Chapter Text
Simon woke up with a raging headache. The lights burned. He barely thought he had ever known pain quite like it. He wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t.
The bed was different. Not like Mary’s beds, or the bed he shared with Ryland. Where was he?
Shifting himself back and forth he wiggled up the mattress, gradually remembering small things. Blank room, whiteboard with Ryland’s handwriting. A man that looked like him. Another human. He had a portable bomb. It played weird tetris.
He remembered pain. He remebered Ryland not being there. The C.O.I must have finally come back to get him. He needed to suffer for what he had done anyway. His eyes adjusted slowly. He looked around. There was a bed next to his. There was an I.V. in his arm. He didn’t feel great.
Squinting at the bed, he could make out Ryland. Twice. Not Ryland and Ryland. He remembered the other man, C- something had introduced himself. They were cuddling. Simon felt jealous. Angry.
He forced himself out of bed, taking into note the third member of whatever the hell was happening sleeping on a mattress on the ground. He didn’t look anything like Ryland. Who the hell was this?
Was he hallucinating again?
Every step he took hurt like hell. He moved the few feet from bed to bed, looming over Ryland and the other one. The other one woke up first, jumping at Simon’s presence, and then shaking Ryland awake.
Ryland blinked blearily, recognizing Simon and smiling fondly, and Simon melted. His angel. His Grace. Ryland reached out, cupping Simon’s cheek until he seemingly processed his thoughts, blinked again, and sat up.
“You’re out of bed.” He said, and the other one looked uncomfortable, trying to sink into the sheets. He looked exhausted. Ryland slipped out of the bed, and Simon felt a small victory.
“Yes.” Simon replied.
The other one groaned, and Ryland glanced at him, frowning.
“Go to sleep, Colt. It’s ok.”
“Coldddd…” The other one groaned. Simon scowled. It took Ryland a second to process that Simon was still in the hospital gown from before, and Simon did realize that his ass was simply open. It was disgusting. Who had designed this?
Ryland went bright red.
“Good morning starlight.” He said, smiling. “Let’s get you some clothes, yeah?” He said, and pushed open a door in the back of the room, leading to somewhere dark. Simon didn’t like that. Ryland bent down and shuffled through a box near the glass door, leading out to a hallway that looked like something out of a movie.
Grey sweater, green cargo pants… Simon listed off as Ryland picked stuff out. Boxers. Ryland paused to sniff himself and take a step back before grabbing a plain black shirt and sweatpants. Which was not that different from what he was currently wearing, but Simon wasn’t going to complain.
He slipped into the dark room before Simon did, who was still paused outside it’s entrance wearily.
“It’s just a bathroom, Si. It’s ok.” He said, and Simon followed.
It was completely tiled, and weird in the bathroom. Nothing like any of the bathrooms on Erid. Simon didn’t like it.
“Do you want to shower? You don’t have any open wounds, so as long as you feel comfortable-” Ryland said, but Simon was already ripping the IV out of his arm. Ryland hissed, muttering a quiet careful, grabbing a tissue from the sink and applying it. He took the needle and dropped it in a bright red tub with death signs on it. Ominous.
The bleeding stopped after a moment, and when Simon didn’t immediately pass out, Ryland relaxed.
“Ok. Cool. Sorry. You’re not in great shape.”
“Have you looked in a mirror?” Simon teased, letting the corners of his eyes crinkle. His Ryland. Same as ever. His lover. Ryland raised an eyebrow.
“Ok, nevermind. You lose shower privledges. I’m going to shower and you will get to wear the new clothes and watch me-” Ryland teased, and it was docile. Domestic. A word Ryland had taught him. He liked it.
They weren’t on Erid, clearly. But wherever they were, Ryland felt at home. Safe. Simon did too, somewhat.
Ryland tossed the flimsy sheet covering Simon into a different can, presumably for trash. Simon stared at the array of handles and the seat and all the liquids. He yanked on the handle, and it did nothing except cause him to fall backwards.
Normally it wasn’t a big deal, but Simon felt light and he didn’t know what was happening and it was so close and he would die-
Ryland grabbed him by the shoulders, letting out a breath and putting the seat down. He turned the knob.
A giant splash of cold water hit Simon in the face.
“That’s what you get for almost dying not even 10 minutes out of bed.” Simon stared at him, soaking, cold, and wet. Ryland went red, before proceeding to strip the rest of his clothes off and making sure he took his glasses off.
“It’s cold.” Simon said, and his tongue felt dead heavy in his mouth. Ryland hummed.
“You can turn the handle, see. Different. Not like Erid’s, but I prefer this type.” The water warmed up. Ryland poured out one of the liquids on the wall onto his hands, scrubbing it under his armpits and pecs, anywhere else maybe necessary. Simon stared at it. It was a dark blue colour. “Shampoo.”
Simon frowned. He had never seen shampoo like that.
On Eden, Shampoo was a small brick reserved for the rich, and whatever was left trickled down. Hardly anything. On Erid, Shampoo was a clear liquid that smelled faintly of something Ryland called lemongrass.
It was not blue, and it did not smell as pleasant as whatever that was.
“I’m using it as bodywash. It’s safe.” Ryland said, and Simon could see that. He gave him a blank stare and let his eyes roam Ryland’s body slowly as if taking it in.
He looked good. Ryland always looked good.
Simon poured out some of the shampoo onto his hand. It pooled there, bubbling only slightly. He looked at it, and then at Ryland, who didn’t seem to know what Simon was doing before Simon dropped it on the top of his head.
Some of it fell into his eyes and Ryland closed them immediately, letting out noises of pain. Simon freaked out a completely normal amount.
“Burns…” Ryland squealed, scrubbing his face and opening his eyes under the stream of water.
“Are you ok? I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“It’s ok, don’t worry. Happens to me even without you.” Ryland said, and the high notes in his voice still weren’t gone, but he didn’t seem to be in as much pain. Simon rested his head on the top of Ryland’s shoulder. “Earth shampoo burns your eyes. Not sure what they did on Erid to make it not do that. I keep forgetting.”
“Earth Shampoo?” Simon mutters from where his mouth is pressed against Ryland’s shoulder. Ryland hauls him up, and puts shampoo in his hair. It smells good.
“That’s a conversation for after this. I’ll get you some food and we can talk. Everything is ok.” Ryland reassured, knowing that Simon would be freaking out by now about the fact that more than likely something had the potential to be wrong.
“Ok.” Simon said.
Ryland smiled at him, and gently kissed him on the mouth. Simon had no reason to be with someone as wonderful as Ryland.
Simon let Ryland put conditioner in his hair, and Simon scrubbed himself down while Ryland double checked he didn’t smell like body odor anymore.
He grazed over a spot with the shampoo-body wash that made him hiss in pain on his hip.
“You ok?” Ryland asked from where he was stood, out of the shower, drying his hair.
“I’m fine. Just a graze or something.”
Ryland smiled, looking back to the mirror.
“Pity. Would have thought I needed to kiss it better.” He teased as Simon repeated Ryland’s motions to turn the shower off. He paused.
“No, wait.”
“Hmm?”
“It hurts very badly. I was confused.” Simon deadpanned, staring dead at Ryland who was grinning to himself in the mirror. He smiled back, all teeth in a terrifying way. He was glad he couldn’t see himself in the mirror. What a freak he was-
Ryland was on his knees, pressing gentle kisses to the side of Simon’s hip, kissing his way up to his mouth when Simon realized. Oh.
Ryland loved him. Simon grabbed Ryland and kissed him. Ryland melted into it.
“I’m glad you’re awake. I missed you.” He said when they pulled apart, and Simon didn’t know he ever stood more than 10 feet away.
They got dressed slowly, and Ryland helped Simon even though Simon was sure he could do it himself. Ryland was more likely to manage to get himself injured by working himself up so much.
Ryland tied Simon’s hair up into a small bun after drying it somewhat, and Simon took in his appearance in the clothes. He looked good. His ass wasn’t out, for one.
They were soft. Warm. Simon liked the green. Colour of nature. The grey matched him. It smelled good too. It was bright outside, when Ryland opened the door again. Colder.
The warm water of the shower had probably done that.
The other two men in the room remained asleep, Colt snoring. Ryland smiled fondly at them, before holding the glass door open for Simon. It was loud.
That was Simon’s first thought, stepping out.
It reminded him of Eden, but if Eden was far more clean, and as it was in the early days after the quiet rapture. Calm. Cold. Alive.
Some people paused to stop and stare at Ryland, and Simon noticed several men with guns. Not good. Not good at all. Ryland paid them no mind.
“I’m going to take you to the cafeteria, and so the food is probably going to suck. Don’t develop an opinion on it just yet, I’m sure we can get better stuff soon. You’re probably starving.”
It was an accurate thought. Simon was hungry beyond belief. The look on Ryland’s face told Simon that he already knew. Simon tilted his lips upward slightly.
It was almost as freezing as his birthplace, Simon realized. He really hoped that somehow, Ryland hadn’t gotten them to Eden. It wasn’t necessarily that. He knew Ryland wouldn’t be this calm on Eden, let alone Rocky or Adrian, but maybe if the father got to him while he was asleep-
Ryland grabbed his hand, and held it tight. It was warm, and Simon was reminded that Ryland trusted him. That Ryland knew him, better than anyone else ever had. He wouldn’t be stupid enough to fall for some bullshit, Ryland was smarter than anyone in Eden, smarter than even the C.O.I.
Ryland paused outside a set of stairs that seemed too daunting for Simon to even manage the energy to climb, before shaking his head like that was a crazy idea. He pulled his hand out of Simon’s squeezing it twice in gentle confirmation, before leaving to grab the attention of the nearest person.
It was a girl. Presumably. Simon admittedly had never really grasped the concept of people in general. Long time disassociation and depersonalization, Ryland had called it. Out of everyone he knew, they weren’t allowed to be human long enough to be see as anything special or important.
People on earth were strict about it. Some people were. Some people didn’t care. Eridians weren’t that different, Ryland had said. Simon blinked slowly and he could hear Ryland talking to the girl, and Simon wondered if they would be mad at him for calling them a girl. He frowned.
So many people.
What had Ryland and the Eridians done now? He was trying his best to keep it together, but every new thing he saw freaked him out. Ryland. Ryland. He was ok. The world revolved around Ryland. Ryland and Adrian and Rocky and occasionally Simon. As long as he was by one of them he was fine.
Simon stumbled backwards, realizing he wasn’t hearing right and he couldn’t be sure if Ryland was talking or not, and he didn’t even know that woman, and Ryland was smart but what if Simon had let the eel get him, and this was all a hallucination? What if Ryland needed to be saved?
Simon had to save him.
His foot hit the back of the wall, and the force of it sent Simon’s head back, making a cracking sound. It hurt. Simon reached up to touch his head, checking for blood. If there was blood he was alive. If there was blood he was alive.
His hands shook, and distant thumps. Someone gripping his shoulders. He pulled his hand back. No blood. He blinked, his vision going in and out of colour, but seeing Ryland in front of him.
“Rylan..” He said, before curling over, and someone else was next to him holding a blue bag as he retched into it, serving mostly spit and fluid, nothing solid. He paused, and Ryland was on his knees next to Simon as he sank down, rubbing his back. Simon threw up one more time and his vision cleared, and he could feel how his stomach burned and his body ached and was shaking all over.
“Hey, I’m right here. You’re ok.”
“Where are we, Ryland?” Simon asked, sniffling. Ryland thumbed the tears off his cheeks, staring at him.
The person holding the bag seemed to walk away, and someone else handed Ryland a small bottle of.. what was supposed to be water he supposed.
“I wanted to talk about this with you somewhere not in the hallway…” Ryland said gently, unscrewing the cap as it made a snapping noise. Simon flinched. Ryland reached out on instinct, making eye contact, offering the bottle to Simon. “Slowly. If you chug it you’ll throw up again.”
Simon did as he was told. It tasted like chemicals. It tasted stale somehow. He made a face, and Ryland smiled.
“Welcome to earth, Stardust. We’re pretty far from my home, but we’re home.”
Simon processed the words slowly as the water slid down his throat. It didn’t make sense. None of this made any sense. Ryland’s eyes were bright blue. So blue. He hadn’t looked like that in years.
Oh. Simon had died.
For real this time. He remembered. How stupid. It was Ryland that had memory issues, not him. Yet here he was, somewhere on EARTH, of all places, remembering a lifetime of being loved. He remembered so many things. Was this death? He looked up at Ryland, brown eyes wide and curious. Ryland’s smile twitched, and he sighed dramatically.
“No, you’re not dead right now. Very alive.” Ryland reassured him, and Simon believed him. If nothing else, Ryland would never lie to him. Not Simon. “You feeling ok to stand up? I’ve got a keycard for the elevator, so we don’t have to hike the stairs.”
“Yeah.” Simon said, and Ryland held onto him firmly even as Simon stood up with minimal to no shaking.
“There’s plenty of treats waiting for you if you can make it with me.” Ryland said, as if Simon needed a bribe to follow Ryland ever. It wasn’t like he would necessarily turn down treats that Ryland gave him anyway.
He wondered if they had fresh fruit, if they really were on Earth. The Eridians had synthesized fruit, sure, but Ryland told him it was nothing like Earth fruit. Different, new genes and strands. Simon wanted to have a mango. They were Ryland’s favourite. He had seen images. They had apples, or something like them on Eden, but for the rich, and they were not red or green like the images.
Simon’s one true love had the potential to be any number of real fruits from Earth.
The elevator stopped and Ryland paused to read a sign, in a language Simon didn’t know, before pointing to the left and heading that way, Simon in tow.
He opened double doors to what Simon could only describe as the most beautiful view he had ever seen. The sun filtered through floor to ceiling to windows, and something white drifted from the sky- snow, his mind supplied- and a tree- evergreen, Simon knew that, tons of them outside a park.
“Want to pick where to sit?” Ryland offered, and Simon was already walking towards a table with soft seats surrounding it in a circular shape. It looked soft. “I’ll be right back. I’m just going to get food.” Ryland said, and Simon wasn’t paying attention.
A tree.
A real earth tree. Right outside the window. He was baffled. How…
Whatever miracle had brought him here; he wasn’t giving it back. Erid was great, but a tree. And snow. Simon had never seen snow before. It was so white. It looked soft. It was cold. Simon knew snow was cold.
How cold? Did it taste good?
Snowflakes hit the glass of the window and pattered down, turning into water. Simon knew how it worked. Of course he did. He wasn’t stupid. But it was so amazing. One second it was a bright white dot and the next it was a little raindrop falling down.
Simon watched them race. He wondered if people put bets on raindrops. Earth humans gambled a lot. Simon saw images of Las Vegas. Las Dystopia, as Ryland called it. It didn’t look very appealing.
They probably did.
Simon had favourites. Maybe it was unfair to the other snowflakes, but he was very particular. Some of them were unfair cheaters. Nobody liked cheaters.
There was a loud sound as Ryland slid a tray onto the table and paused, his sweatpants caught underneath the bottom of a metal chair foot, and he was shaking it to get free, progressively turning more red.
Simon raised an eyebrow. Yanking himself free, Ryland tumbled into the cushion across from Simon. Taking a deep breath and patting himself on the lap, he settled down, grinning like he had been born anew.
“So it turns out Carl has probably been purposefully getting me the shitty food so I don’t startle my body too much with the drastic diet changes. The good thing is that you are probably going to be in for the long haul regardless, so I gathered what I could.” Ryland explains, sorting all his foods and plates off into specific sections, worrying his bottom lip like he did when he was concentrating.
He took pancakes that were the size of Simon’s hand, stacked them, and put what Simon assumed were Gosberries on the top; they looked like gosberries but they didn’t, and Simon knew they were called something else but he couldn’t remember no matter how hard he tried. There was a small plastic packet of something Simon most definitely had never seen before, and he didn’t like the way it dribbled over the berries and the pancakes.
But Ryland was grinning from ear to ear like a madman, and he slid the plate over to Simon slowly.
“Blueberries! We didn’t have them on Erid. I don’t like them personally, but they taste good in pancakes!”
Simon stared skeptically at them, gently reaching for the fork and knife on the tray.
“The yellow liquid?”
“Maple syrup!”
“Like. From the tree.” Simon clarified. He liked maple trees. They made a lot of sap.
“Yuppers! It tastes really sweet.”
Ryland was staring at him with eyes so big and desperate he looked like he would die if Simon didn’t try eating soon.
He cut a thin slice off the top pancake, putting a blueberry on it.
“Don’t gorge yourself or you’ll get sick.” Ryland warned.
“Fat chance.” Simon muttered under his breath as he stabbed it and moved it towards his mouth.
It took him 3 seconds to process the taste.
“Fat chance-” He repeated, with amazement in his voice. Holy fucking shit. This was the best thing he had ever had in any of his many lifetimes. “Holy fucking shit.” He said outloud, it was the only thing inside his head. He couldn’t move to cut the next bit faster.
“Simon.” Ryland reprimanded, and Simon looked up like a kicked puppy. “Slowly. You still have more food. Don’t ruin your appetite.”
Simon had never been more grateful for whatever the eel had done to him. He had spent a long time upset over how much food he had to eat to feel full, Ryland might have been rich but it was still so much, Simon was sure he was just greedy.
He tried to hide the fact that Ryland-sized portions weren’t enough. It lasted about 2 days before the stupid fucking arm bot had turned him in. Ryland cooked 10 burgers and watched Simon eat 4 before he got too full.
He wasn’t even mad. He didn’t even seem remotely upset, pushed aside the fact that Simon had tried to hide it.
Ryland had a small appetite, he said. Learned over time from the journey to Erid, but it had never been very big. Simon’s metabolism was high.
Simon was so grateful.
He only got scolded 3 times by Ryland over the course of the pancakes, burping grossly at the end. Ryland threw a fit like he smelled. Simon scowled. He was so dramatic.
He noticed that Ryland himself was poking at some eggs (way whiter than Eridian eggs) and what was likely not sausag-mes but looked like them. He was too focused on Simon.
Simon noticed the banana, and used it to point at Ryland’s food.
“Your turn. Eat. You’ll get sick with no food.” Simon flipped the tables.
Ryland grinned as he noticed Simon hold the banana, shoving some eggs in his mouth, talking with his mouth full like a freak.
“Oh, are you trying a banan…uh?” Ryland trailed off as Simon used his teeth to rip the skin off the banana and get to what he assumed was the good part. Ryland was staring at him like he was insane.
Simon blinked.
Ryland gently picked up the banana from Simon’s hands, grabbed the weird thing on the bottom and pulled it, watching as several of the sides fell down.
That was real?
“I thought they did that for movies? To make it look cooler.” Simon said as Ryland offered the peeled banana back.
“I don’t think the skin is even edible, Simon. What the fudge.”
“It didn’t taste good.”
“Tickle my toes and colour me surprised.” Ryland said.
It was Simon’s turn to stare at him like he was crazy.
“What?” Simon sounded affronted.
“Colt says it a lot.” No apology included. Ok.
If there was any anxiety left in Simon’s food pleased mind this was a hallucination or created by the eel or the father, it was not.
None of those people would be remotely deranged enough to form the sentence ‘tickle my toes and colour me surprised.’
He took a bite of the banana.
It was soft. So soft. Squishy too. He thought it might be slimy, they looked slimy in photos, but it was sweet and so… flavoured. Simon had no words for it. He didn’t have to force his teeth through it, either.
It was a shock when he didn’t have to tear any food with his teeth and mash it to try and swallow on Erid, ration bars were a bitch, but this was nothing compared to it. It just melted. It stayed solid and melted in his mouth and his tastebuds sang.
“You like it?” Ryland asked, and Simon nodded viciously. He did, in fact, like it. Were all fruits this good? No wonder Ryland raved about them. Simon noticed Ryland staring and the lack of another banana on the tray. Glancing over Ryland’s shoulder he could see an empty basket some hundred feet away.
He used his finger to twist the skin further down, and offered it up to Ryland. He grinned and bit it out of Simon’s hand.
Then he started crying.
He knew Ryland had missed Earth. He knew Ryland would never say that he wanted to go home or that he missed home or that Simon wasn’t enough, the biodome and Rocky weren’t enough, but Simon knew it was true.
He’d bring it up if it had ever been viable. But it wasn’t. So Simon did what he could and made himself available. He’d cry in the mornings and lash out at night. That was ok.
He was just as scared and lonely as Simon.
Simon had never known more to miss.
Ryland had.
Simon understood anyway.
“Don’t cry, Ry.” Simon soothed. “You’re home.” Ryland sniffled and scooted his way around the arch of the booth to sit next to Simon.
“I’m so glad you’re here. This is my dream. I’m so happy.” Ryland sobbed. He cried when he got too happy. He cried a lot. Simon didn’t mind. It was cute, in his opinion.
“I know, angel. You’re having so much fun, aren’t you?” He asked, wishing he had his prosthetic so he could run it through Ryland’s hair.
“Yeah. Got us a house next to a forest. I can’t wait for you to see it.”
A forest.
A real forest.
Those were real. Simon was real and so was Ryland and the trees were finally right there.
“Do you want to try this bweeuh-nooh with me?” Simon asked, Ryland closing his eyes on Simon’s shoulder as Simon finished his banana and reached for an orange and white box.
“Yes.” Ryland giggled, wet tears still staining his face. “It’s pronounced bueno. bweh-no.”
The fuck was up with that, Simon wondered. Weird ass name.
“These are the ones without the wafer, so they’re infinitely better than the other kind.” He reached out and opened the box, pulling one out. It read Kinder in big letters, and Ryland unwrapped that too, handing it to Simon.
Simon took it, letting the cold sweet touch his tongue.
Everything was better than the last. He wasn’t even sure how that was possible. He whimpered embarassingly loudly until he realized there were still more in the box and he was allowed to have them.
“What is this made out of?” Simon asked, relishing as the flavour soaked into his mouth.
“Chocolate! Milk Chocolate on the outside and White Chocolate on the inside.”
“This is chocolate?” Simon asked, emphasis on the this. He had never had it before, obviously, but old people would rave about it constantly on Eden. Ryland did too, sometimes.
As with most things, Simon had to admit, he never really assumed it was that good. Nostalgia did a lot of things to people. Ryland liked to talk about things from earth a lot, and he missed them tons, Simon assumed he had been overexaggerating.
He was so wrong.
It was so good.
What else had he misassumed?
Ryland kept crying as he had some of the bueno too.
Simon felt ecstatic eating this for the first time, he never wanted to stop. Logically he knew eating the same thing everyday made him sick, Ryland spent a long time devolving into the fact that Eden’s population probably wasn’t stable because of this, it would only make you more and more sick with horrible side affects-
He still wanted it every day.
How had Ryland even survived without this for decades of his life?
Simon stared out the window as he crunched the chocolate between his molars, watching the snow fall faster and come down harshly.
“We’re in the middle of winter right now. End of December, or nearing it. I don’t think it makes much of a difference considering how far north on the equator we are, but it’s normal for this time of year anyay.”
“Are we in America?” Simon asked.
Ryland had taught him a lot of stuff about Earth, but it was hard to remember. It never made much sense, and it wasn’t like Ryland was a geographics teacher, nor could Simon simply go outside and experience it.
They had seasons on Erid, but Ryland would never call them the same as Earth seasons. It really just wasn’t comparable. They used a different calendar year from EID or IMC, or even the standard Ceasarean year.
“No, Switzerland.”
The name didn’t immediately ring any bells in Simon’s mind.
“Part of Europe. Cool Country, infamous for not taking any political sides in either of the world wars.” Ryland rambled.
“Can we go outside?” Simon asked, terrified.
Ryland frowned.
“I want to say yes, but I worry about your health.” He started, worrying his bottom lip between his lips. “You just woke up and you’ve never been in snow before or this climate, and I’m already kind of breaking doctors orders by feeding you all this-”
He started nervously laughing and Simon’s eyes locked on to two moving blobs a few levels down and in the outdoor clearing, naked and tripping in the snow.
“Uhm..” Simon started and Ryland was still talking about possible negative side effects but Simon knew those people, somehow. “Ryland.” He said once. Ryland didn’t look up. “Ryland look outside.” Simon raised his voice, and Ryland’s head snapped up, following Simon’s line of sight.
His vision was way worse than Simon’s, and he affixed his glasses to his face before squinting and losing it.
Definitely Rocky and Adrian then.
“Gosh freaking darn it, I leave them alone for 12 hours and they escape? Good golly-” He started, picking up the glass of orange juice, easy enough to identify after Ryland had opened up the carton and dumped it inside the cup.
He downed it, started choking as Simon hit him on the back to make sure he didn’t die, and shoved everything else he could in his pockets, mostly composed of packets with bright colours and unnatural shapes.
Simon put the rest of the bueno in his pocket. Rocky and Adrian would probably be fine if he took a bit of extra time.
Ryland squeezed past Simon, going to run before making a squeaking sound and grabbing his calves.
He was also out of breath. Simon was so in love with this man.
“Let’s- let’s power walk to them.” Ryland declared, voice still concerningly high pitched.
“Running not in the picture for you, Angel?” Simon smirked.
“Shut up-” Ryland told him as Simon squeezed his hand, feeling out his muscles.
It was a bad idea. Simon was the king of bad ideas.
He’d spent a lifetime doing it as Ryland got older and his bones got weaker than Simon’s did, grabbing Ryland by the waist, twisting him over his shoulders until he was bent over his left shoulder stomach down.
Unsurprisingly, he squirmed.
“Stay still or you’ll fall. I don’t have a prosthetic at the moment.” Simon reprimanded him this time as Ryland whined in his ear.
Everyone in the cafeteria was staring at them now.
Ryland sighed, going limp. Simon, powered by his several week long nap and the fuel of European chocolate jogged out of the cafeteria, and called the elevator the same way he saw Ryland do it.
It took a few seconds for the doors to open, and Simon jumped in surprise as it pinged, seemingly paying more attention to all of the details, at least more so than he had been before, if any of it was to explain his jumpy behavior.
Ryland laid there limp as Simon pushed the button twice, and once more with more aggression before choosing to speak up. With some difficulty he grabbed the pass from his pocket, tapping it against the sensor on the wall.
“You need a ID or it won’t let you move floors.”
“Stupid bullshit.” Simon muttered, his leg twitching as the elevator doors shut and they slowly descended.
“People like to raid hospitals a lot.”
“I thought Earth had plenty of medicine and shit?” Simon asked, confused.
“Yeah, people just like to steal it so they can get high and whatever. Addictions are a pain.”
Simon hadn’t even been on Earth a singular day and he was learning so many stupid things about Earth he hadn’t learned in decades.
“That’s fucking unsafe.” He cursed.
“Which is why there’s keycards.”
Simon grunted in response as the doors slowly opened, revealing a horde of people, all dressed in various forms of scrubs or hospital equipment, it reminded him of House MD. Ryland had banned it after a few months because Rocky would take his cane and start roleplaying and beating the shit out of Simon and Ryland’s shins, but Simon would pull it up when Ryland was at the lab for them to watch.
He knew that Ryland knew, when he had come home early or Simon could see him out the window far down on the beach, but he never got in any trouble for it.
It was a learned process to unlearn the fear of doing things wrong.
‘Not really such thing as doing anything wrong’ Ryland had said. ‘We’re human. It’s all we can do to make mistakes.’
Ryland forgave everything. Simon cried about that more than he would admit. The intial murder attempts, the shows, teaching Rocky to curse, what he had done on Filament, how he had condemned Ava, everything.
He didn’t even pause to process it.
Simon would share something new.
Malcolm had died next to him when he was 8. Simon was cursed. All Ryland did was nod and asked to learn about Malcolm. He bruised easily. Bloody noses. Headaches. Fevers. Bled so much. People would say he was blessed with his excess of blood.
It didn’t take long for Ryland to put together the fact that Malcolm likely had a rare form of cancer. Leukemia. It wasn’t anything to do with Simon. Even if it had something to do with him, he wasn’t cursed.
He was just a kid.
Simon wasn’t cursed. Ryland didn’t believe in a god. That was ok. Nobody was mad at Ryland for that. Ryland wasn’t mad at Simon for necessarily believing in one either. Simon wasn’t sure he did, or he wasn’t sure he didn’t. That was ok too.
Simon wasn’t cursed.
He wasn’t blessed either. Nobody was. But he was safe. And he was loved. And Ryland smiled at him like all the stars in the sky, and the quiet rapture never did really happen and everything was ok.
Simon was reminded of all of these things, all of them all at once as the doctors started to notice, moving aside for Simon (and Ryland subsequentially) to get through to the door.
It took more effort than he would like to admit to get the door open, and holy fucking shit.
Ryland was right.
It was so cold.
The snow burned. That was the first sensation that Simon picked up. It touched his neck and his hands and anywhere he had open skin and it was somehow wonderful and torture at the same time. There was yelling far off, and the sounds of musical screaming.
It was Eridian. The language. Rocky kept face planting in the snow and shivering and Adrian chased them. Ryland teased them a lot about Human’s being persistance predators a lot. They had thought it was stupid. Being an ambush predator was objectively much easier and better to hunt.
Simon would take their statements later.
He wanted to know how they weren’t dying of the cold. Normally when people got too cold on Eden, when everything broke and they didn’t have enough clothes or blankets, they died. It was colder than this, the vast expanse of space was so much colder than the snow, but still.
Simon frowned, and Ryland shifted his weight to the left, and Simon noticed right before he fell off his shoulder and onto the snow.
Simon bent down faster than he could have recognized he had the ability to, checking that Ryland was ok, the snow from his impact splashing around him as he laid there. He didn’t move for a few seconds, and then Simon began to hear him giggling, and he waved his arms and legs back and forth.
“Snow angel?” Simon asked, registering the motion as ones that were repeated in books a lot. There was a muffled noise from Ryland and some violent head jerks, followed by more giggling, and Simon gently conceded himself to laying down next to Ryland, spreading himself out in the snow.
It was so wet.
It got into his sweater and pants so fast and he shivered and it was great.
People ate snow, right?
Simon opened his mouth, and took a bite.
He sat up quickly, tasting dirt, something else and weird ass water. Who the fuck ate snow?
His mouth was still open and tongue out as he began to try and spit it out when he glanced up just in time to see the ball of snow hurtling towards his face at a speed too large to be normal.
It hit him square in the mouth. There was happy cheers from Adrian, who had thrown it from some 30 feet away as Simon felt the dirt go to the back of his throat, choking on the snow for a solid minute or two.
Ryland pulled himself up, smothered in snow that hadn’t melted, looking like a child covered in flour as he saw Simon grasp at his tongue and cough, not enjoying anything it at all.
Ryland’s eyes trailed down to the ground, where he noticed a small but sizeable chunk of grass and earth taken out of the ground and back up to Simon.
“Did you just try eating the dirt?”
Simon flipped him off.
When he finished coughing, he was glaring at Adrian dead straight, who seemed to realize that with eyes they could see exactly how pissed Simon was.
Ryland grinned, picking up something at the very least.
“They’re probably new to being persistance predators.”
“I know.” Simon’s voice was a low timber. Ryland grinned like he was having the time of his life. Neither he nor Simon could really feel the cold.
“I’ll hold off Rocky. And also watch.” Ryland joked, and Simon greatly resembled a cat as he crouched down, settling his legs into the optimal position for running (Simon was fascinated with the Olympics. He wished they had that on Eden.) and ran.
Ryland made the crude noises for Rocky’s name as his husband chased down Adrian, who was screaming in fear, making the worlds worst attempts to get away. Rocky sauntered over, much more unbalanced on his feet, but still smiling.
Ryland backed up further, towards the gathering of pine trees and the fences that kept the area separate from the rest of the city and the street as Rocky approached.
“Grace call, question?” Rocky asked. Ryland nodded affirmatively.
“I’ve got something to show you.” Ryland said, and Rocky grinned like the sun, and as soon as Rocky was close enough, Ryland tapped his chest. He didn’t even get to start speaking before Rocky was looking down. “Something on your shirt, bud.” Ryland said, and Rocky looked up, confused, and Ryland pushed him into the snow.
He went down with a loud thump, and Ryland laughed. He was still bare ass out, and more and more government guards rushed outside in confusion, unsure of what to do.
They could likely apprehend all four of them with ease, but the concern of what that would do for their jobs was large. Assaulting the astronaut of all time and his companions wasn’t really a great look for the resume.
Simon knew they were there. He was hyper attentive to every detail all the time, but he was bigger. Scarier. He knew how the people of Earth would treat Ryland. He knew that by default, he was already in their good graces. It was like a marriage of castes.
By loving Ryland and having that reciprocated, Simon was on the same level as him. Which meant that as he lunged at his best friend, there would be no reprecussions. Probably.
Adrian giggled and screamed as Simon pressed a knee to their chest, not too harsh or heavy, enough to keep them from wriggling, but not enough to cause any hurt.
“You want a snow fight, huh?” Simon asked, grinning, sharp canines flipping over his bottom lip as he grinned. Simon grabbed a fistfull of snow, and tried his best to make a small ball out of it. “You’ll get a snow fight!” He shouted, and Adrian screamed a tone of hilarity.
“Nooooo, Noooo, Adrian sorry, Adrian sorry, Simon friend stop now, statement-” They said, being cut off by a mouthful of snow, and while Simon turned his head they used their hand to grab another fistful of snow and throw it at him.
They escaped in that moment, darting away from Simon as quickly as they could, and he started up past them again, ignoring the freezing cold or his side cramps or the way his hands burned.
More people came outside, and Simon paused to look, registering Colt and the other guy from Ryland’s room, an unfortunate lapse in time control for Rocky, long since unsubdued by Ryland to tackle Simon.
“Are you kidding me? I got off a plane 4 hours ago and this happens?” The man that Simon didn’t know yelled, and Simon could see Ryland stick his tongue out before throwing a snowball at him too, and grabbing Adrian.
“Let go of Simon, Rocky, or Adrian gets it!” Ryland yelled, his voice hearse. He had a handful of snow up against Adrian’s neck, who was playing along even though they could probably easily overpower Ryland.
“NO!” Rocky screamed, but didn’t let go of Ryland. “My love!” Rocky repeated, before turning his attention to Colt. “Grace friend duplicate! Help me take down Grace statement!” He yelled, and Simon laughed.
Ryland Grace duplicate.
Yeah he was getting called that from now on. He’d apologize, but he wasn’t sorry.
“He can’t understand you bud! You’re on your own! You’ve got until 10 or else…” Ryland threatened again, and Ryland’s duplicate looked back and forth before silently trekking out to Ryland, soft footsteps crunching in the snow.
“Ok! Ok Rocky concede!” Rocky stood up, long since completely nude, hands in the air in the traditional ‘put your hands where I can see them’ pose.
Simon didn’t even hesitate for a second as Ryland laughed and dumped the snow on Adrian anyway, sidesweeping Rocky and pinning him down.
Ryland’s duplicate, who walked over with Ryland started counting down from 10 like a wrestling match, one of the scripted ones that Ryland hated.
“And the win goes to Simonnnnnn!” Colt yelled, and Ryland put out a hand to help Simon up. Simon took it, and let part of his body weight rest on Ryland. He was really tired.
He couldn’t remember the last time he had had that much fun.
He felt something hit his shin.
He looked down, seeing Rocky waving his knuckles around and yelping.
“Not like movie! Not like movie! What feed Simon question! Hurt hurt! Ow!” Rocky complained after he voluntarily chose to try and attack Simon.
“Shut up Rock, you’re fine.” Ryland teased, and he helped Rocky stand up too, and the man that Simon didn’t recognize came out and took off his jacket, averting his eyes away as he tied it around Rocky’s midsection. Ryland bent down and crudely made the attempt to whisper the eridian chords for ‘freak nudist’ into Rocky’s ear as Adrian laughed and Rocky freaked out.
They leaned on each other as they made their way back to the door, and Colt seemed to take most of Ryland’s weight, while Simon both tried to take Ryland’s and have Ryland take his.
After being dumped off in the room where Simon awoke, they brought Rocky and Adrian some clothes, not much different from what Simon was wearing, other than the fact that their sweaters were blue and purple respectively, and they had black sweatpants.
People came by to check on their temperatures every once in awhile, to make sure none of them had “developed a fever” which made no sense because they were outside in the cold. They wouldn’t get hot if they were outside in the cold. Simon wondered if Ryland hadn’t told him that Earth doctors were stupid.
Colt had asked for ‘hot chocolate’ to which they took with a nod, and the other man introduced himself as Carl.
“My best friend from Earth!” Ryland commented, grinning, and Simon was sure that Ryland added the ‘from Earth’ bit so that Rocky didn’t try and kill Carl.
He didn’t seem to be making any attempts to try so far, so Simon seemed to be happy. Carl was nice. He liked Carl. He had similar energy to Adrian. Not loud like Rocky or Ryland.
Colt was a lot like Ryland.
There were many differences. That much wasn’t hard to spot, but he had weird sayings and his hair went all weird in different directions and he moved his hands a lot when talking and he loved giving thumbs ups to people.
Ryland seemed happier than Simon had ever seen him.
He was at home.
Finally.
Simon had found his home a long time ago. So had Rocky and Adrian. It was only Ryland left.
He had it now.
Simon was so happy. He had never been allowed to be this happy before.
The hot chocolate burnt his tongue. He didn’t like it that much, until Ryland pulled a bueno out of Simon’s pocket and put it in there, letting it melt. It tasted much better.
Colt had to go get more Bueno after that for Rocky and Adrian, who enjoyed it greatly. Chocolate.
They had advanced past the concept of eating alone very fast. Simon pointed it out.
“You’re eating in public.” He deadpanned. To Colt and Carl it sounded like a threat in some ways, with the verocity that he said it, but to everyone else they knew this to simply be Simon.
Ryland had been promised a translator, but it was nowhere to be seen, so he translated manually for Carl and Colt. He’d fashion one up in Seattle, he said. Simon had no idea what the fuck a Seattle was.
“Eating is a very private thing to Eridians. They have to rip themselves open to do it. It’s like if we had to open our flesh and pour stuff in every few days.” Ryland whispered as Rocky replied.
“Human now, statement. Rocky spend long long long time with freak Grace. Simon less freak. Matter not. no no no statement. Rocky freak now too.” Rocky said, and Adrian nodded.
“Adrian trust, statement. No fuck given, statement.” They said.
Ryland looked up to scold them for language, and Adrian made an attempt to replicate a middle finger by using the pointer, so solid points there.
He translated what they said, and both Colt and Carl seemed fascinated.
After several hours and an old rerun of Bewitched, the four of them were cleared for pneumonia, or any chances of it.
Ryland was handed papers for them, and he grinned. Simon peered over his shoulders as Ryland filled one out.
“Discharge papers!” He said, voice happy. “We get to leave~ Carl you said you went and checked out the cabin?” Ryland said, before pulling the paper back, and filling some more information in, writing in ‘Simon Grace’ where it had said Ryland Grace before. “Sign.” He whispered and handed the pen to Simon, pointing at the bottom line.
Simon wasn’t great with words. Dyslexia, Ryland called it. Ryland used good fonts. This did not have good fonts. Simon also didn’t have a signature. He tried his best.
“Yeah. Brought over all your shit, in boxes or whatever. I had no idea you owned that much. You’re never making me carry that much stuff again.”
Ryland laughed and made a comment that made absolutely no sense to anyone except Carl and Ryland he supposed.
“What are you talking about? I had to send home like 20 boxes of your sexy screws after we bought them because we couldn’t take them on the vat. That’s your fault!”
“You kept my sexy screws?” Carl asked, and his voice broke as he stared at Ryland. Ryland tilted his head.
“Well, yeah. We paid so much money for those, I wasn’t going to throw them away or something.” Ryland answered.
Carl looked like he was genuinely tearing up.
Colt and Simon made uncomfortable eye contact. Colt broke silence first.
“What the fuck is a sexy screw?”
It lead to a long story from Carl (Ryland was helping Adrian and Rocky choose their last name, which just ended up being Erid) about how they originally brought the Astrophage to their mini venus ‘sex box’ as Carl put it, and how they had to go shopping for supplies.
Ryland found the screws they wanted, but Carl was a ‘grown ass man who wanted his sexy screws’ and so he got a ton of sexy screws that they had no use for.
Ryland kept them.
Carl did end up crying.
“Grown man crying like a child over sexy screws.” He mumbled, and Ryland gave him a hug, to which Rocky got jealous, and joined in.
“Human hug time. Very important! Rocky join.”
“He says its important for all of us to hug.” Ryland translated.
Rocky was built like Simon’s favourite actor, the guy named after a rock from the fast and the furious, and Ryland and Carl made a jolting sound as Rocky collided with them, and Adrian grabbed Simon as they went over to join.
Colt joined too.
It was warm.
Simon felt safe. Carl and Colt brought the mattresses down from the medical beds, and brought down the cushions from the couch to create one giant mattress that was uneven and somewhat uncomfortable.
“Sleepover with my homies.” Ryland said, exhausted out of his mind. Simon felt like he was 9 again and his brothers of Eden were next to him as they prepared for soldier training. Safe, happy.
Ryland held his hand.
Simon fell asleep comfortable with the promise of somewhere nicer in the morning.