Serotonin {Senku x Reader}

Part 21 - Tungsten

For the next few days, things continued as they usually did. Except now, Y/n would go off with Gen to their little cliff so that he could teach her more about psychology and acting. Whenever anyone asked, Y/n said she wanted to write a special segment on mentalism first while documenting everyone's hobbies, and claimed she's like some peace and quiet to talk to him alone. It was obviously a horrid excuse, but Gen helped her to play it off.

One day, Chrome, who had just had an epiphany, took some light bulbs and batteries to go on an expedition for new materials. After being disappointed when Senku told him they had everything they needed, Chrome went on a mining expedition anyways. 

Y/n, who had put her writing classes on hold to help out Senku in Chrome's absense, seemed to be doing alright thanks to Gen's lessons. As long as she pretended her feelings for him didn't exist, she'd be fine. If they started to arise, she'd just focus on whatever he was saying or doing, forcefully breaking her train of thought.

At the moment she was focused on Senku, who was experimenting with a bamboo filament inside the lightbulb. After turning it on an letting it glow for a solid two seconds, it burnt out, leaving its ashes behind. Y/n sighed.

"Well, weren't the filaments from modern lightbulbs made out of some form of metal?" She asked. He sighed.

"Yeah... but it's almost ten billion percent impossible to get it in this era..."

"Well, there has to be something!" She huffed. "Who knows, maybe you'll discover a new one!"

"Look, Senku! I've gathered up every rock in my collection! There has to be some thing here!!"

"Huh?! When did you get back?" Y/n asked, startled at Chrome's sudden entrance. Chrome grinned and continued.

"Oh, I've been here since Senku tested the filament.."

"Right..."

After going through all the rocks, and getting some help from the villagers, it ended up being a dead end. That night, Senku looked out the door, clearly deep in thought. Y/n, who was having trouble sleeping yet again, sat next to him, leaning on his shoulder. By now, she didn't think much of the simple gesture of affection. For Senku, however, it always seemed to catch him off guard as she felt him freeze against her before relaxing.

"What's on your mind?"

"It's nothing important."

"Yeah it is! You're never up this late just staring out like this..." Y/n pouted, taking one of his hands in both of hers. It felt icy cold. She sighed and intertwined his fingers in hers, hoping it would warm him up some. She sat up and looked into his eyes, staring intently. They were such a beautiful red, which could be seen even in the dark moonlight. Realizing how intimate it felt, she looked away, taking a deep breath. She had no feelings for him at the moment. Instead, she turned her attention to the sky. "Tell me, what's going on?"

"...fine. I'm worried that we won't be able to make the cell phone, because the metal we need to get is rare and ten billion percent impossible to get with our current tools. But I need to figure something else out, I don't have time to be upset about it.."

"Well... it's okay to be upset about it for a little while..." Y/n said, looking up at the stars.  "Sometimes it helps you get a clear head afterwards. Even if it doesn't work out, you'll just figure out something else, and we're all here to back you up, so don't worry, 'kay?"

"Right," he sighed, then leaned his head on her shoulder, much to Y/n's surprise. She felt her face heat up, but she doubted Senku would be able to tell in the moonlight. She wrapped her arm around him, letting it rest on his shoulder. She didn't try to say anything, as she was getting flustered. Senku must've felt her tense up next to him, because he asked, "does this make you uncomfortable?"