Ryland Grace x Reader - 2K words
Good Morning
Part Two of Nightmare. Part three here.
Summary: It’s the morning after Grace had his nightmare, sharing his worst memory with you. He wakes up to find that you stayed.
Grace wakes up before you. His eyes blink open, fluttering in the soft light mimicking morning coming from the ship's interior. Above him, Rocky is fidgeting with some xenonite thing, engineering another tool for their mission back to Erid.
Rocky begins to sit up, taking notice of Grace's awakening. Before anyone can say anything, you breath out a soft breath, moving around, getting comfortable in the bed. Your hand is no longer linked with Grace's. Instead, it drapes over his torso and your head now rests on his chest.
Grace felt his heartbeat begin to race as he realized the situation he was in. Then he stopped breathing. You getting comfortable…now included nuzzling into his neck, soft breaths tickling the underside of his chin.
Rocky was above, watching over you both. The nightmare that you had helped Grace out with last night had scared Rocky bad. Rocky had learned about two things last night. Nightmares and the cruelty of other humans.
Grace was sure that he wanted to ask Rocky about his thoughts on the matter because do Eridians have cruelty? They must right? But they are also aliens with their own culture and Rocky was so nice! Anyway, Grace had to table that thought that raced through his brain because many thoughts were currently racing through is brain and a few of them had priority.
For one, Rocky. Rocky waking you up. You would wake up, realize the position you were in and it would make things awkward. After last night and the trust that had been strengthened through the ordeal, Grace was not willing to let them take two steps back. They had been through a lot and he could not imagine that this would make things better.
Two, Grace really, really, really wanted to spend a few more minutes like this. He felt selfish thinking this thought, but he had not been held like this in a long time. The last time he had nearly full contact with another being had been that fateful, tragic, horrifying day back on Earth when he had been…well, no… he didn't want to think about that anymore.
He had relived it too much last night to think about it again first thing.
"Rocky! Don't speak. I can't change the volume on your program right now, so if you speak, she will wake up." Grace whispered, bordering on whispering aggressively loud, almost speaking levels. Rocky seemed to click his claws together in amusement at Grace's tone. "I'll watch over her while she sleeps, bud, why don't you go work on something somewhere else."
Grace waited, crossing his fingers on one hand. Rocky seemed to tilt his body slightly, as though squinting at Grace. Grace waited, eyes pleading toward Rocky, even though Rocky probably couldn't hear the facial expression.
Finally, Rocky got up, slowly rolling his ball out to the other side of the Hail Mary. Grace hoped Rocky understood that he wasn't in trouble or anything, but just that Grace needed some time. Alone.
Well, not alone. You were here.
In bed. Snuggling up to him.
Grace had to take another slow, deep breath as he gave his full attention to this new development. Sometime in the night, you had exchanged holding hands with laying very close together. Grace's left arm was resting on your back as you laid on his chest, your face still tucked into his neck.
Grace's could barely see your face, you were so close. The ship kept a fairly cool temperature, fighting heat coming from the equipment inside, as well as the void outside sucking away any extra heat. You must have gotten cold, the one blanket shared between the two of you not enough to stop goosebumps raising along your arms.
Your solution in your sleep was to get close, share body heat.
He could feel one of your legs thrown over his, half of your torso insulating his chest, and your arm tucked into his side. Now that he was awake, the vignette of sleep no longer blurring his thoughts, he realized he was overwhelmed.
It had been so long since he had touched another human. Last night, he hadn't been fully coherent during the hug, just relying on comfort to get him out of his nightmare. He had been aware of the hand holding, but this… this felt different.
His breathing stuttered again as his mind shortcircuited, but this only nudged you even closer to the brink of daylight, your eyes fluttering at the sudden movement of the body under you.
Grace took a deep breath, mimicking your own as you slept. He was being selfish, but he wanted to lay like this longer. Feel the weight of your body. Engage in human contact for the love of it because that is what it was right? He was just starved for touch. It had been so long, so many days before you had woken up, alone. Even longer for you to begin to get close enough to brush fingers when exchanging tools or holding a hand over a back as one shuffled past another in a small space.
This couldn't be anything else. Grace told himself that he couldn't let himself float away into what could be.
It wasn't time. Maybe it would never be, but especially now, it wasn't time.
He dared to drag a light hand over your back, something so light, it couldn't even be ticklish. Just a gentle, soothing motion, helping you stay asleep.
He took another deep breath, hoping it would slow his heart rate down. He was sure that you would wake up, your ear right over his heart, where it was thumping as though it was trying to escape from his ribcage.
He had started to recite pi in his head, hoping to distract himself, when you moved again.
Your arm reached out from under his side, patting around the side of the bed. He stared, watching as you grasped around, huffing in frustration. He wanted to help you out, give you what you were looking for so you wouldn't wake fully, but the blanket was already around you and there was nothing else for you to grab on the bed.
Then, you patted closer to you, and accidentally patted Grace's arm, lying out straight.
You kept searching, outlining his forearm, then his wrist, the drag of your fingers raising goosebumps on his skin, before…
Oh.
It hadn't been an accident.
You laced your fingers with his, bringing them up closer to you. Now your head was on his heart and your hands were together in the leftover space.
You sighed, before stilling again.
Ok. Mission failed. Grace's heart had skyrocketed. It was gone. Back all the way to Earth. There was no returning down from this level.
Now that he had time, he savored every second that you were this close. This wasn't just comfort, this was right. This felt like it was meant to be. He knew how he came to be on this ship, so far from home, but he still couldn't remember why you were here. It had to be a kind of cosmic fate, a roll of the dice so ridiculous that it actually did happen.
Of the four people put on this ship, on this mission, with all the odds against them, somehow you and he had survived. You had both woken up.
And again, he had woken up before you. Except now, he knew how much you meant to him. You weren't just someone in a chamber, some random face that could have been anyone.
You were… you. You were his best friend, his partner in crime, the person who would laugh at his silly jokes and then turn around and make him laugh. You were so smart, smart enough to be on this mission to save Earth. You held him when he cried, supported him anywhere you could, and you were kind. You would spend so much time with Rocky, explaining words and Earth culture simply because Rocky was curious. You would bring extra skittles to Carl and him while they were working, and run errands for Stratt, even though it wasn't your job.
You were everything to him.
He realized now that his body had gone on autopilot while he went down memory lane. He was dragging circles on your wrist with his thumb and stroking your back with his other hand, doing everything he could to keep you comfortable and asleep.
"I really love holding you."
With his quiet confession lingering in the air, he felt you release a big sigh, the soft exhalation brushing his chin. Then… he felt you squeeze his hand three times.
He froze, eyes widening.
He desperately wanted to see your face, see if you had woken up. He tried lowering his head, peering to see your face. He could just make out your soft lashes, closed, brushing the top of your cheek.
He returned the pattern, three squeezes, hoping it wasn't a fluke. Hoping that you remembered.
Instead, your eyes fluttered. A mumbled, "Five more minutes, please," escaped from your mouth as you shuffled around to get comfortable.
Grace was already panicking, red rising up his neck to his ears and his hand began to shake in yours.
That's when you became fully conscious. Your head popped up from his chest, eyes staring at your hands holding each other. You looked down, seemingly taking in the fact that another body was next to you. Not even next to you. Under you.
Your eyes snapped to Grace's, his mouth opened in the shape of an 'O', words flashing through his brain, but nothing catching.
You both stared at each other for a few seconds, before you blurted out, "You're a good pillow!" before you cringed at yourself.
His eyebrows furrowed and his head tilted slightly in disbelief. A shocked laugh escaped him, causing you to giggle at your own awkwardness.
"You are! You are a great pillow!"
"That is not…what I expected the first thing you would say when you woke up," Grace huffed out in between laughs.
"Oh, really? What did you expect me to say?"
"Oh, something like, get off of me, what are you doing, Rocky, get help?"
"I would never!"
Grace looked down at you, laughs subsiding. A softer expression spread across his face and his eyes flickered between your own and your hands holding his.
You looked back at him, before saying,"I like holding hands with you."
A smile broke out on his face, like sunshine entering through a window as bright as a sunrise.
"I do too."
You smiled back. You then rested your head back down on his chest. "I was serious about those extra five minutes."
You peeked back up at him, "If you are ok with it?"
"Yeah, I'm ok with it. Anything you need."
He saw your cheeks move as a small smile graced your lips, you tucking away back into his chest, hiding.
You both laid there, listening to each other breath, and Grace went back to rubbing circles into your skin on the back of your hand.
Five minutes later, Rocky's hamster ball tumbled into the room.
"Humans awake! Five minutes passed. Time to get up. Time go to help Rocky! No more hugging without Rocky!"
You looked up at Grace, then Rocky, and back to Grace before rolling your eyes.
"Rocky is so punctual."
"Rock's practically an alarm clock. Always comes in at the exact moment I don't want them to."
"Rocky hear humans. Humans talk bad about Rocky. Not appreciate Rocky."
Grace and you stumbled out of the bed together, talking over each other about how much you appreciate Rocky and how good Rocky is, how helpful Rocky is.
Rocky laughs at you two, rolling toward the lab.
As you walk back to the main part of the ship to get some breakfast before beginning your work, you bump Grace with your shoulder, smiling.
He responds by grabbing your hand, bold for once, smiling back at you.
