Reciprocal Altruism || Snowbarry College AU

The Evolution of Grandma Kisses VIII

Later was right, because it was now the moment Caitlin had dreaded for so long. The students had to sit in every other chair to avoid cheating, so Barry sat in the seat right in front of her so he could boost her confidence till the very last second before they had to start.

He turned to face her, a smile still on his face. "You are going to do amazing. If you feel your heart racing, remember the calming exercises we googled. You just gotta breathe through it, alright?"

Caitlin nodded, gulping as she noticed Stein and his TAs walking in with the stacks of blank exam papers. Barry noticed too, but paid them no heed.

"Barry," Caitlin squeaked. "I can't do this. I can't—"

"If you can't do it, I can't do it," Barry stated, the smile dropping from his face. He turned even more in his seat and leaned towards her. "If you freak out and bomb this test, I'm not even going to attempt to take it. I'll hand in a blank exam and get a zero. Is that what you want?"

Caitlin's eyes widened. "What? No. What the hell are you talking about?"

"You need to save me, Caitlin." Barry's face was serious. "You can fail all you want, but I'm going down with you. So take the damn test and if you finish, I finish. Deal?"

"You're insane."

"And you're insanely smart, so I know you've got this in the bag. So can you get me that A+?"

Barry tried to make her taking the test seem like an act of saving his life (or his grade) and after all the work he put in with her by tutoring her and studying with her, maybe it was. If she sank, he sank with her so now the test was not just about her...it was about Barry and saving Barry. Caitlin was always better at helping others than helping herself. Barry knew that and he used it to help her.

He knew her better than she knew herself.

"I can do it," she confirmed, her lucky pink pencil clutched tightly in her hands.

"Mr. Allen!" Stein's voice called from the front of the room. "Eyes forward. Exams are being passed out."

Barry gave her one last wink before turning around. When the exam finally reached her seat, it was like time sped up and slowed down all at once. Her pencil moved on its own accord and even though she felt like her brain was empty, something in her knew what it was doing. The mountains of flashcards she built popped into her mind. The many, many practice problems she did and redid came to her attention. It was all coming together.

Mostly it was Barry's voice in the back of her mind giving her tips and hints to calm down that kept her going. Every time a TA walked past her seat and glanced down at her paper, she heard Barry's voice tell her to count to ten. When her eyes started to water and her pulse quickened, Barry's voice told her to not get stuck on one question and keep moving through it.

The timer went off and the end of the exam was announced. Caitlin jumped in her seat taken by surprise. She had worked slow and steady and had barely finished in time. But she did. Caitlin felt like she could breathe for the first time. She actually finished the exam. She did it!

Giving the exam a quick once-over, Caitlin prepared herself to hand it in and finally push it out of her mind forever.

"Thank you, Ms. Snow," Stein said as he took her exam. He then continued to take the other grumbling students' exams, not giving her any attention even though this was the most momentous occasion to Caitlin. She had gotten through the exam without any panic. Alright, maybe a little panic, but not enough that she couldn't get through the exam.

She packed her backpack slowly as the students trickled out complaining about how unfair and hard the exam was. Her pretty pink planner was out and Caitlin was finally able to check off Biotech Exam from her To-Do List. The list that haunted her for weeks.

Confident in herself, Caitlin walked out the doors and was pleasantly surprised to see Barry still waiting for her outside the building. Her smile faltered a little at the sight of Iris standing by him as the two of them chatted together. Barry leaned against the wall speaking to Iris in a sort of flirty way. Caitlin felt her heart clench in her chest and immediately looked away. This was Barry Allen. The weirdo who was in love with the same girl since he knew what the word love meant.

He was no Romeo, especially to her. Then again, Romeo wasn't even that big of a hero. A wimp, really. Undeserving of the title of a "real" man... maybe Barry was Romeo.

Iris caught Caitlin's eye and walked over to her, leaving Barry behind. "The exam's finally over!" she said, her eyes bright.

"Yeah, it is!" Caitlin smiled.

Iris gently grabbed her forearm and squeezed. "I just wanted to let you know that..." she paused to consider her words. "Barry is like my little brother. He's my friend. So you don't have anything to be jealous about and I'm sorry if I made you feel like that."

Caitlin never felt more awkward. "Oh..."

Patting her shoulder, Iris smiled. "Trust me, there is no deep chemistry between the two of us."

Deep chemistry? Caitlin wondered. Then the realization struck her. Those were the words she told Barry to tell Iris so she wouldn't come to their study dates.

"Okay, thanks Iris." Caitlin didn't really know what else to say in that situation. Please have deep chemistry with my fake boyfriend so we can fulfill our altruistic arrangement? Was that too forward?

After Iris made sure Caitlin knew exactly where she and Barry's relationship stood, she went off and joined her friends who were going out to celebrate the end of the exam.

Caitlin just wanted to take a nap.