Chapter Text
Genos stood in awe as the group of tank tops dropped the last box outside of his dorm room. Apparently they were all fraternity men. Apparently it was the task of the Greek students to help the freshman with move in, which was nice. What Genos hadn’t expected, however, was the fact that groups of frat guys would be talking to him right and left and not so subtly try to convince him to rush. It couldn’t have taken more than an hour to move everything up to his room and his vocal chords were shot by the time the last box was dropped off.
It was worth it though, as Genos noticed that the freshman who were outwardly against the uncomfortable conversations were almost immediately shunned and left to move the boxes on their own. Genos wouldn’t have minded that, but his elderly godfather, Dr. Stench, would have tried to help move everything including the futon and Genos didn’t want to see the man injure himself on accident.
So awkward conversations it was.
“Thank you very much, gentlemen,” Dr. Stench huffed as he made his way to the door.
“No problem gramps,” the larger frat guy, the supposed president of this particular fraternity, that jokingly called himself Tank Top Master. “It was nice to meet you Genos!”
“Yeah,” Genos grunted. “Nice to meet you too.”
“Are you going to the block party later?”
“Block party?” Genos raised an eyebrow. The answer was probably going to be a definite no, but he had promised Dr. Stench that he would at least attempt to be a normal human being and socialize with other people. He wasn’t about to shoot down any possible excursion in front of the old man.
“Yeah, it’s going to be on Greek Row and we’ll be passing out a lot of free stuff,” Tank Top Master (why couldn’t he have just introduced himself with his actual name?) explained. “It’ll be a great chance for you to get to know more of the guys in our house—and the other frats too—your RA will probably have more information but it’s sure to be a lot of fun.”
Yeah. A lot of fun. Sure. Genos held in a breath, trying really hard not to say anything that could be seen as “rude”. Dr. Stench had warned Genos how he could rub people the wrong way if he was too blunt and while Genos didn’t care, he knew how much it meant to his godfather to watch him succeed. Four years of moving around the country since his parents passed and being home schooled through the process had all but destroyed any social skills he had. As a natural introvert, Genos couldn’t say he really had much to begin with, not that he cared. He had always preferred the company of his own mind, spending his summers reading books and studying in Dr. Stench’s lab. Tales of superheroes and unyielding justice had always captivated Genos and the active use of his own imagination gave him more fulfillment than any interaction with strangers that seemed to only approach him out of either pity or attraction to his looks in general.
“I’ll do my best to make it, thank you for the invitation,” Genos forced himself to finally say. Tank Top Master practically illuminated as he bid his goodbyes and left to go help another hopeless freshman move in. Apparently, Genos’s politeness led the poor sap to believe that he was actually considering joining that fraternity.
But there was no way in hell anyone or anything could convince him to wear one of those god-awful tank tops.
“They seemed very nice,” Dr. Stench said, opening one of the heavier boxes to help with unpacking. On instinct Genos felt himself stride over to where the old man stood and rolled his desk chair behind Dr. Stench, signaling for the man to sit. As usual, Dr. Stench ignored the gesture. Sighing, Genos lifted the box onto his desk (well, it was his desk now, his roommate had yet to show).
“Dr. Stench, please let me help,” Genos sighed as he lifted his printer out of the box. He could feel Dr. Stench shaking his head, Genos knew better than to hover over the doctor, but he couldn’t help himself. The man had been looking out for Genos for as long as he could remember. Dr. Stench was the reason Genos was going away to college to major in Biomedical Engineering. He took Genos in when his parents were killed in a terrible accident. Genos owed his future to this man and now that the doctor was getting older, it was all the younger man could do to keep from worrying incessantly over his caretaker as he tried to do things he was no longer physically capable of doing.
“I may be old but I can still unpack a few boxes, my boy,” Dr. Stench scolded and Genos felt himself immediately backing away.
“Sorry, Doctor.”
“In any case, didn’t you think those boys were nice?” Dr. Stench asked, “They seem like fine young men. It sounded like some of them were engineers as well.”
Genos kept his mouth shut as he carefully scooted the futon into place underneath one of the loft beds.
“Yeah,” Genos allowed, “they were certainly helpful with getting everything up here.”
“They could continue to be helpful,” Dr. Stench added, not bothering to beat around the bush. “And Theta Tau is a nationally recognized fraternity—“
“Dr. Stench,” Genos sighed, “I will admit that they were a nice group of guys but I don’t think that fraternity is right for me.”
“Oh you never know,” Dr. Stench said. “College is your opportunity to expand your horizon. Get involved in things you never thought you would—“
“And wear an ugly ass tank top?”
“Okay so the tank tops do look pretty bad,” the doctor finally admitted. “But there are other fraternities.”
“Yeah but,” Genos had to choose his words carefully. He sat in a crouching position near the futon and glanced up at the doctor who had finally taken a seat in the desk chair, “I just don’t think I’ll have time for a fraternity. I am in the engineering program after all.”
“Genos,” Dr. Stench smiled, “I know you are probably feeling a bit overwhelmed with your course load and your transition into a public university like this. But engineering is not a major you can simply handle by yourself.”
“I’ll have my professors,” Genos offered, taking a seat on the futon.
“And if you get a professor that doesn’t know how to teach?”
“I’ll ask for help from my classmates.”
“Even if you don’t know them?” Dr. Stench prodded. He was standing over Genos now, motioning for the boy to scoot over so he too could sit. “You and I both know that your likelihood of branching out in such a way is quite slim.”
Genos felt his jaw clench, trying to form a scenario in his head that would help him explain that, no, Genos would totally ask for help if he needed it. But when he couldn’t (mostly because he couldn’t yet picture himself being in such a bind to begin with) he sighed heavily and groaned, “I’ll do research on them.”
Dr. Stench chuckled, “Oh, you’re going to have to do a little more than simple research, Genos.”
Genos felt his eyebrow raise, trying really hard not to glare at the doctor. Dr. Stench, in turn, merely smiled knowingly.
“You cannot simply judge a fraternity—or any organization—simply by what you see on their website. If you were to look at all of the chapters on this campus, I’m sure Theta Tau would be one of the more appealing ones for you. But they helped you move in and that interaction alone has already helped you form a more educated opinion. You need to meet the other men that make up these fraternities, Genos.”
“You’re not—“ Genos felt his mouth dry up, “You’re not suggesting I actually rush a fraternity…are you?”
Dr. Stench shrugged, “Go to the block party. Meet other people. And if you decide to join a house, I will gladly pay for it.”
“Dr. Stench…” Genos trailed off, not sure if he felt touched that the old man would quite literally do anything and pay for anything to help him out or if he felt bad that Dr. Stench was desperate enough to help Genos that he would pay fraternity dues every semester on top of the ridiculous tuition they were already paying. Closing his eyes and sighing heavily, he added, “Please don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
“I have no doubt in my mind that you’ll be fine, Genos,” Dr. Stench said, the pitch of his voice shifting slightly. Genos made the mistake of looking up and found the old man’s eyes sparkling with tears that threatened to escape, “But that doesn’t mean I won’t worry. It’s my job to do so.”
At that, Genos felt an unfamiliar wave of emotions fill his chest. He felt himself crack a big smile before tears welled up in his eyes and he had to look down to try to wipe them away, letting out a few chuckles and a short string of curse words.
Normally, Dr. Stench would have scolded him for using such language. Normally, Dr. Stench would have given Genos a playful smack to the head and ask what on earth he was crying for. Normally, this would have led to one of the doctor’s many words of wisdom or tips of life advice. But this wasn’t a normal situation, and suddenly Genos felt the doctor’s arms wrap around his shoulders, and he allowed himself to lean into the elder man’s small frame, listening to the muffled sobs come from his godfather.
“I am so proud of you,” Dr. Stench whimpered. And at that, Genos, who had promised himself that he wouldn’t let his empathy overtake him when it was time for Dr. Stench to get emotional at the though of leaving his godson at school for an entire semester, felt streaks of tears rolling down his cheeks. The thoughts of bidding his caretaker goodbye was oh so bittersweet, Genos admitted. He was thankful that it was less bitter and much sweeter than the painful goodbye to his parents had been. And of course, that thought left the boy breaking out into hysterical sobs all together.
His parents should have been here crying along with Dr. Stench.
As if to sense the pain Genos suddenly felt, Dr. Stench let out a few chuckles, “Don’t worry, my boy, I’m sure somewhere your mother is having a fit over the thought of you going away to college.”
“Shuddup,” Genos whimpered, pushing Dr. Stench away, furiously wiping his eyes dry. “God dammit, old man, why’d you have to go and make me cry?”
The only response the old man gave him was a fit of laughter and another hug.
Genos wandered around the activities fair feeling a little out of place. Okay really out of place. His roommate still had yet to show and move-in ended (well, the part where the Greeks helped you move your stuff and the street outside the freshman dorm was closed off so you could park your car had ended), and Genos hadn’t gotten so much as a text from the kid. Actually, Genos hadn’t heard from his roommate at all and they had gotten their assignment two months before class started. All he really knew was that his roommate preferred the name Sonic and that he was on a track and field scholarship.
The lucky bastard.
Genos never understood it. He got the highest scholarship his school could offer (supposedly) and a scholarship from the engineering department and he was still paying $20,000 a year. And for one track and field scholarship, the athletes at this school could have their entire schooling paid for. This wasn’t even a sporty school! The basketball teamed sucked. They didn’t even have a football team. The track team was mediocre. And the athletes didn’t have to pay tuition. Yeah that’s a fabulous investment of University money.
“Hey! Genos!” the boy stopped and turned his head to find Tank Top Master waving at him. “Come over here!”
Genos really had to fight his instinct to run at the sight of awkward social interaction in order to force himself to walk over to the patio of the frat house. “Hi…Tank Top Master.”
The crowd of guys sitting and drinking on the patio all cheered as Genos took a step onto it. Tank Top Master threw his arms around Genos, clearly intoxicated. “Want a beer?”
“Uh…no thanks,” Genos shrugged. Crap. He should’ve run. He should’ve. He had the chance. But no. He was gonna make friends, Dr. Stench said. It was gonna be fun, he said.
“Oh come on!” another tank top, who had dark hair and called himself Black Hole, shouted, “Just have another beer! What’s the harm in it?”
“How can I have another drink if I haven’t even had one yet?” Genos grumbled. Tank Top Black Hole stumbled over and slapped Genos on the back.
“All the more reason to have another!”
Genos glanced up at Tank Top Master who had taken the opportunity to pour a second red solo cup of beer and smiled down at him, pushing the cup into Genos’s chest.
“One drink won’t hurt.”
Staring down at the tan liquid in the cup, Genos hesitantly took it in one hand.
And while one cup didn’t hurt, one cup that was continuously being refilled when Genos wasn’t looking, and then one cup that at some point changed to a suspiciously pink liquid sure did. What at first left Genos feeling loosened up and conversational, thinking he had found some new friends quickly spiraled out of control to Genos stumbling awkwardly, the other tank tops looking skeptically at him.
“Poor kid can’t hold his liquor.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t give him a bid….he’d probably pass out if he tried a keg stand.”
While Genos cleared up pretty quickly as far as cognition goes, his body was failing him. And it was humiliating.
These fucking assholes, Genos thought to himself as he stumbled off the step. He had clamped his mouth shut after a few slips of the tongue. The words he said themselves weren’t embarrassing. It was the way they failed to roll off his tongue with precision that all but humiliated him.
“Genos, do you want me to get you some water?” Tank Top Master asked. Genos tried to say that he was fine, but instead waved his hand away, the urge to throw up quickly overtaking him. He straightened his back, trying to mimic the walking gate of a sober man, and sauntered away.
And for some reason, the street had tilted to a forty-five degree angle. Weird.
The music blaring at one of the other frat houses began to slow to a painful pulse from the base. Slowly the forty-five degree angle became closer to fifty degrees. Then sixty. Then…he could put a box at the corner where the sky and the ground met. Haha…geometry.
Genos turned his head to the side and saw his reflection. Except his reflection was skin-colored. Where there two Genoses? Weird.
“Hey freshman,” his reflection spoke and suddenly Genos realized that his reflection was coming off of someone’s baldhead. “You okay?”
Genos squinted, trying to make out the face of the man beside him. He looked…he looked kind of like an egg.
“Why…why do you have boobs on your shirt…?” Genos asked, staring incredulously at the white sweatshirt with read sleeves. In yellow font, there were Greek letters that spelled out “OPPAI”, and underneath a shape that starkly resembled a woman’s breast.
“Ah,” The bald man smiled slightly and glanced down at his sweatshirt. “I made it as a joke. Our crest looks a lot like this, except its just turned on the side. So when some of the guys wanted shirts I uh…made a joke out of it. Our advisor wasn’t too happy with me so I didn’t get initiated last semester as punishment but it’s not like I care, I mostly wound up pledging my fraternity as a—hey freshman, are you okay?”
“Nnnnnngh,” was all Genos could say as he slumped to the side, unintentionally leaning on him.
“Ah, crap,” the baldy said. “Did Theta Tau give you their jungle juice?”
“The fuck is jungle juice?” Genos asked, snapping his head up in alertness. Was that the pink stuff he had too? It didn’t taste bitter like the beer did.
“It’s…ah…” the baldy started but he turned his head and heaved a sigh. “I’ll explain later. Let’s just get you back to your dorm before campus security finds you.”
Genos felt a strong hand slap him on the back. It was gentle, but there was enough force to straighten Genos up. The hand turned to an entire arm wrapped around Genos’s shoulder, presumably to make the two like old pals so the baldy could support his weight more discretely.
Genos wasn’t entirely sure how convincing the act looked, but he got to his dorm and that was all that really mattered.
“Okay, where is your room?” the baldy asked. “I don’t have too much time to be babysitting a drunk freshman today.”
“It’s uh…” Genos grunted as they stepped into the elevator. “Eight…floor”
“That’s a trek,” the baldy sighed. “Think you can make it up this elevator?”
“Yeah.”
The baldy pressed the button for the eight floor. When the elevator passed the sixth, Genos felt his body pitch forward involuntarily, the back of this throat clenching uncomfortably.
“I’m gonna throw up.”
“Well, shit,” the baldy sighed. “I’m gonna have a word with those assholes in tank tops.”
There was a pause.
Then the baldy corrected, “I’m going to make Rider have a word with those assholes in tank tops.”
“Nnnnnnngh.”
“Hold on, hold on,” the baldy chided, wrapping his arms around Genos’s chest in an attempt to hold him up. “Don’t be blowing chunks in the elevator, you’re gonna make me throw up. Wait till we get you to the bathroom.”
Genos barely held it in because the minute he was in a bathroom stall, he fell to his knees and threw up.
“Huh,” the baldy grunted, awkwardly patting Genos’s back. “Who took you to the café on main?”
Was this guy seriously trying to make conversation?
“What?” Genos grunted, his stomach pausing enough for him to shoot the baldy a glare.
“Looks like you had some of their leak soup,” the baldy noted, “I really like their leak soup. But it’s really expensive. Did your parents take you or something?”
“I don’t—“ Genos started to explain but his stomach contracted painfully again, causing the blonde to pitch forward into the toilet again. He barely registered the baldy reaching past him to flush the toilet, muttering something about having to take care of a lightweight.
“Sorry…” Genos grumbled.
“Ah, don’t be sorry,” the baldy said. “It was the Tank Tops’ fault for spiking your drinks. I just complain a lot is all, but I don’t mind.”
Genos felt the strong hand pat his back gently again, and the blonde’s shoulders relaxed slightly, his stomach calming a bit.
“So…those infractions…” Genos asked, his mind clearing. “How screwed am I if my RA catches me.”
“Pretty screwed,” The baldy admitted. “But lucky for you, your RA is my fraternity’s president. Once I explain the situation to him, he’ll let you off the hook.”
“But that’s not—“ Genos started and then his stomach contorted again.
“Saitama!” another voice shouted from behind. In response, Genos felt the baldy tense up. Oh great. More people. “I got your text, is my resident okay?”
“Yeah, Rider, he’s fine.” Saitama answered. “Theta Tau just gave him jungle juice…and it probably had Everclear in it.”
“Oh no,” Rider groaned.
“I didn’t plan on getting drunk…” Genos’s voice cracked.
“No, no, it’s fine, man,” Rider said. “I get it, some frats are very big on drinking and push freshman into getting drunk. It happens to everyone.”
Genos stared intently down into the toilet, which Saitama had flushed again. He swore if these guys were just taking it easy on him because they were trying to recruit him…
“Please…don’t take me for a fool, I know the consequences of drinking like this. Punish me how you would anyone else,” Genos spat. He was sick and tired of this shit. He just wanted nothing more than to go to bed, forget today ever happened, and pray to god that his roommate wasn’t very social.
“You say that as if I’m going to try to dirty rush you, Freshman,” Rider said. Genos looked back to find the man with dark fluffy hair and thick-rimmed glasses smiling as he crossed his arms. “But if you insist, then alright. You aren’t allowed to go back out drinking unless you’re comfortable with it.”
Genos raised an eyebrow, “What?”
“As your RA, your safety and well-being is my first priority,” Rider explained, “My name is Licenseless Rider, a Resident Advisor of justice! My goal is to ensure all of my residents have the best college experience in Z-Hall as possible. I’m here to help you in anyway I can. And besides, the infractions are mainly just used to scare the freshman that would binge drink on a regular basis. But since you’re someone with their head screwed on straight, I’ll tell you a secret: we only issue infractions if someone is disrupting his floormates. If we issued them like the rulebook says, then most freshmen wouldn’t make it through their first semester.”
“Well…that’s a little…sad,” Genos muttered. Licenseless Rider sighed and nodded his head.
“Yeah,” Rider huffed. “But anyway, it looks like you’re feeling better. How about we get you to your room?”
Genos hesitantly shifted his position to see if it would cause any more stomach pains. When it didn’t, the blonde braced his hand against Saitama’s shoulder and the bald man helped him stand. Genos still felt the room spinning. They helped him to his room and Rider offered to pull the futon out. Genos waved him off and attempted to climb into his bed.
“You sure about that, dude?” Saitama asked.
“I’ll be fine once I rest,” Genos huffed. “And I’d rather not have my roommate think ill of me if I’m already sleeping on the futon after the first day.”
“Well, if you fall onto the floor, then he’ll definitely think ill of you,” Saitama mumbled.”
“Oh, that reminds me, Genos,” Rider said, “Your roommate won’t be here until tomorrow. I talked to him this morning.”
Oh thank god.
“Saitama, since Genos doesn’t have anyone to stay with him tonight, do you mind looking out for him?” Rider added.
Oh god no.
“What? Why do I have to?” Saitama whined.
“Because the poor guy needs somebody to look after him and I have a floor meeting to run in less than an hour,” Rider chided.
“Oh fuck, I forgot about that,” Genos huffed.
“You just get some sleep, you won’t miss too much,” Rider said. Genos wanted to insist that he could be a good student and attend the meeting, but he felt his eyelids growing heavy as Saitama threw his comforter over him.
“Alright, you go to sleep,” Saitama said, patting Genos again. Genos opened an eye to find Saitama rummaging through some of the books on the shelf under his bed before he heard, “Sweet, you read manga too?”
“A little,” Genos mumbled. “Not a lot.”
“Well this doesn’t look like a little,” Saitama grinned. “Mind if I read some?”
“No,” Genos muttered. “Thanks…for staying…”
“Yeah sure,” Saitama grunted.
“…Right,” Rider said. “Feel better, Genos. Saitama, don’t forget about our chapter meeting tonight.”
“Eh? We have one?”
“Saitama!”
“What? We’ve been here a day you can’t expect me to remember.”
“It’s at nine. Don’t forget.”
“Yeah sure.”
“You’re coming right?”
“Probably.”
“Okay. I’m trusting you.” And with that, Rider left. As soon as the door closed, Saitama heaved a sigh.
“Yeah, I’m not going to that meeting tonight.”
Genos felt his eye twitch. “Then why are you in a fraternity?”
“Eh. I didn’t really plan on it. It just kind of…happened,” Saitama explained.
Genos opened both his eyes and stared at the bald man with minor confusion.
“Did…did you join your fraternity on accident, sir?”
“Don’t call me ‘sir’,” Saitama cringed. “But yeah. You could say I joined unintentionally. I mean, the guys are okay. I mostly just liked the joke that makes up our letters and I wanted the shirt.”
“…What joke?”
“It’s the Alpha Iota Chapter of Omega Rho Rho,” Saitama explained. “Literally if you arrange the letters right it spells out O-P-P-A-I. It means titties in Japanese.”
Genos felt his brow furrow and his face heat up at the man’s horrendous sense of humor, unable to bring himself to really say anything in response. Saitama stared up at Genos with a blank expression.
“Oh come on, you have to admit that it’s kind of funny!”
Genos didn’t say anything but instead rolled over in his bed, drifting off to sleep. Before he lost consciousness, however, he heard Saitama mumble, “At least he has good taste in manga.”