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Mind had always had a habit of info dumping. He was very passionate about the things he was interested in, and he loved sharing that interest with people. It was nice being able to have an actual conversation with someone, even if they didn’t like it or didn’t agree with his views. He got to share something he loved, and people could do the same in return. They loved learning just as much as teaching after all.
The Sun quickly gathered his things and went off to class, a little more happy than usual. He had a presentation he had to do, and it was over a topic he was extremely passionate about. He was beyond excited to be able to share something he loved with his classmates. They could picture it now. All of their classmates listening, asking questions, maybe even a few who’d be just as fascinated as he was. Sure almost every time they’ve done this in the past the complete opposite happened, but, college was different wasn’t it? Maybe this time he wouldn’t get heckled or made fun of for his interests.
Class began as normal. A little introductory lecture from the professor, and a few other presentations from their classmates. Everything went smoothly until it was The Sun’s turn to present. He introduced his topic and was immediately met with silence. Not unusual, but it felt off somehow. They went through their slides and eventually reached the point where people were supposed to ask questions. Not a single hand was raised. Nobody even looked at Mind. Hell, he managed to catch a few people falling asleep. He just cleared his throat and asked for questions once more. “We heard you, Apollo. God, you’re so annoying…” Clearly, their classmate did not mean to say that last part out loud.
Apollo just stood there for a moment before hurriedly finishing his presentation and sitting back down. There was no applause like his classmates had gotten, just silence. They turned to one of the people sitting next to them to ask for feedback. Maybe they had just chosen a boring topic, or maybe this was common knowledge he had missed out on somehow. But Mind was met with a confused hum. Nobody had even cared enough to listen once again. He should’ve expected this. No matter the circumstances this always happened. Nobody cared enough.
The class soon ended and The Sun left in a rush. They went and sat outside for a while, just thinking to themselves. Why did nobody care? He couldn’t get people to listen to him in a casual conversation, nor could he get them to listen in a semi-professional setting. They kept wondering why nobody would let him speak about things that made him so happy. Eventually, Mind stopped pondering the why of the situation. His opinions weren’t valued, clearly, so why should he even bother? They had reached their breaking point. Apollo made his decision, if nobody was going to listen then he’d just stop trying.
Weeks, maybe even months passed by, and Mind had kept his promise to himself. He always listened when someone else wanted to ramble, hell he even tried harder to have a real conversation with whoever was rambling. But never once did he state his own opinions. Never once did he allow himself to ramble about what made him happy. It was incredibly agonizing to keep his mouth shut, but he did it. He sat in his bedroom like he did most nights nowadays, reading a book he had read hundreds of times before. They couldn’t let themself enjoy it anymore. Enjoying leads to talking, and why would he bother with that? However his “reading” was interrupted by a familiar face peeking in through his door.
“{Yo! Sunshine! Juno and I are gonna have a movie night, care to join us? It seems like forever since we’ve seen ya out here!}” Atlas chuckled slightly. Apollo just stayed silent as he slowly got up from his bed. It had been a while since one of their movie nights. Normally he’d sit and ramble about the plot or the behind-the-scenes work of the movie with his thirds, but not tonight. Tonight he’ll just listen and let the two have their fun. The Sun and The Stars walked out of the room and went to join The Moon in the living room.
Some random film Heart had chosen was put on first, and Mind watched the other two laugh and ramble away. He missed being able to do that. He missed being able to have his voice heard. He missed being able to be happy. He missed feeling valu- “{Is something going on Apollo? You’ve been silent all night.}” The Sun blinked a bit and looked at The Stars. “[I’m fine. Go back to your movie.]”. Juno frowned and moved closer to the other two from his spot on the floor. “(C'mon…it’s not like you to be so quiet. Besides I miss hearing your rambles. Sure your opinion is just wrong sometimes but they were still fun!)” They chuckled a small bit. “{Agreed! It’s kind of incredible how much of a nerd you are sometimes Mucka.}”
That sort of broke Mind. People still cared…? People still wanted to hear from him…? He had been so convinced that it wasn’t worth his time that he didn’t know how to respond. They started to shake slightly. They wanted to get up and run back to their room. The Sun covered his mouth with his hand, not even realizing that tears were starting to pour out of his eyes. {Woah woah woah hey- Apollo…}” Soul quickly pulled him into a hug. “{Jesus Christ mate…}” Apollo’s fragile mental state seemed to break even further, unsure of what to do with himself. He tried to pull away. “[I-I’m sorry- Let me go- I-]” He was quickly cut off by Atlas giving his face a gentle kiss. “{Don’t apologize Sunshine…You didn’t do a damn thing.}”
The Sun wept as his face was pressed into The Stars’ chest. The Moon climbed on to the couch as well and wrapped his arms around the other two. “(...you’ve been holding on to whatever this is for a while now haven’t you Sun? Usually I’m the one who gets this worked up over stuff.)” He gently nuzzled into Mind’s neck, trying to offer some sort of comfort. “(Was it something we said?). Apollo sniffled and leaned against Artemis a bit more. “[No. Not at all…I just…thought people stopped caring about what I have to say…people seem to think I’m…annoying when I talk about things I am interested in.]”. “(Well then they’re stupid! They don’t know how to appreciate someone who knows way too much about everything!)” Juno chuckled a tiny bit. “(If nothing else, we like hearing you be a total nerd. Right Stardust?)” Atlas gave an affirmative hum, gently stroking Mind’s hair as he did.
“{You aren’t annoying Apollo. Anyone who gave you that impression is an idiot. We want to hear whatever you have to say no matter what alright? If someone isn’t letting you say what you want to, they’re stupid}” Soul smiled softly and adjusted his position slightly. “{Do you want to pick the next movie? Promise to let you ramble for as long as you want.}” Mind nodded and smiled a little bit, finally allowing himself to get excited over something again. He picked out a random documentary and immediately started talking about how interesting everything was to him. Atlas and Artemis both listened very carefully, with Artemis occasionally asking Apollo to “dumb it down” for him every so often. The three had a couple of good laughs, and slowly began to get way off topic with how their conversation was going. Mind didn’t seem to care though. They were just happy that they finally had the chance to be listened to.