A Missing Step

Odd Sentiments

Genos was disconnecting the game system with King, glancing at Tamaki and Saitama in the process. "Hell yeah, you were great Tam." Saitama pulled her closer to him slightly, giving her a noogie. Tamaki chuckled, looking up at him with something Genos had not paid much attention to.

Her eyes had softened, and her smile, while not a huge grin, was hard to miss.

The 'Saitama Smile', he had decided to call it. She suddenly frowned. "I gotta go, it's getting late and I live all the way on the other side." She stood up, and a smaller smile appeared. "Thanks for having me over, it was really fun. Bye-bye!" "See you around." "Nice meeting you." "Farewell." Waving over her shoulder, she closed the door.

"...Ok she's gone. Sooo, how'd you and your girl meet?" King asked, grinning.

"He saved her from a monster around six months back. She invited him to dinner, and here were are." He tried his best keeping it twenty words or less, so his Master didn't have to explain it to King. "Uh, Genos, that makes it sound like she is my 'girl'." Saitama used finger quotations to emphasize his point. He sighed. "But, yeah, we're friends." 'Friends' was said in a sort of hesitant tone, but neither Genos or King pushed him about it. The three sat in silence for a bit, not knowing where to carry the conversation from there. Genos could sense the lingering question that was yet to be said by King. "..but you do think she's cute?" King asked. "I guess so, yeah. But that's an obvious thing." Saitama stated, shrugging. He wondered if "cute" would still be applied if he ever found out about Tamaki. He shrugged the idea off, however, because he shuddered at the last time he retaliated against her.

"Hey, you look a little spaced out there, Genos." He perked up, and turned to look at Saitama.

"My apologies, I was going over some of my data." It wasn't actually a lie, he thought. He was comparing the information on "Tamaki" to Saitama's. They both seem to share some attributes as of late..

He looked up at the ceiling, a soft snore signaling that Master Saitama was still asleep. He had seen this sort of ..situation occur around him in the lives of others, but he wasn't sure whether or not it was too soon to try to confirm his own theories. "When will, or rather, would, she give him a well deserved battle?" He thought, glancing over to the sleeping figure. "Or has she lost already?" His final thought lingered as he finally shut his eyes.

Tatsumaki was getting ready for bed, a small smile still present on her face. "You forgot the information again." a small nagging voice told her. She ignored it, flicking off the light.

"You're not forgetting on purpose, are you?" the small voice said a bit louder. She stretched before pulling the covers over herself. She heard a thump on the floor, but decided to investigate in the morning instead.

A small notebook sat at the edge of her bed.

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She was walking with him around the park in City Z. A monster, that looked remarkably like the one he "saved" her from appeared, roaring and slashing its claws into the sidewalk.

The debris it was creating was massive, and an almost bolder like piece was heading straight towards him. He was stunned, not at the boulder almost hitting him, but at what was surrounding it.

A light green glow.

She panicked. She had meant to shove him out of the way, tell him to run, just something else..

"I don't think I can hang out with you anymore, Tama- or should I say Tatsumaki?"

"...."

"Why can't I say anything?! Tell him! Say it!" Fearful thoughts rung out in her head.

"Saitama, I- Wait!" He retreated, a look of.. Disgust?betrayal? She couldn't name the mixture of emotions on his face.

"I knew another fan was too good to be true."

She crushed the boulder. "I should've attacked you when I had the chance." She spat out bitterly.

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She awoke to her disheveled reflection and silently got out of bed. Floating over to her kitchen, she boiled some tea. She decided to open up the curtains slightly. To her surprise, the moon was still out. It was then that she looked over at her clock. 4 am, it read.

"Hopefully there are some monsters later that I can let loose on." She crossed her fingers slightly at this thought.

"That damn baldy better not be there first." 

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Fortunately for Tatsumaki, he did not show up before her.

But she did run into him after defeating monsters.

"Oh, did you already get the monsters over here? Guess I'll keep going.." He said, scratching his cheek.

She frowned, nodding slightly, trying to avoid his eyes.. "See ya." He waved slightly, already walking away.

Motivated slightly by their mundane interaction, she went to a nearby alley, her neutral frown threatening to slip into a devious grin.

Taking out her phone, she scrolled through her rather short list of contacts and dialed him.

"Tam? Don't you usually text?" A confused voice crackled through the speakers. "Yep! But I just wanted to call you to see if we can go the park sometime this month. The weather is supposed to be really nice!" She exclaimed in her falsetto.

"Uh, sure. With or without Genos?" Her breath halted for a bit, then with a wavering voice responded, "Come again?" "Just us two or are you alright with Genos as well?" He restated his question. "Just the two of us." She couldn't help by try to hide the grin in her voice. "Ok, I'll text you when I have a day off."

Tatsumaki arrived back at her apartment in a state of triumph. "Saitama, if you want an opponent, you're just going to have to start small."