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"It's...so...smelly!" Gen covered his nose with his sleeve, pressing the cloth hard against his nose. Senku only raised an eyebrow, watching Gen's face twist in disgust from a distance, busy picking a few poison berries from a bush.
Senku sighed, shoving all the berries in his hand into the cloth bag he had brought. Gen had a habit of calling Senku over to identify random plants, berries, and other flora many, many times before— so it was best to prepare now.
"Senkuu!" Gen shouted from across the field, hands now cupping his mouth, face still twisted in disgust. Senku stood up, calmly walking over to where Gen stood, immediately noticing the distinct smell he knew all too well, he smirked as he wiped the gathering sweat on his forehead.
"What is—"
"It's marijuana, couldn't you tell?" Senku shook his head, standing next to Gen by the tall, green plant. Gen gave a surprised look, turning to face Senku directly, hand covering his nose again.
"Hmn, that explains the smell," Gen gave a small, airy laugh. "But, I thought pot didn't grow here?" Gen questioned.
"Marijuana can thrive in any environment, it's quite adaptive. So after thirty-seven hundred years I'm not surprised it's here now, it's easy to grow," Senku grinned even wider, almost evil-y, obviously gaining an idea. "...not to mention it's a great medicinal product." Senku touched his fingertips together, bringing out another larger pouch from his pocket.
"You should start picking, mentalist," "it's in your best interest to start working, fellow modern man!" Senku pointed at Gen's empty cloth bag, clearly having not done any gathering, something Senku would have reamed him for earlier if they had not found this lush, green, bud jackpot. Gen gave an unenthusiastic smile, one hand covering his nose as he struggled to open the drawstring bag.
"Oh, and the smell will stick to you by the way." Senku stated cockily, giving a mischievous face before rushing into the foliage before Gen could complain. Only hearing him shout the muffled words 'hyway emay!' and 'You owe me another cola!'.
Gen had finally removed his sleeve from his nose, after spending hours in the field he could now tolerate the scent quite well. Gen pushed a strand of hair out of his face, the long white strand previously tickling his nose no more.
"The first form we'll be making it in is smoking form." Senku set the bags down on the floor of their lab hut.
"You're going to have Kaseki make you a bong?" Gen laughed, narrowing his eyes at Senku, who was distracted inspecting the buds they had collected. "Let's see if he can make you a cool design!" Gen snickered, rushing to stand next to Senku as he walked to the other side of the hut.
"Nope," Senku answered simply, pulling out an orange-tinted leaf, holding it up for Gen to see in the torch's light that cascaded from the wall. The other man didn't respond only raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"It's a tobacco leaf, I had Chrome collect some for me a while back for unrelated projects." Senku laid the leaf down, smoothing it on the table. "Now, come help me break apart the bud, since we don't have a grinder for it." Senku motioned him closer, handing him the cloth bag as he grabbed some out for himself to grind.
"How do you know how to do this again?" Gen questioned, his tone smug, holding back laughter at the idea of Senku being a stoner, of all other things and hobbies he, a scientist, would find pleasure in.
Senku didn't answer him, only concentrating on breaking down the bud as fine as he could. "I thought you of all people would be able to relate to me, mentalist."
The moment Gen was about to say something, Senku abruptly interrupted him. "Anyways...we will try this first, it's tobacco, so we shouldn't use this method often since it's addictive," Senku placed the finer pieces of bud onto the paper. "we should make a wooden brazier instead,"
Senku looked at Gen with bright, prideful eyes, expecting him to easily follow along with what he deemed easy to understand. Gen seemed frozen in place. "We?" He finally asked, unfrozen— even if his hands didn't seem to be unthawed yet, since they clearly weren't working on what they should be right now.
"You don't want any?" Senku continued to his task at hand, seemingly surprised that Gen even asked. "It's fine if you don't want any, I am always willing to be the test subject of my own experiments!" Senku cackled as he completed the second blunt, best saved for a willing test subject tomorrow afternoon.
Gen hummed, putting a finger on his chin, and looked up to the ceiling, deciding only seconds later that he was up for it.
"Right... Now, don't take any big hits, you aren't ready for that yet. We need to know the effects it'll have on you." Senku stated calmly, handing the blunt to Gen and striking a match.
Gen took a deep breath before taking the first hit. Exhaling, he noticed Senku's face disappear into the smoke as Gen accidentally blew it into his face. Gen coughed, unable to resist laughter afterward at Senku's shocked expression from the unexpected smoke in his face.
"Hey, watch where you're blowing that!" Senku spoke loudly, in a stern tone that Gen could barely even register as serious in any way, relaxation and an airy feeling filling his body chest.
"Can't you get second-hand high or something from it?" Gen asked, genuinely confused.
"Well, it isn't good for the other person as much as it is you, y'know." Senku waved the smoke away, wondering if the sleeping townsfolk would notice the smoke at all.
"Man, you're really good at all this science stuff, like...an evil genius scientist that does good things instead of evil things." Gen chuckled, not knowing what to do with the joint in his hand any longer.
"Yup, sounds just like me." Senku took a long drag, exhaling towards the exit of the lab doors.
"It's getting cold out...can we smoke inside the hut or something? Maybe with the door open a bit?" Gen shivered, rubbing his hands on his forearms dramatically.
"Tch, sure." Senku raised an eyebrow, staring at Gen who seemed much more at ease now, despite being a bit farther from Senku than what was usually comfortable for him. "But, if the smell sticks I'm going to blame you for it."
Gen laughed, legs crossed on the wooden stick floor of the hut. "Y'know, with all that work I do feel like I'm owed a nice, cold cola Senkie..." Gen tilted his head, staring up at Senku, who blew smoke out the door, bright red eyes slowly moving to look at Gen's own.
"You don't have to do work to ask for a cola, stupid mentalist..." "Just ask whenever," Senku smirked in satisfaction when he saw Gen's face light up at that. "I do appreciate the help though." The scientist admitted.
"Oh, you really are my dream woman Senkie!" Gen joked, averting his eyes to look back out the door. Truthfully, he was only half-joking. Senku made an amused expression as he noticed Gen's flushed face, which was poorly hidden with his palm resting against his face, his elbow sitting on his knee.
"Is the Marijuana helping you with your anxiousness? PTSD symptoms?" Senku asked calmly, trying to re-initiate eye contact with Gen.
"Ah... My what?" Gen turned his head further away, blatantly avoiding eye contact with his Senku. "I don't seem to know what you're talking about Senkie-chan!" Gen shook his head nonchalantly, unfitting for the current atmosphere, giving a smile, even if the other man couldn't see it on him.
"You don't have to lie to me, I hope you know that,"
"Did you try to get me high to talk about my feelings..." Gen turned his head, just enough to see Senku's white and green hair in the corner of his vision. "My, my, you're quite the schemer aren't you?" Gen scratched his chin, keeping his gaze focused on the night sky outside the door. "Getting the previously law-abiding citizen of Japan to smoke pot to get out his dirty secrets...!" The man joked.
"It wasn't entirely planned." Senku deadpanned, putting out the blunt safely. "I did want to talk to you, though. That was very much intentional..." Senku spoke with a certain tone of determination in his voice, eyes boring into the side of Gen's skull.
"You? Wanting to talk to me? Why, I'm honored!" Gen put a hand to his chest, tilting his head up, and finally making eye contact with Senku. "What did you want to talk about?" Gen questioned, moving his hand out to Senku, gesturing for him to continue.
Senku didn't respond but kept his gaze locked on Gen. Jeez that was really starting to creep Gen out now...it seems someone has another bad habit Gen didn't know about! "Don't tell me you're getting shy now!" Gen tilted his head, hair falling across his face. "Time is quite precious silly scientist, and mine is—"
"You're right," Senku interjected. "Time is precious, isn't it?" Gen's cocky expression flipped quickly, surprised, not only at the fact that Senku was agreeing with him, but that he was sounding...sentimental. All of a sudden.
"I find my time with you especially precious, past and likely future..." Senku moved down from his stool, now next to Gen on the floor. "If you'll stay, right?" Senku turned to Gen, who was clearly as red as Senku's eyes— even in the hut's dim light.
"Is that... A proposal?" Gen grinned, far too giddy- emotions overwhelming him contemporaneously as Senku Ishigami of all people, proposed to him. Proposed!
"Of sorts, I'm in no rush to get married...again." Senku scoffed, lips spreading thin as he smiled from ear to ear.
"... Just to be clear, this is a dating proposal, right? Not a contract for my future unpaid labor?" Gen scooted closer, moving his face closer to Senku's.
"The second one, obviously." Senku muttered, before closing the gap between them, connecting their lips, and tilting their heads against each other to avoid the clashing of their noses. Senku's lips were soft against Gen's own— something he would most definitely be jealous about later, but right now, he was too focused on Senku.