screaming with probably joy

Good question!

Simon goes to this charity ball that’s masked and he asks Grace again to be his date and colt when he hears this, says “dude, just date my brother already! He’s had a crush on you since we were like 10!”

Simon is still hesitant because he knows dating a celebrity like him won’t be easy. Grace asks him when they’re in the car on the way there “so, this is our 5th date…..when are you going to kiss me?”

Simon freezes and is like “y-you want me to kiss you?!”

Needless to say, Grace thought they were dating but Simon didn’t outright ask him and he thought “oh these must be romantic dates.” Or! Grace teasingly says the line above and Simon says “right now if you’d like? I’d do anything you asked of me.”

guys this AU comes from @idgabuck I have been obsessed with both the fluff and angst versions of the streamer!Simon x teacher!Grace AU and I really wanted to write something for it (I asked if could).

Also in this little mini fic basically a wormhole/time rift opened up and so Grace (who's been on Erid and has aged by now) goes through it and lands back on Earth about five years after the Hail Mary launch, so technically there is now a slight age gap between Simon and Grace but like Grace is 48 and Simon's 37 and again that only happened because Grace decided to stay on Erid until the wormhole appeared.

I also sprinkled in some other pieces from other posts about the streamer au by @idgabuck such as Grace having Simon's streams on board and crushing on his own husband.

This also ended up being so much longer than I thought it would be

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Grace paced back and forth in the interrogation room, well, it was probably an interview room but considering he was currently being held there by all government officials it definitely felt like an interrogation. All he had done was manage to find a wormhole in space that would spit him out roughly a few years after the Hail Mary launched, that's all it was. Well, actually Rocky and Adrian were the ones that pointed out the weird blip coming up on the Eridian space elevator, but he was the one that flew the ship to get home.

Rocky and Adrian didn't come with him, as much as they wanted to see Earth and meet more humans they had other things to focus on, like the little pebbles that had hatched just three weeks before the wormhole was noticed. However, they gave Grace a communication device that hopefully means they can stay in contact despite Grace being sent back in time, or at least help him contact Erid when he knows its time.

But back to arriving on Earth, he can't even remember how he landed it, was it in water? Probably, all he could remember was waking up in this room with Stratt sitting at the table with him. He definitely hit his head too hard, but he still suffered from the amnesia soemtimes. The whole situation felt like the day he got shipped off all over again, except this time they weren't forcing him to leave, they were preventing him from going home. Home is all he wanted. The comfort of the bedroom he shared with his husband who he didn't even remember until after the beetles had been sent back to Earth, fudge, was Simon going to be mad at him for remembering so late?

In any case, he had refused to speak about anything until he was allowed to see his husband, but Stratt seemed reluctant to let anyone near Grace.

The door opened and Grace immediately whipped around to face the door where Stratt was now standing. "Your husband is here." She said.

Grace ran a hand through his hair and stepped closer. "Please, Stratt, I need to see him. I don't care what questions you have, or whatever business you want from me, I just want my husband."

"Grace." Stratt looked at him, he still couldn't read the emotion in her eyes. "Your husband has suffered a lot...are you sure you're ready for it?"

"I know it's only been a few years for you guys, but for me it has been four years in a coma and then multiple years of space travel including staying on an alien planet, by the time I realised I had a husband the entire 26 years would have passed. So, please, I just want Simon." Grave said.

Stratt stared for a moment before she walked back out the door. Grace just slammed his hand on the table in frustration and started to pace again. It was driving him insane, was something wrong with Simon? Is that why they wouldn't let him see him? Oh god, did something happen after the launch?

Hours must've passed because Grace got tired and eventually he found a permanent position of sitting down at the table with his head in his hands. He probably would've fallen asleep had it not been for the yelling he started to hear from outside. Someone was shouting angrily, almost sounded like they were protesting or they were being dragged somewhere, Grace didn't want to think about what others were being forced to do right now. It got closer to the room and Grace swore it sounded like Simon.

Wait. No.

It didn't just sound like Simon.

That WAS Simon!

The door opened again and Grace watched as Simon was shoved into the room before having the door slammed in his face. "Hey fuckers! Let me out of here! I don't care what you want to know about my husband, I don't owe you shit after what you did to him!" Simon yelled as he banged his fist on the door.

"Moonlight."

Simon froze and he stayed like that for a while, it had to be his imagination right? He hadn't heard that nickname in years, was this the government trying to torture him more about losing his husband?

Slowly he turned around and his eyes filled with tears as he saw Grace sitting there at the table. His husband had definitely aged by a few years but he was here, wasn't he?

"Star? My star?" Simon asked, it was almost a whisper.

Grace slowly got up and walked closer so he stood in front of Simon, tears now forming in his eyes as well. "I...I know it's only been a few years for you...but as soon as I found out you were real, I never lost hope..."

Simon shook his head softly as tears streamed down his face. "This...you're not real...you can't be." He mumbled as he looked into the eyes of the man that was definitely his husband. "Are you real?"

"Moonlight." Grace whispered softly and gently grabbed Simon's hand, placing it on his chest right where Simon would be able to feel his heartbeat. "I'm real, I promise."

Simon felt the beating of Grace's heart and started to sob more, his other hand coming up to Grace's face and gently grazing his thumb across his cheek. Grace just leaned into the touch, god it had been so long since he had interacted with a human, now he was here with Simon.

"I know I've probably aged slightly, I had to go to Erid so that the Eridians could fix my ship before I was able to return home. Oh, wait, you don't know about that because the beetles won't be on their way for a while. So, this is crazy but I met an alien, I named him Rocky but Eridians speak in musical notes so I'm sure his actual Eridian name is much nicer. I sort of named him Rocky because he looks like a rock and don't worry I'll show you pictures, or whatever evidence I have with me, also really embarrasing story coming up. Stratt put all your streams and videos onto the Hail Mary database and I kind of had a crush on you for a while, then I found out after I sent the beetles back that you were my husband and I then felt really guilty because I wasn't able to-"

Grace had to steady himself slightly when Simon suddenly pulled him into a kiss. He placed a hand on Simon's neck as he kissed back and pulled Simon as close as he could to him.

The kiss was slow and gentle, but filled with so much meaning. For Simon, he was now in the presence of the man who had gotten shipped off to space and he wasn't able to make it there in time, years of guilt for not answering that phone call were now coming out in waves of tears and this kiss. While for Grace, he had aged slightly and he had been without touch for so long, the kiss for him was filled with so much love but also desperation of just being able to be this close to someone again.

Slowly, Simon pulled away and despite Grace trying to chase for another kiss he managed to avoid that and simply rest their foreheads together.

"You're as beautiful as the day I lost you." Simon mumbled.

Grace both blushed and felt the tears streaming down his face at the same time. "Are you sure? I'm pretty sure I'm like....48, by now."

"I don't care." Simon replied as he held Grace close, the hand on Grace's chest now balled into a fist as it clung to Grace's shirt protectively. "I'm just happy you're real...I spent so many nights dreaming of you and then waking up alone...fuck whatever age you are, you're my husband."

Grace smiled and moved some of Simon's grown out hair out of the way before giving him another soft kiss. "I'm real, moonlight, as real as ground beneath out feet." He mumbled into the kiss.

Soon the door opened again and when the two pulled away they looked to see Stratt standing there once again.

"I'll answer anything you want me to, but I want Simon next to me for all of it." Grace said as he held Simon's hand like they were going to be ripped away from each other again.

"I just...I don't understand how this is happening." Stratt said.

"Well, nobody knew how to breed astrophage until I insisted you let me run tests on some." Grace replied.

Simon just holds Grace's hand tightly, he wasn't going to let go of his husband for one second. "Can we leave? And when we leave, will you finally leave us alone?"

Stratt nodded. "I will leave you alone, you say the beetles will arrive in six years time then I believe you...after all, you are standing in front of me and I think you're probably older than me by now." Stratt said.

Grace relaxes and smiled softly. "Thank you...I am happy to help with anything to do with opening communication up to Erid when the time comes...but Rocky and Adrian are my friends, they are to be respected."

"I will...contact you if we have any interest in that, but priority is the beetles."

Eventually she let the two of them leave, Grace had never been happier to leave science behind, all he wanted was his bed and his husband and their life together.

Grace looked at Simon on the drive home and gently lifted Simon's hand to his lips, placing a gentle kiss to the back of it. Simon couldn't look at Grace but the smile on his face said more than enough.

"So, you had a crush on me before you remembered who I was?" Simon asked.

Grace blushed a lot. "Yeah, I got really jealous of papa star until I learned that, well, I'm papa star."

"I'm glad to know I can make you fall in love with me twice." Simon joked.

"I'd fall in love with you in every life, Simon."

"Oh god...don't do that to me while I'm driving." Simon said as he started to tear up.

That night was spent laying in bed together as they went through every photo album they had, the finer details about their life slowly coming back the more that Simon showed Grace. He would miss Erid, he will make every attempt to contact Rocky and Adrian, but he was also very glad to be home.

“But- it’s simon-“

“But- it’s Grace!”

I like to think that once Earth receives the beetles and fixes the sun, they then send another beetle to Erid full of seeds, food, spices, and other care package stuff for Grace.

At that point, they won't know he's still alive, as far as they know, he probably starved to death by then. But Stratt insists they send it anyway. If nothing else, it can be a gift for their newly discovered neighbors, the Eridians. Afterall, what's more friendly than sharing food?

The Eridian scientists study the contents of the care package. It's full of shelf-stable human food that they do their best to clone/replicate for Grace. There are also some seeds that store well for the years of travel they experienced. Radish, lettuce, tomato, beans, etc. (Potatoes would be a great callback to "The Martian")

It's unhinged to assume that someone's taste in fiction equates to what they believe is moral or good, or is something they want to see or experience in real life.

That is a bonkers assumption to make.

I'm tired of humoring people with long arguments about it when the simple fact is it is a totally fucking absurd reach to accuse someone who enjoys something in fiction of being in favor of it in real life.