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Senku had just got out of the lab, not quite satisfied with his experiment. It was late afternoon according to the wall clock, but the storm outside made it feel like it was almost evening. Lightning flashes across the sky and lights up the room through the windows for a split second. Senku sighs. Going home will be a lot harder today. Taiju and Yuzuriha decided to leave ahead of him, as the latter had an errand to run. Yuzuriha, at least, should have an umbrella, he thinks as he takes his own umbrella and heads for the lockers.
There, he sees someone sitting on the floor, back against the lockers. Asagiri Gen? Why is he still here?
"Asagiri-san..? Right?" Senku calls out, a bit hesitant. The upperclassman looks up quickly, surprised, but his expression easily shifts into a smile, giving the other a nod.
"Ishigami-kun." Senku looks at him, analyzing the situation. The guy's hair was damp. Ah, he must have tried to go out in this storm. Senku also spots an umbrella beside him.
"Your umbrella broke," Senku states. Gen chuckles at this. "Yeah. I brought the wrong umbrella today. How unlucky, right?" Senku hums, now changing his shoes in front of his locker. The sound of the rain heavily pouring outside fills the moment of silence.
Asagiri Gen lives a few houses away from him. Senku knows this because he's bumped into the other maybe six times now, mostly on weekends when Senku went out to buy materials for his latest experiment. Asagiri Gen is also a magician, or so he's heard from Taiju. Senku recalls the latter telling him about this magic trick he saw Asagiri Gen perform during the school fair. Aside from those facts, Asagiri Gen was practically a stranger. But they knew each other's names, does that make them acquaintances then?
"Well, I'll be going ahead, Asagiri-san" Senku bows his head as he passes by the other who was still on the floor.
"Take care, Ishigami-kun! I'm just waiting for this storm to lighten up so I can make a run for it." The third year flashes a grin at him, made even brighter as the lightning outside lit the dim hallway.
Wait for the storm? The weather reports said that it'll probably last for the whole night though? It wouldn't be logical to do that. But running in this storm wouldn't be logical either so--
"Achoo!" Gen's sneeze breaks Senku's train of thought. He looks back at the older student, analyzing him again. Gen was seated seemingly comfortably on the floor, playing around on his phone, a tiny smile on his face. Is he always this carefree?
Lightning strikes again and the thunder swallows the quiet atmosphere. Senku sighs. Perhaps showing a little kindness to a stranger wouldn't hurt. He clears his throat in an attempt to get the other's attention.
"Asagiri-san." Gen looks up at him again. "Would you... Do you want to... share my umbrella?" Senku offers, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "I mean, it's bigger than a regular umbrella so I thought it would be more logical than to leave you.." he attempts to continue, looking away to avoid eye contact. The older student was probably weirded out by his sudden offer, after all, they were practically strangers.
"If it's alright with you, Ishigami-kun." Senku turns and watches as Asagiri Gen stood up and brushed the dirt off of his pants. "Of course. I wouldn't have offered if it wasn't alright with me." Gen was smiling widely at him now, looking a bit too excited about a long walk in the rain. His nose, Senku noticed, was a bit red. Does he have a cold?
"Could you hold this for a sec?" Senku hands over his umbrella and goes back to his locker. He pulls out his extra lab coat and tosses it at the other. "Put it over your head. Don't worry, it's clean." Gen furrowed his eyebrows. "You look like you're gonna get sick if another raindrop falls on you, Asagiri-san." "I do not," Gen retorts, but still throws the coat onto his head and over his shoulders.
Senku takes his umbrella and steps out to open it. "You ready?" The older grins at him again and follows the younger.
"This is quite nice of you, Ishigami-kun. Thank you." Gen hums as they walk next to each other, with Senku holding the umbrella between them. "It's not a big deal. We live near each other anyway." the younger replies nonchalantly.
Now standing next to each other, Gen notices that they're almost the same height, perhaps he was around a centimeter taller but the other's hair made him look taller. Weird hair. "How much wax do you put in your hair to make it stand like that?" Gen speaks his mind before he could stop himself.
Senku lets out a chuckle. "None. It just stands up naturally like that."
"Eh?? I don't believe you. That's impossible." Gen huffs in disbelief.
"It defies the law of gravity." Senku replies, quite proudly.
"Sounds fake." They both laugh. Gen would have asked to touch his hair but he immediately threw away the thought in the back of his mind. Too much invasion of personal space for a day.
They fall into silence after that. The rain continued to pour all around them. The umbrella wasn't big enough for two teenagers, but they were both slim and the lab coat helped cover Gen, especially when they outpace each other slightly, or when they move away from each other to create space between them, as both of them were conscious of their proximity.
"Ah. Do you mind if we stop at the convenience store near our block?" Gen asks. "It's fine. What are you buying? A new umbrella?" Senku asks in response. "No. My umbrella at home still works. I just brought the wrong one." "Something for your magic tricks then?" Senku teases and the older gives him a nudge. "Just something to drink."
They make a stop at the store and Gen goes in first. Senku steps inside and follows the raven-haired boy. He watches as the older grabs a can of cola excitedly. Senku chuckles to himself as he takes a bottle of iced coffee for himself.
"You look like a child who was given enough money to buy his favorite candy, Asagiri-san." Senku comments as Gen pays at the counter. "Gimme that. I'll pay for it." Gen holds out his palm, waiting for the younger to hand over the bottle. "No, it's fine. I'll pay." Senku holds the bottle close.
"Let me treat you. As your senpai, I insist." Gen hands over an extra bill to the cashier and gestures to Senku "I'm paying for that as well. Don't accept his money." The cashier smiles and nods. Senku shakes his head but gives in anyway. "Thank you, Asagiri-san." "You're welcome, Ishigami-kun." Gen grins victoriously.
"You know," Gen speaks up again as they approach their block. The storm had already calmed down a bit but the rain was still pouring. "Ishigami-kun is a mouthful. Can I call you Senku-chan instead?"
"No." Senku replies almost immediately.
"Come on, Senku-chan," the older pushes with a playful tone. "You can call me Gen-senpai instead. That's a lot shorter than Asagiri-san." Gen offers happily.
"No."
"Senku-chan~" Gen singsongs.
"No way, Asagiri Gen."
"-senpai" Gen adds and laughs. "Just let me call you Senku-chan. It sounds cuter."
"No. If you're going to call me that, then don't call me at all."
"Ah. So harsh, Senku-chan. After all that we've been through together?"
"What have we even been through? This is the first time we've actually spoken." Senku retorts.
"But Senku-chan, you walked me home! I bought you a drink! We're friends now." Gen beams back at him joyfully.
They stop in front of what Senku remembers was Gen's house. "This is your stop, right?"
"See? You know where I live. Thank you, Senku-chan. I really don't know what I would've done without you." Gen answers, a bit dramatically.
"You would've waited until the rain stopped, which means you would've stayed there the whole night with the ghosts." Senku deadpans.
Gen gasps. "Do you believe in ghosts, Senku-chan?"
"No. And don't call me that."
"Well I do. So I'm glad you offered your umbrella. You're my savior, Senku-chan!" Gen exaggerates playfully, and suddenly he sneezes again. "Ah."
"Time to go inside now, Asagiri-san. Take a warm shower or something. I'm ten billion percent certain you're going to be sick."
"I told you to call me senpai!" Gen whines.
Senku shakes his head. Is this child really older than me? "Whatever. Just go inside."
Gen huffs and pouts in disappointment. "Fine. But seriously, thank you again, Senku-chan." The older flashes a genuine smile Senku couldn't help but smile back. "You're welcome."
"I'll see you tomorrow?" Gen calls out as Senku walked away.
"Idiot. Tomorrow's a weekend." There's a teasing tone in Senku's voice as he stops and turns back around.
"Ah right.." Gen laughs.
"You're welcome to join us tomorrow though. We're going to launch a rocket in the forest." Senku adds naturally.
"You're going to launch a rocket??" Gen repeated, bewildered.
"Yeah. We'll stop by here tomorrow if you want to watch." Senku offers, obviously proud and excited about his project.
"Sure..? That would be great." Gen shakes his head. This scientist boy actually built his own rocket, huh? How interesting. By himself or did his other science friends help him?
"Okay. See you tomorrow then, Senpai." Senku waves a hand and turns around to walk home.
Gen just waves back and turns around to enter his own house.
Wait, did he say Senpai?
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