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Around and around he went. Orbiting his star remained as boring as it had always been. Most of the other planets would leave their orbits and talk to each other, but for some reason, he wasn’t allowed to do that. The Sun would blast him with a solar flare if he so much as moved a molecule out of place. It was so unfair! Mars said it was because he was young, but that was stupid. He was old enough not to do anything dumb! He’d talk to his moon, but it was doing that one thing, Mars called it ‘napping’. And when he was doing that, he couldn’t talk to them at all.
At times like that, he would often stare into the asteroid belt. There was always something to see there. He could count the asteroids as he passed them by (one hundred, two hundred, three hundred, four…). Just observing them was cool, too. That one big guy, Jupiter, had a strong effect on them. There were certain patterns to the orbits of the asteroids that matched up with the gas giant’s. Sometimes, though, the asteroids would get too close to each other and some would fly into the place that he, and his moon, and Mars, and Venus, and the Sun, and that other guy were. He wasn’t entirely sure how that worked, but maybe if he kept watching, he’d eventually figure it out.
After staring for… some lengthy stretch of time, he didn’t keep track, some of the asteroids began to move unpredictably. He tilted, confused. Was somebody in there? He glanced toward Venus, who liked to do that napping thing as much as his moon did. A little ways away, Mars was talking to that tiny guy. His name started with the same sound that Mars’s did. Mer… Mer… Mercutio? Meranda? Merder? Whatever. None of them were messing around in the Asteroid Belt. He also would have been able to see if any of those big gassy planets were there, right? He squinted hard. If it weren’t for the Sun, he would have rushed over to check it out. But no. He had to wait in excruciating silence for the disturbance to show itself. Fortunately, it didn’t take long.
Something unfamiliar emerged from the rocks. Definitely not an asteroid. way too large for that. It looked kind of like his moon. The object didn’t spare a glance in his direction, its gaze too fixated on the bright star to notice one lone planet. He decided to get its attention. It startled at his shout and locked eyes with him. A short staring contest ensued as the object slowly floated toward him. A few minutes elapsed. It blinked. Haha. Loser. He was the staring contest master! Oh wait. You’re supposed to talk when you’re near somebody, aren’t you?
“Hi!” He smiled. Smiles make you friendly. Mars smiled all the time, and he was friendly. Unlike Venus. Who never smiled.
It didn’t respond to his greeting. Instead, it studied him with a weird gleam in its eyes. His core shifted uneasily. Had he said something wrong?
After what felt like eons, it spoke. “You’re big.”
He tilted. Big? He supposed he was big compared to the object. He was big, even compared to Mars. He never considered himself particularly large, though. The outer planets, like Jupiter, the stripey one, and those two blue guys were all bigger than he was. He wasn't sure how large he was compared to Venus, but the planet did have knack for making others feel small. And the Sun was WAY bigger than any of them!
It didn’t wait long enough for him to respond, “What’s your radius?”
Radius? Oh! Jupiter told him that once. What was it, again? “About 6,370 kilometres? I think.”
The object's eyes widened. “2,634.1 kilometres. You’ve got to be the biggest moon in the entire Solar System.”
“Moon?” He frowned. “I thought I was a planet.”
It scoffed as if he had just said the stupidest thing in the galaxy. “Planets are made of gas. Moons are made out of rocks. Everybody knows that. We’re obviously both moons.”
He chewed on that for a bit before deciding that the object had a point. He believed he was a planet because his moon called him that. But, now that he thought about it, it would be weird to categorise him with somebody like Jupiter. Plus, the object (did it seriously tell him its size before its name?) seemed pretty confident. He and his moon hadn’t been allowed to stray from their orbits since he woke up and it could travel through the asteroid belt. It probably knew more than either of them. “If you say so. Who are you, by the way?”
It puffed out proudly “Ganymede. Jupiter’s biggest moon.”
He nodded. “Everyone calls me Earth. I’m the moon of… the Sun, I guess?”
Ganymede nodded approvingly, tossing a glance toward the star. “That makes sense. He’s really big, so he’d obviously have the biggest moon as well.”
“Yeah. Uh, can I ask what you’re doing here, though? Did you lose Jupiter, or something?”
“What?! No!” Ganymede laughed. “I ran away to explore!”
“Oh okay.” Earth couldn’t judge. He’d do the same, if he could. “So, uh-”
“GANYMEDE!” Both flinched at the booming voice.
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Jupiter burst through the Asteroid Belt once he had found Ganymede. Admittedly, it wasn’t the most graceful entrance, but he didn’t want his moon to melt, if he could help it. He probably should have warned him, Callisto, and Europa sooner about the dangers of getting too close to the Sun, but there was no use thinking about that now. Fortunately, it seemed that his largest moon hadn’t gone too far. He was with the Earth, in his temperate orbit. That was a relief.
He slowed to a stop near a nervous Ganymede and an awe-struck Earth. “I thought I told you to stay in your orbit, Ganymede.”
“Uh- well- er- y’see…” Ganymede tripped over his words. “I was- uh- just… checking in with my new best friend! He was looking lonely, and I couldn’t stand by and watch that, so I had to come over here! Right, Earth?”
“Um-” Earth hesitated, gaze flicking between Jupiter and Ganymede nervously.
Jupiter sighed. “While I am glad you’ve made a friend, Ganymede, you need to get back to your orbit.”
“Aw… do I have to?!”
"Can't he stay here?" Earth whined.
“Look. I’m not trying to be a jerk here, guys,” Jupiter said. “It’s just that icy bodies don’t do too well this close to the Sun. If you stayed here too long, Ganymede, you could lose your ice and start shrinking.”
They both gasped, their eyes became as wide as the milky way. The two didn’t push back against Jupiter’s suggestion any more. Ganymede was given the closest equivalent planets had to a hug before joining back up with his planet. He promised he'd visit again in what Jupiter assumed was an attempt at a whisper.
As Jupiter floated back to his orbit, he looked back toward Earth. He was watching them with a forlorn expression. Jupiter couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy. He was aware of how strict the Sun had been about not letting Earth out of orbit. He knew the planet had his moon, and that the other rockies would visit from time to time, but maybe it’d help to have them socialise with celestial bodies closer to their age. Jupiter could probably figure something out. He was the Sun’s favourite, after all.