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Rocky spends a lot of time at Grace’s little house, using his fully mobile atmospheric containment suit to bother him. Always asking him questions, giving him updates on the scientific community, and so on. But, most of the time, Rocky just spends a lot of time laying on top of Grace’s chest, rendering him imobile. He calls this “cuddling”, but Grace has a suspicion it's just as much about bullying him as it is being affectionate.
"So, can I get up yet?"
"No." Rocky trills, limbs folded up comfortably on top of Grace.
The gravity here is slightly more than Grace’s body is used to. As a result, everything is very heavy, including the stone Eridian on top of him.
"Are you sure I can't? You just living there now?" Grace wriggles slightly underneath Rocky’s hard carapace, but, as usual, it is ineffective.
"Yes. Grace staying here. Mine." Rocky rumbles.
"What if I wanna leave, huh?" Grace teases.
"No. Stay." Rocky gently stamps his foot on Grace's face to emphasize.
Instead of telling him off for the playful gesture, or trying to bat the foot away, Grace makes a sound between a moan and a whine at the firm impact. Realizing the noise he just made, he goes red in the face and stills, hoping Rocky won't notice.
"That was weird noise. Why weird noise, question?" Dangit.
"No reason." Grace says quickly.
Rocky pauses and scrutinizes him in a way that makes Grace’s heart beat a little faster. "Good noise, question?"
"Ah- well it wasn't a bad noise, no."
Rocky thinks for a moment, tilting his carapace this way and that. He then lifts his leg and hits Grace in the face again, forcing his cheek into the floor with his face sideways. This time Grace lets out a noise between a whine and a grunt at the impact.
Experiment complete, Rocky chirps, "Hitting Grace bad. Why good noise, question?"
Grace bites his lip and screws his eyes shut. "This is really embarrassing, you know that?" he whines.
Rocky waits for grace to get over himself, retracting his leg from Grace’s face.
Grace squirms, still trapped under Rocky, then relents. "Okay, well, it's kinda nice to be hit when it's by someone who... well, I know you'd never ever hurt me, y'know? Like nice in a... um... well it's sort of weird..." He trails off.
Rocky goes quiet, taken aback. "You trust me not to hurt you... question?" He trills quietly.
"Y-yeah, of course. You're my.... best friend. I... I think I'd kinda let you do anything to me, really." Grace feels hot in the face at the admission. Rocky settles down even further onto Grace's chest. "Sorry if that was weird,” he adds.
"Not weird." Rocky replies quickly. "Does Grace... want Rocky to hit him, question?"
Grace inhales sharply. "Ah, well, y'see - the sort of way I like it is kind of - it's sort of - not like, quite like how I like cuddles or, um, stuff like that, it's kind of a... different kind of... enjoyment?" He says uncomfortably.
"Grace only this flustered when talking about mating rituals." Rocky trills flatly.
Grace goes red in the face again, and quickly says, "Sorry, I know you have a mate and everything, it’s - sorry for being presumptuous -"
"Grace.” Rocky taps the ground next to him impatiently. “Rocky and Adrian already have this talk."
"You-” Grace starts, flabbergasted. “Wh- huh?"
"Rocky call Grace mine because you are. You are mine. Already. Adrian okay with Rocky having a human. Adrian like Grace."
"Wait, seriously? I thought when you said that you were just being - being friendly, or cute, or-" Grace stumbles over his words, trying to gesture with his hands but finding them trapped under Rocky’s limbs.
"Rocky is always friendly and cute. Grace worry for no reason." Rocky huffs.
Grace doesn’t even rise to the obvious bait, slumping against the floor. "Well, I - okay. Um. Thank you for... letting me know?"
Rocky makes a trill of agreement, and wriggles further up Grace's chest. "Does Grace want Rocky to hit him, question?"
Grace laughs nervously, trying to distract from how much the question made him blush. "Is this your way of flirting, now?"
"Does Grace want it to be Rocky way of flirting?" Rocky trills smugly.
Grace smiles, blushing. "I... well, y'know, it's just... you're so much stronger than me, and..."
Grace's smile falls as he realizes something. "Well, I guess if... if you'd be okay with... well, exploring this? I guess? Then I should... well... I think... the reason it... sticks out to me..."
Grace glances away. Rocky settles back, waiting. "The last thing I remember on earth…” Grace shifts a little, opening and closing his mouth. “They had to hold me down, to put me in a coma?"
Rocky stiffens at the mention of how Grace got put in the rocketship.
"And like... one of them, I guess kinda held my face down into the ground... and I just remember that, and like, tasting dirt..." Grace trails off, then shakes off the memory, glancing back to Rocky. "And, I guess, feeling that again with someone I trust completely... feels good? Like I'm experiencing it again, but I'm safe this time. Because it's you."
Rocky settles low to Grace’s torso and thinks for a bit. "Rocky not want to be like those humans."
"No, no, you're not. Not at all. I mean.. you lay on my chest all the time, right? You know I can't get up when you do that. But, I know that you'll get up when I need you to. Because I trust you. You can hurt me... however you want to." Grace looks up at Rocky with wide, honest eyes.
Rocky goes quiet at the admission. "... You trust Rocky, question?"
"Completely.” Grace says with absolute confidence. “So... so, yeah. To answer your question. I... I want you to hit me. Again. To see how it feels."
"...Is it okay if Rocky find Grace noises funny, question?"
Grace smiles. "That's actually very okay. I won't lie to you, Rocky. That would actually make it hotter."
Rocky trills. "Good. Because Grace noises funny."
Rocky raises his leg and hesitates for a moment, making sure Grace knows it’s coming. Then he hits Grace in the face, the rough stone surface firmly pressing his cheek into the ground. Grace lets out a long groan, almost without meaning to. Rocky keeps his foot there, gently but firmly pressing onto Grace’s cheek.
With his foot still on Grace's face, Rocky raises another limb and thumps Grace's shoulder, careful of the amount of pressure used. Grace reacts with a muffled grunt.
"This okay, question?" Rocky asks, not picking up his foot from his face.
"Uh-huh..." Grace says, voice high and relaxed, completely limp.
Rocky thinks for a moment, then hits Grace's shoulder again sharply, still making sure not to hit too hard. Grace inhales sharply, closing his eyes.
“Harder…” he mumbles.
Rocky warbles, uncertain. He hits Grace’s opposite shoulder this time, driving his stony limb harshly into his flesh. Grace lets out a high moan at the rougher treatment, slowly writhing underneath him. Rocky trills in response, focused on any noise or signal Grace makes.
He lifts a back foot and hits the side of his ribs harshly, with no warning. A grunt is forced out of Grace, face still squished into the floor.
Rocky grinds his face further into the ground, scraping the harsh surface against Grace's soft skin. Grace groans in the back of his throat, limp against Rocky’s limbs, looking up at Rocky with half-lidded eyes.
Rocky hesitates, then lifts one of his back feet to hit Grace's ribs again unexpectedly. Grace involuntarily lets out a squeak.
"Grace okay, question?" Rocky asks.
“Mmm, yeah" Grace replies sleepily. "This is good. Probably stop soon. Hard to judge what's good for me."
"Rocky stop now." Rocky warbles.
"Mkay."
Rocky lifts his foot gently from Grace's face, anxiously seeing if he had left any marks. Grace's cheek was a glaring red and a little scratched. Rocky trills anxiously.
Grace takes a deep breath uninhibited. "Thank you." he sleepily focuses on Rocky. "Thank you, Rocky," he repeats.
"Rocky cuddle Grace now." Rocky says, lowering himself so he’s flush with Grace’s torso.
Grace chuckles. "Yeah, okay buddy. Come here. You did great."
Grace frees his arm from under Rocky's legs and gives him a loving pat, running his hand up and down his carapace.
After a moment of silent cuddles, Grace says "I'm fine, see? You did exactly what I asked you to. You did great. It felt.... really nice." Grace blushes a little, but continues, knowing Rocky needs the reassurance, "I really liked it."
After a moment, Rocky asks "What grace mean by hard to judge what's good for me, question?"
Grace pets Rocky idly. "Uh, just that... with all the... good feelings that come with it, it can be hard to realize that, like, that bruise might really hurt in the morning?"
Rocky lets out a distressed noise, nuzzling into Grace’s chest.
"Hey, not like- it's not, like, life threatening or anything, bud. It's exactly what I expected. I think it kinda comes with the territory of.... recreational hitting. Gosh, now who's worrying too much?" he tries to tease.
Rocky huffs. "Now Grace stuck under Rocky for even longer."
"That my punishment?"
"Yes."
Grace gives a lopsided smile. "So, the hitting, that was totally unrelated. But sitting on me... that's punishment."
"Grace like the hitting." Rocky trills, matter-of-fact.
Grace laughed. "Bud, I like the sitting on me, too. I like being around you. You don't judge me for weird requests like wanting to get hit in the face."
"Everything Grace does is weird. Grace is alien."
Grace smiles.
After cuddling for a while, Grace gets a thought. "Y’know, the whole, calling me yours thing, and now finding out that was a, a... romantic thing... we should do something with that. I wanna be yours and know it, y'know? instead of just having you call me that."
"Does not have to be romantic thing. Just means we are close. And you are mine... I am yours as well."
Grace smiles. "Well, yeah, course you are. We're each other’s. But you're the one who went around calling me that, in front of other people too."
"That is because Grace is mine" Rocky stubbornly settles on Grace's chest and trills.
"Yeah. I like being yours. It's like I'm your weird little alien pet, or something." Grace laughs.
Rocky takes a little too long to answer.
"... Wait, it's exactly like that, isn't it."
"Grace need cleaning up after and need special enclosure. It is not unlike being my weird little alien pet."
Grace lets out a sharp laugh, embarrassed. "It's so different when you say it! So matter-of-fact."
"Does Grace want to be Rocky's pet?"
Grace blushes furiously. "If... i mean you don't have to like it just because I do, Rocky..."
Rocky stamps his foot on the ground impatiently. "Grace make assumption. Rocky want Grace to be pet. Grace needs taking care of and looking after. And Grace belong to Rocky. It makes sense. Statement." He taps the ground again for emphasis.
"Okay, okay! Sorry, didn't mean to- to assume! I'll be- I'll be your pet, if you- if you insist." He says with a laugh.
"Rocky insist."
Grace chuckles. "Sometimes I can't tell if you know how hot you're being, or if you're doing it just to tease me. You know this is super hot, right?"
"Rocky not stupid. Rocky trying to fluster grace. It is working."
"I've given you so much ammunition today. It's not even fair.” Grace runs a hand through his hair. “I... I hope you didn't hate the hitting thing, either? Because I really... really liked it."
"Rocky was nervous. Want Grace to be okay. Grace is okay.” He pauses. “It was fun."
"Okay, good, because it's kind of... something I've thought of before, cuz like when you're on top of me... I mean, I really can't get you off. You're like... in charge. And, like, of course sometimes we gotta have our little arguments, but sometimes it's nice to just... let someone else be in charge?"
"Rocky can be in charge of Grace. Rocky would like that."
Grace smiles. "I would like that, too."