”Youngwoon, stop!” Leeteuk ordered loudly, stopping in his tracks and pulling the older man to the side so they ended up face to face. “I know you are angry and you have every right to be, but we need to not just barge in there and start screaming our faces off. I am angry too, trust me, but if we don’t approach this in at least a semi level-headed way, we might just create more problems than we already have.”

Kangin puffed out his cheeks in annoyance, looking like he was about to bite Leeteuk’s head off before he exhaled, most of the tension leaving his body. “You’re right,” he said, breathing deeply in an attempt to clear his head. He was furious but Leeteuk was right; charging into the teacher’s office to scream at him for being grossly incompetent was not the right solution and it wouldn’t solve anything. He inhaled deeply before exhaling again, feeling calmer with each breath he took. “What do we do?” Kangin then asked, hoping Leeteuk might have an idea of how to approach this matter.

“Your company donates funds to this school, right?” Leeteuk inquired, his brain running through their options quickly before settling on the one he believed was most likely to result in the desired outcome.

After preparing the classroom for tomorrow’s class, Mr Lee had taken his seat at his desk to go over the list of students in his new class. He was suddenly interrupted by the Kim-twins’ two dads strolling into his office, fingers intertwined and serious expressions on their faces. “Ah, hello Mr Kim and Mr Kim. What can I do for you?” he asked in the most accommodating voice he could muster towards the couple.

Leeteuk and Kangin sat down, not letting go of each other. “We wanted to talk to you about Donghae and Hyukjae, Mr Lee. They seem to have had a very upsetting first day of school,” Leeteuk began, his eyebrows furrowing in concern.

“Yes, I’m afraid the other kids have been a bit… upset about the idea of them having two appas,” Mr Lee explained, trying to keep the disgust he felt at the sight of Kangin’s thumb the back of Leeteuk’s hand out of his voice.

“Well, they don’t. They don’t call me appa, they call me umma,” Leeteuk explained patiently. He could feel anger bubbling up inside him but he knew they had to be tactical in how they dealt with the teacher. Kangin seemed to be having the same problem as he kept the back of Leeteuk’s hand a little too hard.

“I’m afraid that will not change the way the kids see it,” Mr Lee replied, finally tearing his eyes away from the sight of the tender caress he found not only highly inappropriate but also nauseating happening right in front of him.

“Donghae told us he tried to tell you about an incident with another child who ruined Hyukjae’s drawing and that you said you wouldn’t do anything about it because of our family situation,” Leeteuk said with a lifted eyebrow, squeezing Kangin’s hand hard. He was too angry to feel uncomfortable at the teacher’s dirty glances but he felt furious on behalf of the twins. He was used to homophobia and had resigned himself to the knowledge that it was something he would meet for the rest of his life, but he was not okay with that prejudice hurting the twins in the process.

“If I had been notified about any such thing, I would have done something, of course,” the teacher proclaimed in what he thought was a sincere and apologetic voice.

Kangin felt rage burst through him at that. That filthy good-for-nothing teacher dared to call Donghae a liar? He scrutinised the teacher closely for a second, eyes narrowed in dislike, trying to calculate what it would take to make the man crack. He was not a highly profiled business man for nothing and his ability to find his opponents’ weak spots was almost legendary in business circles. After a second, he turned to Leeteuk, put his hand on his nape and pulled him into a searing kiss.

The teacher knocked over his mug, spilling coffee all over his papers at the sight of the two men making out in his office. “Stop that!” he yelled in a horrified voice.

Kangin withdrew from the kiss slightly, sporting a wide smirk. “Why, does it bother you?” he asked, making to keep his voice as husky as possible before pulling Leeteuk back into another kiss.

“It’s disgusting, stop it!” the teacher shouted. “Fine, I didn’t do anything when your son told me, is that what you want to hear? Stop it!” he yelled again, having grabbed a broom from the corner as the nearest weapon he could find. He was about to push it between the two still kissing men to make them stop when Kangin’s hand flew up and steadied the broom in a tight grip, while the man himself was now on his feet, towering over the shivering teacher.

“I hope you realise, Mr Lee, that my company has a history of several very generous donations to this school,” Kangin said in a low voice, stepping closer to the teacher. “If my kids don’t attend this school, there is no reason whatsoever for me to donate further to this school. And if my kids do not have a teacher who is willing to protect them when they ask for help, then this is not the school they will be attending. Now, I suggest you work out a way to talk to your class tomorrow morning and tell them that there is nothing wrong with having two appas and that bullying of any kind, no matter the reason, will not be tolerated in this class, or I will go directly to the school board and demand your resignation if they want to keep receiving donations from my company. Are we clear?” he asked, his tone leaving no room for discussion. It was the first time Leeteuk saw Kangin like this and he suddenly understood how the usually soft man had managed to run his business so successfully.  

“I… Y-yes,” the teacher stuttered, wincing when Kangin let go of the broom and it landed on the floor with a clatter.

“Good. I will see you tomorrow at 8. Have a nice day,” Kangin said curtly before taking Leeteuk’s hand again and leaving the room. They made their way out to the car in silence; Kangin was still fuming with silent anger and Leeteuk was both angry and, if he was honest, a little fascinated by the older man. He had never seen him like that, protecting his children at all costs, and he didn’t even need time to contemplate whether he liked it or not; he had a tingling feeling in his body that he couldn’t quite place but it was definitely positive. “I’m still calling the school board tonight,” Kangin grumbled once they were seated in the car. “I don’t believe for a second that he will actually change. He might tread more carefully in Donghae and Hyukjae’s class because he knows I’ll be watching him like a hawk, but who’s to say he won’t snap right back to this bull with his next class?”

“I know, I was thinking the same,” Leeteuk said absentmindedly, still caught up in his thoughts. The kiss had taken Leeteuk completely by surprise and yet he had found it so easy to melt into; it had made him feel so safe somehow.

“I’m sorry about the kiss,” Kangin said once he had pulled out of the parking lot. “I just wanted to do something to get back at him for hurting the twins. I am so sick of people treating homouals like some kind of sub-humans. I hear it from Heechul, I hear it from Henry, I won’t stand for my kids being bullied because they happen to have an umma who is gay.”

“It’s okay, it worked,” Leeteuk said with a shrug, not sure what else to say. He really hadn’t minded the kiss but he still wasn’t sure if it was only because it had served to get them the result they wanted or because of something more completely different. He was glad Kangin was so accepting and so willing to stand up to people who weren’t, whether it be for his kids or his friends.

“God, that man just made me so angry!” Kangin exclaimed after a while, hitting the steering wheel in frustration. The anger was still present and he doubted it would go away for a long time, but he felt somewhat better now that he knew he had given the teacher a piece of his mind. He would work hard to get the man fired, if only because he didn’t trust him to actually do his job properly. It might have been slightly abusing the power he had gained from donating to the school but frankly, he didn’t care in this situation. When it came to his sons he would do anything, but this