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Saitama doesn’t often have inexplicable needs, but now he feels like he really needs to do something about this want. The urge to hold Genos’ hand is far too strong to just ignore.
They’re sitting on a park bench, watching the area for any monster activity, letting the people around them go about their business. Nothing seems to be happening and Saitama is also fairly bored, though he keeps a close eye on Genos. He looks down at Genos’ hand with a side glance, thinking how nice it would be to just hold his hand for once. Nothing should stop him here, right? Just the two of them on a park bench, waiting, with little to do.
Slowly, he starts inching his hand toward Genos’ idle hand resting on the bench, little by little, until their hands are almost touching. He so badly wants to intertwine their palms together, just to hold Genos’ hand for a small moment and then he would stop. But right as he’s about to do so, a phone in Genos’ pocket rings and he stands up straight, away from his reach.
“Hello? This is Genos. What is the situation? You need me in H-city? I’m on my way,” Genos succinctly talks.
“Sensei, there is a monster situation in H-city the Association wants me to handle, I will go and clear them out right away,” Genos states to Saitama and quickly jumps off to head into that city.
Saitama watches him go, a crestfallen look on his face. Why did the universe hate him so? He just wanted to initiate the tiniest bit of intimacy with his disciple. But the poor timing of the Hero Association ruined everything, god damnit!
Next time he would just go with Genos to take care of the situation himself.
“So what do we need from the store again? Tofu, napa cabbage, beef, kombu…” Saitama lists each ingredient and counts them with his hands.
“Some shiitake mushrooms, carrots and udon noodles, sensei. Rest we already have,” Genos helpfully supplies.
Saitama nods. “This store should have most of them on sale.” Saitama grabs a couple coupon leaflets from his hoodie’s large pocket. “The only thing not on sale in this store is beef, but we can get that later.”
“Understood, sensei.”
Saitama looks at Genos’ hand for a moment, then decides that this may not be the time and place to try and interlink their hands yet because Genos needs both of them for shopping.
They mill around the store, looking for produce and all the things they need, pay for it and make their way back outside to the sunny air. Saitama decides then and there that now is his chance to hold Genos’ left hand on their way home. He sneakily starts to reach for Genos’ hand—
“Sensei, I have looked up online that there is a sale going on in another city where we can find beef. I will go fetch some for us immediately and rendezvous with you back at home.”
“Wait—”
Too late. Genos is gone with half of the groceries. Saitama inhales and exhales and tries not to curse out loud.
Foiled again.
“Someone is laughing at my expense…” He grumbles.
Saitama blinks in the darkness of his room. His alarm clock tells him it’s 3 am and Genos is supposedly fast asleep on his futon. It had taken a while to get Genos to sleep like normal, instead of him staring at Saitama from the corner of the room throughout the night like a statue, but he had managed, somehow.
He turns around on his side to see if Genos is actually asleep and his eyelids are actually lowered down, so he assumes that Genos is doing his approximation of sleep. He badly wants to hold Genos’ hand then and there, but he’s afraid he will jolt the cyborg awake if he does so. So he remains watching, silent vigil over the younger man, pondering if he will ever get the chance to do so.
He reaches for Genos’ hand timidly, but aborts the motion. He wants Genos to be awake when he intertwines their fingers together. It would be nice to see if the cyborg could spare a smile for him.
Saitama sighs and attempts to go back to sleep.
The movie theater is quite packed as they make their way to watch Juras Perch, a movie about monster dinosaurs. They get their sweets, popcorn and soda to go with the movie watching and make their way into the theater.
Saitama sits next to Genos and throughout the movie, their hands keep touching each other as they rummage through the tub of popcorn that Saitama has been stingy about buying multiple pieces of. Saitama cannot resist the temptation to grab Genos’ hands right at that moment and he reaches for it, this time sure to succeed.
Genos suddenly springs up. “We’ve run out of popcorn, sensei, I will get us some more,” he says and stomps his way past the many seats, making many of the movie goers annoyed that somebody is walking in front of them and blocking the movie.
Saitama’s hand hovers in the air and he lowers it, sighing out loud. The universe was just toying with him now.
“Sensei, watch out!”
Genos’ alarmed yell does very little as Saitama gets punted and tossed into a nearby wall, making a human sized dent. The monster is a boxer type which seemed sure of its skill level, but it’s nothing to Saitama’s strength.
“Incinerate!” Genos shouts and shoots at the monster, who dodges and manages a clean hit into Genos’ chin, who flies into the air and down into the ground with a loud thud.
“Oi, don’t mess with my disciple like that,” comes Saitama’s annoyed voice from the wall.
“What are you gonna do about it, hmm?” The monster taunts him.
It takes less than a second for Saitama to actually punch the monster into smithereens, as it just was not that strong of a creature.
Saitama then moves towards the downed Genos, who seems to be trying to get his bearings. Saitama offers his hand to Genos, who takes it and Saitama easily lifts the heavy cyborg up back to his feet like it’s nothing. Parts of Genos’ chin are missing from the blow he took.
“Are you alright, Genos?” Saitama asks, slightly worried.
“I am fine, sensei. Nothing important was damaged, I will visit Kuseno-Hakase later tonight for repairs,” Genos assuages him.
“Good.”
It then occurs to Saitama that he is actually holding Genos’ hand and he uncharacteristically beams.
“Come on, let’s go home.”
Saitama does not let go of Genos’ hand on the way back to their apartment.