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"Senku-chan~ whatcha doin?" The sing-song tone of a certain mentalist reaches Senku's ears, alerting him of Gen's presence before he could even look away from his experiment. Senku smiles and starts explaining his current experiment as soon as Gen sits down on one of the lab stools near him.
Asagiri Gen listens intently, eyes shining bright with such interest, as if he understood everything the scientist said. He really doesn't, but Senku still likes explaining to him. It's the usual routine: Gen drops by the science club-room-slash-laboratory after classes, sits around watching and listening to Senku, sharing stories of his own, until it's time for theatre club rehearsals. It may sound boring but it's Senku's favorite part of the day.
Perhaps-- no, he's ten billion percent sure, without a millimeter of a doubt, that he's fallen in love with Asagiri Gen. A genius scientist in love with someone other than science? What's more is that it's an unrequited love. Way to break the stereotype, Senku.
But how can he not? Gen was smart and absolutely charming, a great company, and very thoughtful, and-- the list just goes on. It was practically impossible not to like Asagiri Gen. And if you spend enough time with him, you're set to fall in love, or at least it felt like that for Senku.
Senku didn't even know how it happened, but one day he looked at Gen smiling at him and if the sudden acceleration of his heartbeat was not enough of a sign, his mind was flooded with thoughts of wanting to kiss Gen.
So yeah, Senku is in love with Gen. The problem is, there was no chance of Gen even just liking him back. Senku was inexperienced with all of these things about love, but he wasn't stupid. He knows Gen only likes him as a friend. Senku is aware that he's the only one who gets flustered and feels nervous and excited whenever they spend time together. He knows Gen smiles like that with the rest of his friends, but Senku can't help but feel special everytime it's directed at him.
It was obvious that Gen has never thought of him romantically, so Senku just kept it to himself-- keeping the casualties to a minimum. It just torments him every now and then while thinking of Gen, longing for Gen, but there are no broken friendships, no painful rejections, no awkwardness whatsoever, so it's simply the most logical choice.
His decision was proven to be correct when Gen waltzes into the lab, to bother his precious Senku-chan again of course, but this time, there's a name that Gen brought up multiple times. Ukyo-chan. Gen met him through the theatre club's recent collaboration with the music club. Ukyo-chan was talented, cute, and a whole lot of fun to be with (because apparently, they already ate together somewhere one time after rehearsals). Senku just plays off his frustrated look as being annoyed at his latest experiment that's so difficult to handle.
After that, Gen's been dropping by a lot less. Senku knows why. It's obvious with the way Ukyo-chan is always mentioned in the rare instances that Gen and Senku are together, be it in the lab or some place Gen drags him off to on his less busy days.
Senku would be lying if he said spending less time with Gen had helped him tone down his feelings. It's the complete opposite. Less time with Gen only meant more time to think about him. To miss him. Truthfully, it bothers him so much to the point that he even considered confessing, just to get it out of his system. To keep himself from drowning. To get rejected and then forget about it. But of course, it's not that easy.
"See, I'm thinking of asking Ukyo-chan out." Gen mentions one free weekend they decided to spend at Senku's house as the scientist worked on another project.
"Mm." Please don't.
"But I'm afraid of getting rejected."
"Hm?" I know the feeling all too well.
"What if he doesn't even like me?"
"Asagiri Gen, if anyone spends a lot of time with you and end up not liking you, then they're an idiot and you'd be better off without them." I'm sure because I ended up liking you more than I should.
"I'm sure he likes me as a friend. But what if that's it? He only likes me a friend and nothing more?"
Welcome to the club, then. "You know I'm not really good at these things, right?"
"But you're my best friend. Who else would I ask about these?"
Best friend. Best friend. Best friend. Right. "Well then, if I had a say in it..." I'd rather you stay by my side. "Science says you'll get some kind of result only after you try."
But Senku never tried. It's already a cold hard fact that Gen only sees him as a best friend. Any attempt to disprove that would be useless. Senku preferred testing out hypotheses, experimenting with various elements and what not. With these things, the possibilities are endless. If he messes up, he can always try again, making modifications here and there to gain better results, even the results that he wanted. Compared to romance, this was simple and easy.
***
"Ukyo-chan is waiting. See you later, Senku-chan!" Gen waves as he dashes out of the laboratory with an excited grin on his face.
Senku just hums in response, refusing to even look up and bid the older goodbye. He takes a deep breath once the other was out of the room, and wills himself to stay focused on the experiment.
Better to be a mad scientist than to be madly in love.