God Is Dead And I Fucked Him!!

Early on, Grace sits Rocky and Adrian down and explains that he doesn't expect them to watch every time he sleeps. He sleeps so much compared to an Eridian, and he really doesn't want them to feel like they have to be trapped in his house for 8 of every 24 hours. Waking up alone every so often is a little melancholy, but it's far outweighed by gratitude that when he expresses his wants and needs, he's believed and respected.

Field trips in the dome become a regular occurrence. They're chaotic and exhausting and so, so much fun. The waiting list is months long at this point. After lessons on geology, fluid dynamics, and Earth biology, the pebbles pretend to be space explorers discovering a new planet, or ambassadors to Earth that Grace receives with appropriate pomp and circumstance. Fully half of them have aspirations of joining Erid's newly-booming space program when they grow up.

Once Adrian learns that humans need regular touch for optimal health, they take it upon themselves to make sure that Grace never runs dry. Rocky's hugs are still his favorite ones in the universe, but when Adrian watches his sleep, he feels like a particularly beloved and indulged pet cat curled up in the arms of its favorite person, as Adrian strokes his hair and rubs his back or chest and carefully massages his shoulders.

Rocky builds them a proper theater room, with a comfy nest to lay in and a built-in texture translation screen that works much better than his makeshift texture gun. They start by rewatching all the Rocky movies, because obviously Adrian needs to see them.

With respect to Andy Weir, Grace is a biologist with the resources and goodwill of an entire planet behind him. Together they bioengineer plants that can survive in the biodome, and then some safe-for-human-consumption crops. Maybe the Eridians even get some new medicines out of it. Now that he's no longer limited to a San Francisco apartment, Grace finds that he really likes gardening, both ornamental and functional. The new foods don't replace everything he misses from Earth, but they add plenty of flavor and variety to his meals.

Rocky cannot stop making him things. The alarm clock and wristwatch were just the beginning. Little signs for his garden so Grace can keep track of what he's planted where. Gardening tools and kitchen gadgets. Furniture, mobility aids, experiments for his students to do. When Grace runs out of ideas, Rocky starts looking through the laptop for inspiration. A windchime that hangs outside his front door and produces the most beautiful, complex music. A true-to-life night sky projection that shows the stars as seen from either San Francisco or the top of Erid's space elevator. He spends three entire months building a pair of xenonite palm trees on the beach. They're as tall as Grace, with the colors and textures of Rocky's and Adrian's carapaces, and perfectly spaced to hold a hammock between them. It's the best spot for an afternoon nap.

Still brainstorming my human!Rocky but here's the first attempt!!

For his body type I mostly tried to translate his eridian body into human proportions.

The scarification and the jade earrings for Adrian are self-explanatory.

The face and his style are actually very much inspired by soviet posters! Soviet art has had a huge influence on me, I grew up surrounded by it (my dad and grandpa were engineers as well). The eridian triangular, bold style, the focus on metalwork and space travel very much reminded me of it. Rocky's face is a mix of the ideal that so many posters show and just a lil bit of mischievous, cheeky charm.

My brief was: if you glance at rocky you'd get a bit of lil gay man and a bit of butch lesbian. The "he/him" is contingent on Grace's pronouns and Grace's pronouns only. We stan a non-binary legend.

I'm gonna put a few of the posters I used for inspiration under the cut.

so when rocky finds out the word "grace" also means mercy, unmerited favour, and not to mention saving grace — a redeeming factor. grace was rockys redemption, he was the one who saved rocky, he gave rocky the solution to the dying sun, he turned back for him.

grace was rockys message of mercy sent by the universe itself.

ANYWAY GracexRockyxAdrian University/Grad school au

(I went to a small college for undergrad - had no graduate programs - and my grad program is going to be all online sooooo forgive me for things that are just Wrong) (we're going on a lot of Vibes here)

Also stealing bits and pieces from human aus i've seen from various people/art/fics - I wish I could tell you where they each came from T-T

I'll put my thoughts below my silly sketches

Idk let's place them all in a graduate program of some sort for this. Also yes, I have given them all campus jobs because grad school is Expensive. And it's my silly au!

Adrian (They/Them), Architecture student, works in the studio art building. Enjoys setting up the rotating exhibits and talking to the visiting artists/students who are exhibiting

Rocky (He/They), Engineering student, works in the theatre department's scene shop. More creative engineering tasks in the shop - usually gets pulled in for more complex builds/welding.

Ryland (He/Him), Microbiology student, works as a bio tutor. Hates the "mandatory" tutoring appointments where people are being forced to be there. Actually enjoys tutoring people who want to learn - and is deemed one of the best within the tutoring center.

Other thoughts!:

I love the idea that Adrian is very androgynous and gets the "what's your gender question" and their answer is just "yes :)"

Studio art/theatre buildings are adjacent/connected - so Rocky and Adrian are within each other's spaces often. Bringing each other snacks etc

Rocky and Adrian met in undergrad and started dating their final year. (Is their undergrad the same as their grad university? Idk guys. Dealer's choice I guess)

Rocky and Adrian share an apartment a bit off campus. It's a 2 bedroom, they moved in together before dating hence the two rooms. The second one doesn't get too much use outside of like idk a ton of plants (haven't thought too hard about that)

Ryland and Rocky have passed each other for various things in the STEM buildings and are familiar but not besties at that point

Forced proximity in the sense that somethings wrong in the tutoring center during Grace's drop-in hours and so the tutors have to be moved somewhere. That somewhere happens to be the arts building (no current shows/exhibits so it's pretty chill at that point). Rocky sees him and just sits across from him and instead of saying "hi" points at Grace's paper that he's doing work on and goes "you're forgetting something here (idk enough math/science) - that's why it's not working out". Grumbling and erasing ensues.

Adrian was bringing Rocky a snack in the shop as they were heading out but upon not seeing him there, went wandering, and found him pointing out mistakes in Grace's work. Adrian drops off Rocky's treat with a little kiss and says to be kind to Grace before heading back to their apartment.

Grace is grumpy about Rocky's interruption but also very endeared because it's like their first real conversation and Rocky is INSANELY smart which is like HELL YEAH.

Rocky does not shut up about the interaction (/pos) when they get home to Adrian.

Friendship ensues further! And idk, other things surely happen! Idk what tho! But yeah! Vibes

Will I write anything past this? Idk! But I like silly AUs I think they can be fun (also I am constantly refreshing AO3 for Grockdrian fics)

Soft launching my Savior Grace ✨ 🌈 🕊️ (he’s going through it)

More fic chatter and shirtless ver under the cut