bloodymary au where simon gets picked up while grace is still experiencing amnesia & doesn't remember what his name is
so when simon, absolutely traumatised from his Big Blood Holiday and missing an arm, is brought aboard, he refuses to speak to grace. not because he can't but because he doesn't trust for a moment that this is real. it's clearly enough one of the blood eel's tricks, and if simon starts talking to it again, more fucked up shit is going to happen
grace ofc takes this in his stride because hey, its not like he remembers what's normal around here, he doesn't even remember his own damn name. and he's more than willing to speak enough for both of them
so he yaps about what he does remember (and for the sake of Plot let's say the computer doesn't tell him his name, like in the book, but also he's free to access all areas of the ship, like in the film) which is mostly that they're in space and there's this stuff called astrophage eating the stars
simon gets really animated when grace mentions that so grace figures, okay, we have the same astrophage problem, let's see if we can solve it together
also i like to imagine that grace, after explaining his memory loss to simon, goes by a new name every day in search for the Right One. he has the entire Internet to look through after all, eventually one of them will fit right?
so at the beginning of every day he greets simon, tells him his new name, and simon will wish him good morning via the whiteboard grace so handily has on board. as they know each other for longer, simon gets much braver at sassing grace for his name choices
"morning! feeling like Bernard today, what do ya think?"
simon, after scribbling on his whiteboard for a couple minutes: makes you sound old. so it's probably correct
and of course grace would ask simon what his name is, but simon is so reluctant to tell him. the last time he said his name out loud, some kind of eldritch being used it to get in his head, and then he got ava killed. it must have some kind of bad omen attached right?? he's only just beginning to trust this man and believe he's real, he doesn't want to get him killed just because simon is bad luck
so instead he hesitantly writes 'Convict' down and after grace finishes inwardly freaking out about potentially bringing a space prisoner onboard, he decides, no! this guy isn't going to be called Convict! not on his watch! and shoves the names list in from of him until he picks something less dehumanising.
and simon, who can't relate any of the names in here because he knows what it should be, decides fuck it and writes down Connor Victor with a smirk and grace is so taken aback by the playfulness and the shine in simons eyes that he doesn't even fight him on choosing names as close to Convict as possible, and instead starts referring to him as Con
just give me two people trapped up in space together, figuring out their identities by helping each other. and once they discover rocky he's more than happy to help grace work out his name. he throws in some eridian options which grace can't even attempt to mimic but he tries all the same, and inwardly simon's nickname for grace is ray, like ray of light, cos how the fuck can someone be this positive and energetic when they know they're going to die
eventually grace remembers his name of course. maybe around the same time he remembers that stratt had him drugged and forced onto the mission. to him 'Ryland Grace' represents someone who was too cowardly to do something that would save his planet — someone who was too scared
and he cries for the life he was forced to leave behind, and his kids that have long since grown up, and for the names that don't fit right on him anymore, and that rocky never knew the truth about what a coward he'd actually been
and Connor or Victor or hell, fudging Convict is there rubbing his back and making these shushing noises which is honestly quite endearing, and then there's a quiet moment as grace is calming down and he just hears "Simon." whispered next to him
he whips his head round and simon is giving him a shy smile and then they're hugging or kissing or just being next to each other, and then the taumobea are leaking through the xeonite and they have to save rocky
simon of course thinks this is his fault for saying his name out loud but grace shuts that down real quick, and tells him that they will save rocky. simon tells him that he isn't very good at being a coward
then rocky is saved and the earth is saved and simon is saved and living with grace in erid
grace calls him 'Si' and smiles every time, like it's a secret, despite everyone on Erid knowing who they are. simon calls him 'Grace' because the name ryland still doesn't fit quite right. but sometimes, when it's just them and the nearest eridian is miles away, simon will whisper 'Ry' against his lips or while holding his hand or while lying side by side on the beach, and grace's entire face will light up, and simon finds it easier to forget he was ever enclosed in darkness when seeing a face like that
