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Here lies Chrome on the three combined chairs at the library, waiting for Ryusui to show up to study together. Chrome is a smart student, he almost secures perfect scores on every science subject exams in the bag. But he’s not the type that underestimates knowledge. He’s the head of the science club in his high school now, and his big, curious brain never stops learning and experimenting new and weird things throughout his club period. Ryusui, on the other hand, is the lazy brat that rarely gets good grades. So he kinda used Chrome to teach him mathematics and science on their earlier days (since Ryusui also had money and wealth to repay him), but they got closer and closer each day. Nowadays Chrome without Ryusui is almost like a kite without its thread. Just the precious bffs.
After this semester’s exam, they both have plans to go to a seminar held by Soyuz University, just to have fun and learn more things together. Chrome wants to enter the astronomy major there, so it’s a win win situation to attend that free convention. Plus, they will get to see Ishigami Senku, the noble world record holder as the youngest person to build a functioning space ship. And that space ship, called Sen0401, was just launched to land on Japan’s satellite dock two months ago. What an achievement.
Chrome scrolls through his twitter while waiting for Ryusui, because he loves the quick updates about space and science there. Not to mention there are many shitposters around that often share dank science memes and tweets that he really likes for entertainment. After 5 minutes scrolling on famous meme posters’ accounts, Ryusui comes with three thick notebooks on hand. He actually has one of the best writing in their school, so having three books for his tidy scribbles is nothing surprising. He likes to write after all. Chrome gets up, and he slides his own notes to the blond.
“I thought you’re gonna do all the talking for this session?” that’s the first thing Ryusui banters about when he sees Chrome shrugging with evil face.
“Come on, nothing’s better than you try it yourself first! These are the similar questions as what Kokuyo-sensei gave us yesterday!” the brunet laughs.
Ryusui sighs, “You’re such a pain in the ass.”
Chrome smirks, “Yeah, I am!”
But Ryusui works on the list of math questions Chrome just made instead of whining nevertheless. They both know it’s for the better good.
---
After studying together, they talk about their initial plan to go to Soyuz University. The campus is quite far from their high school, it’s located on other city with around 4 hours of ride, so Chrome suggests they should go really early if they want to ride the public transportation.
“Chrome, do you really forget we have Francois?! You don’t have to worry about transportations’ fee or such! Francois can take us there as easy as—“ He snaps his fingers, “Just like that!”
Chrome’s eyes widens, like he just found a treasure. Then he starts to nod slowly as he comes to realization that this Ryusui is the rich brat they’re talking about. Of course it will be easy to go anywhere since Ryusui has a butler. Ryusui replies his nods with a big smile and a thumb up. “Then it’s settled. We just have to get ready, wear good clothes and let Francois do the rest.”
“Cool then! Let’s ace this exam and go for fun together~!”
---
Two weeks of their exam period is over without them realizing. Ryusui still struggled with some science subjects even though Chrome had already taught him well. But Chrome reassured him that results never betrays effort. And when the grades were announced, Ryusui was proud for having improvements on his mathematics and chemistry. Chrome still gets the perfect scores in science subjects as usual, and his Japanese literature’s score is also reached 80 now, unlike 60 like he usually had. These scores are worth to celebrate for both of them.
“I’ve contacted the university to confirm about the seminar event. We will go tomorrow at 6, because the seminar starts at 10. Is it okay if you have to get ready that early?”
Ryusui shakes his head and puts a smirk on his face. “Francois wakes up waaay earlier than that. They definitely can manage.”
“I’m talking about you, sleepyhead. You’re the one that always wakes up late.” He pinches Ryusui’s cheek.
“Ow ow— stop that!” he winces, “I know I often wake up at 8 but Francois can kick my ass off the bed really easily. I definitely can!”
So the next day, Chrome wears his most comfortable outfit to go for their long trip. He waits in front of his house for Francois and Ryusui to pick him up, just like what Ryusui said before they parted. He puts his favorite blue-black sneakers with simple black trousers and t-shirt, completed with his gray hoodie that he never forgets to roll the sleeves up to his elbows. To be honest Chrome doesn’t want to bring anything, but he thinks he should carry a wallet and a bottle in case he’s dehydrated.
When Ryusui and Francois come, Chrome is a bit surprised about how different his clothing is compared with Ryusui’s. He is the fashion icon of their high school, he admits, but Chrome never thinks Ryusui can be that stylish. They never went for a long ride before, so Ryusui mostly just wears his comfy outfit rather than a turtleneck with a long coat, and fancy boots that is definitely expensive looking from its material.
“You’re really have to flex your wealth like that? Where did you learn how to dress?” Chrome gets into the car.
“My boyfriend taught me.” Ryusui replies, “He can be a model already if he doesn’t study in marine biology for the sake of his hobby.” He continues.
Chrome still stares at the blonde’s cool outfit, “Hmm I see.” He’s too mesmerized in his appearance rather than focusing on what Ryusui tells him. And by ending that conversation, their car departs on the long trip to meet the famous Ishigami Senku and his first-ever seminar held.
---
This Senku is such a cool guy, and he’s more interesting to see in person, Chrome thinks. Senku is still on his 2nd year, but his inventions is just as cool as professors’ already. The way he talks and the words he uses when he presents his newly designed space ship don’t sound like what an undergraduate would speak, at all. If Chrome didn’t know that Senku is still studying on Soyuz University, Chrome would probably assume that the leek-haired guy is an astronaut, even the one that already comes back on the moon, probably.
Senku likes to joke within his seminar and talk show sessions. Sometimes he talks about alien memes. Sometimes it’s about the recent area 51 raid joking. Since he’s still in the young age, not much older than Chrome and Ryusui, he really blends well with the teenager’s trending topics. And what makes Chrome amazed is how well he tells his joke in a way that everyone still understand. Senku knows the middle-aged scientists are there, too. He thought Senku is that antisocial nerd in real life, judging from his noble achievement, but he’s wrong. Senku will probably match Ryusui’s bland, cringe humor, but he also gets those dad jokes that are sometimes ridiculously disappointing.
Chrome almost takes notes on everything Senku says, but there’s a time, some slight seconds, that he spends just to stare at Senku’s face. His leek hair determines that Senku is totally a science freak, probably crazy as well, but Ishigami Senku has an appealing features too. Not only as the youngest, Chrome wants to claim that Senku is also the most handsome scientist that ever successfully made a space ship. Senku doesn’t smile when he explains the mechanics of the machines he designed, but when he tells jokes, that slight smile he shows to the audience is what Chrome gets focused at. Minute by minute, Chrome realizes that he probably not just respects the spiky-haired scientist. He admires—no, maybe he falls in for more.
“Are you here for the space knowledge or for the guy?” Ryusui nudges him. Turns out Ryusui notices the gleam on Chrome’s brown eyes every time he stares to the older man.
Chrome insists. “What the fuck are you talking about, I just saw him for the first time here. I’m admiring him. Nobody’s starting to have a crush here.” However, if the light in the hall is bright enough, Ryusui would see the red flush all over Chrome’s cheeks.
---
It’s been one and a half hours since Senku’s seminar started, and none of the audiences nor Senku himself even losing focus. Senku tells them that he ever counted the seconds for two months straight without even stopping. That one’s hard to believe, Chrome thinks, but he brushes the thought off because nothing’s impossible for Senku. So Chrome agrees to whatever he says in the meantime, and laughs along when Senku continues to tell that his step father almost fainted knowing Senku didn’t get any sleep for that long when he was 8 years old.
“Speaking about focus, there was this one time when I went to Indonesia with three of my friends for a research.” He starts, shifting his mic closer to his mouth while the other hand rests on his hip. “We were currently studying the endemic disease in Sumatra. All of us three were on our first year, and I was very excited until I found out that I had to climb a mountain to go to the village, the main destination.”
“This professor,” Senku continues, “Well what I remember from him are his long beard and the big wart beside his nose. He accompanied us, but he didn’t even know that we had to go hiking to reach the destination! And because of that, we didn’t have any extra water supply for our trip. I was like, fuck, I’m gonna die here. My brain probably has ten billion percent endurance, but not my physics. I’m a weakling, you know.” The audience laugh and Senku nods, “Thank you for mocking my jelly legs I suppose.” He ends the joke with a giggle.
Chrome listens to the young scientist’s story with enthusiasm. But the little spot on his frontal lobe reminds him that the story seems familiar. Sumatra, with two of his friends and a professor with a huge wart. He thinks he had heard it somewhere, but he can’t recall it.
“But Taiju—he’s the big guy from our team, and he’s on the same class with me now—he reassured me that we probably would find water on the way so we finally just went for it. YOLO.” He takes a breath, “After around 5 hours of hiking already—we found a river, and we took some water there. Taiju wanted to pee, too. So he decided to pee on one of the empty bottle, kinda far from us.”
“Wait, Ryusui—“ Chrome grabs Ryusui’s shoulder because he needs to talk about this right here right now. “I swear I’ve heard this story somewhere, what the fuck.”
“Maybe a déjà vu?” The blond answers.
“No! I swear—“ Chrome whispered louder than before, before he turns back to Senku who’s still on the big stage. “Because I know what comes next. He lost focus after 2 more hours of hiking and—“
“And then we continued to walk. Around 2 more hours of hiking, I was already so exhausted and it started to affect my brain, too. I began to lose focus.” Senku scratches his nape, and giggled for the big reveal.
“He picked the water to drink, but he took the wrong one.” Chrome says, hands still clutching on Ryusui’s coat while his stare is glued to Senku, waiting for it. Ryusui starts to become curious, he squints his eyes towards Chrome but he’s all ears to the young scientist in front of them.
“Taiju! I said, it was almost like sighing. Before he even turned to me I took the water bottle on the side of his bag and drink it.” Senku grimaces.
“It was his piss!” Chrome jolts, he almost stands up but Ryusui pulled him to sit back down even before Chrome’s feet stand up completely.
Senku laughs again before he reveals the climax, “And fuck, it was his pee and I didn’t even realize!”
@OtterSpace: And I drank his piss instead of water. What the fuck- that was the worst experience in research outgoing I’ve ever done. I regret that, but at least it gave me a lesson of how ammonia tastes like.
[End of the thread]
“Oh my God—“ Chrome’s jaw drops, he took a long breath from the warm air that filled the hall, he was unsure about this before but the climax hits him back to the place that he tried to recall. Chrome had seen that tweet before, from a person he follows on twitter. From a person that has around 15k followers because of his interesting tweets, memes, and shitposts. Senku is the OtterSpace. He’s the one behind that account. Chrome brings his hand to cover his mouth, still not believing any of this. He gasps, takes more long breathes behind his palm and gulps several times. “Oh my Go—“
“Chrome quit sighing you almost sounds like moaning in the hall—and tell me what are you thinking!” Ryusui slaps his cheeks with not much force but it still brings Chrome back to where they were.
“Ryusui!” Chrome runs both of his hands throughout his brunet hair. “Oh fuck—He’s the OtterSpace, a twitter account that often shares memes and shitposts about science.”
Ryusui rises his eyebrows. “Oh you mean like the stan twitter?”
“Yeah maybe—I don’t know but he’s like—the funny guy that always has thousands of retweets and likes on his posts because they’re all hilarious. I’ve followed him since even we met, Ryusui! Since I was in junior high!! I’ve been a fan!” Chrome almost jumps and Ryusui has to sedate him back to his seat. He ends of being shaken by both of Chrome’s excited hands.
“So you’re telling me that the guy you’re talking about is Senku, because you’ve seen him telling the exact same story there?” The taller guy is now trapped between Chrome’s hold, still by his side, and he just nods quickly so Chrome can let go of his grip. When Chrome leans back to his seat and sighs once more, Ryusui tries to calm the atmosphere down. He knows Chrome was whispering but Senku probably already noticed there’s this weird crazy guy at the back shaking his friend’s shoulder after hearing about his pee-drinking story.
“Yes, Ryu—yes. Oh my God I’m gonna talk to him I’m gonna—“
“You should confirm it first before going crazy on him, you know. He’s a respected famous person now, after all.” Ryusui replies. He glances at Chrome one more time, and he chuckles on how wide his eyes now, hands both covering his mouth while listening more to Senku’s banters.
---
“Whoops. I think the time is almost up?” Senku turns his head, looking to the staff behind the curtain, confirming if it was three hours of talking already. It took some seconds to wait for a reply and Senku beams up at the audience again, smiling gently. “Okay, so it’s been three hours. I’m glad I didn’t take longer, we all must be tired if we go further, hahah.” Senku puts his pointer back in his pocket and takes a drink.
Now that Chrome knows this guy is the person behind the most admirable person he has on twitter, and the fact that Chrome respects Senku in person, it makes his heart beats just two times faster.
“Any questions?”
His hand is itching to raise and his lips are trembling to ask if he’s really the OtterSpace, but his mind (and Ryusui’s hand preventing above his) says to not do it. Senku probably has been hiding in that stan twitter account, he wants to have fun under other name and fake identity. So Chrome looks towards Ryusui, and they share the code to try chasing him after the seminar. If they can’t, Ryusui always has the money to infiltrate his class, his laboratory, or even his manager, if he has one.
“Please do mind that I’m still a college student myself, I’m not a famous person or anything. I’m not an important person that has layers of approval and contacts before meeting me. So if you want to chat or ask me something, please feel free to hit me up on my Instagram. Or maybe meet me directly at the canteen, as long as you’re not barbaric.” Senku laughs as he puts his other hand on the pocket and now Chrome’s stare is glued on every little thing he does. Yes. I’m gonna meet him after this. He’s pretty humble, I’ll try to ask him.
The seminar is dismissed, Chrome and Ryusui directly goes out from the big hall and walks to the northern gate so they have a chance to meet Senku there. Ryusui tells the plan to ask for Senku’s autograph, just for an excuse and formality before they get into the real question. The brunet nods immediately on Ryusui’s suggestion before he reaches his backpack to pull out his notebook so Senku can put his sign there.
---
“Wanna have coffee at two?” Taiju asks Senku, he had been waiting at the backstage. The two are still best friends since in junior high, and Taiju is still Senku’s lab-mate until this very second. Senku agrees on the big guy’s offer, but Taiju says he’s gonna join as soon as possible because he has to go to the restaurant to pick his girlfriend up.
“Cool. It’s alright.” Senku says, fixing his white shirt, tucking it deeper into his pants so it looks tidier. “I have to complete my last chapter on my research paper too so I think I can work on it alone at the café before you joining.” They walk towards the parking lot, and that’s where the college duo meet the high school duo.
Chrome swallows his spit, he’s not sure how to start now that he’s looking at the gorgeous, tired Senku walking outside. Senku’s tie is loosened now, but his white shirt is still tidy and all tucked in because he just fixed it before. He rolls up both sleeves and it makes him look cooler, very hot and attractive. His gray cotton pants hugging his waist and thighs really tight, and it’s a pencil type of cotton trousers so it traces Senku’s long legs—it makes Senku’s appearance looks so tall, even though he’s still shorter than Taiju. He’s like a whole hot business man, walking from his office seductively to attract his coworkers.
“Cut the eye-fucking out. Just go with it.” Ryusui sees that Senku just parted with the person beside him, and he pushes Chrome a bit so they can walk closer to the scientist.
Senku notices the nervous brunet with a tall blond man behind, so he calls them. “Hi!” he yells, not too loud because they’re stepping closer already. “Are you from the seminar before?”
Chrome stops right in front of him, buckets of sweat are forming on his scalp and his temple, face starting to go red. But Chrome brings up his notebook to Senku’s sight, giving him signal that he wants an autograph (and to cover his embarrassment too).
“Um, my friend here is a science freak, like you too.” Ryusui laughs, and Senku reacts to the joke he said by chuckling too. “He wants your sign.” He continues. Chrome just nods lightly beside him.
“Ahh… Sure! Why do I feel like a celebrity already, giving people autographs like this.” His humble self takes the notebook from Chrome’s hand and reaches out for his pen inside his shirt pocket. Then he begins to ink Chrome’s little paper with his messy scribble of his name, Ishigami Senku. “Thank you for attending the seminar, you guys.”
“Uh—areyoutheOtterSpaceI’vebeenafan!!” Chrome blurts out while widening his eyes.
“I’m sorry, pardon?” Senku averts his attention from the paper.
“Are you… Are you @OtterSpace on twitter?” the brunet repeats the question. It’s hit or miss, now. “If so, I’m a follower of yours. I’m a fan. @KuromuYabe.” Chrome tries to calm himself down by taking long breathes while continuing his explanation. “I know it’s a private question so I was waiting to meet you outside like this. If you’re not, then I’m sorry if I bothered yo—“
“No! No… I figured. I see.” Senku gives back the notes, putting his pen back before continuing. “I actually saw you freaked out on the corner seat after I told you the story in Sumatra.” The famous scientist starts to tell his point of view from the time Chrome found out. “So I was kind of expecting… Does that guy behind know that I ever told the same, fucked up tale on my twitter?” and he shrugs. “Turns out I’m right.”
Chrome sighs out his relief to the fact that he’s not talking with a wrong person. He stares at his notebook with shining eyes because he’s overly happy that he just got the autograph of a famous scientist and his favorite twitter user. He can’t be happier than this. Now both Senku and OtterSpace user know his existence here, and knows the existence of @KuromuYabe between thousands of his followers.
They stay in an awkward silence for a minute or two before Senku finally asks the younger boys, “So, since you know my other identity already,” Senku gestures the apostrophe sign with his long, slender fingers. “How about getting a followback on our next appointment?”
“W-wait what do you mean by next appointment?”
“Don’t you want to have a coffee or some beverages together while… maybe… getting along with me?” Senku offers an arranged coffee date appointment because Chrome has now known of his “real” self. What a humble guy. “I thought you’re my fan.” Senku jokingly gets upset, crossing his arms on his chest.
“I’d love that… but I actually lives in the other city.” Chrome puts down his notebook, kind of shy about rejecting the offer and he feels bad about it. However, Ryusui pats his shoulder from the back.
“I can help you arrange it, Chrome. Who even has a chance to talk with the famous scientist, and the famous twitter account in person himself?!” He reassures the shorter boy so he can meet Senku for the second time, probably more, too. Chrome looks back and forth between Ryusui and Senku, and before he can even answer, Senku cuts the conversation.
“It’s okay, I can arrange this one. You two are maybe… high school students? Don’t waste your time going here. My college has a two weeks break for the research project. I can go to your place on both weekends and weekdays.” Senku says, and Chrome’s eyes beam to the offer. He still feels guilty about making Senku suddenly meets a fan and puts new plans on his break, but he’s still happy nonetheless.
“O-okay!” the brunet replies.
“Hm. So where’s your high school?”
---
Chrome feels like the luckiest guy in the world. He meets his favorite twitter user, even Senku isn’t a celebrity, and he also meets the same guy who has a record for being the smartest man alive. He gets his autograph, and now he has a privilege as his stan twitter fan that knows his identity in both worlds, so Senku treats him like his own little brother. Not to mention that Senku is so kind that he’s always the one going stand-by first when they meet at a café or a restaurant.
“I did an experiment today.”
“Oh, what is it?” Senku drinks his banana smoothie while eyes focused on the younger guy. Chrome glad that Senku is genuinely as happy as he is every time they meet. Because Senku almost shows no interest to the people around him. He puts his expressions all out only to impress the investors or the professors on stage. Back then, Chrome was afraid that Senku treated him like this for the sake of his secret that has double identities. But lately, he starts to show more and more interest on Chrome because what he’s been doing is just as weird and as interesting as Senku wants to be.
“Our school doesn’t have tools and materials to do weird things like you probably did in your lab, but we had a blood culture test! It was fun because I teased Ryusui that the bacteria can infect him!” Chrome giggles and he catches Senku smiling at him.
And somehow, the gentle smile Senku gives always makes him flustered.
Chrome doesn’t know when did this begin, but he starts to get very embarrassed pretty often when he’s beside Senku. The way his cheeks feel hot at the time Senku bought him a drink and served it to him, or the way his heart starts beating rapidly when Senku went to his house to study together about physics. He knows this is something different from admiration and respect, he knows this is probably a high school crush, or maybe love, but he’s not sure if his heart leads him into loving the college student that is 3 years older than him.
“You wanted to go to Soyuz University, right?” Senku asks. The other responds by an excited nod.
“Study hard for it. Then once you’re accepted, we’re gonna go crazy on our laboratory together.” Another sip of his banana smoothie, Senku convinces Chrome to be his partner in crime. The younger replies in a big, bright smile.
He notices that Senku is hiding something from him too, because he keeps coughing lightly whenever he smiles like this to the other. He saw the red stains on Senku’s cheeks, though.
What is this? Does he… too…?
---
Chrome is at the canteen, buying a sandwich from the store before walking towards Ryusui who is currently having a curry cuisine on his lunch. He takes a seat beside him and starts munching his beef sandwich. They don’t talk because both of their mouths are currently busy with the food, but they share thoughts from their minds before they swallow their lunches.
“Ryusui.” Chrome begins. He’s replied with a little ‘hm’ from his longtime friend because Ryusui is still chewing the meat and carrot. Chrome sighs, he doesn’t know how to start this conversation because what he’s been through now is totally different from Ryusui’s, who started dating because both parties already loved each other since they met.
“You’re an expert in relationships, I suppose.” Chrome is fiddling his index fingers, tapping on each other’s fingertip lightly before he goes on. “I’m having a complicated feelings now, with Senku.” He says, before taking another bite of his sandwich.
Ryusui swallows his curry and answers right way. “What’s the matter? What I see is both of you are like lovebirds already.” He chugs his water while waiting for what Chrome wants.
“I mean—I just don’t know if he will accept me if I… confess.” His voice is muffled with the stuff inside his mouth. “I started to realize that I’ve been falling for him, and I know he’s not a dense person to begin with. He must’ve gotten the signs that I like him.” he gulps, and he takes a deep breath afterwards. “But I’m not sure how will he react if I confess. He probably will reject it…”
“What makes you think he won’t reciprocate your feelings?”
“Maybe because… I’m still in high school? And he’s busy with his college tasks and stuff. I’m afraid I’ll be a bother to him if I tell him the truth about my crush on him.” The sandwich is staying still on his right hand, while his other knuckles support Chrome’s chin. He wants to try a relationship with Senku, since they’ve been meeting occasionally for more than three months now. They’re getting closer, and Chrome can’t resist the growing feeling inside him to like the other man.
“Look, Chrome.” Ryusui stops whatever business he was doing with his food and turns his whole body to his best friend. “I’ve been dating with Ukyo for two years, he’s on the 4th year in college and we never had a problem with that.” The blond comments. “So your relationship will be fine too with Senku if you’re trying to balance your priorities.”
Chrome looks confused, and kind of startled. “Wait…Ukyo is in college?!”
“Didn’t I tell you before? He’s in marine biology major!”
“I thought Ukyo is also a high school student in other city!”
Ryusui face-palms and slides his hand downwards throughout his face. “Chrome, life is nothing like a cringe soap opera nor movies when the characters must be falling in love with their same-aged friend. Or a senior in the same school.” He explains, “I met Ukyo when he was on the 2nd year, he was my teammate at one point in the game and we talked more through the chat. Now we can even comfortably switching on bed because we’ve been in a long, unexpected relationship.” Ryusui takes another full spoon of his curry and shoves it into his mouth. “Surprising, isn’t it?” he says.
Chrome looks dumbfounded and he can’t believe Ryusui just told him this right now. They’ve been friends since before Ryusui dated Ukyo, but he never knew Ukyo is way older than them both. He never meets Ryusui’s partner, and he never asked either.
“I thought the Chrome I know is the overly-confident Chrome that takes all risks to achieve his dreams.” Ryusui mocks his friend, but with encouraging words. “But when it comes to love, he’s a coward?! Tch, I just knew this.” He teases him more and more.
“Shut up!” Chrome hits Ryusui’s back with his palm, finishing his sandwich faster than he ever did. After he finishes his lunch, he stares at Ryusui while rolling his sleeves, determined to take his move. “Next time I’m meeting you, I’m already dating Senku.”
---
Senku doesn’t have any more break time, but now going to the café near Chrome’s high school becomes a routine that he rarely missed on weekends. The ride with car isn’t too long compared with public transportation, so he doesn’t mind to drive back and forth every Saturday just to meet his little pupil and fan.
Come to think of it, Senku is not sure what Chrome is to him now, neither his pupil nor his number #1 fan. They met on the seminar months ago, and the reveal of @OtterSpace and @KuromuYabe was so unexpected, and it somehow led them to this. When they shared coffee and beverages together at the café, Senku felt this kind of warmth and comfort from the younger boy, the one that he never got when he’s at the university, whether with his friends or even with his step-father at home. Senku admires every one of his close relatives, he loves them, but it’s a different feeling for Chrome. Chrome just became something more from being his fan. Because Senku wants to meet him more often. He wants more affection, he wants to see more of his smile. He wants to kiss him.
Kiss him?
By the time he arrives at the usual café, Chrome is already there, sitting on their favorite spot at the corner. Chrome is blowing his hot tea gently while staring at the other glass full of iced coffee in front of him. There is also a plate full of honey-flavored donuts and Senku smiles at it. He bought the treats for them today.
“Hi!” Chrome stands too quickly when Senku shows up to their table together. Senku ruffles Chrome’s hair while placing the paper bag on the table between them. The sit and Chrome looks very curious about the thing he just brought right now.
“What is this??” Chrome’s eyes widen, and he’s very excited to see what’s inside.
“Just open it.” Senku says as he takes his coffee and drinks it.
Chrome’s hands are carefully taking the paper bag and pull it towards himself, before his face looks down to peek. After noticing what it is, Chrome’s head snaps to see directly at Senku. The scientist just shrugs it off. And when Chrome takes out the pile of small stones to their sight. Sure, Senku definitely knows each of the stones’ name, he wants to explain each of them, but he’s too busy staring at the overwhelmed Chrome in front of him.
“Senku… Are these—“
“Mhm, yes! For you to collect.” Senku cuts him off.
Chrome gasps in enthusiasm. He picks up each of the stones to see it carefully from up close, and it just makes him happy that Senku brought these for him.
“Senku, thank you so much for this. They’re beautiful!” Chrome looks at Senku, and what he sees is just a blessing. Senku shows his rare, small smile and sparkly eyes to the brunet, he can’t be happier than this.
“Senku, I really like you.” He doesn’t know how many times he talks blatantly and suddenly like this to the scientist, but this time he knows what he’s blurting out to the older man and he’s really confident about what is he talking about. A second.. and two.. and he starts to see the red tints are growing darker on Senku’s cheeks.
“I—“ he clears his throat, “I like you too, I guess.” He answers, very quietly it’s almost inaudible, but Chrome hears it clearly. He likes him back. They’re moving forward.
Chrome looks at Senku’s hand, and his own fingers slowly seek for touches. So he braves himself to reach out the scientist’s fingers and intertwine their fingers. Senku notices, and he takes the hold of Chrome’s hand and plays on it, gently. Their grip is getting tighter and finally their fingers lock on each other’s. Nobody dares to say any words, just the warm breeze of dusk and the orange light from the sunset seen from the end of the road there.
“So… what are we now?”
“There are many things to consider. But I guess, let’s start from being boyfriends.” Senku, as always with his logical thinking, offers the next step into more intimate relationship.
And yes, Chrome is now the part of his little secret.