Another platonic! Reader that’s traveling through space with Simon, Ryland, and Rocky.
Platonic reader relationship only! Reader is 20, Ryland is early forties, Simon is late thirties, Rocky is an old ass rock. All relationships regarding reader are platonic!
TW: heavy mentions of light injuries that include blood and descriptions of pain, hiding injuries, angst.
Spoilers for Iron Lung and Project Hail Mary so be aware!
You cursed sharply under your breath, pain blooming across the skin of your palm and shooting up your wrist. You tore your hand away from the panel in the ship you’d been performing routine maintenance on, shaking a little as you stared at the blood that quickly started pooling out of the deep cut, “shit-“
It stung like a bitch, what had even cut you? Still shaking a little, you grabbed your flashlight with your good hand and pointed it into the panel, grumbling as you saw the culprit; a precariously sharp piece of metal that was meant to protect flesh from coming in contact with a scalding metal pipe.
You placed the flashlight aside and closed the panel, wincing when you tilted your palm too far and blood splattered messily onto the ground. That was a lot of blood, you had to see Armando like- now. If it was bad enough you’d need stitches and you weren’t keen on dealing with infection.
You balled up a clean rag that hung out of your tool belt, pressing it to the wound and curling your fingers around it to keep it in place. You were grateful that the rest of the crew on the Hail Mary was busy: Rocky designing his more compact xenonite suit, Grace studying the Taumoeba, and Simon pollinating the plants aboard by hand.
This left you primarily to your own devices for the time being, more importantly not being focused on as you sat on the table in front of Armando, “hey Arm-dude, can you help me out? I sliced up my hand..” you kept your voice low, hoping to whatever gods were out there that Rocky was too distracted to listen in or look through the walls with his echolocation.
Armando hummed robotically, making quick work of the injury. He gave you painkillers, cleaned the wound, numbed the area with a cold spray, then stitched it up with record speed. He wrapped it firmly in bandages, your fingers stiff and palm forced to stay open and flat to not stretch or squeeze the delicate stitching, “refrain from any work with your right hand until the stitches are removed in two weeks.” You blinked, a pit forming in your stomach, “two weeks?”
“Affirmative. The wound needs time to heal, the stitches keep the skin together as it does, do not risk damage. Come back once a day for a bandage change.” Armando tapped you on the head twice in a semi-weirdly-affectionate manner and you were on your way. How could you hide this for two weeks?? Almost everything you did required two hands! Ship maintenance, meal prep, games with Rocky, helping Simon with the plants, assisting Grace when he was deep in research.
They’d find out almost immediately and you didn’t want that.
You didn’t want to be seen as some clumsy kid who couldn’t handle basic tasks without getting injured, or worse, worrying them. Sighing, you grabbed the bloodied rag and trudged back to the panel you’d been working on, cleaning up the blood and disinfecting whatever it came in contact with. You opened the panel back up and struggled to finish with only one functional hand, wondering vaguely how Simon did most things with only one arm.
You finished, the task having took twice as long, and shut the panel with a weary sigh. Tools gathered, you trudged into the storage room and pulled a pair of warm gloves from one of the compartments that held different kinds of clothing. The gloves were cruddy things you’d taken with you from Asora, made from some sort of cotton replica that was rough on the skin and vaguely uncomfortable.
Grace had been baffled by the construction of most things you’d brought onto the ship from your tin bucket craft, all made from vague concepts of materials or completely substituted with others. You usually walked around in one of Grace’s corny pun shirts and whatever bottoms were clean that day since your clothes were sensory nightmares. Three people sharing one small closet worth of clothes wasn’t easy, but you could at least do laundry.
The gloves were just as bad as you remembered, but they’d kept your hands warm and covered when your old craft grew distant and empty, now serving the purpose of hiding a nasty injury.
The day went on and you continued with your self-designated chores, cleaning the kitchen, picking up whatever clothes were strewn about to wash in a sanitizing machine, doing count of supplies, just whatever kept you busy.
“Hey kid?” Simon’s voice called from the communal area, “where are you?”
“Supply closet!” You called back, turning to finish what you were tapping into the tablet’s database before turning the device off and meeting up with Simon in the kitchen, “busy?” He gave you a firm pat on the back as he made his way to grab a drink, “yeah, just doing a couple things before turning in.”
“Appreciate it kid, but don’t overdo it.”
“Aye, I’m not the one you should be saying that to. We make fun of Grace for being a workaholic, but Rocky can be just as bad.” Simon huffed an amused noise under his breath, nursing a fresh cup of coffee when his eyes flicked down to your hands. Fuck.
“Where did ya get those?” He gestured towards your hands with the cup, “what’s what?” Play stupid. Play stupid and he won’t realize.
“Oh- yeah. My hands got chilly while doing the supply check and I found them in my old stuff, I like em so I was gonna keep em on.”
“Aren’t those the shitty ones Grace tossed in a bin to “never see the light of day again” or whatever he said?”
“Eh, yeah. A lot of my clothes were bad, but I don’t mind these.” Simon sipped his coffee, quirking a suspicious eyebrow at you. You tried to make your face as neutral and innocent as possible. Please don’t push it please don’t push it please for the love of god-
Simon shrugged, “alright. We were gonna watch a movie in the “don’t go crazy” room if you wanted to join.”
“Sure, as long as Rocky doesn’t make us watch that one sci-fi movie again. I’ve been begging for us to watch..uh..what was it called?”
“Yes! Grace said it was good!” Simon chuckled and ushered you along, “alright alright, let’s make it happen.” You shoved your gloved hands in the pockets of the sweatpants you were wearing, relieved that the issue wasn’t pushed.
“What [Name] doing, question.” You gasped, whipping around to see Rocky in his tunnels, Armando in the middle of replacing your bandages. He let out a loud squeal sound as he processed what was happening, studying your tense body language as you locked up, “[Name] hurt!! Injured!”
“Wait!- wait- Rocky! Calm down! I’m fine!”
“Pebble hurt! Grace, Simon need to know!” He scuttled away, panic surging through you as you tried to follow, but Armando used his significant robot strength to hold you in place as he finished replacing the bandages. You got up as fast as you could, pulling the glove back on and running after Rocky to try and stop him from snitching, but he was already in the common area.
Simon’s intense gaze locked on you immediately, pushing himself to his feet and crossing the room in three short strides to stand- or more like loom over you, “show me.”
“Show. Me.” You’d never seen him so angry before. He wasn’t yelling or throwing things, but his dark eyes were burrowing into your soul and planting the seeds of guilt and regret. You shakily removed the gloves and showed him your palm, “Armando just wrapped it again so-“
“Go to your bunk.” You blinked, a bit astonished, “Si, I’m not a child. You can’t send me to my bunk like you’re grounding..me..” your voice died as his brow furrowed further and the room became more tense, your body convincing you that staying wasn’t just a bad idea, but borderline dangerous.
Simon wouldn’t hurt you, but your body had been through a lot.
You trudged to your bunk with your eyes glued to the floor, sitting down with a pout, crossing your arms on top of your brought-up knees. The urge to bawl your eyes out was overwhelming, outweighed by your stubbornness to stay quiet. Rocky scuttled into the room in his tunnel and you glared at him before burying your face in your knees, “Should not be mad at Rocky, statement. Pebble hurt, should not be kept secret.”
“It wasn’t a big deal Rocky, it was just a bad cut, Armando’s been taking care of it.”
“What if not just bad cut, question? What if infected? What if something broken? Bad bad bad.”
“But it wasn’t-“ Rocky stomped lightly in his tunnel to interrupt you, “Not point, statement. [Name] not tell Rocky, Grace, Simon about bad cut and hide it! Would do same with worse injury!” You blinked as Rocky finished, grumbling a little, “I..I didn’t think it was a big deal. I didn’t want to worry you guys over something stupid.”
“[Name] injuries not stupid, statement. [Name] dumb for thinking that.” You huffed, “yeah yeah. Are you the only lecture I’m getting or-“
“Fat chance.” Simon stepped into the room, looking significantly less mad than before, had he been listening in or did Grace convince him to try another breathing exercise? Rocky loafed in his tunnel, refusing to leave as Simon leant in the doorway, “You lied to me. You lied to my face about the stupid gloves- actually. Give them to me.” You sighed and folded them, tossing them over for Simon to catch and shove in his pocket, probably to toss out of the airlock, “My whole life people have lied to me or withheld information from me and it has constantly fucked me over. I hate when people do it, no matter if something is big or small. If you’re going to lie to me over stuff like this, how am I supposed to trust you? How am I supposed to trust that you won’t lie about something bigger?” That pit in your stomach came back, now the tears were building.
You didn’t want Simon to not trust you. You loved Simon.
“I’m sorry..I just- I just didn’t want you guys to worry or- or think I couldn’t handle things by myself. I’m still an adult, I shouldn’t have to depend on you guys for everything.” Simon sighed and walked over, scooping you up with his superior “was in prison for a long ass time” strength, holding you close and sitting back down on the bed, “don’t cry. I still trust you.” Simon could’ve sworn his hearts broke when he heard you sniffle wetly, burying your face in his uninjured shoulder to hide the emotion on your face, “M’sorry Simon.”
“Apology accepted.” His hand rubbed up and down your back, like soothing a child- why did you act like such a baby?? You hated that you acted like this.
“Just don’t keep things from me, from us. We know you’re an adult but you’re still young, we want you to know that we’re here if you need us. Trust me when I say we want to be there.” You nodded, wrapping your arms around his neck, suddenly spent from all the emotion and sneaking around for a week.
“When Armando changes your bandages again, Grace and I want to get a good look at the cut, okay?” You nodded again, “what cut you up so bad anyways?”
“Uh- piece of metal in the panel I was working on, it’s covering up a hot pipe but I think they forgot to put a cover on the sharp edge or it got snapped at some point.”
“Rocky fix!” Rocky stood up and stretched like a cat, making you smile as you peeked up a bit from Simon’s shoulder, “Rocky make sure metal not sharp, statement!”
“Thanks Rock.” Simon started, “mind watching us sleep first?”
“Oh. Yes yes yes.” He loafed once again, “[Name] and Simon sleep, Rocky watch.”
“Awe what? I’m not included?” Grace walked in with a fake pout, “I’m hurt.” You snickered as Simon rolled his eyes, “I’d open an arm for you but..” he held up his stump, all that was left of his other arm, “my good one is occupied.” Grace laughed and walked over, cuddling up with you and Simon and dragging you two to lay down in the bed, “nap time.”
“Ryland Grace willingly taking a nap? What wormhole did we go through this time?” Grace huffed and pinched your cheek, “shush. Nap time.” You grumbled but did as you were told, resting your head on Simon’s shoulder and closing your eyes.
Why did you ever hide your injury in the first place?
That’s it for now! Hope you enjoyed! I thought this one turned out super good, but I’m always a little scared I’m not getting Rocky’s speech patterns down as well as I could, let me know if I can improve it!
Have a nice day and stay safe!
