Summer Breezes

Finals

Made hot cocoa to calm myself down, burnt my whole mouth and throat and am more agitated then when I began >:(
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His pencil tapped rapidly against the smooth plastic desktop, Kirishima ran a hand through his hair, agonizing between options C and D. His answer fell right between the both no matter what he did to rework it and by then he'd already wasted so much time it seemed his best bet was to just guesstimating. In the end he picked D, flashing a glance at the clock to fret about how much time had been lost.

Katsuki would've killed him for guesstimating but it was a desperate moment and math had never been his strong suit. Vaguely, he recalled something they'd discussed about the cheat sheet for kinematic equations, hurriedly erasing his answer and replacing it with C before moving on. He could barely focus as the time counted down, shaky hands scrawling illegibly across the paper until some uncertain answer emerged, something just close enough to any of the existing options.

Eleven minutes remained and nine questions were unanswered. Kirishima bit his lip, knowing even if he tried he'd never finish in time, his leg bouncing in an unconscious rhythm. Still, he buckled down and attempted each one, entirely guess the last answer as Aizawa called the time as he'd been mid-circling his choice. Their papers were quietly collected, rigid stress palpable in the room as Aizawa tucked each paper in his creased Manila folder, his face flat, firm and demoralizing.

Murmurs arose amid the shuffling of people collecting their things, slowly blossoming into somber chatter, a disappointed feeling lurking low in the room as doubts began to arise quickly washed away by the knowledge that it was too late now anyways. Kirishima reached far up as he stood, stretching himself out and silently praying nobody noticed the sweat dampening his shirt or the popping from his back. Tugging on his backpack straps, he noticed Bakugo sidle up beside him, face buried in his phone, likely texting his mom about the exam or some mundane something or another.

"What've you got next?" He asked, breaking the brief silence as he shoved his phone absently back into his pocket.

"This was my last exam, I think I'm just gonna head back to my room." Letting out a reliving sigh, he leaned against his desk, glancing out the window before acknowledging his friend, fatigue hitting him like a bullet train.

"You're not staying for lunch?"

He considered a moment, it had been his plan to leave but the prospect of making his own lunch suddenly seeming like an insurmountable task.

"I will, I just mean after."

" 'kay,"

Their conversation ended abruptly but not awkwardly as they filed out in a trance of exhaustion and into the rushing chaos of the hallways, bursting with the lunch rush. It didn't take long to snag their lunches from the line and Jiro reserved their usual table in the back corner.

Their usual bubbly table took longer than usual to get into he swing of conversation but they managed eventually, the previous exams immediately becoming the topic of discussion. Nobody felt good about the physics exam—except for Bakugo—each lamenting their specific set of mistakes, blurry in the moment but purely crystal clear in hindsight. Still, there was nothing to be done at that point, and the realization of this fact was somewhat reassuring, giving a sense of closure to the weeks long stress. With that, finals seemed to end just as suddenly as they began. Unbearable stress finally beginning to dissolve after months of building tension and few breaths of relief were taken before the impending fears of failure could kick in.

Due to exams, their lunch period had been extended so they had quite a chunk of leisure time before the next testing period was to begin. It passed quickly though—Bakugo using it to study while Kaminari crammed in a midday nap—and the bell startled through the rooms with its disheartening call. Grumbling their individual set of curses and bidding their good-lucks, the group split off, Bakugo, Jiro, Kaminari and Sero off to their last exams while Mina and Kirishima headed back to the dorms.