Ryland Grace a painfully awkward man. Even in space. He'd been awkward on Earth, too - a man who preferred researching molecules too small to denounce his work than other humans. Even as a teacher, having to make a call home or having to meet with a student's parents were his most dreaded time of year.

His awkwardness had only worsened when he was basically voluntold to participate in the engineering and biological discoveries related to the astrophage. Being surrounded by the world's best scientists had a way of making even the most renowned professionals feel small. Which he was not. So, you know. He felt even smaller.

He would probably be happier if he never had to talk to another adult human face to face for as long as he lived, simply researching or reading in a cozy little nook somewhere far, far away from it all.

Or that's what he thought. Before space. Before waking up on the Hail Mary.

He didn't wake up alone. He'd assumed he had, at first - he neither heard nor saw anyone for several days after he became conscious. You'd woken up and scared the everloving hell out of him one morning (night? It was impossible to tell in space) and making him nearly have a heart attack.

You were nothing like Grace. Where he was timid and preferred to be quiet, you were always so alive and vibrant. He vaguely remembered you back on Earth - the first night he met you, he'd seen you dancing in the middle of the makeshift dance floor on the ship the meetings took place on.

Extrovert and introvert. Now sort of forced to be like two peas in a pod, or... two humans in a huge metal ship.

It wasn't terrible, living on the Hail Mary with you. You were still smart. You'd help him get something if he needed it mid-experiment. And Rocky liked you a lot, too, following you when he wasn't crawling through his vast network of bubbles. He was... well, he was content, if he was honest.

He emerged from his workstation to find you in the little "Earth" dome. Music was playing from somewhere. "What are you doing?" He approached slowly.