all for simp, and simp for all

multiple tables were set up in a three-sided square, each one having different set ups; one for assembling, one for prepping, and one for selling. that’s where the line was, and a girl was behind it, collecting money from each person that came to the front. i’m..99% positive that’s sydney. based on how he describes her. everyone else who worked at the beef was there, too, focused on a different task. a massive makeshift grill was made behind the tables, and multiple foil containers where on different shelves. all of it kept the food warm, of course.

in the midst of your skimming the area, you got in line and realized carmy still wasn’t there. you didn’t think he died or anything, but it still worried you that he wasn’t inside or outside of the beef. it hit you too late that you had made the front of the line, and sydney’s voice broke you out of your trance.

“‘scuse me..?”

“oh! sorry,” you said, startled. red as a tomato. hesitant to ask your initial question, you ordered a random sandwich, the only sandwich, you remembered on the menu. “i was wondering, do you know where carmen is?”

the magic words prompted the soft rev of a car engine behind you. you looked back and saw it park next to the grill, and carmy got out of the driver’s seat. hair disheveled with a pissed off look; you haven’t seen him in this light too often. honestly, it was pretty hot. he was in his own world, walking between the grill and tables when he said hello to sydney and walked through the back entrance to the kitchen.

richie saw you, though; he and his shit eating grin sauntered on over to where you were, and before a word left your mouth, he spoke to you.

“here to see your little boyfriend, huh?” he changed direction and speed-walked to the back door, calling out, “carmy, there’s someone special here for you outside! don’t be fuckin’ rude!”

“what the..” your focus came back to sydney, and she already had your sandwich wrapped and ready. she didn’t wipe off her previous expression fast enough; you caught it at the last second.

“shit, sorry. uhm.. uh, how much do i owe you again?” you struggled in looking for your wallet as she told you the price, and her eyes were very openly searching your entire being when she thought you didn’t notice.

bickering made its way outside, getting louder once carmy and richie both came back outside. carmy still looked pretty pissed off, eyes wide and angry in the moment.

his demeanor changed when he looked past richie and the rest; locking eyes with him always felt like the first time. a slight tightness tugged at your chest once he smiled, and he jogged to you as you got out of line.

“hi! i hope it’s ok that i came, i finally got some free time and wanted to—“

a kiss was planted right on your lips when he got close enough, right in front of everyone; it was quick but felt with your entire mouth. a hand wrapped around your waist.

“you came on such a fucking eventful day,” he laughed as he pulled away, and you laughed with him.

pulling you in a hug, your sandwich smushed between yours and his stomach. “thank you for coming,” he whispered in your ear, chin resting on your shoulder.

“of course,” you replied. you were the one to pull away this time, feeling his strong arms move around you again. he smelled like food, and although it sounds off-putting, you actually really liked it. weirdly enough, you enjoyed guessing what he made when he used to come home from his previous job, as much as he hated it.

with a loving gaze into his eyes, it hit you; they were watching you. not just sydney, but the entire kitchen, they were watching, listening while they kept taking orders. how the hell can they do that? a bashful feeling consumed you in a second, and with your head down you mumbled, “i wanted maybe one more kiss, i just didn’t feel the one this morning.”

“it was 3am and you were dead asleep, i didn’t want to fully wake you up on your day off,” carmy said. he put his hands on either side of your face, wordlessly asking you to look at him. “i guess it worked out nicely for us, anyway.” he gave you another kiss, the moment ending as richie started yelling once more to someone else. carmy broke the kiss and sighed. “i have to get back to work, but i’ll see you tonight, ok?”

you nodded. “see you at the house.” your hands slid across his arms to his hands, lightly removing them from your face. you brought them down and gave a gentle squeeze to one before letting go. “love you.”

carmy walked away, smiling one last time before turning his body back around. one look at his employees and you knew you were toast; you quickly spun on your heel back in the way you came and left. you suppressed an embarrassed laugh as you heard richie mimic carmy, “‘i have to work, but i’ll see you later, right?’ who the fuck are you, you fuckin’ sap? there should be no PDA allowed, cousin, this is a place where people eat…”

once you were finally home, sandwich a little cold from the chill in the air, you unwrapped an end and took a bite.

you rolled your eyes,”mmm…”

“no, but really!” he exclaimed. “i can’t help it. it’s so cute because you don’t know what to say back.”

i’m sorry i can’t say it back, satoru.

before you could defend yourself, he spoke again. “i don’t expect you to say it back, so don’t go worrying about me or how i feel about it.” his smile was genuine. “i just want you to know, as much as possible, i do love you.”

you sighed. “okay..”

a pause came. “i’m excited to see you..!”

your eyes flashed wider. “yeah!! i can’t wait to see you in person. i’ve been wanting to smell you.”

satoru snorted, his nose disgustingly close to the microphone on his phone. “weirdo.” he inhaled deeply and surely blew the speakers out on your phone. “i guess that’s pretty nice of you to say,” he followed up.

your hand was starting to sweat from the warmth of your phone; you had been on a call with him for over two hours.

felt like two seconds.

“miss you.”

“miss you more.”

-

a week later, you told him you loved him.

after a long date of walking around the shops outdoors in the warm sun, you both stopped to get some coffee.

you drank in silence, daydreaming in different directions; there wasn’t much to talk about, only time to bask in each other’s presence. the hand not around his iced drink rested on the table and you reached out to place yours on top. he turned his head and smiled at the connection.

“it’s pretty hot out.”

“yeah.”

“what’re you thinking about over there?” he asked.

“just looking around. the sky is so blue and pretty, it feels good.” hand still atop his, you leaned back in your chair and let a long breath out as you tipped your head to face the sky. “what about you?”

“i’m thinking about how much i miss you.”

you gave a small scoff. “we’re together right now, silly..”

“i mean!! i’m going to miss you when i have to leave. we only ever have small moments now. being like this now almost makes me miss you more. i won’t be able to do this,”he turned his hand on the table, grabbing yours in the process,“or this,” he pulled your arm in for a kiss on your knuckles.

you smiled. “that’s true, i guess.”

“pfft! you guess. whatever.”

you sat up and took a sip of your drink. satoru had both his arms back, crossed on the table with his resting on them. his head was faced toward you.

“i love you,” he said quietly.

“mmmm…” you smiled, scrunched your nose, and covered your face with your hands. “thank you.” peeking through your fingers, you saw him still looking at you.

no disdain, no regret; only true love showed through.

“you’re welcome.”

the ride home was quiet, sunset becoming simultaneously beautiful and hurtful to the naked eye. satoru threw his dollar shades somewhere, which left you to put your heart-shaped frames on his face. you both laughed about it for a moment, laughed about how much cuter he looked than you with them.

the banter quickly died down, ending with a small kiss to his cheek. you leaned on the car door and closed your eyes.

almost mere seconds passed before you were shaken awake and told you both were home.

reaching the front door, you stopped satoru before he found his key.

“what, sleepyhead?” he asked, ever so slightly pulling away from your hand on his keychain.

“i love you.”

his eyes widened, his smile grew. he went in and gave you a kiss before pulling away.

he hummed in response.

minutes passed while you leaned against the wall of his lab, and it started to feel awkward. you waited for his okay to give him the small present you collected; a bundle of flowers from a field you came across just an hour or two before. you felt it was fitting to give some to him, he was always working hard, and though there was payoff from his finished projects, you always sensed that it never ended for him. just looking at the slight bags under his eyes made you tired; the heaviness reached your heart every time.

you also noticed how no one really gave him something in return, as a thank you or to even tell him he was appreciated. he wasn’t particularly a fan of flowers, you knew, but it was an on-the-fly decision.. and frankly, you just wanted to show him, not just tell him, that his knowledge means everything to you and the rest of the village.

for just a second, a split second, you saw him glance up from his work. you thought an eternity passed before he even acknowledged you again.

“…can you come later? i’m busy.”

“oh,”you drew yourself back into a corner. the strain on your arm became much more evident as you felt embarrassment sink in. was he mad? no, he’s probably tired. but he didn’t act like that around anyone else… no. he’s tired. he’s frustrated. i think, i think i saw some scribbles on his paperwork.

you placed the handful of flowers on the edge of the table, some smashed from your grip and some fallen to the ground, and walked away promptly. you kept yourself from saying good bye; you felt it’d make everything even more awkward. what if he really is mad at me for interrupting his work? he probably was in the zone.. and i ruined it. this was the worst way to tell him you appreciated everything.

a wipe to your face made your hand wet. it was hard to hold your anxious feelings in; sometimes even your anger turned into tears. silent crying became your super power after realizing how much worse it became when you made any noise. with a quiet sigh, you shook your head; you couldn’t get senku’s annoyed and dismissive expression out of your head. he’s sick of you, he’s sick of you, he’s totally sick of you and your horrible timing.

by the time you made it to your hut, your vision had become almost completely blurry. you flopped to your back and covered yourself with a blanket, finally letting a sob escape you. he works so hard, and that was how i repaid him? he’s probably pissed that i messed up his concentration. humiliation filled your chest the more you thought about the interaction. you tapped your forehead with your fingertips in an attempt to bring yourself back to earth; even you knew you had to take a moment to breathe. there was a way to fix it. another way to show him.

—

“can i come in?”

senku was met with silence; quite honestly, he was ready to wait outside your door for as long as it took for you to respond.

after you walked away in the lab, he knew he fucked up a little bit.

“i, i have something for you.”

the note he held started to feel gross in his hands, and so he sat down and slipped it under your door. to his relief, he heard shuffling around, and… did you give the note back? no, the paper was a different color. it was slightly bigger, too.

you both sat against each other, only the door to your hut separating you from touching. it was a safe barrier, you thought, and it helped you gain the courage to give him something.

it was less, even less than the fistful of plants from earlier. but, you decided, it was good to get the point straight across. no beating around the bush.

you heard him open the note.

YOU ARE APPRECIATED

a smile grew on his face; judging by the deep indent of your makeshift pencil on the paper and double underline of the message, you were very adamant to tell him this. suddenly your random visit and leave from earlier made sense. “were you trying to tell me this in the lab today?”

you didn’t respond; you only focused on how warm your face was when you opened his note.

you have my heart

he sighed before he continued. “i’m sorry for ignoring you like that, right when… you were attempting to tell me something that, that really means a lot to me.”

you leaned the back of your head against the door. “you deserve it. you work so hard that you don’t catch too many breaks. and nobody says anything, because, well.. they see how amazing your brain power is, but they don’t think of you as someone who can get exhausted.” you held his note to your chest. “after a while, they don’t thank you, either… it isn’t bad to forget sometimes. but i want to make an effort to remember. y’know..BLEGH, i should’ve waited until you weren’t busy—or, weren’t as busy—“

“no, i’m glad you came to the lab today.” looking down, senku held your note in his hand gently; he wanted to keep it in as pristine condition as he could. “thank you for the wake-up call.”

somewhat of a comfortable silence fell between you two. neither of you could see the other, but both of you shared the same warmth. it enveloped your insides, reaching your chest and cheeks and hands. you were sure you could feel his smile through the door.

“hey senku,” you said after a while, a smile on your face,”i like you.” you got up from your spot, brushing your legs off as you heard senku get up too.

senku laughed almost immediately after, and replied,”oh, really?”

you opened the door and saw him standing, smirk painted across his face. nodding your head gently moved the rest of your body; you closed your eyes right as you felt his hands take yours, notes still being held.

senku held them against his cheeks near the corners of his mouth; his head was dipped down slightly but his eyes were on your own lips. “i guess i like you too,”he mumbled.