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It has been around ten years since they brought Whyman to the Earth and stopped worrying about getting stoned again. Life hasn't changed that much aside from them reviving the remaining population. Most residents of the Ishigami village decided to keep following Senku's path and plans. Among them, Gen was selected as the representative of diplomats, which does not mean anything since he is the one and only diplomat——his companion Ryuusei is not skilled in that area. He is known as the one who invests in the projects and spends the entire day adoring the ships they create.
After approximately eight years, Asagiri Gen finally set himself in Japan. He decided to not leave the country unless he was really needed. He even missed the days when he had to make eight hundred batteries manually because of all the work he had done during those years of international conciliating.
But those thoughts did not endure. Nowadays, Asagiri Gen is happily spending time in his house, while sometimes writing psychology books like he used to do three thousand years ago. If he must choose a new hobby then he would say he enjoys listening to random interviews with Ishigami Senku when cooking.
He can easily watch the man getting bored with the questions on the screen. His parts are usually less than thirty seconds, Senku would always get someone else on the interview and escape the scene to continue his projects. Gen would laugh and proceed to think about recent events without turning off the TV.
For instance, he heard that Chrome and Ruri are moving to a new house, Taiju and Yuzuriha want a kid, Kohaku decided to take Suika on a trip...
Or the topic that has been going around about Ishigami Senku's ring.
The thing started two years ago, exactly when Gen decided to return to Japan. He invited all his friends to a dinner night, and even though some of them were missing, the gathering was fun and enjoyable. Most of them ended up drunk with the alcohol served by Francois, being Senku and Tsukasa the only two completely sober ones at the end of the night.
"I'll take them to their respective homes, be careful you too Senku."
"Yeah, see you next time."
Seeing Tsukasa going behind everyone like a bodyguard made Gen giggle, Senku asked him confused: "What are you laughing about, mentalist?"
"Don't Senku-chan think that Tsukasa-chan should apply for a bodyguard job? It suits him a lot."
"...Nobody would actually hire the Shishio Tsukasa."
Probably due to the relaxed feelings and the alcohol, Asagiri Gen didn't guess further about why Ishigami Senku's eyes were more profound that night. The man was surprisingly wearing casual clothes and seemed more mature than the last time they met. With these thoughts occupying his brain, Gen did not notice that he was following Senku until they arrived at a house he had only seen in emergency video calls.
With the sound of a key opening a door, his mind cleared up. Senku was there insinuating him to enter his house. His gaze and the cold night wind touched Gen's face, provoking some locked feelings to start appearing again.
Gen was affected by alcohol before, but now he feels like he is affected by something else.
Nevertheless, he has always been a master of hiding his own feelings, so he just entered calmly: "Thank you Senku-chan for letting me sleep in your house today~ I thought I had to find a random hotel to survive these days."
"You rented your house during these years that you have been mostly out, I don't know why you would even think of coming back to Japan without finding a place before." Senku took off his coat, "I'm always in the laboratory, you can stay in my home."
"...What?"
That's the whole process of how Gen and Senku started living together. Gen slept in the guest's room that day, Senku cleaned it up beforehand but acted like it was not important, giving Gen another heart attack to recover from.
In the present, they have been used to each other's presence, and someday somehow they recognized their new relationship. As anyone could expect, their love life is just calming. They didn't pass the lovey-dovey phase and went straight to behave like a married-for-forty-years couple. Different from the sweetness that characterizes Taiju and Yuzuriha, Senku and Gen have their unique way of warmness.
Gen would go to Senku's laboratory to bring him lunchboxes after days without seeing him, he would call Senku to make him sleep at late night, he would stay at the scientist's side when he came home and wait for Senku to help him to leave the cozy sofa they own.
Now, about Senku... most of their friends don't believe it, but he was the one who proposed.
A week ago, Senku was kicked out of the laboratory by his students and colleagues. They said that he had been there for almost a month and should not leave Gen alone, although neither Senku nor Gen truly cared about that.
He planned on sleeping one night and going back to the laboratory the next day and keep track of the new project they were working on. Gen knew he was invested so didn't call him, he just appeared some afternoons randomly to remind Senku to take care of himself.
But the plan did not go well. Senku would perfectly roll his eyes before a sweet, lovely, fairy-tale-style romantic scene. However, he couldn't stop staring at one specific ring he found at a jewelry shop's display.
The ring wasn't special, it was the most standard model in the market for men. It is the type of accessory that most people would not be attracted to, it had no extra decorations or gemstones that made it stand out.
But Senku still stood there for a couple of minutes.
He could not abandon the image even after arriving home. He is not the type of person who would abandon something that easily anyway. So, when Gen was talking about his day during dinner, Senku listened while observing his partner's fingers. It was not the first time he thought they were pretty, he had caught himself before playing with them and finding them extremely soft.
They would look even better with a ring.
"Senku-chan~", Gen called him and pretended to be annoyed: "Are you listening to me?"
The living room remained silent for some seconds until Gen felt how Senku took his hand: "Mentalist, let's get married."
"..."
Every time Gen remembers that moment he feels like his heart has been melted.
He also feels like it would have been the perfect moment when Senku shouldn't have called him mentalist but something more lovely... like darling.
He knows for sure it won't happen. They have never used those words. But he does wish that Senku acted a bit embarrassed or flustered. He noticed before that Senku wasn't calm about everything. He used to slightly blush when their hands touched accidentally on the sofa a little after they confirmed their new status, and don't even get started with his heartbeat rate when Gen kissed him for the first time and said "I missed you" jokingly.
Now Senku can even propose without changing his facial expression.
And Gen did sure accept.
They bought the ring together, although it is more exact to say that Senku let Gen choose because their taste is unlike. In the end, they got a simple silver ring. Even though this should be considered as big news, Gen does not usually go outside, and Senku made a necklace with the ring to not interfere with the work in the laboratory, therefore no one noticed the change.
...At least before a reporter asked Senku about it. His colleagues all acted surprised when they saw the ring, looking at Senku for answers (they already had one in mind). Ishigami Senku responded calmly that he was engaged.
Listening to that announcement, Gen giggled thinking about their friends' reactions. He knew Senku had never tried to hide their relationship from the public, he would only say they were together in a monotonous tone like it was not a big deal, which made Gen a lot happier than he would have ever expected.
He thought that he would want his partner to show off how in love they are, but when it comes to Senku, he finds everything that he does more than enough.
"...He chose the ring, and I was the one that proposed, so I'm obviously ten billion percent liking his choice."
He refused to answer anything else after that sentence, not knowing that the mentalist he had at home would be smiling and almost dancing.
At late night, while Gen was sleeping in the bedroom, he felt someone lying down. Although he was half-asleep, he didn't even need to think twice about who was the one smelling like sanitizer that had just come home: "Welcome home, Senku-chan."
Gen does not actually know how to read minds, but he could still guess that Senku was again kicked out by his colleagues. He had probably not eaten dinner, and all the fatigue caught him after touching the bed.
Still, Gen won't let him sleep like that. He does not like the sanitizer's smell.
"...Go to take a shower."
"I will."
Knowing that Senku won't lie to him, Gen went back to sleep. He could still hear the bathroom's shower sounds, the hair dryer being quieter than usual, and then scent the shower gel they shared.
They don't frequently spoon while sleeping, but maybe Senku desired to do it tonight. Gen felt his waist held by a warm arm, and his body pressed against his partner's chest.
The stars and the Moon were still in the sky, cuddling like the two in the bedroom.
Of course, they won't separate when the daylight shines.