Fist of the Phantom Star

Simon still is from a cult but he's escaped, and it's been a GOOD BIT since. He's an engineering (dare i say aerospace??) major that keeps to himself. He's there just to get his degree and leave. Like he never lingers in a space more than he has to

and Grace is obviously in molecular biology. He's younger here and doesn't know he wants to be a teacher yet, so I think he still has dreams of being a bigshot scientist working on huge projects

Now. We can cook

They have no real reason to talk (other than being roommates maybe), but maybe one day they're both pulled into a institution wide competition that picks the best from each degree program and smashes them together to make something good to represent them (A SCIENCE FAIR !!!)

Grace has no idea why he's there. He KNOWS he's not ranked #1 in the program, yet the execs tell him the people they originally picked before him either got sick, got involved in something personal, or just straight up had unfortunate happen. Which leads Grace to believe the position in the team is cursed yet alas

Simon's the only other guy who stayed. He was told being on the team would be "so easy", but he's just in it cause he has something to prove. To himself or otherwise, idk!

Usually they're in teams of four, but the execs REALLY NEED the rep, and they don't have time to recruit anyone else (they already registered Grace before he even agreed) (cue the "no im not even REMOTELY qualified enough" spiel).

It's a little awkward and they butt heads over an idea they can both agree on. And then bond! BOOM !!!!

that one guy no one invited: hey what if i drew ryland grace and mejiro ryan

here is the opening to chapter 4 (im completely overriding it) so you will have to wait a bit for an update i apologize

Chapters: 3/? Fandom: Project Hail Mary (2026), Iron Lung (2026) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung)/Ryland Grace Characters: Rocky (Project Hail Mary), The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung), Ryland Grace Additional Tags: Slow Burn, Graphic Depictions of Illness, The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung) Thinks Ryland Grace is an Angel, Meet-Ugly, very ugly, Hurt/Comfort, so much blood, The Convict | Simon Has PTSD (Iron Lung), Medical Inaccuracies, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rocky is a Little Shit (Project Hail Mary), Touch-Starved The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung), Eventual Smut, hopefully, Touch-Starved Ryland Grace, They're both touch starved Summary:

The Hail Mary detects a new object. A submarine. Drifting in the void with a slow, wet heartbeat.

Grace cuts it open.

The liquid that hits him isn't water.

Now he's lying on the floor of an oxygen tunnel, tasting iron, and hearing things that aren't there. Grace says he's fine, and Rocky doesn't believe it. The man that came out of that same submarine is hailing him as his light, and now Grace needs to figure out what the hell is up with the voices in his head and what to do with another human on board. A really hot one, too.

i dont know how to advertise fanfiction. ummm. it's a slowburn tho

here are some of my favorite moments to persuade you into reading

thank you ♡