Chapter Text
Gen probably spent far too much time watching Senku work. Drawing blueprints, mathing out chemical formulas, all the science work that filled the lab with the sounds of a scratching charcoal pencil.
And Gen just watched, his hand reaching over to a strand of Senku’s hair- he wouldn’t call it his bangs, per se, but one of the green locks that never stood up like the rest- and twirling it round and around his finger until it curled. And then he’d run it between his forefinger and his thumb to straighten it again. Over and over while listening to the sound of charcoal scratching.
Gen sighed in content, his eyes half lidded as he nearly fell asleep just like that, the warm spring breeze carrying the scent of flowers into the doorless laboratory.
Far away were the sounds of the Kingdom of Science. The scraping of hunting knives against bones of processed game animals, the laughter of children, the construction of the Perseus, and Ukyo giving reading lessons to the villagers.
Far, far away. So far away…
“Hey, mentalist. No drooling on the table, someone worked hard to build it for science, not napping.”
“Right,” Gen mumbled sleepily. “But I can think of so many better things to use this table for. Don’t you think, Senku-Chan?” He purred his name, though he knew he’d get the same cold shoulder as he had gotten since the beginning of their relationship.
“You’re right!” Senku exclaimed, grabbing a knife and a fresh pencil. “I should be using it as a guide! Great idea, mentalist, ten billion points.”
Gen sighed, resisting the urge to melt into the tabletop then and there out of pure frustration. But this was just Senku being Senku, of course. Gen just wished he had some kind of warning of what dating a scientist would be like before they had actually gotten into it.
He had hoped Senku would at least give him the time of day once in a while. But Taiju and Yuzuriha certainly weren’t kidding the many, many times that they said Senku wouldn’t find time for romance. Gen supposed he was lucky at all that he didn’t get a flat out rejection.
“You know, Senku…” He had remembered how he started his heartfelt confession. “I can’t help but feel like there’s a secret I’d like to share with you. If you’re interested, of course.” He had started out all mysterious-like to catch his attention. Senku was nothing if not curious, wanting to know everything and absorbing information like a sponge. “I’ve found myself taking a true liking to you. But to be frank, you’re quite hard to read. So tell me, is there any hope for a mentalist like me to be with a scientist like you?”
Senku had looked surprised at first, and then he said to Gen, “Of course you have a chance! In fact, let’s start right now!”
Mulling it over, Gen tried harder and harder to find room for some kind of misunderstanding. But there was none, was there? His words hadn’t gotten twisted, Senku was too smart to misunderstand.
But besides spending more time together like they were now, nothing had changed. Not once had Senku even tried to touch Gen, or say anything romantic to him. But this was Senku, Gen should have known what to expect from him.
And yet… he couldn’t help but be disappointed. “Senku,” Gen sighed. “Would it kill you to give your boyfriend some affection? Eriously-say, it’s like you’re allergic to human contact.”
Senku was marking a piece of wood with a pencil, writing something down next to the marking. Gen wasn’t entirely sure what he was making, but it hardly mattered. Not in dire times such as these.
“Dermatographia.” Senku said, “It’s rare, but some people really are allergic to touching themselves or others.” Senku scratched his forehead with the wooden end of the pencil. “Would be interesting to try to come up with a cure for that.”
Gen yelped in shock, “Wait, you’re actually allergic to people?!”
“No,” Senku said, a curious look on his face as he looked up at Gen. “I’m just saying it’s possible. Why?”
Gen’s eyebrow twitched in frustration. “Nevermind.” He tucked his hands in his sleeves. “What are you making, anyway?”
Senku held up the piece of flat wood. “It’s a ruler. I’ve got a few, but it’s always handy to have extras with more precise measurements.”
“I see.” Gen’s shoulders sank a little. Even Senku’s scientific inventions were boring today.
Though he continued to watch Senku work. Measure, mark a spot, measure again, mark a spot again. Until the ruler was complete with marks and numbers, each groove perfectly a centimeter apart.
And to Gen’s surprise, just looking at something so completely ordinary made his heart ache. If only Senku would put this much dedication and precision into their relationship…
It wasn’t often that Gen got way in over his head. When it came to matters of the heart and mind, he was well-practiced, panic only showing on his face in situations when he wanted it to. But now… he couldn’t hide the panic or the desperation on his face, his bottom lip quivering and his eyes undoubtedly shiny from all the emotions rolling through him like a train.
Luckily, Senku was oblivious to all things pertaining to Gen, it seemed. So he put no effort into hiding his stress. Instead, he fiddled with the finished ruler while Senku made another one.
He was quickly proven wrong.
“Spit it out, mentalist.”
Gen froze in place at Senku’s sudden words.
Senku kept working with his hands, his eyes glued to the strip of wood. “You obviously have something on your mind. I don’t have time to guess what it is. So just say it, wouldya?”
“I- uh…” Gen stuttered to a halt. Of course he had something on his mind. The question was, where the heck to start?! “You are aware that we’re dating, right, Senku? Because I simply cannot fathom any other possibility than a complete misunderstanding of the situation. Even you wouldn’t be this stiff around someone you like, would you?”
As soon as he said it, Senku’s hand violently slipped off the table and Senku gasped in pain. Gen jumped in surprise at the red glimmer of blood that pooled from a cut across Senku’s fingertip. The knife Senku had been holding clattered to the floor.
“Senku! Are you alright?!”
Senku winced, holding his finger in his palm. “First aid kit. By the entrance.” His teeth were grit together.
Gen nodded and frantically rushed over to a box hanging on the wall with a red cross painted over it. He brought it over to Senku and opened it, finding jars labelled with different stone world medicines- a mild painkiller, and some other irrelevant things- and rummaged until he had a swab dipped in alcohol.
Senku went to grab the swab, but Gen insisted, “You’ll just get blood everywhere, let me handle it.” Besides, he couldn’t help but feel a little guilty for not even noticing Senku was holding a knife when he dropped that potential bombshell on him.
Gen’s chest clenched again as he tenderly cleaned up Senku’s cut. Thankfully, it bled more than the injury had actually warranted. The cut was shallow and short, just a little knick, really. Nothing worth the earlier panic. “It hurts, doesn’t it?” Gen watched Senku wince a little at the sting of the alcohol. “Just a little?”
“Duh, alcohol stings. It irritates the nerves while killing bacteria.” Senku hissed through his teeth.
“Yeah…” Gen put the swab down and wrapped a small bandage around Senku’s finger. “It’s a tiny cut, you’ll be totally ine-fay.”
There was silence for a solid moment until Senku said, “So what’s your endgame here, mentalist? Because you’ve been ten billion percent distracting for the past week. Is it some kind of prank or trick? Just tell me what you actually want so you can stop pretending I’m your boyfriend for some reason.”
Gen suddenly felt like he had gotten struck face-first by the steam gorilla, his body launched into the air to come tumbling down again. “Pretending?! Why on earth would I pretend to be dating you, Senku?”
Senku scratched the inside of his ear, a heartbreakingly disinterested look on his face. “I’ve never been an expert in psychological things, that’s your forte. So why don’t you tell me?”
“Ah, yes.” Gen stiffened his bottom lip and masked his distressed expression with an evil looking one. Though it was quite a half-hearted attempt. “You’ve caught me, Senku! Pretending to be interested in dating you has been all part of my ruse!” He tucked his hands deeper into his sleeves, if only to hide the way his nails were clawing into his forearms. “I simply wanted to distract you from your scientific endeavors!”
Senku gave him a look. “Whatever your reason, enough, okay? I’m not falling for it.” He closed the first aid kit and disposed of the bloody alcohol swab.
A prank or a trick was all Senku thought this was. That hurt. “I was hoping there’d be something you’d fall for… but not for a prank, Senku.” Gen mumbled. “You really don’t get it, do you? I’m sleazy for sure, I’d do anything to make my own life easier. But that’s a line even I wouldn’t cross. Pretending to like someone, how cruel.”
“Don’t act innocent with me, mentalist. I won’t fall for-”
Gen insisted, “I’m being serious! Ask anyone how awful it feels when your classmates pretend to ask you on a date to make fun of you! Of course that probably never happened to you, if you spent most of your childhood in a science lab.” That’s how he had imagined Senku’s childhood to be like, at least.
Senku’s brows furrowed a little. “Actually, it did happen a couple times. Just two days before all of humanity was petrified, a girl in my biochemistry class asked me to go to a museum with her. I said no of course. Everyone knows I don’t have time for things like that.”
Gen blinked a few times. “Are you… sure that was a prank? Did she laugh?”
Senku chuckled a little. “She almost convinced me it was a legit offer. Of course it was a prank, or she wanted to cheat off of my homework. She had the second highest scores in class, and I was the first highest. Point is, anyone pretending to be interested in me has some kind of motive.”
The pieces started to click together in Gen’s head. Whenever someone mentioned romance or dating or even sexual innuendos, Senku always had a humorous response to it. He’d just laugh and say he didn’t have time for it, or something to that tune. “Do you… think every time someone’s asked you out was a joke?”
“Well, duh.” Senku made himself busy with cleaning up the wood fibers he left on the table from cutting the grooves into the rulers. “Why else would they waste their time on something like that?”
“I dunno uh,” Gen mockingly made his hardest of thinking faces. “Because you’re attractive, and smart, and people like you?” The heartbreak rattling around in Gen’s chest was mostly replaced by bewilderment now. How did Senku go this long thinking that no one was genuinely interested in him, especially after multiple people had asked him on a date?!
“How could they think they wanted to date me if they barely knew me? Makes no sense to me.” Senku put his hands on his hips as he stood next to the table. “Anyway, we’ve got work to do-”
“I know you, Senku.” Gen said, the broken glass in his heart clattering around in his voice. “And I should have known this whole time you wouldn’t understand. Silly me.” He pressed his fingers to his forehead. He had already confessed once, it should be easy enough to do it again. This time, in a way that was ultra-clear to Senku. “Senku, do you remember when I asked you if a mentalist like me would have a chance to be with a scientist like you?”
“Yeah, and?”
“And you said ‘let’s start right now!’ What else could that possibly have meant?”
“It means to stop being ridiculous and get back to work. We have a lot to do.” Senku blinked as if it was Gen that wasn’t making sense at all.
But Gen pressed on. “And you don’t see how that could be a bit confusing to someone who, one hundred percent eriously-say, by the way, asked if you were interested in a relationship?”
“You weren’t joking?” Senku frowned and pressed the heel of his palm to his forehead. “I thought you were joking!”
Gen sighed, though he supposed that’s what he would get for being the mentalist, the person who always put on a show, who would do nearly anything for the bit. He should be used to not being taken seriously. “Not even a little, Senku. But I suppose this means we have to break up, since you clearly don’t feel the same way. Of course you wouldn’t, your only love is science.” Gen turned away from him and left the lab without another word.
He took Senku’s lack of protest as agreement. He didn’t feel the same way, and never would. There was no room in his heart for Gen.
That was just fine, though. Gen would be just fine.