Work Text:
["ASTRODUDE" POV:]
*Astrodude hummed peacefully, looking around for the rest of the planets. It was awfully quiet. He hadn't seen any talking planets lately. . . . Huh. Did that mean he wasn't crazy anymore?!*
"Hey, Astrodude."
*Never mind . . . still crazy.*
"UH- Hey Earth!" *He stammered, almost tripping over.*
*He spun his ship around to see . . . the Earth. She lay by herself, smiling fondly at the twinkling stars above.*
*Earth's smile widened when she saw the human, patting the spot beside her. Astrodude looked down at her curiously, stepping out of his ship and floating down to lay beside her, to the best of his ability.*
"Tell me about yourself, Astrodude." *The Earth spoke gently, looking at the tiny Earthling before her.*
" . . . What?"
"Tell me about you. . . . I've never seen anyone or anything on my surface up close. You're the closest thing to that, and yet . . . " *She stopped herself, thinking of how to make her point.*
"I mean. . . We've known each other for SO long! But I feel like I don't even know you." *She looked over to him, her longing obvious in her expression.*
*Astrodude thought for a second, before flying back into his ship and projecting pictures into the empty space before him. His home smiled lightly, her eyes widening at the Earthling technology.*
"You always were my smartest children." *She hummed softly, twirling her hair in her fingers.*
"Oh! . . . Not your favourites?" *His eyes narrowed, cocking an eyebrow.*
"Sorry, Astrodude. Dinosaurs already claimed that title." *She smirked. The Earthling gasped, as if personally offended.*
"Nah, I'm just kidding. Makes sense." *He mumbled in agreement.*
*The human cleared his throat, before settling on a picture of him and his wife on a vacation.*
"This is my wif-"
"GASP! ASTROWIFE!" *She squealed, marvelling at the female Earthling on the screen.*
"She's so pretty!" *The Earth cooed, eyes sparkling with wonder.*
"Hah . . . Don't I know it." *His expression matched that of the Earth's.*
"Woah, you look so young!" *She mocked, smirking.*
*Haha. Very funny. He thought, choosing to ignore her remark instead.*
"This was our first vacation together, in Haleakalā, Maui." *He stated in a matter-of-fact tone.*
"Oh, I love that place! That's where a lot of my kids were discovered . . . " *She hummed sweetly.*
"Earthlings?" *He didn't know of any creature discovered there, so . . . Who i-*
"No! Kamo'oalewa and LX, my sweet, little quasi-moons." *She remarked fondly.*
"They're like . . . your kids?" *He asked, eyes widening.*
"Well, yeah. I mean, all my quasi-moons are my kids, alongside every Earthling on my surface." *She declared proudly.*
"And Luna?" *The man inquired innocently.*
"Pfft- No way. They're my older brother." *She stifled a laugh behind her hand. Astrodude's face turned red.*
"OH- Gosh . . . I-I'm so- wait did you say older." *He looked up, confusion setting in.*
"Luna woke up first." *She shrugged, before remembering what they were supposed to be doing.*
"Oh, yeah! Have you got anyone else in your family?" *She asked curiously, looking back to the projection.*
"Well, this is my son." *Astrodude smiled softly, projecting a larger family picture displaying him and his son. The Earth's eyes sparkled, marvelling at the very creatures that existed on her surface.*
"DOUBLE GASP! ASTROSON! I didn't know you were an Astrodad?" *She grinned, seemingly admiring the tinier Earthling.*
*The pair was quiet for a moment as Astrodude cycled through pictures of his son. The Earth was seemingly lost in thought, staring blankly at the projection.*
"You wouldn't believe how long it took me to figure out that this," *The home planet spoke, gesturing towards the projection of his son, which now displayed him as a baby.*
"and you . . . are the same thing." *She rolled over onto her front, turning to face the astronaut.*
"What do you mean?" *He asked, oblivious.*
"You're both human! You have to admit, it's a little confusing. You're big, and can talk. And he's small, and can only make noises." *She listed, occasionally looking back at the picture of his son.*
"How was I supposed to know you were the same species?" *She questioned, raising an eyebrow towards the Earthling.*
*He chuckled, more confused than entertained.* "Hahaha . . . What?"
"I know! It's silly." *Earth smiled nervously, chewing her bottom lip.*
"But then I started to notice that . . . you grow." *She mumbled in awe. Despite it seeming like second nature to humans, he assumed that planets didn't grow. I mean, their size almost always stayed the same, right?*
"Well, can't fly a rocket with little baby hands!" *He joked, imitating a baby flying a rocket.*
*His planet giggled loudly, placing a hand to her face to muffle her laughter.*
*However, her expression suddenly faltered. Earth looked up, this time more sorrowful than before. Astrodude couldn't help but wonder where the moon was when you needed them.*
.
.
.
"When a planet is made, it's . . . for a reason. They burst into formation from the leftover rocks and dust already knowing what they're supposed to be. And . . . then . . . that's what they are! Forever." *She stated grimly, staring into the blank space.*
"But you! You're supposed to change! You're never the same, even moment to moment. You're allowed, and expected to invent who you are." *She exclaimed, looking at the man beside her as if he were the most wonderful thing she'd ever seen. Earth exhaled at the end, her admiration only growing.*
"What an incredible power . . . The ability to . . . grow up." *She concluded, brushing her fingers through her multi-coloured hair.*
"Wow . . . " *The Earthling gasped, speechless.*
"You know, we never really were babies."
" . . . " *He stared up at his home. It might've seemed like a long time to humanity, but to them? Fleeting. I imagine if they were even kids it wouldn't have been for long.*
"No one really looked after us that way when we were made. And of course, there's the younger, smaller moons right? But, they're not really that young. I guess we just call them that. They'll never grow up, get any bigger . . . " *She sighed pitifully.*
*The pair lay beside each other in silence for a while before the Earth spoke again.*
"We're all blessed with powers unimaginable to your human minds! I have healing, Luna has sleep manipulation, Saturn has pathokinesis, Neptune has water powers, Uranus has ice powers, Mercury has super speed . . . and yet . . . You've all impressed me more than anything else does, did and ever will." *She spoke softly, smiling affectionately to the human beside her.*
"Well, thank you! I know you weren't specifically talking about me, but I needed that." *He smiled bashfully.*
"Of course!" *She chirped sweetly.*
"Speaking of needing . . . I REALLY need a vacation." *He huffed, slumping down in exhaustion.*
"Don't call you needy- Uh anyway." *She mumbled under her breath. Was that a reference to something?*
"I think I have a few places!" *She pondered, conjuring a phone and looking up a holiday motel in Miami. She played a video review from a tourist, the ocean sounds filling their ears. Earth smiled blissfully.*
"Isn't it remarkable, Astrodude?" *She cooed, looking at the video, which displayed the beach in the evening, seagulls still squawking.*
"Hm?" *The human hummed, glancing up from the phone.*
"My surface is full of so many possibilities. Each living thing has an entirely unique experience. The sights they see . . . The sounds they hear . . . " *She scrolled across the reviews, pictures of crabs, seagulls, jellyfish, heck, even sharks, and other creatures showed up on the screen.*
"The lives they live . . . are so complicated! And so . . . simple."
" . . . I need you to know that every second you love being yourself, that's me! Loving you, and loving you being you! Because you're something extraordinary . . . " *Earth spoke, her voice full of delight, as if she was proud the human simply existed.*
"You're a human being." *She smiled, looking towards the human warmly.*
*He looked at his home planet in awe. He never knew that she felt this way towards us humans. If he was being honest, he assumed he would be hated for being a human, after he found out the Earth was alive, of course. But, despite all the pain we caused her, she seems so . . . loving.*
*The two were silent as they gazed up at the stars in the sky.*
"Sooo . . . Where are the others anyway?" *Astrodude asked, looking around rather frantically.*
"Luna's at the moon club, and everyone else is pretty spread out from each other in our current orbits. You know, I'd love to go talk to Mars, but I'd rather not mess up your calendars every time I want to play Solarcards." *She hummed, turning to lay on her side, facing the astronaut.*
*The human nodded in understanding. The Earth smiled softly before continuing.*
"And . . . you know you've all been through a lot after the whole 'Moon Revolution'." *She made quotation marks with her hands, grumbling at the mention of the near mass extinction. Astrodude's eyes widened in recognition.*
"OH! Yeah! How are you feeling after that?" *He questioned, concern evident.*
"It was pretty messy. For me, for them. We all made mistakes, but we all worked through them. . . . Except for Ganymede and Europa." *She rolled her eyes.*
"Didn't they start it?" *The human asked, eyebrow raised.*
"Yeah. . . . Well, alongside Titan, but he apologized." *Earth reassured, spinning her wrist in a circle as if it never mattered.*
"Well, I've missed a lot. I'd love to hear all about it." *Astrodude smiled warmly, stepping back out of his rocket ship after turning off the projections.*
"Okay." *She mumbled kindly, moving to sit up and letting the astronaut park his ship in her orbit.*