My Best Friend's Brother

Can We Not (BONUS)

"Alright, you have one hour to complete your exams." The professor looked at the countdown. "You may turn over your papers.... and begin."

The collective sound of dozens of papers flipping over could be heard throughout the otherwise silent conference hall.

Felix ran his hand through his hair as he read the first question, a smile growing on his face as the answer immediately came to mind. He had spent the last 3 weeks holed up in study groups at the library or at home in his "throne".. AKA Hyunjin's lap while the older hummed along to Cafe music.

To say that Felix had been stressed, would be an understatement. As a nursing major, the first round of finals determined your trajectory for the rest of the study. If Felix was able to pass them, he would be able to take the honors classes that he needed for his scholarship and accelerated track.

What was initially a confident start, went downhill just as fast as the anxiety kicked in. All of the information he had learned had started to jumble together and he felt himself thinking there were trick questions on the exam.

He managed to barely scrape by and finish the last question with 10 seconds to spare.

"Alright. Pencils down. Bring your papers to the front. You should get the results next week. Enjoy your break everyone!" The professor called out to the room.

Everyone started to gather their things and walk up to the front of the room, waiting in the long line of students that formed to turn in their papers. All of the questions were racing through his head and he felt the need to look through his text books to try to figure out what he got. The wait was torturous.

As soon as the professor took his test paper, he left the hall and went straight toward his shared apartment with Hyunjin. There were perks to being at the same school as your boyfriend after all.

The whole 15-minute walk home was agony. His anxious thoughts were relentless and all he could think about, were 'what ifs?'

What if he fails and loses his scholarship?

What if he doesn't score high enough to follow honors?

What if he fails so badly that they don't let him go on and he has to repeat classes?

Would Hyunjin leave him if he had to be in school longer than expected?

Would a failing grade mean that he is just not fit to be in nursing?

The same thoughts kept spiraling in his head over and over again. Every step was agony and all he wanted to do was lay in bed and sleep until the results were posted.

Eventually, he did make it home and took out his key to open the door. Hyunjin was supposed to work on his end of year dance showcase with Wooyoung today so he would be alone. Honestly, that's what he needed. As comforting as Hyunjin was for him, he was so lost in his negative thoughts that seeing his boyfriend's loving face would make him feel like a failure. Feel like he couldn't live up to their plans and make all the consequences more real.

He opened up the door with a sigh, dropped his bag on the stool, and faceplanted onto the couch.

"Surprise!" A familiar voice yelled out. The same voice of the person he couldn't face right now.

Felix shot off the couch and looked at his boyfriend. Tall and beaming and absolutely beautiful. He couldn't hold back the tears when what he feared, came true. All of the sudden, he felt like he was letting Hyunjin down. Like he should have known the answers. Like he was going to hold Hyunjin back.

Hyunjin's beaming smile dropped when he saw the tears in Felix's eyes that immediately started to fall.

"Baby... what happened?" The older immediately went over to the crying boy he loved and wrapped him into a hug.