I'm baaaaaack! I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to upload since the wifi in our hotel is a little wonky, but I will as soon as I can. In other news, this I the longest chapter yet! You can thank the train ride from Rome to Florence, and the aforementioned wifi. Also, I have decided to reply directly to each comment. Just 'cause. So I'm just going to be replying to the reviews from chapter three.
AngeliqueSora: Ahhhhhh! My first smut request. (Though I think it may be telling about my story that it was a request for a rape scene) I wasn't planning on having any smut, just because I'm not confident in my abilities in that area. But I might be convinced if reactions to this chapter are positive.
I'm Just One Hell Of A Butler: COOKIE! Thanks for the recommendation. I'll be sure to check that one out when I get a chance. As for Karma's dad… don't worry, I haven't forgotten about him.
Guest: I actually kind of love fanfics where my favourite characters get hurt. You're not a bad person. Unless I'm a bad person as well… But whatever!
Abhieghail: I'm glad you get what I'm trying to do with their personalities. I was kind of nervous no one would understand.
Warning: This chapter contains some newbie-written kissing and almost-smutty scenes.
Disclaimer: I do not own assassination classroom. Obviously.
Chapter 4
Karma woke up alone. It really wasn't much of a surprise, after all Gakushuu had more than enough dedications at school, and he often left long before the red-head even thought about waking up, regardless of the fact that that, on weekends like the last, Karma let the other boy sleep until 11 while he made coffee and breakfast.
Karma took his time getting ready, knowing that no one else was home. Gakushuu's dad was on his business trip and his mom was god-knows where. He was already late, but he didn't much care. There was an assembly today, so he didn't care as long as he got too school with enough time to walk back with the rest of his class (since that was when most of the bullying happened and while Karma knew that his class were fully capable of defending themselves, he still hated leaving them to fend for themselves, considering that they were the closest thing he had to a loving familly next to Gakushuu.)
Karma arrived just in time to walk into the middle of a standoff between class E and – god-dammit – Asano and his four cronies. Karma hated this. Having to confront the prodigy right after waking up in his bed. He understood of course. He knew better than anyone the effect that a father could have on his son.
So, taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, Karma stepped around the front of the building, speaking up as he did so. "Hey there Asano-Kun, don't you have someone else to torment, or are you unable to find anyone who's asses you don't have to kiss?" No-one else probably noticed, but Karma could see Asano's shoulders tense just the slightest bit as the red-head emerged.
Karma put on his best smirk and focused on Asano's eyebrows. He couldn't look him in the eyes. They could read each other far to well already, and looking into each others eyes would remove any boundaries between them. And they needed this disconnect. It was the reason they never called each other by their first names in public, even though Karma preferred being called Karma, and why they only called each other by their first names in private, even though everyone called Asano by his last name. It was also why they never talked about their interactions at school, even though they probably should.
Asano smirked back, staring rather intently at Karma's bandaged nose. "Ah, there you are Akabane, off skipping school like a good little delinquent?"
Karma's smirk transformed into a full fledged grin as he replied with "Well you know, we don't all have time for attending an assembly that basically consists of a bunch of entitled bastards throwing childish taunts to feel better about themselves oh-great-prodogy-sama."
Asano opened his mouth in order to reply, but was stopped by Karasuma-sensei rounding the corner.
"What are you all doing still here? You all have a lot of work to do before mid-terms." Karasuma reminded them, clearly emphasizing the all to make it clear he was talking to everyone present.
Karma huffed and turned with the rest of his class, but really, he was beyond relieved that Karasuma had intervened. After everything Asano had done for him over the weekend, he hated having to treat him like that.
The entire way back to class, as they laughed and scolded and, hell, even complimented him on his confrontation with Asano, as they joked about his tendency to skip class, as none of them even commented on his slight limp and broken nose, Karma had to wonder; did anyone who considered themselves his friend, even notice he was pretending?
Class E spent the rest of the day reviewing for the midterms, and, though no one knew it, no one was working harder than Karma. He was fairly devastated after finals, and was more than prepared to regain what honour he had left.
Despite his determination however, no one really believed that the red head was doing anything different from before. This lack of confidence was solidified when they realized that Karma had forgotten his math book at home. Of course, he didn't even consider mentioning the fact that he hadn't been home since Friday afternoon, and considering the situation, he felt fully entitled to letting himself off the hook on that one. Especially since the whole reason he had brought it home on Thursday was so that he could study it.
Of course, Koro-sensei told Karma that he had to bring it in tomorrow. Which normally wouldn't be a problem, but Karma wasn't sure if his father was still home. And considering the fact that Karma hadn't been home at all over the weekend, Mr Akabane was bound to be plenty pissed if he was, in fact still there.
With that in mind, Karma made his way up the path to his house significantly slower than usual. By the time he reached the door he had at least gotten up enough nerve to twist the key in the lock and slowly open the door. Quietly as he could, Karma made his way up the stairs, knowing that, since the lights were on, his father was probably still home.
He made it all the way back down the stairs again before everything went to hell.
"Nice of you to join us again ya little brat," Karma froze. His father was clearly angry, but it was a different kind of anger. It was more controlled, more pointed than the simple blind rage that he had been in on Friday. And it was far more terrifying than anything else Karma had ever known.
When he had fought Grip, he figured he might die, hoped for it even, though he knew it was selfish, it had been the same when he had jumped off that cliff, hell, even when his father beat him, he wasn't as scared a he was in these moments.
Karma felt his father slip his hand under the hem of his shirt as the man came up behind him. "Then again, you always come beck for more don't you ya little slut," the elder purred into his son's ear.
Karma closed his eyes and felt his grip slacken as his book tumbled to the floor, clunking against the wood. There was no time to react as Karma was thrown onto the floor, just barely stoping his face from falling into it. His fathers hands slipped under his shirt again, this time dragging his nails painfully against Karma's pale skin. The red head grit his teeth as he felt his father pull his jacket and shirt to his shoulders, before yanking the boy upright on his knees and licking along his neck. Karma inhaled sharply as his arms were forced up and his shirt and jacket fell beside him.
"Please stop," Karma whispered, the only defiance he dared to show. His father only scraped a nail painfully against his nipple and pressed himself against the boy's bare back. Karma clenched his fist as he felt something hard press against his lower back, and barely held back a whimper.
Please. Stop. Anyone. Help.
Karma didn't expect anyone to help. It had never happened before after all. But then, with no warning, a shrill sound interrupted his father from where he had been busy dragging his hands down Karma's body.
"Fuck," his father muttered, standing up and picking up the phone. Karma just sat in shock wile his father conversed over the phone. Glancing up only when his father addressed him, "your teacher called. He wants you down at the hospital. It sounded important."
Karma felt bad that he was happy about being called to the hospital. Especially once he was told about the old man who was hurt. But he was just glad that he had avoided… that.
He adjusted his hastily put on shirt as he listened to his classmates argue with Koro-sensei about what happened. Quite frankly he tended to agree with the teacher's position on the matter. The students had acted foolishly and were now shirking responsibility. That being said, he had nothing to do with it, so he had just started to tune it out when he felt a familiar pain on his cheek.
The class sat there stunned at their teachers actions, but Karma remained tense even after everyone else had moved on, if only because his body was reflexively preparing itself for another strike.
He could handle being hit if he expected it, sure. After all he was no stranger to pain. But after what had happened earlier today he was already off his game. And the only person who hit him out of the blue like that was his father.
Still though, Koro-sensei hitting him shouldn't be affecting it that much. But Karma supposed that it was because school was one of the two places in the world where he felt truly safe. And now, with that one split-second action, Koro-sensei had destroyed all that.
So as the class dispersed, Karma made a bee-line for the only person he trusted wholeheartedly, not bothering to go back home for his math book. They weren't aloud to study anyways, and even if they were, it wasn't worth seeing his father again.
Gakushuu answered the door after the first knock and Karma wondered idly if he had actually been waiting by the door since he got home.
"Where the hell have you been?" Gakushuu demanded as soon as Karma closed the door behind him.
Karma grinned and opened his mouth to make a joke, but Gakushuu's glare cut him off before he even started. Karma sighed. It would be better just to tell him. But he'd be dammed if he didn't put it off for as long as possible.
"Some of my classmates accidentally hurt someone while being stupid. Koro-sensei called us all to discuss our punishment," Karma explained. Gakushuu frowned at him.
"All right, but that really shouldn't have taken that long," Gakushuu said, a suspicious edge to his voice. Karma took a deep breath, knowing that he didn't have a choice at this point.
"Well, I left my math text book at home. And Koro-sensei wanted me to bring it to study tomorrow…"
"What did he do," it wasn't even much of a question. The way Karma spoke, it was obvious that something had happened.
"He didn't get very far. Karasuma-sensei called before he could do more than take my shirt off." Gakushuu let out a ragged breath before his gaze drifted to the small bruise on Karma's cheek.
"Did he hit you?" Karma frowned at the question.
"No, not this time." Now it was Gakushuu's turn to frown.
"That bruise wasn't there yesterday," he said, gesturing towards his cheek. Karma brought his hand to the bruise and gritted his teeth as he recalled what had happened.
"When some of the students didn't take responsibility, Koro-sensei got pretty angry and…" he didn't have to finish. As Gakushuu put two and two together his hair fell over his eyes, shadowing his response beyond the slight trembling that overtook him.
Karma put on his best smile and approached the livid boy. He had to calm him down. Gakushuu despised what Mr Akabane did to his son, but he didn't interfere with the man directly, if only because it would just hurt Karma more. But Koro-sensei was fair game as far as he was concerned. Karma was nervous about what reckless things the normally rational boy would do if he let his anger simmer like that.
Karma slipped his hands on both sides of gakushuu's face and forced the prodigy to look him in the eyes. "It's fine. He didn't even hit us that hard."
"Even so, he had no right to-" Gakushuu's heated reply was cut of by Karma pressing his lips to Gakushuu's, if only to put an end to the argument.
They stayed like that, not really moving all that much, but just taking comfort in one another, until Gakushuu's shoulders relaxed and Karma pulled away lo smile at his boyfriend. Gakushuu smiled back and muttered "idiot."
Karma's smile just widened and he grabbed Gakushuu's hand to lead him upstairs.
That night, Karma dreamed about the first time he had met Asano Gakushuu.
They had both both been five at the time. Karma's mom had taken her son to the nearby playground, in the hopes that he could make some friends. Karma had always been smarter than anyone else in his class and because of this, the other kids bullied him relentlessly. So, of course, he had to get them back.
He was hanging upside-down on one of the crossbars with his eyes closed, thinking of ways to do just that when he felt something poke his forehead. At first Karma thought he had imagined it, but when he felt the same pressure again, he opened his eyes to find aa boy about his height, with strawberry blond hair and violet eyes.
Karma blinked. He had noticed the boy around the park before. There weren't too many kids with eyes like that after all.
"What are you doing?" the boy asked, tone half-curious half-accusatory. Karma blinked again trying to process that someone was actually talking to him, before his face split into a malicious grin.
"Thinking about idiots," he replied, not bothering to get down from his rather awkward position. The other boy nodded as though that made everything clearer.
"Are you an idiot?" he asked, tone entirely curious. Karma's grin widened into something a little little less dangerous.
"No. I'm Karma," he replied in a friendly manner before returning, "are you an idiot?"
The boy shook his head. "No, I'm Gakushuu. I didn't think you were an idiot, but I just had to make sure. There are way to many idiots in this world." Karma nodded in agreement, which looked a bit odd since he was still hanging upside-down.
"And then they all get angry at you just 'cause you're not an idiot! They really are illogical people," Gakushuu nodded vigorously, glad that he finally had someone who understood his view on the idiots of the world.
"But grownup idiots are even worse," he observed, and Karma readily agreed.
"They always say to try your best, but then they say 'maybe you should try reading something more your age' or 'that math seems a little complicated for you alright?' it's completely ridiculous."
"Absolutely!" Gakushuu cried enthusiastically. "Hey, do you mind if I think with you?" he asked, gesturing at the bar next to him.
"Go ahead," Karma replied and Gakushuu climbed up next to him and swung himself upside down, closing his eyes.
To anyone else it was probably a rather strange sight. To pre-schoolers hanging upside-down with their eyes closed. Only talking to each other when they had something important to say. But to the two young prodigies, it was the first day that either of them had ever truly enjoyed the company of another kid, and when they left, they made sure to meet again a few days latter.
As Karma left the park, his mother smiled down at him. "Who was that dear?" Karma smiled back.
"That was Gakushuu. He's not an idiot."
So…yeah nothing much to say here. Just please review. But remember, all flames will be used to burn down the flamer's house. Because I am secretly a pyro.