Repaying Debt
A/N: i recently watched Project Hail Mary for the first time and it has since consumed my entire brain. i noticed there is a small lack of ticklish Rocky in the community, so i shall create my own!! so sorry for my half-year-long hiatus, again… i might disappear again after writing this, who knows lmao. either way, enjoy!!
Summary: Grace insists on looking at Rocky’s wounds when Rocky wakes up from his slumber, despite the fact that he insists they’re healed now. Grace’s inspection leads to a new discovery about his alien friend.
this is a sfw tickle fic and includes spoilers for Project Hail Mary. if you don’t like any of it, don’t read it. 🫶
Grace felt so guilty.
He was currently sitting at one of several workstations aboard the Hail Mary, observing the newly-discovered Taumoeba as he introduced them to different elements (making sure his plan was airtight, and all of that), when he looked over at his alien companion who was on the floor next to him.
Rocky was within his xenonite ball, currently fabricating what looked to be another suit—though this one looked more intricate than the ball Rocky was currently confined to, and it looked nearly done. Grace wasn’t looking at his suit, though. His eyes were drawn to the silver marks that now were strewn about Rocky’s body. He assumed they were something like fresh scars, or maybe scabs, considering he’d seen the silver stuff on the floor where Rocky had dragged himself back to his suit after bringing Grace to safety.
Grace felt absolutely terrible. His only friend had risked his life to save him, and now he had wounds all over his body… Grace couldn’t help but feel like it was his fault. Surely there was something he could do to repay Rocky for it, but… how could someone repay such a massive debt?
Between being lost in thought and making sure his Taumoeba didn’t die, Rocky had already finished up his work and dashed off into another room with loud clangs of his xenonite ball.
Grace gave a soft chuckle, turning back toward his work for a few minutes, trying to keep his mind off the guilt he felt.
Only a short while later, Rocky returned, now wearing the new suit he’d fabricated. He stomped his feet to get Grace’s attention, his translated voice coming through the laptop nearby.
“Grace, look! Rocky make new suit! Much more flexible! Can walk normal now!”
Grace looked over, surprised at what he saw. Rocky’s body was covered in xenonite plating as opposed to the entire thing being confined to a ball, with a dedicated space for Rocky’s body and each respective leg. He could stand and walk properly, as opposed to rolling around like a hamster.
“Wow… that’s impressive, bud. What gave you that idea?” Grace said, leaning forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees.
“Rocky wanted more dexterity. More control. Better mobility. And easier to grab Grace.”
Grace immediately felt his guilt punch him in the gut once again. Rocky fabricated an entirely new suit with him in mind? To be able to get to him more easily if he needed help?
The scientist sighed, getting down on the floor to sit and be next to Rocky.
“That’s really sweet of you, Rock. But… god, I feel awful. Here, can you at least let me look at your wounds, now that I can? With your new suit?”
Rocky shifted, as though confused by Grace’s words.
“Why Grace want to, question? Rocky no longer hurt. They no hurt no more.”
Grace rubbed at his temples, underneath his glasses. Of course not. Rocky probably healed up while he was in his deep slumber—that was probably why he’d slept for so long, Grace thought. Duh.
But he couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt. He felt like he owed himself to Rocky, now.
“Okay, well… even if they are healed, will you just let me make sure? I feel horrible.” Grace said, letting out a sigh, scratching at the back of his neck. He hoped his friend wouldn’t be as stubborn about this as he was other things.
Rocky tilted his body to one side in response. “If Grace want to so bad,” he said, relenting mostly because he heard the distress in Grace’s voice. “Grace no feel horrible. Rocky watch crew die. Rocky not want to watch Grace die. Rocky fix.”
Grace squeezed his eyes shut. Rocky had a knack for making him teary-eyed.
“Just get over here.”
Rocky clambered over, into Grace’s lap, and folded the bottom halves of his legs underneath him. Grace sat criss-cross around Rocky’s body, leaning forward to inspect the silvery marks he could see on the top of Rocky’s carapace. He still wasn’t entirely sure what his friend’s blood was made of—based on the fact that it was so silver and shiny, he guessed that it was liquid mercury. As if Rocky’s species couldn’t get any more dangerous to humans.
Grace gently ran his fingers over Rocky’s xenonite suit, where the most prominent wound was. Half of it was on top of Rocky’s body, near his vents, and the other half was on the side, near the joint where one of his legs connected to his carapace.
Based on the solidity of Rocky’s body around the wound, Rocky’s earlier statement was correct—his wounds had already healed, they just hadn’t faded away yet. To see it tangibly made Grace feel the slightest bit better.
Driven more by curiosity than remorse now, Grace gently laced his fingers around the joint where Rocky’s leg met his body, moving his leg cautiously to one side to get a better look at the scar. To his surprise, Rocky reacted in a way he’d never seen before.
Rocky jumped a little when Grace pressed his fingertips into the joint, making a high-pitched musical noise that the translator wasn’t able to pick up—if Rocky had said something, it was something Grace hadn’t entered into the translator yet.
“What’s wrong?” Grace said, mildly alarmed. He pulled his hands back, letting them hover in midair while he tried to assess what happened. “I’m sorry, did I hurt you?”
Rocky settled back into his lap after a moment or two. “No hurt. Funny feeling. Need word.”
Grace’s brows lifted. It wasn’t too often now that Rocky needed a new word for something.
“Okay. What word do you need, bud?” He asked, reaching over to grab his laptop and preparing to type.
“Feeling that… make Eridians laugh. Jump. Feels funny.”
Grace blinked, slowly trying to process what Rocky was describing. It took a minute before it finally dawned on him, and he took a second to enter the new word into the translator.
“Oh my god, Rock. You’re ticklish?”
Rocky didn’t seem surprised by Grace’s revelation. “Yes. Most Eridians ticklish.”
Grace, on the contrary, was very surprised by this news. He hadn’t expected a species like Rocky’s to have the same reflexive responses that humans did—their entire bodies were made of hard rock, after all. He didn’t even see a logical reason for why Eridians might have evolved to have such a reflex.
“I mean… wow. Do you know why? Y’know, humans are ticklish, too, where we have vital organs or other places that are vulnerable to attack… but you’re… rock.”
Rocky held up one leg then, moving it back and forth and bending the middle joint as well.
“Eridians ticklish where joints are. Most vulnerable. Small bad things can enter.”
Grace blinked. Small bad things. “Like parasites?”
Rocky ‘nodded’ his carapace, making an affirmative chirping noise.
Grace made an intrigued sound, leaning forward again to look at Rocky’s joints more closely. It made sense, he supposed—they were both ticklish in their most vulnerable areas.
Now Grace suddenly felt playful with his newfound knowledge. He’d heard Rocky chirp with amusement and mimic the sound of Grace’s chuckles, but he’d never heard Rocky laugh for real. He was incredibly curious as to what it would sound like… and he was about to find out.
Carefully, Grace curled his fingers around Rocky’s ‘elbow’ joint, like he had before. Except this time, he gently dug his fingertips in, doing his best not to hurt him.
Rocky jolted once more, making the same high-pitched brief tune.
“What Grace doing, question…?” He asked, his translated voice now sounding suspicious. He tried to move out of Grace’s lap, but he held him in with one hand and his legs.
“Experimenting,” Grace replied cheerfully. “Testing a hypothesis, if you will.”
Grace continued to gently dig his fingers into the joint where Rocky’s leg bent, wiggling his fingertips in as best he could without being too harsh. Rocky started moving around in Grace’s lap, trying to shake his leg out of the scientist’s grip. The noises he was making was unlike anything Grace had heard out of him—lots of whistles and musical chords with chirps throughout, though they sounded much shakier and less sensical than Rocky’s normal speech.
He was laughing.
It was adorable.
“This is the best thing ever. I can’t believe you’re actually ticklish.” Grace said, his voice filled with both amusement and awe. Rocky’s squirming and laughter was both incredibly cute and incredibly fascinating—Grace had been wondering if Rocky even had the ability to properly laugh.
“Grace—!” Rocky managed to say through his trilling giggles, one of his arms moving to push at Grace’s shoulder. The man, however, was not deterred in the slightest. He wanted to hear more, but more than anything, he wanted to make Rocky feel happy.
“Is this okay, Rock? It’s not too much, is it?” Grace asked, slowing his fingers down so the translator could make sense of Rocky’s speech.
Rocky was silent for a moment, and Grace noticed tiny puffs of steam leaving his vents. He’d never seen that happen before—was he embarrassed?
“…Is not… too much. Has been many years since last time.”
Grace paused, his eyebrows lifting slightly with curiosity and intrigue.
“Last time?” He echoed. “Who was tickling you?”
“Adrian,” Rocky answered, settling back against Grace’s legs again, allowing himself to relax a bit now that Grace seemed distracted.
“Thought I was too tense. Wanted to… ‘make Rocky feel better.’”
Grace paused, allowing himself to imagine the scenario Rocky described—Adrian, who Rocky had described as a little bigger than him and a green-blue color, tickling their mate. It was quite an adorable thought.
He returned to reality and looked back down at Rocky, who was still in his lap.
“That’s really sweet.”
Rocky gave an affirmative trill, but there was a layer of sadness in it. Grace furrowed his brows, just a little.
“What’s wrong?” He asked. “You… you miss them, don’t you?”
Rocky gave another affirmative noise, though this one definitely sounded sadder.
“I’m sorry, Rock,” Grace said, feeling a little stab of empathy. Rocky had been away from home for so long—of course he probably missed his mate like hell.
He let out a breath, chewing his lip, when Rocky spoke again.
“Is okay. We will save stars, save Earth, save Erid. Then I will see Adrian again.”
Grace smiled softly, still feeling bad for his friend. There had to be some way he could make him feel bett—
Aha.
“Yeah, you will,” Grace affirmed, pulling Rocky closer to him once more, his voice tinged with mischief now. “For the time being, I’ll make up for it.”
Rocky, confused, didn’t have time to protest. Only a couple seconds went by before Grace’s fingertips started digging into the underside of the joints that connected Rocky’s legs to his carapace, to which Rocky immediately started laughing and squealing once more.
Grace smiled as he dug his fingers in, watching as Rocky squirmed around in his lap, whistling out nonsensical laughs and giggles. Grace had never heard or seen Rocky so uncomposed—it was both hilarious and endearing.
He continued for another minute before he decided to let up, and give Rocky a second to recover.
“You okay, bud?”
Rocky stopped squirming, more small puffs of steam leaving his vents as he recovered his composure. He made a grumbling sort of noise that the translator couldn’t pick up on—honestly, it was probably some sort of expletive.
“Yes. Rocky fine.”
“Alright, good.” Grace nodded and smiled, giving a fond and firm pat to the side of Rocky’s carapace.
And once again, Grace was surprised.
Rocky jolted and squirmed away from Grace, stumbling out of his lap and making another noise of protest.
Grace, startled, lifted his hands up and stared at Rocky with confusion.
“Are you okay? What was that? Did I hurt you?”
Rocky shifted back and forth on his legs, suddenly looking sheepish.
“No, didn’t hurt,” Rocky replied quietly, fidgeting with his claws. “…One more thing that tickles Eridians. Vibrations, on carapace. Vibrations reach inside… makes tickle.”
Grace raised his eyebrows at that, surprised for a moment, but it made sense when he thought about it. Rocky’s carapace was thick and tough, so it would make sense that they wouldn’t be able to feel lighter touches like humans could.
Vibrations. Interesting…
Grace reached forward, more curious than anything, to knock on Rocky’s xenonite suit a bit harder than he normally would on a door, trying to ensure Rocky actually felt it through his suit and his carapace.
He definitely felt it.
Rocky squeaked and jerked away from Grace’s hand, warily backing away from his friend.
Mischief filled Grace’s mind, and an almost evil-looking grin spread across his face. He simply had to try this out. He knew just the thing that would produce a heck of a lot of vibrations.
He lunged with as much agility and speed as he could, knocking Rocky off-balance and onto his side. Before Rocky had time to get back up or fight him off, Grace grabbed onto the sides of Rocky’s carapace, drew in the biggest breath his lungs could hold, and planted a huge raspberry on one of the flat planes of Rocky’s body.
And sweet cheese and crackers, did it work.
Rocky let out a loud, obnoxious sound that almost sounded like a trumpet being blown before dissolving into wild laughter, grabbing at Grace’s shirt and shoulders with his free legs. The chords he was producing made zero sense and all clashed with each other, but Grace found it both amazing and hilarious.
“GrACE—!” Rocky managed, pushing at Grace’s shoulder, and Grace could tell he was doing his best not to hurt him with his strength. “🎶🎵—TickLES—!!”
“Yeah? That’s the point, pal!”
Grace snickered, incredibly enamored by the sound of what he assumed to be Rocky’s cackling. He didn’t even know Rocky was capable of laughing this hard, but now that he’d heard it, he wanted to hear more of it. So, he planted another raspberry on Rocky’s body, and another, and another.
Rocky continued to make the most discordant chords Grace had ever heard him produce, belting out those trumpet-like sounds every now and again when Grace blew into what seemed to be a particularly sensitive spot. When Rocky let out a shrill sound that sounded almost like a screech as he tickled over his vents, Grace decided his friend had probably had enough.
He let go of Rocky’s carapace and placed his hands on the floor on either side of him, watching with great amusement as the alien collapsed onto the ground with exhaustion and residual giggles.
“You okay, there, Rock?” Grace asked with a giggle of his own, reaching forward to give him an affectionate and reassuring pat, only to laugh more when Rocky squeaked and shied away from his hand.
“…Rocky regrets telling Grace about Eridian tickles.” Rocky grumbled when he’d collected himself, muttering another expletive that the translator didn’t recognize, nor did Grace. He found it funny anyway.
“Oh, lighten up. You had fun, didn’t you? You’re so much stronger than me, you could’ve shoved me off anytime you wanted.”
Rocky didn’t answer that. He shifted back and forth on his legs, still making grumbling sounds of embarrassed frustration.
Admittedly… yes. Rocky did have fun. But who could blame him? If anyone else had been stranded in space alone for decades with no contact with anyone, they would have loved being tickled silly too.
Grace chuckled to himself again as he stood up, heading back over to the desk he was originally sitting at to start back on his work that he had initially been doing.
“Don’t be embarrassed,” he said, leaning forward to sort out some petri dishes. “You’re not the only one.”
Rocky went still for a second at that. Slowly, his carapace lifted.
“Humans ticklish too, question?”
Grace paused too. Of course his big mouth had let that tidbit slip.
Rocky noticed the pause.
“…Grace ticklish… question?” He asked, slower, his translated voice tinged with mild mischief, his legs ever so slowly carrying him closer to Grace.
Fudge. He should have known revenge was going to be on Rocky’s mind.
Or—maybe—it was repaying debt. Debt owed from the joy Grace had just brought Rocky, and Rocky wanted to pay him back.
