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It was when Simon started preparing dinner that he realised why it was so damn quiet in the house. He hadn't seen Ryland all day, or the day before that now that he thought about it. The man had left the other morning, and hadn't returned.
Truth be told Simon liked the quiet, maybe he subconsciously assumed Ryland was just doing something important with Rocky and would be home later— But that was yesterday, now it was today.
"Armmando" the robot whirred to life "Where's Ryland?"
"Captain Grace was last seen 56 hours ago. Current location unknown."
Come again?
Well now Simon was a little concerned.
Simon sighed and rubbed an ache in his neck, careful not to pull at the spines protruding from his gills.
He was making stew tonight, grabbing assorted vegetables and a square of meat from the fridge he started chopping.
The two didn't always get along, the first 2 or 3 months were rough between them, but he considered the man a kind of friend now. The bio-dome was big, about a mile and a half Ryland had said it was once— but not big enough that the man should go missing for two days.
Maybe Rocky and him went on a trip somewhere and didn't tell him? The pair attended a Thrum outside of the dome once and It's not like Simon's a big science man he didn't need to be included, however he'd like to think they'd tell him if they left for something like that again.
He set the knife down and opened the overhead cabinet doors fishing for where they kept their spices, pulling out a container with smaller containers inside and adding various quantities of each.
Maybe he can ask Adrian about whatever it is they're doing tomorrow, they're supposed to come by in the morning to help him move some larger shelving in the greenhouse that he can't on his own.
One of the smaller containers in here looked different, it seems Adrien had made them some more synthetic food to try and had mixed them in with what they already had.
Mono... mono-gluti what?
He had no idea what this was but he gave the small white crystals a sniff and deemed them safe enough to try tonight, throwing a couple pinches in the stew.
S'pose if I find Rocky I'll find Ryland.
Maybe he could use those fancy communicators Rocky made and send Adrian a message tonight? If he could remember where he left the damn thing anyway.
Movement outside the kitchen windows caught his attention.
"Speak of the Devil"
Rocky was running down from up the hill where the bio-dome gradually shifted from the beach into grassland.
It really was a marvel that the Eridians engineered various grasses that could be grown here from their own native flora.
That is besides the point Simon, you're getting distracted by plants again.
He scooped the rest of his cut veggies and meat into the pot, turned the heat on and gave it a good stir— He crossed the house and opened the front door, clearing his throat before calling out.
"Hey Rock, Can you come here for a second?"
The Alien bounced at the call, Simon had caught them in their thoughts— they scuttled up the beach, 2 legs waving in jazz-hands greeting.
"Friend Simon, hello, hello— What is wrong, question."
"Where's Ryland?"
Rocky rocked back and forth on his limbs for a moment.
How does something without a face look anxious?
"Grace said needs alone time."
"Rocky it's been 2 days, alone time is fine but I'm starting to get worried about him."
Hmm, that was a weird thought now that I said it out loud.
"Actually don't tell him I said that."
"Grace fine Rocky check, Grace say Grace home tomorrow."
"Tomarrow?" Simon scoffed and pointed up the hill. "So the man's just what? Running around up there, for fun?"
"Simon no understand, Grace say Grace no want anyone to see him like he is."
"Like he is? Rocky is he OKAY?"
"Grace fine statement, be back tomorrow! Rocky go now, bye friend Simon!"
He watched the alien walk away for a moment pinching his brows
What the fuck is happening?
He turned back inside and busied himself adding some extra portions to the Stew, he had a hunch that Ryland hasn’t eaten since he disappeared— and Simon was going to go make him eat whether he wanted to be "seen like he is" or not.
And he tried not to let the thought eat him up a little while waiting for all of it to cook.
Maybe he was overthinking things but Ryland wasn't trying to get away from him was he?
I should try to be a little nicer to him I guess.
He had an idea, where was that old backpack Ryland kept around?
He gathered some water packets, a flashlight, some spoons and when the food was done he packed it into these neat glass containers Ryland called "tupperwear" and packed them all neatly into the backpack.
By the time he'd gotten everything together it was starting to get dark, the bio-dome was preparing to enter sunset mode. Enough light to see for about 30 minutes and he hoped that he found him before it got too dark since it took about 20 minutes to walk across the entire length of the dome.
Simon slung the backpack over his shoulder, slipped his shoes on and started up towards the grassland.
All the grass really was lovely, he needed to come up here more often anyway. There were probably 30 varieties growing now, some grew taller than him, some were blue colored and some even bore delicate flowers.
I really need to ask Adrien to try engineering a tree, maybe Ryland could teach me enough about cells to help create it myself.
Lost in more thoughts of plants Simon almost didn't see the grass at the top of the hill rustle, almost didn't hear the faint shuffle of gravel footfalls or the flash of orange that bolted away from him as he crested the hill.
But he definitely did see all of that didn't he?
It looked like one of those creatures Ryland liked, what was it that he called them, foxes?
"Aaaalright, that's weird." Simon thought aloud.
Now that he was squarely on the hilltop could see the grass rustle away from him as whatever it was ran.
This thing will probably lead me to Ryland won't it?
So he ran after it.
Hearing Simon's footsteps following it, the thing sped up. It cut a straight line towards the back wall of the bio-dome where the wall was decorated with rocky cliffs.
God this little shit is fast
5 minutes of running, a pace just fast enough to keep the creature within a couple tens of feet and still another 3 minutes to the back of the dome.
There was an outcrop they were coming up too, a flat bed of rock surrounded on all sides to form a protected clearing. The creature burst from the grass onto solid rock a few seconds before Simon did and he slowed his sprint as he approached and finally saw a clear look at what he's been chasing.
It was a fox.
It had turned to face Simon, teeth barred its stance low and aggressive, It looked exactly like the foxes on Ryland's favorite sweater— like it had come to life from the fabric itself.
"How the fuck did you get in here"
The fox was deathly still, eyes never leaving Simon who finally noted its posture. He put his hands up trying to stay as non-threatening as possible while taking another step forward.
"Nobody has told me we had a fox running around" His voice was low. "Would have been nice to be told..." He pointed his fingers at the Fox. "But I'm going to assume you have something to do with why Ryland is out here?"
The fox relaxed after hearing the name, it sat down still keeping its eyes locked on Simon.
Am I going crazy or do those eyes look familiar?
"Ooookay see." He placated. "This is fine, I'm fine, you're fine everything is fine."
The Fox looked over its shoulder at a crevice in the rock behind him, it took another look at Simon before slipping into the rock and disappearing from view.
"Ah, Fuck. C'mon buddy I really need your help."
He slipped the bag off his shoulder onto the ground and fished out the flashlight, kneeling in front of the crevice he shone the light in to get a better look. The rock opened in the back big enough for the animal to have curled up out of reach on top of some orange fabric, a glint of something metal reflecting the light just out of view.
Was that Ryland's jumpsuit? And that metal piece looks like the corner of his glasses
Why would this fox have his clothes?
They weren't bloody far as he could tell so that hopefully meant the fox hadn't harmed him to acquire his stuff.
Simon stood up and sighed loudly before grabbing the pack and sitting down next to the crevice.
"Well, I hope Rocky would have told me if a fox ATE my roommate instead of saying he's fine somewhere." Simon made a sweeping gesture to punctuate his statement. "So I'm going to eat my food, because I'm hungry and it's getting cold and I'm getting cold and this is all very confusing."
Simon propped the flashlight beside him on a conveniently flashlight-shaped divot in the rock and dug a bowl and spoon from the bag.
"You know I made extra for him, thought it would be a nice thing to do!" He shouted at nobody popping open the lid and took an angry bite. "But no! He gets EATEN by a fucking fox!"
He heard the fox chitter, a shrill cry that sounded like laughter.
"Yeah I'm sure that's hilarious to you isn't it!" Simon rolled his eyes. "You know where he is and you're fucking laughing at me you little shit!"
It was about to be full-dark, he ate while listening to the machines around the bio-dome whirr as they shifted from sunset into night mode— the grass rustling together in the artificial breeze.
He had to admit it was peaceful out here, maybe he should take a little trip up here sometime... Well maybe not if it meant a potentially killer fox.
I really hope he's okay…
"Rocky said he wanted some alone time?"
...
"I hope it's not because of me. I really should be nicer to the guy. I mean he did save my life, none of my problems are his fault."
Simon sighed and dug around his bowl with the spoon, guess he’s talking too the damn thing now.
"I am worried about him, the guy forgets to eat in a house full of food and now he's out here doing God knows what, I never figured he'd be the type to be out here this long— you know last week he cried for a whole day because one of his students made him little figurine of Pluto." He waved his spoon around for emphasis "Like what the fuck is a Pluto and why are we crying over it?"
He heard movement beside him and looked over to see the fox's head poking out from the den looking at him with curiosity.
Simon sniffled and they stared like that for a few seconds. He fished a piece of meat onto his spoon and held it out to the fox. "You hungry?" The fox sniffed it before gently taking the meat from his spoon and retreating back into the cave.
"Tell me if it's any good I guess, Adrian gave me some new spice-thing to try.
At least somebody wants to eat with me!
There was rustling inside the rock, the fox dragging something around before exiting the crevice with Ryland's jumpsuit between its teeth. it scanned the area settling on setting them down next to a large rock. It ran back inside and grabbed Rylands glasses, carefully setting them down next to Simon.
"Well that's... interesting."
Simon picked up the glasses and turned them around in his hands, wiping some stray dirt off the lenses.
Simon put the glasses on and looked at the fox. "These are mine now by the way, you aren't getting them back. He swore the fox rolled its eyes at him.
"Why did you have his clothes anyway?... Oh God, is he naked out here!?"
The fox laughed again, a gekkering sound that was almost uncanny, it stood over the jumpsuit now, its eyes looking at him with a playful glint he's sure he's seen before.
Oh yeah I remember now.
Ryland and Simon were watching a movie together curled up on opposite ends of their couch, Ryland picked something liked from his childhood that Simon honestly didn't pay much attention to. When the boy turned into some kind of sea animal Ryland had nudged his arm to get his attention.
"You know, some people on earth don't think that they're real"
Simon scoffed "Think what's real? people who become animals? Of course it's not real!" Simon looked over at Ryland, he was curled into himself, the arm of his glasses in his mouth— a playful expression on his face.
The same expression he was looking at right now funnily enough.
S'pose sometimes people do turn into animals
"Ryland?" He asked.
The fox bit the jumpsuit and walked behind the rock with it. The sounds of fabric-on-rock became the sounds of a human pulling fabric over themselves.
"Ryland?" He said again. Ryland laughed nervously, crawling out from behind the rock "Hi Si..."Please don't freak out."
Simon shook his head. "I'm not going to freak out."
Ryland stood up to his full height and started stretching "You sure? You kinda freak out alot…"
“I do not—” Simon felt himself get angry at the remark and took a moment to calm himself. He pulled the other man's glasses off his face and held them out to the man. "Please come eat, Ryland."
Simon watched the man from his peripheral while he finished stretching. The jumpsuit was worn half-off the "shirt" portion tied around his waist. A fox pelt clung to his shoulders, the head of the fox over his own.
He tried to be subtle about watching the man's muscles move as he twisted this way and that. It wasn't often he saw the other man without clothing on and he would admit he was handsome.
I wonder if he'd ever let me touch that ammonia scar?
Ryland took his glasses from Simon and placed them on his face, a "thank you" was said under his breath as he sat down next to Simon, their shoulders brushing as he settled.
He grabbed the food and utensil from the pack and held both out to the other man. Ryland took the bowl from him, opening the top and setting it on the ground. He took a bite and melted into the taste.
"What? This is amazing! What did Adrian give you?!" He took another big bite and some of it dribbled down his chin, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and licked it off.
"Uhh.." Simon's mouth felt dry. "It was something I couldn't pronounce. Mono... monogluto? I don't remember."
"They made monosodium glutamate? Oh my stars, that's amazing!"
"Oh my stars?" Simon laughed at him. "Would it kill you to just say fuck like a normal person?"
"Actually, it would kill me!" Ryland bumped his shoulder against Simon's. "Besides I saved those things, so if I want to use star as a swear word I fucking will."
"Oh my God!" Simon exclaimed and the two laughed.
Ryland looked down at his bowl and took another bite, this was actually one of the best things he's eaten In years. What could he say, the man loved his salty foods.
...
"Hey Ryland?" Simon was looking at him.
"Yeah?" He replied not looking up.
"I'm sorry if I made you feel like you needed to come all the way here for space."
Ryland whipped his eyes up to meet Simon's, opening his mouth to protest before the other man continued.
"I know that I'm not an ideal housemate, and that sometimes I can be a bit of a dick but it's your house first so I'm sorry if it felt like you couldn't ask me to leave instead."
"What?" Ryland was stunned. "What no no no! That's not, that's NOT what's happening here at all! I, I just.. I've never really show anyone this part of me and I didn't want you to freak out when I.." He stuttered "I.. I'm not like other people. I mean technically I'm not people. I don't want you to think I'm a freak and the last time I told somebody she… I was hurt pretty badly…”
But I'm not really people anymore either though am I?
He absentmindedly brought a hand to his face, touching scars and the extra set of teeth embedded in his cheek.
Ryland gasped, he was starting to cry now. "Oh stars, I didn't mean to imply that you're.. I.. I don't think you're a freak! I think they’re really pretty actually an—"
"I don't" Interrupted Simon.
"What?" Ryland said with tears in his eyes
He's kind of adorable when he's crying
...
Did he just call me pretty?
"I don't think you're a freak." Said Simon.
"Or that you think I'm a freak, I know that you don't. I've seen the way you look at me when you think I don't notice, I've never once seen you look at my mutations that way."
He’d never seen Ryland look at him this way before, it looked like adoration,
Don't look at me like that, I don't deserve it.
Ryland looked back down at his bowl taking another bite, a smile on his lips. "I mean I guess" He took another bite. "We are pretty cool huh?"
Simon snorted in reply and placed the lid back on his bowl, storing the used dish in the backpack and standing up from the ground. His back hurt. Rocks weren't exactly the comfiest, or the warmest after dark. He grabbed the flash light off the rock, shouldered the backpack and held his hand out for Ryland to take. Ryland put the top back on his bowl and took Simon's hand to stand up. He packed his bowl into the backpack and made sure it was zipped up.
Ryland held his hand out to Simon and he took it. He figured it was just because the man didn’t have shoes on, didn’t want the man to trip out here but he knew what Ryland was thinking.
It was a good night to be alone together.
The two walked about 5 minutes in silence, when Simon had a question. "So if you're a fox" Ryland's hand tensed. "And I've been here for about 8 months now, when have you...? I mean this is the first time you've been gone so long isn't it?”
I..." Ryland trailed off "I really haven't been, I will once in a while when you're in the greenhouse but it's hard to make sure I clean up everything after— I don't want to leave fur in places it could be seen."
Rylands pace slowed falling behind Simon, was he embarrassed about this?
“How does it work?” Simon asked. “Do you just think about it and you change?”
“No, I have to have my fur with me and if I pull it tight to myself I’ll change.” Ryland cleared his throat. "It makes me feel itchy, not doing it for a long time. My skin gets tight, and my whole body feels wrong like I've been bitten by a horde of ants."
"Well now that I know" Simon started, still looking ahead. "You can do it as much as you need, I don't want you to feel like you can't just because I'm there. Like I said earlier, it's your house first."
Ryland stopped walking his grip on Simon's hand firm, stopping both of them. "Our house" he said resolutely.
Simon looked over his shoulder.
"It's your house too." Ryland squeezed their hand and Simon's gaze shifted to their interlocked fingers. "You live there, I live there, it's ours! Together!"
Did I deserve a home?
Simon squeezed his hand back and the pair kept walking.
All the way across the grassland, down the hill, past the beach and into their house in easy quiet.
Simon went to the kitchen to do the dishes while Ryland took a shower and when he was done Simon took his turn.
Simon exited the bathroom wearing a pair of pajama pants clinging to the parts of his legs that were still wet. He pressed a towel into his damp hair, heading towards his bedroom.
"Simon?"
Simon turned around and saw Ryland in his pajamas leaning on his doorframe, his eyes soft and an arm extended in invitation. He stared at the hand for a moment before taking it.
They've done this before. On nights where their trauma got too much to handle alone they would crawl into each other's beds just to not be alone for the night.
There came a time when Ryland stopped inviting him to stay the night, a change in how he carried himself that Simon now realizes might have been the fear of being found out.
He let Ryland pull them into bed, goodnights said before both of them fell asleep.
It really was a good night to be alone together.
——————————————————————————————————————————
Simon woke up first, on his back he watched the morning light fall in through the skylight before realizing there was a warm weight on his leg— he propped himself up on one of his elbows.
Ryland, a fox again curled up against his side, head and front legs resting on Simon's lap, a too-big shirt hung loosely around its form.
He tensed, this was not the first time he'd woken up to the man clinging to him, but didn't really know what to think of this situation.
But he looked cute.
Did I really think he was cute?
Simon was no expert on fox expressions but he looked at peace. It was nice.The last time he was in this bed Ryland wasn't okay, one of those nights when everything came back to haunt him.
Simon laid back down and set his hand on Ryland's head, unconsciously petting him while lost in thought.
This was the first time the two men had shared a bed without their trauma. Simon Should have died, Ryland could have died, yet here they were two broken people far from home. Did this mean anything?
Do I want it too?
"Maaan you're really soft" He'd never felt anything like fur before, they didn't really have live animals like this back home and if anyone owned animal furs they were too wealthy for Simon to have known them.
He looked back down at Ryland, who was looking back at him.
Between thoughts Ryland had woken up and was looking at him. His hand froze, hesitating before realizing he was still touching him and quickly removed it from the man's head.
"I'm sorry, I should have asked first"
The Fox sneezed and pushed itself up, stretching its body and taking the time to scratch his ear with one of his hind legs. It circled the bed and lay back down on Simon— this time on his chest.
Are all earth animals this adorable?
"Can I pet you?" Simon asked hesitantly. The Fox barked, a quick high pitched sound and Simon noticed the way the tip of his tail twitched "Bark again if that's a yes."
Another bark
"Oookay, I'm going to touch you then." Simon set his hand on Rylands head and began stroking his fur in repeated motions.
"You are really soft though, I was thinking earlier how I've never even seen a live animal like this before, we didn't have room for them on Eden— s'pose even if we did we wouldn't have the resources to keep them alive for long."
Ryland purred.
Wait purred? Foxes purr?
He made throaty murr sounds and Simon tried to suppress his panic.
whoahthatssofuckingcuteohmygod
"So is this going to be like a frequent thing now?" Simon gently pulled on one of the fox's ears "Am I going to come home to fur all over my clothes?" He asked playfully.
The fox licked Simon's nose.
"Oh my GOD I cannot believe you just did that! Get off of me!" Simon sat up and pushed the animal off of him while laughing. "That is disgusting! Get off me I have to pee.. AND wash my face!" He added.
The fox was laughing again.
He went to the bathroom and turned the sink on, making fake noises of disgust while he splashed water on his face. "Now I have fox cooties!"
The laughter became human.
"I've always wanted to do that!" Ryland called from the bedroom.
"Do what? LICK me? You pervert!"
Ryland came to stand in the bathroom doorway, he leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms in front of him. "Not just you! Sometimes I want to lick Rocky too, but he never lets me!"
Simon looked towards Ryland opening his mouth to reply but the words were caught in his throat.
Ryland was only in a shirt.
It was a bit oversized for him hanging slightly off one shoulder and just low enough to cover everything it needed too.
Ohfuck
Simon coughed, turned back towards the sink to brush his teeth.
If Ryland noticed his look he didn't say anything about it, instead happily turning tail towards the kitchen saying he was going to start breakfast.
Christ Simon who's the pervert now?
Simon looked at himself in the mirror while brushing his teeth. He started at his waist, the deep red scars and plant-like veins that trailed up his right side. He ran a hand over the secondary set of gills on his flank and up to the ones on his neck and then over the scars on his shoulder where they disappeared under his prosthetic.
Admittedly he did kind of like the scars on his face, something about half his face having more of those veiny scars that looked handsome to him— at least until it got to his mouth. Simon spit out the toothpaste and rinsed his mouth. He hooked his pinky into his mouth and pulled his cheeks around to check his teeth, wincing at the feeling of one side of his mouth opening winder than should be possible.
He called me pretty.
He said it honestly too, and a minute later had looked at Simon with those adoring eyes.He splashed some more water on his face, some stray hair getting wet and clinging to his cheek. His hair was getting long, it curled around his face and shoulders and he tucked it back behind his ears before grabbing the headband he set down last night to tie it out of the way.
——————————————————————————————————————————
Simon was not being sneaky with the glances, not last night when he watched him stretch and not this morning when he tried to play it cool and Ryland was beginning to feel things he hasn't for a very long time.
Attachment always came with desire for him, he didn't like people until he'd gotten to know them and now that Simon knew his biggest secret Simon had essentially kicked their relationship from "friends with normal boundaries" to a "I trust you with very intimate information and that makes me feel things" situation.
I need something to sink my teeth into…
He opened the fridge and grabbed a few varieties of vegetables and a carton-shaped thing he'd never seen before. He unscrewed the carton and took a sniff. Was that egg?
Whoah had Adrian engineered egg-protein, That's sick!
"Those new foods Adrian dropped off look promising!" Ryland called over his shoulder.
"There's an egg-like protein in here that looks delicious!
He got to work digging a pan out, turning the heat low, some oil, some salt, a couple plates— before washing the vegetables and setting them on a cutting board and grabbing a knife from the block.
Simon was done in the bathroom and he could hear the man walking up behind him.
"Do you want any veggies on your omlete?" Ryland asked, starting to dice a pepper.
Simon stood next to Ryland and watched him dice for a minute.
"So why can you turn into a fox?" He asked.
Ryland shifted uncomfortably on his heels for a moment. "We don't really know." He grabbed the carton and poured out some egg-protein into the pan, his eyes glassed over a little while he spoke. "My brother always thought it was some kind of family curse. Our parents died when we were little but they tried their best to drill into us that this was a BIG secret before they died."
"You have a brother?"
"I do, we're twins actually, we look identical. He..." Rymand trailed off. "His name is Colt, but I don't know if he even still considers me a brother to be honest. We had a falling out a few years before the Mary was launched."
Ryland scooped up some of the cut veggies and poured them into the pan before grabbing a spatula and flipping half the egg over on itself.
"He never really liked putting his fur on, he has too every once in a while just like me but he always thought that deep down we were monsters for it" Ryland sighed. "Course he may have been right, the last person I told tried to kill me.”
Simon placed his hand on Ryland’s lower back and pulled him closer.
That’s not unwelcome.
“It was a big ordeal actually and I ended up having to move across town. And really there's no shortage of monster myths involving foxes back on earth. Have you ever heard of a Kumiho? It’s a fox spirit from Korean folklore, they're said to seduce men so they can eat them."
He scooped the omelet out of the pan and placed it on a plate before pouring the other half of the eggs and vegetables in the pan.
"Anyway I.. I like having my fur on it's grounding, Being able to leave when being a normal human gets too stressful is a blessing. I used to disappear for days at a time into the wooded areas surrounding San Francisco. I ran and chased, I ate rabbits and listened to the birds— just existed in a way that didn't have expectations attached to it."
He flipped the omelet over and sighed.
"You're being awfully quiet?" Ryland looked over at Simon and watched Simon's other hand rub his neck around his gills.
Simon realised what he was doing and pulled it away. "I meant it when I said I don't think you're a monster" Simon started, "I mean being a fox some of the time isn't worse than being a mutant eel-plant-thing all of the time.”
"And I meant what I said" Ryland scooped up the second omelet and placed it on the plate before setting everything down and placing a hand on Simon's cheek overtop his teeth.
"I still think this is pretty."
I really do.
Simon didn't move, the two stared at each other flushed. Rylands eyes darted down to Simon's lips and... and..
Neither man did anything.
...
"Are you ready to eat?" Simon asked.
I'm starving
"I.. yeah I am." Ryland replied.
Ryland removed his hand from Simon and picked up both the plates, handing one to the other man who took it with both hands and placed it down on his side of the table. Ryland sat down and started eating while Simon prepared 2 glasses of water and set one down for each.
"You know your cooking is amazing, but I didn't realise how much I missed EGGS of all things." Ryland laughed "You know this reminds me of a time when I broke into my neighbor's chicken coop and stole a few eggs one summer." Ryland lifted his right hand out for Simon to see and pointed at a circle shaped scar on his wrist.
"He owned a big enough backyard to support a couple of hens and I was looking for a midnight snack. I did get pecked pretty badly but man those eggs were amazing. It healed quickly but it was hard to walk for a long while. Still I'd say it was worth it."
"Did you mostly eat eggs?" Simon asked.
"Oh no I'd eat a lot of different things food tastes different when you've got fur on, protein tastes like.. I don't know how to describe it, it's got a deeper flavor but it's also kind of sweet. I was really broke in college, some days I could hardly afford food so I would put my fur on and go catch myself a meal. Sometimes I'd catch fish, or a pigeon! Those were treats, birds were always a fun catch— but rabbits were my favorite. You've seen rabbits before, they're small land mammals that can run very fast. That's why I loved them, they tasted delicious yes, but it was something I could run after at full speed. The wind in my fur always made me feel alive.”
Ryland looked up at the clock on the wall and that broke him out of his reverie.
"Oh fudge, I didn't notice the time! I got to get ready for class" Ryland shoved the rest of his omelet into his mouth, placed his dishes in the sink and ran to the bathroom closing the door behind him.
Simon looked down at his plate.
So the man liked to hunt and now here he was stuck with nothing to chase and eating manufactured food. Also he never really noticed before but the man had a lot of leg muscle, he'd never really seen grace without pants before but the man had a runner's build for sure.
And had his teeth always been that sharp?
That revelation really shouldn't have done anything for him but truth be told one peek had guaranteed it was the only thing he would be thinking about today.
——————————————————————————————————————————
Ryland was the first to get home, he usually was, Simon liked spending a lot of his time in the greenhouse. He had a green thumb and Ryland envied it, all the vegetables they had for breakfast were from seeds Simon had somehow coaxed to grow even though he had thought them long dead on the Mary.
He took his shoes off at the door and walked to the sink to clean his dish from this morning but it seems Simon had done the dishes that morning.
He was considerate like that, one of the things Ryland had grown to like about him, he looked scary but really he was sweet once he was no longer scared for his life.It reminded him of the rabbits he was fond of, skittish towards strangers but affectionate when they got to know you.
And therein lies a problem, Ryland was catching feelings and he was just as much a fox as he was a man. His prey drive was becoming a problem; it had been so long since he caught anything.
He itched to chase and bite, to sink his teeth into Simon, to feel the man go limp between his teeth so he may feast.
He's so glad Simon isn't here right now his face is burning.
He shook his head to clear it and turned towards his bedroom, pulling his shirt over and off his body and throwing it on his bed where it landed next to his fur— Ryland froze when he spotted it, every thought from earlier overtaking his mind.
My teeth itch.
——————————————————————————————————————————
Simon was tired, there wasn't a lot that needed done today besides a lot of moving pots and soil back and forth in the greenhouse, planting "season" started next week and he was stressed about it.
It was hard work and Simon reveled in the soreness he could feel setting in already. He knelt down next to a large empty pot shoveling soil into it with a hand trowel.
He looked up and out the frosty xenonite skylights and noted that it was afternoon, the "sun" low in the sky a couple hours of daylight left.
Another scoop into the pot.
It had been two weeks since their breakfast talk and Simon still couldn't get the image of Rylands teeth from his mind, the man was driving him crazy. He flips from acting his normal self to staring holes in him like he was a man starving.
He really was worried when Ryland was "missing" and the aftermath had caused him to mull over some difficult feelings. Simon did care about grace, he supposed he always did but with their status quo being neutral roommates he never really needed to think about what he felt or why he felt it.
It also made Simon happy to know that of the two humans stuck on this planet together they had this in common, just two freaks of nature in space.
And god he was horny for it.
After everything he's been through he supposed he might have picked up some weird tastes along the way, because there's no way he was actually thinking about letting another man hunt him for sport.
It was too warm in here, he had done enough work for today. Simon stood up and used his shirt to wipe the sweat from his brow. Throwing the hand trowel to the ground and turning towards the greenhouse entrance.
"Ryland?"
The fox was standing in the doorway watching Simon. "How long have you been there?" Simon asked.
Ryland stood up, turning around in the doorway. He made a head gesture of "follow me" before running out the door and up the pathway towards the grassland.
And follow he did.
He recognized the path they were taking back to the den. In total it took about 15 minutes to get from the greenhouse to the cliff face, Ryland could tell when Simon needed a breather and slowed down for him until he had caught his breath.
The fox slowed as they were coming up on the outcrop.
Rylands mattress was drug out with a makeshift cover, xenonite poles with a sheet pulled overtop to make a tent. A portable stove a few feet away surrounded by a few other objects from their house. He must have had Rocky's help getting all this out here, it was a cute little campsite.
Ryland walked over beside the stove and started dragging a backpack towards Simon. He took the hint and opened it to find a bunch of containers with various food and items with a note on top.
He took the note and read it out loud
"I thought I’d drag you out with me tonight instead of disappearing for a few days.”
Simon snorted. "Good, cause the last time you didn't eat for 2 days!" he continued reading. "Can you please turn around so I can get changed?"
Ryland had drug his clothes onto the bed. "oh, uh yeah." He turned around nervously, deciding to rifle through what else was in the backpack while he waited.
"You know it must be a pain to be naked once you swap back"
Do NOT think about that right now.
"It can be sometimes" Ryland said while he clothed himself. "You know Carl almost caught me naked once, I put my fur on to go for a jog around the research center and didn't remember to leave the door unlocked. I had to take my fur off in a hallway to unlock it. Ducked into the room just as he was rounding the corner!"
Simon Snorted.
"I'm dressed now."
"So what's the plan? Aaaand can we have whatever is in this bowl for dinner? He said holding up a bowl of stir fry "I am STARVING"
"Yeah, pull out the plates, I'll get the stove going and we can heat it up. Ryland sat on the ground next to the portable stove, looks like Rocky made a few inventions for their outing together.
"Come sit?" He asked, patting the ground next to him.
Simon sat down and handed Ryland the food container. He watched as the man turned it on and dumped the food out onto its cooking surface.
Ryland picked up a large bottle from beside the stove. "Can you hand me the cups too?"
"Yeah." Simon handed him both cups and Ryland filled them with water before passing a cup back. Simon downed his once before holding the cup back out to be filled again.
"Thirsty?" Ryland laughed and filled it again.
"Guess my cardio needs some work" Simon flexed his arms in a display of strength while he laughed. "I got plenty of THIS though.”
"I think you did a great job keeping up actually." Ryland beamed at Simon. "I used to run a lot for fun, human legs too, it's freeing to pick a direction and charge at it! But we've talked a lot about that lately…” Ryland trailed. "I was wondering if we could talk about you?" He was still looking at Simon this time with puppy-dog eyes.
Your eyes are so beautiful
"About... me?"
"Yeah, I mean I feel like I don't know enough about you, I don't want to pressure you into sharing anything you don't want too— now that my biggest secret is out I feel like I can get to know you better." Ryland unhooked a spatula from the side of the camping stove and poked the food around the cooktop.
That made sense, shortly after Simon was brought to Erid they had settled into a friendly you-have-your-space and I-have-mine relationship. Both men had boundaries that were occasionally crossed like those early nights when the memories got to be too much but really they've stuck to their routines for almost a year.
They shared their trauma, both of them and that's really as far as he could say he knew Ryland. He knew of the man's story but what about Ryland himself outside of the small behavioral things he'd noticed over the year. But now he had gotten a taste of something sweet, and he was eager to down the whole bottle, Ryland probably felt the same way.
"Alright, what do you want to know?"
Ryland swayed back and forth and in his excitement his glasses had slid down his face. "Are you actually going to voluntarily tell me about yourself?! Okay I need to think about this!"
"Don't make me regret saying yes." Simon said unamused, he grabbed the spatula from Rylands hand and started stirring the stovetop. "Ask before you burn our dinner" he said dryly.
"Alright, okay what about... Oh! your favorite color?"
"My favorite?" Simon said, confused. Of all the lame questions to ask… But he was being given those puppy-dog eyes again, alright he could think about it.
His favorite color... He liked Adrian's teal carapace, he liked orange too now… But one color made him feel like a boy again.
He laid down in the last tree's roots, staring up through the leaves out into the dark void of a space without stars.
"I like green" Ryland nodded
"What about you?" Simon asked. "I like yellow." Simon hummed at the answer.
Ryland reached over Simon's lap into the backpack and pulled out 2 plates and a couple forks and held both out for Simon to scoop food onto. Simon turned the stove off and grabbed his plate from Ryland before digging in. He really meant it when he said he was starving.
"How about", Ryland asked after a few mouthfuls of food. He reached over to place a few fingers on Simon's prosthetic limb before letting them fall back to his plate "How are you adjusting to having this? I can't believe Adrian was able to help engineer you a whole arm."
Simon could still feel warmth where Ryland had touched him, the feeling in his arm was faint but not nonexistent. It really was a marvel of engineering.
"It's better than I thought it would be” He flexed his fingers, turning his hand over and over examining it. “Adrian said that I wouldn't be able to feel much but it's still more than I hoped for." He put his metal hand under his plate, feeling the faint warmth from the plate seep into his hand.
If Rocky was Ryland's best friend Adrian was his.
"It was really hard the first couple of months without my arm. I was prepared to lose the limb when I tore it off but I wasn't prepared to live long enough to figure out only having one hand.”
He watched Ryland look over the arm starting at the hand and traveling up the arm to Simon's neck. Simon sighed internally and took another bite of food before speaking.
"Ask."
Ryland's eyes were wide.
"Ask" Simon said again, annoyed.
"Can you breathe through those? What about the ones on your abdomen? Are they sensitive like can you feel things touching them?” He paused, “Can I touch them?"
Please touch me.
Simon sighed. "You can touch them later. I'm still hungry. And kind of? They're not very efficient at air breathing but I did dunk my head in our ocean once for my own curiosity.
Which was very scary and I am proud of myself for doing it!
"I can't breathe underwater but I could hold my breath for significantly longer than I remember being able too.”
"What about the teeth on your cheek?"
"What about them?"
"Can I touch those too?
God Yes.
"Later."
Ryland hummed happily in response and the two finished their meal, stacking the dirty dishes inside the Tupperware and packing it back into the backpack.
By the time they were done eating and cleaning up an hour had passed and Simon looked up at the "sky" judging that they'd have about another hour of daylight before the dome went full-dark.
The thought made him antsy.
He was out here a mile from their home and would be sharing a bed with a man he was fantasizing about an hour earlier.
Maybe I didn't think this through?
"You know I'm really glad you're here" Rylands voice cut his thoughts. "I don't know how you got to be orbiting one of Erid's moons, but whatever was in that blood-stuff." Ryland paused. "It may have mutated you, but it also protected you when we had to pull you out of that… that thing they put you in.
Ryland said “thing” with contempt, and Simon was happy that somebody else was mad for him.
And he never really thought about it like that before, he was unconscious when they pulled him from the SM-13, the sub was supposedly floating in space. And that kind of puts a new perspective on things because some teeth in your cheek is a small price to pay for a second chance at life.
Especially when I wasn't supposed to survive.
"I don't think I've ever said thank you for that." He looked Ryland in the eye. "Thank you for finding me."
He was looking at him with adoration again, like Simon was something to care about.
I don't deserve that look.. keep looking at me.
Ryland reached out and gently placed a hand on Simon's cheek, rubbing his fingers around the teeth before traveling down his neck and over one of the gills. "This is so cool! Ryland took the gills between two fingers and rubbed to feel the texture.
"Fucking christ!" Simon laughed and grabbed Ryland's hand away from him. "That tickles, stop!"
Rylands gaze stayed on his gills for a moment before looking at his prosthesis. Simon dropped their wrist and both of the other man's hands grabbed his metal hand.
"Woah!" Ryland’s hands started moving themselves over Simon’s. "The texture is SO cool, it's like little triangles over the surface!"
He turned Simon's hand and arm over in his hands working his fingers over every inch of the arm. He was touching the bicep when he crawled into Simon's lap to get a better angle for his exploration.
Good lord this man has no sense of spacial awareness when he starts to fixate on something and Ryland was having the time of his life torturing Simon, touching every inch of his upper arm he could before reaching for his neck again.
Ryland had wiggled closer to get a better look at the spines protruding from them, pricking a finger over one of the spines careful not to pull on anything.
"I once caught this snapper, a kind of fish.” Ryland was looking Simon in the eyes while his hand rubbed another spine. “It was a tough catch.”
Simon's gaze lowered from his eyes to the other man's mouth as he kept talking.
"The shape of their gills is similar to yours."
Ryland placed his hand on Simon's cheek, a question hung in the air between them.
Do you want this?
I want this more than anything
He hooked his arm around Rylands waist and pulled him closer, he had to look up at the other man now.
Rylands voice was a whisper. "Is this okay?"
"The only thing I can think of lately is how much I want your teeth in my skin." Ryland cupped his face. "I've seen you looking at me when you think I'm not watching, like I'm something you want to eat"
"I don't want to hurt you Simon."
"I want you t—!"
Ryalnd was kissing him.
He kissed him back, gentle for a moment before the floodgates opened and Ryland was kissing him like the world depended on it.
Frantic closed mouth kisses turned wet when Ryland swiped his tongue over Simon's lips asking to be let in. Their tongues explored each other, Simon ran his tongue over the other man's teeth and moaned into his mouth.
They parted for air, both panting. Ryland's hands dipped under Simon's shirt and began touching him like a man starving, lifting the shirt as he went.
"Lift your arms up."
Simon did as he was told, lifting his arms up so Ryland could lift his shirt. When the fabric was around Simon's wrist Ryland gathered the fabric in his fist creating a makeshift restraint.
Ryland tugged on the fabric.
Oh fuck fuck fuck fuck
He was kissing Simon Ryland's tongue in his mouth and he was eager to let the man take what he needed from him.
Ryland slid Simon's shirt the rest of the way off and nipped at the man's chest and up his neck.
"You are perfect."
Never stop saying that
Ryland grabbed Simon's chin and moved his head to the side before licking up the man's cheek over the scar tissue.
"I'm going to give you a 5 minute headstart."
5 minutes?— OH ...
Ryland crawled off Simon's lap and stood up while pulling his shirt up and off himself. Simon watched for a moment before his brain caught up.
Oh dear fucking God this is happening.
He got up and ran.
The “sun” was low in the sky and was about to reach its sunset phase.
Where could he go?
He couldn't make it back to their house in 5 minutes, he could make it in one go with this adrenaline high but not before Ryland caught up to him. He didn't know this area as well as Ryland did but he picked a direction and was sprinting. He counted the seconds in his head. and he slowed around the 3 minute mark, and it would be at least three minutes before Ryland caught up with him.
“Fuck” Simon swore trying to catch his breath.
God's he could probably hear and smell better than a human could. Simon dragged his hands over his face and mentally kicked himself for not asking what fox-senses were like.
Oh I'm going to DIE.
…
Ryland barked in the distance and Simon's heart rate spiked.
Okey Simon, think. We're not going to make it easy for him even if I want him to catch me.
He decided he was going to run back around the outside of the bio-dome and circle back, maybe by sticking close to the edge he'd be able to outrun the man for a few more minutes.
He really needed to do more cardio, this probably wasn't going to be a one-time occurrence with how incredibly turned on he was right now.
——————————————————————————————————————————
Ryland barked once loudly, a signal to Simon that his time was up and he started off in the direction he saw Simon take.
His body was singing. Grass and wind danced over him and he felt alive. He opened his mouth to get a good whiff of the air.
He could smell Simon, he was heading east towards the ocean cliffs. Fox senses were weird, it's like he could "see” smells— he could see the route the other man had taken without using his eyes at all. Which was for the best as the sky was now fully in sunset mode and getting darker by the second, and while his night vision was good it wasn't as good as true foxes.
He followed his scent until it reached a spot where it was thicker. Simon had caught his breath here and continued up along the dome wall back towards the campsite.
Simon was right that he needed more cardio but Ryland knew that in time he'd be able to chase for far longer.
But now he had a decision to make, Simon was headed back towards the campsite, so did he want to follow the path Simon had taken and toy with the man or take a direct route and cut him off? Oh his tail twitched with delight, he loved this so much! He decided on a mix, he would cut halfway between both paths. He would catch up with Simon and toy with him a little.
He barked again and took off.
I’m coming for you little rabbit.
Soon he could hear Simon's footfalls in the distance, he was gaining on him, 15, 30, 60, 120 more seconds passed and he could see Simon, clear as day even in the dim light.
Simon stole a quick glance over his shoulder. "Oh FUCK"
Simon adjusted his path more southward, Ryland was large for a fox. And Simon hoped to use that body weight against him to buy precious seconds. Simon could turn faster than Ryland could and hopefully if he planned this right it would buy him enough time to make it back to the clearing.
He could hear Ryland gaining on him, the grass rustling on his right side. Just a few more seconds 10... 5... 3. 2. 1.
Ryland was on him now keeping pace on Simon’s right side, he kicked off the ground to pounce on him. Simon anticipated this though and threw himself to the ground in front of him.
Oh you little shit!
Ryland yelped as he flew over Simon's body instead of colliding with it. He skid across the ground struggling for a few seconds to find traction before kicking off with his hind legs in the direction Simon had thrown himself onto.
Simon recovered quicker than he did and used those precious seconds to start himself on a beeline towards the campsite.
60 seconds that's all he needed. It wasn't going to “save” him, but it would be more comfortable than getting caught in the grass after Ryland put in so much effort to drag a mattress all the way out here.
Simon was starting to feel tired, his stamina was depleted but he could SEE the camp now and it gave him enough willpower to keep going.
Almost there… one more step.
Ryland was right behind him and Simon heard the fox push off the ground to pounce on him again.
Simon burst into the clearing and spun his weight on his heels to turn around losing his balance. He started falling.
I’ve got you now!
Ryland shrugged his fur off and he fell on top of the other man pinning him to the ground.
Simon’s eyes were closed and he was panting.
You did so good!
Ryland’s hands found their way into Simon’s hair, rubbing his scalp and combing grass from him. "Simon?" He asked.
"Give me... a.. minute"
He held the man for a few minutes, kissing his face and whispering to him. "that was amazing" and "you did so good!" Ryland didn't miss the way Simon grew flustered at the praise.
Simon reached for Ryland and pulled him closer, pressing their lips together.
"Next time" Simon huffed. "Let me stretch first, good GOD."
His ears burned and the way Simon was looking at him right now reignited everything he was feeling earlier.
"Simon" He asked again, "are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Simon said, his hands searching the rock behind him. His fingers brushed the bedding behind him, finding what he was looking for.
“Ry the bed is behind us.”
Somewhere between outside the tent and squarely inside of it, Ryland’s tongue found its way into Simon’s mouth.
They parted for air and Ryland kissed Simon’s body, over the scars on his cheek and down his neck. One of his hands pushed the other man’s pants farther down and the other held his body weight.
"Ry" Simon whined and placed a hand on Rylands face and rolled his head to the side exposing his neck. “Please?”
Absolutely baby.
Ryland kissed Simon's gills before licking along their ridges, Simon shuddered and whined. He bit him where his neck met shoulder.
"Oh GOD yes" Simon moaned
Truth be told he didn't believe that Simon wanted that, this was a man he'd seen freak out because he'd accidentally cut himself and the sight of his own blood freaked him out. But that? That was a heavenly confirmation that he could... And boy would he.
The shorter man's pants were still annoyingly on and between Ryland kissing, licking, nipping and biting every inch this man he pulled them off Simon as quickly as he could.
He kissed his way down to Simon's chest, licked over his nipple and bit his shoulder in 3 different places— each eliciting increasingly louder moans from the man.
Simon had one arm propping himself on the elbow and another holding onto the arm Ryland had his weight on. Rylands other arm explored, traced scars he couldn't see but wanted to commit to memory. down further his body they went until his fingers were grazing Simon's cock.
Simon's grip on Ryland's arm tightened and he leaned into Simon.
"What do you want Si? what do you need?"
"I want.. touch me, please!"
Ryland wrapped his fingers around Simon and stroked him slowly while continuing the assault on Simon's skin. Down his chest, to his stomach, down to his thigh. He licked up his inner thigh at the same timing he stroked him with and listened to the sounds of a man coming undone.
"You are so beautiful." he hummed. Before sinking his teeth into the soft flesh of Simon's inner thigh.
"Ry!" Simon gasped "I lied, I need you to fuck me”
Ryland kissed simons forehead "I need to go grab something"
Simon whined at the loss of warmth when Ryland got up, God it was so dark out here he couldn't see where he ended and the tent began.
Ryland returned and pressed a small bottle into Simon's hands, holding it so Simon could feel what it was. Admittedly Ryland had hoped this was how the night would end up, and ever the wishful thinker did not forget the lube.
"Do you want me too, or do you want to?" He asked and kissed Simon and before adding. "You did say to let you stretch first next time.”
"Oh fuck you" simon snorted snagging Ryland’s lips into another kiss while snatching the bottle from his hand.
"Ry?"
"Yes beautiful"
"Stay close to me please."
Ryland pressed their bodies together, both of his hands holding Simon’s face in a gentle embrace. "You'll never have a day when I'm not close to you."
He pressed his face into Simon's shoulder, licking the bruises that surely started to form there.
Simon had spread some of the liquid among his fingers and Ryland could tell he had chosen to use the xenonite arm, the texture of it was fascinating and fleetingly he wondered what it must feel like.
He held onto Simon's leg supporting them while his partner stretched himself open. He sucked on Simon's ear when the first finger went in.
"You're doing so good"
I am going to weaponize that praise kink.
He kissed Simon, swallowing his sounds. Rubbing circles on his hips when he pushed the second finger in.
"Keep going, you're being so good for me"
Simon whined and grabbed onto one of Rylands arms. He held Simon's head, kissing under his chin while his hand traced along the man's lips and up along the mutated portion of the man's face where soft flesh became sharp teeth and pointed keratin. Simon slid a third finger in.
"That’s it baby, you’re so beautiful." Ryland captured Simon's mouth again, swallowing the needy moans escaping from him and felt around the sheets where he thought the bottle ended up. Finding it he spread some of the bottle's contents over himself. His cock twitched when the cool liquid was applied and grace had the realization that he hadn't touched himself at all tonight. When's the last time he had somebody to fawn over like this... had he ever?
Simon whimpered when he removed his fingers from himself and the sound was tragically pitiful.
"Sh, sh, sh" Ryland kissed Simon's eyes "lift your hips up for me please" when he moved Ryland bunched and smoothed the sheets under him trying to create a better angle.
Ryland guided the larger man's legs around his waist and fished in the sheets until he found the man's prosthetic hand and held it tightly.
"Are you still okay with this?"
"Please. He whined.
He guided himself into the man, slowly, a little bit at a time. Simon’s breath hitched. "Thats it, breathe" another inch and more
"You feel so good, Si" Simon whined and a hand pushed against Ryland's lower stomach, wanting to feel the muscles working for his pleasure at motion.
The man below him was dripping with need. Grinding against grace for whatever friction he could steal.
"Taking all of me so well, such a good boy."
Simon sobbed,
"Do you want me to move? Use your words baby"
"Yes GOd yes"
Ryland rolled his hips and Simon's body was on fire. He was so wildly overstimulated right now he couldn't tell where his skin ended and the air began. Ryland rolled his hips a few more times, at various angles until he found one that made Simon's legs tense around him This wasn't going to last long and honestly neither was he, he hadn't touched himself in a long while.
"You feel so good" Ryland's hand left Simon's thigh and pressed gently to his throat feeling every noise he made.
"And you sing so sweet for me" he dipped his head down and licked over the man's gills again feeling more tension shoot through Simon's body.
"Ry... ry!.. I” Simon clung to Ryland in whatever ways he could.
"I know baby, I know. Cum for me I'm right behind you. Both of them were so close, Ryland kissed his neck right below the ear and then sank his teeth into the soft spot to send both of them over the edge. He kept his teeth firmly in Simon's neck, probably a little harder than he meant to and held the man as he tensed and cried out before relaxing in Ryland's grip.
And there it was.
The feeling of something going limp beneath him while his teeth were in their neck that primal need satiated, a hunt completed, prey devoured.
Ryland let go of the man's neck and made a mental note to apologize for that later, he could taste the man's blood in his teeth and he knew Simon would be uncomfortable with the blood. He ran his fingers through the hair of the man beneath him.
"Simon?" No response
"Simon." He called again a little louder.
He moved his fingers from the man's hair to the man's face, his breathing was quick but slowing and his eyelids were closed.
Simon was dead to the world.
Ryland supposed it wasn't NOT going to happen considering how much physical activity happened today, but he couldn't help but swell with a little pride. He hasn't had sex in probably 20+ years at this point and he still had it in him.
But exhaustion was waiting for him too, and he left the tent to grab a towel from the bag and wet it with their water bottle before cleaning Simon and then himself the best he could in the inky darkness.
Whenever "next time" is he's going to make sure there's some daylight left so he can see the look on Simon's face when he tells him he is just being so good for him.
Ryland carefully unfurled the sheets from below both of them and instead laid them Overtop.
He curled himself around Simon, wanting to make sure that when the man woke up he felt safe. All of that? It was ... intense. A lot happened to him tonight and Ryland wanted to make sure he felt safe while he processed all of it.
They fell asleep with Ryland's head on Simon's chest and their legs still curled together.
——————————————————————————————————————————
The morning light hit Simon's eyes and it stirred him awake. He felt... terrible for lack of a better word, his body ached in places he didn’t know COULD ache. And where was he? Why was he so warm? Ryland sighed in his sleep and Simon was startled by the noise, opening his eyes to recognize the tent and where they were.
Simon tried to extradite himself from Ryland's grip only to catch a glimpse of his chest.
"What the fuck…?" There were bruises everywhere, across his chest, down his abdomen and peeking out from where the blankets fell off his legs in the night.
Oh, he remembered now, he got his shit absolutely rocked last night. Simon moved some of Grace's hair out of the way to look at the sleeping man better, running his fingers through it.
"You're telling me," Simon whispered to nobody. "The same man who did this,” He gestured to himself. “Is the same person who I have seen cry at every minor inconvenience for the last 8 months?”
"Mmm" Ryland hummed, lifting his head from Simon's chest to look at the man. "Afraid so." Ryland stretched and removed himself from Simon's side to grab the backpack and take a small box from it.
"Hey Simon" Ryland said, getting the man's attention. " I got a little too er.. rough night and bit you pretty hard on the neck, I broke some of the skin. Would you let me look at it now that I can see it?"
Simon touched his neck brushing the scab, panic setting in.
"Simon" Ryland grabbed the other man's hand and held it "Simon look at me, you are okay. Can you let me look at it.?" Simon looked at their held hand and nodded.
"Alright, I'm going to touch you, keep still.”
The wound was scabbed over, it was red and purple but not an angry red to suggest infection. That was good.
"This might sting a little..." He unpacked an alcohol wipe and gently wiped it over the area, then a packet of antibiotic cream, and finally a bandage before packing the trash back into the med kit and tossing it aside.
"There all done" ryland smiled and Simon's hand went back to his neck, no visible discomfort on his face now that he couldn't feel the blood"
"Ry?"
"Yeah bud"
"I feel like I got thrown into Eden's trash compactor and spat back up.”
Ryland curled back up onto Simon's chest and pulled the blankets around them. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Simon moved to pet Ryland’s hair.
"Simon last night was a lot, do you need to talk about it?"
Did he want to talk about it? No he didn't, but it was a lot…
"Well answer my question first, I watched you cry last week because you couldn't decide what movie to watch because both were "SuCh GoOd MoViEs.” Simon mimicked.
"I've asked myself the same a few times, especially when I was younger"
Ryland twirled a piece of Simon's hair that fell on his chest. His hair wasn't normally down, his headband must have gotten knocked off sometime last night.
"I don't like sex because it's sex, I mean of course it feels good but it's something I could do without. I did a lot of crazy stuff when I was young, never staying the night in my own bed, taking pills from strangers. Then one day I realised I didn't like what I was doing to myself."
Ryland brushed the pieces of hair he could reach with his fingers
"I found out that I really only liked sex when I was friends with them, when I trusted them not to hurt me. The problem was I was a very hurt kid who really couldn't open up enough to people to form connections like that. So I just stopped trying."
Of course you know how that turned out for me... not even a dog..." Ryland popped the g on dog for emphasis.
"But you did have a family, your brother? Why didn't Stratt count him?"
"He did count, I know he did, but one man's brother against earth's survival. She made the right choice and I'm okay with that, I'm happy here."
That didn't really seem fair to Simon but he had a point, he'd seen the stars with his own eyes. It wasn't one of his finest moments either, the memory is bittersweet. He got to see real, actual, honest to God STARS and they were so beautiful! On the other hand he had cried on his knees in front of a stranger and their rock-alien BFF. Not cool.
"Can I ask you a question now?"
"S'pose"
"Did you LIKE everything we did last night?"
Simon moved both his hands up to rub his face "I loved it"
Ryland looked up at Simon, the man wasn't meeting his gaze and was red in the face.
Oh that's interesting, next time I'm bringing a light.
"I'm not judging you by the way. I just didn't expect it is all"
"Nobody ever does.." There was some pain there, he could hear it.
"Do you want to talk about that?"
“No…” Simon paused for a minute. “On Eden I was one of the toughest guys around, I mean I've told you the things I did. I've killed people." Simon took a deep breath.
“My brothers and I would fool around a lot when we were younger. Then the years went by, reputations changed, I was the Father's favorite, THE butcher. Everyone assumed that I took all of that into the bedroom for some fucking reason, for a while I pretended that I did. I became the tough guy everyone wanted to blow steam off with until I realized I didn't care.”
"Comfort wasn't common, it cost rations, or favors and sometimes it cost lives, nobody looked at me and saw somebody who was looking for the same things they came to me for.
"That's... no that's a lot Simon. I'm sorry that happened to you. Thank you for telling me.
"For the love of God STOP doing that!"
Simon's hands were over his face again. And Ryland sat up off his chest.
"Doing what exactly..?" Ryland reached out and grabbed one of Simon's wrists and pulled it away from his face, smiling when he put up no resistance to the action.
"I am going to have a heart attack!”
"Oh please, nobody has ever had a heart attack from being told their eyes are the most gorgeous shade of brown I've ever seen"
"I am going to DIE!" Simon crawled out the tent and stood up, making exclamation hand gestures. "I need to piss, stop TALKING to me!"
Ryland laughed out loud at the display... oh he also had to pee. Ugh. Supposed it was time to get up and stretch and make sure he had cleaned off well enough.
Simon came back to the tent and sat down calmer. Ryland had grabbed the water bottle and another clean towel and crawled into the tent beside him. He wet the spare towel thoroughly before handing Simon the bottle.
He looked at it before taking a few swigs from it, it didn't look like Ryland had any to drink and he didn't want to drink it all before he had a chance too.
"It was so dark last night, I tried to clean us up as best I could but there's bound to be stuff I missed. He said and handed the cloth to Simon who looked himself over again.
"It’s a little hard to tell if anything is still on me when I’m purple"
"I.." Ryland started before taking a good look at Simon and the words caught in his throat.
"Oh fudge I'm so sorry, give me that back." Simon passed the towel back and started wiping spots on Simon's body. It was actually kind of relaxing and Simon laid back onto the bedding, relishing that he was the one being taken care of, and that he trusted that grace did not have any ill intent behind it. It was nice... nerve wracking, but nice to not be in danger anymore.
"So" Simon started." What time is Rocky supposed to come back and help you haul this stuff back home?”
"Oh.. uh, not until tomorrow morning. Looks like I'll need to run back and grab some more water but I brought plenty of food for us and my laptop in the bag too.
"That's good. If I have to walk for more than 2 minutes right now I'm going to collapse.” Wait... Simon sat back up. Tomorrow...? That didnt make sense .. unless...
"Ryland" Simon said flatly "Did you plan this lil’ trip with the intent to chase me around a fucking field all night?”
The fox laughed this time, a laugh like the gekkering he'd heard last night came from the man next to him and he watched a flush already sneaking into his face as Ryland crawled over Simon's lap to straddle him, a hand cradling his chin.
"I took a calculated risk" said Ryland as he moved Simon's chin around watching Simon's eyes follow him. "Fairly certain you would be interested, but I had good plausible deniability in case you weren't."
His eyes left simons, pulling the shorter man's chin up and out scanning down the side of his neck and shoulders.
Simon's eyes never left the Rylands. The Fox was still hungry and he was trapped until he could walk back to their home.
He really wasn't joking about those foxes that ate men, was he?
——————————————————————————————————————————
"Adrian! Beloved! I bring big news!"
"My mate, yes yes, what news? Question?"
"Rocky, Adrian go on a date! Just saw Grace. He has big big plans today with Simon, we go watch! Statement.”
"Human observation? Question."
"Yes, yes! Grace has plans to court Friend Simon this evening, tell Rocky all about big plans to mate with Simon. Rocky, Adrian sneak into bio-dome and observe human mating! Statement."
"Won't humans see us? Question. Their eyesight is very good."
"Rocky has a solution! Grace take friend Simon out late in the evening. And give a mate gift of food while waiting for the dome to be dark before trying to mate with Friend Simon. Plan is Rocky, Adrian wait in the airlock until Grace Simon leave the house. Rocky, Adrian enter the dome and hide behind ocean rocks. After dark, sneak closer and observe human mating! Is perfect! Statement."
"Beloved mate, plan sounds agreeable."
Adrian watched their mate sway on their limbs excitedly chittering about their new evening plans.
They're so cute!
Adrian ran a claw down a seam in the side of Rocky's carapace and felt the smaller Eridian shudder as they did.
Yes, tonight would be much fun.