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Understanding if you’re in love isn’t that big of a deal, at least scientifically speaking, as there are some simple procedures that must be followed to reach the correct and precise conclusion needed. However psychologically? The realization could take a hard toll on a person’s mind, especially when said someone isn’t used to the concept of love and receiving it could be perceived as a threat by their brain.
It had already been a while after the events of the Stone Wars and everything in the Kingdom of Science had begun settling for the best: the quantity of food was more than sufficient for everyone, people worked together to grow the crops before the cold seasons, the construction of the Perseus was showing little to no trouble and no fights among the ex Empire of Might revived modern humans randomly broke out, resulting in the resident mentalist having more free time on his hands to stroll unbothered.
Gen was used to running around from one side of the kingdom to the other to placate incoming disputes, but thanks to the stable and peaceful time they were going through he was more than happy to leisurely ignore his duties as Kaseki’s “chosen assistant”, chatting and entertaining himself with whoever he encountered.
Unfortunately, every now and then he was found procrastinating by the old craftsman and dragged back to the laboratory where the science team was producing whatever they had going on at that moment, Gen really had no idea what they were doing nor the intention of keeping up with them.
He was content enough with staying by their side and offering casual questions so that their leader Senku could happily go off about science all day and night long. Gen didn’t mind at all, on the contrary he was quite fond of the scientist and his excitement, hearing him yap his ear off with his wikipedia-like knowledge was much a pleasure to him.
Nothing could go wrong for him untill the day the ship was to sail and Gen was rather confident in his predictions.
Nevertheless, his assumption was quite miscalculated: the resident scientist was drawing a very unique roadmap to experiment with his newest theory.
While the local self defined “shallowest man on earth” was hoping everyone would be safe and sound to make the best of their days, the ever so logical man of science was listing his symptoms to check if they matched with those that usually belonged to the feelings of “infatuation”.
Using that term as the description felt quite sappy and cringey to the scientist, so he decided to test if it was indeed what he was experiencing rather than jumping to conclusions in a heartbeat. After all it would be unlike him to announce something without having experimented and drawn conclusions accordingly before.
Therefore Senku decided to analyze his abnormal behaviors step by step to clear up his mind, there was no need to get his brain all worked up by some conjectures he wasn’t completely sure were the truth.
First and foremost he pondered about how frequently his thoughts somehow ended up spiraling back to the mentalist, a common factor people identified as “reliable” whilst trying to figure out who their crush might be.
Annoyingly so, the fact that the image of a certain cheap magician popped up in his brain enough to mess up with his duties was becoming unbearable, also due to his workload being doubled in preparation of the Perseus.
A couple minutes of mental analysis were a waste of time as Senku always knew he was the straightforward type, consequently he decided to act rather than waiting for an answer to appear by itself.
The following experiment consisted in testing if the levels of dopamine, also known as the “feel-good” hormone, would increase upon spending time with the mentalist, so off to finding Gen he went.
It didn’t take long for Senku to recognize the long purple vest fluttering around while the sound of a chirping magnetic voice filled up the air.
The mentalist was unhurriedly chatting with the construction team near the ship, something about his smirk immediately told Senku he was using his flawless dialectic to either gain a favor or be told a secret he could use against them in a possible future.
Just the thought of how he made use of his petty yet way too useful mind tricks for the sake of the Kingdom of Science had the corners of Senku’s lips arching upwards, he truly was grateful and proud at the same time he could count on that fake illusionist anytime, knowing damn well he didn’t even need to ask for his collaboration.
There simply was an unexplainable connection between them and it was such an agreement, where spoken words weren’t necessary, that turned them into a dangerous duo of scammers. This silly reasoning amused Senku quite a lot.
“Oye, Gen” the scientist called out.
Probably realizing he was caught once again slacking off, the mentalist turned around to face Senku, plastering his best smile.
“What does our dear leader need?” Gen covered half of his face with his sleeves.
Playing on the defensive, huh?
“I need you in the lab, at least there I can be 1 billion percent sure you don’t laze around” Senku declared rubbing his ear with his pinkie finger.
“Eriously-say? How cruel, Senku-chan!” whined the mentalist, however he obliged without much complaint and rushed to Senku’s right side. They took off together, used to walking side by side while one asked mostly irrelevant questions and the other indulged in replying.
Once they reached the laboratory, Gen immediately took his sweet time to greet the people busy working in the area.
After completing his self assigned task of “strengthening the bonds with others”, the mentalist joined Senku in the lab room, completely unaware of what exactly his purpose there might’ve been since his only knowledge of basic chemistry went all back to his high school days.
“So, what are we making today, Senku-chan?” he questioned, a perplexed expression appearing on his face the moment he saw the scientist not actually pulling out beakers and weird chemicals, but instead just placing a blank paper on the table and alongside it two pencils.
“Do you want me to make a portrait of you? Honestly I’m a terrible painter, Senku-chan, what if you end up with a eye bigger than the other?” Gen joked, amused and confused at the same time. He picked up a pencil and, closing one eye and sticking his tongue out, he positioned his pencil in front of the scientist like the was taking Senku’s face measurements skillfully using a great deal of precision.
“What are you doing? I need to finish the map of the zone around Mount Fuji” he huffed in reply.
“Then wouldn’t you need someone with a hand stabler than mine to draw? I can go call Yuzuriha-chan if you want” Gen suggested hoping he could avoid ruining a perfectly good piece of paper just because he wasn’t suited for the job.
“Nah, she’s occupied with the boat sail, I can do this myself” Senku brushed it off.
Gen was a little speechless by how Senku wasn’t even trying to give him something to work on, but a mentalist of his caliber couldn’t let that slide, therefore deciding to investigate further.
“How unny-fay! You know I’d never decline a good chat, so if you just wanted my presence here because you feel lonely, you could’ve just asked, Senku-chan!” he blatantly teased, knowing the scientist would grow annoyed with that attitude of his.
“Yeah, that’s right, if you know then start talking about something” Senku admitted, unbothered and voice as normal as ever.
The mentalist felt his perfectly controlled expression crumble for a few milliseconds.
“Today I had the pleasure of entertaining a conversation with some of the guys from Tsukasa’s empire and they told me they actually believed it was all a social experiment at first, crazy right?” there was no use in letting the facade slip, Senku was just being straightforward as always.
Nonetheless, something felt different this time and Gen sensed it.
“Oh, the guys from before” Senku acknowledged.
“Whatever, tell me something about you. I barely know anything about you, even though you never shut your mouth” he specified, eyes still fixated on his paper, never leaving the line he was tracing.
An alarm went off in Gen’s brain, he definitely was not expecting an outcome like this and a small voice in the back of his mind told him clearly to run.
And Gen almost did, right then Chrome barged full force into the laboratory, mixing words while trying to get his point across, failing miserably.
The mentalist caught his opportunity in the blink of an eye and he gently asked the overhyped boy to slow down his breathing and explain calmly.
“Senku! I’ve made a baaaaad discovery, hear me out right now!” Chrome’s almost hyperventilating shouts became the anchor Gen could use at his advantage.
“Actually I’m bus-“
“Don’t worry, Chrome-chan, he’s all yours! I’ll excuse myself now” and with that he quickly made his exit leaving the scientist with a frown.
“Senku, look at this” Chrome wanted to immediately start rumbling, but the pensive look on the other boy got him to stop in his tracks.
“What are you calculating?” he tried asking.
“Heartbeats and if I’m actually feeling better to know if my dopamine level did increase” Senku explained.
Indeed spending some time alone with the mentalist was of help to boost his mood, but that could just be how effective Gen’s work as a mentalist was. In addition his heart rate seemed a bit faster.
‘Tho his flight reaction is way to fast, probably his levels of noradrenaline are too high or he’s just always on guard’.
Senku had no choice but to verify the second hypothesis.
‘Onto the next experiment then’.
————————
Oxytocin, also called the love hormone, upon touching the person object of your interest will be produced in higher quantities and therefore it will provoke in one’s mind a feeling of calmness and security with the other, strengthening the shared bond and creating a new connection: attachment.
For the last few days, Senku had tried to spend more time with the mentalist, although the flighty guy somehow always found a way to evade the scene or change the subject to a completely different topic without anyone noticing.
Senku, as a man of science, was prone to waiting, patience was indeed a scientist’s greatest strength.
That being said, the effect Gen was having on him after the first theory was proven to be right prevented the man from fully concentrating on his upcoming projects.
Tolerance for waiting or not, he was urging to get his results as soon as possible.
The perfect time came around a silent clear starry night in the observatory they built near the laboratory in the ex Empire of Might, where only a couple silhouettes could be seen and the aroma of two cups of steaming green tea filled up the air.
Gen was humming some melodies from the modern times, as usual, while Senku stared at the sky, half of his brain mapping the stars’ new positions after 3700 years and the other one scheming, silently deciding his next move.
Surely Senku was not one to back down or get embarrassed by physical touch, he simply was not a big fan of it, even when Byakuya jumped to hug him, he found himself most of the time yanking away…
Almost a pity, if he had known better before…
“Senku-chan, don’t make that expression, I’m sure there hadn’t been a single time where he wasn’t proud of you” a honest soft voice broke the night’s silence and Senku’s thoughts.
The latter turned around to complain about how easily the mentalist could read him, but he found himself unable to. There was no need to voice his protest, Gen already knew that and tried to defend himself.
“You always have the very same lost look in your eyes when you think about your dad and I’m just stating facts, you already know it yourself”
Senku perceived no ill will nor mockery in his tone.
Of course there wouldn’t be, it was Gen speaking and Gen would never lie to Senku. It was something similar to an unwritten rule between them: no lies, just truth and trust. Weird notion coming from the resident liar himself.
Gen’s sharp eyes reflected the crescent moon and his relaxed smiled gave a feeling of calmness to Senku as well.
‘Right, calmness… should i try now?’
However there wasn’t the sufficient time to properly put his plan into action, in a mere moment he found himself reflected in the blue of Gen’s irises, noticing his own face grow fonder by the second.
When did he get closer, he wasn’t sure.
He could catch the instant Gen’s expression slightly morphed into confusion, definitely not expecting Senku to shorten the distance either.
“You say that when you didn’t even meet him once” the scientist smirked, testing his mentalist’s confidence.
Gen picked up the challenge, nevertheless he kept his composure.
“Do I even need to? Eriously-say, it would be a great pleasure meeting the man who raised Senku-chan himself but” he stopped.
“I’ve got the result of such love and care right in front of me not to know”
His voice was sincere and his words were firm, he didn’t waste a single breath declaring his thoughts.
“Well, yeah”
Senku abandoned whatever trial he wanted to put Gen onto, he had no intention of ruining whatever their sappy moment was about, he was just satisfied with it.
“Byakuya would’ve liked your sharp tongue” Senku poked the scar on the mentalist’s cheek and could’ve sworn he saw his skin shade grow pinker, but the dark of the night didn’t help confirming his hunch.
Gen’s eyes widened a little too much, even for his usual stupor, and his mouth was slightly agape, as if he wanted to speak but words refused to come out.
Senku took advantage of the situation of speechlessness from the mentalist’s side and rested his whole rough hand on the other’s man cheek.
Indeed, Gen’s softness in comparison to his own skin felt good to the touch, a certain urge to cup both sides of his face developed in a forgotten part of Senku’s brain.
“Senku-chan! Your hand is so cold, here take the tea cup” the mentalist jumped away as his mind processed the events of a couple seconds before, immediately looking for an excuse to flee.
He handed Senku the cup in the hand that was still hanging in the air, grabbing one as well for himself.
“It would be a waste to let this perfectly good tea go cold on such a pretty night, isn’t that right?” Gen pushed Senku for an answer, the scientist left with no words to utter nodded.
Staring at the sky outside the observatory, Gen’s white strand of hair flowed along the wind, the view made quite an hypnotic picture.
Senku in the meantime sat down his tea, not feeling thirsty and definitely not wanting to stay up the whole night due the already late hour.
When Gen left after having greeted Senku goodnight and wished him sweet dreams, the scientist was the last one remaining in the observatory, so he decided to get some sleep done there.
————————
Senku didn’t sleep a wink that night, his thoughts kept spiraling back to the conversation with the cheap magician and his hand itched every time he recounted the memory of touching his cheek.
Not out of displeasure or discomfort, how he had imagined he would feel, but out of longing.
Certainly this stood as a once again successful experiment in the scientist’s records.
Nevertheless he needed much more proof to declare his second thesis concluded, so the following days found himself more and more prone to casually touching the mentalist.
Head patting him when he completed his tasks, tugging his hair behind his ear or simply resting his hand on his shoulder when passing by.
Everyone around the Kingdom of Science noticed, no one said anything, especially because there was not a single soul who understood what was going on.
The mentalist’s very own confused face single handedly turned the general amusement into pure concern.
Obviously when asked, Gen denied all allegations and brushed it off with his mastered pitch perfect smile and innocent tone, however internally the man was in a whole lot of turmoil.
At the beginning, he assumed the unpredictable mad scientist had something most definitely evil in mind, and he was completely fine with it, they were partners in crime after all and promised to go to Hell together.
Yet the fondness of Senku’s looks and his pure touches had no trace of subtleness, proving him all the more wrong.
The only reasonable conclusion that popped in Gen’s mind was the possibility of Senku being in love with him, which seemed absurd.
Or was it? Either way Gen could not permit something like that to happen, after all loving him was more like a curse than the blessing love is usually described as.
Senku was brave and dedicated, his love for science brought everyone together effortlessly.
While Gen…
He was shallow, a liar, a scammer and he had no redeeming qualities. He surely was useful in the team but only because he could make use of others to his advantage.
In all honesty, how could it be possible to love a person like him?
That was why he cast aside the most probable outcome and decided to wait until the local scientist stopped being so touchy and obsolete.
Not that Gen minded, how could he after all his pining, but he truly didn’t want Senku bound to him in some way, he didn’t deserve it.
Right?
Gen sighed, he really was selfish, wasn’t he?
————————
By the time Gen was mentally exhausted, a certain scientist concluded it was time for the last experiment.
“The physiology behind this occurrence had yet to be completely understood in modern times, but visually speaking adrenaline causes the capillaries that transport blood to the skin to widen-“
“So you just need me to observe you until you become a tomato and we’re done?” deadpanned Kohaku, crossing her arms.
“Sure, if that helps you understand, I just need your 11/10 sight to confirm something” Senku scoffed, poking at his ear.
“Alright, lets get this over with” the girl jumped on her feet, not really understanding what Senku was up to but still following his lead.
Whatever those two had going on was none of her business, unless it became a problem for the rest of the kingdom, in that case she would make sure to take care of them.
Rehearsing the shared plan, they walked up to the laboratory, where Kaseki was skillfully blowing into some canes to shape to perfection his masterpieces of glass and Chrome was assembling metal pipes.
Gen and Suika, sharing stories about flowers together, kept the artisans company.
“Kaseki, Chrome, I need you to go check the construction of the ship” Senku ordered, stepping inside the working place.
“What about Suika?” the little girl asked, her energy as always unmatched.
“Suika, you can come with me, let’s have a stroll around here and check if everything is in place” Kohaku suggested much to the child’s pleasure in helping.
“I’ll come with you as well, I’ve been inside this place for too ong-lay, what if these chemicals start taking over my brain?” complained shamelessly the mentalist.
“Thats 1 billion percent not possible, you cheap magician” Senku chuckled.
“You’re eriously-say so mean, Senku-chan, I just wanted to spend some time with sweet Suika-chan” announced Gen in reply, pouting excessively considering the situation.
“Don’t worry Gen! We can survey the situation even if you’re not with us” Suika exclaimed and she took off with Kohahu, who was openly smirking at the mentalist’s defeat.
“How is the ship construction going, Senku-chan? Is Ryusui-chan managing well?” Gen opted for what he knew best: small talk.
“Yeah, no problem has arisen since he was elected as the supervisor” Senku replied closing their distance.
As if sensing the closeness, Gen covered half his face under his long purple sleeves and giggled.
“Urely-say, if you need some of his dragos, just ask” his smile looked quite sinister, the kind of smile Senku found quite enticing, at the end of the day the mentalist was quite good at his job.
“Of course, who else if not the ever so wicked resident manipulator” Senku answered, matching perfectly Gen’s threatening aura.
“That’s right!” Gen laughed a little, although the sound died down in his throat and his gaze shifted elsewhere.
“Well, you’re much more than just that, you know”
The procedure was rather simple: say and do something out of the ordinary to trigger the levels of adrenaline in his organism.
‘I may not be as good as him with words, but I’ll get the point across’.
“No need to hide your face behind those sleeves, it’s just us here at the moment” he truly didn’t mind it when the mentalist did that, he actually found quite entertaining trying to understand what expression was he wearing on his face just by analyzing the way his eyes moved and closed.
He was pretty keen on giving his best shot to comprehend the mentalist, nevertheless he could not beat him at his own job.
Still, he had an experiment going on in that specific moment.
He swiftly grabbed and lowered Gen’s arms to take a good look at his uncovered face, resulting in a yelp from the mentalist.
Gen blinked a few times, probably trying to grasp the events that somehow led to that situation, however Senku stood still, nose in the proximity of the other’s one.
The bi-color haired man’s skin gradually changed shade into a pinker one, Senku felt his own rapidly growing hotter.
The scientist looked out of the small window of the laboratory and saw Kohaku sending him the signal they previously agreed on, meaning the testing time was over and it was time to draw the overdue conclusion.
Senku let go of Gen’s arms and patted him on the shoulder before turning on his heels and waving him goodbye.
“Senku-chan, is there even an explanation to this?” Gen sounded in between exhausted and annoyed at his leader weird antics.
“Yeah, just an experiment” was the immediate response before leaving completely the place.
Left alone, Gen muttered something along the lines of ‘how cruel to use me as a lab rat’ but Senku was already gone.
“Damn, you truly looked like the inside of a ripe watermelon” Kohaku joked.
“I know”.
“Are you finally done?” the girl asked.
“I’ve been for a while, but following the scientific method is the only way to be 1 billion percent sure of the results” Senku informed.
‘Indeed, mentally I knew from the very beginning that I…’
The scientist let out a laugh and Kohaku felt a shiver run down her spine, as if she had just witnessed an evil mastermind put is plan of world domination into work.
Once in his hut and no one else around, Senku sat himself down and put together his newly acquired data.
Making Gen go through weeks of tribulation just to prove his hypothesis probably wasn’t the best outcome, but what else could’ve he done?
He had already declared he had no time for distraction and yet said distraction ended up preventing him from working properly, so there was no other way but to verify it on his own.
Weirdly enough, unbeknownst to him, he had fallen for Asagiri Gen and he had even been able to prove it scientifically, but he didn’t regret it in the slightest.
Romantic love had never been a thing for him, he wasn’t subjected to it until he met the very man he considered to be a fake magician in person.
Gen was a liar, sure, but to Senku he had been nothing but reliable and warm, a presence thats could bring him calmness wherever they were, the connection and mutual understanding they shared were like with no others and it was enough to give Senku the comfort he never asked, but the mentalist knew damn well he needed.
His hypothesis was indeed proven correct, Senku was in love with their resident mentalist, Asagiri Gen.
————————
Senku’s resolution was to admit his feelings to the person of interest and move on, the only problem was the mentalist himself, always so sneaky and ready to flee at the first occasion given.
Maybe he needed a piece of advice, consequently opting for asking the opinion of the pining king himself, but then he turned his own resolve down and settled for consulting the pining queen herself.
Taiju with his donkey brain was easily the worst person to go to in such a situation.
In Yuzuriha’s work hut, Senku waited patiently until his friend was done with the latest project he assigned her so that she would be free for a talk.
Yuzuriha’s fast hands did wonders, the cloth she was working on was in fact concluded in more or less 2 minutes.
The girl said nothing, solely waiting for her childhood friend to come up with the question on his own.
Senku broke the silence after the right considerations were made.
“Hypothetically speaking, how can you confess your feelings to a person that’s always avoiding specific situations?”
Silence pervaded the space between them again.
“Okay, this was not what I was expecting” admitted Yuzuriha, almost flabbergasted.
“Oh, but I was definitely ready to receive another commission” she explained.
Senku raised an eyebrow, urging the girl to give a proper answer to his question.
“This is new, especially coming from you”
“I know”
“Have you tried having a heart to heart conversation with them?” she speculated.
“How can I start one?” the scientist asked.
“You could try to be affectionat- no that would fright the other person… try with a pet name to initiate the conversation” Yuziriha straight up panicked, she herself had never been able to confess her feelings properly yet, even after 3700 years.
“Pet names? That’s absurd” however before continuing his sentence Gen’s way of calling people registered in his mind.
Senku stood up, a satisfied smirk plastered on his face.
“Alright, got it, thanks” and he left.
Yuzuriha smashed her hands on her face, coming to terms with the immense mistake she was the culprit of.
“Gen-kun, I’m sorry”.
————————
In the night sky, the breeze was quite chilly, as if already bringing along itself the colder months.
A certain scientist was admiring the constellations from his telescope, waiting for another person to show up with their usual evening tea and chat about the most salient and interesting events of the day.
The mentalist was late, was he not coming? The possibilities were low as he was the first one to enjoy the warm smell of the green tea leaves and a good gossip session.
Senku only noticed he wasn’t alone anymore in the room when the small sized wooden door of the observatory silently creaked.
“You’re here” his voice sounding softer than he intended to.
“Oh, my bad, I didn’t intend to distract you from your deserved free time with your beloved space” apologetically joked Gen.
“It’s fine” Senku turned around to face the new entry in the room and the freshly brewed tea, particularly appreciated in such a windy night.
“Today I spoke with Ukyo-chan and he revealed he was already hearing animals in the forest preparing their nests for the winter, isn’t that like razy-cay far from now?” Gen raised the question with great interest.
“Most animals, like ants for example, spend the majority of their summer accumulating food resources and securing their homes. In that way they can take it easy when the cold season arrives” explained Senku.
“Indeed, it makes sense, just like the fable of the ant and the cricket, right?” added the mentalist, completely invested in the topic.
“Yes, although it’s mostly a tale to remind slackers and lazy people to work more to guarantee oneself a prosperous future”
Gen giggled, accepting the passive aggressive comment as a reminder to try harder next time he was assigned a task.
Slowly sipping from their cups, a comfortable silence descended upon them. Only the leaves of nearby trees could be heard brushing against one another.
‘Now is the right moment, he looks pretty relaxed.’
“The tea is good, thanks… dear”
Senku felt himself cringe once the last word left his mouth, Gen instantly choked on his beverage and coughed for a good 10 seconds before being able to normally breathe again.
“Okay stop, now this is my last straw, Senku-chan, it’s way too out of character” he lashed out, jumping on his feet, yet keeping his voice in an audible tone range.
“If this is a social experiment, that’s fine, I’ll gladly help you with my knowledge of the human mind and behaviors, but eriously-say, I’m getting chills now” Gen hugged himself and slumped back down into his sitting position.
“Relax mentalist, why would I initiate a social experiment without consulting you first? That would be straight up idiotic” Senku pointed out.
“Of course you wouldn’t, you’re much more clever than that” the mentalist voice sounded resigned.
“The only seemingly reasonable option that could explain the way you’ve been behaving the last few weeks is too inadequate for me to take into consideration, so for now I’m left with nothing” now it sounded exasperated.
“Enlighten me” Senku on the other hand was delighted by the whole ordeal.
Gen didn’t look so prone as to speak his mind, nevertheless he sighed and went on.
“Eally-ray, Senku-chan, you’re gonna laugh in my face when I tell you my last resort was assuming you developed a huge crush on me. What kind of mentalist am I if I can’t even recognize what’s going on in my leaders mind”
“Of course a mentalist of your caliber would catch on, 10 million points to you for having reached the correct answer” the scientist announced as he raised up his index finger.
“Senku-chan, I didn’t take you for a jokester” Gen chuckled.
“And you deflect things you don’t like handling way too much” Senku replied, keeping his tone steady.
From perplexity, passing through hesitation and then finally to realization, Gen’s expressions could become a world selling portrait at that point.
“Why?” was all he was able to mutter out.
“I can give you the diagram of my chemical imbalance before and after spending time with you, you see the levels of dopamine, oxytocin and-” offered Senku, instantly being rejected by both of Gen’s palms flying in the air and stopping right before the scientist’s face.
The latter couldn’t see his interlocutor’s face as his hands were covering the view, however he could see Gen’s tensed up shoulders almost trembling.
“I meant to ask why me, Senku-chan you have so much to do ahead of you and I have basically nothing” even if he looked like he could break at any given moment, Gen voiced his genuine concern slowly and clearly.
“Gen, you know that’s bullshit” Senku had never lacked straightforwardness and he had no intention of wasting his breath over something so fundamentally wrong, especially when the bi-color haired man in front of it knew it as well.
“You said you have no time for relationships because you’re too busy reviving humanity” another excuse.
“How can I concentrate on my work if you keep interrupting my thoughts, just take responsibility for it” Senku accused, softly taking Gen’s hands into his own.
“Wow, so now it’s my fault you’re distracted? How cruel of you” Gen laughed and it was genuine enough to grow a small smile on Senku’s face too.
“No, but in all honesty, how could you even fall for someone like me? Me falling for you was totally reasonable and predictable, but what excuse do you have?” Gen raised his head to look at Senku straight in the eyes.
“This, that and also the other one right there”
“Eanie-may” squeaked the mentalist.
“Since you fell for me too we’re even now, aren’t we?” Senku asked
“Apologies if it took this long for me to realize” he added.
Gen’s grin was all he needed to confirm both of their apparently illogical feelings were mutual and real.
Senku shortened the distance between the two, their faces only a few centimeters apart, while their noses almost brushed with each other.
Just as the he was about to close the remaining space, a hand slammed on his mouth and stopped him in his tracks.
“What was that for?” Senku’s words were muffled by the hand of a panicked Gen.
“Orry-say, I wasn’t ready and my body reacted on its own” he apologized faintly.
Taking Gen’s hand off his mouth, he moved it on his own cheek.
“Your damn fight or flight reaction speed is truly something to be studied, maybe we could conduct some experiments on the amount of adrenaline hormones you have in your organism so that we can establish-“
“Alright, alright I’m ready, god you’re already frying my brain off Senku-chan” Gen pleaded.
“Good to know” Senku closed the space in between them once again.
Accelerated heartbeat, feeling of comfort in the other’s presence, desire for closed proximity with them, there was no doubt to the conclusion of his experiment: he really was head over heels for the mentalist.
Gen’s arms wrapped around Senku’s neck, while the scientist cupped his cheeks.
A peck on the lips surely was enough for a starting point.
“I’ve really liked you a lot for a while, probably even before meeting you for the first time, Senku-chan” Gen allowed himself to say.
“I know”
“You can be very insufferable at times”
“And also very smitten with you apparently” Senku conceded.