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‘Well that was another unnecessarily long Moon Club meeting,’ mentally grumbled the far side of the moon to his more well-known half.
‘Don’t even pretend you didn’t enjoy some socializing for once,’ snarked Luna, talking back through their mental bond. ‘I was busy talking but I could hear you and Callisto yapping away back there about the heat death of the universe or whatever you two were talking about.’
‘Well– uh, yeah okay it was fun to be in control for once. And talking to other moons. Even if you’re more social I think this is the first time we’ve had so many moon friends that aren’t basically toddlers.'
‘Bet you’re still about to say you’re exhausted from it though.’
‘Yes I am! I finally get what you mean by it being tiring when both of us are awake and talking at the same time. We’re almost back home anyway, how about you take control and I go back to sleep now?'
‘Aw, tired already? But it’s so nice not having to think about moving our body– ’
‘ Oh shut up and take control already. I’m getting a headache from this.’
Luna snickered to himself, but accepted back control as the dark side of the moon – Artemis, as he goes by now – relinquished it. He could tell that Artemis wasn’t actually annoyed or having a headache, but Luna could feel the exhaustion emanating from the other presence in the back of his mind.
Turning around so that he was now facing Sun, Luna hummed idly to himself as he made his way back to Earth. His planet was currently being kept stable and on his axis by Mars, since Luna, as much as he wanted to continue talking to other moons, didn’t want to leave his planet alone again. Not after last time. After a long, long time, he finally left his planet alone with his Mars, whom the moon trusted would be able to care for Earth in the short time Luna left.
If Luna recalled correctly, there was supposed to be a solar eclipse relatively soon that he needed to be in place for. Luna always found the way humans looked up to him in awe adorable (and a bit flattering, at least they could properly appreciate what he does unlike some other celestials) and looked forward to how they’d observe him during his eclipses. Occasionally, he’d let Artemis take the reigns for lunar eclipses while Luna caught some much needed rest, but that happened more rarely ever since that somehow let to humans fearing the blood moon as a bad omen (though he supposed the color didn’t help, he had to have a long mental “chat” with Artemis after that on why they shouldn’t be pranking Earthlings that didn’t know the Moon was sentient).
Speaking of bad omens, that wasn’t just limited to lunar eclipses. Earth and Luna always used to find it a fun activity to enjoy together over the ages, but the rise and spread of intelligent, sentient Earthlings led to a change in their routine. It turns out that hosting intelligent life makes you somewhat adopt their traits, who knew! (Them. Now they know. Luna should probably warn Titan at some point.) The most obvious way was with how Earth became more arrogant recently, unknowingly, due to human activity on his surface. It may also have contributed to how he almost treated Luna as an accessory to himself instead of his closest companion for billions of years, but that was another story. The planet and moon duo were doing much better now anyway.
The thing with eclipses is that humans got freaked out by them at first. A lot. Like making sacrifices, creating mythology, and in general thinking the world was ending whenever the Moon seemed to act unusually. The issue with that was that Earth, being very new to the whole deal of hosting so much intelligent life, was much, much more vulnerable to the collective emotions of millions of them at once. So during a solar eclipse, as humans began to scream about the sky becoming broken, the Moon eating the Sun, or their Moon being stolen, their planet did too.
They were lucky at that time that no one else was nearby enough in their orbits to see or hear what was going on. Sun, especially, was luckily not paying attention, as he would’ve probably solar-flared Earth and Luna for the planet screaming hysterically about a moon fighting a star. The entire time, Luna had to calm down his frantic planet, assuring him that no, his moon was okay, no one’s getting eaten, no one’s dying or disappearing, and yes, everything is fine.
After that frightful situation that felt like days (Luna almost called upon his other side to wake up because what was he even supposed to do– ) Earth woke up from his eclipse daze, much to his moon’s relief. They agreed that in the future, Earth should be asleep during eclipses, just to avoid a future incident. It was either that, or get rid of sentient Earthlings, and that wasn’t exactly an option. For all these centuries, their method has worked pretty well. Luna enjoys his fan club of humans, and Earth gets to not panic every couple of months.
And it would have worked well today. If Earth was asleep right now like he was supposed to be. Which he wasn’t.
Luna called out to his planet as he quickened his pace. “Earth! Why aren’t you asleep right now?”
The guilty planet turned away from the conversation he was having with Mars and gave Luna a sheepish grin. “Uh, kind of forgot? I was a bit distracted–“
“Wait, why is he supposed to be asleep right now?” questioned the red planet. Mars looked suspiciously at the other two. “Earth is there something you’d like to–“
“Okay! That’s enough of that now, thanks for taking care of Earth this whole time, Mars!” Luna swooped in between the two planets, forcing Mars to back away to allow Luna to resume his orbit and to prevent a collision. “Don’t worry about it, it’s nothing important, Earth was feeling tired earlier so he should be resting now. Thanks again Mars, maybe come back tomorrow or something, see you later!” Luna grinned at Mars until the rusty planet returned to his orbit, unnerved by the staring moon. Best to not tick off the moon that was already hesitant on leaving Earth alone with anyone that wasn't Luna himself.
Once Mars had finally gone out of earshot, Luna turned back to Earth. “You idiot! We’re about to have a solar eclipse!”
Earth nervously chuckled, looking anywhere else to avoid Luna’s scolding glare. “Hehe, I know, I know but hey, I’ve been somewhat reversing the effects all these humans had on my personality so I might be able to pull this off without succumbing to that again? I only get depressed during this huge disasters or wars, maybe this one solar eclipse won’t be so–“
“Earth. Your memory isn’t that bad. You remember being terrified something awful happened to me when your humans became scared of a solar eclipse?” Luna frowned, a concerned look on his face as he drifted ever so slightly closer to say, “I don’t want to see you that terrified again Earth.”
“I– I uh–“ Earth stammered out. He barely remembers that incident honestly. It was mostly a jumble of absolute terror over losing Luna but his actual actions weren’t something he could recall. Just a sharp memory of Luna, teary-eyed but smiling as he asked Earth to never do that again. To never scare Luna like that again. And just thinking of that memory brought up another, more recent one: Luna, once again looking at him with tears in his eyes, but this time fully sobbing. Harsh, gasping, heaving sobs, that he could barely talk through, until Luna managed to shakily whisper, “I can’t lose you like that, Earth. I can’t, I can’t I can’t, you can’t– Earth please… Please promise me you’ll talk to me about it first. Don’t just fly into Sun without looking back. Please don’t scare me like that again.”
Recalling that low from his past made it all the more harder to look his moon in the eye. But he wanted to, needed to, so Luna could tell he was being sincere as Earth replied. Guiltily, Earth looked back at the waiting satellite. “I’m sorry Luna, but I think it’s too late for that. I’m sorry for messing up and making you have to deal with my stupid mistakes over my stupid humans. I can’t fall asleep now.”
Immediately Earth glanced away to try to avoid the inevitable expression of dismay or disappointment on his moon’s face for putting him through something like this again. Luna doesn’t deserve to have to be burdened for caring about someone like him, who forgot about something he promised his moon just because he was too caught up talking and–
“Earth.” Luna’s soft voice finally reached Earth. “Earth, it’s alright. Really. I get it, you got caught up talking and forgot to try to sleep before this eclipse. It’s okay, don’t worry about it.” As Earth glanced back at Luna, the latter gave him a grin. You’re right, it’s about to start. You’re probably going to enter your little trance any second now. At least this time I won’t get just as freaked out as you because I know what’s going to happen, right?”
‘I really don’t deserve him,’ thought Earth, as he gave a small smile back. ‘I really don’t…’
“I don’t deserve a moon like you, Luna.”
Luna, who’d been expecting Earth to start panicking at any moment now, was just a tad bit confused. “Wha– huh ?” Looking a bit closer showed that Earth definitely wasn’t all there – his eyes seemed unfocused, and his mouth moved slowly as he spoke, as if he was stunned – but his eyes weren’t widening in fear of something only he could see, and his words weren’t that of a hysteric planet. In fact, it almost looked like Earth was in a pleasant daze, as his gaze slowly refocused on Luna.
Utterly confused, Luna watched as Earth gave him a big, dopey smile. Distantly, Luna noted that the eclipse had officially begun in some parts of the world, even if it wasn’t at totality yet. After a few seconds of aiming his brightest, most innocent-looking smile at Luna, Earth seemed to reiterate his previous statement.
“I don’t deserve a moon as perfect as you, Luna. You have always been a saint, a guardian angel, the most patient being I have ever met, somehow still my most beloved companion after billions of years of having to deal with me.”
Despite Earth’s self-deprecating words, his glazed-over eyes never looked away, and his smile never faltered. In fact, his gravity seemed to grow slightly tighter, pulling on Luna just enough to be akin to a comforting squeeze; Earth was giving Luna a planetary hug, for some reason.
“You’re amazing .”
Luna, the poor thing, was at a loss for words. His flabbers? Gasted. His gob? Smacked straight into Sun. Himself? Utterly shooketh. What happened to Earth freaking out due to his humans? Here was his planet, gazing at him with open admiration, praising him for seemingly no reason, even though he had way more humans than he did during the first eclipse situation.
‘Oh… I might be a bit of an idiot.’
Earth has way more humans now than during the first eclipse incident, that much is true. Earth also can’t block out when millions or now billions of them simultaneously feel the same thing while on his surface, Luna should know. Normal celestial beings could feel happier or sadder or madder for no reason, but Earth had the lovely unpredictable celestial hormone known as humans to change his mood instead. This should’ve been predictable though, if Luna was being honest. Especially in the more recent decades, more and more humans have looked up at space and the Moon in awe and wonder, embracing eclipses for the stunningly beautiful events they are. Other than those sticking to tradition, fearing solar eclipses was no longer the norm, admiring it was.
So, of course Earth was staring at Luna and giving him the most dopey smile Luna has ever seen on him. His planet couldn’t have a normal eclipse ever again it seemed. Oh, and there he continues.
“Luna, did I ever tell you that you look beautiful? Dashing? Add a top hat and you’d be the most dapper moon in this arm of the galaxy.”
Luna should probably say something back at this point but hey, he’s not usually complimented so much and so openly, cut him some slack here.
Earth continued to chatter on about how the eclipse complimented Luna’s looks. “Look at how the light catches on those craters! Stunning. And you are absolutely radiant, simply heavenly, with the Sun’s glow highlighting you so! Such a majestic sight to behold…”
Luna finally got enough of his bearings to finally speak up. “Earth, Earth, enough! What’s going on– well I know what’s going on but, you can tone down the praise now. I think I get it.”
“But do you really? I’m just telling the truth! About how you’re the most patient, the most forgiving, …”
Okay that was enough! “Earth I get it, I do! Just cut down on the compliments and listen to me, got it?”
“Sure, of course I’ll listen to you,” chirped Earth. “Whatever you say, goes, Luna! I’ll do anything for the most splendid moon in the solar system!”
Said moon remained skeptical over this new development. Fawning over Luna was one thing but doing everything he says? ‘My other side would definitely get carried away with that power… '
“Okay, Earth, how about you look at anywhere else but me. Literally anywhere else. The staring is a bit much.”
A small frown was the immediate reply. “But I don’t want to!”
“You said you’d listen, right?”
“Fiiine.” Earth reluctantly looked off to the side, with a ridiculously exaggerated pout. Luna’s planet was such a child sometimes, honestly.
Luna thought a bit more about what random things he could demand while Earth was in this state. Not that he’d take complete advantage of Earth or anything! But if Earth was the one offering… “Could you give me a whale,” asked Luna, wondering what he would get for that impossible task.
… Or was it impossible?
“Can I look back at you again if I do?” After receiving a hum of agreement, the planet responded, “Oki dokes!” And then spat out a killer whale. He spat out. A whale. What was this eclipse? This universe? Was Luna the one having hallucinations now?
“Earth put it back!”
Cheerily, Earth said, “Sure thing, my lovely moon!” And now Luna just witnessed a planet consume an orca. The confuzzled moon blinked, hard. Nope, Earth was still staring back with that dazed look on his face. If this was a dream, or a hallucination, it was a very, very strange one. So strange it was most likely real.
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
Dreading the outcome, Luna slowly turned to the new voice. Metis shifted awkwardly as the attention of both the planet and moon landed on her. Shakily taking a breath, she blurted out a hurried, “As the fastest moon I was told to tell you, Luna, that Titan wanted to talk about all the Moon Revolution stuff.”
Luna took a quick glance at Earth before looking back at Metis. “Okay, sure, he can meet me here in a week? Not right now, haha.”
A high-pitched giggle escaped Metis as she turned back to return the message. “Of course, I see you’re busy taming your planet. Have fun with your pet Earth!” And she zoomed off towards the asteroid belt.
“Metis wait no it’s not– aaaand she’s gone already, wonderful,” grumbled Luna. Looking back at his planet, Luna noticed Earth was still loopy from his humans, dazedly observing the eclipse as Luna’s shadow continued to make its way across the planet.
‘... You know what, I deserve a bit of fun for myself. And Earth will probably enjoy the humor in this too, once it’s all over.’
And so started the brief reign of Luna over his hapless planet. Embarrassing pictures that he didn’t even need to sneak to take with his phone? Done. Every fashion accessory from a dapper top hat and bow tie to a full Sailor Moon costume? Earth was practically beaming as he volunteered to take pictures to record, in his words, his “brilliantly stylish Luna!” Extra decks of space poker cards and the rarest, most sought-after Solarcards in mint condition without having to spend a fortune, wait an eternity, or trade other cards for? Poofed into existence (since when could Earth do that, does he have the power to dismantle the Solarcards economy this whole time but wasn’t using it to his advantage? Luna may have to reevaluate just how much Earth changed if that was the case) and passed over into Luna’s gravity with a dazzling, guileless smile.
Was the power getting to Luna’s head now? Mayhaps. Was he going to regret this abuse of power? Not likely. This was a great day for Luna, all things considered. Earth was happy and got to spend time with his friend while Luna could have fun at the Moon Club, and now Luna could take in all the adoration from both the humans and from his planet.
But embarrassing pictures aside, nothing much truly changed for Luna. In truth, especially after realizing how much he talked down to Luna before the Moon Revolution, Earth was really, really agreeable with his moon. If Luna knew Earth could just poof rare Solarcards into existence, he’d probably have gotten it right after asking even without the eclipse-induced trance Earth was in. And it wasn’t in Luna’s nature to take advantage of Earth in a mean-spirited way either, so for the most part, the moon just basked in the praises of his planet as the eclipse slowly came to an end on Earth’s surface.
As Earth continued to wax poetic about how lovely his moon was and how lucky he was to have the best moon in the system as his one, dear satellite, Luna watched as the haze slowly seemed to leave the planet’s eyes, and the intensity of the bright smile dimmed. The planet blinked a few times, looking around to try to regain some information lost.
“I– I went into a trance? Right?” Earth looked back at Luna for confirmation. At his moon’s nod, Earth hesitated. “But, I feel… happy? About you? Like I know I love you and everything but– ”
“Yup, you went into a trance, but I guess you still can’t fully separate your humans’ emotions from your own, because you adopted all of their adorable wonder at me during a solar eclipse.”
Earth balked. “Oh no way.”
“Oh yes way,” crowed Luna. “You sung my praises for hours and said you’d do whatever I wanted. Which, you kind of did. You spat out a poor orca at one point. I didn’t even know you could do that!”
Now, Earth’s eyes were wide, not with the awe of billions of humans, but with shock and embarrassment. “I never even tried!”
“Well now we know. And now I also know just how much I mean to you.” With a smug grin, Luna whipped out his phone before turning it to Earth. “Check out all these videos of you complimenting me like a starstruck comet.”
After listening to the, admittedly slightly cringey gushing of his entranced self for a few minutes, Earth returned the phone to Luna’s gravity. “You know Luna, as… embarrassingly sappy as that was, you do know it wasn’t just the eclipse right?”
Luna, who was grinning at the blackmail he had saved, looked up in confusion as Earth’s words registered. “Wait, huh?”
Earth’s face was a bit sheepish, but mostly serious, as he made eye contact with his moon. “Even during the last, and well, only other time I went into an eclipse daze, whatever I experienced was just my own thoughts and feelings dialed up to 11. Last time, I was overcome by fear, specifically, the fear that somehow, I was going to lose you as the moon I could always rely on. Completely irrational fear I know, you weren’t actually going to the dark side or whatever, but one that I did have. And this time… I wasn’t just saying all of those compliments for no reason you know?”
Luna, in fact, did not know. His jaw was once again dropping to the plane of the solar system. Because no way Earth, even as changed as he was, was trying to say that–
“They’re all true. I don’t quite remember everything I was doing or saying during that eclipse but you do look gorgeous and radiant during a solar eclipse. I mean, you literally block the Sun! How cool is that? Even if this was a total and not an annular solar eclipse, the Sun’s glow behind you casts a wonderful ring. It looks like night for a few seconds on my surface not because of me, but because of you! I haven’t been able to properly appreciate one of your eclipses in a long time. And the light really does compliment your surface craters, if I do say so myself. The most stunning planet of life in this solar system naturally has the most amazing moon in existence, don’t you think?”
Now Luna knew he had to be dreaming. He knows Earth cared for him, even if for a while he really did not show it (*cough* pre Moon Revolution *cough*), but this? These flattering words without a trance to use as an excuse? Unprecedented.
And Earth just kept going. “Luna. My wonderful moon. All this eclipse did was heighten my adoration for you, but remember I will forever be grateful for all you’ve done for me. You somehow stayed loyally by my side for billions of years and even handled me as I went down the spiral into arrogance from my humans, and through my depression. An airhead, a jerk, or a suicidal burden, you wouldn’t leave my side without a reason, and you’ve always brought me back to who I should be. I’ll never deserve a satellite like you, Luna.” And Earth looked back at Luna with the softest smile he ever saw.
The time for the solar eclipse was completely over, and as such, the Earthlings probably wouldn’t mind the Moon moving out of place for a bit. Luna drifted closer suddenly, catching his planet’s full attention.
“Earth, listen to me. You know I can’t lose you either right? However much I mean to you, however much you’re grateful for me being here, is how much you mean to me. Don’t put yourself down like that – you were struggling, and as your closest friend, not as your moon, I want to support you through those times. Not because I thought you were a tiresome duty I had to stick to no matter what, but because I love you. So please, don’t talk about yourself like that. Let’s just be happy with each other as we are, okay?”
Tears came to Earth as he took in Luna’s words. “Sure, Luna. I can try. We can try to be better together. You know, you really don’t have to always hover over me all the time. You should go hang out with your friends more often.”
Luna gave Earth a deadpan look. “Earth. Buddy of mine for our entire lives. Every time I take my eyes off of you, you somehow either leave your orbit or fudge something up. I’m not doing that.”
But it was obvious from the way his mouth quirked up at the corners that he was holding back a laugh. One that Earth didn’t hold back on. And soon the both of them were gleefully laughing at the moment.
Luna beamed at his planet as he came closer to give his planet a gravity hug of his own.
And that was that. At least, for the planet and moon. Elsewhere, the story was just starting…