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Cupid's embrace is gentle and angelic. Kind-too kind. Sao blinks away the tears gathering in the corners of his eyes.

He could stay like this forever. He could not stay like this for another second.

At least it was nice. For a moment.

Cupid chuckles. "You act like you've never been hugged before." He's right: Sao is stiff, as if taken by surprise, as if he would flinch away at any moment, and his arms rest at his sides like he isn't sure what to do with them. "You're allowed to hug back if you want. I won't bite."

Sao hears this and thinks about it and kinda wants to die.

Cupid releases Sao and steps back. "Kidding," he says, if only to relieve Sao from the stress of choice. "Did that... help?"

Of course not, is the response written on Sao's face.

"Is doing this too much for you? You don't have to do it-you can quit. Nobody will be mad." Cupid says it like it's a promise: Nobody will be mad. But how can it be a promise? Cupid can't guarantee that-he's just a liar. Is Sao supposed to be thankful? That Cupid lied to make him feel better? It's gross, that Cupid pities him that much.

"I have to do it," Sao says simply.

Cupid nods in understanding. "Okay."

So Sao does it: the houses of the Mercurian Colony may be squashed under the Kuiper Belt's foot like a bug, or torn away from Mercury's imperfect surface like a blade of grass, or kicked around like loose pebbles. It's disgustingly easy to do.

It makes Sao feel queasy. He wants to vomit, or to weep, but he won't do either-it takes everything in him to not crack and fall apart. Sao can't bring himself to be that weak in front of Cupid-he already regrets the hug. He already regrets any of the truths he's fed Cupid. He feels a great weight on him, especially as he destroys the last of the Colony's buildings, as he watches it crumble into pieces.

It's so heavy. The weight of the heavens is slowly crashing on to his shoulders.

He isn't Atlas. He can't handle this for an eternity.

It's only a matter of time before Sao breaks under that pressure.

...That day is not today, so what does he care? He tugs at his sleeve.

Just as the last traces of the Mercurian Colony are annihilated, a low-pitched droning sound comes from the Kuiper Belt's control panels. Someone is calling, which can't be good news.

And it isn't! It never is. But because it's Caju, Sao finds himself smiling anyways.

✦✧✩✧✦

Caju had let Saturn slip away when they were both satisfied.

In the aftermath, through all the dust clouds and the lonely hearts, Caju had picked up what'd been broken: plastic fingers and a plastic hand from their stupid-silly toy fight. He clutched it all tightly in the palm of the hand that was still attached. Part of him wanted to hurl the severed pieces into the distance out of sheer frustration-they're a cruel reminder, mocking him for being weak-but Cupid won't be able to reattach anything if Cupid doesn't have the parts to reattach.

So he took them to Neptune.

✦✧✩✧✦