Chapter Text
Senku spent 3715 years and 302 days counting, it was his only comfort in the total sensory deprivation he found himself stuck in. His vision was an expanse of nothingness, not darkness for that would imply there was light- just nothingness. He could no longer feel his ears and he could no longer hear with them, his hands could not flex, reach, or grab for they no longer existed to his mind— despite his brain still firing signals none seemed to reach his body. For a short period of a decade he pondered what this could be compared to, maybe paralysis or a coma? He moved on from that swiftly, instead he planned— if this situation was what he thought it was then he couldn’t run headfirst and think on the fly like he usually did, he had to be as meticulous as one would be when they dismantled a bomb.
Because if his theory was correct, then everyone would be doomed if he woke up at the wrong time or in the wrong place.
On the 302nd day of the 3715th year— he felt something.
A trickle of something rolling on some part of his body— the curve of his nose, he had nearly forgotten what it looked like. He knew what day it was, April 1st— just at the beginning of spring, it was perfect.
It was time to wake up.
He focused on the faint, distant feeling of a liquid on his face— it was fading already, absorbing into what replaced his skin but Senku still remembered what it felt like. He remembered the curve of his nose, then the shape of his eyes, the curl of his lips, the edge of his hairline, the roundness of his ears.
Gradually, he remembered— and something cracked.
Weight pressed down on his body and darkness covered his eyelids, but now he could writhe— he fought against the grit that covered him, the dirt filled his mouth and despite the disgusting taste he found himself loving the sensation of being able to taste.
Senku kicked his legs and jerked his arms until his hands hit the air, he dug fistfuls of dirt away from his face when the rest of his arms were free enough to move— the sound of dripping liquid and chirping of creatures were the first thing he heard, the ceiling of the cave was the first thing he saw, the ends of his hair brushing his shoulders were the next to be felt.
Despite the logical part of his mind insisting he immediately get to work, to acknowledge the stone fragments that surrounded him— the very human part of his mind saw the faint flicker of light and bolted, the entrance of the cave wasn’t far and the rough stone transitioned into sharp cold blades of grass.
For a boy who loved the stars and the moon, the sun had never looked so beautiful.
He shut his eyes after reveling in the burn for a short while— the complete lack of pigment in his eyes rendered them sensitive as hell, but after thousands of years without sensation he missed the feeling that was usually kept away by parasols and thick clouds of dark makeup around his eyes.
After a too short period of 624 seconds he returned to the cave, already missing the feeling of the wind and the sun on his bare skin but the cold of the cave’s shadows were welcomed, as was the sight of nitric acid dripping from the ceiling right where he once was buried.
Like most times in his life, he was correct.
Fragments of some mineral were scattered and buried from where he dug himself up, when pieced back together it resembled something akin to a shell shaped like himself. Every feature was the same as he remembered, everything down to the bump of his stomach.
Senku pressed a hand to his stomach, silently pleading for something.
A slight kick brought him even more relief than the sun did.
Followed by extreme amounts of dread.
Raising a child as a soon to be high school graduate was already tough as hell, raising a child in a primitive world like this one would be nearly impossible— at least alone. With a shuddering breath he returned to the outside, fashioning himself something akin to a skirt with vines and leaves before getting to work.
“I’m completely alone in this stone world, I’ll need to find a way to wake more people.” A grin stretched across his face, reverting back to old habits of talking to himself to fill the void of an empty house while his old man was in America and Taiju and Yuzuriha were at their own houses. His grin was a comfort to himself, a lie as he tried to convince himself that he would be able to figure this all out on his own, “How exhilarating, time to get excited.”
+++
Taiju remained conscious for god knows how long, the feeling of nothingness like that one time Senku found out that sensory deprivation could be good for the mind— at least then he was floating in water instead of a void. The idea of sleep was a warm and comforting thing, he would have slipped into it were his mind not completely occupied by what he needed to wake up for.
He needed to confess to Yuzuriha, then together they could help Senku raise his kid— Uncle Taiju has been ready since Senku admitted to them that his odd behavior wasn’t some sickness he picked up.
His brilliant best friend had gotten himself pregnant during his time in America. And while he may be a little thick at times, both he and Yuzuriha had a pretty solid idea on who the dad was— or at least they had two ideas of who the dad could be— and they could understand why Senku wanted to keep it hush hush.
… And wait until Byakuya was a few hundred kilometers in space before telling him.
These two thoughts were the only thing bouncing through his head during his time in this weird sensory deprivation hell— when he felt something on his face he was relieved. When he could move his body his first thought was to scream as loud as he could, his voice bounced off the walls of the cave he was in and actually hearing the noise induced a euphoria as he realized he was alive.
The bed of straw he woke up on told him he wasn’t the only one and Taiju had an idea of who.
He exited the cave and saw a date etched on the wood and concern flooded his body when his suspicions were confirmed, Senku was surely the one awake— who else in this world would be smart enough to figure out the exact day he woke up? Still how long had it been since he had woken up, where was he, was he safe? He knew that Senku was far from the strongest person— he got winded from walking a mile or carrying a five kilogram box up the stairs!
He decided to follow the river he was pretty certain would lead him to the tree that Yuzuriha adored so much. He passed by statues upon statues of people, all trapped in their own minds like he had just been— it was a terrible thing to think about. He clenched his fists and started moving a little faster, while he was pregnant Senku was distracted by two topics— pregnancy and childrearing, and the strange illness that seemed to affect all the sparrows in Japan. He never told them too much about it, only requested they bring all the stone sparrows they found to him before throwing himself into studying them— if this was anything like that then Senku probably already had a good idea on how to fix this!
Senku was the smartest person Taiju knew, if he didn’t already know how to fix it then he was already working on figuring it out.
Because that’s the kind of person Senku was.
Even if he’d always deny it.
Finding Yuzuriha’s statue was a relief, tangled in roots and vines but undamaged, her face etched in a permanent confused frown that made Taiju enraged that he couldn’t protect her from the strange green light that caused all of this.
He knew she couldn’t hear him, knew that she was either trapped in the same void as he was or had lost herself to sleep like he secretly hoped she did, but he still found the same confession he wanted to give her so long ago slipping from his lips like water. He held it in for thousands of years, he couldn’t help himself even if only he and the tree could hear it.
But then he noticed something, Yuzuriha’s headband— it should have decayed or degraded but it remained. Then he realized that it wasn’t the same head ornament that her parents gifted her so many years ago, instead of the hard plastic it was made of smoothly carved bone— whoever made it put a lot of effort into getting it right. His eyes were caught by the message scribed into the tree and a smile pulled at his lips, his best friend was really so soft for them.
After carefully removing her from the tree’s protection he continued his trek up stream, the statue of her weighed no more than she did before and Taiju spent most of his childhood carrying Senku’s supplies— plus Senku. It wasn’t long before he found a clearing by the river, and nestled in the center were two buildings, one was on the ground with a flourishing garden attached to it and the other was built into a grand tree— it was only the faint sound of crying that got his body to carefully place Yuzuriha down and clammer up the ladder.
Taiju had heard his best friend cry a handful of times before but he remembered each fragile moment where the stone cold Senku let his walls down and simply weeped— this wasn’t it. This was the sound of a hiccuping child, screaming because this was the emptiest their stomach will ever be. Taiju didn’t hesitate to shove open the curtain that kept him from the source of the noise, red eyes met brown and Taiju’s breath shuddered with a mix of relief and guilt.
Senku was pressed back against a wall and not far from him was a wooden tub filled with red tinged water, his normally gravity defying hair lying down flat with sweat and water, red makeup smeared by freshly wept tears and his lips were bitten raw, still a wicked smile was spread across his face. A grin filled with pain, satisfaction, pride, and relief all at the same time.
In his arms, covered partially by the thick pelt of skin that covered his bare body, were the source of the noise— a pair of babies were bundled in Senku’s careful grip. One with thick golden waves that spiked up and the other with a puff of white, they reached and tugged at Senku’s hair but his best friend didn’t seem to mind.
“Took you long enough to wake up you big oaf, care to meet your nephew and niece?”
Taiju burst into tears.
+++
Through his tears, Taiju cleaned up the treehouse Senku had made as a homebase— dumping the tub that Senku gave birth in, cleaning with the soap Senku made from seashells of all things, and starting a fire to roast some mushrooms that Senku had apparently been living off of for the months he had been alone. That fact in itself made a wave of guilt crash into him, Senku had been alone and pregnant for months because Taiju couldn’t wake up, he had given birth alone because Taiju hadn’t woken up on time!
The guilt only grew tenfold when Senku directed him to a pile of clothes that he had made for him out of deer hide in preparation for his arrival. They were darker then the tunic that Senku put on after cleaning himself up but they still seemed to somewhat match, although Yuzuriha was the one who made all their clothes in the modern world clearly Senku managed to absorb some of her skills— their matching tunics were well crafted even if they weren’t the prettiest.
Right now they were sitting beside the fire, Taiju scarfing down his meal while Senku was preoccupied with feeding his kids. Taiju kept his eyes glued to the crackling fire so as to not look at his best friend’s exposed chest, but unwillingly his eyes flicked back up— only to be glued to Senku’s face. Even though he had cleaned off his messy makeup, his face hadn’t been smoothed back to the familiar scowl he used to keep people away, Taiju could tell something was wrong.
His eyes were somber, eyebrows creased in a curve rather than an arch, lips pressed together into a thin line. Without his typical scowl, his makeup, and his demeanor he seemed infinitely less invincible then he let everyone think he was— and he looked terribly vulnerable right now, and so very human.
Taiju’s eyes scanned the room Senku had built for them and noticed things that he had made, piles of what seemed to be books made from thin sheets of wood and written with charcoal— he recognized some of the titles as stories his grandparents had read to him when he was young, the others seemed to teach the basics of schooling like addition and subtraction, there seemed to books in both japanese and english. Taiju felt a fond smile pull at his lips, leave it to Senku to raise his kids to be bilingual. God knows Senku knew more languages than just two due to his travels.
Then he noticed a small board with many kanji written on it, some were crossed while others were circled reverently, it took a moment to realize that it was a list baby names and Taiju was reminded of the very same thing he and Yuzuhira pestered Senku about for months. Names were very important, when Senku had transitioned he chose a name that referenced the most important people in his life— Taiju was proud to be included in that short list.
Senku, or Thousand Sky.
Senku was always more thoughtful than he let on.
“So, what are their names?” He could have asked why he was making that expression, could have pestered and poked at the issue but Taiju knew that Senku would just clam up and refuse to answer. But Taiju could distract him, “C’mon tell me I’ve been waiting thousands of years to know!” Senku’s eyes flicked up to him, fondness flickering in place of the eternal worry that creased his brow. Senku huffed a laugh, “Always so impatient, you big oaf.”
“The boy’s name is Yorozuhi, and the girl’s name is Yorozuya.” Taiju’s grin widened, “Continuing the family tradition then?” Ten Thousand Days and Ten Thousand Nights, matching names for twins! “You know Yuzuhira is gonna make a ton of Sun and Moon themed clothes for them! She loves themed stuff like that!” Senku huffed again as they thought back to their old wardrobes, most of Senku’s clothes had clouds and stars painstakingly embroidered onto them, same for Taiju’s but with trees and other earthy things.
“Yeah, she’ll want to start the moment she wakes up.” The good mood Taiju managed to spark died like a flame in a rainstorm, the reality of their situation once again weighing down on Senku’s shoulders— Taiju cursed at himself internally for letting it happen. He went for a different method of distracting him, “You’ve already started working on a cure right?” Senku scoffed with faux offence, “Of course I have been.” After assuring the twins were done eating Senku reclasped his tunic and used a long, soft looking pelt to wrap his kids snugly to his torso— the motion was hesitant but practiced, Taiju didn’t doubt that Senku had been practicing that technique for months.
Senku led him down from the treehouse and into the building on the ground, inside was a laboratory that was filled with stone swallows and their feathers, clay gourds that were labeled with numbers and the kanji for failure, but the walls were lined with drying herbs and flowers, woven baskets filled with mushrooms and piles of thin wooden slabs with charcoal kanji scribed into them.
It was all so Senku that it honestly made Taiju a bit teary eyed.
Senku rambled on about his theories and the progress he made, Taiju didn’t understand most of it but he got the gist that the liquid that was in the cave was a key reason why they were able to wake up. All that really mattered to him was that Senku had a plan, like he always did.
While it was clear Senku wanted to get to work right away, the sun was already nearly set and Senku himself seemed exhausted. Taiju nearly smacked himself as a voice that sounded suspiciously like Yuzuriha scolded him for letting Senku move around so much when he had just given birth several hours ago. The threat of Taiju just carrying him to bed was enough to get Senku to willingly return to the treehouse, they both settled into the large pile of pelts that made up their bed with the twins still clinging to Senku.
Taiju was going to fall asleep when the sound of something scratching against wood caught his attention. On a thin slab of wood, Senku was patiently scratching at it with a piece of charcoal, Taiju looked over his shoulder to see that he was drawing the twins in an impressively realistic style! Taiju was in awe, Senku never had any interest in art other than blueprints— frankly the few things that Senku did draw turned out looking more demented than anything.
“Since when were you so good at art?” Senku barely blinked, his hand remaining steady as he colored the soft plumes of hair they were born with, “I need to keep records somehow.” Logical as ever, there were no cameras in this Stone World— but Taiju looked at the books made out of thin wood and bound with leather and noticed a pair of unbound drawings within the pages. Curiosity got the best of him, he grabbed the slabs of wood to find two people depicted on them, a man with an uncolored pompadour, pupilless black eyes and a smug grin, he wore a labcoat and two chokers on top of a tie. The other was a muscular man with painted lips and shaded curls, shiny dog tags hung loosely around his neck.
Taiju didn’t recognize these people, which said something considering everyone Senku knew he knew— except two people.
“Are these…?” Senku glanced over and his penstrokes faltered as his jaw tightened, a swirl of emotions in the red eyes that forever remained impassive. “Yeah, that’s Dr. Xeno Houston Wingfield and Commander Stanley Snyder.” The formal wording for the two men who were potentially his baby daddies was not lost on Taiju, for however foolish he may be with emotions he knew his best friend. Taiju recalled a hushed conversation he overheard between Yuzuriha and Senku not long before the petrification.
+++
“-you won’t even consider telling them?” Taiju stopped in his tracks, standing just outside the kitchen door where Yuzuriha and Senku were. The only sound other than the ticking of the clock was the sound of the fan that stayed on whenever someone cooked. The scent of most foods made Senku nauseous, especially eggs but those were a necessary part of his diet apparently.
“...I don’t see why it’s necessary.” Senku’s voice was quiet, almost ashamed. Yuzuriha made the same strangled noise she always made when they were doing something stupid or crazy, “You don’t see why it’s necessary!?” She hissed out, sounding endlessly frustrated with their friend. She breathed deeply before continuing, “Senku, one of them is the father of your child, them knowing is very important!”
The sound of a wooden spoon being placed down a little too loudly made him flinch, “I won’t make them feel obligated to ruin their lives because of me!” Yuzuriha went silent before she murmured, “Senku…” Her voice was thick with sympathy but Senku’s breath remained ragged, “… Stanley is the youngest, most decorated military officer in America’s history, and Xeno is one of the most accomplished scientists that ever graced NASA’s halls.” Mixed with the somber tone was genuine admiration, their talents were the thing that caught his attention in the first place, “If it gets out that one of them had gotten someone pregnant — someone who only turned eighteen the year they got him pregnant! — their reputations would be ruined! Everything they worked for—“
Taiju couldn’t hold himself back anymore as he listened to Senku spiral, storming into the kitchen and ignoring the shocked expressions of his closest friends. Senku wasn’t even able to react before he was lifted into Taiju’s arms and held in a tight hug, “Stop saying such self deprecating stuff! It’s not your fault!” Just like he always did Senku immediately struggled against his grip, flailing his limbs and hitting his shoulders, “You big oaf, how long have you been listening- I didn’t even say anything remotely self deprecating-” Yuzuriha stepped forward, placing a hand on Senku’s tense shoulder to stop his flailing, “It was implied.”
Senku ceased his struggle and Yuzuriha was able to wrap her arms around their friend, “You only hesitate on teaching people things when you’re worried it will hurt them, we can tell that you’re blaming yourself for this.” For a moment Senku’s shoulders only shook, but when Taiju’s pajama shirt grew wet from salty tears it became clear it wasn’t from anger.
As much as Taiju wanted to hold and comfort his best friend, the breakfast Senku was making was bordering on burning— he carefully released Senku into Yuzuriha’s grip as she led him to the kitchen table. He was quick to finish up what Senku had started making, his heart warmed that Senku wanted to make breakfast for all of them rather than just wake him up, his best friend was so considerate! They sat at the dining table in silence, the clock the only background noise unlike their usual consistent chatter. Tears were still dripping from Senku’s eyes, it was lucky he hadn’t put on any of his makeup yet, the package may claim that the stuff was waterproof but it didn’t stand up well against Senku’s constant stream of tears.
When all except Senku’s miso soup was eaten he spoke up, “I- I’ll tell them eventually.” They looked at him hopefully but Senku’s eyes remained glued to the broth, his spoon messed with the cubes of tofu and slivers of green onion (some distant part of his mind whispered something about cannibalism), “They have a right to know.” Taiju grinned and leaned over just as Senku put a spoonful of broth in his mouth, “That’s great! Maybe you should tell them when you tell your dad next week!”
Senku choked on the soup.
+++
“You… weren’t able to tell them, were you?” It was the day of the Petrification event that Senku planned to tell both his Dad and the fathers of his children about his pregnancy, in that order. With a shuddering sigh he continued to etch the image of his twins into the wooden slab, “Nope,” He had finished with their scrunched eyes and moved onto drawing the sleepy pouts that their faces were stuck in, “The old man had been so worried when I texted him that I had something important to tell him that he called me before school even ended— I was already leaving my club early so that I could watch your confession so I planned to tell him right there in the hallway.”
Senku’s scribbles slowed to a stop, “I couldn’t even get the words out before that green light happened.”
“Senku…” Taiju whispered before he sat up straight, “Don’t worry Senku, we’ll find Byakuya’s Statue! And he’ll get to meet Yorozuya and Yorozuhi before you know it!” They both ignored that Byakuya was in Space at the time, that without proper maintenance the ISS would have collapsed several centuries ago. They let themselves cling to hope because that was all they had.
Taiju glanced at the drawing of Snyder and Wingfield once more before his attention returned to the sleeping twins, “At least we know who the dad is, you said Albinism was recessive right?” Little Yorozuhi had thick blonde hair eerily reminiscent to the American soldier in the drawing, all he would need was a smear on his lips and he’d be Snyder’s clone! Little Yorozuya on the other hand had white hair just like Senku, maybe Snyder had some albinism genes hidden in his DNA after all.
“Yeah, I’m a little glad that it’s Snyder, objectively he’s the best candidate. His family has little to no known history of genetic illness and his immune system is impeccable, the worst thing about him is his addiction to those cancer sticks.” Taiju laughed heartily, the sound bouncing against the walls and filling their ears, “Leave it to Senku to decide who’s the best Father based on genetic factors!”
Suddenly Yorozuya’s face twitched, an expression of discontent on the newborn’s squishy face as she looked up at her too loud Uncle with a pair of big black eyes.
”…Ah.”