Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandom:
Relationship:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:
2026-06-21
Words:
928
Chapters:
1/1
Comments:
5
Kudos:
26
Bookmarks:
4
Hits:
99

Scientifically Justified Cuddle Pile

Summary:

Senkuu falls in a river. Yuzuruha and Taiju cuddle about it.

Notes:

Written late at night so forgive any typos x

Set nebulously post stone wars, pre-Perseus completion.

Work Text:

Accidents happened when you were doing science. Senkuu had suffered his fair share of earthernware explosions, and whilst mixing random things together was the foundation of science, it wasn't exactly safe.

Accidents were often a lot more mundane than that, though. Getting your fingers too close to a fire, dropping something, or just slipping.

Senkuu walked along the river, put his left foot down in just the wrong place, and the mud shifted under him. Before he could even blink he'd pitched sideways, crashing into the river current.

He could swim, even if not particularly well, but it was early spring. The water was still fucking cold.

His limbs strung from the change in temperature. For a moment he was frozen from the shock, before his brain kicked in. Move your damn legs!

It wasn't a particularly deep or wide river, fortunately, so he reached the bank quickly. With how slippery the mud was, climbing up it was significantly harder. Senkuu dug his fingers in, coughing, and summoned all the energy he had. That amount was miles off Taiju's near infinite reserve, but he managed to haul his upper body onto the ground, shoving with his legs until he laid on the grass.

Senkuu shoved his wet hair off of his face. The wind blew, making him shiver, and yeah, he shouldn't just be laying here.

He wrung out the ends of his clothes as he walked back to camp, dripping water all over the forest floor. He encountered a few of the guys Tsukasa had revived, who looked slightly concerned but were easily dismissed (Who knew threatening to blow prople up made you scary?). 

Senkuu reached the tent he slept in. Step one, get dry-

"Senkuuuuu!" A big, stupid oaf collided with Senkuu's back, nearly knocking him over. "...Why are you wet? Is it raining somewhere? Did you go swimming?"

"In his clothes?" Yuzuriha pointed out. She walked over to stand in front on Senkuu. "And he doesn't like swimming anyway." She waited, expectantly.

"...I fell in the river."

"Oh!" Yuzuriha grabbed the sides of Senkuu's face. "Are you okay? Did you hit your head?"

"I'm-"

"He's wet and the water's cold." Taiju interrupted. His arms squeezed painfully around Senkuu's torso. "Which means we need to make him warm!"

Senkuu wheezed. "Not wrong, but I need to breathe too!"

"To the fire!" Taiju marched him to the campfire area, still smoldering from where it had been lit as everyone woke up. Taiju sat Senkuu down next to it, letting go briefly to throw more wood on the flames. "There! What else are we meant to do about hypothermia..."

"I'm not hypothermic." Senkuu argued. "That's what we're avoiding."

"Right! So you need bodyheat." Taiju sat against Senkuu, pressing his back to his chest.

"He needs dry clothes, first of all." Yuzuriha said. At some point she must have gone to the storage tent, since she held spare ones in her arms. "Hold your arms up."

"I'm not five!"

Despite Senkuu's very reasonable protests, Yuzuriha and Taiju insisted on helping him change. Well, maybe his fingers were a bit numb for gripping fabric, but that was neither here nor there.

With that done, Senkuu couldn't feel the wind blowing through his bones. That was nice. Yuzuriha squeezed what water she could out of his hair with a cloak (It was the closest thing they had to a towel. Senkuu would have to work on that). Taiju kept his arms around him, warm and solid.

"You know, I'm not sure this is the most efficient way." Yuzuriha said. Senkuu didn't like the look in her eyes. You wouldn't guess it from her general demeanour, but Senkuu knew her well enough to know she was as bad as Taiju.

Senkuu's vision was abuptly turned on its side, pulled over by the big oaf. Taiju was on his back, Senkuu on top of him, and then Yuzuriha laid over him, facing the sky.

"Much better," She said. "This'll warm you up faster."

"Its not winter! I won't die if it takes a little while!"

"Body heat from above and below. Its more efficient, and that means you can get back to work sooner." Yuzuriha turned her head to meet his eyes. "This is scientifically sound."

Maybe it was also scientifically sound for her to drape the cloak over all three of them, forming a cozy pile. Or maybe that was just Yuzuriha, who always did like to rest her head on her friends' shoulders.

She turned onto her front, laying down her head as if she might fall asleep, and Senkuu begrudgingly wrapped his arm over her back. She wasn't wrong - This was warmer.

Eons ago, the three of them has squeezed together on Senkuu's sofa, waiting for an experiment to conclude. Senkuu had pulled several all-nighters, and fell asleep against Taiju's shoulder. He'd woken hours later to find Yuzuriha lightly snoring against his own, and Taiju snoring much louder in his ear.

They wouldn't make for great lookouts. But Senkuu remembered that night now, and thought about missing these two for a whole year.

They remained like that for a while, catching questioning glances from Kohaku and a few others that passed by. A while longer than they strictly had to, maybe.

Your core temperature was no joke. It was more efficient that Senkuu made sure he was warm enough, rather than risk complications from the cold later. He'd get back to what he'd been doing soon.

Senkuu pressed his head against Taiju's shoulder. Just a little longer. For scientific reasons.