A/N: This chapter isn't rated, but there is swearing. So... You've been warned.

Taemin was smiling the whole way to Minho's apartment. He turned when they were almost there and bit his lip lightly. "I'm sorry about how I surprised you like that, Hyung," he said quietly. "I was just so excited and I forgot to ask you if it was actually okay for me to stay for the whole week..."

"It's fine, Taemin," Minho smiled over at him. He carried the blood to his apartment while Taemin got his bags, and he dedicated apace in his refrigerator for the contents of the box.

"This was really thoughtful of you, Hyung," Taemin smiled as he looked at what his master had placed so neatly in the bottom drawer of his fridge.

Minho shook his head and pulled Taemin into a loose hug. "It's my duty as your master and as you dongsaeng..." he stuck his tongue out at the boy. "To make sure you're taken care of."

The vampire pouted a little when Minho poked fun at their age difference, but smiled again and hugged the man tightly. "I should get to bed soon, since school starts again tomorrow," he sighed deeply as he pulled away from Minho.

The taller man nodded and reached out to ruffle his rather free 'servant's hair. "I'll sleep on the couch so you can get a good night's sleep," he offered, letting his tone inform Taemin it wasn't up for debate.

"Got it, Minho," Taemin said softly, setting the couch up with a pillow and blanket for his loosely ruling master while Minho got changed in his room. He changed quickly himself in the man's bedroom before slipping into the living room for a few more seconds. "Goodnight, Minho hyung. And thank you, really..."

"Sweet dreams, Tae," Minho answered, then fluffed the pillow he was using a couple times before crawling onto the couch for bed.

~*~

"Hey there, Minnie," Taemin heard from behind as he stood at his locker, the cold tone sending a shiver down his spine. Turning around slowly once the metal door to his locker was shut, he held his books tightly to his chest as he bowed as far as he dared.

"Howon sunbae, Dongwoo sunbae," he greeted the older vampires quietly. "I hope you both had a nice time during your break."

Dongwoo chuckled while Howon smirked, then Howon leaned in closer to Taemin. "We missed you, Taemin. Didn't you miss us, too?" he asked and pouted at the younger.

Taemin shrank back from the elder and bit his lip, taking a deep breath and forcing himself to nod. "Yes, I missed you both, very much," he whispered and lowered his eyes, all of them knowing he was lying. "I'm sorry, I should have come to visit you..." he added, hoping that it would be enough to get the others off his back, at least for a little while.

"You'll have to be sure to do that next time, won't you," Dongwoo told him, raising his eyebrows expectantly. He grinned evilly when Taemin finally responded in a shaky nod.

The older boys backed off to let Taemin go to class, walking the opposite direction so they weren't late to class, either. Taemin stayed at his locker for a few more moments, trying to calm down a little, before finally half-walking, half-running to his first class. School turned out to be fairly uneventful, other than Taemin finally opening up a little more to his classmates, catching up about what happened over break. Yes, school was uneventful for Taemin, until his very last class of the day.

"Welcome back, everyone," Taemin's teacher smiled at the students. Taemin looked around slowly, trying to figure out why his class had been combined with a class one grade higher, or why they were meeting in the library for class.

"Miss Park and I have decided to try a new idea for the first week or so back from our break," the man went on to explain. "We are going to combine the classes and make teams of two to do a small project together. Each team will have one student from each class."

The students erupted in murmurs and whispers, everyone looking around to see who they might be paired with.

"I want Dongwoo oppa," one of Taemin's female classmates sitting at his table told her friend, causing the young vampire to shake his head his notebook. Girl, if you only knew Dongwoo... If you only knew what a giant fuc-

"What was that, Taemin?"

Taemin closed his eyes, trying to pretend like he hadn't heard, like he didn't know who had just spoken to him.

"I know you heard me, Lee Taemin," Howon murmured, having appeared beside the now slightly trembling boy.

"I didn't say anything, Howon," the younger whispered, hoping he wouldn't be punished for something as small as a thought. He opened his eyes, jumping at the smirk on the elder's face, and the glare in his eyes.

Finish your thought, Taemin, Howon ordered him mentally, keeping his hard gaze on the younger.

"Hyu-" Taemin started, biting his lip a little before lowering his gaze and nodding. If only she really knew Dongwoo. If only she knew what a giant... ing... ... dickhead... he was...

Howon's eyes widened slightly as the other boy finished his though completely. Be a good boy and accept your punishment when it comes and maybe he'll... Nah, you're screwed this time, Minnie.

Taemin lowered his head, not needing to watch as Howon walked away with a smirk and told Dongwoo what just happened. He didn't need to see it to know that Dongwoo turned around to narrow his eyes at him. He didn't move at all for a few minutes, just staring blankly at his notebook and trying to figure out if there was any way at all he could apologize to Dongwoo and gain some mercy.

"Okay, everyone," we have your partners assigned. Here they are," Miss Park announced, holding up a piece of paper. With each pair that was named, Taemin grew more and more nervous. Each time he didn't hear his name, or Howon's, or Dongwoo's, his heart got tighter in his chest.

"Howon and Woohyun."

Taemin's face fell at the next to last group the teacher mentioned. He was the last student left.

"Taemin and..."

Well, he was the last student in his grade. The young vampire who had yet to ignite turned to the boy he knew would be his partner, shrinking back in his seat as he was met with a sadistic grin.

"Dongwoo."

~*~

The classes were dismissed into their pairs to start working: deciding what their assignment would be on, who was doing what, and when and where they would meet outside of class.

It only took one small look from Dongwoo for Taemin to stand up and move toward the elder. "Dongwoo hyung," the younger vampire whispered as he sat down.

"Taemin," Dongwoo answered, then cleared his throat to tell the other to look up at him. Once his unspoken order was obeyed, he glared and flared his eyes red toward Taemin briefly.

"I didn't mean it, really," Taemin told him quickly, desperation clearly evident in his tone. "Please, Dongwoo hyung, I'm sorry..." he tried, bowing just enough for the gesture to be recognized by the other.

Not answering the apology one way or the other, neither vocal nor mental, Dongwoo instead turned to the list they'd been given of topics to choose from. "We're doing this one," he said, pointing to one subject. He gave the rest of the orders concerning who was doing what to Taemin, who could only nod back.

The rest of the class period followed the same pattern. Taemin would try to apologize and figure out what Dongwoo was planning to do to him. Dongwoo would tell Taemin what to do and remained seemingly focused on their assignment. The conversation stayed on school during the whole period, but Dongwoo and Howon met Taemin at his locker once school was dismissed.

"You've got some nerve, Lee Taemin," Dongwoo growled, pinning the younger to the wall of metal lockers. "So I'm a giant ing dickhead, am I?" he hissed as he pushed the boy's shoulders harder against the hard metal.

"If that's how you feel about your Dongwoo hyung, what am I, Taemin?" Howon asked quietly and tilted his head as he leaned closer to smell the younger's fear. "Surely it's not any worse than that, right?"

Taemin stayed quiet and just bit his lip lightly, taking a deep breath before opening his mouth slowly. "If I was going to call you a name like that..." he finally mumbled. "I think Dongwoo is a giant ing dickhead and that Howon is a spoiled brat, conceited son of a witch moronic prick..." he muttered, his words getting stronger still even though he was cowering against the lockers. "And I'm not taking it back because we all know it's true."

Dongwoo pulled back slowly to look at a dumbfounded Howon, laughing loudly as he watched the realization come over the other ignited vampire's face. "He just... he just called you a..." he trailed off, unable to speak because of his laughter as he placed one hand over his stomach and the other against the lockers for balance. He stopped though and cleared his throat, drying his eyes, when his best friend and sometimes lover glared at him with enough intensity to make him shiver.

Turning back to Taemin, Dongwoo got serious again and smacked the younger's head against the lockers. He was about to open his mouth when Howon put his hand on his shoulder.

"You don't need to say anything. Taemin knows exactly what he just did."

Closing his eyes, Taemin tried desperately to think of some way to save himself. "I'm staying at Minho hyung's place this week and if I'm not home on time, he's going to call my other hyungs and it's going to be a big mess," he said quietly, then slowly peeked his eyes open one at a time when silence filled the hallway.

"I guess you'll have to convince him to either let you out for the next few nights to be alone with me, or to invite me in to work on our assignment," Dongwoo finally spoke softly.

"You... Why can't we just work extra hard during class?" Taemin asked, eyes wide at the suggestions. There was no way he wanted to go off alone with them, voluntarily. Not once, let alone several days in a row. But he didn't like the idea of either of them stepping foot inside of Minho's home.

Howon scoffed as he and the other upperclassmen started walking Taemin down the hallway, one on each side of him. "You know we can't just let you get away with what you just said about us, Minnie," he reminded the boy. "We're going to make sure you don't tell Minho what you did or how deep in you are right now."

Taemin hung his head, taking a deep breath. He really didn't want to worry Minho. Nodding slowly, he bit his lip and led the way back to the human's apartment.

"Be nice to him, please," Taemin whispered once they were in the hallway right outside Minho's place. He squared his shoulders before bowing fully at the waist. "Please..." he repeated.

Dongwoo reached out and flicked the younger's forehead. "We'll play nice as long as you behave yourself, Taemin."

With one more nod, Taemin turned and knocked on the man's door instead of justing using his key. He shrugged a little at the look on Minho's face when the door opened, trying not to make him worry. "We have an assignment together and need to work together on it for a few nights," he explained quietly.

"Taemin didn't want to worry you, so we came here with him to figure out what to do," Howon spoke up, using his best 'I'm totally innocent' face.

Dongwoo glanced up at Minho, deciphering his expression carefully and realizing that the man wasn't going to buy any bull story they tried to spin. "Listen, Choi. I'm not going to do anything right now. I'm not in the mood to get a bad grade just because of this kid," Dongwoo told the human, jerking his head toward Taemin. "So, can we come in to work on this thing or not?" He would have just stopped there, but Taemin's shocked look turned pleading. He sighed, remembering saying he'd play nice, then rolled his eyes as he turned back to Minho. "Please," he added, rather insincerely.

Looking at the three boys before him, Minho sighed. "I guess that's that, then," he mumbled. He ran his hand through his hair, smiling as he recalled something he'd read in the rules regarding human homes. "Dongwoo and Howon, you can come in, but only for a while."