Work Text:
Uranus leaned back in his chair taping his fingers against the arm rest. He sighed in frustration as he grabbed his eraser and started erasing his sketch. Despite working on it for an hour already he still wasn’t satisfied, and he won’t be until the sketch was perfect. The eraser glided over the paper, erasing hours of hard work in a single second. He started at the now blank page, picking his pencil up again and starting fresh.
Everything was going well until “Bloody hell!” Uranus groaned in frustration, that line was anything but straight. He picked the eraser up and started erasing again, although this time with a bit more force. He didn’t even realize he was pressing to hard until “You’ve got to be kidding me!” It tore through the page. He slammed the sketch book shut and threw it onto the floor, crossing his arms and looking away in frustration.
He couldn’t help the tears that started pricking at the corners of his eyes. Why does he mess everything up, why can’t he be perfect like the others? Everyone has something they’re good at, but what about him? He sighed to himself “Maybe I should just quit…” He said to himself, bringing his legs up to his chest and hugging them. He buried his head into his knees, trying to will away the tears. He already felt pathetic enough…
“Woah! This is so cool! What…? When did he-“N-Neptune!? When did you-“ Uranus froze when he realized what Neptune was doing “Neptune… Put my sketchbook down. Now!” Neptune looked at him, tilting his head curiously “Aww c’mon! I wanna look at you drawings!” Uranus felt his frustration grow, he got up and approached Neptune. “I said give it back!” He tried snatching it out of Neptunes hand but he pulled it back.
Neptune chuckled, flipping through the pages “Why are you upset anyways? It’s just-“ He paused, taking a good look at Uranus. “Ura… Are you crying?” Uranus clenched his fists at those words, why now of all times…? “I-I’m not…” He said, tho it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself. Neptune gently handed the sketchbook back to Uranus, who snatched it out his hands and accidentally tore some pages.
Uranus looked down at the scattered pages with disgust, stomping on them and dragging them across the floor, tearing them up even more. Neptune felt shocked as he watched Uranus ruin his hard work, he had to interfere “Woah there! Why are you doing that?” He questioned the other, waiting to hear what he had to say “Because they’re blood ugly mate! I mean look at them…” Neptune felt his core shatter as he listened to Uranus talk bad about his art “What are you talking about…? They’re not ugly…” He couldn’t help the sad tone of his voice, feeling sorry for his cousin.
Uranus sat down onto the floor, crossing his arms and pouting like a kid. He refused to look at Neptune in the eyes, not after he saw how ugly and pathetic his drawings were. Neptune didn’t say anything yet, instead he crouched down and started picking up the drawings one by one. Uranus sniffled and looked up at him “The trashcan is that way…” He said, pointing towards the trashcan near the door. Neptune stared at him for a moment before a small smile crept onto his face. “I’m not gonna throw them away silly…” He said softly, crouching down to look at Uranus better.
He cupped one of his cheeks with his hand, gently making Uranus look at him. His eyes were red rimmed and tears stained his cheek, he tried pulling away but Neptune kept him in place. “Look,” Neptune started “I want you to tell me what you dislike about your drawings.” Uranus tensed up for a moment, thinking about what to say before he spoke up quietly “They’re just so fricking ugly mate…” He said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the universe. Neptune sighed, trying to pry more information out of Uranus “Why do you think they’re ugly?”
Uranus paused “I-… They just are!” Neptune sighed, looking at Uranus dead in the eyes “Show me.” He handed the papers to Uranus, who looked up at him in confusion “Huh-“ “Show me what’s wrong with the drawings.” Uranus took a look at the papers in hand, before pointing to one. “I messed this line up, and tore the paper trying to fix it…” He said, voice tinged with annoyance as if he couldn’t stand to look at it for any longer.
Neptune listened closely to what Uranus was saying, before and idea clicked in his head “Nothing some glue can’t fix!” He announced, digging into his pockets and pulling a glue stick out “You just carry glue around with you?” Uranus asked, looking at Neptune like he was insane which to be honest… He was. “Yup!” He said as if it were normal, he grabbed a piece of blue paper he also just happened to have on hand, applying glue to it and sticking it on where the paper was ripped. He picked up the pencil, redrawing the line over the blue paper before handing it over to Uranus.
“See? All better!” He said proudly, grinning ear to ear. Uranus looked at the paper in silence, normally he would be pissed at Neptune, yelling at him for ruining his drawing. But this felt different… He ran a finger over the blue paper, it was different from what he was used to, but somehow it felt right in a way. “Do you like it?” Neptune asked, sounding like an excited puppy. Uranus stared at him in silence, before he started sobbing. Actually sobbing.
Neptunes smile fell, immediately replaced with concern and worry “I-I’m sorry! I t-thought it would help!” He started apologizing frantically, but was quickly stopped when Uranus hugged him. “D-don’t be sorry… I-its perfect…” He explained through sniffles and hiccups, burying his face in Neptunes shoulder as sobs continued wrecking his body.
“I feel l-like a failure… L-like I c-cant do anything r-right…” Uranus explained, looking down in shame “It w-was always m-my dream to be an artist… G-guess I should give up…” He sniffled, trying to hold back more tears that threatened to fall. Neptune wiped away Uranus’ tears with the back of his sleeve, looking at his cousin with concern “Don’t give up, please… I think your art is great!” Uranus paused, thinking about Neptunes words. He shook his head “You’re just saying that…” He refused to accept Neptunes words as the truth, he was probably just being nice.
“And so do the others!” What? “The others…?” He asked in surprise, he had no idea the others liked his art. “Yeah!” Neptune said “Jupiter still has the drawing you made him as a gift hung up on the wall, and Earth still carries the drawing you made for Earth day with him in his wallet!” He explained, hoping he got his point across.
Uranus looked down at the paper again, but this time instead of disgust he felt something else… He wiped his tears away, looking back at Neptune. “Here, let me help you.” Neptune got up and held his hand out for Uranus. Uranus hesitated for a moment before taking his hand and pulling himself up. He dusted himself off, trying to look at least somewhat presentable. Neptune handed the sketchbook to Uranus, “Wanna try again?” He encouraged, hoping Uranus would pick the pencil up again.
Uranus thought about it for a second, before nodding “Do you want to draw with me, mate?” He asked, hoping he wasn’t being annoying. Neptunes face lit up with joy, nodding his head “Yes! I’d love to draw with you mate!” Uranus cringed for a moment there “Please don’t imitate my accent…” Neptune chuckled sheepishly “Y’know I cant help myself!” He explained through his laughter.
Uranus chuckled in return, looking down at the sketchbook. He couldn’t help the smile that crept up onto his face, the thought of spending time with his best friend and doing something he loved at the same time… “What do you wanna draw mate?” He asked, looking up at Neptune. He thought about it for a minute, scratching his chin to mimic deep thinking “Hmm… Oh! I wanna draw the Kuiper belt!” Uranus chuckled “Okay then, guess I’ll draw… You.”
Neptune looked at Uranus, feeling surprised and shocked as those words left his cousins mouth “Me…?” He asked as if to confirm Uranus’ words. Uranus nodded “You’re my best friend mate, and you stayed with me through everything… Even when I was being mean to you…” He looked down, guilt filling his heart. Neptune pulled him into a hug, holding him in a gentle but firm embrace. “I love you cousin…” Neptune said, burying his face his Uranus’ shoulder. Uranus chuckled and patted him on the back “Love you too, cousin.”