newfound feeling

chapter 9 Senku

It had been a few hours since the date. Senku lay awake, thinking about what happened. He kissed him?? why did he do that? And worse of all, he just ran away, yelling about birds instead of talking about it. At least Gen didn't look angry.

 Should he text him? the date ended at 10 and now it was 3 am. Senku didn't know if Gen had texted him, as he threw his phone in a drawer in an attempt to have a little time to himself. Senku sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. After a few minutes he had worked up the courage to his phone. He went to the messages app. Six from Taiju, just memes and ramblings about something Senku didn't care to read. One from his dad, a video of Lilian with her knees to her chest, spinning around in zero gravity. He replied to that with his usual response to his father, a single thumbs up emoji. A picture from chrome. Just a selfie with a huge Momotarō statue with the caption "badddd".

Nothing from Gen. He really didn't know if he was supposed to text first. This is honestly the first time he's ever had to worry about things like this. Senku put his head in his hands. Why was he worrying about this? Relationships where just a waste of time and energy. Except, he kind of liked this feeling. It was like anxiety, but pleasant. Just... go for it.

What do you send?? "Did you get home safe?". Maybe? Then senku has a brilliant idea. Just send... a flyer to a carnival next week. A power move, truly.

 So, he did. He sent a screenshot of an advertisement for a carnival coming to town. No caption. No formal invitation, just a picture. Gen saw it pretty quickly. It said "seen" for about a minute. Then he started typing. Then he stopped for anther ten seconds. Then he started again. This went for a while. Eventually after many attempts at answering, Gen sent a simple

Gen: are you asking me on a date? 

Senku: yes.

Senku smiled at his phone. He wanted to win prizes for Gen, get cotton candy and cola, then watch the fireworks together. Although, he wasn't really strong so he couldn't win the prizes that took physical effort. He was going to research ways to cheat the carnies with science. Gravity and angles of throws are no match for a rigged carnival game. 

Gen: great! I had a lot of fun last night. Can't wait to see you again.

Senkugrinned. They would be meeting up again. Time to start that carnival research,I guess.

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It had been six days since Senku had last seen Gen. They texted and talked on the phone all day but seeing him in person was a completely different and amazing feeling. The day of the fair was here and senku was getting ready. Unlike the last date, which he had dressed in business casual, Senku would dress in street clothes. Senku searched his closet for something to wear. It would be warm during the day, although it might get chilly at night with the breeze and lack of sunlight.
Senku decided it was best to wear an oversized hoodie, that he could tie around his waist if he got warm. (And also, maybe lend to Gen if he got cold)

Calling his trousers "basketball shorts", would be incorrect. While that is technically the name of the style, these shorts had never seen the light of a basketball court. Or any kind of sports field for that matter. Either way this is what he was wearing. To top off 'the 12-year-old boy' aesthetic he had going on, he wore a t-shirt that said " If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.'"  

Senku made sure he had everything he needed in his rucksack and went out his door. He locked it and got going. While walking down to the fair a large, black, Range Rover pulled up beside him. Senku stopped and looked at the car. The tinted window rolled down, reveling Gen, wearing black sunglasses and a huge grin.

"Need a ride?" 

Senku smiled at his beloved idiot. He walked up to the car, and when he went to open the door, but was interrupted by Gen inching the car forward. Senku glared at him and tried again. When Gen once again took his foot off the break, Senku went back to the sidewalk and started walking in the direction of the carnival. Gen frowned.

"Senku-Chan! wait!"

Senku continued to walk down the street laughing. Gen got out of his car. He ran up to Senku and tackled him with a hug from behind. Senku turned around smirking at him. "Well, I did try to get into the car. Whose fault is it that I couldn't?"

Gen fake pouted. "This time you can get into the car first!"

"If you insist!" senku said, quickly darting into the driver's seat. 

"Come on mentalist, what are you doing out on the street?" 

Gen grumbled as walked over to car, cautiously opening the door, scared to get a taste of his own medicine. Luckily for him, Senku actually let him into the car. 

"Because I'm nicer than you."

Senku drove them the rest of the way to the carnival. For those 5 minuets Gen talked about whatever came to his mind. That man can probably talk for hours and still not run out of topics...

authors note
fun fact: the pun on senku's shirt is different in the French version, although both puns are currently in English. I somehow couldn't think of anything funny enough in French. but you deserve both puns anyway so its "Watt is love? Baby don't hertz me" instead of the precipitate joke in the french book.