i had this in a dream. uh. so like there were previous astronauts who made it to tau ceti at the same time as rockys crew (cuz its mentioned that hes been out there for a WHILE before grace) and one of the astronauts had a baby (reader). and the eridian crew took them in. and she learned eridian. kinda like those wolf aus where someone is raised by wolves, but its aliens instead ❤️❤️
Adam & Eve
(Ryland Grace x Eridian! reader)
'Ryland doesn't think he's going to see another human ever again; Rocky informs him that there's a space-born human on Erid, and she crash landed years ago.'
Ryland Grace sat inside the airlock bridging his ship to Rocky's, still dizzy from the gravity shift and the sheer impossibility of everything happening around him. He had just finished his first real conversation with Rocky, communicating through lights, gestures, and a crude translation device that they’d rigged together.
Rocky studied Ryland’s form, appearing as a minimalistic shape that he saw through echolocation; his many limbs began twitching with excitement as he realised he recognised this body-shape.
“You are what species?” Rocky sang, the translated voice coming through slightly garbled. “Question.
“Human,” Ryland answered, exhausted but pleased with such a successful day— possibly the most successful day in the history of humankind. “I am a human male.” He tapped the word for 'human' into the translator as Rocky repeated it back to him in Eridian.
Rocky then made a gesture, almost like agreement. “Human is on Erid. Your shape… same same. Reminds me.”
Ryland froze, then spun around from the laptop. “Wait— what?” Rocky fell silent, confused as to what he had said to upset Ryland. "Say that again, Rocky... A human? On Erid?"
“Human...on Erid...now,” Rocky repeated, more clearly this time. “Crashed long time ago. Only small one survived. Scientists built her... home. She lives there. You are same species. This is good? Question.”
Ryland’s mind reeled: another human. Alive. On Erid. For years.
He took a moment to reply until Rocky jumped impatiently. “I— are you sure she's human? That’s… that’s incredible. Nobody on earth even knows alien life exists—"
Rocky went rigid and jumped up in protest: "you are alien! I am not!"
"Right— sorry, Rock," he sighed.
Of course, Ryland never thought that he would actually get to meet this supposed Eridian-raised human; he couldn't anticipate that there would be a Taumoeba leak and that he would have to return to Rocky's ship, forcing him to travel back to Erid with the little Astrophage Rocky had left. Perhaps the knowledge that he wouldn't be the only human on Erid made the decision to forgo returning to Earth easier.
Three years later—or, six years later, from the perspective of Erid— the enormous brass-coloured spaceship descended through Erid's atmosphere and landed near a massive, gleaming biodome. From the shuttle's window, Ryland could see that the structure was clearly built with great care: reinforced Xenonite with Earth-like vegetation visible inside under artificial lights.
When they landed, Ryland stepped out of the shuttle behind Rocky, heart pounding in his spacesuit: a new home; a terrifying, toxic new home. The air outside the biodome was toxic to him, so Rocky led him straight to the airlock entrance that connected him to the newly built, human-friendly science quarter of the dome: this is where Ryland would be received by the scientists, who each wore their own Xenonite carapace to protect them inside the oxygen-filled chamber.
Hours later, when Ryland had spoken with the immensely enthusiastic Eridian scientists about his temporary home, Rocky led him to the biodome's inner quarters, where you lived.
"Grace is safe now. Statement," Rocky chimed, twitching excitedly at the prospect of introducing Ryland to another of his kind.
Ryland clutched the translator device close to his chest— his lifeline when trying to converse with the scientists— running a calloused hand through his thick hair. He managed a small laugh, "thanks, Rock."
As the inner door to the biodome opened, you were already waiting. You sat near a cluster of Earth plants that had clearly been cultivated with love. You wore simple, practical clothing with Eridian modifications, and your eyes widened the moment you saw him — a real, living human. Rocky went inside straight away, clicking noisily ahead of Ryland as he approached your legs.
"Look! I bring Grace. Scientist of Earth," Rocky sang, the laptop still translating for Ryland, though it didn't seem you needed it.
You replied, in English, "it's good to see you. Thank you."
"You are both human. Statement," Rocky replied.
Ryland's jaw dropped. It made sense now: Rocky had never needed a translation device to speak to Ryland because he had already been exposed to English through you.
Doctor Grace suddenly felt out of his depth: a woman who clearly understood Eridian was stood in front of him. He wondered if you were really as beautiful as he thought you were, or if this was what happened when you hadn't seen another human for years.
For a long moment, neither of you spoke. Rocky clicked impatiently, returning to Grace by the airlock. “See? Human. Same shape. This is—” Rocky chimed out a word that the computer couldn't translate: Ryland assumed it was your name, but he would have to ask you to tell him it in English.
You took a hesitant step forward, staring at him like he might disappear if you blinked. "Hello, Doctor Grace," you offered a nervous smile. Your English was as good as Grace's; he was surprised at this, but wasn't sure why. “They said a man was coming back on the ship, but I didn’t… I didn’t believe it.”
“You’re really human,” he said softly. Ryland swallowed, still stunned. “Nobody knows you made it this far. Your crew… the Endeavour, right?”
You nodded melancholically. “I was born on the ship and I was seven when we crashed. I hardly remember it: I just know that scientists found me, and quickly realised that I would burn in their environment." You gently pulled up your sleeve to reveal a large burn mark from where the scientists had briefly pulled you out of the ship, then quickly put you back. "They built this biodome so I could... survive,” you laughed, gesturing around at the carefully maintained habitat: trees, a small garden, makeshift living quarters. “They’ve taken care of me ever since."
Rocky clicked happily and backed toward the airlock, clearly giving the two of you space. "I am leaving you to bond now. Statement."
Ryland blushed and looked around in quiet awe, then back at you. You were young compared to him — probably mid-to-late-twenties, whilst he estimated he was thirty-seven, now — but there was a quiet steadiness in your posture that spoke of someone who truly felt at home.
"Do you... speak Eridian?" he was in awe, fidgeting with the sleeves of his cardigan.
You laughed softly, returning to your seated position at the garden table. "Is that what you're calling this place? Erid? Much less of a mouthful than 40 Eridani A b, I suppose. And, no, not so much... I've found it almost impossible to replicate: we just don't have the right biology to speak their language. Still, I understand it, and I can just about say their names. For example, that was—" you said Rocky's native name with a musicality that, to Ryland's untrained ear, sounded just like when Rocky had introduced himself.
“I’ve been calling him Rocky,” he laughed, embarrassed when you grinned back.
"That's very creative."
Suddenly, his voice rough was rough with emotion as he registered the situation. “It’s… really good to meet you.”
You gave him a small, tentative smile. “It’s good to meet you too, Doctor Grace. I haven’t heard another human voice in... well, ages.” You paused, then added, “oh, and I'm Y/N. Sorry. I haven't had to have manners for twenty years.”
Ryland let out a surprised laugh. “Yeah, well… space travel will do that to you. You can call me Ryland. Or Doctor Grace. Or whatever.” Ryland blushed as you laughed at the ground.
You slowly tilted your head, studying Ryland with open curiosity. “The scientists said you came to help with the Astrophage problem. So did my parents, but obviously they didn't make it so far.” Your expression grew quieter. “I can show you around the biodome if you want. It’s not Earth… but it’s home. For you too, now, I suppose.”
Ryland nodded, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that you existed.
“I’d like that,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of questions about you— about here, this, I mean—”
You smiled again, interrupting his spiral. “I have a lot of questions about you, too."
how fucking funny would it be for Grace to manage to make alcohol and get drunk with Simon only to find out that Simon is very allergic to it (like Mark is)
Grace stumbling into Rocky’s lab ridiculously drunk because Simon is about to have a heart attack. Crying at Simon’s bedside because he feels so bad and Simon is just like “eh. oh well. whatever.” because he’s never had it before and does not have the social norm so of course it doesn’t mean much to him.
SOOOOOOOOOOO after making this post and having this idea bumping the corners of my brain for over a week I finally sat my ass down to write it. Beware! whatever this is and remember that english is not my first language so if I butcher Rocky or Grace speaking patterns or I make them to Oc please forgive me. I attempted to use scientific jargon and I probably did a really bad job at it, please forgive me. I also have not read the book so I'm not sure if there is a description of Erid so I'm just investing it all from the top of my head, it is my idea that the eridians live underground that's why they use echo location and that Rylands enclosure it just one big cave addapted for him, but if you have other ideas feedback is very welcome. This was way longer than this so I cut it into two parts.
Here goes nothing!
5:46 am.
That was the time shown on his digital watch after being awoken by a strange vibration going through his bed, like a cellphone vibrating under your pillow. Except Grace didn't have a cellphone, not like he needed one in Erid after all. For a moment he stayed in bed, questioning if he had imagined the phantom vibration and ready to get that extra hour of sleep before he needed to wake up and get ready for his morning class with his little eridians, just a dream he tough before he closed his eyes and started drifting off to the land of the dreams once again when suddenly vibration began again, much harder than last time.
He sat up on the bed that was now moving under him, the ground was shaking this time, much more aggressive than before. I'm definitely awake now and I'm not dreaming things anymore, and before he could begging to question anything, it stopped and the silence of his room enveloped him, it was quiet, too quiet but between suddenly being awoken and his mind triying too catch up Ryland could't quiet place his finger on why was it so quiet. He jumped out of bed to investigate but before he could put his foot inside his slippers the ground shaked under him, he lost his balance and almost fell to the ground if he hadn't grabbed at the bed, the shaking, now much more intense than before, forced the walls to start moving around him in a dangerous way that had him rushing out of the house, hitting walls and object alike as he attempted to get to safety.
My first eridian earthquake, he tough, I didn't know Erid had tectonic plates, I will have to ask Rocky later, as he stepped outside the house, the rumbling stopped and for a moment he was relived, looking around him before realizing why it was so quiet all around him, the ocean, the beautiful mass of water that the scientists in Erid had provided him with, the one that surrounded his beautiful little house on the fake eridian beach had retracted. "Oh no" he said out loud "I will be the witness to the first eridian tsunami".
6:30 am.
The ocean didn't come back. Grace had rush to a high point in his eridian made enclosure, confused and a litle scared he didn't think the eridians would have known that earthquakes (or should he call them eridianquakes?) around coastal areas were prone to tsunamis, he knew that the eridians didn't know what a tsunami was so whatever was happening was not made intentional and that it probably was the scientists attempting something new that had backfired, he made a mental note to ask them later about it. Slowly climbing down from the high area Grace looked around, the wind was blowing kindly on his face, not to cold not to hot just the perfect temperature and the sky started to fade from the beautiful night sky to begging showing hues of orange and yellow as the artificial sun started to make its precense know. But the water, it had dissapear, wet pebbles greeted his fingers, a testament of what had been there and now was just...gone.
This is definitely not normal.
Then in the distance he heard the pitter patter of feet coming his way made him look up from his crouching position, it was Rocky rapidly coming towards him being followed not far behind by two other eridians he recognize from having meet them when he first stepped foot in Erid, if he remembered right they were from the council members that helped rule Erid, Grace had only really meet them during his initial introduction to Erd but their appearance in his enclosure made him ever more alert that something was wrong worry creeping upon his shoulders but before he could stand up to greet the eridians, Rocky, without stopping his march threw his whole body, protective suit and all onto Grace crouching figure.
With a groan and a few hurt sounds Grace spoke "Ouch ouch ouch, pal as glad as I am to see you, you are quiet heavy" even though he reciprocrated the awkward hug trying slowly to push Rocky off.
"Grace safe, Rocky worried Grace in danger"
Danger? So something did happen "No danger here" he affirmed and then asked "Rocky did something happened out in Erid?"
Rocky wiggled out of Grace hold to turn and look at the two other eridians that have now reached them too, "Grace remembers Rockys friends, question"
"Of course I do, good morning for both, should I be worried about you being here?"
The eridians looked between each other for a second before looking back at Grace, okay, now he was starting to get seriously worried. "Grace enclosure fail last night, water gone from Grace enclosure" one of the eridians spoke.
"Rocky tough, Grace in danger" his friend spoke.
"There was an earthquake about an hour ago with some repercussions, I tough the scientist were working on something that reflected in here"
"Earthquakes, question" the second eridian said.
"Ah, right they are probably called something else in Erid" Grace answered while rubbing his neck with the back of his palm "An earthquake is the quick and forcefull shaking of the ground provoqued by the tectonic plates in the Earth's crust slip past each other along a crack known as a faul, basically the inner core of earth shakes to fit everything back and we can feel it by the ground shaking" he explained.
The silence that reflected at him got him biting at his upper lip, this is where Rocky would be asking follow up questions to his explanations and they could find a common ground between Erids world and Earth. Rocky spoke, very quietly "Erid never shakes, ever, statement"
Oh.
Oh no.
"Erid needs human friend help, statement" one of the eridians spoke "Shaking only appear in Grace place, danger for Grace to be here, water gone, we not understand"
Rocky bumped his leg with his fist "Rocky takes Grace to lab, there is work to do, statement"
8:30 am.
His class was officially canceled by now, the higher ups had made sure to let the parents of his students know that something important requiered Graces help. And he had no idea what he was looking at, correction, he knew what he was looking at he just didn't understand how to interpret it. After he had suit up with his old Hail Mary suit now protected by a layer of xenonite, courtesy of the eridians, he and Rocky had walked out of the laboratories he and other scientist have spend so long working on for the past year to create Grace safe human like environment for him to live in, he usually venture once a week alongside Rocky to discuss theories with the eridians about Earth and learn more about Erids atmosphere, culture and ways of living, but for the first time in that year he was looking at something so human he was a loss of words of what it could potentially mean for him.
In front of him he had a diagram of a seismogram that he and the scientist had originally build when trying to put oxygen in his enclosure and not have the eridians explode in the process of finding a leak now detailing the past five hours in his enclosure detailing the vibrations caused by "the not earthquakes, because Erid doesn't have tectonic plates as Rocky had explained", it had started around 5:00 am maintaining a magnitude of 2.5 not enough for him to feel but enough that the machine detect it and slowly raising the magnitude over the hours till reaching 5.4 forty minutes later.
It techically wasn't an earthquake, there were no tectonic plates moving, then, what is the shaking that the machine was detecting? why did it stop? why did the water suddenly vanished?
"Grace quiet for long, Grace thinking of something, Rocky hears"
Turning away from the machine Grace turn to look at Rocky before speaking "You said that Erid doesn't have tectonic plates so it can't be an eartquake"
"Correct"
"But the ground shook under me and the water was gone, water doesn't just dissapear"
"Water dissapears all the time in Earth, Grace explained"
"I know, I know, but it evaporates into the sky to create water vapor, absorbing heat energy and rising into the atmosphere that then creates clouds that produce rain"
"Ocean evaporate but no rain"
"Exactly, where did the vapor went too? Maybe it left my enclosure into Erids atmosphere"
Rocky stayed in silence for a second before exclaiming "Grace idea stupid, statement"
"Hey!"
"Water in Earth turns into vapor that turns into cloud and then rain, vapor is inside Graces enclosure, vapor can't leave Grace enclosure"
"Well, what if there was a leak in my enclosure"
Offended by his words Rocky started to walk angrily around the lab space "No leak, no leak, Grace safe, leak means Grace death because of Rocky, Rocky not allowed, Grace safe"
"I know, I know" he backtracked "I'm safe thanks to you Rocky, but do you have a plausible explanation of where a whole ocean suddenly left"
Rocky stopped pacing and looked at Grace mustering with the most serious voice he could: "Magic"
"You don't even believe in magic!"
1:00 pm.
Grace was eating his lunch in a special clear box made specially for him while other scientists worked around him. It had been hours since they first set foot inside the laboratory and they were nowhere near to figure out what had caused the "not earthquakes" and the dissapearance of a million liters of water that made the ocean in his enclosure. After running scan systems in his new home nothing was amiss, if the ocean wasn't missing everything looked and felt normal, but the shaking earlier that morning had clearly spooked Rocky and the other eridians, clearly somenthing that they had no control over. Grace bite into his seudo sandwich frustrated, what were they missing?
Water. Missing water. Eridians didn't deal with water. They didn't need it to survive, not like humans at least. The water cycle is a natural phenomenom that occurs in Earth, and it's common knowledge that humans had been able to manipulate the cycle of water since the 90s. Water manipulation through out cloud seeding by dispersing substances like silver iodide or dry ice into clouds. Silver and Iodide are found in Erids natural atmosphere meaning they could have been missed in their detectors when manipulating water and if dried ice were to be use, since its made of carbon dioxide it could have been easily missed by the carbon dioxide that the plants and machines in my enclosure produce. That still wouldn't explain the earthquakes, he bitterly tough. Taking another bite of his food he looked around the lab, watching the eridians work to find the cause of his early waking. What other things can cause an earthquake? Industrial human actions like wastewater disposal, hydraulic fracturing, a big explosion of some kind all things that couldn't be replicated inside or outside of...
A memory came to Graces mind, the pre-launch accident where the crew died, an explosion that size was enough to out in flames and shock the ground around them. Rocky was right, it wasn't an earthquake, it had been an explosion, a human made explosion. Human.
3:00 pm.
For the next two hours Rocky sat at the lab with Grace as paced around the room. After sharing his toughs with the crew they inmediatly had gone to research out of Erids underground into the atmosphere whatever they could find, for obvious reasons Grace couldn't acompany them but Rocky had stayed with him to theorize how the dissapearance of water related to shaking of the ground, both things that could only happen in Earth happening in Erid.
"Grace nervous, question"
"No, no, not nervous buddy" Grace said while continuing pacing around the place.
"Grace heart beat, high, statement"
"Well yes, maybe I'm nervous, if this was a human made thing that means humans could be in Erid, thats" he laughed awkwardly "That could mean a lot of things, you know?"
"Grace not happy other humans, question"
"No, I mean yes! Other humans but it's just..." he trailed off, he was actually scared of what that meant, humans have never been the most welcoming against anything that is differently, and it baffled Grace to think the mayor leap in technology human kind had been able to make that allowed them to travel all the way to where he was.
"Grace explain to Rocky, why not happy, statment"
Grace look at Rocky for a moment before sighsing and sitting down on the floor, Rocky aproched him and sat down next to him. "Remember when I told you how I ended up in space" from the corner of his eye he saw Rocky nod "Humans can be very...selfish, ready to do whatever it take to the greater good" he pinched the bridge of his nose "It scares me to know that humans could be dangerous to Erid"
"Grace not dangerous to Rocky"
"Not all humans are like me bud"
"Rocky and all of Erid protect Grace, Grace friend of Erid, we protect"
A chuckle escaped from his throat. "Thank you Rocky, I too will protect Erid if I need too"
For a moment they both sat there in comfortable silence, Rocky was the first to break it "Heart beat"
"Yeah, my pulse is going down as I calm down"
"No Grace, two hearbeat"
"What?"
Without answering Rocky sprint towards the exit of the lab. Grace hastily standing up to follow, the xenonite suit slowing his movements for a second before he catch his footing as he stepped out the lab into the underground tunnel he could see the multitue of eridians surrounding something, no. Not something, someone.
Rocky appeared at his side suddenly pulling his hand harshly towards the comotion "Grace, fast we help" grabbing his hand he got pulled and everyone parted around him until they reach...them.
The first thing he notices was the blood, even though the underground caves didnt requiere a light system for the eridians they had integrated a special lamp in his suit so he could navigate them, he suddenly wished to be in the dark, there was so, so much blood. The suit they were wearing, a muted green was soaked through and staining the cave, the helmet attached to the suit was covered inside with a splash of blue matter that didn´'t allowed to see the face of the person behind, in that moment he didn't really notice that the blood seemed to glow when the light of his lamp hit it. The only thing he could think of was to get them to safety.
Kneeling in front of the scientist he hauled them into his arms, the xenonite suit making it a litle hard to properly hold them but as he stand up he shouted "We need to get them inside before they bleed to death!" that seemed to tick something into the other eridians, Rocky taking the lead and shoving anyone out of his way to the laboratoy, the other scientist following suit.
As they rushed inside Grace walked into the special enclosure made for him setting them onto the table where he worked and rapidly taking off the protective suit. "Dr. Grace we have called medic"
"Okay, thats good, thats great, perfect I will need bandaids and water and alcohol to clean the wounds" he was beggining to panic "And scisors to cut the suit, sharp scisors"
From his peripherial he saw Rocky enter with who he had started to call Medic and eridian who was as curious about humans as he was of them that had insisted on doing phisicall exams on Grace when he first had arrived in Erid to be able help in case of injury, he had been a bit anoyed about his insistance then, he was so glad about it now.
5:00 pm.
He was exhausted. The toll of the day had finally began to weight on him. He layed on the ground of the glass box, alongside him sat Rocky and the medic, for the past hour or so him and Medic had tried saving them, stopping the bleeding and disinfecting the wound had been harder than he tough, they were mangled all over their body burned in some areas and missing hair in some others. While they worked the other scientist had gone away to investigate the crash and gathered information about the new human on Erid, from what they had found there were no other humans around the ship.
The ship. Grace had been asked to investigated the ship. Acordding to Rocky who had gone to investigate it resembled the Hail Mary they had been stucked in space for months during the mission, but Rocky had admited there were many things he couldn't recognize from his time in the Mary. He wondered for a moment if the technologhy Rocky didn't know meant he wouldn't recognice it either, how much had humans advance in a couple years? as curious as he was, his worry was on the very real, very alive person laying on the table, another human on Erid.
"Heart beat sounds the same as Grace now" spoke Medic from his side.
"Thats good, that's great actually" answered Grace.
"Grace happy, question" said Rocky.
"Yeah, yeah I'm happy to have save them"
"Medic can make exam on them, question"
"You are going to have to wait till the wake up Medic, we first need to know how did they got here"
"Of course, the council will want explanation" Rocky exclaimed.
That worried him a little. Eridians had been nothing but nice to him on his arrival with Rocky. He had no doubt they will welcome the new person into Erid with no problem, he however feared the reason why they had landed on Erid in the first place, what made them travel so far from home? Where they searching for him? Did Straut want him back? he was taken out of his toughs by both Rocky and Medic excitedly running to the table where the person layed.
"Human move, statement"
"Waking up, statement"
Grace stood from the ground and slowly aproched. Now, without the helmet and the blood they could see their face more clearly, full with small cuts and bruises that he knew where going to hurt them for a while. The person started moving their head, their eyebrows scrunched as if they were having a nightmare, Grace could see the sweat that had started forming on their forehead, he grabbed one of the clean cloths that had lasted from before from the other table to clean the sweat off, but before he could lay the cloth on their forehead a hand slam against his arm digging their nails, no, claws... wait, claws? upon his flesh, Rocky and Medic jumping from the sudden movement. He hissed at the nails, (claws?) digging into his arm and he tried to yank his arm away but the strenght in wich they hold him kept him there. When he looked down to the owner of his pain he saw the most fearful look upon him, intense big yellow eyes look at him with tears gathering at the corners he tried yanking his arm again when the pain became to much but that only gained him teeth bared at him that growled a painfully sound from their probably dry throat, Rocky and Medic jumped at the sound of the growl only then did they seem to realize about his two companions and even more panic seem to settle in their form, letting go of his now bleeding arm yellow eyes glowing at him in fear.
For a moment no one said anything, Grace craddled his hurt arm looking at them with a mix of fear and facination, the intensity of their stare digging into his soul, yellow eyes glowing at him. Wait. Yellow eyes?
I have heard your plea for drabble ideas and come bearing this little pearl my brain came up with... Essentially boils down to reader is a streamer Ryland enjoys watching while he's grading papers, totally thinks they're gorgeous but would never admit that bc he doesn't wanna come across as parasocial...
Turns out reader's little sibling is in Ryland's class and reader says something like "my sibling's teacher said x," (if it's a universe where the astrophage exists it could be the 'the best minds in the entire world are working on it' line.. that would make what comes next sooo bittersweet) and ADDITIONALLY the sibling keeps begging Grace to take reader out on a date (playing BOTH sides) eventually time rolls around for a parent (/gaurdian) teacher conference and when they finally meet face to face they're both fumbling, babbling messes and the sibling is just sitting there in triumph. Maybe they go on a few dates and things get freaky... but that's up to you >:)
I LIKE YOUR MIND. Ok this is a little thingy I wrote hope ya like it. I made Ryland a little neurodivergent (projecting who?)
Warnings: mentions of death, child neglect, lmk if I missed anything else
Ryland was a lonely guy, to put it simply. His social circle consisted of his coworkers and his 7th grade students (in the least weird way possible). He never felt like it was entirely his fault, but he felt a bit to blame. His head was always in the clouds, he was a total blabbermouth, he was always either thinking too much or not thinking at all.
So maybe it was for the best that he was alone. He didn’t mind it so much, didn’t mind the ache he felt deep within him when he simply had no one to talk to, no one to listen to.
That’s where he would find himself binging National Geographic every night, or worse — scrolling on his phone — however, that’s how he found you.
“Study w/ me!” The screen read. And he saw a pretty woman, she looked to be in her late 20s, taking notes, her room had a yellowish warm tint to it, and there was a cup of coffee on her desk. Soft lofi-beats played in the back. That was the whole video, that’s sweet he thought, glancing to the stack of tests needing to be graded.
“Maybe I will study with you” he spoke out loud to himself. He clicked on your profile and saw a link to a YouTube channel, which he clicked on as well. He saw you were live so he clicked on that to see a similar set up, this time you had tea instead, and there was soft music playing but also the sound of your pencil against your notebook pages.
He felt a little dumb, his phone propped up while he graded papers, but he also felt a little less lonely. It was sad, he knew it was, he didn’t want to think about why he had trouble connecting with people. It’s not like he was shy, awkward sure but he wasn’t mean, he hoped he wasn’t. Sometimes he felt like there was some big social rule he hadn’t been let in on, so he always felt out of place.
Your voice snapped him back to reality.
“That’s all for today guys! Thank you so much for hanging out and if you want to support me further my go fund me is in my bio, I’m trying to put myself through college and I would super appreciate it! Bye guys!”
And then she was gone. Ouch.
“Just do what the kids say Grace: lock in” and he was back grading.
For the next month, he had a similar routine, come home, eat, watch a controlled amount of national geo then get on your livestream and grade, you weren’t on a live every night, mostly mondays and wenesdays, but you had other videos on your channel that he liked. He always finished grading much faster when he watched your videos, he felt more focused, he wouldn’t get caught up in his thoughts as much because he’d look up, see your beautiful face, and be reminded what he was doing.
He didn’t want to seem like a perv, but you were pretty, so pretty. And when he found out you were majoring in astrophysics?? He felt so much more connected, not in a weird way, he was rooting for you. But of course these were all inside thoughts, if he even had close friends he would mention it, it was his guilty pleasure, his little token of joy he got when days were hard. He liked to think that all the people watching your videos with him were all studying or taking time to do something, it was sweet, he’s a very sweet guy, Bambi makes him cry, he’s a sweetheart.
When the whole astrophage situation hit, it was rough. Mostly for his student he felt, they didn’t fully grasp the situation, no one really did, but he felt for them, and their futures. And when the one pocket of joy he had started talking about the petrova line, he almost left the live.
“Guys, I’m gonna be honest I’m having a really hard time focusing now with all the stuff going on in the world”
Same girl, same
“..I have a little brother, and I think about his future and I get really emotional. He learned about the petrova line and the sun dying a few days ago at school”
Oh great. I wonder what other teachers are worrying their students like me, why would I tell the kids about that?
“But he’s so hopeful. He’s so full of hope and joy it always makes me want to keep going. He said that his teacher said that ‘the best minds in the world are working on it’ and that gives me hope”
Um what. Hey hello what. That kinda sounds like oh I dunno exactly what I said in class yesterday.
“I think I’m gonna log off early but thanks for joining me”
That is such a weird coincidence. He thought. Wow, maybe I’m not a horrible teacher if other teacher are saying that. Unless.. no.
She did mention being from the Bay Area.. but no. Cool coincidence but no.
But the coincidence happened to come up to him after class the next day.
Elijah, a sweet 13 year old boy, he was held back and often had trouble grasping concepts, but when he did he was so enthusiastic. Unlike some of the boys in his class he was quiet and thoughtful. He had a knack for drawing and Ryland would call him up to draw diagrams on the whiteboard (because Ryland is always gonna say “guys I’m not an artist so don’t judge me” and then draw only god knows what).
“Hey bud what’s up?” Ryland said while erasing whatever was on the board.
“Um nothin I just- I got my test back and my sister said I should talk to you about it”
Sister? That’s weird. Whatever.
“The one on thermodynamics? Let’s take a look” Ryland pulled out his test and sat down in his swivel chair. “Alright kiddo, I’m gonna be honest, you didn’t do very well this time”
“Oh..” he looked crushed, pulling an rylands heart strings.
“Look Elijah, you’re a really great student, if you’d like you can come for your lunch period and we can go over the test and see what you got wrong okay?”
“Okay”
“Plus parent teacher conferences are coming up so I’ll talk with your parents then alright?”
“Alright. Thanks Mr Grace!”
Elijah jogged out of the classroom to catch up with his friends. Ryland glanced back at the last name on the paper, he recognized it from somewhere, but couldn’t put his finger on it.. probably nothing.
As he did whenever students were struggling he went to his emails to let the parent know, and since teacher parent conferences were coming up, this would be convenient.
In the beginning of the year he gave each student a google form where they would say a bit about themselves and then put their parent/guardians contact info. When he went to check Elijah’s he copy and pasted the email, and scrolled down to “relation” to see it was his sister. Putting together the dots that now seemed very obvious: his sister was his primary caretaker. Okay maybe that explains some stuff. Good to know.
The next week, as per his routine, he came home, had dinner, watched a bit of tv and then graded. But now you had disappeared, one post “gonna take a little social media break, don’t miss me to much :)” too late. He was missing her. Quite a bit actually.
Wow I am pathetic. I’m missing this girl I don’t even know like a parasocial weirdo. I need friends. Or a girlfriend. Remember how the last one worked out Ry? No just just focus, focus.
Soon enough parent teacher conferences rolled around and being the caring guy he is he wanted to give detailed reports on his students and propose ways to engage them or help them, this ended in him having a binder for each kid, all 126 of them. He was up to his knees in work and conferences for essentially the entire week. His sleep schedule was sub-par at best.
But it was Thursday, he only had about 10 conferences left, and his next scheduled one happened to be Elijah. He was actually excited for this, he was passionate about helping kids, he saw himself in Elijah, being the genius that he is he didn’t do great in school. Most of his teachers didn’t make an effort to accommodate, many passed him off as stupid. But Ryland knew that was BS, he didn’t believe there was such thing as a “stupid student”, so what if Elijah didn’t fully understand enthalpy, he could create worlds and draw them out, he had an endless imagination. What’s the use of making a fish climb a tree?
With his glasses half off his face he heard a knock at the door, he scrambled slightly to set them on and walked over, letting Elijah and his sister- wait a minute. Wait a damn second.
Holy mother-forking snickerdoodle. I know her. I know her very well.
He might’ve stood there blinking dumbly for a minute
“C-come in” he coughed out nervously, barely making it to his chair, thinking about your warm smile, your swooped hair.
It’s her! Who fricken knew!
He adjusted his glasses again, opening Elijah’s binder.
“Im y/n, Elijah’s sister and caretaker” you offer your hand. Shit she offered her hand!
He nervously shook it, internally cringing at his sweaty palms.
“I’m Dr Grace but uh duh you know that” WHY AM I TALKING LIKE THAT.
“Yeah I’ve actually heard of your work” you say trying desperately to be nonchalant in front of your little brothers shockingly good looking teacher.
‘I’ve heard of your work’? So she knows I nearly assaulted someone in Denmark great wonderful
“Can we just get this over with?” Elijah half whined.
“Cmon bud it’s not that bad.” Ryland said sympathetically. “I’ll start by saying that Elijah is a great kid, he’s really got a knack for some of this stuff he’s just been.. having a hard time grasping certain concepts”
You nodded, looking down at your little brother who was doodling in his notebook. You looked up at him, a silent way of saying ‘go on’
“Recently we had a unit on thermodynamics and Elijah got a 14 out of 50” he started, giving a sort of pit in your stomach, you didn’t want Elijah to do bad, he was only in middle school but the thought still bounced around your brain
“I suggested maybe he comes during his lunch period and we can go over it. He hasn’t come yet to work on it but that’s- that’s okay”
“Elijah you need to work on this- this, Elijah are you paying attention?” You start. He can’t help but let his eyes fixate on your face, he’s seen you on screen before sure but seeing you in person is like seeing a celebrity, a really really pretty celebrity. He felt star struck, he felt like a teenager, your presence was comforting and nerve-wracking, and he was internally hitting himself for his inappropriate thoughts, your his students sister! He needed to snap out of it.
“Look it’s not a huge deal, his grade is still an 87, he always participates and tries his best, plus he’s our class artist, always drawing the diagrams for us because god knows I can’t I mean look at that one- was supposed to be a gamma ray, looks like an elephant” uh oh im blabbering shut up Ryland. You laughed softly at his horrible drawing, a blush creeping up on your cheeks.
God she laughs heavenly too?
God why the fuck am I laughing right now?? And smiling?? Gross! Lock in y/n don’t think about how his shirt is too tight or how his glasses are falling off his face brushing against his pink lips..
“I um- anyways that’s all- do you have any questions?” Ryland asked, trying to bring back the long gone professionalism.
“Me? Haha no no this is great, you’re great, we love you- Elijah loves you, your class.”
“Thanks- thank you- Elijah’s a great student and you’re a great sister- or guardian- or”
“Sister, I’m just his sister, guardian makes me feel old”
“How old are you- may I ask?”
“Twenty eight”
Twenty eight? What is she doing in college?
“Great well I’ll.. see you around- or I probably won’t but uh- let me walk you two to the door”
“Are you suuuure you want her to leave mr grace?” A very quiet Elijah piped in, not so quiet any more, in fact incredibly mocking. How does he know?! Oh god whatever
His cheeks go red. “No cursing Elijah don’t run don’t- bye bye now”
Elijah then saw one of his friends and rushed off, leaving you and Ryland at the classroom door.
“Thank you again”
“Hey I’ve uh- your familiar” Ryland started, trying to play it cool and failing. “You do like livestreams right?”
Oh my god. This is definitely my worst nightmare how does he know. Immediately your cheeks go pink and he notices.
“No no it’s- I like them. It’s such a coincidence that you’re here cause I actually have graded papers watching one of your videos a few times” a few? More like every night.
“God this is so embarrassing” you said, thinking out loud, and also unsure of what to even say.
“No I think it’s cool, it’s like a little community you’ve got- or I figure you’ve got I wouldn’t know I don’t know a thing”
“It’s just a little stupid side thing I do, extra money for college and for Elijah”
“Why are you in college so late? You don’t have to answer sorry I talk before I think I’m sorry”
“No it’s okay.. I wanted to mention it anyways just so you’d have a better understanding about our situation.” You started, nervously. “I was about 14 or 15 when Elijah was born, our mother died very soon after that and our father just.. sorta lost himself you know? Stopped taking care of us, got fired, eventually skipped town. But by then I had a job and I was basically his mom. Anyways I couldn’t get through high school with everything going on so I got my GED and worked full time until I could save up enough money to support us and go to college”
“Wow.” Ryland started, you braced yourself for criticism, doubt. “That’s incredible.”
There was a beat of silence, it was half awkward half warm.
“You’re a really good sister.”
That made you want to cry. Maybe your support system was more empty than you had noticed.
“What are you studying?”
“Astrophysics”
Ryland practically jumped, he did a fist pump.
“That’s incredible your my new favorite person- astrophysics? So badass I mean I had to stick to stuff mostly on earth all that space stuff, I’m not cut out for it you feel me? Too complicated too scary.”
“I’d go to space, I love space” you say a little shyly, you didn’t really get to ‘nerd out’ on things, but seeing Ryland do it made you feel better
“You’re brave. Look if you ever need any help I’m a doctor- well I got a doctorate so- or if you need help or have any questions regarding Elijah I’m here, he’s one of my favorite students and- I’m talking too much and crossing a boundary woah step back wow I’m still talking” he mimed zipping his mouth shut, looking slightly mortified at his offer.
“No no I will, I’ll email you or- yeah. Okay well thank you so much- bye!” You shared a very very awkward fist bump and promptly ran away, looking for your little brother so you could get the fuck out.
“So how’d it go?” Elijah asked smugly in the car.
“Shut up you little brat” you said, undeniably smiling.
Warnings: a bit of angst, sadly no comfort, smutty material, mentions of choking, restrains, make outs, break ups.
Hear me out…
BEFORE PHM
-Relationship wise
A very logical guy, we know this already, but he’s not completely lost when it comes to feelings, he sometimes might have the need to “fix things” right then and there, specially after a big fight/important argument, and isn’t the best at giving space (no pun intended) but I think it would make him anxious, and even if he seems like a closed guy, he loves human connection, which is part of the reason why he loves teaching. He’ll give you space and time and whatever you may need, it’ll probably affect him more than he lets on though.
And talking about feeling uncomfortable, when you two start dating, he tries to fill the natural silence between you two, every time (that’s appropriate) he can, wether it be asking you a random question that just popped into his head, bringing up something you might of mentioned in random conversation or just banter, he will be opening his mouth, not in a forced way, I feel like conversations with Ryland would be very entertaining, like playing ping pong, he just sometimes hits the ball a bit harder than you. Later on the relationship, he learns to cherish the silence, getting acquainted with it.
Think very early morning cuddles, his hand crawling up your spine, fingers dancing across skin and fabric until they reach the nape of your neck, where your hair starts to grow, soft pads gently playing with the strands while you stare up at him, cheek pressed against his shoulder. The only audible sound in the room being your breathings, mimicking each others.
Overall, I think he’d be a great partner, a little sparse, at times, don’t think he manages his time well, but that’s just an inkling I have, besides that, he’d be very caring and sweet, a little clumsy at times, but he means well, even if his actions can get him in trouble sometimes.
-Intimate aspect (nsfw)
I think this man is NEEDY, definitely gentle dom, but very vanilla. He’ll try almost anything with you, at least once, but this is something you need to hold his hand in, he’d be more easily pulled into something lighter, partial restraints, light choking, biting, but anything more kinky? Guide him through it. Also I think he’s a very passionate guy, he likes to take his time wi the you, to touch you, tease you, maybe even edge you…
At first, again, he’s very cautious, seeing what you like, what you don’t, what makes you moan, throw your head back, close your eyes… and by the time you guys have done it for around 4 times, he’ll start getting a bit more adventurous, specially if you guys have had a talk about what turns you on and what doesn’t, and kinks!!
Maybe a hand slipping up to the base of your throat while he has you straddling him, his fingers delving below your underwear to tease you, fingers tracing your skin while your lips are stuck to his in a slow make out. The hand on the base of your throat gently squeezing, not enough to actually cut your breathing, but enough for you to feel it there, the sheer pressure making you dizzy.
DURING PHM
-Relationship wise
It would start out slow.
Sometimes, he would forget to tell you or text you something important, maybe you two wanted to make plans for a dinner with your friends, and he completely forgot to tell you they mentioned it, then it would be a day he neglected to let you know he’d be home late, which would of been the third time that week.
At first, he tells you he found another job, it’s a sudden change he decides to bring up as you two are eating dinner at the apartment, his fork diving deep into a spaghetti you both cooked, yet he doesn’t mention what the job is, vaguely describes it as “a lab job” and that he can’t talk much about it… so you leave it be, for now, too tired to try and pick apart what he just told you, after all you knew him, he wouldn’t lie to you.
Not quite.
There is a moment where your relationship would be almost nonexistent, and it’s when he basically moves to that damn aircraft.
Before that, you’d be struggling with him, he comes home, 6 days a week, tired, none talkative, at god knows what time, has small talk with you and goes to bed, he’s more present on his rest day, but it gets to a point where you have a roommate you sometimes talk to, kiss and sleep with.
And it all comes down when he lets you know, in a phone call, of all things, he needed to be away for work, he didn’t know how long it would be, and he, amongst other things, was extremely vague, but the message was clear.
You should move on from this, from me, from us.
One phone call, one phone call is all it took for him to break it all off.
Your breaths stoped as the line went silent, had he hung up on you? After shattering your entire relationship? The future you had hoped and dreamed of sharing with him?
There was a weird calm that flooded you, after months of dating a ghost, you knew this was coming, but you never expected Grace, your Grace, to not have the common decency of breaking it off in person, and now you’re stuck in an apartment, filled with memories that feel so far away, it would seem like a different life.
And just like that, the earth keeps moving, and you do too.
———————————————————————————————
I wanna write a fic of this so bad! AHH, lmk if that’s something yall would be interested in and maybe I’ll think about giving it some comfort c: (unless yall don’t want that, which like.. valid i guess)
Thank you so much for reading! Reposts and likes are greatly appreciated, thank you so much for the love on my last post, I AM OBSESSED WITH THIS MOVIE AND WITH THIS MAN
