KATE

MASTER FIC LIST

Lars and the Real Girl

Hurts - Switch!Lars, Switch!Reader

~~

Project Hail Mary 

Exercise - Ler!Grace, Ler!Reader, Lee!Simon

Magnetism - Ler!Grace, Lee!Simon

Visiting Day - Switch!Colt Seavers, Switch!Grace (Coltland twins AU)

Anger Issues - Ler!Grace, Ler!Simon, Lee!Reader (Bloodymary)

Confrontation - Ler!Grace and Lee!Simon (Bloodymary)

Cuteness Aggression - Ler!Simon and Lee!Reader

Tipsy - Ler!Grace and Lee!Stratt

Team Building - Ler!Carl and Lee!Grace

Double-Teamed - Ler!Simon, Ler!Grace, and Lee!Reader (Bloodymary)

Grumpy - Ler!Grace and Lee!Reader

Clumsy - Ler!Simon and Lee!Grace (Bloodymary)

Feel Better - Ler!Rocky and Lee!Reader

Thank You - Ler!Grace and Lee!Simon (Bloodymary)

Voices In My Head - Ler!Grace and Lee!Reader

Pilot Detected (4) - Kid!Reader, Ler!Grace and Lee!Reader

Pilot Detected (3) - Kid!Reader; Ler!Grace, Ler!Rocky, and Lee!Reader

Pilot Detected (2) - Kid!Reader

Pilot Detected  - Kid!Reader, Ler!Grace and Lee!Reader

For Health - Ler!Rocky and Lee!Grace

Two Idiots - Lee!Grace and Ler!Reader

Be Gentle  - Ler!Stratt and Lee!Reader

Asking For It - Ler!Grace and Lee!Reader

Oral Fixation - Ler!Grace and Lee!Reader

Stop Stressing - Ler!Carl, Ler!Grace, and Lee!Reader

Dirty Dancing - Ler!Rocky, Lee!Grace, and Lee!Reader

Too Much - Ler!Grace and Lee!Reader

Doing Nothing - Ler!Stratt, Ler!Carl, and Lee!Grace

Nightcap - Ler!Grace, Ler!Stratt, and Lee!Reader

Well, Fudge (2) - Lee!Grace and Ler!Reader

Well, Fudge (1) - Ler!Grace and Lee!Reader

FANDOM LIST

Project Hail Mary

The Martian

Andor & Rogue One

Star Wars

BBC Sherlock

Bridgerton

Heartstopper

The fandom list is ever-evolving and may get updated. :)

Stratt frowned. "Are you injured?"

Grace wrapped his arms more tightly around himself. "Nope. All good." His voice was higher than usual.

She raised an eyebrow at him and took a sip of the coffee she had just reached across her colleague to grab. 

The conference room was suddenly too quiet. Dr. Lokken made meaningful eye contact with Dr. Lamai. Dubois and Yao exchanged a bewildered glance. Shapiro mouthed across the table at Ilyukhina—Should we be concerned? 

Ilyukhina unsubtly passed her a Post-It note back: Maybe she's been kicking her lap dog.

Shapiro hid her laugh in a cough. 

Grace cleared his throat. "Uh, so, what was I saying?"

"The spin drives?" Shapiro offered, feeling guilty for laughing. 

"Right, thank you…"

***

Stratt found Grace in the staff kitchen later. He was staring blankly as his stale coffee spun around and around in the microwave. He startled as she sidled in next to him. 

"Oh- Christmas Eve. I should put a bell on you," Grace muttered.

"That would be inappropriate," Stratt replied calmly, stirring a flavorless 5-hour energy shot into her fourth coffee of the day.

They fell silent. Grace was visibly sweating.

"What was that, earlier? In the conference room," Stratt asked quietly. 

"There's no way that's good for you," Grace deflected weakly, pointing at the offending 5-hour energy bottle.

"Answer the question, Dr. Grace."

"It was nothing," Grace flustered. The microwave beeped insistently.

Stratt hummed. Grace looked at anything but her. 

"You know, Dr. Grace, people will think I'm abusing you if you keep flinching like that," she muttered.

"What— no they won't." Grace took his coffee out of the microwave.

"They already think we're fucking, why not that too?" Stratt asked coolly.

Grace spluttered and coughed into his coffee. 

Stratt chuckled softly. "Just tell me."

"Fine. Jeez. I grew up with three brothers, okay? My instincts are- are hardwired for constant threat."

"What kinds of threats?"

"Oh, I don't know. Flying pillows thrown at my head. Getting pantsed. Impromptu wrestling matches…"

"Being tickled?" Stratt offered.

Grace bluescreened. "Wha- um- I- no, just…"

Stratt waited patiently. Grace hated her for it.

"Maybe. Fine. Sure," he finished.

"Good to know," Stratt murmured. 

"Wait—what does that mean? Eva?!"

She was already walking away.

***

Stratt watched Grace through the window of his lab as he lowered himself to the ground, lied down underneath a rack with a large gel documentation machine on top of it, and started tinkering with the bottom of it as if he were fixing a car. 

Stratt frowned. She could've sworn she had told Grace that there were lab technicians at his beck and call to fix anything he needed. 

She entered the lab and approached her scientist. He was listening to music on the lab's speakers and was too focused to hear her walking closer. 

"Na… na na na na na nah… hey Jude…" Grace sung under his breath.

The Beatles, Stratt thought. Fitting.

She crouched next to him, examining his tools and the way he was fixing the machine. It looked like he was replacing a rechargeable battery pack. 

Stratt's gaze slid down Grace's body, examining his poor, albeit open and relaxed, posture and the way his shirt was riding up from the act of raising his arms over his head. 

She cleared her throat. 

Grace nearly jumped a foot in the air, banging his head against the lab equipment. "Fudge- I didn't see you there."

"You're aware that you can call people to come and fix things."

"I know, but, I like doing it myself," Grace mumbled, sliding out from under the machine and curling up into a protective ball. 

"Why are you doing that?" Stratt asked.

"Because the battery died?" Grace answered, a puzzled expression crossing his face. 

"No. Protecting yourself."

"I'm- I'm not protecting myself," Grace stuttered. 

"Relax, then," Stratt said, sitting back on her heels. 

"I am relaxed," Grace said defensively. "I'm the picture of relaxed."

"People who are relaxed don't need to announce it," Stratt said, scooting closer. 

"What- What is this. Why are you—" his voice was awfully high. "Stratt?"

"Yes?" Stratt replied, a small smile starting to crawl across her face. She was now a foot away from him on the floor. She could see how dilated his pupils were.

"I- Eva. Come on."

"What? I'm not doing anything," she chuckled.

"You are though!" Grace protested.

"What am I doing, then? Spell it out for me."

"You're- you're…ugh!"

"What?" Stratt challenged.

"This isn't fair," Grace whined.

"What's not fair? I still don't understand what exactly it is I'm doing that is vexing you so much," Stratt said in one smooth breath.

Grace's mouth was agape and his cheeks were hot. "You're doing the… you're doing the anticipation thing."

"Anticipation of what?" She tilted her head to the side with a bemused smile. 

Grace sputtered and started and stopped and couldn't get a sentence out. "Will you JUST get it over with and tickle me already?!" He finally outbursted.

"Ohhhh," Stratt hummed smugly. "That's what this is about."

"Don't pretend like that wasn't what was happening here!" Grace exclaimed.

She smiled. With teeth. Grace had never seen her do that before—only tight-lipped, hiding-her-amusement smiles. For a second he forgot his predicament because her smile was so rare. He couldn't help but feel pleased that he had coaxed it out of her. 

Until she spoke, that is. "Fine, I'll bite. Your constant flinching intrigues me."

"I- why?!"

"It's cute," Stratt mused. "And it implies that you are far too sensitive for your own good."

"Wha- cute- hey…" Grace interrupted himself, warily eyeing Stratt's approaching hands. "Hey, come on, don't."

"Why not?" 

"You seem to have a lot of questions today," Grace grumbled through gritted teeth. His blush had begun to spread down to his neck.

Stratt's hand stopped and hovered at Grace's side. He flinched, his elbow digging in against it, but otherwise remained still. "Jumpy," she chuckled.

"Can you blame me?" Grace squeaked.

"Why aren't you running away?" Stratt mused, wiggling her fingers. Grace's eyes were locked on them and he swatted weakly at her hand.

"I- I don't know!" He flustered. "I'm- I'm a little overwhelmed at the moment if you hadn't noticed!"

"I'm not even touching you."

"Exactly!"

"Okay, I'll move my hand," she smiled. Stratt retracted her hand fully, tucking it into her lap. Grace remained just as tense. "Why aren't you relaxing?"

"I don't know, you've gotten me all…worked up." He gestured wildly at the gap between their bodies.

Stratt started to stand up. "You do realize that could be taken out of context."

"Not what I meant—wait, where are you going?"

"To my meetings, what's wrong?" Stratt raised a sly eyebrow.

"I- I don't…" Grace puttered out with an exasperated sigh. "You know what you're doing."

"Mm, so now you want me to tickle you?"

"That's not what I said!"

"That's what it sounds like to me," Stratt smirked, quickly closing the distance.

Grace scrambled back. "W-wait, wait, hohold on!"

Stratt paused mid-reach.

"I- uh. I didn't mean—"

"Make up your mind, Dr. Grace," Stratt chuckled.

"Fine, just—just do it!"

Stratt slid closer and gently moved Grace's arms out of the way. He shimmied in place, feeling terribly exposed. She resisted laughing at him. 

It took a lot of restraint.

"Hrrrng…why aren't you…stop hovering," Grace whined.

Stratt moved her hands even closer, just above his tummy but not touching. "Is this better?"

Grace clawed at his own collar to keep himself from pushing her away. "NO! It's nohohot…" His speech broke into wheezy giggles.

"I'm not touching you, why are you giggling?" Stratt murmured, wiggling her fingers a little to see if that got a reaction.

It did. "I'm nohot gigglihihing!"

"Don't scientists usually prefer facts and data over denial and single-mindedness?" Stratt mused, poking him lightly. He squealed, overreacting from the anticipation. She laughed this time. She couldn't resist.

"There is NOHO data, as far as I can tell no one is recording THIHIS—" Grace cut off with a shriek as Stratt clawed lightly from the center of his tummy across his sides and up his ribs.

The way Stratt tickled was nothing like Grace had ever experienced. With his brothers, it was always about squeezing as hard as possible and digging cruelly into every spot one could reach. Stratt, on the other hand, played a waiting game. And when she was done waiting, she tapped and poked and squeezed. If Grace had his wits about him, he would have complained about the way her fingers didn't articulate individually, how they stayed together (almost like flexible LEGO figure hands, Grace thought) and covered a larger surface area to tap and squeeze and crawl all over his torso. 

"Have you had enough yet?" Stratt asked calmly as she gently massaged at Grace's hips. He snorted with laughter, clinging helplessly to her shoulders. 

"I- whahahat- what kinda quehehestion is that?!"

"You have an excellent vocabulary, Dr. Grace, I'm sure you can use it." Stratt nudged Grace's chin up from his chest to get at his neck, scratching gently at his jaw. 

Grace went nonverbal, hiding his face against her sweater. He covered his red cheeks. He didn't even care that he was exposing his neck more to Stratt's fingers. 

"Hmm?" Stratt prompted, burrowing into Grace's now-open underarm. 

"FU-HAHAHA- Get outta there!" 

"I will if you answer me."

"YEHES! OKAY? I've had enohough!"

Stratt withdrew her hands. "Good." She stood up. "Drink some water. And try not to flinch in our meetings, it really does concern people."

Grace watched her leave, completely bewildered. He slowly stood up and brushed himself off. He looked like a storm had passed through unexpectedly: his hair and clothes were mussed, his cheeks were bright red, the corners of his eyes were wet from laughing. 

As he walked over to the sink to grab some water, he noticed something in the window. He squinted, and then put his glasses back on. 

Carl waved at him from the security window, an amused smile on his face. 

I sat back on the warm sand and watched Grace try to convince Simon to get in the water. It was really a perfect temperature—Grace had insisted on a summer day that was just warm enough to go in the water, but not hot enough to make us break a sweat. It was soothing and I felt the urge to fall asleep.

Grace and Simon headed towards the water. They had both stripped down to their boxers to serve as swimsuits. 

Grace splashed some water on Simon's calves. "See? No blood, it's not scary," he grinned. 

Simon had a death grip on Grace's shoulder. His gills rippled slightly across his ribcage at the sight of the water washing over his feet and ankles. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's not very deep either. I can teach you to swim, too," Grace said. He was already bounding and splashing deeper into the water, giggling and whooping like a kid. 

Simon stood at the waterline anxiously, testing his weight from one foot to the other as his toes sunk into the wet sand. He let Grace take his hand and lead him deeper. 

I watched Simon smile and relax a bit when the water lapped at his waist. I heard him say something about how nice the water was. They both looked back at me and I waved. 

I saw Grace murmur something to Simon and then he was out of the water and heading towards me. Water ran down his legs and left a trail in the sand.

"You sure I can't convince you to join us?" Grace asked. 

"I don't have a bathing suit," I said. "S'not like I can just… strip down to my underwear like you guys."

Grace made big, wet puppy eyes at me. I groaned and looked away.

"Okay, fine," he relented. 

We heard a high-pitched yelp just as Grace was about to turn around. We both sat up and saw Simon slip under a wave, submerging him completely. Grace started to rush back to the water. 

Grace splashed through the shallows looking for Simon. I got up too, the water lapping at my ankles. "Simon? Simon!" we called. 

Grace and I exchanged a worried glance as everything went quiet on the beach. Even the waves seemed to be still. 

"Simon?" 

We heard a great, heaving sound as the water seemed to lift itself up over a great…big…

Simon?

Simon was suddenly gigantic, roughly proportional to the size of the body of water he was in, such that our artificial "sea" looked it was jacuzzi-sized with him in it.

"What the fuhhhh—fudge?" Grace exclaimed.

"Guys? I don't- I don't know what's happening to me," Simon said. He sounded stressed, but slightly amazed at his new form. "I have a- a tail?"

A long, thick mermaid tail flicked across the surface, spraying us with a fine mist of seawater. It had fins and scales and it caught the light to refract rainbows across the beach.

"Wow, Simon, you're so…" Grace exhaled.

"…Beautiful," I finished, my mouth open in awe. 

"Stop," Simon whined, cheeks flushed, and the sound echoed throughout the beach. He immediately slapped his hand over his lips. "Why am I so loud?" He mumbled.

"You're big, buddy," Grace chuckled. He reached his arms up and made grabby hands at Simon. "Pick me up."

Simon gently picked Grace up. I could tell he was being extremely careful. "I don't wanna hurt you," Simon mumbled sadly around the long canines that had grown with his transformation. 

"Hey, big guy," Grace said in the sweetest, softest voice I'd ever heard from him. Simon lifted him closer to his face and Grace placed a hand on Simon's much larger cheek. "You're not gonna hurt me. Worst case scenario, you drop me and the water will break my fall."

Simon, placated, glanced across the beach again, his oversized brown eyes landing on me. He brought his hand down to the shore—with Grace still on it, who chuckled and fell back to sit criss-cross-applesauce on Simon's palm—to scoop me up. I yelped and fell into Grace's shoulder as Simon brought us up to his level. 

I clung to Simon's thumb and avoided looking down. "I know Grace said it wouldn't be a big deal if he fell into the water but don't you dare drop me," I said sternly. 

Simon chuckled, the sound shaking through our bones. "I won't."

Grace stood up on Simon's hand and jumped off the edge, tucking his knees to his chest and shouting "Cannonball!" like a little kid. The impact of his jump splashed up around me. I grinned and watched him thrash about in the water before hopping onto the part Simon's tail that was sitting above the surface. 

"Si, this tail might be the coolest thing I've ever seen," Grace said, running a finger across the shiny scales. 

"It's not, I'm just—I'm a bit of a monster," Simon mumbled, looking sheepish. 

"No way," I spoke up. "You're like a fish."

"Maybe that should be your last name!" Grace exclaimed. "Since you don't have one."

"No fucking way," Simon growled, the end of his tail slapping against the water and spraying Grace. 

"Simon Fischer?" I chuckled. "Simon Fisherman, or maybe Fishman—"

"Simon the Fish!" Grace interrupted me between raucous giggles. 

"Both of you shush," Simon hissed. 

"Whatcha gonna do about it, Fishboy?" Grace wheezed.

Simon made a growly noise and then moved his hand down, holding me dangerously close to the water. He switched his grip so that he was holding me between his thumb and forefinger. 

I shrieked. "Si! Wait, don't—I'm sohohorry!"

He lowered me further so that my ankles were submerged. I yelped. "Sorry for what?" Simon rumbled.

"Come ohon! I'm sorry for calling you a fish—Don't get me wet, I'm fully dressed…literally do anything else—"

"Anything?" Simon raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, I just don't wanna get wet—"

"Okay," Simon said cheerfully, scooping me back up into his open palm. I huffed and puffed, catching my breath as he smiled down at me. 

There was a brief silence. "What?" I asked nervously. 

"You should save your breath," Simon smiled, his canines poking out over his lips again adorably. 

Grace chuckled. "Uh oh, someone's in trouble…"

"I- wahait! How come Grace isn't getting punished for any of this—" I started giggling as his large thumb prodded carefully at my tummy. 

"Because you've needed to loosen up all day," Simon smirked. "Wouldn't get in the water with us."

"It's nohohot my fault! I can't just—"

"Didn't I say you should probably save your breath?" Simon chided. 

I curled up in Simon's palm as he relentlessly poked across my torso. His fingers were large enough to keep my arms mostly out of the way. 

"N-ahaha- Simon! Dohon't, I'm sorry—"

"Sorry for what?" 

"Mahahaking fun of yohohou…"

Simon shrugged. "Oh, I forgive you for that."

"So STOHOHOP!"

"Nah, this is fun," he grinned. He changed the angle of his thumb so that he could run his fingernail up and down my ribcage, managing to pluck each rib gently along the way. I shrieked and thrashed uselessly in his grip. 

"You're squirming too much," Simon complained. He curled the rest of his fingers up to the artificial sky to make a protective fence of sorts. "You're gonna roll right off my hand."

"S'not my FUCKING fault!" I screeched, pushing uselessly at his finger, but he was too big to throw off.

"Woah woah woah," Grace said exaggeratedly from below. "Are you just going to let that language fly, Simon?"

"Course not," Simon muttered. "It's gonna be hard to give a proper punishment with only one hand, but…" 

My eyes were blurry from tears of laughter, but I saw him squint in concentration. He brought his thumb and pinky finger around my body and closed them together at the muscle just above my knee. 

Then, he squeezed.

I screamed with laughter, my other leg kicking helplessly. "SIHIMON!" 

"That's my name," he said smugly. He pulsed his fingers at a faster rhythm.

"Ohoho, there we go," Grace chuckled adoringly from his perch on Simon's tail. 

I slapped twice desperately at Simon's open palm, wheezing with leftover giggles as he stopped tickling me. He gently lowered me back to the shore and Grace swam back out to meet me. 

Grace stumbled out of the waves and threw his wet body across me, tasering me in the sides. He laughed when I squealed and pushed him away. 

"Ugh, Grace, I was wearing white!" I protested, covering my now see-through shirt with my arms. 

"Sorry not sorry," Grace laughed and tossed a towel at me. "Couldn't just let Simon have all the fun."

Simon dragged himself into the shallows, upending a ridiculous amount of water over the sand. Grace stretched up comically to the full length of his height and patted Simon's gills dry with a towel. As the gills dried, Simon slowly shrank in size and his mermaid tail transformed smoothly into human legs. Simon sank peacefully into the water from the hips down.

"Uh… Grace?"

"What's up, big guy?"

"I think my shorts ripped and came off when I transformed."

Grace's face turned beet red and I had to hold back my laughter. "Oh!" He exclaimed. "Um, not to worry! I, uh, I got it, here, I'll just—"

I watched as Grace awkwardly try to help Simon wrap himself in a towel while also looking straight up at the artificial sky. Simon tied the towel loosely, just at the end of his happy trail, and Grace choked on his own breath. 

I mean, it's not like I wasn't looking either. Just saying.

"Let's get our fish boy home, hm?" I said, patting Grace on the shoulder lightly. 

"Yeah—um. Yeah," Grace stuttered. 

The three of us ambled up the path back to the house. 

"Still not into the 'fish boy' thing," Simon grumbled. 

"Too bad, I think it stuck," I teased back. 

"We need to see about getting you a proper swimsuit," Grace thought out loud. "I'll ask Adrian."

Simon grinned suddenly. "Yeah, we want you swimming with the fishes," he said. He looked terribly pleased at his own pun. 

I giggled despite myself. Grace shook his head.