ad astra per aspera : karma x gakushuu

╰☆☆ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐨 ☆☆╮

Gakushuu Asano has never been alone. No matter how hard he's tried, he could never escape his fathers hovering.. or the feeling of being watched. There's always someone waiting on his next move. Waiting for him to mess up. To fail. To be useless.

He refused to let that happen. He refused to be thrown out.. discarded.

Let him rot in his own thoughts, he might just end up like Ikeda. But even so.. maybe then his father would acknowledge him.

Throughout middle school, he surrounded himself with only the best. Anything less would be a disgrace upon his family name.

When Gakushuu fell from the top spot and was backhanded in front of his peers, his life finally felt like it was beginning.

A broken record that was repaired at last. Colors exploded into his monochrome world.

After that incident, things were a little better with his father. Sitting at the dinner table wasn't as hard. Living wasn't as hard.

Someone new took over the school. He remained in A Class, but felt more free.

Mental scars didn't go away so easily, though.

During his first year of highschool, whenever there was silence, he could hear his pitiful pleas from what felt like yesterday.

"Fath- Headmaster, please! I'll do better next time! I'm sorry!"

The voices wouldn't let up.

Until his world was invaded by the color red.

Not in a harmful way, like in the past. The color red wasn't coming from his extensive injuries from an imperfect score this time.

They came from the most annoying person he knew. Karma Akabane.

He was an invader of Gakushuu's "No Karma Zone".

Unbeknownst to Karma, his presence had saved Gakushuu from the prison known as his mind.

So when they stumbled upon a child on Karma's doorstep, Gakushuu knew he had to help.

For if Karma didn't walk into Class 1-A that day, he wouldn't have been alive at this very moment.

Not like his pride would ever allow him to admit, but Gakushuu had an unpayable debt to Karma. If assisting with this idiotic decision is what he had to do in order to get some sort of peace of mind, he'll do it.

Which is why he is standing in front of a large store filled with supplies for children. With Maki on his hip.

If you told middle school Gakushuu he'd be co-parenting with Akabane, he would've laughed right in your face.

Karma grabbed onto Gakushuu's wrist and began tugging him into the store, saying something along the lines of "Turn that frown upside down, Second Place."

Gakushuu and Karma were a study in contrasts. As they walked into the bustling baby supplies store, Gakushuu was as calm as a lake, while beside him Karma was like a wild wind, running his fingers along shelves of toys and rattling packages of diapers. Despite their differences in demeanor, the two had found common ground in shopping for Maki — Gakushuu carefully considering every item before adding it to their cart; Karma giving his approval with bright eyes.

Just as they rounded a corner and reached the baby clothing section, Gakushuu saw something that made him pause.

Sitting atop a shelf was a bright yellow onesie, with an appliqué of two birds facing each other — one a diluted pink, one red. The colors looked so vivid and alive in the store's fluorescent light that Gakushuu couldn't help but to grab it and put it in the cart.