Title: Test Time
Characters: Juudai, Hane Kuriboh
Chapter: One||Words: 1,000
Genre: General||Rated: G
Challenges: Diversity Writing, GX, B72, a school scene; GXMonth, #3, "Rule The School"
Notes: This is set during the mid-part of season one, after the duel against Gravekeeper's Leader and before the Seven Stars.
Summary: Juudai hates tests. Can't he just take a nap instead? Or have a duel? He's not picky.
Juudai stared down at the papers in front of him. He needed to take the test - well, he'd been told to take the test. As far as he cared, he didn't really need to do it. Sure, it might mess up his grades, but there would be duels he could fight to make up for that. Surely it wouldn't be that difficult.
He glanced up, wondering if he could manage to get away with it. He usually did.
But his eyes met those of Daitokuji-sensei, who smiled at him. Juudai mentally fidgeted. If it had been Chronos-sensei, then he would have tucked his head down and fallen asleep. Chronos-sensei might snap at him but he never woke up from that.
It was different with Daitokuji-sensei. Juudai always had the strangest feeling that he was letting down his dorm leader if he took a nap in class. Sometimes he did it anyway – sometimes his dreams were just so strange that he didn't get all the sleep that he wanted to.
But last night he hadn't had any dreams and he'd woken up as refreshed as he ever did. He should be absolutely ready and able to take this test – if just looking at didn't make him want to yawn and go back to bed.
He prodded at it again. Daitokuji-sensei did his best to explain alchemy in ways that everyone could understand. Juudai still didn't. He could get the basics of it – small things forming larger ones. That was easily like Fusion.
But all the fiddly little details after that – that was where he couldn't figure it out. That was where everything just fudged together into a messy mass that made him want to put all of his books away and go for a walk on the beach looking for someone that he could duel.
He glanced around again, checking to see what his friends were doing. Shou bent over his paper, working as hard as he could. There was a streak of ink on his chin and dark circles under his eyes. He'd spent most of the night up studying, Juudai knew. He really wanted to pass this test.
Manjoume lounged back in his seat, eyes on the ceiling, not seeming to care if he finished the work or not. Juudai had noticed that about him. Since returning and joining Osiris Red, Manjoume did just enough to pass his classes with slightly above average grades – enough so that he'd probably get a promotion. Clearly he wanted to get back into Obelisk Blue.
Juudai still didn't understand why he'd want that, but it didn't matter. If that was what Manjoume wanted, then Juudai wished him luck.
Asuka also bent over her papers. She didn't look as worried as Shou did or as careless as Manjoume, but she worked through the pages carefully.
Juudai really wasn't surprised by seeing Misawa already having finished his work, the pages neatly stacked together and set to one side. He didn't look as if it had given him a moment's worth of trouble. Sometimes Juudai wondered if he should ask him for help with his homework.
Then he always decided not to. He liked being lazy. He didn't see any reason to change that. He'd hoped from the beginning to get into Red. Yellow and Blue had rules and requirements. He wasn't going to work with any of that.
Juudai stared back at the paper and managed to fill in a few of the questions, enough so he could move on to the second page. Two more after that one. He yawned and leaned back, resting his arm over his eyes. Maybe he'd have a better chance of working through this if he rested his brain for a little while.
Hane Kuriboh whistled in his ear. Juudai jerked upward, eyes opening, and flickering right to the clock on the wall.
Did I actually take a nap? He might have. Because it hadn't been that close to the end of class-time when he'd last looked.
"Thanks, buddy," he muttered. Hane Kuriboh whistled again, gently batting one wing upside of Juudai's head. He couldn't quite feel it but he couldn't not feel it either. He knew that he'd feel it if Hane Kuriboh were solid so he sort of did?
Juudai wasn't all that sure about spirits even now. He wished the test had been about those. Maybe then he'd have gotten more done on it.
But now he bent down to work. He didn't have nearly enough time to finish this. He might have enough time to fill in the answers to get a passing grade – just barely. He couldn't be sure of that. It would mean that he got enough of the right answers instead of just jabbing his pen down and doing a whole lot of praying.
Some days Juudai wondered if anything really interesting was ever going to happen at school. Not that he didn't enjoy dueling but there had been a few times – the duel against Titan – the one against Psycho Shocker.
The medallion around his neck shifted as he moved. Oh, yeah, that too. The one against Gravekeeper's Leader.
Those duels hinted at something more, something a lot more exciting than the duels he could have around here. Sure, dueling Misawa or Manjoume or Asuka ended up being a lot of fun and sometimes they even came close to beating him, which would be amazing if it ever happened… But there weren't stakes. And that was okay. Really.
He yawned again before getting back to filling in answers. He wanted this over with. The more he thought about it, the more the idea of going for a walk on the beach and finding someone who could give him a good duel – someone that he hadn't dueled – appealed to him.
Or maybe he'd duel Manjoume or Misawa again. He considered asking them to duel each other and he'd fight the winner. That would be fun.
Better than tests, that was for sure.
The End
Notes: Oh, Juudai. If only you knew what was to come.