Chapter 1: Those other thoughts
A. N: This is a translation of the fic "En la piel del cyborg". Apologies if the translation is not accurate. Feel free to tell me what you think. This fic is finished in spanish as "En la piel del cyborg." Any comment is deeply appreciated!
Disclaimer: Nothing in the universe of One Punch Man belongs to me. I do not make money with this fic.
Was it always like this?
Saitama looks away from the screen for a second to watch to the cyborg by his side.
No ... he's not sure, but he does not believe it.
Genos is oblivious to his doubts and continues to manipulate the command of the console making his car reach the first place of the race. He is sitting next to him. Close, very close ... so close, that the hardness of his metal armor makes contact with his hip.
No.
It was definitely not like this before. Their bodies did not come into contact so often. There was no careless friction, random clashes of hands, hips so close ...
He thinks it has to do with the change the doctor has made. He did not fully understand the details, the boy always tells him more than he asks and his attention is volatile, but he managed to understand roughly.
Genos can feel.
Maybe that's why he seeks so much his closeness. He understands, because he has also been in love at some point in his life and knows what it is like. He knows that he does it without wanting to, that his wishes betray him.
The car of Saitama, deviates in a curve and collides some posters on the side of the road slowing down its march.
"Hell!" He complains, resuming the circulation of the vehicle.
He moves restlessly on the futon trying to clear up and there it is again. The hard metal, inclement, making contact with his skin. It is strange, because it is not cold as any object of these characteristics should be. It is warm and that generates a sensation that he can not finish defining.
He is sure that if it were any other human being, his most instinctive gesture would be to move away. He would leave a small gap between the two, but it would be far enough away so that his body would not come in contact with the body of the other. He would do it without thinking. However with Genos ..
He does not move away and it's curious. He does not know very well why. It's not that he likes or dislikes him, it's just ..
He likes to think that it is because a certain familiarity has been established between the two, that he has become accustomed to him, because the department is too small for two adult men, or perhaps because he does not finish placing the boy as a human being because of his metal body ...
He has no idea, but none of the explanations ends up convincing him.
His car derails again and this time he can not relocate it on the road in time. Genos wins the game.
At the time, the information that Genos could sense took him by surprise. He had never asked himself if Genos could perceive the pain every time one of his limbs was amputated. Perhaps, unconsciously, he repressed that question so as not to face the horror of an affirmative answer. Maybe, it was better to see him only as a machine that broke down ...
Now that he is aware of that ... he does not know what to think. He has tried not to think too much about the matter.
They have recently reinstalled something very similar to the routine they had. Although they no longer live together, Genos stays to sleep most of the weekends.
Saitama always expects him with a growing expectation. Every time he arrives on friday, he can not prevent a certain emotion from growing in him. It is because Genos accompanies him to the best sales and together can carry more bags, because he can play video games with someone else and watch movies ..
He likes to think that. Those thoughts are nice. They comfort him. He feels good with them.
No, like those other thoughts. Those who tell him it is because he misses him during the week, that his contact does not bother him for other reasons. Because it is possible that, deep down, he is also feeling something for him.
"We play another one?" Genos asks, smiling at him.
The game. Yes, the game. He must concentrate on the game or he will lose again.
To be continue..