Shiver{KarmaxReader}

Clinging On For Dear Life

As I opened my eyes the next morning, I realized I was laying in a bed. Across the room was Karma, wearing some baggy pyjama pants and an orange shirt. "W-what... are you doing in my room..." I glanced around the strange looking room, it didn't look very much like my room, but I had been there before. "I should be asking you why you're in my room." Karma chuckled to himself and walked over to me, softly placing a hand on my head. "What?" I sprung up from where I was laying and did a double take. "How the hell did I get here?"

"You passed out from exhaustion when we got back to school, so I took you home." Karma smiled again, then Mr Karasuma walked in. "Am I interrupting something?" My face turned pink and I opened my mouth to speak, sadly Karma answered first. "Yeah, kind of, yeah not really." A smirk formed on Mr K's face and he sighed. "It's Saturday Annabelle. You can sleep as long as you want."

I felt relief flow through my blood and I relaxed back into the bed. "Yeah, but you're in my bed, so you might want to move over." Karma grinned cheekily and sat at the end of the bed. We watched as Mr Karasuma casually walked out of the room as if he was never there in the first place. "Hey, Karma?" I fell back on the pillow that was under my head and closed my eyes sleepily. "Yeah?"

I took a deep breath in and thought for a second. "Where did you sleep then?" It was a random question, but I wanted to know. "Ah- well... I slept in this room...of course." The room fell silent and I glanced around.

"I wasn't sleeping in the bed with you! Haha, if t-that's what you thought..." Karma pulled his fingers through my hair gently and smiled at me. "O-of course not," I mumbled to myself and pulled his hands away. "Why are you doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"Doing that! Running your fingers through my hair. Instead of yours.." I threw my arms in the air and then sighed deeply. "Well, I thought...you might like it..." A light shade of pink tainted Karma's face and I stood up off the bed. "Look, I'm sorry. But I am not...continuing this conversation of...this..." I ended my sentence quietly and glanced over at a mirror. I was wearing a pair of black short, and a red shirt that said Karma's a bitch. "You're not kidding."

"Hm?"

"Nothing. Nothing, just mumbling to myself." I walked out of the bedroom door and was greeted by Mr Karasuma and the one and only Professor Bitch. "Oh good, you're awake." Professor Bitch stood up from the dining room table and walked over to me, swaying her hips like a professional. "What?" I watched the expression on Mr Karasuma's face change from neutral to disturbed to some sort of disappointment. "Are you aware of where your daddy works little lady?" My professor ran her freshly painted pink nails through my messy hair, it didn't take long for her to come across a knot.

"He works at a bank, why?" I glanced up and down at my teachers, why was everything to do with everything always involved with me? "Wrong. He sells drugs for a living."

"Irina!" Mr Karasuma stood up and glared in Professor Bitch's direction. "She has a right to know! Annabelle sweetie, can we talk?"

And we did. For the whole day, we talked.

Then I was told that my dad was taken away for drug use. And that I will never see him again.

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Mr K offered me a lift to school Monday morning, I declined.

Karma walked a few steps behind me the whole way, staying silent. "You don't...need to walk with me, Karma." I stopped my pace and spun my head around to face the redhead. His expression was blank. No grief, no sympathy, no anger. Just blank. "I'm not walking with you for any particular reason... Just curious as to why bad stuff always happens to you."

I sighed lightly and continued walking to school. Karma following me silently.

There weren't many people in the classroom when I first got there, just Karma, myself, and Nagisa. As I sat down in my seat, I watched Karma do the same. "What are you doing?" I took my gaze towards the window, visually listening to the tree shaking.

"I am trying to pay more attention to you."

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing but a small squeak came out. Karma smiled faintly, trying to hide a snicker. "W-well, stop." My eyes darted around the room, Nagisa was sitting with Okuda and Nakamura, who were all doing their homework together. A moment of silence passed, before Mr Karasuma and Korosensei walked in together.

"Students, we will be climbing the mountain we scoped out a few weeks ago." Korosensei smiled brightly and glanced around at the five students sitting in his room. Karma narrowed his eyes and leaned back on his chair. "Shouldn't you wait until class starts, Octopus?" Mr Karasuma shook his head and gestured us all to stand. "The others are all waiting at meeting point. The equipment is with them." A small sigh let out of me as I stood up again, as I reached to lift my bag up, Karma snatched it up. "I got it. I- ah, I am just being polite." He scratched the back of his head and smiled lightly. I mumbled something under my breath and wandered out of the room after Korosensei.

When we got to the mountain, everyone was already dressed up in their harnesses and roped up to the bottom of the wall.  I got into my harness and strapped myself up to the wall. The aim was to get to the top, and attack Korosensei, who was waiting at the top of the mountain. The mountain was maybe only 500 meters high, so it wasn't that big of a deal. Yet...

My feet wouldn't budge.

"Annabelle?" Karma glanced back at me with a worried expression. As if he knew everything going on in my head. "Are you okay? If you want I can-"

"I'm fine."

I took a deep breath in and began climbing the wall, Karma next to me. I watched as everyone climbed the wall with ease, as if there was nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. Not as if the harness was too loose, or the rope would snap. Or we could lose balance. So if they had nothing to worry about, then neither did I.

It took a while before I got to 100 meters. I was going as fast as I could, but was pretty behind. One of the others left behind me...or next to me, was Karma. I climbed a bit ahead of him before glancing back. "Ah-"

It was really far down.

If I fell, I would die for sure.

"Annabelle! Don't look, keep climbing."

Karma must have realized how afraid of heights I was when we were on the ground, or he could see the terror on my face, but it nothing compared to when I lifted my hand onto the next rock and felt the harness snap, and my hand slip.

There wasn't even enough time for me to breath, first it was my hand, then my foot. Then I was falling. So I closed my eyes and waited.

I forgave everyone I had ever disliked in that moment. Korosensei for wanting to blow up my planet. My father for being a drug dealer. The random that kidnapped me. Karma for being suck a tease all the time. My mother...

Suddenly I was swinging next to Karma, who was clinging to my side tighter then he ever had. "Annabelle...you can open your eyes."

I hesitantly opened my eyes and stared at Karma, not his eyes specifically, more of his chest. I didn't want to look up, I didn't want to move. Not for a few minutes. My eyes were in tears, and my face was red with fear. Shakily, I wrapped my arms around Karma and rested my face in his shirt. My breathing was heavy and my heart was racing.

"I'll hang here until you calm down. It's okay now. It's okay."