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Long ago, in these corners of the solar system, there were tales of a planet everyone avoided. It wasn't because of its size or its orbit, but because of the way it presented itself to others. Earth was known for being distant, difficult to read, as if it were always somewhere else, even when it was present.
They said that getting too close to it was uncomfortable, that its silence weighed more than any gravity. Some even exaggerated, saying that spending too much time with it made you feel empty, as if you were slowly fading away. They were rumors, many of them, but enough that no one wanted to verify them.
However, at one of these gatherings where all the planets coincided, something different happened.
No one really knew where Mars had come from. Some said it had always been there and they simply hadn't noticed, others that it came from more distant trajectories. It didn't matter much. What was evident, though, was the way it moved among the others, as if everything were perfectly natural to it. It didn't need to say much. The way he approached, the way he turned, the way he kept in rhythm with the others, it was enough.
And that's where it all began.
“I hope this is worth it…,” Earth murmured to himself.
Earth didn't like these dances. He never had.
As always, he watched from the outer edge of the gathering while the others moved around the enormous celestial hall. The entire place glowed softly with reflected starlight, long streams of gold and silver crossing the dark floor like floating constellations. Music echoed through the room in slow waves, steady enough to guide every orbit and step without effort.
The planets revolved around one another naturally, forming and breaking pairs with ease.
Mercury moved quickly between conversations, restless as always and unable to stay still for long before drifting toward someone else. Venus laughed near the center of the room, effortlessly surrounded by attention. Jupiter’s voice carried louder than the music itself whenever he spoke, while Saturn remained elegant beside him, correcting Jupiter’s exaggerated movements every few minutes with visible patience.
Even Neptune, who usually preferred distance almost as much as Earth did, had allowed Pluto to pull him briefly onto the dance floor, though both looked vaguely uncomfortable about it.
Everyone belonged somewhere within the movement.
Everyone except him.
Earth stayed still near one of the darker corners, arms loosely crossed as he observed the others. He knew Saturn worried about him during these gatherings. Saturn always insisted that isolating himself only worsened things.
“You should try,” Saturn had told him once. “You can’t expect others to approach if you keep building walls around yourself.”
Earth never answered those comments.
Because the truth was simple: he had tried before.
It always ended the same way.
People approached carefully at first, intrigued by him, curious about the strange stories surrounding Earth and his oceans and storms and constantly shifting atmosphere. But eventually the curiosity faded. The silences became uncomfortable. Conversations slowed. Then came distance.
It was easier this way.
Or at least safer.
Earth lowered his gaze briefly, absentmindedly searching the crowd for Luna. His younger brother stayed closer to the smaller celestial bodies near the edge of the hall, talking excitedly with Titan about something Earth couldn’t hear from this distance.
Good. At least Luna seemed comfortable here.
“Look, there he is…”
The voice came from somewhere nearby, followed by several quieter murmurs.
Earth looked up automatically.
And then he saw him.
Mars.
Earth was certain he would've remembered someone like him before. There was something impossible to ignore about the way Mars carried himself. His reddish glow stood out among the softer lights surrounding the others, but it was more than appearance.
It was the way he moved.
Smooth and unforced, confident without seeming arrogant.
Others naturally shifted around him as he passed, opening space without even realizing they were doing it. Mercury immediately gravitated toward him, talking quickly about something while Mars listened with surprising attentiveness. Venus joined moments later, amused by whatever Mercury was saying. Even Jupiter seemed interested enough to interrupt his own conversation.
Mars handled all of it effortlessly.
Earth frowned slightly before looking away.
He didn’t know why he kept paying attention.
Maybe because Mars felt unfamiliar in a way the others didn’t anymore. Maybe because Earth couldn't immediately understand him, and that bothered him more than expected.
Or maybe it was because Mars looked too comfortable here.
Earth exhaled quietly and shifted his weight, preparing to leave before the gathering exhausted him further. He had already stayed longer than usual.
But before he could fully turn away, something made him glance back one last time.
Mars was already looking at him.
Directly.
Earth froze for half a second before immediately looking elsewhere, a sudden uncomfortable heat rising in his chest. Had Mars noticed him staring earlier? How long had he been looking back?
Earth tried to ignore it.
He failed.
Because when he cautiously looked again, Mars was no longer standing near the center of the room.
He was walking toward him.
Slowly enough that it shouldn’t have felt threatening, yet Earth felt himself tense anyway.
Several nearby conversations quieted slightly as Mars passed. Earth noticed Venus glance briefly in their direction before whispering something to Mercury, who looked openly shocked.
Of course they were noticing this.
No one approached Earth voluntarily.
Mars stopped in front of him without hesitation.
Up close, he seemed calmer somehow, less untouchable than he appeared from afar. His expression held neither pity nor caution, which Earth found strangely disorienting.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Mars tilted his head slightly.
“Excuse me?”
Earth blinked, pulled from his thoughts.
“Yes?”
“Would you dance with me?”
The question hit him with enough force that he almost wondered if he'd misheard it.
Around them, the music continued uninterrupted. The planets kept turning, laughing, speaking, existing as though nothing unusual had happened.
But to Earth, everything suddenly felt distant.
No one asked him things like that.
Not sincerely.
A thousand possible responses crossed his mind at once. Refusal would've been easier. Safer. Familiar.
Yet Mars waited calmly, without pressuring him, as though he genuinely didn’t mind what answer he received.
“…I guess so,” Earth finally said.
The response sounded awkward even to himself.
Mars only smiled faintly before extending a hand toward him.
Earth hesitated for barely a second before accepting it.
The moment their hands touched, Earth immediately became aware of how close Mars suddenly was. Close enough that he could notice small details now: faint golden dust along the edges of his sleeves, subtle warmth radiating from him, the steady rhythm of his movements even while standing still.
It unsettled him.
The music shifted into something slower.
Mars guided him gently toward the moving crowd, never pulling hard enough to make Earth feel trapped. Still, Earth remained tense as they joined the others.
He could already feel people watching.
Jupiter looked openly confused. Mercury nearly tripped over himself staring. Venus seemed delighted by the entire situation.
Saturn, however, only watched quietly from across the hall.
And somehow, that made Earth even more nervous.
At first, the dance was awkward.
Earth moved too cautiously, overly aware of every step he took. Mars adjusted easily, but Earth still struggled to match the rhythm. Their turns were uneven, their timing inconsistent, and Earth hated how obvious it felt.
“Relax,” Mars said quietly after Earth missed another step.
“I am relaxed.”
Mars gave him a look that made it painfully clear he didn't believe that.
Earth looked away immediately.
“You're overthinking,” Mars added.
Easy for him to say.
Mars moved like someone who belonged everywhere naturally, while Earth constantly felt like an interruption inside rooms built for others.
Still, Mars didn’t seem frustrated.
Every time Earth moved too late, Mars adjusted, and whenever Earth lost the rhythm, Mars slowed slightly to match him again. He remained patient, steady, completely unbothered by any of it, and somehow that confused Earth more than anything else.
“You don't have to keep correcting for me,” Earth muttered eventually.
Mars looked at him curiously. “Why not?”
“Because eventually you'll get tired of it.”
The answer slipped out more honestly than Earth intended. For a moment, Mars simply studied him while they continued moving together through the music, the rest of the ballroom blurring softly around them.
Then, unexpectedly, Mars smiled faintly.
“Maybe I don't mind.”
Earth didn't know what to do with that.
His chest tightened strangely, forcing him to look away again as the dance carried them farther into the crowd. Around them, the gathering continued in endless motion. Venus spun elegantly beside Mercury despite his constant stumbling, both laughing loudly enough for nearby planets to hear, while Jupiter attempted an unnecessarily dramatic turn with Saturn and nearly collided with Uranus in the process.
Even beyond the enormous windows, distant stars seemed to pulse in time with the music.
And somewhere in the middle of all of it, Earth slowly realized something unsettling.
He was beginning to enjoy himself.
Not the gathering itself. Not the noise or the crowd.
Just this.
Mars’s hand remained steady in his own, warm and grounding in a way Earth hadn’t expected. Their movements had become easier now, the awkwardness from earlier slowly dissolving into something smoother, something natural enough that Earth no longer needed to think carefully before every step.
At some point, he stopped waiting for Mars to leave.
That realization frightened him more than he wanted to admit, because people always left eventually. They always lost interest. Yet Mars remained beside him as though staying there required no effort at all.
And for the first time in a very long while, Earth found himself hoping the music wouldn’t end too soon.