Chapter Text
Chapter One: Life sucks
One thing you know for sure? You hate Ishigami Senku.
For the last ten years, this arrogant, rude, self absorbed boy has made your life a living hell. Every year without fail, you’ve been partnered up or sat next to the eccentric boy with weird ass hair. You might say “Hey, get over it. Just ignore him.” But have you ever tried to study for an English exam with someone constantly muttering equations and that stupid catchphrase of his, “Get excited”?
no?
Then sit down.
You pride yourself on your appearance and your grades. Queen bee of the school, president of the student Council - you’ve worked damn hard in all aspects to come top. You’re popular, you’re nice and you’re smart... Not to his freakishly high level, but still.
It’s no secret that you and Senku don’t get along. You’ve tried, tried so hard in the past to try and get along but that smug grin only ever makes you feel violent. He always abandons your group projects leaving you to do all the work, only ever interested in things to do with science, where he promptly takes control of EVERYTHING.
What makes matters worse?... Your pen slips as a small explosion goes off rattling windows, followed by a quiet shout of “GASOLINE ACQUIRED!”... He’s your fucking neighbour.
One day, you’re going to strangle that boy with his own lab coat.
You stomp into your living room where your older sister is channel hopping, a lit cigarette hanging from her lips.
The stench burns your nostrils as you disappear into the kitchen area. “I wanna move.” You growl flinging the fridge door open. Empty.
“Yeah yeah, you saythat every day Y/N.” Yumi drones. Slam.
“We have no food.” You inform your sister as you enter the livingroom again, in time to watch the ash of her cigarette drop onto the carpet. “At least use a fucking ashtray, Yumi.”
“Make me.” She smirks in return flipping her hair extensions over her shoulder before standing, announcing “I’m going to my boyfriends.”
“What?” you growl. “You need to buy food. It’s your turn.” You protest grabbing her arm. She sneers shoving you into the wall hard.
“Well wait for mum to get home.” Yumi grins blowing her smoke in your face, laughing as you cough before slipping out the door.
“But mums not gonna be home for three days...” you mutter to the empty apartment just as the electricity goes... Great.
You check the bare cupboards for anything edible, but you know its no use. Sighing you go back to your room pulling a small tin out from its hiding place.
“As soon as I’m old enough, I’m leaving this place.” You whisper opening the tin as your routinely check the amount inside to make sure it’s not been found. Every scrap of your earnings is in here, secret job pay, payments for artwork at school you’ve done, even the change from when your mums been to drunk to notice. You hesitate, your thumb absentmindedly tracing the tins edge.
Do I really need to eat?
Your stomach gives a sharp twang telling you that, yes. You do need food.
You sigh taking a 100 yen bill out reluctantly, squirreling your tin back into its hiding space and going to your usual corner shop.
“Fuck.” Shamefully, it didn’t occur to you until you tried to boil water that no electricity... Means no hot water.
You stare at the dry noodle cup like it had personally done you wrong. You could go knock on... No. Like hell are you asking for help from Mr Ego next door, you’d never hear the end of it.
You fill the small metal kettle and traipse down to the park, into a small alcove of trees where you light a small fire with practiced ease. You keep a look out as you wait for the water to boil. You extinguish the fire the moment the water comes to a boil and like a criminal, quickly scurry back into your home. With the meal done, scarfed down with no elegance whatsoever, you glance around the silent and dark apartment, not even a ticking of a clock for company.
With nothing else to do and wanting to save your phone battery, you cuddle under your blanket and pray that your weird neighbour stops laughing like the lead villain of some b-rated movie...waiting for tomorrow.
*******************************************
“He’s late.” You grumble
Surprise, surprise. He’s not turned up... Again.
Here you are, sat tapping your pen against the table as the clock ticks loudly in the empty classroom. You grit your teeth in anger, the English assignment remained sat untouched in front of you as you watch fifteen minutes go by. No guesses to who you were partnered with...
You slam your hands on the table so hard they sting as you stand. “That’s it.” You hiss storming down corridors, the look on your face is enough to send students scurrying and flattening into walls.
You notice one of those science geeks in a classroom and make a beeline.
“Hey Y/N-“ the kid starts and you promptly cut him off slamming your hands on his desk.
“Where. Is. He.” You snarl and the poor guy looks ready to piss himself.
“L-L-lab.”
I knew it.
You fly out the room. No more Mr Nice Guy, this is the last straw.
As soon as you see that smug looking vegetable perched against a nearby window, you see red. One of the other nerds turns and blanches. “Uh oh, she’s pissed.”
Senku barely has time to turn before you’re on him.
You grab his bony shoulders in a grip you hope hurts. “What happened to doing the English project?” you spit.
Ishigami for all his arrogance, picks at his ear. “Was that today? Oops.”
You’re about to wipe that stupid look off his dumb face when you hear, “what’s that green light?”
You turn your head just as the light touches your skin and boom, it goes dark.
What the- you try to open your eyes.. Nothing. Wriggle your fingers? Toes? Why can’t you move? You try and call out but nothing happens... You try to scream, kick, punch, anything! But after trying everything you can think of for who knows how long, you sigh in defeat... It’s like floating in nothing, there’s no sound. No smells... No touch... At least it’s quiet....
“1, 2, 3, 4,”an all to familiar voice echoes...Fuck my life.
.....................................
“Four, five, six, seven, eight...Damn, almost lost consciousness again.”
You yawn, Is he still going? I must have passed out for a while.
“Seems to happen every 800,000 seconds or so... Heh. It’s about as regular as my bowel movements used to be.”
Every 9 days?! Eat some fibre you damn nerd!
“I need to think and count at the same time. Run parallel processes.”
Say what now?! Like hell you do!
“116,427,065,530 seconds.”
Please... No...
“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven...”
... What did I do to deserve this? You mentally put your head in your hands.
.....................................
“9,10...heh. Alright, I can make it past 800,000 seconds without all but losing consciousness now. Guess my minds finally adjusting.”
Yayyy...note heavy sarcasm. Damn, I wish he could hear me. I’d promptly tell him to button it.
“I have been frozen now for 117,354,889,550 seconds. So this is the 3,718th spring since I froze.”
Am I going to spend the rest of eternity listening to the internal monologue of the king of all nerds?
“Starting in spring is an absolute must if I want to survive.... Okay, no time like the present.”
... Here we go again...
“Come on, me. Get up....get up... Get. Up. Get up damn it! Get up! Get up!“
FOR GOD’S SAKE LET HIM GET UP! I CAN’T TAKE NO MORE OF THIS!-
Crack.
Was that?- suddenly all you can hear is cracking and popping sounds before light blinds you.
“No. Way.” You whisper your eyes wide. You lay there staring into the dirt completely gobsmacked. You were out. A stupid grin spreads across your face and you laugh. “I’m out.”
“Get...get your fat ass off of me.” You hear a familiar voice groan from below. You scramble to sit up causing more pieces of stone shell to clatter to the earth below as you look down to lock eyes with your only company for the last 3,700 years.
His Ruby eyes hold yours for a long while. You never thought you’d be happy to see this Nerd again, but maybe spending several thousand years listening to him made you miss seeing him... Just a little.
His eyes slide down.
“Huh. They’re 40% bigger now.”
SLAP.