AN: Written for Saigenos Week 2016 Day 2: Unfamiliarity

Saitama wasn't one for showing emotion. He didn't mind per se, but he rarely felt any emotion strongly enough to actually show it off to the world, or any person in his life. Not that he had had many people in his life at all.
Love, hate, joy, sadness, if they appeared, they appeared so dull they might as well not even be there at all.
He did remember a time when his feelings were more colourful, but even then, back in his youth they were being blurred out bit by bit, till they were only the greys he felt today.

He hadn't changed immediately when a certain someone came along. Although he would admit that within their very first few meetings he had actually felt something stir within himself and it had managed to bubble up to the surface. Frustration. An emotion. It immediately felt foreign, but right at the same time. Not soon after, another emotion came forth. Shock. Had he really… actually felt something there? He'd felt something strongly enough to actually shout in another person's face.

Genos.

Genos was on the opposite side of the spectrum from him. He was passionate, fiery, strong-opinionated, at times rather angry, don't forget sassy and sometimes bratty, but all of his feelings came rolling off him in vibrant hues, so unlike Saitama's whose were cloaked in grayscale. At first it had felt suffocating to have someone so close to him, someone who reacted to every little thing that was being said or done. Genos approached so many subjects with cold calculations yet with a sprinkle of childish wonder on top of it. Nothing was too small or too big to be analyzed, nothing was not worth giving attention too. But as time passed, Saitama found himself slowly becoming interested in some of the subjects Genos laid onto him, mild excitement sometimes bubbling in his gut.

And little by little, Genos' colours seemed to seep into Saitama's life.

The absolute dread he felt as he approached the broken body of Genos lying on the wet concrete almost made him hurl. A quiver laced his voice and a lump nestled in his throat, threatening him to take his breath away as he cradled his companion in his arms and weakly called out his name.

"Genos…"

Something crackled and he could hear a fan trying and failing to start up. A golden eye flickered to life and pale lips tried to form words, yet all that came out were a static noise.

"Sssss….nsei."

"Genos. Hold on I-"

The cyborg suddenly twitched a few times before the light in his eye faded again and he fell limp into the hero's arms.

'Caution! System damage alert level red. Forced shutdown protocol engaged to prevent damage to core and brain.'

'Self preserve mode activated. T minus 6 hours till permanent damage registers in organic parts.'

Despair. Utter despair wrapped itself around the hero and consumed him as the warning messages registered.
Whereas dread had sat firmly in his stomach, despair sat in his heart. It was like black tendrils slinking around his heart and squeezing it till he physically felt the pain.

He did not want to feel anymore if this was what having emotions was really like.
Dread and despair were not nice acquaintances at all.

But he was a hero was he not? He saved people. And right now his most precious person in the world needed to be saved. He didn't need to punch Dread and Despair to kill them, as an emotion who had been long slumbering within him awoke and did it for him; Determination.

He cradled what was left of his companion tightly in his arms and with a speed rivaling sound itself he headed off to find the good doctor's lab.

In 02:46:37 he was there and he had actually broken a sweat, muscles aching for once in his life since he attained his incredible powers.

The doctor had opened his mouth to speak when Saitama had burst through his thickly reinforced steel doors, but his words died down seeing his cyborg son being carried in the hero's arms.

"Please, fix him."

Twiddling thumbs never hastened a wait. Pacing was just as useless. He was pretty sure he couldn't run so fast time itself would bend either. So all he could do was wait, with his head cradled in his hands. Why, why did this ridiculous, stupid, loyal... handsome… cyborg have to come into his life? Rudely awakening every possible emotion on the spectrum in him.
Saitama rubbed his face, letting out a tired sigh. He could so go with not feeling anything again. Just a comfortable, gray numbness… No? Yes! ...no…
When the doctor finally comes out of his lab Saitama stands so abruptly the floor beneath his feet cracks. The doctor tsks but cranes his head towards the door, sweeping his eyes in a silent sign for him to enter.

As he lays his eyes on Genos, sitting calmly on the operating table clenching his hand to calibrate his sensors, his stomach flutters. It shouldn't be like this, but it is. Things has changed so much for him and he is terrified. But at the same time, as Genos turns to look at him and smiles, a smile so warm it could possibly rival the sun itself, he finds himself wanting to do anything to protect that smile. He feels so warm and he wants to be the reasons Genos smiles. He wants him to smile every day from now on.

"Sensei!"

Love?

Maybe having emotions wouldn't be so bad after all?