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There are days where Adrian thinks Grace is the softest thing on Erid.
His hair blows in the wind, the gentle swish of his organs inside him, the pudge of his stomach. It has only been a few years of knowing him fully (a year spent watching over him as he healed but Adrian has a suspicion that care was starting to sprout inside of him just by watching this human and how their mate loved him so) but Adrian sometimes cannot be swayed by this thought.
"Adrian!" Grace calls to him. his feet are exposed, dipping into the ocean. Adorable.
"Hello, Grace," Adrian says as they sit next to him. Grace nudges just a bit closer.
Their relationship is on a precipice. While Rocky and Grace are mates in all senses of the word, Adrian still feels a bit of an outsider. There's a language between them that Adrian might never be able to speak. But they can't deny how much they care for Grace. How much the sight of them in Rocky's arm sends a thrill through them. The easy comfort between the two, the liquid heat that stirs between them when Grace moans, shivers, begs. Adrian has only ever held him in those times, cooing, comforting. They even make an effort to hide the fact that their ventral seam has been opening wider and wider for Grace.
Rocky notices, of course, but is kind enough to let Adrian come to their own conclusion.
Though Adrian has been itching lately. To carve a mating mark on Grace's skin, too. To hear his symphony when he feels good.
"I've brought you something," Adrian says.
Grace tilts his head. "You have? What for?"
"It's a recent hobby I've taken up. I wanted to share it with you."
Adrian takes out their present and watches Grace turn it in his hands. The computer was helpful in this, in creating the shape but not much else. Fabric and cloth did not exist on Erid the way it existed on earth. the fibers had to be synthetic and malleable enough to knit and needle into something that would've existed on earth. It took a while but Adrian finally found the right combination of fibre and polymer and sheer dedication.
"I hope it is not presumptuous of me," Adrian says, nervous.
"It's a teddy bear," Grace says.
"Yes. A typical possession of children on earth, something for comfort."
"I'm not a child," Grace's tone is biting.
Oh no. Have they misread this? Have they done something wholly inappropriate? They only wanted to give Grace something to comfort him, something soft like him, something precious like him.
Maybe Adrian let his biases come through? For the longest time since Grace's arrival and knowing how old he was, Adrian subconsciously thought of him as a pebble, as something to be protected. And Adrian wanted to protect him.
But Grace was an adult human male, one capable of saving stars and their mate and entire solar systems.
"Dearest, are you alright? I'm sorry, I truly am. I can take it back if it offends you, I will get you something better." They are in such a panic they cannot quite worry that they accidentally called grace an endearment.
Adrian starts towards the plush, their claw extending to make amends.
"No." Grace sounds…petulant? How odd. "Want it. You made it for me."
Adrian's hearts could sing.
Grace brings the bear closer to him, smashing his face into the synthetic fur and breathing it in. It is silent for a few moments, the ocean lapping at Grace's feet.
He is still holding the bear when he scoots closer to Adrian, nuzzling into their carapace. It is not unlike what a pebble would do in distress. but, unlike an Eridian, Adrian opens two of their limbs to welcome Grace in for a hug.
"Thank you," Grace says, mostly into Adrian's carapace.
"It is my pleasure."
Adrian still thinks Grace is the softest thing on Erid. But at least now he won't be the only one.
One of the ways Adrian and Grace bonded when Grace first came to Erid, after his health was no longer such a huge concern, was the greenhouse. Adrian was a biologist in passion but a musician by trade. Eridians valued music and how it could improve their lives so Adrian was almost forced into a role that was needed rather than one they wanted.
But Grace was so interested in the natural flora and fauna of Erid, as well as the ways they could replicate a small earth ecosystem in his biodome. So when Rocky was establishing the biodome team, it was almost a no-brainer (a delightful earth colloquialism) that Adrian would make Grace a home and pursue their long-dormant passion.
So Adrian worked. Until everything that grew in that biodome was a love letter to themself and to Grace.
They found Grace now in the greenhouse, surrounded by some rough-textured plants and softer ones, too. None softer than Grace, though.
"Hi, Adrian!"
Grace is always so happy to see him. Whenever he's reunited with Rocky, he always kneels down to give Rocky a kiss. Adrian can't wait until they announce their intentions and they can get a kiss, too. Grace wouldn't even need to kneel, Adrian would envelop him, demand a kiss, feel the trembles on his-
No. It is not yet time.
Grace is wearing another courting gift, a sweater that has the approximate colour of Grace's eyes. At least Adrian tried to.
Grace looks tired today.
"What is happening, sweet one? What troubles you?"
"Nothing," Grace says.
"Grace."
"We had some of the students inside my biodome today with some chaperones. They were all super excited and I haven't had a class this young come in with their little xenonite suits, they were so cute."
"Mmm," Adrian says in agreement in lieu of actually saying what they're thinking which is - you would be such a good parent, I want Rocky and I to make you full and make you a caretaker and take care of you forever, if you'll have us.
"They were so excited that they almost tackled me cos they wanted to hug me. The weight of all of them, I guess, was just a bit much for me. I had a bit of a meltdown and had to end the class early."
"A meltdown?" Adrian asks.
"Yeah, it just reminded me of something. Of my last day on Earth."
Rocky has only alluded slightly to what happened then. Adrian thinks Grace knows that, he was reluctant to share more. But this is something that has been eating at him.
"Will you tell me about it?" Adrian asks.
Grace looks surprised, taken aback. Normally, Adrian wouldn't ask such a thing from a prospective mate but their mission is to make sure Grace knows this is a safe place to be.
To Grace, Erid has been a utopia. Adrian only knows snippets about his time on earth but the computer was enlightening in the ways that earth was full of so many contradictions. There was wealth but there were also people starving. There was immense kindness and immense greed. There were resources that could've saved people but people would hoard. There were beautiful, kind people on earth but they still shot Ryland Grace into space.
Earth was messy, in ways Adrian did not expect to be surprised in.
But Erid was messy, too. Politically, socially, they were diverse. And not everyone took to Grace's arrival with open arms. Thank goodness, both Rocky and Adrian made sure that the biodome team was enlightened and loved the prospect of working with aliens but this was an entire planet. Adrian couldn't police everyone, even though they wanted to. They wanted Grace's existence to be a peaceful one.
Grace sits on the floor, cross-legged and extremely adorable.
"I knew there was no other option but they still had to drag me kicking and screaming," Grace says. "They held me down against the grass, I remember the dirt in my mouth, someone's hand on my neck. It felt like I couldn't breathe until I couldn't feel anything."
Adrian sits down next to Grace.
"That sounds incredibly difficult," they say.
Grace curls up into himself, bringing his knees into his chest, slightly hiding his beautiful face.
"It is what it is," he says. "It's silly to be caught up about it, it's already happened."
Adrian's heard this of him before - silliness and, god forbid, stupidity to care about something. He'd get excited about a lesson plan for the pebbles about teaching them colours and then wave his hand, saying it was stupid because Eridians didn't need to know about colours, a silly human thing. Adrian said that it would enrich the students further to know how to see the world from Grace's eyes.
Grace would fiddle with his quilt or blanket but as soon as he realised he wasn't alone, his voice would grow deeper and his hands would drop the softness.
A television show he loved, creating such joy within him was classified as a stupid thing to jump around about.
A drawing he made, that made him so proud, was discarded because he 'wasn't an artist anyway.'
How long has Grace been silencing himself?
Adrian can be softer than Rocky but there are occasions that call for a stronger hand, 'eyes' to see the situation differently.
"Do you trust me, dearest?"
They have been calling Grace more and more endearments lately, experimenting with the sound it makes in their chest and the flush that erupts in Grace's body.
"Y-yeah, I do."
"Good, that's good." Grace physically shivers. "Lie down for me, facing away from me."
Grace's eyes open a bit wider in fear.
"It's alright, darling."
There's a patch of grass in the greenhouse, put there because Rocky likes the texture of it against his xenonite, against his carapace. So Grace slowly lies down there but he makes a tortured sound when his cheek hits the grass.
"Adrian, I can't-"
"We can stop, dearest," Adrian says. "But you're just with me. I'm here with you."
Grace's body melts a bit. Not all the way but definitely an improvement. Adrian reaches up and strokes his hair. Even through the xenonite, it is so unbearably soft. They pet him, waiting for Grace's breath to steady a bit.
"Close your eyes," Adrian instructs and feels the strongest thrill from how Grace obeys. Precious, so, so precious. Humans were fools to have let this go, to discard the opportunity to care for this man. To watch him grow.
Grace's calmness is languid and hard-won. His eyelashes flutter.
"Where are you, dearest?"
"In my greenhouse," Grace answers.
Adrian fully haunches over Grace, but not putting their weight on him.
"And how do you feel?"
"I…I don't know." They can feel Grace wriggle, like he's not happy with that answer.
"That's okay. Just feel and listen to my voice."
"You have a nice voice. I've always thought so," Grace says. "Raspy and husky. It makes me tingly."
If Eridians could blush, Adrian would be right now. As it is, having Grace below them like this is already intoxicating. "I'm glad you like it, dearest. Now, what do you feel?"
"The grass below me."
Adrian is scared it'll trigger something so they ask, "What colour do you remember it as?"
"Medium-rough-texture."
Adrian has to laugh - this is Rocky's influence. "What colour is it for my baby?"
Baby. Adrian catches themself. They've heard this on the computer, the endearment for a loved one, for a pebble. But Grace moans, finally releases the rest of the pressure of his body, limp, languid, listening just for them.
"Green."
"What else do you feel?"
"Your heat. You stroking my hair. 's nice."
"And are you safe?"
Grace takes a few, hazy seconds to answer. But his reply, when it comes, drips sweetness, voice higher and softer. "Yes. I'm with my Adrian."
Adrian wants to scream. They've done well. This is an accomplishment, this is more than any trophy they could've received. This beautiful man trusts them. Mercury is starting to slip out of them, completely unbidden. This is not about them right now, it's all about Grace.
"Yes, your Adrian will always be here for you. Will always keep you safe, will always protect you. The grass can't hurt you anymore, the weight of others will never pressure you. And how do I feel to you?"
"Big."
The way he says it is full of awe rather than fear, like he's been holding it in for a while. Yes, Adrian is large, far larger than Grace, their carapace towers over him in teal and cerulean and cutting marble. For the longest time, they thought this was a shortcoming, before Rocky, before they realized it was not something to fear but something that could protect.
"And you like that?" Adrian asks.
"Yeah," Grace breathes out. "Please."
"Please what, darling?"
"It feels all fuzzy inside. I need - put your weight on me."
Oh. Oh. Adrian finally hears the rest of his body, so enraptured by his face, his little changes in calmness and fuzziness as he called it. But there is blood rushing elsewhere. There is an unmistakable signature between his legs. Their human is pleased. Is pleased with this exercise and Adrian's presence and feels safe enough to feel pleasure.
It still feels deliciously wrong to do this, they haven't even properly courted, Adrian hasn't announced their intentions and Grace is the age of an Eridian pebble. But they are so so weak, all they want is to make Grace happy. And Grace asked for something.
Adrian tests this by lowering his carapace bit by bit, until they press down on Grace's back. Grace asked for his weight but their baby is silly, doesn't know what's good for him. Adrian knows. Adrian knows how to take care of him.
The weight forces Grace's cock to rub against the grass. The friction makes him moan so sweetly.
"That's it, good," Adrian rasps out. Mercury is pooling in their suit but. They would give up laying a million eggs if Grace could feel even a sliver of pleasure. They continue stroking his hair. He tugs a limb out of his hair and puts it in his mouth. The orifice is extremely warm, wet, wonderful.
Adrian is inelegantly, or lack of a better word, humping Grace and it's incredible. Their hearts are singing, they can't believe this.
"You're doing so well, baby," Adrian says. "I want you to feel good."
Grace is still rubbing himself so slowly, like a dream. That's okay, Adrian could stay here forever. They remember belatedly the time Rocky made love to Grace while he was sleeping and wonders if Rocky felt this same power, this same soul-crushing urge to defile and protect at the same time. What an honour it is to have Grace's favour.
Out of all the beings in their universe, he chose them.
Out of all the beings in their universe, they found him.
"Smart, beautiful baby," Adrian says. "Everything here grew because of you. I grow because of you."
His body is a symphony of pleasure. It is enrapturing to witness.
Grace chokes on a word, his mouth dropping Adrian's limb.
"What is it, baby?"
"I need to-"
He needs to come. Adrian didn't know it would be this easy. This is the first time they've been intimate without Rocky and now Adrian gets the absolute honour of seeing Grace unravel? It feels wrong.
"Take what you need."
Grace continues rubbing his cock against the grass, his ass against Adrian's large weight. He moves like an angel, like an Earth folktale of otherworldly presence, like a poem, like a song. They wish they could capture the moans and high hitches of breath and listen to them all day. Especially when his voice crescendos.
"Daddy-"
Oh. Adrian could lay their eggs right now, pump them full into Grace, make him round, make him theirs. Grace just called them the word for caretaker, Grace just admitted to seeing Adrian as a provider, as a potential mate, as someone who could have the right to thrust their ovipositor into him.
Adrian is going insane, just as Grace slumps, delirious from his orgasm.
"There we go," Adrian forces themself to be soothing, calm, even when every single heart needs to be resuscitated. "Good boy, good baby."
They pick Grace up, who's not asleep but getting there. They cradle him in their limbs, almost completely encompassing him. There's a wet patch on the front of his pants, and grass marks on his face. Adrian gently wipes them off, smooths his hair back. Grace grabs hold of their limb again, puts it into his mouth again, and suckles. Adrian wants to keep him forever.
"Thank you," Adrian says. "That was beautiful, I'm so proud of you."
Grace hums.
"Sleep, dearest. Daddy's got you."
Adrian stays there for hours, being a cradle for Grace.
"Ah, you are home," Rocky says when he comes back in the morning. It is later than usual, Grace must've woken up late and scrambled for his lessons.
"I needed to do some calculations for the biodome, and my colleagues have been chatterboxes."
Rocky comes and taps at Adrian twice, a sign of affection. Since Adrian's last eventful encounter with Grace, they have been unfortunately busy with both the biodome and his neglected career as a musician. Grace must be confused, but Adrian has a plan. Adrian wants to woo him. He was so bashful when he woke up from his orgasm, but not in a way that worried.
"Would you mind greatly if I was a chatterbox?" Rocky asks but his tone is different. It's smug.
"What of, my love?"
"Grace." the mention of his name in this home is not unfamiliar, but the name now comes with a charge, a tension. "You gave him a gift, that plush toy."
"Yes, a teddy." Rocky knows this, he saw them work on it. Where is it going?
"A courting gift?"
"No! I mean - yes, or! Maybe. Grace deserves the world as a courting gift but you already did that."
Rocky giggles.
"It is precious to him. He held it this morning, and called out your name."
"My name?"
"Yes," Rocky approaches Adrian. "When my limb was inside of him."
Oh.
"My mate…"
"Would you like to hear?"
Adrian could hesitate. They could. "Yes." But they are so weak for Grace.
"He woke up wet and embarrassed. Like he was dreaming. It took some coaxing, he was more shy than usual this morning, like he was embarrassed to ask for something. He cowered but I told him it was alright, that I was going to take care of him."
Adrian's seam is slow to crack open but the thought, the sound of Grace echoes through them. "That he was precious?"
"Yes, that he was so very precious to us. We would give him anything he wanted, everything he needed. And if he was afraid to ask, he could trust us to know," Rocky says. He raises his front limb. "I could've made him beg. But he was so sweet. He took my limb up to his mouth and licked it. And suckled on it. Like a babe."
Adrian can't hide anymore. They are so woefully aroused. Rocky knows it. Rocky is putting his limb inside Adrian, coaxing their ovipositor out. The same limb he used to be inside Grace.
"He's a sweet boy," Adrian says.
"The sweetest," Rocky agrees.
"With the lubrication, I could enter him slowly. And he laid there, half dressed, one of his arms curled around the plush you gave him. It almost muted his sounds, with how soft it is. But I could hear. I could hear him whimpering for you. For you to come and love him, protect him, make him feel safe. He called you the word for caretaker."
Adrian is fully aroused, they could achieve completion right now but they wanted rocky to finish. They needed Rocky to finish.
"He likes that you're bigger than him. He likes that you defend him like those humans couldn't. He likes that he could be your little one."
"He is. He is my baby, he is my soft thing, he is my little one." Adrian is so close.
"He needs you, Adrian. Why won't you make him yours?"
Adrian's ovipositor is fully out and Rocky strokes him, their beautiful mate knows exactly what they need.
"I was waiting for the right time," Adrian says, groaning out. "I wanted him to know how loved he was, how I didn't just love him for his body."
"Hmm," Rocky says. "But it is a beautiful body."
That is without a doubt.
"He gripped onto your plush while I pleasured him. I felt him squeeze and contract around my limb. And i thought it was a shame i couldn't feel it around my ovipositor. He was adorable, shying away from me but his body betrayed him. He came without a touch to his cock, only me thrusting in and out of him, only him smelling the gift his beloved gave him."
Adrian's body reaches their precipice, thinking about that. imagining that. Imagining the gorgeous sounds of grace's mouth that would be muffled by the plush they spent hours working on. The same thread Adrian used caught on Grace's teeth, made wet by his mouth. The soft give of his belly contracting as he came.
They need him. They need him.
They tell Rocky as much.
"I know you do," Rocky says. "He needs us just as much."
Adrian comes down from their high, their ovipositor slowly entering back into their body. Rocky looks solemn, nuzzling closer to Adrian.
The tension of their quick lovemaking sizzles into a simmer of love, of concern.
"I don't think anyone really took care of Grace back on earth," Rocky says. "I think he was so used to being alone that even being with me on Mary was a shock to his system. Keeping a wall up, not asking for things he wanted. I think he would've died on Mary if we didn't insist on the biodome."
"I think that, too," Adrian says, letting out a sad, pitiful groan. What a world they'd live in if Grace did not survive. "Perhaps I've waited long enough."
Rocky sings.
He doesn't think he's ever been more well-rested. His entire life on Earth has been a struggle, there was always a next thing, a next problem to be done. Dead parents, separated siblings, foster system, school system, loneliness. There was always something else that would nag at him, a piece of peace that needed to be earned through hard work and bending himself backwards.
And how did it become the case that all of that led to him being the most comfortable on a planet that would've killed him under any normal circumstances? Doted on, loved, maybe even spoiled?
It didn't feel right. It didn't feel earned.
Eridians had no concept of transactions or capitalism as earth knew them so it was enough to them that Grace saved their star, their planet. But how was it that he was accepted here, without even doing anything?
He tries to pull his weight. Teaching, cleaning, helping solve problems with the biodome. Besides, it lets him see Adrian in their natural habitat. They're so smart, they can converse with Grace about huge biological concepts, even help in simplifying them for lessons for his students.
Adrian said they'd like to walk Grace home after work today. They were nervous asking them and Grace isn't completely clueless. Adrian is a pretty conservative person when it comes to courting, Rocky told him once. It's endearing, but Grace is impatient. He remembers the feeling of being surrounded by them and craves them. Grace worries he ruined a bit the last time they were together - he can't even remember most of it. It just felt good. Empty and full at the same time.
"Saviour Grace," another Eridian biologist comes to him while he's waiting for Adrian to be done. A brown, gold-dusted being he named Jack. "May I ask a question?"
"Yeah, course, bud."
"May I touch your skin?"
"What?"
Not only is he wearing his xenonite suit in the biodome facility, but, frankly, he's not sure if he wants anyone but Rocky and Adrian to touch him, at least for the foreseeable future.
"We are working on gene therapy so Saviour Grace can live an Eridian life and breathe in our atmosphere without a suit! It will be very useful to know what the human skin feels like when in our atmosphere now! I can take a sample." He's already taking out what seems to be scalpel.
"Buddy, no-"
"Jack." A heavy, imposing presence comes up from behind him. "Saviour Grace did not consent. We will talk about this another time."
Jack lets out a very audible 'humpf' and scatters away.
Grace turns. Adrian stands tall above him, and puts a claw on his waist. The possessiveness of the action sends goosebumps traveling up his arm. "Thanks, Adrian."
"I will see about relocating Jack," Adrian says.
"No, that's fine. He's weird but he does good work. He made mayonnaise for me the other day, remember?"
"Hmm. If you're sure."
"Yes, I'm a big boy, I can handle a few weirdos."
Adrian reaches up and pets the fluff of Grace's hair. "I know you're a big boy. And alright."
Grace flushes, blood rushing to his face. "Besides, the world is big, right? and I'm going to explore as much of it as I can in my time here. And you won't always be there to protect me."
"Who would say such a blasphemous thing, sweet one? I will always be here for you."
Grace leans into Adrian's carapace, touching his forehead against steady heat. "C'mon, let's go home."
The walk from the biodome facility to his house isn't long, just ten minutes but a lot of time is spent in the chambers leading up to it. Adrian has to change into his xenonite suit, and then Grace out of his. Usually, they'd do it at the same time so they don't waste time but Adrian insisted Grace wait.
Adrian looms over him, his claws reaching out and slowly disassembling the suit. It used to be a tedious thing, but Rocky's a damn good engineer so now it only needs to be screwed on and off at the head and hands and then draped off like pajamas.
Their hands on him are delicate, as if surveying.
"Adrian, what did Jack mean about living an Eridian life?" Grace asks.
"It is an experiment in its early stages, he should not have divulged that."
"Adrian."
They tilt their carapace after putting Grace's helmet away. "We are working on a gene therapy that might allow you to live as long as us. Or at least breathe our atmosphere. It is a difficult process, there is science that has not been invented yet, but would you…would you like that?"
Living as long as Adrian and Rocky. Teaching class after class of Eridian pebbles. Getting to touch them. Exploring Erid, maybe other planets, making new friends. Maybe even having a family of their own one day.
Tears collect at Grace's eyes.
"It's more than I deserve," he admits. "I want it more than anything and I'll work every day to help but I…what do I need to do? How can I even deserve this? Adrian, this is too much."
Adrian hugs him, lets him cry.
"Dearest Grace. You are incredibly beautiful and smart and capable and brave. Generous and kind. My mate, if you'll have me. You deserve it and more. It excites me to no end to solve this problem with you, to have the privilege of working alongside you. But you do not have to do anything else," Adrian says. "You do not have to be anything other than mine. Than ours."
It hurts, it feels good, it's overwhelming and full and empty. His head aches but his back is being soothed. Being away from Earth hurts sometimes, stinging like a wound, aching like a bruise, and it might never fully go away. But being theirs, being alive like this, he can almost believe it'll be okay.
His head feels like straw, like cotton, empty of hurt, but full of love.
"Adrian," he manages to get out. "Mate."
"Yes, I'm your mate. I'm yours."
"Mine," he croaks out. It feels wrong. He never got this, he never got taken care of. He's needy and selfish. But, God, he wants to be, so badly.
Shit, he's hard.
"It is alright, dear one," Adrian says. "You're feeling good. There's nothing wrong with that."
"No, I want to make you feel good."
"You do. Just hearing you like this makes me feel good."
"No, no, I want to, I want to-"
"What, dearest?" Adrian rubs his back. "It's okay to want something, you just have to tell me."
Grace hides in the crevice between Adrian's carapace and their limb. "I want you inside of me."
Adrian lets out a startling groan and it vibrates their entire body and Grace by extension. It feels criminally good. He wants to drape his entire body on Adrian, wonders if he can come just like that.
"Yes, I want that, too," Adrian says like they didn't just betray their horniness. Adorable. "Shall I call for Rocky?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I want him there, too. Want him to see how well I can take you."
They lift his face, cradles the soft cheeks in their claws. "You are entirely too much, dearest. I will call for him. Will you be a good boy and get yourself ready for me? Can you do that?"
A claw enters Grace's mouth, opening it, drool collecting on it.
"Yeah, I can be a good boy," he answers, albeit a bit muffled. But Adrian understands. Adrian always understands.
He watches Adrian leave and he walks back to his house. He can be good.
Grace walks like he's half-asleep, put under a spell by Adrian, and their promise of love.
There is not much on Erid that is soft, but Rocky and Adrian made sure his home was full of them. Comforting, warm, a perfect home for him specifically. His mates made it for him. His mates want him safe and good.
He holds his plush and breathes it in as he plunges a finger in his hole. He loves it, he loves the comfort it gives him, loves how Adrian made it for him, loves how it reminds him of a softer place.
Adrian could give them a million soft things, Grace thinks. Populate his bed and home and he'd jump into it, giddy, giggling. Become a kept thing for Adrian and Rocky.
He's leaking into his sheets. Adrian said to get himself ready so he focuses on fingering himself, deep enough to touch nerve because he's going to have Adrian inside of him. He's going to have Adrian inside of him. Big Adrian.
His cock is hard, dripping. Rocky would use his pre-cum to finger him deeper.
His mates would want him to feel good.
Three fingers in his ass and he can start believing it. He's getting delirious, fuzzy, warm, sticky-sweet. He pumps them in and out slow and gentle, like how Rocky would. He doesn't know how Adrian would do it but Grace would take anything, take everything they gave.
He loved Rocky with everything he had, every piece of stardust in his soul, but Adrian makes him complete. All that time on Earth, looking up at the stars, so alone. His soulmates were here.
His soulmates are here.
"Hello, beloved," Adrian's voice is beautiful, deep, reverberating in his bones.
"So good for us," Rocky says. "So wet."
Grace nuzzles into the claw next to his face. He knows he's crying. He's never been so seen before, his messy, wet, leaky, desperate self. He's loved. He's loved.
"Yes," Adrian says. "You are loved."
"Please," Grace begs. "I'm ready. Make me yours."
Adrian is a big, majestic creature that might've hurt him in another life but, here, he is treated to the most exquisite delicate touches. Claws trailing up and down his thighs, his arms, his nipples. Everything they touch is a livewire, crackling electricity. Everything they make is something beautiful - the sky in his biodome, the plushes on his bed, the water they splash in - and Grace can believe, at least a little, that maybe that includes him, too.
Rocky found him, Adrian loves him anew.
The first press of their ovipositor is a crushing weight, almost takes the breath out of him. It's large. Grace has to giggle, delirious with it already. It's proportionate.
"Oh, god, oh, gosh," Grace rambles. His hands scramble for anything and find Rocky's steady limbs. "Adrian, you're-"
"Am I hurting you, baby?" Adrian punches out.
"No, no," Grace says. He kisses the limb next to his cheek. "You're incredible."
It seems to urge Adrian on. He was telling the truth. He's not hurt. His brain is warm, made of cotton and static, there's no pain from this point on. There's only love. His cock, hard against his stomach, is an afterthought.
Adrian is all-encompassing, Rocky is a constant.
Grace rocks himself back and forth on Adrian's ovipositor. It's so thick, Grace can feel it in his throat, in his head. He grabs one of Rocky's limbs and places it on his stomach. Right there, he knows, he can feel it - the outline of Adrian's ovipositor.
"Beloved," Rocky says, voice full of wonder, "I can feel you inside of him. Inside of our perfect boy."
There is a loud, whale-like groan that erupts, that fills the room and the cavity of his heart. Possession, deep devotion, arousal that courses through all of them - he can feel it. He loves this, being both the center of attention and talked about like he isn't there, like he's just the concept of love that exists between them.
It all goes warm and muffled after that, like he's underwater and Adrian and Rocky are the only ones who can swim. But he trusts them. He knows he's babbling. Calling out daddy, clutching at his plush, begging for something in his mouth that he can drool over, suckle and kiss.
When Rocky decides he's too aroused, he climbs over Grace, inserts his cock inside his seam, without finesse, only desperate to become one with both of them.
He smells iron and sex and metal and tears.
His eyes seem to blow out at the sensations, of being surrounded by them. An ovipositor thrusting inside him, slamming against his prostate at each pound, the slick, tight heat of Rocky's seam. It's too much for his senses that he almost becomes an Eridian, relying on sound and feel alone.
Relying on trust.
"Good boy," Adrian whistles.
"Perfect baby," Rocky trills.
"Ours," they say.
Theirs, theirs, theirs.
Soft and warm and protected.
A babe, nestled in the arms of two caregivers. An adult human, being made to feel pleasure beyond human imagination. Rocky squeezes and Adrian thrusts.
He cries, tears dripping down his face, as his orgasm rips through his body.
"I love you," he says, wracked with sobs. "I love you both so much."
Adrian stills and comes with a loud, bone -deep groan and Grace feels their eggs expand inside of him. Almost simultaneously, he feels Rocky tighten up, his own eggs filling up his xenonite suit around Grace's cock.
Too much. Not enough.
Grace's breath stills and his vision comes back little by little. Adrian is so large that Grace can still see them over Rocky's body. Adrian understands and leans forward, bringing Rocky down, too. A huge, heavy, warm, cuddle.
He could die here.
"I'd rather you not, my love," Adrian says. "I'd rather you have a long, healthy, lovely life. With us. With a lot more lovemaking."
"Lots more," Rocky says.
Grace giggles, kisses Rocky's vents.
Adrian moves to leave but Grace lets out a sad, pitiful noise.
"Baby?"
"I don't want to have to let the eggs go," Grace admits. "I want them, you gave them to me."
"Oh," Rocky says.
"One day, we'll fill you properly," Adrian promises, sultry.
Grace smiles. A family sounds good.
"Not yet," he says. "I want to be your only baby."
It's selfish and needy and ugly. But it's not stupid or silly. It's not stupid to want things after a lifetime of things being taken away, that's what Adrian would say.
"You do?" Rocky asks.
"Y-yeah," Grace says, apprehensive but brave. Adrian strokes his hair, lulling him into muted colours. "Want to wake up with a cuddle, and paint and draw and splash in the ocean you made me. Want to be myself. Want to be yours."
Rocky taps against his collarbone, Adrian feels his heart.
"You are," they say, they echo.
Distantly, his cock twitches while his heart slows to a peaceful thrum. It's alright, though, he trusts them. Maybe he'll be made to come in his sleep again, maybe they'll clean him up and bundle him in soft sheets and his plush. It doesn't quite matter. Their love is a solid weight. Everything is sweet here.