A/N: Hello everyone, here's a nice new chapter. And it didn't even take me several weeks…
Ahh, the end is nearly upon us, it might actually even be next chapter depending on how the writing pans out, we shall see!
Thank you readers, for justifying my odd choice of pastime xD Thank you to Egyptian1995, for being awesome and patient as ever :3 And reviewers, you make my day, genuinely.
Also, a special thank you for not giving up on me for being a slow updater ^^;
Exam season was well and truly upon them, everywhere they went there were students desperately trying to make up for a years' worth of not studying. It was the time of year that always made John feel slightly smug, being one of the few students that managed to strike a balance between work and friends. Sherlock felt smug, but that wasn't really anything new.
The library, once a refuge for hushed conversations, was overflowing to the point where students were abandoning the hopes of finding seats and littering the floor. John picked his way haphazardly through the masses, stumbling towards a crowded table in the corner of the room. He only really knew about half the people on the table, but desperate times had forced social groups to collide.
A few people looked up and gave chirpy greetings, the rest murmuring hello dully from the depths of textbooks.
He chuckled and sat down on the chair that had been kindly saved for him, idly flicking through his notes. The panic would most likely start in a week or so, but until then he felt relatively prepared.
"You don't have to look so bloody pleased with yourself." A boy commented, letting his head drop onto the notebook in front of him despairingly.
"Not my fault you did no work all year." John replied, throwing a set of notes at him.
"Adam doesn't do work, it's a miracle he's made it through school." Alex commented from besides him, comfortingly patting the miserable other on his head.
"You could have warned me!" Adam whined, turning to pout at him.
"I've been warning you for six years, you don't listen." He replied affectionately.
John watched interestedly as the taller ran hand through Adam's hair soothingly, completely forgetting he was staring. Up until Alex sent him a defensive look that is,
"What?"
"What?" John dumbly echoed, completely caught off-guard.
"You're staring." He replied warily.
John resisted the urge to smile and shrugged nonchalantly,
"Sorry, just drifting off."
Clearly trying to look casual he nodded and asked,
"Do you mind?"
They stared blankly at each other for a moment before Adam waved a hand at Alex, who had buried his head in the pages either out of embarrassment or fear.
"Makes no difference to me." John shrugged again, flicking a little too casually through his textbook.
There was a moment of silence, broken by his sudden question,
"Where's Sherlock?"
John was fairly sure he could hear implication and suspicion in that question, but he chose to ignore it,
"No idea, around somewhere."
"You don't know?"
"Why would I?"
He definitely wasn't imagining the amused look the other gave him,
"You usually know."
John glared over his textbook,
"Oh shut up."
"Where were you yesterday?" John asked curiously, flopping down inelegantly onto Sherlock's bed, the taller slipping into an armchair.
"Around." He replied monotonously, "Where were you?"
"In the library, don't pretend that you didn't know already." He replied, "Hey, did you know Alex and Adam were together?"
"Yes, didn't you?" Sherlock said, genuinely sounding surprised.
"How could I possibly know that? Don't reply, I didn't really want you to answer that."
"Don't ask then." He said flatly.
John sat up enough to glare at him before continuing,
"They could have said something."
"You haven't said anything to them." Sherlock pointed out.
John shrugged evasively, letting the conversation lapse into silence.
"What were you doing?"
"Don't tell me you can't entertain yourself for one day." He drawled, poking at plant perched on his windowsill.
"I managed," He replied irritably, "I just wondered."
"I was busy getting disinherited." Sherlock replied.
John felt his irritation drain away as he stared at the other, hoping he would say it was some kind of badly thought through joke.
"Mycroft made a trip up to tell me about it specially." Sherlock added, as if that was the part that annoyed him the most, which was entirely possible.
John looked blankly at the ceiling, trying to think of something even vaguely useful to say,
"What's going to happen then?"
"Nothing much," He shrugged, "When they die I won't get anything, oh and I'm no longer welcome in the family home but frankly that's a relief."
"Where are you going to live?" John asked, struck by how casually they were discussing the matter.
Sherlock pulled a displeased face, dropping the book he was flicking through,
"Mycroft's insisted on finding me a flat."
John chuckled quietly at the stubbornness of the male, that he'd rather find himself homeless than get help from his own brother.
"So, you're not homeless, you've just got no money."
"I have Mycroft's money." He replied.
"You took his money?" John asked in mock shock.
Sherlock smiled, though he seemed mildly annoyed,
"I don't have much of a choice."
He nodded,
"Well, you can think of it as a sort of revenge. Only on his bank balance instead of his actual self." John pointed out with a grin.
"I think his bank balance can probably take the hit." Sherlock replied disappointedly.
Exams, he decided, were more or less no matter how well you prepared. John was a reasonably calm, steady sort of person, but even he was panicking slightly at the thought of walking into an exam hall and deciding how his future would be. It didn't really seem fair.
He glanced to Sherlock, who seemed frustratingly calm about the whole affair.
"You could have the good grace to panic, even just a little bit." John said as they stood outside the main entrance, waiting to be let in.
"Why would I do that?" He replied, looking down at the other with sincere confusion.
John resisted the urge to hit him,
"Never mind, you have absolutely no reason to panic, it's not like you could possibly fail."
"Fail? John, there is no way you're going to fail, you're actually prepared for this." Sherlock replied calmingly.
"What if there's something on the test that I haven't learnt? How can you know I'll pass?" John replied stubbornly.
"I know everything important, remember?" He replied, smiling at the shorter, "Although actually, if you panic you might fail."
"Sherlock! Not helping!"