ColtandGentry/Sansukh AU where the brothers are able to see each other in their dreams. It was their way to communication without phones or devices. Six checking on his brothers while on missions, Ryland checking on Colt as he recovers from his spine injury, both siblings comforting their kin as he is kicked out of academia.
Viewing their brother in a coma as the Hail Mary flies to Tau Ceti. Seeing him wake up and, to their horror, forget ever having brothers. His memory a black hole.
Ryland meeting them in dreams, his shock and terror at seeing faces he doesn't know.
He gets better, slowly. Colt and Six slowly piecing together his forgotten past. Helping him see his life in dreams and memories.
Six pounding his head on walls as Ryland does his first spacewalk (Colt shouting instructions his twin never hears. No one sees their brothers when awake).
All three weeping as Rocky gives his fuel from the Blip-A to get Grace home.
Colt and Six screaming in fear as Ryland is crushed in his chair in the skies above Adrian.
Both keeping watch over Rocky and Ryland as they slept, recovering. Hoping.
Them becoming enraged at seeing Ryland's worst memory (Colt had to physically restrain Six when they're awake to not go after Stratt).
Them watching as Ryland gets thinner and thinner as the Hail Mary races to Erid. Praying that he will make it another week. Another day.
Colt and Six watching their brother teaching a class of Eridian kids, waves crashing in their ears. Forever beyond reach. But happy to see their beloved Grace, alive and happy, where he belongs.
Mb if I’m butchering Rocky, but I’m translating from the book back to English. Also I made the gif hence the low quality because app I used told me to pay for not-garbage quality so hhhshdbsh🤺🤺🤺
Words: 2,7k
Warnings: panic attack, passing out, mention of dying + this is a tickle fic
Lee!Grace, Ler!Rocky
Summary: Grace has a nightmare where he is separated from Rocky. He wakes up shaken, not sure if it was real or not and desperately looks for his friend around Hail Mary. When found, Rocky senses Grace’s emotions and helps him regulate.
Ryland’s decision was final. After a couple of agonizingly long days, he returned his ship after sending the Taumoeba samples to Earth, to reunite with his alien friend. He was nervous, but knew the purpose he came back for. As he spotted the xenonite ship floating nearby, Hail Mary hovered by it and let the beaks of both spaceships face each other as if they were communicating through a silent creaking of their structures.
The teacher put on his red suit and prepared for take off by foot. He stationed himself on the edge of the launch bay and with one switch push that took almost no strength but all his courage, Grace floated through space towards the Eridian spacecraft. As the wire securing him stretched behind, Grace felt anxiety building up in his chest.
Something felt off. Just not quite right. As the ship was nearing closer and closer, its reflection in Grace’s helmet was dim. Not that Rocky’s ship has ever been shiny and bright, but it was dimmer than he remembered.
When he finally touched down and was able to crawl to an entrance tunnel, it was sealed off with durable xenonite panel through which his small headlight shined, revealing black and brown pipeline structure that used to habitat Rocky. But he wasn’t there.
Grace called out, but made no sound. There was no sound in space. All he could hear was his own heartbeat beating in his ears, raising by every passing second. Where is Rocky? Shouldn’t he be out by now? With his incredible hearing, he would’ve already known there’s someone trying to get in. But the ship remained lifeless. He shouted again, banged on the panel, adjusted his headlight and squinted his eyes to see as far ahead of the darkness as he could.
And suddenly… he saw something at the very end of the tunnel. It was so far it looked tiny. Pointy, uneven, as if it was upside down. It looked like… a dead spider laying on its back.
Wait… the double jointed legs… no…
“Rocky?! ROCKY, Is that you?!” Grace called, now panicking as realization washed over him.
Rocky was dead.
Ryland was too late. The Edirian ship run out of fuel and the radiation got to him.
Grace’s breathing and heart rate began to spike at uncomfortable speed as if his lungs and heart were in a dangerous race with each other. His vision has gotten blurry and his body gave up on him, muscles turned to mush, air was heavy and his head momentarily overflowed with fear so strong he could comprehend nothing. He felt like drowning in the sound of his own weeping, heart pounding in his ears. As distress signal was roaring in his head, he cried desperately out for Rocky to come back-
“GHA-!”
A sharp, choked up gasp filled the room as Grace sat straight up, panting so fast his chest could barely keep up. He looked around frantically as everything around him changed. A cold sweat run down his face, hands stiff from an iron grip on the blanket that covered him. He was not on a rescue mission for Rocky, not in his astronaut suit in space. He was on Hail Mary. In bed. Safe.
But again, he was alone.
“Oh crap…” a tired half-sigh-half-whisper escaped his mouth as his face landed in his hands and he slowly rubbed it. “It was a dream. Just a terrifying stupid nightmare! Right…?” Grace looked up at all the xenonite constructions Rocky has made above his head to watch him sleep. They lacked one crucial thing however. Rocky was nowhere to be found. Normally He’d have heard him whispering in his sleep and probably come running at that point, but it was quiet.
“No… no no no no, I-I-I saved Rocky, we… we returned to… or… did we? Oh my god…” Grace wasn’t sure if he was gaslighting himself or not. Did he actually save Rocky or not and his mind kept rejecting that reality? Why does it haunt him in his dreams? It felt like someone pulled out his brain, messed up the organized puzzle that once were his memories and put it back in.
Rocky and Grace would watch each other sleep. Because Eridians are completely paralyzed and helpless while asleep, it’s a deeply ingrained cultural necessity that friends take turns guarding, so… why wasn’t he there?
“Rocky?! Rocky, where are you?!”
Within split second, Grace’s body went into panic mode again. Breathing was obstructed once more, his muscles felt like disorganized pack of jellies and his vision wouldn’t focus. He jolted out of bed, from laying down to standing at attention, frantically calling and looking out for Rocky, not knowing how to handle the wave of uncontrollable panic that was clearly overwhelming him.
“ROOOOCKY!” wow dramatic much
“Grace! Why grace so loud?!”
Grace snapped his head towards the familiar voice and through his blurred vision he finally saw movement as a xenonite ball rolled into his line of sight.
“Rock! You’re…” he wanted to ask his friend why did he leave. He opened his mouth, but no more words came out. Instead the adrenaline wore off, no longer supporting his jelly legs and standing position. Multiplied by the rapid getup from the bed, like an iron deficiency diva that he is, Grace almost fainted. He very much needed this dose of relief, but when it finally hit and his mind would stop for a second, he didn’t expect it to be the only thing keeping him upright.
He fell to the floor, just barely managing to push his arms out and stop his face from plummeting to the ground with the rest of his body. Rocky chirped anxiously, straightening up in his ball and came running to his friend.
“GRACE, GRACE! Grace okay?! Grace died!? Grace sick?” As Rocky started bombarding him with questions, the teacher was still trying to ground himself from the panic attack. He was supporting himself on the elbows, regulating his breathing, his lower half lying on his side, legs curled. He no longer doubted Rocky was here, so why wouldn’t he stop pacing? Why don’t the boxing glove in his chest stop pounding on it from inside out?
He regained just enough strength to pull himself up and hug Rocky through the xenonite. Rocky was startled a bit, but quickly caught on and hugged back in his own way. Grace’s body could finally let down guard and suddenly a wave of sadness hit him, contorting his face unwillingly and tears poured.
He did save Rocky. After a million times that Rocky saved him, deep down he knew - he always knew he did. That freaking dream tricked him, made him doubt himself…
“Grace leaking from face. Why Grace upset?”
“Why did you leave?” He sobbed, face still glued to Rocky’s orb.
“Grace say things while asleep. Rocky try to wake up Grace, but Grace won’t. Rocky was worried, so Rocky go get Armando to check on Grace.” Rocky’s arm pushed through one of the walls of his container and placed it on Grace’s back in a comforting gesture. “Why humans talk why asleep, question?”
“We dream.” Grace kept sobbing, though slowly quieting down. “I’ve had a dream, where I… you…” damn, words are hard. His closed throat wasn’t helping either as it felt like the words were barely squeezing through it.
“What’s dream, question?” Rocky asked very directly like he wasn’t just holding falling-apart-Grace. However, at the request of explanation, his eyes sparked again. He was still shaking uncontrollably, yet wanted to share his knowledge with his friend. Every time Rocky asked a question, Grace would be more than happy to tell him. It reminded him of teaching students back on Earth.
“It’s our brains way of sorting out memories and integrating them with cortex when we sleep.” he started explaining while wiping his eyes with a sleeve. Sniffs and sobs were interrupting every second so much so his diaphragm was hurting, but he tried to push through, feeling Rocky’s embrace through the xenonite container.
“There’s a part called hippocampus that orchestrates it, but sometimes we regain consciousness partly during this process and witness hippocampus’s memory-sorting as a mare. Sometimes it feels like you’re really there even if it’s just in your head. This… is why I was talking in my sleep.” Grace tried to sit up and leaned his back against the wall. As his whole trunk finally relaxed in a more natural position, breathing started to be manageable again.
“So… why Grace scared? What Grace dream?“
“Rocky, can we not… do this right now? I’m still… not quite all there yet.”
“What Grace need? Rocky help.” Grace did not reply. He tilted his head back, so it could rest against the wall too, closed his eyes and kept breathing short, shallow huffs and puffs. Rocky stopped asking questions as he remembered from one of many Ryland’s rambles that humans tend to get overwhelmed with too much information or questions at once. In silence, he carefully approached Grace, emerging halfway through his ball and lying his center in his lap, careful to not pull his whole weight on it.
After a couple of minutes, Grace finally started to come back from the panic room. Rocky noticed early when his heartbeat slowed down and chirped happily upon hearing it.
“Thank you, buddy.” Grace put his hand on Rocky’s body, sticking out of the container, patting him gently with gratitude.
“Rocky happy Grace better. Now Grace tell Rocky about bad dreams, question?” Grace smiled in his heart and shook his head at how smoothly Rocky rerouted the conversation back to it. At least now he could speak without choking on his own breath.
“Not all dreams are scary. Hippocampus filters both good and bad memories and sometimes mixes them. It’s really a coin flip which moment you’ll get. When it’s a scary one, it’s called a nightmare.”
“Grace had nightmare, question?”
“Yes… I… I thought you died, Rocky.” Grace winced at the haunting image of Rocky as an upside down spider crossed his mind.
“I had a nightmare from when your ship was failing. I was so worried I was too late and that I messed up…” before Ryland managed to break down into tears again, Rocky cut in, which he almost never does.
“Rocky not died, statement. Grace did not mess up. Grace save Rocky.” He said with such calmness and cuteness that Grace’s heart overflowed with warmth in an instant. He teared up at those words. Rocky was too pure for this conversation.
“I know, bud. I’m sorry, it felt… too real.” Grace held back a whimper. A short pause on both sides occurred.
…
“Dream stupid, statement.”
“No, Rock, it’s fine, I- it’s my fault-I’m just a bit shaken-“
“Dream makes Grace sad. Dream make Grace think Rocky dead! I don’t like.” Rocky exclaimed as if it was the biggest insult he has ever heard. He might have also been frustrated that no matter what they did, Grace’s face kept leaking, but at least he wasn’t panicking anymore.
“It’s nightmares that are bad. And of course I know you’re not dead, I- I- just- hehehey now!” Grace tried to explain, but fumbled as he felt Rocky climbing on top of him with his full weight now and malicious intent. He slid off the wall and tried to crawl backwards to his bedroom, but he was already immobilized. It was like someone parked a car on top of him. He was not going anywhere.
“Rocky not believe. Grace stressing over stupid dreams!”
“Buddy, I’m- I'm fihihine.” Grace giggled in anticipation as Rocky’s hands extended from the xenonite container and his claws opened, wiggling slightly in the air. Grace knew where this was going and a dumbfounded smile slit his face.
“Rocky hear Grace heart and breathing. Grace still scared and sad. Rocky help!”
“Nohoho- Rocky, DOHOHON’T-“ before Grace could protest, he felt Rocky’s hands land on each side of his ribcage and vibrate violently. He immediately fell on his back, bringing his arms closer to his chest and started laughing loudly. Not giggling - straight up laughing from the belly. Rocky awed melodiously as Grace's warm laughter filled the room.
"Nightmares bad - tickles good!" Rocky teased and Grace cursed in his mind that he had ever taught his alien friend about the concept of tickling. Honestly he could've predicted that it would backfire at some point.
"Wahait- WAHAHAHAIT! Rohohocky, nohoho! I'm betteheheher- I swehehehear!" he squealed, frantically pushing at Rocky's ball pressing him into the floor as his claws moved to the sides of his abdomen. Grace’s body jolted, but xenonite held him in place. The inability to curl up or even shift sideways made the tickles ten times better worse.
"Great, Grace recovering! Amaze! Amaze! Amaze!"
"Rohohock, you're nohohot helpihihihing!"
"Rocky IS helping! Grace happy again! Why Grace so stubborn?" Rocky squished all around his belly sides and lower ribs. It was very sensitive area for Grace, but also like a melt spot. He loved when Rocky did that even though he couldn’t take it.
"Thahat's NOT hohohow you treat ahaha person afteheheHEHER they hahad a p-pahahanic attack!- *squeal* NO, NOHOHO GET AHAHAHAWAY FROHOHOM THEHEHHEHERE!” Grace practically screamed, when Rocky’s third arm snaked up and started squeezing the pudge of his lower belly, landing one claw in the navel and wiggling there stubbornly. Rocky completely ignored Grace’s plea and just kept making high frequency happy noises, very pleased with reactions he was causing.
“ROHOCKY PLEHEHEHEHEASE! I CAHAHAHAN’T MOHOHOHOVE!” Grace begged through his loud laughter. He trashed his head from side to side, his body wiggled helplessly under Rocky as he couldn’t get an inch away from this unbearable feeling. His legs kicked aimlessly and he was slamming his hands on Rocky’s ball, which caused the alien to flinch at how loud it echoed inside. But it didn’t stop him from tickling.
“Ouch! My hearing perception! Grace no slap Rocky’s container. It’s very loud.”
“I’M SAHAHAHAHARRY! STOHOHOP TIHIHIHICKLING MEHEHEHE!” Grace burst out shaking his head, a frantic mix of squeals and laughter pouring out of him, much to Rocky’s amusement. That man was the cutest (and only) human Rocky has ever seen. But he noticed his friend getting tired and decided to resolve the situation with an ultimatum.
“Will Grace stop having nightmares?”
“I CAHAHAHAN’T CONTROHOHOL IT!”
“Then Grace will find Rocky and not panic stupidly?”
“YEHEHEHEHES IHIHI WIHIHILL, ROHOHOCK, STAHAHAHAP PLEHEHEHEASE!” Grace begged through his now slightly hoarse voice, not entirely sure what he just agreed to.
Rocky finally let up. The second he let go of his waist and rolled off to the floor, Grace flopped on his side and curled up into a ball, leftover giggles still escaping his lips. The reassurance and encouragement before the tickling were enough to make him calm down, but with how touched starved Grace was (we’re social creatures after all), in the end he didn’t mind at all.
“Youhuhu are the little tihihickle monster, you know that?” said Grace, still panting and smiling like an idiot.
“Apology.” Rocky moved closer and hugged Grace still curled up on the floor, who flinched at the contact of Rocky’s claws with his side again.
“No mohohore! Rocky-“
“Grace no afraid, Rocky will tickle no more (today). Grace recover from nightmare?”
“Yes, never been better, pal.” He said, rolling his eyes as Rocky just gave him a reality check disguised as tickling the life out of him that he, in fact, is not dead.
“Grace remember this and don’t be stupid.” Rocky moved his center (where his face would be if he had one) in front of teacher’s face and placed his stretched claw on top of his head, which made Grace feel a bit like an immobilized cat grabbed by the nape.
“Grace saved Rocky, now Grace safe, Rocky make sure of that.” Grace just shook his head and embraced Rocky. He finally let his guard down completely and let his body relax here on the ground.
“I know, pal. I know.”
Whatever was left of panic still inside of him, has evaporated with all the laughter Rocky caused. Was it that it was actually quite enjoyable to laugh freely in the arms of a friend?
He patted Rocky through the container and smiled at his very much needed words of great encouragement. He knew he saved him deep down - they saved each other. It was possible he could have failed, but he didn’t.
No dumb nightmare was going to change this awesome reality.
Okay, so we all know graces actor can sing, right? So he can probably sing too. And rocky literally communicates with singing, so he'd probably enjoy hearing grace sing. But I present to you.
Opera. Like, actual proper opera. Probably from recordings or something. I mean, doesn't that ship have like, everything downloaded? As someone who does sing opera, I feel like they either adore or hate how it sounds. It's literally just scream-singing. I need to know if Eridians would like opera. Play some Mozarts for those rocks NOW!!!!
