Grace: I was forced to go to space to save the stars. There I met an alien rock spider who became my best friend!
Simon: I was welded into a submarine and sent into an ocean of human blood. When I was there I was attacked by a giant mutated human eel and also I met God.
Tags: Domestic fluff, tiny bit of angst, Ryland works too hard, established relationship, touch-starved OC, lots of cuddling, Ryland Grace is a good boyfriend, probably OOC but i made this for my own enjoyment 💗
Word Count: ~ 1.2k words
Can be found on Ao3 with the same title (user is Planet_Mars_13)
─────────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────────────
Grace has been grading papers for hours, having brought them home to work over the weekend.
He's pretty sure that his head has never hurt more, and his back is starting to ache now too.
Just a few more papers, he tells himself, then he can be done for the night.
When Mara's arms wrap around his shoulders from behind, he doesn't flinch.
Instead, he leans back into her, sighing contentedly when her chin comes to rest on his shoulder.
"You almost done, Ry?"
"See that stack there?"
"Mhm."
"Those are the ones I haven't graded."
Grace winces at the long whine Mara lets out next to his ear.
"I know, honey. But I have to finish this tonight."
"It's Friday night! You have all weekend!"
"And I'd rather suffer now so that I can spend time with you later."
For a few minutes, she stays silent, and Grace tries to redirect his focus to the papers in front of him.
As Mara's silence continues, though, he grows suspicious.
The moment her lips press to his neck, he knows exactly what her new game is.
"Sweetheart–"
"Hm?"
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing…"
She settles down long enough for him to finish grading the paper he's been stuck on for an hour, and then decides to strike again.
This time, her kiss presses right under his ear, pulling an involuntary gasp from him.
"You okay?"
The nerve she has to ask that question, knowing exactly what she's doing.
"Yeah– Yes, I'm fine, thank you."
Grace's voice comes out higher than usual, only making his face turn redder.
"You look so tired, baby."
The pet name sends chills down his spine.
"Mars–"
"I know, I know. Grading papers is more important than cuddling your girlfriend."
Now that's just downright evil.
Finally, Grace turns his chair to face Mara, finding her looking particularly disheveled with a pout on her face.
She's still wearing one of his shirts with pajama shorts on, and he can't help but think how beautiful she is, even when she's being difficult.
"Seems like we need to make a deal, huh?"
He notices her perk up a little at the suggestion.
"A deal?"
"You can sit on my lap while I work, but you have to actually let me finish these papers."
"But–"
"It's a limited time offer, honey."
Even as Mara dramatically huffs at him, she moves forward and settles herself on his lap.
He helps her settle before turning back to the table, one hand still grading as the other rubs her lower back soothingly.
After a while, he notices her weight growing heavier against him, and her breathing seems to even out.
Grace turns his head slightly to press a kiss to her forehead, hearing a quiet hum of acknowledgement before she nuzzles closer.
He can't bear to work much longer after that, feeling the guilt gnawing in his stomach for making her wait so long to spend time with him.
As it grows heavier, he finally sets his pen down and turns his head to look at Mara again.
She's in a deep, peaceful slumber now, but he can't help but notice a slight pout lingering on her face.
He messed up this time. He knows it.
Grace stands carefully from his seat, lifting Mara with him, and makes sure not to jostle her too much as he walks to the bedroom.
When he gets her comfortably into bed, he considers going back to grading, but doesn't want to risk the chance that she wakes up without him by her side.
With a heavy groan, a mix of frustration and exhaustion, Grace changes into pajamas and climbs into bed with Mara.
Instantly, she curls into him, and he pulls her to rest on his chest.
As he presses a kiss to the top of her head, he whispers an apology, still feeling the guilt deep within him.
"I'm sorry, Mara. I'm going to work on time management, I promise."
She doesn't answer him, but the promise seems to lift a weight off his chest.
─────────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────────────
When the next weekend rolls around, Mara comes home from the store with groceries to make dinner for the night.
She's surprised to find her boyfriend wearing pajamas and holding a pizza out as an offering, completely unlike how he usually is this early in the evening.
Usually, he would be hunched over papers, grading until the early morning hours, and only having taken a break to eat dinner with her when she called for him.
"Um… hi, baby. What's all this?"
She watches as Grace nearly drops the pizza as he rushes to set it down, then he makes his way over to her and hugs her tightly.
Only after he presses a long, gentle kiss to her forehead does he start explaining.
"I felt bad about last weekend. I thought maybe we could eat pizza and watch a movie?"
"Don't you have papers to grade?"
He winces at the question.
"I promised myself that I wouldn't bring work into our home anymore."
"Why?"
"It was affecting you just as much as it was affecting me. I wasn't giving you what you needed, and I won't let it happen again."
"That's so sweet–"
The moment Mara sniffles, Grace hugs her again.
"Oh, sweetheart– Don't cry! These are happy tears, right?"
"I just missed spending time with you…"
As if his heart wasn't broken enough already.
He spends several minutes kissing away Mara's tears while trying to hold back his own, waiting for her to calm down as he whispers sweet nothings to her.
When she lets out a shaky breath, her tears seeming to come to a stop, he pulls back just enough to check on her.
"Feeling better now?"
She nods shyly, looking slightly embarrassed by her reaction.
"Sorry, Ry. I didn't mean to–"
"You have nothing to apologize for, honey. Would you like some pizza now?"
That question seems to lighten her mood immediately, and this time her nod is more eager.
"Yes, please! I'm starving!"
Grace laughs and leads her to the couch, where he's already set up her favorite movie and set the pizza on the coffee table.
"You really thought of everything!"
"I wanted tonight to be perfect. To make up for me being such an idiot."
Mara plops down beside him on the couch, immediately curling into his side.
"You're not an idiot. You just work too hard sometimes."
"I'll do better, I promise."
"I know, but I also love you the way you are."
Grace feels an overwhelming wave of appreciation crash over him, and to try and communicate his feelings, he presses a kiss to Mara's lips.
"I love you too," he mumbles, "So much."
The rest of the night is filled with the sound of goofy commentary, sharing pizza, and ultimately not paying attention to the movie he had carefully picked out.
All that matters is that the love of his life is by his side, and he is finally giving her everything she deserves.
The moment he had seen her face light up, he had known that he would never go back to bringing his schoolwork into his personal life.
Nothing about his job could ever compare to the feeling of seeing her react like that.
And, shoot, he's even thinking about marrying her someday.
