Stars // klance AU

What Is Real?

It might have been his imagination, but Sanchez did not seem like himself. It could have been the stress of the final days of mid-term exams, but Keith could not be sure. Stress gets to everybody, just as it was getting to him at that very moment. The words on the paper before him seemed like no more than an illusion, and with only half an hour left to finish the exam, he could not help the worry in the back of his mind that wondered if he would be able to finish in time.

He had taken precautions and studied nonstop while he still could, reviewing a compilation of his notes until he had passed out on his desk from sheer exhaustion. Needless to say, that morning was hectic; Keith slept through his alarm and barely had time to grab some snacks as a makeshift breakfast before rushing to his first class, hoping with every fiber of his being that he would not arrive late to his first exam. Now he was hungry, sleep deprived, and unable to focus in the problem at hand due to his eyes having the sudden urge to focus on the word "constellation" printed on the paper.

His small spell was broken with the sound of a chair shuffling a couple of rows behind him. He peeked out of the corner of his eye to see Sanchez stand, taking the exam up to the professor's desk and leaving it on a pile other student's had already started before leaving the classroom. Keith frowned, gripping his pencil tighter at the sudden feeling of another battle lost. If he had only woken up in time, he would have gone through his morning routine without a hitch and he would not be sitting there staring at the same word. Sanchez won this time, but Keith could not allow him to get a higher grade in this exam.

With newfound motivation, Keith plowed through the rest of the exam, searching for the answers in his recent memory. Unfortunately, even though Keith remembered clearly covering the section multiple times, he could not remember any of the answers to the questions presented before him. Scratching under his jaw in frustration, Keith stared at the exam. With still no clue as to what the answer was and barely any time left on the clock, he followed his gut and guessed on the rest of the questions. This plan was successful, much to Keith's relief, as he managed to fill in the last question just seconds before the professor called time and the remaining students were urged to turn in their exams.

The winter air outside was brisk with a familiar bite to it, making Keith's face hurt the moment he opened the door of the science building, intent on heading straight to the cafeteria for a quick bite. His plans were shattered when Shiro saw his exhausted form and immediately decided to approach him.

"Keith, I see you finally finished that Astrology exam you were worried about," the taller man smiled kindly at his roommate, placing a hand on his shoulder in what Keith could only explain as fatherly pride. "How did it go?"

"It went alright," Keith replied, but he seriously doubted it was so. He barely finished on time, and none of the answers seemed right in his eyes. He was surely going to fail the midterm at this rate, and it would take a lot to bring his grade back up to what it currently was. No, it did not go alright. Keith clenched one of his hands into a fist as he realized just how small the possibility of passing seemed.

Shiro's hand squeezed his friend's shoulder, snapping him out of the toxic thoughts and back into reality. "That's good. You studied very had, I'm sure it'll pay off." Letting his hand fall back to his side, an idea flashed across his eyes. "Hey, you must be hungry, right?"

Keith blinked, "Uhm... yeah..."

"The planetarium club is taking a break from studying. Why don't you join us for a bit? Hunk is feeding us all the food he prepared to practice for his culinary midterm," Shiro suggested the idea to Keith in a warm, brotherly tone, the kind of voice that he knew Keith could not refuse. The man in question agreed without much of a fight and followed Shiro back into the science building and down the dark staircase into the dimly-lit planetarium.