Pieces of Us: Living in Parallel

Chapter 10 - Logan: Mr Mallett, The Junior Researcher

Summary: Logan has been successful at everything, especially related to physics. Of course a job as a researcher was the way to spend the rest of his life. What he didn't expect was to not succeed... Even with his magic.

In no time at all it was September, the start of Logan's placement as a junior researcher. In days before, when Logan needed to get somewhere, he'd always walk. For normal people that would take forever. For Logan he could stop at the park, get a coffee, read the morning newspaper, and spend degenerate hours scrolling through short-form content. And he'd arrive with not a drop of sweat on his body. People just assumed he was an early waker and very physically fit.

Now though, things would be different. Patton was a student at the same university, so offered they could save money and get the bus together on Patton's student card. At first Logan thought of refusing, but there was something inside him telling him to try it at least once. "Are you ready Patton?" Logan shouted into the apartment as he grabbed his laptop bag. It was quiet for a second, Roman had already left for work and Virgil was in his room, before the door burst open with a short blond ball of energy.

"Good morning! Have we got everything – oh!" As Patton bounced to collect his coat, keys, and wallet he swiped a piece of toast Logan left in the toaster, shovelling it in his face like a chipmunk. It seemed as though Patton would heavily benefit from the power to stop time.

A smile showed on Logan's face. "Good morning to you too. The next bus arrives in ten minutes, do you think we'll find the stop in time?" If they were running late Logan would pause time and do his own search for the bus stop, but he might as well see if Patton had pre-planned his first day.

"The stop's just around the corner, I saw it on my walk from the Miànbāo Diàn yesterday. Do you want to get a mooncake before the bus? I'm in no rush to get the first bus and it's almost the Mid-Autumn Festival!" A habit of Patton seemed to be showing off his multilingual skills and knowledge of other cultures, Logan apparently did the same for physics so he didn't mind. He found it interesting in fact – growing up in such a rural area meant Logan didn't get experience of cultures outside white American, this city was the busiest and most diverse place he had ever lived.

"I'll pass for now, I need to get to the lab 9:30 on the dot." If only he could pause time with people, whenever Logan paused time it was only him who could interact with things – and he would not fare well trying to order something in a Mandarin bakery.

"Maybe tomorrow! What will you be doing today? What is molecular physics? Is it just playing with atoms and stuff?"

Talking with someone while walking was a new experience, and so far, Logan enjoyed it. Mainly because there was no judgement if he geeked over his job a little bit. "That's atomic physics, molecular physics is the study of molecules and molecular dynamics. I'll be seeing how different molecules interact with heat, radiation, other chemicals, pretty much anything." When Logan turned his head, he spotted Patton staring ahead, his face contorted to try understanding. "Molecules and atoms are different things."

The trance ended with Patton's smile and a – "that sounds so cool." The bus arrived shortly. Again, this was a new experience for Logan. Buses were a lot more crowded than he ever imagined. Patton was still talking, and that grounded him, even though he really wanted to pause time and escape. "I have a class on Arabic translation this morning, then a seminar on Spanish literature for a book I read over the summer. And tomorrow I'll be starting my course on Portuguese!"

"You're really talented at languages." Logan laughed. A pang in his chest went off though. He needed a magic time power to get this far with his academic career, only the ability to control time allowed Logan to be 'talented' in quantum physics.

Yet Patton was wide eyed like a Labrador, perking up when he heard a non-English language. He was just really good at what he was passionate about – he didn't have to dedicate his life to it.

"You're talented too! My talent is just magic, trust me."

*****

The lab was everything Logan could dream of. Individuals were at their desks, doing their individual work in silence, working with the most interesting molecules known to man. This was perfect for Logan to use his magic power too – people didn't seem to keep track of others' movements.

"I've recorded my findings in the journal." Logan mumbled as the head researcher inspected his lackeys. He had taken time to make this first interaction the best it could be. He had paused time for eons to create the best report in both format and information, pondered over the results for what felt like a week, he was ready to have an in-depth discussion with this very important researcher and be the most knowledgeable junior researcher in the department.

He didn't expect the boomer boss to raise an eyebrow, look down at the intricate piece of paper for a second before snapping. "You looked at it for a second, I'm not reading some junior's scribbles."

"I can assure it's much more than scribbles, you can check my references." He was used to this – teachers and professors would judge how 'quickly' Logan could do work. But usually, a nice smile and assurance got the person to at least look at it. The researcher just moved on, ignoring Logan's repeated reassurance until he was out the room.

Well, Logan was top of the class so he could do this without his magic right? He set up the experiment again, checked all the vials and things were in place, drew the diagram... It's been an hour already? Well, the experiment was quick at least. Two molecules collided and then exploded, then the combination was collected and examined. Logan had done this plenty of times before and –

"Time to clock out, Mr Mallett." The senior researcher had appeared behind Logan as he was focusing, coughing and grumbling when Logan flinched. "Try not to jolt the chemicals – it's very unprofessional to ask so nonchalant around the results of our thousand-dollar funding."

He started this simple experiment hours ago. This experiment should have taken an hour, report writing included, yet Logan was working overtime. "Sorry." Was all that Logan could say, treating the chemicals like the royal crown. "I would appreciate if you looked at my first draft, I made lots of conclusions that I think would be very interesting to further study."

"I look at the work of undergraduates and accomplished junior researchers Mr Mallett, and thus far you are neither." Those words stabbed Logan in the heart. He knew physics! He was a good researcher! Even if he failed to complete undergraduate level work in the time provided. He thanked the senior researcher for his feedback, collected his things and made his way to the bus stop.

He may have stopped time to cry when he reached the bus stop. His dream might be a lot harder to reach, especially if he had to limit his power. But he at least had tomorrow.