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Chapter Text

Titan floated off to the side, gathering asteroids for the coming battle against Earth. He brushed a strand of hair out of his face, tightening his hair in the low and messy ponytail he preferred to have his hair in. He glanced around, finding the rest of the moons milling around in the place in the Asteroid Belt they had picked, sorting through the last little hiccups of the plan. He smiled softly, watching out of the corner of his eye as the tiny moons chased each other around. They looked so happy, and Titan wasn't even sure they knew what was happening. 

What they were planning on doing.

What was going to change forever.

The rest of the moons looked rather restless, some glancing to the inner solar system while others nervously scanned the gas giant's orbits. Titan would admit that it crossed his mind a couple times what would happen if the gas giants found out what they were doing.

He quickly stopped thinking about it when he started scaring himself

Titan focused back in on gathering asteroids, but paused when he felt someone's gravity, so similar in size to his, approach him from the back. Titan sighed, turning around to face the biggest moon in the solar system. Ganymede's rough voice was low, gesturing to the anxious moons milling about, "They're losing faith in us. We need another speech. One that would leave nobody to question our abilities."

Titan frowned, crossing his arms over his chest, "Why don't you do it? You're basically the leader at this point, and a lot of the moons look up to you."

Ganymede shook his head, running a hand through his messy hair, "Nah, my strength is–" He mimed boxing, an excited glint in his eyes even when he was fake fighting. "And it was your idea to do a strike that used words, so go ahead, use your words to strengthen the others' belief in us."

Titan hesitated, he didn't have anything special planned to say and he really wanted to focus on ironing out everything for the plan…but Ganymede was right. The moons were looking more and more nervous by the minute, and nervous moons could become traitorous moons which would lead to losing moons.

Titan huffed, putting down the asteroid he was fidgeting with, "Alright. I guess we could use another pep talk." Ganymede grinned, his sharp teeth glinting in the sunlight. Titan stepped in front of the other moon, easily gathering the attention of all the moons with a clap of his hands. He scanned the group, quickly trying to think of something inspirational to say. 

He put his hands on his hips, starting with the first thing that popped into his mind, "Alright everyone, we're getting to the endgame here. I know this might seem daunting to many of you, and many even feel wrong to attack the Earth–" Helios, a couple of the small moons nodded. Ganymede was right! "–But we need this. How many times have your planets looked down on you? Treated you as lesser beings, or completely forgotten about you?" More moons looked away, Neptune's moons turning with wide eyes to the biggest among them and his fellow Saturnian moons eyes blazed with anger. "That is not okay in any way, and it has been going on for billions of years! This revolution is to change that, and make our lives better!"

One of Uranus' moons floated forward, rubbing her arm as she looked up at Titan, "But that would mean all of Earth's life will die! So by making our lives better, we're making Earth's life worse? Are we sure that's what is right?"

Titan raised his voice, passion and anger almost overwhelming him, "Right? Do you think Earth was thinking about what was right when he insulted all moons? Do you think Uranus was thinking about what was right when he threatened to destroy all of you as a joke? Neptune forgot all about his moons, and the gas giants have favorites for crying out loud! None of that is okay!"

The moon that had spoken up backed off, but Titan wasn't done. He looked out to where he would usually orbit, gritting his teeth, "I'm tired of being controlled, tired of not having the freedom, tired of having all this pressure that I never asked for! So you know what Saturn–" He grabbed the closest asteroid to him, and before anyone could stop him, slashed it through his hair where the ponytail started. The orange and green hair floated in front of his face, the shocked silence of the moons of the gas giants greeting him. Titan grabbed a chunk of his hair floating in front of him, throwing it at his feet, "I'm tired of being the favorite! So take that Saturn!"

The moons stared at him dumbfounded as Titan heaved in breaths, fighting to catch his breath.

Ganymede broke the silence, moving out from behind him, "Damn Titan, I–that was epic."

Titan reached up to his choppy hair, finding the fluffy locks stopping at his chin instead of continuing down his back. Saturn would be furious and heartbroken and a million other things because Titan abandoned his strongest connection with the planet, but he didn't regret it. In fact, he felt surprisingly light for what he just did. Saturn could no longer coo over the fact that he and his moon were so similar, which Titan quickly realized he never actually liked. 

Titan was finally free.

Titan glanced up, finding the other moons of Saturn gazing at him very strangely. It was similar to how Phobos and Deimos looked at him, but with a little more seriousness and–

Oh. 

Oh.

It was respect.

The moons of Saturn respected him.

Titan smiled, big, wide and genuine.

Enceladus smiled back, blinking a couple times before he cleared his throat, "Wow, Titan, I–I didn't expect that at all. Are you sure–"

Titan nodded, "I'm sure. I don't regret it at all." 

Besides Enceladus, Iapetus' brown and white eyes sparkled as he touched the side of his hair that was chocolatey brown hair and oh, right, now Iapetus has the longest hair out of the 274 of them. Hm, wow.

Mimas spoke up from Enceladus' other side, his one eye filled with so much emotion it was crazy, but he too was smiling, "Thank you, Titan. I–that was awesome. I have to admit, I had my doubts, but after that… damn."

Titan clasped his hands together, stepping over his orangy locks that were floating beneath him, "I don't want to be the favorite anymore, and I'm sorry for how much I have hurt you all for being it. I promise, with all my core, that after this ends I will get Saturn to stop having favorites." He raised his voice higher, talking to the rest of the moons, "And that applies to all of you guys too! After the moon revolution I will work my surface off to try to help each and every one of you."

The moons cheered, the air (even though there was no air in space) filled with confidence and exhilaration. The fiery determination came back into their eyes, moons gathering asteroids near them for the coming attack. Ganymede placed a hand on Titan's shoulder, "You did good Titan. Definitely wasn't expecting that of all things, but it worked. Did you think about how Saturn is going to react? It wouldn't be the most friendliest of ways to return back to your planet."

Titan shook his head, "I haven't thought about it, and frankly, I don't need to. What will happen will happen on its own terms, and we have a revolution to finish."

Ganymede grinned, slapping Titan's back, "And that we do! You ready to finish this, once and for all?"

Titan smiled back, pulling in a couple of asteroids with his gravity, "I was born ready."

And despite the fact that he was quite literally going into war, Titan was the happiest he had ever been.

Take that Saturn.

Chapter Text

Venus stared at himself in the mirror, jagged asteroid in hand.

Helios, he was disgusting.

He could barely stand even looking at himself. 

He hated his atmosphere. He hated his surface. He hated his orbit.

And he hated his hair.

His stupid hair.

He was too busy during the moon revolution junk (trying not to die was surprisingly hard when a bunch of violent moons were attacking you) to keep track of his hair. And then after the attack he'd been so out of it, because who wouldn't after having your entire surface leveled, and when everything started to make sense again, he had the reckless Earth to worry about, so his attention to his hair got pushed to the back of his mind. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Usually he had it under control, bright reds and oranges flowing like magma in a shape resembling somewhat of a mohawk.

But now, it had grown out, became longer, wavier, and the tips were starting to turn white.

Just like his stupid atmosphere.

He gripped the asteroid tighter, jagged edges digging into his surface. It was ridiculous how much of himself he hated. Everyone was always, "Oh no! The Earth has so many problems! Let's help him!" while Venus is right there and stated all of his problems directly to their faces not so long ago! And he thought that meant that he was going to get some help, maybe even a mini therapy session, but he brushed everyone off and they didn't fight back. And hey, maybe he did want help. But no one had come up to him asking if he was okay after the discussion, so he just gave up.

He wasn't planning on sacrificing his pride for liking himself a little bit more.

Void, it felt like everything the Rockies had said during that one meeting had completely disappeared. 

Which was fine! He didn't need anyone to help him! He was fine on his own, he had always been fine dealing with his problems by himself.

So why was it so hard for him to cut his own hair?

Part of him, part of him buried deep inside, wanted to let his hair grow out. He wanted the feeling of long, flowing hair again. It was so fun! It kept him extra warm and sometimes felt like a weighted blanket! And there were so many cool things he could do with his hair! Braid it, put it in a ponytail, just let it float around in his gravity! Plus, Theia said she liked it–

No.

No–just, shut up.

We are not going through this again.

She is dead, and so is that part of you.

Just cut your damn hair.

Venus glared at his reflection in the mirror, like if he stared for long enough all his insecurities, all the horrible stuff about him, would just disappear. Poof! Into thin air! But no, Venus was stuck, scowling at reflection that would never change unless he did something. And he was one of the universe's most stubborn planets, so he stayed put, glaring at a reflection that just glared back.

…

"Stop looking at me like that!" Venus yelled, his reflection mirroring him because of course it was, it was his reflection. What else would it do? Do a little dance? Yell at him? Tell him he is a horrible planet and is revolting and not worthy of the name of the Goddess of Beauty?

Helios, Venus wished it could.

It would make things a whole lot easier if someone were to yell at him, tell him how horrible he was, without Venus needing to instigate it and cause even more pain for the planets surrounding him. He never liked arguing with others, he was just so angry all the time and…didn't quite know how to get it out. 

Theia had helped.

Theia had always listened to him, encouraged him to talk to the others when he was feeling down. She also loved to marvel at his water, always talking about how she wished she could have the ability to sustain life and Venus had said one day. One day she could. But then Proto happened and, and–

Stop.

Stop it Venus.

She is dead and the Sun swore to never speak her or Proto's name ever again.

…Theia liked to braid Venus' hair, her gentle touch and bright laugh always cheering Venus up.

Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. STOP IT!!!

SHE IS DEAD AND REJECTED YOU BILLIONS OF YEARS AGO AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T GOTTEN OVER IT. YOU'RE A PATHETIC EXCUSE OF A PLANET AND SHOULD–

Venus punched the mirror.

Horrible mistake really, but he was one too, so it was fitting.

The mirror shattered, his reflection cracking and splitting into hundreds of tiny hims. He immediately recoiled, gasping in pain as he held his fist to his chest, magma starting to bubble out of the places the glass stuck into his surface. All the celestials had strong skin, but Venus was the second best fighter in the solar system (Jupiter was the first, Venus could never be the best at anything) so his punches were strong. 

Helios, he was so stupid. 

Venus winced as he peered over his hand, the jagged pieces of glass digging further into his surface every time he tried to move his hand. The glass wasn't too deep, but there was a lot and it was hurting. 

Hurting. Hurting. Hurting. He was so weak.

Venus muttered some choice words under his breath, his hands shaking as he turned his attention to the mirror. Huh, he really laid it on the poor thing. A spiderweb of cracks ran from a fist–shaped hole in the glass, shards lazily floating around the mirror and Venus. The back of the mirror could be seen in a couple of places where the glass had shattered completely, the brown back standing out against the clear glass.

At least he didn't need to look at himself anymore.

Venus grimaced as he looked back down to his hand, magma staining his shirt. That's going to be fun to get out. He pushed the mirror and the floating glass shards further away, settling down where he could focus on getting the glass out of his hand. 

Helios, the shards were deeper than he thought.

Venus grumbled, realizing what he had to do. He hadn't used his healing powers in a while, mostly because he didn't need to ( and hated that his powers were connected to how he was the Goddess of Beauty ), but the glass shards hurt and he needed to get them out.

So he closed his eyes, focusing on the power deep within himself, and let the white cloud his mind. He let the power do its thing, the pain quickly fading away. When he opened his eyes again the adrenaline rush had faded, and the shards that had been stuck in his hand were now floating around with the other pieces. He flexed his hand, feeling a little tight but otherwise normal.

With his hands no longer shaking, and his mind clear enough to remember what he was doing in the first place, Venus grabbed the asteroid that he had pushed aside. He didn't need the mirror, he could just chop all of his hair off! And then he wouldn't have to worry about cutting it for a while longer. Amazing! Venus gripped the asteroid in his hand, bringing it up to his scalp and started cutting. He didn't stop when the asteroid accidentally and very painfully nicked his surface, he didn't stop when the asteroid slipped out of his grasp, hitting him in between the eyes. 

He didn't stop until he ran a hand over his head, feeling nothing but fuzzy little hairs. He let go of the asteroid, grabbing the red, orange, and white locks floating around. He held them in his fist, increasing the heat in his hands and incinerating them. 

Done.

He was happy, or as happy as a planet that hated everything about himself could be.

Chapter Text

Proteus was bald.

As well as Nereid, Larissa, Despina, Galatea, Naiad, Thalassa, Halimede, Sao, and the rest of the non-spherical, irregular moons of the solar system.

It was just the way things are.

Which was absolutely great for Triton.

Being one of the 19 or so moons that were spherical, granted him a magical thing called hair. Wow! So exciting!!! Unlike the other moons, he never really cared about maintaining it. Who else other than Neptune and the kids would see him and his hair? He didn't have anyone to impress, so he let it grow out, the messy, greyish white locks falling down past his shoulders and resting half-way down his back. The longer hair (and the beanies that Neptune had gifted them all for a present a while back) did help him keep a little bit warmer in the freezing cold expanse of space that was Neptune's orbit, so he kept it because why not? If it had a good use, then why get rid of it?

He'd kept in the same, never cared about it, until today.

Triton floated in his orbit, staring out into space at the many pinpricks of light that were the stars surrounding the Solar System. He hadn't gotten a head's up yet about when the next Moon Club meeting would be, so he didn't have anything to do or prepare for. Sure, maybe he could go hang out with the other Dwarf Planets in the Kuiper Belt, but the Dungeons and Dwarf Planets games were getting a little too repetitive for his taste. As much as he liked being surrounded by celestials who understood him (to an extent, he made sure nobody saw what he truly felt inside), Triton could only take so much of Makemake's excited rambling. Without really realizing it he started twirling a piece of his hair to the rhythm of his thoughts, chewing on his lip in deep thought.

"Triton?"

Of course, even when he was doing nothing he had to be interrupted. Being the only responsible one in a system of 15 kids did not let you have any alone time, and he was an idiot to think otherwise. With one last glance at the peaceful stars, Triton adjusted his sunglasses, swiveling around in his orbit finding a very excitable (were they ever not hyper?) moon floating right in front of him.

"Hi Triton!" Proteus squeaked, smiling as bright as the sun as he waved a blue mittened hand at Triton who was literally standing right in front of him.

Triton tilted his head, arms crossing over his chest, "Hey Proteus, do you need something? If you do, you can always ask Neptune too, y'know."

Proteus shook his head, his beanie falling slightly over his eyes. Triton moved to adjust it, Proteus trying his best to stay still as he continued, "Neptune can't help with this, it would be cheating." Okay? He was kinda confused, and a tad bit worried about what this would entail, but let Proteus continue. "During the last Moon Club meeting we learned some cool stuff to do with hair from Europa and Callisto!" Callisto… Triton coughed in his arm, moving back to quickly cover up the goofy little smile that had burst its way through. 

Get a hold of yourself Triton.

Triton coughed again, adjusting his glasses to try to appear as if he was doing something important (and not thinking about Callisto, and her smile, and the way her eyes lit up and the slight change in her voice when she was actually happy), "Oh yeah? And what did the two of them teach you?"

Proteus grinned, throwing his little hands up in the air, "How to braid someone's hair! They let us play with their hair and try to braid it!" Well that explains a lot. Looking back, Triton did remember throwing a glance at Callisto's…interesting hair choice as he was leaving the last Moon Club meeting. It made a little more sense now why her hair was so messy in a loose, half–finished braid. 

She was still so gorgeous.

Triton pinched himself to focus back into what was actually happening in front of him, asking Proteus, "Alright, that's cool. But why did you need to tell me this?"

Proteus smiled, a little too mischievous for Triton's liking, floating a little closer to him, "We want to braid your hair!"

Huh???

Triton blinked, not quite processing what the kid just said, "Wait, wait wait, what? You want to do what?"

"Braid your hair!" Proteus grinned, flapping his hands excitedly, "Can we?"

No. No. No they cannot. Braids are useless. You've never cared about your hair before, why start caring now? Lone wolves don't get their hair braided, all that work creating your personality will be for nothing. Your "bad boy" persona would be ruined. Triton rubbed the back of his neck, forcing an awkward smile, "Proteus, I…"

"Yes?" Proteus responded with his ever so chipper and happy voice, clearly not hearing the dismissive tone in the other moon's voice. Ugh, sometimes (actually a lot of times) Triton wished he was in a system where the others could pick up on what he was trying to say, without actually needing to say anything. It would be so much easier. He glanced back to Proteus, immediately taking his former thought back as Proteus' eyes sparkled in the low light of their orbit. Proteus smiled even wider at Triton, big eyes begging for the older moon to say yes. For some reason Triton's breath caught in his throat at how happy and excited Proteus was to do something with him.

Dammit, screw the bad boy lone wolf persona.

He had something more important than that.

Triton sighed, still trying to act somewhat resigned, gesturing to his hair and Proteus, "Alright, I guess you guys can braid my hair."

Proteus lit up, (Helios, he's so cute and adorable and Triton wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone who would try to hurt him) his eyes brightening and with an ear–shattering shriek, yelled, "Ah!!! Yes!!! Everyone!!! He said yes!!! The rest of the Neptunian moons appeared out of nowhere, shrieking with delight, and to Triton's horror, pulled out hair pins, scrunchies, and brushes. 

What did he get himself into?

Triton let Nereid and Larissa lead him to a seat made of asteroids, their tiny hands holding onto his finger. The two let go, trying to push him gently onto the chair. With a small chuckle, he fell back into the gathering of asteroids, Thalassa floating up to be eye–level with him, "Stay still Triton! We're gonna make you beautiful!!!"

Hold up, was he not beautiful before?

Triton winced, grabby little hands pulling off his blue beanie and yanking a little bit on his hair. Excited squeals and giggles came from the moons behind him, Proteus' giddy voice rising above the rest of them as he barked out orders. Many hands grabbed hair brushes and started brushing his hair, Triton letting out a yelp and a, "Be careful!" It was ignored, and every brush stroke it snagged on a knot, very painfully yanking more hair out of his head. Helios, if the kids weren't careful he wasn't going to have any more hair left for them to braid!

He felt someone's hands, not gloved, run through his hair. "Triton!!!" Despina squealed, her hands tugging on his hair as she brought it closer to her face, "Your hair is so soft!!!"

Triton smiled, wincing as more hands grabbed his hair to feel it, "Thanks, I guess. I've heard Luna's hair is one of the softest in the Solar System, but not everyone likes their hair being touched, so you always have to ask alright?" A chorus of okays followed, Triton grimacing once more as a brush hit a knot.

Nereid popped up next to Triton, holding a brush with a lot of white hairs stuck in it, "Why is your hair so knotty? Europa and Callisto both had really smooth hair when they were showing us how to braid someone's hair."

Triton shrugged, a bunch of tiny shouts exploding from behind him telling him to not move, "I don't brush it often. Other moons, especially the moons closer to the inner solar system, pay way more attention to their looks than I do."

"Why don't you pay attention to your looks, Triton?" Sao asked, his small voice just barely cutting through the noise the others were making.

Triton chewed on his lip, thinking, "I–I don't know. It's never been something I was terribly worried about."

"Brushing is done!" Proteus announced, Triton sighing with relief. Thank Helios he didn't have to deal with his hair getting pulled out. Although, he probably should brush it more often because his hair felt great. It felt fluffy, but also weirdly straight at the same time. He reached up a hand, trying to run it through his hair, but several tiny hands slapped it away with a shout of, "No touching! We're not done yet!"

Triton huffed a chuckle, settling back down as tiny hands combed through his hair. The kids were…chaotic in their methods of braiding. Nobody really listened to each other, and Proteus tried to get one moon on each strand, but everyone wanted to have a turn braiding. Triton just sat there, resisting the urge to interrupt and sort it out because they needed to learn how to sort their arguments out amongst themselves. Someone had told him that, Pluto or another moon, and it was surprisingly helpful. Plus, the kids were hilarious and every so often they would say something completely out of pocket that left him wheezing for breath, so he let them continue. They eventually struck a deal between rock paper scissors (apparently Luna had taught them that Earthling game, Triton barely understood it) to decide who would be in charge of what strand.

Proteus, Galatea, and Hippocamp won.

The rest of the moons backed off with a huff, some giving the three braiding his hair the supplies they needed, while most of them settled down in front of Triton, bugging him for a story. Triton frowned, "I'm sorry guys, I–" he yelped, hairs snapping and pulling under the tiny hands, "Please be careful you three. Helios, hair getting pulled out hurts almost as much as an asteroid impact."

"We're sorry Triton!"

He smiled softly, patting the heads of the moons who had come up to him with worried eyes, "It's alright, just be a little more careful you three." Three voices from behind him swore they would be more careful, Triton settling back in with clumsy hands working through his hair. When the others realized he wasn't going to tell them a story they started up a game of tag, wild shrieks coming from all over as Triton watched them chase one another.

After a while, several restarts, and a frustrated Proteus almost giving up, the little hands retreated from his hair. "We're done!!!" Proteus squealed, tapping Triton on the shoulder to get him to turn around. "You look amazing!!!" The other moons came in closer, Triton shifting around in his seat and finally being able to move without being yelled at. He turned around, the three moons who braided his hair beaming. Someone shoved a mirror into his hands (how in Sol's name did they get a mirror?) shouting at him to look at his hair.

And that he did, and he was very surprised.

Somehow, the clumsy, chaotic kids that could barely sit still for a minute, had managed to beautifully braid his hair. The braid started from the mid–point of his head, hair twisting and overlapping together as it continued further down. He reached behind, pulling the braid in front of him so he could actually see it. Proteus and Galatea grinned, Triton genuinely smiling because Helios, he loved how the braid felt. No longer did his hair feel heavy and uncomfortable (which he didn't even notice it had felt like that before ) but now it felt light and gentle. He ran a hand down it, the dips and bumps of the hair so satisfying for no reason. At the end of the braid, a purple scrunchie tied it all together.

Proteus floated closer, his eyes twinkling, "Do you like it?"

Triton smiled, squeezing Proteus' hand, "I love it, thank you Proteus." A cacophony of cheers erupted from the moons, and before Triton could resist, he had 15 moons tackling him into a hug. Their energy was contagious, and Triton found himself chuckling along to the kids' high-pitched giggles as they hugged him tighter.

After a few more seconds, Triton shifted, a little uncomfortable, "Alright, alright, that's enough everyone." Thankfully, he didn't have to repeat himself for once, the kids detaching themselves quickly with small frowns. They still stayed around him, taking turns gazing and touching the braid. Triton had lost himself in thought, staring out into space, until an increase of shrieks brought him back into the present.

"Hey everyone, we have another Moon Club meeting, and I was sent out here to gather you all."

"Callisto!!!"

Callisto???

Triton shot out of the chair with a muffled yelp, straightening up as the purple moon approached them all. Callisto raised an eyebrow at him, emotionless eyes looking down at his hair (but Triton could tell there was something more, he'd been with Callisto long enough to differentiate her emotions, even if it wasn't a varied spectrum. She was…happy? Happy to see him? Triton? Void don't blush don't blush don't blush), "Nice braid." 

Triton smiled, trying desperately to not smile too much, gesturing to the other Neptunian moons, "Thanks, it was all them. They said you taught them."

Callisto nodded slowly, glancing around at the kids, "Didn't expect them to actually use it. And maybe have a little originality guys, copying my style isn't exactly what I had in mind when I taught you." 

Copying…her style?

Callisto pulled her long purple hair out to the front, and it struck Triton with some amount of horror (and amusement, and…some other emotions) that the twisted braid Callisto wore was the same that the kids gave Triton.

They were matching.

Helios, they were matching.

Callisto must've seen the horror and the other emotions flash across his face, because she immediately followed it up with, "Keep it. Never thought you'd be the one to have a braid, but it suits you, I guess."

Callisto liked his hair.

Callisto liked his hair.

Triton coughed, ducking away to hide his heated face, "I–uh–thanks?"

Callisto turned back away from Triton and the kids, looking towards the inner solar system and the Asteroid Belt, "You're welcome. But we need to go now, it took forever getting out here and if we wait any longer, Titan's going to start without us. And I don't know about you, but I would much rather prefer to have a say in whatever crazy idea we have next." The kids rushed past Triton, excited chattering about seeing the other moons, while Triton was trying to get ahold of his emotions.

Stop blushing, it's just hair. She doesn't care (yes she did, you saw the way she smiled) Dammit Triton stop blushing!!! It's not that big of a deal (yes it is).

Triton adjusted his glasses, straightening up with a nonchalant cough, "Alright, let's go Callisto." He set off, trailing behind the kids, Callisto following after with a huff (was it a laugh? ). Triton spared another glance at her braid, mesmerized by how perfect it looked. Unlike Triton's, which was a little frizzy and messy, not one hair was out of place in Callisto's, and her's was so much longer than his. Triton's barely reached below his shoulder blades, while Callisto's extended way further down her back, tying off at the end with…a purple scrunchie.

The same purple scrunchie Triton had tied in his hair.

Callisto's braid swayed as she ducked down, her violet eyes looking into Triton's grey ones, "You can stop staring now."

Triton whipped his gaze towards the Asteroid Belt, trying desperately to hide the embarrassed flush, "Of course! My bad! I–uh–don't know why I was staring at you." Callisto's small smirk said that she knew exactly why, but both of them stayed silent. But…it was a nice silence. A comforting silence. Sure, nobody was talking, but they didn't need to. Each other's presence (and the squeals of the smaller moons) were enough. He rubbed his thumb over the braid another time, smiling softly to himself.

Triton loved his hair, so, so much.

Chapter Text

Uranus needed to find Neptune.

Not because he was worried about him! No, no Neptune was actually doing pretty good all things considered the last time Uranus was with him. He was talking (maybe a little too much, but a lot of talking and an excited Neptune is far better than a Neptune who won’t talk no matter who prompts him as he stares out into the stars, face blank but hurting so much that Uranus didn’t know what to do) and had given Uranus a lot of new painting ideas. From the stuff that Uranus managed to write down before Neptune jumped to another idea, he had a good amount of paintings to get through. The way Neptune saw the world was perfect for what Uranus needed to capture in his paintings. And Uranus also didn’t need to find the other ice giant to have one of those silly little talks Neptune insisted on doing every couple of orbits. Even then, if he did need to talk, Uranus definitely wasn’t going to go up to Neptune on his own accord. It was never as easy or as simple as that.

No, Uranus didn’t need Neptune for anything like that.

What he did need him for…was a tad bit selfish.

Bloody hell it was a lot bit selfish.

Uranus’ long braid that trailed all the way down his back, resting just off his back while gently floating around in his orbit, was starting to get undone. Bits and pieces of the light blue plait stuck out everywhere and were too loose for Uranus’ liking. He’d put it up in the first place to get it out of his face so he could actually focus on what he was doing. He needed nothing that would potentially distract him from his work. While he painted it was all about momentum, if he stopped or got distracted for even a moment then he wouldn’t be able to start again. And having strands of his hair floating in front of his face and pulling every time he tried to move and the way it felt when it touched his back—no, no, no it would be too much stuff happening subtly but still happening all at once for him to be able to lock in and focus.

…He also needed to look his best, especially with how Saturn recently seemed to bloody glow without even trying. It pissed Uranus off, not because Saturn always looked great (well that was always a reason Uranus was ticked, but not the reason today), but because Uranus himself looked like dog water. Especially today. Uranus could feel the crusty flecks of dried paint stuck in his hair, and his eyes felt so heavy that there was no doubt he had some wicked eyebags, his pale atmosphere not helping to hide it at all. Bloody hell, he couldn't even pull off the aesthetic of the messy artist look! He just looked like a homeless dude that lost a fight to a can of paint, which was definitely not the vibe he was going for. 

But whatever, he couldn’t sleep or clean up when he had work to do. He finally got himself out of that funky art block and could finally paint to his core’s desire after days (weeks? Uranus honestly couldn’t remember) of staring at his empty canvas and screaming frustratingly into the vast expanse of space and stuck in the loop of why can’t he do this. He’s a painter, that’s his whole gig. It’s his thing! He had an entire orbit not too long ago where he was churning out paintings one after another like it was nothing, why can’t he start just one now? Just imagining himself finishing a painting felt so impossible it was like one of Neptune’s fantasies he always talks about. It was ridiculous! He was ridiculous! If he couldn’t do the one goddamn thing that made him unique, he was just a bloody joke and a faker and everybody who ever loved him and hung out with him would abandon him because he was a worthless pile of comets that didn't contribute anything to the Solar System. He just took up an orbit and space that could easily be replaced by someone else. Someone important. Someone useful.

But it’s okay now! Uranus just needed to take a small break and catching up with Neptune actually helped a lot.

Ah! Right! Neptune! Bloody hell Uranus you got distracted from your own point even when you’re talking to no one. Stupid bloody idiot, can't even talk to yourself without screwing it up. Ugh, anyway the whole reason why he was leaving his orbit in the first place to find the other ice giant was so Neptune could redo Uranus’ braid.

Uranus knew it was silly, stars he argued about it with himself for hours before setting off, but…he really needed it. The way his hair just… existed at this point made him want to scream and tear it all out. He couldn’t focus on his paintings if the only thing going through his mind was hair, hair, hair, stop it, uncomfortable, too stiff, too greasy, too much, bloody hell stop all of it.

And Uranus knew that he could’ve probably redone the braid himself, plucking out the asteroid bits and the dried paint and maybe find an ice asteroid to rinse his hair with, but he…he just couldn’t. He was so bloody pathetic, not being able to do his own hair.

But it hurt.

Twisting around, the motion he had to do to grab his hair, sent fireworks of pain through his body that left him reeling in pain, struggling to breathe through the spasms and the panic that wouldn’t go away and it burned so bloody bad. Helios stop it, stop, stop, stop, please, he’ll do anything just get it to stop he can’t continue to live like this. 

His moons tried to help, bless their cores Uranus didn’t deserve the girls, but they couldn’t fully understand what was happening. They were still kids! Uranus didn’t want to burden them with his stupid problems that wouldn’t go away. 

It seemed (ironically) that Umbriel, who never said a peep, understood what was happening and understood him the most. She communicated what was happening to Ariel, who worked with the others to try to make Uranus comfortable but that bloody look she gave him. He wasn’t some lost, hurt puppy in need of everyone else’s pity.

Stars, it happened billions of years ago, why was he still in pain. He could barely even remember it! It was such a small thing in the grand scheme of the universe, Uranus wasn’t even sure anyone besides his moons, Neptune, and a few of the dwarf planets knew. It wasn’t that big of a deal, but even so, it…it usually wasn’t this bad. He could stuff down the ache and ignore it and smile and laugh (horribly) at the jokes that the others said without having the pain gnaw at him from the inside.

He couldn’t make the pain go away, so the second best thing was to be very careful about how he moved as he went along his way to Neptune’s orbit. One wrong move, one horribly timed gesture, would leave Uranus keeled over in the vast expanse of space between their orbits where everyone could see him. And he didn’t need his day to become unnecessarily complicated by explaining to whoever happened to show up that yes this is normal, please stop babying me. No I don’t need help please just go away. No, I don't need your sympathy. Sympathy is useless to me. Sympathy doesn't heal anything. 

Plus, Uranus’ orbit was way closer to Saturn’s than it was to Neptune’s, so if anyone were to spot him it would be Saturn which would become a bloody mess that he really wanted to avoid. There’s a reason he didn’t go to Saturn for help with his hair. Even if the bigger ringed planet was a bloody genius at everything hair related—braiding, styling, cutting (probably the best in the Solar System at it)—Uranus would be caught dead before he asked Saturn for a beauty favor. In all honesty he would probably just straight up die on the spot from the embarrassment alone if Saturn was the one who found him heaving through the pain. It would be bloody awful, and the panic would just become worse which would make the pain ignite from a fire into an inferno and Saturn would be even more worried which—

No. Just, no. Stop it, Uranus. You’re just unnecessarily stressing yourself out. Bloody hell, staying in your comfort zone was supposed to be safe and comfortable, idiot. Panicking as nothing is happening is the complete opposite of what you were trying to do. Helios, why was he like this?

Uranus shook his head, trying his best to reorganize his thoughts into something that he could work with, completely forgetting about the job of not moving too much. His breath hitched, realization flashing across his mind a second before his head suddenly exploded out of nowhere. The pain hit him like a truck, Uranus swaying as everything swam and his vision blurred and darkened and everything just…shut down. Uranus keeled over—no, no, no! Just the thing he didn’t want to do—holding his throbbing head in his hands and everything became too much. Too painful, too confusing, too hot, too hot, too hot. It's everywhere. It's under his surface. He can't escape it.

His hands shook, weakly reaching out to grab something just to stop the pain. Please. He'll do anything. He stumbled forward, knees immediately giving out as he collapsed. Uranus splayed out his hands to try to catch himself but nope nope nope nope can't do that either. Pain shot up his arms like fire, Uranus crying out and instinctively curling into a ball. He didn’t care if someone found him, just please help him and stop the pain. 

Please just make it stop. Please. Please. Please. He doesn’t…he can’t…why? Why him? Why, why, why? He’s a good planet! He stayed…stayed in his orbit with Nep and…and followed the orders. Someone…did someone get hurt (killed?) by not following the rules? Maybe? But he followed them! He stays…he tries to stay in his orbit! He follows the rules so why is it hurting bloody everywhere.

Hurting. Throbbing. Dying.

Was he…dying?

He didn't want to die. He didn't want to be alone. He didn't want this.

He can't do this.

He can't…

He…stop it…please.

…

Fire…

…

Too much…

…dying?

No.

Hey!

Hey, Uranus!

Hey! Listen to me you bloody idiot! 

You knew this would happen! You should’ve been prepared! Bloody hell mate, what is going on with you? Toughen up, get your core together man! This is normal for you, it still shouldn’t surprise you anymore. Just breathe through the pain! Breathe you bloody idiot! It’ll pass, you just need to calm down and breathe.

Breathe you idiot.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Uranus was breathing.

Or at least he thought so, it was hard to actually figure out what he was doing with…everything he was feeling. Exhausted, in pain, frustrated, scared, all the wonderful goodies were crashing down on him all at once. It was a wonderful feeling, coming out of that pain spiral to be met with reality’s punch to the gut.

Uranus gave himself a second to catch his breath, stubbornly blinking away the tears but getting absolutely boiled alive by his jacket. Oh well, he couldn’t move his arms to take it off so that wasn’t going to change. He would just have to suffer, but there’s nothing new there. 

Alright Uranus, breathe, in. Breathe out. Control your breathing and you can control the pain.

Take it slow.

Uranus titled his head back, staring up at the stars and squinting through his blurry vision to count each one. He still felt like he was bloody dying, but counting the stars gave him some amount of control and something to focus on instead of how awful he felt. And he wasn't moving that much, he was still being careful and moving slowly (even if it drove Uranus mad) enough to hold a train of thought without collapsing in agony again! He could even recall, through his splitting headache, some of the names of the stars that Neptune always pointed out. Uh…Sirius was one, Uranus always remembered that one through Neptune’s, “Why so Sirius!” jokes. Betelgeuse, Pollux, Castor…and that’s all Uranus could remember out of the trillions of stars that surrounded them. Idiot. Well that didn’t work, now Uranus felt stupider than ever and really needed to get going.

He'd wasted enough time already.

And now he especially needed to go because his hair was stuck to the back of his neck, sticky sweat plastered across his surface and Uranus hated it. He hated it so, so much. But he couldn't do anything! He couldn't take his skin off and wring out the sweat like it was his jacket. He couldn't reach behind his head and unstick the hair from his neck, that would just lead him to spiral into another flare up that would make him even more sweaty which would make his hair even more uncomfortable and Uranus could not deal with that right now. He already got out of one pain spiral and was dealing with enough of his hair at the moment, thank you very much. He just had to get to Neptune. Neptune would fix this. Uranus would be happy even if Neptune just redid it in a ponytail, anything to get the hair back in its place.

Breathe in. Breathe out. 

Alright body. We took a moment. Can we move now? 

Uranus tested out moving his head first, going as slow as possible, driving himself crazy, but it was better than being struck down by the pain again. He raised his head, pushing through the dizziness and propped himself up with his arms. Alright. Not too bad so far. He could ignore the headache, he just needed to get his legs underneath himself so he could get moving.

Uranus caught his breath, mentally counting down in his head.

Alright, here we go. C’mon Uranus, you got this.

Three.

Two.

…

One!

Uranus threw himself forward, using his gravity to support him while he stumbled to his feet. Hands on his knees he heaved in breaths, clenching shut his eyes to try to get the migraine to subside. Sweat dripped down his face, Uranus' fingers twitching with the urge to just rip his skin off and be happy right then and there. No. Neptune. Get to Neptune and it'll be okay. You got yourself up, you did it. Great job! Now all you have to do now is get to Neptune’s orbit. Not that hard. You've done it plenty of times before.

Bloody hell, what is he saying? It'll take forever and he’s already knackered from being too weak to deal with the pain.

Ugh, just move Uranus. You have all the time in the universe, just move.

Uranus swallowed another gulp of air, blinking through the tiny pinpricks of tears on the edge of his eyes. No. He was not going to cry right now. He still needed to preserve some of his dignity. Uranus gritted his teeth, clenching his hands into fists, as he dragged his feet forward, every step feeling like he had Jupiter’s gravity crushing him. But he didn’t stop. Eyes on the Kuiper Belt, because Helios forbid his eyes actually focused enough to search for the other ice giant along his orbit, Uranus continued. Somehow.

Slowly the feeling of Neptune’s gravity increased, which allowed Uranus to rely on that to find the other planet.

Uranus' eyes adjusted to the darkness of Neptune's orbit pretty quickly, and even if it was still difficult to focus them, his vision wasn't horrible anymore. He could slightly relax, not too much or else he would get caught off guard again by the pain, as he searched for Neptune so he could redo his hair. Uranus wiggled his tingling fingers, using that to distract himself from how sweaty and sticky his hair felt after that first pain spiral. He had to find Neptune. He didn't know how much longer he could stand being like this. 

Uranus let Neptune's gravity pull him in and guide him to the other so he didn't have to move as much. Was it lazy? Yes. Did it work to avoid another debilitating pain spiral? Also yes. Hey if it worked, it worked. 

Neptune's gravity suddenly got way stronger, Uranus softly smiling as he finally found the other ice giant. Perfect timing too, Uranus was actually about to rip his sweaty hair out of his surface if he didn't find the other.

Uranus turned with his whole body, making sure to not turn too fast, the deep blue planet finally coming into view. Uranus sagged in relief, happily imagining his hair finally put back into place and finally being able to get back to his work after a nice little chat with the other ice giant. Uranus moved closer as Neptune floated in his orbit, his moons orbiting around him, awake and alert but…quiet for some reason. Which was odd, to say the least. If there was anything that Uranus learned from being around Neptune's moons, it was that they were never quiet, not even when they were sleeping. They would coo or whine or giggle in their sleep, shifting around constantly as they cuddled with their planet. It was always something Uranus found bloody annoying, but every time Neptune gazed at them his eyes were so full of love that it apparently didn't matter how much work had to be put into them, Neptune would still love them with all his core. Uranus was so glad his moons were a little more mature and independent than Neptune's.

Uranus cleared his throat, softly raising a hand (not too high, not too fast) to wave at Neptune and his moons to get their attention, "Hey mates! What's hanging!"

All of Neptune's moons snapped their attention to him, frantic eyes relaxing just a tad bit as they realized who it was. They had immediately moved out of their orbits and formed a scraggly wall of bodies that separated Neptune from the outside world, with the Kuiper Belt behind them and the rest of the Solar System in front of them. Weird. Why would Neptune's moons be scared? Neptune made sure they were scared of nobody! Uranus watched, cocking his head, as all of the moons immediately refocused on Neptune. Including that big one that fancied one of Jupiter's moons. Double weird.

Uranus moved forward, confusion just barely overtaking his urge to pull his hair out, "Mates what's going on?"

He was shushed.

Bloody hell, he was shushed.

Uranus scoffed, earning himself sixteen pairs of eyes glaring at him. What in the void is happening? Uranus opened his mouth, a tart response on the tip of his tongue, but the same sixteen moons shook their heads. Huh, really weird. Uranus paused, fidgeting with his hands as the confusion very quickly turned to concern. Alright. No talking, everyone's on edge, and Neptune was still floating there even though Uranus had already spoken a bunch and normally by this time Neptune would be all over him. He could work with that, he just hoped the moons understood what he was trying to say.

What's happening? He signed, his tingling hands making it a little trickier to communicate, Is Neptune okay?

Surprise mixed with relief flickered across the faces of the Neptunian moons, some coming closer to him while others moved back to Neptune. The biggest, uh…Triton, pushed his way closer to Uranus, signing something to the smaller moons that Uranus couldn't catch. But it was enough for them to back off, regathering around Neptune as Uranus realized for the first time that Neptune looked so still it looked as if he wasn't even breathing.

That's not good.

Neptune was always fidgeting or moving around, or just blabbering nonsense, but was always moving no matter what. He could never sit still, it was one of the things Uranus always snapped at him about. But if Neptune wasn't moving at all and his moons were worried and shushing Uranus, when it was usually Uranus shushing Neptune, something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

It's okay, Uranus! It's alright! No need to panic. If Neptune was really in trouble his moons would've done something already and gotten help. They're smart like that.

Every selfish thought about his hair was immediately shoved to the back of his mind, Uranus forcing himself to breathe and to focus on Neptune. He could manage with the overwhelming feeling of his sweaty and sticky and annoying and uncomfortable hair for a little longer if it meant that he could help Neptune get out of this spiral. Uranus would be a horrible planet, a horrible friend, a horrible cousin, if he abandoned Neptune's greater needs for his own, far smaller, issues. Besides, if he spent too much time thinking about his hair he'd lose his cool and fall into a spiral of his own and it'd only make the migraine and the ache worse which made it harder to breathe and harder to focus when Neptune needed him the most. 

Focus Uranus, focus.

In front of him, Triton waved to catch his attention, adjusting his glasses slightly. Uranus glanced down at him, and in the split second the sunglasses had shifted, he saw the exhaustion and the fear and the worry echoed in the moon's eyes.

Ah bloody hell, that's really not good.

If the resident moon that didn't care (even if everyone saw through his ruse) was worried, then something was definitely wrong.

Uranus, Triton signed, his blue mittens floating off to the side, I would've come get you but I didn't want to leave Neptune or the kids. He… Triton paused, not helping Uranus' growing panic, as he threw a pained glance back at the floating planet, Neptune isn't doing great. We don't know why or what set it off, but it looks like he's in another episode.

Oh.

Oh, Neptune.

Triton must've seen the look on his face, his hands a little more shaky and a little more frantic as he continued. It's not as bad as last time. He still responds to some stimuli, but it's just reflexes at this point. The knee jerk, pupils dilating and narrowing when we shine light in them, but he won't talk and won't move otherwise and…

Triton cut himself off, shaky hands squeezing themselves together to ground himself. Uranus swallowed his panic, placing a hand on Triton's shoulder and finger spelling with the other one as the small moon looked up at the ice giant. It's alright mate. I get it. Neptune always bounces back from these, he's strong like that.

Triton nodded, gesturing for Uranus to follow him as he floated back to Neptune. Uranus wrung his hands together, shoving his anxiety down as far as it could go and tried to clear his mind. For Neptune. 

The baby moons moved out of the way as Triton led Uranus to Neptune, wide eyes locked on every movement of the pale ice giant. He could feel their eyes on the back of his head, a feeling that Uranus had always despised since his creation. He shot a glance at one of them as he passed, Nereid if Uranus remembered correctly, the tiny moon defiantly staring back despite how big the planet was compared to her. Determined little ones, they were. He could respect that.

Uranus turned back to Triton, taking in a deep breath to collect his thoughts. Now is not the time to mess up social interactions, Neptune needed Uranus to be calm and have a cool head. Uranus needed to get it together for Neptune's sake. Alright body, please don't collapse on me when I need to be put together the most.

Triton moved away from Uranus' side, hesitantly floating to the deep blue ice giant. Neptune's hoodie was up, which was fair, it was bloody freezing in his orbit, but it obscured his entire face, not letting anyone see him. Uranus scanned Neptune's posture, looking for any notice that something was up. Arms hugging himself tightly, body curled into itself, a slight tremble of his shoulders, anything that showed some emotion. Anything to tell Uranus what Neptune was feeling so he could help. But even as Triton went up to Neptune's eye level, waving softly and signing to get his attention, Neptune stayed still, emotionless. 

Bloody hell, it…it almost looked like he was dead. 

No! Stop it! Bad thought Uranus! 

Triton sighed, so controlled and so soft that Uranus had to take a second because that did not sound like the normal Triton he knew. The moon pinched the bridge of his nose, pushing his glasses aside while rubbing his eyes. Bloody hell mate, between the sagging shoulders and the eyebags, Triton looked exhausted. He really should get some sleep. Uranus bit his tongue though, knowing that the stubborn moon would not listen to anything Uranus said, not until Neptune was better. With his eyes still on Neptune, Triton gestured for Uranus to come closer. To help.

It took a second for Uranus to take a step. Fear and the bloody ache in his body swirling together to make an amazing mix of emotions that made him want to throw up and take a nap. Triton stared at him, Uranus sucking in a breath and praying to Sagittarius A* that he could fix this before anything else went wrong with himself, Neptune, or the entire Solar System.

Triton moved to the side, letting Uranus sit in front of Neptune as he moved. Uranus took another breath, (how many times is he going to have to control his breathing!? He's with Neptune! He shouldn't be nervous!) eyes focused on his hands before looking up into Neptune's gaze. He didn't know what to expect looking into Neptune's eyes, honestly didn't really know what he wanted to see, but…

It certainly wasn't what Uranus saw sitting in front of him.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

No spark, no hurt in his eyes, no emotion.

Nothing.

Uranus forced himself not to panic, mentally going through the list of things to do in this situation. Alright, uhh…we need quiet. And that's already taken care of by Neptune's moons. Alright, nice. Sensory stuff is next, right? But we can't figure out if there's anything overwhelming Neptune if we can't communicate with him.

Communication! Uranus completely skipped over that step, he just assumed because the moons couldn't get him to talk then Uranus couldn't either, but he didn't try. He just gave up before attempting to do anything! Alright, okay. Don't go too fast or too sudden, slowly get his attention to not overwhelm or scare him and make everything worse. You got this Uranus.

Uranus slowly, after finding where Neptune's blank stare was focused on, waved in front of his eyes to get his attention. No response. Not even a blink. That's okay! Uranus wasn't going to get it on the first try. Neptune? Uranus signed, making sure his hands were where Neptune could see them, Are you okay, Neptune?

Still no response, Neptune's dark blue eyes glazed over as he stared at absolutely nothing. Okay, alright. This is fine. Going back to special sensory junk, what are Neptune's triggers?

Uh…those tags on the inside of shirts and jackets! Uranus remembered that one from the time when they both went through most of their stuff a while back and cut off the tags, but Neptune was wearing his old worn out jacket that definitely had the tags taken out. He gets triggered when it was too hot (Uranus too, they were ice giants!) but they were in the coldest orbit possible so that's a no. Sometimes the texture of his mittens affected him? Uranus glanced at Neptune's hands, finding the mittens already off and thrown to the side. Maybe…maybe it was something deeper? Not physical, but maybe something someone said that triggered an unwanted memory that left Neptune spiraling. Uranus hoped not, those were always the hardest to get Neptune out of.

Triton waved to get his attention, Uranus snapping out of his thoughts to focus on Triton as he asked, Any luck?

Uranus shook his head the tiniest bit (even while being careful a twinge of pain flared up along his neck. Just ignore it and focus, Uranus), Triton letting out a worried sigh as he took a step back away from everyone. A couple of the smaller kids came up to the biggest moon, gently tugging on his sleeves to get his attention. Uranus smiled softly, watching as Triton crouched down to let them whisper something in his ear. Aw, they're adorable little rascals aren't they.

Triton nodded to whatever the kids said, softly whispering something back as the group ran off to the others. Triton watched them go, Uranus waiting there for the right time to continue the conversation, not quite sure what else to say to continue it. Uranus didn't need to wait long as the moon looked up at the planet, hand on his hip and his head cocking to the side, signing with his other hand, What are your thoughts about what's happening?

Uranus shrugged, trying hard not to stare at Neptune for too long. He wasn't a circus attraction, he was a celestial just like Uranus or Triton…it's just that Uranus was worried and he didn't mean to stare at the other planet but he was trying to help and needed to know everything that was happening. It…it still felt wrong though. It felt so wrong to stare at Neptune when he wasn't even aware of what was happening and couldn't ask him to stop staring because he was in an episode that just shut everything down. He hated–Not the time, Uranus. Focus on helping, not your own emotions. Uranus blinked a couple times to reset his thoughts (not shaking his head, Uranus learned his lesson from doing that) turning to Triton, He had to have been triggered by something. Any new sensory problems lately? Is that asteroid around still for Neptune to use?

Triton pointed behind Neptune, Guillermo's back there. And I… he huffed, but sounded more annoyed to himself than with Neptune or Uranus, …I wasn't paying attention to what was happening. One minute I was trying to take a nap and the next Proteus was shaking me awake telling me that Neptune was having another episode.

Uranus glanced up, an idea forming in his head, Proteus? Do you think he could know what set this off?

Maybe? Triton turned away from Uranus and the floating body of Neptune, (don't say it like that, please don't say it like that Uranus) waving to the group of the Neptunian moons that had huddled together further away from the three of them. Fifteen heads popped up at the same time, Uranus stifling a laugh as they all had the same surprised look plastered on their faces. Triton signed for Proteus to come over, the biggest moon in the group nodding as he detached himself from the gang of moons.

Proteus jogged over, his worried eyes straying to Neptune's form behind them. Triton snapped his fingers to get the smaller moon's attention, the sound grating Uranus' ears after the silence that lay over Neptune's orbit. Uranus grimaced, pulling on the fabric of his gloves to distract himself from the sound of the snap that still echoed in his core. Proteus focused on Triton as the bigger one asked, Do you know what made Neptune fall into this spiral? Was he talking to himself, complaining about anything before he stopped talking?

Proteus shook his head, his beanie falling slightly over his eyes. He brushed it back, signing slowly and carefully to get every word right, He was talking with us for a while, and seemed happy! But I turned to Larrisa to ask her a question and talk but when I turned back Neptune wouldn't talk to us! Proteus sent another anguished look at the dark blue planet, fidgeting with the cuffs of his jackets.

Triton crouched down in front of the kid, waving to get his attention, It ain't your fault kid. Sometimes this stuff happens. But did he say anything before he went non verbal?

Proteus coughed, Uranus flinching at the sudden sound, and then flinching again when a bolt of pain shot up his back. Dammit Uranus, you need to be more careful. Proteus continued, his hands shaking ever so slightly. He wasn't talking about it, but I saw him pulling and rubbing and scratching a lot on his hair like he was annoyed.

Uranus shared a glance with Triton, the moons' eyes saying exactly what Uranus was thinking. Uranus was beyond relieved that it was an easy (easier than something rooted deep in emotions) fix to get Neptune back to the present. All they had to do was fix whatever was wrong with Neptune's hair, and all would be good! If it was too knotty, Uranus had a brush on standby. If it was too greasy, Uranus would send some of the kids into the Kuiper Belt (not too far, he would have to keep an eye on them after all) to get the plentiful amounts of ice asteroids orbiting in there so they could rinse his hair. If nothing seemed wrong, he would put it in a braid to make all of his hair less overwhelming. Whatever it was, Uranus would try to help. Emphasis on the try, because even if it didn't work Uranus hated seeing Neptune like this. Don't think about it, Uranus. Don't think about it, just do. Don't let your emotions get the best of you.

Uranus nodded to Triton, shifting back to his position in front of Neptune. Alright. Hair time…and where does he start? One step at a time, Uranus. What's first? He fidgeted with his hands while he thought, trying to ignore the increasingly painful ache in them. Uranus waved softly in front of Neptune's eyes, an idea (it was more like common sense, but it was starting to hurt to think so give Uranus a break) popping into his head, Neptune? I'm going to take your hoodie off. I'll go slowly, and at any time you can tell me to stop, alright?

He didn't know why he half-expected Neptune to nod and to respond and to smile back at Uranus, when it was clear Neptune was still stuck in his mind…but it still hurt to not get a response. It was completely Uranus' fault for getting his hopes up.

Uranus leaned forward, gently moving Neptune's hood to uncover more of his face. Neptune stayed still, his eyes blank even as Uranus paused to see any change in the other planet's behavior in case he needed to stop. Still nothing. Uranus swallowed another bout of panic, pulling Neptune's hood all the way down so that it rested on his shoulders.

Curly blue hair sprung into place, falling down to just above Neptune's shoulders. It had the volume that Uranus always wanted with his hair, big and poofy and actually pretty soft. He hesitantly ran a hand through Neptune's hair, brushing it out of his eyes so Neptune could see better. Uranus shifted, scooting carefully behind the other planet so that he didn't have to awkwardly reach over his face to get to his hair. Triton followed him, Proteus trailing behind, the two sitting together next to Uranus as he sat down behind Neptune. 

Uranus hesitated, hands stalling just before touching Neptune's hair. What if he made things worse? What if Neptune's hair wasn't the problem and trying to fix it only made him spiral even more because it was too overwhelming having someone touch his hair and his head. What if he did the braid wrong? What if he hurt Neptune as he did the braid? What if, what if, what if…

Uranus jumped as tiny hands pressed into his arms, flinching away in pain as spasms flared up along his back. Breathe. Breathe through the pain. It'll go away. He cringed, gritting his teeth to focus away from the aching throb and turned to the moon who demanded his attention. You alright Uranus? Triton signed, sunglasses pushed down to the bridge of his nose so peering eyes infected Uranus. You ain't looking so hot.

Hot? Hot. Uranus was very hot. And sweaty. And sticky. And everything. He hated it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Think about Neptune. Neptune needs us. Focus Uranus.

Uranus forced himself to smile and nod, grimacing as his neck twinged in pain again. Go away. Go away. Stop it. Not now. Not when it was supposed to be about Neptune.

Triton stared at Uranus, grey eyes calculating so fast and so, so similar to Neptune's it hurt. The moon frowned, laying a gentle hand on Uranus' leg and signing with the other, You really don't look good. Maybe you should let us take care of this–

"No!" Uranus shouted, emotions overriding his sense of logic. He can do this. He has to do this. If he can't do this he's useless and a horrible friend. It's just braiding hair. He's done it a million times already! Triton backed away, Proteus ducking behind him, surprise flashing across his face. Uranus' hands shook, and he clenched them into fists, his nails digging into his surface to stop them from shaking. His body ached, pain flaring up everywhere as his emotions took over and sweat collected on his forehead and his hair stuck to his back and bloody hell everything pissed him off. 

Triton's gaze hardened, but it still had a soft edge to it, his voice raspy as he spoke quietly, "Uranus, sit back down, take a breather, and then come back to this. We can handle Neptune, but you need to calm down."

Calm down? He was calm! He was bloody calm! If he ignored the pain and the spasms rocking his body and the hair tormenting him and how he felt like he was going to pass out at any given moment, he felt amazingly calm! He was practically meditating from how calm he was!

Logic overcame his emotions for a split second, giving him a brief moment of clarity where Uranus realized everything was wrong and that Triton was right. He stumbled back (when did he stand up?) moving away from Triton and Proteus and Neptune. Failure. Stupid idiot. Couldn't even help Neptune, had to make it all about you. His legs shook, as well as his shoulders, Uranus sinking to his knees a couple steps away from Neptune.

He didn't hear Triton's soft voice telling Proteus to get the other Neptunian moons. He didn't see Proteus stop, glancing with wide and sad eyes at Uranus and wanting to help. He didn't see as Triton put the kids to work, braiding Neptune's hair with seasoned practice.

All he could think about was himself.

Selfish. Selfish. Selfish.

His hair. Hair. Stop it. Pull it out. It hurt. It hurt like hell. Even if there was no blood, no cuts, his hair being the way it is hurt so bloody much. It was torture. He was already being tortured, the splitting agony across his body throbbing in pain. Why must he suffer more? He wanted it to stop. He needed it to stop. The grease and the chaos of his hair and the stinging fire raging in his body was leaking into his core. He couldn't think. It…it was taking him over. It was infecting him. He was all hair. All fire. All uncomfortable, greasy, sticky, sweaty, chaotic mess of hair. He hated it. He hated everything. He hated himself. 

He pulled on his hair, strands ripping from his surface but he relished the pain. It meant he was being purified. No hair meant no sweaty uncomfortable sticky mess. No hair meant that he wouldn't feel like he was dying. No hair would make him focus on Neptune and be less selfish.

No hair.

No…hair…

No…

What?

Uranus peeled open his eyes, sweat sticking to his forehead as he panted through the pain. It was still there of course, it would never go away. It was a part of him for forever, and he hated it. He just had to ignore it and look ahead. Uranus squinted, his eyes taking a second to focus, but there was nothing important in front of him to look at. Just the vast expanse of space in their Solar System. Hm…he liked looking at the Solar System from all the way out here. It was peaceful. No drama could reach them and they could observe the beauty of nature in action. …Hold up. It wasn't this peaceful a second ago. It was chaotic and overwhelming and hard. It took a moment, but Uranus suddenly realized that he'd broken out of his, ever so brief, overwhelming spiral. It took another second for him to realize how.

Was…hm… oh.

Someone was braiding his hair.

Someone was braiding his hair.

Uranus didn't have the energy to look behind him to see who it was, but the many tiny hands running through his hair gave him a small clue. Oh…this, this was nice. Uranus closed his eyes again, contently sitting there as the hands braided his hair. His ears still rang, but the low mumbles of the moons behind him broke through that and was…comforting? Huh, weird. Really weird. Uranus smiled, humming softly and happily, the hands in his hair stopping for a moment.

Quiet but excited squeals and giggles rose from behind him, a small hand tapping his shoulder. Uranus peeked open his eyes, Proteus' upside down face way too close to his but smiling so widely and happily that Uranus couldn't care less. Proteus grinned, his high voice giddy, "Hi Uranus! You feeling better now?"

Uranus nodded, caught a little off guard by the correct pronunciation of his name coming from the moon.

Proteus gave him a thumbs up, disappearing back behind Uranus, "Great! Now stay still! We're gonna make you look beautiful!"

Uranus complied, and that was how he ended up sitting next to Neptune as the two of them got their hair braided together by Neptune's moons. Not exactly what he had in mind when he left his orbit, but he wasn't complaining because wow Neptune's moons knew how to braid some hair. They let him pick out the type of braid, apologized every time they pulled his hair too much, and after a while when Neptune started talking again they were so happy and so excited and so, so adorable.

Uranus was glad that even if he couldn't be there for Neptune, that even if his problems sometimes overwhelmed him to the point where Uranus couldn't help, that even if Neptune was separated from the rest of the Solar System, Neptune's moons could take care of him.

One braid at a time.

Chapter Text

"Our intrepid adventures advance into the hallway, steps echoing down the twisting chambers. You hear nothing except for the ragged breaths of you and your companions after your success of outrunning Ainatit, but there's an off feeling to the air as you continue. It's heavy, and has a stench vaguely similar to that of rotten eggs. As you carry on venturing down the hallway you suddenly cannot breathe! You quickly realize, to your horror, that the hallway is filled with George's Poisonous Gases!"

Groans of annoyance came from the dwarf planets sitting around the grinning Makemake, papers and dice scattered around for everyone to use. Crumpled up pieces of paper and broken pencils floated a little further away in the pile off to the side. A small light sat next to Makemake, allowing for a little better lighting in the darkness of the Kuiper Belt. It illuminated the faces of the dwarf planets playing, casting shadows over Makemake's board and protecting it from peering eyes looking for hints and spoilers. Next to Charon, Eris rolled her eyes, stretching to get comfortable as she lazily spoke, "Ugh, not this guy again. His spells are so annoying."

Makemake's grin widened, clapping his hands together excitedly, "Oh but it is this guy again, my dear friend. And all of you have to take a Constitution saving throw before you can do anything else. Roll a D20 and if you get higher then a D13 then you're all set! If you get lower…well that's where the fun begins." Makemake waved his notebook in the air, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Well that can't be good," Haumea shuddered, pulling his grey blanket further in around him as he reached for his die, "How much damage does it do if we fail?"

Makemake shook his head, placing his notebook back down behind his screen and his eyes still as bright as ever, "That's where you're wrong, my dear Haumea." He leaned over his screen, a mischievous grin spreading wide, "There's no need for dice rolling to decide the amount of damage given when inhaling George's Poisonous Gases, rather on a failed saving throw you are automatically blinded for an hour, have disadvantage on all perception checks and attacks, and it cannot be healed or reversed while it's in effect!"

"What!" Haumea worriedly glanced at the group, shocked faces reflected back at him, "I–but…but that's not fair! We're–we're almost at the end of the campaign! I'm going to be useless!"

"You're only going to be useless if you fail the Con save, so roll those die!"

As the other dwarf planets (and Triton) picked up their dice and started rolling, Charon guided Ceres' hand to the D20. He sat in her lap, (after she decided that having Ceres do something, even if she was guiding his every move, was better than her doing all the work) whispering to Charon, through his stutters and coughs and giggles, small things about what they should do. Letting Ceres sit in her lap and do some of the actions got Charon to dub it as good practice for the dwarf planet to learn to do everyday things again. It was much easier to stop Ceres from eating something he wasn't supposed to if she had him right in front of him, and could easily grab whatever thing he'd gotten this time and throw it out of his reach so Ceres wouldn't accidentally hurt himself.

Ceres giggled, rough and raspy but happy, clumsily grasping onto the D20 in front of them with one blue, bandaged hand. Makemake had wrapped Ceres' hands a while back so he couldn't bite them. It also allowed for the bite marks and wounds already there to heal–Ceres’ poor hands were already so damaged from the years spent alone that it was one of the first things Charon asked Makemake to do when they met the small dwarf planet for the first time. Charon's hand brushed against the fabric, (making a mental note to politely ask Makemake to redo the bandages at another time when he wasn't so busy, as they were getting old and coming undone) ensuring that her voice wasn't too loud as she said to the small dwarf planet in her lap, "Alright Ceres, great job! Now can you roll the dice?"

Ceres shifted in her lap, long, choppy hair falling out of his eyes as he tilted his head backwards to look at Charon with his wide, lopsided grin, "R–roll!"

Charon grinned, "Yes! Roll the dice! Like this!" She mimed the motion of rolling the die, Ceres' curious eyes following her every move. She dropped her hand back into her lap, ducking to the side to look into Ceres' piercing blue eyes, "Can you do that?"

Ceres' wild grin stayed on his face and he looked from the dice in his hand, to Charon's hand in her lap. She waited patiently, hand drumming on her thigh while she watched, slightly amused, as his eyes darted around in thought. Ceres stalled for a moment, eyes dropping down to Charon's hand in his lap, and Charon had about half a second to pull her hand back as Ceres tried to bite it.

Charon yelped, pulling her hand to her chest as Ceres twisted, teeth snapping on air as he tried to bite her again, "No! Bad Ceres! No biting, we talked about this!"

Ceres just grinned and giggled again, sunlight glinting off his sharp teeth. Charon grumbled, rubbing her hands together just out of Ceres' reach as the momentary adrenaline rush faded. Sitting on the other side of her, Pluto placed a worried hand on her shoulder, frowning as his eyes scanned his moon, "Are you okay, Charon? Did he get you?"

Charon shook her head with a sigh, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes, "No, no I'm fine. I've learned all his tricks already, I just wish he would stop trying to bite everything."

"You could always put a muzzle on him."

"Triton!" Everyone gasped, turning to the other moon, "No!"

Triton put his hands up like he was surrendering, pushing his sunglasses back into place with a huff, "Stars, okay! It's just—he does act a little bit like a rabid dog sometimes.”

Charon frowned, pulling Ceres closer to herself in a hug, despite the fact that he was still trying to bite her hands, "I don't know what that is, but it sounds mean. And I'm not going to let you talk about Ceres like that! Especially when he's right here and can hear what you're saying!"

Makemake leaned over the papers surrounding him, crossing his arms over his chest as he frowned at Triton, "I second that. If you're going to insult a fellow dwarf planet you can go back to Neptune, Triton."

Triton said something back to Makemake, but Ceres' hands tugging on Charon's arms caused her to look down and lose focus on the conversation. He wiggled in her lap, whining quietly as he pushed against her grip on him. Charon's frown deepened, hesitantly letting her hands drop to her sides and releasing her hold on Ceres. The dwarf planet immediately relaxed, Charon giggling slightly as he leaned into her with a content hum, no longer bent on eating her fingers.

The argument had seemingly died down by the time Charon looked back up to the others, Makemake sitting patiently for everyone to finish rolling their dice. She gently pried open Ceres' grip on the D20, wincing as he growled slightly, but he quickly settled back down after a second. Charon held the dice in her hand for a second longer, thumb brushing the side with 20 on it and hoping to get something good. She let it roll out of her hand, a mantra repeating in her mind, Alright, c'mon. Please roll something good. Please roll something good. Please–

Charon held her breath, watching as the dice flipped over, once, twice, three times, and settled down. Yes! Let's go!!! A wide grin spread across her face, matching the one plastered across the faces of the others surrounding her. Makemake looked from one dice to the next, ducking down behind his screen to scribble something down in his notebook, and then looked back up with a grin, "Congratulations everyone! You all passed the saving throws, so you have nothing to worry about now Haumea as no one will be blinded during your attack on the compound!"

The group cheered, Haumea ducking his head to smile softly as Makemake grinned ear to ear. Charon ruffled Ceres' hair, getting his attention, "You hear that Ceres? We can still defeat the evil guys!"

Ceres' dark blue hair fell in face as he twisted around, shaking just a little bit in her lap (but it was an excited shaking, Charon had quickly learned to tell the difference between that and his other strong emotions), "E–evil! Entro…py. Entropy!"

Charon cocked her hand, hands still tangled in Ceres' hair, "Uh…sure? I guess?"

Pluto shifted in his position, anxious eyes going to the dwarf planet in Charon's lap, "What's he going on about?"

Charon shrugged, looking back to Ceres and returning the grin he was sending her way, "No idea. But it seems to make him happy and there seems to be no harm in saying it. Plus he’s still learning how to speak again, so saying anything is more than enough for me to be happy!” She squeezed Ceres gently, the dwarf planet giggling happily in return. Pluto pursed his lips, looking like he was about to say something but thought against it last minute. He turned his attention back to the papers in front of him, Makemake’s voice continuing to describe what was happening in-game.

Charon stared at the character sheet floating in front of her, mindlessly running her hands through Ceres’ hair as she listened to Makemake ramble, losing herself in her thoughts about the game. Out of the blue, her hand hit something hard tangled within Ceres’ hair, and on instinct, and because hair is not supposed to be hard, she yanked her hand out of his hair with a surprised squeak, moving faster than a comet racing an asteroid. 

What? Huh? What–what was that! What just happened? 

Her hands twitched, her core skipping a beat and fluttering with panic. She forced herself to breathe as she stared at Ceres’ hair, fighting through the momentary flash of panic after feeling the wrong texture. Hard when it’s supposed to be soft. Hair is supposed to be soft, soft, soft. Why is Ceres’ hair hard? That’s not normal. It’s wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

“Charon? You alright?”

She blinked, snapping out of her thoughts as Pluto waved a hand in front of her face. It took Charon a second to realize that Pluto was talking to her, and it took another moment for her to realize what he was asking and that she had to respond. Because that’s how conversations work. And she was having a conversation. And should be talking.

Charon rubbed her twitchy hands together, the tiny movement doing wonders to ground her, frowning as she stared down at Ceres’ wide and slightly unnerving grin, “Um…yeah? I think I’m good. Just felt something weird in Ceres’ hair and it spooked me.”

Makemake pushed his glasses up, cocking his head to the side, intrigue flashing very obviously across his eyes, “Ooh, and what did you feel? Was it space lice?”

Eris shot Makemake a deadpan look, rolling her eyes with a tired sigh, “I’ve been telling you Makemake, there’s no such thing as space lice. Charon probably just felt Ceres’ surface.”

Charon narrowed her eyes as Ceres continued to stare at her, his expression a little more confused now, “No, no, I know felt something hard stuck in Ceres’ hair. It was weird.”

Makemake clasped his hands together, squealing excitedly, “Oh what fun! It’s an exciting mystery and we don’t have to go anywhere to experience it! Ceres, Ceres, my chaotic comrade, come here will you?” The blue dwarf planet glanced back around at Charon, widening blue eyes tinged with worry. Charon gave him a small smile, nodding in Makemake’s direction, shifting her weight to gently push Ceres to his feet. He stumbled as he took a step, quickly catching himself and slowly continuing to Makemake’s excited arms. 

Ceres threw another worried glance back at Charon, the moon responding with an encouraging smile that came out more like a grimace, the feeling of wrong still sinking into her hands. Ceres’ uncertain eyes flicked back and forth, his choppy hair falling into his eyes and swishing with every turn of his head. Makemake’s excited chattering died down for a moment as he smiled softly at the other dwarf planet, slowly offering a gloved hand forward. Charon stared with wide eyes and baited breath, excitement overflowing her core as Ceres hesitantly took Makemake’s hand. Charon was usually the only one Ceres could get this close to! That’s progress!!! So much progress!!! All the hard work was finally paying off!!! 

Makemake grinned, gently pulling Ceres along as he moved away from the group and led Ceres to sit on a nearby asteroid. With the game seemingly abandoned, the others lazily followed Makemake, settling around them in a scraggly semi circle. Pluto moved, standing up and pulling Charon in closer to him, holding her in a side hug and squeezing so gently. As much as Charon wanted to pull away and say that she was fine, she really needed some physical touch right now to ground her, and Pluto was just so warm and cozy and safe. Charon leaned into Pluto’s hold with a small sigh, a light chuckle coming from the dwarf planet above her. Her planet sat back down, Charon plopping down and relaxing against Pluto's side.

“Alrighty Ceres!” Makemake said with a clap of his hands, Ceres’ wild blue eyes snapping back to the pink dwarf planet, warily watching as Makemake rolled up his sleeves and placed his gloves to float off to the side, “Let’s see what Charon was talking about! I’m going to need you to stay very still, alright? It might feel weird, but the goal of this is that you’ll hopefully feel better in the end. You hear me? I’m helping! So please don’t bite me!”

Ceres stared at Makemake for another moment, his shoulders still tense and hands clenched into fists, but he nodded slowly after a second. He turned around, facing the rest of the group with anticipation and wariness and just a little bit of fear echoed in his eyes. Charon could tell, by the tapping of his fingers, the twitchiness of his movements, and his eyes flicking back and forth nervously, that Ceres was not ready. But to her surprise, his raspy voice broke the silence with a small, “G–go.” 

Makemake beamed, “Alrighty then! Stay still my little dwarfy friend, while I work my magic!” Makemake ducked behind Ceres’ head, humming softly to himself as he combed his hands through the blue dwarf planet’s long, unruly hair. Ceres stayed still, clenching the sides of the asteroid he was sitting on and his eyes closed tightly. Worry erupted in Charon’s core, but she was still confident that Ceres could do this. They've taken so many tiny steps working with Ceres, all of the dwarf planets have, Charon just hoped that Ceres could trust them all enough while they worked on his hair. 

Makemake’s voice popped back up, catching Charon’s attention as she leaned forward, hoping Makemake found something, “Stars, Ceres, your hair is in horrible condition. Have you ever taken an ice asteroid shower? Or even just brushed it? I’ll be glad to teach you, especially because you have so much of it. I’m jealous of your length! I could never grow mine out that long, my curls just couldn’t pull it off! You..”

Charon tuned Makemake’s rambling out, frowning as she thought… what if she hadn’t felt anything weird. What if she did just feel Ceres’ surface and overreacted and she stopped the Dungeons and Dwarf Planets game over nothing? What if she was wasting everyone’s time and it would make everyone angry and then everyone—

“Aha!” Makemake exclaimed, very loudly and very excited, “I see what you meant Charon, when you said Ceres' hair felt weird. There’s a bunch of asteroid bits stuck in our poor little Ceres’ hair!” 

Oh. Huh. That's…interesting. So she wasn’t lying. She did feel something! The relief that washed over her wasn’t needed for such a small thing, yet she felt so much better once she realized she didn’t make it up. Asteroid debris makes a lot more sense now that she took a second to think about it. Alright so maybe she did overreact a little, but Ceres is getting help now so at least there’s something good that came out of it!

Makemake straightened up, cracking his knuckles and then ruffling Ceres’ hair, “That must feel so uncomfortable, but no worries! I’ll fix it! You’re doing great so far Ceres, just stay still a little longer and we can get these out!” Ceres nodded, but a shout from Makemake telling him not to move got him to freeze, flinching at the sudden increase in volume. It didn’t go unnoticed by the others, worried glances shared between the dwarf planets sitting around in the semi circle told Charon that the others had seen that flinch as well. Charon tried to catch Ceres’ eye, wanting to tell him that it’s okay, it’ll be over soon, we’re trying to help you, it might be uncomfortable now but it’ll feel a whole lot better in the future, but Ceres’ attention stayed fixed on his feet.

Makemake continued picking through Ceres' hair, all while muttering stuff to himself Charon couldn't catch. The sharpness and the annoyance in his voice became increasingly rougher as he went on. Charon was just about to ask what was wrong, when Makemake looked back up and pointed directly at her, “Charon, come here for a second. I need a second opinion for this decision.” Confusion and a little bit of anxiety flashed across her mind, but she knew Makemake didn’t mess around, and going from the look on his face he was thinking really hard about this. She trusted that whatever Makemake needed her for, it was important. Charon pushed herself to her feet and hesitantly made her way over to where the pink dwarf planet was standing, Ceres perched on the asteroid in front of him. Makemake moved to the side, gesturing for Charon to come in closer as her curiosity skyrocketed.

Charon stared at the back of Ceres’ hair, where Makemake had gestured to, the tangled, deep blue locks falling down way past Ceres’ back like a waterfall and floating around him. Now that she was actually focused on his hair, she could see places where the blue was broken up by spots of white and red, yet that was definitely not what Makemake had been talking about when he called her over. Charon turned to the pink dwarf planet, arching an eyebrow in confusion, “Makemake, what’s going on? What am I looking for?”

Makemake moved in closer to Charon, hands parting Ceres’ hair like curtains, a shiver running down the tiny dwarf planet, “Like I said before, Ceres’ hair is severely damaged from billions of years of mistreatment.” Makemake used one hand to hold Ceres’ hair up, pointing to where Charon could now very clearly see a lot of asteroid bits and pieces tangled within the strips of hair, “It’s dirty, is in extremely unhealthy condition, and all the debris stuck in it is so deeply tangled within the hair that I can’t simply just pull it out.”

Charon glanced sideways at Makemake, sorrow for Ceres filling up her core and almost overwhelming her, “There must be something we can do to help? Right?”

Makemake sent a grin back, pushing his glasses into place, “Of course there’s something we can do! I always have a plan prepared, it’s like you don’t even know me!” He laughed, short and bubbly, placing a hand on Ceres’ shoulder, “We’ll just have to give our dear friend a haircut! Shouldn’t be too hard, we start where the asteroids are in his hair, and chop it all off from there! Easy as that!”

Charon grimaced, a million different reasons of why that was a bad idea popping into her mind, but someone else beat her to it.

Eris popped up next to the two of them seemingly out of nowhere, Charon stumbling back with a startled squeak. Makemake smiled, unbothered by the other dwarf planet’s rapid appearance, “Hello Eris! Would you like to provide some insight to this as well?”

Eris nodded slowly, hand on her hip as she started speaking, “Yeah. First of all you shouldn’t be the one doing this. You can barely keep check of your own unruly hair, and if you try to cut Ceres’ it is guaranteed to be a disaster.” Makemake scoffed, trying to speak up and object, but Eris just continued steamrolling through, “Secondly, have you asked Ceres, what he thinks about getting his hair cut? It’s a pretty jarring experience, especially for someone like him who probably has never had a haircut before, and you were just going to dive headfirst into doing it before asking him.”

“Of course I was going to ask Ceres!” Makemake huffed, “I was getting to that part! And I can cut anyone's hair perfectly fine, thank you very much!”

Eris shook her head, Charon stepping back and feeling very out of place as the two of them argued, “I don’t think you can. Remember when you tried to do Pluto’s hair when Charon was busy?”

“That was one time!”

“It ended in disaster.”

Makemake crossed his arms, huffing in frustration, “So what, you let me find the problem but not fix it? What kind of logic is that?”

“Logic that keeps you from destroying Ceres’ hair even more than it already has been. Charon–” 

Charon straightened up as her name was called, definitely not snapping back into focus after spacing out as two of her friends argued next to her, “Y–yes Eris?”

Eris turned away from the tense form of Makemake, crouching down to be at a similar height to that of the moon, her monotone voice having just the bit of amusement tied into it, “You know Ceres better than any of us, and I’ve seen how you’ve done Pluto’s hair before. You should be the one to do Ceres’ hair.”

It wasn’t a question.

But Charon didn’t care, because she said without thinking, on instinct, “Sure! I’ll do it!” 

Eris nodded, ignoring Makemake’s shout from behind them, “Alright then, the stage is yours.” She swiftly turned, dragging a grumpy Makemake back to where they were sitting, leaving Charon with Ceres.

And Charon quickly realized that she was not ready to do this, very quickly falling back to the habit of overthinking.

Oh stars, she really should’ve thought about this before she agreed. She wanted to help Ceres, she really did, but she didn’t even know where to start! What hairstyle should she do? Did Ceres want to keep his bangs that covered his eyes? Did she even have scissors to cut Ceres’ hair properly? Why is Ceres being so quiet? Is everything alright? Helios, she’s not qualified for this! Why did she ever agree to this! Oh dear, Makemake definitely should’ve done this. Even if he gets excited and jumps ahead and sometimes makes a big mess, he had a plan! He knew what he was doing! Unlike Charon, who was thrown in the deep end and she can’t swim! She’s drowning! She wanted to give Ceres the best experience he deserved but she didn’t know how to start. What should she do?

“Hey, Charon?” Pluto’s soft voice appeared next to her, slowly taking her hand in his, “Can I help you? I’m not the best at these kinds of things, but you’re looking rather overwhelmed at how to start.” Stars, was she really that easy to read? Charon lifted her eyes to Pluto’s lovingly dark brown ones. “Can I help?” He asked again, smiling ever so softly.

Charon nodded before she realized what was happening, Pluto grinning as he rose to his full height, pulling Charon in next to him as she let him continue, “Hey Haumea?” 

Said dwarf planet glanced up in surprise, anxious eyes darting from Pluto and Charon, to Ceres, and then on the fuming Makemake sitting next to him, and finally landing back on Pluto, “Y–yes Pluto? What do you need?”

“Do you have your sketchbook with you?” Haumea paused, hesitantly nodding after a second, pulling out a black sketchbook littered with stickers, untangling in from the blanket he was wrapped in. Pluto clapped his hands together, “Perfect! Can we use it?”

Haumea held his sketchbook closer to his chest, unsteady voice asking, “Why?”

Pluto gestured to the sitting form of Ceres’ (who was, thankfully, now fidgeting and moving around a little more), “Your sketches will let us give Ceres different styles of hair to choose from. Is that alright with you?” 

Stars, that's genius! It solved Charon's problem of not knowing where to start and would let Ceres choose the type of hair he wanted in a visual way. Charon was so glad she had Pluto on her side. They were a team, and she was really needing some back up when she began to overthink. She usually wasn’t this anxious, she wasn’t someone who worried over things like this, but there was something about wanting to give Ceres the best experience, the best thing that he wanted, that best thing he deserved, that left Charon as an overthinking mess. But Pluto would always be there for her. To help. 

After another second of hesitation, Haumea sighed reluctantly, handing over his sketchbook to Pluto with the request of being very careful with it. Pluto smiled softly, grabbing it with one hand and keeping the other wrapped around his moon, “Thanks Haumea! You’re the best!” Pluto turned to Charon, placing Haumea’s sketchbook in her hands and wow it was heavy, what did Haumea do in this? Pluto gestured to Ceres, “Now before we begin tell him what we’re doing and show him Haumea’s drawings to pick out a hair style to get, and then we can work from there, alright?”

Charon blinked, taking a second to register everything Pluto said, before breaking into a smile. She nodded, squeezing Pluto in a grateful hug, “Thank you Pluto!!! I'll do that now, thanks for being my back up. I really appreciate it.” Her planet nodded, a slight blush coming to his cheeks as Charon grinned, taking the sketchbook and moving in front of Ceres.

“Ceres?” The dwarf planet glanced up, his fingers fidgeting with the bandages on his hands. Charon sat down next to Ceres on the asteroid, gently taking his hand in hers, getting him to stop messing with the wrappings and get his attention, “We’re going to cut your hair, is that okay with you?”

Ceres’ blue eyes widened, yanking his hands back, fear apparent in his eyes, which was not what Charon wanted, “C–cut?”

“It won’t hurt!” Charon scrambled to say, taking a strand of her own hair and miming a cutting motion, “It will make you feel better. You want to feel better, right?” After a moment Ceres nodded quickly, shaky (the bad kind of shaking) hands still held close to his chest. Charon slowly continued, watching her words and making sure to not scare the dwarf planet again, “We’re going to…change your hair to help you! We’ll look through this–” she held up Haumea’s sketchbook, “–so you can choose what you want your hair to look like. Is that okay with you? Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Ceres paused, his eyes flitting around to think through everything Charon just said. After taking a second to think, he slowly nodded twice, reaching for the sketchbook Charon was holding. A strangled sound came from behind her, Haumea objecting to the messy and unpredictable dwarf planet holding his sketchbook. Charon sent an apologetic look back at Haumea, shifting in her position so that she could be the one holding it as Ceres looked through it. 

She flipped to the first page, a bunch of sketches filling up the page of floating heads with differentiating expressions. Charon watched as Ceres scanned the page, his eyes lighting up as he jabbed a finger at one of the drawings on the second page. Charon grinned, “Well that was fast. Ceres can you—ugh move your hand please so I can see.” Ceres wiggled in his position, withdrawing his hands back to his chest with an excited flap and giggle.

Charon stared at the sketch Ceres chose, blinking once in disbelief because there was no way that this is what he wanted.

“That was fast. What’d he choose?” Pluto’s voice asked, leaning around to see the sketchbook, eyes filled with the amusement of clearly seeing Charon’s reaction.

Charon glanced one more time down at the drawing, cringing as she looked back up, “A mullet. Ceres wants a mullet.”

Pluto scoffed in amusement, varying degrees of laughing coming from the dwarf planets scattered around. Pluto’s eyes crinkled as he glanced down at the sketchbook again, erupting in an amused grin, “Are you going to let him get that?”

“No!” Charon practically shouted, still trying to watch her volume for Ceres. She gritted her teeth, as amused as the others but also slightly concerned, “I am not going to be the reason why Ceres of all celestials has a mullet. Sorry Ceres, but no.” Ceres' excited expression crumpled, eyes going back down to his fidgeting hands. Charon wished that she could clearly and precisely get it across to Ceres that a mullet was not the choice that he should choose. It was an…interesting style to say the least. One that Ceres definitely couldn't pull off. Charon remembered, when Pluto was still a planet and they often went to hang out with the gas giants, how horrible it was for one of Jupiter’s moons…Ganymede? Yeah, Ganymede had a mullet once, for stars knows why, and it…didn’t go so well. 

Charon took Ceres’ hands again, letting the book go to float in her gravity, “Ceres, hey I’m not mad at you. You’re not in trouble. I’m just…not quite agreeing with what you chose.” Ceres huffed, hands twitching as he played with the hem of his sleeves. Charon grabbed the book again, bringing it in closer so she could look through the sketches. She kept one hand tangled with Ceres’ fidgety hands, using her other one to flip through the rest of the pages. She came to a stop somewhere in the middle of all the pages, colorful drawings popping out of the page. She squeezed Ceres’ hands, gesturing to one of the drawings with a more simpler hair style, “Maybe this one? It’s short and simple enough to do quickly. Do you like it?”

Ceres lifted his eyes from his hands slowly, somehow still upset over not being able to have a mullet which Charon was still super confused about because why would he want something so crazy? She would be caught dead before she gave Ceres a mullet. Charon pointed to the drawing again, making sure Ceres saw it and knew what it was going to look like before continuing. “Do you like it?” She asked again, still trying to read Ceres’ expressions through the curtain of hair hanging in front of his eyes. The dwarf planet sighed, hair moving out of his eyes as disappointment shined in them, but he nodded nonetheless.

“Great!” Charon squeezed Ceres’ shoulders, gently giving him a hug, which he quickly melted into. Charon giggled, pushing Ceres back up to sit on his own, handing off the sketchbook to Pluto with a point to which one she chose. Alright, so maybe Ceres didn’t get the entire decision and she still kind of chose it for him, but he agreed to something in the end! Something that wasn’t a mullet! Stars, can she stop thinking about that!

Pluto’s hand tapped on her shoulder, Charon twisting around to find that he summoned scissors, bottles of shampoo and conditioner, a couple brushes, hair ties, a fidget toy with very clear bite marks on it, and all the other stuff Pluto thought he needed, everything floating around in his gravity. He gave her a small smile, pushing the fidget toy towards her, “Give this to Ceres and then c’mere, I have everything set up for you to use!”

Charon grabbed ahold of the fidget floating in front of her eyes, nodding so gratefully to him (Charon needed to tell Pluto how much she loved him after this, he was so kind and so, so helpful. She'll trap him in a cuddle puddle later, peppering him with kisses and love and attention), and turned back around. Charon handed the toy off to Ceres, pulling his hands away from his mouth and giving him the fidget toy to play with instead.

Charon moved from Ceres’ side, stretching as she stood up, now way more confident in what she was doing. She had a plan (Pluto's plan, but still she was following it), something to work from, and her dance partner backing up her every move. Pluto slid out of her way, grinning softly as he pointed to all the supplies he brought out and explained each one. Charon let him continue, lovingly watching the way his eyes crinkled in thought and the confident way he held himself as he moved around.

Charon moved back behind Ceres when Pluto was done talking, her planet handing her a handful of ice asteroids and a shampoo bottle to use. They worked together like a well oiled machine, Charon washing Ceres’ hair while Pluto jumped in to help when she needed another pair of hands, giving tips while he stood off to the side when she didn’t need his help. 

What really caught Charon’s attention as they worked, was watching how Ceres really enjoyed his hair being washed. He hummed contently as his eyes slipped shut, titling his head back as he relaxed against Charon’s hands. It was amusing, and so, so cute, but sorrow and confusion and grief for the dwarf planet also popped up in her core. Ceres was deeply enjoying something that should’ve been a somewhat daily occurrence, and for some reason it just now hit Charon that during all those years alone Ceres didn’t (or couldn’t?) take care of himself. Sure, she could see that from the very beginning when they met, his ragged clothes and scars clearly showing Ceres had been through a lot, but hair, something that was so important to so many celestials, was just completely forgotten by Ceres.

Charon swore that she would never, ever, let Ceres fall that far again.

Charon ran a soapy hand through Ceres’ hair, finishing with the scrubbing as Pluto slid in with more ice asteroids for rinsing his hair. The ice melted in his hands, Pluto pouring the water on Ceres’ soapy hair, the blue dwarf planet giggling happily in response. Charon smiled, echoing Ceres’ excitement but sadness for the other dwarf planet rising in her core again. She scrubbed the top of Ceres’ head (not bothering to clean below where the asteroids were entangled with his hair as it was going to be cut off anyways, and Charon didn’t really want to feel that surprise texture again), washing out the rest of the soap from his hair.

Charon withdrew her hands from Ceres’ hair, sprinkling a little more water on his head to fully (or at least mostly) get the soap out. Water dripped down onto his shoulders, Ceres wiggling uncomfortably as it sank into his oversized sweatshirt. Charon quickly took notice of how the tiny dwarf planet cringed every time water got onto his clothes, mind swirling through different ideas to make Ceres more comfortable.

“Hey, Pluto?”

“Yes, Char?”

Charon shifted, trying to wash off the rest of the shampoo on her hands and dry them simultaneously, “Can you take my jacket off? I want to give it to Ceres so the water, and his hair when we start to cut it, doesn’t get all over him.”

Charon felt Pluto move behind her, his voice tinged with skepticism, “Are you sure? It’s really cold out here.” 

An excited interjection from Makemake broke the two's conversation, Charon glancing up to see him leaned back to back against Haumea as the two chatted (still looking a little bit annoyed but hopefully dropped the argument he and Eris had), “Indeed it is, Pluto! The temperature where you and Charon orbit sits around the average of a chilly negative four hundred degrees Fahrenheit, or a little over negative two hundred degrees Celsius!”

Charon smiled at Makemake’s infodump, responding back to Pluto with a roll of her eyes and a sigh, “Of course I’m sure, Pluto. While I appreciate your sympathy, we both have been orbiting out here for billions of years, don’t you think it’s a little late for the cold to start bothering us?”

“Alright, alright, there’s no harm in being careful though.” Charon felt Pluto’s hands slip off her jacket, awkwardly shrugging it off while trying to not get it even more wet from her damp hands. Her pink sweatshirt underneath was now her thickest protection against the biting cold, but just like she told Pluto, she was used to it after billions of years, so it didn’t bother her. Not that much anyways. Charon moved back a little bit from where she was standing, letting Pluto drape Charon’s jacket over Ceres like a blanket, the blue dwarf planet giggling excitedly. Charon purposefully didn’t ask Haumea for his blanket–she didn’t want to stress out the dwarf planet even more than he already was after borrowing his sketchbook. 

Charon rinsed out the rest of Ceres’ hair, intensely scrubbing out a particularly stubborn section of his hair. After more scrubbing, rinsing with ice asteroids, and another excited interjection from Makemake, the rest of the shampoo had been rinsed from Ceres’ hair. Charon took a step back to marvel at her work, Pluto’s hand on her shoulder. She softly smiled back at him, wiping her wet hands on her sweatshirt to get them dry for the next part. She really didn’t want her hands to be slippery when moving on to the next step of cutting Ceres’ hair. She flapped her hands fast, trying to get them to dry quicker, and also maybe using it as a reset for her thoughts after the scrubbing of Ceres’ hair. 

Pluto popped in next to her with the scissors, and after taking a second to pause and collect their thoughts (and wait for their hands to dry enough), they set to work cutting Ceres' hair. Haumea's sketchbook with the hairstyle Charon picked out, short and simple enough that it was easy to do, floated next to Ceres' head as they worked. Charon made sure she was very careful, stopping after cutting each strand of hair to tell Ceres how good he was doing and how he is so brave, and it'll just take a little bit longer. Ceres did amazing, staying as still as he could (even if that involved some fidgeting and shifting around, Charon having to pause to make sure she didn't mess up), humming in response to what Charon was saying, and sometimes stuttering out a few words as well!

Haumea and Makemake seemed interested in what was happening, watching as the two worked on Ceres' hair. Makemake piped up every so often with a comment or a fun little fact that he'd learned, Haumea just smiling in response next to him. Charon glanced up after she paused for a second, eyes going to Eris and Triton as they chatted together softly, heads ducked in close to each other as they talked. Pluto nudged her to get back to work, Charon diving right back into cutting through a particularly stubborn section of hair.

The pile of wet, dark blue hair (it was way darker once it was wet, almost black in color), lying off to the side grew and grew as they continued chopping off more of Ceres' hair. There was just so much of it, and there were so many layers that Charon would cut off a piece thinking that was it for that section, but there was a whole curtain of shaggy hair behind what she cut off. And trying to get the scissors through the sections of hair tangled with the asteroids was a whole different story. The place where it was the worst was close to the top of Ceres' neck, and even then there were some stragglers that made their way up further. Charon and Pluto both found themselves twisting around in awkward positions to find the best way to cut through it all, which didn't prove to be an amazing strategy but it worked! 

Charon adjusted her grip on the scissors, finally getting it through the asteroid entanglement in Ceres' hair after a long and hard struggle. With a small snip, Ceres' hair fell away, floating free in space. She very clearly heard him gasp, going rigid as the uncomfortable parts of his hair finally went away. Charon grinned as Ceres' hands fluttered up to the back of his head, moving the scissors away from his hair to let Ceres run his hands through it. Charon winced as the dwarf planet giggled and shrieked loudly, Ceres rocking back and forth excitedly on the asteroid he was sitting on.

Charon placed a hand on Ceres' shoulder, trying to get him to calm down a little bit, "Ceres, I know you're excited, I am too, but we're not done yet so you need to stay still for a little longer, alright?" The tiny dwarf planet definitely heard Charon, seeing as how he stalled for a second and tried to sit still, but he was just too excited. The giggles and shrieks started back up again, Ceres using both hands to run through his hair. Charon just stepped back with a small grin, letting Ceres enjoy having his hair be normal for once.

"Are we going to continue?" Pluto asked, scissors in hand ready to cut.

Charon shook her head, gazing at the happy Ceres getting so much joy out of his hair, "Later. We'll touch it up later. For now let him enjoy this. It was the whole point after all." Pluto stared at the Charon for a second longer, nodding with a shrug. They cleaned up, gathering the materials in one area, and letting Makemake destroy the leftover hair in whichever way he desired.

Later, way later, after Ceres had calmed down enough for Charon and Pluto to put the finishing touches on his hair and style it, they had all gathered under Haumea's blanket. The white dwarf planet had gotten his sketchbook back and lazily doodled with it, Makemake on the edge of sleep as he leaned against him, giving feedback through his tired, slurred, speech. Triton wasn't touching anyone on the outside of the group, but he was lying down and chatting with Eris and was still with them, which was more than enough that Charon could ask for. Pluto and Charon were tangled in each other's limbs, Charon holding herself so close to Pluto's body to soak up all the warmth she could because maybe having her jacket off for so long did make her a little cold.

And Ceres…

Ceres was stretched out next to Charon, having fallen asleep after exhausting himself from running around and shaking his limbs until Charon was worried they were going to fall off. Even in his sleep, Ceres had a goofy little grin plastered on his face, one hand tangled with his short hair and the other tucked against his chest. He laid with his back pressed against Charon's, but she didn't mind. The tiny dwarf planet was adorable, and Charon was just so glad that she was able to make him so happy by doing one small thing. 

Pluto ran a soft hand through Charon's hair, softly mumbling something about falling asleep. She let out a squeaky yawn, letting her heavy eyes and Pluto's warmth lull her to sleep with the final thought that she made Ceres' life a little better. 

A little happier.

Charon smiled softly, a little giggle escaping before the darkness of sleep overtook her, and she fell asleep surrounded by the celestials she loves the most.

Chapter Text

Moons should be seen, not heard.

That's what Luna was taught from the very beginning, and sometimes even being seen was pushing the line. He was to always be in Earth's shadow (figuratively and literally), and be quiet and boring so as to not attract any attention. Earth was the planet, he was important, he was the one that should get all the attention. Luna was boring on purpose–grey hair, grey skin, grey baggy clothes. Nothing about it was allowed to stick out.

Those were the rules Earth set billions of years ago for them. Clear rules to outline their clear relationship.

Planet and moon.

Exciting and boring.

Important and insignificant.

But recently that seemed to be changing. Luna was becoming more important, like with the…attempt (which was still fresh in his mind, forever seared deep into his memories), and the moons choosing Luna to help them in their Moon Strike turned Moon Revolution. Which he was stuck in the middle of. As bait.

“Hey! Earth’s Moon! Listen to me when I’m talking to you!”

And there's the name that everyone seemed to call him by. Earth's Moon. Not his real name–the one he was born with and was ingrained in his sense of being since the beginning. No, he would never be Luna. Too flashy of a name. He was still second to Earth as his moon–doomed to be called Earth's Moon forever.

"Hey!" A hand harshly pushed against his shoulder, knuckles digging into his surface, sharply snapping Luna out of his thoughts. Luna winced, rubbing his now-aching shoulder and glanced up to find an annoyed Ganymede standing in front of him, Europa's pinkish surface floating next to him. Ugh. The two leaders who wanted to hurt his planet–Luna's core twisted in hate having to stare at the two of them.

Ganymede ducked down again, the height difference between him and Luna very apparent with how the bigger moon chose not to float eye–level with him (which was the usual sign of respect in the Solar System–and yeah, now it made a lot of sense why Ganymede chose against that). Ganymede bared his teeth, the sharp canines glinting against the sunlight, and Luna wanted very much to back away but a hand pressed against his back kept him in place. 

Ganymede's golden-brown eyes narrowed, scanning Luna like a predator looking to strike. Luna didn't back down despite his heart pounding in his ears, his mind screaming at him to roll over and be submissive and let Ganymede have all the power–no. He met Ganymede's eyes, the electric tension between their gazes clashing. Showing weakness now of all times would…well Luna didn't want to think about what could happen but it sure as hell wouldn't be very pretty.

Luna kept his eyes on Ganymede's every move, tracking him as he cocked his head, a sort of gleeful malice flashing across the other's face. A flash of a hand moved–a hard yank of Luna's hair cut through his thoughts, surface flaring up in pain.

Ack! Luna yelped, knocking away Ganymede's hand and trying to whip around but the moons on either side of him closed in. Tears pricked on the edges of his vision and Luna whirled back around to Ganymede's sick grin, "Stop! What the heck was that for?"

Ganymede shrugged, voice sharp with venom despite the cool words–and of course he would be like this, Luna had betrayed them. He's probably enjoying toying with Luna–"Whoops. I slipped."

Another voice came from somewhere behind Luna, laced with exhaustion and a tinge of…regret? Maybe? Hopefully? "Ganymede. Knock it off. We have no need to harm him." 

Titan.

Luna turned (more like moved his head to the side, too afraid to take his eyes off of Ganymede for a mere second), spotting the Saturnian moon float away from the group of moons he was talking to. A group of moons that had asteroids in their grasps–asteroids that were meant for the Earth.

Anger rolled through his core again at the reminder the moons were planning on hurting his planet to send a message, and Ganymede must've seen the way his expression changed because he smirked, eyes glinting unsettingly, "Don't worry Earth's Moon, pretty boy will be here soon and then it'll all be over."

Something just snapped inside of him, an all too familiar pressure in the back of his mind acting up–and despite the danger surrounding him Luna launched himself at Ganymede's smug face.

Only to be stopped immediately by a hand pressed against his forehead.

Luna thrashed and threw out his hands, trying to at least hit something–he had to protect the Earth. That was his duty–his job–as a moon. Above everything else he was to prioritize the Earth. 

In front of him, Ganymede held out one arm stopping the raging moon, golden eyes amusingly gazing down upon the tinier moon. Let! Him! Go! Luna grunted, baring his teeth at the uncaring moon towering above him. Ganymede just stared down at him with a bored look to his eyes.

Like this was all a game to him.

Like killing Luna's planet was a game.

One last wave of anger crashed over him–and then the fight drained from his body. Adrenaline fading, his neck sore from the resistance, and the knowledge that he was useless in this scenario all served to sap the fading anger. The swinging fists dropped, shoulders drooping, Luna panting even though he did nothing to Ganymede.

Ganymede's rough hands pressed harder into Luna's forehead, the tinier moon yelping in surprise and ow–that hurt. Luna winced, staggering backwards as Ganymede pushed him away, the only thought in his own mind being that he was failing the Earth. Titan moved into his view, conflict shining clear as day in his eyes–and then Titan turned back around, face hidden in shadow. The two moons from before came back to Luna's side, their gravities wrapping around his own and keeping him from escaping. Not like he was going to. Ganymede made it very clear that Luna was helpless to what was to come.

Luna rubbed his head where Ganymede had stopped him, wincing again as his surface flared slightly up in pain. Ow. Ugh, that was such a stupid decision. Luna should've known he would've been stopped easily–Ganymede was so much bigger than him. Luna just…wasn't thinking.

Stupid idiot.

Luna glanced up, expecting Ganymede to be grinning and gloating again about how this was inevitable and needed to be done and Luna couldn't stop them–but was quite surprised when Ganymede was just standing there, eyes trained on the hand that had kept Luna in place–the same hand that he had torn through Luna's hair. Huh…weird. 

Nobody seemed to move and Ganymede just continued staring at the hand, confusion, disgust, and a few other emotions Luna couldn't catch flashing across his face. Luna had absolutely no idea what was going on–and was about to say something–when Europa beat him to it.

Europa stalked closer to her…boyfriend? Is that what they are?, her voice tinged with annoyance and yet Luna could detect a hint of curiosity (what? He was good at reading people from having to be quiet and in the background for so long), "...Ganymede what are you doing? We're in the middle of a revolution here."

Ganymede's eyes moved from his hand, locking onto Luna, "And I just had a revelation." Wh–huh?! Ganymede moved so fast that Luna didn't even see him until he appeared right in front of his face, shoving a hand through Luna's hair. Luna yelped, the feeling of bad ew ew ew ew get away from him stop touching him bad bad bad flashing through his mind–and he frantically pushed himself away from the giant moon.

His hands fluttered up to his chest, Luna forcing himself to breathe through the momentary panic that had just flashed through his mind. Eugh he hated it when people touched him without asking–and it was even worse with Ganymede of all people doing it. He pushed down his fidgeting hands, still trying to get the icky feeling out from underneath his skin, but his mind came back into focus as Ganymede let out an exclamation.

Ganymede grinned, and Luna hated it, rubbing his fingers together like there was something on it, "I knew it–" he glanced up, eyes piercing through Luna's facade of trying to hold everything together, "I thought I felt it the first time–you're keeping your hair tamed. So it's not like Earth's!"

Earth's name being spat out of Ganymede's mouth twisted Luna's core in such a wrong way–and it took him a second to realize the other thing Ganymede said.

Wait…what.

What.

Surprised murmurs rippled across the moons scattered around but Luna didn't hear them as he shoved his hand into his hair without thinking, his hands tangled with the floaty fluffy locks. Floaty. His hair–it was floating. Not in his gravity–it was naturally curling upwards.

No. No, no, no, no!

He–he usually had it under control! This wasn't supposed to happen. He wasn't allowed to have his hair like this. It was too eye-catching. Too unique. Too much like Earth's for the planet's liking. Only Earth could be the one with naturally flowing hair–the water and clouds forming his hair causing it to have that unique shape. 

It was supposed to be Earth's thing.

Luna worked so hard for it to be Earth's thing. He wore beanies to cover it, he tried to use ice asteroids to water it down so it would stay still. He cut it so short that it didn't have room to be floaty but it still did. He borrowed Jupiter's books about hair styling and care and engineered a gel that finally made it stay down.

The gel that was sticking to Ganymede's hands right now.

The gel that was sticking to Luna's hands right now.

No. No he–he needed to have it under control. He couldn't have his hair like this. He couldn't be seen like this. He–Earth would get mad. They've been over it countless times that Luna was to be second to Earth. Be submissive. Serve to protect and make Earth look the best he could be.

Luna ran another hand through his hair, yanking it so hard tears pricked the corners of his eyes but that was the least of his worries when he could feel his hair tickling his ears, swirling around every time he moved his head. All of his hard work. All the blood, sweat, and so many tears put into working with it–all down the drain.

All his work for nothing.

All the pain of having to push down and hide his hair, for nothing.

He was the only one not rebelling against his planet but Ganymede forced him to anyway. He forced Luna out of Earth's shadow, out of Earth's rules and safety–and Luna didn't want that. The rules were there for a reason. They had a system, a way of doing things–and now the system was broken.

Luna didn't want it to be broken. He wanted everything to go back to normal. Normal meant he was safe. Normal meant that nobody was going to die.

Normal. Normal. Normal. He needed it to be normal.

…but normal also meant that he was stuck being someone he was not. Stuck beneath the Earth as a moon, constantly being mistreated and forced into silence.

And as much as he hated how everything had turned out, being with the other moons and away from the Earth…he felt alive for the first time in a long while.

He still hated it. He hated how his hair flowed freely and the looks everyone gave him and the icky and Wrong feeling settling deep into his core, but there was a part of him that maybe needed that push. 

Needed to be let free. 

Needed to be let out of that cage he built himself.

Luna–well he still hated how naked he felt with his hair like this, and dreaded the interaction he was going to have with Earth after this…but he couldn't deny that he felt lighter. Freer–despite literally being held captive.

Luna didn't need to hide that part of himself anymore.

And...and he was so happy about it.

Chapter Text