#unsurprisingly

I  pulled my long black hair into a ponytail and applied makeup that would make my cobalt-sapphire orbs pop. Today was my 18th birthday, which meant I was finally going to be able to find my fated mate that the Lunar Goddess had given me! Not even my sister could take this away from me.

I ran my hands over my sleek black dress to smooth out any potential wrinkles – not that there were any. My dress was perfect – before leaving my room. My heels clicked against the shiny wood floor as I went down the hall towards the stairs. I could already hear my parents complimenting my sister.

"You look amazing, Sunny," my dad said, his voice full of awe. "Every wolf at the party will be looking at you tonight."

Sunny giggled. "Oh, stop… I'm not that pretty. Besides, I'm sure they know better than to stare at the beta's daughter like that."

Yes, we were the daughters of Beta Dominic, the alpha's right hand. No one would dare look at us, especially Sunny… at least in public. Yet, it was the worst kept secret in the pack that Sunny had been with most of the guys by now. If our parents knew, they didn't show it. She was their perfect little girl. And I, well…

"Candy." My dad's lips curled into a sneer. "Is that really what you're wearing to the party?"

I glanced down at my dress. "Yes."

"It's a little short, don't you think?" My mom asked, glancing at my dad.

"Sunny's dress is shorter," I pointed out. And it was – it showed off almost everything.

"Sunny's dress fits her," my dad snapped. "It was perfectly tailored to her. Unlike yours–"

"Dad, we're going to be late," Sunny said with a dramatic pout. "I can't be late, it'll make me look bad."

"Alright sweetheart," he said with a sigh. He gave me one last disdainful look. "You don't have time to change. Just stay out of sight."

I sighed and nodded. "Yes, sir."

I was always second to my twin sister. This wasn't unusual. I could wear the most modest outfit in the pack and my father would still criticize me.

I followed my family out to the Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail parked just at the end of the path to the house. The driver greeted us and opened the door; yeah, my dad wouldn't drive his own car the few minutes to the alpha's house. He was too rich for that.

The short drive was filled with silence, but I didn't mind. At least Sunny wasn't bragging about herself. I was still glad when we parked and I was able to escape.

My dad grabbed my arm before I could go anywhere. "Remember. Keep your head down and stay back. This is Sunny's chance to find her mate."

I nodded. "I will." That was what I always did.

He let go and walked off, leaving me on my own.

It was better this way. I had a better chance of finding my mate this way, if he was here. And I really hoped he was. I didn't want to be trapped in the Silvermoon pack for the rest of my life.

Everyone loved Sunny, but they all hated me and took every opportunity to bully me. They knew I didn't have my dad's protection, and they knew I never stood a chance at inheriting anything. So if I was fated to be with someone from this pack…

No, the Lunar Goddess wouldn't do that to me. If anyone was on my side, it had to be her.

I took a deep breath and went into the large house. The huge gathering room was filled with werewolves of all different packs. I didn't know exactly why – the alphas were meeting to discuss something I wasn't informed of – but I was going to take advantage of it to try to find my mate. If I was lucky, I would.

Sunny was already chatting with some guy I didn't recognize, definitely flirting with him. I fought back an eyeroll and looked around. I didn't feel anything as I looked at them. My heart sank. If I didn't have a strong mate like the people here, would I even be able to leave?

The thick, heavy doors to the room slammed open, and a sudden hush fell over the room. I turned to see who could have possibly silenced everyone here with their entrance.

The man was tall and huge, easily twice the size of our alpha. His dark hair was unruly, his suit and tie messy but in a way that seemed more hot than undignified. I already knew several girls would be swooning over him, despite his dangerous and wild energy.

"Is that–" someone started, only to be hastily shushed by someone else nearby.

It was the cold and ruthless alpha of the Bloodmoon pack, someone I had only heard terrifying stories of.

The entire room held its breath as he scanned the crowd. Then, his dark and stormy orbs met mine, and lightning seemed to arc between us, invisible but impossible to ignore. A growl reverberated through the room.

"Mine."

Rocky hummed in thought as he lowered his camera. He had been doing a lot of research into Shifters (or werewolves, as they were sometimes called) and this was his newest read. These accounts of Shifters and their mates were very interesting, and he had learned a lot! Much more than Grace had told him.

How mates recognized each other was especially intriguing. While Eridians spent many years courting their potential mates, Shifters just immediately knew who their mate was. They did not need courting rituals, or a long time to fall in love and accept their mates as their forever partners.

Yet Grace and Simon had not marked each other as mates yet or "made out." Why?

In order to rule out the possibility of them not being fated mates, Rocky had observed them very closely for a while (just like Grace said to do in science experiments!). Every time Grace was near Simon, his heartbeat sped up, especially if Simon was moving his arms (Rocky had done some research on this, too, and deduced that since humans thought other humans "flexing muscles" was hot, Grace did too).

Similarly, Simon's heart sped up every time Grace walked into the room, and especially when Grace was thinking. And when his glasses weren't on properly. And when he was talking. And when he wasn't doing anything at all. Really, Simon was worse than Grace about it.

After confirming that they were in love, Rocky did more research. Usually, humans only decided they loved someone after a long period of courting rituals (long for humans, anyway). Grace and Simon had not gone on a "date", yet Grace had always loved Simon, especially when Simon first Shifted, and they hadn't even known each other then.

Simon had taken longer to fall in love than Grace, but the psychology book Rocky read said that he was just traumatized.

With his theory that Grace and Simon were fated mates confirmed, Rocky now had to figure out why they wouldn't acknowledge it and how to fix that.

They performed many activities that to Rocky, seemed very mate-like. They often sought each other out to work in the same space, they always ate together, and Grace always seemed to know when Simon needed something and he would do it without having to be asked — particularly when Simon needed his hair put up. They were close, very close, and yet…

The most obvious conclusion was that they were both stupid and wouldn't confess without Rocky's intervention, and intervene he would.

He would make them realize they were mates, one way or another.

The first order of business was to get them to spend more time together. Currently, the best way to do this was wolf cuddles.

Rocky listened for Grace and Simon — predictably, Grace was in the lab muttering about big science things Rocky didn't understand, and Simon was in the plant room. So, Rocky climbed into his ball and rolled over to Simon.

"Simon!" Rocky trilled, hearing the translator echo his words. Simon still didn't understand him well, not like Grace did. "Grace need you."

Simon lifted his head and set down the water he was holding. "With what?"

Rocky hummed. "Grace working too long. And Grace cold. Cold cold cold. Need wolf cuddles."

Simon blinked, and his heartbeat sped up a bit. "Oh. He…?"

"Yes. Grace mention wanting wolf cuddles. Too busy, cannot ask. So Rocky ask for Grace." While that was technically a lie, Rocky knew Grace was thinking it. He was always thinking it.

"...Okay." Simon shifted his weight. Was he nervous, or happy? It seemed like both. But as long as he cuddled with Grace and they lived happily ever after, it didn't matter.

Rocky rolled out of the room to give him some privacy. Even though Rocky could hear through walls, it seemed to make them more comfortable when they could Shift in private. Well, in an empty room, anyway. Nothing was private when Rocky was in hearing range.

Soon after, Rocky heard the crunching sounds of Simon's Shift, and then the steady click-click-click of Simon's claws against the floor. He went into the lab and nosed Grace, making wolf noises at him until he got up and followed Simon to the dormitory to cuddle in their nest.

Success! Surely they would realize it now, knowing that only mates asked each other to Shift!

~*~

It was not a success.

Grace and Simon cuddled for one episode of The Flash — which Rocky didn't understand why they watched. Grace always complained about the many science inaccuracies — before Grace returned to the lab again. Neither brought it up again; in fact, they seemed to be pretending that it had never happened at all.

Why were humans so stupid?

Fine. Plan B it was.

He briefly wondered if he should at least tell Simon his plan. It could make things easier if one of them wasn't oblivious to what he was doing, and he obviously couldn't tell Grace. But then he recalled what Simon had said when Rocky was making his glasses.

"What if he says no?" Simon sounded… scared, for some reason. That was odd.

"What if he says yes, question?" Rocky knew he would. Grace loved Simon, and it was so obvious.

"He won't." Simon shook his head. "I don't have anything to offer him."

Hm. Simon was stupid, too. Better to not tell him.

Rocky watched Simon and Grace through the walls. They were both coming out into the hall. If he timed this right…

As Grace and Simon got close enough to each other for Grace to not fall on his face, probably, Rocky rolled out of the room he was hiding in as fast as he could manage. He crashed into Grace's legs and knocked him clean off his feet.

Grace barely got out a shout of surprise before Simon caught him, his arm wrapping securely around Grace's waist. Grace stared up at him, his heart pounding too fast to just be surprise.

"Rocky," Simon snapped. "Watch where you're going."

"Apologies, apologies. Rocky excite. Portable human thinking machine time!" Rocky rolled away quickly before he could be yelled at more.

Now, Grace and Simon were going to stare lovingly into each other's eyes and maybe even kiss, or at least say something like in the movies—

"Are you okay?" Simon asked, setting Grace upright.

Grace cleared his throat. "Yeah— just a little dazed. Thanks for the save."

"That's good." Simon looked down the hall to where Rocky had gone. "Why the h—"

"Si." Grace put his hand on Simon's arm. "It's okay. I'm fine. There's no harm done."

Simon let out a sharp breath. "Fine."

Grace dropped his hand. "Come on. I'm hungry."

Simon followed him to the dormitory without another word.

Well, that didn't work. It had only made Simon angry at Rocky, and that wasn't going to be helpful. Maybe he should have told Simon…

No, that wouldn't do any good. Rocky would just apologize when Simon was calmer, and then move onto the next idea.

~*~

Plan C was a lot less risky than Plan B. It was simple, too, though Rocky just had to hope it wasn't too simple to work properly.

Grace and Simon were eating dinner, both sitting on Grace's bed. They were almost close enough for their legs to brush, but they were just far enough to not touch accidentally. Rocky didn't like that. At least they were still within kissing distance, though.

"Mary, dim lights," Rocky ordered. He just hoped the lights wouldn't be too dim. He wasn't sure how dark they needed to be, exactly.

"Woah— uh." Grace sat up straighter. "The lights—"

Simon frowned. "Electrical problem?"

"Mary's sensors haven't gone off, so hopefully not." Grace set his food aside and stood. "I'll go check."

No no no, this was supposed to be a romantic dinner! Grace wasn't supposed to leave! Did no one realize what this was? Was it because there weren't any candles? Romantic dinners did always have candles… and fancy tables… and fancy food…

This plan was doomed from the start, wasn't it?

Rocky trilled in frustration from his hiding spot as Grace left to take a look at the screens. So much for this idea.

Grace soon returned to Simon. "Everything's fine. The lights were just turned down. Not sure why though."

Simon let out a huff. "Maybe Rocky did it to make us sleep."

Grace snorted. "Maybe." He picked up his food again. "I'm not ready to sleep yet, though, so he'll just have to wait."

Simon hummed and nodded, returning to his food.

Stupid stupid stupid. They were just tormenting Rocky on purpose, weren't they? He was going to give them a piece of his mind when this was all over. Whenever that would be…

Time for Plan D.

When bedtime approached, Rocky rolled into the room. "Time go sleep. No argue."

"C'mon, Rock," Grace complained. He'd been about to leave, clearly. "It's not time to sleep yet. I still have some work to do."

"No argue," Rocky repeated matter-of-factly. "Sleep now. Work later."

Grace turned to Simon. "Si, help me out."

"He's right," Simon said, instead of supporting Grace and his bad habits. Good. "You'll stay up for hours if you don't sleep now."

Grace groaned. "You two are the worst." He flopped onto his bed. "I mean, not actually, but c'mon. You're supposed to help me, not join sides with Rocky."

"You need sleep." Simon sat on his bed.

"I'm fine—"

"No no no," Rocky interrupted. "Grace Simon sleep together."

There was silence for several seconds as both stared at him.

"Uh—" Grace squeaked out. Squeaked. Surely Simon would notice this reaction. "Why?"

Rocky hummed. "No good when sleep apart. Sleep together. Easier to watch."

"You've been watching us just fine from here—" Grace's heartbeat was fast again.

"But easier when together. Need make watch easy." Rocky tapped his foot against his ball. "Hurry hurry. Grace Simon need sleep."

Grace looked over at Simon. "I— uh— do you want to? I don't mind, but if you don't want to that's okay—"

"Sure." Simon stood and went over to their nest. "It's not that different from movie nights."

"R-right." Grace followed him quickly. "Yeah, no, you're right. It's not a big deal. Just like movie nights."

Rocky attached his ball to his tunnel and climbed inside, settling down next to Grace and Simon. They still weren't as close as he would have liked, but he knew Grace would be sprawled across Simon within an hour of falling asleep. This would work.

Even if it would probably take a while.

~*~

Days later, and Grace and Simon were still sleeping together at Rocky's insistence, but they still weren't acknowledging their feelings, which meant it was time for Plan E.

(Was Rocky going to get all the way to Z before they stopped being stupid? He hoped not. The research he had done could only help so much when they had limited resources and they were in space.)

Simon was working on something in the airlock — he had been helping out around the ship more for the last few weeks — and seeing the perfect opportunity, Rocky went to the lab to get Grace.

"Simon need help," Rocky said as he came to a stop near Grace. Not too close; he didn't want to bump into Grace again and make him mess up his project. "Not say what, but important. Simon not want Rocky help either."

Grace looked up. "Where?"

"Airlock. Hurry hurry." Rocky needed Grace to get in before Simon finished what he was working on.

"Okay, I'm coming." Grace stood and adjusted his glasses — which just caused them to slip further down his face — before going to the airlock. "Hey, Si, Rocky said you needed help?"

Before Simon could respond, Rocky ordered Mary to shut the airlock door, sealing them in.

Grace looked up quickly. "Rocky? What are you doing?"

"Grace Simon talk. Stop being stupid."

"Rock, this isn't funny—" Grace stopped abruptly as Simon grabbed his pant leg.

"Please," Simon whimpered. "Don't — don't send me away—"

Grace stared down at him. "Si? What do you mean?"

"I'm useful, I promise— I've been fixing things and taking care of the plants and— and I can do more if you need me to, I swear I can—" Simon's heartbeat was so fast. Too fast. Wait, what? Why was he—

"Hey, hey, you don't— it's okay, Si, you don't have to be useful to stay." Grace knelt down and cupped Simon's cheeks. "I'm not gonna  send you away. Ever."

Simon wrapped his arm around Grace and clung to him, and the sob he let out finally snapped Rocky out of his daze. He quickly told Mary to open the door.

He hadn't meant for this to happen. He never wanted to hurt Simon.

"Please— I don't want to die— Ry— I don't—" Simon hiccuped, pressing his face between Grace's shoulder and neck. The words came out muffled, but still painfully clear to Rocky. "I'm sorry— I know I don't deserve you— Angel, please—"

Grace ran his fingers through Simon's hair as Simon continued to beg for his life. Grace, in turn, continued to whisper reassurances in Simon's ear, not letting go even for a second.

Rocky stayed in the doorway, flexing his hands — stimming, Grace called it — anxiously as he waited for the anger, for the lecture on what he'd done wrong and why he had hurt one of his only friends and why they hated him now. But it never came. Instead, Grace picked up Simon and walked past Rocky without so much as a glance at him. He went to the dormitory, to the nest, and Rocky didn't follow. He just laid down in his ball, anxiety and guilt gnawing at him and clawing his insides like the monsters on Erid when they pried open an Eridian's carapace.

He shouldn't have intervened.

(Grace and Simon would later say they forgave him, but he wasn't sure if they really did — especially Simon — or if they were just saying that to make him feel better. He wouldn't blame them if they didn't forgive him.)

~*~

Simon slipped into the lab and leaned against the table Grace was working at, just watching him. It wasn't unusual; he did it often, when he'd taken care of the plants and there was nothing to fix on the ship.

Grace glanced up and smiled. "Hey, Si. How long have you been here?" He stretched, and his back made several popping noises.

"Not long." Simon's heartbeat was unusually fast, and he shifted his weight slightly.

"Oh, good." Grace dropped his arms. "You need something, or are you just watching?"

Simon didn't answer, and Grace frowned.

"Si—?"

Simon cupped Grace's cheek and kissed him, and Rocky silently cheered from where he was working in his tunnel.

Simon finally did it! They surely knew they were mates now! Which meant Rocky didn't have to execute Plan F! Though, he had put a lot of effort into it already…

Well, he could always do it anyway. It might help; Grace was a stuttering mess right now, and flowers would help get the point across, too.