Chapter Text
When Marty was told that they were doing a project on World War II in his history class, he was kind of bummed out. That was one of the most overly talked about periods of history in the world, couldn’t they have picked something a little more interesting?
But when his teacher revealed that they could pick any topic they wanted as long as it had to do with the war, it caught his attention. This was his chance to stand out- he figured every other kid in class would do the Holocaust since it was the event that was easiest to research, but he had a much more interesting idea in mind: The Manhattan Project.
Marty figured a good place to start would be to get Doc’s opinion on the whole thing; after all, there were lots of moral ramifications from the project, and since his friend was just getting into the field at the time Marty figured he would have a unique perspective on the event. So as soon as he got out of school he skated over to the Brown’s place.
Doc was busy playing a board game with Jules and Verne when he heard a knock on the door. Before he could even do anything, Verne jumped up to open it, revealing Marty standing there.
Doc smiled. Not that he ever would have enough of his sons, but he'd been playing with them for the past two or three hours, and since both Verne and Jules liked Marty so much...maybe the teen would be able to take over for a little. Clara wasn't at home, being in town to have coffee with Lorraine, Marty's mother.
This is not of importance, Emmett, Doc admonished himself, You don't even know why Marty is here.
He stood up to greet the boy. "Hello, Marty! Come in, come in. What brings you here today?"
Marty ruffled Verne’s hair as he came in the door, which made the boy stick his tongue out at him before patting it back down to lay flat. “Hey, Doc, hey, kiddos.” After he put his skateboard and backpack down near the door he sat across from Doc, careful not to disturb any pieces on the board game.
“I was just wondering if you could help me out with this assignment for school. We’re doing a project on World War II, and I figured since you were a scientist around then you’d probably have some stuff to say about the topic I chose.” Marty figured he should make sure Doc was cool with helping him out before he got into any specifics- sometimes he got kind of iffy about helping with homework, but to be fair Marty might’ve tricked him into doing his science work for him a few times when he was younger.
"World War- yes, sure, why not." Doc was puzzled as to why Marty thought he would be an expert in any of the topics Marty possibly could have chosen, but if the boy believed he could help, then he would certainly try his best.
"As long as you don't mind if the boys sit with us...they get pretty bored sometimes. Maybe you can draw or something?", he suggested to Jules and Verne, and they nodded with enthusiasm.
Soon enough, the four of them were seated at the living room table. The boys had grabbed paper and crayon to draw and Doc had given them and Marty a glass of the homemade lemonade Clara had made before she had left the house.
"Alright, what is it that you need help with, Marty?"
“Well, I figured you could tell me what you thought about the ethics of nuclear bombs, cause i'm thinking of choosing the Manhattan Project for my topic-“
As soon as those words left his mouth Jules and Verne’s heads both shot up as they gasped with excitement, and then ran up to Marty while shouting over each other in excitement.
They were so caught up in- well, whatever they were so pleased about, that he couldn’t even understand them, and it took him a minute to get them to calm down. “Woah, woah, guys, settle down! You gotta talk slower or somethin’, ‘cause I didn't catch a word of that.”
The boys shared a brief look of confusion before their excitement returned, and Jules spoke first. “Did you not know, Martin? Father was involved with that very project! The science behind it is very impressive!”
Verne nodded, but he didn’t seem to care much about the science side of things. “Yeah, Dad really showed those Nazi scum who’s boss!”
Marty was at a loss. That couldn’t be true, could it? Surely Doc would’ve said something sooner. He looked up at his friend, hoping to see him shaking his head and fondly admonish the boys for pulling such a ridiculous prank.
Doc's eyes widened and his face paled in shock.
He remembered the day Jules and Verne had played in the attic and had found an old folder of his, which had contained an old black and white picture of him standing in front of the project base in Los Alamos, New Mexico, together with the other scientists who were working on the project.
Honestly, Emmett had no idea why he still kept that photo around, but he had been forced to admit what that was and why he was in the picture. He had, however, strictly forbidden the boys to tell their mother. Clara had only recently found out about nuclear weapons and had been absolutely horrified. Doc didn't need judgment from her, since he had already gotten plenty from the entire town, and he didn't want her to think any less of him. Clara was the love of his life and he couldn't risk losing her.
But, well...Marty hadn't known. And judging by his expression, he was surprised and, if Doc was correct, slightly terrified.
All Doc could manage at this point was a sad smile as the memories flooded back to him. He had hoped to get over it, but the decades of living with the guilt and never having been able to tell anyone had taken a toll on him.
It was obvious from Doc’s expression that this wasn’t some joke.
And it was even more obvious how much the whole thing still bothered him.
He looked… he looked miserable, more upset than Marty had ever seen him before, even when Edna broke up with him just before he could propose. He couldn’t just leave him like this, but there was no way to talk about with Jules and Verne stil bragging about Doc’s involvement between them.
“I’m-“ Marty stopped to clear his throat after his voice cracked horribly, he had hoped to seem at least somewhat casual about this- “I’m gonna go use the bathroom, i’ll be right back.”
He walked out of the living room calmly, making a conscious effort to move at a normal pace, but as soon as he was around the corner he picked up the speed and headed straight for the Brown’s closet full of various era-based costumes. Once he was wearing an appropriate 1940s suit, he got into the DeLorean and headed to the usual spot outside of town. “…a few days after the bombs dropped should work, right?”