ASTRONOT.
Danny used to relish math homework. Math homework was a breeze. One more A+ was one more step closer to becoming an astronaut, his long-term goal in life. There's no chance of that, now, not when he is who he has become. That's okay, even though it wasn't always. It used to agonize him. If he had any free time, he poured over his astrophysics, like a lifeline, it was one of those things he'd always included in defining who he was.
Without his even realizing, it began to fade. He started forgetting things. Things he thought were obvious. The things he recited when he met Neil Armstrong in person, and impressed the man with his knowledge. Those details, so painstakingly memorized in his enthusiasm, were replaced by things like, I need to catch this helpless civilian before they hit the ground and crack open their skull. Or, Does Clockwork have another quest for me, this week? And, the occasional, Hey, Sam, you doing anything, later?
He should probably make the last one less occasional and more routine…
And, there it goes, again. The pain of loss of a once hyped-up future, pushed aside, in the blink of an eye.
He has a new future.