Chapter Text
It is Rekha, her head full of grey and black hair now, who asks him.
“So, Eridians have mates, just like humans.”
“No, not quite like that -”
“Is Rocky your mate?”
Now, it isn’t the first time he has heard this, but it is the first time somebody on Earth has asked him this.
“Finally!” Michael says.
He chokes on his food.
Is this a common topic of discussion?
“Yes, Mr Grace. Is that why you didn’t come back to Earth?” Kelly asks.
His former students, looking decades older than him, lean forward, curious.
“That would make sense”, Michael says sagely.
Ryland is still thumping his chest, trying not to choke.
“We don’t judge”, Rekha says quickly, trying to assuage him. She looks at the others, and they nod their heads.
Somebody offers to get him water. He carefully puts his plate aside.
“Besides, both of you saved Earth”, Michael says enthusiastically. “If there is anybody in the universe who gets to choose their own mate, it should be you two.”
“Thank you, Nate”, Ryland finally says as he is offered a glass of water. “No–what even gave you the idea?!”
Rekha shrugs and looks at the others in the room.
Nate speaks this time, taking his seat by the fireplace.
“Government didn’t release any details until about four years ago, so we didn’t know anything about Eridians or you meeting aliens in space, but we’d heard rumors.”
“What kind of rumors?”
Everybody looks a bit hesitant to reply at first.
When the silence lasts several more seconds, Kelly says, “Oh, c’mmon, we have already started the topic. I don’t think he will mind.”
“Mind what?”
“We heard many things–like you died on the mission. But some said you saved the universe -”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
“With the help of an alien species, and that you found a mate and settled down there.”
Ryland squints his eyes and pulls his glasses off. “I can see where that would have come from, I guess. Humans focus a lot on bonded-mate relationships.”
“And Eridians don’t?” Michael asks.
“No, they do, but they don’t look down on the unbonded. Their system more or less accommodates everyone. They pride on being logical and rational while benefiting and serving all. Just existing is good enough.”
That has been his impression anyway.
Ryland pulls at the end of his thin, fraying t-shirt and wipes his lens.
“Wow.”
“Sounds like utopia.”
He shakes his head, still wiping the lenses. “No society is without its issues, but they try, they really do.”
“That is more than what you can say for most.”
Ryland smiles ruefully, putting his glasses back on.
“Did you never have a mate, Mr Grace?” Kelly asks, her child-like inquisitiveness shining through, and momentarily, Ryland is back in his classroom, facing the sixth graders, where a really young Kelly with her brown, bushy hair is trying to derail the class yet again, focusing on something completely unrelated to the task at hand.
The others give her a look, and she rolls her eyes. “Is that rude to ask?”
Ryland laughs. “No, not really.”
Even though his students are now much older than him, he will never deny them an answer.
“So, did you …?”
“In school, everyone used to say”, Nate interrupts, “You are one of those rare people–without mates.”
He is grateful Rocky is nowhere close to overhear any of this.
“It isn’t as rare as everyone is led to believe, but yeah, I didn’t – you are right, I had no mate.”
“Had? So, you have one now?”
“It isn’t Rocky?”
He shakes his head once again. “Nope .”
It is one thing for everyone on Erid to think he is also Rocky’s mate. It is something completely different for his human students to also be under that impression.
“Why not?”
“Why not?” He repeats, incredulously.
“Yeah, why not?” Michael says. “You both saved our worlds.”
“That isn’t a reason to -”
“Yes, but”, Kelly interjects impatiently, “You chose his planet over your own. If you aren’t together, why didn’t you come back?”
“I am here right now?”
“Aren’t you just visiting?” Nate points out.
Ryland pinches his own nose. Why is he even talking with his, albeit much older, students about this?
“Anyway, everyone on the internet thinks Rocky is your alpha.”
“What?! Why would he be my alpha?!”
“They even made movies about you.”
“Movies?”
“Yeah, told you, there were rumors flying around about why you never came back. Some were in the drama genre. Many of them are of romance.”
“Romance …” he repeats faintly.
“Yeah. You could say you birthed a whole new genre of star-crossed mates stories.”
Kelly snorts. “Birthed, yeah”, and both her and Rekha chuckle. Nobody explains the comment.
Ryland scratches the back of his head. “Why were they making romance movies about the mission?”
“For hope?” Michael answers. “Though it used to be funny to watch them, knowing it was about our Science teacher. Don’t watch it so much any more.”
“I still have some of the copies. I can give them to you.”
“Yeah, you can watch them later with Rocky”, Kelly says, and they snicker.
“Guys, I told you Rocky already has a mate.”
“So?”
“So?!”
“You also told us Eridians as a society are encouraged to be polyamoros.”
“No, not polyamoros, though that is possible too. But yes, the standard practice is to have multiple mates. Their understanding of a mate is different from ours–like I explained before.”
“I think we should stop bothering him”, Nate says, feeling pity for his much younger teacher. “We always heard you were sad since you weren’t mated.” Ryland looks down, unable to hold eye contact, his stomach sinking. His students had heard about it? Known that? “Then you left on the trip, and we never got to say goodbye to you. Then all of a sudden one day we hear you helped save our planet–all of us–and that maybe you found somebody for yourself in the stars.”
“It is okay if you don’t want a mate, Mr Grace”, Rekha says. “We just wished for you to be happy.”
Ryland sniffs, feeling a bit overwhelmed suddenly. He cannot recall the last time someone other than Rocky said something kind to him.
“Yeah, if there is anyone who deserves happiness, it's gotta be you”, Michael adds.
Ryland blinks his eyes rapidly, trying to hold back the tears threatening to form. He hadn’t been prepared for the grown-up versions of his former teenage students.
For all intents and purposes, he was the younger one here, though it would never be that in his heart. They will always be his students.
“Are you happy, Mr Grace?” Kelly asks softly. “Do you feel safe at Erid even though you are the only human there?”
If there is one thing he has been sure about in the last however many years, it would be this.
He smiles, the skin around his eyes wrinkling. “Yes, without a doubt.”