A full three days had gone by since what little remained of the meteor rained down onto City Z, thankfully though Lady Boros had specifically sought out the largest of the fragments, meaning that while some still managed to get passed her and make contact with the ground below, the damage was as minimized as possible. The result of said damage was honestly not even too terrible, where everyone who had been in the city and saw the massive rock coming down towards them believed it would be their end, they were relieved to find only small chunks of their city had been taken out by the lesser of the fragments. From craters that at worst were the size of cars to some buildings depending on their size either having a hole be made or perhaps the entire establishment was destroyed, all in all as miraculously no one had lost their lives everyone was happy with the outcome. Except for Saitama, yes it may sound weird that the very hero responsible for saving his own city would not be pleased by this outcome, but as he currently stood in front of the wrecked heap that was once his favorite local grocery store, only to then look over at the building adjacent to it which was an apartment building he had been evicted from, he couldn't keep himself from thinking selfishly for that moment.
"Really? the apartment building get's spared but my favorite store doesn't? how's that fair?" He thought to himself with a sigh, as he stuck his hands into his pockets "And I had a lot of coupons for that store too, damn." He lamented, as he continued to stare for a few minutes more.
Getting a few glances and stares from those who walked passed him, as well as all the construction workers nearby who were busy repairing the city, after looking at the former establishment with the same look of mourning one might have at a funeral he turned around and walked away.
"It's starting to feel like the world is out to get me." He thought, as he looked up at the sky "First my apartment got destroyed, though that did get fixed thanks to that octopus guy, but now my favorite grocery store is destroyed, what's next?" He wondered, genuinely curious as to what the next screwball being thrown at his face was going to be.
However as he began to ponder that he also thought about all of the good things that have happened to him recently, which admittedly was a very short list. Yet as he tried to think of any good that has come his way all he could think about was Boros, which at first he found a little bit weird but as he continued to contemplate it began to make more sense. The truth was Saitama for his whole life was in no way a social butterfly, even in the earliest days of his childhood when most children just run around other kids because they don't really care, he was by himself a lot of the time and any friends or acquaintances he managed to make never lasted. But then there was Boros, and while she appeared without warning and had only just met him she seemed quite insistent on spending time with him, and while at first he thought it was because he was the only human she knew personally, it was made more and more obvious that she just wanted to hang out with him.
And he would be lying if he said he didn't want to hang out with her as well, for the truth was she wasn't like most people he'd ever met. For starters she wasn't afraid to speak her mind much like himself, she was powerful and strong and was easily the single best fight since he first chose to become a hero, and she was very considerate of his feelings as she always stuck up for him even though she never needed to. The more he thought about her and how much time they had already spent together he realized that he did in fact see her as a friend, and given his nonexistent list of friends as well as his social past he didn't want to screw this up in any way. But that brought him to a new train of thought that he honestly knew nothing about.
"What exactly do friends do together?" He wondered.
Though it might seem hard to believe he wouldn't know the answer to such a query, the truth was Saitama had never really done anything with other people, like EVER. He never went to any birthday parties as a kid, never had sleepovers or hanged out at any places where people his age would've been, honestly the shut in manga reading bargain shopper that he was now was pretty much how he'd always been. And while yes he had already done some things with Boros he wasn't really sure if that amounted to anything, they had gone to the movies together but after that all they did was share a meal, watch tv, fell asleep in his apartment, then dealt with weird animal people, all in all that didn't really seem like a normal set of activities for friends to partake in. Oh, and he punched her in the face, couldn't forget that.
"Maybe I should ask her to do something?" He suggested, as he began to think of possibilities "But what would she like to do? other than fighting that is."
Continuing to think of things that he could maybe ask Boros to do in the hopes of bettering their apparent friendship, elsewhere in the world another person was having the same kind of thoughts come to their mind as well.
"So, as it stands me and Saitama are becoming quite familiar with one another, what should my next course of action be?" Lady Boros asked, as she sat sideways in her throne.
So far the dark matter thieves had been on earth for about half a month at this point, and where Lady Boros had been changing due to her newfound love in Saitama, surprisingly enough the rest of her crew were changing as well. Now much like her elites they too were adamant about staying in one location for too long, especially if it was a waste of a world such as this, but as her crew much like her began to learn and explore the history and cultures of the human race, they were all slowly getting used to the idea of living here. Except for her aforementioned elites, they will still completely against this entire situation even more so after their recent plan's failure, they had hoped with all their might that the meteor would prove too much for the human even taking into account he could match their mistress, but of course that proved to be untrue. To make things worse Lady Boros didn't find any bit of amusement out of said plan, she especially didn't buy their phony act when she returned afterwards when they tried asking her if it had brought her and Saitama closer, and so this led to their current punishment.
Over the last three days her elites had to clean every microscopic bit of space and material that made up her throne room, which might not have been so bad if her throne room was normal, but seeing as how it went on for MILES in both left and right directions and the ceiling was so high up, it was a very horrid punishment. Though to be fair while this punishment in their eyes was beneath them, they were aware that out of every punishment she had ever given to anyone this was by FAR the most harmless, if anything as they thought about it they couldn't think of a single moment where she hadn't just flat out killed someone when they incited her wrath. So as they scrubbed, wiped, polished, and waxed every conceivable micro meter of her throne room for but a single instance in time they felt some level of appreciation for Saitama, as he was in fact having a very positive effect on their lady and her happiness was still and always would be the most important thing to them.
But that moment of appreciation was quickly sent into the darkness of the past as they all agreed there wouldn't be such a situation if he never existed to begin with, reasoning that if he just had the common decency to not be born at all their lives would still be normal, and thus the hatred came back tenfold.
"Well M'lady, from what I understand you and the human are still fairly formal with each other correct?" Geryuganshoop asked, as he was busying cleaning the tops of the columns and ceiling.
"Of course, we are still at the very beginning of our relationship so I feel a level of formality must be maintained between us." She responded.
"This is true, but seeing as how you wish to be closer to the human you might want to try becoming more familiar." He argued.
"But how would I go about doing that?" She asked as she looked up at him "For any time I try to just listen to my instincts to try and see if my own biology might give me directions, all they give in response is the impulse to throw him against the nearest surface and ravage him until both of us are numb." She explained.
Upon hearing such a thing come from their lady's mouth all three of her elites froze, feeling the true cold wave of death wash over them like an unsettling calm tide.
"Please...M'lady...do NOT do THAT..." Groribas told her, causing her to roll her eye.
"Of COURSE I wouldn't do that Groribas but that is my issue, I have no idea how to proceed with this relationship as it's the first I've ever had, on my world there was no such thing as love or simple attachment only survival and death, so when it comes to what I should do and how I should express these feelings that are growing by the day I am at a complete loss!" She exclaimed.
Seeing the frustration present within their lady, her elites as they had done thus far ignored their own feelings and objections to aid her as best they could.
"Unfortunately Lady Boros even with our own researches into the customs and ways of these people, we ourselves have the same amount of experience as you in dealing with something like this, however there might be a way for you to figure out your feelings without needing to resort to such...primal urges." Geryuganshoop told her.
"I'm listening..." She replied, looking at all three of them with her full attention.
"It is simple M'lady." "You wish to know how best to express your feelings to the human." "The most logical course of action would be to be honest with him." "Tell him how you feel and how given the unique situation that both of you are in you don't know what to do." "Surely with the differences in your species' cultures he'll have more experience in dealing with emotional interactions." Melzalgald's heads explained.
"Yes...you're right! Saitama surely knows a great deal about emotions! if anything humans seem to be the most needlessly emotional creatures!" She exclaimed as she moved into an upright position "But how can I ask him about such a topic without raising suspicion? one can't just bring up the subject of love and how to express it without questions being asked." She pointed out.
"Simple, ask him what his life was like before he obtained his power, much like you Lady Boros his lack of emotions occurred as everything became boring, but before then he surely was faced with challenges and situations that caused him to feel emotions quite strongly, and even with his somewhat dim appearance it's highly unlikely he's forgotten those moments." Groribas reasoned.
"Of course! his past experiences! I'll use that!" She exclaimed once again as she rose from her throne "I am going to go find him immediately and put this plan into action, thank you as always you three you have been beyond helpful." She praised them as she hurried out of the room.
Unable to keep themselves from feeling proud out how happy they made their mistress, the three elites were about to resume their cleaning when the door to the room was opened once more.
"Oh, before I go, you now have to completely scrub the entirety of the thrusters from top to bottom, you may thank Groribas and his dim comment for this addition to your punishment." She informed them, before taking her leave once more.
Being a plant based form of life Groribas was rather sensitive to temperature, meaning he could feel the hate filled gazes of his fellow elites as their anger began to reach a boiling point, making their glares feel like concentrated lasers attempting to set his head ablaze.
"Hmm...maybe she'd like to play video games?" Saitama wondered aloud, as he laid on his back and stared at his ceiling.
It was beginning to amaze Saitama at just how much he didn't know when it came to hanging out with people, it'd been so long since he'd done something as simple as have a meal with another person that he wasn't really sure what to do. Combine this with the fact the person he was trying to do this with was a near eight foot tall cyclops from outer space who knew very little about earth and what it offered, this left Saitama with nearly no ideas that he was somewhat positive would be good. What made it worse was that for some reason any time he thought about her all he could think about was their time at the movies together, he wasn't sure why that particular memory was so prominent in his thoughts, but whatever the reason he did his best to ignore it so he could focus on coming up with ideas.
"Saitama?" The very voice of the person who was on his mind called out, accompanied by three knocks on his front door.
Honestly taken aback by the chances of her coming to see him as he was thinking about her, that only lasted for a moment as he got to his feet and went to the door.
"Hey Boros, what's up?" He greeted as he opened the door.
"Well...um...Saitama..." She stammered for a moment, evidently nervous about something "You see...I was hoping you could help me with a problem of mine...if that would be alright..." She said.
"What kind of problem?" He asked.
"It's in regards to my emotions...you see even before I became the dominator of the universe my life was fairly routine, on my world all there was to do was fight as due to both the weather conditions and the geography of the planet no real civilizations could ever be constructed." She explained.
"Wow, that sucks." He replied.
"Indeed, so even before my life became dull and boring and I was truly incapable of feeling any sensation I rarely ever felt emotions, but now as I am here on your world spending time with you and learning so much about your people I am beginning to feel a variety of different emotions, and I'm not sure how to handle them or express them, so I was hoping that since you were human you might be able to help me?" She suggested.
Although he understood what he problem was Saitama wasn't sure he knew how to help her, he'd never seen anyone who struggled to express how they were feeling, usually if someone was angry, sad, or happy they made sure the whole world knew about it. But given what her life had been like before and after she became an interstellar warlord, he could see how she was struggling to show these feelings when she never had them once before in her life.
"Sure Boros, I don't know how much help I'll actually be but I'll give it a shot." He told her, causing her face to light up.
"Thank you Saitama." She responded "Would you prefer to do this inside your apartment or should we go somewhere?" She asked.
Deciding to answer simply through action he took a step to the side and gestured for her to come in, causing her to smile and nod in her head in appreciation before entering his abode. Once inside he closed the door behind her and followed her to his living room, they then both sat down at his table and began to work through her problem.
"First things first, when you say you've never felt any emotions before now, do you mean like ANY emotion at all? or just most of them?" He asked her.
"Hmm...I suppose that during certain battles I felt my blood boiling and my heart racing, and I do recall have a grin on my face, but I don't know if that was joy necessarily but more so just raw adrenaline." She answered.
"Okay, then why don't we try and figure out what makes you happy?" He suggested.
"Why? what would that do to help us?" She asked.
"If we figure out what makes you happy in the fastest way possible, then we can figure out how best you can show that happiness." He explained.
"Oh! I see, that does make sense." She agreed.
"Alright, so what makes you happy Boros?" He asked.
"Well...I have enjoyed tasting all of the many different cuisines and treats your planet has to offer, I am also quite fond of how violent your world's history is." She began.
"You really like violence huh?" He asked, causing her to smirk.
"You don't become the ruler of the known universe without being powerful." She boasted, as she resumed her thinking "Anyways, I do enjoy combat a great deal but because of my power I can only feel something when I'm fighting you, I also enjoyed reading your manga and the movie we saw together, and..if I'm being honest...I greatly enjoy spending time with you." She admitted, a faint blush present on her face.
"Really? you enjoy hanging out with me that much?" He asked.
"But of course Saitama! you are without question the single most amazing person I've ever encountered! you are powerful beyond compare yet compassionate for others, despite the fact you could have this world in the palm of your hand you are happy with such a normal and simple life, you're considerate and kind and are easily the greatest hero I have ever bared witness to, in short I think you are simply incredible." She praised, her blushing growing more and more with each compliment.
"Wow, I didn't know you thought so highly of me Boros." He admitted, a bit shocked by how many nice things she had to say.
"But of course Saitama...but you know...there is a reason why I do feel so strongly about you..." She began to say as she looked off to the side, her heart beating faster and faster as she was letting her emotions do the talking for her.
"Yeah I know, it's because we're friends right?" He asked.
"Well...partly..." She answered, as she slowly looked up to meet his gaze with her own "The truth is Saitama...ever since our fight...I've had this feeling inside of me that I just can't ignore, it feels like a raging fire burning passionately within me, and I've been so desperate to try and tell you but was afraid that you might reject me..." She revealed.
For the next few moments Saitama wasn't sure how he should respond, even he could see from the blush on her face and the way she was speaking that she was trying to tell him something important, but after a few more seconds of silence as she waited for his response he figured out what it was.
"Ooooooh I get it! you've been trying to ask me for a rematch right?" He asked.
"...YES!" Lady Boros exclaimed with a wide toothed grin, throwing her hands into the air as she did.
"Geez Boros you didn't need to feel so shy, if you wanted a rematch you could've just asked me." He assured her, causing her to laugh.
"Right right of course! what was I thinking being so nervous? silly me!" She exclaimed.
"To be honest I felt the same way when we fought, it's been a long time since someone put up a decent fight against me, so whenever you want to have a rematch just let me know." He told her.
"If that's the case then why not tomorrow perhaps? less of course you're doing something?" She suggested.
"Nah, tomorrow's good for me, wanna have it in the same place we had our first fight?" He asked.
"Certainly! it's the only place that makes sense!" She exclaimed, as she then got to her feet "Well I best prepare for our rematch then, see you tomorrow Saitama." She said, as she then quickly walked out of his apartment.
Smiling that he had figured out what had been bothering her, although it hadn't been too long since their first fight he was genuinely excited to spar with her again. As for Boros...well...she was...definitely feeling something.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, as she flew through the sky making sure to be far away from anyone who could hear her "WHY?! WHY COULDN'T I JUST CORRECT HIM?! WHY COULDN'T I JUST KEEP MY DAMN EMOTIONS IN CHECK?!" She asked, as he gripped her head out of frustration "It was meant to be so SIMPLE! all I needed to do was ask him how to express my feelings and now we're going to be fighting..." She said with a sigh, as she looked down at the ground below her "I mean, it's not that fighting with my champion is bad by any means...but...I want there to be more than just fighting..." She admitted with a sorrowful expression.
Having an unbearable mixture of anger and sadness mix around inside of her, Boros decided to try and suppress her feelings for the moment, as until she could figure out a way to properly control them and convey them to her beloved, they were only serving to make things more complicated.