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5750. Early February.
A few months after Suika managed to revive Senku and, a while after that, everyone else on the team. It feels odd, being able to relax after being on the run for so long- But things keep moving along. Work is seemingly endless, establishing the superalloy city in Araxá, but the hard work helps keep a nagging thought away from Senku’s mind.
“Senku.”
He turns to find Francois behind him, hand over heart.
“I believe our little secret project is ready for its next step,” they say with a smile. “The rain certainly made it more difficult than expected, but come have a look for yourself.”
5749. Late December.
“Hmm…” Chelsea brings a finger to her mouth, pensive. “It won’t be as easy to find as coffee beans… You’d probably have to head northeast for it! Minas doesn’t have a history of producing it, but the upper states super duper do! If only we’d snagged some on the way down from the Amazon~”
Senku lets out a sigh. Oh well. It wouldn’t make sense to go that far for something so trivial.
“...Is what I would say, if little Suika hadn’t followed my map and gotten a bunch of em while we were stoned! Go Suika! Go me! Wahoo!” Chelsea exclaims.
“Wait, she did?”
“Yup! Lookie, lookie!” Chelsea begins to lead Senku off to the woods, and he follows. “The pulp’s nice and mild, but the beans are pretty bitter, so she’s been leaving them riiiiiiight… here!”
“...And in those seven years…”
The pair is greeted by a dozen or so trees packed with glistening yellow and red fruits the size of mangos.
Senku grins, hands on his hips. “Well, I’m sure Francois can put those bitter seeds Suika discarded to good use, right Chelsea?”
“Righty-O!” She cheers.
5750. Early February.
Rows upon rows of cocoa beans drying in the sun. Off to the side, wooden barrels where even more beans are being fermented in preparation for the drying process. Francois has been very diligent in making sure the frequent summer rains don’t ruin the batch, and it’s paid off.
Senku squats and picks one up to examine it. “We’re not even halfway there, but at least the most time-consuming parts are done now.” He looks up at Francois. “Given my track record baking, we’re better off leaving this on your capable hands, huh?”
Francois kneels so they are at the same level as Senku. Gathering the cocoa beans into a woven basket, they speak quietly, as if avoiding eavesdroppers. “It would be a lot more personal if you made them yourself. Many people chose to do so for their valentines.”
Senku scoffs. “No, they melted bought chocolate into new molds.” He starts helping pick up the cocoa.
“You can pick it up from that point in the process, then.” Francois smiles.
“...Sure.”
5750. February 13.
“Here. Eat this.”
Taiju stares at the small heart-shaped chocolate in his palm. “Senku…” His brows furrow into a serious expression.
“I… I CAN’T BE YOUR VALENTINE!” He yells before Senku can shush him.
“That’s not what this is at all, you big oaf!” Senku hisses through his teeth. “You’re just taste testing. Francois’ been testing all sorts of combinations with the tropical fruits here. Stop freaking out and tell me what you think.”
“Oh. Right!” He bites into the small white chocolate, revealing a creamy, orange-colored inner filling. His eyes light up as he quickly devours the rest, humming in satisfaction. “This is seriously good, Senku! Is it mango? Oranges?”
“Both,” he smiles. “That one’s for Ryusui. You can pretty much tell which chocolate is whose by just the colors. You have Francois to thank for all the different recipes.”
“And mine is?”
Senku pulls another chocolate from the box. “Here. Dark chocolate with coffee.” He lets out a laugh. “Well, it’s not like we can make milk chocolate with no milk, anyway.”
“That is not entirely correct,” Francois interjects, bringing with them a new batch of chocolates. “Coconut milk is a good substitution for dairy- The choice of dark chocolate was something deliberate.” They turn to Taiju. “Dark chocolate and coffee- both simple yet strong flavours that persist on your tongue.”
“And the caffeine’s for his monstrous amount of energy?” Senku adds, and Francois smiles in response.
Taiju stares at the little chocolates. “Hmm. The pink one’s probably for Luna, right? The little spaceships for Senku, this dark one has Tsukasa’s cracks, Ukyo’s are white and yellow…”
He looks up at Francois. “Which ones are Gen’s? I thought there’d be a few purple ones for him!”
Francois smiles. “I’ve been working with local ingredients, so some colors are proving to be a bigger challenge,” they lie. “I’m sure they’ll be ready by tomorrow, along with all the others. It is no cause for concern.”
Senku closes his eyes, arms crossed. “Yeah, we’re counting on you, Francois.”
5750. February 14.
…Some ungodly hour in the early morning.
Awful. They look absolutely awful, ten billion percent.
Senku stares down at the reddish purple carnage before him. The idea was a simple white chocolate bonbon filled with mulberry jam, half-dipped in white chocolate dyed purple using these same mulberries. Senku had seen Francois do a similar half and half effect for Ukyo’s, and it seemed nice and simple. Impossible to mess up. Or so he thought.
Dipping it into the purple chocolate made the inner white chocolate layer start to melt, which made the mulberry jam seep through. In the end, it looked an awful lot like a crime scene, with nearly all of the chocolates looking as if they have gaping, gushing wounds. The red jam certainly didn’t help.
Senku rests his face on his hands, dejected. He wasn’t waking up Francois for this, but he also couldn’t just give him… this.
It takes entirely too long for him to notice that his hands were still stained by the red of the mulberries, and now, so is his face. Great. Just great. He’ll wash up, and take the chance to collect his thoughts and think of how to salvage this.
He heads down to the river, only to find that he’s not the only one awake at this hour. Sitting by the margin, shuffling a deck of cards, Gen hums.
He draws a card. Senku can't identify it in the dark.
Gen laughs to himself under the moonlight.
“As if…”
Seeing no reason to keep himself hidden, Senku unceremoniously walks to the water’s edge. Gen turns, smiling up at him. “Senku-chan! What had you up working for so long?”
Senku kneels, pulling out a block of soap and lathering his red-stained hands. “A murder scene.”
Gen blinks. “Eh? What are you talking about, Senku-cha- It’s on your face too??” He stammers. “...What exactly happened to you?”
“It’s mulberry juice. Forgot it was on my hands, and the rest is history.” It takes Senku 4 to 5 washes to get the red off of his hands. Even without looking directly at him, he can hear a smile on Gen’s voice.
“Mulberries, huh…” Gen scoots closer, leaning forward to get a better look at his face. The mirrored handprints on Senku’s face nearly send him into a fit of giggles, but he holds it in. “Waow, you’re auditioning for the Castaway remake? You make a perfect Wilson, Senku-chan~! You even got the hair down!”
“Oh, shut it.” A laugh escapes him.
“Heh.” Gen stashes his deck into a hidden pocket close to his heart, and reaches over to wipe Senku’s stained cheek with two fingers, revealing the pale skin beneath for a moment before it quickly turns red again.
“I can clean up by myself, you know.” Senku’s brows furrow.
“With no mirror?” Gen innocently licks his fingertips, watching Senku’s expression as his pupils widen. Looking away, Senku cups the flowing water with his hands and splashes it on his flushed face. The water makes his twin hair strands stick annoyingly to his face. Gen reaches to brush them away, but stops himself when Senku shoots him an accusatory look.
Gen pulls his hand back. “All right, all right! Don’t blame me for the big red spot on your forehead, then.”
“Oh.” Senku washes his face once again. “Is it gone now? Where is it?”
“Riiiiight here!”
He leans in, planting a small kiss on the spot. Needless to say, there was no red spot to begin with. Pulling back, he watches as Senku’s freshly washed face becomes red all over again.
He’s stunned. He opens his mouth, but coherent speech cannot keep up with his mind at the moment. He stammers a few fragments of a sentence, unable to piece them together into a retort.
“Consider it my valentine's gift, Senku-chan.” Gen smiles. “Since you’ve been working so hard all night on mine.”
Senku comes to his senses, letting out a sigh.
“...So you were spying on me and François after all.”
“Well, it’s more like Taiju-chan helpfully announced everything to the world.” He hugs his knees, resting his head on them with the content expression of a well-fed cat. “After that, my plan was to sneak in for some of those leftover taste test chocolates, but I only found you diligently working on mine.”
“So you probably know how they turned out,” Senku scoffs.
“Yup~!” From his other side, Gen pulls out… that very same box of crime-scene chocolates.
“...How did you even get to the river with these before I did, mentalist?”
“Sleight of hand!” He makes a show of popping one of the chocolates into his mouth. “...And you took a little while fetching that soap.”
He offers Senku one of the chocolates, staining both their hands once again. “...At least they taste good,” Senku relents, slowly savouring it before liking his fingertips clean. “Even if they’re a billion percent worse than Francois’.”
“They’re charming!”
“Yeah, sure. A charming box of bloody valentine’s chocolates.”
Gen smiles. He scoots closer til their shoulders touch. “They’re just fine for us, aren’t they?”
“...”
Senku lets himself lean a bit closer, a small smile insistently tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“Sure.”