Chapter Text
Now that the stranger was cleaned up, Simon could get a much better look at him. He could actually see that under all that blood, he had a beautiful shade of blonde hair and freckles dusting his nose. He looked way better now. Honestly, the guy was pretty handsome. It made him wonder what the hell he was even doing in space, covered in (presumably) his own flesh and blood. Seriously, this guy barely had any meat on his bones; he looked starving! What was he gonna do in space? Simon doubted he could even stand.
ok.
well.
He definitely couldn't stand now, but he meant before whatever happened to his leg.
Moving on, the burns and blisters on the man's face had already healed nicely, leaving only a discoloration and texture change in the skin stretching from his neck up to just below his lip. His gruesome leg was already stitched and bandaged, leaving a stump right where his knee would be. Armando had also changed the man into an awfully familiar shirt and shorts that were a little big on his thin figure...
ah. That's where it went. He was looking for that shirt earlier.
Simon sat by the man's bed for what seemed like hours, just watching him breathe. Yeah, that was creepy as hell, but he hadn't seen another human in years! Plus, this one was pretty much found dead! He was worried about the guy, alright? He also had a shit ton of questions. Mainly: How the hell are you alive?
His thoughts were cut short by an irritatingly familiar robot voice.
"Eye movement detected."
Simon stood from his seat so fast he got a little dizzy. He took a moment to calm himself so as not to freak the guy out any more than he probably already was.
"What is two plus two?"
Simon shoved Armando away with an annoyed tone, "Four, now shut it."
The man's eyes below him fluttered open, hazy and confused. He slurred as he started to speak, "Wha-"
Right as the guy opened his mouth, he started coughing, body wracking violently as blood started dripping from his mouth.
"Woah! Breathe!" Simon leaned forward and helped him sit up. He patted his back in hopes of preventing the guy from choking. He had no idea if it actually did anything, but the man was able to catch his breath shortly after, so he guessed it somewhat did.
Even after his coughing died down, he held tightly onto Simon's arm. He had an impressive grip for his current physical state.
Simon looked up to see the guy just. Staring... His eyes were so blue it was scary. It made him extremely uncomfortable.
"Uh, hey." Real smooth... but what the fuck else was he supposed to say?
The man only muttered in response, "...hey."
Simon figured he was still high. He looked like he was stuck in a trance. Still, he responded. Progress was progress.
"Hey, how you feeling?" His hand stayed resting on the man's shoulder.
"I- I'm... Am I alive? Is... Is this real?" His voice was quiet and distant, like he was just thinking out loud. Simon glanced away with an uncomfortable look on his face.
"Uh, yeah, you're alive. I have no fucking clue how you survived all that, but you did."
The dazed man looked back up at Simon, now focused on him rather than staring at the air between them. He abruptly grabbed Simon's hand and squeezed it a few times. When he was satisfied that Simon was, in fact, tangible, his breathing started to pick up. Simon started freaking out. Why was he freaking out? What should he do?!
"Okay, okay- Deep breaths, man." He slowed his voice down, "My name is Simon, alright? I don't know who you are or what happened, but you're safe here, ok? When we found you, we brought you here and patched you up."
For a moment, he thought it had worked; the man had paused to listen for a moment. Unfortunately, Simon may have made it worse. The guy started sobbing.
"Woah, woah, woah! What's wrong?! Simon held his arms up around him, unsure whether he should even touch the guy or not. Simon's brain short-circuited the second the man reached up and grabbed him. Simon stood as still as a statue while the man held onto his torso tightly, crying into his arm.
What. the. fuck. was happening?
Simon was feeling a whirlwind of emotions right now. He hadn't had human touch, let alone even seeing another human, in years! Now, some zombie guy shows up and starts hugging him and getting snot all over his sleeve! Yeah, he was relieved he was alive, but also what the hell?! Hesitantly, Simon brought his hand up to pat his back. That was how you comforted people, right? It had been a while...
When his tears finally died down, Simon tried to pull away, only for the guy to literally pull his arm back over. Okay, a little clingy, but whatever, the guy was scared and confused and most likely high out of his mind. He let him hold onto his arm while he tried to get some answers.
"Alright, now that that's done, what's your name?"
He seemed hesitant to answer at first. "It's... Its Grace."
"Grace! Nice to meet you, as I said before, I'm Simon. Now, how are you feeling?"
Grace fell back against the bed, bringing Simon's arm down with him as he clutched it to his chest, "My head is killing me."
Simon cursed under his breath as he got pulled down to lean over him, "Figures. Go back to sleep, alright? You gotta heal up."
Grace nodded. Simon took that as his cue to leave, but Grace was not having it. He tightened his grip on Simon and pulled his hand back in less than a second.
"Wait-!"
Simon looked back to see a guilty look on Grace's face. His voice was quieter when he continued, "Please... Please stay here. Don't leave me alone."
Tears were already pricking at the man's eyes. Simon felt his chest ache at the sight. Welp, alright. He couldn't say no to that... He was basically giving him the puppy eyes. That was just unfair!
He sat back down and laid his hand over Grace's. "Okay, I won't. I'll stay right here."
He was kinda used to it anyway after watching both Adrian and Rocky sleep, so he guessed it wasn't a huge deal. He was gonna get food and water for next time Grace woke up, but he'd worry about that later. Even in sleep, Grace made sure Simon couldn't pry his hand away, so he'd be stuck there for a little while.