Archive of Our Own

The door softly clicks open, Senku and Gen walk into their apartment, exhausted from the full day of shopping they just did.

The quiet hum of the ac is comforting, as is the familiar atmosphere of home.

The wooden floor is raised slightly higher than the area by the front door. To the right, a chic kitchen with marble countertops and an island centered in the middle with chairs, to the left, a rustic couch met with a modern looking tv sitting atop a media console.

And within it, a nintendo rests in its dock while an xbox lies beside it. They never really used the xbox, it was just for when Suika or Taiju came to visit. Directly in front was a long hall that led to the rooms in the back, a guest room, a bathroom, Senku’s home lab, and Senku and Gen’s shared room.

The pair in question take off their shoes and go to the island to sit. Senku drops the bags from his clutches as he lets out an exhausted sigh. Gen sits and beckons Senku to do the same, only when he sits alongside him does Gen truly let out all the tension in his body, he promptly collapses on the island beyond him.

“Man, I’m ired-tay,”

Senku looks beside him knowingly, smirk in place and head in hand, arm leaning on the countertop in front of him.

“We wouldn’t be so tired if someone didn’t decide to shop till they drop.”

Gen closes his eyes, “That’s not fair, Senku-chan!”

“All’s fair in love and war.”

Senku closes the distance between them, and reaches out, to pinch Gen’s nose with the knuckles of his pointer and middle finger.

“Isn’t that what you taught me, mentalist?”

“Did I now?” he said, a teasing smirk of his own forming.

Senku snarrows his eyes. “Don’t play dumb with me.”

Senku extends his hand to intertwine with Gen’s. He frees the arm he was leaning on stretches to the flowing piece of Gen’s two toned hair. He tucks it behind his ear gently.

“I know your tricks by now, love.”

A slight flush creeped up Gen’s face, as he met Senku’s eyes.

…

A shocked expression shot across Gen’s face as he pushed off the counter to stand. The drastic shift left Senku—confused, to say the least. He blinks, before gazing up at Gen slowly.

“I just got a eriously-say amazing idea!”

“Wait–” Senku reaches for Gen who evaporated from his grasp, he’s already moving.

“But I gotta go, like now!”

Gen basically sprints down the hall and heads into the bathroom. Leaving Senku…at a loss for words. His boyfriend just ran away from him, that’s ten billion percent a problem. But he said he had an idea, right? So–

“I guess, I'll just have to wait.” He said for his ears alone.

----------------------------

“Senku-chan! The shower’s free.”

Gen strolled casually from out of the bathroom, with fresh clothes and a towel around his neck. Senku, on the couch watching tv, now turned to the left as he placed down the remote in his hand, and rose to his feet to meet Gen halfway. He placed his hands lightly on Gen’s waist as he leaned in for a kiss.

“You ran from me to go shower?” He said as he broke off the kiss.

Gen chuckled, “Obviously not.” He lifted his finger up.

“I just thought I should ower-shay before I execute my masterplan.”

Senku observed a smirk of pure excitement forming on Gen’s face. Just what is he planning, he thought to himself, It’s exhilarating just thinking about it.

“Anyway, go shower!” Gen slithered out of Senku’s hold and snuck behind him, and pressed his hands against his back to start pushing him towards the bathroom. As they started to advance, Senku smirked maliciously, before ever so suddenly going limp for the waist up, causing him to lean back, and trap Gen in a Senku prison.

“Ah–Get off! You’re so heavy!” Gen said pushing against the unrelenting Senku towering over him.

“I don’t know, mentalist~ I’m pretty comfortable where I am.”

“Ughhhh, so uel-cray.” he said with feigned annoyance. But below the surface, an idea was brewing, so Gen adjusted his feet accordingly. 3…, he began to count mentally, 2…1… He swiftly removed himself from underneath the living weight, leaving the poor scientist to the whims of his beloved gravity. But when he hit the ground, he was not met with the expected pain of impact, but rather the softness…of a cushion?

He searched below him, to find one of their couch cushions, before looking at the man above him. “When did you…?”

Gen faced the back of his hand toward him, and with graceful ease, he revealed the ace of spades, clubs, and diamonds between his fingers. “Slight of hand is my specialty.” He stretched behind Senku’s ear, and pulled the ace of hearts from behind it.

“I’m a magician, my dear~”

Senku gazed with adoration and sighed, amused by familiar antics.

“Still don’t know how you pull those off.”

“Maybe you’ll have a revelation in the shower.” He pointed to the room behind him with his thumb. Senku pushed himself up from the ground in defeat.

“I get it, I get it.”

As he walked past, he ruffled the hair of his mentalist. Before finally going beyond the confines of the bathroom door.

What’s he planning?

--------------------------------

Senku walks out of the bathroom feeling refreshed, he changed into a loose purple long sleeve shirt and grey sweatpants, and is actively drying his unruly hair with a small towel in hand. He tries to scan the room for Gen, before realizing all he can see is black. He reaches his hand up to his face carefully to find a cloth being the source of his temporary blindness.

“Gen!”

…

“Mentalist!”

Rather than silence, he was met with muffled rustling somewhere beyond him.

“If you don’t answer me, there’s a ten billion percent chance I’m gonna look!”

“Wait, no!” The rustling got louder—before vanishing completely. He sighed, dramatically and defeatedly, wanting to make sure Senku heard.

“Actually, I’m done anyway. So get excited Senku-chan!”

Senku felt relieved hearing Gen say that, this anticipation was killing him. It was all he thought about while in the shower. He felt the cloth loosen as more and more of the apartment came into view.

Between the couch and tv was a medium sized coffee table, atop it was a charcuterie board with crackers, fruits, and cheeses that Senku had yet to see in their fridge just an hour earlier. Behind the board, a bottle of soda and water for each, in front, two controllers, a joystick from their switch to the left and a console controller to the right. On the tv was the Mariokart loading screen, bustling with footage of them racing and on either top edge of the tv, were mario and luigi hats resting neatly.

Senku was left temporarily stunned, before regaining his composure and walking briskly to the man with his back to him. He wrapped his arms around his waist.

“I’m not the sentimental type…but this can provide ample data on your lack of driving skills. So—thanks, mentalist.”

Despite being able to hear the smirk in his voice, it had a certain fondness only noticeable by the great psychologist himself.

Gen shifted, now fully facing Senku, before looking up to reveal something they would joke about for months to come.

“Really think you’re the aster-may at this game?” Gen challenged, he had one of those cheap stick-on mustaches from the dollar store, Senku was already starting to snicker, before Gen gave the final decisive blow. He smiled in preparation.

“Nice try. But, it's-a me!” He pointed his pointer finger towards himself smugly.

He said it in a surprisingly, and hilariously, bad Italian accent, leading Senku to throw his head back entirely, his hand covering his eyes. Because apparently, he had just challenged the great racing plumber himself.

Gen freed himself with this new opportunity and went to the tv to retrieve the hats. He returned to Senku with both, a green hat with an ‘L’, and a red hat with an ‘M’. He extended the options outwards.

“So what’s it gonna be? You up for the allenge-chay, oh great science nerd Senku?”

Senku lowered his head to find a Gen with the widest grin on his face, the sight in and of itself brought a grin to his own face. He grabbed the Mario hat and attempted to place it on his head, it was promptly blocked by that iconically gravity defying hair.

Causing Gen to burst out laughing, Senku could feel warmth climbing up his neck. Gen was holding his stomach in one arm, laughter dying down, as he reached out his opposite arm, hair tie in hand. Senku snatched the hair tie as he looked to the side, clearly still feeling the embarrassment, as he put his hair in a half up half down style with relative ease.

Senku placed the hat on his newly tamed hair before scoffing.

“For the record, I prefer the term scientist.”

He ruffled Gen’s hair as he brushed past him towards the couch. As soon as he sat he picked up the controller and waved it in the air lazily.

“But I can be a master kart driver if the situation calls for it.”

Gen, still left standing, quickly put on his own green hat as he plopped down on the couch beside him. He yanked his controller from the table and snapped to the side,

“Oh, you’re going down, science boy!”

Senku smirked as he changed the screen to character select. He’s got that look in his eye, he thought, I can practically see the fire coming from them, he’s so competitive. He peered to the left, the screen reflecting in Gen’s eyes as he chose a character. Not that I’m complaining though.

“We’ll see about that.”

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Mario and Luigi–or rather–Senku and Gen were mid race, fiercely battling it out to see who would be the victor of their impromptu Mario Kart grand prix. They had decided while choosing the map that they’d do 3 races total for their head to head.

The first map was Yoshi Valley, Gen’s choice, which was actually pretty close most of the time. Senku had passed him several times, but Gen was always more than happy to hit him with a blue shell when the chance revealed itself. Not to mention the npcs were basically gunning for Senku the entire time. Leading to a hard fought victory for the magician.

The second map was Rainbow Road, Senku’s choice, which was an absolute blowout. Gen always hated how easy it was to drive off the map and never really practiced it as a result, but Senku knew all the shortcuts. Even the, biased as Senku called them, npcs couldn't stop the onslaught. Earning a win for the scientist.

Finally, the map they were currently racing, which was selected at random for fairness, was Sherbert Land, basically a digital Antarctica with all its ice and snow. They were neck and neck, locked into the final lap of the race. Their entire focus devoted solely to the screen…but that was before Senku took a split second glance beside him that sealed his fate.

He had only looked with the intention of seeing Gen’s face to trash talk. But once he saw him, he couldn’t look away.

His face was illuminated by the screen beyond them, his face resembling a childish sort of joy, the kind of freeing joy you felt when the responsibilities of life weren’t resting on your shoulders. He was moving from leaning forward to sitting up straight to tilting his head to quickly, just pure ecstasy.

Senku was completely entranced, doomed to a side of Gen even he hadn’t truly seen. With his finger left forgotten on his controller, he accidentally shifted it so his character would go off course. The ice below the wheels made it slide, until it smoothly glided off the map and into oblivion.

By the time Senku had snapped himself out of it and went back to the game, he was in 10th place. Gen was first, and gleefully burning a hole in the screen with his intense gaze. Senku desperately tried to catch up, using every shortcut he remembered on this unfamiliar map, but his efforts were in vain.

The final rankings were Gen 1st, and Senku 4th. The mentalist shot up to his feet and put his controller to the sky.

“I win!”

He turned to his right and tapped the tip of the red hat downwards, to cover Senku’s sight of him. Senku chuckled as he moved the hat to peek up, he found a face with fake sympathy all over it.

“I understand it must be hard, but try not to cry~”

Senku lengthened his arm to pull the mentalist by the wrist back onto the couch, where he landed back first, and trapped him in his arms. To be perfectly honest, Senku didn’t mind losing, just this once, and it was written all over his face. But there was no way in hell he’d ever let Gen find that out, he doesn’t need any more teasing material.

Gen giggled as he melted into his touch, before turning over so they could snuggle properly. He wrapped his arms around Senku’s waist and buried his face into his chest.

“I’ll try, my love.”