#Karushuu College Roommates AU

[land-under-wave]

Like Sunshine Through the Clouds

Gakushu moves in. 

Also the conclusion to the backstory mini-arc for the Karushuu College AU.

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Three weeks before the beginning of the semester, Isogai calls him up and says, “Your new roommate will be moving in on Sunday.”

“Eh? You found someone, Isogai?” Karma says curiously. By now, his reputation as the demon of the math department has spread far enough among the student community that even people from other schools are refusing to room with him.

Truth be told, Karma doesn’t need a roommate. His parents feel guilty enough about their perpetual absence that their monthly bank deposit is more than enough to cover his living expenses. But Isogai’s been insisting it’ll be good for him to have some company, and Karma’s bored enough that he’s figured that it wouldn’t hurt to let Isogai do what he wants. 

Plus, it’s convinced Isogai that his puppy dog eyes have some tiny effect. That’ll be good for a laugh somewhere down the line. Karma just needs to play his cards right and he’ll be able to manage something spectacular. 

“I’d give you his number, but I don’t want you to scare him off because you even meet him,” Isogai continues, bringing his attention back to the matter at hand. He may know Karma a little too well. “But he’ll show up at three.” His voice sharpens in the way only Isogai can pull off, earnest and stern at the same time. “Be nice to him, Karma.”

Karma hums. “Whatever you say,” he says agreeably.

“I mean it,” Isogai says, the consummate class rep. It’s never stopped being fun to yank his chain. “We put a lot of work into getting someone who would suit you, and he deserves better than your usual.”

“We?”

“Ah, well. I got Nakamura and Nagisa to help out.”

“You got Nagisa involved with this?” Karma says, morbidly fascinated. Nagisa doesn’t usually care about petty things like roommates or color coordination or what to have for lunch. He’s always there for the big, important things, but he kind of shrugs off and bumps his way through anything you would classify as normal. He’s weird like that, but it’s also one of the best parts about him. Karma doesn’t care much for the mundane either. 

“He also thinks you do best with something or someone to occupy your attention,” Isogai says. His voice softens, almost imperceptibly. “And we don’t have Korosensei to do that anymore.”

Karma’s eyes drop to the floor, even though no one can see it over the phone. “Low blow, Isogai,” he says.

“I know,” he says. “But it worked, didn’t it?”

On Sunday, his doorbell rings at three sharp. It figures Isogai picked a guy just as punctual as him. Karma’s reading horror manga on the armchair near the entrance, strategically positioned because he is curious about this guy that’s supposedly so suited to him, but he’s not the type to just sit around and wait on someone. Just to hammer that in — it’s never too early to begin establishing who holds the power in your relationship, after all — he waits until the bell rings a second and then a third time, much more insistently, before he gets up and saunters over to the door. 

He opens it a little wider when he catches sight of the familiar face, already looking annoyed. “If it isn’t Asano-kun,” Karma says, bringing out one of his favorite nasty little grins. He’s about to ask what he’s doing here when it clicks. “I guess this means you’re my new roommate!”

Asano, being the prissy little princess that he is, huffs at Karma and drops a suitcase on the ground. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised he didn’t tell you,” he mutters. “You Class E folk seem to think you’re above the idea of communication.”

“Aw, maybe I just trust Isogai enough to let him pick for me. Ever think of that, Asano-kun?”

Asano just snorts. “No, because you’re a paranoid bastard.”

Well. He’s got him there.

“Takes one to know one, Asano-kun,” he sings back, because really, how else is he supposed to explain it? He hasn’t talked to Asano in at least two years, and hilariously, Asano’s never been that talented with people. He does great with your average citizen and increasingly worse the further you get from the norm, which meant Class E always had a ball with him.

Is that why Isogai thinks they’ll be well-suited to each other, so Asano will entertain him? No, Nakamura might think like that, but Isogai is too pure-hearted for something so cold.

The gears in his brain are whirring as he tries to work out his old classmates’ angle, but he can’t let it show, and gaps in conversation are all too obvious with Asano tapping his foot impatiently on his doorstep. Karma flashes a smile. “So why did you decide to come to live with little old me anyways?” he inquires, like he was just trying to decide whether or not he should let him in. “Does widdle baby Gakushu need someone to make sure he can take care of himself now that he’s on his lonesome?”

“Die,” Asano snaps. “Also, Isogai says to tell you you owe me five thousand yen, and you can pay him the other five thousand next week.”

Karma puts the pieces together rapidly. “Isogai used bribery?” he says, with a mock gasp. “I’m so proud of him.” And then, because he can’t resist the opportunity, he looks to Asano and coos, “You know, if you were so hard up for money to be accepting it from us lowly Class E members, you could’ve just asked.”

“Oh please,” Asano says. “I was using it as a test of his sincerity. Besides, it sets a bad precedent not to accept payment for things just because you don’t personally need it. I wouldn’t want your next roommate to get cheated.”

“Whatever you say, Ga-ku-shuuuu.”

Asano levels a flinty glare at him. “I regret this already,” he says flatly. He drags open the door and starts hauling his luggage inside. 

It’s only when he’s watching Asano stomp inside that the memory of just how stubborn he is comes back and Karma realizes Isogai just might’ve played him.

[land-under-wave]

like a house on fire

For this fic’s first anniversary, let’s take it back to the beginning.

This was one of the first drabbles I started for the college roommates AU and was originally meant to be the second one posted, but I have mixed feelings about the format and it’s been a struggle getting it semi-coherent. I’m making the executive decision to just release it.

(Bonus: mini contest)

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Gakushu doesn’t fully understand how they got into this arrangement. 

Certainly, he knows the sequence of events, how he got from Point A to B, but he still can’t quite figure out what made him decide living with Akabane Karma would be a good idea. Worst of all, what makes him almost like it. Is he simply a masochist? 

One minute, he was enjoying his Akabane-free existence and the next, he was kicking one last soccer ball at the chairman’s face as a vicious sort of goodbye and moving into the apartment of the devil himself. The in-between is slightly blurry — probably for his own self-preservation — but he distinctly remembers several members of the former Class E ganging up on him in an attempt to convince him that Akabane was actually very lonely, honest, and what he really needed to prevent him from taking over the world was someone to keep him company. He also faintly recalls that there was some kind of thesis proposed about Akabane being better than the chairman, which sounded right at the time but now, Gakushu would like to counter-argue. He’s collected enough evidence to tear down the supporting arguments.

Gakushu still thinks there was probably some kind of drug in his tea. Or maybe they hypnotized him. He wouldn’t put it past Class E at this point.

To be honest, when he first found out they would be attending the same university, the part of Gakushu that didn’t want to commit murder vaguely assumed that it would be a continuation of middle and high school. He and Akabane would both excel academically and prove themselves to be each other’s only worthy competitors among a sea of tadpoles and guppies. They would push each other to new heights of excellence even as Gakushu tried to prevent himself from grinding his teeth to a pulp. After graduating, Akabane would probably join a rival company just to annoy him, and the pattern would continue ad nauseum. His predictions were admittedly egocentric, but Akabane hadn’t exactly done anything to prove him wrong at that point, and it didn’t seem like he had anything better to do with his admittedly genius mind than to drive Gakushu insane. That seemed to have been the cause to which he’d dedicated high school.

But as it turned out, Gakushu couldn’t have been further off the mark. The two of them were in completely different departments and he never saw Akabane, not even in the general requirements. It was a little strange at first, but then it grew comfortable. When he heard the whispers of the demonic whiz kid terrorizing the mathematics department, he could think, they don’t know the half of it, with the relief of distance. It wasn’t his problem anymore. Occasionally, he would think about Akabane, but he didn’t miss him, and until Class E conned him into moving in, the only sign that he was in Gakushu’s life at all was the occasional glimpse of red hair across campus. 

The downside of it all was that apparently, it’d made him too complacent. It still infuriates Gakushu beyond measure that Class E tried some ridiculous combination of sparkling, mocking, and Shiota being quietly effective in the background, and it worked. Though the period after he agreed to live with Akabane was also a little fuzzy, Gakushu does remember that part of the reason he’d gone through with it was that he never wanted to fall victim to them again, and he thought a few months with their number one nuisance would immunize him to any of their antics forever.

But whatever his reasoning, he did move in, and the world didn’t end. Actually, it’s almost the opposite. Gakushu was originally only supposed to be here for a semester, but while Karma has never stopped trying to yank on his strings, he’s a better roommate than you’d have expected from a college student cum demon. He doesn’t party or disturb the neighbors, he’s passably tidy, and he skips out on his share of the chores less often than you’d think. His oddly responsible streak became a lot less surprising once Gakushu recalled that Karma’s been living more or less on his own since he was in middle school, but even knowing that, it still takes Gakushu by surprise every so often when he remembers that there are things his roommate is good for besides keeping him sharp. It’s not so easy to recalibrate a relationship after almost a decade of antagonism, he muses, but whether they wanted it or not, it was going to change no matter what. You can’t just overhaul the terms of your relationship and expect things to stay the same.

There were a number of ways it could have gone, but fortunately (or unfortunately), it went for the better, and not just in terms of chores. There’s a slow-growing almost-trust between them, built from the fact that no one can have a mask up at all hours, and so they’ve seen each other at their strongest and their weakest. It’s a perilous and fragile thing, but neither of them has abused it, and when they’d hit the six month mark of living together and neither of them had made a serious attempt to kill the other, he’d finally been forced to admit that they were something close to friends. At that point, they gave up on the last name basis except for when they were being snotty with each other, which was still about ninety percent of the time for Karma, but that did leave a strange ten percent where someone was calling him Gakushu. His given name hasn’t gotten this much usage since elementary school, and another one of the things of which he isn’t quite certain is how he feels about this change.

It’s funny how they’re closer than they ever were now that they’re no longer spending eight hours a day doing the same work in the same room, but maybe it’s because they’re not classmates that things have improved. Maybe it’s the kind of bond they never could’ve had while they shared the same space, trying to make something of themselves and jostling for whatever they could seize. A step back one way, but a step forward in another direction. 

If there’s anything that this whole experience has taught him, it’s that no one can predict the future. No one can really say if they’ll keep heading this way. But Gakushu finds that for once, he doesn’t mind the concept of stasis. He thinks, strangely, that he might be able to live like this indefinitely.

[land-under-wave]

Burn Away My Hopes

I’ve been poking at three or four drabbles for the last nine months and this is the one that finally sort of cooperated. Please assume this is set before March 2021 - I started this in 2020.

This is pretty late chronologically, so I was going to save this for a later chapter to make things feel more entrenched and established between them, but this was also the closest standalone to being done, and I figured if I was going to update after 10 months of nothing, why not make it a big one?

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“I hear you and Akabane Karma are getting married,” says the chairman.

“What,” says Gakushu.

“Congratulations are in order for ensnaring a man with such a bright future,” the chairman continues smoothly. “We at Kunigigaoka have always thought highly of him. I’m sure you’ll have a long and fruitful union —”

“AKABANE IS DESTINED STRAIGHT FOR HELL AND WE ARE NOT GETTING MARRIED,” howls Gakushu, cheeks flushed an angry red, before slamming down the phone. 

Speak of the devil and he appears, he thinks sourly, as Karma pokes his head into the kitchen. “Say, Asano-kun, that’s an interesting conversation you’re having there,” he says far too casually.

“I can’t imagine why you think that,” he bites out. “I suppose you also have no idea how the chairman got this impression.”

“Nope!” Karma says, folding his hands behind his head. His smirk turns devilish as he sings out, “Not at alllll.” And the worst part is, Gakushu can’t tell if he’s toying with him or he’s using that tone to cover up a sincere answer. It could really be either one, and if you asked, he’d probably just say he likes to keep people on his toes. 

Last week, Gakushu told Ren that no matter how much older and how seemingly respectable Karma got, he’d never grow out of the habit of pissing people off. He is very much proving that point right now.

“The chairman should know better than to be taken in by that,” he just grumbles instead. “It’s not even legal here.”

The bastard just laughs. “Like that would stop your father.”

“Please, even the chairman can’t overcome the societal opinions of half of Japan in a workable timeframe,” he mutters, and he thinks it’s a reasonable comment up until he sees the gleeful look spreading across Karma’s face.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Asano-kun,” Karma says. “I just meant that the fact that it wasn’t legally binding wouldn’t stop him from throwing you a fairy tale wedding.” He grins more widely. “Is widdle Gakushu disappointed he can’t make it official? Don’t worry, Daddy will fix it for you if you ask him nicely.”

Gakushu sees red. “Maybe I will,” he says hotly, but catches himself before he can really lose it and realizes — it’s one of those times. Karma isn’t always the kind of person who can be subverted somehow. In that kind of scenario, you can’t win against Karma by trying to go against him. You need to take his victory and turn it into your own, make the things he wanted work for you instead. The real trick to handling him is recognizing those situations when they come.

The flip side to this is that he’s always been good at turning the tables once he catches on. Gakushu lifts his head loftily, every inch the perfect and arrogant honors student. “June weddings are overly idealized in popular culture and add no real value,” he informs Karma, whose face slackens in the way that says he’s caught him off guard, maybe even confused him. That means this is Gakushu’s win. “I expect a long engagement,” he adds, a little viciously, and then strides off before Karma can try to reclaim the last word from him.

It’s unlikely that it’ll just end here, but there are a few ways this could play out. Karma might yet find a way to twist things, because he’s always been better at filing away a conversation so he can weaponize it once everyone else has forgotten. Or he might concede the ground and decide not to reawaken the beast. The third, rarest option is when Karma decides Gakushu has the right idea after all and runs with it, sometimes because he thinks it’s more amusing this way and sometimes because he actually believes in it. 

Which one he’ll pick is a toss up. Gakushu has his suspicions, but he isn’t about to let Karma catch him off guard because he made an assumption, so he’ll need to prepare for all three. Life will be interesting for the next year or so, he thinks, making a mental note to put some checkpoints into his calendar.

But whatever comes of this, he’s not telling the chairman.

[land-under-wave]

Strike a Match

This one was started in . . . *looks at document* . . . October 2020. There are some things I’m happy with and some things I’m unhappy about with this chapter, but at this point, it’s not getting much better unless I scrap like half of it.

I haven’t seen or written anything about Isogai or Nakamura in years, so . . . shrug.

“What am I doing here,” Gakushu says, too flat to be a real question.

“We hear you’re looking to move out,” says Shiota, which is true and incredibly freaky that he knows about it — Shiota in a nutshell — but that still doesn’t answer the question.

“What am I doing here,” Gakushu repeats, because right now he’s sitting in a cafe with three former members of Class E sitting across from him, and he still doesn’t know when or how he got to this place.

Nakamura and Isogai exchange meaningful glances, demonstrating very clearly that Class E still shares that same weird hive mind even half a decade later. Isogai leans forward and opens his mouth, and suddenly, what he’s about to ask hits Gakushu like a bolt of lightning. 

“Absolutely not,” he snaps out, because he may not be their pet demon in human skin, but he still knows how to do basic logical reasoning. This particular combination of people means it must be a collective Class E action, and post middle school, there’s only one topic Class E ever approaches him about. Akabane Karma and Gakushu’s desire to never again inhabit the same space as the chairman can only add up to one conclusion.

Isogai looks injured. “I haven’t even had a chance to say anything yet,” he protests, all wide-eyed and wounded innocence. He really does sparkle just as much as ever, Gakushu notes, and he might be a little bitter that it comes to Isogai so naturally when he has to work for his own sterling reputation. 

But on that note. He refocuses his glare at all of them collectively. “If you can tell me you weren’t about to ask me to room with Akabane, I’ll drop my lawsuit against the chairman.”

Isogai has the decency to look abashed, while Nakamura just whistles, long and showy. “Wo-ow,” she says. “Asano does know us after all.” She even claps a little. Gakushu always has liked her the least. 

“This is an insult to my intelligence,” Gakushu says. “Anyone who moved in with Akabane while knowing what he’s like would have to be insane.”

Isogai winces. “I really don’t think he’s quite that bad, Asano-kun,” he says. And with the genuineness in his face, Gakushu feels a little bad for shutting him down so brutally. He can tell that Isogai isn’t faking a thing about his feelings, he really and truly believes there’s something good in Akabane and that he’s worth all this trouble, and he feels the insult as if it’s one to him.

But the fact that Nakamura is snickering in the background certainly helps dispel any guilt. She’s having far too much fun at his expense.

“Then why don’t you move in with him?” Gakushu hisses in response. He looks at Shiota in particular, who’s done a good job of fading into the background and letting Isogai and Nakamura handle the talking for him. “Aren’t you his best friend?”

Shiota laughs awkwardly and rubs at the back of his neck. He’s the perfect picture of sheepishness, and Gakushu doesn’t buy it for a second. “Karma and I aren’t well-suited to living together,” he says.

“If even you can’t handle him, then how am I supposed to do it?”

“That’s just it,” Isogai says. “We think you’re the only one who can stand up to him well enough.”

“And Shiota can’t?”

“Well, they tend to kind of  . . . enable each other,” says Isogai, and he is definitely evading the question.

“Besides, it wouldn’t be fair to inflict Karma on the unsuspecting population,” Nakamura adds in, before Gakushu can pursue Isogai any further. He’s certain she did it on purpose, and the fact that they can double-team him like this when he’s all alone is outrageously unfair. “You already know what he’s like.”

“The point of moving out,” Gakushu says, enunciating clearly for emphasis, “is so that my life will become more sane. Not less.”

“You might become bored?” Isogai offers.

Gakushu just looks at him and doesn’t dignify that with a response.

His pointed silence lasts long enough that it drifts into awkwardness, helped along by Shiota’s brand of uncomfortable diffidence. Does he do that on purpose? Gakushu wonders. It would be like Shiota to have somehow found a way to weaponize it. Despite himself, he gives into their juvenile tactic and his own curiosity and asks, “Why does Akabane need a roommate anyways?”

“He’s lonely,” Isogai says.

“Lonely?” Gakushu repeats incredulously. 

Isogai nods, his puppy-doggedness out in full force. “Lonely,” he says, very, very earnestly, and when he says it like that, you could almost believe him. 

Almost.

He folds his arms. “I’m not about to fall for your Mr. Refreshing act, Isogai. That got old five years ago.” 

Isogai doesn’t rattle or even look hurt, he just keeps going on. “No, really,” he insists. Maybe that indefatigable personality is what gave him the fortitude to make Class E Rep. “You can tell because of how restless he gets. If he has someone who can keep up with him, he wouldn’t get so moody and in his head.”

Gakushu translates that from sparkling idealism to rational human. “So basically, you just want someone to keep him distracted and under control,” he concludes, and then scoffs at them. “Who would pay money to live with Akabane? If you want them to throw themselves into the lion’s den, you should pay them.”

Isogai perks up. “Oh, we can do that, actually!”

“You can?” Gakushu says, his interest now piqued. If there’s one thing he knows about Isogai, it’s that he comes from a poor family — where could he possibly have gotten enough money to be worth bribery?

The subject in question just nods, beaming. “I made a bet with Karma. But if that’s what it takes, it’s yours.” Gakushu doesn’t know if it’s more surprising that someone got one over Akabane or that Isogai is actually willing to make bets, rather than being the the type to catch his classmates placing bets and scold them for it.

“You know,” Nakamura throws in casually, “Karma doesn’t exactly need help with the bills, being a little rich boy. You would know the type, seeing as you’re one yourself.” She waves her hand carelessly. “You could probably get free rent out of it too.”

She laughs as she leans back, like she doesn’t even care if it hits or not, but it does, just a little. She’s so much better at speaking his language even though she’s the worst one here, and Gakushu hates it. Is she even trying? At least half of that casual carelessness is fake, but he can never tell which half.

You can’t do that, Gakushu. He takes a breath to recenter himself before he can let them get to him too much, driving him to distraction and keeping his mind too busy with their eccentricities to notice them trying to pull the wool over his eyes. That’s exactly what they would want, he reminds himself, and he’s not about to give into Class E’s tricks like that.

There’s some truth to the saying that bad things come in threes, particularly when that’s the number of Class E members you have with you. He looks at the remaining one, who definitely is plotting something of his own, probably with careful and precisely leveraged timing, and decides he’s much too done with everything to deal with this too. “Just spit it out already,” he says preemptively.

Shiota looks startled and then awkward. His trademark. “What?” he says.

“Cut it, Shiota,” Gakushu snaps. “We both know there’s something going on in that head of yours. Just get to the point already and save us the time.”

To his credit, he drops the innocent act immediately instead of dragging it out further. “Well, I was just thinking,” Shiota begins, and he still does it awkwardly, but there’s also something almost lethal about his tone that says it won’t be something he likes to hear. “Is Karma really any worse than your father?” 

Gakushu stops. He thinks. He tries to come up with a rebuttal, but he can’t think of anything to say. He’s spent his whole life plotting to defeat the chairman. That man looms large over everything — his schooling, his social life, his hobbies, his career plans. How do you capture that in words? he wonders. Nothing seems adequate for the way his father casts a shadow over his life.

There has to be an answer to this. But all he keeps coming back to is the image of his father in his office, looking at him like he knows he’ll never be able to step out of his shadow. Compared to him, Karma is barely a fly.

“Asano-kun,” Isogai adds, in a faintly wheedling tone that finally snaps him out of thought. It sounds suspiciously familiar and a split second later, he realizes — is Isogai treating him like one of his younger siblings? That’s downright offensive. “Don’t you think it’d be good for you too? After all, I bet there isn’t anyone else you know on Karma’s level, right?”

Gakushu opens his mouth to retort the chairman, since Shiota’s just made that point, but Isogai just keeps barreling on. “We can see how it’s working out at the end of the semester, so it’s only a few months, just to start out with. And it’s much nicer than normal student dorms, and Karma even knows how to cook and clean and everything, it’ll be a good adjustment point to help you get used to living on your own!”

He means to say, “Not on your life,” but instead, what comes out is, “If I say yes, will you promise to end this farce immediately and never bother me with your nonsense again?”

He doesn’t have a chance to take it back before there’s a gleam forming in Nakamura’s eye, and Shiota’s relaxing in his chair. Isogai jumps up. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” he exclaims, and his joy is so pure that it even affects Gakushu for a moment before he snaps himself out of it. Is he becoming one of those sentimental old fools? He can’t let himself go at this young of an age. 

“Not so fast,” he says, because he refuses to let Class E declare victory so easily, like he’s some pushover. “I want that money.”

“Of course!” Isogai doesn’t even look like he begrudges it at all. How do you become a person like that? Gakushu wonders. A poor person who doesn’t covet money, an overworked and overburdened person who doesn’t envy everyone else’s fortune. Isogai is like one of those unrealistic characters straight out of a rags to riches plot, the type who’s meant to convince poor people not to resent the wealthy and vaguely imply their perfectly justifiable bitterness is the reason for their circumstances.

Honestly, it’s kind of uncomfortable. How does Class E deal with him?

“I’ll take half,” he decides. He wants to make this a little painful and he likes the idea of getting Akabane’s money without him knowing, but taking it from Isogai in particular feels too much like bullying. Say what you want about Gakushu, but he has standards.

It’s four months with Akabane that he can use to look for a better place to live. For free rent, Akabane’s money, and getting one up over the chairman, he can survive it.

Can’t he?

[land-under-wave]

The Fires of War

The original drabble for the Karushuu College Roommate AU. Didn’t post it earlier cause was rough around the edges. Still is. Am sick of it. Getting it out of my head.

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“We’re out of milk, Second Place,” Karma calls out, shutting the fridge.

“So?” Gakushu demands.

“So,” Karma says, turning around and flashing him a smile, “you’re going to have to make a trip to the store, aren’t you?”

“Why would I have to go buy more when it’s your disgusting diabetes trap?” Gakushu returns sourly, because that smile is at least half a threat and what Karma means by “We’re out of milk” is really that they’re out of that oversugared strawberry slop he’s been guzzling since middle school.

“Well, isn’t it your turn on the chore chart, Asano-kun?” Karma says. And he’s lifted his head and started smirking, and both of them know that it translates to this means war.

Gakushu weighs his options for a moment. It is his turn and they’re only three streets down from the nearest conbini. This is very low on the list of fights worth picking, particularly when he has two papers due the next day and his opponent is someone as childishly petty as Akabane Karma. But some part of him knows there was never really a question about it. Nothing can ever be simple between them, not even groceries, and besides, it would set a bad precedent to give in to Karma’s whims without any resistance.

So instead, he sets his chin stubbornly and begins the counter attack. “That chart is only for normal shopping trips, not for enabling your quest to end up in an early grave.”

“Aw, does that mean you’re trying to keep me around?” Karma asks, with a glint in his eyes like he’s successfully backed him into a corner. He mock-gasps, pressing a hand to his chest. “Asano-kun, I’m touched!”

Gakushu nearly gags at the sight of him pretending to be some fainting maiden. “As if,” he huffs, channeling the full force of his disgust into his voice. “No one would believe it was natural causes, and as your roommate, I’d be Suspect Number One in the inevitable murder case. It would decrease my options against the chairman to have public opinion against me.”

“You know, a lesser being might be hurt by your callousness,” says Karma, nonchalant, leaning back in his chair. “You should be grateful I’m so understanding.” He sighs, too dramatic, and proclaims, “Some people just don’t realize their luck.”

“I don’t have any luck. It was all canceled out by the curse of living with you to begin with,” Gakushu snaps, to cut off that strategy preemptively. If you didn’t stop him early, he’d become like a hydra and sprout more heads for every one you cut down.

Karma lets out the kind of hum that says he’s about to change tactics. Abruptly, he says, “Well, if you’re going to be like that, I could use some beef and another bag of rice. Oh, and leeks too,” he adds thoughtfully.

“You’re kidding,” Gakushu says flatly.

“Nope! I wanted to make gyudon for dinner,” he says, and there’s already a sticky note in his hand. He’s scribbling a list like he actually cares about its contents. Why is he doing this to him. “If it’s a real grocery trip, then Asano-kun can’t complain, can he?”

Gakushu glares at him, but he can’t find a flaw in the argument. Even if he could, it looks like Karma’s in a particularly sadistic mood today, because the actual grocery store is much further down than the conbini and this is clearly one part punishment for not giving in earlier.

The leeks aren’t even for gyudon. Karma just added that to be a total bastard, because both of them hate leeks.

Karma further cements that status by slapping the sticky note on his arm like he’s an obediently waiting dog. His handwriting is about five shades less legible than normal. “Get to it, Asano-kun!” he says cheerily.

“Die.”

“Well, if you get me that milk, you can help speed that along!”

His glare magnifies in intensity, but unfortunately, Karma doesn’t just drop dead at the sight of it. “I’ll be back by four,” he grumbles, and stomps out the door.

Outside the apartment, Gakushu discovers that the final item on the list is Asano-kun’s tears of defeat. He commits the list to memory and then rips it into shreds before he marches angrily down the stairs, the sound of Karma’s laughter trailing after him.

[land-under-wave]

Alight in Your Eyes

I don’t really have an answer to the question I asked a few months ago, but I’ve kept thinking about it and I think I’ve decided my silence doesn’t really help anyone, particularly since progress is somehow even slower than my already low expectations and endless silence seems useless. I hope maybe this attempt at mindless domestic fluff can bring comfort to someone.

.

.

.

On Wednesday, Gakushu comes home from his four-thirty class to find Karma sprawled out all over the couch with the TV blaring in front of him. He looks somewhere between an overgrown predator cat and the bored college student that he is, and the sight shouldn’t make Gakushu feel as fond as he does. 

“Budge over,” he says, and hip-checks Karma’s head out of the way when he just smirks at him in response. “What is this nonsense this time?” 

On screen, a girl runs away sobbing while a boy looks after her in confusion. She’s clutching an envelope to her chest, obviously a confession letter of some sort, and even though Gakushu hasn’t seen any of the rest of it, he can already tell it’s sappy and melodramatic. Sad orchestral music swells in the background. The world’s smallest violin, Gakushu thinks, suddenly and inanely.

“How did you ever beat me in exams when you spend all your time watching this drivel?” he mutters.

“I’m just naturally superior to you, Asano-kun. Really, spending my time watching bad dramas is an act of charity, you know. It helps bring me down to your level.”

This time, Gakushu just snorts without taking the bait, and he knows Karma doesn’t expect him to. They’re beyond the point of childish taunts, and now their barbs are well-worn and harmless, insults slung at each other like pet names. It’s strange to think that words like routine and comfortable could ever be associated with someone like Akabane Karma, but it’s also strange to even think of Karma being anything approaching domestic, and yet here he is, bonelessly languid and too at ease to muster up any real antagonism, with what smells like nikujaga already cooking in the background. 

He’s let his guard down, and it’s such a rare sight that it almost feels like a privilege. Not even Shiota gets to see Karma quite like this.

“Don’t you have any homework to do? Any professors to terrorize?” Gakushu asks, before he can let that train of thought get too sentimental.

Karma laughs, so bright and carefree that it reminds him of a time from their high school days. I’m nowhere near old enough to be this maudlin, Gakushu thinks. “I finished it before you came back,” he says, like only a fool would ever contemplate otherwise, and then he sits up, closing the distance between them. “Looks like you’re just stuck with me for tonight, Asano-kun.”

[land-under-wave]

Still haven’t come up with a good alternative for End Notes on Tumblr and this is too long to put in the tags, so:

I’ve posted this drabble for Your Soul Like Little Sparks’ one year anniversary. It’s the first of a three part miniseries within the Karushuu College Roommates AU. If you can correctly guess the exact group of Class E students who convinced Gakushu to move in with Karma, I’ll give you a sneak peek at Part 2.

If you’d like to play but want to still give others a chance even if you’re correct, you can ask me to reply privately (assuming you’re not on anon). I'll give you a different sneak peek, so if someone gets it right publicly, you'll have two snippets.