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Courtship was something Gen was very familiar with. He’d turned away more than his fair share of suitors, both before and after becoming famous. He was used to people falling all over themselves, to over confident alphas flexing in his direction and expecting him to fall all over himself.
Used to thoughtless gifts given as if checking off a box with no deeper thought into the purpose of them. Food he didn’t like, clothes he would never wear, grand over-the-top gestures that were more spectacle than anything and left him screaming internally behind a polite smile. Come ons that ranged from thoughtless to straight up insulting and unwanted encroachment into his personal space - he’d seen it all.
So, as far as he was concerned, Senku Ishigami was a breath of fresh air.
Senku was someone who knew who Gen was but could not care less. Gen may not have been an A-list celebrity, but it was still novel, almost, how little Senku seemed to like him.
Even better, he was equally disinterested in Gen as an omega.
Senku had taken one look at him, one sniff of Gen’s attempt at distracting him with his pheromones, and had rolled his eyes. Complete detachment, not even so much as a faint twinge of his own scent reacting, and a derisive snort on top of that.
“You must be worse at your job than I assumed if you think that’s going to work on me, you scam magician.”
Gen had been surprised, of course. Most alphas would have puffed up their chests, intensified their own scents in response, peacocking and pandering in equal measure. Even on the rare occasions an alpha twigged onto what he was doing and called him out on it, they still reacted in some way, even subconsciously.
He’d never had an alpha be completely unaffected by the scent of an unmated omega, and for a brief moment he had to double check that he hadn’t missed the mark entirely and that Senku was actually an alpha.
But just as quickly as Gen had been brushed off, he reset and adjusted his approach.
If anything, Senku’s disinterest made things easier for Gen.
No awkward posturing to entertain, no needing to overthink his every word and action through the lens of preventing an alpha from reading interest where there was none, no unwanted advances. Just pure, clinical communication and cooperation.
Logical.
Exhilarating, to steal a phrase.
And honestly, liberating.
It had been a long time since Gen had felt at ease enough to let his guard down around an alpha and not have to put on the performance of a simpering subservient omega. Senku made it all the easier by treating him as an equal and not something that needed to be coddled.
In fact, Senku seemed rather disconnected from the notion of secondary designations entirely. There was no hesitation to ask an omega to do a task that would usually only be given to an alpha, no implication of weakness or lack of ability - he was just as likely to ask an omega to do some heavy lifting as he was to ask an alpha to help with meals or other more quote, unquote domestic tasks.
He didn’t posture, he didn’t growl or bark, and he wasn’t preoccupied with physical strength or other stereotypical alpha traits. Truly, the most alpha thing about Senku was that he took care of things he deemed useful. He made sure the village had enough food, that their homes were well insulated and in good repair, and that any needs were addressed efficiently.
So when he shoved a fur blanket at Gen one evening, the omega was more surprised to suddenly find his hands full than by the gesture itself.
“You said it was getting colder,” Senku explained at the confused look Gen gave him, rolling out his sleeping mat onto the floor for later. “Winter isn’t going to fully hit for a few more weeks, but with us being up off the ground there’s less insulation on the floor and more opportunity for cold air to get in - I’m working with Kaseki on a possible fix for that but with him and Chrome doing who knows what it might be a while,”
“Makes sense,” Gen tilted his head, stroking his hand over the plush fur and debating on whether he’d prefer it under him or to use it as an actual blanket.
Based on the color and size of the pelts, it seemed to be mostly made of rabbit and fox fur and Gen hesitated before taking a careful sniff. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the usual musty animal odor he’d come to associate with the fur on his new winter coat was missing, replaced by something lighter and fresher. The greasy feel that he expected was also gone, the fur fluffy but dense against his fingers
Deciding to set it on top of his bedroll as an extra layer of padding and insulation, he looked at Senku’s bedroll curiously. “Where’s yours and Chrome-chan’s?”
“Chrome burns like a furnace, any warmer and he’ll drown us in his night sweats,” Senku groused, lips curled in distaste. “And despite wearing half the layers you do, I don’t think it’s all that cold yet.”
Senku went back to puttering with the supplies he’d brought back from the lab, tinkering and muttering to himself as Gen readied himself for bed and sprawled out onto his new blanket with a rumbling purr.
Gen watched as Senku worked, the flickering firelight of the lantern playing shadows across his face and making his eyes seem to glow. He really was something - detached, brilliant, and utterly uninterested in the silly games alphas usually liked to play.
It was nice.
Dangerously nice.
Luckily, as he shifted to get more comfortable in the soft downy fur beneath him, Gen was smart enough to ignore the warmth in his chest and the quiet pull at his instincts.
Because there wasn’t a millimeter’s chance that Senku of all people would ever do something like courtship gifts.
—
Gen couldn’t help but blame Senku for how comfortable he’d gotten around the surprisingly forward thinking villagers and their view on omegas. Back in the modern day, he wouldn’t have dared to leave his apartment so close to his heat without several scent blocking patches and a double dose of suppressants, let alone wandered off on his own.
“What are you doing all alone smelling like that?”
And now that Tsukasa’s camp had begun to integrate - and with it some of the modern norms that were best left four millennia in the past - he cursed himself for not considering how that dynamic would change and adjusting his behavior accordingly.
Closing his eyes and counting down from five, Gen slipped the mask into place, glancing over his shoulder with a saccharine smile, “Who, me?”
The hulking alpha was one he didn’t recognize, most likely revived after Gen had fully defected to the Kingdom of Science. He was big - tall and heavily muscled like most of the knot-headed protein machines Tsukasa had gravitated to.
At least his hair style wasn’t quite as stupid looking as some of the other alpha’s.
With what Gen was sure the alpha thought was a charming smile, he leaned in and gave an obvious sniff that made Gen’s skin crawl. His nose was far too close to Gen’s throat even with the layer of his high collar in between, the gesture far too intimate to receive from a stranger.
“Pretty thing like you shouldn’t be without a chaperone, something could happen.”
Alarm bells rang in Gen’s head at the other man’s tone and the way his scent began to surround him in an acrid cloud of mint and star anise. He kept his composure, spinning on his heels to keep the alpha in front of him.
“Oh? What do you mean?”
“All those cavemen alphas walking around, doubt they’ve got any clue on how to treat a modern omega right,”
Gen resisted curling his lip in distaste at the comment, knowing that the village alphas were more respectful than any of the muscle headed bigots from the Kingdom of Might pretended to be.
“Well, that’s very sweet of you…”
“Hiro,” the alpha flexed a bit and Gen barely held back from rolling his eyes, pointedly ignoring the man’s obvious attempts at a double meaning.
“…Hiro-chan. But everyone from Ishigami Village is quite respectful. Senku-chan is rather irm-fay that no one lay a hand or a scent where it’s not wanted.” He kept his voice sweet and soft, just the way he knew an alpha like Hiro would respond to, making the warning more palatable and less likely to raise his hackles.
Unfortunately, subtlety seemed wasted on Hiro and the warning whooshed right over his head.
He stepped closer, forcing Gen to take a step back to maintain distance between them. Hiro’s grin took on a wolfish, predatory slant that had Gen’s hackles rising, making sure not to look away as he contemplated an exit strategy.
“Oh, don’t be like that, I’m not gonna hurt ya,” Hiro’s expression did nothing to support his words. “Just sayin’ that you smell too good to be out on your own.”
Gen wasn’t sure how Hiro could smell much of anything with his putrid scent fogging around them, but made sure his smile didn’t slip even as his pulse jumped.
Wonderful. Another alpha who thinks ‘no’ means ‘convince me’.
He opened his mouth to spin some tale of one of the others meeting him in hopes of scaring Hiro off, only for the alpha’s scent to suddenly be smothered by earthy woodsmoke and the citrusy notes of bergamot.
Gen felt a real smile cross his face, shoulders relaxing as he looked past Hiro. “Oh, Senku-chan, what are you doing all the way out ere-hay?”
“Could ask you the same thing, mentalist. Thought I told you to go help Kaseki and Ryusui at the ship?”
Senku wasn’t looking at Gen and instead was staring down Hiro. It should’ve been comical, the hulking Hiro, over a foot taller than Senku, seemingly shrinking back under the other man’s gaze.
“Well, I was going to… but in case you can’t tell I’m-“
“In preheat. Francois mentioned they’d be bringing you back to the village? You could just take the balloon, you know, it'd be faster.”
Senku didn’t look at him, eyes firmly locked on Hiro. He wasn’t posturing the way one would expect an alpha to, wasn’t snarling or flashing his teeth or even growling. If anything he looked fairly relaxed if not just a little annoyed. Regardless, Hiro seemed all too eager to retreat despite his obvious physical advantages over the scientist.
“You know how I feel about stepping oot-fay in that death trap. I figured if I was going back anyway, I could grab a few herbs and other things I know grow around here for Ruri-chan,”
Senku grunted in acknowledgement, arms crossing over his chest, still not looking away from Hiro. It reminded him of the time Senku had stared down Magma, the blond having gotten a bit mouthy after too much wine - though Senku’d had a few of the other villagers there to shame the burly alpha alongside him then.
Hiro finally muttered something that was probably supposed to sound good natured, hands held up in an exaggerated display of surrender before slinking away.
Both watched as the other alpha retreated, the final bit of tension coiled in Gen’s gut fading as the last lingering hints of Hiro’s scent was overtaken by Senku’s.
“Are you okay?”
Gen blinked in surprise, caught off guard by the blunt directness of the question. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Other than your heat hitting nearly two weeks early? Your pulse spiked when he got too close and I could smell how uncomfortable you were from all the way across the clearing - you think he would’ve gotten the hint.”
“You could smell me all the way over there?” Gen pointedly ignored Senku’s comment about his biological schedule, more surprised to hear about his scent. He usually had a rather decent hold on it, able to control its intensity and even force false emotions into it - for Senku of all people to have picked up on his discomfort he must’ve been far more affected by Hiro’s behavior than he’d initially thought.
Senku stuck his pinky in his ear. “Not hard when you’re radiating distress like a cornered deer.”
Gen gave an annoyed huff, “A deer? Eally-ray? Most alphas would at least say I reminded them of something cute. Like a fox… or a bunny!”
Senku gave him a flat look, the corner of his mouth twitching just slightly in amusement. “Rabbits freeze. You looked ready to bite him if you needed to… with that, your hair, and your scent spreading everywhere, maybe a skunk is more accurate?”
Gen sputtered. “A skunk?!” he started bringing his fists down on Senku’s chest in a half-hearted complaint, unable to keep the grin off his face at Senku’s clever tease. “I say cute and you call me a skunk?”
“What?” Senku laughed, letting Gen continue to pummel him, “Skunks are cute, just ask Yuzuriha!”
Gen gave a few more thumps and a final flick of Senku’s nose, making sure not to laugh at the way it scrunched up or the disbelieving look Senku gave him in response. “Well, now that you’ve had your fun at my expense, you can walk me back to Francois-chan.”
“Weren’t you getting herbs for Ruri?” Senku nodded towards the tree line. “Might as well finish that while we’re out here,”
Gen hesitated, glancing in the direction Hiro had sprung out of for a moment before turning back with a small smile, “That’s quite alright, I’m sure Francois-chan is waiting-“
Senku started walking, “Nah, Ryusui’s got them doing stuff right now, and it shouldn’t take us too long.”
“…Us?” Gen blinked, following after him.
Senku didn’t even look over his shoulder, “You said I had to walk you back right? I can check on the PH level of the soil while you’re busy, give me a chance to plan out farming locations as we expand,”
He was already moving ahead, eyes scanning the undergrowth, voice casual. No “I’ll stay to ward off any creeps” or alpha posturing, no condescending reminders to be more careful or implications that he needed to be babysat.
Practical, efficient, and very Senku.
Gen lingered for a moment as he contemplated Senku’s interaction with Hiro. It couldn’t even really be called a confrontation, really. Senku hadn’t made a show of it - no puffing up his chest or “stay behind me” gesture, no ridiculously aggressive show of scenting him in some primitive display of dominance - just oh someone’s being a creep? Okay, problem solved, back to work.
With a shake of his head, Gen trotted forward to catch up, following Senku into the underbrush.
They fell into a comfortable rhythm, Gen’s hands worked automatically, plucking at leaves and roots while Senku talked through his list of ongoing tasks and projects, bouncing ideas off of him and taking his feedback.
As Senku rambled, Gen took the opportunity to watch him - crouched next to him to scoop dirt into a small collection jar, pale hair catching the dappled mid-morning light through the trees and the familiar citrus scent brushing just faintly across his senses.
“You didn’t have to step in before,” he found himself saying before he realized.
“I know,” Senku replied simply, holding the jar up and giving it a little shake to make it settle, peering at it closely.
“So why did you? I could’ve handled it.”
Senku made a sound of agreement, “Yeah, but I figured you were stressed out enough trying to get shit done before your heat kicked in. No reason to make you waste your time tricking some dumbass to think that leaving you alone was his idea,” he rolled his eyes and curled his lip. “Especially when douches like that are more likely to listen to another random alpha than the omega they’re trying to show off to. Which is dumb as shit, but it’s the reality of it, yeah?”
Giving a dismissive shrug, Senku got to his feet and brushed some dirt and stuck leaves off his coat.
“Humans have been idiots about pheromones and designation hierarchies for millennia. I’m just glad the old man was able to instill some sort of societal correction through those stories of his and I don’t have to deal with the same shit with the villagers.”
Gen blinked, thrown by the casual tone. There wasn’t any pity or guilt or even any self-righteousness - just matter-of-fact observation with a bit of irritation. Like he was talking about a train being late or waiting for water to boil.
Taking something complex and intensive and making it sound simple. As though the entire history of omega oppression and alpha entitlement could be neatly summarized as ‘humans being idiots about pheromones’.
Gen huffed a quiet laugh. “You make it sound so easy.”
Senku finally looked over at him, one brow lifting. “It is easy. Don’t be a dick. Problem solved. Not my fault the rest of the world doesn’t get it."
That earned him a louder laugh and a fond shake of the head. “If only all alphas thought like you.”
“I’d have a hell of an easier time getting shit done,” Senku agreed with a roll of his eyes. “You almost finished? We should start heading back if you and Francois want to make it to the village before nightfall.”
Tucking the last few herbs he’d collected into a pouch and slipping it into his sleeve, Gen rose to his feet, “Worried about me being out after dark without a chaperone?”
“Nah, skunks can see in the dark.”
Senku stumbled forward when Gen shoved him, cackling out a laugh at the omega’s indignant cry and as the two sniped at one another Gen couldn’t help but feel warm.
Not the feverish heat of flooding hormones or a flush of anger, but a gentle sort of comfort spreading from his chest and tugging at his cheeks.
He had known that Senku was unlike any alpha he had ever met, but it was still such a pleasant surprise to be reminded of that fact.
—
Gen didn’t have much to bring with him onto the Perseus, most of his meager belongings fitting neatly into the many hidden pockets of his usual outfit, but the few that didn’t were easily packed into one bag.
“Oi, mentalist, where are you going?”
“Just dropping my ings-thay off in the barracks,” Gen grinned, trying very hard not to acknowledge just how handsome Senku looked with his hair wind swept from being on deck and eyes bright with the excitement of adventure. “Unlike our last voyage, we’ll be in close quarters for quite some time and I want to make sure I land a good spot.”
The alpha raised an eyebrow, “You mean a spot away from Yo?”
“Exactly.”
Senku shook his head, “I still don’t understand why you hate his scent so much, it’s not even that bad.”
“Not that bad? He stinks like peaches and latex and,” his lip curled in a grimace, nose wrinkling, “disinfectant. He smells like a peach flavored condom.”
Senku blinked before barking out a surprised laugh, “Never really noticed but now that you say it… yeah, that’s a pretty on point description.”
“So you understand my need to be as ar-fay away from him as possible.”
“Well, today’s your lucky day, Mentalist, you’re not in the barracks.” He motioned Gen to follow, not waiting for a response before heading down the hall in the other direction.
Gen’s brows knit up, but he dutifully followed. “As much as I like my privacy, I don’t plan on sleeping in the lab, Senku-chan. The whole point was to avoid weird smells.”
Senku rolled his eyes, “Just follow me,”
They made their way through the winding halls in the direction of what Gen was sure had been a storage area just a few weeks previous. He could smell freshly cut wood, the sort that signified construction work versus firewood or fuel, eyes narrowing as he identified a few doors and a new hallway he didn’t recognize.
They stopped in front of the unassuming looking doors and Senku stepped aside so Gen could enter.
“...Oh, this is far nicer than the barracks,” Gen beamed, taking a look around curiously. The room wasn’t large by any means, but certainly better than sharing an open bunk room with dozens of others.
Two twin beds were installed into the wall, one on top of the other, raised up just enough off the floor to fit a few storage drawers underneath. There was what looked to be a tabletop fastened on the far wall and a quick test proved its hinges could set it flat for more walking space or folded out to be used.
“I feel like I would have noticed private cabins on our last trip.”
“Took the chance to make some upgrades knowing we’d be out at sea for longer this time,” Senku replied simply. “Still have to share, though.”
Noting a familiar bag on the upper bunk, Gen tossed his onto the lower one, “I don’t know, Senku-chan, if it’s between sharing a room with you or sharing a room with thirty other people…” he made a considering face, sucking in a breath between his teeth and bouncing his hands like scales.
Senku’s pinky found his ear and he shrugged, “If you don’t want it, I’m sure someone else wouldn’t mind considering how few of these rooms we have.”
“Who else was lucky enough?”
“Ryusui got his big room like before, obviously. Then Ukyo, Chrome and Kaseki, Kohaku’s with Homura, and a few others. The ones that could use a private space so they don’t disturb anyone with their weird hours or get disturbed when they’re working,”
“Privacy and increased morale layered with practicality, just as I’d expect,” Gen teased.
Senku shrugged, taking a moment to do a quick inspection to see if there was anything immediately obvious as being out of place. “You’re the one always talking about feeling safe and productivity going hand in hand, mentalist, just following your advice,” he rapped the back of his knuckle against the wall, seemingly pleased with whatever he was checking.
Gen opened his mouth to respond but paused when he caught sight of a tuft of fur sticking out from under the blanket on the bottom bunk. Soft and distinctly familiar, reminiscent of the one Senku had given him ages ago.
Except it wasn’t just similar, it was the same one - he could tell from the small hole in the corner that had been burned into it by a wayward ember one evening when Chrome was stoking the stove a bit too aggressively.
For a single, dizzying heartbeat the realization struck him as intimate, Senku’s words sticking out like burrs. Feeling safe and productivity going hand in hand. It was a philosophy Gen had been hammering into the other man since early days, trying to convince the alpha that regular meals and good sleeping habits actually did matter, thank you. One that Senku often brushed off.
But in this case Senku had not only remembered but implemented it.
Extra space on the ship could have easily been allotted for additional storage or any other myriad of more practical uses than private rooms. And yet, not only had Senku allowed them, but had made sure that Gen’s space had something familiar and comfortable waiting for him.
Nest his inner omega chirped. Alpha made a nest.
His heart gave a traitorous little flutter as he pictured Senku folding up the blanket and tucking it away, making sure it ended up in Gen’s bunk, already laid out and ready before anyone else got on the ship.
He didn’t let himself linger on the thought for long, couldn’t.
Because if he did - if he really let himself sit with the idea of Senku deliberately setting up something soft and familiar for him - then he might start to believe things he had no business believing.
And Gen was smarter than that.
He knew enough about people to know better than that.
Ignorant to the turmoil Gen was going through, Senku finished his spot check. “Alright, everything looks good to me but if you notice something you can let me or Kaseki know and we can get it sorted out,” he glanced over his shoulder, pointing his finger at him, “but no stupid shit, got it?”
Gen blinked, still half dazed from the quiet thrum under his skin, pulling his usual grin into place if only to mask how off balance he felt. “Hmm? You wound me, Senku-chan. When have I ever done anything stupid?”
Senku gave him an unimpressed look, “We can start with Moz and work backwards or would you prefer alphabetical order?”
“Rude,” Gen huffed. “I have ittle-lay control over the actions of boorish alphas like Moz-chan, and any other incident you’re thinking of is most likely just my innate brilliance being considered foolish by those who can’t appreciate art when they see it,”
“Uh huh,” Senku replied dryly, already turning towards the door. “If I hear Kaseki talking about any unnecessary modern gadgets I haven’t told him about I’m going to assume he got the idea from you,”
Gen could tell Senku’s brain was already switching gears, mind racing with at least a dozen other problems to tackle next before the current conversation was even finished, giving a distracted wave as he slipped back into the hallway, the door shutting behind him with a quiet click.
Reaching down to run his fingers over the familiar fur, Gen shook his head slowly. He knew better than to read into Senku’s small kindnesses and gestures.
He, of all people, knew just how easy it was to misinterpret intention. How often people projected meaning where there was none simply because they wanted there to be.
Senku wasn’t that sort of alpha. When he did things he had a logical, practical goal in mind, and wasn’t the type to act subtly when the direct approach was available. He didn’t do things out of instinct or romantic inclination, but because they were effective and the right thing to do.
Gen’s fingers continued their absent stroke through the plush fur, noting how beneath the layers of his own scent from countless nights sleeping beneath it there was the tell-tale trace of something sharp and citrus-bright.
“...Don’t be stupid, Asagiri…”
—
“How does courtship work?”
Gen looked down at Suika in surprise, the little pup looking at him expectantly with big brown eyes full of curiosity.
“You’re a bit young for that, Suika-chan, no one should be courting you for a good long while.”
Suika’s expression contorted as if Gen had said something silly, “I’m not being courted, that’s gross.”
Gen raised a brow, “How would you know if you don’t know how it orks-way?”
“I know what some of it looks like,” she argued, lips puffed up in a pout, “but it seems so complicated!”
“It can be,” Gen agreed, motioning for Suika to take a seat next to him. “Certainly more omplicated-cay than a tournament where getting married is the prize. How do you think courtship works?”
Suika plopped down beside him, snuggling close as she usually did - the way pups tended to with omegas they were close to - and made a thoughtful sound. “Well… they spend a lot of time together.” Her nose wrinkled slightly, “and they start to smell funny.”
Gen laughed, resting his chin in his palm and nodding along.
Emboldened, she continued. “And they give each other gifts! But they’re special gifts. …but I don’t know what makes them special.”
“Gifts are definitely traditional,” he agreed carefully, eyes narrowing slightly in thought. “As for what makes them special…I suppose it’s why they’re given.”
“Why?”
“People give gifts all the time, right?” Gen could feel himself slipping into explanation mode, and Suika dutifully nodded along. “For special occasions like holidays or birthdays, sometimes even just because, but those aren’t necessarily courting gifts. Courting gifts are a way to tell someone you’re interested in them romantically. It’s more common between alphas and omegas because alphas have an instinctive desire to take care of the omega they’re interested in.”
Suika hummed, nodding along and obviously taking the matter very seriously. “But how do you know it’s not just a normal gift?”
“Well, courting gifts are different from normal gifts in a few ways. For one thing, you don’t give just one courting gift - you give several over a period of time. They’re supposed to show that the other person knows you and cares enough to get you things that you’d want or need - good courting gifts are special for just that person. When someone gives you a courting gift, they’re really saying ‘I see you, you’re safe with me, let me take care of you’ and the gifts are meant to show that.”
The little pup seemed confused still, “Why don’t they just say it?”
Gen laughed, “I’m sure things would be much easier if they did, but unfortunately feelings aren’t always so easy to put into words. That’s why scented gifts are very popular, a lot of the time our scents can show our feelings better than anything else.”
“Is that why people start smelling like each other?”
“Partly. Usually by the time courting gifts are being given you’re close enough that you’ve started smelling like one another naturally and it just makes it more obvious.”
Suika beamed, “Like how Taiju and Yuzuriha smell like each other!”
Gen grinned, imagining the looks on their faces if they heard Suika mention their courtship so blatantly while they were still pretending it wasn’t happening.
“And how you smell like Senku!”
His smile froze and he cleared his throat. “Excuse me?”
Suika leaned forward and sniffed at his haori, “You used to only smell like pretty flowers but now you also smell kinda like lemons like Senku does. Is it because of the gifts he gives you?”
“Suika-chan…” he began carefully, “you shouldn’t say things like that. People could get the wrong idea.”
“But it’s true,” she replied, wrinkling her little nose. “Ever since we started building the ship you guys smell the same.”
Gen swallowed thickly, knowing there was really no way to verify it without asking someone else to confirm. They had never purposefully scented one another so any cross over would have been gradual, to the point that Gen would have gone nose blind to it before noticing any obvious change.
Heedless to the internal conflict she had started, Suika made a thoughtful sound. “Since you smell like each other and Senku gives you gifts a lot, does that mean he’s courting you?”
Gen choked on air, “Ha! No! No, absolutely ot-nay,” he waved his hands, the motion just a little too quick and his voice just a little too loud. “Senku-chan would never. You know how he feels about things like that!”
Suika frowned, “But you said courting gifts are about making someone feel safe. Don’t his gifts make you feel that way?”
Gen barely held back an eye twitch. “Senku-chan makes everyone safe, that’s his job as Chief.”
“So… he’s courting everyone?”
“Suika-chan,” he started, fumbling for a moment before taking a deep breath. “Courting is intentional. You have to be doing it on purpose and make it clear that’s what you’re doing - you don’t just do it by accident.”
He very pointedly did not think about fur blankets. Or private cabins. Or citrus-scented alphas placing themselves between him and danger without being asked.
“But Senku does everything on purpose,” she argued. “So doesn’t that mean when he’s giving you gifts he’s courting you?”
Gen pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “…no,” he finally said, voice soft but firm. “It doesn’t. He’s not.”
Suika studied him for a long moment before shrugging, “Okay.”
Relief loosened something tight in his chest and Gen let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.
“I thought it was weird when Kohaku said you two would be dumb enough to do it without noticing.” Hopping off the bench, she beamed up at him, “But neither of you are dumb so I figured I’d ask myself!”
Before Gen could reply she scampered off, leaving him spluttering and slack-jawed.
For some reason it had never occurred to him that not only had others noticed Senku’s gestures but had started to read into them. Viewing them not as little, practical things - Senku things, but as the gestures of an interested suitor.
Which was absolutely ridiculous because Gen knew there was no way the gestures were anything but absent minded practicalities.
Because that’s what they had to be.
Because Suika was right, Gen wasn’t dumb, he was well aware that he’d stopped just admiring Senku long ago. Between the first cautious smiles and long, comfortable silences, glimpses of kind generosity hidden by sarcastic pragmatism and teasing words that left him tingling… he’d started to want the other man.
Not in the pheromone-drunk, breed me way omegas were supposed to want alphas, though Gen certainly wouldn’t be opposed…
But in a terrifyingly real way.
The way that knew that Senku had no interest in romance or biological imperatives, that he would sooner chop his own arm off before acknowledging any sort of alpha instinct.
Which was how he knew that Senku wasn’t courting him, would never - he simply wasn’t wired that way.
Every action, every gift, every thoughtful gesture had a perfectly rational explanation.
And yet, the more he thought about it the more the rational explanations started to sound like excuses he was feeding himself just to keep from acknowledging the truth of his own messy feelings.
Because if he let himself think for even a second that Senku might see him as more than a useful ally or even as a friend, he’d be setting himself up for heartbreak.
—
He didn’t see Senku for the rest of the day.
Which, under normal circumstances wasn’t too unusual considering how Senku managed to vanish into his work the way other people vanished into sleep and the high demands of their new sailing route. Gen told himself the prickle of unease he felt under his skin and roiling his stomach was just his impending heat making him sensitive.
Taking the opportunity, he slipped back to his room for an afternoon nap, sure that when he woke up he’d feel refreshed and back to normal.
So when he was awoken what had to be hours later by a hand on his shoulder and the faint scent of bergamot it took him several moments to register what was happening.
“You feeling okay?” Senku’s brow was knit up in concern, looking over him for any signs of injury or illness and seemingly not finding any. “Not like you to take naps,”
Gen sat up, rubbing an eye with the heel of his hand, “What time is it?”
“Late. Chrome said you missed dinner,” Senku peered at him and took a few obvious sniffs. “You shouldn’t be going into heat for at least three more weeks, you sure you’re not sick?”
“Could’ve sworn we talked about you at least pretending not to pay such close attention to my cycle, Senku-chan,”
Senku just grunted, stepping back long enough to shove a bowl into his hands. “Here,”
Gen stared down at the still steaming stew and blinked in confusion. “Bringing you dinner is my job,” he said dumbly, stomach giving a ridiculous little swoop.
“Didn’t realize you’d cornered the market on feeding people, Mentalist,” Senku snorted, leaning back against the wall across from him with his arms crossed.
Gen ran his finger up down the handle of the spoon for a moment, “If Chrome-chan was so worried, he could’ve brought it to me,”
He raised his gaze up to find Senku staring at him, red eyes bright in the dim light of the cabin, expression one Gen couldn’t quite name. “I was already heading this way, made more sense for me to do it.”
Gen nodded, hoping his face didn’t give away the way Senku’s words made his chest tighten. Of course, a practical answer for a practical gesture - no point in sending Chrome all the way across the ship when Senku shared a room with him.
“Well I certainly won’t turn down room service,” he finally said, voice soft and smile sharp around the edges as he spooned up some stew and blew on it carefully. “But if you’re not careful people will see you giving me special treatment and might get the wrong idea.”
Senku didn’t reply and Gen glanced up, pausing when he found Senku just looking at him. Eyes sharp and searching, the way he looked at a particularly complicated machine or precarious experiment - the look that said he had a dozen thoughts firing off all at the same time.
“Would that be a problem?”
His voice was level, the question neutral and honest, and somehow it knocked the air right out of Gen’s lungs.
He swallowed, pulse thudding in his ears so loud he was sure Senku could hear it. Nibbling on his lower lip, he finally replied, “…depends on the idea. And if they’re right about it.”
Senku was quiet for a long moment. Not the distracted quiet Gen was used to where the alpha’s brain skittered five steps ahead, but a still, heavy quiet. Deliberate. Senku’s gaze didn’t waver, red eyes intent in a way that made Gen’s skin prickle.
“You think I’m doing it by accident.”
Gen hesitated for a moment, eventually just shrugging one of his shoulders and averting his eyes. “You’ve been rather clear about your views on the whole alpha-instinct biological impulse thing.”
“I have.”
“If… anyone were to read into things you did and started to think it meant something, that would be on them.”
Senku blinked slowly before rolling his eyes and dragging a hand down his face with an aggravated sigh. “Fuck, you’re exhausting.” He stepped forward, pointing an accusing finger in his face. “I don’t do things by accident, Mentalist.”
Gen jerked back, eyes widening, “Huh?”
“I didn’t initially plan for it to be a ‘courtship’ or whatever, but everything I did was on purpose.” His hands dropped to his hips, head shaking slowly. “You’re the one who said that people work better when they feel safe, and you weren’t wrong. You, specifically, work better when you’re not constantly managing other people’s expectations or pheromone bullshit.”
Gen felt his cheeks heating up, gaze dropping to the bowl on his lap but finding his appetite suddenly gone. “You know I don’t just… feel safe with you, right?”
Senku snorted, “Yeah, no shit.”
Gen almost flinched at the matter of fact tone, but Senku continued before he could.
“And before you start spiraling, no I didn’t realize it right away but I’m not that socially brain dead. Once I figured it out I could’ve stopped but I didn’t. I get that you assume every decent thing has an escape hatch or that there’s some weird more ‘logical’ explanation that conveniently doesn’t risk you getting hurt, but don’t project that onto me.”
Gen gaped at him, jaw slack at being called out so efficiently. Senku leaned down, not crowding or touching, but close enough that Gen had no choice but to look at him, to acknowledge the warm and steady scent of woodsmoke and bergamot with not a shred of dominance in it.
“I don’t do this shit like other alphas,” he continued. “I don’t like the rituals or the expectations and hate the idea that biology gets to decide how I care about someone. But I like you and like having you around. I like making sure you’re okay. If that overlaps with what other people consider courting then that’s whatever.”
“Are you…” Gen shook his head as if it would rattle his thoughts into order, chest tight as if he had just run through the forest for two full days. “Is this you telling me you have been courting me?”
“I’m telling you I’ve been choosing you,” Senku corrected. “Repeatedly. Deliberately.”
Choosing.
Not instinct, not obligation. Not pheromones nudging a switch in Senku’s brain in his direction.
Something in his expression must’ve shown the maelstrom roiling inside him and Senku sighed, running a hand through his hair to push his bangs up from his face.
“I talked to Yuzuriha about it, when I finally noticed what I was doing,” he admitted, voice low as if expecting Gen to react negatively to the news. “I was worried I was pissing you off or making you uncomfortable because you never reacted or acknowledged it. Didn’t really occur to me that you’d be too busy convincing yourself I wasn’t doing it on purpose to say anything, but I guess that’s sort of my fault.”
“…Sort of?”
“Okay, entirely my fault,” Senku admitted with a roll of his eyes, two spots of red blossoming high on his cheeks and his mouth curling into a petulant scowl.
Gen stared. “You picked a hell of a time to start being emotionally articulate.”
“Don’t get used to it,” Senku shot back.
After a beat, he exhaled sharply out his nose, reaching forward to flick Gen in the forehead.
Not hard or mean, just enough to make sure he was paying attention.
“Ow, what was at-thay for?”
“You were about to say something stupid to try and deflect,” Senku explained. “I intervened.”
“Oh my god, you’re infuriating,” Gen said with a laugh. Senku just raised a brow at him and Gen sighed, “You know, most alphas would’ve started with something like I want you or I like your scent, not bullying me,”
“We both know most alphas are idiots,” Senku snorted. He eyed Gen for a moment before sighing, gaze sharpening the way it did when he identified a problem that needed solving. “To be clear, I like your scent. I like that you’re annoying, manipulative as hell, and how I feel when I’m around you. You make my life easier in ways I didn’t even know were possible until you were here and before you latch onto that I don’t keep people around just because they’re useful, I do it because I want them there.”
No pheromones or instinct, no flash or grand gesture. Just honesty, blunt and factual and achingly sincere.
For a moment Gen thought of how much easier it would have been if Senku had said something dramatic or stereotypical alpha-like. Gen could’ve easily waved away a cliche or trite line, but he had no defenses against such directness.
He cleared his throat, aiming for levity to cut through the weight of Senku’s words. “Well, it wasn’t Shakespeare but that wasn’t the worst attempt at seduction I’ve experienced.”
Senku snorted but Gen could see the flush on his cheeks creep up his ears. “Wasn’t trying to seduce you.”
“Hm? Could’ve fooled me with all the nesting and food delivery.”
“I don’t nest.”
Gen raised an imperious eyebrow, gesturing vaguely at the room around them with extra focus given to the furs beneath him.
The red on Senku’s cheeks brightened and he scowled, “I arrange resources efficiently. If your instincts want to interpret it as nesting, that's on you.”
“Ah, of course. How silly of me.” Gen inclined his head, smiling ruefully. “I suppose it was a little far-fetched to connect your behavior with your recent admission to, how did you put it? Liking how you feel around me?”
Senku’s scowl deepened and he rubbed the back of his neck before sighing heavily, brow knitting up and arms crossing over his chest. “This is objectively terrible timing, you realize.”
His tone was blunt but not dismissive.
“Your errible-tay luck seems to be rubbing off on me.”
Senku ignored the jab, light-hearted as it was.
“We’ll be in America in less than two weeks. Your heat will be here in around three. Starting something now would be irresponsible.” He paused, weight shifting slightly before giving a shrug of obviously feigned nonchalance. “And I’d rather do it right.”
Gen’s heart did something deeply inconvenient and he could feel a flush of his own creeping up the back of his neck. He ducked his head in hopes of hiding it, but couldn’t keep the giddy smile off his face no matter how he tried.
“It would be very on brand that the moment you begin courting me openly that some sort of disaster strikes,”
Senku reached forward and flicked him on the forehead again.
Gen swatted at his hand, “That better not be a new habit of yours,”
“Why not? It’s effective.” Senku hadn’t moved away and Gen felt himself freeze when the alpha’s hand found its way to the top of his head. “We acknowledge what’s happening and we deal with it after. Simple enough.”
“After,” Gen echoed dumbly, trying desperately not to let the purr threatening to rumble in his chest free as Senku’s hand stroked his hair for a moment, the alpha seemingly completely unconcerned by the effect the gesture had. “I’ll hold you to it.”
It sounded so simple, which of course meant that it would most likely be a complete disaster.
—-
Perhaps kidnapping a hostile scientist from his murderous alpha wasn’t the optimal plan, but Gen knew better than to be surprised at that point.
“Your pulse is elevated,”
Gen didn’t even turn, “That tends to happen when one is running for their lives, Senku-chan,”
“It’s higher than it should be,”
Sighing, Gen glanced sideways to where Senku was standing. The scientist was watching him, eyes bright with an intensity usually reserved for complicated machinery, and Gen would’ve been flattered if not for the peek of bandages still visible through the gap of his collar.
“You keep staring at me like that and people are going to talk.”
“Let them.”
Gen blinked in surprise, Senku hadn’t even hesitated in his response. His scent was intense, permeating around them in a way the alpha usually kept under control - another sign of the fatigue still weighing at him. He’d kept his distance since Gen’s return, focused on their escape and their captive, but it seemed his alpha instincts had finally gotten too difficult to ignore.
“How’d it go?”
The question was blunt, and for a moment Gen wanted to play stupid. Talk about his dinner or one of the grueling tasks he’d been given during the day, pretend he didn’t know what Senku was really asking him.
But something in those crimson eyes gave him pause. A faint gleam of concern, of a territorial alpha practically pacing behind cage bars.
Gen’s heat had hit while he’d been held as a prisoner by the Americans. Senku had known it was approaching before they made contact, and one sniff upon his return made it clear that it had come and gone. Gen could only imagine what sorts of scenarios Senku’s brain conjured when picturing an unmated omega going through heat surrounded by enemy alphas.
He could see the tension in Senku’s shoulders, the way his jaw clenched that had nothing to do with the bullet wounds healing in his chest.
“They locked me in a private room with plenty of food and blankets. Two beta guards rotated and no one entered.”
Senku inhaled sharply through his nose but the tension in his shoulders eased. “No one tried to-“
“No,” Gen interrupted, finally turning to face him fully. “The good doctor was quite clear in his expectations for his people. I was reliably informed that anyone who so much as considered it was swiftly and sternly dissuaded of the notion.”
Senku studied him for a few more moments before his jaw finally unclenched. Relief flooded his scent, soft but unmistakable, and Gen felt something twist in his chest.
“You were worried.”
“Of course I was worried,” Senku replied instantly, as though the very suggestion that he hadn’t been was the stupidest thing he’d ever heard.
“Suppose it’s only fair considering what you put me through,” Gen tried to tease, glancing down at the bandages once more.
Senku huffed, absently rubbing at his chest. The worst of the wounds had finally begun to heal after having been reopened several times by Senku’s inability to stand still. Gen couldn’t even find it in him to be upset, still far more relieved to have returned to an injured Senku instead of a dead one.
“When you first got back you said something.”
Gen inclined his head, “You’ll need to be a bit more ecific-spay. According to you I say a lot of things.”
Senku didn’t rise to the bait. “You said you were done waiting. It made me think something had happened to you… but if that’s not it, then what changed?”
Gen laughed softly, able to see where Senku had connected the wrong dots. “I finally had some time to think.”
“That doesn’t usually end well.”
“Rude,” Gen said automatically, though the edge of the word lacked its usual bite.
The steady rhythm of the waves against the hull filled the silence that followed - different than how it had sounded on the Perseus. Another reminder of the situation they had found themselves in.
“When I thought you had died,” Gen said quietly, “I realized something unpleasant about myself… I am far less patient than I pretend to be.”
Senku frowned, brow furrowing up in confusion. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Gen smiled, leaning forward to encroach into Senku’s personal space just a bit more, appreciating the way the citrusy notes of bergamot seemed to spike in response.
“It means that when I realized you weren’t dead, I decided that I was done waiting around for good timing.”
Senku didn’t move away, which alone was answer enough to a hundred questions Gen hadn’t dared to ask.
Red eyes tracked him calmly, focused and attentive in the way they always were when Senku was studying something interesting.
Something he found important.
“You said you wanted to do things right, but seeing as how the universe seems intent on making that difficult for us,” Gen tilted his head, a sly smile curling the edge of his mouth, “I’m willing to settle for mostly right.”
Senku’s eyes narrowed slightly, not suspicious so much as curious, a smirk of his own tugging at his lips. “That so?”
“Mhm,” Gen hummed, voice light but his heart rate definitely picking up. “You see, Senku-chan, courtship is meant to be reciprocal.”
“Duh, otherwise it’s just harassment.”
Gen laughed, reaching into his sleeve and brushing his fingers over the object he’d been carrying for the better part of two months. He’d grabbed it almost without thinking, turned it over in his hands a dozen times, nearly thrown it out just as many.
“I believe that means it’s my turn.”
With a flick of his wrist, Gen pulled out a strip of fabric, Senku’s eyes widening at the sight of a familiar yellow checkered print.
The silk was well-cared for, the pattern as bright as it had been the day Senku had first worn it during that ridiculous poker game.
“Yuzuriha gave me so much shit for losing that.”
“Did she? How agic-tray.” Gen twirled the strip of fabric once around his fingers before letting it drape loosely over his hand. “Even if you don’t want to call it courtship, you said you’d been choosing me… it only seems polite to return the favor.”
Senku’s brow creased as Gen held the ascot out to him. “...I’m confused.”
Gen blinked, looking at him curiously. “Huh?”
“What does you giving this back have to do with courtship?”
Clicking his tongue, Gen rolled his eyes in exasperation, looping the ascot around Senku’s neck. “...eriously-say? I know you hate the rituals around this stuff, but this is like courtship 101 here.”
“Hey, watch-” Senku’s jaw made an audible click as his mouth shut, eyes widening with realization. “You scented it.”
“Might’ve.”
Senku grabbed one of the loose ends, staring at the fabric like it had suddenly become a volatile chemical compound, which, in a way, it had.
It was unmistakable, the yellow checkered print with Yuzuriha’s familiar stitching, the faint stain from an errant splash of urushi lacquer on one corner. It was definitely Senku’s.
But the scent woven into the silk wasn’t.
Familiar gentle florals, the sweet tang of tart fruit, bright and heady - distinctively Gen. Layered with the cloying aroma of heat - rich and intense.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, underneath it, because Gen was a manipulative little shit who understood symbolism far too well, was something else. A faint trace of bergamot, the earthy sweetness of a banked fire.
Not fresh, not deliberate.
Just the quiet accumulation of months spent too close to one particular alpha.
Senku inhaled and immediately regretted it.
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath, “you just gave me a pheromone bomb.”
Gen preened, entirely too pleased with himself as he watched Senku seem to recalculate. He identified each micro-expression, every shift in posture, every fluctuation of his scent - how he gripped the ascot like it might try to escape, the way his pupils dilated.
“Okay…” Senku exhaled slowly through his nose, eyes narrowing as he tried to force his brain to re-route from the very real problem of Gen’s scent being everywhere to something he could actually manage. “Okay, let’s break this down,”
“Ah, yes, nothing says romance like a scientific examination.”
“Shut up.”
Senku’s eyebrow twitched but he powered through.
“You’ve marked this as yours,” he said, holding the yellow fabric up slightly, fist still clenched tightly around it as if Gen might try and take it back. “Which, by extension, means you’re marking me, since it’s mine.”
Gen’s smile softened, just a fraction. For once he didn’t deflect, didn’t dodge or spin or soften to moment into something easier to manage. He just let it be what it was.
Senku shifted, stepping closer - not crowding or pushing, but closing the distance enough that the space between them felt… intentional.
“This is arguably even worse timing than before.” His fingers shifted against the fabric in his hand, thumb brushing - almost absently - over the silk. Gen could see the way Senku’s pulse jumped in his neck as the ascot brushed against his scent gland, picked up on the way the alpha’s scent had begun to react to it. “And you’re going to make this really hard to ignore.”
“Good,” Gen smiled, earning a huff in response. It was half exasperation, half… something else. “I’m not asking you to lose control, or rush into anything,” he continued, leaning in just a fraction more, close enough to see the fine tension in Senku’s shoulders and the way his breath hitched ever so slightly before evening out again. “I’m asking you to acknowledge what’s happening… and deal with it now.”
Senku’s eyes narrowed slightly, but there was no real bite to it. Just a quiet sort of intensity that made Gen’s pulse tick up.
“...okay,” he said, nodding shortly.
Then he moved.
Not fast or forceful, but deliberate.
Fingers slipped beneath the strip of fabric coiled around his wrist, loosening it just enough to slip over his hand. Carefully, he folded it over itself to shorten the length before looping it around Gen’s neck the way the omega had done with the ascot.
“...Senku-chan?”
“Reciprocal, right?” Senku asked, voice steady despite the faint flush creeping up his neck. “Goes both ways.”
His fingers brushed briefly, just barely, against Gen’s skin as he adjusted the fabric, the contact fleeting over his scent gland but enough to send a sharp spark down Gen’s spine.
He didn’t knot the fabric, didn’t tie it. Just placed it there.
Intentional.
Marking, without claiming.
Choosing, without trapping.
Gen stared at him, “Oh…” a slow, dangerous smile crossed his face, voice honey-sweet and a little breathless despite his best efforts. “You have no idea what you just did, do you?”
Senku’s eyes widened, looking at the wrapping in concern, “Uh…”
Gen leaned in, giving Senku plenty of time to back away before brushing his lips against his. It was feather light and while Senku was stunned he took the opportunity to nuzzle his face under his jaw, scenting him directly.
“That,” he murmured, lips brushing against Senku’s neck in a way that had the alpha visibly shuddering, “was not a courting gesture.”
He pulled back to find Senku boggling at him, eyes wide and face scarlet, mouth working uselessly. “...Yeah?”
“Mm,” Gen replied. He reached forward, fingers ghosting over the patch of pale skin the fabric had been covering on Senku’s wrist. “That,” he murmured, skimming over the spot where one of Senku’s secondary scent glands sat, “was a claiming gesture.”
He felt Senku freeze and waited just a beat before continuing, if not just to make him squirm.
“And I accept.”
Gen didn’t falter when Senku suddenly lurched forward to steal another kiss, firmer than the last, more intentional, strong hands circling his back to pull him closer.
The sound Gen made was half laugh, half gasp, knowing the alpha would deny to his last breath that the sound rumbling through his chest was a growl.
The kiss wasn’t polished, not practiced or graceful, and it was clear Senku really had no clue what he was doing. He wasn’t trying to be smooth or charming, just trying to figure it out in real time in a way that Gen could easily feel in the way his grip tightened, loosened, then settled more securely at his waist like he’d found a variable he liked and decided to stick with it.
Gen found himself melting into it before he could even think, letting out a soft, traitorous sound as the fingers on him tightened just slightly. Not possessive or demanding.
Just… there.
Choosing.
Always choosing.
His own fingers curled tighter into Senku’s tunic as the thought hit him again, sharp and dizzying. Not instinct or heat or some nebulous biological imperative.
Senku wanted him.
On purpose.
“Problem,” the alpha said suddenly, pulling back just far enough to speak without letting go.
Gen blinked, dazed for a moment before his usual sharpness flickered back into place. “Mm? Already? I thought we were doing quite well.”
“Timing,” Senku clarified, breath a little uneven but mind clearly sprinting several steps ahead. “And logistics. And the fact that if you keep doing that-“ his grip on Gen’s waist tightened almost unconsciously to keep him from moving, “- I am going to make objectively bad decisions.”
Huffing out a breath that was far too pleased for someone who was, technically, being warned, Gen smiled impishly. “Oh?” he drawled, head tilting just enough to let his nose brush along Senku’s jaw again, entirely on purpose this time. “And what sort of objectively ad-bay decisions are we talking about, Senku-chan?”
Senku’s fingers twitched against the back of Gen’s neck, not pulling him closer but very clearly thinking about it.
“Not helping.”
“I’m not trying to help,” Gen murmured sweetly, nuzzling into the space just behind Senku’s ear. “I’m trying to court you.”
Senku’s breath caught audibly, scent blooming with something bright and rich, “That’s the problem.”
“I don’t see a problem.”
Grip shifting, subtle but deliberate, Senku’s hand slid from the back of his neck to rest more securely at his shoulder - grounding rather than guiding. Like he was reining himself in by inches.
“The problem,” Senku grumbled, “is that we’re in between hostile territories, running on limited resources, and this is a variable I can’t just brute-force my way through.”
“Mm,” Gen hummed in consideration. “And yet you’re still kissing me.”
Senku opened his mouth. Paused. Closed it again.
The grip on his waist pulled him closer, “...shut up.”
Gen laughed, quiet and delighted, “You first.”
The only warning Gen got was a subtle rumble in Senku’s chest before the alpha guided his head away from his neck firmly. The kiss that followed wasn’t as clumsy as the first. Still unpolished, but with a growing certainty, a pattern forming as he adjusted in real time. Each time shift was deliberate - pressure, angle, timing - like he was solving a problem only he could see.
Gen responded in kind, hands sliding more confidently along Senku’s shoulders. One drifted up to tangle lightly in the air at the nape of Senku’s neck, earning a low, thoughtful sound.
They broke apart more slowly, Senku exhaling through his nose and eyes still half-lidded but already sharpening again with thought. “Alright, not all bad decisions… but we can’t escalate this any further until we’re in a stable environment.”
Gen opened his mouth.
Senku flicked his forehead again.
“-hey!”
“You were about to argue.”
Rubbing his forehead with a pout that held no real heat, Gen muttered, “I was about to negotiate.”
“Same difference,” Senku shot back. “You said you’re done waiting. Fine, so am I, but doing this right means not screwing it up because we couldn’t think past our dicks. Any… escalation risks setting off your next heat early and I doubt you want that happening in the middle of the jungle.”
Gen’s nose wrinkled at the thought.
“Suppose when you put it like that, it certainly loses a bit of its romantic appeal.”
“Basic biology tends to do that,” Senku replied, though the corner of his mouth did have a faint twitch upwards.
Gen huffed, though it was half-hearted at best, fingers still curled into the fabric of Senku’s tunic. He didn’t make any move to step away. Didn’t want to.
Didn’t really think Senku wanted to either.
“Your luck really is just errible-tay, you know?” He sighed but the words were soft, almost fond. “I was joking when I said the moment you started openly courting me that disaster would strike, it wasn’t meant to be a challenge.”
Senku laughed at that, giving a small what-can-you-do sort of shrug.
Gen studied him carefully, cataloguing every detail the way he always did - though this time it was tinged with the subtle warmth coiled low in his belly that stubbornly refused to dissipate.
“Alright,” he finally conceded. “No… escalation. For now.”
Senku nodded once, sharp and decisive. “Good.”
A beat passed.
Neither of them moved.
Gen’s lips curled, “You’re still holding me.”
“…mm.”
“No intention of stopping?”
Senku averted his eyes, “…nope.”
Gen gave a pleased hum, leaning closer into the embrace, “Works for me.”
Senku grunted but didn’t stop him, his grip not loosening in the slightest. If anything, it settled more securely around him, and for a moment the world narrowed to the quiet creak of the ship and the steady beat of the waves against the hull.
No missions. No enemies. No impending disaster.
Just… this.
“After,” Gen murmured, head resting gently on Senku’s shoulder.
Senku’s hand shifted, fingers brushing lightly against the back of his neck and the strips of fabric draped around it.
“After."