Chapter Text
Ryland Grace stared at the fume hood in the laboratory with a creased forehead. The door seemed to work fine, nothing leaked out, the wind turbine unit was functional…Rocky had mentioned bumping into it, hearing a loud clanking from the inside. Sighing in relief, nothing seemed to be broken. He did a few mechanical tests and everything came out hunky-dory. Hopefully. Fingers crossed he wouldn’t need it in the near future.
Since today was more of a chill day—as chill as chill can be when you’re in space—he moved on to some more maintenance checks in the lab portion of the ship. His thoughts were abruptly interrupted when the ship announced, “Blip E detected.”
Ryland’s head snapped up in confusion and he dropped his tools to look for Rocky. A part of him was hoping it wasn’t some rogue asteroid that decided to take a detour and smash into the ship. “Rocky! Buddy!”
“Grace! Grace!” Rocky rolled over in his xenonite ball, much more smoothly after months of practice, and tapped one of his legs on the floor. “Something near ship! Outside ship! Look like human! Blonde! Muscle, muscle, muscle like when met you!”
Ryland paused at that. “Looks like a human? Are you sure?” Meeting another human out this deep in space was impossible…Unless there’s humanoid aliens who may or may not be as kind as Rocky was to him. They both immediately rushed to the large window of the Hail Mary, tools and mess discarded on the laboratory tables. The view was as usual—except for a blonde, buff man flying towards the Hail Mary with nothing but a fantasy-like outfit on.
Outside, a man hovered near the viewport of the Hail Mary. The man spotted Grace and Rocky through the viewport and grinned at both of them, making a show of waving obnoxiously and mouthing something that Ryland thought was, “HI. I. AM. ADAM. HELP. CAN. I. COME. INTO. YOUR. SHIP?” The man flailed one of his arms around while he grasped for purchase on one of the Hail Mary's external handles.
Panicked, Ryland turned towards the airlock, running around to grab the components of his EVA suit to depressurize the airlock. “Rocky, keep an eye on him, I'll try to get him in through the airlock. I don't know how the heck he is able to be out there without a suit on, but I am not letting him die out there!”
Rocky nodded his carapace and turned to Adam, who is now clung onto the other side of the window. Rocky chittered and made jazz-hands to Adam as his way of moral support. “No worry, Grace! I keep watch!”
Ryland nodded back and left Rocky to his own devices, finally locking his helmet on and opening the airlock. The expanse of space unfolded beyond the threshold and, making sure the ropes are secure, Ryland exited out of the Hail Mary, grabbing onto the outside of the ship to make his way toward Adam.
Adam watched Ryland emerge from the airlock with an expression of pure delight, like this is the most normal space rescue in history. He gave Ryland an enthusiastic thumbs-up—completely unfazed by the vacuum around them—then pointed helpfully at the nearby handle for Ryland to grab onto. His lips moved, mouthing exaggeratedly slow words:
"I. CAN. HOLD. MY. BREATH. FOR. A. WHILE. DON'T. WORRY. I. HAVE. MAGIC. AIR. BUBBLE. ALSO. NICE. SPACESHIP. YOU. HAVE."
Then, just as casually as if they were meeting in a grocery store aisle, Adam waved again and scooted himself closer to the airlock, making it easier for Ryland to pull him in. His expression remained completely cheerful, as though he wasn’t currently defying all known laws of human survival in space.
Inside the ship, Rocky continued making encouraging jazz-hands from his xenonite ball, adding rhythmic taps against the floor for dramatic effect.
The nonchalance of the man in front of Ryland was weirdly refreshing. Or maybe he was just that desperate for human contact that he would be okay with anything and everything. Ryland held his hand out.
Right. Actions first and questions later.
There was an odd blue bubble covering Adam, which Ryland guesses might be one of the reasons why he's protected against the danger of space. As soon as Ryland grabbed Adam's hand, he nodded at him before pulling them both toward the airlock.
Adam gripped Ryland’s hand with surprising (possibly concerning) eagerness—like he’d been waiting for this handshake his whole life—and let himself be towed toward the airlock. As they moved, the shimmering blue bubble around him flickered slightly but held steady. He made zero effort to assist with propulsion, content to be dragged like a very muscular, very pleased-to-be-here luggage bag.
Once inside the airlock, the moment the outer door seals, Adam dramatically gasped—not because he needed oxygen (he clearly didn’t), but purely for theatrical effect. The blue bubble popped like a soap bubble, and he straightened up, shaking out his arms like he just finished a light workout instead of surviving the vacuum of space unprotected. He beamed at Ryland, completely unfazed.
"Thanks for the lift! You have no idea how long I’ve been floating out there looking for someone who isn’t, like, a hostile alien or something." He glanced past Ryland toward Rocky, who was restlessly awaiting their entrance into the ship.
Then, as if just remembering basic manners, Adam stuck out his hand again for a proper handshake, still grinning. "Adam Glenn! Dimensionally misplaced, for now…Nice to meet you!”
Rocky, delighted by the energy of this strange new human, responds by twirling inside his xenonite ball. Rocky started humming and chittering as he rolled towards the two, excited to see another human. “Wow, another human, amaze! What bubble that go pop, question?” He looks at Ryland, tilting his carapace as a sign of curiosity.
Taking off his helmet with a click and a hiss, Ryland ran his hand through his hair, ruffling it a little. He looked the man over in wonder. “I don't know, Rock... It looked like magic to be honest.”
He snapped out of his investigative mode when he realized he hadn't introduced himself yet and he pointed at himself and then pointed at Rocky with a smile. “Oh, I'm Ryland Grace, from San Francisco on Earth. And this is my buddy Rocky, an Eridian I came across on my space travel.”
After the brief introduction, Rocky began to ask questions, clearly keen on studying another human other than Ryland, but Ryland held out his hand for a moment. “Wait, Rocky, I need to get the translator out again. He won't be able to understand you.”
Adam took in Ryland’s slightly frazzled appearance—the disheveled hair and the slightly disbelieving expression—and fought the urge to reach out and smooth Ryland’s hair back into place. Instead, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. Though his eyes widened at the mention of San Francisco.
"Wait, you said San Francisco? As in California! On Earth? Holy crap, what are the odds of that?"
“Oh?” Ryland perked up at Adam's excitement about San Francisco. “Were you from there too?”
Adam froze, and laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. “Well—No, I actually ended up in Oklahoma City when I got teleported from Eternia to Earth, BUT!” He put a finger up as a defense. “I did take a trip to San Francisco one time, so it counts!”
Ryland stared at Adam for a bit before bursting out into laughter. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he nodded. “Yes, yes, of course, it does count, don't worry.” After letting his laughter out, he turned to walk towards the lab.
“I'm going to go grab and turn on the translator I used to communicate with Rocky with before I became fluent in Eridian. You coming?”
Adam grinned, following Ryland into the lab, his gaze drawn to the various instruments and technology around them. He ran a finger over one of the computer consoles, his eyes dancing with wonder. "So you just... picked up another language? Just like that?"
He watched Ryland with a mix of admiration and disbelief. Meanwhile, Rocky has rolled himself into a corner, still watching Adam with rapt attention. He makes soft, curious tapping sounds, tilting his carapace in an expression that could be compared to a cat's head tilt.
Ryland shrugged, “Well, it wasn't ‘just like that’ and all...I was stuck here alone and Rocky was the only other one I have come across and we needed a way to communicate. It was more of a need, honestly.” He huffed out a chuckle before finally seeing the two laptops he taped together to use as a translator. He gestured for Adam to sit on one of the many rolling chairs in the lab and he tapped a few strings into the laptop before pressing ‘enter’.
“Alright, Rocky, he should be able to understand you now.”
Adam obligingly took a seat and as soon as the process was complete, Rocky wastes no time, immediately launching into an excited barrage of questions toward the new human.
Adam's eyes widened, his head whipping back and forth as he tried to keep track of Rocky's rapid-fire inquiries. He glanced at Ryland, a touch of wonder in his expression. He mouths the word "whoa" silently, clearly overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the alien rolling towards him.
Ryland backed away from the translator with a smile, resting his hands on his hips. He never really thought much about everything he had achieved in the ship, but having someone to show it off to made him proud somehow. “I'll be carrying this around so you can understand Rocky. Most words in the English dictionary are already in there from months of communication but if we don't have a word for something, we'll figure it out with context clues.”
“Yes, human can understand now! Grace, Eridian word for friend is—” He trills and hums his Eridian version for "Adam" which Ryland happily types into the translator. “I have question, Adam! What weird bubble, question? How can breathe in space, question? You no die but Grace human need EVA suit.”
Adam leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, clearly delighted by Rocky's curiosity. He didn't even hesitate before answering, like being able to survive in space is just a minor inconvenience rather than a physics-defying miracle.
"Oh! That was a little Eternian magic I was taught—specifically, a Dimensional Stabilization Bubble. Super handy when portals don’t work right and dump you somewhere weird. Doesn’t last forever, though—good thing Ryland here grabbed me when he did!"
He gave Ryland a grateful nod, then added casually, "Also, I can technically hold my breath for a stupidly long time? But I don’t recommend testing that."
Rocky let out a series of rapid clicks, clearly fascinated, while Ryland stared at Adam with a look that said, "Are you kidding me with this?"
"Magic," Ryland repeated, deadpan. "You’re telling me you survived space because of magic."
Adam just grinned and shrugged. "Look, man, I don’t make the rules—just float around breaking them sometimes."
Rocky, meanwhile, has started clapping two legs together as an applause. "Amaze! Amaze! Want to see more human magic! Grace show me magic tricks last week!"
Ryland narrowed his gaze at Adam, leaning back against the table as he stared at him. “What, next you're gonna tell me that you come from a land with dragons and magic swords, which would be insane.” He started laughing at the absurdity of it all.
Adam smirked, enjoying Ryland's disbelief, and held up three fingers.
"Scouts honor, there is a one-hundred percent chance there are dragons, magic swords, and probably even magic talking frogs where I'm from. Plus unicorns and all that fairytale jazz."
Ryland just rubbed his temple, trying not to feel like he's in the midst of a bizarre fever dream. He was just speechless. A part of him wanted to fight it with science and facts but knowing that he had just dragged the man into the ship clad in only the clothes on his back and a magic bubble, he couldn't really refute it. He looked at Adam over his glasses, like a teacher reprimanding his student for disrupting class.
Adam held his hands up in surrender. “Alright fine, I'll divulge, but, it's mostly because I don't want you to throw me out of the ship for not being honest.” He laughed nervously when Ryland frowned at that statement.
“I'm from a land called Eternia. I'm a prince there, but something happened in my childhood and I was thrown into a portal into Earth, where I landed in Oklahoma City. I spent my whole life trying to find my way back with—” He stood up and pulled out the sword from his back, to which Ryland yelped and backed up, slamming into the bookshelf nearby. “Woah wait—Don't worry, I won't hurt you! I just wanted to show it.”
The sword glowed faintly before Adam sheathed it against his back again. “The sword was the key back, and I saved Eternia with my friends with it. It's a long story. But, magic is real there, is all I'm trying to say really. There was a portal mishap and I ended up out there in space.”
Ryland was still grabbing onto the bookshelf when Adam finished his brief explanation, jaw slacked in both curiosity and disbelief. “I—”
Rocky cut him off with excited stomps and jazz hands. “Grace! His world sounds like fantasy movies we watch! Like Barbie Fairytopia!” Ryland hissed and shushed Rocky, embarrassed.
Adam blinked at Rocky’s reference, then broke into a delighted grin. "Oh my gosh, you watched Barbie Fairytopia out here?! That’s—okay, first of all, amazing, second of all—" He pointed at Ryland, whose face is now tomato-red. "You absolutely have a favorite Barbie movie, don’t you?"
Rocky, sensing weakness, drumrolls his legs against the floor. "Grace watch Princess and the Pauper three times. Say voice actor for Preminger very funny."
Ryland buried his face in his hands. "Rocky. Buddy. My guy. I will disconnect the translator."
Rocky, relentless, adds,"Also Grace sing I Am a Girl Like You in human shower—"
Ryland lunged for the translator controls.
He shut the computer down, face flushed red. “I—There's nothing wrong with enjoying a bit of whimsy in space.” He turned to Rocky, and pointed a finger at him in a reprimanding motion. “You have lost your translation privileges until you have understood that you can't just say stuff like that to new guests. Have some decorum, buddy!”
Rocky lets out angry huffs from the vents at the top of his carapace and stomps one of his legs. Ryland doesn't back down.
Adam could barely contain his amusement, watching Ryland's increasingly flustered attempts at damage control. He pressed a hand to his mouth, trying and failing to hide a wide grin. Eventually he stepped forward, placing a placating hand on Ryland's shoulder. His gaze was both sympathetic and teasing at the same time.
"Hey, man—hey, it's alright. Your secret's safe with me. Although…” He took a deep, long look at Ryland, tilting his head and studying his features. Ryland cleared his throat at the sudden observation, looking to the side meekly.
“You watched the most recent one right? With Margot Robbie?”
Rocky perked up at the mention of the movie and he happily chirped and hummed. Too bad Adam couldn't understand him because the translator was turned off, but he'll take that as a resounding yes.
“You look exactly like one of the Kens in the movie! What's his name…”
Ryland blinked at Adam. “Definitely not Simu Liu...The mermaid Ken played by John Cena?”
Adam adamantly shook his head. “What? No, definitely not John Cena.” He stepped back, pondering hard about who it could be. He then snapped his fingers and pointed at Ryland.
“Scott Evans!”
Rocky grumbled at that, shaking his carapace and stomping his legs in anger.
Ryland looked at Rocky in a deadpan manner, shaking his head. “No, Rocky, for the last time, I'm telling you. I don't look like Ryan Gosling.” Rocky continued to communicate some choice words at Ryland.
At first, Adam was just teasing Ryland, enjoying watching him squirm at the embarrassing topic of his favorite Barbie movie— but then he actually stopped to take a look at Ryland, comparing him to the movie characters, and suddenly found himself agreeing with Rocky. The mental image of Ryland in that pink cowboy outfit with the hat was...
Well, it was adorable, but that seemed a bit forward to say out loud.
Instead, he focused on Ryland's denial of the whole Ryan Gosling thing and smirked. "Oh, come on, man. Don't deny the obvious."
“The obvious? I really don't! I don't see it.” Ryland crossed his arms, stubborn in his beliefs.
Adam rolled his eyes with a dramatic sigh, stepping back just far enough to gesture at Ryland like he's presenting a prize.
"Dude. Dude. You've got the whole—" He waved his hands in vague circles near his own face, trying to articulate it. "—thing going on. The floppy hair, the perpetually disheveled but weirdly charming scientist aesthetic—yeah, you’re basically space Ken." He then paused, realizing just how much he complimented the man in front of him and he awkwardly laughed, scratching the back of his neck to look casual.
Rocky made an approving series of chitters from his corner—apparently the translator being off hasn’t stopped him from agreeing emphatically.
Ryland’s face turned impeccably red, feeling cornered by Adam and Rocky. He did not take compliments very well, but the way Adam talked about him was...a lot, in a way. Good? Bad? Ryland didn't know. “You—I—”
Rocky let out chirps that equate to laughter. Adam didn't understand him, but Ryland can, and that is enough for him to tease Ryland without any qualms. “Grace heart rate increase, body temperature increase! Grace embarrassed, question? Grace get compliment from handsome human!”
Adam's eyes flickered with a mix of mischief and something softer when Ryland stumbled over his words. But Rocky's chirps and hums suddenly caught his attention—though he can't understand the words.
"Wait. Wait, what did he just say?" Adam squinted at Rocky, then back at Ryland, whose face is now the approximate color of a Martian sunset. "...Did I miss something good?"
Ryland made a strangled noise and refused to make eye contact. Rocky the fudging traitor just laughed.
Ryland chuckled in a forced and awkward way, nudging Rocky's xenonite ball with his foot, much to Rocky's chagrin. “No, you did not! So! Do you have any ideas on how to get home yet? Not that I want you to leave, of course not! I was just wondering if, you know, you would stay with us long term or not, yeah, mhm.”
Adam's eyebrow quirked, seeing straight through the weak deflection attempt. He decided to take a seat again on one of the rolling chairs, leaning back and pretending like he's deep in thought, though he slipped and faltered a little before acting nonchalant again. He rested a hand on one side of his chin, looking over Ryland carefully.
"Well," Adam drawled, still keeping his gaze on Ryland as he took out a small gem from his pocket. "Considering the circumstances... this artifact I used to make a portal is inactive right now, all out of juice. I'll just have to bunk here, if you'll have me."
Ryland raised an eyebrow as his gaze dragged to the gem in his hand. “Another magic thing, huh…” He blinked a few times before nodding. “Mhm. Yeah, totally, of course.”
Goddamn, he really doesn't know how to interact with humans anymore.
Adam caught the awkward tension in Ryland's voice, and he gave the man a soft smile. He rolled the gem between his fingers, watching the way the light catches its surface before pocketing it again.
"Hey." His tone was warmer now. "I don't actually have to crash here if it's weird. The whole 'surviving space unaided' thing means I could probably just... float around until I hit another ship. But—" he glanced at Rocky, then back to Ryland, "—I would like to stay. If that's cool."
Rocky, sensing the shift in mood, performed his version of a thumbs-up, which unfortunately looked like a thumbs-down.
Ryland frowned at the notion, shaking his head. “Of course I'm not going to kick you out, are you crazy? Believe me, there's not gonna be any other human ship out here...maybe. We're not even in the Solar system anymore, anyway. I—” He paused and waved his hand to point at himself and at Rocky, “We—We would love to have you here. I'd like to hear more about your home and all the crazy stuff you have.”
He then turned on the laptops again, activating the translator. “Alright, Rocky, you get your translator privileges back, but don't say anything weird.”
Adam perked up in surprise. He wasn't expecting Ryland to sound so relieved at the idea of him staying. It did something funny to his chest, and he rubbed a hand over his sternum, as if to soothe the fluttering feeling there.
"Uh, great! Awesome. Thank you." He grinned at Ryland, then turned his gaze to Rocky, who's now tapping his legs in excitement, knowing that he wouldn't have to deal with the 'no translation' thing anymore.
Rocky immediately started speaking, apparently having a list of questions saved up after being in translation limbo. "Oh! Have lots, lots of questions. Questions about human magic things! Many, many questions!"
Adam raised his eyebrows, both amused and overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught of questions again. He looked over at Ryland for help, silently mouthing a 'what do I do?' at him. Rocky didn't give him a chance to respond, continuing to fire off his questions without a pause.
Ryland held his hands up in resignation. Once Rocky got going, it’s hard to stop him. He was an unstoppable force once he got excited. “All on you, Adam. He’s had enough of me so he’s going to want to know everything about you.” He laughed, leaning against the table. “I don’t mind learning more about you either so I’m not stopping him.”
Adam rubbed the back of his neck, looking a mixture of amused and nervous. On one hand, he loved the endless curiosity of the alien. On the other hand, it was a bit overwhelming to have a thousand questions thrown at him all at once. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for the interrogation—especially since Ryland was sitting across from him, obviously planning to be an amused spectator for the whole thing.
"Alright, alright, buddy. One question at a time. Go easy on me, I just got here."
Rocky nodded in affirmation, “Yes, yes, of course, human brain not as good as Eridian brain, yes, Grace told me. I go easy! Eternia in earth, question? Oklahoma City in America like Grace, question? Dragons not real in Earth but real in your world, question? Why Adam end up in Earth and then go back to Eternia? Easy go back and forth, question?” Ryland snorted at that. Rocky said he would go easy on the guy but he ended up with a myriad of questions anyway.
"Okay, wow, you do have a lot of questions. Let’s see..." Adam held up a hand to count off on his fingers.
“One, Eternia is not on Earth—totally different dimension. The portal just dumped me in Oklahoma City when I was a kid. Which, by the way, was not my choice. That place is weird."
“Two, dragons are absolutely real where I’m from—and way scarier than the fairy tales make them out to be. I once had to bribe one with, like, six goats just to get it to stop burning down a village. Long story."
“Three, going back and forth? Not as easy as it sounds at the moment. The portal that sent me to Earth was created by a sorceress, and an Eternian ship was the one to bring me back when my friend Teela found me on Earth. And now—" He raised up the inert gem in his palm. "—this thing's out of juice, so I’m kinda stuck here until I figure something out. I don't even have an Eternian ship to do a dimension jump in...nor did I learn to make portals myself yet…”
Rocky “oohed” and “ahhed” at each answer, "Amaze! Amaze! Amaze! Really similar to Lord of the Rings and Star Wars combined!"
Ryland, meanwhile, is staring at Adam like he’s not sure whether to be fascinated or concerned. "...You bribed a dragon with goats?"
Adam could only shrug, grinning. Ryland found himself becoming more and more mesmerized at each smile the prince sent his way. "Sometimes diplomacy is just knowing what a giant fire lizard wants for lunch."
Rocky pointed at Ryland and gave him a disappointing hum, "Grace need magic sword now. Then Grace be cool like Adam!"
Ryland completely ignored Rocky’s comment and tapped his finger on the nearby table. “Sorceresses…” Ryland mumbled to himself, thinking of all the possibilities. “If magic had been found and portals have been understood by us when the whole astrophage problem... Would I have been put in this situation at all?”
He didn't really mean for it to be heard by Adam, and Rocky could hear anything and everything easily, but he snapped out of his stupor when Rocky gave him a sympathetic nudge with his xenonite ball. Ryland cleared his throat and clapped his hands to move on.
“Alright, well, I should, uh, give you a tour then?”
Adam could sense that there's a little more weight to Ryland's musings on magic and portals, but decided not to pry. It was none of his business, anyway. He was willing to wait until Ryland became more comfortable to open up to him. He just gave Ryland a confirming nod.
"I'd love a tour. You know, just to know my way around and all." He glanced at Rocky, who appeared ready to tag along. "Rocky can come too, I hope? He’s kinda grown on me already."
Rocky trilled, nodding. “Of course I come! Rocky Grace always together! Except when Grace need ‘alone time’!” To which Ryland turned red at Rocky's bluntness.
Ryland grumbled and gave Rocky an "I'm watching you" gesture before turning to walk out of the lab. “Rocky, I swear, I have already taught you about human etiquette. I will turn off the translator permanently!” Rocky grumbled back, though the translator caught none of it.
Adam had to admit, their dynamic is endearing.
"Hey, it's all good" he assured Ryland, clapping a friendly hand on his shoulder. "I don't mind hearing the gossip. I used to work at a hair salon and I loved it when the ladies let me hear the gossip. Plus...Alone time is always needed, I get it." He nudged Ryland before continuing to walk with him through the Hail Mary's corridors.