"Our midterm is coming up soon, so try to recall any parts you had trouble with."
"Every part."
Battler didn't even realize it was that time of the year again. He'd screwed up big time. This test could make or break him and he hadn't even been paying attention; instead he'd been staring intensely at Mr. Ronove while trying to figure out what was so good about him and hadn't heard a single word coming from those silky smooth lips. Maybe it was a good idea to attend tutoring. Kanon could only help so much before getting frustrated with Battler's incompetence.
Mr. Ronove had handed out study guides the day before but had stressed the importance of the word 'guide' and asked everyone to at least review old material as well.
Now Battler sat staring at the pages in front of him and saw his future leap from the text and walk out the door.
"Mn. Well as much as I'd like to keep you here and re-teach everything just for you-"
"Yeah I know, time restraints and all. I'm sorry, I should've paid more attention, so can we hurry? I need help with this," Battler pointed at a section about predicting chemical equations with his pencil.
Mr. Ronove frowned slightly. "How rude. You'd do well to respect your teachers y'know."
The red-head kept himself from smirking. So he could make other expressions as well. Cute. "Ah, sorry teach. I just don't want to waste your time," This time he couldn't help the upward tug of his lips.
Mr. Ronove only sighed. "Of course. So it's like this…" he picked up a marker and began writing on the whiteboard.
It was nearing the end of their first session, so the teacher asked Battler to do a problem on his own. It took a few minutes of staring the periodic table down along with some scritching on the side, but Battler finally stood up and confidently wrote out the rest of the equation on the board. He put the marker down and turned to Mr. Ronove with a wide grin.
To which Mr. Ronove started clapping. "Barely legible but it's correct," Battler stuck his tongue out to the side comment.
"It's not English class, right?"
"I still need to be able to read it. Work on your handwriting and you might be able to pass the test."
"You really think so?!" Battler could already see himself shoving his report card proudly into Beatrice's face.
"Well, there's still much to cover…"
He looked down at the packet and gulped at the thought of the multiple pages to go through. There was only a few days left until the big day.
"You have to help me out!" He leaned forward, desperately grabbing onto the taller's forearms.
Mr. Ronove was taken aback. "That's what I'm here for." Then he glanced down at where Battler was rudely wrinkling his white sleeves and arched a delicate eyebrow at him.
Battler seemed to notice his proximity and coughed, stepping back. However, he was quick to change back to his enthusiastic state. "Thanks Mr. Ronove! I'm gonna go home and study now!"
"I hope that isn't code for going to parties," he called out to Battler.
"It isn't I promise!" And with that, Battler hastily collected his things and was out the door in a flash.
Mr. Ronove exhaled out an exasperated chuckle.
And so the days went on like that, along with Battler asking for help from Kanon during lunch; Kanon was impressed with how much he'd improved, and the sisters of hell only became bored and (finally) left the two to their nerdy selves.
Testing day was here, and as much as Battler had crammed and practiced, he was positively shaking with nerves. As Mr. Ronove handed out the tests, he slipped a mint onto Battler's desk. The student looked curiously at his teacher, but Mr. Ronove kept weaving around the desks and passing the papers out. It wasn't until he sat back at his desk that he looked back at Battler, put a finger to his mouth and winked.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, Battler remembered hearing something about mint waking you up and making you focus more.
He ducked down with a blush painting his face, trying hard not to smile.
Time ticked down, until Battler was the last one left to turn in his test. The bell rang as soon as he shot from his seat, exclaiming a breathless, "I'm done!" The rest of the class glanced at him curiously, but quickly filed out the room while Battler pushed against the crowd to get to Mr. Ronove's desk.
He set it upon the pile of other tests, hesitant smile on his features.
"Good work, Battler," Mr. Ronove praised him.
The other just scratched the back of his head and looked to the side. "It was all thanks to you after all…"
"So you can be grateful," He laughed. "Get to class."
"Sh-shut up! I just- um, when will you be done grading them?"
"I'll be sure to grade yours first. I'll let you know as soon as I'm done. Sound good?" Battler nodded demurely. "Now shoo, my next class is coming in," Mr. Ronove smiled.
"Thanks teach!" Battler finally moved on, bumping into a student on the way out.
The brunette laughed, looking down at his desk to find the stack of new tests, only to see a slightly deformed Hershey's Kiss on top Battler's test. He picked it up. Must've been in his pocket for awhile. He distantly wondered if this was safe, but popped the chocolate into his mouth anyways and grinned.
"Guys, guys! Look!" Battler burst into his house, waving around a paper. Ange glanced up from her book, while Kyrie and Rudolph popped their heads out from the kitchen. Rudolph was the first to go over, taking the paper and noticing the big 82 in red at the top.
"Huh, who woulda thought. You sure you didn't cheat?" He playfully messed Battler's hair up. Battler only scowled.
"Ey! No, I did it all myself! Well actually, if it wasn't for Ange, I wouldn't have even passed!" The red-head latched himself to his sister. She retaliated by hitting him with her book.
"I'm trying to read here."
Kyrie had taken off her apron and folded it over a chair, walking over to the lively group. "What's all this about? Battler finally got some good grades?"
"Only because I forced him to take tutoring," Ange quipped.
"That's right!" Battler grinned alongside Ange, who had settled for hugging her arm.
"That's great, we should go celebrate! There's this nice new club that opened up recently…" Rudolph leered. However, he didn't see Kyrie's shining eyes staring daggers at him from behind, and was thus dragged back into the kitchen where yelling could be heard.
Once they were gone, Ange turned to her brother with a mischievous grin carved onto her face. "So… How was the tutoring with Mr. Ronove?"
Battler grimaced. She was up to something. "Fine, why do you ask?"
"Oh no reason, just wondered if he treated you gently," She snickered. Before Battler could interject, she poked his cheek and continued, "It was your first time, right? Doing something like that?"
Battler flushed, not sure where she was going with this. "Uh, going to tutoring? I guess…" He moved back onto the couch. He seized the TV control and started flipping through the channels. Ange only laughed. "What?!"
"Nothing," She went back to reading her book, grinning smugly.
AN: Hi I'm not dead. I recently finished the series and found myself writing this again so here you go!
