Chapter Text
Grace left the break room with a cup of watered down coffee in hand. He sipped idly at it as he walked through the hallowed halls of the Consolidation’s station.
Filament Station. An intentional disaster Simon was somehow connected to. The answer in how was rather obvious- why else would he be sentenced to death?
But he wasn’t one to come up with wild assumptions without evidence. Grace wanted to ask Simon himself what had happened.
Frankly, he was a little scared to approach the other man on the matter. Simon was rather guarded when it came to his past, and he didn’t want to pry and risk losing him as a maybe friend.
It had been quite a while on the COI. They returned nightly to the ship with Rocky and Adrian, who were working on the taumoeba to release.
While waiting for Ava to get better, Simon had adopted a job in the form of gardening. Grace helped to design a resource-efficient gardening system based off of the ones he had seen on Earth. It wasn’t the best; he was no engineer, but so far it was working.
And that’s exactly where he found Simon. Tending to the crop of lettuce plants and singing faintly to himself.
“Hey…” he knocked on the metal frame of the door. Simon pulled off his gloves and turned.
“Grace,” he nodded in greeting.
Grace shut the door to the room and came in, kneeling beside Simon on the floor.
“Got a minute?”
“Uh… yeah, sure. Let me guess- you finished your interview spree of everyone you could find?”
“... yes. Unfortunately, the people of Eden don’t really want to talk to me.”
“Yeah, well, they’re just like that. I’m honestly surprised they agreed to a truce in the first place..” Simon scoffed.
“So… I was wondering… if I could ask you some questions?” Grace said quietly, bracing himself.
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Wait- what?! That easy?”
“Were you hoping for a fight?” Simon raised an eyebrow and looked at him.
“N-no, of course not… I, uh… nevermind! If you really don’t mind… where exactly are you from?”
Simon paused. He carefully tucked dirt around a plant and sighed.
“Eden. When I was very little, we moved to the space station. I was raised there through the Quiet Rapture. When I was in my twenties, I started fighting for them in the battle against COI. Eventually I ended up on a mission to sabotage the food supply on Filament Station to force a retreat. You’ve probably heard this a thousand times by now, haha… I went in a group to plant bombs. I was one of the only survivors and… I turned myself in shortly after.”
Grace watched him with a slight frown. It had been the story a few of the officials reiterated. But it was supposed to be Simon’s story, not theirs.
“O-kay… but what happened? Like, you know, your side?” He gestured for him to talk again.
“Uh… okay… Do you want the long winded, boring, emotional story, or the short, easy, entertaining one?”
“Detailed, emotional one, please.”
Simon stared at him like he was crazy.
“... alright, then. I guess… huh.” He pulled off his gloves again, shaking dirt out from the crevices of his metal arm.
“Well… The original plan was to use minor explosives to destroy their food supply. Filament Station’s rations were stored in the middle of the ship, so we would plant fifteen mini poppers in the storage rooms, then detonate it once everyone was out of the way. That was what I was told. So… that’s what I did. I don’t know how it happened. In hindsight it’s so obvious what my Brothers had done. I planted the bombs on level three. Level Zero was where they kept the food, but the blast radius of these poppers was so small, they shouldn’t have reached the fuel.
“I followed the evacuation plan, but was met with only three of my brothers. They too had been told what I was. We waited and waited. But… then the time came, and our brothers were nowhere to be found. We decided they must have been captured, and would return to Eden for rendezvous. So we escaped. And… then… It was just a blur.”
Simon rested his head in his metal hand, the real one playing with his curly hair.
“One moment, we were escaping on a trolley, the next… Filament Station was gone. My remaining brothers and I returned to Eden. We were all shunned for the careless betrayal of life, and… wanted for the destruction. They were going to blame me anyway. I just… turned myself in. At least I could try and plead my case, but apparently the court system is just a formal way to slap charges in front of an audience.”
He sighed.
Grace nodded faintly, writing down notes.
“But, yeah. Is that what you wanted to know?”
“Yes, thank you,” he said softly. The room faded into a rare sort of silence as Simon returned to taking care of his plants.
He flipped through his notes, tapping his pen on his knee. He had a good, rough outline of the history after the Quiet Rapture. The COI had kept most of Earth’s political organisation, while Eden apparently took up the religious nature of humanity. At least, as far as he knew.
This would make an amazing paper.
Heck- it would make an amazing book.
He could see it now, Humanity in Deep Space; Survival by Nothing!
Maybe he could send the manuscript back to Earth.
Grace sat deep in thought. He didn’t realise how much time had passed until Simon was getting ready to leave.
“Oh- let me come too!” he shouted, climbing to his feet.
“Do… you know where I’m going?” Simon asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Uh… no.”
“Two words; nap time.”
“Let me come! I’m great at sleeping!”
“So… I noticed?”
Grace followed after him, holding his notepad tight. He was hoping to start drafting as soon as possible, since there was basically no chance of getting an interview with someone from Eden other than Simon.
Grace waved to the guards as they passed through the airlock, and began climbing back up the tunnel.
Adrian and Rocky were together in the workshop, singing to each other and chittering happily. Grace smiled as he passed them, and could already see them crawling towards the airlock.
Simon kicked off his sandals and nudged them under Grace’s desk. Simon didn’t have shoes for whatever reason, but Commander Alexander had gotten him a spare pair because it was generally unsafe to be walking around the COI station without them.
He watched the other man collapse onto his cot, the bed swinging back and forth uselessly.
Grace watched him for a little while.
He looked so peaceful trying to sleep.
His eyebrows finally relaxed, and he was half-curled up with his hand in front of his mouth.
Grace shuffled a little closer and sat on the floor beside his bunk.
Simon opened one eye.
“What...cha doin..?”
“Watching you sleep like Eridians do.”
“Yeah, they don’t do it as… creepy.”
“I’m not creepy,” he scoffed.
“You’re watching me sleep. I’m not even asleep!”
“Can you blame me? You look so soft…”
“Pardon??” Simon pushed himself upright with his arm.
“I stand by what I said! Soft and warm, the best hugs,” Grace huffed, crossing his arms.
The other man sputtered, sitting upright.
“Where did this come from!?”
“Nowhere!”
“Sure,”
Simon was not believing him.
Granted, he deserved it. Grace had, perhaps, on a few occasions thought about hugging Simon. And that was just it! He wasn’t a weirdo, sue him for wanting a hug for the first time in decades.
“Fine, fine! Believe it or not, the last time I got any good quality human touch was… probably over 17 years ago.”
“What a sad life.”
“When was the last time you got a hug, huh?”
“I’ll have you know, two days ago!”
“A human hug?”
“... shit.”
“So, we could… if you wanted to… y'know. Only if you’re okay with it!”
“Stop making this so weird. If you want a hug, I’ll give you a goddamned hug.”
Grace shifted awkwardly as Simon fully sat up.
“Can you make do with one arm?”
“Uh, that’s fine,” he mumbled, fixing his glasses. Was this really happening?
There’s no way this was actually happening.
Simon scooted to the edge of the cot, slowed its swinging with his feet, and held out his arm wide.
Grace almost didn’t go in for it, but Simon probably wanted to go to sleep, so he should just get this over with for his sake.
Don’t make it weird
He wasn’t sure where exactly to put his hands. Around his neck would be way too risky. The waist was off limits. He opted for wrapping his arms under Simon’s armpits and resting his face on his collarbone.
Which proved to be a mistake, as Simon’s hand slid down his shoulder and cupped his spine.
Don’t, for the LOVE OF GOD, make it weird
Simon was awfully warm. It made sense, considering he was mostly unbothered by a constant 90 degrees in the enclosure.
But gosh, he was just so warm. Not a gross, moist, sweaty warm. Just… warm.
It was nice. Grace hummed faintly, holding him a little tighter.
Simon’s breath hitched beneath him, and for a moment he worried he did something wrong and should pull away- but Simon’s arm definitely tightened around his shoulder and he relaxed again.
This was really, really nice.
Stop being so weird, Ryland
He pressed his face into Simon’s shirt. He smelled like warm, freshly watered soil.
You’re so fudging weird
It made sense, considering he had been gardening all day. The breath gently blowing on his hair began to slow.
It took far too long to realise he was trapped.
Simon had fallen asleep. Sitting up. Hugging him.
Good grief.
Rocky and Adrian entered the room.
“What Blessing doing, question?” Adrian chittered.
“S-shh! He’s asleep!” He hissed quietly.
“Simon asleep?! Have to watch,” the blue Eridian insisted, but Rocky tapped them.
“Rocky thinks Grace can do. Grace watching Compassion sleep?”
“Uhh… yeah. I’m watching him sleep..”
The two mates hummed a little, then agreed on letting them rest together, and left.
Simon slowly opened his eyes. He blinked a few times to clear his vision, and found he had thankfully made it back to the ship okay. He had been so goddamn tired… but he made it.
He was going to reach up to rub his face, but his arm met something soft and fluffy on the way up.
He paused. Looked down.
Grace was asleep.
On him.
His heart skipped a beat, and the fingers on Grace’s shirt grew webbing.
“No… no no no-” he closed his eyes and willed his heart to stop racing.
Please.
Not like this.
Simon took deep breaths, he tried to look away, tried to pretend there wasn’t a nice, breathing body on his, but it just wasn’t working. The contact was terrifying, and the implications of Grace still being there were even more so.
He was scared to move. He had to get away before Grace saw him like this- Creators, he could already feel his cheek opening up and he just needed to get out- but in moving he risked waking him up and spoiling it all anyway.
He slowly lifted his hand off of Grace’s back, keeping his elbow down to hide the fleshy fins on the back of it, and began carefully sliding out from under him. The other man mumbled something and shook his head, his glasses smushed under one cheek.
Simon delicately rescued the metal frames, and tucked them into Grace’s hair before continuing his escape.
He was almost there… Simon slowly freed his foot from beneath Grace, scooted back-
And fell off of the cot.
He cursed loudly, squishing not only his fins, but his tail beneath him. He had tried to reach out to steady himself with an arm that no longer existed, and ended up in a heap.
Grace jolted awake, looking around in confusion.
“Hu-whuh? Rocky? Whe- Simon? Are you oka-” he leaned over the bed. Simon had no time to hide.
The other man gasped, slapping a hand over his mouth.
“Holy fudging Fudgers!?” He shrieked.
Simon’s face burned in shame. He stumbled to his feet, and could do nothing but run.
Soft footsteps fell on the metallic floor.
He pressed himself further behind the food containers.
“I can see you, y'know ..." a gentle voice called. He made a little sound as he snatched his tail out of view and stuffed it between his knees.
“Simon,” the voice grew exasperated.
“...”
Maybe if he stayed quiet, Grace would think it was all a dream.
Furrowed blue eyes appeared around the corner.
Fuck.
“Why’d you run away..?” He asked quietly, stepping closer. He paused when Simon pulled back.
“Why wouldn’t I..? Look at me, I-I’m… I didn’t want you to see me like this..”
“Why not..?”
“Are you stupid?! I’m- hideous-”
“You’re not,” Grace said crossly, scooting forward on his knees.
“Yes, I am,” he insisted, pulling his shirt up over his opened cheek.
“No, you’re not,” the other man huffed. He reached out, slowly sliding his hand under Simon’s hand and lifting his face up so he could look at it. He closed his eyes and braced himself.
“Incredible..”
His eyes opened in disbelief.
“It’s so incredible! Can you open and close it at will?” Grace asked, using two fingers to pry apart the teeth on his cheek. Dumbfounded, Simon complied, opening his mouth all the way so the teeth on his cheek opened as well.
Grace gasped, leaning in forward to study them.
“This is… amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it! Are… the others like this?”
He shook his head numbly.
“Was it because you went into the blood ocean? Would you mind if I took a blood sample back on Erid?”
“You won’t find anything,” he said, shaking his head.
“Why not?”
“It’s just… blood. Nothing special about it. You’ll find, I dunno, blood squared..”
“Wow… just… wow. This is so cool! You have a tail! Can you hold your breath longer than average?”
“I can breathe underwater. As long as it’s oxygenated. I have gills,”
Grace gasped, scooting even closer to him and tilting his head to the side.
“That’s amazing, Simon!” He exclaimed, running his fingers over the ridges. Simon shivered and looked away.
“And they work fully functional? Connected to your lungs and everything?” Grace’s fingers separated two of his gills and he jolted.
“Okay! Let’s not touch those anymore,” he laughed awkwardly, rubbing the weird tingles out of his neck.
“Oh- of course,” Grace said, looking down. Simon’s hand was his next victim, and he studied the webbing with great interest.
He watched him look all over his body, tapping the floor the second Grace let his hand go.
The other man’s explorations felt weirdly intimate, and it was honestly a bit nerve-wracking.
Like Grace was inches away from finding something he didn’t like.
Then it would be all over.
“No scales,” Grace noted, running careful fingers over Simon’s tail.
He tugged on one of the spines and watched curiously as it instinctively puffed up.
“So this is what the pool in the enclosure is for!” Grace said, the realisation only just now dawning on him.
Simon choked on a laugh and just nodded.
“So, um… wow,” Grace sat back on his feet, rubbing his hands together.
“Yup, ‘wow’...”
“You’re pretty amazing,” the other man blurted out.
“I… guess that’s a weird way to put it..” Simon mumbled.
“I mean it. You’re amazing. Every day I learn new things about you, and it’s- it’s great,” Grace said, shrugging his shoulders.
Simon’s face heated quite a bit. He felt like a teenager again, tucked behind hanging towels in the laundry room with…
Well, his past lover.
It was a grossly familiar feeling that sent his mind reeling all over again.
He couldn’t be feeling this way now. Not when the future was still in shambles.
“You’re… pretty great yourself,” Simon said, rubbing his knee. Grace watched him, a small smile on his lips, then he looked around and scooted back.
“Come on… you wanna head back to bed?”
“That’d be nice,” he sighed, taking Grace’s offered hand.
Simon walked with him back to the bedroom, then flopped on his hanging cot.
He nearly jumped when Grace sat beside him, gently rocking the cot.
“You’re still here,” he said in disbelief.
“Is that a problem?”
“No- not a problem!”
“Good! I’ll watch you sleep, then.”
Simon groaned and buried his hot face in his pillow.
This wasn’t fair.