Chapter Text
The doorbell rang at the same time the scientist called the number he didn't have saved in his phone.
The door opened in less than a minute, revealing a Byakuya on the verge of tears.
"Senku!!! Why did you take so long to get here?" The hug he received wasn't a surprise; he always knew his father was sentimental.
"Okay, okay, old man," he grumbled, pulling away from the physical contact and entering the house, followed by his father, who was already wiping away the few tears he'd shed.
The house was just as he remembered it, lots of plants and even more clutter. In any case, he couldn't blame the astronaut for messing up a place he was almost never in. He spent more time at work than at home, so when he did arrive, he was always tired.
An alarm went off in the kitchen.
"Want to eat? I made pancakes." The gray-haired man's satisfied smile was impossible to suppress.
“Since when did you learn to cook?” Senku was led to the kitchen, where, to his surprise, things had definitely changed there.
The curtains were no longer plain black; now they were a mix of blue and light blue tones. The sink had been replaced with a new one, and even the floor tiles had been changed!
“It was difficult, but a... friend helped me learn. She said I had to be useful by now.” The last part was met with a small laugh, and Senku could see a flicker of affection in his eyes.
“A friend from work?” Senku sat down at the table, paying closer attention to his father.
“Something like that…” Silence reigned for a couple of seconds. Byakuya seemed to be overthinking what to say. It had been a long time since the two of them had spoken. “And you, my son? What brings you here?” His gentle tone could have been heard even by someone who was deaf; Senku felt like crying.
“Well, you see… I’ve had a couple of complications that aren’t scientific.” The truth was, he didn’t know how to mention his concern without being ridiculed by his father; he prayed that he would understand what he tried to say.
A few moments passed as Byakuya focused on putting the pancakes on the table, choosing a white plate and taking out sauce to go with them. As he went to get the glasses, Senku realized that the gray-haired man was waiting for him to continue, which made the green-tipped boy even more nervous
“I agreed to start a relationship with… a friend, but the idea was not to change our relationship, just the name, to avoid being judged in a future. The problem is that ever since this whole fake relationship thing started, I can’t look him in the eye. I try to ignore him subconsciously, and I’m… embarrassed to talk to him.” He looked at his hands, which were resting in his lap as the words tumbled from his mouth. At least he knew his father would never scold him or say anything about his… friend being a man, so that was one less thing to worry about.
“Your friend, is that the one with half white hair and half black?” Byakuya was generally bad with names, but good with faces. He would never forget one of the few friends Senku introduced him to through one of their few phone calls. On the other hand, all of this was revolving around a situation Byakuya thought he knew.
He finished pouring grape juice into both glasses and brought placemats to the table.
“What made you know?” Senku had to admit his father was better at intuition, but how did he know who he was talking about just from bringing up the subject?
“That doesn’t matter, now tell me, Senku.” Byakuya sat down across from him, taking a pancake from his own plate and starting to cut it. “Since when do you care if people see you as a problem or not?” With that, he began to chew a piece of pancake, patiently waiting for the answer.
Despite the calm his father offered, that question made Senku feel the blood drain from his veins.
It was true.
Since when did he care what others thought of him?
He never had. But if that was the case, then why did he agree to make that “deal” with Gen? Why had he sworn up until that moment that it was a good deal?
Faced with the silence, Byakuya focused even more intently on his son; something about him had changed. He had become less independent, more expressive now. Perhaps if he had never come to his house, he would never have believed that his son would feel embarrassed to talk to anyone.
Because his son wasn't like that.
And Byakuya knew it.
“Senku… I won’t pressure you, but keep in mind that you’ve never been embarrassed to talk to anyone, much less a friend.” The tone of voice was soft, comforting. “Don’t you think something else might be going on?” ‘Something like love…’ Byakuya finished in his mind, not daring to complete the sentence aloud, lest his son have a meltdown.
They finished eating in silence, a silence that was terrifying for Senku, but relaxing for Byakuya.
“You know you can come back whenever you want, my doors will always be open for you.” The father said goodbye to his son when he realized he needed space to think, so he would return to his room at the high school.
“Okay, bye, old man.” He dodged a hug from his father and turned around; he had called a taxi, which was already outside. He got in and, without looking back, asked to be dropped off at the high school.
“Good afternoon, I’m Asagiri Gen, and I’m a psychology student.” A couple of laughs sounded in the background. 'A psychology student? Those classes were a joke. What was he doing on the science side?' was some of the thoughts of the cientifics “Nice to meet you all. I hope we get along in the future.”
Gen had arrived at the science area. He introduced himself while half the group was focused on their own experiments, but the other half, who were working on research, were able to concentrate on the newcomer. One of them was Senku.
“Gen… you know this is the science side, right?” one of the nearby classmates asked mockingly.
“Oh, yes, except I’m interested in the scientific aspects of the brain, anatomy, and things like that. That’s why I was asking if you could accept me for a couple of days for my research.”
The small group listening to him looked at each other. Everyone on campus knew the amount of prejudice that existed between the two groups. That’s why they were never together, why the campus was divided in two.
"He's a psychologist, be careful, he might psychoanalyze us.
“He might damage our equipment...”
The whispers began, whispers that Senku hated.
Senku, to his dismay, was one of the leading scientists; there were others, but they generally didn't speak up, afraid of what others thought of them, something Senku couldn't care less about.
“You're stupid if you think one person can irreversibly damage the equipment.” He raised his voice, already tired of the growing atmosphere of rejection. “Science belongs to everyone. In any case, he just wants to use the computers for his research. If he happens to use delicate materials, he'll be careful; he's human, after all.” The uncertain glances continued. “He's just as capable of breaking something as you are. Why bother arguing if it's a waste of time?”
He knew that speaking up for someone was... socially complicated, especially without knowing the whole story, but he knew people on the other side, he was 'close' to them, and it was common knowledge that all humans are equal, so why complicate things? That was something that irritated him. Why bother looking down on others? He considered the hatred towards humanists for having to do 'simpler' tasks in the eyes of scientists to be stupid.
At least with his small opinion, he managed to silence the few who still disagreed.
The bad thing was, now the new guy wouldn't stop looking at him with those bright eyes.
What was wrong with him?
What Senku didn't know was that after that intervention to defend Gen, Gen wouldn't leave him alone.
"Senku-chan!" he sighed. Gen had finished his research days ago and was still arriving at the lab. The people who used to look down on him now saw him as an equal. He had earned their respect, Senku supposed.
"You know, Senku-chan, a greeting is much nicer than a sigh." Gen's bouncy voice didn't hesitate to irritate Senku, who tried hard to ignore it
“Senku-chan.” Weeks had passed since Gen hadn't had any reason to come to the lab after school, but he kept doing it. Which, for Senku, was a huge waste of time. Although he could admit it was nice to have someone listening to his experiments, Yuzuriha and Taiju had recently started their relationship, and he preferred to give the lovebirds some space.
“What do you want now, Mentalist?”
“Gen, come here.” He didn't let the mentalist speak; he heard the door open and knew it was him.
“Huh? Senku-chan already recognizes me?” Despite the usual cheerfulness, the scientist noticed a trace of surprise in his tone of voice.
He turned his chair to face the mentalist, who was holding something in his hands.
Months had passed since the mentalist had any reason to go to the lab. Months since Gen had listened to all of Senku's plans for upcoming experiments. Months had passed, and Senku felt that having a conversation with Gen was part of his routine.
A small gift was perfectly normal in that situation, Senku supposed.
"Close your eyes." Even though he felt embarrassed to say such an awkward thing out of the blue, he let it go. When the humanist closed his eyes, he felt his heart race. He didn't understand why; they were just two friends, one about to give the other a gift... It had nothing to do with the feeling of seeing Gen trust him enough to close his eyes without question in a place full of dangerous chemicals...
"Are you okey? I'm getting bored, Senku-chan." The complaining tone of his voice made him unconsciously smile. It was true, he was taking a long time.
Quickly and carefully, he placed the small glass bottle in the humanist's hands, the black liquid sloshing with the movement. He watched as Gen felt the texture of the bottle before opening his eyes in surprise, finding himself staring at a bottle of…
“Senku-Cola?” The surprise was so great that he couldn't help but burst out laughing, which infuriated the scientist
“Shut up. Try it and leave.” He turned his head, nervously scratching his ear, a small tic he had.
“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Gen finished laughing before opening the bottle and taking a long sip.
As he drank, the scientist couldn’t help but add, “I removed the extra sugars, using natural sweeteners. That way it’s a little healthier, but with a drink as processed as this, it’s hard to make it healthy. I don’t understand why you like it.”
“Ah…” Gen sighed, downing half the liquid in one gulp. “It’s amazing!” The shout echoed through the lab, drawing the attention of other scientists who told them to be quiet. Neither Gen nor Senku cared.
“I’ll hire you as my personal Senku-Cola creator! I don’t think I can even drink regular Coke anymore!” The compliments made Senku blush slightly. It was the first time he'd tried making a drink like this, and he was grateful that his... friend liked it.
"Okay, go now." He sounded deliberately brusque, swiveled his chair again, and hunched over the table, pretending to concentrate on his experiment.
Gen saw him and decided to turn and leave the lab, feigning indifference to the abrupt goodbye.
They went their separate ways, unaware that their hearts were racing in unison.
"Excuse me... that'll be 5.99." The driver pulled Senku from his reverie. He felt incredibly nervous, almost as if he were experiencing all these feelings for the first time. But what did that mean...?
He took out the exact amount of money and handed it to the driver. He got out of the taxi and walked toward the high school entrance, ignoring the surprised looks of those who recognized him. Was it really so strange that he was outside the lab?
He continued walking, passing through the large archway that led to the campus courtyard. Perhaps he was lost in thought, perhaps wondering what it meant that his heart was suddenly racing. Tachycardia?
He bumped into someone.
He bumped into Gen.
“Senku-chan!”