Things I Don't Want to Forget
✮ pairing: Ryland Grace x birthday girl!reader ✮ genre.trope: birthday surprise, established relationship, fluff, domestic fluff, emotional fluff, slice of life, ✮ w/c: 3.5k ✮ a/n: I've been writing a lot of awkward ryland grace crush fics, and I want to make one with an established relationship😼 I hope you enjoy! <3
✧ MASTERLIST / ✧AO3
It was another "ordinary" day aboard the Hail Mary.
Which, by Earth's standards, was a ridiculous statement. Nothing about being millions of kilometers away from home, studying an alien organism, and trying to save an entire planet could ever truly be considered ordinary.
But eventually, even impossible things became routine.
Grace and Rocky were in the lab, running another round of experiments on astrophage and the tau-moeba, while Y/N was in the cockpit completing the ship's mandatory diagnostics. It was the kind of quiet routine they had developed over months in space—the kind that made the Hail Mary feel less like a mission and more like a strange little home.
Which was exactly why Grace knew he had to do something.
He waited until Y/N was far enough away before turning toward his alien friend.
"Rocky, can you help me with something?"
"Yes? Question."
Grace hesitated for a moment, suddenly feeling much less confident now that he actually had to say it out loud.
"Y/N's birthday is coming up in a week," he said, lowering his voice. "And I want to throw her a surprise birthday dinner."
He placed his tool down and looked at Rocky.
For a moment, Rocky was completely still.
Then his carapace lifted.
"Birthday surprise!" Rocky's voice echoed through the lab. "For Y/N friend! Happy happy happy!"
Grace immediately looked toward the lab entrance.
"Shh!" He rushed closer, lowering his voice. "Rocky. Please. Keep this a secret from Y/N."
Rocky's carapace slowly lowered again. "Secret?"
"Yes. A surprise."
"A surprise secret."
"Exactly."
Rocky paused. Then his translator clicked. "Grace friend planning happiness."
Grace blinked. "Well... yes."
"Humans like happiness. Rocky likes happiness."
A small smile tugged at Grace's face. "That's why I need your help."
Rocky tilted his 'head'.
"Why Grace friend need Rocky? Grace friend very smart." Grace looked down at the tools scattered across the table.
Because he could calculate orbital paths. He could explain astrophage behavior. He could solve problems that had no right being solved. But somehow, planning a birthday was harder.
"Because," Grace admitted, "I know how to keep someone alive. I know how to fix things."
He glanced toward the cockpit where Y/N was working. "But I don't always know how to make someone feel special."
Rocky was quiet for a moment. Then: "Simple."
Grace looked back at him. "Simple?"
"Give Y/N friend thing that means Y/N friend is loved."
Grace stared. "...That's surprisingly good advice."
"Rocky very wise."
"You're very proud of that, aren't you?"
"Yes."
Grace couldn't help but laugh quietly.
The week was filled with hushed conversations between Grace and Rocky, and attempts by Rocky to distract y/n so that Grace could work on his surprise.
And so finally D-Day came. Grace made sure to wake up hours before y/n did so that he and Rocky would have time to prepare. Setting up a table and 2 chairs in the "don't go crazy room" with a white cloth draped over the table.
He finds a setting for the screens displaying a view of the sea at night, overlooking the cityscapes of San Francisco, California.
"Good morning, Engineer y/n." The voice of Mary echoes throughout the ship.
"Fudge!" He rushes to close the door in the "don't go crazy room" to hide the surprise and hurry over to the dormitories where y/n was.
"Good morning, birthday girl." Grace kisses her forehead.
"Good morning." Y/n smiles at him.
He sits next to her on the bed and brushes his hands through her hair. "How was your sleep?"
"Cold." She frowns.
"Let's warm you up, shall we?" Grace stands up and grabs his fox cardigan, which was suspiciously propped up beside the bed, to give to y/n.
She puts on his cardigan and stretches. "And here's the breakfast for today, m'lady." Grace plops down a tray with a pack of rehydrated oatmeal and a few flower petals.
Y/n immediately notices the flower petals and Grace being the one to serve breakfast. Which is weird, because Armando is the one who usually gives them food.
"You're being suspiciously affectionate today." Y/n raises her eyebrows.
Grace freezes up and replies a second too fast. "No, I am not."
"Mmm." She grabs her breakfast and eats it in bed with Grace.
Y/n leaned against his shoulder, eating the last of her oatmeal. "You know, you didn't have to do anything special."
Grace looked at her, a hand on her waist, "I know."
"Then why did you?"
"Because you're here."
Y/n stands up and kisses Grace, smiling. "Thank you for the breakfast, Mr. Romantic." Grace giggles and watches y/n walk out of the room.
"Wait, where are you going?!" He panics, rushing out of the dormitories.
"To the washroom?" Y/n looks back at him in the hallway, confused.
"Oh."
~
Y/n closes the bathroom door and heads to the laboratory, where Grace is sitting weirdly. "You okay?" She tilts her head.
"Yeah! Just uh— just a bit sleepy, still."
Y/n raised her eyebrow. "Well.. Okay. Where's Rocky?" She looks around, "I haven't heard him all morning."
Grace avoids looking at y/n, remembering the excuse he and rocky made up for her not to enter the "don't go crazy room"
"He's in the 'don't go crazy room' because he needs privacy for Eridian matters."
The sentence came out too quickly, but y/n brushes it off.
"What kind of Eridian matters?" She sits down beside Grace, making him even more nervous.
"Private ones."
"You just said that."
"Yes"
She crosses her arms. "You sound guilty."
"I am not guilty."
"You answered too fast again."
Grace opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. Unfortunately, no scientific explanation came to mind that would make him seem less suspicious.
"I did not."
Y/N simply stared at him, and he sighed. "Okay. Maybe slightly."
"Grace."
"What?"
"You are a terrible liar."
"I am not a terrible liar." He puts his hands on his chest.
"You literally just admitted it."
"That was honesty."
"That was you getting caught."
Grace looked away, and Y/N couldn't help but smile.
She knew him too well.
She knew the way he tapped his fingers against the table when he was thinking. She knew the way he avoided eye contact when he was hiding something. She knew that when Grace tried to be subtle, he somehow became even less subtle.
But she also knew him well enough to know that whatever he was hiding, it was probably something he was excited about.
And that was rare so she decided not to push.
"Okay," she said, standing up.
Grace looked at her. "Okay?"
"Okay."
"You believe me?"
"No."
Grace blinked.
"But I'm not going to ruin whatever you're trying to do."
His eyes widened slightly. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sure."
"I mean it."
"Grace."
"...Okay, maybe I don't."
Y/N smiled and shook her head. "You're lucky you're adorable." Grace immediately looked offended. "I am not adorable."
"You are currently trying to defend yourself while wearing mismatched socks."
He looked down. He was, in fact, wearing mismatched socks. "That is unrelated."
"Of course it is."
Before he could come up with another argument, Mary’s voice echoed through the ship. "Dr. Grace. Scheduled astrophage observation will begin in ten minutes."
Grace immediately stood. "Right. Work."
Y/N watched him walk away, still suspicious, but smiling. Something was definitely happening. And whatever it was, she had a feeling Rocky was involved.
The next few hours were filled with Grace pretending he was not counting down every minute. He was.
Every task became an excuse to check the time.
Every glance toward the "don't go crazy room" became increasingly obvious. By the time the ship's clock reached the evening hours, Grace had already checked the surprise setup at least twelve times.
"Grace friend." Grace turned toward Rocky. "Yes?"
"You are checking room again."
"I am making sure everything is correct." Grace adjusts the table cloth.
"You checked six times."
"Twelve." He corrects Rocky.
Rocky paused. "That is worse."
Grace ignored him. The table was set. The lights were adjusted. The simulated view of Earth was ready. Everything was perfect. Or at least, as perfect as it could be millions of kilometers away from home.
There was only one thing left.
Grace walked back to the dormitories and opened the small storage compartment where he had hidden the last part of the surprise.
A dress.
Not something extravagant. Not something that belonged in a spaceship. Something simple. Something that reminded him of Earth.
He still remembered the day Y/N had shown it to him, talking about how she liked it but never had a reason to wear it. Apparently, Grace had remembered. Because Grace remembered everything about her.
He placed the dress neatly on the bed with a small handwritten note.
The handwriting was unmistakably his: neat, precise, almost like a lab report.
Y/N,
I know birthdays are usually celebrated differently on Earth. There are supposed to be more people, better food, and significantly less recycled air.
I can't give you that right now. But I can give you one evening where you don't have to be an engineer, you don't have to be a scientist, you don't have to save anyone.
You can just be Y/N.
Wear this and meet me in the "don't go crazy room" when you're ready.
— Grace
Grace stared at the note for a moment. "Too much?"
Rocky looked at it. "Many words."
Grace frowned. "That's not an answer."
"Rocky likes many words."
"Good." Grace smiles at his alien friend.
"Humans like knowing feelings."
Grace smiled softly. "Yeah."
He adjusted his suit jacket, suddenly feeling much more nervous than he had during any experiment aboard the ship. "Do I look okay?"
Rocky tilted his head. "You look like human male going to important meeting."
Grace sighed. "That's not what I was going for."
Rocky thought for a moment.
"You look like human male who loves Y/N friend."
Grace froze, then smiled. "...Yeah. That's better."
~
Y/n was about to change into her pyjamas and noticed the dress and note placed on the bed. She smiled as she read the note, a tear slowly building up on the corner of her eye.
She figured it was something important and got ready as best as she could.
An hour later, she was finally standing in front of the "don't go crazy room" door. She just stood there for a few minutes, not knowing what was beyond the door.
And with a deep breath, she knocked.
The heavy, metallic door opened to Grace in a full suit and what seemed to be a table setup behind him.
"Happy birthday, m'love." Grace welcomes her in with a bouquet of plastic flowers.
Y/n gratefully accepts the bouquet and looks around the room, and is absolutely mesmerized by it.
The table is set up like a fancy dinner date, gold charger plates she didn't know the Haily Mary even had, a candle propped up with a matching gold candle holder, a banner spelling 'Happy birthday Y/n!' attached to the screens, and most importantly, the screens displaying a view of the sea at night, overlooking the cityscapes of San Francisco.
"You remembered?" She looks back at the suited up scientist, tears forming in her eyes.
"Of course, I remember your birthday."
"No, Grace." She laughs softly though her tears.
"The city." Grace immediately realizes what she meant.
"Oh."
"San Francisco." He smiles. "I remember that too."
Grace cups y/n's face and wipes her tears away with his thumb. For a moment, he just looks at her, like he’s trying to memorize the expression on her face.
It wasn't the birthday she was thanking him for.
It was the fact that, after all this time, after everything that happened between Earth and space, he still remembered where their story began.
"How could I forget? It was the first place I realized I wanted more time with you." Grace says quietly, softly meeting his lips with hers.
Y/n smiles as he guides her towards her seat, with a soft but firm grip on her waist. Grace pulls back the chair to let y/n sit.
"Such a gentleman." Y/n smiles, looking up at her lover.
"I looked up appropriate dinner etiquette." He looks back at her, walking to his seat.
"You researched how to pull out a chair?"
"There were conflicting sources." Grace finally sits down. "You look— You look absolutely breathtaking."
Y/n's cheeks immediately flushed red. She always receives compliments from Grace, but a compliment without any scientific implications is a rare sight.
"Thank you, handsome." She smiles, looking at him. "I love the suit."
Grace's eyes widened at the unexpected compliment. And that nickname? He could get used to that.
"You okay?" Y/n breaks the silence.
"Yes."
"You look like your brain stopped working."
"No, my brain is working."
"Grace."
"…It's just processing."
"Sooo," Y/n looks around. "What are we eating?"
Grace smiles cheekily at the thought of what he and Rocky planned. "Waiter!" He calls out, making y/n confused.
"Ry, there aren't waiters on boa—" She was cut off by Rocky entering the room with what looked like a bow that was slightly crooked on his carapace, made of xenonite, with a tray on top of his ball. "Oh my god."
"Welcome to the birthday dinner celebration, Y/n!" Rocky greeted.
Y/n's heart was about to melt at the sight of their alien friend cosplaying a waiter from Earth. "Why, thank you, waiter Rocky."
"First course: tomato pasta attempt," Rocky's translator echoed.
Grace looked at him, annoyed. "Don't call it an attempt."
"It is an attempt." Rocky's carapace faces y/n. "I love the honesty." She giggles.
Grace grabs the bowl from Rocky's tray and places it in front of y/n and him. "Enjoy meal, mate Grace and mate y/n." Rocky happily rolls out of the room.
"Oh, I should've told him to stop saying that." Grace palms his face.
Y/n laughs, picking up a spoon. "It's your fault you explained it to him in a weird way when we started dating."
"I mean, we are mates." She adds. "I guess you're right."
The night goes on as Grace and Y/n eat their pasta together with an occasional tease from y/n and a compliment from Grace.
"You know what I like most about this?" Y/n takes another bite, looking at the simulated San Francisco skyline beside them.
Grace looks up, "The pasta?"
"Not just that," she laughs. "It's that you didn't try to make it exactly like Earth."
"I didn't?" Grace tilts his head.
"No. You made something that only exists here." Y/n finishes her pasta. "A birthday dinner on a spaceship, with an alien waiter, eating pasta we definitely shouldn't be calling authentic..."
"Rocky would agree." Grace smiles.
"...and the top astrophage scientist as my partner, wearing a suit in front of me." Y/n looks back at him.
Grace immediately blushes, his smile growing wider.
"It's perfect." She tilts her head.
They found each other looking at each other's faces, memorizing and savoring the moment, hoping it could last forever.
"Oh—" Grace leans down to where y/n can't see what he's up to. He stands up with a box in hand.
"Happy birthday, my engineer." He hands y/n his gift with a smile.
Y/n was already emotional with everything that was happening, and a gift made her even more emotional.
"Aww... Thank you so much, Ry." She manages to spit out, holding back tears.
She grabs the box, pulling the ribbon that was delicately tied on top. Opening the lid revealed an Instax camera and a notebook titled 'Things I Don't Want to Forget'.
Y/n grabs the notebook and opens it. It was filled with handwritten messages from Grace, all 50 pages. The first page read:
Y/N,
I have spent most of my life writing things down because information is important. Facts, observations, hypotheses, results. Things that can be measured, tested, and proved. This is not one of those things.
I know you will probably tell me that I don't need to write down memories because I was there for them too. That I should probably trust myself to remember.
But I have learned something during this mission—Memory is not as reliable as we would like it to be. And there are too many things about you that I refuse to let become just another thing I used to know.
So I wrote them down. Not because I think I would forget you—I could never forget you. But because I want to remember every little thing that makes you you.
The things you do without noticing. The things you say without thinking. The moments you probably don't consider important but I do. These are the things I don't want to forget.
—Grace
Y/n was already crying as she read the first page. She continues on and flips through the notebook. Some of the pages read:
Your Coffee Preferences Y/N claims she does not have a specific coffee preference. This is incorrect. She prefers: slightly less sugar than most people, a specific temperature range (although she denies this), coffee prepared by someone else because she says it "tastes better when someone cares enough to make it" I have tested this theory. She is correct.
The Way You Laugh Y/N has several types of laughter. There is the polite laugh used when someone tells a joke that is not funny. There is the amused laugh she tries to hide when I say something unintentionally ridiculous. There is the real one. The one where she forgets to be composed. That is my favorite.
San Francisco The first place we met. Y/N remembers the location. I remember the moment. I remember thinking that I wanted to continue talking to her even after I had run out of things to say. This was unusual. I usually have too many things to say.
Grace was concerned for y/n. She was crying a lot while reading the notebook, so he placed a hand on her back to comfort her. Y/n skipped to the last page and read:
If you are reading this, it means I succeeded in giving you something you can keep.
If we are still on Earth, I hope I am reading this to you.
If we are not, I hope you know that every moment I spent with you was one I considered worth remembering.
You are my favorite thing I have ever discovered.
—Grace
"Ry..." she sniffled through her tears.
"Yes?" He says as softly as possible.
And without a beat, Y/n stands up to hug Ryland. Burrying her face into his tailored suit. He wraps his arms around her, slowly rubbing her back. He could hear her sniffling and crying.
"I know it isn't the best gift, but I hope you lik—" He tears up.
"I love it," She looks up at him. "It's the best gift I could ever ask for."
"You are the best gift I could ever ask for."
Grace says nothing and just hugs her tighter. Savoring the moment, as there isn't much time when you're in a spaceship, trying to save two worlds.
"Thank you, Ryland." She places her lips on his.
His hand naturally falls to her waist, and her hand on his chest. It was a dream come true for both of them to kiss with a view of San Francisco in the background—even if it is artificial.
Y/n slowly pulls away, taking time to breathe. "We almost forgot." Ryland grabs the camera from the box.
He breathes in deeply, preparing himself for a speech he has practiced more times than he would like to admit.
"Y/n, I know I wrote 50 pages worth of memories throughout our time here in the Hail Mary. It has only described our memories through words. But this camera..." He clicks it on.
"...this camera. Wait no— May this camera actually let us see the memories we make. And I was thinking, maybe we should start using it now?"
Y/n was impressed with how well Grace worded his speech. Another tear fell from her eyes and she smiled. "Awh, Grace... Of course, we can."
Grace smiles and gives her a peck on the cheek before proping up the camera on the table. "Get ready, honey." He starts the timer and hurries over to Y/n.
She expected him to pose with her, but he grabbed her waist and pulled her in for a kiss.
The camera flashed and took the photo. "I am sorry— That was too rough..." He rubs the back of his neck.
"Nahh. I loved it." Y/n blushes.
The Polaroid printed and started to show the image of Y/n and Ryland kissing with the projected San Francisco skyline behind them.
It was a dream.
Both of them smiled and placed the Polaroid on the table. Y/n back in Ryland's arms, slowly swaying to the music Rocky supposedly put on.
"I hope you enjoyed tonight, y/n." He presses a kiss to her temple.
"How I want this to be my everyday." She smiles.
Another comfortable silence envelopes the room.
"I love you, Ryland."
"I love you most, y/n."
~
a/n: AAAAAAAA I ABSOLUTELY LOVE ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIPS. They are so cuteeeee. I hope you guys enjoyed this!! Thank you all for the support <3 (dw part 2 of constants & variables will be up soon nehehehe)
