Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The man woke up in a hospital bed, rubbing his head. He tried to remember what happened, only for him to panic when he realized that he can’t remember anything.

“How are you feeling?” a doctor asked as soon as he walked in.

“I can’t remember anything!” the man yelled out.

“Well, maybe I can help with figuring out your name, at least,” the doctor said, fishing around in his pocket. “They found your ID at the car crash you were in.” The doctor took out a wallet and handed it to the man. The man looked at his ID in the wallet and saw that his name was Earth. Strange.

“Are there any problems other than with your memory?” the doctor asked. Earth shook his head. 

“Well, I’d say that you’re all set to be dismissed, but I’m rather concerned about your safety,” the doctor said.

“Well, is there anywhere I can stay?” Earth asked. The doctor thought. Before he could say anything, though, Earth raised up his hand. “You know what? I think I can figure it out,” he said.

“Are you sure?” The doctor asked.

“Pretty sure,” Earth said as he got out of the bed to look for his clothes and get changed.

“Whoa, slow down,” the doctor said, gently urging Earth to get back into bed.

“But how am I supposed to get my memory back?” Earth asked.

“We can help you with that here,” the doctor said. “Now, let’s get you better.”

  Luna yawned as they watched Phobos and Deimos play with some of the minor moons of Uranus in their peripheral, just to make sure they wouldn’t get hurt or get into trouble. They were quite tired but it was far too loud and chaotic in the Moon Club with kids running around, chasing each other, screaming, sometimes paint and asteroids and game pieces flying around. They really could just go to a less populated area, but someone had to watch the kids, and all the other major moons already took that chance to get away.

  At least Triton was still here. “...and you’re not even listening.”

  “Uh huh…” Luna absent mindedly answered, his words clicking in their head a moment later. “Wait, what? No, I was listening.” Triton shot them a look through his sunglasses, eyebrows raised.

  “Really? What was I talking about, then?”

  “Uh… I dunno, Callisto?” Luna took a wild chance. Well, it couldn’t be too inaccurate. He sure talked about her a lot.

  “No… dude, seriously? Do I really talk about her that much?” Now it was Luna’s turn to glare at him.

  “Take a guess.”

  Triton scoffed, adjusting his sunglasses. Luna smirked at him. “That’s off topic. I was trying to think of something to do for the next Moon Club meeting.”

  “Uh, I dunno, you got any games to teach them?”

  “That’s your thing. The only game I know is Dungeons and Dwarf Planets and I’m not teaching that to kids who don’t even know how to multiply,” Luna hummed as they tried to come up with something.

  “Well, you don’t have to host a meeting,” they answered when nothing came up. “Just say you don’t want to.”

  A sigh. “Alright, I’ll just tell that to Titan.” Triton got up and stretched out his arms before Ganymede approached him.

  “Hey, Triton!”

  “Hey, man,” he greeted.

  “Me and Timmy found something not far from the Moon Club. Wanna check it out with us?” Ganymede invited. Triton scoffed at the nickname for Titan.

  “Sure,” Triton accepted. He glanced at Luna before Ganymede could drag him with, “see you later, Luna!”

  “Bye!” They waved off. They watched for another moment while the two chattered away before Luna redirected their attention to the moons. Their gaze caught on to the whiteboard for a sparse moment before doing a double take.

  The whiteboard was usually used for when they all had something important to discuss, but otherwise, all the kids just doodled all over it. There was a happy, now-slightly-wiped-off drawing of Earth, Mars, and the inner moons all together. When they glanced at Earth’s large grin a feeling they couldn’t place settled in their stomach. A certain feeling that didn’t feel right.

  Whatever. It’s probably nothing. It’s not worthwhile to spend a Moon Club meeting overthinking on it.

… But they’re gonna check in with Earth, just in case.

  The moon club soon ended and Luna slowly followed the eager Martian moons out of the asteroid belt. “Mars!” Phobos and Deimos loudly called in unison, tumbling into Mars’s arms.

  “Hey, you two,” Mars squeezed them once before pulling away. “How was the moon club today?”

  “Amazing!” Phobos cheered.

  “Yeah! Luna taught us a bunch more Earthling games!”

  Mars grinned. “Alright, let’s go back to our orbit.” He patted Deimos on the shoulder and led the way to their orbit, not far from the edge of the asteroid belt. In his peripheral, Mars spotted Luna in the distance, still standing alone at the edge of the belt. He paused. “Hold on, you two.”

  “Luna!” Mars called as he approached them. Luna perked up immediately. Their arm tightly held the other, shoulders hiked up.

  “Hey, Mars. Have you seen Earth anywhere?” they nervously wondered. Mars couldn’t help but notice the quick tapping of their finger on their arm.

  “...No, actually,” he answered slowly, looking around behind him. Earth wasn’t in his orbit, nor was he in Venus’s or Mercury’s or anywhere in the inner solar system. His core suddenly sank and he returned his attention to Luna, who looked like they were on the brink of tears.

  “He’s usually with you when the moon club ends. Do you know where he went?”

  “He went to his surface for something about a surprise for Neptune,” Mars answered.

  “And you haven’t seen him since?” Luna asked, with enough hope to make Mars feel sore. Mars broke eye contact and slowly shook his head. A beat of silence later, tears slipped down Luna’s face.

“Calm down,” Mars said gently to the moon, quick to embrace them into a hug. “Earth is probably still on his surface. I think he went to this New York City.”

“But he could be anywhere by now!”

“At least let me help look too!” Neptune said, popping up out of nowhere.

“Neptune!?” Both Mars and Luna yelled out in surprise.

“How much of that did you hear?” Luna asked the ice giant.

“Enough to know that Earth is missing,” Neptune said, looking very worried about his boyfriend. “Please, let me help you look for him!”

“Us too,” Jupiter said, he and Saturn walking up, clearly worried about the rocky planet.

"Is there anyone else who has heard that Earth is missing?” Mars asked. The other planets walked up and raised their hands.

“And who wants to help look?” Luna asked. The hands were still up.

“Okay,” Mars said, smiling gratefully. “I know where to look first.”

Earth was walking on the street, trying and failing to remember anything about his past. The best he got were fuzzy memories about various people. And they were in space, for some reason? The most prominent memories involved two people. One was a genderfluid person with silver hair, the other was a man with dark blue hair and a warm smile. He almost bumped into a man while he was thinking.

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” the man said.

“Sorry!” Earth apologized.

  Earth blew a sigh, rubbing his head. He remembered nothing from before the crash. His earliest memory was the feeling of his heart sinking before he woke up in a hospital. But that guy he bumped into… Earth swore he’d seen him before. But when he tried to reach for a memory of that face, nothing came up. He had seen that man before. He knows he has. Something just tells him so.

  …Whatever. It’s not like he could just chase the guy down. And what would he even ask? “Oh, hey guy-I-just-bumped-into, now that I think about it like twenty steps later, you’re really familiar! I don’t suppose I’ve met you up in space with some playing cards and—” Oh my god.

  Earth nearly stopped walking in the middle of the busy city streets. The only thing stopping him was the persistent traffic even on the sidewalks. Seriously, what is it with him and people in space?! Earth pressed his hands to his face and groaned, pulling them down slowly. 

  Just get back to your place, he repeated to himself. Then he can think about all this. All of these people in outer space— which was so bizarre. Earth remembered these people without suits — in regular clothes. How are there so many people in space without suits?!

  Okay, no, he’s not gonna dwell on this any longer or he might just lose his sanity. Just get to your apartment and go to bed and save this for another day. He was at least able to eventually remember where his apartment was. Before he noticed it, he had actually already made it to his place.

  He buzzed himself in and was already feeling tired before he was even in front of his door. He took the elevator and felt his pockets for his keys. They jingled a little and Earth made his way to his number. He slid the key into the doorknob and shut and locked it as soon as he was inside. He slipped off his shoes by the door and just went straight to his bedroom, shutting his eyes as soon as he hit the bed. He didn’t want to be awake for a single more moment.

Chapter Text

As Earth slept, he kept having these strange dreams. In one dream, the man with the dark blue hair was behind some asteroids and wearing glasses. Earth felt cold, but his heart felt strangely warm upon seeing the man. And that was just one dream of many. Sometimes, he and the man were in space, other times, they were on solid ground.

“Do you think you can promise me something?” Earth asked the man in one dream. They were laying on the grass, looking at the stars.

“What?” The man asked, blinking one eye at a time.

“Promise me that we'll always be together, no matter what. No matter what happens between the two of us,” Earth said.

“Oh. Well, then, I promise,” the man said, smiling even wider as he took Earth’s hand in his.

“Thanks, Neptune,” Earth said, smiling. Earth then woke up. Neptune. As in the eighth planet from the sun? That was that man's name? Was he even real? Or just a dream? Either way, Earth shook his head and wandered into the kitchen, looking for something to eat. All of a sudden, he heard a knock on the door. Confused, Earth walked to the door and opened it, revealing the person on the other side to be the man that Earth had bumped into earlier.

“Can I help you with anything?” Earth asked.

“Only to see if you’re okay,” the man said. “I saw some bandages around your head, and it made me worried that you were hurt.”

“And how do you know where I live?” Earth asked, confused.

“You don't recognize me?” The man asked.

“Should I?” Earth asked in return. 

  “It’s me,— well, you guys know me by ‘Astrodude’.”

  Earth just stared at him. Astrodude? “...No… that doesn’t ring any bells…”

  This “Astrodude” guy just stared at him, dumbfounded. “Seriously? I— remember when I went to space for the first time? With the cake? Or when I played the piano on Mars?”

  Earth was just as confused. “How the hell did you get a piano on Mars or a cake in space?” 

  “Earth, are you— you really don’t remember me?”

  “How do you know my name?”

  “Because we’ve met before,” Astrodude nearly snapped. He took a breath before he spoke. “Did you get amnesia? Can planets even get amnesia?” he muttered more so to himself.

  What? Amnesia? Planets with amnesia? He— He understood that Earth could be an odd name, but was he really a planet? “Okay, can I just come inside first?” Astrodude asked.

“Sure,” Earth said with a nod before letting Astrodude in.

“Neptune, calm down!” Uranus said, trying to follow Neptune as the other ice giant walked quickly to look for Earth. The other planets and Luna decided to split up into groups to cover more ground in finding Earth, and Uranus, Neptune, and Planet X were in the same group.

“Calm down?!?” Neptune said, quickly turning around to face his “cousin.” “Earth is missing, and you expect me to calm down?”

“Look, mate, I understand you’re worried-” Uranus started.

“You can tell that much?” Neptune asked, glaring at Uranus in a way that was so unlike him.

“Uranus is right,” Planet X said. “You need to calm down and try to think rationally.”

“My boyfriend just disappeared one day, and you want me to think rationally ?” Neptune asked.

  Uranus closed a hand over Neptune’s shoulder, and a moment later pulled him into a hug. Neptune tensed momentarily but eventually squeezed Uranus back, tears brimming in his eyes. Neither of them spoke for a while, and Neptune crumbled into the embrace as the first tears started to spill. “I’m so worried for him,” he muttered unsteadily.

  “I know, it’s alright,” Uranus reassured, patting Neptune on the back. Neptune squeezed him harder. “He’s gonna be okay. We’re already where Mars said he would be. We’re going to find him.”

  “New York is so big though,” Neptune practically whined.

  “We’re gonna find him, Neptune,” X joined in, “no matter how long it takes.”

  Neptune sniffled once, taking a deep breath and eventually pulling away. He wiped away his tears as Uranus spoke. “Mars said something about getting you a gift, you know a place he would get something from?”

  Neptune’s gaze found interest in the ground as he thought, fingers playing with the fabric of his scarf. His memory was fuzzy, hard to grasp anything like the supersonic winds in his atmosphere. But he could recall… chocolates on some holiday that started with a “V”, pretty plants, and toys for his moons. He knew Earth probably gifted him more, but that’s as far as he could remember. 

  “He bought me…” Neptune trailed off as he tried to recall the word for it. He chewed at his lip when he couldn’t remember.

  “No rush, tell us what it looks like,” Uranus said, quick to recognize Neptune’s worry. Neptune took another breath.

  “These plants, they’re very colorful, Earth usually gets them in ‘bouquets’, sometimes they’re all red.”

  “Flowers?” X guessed.

  “Yeah, flowers!” Neptune lit up. “I think I know where Terra gets me flowers.”

  “Lead the way then,” Uranus gestured, smiling now that they have a lead. Neptune led his group to Earth’s favorite flower shop.

“Have you seen Earth?” Neptune asked.

“Only yesterday,” the florist replied. “He was carrying a whole bunch of stuff, too. I heard that he got in an awful accident, though.”

“An accident?!?” Neptune yelled, looking shocked and worried. “Is he alright?”

“From what I heard, yes,” the florist said. “But he has amnesia.”

“Amnesia? You mean he can't remember anything?” Uranus asked.

“No,” the florist said, shaking her head. “You can go over to his apartment, but there’s this man there already looking after him.”

“Thanks,” X said as he, Uranus and Neptune left the flower shop.

“Earth can't remember me,” Neptune said sadly. “He can't remember any of us.”

“Not right now,” Uranus said. “He'll get his memories back.”

“And when will he?” Neptune asked. “Will it take days? Months? Years? When the Sun reaches his red giant phase?”

“Let's just let the others know what happened to Earth, and go from there,” X suggested.

“Right,” Neptune said, taking out his phone. Earth had given all the other planets and Luna phones for when they're on his surface. Neptune texted everyone what happened and to meet his group at Earth’s apartment.

“Let's go to Earth’s apartment,” Neptune suggested. “Maybe we can help jog Earth’s memory.”

Earth looked at a photo album he found, trying and failing to remember anything about the people in the photos in the album. What confuses Earth is that while some of the photos were taken in locations he'd expect, others were in space, such as one with Earth and the man Earth was dreaming about earlier, with “Happy anniversary, Earth and Neptune!” written on the photo. Luna was one of the names written on the photo to show who the message was from, along with a bunch of other strange but familiar names scrawled on the photo. In another photo, it was clearly taken in his apartment, with a fancy looking dinner on the table and the dark blue haired man holding a glass of wine. “Valentine's Day 2024” was written on that photo in what Earth had assumed was his own handwriting.

“You did tell me once that you found out that you discovered that you have a talent for cooking during a trip to your surface, once,” Astrodude said from behind Earth, startling him.

“You scared me!” Earth said.

“Sorry,” Astrodude said. “But you are a talented cook, though. I tasted some of the food you made at a party, once.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Earth said when he heard another knock at the door. When he opened it, he saw a giant group of people on the other side. “Speaking of parties, did I decide to throw another one?”

“Not that I'm aware of,” Astrodude said, seeing the other planets and Luna.

“Terra?” Neptune asked before clearing his throat a bit. “Earth, it's me, Neptune. Do you recognize me?”

  “Oh, I— I think I have,” Earth answered, faltering a little. He wasn’t sure if his dream counted. “Uh, you guys should all come in first,” he said as he stepped aside. Neptune quickly entered first, many more faces he couldn’t recognize following behind. It’s fine, there’s totally not a bunch of planet-human people in his apartment, because it’s totally not awkward , not at all, he thought as he shut the door behind the last person to enter.

  Neptune was quick to start questioning Earth as soon as he turned around. “Do you remember our last date when we went to your surface? We went to the park,” he started.

  “Um,” Earth hesitated, nervousness suddenly sinking into him. “I… only remember your face from a dream,” he had to admit, “and photos and things Astrodude told me, I’m really sorry.” He didn’t know when he started fidgeting with the fabric of his sleeve. Neptune on the other hand almost looked crushed, holding himself together with a thin strip of tape. Earth was an empathetic person, but he felt it a little worse when he saw Neptune’s apparent reaction. “I’m so sorry, really,” Earth futilely apologized again.

  “It’s okay, Terra,” the nickname Neptune used made Earth feel a little warmer inside, “maybe we can all try to jog your memory?” Neptune asked, glancing back at the others, who all agreed.

  Neptune and Earth took a seat in the living room with everyone else, and he took turns trying to recall memories with everyone in the room. Both memories he didn’t have and memories he was able to unlock. They went in a full circle a few times until it was Neptune’s turn to prompt Earth again.

  “Do you remember another one of our dates? We went to a park together,” he started. Earth tried to reach for a memory like that and struggled. He had a very vague memory of a park and Neptune with him, but wasn’t sure if that was the date he described.

  “What was it like there? What did we do?”

  “Um, well, I remember a pretty red sunset. I thought Uranus would’ve liked to paint it…” Earth glanced at Uranus for a moment as he trailed off, “and we watched it. We talked for most of the time, and then I…” Neptune broke contact, looking to the side a little awkwardly. Earth let him take his time, patiently waiting for him to continue.

“...Do you notice a ring on your finger when you woke up?” Neptune asked. Earth checked his finger. There was, in fact, a ring on his finger, and a very beautiful one at that. It was gold, with a light blue gem and a dark blue gem in the shape of a heart. On the right side of the gem, there was an engraving of the symbols of Earth and Neptune intertwined with each other.

“It's a very beautiful ring,” Earth said.

“It was the one I used when I asked you to marry me,” Neptune said, tears in his eyes. “We stopped at this lake, looking up at the sunset. I told you how much you mean to me and how much I hope to spend all of eternity with you. Then I got down on one knee and asked you to marry me. I felt like the happiest planet in the universe when you said yes.”

“That sounds like it was beautiful,” Earth said.

“I had tried my best to make sure everything was perfect,” Neptune said. “We even started planning our wedding a bit the last time we saw each other.”

“We did?” Earth asked.

“Yes, but we should wait until we get your memory back before we finish planning our wedding,” Neptune said.

“Exactly,” Luna said. “Maybe we can jog your memory by doing the things you usually do with the rest of us?”

“Like what?” Earth asked.

“You sometimes play cards with me, Venus, and Mars,” Mercury said. “We can do that.”

“And we do a lot of things together after we started dating,” Neptune said. “So much so that you've become almost as close to my moons as I am.”

“Okay, then,” Earth said. “Let's get started.”

Chapter Text

Earth was sitting at his dining room table playing cards with Mercury, Venus, and Mars. “What is this game called, again?” Earth asked.

“SolarCards,” Mars said. “We'd play this game all the time.”

“I see,” Earth said, as Mars explained the rules. Earth made the first turn. “There. I guess it's Venus's turn, now?”

“Yeah, it is,” Venus said gruffly before playing his card. Neptune watched them, looking sad.

“Don't worry,” Uranus said, sitting next to Neptune. “We're working on getting Earth his memory back.”

“I know,” Neptune said. “But that doesn't change the fact that Earth can only just barely remember me.”

“Well, that's why we're working together to help Earth regain his memories,” Saturn said. “I even told him about how I helped design some of his outfits for a few dates he went on with you.”

“Plus, we need to be patient,” Jupiter added. “It takes a while to recover any memories.”

“He has a point,” Uranus added. “Remember when I got amnesia from my own collision?”

Neptune rubbed at the end of his sweater subconsciously. “Yeah,” Neptune answered as Uranus scooted a little closer to him. Neptune didn’t realize Uranus was comfortable enough with the topic to bring it up now, especially in front of Jupiter and Saturn.

“You were patient with me, you never left me alone, you even got me back into my hobbies,” he explained. “You tried asking me about things I still don’t remember now. You never looked upset about it either.” Uranus then flashed Neptune a small smile, and Neptune reciprocated it. He noticed him glance back at Jupiter and Saturn, some look in his eyes (which Neptune wasn’t sure how to describe. Bitterness? Upset? Anger? A mix of all of them?) for a split second before he returned to Neptune.

The action confused Neptune at first before it clicked a moment later. Right, Jupiter and Saturn still didn’t acknowledge it. Neptune let himself wonder why. Were they still oblivious to it to this day, or do they not speak of it either out of shame? Neptune hoped for the latter, because at least they acknowledged it happened, they just made a mistake and haven’t yet mustered up the courage to apologize for it. (Neptune took a mental note to start hinting at it to them soon)

“You lost your mind in your long, distant orbit and forgot a bunch of stuff too, didn’t you?” Jupiter prompted, snapping Neptune out of his thoughts. Neptune blinked once before abruptly nodding. “So you know how he must be feeling already,—”

“Guilt, confusion, detachment, disorientation, uh, I could keep going,” Neptune replied quickly, not realizing he interrupted until a beat later. Awkward silence blanketed the giants for a short while after.

“No need, that was what I was trying to say.” Jupiter cleared his throat.

“But you lost a lot of long-term memories. Earth seems to be doing relatively well so far,” X commented.

“Right. And you wouldn’t want to be pressured to regain those memories, would you?” the largest planet asked. Neptune shook his head.

“I don’t mean to pressure him though,” Neptune said, frowning a little.

“No, it’s alright,” Saturn reassured, “you’re doing your best and he appreciates it.” Neptune leaned against Uranus, frowning as unease started to stir in his stomach. Uranus leaned into him, slinging an arm over his shoulder.

“Didn’t something happen with your moon too, Neptune?” X wondered. Neptune bit his lip, looking down.

“Yeah, but I don’t wanna talk about it,” he answered. It didn’t make him feel any better.

X hummed. “That’s fine. Sorry, by the way.”

“It’s okay.” Neptune remembered the conversation he had with Triton about… his origins. Triton remembered glimpses of his time before getting captured. He remembered a few things about his binary partner (who’s gone because of Neptune). Talking about it was hard, for both of them, but it was also helpful. Triton remembered more about his binary partner. If talking about it worked for Triton, it should work for Earth too, right?

“He’s gonna be okay,” Uranus reassured, pulling Neptune in closer. Neptune rested his head against Uranus’s shoulder and let his words give him hope as he watched Earth play his card games. Neptune felt a little longing tug at his core when he watched Earth play, looking just like how he used to before all this happened. It’s just proof of the progress, Neptune convinced himself while he watched the Rockies' game descend into chaos.

Chapter Text

Earth tossed and turned in his bed that night, having a bad nightmare. In it, he was feeling very lonely. And depressed. So much so, he was rushing straight towards the sun. He woke up with a start, gasping for breath in his bed. He rushed out of his bed and to the attached bathroom, splashing himself in the face in the sink a few times. “It’s just a dream,” Earth told himself, before repeating that phrase to himself a few times.

“What was just a dream?” A voice behind him asked. Earth turned around to see Luna in the bathroom’s doorway, sleepily rubbing their eyes.

“Why are you awake?” Earth asked.

“You woke me up when you did after you let out this loud scream,” Luna explained.

“Oh…I’m sorry,” Earth apologized.

“I was having trouble sleeping, anyway,” Luna said with a tired smile. “It’s fine. If anything, it’s you I’m worried about right now, aside from the whole amnesia thing.”

“It’s just a dumb nightmare,” Earth dismissed.

“If it woke you up, it’s more than just a dumb nightmare,” Luna said. “It could be a memory, for all we know. Just…just tell me about it, please.”

“Me, too,” Neptune said, walking up with concern in his eyes. Normally, before Earth’s amnesia, he would sleep next to Earth while they were on his surface. After the amnesia, Neptune took to sleeping on the couch to prevent Earth from feeling uncomfortable about sleeping next to what he perceives to be a total stranger. Luna’s room, on the other hand, was right next to Earth’s. The other planets were staying at a hotel. “We’re very worried about you.”

Earth sighed. “I…I remember feeling lonely, depressed,” Earth said. “I felt abandoned…I was rushing towards the Sun.” Neptune and Luna looked at each other with a worried and sad expression and Earth suddenly felt uncomfortable. “Why are you guys looking at each other like that..?”

They both returned their attention to him and Luna cleared their throat before speaking up. “That… wasn’t a nightmare you made up,” they said, suddenly rubbing the back of their neck. Luna exchanged a glance with Neptune. Earth wanted to sink into his bed. What could it have been about that they knew of and was so hard to bring up?

“There was this time when you used to be… pretty full of yourself, to say the least. A couple bad things happened because of it and Mars and Venus were mad at you and I was…” they hesitated, “I was in the Asteroid Belt, fixing some other mistake you made. You thought I left, thought everyone left you because we all hated you.”

“Which we didn’t, and we never have nor will we ever hate you,” Luna quickly clarified, horrified at the thought of something like that ever occurring again. “But all that time alone wasn’t good for your sanity and it reached a point that you thought…” they seemed like they couldn’t even get themself to say it. 

Earth blinked and a beat later it all clicked into place. “Oh.”

The awkward silence didn’t last long. Neptune was quick to break it. “But on the bright side, you unlocked an important memory!”

“A… pretty bad one, but I’ll take it,” Earth quietly said.

Luna rubbed their eyes. “You feeling okay?” they asked.

“Just a little spooked, but sure,” he answered. “But, what time is it right now?”

“Like… almost 12AM. Are you able to fall asleep again? Because you need the rest.”

Earth fidgeted with his hands without noticing at first. “Neptune?” He called, looking up at him in the doorway of his room. “I don’t know why, but I feel a little safer now that you’re here. I think I want to sleep with you tonight.”

Neptune immediately lit up. “Yay!” he quickly said, clasping his hands together. Luna and Earth smiled. “Oh, let me grab Guillermo first!” Neptune ran out then, back to the living room.

“Well, I’m going back to bed,” the moon yawned, “tell Neptune I said good night,” they said before leaving.

“I don’t get a good night?” Earth called out.

Luna scoffed amusedly. “Fine, only because you had a nightmare. Good night, Earth!” Earth grinned.

“Thank you, Luna! Good night!” he called back, sure Luna was probably in their room by now or at least at the other end of the open space. Something about that interaction felt nostalgic. If he remembers, he’ll tell that to Luna in the morning. Maybe they had a similar conversation before.

Just then, Neptune stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him. His shark tail wagged excitedly and Earth couldn’t help but warmly smile at it. Neptune held a stuffed bear close to his chest. Relatively a little larger than most teddy bears, Earth remarked before he pulled the comforter over himself and made some space for Neptune.

“You remember Guillermo?” Neptune wondered as Earth turned to face him.

“A, uh, an imaginary friend? I think?"

“Yeah! Exactly what you said!” he beamed, nodding. Earth felt warmer seeing his happiness. He couldn’t help but smile as well. It was truly a relief from everything fast paced that had been happening the previous few days. Earth couldn’t explain it, but something tugged at his heart and he wanted to be closer to Neptune, adjusting himself just a little. Neptune noticed quickly, dropping the stuffed bear and pulling Earth in close. Close enough that they were nearly chest-to-chest.

Earth flushed hard, the arms wrapped around his back startling him. He knew he had never cuddled anyone before, not in his memory, but it felt ever so familiar and comforting.

“Is this okay?” Neptune wondered.

The shorter nervously chuckled before responding. “Yeah, it’s nice,” he admitted. When he looked up at Neptune, he looked lost in admiration. His smile was contagious and his eyes practically sparkled even in the darkness of the room. The only light presented by the moonlight which peeked through the blinds and the lamp on his nightstand. Earth felt drawn to be even closer, letting himself bury his face in Neptune’s neck.

Earth deeply breathed, his body curled up in Neptune’s embrace. He shut his eyes and relaxed with Neptune’s arms wrapped around him. He let the fatigue settle in him. Even though it probably should’ve been awkward, for Earth had little to no actual memory of dating Neptune, he felt comfortable. Protected. Safe.

He felt at home.

Chapter Text

“I'm gonna bring my moons to your surface,” Neptune said the following morning over breakfast. “They have their own rooms in your place, and I was hoping that they'll help jog your memory, since you treat them like they're your moons too after we started dating.”

“Really? Were they the other names I saw in that anniversary photo in my photo album?” Earth asked.

“Yup,” Neptune said with a nod. “Triton, Proteus, Galatea, Larissa, Neso, and Nereid. The smaller moons practically begged Triton to sign the photo before he actually did.”

“I wondered what those extra rooms were,” Earth said. “I guess that's where your moons sleep whenever they stay here?”

“Exactly,” Neptune said, taking another bite of the pancakes Earth made. “I'll be bringing them here today after breakfast.”

“I guess I'll get their rooms ready, then,” Earth said as he got up and put his dishes in the dishwasher before checking on the Neptunian moons’ rooms. Triton's was first. It was even neater than Luna’s room, with a bookshelf one one wal and a neatly made bed against another. Posters lined the wall by the bed, mostly of certain bands. A desk stood by the door, a few papers messily left on it and a mechanical pencil on top of one of them.

“Dungeons and Dwarf Planets?” Earth read the bold writing on one paper before reading it out of curiosity.

The character’s name read “Tritonius” (which sounded a little funny, actually), and it clicked a moment later. He’s heard of this game before.

“What took you so long!?” Earth was practically shaking his moon by the shoulders.

“That’s just how long one session is,” Luna laughed, pulling away.

“Oh, then you’re not going back. I can’t have you gone for— what, six hours at a time?!”

Luna snickered. “I was not gone for six hours, Earth.” But their face dropped a moment later, like they realized something. “Wait, I can’t go back? What?”

“Nah, I’m messing with you. But maybe. I gotta think about it.” Luna exhaled after his answer.

“Okay, but I wasn’t even playing. It was too late in the game to join and— complicated. I just watched Triton play.” Earth smirked at them and nudged them playfully. Luna immediately flushed. Hard . “Wha— No! Not— I don’t like him like that!” they exclaimed, a little too loudly. Earth giggled.

“Sure, keep telling yourself that,” Earth said between giggles. Oh, he wished Neptune and his moons were still here. Earth would be tearing up laughing if Triton overheard tha—

“Earth?” a rough voice asked. Earth jumped, startled when he turned around and saw Neptune’s largest moon looking at him a little suspiciously. 

“Oh, hey Tritonius— I— I mean, Triton,” he said, internally cringing out of his mind in embarrassment. Triton frowned a little when he was addressed by his character name.

“What are you doing with my D&DP character sheet?”

“Nothing, nothing, I’m sorry,” he profusely apologized, setting the paper back down on the desk before leaving the room.

“...Okay..?” Triton awkwardly said as he left, dragging out the vowels. Earth felt horrible with embarrassment at that interaction. So much so that he didn’t see Neptune until he bumped into him.

“Oh, hi, Terra!” Neptune said.

“Hey, Neptune.”

“You okay? What were you doing in Triton’s room?”

“I originally came in there to straighten things out a bit, but I found something that triggered a memory,” Earth explained.

“You did?” Neptune asked, grinning excitedly as he grabbed Earth’s hand and led him to the couch in the living room. “Tell me all about it!”

“Well, I was in my orbit,” Earth started, thinking how odd it was that that specific phrase was starting to sound normal.  “Luna just got back from watching Triton and the dwarf planets play Dungeons and Dwarf Planets. I teased Luna a bit since I thought that maybe they were starting to have a bit of a crush on Triton, I think?” Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

“I got it!” Triton called out as he walked to the door. “Probably the people I invited over, anyway.” As soon as Triton opened the door, he was proven right. The dwarf planets were on the other side.

“Greetings,” Makemake said. “I take it that you prepared Earth’s place for our new campaign?”

“Yeah, I set up the dining room table,” Triton said as he let everyone in. “Earth has amnesia, though, so everyone has been trying to jog his memory. We're still going to include Luna this time?”

“Yeah; wasn't that the whole point of starting this new campaign?” Eris asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Good point,” Triton said.

“Hey! Can Earth join you guys?” Neptune asked the dwarf planets all of a sudden. “I think Dungeons and Dwarf Planets triggered a memory of his.”

“Hm…I do not see why not,” Makemake said. “What do you think?” Makemake asked the rest of the group.

“The more the merrier, I say,” Pluto said.

“Why not?” Eris said with a shrug.

“A planet playing Dungeons and Dwarf Planets?” Haumea asked. “Are you sure it's a good idea?”

“I don't see why not,” Pluto said, echoing Makemake's words.

“I think it might be a good idea, as much as I hate to say it,” Triton said. “I've been around Earth a lot more often after he and Neptune started dating; he's not that bad.”

“You guys are considering having Earth join us?” Luna asked, joining into the conversation after listening to enough of it.

“Of course,” Makemake said. “Do you have any objections, Luna? This is your planet we're talking about, after all.”

Luna scratched their chin in thought. “No, actually, I think that’s good,” they said.

“Wonderful!” Makemake said. “All we have to do is make your characters, and we'll begin our campaign!”

They all took a seat at the dining table as Haumea handed Earth a sheet of paper, similar to the one he found in Triton’s room but blank. Speaking of which, said moon had just taken a seat after grabbing his character sheet from his room. Makemake happily explained what the campaign was to Earth and Luna and helped them fill out their character sheets.

The planet filled in the last blank on his character sheet and let his mind wander as Makemake went first, describing the scene. Everyone else took their initiative rolls, with Haumea rolling the highest number.

“Again? Seriously?” Eris complained.

“Come on, that’s how the game works, Eris,” Pluto addressed. Haumea grinned a little at her comment before taking his first turn.

“Hey, Luna?” Earth called to the moon beside him.

“Hm?”

“Why are we playing this on my surface again?”

“Eh, we’ve been overdue for starting a new campaign for a while and I haven’t been able to attend their stuff in the Kuiper Belt,” they shrugged.

Earth hummed as Eris’s turn came up. Makemake described their characters entered a dungeon with a door on one wall.

“Can I beat the door?” Eris requested. 

“Ehh... no…” Makemake replied.

“Damn,” she said quietly.

“Can I beat the door?” Triton said.

“Also no,” Makemake declined, already aware of where this was headed and was not anticipating it.

“Can I punch Tritonius?” Pluto asked flatly, also not wanting to entertain this. Triton glared at him as Makemake rolled the die.

“Tritonius, you take five damage.”

“What? Five damage from a punch!? ”

“Are these games always this stupid?” Earth wondered quietly to his moon.

“...Sometimes,” was Luna’s only answer as they both amusedly watched the unseriousness of the current campaign play out.