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“M’ up.” Grace sucked in a deep breath as he peeled his face off the thingy. Words. Tablet. He had been sleeping on his tablet. When was he? Where was anything. What year was it. Huh. Ugh…
Blearily, he straightened his glasses.
Grace scrubbed at the half-dry drool on his face as he reoriented himself to the land of the living and conscious. Bed, no pillow, tablet… He must’ve nodded off while reading. Oh yeah, he’d been reading Charlotte’s Web to RJ, Skittles, and Mary. Which was, by the way, an experience.
They all had a bajillion questions, but the rule was they had to wait until the end of a chapter to ask. But while that might actually cause some forgetfulness back on Earth, Eridian kids excelled at multi-thinking and just put those questions in what Grace thought of as a mental question box. Luckily they knew some Earth stuff by this point so they weren’t asking what a pig was or a farm or a little girl or anything. And they all adored Charlotte, who they said made them think of Adrian. But he still had to answer questions about county fairs, the greediness of rats, and plenty of complicated words they didn’t know yet in English or Eridian. They were so so smart and clever, though, that he didn’t want to read them baby stories and they liked chapter books, even if he spent so long answering questions. Anyways, he was going to have to change the ending of the book until they were older, so he'd have to figure that out before they got close to the end.
At the moment, RJ and Skittles were playing with a spare non-Earth hacky sack further up the bed and to Grace’s left. He had fallen asleep upside down, feet near his pillow and head at the foot of the bed. Lucky his tablet didn’t crash to the floor. What had woken him up, anyways? He vaguely felt it had something to do with being poked. Mary was sitting near the tablet, entertaining herself with a couple dolls. They were teeny Eridian-shaped toys that were completely posable. There was also a human-shaped one that had vague facial features. Those were increasingly popular, though Mary’s was one of the first versions.
Groaning, Grace tapped the tablet, trying to figure out the time. It was mid-afternoon. He had an evening class in a few hours, one that was actually for adult Eridians. Film class! Where they watched movies streamed onto a massive Eridian display screen and talked about Earth stuff and asked Grace questions he rarely knew the answers too unless it was set in a franchise or time period or place he really liked. He rubbed both hands up and down his face.
“Why’d you let me fall asleep, huh?” he asked Mary teasingly.
She bumped his arm with one of her toys. “Could not stop. Uncle Grace very tired, not finish reading, squished face on human thinking best rectangle. Pebbles watch.”
“You sleep noises so loud. Mouth breathing maybe broken, question?” RJ asked, sounding genuinely concerned even while being insulting.
“No, no, Uncle Grace fine,” Mary said, “Always loud.”
“Uncle Grace sleeps loudest on Erid,” Skittles said. “Sleep roar.” They let their limbs go flat against the bed and made obnoxious fake snoring sounds.
Mary and RJ both giggled, cute little piping noises that Grace couldn’t get tired of even when they were at his expense.
“I think you guys all take Make Fun of Grace lessons from your dad,” Grace said, sprawling out on his stomach and snuggling his face into the crook of his left arm. “At least Adrian sticks up for me sometimes.” He yawned as he turned his head to look at Mary.
“Uncle Grace tired tired tired,” Mary said. She nuzzled up against his right hand, rooting under it so she was mostly covered up his palm. Bits of her sunshine yellow exterior were visible through his fingers. “Sleep, we watch. You roar, it is okay to be so loud.”
“Thanks, princess,” he said, cupping his hand over her. She got real small, pulling in her limbs, and she almost completely fit. Grace patted her carapace before lifting his hand. “I guess I stayed up too late last night.” He’d been helping with a xenobiology project on the other side of the planet through what amounted to voice chat. They were examining some of the other lifeforms that had been in the Petrova line. “But I’m supposed to be watching you, not the other way around.”
Adrian had dropped these three off while they took Artemis and Fox to some kind of sporting event that RJ, Skittles, and Mary hadn’t been interested in going to. Grace liked how Adrian and Rocky didn’t make all five kids do everything their siblings wanted to do. They supported their interests and encouraged them to try new things. Rocky was coming by later before the film class to get the trio. He sometimes came to that class, but seeing how he and Grace had watched dozens and dozens of movies and TV shows on their journey to Erid, he was more like a fellow instructor than a student. And he had loooooots of commentary to add.
That reminded Grace that they needed to pick out a movie for family movie night, when Grace would go over to Rocky and Adrian’s (wearing his own envirosuit) and they would all watch some animated movie that the kids would like. Their partially underground family dwelling was connected to Grace’s hab on the opposite side from his classroom. It was like living in the same neighborhood, maybe a street over. An easy wander.
Last time they had watched The Lion King. The kids had played Pride Rock for a few days, pretending to drop each other off a somewhat Pride Rock shaped formation near their home.
“Not go anywhere, do anything,” Mary said, “Stay on bed. Stay good.”
“Still…”
“That, too.”
Grace snorted out a little laugh. Not what he meant. But it was tempting to nod off again with the promise that the kids wouldn’t go anywhere. He set his alarm just in case…
When he woke up again, he wasn’t quite as out of it. A glance at the tablet told him he’d only been asleep about twenty minutes. And it felt like something had woken him up.
And the kids were suspiciously quiet.
Skittles and RJ had migrated down to the foot of the bed. The slight weight on his back told him Mary had climbed up onto him, settling between his shoulder blades.
Grace blinked at the two pebbles near his face. “What’re you two doing?”
“Watching,” Skittles answered. They waved one blue, green, and grey arm. “That it. Nothing else.”
“Just watch.” RJ nodded, moving his entire carapace back and forth.
Ooooh, something was up. Grace lifted an eyebrow. “That’s it?”
“That it,” the pair said in unison.
Mmm. Grace stretched and settled back down, crossing his arms and setting his forehead on them. He closed his eyes and pretended to go to sleep. Or that was the intention.
The third time he woke up, he snapped his eyes open just in time to see a little brown, green-speckled hand retreat from his nose. Grace swept an arm forward and pointed at RJ and Skittles. “Aha! Caught you, you sneaky little pop rocks. The heck!”
RJ and Skittles both squeaked and scurried away, trying to escape to the top of the bed. Grace started to sit up, then remembered Mary was on his back. Instead, he shifted and slid around, awkwardly turning himself and trying not to dislodge her. He tried to snag one of Skittles’ limbs, but they danced around, keeping away until they could scramble under a pillow. RJ wasn’t quite as quick. Grace caught one of his hands, wrapping around the envirosuit.
“Poking me isn’t just watching me sleep, now is it?” Grace asked, grinning as RJ lifted the arm Grace had hold of.
“Uncle Grace, let go RJ,” Mary said. She climbed up onto his shoulder and draped a couple arms over it.
“Was this your idea?” Grace asked, glancing over at her.
Mary made a noncommittal chirping noise. “Nooo.”
“That sounds like yeeesss,” Grace sang back. He released RJ but blocked his escape by dropping forward and creating a short wall with his arm. “Why were you poking me, anyways, big question?”
RJ tried to clamber over Grace’s arm, but Grace set his right arm on top of his left, further hemming in the kid. “No have reason.”
“Yes, reason,” Skittles said, “Good one. Human sleep funny. You wake up again again again again.” Skittles peeked out from under the pillow. “Poke nose to see how quick Grace wakes up.”
Oh wait. Hah. Grace sat up, which allowed RJ to run under the pillows as well. Reaching up to his shoulder, he gently grabbed Mary with one hand. She held onto his thumb. He lifted her up to eye level. “You all were doing experiments on me!”
“Little experiment!” Mary protested, “Little science!”
Do not laugh, do not laugh, they shouldn’t just do science experiments on people without their knowledge, but geez—he was kind of proud of them. Grace used his free left hand to cover his smile. “Mary.”
Mary lifted two arms and put her hands close together. “Little little little science.”
“Big fun,” RJ said, muffled under the pillow.
Grace shook his head. “You tricked me into sleeping.”
Mary’s whistle was innocent. “Skittles’ idea.”
“No, all three idea!” Skittles declared.
Yeah, the tiniest thrum decision ever.
“But Uncle Grace can sleep if want, no poke nose,” RJ said, “No experiment. Humans sleep better than Eridian sleep. Wake up if danger.”
“Not better, just different,” Grace said.
Reaching over, he set Mary down and plucked the pillows off both Skittles and RJ. They darted toward each other, clanking together in the middle with Mary. “Next time I’m going to pretend to be asleep and when you least expect it—BAM! Fuzzy space giant attack!” He lifted his arms in the air and playfully ‘roared’ at the trio like the saddest excuse for a bear. But he was six feet and Skittles was the tallest at just over six inches and Fuzzy Space Giant was one of their favorite games.
“Ahh, fuzzy space giant! Away run!”
Squealing and laughing, they split up in three directions and darted away, staying on the bed but doing their best to avoid him.
Little goofballs.