Chapter Text
“Uranus! Uranus!!!”
Uranus looked to his side where Ariel and Umbriel were sitting on some boxes, doing their homework. Ariel was calling his attention, “Uranus, I can’t solve this question.”
“Uhh…” He was in the process of helping a costumer at checkout, “I’m busy, Ari. Try a different question for now.”
Ariel pouted, “But Uranus! This is the only one I haven’t solved!” She pointed at her paper, “75% of blank equals 15.”
Maths…
Of all things, why is Ariel asking him about maths? Uranus hates maths! He’s bad at it!
Uranus sighed, handing the bag and receipt to the customer, “Here you go, have a nice day.” He turned back to Ariel, “Look, I don’t know what to tell you! I am not smarter than a 5th grader!” He gestured at the growing line, “I’m busy, just wait until we can get home. Neptune can help you, mate.” Neptune and Uranus live together in the same apartment—Along with Uranus’ five younger siblings. Yeah, insane, right?
Not like it was his choice! No!
It used to be just him and Neptune, Neptune’s cat, and Neptune’s fish! They had moved into the same apartment together after college graduation, they were already dorm mates, they figured it would be easier to live together since Neptune moved here to go to college, and Uranus? Well…He didn’t have anywhere to go. He couldn’t move back home. Not with his dad, his father made it clear he was not welcome back home. His father practically disowned him and cut him out of his life when Uranus finally started to be himself, a man.
Only his siblings supported him. Only his siblings would ever call and ask about his day and what he was learning, who were his friends? What’s college like?
They had each other through it all.
That’s why they showed up at the door for help. He was surprised when all of them showed up unannounced—He was about to scold them for not giving a warning, but then he saw their faces and knew something was wrong. Titania told him that they came home from school but couldn’t find their father anywhere, and then it had been 24 hours and they still couldn’t find him. They were terrified of being alone at the house and decided to come all the way over to Uranus and Neptune’s apartment for help. They wanted their big brother.
And he couldn’t just turn them away!
So they stayed.
And it turned out that their alcoholic father got so drunk and ended up going right over a damn cliff. Serves him right…
How ironic, both his parents died in some sort of car accident at some point. Ain’t fate a bitch?
And yes, there was a funeral. But they didn’t mourn that jackass. They instead mourned the loss of ever having a normal life for themselves. Uranus mourned the loss of ever getting to live his own life, Titania mourned the loss of getting to be a normal teenage girl, Oberon mourned the loss of getting to be a kid without feeling like a disappointment of a son, Miranda mourned the loss of having a father who would say she was beautiful, Ariel and Umbriel mourned the loss of ever having a daddy that would at least drive them to school.
There was loss, there was grief.
But it wasn’t for him.
Since before Uranus was even an adult, he had thought about taking his siblings with him when he moved out. It had been about a year after their mother died and he hated living with his dad. He didn’t like how his dad practically shoved his baby sisters into his hands when he was studying for school, he always made him babysitter, made him cook and clean the whole house. His dad called him a spoiled ungrateful brat when he politely told him he needed to study for a big test, or asked if he could go on a field trip at school. Sometimes he had to miss school so he could watch the three youngest girls! He had told his two friends Jupiter and Saturn about how much he hated that shit. But Saturn told Uranus to have the benefit of the doubt, he told Uranus that perhaps his father just took his mother’s death hard.
True, they missed her.
Uranus missed her. Uranus missed having a mum who would actually take him to school. A mum who would take him and his siblings to get ice cream after school.
Uranus took a quick glance at the younger set of twins. They never got to experience getting ice cream after school.
“Here, have a nice day.” He handed the bags to the customer and told the next one to wait a moment please, he went to the area where the paints were located. Miranda was sitting on the floor reading a book, sometimes she would sit there and help the stock girl carry boxes, sometimes she even helped her put stuff on the shelves despite being much tinier. He heard that the stock girl—Rhea—Is one of Saturn’s many cousins. “Miri, can you take the twins to get an ice cream?”
The 14 year old looked up from her book. “Ice cream?” She glanced at the clock, “…Do I have to?”
“You can get one as well, you love ice cream, mate!” Their mother used to get Miranda a small cup of blue raspberry ice cream with gummy bears. She was only a toddler at the time, but she loved it so much. She would always frown when her cup was empty and Titania would say to her, “You ate it all! It’s all gone!”
Miranda sighed and closed her book, getting up. “Fine, we’ll get some ice cream. Maybe some window shopping too.”
“Anything that keeps them out of here, Ariel is such a chatterbox!” Uranus shook his head, “Perhaps you can help her with her maths problem.”
Miranda lightly laughed, “Yeah right, I’m lucky I have a B- in math!”
“Mate, I always had C’s in maths, you’re fine.” Something else their father was hard on them about. Grades.
It was never good enough. Getting a C was like the end of the world, he said that if they got a C, they were lazy and not trying hard enough. And if you got a B? He still wasn’t happy. Because he expected A’s. And then he never was proud even if you did get an A, because that was the expectation. He didn’t celebrate, he didn’t go out and buy a pizza or bake a cake for the whole family like their mother used to. He made it clear they did not deserve it. He said their mother made them all soft and spoiled.
“I know,” Miranda shrugged, “But dad wanted A’s.”
Uranus furrowed his eyebrows at the mention of him. “He’s dead. Who gives a shit, mate?” It always made him angry to hear that his siblings also suffered what he went through. He could take it, but them? No.
“1 2 3…4…” Uranus looked around the mall, “Where the bloody hell is Ariel?”
He noticed Umbriel point to the right, Uranus nodded and went that way, Umbriel followed behind him while the other three stayed.
Of course Ariel had run off, she does this every time! One day, he is going to have a fucking heart attack, and everyone is gonna know it was Ariel’s doing. He called her name, “Ariel! Ariel, this isn’t funny, get over here!” He finally saw her, “Ariel!!!” He shouted, catching up to her. He grabbed her arm, “Come on, we’re going back to the apartment!”
Ariel tugged away from him, “But! But my Starbucks! I have to go pick it up now!”
Uranus gawked at her, “Wha—Starbucks!? Ice cream wasn’t enough!?”
Ariel smiled, “I got myself a Strawberry Frappuccino with whip cream! And a pink cake pop!”
“Mate, you used my phone to place an order!?” He should’ve known. Uranus should have known way better than to let Ariel use his phone, that girl cannot be trusted at all! He looked at Umbriel who merely shrugged. She mouthed, “I didn’t know.”
Uranus sighed, “Okay, fine. We’ll pick it up. But no more treats! And you’re brushing your teeth extra good tonight, Titania will make sure of that!” He reluctantly made his way over to Starbucks.
The things I do for my siblings…
It could always be worse.
At least Ariel didn’t purchase 300 dollars worth of gems for her My Little Pony game again! He is still not sure how the Hell she managed to do some shit like that. Seriously. At least Titania and Oberon used their own money they earned from their jobs to pay for what they want. At least Miranda hardly ever asked for anything because she understood they couldn’t afford much. At least he never had to worry about Umbriel spending his money whenever she borrowed his phone.
“Excuse me, pick up for Uranus.” He said politely when he got to the counter.
The man who turned around to face him, he had dark blue hair and even darker eyes—You wouldn’t realize they were blue, but for an artist like Uranus, he could very much tell they are blue. It was as if he looked into outer space itself, such beauty. He wouldn’t mind getting lost in those spaces.
Wait, what?
The man spoke, “Oh, Uranus!”
Damn, his voice sounds hot…
”The strawberry Frappuccino and the cake pop, right?” He went to get the two items. Uranus sighed, “Yeah…A certain 10-year old girl decided to order herself some treats with my phone!” He looked right at Ariel who simply looked at him cutely so as not to get into any trouble. The man chuckled as he gave the cup and the cake pop to Ariel, she smiled. “Next time, get something extra for your dad so he’ll go easier on you.” He winked at her.
That made Uranus choke, how old did he think he was!? He didn’t look that old, right!? It’s not his fault his complexion makes him look sickly pale! Does he really think that’s his kid!? “…Uh, I,” he exchanged looks with Umbriel who looked back at him equally as flabbergasted. Ariel on the other hand laughed, “He’s not our dad! He’s our big brother!”
“Ohhh, your big brother! Well, that makes more sense. And I’ll bet he’s the best big brother ever, right?”
Ariel beamed and hugged Uranus, “Yes he is! My favorite eldest brother!” She said eldest because she didn’t want to exclude Oberon. “He’s the best! I love my big brother! Don’t you, Umbriel?” Umbriel nodded, she had a small smile herself. Uranus blushed, feeling bashful by the sudden affection. The man winked at him, “I believe so!”
Uranus felt warm, was it getting hot in here? Oh stars, he needed to meet back with his other siblings! If it’s getting hot, they’re going to overheat!
There was a small shout from behind the counter, “Erebus! Stop flirting! The blender isn’t going to turn itself on!”
Erebus…
Erebus rolled his eyes—Those incredibly beautifully dark eyes—and sighed, “Well, back to work for me. See you around, Uranus.”
Uranus stammered, “Uh, um-um, yeah! I, me too!” No, idiot! “I-I-I mean! I finished work, I just have to get home now with my siblings, um, bye!” He grabbed Umbriel’s hand and quickly turned around, trying to leave as fast as possible, Ariel walked beside them happily drinking her Frappucino. That girl had him seriously wrapped around her bloody finger.
He was feeling like a fool after that interaction, how did he fuck up that badly? Why was he stammering so much!?
Why did Erebus’s eyes make him lose all functionality in His brain?
Don’t think about it, don’t think…
He still thought about it. He thought about it on the way home, he thought about it as they entered the apartment.
Ariel went to pet Neptune’s cat, “Hi Guillermo! I missed you, kitty! Did you miss us?”
The cat went into the position it makes before launch, it shook its little body before he pounced right onto Uranus, face. “WAUGH!!!”
Ariel giggled.
“Nep! Your cat!!!” Uranus shouted.
Neptune came running, “Guillermo!” He took the cat off Uranus’ face, “Do not bother Ura, he’s tired, see?” He gave the cat to Ariel who immediately ran off with him, “Miri!!! I got the cat!” Neptune chuckled at the girl’s energy before turning to Uranus, “How was work today?”
Uranus threw himself on the couch, “Same old, same old…”
Neptune narrowed his eyes, “That implies something, you never say the phrase ‘Same old, same old’, what happened today?”
“How’d you…”
Neptune flashed a grin, “You forget I’m around children all the time, I know when people are lying!”
Uranus tried to change the subject quickly, “Uhh, how are your student doing, mate?”
“Don’t act dumb, Uranus! I know you’re trying to avoid answering!” Neptune sat beside him on the couch, “Don’t make me have to ask Ariel! Because she will spill it!”
That’s true. If he doesn’t say anything, then Ariel will, and then Neptune will figure it out on his own! He may as well just tell him. Uranus sighed, “Okay, maybe today was a little interesting at the end…”
“Ah-ha! I knew it!”
“Nep, hush.” What Uranus wanted to say, he did not want his siblings to hear because then they would all be up in his business! He sighed again, “So, thanks to a certain lilac haired sister of mine, I had to go pick up a damn frappuccino and a cake pop at Starbucks.”
Neptune laughed, “Ariel used your phone to order herself something?”
“Yes! Punk ass girl! The order had already placed and it was too late to cancel anything, so I had to go get it anyway. This after I had Miranda get her some ice cream too!” Uranus shook his head, “That girl is going to seriously be the death of me! But anyway, yeah so I went to go get it. And then, this guy…” Uranus paused, remembering Erebus’ name—He surely would never forget it—Remembered his pretty hair, those ethereal eyes that he could get lost in forever, that smooth voice of his. Even the earring that was in the shape of an X.
He was almost embarrassed again when he remembered how he stammered over his words. And at how Erebus assumed he was Ariel and Umbriel’s dad, that was so lame…
“Oooohhh! You have a crush~!” Neptune teased quietly, giggling like an idiot. “Ura has a crush~!”
Uranus blushed and clamped his hand over Neptune’s mouth, “SHHH!!! Not so loud, mate!” He stammered, “I-I don’t even know if it is a crush! How can it be a crush? I only saw him once! That’s not enough time!”
Neptune shrugged, “Apparently that’s all it takes for some. Don’t take my word for it though, I wouldn’t know.” He smiled again, “You should ask him out!”
“Wh-what? No! I don’t even know him! He could be a weirdo!”
“No weirder than you.” Neptune winked. Uranus playfully punched his arm, “Oh, fuck you! You’re weird too!”
“And proud!”
Uranus sighed again, “I can’t just ask him out, Nep…That feels so weird…”
“That’s why you go on dates! You get to know people!”
“Isn’t that the same as being friends?”
Neptune shrugged, “Okay sure! Go with that, just act as if you were trying to make friends and see how it goes from there!”
“I don’t know how to make friends!”
“Just be yourself!”
Uranus scoffed, “When has that ever worked?”
“That’s how we became friends, right?”
“…Point taken…” Uranus stood up and sighed, “Okay then…Maybe I’ll figure it out. I’m gonna go rest now, call me when dinner’s done.”
“Okie dokie!”
Uranus headed to his and Oberon’s shared room. Oberon was on his phone currently, probably texting someone, he appeared to be smiling. Maybe he was watching something funny? It’s nice to see him smile.
Uranus plopped onto his own bed, staring up at the ceiling. He felt his phone vibrate.
Bloody hell, if it’s another alert that Ariel spent money, I’m going to scream…
He sighed with relief when he saw that it was just Saturn messaging him. “I sent you and Nep something in the mail!” With a smiley face and a heart. He saw the three little dots which indicated Saturn was typing. “Call me as soon as you open it!” Another yellow heart.
“Love you and can’t wait to talk soon!” Even more smiley faces and yellow hearts, sparkles too. Boy, Saturn was in a really good mood!
Uranus put his phone down.
Maybe I should talk to him about this…
He contemplated for a moment before he sighed and decided to just get some sleep instead. Hopefully he could rest properly tonight.