Approval

The next evening Taehyung began arranging his notes and revision material into sections. This would be the first time he had gone this far over exams. Usually no matter how hard he revised he came out with the same results so he had stopped bothering too hard over the years.

Now he really needed to try.

He knew he wasn't a natural at this. Taeyeon probably didn't even need to revise, she was that good. However they weren't blood related so her abilities didn't matter. Taemin had middling grades and didn't seem to mind.

Despite his mediocre grades Taemin had been able to remember some of the test questions from the previous year so he had given Taehyung a base to work on. Sometimes it was an advantage having a stepbrother one year older.

Taehyung looked over his pile again and realised he had another problem.

How was he going to get everything to RM's apartment?

There was his backpack, but who took a backpack to a nightclub?

He personally attributed his success rate of sneaking across the border to the fact that he looked like someone sneaking out to go to a nightclub. If he had a heavy backpack, that impression would be ruined.

He frowned at the pile of notes and tests for a while and packed them into a plastic wallet. Then he slipped his hoodie on and stuffed the plastic wallet up the back. He could definitely feel a weight and it would be obvious at close inspection, but he wouldn't look suspicious from a distance.

His confidence from finding a solution increased and then plummeted into panic when he heard a knock at the door. He quickly took out the notes and threw them onto the floor next to his bed. The door opened a moment later and he saw it was Taeyeon.

"Why are you wearing a hoodie at this time of night?" she asked curiously. "Aren't you going to bed?"

Taehyung began to sweat. Taeyeon wasn't the smartest member of their family for nothing. He had to play it cool.

"I was cold." he said casually and sat down at his desk. "Why are you even here? You normally act like I don't exist."

His stepsister simply stared him simply for a few seconds before turning away.

"I just wanted to tell you it would be best to start revising for your end of year exams now.."

"Wait!" Taehyung called after her sharply.

She turned back around. "What?"

"...Can you help me revise?"

It had just occurred to him that he should be asking Taeyeon for her help and not Taemin. Taeyeon was the top in her year and was now working on university entrance exams. She was the best person to get help from.

"You're missing an important word," was all she said.

Taehyung's mind faltered and then realised how rude his request had sounded.

"Please…?"

He saw a small smile grow on her normally expressionless face and he knew his chance of getting in the top five had grown exponentially.

"I'll discuss it with you tomorrow," she answered and closed the door behind her.

Taehyung breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't been caught and she was going to help him.

He could do this.

***

"Hmmm," RM said when Taehyung produced his revision materials. "There's a lot of work to be done."

Each person at the table grabbed random sheets and Taehyung waited for their reactions. He took a sip of watery tea to steel himself.

"How come you didn't get this one right, it's simple," J-Hope commented.

Suga looked Taehyung up and down with a sneering expression that he had come to be familiar with.

"It's what you get when you base education on blood type."

Taehyung flinched. He was well aware that there were numerous lower blood types that would love to have his high education that was wasted on him.

"I'm not insulting you," Suga added. "I'm insulting the system."

Taehyung let out sigh of relief that he knew everyone at the table could hear. Suga raised an eyebrow.

"Don't relax yet, you still have a lot of revision to do."

That was not quite the solace Taehyung was looking for and he returned to being tense.

"Your strong points appear to be Mathematics and some parts of Science," RM said.

"Who is tutoring him on what?" J-Hope asked. "My Maths is passable- that makes me better at Maths than him."

The next half an hour was spent deciding who was responsible for each part. Jimin ended up as his mental carer, Suga as a cheerleader, Jin for amusement, Jungkook for Science, J-Hope for Maths and RM for anything else.

RM passed that first prepared worksheet towards him. RM had spent most of the half an hour hand writing a fact sheet and worksheet for him based on his notes.

"You have five minutes. There's three questions from each subject. You can read this fact sheet first to prepare. I want to test your memory."

Taehyung accepted the fact sheet and tried his best to read and memorise it as fast as he could. The problem was that he forgot what he'd read in the first paragraph by the time he got to the third.

"Stop, fill in the test now," RM ordered before he was ready.

It was a struggle to fill in the sheet for Taehyung. He could remember some things, but not enough to answer any question properly. He handed in the paper with a heavy heart.

RM remained silent whilst he marked it which Taehyung was grateful for. Some teachers made faces and winced whilst marking tests which never failed to put him on edge.

"You need to develop your reading skills. You need to be able to take a glance at information quickly and remember it. I'm not saying you have to learn it long term, just enough to ace these exams," RM explained.

"How can I do that?" Taehyung asked curiously.

"What colour is Jin's shirt?" Suga asked without warning.

Taehyung steadfastly avoided looking in Jin's direction and tried to remember from when he walked into the apartment.

"...Pink," Taehyung asked with hesitation.

"Correct," Suga answered. "You aren't bad at observing and remembering, you just need to use it in the right way."

That was one of the most encouraging things Suga had ever said to him. Then a more surprising thing happened. Suga took hold of his hand and gripped it tightly.

"You have the ability to do this, V."

Taehyung's heart soared and felt like it would burst out of his chest. His biggest critic finally approved of him.

He squeezed Suga's hand in return.

"Thanks Suga."

He looked around the table and saw the looks on their faces. RM and J-Hope looked bemused whereas the others looked shocked. The tense moment was broken by Jin bursting into laughter.

"I've never seen Suga do skinship like that. You've really succeeded."

Suga retracted his hand and awkwardly put his arm around Taehyung.

"You have my support. You can do this."