Chapter Text
Genos inhaled deeply and held it there, eyes trailing up to the sky. Past the thick green tree leaves was a clear blue sky, small wisps of white creating wannabe clouds. It was absolutely surreal it was so perfect.
His thoughts dissipated one by one as the light grey slowly blew out from between plush lips, the release of such a large hit made his throat itch, but he refused to cough. Coughing was widely accepted, but he liked to keep it cool and hold his cough, even if he was alone.
The distinct smell wafted in the air close to his head, 'leftovers of a good time' he liked to call it. Good times yet to come too.
The blonde boy pulled out a small blue sketch notebook. Little designs of flowers and a bird on the cover and back, the cover feeling like fabric. It was something he kept with him at all times, writing down or drawing whatever he wanted. "Hell, if everyone had one of these, we'd have time travel by now."
A new white page meant a new entry, and this one was his specific feelings at that moment. He wanted to document his experience. If it was hard to read or bad wording then Genos couldn't give any kind of cares. The notebook was HIS after all.
"I love this feeling," he wrote.
"It's Euphoria.
One minute I'm sitting here, the next I can't feel myself. I only feel a light air rising up in my chest, then my entire body. It fills me completely until I can't feel any individual thing anymore. I'm just one thing, one being. And then suddenly, so, so suddenly I feel that rising in my chest start to turn into fire. It pushes up into my throat and makes my eyes water. The feeling is pure pleasure. Not sexual, not anything, just pleasure. It overwhelms the previously empty space until it pushes itself out in the form of a low exhale, and then my body shudders into a slump. I start to warm up in my lower region, and then it crawls along my body like a disease. It seeps into every pore of my skin, and I can suddenly breathe again. My head is heavier, but it's not unpleasant. Far from it. It's just warm, and my eyes are less dry."
The words came to him so easily, as if he had thought them out before.
He'd stay in this spot for a while if it wasn't for the class bell ringing, indicating the blonde's swift need to get to class. Genos wasn't too worried about being late, but sometimes it was good to be on time. Pissed the professors off less. After collecting his notebook and shuffling it into his messenger bag, the undergraduate pushed himself up off the grass with much effort, using the tree trunk as support. "Damn legs never wanna work with me."
The hustle back to the more populated area of the campus was one he was used to. Rushing between periods, running to get to class after lunch break, college life was a routine. As "fun and exciting" as people made it out to be it was more like "half-assed punctuality and hoping to God you had enough change in your pocket for a snack, cause that's all you're gonna eat for 12 hours."
Genos turned the corner, bumping into someone like a cliché anime. It was some shorter male with brown hair and round glasses. "Oh shit, I'm sorry." Genos muttered out first, still standing and unaffected. He was too big to be pushed down by a simple bump. The other person was on the ground though, books everywhere.
"Oh, don't worry about it!" a young man chirped. He shifted to his knees to pick up his papers and Genos collected his books for him, joint action speeding up their recovery. Genos smiled lazily and handed them back to the shorter, blinking a few times. "That sure was an exciting interaction. Are you sure you're good, Mr. Glasses?" His heart beat just a little quicker from the sudden excitement. Maybe. That could have been his imagination.
The boy laughed softly at the nickname and took his belongings graciously, double checking to make sure it was all there. "Yeah, I'm sure, thanks. You can call me Mumen instead of Mr. Glasses though. Mr. Glasses sounds... too formal." His smile lit up Genos's mood more than it already shined.
"Mumen sounds weird, I like it. My name is Genos, and I gotta scram, but hey!" He shuffled into his bag and ripped out a piece of paper, twirling the pen around his fingertips until finally popping the cap off and scribbling down info. "I'd like to see you again, Mumen. I'm going to a thing tonight at 9 if you wanna pop in." Genos handed him the piece of paper which held his name, a dorm room number, the time, and a little "You should come!" incentive. It had a smiley face next to it that was adorable.
Mumen looked at it and laughed again at the blonde's antics, slipping the paper into the folds of one of the many pages in his books. "That sounds cool, I'll see if I can stop by. We both gotta go though, so I'll see you later. Nice to meet you!" He waved goodbye and returned to a quick jog towards the law building. Genos watched him run off before remembering he also had somewhere to be, and he started towards it.
-
About two minutes later he arrived, five minutes late. People looked at him as he walked in but the teacher never stopped talking, the lecture pressing on like Genos didn't exist. He preferred it that way.
The blonde scooted to a seat and got out his three notebooks. The red one that looked like lava was for notes. On the inside cover read, "The color red helps the brain focus. That's why important information is marked in red. Examples are warning labels, stop signs, etc."
He always thought little things like that were amazing. He liked the idea of the world working all under the subconscious. Technically it did, so life was never truly a mystery, but always just a planned mystery.
The blue notebook had drawn on waves. The inside cover read, "The color blue helps our brains relax. The cool color helps our brain to recognize a sense of safety." This one was for reminders about things he had to do. Homework, tests, taking out the trash, everything.
The third notebook was the little blue one with the bird on it, but he already messed with that one.
The lecture went on for a long time before finally he gave them homework. Genos thanked the gods silently that it was over too, he was super tired. Keeping his eyes open for that long was a challenge, if not nearly impossible. He kept feeling himself nodding off a few times somewhere in the middle, but the guy sitting next to him jabbed his ribs a few times. Genos wrote down to thank him later.
People began to file out of the class at their own pace, as did the blonde boy. He was falling asleep while standing up but luckily that guy gave him one more jab for safe measure.
He laughed quietly and thanked the guy, thinking about finding him again and inviting him to that "thing" tonight.
In his dazed stupor, Genos left his small notebook on the table and wobbled out of the room. "...math now..." he yawned, passing people by and saying hello to everyone who said hi to him, which was a lot.
He only vaguely heard a person calling out his name.