Inactive unless Cat (and sometimes maybe Dog)

“M’not ready to sleep yet,” Ryland mumbled, rubbing his face with one hand while awkwardly continuing to type with the other, “I’m almost done.”

“Said same thing five Earth minutes ago.” Rocky argued.

Ryland sighed.

“Fine,” he said, “I’ll take a two minute break. Show me what you’re working on.”

“No no,” Rocky protested, “not two minute break, sleep now.”

He was hiding the little figure he’d been so intently working on behind his carapace.

Ryland smirked, raising an eyebrow.

“Why don’t you wanna show me that, bud?” He asked.

“Grace change subject,” Rocky said defensively, “sleep. Now.”

Ryland reluctantly closed the laptop.

“Only if you show me what it is you’re hiding from me.”

If he didn’t know any better - and really, he didn’t right now, because he was overtired - Ryland could’ve sworn Rocky was pouting. Somehow. It was just the way his posture shifted.

“Rocky only show if Grace promise not to laugh.” He said.

“Why would I laugh?” Ryland asked, raising his hands innocently.

Rocky didn’t answer, just let out a frustrated little coo as he brought the figurine back around to his front.

It was nearly finished, from what Ryland could see, but he knew by now that Rocky was picky about details.

As far as he could tell, it was another Eridian, but it definitely wasn’t Rocky, it had a much taller and spikier carapace and thicker, sturdier legs. If Rocky was a spindly little spider, or a daddy longlegs (which, technically speaking, weren’t actual spiders and belonged to their own separate order under arachnida), this Eridian he was sculpting was more like a rhinoceros beetle.

Ryland knew immediately who it was.

“Is this Adrian?” He asked softly.

Rocky wobbled his carapace, similar to a nod.

“Is Adrian.” He answered.

Ryland gently took the figure from Rocky’s claws, gingerly turning it over to examine it.

“They’re beautiful.” He murmured.

“Adrian is. Is very beautiful. Most beautiful on Erid.”

“I’ll bet they are.”

Ryland chewed his lip.

“Why were you embarrassed to show me this?” He asked with a slight laugh.

Rocky huddled in on himself slightly.

“Not embarrass,” he said defensively, “Grace no have mate.”

“Oh,” Ryland said, not buying it for a second, “so, you didn’t wanna make me jealous? Or feel lonely?”

“Yes. No jealous. No lonely.”

“Right.”

“Is truth!”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Why Grace not believe Rocky, question?!”

Ryland was laughing now.

“Because-” he began.

“Grace promise not laugh!” Rocky cut him off angrily.

“Sorry!” Ryland giggled, “it’s not the sculpture, I think it’s sweet. I’m laughing at how flustered you are.”

“Not flustered. Grace annoy.”

“We already had the conversation about me not wanting a mate, remember? Why would I be jealous?”

Rocky’s facade was starting to crumble.

“Because…” he twittered awkwardly, “because Grace not have other humans to be around! Not matter if mate or not! Grace be alone on Erid!”

“We talked about that too,” Ryland murmured, “and I told you I won’t be lonely without other people - not if I have you.”

He held up the little Adrian figurine.

“And them.”

Rocky grabbed the figurine back from him and promptly folded his legs under himself, like a cat, with the figure tucked safely beneath him.

“Grace make fun,” he huffed, “Rocky knew Grace would.”

“I’m not making fun of you!” Ryland protested, spreading his hands, “all I wanna know is why you’re being so defensive! Is it because you miss Adrian?”

There was a long silence, and that told Ryland he’d hit the nail on the head exactly.

“I wouldn’t make fun of you for that, buddy.” He said softly.

“Promise, question?” Rocky asked in such a vulnerable tone it shattered Ryland’s heart.

“Of course!” He exclaimed.

“Rocky miss Adrian lots then. Even on way home to them. It not go fast enough. Rocky miss.”

“I know, bud.”

Ryland patted the vents on Rocky’s carapace.

“I wish I could find a way to get there faster.”

“Rocky wish too.”

He fiddled with the figure a little bit, having brought it back out from under himself.

“Grace no make fun of Rock for being sappy?” He asked, “not think Rocky silly for miss Adrian so much?”

“Not at all,” Ryland laughed, “you’ve been apart longer than I’ve been alive.”

Rocky said nothing.

“Besides, I think it’s kinda sweet that you love them so much.” Ryland added.

“Rocky does love much,” Rocky said, perking up, “love love love.”

Ryland couldn’t help but smile wider.

“Rocky also love love love if Grace sleep!” Rocky added proudly, like he’d just cracked the code to getting Ryland to go to bed, and Ryland couldn’t stop himself from promptly bursting into laughter.

He didn’t know why exactly that particular comment had been so funny to him, but for some reason, it had him belly-laughing. His face was turning red and he could feel it.

“Grace. It not that funny.” Rocky said flatly when Ryland didn’t stop laughing for what felt like several minutes - and unfortunately that only made it even funnier.

“I- I know!” He wheezed out, trying to regain himself.

“Grace overtired.”

“I know I am!!”

“Grace leaking, blood rush to face.”

“I know Rocky, shut up!!”

“Humans leak when laugh too, question?”

Ryland covered his mouth, coughing and clearing his throat in an attempt to stop himself from laughing.

“Yeah, bud,” he murmured finally, panting with his hand on his chest, “don’t worry, I’m not crying.”

“Grace is crying,” Rocky argued, “Grace leak all over face. Rock just said.”

“Because I was laughing,” Ryland explained, still fighting to get his breath back, “sometimes humans cry from laughter too, not just when we’re sad.”

Yet again, despite being fully aware of the fact that he did not have a face, Ryland could only describe the way Rocky positioned himself as a look of utter disgust, and it had him ready to erupt in laughter all over again - he really was overtired, he hated when Rocky was right about that.

He managed to hold on just a second longer until Rocky threw his little clawed hands in the air in utter exasperation.

“HUMANS LEAK FOR EVERYTHING, QUESTION?!” He demanded loudly, and the incredulity of his tone had Ryland roaring even harder than before, tipping over and collapsing onto the bed, into the soft fabric of his quilt.

He heard a frustrated whuff of air come from Rocky’s vents.

“Now Grace leak on blanket,” he huffed, “is still not funny. Grace very overtired, statement.”

“Rock-” Ryland choked out, gasping for air, “stop!”

“Rocky not say anything to make Grace laugh-leak!” Rocky exclaimed indignantly.

“Oh jeez- Rocky, please, you’re gonna kill me!”

“Rocky make Grace die?!”

Yeah, Ryland probably should’ve known that was the wrong way to phrase that.

“Can humans die from laugh, question?!?”

At this point, Ryland was starting to believe the answer to that was yes - or it was about to be. There was that one philosopher who had supposedly died laughing at his own joke, but the actual validity of that factoid was still to be decided.

Either way, dying laughing at your alien best friend because you hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours seemed stupider. Especially when you were laughing so hard that you snorted, really loudly, and despite the fact that you were painfully embarrassed by that noise coming out of you, as always, it only made you laugh and snort even harder.

“What that noise?!” Rocky demanded frantically, jumping onto Ryland like a hyperactive puppy and checking him over, “why Grace make that sound, question?? Grace hurt, question?!”

His poky little clawed fingers kneaded Ryland’s stomach through his xenonite suit, and Ryland squirmed away from him.

“Rocky!!” He cackled, “stop that!! It tickles!!”

“No understand word!” Rocky chirped, “Rocky hurt Grace, question?!”

“No! No. No, no.”

Ryland finally managed to gather himself for a second, taking his glasses off - they’d already been half-off his face anyway - and drawing his hands down his tear-stained cheeks.

“It’s okay, Rocky,” he gasped, “I’m okay, I promise. You can relax.”

Then the second wave crashed over him, and he was in hysterics all over again.

“Grace scare Rocky and keep laughing,” Rocky said, “Grace mean. Mean mean mean.”

“I’m sorry!” Ryland wheezed out, “I’m not laughing at you, I swear!”

“Then what Grace laughing at?!”

“I don’t know anymore!!”

“Stupid. Grace laugh-leak all over self and make weird noises and not even know what for?”

“Shut up!!”

“Why make noise, question? Grace make noise again if Rocky touch?”

“Wha-?”

Ryland didn’t even manage to get the word out before Rocky was squeezing his stomach again, more experimentally this time, and Ryland was mortified that it had him snort-laughing again from how much it tickled.

“That noise!!” Rocky trilled excitedly, clearly having forgotten his initial panic and confusion, “what noise mean, question? Make noise when laugh, question?”

Ryland couldn’t speak to answer his stream of inquiries, desperately grabbing onto his little claw-like fingers to try and stop him from exploring his torso any further.

“Grace no stop Rocky, Rocky studying human reactions.”

Okay, so he was definitely doing this on purpose now - probably to get back at Ryland for scaring him.

“Rocky, please!!” Ryland begged through tears, “I can’t take it anymore!!”

“Rocky barely even get started!” Rocky protested, but he relented immediately, sitting lightly on Ryland’s stomach as he finally had the chance to suck in a full breath of air.

There was a long stretch of silence, save for Ryland panting and wheezing as his chest heaved under Rocky’s weight.

“Grace okay, question?” Rocky asked, one of his feet tapping the mattress, “breathing very hard.”

“Yeah,” Ryland huffed, smiling even though his face hurt and reaching up to pat the top of Rocky’s carapace, “I’m fine, Rocky. Just need to catch my breath. I haven’t laughed like that in a while.”

And it really had been a while. Definitely several years, at the very least. And despite the fact that he was thoroughly exhausted now, it had felt really good to laugh like that.

Closing his eyes, Ryland let his head fall back on the pillow, a contented sigh escaping him.

“Grace still not answer question.”

Ryland’s eyes flew back open.

“What question?” He asked, lifting his head to look at Rocky again.

“What noise Grace make when Rocky touch?”

“… Laughter?”

“No no, other noise. When laugh very hard.”

“Oh.”

Ryland felt his face heating up again, for a different reason this time.

“A snort.”

“No understand this word either. What mean?”

“It’s just the word for that sound, it’s called a ‘snort’.”

“All humans make this noise when laugh, question?”

“Um… no. Not all humans.”

“Does noise mean something wrong with Grace?”

“No no, nothing’s wrong. It’s just because I was laughing really hard.”

Usually it didn’t take laughing that hard for Ryland to snort-laugh the way he had been, but he didn’t say that to Rocky.

“What cause sound, question?”

“It’s just the way air gets sucked into our airways. Our breathing gets erratic when we laugh. A big breath into strained airways causes the sound.”

Rocky clicked his little clawed hands.

“Amaze amaze amaze,” he murmured, “human laugh fascinate!”

“Yeah…” Ryland mumbled, starting to wish he could sink into the mattress and disappear.

“Grace still red, statement.”

“Huh?”

Ryland picked his head up again to squint at Rocky before flopping back down.

“I thought you couldn’t see colors.”

“Can tell face red. Lots of blood flow there. Must be very red. Red red red.”

Ryland rubbed his face with a soft groan - his cheeks were quite literally burning.

“Why face red, question?”

“I’m just a little embarrassed, Rock. That’s all.”

“What Grace embarrassed about, question?”

Ryland cringed.

“I dunno. My laugh?”

“What embarrass about laugh? Rocky think laugh cute.”

A whine escaped Ryland’s throat.

“Stooop.” He whimpered, his hands still covering his face.

“Why Grace more embarrassed now? Rocky compliment, should make Grace feel better.”

Ryland sighed heavily, letting his arms drop to his sides on the mattress.

“I don’t know,” he repeated, “some people just don’t like their laughs, okay?”

“Grace not like Grace laugh, question?” Rocky pressed, and his tone was full of so much genuine concern that Ryland’s heart melted.

“Not really…” he admitted.

“Grace silly,” Rocky chirped, “Rocky like Grace laugh a lot. Is cute. Cute cute cute.”

“So you’ve said.” Ryland chuckled abashedly.

“Rocky not want Grace to dislike laugh,” Rocky went on sternly, “Rocky make Grace laugh hard every day until Grace like laugh.”

“You really think you’re that funny?” Ryland shot back teasingly, raising an eyebrow at him, only to immediately regret those words when he started squeezing and poking his stomach again.

“Rock no have to be funny,” Rocky trilled proudly over Ryland’s frantic giggling, “Grace laugh from touch alone.”

“Okay!! Okay, I get it!!” Ryland exclaimed, squirming under Rocky’s weight - which inexplicably seemed to have gotten heavier, “you’ve made your point!! Rocky, quit it!!”

Now it was Rocky’s turn to laugh, his carapace wiggling as little chirpy giggles escaped him.

“Rocky make Grace like Grace laugh,” he said matter-of-factly, “because Rocky love Grace, love everything about Grace, even parts Grace not like.”

Ryland let out a happy mumble, sinking a little further into the quilt.

“Okay, bud,” he murmured, “thank you. I love you too.”

“Grace sleep now, question?”

“Thinkin’ about it.”

“Grace should. Overtired. Grace sleep, Rocky watch.”

Ryland smiled as his eyes fluttered closed.