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Chapter Text

The day started off as any other day would. Nagisa got up and ready for school like always, eating breakfast alone as his mother had already left and himself leaving soon after. He walked down the street towards where kunugigaoka junior high school took its place. It’s ominous aura tainting the minds of all who knew how brutal the school was. Thankfully, Nagisa didn’t have to walk into the menacing and cold looking building. He walked through the school yard, harboring nasty looks from D class students and above. Nagisa could never get used to their glares, looking at him as if he was the scum of the earth.

Despite the looks and lingering feeling of doom, he carried on to the mountain side and to the trails, or at least what Nagisa considered trails although it wasn’t a very clear area, that led to the run down building that was set aside for E class and E class only.

It was meant to be a punishment for e class students, a way to outcast them and make them want to fit in with the other pressured and stressed students D class and above but Nagisa and many of the students had grown fond of it, it definitely didn’t feel as sterile as inside of the main school building.

Nagisa made his way up the mountain, making it a point to not accidentally trip and fall on his way up like he did the first few times he went to class.

He neared the building and could see the other E class students gathered in their cliques talking about stuff Nagisa probably didn’t care about too much. A familiar green haired girl approached Nagisa with the same pleasant smile on her face.

“Morning nagisa!” She said in her usual tone that put Nagisa at ease and made him smile. “Morning kayano” Nagisa greeted in return as the two made their way inside, kayano got on one of her usual rants of whatever homework Koro sensei had given out prior, making emphasis on how it made her head hurt just staring at it.

Nagisa chuckled softly at her dramatic words as he sat in his chair. “I’m in the same boat as you, I doubt I even got half of them right.” Nagisa said in a half joking half embarrassed tone. “Maybe koro sensei was right… maybe me and you should stay after and get some extra help.” She admitted to herself, although not very enthusiastically. “Like thats exactly how I want to be spending my afternoon” Nagisa said sarcastically as he rested his elbow on his desk and held his head up with his hand.

He continued his conversation with Kayano although it was clear all she wanted to talk about was school work and how Koro sensei owed them a few seconds of him being still so they could shoot at him as remorse. Nagisa chuckled again as he watched the rest of the students slowly make their way in, including a certain someone.

It was strange for Nagisa to see him in the same class again since karma was so much more smart than anyone here. They hadn’t really talked much, or at all, since first year but now they were seeing each other everyday and sometimes would talk like they used too, about video games and movies, and not just about the giant octopus shaped elephant in the room.

Nagisa couldn’t deny that he liked having karma around again especially since the circumstances were unlikely but he still couldn’t help but feel like their friendship was a bit anti-climactic despite their new found connection.

They were friends, sure, but it always stayed as just that, friends. Not best friends, not close friends, just… friends. There was this weird… distance between them, something that stopped them from ever exceeding the barriers of friends that weren’t that close yet.

Nagisa didn’t know if it was just how they were or if it was intentional but it was definitely something he had noticed since karmas been back in his life. Maybe karma just didnt like having friends, maybe karma just didn’t like Nagisa all together. Whatever the matter was, Nagisa sure wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it, especially if it just ended up being nothing.

Chapter Text

Karma walked into class earlier than usual, which usually meant he wouldn’t be staying long. He tended to skip a lot, sometimes just to get under Koro sensei’s slimey yellow skin although being late made Koro sensei even more bothered but today karma noticed something strange. Government official vehicles and security were driving towards the E-class grounds. The same type of stuff that came along when the class got their weirdo teacher and also involve in this whole assassination thing.

He followed the vehicles all the way to the E-class building where he observed for a bit longer before going inside the decrepit building to bring attention to it.

He walked into class and headed straight for nagisa’s desk, the only person he really only tolerated talking to. Nagisa wasn’t annoying, rude or loud like some unsavory people in E-class, aka terasuka, but that was neither here nor there. He went over to Nagisa mainly so he could talk about the strange government official vehicles that were making their way to the E-class building.

“Yo Nagisa and… others..” he said, ignoring kayano. “I have a name you know!” She said, her voice pitching higher as she got offended. “Anyways, wonder what kurasuma is up too. There were a bunch of government officials and stuff coming up the mountain.”

Nagisa seemed surprised, he didn’t walk around the forest like karma did. He must’ve not seen them from where his usual path was. “You think it’s another assassination attempt?” Nagisa inquired. “Maybe, I wanna figure out what it’s about. Maybe we can use it to our own advantage.” Karma said as he spun his mock knife in his hand. “You really think mr. kurasuma is gonna allow that?”

Karma laughed. “No, that’s why I’m not gonna ask. Let’s just go see after school. Maybe it’s just the step we need to killing that mutant.”

“Don’t you think that’s a bit of a bad idea? If you get caught you’re gonna be in for it.” Nagisa warned karma although he knew it wouldn’t do much to deter karma from doing what he wanted. “That’s why you’re coming with me, your innocent face will make kurasuma feel bad, anyways after school today, let’s go check it out.” Karma said.

“I’m not so sure about that.” Nagisa said, trying to think as logically as possible. “If whatever they have in there is something we could use to kill the octopus then I’ll give you a cut of the money”

Nagisa was tempted, his research on Koro sensei had been inconclusive and pretty useless things that they couldn’t use to their advantage. After some thinking Nagisa caved and agreed to go with karma. Maybe it would lead to something good?

Chapter Text

“This thing better be something useful for how much trouble we’re gonna get in.” Nagisa said as the two crept through the dark woods. The moonlight spilling in through the gaps of the leaves, karma was in front of Nagisa, moving a bit faster than hiim due to the difference in height.

“It can’t hurt to look, plus I think koro sensei would appreciate us taking the initiative” karma reminded him as they reached the clearing in the woods where their school building resided.

The two hid behind the trees and bushes that lighted the entrance of the forest as they snuck around towards the tents that had been set up during their school day, along with the vehicles karma had seen earlier that day. They were silent as they approached, they didn’t know what or who was in the tent, it was better to play it safe, play it like an assassin. There was a slight light that seeped from the tent and as they got closer it was clear it was something bigger than expected.

Karma observed the tent as he got a great idea. He pushed Nagisa out from behind the tree they were hiding behind. “Karma!” Nagisa whispered to karma. “You’re pretty stealthy, go check it out.” Karma said as he shooed him with his hand. Nagisa hated that idea, he hated the idea of getting in trouble with anyone especially with someone as intimidating as kurasuma but karma didn’t seem to wanna budge on his decision. Nagisa begrudgingly tiptoed towards the tent and slowly pulled it open.

He was relieved to see there was no one inside. He turned back to the forests edge where karma was hiding, he waved him over.

Karma approached the tent and looked inside. There were no guards or security surprisingly. “Seems kurasuma put too much trust into us” karma said with a smirk as he walked in. There was some sort of machine that was the source of the light that they had seen.

Karma walked over and started inspecting the machinery. “Karma don’t touch anything, we don’t know what it could do.” Nagisa warned as he stayed behind karma slightly in case he’d need a meat shield at any point. “If this is a machine to kill the freak then it shouldn’t be harmful to us. Kinda like the knifes you know?”

Karma started touching some of the buttons, though one button in particular started a loud beeping and flashing coming from another button.

Nagisa flinched and without thinking pressed the button to make the loud noises stop.

The beeping and lights stopped but at what cost?

The whole machine started rattling and trembling. The glowing from within only got brighter as Nagisa stepped away.

Before the two could do anything there was a big flash and bang that made nagisa’s ears ring and tainted his sight for more than a good second. he clenched his eyes close and embarrassingly grasped karma’s hand.

After the ringing stopped and it was dark again Nagisa finally opened his eyes. Nothing happened?

“Well that was anticlimactic. Good thrill though.” Karma said nonchalantly as he looked down at Nagisa. “So… it doesn’t do anything?” Nagisa said as he let go of karma’s hand, not wanting to subject himself to that humiliation any longer. “Apparently not. That was disappointing.” Karma said as he started looking around the tent some more.

“Hey, let’s just leave, I don’t think we should snoop anymore” Nagisa said. Karma was silent for a minute before sighing and agreeing that this whole heist was a blow.

The two walked down the mountain together, parting ways once they left the school yard and went back to their homes.

Nagisa fell onto his bed after getting a scolding from his mother about staying out too late, that of which he could only agree, apologize and not talk back. He knew how she could be. Even with the scolding though it still felt good to give into the sleep that he had been fighting when he was with karma.

He slowly drifted off into sleep. In his own bed. In his own body.

But of course the calmness of the night was fleeting and the next day had to dawn, and sadly he had to wake up for school. He woke up later than usual, his alarm clock didn’t go off. He sat up in bed and tried to grasp reality as much as a person could this early. It took a minute for his eyes to adjust to the light pouring in through a window he didn’t realize had been there before.

He must be really out of it that he couldn’t even remember what his own bedroom looked like… OR NOT!

Nagisa’s eyes shot open as he looked around at a room that was definitely not his, in a body that wasn’t his!

This had to be a dream.

Chapter Text

Nagisa had pinched himself at least five times now but to no avail. He got up out of the bed he had woken up in and looked around the room. It was certainly messier than his, darker and was more unkept. There were more things he noticed, he was taller for one and he didn’t feel the weight of his long hair on his head like he usually did.

Nagisa reached up and pulled a strand of his newly short hair to look at.

But instead of the usual light blue threads he saw… red? Only one person came to mind when he saw the color red… when he saw cherries or strawberries, when he looked at roses, when he looked at fall leaves… only one person came to mind that had that specific hair color that seemed to stand out to Nagisa unintentionally…

Karma.

Nagisa looked down at himself. He was internally freaking out. There had to be some sort of logical explanation for all of this right?

He looked up and around the room again, taking in his surroundings as best he could. He spotted a door that was left open that lead to a bathroom. There was no way he was in karmas body, right? He had to check just in case. Nagisa cautiously crept over to it, scared to see what might look back at him in the mirror.

He sighed and flicked on the light and looked into the mirror and saw what he had predicted. Nagisa covered his face with his uncharacteristic hands that supposedly belonged to karma. He was wracking his brain around how this was even possible when he remembered last night.

Maybe that machine did do something. It wasn’t too far fetched seeing their circumstances. Nagisa knew it was a bad idea to snoop especially in on confidential stuff like government weapons.

He sat for a minute trying to figure out what to do when his mind went to karma, if he was in karmas body that meant karma was in his body. He shot out of the bathroom and frantically tried to find karma’s phone. Luckily it was just on the night stand by the bed. He picked it up and opened it. Thank god he had a good memory or else he wouldn’t have remembered karmas password from back when they were friends in first year.

He immediately went to the contact that said Nagisa and clicked into it, not impressed that karma had made his contact photo the photo he took of Nagisa when he was forced to wear a dress for a mission but now wasn’t the time. He immediately called himself.

Meanwhile with karma…

Karma woke up to the loud beeping of an alarm he didn’t remember setting. He instinctively slung his fist at the noise. He did hit something but damn he felt weaker than he usually did. Karma groaned and opened his eyes.

Since when were his hands so small and dainty? He spent a while inspecting his hands in a confused manner until his attention was moved to the bed room he was now in. Neat and tidy with lighter colors than karma would’ve liked. He recognized the room, it was nagisa’s. In first year they would only hang out at nagisa’s place since his mother was crazy protective.

Had he spent the night and not remembered? He was tired when the two arrived at the main school yard but not so tired he’d forget something like that and even if he did, where was Nagisa?

He sat up and looked around and felt tickling on his cheeks and neck and immediately smacked his neck in case of a spider… but instead… hair.

Karma turned towards the closet where he knew a mirror hung and looked into it… and saw Nagisa staring back.

“What the-“ he tried to say but nagisa’s voice said it first. He felt like he was going crazy. He got up and inspected the mirror, Nagisa on the other side mimicked him.

He looked down and saw the familiar frame he had made fun of so ruthlessly. Maybe god was finally punishing him for his bad behavior? Karma did have it coming. Karma was going to snoop through the room before he heard a phone ringing and looked over to nagisa’s phone that was sitting on his desk. He was getting a call from.. himself?

Chapter Text

“Karma?” Nagisa said, his voice wasnt his and was very out of place to him. “nagisa?” Karma said, Nagisa cringed at the sound of his own voice through the phone.

“What the hell happened?” Nagisa asked, “don’t ask me, I have no idea.” Karma said as he sat on the bed. “We… switched… how is that even possible?” Nagisa asked. “That damn machine.” Karma said. “That was my first guess.” Nagisa said. “Never realized how tiny you were Nagisa, I feel like a bug.” Karma said with a smirk. Nagisa wasn’t happy at the comment but was used to it.

Nagisa groaned. “Now’s not the time for your insults. What are we going to do?” Karma paused and thought. “Well I don’t think we can do much of anything, kurasuma is going to have our heads.” Nagisa shivered at the thought of being scolded by kurasuma.

“Maybe that’s a good. Maybe mr. Kurasuma could help us.” Nagisa said, making karmas voice sound a lot more friendly than usual. Karma sighed “I guess you have a point. Let’s just get to school.” He said.

Nagisa agreed and they hung up and got ready. It wasn’t hard for Nagisa to get ready, without the hassle of doing his hair every morning he was down pretty quickly.

Couldn’t say the same for karma who had no idea how to style nagisa’s hair how he always did. Sure he fucked with it a few times but nothing like how Nagisa does it. He brushed it and rummaged through the bathroom drawers and saw lots of hair types, bows and clips. “Wow. Nagisa really is a femboy…” karma muttered to himself as he gave up on doing the hair and left it down as much as it bothered him.

He got dressed, not trying very hard not to look at nagisa’s body. It was weird but karma being himself just thought of all the ways he could use this to his own advantage. He could just see the look on nagisa’s- uh, well, his face if he decided to dress in girls clothes with nagisa’s body

He got dressed, grabbed nagisa’s bag and came out of this room, making his way down the hallway where hiromi, nagisa’s mother, stood waiting.

“Good morning.” She said as she saw him and then her focus went to his hair. “You’re finally doing what I ask. Those silly pigtails always brought the attention away from your beautiful hair.” She said in a sweet tone but karma could tell it wasn’t meant to be a compliment. Hiromi caressed the hair of nahisa’s body and admired it.

“I need to go, I don’t wanna be late.” He said, trying his hardest to sound as much like Nagisa as possible but obviously it ended up coming out all weird.

That seemed to make hiromi a bit mad. She sighed and grabbed her own bag and walked out the door before karma, not bothering to say goodbye.

Karma shrugged it off and made his way to kunugigaoka.

Once he got there he saw his own body standing awkwardly by, probably waiting for karma. Karma approached himself, well, technically Nagisa.

But before he could say a word to Nagisa a yellow flash quickly went by him as he felt himself being grabbed and in a second he and Nagisa were in Koro sensei’s office with kurasuma and other government agents.

“I don’t want to hear anything from the either of you, you both know what you did.” Koro sensei said in an uncharacteristically serious tone.

“Now tell me, what exactly do you think would be an appropriate punishment for tampering with government machinery.” Koro sensei said. Kurasuma butt in.

“first I want an explanation. Why did you think it was a good idea to break into government property?” Kurasuma said as he stared intensely at both of them.

“We- we thought it may lead to some way to kill Koro sensei, that’s all we were trying to do.” Nagisa said although to Koro sensei and kurasuma it just seemed like karma had become a little bitch boy.

Kurasuma raised his eyebrow.

“Oh I’ve taught my students so well” Koro sensei said, snapping back into his usual demeanor and wiping away fake tears with a tissue he got from who knows where.

“We are sorry” Nagisa said, karma facepalmed at how Nagisa was making him look. Kurasuma stared intently at Nagisa. “You… are sorry.” Kurasuma said.

Nagisa felt like he was being cut in half by the imaginary lasers coming from kurasuma’s eyes.

Karma sighed

“That super secret government machine switched our bodies” karma said.

Koro sensei and kurasuma paused and stared at the two.

Chapter Text

After about a half hour of trying to figure this all out as well as kurasuma making a bunch of calls to the people responsible for making the machine that karma and Nagisa fucked with.

Kurasuma sighed as he hung up the phone. “The engineering team said that if operated wrong it could have strange effects… but I didn’t think it would be this. I suppose it was experimental” He said as he looked over at the two. It was very clear that karma and Nagisa weren’t lying. It was all in the way they acted, their demeanor and aura, it was completely swapped.

“Well first things first, how are we going to fix this?” Koro sensei asked. Kurasuma sighed “I have no idea”

“What now? It’s not like we can go home like this.” Nagisa said. “You are correct Nagisa.” Koro sensei said. “So what?” Karma added “so you guys will have to keep this under wraps until we figure out how to fix this.” Kurasuma said.

“So… pretend to be each other?” Nagisa asked. Koro sensei’s face flashes a red circle, signifying that Nagisa was indeed correct. “I recommend getting familiar with acting like each other, I don’t know how long this is going to last.” Kurasuma said. Karma and Nagisa sighed and were allowed to go to class.

Thankfully koro sensei let the rest of the class know about the situation so their behavior wouldn’t be weird although the situation was weird already.

This whole this was disorienting, Nagisa wasn’t used to being so tall, he was kind of enjoying it. He had always admired karma’s appearance, especially his height. Karma, how ever, was way to busy using nagisa’s body like a doll and dressing him up with nakamura.

“Karma!” Nagisa shouted as he tried to stop karma from dressing his body up in yet another skirt. “Oh come on Nagisa, you look so good in dresses” Nakamura said as she tossed another skirt to karma.

After a long long day of trying to stop karma from dressing nagisa’s body up and also trying to stop Nakamura from taking photo’s Nagisa and karma walked down the mountain together so they could discuss how to act at home.

“My mom doesn’t tolerate any back talk so just go along with whatever she says and if she is in a mood don’t talk to her” Nagisa explained as they jumped down the rocks. “Wow, your mom sounds fun” karma said sarcastically. “Karma, I’m serious. Keep my room clean, do the chores if they need to be done, don’t talk back.” Karma sighed. “Fine” karma said as he jumped to grab a branch but couldn’t reach in nagisa’s body. “God, I forget how short you are.” Karma said with a devilish smirk and definitely didn’t fit nagisa’s face.

“Are there any rules I need to follow at your house karma?” Nagisa asked. “Not really, my parents are always gone on business so I doubt you’ll have to worry about them. Just do whatever I guess.” Nagisa sighed in relief.

Nagisa had been so nervous that he wouldn’t pass as karma to his parents but if they were gone then there was nothing to worry about.

Finally it came time for the two to part ways, they had agreed to call if they needed help with anything. With that their pretend lives started.

Nagisa approached the door of the house that the boy who was currently controlling his body lived. It was actually a nice house. Nagisa didn’t take the time to admire it this morning due to a certain situation. He reluctantly walked in. It was two stories unlike nagisa’s apartment. Nice, minimal decoration mostly black and white with a splash of green from a few plants. Nagisa went up stairs towards where he remembered karmas room to be. The whole house was very silent, it was calming but a bit eery and empty. Nagisa could usually hear his mother’s grumpy banging around or on occasion work calls or even people who came over sometimes.

He walked into karmas room and sat on the bed, very tired from the day. Karmas room was noticeably different from the rest of the house. It wasn’t so lavish looking. Mostly because of the clothes that were here and there along with posters on the walls, some ripped. The stack of books on the desk, the tv and gaming console with game cartridges. Typical teenage boy stuff. Nagisa wasn’t about to snoop through karmas things. He laid on karmas bed and wondered how karma was doing.

Karma had gotten to nagisa’s apartment. He cautiously walked into the apartment and looked around for hiromi. Looks like she wasn’t home yet. Karma went to nagisa’s room and set his bag down where he had found it in the morning and went to sit at nagisa’s desk before he noticed something on the bed.

He looked over and saw a dress? Did Nagisa actually like cross dressing? Karma smirked and got up and walked over to inspect it. It was a pink dress that was very feminine. Who had put it there?

Suddenly there was a rattle at the front door and it opened. Hiromi was home.. karma took a deep breath and prepared himself to act like a little bitch boy. He walked out of the room to greet hiromi, something Nagisa told him to do.

“Welcome back mom” he said in the most Nagisa tone he could muster. “Oh darling, your home, did you see the surprise I left on your bed?” Hiromi said as she pushed him back to the room and picked up the dress and held it up to his body and turned him to look in the mirror.

“I wish you were born a girl. I would dress you up in so many frilly things like this. We could go shopping together.” She said as she rested her head on his head.

Karma paused and stared in the mirror. The words echoing through his head. It made him feel weird even if this wasn’t his mother and he wasn’t Nagisa.

Karma tried his hardest to not talk back to Hiromi but karma being karma did it anyways.

“But I’m not a girl.” He said, it was innocent enough. It hardly could’ve been classified as sass or anything… but before karma could look over at hiromi to gage her reaction he felt a hand grab the hair that draped over his neck and pulled it.

The sharp pain shot through his head as he heard the words of nagisa’s so called mother…

“Don’t talk back to your mother.” She said, it was short but stung like venom. Karma could feel it. He felt… powerless, defeated, at her mercy. Hiromi dropped the hair, making his head fall slightly. She huffed and walked away.

Karma was left to ponder what had just happened.

Chapter Text

After a silent dinner with hiromi karma went straight for nagisa’s room, which was his for the time being. He laid down on the bed that was smaller than his own back home but was definitely big enough for Nagisa. He stared up at the ceiling. That one thing that nagisa’s mom did shouldn’t be bothering him so much. Karma didn’t care, he never got involved in this type of stuff nor did he try. He just wasn’t good at it.

Karma wasn’t blind. He could tell that hiromi wasn’t a good parent, he knew since him and Nagisa became friends and he never cared then, so why was it stirring in his mind and stomach now?

He drifted off the sleep soon after. Karma woke up in the same room he fell asleep in, to the same alarm clock he had tried to punch yesterday. He got up and got ready for school, still not knowing how to do nagisa’s long hair. He stepped outside his room and saw Hiromi waiting for him at the table with breakfast.

It was a pretty silent and awkward meal that karma hurried out of as politely as possible.

He got to school and saw himself waiting yet again, it was strange seeing himself in the 3rd person but the knowledge that Nagisa was experiencing the same thing was strangely comforting for some reason.

“Did you even try to brush my hair?” Nagisa asked as karma came into view, he looked down at karma. “Not my fault you don’t cut it.” Karma said. Nagisa’s face slightly contorted in discomfort at the mention of not being able to cut his hair. Karma noticed, boy did he notice. It felt like he had spit up fire with the way the words burned his tongue the minute they escaped.

Karmas mind flashed back to last night. How nagisa’s mom cherished his hair so much so she could fantasize about him being a girl. A strange sickly feeling pooled at the bottom of karma’s stomach but he ignored it.

“Just let me do it.” Nagisa said as he reached down for his own bag and pulled out the brush he always kept in there and borrowed some hair ties from Kayano.

As Nagisa brushed karmas hair, well technically his own hair, that weird feeling grew, though karma ignored it and soon the long blue threads were up and off karma’s neck which was a relief. Class started and went by slower than usual, probably because karma practically already knew about all of it.

During break Nakamura approached karma with more skirts to put nagisa’s body in.

“Hey karma, look what I got~” she cooed as she held up the frilly Lolita skirt she had brought. Karma smirked, even in Nagisa’s body you could still recognize karma in there. “Oh-ho, this’ll be fun” he said as he took the skirt.

As he looked at it… he started thinking of last night.. the frilly pink dress hiromi had shown, thinking it was Nagisa who she had given the dress to.. that nauseous feeling was back. “Karma! Don’t you dare-“ Nagisa scolding as he rushed over at the sight of the skirt.

The look in his eyes. It brought karma back to last night again, jeez was that on his mind today or what? The look he unknowingly had on his face as nagisa’s mom pulled and probed at his hair. Even in karma’s body, with karma’s face you could still see the uncomfy and fearful look in his eyes.

Hiram always wanted girl. Always wanted Nagisa to be what she wanted, always wanted Nagisa to be what she wasn’t.

And karma had been playing into it. Nagisa got it at home and at school.

Karma looked back down at the skirt he held. Why did he care? It’s not like it mattered. It was just a skirt. It was just Nagisa, why would he care. They weren’t that close, it’s not like Nagisa meant that much to karma.

Karma hated feelings, that’s why he ignored them. They were way too complicated. He would ignore this as well. He clenched the skirt in his hands and forced a smirk and continued his teasing and managed to put the skirt on.

He shouldn’t care… but now he knew how Nagisa felt, that experience with nagisa’s mother tainted him like a bad smell he couldn’t get rid of, it lingered in the back of his mind as he continued to tease and embarrass Nagisa like always… like… always.

Chapter Text

It’s been 3 days since karma and Nagisa switched bodies. Kurasuma and other government members were working hard on ways to reverse this but how it’s looking now this could take longer than anticipated.

Karma had been feeling things he absolutely didn’t want to feel. He hated this whole situation, at first it was funny and a way to get under nagisa’s skin but now it was bringing up weird feelings that karma did not want to face.

Karma had always kept everyone at arms length. Never getting closer, even Nagisa who was probably the only person karma actually enjoyed being around for once but he still didn’t let him get close. So then how the hell has Nagisa unintentionally inched closer? And another thing… karma had been noticing things about Nagisa more. Especially things that bothered him, karma could tell where that came from, probably from that night that he couldn’t let go of… but… also the good things.

Sure karma and Nagisa were friends but karma never tried to be anything more than that. He didn’t care about nagisa’s likes or dislikes, passions or hoobies. He now started noticing small things, even if Nagisa was in karmas body it was still him… he still bit the end of his pencil when he was thinking, he still doodled Koro sensei in his notebook, he still fidgeted with his hair and fingers when he got nervous. All those things karma noticed, seemingly unaware he was evens taking in the information but why would his brain need to remember that? What was the purpose?

That’s what karma couldn’t wrap his head around, what was the purpose of his brain doing this to him? Why would he need to remember those things, why did he need to try and feel how Nagisa felt… and most importantly, why Nagisa. Why him? This past few days were weird, sure, and Nagisa and karma may have been spending more time together than usual but that didn’t answer anything.

Karma thought all of this over as he walked down the mountain, heavy footsteps carried after him and a very familiar voice called out. “Karma!”

“Yo” karma said as he straightened his posture slightly. “Have you heard anything from kurasuma about fixing… this?” Nagisa said as he gestured to his and karmas body.

“Nope, nothing so far.” Karma said as he looked straight ahead. Nagisa sighed. “I can’t wait to get back in my own body.” Nagisa said. “Being tall is great and all but I don’t like not being me, you know?”

“Yah I guess.” Karma said absentmindedly as he stared ahead, his brain still occupied by other things. “You ok?” Nagisa asked. Nagisa always worried about others and offering help when it was needed, it was an annoying at times but… he cared.

“Yah just hate being so short, I feel like something going to stomp on me.” Karma said as he returned to his regular smug and teasing demeanor although his mind anything but that. “Hey! I’m not that short, you’re exaggerating” Nagisa defended as he looked down at the karma. The two bickered down the mountain but the minute Nagisa and him split ways it felt… strange. Karma hadn’t noticed it before, did karma actually miss someone?

Gross.

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Nagisa and karma were hanging out more than they usually would if this whole thing never went down. Nagisa found himself feeling pretty homesick in all of this. Despite the cold and sterile feeling he got from his home and mother he still missed his own room. Nagisa would come over to his own house as karma just to feel at home again. Though karma wasn’t allowed to go anywhere since nagisa’s mom was still very controlling.

It felt like this whole body swap had pushed them together. Forcing them to understand eachother and Nagisa noticed. Usually karma put on an uncaring demeanor, he acted lazy and slothful but Nagisa knew from being friends with him that he cared, at least a little that of which he never showed. You could imagine nagisa’s surprise when karma started to tone down the femboy jokes and the using nagisa’s body to embarrass him. Though it didn’t entirely stop but it was something.

Nagisa and karma laid on nagisa’s bed, they had swapped phones to just get a hint of normality in this weird time. Nagisa liked these hang outs, even if they just sat in silence, it felt nice to have karma around when he wasn’t being snarky.

“Do you think we’ll ever go back to normal?” Nagisa asked, breaking the prolonged silence that lingered between the two. “I don’t know, I sure hope we do.” Karma added, not bringing his attention away from his phone as he caught up on the games he had lost progress on due to this whole ordeal. “Mr. Kurasuma seems pretty stressed out.” Nagisa pointed out, that’s another one of the things karma had noticed, Nagisa was observant, he picked up on things that karma didn’t.

Karma didn’t bother answering… after a minute of silence Nagisa scooted slightly closer.

“Do you like hanging out with me this much?” He asked. “I mean… yah it’s fun.” Karma said as he decided to turn his phone off and glance slightly in Nagisa’s direction.. “I feel like we’ve gotten closer… I like it” Nagisa said with a small smile. “You think?” Karma said, he hated these types of conversations. He did like this as much as he hated to admit it but he wasn’t going to talk about it, he certainly wasn’t going to say it out loud.

“Would it be wrong if… I said that I don’t want this to end… because I don’t want us to drift apart again?” Nagisa said.

Now they were trudging in treacherous territory for karma. This was getting way to feely feely for karmas tastes. “You’re so sappy Nagisa” he said as he rolled his eyes. Why did karmas thoughts have to fight eachother? He did like this, he liked getting closer but he hated it at the same time. He liked that Nagisa was feeling the same about it and making it known but he didn’t want to talk about it at all. Karma felt so helpless because of these thoughts, he was left not knowing what to think, feel, or even what was the logical thing or even why any of this was happening at all. It felt like his brain cells had disintegrated and turned into a mushy pile of indecisiveness.

Nagisa chuckled. “Sorry, I know you don’t get into all that” he said as he went back on his phone.

Karma hummed in agreement, taking in the sound of the laugh. He wished it actually sounded like Nagisa and not himself, then he would actually enjoy it…

enjoy it…

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God had the last week been weird, switching bodies, pretending to be one another, karma internally battling himself… it was hectic.

Karma was so incredibly frustrated in himself that he couldn’t figure one simple thing out. It was torturing him and it didn’t help that Nagisa just kept creeping closer and closer and he couldn’t stop it, or he wouldn’t. But what could he do to push Nagisa away? They were literally trapped in eachothers bodies. It felt like hell, wanting to be closer to Nagisa but also hating the idea of being comfortable with someone, wanting to bring Nagisa closer but also push him away. Why was any of this even happening!? It served no purpose, there was no reason why karma should feel this way, it didn’t benefit him. It probably did the opposite.

Meanwhile Nagisa was having a field day with getting closer to Karma. He looked up to him, admired him and now he finally had a chance to become a solid part of his life. But as much as Nagisa admired karma and saw this as a way to get closer he was getting quite sick of it. Kurasuma had tried at least 4 other times to cure them but it didn’t work.

One day kurasuma called both Nagisa and karma back over to the E-class ground to try out another experiment to see if it worked for the fifth time. The two bickered on the way there, making need on whether this one would work or not. “Come on karma, you gotta be a little more positive” Nagisa said. “Right, like the last four times we’ve done this? No thanks” karma said in a cocky and snide tone as they made their way to the clearing where kurasuma, government agents and koro-sensei were waiting.

“You two ready?” Koro-sensei asked. “Ready for what? Another one of your lame ass machines to fail again?” Karma said, he wasn’t in a particularly good mood today. “Just get in the damn machine.” Kirasuma said.

The two got into what looked like a medal coffin with just enough room for the two to stand with their shoulders only apart by an inch.

One of the agents closed the door and secured it.

With a loud screech of a lever being pulled light flashed from inside the medal coffin, making nagsia’s vision blur and the screeching making karmas ears ring. The feeling was similar to how they felt the night this whole thing started.

Before they knew it there was a very very bright light that seemed to overpower all of their senses. They couldn’t see or hear, feel or think for a good minute before their senses came back…

Nagisa… was shorter… the familiar feeling of his hair tickling his ears washed over him.

Karma was taller… stronger… and had less hair now which was a big relief.

Their vision came back shortly after… they looked at eachother. They were back to normal.

Karma looked down at Nagisa instead of the other way around. Nagisa smiled…

It had been a while since karma had seen nagisa’s smile on nagisa’s face… karma stared for a bit longer and it felt like a light switch was just flipped on inside of karma or maybe a “self destruct all critical thinking” button because karma put his hands on either side of Nagisa face…

Pull him in…

And let their lips finally meet each other…

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God why did he do that?? Karma was thinking of every possible way to explain this or maybe he should be thinking of fast ways to wipe himself off the face of the planet. Karma didn’t feel nervous, anxious or shy very often, maybe in a great blue moon but right now it felt like every nerve in his body had flared up. Like every single one of his cells were rejecting each other so much that he could fall apart any second. All his previous confidence and self assurance had been sucked dry, he felt like every one of his insecurities, though few, had grown tremendously. He tried to gain composure and control over his head again as he stared down at Nagisa. Nagisa’s face wasn’t helping the predicament either. He looked confused but most importantly was silent.

If karma could’ve exploded right then and there, he would’ve. The only time he had experienced this much humiliation was when he flunked the mid terms and even then it wasn’t this bad.

His heart beat pounded in his ears and it felt like every single one of his senses had failed him. His hands dropped down to the sides of him as he heard what sounded like the loud release of built up pressure, sadly, it wasn’t the pressure karma had been building up. It cut through the tension and silence in the small chamber.

Thank god that sound was koro-sensei opening the medal door, freeing karma from the situation he’d rather not be in. “Well, how do you feel?” Koro-sensei asked.

There was more silence before Nagisa decided to speak since karma obviously didn’t want to.

“It worked” Nagisa blurted out as he smiled again. Karma stayed silent as he stepped out of the machine. “Finally. I’ll contact my team to tell them the problem is solved.” Kurasuma said as he pulled out his phone.

Yah, one problem solved and a whole new one was caused. There was no way karma was gonna talk to Nagisa anytime soon. His whole body still felt weird, not just because he had just switched back into it but also cause every fiber of his being was telling him to launch himself off that damn cliff again.

The government staff did checkups on both karma and Nagisa and didn’t find any major problems accept some minor disorientation. They were free to go home.

Nagisa and karma walked in silence. Knowing Nagisa, he was probably just as embarrassed as karma even if he wasn’t the one who initiated it. Karma wanted to apologize but that would involve talking about it and acknowledging it actually happened, he wanted to know how Nagisa felt about it but there’s no way he’d ask an embarrassing question like that.

Nagisa and karma parted ways with a brief and awkward goodbye. Karma rushed home and fell onto his bed. He tried his best to take his mind off of what had happened, off of Nagisa entirely but it was hard when Nagisa had been in his body, in his room which nagisa so very obviously tidied for him. Karma groaned loudly and buried his head in the pillow. This was bad. Very bad. Everything was so awkward now. What the hell was karma going to do???

Chapter Text

Nagisa had just walked outside the 3-E classroom for break. He looked around the yard, obviously looking for something, or rather, someone. Someone who had been avoiding him for days now. Nagisa sighed and he sat down under a tree and watched his classmates converse with each other, knowing karmas new pattern he must’ve gone into the forest to avoided Nagisa. He really wished karma would just talk with him, he’d forget the whole thing if he asked.

Even if karma was the one who kissed Nagisa he still couldn't help but feel like it was his fault that karma was avoiding him. Maybe Nagisa should’ve said something when the kiss ended, maybe he should’ve tried to talk when they were walking back…

Nagisa sat there for longer than he had realized and before he knew it class was starting again. He stood up and walked in and saw karma coming in as well, of course he’d show right when they didn’t have time to talk. Nagisa took his seat and started listening to whatever Koro-sensei was saying though his mind was very much focused on karma.

karma was going through it but… Nagisa was having his own struggles with this whole thing. It’s like the kiss had shined a light on something in nagisa’s mind he had never even taken into consideration. Nagisa saw karma as a role model for academics, he admired him and his effortless smarts right? RIGHT? He had never once thought that feelings would be involved, especially when Nagisa was on the receiving end for once.

Class went by painfully slow once again, Nagisa would say it was boring but it’s hard to be bored when your mind is trying to come up with every possibility for why your friend you switched bodies with would kiss you for no reason and then start avoiding you! He couldn’t focus on a thing for the whole time, it was excruciating.

The minute class ended Nagisa left for his train home. He walked down the quiet street and passed a few people. It was calm for the most part but his mind was anything but that, replaying the scene again and again. If Nagisa thought really hard, he really… didn’t mind it. If anything he was glad it was karma rather than anyone, he was ok that it was karma. He would always be ok if it was karma.

During his thinking session he saw a familiar face… karma…

Nagisa tried not to freak out. His nervousness shot through his body, making his finger tips tingle and his mind go foggy.

the feeling only worsened when karmas peach eyes landed on Nagisa. It was a horrible, jittery feeling. A feeling that made Nagisa wanted to crawl out of his skin and never be seen or heard ever again. He was stuck now. What else would he do but go up and try to talk now that they were aware of each others presence, this also may be the only time Nagisa would get to actually talk to karma.

“hey..” Nagisa said as he looked up at him. “What.” Karma replied coldly. Was he… mad at Nagisa? What for?.

“Can we just talk?” Nagisa asked in a gentler tone than before.

karmas gaze gave way slightly as his facade faltered.

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Karma sighed. “Talk about what..” he said begrudgingly. Nagisa looked up at him. “Why are you avoiding me..?” He asked. Karma got a sour expression on his face.

Karma was silent for a while, he didn’t know if any part of him would allow him to actually formulated his confusing thoughts into words that made sense, this whole interaction felt like it was being rejected by the universe.

“Was it… you know… the ki-“ karma stopped him there and covered nagisa’s mouth, his eyebrows furrowed, was karma that mad that he couldn’t even let Nagisa say it?

After a minute Karma spoke in a more forceful tone. “I thought I made it clear I don’t want to talk.”.

“that’s the thing-“ Nagisa pushed karmas hand away. “You don’t even tell me why-“ Nagisa said as his expression firmed. Karma didn’t want to answer.

“Karma… you can’t avoid me forever.”

“Do you want an apology or something? Cause I ain’t giving you one. I said I don’t want to talk to you so stop forcing dammit.” Karmas lips moved faster than his brain… he was just saying whatever would stop Nagisa from getting any idea of his feelings or how had been feeling this whole time. It was a dangerous topic and not something karma would ever want to discuss with anyone.

Nagisa paused as he heard karmas words. He had never spoken that way before. “Why are you… being so rude?..” Nagisa asked.

“ain’t it fuckin’ obvious? Spending all that time in your body and around you had just made it more clear why I stopped hanging out with you in first year. Are you dumb in social settings too Nagisa?” Karma spat. His words like flaming hot fire that destroyed every bit of happiness in sight. Including whatever strings that bond him and Nagisa together. The smoke of his words bellowing out, darkening the atmosphere and tinging the air with its putrid smell.

regret swept through karma, but it was too late. Karma was doing everything to push Nagisa away… this was his goal. Karmas words must’ve burned a hole in nagisa’s chest, why else would it be tightening and making it hard to breath. Nagisa didn’t want to say a word, not to karma, not after that. He didn’t even think he would be able too if he wanted.

it seemed like god switched teams at the last minute and helped Nagisa escapes this hell on earth kind of situation with the train scratching to a stop infront of them..

the squeaking doors opened as people churned out, making room for the people getting on.

Nagisa glanced at karma. It was a miracle they both had been able to maintain their composure this whole interaction.

Nagisa hopped on the train without a word, leaving karma to steep in his words for a good, long, while.

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Nagisa tried to get home as fast a he could. He didn’t want to be around anyone, not even the strangers that had no idea what just went down.

Nagisa finally got home and sat at his desk and buried his head in his arms as he laid on the desk.

He blinked away the drops of tears forming in his eyes. He tried to formulate a reason, an excuse for why karma would whip that out all the sudden but he couldn’t find one. Karma hated him now and that’s all there was to it. Hated him and never wanted to see or hear him again.

karma had thought he felt guilty before all of this but now… now he felt nauseous for just existing. This was first year all over again, just more hostile… why did karma keep making the same mistake.

there was just something so wrong and right about the way Nagisa made karma feel. It felt so odd, scary even, having someone that close. Having someone that managed to make him open up without even realizing that he had was dangerous in karmas book but he couldn’t deny… it felt… nice to have someone for once… well not anymore, karma did what he does best..

Nagisa lay awake in the cold embrace of his hauntingly silent room but the silence went unnoticed thanks to nagisa’s reeling mind, his loud thoughts made it impossible to get some shut eye and before he knew it, it was sunrise…he had to go to school… he had to see karma… he had to act normal.

Nagisa made his way to school sluggishly… his body screaming at him for not getting any sleep. He soon arrived and looked around. A small part of him expected to see karma, expected to see karma walking over with his usual demeanor and everything to be fine and dandy… but that was wishful thinking.

karma didn’t show up… typical..

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The night swept through the streets in an eerily efficient fashion, Nagisa hadn’t even noticed the darkness until he looked up at the sky and saw strokes of dusty twighlight and ink.

“Ugh…” he groaned as he rubbed his eyes. He had been out here for way too long.

He drug himself from the rock he had been wallowing on for the past 2 hours.

His head felt numb, his heart as heavy as his feet as he trudged through the blackened forest that surrounded him. He should’ve been scared but it didn’t matter to him at the moment.

The hole in his chest did nothing to sooth his unbearable emptiness.

It felt as if karma had taken a part of him with his departure.

Nagisa’s secret desire to be karmas number one since day one had been crushed like the leaves that he stomped on in his solemn wake.

That admiration for karma had fizzled and roared into undeniable irritation.

That stupid look on his face as he shouted about how clueless Nagisa was about his apart obvious loathing for his presence didn’t make Nagisa wanna do anything but punch the stupid smug look off his face.

And that kiss? What was karma meaning to accomplish with that?

Had he assumed Nagisa liked him or something with the way he had been acting around him during their time trapped inside eachothers bodies?

He couldn’t believe that karma would be so self centered that he had thought that of Nagisa’s kindness.

But what would you expect from a sadistic narcissistic?

The more Nagisa walked the more he felt his veins heating up with the rush of anger that took over him as his mind spiraled into unlikely circumstances.

He reached the clearing.

The grass tickled his ankles and offered only the slightest bit of calm.

He peered at the building.

His feet moving idly as he walked toward it. Seeking anything to distract him from the storm that whirled in his head.

The door slid open with a slight push, Nagisa walked in.

It felt so lonely at night. Dark and mysterious, like a whole new place… just how Nagisa had been feeling… lonely…

He stepped down the hallway, his footsteps echoed off of the aged wood. He firstly looked into the classroom he had grown so fond of. He had slightly been hoping to see Koro sensei… maybe he’d have an inkling of what to do.

After what felt like a couple minutes he decided to leave and go home before his mother started blowing his phone up.

He stepped towards the side door.

Slid it open…

And saw the last person he wanted to see. Seems like he wasn’t the only one doing a late night visit to the classroom.

How had he not heard karma approaching from outside. What was he even doing here?? Did karma follow him to get him alone and spew more bullshit??

He looked up at the red head staring down at him in shock.

“Nagisa-?”

Before karma could get anything else out… Nagisa landed a punch right smack in his face.