Story parts: Act I|Act II| Act III(Final) Themes: astronaut!au; space!au; space exploration!au; themes of soulmate relationships; heavy angst; themes of abandonment; separation; romance; smut; love across age, space, and time; college sweethearts Pairing:Sehun x Fem!Reader Rating: PG13 - NC-17for mild swearing and implied/semi-explicit sexual themes WC:~25k (yikes!)
Oh Sehun has always been an optimist – for someone whose work so firmly plants him on the ground, he lives everyday with the stars in his eyes. He makes it easy to love him, to get swept up in his determination – he brings you along in his effortless self-assurance, and he has done so ever since the day he declared you college sweethearts.
Love and legacy, however, never guarantee the future. When he’s presented with an opportunity he can’t resist, one he’s dreamt of for as long as he’s known who he is, you both know there is only one path forward. He will not be deterred, even when distinguished professor and sole Mars mission survivor Loey Park just as fervently tries to make Sehun reconsider.
Sehun is yours, and you are his. But Mars is a demanding, punishing mistress, and you can only hope that she will allow Sehun’s return.
Reading Note: Tumblr doesn’t allow more than 10 images per post, so some of the scene headers (date/location) do not have setting images before them. Take care to note the timeline if you can!
A/N: Thank you @changshapatrol for the new poster! It’s finally here! I can’t believe it. Happy early birthday (and belated 10y Exoversary) to Oh Sehun :) this is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever written and I love this so much – please drop a comment if you can to let me know if you enjoyed this! And this goes out to bee and planet anon, as well as all of you who sent in kind reminders to let me know you were looking forward to this as much as I was. Thank you for your patience. And of course a billion thanks to @yeoldontknow, whose wonderful presence this weekend helped me finish this behemoth of an admittedly unedited story.
i have had the absolute pleasure of seeing this story grow from a series of texts back in 2019 to this absolute masterpiece. i am obsessed with this sehun and his journey into mars (and himself). i am obsessed with sehun and his love, someone who stands by him so passionately. i am obsessed with this sehun and his mind, his dedication, his quiet loyalty, his stubborn foolishness, and his kindness.
this last part was a journey. like…an actual journey along with an emotional one. the tension and pacing of his efforts to get out of the dust storm and to survive were palpable. the sporadic texts they could send within the storm and the way a single thank you could bring someone to their knees like!!!!!!! hello!!!!!! we started talking about this universe on the sole idea that it takes 8 minutes for light data to go from earth to mars and this!!! was so!!! ahhhhh!!!!
i need to read this again and again. the scenes of him trying to process his return and the things he read in chanyeols journal had me heart aching. you never know how bad it is until you’re witnessing it and experiencing it. you never know how bad it is until you see the other side
AHHH GIVE THIS ALL THE LOVE IN THE UNIVERSE PLEASE!!!
