Every time they exchanged a kiss, no matter how long they'd been doing it, Nagisa always felt his chest start to pound uncomfortably. Some of this he recognised as 'butterflies' (the thought made him cringe slightly), but there was something else there, like a kind of overarching panic that didn't seem to be going away any time soon. It was stupid, because he knew he liked being with Karma, and their kisses did feel good, but…

Long story short, Nagisa Shiota didn't know how to be a boyfriend.

Karma, apparently, knew exactly how to do it, and Nagisa almost resented him for it. It was just so unfair! How could Karma, of all people, be so effortlessly good at being romantic all the time?! Had Nagisa been asked a year ago, he would have stated that Karma didn't have a romantic bone in his body, and even if he did, he didn't care enough to use that skill.

He'd been shamefully wrong. Even then, as Karma pulled away from the chaste kiss, he smiled against Nagisa's lips, and slid the hand that had been cupping his cheek up to play with a loose strand of hair. If he wasn't practically melting, Nagisa would have been mad, truly. To make matters worse, Karma leaned in once more, pecking the tip of his nose before finally pulling away. Nagisa wanted to die (in a good way). Karma made him feel like that often, in fact, and Nagisa was jealous. He simply had no idea how to replicate it.

Considering how long he'd known Karma, it wasn't like Nagisa was short of Karma Knowledge. He knew his favourite flavour of Kit Kat, even (wasabi flavour, Nagisa hated it). It was more that he was short on… ideas and ways to express it. Everything typical seemed so either not him, or purely not good enough for Karma. That made this whole problem even more unfair, because Karma easily managed the typical things. Take the week before, when Karma had bought him flowers because Nagisa had scored top of the class (and the school year). So. Damn. Effortlessly.

Where had Karma even learnt how to capture Nagisa's heart like that? That thought lead to the year passed, and their time together in Class 3-E. There was no way Irina would have told him anything so innocent, and Nagisa doubted it would have come up otherwise. Then again, Karma had always been one who learnt from observation. Observing… Nagisa had done a lot of that. His notes on Korosensei had ended up being hugely important to their understanding and assassination.

He felt stupid for not realising it before. Nagisa liked writing things down, as a way to clear his thoughts out if anything else. A list… a list to refer to whenever he needed could be very helpful. Karma seemed to sense that the gears of Nagisa's mind were spinning at a rapid pace, and he pulled back, trying to read him.

Before Nagisa was forced to explain his sudden rush of thought, he heard the apartment door, and then "I'm home!"

Immediately, he jerked away from Karma. "Welcome home!" He called, the polite response.

It wasn't as if he was ashamed of Karma, not at all. But Nagisa was still scared to risk it, with his relationship with his mother rocky at best. She didn't particularly like Nagisa having anybody around, never mind a boyfriend. Karma understood, though, and silently gathered his things. Before he left, the gently grabbed Nagisa by the shoulders, and kissed the tip of his nose again. Karma did like kissing his nose, Nagisa conceded. He'd noticed that within a week of their slight relationship upgrade. If only that was at all useful.

It didn't take him very long to locate an unused text-book within the vast space of his room. He opened up the first page, bending the spine so it was even, and took out his pen. Carefully, he penned the characters down, satisfied with his creation.

Karma Akabane's Weaknesses

Weakness #1 – Likes my nose

Nagisa internally cursed himself for not trying the list system sooner. He was up to the fifteenth weakness ('whenever I bring up his favourite director'), and already he felt his dating skills had improved tenfold. He'd even come up with a scoring system, from 'will result in a soft smile' to 'full face of blush'. With the inclusion of such, Nagsia had decided on an even greater end goal, more than just 'being a better boyfriend to Karma'. Unfortunately, that end goal was still blank. He wanted to know Karma's greatest weakness, wanted a reliable method to floor him, helpless at Nagisa's knees.

"Nagisa!"

Nagisa squeaked, suddenly captured in a tight hug from behind. "H-hi."

Karma sighed, and released him, though he kept an arm slung over his shoulder. "What do you want to do?"

Finally relaxing (and subtly leaning into his touch), Nagisa bit his lip in thought. "I don't mind."

With suspicion, Karma eyed him up and down. "So you wouldn't mind if we play Pokémon Go again?"

"Karma, no." The last time that had happened, Nagisa had been dragged to every 'gym' in Tokyo because Karma apparently had some kind of network going on (that he really didn't want to question him any further about), and had come home tired and sore in all the wrong ways. Nagisa thought about the list for a second. "How about ice cream?"

Karma shrugged, but out of the corner of Nagisa's eye he sensed the corners of his mouth flick up into a soft smile. Nagisa took a mental note to add it to his list later: Weakness #16 – likes it whenever I'm assertive. Together, they begun to walk to their favourite shop, casually discussing how their respective weeks had been (a lot of studying and not a lot of fun, it seemed). Like they'd done so many times before, considering the gigantic size of just one ice cream, they got one to share, and ate it slowly as they continued the conversation.

Nagisa had been so busy enjoying it, actually, that he'd forgotten to put his new practiced knowledge to use. Damn it! Instantly, he was angry at himself. It was such a good opportunity, and he hadn't taken advantage of it. He really needed to work on this, rather than letting himself slack off with simple enjoyment. Shoving another spoon of cream into his mouth, Nagisa forced himself to focus. Looking down, he noticed they were almost done with the food.

"Do you want the last bit?" Nagisa asked nonchalantly.

Immediately, Karma's eyes appeared to sparkle in a way Nagisa couldn't remember seeing as a regular expression. He hid it with a light laugh and a shrug, but Nagisa was certain it was there. "Are you sure?"

Nagisa nodded. "Hmm. You have it."

Karma grinned even wider, and slowly sucked the last spoonful ice cream into his mouth, making a show of licking it off his own lips. "Amazing."

Weakness #17 – Loves when I let him have the last of the food

By the time he got to Weakness #34, Nagisa became more and more aware that his list wasn't quite good enough. Trivial weaknesses were becoming common, and seemingly more insignificant. Not that that stopped Nagisa from writing it down, because frankly, Karma was fascinating, and Nagisa enjoyed keeping a record of his little quirks, useful or not. Weeks came and went, and everything went stagnant.

So, Nagisa thought to himself internally as Karma pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth, what next? Deciding to utilize Weakness #20, Nagisa shifted his head to capture his boyfriend's lips instead full on, taking him by surprise. Unfortunately, gone were the days where such a basic move would fluster Karma… He had to resort to other means, such as running one of his hands through his cherry red hair, finding that specific spot just behind his ear that made him shudder for whatever reason.

This only caused a (now fully flushed) Karma to push Nagisa away from him, and pick up his books again. So technically this was meant to be a study date and not a date date, but Nagisa was pretty up to scratch with all his work. Sometimes he cursed Karma's dedication to the academics. Pouting, he retrieved his bag which he'd slung haphazardly on Karma's bedroom floor on entry, picking out that science one he hated.

During that action, the rest of his books spilled out onto the floor, some flying oven due to his distracted clumsiness. Rolling his eyes, Karma bent down to help him pick them up, scooping them into a pile. At first, Nagisa thought this was pretty great of him, he loved how Karma was always there for him… Until he remembered the notebook had also been in the bag, and currently rested open in Karma's hands.

"Wait!" Nagisa tried. "That's private!"

Karma had barely been looking, but he glanced at the page. "It says my name!" Dropping the rest of the books right back onto the floor, Karma stood sharply and begun to flick through it before Nagisa even had time to yank it right back out of his hands.

"Stop!" He attempted a final time.

His boyfriend eyed him weirdly. "What is this?"

Nagisa had no reasonable explanation. "I-uh… it's-"

"Wrong," Karma said, about halfway through the book. "I don't care if you let me have the last of the food. I just like ice cream."

Why was this happening to him? What had Nagisa done to deserve this? He wanted to dive under the bed and possibly die. "Don't read anymore."

Of course, Karma blatantly ignored him and flicked through them. Without saying a word, he clicked his pen and begun to write notes on the pages, seemingly thinking about each one before making a mark with his pen. It took Nagisa a few moments to realise what he was doing.

"Are you grading me?"

Karma smiled wide. "Don't worry Nagisa, you're scoring high so far. I'm impressed, most of this is right." His entire demeanour darkened as he pointed to Weakness #28 – Ticklish. "This is not true."

Nagisa felt his boldness return. "Yes it is."

His boyfriend scowled. "That's defamation!"

Without even removing his gaze, Nagisa went into full attack mode, jumping at Karma before he had time to prepare, effectively knocking him over onto the bed. Taking his opportunity as Karma became dazed, Nagisa shuffled into a position to best pin him and went for it, shoving both hands under his armpits as he began to tickle mercilessly.

The screech like sound that Karma made was like nothing Nagisa had ever even heard before, but it only encouraged him. He quickly moved to attacking his sides, stomach, ribs, and basically everywhere on his torso as Karma squirmed and laughed uncontrollably below him. He attempted to kick Nagisa off, which was a huge mistake, giving Nagisa access to the soles of his feet, a location which nearly caused tears to fall from his eyes.

"Stop! STOP!" He pleaded eventually, still laughing. "You win!"

Nagisa obeyed at let him go, removing himself from his lap.

Karma panted as he caught his breath, unsure what to make of the whole situation. He looked over at the book again and sighed, flopping back more comfortably. "Why did you make this?"

"I, uh, Iwantedtobebetteratdatingyouimsosorryillleaverightnow."

Waving that off, Karma returned to a seated position. "You left a gap on the last page."

Nagisa flushed, recalling how he never really had figured out what Karma's ultimate weakness was. "I haven't found out yet," he admitted.

Something about that perked him up, and Karma reached for the pen again, taking the notebook and quickly scribbling something down. Saying nothing more, he tossed it back into Nagisa's lap, and reached for his school books again like nothing had even happened.

Nagisa eyed it cautiously.

Karma Akabane's Greatest Weakness: Nagisa Shiota

What Nagisa wanted to say, as his heart leapt out of his chest, was 'I love you'.

"Ugh Karma your handwriting is terrible, I'm going to have to start over!"

It still carried the same meaning.