Saving Grace
rated g | 2.7k words | project hail mary
Eng. Y/N fixes things. That’s just how the ship works. The molecular biologist, Dr. Ryland Grace, however, has decided today is the day he becomes an engineer.
tags: project hail mary, ryland grace, sci-fi fanfic, slow burn, femme y/n, comedy, silly, flirting, ryland grace x femme y/n, ryland grace x y/n, fluff
NOTE: HIII! Leery here. This will be the first of the many fan fics I will be posting here. I just made this tumblr to share my fics with fellow PHM enthusiasts HAHAHAH. And it has also been taking over my life. I hope u all like it T-T.
It was another 'day' at the spaceship, doing tests, friendly banter with Rocky, and listening to Grace's internal monologues being broadcast to you and Rocky.
clank... clank... clank...
"What was that?" Grace asks. All of you were looking in the direction of the metallic sound.
"Sound bad." Rocky’s translator echoes through the ship. “Maybe outer shield.” Heavy footsteps follow as Rocky moves closer to the lab.
Y/N drags herself toward the doorway, clearly pulled away from something she was focused on moments ago. She looks half-awake, like the ship itself interrupted her brain mid-thought.
"It's a loose panel on the hull of the ship." She groans, Grace and Rocky, looking at her standing sluggishly at the doorway.
"We need to fix it immediately, or else other systems below it will be affected." Y/N rubs her eyes. "I'll fix it. Give me a few minutes to get into the EVA suit."
The thing about Grace is that he hasn’t fully processed it yet— but there is a pattern forming in his thoughts whenever she speaks. Whenever she moves. Whenever she fixes something too fast.
Something he absolutely refuses to name.
"Rocky, you go on comms. Grace you g—"
"I'll go." Grace interrupts immediately.
Y/N snaps her head towards him, confused.
“It’s just screwing something back onto the hull, right? I can handle that.” He shrugs. Rocky's carapace tilts, as if matching Y/N's confused energy.
“But Grace scientist,” he says through the translator. “Grace do tests in lab. Y/N engineer. Can quickly fix ship."
That comparison makes something in Grace shift immediately.
Not anger. Not offense.
Worse. Motivation.
“…Right,” Grace says, a little too fast. He clears his throat, already moving toward the EVA prep.
“I can do it,” he adds, like he’s convincing himself more than anyone else.
"You sure?" Y/N and Rocky following behind Grace. "Mayb... Yeah!" He says a little to quickly.
“Plus, you look tired,” he adds, then hesitates. “…and you were clearly interrupted from your robot thing.”
He lowers his voice slightly as they walk.
“Cute robot thing.”
"...Fuck you mean cute?" she says immediately. "And how'd you even know I was working on a robot?"
Grace freezes for half a second too long. 'That wasn't supposed to be audible' He curses himself internally.
“I said interesting,” he corrects way too fast. “You were hearing things. Also, language.”
Rocky’s translator clicks softly, like he’s observing a malfunctioning system. “Grace behavior: suspicious,” Rocky notes.
His pathetic excuse just flies by Y/N's ears. Because now—he’s thinking about it.
The last few days.
Y/N in the lab. Focused. Quiet. Always working on that robot thing.
He remembers standing a little too long in the doorway once. Just watching. Telling himself it was “quality assurance awareness” or something equally stupid.
He even remembers the moment one of its parts ejected unexpectedly, making Y/N jump. And with that, he accidentally drops a sample of Taumoeba on the floor, distracted by Y/N's reaction.
Now, walking ahead of her, that memory hits him again at the worst possible time.
Grace clears his throat, speeds up slightly.
Behind him, he is very aware of his own heartbeat. Which is inconvenient, because he would prefer not to be.
"Grace heartbeat fast. Is Grace sick? Question." Rocky asks.
"Don't worry, Rocky." Y/N says, leaning against the doorway of the EVA room with her arms crossed. "Maybe he's just nervous fixing the hull."
"No, I am not!" The slightly sweaty scientist answers a bit too quickly. "It's just a simple repair, I can do it."
He nods once, like that should settle it.
It does not.
Behind him, the EVA suit rack suddenly feels a lot more judgmental than it did five minutes ago.
Y/N lets out a small chuckle as Grace starts gearing up.
'God that laugh.' Grace thought to himself.
He shakes himself back to reality and actually starts getting into the EVA suit. Y/N and Rocky silently watching and judging him from the entrance.
"What are you both looking at?"
"Nothing. We'll handle communications now. G'luck." Y/N walks off towards the cockpit, Rocky following. "You've got the left and right boots mixed, by the way." she adds casually down the hallway.
Then she’s gone.
Grace pauses. Looks down, then fixes it.
Finally, for the first time in what feels like too long, he’s alone.
He exhales slowly, tension leaving his body in one long breath he didn’t realize he was holding. And unfortunately, his brain immediately fills the silence with the sound of Y/N’s laugh again.
He puts his face into his hands, calming himself down before he says something stupid again.
“Focus,” he mutters to himself.
The problem is, his brain is not cooperating because Y/N is… present in a way she really shouldn’t be right now. In his thoughts. In his timing. In literally everything that is supposed to be about fixing a hull panel.
She just has that perfect humor, energy, and intellect that Grace can't get enough of.
"The hell are you doing?" Y/N's voice echoes throughout the intercoms.
Grace jumps at the sudden voice in his ear and looks up at the CCTV positioned at the top-left corner of the room. "Nothing! Just finishing up."
"Quickly, man. Or do you want more problems with the ship?"
"Rocky want to go home. Rocky don't want ship go boom because Grace stupid." Rocky adds though the intercoms.
“Not helping,” Grace clicks his helmet into place. "Ready."
For a second, there’s quiet.
But not really. Because his brain is still replaying everything from earlier.
Y/N at the doorway. Y/N laughing. Y/N fixing things like she already knows the outcome.
The way she looks when something actually works.
The way she ties her (color) hair up when she's working on something.
'Woah' Grace talks to himself internally. 'Stop it, Ryland. Just fix the hull, then panic later.'
Then when he thought he was calm enough to get out of the ship, the intercom was filled with Y/N's laugh. "What are you gonna use to fix the hull with?"
'GOD THAT LAUGH'
"O-oh.." he says, grabbing the first toolbox within reach like it personally offended him.
"That's for internal ship repairs, silly." Y/N chuckles
'silly'
That nickname sent the scientist into a frenzy. All he wanted to do was sit on the floor and squeal like a teenage girl.
"It's the one on your left."
"A-alright.." Grace clears his throat and grabs the correct toolbox, carefully placing the other one back like it personally betrayed him.
"Opening the airlock now." Y/N announces.
The airlock begins to cycle, the heavy mechanism shifting open with a slow, mechanical hiss. Dark space reveals itself beyond the hull.
Grace takes a deep breath so sharp it almost hurts. "...You got this, Ryland." He whispers himself.
"I can hear you, you know." Y/N says immediately through the intercom, amused. Rocky lets out a short Eridian laugh in the background.
Grace freezes and forcibly shuts his eyes inside the helmet.
'Focus. Fix hull. Do not think about her laugh. Do not think about Y/N calling me silly.' He convinces himself.
'Especially do not think about the fact that it worked.'
Finally, he gets out of the hull, walking on top of it now. Looking around to find the damaged part of the ship.
"Have you found it?" Y/N asks. "Yeah." He stares at the damage.
"...It's on the side of the ship, though."
“Mm-hm,” Y/N hums. “Well. You were the one who volunteered to fix it, right?”
She stretches the last word just enough to be annoying.
Grace exhales through his nose.
Focus. Hull. Physics. Not voice.
He moves along the exterior, clipping himself securely to the ship before pushing off toward the damaged panel.
He opens the tools boxt and inside, there were too many screwdrivers. None labeled in a way that feels emotionally supportive.
“The one nearest to your hand,” Y/N says casually.
Grace grabs it immediately. “…Of course it is.”
He starts the repair. For a second, he thought that this wasn't that hard after all.
Back at the cockpit, Y/N was laughing out loud with Rocky. Yes, Grace was using the right screwdriver...
But he wasn't using it on the right screw.
"Alright, Rocky, time for me to go out there now." She wipes off a tear from laughing too hard.
"Okay. Rocky talk with Grace through intercom." Rocky chirps.
Y/N moves quickly toward the EVA room and starts suiting up.
“Good job, Ry,” she says casually through comms. She doesn’t see anything outside, but she hears—
clank.
A pause.
“Is friend Grace okay?” Rocky asks.
Grace is very much not okay.
'Ry.'
He hasn't heard that one in ages. The scientist immediately mutes himself on the intercom to let out a squeal. Supposedly, a release of the dopamine running through his veins.
"Ry?" Y/N calls off to confirm Grace's status. "You good out there?"
Grace takes a breath, forces his voice steady, and unmutes.
“Y-yeah,” he says quickly. “I just—dropped a screw. from the toolbox”
“…Everything’s fine.”
“Alright,” Y/N replies after a beat. “I’ll… go take a quick bathroom break.” Her tone is light. Almost normal, then she mutes comms.
Inside the cockpit, Rocky tilts slightly. “Why Y/N leave?” he asks.
“She didn’t,” Grace mutters to himself. “She said—”
He stops. A few seconds pass.
Something about that answer doesn’t fully sit right, but he doesn’t have time to unpack it yet.
“Rock?” Grace says into comms.
“Yes, Grace? Question.” Rocky replies.
And somewhere in the background channel—barely noticeable unless you were listening for it—
He sighs, not believing himself that he's asking rocky this. "Hypothetical. If a crewmate causes… persistent cognitive interference during critical operations, what is the recommended mitigation strategy?"
In the EVA room, Y/N pauses mid-motion. She’s still getting ready, but now she’s listening very closely.
Grace hesitates. "...Distraction."
And for the first time, there was silence all throughout the ship.
Rocky turns on the comms. "Grace behavior similar to mating behavior."
Grace and Y/N's eyes widen at Rocky's surprising answer. Leading to Grace dropping another screw into space.
"No—no, it is not—why would you say that—" He drops the screw in his hand. It drifts away slowly into space.
“Grace like Y/N.” Rocky cuts off the flustered scientist on the other side of the call.
This made Y/N stop tying her boots' laces. '"Is he being for real, right now?" She mutters under her breath.
Because Rocky doesn't joke. That's the problem.
"That is not— I don't— I mean—" Grace struggles to find the words to explain himself.
Y/N tries to shake off everything that is happening and goes out to space. She looks around and sees the usually— well, sometimes— composed scientist...
Floating near the hull.
Visibly malfunctioning.
Trying very hard to pretend his brain is not currently on fire.
The comms are still uncomfortably silent.
Grace is still trying to recover from the last thirty seconds of his life. Which is difficult considering he is currently floating outside a spacecraft, holding a screwdriver he is no longer emotionally qualified to use.
Then—
He hears footsteps.
He doesn’t turn immediately, but he freezes.
He already knows.
Of course he knows.
Footsteps.
Controlled. Confident. Annoyingly calm for someone entering open space.
"Grace." Her voice cuts through the comms system.
Just his name.
Nothing else.
And somehow that is worse.
He turns slowly.
Y/N is there now—fully suited, helmet reflecting the dull light of the ship, floating just slightly off alignment like she’s done this a hundred times more than she actually has.
She tilts her head a little and looks at him.
Then, very casually:
"So."
A pause.
"…Mating behavior, huh?"
Grace makes a sound that is not language. It is not even a coherent human reaction. Not even a coherent Eridian reaction.
It is something between a cough, a system error, and a man actively regretting every decision he has ever made.
"…That is not— I didn’t— I mean—Rocky said it—" He stops himself.
That was worse.
Y/N doesn’t move closer right away. She just drifts a little in space, stabilizing herself with one hand against the hull like this is a normal conversation and not whatever disaster this is for him.
"Oh." She says slowly. "So you’re blaming Rocky now."
"I am not— I am not blaming—" He gestures vaguely with the screwdriver.
Which is a mistake. The screwdriver drifts away again.
Grace watches it go in real time like he’s witnessing his own dignity leaving orbit.
Y/N lets out a small laugh through comms.
There it is again.
That laugh.
Grace immediately stops functioning for half a second.
"Okay," she says, finally moving in toward the damaged panel. "Let’s fix this before you accidentally confess something else to space."
"I am not going to confess anything to space."
"Sure," She replies, already inspecting the panel. "Space seems like it’s getting a lot of honesty from you today, though."
She starts working.
And she is fast.
Too fast.
Grace tries to recover by focusing on the repair.
He fails immediately.
"…You know." He starts, then stops.
Wrong time.
Wrong everything.
Y/N doesn’t look up. "No, I don’t know. Please continue your sentence, though. I’m curious which version of you comes out."
He physically freezes.
Then—
"Grace." Rocky’s voice cuts in through comms.
"Yes?" Grace says instantly, too relieved.
"Grace behavior: increasing instability."
"Thank you, Rocky."
"Not compliment.Statement."
"Noted."
Y/N laughs again, quieter this time, like she’s trying not to fully break.
And Grace, floating helplessly beside her, realizes something very important: The hull panel is not the problem anymore.
He is.
Grace tries very hard to be useful. This is, unfortunately, his first mistake. Y/N is already halfway through securing the panel when he reaches over to 'help.'
"Don’t—" She starts.
Too late.
He presses the wrong edge of the panel slightly off alignment. There is a pause.
A very meaningful pause.
"…Grace," she says slowly, "What did I just say about touching things?"
"I was aligning it."
"You were introducing new problems to it."
"That is not— I was helping."
"You were participating, yes."
That lands worse than he expected. Behind them, Rocky observes silently through comms.
"Grace efficiency decreasing." He reports.
"I’m aware," Grace mutters.
Y/N lets out a quiet laugh and adjusts the panel herself with practiced ease, tightening the correct sequence of bolts in a way that makes it look effortless.
Too effortless.
Grace watches.
That is his second mistake.
"You do this a lot." He says before he can stop himself.
Y/N doesn’t look at him, continuing the repair. "Fix things in space? Unfortunately, yes."
"No. I mean… EVA."
A pause.
Then she tilts her head slightly toward him.
"I don’t know." She says lightly. "Do you always stare this much at people who are just doing their job, Ry?"
That is his third mistake.
Grace goes still. He's cursing himself inside more than he ever was before.
"…That was not— I wasn’t— I’m observing the repair."
"Mm-hm," She replies, clearly not believing him.
She tightens the final clamp. The panel locks into place with a clean, satisfying click.
"Done." Y/N says.
Then, after a beat:
"You’re welcome, by the way."
Grace exhales. "I was also helping."
"You dropped a tool twice."
"That is irrelevant."
"It is slightly relevant."
"…Slightly."
She laughs again, and he immediately stops speaking for a moment longer than necessary.
They begin the return toward the airlock. Slow and controlled.
Space around them was quiet again, except for suit comms and distant ship hum.
"You know," Y/N says casually as they drift, "for someone who insisted on doing this alone, you didn’t actually do a lot of alone fixing."
"I did conceptual fixing."
"That’s not a thing."
"It is in my field."
"It really isn’t."
A beat.
Then, softer—almost teasing: "You were doing fine though."
Grace turns his head slightly toward her, slightly blushing. "That is not true."
"It is a little true."
That is worse.
Inside the airlock, gravity slowly returns. The hatch seals behind them, and air fills the chamber.
Silence shifts from space silence to awkward human silence.
Y/N pops her helmet off first, hair slightly messy, expression far too calm for what just happened.
Grace follows. And immediately regrets having a face again.
"Ry." She says, like it’s normal now.
He freezes slightly.
"…Yes."
"You’re worse in space."
"I am not— that is not—"
She smiles a little.
"I’m kidding."
Pause.
"…Mostly."
And Grace realizes, far too late, that fixing the hull was not actually the difficult part of this mission.
Rocky's voice crackles through the ship's intercom.
"Hull repaired." Rocky chirps. "Grace still malfunctioning."
From somewhere down the hallway, Y/N bursts out laughing.
Grace considers opening the airlock and trying again.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: GOD I LOVE THIS FIC SM. It made me giggle and swing my legs up like a teenage girl. I hope you all feel the same too hehehe. I added the GIF above bc it's what I imagine Grace chasing Rocky around bc he said the mating part HAHAHAHA
