Weiss began her final semester flawlessly. She had used the last week of break to read ahead for all of her classes. Creating her meticulous outlines and study materials. As per her usual routine. And she felt like she was successfully on track to complete all of her necessary coursework before her exit exams.
And then there was Blake.
Weiss had no idea how she could possibly do it. The woman had to be a genius, or get no sleep. Or maybe both.
There were days where Weiss admittedly struggled between managing her personal and academic lives. And then there was Blake, doing the same but Weiss never felt like Blake was struggling. She supposed that's a good thing.
She didn't want Blake to struggle. But it did make her worry that maybe she was doing something wrong if she was struggling to maintain everything at once.
"You doing alright over there? You seem distracted." Her study partner, Coco, looks up over the top of her laptop screen with a single eyebrow raised.
"Oh, no I'm fine. I was just thinking about something."
"Or someone." She gives Weiss a mischievous look. Weiss can only sigh and roll her eyes in response. "Come on. You can't blame me. Not all of us have a hot doctor girlfriend to spend time with when we aren't studying or are stuck in class."
"Blake isn't a doctor yet. And don't you have your own girlfriend to daydream about?" Hopefully, Weiss can direct the conversation away from herself.
"Please." Coco mirrors the eye roll Weiss had just given her. "She may as well be a doctor. We only have like two months til graduation. And you know Velvet and I are long distance right now. So I'm trying to live vicariously."
"I think we should be focusing more on exit exams than you living vicariously through my relationship."
"Fair enough." Coco shrugs her shoulders, picking up on the hint that Weiss wanted to drop the subject.
After their study session, Weiss makes her way back to the car, pulling out her phone to send Blake a message.
~ Hey, what are you up to?
- Not much. I did a little exam prep but I was having trouble concentrating so I went for a run. Now I'm on my way home now.
~ Can you come over for a little bit? Maybe we could have dinner? If you haven't eaten already…
- Everything alright?
Blake begins to worry as she slows her jog down as she continues down the sidewalk. She didn't know what it was exactly. But something seemed off. Weiss not responding to her message only made her worry more.
When she rounds the final corner onto the street where her apartment complex is, she sees a familiar white car, and an even more familiar girlfriend getting out of it.
"Hey." Blake trots over to Weiss, still a little breathless as she pulls her headphones off as she moves. "Is everything okay? How was the study session?"
"I guess so. I just have a lot on my mind with every-"
Before she can finish, loud music begins blasting through the open windows of Blake and Yang's apartment. By the time she looks up at Blake, she's already got her phone to her ears making a call. As soon as the call connects, Weiss can hear the echoing sounds of the same loud music blasting through the receiver of Blake's phone.
"If you don't turn that shit down I'm going to come up there and cut through all of your equipment cables. At least use headphones." The muffled sound of Yang's voice can't be heard well enough for Weiss to determine what they're speaking about. "Then put on some damn headphones. We have neighbors." More mumbles and murmurs come through the phone line. "We have neighbors that aren't Weiss too. Be considerate."
Blake immediately hangs up the phone, not bothering to wait for another response from Yang. Weiss notices that the music turns down considerably in volume seconds later.
She doesn't know exactly what it is, or what exactly is wrong with her, but as soon as amber eyes focus back on her she feels tears well in her eyes. Reaching out, she pulls Blake against her, burying her face in the front of Blake's shirt.
"Weiss, I'm gross and sweaty." Blake says, trying to pull back so Weiss doesn't get dirty. But Weiss only clings to her shirt harder. And Blake hears small sniffles from the woman in front of her. "Uh oh. Come on, let's go inside and sit down, okay?"
Once she feels a small nod against her chest, Blake helps an upset Weiss up the set of stairs separating them from Weiss' apartment. Making sure to throw Weiss' bag over her shoulder, she follows closely behind Weiss.
They stumble through the dark apartment, Blake flips one of the light switches on in the living room as they pass by, illuminating the room softly.
As soon as Blake sits, Weiss plops down pathetically in the space beside her and continues crying into her shoulder. Blake can feel her heart breaking at the sound of Weiss crying as she reaches forward to swing Weiss' legs across her lap so she can pull her in against her body and squeeze her tightly.
She lets Weiss cry for a little longer, mostly because she's unsure of what she can do to help. So she just lets Weiss rest against her. After some time, the crying and sniffles subside and they are replaced with slower and slightly ragged breaths.
"I'm sorry." Weiss murmurs against the skin of Blake's collarbone.
"Why? You don't have anything to be sorry for."
"It's embarrassing." A small, quick smile tugs at Blake's lips before she presses a kiss into Weiss' hair.
"I think the one that should be embarrassed is me. You're sitting her embarrassed for crying and I smell horrible and I'm sweaty and just downright stinky."
Blake feels a little better when she hears a small giggle from her girlfriend, and she begins running her fingernails across her back slowly to help calm her.
"I don't think you're that smelly. And you look very attractive when you're all disheveled."
"Good to know. I'll try to be gross a little more often then." Weiss leans up and kisses the underside of her jaw before resting her head back against her shoulder.
"Thank you for letting me have my small breakdown."
"Any time. Though I would prefer you to not have them at all. I don't like seeing you upset." She intertwines their fingers together and rests their hands on her lap. "If you ever need to talk about something, I'll always listen. I don't want you to feel like you have to hold things in until you can't anymore."
"I think I'm just stressed. I have a lot on my mind. With school and other things."
"Is there anything I can do to help you?"
"You have just as much, if not more, to handle. I don't want to burden you with my stress unnecessarily."
"Weiss, you will never burden me in any way."
"I just don't understand how you can do all of this."
"All of what?" Blake sits up a little bit. Suddenly worried at the shift in conversation.
"School, your time at the hospital." There is a hesitation in Weiss' voice as she continues. "Us."
"Oh." Just what Blake had worried she was referring to.
"I feel like I'm struggling to focus on all the right things at the right times. And I'm not doing as much as you are."
"I don't think it's fair to saying I'm doing more than you. Because I'm not. My shifts at the hospital just take place of classes that you have to sit in and study for."
"But you still seem to handle the stress a lot more gracefully than I do. As seen by what just happened. Something as small as Yang's music sent me over the edge."
"Again, to be fair, Yang's behavior can be enough to send anyone over the edge."
"I'm just scared that we are pushing ourselves too hard."
"Good thing school is over in two months. Forever."
"I hope we can make it."
"We will." Blake presses a kiss to Weiss' tear stained cheek. "I will do whatever it takes to make sure we both make it to graduation. I mean, my girlfriend had the date engraved on the world's best stethoscope for me, so I'm doing my absolute best."
"Well, at least we still have a month until my exit exams and your final boards."
"Then it's just diplomas and white coat ceremonies."
"And then what?"
"Internships, residencies and real jobs."
"That sounds terrifying."
"It's just one more thing that I can get through as long as you're with me."
"You always make the most mundane things sound like quotes from romance novels."
Blake can only hum in amusement as they sit in a moment of silence.
"You'll be there, won't you?" Weiss detects the small amount of worry in Blake's voice. "For my white coat ceremony, I mean."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world."