Very Silly Frog

Grace immediately feels a little weird. He’s never heard this word before but the context clues are pretty clear, aren’t they? Eridians have sex by laying eggs with their mates. Is Adrian attracted to him? If so, he’s… well, he’s sort of flattered, but mostly uncomfortable, since he definitely doesn’t see Adrian that way. He’s explained the concepts of aromantic and asexual to both Rocky and Adrian so they should know that he doesn’t feel that sort of thing. Besides, he’d never want to come between Rocky and Adrian. Do eridians have polyamory? Is that a thing here? Oh god he’s never fully figured out the relationship dynamics of eridians—

Eventually he’s panicking about all this and Rocky notices, and Grace hesitates but eventually it all just comes spilling out. Rocky stares at him for a long time before reaching out very gently to take his hand.

He tries not to panic. He logically knows that sooner or later the Eridians will come and dig him out. But he's still uncomfortable, the space he's managed to find shelter in incredibly claustrophobic. Rocks are digging into his back, and he's pretty sure a couple of flying chips hit his face, given he can feel something warm and wet starting to drip down his temple. He can't be sure if it's blood, though, because it's pitch black beneath the rockfall. There isn't even enough space to lift his arm to wipe the fluid away.

He's doing his best to remain calm, with mixed results. He tries to tell himself that he just has to be patient, he just has to wait, and eventually he'll be rescued. But to his surprise, the rocks start shifting away from overhead within seconds of being buried. He can also hear Simon outside frantically screaming his name, which is even more surprising. Hadn't Simon been all the way back at the house? How had he gotten here so fast?

Regardless, not even five minutes after Grace was buried, light breaks through into the little crevice he's been sheltering in. He looks up, and sees Simon peering through the opening.

To Grace's eyes, Simon's head is perfectly haloed with the artificial sun overhead. He's panting and sweaty, and the hand he extends towards Grace is covered in cuts and scrapes from where he must have desperately dug through the sharp rocks. And yet, he's the most ethereal thing that Grace has ever seen.

SimonSays take me with you but Simon wakes up first and he remembers everything or remembers Grace as soon as he sees him. So Simon spends almost all his time watching Grace sleep, he needs him and not just because Grace is the scientist and the only person who can make progress in that regard, but because Grace will always be his husband first and he wouldn’t have followed Grace here if he was anything without him.

Eventually Simon does the spacewalk to make first contact with Rocky but the entire time he’s terrified of Grace being alone and scared when he wakes up and Simon not being there. Everything plays out similarly to phm except a lot slower because Simon refuses to leave Graces side for too long. In the process of decoding the languages with Rocky it comes out that the reason Simon won’t stay in the tunnel for long is because he’s been watching his mate sleep and the two bond over being lonely without their mates.

It’s around this time that Grace finally wakes up. (Rocky either moved in just before just after this, he got the idea likely from the conversation with Simon about watching Grace sleep) It becomes extremely obvious that Grace has no memories, and while he remembers a lot of the science stuff quickly he doesn’t remember Simon. Simon has already talked about going home with Rocky so he knows he still has plenty of time with Grace so Simon figures Grace probably has a lot on his plate and decides to hide their relationship. He takes off and hides his wedding ring and tells Rocky not to mention it to Grace, Rocky is confused and slightly mad at Simon but agrees.

This brings me to the mission on Adrian, it turns out better this time because Grace is able to take over piloting after Simon gets knocked out but still Simon is in critical condition. On the brighter side both Grace and Rocky are okay. Grace is worried but in this way he can’t fully articulate he feels way more worried about Simon then he should reasonable be but he chocks it up to Simon being there for and taking care of him since he woke up. Well that’s until Grace is staring at Simon one day and Rocky tells him, maybe Grace brought up how he felt or they where talking about Rocky’s mate or maybe Rocky couldn’t bare to hide it anymore. Either way all of these memories come crashing in like a truck and all Grace can do is stare at his potentially dead husband and realize how much pain he’s put him through and he might never get the chance to apologize, and he loves him, but he may never be able to say that again.

Bonus for all the pain:

Potential idea for when Simon wakes up. Grace falls asleep on Simon’s unmoving hand with his face covered in tears. Grace feels a hand weakly cup his face and all he hears is “Starlight?”

(I swear to god if I mixed up the pet names I’m so sorry)

We love you top surgery anon. (I was gonna joke about you doing my top surgery lol)

But god yes to all of this!! Simon asking Rocky to keep the stuff he’s told a secret from Grace and Rocky really hates keeping it a secret but understands.

I imagine whilst Simon is recovering from the “Time go fishing” scene, Grace remembers everything whilst he is watching Simon sleep or Rocky tells him because he’s worried Simon won’t wake up and won’t be there to tell him.

Grace breaking down at that because he’s been in space with his husband and he hadn’t even remembered him and now there’s a possibility he could be seriously hurt?! Grace never forgives himself for that.

Carl: "What exactly do you think government agents do?"

Grace: "Well you seem to hang around me all day."

Carl: "Have I ever tortured you?"

Grace: "Not unless you start denying me Skittles."

Carl: "Then no, I haven't tortured anyone."

Grace: "....why do you hang around with me all day?"

Carl: "I'm tasked with protecting the highest asset of the project."

Grace: "Sooooo why are you hanging around with me all day?"

Based off of this post

Grace was waving goodbye to his students, the bell had just rung to signal the end of the day. His classroom was quiet after the rustling of books being put into bags and the chatter of his students. He turns around to go back to his desk to finish his marking, clean up from the experiments they did that day before he can go back home to where his husband would probably be streaming.

He didn’t expect to see one of his students, Hunter, still sat at his desk looking nervous.

“Hunter? Is something wrong buddy?” Grace comes over and sits opposite him. He can see the boy is nervously fidgeting. “This is a safe space, you know you can talk to me.”

Grace notices a blue bag with gold stars all over with some tissue paper sticking out. Hunter holds it out for Grace to take and Grace takes it gently. “Is this for me?”

Hunter nods. Grace knows he has a hard time talking so he doesn’t push for him to answer.

He pulls out the envelope and opens it after setting the bag down on the floor by his feet carefully as he doesn’t know what could be in it.

Grace carefully opens the envelope and sees a handmade Father’s Day card and his heart flutters at that. The card has a picture of a star wearing glasses and a suit like Grace and it says “you’re one in a million!” Grace smiles at that and looks up at Hunter who’s nervously looking at him.

“This is a beautiful drawing, Hunter. I love it.” Grace smiles at him and he can see Hunter relax a little. Grace opens the card and sees hunter’s all too familiar handwriting.

Dear Mr Grace,

I hope this isn’t weird for me to give you but I wanted to say happy Father’s Day and to thank you for always being there for me like a dad would be. My mom helped me pick out the perfect gift for you and help me with this card to know what to say. I really appreciate you and want you to know I see you as a father figure. I always injoy enjoy the experiments you let us do and I love learning science from you.

You’re the best teacher I’ve ever had.

Love from Hunter.

Grace feels himself starting to get emotional as he reads it softly.

“I know it’s stupid….” He hears Hunter mumble.

“No! No Hunter I love it. It’s such a sweet card you made me. I’m gonna keep it forever.” Grace smiles tearfully at him. Grace places the card down before grabbing the bag to take the tissue paper out and pulls out his favourite chocolates, a little teddy bear wearing a shirt that says “#1 dad” on the front. Grace can’t help but note the wire glasses the bear is wearing and has a mental thought of Hunter wanting to add them because of him and a mug that’s dark blue and has the solar system on it. The perfect size for his morning coffee. He places each item on the desk and he feels more emotional.

He’s never thought of himself as being a father figure but it makes him emotional to know that his students see him that way. “Thank you, Hunter for my gifts. I love them all.”

“You- you really like them?” Hunter asks nervously whilst staring at him.

“I really do-“ Grace is cut off by Hunter hugging him and clinging to the back of his suit jacket and Grace instantly returns the hug, holding the boy in his arms.

“Thank you, Mr Grace……for everything.” Hunter mumbles and that sets Grace off.

“You’re welcome, Hunter. You’re a very sweet kid. I’m gonna really enjoy using my gifts.” Grace tells him softly.

They pull apart when they hear a little knock coming from the door and look up to see Hunter’s mom standing there with a teary smile. “Hello, Mr Grace.”

“Hello, Miss Smith.” Grace greets her happily whilst trying to wipe his tears away so they don’t know he’s crying. He’s definitely gonna tell Simon about this when he gets home.

“You ready to go Hunter?” She asks softly.

“I’m ready, mom.” He shrugs in his backpack before hugging Grace again and Grace hugs him back. Once they pull away, Grace packs up the gifts and card back into the gift bag.

Miss Smith comes over and whispers a soft “thank you.” She smiles tearfully at him. “For always being there for my son.”

Grace nods and smiles tearfully too. “You’re welcome. He’s a great kid and really smart.”

“He really wanted to do this for you for Father’s Day. I’m sorry if that was crossing a line-“

“No not at all, Miss Smith. Honestly, it’s the first time that’s happened to me so I’m a little emotional.” Grace rubs the back of his neck.

“Can I hug you too?” She asks and Grace nods with a smile.

“Thank you.” She says to him after they pull away and the two of them soon leave leaving Grace alone in his classroom to quietly but happily cry as he cleans up his classroom and finishes grading before making sure he has everything he needs including his gift bag before cycling home.

He sees Simon waiting for him when he gets in. “Hey. How was today- what’s that?” He sees the gift bag in Grace’s hand.

“Hey! It was great!” Grace almost forgets he’s holding the bag and goes “oh! This! One of my students, Hunter, gave me some gifts for Father’s Day.”

“Is that why it looks like you’ve been crying?” Simon asks as Grace comes over to greet him with a kiss on the lips, placing the bag down on the kitchen table.

“Yes. He looked super nervous to give it to me, it broke my heart a bit. The gifts he got me and the card he made was so sweet, moonlight. Look!” Grace shows them to Simon happily and Simon smiles at them and tears up too.

“You’re a good teacher, Starlight.” Simon kisses his cheek. “Also, I might have to steal this mug for my coffee during streams” he jokes.

“Nope! It’s my morning coffee mug.” Grace smiles widely as Simon looks at the mug in his hands.

“Ok but I’m definitely stealing the papa bear teddy. That is sitting on my desk when I stream.” Simon pouts as he puts the mug down to grab the small bear with wire glasses. Simon is endeared by the wonky frame glasses as it reminds him of Grace. That man can never wear his glasses right, he’s surprised that they haven’t been broken yet.

“Ok, you can. But if chat asks or you show them him, you’re not allowed to say the students name on camera.” Grace softly says.

“I know Sunlight.” Simon tells him softly. “He did a really good job at getting the glasses right. Look! It’s even wearing them wonky like you do!”

“I know how to wear my glasses properly!” Grace argues but the argument dies on his tongue as he see a Simon raise an eyebrow at him.

begging for forgiveness

He opens his eyes but he cant move. Hes constricted by writhing veins, threatening to crush his ribs. He knows he's supposed to be free, he went to sleep in a house, in the biodome, on erid, but he’s watching blood pour down the walls and eyes leer outside the windows. he cant move, he cant talk, he can only move his eyes, Grace is still asleep and cant free him from the blood roots burrowing under his skin

But eridians watch each other sleep. A xenonite-shrouded hand touches his arm, grabs his hand, and breaks him out of the smothering paralysis.

"I hear Simon heart beat loud, fast. I am here. Wake up now."

Going to such extremes isn't out of the ordinary for her, but I just remembered something else about her: Eva Stratt in the book is dutch.

The consequences of this action won't just take it's toll out of the whole of humanity eventually, Eva's home country and any loved ones that might still live there will be amongst the first impacted.