Chapter Text
The afternoon sun peered in through the window of the Holiday residence, revealing a scene not all that rare, especially recently. A young pair of monsters are sitting on a couch, with a pile of flashcards and papers with math problems between them. The study session had gone on for quite a while, as the dwindling pile of “study snacks” proved, and it would seem that the bluebird was struggling quite a bit.
“AGGGGGGHHHHH!”, cried Berdly, “It just doesn’t make sense… why is that the answer!!! No laws of math could ever make it that!”
“Berdly… you forgot to rationalize the denominator.”, said Noelle
“Oh… OF COURSE! A simple mistake, I’m not even sure how I could’ve missed that! Give me another problem Noelle! Surely I shall get it this time!”
“Berdly, no offense but you’ve been saying that for the last three hours. Maybe we should take a break?”
“Noelle! I will surely get it this time, just one more question, I beg of you.”
“Berdly, I don’t get why you’re so dead set on getting it now. This is only going to be a small bit of what’s going to be on midterms, and they’re not even for a week. We can take our time.”
“Dearest Noelle, you must understand, I have to get an absoposilutely perfect score on this midterm, my parents are going to be back from their business trip that week and I want something impressive to show them!”
Oh wow. Noelle wasn’t entirely in the know of Berdly’s family affairs, but she did know how often they’re gone on their business trips, the fact that they’re back is quite a big deal.
“Ooooooh, okay, I get it. But Berdly, you aren’t going to do well on the midterms if you keep pushing yourself, you might even break yourself. How about we just take a small break, just 30 minutes?”
“Nononononononono Noelle, you don’t get it! I. Have. To. Be. PERFECT! I must master these perilous math problems, please give me another!”
Not good, Berdly is hyperfocusing on one thing, and that thing is the exact thing that he should NOT be doing right now. Noelle needed a distraction… and had only duds. The only plan was just something STUPID, it probably wouldn’t work at all but she really needed him to think about literally anything but studying sooooooooo
“So, how are things with Kris going?”
…
…
“Oh! You see, me and Kris actually had a get together quite recently! You see-”
Oh thank the Angel he took the bait. It turns out the only way to beat a hyperfocus is to mention a crush.
… Kris is Berdly’s crush, the thought still seemed kind of weird in Noelle’s mind, considering how Berdly tried to maintain a weird rival persona towards Kris. To be fair, it’s not like rivals-to-lovers is all that weird (she’s been on enough fanfiction websites to know that), and she has heard enough from Berdly personally to know that this isn’t him weirdly attaching to someone who showed him kindness a singular time (in all honesty, his thoughts were pretty similar to how she thinks about Susie).
“So, you see Noelle, I believe that surely Kris shall be head over heels for me by the end of the month! In all honesty, I may even ask my parents for permission to date them when they arrive.”
“Wow! Really?”
“Indeedy. Which is why Noelle, I must make sure that when my parents arrive, a beautiful A+ on all of my midterms is in front of them. So, give me another problem.”
Guess he didn’t take the bait as much as she thought, but oh well, that small bit of Berdly yapping should serve as enough of a break.
“Alright, alright, here’s the next problem-”
And so they returned to just a regular study session, but that whole conversation recontextualized a couple of things for Noelle. She somewhat understood why Berdly kept pushing himself, it’s not like Berdly’s parents cared all that much what he did unless he got good grades, so getting an A would probably get him an immediate OK for dating Kris. Still, she stayed just a little bit worried for the bluebird.
All this pushing might put him to the limit, and the last thing Noelle wanted to see was Berdly break from stretching himself too thin.