The Moreaus’ apartment, Arcturus Station, Monday, December 23rd, 2171
Joker settled into the couch, watching a movie with a smugly satisfied grin on his face. He’d aced all his midterms -- at least, he was pretty sure he had -- and there was nothing he had to worry about until after the new year. He had nowhere he had to be today. There was a pile of snacks on the end table next to him, the chaise at this end of the sectional meant he could kick his feet up, and he’d even taken off his leg braces for maximum comfort. He was totally getting his relaxation on.
The sounds of the front door opening and some bustling around drifted in from the other room, and then his dad was standing there, watching him. “It’s good to see you smile again. I was starting to think you’d forgotten how.”
“I smile!” Joker insisted indignantly. He usually didn’t these days, he knew -- it was how he’d gotten the ironic nickname, after all -- but he meant to. “I’ve just… been busy, that’s all. I mean, I’ve been studying for midterms, and before that there was the science fair -- Hey, I had a big-ass grin on my face when I won that, you remember?”
His dad nodded. “I remember. I’m really proud of you, Jeff. And… I hate to take that smile away again…”
Joker frowned at his dad, and then groped in the air above the couch’s arm until the controls sprang into existence under his fingers so that he could pause the movie. “What’s wrong? You look like someone di--” His stomach twisted. That was entirely the wrong joke to make. His mom… She had passed away almost two years ago, and it still hurt.
His dad winced, too. “No, nothing like that. It’s… Ever since your mother… Look, I don’t belong on this station, Jeff. I know I promised that we’d stay until you graduated, but… Todd offered me the job on Tiptree again.”
It was unnerving to see that pained, apologetic look on his dad’s face, but that was nothing compared to the feeling of Joker’s entire life being pulled out from underneath him. A tiny planet in the middle of nowhere with a one-prefab-module schoolhouse wasn’t going to help him make it into the Academy, which meant no Alliance commission, no flight school, and no… anything. His carefully-planned future was ruined, just like that. “No, dad… No, no, no, no, please, no…”
“It’s last-minute, but the person he hired instead bailed on him… He kept begging me, and every time I said no he kept sweetening the deal… I’ll never get another offer half this good, not in a million years. Jeff, he offered me an entire farm...”
Everything seemed far away, and Joker could hear his own heart beating in his ears. “So… when do we leave?” he asked politely.
“In a few days. As soon as we’re packed. Look, I know this is a setback for you, but I’ll find a good boarding school for you to finish up at, or you can go to school online… I promise I’ll make it right.”
Any top-tier school -- boarding, online, or otherwise -- would have already had its application deadline pass long ago. Maybe there were halfway-decent schools still accepting students, but “halfway decent” probably wasn’t going to be good enough. Joker smiled at his dad weakly. “I’ll be all right,” he lied. “What about Hil? She’ll have to leave all her friends behind. It could be very traumatic.”
Joker’s dad raised an eyebrow, not quite catching the sarcasm there. “Jeff, your sister’s two. She’ll make new friends.”
Joker nodded, and he and his dad sat in awkward silence for a while, each trying to think of something to say. What finally sprang to Joker’s mind might not have been appropriate, but it was… something. “So… you know, I tore apart my communicator to build my science project, and it’s almost Christmas, and you basically just ruined my whole life, so…”
His dad sighed. “No, Jeff, for the last time, I’m not giving you your mother’s omnitool.”
[NFI, NFB due to distance. Establishy post 1 of 3.]