It would always be a surprise which stars would end up shining at night when he looked up. Sometimes it were the usual ones, sitting on their place like they had never moved in the first place. Other times it felt like the sky had shifted and wanted to surprise him. Mercury was fine with both. Stars were stars as long as he could look at them.

The Commander was about to tell the other it might be better for him to get hunting if he still wanted to get something out of this night, when he asked Mercury a question he couldn’t refuse to answer. No, he simply had to. His enthusiasm suddenly bursted out as he smiled broadly as he started talking. ''That's one of my favorite ones. See, that star connects with those stars,'' He spoke as he tried to show her which stars he meant. ''And see how they all seem to point to the direction of those stars?'' Now he was getting excited. ''The story goes that the larger constellation that the stars are turned to, was the mother who had an affair with a magical king. That king had a wife and one day, when walking through the forest with the woman, he had to change her into a bear to avoid being caught by his wife. His wife told him to go back to the palace, so he couldn't change the woman back into her human form. Now that woman, had a son, and he was on a hunt. And he saw the bear and without knowing it was his mother, shot the bear dead.'' Mercury paused for a moment to get some air. ''To make amends, the king placed the mother as a constellation in the sky, changed her son into a smaller bear and placed him next to her, but in a way so he could always watch over her.'' He yawned, rubbing his eyes for a moment. ''That's why they are so close together.'' He looked sideways, awaiting Apollo’s reaction like a small child awaiting the approval of a drawing he had just made.

It was no secret Mercury loved to talk and once he did it was hard for him to stop. And it was even harder think about stopping when someone mentioned something the young one loved to talk about. Apollo had touched one of those subjects, asking him about a certain star constellation in the sky. It was one of the few Mercury would be sad about if one day they would truly disappear. But for now he cherished every moment he had with it.

He rambled on, talking about the story more than he actually wanted to, but once started it was hard for him to shut up. As he looked sideways, he saw how his brother had closed his eyes. His words only warmed his heart as the smile on Mercury’s face widened. ‘’You would?!’’ He exclaimed, realising that he might have been a little too enthusiastic and he shifted a little in hopes of getting the embarrassment out of his head. ‘’I mean… I would love to see that.’’ He spoke a lot more softer after clearing his throat.

Every Guardian had his or her own thing. Mercury loved to stargaze, Diana had her plants, Minerva had her soft moments where her demons couldn’t get to her and Juno.. he wasn’t sure about Juno but she sure had something and Apollo had his music and his paintings. And Mercury loved his paintings. It would probably not be a wise idea though to tell him he sometimes snuck into his house just to look at them.

But when the Commander of Health offered to make a painting of the story Mercury had just told, it was hard for him to cover up how overjoyed he was. Mercury shifted his body on the side, so he could look better at his brother. ‘’But your paintings are beautiful! You truly have a talent brother. You should show them no matter what.’’ At least he didn’t have the fear of someone ruining his paintings like Mercury had with his cats and Minerva telling him over and over again she would break their necks. If Mercury still did that thing called sleep, he probably would have nightmares about it.

Come to think of it, Mercury had never really seen Apollo show off his work. It was either on display in his home, but then it would be humble and not even that in sight, or it was just not there. A pity, because the younger Commander truly thought his brother had a gift. And it was a gift that didn’t need to be stashed away in a dark room like that. The vampire let his head rest on his hand as he put his elbow in the grass, looking down on his older brother.

They were a strange pair and above all, probably not even alike. They were the complete opposite of colors, Mercury sporting the black, red and white and Apollo wearing any color the sun looked like that day. Or so Mercury thought. Apollo didn’t often share his insecurities with him, which made this night extra special. ‘’But wouldn’t you want to hear the criticism?’’ Mercury wondered out loud, letting his eyes fall on his brother again. ‘’Wouldn’t that make you want to improve and show others how good you actually are?’’ The vampire had zero knowledge of painting or any art that looked like painting, but he could understand the basic concept of showing it off and being scared for people’s thoughts. ‘’Nothing is perfect and besides, those mistakes you made? No one will know they are mistakes until you point it out.’’ And mistakes only pushed you in the direction of perfection.

The other seemed more sensitive than Mercury had thought. They had lived together for so long now that you had a certain image of them in your head that was hard to get away or change. Mercury had always seen his brother as the one who would take people under their wing, who would listen and care. Somehow it hadn’t come to him that Apollo carried his own insecurities and worries. It was dumb of him to think that Apollo was an invincible being, it only showed how careless the young Commander was.

But that didn’t matter right now. Because his brother didn’t need to worry like he did. So he would try his best to cheer him up, even though it didn’t look as worse as he did sometimes. The vampire nodded in understanding. ‘’Of course you can. You’re Apollo, you can do anything.’’ It might not be the best advice he had given, but the man really needed the confidence apparently. ‘’And if you don’t like this story, I have many more.’’ He chuckled with a crooked grin. The vampire patted the other on the shoulder as a way to tell him not to worry that much. Mercury’s standards weren’t that high, he was basically pleased with anything.