The next morning was a cold and rainy one, just like you'd expect a typical December-morning. Sadly there was still no snow yet. The temperature seemed to ignore that though, it was cold as hell and Onew hated his alarm clock for getting him out of his warm and comfortable bed. Especially after he had dreamed such a nice dream …

He got up again, stretched himself and yawned before he got up slowly. Looking at the lit clock face he saw that it wasn't even seven o'clock yet and he cursed silently for not going to bed earlier.

Taemin was probably already up, eating the breakfast Key had prepared yesterday night.

Grumbling and muttering curses to himself he left the bedroom – without waking anyone – and entered the living room. He could hear music playing in the kitchen and found his assumption proven when he entered the kitchen – Taemin was sitting at the table, eating breakfast.

“Good morning, hyung.” he said cheerfully when he saw Onew. The leader noticed that his school bag was already packed, just like his books which were all lying on the floor next to him. The maknae was also wearing his blue school uniform.

“I'm sorry if I woke you ...”

“You didn't.” Onew mumbled and grabbed a cup out of the cupboard before sitting down on one of the chairs at the table. “I'll drive you to school.”

“Really?” the boys face lit up, revealing that typical smile again. “Thanks, hyung!” he ate another piece of his toast, smiling brightly from one ear to another. “Being driven to school is great ...” he said between his chewing. “Especially on Mondays.”

Onew leaned over and ruffled his blonde hair gently. It wasn't even seven o'clock yet and he was already damn cute.

Seriously, how did he do it!?

“When does your first lesson start, Taemin-ah?” he asked and poured some coffee into his cup.

“Quarter past eight.” the maknae responded and kept on eating happily. “I'm so hungry … I'm not gonna survive classes today if this keeps on.”

“You need some money?” Onew asked and chuckled when he didn't get an answer. “What did you spend your pocket money on, Taemin-ah?” he took a sip of the hot coffee and felt himself waking up as it made its way down his throat. “Music again?”

The maknae blushed and nodded which caused Onew to laugh out loud.

Taemin had got his pocket money one week ago and spent all of it already … He always spent it on Music or DVD's.

“I'll give you some money, okay?” Onew said and took another sip. “Buy yourself something to eat if you get too hungry.”

Taemin giggled again and nodded. “Neh, thanks hyung. I'll pay you back when I-” Onew waved him off. “It's fine.”

Their little breakfast ended way too soon and Onew hated time for making him leave Taemin in order to get changed.

Taemin had told him about his timetable, about his teachers and his classmates. The leader had been surprised when he said that his classmates didn't like him a lot.

“Why would you think like that, Taemin-ah?”

“I don't know … I just feel it ...”

That was an answer Onew couldn't really deal with – and it got him worried as well.

Still in the end they actually managed to leave the dorm late. They ran to the car the SHINee-members shared and Onew drove the maknae to school as fast as possible.

When they arrived Taemin was running late, but he still had a few minutes left to get to his first period. Though he didn't seem like he wanted to leave.

“Have a nice day, Taemin-ah.” Onew said and patted him on the shoulder. “And hurry. You've only got a few minutes left.”

“Neh, thank you.” he said and untied his seat belt. He opened the door of the car, grabbed his school bag and was about to leave when he suddenly frowned – he turned around again. “Hyung?” and the smile on his face faded fast. “What would you do if I told you I was bullied by someone?”

There he was – catching him off-guard all over again. Though this time it was something less embarrassing than falling over him.

“Well .. are you being bullied?” Onew asked and raised his eyebrows, examining Taemins face thoroughly. He didn't want to miss a single emotion now. And there it was, a slight glance of fear in his big eyes when the fake smile returned to his face.

“No, I'm not.” Taemin answered a bit too fast. “I mean …” he cleared his throat and avoided looking into the leaders eyes. Whatever he thought about made Onew nervous as hell.

“A friend of mine is bullied and I wanna help him out. But I don't know what I can do … so I thought asking you might help ...”

Onew sat up straight and kept on examining the maknae carefully. For some reason, he seemed even smaller than usual. He couldn't tell whether he was still tired or if Taemin was actually scared of something.

“Uhm … you should definitely tell them to stop.”

“And if they won't stop?”

“Then I'd go in there and beat them up. But Taemin-ah.” he grabbed the maknae by the shoulder and turned him around, forcing him to look at him. “If your … friend is being bullied then you should tell him to stand up for himself and fight against these bullies. He shouldn't do what they want him to do.”

“But what if-”

The school bell rang all of a sudden and both of them almost jumped out of their skin. It was quarter past eight – Taemins first period started now.

“Oh no!” Taemin cursed when he looked at the clock. “I gotta go!” he pressed a kiss on Onews cheek, jumped out of the car and ran towards the school building.

Onew watched him running off and instinctively touched the spot where he got kissed. He was probably starting to lose his mind but it felt softer than before. Chuckling he leaned over to close the car door and started the motor.

Still when he started driving back to the dorm he felt a strange feeling in his stomach – he was worried. All that talking about a friend of him being bullied … Onew didn't buy it one bit.

He figured that the maknae had talked about himself but … he couldn't get himself to believe that anyone would bully Taemin. Who could actually bully such a cute child?