Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12954381

Author: eleven_twelve
Fandom: NCT (Band)

Pairing: Mark x Donghyuck

Tags: Space!AU; Loosely based on the song "Space Oddity" by David Bowie; It's kinda sad but it's also cute; Donghyuck centered; Astronauts.
Word count: 4728

Summary: Donghyuck knows that the universe is infinite, somehow an empty house still feels bigger.

Tạm dịch: Donghyuck biết rõ vũ trụ này bao la vô ngần, nhưng một ngôi nhà trống trải vẫn rộng lớn hơn rất nhiều.

Review: I love this fic so so much I don't want to ruin it by translating it but at the same time I do want to translate it urgh wtf is wrong with me?

1. What I like about it:

- The fic is a masterpiece, or I must say, all fics written by eleven_twelve are masterpieces.
- BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN, I repeat, BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN.
- A lot of implications
- Space!AU! I have always been fascinated with space 🚀, astronauts 👩‍🚀, time being stretched, and black hole kinda stuff. Do I need to ramble (again) about how much I love stars, galaxies, the nine planets in this universe, and the Moon these days?
- The author's imagery writing style is extraordinary.
- Donghyuck being too sensitive for exact sciences is a thing.
- Ending scene did turn me into a crying mess.

So basically, I did some research to understand this fic a little bit more. I listened to the song "Space Oddity", on which the author based her plot, and read several related theories about Major Tom, the name of the person that appeared in this song. What I found out is, Major Tom is a fictional astronaut who floats around the universe and never comes back. Mark, in this fic, is the exact version of Major Tom, who flies among the stars and across the universe to fulfill humankind's desire which is space exploration. Mark does love Donghyuck, but he also loves the galaxy and the planets, so he has no other choice but to leave Donghyuck behind to go exploring space on his own. As Major Tom in the song loves his wife so much he asks the ground control to send this message "Tell my wife I love her very much", I do believe that Mark has been showing his love for no less than one hundred or even one million times to Donghyuck in space. This is just so sad yet so beautiful, as Mark could never come back to say this directly to Donghyuck. Probably he knows this is a one-way trip, still, he decides to devote his life to humankind. Typical of scientists, I should say. Despite their burning love for their loved ones, still they choose to dedicate all their life to science.

As Mark's starship continues to go deeper into the galaxy, to fly around the rings of Saturn, explore Jupiter, discover black holes out there, really Mark stands no chance of being able to come back. Several details in the fic also state that Mark is flying farther and farther: The ground control keeps losing signal with Mark's spacecraft, the messages received are shorter and shorter every time, even to the point they only include numbers. So, to put it in a nutshell, Mark will never come back to Donghyuck, possibly he will die in space while still in the search for any signal of life. Upon realizing this, I burst out crying my heart out.

2. What I do not like:
- The ending could be a lil bit difficult to understand at first, but read it again and again, listen to the song then you will know what I mean by "a crying mess".
- It hurts, it hurts so freaking much. Should have known that there would be no such things as happy endings for space!au thing, but my heart decided to refuse logical thinking, which resulted in me being emotionally wrecked afterward.

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I don't usually read Markhyuck's fics, and I don't plan on doing it either, but this fic is out of this world. A Must-Read for all MarkHyuck shippers.