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Basketball practice didn’t end just because it was Golden Week. In fact many of the sports teams had gone on training trips to cabins or campsites, leaving the school property to the art and music and other clubs. The basketball team had the locker room entirely to themselves for the first time in Saitama’s three years here.
He hadn’t thought to bring a change of clothes, but his uniform was soaked with sweat after practice. May was still chilly, running to school in his tracksuit hadn’t been a problem, but a gym full of teenage boys throwing balls at each other got warm.
So it was commando under a tracksuit that a freshly-showered Saitama left the gym, preparing for a slightly uncomfortable run home.
Even during the week-long holiday there was plenty going on. You couldn’t find the school empty until the staff started kicking people out at nightfall. Saitama didn’t look twice at anybody he passed – all the classmates he cared about were back in the gym or on vacation – until an arm blocked him at the school gate.
“What-” He was ready to be outraged, until he recognized the eyes staring him down. “Genos! Geez, you scared me.”
“I called out to you several times, sempai. If you started running I wouldn’t have been able to catch you.”
“Sorry, sorry. I guess I was thinking about other stuff.” Classes starting up again, the game next week, the empty house he’d be running back to…
Genos’ eyes, an absolutely ridiculous shade of light brown that looked like caramel in the afternoon light, warmed as he smiled.
“You uh, you got back early.”
“Yes sempai, just now. I came straight here.”
“You did? How come?”
Genos tilted his head, as if the question didn’t make sense. “I knew you’d be getting done with practice.”
“Oh.” It was starting to get hot out here too. “You wanna… walk me home? Or vice versa?”
“Do you want to come to my place, sempai? I have souvenirs.”
“Uh…” Would it be weird if Saitama didn’t take his jacket off? Would it be weirder if he said no? “Okay. Sure, yeah.”
Genos lived alone, but unlike Saitama it was intentional. His foster dad, Kuseno, was working at a lab in the middle of nowhere, and he’d arranged for Genos to live in an apartment while he went to school. They were still close, they’d just gone on vacation together and everything, and Saitama had spoken to him on the phone once. He seemed nice enough.
Thinking about it made Saitama’s head hurt. That Genos could be, on paper, in the same situation as him, but for him it was a good thing. It was the best possible solution, it was something that made him happy, it-
Genos reached out and brushed his hand. “Sempai?”
Saitama had only told Genos about the way he lived two weeks ago. It sort of slipped out at an extremely fumbled attempt to tell Genos something else entirely. And in exchange, Genos told him his biggest secret.
And now it had been two weeks since they were alone together.
“Sorry,” Saitama said. “I’m a little out of it today. But I want to come over, I want to hang out. Let’s go.”
The walk was a short one, the convenience of cash, and though the apartment was small it was more than enough space for one teenager. Genos had left the windows open to air out, a little wind chime tinkling gently as they came in the door. A box of oranges sat on the table, another smaller box wrapped in gift paper next to it, and a few more tiny ones in a pile.
Genos immediately handed Saitama the biggest box. “For you.”
Saitama chuckled. “Your friends will be mad if they find out you gave me more.”
Genos shook his head. “They know.”
“That I get special treatment?”
“Well…” Genos shrugged one shoulder. “You’re… a different case.”
This had been hanging between them almost since the moment they met. Genos never thought of Saitama as just another friend. And Saitama meant to, but… it didn’t work out that way.
He opened his present as Genos ate an orange, and wasn’t surprised at all to find a gift set of chinsuko pastries, the local specialty. “Oh, thanks!”
Saitama looked up to find Genos blushing. “They- they had different flavors, but I got you the honey ginger. Because I know you like it.”
“I do.”
He ate a couple, and drank the tea Genos made, and talked about basketball while Genos pretended he cared. When Genos seemed to have recovered from the embarrassment of admitting he remembered Saitama’s favorite flavor, Saitama asked how the vacation had gone.
“Great! We saw so many historical sights. Temples, and castles, and museums and the aquarium. Look.” Genos pulled out his phone and started flipping through pictures of fish.
“Wow. Cool. Did you go to the beach?”
Genos hesitated, flipping past a few more living fish to some dead ones. “There was a market.”
“On the beach?”
“The- the fishing port.”
Saitama blinked. “You went to Okinawa but didn’t go to the beach?”
“Well, I… I don’t care about the beach, very much.”
“'Cause you’d sunburn?”
Genos dropped his head. “I don’t like to… I can’t take off my shirt. Remember?”
“Well yeah but you could wear a t-shirt or a tank top or whatever.” Saitama hesitated. He was being insensitive, wasn’t he? “It- it bothers you. Is that it? Because the other guys…”
Genos nodded.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be!” he said quickly. “It shouldn’t be a big deal. Plenty of guys wear shirts at the beach. And I’m pale, you’re right, I burn easily. Probably no one would notice. But I worry.”
“It’s fine! I’m dumb, I should have noticed you- I mean, you’re allowed to not do things if you don’t want to.”
Genos shook his head again, but he was smiling. “You’re not dumb, sempai.”
“Show me other stuff? Like the castles.”
He did. Ruins and less-ruined ones, and the temples and museums as well. To Saitama it looked like a school trip, all education and not so much fun, but Genos enthused about all of it.
It was official, Saitama was in love with a nerd.
Somehow an hour passed, the sun beginning to set and the spring chill setting in. The wind chimes went from jingling to jangling as the wind picked up, and Saitama found himself shivering.
“Sempai! You should have said you were cold!” Genos jumped to his feet.
“It’s okay! Just the breeze.” Saitama followed him as he closed all the windows. “If you’re hot, you can leave it.”
Genos reached the small balcony, and Saitama took his hand as he started to shut the doors.
“Genos, come on. You don’t have to worry so much about playing host.”
Genos blushed again. “I- I want you to be comfortable.”
“I am. If I was cold I would tell you.” The breeze blew Genos’ bangs into his eyes, and Saitama reached up to brush them away.
This was not friendship. This kind of thing, this small delicate gesture, was so much more than Saitama would do for a normal guy friend. He’d never show so much of his fear and loneliness to his classmates, he’d never be so worried about what they thought of him, he’d never he stressing out about his lack of underwear in their houses.
“Sempai,” Genos said softly.
Saitama pulled his hand away. “Can I ask you something?”
“Yes?”
“I don’t- I don’t want to say the wrong thing. But I’ve been wondering. What was… How did you figure out, you know? You were a guy?”
Genos blinked.
“I- I mean, it wasn’t until only a few years ago, right? How did you…”
Genos pulled back a step. “Is this relevant to anything, sempai?”
“Kinda,” Saitama mumbled.
He stepped out onto the balcony, leaning on the rail and staring up at the sky. Saitama followed.
“I’m not trying to be offensive? I know I probably am, but-”
“No, you’re not really, sempai, I expected something like this since I told you.” Genos didn’t look at him. “It’s like… the sky.”
“Huh?”
He waved at it. “People tell you, your whole life, that the sky is blue. And you can look and see that it’s blue.” Genos took a slow breath. “And you don’t even know why that sounds wrong! Because there it is! Blue!”
“But it’s not,” Saitama said. Genos glanced at him, and Saitama looked down at his feet. “You- you look one day and it’s sort of… orangey-pink. And you wonder why you never noticed before.”
Genos was quiet, for a long time. Saitama didn’t dare meet his eyes until he saw Genos’ slippers step up, toe-to-toe with his.
“Sempai, what are you questioning?”
Caramel eyes looked at him with nothing but affection and concern. “I think I’m kinda gay. For you.”
To his surprise, Genos let out a bark of laughter. “Really?”
“I know it’s not as big a deal as gender, but-”
“No, no, it’s fine! It’s still something,” he laughed again. “I’m sorry sempai. I was worried I- Well, I still would have done it, but I don’t want to have to be your information source and- and support system, and-”
“I wouldn’t throw all that on you!” Saitama protested. “I’ve been reading! I’m not sure if I’m bi or pan or demi. But I don’t think I’m straight. I like girls, I know I like girls, that’s why I didn’t think… I guess I never realized there was a whole range? You know? I thought if I liked girls I couldn’t like guys. But.” Saitama shrugged helplessly. “Here I am.”
“Okay,” Genos smiled. “And you like me?”
“Yeah. A lot.”
“Me too.” Genos leaned in, and there under the orangey-pink sunset, Saitama kissed him.
He tasted like the citrus he’d been eating, and the lingering honey and ginger of the pastries mixed well with it. Saitama’s hands found his waist, tilted his head to keep the kiss going, ignored it when Genos stepped on his toe.
“Sorry.”
“S'okay.” Saitama moved in for another kiss, but Genos stepped back.
“You should move in with me,” he blurted.
Saitama started to say yes, until the words sunk in. “What?”
“You hate living with your dad! And you’re eighteen now, so you could move out whenever you want if you still go to school.”
“Wh- Okay, yeah, technically, but-”
“I talked to Kuseno about it and he says it’s okay! You being here won’t add that much to the bills.”
“Genos, seriously, what? I just told you I liked you and you’re asking me to move in?”
“The timing is bad, I admit,” Genos said. “But I’ve been thinking about it since you told me how you’re always alone, and- and all that stuff about your dad not talking to you, and-”
“Yeah okay,” Saitama said quickly. “But won’t it be… weird?”
“Is weird worse than going back there?”
Saitama took Genos’ hand. It was smaller than his, but the fingers were longer, and it felt like they fit perfectly together. “I- I’ll get a job. I’ll pay rent.”
“You don’t have to. What about basketball?”
“I can do both.”
“And get into college?”
“That wasn’t gonna happen anyway.”
“Sempai-”
Saitama squeezed his hand. “I can put it off a couple years and do cram school. Then we could go together.”
Genos beamed. “That sounds nice.”
“Can we kiss some more and then go help me pack?”
“Absolutely.”