Chapter Text
A few months into their journey to Erid, and Grace had long since thrown the mattress of his bunk onto the floor, wedging it in a cove of xenonite walling. He had felt so cold and isolated in that time he spent alone without Rocky's presence, sue him if he wanted to feel a little closer to his friend by shoving his bed into his habitat as much as possible.
He had tucked himself under the covers a while ago at Rocky's insistence:
"Has been 79200 seconds since last sleep, Grace is stupid human who supposed to sleep every 57600 seconds! You sleep, I watch."
But right now it wasn’t doing him much good, far more overthinking and anxiety than any real rest, despite the fatigue he could feel building behind his eyes.
He found himself lazily starting at Rocky to distract himself, the Eridian was working on something or other on his side of the barrier, the guy wouldn’t be found dead without a project in his claws. But Grace lets his thoughts wonder past that, his gaze catching on the adornments imbedded in Rocky's body, thin trials of purposeful gold embossed the lengths of a few upper legs, contrasting to the striking jade of the gem sitting flush against his exterior on his front forearm.
"Hey Rocky?" He muttered, not bothering speak up, knowing that Rocky would hear with ease.
"Human supposed to sleep," Rocky replied disapprovingly. "Human not asleep, instead Human talking. Human should stop talking and sleep."
How this alien fits so much sass in his tiny body needs to be studied. "I can't sleep, my brain is too loud." Grace complained.
"Brains do not make noise, question?"
"C'monnn," Grace wheedled, "humour me, please?" He looked at Rocky with the best puppy dog eyes he could muster, despite knowing it wouldn’t actually give him an advantage here and Rocky probably thought his face just looked weird.
Until it worked.
Rocky let out a single defeated chord, and Grace was sure it was something akin to an Eridian sigh. "Yes, friend Grace, question?" Rocky didn't stop his work, but he did shift his carapace towards Grace ever so slightly.
Grace smiled. "Can you explain these to me?" He asked, gesturing as best he could through the xenonite to his adornments.
"Specify subject of curiosity." Rocky tilted his carapace, a trait Eridians seem to share with earth canines to convey confusion.
"Your…" Grace gestured to the corresponding spot on his own arms, "embellishments. The patterns and gem in your skin."
"Oh!" Rocky lit up, his chords ringing out brightly, this must be a subject of pride to him. "Petrova line embellishments carved before departure on Blip-a to signify important milestone in life and status among other Eridians."
"Did it hurt?" Grace cringed at the use of the word "carved," maybe it was just a translation inefficiency, but they sure looked like they were painful to get.
"A little." He admitted, "but carving not deep enough into exterior to cause lasting damage or pain."
"Ah," Grace realised, "we have a similar process back home, called tattooing, where we inject ink into the upper layers of our skin to create drawings and patterns"
"Did Grace get tattoo before departing on Hail Mary, question?" Rocky asked.
"No," He shook his head, "humans use tattooing for more casual, aesthetic purposes. Less so for status ranking or important events."
"Understand. How humans symbolise status and achievements?"
"Oh! We use all sorts of things, often items that can be imbedded or attached to clothing, like…" Grace trials off, digging around for the jumpsuit he had taken off before bed. Thankfully it was still there, the ship was currently under 1g thanks to some lab experiments he had been doing, though he hardly noticed the difference these days.
He held it up to the barrier. "Here, on the sleeve—" he scratched at the mission patch embroidered into the shoulder of the jumpsuit, bringing Rocky's attention to the raised surface. Conveniently, embroidery is something Rocky can actually see, maybe Grace should take it up as a hobby if… no. When he makes it to Erid.
"Ah, symbol to commemorate worn on upper arm! Same, same, same." Rocky chirped happily, clearly joyed that they match, it made Grace's heart warm.
"What about that gem?" Grace continued, still not satisfied, "that’s not natural either, is it?"
"No not natural," Rocky confirmed, "my mate Adrian, give to me. And I give to them, symbolises the eternal bond of relationship."
"Humans use rings to do the same!" Grace explained excitedly, now just as overjoyed at how much cultural overlap they had managed to stumble into. "It’s a thin metal band, often with gems imbedded in it, and worn around our fourth finger."
Rocky let out a little Eridian noise of apprehension, "Ring not fall off, question?" He asked, "How it symbolise eternal bond?"
"I mean, it stays fine if you don’t mess with it, but I guess people can take them on or off as they please."
"Eridians mate for life, permanent bond, permanent gem." Rocky explained.
"So… I guess it’s a little more like a piercing." Grace mused.
"Not understand new word."
"Humans imbed stones and metals into their skin too, the process is called piercing."
Rocky reeled back, appalled. "How, question? Human skin soft and thin, if you puncture, it hurt and injure!"
Grace laughed at his concern, "this is true, but we do it on a much smaller scale to minimise damage. We take a thin needle and puncture through segments of our skin in non-vital areas. It takes months but eventually the body gets used to it and heals new skin around it, creating a comfortable hole to fit jewellery in."
His tools long abandoned on the floor beside him, Rocky pressed his carapace to the divider. "Grace could wear promise gem, question?"
"I mean yeah, I'd have to work up the courage to pierce my own ear, but hypothetically yes."
Rocky bounced around in excitement, "This is great news! Amaze, amaze, amaze!"
Grace was a little puzzled at his excitement, but it brought a smile to his face anyways. "How come buddy? I wasn't mating with humans back home, and no offence, but I don’t plan on starting up with Eridians any time soon."
"When home, Rocky give Grace promise gem!"
"What— but, were not… uhm-- your mate?" Grace sputtered lamely, more than confused, some cultural details clearly getting lost in translation here.
Rocky, quick as ever, worked out the source of his confusion. "Gem is not strict to romantic relationships, gem is for any long lasting and important relationship! Grace is Rocky best friend, we exchange gems!"
In an instant, his confusion melted to powerful wave of emotion, the sincerity in Rocky's musical tone struck him deeply. "You… You mean it?"
"Of course, of course, of course!" Rocky brought up three hands to wriggle his claws around with, and wow, this must be a big deal, a three jazz-hand situation is no joke.
"Grace save Rocky, Grace save all of Erid! Grace Rocky best friend in whole universe, Promise gem not enough to symbolise this, but it something special anyways." He thunked his carapace against the xenonite for emphasis, and slowly Grace let his forehead fall forwards to meet him.
"Yeah… yeah, I would love to Rocks." Grace felt his eyes sting, throat tightening around the emotion he was feeling, the meaning of this conversation not slipping past him.
Rocky wanted them to have matching gems, a permanent mark to represent the strength of their relationship, like a crazy version of those "BFF" necklaces he had seen kids in his class excitedly share with one another. That would presumably go right next to the one Rocky has for his life-long mate, Adrian.
Grace ruminated on why this meant so much to him. Because in all honesty, he had tried dating in the past, but it had never felt… right to him. The bonds with friends, family, and students always felt closer to him than playing into the role of a romantic partner. Knowing that Eridians, or at least Rocky, placed equal value on ties of friendship as ties of romance made him feel at ease in a way he never had back home.
Being here, in space, with the best friend he literally had to leave planet earth to find, it meant a lot, and it felt right.
He smiled, pressing further into the xenonite, letting the warmth from the other side seep into his head. From the other side rocky let out a pleased hum, and being so close, Grace felt the vibrations of it resonate through him. They stayed there for a minute, until Grace felt the tug of sleep pull at him once more, a yawn overtaking him.
"Face hole opening and eye squinting indicate human tiredness," Rocky slowly drew away, "Grace sleep, Rocky watch."
Now more aware than ever of the fatigue deep in his bones, Grace couldn't muster up the energy to even try and argue. He snuggled back down under the covers, almost expecting sleep to elude him again. But with their new promise to each other and riding the high of the warm, content feeling spread through him, Grace was out like a light before an Eridian could even add two plus two.