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Chrome couldn’t hold himself back anymore. He had to do this now. He would never forgive himself if he watched that rocket go up without saying it. They were going to petrify any second now for the launch.
Chrome knew he might get backlash for this. He knew there was risk of Xeno telling him that he's compromising the mission. What he was about to say wasn't going to be something that Senku could just ignore.
Chrome reached over Xeno before he could talk himself out of it, startling Xeno at the sudden closeness of Chrome. Chrome's hand held the base of the mic as he leaned into it. He took a deep breath, not having enough time to keep calm about this. "Senku!" He yelled into it. He cringed at his own loudness and could only cringe at what it probably sounded like coming through the speakers in the rocket and bouncing off the aluminum.
"Chrome?" Senku's voice came through after a moment sounding confused. His name came through crackly and Chrome wasn't sure if it was the sound quality or the man himself.
"Senku, I can't let you go up there without telling you something I should have told you years ago. Senku, I'm in love with you!" Chrome yelled. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Xeno taking a step away, most likely to stand back away from the yelling.
The room around him fell dead silent except for the hum of the computers around the room. No one dared to say anything. This moment had already been tense with them preparing for the launch and Chrome went and dropped a bombshell on the scientist.
Chrome felt like he couldn't breath while he waited for Senku to say something. Anything would have been better than the nothing that had fallowed for the next thirty seconds.
"Chrome," Senku's voice cracked again as he finally said something. "you're doing this now, when I can't come down there?" Senku finished, sounding distressed. "You couldn't have done this after?"
"I had to tell you before you went all the way up there. I never would have forgiven myself if…" Chrome trailed off, but he knew Senku understood the implication.
"Chrome, I," Senku felt like for the first time in his life he was struggling with what to say. "Chrome, you better be right there when I get back. You better be the first person I see after this stunt you've pulled."
"You can count on it." Chrome said determined, as he finally took a step back allowing Xeno to stop back up to his station. He could feel multiple sets of eyes on him but he couldn't allow himself to make eye contact with any of them. He knew what he did was probably stupid, but he wasn't going to take it back.
"Well that was unexpected. Are you going to be okay, Senku?" Xeno asked, glancing back at Chrome. Chrome felt himself flush in embarrassment, knowing Xeno was definitely holding back from saying something to him about his outburst.
"Yes. Mission is still go." Senku responded instantly. Senku took an audible deep breath to steady himself before speaking again. "Chrome? I'll see you when we land." Another moment of silence before Senku spoke again. "Everyone is in place and ready for petrification."
The comms from the rocket went dead silent after the petrification beam went through. It still felt weird even after all these years that the beam had been used for both good and evil. Over the years, petrification had been kept many of his friends alive. Had even brought some of them back from death. He would probably never get used to it.
Nothing was scarier to Chrome than the moments where communication was down. Suika stayed close to his side, offering comforting words as she watched Chrome practically vibrating from the nerves.
Chrome and Suika had always been close, but they'd grown especially close ever since they teamed up to learn from Sai to make the two way rocket. He had never explicitly told her that he had been in love with Senku since even before Treasure Island but he suspected that she knew anyways.
The entire Why-Man experience was a nerve wracking nightmare. There had been an entire period of time where he didn't know what Senku was saying, what Why-Man was doing.
Chrome was terrified. Terrified that Senku wouldn't come home. Terrified that something was happening to him and there was no way for him to even know because according to Stanley and Kohaku, the why-mans had him completely surrounded and were blocking communications.
Chrome wished it was him up there and Senku on the ground. Not because he wanted the experience, or to take the glory for himself. No. He wanted Senku safe on the earth where he would know that Senku was safe. There were moments Chrome couldn't feel like he could breath, but he wouldn't allow anyone to make him take a step back to calm down.
At one point Suika had tried to make him leave the room for even just a minute but Chrome refused to even take a step away from his station. She felt him tugging on his arm, the way that she would pull him away from a math equation when it was getting on his nerves. She would tell him to walk away so he could come back with a fresh set of eyes. It wasn't going to work this time.
"I'm not leaving this spot until it's time to board the boat and go pick them up." Chrome had told her without even taking his eyes off the main board at the front of the room.
"Then I'm not leaving your side until then." Suika said with the confidence of someone who meant it. And she didn't. She stood by his side the entire time, squeezing his hand when they finally heard from Senku again and the announced they were going to head back to the rocket to come home.
The second the return pod hit the water and the crew checked in, Chrome took off running out of the building. He waited impatiently, bouncing on the heels of his feet as he waited for everyone else to catch up. He could see the landing pod out in the distance, He watched the hatch to the pod open and as Senku's distinct hair appeared.
Chrome cupped his hands around his mouth and leaned against the railing before yelling, "Senku!" He watched as Senku's hair turned towards the direction of land. Senku didn't yell back, but he needed Senku to know he was keeping his word.
Chrome could feel his entire body vibrating as he watched them bring the pod aboard the ship. He didn't know if it was from excitement or from nerves. Senku never really gave him an answer. He hadn't even really gave him a true sign on whether he felt the same way. So in a way, Chrome was scared. Scared that Senku was going to let him down easy. That he was going tell him that he wasn't interested in a relationship just as Senku had always said he didn't have time for one.
Chrome stood a safe distance from the pod but as close as he could while giving the four of them the space to exit the pod. Senku came out first and for a split moment he wondered if the rest of the crew had given him the space to. Senku was here. He was safe.
The second Senku made eye contact with Chrome he dropped the helmet and sprinted. He crashed into Chrome knocking them both off of their feet. Chrome landed with an grunt as he took most of the fall which also included Senku being half on top of him.
"I can't believe you would do that right before launch. How long?" Senku asked. His face was hovering over Chrome's. Chrome was momentarily starstruck by his beauty. "Chrome, how long" Senku repeated when he didn't respond.
"Since before Treasure Island?" Chrome hadn't meant to say it like a question. He watched the gears turn in Senku's head as he processed the information, like he was doing the mental math of just how long ago that was at this point.
"Chrome that was so long ago. You really kept that to yourself for that long?" Senku sounded baffled, a little offended to be quite honest. "Not accounting for the latest petrification, that is six conscious years of keeping that to yourself. Chrome that's not even close to being efficient."
"You always said you didn't have time for relationships, that you weren't even interested in them. With that information, why would I have risked what we already had?" Chrome asked. "Senku, there was zero implication that you would ever consider a relationship, let alone one with me."
Senku didn't respond and Chrome had a feeling it was because he for once didn't know what to say because Chrome wasn't exactly wrong. Senku finally pulled back and allowed Chrome to stand, who then in turn held out his hand to help Senku up.
"Chrome, I've been in love with you ever since I told you that you could trust me with your life. That was when we were creating the antibiotic. That was within the first year we knew each other." Senku said.
Chrome laughed, he didn't know what else to do that moment "We're both idiots then, because that's when I started falling for you."
"Ten billion percent ridiculous of us." Senku said. "Let's go handle debrief and then we can talk more."
Senku held his hand out to his side, offering it to Chrome. Chrome only hesitated for a moment before lacing his fingers with Senku's and they finally joined the rest of the crew at the other end of the ship where everyone had clearly moved to in order to give the two of them space.
Chrome didn't have many regrets, and he was glad he didn't let this become one of them.