The Day We Went To Mars - Sidemen Fanfiction

**Chapter 1**

~MEETING~

T minus : 24 months

Six Weeks Later - ESA Headquarters, Paris

The pool of candidates had been narrow; most people managed to suppress their natural desire to understand the enigmatic world beyond the clouds and pulled themselves, quite literally, back down to Earth, unable to separate themselves and their complex lives from the four walls of human society. Despite this, fifteen groups of six had been put together by a board of specialists, analysing and selecting candidates both for their psychological and physical qualities. The successful applicants had hurried to catch flights to the centre with just a few days notice. It would be the first time the teams met each other...

The room was too crowded for all six of the boys' liking. One stood, trapped within the crowd and looking for an escape. Two sat at some distance, heads bowed as they fought in a light argument. Another, although seeming at home in the packed room, anxiously awaited an option to get some fresh air. The fifth stood alone having separated himself from the forming group in the centre of the room. He stood against the smooth, metal walls of the main hall, decorated as if it was a plane hangar. His eyes darted over people's heads, scanning each for a sign of the telltale mess of hair, hoping for an indication that the sixth had been lying when he said he had been rejected.

"I'm not regretting it!" Josh muttered to his friend, his voice dropping as it often did in social situations. Tobi focused on merely hearing the boy who sat nervously next to him, barely a whisper escaping from his tightly pursed lips. The dark skinned boy was a worrier - his brain seemed to be wired to detect people who were stuck in concerning situations. He almost enjoyed the challenge of keeping everyone around him happy, an act of spinning plates like in a circus. His biggest flaw; too many plates at once always led to breakages.

Tobi considered Josh one of his worst 'breakages' due to his extended spell of severely bad luck. The pinched skin beneath his hazel eyes was all the evidence the boy needed to mentally scold himself every time he caught the sorry sight before him. It had begun with a narrow hairline fracture. Tobi had allowed the fragile ceramic to plummet towards the ground, deftly catching it before it shattered. The break up left Josh shaken up to say the least, he seemed lost and disconnected, the warmth in his eyes often struggling to penetrate his frozen figure, trapping itself in the past. Adding the joy of unemployment in London despite his qualifications as a pilot, Josh was beginning to give up hope, leaving Tobi to shoulder the futile, naive sense of optimism that had long fled the older boy's mind.

"You can fly a fucking plane," he repeated once more, reeling off every other achievement the doubtful boy had ever been awarded in his short life. Each was met with a sigh or a light shake of the head until he gave up and went back to quietly watching the room. His eyes landed on one of the only other people in the room who had chosen to avoid the crowd, a boy of Indian descent lounging against the wall nearby.

Vikk remained positive. After all, Harry had lied before in order to surprise the older boy. He smiled fondly at the thought of graduation; a day that he had dismissed in the weeks leading up to it, only to end up treasuring each second of the afternoon like a chest of gold. Each head of blonde hair that crossed his scrutinising eye line elevated his hopes, and his heart rate, before allowing both to sink back to their usual states. He had never been able to put a finger on the feeling Harry provoked within him, even preferring not to put a label on it. They were both young, he often told himself, there was no need to understand the most complex and intricate emotions just yet.

The boy in question was in fact in the room, ducking his head subtly from the opposite end of the hall. He watched his friend from across the room, occasionally catching sight of him between people moving around and passing him by. Harry enjoyed the act of people watching, preferring to let those who wanted to rush on with their lives as he remained perfectly still, each blink another screenshot of the reality he felt so far away from. His attention was sadly drawn from the searching eyes of Vikk as an official looking man, dressed in a button up shirt and tie, began to talk.