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“Earth,” spoke from the hottest planet, the voice cutting off Earth’s thoughts and hallucinations to be able to see the real thing in front of him. His eyes baggy and dark, devoid of any sparkle or light, Venus thought he was seeing things when suddenly Earth’s eyes lit up like a dog seeing his favorite squeaky toy when he saw Venus, trying to figure out if he was really there and wasn’t just in his mind.
Luna came from behind the planet, looking guilty of something with a hint of sadness and concern. Earth’s mood shifted once again for the third time in a few seconds, watching how his moon floated up behind him and looked away with the guilt of something. Earth was confused, but nonetheless was happy that the real planets were there in front of him. Venus stared at those lifeless happy eyes of his neighboring sustainable planet, wondering if this was really his true emotions.
Venus inhaled carefully, calming himself to make sure he didn’t blow up in the Earth’s face, causing a scene or some unnecessary screaming or yelling at each other. This isn’t Mercury, this is his old best friend, who… only used him for validation, but was still a friend nonetheless for a few million years. “Moon- or… Luna, told me that something happened with the Sun while Mars and I were busy with the moon's attack.”
Earth’s emotions suddenly dropped like the deadend of an earthling rollercoaster, fear in his eyes grew as he backed away from Venus’ gravity influence, looking back at Luna with a look of betrayal and anger. Luna seemed on edge of sobbing, he attempted to explain, opening his mouth before Earth suddenly held his mouth shut with his own hand. Luna watched with horror as Earth slowly backed away from them, his own brother and his own longtime crush he hurt, betrayed him.
The other planet attempted to close the gravity between them again, trying to figure out why Earth was moving away from them, Venus just wanted to talk. But the fear in his eyes told me that he wouldn’t even be able to speak unless given the opportunity to talk about his feelings for once, without hurting anyone in the process. Venus wants to give him that opportunity, to give Earth a chance, to be friends again like old times.
“Earth,” Venus tried again, stopping the planet from going any further with his gravity, hoping not to scare him more than he already is. Luna backed off, to make sure that Earth knows he’s allowed to speak and that Luna didn’t mean to, that he didn’t want to break the promise he had made with the Earth. To keep what happened a secret to everyone else who wasn’t involved, but with Venus — he gets his way whether it may be a promise or not. Mercury knows that, Mars knows that, every rocky planet knows that.
“Venus,” Earth breathed out with a shake in his voice, low and timid, unlike the Earth Venus knew millions of years ago, unlike the planet who had insulted the Moons that created this entire mess, that made Venus and Mars get hurt, and Earth blaming himself indirectly for it. “Nothing happened with the Sun,” he lied through the obvious, Venus could practically taste the lie falling out of Earth’s mouth.
But then, when Earth thought that Venus might lash out, or throw an insult, or start yelling at him to try and force the truth out of Earth — the scorching planet suddenly smiled, and not in a terrifying, creepy way that Venus normally does. A genuine, soft, caring smile that almost made Earth let down his guard in shock. Neither of them drew their eyes away from one another, like they were the only ones in the universe, only them against the expandable.
Venus let his hand out for the Earth to take, letting him think about it, giving him the opportunity for Earth to back away if he wanted to, but also giving him a way to talk about what he’s gone through when he was alone. Giving Earth a chance to be great again, to be a kind planet like he once was - despite the arrogance. He kept the soft, endearing smile on, hoping that it might show that Venus won’t do anything that the Earth didn’t want or wasn’t comfortable with.
Earth stared at his hand, stared at the opportunity to talk about things, not just with Mercury and Luna. To open up to Venus, he wanted to- he really wanted to. But… Luna, Luna had betrayed him. Thinking that the Earth would accept this, that Earth would let his guard down, to be left alone again after spilling so much of his guilt and pride onto Venus. That he’d be looked down upon, that Venus wouldn’t actually help him, that Luna just wanted to let everyone know just how stupid of a planet Earth was.
He smacked Venus’ hand away, quickly turning himself around and escaping Venus’ gravitational influence, almost taking Luna with him with his own gravity, but made sure that neither could follow. He heard yelling, probably Venus, that called for him to stop, but he had given Earth the chance of leaving, why is Venus trying to stop him? He’s left, that is his choice to make. Venus cannot change that because that’s just who he is - a dumb planet that thinks he can get the truth out of everyone. Well not from the Earth. Not this time.
With the absence of air within space, Earth could never notice how fast he was moving, thinking that he was just orbiting his path around the Sun. Only then did the warmth of the star become hotter than normal, he expected it to be colder as he was moving towards the Asteroid Belt. Or, thinking he was moving towards it. Not away from it to the opposite side, towards-
“EARTH!” Venus suddenly appeared in front of him, Earth noticed he wasn’t so close, but not far that his gravity wouldn’t be felt, which was stopping him slowly and making sure that they did not collide. Their combined gravity felt like magnets of the opposite pole, which startled the Earth into stopping himself quickly, finally realizing how fast he was moving towards the Sun.
Both planets came to a full stop, Venus panting as if he’d run a marathon trying to stop Earth. Who, said planet, was confused and in utter shock at himself. Had his own instincts brought him onto the path towards the Sun again, or was it his own blindness that didn’t realize what direction he was going in? Earth looked over at Venus, seeing the terror, seeing how he was on the brink of tears. The fear in Venus’ own eyes was something Earth had never seen before, and honestly, he didn’t want to ever see it again.
Luna came practically speeding towards the Earth, slowing himself down when he felt like he got near him - he knew Earth’s gravity better than anyone else. Luna ran up and basically squeezed Earth in a big hug as he sobbed loudly, trying to get Earth back to his original orbit. Earth was confused still, looking at Venus for answers. But he, too, was now crying, as the tears evaporated with the temperature of his surface. He attempted to speak through the sobs, only to make it worse. Earth had never seen Venus in such a pitiful state as now, not even when he blackmailed him about being the Goddess of Love and Beauty. This was way worse.
As Venus slowly came too, rubbing his eyes of the burning sensation of crying, he cleared his throat to speak to the confused planet; “This is my orbit, Earth,” he quietly got out with a hoarse voice. Those blue eyes darted around the solar system, noticing that, yes, he was in Venus’ orbit. The scorching heat of the Goldilocks Zone’s warm region, a place too close to the Sun, a place which destroyed life on Venus’ surface billions of years ago.
Earth felt how his liquid wanted to evaporate all together, feeling the heat rising a little too fast for his liking, causing a wave of panic that another realization dawned on him that, yes - this was indeed still Venus’ orbit. How had he gone so far away from Earth’s perfect sustainable zone that it had caused Venus himself to get so worried— that Earth would have to witness the hotheaded planet cry.
The two of them ignored any other emotions Earth held, using both of their gravities to lead Earth back to his home orbit, to where the heat wouldn’t be such a bother to his liquid, in hopes that his Earthlings didn’t have to suffer for long. Luna was still sobbing immensely, his face wet with tears, barely able to speak through the cries. Earth brought his hand up to make Luna look at him, he smiled at his precious moon, wiping away the tears. Luna smiled wobbly, a sobbing laugh escaping at what had transpired. Earth joined his brother, hugging each other once again for comfort.
Venus attempted to stop crying on his own, hoping to not interrupt the celestial brothers in their moment. But when Earth took hold of his hand and led it away from his face, a soft smile adorning Earth’s expression, Venus’ cries continued as the moment hit him full force again.
“Earth!” He cried, squeezing the hand that held his own, leaning into the gravity of the other planet in an attempt to hug him. Venus’ wails broke Earth’s core, still confused on why Venus of all planets is crying - did he care that much about him? But soon did Venus begin to speak again, “I… seeing you heading towards the Sun. The feeling of losing you. It hit me like a solar flare - that I can’t lose you. Not again, never again. I am here for you, you can talk to me, I won’t say a thing. Use me as a punching bag for your feelings, I don’t care. Just please don’t leave me.”
“Venus…” The Earth replied, a solemn shock graced him, unable to think of any words to say other than the planet’s name, a slow slur that left his tongue that felt like burning scars finally hitting a rush of cold water. A relief that spilled with the word that Venus did indeed care for him, more than anyone else - though Luna was up there near the top as well. Earth never thought in a million years that Venus would care for him so much that saying his name would bring Earth relief of suffering.
Though, that relief quickly was washed away as something new burned at his core, scratching at him to be set free. Wanting to scream out and just— launch himself into Venus’ warmth. Looking at Venus cry for him again, heat started itching at his face, but he could not look away from the beauty in front of him. His crush riled up again in his core, but his mind was trying to stop such feelings from exploding out of him. Venus is giving him an opening to be free, so why is he not taking it? Taking the opportunity for relief.
Listening to his heart has always been difficult to do, as his mind has full control over what he does, what he says, and what he wants. His mind and his heart clash cores all the time, and he has no say in which one comes out on top - he knows which one will. His mind is a powerful thing, sometimes his heart wishes it wasn’t real, that it had no control. Multiple times his heart wanted to reach out at Venus, to hug him, to comfort him, to just kiss him throughout this entire transaction. But his mind just swats it away and lets it go back to slumber and slump.
Watching Venus try stopping his tears again was giving Earth a wave of emotions from how pretty he looked when he cried. The small smoke from the tears evaporating made him look adorable, the little agape mouth that tried to keep in the sobs made Earth’s core want to leap at him and take that mouth for his own. The shine in his eyes from the sparkling tears were never before seen, and Earth oh so badly wanted to wipe them away.
More tears poured from his eyes, and Venus stopped trying to hold them back, accepting defeat that his emotions were too much to handle. Instead letting them go and release themselves, sobbing Earth’s name as the realization of losing him kept repeating itself in Venus’ mind. The embarrassment of crying in front of Earth was never there, thrown away like it didn’t matter anymore, and Venus was glad that he didn’t feel like he couldn’t cry.
“Earth…” Venus had whispered softly, looking through hooded eyes filled with sorrow and fear, seeing Earth’s adoration made his cheeks heat up. He tried looking away, but never realized that Earth’s hand had found its way to his chin, keeping him still as they locked eyes once more. Neither smiled, but could tell that they were entranced by one another, and Venus’ tears began to slow down. He felt the thumb of Earth’s hand lift itself unconsciously to Venus’ cheek, slowly caressing the tear stains away.
It felt like eternity when Earth finally decided to lean closer, not by much, but slightly closing into Venus’ gravity that made Venus’ temperature heating up more than normal. Earth could tell, he felt it on his hand, which began to cup the other’s jaw, moving a strand of hair that got stuck to the evaporating tears. His adoration growing with the slight shift in his eyes. Venus wanted to cower, the lost embarrassment trying to find its way in. Earth chuckled, a smile so bright that everyone that happened just minutes ago was forgotten, replaced with another genuine smile from Venus.
After ages, did Earth begin to speak in a hushed tone, barely audible but only to Venus, “You have no idea how long it’s been that I’ve wanted to say these words to you…” He started, letting Venus’ mind wander around on what words it may be, waiting for when he realizes. And it was a sight to behold when he did, the small blush that was barely noticeable from Venus’ red atmosphere got darker, spreading across his face that he almost choked on his own saliva. Earth let a breathy laugh at his reaction, leaning in to where Venus couldn’t tell he was. Their breath was felt together, and Earth couldn’t be more happier than now; “I’ve loved you since the day I first saw you.”
Venus did not respond, but nor did he have time to either way, as Earth almost closed the gap between them, letting go of his face to give Venus an out if he did not want any of this. But Venus only took hold of his hand again, bringing it back up to where it originally was, caressing his jaw as Venus’ wrapped his arms around Earth's neck, pushing him in to fully close that annoying gap between them. Their lips fit perfectly in each other, like they were meant to touch, and nor did they ever come up for air (who needs air in space?)
Earth felt the steam of tears against his face, peaking through to see that Venus had started crying again. Worried, he let go carefully, ignoring the way Venus’ whine made him feel. “What's wrong, my dear? Too much?”
“Not enough,” Venus immediately stated, trying to pull Earth back down again, but was stopped with a pull of gravity from Earth. He sighed, “I’m fine. Just… happy tears. I’m happy. There’s nothing wrong.”
To that, the Earth felt relieved, the feeling that he did something wrong again was gone, replaced with the sheer joy from earlier again, “I am happy, too,” he said. “I am satisfied I’ve finally said those words.”
Venus’ expression turned smug, “I won’t be satisfied until you kiss me again. Harder and longer, damnit.”
Earth opened his mouth, ready to fight back, but interrupted by a loud scoff from behind them. They’ve forgotten Luna was still there. Earth laughed awkwardly, rubbing his neck as he turned around. “I’m so happy you got that out of your system after billions of years, Earth, but did it really have to happen in front of me and also literally twenty minutes after you just tried to kill yourself? AGAIN?”
“Haha… Right— Ahem. Sorry, Luna… I swear this time, it won’t happen again. I… know I broke the promise, but this time it was purely by accident, I didn’t realize what direction I was going in. Everything was just so… hazy and I felt betrayed,” Luna frowned, that had happened as well, he remembers. “It won’t happen. Not when I have something to live for this time…” He smiled, looking back at Venus, who was pouting because Luna had interrupted their moment. But he softened his expression upon realizing what he meant.
“Fucking finally,” Luna said, nonchalant about the hundreds of yelling that suddenly errupted from him swearing. The moon smiled smugly, turning around and ignoring the planets, “I’m going to see Titan, buh bye.”
“LUNA!!!” Earth screeched, knowing full well what the moon was going to go do with Titan, hoping to the stars that Saturn will stop them. But he can’t control what Luna nor Titan do, so Earth will stay in his orbit, relishing in the fact that his moon isn’t such a child anymore. They’ve all grown up, including them.
Venus’ hand appears on his shoulder, that same smile plastered on his face, the tear stains gone to reveal the gorgeous atmosphere of reds, yellows, and blending oranges. Earth sighed, letting Luna go as they enjoy their moment of peace together - finally being able to love one another after so many years. But even so do thoughts interrupt the moment of love for something sinister to sprout, the feeling of though Earth still hasn’t changed much for the better, he feels indifferent to before. Even on accident, attempting again set everything he accomplished with Mercury down in the depths. The therapy enlightened him, yes, but what difference does that make him? He realizes how special everyone else is, not just him, but why would they want that and not a kind-hearted Earth.
Noticing the shift in the atmosphere, Venus looks at Earth and tilts his head, almost endearingly does Earth blush at the gesture, like he’d been caught doing something. Venus takes his hand in his, rubbing circles with his thumb in his palm, hoping that it’ll comfort the other. Earth smiles solemnly, nodding as a way of saying thank you, but no further do any of them go than that. So Venus sighs, holding Earth’s other hand as well, standing face to face in Earth’s orbit. He is confused on Venus’ intention.
“I love you.”
Does the mind of Earth stop to finally let his heart and core follow what they’ve always wanted from those words being said. Earth stares in shock, not registering what he was hearing, just knowing that his face is on fire, and that his heart wants to leap out of his core. Venus waits for a reply, a response, to hear those same words said back to him. None come, but he still waits, as Earth’s expression never changes from shock and adoration. He’s only processing it, it’s fine, Venus will get to hear the words be said back to him soon. He will be patient, for Earth he will be. For his love.
“I love you, too.”
Responds the heart of Earth, his core beating like it was going through tectonic activity. Seeing Venus’ reaction to his reply, he couldn’t even realize because he was still stunned by him saying those words himself. Had it really been his voice that said the words stuck on his tongue for billions of years? Over thousands of times had they wanted to spill out in front of all of the Rocky Planets, hoping to the stars that Venus would accept them, to respond to them just as he did now. He finally let them fall, like a dam breaking forth to let the waters run freely. He truly does feel free now that it’s off his chest.
Venus jumps at him, leaning in at the same position as before - arms wrapped around his neck and Earth’s hand holding his cheeks like it’s the most precious thing in the universe. Like it’s them against the expandable again, just like it will always be. Just them, in love, kissing like it’s the last orbit of the Sun. The heat rising like a dwarf star exploding, like a nebula imploding to create new stars or galaxies beyond. What a sensation that Earth has always dreamed of, that Venus always wondered if he’d ever feel.
“To you, Earth, my core is yours.”
“I’ll cherish it like it’s the last blossoming flower before winter comes. I’ll keep it safe from the harsh weather, from the snow that tries to hide its beauty. I’ll water it every day, and every night, like how often I think of you. I’ll watch it spout every morning under the glowing Sun, how it sleeps when the Sun leaves for the mourning moon. To you, Venus, I love thee.”