"So you want us to leave you here? By yourself?" Mountain Ape questioned Fubuki, who dismissively waved a hand in his direction.

"Yes, Ape. I should be fine. It's not like Saitama is a threat to us. And I'm not going in his home on hostile terms. I only want to talk to him." The esper assured him as she gazed out of the car window from the backseat. She knew her men were concerned about her. The fact that she had paid this man several visits when he was only a C class was startling in itself. Fubuki rarely spoke to others lower ranked than her. But there was something very special about Saitama and she couldn't let him slip past her.

The car slowed to a stop and Fubuki grabbed the door handle, taking a deep breath.

"Should we come back if you're gone for too long?" Eyelashes questioned, concern etched on his face. "Or should we text you if too much time passes?"

"I'll text you if there seems to be an issue. Everything will be fine, though. I'll see you guys later." And with that, she stepped out of the car and into the dark night air.

The esper approached the apartment complex as her men slowly drove away. She let out a sigh, hoping that this meeting would bring her some answers.

Saitama lounged on the floor in his apartment, watching the tv with a dull expression. The show he was watching didn't particularly hold his interest, but he really had nothing better to do.

A knock at his door was a welcome break in the monotony. The bald man stood up and walked over to his door, curious who would be visiting him at this time in the evening.

Saitama slowly opened the door to his apartment. He was only mildly shocked at the person on the other side of the door, especially since she had been randomly dropping in recently.

"Fubuki." He greeted the woman, curious as to why she was visiting so late.

"Good evening, Saitama. Am I interrupting anything?" Fubuki questioned.

"No. Genos left to go somewhere. Training, probably. And King finally went back to his own home. Tonight is pretty quiet, so I've been watching some tv." After a brief moment of silence, he looked the woman up and down. "Why are you here?"

"What, a girl can't pay a friend a visit?" The esper flashed a sly smile.

The bald man stared at her. The two of them were presented with a rare opportunity of one on one time. His mind drifted back to a few weeks ago during their first encounter and his words to her. He had originally dismissed the thought of discussing the true intentions of his words to her, assuming she wouldn't remember what he said. But now that they were alone in a calm, non-violent setting, he was reconsidering the discussion.

Saitama pushed his thoughts aside for the time being and locked eyes with the woman.

"I don't see why not. Come on in." He stepped aside and she walked through the doorway. The bald man shut the door and turned to watch Fubuki remove her coat and drape it on the back of a chair.

The mundane show that hardly held his interest was forgotten, now merely background noise. Saitama glanced at the clock near his tv. It read 8:47.

Fubuki took a seat at the chair where she hung her coat and crossed her legs, bouncing her foot lightly. She felt anxiety from the situation that she was about to put herself in. She wanted to have a heart to heart with Saitama about his words to her weeks ago. She felt a slight tinge of panic at the fact that she was reading too much into the situation and his words actually meant nothing.

"So..." Saitama began. The air was thick with awkward silence and since Fubuki wasn't talking, he figured he'd break the silence. "Is there something you...need?" The woman in question looked up from the table that she was currently staring a hole into and nodded once.

"First of all, I just needed a break from my subordinates. They're like family, you know? Sometimes I have to get away for a bit. And secondly, we need to finish what we started a few weeks ago."

"What?" That caught Saitama off guard. "You want to continue our fight? Here?"

"Not quite." Fubuki responded, her anxiety rising. It was never the easiest for her to discuss her feelings and the thought of discussing them with Saitama, of all people, made her even more nervous. However, the esper couldn't bring herself to admit why she had come here quite yet and resorted to complaining to buy her more time.

"Some host you are. You should be offering me tea. I am a lady, after all, not one of your testosterone-fueled hero comrades."

Saitama bit back a remark that she was, indeed, one of his hero comrades. Truthfully, he didn't classify her as a hero, though, since her motives were selfish. The bald man turned quietly, walking a few steps to his kitchen and began to prepare some tea for the both of them.

As Saitama busied himself with making tea, Fubuki focused on the TV to calm her nerves. She was beginning to have second thoughts and was currently scrambling for an alternate reason of being here. Maybe I should belittle him because he saved me during our fight. No, that's dumb. I don't have a death wish and the save was obviously appreciated. Ohh, think Fubuki!

After the tea was done, Saitama poured it into two mugs and turned, glancing at the TV. He mentally noted that Fubuki must've changed the channel at some point. Probably used those powers of hers.

Setting a mug on the table in front of Fubuki snapped her out of her trance. Saitama took a seat across from her with his own mug of tea. She looked up at him and he stared at her in response.

"Thanks." She said and glanced down at the mug. Her eyebrows creased together, as she focused her attention on the tea. It's now or never.

"During our last encounter, you mentioned how it was dumb of me to focus so much on other's rankings." She glanced up at him from the mug. "Ever since I've gotten into this...business, it's always been about the rankings. Why on earth should I change my ways of thinking just because you happen to come along? Why did you agree to sign up with the Heroes Association if the rankings don't matter to you?" Anger flashed in the esper's eyes as her voice grew louder and she pounded a fist on the table. "Why are you trying to change my way of thinking? Why should I listen to you?!"

Why does your opinion matter so much to me? was a question she figured was better left unasked.

Saitama stared at the woman. "How old are you?"

Fubuki blinked. "Excuse me? That's how you answer my questions; with a completely unrelated question?"

Saitama took a drink of his tea, refusing to answer her questions until she answered his.

"...I'm 23. What does it matter?"

Saitama set his drink down and gave her a nod. "I assumed you were much younger with how quickly you become frustrated."

Fubuki clenched her fists as she looked down at the table. She didn't come here to get belittled. If she wanted that, she would've tracked down her sister. Damn it, why did everyone look down on her? Anyone who was a higher rank seemed to take her as a joke. Hell, Saitama was ranked under her and he didn't take her seriously. Fubuki swallowed a lump in her throat and blinked a few times to relieve the stinging in her eyes.

Saitama sat quietly as he looked over the esper. She was only two years younger than him, but she had a lot of growing to do before she reached the same mentality as him regarding their hero status. Despite this, he saw potential in her to become a reliable teammate. That was one of the reasons he shielded her from Genos and Sonic's fight, which would've easily ended her life.

"I'll tell you why I became a hero if you agree to tell me why you got into this." Saitama offered to her. Fubuki looked up into his face and he could see evidence of tears in her eyes. She needed guidance. She needed to understand what it meant to be a true hero. Once her eyes were open, he knew that she and her team would be taken seriously by their peers.

Fubuki sniffed and gave a single nod. "Deal." She then leaned back in the chair and prepared herself for his story.

Saitama took a deep breath and focused his eyes on the table. He explained his story to her; that he was at a dead end with job searches and had basically given up on life. He explained how he came across the kid and the mutant crab. He explained the rush of emotions he felt from fighting.

"That excitement from the mystery of your opponent; will or won't they be stronger than you? What powers do they possess? The rush of adrenaline from not knowing if you'll make it out alive." Saitama's voice sped up slightly while talking about these feelings and Fubuki watched on in amusement. She wasn't used to seeing the normally blasé man express himself so passionately.

"I trained everyday for three years because I wanted to become a hero. I wanted to experience those emotions as much as possible. They gave a new meaning to my life. But then, after my training was complete and I began to fight opponents as a hero, I realized I was killing villains easily with one punch." Saitama clenched his fists and stared at them.

Fubuki's eyes narrowed slightly as she also looked at Saitama's hands. She recalled the videos that Ape and Eyelashes found. Such power was sitting right across the table from her.

"Does..." She began to speak without thinking. Saitama looked up at her as if he wanted her to continue. She hesitated at the eye contact and took a shaky breath. "Does the association know about your strength?"

"I don't know. But I really don't care. I'm in this to save people. I'm not in it for the publicity or fame." His words hit Fubuki hard. How was it that people lower ranked than she were often the most cockiest, yet here she was with quite possibly the world's strongest man and he didn't care about proving himself to anyone?

"So that's it. I know it's boring; everyone is usually upset when I tell them that story. I don't have any dramatic thing that triggered me becoming a hero; I was simply bored."

Fubuki felt a strange mix of emotions. She was angry because she had trained her mind her whole life to become a stronger telepath, yet she couldn't lift half of the things that her sister could. Saitama, on the other hand, had reached a god-like level of power within only three years of training. She was mildly impressed and amused because it seemed like Saitama didn't set out to achieve the great strength that he did. She also had an odd sense of sadness, but she couldn't place why.

"My story isn't necessarily dramatic, either." Fubuki began to speak before the silence became too unbearable. "I was obviously born with these powers."

She went on to explain that she and Tatsumaki were under the careful watch of officials for their powers. She explained how her sister was taken away and that if Fubuki also began to show signs of telepathic powers, she too would be taken away.

"My powers were never as strong as my sister's. I didn't even realize I had them until I was seven. The whole thing was scary to me. I didn't want to be a science experiment for those people like my sister was, so I kept my powers a secret. In doing so, the only real practice I could do without alerting anyone was to lift small objects with my telekinesis. I also practiced defense inside my mind, in case I happened to come across another person with powerful mental strength and needed to defend myself against them."

There was a long pause before Fubuki decided to voice what she had wanted to since she first found out about her sister's powers, but never had the courage to.

"I've always been in Tatsumaki's shadow. Nothing has ever been about me, it's always been about her. I know I shouldn't complain because she was taken away and I know it really affected her trust in people, but I can't help it. My powers will never be anything like hers." The esper stopped for a moment to collect herself. She took a sip of the tea and then continued. "That's why I formed my team. My sister is a lone wolf and powerful on her own. I'm not as strong, so I figured that with more people comes greater power. But...I just don't know. I don't want to say that I regret forming my team, but I see the way other heroes react to us and I realize that they think Team Blizzard is just a joke."

At the halt of her speaking, Saitama crossed his arms and thought briefly that he never imagined being a hero would involve counseling fellow heroes. From Genos, to King, to Fubuki, he seemed to serve as a counselor for his comrades troubled lives. It amazed him how everyone seemed to be such an open book with someone who never even asked to know their past. At least, that was the case with Genos and King. With Fubuki, he had laid the invitation out and she accepted. But now he was to the part about giving advice, and that was not one of his strong points.

"Your team is only a joke if you let them run around and be. The reason higher ranked heroes don't take you guys seriously is probably because you lack motivation. What was the last mission your team completed?"

Fubuki hesitated to answer the question. She knew where he was going with this; that they need legit hero-type missions. She closed her eyes in slight shame and spoke.

"We all went out and got jobs...to help buy a car for the team."

"And what do you hope to use the car for? To go bully more heroes that couldn't even dream of reaching your rank and stomping them into the ground?" At his harsh words, the esper remained silent. She opened her eyes, but refused to look at him, keeping her gaze locked on the tea.

"You and your team need to be more dedicated to being heroes for higher ranks to take you seriously. And even if they don't, at least do it for the people that look up to and rely on heroes. When a threat is reported, don't ignore it, just go do it, no matter how weak the enemy is. You'll slowly build a reputation for yourself and people will know to call on Team Blizzard for help."

Fubuki looked up at Saitama. His eyes held such passion for this whole hero thing. Here he was, a man who was constantly insulted and hated on by the public, yet he pressed forward and continued to save their sorry asses. And the fact that he was giving her so much advice and guidance astounded her. The esper's eyes widened slightly as she recalled Genos once saying to keep conversations with Saitama to 20 words or less, yet here they were spilling each other's life stories to each other.

"You should also take time to focus on yourself, too. I'm sure with some more training, you could be just as strong as your sister. Don't sell yourself short." Fubuki quickly locked eyes with the bald man and held back a gasp.

"That's...probably one of the nicest things someone has said about me. Regarding my powers that is." She paused and gave him a small, genuine small. "Thank you." Saitama gave her a nod in acknowledgment.

"Well, we've basically finished all that we had started a few weeks ago." Saitama spoke, breaking the awkward silence. "You're welcome to stay and finish your tea if you'd like."

The esper stared at the bald man and blushed lightly. She gave him a small nod before lowering her eyes back down to her mug.

"I would like that a lot."

ok, pigs, so my thoughts are after the story ends, Fubuki literally finishes her tea and then leaves, thanking him for his guidance. that just seems super boring on an already not exciting fanfic, so I just left it out. no getting freaky or anything for them. that's a different story of mine. ;) this one just ends with the beginning of a beautiful friendship. yaaay, out of the acquaintance zone!

anyway, that's it for this story! I have a few other ideas to play with between Saitama and Fubuki, but I would love suggestions! my muse has been decent lately, but I'm starting to slack.

hope you all enjoyed the story! xoxo