In what felt like no time at all, though was nearly around six hours, the twins were rushing through the front door of the palace, Siwon, who had escorted them back, right on their heels, instructing them not to just throw their stuff around for the servants to pick up.

        By the time jackets were hung and shoes were neatly tucked away, their father was walking out to greet them. He noticed almost immediately from the look on Sunhee’s face that something was wrong. Siwon further confirmed his suspicion when he waved him over.

        “Their teacher said some of the fourth grader’s where making fun of her today.” He whispered in the older’s ear, and once Hangeng nodded and thanked him, he was forced to leave to take care of some of his other duties, and leave them alone to talk.

        Hangeng moved to pick his daughter up, and the second he did, she was crying, sobbing into his neck as he made his way to the stairs, Kyungil trailing cautiously behind him.

        “Kyung, why don’t you go start working on homework, I’ll come help you after I talk with Eomma, alright?”

        Surprisingly, the boy obliged, merely nodding before turning in the opposite direction to their room, hopefully to do what was asked of him. Hangeng, however, headed towards the play room where he knew he would find his lover.

        Sure enough he was there, playing boredly with Jaehyun who clearly held no interest in him. The moment his ears picked up on the sound of his daughter’s cries, he was up, making his way quickly to the door and leaving Kyuhyun in charge of the kids.

        He met them in the hallway, rushing forward to place a comforting hand on Sunhee’s back, his worried gaze lifting to meet Hangeng’s.

        “Some of the older kids were picking on her.”

        “What? Why?” Heechul questioned. How could anyone pick on his poor Sunhee? It was ridiculous!

        Hangeng shrugged. “What happened?” He asked her softly, brushing some of the tears from her eyes, though more immediately filled their place.

        “Th-they said my hair was too long,” She sniffled, “And pushed me around, and kept asking me why I had to change away from the others when we have outside time.”

        “They pushed you!?” Heechul gasped, his wrists beginning to glow.

        Now Hangeng was set with two tasks, comforting his daughter, and calming his husband.

        Sunhee nodded, rubbing furiously at her eyes, all to avail. “They kicked me…down there.” She muttered “and it didn’t hurt, so they made fun of me more. They called me weird… and ugly.”

        “They have no right to touch you there.” Heechul seethed, utterly bewildered that they would dare do such a thing to her. She was royalty, she was beautiful, but most of all, she was his daughter. “What happened to them?” he questioned, intent on making sure something does should she say nothing.

        “Mr. Kim sent them home.” She sniffled “They can’t come back for three days.”

        “That’s not enough. I’ll ki-”

        “Chul….” Hangeng warned, eyeing his lover.

        Heechul growled in response, but shut up.

        “Appa, don’t make me go back…please? I hate it there! Everyone looks at me weird. The only friend I have is Kyungie!” Sunhee begged, clinging to her father, her eyes wide and pleading.

        “I don’t know sweetheart. Eomma and I will discuss it alright?” Hangeng assured, though from the look on his lover’s face he could tell it wouldn’t be much of a discussion. He set Sunhee down gently. “Why don’t you go play in your room with Kyungil for a while alright?”

        The girl nodded sullenly, before turning and stalking off in the direction of her room.

        “You know how I feel about homeschooling.” Heechul began the moment their daughter was out of earshot.

        And Hangeng did. They’d had lengthy conversations about it for months leading up to the twins fifth birthday. As royalty, they had access to the best tutors in the entire land, but Heechul didn’t want that.

        Growing up, he and his brother had been forced to attend school in the village as well. Their father had wanted private schooling, but their mother would have none of it. He hadn’t wanted them to get special treatment just because they were princes, so they got a normal education just like everyone else. That was Heechul wanted as well for his children.

         “I understand. But you know her case is…special.” Hangeng reasoned, and Heechul merely shook his head, continuing to dismiss the idea.

         “So what? Were just supposed lock her away inside while her brother and eventually all her cousins go off to school as well? And what about Aemi and Yun, and possibly Donghae’s child? Are we supposed to do the same to them when the time comes? Just because they’re different they shouldn’t be allowed the same freedoms as men?” Heechul questioned.

         “Well no bu-”

         “Exactly. So she will continue to attend regular school, ok?”

         “Heechul…-”

         “No. Fine, we need to talk to Leeteuk. Come on.” And without awaiting a reply, he grabbed his lover’s hand and began tugging him in the direction of the stairs, intentions set on finding his brother.

         Minutes later they were bursting through the doors to Leeteuk’s office, the owner’s head shooting up at the loud intrusion.

         Kangin rolled his eyes the moment he laid eyes on Heechul and an irate looking Hangeng, the two clearly in the middle of an argument they wanted Leeteuk and himself to mediate.

         “Teuk, we need to talk to you about something.” Heechul announced, dragging his lover right up to the older’s desk.

         “And what might that be, my lovely little brother?” Leeteuk sighed, his voice practically dripping sarcasm. They still had a lot of work to finish before they could get back to their kids and had been hoping to get most of it done early. With the intrusion, however, there was no telling how long it could end up taking them.

          “It’s about Sunhee; she’s being bullied and Hangeng thinks we should homeschool her.” Heechul explained.

          “Why would you want to do that?” the king asked Hangeng, and then backtracked a bit “Wait…why is she being bullied?”

          “Because she’s not a boy. The other kids are starting to notice. I want to homeschool her because I don’t think she should have to go through all of that.” Hangeng reasoned, ignoring the eye roll his lover sent his way.

         Leeteuk chuckled “So you think letting her run away from her problems will solve everything?”

         “Well no…but I still don-”

         “Look, I was bullied as well, a lot actually. It started in elementary school when I was just a little older than Sunhee and I don’t think it ever stopped.” Leeteuk reminisced.

        “Why were you bullied?” Hangeng asked curiously. He could remember hearing something about it before but couldn’t recall most of what had been said.

        Instead of speaking, Leeteuk merely unfurled his wings, throwing his brother in law a pointed look before continuing. “I hated school. I remember it was so bad I would beg my mother, literally down on my knees not to send me back, and he always refused. Because of this, throughout my elementary school days the only emotion I felt towards him, unfortunately, was hate. I went through those first five years with only three friends, my brother included, and more bullies than I could begin to count. I used to fantasize about burning the entire school building down I hated it there so much.” Leeteuk paused, unable to hold a small bubble of laughter when he witnessed the horrified look in Hangeng’s eyes.

        “But, as I moved up to middle school, things improved. The people that bullied me became my friends, and while I was still made fun of ,it was on such a smaller scale that I could ignore it easily. By high school it had become mere teasing and I no longer cared. My point is; it starts out hard, and children are cruel but they mature, and things that were once a big deal slowly shrink until their nothing more than memories. If I hadn’t endured any of that, I probably wouldn’t have met Kangin, and I wouldn’t have had the confidence to become friends with any of the other people in my life now.”

        “I just don’t want her to get hurt. I don’t want her to have to hate anything.” Hangeng explained.

        “And I understand that, but hating is a part of life, so is growing and maturing, and you can’t do that if you’re locked inside away from new people. Being made fun of , it never feels good, but if you ignore become content with what you have, then it doesn’t seem as bead. It can make you a better person.”

        “Or it can break you.” The chinaman mumbled, and Leeteuk chuckled.

        “Yes, it can, but Sunhee’s strong. That probably won’t happen, especially since Aemi will be enrolling soon and eventually Yun will as well. As more girls are introduced, it will become more accepted.”

        “Alright…fine. I’m ok with her staying, but if things get really bad and she tells me she wants to commit arson, we’re going to have another discussion.” Hangeng conceded, not willing to deal with both of the brother’s ganging up on him.

        “Fine…and good.” Heechul smiled, and with a quick nod to his brother and the older’s lover, he was tugging Hangeng from the room, leaving them to finish up the last of their paper work.

         ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

        “Sir!”

        Both Eunhyuk and Kibum turned, their conversation rudely interrupted by a servant who came rushing up to them, expression frantic.

        “Sir, its master Donghae.” He informed the eldest of the two.

        “What’s wrong with him?” Eunhyuk questioned worriedly, glancing around the man to the stairs he knew would lead to his lover.

        “He’s been in your room for quite some time. We can hear him crying. Sir…it sounds bad.”

        Eunhyuk was gone the second the servant had finished speaking, racing down the hall and taking the steps two at a time. Of course there was a large chance it was just the hormones, that his pants didn’t fit anymore or his hair didn’t look adequate enough, but with Donghae’s history, he could never be too careful.

        The younger’s sobs met his ears the moment he reached the door, and he pushed it cautiously open, before stepping inside and closing it behind him. He couldn’t see Donghae at first, only hear him and he stepped further into the room before freezing.

        Right by his foot was a puddle of blood, not large, but alarming. He followed the trail that led around their bed, each step causing his anxiety and fear to grow until he worried his lunch would soon join the rest of the mess already splattered on the floor.

        His heart jumped into his throat when he finally spotted his lover, the younger leaning against their bed frame, his thighs and hands stained a frightening red from all the blood. “Oh god…Donghae.”

        Donghae jerked at the sound of his name, his wide teary eyes landing on Eunhyuk “Hyu-hyukkie…I’m so so-sorry.” He gasped, burying his face in his bloodied hands.

        Eunhyuk was immediately by his lover’s side. He tugged the younger into his arms, and buried his own teary face in the brunette’s hair. ‘Hae, it’s not your fault.” He whispered. “It’ll happen, someday.”

        “No it won’t! I’m broken Hyukjae.” He sobbed, clinging the older tightly “You should just go find someone else that can give you kids.”

        “But I want YOU, Hae. No one else, kids or not.” Eunhyuk found himself beginning to cry as well, but he forced back his sobs, attempting to stay strong for his lover who shook in his arms. “It’s ok.” He soothed over and over, his hand running gently down the younger’s back, until everything began to fade.

         He awoke with a start, his body trembling and cheeks wet.

         His lover was watching him, and with the moonlight softly illuminating the younger’s face, he could see the worry in his eyes.

         “Hyukkie...what’s wrong? You were talking.” Donghae asked, his hand reaching up to rest gently upon the older’s cheek. “You’re crying.”

         Eunhyuk allowed a few small sobs to escape, some of the left over anguish from his dream catching up to him, before he took a few deep, calming breaths.

         Donghae pulled his lover as best he could into his embrace, his fingers soothingly through the older’s hair “Nightmare?”

         Eunhyuk nodded, breathing in the younger’s scent, his comforting embrace calming him further until he could breathe normally and his body stopped shaking. “We lost him…again.”

         Donghae couldn’t help but smile softly, a reaction that shocked even himself a bit. He knew such thing shouldn’t draw a positive emotion, but knowing that they had moved past all of that, that it was merely a nightmare and not the real thing made him happy. He didn’t think he could handle such a thing happening again.

         “It was just a dream,” he breathed, hand soothing up and down the older’s back. “See?” Releasing him and scooting back a bit, much to Eunhyuk’s disappointment, he grabbed his lover’s hand and placed it over his stomach.

         The older couldn’t help but feel relieved at the small movements he felt beneath his palm. Knowing that his child was alive and well in his lover’s tummy made all of the remaining fear and pain his heart dissipate. A grin spread over his lips until his expression mirrored that of the younger’s. “Good” he nodded, scooting down a bit and curling slightly around Donghae’s stomach, his legs tangling with the other’s as he again closed his eyes.

         The younger smiled, his hand running gently through Eunhyuk’s hair as he closed his eyes as well, wishing for sleep to find him once more.

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