#MAN Engine Crankshaft Repair | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

maximura · 5 months ago

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“I think we got it.” Yunho says, standing up to stretch his back. There’s a definite dull ache in his lower spine from time spent hunching over Mr Lee’s tractor engine.

“Do the checklist.”

Wooyoung wipes his hands on his jeans and picks up an oil stained notebook, ready to tick off their accomplishments. “Okay, remove the sludge from the engine block, sleeves, crankshaft and camshaft?”

“Yup.”

“Re-install the cleaned sleeves back into the block. Then replace all the oiled bearings before dropping the crankshaft back in.”

Yunho goes through each step in his head, nodding again. “Yup.”

“Replace all the caps, thread in the rope and change the tappets if they’re worn out.”

“I didn’t need to change them today, write that down to tell Mr. Lee later because it’ll change the cost of the job.”

Wooyoung nods and makes a note. “Okay, next step is to put the camshaft back and lock it in with the gears before re-installing the pistons.”

“Yup, done.”

On and on it went, until fifty steps later, the engine is safely back in Mr Lee’s tractor and the two-page checklist is completely marked off. Both brothers stand staring at the old farm machine in wonderment, like it was a Frankenstein monster that they’ve raised from the dead.

“Woah.” Wooyoung says, in hushed disbelief. “You did it.”

“Did I miss any steps this time?”

Flipping back through the notebook’s list, Wooyoung shakes his head. “Nope, you got it all.”

“Woah.” Yunho echoes, the faint smile on his face growing bigger by the second.

“Should we see if it’ll start? I know Hongjoong said not to do it until he gets here but well, he’s not here and Mr. Lee is out on his field, he won’t notice if we try it out now.”

Yunho chews on his bottom lip for a moment before nodding. “Okay but if it starts smoking like hell, we tell Hongjoong that Mr. Lee insisted we try it out and if the old man denies it, we’ll say his hearing aids must be playing up.”

“Totally.” Wooyoung agrees easily, handing the keys over to his older brother.

Yunho gingerly climbs onto the old red tractor and turns the key. There’s a few seconds of spluttering before the engine growls into life, shaky at first, then loud and steady after. Yunho cuts the engine before it alerts the old farmer.

It works.

“Holy shit.” He says with a wide grin, jumping back down to land beside Wooyoung. “I did it?”

“Well, yes but I made the checklist so I’d say its fifty-fifty.”

Yunho shoots his brother a tired look.

“Sixty-forty?” Wooyoung negotiates. “No? Seventy-thirty?”

Yunho rolls his eyes but he’s not annoyed. Far from it. He’s ecstatic with the job today. He’s never fixed an entire tractor engine by himself before because Hongjoong was always hovering beside him to correct his technique or remind him of steps he’s missed. Apart from babysitting Wooyoung, it’s hard to remember a time when anyone trusted him to do something so important by himself.

Another sudden rush of endorphins hits him in that moment and he sweeps the little menace into a tight hug, easily lifting him off the ground.

“Hey! Put me down!” Wooyoung protests, squirming uselessly against Yunho’s strong embrace. “You’re excited, I get it! Sheesh.”

Wooyoung doesn’t even really like farming and doesn’t naturally gravitate to it in the way his brothers do. He was born with a fascination of machines, though preferred building things on a much smaller scale; like robots, circuits and repairing household electronics. But never wanting to be left out of any family activity, he had come along to most of the farming repair jobs with his battered notebook and meticulously jotted down everything Hongjoong had said, in the order he said it, word-for-word, like he was documenting a new scripture from God.

It had proven unexpectedly helpful, even if Yunho doubted it at first.

They make a good team. And deep down, if he’s being honest with himself, Yunho always knew they would.

“Do you think Hongjoong will split the pay check with us?”

Yunho shrugs now. “If he doesn’t, you have my permission to complain until he does.”

“Awesome.” Wooyoung grins wickedly.

Hongjoong doesn’t split the paycheck.

He gives them the entire thing, followed by several proud thumps on the back. Yunho gets another job fixing Mr. Lee’s ride-on lawnmower next weekend and Wooyoung tries to calculate how many robot parts he can buy with his twenty percent earnings.

Neither of them pay much attention when Hongjoong is driving them home and telling them they have guests waiting back at the farm.

Wooyoung stops dreaming about new electronic motherboards as the words catch up to him.

“Guests? What kind of guests?” He asks.

Hongjoong looks over briefly before turning back to the road. “People from my work. You don’t have to hang out with them if you don’t feel like it. I can tell them you’re both sick if you want.”

Yunho is still on a high from his job success and being eighty percent richer, so he shakes his head easily. “It’s fine by me, as long as they’re not stuck up jerks.”

“They’re not like that.” Hongjoong reassures him before looking at Wooyoung. “What do you think, kiddo? You want to be social or sick?”

“When you say “work” do you mean like other farmers or like from NASA?”

“From NASA.”

“Oh!” Wooyoung’s eyes widen in surprise. “Yeah, that’s okay then.”

“Farmers are cool too.” Yunho mutters under this breath. “I don’t see NASA feeding the entire human population with their rockets and computers.”

Wooyoung ignores him and leans forward in his seat as their farm comes into view. “Can I show them my robot?”

“Oh My God.” Yunho groans. “Embarrass yourself in your own time, Einstein. Don’t bring down the entire family in front of Hongjoong’s work friends.”

“As if you’re not the embarrassing one!” Wooyoung bites back, reaching across to pinch his brother on the arm. “You’re covered in grease and your hair looks stupid.”

“My hair looks stupid? Have you even seen a mirror lately? Your face is stupid.” Yunho cackles, raising his arm to shove at his younger brother, only for Hongjoong’s lightning-fast-dad-reflexes to smack it back down.

“No fighting! I’m literally begging you to make good choices today and behave like normal people. They’ve both had a really stressful day. I don’t want to make it worse.”

Yunho shakes his head at his older brother. “So you thought bringing them here to meet Wooyoung was the solution….OW! Hongjoong, he kicked me.”

“No fucking fighting! What did I just say!” Hongjoong warns. “This was a stupid idea.”

“No shit.” Yunho says, laughing. “Why did they even agree to come? Are they your friends? Do you even have friends at NASA, besides Seungcheol?”

“It’s just a guy from work and his little brother.” Hongjoong replies, feeling defensive.

“Oh great, another child to babysit. Thanks Hongjoong.”

“Shut up, Yunho.” Wooyoung grumbles. There’s another retort on the tip of his tongue but it’s cut short as they pull up into their driveway and he notices a very familiar face leaning against the other truck parked there.

“IS THAT SEONGHWA?”

He’s out of the truck before Hongjoong has even come to a full stop.

Yunho looks at the unfamiliar man through the windscreen, then he looks across at Hongjoong’s nervous hand fumbling with the keys. The realisation sets in slowly.

“That’s The Doctor Park Seonghwa? I thought he’d be really old. Wooyoung said he’s this crazy smart scientist with five degrees.”

“He isn’t old and he does. Why? What’s wrong with him?”

“Nothing, nothing.” Yunho says slyly. “I guess I know why you invited him over though.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hongjoong asks, only to be answered with a smirking shrug. “Yunho!”

With that the teenager gets out the truck and Hongjoong is left to wonder what that the hell just happened. He’s startled out of his thoughts by a small knock on the driver’s side window.

It’s San, all dimple-smile and waving like he hadn’t just seen Hongjoong a few hours ago.

“Hey, sorry about the wait.” Hongjoong says, getting out the truck. “Didn’t trash my farm yet, did you?”

San shakes his head. “No. Your garage was locked though.”

Hongjoong laughs, because of course Choi San has already explored the property. “You could’ve picked it. I know you know how.”

“I didn’t want your brothers to hate me for trying to break into your house.” San replies. “Besides, Seonghwa would kill me.”

Hongjoong just shakes his head in amusement and motions for the young pilot to follow him. They reach the other truck parked in the driveway and find Wooyoung already talking a mile-a-minute about a burnt soldering iron. Yunho breathes a sigh of relief when he sees Hongjoong approaching.

The introductions are awkward.

San is guarded, jamming his hands in his pockets and continuing to survey the property with sharp observant eyes. He automatically sizes up the new competition because that’s what he’s always done when he meets new people. Other teenagers were usually just other training candidates who wouldn’t hesitate to step on him to get ahead. Other teenagers who steal the attention of his brother and adoptive father and now Hongjoong.

Wooyoung is staring uncomfortably, obviously and owlishly at San, caught between needing to “be a normal person” and wanting to spill the contents of his mind to anyone within hearing range, whether they want to hear it or not. His excitement in seeing a familiar face now overtaken by the anxiety of meeting a new one. He picks up on the discomfort and decides to hide his fidgety fingers in the front pocket of his hoodie. It was Yunho’s hoodie once and had seen so many summers and winters that its faded blue fabric was now almost grey. It was softly worn and comfortable but he suddenly feels self conscious in it.

Beside him, Hongjoong stumbles over his introduction of Doctor Park.

“You can call me Seonghwa.” The Doctor corrects, giving both Wooyoung and Yunho a warm smile. “There’s no need to call me Doctor outside of work.”

“Sorry.” Hongjoong nods, embarrassed, and runs his hand through his hair for the third time before herding everyone in.

None of them are used to having new guests on their farm and Yunho can see his brothers struggling through it all. He really should’ve dragged Mingi over for the moral support and comic relief.

The sun is high in the mid-morning sky as Seonghwa settles into an old wooden chair on the back porch. He can see the three boys standing in the field next to a very old yellow tractor with a thunderbolt painted on the side.

Despite the awkwardly stiff introductions, they visibly relaxed and dissolved into children when Hongjoong handed them the keys to the tractor and had taken off running before the stern lecture was even finished.

Seonghwa watches Yunho and Wooyoung bicker about something now, while San stands silently off to one side, unable to keep the judging look off his face, despite NASA’s efforts to train him otherwise.

There’s a flash of worry that maybe this was a bad idea; that San is too different, too socially unprepared, too much a sheltered “NASA Kid” to get along with regular people his age. Maybe he wasn’t ready to return to a farm. Maybe he hasn’t had enough therapy to deal with a place where his entire family had died.

A flood of ‘maybes’ swirl nauseatingly around Seonghwa’s gut as he watches his adopted brother frown at the bickering in front of him. His legs are all but ready to trek across the field and make some excuse to leave early.

But then Yunho says something and San lets out a loud laugh that crinkles his eyes and carries across the entire field towards the porch. It’s quickly joined by Wooyoung’s scathing protest and Yunho’s deeply indignant tone as they all climb back onto the tractor.

Seonghwa cautiously relaxes a little.

Maybe San will be okay here.

A light breeze brings him back to the present. It ruffles his hair and barely brushes against his skin but he can hear the way it gently rustles across the cornfields in the distance. It’s not a sound he hears often. The sky above them is as clear as it’ll ever be, the forecast this morning predicted only twenty percent haze today, which is a rarity in itself. It will increase significantly this afternoon.

Hongjoong is pottering around in the kitchen behind him. He can hear the tap running, a cupboard opening and closing, the clink of some glasses, a dull thud followed by a quiet curse.

There’s nothing to do but sit and watch and wait. Time seems to pass slowly here on the farm, as if it was some kind of foreign alien land. The morning has become unhurried and with all his projects and responsibilities isolated to the other side of town, Seonghwa finds himself lulled into a weightless sense of serenity.

It’s just for a moment, before his brain catches the glitch and reminds him of real life again.

But in that moment, he feels something close to peace.

Seonghwa looks up to the blue sky again. Somewhere, light years away, on distant lonely planets, there were explorers he once knew, sent on impossible missions by NASA, in the name of science and on the blind faith of his father. He wonders how they are, if they’re in hypersleep, if they’re out exploring alien terrain, if their spacecraft and tech were still viable, if they had gotten the science right, if they had already succumbed to isolation madness of the most irreversible kind, if they were still even alive.

And on it goes. One worry after the next. One responsibility after another. The Mission never escapes him and sleeping doesn’t even offer any reprieve; if he’s not thinking about futile scenarios when he’s awake, he’s dreaming of them when he’s asleep.

“Here.” Hongjoong says, appearing by his side to place a glass of water and plate on the small table between them. “We made some sugar cookies for Yunho’s birthday, if you eat that kind of thing.”

Hongjoong had taken off his tie by now. His shirt sleeves were hastily rolled up to his elbows, with the left one shorter than the right. There are large veins running tortuous paths down his forearms that Seonghwa has never noticed before.

“Long day huh?”

Seonghwa scoffs softly. “It’s eleven thirty.”

Hongjoong runs a hand through his hair, it’s significantly longer than when they had last seen each other but not any less tamed. It was a trait he shared with his younger brothers.

“Long morning then.”

“Yes, it definitely has been.”

“Do you want to talk about the meeting? The new proposal?”

“Not particularly, no.” Seonghwa says. He’s compartmentalised and filed it all away in his mind. It will be something to spiral anxiously over tonight, when he’s alone and not being watched.

“Oh, okay.” Hongjoong replies, taken aback by the abrupt shut down.

Seonghwa quickly changes the subject and points towards the field in front of them.

“What are they trying to achieve exactly?”

Hongjoong takes a sip of water and follows the line of sight. “That’s KAJO, one of our oldest tractors. It’s almost as old as Wooyoung. I think they’re trying to make it go faster by adjusting the gears. My guess is that they’re badgering Yunho to get it into top gear.”

Seonghwa frowns. “How fast can they drive it?”

“At top gear? 65 kilometres per hour.” Hongjoong explains. “I limited KAJO to 30 for the boys to practice on but I told them it’s only 20.”

“The trust runs deep, I see.”

“What trust?” Hongjoong snorts. “With those three? And their track records? You’d have done the same.”

It’s true. He would.

“Who named it? That tractor?”

“Oh, that’s all Wooyoung.” Hongjoong replies, holding out the plate of sugar cookies that have big Y’s stamped into them.

Seonghwa takes one and nibbles on a corner. It’s good and sweet and familiar; a nostalgic taste he hasn’t had in a long time, not since his mother died. San never really asked for cookies, even on his birthdays. But then again, San barely even asks for birthdays to begin with.

A mild ache spreads over his chest; it echoes of his mother, of lost childhoods, of premature adulthood, of regrets he has for San. He envies Hongjoong and his brothers for their idyllic life here but it’s only a brief envy. He knows what’s coming and they all deserve whatever time is left on this Earth.

“It’s a peculiar thing to call a tractor.” Seonghwa muses. “I thought he might have named her after the famous mathematician, Katherine Johnson-“

“Oh he did.” Hongjoong says with a laugh. “He was obsessed with her when he was younger. He read about her in one of dad’s old books and announced he wanted to be a human computer too.”

Seonghwa looks up in surprise, “So he really did name it after her?”

“Yep. We had to vote and everything.” Hongjoong tells him with amusement in his voice. “It was KAJO or Pikachu. We went for the shorter one.”

“Pikachu? Oh, because it’s yellow.”

“Yep.” Hongjoong says with a lopsided smile. It looks nice on him.

“He must really love science and maths. Is he doing well in school?”

“If you’re asking if that kid is a genius level nerd, then yes, he sure is. He’s skipped a year and a half. It’s kinda why he has no friends his own age at school. He’s used to dealing with adults and making fools of them all. Me included.”

“Your IQ is 145.” It slips out accidentally and Seonghwa’s face burns with instant regret. He blames the stress of the meeting and a poor night’s sleep and the way the farm lulls him into a false sense of security. He’s thrown off his game here.

Hongjoong looks at him knowingly but thankfully let’s the matter pass without comment.

“Yeah, well, Wooyoung’s IQ is 160 and that was when he was twelve. I don’t even want to know what it is now.”

There’s a loud boisterous burst of yelling from out in the field. San is in the driver's seat of the tractor, it looks like they’ve figured out that the speed limiter was just merely a suggestion that didn’t apply to them.

KAJO putters slow and steady down the field before growling into top gear. San has driven, and broken, far more advanced machines in his short life, and yet, Seonghwa is a little taken aback by the wild look of exhilaration on his brother’s face as he drives the ancient farming relic. His grin is open and unclouded and a rare thing.

“Goddammit.” Hongjoong mutters, putting down his cookie and standing up. “They figured out my limiters. I’ll go get it back down.”

“Wait.” Seonghwa interjects, surprising himself more than anything. “Leave them be, it’s okay. They seem to be enjoying it. You know San’s driven things much faster than that.”

Hongjoong looks down with uncertainty. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. There’s nothing to crash into and they look like they’re having fun out there.”

“Two of them do.” Hongjoong observes as he sits back down. “I bet they’re completely ganging up on Yunho.”

“He seems to be handling it well.”

“Yeah of course, he’s my reliable kid.” Hongjoong says with obvious pride. “But the other two? They’re going to cause problems. I can tell you that right now. The lunacy is going to multiply. I hope you’re prepared.”

“Lunacy with others might be better than stability alone.” Seonghwa says, hoping he’s kept the melancholia out of his voice.

Hongjoong looks at him with a comically surprised face.

“What?” Seonghwa asks. “I was talking about San.”

“I know, I just can’t believe you, of all people, just said that.”

“San isn’t me. He seems to like having people around.”

Hongjoong laughs and for a moment Seonghwa think he’s mocking him.

“You like having people around. I’d say that out of everyone on Earth, you’re the one trying their hardest to keep ‘having people around’. All six billion of them.”

“It’s just my job.” Seonghwa says with a light shrug. “Intelligence and knowledge without utility is selfish and useless.”

“Even if the government tells you how you should do it?”

“There’s always a price to pay.”

“So I guess the meeting this morning didn’t really go the way you wanted it to?”

“They never do.”

“Look, I know you don’t want to talk about it but I just wanted to know why you didn’t, I don’t know, tell them all to fuck off. It’s your project.”

Seonghwa swallows the rest of the sugar cookie and looks across at the other man. Hongjoong’s hand is digging into his thigh and there’s a deep scowl on his face. It’s not something Seonghwa has come to understand yet; how a pilot who has only known about the Lazarus Mission for the last few months could muster up this much anger about it.

But then he realises that he barely knows anything personal about Hongjoong at all.

His father informed him of the numbers and figures. He knows things that would be critical to the mission, to NASA, things that could be useful: like Hongjoong’s IQ, his training abilities, his test scores, his aptitude for mechanical engineering, his physical evaluations, his flight records.

He was never told anything else, because nobody thought those other details would matter. Every personal detail he’s learnt about Hongjoong has always been on his own or through San’s stories but they always point to the same conclusions: they were too different to see the Lazarus Mission the same way.

Hongjoong’s attitude in the meeting this morning hadn’t come as a surprise and his question now isn’t surprising either. Seonghwa is aware that his own behaviour could be interpreted as weak and submissive but it’s been years since he cared what other people thought of him.

“Antagonising the NASA Board without our Head of Division present doesn’t serve any useful purpose. Your friend Commander Seungcheol? He can behave the way he does because there’s nothing more they can take away from him. Like you. You can go back to your life here and live like you always have.”

“NASA is my life. It’s my father’s life and now it’s also San’s life. Everything we have is tied there. The Lazarus Mission has been alive for the past eight years and the Board has been looking for reasons to shut it down for seven of them. I won’t let it go to ruin now just because I feel like throwing a tantrum. Taking punishment and timely diplomacy are just part of the job.”

It grows uncomfortable but it’s exactly what Seonghwa expects. It’s what he is good at: driving people away with hostility. It has happened before and it will likely happen again. He doesn’t have time to regret it, harbour guilt over it and he certainly doesn’t have time for reconciliation of unnecessary workplace relationships.

Hongjoong is well within his rights to tell Seonghwa to leave.

But he doesn’t.

Instead he scratches his chin and says, “That’s a fucked up situation.”

“It is.” Seonghwa replies. There’s a lump in his throat that he doesn’t want to think about.

“Well, I’m good at the ‘taking punishment’ part but definitely not good at the ‘timely diplomacy’ part.” Hongjoong says. “So don’t judge me for wanting to punch the Board members in the face. Especially the one in the blue suit, who talked to you like a creep.”

“Masculine violence is so archaic.” Seonghwa says.

“I know.”

“I don’t condone it. But…once the Mission is over and we’ve both been successful, you have my permission to do what you like.”

Hongjoong looks up in surprise before a worryingly mischievous grin spread across his face.

“Okay, good. Because I hate that guy.”

San loves it here.

He loves the big sky and the wide open space. He loves all the old machines and tractors they were allowed to mess around on without fear of punishment. He loves how Hongjoong has rules but at the same time, doesn’t really enforce them as long as they promise to look out for each other. He even loves watching Yunho argue with Wooyoung over trivial things that they were both technically right about. He loves all the activity around him, everywhere he turns, and how none of it has anything to do with tests or “The Mission”.

Most of all, he loves that Seonghwa came with him and is still somehow talking to Hongjoong on the porch instead of isolating himself in his cone of silence, because his brother is really good at that.

He decides that he likes Hongjoong’s brothers.

He finds out that Yunho is eighteen years old and Wooyoung is fourteen. He had wanted to drive the old yellow tractor first and tried not to be too disappointed when Yunho held onto the keys and sat in the driver’s seat. They had made it a few metres before Wooyoung complained about the lack of speed and guilt-tripped Yunho into hacking the speed limiter. San had watched as Yunho whipped out a screwdriver from his cargo pants and opened up the tractor hood to re-route some wires and levers.

The two brothers had bickered over whose turn it was to drive next and San had felt the odd man out. But then suddenly Yunho turned to him, holding out the keys.

“Test ride was fine. Do you want to give it a go? We’re going in age order. I don’t make the rules.”

He found it funny for some reason. Maybe because Wooyoung started complaining immediately that his older brother definitely did make the rules and they were invalid because they weren’t in his favour.

Yunho reminds him a lot of Mrs Park before she died. They were both kind without pitying. Supportive without being condescending. Fair and even, like a strong boat out at sea. Mrs Park was the one who insisted he stay in regular school for as long as possible and tried to find him friends his own age. It didn’t really work, she ran out to time, and he threw himself into NASA training after she died.

As for Wooyoung. Well, he’s… a lot. Of everything all at once.

At first he was quiet, eyeing San warily, and then he wouldn’t shut up. He was loud when he fought with Yunho but quiet when he was thinking of something. A know-it-all for sure but somehow not competitive in the way San was expecting. He’s not sure how it’s possible to be over friendly and distant at the same time but apparently it is.

The wild oscillations left him unsettled and feeling unpleasantly out of control.

He’s startled back to the present when something touches his shoulder.

“Huh?”

“I said, do you want to see the drone we found?” Wooyoung asks as soon as Yunho walks off to talk to Hongjoong. “The one that helped us get to the NASA headquarters.”

“Wait, that was a true story? I thought Seonghwa made it up.”

“Nope, it’s a real drone but I don’t want Yunho to come, he’s just going to be so boring about it.” Wooyoung says as he grabs San’s shirt sleeve. “Come on.”

San doesn’t even get the chance to reply, just looks down curiously at where the fingers grip his shirt as he follows Wooyoung towards the house. They run past a suspicious Seonghwa and confused Hongjoong, until they reach the basement.

Instead of dark, dingy and creepy, it was warm and stuffed full of electronics and tools and farming parts. When Wooyoung hits the lights, he finally sees the half dissected drone laying on a large wooden workbench in the middle of the room.

“Woah.” San breathes out. “This is an old one from the army. There’s more of these at our headquarters but I’ve never seen one of them up close before.”

“I knew it!” Wooyoung exclaims, mostly to himself. “I knew they were hiding more of them at NASA.”

San gingerly walks around the drone, hand hovering for a moment, before resting it on the cool metal. It still feels alive somehow. He lets his fingers run through the exposed wires and over the remaining electric boards.

Wooyoung tracks the movement curiously, watching how gentle and oddly reverential the touch is.

“How did it help you find the headquarters?” San asks, now crouching to look deep into the drone’s outer shell. “Seonghwa said you figured out the co-ordinates?”

Wooyoung jumps onto one of the benches as San inspects the drone.

“Hongjoong thinks our entire farm is on a magnetic plate, that’s why the drone was circling above us. He also knew it was military so when he found the binary lines on my bedroom floor, he figured the co-ordinates were to an old military base and he was right.”

“Woah, that’s kind of badass.” San marvels. “Your brother is seriously so cool.”

“I know.” Wooyoung nods proudly. “He’s always been cool.”

“You’re lucky he’s your brother.”

Wooyoung hums before asking, “Are you really training to be a pilot like him?”

“Yeah.”

“So you’ll go to space one day?”

“Yep.”

“That’s seriously so cool.”

It is cool but San shrugs it off, not used to even having a conversation like this with anyone who wasn’t already in NASA doing the exact same thing or something even better. He isn’t used to thinking that ‘going to space’ is some extraordinary feat and not just an expected rite of passage for NASA kids. And he definitely isn’t used to anyone being genuinely impressed by anything he does.

“It’s not gonna be for a few years.” He replies with a grimace. “I’ve got a lot more training to do.”

“Do you like it?” Wooyoung asks. “Hongjoong hardly ever talks about it. He keeps saying it’s classified but as if I’d tell anyone. Who would I tell anyway? Yunho is good at keeping secrets too.”

San is surprised by the questions. It’s not the one he expected and he doesn’t have a pre-planned answer ready to go.

“Um, yeah I like it. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do. I think I’m pretty good at it.” San says carefully. “Not as good as your brother though.”

And San can tell that the brothers don’t talk about flight training or Hongjoong’s history much because now it’s Wooyoung’s turn to look surprised.

“So he used to be a really good pilot?”

San gives him a deep dimple smile. “He’s still really good at it. He’s kinda crazy.”

“Oh, well that I definitely do know.” Wooyoung smiles back. “Seonghwa is cool too though.”

San has to laugh at that. It’s not every day someone says that about his brother.

“What? Seonghwa’s awesome. He can build robots can’t he?”

“He’s built three so far and I think there’s a fourth one somewhere.”

San pauses abruptly, suddenly remembering that he was talking to a non-NASA person, that he had signed an NDA when he entered training, that he should shut up right now.

“Okay don’t tell anyone I told you that. I don’t think I was supposed to.”

Wooyoung nods knowingly. “Don’t worry I won’t say anything. It’s probably classified information right?”

San nods, chewing his bottom lip.

There’s a beat of silence.

“Okay but there’s FOUR of them?!” Wooyoung hisses loudly. “Are they all like CAASI?!”

“Wait, you know about CAASI?” San whips his head up, confused. “How?!"

“When Hongjoong and I broke into your headquarters. We met Seonghwa and CAASI and the Professor. Oh and Yeosang. He’s nice.”

San’s mind is reeling. Seonghwa hadn’t told him all that.

“Well, there’s LEO, he’s CAASI’s little brother, but other two don’t have names yet.” San says.

Wooyoung is still perched on a bench, swinging his legs and looking too excited over classified information.

“What do they do exactly? Seonghwa said they’re programmed to solve problems and for flight navigation.”

San nods. “They can do so much more than that. I don’t even really know everything. They don’t tell the pilot trainees all the details.”

It was the truth.

San might be living with Seonghwa and the Professor but he knows there’s so much information that’s classified and deliberately kept from him. He’s stopped feeling offended about it years ago, knowing that information leaks would only get Seonghwa and the Professor in trouble.

“That’s so cool.” Wooyoung says, and San wonders if he’ll say that about everything.

“Yeah it’s pretty cool.”

“I can…umm builds robots too. Do you want to see one?” Wooyoung asks nervously, voice faltering half way through, like he changed his mind after starting the sentence. “I’ve got them here, I mean, if you want to see them. They’re not as good as all the ones you’ve seen at NASA, obviously, but anyways, it’s okay if that’s boring, actually nevermind.”

“No, I want to see them.” San says, still marvelling at how a person could use so many words to make an offer then withdraw it immediately in the same breath.

Wooyoung looks at him for a few moments, as if to gauge whether he’s being genuine or not. But he must have eventually decided because he jumps off the bench and sets off up the stairs.

“Okay, be right back.”

San nods and sits down at the workbench to wait. There’s scattered papers next to the drone, detailed schematic drawings mixed in with rough doodles of robots that look like CAASI but less blocky. He’s trying to read the terrible handwriting but pounding footsteps into the basement makes him look up.

“Okay, don’t laugh.” Wooyoung says, as he gingerly places a robot on the ground. It’s a mismatched block of dark grey metal accented with Lego pieces in purple and green. There are two small ‘ears’ where the head is. It stands just over thirty centimetres tall. It looks ridiculous but also oddly impressive.

“This is SPIKE.”

“Spike?” San snorts. “You didn’t name it after an ancient old scientist like Seonghwa does?”

“SPIKE is an ancient old space pilot.” Wooyoung replies seriously. “Haven’t you ever watched Cowboy Bebop?”

San laughs in earnest then.

This guy is so weird.

“Well I wasn’t going to call him R2D2 or something.” Wooyoung pets the robot proudly and fondly. “Seonghwa named CAASI for Isaac Newton right? I figured that one out but who did he name LEO after?”

“Galileo.” San says. “The father of-“

“-astronomy and modern physics.” Wooyoung finishes easily. “That makes sense.”

San hops off the stool and crouches down to inspect SPIKE more closely. As rudimentarily as it looks, he can tell from the intricately melded metal and wiring that it was built with a lot of time and care.

“So what can he do?”

Wooyoung pulls out a remote control and flips a switch behind SPIKE’s ear.

There’s a jerky whirr that makes San scoot back. And then, the robot starts walking across the basement floor. When it reaches the wall, it doesn’t turn, but simply starts walking backwards towards them again.

“It’s multi directional.” Wooyoung says by way of explanation. “But only forwards and backwards. I haven’t figured out the rest yet.”

“So kinda like a tank?”

“Exactly like a tank!” Wooyoung nods, smiling excitedly that someone gets it.

“I can’t believe you built that.” San stands up. “It’s really cool."

Wooyoung reaches down to scoop up his robot and place him on the workbench. “Well, Seonghwa was building way more advanced stuff at my age.”

San rolls his eyes. “Yeah but Seonghwa was a total nerd who had no friends. Literally nothing has changed.”

Discomfort flashes across Wooyoung’s eyes as he nods along.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with that!” San adds quickly. “I’m just saying that Seonghwa isn’t normal and nobody should expect be like that!”

Wooyoung’s hand closes protectively around one of SPIKE’s legs. “I wouldn’t mind being as good as him.”

San tilts his head.

“Why do you want to be like him? What if you turn out better?” He says earnestly and means it.

Wooyoung shrugs, unconvinced. “Yeah, maybe.”

“Oh my god, here you are!” Hongjoong says with relief when he finds Wooyoung and San in the basement. “What are you doing down here? It’s so dusty.”

“Is that a robot?” Seonghwa asks, pointing to the block of Lego-metal on the workbench.

Wooyoung brightens and nods. “Yeah this is SPIKE.”

“SPIKE?” Seonghwa chuckles, “Who did you name him after?”

“Cowboy Bebop."

“Oh right, of course.” Seonghwa replies without batting an eyelid. “He looks good. Does he move?”

Hongjoong hops onto the bench as he watches Wooyoung excitedly turn the robot back on and show off his handiwork to another audience member. San moves to sit down next to him.

For all his prickly and guarded exterior, Seonghwa is unexpectedly warm and generous with his attention and patience. He nods and asks questions when it’s needed and knows to stay quiet when Wooyoung explains his overly ambitious visions. It’s a natural exchange, not just an adult pretending to care, it twists something in Hongjoong’s chest and he wishes his brothers could’ve grown up with two actual parents instead of a struggling substitute.

“Are you okay?” San asks, interrupting his thoughts.

“Hrm? Yeah, I’m fine. I think I just zoned out a bit.”

“He does that a lot.” Wooyoung says. “I just don’t think he likes robots.”

Seonghwa raises a curious eyebrow. “Is that right?”

“What? No.” Hongjoong protests. “I never said I didn’t like them. Where did you get that idea from?”

“You called SPIKE a ‘metal menace’.” Wooyoung says accusingly. “Then banned him from the house for three days.”

“He is a menace! He tracked mud through the entire kitchen and ran over my toes last week. What’s worse than metal and Lego rolling over your toes? Nothing.”

San cackles loudly and even Seonghwa looks amused.

“Maybe SPIKE can detect an unbeliever in its midst.”

Hongjoong gives Seonghwa a deadpan look. “It’s a robot. It’s not sentient.”

“Yet.” Wooyoung adds ominously before turning to Seonghwa. “Do you think it’s possible? You’ve done it haven’t you?”

“I don’t think it’s impossible.” Seonghwa says carefully. “It’s an incredibly difficult program to write but I think it will be fully achievable one day with the right scientist. It might be necessary, in case you need a robot army against narrow minded older brothers.”

“When was I narrow minded? I’m very open minded!” Hongjoong says indignantly, turning to San for moral support, only for the teenager to just give him the thumbs up . “Who do you think buys all the Lego and electronics?!”

“It’s fine.” Seonghwa says calmly, if not condescendingly. “Only people with refined tastes and high intelligence can appreciate complex robotics.”

They’re laughing at his expense and Hongjoong swears there’s an epic comeback on the tip of his tongue but the pounding of Yunho’s footsteps causes them all to turn towards the basement’s entrance.

“Um, just wondering if you guys are staying for lunch? It’s nearly one-thirty and if we don’t feed him soon Wooyoung’s gonna turn into a gremlin.”

“Shut Up Yunho!”

Seonghwa shakes his head, ignoring San’s pleading eyes, “Thank you but I’m afraid we’ll have to head back home to check on our father.”

San pouts quietly in his seat.

“But maybe next time?” Seonghwa adds as a compromise.

“No problems, just checking!” Yunho smiles easily and trudges back upstairs.

“We really should be going now actually.” Seonghwa says, petting SPIKE’s head carefully. “I don’t want to get caught driving in the late afternoon dust.”

“Oh yeah, good idea.” Hongjoong nods as they all stand to make their way out of the basement. The jubilant energy fizzles out. San is pouting aggressively and Wooyoung only quietly nods as Seonghwa tells him to persist with SPIKE’s development.

Outside, afternoon sun had slipped behind a hazy cloud. There’s a more obviously breeze that stirs the dust now and even though the hour wasn’t that late yet, both the atmosphere and light have visibly dimmed, much like his mood.

“Well, drive safely, hope you miss the late dust fog. Tell the Professor that I wish him a speedy recovery.”

“I will.” Seonghwa nods.

Hongjoong turns to an obviously grumpy San. “If you ever need to deal with your frustrations or boredom, I’d rather you take it out on a fifty dollar tractor and not a million dollar NASA machine okay?”

Wooyoung mouths a quiet ‘what?!’ in the background that San pretends he doesn’t hear.

“Okay, thanks Hongjoong.” San says sheepishly before waving to Wooyoung and Yunho and getting into the truck. “See you next time.”

And then there were two.

“Hope it wasn’t too boring for you today.” Hongjoong says, sticking his hands in his pockets.

“It wasn’t.” Seonghwa replies.

“Okay, good.” Hongjoong hums. “I meant what I said before though; if he’s getting restless and annoying, you can drop him off here. Let them roll in mud and run around or whatever.”

“They’re teenagers not toddlers.”

Hongjoong shrugs. “Same difference.”

Seonghwa smiles. It’s possibly the first time it’s directed right at Hongjoong’s face and he’s not sure what to do about it.

“Thank you Hongjoong.” Seonghwa says, looking back at San in the truck. “I think San enjoyed himself. I hope he didn’t break anything.”

“Oh….yeah, no no he didn’t.” Hongjoong stutters. “It’s no problem, err, Seonghwa.”

There’s a smirk. “That’s the first time you’ve said my name like that.”

“Well, that’s the first time you’ve said mine.”

“No, its not.”

“Yeah, well…whatever.”

Hongjoong wonders how they got to this place. And how it’s possible that he’s met yet another version of Seonghwa today: not the intimidating interrogator or smirking genius or the man who showed incredible restraint during this morning's meeting.

No, he met San’s brother on his porch this afternoon.

He wonders which version he’ll meet next.

“Goodbye, Hongjoong.”

“Bye…Seonghwa.”

He waves then stands until the truck is out of view and the dust cloud has settled on their dirt driveway. As he turns to go inside, he’s blocked by a very smug looking Yunho leaning against the doorway.

“Just a guy from work, huh?”

#Ad Astra: The Theory Of Relativity #Ateez #Interstellar #ateez x interstellar #Ateez AU #hongjoong #seonghwa #wooyoung #san #yunho #mingi #yeosang #jongho #but he's not in this yet #Ad Astra AU #space AU #Ateec fic

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