it now, *come here*!”
And with that, Ryland began to kiss every part of Simon’s body he could reach in the position they were in.
Hair.
Forehead.
Nose.
Neck.
Multiple times over, all in a playful onslaught meant to get his partner to laugh. Which, of course, worked, as Simon was reduced to a squirming, wheezing mess of tears and chuckles that he was sure Grace loved to see.
Everything began to calm down after a moment or two. The shorter man melted back into the teacher, moving right back into the previous position with the only difference being Simon wrapping his arm around the other’s waist.
“Thanks, Angel,” he mumbled tiredly, pressing a kiss of his own into Grace’s shoulder.
Ryland hums quietly in reply.
…
“Grace?”
“Yeah?”
“I think I hate sunflowers.”
“… that’s ok, Si. I love you more than them anyways.”