"So ... for how long has this been going on?"

"Ever since ... January or February I think ..."

"And how did it start?"

"One day after classes. I kind of bumped into one of them by accident. Even though I apologized they started bullying me ..."

"Why didn't you say something back then?"

"They said if I told anyone ... if I told anyone they'd beat me up ..."

Taemin stopped talking and stared at Key who was sitting on the opposite of the wooden table.

The maknae was trembling and Onew knew it was only a matter of time until he'd start crying. He held Taemins hands tightly, trying to support him as good as possible.

Key sighed deeply and kept his eyes on him.

"Taemin-ah ..." he said after a while and leaned over the table to ruffle his soft hair a bit. "I know it's hard for you to talk about this but ... I need to know ... what did they do to you?"

Taemin twitched and snifed before nodding slowly. His eyes were red and puffy even though he hadn't cried a single tear yet. The smile on his face had vanished - it was strange, seeing his pretty face without the usual grin.

"They didn't do much at first." he whispered. "But after a few weeks ... That guy Onew hyung talked to is in my class and he caught me when the first period was over. He said the principal wanted to see me, so I went with him. But when we were almost at the office he pushed me into the boys restroom and locked us up in a cabin."

Onew tensed, he knew what was bound to have happened - and he didn't want his guess to be proven right.

"He started hitting me." Taemin went on and Onew felt his heart crash into a million pieces - why did he have to be right?

He took a deep breath before he continued talking. "I don't know why he did it but he continued until I was down on the floor. I called for help but no-one came. So I begged him to stop. And when I actually started bleeding he really did stop and stared down at me. He had grabbed me by the collar and told me to keep quiet about this otherwise ... he'd make sure to be rougher next time. And then ... he left ..."

There they were - tears. They ran down his cheeks, leaving bright pink streams on his usually pale skin.

He sobbed and let go of Onews hands, trying to wipe them away.

Key got up from his chair and walked around the table, wrapping his arms around the cying maknae.

Onew patted his shoulder gently and grabbed one of his hands again as soon as he had lowered one from his face, holding it tightly. None of them said something, they waited for Taemin to calm down a bit.

It didn't seem to be the right time for nice words. At least not yet.

As soon as Taemin had gotten a hold of himself again he smiled at them faintly and said: "He bullied me ever since that day. But on that first time ... I didn't wanna go home. I went to the hospital and bought make-up at the drugstore before coming back. I didn't want any of you to know, I'm sorry."

Key caressed the maknaes chin gently and smiled at him. "It's okay, Taemin-ah." he said, his eyes were running up and down Taemins face. "We understand that you were scared. And we are not mad at you, you don't have to worry about that."

"Still, can you tell us more?" Onew said quietly, squeezing Taemins hand gently. He nodded and went on, telling them everything that had happened ever since that particular day.

It turned out that these guys really were the reason for Taemin sprained his ankle - though it was by far not the worst thing they had done to him.

From taking his money to beating him up until he could barely walk anymore, even in front of other people, there was one scary bullying hunting the next one.

In the end they all sat there, saying nothing at all.

Onew was still holding Taemins hands, them gently while Key was sitting on the opposite of the table, massaing his forehead continously. Taemin rested his head on Onews shoulder, obviously tired and exhausted from all of the crying.

None of them was surprised when the maknae fell asleep after a while.

"Would you mind getting him to bed?" Key asked quietly. It was strange how he did not smile at the cute sight of his sleeping son. "I need to get to bed." he thanked him and got up when Onew nodded and left the kitchen, obviously heading for the bathroom.

Pulling his shoulder away slowly he tried not to wake Taemin up, but ended up waking him anyway. The maknaes eyes fluttered open slowly and he raised his head.

"Sorry for waking you, Taemin-ah." he said quietly and smiled at him. "I wanted to get you to bed."

Taemin nodded, yawned and got up from his chair, pulling Onew with him. Without bothering to brush their teeth they went to the bedroom and closed the door behind them. Taemin headed for his bed and didn't even look at the light switch.

Onew felt quite relieved when he noticed that neither Minho nor Jonghyun were in here right now, apparently they had gone out - again.

He saw Taemin removing the blanket and was dragged down onto the bed by him. The maknae crossed his legs and stared down at the white sheets. The leader examined him through the little light which was coming in from the window next to them. The moon was shining tonight, the bedroom was covered in deep blue color - it reminded him of the Planetarium from before.

"Are you okay?" Onew asked after a few minutes of silence.

Taemin shook his head slightly and said: "All of those memories. I thought it didn't matter anymore. But ... thinking about everything all over again ... It hurts." he sniffed a bit and lowered his head even more. "And I feel horrible for not telling you sooner. I didn't want to cause trouble, I was just scared and didn't want to bother anyone. And when you got in an argument with them yesterday I-I thought y-you were-"

Onew cut him off by kissing his lips gently, he broke away after a few seconds. "It's okay now, Taemin-ah." he said and the silver-shining blonde hair. "We know now and it's going to be fine, you'll see. If you want then I can come and pick you up from school tomorrow - or Key can, one of us will definitely be there. No matter what, this won't happen again."

"Neh, but what if they-"

"If they try to hurt Key you can be sure that they're not going to live for long. Remember how Key talked those bullies off a while ago? Just by saying random things?"

Taemin giggled quietly and nodded.

"See? It'll be fine. You don't have to worry about your hyungs."

"But what about you?"

"I might be Tofu-Leader Onew but I can take care of myself as well - just like our Almighty Key."

He leaned in closer and kissed the maknae again, not breaking away this time. Taemin wrapped his arms around the leaders shoulders and neck, relaxing a bit more. He had been so tensed during their talking about the bullies, Onew was relieved to see that he was a bit more at ease now.

While kising they ended up lying next to each other, Taemin cuddled up in his arms. Onew was happy to be this close again, he thought they wouldn't kiss each other for a while because of their packed schedules and things like that.

They talked for a little while and Onew felt a mixture of happiness and disappointment when Taemin stopped answering after a while - he had fallen asleep again, his face huddled up against his chest.

He knew that Taemin would wake up if he'd leave him now, so he decided on staying with him for as long as it was necessary. Without moving too mch he grabbed the blanket which had fallen onto floor and covered him and the maknae with it.

Getting a bit closer to him he felt himself yawn as well and closed his yes, embracing the slender boy next to him with his arms.

Just a few moments later the door was opened and he hear Key coming in - there was also a strong scent of shampoo filling the room now, which explained why Key had taken so long to get ready for bed.

He didn't make a lot of noise while pasing them and climbing into his own bed which was right on top of Taemins.

Onew was glad that Key hadn't tried to wake him up - he seemed to get along with Taemin and him being a couple quite well. Especially because he had made them go to the Planetarium ...

He suddenly remembered the gift he and Taemin had bought for Key - they totally forgot to give it to him when they got home.

Taking a mental note to himself he hoped Key would be happy about the fairy lights Taemin had picked out. They were decorated with little stars and planets and gave away a soft blue light, Taemin had loved them when he spotted them in the window of the shop.

He smiled brightly when he thought about the way Taemin had gotten excited about the fairy lights.

"Hyung, look!" the maknae grabbed his hand and pulled him to the second window of the shop. "Look at those fairy lights! Aren't they pretty!?"

"Neh, they are pretty ..." he answered, not really sure about what to say. He was not a fan of decoration anyway. "Do you like them, Taemin-ah?"

"Neh!" he got closer to the window and Onew saw his eyes getting all gleamy when the fairy lights changed their color from light blue to dark blue. "Can we buy them?"

"For Key?"

"Neh!"

"Uhm ... yeah sure. I'm sure he'll like them."

Taemin leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, giggling shyly as he dragged him into the store.

It didn't take Onew long to fall asleep, thinking about his cute little boyfriend.