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If there was one class that Shiota Nagisa hated more than science class, it was gym. At least with science, despite Nagisa’s failing grades, there was always a right answer. He found comfort in the fact that he could always find the right answer, as long as he studied or got some tutoring or…or something along those lines. And, not to mention, the only one aside from his teacher who knew about his failing grade was his best friend, Akabane Karma. But gym..? In gym, everyone could see him struggling to keep up with the rest of his classmates. Usually, the girls would watch from afar and giggle and whisper to each other, while the guys would scoff or roll their eyes, dreading for the moment Nagisa would mess something up for them. It made gym class feel as though it were a social death sentence for Nagisa.
Today was such a day- it was track day. Much to everyone’s dismay. Sure, the hurdles were lower than normal so that the students could actually jump them, but it was hard. And frankly, Nagisa hated track day. He wasn’t a good runner, by all means, and he always bumped into the hurdles. Tripped over them or made them fall over. Sure, not everyone could jump over them unscathed, but Nagisa himself was particularly bad at them. It made doing track day more embarrassing than it should be.
They were running in groups of five. Five would run around the track and jump the hurdles, and then the next five would go, and so on. Nagisa was in group three. He found himself wishing he was just in group one so that he could get it over with and let everyone forget about it, but of course he wasn’t that lucky. And of course, his best friend (and only friend, really), Karma, was in group one, so of course, he’d be watching Nagisa’s utter failure.
He knew that Nagisa wasn’t really good in track, and he wasn’t a fast runner, but it still embarrassed Nagisa to no end that someone as strong and smart as Karma would willingly choose to be seen with him.
Of course, when group one began, Nagisa watched Karma take off with the other four boys and girls, with some of them lightly bumping into the hurdles as they went. Karma was not one of the ones who hit the hurdles, able to jump over them with ease and continue running as if it were nothing. If Nagisa didn’t know any better, he’d assume Karma had some sort of track experience outside of the occasional gym lessons.
He really is so cool…I wish I could be like that.
He wished he could run as fast and as gracefully as Karma, able to jump the hurdles effortlessly and have the class watch him in awe. If he could have even one person’s admiration, maybe he’d feel slightly better about himself.
Group one finished soon enough, and group two was next. Nagisa stepped up to the runner’s spot, stretching lightly and tightening the ponytail he’d thrown his hair in. Given it was the start of his second year, he decided to try something new with his hair, and found that he actually quite liked it. So he started tying his hair back everyday, reveling in how out of his face it was.
When group two finished, Nagisa took off running with the rest of his group, his face burning when they all passed by him and jumped the first hurdle seemingly without any issues.
I need to time my jump right…and jump high. I can do this…
If only he could feel that faith in himself. He took a deep breath as he neared the hurdle and jumped as he ran, hoping to whoever could possibly be listening that he’d make it.
Of course, when was his life ever actually fair?
He didn’t even get one foot over the hurdle. His ankle bumped into the hurdle, and the moment it touched his pant covered leg, he knew that he was done for.
It felt as though time slowed down for a moment as his body, held back by the hurdle he couldn’t get over, began to fall to the ground. He squeezed his eyes shut as his body crashed into the synthetic rubber. His hands and elbows were the first to start burning, and before he knew it, his entire ankle was throbbing with pain. He let out a sharp cry, and within seconds of landing, the hurdle fell on top of his legs, causing even more pain to flare up. He had no idea that the hurdles were heavy.
“Nagisa, can you stand?” His coach called out, making no moves to help him, despite the heavy hurdle pinning him down.
What do you think?! Nagisa wanted to scream, but rather than anger, which he felt like he should feel, all he felt was embarrassment. His face heated up and tears welled up in his eyes. His hands hurt, his arms hurt, his legs hurt, and his ankle really hurt. There was absolutely no way that he could get up and even try to finish the hurdle. He could hear some voices talking in the distance. He tried to swallow what little dignity he ever had and push himself up…but before he could, the weight of the hurdle was lifted off of his legs and back onto the track.
“Can you stand now?” It was a different voice. Nagisa froze.
Of course it’s Karma-kun…
“I…I don’t…” Nagisa mumbled, the words dying at his lips as he sat up. He reached forward, grabbing the dark blue sweatpants and tugging them up, shoving his sock down to glance at his ankle. He suppressed a wince when he realized how red it was, and how swollen it was starting to look.
Great.
Karma let out a low whistle, his mercury eyes dancing in amusement. “That’s quite the balloon you got there, Nagisa-kun. I guess it can’t be helped.” Without another word, he leaned down and swooped Nagisa up in his arms, one arm underneath Nagisa’s knees and the other supporting his back.
“H-h-hey! K-Karma-kun!”
“What? You’re injured,” Karma shrugged, though his face was anything but innocent. He was clearly enjoying how flustered Nagisa was getting. “I can’t very well make you walk on that, unless you want to make it worse?” He smirked.
“P-Please put me down! I can definitely still walk!” Nagisa protested.
Karma, once again, shrugged and set the blushing boy down. Immediately, he shifted his weight onto his left foot, holding back a grimace of pain.
“I’m taking him to the nurse, coach!” Karma called, waving his hand halfheartedly before glancing at Nagisa, snickering as he took a few steps away from him. “Well, come on, Nagisa-kun. Let’s hurry.”
“I can’t hurry…” Nagisa mumbled as he hobbled as fast as he could after Karma, who was definitely walking faster than normal. There was no way that he wasn’t teasing Nagisa for not wanting to be carried. The distance between the two was getting larger and larger with each passing moment, and Nagisa was so tempted to beg him to wait up, but he knew that Karma would just tease him again…
As he internally debated on what he should do, a small rock near the school seemed to appear out of nowhere…or at least, that’s what it felt like to Nagisa, who didn’t see it. The moment his limp foot hit the rock, he was down again, crying out sharply.
Of course, Karma turned around to make sure Nagisa was okay…before he doubled over with laughter. “How- first a hurdle, and now what? A rock?” He chortled. “Jeez, you’re hopeless…”
“W-well sorry, I didn’t see it…” Nagisa mumbled, his face reddening.
Karma seemed to take pity on him, walking back and spinning around, kneeling down. “Alright, alright. Get on.”
“Huh?”
“I said get on. I won’t tease you anymore- I don’t need you permanently damaging your ankle,” despite Karma’s words of concern, his tone was anything but. He still sounded amused.
Nagisa thought about refusing- but he gave up on that idea relatively quickly. After all, he didn’t really have any dignity left…and, not to mention, the class was already focused on the track lessons today, so it wasn’t like the whole class was staring at him anymore.
Sighing, he shifted forward and wrapped his arms around Karma’s neck. Karma, in return, gently gripped Nagisa’s legs, lifting him up before he began to walk towards the school again.
This time, the two boys were silent, and to Nagisa, the silence was unbearable. Sure, he was glad that Karma wasn’t mocking him anymore, but the awkward embarrassment of falling not just once, but twice, in front of his best friend caused the silence between them to feel rather uncomfortable. He knew, logically, that Karma was probably not thinking about how much of a failure Nagisa was, but he sure as hell felt like it. He glanced down at Karma more than a few times, unable to really see his facial expression and get a good read on how his friend could possibly be feeling at that moment. Something dark and ugly stirred in his gut, guilt and nervousness weighing down on his heart. It tugged so hard that it was painful, and made being in his skin viscerally uncomfortable.
“...I’m sorry,” Nagisa finally said after Karma had pulled the door to the inside of the main building.
“Hmm? For what?” Karma asked, his voice mildly disinterested.
Nagisa gnawed at his lower lip. “I’m…causing you trouble again. I didn’t mean to…”
“Fall?” Karma cut him off with a sharp laugh. “Yeah- I highly doubt you wanted to fall flat on your face in front of the whole class.”
Nagisa’s face flushed, and he tightened his grasp on Karma ever so slightly. “I- well, no, but…you shouldn’t have to baby me…”
“You got me out of class, I could honestly care less. Besides, I don’t mind helping you out.” His words were casual…yet there was something odd about his tone. Curious, Nagisa tilted his head to the side to try to get a small glimpse of Karma’s face, and was surprised to see that his face was bright red.
He probably just isn’t used to being so honest about anything… Nagisa smiled fondly, his small hands lightly fisting Karma’s blue shirt. Still, despite the new lighthearted mood, it didn’t shake away the anxiety and guilt that was swimming inside of Nagisa that Karma was going out of his way to help him.
The two were silent, all the way up until Karma slid the door open to the nurse’s office, calling out a lazy “heyyy, my friend fell on his face, he’s injured!”. Which caused Nagisa’s face to heat up at his blunt words.
There was no answer, though. Karma stepped inside of the office, looking around.
“Huh. Guess she isn’t here.”
“Of course not…” Nagisa mumbled.
“I guess that means I’ll have to treat you,” Karma said cheerfully, walking inside the office and shutting the door with his foot.
Now even more anxious than before, though now for an entirely different reason, Nagisa started slightly. “Um, Karma-kun-?”
Karma ignored him in favor of dropping him flat on his back onto the nurse’s cot.
“H-hey..! Be more gentle..!”
“Aw, you’re fine,” Karma laughed before practically waltzing over to where the nurse kept her first aid kit. “Just stay there, Nagisa-kun. The doctor’s on his way~”
“...Why do I feel such a sense of unease..?” Nagisa mumbled, sitting up and watching Karma warily as he grabbed the first aid kit and came back…along with the nurse’s chair. He plopped his ass down on it and rolled closer to Nagisa, who suddenly felt a strong urge to pull his legs back and avoid his best friend. So that was exactly what he did, though he was careful not to put any weight onto his sprained ankle.
“What? Don’t trust me? It’s not like I’m about to perform surgery or anything on you,” Karma laughed.
“I feel like you’re going to try to mummify me or something…” Nagisa grumbled, hugging his knees.
“I won’t, I won’t. Scout’s honor,” Karma threw him a grin and a lazy salute.
“You weren’t ever a scout, though…”
“True,” Karma shrugged, before grabbing the rim of Nagisa’s pants and lightly tugging his legs down. Once he had Nagisa’s foot on his lap, he tossed the shoe off easily, along with his sock, and then rolled his pant leg up to his kneecap to get a good look at his ankle without his pants getting in the way.
Nagisa peered at it curiously, biting his tongue.
It looked worse than he thought.
His ankle had a big, swollen knot on it, and part of it was beginning to bruise- no doubt from when he had tripped over the hurdle.
Karma clicked his tongue, and to Nagisa’s surprise, all amusement died off on his face pretty quickly upon realizing how bad his ankle actually looked. “Yeah, that’s pretty big, Nagisa. We might have to amputate it,” he said simply, letting go of his ankle.
“Eh?! You’re kidding?!” Nagisa’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened, moreso in disbelief than fear, though.
“Mm.” Karma hummed as he got up, before fiddling about in the office. “She’s gotta have some ice packs in here…” He was muttering to himself, before making a soft aha noise. He came back and sat back down, grabbing Nagisa’s leg carefully and wrapping it up with the ice pack. “Let’s keep this on first to help the swelling. We’ll bandage it up in a bit.”
“S-sure…” Nagisa muttered, lacing his hands together as Karma sat there, occasionally moving the small ice pack around on his ankle. He couldn’t help but notice the intense focus on the redheaded boy’s face, and how gently he was actually moving. Compared to earlier, when he’d forced Nagisa to hobble after him and then deliberately dropped him down on the cot, this felt almost out of character for him. It made his heart flutter.
Actually, now that he could stare at Karma up close, he couldn’t help but notice a lot of things about him. Things that he had taken notice of before, but never actually processed.
Like how his eyebrows furrowed when he was thinking- probably trying to focus on not accidentally bringing Nagisa any more pain, how he pursed his lips slightly, how his eyelashes were actually sort of long and could almost curl and touch his skin, or how pretty the odd golden gaze was actually-
Nagisa’s eyes widened a little, and his heart sped up.
Oh. Oh no.
Was he- was he actually thinking about how attractive Karma was? Sure, he’d always known that Karma was extremely attractive- anyone with eyes could see that. But he was practically staring Karma down and taking note of every single feature that he liked about Karma.
Oh lord.
He had to get Karma out of here so that he could die in peace.
“U-um, Karma-kun? C-class is going to end pretty soon, s-so you should go back…I know how to bandage myself up, so I can take it from here…” Nagisa tried for a casual smile, but he could feel the corners of his lips twitching a bit nervously. He wasn’t lying, either- thanks to his mother, he knew very well how to bandage himself up.
Karma glanced at him, before yawning. “Nah. I think I’ll skip.”
“W-why?!”
“I don’t need a reason. I just don’t feel like going back to class,” Karma replied easily. “So I’ll stay here. At least you’re not boring.”
“A-are you sure? I mean…”
“It sounds almost like you’re trying to get rid of me, Nagisa-kun,” Karma teased, “I’m not that awful to be around, am I?”
“N-no!” Nagisa’s eyes widened in mild panic, lifting his hands up in surrender. “Th-that isn’t what I meant at all! I- I just..!”
“Relax, I’m only kidding,” Karma snorted, removing the ice pack from his ankle and opening the first aid kit. “Hold still, okay? And don’t freak out on me.” Before Nagisa could say another word, Karma was wrapping the bandages around his ankle and his foot, making sure to go really slow so that he didn’t accidentally hurt Nagisa even further. As he did this, the bell rang, signalling the end of class. Nagisa didn’t say a word, even as Karma continued to bandage him up.
He’d just finished when the bell rang again to signal the start of the next class. Karma truly wasn’t concerned, then…not that Nagisa was surprised.
“How’s that feel?” Karma asked once he had finished, using the bandage tape to close up the makeshift cast he’d made.
“It feels good,” Nagisa admitted, lifting his leg a little to admire the handiwork. Karma was extraordinarily good at bandaging…it probably came with getting into so many fights throughout the years. “Thanks, Karma-kun…can you get my shoe?”
“And just what do you think you need your shoe for?” Karma asked blankly.
“To…put it back on? I still need to go change and get back to class…you’re ditching, but I’m not?” Nagisa answered slowly, almost like he was phrasing it as a question. He wondered if Karma ever forgot that not everyone in Kunugigaoka junior high enjoyed ditching class.
“Hm...nah.” Karma, much to Nagisa’s disbelief, then tossed his sock and shoe onto the floor away from Nagisa.
“Karma-kun!”
“What? You need to rest. No way can you put any weight on it so fast,” Karma reached out, poking Nagisa’s forehead aggressively. “If you’re worried about your grades, then I’ll just tutor you in whatever we missed. I’ll probably understand the material faster than anyone, anyway.”
Well, you sure have a high opinion of yourself… Nagisa thought dryly. He must have given Karma a look of sorts, because the slightly younger male laughed in response, his eyes crinkling in some sort of evil glee.
“Are you doubting me, Nagisa-kun?” Karma stood up, resting his hands on Nagisa’s shoulders, causing the smaller boy to blush a little.
“N-not at all.”
“Then…” Karma cheerfully shoved Nagisa down rather ruthlessly, laughing when Nagisa yelped in surprise. “Rest.”
“...You’re insufferable,” Nagisa mumbled, though a small smile crossed his face as he curled up.
“And you’re hopeless,” Karma replied with a big grin. “And together, we make an unstoppable duo.”
“...Yeah,” Nagisa breathed out. “I guess we do.”
It wasn’t exactly conventional, but Nagisa could see that Karma was trying to show him that he cared for him in his own way. It made him happy- and, call him selfish, but it made him happy that Karma was staying with him in the nurse’s office to keep him company as they missed out on their next class. He watched as Karma leaned back in his chair casually, his eyes occasionally flickering back to Nagisa’s ankle, as if to make sure that his ankle wasn’t going to explode in the next five minutes.
Once again, Nagisa’s heart fluttered.