Hi!

So, I got one thing to sort of say here.

I've been doing a lot of non-canon things for the last few chapters, so I wanted to say that this stuff is probably going to either be the second to last or last chapter before the actual attack.

Hope you enjoy!


"Cannot believe you convinced me to live here, Tats."

"Hey, you were the one who actually agreed. Plus, it's easier for the both of us since it's just a larger apartment."

"It's all the way in City A. The attack is in two days, since Sekingal just chose to have the meeting while my home was dying out in the background, and we're living far, far away."

"Meh."

Of course, the only reason that Saitama was even convinced to live in the Hero Association Headquarters was because of only one reason and one reason only.

It was free.

They covered all the possible costs. Water, electricity, heat, whatever you could think of. Anything that needed repairing came free, anything that burned came free. It was far too much for Saitama to refuse.

The only problem was the supermarket.

Still all the way in City Z, it would take about 5 minutes there and 5 minutes back. A ten minute round trip.

That is, unless Saitama was to truly go at his fastest. Who knows how quickly he'd be able to go back and forth between the cities.

Of course, that itself brought another issue into question.

The laws of nature and science most likely don't work here, but according to Saitama, going at a certain speed would usually make the friction high enough to light the plastic bags on fire. That'd wouldn't do. Plus, going a little bit below that speed is still risky due to Saitama being clumsy at times, especially when he just randomly throws punches. He'd likely destroy half of the things he runs through.

"Baldy, did you hear what they told us when we got here?" Tornado put a hand on her hip as she put a hand on his shoulder (she had to reach up to really hold it there, but that wasn't the point).

"Huh?" He hummed, staring off to the side. He shrugged, a bored look in his eyes.

"They're letting us just grab any sort of ingredient we'd need from the gigantic ass food storage thing they have in the Hero Barracks. You'll be fine."

"Oh..." he clicked his tongue, his tone disingenuous.

Yeah, this was the deciding moment that Tornado knew she'd have to bring what she'd been thinking about to the table soon, especially considering the raid that was coming closer and closer by the moment.

The man that she'd fallen for, the man who she thought she knew best out of anyone else, and the man who'd she'd lived with for quite some time, was in some sort of emotional slump.

She knew him to not have too many emotions, but when he did feel something, it truly meant a lot to him.

Food was one of those things, especially when the thought of it costing nothing was involved. Anything that was free, actually.

That's why the situation in front of her was so obviously horrendous that she knew she had to take action.

The Saitama that she had come to know and have some sort of romantic affection for would never feel nor appear so apathetic about getting some free food at nobody's expense.


"Why are you knocking on our door at this ungodly time?" Fubuki put a hand on her hip, stepping out of the way. Ever since they'd started to actually try to spend time as sisters together, Fubuki had learned how to actually use her voice against her elder sister, arguing with her properly as siblings usually do.

Even if they weren't a normal pair of siblings, that didn't mean they were exempt from functioning like rational human beings.

Tornado rolled her eyes, "What, are you guys having a meeting or something?"

"Duh," Fubuki clicked her tongue, pointing her thumb at the rest of the Blizzard Bunch who were all in another large room. "This is our building, you know."

Tatsumaki snorted, "You gonna kick me out?"

"If you don't have anything to bring up, I think I'll probably just ask you to leave. Besides, why aren't you hanging out with Saitama or just killing monsters?" Blizzard absentmindedly waved her hands at the suggestion, knowing that those took up most of Tornado's free time...which was all the time she spent.

"That's the thing," the short woman bit her lip. "I kind of...need help...talking to him."

Fubuki furrowed her eyebrows, a little intrigued, "Why? What happened?"

"I dunno, honestly," Tatsumaki admitted. "Bang told me that Saitama would cover Charanko's hospital fees-"

Fubuki choked on nothing but air, wheezing, "I'm sorry, what?!"

"I know, I know," the green-haired woman let out a soft smile at that. "But...Bang told me that he felt guilty, that he felt responsible for it...and I don't know how to bring it up to him."

Fubuki hummed, trying to decide what would be the best route to take.

She opted to step out of the doorway, and let her sister in. She stepped in, and instantly felt the eyes of the Blizzard Bunch carefully eyeing her.

"Fubuki-sama, are you sure this is the best decision to make? She did try to destroy Eyebrows, you know..." Lily hesitantly brought up, her fear of being the next victim easily present.

"Chill, chill," Tornado urged, plopping down on a chair she literally just made out of a psychic barrier. She'd been reading too much manga recently that King had that usually had telekinetic-controlling protagonists.

"What is she here for, Fubuki-sama?" Eyebrows raised his eyebrows, crossing her arms. "Is there something that we need of her?"

"It's the opposite," She explained quickly. "I'm not sure how to explain it, but you remember Saitama, right?"

They all nod, recalling the bald man who'd graciously offered to help them carry in a ton of groceries a few times.

Of course, it was simply because Genos wasn't there at the moment and the groceries for each and every single one of them seemed nearly impossible to take care of within half an hour.

Saitama had moved all the groceries in within ten minutes.

It was...scary, to see the least. It was like he was a professional grocery bag carrier, to the point where he had more serious features on his face than Fubuki had seen before, even when he'd had to move his things to the Hero Association Headquarters. According to him, he wouldn't do it through a truck because it cost too much, and he didn't want Tatsumaki to do it because he felt like that'd be forcing her.

Tornado did half of it anyways.

"Well...take it away," Fubuki cleared her throat, gesturing to her older sister.

Tatsumaki scratched the back of her head, "So...I don't know how to ask him about his feelings without blowing up."

Fubuki thought, You didn't ask anyone about their feelings in the first place until...a few months ago, if I remember correctly.

"I don't even think I've asked him about his feelings before..."

Lily hummed, "I mean, does he even have feelings? He seemed so bored when we asked him to bring in the groceries, but he just...did it. Like nothing ever happened, like a machine, you know?" She crossed her legs, stretching a little bit.

"From what I know, other than me, it's mainly either food or free stuff, or at least, things on sale..." Tornado muttered, blushing at how embarrassing it was to reveal how simple-minded her boyfriend was.

"Then just act like yourself," Mountain Ape simply advised. "Can't be that hard, right?"

"But what do I say?" Tatsumaki whined, biting her lip a little bit and crossing her arms. "It's not like I can just go up to him and say, 'You seem down. Spill.' That's just so...weird." She scrunched up her nose a little bit, disgusted at the thought of being so blunt it seemed ugly.

"Well," Fubuki clicked her tongue, humming a little as she scratched her cheek. "Not sure what to do with you then. Genos acts like that, so I guess it's just what I'm used to."

"And I usually insult him out of instinct whenever I feel some weird emotion," Tatsumaki scoffed, completely honest. "It doesn't mean any sort of harm, but he knows that. I dunno if he realized why I do it, though."

"Probably not the best way to do it."

"Meh."


"Oi, Saitama."

"Huh?"

"You seem down. Spill."

Saitama blinked. He didn't know why, but he felt like Tatsumaki had said that exact same sentence recently, but he can't place it for the life of him.

"Okay, what's up?" He hummed, putting down his controller. He'd been practicing the game that King lent him, and especially considering he had nothing to do, he just decided to sit down for a bit and play.

"You've seemed really tense the past few days," Tornado huffed, crossing her arms as she plopped down next to him. "What happened?"

She really did want to seem concerned and helpful and willing to listen, but she was coming off as anything but.

Yet, Saitama didn't think so, "It's nothing, Tats. Just came across that ninja guy again."

She knew full well that he was lying to her. She didn't know why, but she could hear it in his tone. She furrowed her eyebrows and hugged his arm lightly.

"You sure it's not something else?" Tornado prompted. "Then why don't you tell me why we suddenly lost a bunch of money from our accounts? I know it isn't a hacker; neither of us are stupid enough to fall for scams, and why us of all people? It's gotta be something else, right?"

This time, she knew she got a reaction.

He slightly tensed up.

Her eyes softened a little bit; he didn't show his reactions to most things openly, especially when they caught him off guard. She herself had barely been able to catch him off guard most of the time, too.

He stayed silent.

"Saitama," she hummed quietly, suddenly making the world narrow in. The silence, the fact that nothing was going on around them, everything about the atmosphere, made it seem like the world was nothing right now. It felt like time itself had stopped.

"What's wrong?" She questioned, gazing up at him. She looked into his eyes, and she didn't really know what she saw. There was some sort of inner conflict that he was clearly fighting, and one she desperately wanted to know about.

Or, in reality, help him out with. She'd already heard about part of it from Bang, but she wanted to know directly from him.

She tugged on his arm, which seemed to activate his speech again, "I...I don't know, Tats." His tone was quieter than usual. It was genuine, slight emotion actually hinted at in his speech.

She knew he meant his words whenever he said them, especially the few times that he tried to compliment her. Granted, they weren't the best compliments in the world, but the way he did try to show what he thought was a very nice touch.

She gulped. She'd heard his voice always...so bland and apathetic, uncaring about most things. Tornado knew damn well that the most emotion she'd ever heard from him was when...she kissed him a little bit back.

Tatsumaki shakily smiled, her voice suddenly almost caught in her throat, "You...wanna try talking about it, Saitama?"

He bit his lip, glancing back down at her. There was a sudden emotion that flickered in his eyes, one that Tornado hadn't seen in him since...ever. She'd never seen it in his eyes.

It wasn't sadness, nor happiness, and not even frustration.

She saw some sort of guilt in his eyes.

Remorse.

And remorse was not something she thought should ever be in Saitama's eyes, no matter the circumstance.


"I...I don't know, Tats," he admitted, his tone a little tired. "I've been sort of...confused ever since all this stuff went on. You know when everyone had to come over to our old place and then it got destroyed?"

I nod. What did that have to do with Charanko, though?

"It...it made me realize that...maybe the world doesn't really need me as a hero, I guess," he dryly laughed, and I tilt my head. "I still do this for the fun, but...recently, I don't really see the fun in being a hero. I feel like I haven't even been a real hero. Just feels like I'm punching monsters, not saving people."

He took the silence as a sign to continue, "I don't know what being a hero's like, honestly. Never been one. Or at least, haven't really been one in three years, if a hero's supposed to be a beacon of justice."

I prompted quietly, "Then what do you think is a hero if it's not someone who helps people?"

I wanted to be angry at him, I'll admit. I truly believed that every word he said was nothing but empty words, something...fake, honestly.

But I couldn't feel anger at him. I just couldn't.

I felt sympathy. He'd probably take it as pity, but I don't even know if he'd consider pity as something he doesn't want.

He hummed, looking into nothingness before sighing, "I guess...somebody like who King is to the people, or someone like you. Someone that...people can feel safe around, someone that make people realize, 'Hey! Even if something bad happens, these guys will keep me safe,' you know?"

"Aren't you someone who makes people feel safe or happy?" I argued, though there was no bite to the way I said it.

He instantly replied, "I don't know, honestly. I do think that heroes don't have to be loved or worshipped by the people, especially not the second one...but I'm just hated, I guess."

I couldn't hold back a scoff, "And you care about that now, Saitama?"

"No," he calmly replied, as if it was the easiest thing on the earth. "It's not that. I mean that maybe me not being in the Hero Association was the right call to make. Maybe not being in the Hero Association would've been the best way to make the people feel safe, because Charanko didn't feel safe. What about all the other people that I failed to save?"

I bit my lip. What do I do?

"Uhh..." I quietly stuttered, the words getting caught in my throat. Not like there were any words to say in the first place, but something got caught. Not sure what.

He shook his head, "Sorry, Tats. Just overthought it."

I bit my lip again, this time tugging on his arm, "Please don't apologize..."

I sounded disgusting, personally. Saying 'please' like that, quietly and being genuinely polite? I don't even know why I said please!

I leaned my head on his arm as he hummed, "I just...sort of don't know what to do with these emotions now."

Before I could interrupt, he softly chuckled, "You know, I thought you would've just said, 'you have emotions?' Surprised you didn't, honestly."

I let out a soft smile, though he knew it didn't reach my eyes, "I mean...what sort of girlfriend would I be if I wasn't there for you the one time you needed it, you know?"

He, without hesitation, admitted, "I'm glad, though. I...didn't really think I'd have to go through this sort of thing, but it makes me feel like what I've done has sort of...changed me. Other than being bald, of course."

I pursed my lips, "You're changing the subject..." I lightly punched his arm, but I couldn't put any real force behind the hit. "At least talk about it..."

He scratched his head, "I mean, what else is there to say? I've got out what I needed to get out."

I furrowed my eyebrows, pouting as I tugged on his arm, "No, you haven't. Because you're wrong."

I bit my lip before I just sort of...half-assed an argument against what he was saying, "You've saved a ton of people. You've saved the people in the other cities with the Alien guys, you saved the huge center with the Deep Sea King, hell, you even saved that little girl because I couldn't fucking do it!"

I poked his chest, insisting, "I don't even make people feel super safe because I haven't saved everyone, Saitama. So why do you think you have to be responsible for all of that?"

He was silent before admitting, "I don't know...don't you have these sorts of emotions? I thought...I thought that this was sort of normal to feel."

I tried to glare at him, but I sighed instead, "I...I do feel like that, sometimes, Saitama. I know that I couldn't save everyone, and I've accepted that, but that doesn't...that doesn't mean that that was the best I could do, you know?"

I stared at him again, meeting his eyes, "I...I just don't get why you're being so hard on yourself because of this. I thought...I thought that you were always glad to have these emotions, but...I guess I thought wrong. And I'm not blaming you. I just...I just feel like you don't need and shouldn't have to - like I should've been-"

He planted a kiss on my forehead, effectively shutting me up, "Hey, what'd you say about not blaming yourself and not apologizing?"

I scoffed, "Doesn't apply here."

He grabs my hand and lightly squeezes, "Sure it doesn't. Who said I'm not glad to feel this way, Tats?"

Okay, now I'm confused.

Huh?

I'll be real, I did not think that was the direction he was going to go.

"I...I feel...remorse. Guilt. Pain, almost," he explained, before sighing. "It's weird to say, but it feels good to feel this way...I haven't felt like this...in forever. And...this guilt I feel sucks, like, it really, really sucks, but I don't hate it. It..." he clicks his tongue. "It's sort of like a motivator, you know?"

I stayed silent again as he kept going, "Like...I'm human...and...the thing is...these emotions..."

I interrupted him, "So...are you...really like...distressed, Saitama?" I want to make sure, and it's probably not the best time to ask the question, but it's been buzzing around in my mind.

"Sort of, but not really. But these emotions? I'm glad to have them," he hummed, before lightly smiling at me. "You gave them to me, you know."


"Tats, do you really think this is the best way to cheer me up?"

"I dunno. I just hoped it'd work. Besides, this is our last day before we really have to do anything about the Monster Association."

"You sure we should be doing this instead of like...talking out with the other heroes?" Saitama proposed as he accepted the blanket thrown on top of him. "I enjoy cuddling with you, don't get me wrong. I just feel like you're making this a much bigger issue than it needs to be."

"Meh. We haven't had a movie night in a while, and I feel like taking it off your mind'd be a cool way to do it."

Of course, even heroes had other ways to take a break other than just killing more monsters (though that mainly applied to the higher-class heroes). For Sweet Mask, his performances. Watchdog Man, taking a nap in the city square. Genos and Fubuki? Not to be shown.

Saitama and Tatsumaki often opted for movies. Not the ones at the theater, because Tornado knew just how reluctant her boyfriend would be to spend a single time on movie snacks. They just rented out a bunch of movies and binged all of them together.

"When did you even get the time to grab all of these movies?" Saitama asked, incredulous. There were a pile of at least five movies, and it was already about 3 in the afternoon. He suspected the two of them were bound to be watching for quite a few hours.

"Mm," Tornado hummed. "Got it a few days back, and I thought this would be the best time to use them, you know?"

She slightly shifted, joining him on the couch.

The best thing that Saitama thought came out of the move?

There was a free, gigantic T.V that practically dwarfed his old T.V. Not like that was a great bar to pass, but that wasn't the point.

The possessions that he owned, which wasn't that much, added with Tornado's, which was a decent amount, all combined with what the Hero Association gave them for free?

There was practically nothing that there could have been to beat it. Yes, even the supermarket. Saitama still went there whenever he felt like buying groceries, even though he got at least half of the food and things like that from the Hero Association.

In his words, he felt it was just living off of taxes. He didn't like paying them, because he hated math. That's all. But he didn't like living off of the money of everybody else when he could've just paid for another one of those really cheap apartments near where he used to live. It wasn't too much to ask for, in his opinion, at least.

Then again, he did like living with Tornado closer to where Fubuki lived as well. It meant that the entire group could spend time together. It was like his own little family of sorts.

As Tornado snuggled up to Saitama under the blanket, her head slightly popping out from underneath, she reached over to grab the bowl of popcorn that she microwaved a while back.

It wasn't the most...sophisticated setup, but it'd do. Plus, neither of them really cared about the room around them.

It was their movie night, and they were damn well going to enjoy it.

And maybe a few hugs and kisses in between.

Definitely.

It was a night before the big event. What else were they going to do? Stress about it?

That's not them.

God damn, they were so sappy at times.