High Energy Collision [Completed]

Chapter 26 - Do what you came here for

The room was almost completely dark.

Plan lay on his back on his old mat on the floor, arms folded behind his neck, staring into the void of his new room.

He had tried to sleep in the bed, he really did; but it felt too weird, too unfamiliar. After trying for an hour, he had finally given up, had unrolled the mat and had wrapped his old blanket around himself.

The one he had taken with him from his grandparents' hut.

The one that smelled like home.

How is that different?

Mean's last question still repeated in his thoughts, like a program stuck in an infinite loop.

Why had he opted for distracting Mean, rather than answer it?

Plan still maintained that his situation wasn't comparable to Mean's dilemma at all. But... the fact that he hadn't come up with a convincing way to explain the difference... bugged him.

After the successful distraction... kiss, Mean had regretfully needed to go back to his own room, if they didn't want people to knock and ask what they were doing.

Or something.

They would need to find proper excuses for spending time together in private. Thankfully, Plan didn't believe it would be too hard, as long as they didn't leave the house. Mean's parents had been surprisingly eager for their son to befriend him – or they wouldn't have sent Mean to help him move his stuff. He hadn't needed help anyway, but they could have easily sent a maid or a servant instead.

They had also insisted that Mean showed him his workshop, even though Plan was a theoretical physicist and wouldn't have much use for a workshop. He liked to tinker with things now and then, but Mean was much better at this stuff than he would ever be.

But... they clearly wanted Mean to be close to him.

It was really only a matter of distracting Mean's sister Joule, so she didn't try to push them in the open for PR, without understanding what was really going on.

All these other things would be so much more interesting to have stuck in his head on repeat... fond memories of kisses, of unexpected depth and understanding for each other, rather than...

How is that different?

Plan didn't have to hide his true potential because it would be dangerous to reveal it, like Mean had to. He was just... cautious.

Realistic.

He needed to remember who he was, where he came from, where he would have to return to.

Though the others had also been right, kind of... when they had insisted that he couldn't escape the genius story anymore.

He truly couldn't, now.

Maybe...

What was the harm in embracing it and watching how far it would get him, really?

Even if he fell on his nose... going back to the rice paddies was always an option. It was what he was counting on anyway.

It was just... not that clear cut anymore. Would he even still want to go back?

The world he had stumbled into here might be scary, strange, and full of traps, but the longer he stayed, the harder it was to even consider leaving.

He couldn't leave this place anymore.

Not when it had Mean in it.

And theoretical physics.