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Lune sat on the bathroom floor, a box cutter in his hand.
They’d seen his brother do it before. They had seen him do it, but Lune kept that to himself.
But…why? Why did their brother do that to himself?
He wanted to know how it worked.
They’d managed to figure out how Sol did it: there were times where he’d walk into his bathroom, and 30 or so minutes later he’d walk back out, with noticeable scars on his mechanical arms that were hidden by the sleeves of his jacket.
Lune had rummaged through the bottom of his sink, until he found something:
It was a small box.
The box was covered with blue splatters, and the words “CUTTING BOX” were scrawled on the side.
Inside it were various sharp objects-box cutters, razor blades, and a shard of glass, as well as a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a rag.
Lune took out one of the box cutters and rolled up the sleeve of their hoodie, exposing his bare arm.
They hesitated.
What was he doing? Just because their brother did it didn’t mean he had to.
But again…they wanted to find out why. Just why he did it.
He made up their mind.
He took a deep breath.
Okay, here goes nothing. Just like they’d seen Sol do it.
Press,
Slice.
Purple blood immediately began to ooze out of the cut. It hurt so, so much…but why did it make him feel so…alive?
They kept going.
Press,
Slice.
Press,
Slice.
Press,
Slice.
Three new cuts, all equally bleeding purple. The pain was unbearable…but the sweet, sweet endorphin release…it was so, so good…
They had to stop. He needed to stop. This wasn’t right.
Press,
Slice.
Press,
Slice.
Press,
Slice.
Press,
Slice-
“[LUNE!]”
The Moon jumped at the noise, dropping the box cutter.
Standing in the doorway was Sol. He looked absolutely horrified.
Almost immediately, The Sun kneeled beside them examining the damage he’d done.
“[Jesus Christ, Lune…you really did a number on yourself-]”
“(I’M SORRY!)” The Moon yelped, tears streaming down their face. “(I’m so sorry! I wanted to see how it felt for you! I was just curious! I didn’t know!)”
And then Lune burst into tears.
“[Oh, Lune…]” Apollo lamented. He pulled the bawling mess into his arms, letting him cry it out.
Lune’s thoughts were still too jumbled and messed up to hear what their brother was saying, but eventually, his voice finally reached him.
“[Shhh, let it out. You’ll be fine. You’ll be fine.]”
Artemis let out an even louder sob as they cried into Thoth’s chest. He felt his grip around them tighten as he continued to cry.
“[Shhhh, I know, I know it hurts…I’m here, I’m right here Lune, shhhhhhhh…]”
At this point, Lune was just straight up scream-crying into their brother’s chest. He felt his cold, soothing hand rub his back between his wings as they bawled.
Nearly 10 minutes had passed when Lune’s sobs finally began to die down, and he stopped shaking so much. They finally pulled away from Sol and sniffled.
“(...I feel sick…)” Lune whimpered.
Suddenly, Hathor crawled over to the toilet, leaning over the toilet bowl. It was pretty obvious what that meant.
Sol joined him at their side, continuing to rub his back.
“[Don’t try to talk right now,]” the automaton said gently. “[Just let your body do what it needs to do.]”
It was at that very moment Lune began to gag and retch before finally puking into the toilet.
It hurt. It stung and burned the poor Moon’s throat, and it ached after they finished emptying his gut.
“(I feel so gross…)” Lune whined as they flushed the toilet, grateful that it was at least gone.
“[Maybe you should take a shower.]” Sol suggested. “[I can tend to your arm and preen your wings and tail afterwards.]”
Lune stayed quiet at that offer before nodding a little. “(Yeah, that sounds…nice, actually.)”
Sol left the bathroom as Lune turned the shower on, waiting for it to warm up.
He took a long, hot shower, feeling a lot cleaner…although it still hurt when the hot water and soap would run into their wounds, making him whimper. Afterwards, they stepped out and put his clothes back on.
They went to the living room, where Thoth was waiting for him on the couch, with a brush, a rag, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, and bandages. He patted the spot next to him, inviting Lune to sit next to him.
Lune sat down next to their brother and held out their arm, and Sol began cleaning and disinfecting the cuts and wiping the excess blood away before wrapping it in the bandages.
“[There we go. That should do it.]” Sol said as he finished.
“(Sorry about all of this…)” Hathor said apologetically.
“[You don’t have to be sorry, Lune. I know it was intrusive.]”
There was a long silence.
“(Sol?)”
“[Yes?]”
“(...why are you being so nice to me?)”
Sol was silent for a moment.
“[Because you’re my brother, Hathor. I love you, and I care about you. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have done all of this.]”
The Sun smiled softly at him. “[Do you still want me to preen your wings and tail?]”
The Moon shrugged. “(I guess.)”
Lune stretched out one of their wings, and Sol gently grabbed it and started running his mechanical hands through the feathers, then slowly and gently pulling out broken feathers, straightening crooked ones, and that sort of stuff.
Artemis let out a small sigh of relief he didn’t know they were holding. He was honestly still shocked about what they tried to do himself earlier. They didn’t want to pry or ask Sol why he did it in the first place, so he remained silent.
The feeling of having their wings preened, though…it felt so nice, and Lune felt his eyes close as they started to purr, earning a faint chuckle from his brother.
***
By the time Sol had finished preening Lune’s wings and tail, Lune had a sleepy expression on their face. Clearly he was about to fall asleep at any moment.
Slowly, he picked The Moon up, gently holding them bridal-style, and carried him back to their room, placing him on their giant nest bed.
“(...Sol?)”
“[Hm?]”
“(...can you cuddle with me…?)”
“[Of course…]”
Sol got into the bed next to him, and The Moon immediately started to purr again as he pulled the blankets over them both.
“(Thank you for…all of this.)” Hathor said softly.
“[Of course, Lune.]”
Lune snuggled against him, purring loudly, wrapping their wings around him like an additional blanket.
Apollo was happy to see his brother acting like he usually did, being all cuddly.
He still couldn’t believe that The Moon had tried to cut himself just an hour ago. He made sure to note to put the Cutting Box away for a while…for both his brother and for himself. He didn’t want to end up relapsing.
Above all, he wasn’t going to tell Nix about any of this. Nix was already stressed out enough. This would just be between him and his brother.
The two laid there, cuddling with each other and purring happily, before they both eventually fell asleep in each other's arms.