Chapter Text
Between Christmas and New Years’, Gen was sleeping in the village more often than not. Being near hearth fires, invited in by old man Kaseki or some of the elders, was better than sleeping rough, even in his warmer clothes. Sometimes he’d catch a nap up in the Science shed, but there wasn’t much room between all the rocks, and what would he say, ‘I need somewhere consistent to sleep’? Fuck that.
They were busy making batteries and wires as it was.
Besides, no one was really keeping track of him. He could just walk off and sleep in the woods and no one would even notice. He was part of the Kingdom of Science, but he wasn’t anyone’s family.
Which wasn’t much different from his life before.
After New Years’, and figuring out Senku’s birthdate (accounting both for leap years and the date shift from the petrification)- Gen had organized the construction of an Observatory. He hadn’t meant it to be a place for him to sleep, too, but… he made sure Senku had plenty of room up there. He couldn’t ask Senku to share his space with him like that.
There weren’t nearly as many flowers in winter, so some brown leaves were all he could use to make up his arsenal of tricks. But they were fragile, and broke faster than most green ones. So, he had to walk to collect some of the evergreen leaves. Like holly, if he could find some.
From the time he saw that message scratched into the tree, he’d been a fan of Senku.
Mysterious, sexily competent, possibly dead mad scientist out there, and Tsukasa basically immediately sent him to go confirm his death. And when he first saw him it didn’t get any better! Ramen? In the stone age? And those cracks on his red eyes?
Gen had thought Tsukasa’s cracks were pretty, but damn.
Shiny red eyes that saw right through his bullshit with a laugh.
Gods, he was pretty.
Especially so in the nighttime, lit up by electric lights on christmas eve, or by the glowing stones at New Years’, his red eyes catching a dark reflection of the stars overhead. Then, his hands- surely no one could deny that it was altogether really attractive that Senku could hold like six beakers in one hand, right?
Gen was so busy thinking about Senku’s hands that he didn’t notice when he set his foot down, that it was on a layer of slush. Shoes were pretty useful in the cold, to keep warm, but these leather booties didn’t have as much grip even as his bare feet.
Pain hit him before the cold as he crashed into the river. He didn’t even realize he was wet until he was gasping for air and simply not getting any air. Quickly, he covered his mouth with his hands, and tried to orient himself in the water.
Swimming would be nice, but the water was so cold that he wasn’t sure where his feet even were. He tried to get his head above water, but his movements already felt sluggish. Moving towards the shore, on sheer will power alone, wasn’t seeming to work at first, but soon he was touching ground beneath him, and clawing was faster than waving his hands in the water.
No one knew where he was. He’d drifted downstream somewhat, too, so he wasn’t even on the little animal trail he’d been following. Oh well.
Guess the stone world really was no place for a mentalist anyway.
He collapsed into cold mud and let the quiet take him, glad he at least wouldn’t drown.
He woke up in the observatory.
Naked and cuddled up to someone.
Someone warm and boney and who smelled clean and comforting. He pulled them in closer and pressed his nose to their chest, trying to stop shivering. They seemed to be wearing a fundoshi, he could feel the twisted fabric digging into his hip.
“Dumbass. Look up, drink this.” Senku’s voice was as warm as his body, even if there was no emotion there, just an insult and an order.
Gen looked up and got some flask shoved in his mouth, and quickly, he drank the bitter swill Senku was shoving down his throat. He recognized the immediate sensation of pain and warmth on his tongue.
“...Alcohol?”
“It doesn’t actually make you warmer, and if you were still out in the elements, it would actually increase the rate of heat loss, but it will make you feel warmer while we actually warm you up. You had a significant hypothermic afterdrop, but you’re past the worst of it. Keep that blanket over your head.” Senku explained, like he was describing how to build a toaster out of vines.
With a sigh, Gen relaxed into the sensation.
“...If I’d known this was all it took to get you into bed, I would’ve jumped in a frozen river ages ago!”
He simply had to make a joke to conceal his actual feelings, so why not tease the scientist?
“Body heat is the fastest and safest way to warm up someone with hypothermia, barring electric blankets. It’s not like I could’ve shoved you up against one of the copper stoves. I’ll let you go when you’re more fully recovered.”
Of course, Senku basically read his mind and returned with the practical reasoning, shutting down any sexual or even sensual implications. Except…
“So~ Why’s it you?”
“What’s that?” He was definitely itching in his ear, how his arm shifted.
“Why’re you the one here, Senku-chan~? You could’ve set me into a bedroll with anyone, and been free to keep working on the plastic with Chrome, I’m sure one of the villagers would’ve understood if you assigned them naked-icicle-babysitting duties.”
“Barring the fact that I’m the only one who actually knows anything about treating hypothermia according to modern medicine, that I’m the only one you’ve shown any real level of trust with- except Suika, and she’s too small for her body heat to actually help a grown man- and the fact that you would have trouble accepting this explanation from anyone else, yeah. I could’ve.”
“How generous of you to take a snake’s feelings into account.” Gen hummed, wrapping his arms around Senku’s waist and then slumping his head again. His fingers felt so good against the barely muscular shape of Senku’s back.
“Yeah shut up.” Senku’s hand settled on top of Gen’s head over the blanket, pushing him down slightly, “-I hardly could’ve trusted Ginro in bed with you looking like that anyway?”
Oh, well that was interesting, “-How’s that?”
“Vulnerable, mentalist.”
“Gasp! Well surely you aren’t implying that I, in my time of need, having a gen-u-ine medical emergency, would be remotely attractive, even to someone with a notoriously dirty mind!” Gen grinned, kicking his feet under the heavy blanket.
Was that a hint of jealousy he was picking up on, or were his senses still scrambled?
“Don’t forget, you were a celebrity for a reason. I’m not moved one millimeter by a pretty face or a slender build. Bodies are bodies.”
“Hmn.” Gen considered for a moment, wiggling his toes now that he could feel how numb and tingly they’d been this whole time, “-Would you consider this an experiment to test that? Since I’m so vulnerable and slender and all, and you are cuddled right up to me.”
“No. I consider this a lifesaving measure to protect my mentalist from his own stupidity.”
“Urtful-hay~.”
“Stop trying to pose. You look so dumb when you’re trying to be cute.”
Gen sighed and relaxed again, turning his head to peek up at Senku through the crack of the blanket with what he could only assume was like an animal prepared to lunge for the throat to get away. Honestly, it was pretty demoralizing that Senku never seemed affected by even his best deceptions, seductions, misdirections, or coercions. Only skill and logic got through to the asshole, and even then, Senku only appreciated what he could use.
If Gen was a snake, Senku was as cold and distant as the stars overhead.
Senku treated him like a useful tool at best, and it only kind of upset him a lot.
“There you are.” Senku’s smile was as cruel as a demon’s in return, “My mentalist. Now get some rest. You’re shivering, you should be fine if you don’t try to move too fast.”
“Sure, sure. Goodnight, Senku darling.”