#maxsixfic

[maximura]

Ad Astra: The Theory Of Relativity | An interstellar Ateez story Part I (Words 1322, Warnings: None)

The Earth is dying. My family all turned into farmers, like everyone else's. The world didn't need more engineers or pilots, we didn't run out of planes or computers, we ran out of food. First it was wheat, then rice, then barley. One by one the virus wiped them out and we had to keep finding crop to withstand the constant mutating viral strains. Eventually, it was just corn and dust. It was suffocating and everywhere: in our hair, on our skin, in our lungs. My father prepared us best he could but we knew it would only be a few years before we succumbed to starvation, if the dust-lung didn't get us first. -KJH, deceased, 2028

Hongjoong shuffles into the kitchen, savouring the quiet stillness of the early morning dawn, even if the cold bites at his skin. He removes the plastic coverings from the stovetop, taking care to gently wipe off the dust so it doesn't fill the entire room. The pipes groan and clunk as he lets the tapwater run for a few murky seconds before filling the kettle. There's not much of a breeze this early but the corn crops outside their back window seem to peacefully sway in the morning light, their contentment belying the struggle it takes to ensure their ongoing existence.

At least they have crop this year. There was decent rain, half of it acid but the corn still survived, which not only meant a steady source of food but also employment. Hongjoong checks his bookings for the day and its three back to back requests for crop duster maintenance. He'd rather be in the air then on the ground, but these days, nobody is getting what they want.

There's the faint sound of escalating bickering from the rooms above him, and predictably, the pounding of two sets of feet down the stairs seconds later.

"Hongjoong, tell Wooyoung that ghosts aren't real." It's Yunho, Hongjoong's younger brother, who turns eighteen in a month but already thinks he's the man of the house. "He's too old to still be thinking like a baby."

"I'm not a baby! Just because you can't see something doesn't mean it's not real!" Wooyoung replies tartly, sitting down at the dining table with the kind of dramatic huff that only a fourteen year old could summon. "It's not my fault you're so stupid!"

It's like this most mornings and even though he's only twenty-four years old this year himself, Hongjoong feels all the heaviness that he guesses must come with parenting two opinionated boys. He wonders how on earth their parents had once managed with all three of them.

"Wooyoung, don't call your brother stupid." Hongjoong admonishes, internally groaning that he can not only hear his Dad Voice come out but that he even has a Dad Voice in the first place.

"But-"

"..and Yunho, why can't you just let him have his own fun? Who cares if you believe in ghosts or not, the point is that he does, so leave him alone."

Wooyoung sticks his tongue out at his brother across that table. Yunho simply eye rolls but doesn't argue back, instead he drags his tall gangly frame over to help Hongjoong with their breakfast, not even asking for instructions because he's finally learnt the ropes after years of having it repeated to him.

It sometimes strikes at the most random times but little moments like this are how Hongjoong can tell how grown up Yunho really is. For all his contrarian tendencies, he really has grown up, both physically and emotionally, since their parents died. It gives Hongjoong a surge of immense pride whenever a moment like this happens.

Breakfast is a simple meal built around necessity and sustenance for the day and like with all their meals, there's rarely any room for luxury or requests. Both boys have had their moments of throwing tantrums over the lack of choice and variety but Hongjoong is grateful they've grown out of that behaviour. He hates not being able to do a damn thing about it anyway.

Yunho is in his last year of high school now and thinking seriously about the future. Wooyoung on the other hand...

"There's a parent teacher meeting tonight." Yunho says, as they get into Hongjoong's pick up truck for the drive to school. "You have to go to it this time or they'll unleash the social worker on us again."

"Yeah yeah, I know." Hongjoong sighs as he reverses down their dirt driveway. "What time is it again?"

4pm. And apparently not a second later.

"Kim, it's 4:35pm." Yonghwan frowns disappointedly, which is quite the feat since he's their town's youngest science teacher and accustomed to being disappointed daily. "These meetings are important to us and Wooyoung's future, even if you don't seem to acknowledge that yourself."

It takes physical force for Hongjoong not to storm out of there.

"Yes, sorry Yonghwan. I had three back to back jobs today, it-"

Yonghwan sighs and waves off whatever excuse Hongjoong had on the tip of his tongue. "Save it. Let's get straight to the issue here: Wooyoung is failing science."

"What?!" Hongjoong laughs incredulously. "Wooyoung? My Wooyoung? That little science nerd is failing it? How the heck is that possible?"

Yonghwan's lips purses into a grim line before sliding a piece of paper across the table. It's a test with Wooyoung's name on top in scrawly black pen and a bright red C right next to it. Before he feels the need to defend the little menace, Yonghwa simply tells him to read through the questions.

Oh.

"Yes." Yonghwan says in a weary tone. "He is questioning the validity of the questions and then protesting why writing a correct answer would be possible in the circumstances."

Hongjoong resists the urge to laugh.

That little shit.

Yonghwan takes back the paper from Hongjoong and reads one test question out loud.

In basic terms, explain how Albert Einstein disproved Isaac Newton's Theory of Gravity.

Yonghwan clears his throat, "And the answer he wrote was: there is a special hell for people who pit two geniuses against each other in a science test like this. TLDR: mercury's orbit."

Hongjoong can't contain the cackle that comes bursting out.

Yonghwan sighs and shakes his head again. "I'm glad this amuses you but it definitely doesn't amuse any of his other teachers and is unlikely to amuse the university boards when the time comes."

University would not be for another three years but every mention of time has Hongjoong on edge. Nobody on Earth has time. Time is the one constant that can't be reversed. Gravity is a spectrum, depending where you are in the universe. Distance can be reduced and erased to zero or lengthened to infinity. But time? Time only goes forward. There is no theory, no laws, no equation to reverse or control time.

"He's not wrong though." Hongjoong counters, suddenly feeling sober. "Newton's theory is why we can have a space program. Einstein just course corrected. I don't see why Wooyoung needed to fail the test because he was a little shit about it."

Yonghwan's withering gaze from across the teacher's table makes Hongjoong feel like he's back in high school all over again.

"Listen, Hongjoong," Yonghwan starts, tone as patronising as his placating hand movements. "I understand that you were once a very bright student, I know you were in the pilot program but times have changed and we-"

"Actually I studied engineering too." Hongjoong retorts. "You know I gave that up to manage the farm and the kids when our parents died of dust-lung. So don't talk to me like I'm stupid okay?"

*

Wooyoung is leaning against their pick up truck when Hongjoong is finally done with the parent-teacher meeting.

"Well? How did it go?"

Hongjoong clears his throat and opens the doors.

"I got you suspended."