I'm so emotional about Adrian. I mean think about it. Their partner leaves on Erid's first ever attempt at space travel. They don't know if they will ever see him again. But they wait, for decades looking to the stars for his return. 186 years is a long time. But so is 50+. Some people think they're a fool, that they should accept that Rocky isn't coming home. But they never lose hope. Because who would they be if they lost hope?
And then Rocky comes home! He's alive!! But he's alone, the sole survivor. Adrian can't even imagine what 46 years alone would be like. No one to watch him sleep. Their heart breaks.
But he wasn't completely alone! He made a friend. A leaky space blob that he calls "Friend Grace". All of Erid (and Rocky) would be dead if not for Friend Grace.
And Rocky, for his part, is so attached to Grace that he can't leave the space elevator. He's the savior of Erid, and he can't even set foot on it. That's a problem. Not just for optics (people want to see the savior of Erid! They want to hear about his adventures!) but for Adrian. They want their mate home.
But this leaky space blob can't survive on Erid. And even more importantly, he's dying. So the brightest minds get together, the second largest Thrum in Eridian history. (Both this and the largest involved Rocky, which Adrian finds amusing. He always did have a talent for finding trouble.) And they figure it out! They can save the leaky space blob! (Friend Grace, Rocky corrects them.)
But he can't live on that tiny spaceship forever. And Adrian wants Rocky to come home. To be able to watch him sleep. So they put their everything into making a home for Grace. They lead the project. Not just because they are one of the best engineers on Erid (the best, Rocky would say), but because while all of Erid owes their lives to Grace, Adrian owes something more. Grace saved their mate. Saved Rocky. He gave up his only chance to go home so that Rocky could come home. The very least Adrian can do is give him a home on Erid.
And it takes years, but they do it!! A dome on the surface where Grace can live. And finally (FINALLY) Rocky can spend more than a day or two on the surface without pacing anxiously, carapace tilted towards the space elevator and the ship docked at the top.
Throughout all of this, Adrian gets to know Grace, and it turns out they like him. More than they were expecting. They can see why he and Rocky got along. Rocky has always been a bit of an oddball among Eridians, even before his nearly half a century of isolation in space, but he and Grace are perfect for each other. And as much as Adrian wishes they could truly understand what happened to Rocky out there, they can't. There is a kind of comfort that can only come from someone who gets it, and Grace gets it. Adrian is just glad Rocky has someone who he can lean on (although in most cases it's Grace doing the leaning, at least physically. Erid's gravity is HARD on him, at first.)
And privately they worry about what will happen when Grace dies (human lives are so short compared to Eridian ones) but for now they're just glad that their mate is home, and they welcome Grace into their life with open arms. Rocky may be Erid's savior, but Grace is Rocky's savior, and Rocky is Adrian's world.
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