Serotonin {Senku x Reader}

Part 45 - Catastrophe

"The thing I wanted to tell you..." Y/n paused. She felt like she was sweating all over, for some odd reason she wanted to escape from the situation. Her instincts were kicking in at a time where she was in no danger at all, at least, not physical danger. Still, it was something she had wanted to get off her chest for far too long, regardless of what Senku said or did in response. She clenched her fists, solidifying her resolve. She looked up from the ground at him, determination flickered in her eyes.

"Is what I wanted to tell you after the war with Tsukasa ended."

Senku stared at her, seemingly surprised she still remembered.

"Ah, so that's it. I thought you had forgotten. Well, what is it?" His tone was brisk as usual, but there was a bit more curiosity in it than normal— whatever she was about to say, it clearly piqued his interest. His intent focus on her made everything feel real. Too real.

There it was. This was the moment. The moment she had been waiting for for months— no, years. The three simple words that she wanted to say to him for so long were right on the tip of her tongue, but in the moment where she was supposed to say the most, it felt hard to say anything at all. The instance of silence before she spoke felt lie an eternity. Y/n took a deep breath.

"I... I love you!"

Senku only stared at her blankly. There was no trace of even the slightest amount of shock, which only led to confusion on both ends. What was so confusing about... oh--

"..Haven't you told me this before?"

Y/n blinked, having completely forgotten she told him she loved him... as a friend. The tension she felt eased somewhat as she laughed, realizing her own mistake. Senku raised an eyebrow at her, wondering why his statement was cause for such a reaction. Suddenly, speaking was a little easier, and the words felt natural rolling off her tongue.

"Well, yeah, but I... I mean a different kind of love. The romantic kind."

This caught him by surprise. Senku looked at her with wide eyes, trying to process the fact that she had just said that. Still, the scientist's cool demeanor wouldn't be lost that easily, as his expression turned back to serious in an instant. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to say something, anything.

"Well... I knew that too, sorta," he finally blurted out, to which Y/n flushed a brighter shade of red than she already was. He had stated it as if it were an obvious fact... how humiliating. She figured she was obvious, but obvious enough for this emotionally constipated dork to figure it out? How embarrassing.

"You... You knew?! So I've been making a fool of myself all this time..." Y/n hid her face in her hands, wanting to keep any shred of dignity she had left.

"I'm not stupid. Even I can put two and two together. If you're worried about everyone knowing, you weren't exactly obvious," Senku pointed out, "It took me a while to figure it out myself."

"It's not other people knowing that I cared about..."

"Hmm," Senku looked to the floor, deep in thought. He looked conflicted. Contemplating. Confused. After a moment, he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ah, fuck. This is an issue."

Y/n's heart sank. Suddenly, she felt that his usual dismissive comment towards romance would've been preferable to what he just said. It could only mean one thing: he didn't feel the same, but wanted to spare her feelings. She knew he cared about her, and he also knew this was a sensitive situation. Despite everything, he was right— romance really was troublesome.

"Look, I just want you to know: no matter how you feel, your friendship is the most important thing to me," Y/n felt herself tearing up already, trembling. This was a mistake. All of this was a mistake. She continued with her rehearsed response to when he inevitably rejected her. "S-So we can pretend this never happened."