Entangled Timelines: A Steins;gate fanfic 18+
The fluorescent lights of the lab buzzed faintly, casting a cool glow over the cluttered tables and humming machinery. Rintarou Okabe—Okarin, as he called himself—stood by the D-Mail terminal, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. His brow was furrowed, eyes darting across the screen as if willing the data to make sense. The failed experiment had left him restless, the weight of yet another dead end pressing against his chest.
“Dammit...” he muttered under his breath, tugging at his hair in frustration. “This has to be it! There’s no way this timeline is just another fluke!”
Behind him, the door creaked open. He didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. The sharp click of heels on the floor, the faint hum of her lab coat brushing against itself—it could only be Kurisu Makise. She had that way of appearing out of nowhere, as if she existed purely to correct his mistakes.
“You’re still here?” Her voice cut through the silence like a scalpel, precise and unapologetic. “I thought you’d have given up by now.”
He glanced over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow. “Still here? What kind of mad scientist would I be if I gave up after one failure? Besides, you’re the one always lurking around my lab at odd hours. If anyone should leave, it’s you.”
Kurisu crossed her arms, leaning against the doorframe with an exasperated sigh. “Your lab? Hardly. This is where all your half-baked ideas go to die. And don’t think I haven’t noticed how many of them involve meddling with time. Honestly, Okabe, do you even understand the consequences of what you’re doing?”
Her words hit harder than she intended, and he felt the edge of defensiveness rise in his chest. “Consequences? You think I don’t know what I’m doing? Every step I take, every decision, it’s all calculated. I’m not just screwing around because I think time travel looks cool, you know.”
She pushed off the doorframe, stepping closer, her expression softening just enough for him to notice. “Then tell me, Okabe. What are you really trying to accomplish? Is it worth risking everything we’ve built here?”
Her proximity sent a jolt through him, something electric and unnerving. He swallowed hard, forcing himself to focus on the conversation rather than the way her scent—something clean and slightly medicinal—filled his senses. “Everything we’ve built? We’re still standing on shaky ground, Kurisu. Do you really think this timeline is stable? That we can just sit back and pretend nothing’s wrong?”
Kurisu’s lips pressed into a thin line, her gaze flickering to the D-Mail terminal before meeting his again. Something in her eyes shifted, a flicker of vulnerability that he rarely saw. “Maybe not,” she admitted finally, her voice softer than before. “But that doesn’t mean blindly pushing forward is the answer. You’re not invincible, Okabe. Even mad scientists break eventually.”
Her words felt heavier than they should, landing like stones in his gut. He couldn’t shake the image of her standing there, so close, so real, and yet somehow fleeting. Like she might slip away into another timeline if he blinked too long.
“And what about you?” he shot back, more sharply than he intended. “Are you just going to stand there, watching me crash and burn? Or are you going to help me fix this before it’s too late?”
For a moment, she said nothing. Her lips parted as if to respond, but instead, she took another step forward, her hand reaching out to brush against his arm. It wasn’t until her fingers curled around his wrist that he realized how much tension had been building between them.
What the hell is she doing? His mind raced, but his body betrayed him, leaning toward her without permission. Their eyes locked, and for once, the usual spark of intellectual rivalry was gone, replaced by something far more unsettling.
“Stop asking questions you already know the answers to,” she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. “If you really want to fix this, then maybe... maybe we both need to stop pretending.”
Her words hung in the air, heavy and charged. He could feel the heat of her touch spreading up his arm, mingling with the frantic beat of his heart. For once, he couldn’t find the words to argue. All he could do was stare at her, at the way her lips curved into a subtle smile, at the way her cheeks flushed ever so slightly.
“Pretending...” he repeated dumbly, his voice cracking.
Before he could say anything else, her other hand came up to cup his face, her thumb brushing against his cheekbone. The motion was deliberate, intimate, and it sent a shiver down his spine.
“Yes,” she whispered, her voice dripping with meaning. “Pretending that we’re just colleagues. Pretending that the lines between us aren’t blurring. Pretending that this...” She gestured vaguely between them, her eyes never leaving his. “...doesn’t matter.”
Her fingers tightened around his wrist, pulling him closer until their bodies were nearly touching. The space between them felt impossibly small, filled with the hum of the lab’s machines and the quiet desperation of two people teetering on the edge of something they couldn’t quite name.
“Kurisu...” His voice was hoarse, his resolve crumbling under the weight of her gaze. “What are you saying?”
She leaned in, her lips grazing his ear as she spoke, each word sending a jolt of electricity through him. “That maybe... just maybe... it’s time we stopped pretending.”
Her breath against his skin was intoxicating, igniting a fire he hadn’t known was dormant. He closed the distance between them, his lips crashing into hers with a force that surprised even him. The kiss was desperate, chaotic, fueled by the tension that had been simmering between them for far too long.
Kurisu responded instantly, her hands sliding up to tangle in his hair, pulling him closer. Her kiss was fierce, demanding, and it left no room for doubt. This was no fleeting moment, no stolen touch in the shadows. This was real, raw, and undeniably consuming.
He groaned into her mouth, his hands finding their way to her waist, gripping her tightly as if afraid she might vanish if he let go. The lab’s fluorescent lights blurred around the edges, reduced to little more than a backdrop as they lost themselves in each other.
Kurisu broke the kiss first, pulling back just enough to catch her breath, her eyes smoldering with an intensity that left him breathless. “See?” she murmured, her voice teasing but laced with something deeper. “Even mad scientists have appetites.”
He stared at her, his chest heaving as he tried to piece together the whirlwind of emotions coursing through him. Before he could form a coherent response, she pulled him closer again, her lips finding his once more.
And as the lab’s machinery hummed in the background, Okabe found himself wondering if this was the moment that would define their timelines—a single choice that could rewrite everything.