the theory of relativity | heehoon

six.

1:17AM

sunghoon:
heeseung

i think i'll be studying
at my dorm a bit more
from now on

that way i don't waste so
much time traveling between
places

my first semestral tests
are coming in two weeks
and i really want to do well
to show my parents

im sorry

heeseung:
what

why are you sorry

what

why are you apologizing

it's okay

we don't have to be
together

sunghoon:
NO

NO

WAIT ARE YOU

ARE YOU BREAKING UP
WITH ME

NO

heeseung:
wtf

who said i was breaking
up with you

let me finish

i meant we don't have to be
together 24/7

we've kind of been doing
that lately

sunghoon:
oh

okay

i almost cried

heeseung:
don't cry silly

we're not breaking up

sunghoon:
thank you for understanding

i love you

heeseung:
i love you

sleep

it's late

Heeseung wonders if 1:30AM is too late, even in the Music dorms where no one stops practicing before midnight, to be playing his guitar. Eventually, he decides it isn't.

"Oh, baby I am a wreck when I'm without you, I need you here to stay

I broke all my bones that day I found you, crying at the lake

Was it something I said to make you feel like you're a burden?

Oh, and if I could take it all back

I swear that I would pull you from the tide"

─

University life brings with it an unprecedented level of difficulty, and as the weeks pass and the students settle into the pattern of the semester Sunghoon and Heeseung find themselves with less and less time to spend with each other than they used to have. Most of their dates from the first couple of weeks of the term, nice meals and shopping and trips to the amusement park and the like, are reduced to study dates at the university library or the cafes dotting the campus premises, both of them steamrolling through textbooks and papers and essays and notes as the days go by.

There's no other way, after all, they can keep afloat amidst the rigor of their new courses, and failing in their first semester is absolutely not an option.

─

Sunghoon's presence in his life, he realizes, is a lot more significant than he'd thought. Things keep happening and Heeseung always finds himself wishing he could tell him about them, but he doesn't see much of Sunghoon these days.

Mechanical engineering must be a hectic degree to pursue.

That's what he tells himself anyway, when his lecture on Modern Synth-Pop overruns past dinnertime on Friday and he doesn't have anyone to shoot off a "Sorry I'm late! On my way now!" text to. Sunghoon is busy tonight studying experimental fluid mechanics for his semestral test, and Heeseung picks up dinner for one on his way back as he heads home.

He pushes the heavy door open with one shoulder, shoving his keys back into his jeans pocket with his free hand. There are stacks of papers and textbooks lying around the living room in piles that he hasn't had time to clear up recently, and he sorts them into neat stacks by the study table for his own easier reference.

Relativity and Its Impact on the Modern World?

He and Sunghoon must have mixed up their notes at some point during one of their study sessions. Heeseung picks up the set of notes, flipping to a random page. He can't help but be curious about what Sunghoon was studying sometimes, given their degrees are divergent enough that they never see each other during curriculum time.

"Einstein's Theory of Relativity: Special Relativity Part 1

The theory of special relativity explains how space and time are linked for objects moving at a constant speed and in a straight line. Envision 2 identical trains, one driving at 1km/h and the other at 100km/h. Identical stopwatches placed on each train would see a difference in timing due to the divergence in movement through space and time. The train at 1km/h is moving through less space and more time as compared to the train at 100km/h, which moves through more space and less time. As such, when the train is completely still it moves only through time, and if it moves at the speed of light time does not pass at all.

This theory also justifies why astronauts orbiting the solar system age at a slower rate as compared to people on Earth, attributed to the high speeds at which they travel through space-"

Heeseung doesn't even bother reading past the first section. It clicks in his head somewhere why Sunghoon used trains as an example that day at the cafe, and it's moments like these that make him appreciate dropping his sciences to pursue an arts degree, because no way in hell is he about to read stacks and stacks of papers on physics, out of all things.

He finishes up the ramen he's brought back for dinner and puts his jacket back on. He'll drop by Sunghoon's dorm to pass him his notes back, and if the other boy is done with his revision by then he'll ask if he wants to go out for a quick dessert trip. He's sure Sunghoon will appreciate the company, given he's spent the day cooped up studying since his lectures ended in the afternoon.

The autumn air is pleasant tonight, warm enough that he doesn't need to rub his palms together to heat them up but cool enough that he doesn't sweat as he makes the walk across the university dorms. Sunghoon's dorm is five blocks away from his; it would be a ten minute walk if he pushed it, but Heeseung doesn't see a need. He keeps his pace leisurely, crunching the dry leaves beneath his boots, letting the wind mess up the hair that's long enough to fall into his face.

"Heeseung? You're here!"

Heeseung turns back, halfway up the stairs to the fourth floor. "Sunghoon? I thought you were studying for your test."

"Yup!" He holds up his book bag as proof as he catches up to Heeseung on the stairs. "I was downstairs at Jake's. He's insane when it comes to engineering physics, I don't know what I'd have done without him."

Something unfamiliar flits across Heeseung's mind for just a moment, but he swallows the thought.

It's not like you wanted him to be alone.

"Oh, okay." He looks down as if suddenly remembering the stack of notes in his hand, the actual reason he was here in the first place. "I think we swapped our notes at some point without realizing, here's yours."

Sunghoon is visibly tired; there are dark circles under his eyes and Heeseung knows he is worn out and his heart aches for the younger boy.

"Thank you!" Sunghoon takes the papers and slips it into his book bag along with the rest of his materials. "I must have something of yours then, right? Let's go look for it."

He is so affable and warm, so normal that Heeseung immediately feels bad for having second thoughts. "Okay, let's go."