The first time Simon met Grace, Grace was wearing a long, flowing dress — something that had once been Ilyukhina's. Rocky had told him to "wear something nice" because the Eridians had a surprise for him. He hadn't expected another human.
Eridians understood gender, in a way. Painstakingly explained to them by Grace. How there was masculinity and femininity, and androgyny. They didn't understand how the first two were often applied forcefully, how the third was perceived negatively. They accepted Grace whether he wore skirts or pants. Their saviour that became their friend.
Grace would not have felt brave enough to wear a dress in front of anyone from Earth, and that's what Simon looked like at first. A terrified Earthling who didn't understand Eridian.
Grace was not delighted at seeing another human, in all honesty. He loved humanity in the way one loved their overbearing parents. From a distance. He felt joy knowing Earth and humanity would live, but had felt a sense of freedom knowing he would never unknowingly break another unspoken social rule and feel people's judgement.
Seeing another human in Erid changed all that. A man looking like the peak of masculinity, with his broad shoulders and bulging biceps, looking at Grace, still slightly thin from years of malnutrition, and wearing a dress. It was the worst way to meet another human in over ten years.
(Simon, on the other hand, is looking at an angel. He's never seen anyone so clean — no dirt or grime anywhere on them. They're wearing a soft, flowing dress in a light shade of green, a colour he had never seen in person.
They are soft and beautiful and glowing with colour, somehow exuding comfort and abundance without veering into ostentatiousness, the way The Father had always described heaven to be.)
