Work Text:
"Hold still, you're getting Bacitracin all over your hand."
"Sorry, sorry." Karma keeps his fingers steady as Nagisa continues to wrap his knuckles with the bandages from his bag. They're not too bad this time - the fight didn't last more than a few minutes, and it was a one sided few minutes at that - but Nagisa insisted on cleaning them up for him anyway. He always insists on cleaning him up after his fights.
"Now let me do your elbow."
"Come on, Nagisa, that's barely a scrape-"
"Give me your arm." Karma can't argue against him for long, Nagisa knows this, and yet he still plays dirty. Sighing, he stretches out his arm so Nagisa can clean his elbow as well, topping it off with a neon orange bandaid.
"Thank you, Doctor Shiota, for the amazing work," Karma says, hopping off of the park bench that Nagisa sat him down on. "Look, I'm good as new."
"Until you fight someone else next week," Nagisa says, and Karma pats him on the head with his good hand. Well, his better hand. They both got kind of messed up in his scuffle against the neighborhood kids. But his better hand doesn't have teeth marks on it.
"I'll be extra gentle on the fingers next time, okay?" he says appeasingly. "I'll just use my feet. Maybe some open palm action, I watched a great action movie where-"
"Why do you always do this?" Nagisa interrupts. "You can join a fighting gym, or train on a punching bag. Why do you always have to start things with other people?"
"What can I say? I don't get the same adrenaline rush when it's fake," Karma says, shrugging. "And Nagisa, I'm hurt. You know I only start things with people who have it coming. Those guys today called your hair weird, I couldn't let them keep walking after that."
He probably would've succeeded in his goal had Nagisa not stopped him in the middle and dragged him away. Instead of breaking their legs, Karma merely gave one of them a mild concussion and the other one a broken nose. Child's play.
"I don't want you to fight them, especially on my behalf. I don't care if they call my hair weird. I don't even care about them getting hurt all that much, since they also fight with everything that walks. But I care about you, and you getting hurt, and you getting in trouble. I don't like it when people call you violent, or dangerous. My mom doesn't even let us hang out because of your reputation."
"Being hated by your mom is a compliment," Karma says with a self satisfied smile. "And we hang out anyway."
"That's not the point. I just..." His forehead wrinkles in thought. "I just want people to see you like I do."
"And how's that?" Karma sits back down on his bench, crossing his feet beneath him.
"Well you're smart, and you're creative, and you care about other people."
"Not that many other people. I care about you." The words feel foreign in his mouth. Nagisa's the one who always says the sappy shit like that, not him. Still, it feels easier to parrot his words back than to try and find his own right now. It would probably end up something like I would punch anyone for you. The sentiment is the same, regardless.
"Same thing," Nagisa says, even as his ears turn red. "People don't think you care about anyone at all, and it's not true." He sighs, putting the medical supplies back in his backpack. They used to be for himself, after he would get bullied by other people. Now he only uses them to clean Karma up after he bullies them right back. Karma makes sure of it. "Wanna go back to your house and read comics?"
"Yes sir," Karma says, hopping up again. He grabs both of their bags, slinging one on each shoulder.
"Hey, you're the hurt one, I should be carrying our stuff," Nagisa says, reaching for his bag.
"It's strength training, Nagisa. Plus you cleaned me up so well, I have to pay you back for it."
"Does that mean I can read the Muscleman comic first today?" His eyes are gleaming with mirth for the first time since the fight, and Karma pretends to deliberate.
"Fine, I guess. I bet that's the only reason you help me at all, for my comics."
"Don't be stupid. For your comics and your snacks."
"I knew it. I'm a sugar daddy at 14."
Nagisa, Karma thinks as he knocks a kid's tooth out, is too nice for him.
He's never had any nice friends. People in his school have always been wary of him, since he always ditches class and gets into fights and makes jokes about throwing chairs at people (just jokes, he swears, but no one ever gets it). He joined a gang briefly in his first year of middle school because he was promised lots of fights, but he quickly realized that he'd rather be fighting the people in his own gang than their so called enemies. Plus, he doesn't do well with being under the authority of others. He left shortly after joining.
Then he met Nagisa, who's never treated him anything but nicely, and he's left to wonder how he ended up with a friend like him. It isn't like Karma's a self hating whiner, thinking he doesn't deserve anything good. Karma is perfectly aware of his self worth, more than most people, and he knows that he deserves adoration from the masses. It's just strange to him that someone like Nagisa, who seems flighty enough to scare off with a boo, would give it to him that easily.
Is it because he stands up to people for him? Karma would beat those people up either way, even if he didn't know Nagisa, so that's not payment enough. He briefly considers that Nagisa might really be friends with him for his comics, but shoves that aside. He can't think so lowly of him.
"Maybe he just has very high standards," he says aloud.
"What?" the kid he's beating up asks. Well, gurgles, since his mouth is filling up with blood. Karma feels no sympathy; he had just seen the boy steal someones wallet from their bag, and by doing so, he signed himself up to be Karma's punching bag of the day.
"I'm not talking to you," Karma says, punching him again for good measure. "You're not worth my thoughts. I was talking to myself." The boy doesn't try to respond again, which is just how Karma likes it. Then he returns to his thoughts.
I treat him well. I do all of the things that friends in movies do. We enjoy each other's company, I think. When they first started hanging out, it had been a little awkward for Karma, trying to figure out how exactly to do the mutual companionship thing, but now he's a pro at it. If friendship is a test, then like every other test he's ever taken, he passes with flying colors.
Still, it doesn't change the fact that Nagisa is still much too nice to him. When people do things for Karma, he pays them back in part.
"I'm gonna buy him some comics," he says, walking away from the moaning body of his punching bag. "And some snacks." He doesn't look back. If the boy snitches on him, then he'll deal with it later.
He heads straight to the closest corner store to look through the snack selection. He's sure no one would believe their eyes if they saw him. Akabane Karma, holier than thou, too good for anyone in their school, deliberating between sour cream and onion and jalapeno potato chips for Nagisa. And, gods above, he would sooner beat them all up than buy chips for any of them. But Nagisa is different. Nagisa is special. He buys both bags of chips to be safe, plus cookies for himself and lemon soda for them both.
"Nagisa," he says, calling him on the phone while he walks home, "wanna watch a movie? I have snacks."
"We have that history assignment due on Thursday, remember?" Nagisa says, and Karma can hear the strain in his voice over the phone. "My mom won't let me leave my room until I finish it."
"Not a problem. I'll come break you out." Nagisa's mom is the reason that they almost always hang out at Karma's house. She's a huge drag, and Karma doesn't like breathing the same air as her. Nagisa always tells him not to talk like that about his mom, but Karma knows that he's just saying that out of familial obligation. He can almost see the relief radiating off of Nagisa in waves every time he invites him over, the relief that he doesn't have to go home to his mother. They don't talk about it much, but Karma isn't blind.
"But the assignment..." Nagisa's voice wavers, and he knows he almost has him.
"I'll help you do it. And if not, I'll do it for you. Piece of cake."
"You don't have to do my work for me, Karma."
"I know, but I want to hang out with you, and I'll do what I have to do."
Finally, Nagisa breaks. "I'll bring my history stuff with me so I can work on it after the movie."
"Deal." He's not planning on doing his own history assignment until the morning its due - if he does it at all - but Nagisa cares about his grades, and he cares about Nagisa.
Ugh, the sap. Having a friend is really destroying him from the inside out.
He rides his bike to Nagisa's house, locking it down the block so that his mother won't see it. He's only snuck Nagisa out of his house a few times, but he has the routine down pat. The gate to Nagisa's backyard is unlocked, as always, and Karma waits for Nagisa's signal text to slip inside. Then it's just a matter of tiptoeing to Nagisa's window - thank god it's on the ground floor - knocking a few times, and escorting them both the hell out of dodge.
Nagisa would definitely be able to do it himself, but he never dares unless Karma's there with him. He asked him about it once, the first time he busted him out, and Nagisa just said "I'm not brave enough alone." Karma's sure with the right coercing that he would be, but it's fine. He can baby Nagisa like that because that's how their friendship works. He's the brain and the brawn, and Nagisa is... his friend. And his medic, when need be.
"I have all of the packets from class in my bag," Nagisa says, climbing onto the back of Karma's bike. "I know you probably lost all of them already."
Karma flashes him a smile. "Guilty."
"I'll send you pictures of all of them if you need." It's yet another routine of theirs. Nagisa's bought Karma at least three folders, just so he'll stop losing all of his things, but it only works until he loses the folders themselves. His backpack looks like a classroom exploded inside of it. Karma prefers not to look inside of it much.
"Thanks. Also which do you like better, sour cream and onion chips or jalapeno chips?"
"Hmm. They're both good, but I guess jalapeno?"
"Good, I have those." He feels Nagisa's arms wrap around his waist, and he starts pedaling, leaning forward to gain more speed. He's wearing a helmet - Nagisa refuses to ride with him when he's not - and he's pretty sure that means he can go as fast as he wants. Nagisa's arms tighten around him, but he doesn't say anything in protest. Secretly, Karma thinks, he enjoys the thrill.
Karma's house is empty when they reach it, which is just how he likes it.
"I'm home!" he shouts to the empty house, which he never does during the rare times when people are there. "Raptor, where are you?"
His cat meows from somewhere deeper inside, and he refills her water fountain, splashing extra to get her attention. When she doesn't appear, he looks to find her in Nagisa's lap, right by the doorway.
"Nagisa, stop trying to steal my cats love from me," Karma says with a touch of genuine annoyance. Raptor never sits on his lap like that right when he gets home.
"Sorry," Nagisa says, not sounding very sorry at all. "I was just taking off my boots and she came to me." Like Karma himself, his cat has impeccable taste in people. She won't give his parents the time of day, but her favorite spot in the world is right on top of Nagisa's legs.
"Whatever, it's fine," he sighs, grabbing the chips from his kitchen. "Come to the living room when your legs are free again, I'll start up the movie."
"First I have to do the history assignment."
"What? You said that you'd do it after the movie," Karma accuses.
"I lied," Nagisa says evenly. "I knew you'd just argue about it. If I don't do it now, then you'll distract me and I won't remember to do the assignment until tomorrow, and then I'll be mad at you. I don't like being mad at you."
"I don't like it when you're angry either." He doesn't know if he's ever encountered a truly angry Nagisa, but he's seen an annoyed Nagisa many times, and it's bad enough as it is. Entertaining, but bad. As intriguing as it seems, it's much easier for him to just imagine angry Nagisa than actually experience it. "Okay, if you insist, but I'm not happy about it."
"You're never happy when it comes to schoolwork."
"And that's why I don't do it."
"If only life was that easy for the rest of us."
Karma throws the chips at his head before he gets into a bad head space. "No time to mope over how lucky and smart and handsome I am-"
"I never said most of that."
"We have work to do. And by we, I mean you."
Despite hating schoolwork with all of his heart, Karma does his best to be helpful. He skims through all of the packets and points out bits that he thinks are important. He brings them both water, then refills their glasses when they're finished. He stops Raptor from distracting them (although Nagisa accuses him of just wanting Raptor all to himself). He looks up pictures of historical figures and compares them to students in their class.
"You don't have to wait around here, you know," Nagisa says, after Karma gets up for the third time in five minutes to stretch his legs. "You can go play your video games, I'll call you back here when I'm finished with the assignment."
"You're kicking me out of my own living room?" Karma pauses in dangling his keys in Raptor's face to look up pathetically. "And after I invited you into my own home."
"You know that's not what I'm doing. You just look really bored." It's not a lie, but Karma hadn't expected to be called out on it. I can occupy myself just fine he wants to say, but his legs are already bouncing. Traitors. "Really, it'll just be another fifteen minutes. I want to get this done so we can watch the movie."
He looks determined, which is Karma's favorite look on him, even though it makes him feel a little weird. It's a Nagisa that screams I won't be tossed around, I'm gonna get shit done.
"Okay, I'll go." He stands up, pausing mid-step. "Maybe I can bring the game here and-"
"It'll just be distracting. Karma, please."
"Fine, fine, I won't be a distraction anymore." He winks over his shoulder as he exits, carrying Raptor in his arms like a baby. As soon as he puts her down, she disappears into the bathroom. Fine. I don't love you either. He finds his game controller at the bottom of his desk drawer, boots it up, and tries to get into the mindset of the game. He wants to be back in the living room with Nagisa, but if he can't, he'll make his own company upstairs.
Half an hour later, he hears Nagisa shout "I'm done! You can come back down if you want." Immediately Karma jumps from his bed, throwing his controller to the side. He almost slips on the stairs as he bounds down, but manages to catch himself on the railing, saving himself a spill.
The living room is all cleared up of papers and binders when he enters. There's just Nagisa, Raptor - that little shit - and a space on the couch that he assumes is reserved for him, since it has his favorite blanket draped over it.
"You kept me waiting forever," he says, wrapping it around himself. "I was gonna come down and write your paper for you if you took any longer."
"There was a lot of reading to do," Nagisa says apologetically. "It's not that great, but I think I got all of the bullet points that she wanted down, so she'll pass me at least."
"Lemme see your paper." He grabs it from Nagisa's hands, scanning it. "This looks fine. If you don't get at least an eighty on it, I'm complaining to her. And to the principal."
"You're just saying that so that we can start the movie," Nagisa says, but his mouth is turning up at the corners. Karma might not recognize - or care about - other people's emotions, but he prides himself on being able to read Nagisa like a book. He can be observant if he wants to be, screw off school psychologist.
"As the person with the third highest history grades in the class, I think that my opinion is trustworthy," he says, handing the paper back. "And that's the last thing I'm saying about history class all night. Useless subject with useless assignments."
Nagisa laughs. "You say that about every class besides math."
"Because it's all true! None of this is gonna help me later in life, so it doesn't deserve my time now. If they think that they can cram us with useless information just because we have no choice but to learn it, then I'm standing up against that."
"Wow karma, you're so cool and rebellious." Karma knows that hes being sarcastic, but he still lets himself bask in it.
"What can I say? It comes effortlessly to me." He picks up the TV remote, then hands it to Nagisa. "since you did such good work on the assignment, you can pick the movie."
"Stop messing with me. Didn't you just say the assignment is stupid?"
"The assignment is, not your work. Now pick something before we watch Battle Royale for the third time."
"You're the one who keeps picking it."
"Because it's a good movie."
Finally, Nagisa settles on some murder mystery movie. Karma doesn't have the patience for mysteries - waiting for the characters on screen to give him the answers makes him antsy - but they're Nagisas favorites, so he tolerates them once in a while. He hits the lights as the opening credits starts, then runs back to the couch, grabbing a handful of chips from Nagisa.
"These are awful," he says as he crunches. "I hate jalapeno."
Nagisa's eyebrows furrow, even as his eyes stick to the screen. "Why did you get them, then?"
"For you, obviously."
"Huh. Alright." Karma can see his face heat up even in the dark. "Well if you don't like them, why did you take some?"
"I dunno, I just felt like eating something."
Nagisa laughs then, choking on a chip. "You're so weird," he gasps, reaching for his water. "It's your own house, you can eat anything."
"I just wanted to see if they got any better since the last time I tried them," Karma says exasperatedly, but he's smiling too. "I'm going to wash out my mouth, you keep watching without me."
"Alright."
He heads to the kitchen, grabbing a yogurt cup and a straw. When he returns, the movie is paused. "I said to watch without me," he says, sticking his straw through the foil top.
"I know. I wanted to wait."
"Hmm. If you insist." The movie resumes, and Nagisa once again watches the screen with rapt attention. Karma's not much of a movie person, even when it's a movie he likes, so he spends more time looking at Nagisa's reactions than the actors'. They're more entertaining.
How did I end up friends with someone like this? he asks himself as Nagisa hugs a throw pillow close to his chest. He's so... different.
He wants to ask Nagisa this, see if he knows something that Karma doesn't, but he waits until the movie is over to be polite. The killer was the maid, surprise surprise. Karma didn't see it coming, nor did he try to, but he can see Nagisa nodding in satisfaction as she's taken away in cuffs.
"It was her alibi," he says when Karma inquires. "It didn't seem right."
"Your intuition is on point as always, Nagisa," Karma says, and he lets the credits roll so that the house won't be left in silence. He loves the emptiness, loves having the whole house to himself, but he never lets it get quiet. There's always music playing, and when there's no music, there's Nagisa.
"Say, Nagisa," he starts, collecting their bottles and the now-empty chip bag. "Why are we friends?"
"Hmm?" Nagisa looks up from his phone, forehead wrinkled. "What do you mean?"
"I mean we're really different, right? Anyone can see it. But we're still great friends. Why is that?"
"I don't know." Nagisa crosses his ankles, something he only does when he's thinking hard. "Does it matter?"
"Probably not. I was just thinking about it before. Like how we just existed in the same space for so long, and then one day we found each other. Isn't that weird?" He lays down on the couch, letting his head hang off so the blood rushes upward. "Maybe I've been reading too many psychology books."
"I really don't know." Nagisa stands now, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "I guess that also connects to the question of why we don't have any other friends."
"That's an easy one. I'm a hothead delinquent with a violent streak, and you're..." Karma ponders it. "You're quiet, I guess. You should have more friends, for sure." He doesn't say that he's better than everyone else in the school, that he could be friends with any of them if he really wanted. Maybe he would've said it six months ago, but the longer he spends with Nagisa, the better he learns to bite his tongue.
"You're not a hothead," Nagisa says, sitting back down. "I've never seen you lose your temper. And you're only violent with other violent people. You never start things with people who don't deserve it." Those are Karma's words. He smiles in satisfaction.
"What about the delinquent part?"
"...I mean you do ditch a lot of school. That's a crime, I think."
"I guess I have that one coming."
"Me, on the other hand... I'm weird. And I look girly even though I'm a guy, and I don't stand up for myself. Nobody wants to be friends with a pushover who can't even defend himself."
I'll defend you, Karma almost says, then decides against it. "You're no pushover," he says instead. "You're just better than them. You don't sink to their level even when they're being assholes. That means you're stronger than them."
Nagisa looks away. "No it doesn't."
"It does. If I'm as smart as you say I am, then you have to believe my word. That's how it works." He keeps staring until Nagisa meets his eyes again, and when he does, he smiles widely. "You're the only one strong enough to be friends with me, anyway."
Nagisa snorts. "That's mental strength for sure." Then his expression sobers out again. "I guess that's why we're friends. Everyone else sees us as a delinquent and a freak, but we're the only ones who can see each other for what we really are."
"And what are we?" Karma's intrigued now. He's never been seen, really seen, by anyone.
Nagisa pauses for dramatic effect, a habit he definitely picked up from Karma. "We're friends."
Not the answer he was expecting, but he nods anyway. "So my entire personality can be boiled down to 'Nagisa's friend'," Karma muses. "Interesting." Doesn't answer my question at all, but whatever. It's not that important.
"You know what I mean. Nobody can be reduced to any one thing, but all of our parts added together make us friends. That's how it works, I think." He blushes. "I didn't really think it through all that hard. I'm not good with big ideas like you are."
"No no, I get what you're saying," Karma says. "So it's almost like fate, right? The fact that everything put together made us friends."
"Fate's a nice idea," Nagisa agrees. "Saves us some thinking."
Karma's not the type to give up on a thought. When something sticks with him, he has to play it through, sometimes spending days considering a single idea. Leaving it all to fate feels lazy to him, almost like giving up. This won't be the last time it crosses his mind.
"You know me," he finally says, rolling to his feet. "Always looking for the easy way out. Now get your things, your mom's probably called the police three times over by now."
In a flash, Nagisa's standing. "You think?"
"No, but every second counts."
He rides Nagisa back to his house even faster than before, the breeze slapping him in the face, and he can't smile any wider than he already is. His steps bounce a little as he gets off the bike, and he doesn't try to hide it. He knows that Nagisa won't judge him for it.
And then, like a revelation, he gets it.
"You're too happy about being so close to death," Nagisa says breathlessly, taking off his helmet with unsteady fingers.
"I'd never almost kill you, Nagisa," Karma says, drumming his fingers on the bike handlebars.
"I know." Nagisa steadies himself against the bike, grinning shakily. "You're crazy, but I trust you."
There it is. The trust. Karma's never been able to trust anyone, and he sure as hell never got someone else's trust before. He never even knew he wanted it until he heard Nagisa say it.
"You shouldn't," he jokes. "I'm a delinquent, remember?"
"Shut up and walk me through the back, will you?"
Of course Karma will. Of course he'll walk him back, a million times over.
"If I have to," he says, and doesn't stop humming until well after he gets home.