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Gen remembers when he first fell in love with you. You with eyes that sparkled bright as the stars. A part of him knew that this would all come down crashing and burning; that like all things it would only ever be temporary but he couldn’t find it in him to care. Afterall, it was you.
There have been many people that wandered in and out of Gen’s life. As a relatively famous person Gen would spend a large majority of his time meeting and greeting different kinds of people. He would spend a vast majority of his days thinking about the different motives people could have for wanting to be around him.
As a mentalist, he’s never found it too hard to understand an individual’s motives and aspirations. It’s always been an innate gift of his to be able to tell a person’s true colours. But, he must admit, it does get rather tiring.
Humans, by nature, are social creatures. Beings that thrive and depend on social interaction with each other. Anyone, given the right amount of time, would go crazy. While there would likely be much heartache saved if we were solitary creatures it is not the way our minds have worked. It is not the way we were meant to be.
Gen is utterly thankful that he has not awakened in this world alone.
There are cruel and horrible people; there are kind and naive people; and then there are people like you.
Gen’s always found people like you to be the most entertaining. Your motives are straightforward and direct yet your actions always leave everyone surprised. You’re as open as you are mysterious.
And Gen finds it utterly fascinating.
“Wow,” you whisper, your voice quiet as you look up at the sky above. You’re utterly entranced by something you’ve seen hundreds of times before.
Gen laughs, “haven’t you seen the starry sky before?”
“Of course,” you turn to look at him, your eyes sparkling, “but it’s still enough to take my breath away each and every time.”
---
When the sparkle in your eyes is gone there’s a curious and determined look in its place. It’s the second time Gen’s fallen in love.
Gen isn’t exactly sure where he is when he first opens his eyes. Pale walls surround him flickering with light from the fire beside him. He can feel a cool breeze blowing against his left side and he can see that the sky is no longer blue.
Was it blue when he passed out?
Trying to figure it out makes his head hurt so he doesn't. It’s not as if the colour of the sky when he passed out matters much anyways.
Sound is the last of Gen’s senses that seem to register in his mind. There’s a gentle humming over the crackling of the fire.
You’re sitting with you back to Gen, between him and the fire. You’re fiddling with something in the light of the fire. Gen’s treacherous heart begins to race as a feeling of nausea comes over him for a reason he knows all too well.
“Why do you…” Gen trails off. His voice is hoarse and raspy, unlike his normal smooth one. It hurts to speak but that isn’t the reason he cut himself off mid sentence. No, right now he isn’t certain if this is the right time to ask this question. But will there ever be a right time for a question like this? He pushes it out of his mind as your humming stops.
You laugh, as if pulling the question from his mind, “why do I care about him?”
Gen nods in response, despite knowing you can’t see him.
You don’t bother to look at him as you say, “in this world, this new world, there are going to be many chances to do things we never got the chance to before.”
“And what do you want to do?”
Finally, you turn to look at Gen, placing a mess of fabric to the side, “I don’t want to be afraid anymore.”
“Afraid?”
“I used to be terribly afraid of everything,” you laugh gently, “I was scared of what people thought of me, what I’d wear, spiders and snakes.”
Gen finds that hard to believe but he keeps it to himself as you continue.
“Though I was especially scared of the dark,” you take a deep breath and look up, as if it’s the last time you’ll ever see the night sky, “after what I could only guess to have been thousands of years trapped in the darkness of my own mind I decided I’d never be afraid to do anything again. I promised myself to charge head first into things that before would’ve caused me to stop. It’s much worse to die having never done, after all.”
And what can Gen do but smile in response.
The determination in your eyes has moved him. Sent his heart into a fluttering mess.
It makes him too want to jump head first into something stupid.
---
The third time, after all the curiosity is gone, Gen finds a warm and caring look in its place. A look that shows just how much you’ve matured in such a short amount of time.
Gen can’t help the goofy love sick smile that seems to find a home on his face as he watches you.
You’re diligent as you weave strands of flowers together. Your eyes narrow in on the strands and your tongue slightly sticks out of the corner of your mouth as you focus on the task at hand. It’s cute. You’re cute.
The two young girls play with each other a little ways away from the two of you as they wait for the creation of their flower crowns. They’re playing a hiding game of some sort that Gen hasn’t quite yet figured out. There seems to be a lot of chasing involved but it's random when one girl goes from chasing to hiding. Sometimes they’re both hiding at the same time.
“What are you looking at, Gen?” Suika asks, her watermelon helmet placed on the ground beside her.
Gen smiles, “I’m watching (Y/n)’s flower crown technique.”
“Oh?” You peek your head up briefly looking up to look at his own progress, “and what’s the consensus?”
“You’re utterly terrible.”
You huff playfully, “and how is your crown turning out, Mr. Mentalist?”
“Brilliantly,” Gen laughs, “in fact,” he places the crown atop Suika’s head, “I’ve finished with my masterpiece.”
You roll your eyes as you get to work on adding the finishing touches to your own.
The flower crown in your hands is cute but (in Gen’s humble opinion) his is better. The colours are much more detailed and match better with each other. Yours isn’t bad though, Gen’s is just better.
“Will you tell us a story, (Y/n)” Mirai asked.
Your eyes soften as you look down at the other young girl, “and what kind of story would you like to hear?”
Mirai seems to debate for a long while before smiling, “how about a story about a pirate!”
“Of course, now let’s see, let me tell you a story about a bright red haired pirate that fell in love with a Marine girl.” you begin, “it starts of on a small Island in the-”
“Ocean!” Suggest (though it’s more like exclaimed) Mirai.
Your eyes meet with Gen’s own, as if you’re saying look at this girl. They’re filled with so much warmth and affection. His heart does that weird thumping thing again.
---
And that’s how life just seems to be for the longest of times. No one ever stays the same and it’s something Gen has always understood. It’s something Gen has come to accept. Despite the constant change he never finds himself missing that old part of you because there's always a new one to take its place.
“Good morning~” you hum as you stumble out of your tent. Breakfast which has been hovering over a fire is poured into a makeshift bowl before being handed to you. You smile brightly at the boy who hands it to you before he scurries off, an obvious blush on his face.
Gen feels a smile creep onto his face as he makes his way over to you, “quite the heartbreaker, aren’t you~” teased Gen.
“Heartbreaker?” You tilt your head to the side the same way you always do, “have I broken someone’s heart?”
Your motives are direct and your actions straightforward yet you always leave Gen surprised.
Always keeping him on his feet.
Gen flashes you a feigned expression of hurt, “just mine, it seems.”
“I suppose I shall have to suffer the consequences then~” your eyes are filled with humor and affection, “I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive little ol’ me. I’m quite young and tend not to think about the feelings of others. Jumping head first into something tends to make me quite the heartbreaker~”
And if only you knew how true that joke really was.
“So you like peaches, right?” Gen asks, taking a seat beside you.
You perk your head up, “yeah, how did you know?”
“I didn’t know,” Gen smiles, “it just felt right.”
There were a lot of things that just felt right around you. There hasn't been much time that Gen has spent with you compared to the other people. The total accumulated time the two of you had spent together must have amounted to just barely a week despite you knowing each other for a year now.
The time Gen spent around you had never felt like meeting and learning about you for the first time.
He hadn’t known you before everyone had turned to stone and he certainly didn’t know you while the two of you had been stone yet it felt like a part of him has always known you. Now, it's not like he’s getting to know you for the first time but rather remembering who you are.
The notion is crazy, foolish and romantic.
Gen has never really considered himself much of a romantic but for you he’d be anything. Even a weird rumbling fool.
---
Then suddenly, or maybe he’s just suddenly come to notice that, you’ve outgrown each other. That the inevitable has finally come to fruition and the ending he has so desperately tried to divert has finally arrived. It was never meant to be forever, but nothing ever is, and all those different versions of you he’s fallen in love with walk out the door at the same time.
In truth, there are two loves in Gen’s life. This New World seems to have brought him both.
Gen, both in and out of his profession, has loved attention. Being able to command people and get them to do as he likes. It’s fun to lie and it definitely isn’t his favourite thing to manipulate people but it also happens to be what he’s good at. And if what he loved made him a bad person then he would be a bad person.
The second is people like you.
No, that’s not exactly right.
It’s not people like you that Gen has always loved but rather you.
A part of him has always loved you. It’s always been looking for bits of pieces in other people so that one day he may be able to fill the hole that is not having you around. It’s the part of him that makes his stomach flutter and his heart race. It’s the part of him that keeps him up at night and wakes him up bright and early in the morning. But it’s also the part of him that says ‘it won’t last forever.’
It’s the part of him that he both loves and dreads.
The part of him that knows what he will ultimately choose in the end. The part of him that knows it won’t win, yet chooses to exist regardless. Gen supposes it’s because of you. Your carefree influence would sink into him too deep and too quickly.
His love for you and his love for the attention will always be at odds.
The allure of the crowd says, “let’s build something long and lasting.”
And then, there is you who takes him by the hand as your eyes meet his own. Your eyes that have always whispered more secrets to Gen than your words. And right then, you whisper, ‘come with me, let’s get lost for a while.’
It’s thrilling and intriguing. The adventure a part of him wishes for. The thrill of racing to the edge of a hill and jumping off. It’s closing your eyes and hoping someone will catch you. It’s handing someone a knife and turning your back.
Gen knows how it ends because it has already ended.
Your eyes that sparkled like stars, shone with determination, filled with warmth and laughter are no longer directed to him.
He has chosen the path separate from your own, just like that part of him would always know he’d do, and you disappear.
It’s heartbreaking, like all good endings are, but he can’t find it in himself to despair. Afterall, it was you. It’s always been you.
Fall in love because of someone’s eyes.