gravity | dr. stone

gravity 2: i. tenma & i. senku

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"How can I know fifty digits of π and not know the digits of your phone number?"

That god awful pick-up line made Senku pause from pouring a half full erlenmeyer flask of acid to a beaker one-fourth full of water. Even everyone from the lab paused whatever they were doing to eavesdrop on Tenma's one of many admirers. Senku pondered and thought of how many does that make. Just last week alone, there were already a handful of guys who confessed to his childhood friend.

Sure, the boyish Tenma he had known since he was four grew up to be quite the heartbreaker but it was almost ridiculous how many confessions she received on average. What was so good about that stupid peaches anyway?

She's smart. Senku rolled his eyes at that.

She can keep up with you. The scientist furrowed his eyebrows. Well, that wasn't new to him.

She dotes on you. Which, honestly, he didn't need to be doted on. It kind of felt weird.

She's the only one who can touch your inventions. Wasn't that obvious though? Tenma was the only one who knew how to properly operate his works and how to take care of it. If Senku let Yuzuhira or, god forbid, Taiju work on his inventions, he was ten billion percent sure that things would become a disaster. That was why Tenma was the only person he could count on.

She cooks for you. Well, that was because of his dad. For some reason, his old man coerced Aunt Atari into having Tenma make lunch boxes for him every single day.

She's the only one who could call you by nickname. Senku froze at that. It was a fact he couldn't deny no matter how much he wanted to. Even when they were kids, he didn't try to stop her from calling him Sen-chan. Now that he pondered over it, why didn't he?

She's the only one who could get away from accidentally damaging your inventions. Because as smart as she was, Tenma was kind of clumsy, too, and she had moments when he would think that she was dumb.

"How can you even ask my number when you only know fifty digits of π?"

Ah, there it was. She was savage with others but never with you. Tenma often turned down her admirers that way when she didn't like their character. Most of the time, she would turn them down gently and would even try to cheer them up. When Senku glanced at the unfortunate victim, the snort he tried to hold back came out.

No wonder Tenma was savage.

The guy who just confessed was the jerk who picked on him last week. Of course, Senku fought back and even came out as the victor. However, it seemed like Tenma managed to hear about it and decided not to be nice towards the guy.

She always got your back. And as Senku watched the jerk become pale from horror and turn red from embarrassment, he couldn't help but add fuel to the fire. "Peaches," the normal volume of his voice contrasted against the deafening silence and to others, it was like he spoke through a megaphone. "What are you still standing around there for? I need your help with this."

It was satisfying watching the guy who picked on him become lifeless. The fact that the jerk even fainted on the spot brought the hilarity to a whole new level. Tenma didn't even spare her admirer a single glance as she made her way to him. Senku ignored the feeling of success, that feeling that made him want to grin which was unlike him.

"What do you need help for, Sen-chan?"

The scientist eyed his childhood friend. The spontaneous, loud, and overbearing Tenma of his childhood definitely mellowed out a lot. She was still a little overbearing but ever since they turned thirteen, Senku had never heard her raise her voice anymore. Not once. And the Tenma who loved to annoy him had learned to give him space, a space that Senku didn't really need.