“Yo, mentalist, something came up and I need you to take over on a meeting with—,” Senku began to say, only to stop at the sudden: “Good afternoon, Dr. Ishigami. How can I help you?”
“I’m Mr. Asagiri’s assistant.”
“Gen doesn’t have an assistant.”
“He does now,” the person on the other side of the line politely replied. “Mr. Nanami considered that he needed one seeing how busy he always is.”
“Then you’re like… Gen’s personal Francois?”
“Right,” he felt dumb now, which was rare but it wasn’t his fault that the whole assistant caught him with the guard down. “Well, anyway, hand me over to Gen.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
“He’s currently at a meeting.”
“Alright, then tell him to call me when it’s over.”
“That would be around 5:30 and he has another meeting right after. Are you sure you don’t want me to revise his agenda for you? I believe there’s a slot at 6:15…”
“Indeed, quite fortunate considering how—“
“Busy, yes, I heard you the first ten billion times,” Senku interrupted, unable not to feel a little irritated even if he knew he shouldn’t blame Gen’s poor assistant for that. “Ugh, just tell him to call me when he’s free and if he really can’t make it, he can send me a message and tell me that himself.”
There was silence at the other end of the line.
“Giving his current schedule, I’m afraid Mr. Asagiri won’t be able to do that.”
“Fine. Give me that 6:15 spot.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry. It has already been booked.”
“Hah?! But you just said—!”
“It was available, but since you didn’t take it, another person reserved it.”
“You’re literally on a phone call with me right now! How could someone else reserve it?”
“I’m also answering emails and messages, and I should warn you, the next spot available is now tomorrow at—“
“I’ll take it!” He quickly said before he lost it again.
Oh, he was definitely going to have a talk with Gen about his so-called assistant now.
“Isn’t Haruka-chan the best? I’ve been sleeping like a baby ever since they started working for me,” Gen said with a happy smile as they sat down to have some tea while they discussed the latest developments.
And sure, Gen did look great. Less tired and stressed than the last time he saw him, but that was probably because that time he had just came back from a long diplomatic mission and was already leaving for the next (courtesy of Senku, nonetheless), while now he was finally settling down in Japan.
“I don’t know how having an assistant has anything to do with your sleeping habits,” he said instead, taking a sip of his tea.
“Oh, I would sometimes stay overnight to catch up with all the emails and calls I missed during my meetings, but now I don’t have to worry about that. The lunches are also a nice bonus~!”
“Lunches?” Senku frowned as processed what Gen just said. “Haruka makes you lunch?!”
“Yep! Said it was very important that I had a balanced and healthy diet.”
“I could have told you that,” Senku blurted, only to get a raised eyebrow in response.
“Well, yes… I supposed you could, Senku-chan, but you didn’t,” somehow, that stung more than the embarrassment he felt from his previous outburst.
“I… I didn’t know you needed a babysitter,” and now he was just being a jerk. He didn’t need to see the annoyed look on Gen’s face to know as much. “Wait, I didn’t mean…”
“Oh, I know very well what you meant, Senku-chan,” Gen said. “This simply has nothing to do with you, does it? So how could you know I was feeling overwhelmed?”
“Exactly,” the scientist nodded, relieved that mentalist could still understand his reasoning, except…
Since when has Gen been feeling like that? And how could he not notice?
No, he did notice he had been tired before… he simply decided to ignore it.
“Well, I think now that’s clear, we can continue our discussion some other time,” Gen continued, getting up from his seat.
“Wait, if you need someone to—“
“I have Haruka-chan now, don’t worry,” Gen waved him off, but Senku wasn’t satisfied at all by that response.
After all, that was the same Haruka who had him wait a whole MONTH just to speak to the mentalist again.
“You don’t need Haruka, you have me,” he stood up as well, grabbing Gen by the wrist before he could leave.
“What… are you taking about?”
“I… I can take care of you! I can cook and make sure you don’t overworked yourself. Hell, you took care of me back when we were just two modern guys living in a stone world village. Let me return the favour.”
Gen stared at him in disbelief and Senku couldn’t exactly blame him for that reaction.
“I can do it! Though it would be easier if we lived together. You haven’t found an apartment you liked, right? Then just move in with me and—“
“Senku-chan!” Gen interrupted him and only then did Senku notice how red his face was.
“I would be just fine if you gave me less work.”
“Ah… I guess… that works too…”
Suddenly the mental image he had built of them living together, how he would adapt his routine to match Gen’s, how they would wake up and have breakfast together and meet again later for dinner… got completely crushed.
“Yeah, so… No need to do all that, okay? Though… I appreciate it.”
“What if I want to do it anyway?”
“Move in with me, mentalist. It’s the most logical choice,” he said, trying to sound confident, even if internally he was wondering if the blush of Gen’s face was from secondhand embarrassment or anger.
“I would still prefer to have less work…”
“You move in with me, and in exchange you have less work and don’t rely on Haruka anymore. It’s a win-win,” except for Haruka, perhaps, but Senku was sure they’d find another job easily enough.
“Are you sure you want that?”
“Yeah… I could use… the company,” he tried not to cringe at that, and it was definitely worth it because Gen finally smiled.
“Alright, Senku-chan, you got yourself a deal. No takesies backsies~,” Gen said, making him laugh.
“Oh! And by the way…” Gen said one afternoon, exactly a week after he moved in and they had a little home warming party with their friends. Even if Senku had technically been living there already.
“There was no Haruka-chan, it was just me pretending to be my assistant.”
“Hah?! You tricked me into moving together?!”
“No~, that was all you. I just wanted a acation-vay,” Gen grinned, watching in amusement as Senku’s face turned completely red.
