Waldos Writing

A BloodyMary (Iron Lung (2026) and Project Hail Mary (2026)) fic.

Rating: Explicit Relationship: The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung)/Ryland Grace Additional Tags: Simon as PTSD, Flashbacks, Anal, Dubious Consent (in flashbacks), Enthusiastic Consent (in present), Gags, Fingering, Quiet Sex, Simon has Mutations, Canon Typical Violence (oh Eden), Scars, Switches

Summary:

Simon has, despite everything, found a home with a kind man named Ryland Grace. He gardens. He gets his hair cut. He kisses.

He gets kissed.

Simon remembering his past in Eden is less gentle, but it shapes who he has become. Grace helps shape who he could become. He holds him. He kisses him.

He gets kissed.

Snippet:

"There you are."

Like he'd forgotten. He hadn't. Adrian said that Eridians remembered everything and Simon wondered if he was ruined in the same way. But Simon let Grace's tablet flop onto his chest, squinting up through the bright backdrop of white clouds and gentle haze behind Grace as he wandered up from the beach, dripping from the sturdiest boxers he could find and immediately called "swim trunks." So, sometimes, it was about the application. "Coffee" at breakfast time. "Swim trunks" for swimming. "Simon" for companion.

"There I am," Simon agreed. "No, no, no, Grace. You're wet."

"You love it," Grace said as he stepped over Simon and sat on his lap. Simon tossed the tablet to the side where it fell flat on a nearby mat, the same place he'd left his boots. He scooped his arm around Grace after he was seated. They touched. He touched. But he flicked his head out of reach when Grace dragged his thumb just under his cheek. "You're blushing."

"No."

Simon clenched his teeth into place.

"It's cute."

"You're cute."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Grace chuckled, winding his arms around Simon's shoulders. "The water is perfect. Finally. I can teach you how to swim, if you'd—"

"Hard pass."

"Okay. Okay." Grace sighed, busying himself by running his damp fingers through Simon's hair. "It's getting long again."

"I'm not letting Armando cut it."

"No," Grace agreed, tucking a strand behind Simon's ear. His teeth lifted slightly, like some fucked up flower opening to the sunlight that was Ryland Grace. He smiled again and dragged his finger behind Simon's ear. "You like that."

It wasn't a question. He was observing again. Grace did that a lot. Observed. He always did that, though. He must have done that before, too.

But they were trying something new and Simon took a deep breath, squeezing Grace's hip with his hand, the fabric completely soaked through so that his boxers were almost translucent.

"I like that," he declared obediently. Grace smiled harder, leaning into him so that their foreheads almost touched. "Don't let it go to your head."

"Too late."

A BloodyMary (Iron Lung (2026) and Project Hail Mary (2026)) fic.

Rating: Mature Relationship: The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung)/Ryland Grace Additional Tags: Search and Rescue, Grumpy/Sunshine, Eventual Happy Ending, mutations, miscommunications, hurt/comfort, gore, additional tags to be added Chapters: 12 of ? (ongoing)

Summary:

Grace! Grace, get in the ocean. Hurry, Grace.

Chapter 12 (snippet)

Grace lay on his back, bobbing slightly back upwards because of the air in his suit. He clicked his tongue as he found his feet back underneath him and, as ginger as a cat, set them down until they met the surface of. WORD. In his own mind, he blanked out the nothing and a mental screen popped up from his rigged translation software. Grace gasped, looking down at the waist-deep blood he was firmly standing in. He struggled to move one of his feet forward, sloshing around as he slowly shifted and set his foot down again where it plunged into free fall. Grace wheeled his arms and adjusted until he was standing on WORD.

"Fudge!"

Too close. Hated that. Grace twisted until he was more comfortable, one foot in front of the other, perched on WORD. It was a thin surface. Gripped his boots well enough. It swayed slightly when he shifted his weight and that definitely upset him. Grace wretched once and swallowed twice. C'mon, man, not in the suit. You're better than that. But he managed to hold it together as he stood in a tightrope walker's stance.

WORD.

<Branch.>

"Branch," he said aloud, his eyes widening. "It's a branch. It's a branch! From the tree!"

Good, Grace found one.

"AUGH!!" Grace turned and almost slipped again. He crashed to his knees instead and jabbed his hand down on the branch before he tossed his head back to the surface and scanned around to find Rocky perched nearby. He looked a little too much like a bloody tick, clinging to the branch. "Rocky! Sh—oh my god. I am—"

Grace very leaky again.

"—so glad to see you, oh my god. I thought you drowned!"

No. Rocky very buoyant.

"Not for nothing, buddy, but you're so heavy, I can't imagohmygod."

A BloodyMary (Iron Lung (2026) and Project Hail Mary (2026)) fic.

Rating: Mature Relationship: The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung)/Ryland Grace Additional Tags: Search and Rescue, Grumpy/Sunshine, Eventual Happy Ending, mutations, miscommunications, hurt/comfort, gore, additional tags to be added Chapters: 11 of ? (ongoing)

Summary:

Rocky and Grace are on their way to AT-5. As you might imagine, there are some space ships in the area. How weird is that!

Chapter 11 (snippet)

"Well, see, because, for one thing." Grace pressed his forehead to his arm, looking in at the empty cockpit, the chair disengaged ahead of him. "I'm not very good at it."

Rocky trilled next to him, agreeing, shifting back and forth in the body-formed suit.

"Love the vote of confidence, buddy."

They looked at each other. Grace understood that Rocky didn't see the same way he did. He didn't have eyes. He used echolocation, all that, but Rocky was also so good at turning to him, mirroring his reactions, that Grace smiled anyways at the reassurance.

"But." Grace clicked his tongue. "Hey. We gotta try. Right?"

Right.

Grace did a little one-two-three drum on the wall, then clapped his hands as he ducked into the cockpit. The pilot seat was engaged. He still winced anyways as everything lit up around him and the chair molded up against his backside. He resisted the urge to arch away from it and, instead, found the straps to buckle himself in.

"Safety first," he said cheerily, hiding his dread. "Okay. Alllllright. Let's. Mm. Let's not crash into the, uh." He gestured ahead of them without looking.

Alien space craft, statement, Rocky supplied helpfully, to which Grace snapped a finger and said, "Yep. Exactly that."

BLIP.

A BloodyMary (Iron Lung (2026) and Project Hail Mary (2026)) fic.

Rating: Mature Relationship: The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung)/Ryland Grace Additional Tags: Search and Rescue, Grumpy/Sunshine, Eventual Happy Ending, mutations, miscommunications, hurt/comfort, gore, additional tags to be added Chapters: 10 of ? (ongoing)

Summary:

We are the Brothers and Sisters of Eden.

Simon's childhood seemed like a really fun time, probably, and totally normal.

Chapter 10 (snippet)

Simon gripped his wrist, mashing some of the fabric of his new tunic into the fresh wound. Shalley bumped into his side. She was all freshened up. Clean uniform, buzzed hair. Her mark was right there behind her left ear, stained red from the ash ink and her blood.

"Hey. What color did you get?"

Simon, still shorter than her — his Sisters had almost all grown taller than him. His mother said soon, soon, it'll happen, next year, he'll be tall and sturdy as the Tree — shifted his hand to the crook of his back.

"Did Brother Lee do it?" Simon nodded. "Bummer. He's got a heavy hand."

"Makes sense," Simon said and Shalley laughed, bumping into him again. "What? He's got big hands."

"So big. You know what that means?"

He didn't, but he nodded anyways, which only earned him another elbow to his ribs before she made a gesture, the tunnel of her hand sliding in the air next to her. Simon didn't understand. He pulled his wrist up again and peeled back his sleeve to look at the tattoo.

"Oh." Shalley's voice dropped on him, quiet. Heavy as a stone. As Brother Lee's hand. "I'm sorry, Si."

He quickly covered it again and straightened his shoulders.

"I'm not gonna be like them," he insisted. At the look on her face, he stalled. "What? D'you really think I'm like that?"

She tilted her head and started walking, her long legs taking her quickly away from him. "Father does," she answered over her shoulder.

Simon felt his stomach twist. Empty and angry. He looked down at the mark again. The forks of the Tree, the slash of a knife. Son, churn the soil for the future of Eden. Feed us their blood. Butcher the unforgiven, the unforsaken, the Iron Rusted. Then we may plant the seeds. Then may the trees grow. This, I know you will do.

Simon quickly covered his mark and pushed his hand through his hair. His mother had been against it, but, if he's honest, he wished he'd been made a gardener, like Shalley. Like Michael. He never got to see Michael anymore. He imagined it had to be better in the garden. Maybe someday he could take that for her, too.

64.media.tumblr.com

A BloodyMary (Iron Lung (2026) and Project Hail Mary (2026)) fic.

Rating: Mature Relationship: The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung)/Ryland Grace Additional Tags: Search and Rescue, Grumpy/Sunshine, Eventual Happy Ending, mutations, miscommunications, hurt/comfort, gore, additional tags to be added Chapters: 9 of ? (ongoing)

Summary:

Grace and Rocky, traveling through space. Grace and Rocky, having fun in space! Grace and Rocky - OH GOD OH GOD WHAT HAPPENED WHAT HAPPENED WHAT-

Grace and Rocky are totally fine. In space!

Chapter 9 (snippet)

The recording light over the monitor went from a dull, dormant black to bright red, blinking slowly. Grace folded his arms, setting his thumbnail into the groove between his two front teeth and rolled it up and down.

"And we have…Mary?" She dinged at him. "How much do we have again?"

783 zettabytes.

"Uh huh." They wouldn't run out of space at least. He didn't need the camera to work, not really, but the act of recording was…it was centering. There was some small relief that he might be able to go back and review it when this was all sorted, though he didn't really plan on that. Maybe he'd send it back to Earth. Update from Ryland Grace! Dear Earth, I've Entered A Space Bubble.

Alternate Universe, maybe.

Uh…uh…Dead Space.

They made a video game called that, didn't they? No, he didn't want to be in dead space. He was pretty sure he'd heard it was scary; a little too scary for his students. Yeah, no, scratch dead space.

It was kinda dead space though.

"Right." Grace took a deep breath, still staring at nothing, his speech only slightly garbled by his thumb lodged against his teeth. "Riiiiight."

Grace hit Wall.

"Okay, that's not - hey." Grace sat up and faced the camera again, reaching up to adjust the height as Rocky walked into frame. "I didn't hit a wall. We, collectively we. Us." He circled arms to encompass himself, Rocky, and Mary. "Hit a wall. Okay? And, I mean." Grace turned to the camera, leaning in closer and dropping his voice. "No, but Mary totally hit a wall. Guys? I don't - I can't…it's."

Rocky climbed up into a column of artfully shaped xennonite. He was too heavy for one of the rolling chairs, but he wanted to match Grace's height when talking to the camera and he made himself comfortable.

Big Wall. We almost died, almost dead, bad, so bad.

"We didn't almost - he's being dramatic. Okay."

Grace embarrassed. He fell on his face. See bruise, show bruise, bad bad bad.

"Not…helping, Rock." Grace sighed and turned fully towards the camera, showing a dull reddish purple spot on his cheek. He was lucky that, at the time, his glasses had been flung from his face and not smashed into the wall when the ship lurched. "And I'm fine, by the way, so. Thanks for asking."

Is welcome.

A BloodyMary (Iron Lung (2026) and Project Hail Mary (2026)) fic.

Rating: Mature Relationship: The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung)/Ryland Grace Additional Tags: Search and Rescue, Grumpy/Sunshine, Eventual Happy Ending, mutations, miscommunications, hurt/comfort, gore, additional tags to be added Chapters: 7 of ? (ongoing)

Summary: The SM-8, unlike the submersibles piloted by those from Conviction Realization, was a scientific craft sent to AT-5. She went down into the blood ocean. She did not return.

Chapter 8 (snippet)

"What's that?"

The two women lean over the visual spread, tinted yellow on the screen. They ignore a small bubble of red that has popped in the lower left corner. They had spotted it earlier. A small amount of blood. Neither of them seemed to have any open cuts, but they decided it was only an accident and, after a sample for the sake of maintaining their status as Scientists under the C.O.I., they conclude once again it was human blood. B+. Elle's, then. She had apologized at the time, and they left it at that.

Once the image has solidified, Elsie thumbs a button, freezing it so it isn't immediately chewed up in the archive. The two study the walls of the cavern, luminously large, rounded. Some sort've silt on the ground floor. They've never run into anything remotely biological, besides the blood itself, which hasn't coagulated at the surface or on their equipment. Occasionally, they'll discover pockets of flesh and maneuver the ship to collect as much of it as they can for later dissections. The most jarring items they've found, of course, are the old Iron Lungs, abandoned at the bottom of the ocean after it's operator has suffocated or one of the welds failed and they imploded. They were tasked with transferring any survivable data from their black boxes and leaving the rest to the ocean. Garbage, corroded metal was no use to the C.O.I.

"It's nothing," Elsie says, unconvinced.

"It's a f—"

"It's not a face," she says, firmer. They stare at it and it stares back. Elsie crosses her arms, just like Elle, studying the grainy footage, enough shadows to cast doubt. She's released the button on the console and the image starts to fade, recorded in the computer if they want to see it again. She doesn't. "It's not a face," she repeats and returns to her chair. "We should continue down the tunnel."

Elle chews at her thumb until she tastes the unmistakable metal tang of blood, then quickly pulls her thumb free. She's chewed off a hangnail and torn the skin. She tsks at her self and wipes her thumb off on the green line of canvas that stripes the middle of her uniform.

A BloodyMary (Iron Lung (2026) and Project Hail Mary (2026)) fic.

Rating: Mature Relationship: The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung)/Ryland Grace Additional Tags: Search and Rescue, Grumpy/Sunshine, Eventual Happy Ending, mutations, miscommunications, hurt/comfort, additional tags to be added Chapters: 7 of ? (ongoing)

Summary: The Hail Mary is on it's way to Sector AT-11126. It's a long journey, and Grace and Rocky have to pass the time somehow.

Chapter 7 (snippet)

"Rock?"

Rocky is resting, statement, Rocky answered, his voice a little dull.

"Oh. Yeah. Am I both—"

Grace not bother. Grace can stay. Grace should stay.

Grace was about to get up, froze, and sank back to where he'd been. He pulled his knees up to his chest again, blowing out over his mug. Rocky shifted his weight, leaning down on the side of his tunnel towards Grace. He tapped his hands idly, no pattern of refusal or interest. Boredom, maybe, but this didn't feel like that. Grace tapped his fingers on the mug, repeating the pattern, just to see if it got a reaction out of Rocky. They both stopped after a while.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

What is "it"…question.

"Well." Grace was looking down at his hands, idly tracing the faint scars from the accident during their extraction above Adrian. They looped in a way that, when he wandered them with his eyes or dragged his thumb over them slow enough, felt meditative. "Something's eating you up, huh?"

Rocky not eaten. Carapace very healthy. He tapped his chest to prove a point. Then, maybe without thinking, since it was hard to tell his expression all the time, Rocky touched his arm again over the polished teal inlay. All vitals good. Healthy. Safer than soft squishy human body Grace have.

"Oh, well, c'mon," Grace said and laughed quietly through his nose. "You flatter me."

Is not meant to. Very true.

"No, yeah. I know." Grace forced himself not to argue the situation or over explain his joke. He opened his mouth, closed it, and decided to drink his mug, looking around the room to see if there was any clue as to what set off his friend's quiet melancholy. He thought of the crunch of dry ramen noodles, skittering over his brain for no reason and he sighed. "You miss home?"

Does Grace?

"I mean, which one?" he asked and he said it through a smile, obviously. Rocky twitched his shoulders left and right. Nervous. So, Grace waved his hand. "No, I do. I miss the dome. I miss the kids. The classroom. A lot. Man, I really, really do. Didn't expect to be up in this…y'know. Up here again. Away from—"

Everyone.

"Yeah."

Adrian.

A BloodyMary (Iron Lung (2026) and Project Hail Mary (2026)) fic.

Rating: Mature Relationship: The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung)/Ryland Grace Additional Tags: Search and Rescue, Grumpy/Sunshine, Eventual Happy Ending, mutations, miscommunications, hurt/comfort, additional tags to be added Chapters: 6 of ? (ongoing)

Summary: And we have a good laugh about it.

Chapter 6 (snippet)

"You should have—"

"Two hours of oxygen. Yeah. You said."

She's scared. I can hear it in her voice, this little hiccup. Katherine, don't be shy. But, hell, maybe she's waiting on a pardon too, I dunno. Maybe we're all in shackles. Honestly, it makes me laugh. I have to.

Y'know, funny thing, I guess, but did they test her blood too? Katherine. I don't care about Jack, Jack can get fucked. Katherine's talking to me, so I wonder. Did they test hers? They tested mine. I'm sitting there, bolted to the ground, and they take my blood and run a test and, get this, I'm A+. Never knew that before. We didn't worry about that sort've shit back at the Camp. I'm sure it didn't help if someone was bleeding out, but, hey, if they're like me? If they're my family? I hear there's a whole ocean of A+ right under my feet now. I'll bring it home, Mom. I'll make it better.

"There should be a m—"

This fucking map. I tear it off the console and look at the numbers, then check it against a binder they don't tell me about. It's funny. There's a fingerprint of blood on the page. It's beautiful and perfect. Spirals all around, all nice and neat and for no reason whatsoever, I lick my thumb clean and I press it over the stamp on the page. Smears it. Fuck. Whatever.

A BloodyMary (Iron Lung (2026) and Project Hail Mary (2026)) fic.

Rating: Mature Relationship: The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung)/Ryland Grace Additional Tags: Search and Rescue, Grumpy/Sunshine, Eventual Happy Ending, mutations, miscommunications, hurt/comfort, additional tags to be added Chapters: 5 of ? (ongoing)

Summary: Presumably, Grace is going to leave to get to that blood moon. It's gonna happen any second now. Any....any second now. C'mon, Grace! You can do it!

Chapter 5 (snippet)

Rocky started to roll a little towards the door. There was a hesitation in his usual bouncy exuberance. Maybe he was a little hurt that Grace still didn't feel comfortable having Rocky - and sometimes Adrian - come watch him sleep. It wasn't even that. He was fine with that, now. Sometimes. A lot of the time, actually. Sometimes, a man just needs some alone time and he doesn't have to explain himself.

Grace was absolutely distracting himself. And Rocky felt a little left out. That was it.

"No, no. No, that's okay, hey. Don't go," Grace said, reaching for him. "You wanna stay tonight? We'll head out to the launch tomorrow in the morning?"

And Rocky chirped before he could hide his eagerness. He skittered back to Grace, bumping him hard enough he stumbled a little and had to hold onto Rocky to stay upright, but it was fine. They laughed together. They headed back to his house together. Grace made some more marshmallows before Adrian came into the dome to join them, sitting around his campfire while the low mist dissipated in the evening and they watched the moons and the stars together. Adrian sang for them. And Grace fell asleep against his friend, trying not to worry too much about the crushing panic snapping at the back of his ribcage. Nobody was going to drug him. Nobody was making him. He chose. He chose this. He wanted this. He wanted.

He was okay.

He was okay.

He was okay.

-

HE WAS NOT OKAY!

Also? Also!! Beeping in his headset was so not helpful?? Who decides beeping is the solution to a recorded medical event - PANIC! ATTACK!

A recommended sedation dose of—

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Grace screamed at a pitch that would seem impossible, except there it was. Squeaky high. Perfectly pitched to grate. Persistent, even, as he held a long, horrible note as they rattled out of the atmosphere. Rocky was chirping next to him, snapped into place so he was perfectly snug, and fine, apparently. Whatever he was saying. Something. He was saying something! Probably!

A BloodyMary (Iron Lung (2026) and Project Hail Mary (2026)) fic.

Rating: Mature Relationship: The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung)/Ryland Grace Additional Tags: Search and Rescue, Grumpy/Sunshine, Eventual Happy Ending, mutations, miscommunications, hurt/comfort, additional tags to be added Chapters: 4 of ? (ongoing)

Summary: Another ship enters the Blood Ocean.

Chapter 4 (snippet)

My leg's stuck under the console. Think I…I think I…think.

"You should be coming up on the first marker."

Mary sounds calm, doesn't she, through the speaker? I don't tell her how wet everything sounds anymore, the cage dripping blood. Whole thing is dripping blood. I'm dripping blood. Jammed my knee when the ship hit the surface. Cursed like the sailor they think I am. Nobody's seen an ocean in years and they think I can handle her. Fucking incredible. Can feel a screw…think it's a screw. I think. I think it's a screw. I think it's a screw jammed into my knee, actually. I can't move it, it'll rip the skin. Probably pry the tendon apart. Kneecap screaming at me, the ship digging her claws in, demanding my immediate attention like that red blinking light. Wasn't red before. Know it wasn't red before. It's the blood. My thumbprint. Can see the lines there, right there! Circling the Light. Aren't we?

Mary says my name then. I think it's my name.

"How's it looking down there?"

Says my name, how sweet of her. How's it looking, she says, how sweet. How pedestrian and sweet. How….

It's very funny, actually. Cause the view port's closed. Cause of all the blood. I'm swimming in it. It's up to my hips, swirling around me. Getting into the cut in my knee. Maybe I bled it all out, didn't I? My little mess. My little mistake.

They said they'd discovered this place, AT-5, yeah, they discovered it two weeks ago. Said the answer to the creeping, endless silence was down here. Said it was calling to them. Said the whole thing was covered in blood. Real blood. Real red blood. O+, can you believe that? Isn't that funny? I'm O+. I think that…think that…think—

Something touches my leg.

A BloodyMary (Iron Lung (2026) and Project Hail Mary (2026)) fic.

Rating: Mature Relationship: The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung)/Ryland Grace Additional Tags: Search and Rescue, Grumpy/Sunshine, Eventual Happy Ending, mutations, miscommunications, hurt/comfort, additional tags to be added Chapters: 3 of ? (ongoing)

Summary: Back on Erid, Grace discusses the transmission from a strange moon and they have to decide just what they're going to do about it.

Chapter 3 (snippet)

Three months passed. Eridian months. How long was that compared to Earth? Well, Grace had come up with a rough calculation on the matter, taking into account various time dilation from his location in the universe now compared to, well, maybe from where he was born. But how long was that for this whole moon business with their cut-off screams and their reports to something called the See, Oh Eye or something or other? Sea? C? This is the trouble with transcripts. These were the real questions.

The signal died out shortly after it was sent, but the Eridians had recorded it and stretched it out, flayed it to the bones, and set each piece neatly in front of their scientists before they set it in front of Grace.

"I'm just saying." Grace was ambling around the room, casually tossing a little piece of soft, polished stone that Rocky had handed to him at some point. "If this thing is saying what we think it's saying, it's saying…something bad. Is what I'm saying."

Yes. Bad.

Adrian was a straight shooter. She didn't need to pace while Rocky scuttled around after Grace, occasionally mimicking him. It was never in mean spirits. It was his own way of coping, and he had taken a small chunk of the same type of stone and casually batted it back and forth, almost perfectly in-line with Grace.

"Right," Grace said, letting Adrian's statement settle, letting it breathe. He expected her to be a professional yapper, like Rocky — like him — but it seemed Rocky had found the perfect yin to his yang. Grace held the rock, caught in the xennonite grooves of his suit, and pointed in her general direction. "Right. Exactly, right. Right? So. Okay, people, the question at the end of the day is—"

Crew all dead.

"I mean." Grace winced. The Eridians didn't do facial expressions. But a shrug, a little scrape of their hands, a certain tap of their feet? Those said a million things. Adrian slowly shifted one of her primary legs to the left, the closest thing she had to a downward slope of a frown. "Yeah. Yes. Yeah, that's what we're…that's what we're going with. So. I just. I don't think…."

There are others.

A BloodyMary (Iron Lung (2026) and Project Hail Mary (2026)) fic.

Rating: Mature Relationship: The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung)/Ryland Grace Additional Tags: Search and Rescue, Grumpy/Sunshine, Eventual Happy Ending, mutations, miscommunications, hurt/comfort, additional tags to be added Chapters: 2 of ? (ongoing)

Summary: The first submersible mission from the Coalition of Iron down into the blood ocean of AT-5.

Chapter 2 (snippet)

It's a tight seal. I hear them working the crank on the latch, over and over, until the metal squeals. I must trust the rivet, the seam, the weld. Parts of ships, their people huddled at the last way-station held by the Coalition of Iron. My home. My people. My mission.

"How's it looking in there?"

"Tight."

"One person ship." She says my name here and I smile with her. "So, you've got about two hours of oxygen, give or take. How's the readout?"

"Full green."

"Great. So. The Communal asks you to map out as much as you can. Resurface when you get in the red and we'll go over the map together. Look, I have no fucking idea if that camera even works, but, hey, snag a couple of pictures. We'll get outta here. Two rations on my card, 'kay?"

"You got yourself a deal, Haggerty."

She smacks the top of the ship, twice. It's dull through the hull, but I can feel it in my spine. I smile.

I grip a lever in front of me, preparing for the sudden drop. She'll count me down until she doesn't. I'll submerge into the dark. My hands sweat and I find myself tracing the metal edge of the console as a comfort. Believe in the COI. Believe this is important. This is important. Whatever's eating the stars, whatever's causing the colonies to wipe out in waves…AT-5 has an answer. It has to. It has to.

She came on our radar two weeks ago, AT-5 and her blood moon. Initial samples gave it the old, improbably human O-. I'm O-. I don't know if I feel…I don't know what I feel. Excited? Everything is too desperate for that. People are dying. People are dying, stars are dying. I can't feel excited. But I can't describe the feeling down the center of my chest. Unzipped. Spilling out already. Adding to the ocean.

There's an answer here.

A BloodyMary (Iron Lung (2026) and Project Hail Mary (2026)) fic. Rating: Mature Relationship: The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung)/Ryland Grace Additional Tags: Search and Rescue, Grumpy/Sunshine, Eventual Happy Ending, mutations, miscommunications, hurt/comfort, additional tags to be added Chapters: 1 of ? (ongoing) Summary:

Life on Eridian is good. In fact, Grace might even go as far as to say it's the best. Right up until the Eridians freak him out by having this whole big meeting about a signal coming from a moon somewhere? And Rocky volunteers them to go check it out? Rocky, not cool, man.

During the two year mission to go check out this weird moon, the signals keep changing, until they arrive and find a Really Weird Guy. And, man, he has some problems. But Rocky and Grace are here to help! Falling in love was not on the menu, but that's never stopped anyone.

Chapter 1 - Here Comes The Sun (Snippet)

He needed to get to the ship.

The Erids had provided Grace with a similar suit to what Rocky had first built when he explored the Eridian ship while circling Tau Ceti, trying to discover why this one sun was not dying while every other sun was infected. The new suit was a closer fit and an easier time walking around, with these knee joints that eased some of the gravitational strain like you wouldn't believe. He'd literally jumped for joy when Rocky presented it to him, Rocky's little hands jostling in the air, Amaze, amaze, amaze! It was amazing. Rocky was amazing.

Also? Bonus? Way easier than squirming his way into his old space suit. He just stepped into that sucker. Amaze, amaze, amaze.

After he was sure the seals were closed, Grace patting down the front of his body, he went to the exit hatch to the left to the amphitheater, spreading his xenonnite-shelled hand to a sensor lower to the ground, closer to Rocky and Adrian's height. Thing is, in this new suit, he could bend his knees. Incredible. He pressed his hand to the sensor and waited for the slow, warm pulse of yellow-orange light, so many hissing and whirring sounds behind it, and then the slow pop as the hatch opened. He stepped inside. He waited. It closed. Another opened. And he stepped through that, next.

The last time Grace was outside the habitat, he'd gone on a tour of the facility that supported it, lead by Adrian, Rocky, and several other eager Eridians dressed in their finest, which seemed to make Rocky very proud and very embarrassed. He didn't travel much. He liked the beach. He liked the classroom. Scratch that, he loved the classroom. And, sure, he helped give some pointers that were immediately disregarded for the rebuilding of his ship that could, in theory, take him home, but he was still thinking on that.

Needless to say, he was pretty sure he had a good idea on what the hallways outside of the habitat would look like. And the fact that there weren't other Eridians tumbling around put him ill at ease.

For the @strangerthingsreversebigbang 2025/2026 Stranger Things Reverse Big Bang, I am so lucky to get paired with @hawkinsleather ahh look at the beautiful colors!! They're FANTASTIC! Rating: Teens and Up Word Count: 5,709 (complete) Pairing: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson Additional Tags: Television Host Steve Harrington, Famous Corroded Coffin (Stranger Things), Alternate Universe - No Upside Down (Stranger Things), Satanic panic, mild homophobia Steve hosted a late night talk show in Chicago in the 90s and on one special evening, they have Corroded Coffin's Eddie Munson as one of the guest stars!

A wee little snippet:

They didn't even need the applause sign to get everyone cheering for the main lead that he'd be interviewing soon. This new guy, Marco DeVila, handsome as hell, easy natured in most of his interviews, body like a cat burglar. He'd landed the Nova role in this crazy thing where Marvel, you know, the comics? Were trying to make movies. But big, big movies at that. It was wild to think the nerds were going to have blockbusters but then the nerds had Jurassic Park and The Matrix and, Steve had to admit, they were pretty cool. Hell, they had Star Wars. Star Wars ruled. So, yeah, maybe all these super heroes were going to be on screen and it was pretty cool that Steve's show was going to be the one to break the news. He should be way more excited about that and not, say, the mildly controversial musical talent that his hairdresser didn't even listen to and their producer wanted just because they had a new hit single and had some tour dates in the area. To some, they were that annoying band with that one soft ballad that people kept putting on their breakup mixtapes, even though the song was clearly about getting laid. To others, they were energetic metal that knew how to use the whole stage in their performances. To Steve? To Steve, they—

Steve laughed and touched his chest, glancing over at Kenny. He had work to do.

"You might remember this. Yeah, when I tried out for Spider-Man?" There were some ooo's, some laughs, some cheers. "D'you know what they told me?"

"You'd break a hip?" The HeyDay grinned, lounging back in his seat and Steve wagged a finger at him.

"If you put me in that mask…." They shared a laugh together as they vaguely vogued at the same time, framing their own faces with their hands. "That ain't Spider-Man. That's Block Head."

Steddie, 7k, Explicit

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Steve yawned, stretching his arms back behind the couch. Most people would say it’s a move. That King Steve had come out to play and was trying to get in someone’s pants, but the only pants involved were Eddie’s and they were currently draped over both of Steve’s legs and crossed at the ankles. There were, like, legs in said jeans, too. There was a whole body. Eddie’s body. Eddie’s…Steve’s eyes tracked down to Eddie’s knees and he thought about touching them, right where the jeans were ripped. The pale slice of his skin amongst the feathered frayed fringe looked soft enough. Looked like it would be fun to touch. So, of course, his body went and worked without him acknowledging it, doing it anyways. Automatic thought-to-hand without, like, consulting. He was touching Eddie. He touched Eddie. This was not a move.

Whatever. Eddie’s skin was kinda cold.

“D’you want a blanket?” Steve asked casually while someone was getting ripped to shreds on the screen in front of them, orange-highlighted blood oozing on the set, chains rattling around everywhere. Eddie snorted before he glanced up at Steve and hummed a question. “You cold?”

“No?”

“Are you sure?” Steve teased and slipped his pinky into Eddie’s jeans. Not…not in his jeans. Technically in his jeans. In the slit of fabric that was torn open, that’s all. It was to rile him up. It was fairly common knowledge that they liked to wrestle. Eddie was one of the few friends he had left who was, one, older than 16 and, two, could get into a solid arm lock and try and take Steve to the ground. Nancy would say something like oh my god, you’re being so stupid, but she didn’t understand the need for guys to sometimes slam each other into the dirt. Jonathan understood but he looked a little too intense as he was grappling at elbows and Steve learned not to start a fight with Jonathan for, like, head safety reasons. Eddie understood. Eddie was wiry and did this corner check thing with his bony hip that should hurt way more than it did, except Steve was sort’ve focused on grabbing Eddie’s hips as much as possible. The wrestling was great. It was awesome.

But Eddie didn’t take the bait. He just laughed and reached for Steve’s wrist, held it while watching the movie and didn’t even seem to realize what he was doing either. Body before brain. Steve sort’ve laughed when Eddie started to blush but he didn’t actually want Eddie to drag his hand back. It’s not like Steve got what he wanted all the time. And, honestly? Smooth move on Munson’s part to reach for a bowl of chips when he decided to let go. Eddie pulled the whole thing to his chest like he was doing it on purpose.