Chapter Text
"Sensei?"
No response. The voice was low enough that it could still be ignored. Not for long, though.
"Sensei!"
He squirmed a little below the covers, trying to sink back into the bliss of sleep and the pleasant warmth of his favourite blanket. The voice was insistent and he knew from past experience that there was little hope in trying to resist it for long, but if he could enjoy his rest just a little longer, please, just this morning...
"Sensei, breakfast is ready! Now!"
"Goway" he murmured eloquently, barely hearing the low amused snort beside his futon. He did however hear the considerably louder "why don't you make me, Sensei". The challenging tone was enough to force one of his eyes open to attempt to glare at the far-too-energetic cyborg sitting seiza beside his futon. Where the hell did the kid get all his energy from this early in the morning? If he knew Genos, and he did, he'd probably already been up long enough to already do whatever chores he thought he was supposed to do around the apartment before he even started breakfast, too.
His (not very successful) glare was met with something that was dangerously close to a smirk and a loud "Good morning!"
The fight had, sadly, been lost. At the very least, Saitama could admit his defeat. Yawning widely, he sat up slowly to scratch his eyes, willing his mind to kick back into gear. The steaming food on the table before him certainly helped as the aroma wafted through the tiny apartment, as did the steaming cup of tea waiting for him. His early bird of a disciple had really found a knack in this whole cooking business. Seemed to enjoy it, too. It was good to see him focus on something other than that quest of his sometimes. It kind of worried Saitama just how stressed out he would get about that whole revenge thing. He was just... so young and reckless and full of anger a lot of the time. It could land him in a bad place. Often did, too.
"So what's on the agenda for today?" Saitama said with a lazy stretch, ignoring the way Genos kept his gaze locked at him, unblinking. It was a little creepy, but he was pretty used to it at this point.
"There's a S-class meeting tonight, nothing you need to be concerned with. There are also two time sales today, regrettably at very close times but in different cities."
"Hrm."
"We could split up?"
"Which stores were it again?"
"U-mart and Sweet Savings. The first starts at 11:00 and the other at 11:10."
"Eh, let's go to U-mart. Their deals are always better than Savings' and two pairs of arms are better than one to carry everything we need."
"As always you are wise, Sensei."
"It's still too early for me to deal with you buttering me up" Saitama complained, grabbing another piece of toast and attempting to give the other one A Look. The Look was unfortunately all but ignored, but at least Genos refilled his tea, so there was that. They finished the meal in companionable silence before heading out to catch the train to U-city.
---
"Seriously?" Saitama exclaimed, shoulders slumping.
"Yesss! Run little mortals, feed the fear, the panic, feed it to unfathomable levels and then give it all to me!"
"We should have gone to Sweet Savings" Genos agreed as he took a ready stance, incinerators heating up with a low whine. "Shall I handle it?"
"Yeah, sure" Saitama sighed as he stuck his hands inside his hoodie pocket. He could feel the coupons crinkling between his fingers. Go figure that there would be a monster right here, right now. He'd even started to get excited at the thought of the sale they were going to!
Brows furrowed in annoyance, he watched quietly as Genos ran towards the offender. He was wearing his good ol' household arms rather than his fancy combat set, but he could still pack a good punch.
The monster looked pretty much like a woman. Well, like a mix of woman and bat, more like. She wore what looked like a leather outfit (certainly impractical this time of year, must be cold) and was that a pair of leathery wings on her back too, or just part of her outfit? Hard to say, but either way they appeared to be more for decoration than for actual flight. She wore a bunch of of gaudy jewelry, necklaces and bracelets that jingled with every movement she made. She reminded Saitama of some sort of exaggerated fashionista, or maybe a TV celebrity gone very wrong. Her face could have been beautiful, she had long wavy brown hair and smooth skin, but the look was rather ruined by the small beady black eyes and large mouth with long protruding fangs.
"What are you even supposed to be?" Saitama said to no one in particular but the bat-thing ignored him to run after the fleeing morning shoppers with a joyful shriek. She laughed at their fear and seemed to grow stronger by it, somehow, cackling and spreading her arms wide.
"Yes! Feed me with your feelings, your joy, your fear, your anger!" she screamed, throwing her head to the sky. Her fangs glistened in the sun as she laughed.
"Hey, guano-girl."
She turned her head, snarling, and was met with a blast of fire from Genos' incinerators, causing her to jump back, shielding her face with her arms. Well, at least she wouldn't be cold any more in that outfit.
Fire-proof? What a shame. As the burst ended, she still looked mostly unhurt, though there was a faint tang of burnt leather in the air. With a snarl she threw herself at Genos, cackling wildly. "Oh, you are perfect! Perfect! So full of rage, of hate, of pain! I can feel it flowing through every part of you!"
Genos jumped back as she leaped but he'd been too close and not prepared for her to actually launch herself at him for some hand-to-hand-combat. Saitama couldn't blame him, she hadn't looked like the type of monster that would like to grapple directly with a hero.
Long-fingered hands with perfectly manicured red-painted talons grabbed metal arms as they fought. Genos kicked, punched, threw himself from side to side in fruitless attempts to get her off him. She was nothing if not stubborn, latching on like a tick, all the while laughing madly. She was tenacious, he'd have to give her that. She was rambling too, though neither of them paid that much attention. Most monster monologues made little sense anyway. Something about wanting so bad to be the center of attention or whatever it was.
"Get off me!" Genos snarled as she shifted so that they were face-to-face, only inches apart. She responded by grabbing him by the cheeks, talons digging into the synthetic skin right where it met the black material below his ears.
"Oh yes" she purred at his exasperation. "Let it grow, feed those potent feelings inside you. Never would I have thought someone so artificial, so synthetic, could be filled with so much!"
"That's rude" Saitama observed, getting ready to step in, in case his disciple required assistance. He took a step forward only to stop abruptly again, staring in surprise as the bat-girl suddenly seemed to tense all over just as Genos suddenly stilled, all fight suddenly gone from him. His arms were slowly lowered to hang limply by his sides and he seemed to just stare quietly at the monster still holding on to his face, not fighting back or really doing much of anything. She on the other hand seemed to grow again. Not in size, exactly, but it was as if her aura was expanding, like the very air around her fizzled and she cackled again, spouting more nonsense about "potent feelings" and "raging passions" before leaning close, close to his face, almost purring in delight. "You should thank me, boy, this is what you've wanted for so long, isn't it?"
"Genos?" Saitama called uncertainly. No reply. That's decided, then. He half-walked, half-ran up to the monster, grabbing her by the back of her head and delivering a solid punch to her beady-eyed face. He put a little extra in it for Genos's sake, grimacing as she all but exploded around them. He hadn't been in his hero outfit, which meant his hand was covered in dripping pieces of... monster bits. As was the rest of him. And his disciple. And a good portion of the street they were standing on. Eugh.
"Genos?" he asked carefully, and then again a bit louder when he got no response. "You okay, man?"
The other just blinked at him but said nothing. When they had stood there for several seconds and still nothing had been said or done, Saitama simply grabbed the other's arm and tugged him along. "Let's go home. We're done here." Genos didn't argue, allowing himself to be pulled along.
Saitama ignored the people around them. Some of them looked as lost as Genos did, others were pointing fingers and talking amongst themselves. "Is that Demon Cyborg? Did he kill her? Who's that other guy?"
Genos followed him like a lost child, still not saying anything. He just looked around himself with wide eyes as if he had no idea where he was, dripping monster blood all the way. He was acting odd, that much was clear, but they'd worry about it when they got home.
---
They were home, and they were worrying about it. Or rather, Saitama was worrying. Genos, it appeared, was not. He was sitting idly watching TV, but only because that's where Saitama had placed him after he got too unnerved by the sight of him just standing quietly and unmoving in the hallway after they got back home.
After watching the other staring almost unblinking at the screen for several moments, he sighed and went to the bathroom to take a shower. Maybe Genos just got... spooked or something. Even though he'd never see him get fazed by anything. Well, there was a first time for everything, right? Maybe he really didn't like bats?
He worked hard to scrub himself clean in the shower. You never really got over being covered in monster guts and he wrinkled his nose at the discoloured water around his feet. Gross. Hopefully he'd be able to get his shirt clean, he really liked that hoodie... He'd already had to throw out the coupons, they had been dripping with purple-tinted blood.
Stepping out of the shower, towel around his waist, he shouted for Genos to take his turn. At the call of his name, the cyborg turned his head, but he just continued to look at Saitama with those dull eyes. He was getting pretty damn tired of all the staring. He was used to the kid doing that, but this felt different, somehow.
"You're gonna get in or not?" Saitama asked the other, half annoyed and half worried. "You'll get get blood on the floor if you don't get cleaned up."
"Yes" came the reply and Genos stood slowly, almost swaying as he walked into the bathroom.
Saitama didn't go into the kitchenette until he heard the comforting sound of water running again, just to be sure the other was actually going to shower and not just stand there in the bathroom or something.
When it was Genos' turn to step out again, Saitama had changed into comfortable clothes and was frying up some late lunch for them. It was a shame about the sale - he'd looked forward to that produce - but there was enough left in the fridge to keep them fed through the day, at least. They'd probably have to get out tomorrow, though. Stupid bat-thing.
He listened to the news report on the TV while Genos clunked around the apartment looking for a clean outfit for himself. There was no mention of the monster they'd fought. Well, it had been over quickly and there hadn't really been any injuries to speak of so there wasn't really much to say about it, he supposed.
Saitama emerged in the other room, bowls and chopsticks in hand to find the other sitting on the floor, looking at nothing in particular.
"Hungry?" Saitama said, offering Genos his bowl. The other thanked him in a low voice but didn't begin to eat until Saitama reminded him to.
"What happened to you?"
"Hm?"
"When she... grabbed your face. Whatever she did."
"Ah." A long pause. "I'm... not sure. I'm not detecting any damage done to my body beyond a few scratches on my neck."
"So you're fine?"
"It appears so."
Well, whatever then. They finished their meal without saying anything else, the TV filling in the silence.
Most of the afternoon was spent in the same manner until Genos got up to leave for his meeting. Saitama waved him off, suggesting that maybe he could pick up something for dinner on his way back.
He spent the time on his own reading. It was usually nice to get some alone time; he and Genos spent so much time together that it wasn't often that he could really sit and read in silence like this any more. Not that he minded, really, it was surprisingly nice to have a room mate most of the time, but still.
The novelty slowly began to wear off as the hours passed. When the clock struck 19:00 and Genos still hadn't come back, Saitama found himself standing on the balcony, surveying the dark streets below. It was a bit chilly, but he hoped to maybe be able to see those glowing eyes down there. Genos must be on his way now, surely. Unless there'd been a monster attack. Well, that was certainly not impossible. It wouldn't be the first time Genos got distracted on his way back home.
With a sigh, he walked back into the apartment and prepared some quick noodles for himself, eating while standing in the kitchen. Dull. This was dull as all get out, reminding him of when he lived alone. With a shiver, he recalled how almost every night was once spent like this, in silence, save the TV sometimes. It hadn't seemed so bad back then, but things were different now, now that he had something to compare it to.
It was well past 20:00 when Genos clunked into the hallway. He looked... well, not tired exactly - he almost never did, not physically anyway - but his eyes were dim and he held his head low. It took a good deal of convincing him to eat the rest of the noodles and he spent the rest of the evening in silence, all the way until it was time to move the furniture aside and pull out their futons. Saitama gave him space, hoping that he was just tired after a long meeting and that he'd be back to his usual self after a night's rest.