Chapter Text
With one hand Ukyo holds his cap onto his head, dragging it deep into his face. The other hand was currently held by his best friend who dragged him through the corridors of the Perseus. Neither of them looked back, they just walked as fast as possible to the cabin of the older one.
Gen opened the door, pushed his friend inside and closed it behind him. Both knew that no one dared to follow them, but now that they were in the safety and familiarity of Ukyo's room, he couldn’t hold back anymore.
His glassy eyes started to tear up and it was just running down his face from here on. His face puffed up quickly and his eyes and nose got all red.
Gen was still holding on to his hand and pulled him into a tight hug. The slightly shorter man was pressed against the other's chest and his cap flew onto the ground, neither of them cared.
“I-I-m so sorry” he ugly cried into the lilac yukata. “I don’t know what happened, I was so tired and everything was just too much…” his voice was muffled from being hugged and watered down from tears and snot that ran down his face.
“Let it all out, we're alone. You don’t have to explain yourself to me. I’m here for you” Gen hugged him even tighter.
And that's what he did. When Ukyo finally didn’t have any more tears to spill, he pushed himself from the hug. He tried to smear away any liquid from his face, so he could talk, but Gen was faster. He offered him a colourful handkerchief, it was yellow. The archer took it and noticed that it was tied to a green one. He then pulled at it more and a blue one followed tight to a red one.
“Sorry, I have like 20 of them tied together, the kids love that trick.” both needed to chuckle and the mood was slightly better. While Gen undid the node of the yellow one, Ukyo was blowing his nose and cleaning his face a bit. The Magician then tried to fiddle the other pieces of fabric back into his sleeve.
The white haired man stared at the piece of fabric. “Thank you for saving me. I didn’t know what to do”
“I shortly thought about the other possible outcomes there were. I was just waiting for a giant hole underneath you to open up and swallow you whole.” he made a giant circle with his hand to gesture it.
“Yeah, that might have been better.” Ukyo’s lips showed a small smile at the absurd idea of that.
“Bullshit, it would be such a shame to have a beautiful smile like yours go to waste. Also, if you're gone, who should I turn to for the newest ship gossip?” he teased and earned a slightly wider smile from that.
But that smile disappeared as quickly as it came, when the sonarman looked at the door, revisiting the memories of the scenery in the cafeteria.
“Do you think they all hate me now? Well more than they already did, after I betrayed the Empire of might.” he remembered looking into all these stunned faces after his outburst. They were all so shocked about what he was capable of.
Gen had finally his hands free again from hiding the string of fabrics and he immediately grabbed something again. Well, someone. He took Ukyo's head into his hands and forced him to look at him. His normally jester personality was gone and he was serious.
“Listen to me, and don’t you dare say anything like that anymore. No one hates you, you're one of the last people to hate on this ship. Tsukasa and Hyoga were forgiven so why do you still think people would blame you, for doing the right thing and supporting Senku?”
Ukyo tried to look away, but despite the others' slim stature and lack of muscles, he couldn’t break free from Gen's grip.
“I’m not done here. You have massive sleep deprivation, everyone would have snapped way earlier. Would it have been better to go to Senku-chan before anything happens and ask for earplugs and some sleeping medicine? Probably."
Ukyo's eyes widened. “Senku could make me some earplugs?”
“Sweetie, he made a phone in the Stone Age and we’re planning on going to the moon. Of course he can.”
“I feel so stupid.” he sighed.
“For that, you should feel stupid.” Gen let finally go off the other once face and bent down to pick up his signature cap. He then pulled it onto the other general. “Now try to get some sleep. I go and get something to eat and ask for Senku-chan to make them quickly.”
He turned on his heels and was about to open the door, when the mentalist noticed a tug on his yukata.
“Do you think he is okay?” Ukyo had already his hat down his face again, so his saddening face wasn’t as visible.
Gen took a deep breath. “Well you basically yelled at him, that he is the most annoying person ever…” Ukyo's eyes started to tear up again.
“But,” he continued with a grin, “You also told him that you notice him immediately, wherever he is, that he is 24/7 on your mind and that you’re listening to his heartbeat. So I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
“W-wait, I didn’t mean it like that I was just, I mean I was trying to say…” The switch from a sad face to a surprised one was way too quickly, and his already red face from crying now turned several shades darker out of embarrassment.
“Oh? So what were you trying to say then?” Gen's grin grew wider.
“I like him. Well I mean not like that. He is a friend. A good one but nothing…more. He is the captain and I’m the sonarman, that's it. We spend a lot of time together at the bridge because of that and that's it.” Ukyo tried to talk himself out of it, but the more he talked the redder he got and the deeper the hole got, he dug himself in.
Gen sighed heavily inside his head. “You already told everyone what you don’t like about Ryusui, but what do you like about him?”
Ukyo fidgeted at his cap. “I think I like how smart he is, how much knowledge he has about ships and the weather, his instincts as he calls it. I also like his wide smile and how he is not afraid to call out what he wants, what he desires. How he can stay positive and find a solution to every problem. I like that he seems to never be afraid of anything.” The more he talked, the more his saddened face turned into a smile, he hasn't noticed it himself, but Gen would have loved to snap a picture of the happy and flustered man in front of him.
“Well maybe, after enough sleep, you should tell him that yourself. I'm sure he'll appreciate it.” he grinned, clearly satisfied with the outcome of the conversation. The first step of these two lovebirds, clearly being head over heels for each other, was laid.
“Wait. No! What?” and with a clearly flustered and confused Ukyo inside, Gen left the room and headed to the lab.
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After Gen and Ukyo fled the scene, no one dared to make the first move. Everyone was too shocked to do anything, maybe a bit afraid to make any sound at all.
“I have the perfect solution. I need the lab!” Chrome was the first one to speak, well he jumped from his seat and shouted it, while running out of the room.
He had been thinking the entire time how he could help his poor friend, who just wanted to get some sleep. And when he had his solution, he needed to jump into action immediately.
Everyone else started to slowly pick up whatever they were doing before Ukyo's outburst. Only Ryusui was still standing still. His face now only showing surprise, he still was shocked how quickly the two others were gone.
“Are you okay? Do you want to talk?” A deep but calm voice approached him. Tsukasa was grabbing his shoulder to provide comfort. “He went off on you the most, so if you need something.”
Ryusui freed himself from the touch of the other man. “Thanks, but it’s okay. I originally came here to help François out a bit. I think they still need some help.” He looked into the direction of the kitchen and went off as well.
Normally he was the person to fight not flight in stressful situations. But there was nothing to fight here.
He felt some eyes on him while he walked off. He appreciated that they were worried for him. But right now he wanted to be somewhere quiet and alone to sort out his feelings. Quiet…he had to chuckle at this own thought. Ukyo was right, he was a lot of things, but never quiet. Maybe that's why he fell in love with him, because they were such opposites. But maybe that wasn't enough.
François was helping Suika serve some crew members when they noticed that their master went past them, heads down and without his usual positive aurora.
“Suika dear, is it ok if I go into the kitchen for a while? If you need help, just call me.” They rubbed the little girl over her back and then went after Ryusui.
The man already went to the potatoes and started peeling one. François smiled to themselves, he had done that a lot as a small child after Sai left. Whenever he wanted some advice, well when he wanted advice from his butler.
They just went in as well and started to work beside him. To everyone else they would have offered an open ear. But with Ryusui it didn't take long for him to start talking.
“I know he didn't mean it as an insult and I know that with his hearing, it's really hard on the ship. And I really don't blame him on anything he said…but…” he put the knife down.
“I really thought we had something, I don't know…special? Not that there were clear enough signs to make a move. But we really worked extremely well while building the ship and on the bridge we often didn't need to say anything to know what the other wants to communicate.”
He looked at his butler, “Maybe loving the sea isn't enough to build something more than friendship. Maybe the phrase, that two opposites attract each other, doesn't work on us, because we are too different.”
“Young Master, I don't think you only have the sea in common. You both would do anything for your friends and are really quick at noticing if something is wrong.”
“Well if I would have been a good friend and captain, I would have noticed something was brewing inside him sooner. But I was just so distracted. I was thinking about confessing and was so distracted by that thought alone.”
François was looking directly at him. “But normally you would do anything to make sure that everyone feels good. You can't look inside everyones head. Ukyo clearly didn't want to bother anyone. Gen as his best friend also didn't notice it.”
Ryusui stared into the air for a moment, clearly debating internally what to do. Then his mood switched.
“You're right! Maybe I can't be the perfect partner, but I can be a great friend!” He snapped with his fingers.
Then bringing them to his chin to think better. “Let's see, Chrome already went to the lab. So he clearly had a brilliant idea. But I'm not a science guy.”
François turned to the hanging cabins behind them.”Yes, but there is something else you can do. Do you remember what I did, when you had a hard time sleeping as a kid?”
“Right, you brew some lavender tea, it's calming and makes you extremely sleepy. Do you…” he couldn’t finish his question, because François already answered by showing him a small bottle with lilac flowers.
“Excellent François, let's make some calming tea and something small to eat. Ukyo always likes your bread, so just cut a few slices with some light vegetables. I got the feeling that he doesn’t really like meat.”
So they went to work. François was thinking of pushing their master a bit more about the relationship between Ukyo and him. Because they already noticed that there is the potential of more than friendship. But they knew Ukyo wasn't at this point so all they could do was watch and make sure that Ryusui stays positive.
____________________
Meanwhile in the lab:
“Senku! Do we still have some beeswax?” Chrome stormed into the small room and screamed into it.
Senku was picking his ear. “Calm down, I'm already on it. Gen just explained to me what happened. And yes beeswax is good for now. But for real earplugs we'll make some foam out of the oil.”
“Earplugs? Oh man so you already had something for that in your time?” then he turned to Gen “and why are you back so soon, where is Ukyo?”
“I think without Earplugs Ukyo-chan wouldn't have survived this long. Our world was way louder. And don't worry about him, he is safe in his room. And I just wait for dear Senku-chan to finish the first batch of beeswax earplugs.” he had his hands into his kimono.
“Yeah but I'm a billion percent sure that the petrification healed his ears and made his hearing more sensitive. He told me something like that once. So we need to be more careful from now on, if we want a sane sonarman.”
“Haha, yes, I want every person on my ship to feel good” Ryusui appeared at the door.
“Your mood changed quickly. What do you have there?” Chrome turned around and pointed at the cup of tea.
“François gave me the idea for some lavender tea to help sleeping” he smiled.
“That's really sweet of you, Ryusui dear. I'm really sure Ukyo-chan would appreciate it if you brought it to him.” Gen hid his smirk behind his sleeves.
“Wait me...but…” Ryusui tried to complain but Senku was faster.
“Great, I just finished these. I need Chrome and the mentalist for the real deal, so you're perfect for the job.” Senku put a small box with the wax into the captain's hand.
“Yes yes, hurry, before the tea gets cold.” Gen pushed Ryusui out of the lab and closed it, before the other could intervene.
“Why Ryusui, wasn't he the one Ukyo wants to see the least right now?” Chrome was clearly confused.
“The exact opposite, my dear Chrome, he is the only one Ukyo-chan should see now. Especially with the lavender tea. That was smart from François.” he smiled wider.
“Why that? I mean the tea, lavender is relaxing, but why should it be delivered by Ryusui?”
“Because lavender is a symbol for queer love, and our short gay king might get that hint.” Gen explained, being fully aware that Chrome didn't get any of that. He then looked at Senku.
“Don't look at me, I won't ever give you lavender.” he picked his ear again.
“A man can dream, can’t he?”