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Adrian chittered and shook with excitement as they made their way into Grace's dome, xenonite suit pressed tightly against their carapace.
It had taken them and Rocky and the rest of the science biodome team months - human months of course, they were too accustomed to using them now - to put this together. Adrian could only hope that it would work as well as the models predicted, could only hope that it looked like their models predicted and didn't disappoint Grace - he deserved to have this, even if he himself didn't think that.
"Hello friend Grace!" They chirped loudly, tapping their claws, a nervous habit both they and Rocky shared, as he stepped outside.
"Oh. Hi Adrian!" He greeted brightly, heart pounding loudly as air whooshed in and out of his lungs with each breath - a symphony that they adored. It was the sound that brought Rocky home, brought their melody home. "What's up?"
"Come, come!" Adrian commanded, gripping his wrist and pulling him out of his house, down the stairs, too excited to waste even a moment.
"Whoa! Adrian!" Grace shouted, being tugged forward by a strength he couldn't resist. "Seriously? I can't even put on some shoes?" He asked, leaning forward awkwardly as Adrian dragged him along.
"No no no," they chittered. "Much excitement! Me and the science team have a gift for Grace! I can't wait to show you."
"A gift?" Grace repeated, now following Adrian willingly across the beach, sand digging into his socks as he took each step. "You know, you don't-"
"Yes yes," Adrian cut him off, stopping in place with Grace beside them. "We know we don't have to do anything for you, but we want to. Rocky and I both wanted to, so let us give you this."
Grace curled in on himself slightly, still not used to the treatment Erid gave him on a daily basis - gifts and affection and anything he could think of if he even mentioned it offhandedly. It was such a stark contrast to his childhood where any needs were basically ignored unless he took care of it himself. Grace didn't think he'd ever fully adjust to it.
"Okay," Grace accepted sheepishly, voice soft and light as he smiled softly. "Thank you."
"Wait until after you see it."
Signaling a few of the biodome workers on the side, the light in the dome shifted to reflect from a different area as a low whirring sound echoed against the xenonite panes around Grace and Adrian.
Minutes passed with no changes, the artificial breeze rushing over the beach as Grace looked, searched for any changes to his environment.
"So…" he began hesitantly. "What's supposed…" but the words died out on his lips as a droplet hit him on the head, startling and silencing him at once as he froze in place.
Looking up, more and more droplets of water began to fall, hitting Grace, the beach, Adrian, and the world around him, coating his view in water that obscured his vision with each hit.
"It's-it's raining," he chuckled out, heart pumping loudly as his lungs expanded and contracted in glee. "You made it rain in my dome."
"Yes," Adrian agreed gently, taking in the symphony of Grace, cherishing each and every sound that came from him. "Do you like it?"
"Like it? Adrian, I love it!" Grace exclaimed, letting the rain hit his face, run over his smile, as he took each and every sensation in. "It's wonderful."
"Good," Adrian breathed out in relief.
Grace was enjoying his gift. They had made something for him that enriched his life like he had enriched theirs when he brought Rocky home to him, when he himself came home to them. His appreciation of it made all of the work and time and effort worth it for Adrian.
Grace was silent for the most part, at least as silent as a leaky space blob could be, taking in slow deep breaths as he wandered around his dome, letting the rain beat down on him, enjoying each and every drop that fell down onto his skin.
"Oh," he breathed out, his tone rough and low as he stared out at the horizon, captivated by something Adrian couldn't see, unable to look away from the horizon.
"Grace?" Adrian asked gently, noting how Grace's breathing hitched and his heart began to race, pumping in a rhythm that made them nervous. "Is everything okay?"
"Y-yeah," he stuttered, backtracking and turning away from the coast, making his way back to his house as he swallowed roughly, breathing far too fast for Adrian's liking. "I… I just…"
He never finished his words, something taking him over as he sprinted away, gasping for air while his heart fluttered rapidly.
"Grace!" Adrian called after him, too stunned to move for a moment before they took off after him.
What the hell happened? Adrian's mind echoed, racing as fast as Grace's heart as they followed after him, moving through his home behind him, watching as he curled up in the space between his sofa and wall, whimpering all the while. It was a space far too small to be comfortable, but it was well hidden.
Grace was hiding. He was hiding from Adrian.
It broke Adrian's hearts, shattering them like glass as they watched him curl into himself, knees to his chest as he sobbed broken sounds with gasps, a hand gripped in his hair and pulling on it.
"Grace?" Adrian asked gently, keeping themselves low to the ground and to the side of Grace as they approached. They wouldn't let him feel confined or boxed in, like he couldn't escape if he needed to. "Grace? It's Adrian," they sang quietly. "Are you okay?"
"I-I can't do it," he cried, breathing far to fast to take in a full breath, to fully exchange the oxygen he needed. He was hyperventilating right in front of them. "I can't do it. Please, don't make me do it. I can't. I can't," he rambled, tears trailing down his face, his body shaking with the effort it took to keep himself together this much as he was currently. "I don't want to go. Please, don't make me go. I don't want to die."
Oh, Adrian connected, their hearts breaking just a little more.
Whatever Grace had seen out in the dome had triggered him. Grace wasn't on Erid right now, at least not mentally. He was back on Earth, being asked an impossible question where his answer didn't matter in the slightest, where he would be forced to die in the stars so far away from home after his memories and his sense of self was taken from him.
"It's okay, Grace," Adrian hummed softly. "You don't have to go anywhere or do anything you don't want to do," they assured him, offering a claw in front of his feet - a sign that he wasn't alone. "You don't have to do anything, Grace. Nobody is going to force you."
"Y-you're not?" Grace asked in between hitched breaths, his chest tight and wound like a spring that couldn't let go, that wouldn't release.
"No. Of course not," Adrian continued, keeping their voice kind and level even if their whole being fought to bring harm to whoever had hurt their precious star bringer like this. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to, Grace. I won't let them make you and neither will Rocky."
"Adrian," he sobbed, a shaky hand leaving his head, reaching for their claw. "I-I can't breathe!"
"Let's get you out of there first," Adrian urged gently, slowly pulling Grace out from his hiding spot, supporting his quivering and weakened form as he practically collapsed on them. "There we go," they soothed, wrapping two arms around him and holding him close, ensuring not to press on his back as they gently rocked both of them back and forth. "There we go, Grace."
No longer curled up into a ball, his lungs could expand with slightly more ease, but he still wasn't breathing right. He was still hyperventilating in their grasp.
"Breathe with me, Grace," Adrian told him, exaggerating breaths in and out for him to follow. "Like this, okay? In and out with me. Slowly."
"I-I can't," he sobbed, gripping Adrian tightly as he leaned into their carapace. "I can't do it."
"Yes, you can. I believe in you, Grace. Just follow my lead. I'm not going anywhere and neither are you. In and out," they urged, refusing to let Grace suffer for any longer than they could prevent.
Between broken gasps and sobs that wracked his body, slowly with Adrian's help, Grace began to breathe a little easier, his heart slowing to a more regular beat.
He still cried, but it was more gentle now instead of the floods that had nearly pulled him under earlier, all while he leaned into Adrian's touch, resting his head on their carapace as they held him gently, running a claw through his hair as they sang a soothing melody.
Adrian's whole being relaxed as they felt Grace's heart and lungs slow to a rhythm that was familiar to them, one he commonly fell into when he slept, all while tears still ran down his face.
"Oh thank the stars," Adrian muttered to themselves, still holding Grace close, rocking him gently as he slept, safe and comfortable in their grasp.
They were focused solely on Grace until the door of the house opened, a familiar shape coming towards them quietly.
"Adrian."
"Rocky," they greeted their mate quietly, neither wanting to wake Grace from the peace he found and so desperately needed.
"What the hell happened out there?" Rocky asked, curling into Grace's side, sliding as arm over his lap - a reminder that he wasn't alone. "One minute you two were fine and the next I'm told you took off back here in a sprint."
"I don't know, my melody," Adrian said honestly. "Something happened out there that Grace saw. It triggered him. He thought he was back to when he left Earth," they explained, using their code for 'the time Grace was forcefully sent against his will away from everything he loved'.
"We'll shut off the rain until we know what happened," Rocky decided, processing the information as he gently nuzzled himself into Grace's side while his friend slept. "I'll ask Grace about it once he's feeling better and, if I can, I'll make it so that it doesn't happen again. Grace has suffered enough, I won't add to it."
"It's not your fault, Rocky," Adrian comforted. "Nobody could have known that this would happen. Grace knows that you didn't mean for this."
"Doesn't change the fact it did," Rocky snapped back, voice rising slightly until Grace shifted, quieting him back down in fear of waking his friend who had found some peace in his rest. "I promised him that I'd protect him, keep him safe."
"And you have," Adrian argued. "One mistake doesn't erase all of the good you've done for him so far. And it's Grace, he'll be pissed if he finds out that you're blaming yourself for this."
"You wouldn't."
"Oh, I would. You do not blame yourself for this. I hear another note of it and I'll tell Grace," they threatened.
Rocky just huffed in agreement, knowing that there was no winning this battle for him.
"Fine," Rocky relented. "It is not my fault, but I will make sure that it never happens again."
"Good," Adrian agreed, "because that's all we can do."