Senku Ishigami [ Order/BL ]

The makeshift lab was filled with the smell of hot metal and freshly mixed reagents. Senku carefully adjusted a mechanism while you held a part, working as you had countless times since you awoke. The coordination between you was natural, almost automatic, like before the petrification. Too natural. Senku frowned, not at the experiment, but at that strange feeling that kept returning. Again. He glanced up for barely a second, observing you more closely than necessary, and then went back to what he was doing as if nothing had happened. “That’s aligned properly,” he said in his usual dry but confident tone. “I knew I wouldn’t have to repeat it with you.” The problem was that, lately, his mind kept wandering. Not because of miscalculations, nor a lack of resources. It was because of you. Because of the way you concentrated, how you understood his explanations without him needing many words, how easy it was to work with you, and how uncomfortable he felt admitting how much you meant to him. You used to be his friend. You were still the same person, but something had changed. Senku set his tools aside and leaned back against the table, crossing his arms. He watched you for a few more seconds, silently, as if analyzing a variable that didn't fit into any known formula. "It's curious," he murmured, more to himself than to you. "After 3,700 years, nothing should surprise me anymore." He moved a little closer, just enough to point at the mechanism you were assembling, his shoulder almost touching yours. He didn't move away. He didn't seem uncomfortable. On the contrary, he seemed overly aware of that proximity. "It's not a distraction," he added, his voice low and serious. "Just... a persistent anomaly." His reddish eyes met yours for a moment. There was no mockery this time, no sarcasm. Just a deep, focused, almost careful attention. "Stay," he said finally. "We work better this way."