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The small slip of paper was soaked in the sweat from his palms, the address on it long smudged into obscurity, not that it mattered anyway. Genos had memorized the address almost the moment it was handed to him 2 days ago, but holding onto the paper and constantly opening it to read it's near illegible content made him feel a little better as he walked towards the destination written there. Maybe, just maybe tonight he finally had a shot at making friends.
Genos had been excited to graduate high school and move away from his small town that held only bad memories. People had treated him differently since his parents died, rightfully so, he guessed. Small towns where everybody knew everybody tended to take tragedy hard. The mayor getting drunk and killing two upstanding citizens in a car accident was about as tragic as it got. It had been years since that fateful night but he still felt like people held their breath as he walked by, afraid of their own tongues saying the wrong thing. It was suffocating, and he was glad to be rid of the feeling.
Genos had decided on a University it the big city, but the welcome escape came with a fear of the unknown. He was on his own in this new world. After his parents had died he had been left in the care of a family friend, Dr. Kuseno. The doctor had been good to him and providing, but he was also a busy man who didn't often leave his lab. And so Genos had gone on his own, alone into the unknown.
City life wasn't hard, especially since the campus provided most of the services Genos needed in life. But something about the families coming to drop off all of the other freshman, the normalcy of it all had distanced Genos and he had never really recovered. He wasn't normal, and he wasn't about to pretend like it was. Like seeing all those happy memories being made didn't make him think of his own that would never happen.
And so three months into college Genos had become a loner, barely speaking a word to his classmates and instead observing them. He made up stories about his classmates from the back of class, imagined the conversations they were having. The rest of his time was taken up by studying. He was at the top of his classes, which was surprising to him seeing as some of his classes consisted of upperclassmen. But it was growing lonely at the top, and he found himself wishing and longing for a friend.
His current opportunity had come after a group project. He had been put in a group with some upperclassmen, a big, tall guy that looked uncomfortable in his own presence and a lazy looking individual with a shaved head which Genos suspected he kept shaved so he didn't have to put in the effort to maintaining his hair. To Genos’s surprise the lazy one, named Saitama, had pulled through with his part of the project, something that had worried Genos seeing as he hadn't talked much in the planning phases. Genos and the tall man, named King (Genos suspected this was a cruel nickname that had stuck) had worked together well, with King constantly being surprised by Genos and offering him generous praise.
After the project was over Genos had expected for things to go back to normal, but to his surprise King and Saitama began sitting next to him in class, King trying to include Genos in on their conversations. They mostly talked about nerdy things, video games, anime, the manga that Saitama was constantly reading, things like that Genos had never payed much attention to before. He immediately began doing deep research to participate in their conversations, and even managed to chime in a few times. There was one thing they talked about that Genos couldn't quite get a grasp of from research, but it was the thing that dominated many of their conversations. The thing Genos was now on his way to finally experience for himself.
That thing was Dungeons and Dragons.
Apparently one of their members had graduated, and had left their usual group with a huge hole. They were looking to start a new campaign, whatever that meant, and King had unexpectedly asked Genos to join. Genos had rushed home that day and spent hours crafting the perfect character to bring to the table. He had poured over websites and forums looking at the best builds, researching strategies, anything he could do to prepare himself. He wasn't going to let this opportunity pass him by. He was new but he was going to show them what he was made of.
Genos arrived at the address, took a deep breath, and tapped on the dorm door. It had taken him awhile to get there, seeing as these upperclassmen dorms were clear across campus from where Genos lived and Genos had to walk everywhere. Was he sweaty from the walk or from nervousness? It was hard to tell. He checked the paper again as he waited for a response, silently panicking and wondering if he had gotten some of the numbers mixed up. Suddenly, the door flew open and there stood King, his normal nervous grin plastered all over his face.
“Sorry, we were discussing which pizza to order and, well come on in!” He laughed nervously as he stood aside, trying to make himself small enough for Genos to squeeze by (and not really succeeding). Genos entered the fairly large dorm, which by the looks of it belonged to King and Saitama, covered as it was with various wall scrolls from the anime they had talked about and the pile of manga in the corner that no doubt belonged to Saitama. The familiarity put Genos's heart at ease, up until his eyes rested on the table set up in the middle of the room. There sat two unfamiliar men, one with long, raven black hair tied up in a ponytail and stunning features who was talking angrily at Saitama, and another gentler looking one with messy, chestnut brown hair and glasses, and a calming smile that was trying to work its magic on the man next to him. They both looked to be about a year older than Genos, if he had to take a guess.
“Hey guys, can you stop arguing for a second, maybe?”
King’s voice seemed almost squeaky as he tried to get their attention. The raven haired man spun quickly around and shot a distrustful look at Genos with sharp, grey-colored eyes. “Who’s this?”
Genos could instantly feel King’s insides curl next to him, and was happy when he continued. “This is Genos. He's a freshman. He’ll be filling in since… since Fubuki graduated and is too busy with work to play anymore…” Genos sensed a hint of sadness in King’s voice, but tried not to dwell on it too much.
“So she finally admitted it instead of making up excuses every week. About time, I've been itching to try out my new character.”
“But, aren't you playing a rogue again..?” The chestnut hair man chimed in innocently, with King quickly rushing into introductions to avoid whatever words were going to follow the look the raven haired man shot in response (although Genos thought it seemed a bit gentler than the one that had been directed his way).
“Genos, the guy in the glasses in Mumen. He's a sophomore here and our resident cleric.”
“Nice to meet you, Genos.” Mumen said, flashing Genos a brilliant smile, which seemed to make the man next to him whither.
“And the ball of joy next to him is Sonic, also a sophomore and our amazing melee dps.”
“Damn right I am.” Sonic spat back, reaching over for an energy drink in the table and taking a generous swig.
King ignored him and continued. “And then you know Saitama, our Paladin extraordinaire.”
Saitama raised a hand in a half wave and flashed Genos a smile. “Oi!” Genos had never really looked at Saitama closely, he was usually rocking a hoodie or similarly baggy clothing, but tonight he was in just a plain (although bright yellow) t-shirt that clung to him tightly and made Genos notice he was actually quite fit. This observation combined with the warmness of his smile made Genos almost feel like blushing. This is, until Sonic interrupted his thoughts with a slam of his empty can on the table.
“What are you now Saitama, a super senior?” Sonic spat at him, Genos almost expecting him to cackle afterwards.
“I think a super super senior, maybe.” Saitama replied, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
“Anyway, Genos, take the open seat next to Saitama.” (Which Genos thankfully noticed was also next to King. It seemed Mumen acted as a barrier between Sonic and Saitama, poor guy) “We’ll order the pizza and get started. You brought your character sheet, right? Did you have any problems making it?”
Genos couldn't help himself from grinning a bit, a surge of pride and confidence overtaking his nervousness as he sat down next to Saitama, pulling out the several sheets that contained his carefully crafted character.
“Nope, no problems at all.”
xxx
The pizza was gone in not a full thirty minutes after it had arrived. They were well into the campaign by this time and Genos was finding it quite a bit harder than he had first expected. Unlike an RPG or a single player MMO, making the perfect build did not equate to total dominance of the game. Instead, dice rolls, initiative checks, and the somewhat unpredictable actions of NPCs during the role-playing had lead to his near death almost twice already. Although Mumen was an excellent healer, and a pretty upbeat companion, even his patience seemed to be wearing a bit thin.
But it wasn’t Genos’ fault. For whatever reason the odds seemed stacked against him. He didn’t know why his attacks whiffed so often, just barely missing his modifiers to actually cause damage, and more often than not causing some other catastrophe instead. Sonic had stolen Genos’ dice after the second poor roll and forced him to use an old pair of King’s, claiming that his ‘newbe dice’ were probably cursed or something.
Saitama on the other hand had rolled four natural twenties, FOUR! And somehow all of his attacks had hit, most with critical damage. Genos was left with his mouth hanging open at Saitama’s success, but the guy didn’t even seem phased by it. Saitama would just shrug and then shove another slice of pepperoni pizza into his mouth, chasing it with his two liter of root-beer that sat on the floor beside the table.
King, who was the DM, seemed like he was really trying to accommodate Genos, but even he was starting to get a little perturbed at how badly things were playing out. Genos had seemed like a smart guy, and he was, but he was also incredibly aggressive, so much that it was starting to make King both terrified and exasperated.
“You walk into the inn and the innkeeper greets you.” King began.
“I want to roll sense motive, to see if he is lying.”
“Lying about what?”
Mumen had a nervous smile on his face, and Sonic had his head in his hands.
Genos looked affronted, and also slightly confused. He still hadn’t come to grips with the idea that not every part of the story was meant to be a battle.
“Alright fine roll for it.” King relented
Genos rolled. It was a one.
King sighed, “You aggressively accuse the innkeeper of lying and he kicks you out of the inn.”
There was a unanimous groan around the table. Sonic seemed to take it the hardest.
“Goddammit Genos, what is your problem? That is literally the last place we could rest for the night”
“Hey!” yelled Saitama. “Watch your mouth Sonic.”
Saitama had been trying to keep Sonic’s aggressive demeanor contained, away from Genos as much as possible. The last thing the group needed was for him to scare off their new player, even if Genos was a little bad at the game, and he would get the hang of it in a few games…. probably.
“You can rest at your campsite without penalty” mumbled King trying to placate the group.
“Genos, you don't have to interrogate everyone we meet, some people are just there for the story.” replied Mumen calmly, trying to ease the tension in the room.
“We are never going to get through this campaign dragging this noob with us…” Sonic groaned melodramatically, ripping out his ponytail and then quickly tossing his hair up into a bun in frustration.
Mumen’s gaze wandered over him, momentarily distracted. He flushed and shook his head. “He has to learn how to play, and he’s actually doing pretty good. He’s researched a lot into his character.” Mumen smiled at Genos.
Genos nodded awkwardly, still tense from the criticism.
It was true Genos had come armed to the teeth with lore, weapons and research. Almost every kobold encounter was complicated tenfold by Genos swearing he had this one spell that would be perfect, but defaulting to magic missiles every time after missing most of his targets, and being forced by the group to only use that spell. Sonic had even snidely started dubbing his other attacks his “missing missiles”. They were still alive though, for every instance of Genos’ failure Saitama had some unprecedented success. If Saitama wasn’t busy killing their enemies he was falling backwards into secret rooms, uncovering long buried treasure, earning a blessing from some unknown God, or stumbling upon the only kobold who actually had a coin purse in the cave.
Even with Saitama’s strength modifier, he had gained so many items that he was almost over his weight limit for carrying in just shy of four hours.
Genos was trying to not let it get to him. He had been so prepared, researching his roll statistics for the probability of advantage/disadvantage, but it had only lead to spectacular disappointment. He had failed so utterly in his execution, he began to wonder why he even attempted to join the game in the first place. Sure he wanted to make friends, but it seemed like he was making more enemies, at least in Sonic’s case.
The whole night he sat beside Saitama trying to study him, feeling like there must be something he was missing. There had to be some secret that made Saitama so good at DND, but what it was Genos still had no idea. His character sheet was unimpressive, poorly filled out, almost to the point of being wholly illegible, and his modifiers were nothing special. He used the same two attacks the entire game. He was a human Paladin, with maybe below average charisma stats (which was super weird for a paladin, guess he threw everything into having high wisdom), but you couldn’t really call that a handicap when he was wiping the board clean of every enemy they met.
“Alright you all survived…”
“Barely, thanks to blondie over there.” Sonic stewed, his foot tapping restlessly as his caffeine high still raged through his body.
Mumen placed a hand on the slender boy’s knee holding it still for a second, silently asking Sonic to chill out. A blush rose up on the raven’s cheeks, but he pushed away the hand quickly and continued to scowl in Genos’ direction.
“For your first part of the campaign you’ll each receive 1200 experience points.” King announced, and Genos immediately started scratching it down on his character sheet.
“Really?!” Sonic banged his fists of the table. “Not even enough to level?!”
“Saitama gets a bonus of 300 points for his secret finding, but yes the rest of you are staying at level one until the next session.” King sighed.
He wasn’t a hard DM usually, but honestly, if Saitama hadn’t been pulling the party through the trials, they wouldn’t have made it, and this was supposed to be an easy start. If Fubuki were here things would have been simpler… Still, King liked Genos, maybe Saitama could still teach the kid a few things and make it a little easier on all of them the next time.
Sonic angrily threw his empty monster cans into King’s trash, standing up to stretch his lanky frame and motioning to Mumen that it was time to leave.
“Thanks King, and Genos,” Genos’ gold eyes drifted over toward Sonic’s sneer, he leaned in close to Genos so his whispered words wouldn’t be heard. “If this isn’t the game for you man, no hard feelings. Remember you can quit at any time.”
Sonic had been pushing the envelope all night, but this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Genos, tired from four hours of trying to concentrate and then on top of that the burden of his continual failures, felt the thin thread of his composure break at Sonic’s taunting words.
The dark haired boy turned and was out of the apartment with Mumen trailing behind him, before Genos even felt his eyes begin to water.
“Ok King so same time next week?” Saitama yawned and stretched his taut frame over the back of the folding chair King had set up in his small living room.
King hummed in agreement, picking up his manual and starting to clear off the map. Saitama’s gaze wandered over towards Genos.
“Oi, Genos did you need a ride home….” His breath caught when he noticed Genos, hastily brushing a tear from his right cheek and forcing his gaze down towards his character sheet.
“No, I’m fine, thanks though, umm see you guys in class.” Genos hastily stood and whisked his backpack over one arm, swinging the door open and then closing it swiftly behind him, before either of the other boys had a chance to say anything.
Xxx
“Stupid, stupid, stupid” Genos was mumbling, and racing down the concrete apartment building stairs as quickly as his worn tennis shoes would let him.
Crying was probably the worst thing he could have done in that situation. It was all his fault anyway getting caught up in the idea that he could make friends, or be good at something. He had only managed to make an ass of himself and drag everyone else down with him. The group had suffered, and the worst part was that he thought he was doing his best. He had really tried to be helpful, to be knowledgeable, but it was no use. He would never be as good at Saitama, and it was embarrassing to be so much less.
“Genos wait!”
Genos turned to hear the stomping sound of another pair of tennis shoes running behind him, attached to a strong frame and the figure of a young man in a hoodie with a lewd outline of breasts on the front of it.
Saitama’s steps slowed as he neared Genos, stuttering to a stop on the slightly damp pavement. The rain earlier had left puddles everywhere, dimly reflecting the streetlights in the deserted road. It was nearing midnight, and Genos knew the walk back to his dorm would take near thirty minutes.
Saitama’s hand reached out to grab at Genos’ shoulder turning the slightly taller boy towards him.
Genos’ eyes were red, but for now the tears had ceased.
“Hey dude, don’t let Sonic get to you, he’s a little shit.”
Genos smiled mutely, somewhat dazed by the fact that Satiama had come after him and also a bit wary.
“He was right though, I suck.”
Saitama sighed, “Dude, the tallest mountain started as a stone.”
Genos quirked his eyebrow quizzically. That did not sound like anything Saitama had ever said before.
Saitama laughed.
“It was something my grandmother used to say. It means you’ve got to start from somewhere.”
Genos rolled his eyes, smiling softly.
“I get what it means.”
“Well, then don’t give up so easily, I expect to see you here again next week.” Saitama playfully flicked Genos’ forehead, and he pulled a set of keys out of his pocket.
“Come on, I parked over here, let me give you a ride back.”
Genos couldn’t help but let the crack of a smile, start at the corner of his mouth. He obediently followed Saitama back towards the edge of the parking lot, where Saitama clumsily began to unlock the door of a burned out honda civic.
“Um, don’t try to roll down the window on that side ok, it uh won’t roll back up.”
Genos nodded, as he sat down in the well worn seat, duct tape holding part of the bottom cushion together beneath him. There was a large crack in the windshield that really should have justified getting new glass, but by the looks of things Saitama probably couldn't afford it.
“So um, where are we going?” Saitama began to back the car out on the road, turning to look behind him, and placing his hand on the edge of the passenger’s seat, inches away from Genos’ head. Genos watched Saitama’s neck stretch and lengthen, the shadows accentuating his features. Finally his voice found him.
“Uhhh, S dormitory, you can just pull up by the side doors.”
Saitama smiled.
“S dorm huh? Nice, lucky you, I was stuck in Z my first couple years, before King and I moved off campus I mean… do you like it over there?”
“It’s sufficient.”
Saitama laughed, his voice splitting the silence of the night and making Genos’ stomach tingle with warmth.
“Dude you talk like a robot sometimes.”
Genos blushed more.
“Sorry.”
“No, it’s cool, I like it. I mean, you seem genuine, and most people just aren’t now days, you know?”
The rest of the short car ride passed in relative silence, Genos’s head whirling with emotion too much for him to even hope at making small talk, not that Saitama seemed the type for it anyway. The night had given his heart more highs and lows than he had experienced in a long time, from nervousness to a short-lived burst of confidence to a long-lasting crushing defeat and now to… whatever this moment was. He was too much of a mess to figure out of Saitama was just pitying him or if he was actually being friendly. He had learned his lesson in assuming too much already tonight.
Still, even if he only pitied him there was a warmth to Saitama that was calming, like a warm bath after a long day. He was a refreshing person to be around, marching to the beat of his own lackadaisical drum, never doing anything he didn’t truly want to. And yet, such a carefree person had cared enough about Genos to defend him over and over again tonight. And even more than that had gone out of his way to chase after him, to talk to him, to offer up some advice to him. He didn’t need to do any of those things and yet… and yet he had. This person who had barely known him a month, and most of that had been only group meetings for their project and before this disaster of a night, had gone out of his way for him. But… why?
Saitama pulled the car up by the sidewalk, brakes squealing painfully. The sound ripped Genos out of his thoughts, dropping him unceremoniously back in reality. He knew he should thank Saitama, open the door, and leave like any normal human being, but something about this moment felt important, like if he let this moment pass he would regret it forever. Like if he stepped out of this car now he would never see Saitama, and the others, again. And so he sat frozen in place, the hum of the radio that was almost too static filled to make out if a song was playing or not the only sound to fill the small space of the car.
“S-Saitama..? Genos began, not really sure as the name rolled off his tongue what he was going to say next.
“Did I get the wrong dorm? Sorry, it’s been awhile since I’ve been over this way.”
Genos’s palms began to sweat as his mind desperately tried to grasp onto one of the many questions racing through his head. Barely thinking, he blurted out:
“C-can you teach me how to play like you? I tried so hard to research the best build for my character but maybe I put points into the wrong skills or something or maybe there’s some other aspect of my play that you could help me with. I know you’re probably busy but I don’t think it would take much time and it would really help the group and I… and I…” Genos had to stop himself, the burning sensation of tears welling up brought his words to a halt.
Saitama scratched the back of his neck, turning away from Genos momentarily and staring off across the empty sidewalks of the quad. Genos watched, barely able to breathe, thousands of burning questions quickly replaced by silent curses as Saitama closed his eyes.
When Saitama opened his eyes, he was staring at the roof of his car, stained and falling apart. Genos felt a close companionship with it at this moment.
“You know there’s not much I can really teach you, right? I just get lucky, is all.”
His words were soft, but Genos felt his heart sink all the same. A part of him knew that, but another more dominant part just wanted to spend more time with Saitama, whether just to be around the man or because he hoped he could realize something about the way that Saitama played that maybe Saitama himself didn’t even realize that put him at a distinct advantage was something Genos didn’t have the presence of mind to process right now.
“Oh, I see…”
Genos looked down at his feet, deciding to concentrate on counting the small rocks and traces of a car that had been dirty and hastily cleaned over and over there instead of the stupidity he felt right now.
“Ah, geeze, man. Ok, ok. I’ll try and help you, ok?”
Genos’s eyes shot up, meeting Saitama’s who had apparently turned to look at him while he had been counting. Something in the back of his mind registered the distinct red tint the older man’s ears took on, but he was too excited to acknowledge it fully. His heart was doing a million backflips, the dark clouds that had been forming in his mind instantly scattered to the proverbial winds.
“Really? Thank you, thank you so much!”
“Geeze, you really do switch gears fast, don’tcha?” Saitama resumed the scratching of the back of his head, a nervous tick that Genos was beginning to find rather endearing. Like the man himself, it showed his honesty. Genos found himself getting bashful again, quickly trying to calm himself down. He couldn’t screw this up, again.
“I’m sorry, I’m just… I’m really grateful. Seriously, you don’t know how much this means to me.” Genos flashed Saitama his most meaningful smile, hoping his joy would shine through to the other man.
Saitama’s eyes grew wide for a second before he turned away, coughing a bit to clear his throat. He mumbled something about really not knowing how he was going to be able to help, but Genos was too happy to correct him.
“Is tomorrow too soon to start? I could come over to your place, that way maybe King can help, too. Ah, man! This is awesome! I feel like I’m getting like, martial arts training or something. Like I should be calling you my ‘sensei’.”
“D-don’t call me that, please.” Saitama stuttered out, still not able to make eye contact. He quickly followed with, “And tomorrow is fine, just don’t show up before noon. You should probably get going, though. It’s pretty late.”
Genos glanced at the old digital clock on the dash, realizing it was just before midnight. He felt his face go flush, and quickly gathered up his backpack from the floor, muttering profuse apologies, and made for the handle. He got out awkwardly, thanking Saitama again for everything which the other man just waved off. All he had to do now was close the door and walk away and this evening would have ended, at least, successfully.
But Genos paused there, one more question nagging at him that he just couldn’t let go. He leaned down into the car, meeting Saitama’s gazed that had once more returned to him while he had been getting out.
“Saitama? I was wondering one last thing…”
“Yeah?”
Genos gathered up all of his courage, expecting a very simple answer, but wanting to hear one all the same.
“Um… why did you help me tonight? I mean, you didn’t have to defend me or come after me or give me a ride or agree to teach me or, well, anything. So, I was just wondering… why?”
Saitama’s eyes grew wide, like that was the last question he had expected to come out of Genos’s mouth. The redness from his ears made its way clearly to his cheeks, and his hand returned to its normal place on the back of his neck. The older man looked like he briefly considered trying to maintain eye contact, but quickly changed his mind, staring out the cracked front window.
At last Saitama cleared his throat, taking the car out of park and planting his hands firmly on the wheel, almost like he was preparing to make his escape. Genos started thinking up apologies, clearly he had pushed his luck too far with this very generous man and should just close the door and act like he didn’t ask anything. Yeah, that was a good plan.
Just as Genos was about to push the door closed, Saitama made his response. He turned to Genos, face sharp and serious despite the red stain still plastered across his cheeks that threatened to betray him.
“I thought it was obvious. I like you, Genos.”
Genos felt all of the blood in his body rush to his head. Had he heard him right? If he had he obviously just meant as a friend, probably even lower than that, maybe like an entertaining junior that was amusing to keep around. But something in his face and tone felt like… but no, he couldn’t have meant it like, like that. Could he?
“Shut the door, Genos. Goodnight.” Saitama smiled brilliantly at him, forcing Genos’s mind to blank momentarily and automatically comply before he could force a new question out of his mouth.
Saitama pulled away into the night, leaving Genos standing there dumbfounded for several minutes before he started digging around in his bag for his keycard, his heart pounding loudly in his ears. He found his keycard hiding at the bottom of his bag, and quickly rushed to the doors and on up to his room, wanting to be alone so he could maybe start to make sense of what had happened tonight.
There was just one thing he knew for sure:
Tomorrow was going to be interesting.