Remember how I said I don't know what's happening? I lied. I do. BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT HAHAHA HELP ME *CRYING*
Third person's P.O.V.
He knew something was wrong the moment he saw his brother walk away. Or rather, the moment he saw those red imprints on his palms. Gakushuu had the habit of clenching his fists when feeling distressed. And with his inhuman strength, it usually resulted in his nails digging into the flesh and visibly leaving a mark there.
His friends were already going home, but Karma stayed - or waited - until there was no one to see him frantically searching for his older brother. Something has happened and it didn't feel good. Was it because of him losing the competition? Did the chairman hurt him?!
It scared the redhead to think of such scenario, even though he knew that their father had the policy of never getting violent or into physical contact with Gakushuu, yet no one could say for sure. This was Asano Gakuho they were talking about, after all, the monstrous chairman with apparently no feelings at all.
Karma was pretty sure it wouldn't work, but he tried to call his brother. And just as he expected, no one answered.
"C'mon, where are you?!" he tried to call again because seriously - the idiot never had his phone on silent mode, nor did he forget it anywhere. Never. He was too neat and careful to do that. The fact was that he just chose not to pick up.
To: Ugh why
Where are you?
Giving up, he texted in Latin instead and then took a deep breath in, calming down his thoughts. Maybe he was just overreacting again, maybe there was absolutely no need for him to be this anxious.
Haha, the joke was on him. He looked up at the sky and there he was, his big brother, sitting on the fucking edge of our rooftop.
Hahaha.
Fuck.
Did this run in the family?
He hoped not. Because right now there would be no Koro-sensei to save the boy from the fall.
Literally racing all the way up to the main building's top floor and then climbing through the fences to get to the roof, he yelled out: "YOU IDIOT!"
And then almost collapsed because that was literally 485 stairs without stopping for a second.
It would be a lie to say that Asano didn't feel amused. But laughing at this very moment would be kind of inappropriate.
After a small while, Karma finally wheezed out whatever it was that he wanted to say:"Whatever it is that you're doing, stop and step down here,"
How sweet it was of him to sound so worried. It almost made the older one want to push this situation and mess with the redhead for a bit longer. However, he just didn't feel up to it.
"If you think I intend to jump, then no, I don't. I just need some fresh air and quiet," he honestly answered and then returned his gaze to the front where the sun was starting to set, painting everything in its golden light. It was mesmerizing. Almost soothing.
"You can get fresh air even if you step down, you know that?" His brother however interrupted.
"But the quiet is gone,"
"Quiet is honestly the last thing you need right now," Karma cut him off impatiently.
"How do you know," the boy snorted.
"I just do, now get your ass here and let's talk it out,"
Sighing, the strawberry blonde complied and hopped back, walking up to his younger brother. Appearing absolutely unfazed, he sighed: "Satisfied?"
"What were you even doing here in the first place?"
"As I said, I wanted some peace. Good job on messing that up," he said, but when he saw that the latter was still frowning, added: "If I wanted to jump, I would have been dead twenty minutes ago,"
He had a point, but as convincing as Gakushuu sounded, Karma learned long ago that trusting a word he uttered (especially after something unusual or concerning happening) was a big mistake. The student council president was stubborn, an egghead that valued pride - his strength - over anything else. And that so called 'strength' of his also became his ultimate downfall.
"Let's go to my place," the redhead decided, not liking the idea of standing who knows how high up from the ground with his obviously burnt out brother.
"No,"
It was almost painful to hear his dull voice and if he even managed to catch a glance of Gakushuu's eyes, they radiated such amount of helplessness it made the redhead want to do nothing but hug him so tight his brother would suffocate.
But it wasn't hard to see that the student council did not want to accept his help right now. Though as for why-
Why, indeed?
Was it because it was the E-class that beat him?
Or because it was Karma's class that beat him?
"Come on," he urged the older boy again, this time trying to take his hand.
Asano's reflexes didn't disappoint though and he immediately pulled back. His lips were already forming the favorite word No, but his whole person was screaming yes, because he knew he couldn't do this alone, he didn't want to be alone, because Karma was the last person he could at least hope to be able to help.
The strawberry blonde felt powerless. He couldn't comprehend what was wrong - why was he breaking down, why did his ears ring so much, why did his eyes sting-
No, he wasn't crying.
But he still felt like a weakling.
"Okay, that's enough," Karma snapped, his voice cracking from sheer worry and despair at the sight. He spared two seconds to wrap his arms around his brother in a comforting manner but let go right away, knowing that sugar coating things never really worked.
"We are going home right now and I'm willing to beat you unconscious and drag you there if you try to resist," he declared.
Thankfully, Asano didn't put up any fight.
"Did you meet the chairman?" the redhead asked as they stopped at the lockers for the latter to take his stuff.
"Mmm," was the only thing the boy said.
"You aren't hurt, are you?"
"No,"
And their conversation died right then. It wasn't like Asano was making it any better with his one-word answers.
But that was fine. All that Karma needed for the time being was for his brother to walk and be anyhow responsive. Which he was.
However, once they found themselves in the safety of Karma's house, one that had no parents, no people to see them, it was a different story.
"I'm skipping school tomorrow, Gakushuu. You should too," he said as he threw all the bags to the ground and lead his brother to the living room sofa.
It's that rare time when skipping school isn't his mean of escape from boring lectures - it's a suggestion, a compromise he wishes to make with the person in front of him.
A tiny chuckle escaped the student council president's lips, though it was more akin to a cry.
"No, I can't," he stated and the simplicity of those words frustrated Karma to no end.
"I'm telling you this as someone who cares about you," he stopped to search for the amethyst eyes, "Stay at my place and get a hang of yourself,"
At that, the strawberry blonde sarcastically asked: "Why the sudden kindness? Weren't you spitting hateful accusations just a while ago and laughing in triumph over my loss?"
Karma felt anger building up inside him - wasn't it his fault, to begin with? He shouldn't have gone into a conflict with class E, he shouldn't have threatened to expel Isogai. The pole-topping was his idea, he even took the precaution of involving exchange students! And when Asano got what he and his whole snobbish class deserved, he went and placed the blame on him?
Why was he even trying to help this asshole?
"I have told you before, most of the problems you have were brought upon you by no one but yourself," he declared just for the sake of saying it, "But you are right. I was happy when we won. And that's because we showed the whole school as well as you that we aren't weak. We aren't the trash you deem us to be. We have a will, we can be strong when we want to and one day, we will make sure to show you all of that."
It was hard to read Asano's face, but Karma heard no spite in his voice: "That's nice to know,"
The redhead felt as though he needed to explain further: "You might not really understand the concept of the word, but they are my friends. They are important to me and I am prepared to defend them if needed. This time, it was you who pulled the trigger."
"Hah, indeed. You still are part of the E-class after all. And I'm part of the A-class. I guess that fact won't change. So is there even any point?"
He was talking about their connection as brothers.
He was saying they didn't have a chance.
After all that they went through, how could he do that?
"Do you really believe that?" Karma asked and the hurt was apparent from both his expression and tone.
Asano wanted to slap himself for uttering that nonsense. Of course he didn't. No matter what, his brother was still the only one he cared so much about. His brother was the only one he didn't want to give up on. Yet from the very beginning of this conversation, he felt as though there was a storm inside him, a storm that waited for its target and then finally released itself in the form of hurtful words, destructive words, words that just flowed out of his mouth and wanted to attack anyone at all - even if that anyone was Karma.
He was doing it again.
Breaking them apart.
"No," he sighed in defeat, palms rubbing his eyes, "No, I don't. I'm just a shit of an older brother. I'm just sick and tired of everything and I need someone to slap me,"
"Can I slap you?" the redhead eagerly asked.
"No," the boy snapped, giving him a nasty look.
"Then are we done?" Karma stopped with the joking.
Relieved, the strawberry blonde nodded: "Yeah," and immediately added: "Sorry,"
"Gods, hearing you of all people saying the word 'sorry' is just so weird."
Gakushuu was lying on Karma's bed while the other was downstairs, making tea. The younger one insisted of him taking a nap or something because honestly, you look like death, how long have you been awake?
Only two days, for fuck's sake. That wasn't anything unusual. But lately, he has been skipping on sleep more often than he should. That would explain the lethargy he has been fighting off for the past few days.
Well, a nap really didn't sound that bad.
Such a shame there was already the sound of a door opening, revealing red hair.
"Why the fuck are you still up," was the first thing he received.
"Watch your language, kid," he warned the boy.
"Okay, fine - why the fucking fuck are you still fucking up you fuck,"
At that, Asano abruptly sat up and threw a pillow at the latter, not really caring that he was currently holding two mugs of a steaming hot tea. All that he however got was a chuckle and mischievous grin.
"Well, I hope you let out all your rampage and can now finally have a peaceful chat with me," Karma gleefully said as he sat down, handing one of the cups to the other.
"Peace does not sit that well with two of us,"
"Touché," he shrugged. "But well, I still want to talk with you,"
Gakushuu wouldn't expect anything else. Of course the redhead would love to go into every detail about what has happened in the chairman's office, but it would be better for him not to know.
He stared at his tea for a while.
"You didn't put mustard or wasabi into it, did you?" he suddenly queried, eyeing his brother.
"What? No," he immediately denied, "And stop changing the subject,"
"I'm not, I'm just being cautious," he finally took a sip.
Herbal tea. He liked herbal tea. But this one tasted weird.
"Then tell me-"
"I don't want to talk about it Karma," he cut the boy off, staring into those golden orbs stubbornly, "I don't want to talk about it for various good reasons, not because I am being angsty or anything. So don't dig into the matter anymore."
Thankfully, the redhead raised his hands in the 'I give up' manner and let it be. Though he did not drop the worry wart attitude: "Anyway, I was serious before. Skip school tomorrow,"
Asano wished he could drown in the tea he was drinking so that he wouldn't have to answer that. But the latter was still waiting for an answer.
"Karma, I..." his voice trailed off, "Trust me, I'd love to and I honestly don't feel like ever returning to school or my house for that matter, but you have to understand that my position does not allow me to skip a single day, especially after what happened today,"
"Your position or pride?"
"Both. And don't you dare judge me, you are just the same,"
"I know that," he admitted, "but try to relax a bit while you are at my place at least,"
Surprisingly, he really did want to. Or at least his body did. Stupid eyelids, he hated them for suddenly getting so heavy.
"I still have stuff to do," he tried to stand his ground.
"If you mean the two tons of paper I saw you stuffing into your bag, then forget it," Karma crossed his arms.
"You can't really tell me what to do," Asano argued, but his mind was getting pretty hazy at that point. Damn, was the fatigue finally catching up to him?
Seeing that his brother was still fighting off the sleepiness, Karma excused himself to the toilet, pretty sure that if he left Gakushuu alone for some time, he'd eventually nod off.
Which, just as he predicted, happened.
Seven minutes later, he returned to the room to find the strawberry blonde leaning on the wall, his head dropped, breathing steadily. Moving silently in order not to wake him up, he carefully lay him flat on the bed and covered him in the sheets, putting Gakushuu's mug next to his on the drawer.
"Well, time to get to work," he whispered to himself as he walked down the stairs to fetch their bags.
This was going to be a pain.
When Asano woke up, it was already dark outside, the only source of light being Karma's lamp. Said boy was sitting by his table, focusing on-
"Are you studying?" The strawberry blonde gasped in shock at the sight.
The redhead almost jumped out of his skin. He turned to the boy who sat up, trying to pinpoint when exactly it was that he fell asleep.
"No, of course not," Karma answered with a funny frown.
"You're doing homework," Asano pointed at the open book.
"Not mine,"
"What the hell," he already wanted to stand up but found his legs tangled in the blanket, "why are you doing my stuff?!"
"More importantly, Gakushuu, why is there so much of this student council shit?!" he pointed at the bunch of paper on his left, all of which were - needless to say - finished.
"It piled up from yesterday, I couldn't bring myself to do it," he answered, slightly confused. His head was still fuzzy from sleep and it was kind of unbelievable to think that Karma would actually do something that required effort - for someone else, not to mention.
"Dude, I wouldn't be able to bring myself to do this at all, holy cow,"
"Then don't, goddamn it-" he successfully stood up this time, snatching the paper away.
Fortunately for him, Karma anticipated that the boy would protest and try to retrieve it, so he lifted his pen in advance in order to prevent any unwanted ink stains or scrawls.
"Well, it's almost done anyway, so I'm leaving the rest to you," the redhead stood up, stretching his arms with a yawn. Then he turned at the latter, a sour expression on his face: "Why the frickity frack are you deliberately taking this much on yourself? If I had to do this every time I'd literally kill a person,"
"Shut up," Gakushuu snapped while going through all the paper sheets and his exercise books in absolute horror.
"Don't worry, it's all correct. And I made sure to write in the same style as you do,"
"Impossible, your handwriting is anything but legible."
Karma would argue about that. He took out one example of Asano's handwriting and compared it to his on one of the paperwork he did: "See for yourself."
"What the hell," the student council president widened his eyes. Indeed, there was almost no difference between the two. What the hell. What the hell.
"I can write nicely if I want to. The only problem is that most of the time, I don't want to."
Thank god he didn't because this way he could fake so many significant documents, Asano's essays or homework and then give it to his teachers and Asano's whole student life would become a living hell.
This was too much for him.
He sighed, absentmindedly reaching for the cup of Karma's table due to his desert-like dry throat. He took a sip of the (disgustingly) cold tea, only to realize:
"This isn't mine,"
Confused, the redhead titled his head: "Yeah, that's my cup, so?"
"Yours tastes like a normal herbal tea. Mine was weird,"
Shit, Karma thought.
And shit indeed, because Gakushuu's brain caught up quickly. He did wonder how he could have fallen asleep that easily.
"Did you drug me?"
