"Ugh..." Kai groaned painfully, holding his head. He woke up with a throbbing headache and he just knew that today was going to be a long day. It took everything he had in him to get out of bed and get ready for school. When he arrived downstairs for breakfast, he saw his mom making some omelet rolls. She was fully away of her son's presence but she refused to greet him. Maybe she's still mad at me. Kai had a plan.

"Ugh," he began.

His mother paid no attention.

On his second attempt, Kai hissed and held his head painfully. Still no response from his mother. 

"Ahh, it hurts," he said on his third attempt. Please stop giving me the silent treatment. "UGH," he exaggerated.

"Mom!"

"What do you want Kai! I'm busy," she finally said.

"AHA, mission accomplished!" Kai said victoriously. "Listen mom, I really am sorry. I know I was being completely irresponsible and what I said was no excuse. I risked putting myself and you guys in danger. I know an apology isn't going to change anything, but please know that I have learned from my mistake and I won't repeat it," he said sincerely.

His mother looked at him from the corner of her eye. "Hmph," she said, and Kai knew that this meant that she heard him and understood him.

"Thanks mom, I love you," he said as he hugged her. His mother hugged him back.

After eating his breakfast, he left the house and made his way to school. His head was still throbbing. What made it worse was the heat of the day. Ugh, why today of all days does it have to be so bright and hot. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally arrived at school, where the halls were cool and roof shielded him from the sun. Kai couldn't be any happier to be at school. 

He headed straight to his locker room. When he got there, he noticed that it was unusually empty. He could see Taemin in the distance. As he approached more, he saw Jonghyun right behind Taemin. 

Taemin was opening the lock on his locker and Jonghyun stood extremely close to him, their shoulders almost touching and Jonghyun's mouth practically on the back of Taemin's neck. Kai picked up the pace.

Jonghyun suddenly spun Taemin around and pinned him on his locker, his arms on both sides of Taemin's body to prevent him from escaping. Kai saw that they were saying things to each other, but he was too far from them to hear. Jonghyun's hands shifted to Taemin's neck, which his fingers tenderly. He got even closer, holding Taemin's chin up and bringing his face close to his, attempting to kiss him. Taemin struggled against Jonghyun's muscles. He was unable to break free. Jonghyun finally managed to force his lips on Taemin's. In response, Taemin tried to push him off, but he was helpless. 

When Kai saw this, he felt like the world around him had suddenly turned red. Anger coursed through his veins like he had never felt it before. He wanted to do horrible things to Jonghyun in that moment. Seeing how he had forced himself on Taemin, how he touched Taemin, how his lips were on him...I'm going to kill you, Jonghyun!

He dashed towards the two and pushed Jonghyun off of Taemin. Jonghyun looked at Kai in surprise but soon began to smirk. Kai's anger doubled when he saw that mocking expression from him. That's it, you're dead! He clenched his fist and threw it towards Jonghyun. For a moment, everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. Kai has never hit anyone before, and he felt quite shocked. He looked down at his shaking hands and noticed that his knuckles were stained with blood. His breathing had become heavier. From the corner of his eye, he saw Taemin's shocked reaction. As if in slow motion, he had grabbed Kai's arms to restrain him. 

Jonghyun stumbled back but quickly got up. He touched his lip and when he saw his hand, he noticed blood. Kai had cut Jonghyun's lip with that punch. "You're getting in the way!" he screamed. He tightened his left hand around the collar of Kai's uniform while his right hand swung.

A loud thud was heard, just before Kai's vision became blurry. A throbbing pain began settling itself in his skull. He shook his head, trying to get his vision to focus. He saw yet another fist heading for his face. Before he let it touch him, he pushed Jonghyun hard, causing him to fall. Kai pounced on Jonghyun, his hips resting above Jonghyun's and his knees at his sides, while Jonghyun struggled to push him off. Kai pulled Jonghyun's shirt towards him and threw a fist at his face. 

"You cheated!" He screamed. "You said you'd leave us alone!" Kai punched him once again. 

Jonghyun squeezed Kai's throat, trying to stop him, but Kai refused to stop, throwing punch after punch. A small smirk could be seen on Jonghyun's mouth. This bastard's just mocking me! 

Taemin's loud protests could only slightly be heard in the back, but Kai was unable to focus on them because the anger in his body was blocking out the sounds around him. Soon, he felt hands wrap around his shoulders strongly and pull him off of Jonghyun. A figure could be seen doing the same to Jonghyun, lifting his body from off the ground under Kai. After a moment, Kai recognized the man helping Jonghyun up as the school principal. He felt someone turning him and he was face to face with Taemin.

"Kai, what are you doing!" Taemin screamed, but Kai only heard it as echoes because his mind was shocked from the fight and the anger still refused to leave his body. Kai wanted to turn to look back at Jongyun, but Taemin cupped his face, holding it in place. "No, Kai, listen to me. Just look at me, please. Calm down," he said in a reassuring whisper. He wrapped his hands around Kai's neck and looked at him intensely, forcing Kai to look into his eyes. After he started to come back to his senses, Kai looked back at the boy in front of his eyes. "Please, calm down Kai," Taemin pleaded. When Kai saw the look in his eyes and felt the warm comfortable touch that Taemin's hands offered, he began to feel less tense. He could feel Taemin dab at something on his face. He breathed heavily and all the energy from his body seemed to have escaped. 

"What's going on here," said an angry voice behind him. Kai turned to see that the principal was speaking to Jonghyun and him. "Does this school look like a wrestling arena to you?!" He turned to look at Kai. "Jongin-ssi! You've only been at this school for a few weeks and you're already misbehaving?!"

"It's my fault sir," Taemin lied.

"I don't care whose fault it is, all three of you are going to detention this Friday! Jonghyun, I've had enough of you! Come with me this instant!" He held Jonghyun by the back of his collar and led him angrily to his office. 

Taemin made Kai have a seat at the foot of his locker. He searched through his bag and found some tissues. Kai's attention drifted to the floor, which he noticed was decorated with drops of blood. Taemin sat beside Kai and made him focus on him instead, beginning to dab at his nose again with the tissue. When he pulled back, he saw that the previously snow colored tissue was now crimson. 

"Can you walk?" Taemin's soft voice broke the silence in the locker room. Kai nodded in response. Without another word, Taemin took Kai's arm and wrapped it around his shoulder, slowly lifting him up. He led him out of the school. 

Kai didn't pay attention to where Taemin was taking him, but he didn't care. As long as Taemin was by his side, it didn't matter where they were heading. Not a word was exchanged in between them during their seemingly long walk, but they both enjoyed the comfortable silence.

Soon, Taemin opened the door to his house and made Kai sit at the first step of the staircase while he went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. When he came back, he held Kai's chin up and brought the cool glass to his lips. Kai didn't realize how dry his mouth was until the cold refreshing water made its way down his throat. Taemin wiped the dripping water off his friend's chin and wrapped Kai's arm around his shoulder again.

"Watch your step," he instructed Kai, as they began walking up the stairs. They eventually reached Taemin's room. He sat Kai on the edge of the bed. Taemin unlaced the injured boy's shoes and took them off. Then, he piled his pillows behind Kai's back for support, and Kai's head fell back, resting on the wall behind him. 

"I'll be back," Taemin informed before leaving the room. He came back a few minutes later with several items in his hands. He placed them on his bedside table and sat down on the bed, getting closer to him. Kai felt a warm damp cloth touch his face gently.

"Why did you do that," Taemin began in a low voice, wiping a few blood-stained areas on Kai's face.

"How could I not when he was...treating you like that," Kai's voice croaked.

"You shouldn't have done that for me, Kai. Now look what he's done to you. Your nose won't stop bleeding, your face is covered in bruises, your lips are cut..." he said, analyzing Kai's features.

Kai drowsily buried his head in Taemin's neck. "I couldn't let him do that to you," he whispered.

Taemin felt Kai's hot breath on his neck as he said those words, a feeling that he had never felt before. His insides stirred. He hugged the boy, softly caressing his back and neck. He placed Kai's head on his lap. The boy under him let his heavy eyes close. 

After cleaning Kai's face with the cloth and placing a few bandages over the small cuts on his face, Taemin looked at the sleeping boy and admired his features. His eyes scanned over his swollen lips, which were slightly parted. He his thumb over them gently, avoiding the cut at the end of his mouth in fear of hurting him and waking up the sleeping beauty. 

Watching Kai made Taemin sleepy too. He yawned and stretched his arms, fatigue beginning to crawl its way up his body. He gently lifted the already sleeping Kai's head from off his lap and placed it carefully on a pillow. Taemin joined his side on the bed, laying on his stomach and burrying his face in his pillow. After a while, he shifted his head to the left and looked at Kai through the hair covering his eyes. He blew it aside to get a better look and his eyes swayed at Kai's chest, which slowly moved up and down when he breathed. He looked so vulnerable and innocent in that moment, unlike the usual Kai who strides with confident demeanor. Something about this sight made Taemin feel very warm inside, like he wanted to protect the injured boy from all the harms in the world. Taemin gently ran his hands through the boy's soft hair continuously. Before long, Taemin drifted to sleep, his left arm subconsciously resting around Kai's waist. 

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A/N: Hiya! So after writing this little TaeKai moment and looking back at the previous chapters, I couldn't help but feel as though it's going too fast. Do you guys agree? Do you think that TaeKai's relationship is progressing too fast and that I should slow it down? I know it seems kind of late now because it's already the 9th chapter, but please let me know so that I can make changes! Thank you (^-^)