Your heart's a mess

[wounds]

Who: Genos, Squalo & YOU
What: A performance
When: Feb 12
Where: On stage at some club
Warnings: ... Squalo?

[Check those sweet top levels]

Comments

[heroforfun]

Faaaa. Right? Nah, I probably screwed it up again. "Fa" just isn't as good for settling into a bath as "aah".

[wounds]

[... Saitama-Makoto- whatever his name is- he's sharp again.

... Again?

They're in a bathhouse, soaking in it together, and he listens to Saitama's pitch and attempts to correct it.

He misses it, he longs for it- he wants to be with Saitama again. But the hold Pride has on him is strong.]

... I really... I don't know you, Makoto. Don't... act like you know me.

[heroforfun]

Yeah. We're strangers.

[Shrug.]

But, uh. You don't have to look so sad. You okay? Are you upset about me shooting you down?

[wounds]

[It hurts to hear it. Even if he knows, logically it's better this way.

It's better that he has nothing to do with Saitama for the rest of his life.]

I'll be fine. We're strangers, so there's no reason you should care about me.

[Saitama doesn't care. He never really cared.]

[heroforfun]

[Why does this feel like a goodbye? Urgh... he's not good with stuff like this. What's going on?]

You're the reason I'm here at all.

[Here at this performance, or here in this universe.]

[wounds]

[A lot of things, behind the scenes of the labels. Genos wants two opposing things when Saitama's here like this- to run far, far away from him and to stick, dedicated, to his side.]

... Do you really care about me?

[heroforfun]

Well... yeah. It's not, like, a "dating" like thing or anything. But I do.

What's wrong, Genos?

[wounds]

[He cares and usually that would mean glowing a bit in victory- but now he just looks lost.

What's he supposed to do with information like that?]

How can you say that you care when you're the reason my family died?

[heroforfun]

Whoa. What?

[A lot of things are not that startling to Saitama. Very, very few things. Even Squalo couldn't get the slightest bit of concern out of him with all that posturing.

But now Saitama looks utterly baffled.]

[wounds]

Don't act like that. Don't act like you don't know what you've done.

[heroforfun]

I don't! What're you talking about??

[wounds]

[Reasonably he'd back down, Saitama doesn't seem to know. But he's certain he's right about this, the brainwashing went deep.]

You were working with the Mad Cyborg this entire time. And you- you never told me. You just let me follow you around, put you on a pedestal-

[heroforfun]

Hey! Whoa, no, no no--

[He looks around, and keeps his voice down again.]

You seriously think I'd hurt people?? That actually seems "in character" for me?? Is it because I'm bald?

[wounds]

[He wants, so badly, to believe Saitama. So he deflates from his anger and just looks lost all over again.]

I don't... I don't know. I feel like I don't know anything anymore.

[heroforfun]

Well-- okay. We can't talk here. But at least listen to me this time, Genos: it's not fun to hurt people.

[And that's it. That's all the reason he needs to not be a villain. There's plenty of reasons more, but that to him is the most compelling.]

[wounds]

That's it? That's your reason?

[What's he supposed to do with knowledge like that?]

[heroforfun]

There's a lot of reasons! But that one matters most. You should know why!

[Because he's a hero for fun. That's it. And he knows that Genos knows that somewhere in that mess that's his head right now.]

[wounds]

[Somewhere he should know that, but he's an absolute mess. He only has bits an pieces of his memory back, and memories that aren't even true.]

I don't!

[heroforfun]

Because I'm the kind of guy that doesn't do anything he doesn't want to! Unless that thing I don't want to do is pay bills or go to work to get money or whatever. And I don't want to hurt people, that's not fun! So quit being a dumbass and thinking too hard about it!!

[Oops he's yelling]

[wounds]

[His eyes widen, he takes a step back-]

Then what am I supposed to think?

[What's he supposed to do with the memories he's gotten?]

[heroforfun]

Why are you asking me??

[wounds]

You- You knew me from before. Didn't you?

[He's such a wreck. He went from accusing Saitama of murder to asking for his help in the same conversation.]

I don't know... who you are or who I'm supposed to be.

[heroforfun]

[GAH. Genos is a wreck, what'd he miss??]

I'm an average guy.

[And he whispers the next part.]

An average guy who's a hero for fun. That's it.

[wounds]

[A part of him wants to say Saitama's so much more than he thinks, that he's the most amazing person Genos has ever met. But can he really say that when the most he knows Saitama from is a few odd memories?]

That's it? Really?

[heroforfun]

Look at me, do I seem like the kind of guy that's smart enough to do that long term plotting stuff?