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Ryland Grace was starving, this much he knew.
This wasn’t a typical just-got-done-with-a-long-day-of-teaching-I’m-so-burnt-out kind of starving, it permeated his now protruding bones, leaving him exhausted and weak. By some miracle, the Taumoeba was keeping him alive, but by golly it was not keeping him well. He didn’t want to even begin to process how his teeth loosened more with each day or how the pain in his stomach brought him to the floor when Rocky was asleep. Ilyukhina’s Cats shirt, once too tight, hung loosely from his frame now; all of his shirts did. Thank God Stratt had packed him a belt, otherwise he would have had to have an impromptu lesson about human anatomy with Rocky once the waistband of his pants failed to keep them on the hips that jutted out of his body. His knees and elbows were constantly bruised, growing more sensitive to the occasional bumps throughout the day.
Grace didn’t really have much semblance of time anymore. His days revolved around eating, not eating, and sleeping. He knew Rocky grew concerned with each passing day, not fully understanding what was happening. He couldn’t grasp how Grace’s limbs tingled or how he had to go about his days with the quilt around his shoulders in order to keep warm. Grace wasn’t 100% sure exactly how much of his own body’s insides Rocky was able to “see,” but he knew he could pick up the blood moving in his veins and the sounds of his organs functioning. He personally thought it was disgusting. Rocky thought it was fascinating, though, so he didn’t complain. They’d had talks about it before, but Grace found pretty early on that he had no interest in learning about how his intestines moved on their own all the time.
Within about a year from beginning the trek to Erid, Grace discovered that Rocky enjoyed “petting” him. Whether it be feeling his hair or his soft skin or his clothing, Rocky found great pleasure in reaching out of the meshy section of his xenonite ball. Sometimes, if Grace only needed one hand for a task, he let the other rest next to him so Rocky could move and examine and feel it to his little alien heart’s content. He would try to answer as many questions as he could, but he wasn’t the medical kind of doctor, and would have to tell Rocky to refer to the laptop for more intricate details. When he laid down to sleep one night, he felt Rocky’s ball knock gently against his arm. Rocky told him to turn on his side, and proceeded to begin feeling Grace’s shoulders and back. This was new.
”Shorter hair here,” Rocky had said, running claws through the underside of Grace’s hair. ”Very short hair here.” The hand continued to some of the hair on his back. ”Firm. Why, question?”
“Firm?” Grace asked. “My shoulders?”
”And back.”
“Remember when we talked about muscles?” Grace asked. At Rocky’s affirmation, he continued. “Some humans have stronger muscles in different places than others. I have pretty good upper-body strength, so I have good shoulder muscles. It makes them feel firmer than my stomach, for example.”
”I like.” Rocky maneuvered his ball so he could press further down Grace’s back. The warmth made his hair stand on end. ”Squishy here.” He poked at the area above Grace’s hips, earning a grumble. ”Leaky and blobby.”
“Ha, ha,” Grace said, rolling his eyes. “Would you stop poking me?”
”Want learn more about muscles,” Rocky insisted. ”Must examine.”
Grace conceded, and ended up lying there for a handful of minutes, explaining his admittedly limited knowledge on the muscular system. Rocky was intrigued by it all. Eventually, the conversation moved to the other parts of Grace’s body, like his elbows and teeth.
”Not squishy.”
“Those are called bones,” Grace said.
”No understand.”
“They’re like the body’s structural support. Some protect organs, some define the shape of a body.”
”Structural integrity on inside?”
Grace paused for a moment, realizing it was probably a bit strange for an Eridian to conceptualize the structure of a human being inside of it.
“It’s just how human bodies are, pal,” he said.
”Cannot see. Only see squishy parts mostly.” Rocky leaned closer to Grace’s body.
“Bones are surrounded by squishy parts,” Grace said with a grin. “They gotta stay protected somehow.”
”Want to see,” Rocky protested.
“Nothin’ I can really do for it, buddy,” Grace said, rolling back over to his back, making Rocky exit his personal space. The Eridian made a sound that almost sounded like a sigh.
”Human bodies so fragile,” he said.
“Indeed we are, pal.”
Indeed he was. Here he lay, almost one year later, his bones now as visible as they’d ever been. When he was on his back on the mattress, he felt his spine pressing into it. Side-sleeping was a no-go due to being overly aware of how his hips made relaxing impossible. His ribs ached when he slept on his stomach, but it was the best he would get for now, so he made it work. It felt like his lungs were pressing right into his ribcage with each breath. Rocky was settled in his hamster ball next to Grace.
”Can see now,” Rocky said quietly.
Grace’s brain struggled to figure out what he could be referring to.
“See what, bud?”
”Not-squishy parts. From when you showed squishy human parts.”
The muscle conversation. Grace remembered that Eridian’s could remember anything, and, considering their lifespan, that conversation probably felt like yesterday to Rocky when it had been so long for him that he’d forgotten all about it.
“Oh,” he said dumbly.
He heard Rocky’s ball slowly get closer to him, almost as though Rocky was hesitant to come anywhere near his fragile body. ”More than expected.”
“We do have quite a few,” Grace murmured tiredly.
Rocky stayed silent for a moment. Then, ”Can examine, question?”
Grace wasn’t planning on getting up and around anytime soon anyway, so what could it hurt? “Be my guest.”
Rocky brought the ball next to Grace, the xenonite panels blessedly warm to his chilled frame. The man sat up as best he could. His bones were a stark contrast to the muscle of the last time they’d found themselves here. He heard Rocky gently tapping at the panels to get a better “look” at him. He turned so his back faced the alien, lifting his shirt for easier access.
”Long structure in center. What is it, question?”
“That’s my spine,” Grace replied. “Very important. It’s what holds my body upright.” At least, he thought so. His brain was a little foggy, so he hoped he was giving his friend the right information. He felt the mesh xenonite against the ridges on his back as Rocky softly explored them. Normally he’d feel a bit less nonchalant about the whole thing, and would be jumping at the opportunity to explain human skeletal anatomy. But he was so tired. He turned so his front faced Rocky once he felt the exploratory claw recede. Lifting his shirt again, he let Rocky get a look at his torso.
”Round bones in chest, question?” Rocky asked.
“The ribcage,” Grace said. He brought a hand up to lightly pull a finger along one of them. He didn’t like how easy it was to find against his stretched skin. “The ribs protect the heart, which is the most important organ. I think there’s…24?” Why couldn’t he remember? He felt a headache coming on.
”Can see heart.”
Grace looked up to Rocky to see he’d gotten closer.
”Weak, weak, weak.”
Grace was unprepared for the wave of emotion that overcame him. Tears began gathering in his eyes as he watched Rocky tap tap tap and “look at” more of him. The teacher hated eating Taomoeba. He hated it. But, if it kept him alive and gave him more time with Rocky, allowing him to continue teaching in this sort of roundabout way, he would gladly keep eating it. Rocky sat back as Grace lowered his shirt.
”Will make new food on Erid for Grace,” Rocky began. ”Will make healthy for human body. Will make squishy again.”
Grace didn’t really even have the energy to give into crying. Instead, he laid down, extending an arm toward Rocky. Rocky rolled his ball into the curve of Grace’s body as his arms folded in on his stomach. He pressed into the warm xenonite, letting weary tears fall to the floor. Through the haze of hunger and fear and exhaustion, he heard the gentle tones of a now-familiar Eridian lullaby. Rocky sang with low, soothing notes, folding his legs to “sit” as close as he could to Grace. The human could feel the vibrations through the points of contact with Rocky’s ball. Despite his discomfort on his side, he didn’t dare move. In this moment, he didn’t notice the pain.