Chapter Text
Light.
Heat.
Both indispensable for life…
Both gifts from the Sun.
His life wouldn't exist without him... Earth himself wouldn’t even exist without him…
"Have I ever actually thanked him?" Earth wondered as he stared at the giant star. The Sun still looked pretty pissed—understandable, considering half the planets had vanished looking for him, and then there was Earth’s brilliant idea of everyone leaving their orbits at the same time… Yeah. That had been… a lot. Time had passed and things were mostly back to normal, but the Sun remained furious at everyone—even Mercury.
"Earth?" Luna’s voice pulled him back, gentle and worried.
"Hm? Yeah?" Earth answered with a small smile, always happy to talk to his moon—his brother.
"Are… are you okay?" Luna asked carefully, studying him. Earth blinked at him, confused. Luna noticed and added, "You were kinda… staring at the Sun."
Earth’s confusion lingered for a moment before everything clicked. "Oh—oh! No, no, don’t worry, I… wasn’t thinking about that. I’m okay, really!" he said, a bit nervous but trying to sound reassuring.
"Are you sure?" Luna pressed.
"Yeah, te lo prometo," Earth said in Spanish, hoping to get a smile out of them, and it worked. Earth thought grimly about how much he scared Luna when he tried to... He couldn't blame his moon for not trusting him alone, not like Luna ever told him that they didn't, but Earth thought that they probably shouldn't, especially considering his past 'episodes'.
"So… what were you thinking about?" Luna asked.
"I… I think I’m gonna talk to the Sun. Not getting too close, of course!" Earth added quickly. It did not help Luna’s expression.
"WHAT—ARE YOU CRAZY?!"
"I know it sounds like it, but hear me out—"
"Earth, he’s not even talking to MERCURY. He’s that mad."
"I know—"
"He’s going to throw a solar flare at you!" Luna exclaimed.
"Pff, I can handle those. Magnetic field, remember? It’ll hurt a little, but the light show? Worth it." Earth said with a smug face, ignoring how that comment made his moon worry even more.
"Earth…" Luna warned quietly.
"Look, I’ll be fine, okay? I just… I need to talk to him. I’ll be right back." Earth said with confidence and with his mind made up.
Luna still didn’t look convinced but they didn't want to get into it. "Good luck… And please don’t make him do another crazy thing with our orbits."
"Haha… I’ll try." the Earth laughed awkwardly before leaving.
What is the Sun to him, anyway? Earth had never really thought of him as a father figure like the way Jupiter so obviously did.
"I guess he’d be more like… my grandparent" Earth wondered. "Since Proto and Theia are basically my parents? Ugh, I should probably stop comparing space things to my Earthlings' lives…"
The Sun is his star, the one who gave him a place in this galaxy, the one whose gravity held him close, the one whose warmth made life on him possible. He had never really stopped to think about it like that before. Usually the Sun was just… the crazy star who yelled at everyone. And that whole red giant thing that will happen in the future didn’t help.
He was also intense, overbearing sometimes, stressing over Earth’s life nonstop. Earth always wanted life, sure, but he never wondered how badly the Sun must’ve wanted it too. He used to think the Sun was just being annoying with all his pestering. But then, thanks to those visions of the past, Earth learned the Sun had always wanted life as well—desperately—and he had never known.
And honestly… the Sun had always made it feel like life was Earth’s thing. Like Earth was the only one who wanted the little Earthlings—not him. And okay, Earth did want them… but the Sun had never acted like he was part of it. Maybe Earth never made him feel included? Maybe, he never showed him appreciation, so it would make sense that maybe the Sun eventually just stepped back.
Now knowing how much The Sun wanted life does explain some of his... reactions, but at the same time it confused the planet, because one would think Earth would be the Sun’s little trophy, right? the prize planet with life. And in a way he is, but instead of favoritism, all he ever felt was the pressure of don’t mess this up. The planet remembered how the star reacted to his first mass extinction and couldn't help grimacing at the memory. It was so bad he actually tried to hide 'the great dying' from him, which didn't work because a big part of his land just exploded and poor Luna panicked when he just lost consciousness after trying to beg the moon to not let the sun know.
"At least The Sun was more worried about me than mad about the mass extinction... I think" Earth thought unsure if that was the case, was the star really worried about him back them? Or was he worried that he was going to lose his only planet with life? Before he could get into that stream of thoughts he noticed he was already in the hottest part of the Goldie lock zone. When he finally drifted close enough, he cleared his throat.
"Um… hi, Sun?" He asked waiting to get the sun attention.
"Why aren’t you in your orbit, Earth?" the Sun asked, pointed and tired.
"Hey there, Sun! How are you doing? Crazy weather we’re having, huh? Pretty sunny." Earth joked weakly.
"Tell me what you want or go back to your orbit." The star asks again. Earth was surprised he didn't acknowledge the sun pun. Yes, it was a bad one but those were the star favorites.
"I… I wanted to talk with you," Earth said slowly.
The Sun groaned. "Please tell me there isn’t some new dwarf-planet revolution happening."
"No, no, it’s… um, something more personal, I guess?"
The Sun raised an eyebrow. "Go on."
"I wanted to thank you," Earth said with a little more confidence.
"What?" The Sun was genuinely confused.
"I… with everything that’s been happening—y’know, the moon revolution, the Theia and Proto thing and the… other stuff before that..." The Sun made a knowing face. (Yes, that incident...) There was an awkward silence, but Earth forced himself to continue. "I’ve been thinking a lot. Maybe too much. But I… I don’t think I ever appreciated you the way I should have."
"Pff—ya think? Does anyone in my system appreciate me?" the Sun snapped with a hint of sarcasm.
Earth give him a little frown "Okay, look, I can’t speak for all of them, but a lot definitely do. I mean, Jupiter—"
"DON’T." The Sun’s tone snapped sharp at the other mention. "Jupiter disobeyed me and lied for centuries. Is that appreciation?!"
"Hey, that’s not fair! What he did was wrong, sure, but come on—you’re like a father figure to him, Sun!" Earth exclaimed defending the biggest planet, he still felt a little weird himself knowing what Jupiter had done, but he didn't like villainizing the big guy.
"I’m not in the mood for Sun puns!" The sun exclaimed but the planet interrupted.
"That wasn’t a pun! Jupiter respects you. He admires you. But he’s also terrified of disappointing you. That’s why he lied!"
The Sun glared. "…Did you come all this way just to defend him? Is that what this is? Because I already let Jupiter back. You can’t force me to forgive him!"
Earth took a step back remembering the reason he was here "No, no! Look—that’s between you two. I just gave my opinion. But I meant it when I said I came to thank you. Sun, without you I wouldn’t have life. And I never really thought about that deeply. I didn’t even know you wanted life as much as I did."
"What? How—" The Sun looked caught off guard.
"Theia and Proto told me everything," Earth said casually.
"What?" the Sun repeated even more confused.
"It’s a long story. When I heard Theia’s name I… kinda went a little… um not myself. Then I left my orbit and I think I passed out? I had this dream? Vision? I don’t know, dude— I MEAN—Sun," Earth corrected quickly.
The Sun just stared, unimpressed but silent.
So Earth continued awkwardly "Hah... Um I kinda talked to the primary forces and the Singularity and then it exploded into the Big Bang— maybe multiple Big Bangs? I’m not sure. And Proto and Theia saved me and told me their story and how they, uh… crashed into each other so Luna and I could exist."
The Sun looked at him like he’d completely lost it. "Mercury might be right... You seriously need help..."
"Ugh, I just wanted to thank you," Earth groaned, rubbing the back of his axis. "And tell you I’ve… learned to appreciate how important you are. And that I’m sorry I never said it before."
"Hm. Well, thank you, Earth," the Sun replied, stiffly but a bit softer. "But this doesn’t suddenly make us buddy-pals. I’m not exactly thrilled with any of you. And honestly, aside from... him," he added with a heavy glare toward Jupiter. "You’ve caused me the most stress lately. You, Earth. The moon revolution started because of your little comment, you tried to throw yourself at me..." The star said that part more softly, he took a pause and then continued. "And then you left your orbit, made everyone else leave, and nearly killed all your Earthlings."
Ouch. Earth didn’t need a reminder of just how many disasters were technically his fault. "I know," Earth muttered. "I’m not saying any of this so you’ll start liking me or caring about me, I just—"
"Wait." The Sun interrupted sharply. "What do you mean by that?"
"By what?" Earth blinked.
"You said start, as in—you think I don’t care about you." The star pointed.
"Oh... Well, um… d-do you?" Earth asked timidly.
"I—OF COURSE I DO!" the Sun burst out, offended. "YOU ARE MY PLANET."
"I know but… you know what, forget it." Earth sighed. "I did what I came to do. I’ll go back to my orbit before my Earthlings get too hot." He tried to drift backwards—only to feel the Sun holding him with his gravity. "…Sun? Um. I’m going to my orbit. Please let me?" Earth asked confused, why was The Sun not letting him get back to his orbit? Is this opposite day?
"Haven’t I done enough for you to think I don’t care about you?" the Sun demanded, sounding more hurt than angry.
"No! Sun, it’s not that!" Earth insisted, noticing how his intentions of thanking the star failed miserably. "You do a lot—that’s what I was telling you, that I finally realized!"
"Then?!" Sun pressed.
"Well… I’m more like a responsibility, right?" Earth said, trying to smile but failing. "I’m your planet, so you have to deal with me. But that doesn’t mean you have to like me. And it’s okay—"
"No! What—Earth, I’m not ‘dealing' with you," the Sun said, quieter but firm.
"You are though…" Earth insisted. "You said it yourself. I’ve been causing all your problems. Stressing you."
"I DIDN’T MEAN IT LIKE THAT," the Sun shot back, incredulous. Earth took a step back a little throw out from the yelling. "I meant I can’t pretend everything’s fine when it obviously isn’t! And yes, you stress me— because you’re MY planet. I CARE about you. I love you!"
"But… do you like me?" Earth blurted, defensive and exhausted.
"What?! Earth, like I said—you’re MY planet. My only planet with life. Why wouldn’t I like you!?" The Sun sounded genuinely baffled, as if these should be obvious facts.
"…WhatifIdidn’thavelife," Earth mumbled too fast to be understood.
"What did you say?" the Sun frowned.
"Nothing, forget it, I—" The planet desperately tried to leave only to be stopped again.
"No. I will not ‘forget it.’ Tell me. Now." The Sun’s voice was stern, heavy with gravity and authority.
"Ugh, he’s so bossy. Here goes nothing, I guess…" Earth thought.
"I said—what if I didn’t have life?" Earth repeated, louder this time. "You can’t tell me you’d like me. Or care about me! You wouldn’t give a damn!"
"EARTH, THAT’S NOT—" The Sun raised his voice again.
"DON’T LIE TO ME!" Earth yelled back, voice cracking. "You barely stand me because of it! Just admit it. I don’t mind. I know I’m a jerk, I know I’ve been horrible to everyone— including you! So please don’t pretend you care now. Not about me." His eyes started to burn, vision blurring. He also felt his core tightening. A part of him was begging him to shut up, but the stubborn star was not letting him leave, so might as well just pour out his heart right? "You care about my life, and I’m okay with that! I care about it too! That’s why I try to avoid more mass extinctions! Because I want to keep my life, and because I know you’d get mad if I mess up again! I only have one job, right? And I can’t even do that right. You’re probably so disappointed in me! Hah…" Earth let out a strange laugh— or was it a sob? He suddenly gasped. Was he seriously crying in front of The Sun right now? Stop— Wait, he can't breath— Why does he even need to breathe? there’s no air here…
"Oh my god there’s no air here!" the planet thought as he tried to gasp for the non-existent air. He could feel the panic spread through his atmosphere.
"Earth…" the Sun whispered, no longer sounding angry—only deeply worried. But that didn't make sense to Earth, why would the star be worried about him?
"I’m not special! There’s nothing good about me except the life on me!" Earth cried, hyperventilating despite the vacuum. "And I know that’s the ONLY reason any of you give a shit about me!"
"Earth—"
"Please I don’t need you pretending you care or that you actually like me for me, Sun, please—I can’t—if you start pretending I'll believe it and then it’ll hurt, I can’t—"
"Terra!" the Sun said firmly, his voice finally cut through the panic. He almost never uses that name, nobody does— except Neptune for some reason. So Earth flinched and looked at him, still struggling to breathe, bracing for whatever the big star was going to say.