Minhyun stared at his exam in horror. He had already spent an hour and a half of the allotted three hours trying to answer each question, but he had only been able to answer about fifteen of the hundred questions. Even those that he had answered, he wasn't at all certain that they were right.

The young man bit his lower lip nervously and felt tears begin to well in his eyes. The exam was worth over half of his course mark and if he failed (this outcome seemed to be ever more likely), he would fail the course. Had he not been in public, he would undoubtedly have shed the tears that he was desperately trying to hold back. 

Sniffling softly, he continued on with his exam, trying desperately to come up with answers, but he just couldn't. He was on the verge of tears and he wished for everything to be over...

Minhyun didn't have to wait for long for his wish to come true, however. He was still racking his mind for some plausible answer that might get him part marks on the written portion of the exam, when a supervisor called time's up.

Minhyun blinked in shock and limply looked over his exam.

Sixty questions. He had left sixty questions unanswered. Even if he got every single question that he had answered right, he would only have forty percent- nowhere near enough to pass the course.

"Time's up! You have to stop writing!" A very stern supervisor frowned at Minhyun, obviously under the impression that the young man was trying to cheat.

The accusatory tone of the supervisor's voice did nothing to soothe an already upset Minhyun and he felt more tears fill his eyes as he handed in the essentially blank exam.

Numbly, Minhyun picked up his things and walked out of the exam hall as quickly as possible. He was eager to catch the very first bus that he could...

Once inside the apartment, Minhyun could no longer hold back his tears and with each flight of stairs that he climbed, he cried harder and harder.

-----

"Minhyun's exam should be over by now," Jonghyun said, looking at his watch.

He, Baekho, Aron and of course, Ren, had all been waiting for Minhyun to come home from his exam- his very last one of the school year.

"I wonder how he did," Baekho mused, taking a seat beside Aron on the sofa.

"He must have done well," Aron reasoned. "He studied so hard for this!"

Ren smiled, quickly pulling out his cellphone from his pocket, to check if Minhyun had called.

Minhyun certainly had studied diligently for his exams. The results of the first four that he had written testified to his persistant effort, as did the stack of highlighted, handwritten notes that obscured his desk, his extensive internet search history of all the concepts that he had studied in depth and the neatly stapled packages of practice questions that he had done.

Just as he was checking, however, the door opened and Minhyun walked into the apartment that they all shared. Everyone had an excited smile on their faces to greet Minhyun, whom they were sure had aced his exam. Their smiles froze in place, however, when Minhyun brushed his forearm over his teary eyes and let out a little sob. He hadn't wanted to bring his miserable mood home, but he couldn't hide his sadness, especially when he had cried all the way upstairs.

"Baby, what's wrong?"

Concerned, Ren immediately got up and hugged his lover.

Minhyun threw his arms around Ren's neck and cried harder than he had yet cried.

"...I-I...f-failed...!" Minhyun sobbed against Ren's shoulder.

The blubbery two words was all that Minhyun could afford as coherent explanation before bursting into a fresh wave of tears. Everyone exchanged looks of concern, knowing exactly how distraught Minhyun must be feeling.

Not only was the young man was still in fresh shock of how poorly he had performed on the exam itself but he was also undoubtedly tired from the mental labor of exam writing.

One by one, Aron, Jonghyun and Baekho joined in giving Minhyun a comforting hug, until the young man's sobs were reduced to sniffles. They then left Ren to a slightly calmer Minhyun to the bedroom that the two shared, understanding that Minhyun needed to be alone with his boyfriend for a while.

Once they were in their room and Ren had closed the door behind them, Ren wrapped his arms around Minhyun again and rubbed his back.

"Don't cry, sweetheart," Ren soothed, leading Minhyun to his bed, easing him down and taking a seat beside him. 

Minhyun was still crying a little and sniffled softly as he tried, without much success, to wipe away his tears with his already soaked shirt sleeve. Taking a soft, aloe-scented tissue from the box beside their bed, Ren wrapped an arm around Minhyun's waist and dabbed at his tears.

"I-I'm such a f-failure," Minhyun reprimanded himself, the full weight of the burden of failing a course crushing him, entirely.

"No, you're not," Ren said, gently. "You did well in everything else, and you did your best on this one."

"T-Then my best isn't e-even a pass...!" Minhyun hiccupped, feeling about as useful as a bottomless jar at a water well. He felt even more incompetent for being unable to pick himself up from failure and continuing to shed tears over the matter. 

"It's okay, Minnie," Ren hugged Minhyun. "You know you can do better. I know you can do better. And it's alright, I promise. The worst that's going to happen is that you'll have to retake the course. But that's nothing to make you failure."

Minhyun looked up from hiding his face against Ren's chest and gave his lover a teary but bright little smile.

"I love you, Min Ki," he said, a little congested from all of his crying.

He felt very fortunate, indeed, to have a boyfriend who cared so much about him and never tired of comforting him when he needed it.

Ren smiled and caught Minhyun's lips in a soft kiss.

"I love you, too."

-----

"Poor Minhyun," Baekho said, as he and the others were still feeling sorry for their friend.

They had all borne witness to the effort that Minhyun had put into his studies and truly felt that if anyone deserved to have academic success, it was him. They were also well aware of the high standards that Minhyun had for himself and knew that failure of any kind was a heavy blow to the young man.

The three young men simply sat around for a moment, seemingly as depressed as Minhyun.

"We should do something to make him feel better," Aron then suggested.

Baekho and Jonghyun were all for the idea and the three spent to next few minutes casting about for ideas of what exactly it was that they could do to attempt to extend comfort to Minhyun.

It was Jonghyun who came up with their "winning idea"- to prepare a generous meal of Minhyun's favorite foods for dinner that evening, while Ren comforted him, privately.

Although none of the three was a particularly good chef, they immediately set to work. Jonghyun had been put in charge of preparing chicken, Baekho was to set up the rice cooker and steam an assortment of brightly colored vegetables and Aron was to prepare shrimp tempura. The relatively simple dishes took them much longer to prepare than it would have a more skilled cook, but they got the job done (and done well) and set the table.

-----

Still congested from having cried for over an hour, Minhyun hadn't been able to detect the savory aromas of the foods that his friends had been preparing, but Ren was quick to identify their friends' project. Minhyun seemed to be feeling a little better and Ren lead him to the bathroom where he helped him freshen up, before bringing him to the kitchen.

Minhyun was taken aback by the simple but delicious-looking meal that his friends had prepared, obviously catered to his tastes.

"We know it doesn't help with your exam, but just try not to worry about it, okay?" Aron smiled. "The school year's done, just relax..."

Minhyun smiled and gave each of his friends a grateful hug. He certainly couldn't do anything about his failed test and he certainly still felt bad about it, but he was beginning to realize that his was a situation that would have been far worse had he not had his friends and boyfriend diligently trying to make him feel better.

While writing his exam, Minhyun had been so full of dread that he had been sure that he would never have enough appetite to eat properly and enjoy his food ever again. But he enjoyed the meal that his friends had painstakingly prepared, tremendously, and he was beginning to find it a little easier to relax and put his anxiety from his mind.

After supper, Baekho downloaded a supposed-to-be-terrifying horror film onto his laptop and placed it on the cleared kitchen table so that they could all congregate around it to watch.

Ren discretely excused himself, however, and slipped out of the apartment, under the pretense of having forgotten to buy something. He had something planned to further help Minhyun forget about his failed exam...

Half way into the film, Minhyun was really beginning to miss Ren. The movie was certainly living up to its reputation and the four boys were all scaring themselves silly. Jonghyun had actually managed to bang both of his knees against the bottom of the table when a particularly tense scene had made him jump back in fright.

All of them did jump, when the apartment door opened and Ren returned. Noticing their petrified faces, Ren chuckled and put down the couple of shopping bags in his hands.

"Is it really that scary of a movie?" He inquired.

Baekho, Jonghyun, Aron and Minhyun all nodded.

Baekho paused the film as Ren brought his purchases over. When he revealed what he had bought, Minhyun hugged him tightly and gave him a little kiss. Truly, Minhyun was touched that everyone was going so far out of their way to show him how much they cared about him.

Ren had driven all the way to the supermarket to buy Minhyun's favorite vanilla cream cake (artisan baked, with real vanilla extract and everything) and... he had also got a snow-white beluga stuffed animal, with a big smile sewn in black thread on its face.

"I haven't had one of these since I was a kid," Minhyun smiled, hugging the very soft plush animal. He didn't care in the least if it was a little childish. No matter how old he got, stuffed animals still offered him a large amount of comfort.

"You looked like you needed it," Ren smiled, kissing Minhyun's cheek.

 The young men finished the film over the fresh, cool cake, after Jonghyun had filled Ren in on the parts that he had missed. By the time the end credits rolled, night had fallen and the five of them were admittedly tired.

They had just enough energy to load the dish washer, take their respective showers and finally, collapse into the soft, spongy mattresses of their beds.

"How do you feel, baby?" Ren asked Minhyun, as they lay in bed together, with the beluga finding its own place of rest, between them.

Minhyun bit his lower lip for a moment.

"I still feel sad," he admitted. "But I feel a lot better."

It was true- he still felt his stomach sink a little whenever he thought of the exam questions or worse, imagined himself receiving the official report that he had failed the exam and consequently, the entire course. But with his fluffy little beluga, his friends in the rooms down the hall and his boyfriend with his arms around him, he was feeling decisively much, much better.

Ren smiled, pulled his lover closer and traced his cheekbones before pressing a deep kiss to Minhyun's lips.

"I really, really love you, you know that?" He said, softly.

Minhyun giggled and nodded.

"And I really, really, really love you."

Thanks for reading! :)

x Angela