Adjusting to the routine of balancing hero duties, domestic duties and observing the life habits of his teacher was somewhat of a challenge to someone like Genos. Having grown accustomed to tending to his own matters, the requirement of having to learn how to accommodate others and be accommodated in return, was a little hard to wrap his head around. But Genos would like to think that he has done a decent job of doing so.

While he has yet to discover the source of his teacher's strength, moving in with the other was not without it's merits. Under the guidance of Saitama, he had gained insight to things that would never have occurred to him without being pointed out by the other- the strategy behind acquiring products during sales, how to bargain without being perceived as overly aggressive, the recycling of mysterious being parts, how certain actions made others uncomfortable...the list of things Genos had learned from his teacher over the years he'd been there only serves to grow with each passing day.

But that's not all the cyborg has picked up on.

Most days, their routine resembles clockwork and they go through it in the same manner they go through every day. Then there are the days where his teacher's steps seem a lot heavier, his reactions a fraction slower. There are days where his teacher is quiet- even by Saitama's own standards. These are the ones that worries Genos the most, because his teacher's presence is diminished. The cyborg understood the concept of people enjoying solitude, reducing the volume of noise and buzz around them so as to recharge. But this- it's like hitting the mute button on life altogether. Existing in stagnant air. Drifting into a place Genos can't reach.

There are days where his teacher's words are spoken in low lackluster murmuring if he even spoke at all. Saitama is the most restless when he's like that, fidgeting repeatedly with the hems of his pants and sleeves in an absentminded manner. Sometimes his teacher dozes for the majority of the day inside the apartment, rejecting offers to eat out or take a walk, leaving most of the hero work to Genos until there were mysterious beings that threaten to overwhelm the city. Other times, Genos would rise from 'sleep' mode to see him still awake, blinking blankly at the ceiling until early morning.

He'd thought to ask of course. But the only explanations he would ever receive were that this was perhaps part of the side effects from his teacher's rigorous training regime in the past, or that he's just "tired" but he's fine. The older hero never seemed to want to talk about the peculiarities in his tendencies so in time, Genos learns to let it go and instead does his best to understand that through observing once more.

To combat his teacher's low energy levels, he decides to do what he can to keep fresh air flowing. A clean apartment with calming objects like plants can sometimes serve to improve his teacher's mood just a little. He lets Saitama soak in the bath a little longer, uses reasons like observation to knead the tension out of Saitama's shoulders or back, creates easily ingested food in reasonable portions so that the task of finishing them did not appear too daunting, and let's his core run just a little louder at night so that it rumbles softly beneath his vents- a steady consistent presence.

He doesn't know if Saitama had been aware of his efforts, he must have, since his teacher tries his best to still meet him halfway in things even when he's "really tired".

But perhaps Genos should have tried just a little harder to identify the source of these peculiarities. Perhaps he should have sought out answers and asked the right questions because then he would not be stuck in this position, not knowing what to do when Saitama wakes up one day and could not find it in himself to leave his futon. It takes an eternity to keep him awake. Another eternity to coax half-hearted replies out of his teacher.

Though his physical vessel is constructed with mainly metal parts than organic, and his sensations relied on psychosomatic feedback mostly, the section where his abdomen would be feels like it's squeezed tight. For the first time in a very long while, Genos remembers what it feels like to be cold, heavy with the understanding that something is wrong and yet unable to know how to fix it. He does eventually manage to get the elder hero to sit up and go through the motions of things. He doesn't quite succeed with anything else because Saitama is crying. There were a lot of scenarios Genos can come up with if one were to ask him what he'd never like to have to witness. His esteemed teacher's form, hunched in as if to reduce the space he took, shaking like a leaf- was one of such scenarios.

Saitama cries and Genos aches. He does not have the capability of fixing whatever it was that ails the other.

He can do nothing when faced with Saitama's distress and it unsettles him, to come to know that there was little he could do for this man regardless of how fervently Genos wishes for it to be not so. The cyborg pulls blanks for a while when he attempts to retrieve memories and information on what to do. What is left of tender memories are few and in between but in his own hurt, it draws up hazy images of arms, soft comfort and a face- blurred out but gentle.

He draws the shaking form of his teacher into his own arms, distracting the man briefly by creating a soft cocoon over his frame with his blanket, tucking him against his side. And though he no longer has a heart, the cyborg swears he can feel it break again when he hears the equally disquieted sensation that mirrors his own when Saitama finally finally offers an admission that he is hurting but has no idea why. He does not know what to do or say. Only tightens, squeezing the other in his arms as he continues to cry. Genos holds on to Saitama long after his jagged breathing evens out and he falls into a deep sleep, afraid to let him go. It aches to see someone you believe so staunchly in, teetering on the brink of breaking into pieces.

He still doesn't know what to do. But if there's one thing that Genos does know, it'd be that he intends to try.

He may never be able to fully incinerate the source of his teacher's ailments but if there was a chance that he could make it better, make things brighter for Saitama, then he wants to try.