Chapter Text
There were few classes that Andrew loved more than Science. He liked learning about biology, the stars, soundwaves, about animal life, about plants, all of it was just so fascinating to him. It had also been a somewhat recent development, his elementary school science classes had been taught by a dull teacher who clearly knew enough to get by but had no real interest in the subject matter. It had been fine, but he hadn’t excelled in it, and hadn’t really tried. There was no reason to when the teacher themselves was not that enthused by the subject.
But his science teacher in the year prior, Mr. Grace, Dr. Grace, he had been everything that Andrew had needed to just be totally enthralled by the subject. He loved playing the ball was lava, he loved learning about the various things he taught. He wasn’t the loudest in the class, certainly not the smartest, but he’d been putting in the work and Dr. Grace had been glowing about him to his parents.
Andrew had worried when he’d gone into the seventh grade, that he would have one of the other science teachers, that his tentative love of the subject would be dashed because the other teachers weren’t as good or as keen to help him develop. But he had Dr. Grace again and this had led to him doing better and better in the class, still never the loudest but Dr. Grace had always given him the space to answer, had always helped him with his essays and equations.
The Petrova Line discovery was all over the news, he had watched it, the keen interest in biology letting him naturally be interested in the discovery. He could tell from how the news was, and how his parents were that the Petrova line and what the dots were doing wasn’t good, but he had no reason to concern himself with it, yet.
No there were bigger things happening currently in Andrew's life for him to focus on.
He had a question about the upcoming presentation he was due to give in the Science class at the end of the month, and he wanted to be sure he was on the right track about how to present, to ensure that his reasoning and methodology was right and because he just wanted to soak up a little more attention from his favourite teacher.
Andrew had left his friends at lunch and wandered to the classroom. He knew that Dr. Grace wasn’t very social, Andrew and other students had never really spotted him with other teachers, and he knew from gossip that because Dr. Grace had a doctorate that some of the other teachers were a little more critical of him. Andrew would’ve defended him, if he wasn’t hearing gossip second or third hand.
He knocked on the door to the classroom, but there was no immediate answer. He peered through the window of the classroom, and could see the outline of his teacher in the room. He knocked again, and when there was no movement or noise he stepped in. Andrew knew that he should wait, but what if something was wrong, he had to step in.
He opened the door and slipped in, taking in the familiar room, staring up at the familiar solar system diorama, and the test tubes, everything which filled this class with the warmth that he liked. His class with him was just after lunch, so in theory he could’ve just asked this during the class, but it wasn’t like this would do any harm to ask it now.
However, as he stepped further into the room, and approached the professor’s desk he noticed that Dr. Grace was asleep. He had headphones in his ears, a phone on his lap, his legs propped onto the desk. The man’s glasses were still on his face, his head tilted back slightly, in a way that he’s sure his mom would say would break his neck.
Dr. Grace looked surprisingly peaceful, he never seemed tired when he was teaching, he had an abundance of energy really, and every subject he taught them was always taught with enthusiasm that he’d never experienced with other teachers. It was like the man thrived off teaching.
Andrew felt like he was intruding, like he was seeing something he shouldn’t. His parents had always said that it was rude to watch someone else sleep, especially if you didn’t know them, and if you did, you had to be close to them for it to not be rude. Andrew watched him though, watched the rise and fall of his chest. Watched the slight twitch of his fingers, heard the soft snoring. It was a pretty deep sleep, and perhaps this was what he needed to have the energy for the class. He knew he really, really shouldn’t be there.
Andrew didn’t want to wake him, so he turned and left the room. Making sure to move quietly and to close the door behind him. He didn’t mention it, when his friends asked he just said he wasn’t there. Lied about it.
When they then went to the class, Dr. Grace was alert and ushering them in. There was a fresh cup of coffee on the table, and things set up which hadn’t been there when he’d come to the room. But he put the thoughts behind him and just focused on the class, focused on the soundwaves.
Andrew was sitting up in his seat to get a good look at it, and then glanced towards the student who asked about the Petrova line, asked about the dots. Though Andrew knew about them, he was curious about how Dr. Grace would show it to them. How he would describe it, and it was in Dr. Grace’s reaction that he was first worried. Despite the way he was trying to hide it, or to put it behind appropriate language for them, he could see that he was worried.
His parents worrying, seeing and hearing other people worry was one thing, but Dr. Grace was a science teacher, a biologist, he knew about these things, so if he was worried, then there was a reason to be worried.
An unsettled feeling formed in his stomach. He was less animated for the rest of the class, as Dr. Grace managed to get them mostly back on track. He still had questions about the upcoming presentation, but he decided he’d go at the end of the day, after the boring history class with Mr. Pembleton.
Andrew meandered his way towards the science class at the end of the day, he didn’t find Dr. Grace, he found the man at his bike speaking to a woman, with two black SUVs behind them. He watched Dr. Grace get into the car and watched the cars drive off.
It was the last he’d see of the man, not the last he’d hear of him. The classroom remained untouched, as if he was due to come back, but he never did. Shot into space to save their planet. Years down the line, he’d study astrophage at university, earning a degree, a master and eventually a doctorate, dedicating all his success to his former science teacher. Decades down the line he’d learn of his former science teacher’s heroics, that he’d save the earth, saved their star. He’d learn that the man had gone against his will and still managed to not feel too bitter towards earth. His own kids and the ones he taught at university would all look at him with awe when he said, Dr. Grace had been his middle school science teacher.
But mostly, in all that Andrew would go on to learn about Dr. Grace, the thing which stuck with him most were those moments in the classroom, before all of it, watching with glee as the man excitedly showed them experiments, talked animatedly about the various things which they were being taught.
The lingering memory would be of Dr. Grace smiling fondly as any of them had got an answer right to his question.