Self-conscious time? Idk.
Third person POV
"Karma! Wait up!"
Nagisa traipsed to the red head who turned towards his form, stopping in his tracks with a casual smirk. When the blue head caught up to him, he walked in a slower pace to allow Nagisa to walk beside him.
"I thought we talked about waiting for each other." Nagisa reminded.
"Oh yeah, I totally forgot about it." Karma answered nonchalantly as ever, sticking his tongue out.
Nagisa sighed, this had been the third time that he had 'forgotten' to wait for him. The last two times he found Karma near the alleyway beating some delinquents and then also he had said that he'd 'forgotten' to wait. Right.
"Well, anyways.." Karma changed the topic with a growing smirk on his face, "I heard that the producers of Sonic Ninja were making a sequel."
"Really?" He asked with a pleasantly surprised look that hardly contained his excitement for the new franchise. "I hope that it turns out just as good as the last one."
Karma only hummed, his attention towards the blue head's hair more than towards the rambling that flowed from the other's mouth like second nature. His hair was untied again, covering his neck properly. He assumed the traces of the sweet smell surrounding Nagisa must be the reason why.
He, however, had to tear his attention from the sweet scent to the shady looking high schoolers who were standing in front of them with an angered expression. Well, he was itching for a fight.
"Oi, we heard that you beat our friend the other day. And yet, you're still roaming around without a care, huh?" The first one with a mohawk said, taking a step towards them.
Instinctively, Karma stood in front of Nagisa, an amused smile on his face, "Eh, really? I'm sure that he was the one who started it. He had it coming." He narrowed his eyes at them, the smile still on his face.
"Hmph..we heard from our sources and-" The second one couldn't complete his sentence as Karma threw his bag up and jumped onto the talking delinquent. He started to punch him while Nagisa just stood there, Karma's bag landing on his arms.
"I'm sorry? What was that?" He laughed while beating the two high schoolers, leaving Nagisa to watch the scene play out in minor shock.
Well, he knew of his friend's sadistic tendency and added the fact that his alpha instincts made him even more eager to be aggressive and fight against someone. He didn't expect to be the only witness of the fight even though he had been a couple of times.
He pursed his lips, not at Karma's behavior though since he'd gotten used to it. Recently, his mind had been incessantly annoying, pointing out every bit of talent Karma had that he never could have, taunting him about his weaknesses of being an omega.
Consciously, he knew that it was just his insecurity speaking up but he couldn't help feeling as if Karma would leave him after noticing all these points that he'd been noticing for the past several days.
He wasn't an idiot. He knew that their difference was nothing but an effect of their growing and developing dynamic. He could never rival an alpha, much less Karma but..
The guy with the mohawk somehow managed to smell the traces of the sweet scent of an omega in the air, in spite of the blood as he focused his gaze towards the bluehead.
"Ah, so you have an omega with you, huh? Well, looks like I'm gonna have some fun with this one." He had the audacity to brazenly leer at Nagisa who flinched before backing away from the lecherous eyes.
Karma's eyes widened as he threw the other guy down, his vision filling with red when he grabbed Nagisa's hand. His tunnel-vision activated automatically and with the sight of Nagisa being grabbed by some delinquent, he sharply yanked him, shoving him towards a wall.
He could vaguely hear someone calling his name but it didn't matter as he started punching the random dude blow by blow. His anger had already overtaken his body, causing him to ruthlessly beat him even though the older boy begged him to stop.
He could hear the satisfying crunch of his bones under his fist, grinning maniacally when something warm and red painted his fist. He deserved it, Karma thought in the period of his madness, a grin tugged on his face almost naturally. That's what he got for touching his omega.
Just when he was poised for another blow, another body captured him from his back, most likely to stop him. He snarled viciously at the attempt, his fist hitting the smaller body and a sharp cry of pain suddenly snapped him out of his rage.
Wasn't that..
Abandoning his previous target, he twisted around, his eyes widening in horror when he was met with Nagisa clutching his cheek rather than the older boy who he was actually aiming to hit.
"I-uh..." He somehow managed to stutter, throwing the guy off himself. The pang of guilt only aggrandized when the blue head opened his mouth, wincing at the pain.
"S'okay." Nagisa said, recoiling at the pain that followed after his reckless movement. That didn't ease Karma's discomfort or guilt even though he was normally okay with hurting people.
Swallowing his discomfort, Karma neared Nagisa's form, flinching at the reddish-blue bruise that was blooming on his cheek. He'd done that, he was sure that he would never forgive himself when..
"Karma, 'S okay seriously." Nagisa reassured, making the red head face him. "See? The bruise will heal itself, it's alright,"
Smiling softly when the red head looked away, Nagisa took out a napkin, taking Karma's hand in his own. "You still haven't changed a bit since our elementary school days, have you?" He said softly, dabbing at the bruises and wounds that were making themselves known when the cloth touched his knuckles.
He hissed at the pain when the disinfectant was also added, warm hands gripping his own to clean the wounds properly. When his eyes drifted towards the blue head who was focused on cleaning the bruises and some minor cuts, he noticed a tiny fond smile with equal exasperation to the ratio.
"Sorry 'bout that." Karma apologized again when he couldn't take the constricting feeling of guilt coil in his gut.
Nagisa blinked before throwing the napkin inside the waste bin, "Ah..it's okay. It's your instinct speaking so I couldn't really blame you for the attack." He fished out another napkin with an exasperatedly fond look, "But please don't do that again. I was worried, you know?"
Karma felt his mood instantly sour when Nagisa started to clean his victims' blood. "Why are you helping them?" He complained, watching the blue head wipe their bloody face.
Nagisa raised his brow, "They'll get infected if they stay here like this." They were in an alleyway with trashcans and waste at the sideways, so Nagisa was just being sensible here.
"Eh but they just tried to mug us." Karma tried to argue but then he asked a weird question. "Tell me, wouldn't you fight back if I wasn't here?"
His administration stopped momentarily as if he was contemplating something, followed by an empty and wry chuckle.
"Me, fight? I don't think I can. I'd be too scared to.." Nagisa cleaned their bruises, throwing the blood soaked tissues in the bin.
His oceanic gaze hardened in a way that Karma had never seen before, "I mean if my life depended on it." A normal smile appeared on his face swiftly after the hardening of his stare had vanished.
"Let's go home now, Karma."
~
"Eh? A group project?"
"What?"
"I'm hungry."
Barely concealed murmurs and chatters erupted from the classroom at the words that were written on the blackboard. Kensaku stood in front of the class, his hands folded with a stern expression on his face.
"Alright, class. Settle down." He said, ineffectively as the students continued talking among themselves
A tick mark grew on his forehead at the blatant disrespect, he clutched his stick on his hand before rapping it on the board sharply. "Settle down!"
The murmurs stopped, a few brave souls still sharing hushed whispered among themselves. Kensaku pointed at the written topics on the board, "We'll be doing a group project to promote integrity among students." Must be the principal's word, Nagisa noted while nodding after him.
"You can choose among any of these three book and form a group of three people to work together." It made sense since they had twenty-seven students in the classroom. They'd have nine groups if divided and working in group with already familiarized people would be convenient.
"So, start discussing about it with your friends but I don't want to hear any noise escaping from this class." Saying that, Kensaku-sensei placed the stick on the teacher's podium, watching the class with a bored expression.
Nagisa felt something hit him on his back and turned around to see Karma sticking his tongue out, pointing at the crumpled paper below his desk. He picked the paper and straightened it out, not before throwing Karma a suspicious look to which he just whistled innocently.
So, me, you and Okuda-san in one group. Which topic do you want to choose? Okuda-san suggested 'bout 'The Velveteen Rabbit' if you're okay with that?
Nagisa was okay with that. It didn't sound like a bad book and they could use help with their English as well. He flipped the paper to the blank page, writing down his approval before throwing it back to the red head.
After reading his response, Karma gave him a thumbs up, turning towards Okuda and giving her a thumbs up too with a smile. Great, they could start working on it as soon as they find the said book.
~
"So, it's basically about a stuffed rabbit who transformed into a real rabbit because of magic." Okuda asked, after reading the book and placing it down on the table.
After school, they had headed straight to the library and browsed the whole section of English books to search for their said reaserch topic book. It had taken them some ten-fifteen minutes to find the right book and it was a quite short yet meaningful story
Unfortunately, Okuda wasn't very good in English, having to ask the two boys occasionally of unknown words. She had trouble understanding the story, more or less summarize the lesson of the story.
"Yes, technically it is but.." Nagisa pointed at the passages of the book where the main points were shown, "It's about the hardships and difficulties of being real and the fruitful result of being patient and perservering."
Karma yawned lazily, tilting his head at the students who were summarizing the story and reviewing it with a lackadaisical look strung on his face. It was so boring to complete a project.
"I'll come back in a couple of minutes." Karma announced before standing and stretching before walking away.
Nagisa nodded absentmindedly, assuming that the red head had to go to the latrine, and continuing his explanation to the ravenette who was absorbing the information pretty well. A few mistakes but nothing unusual.
"Hey, Nagisa-kun.." Okuda called after they had decided to take a short break. He hummed, looking at her quizzically.
"So, have you asked him yet?" It took Nagisa a couple of seconds to comprehend her question but as soon as he got it, his eyes widened, color filling his face quickly as he squeaked.
"Uh, no?" He squeaked out, apprehensive of what she actually meant.
Okuda covered her mouth shortly, a pale flush blooming on her own face, "Wait! No, that came out too blunt of me." She removed her hands, a tiny smile on her face as she asked, "You haven't asked him out, have you?"
"No, I haven't." He answered after clearing his throat, "Why?"
He'd never thought about confessing because that would just be embarrassing since Karma has showed no sign of even being attracted to him and what if he ended up making a fool out of himself? That would be mortifying, so seriously mortifying that he'd never be able to look at Karma in the face again.
The spectacled girl beamed brightly, "Well, you actually have a chance." Before he could ask what she meant, she continued, "Tomorrow, I'm not coming to school because I have to visit my mom in the hospital." Her smile turned sad at the mention.
"So, you guys can have the entire day to yourselves without any interference." She bit her lip, hesitantly looking at him, "And I was kinda hoping that you'd confess to him soon so.."
Nagisa caught up to what she was trying to convey, a warm feeling of happiness blooming in his chest when she was voluntarily helping him to get together with Karma. A tinge of guilt also formed when he realized that she was giving her feelings up for his sake.
"Okay, I hope your mom has a quick recovery." He didn't know much about her parents except that they were researchers so it was highly possible that her mom had gotten hurt in the middle of a research of some kind.
Okuda nodded, getting on with her work again.
"So, how's the sypnosis going on?" Both of them jolted at the sudden voice, raising their heads to see Karma sliding in his seat with an indifferent expression.
"Oh, we've covered it till the.." Nagisa pointed the part of story they had covered and explained, getting a few mistakes pointed out as Karma strikes the words, replacing them with some advanced English words that he'd never heard of.
Through his peripheral vision, he saw Okuda giving him a thumbs up.
She really is a great friend.
Qotc: Favorite character? (It can be from anywhere excluding assclass) Mine's Phil from TPN and Daichi and Maki from tinsitogs because how can you not?!
Ooo..is that a confession chapter I spy for the next chapter? Stay tuned for the upcoming chappy and just you wait.
Words: 2390 words.
Bye~! ~ヾ(＾∇＾)