Chapter Text
“Listen Rock, I’m not entirely sure what you’re trying to tell me here.”
“Grace is not listening to Rocky, statement. Have spent too much time together, Rocky and Grace will 🎶🎶if not careful.”
“You’re gonna have to explain that word again bud,” Grace runs both of his hands through his hair and his glasses float off into the air above him.
Rocky’s vents make a hissing sound that Grace has come to associate with the human equivalent of a deep sigh.
“Grace Rocky discuss ‘brain dead’ idiom statement.”
“We’re going to go brain dead?”
“No, Grace is being stupid stupid stupid, listen to Rocky statement.”
He pauses and shifts as if to make sure Grace isn’t about to interrupt him again.
“Grace Rocky have much time until Erid, talk about much, eventually run out of things to talk about, social brain dead occurrence. Grace understand question?”
“Do you mean we’re gonna get bored Rock?”
“Yes. Statement.”
“Yeah I won’t lie to you I’m not feeling as overwhelmingly terrified by this prospect as you seem to be.”
“Because Grace has stupid slow human brain statement. Rocky has good fast brain. Get ‘bored’ quicker.”
“It’s fine, we’ll just find more stuff to do.”
“What ‘stuff’ question?”
“Uhh well I guess we can exchange games, you can prepare me for Erid society, you can ask me more questions about Earth…” Grace trails off embarrassingly quickly.
“Grace understand now. Long time. Not enough stuff.”
Grace nods and sits in worried silence for a few seconds before it’s interrupted with Rocky saying
“Grace Rocky talk more about sex question?”
Grace nearly chokes on his own spit he’s so taken aback.
“Uh, we’ve already talked about sex bud.”
“Yes yes yes, Rocky remember, talk more about sex statement.”
“O-kay, but humans do have some social- um- proclivities around sex so I don’t know-“
“Yes, Rocky knows, Grace is old 🎶🎶.”
Grace is fairly sure he just got called a virgin but doesn’t have the energy to ask for a translation.
“Grace is uncomfortable question?”
“A little bud, but not because of you.”
“‘Cultural thing’, question?”
He laughs a little, trying to ignore the slow flush of colour creeping up his neck.
“Yeah Rock, cultural thing.”
Rocky doesn’t leave it alone though. He rarely does.
“Grace, all mating must be done without clothing question?”
“hwat” Grace says knocking his glasses further out of reach as he startles.
“In movie ‘Romeo and Juliet’ both remove outer clothing yes?”
“They do! Where-“
“But Grace said clothing is big big big for modesty on Earth. Grace lying question?”
Grace puts down the burrito and turns to face Rocky, “It is a modesty thing but when you’re having sex it’s generally expected to remove your clothes, yes. Where is this coming from?”
“Rocky learn about differing cultural practices statement! Expected why?”
“I guess most people find it erotic, or more convenient.” Grace isn’t blushing but he’s mainly contributing that to the sleep deprivation and unfinished burrito that’s floating somewhere in the same direction as his glasses.
“Convenience, question?”
“Most of the human erogenous zones are on the skin and it feels nicer without the clothing barrier in the way.”
“Feels better for Grace question?”
“Woah! You can’t just ask someone that Rock!”
“Why not, question?”
“Uh, cultural thing.”
“Grace always say ‘Cultural thing’.”
Rocky has got a few of what he has dubbed Grace’s ‘signature phrases’ programes in as Grace’s own voice, and it feels a little uncanny to hear the words parroted back at him like this.
“Well humans have a lot of ‘Cultural things’.” He says, a little sulkily, “We’re a community focused species.”
“Community, for example when humans have Big Orgy question?”
Grace chokes on his own spit and has a small coughing fit that has Mary asking him if he’s contracted space scurvy early (thanks Mary).
“WHO taught you that word.” Grace says, finished with his coughing fit.
“Found on the think box! Found extensive human 🎶🎵🎶.”
“Need word?”
“Observation of other members engaging in sex for purposes of simulating sexual excitement.”
“Uh. Pornography?”
“Yes. Extensive human pornography.”
“We can just say porn.” Grace cringes at himself as he changes the word in Rocky’s text to speech programming.
“Grace did not answer Rocky’s question statement.”
Oh god they’re back on this? “What was the question bud?”
“Humans are community focused, and sex driven. This is the reason for Big orgy question?”
He was hoping Rocky had forgotten. Stupid of course. Rocky never forgets anything.
“Sometimes, but mostly it’s about pleasure, I think…” he trails off, desperately trying to think from the perspective of someone more educated in the ways of sex.
“Grace doesn’t know, statement. Grace is big 🎶🎶 question?”
“I’m not a virgin!” Grace says, a little too aggressively.
“Ah, Rocky understand.” Rocky like he really does understand, and that makes Grace feel awful.
Maybe he does understand that he’s not really done all that much back on earth. Maybe he understands that Grace feels uncomfortable having sex in the casual noncommittal way Eridian’s seem to.
Maybe not, he’s probably catastrophising. Catasrophising? Where the muffin loving Jesus had he learnt that term?
“So Grace uncomfortable with most other humans? Is odd behaviour. statement.”
“Yeah Rock, it’s pretty odd behaviour.”
“No no no. From other humans. Grace is most wonderful human statement. Should have many prospective mates.”
Grace smiles at that.
“You’re probably the closest I’ve ever felt to any one, you know that?”
Rocky hums in agreement, and then says, a little indignantly, “Grace is perfect, statement.”
Grace laughs, face reddening, “Not perfect, but I appreciate it Rock.”
Rocky ignored Grace’s self-deprecating comments, “Grace very very good, statement.”
Grace feels a kick of arousal flood through him. Rocky seems to pause, but maybe that’s just his imagination, “We save my home. Best human on Erid!”
He makes a sound that Grace has come to associate with laughter.
“Very funny.”
Maybe they wouldn’t die of boredom after all, as Rocky worried.
“Bored is not only worry, if Grace Rocky are not careful then 🎵🎶🎵 will become the same.” Rocky said, the same laughing tone tingeing his voice.
“Need word?” Grace grinned.
“Like brain wavelengths becoming similar, feeling the same at times.”
“Ohh you mean thoughts?” Grace smiles. They’re already too intertwined.
He enters the word into his ever growing databank for Rocky’s speech.
*
Rocky does not mean thoughts.
Rocky actually is talking about a very specific event that many biologists and sociologists had worked very hard to avoid happening between crew-mates while designing the Blip A.
The major problem with mating on Erid is that the outside environment makes things such as foreplay very difficult, and despite the many, many, many different ways in which many Eridians have found to have sex, the easiest route for foreplay always been telepathically bonding with the mate or sexual partner. This however is not always voluntary and can happen accidentally between two Eridians who spend too much time around one another.
Surely it can’t happen with Grace though? Another Species? And such a foreign species as well, weirdly erotic and beautiful in his excessive fluid production, sensual in his vunrablility.
Grace also has an irritating habit of being incredibly arousing, even despite their species differences.
Rocky hasn’t seen anything similar to this bonding during his research of human sexuality, but if Grace has a word for it, it must exist. How interesting.
Rocky has many questions for Grace when he next ventures into the topic of sex.
Erogenous zones? Grace had previously mentioned how sensitive his outer ‘skin’ was. How many zones were there? Did every human have the same ones? How many of them excited Grace?
Rocky tries not to think about it too hard. He’s managed to keep the Eridian signs of arousal hidden from Grace very easily, (mainly stemming from Grace’s embarrassment around the subject) but his ovipositor suddenly appearing from him would probably be a sign that even an alien could understand.
At least his friend-and-co-saviour doesn’t understand the intricacies of his species’ social cues because by his standard he’s done everything except actually ask Grace to bend over and present. Mm Grace presenting. Bent on all fours. Maybe using his overly dexterous and mindlessly sexual hands to spread his hole ready to be bred.
Rocky shivers a little. Is there a way to explain to his human that he’s actually the perfect broodmare for his planet with it sounding like “please take one of my clutches inside you”? Probably not.
Does his species even know what that would mean? He asks Grace one day, before he has one of his meals.
“Grace has said eggs are fertilised during human sex, like Eridians yes?”
“Not quite, the eggs remain inside of the mother until the preliminary stages of growth have occurred.”
Rocky would have started to leak a little if he hadn’t caught on a specific part of the sentence. “Only the mother question?”
“Oh you’re right i suppose if a father had the right anatomy he could also carry a baby, but it is generally a mother, yes.”
“Grace has right anatomy for egg bearing, question?” Well shit, nice going Rocky, you didn’t exactly ask to impregnate him but holy fuck.
Grace is blushing though, and seems to be a combination of the embarrassed kind of blushing and another one which Rocky hasn’t quite figured out yet.
“No I can’t get pregnant!” He says, “it’s my turn to ask the questions anyway.”
He then changes the subject to how he and Rocky seemed to evolve with similar abilities to communicate and how they both managed to be at the perfect point in both of their planets evolutions to invent space travel.
Grace is very cagey when it comes to talking about sex. Rocky tries to broach it two more times before giving up because Grace always exhibits the same symptoms of suddenly having a lot of blood rush both to his face and genitals, and then makes some excuse to leave, then takes (what Rocky assumes is) a cold shower.
He doesn’t seem upset or uncomfortable at the questions Rocky asks him, but he does avoid any questions Rocky asks about his own experiences or feelings. Rocky wants Grace to ask him, wants him to be curious, he wants and wants and wants.
Fuck, he needs that smart, stupid, beautiful, leaky, awkward human so bad it makes him want to pass out.
Grace explained the concept of being ‘touch starved’ to him one night after making a joke about holding his own hands.
“Humans die without contact question?”
“No Rock, it’s more like…. it’s more like a mental thing I guess, you can get emotionally low if you don’t get physical contact with others.”
“Has to be human other, question?” Rocky had asked, tentatively, worried about the answer, the idea of stranding his beloved Grace on a planet where he would descend into depression was not a pleasant one.
Grace laughed again, always such a beautiful sound, reminding him of Adrian, of home, of all the beautiful things that Grace has saved.
“You know, I don’t think it does have to be another human Rock, maybe an Eridian would do just fine.”
“Good good good, Rocky much relief. Will touch Grace all the time and never feel bad.”
Grace smiles as the blood rushes to his face, which Rocky loves, it’s so much easier to see him like this, and says “I think I’d like that bud.”
Surely there’s a way to remedy this right? He can’t live like this forever, trapped in his ball or the tunnels. He needs to get closer to Grace, tangle up in his limbs, tap over the hands and map out the veins inside them, run his claws through Grace’s ‘hair’, discover all the soft noises of content that he knows humans can make. Grace was neglected by his own planet and people for so long, but Rocky knows he can show Grace what it’s like to be truly and wholly loved, even if sex never comes into it.
He’ll start making prototypes for a suit tonight.