Luhan glared at his bedroom door, the sounds of his father and step-mother arguing still audible even though the door was both shut and made of thick wood.

“I hate this place,” he muttered, tempted to jump out the window and run away.

Running away might not solve everything, but it would at least get him away from his father for a few hours. Maybe even days. So long as he didn’t have to hear his father insist that he needed pills, he was fine. To his step-mother’s credit, she didn’t think pills would fix anything. No, she just thought that Luhan should be declared an independent and kicked out of the house. Cold as it sounded coming from her, he agreed whole heartedly.

If he was an independent, he could join the ISBIP like his friends. Or, he could go live in some fae community someplace. He could surround himself with his own kind – supernaturals. Instead, he was being forced to live with humans who didn’t know what he was, didn’t know how to deal with it. And if he told them? They’d think him crazy and he’d get locked up and put on pills to ‘help’ him. Pills wouldn’t help him, they’d just mess with his head and his control over his powers would slip.

“He isn’t normal,” Luhan heard his step-mother yell, “Why can’t you see that? He’s not like you or me.”

“He will be,” his father countered, “it’s that school’s fault. They haven’t been helping him at all.”

“They’ve helped him more then you have,” his step-mother scoffed, “remember what he was like before you sent him there? He’s much better now, more in control. You aren’t happy because they didn’t help him the way you want.”

Luhan smiled slightly at that. He might not like his step-mother too much – nor his father for that matter – but she was one smart lady. Smarter then he’d realized. Not that it mattered, his father wouldn’t listen to her. He’d just charge on ahead and do what he wanted. He wanted Luhan to be some kind of grade A student, captain of some sports team and loved by all. Luhan wasn’t anything like that and it pissed his father off to no end.

--

“Mother,” Tao sighed, sitting down with his mother, “I, um, have something to tell you.”

“What is it dear?” his mother asked, “oh! Did you get a girlfriend? You’re getting to that age when most children start dating.”

“No,” Tao laughed slightly, “I mean, there are a few girls at school I would like to ask out, but no girlfriend.”

“Then what?” she asked, looking a little concerned.

Tao bit his bottom lip, not sure if he really should tell his mother that he was a vampire. What if she rejected him? he couldn’t lose his mother. But he’d already made a pack with D.O to tell his mother. Right at that moment, D.O was probably telling his parents that he was a vampire. He couldn’t let his friend do that alone, to suffer the consequences alone. He just couldn’t.

“Mom,” Tao said, taking a deep breath, “I’m a vampire.”

“I figured,” his mother smiled sadly.

“What?”

“I’d heard the rumor once when I was a child,” she explained, “at the time, I thought it was just a story made to scare little kids. And then you got sick. I didn’t think anything of it at first, and then I found a bag of blood in your things. It was just after you started getting better.”

“You knew that long?” Tao asked, earning a nod from his mother.

“I was waiting for you to tell me,” she smiled, “I didn’t want you to feel…….different.”

“But I am,” Tao sighed.

“No,” she said, “you’re still my baby boy. My sweet, kind, child.”

“Who drinks blood,” Tao laughed, but his smile told his mother that he was grateful for what she had said.

“So,” she said, “tell me all about your friends. What are they? Are any like you?”

“Xiumin hyung and D.O,” Tao nodded, “D.O is actually the reason I decided to tell you. we made a packs to come out together.”

“Well,” she smiled, “I hope that it works out for him.”

“Same here,” Tao said.

“Now,” his mother returned to the topic of his other friends, “what about you’re other friends? What are your roommates Sehun and Kai?”

--

D.O sat in silent, waiting for his parents to react to what he had told him. At first, they hadn’t believed him, but then he’d shown them his fangs and his healing ability. Now they were silent, processing everything that they had heard and seen. The longer they took, the more D.O began to fear he had made a grave mistake.

And yet, he would do it all over again if he could. He was sick of hiding what he was, sick of keeping it all inside. Even if his parents kicked him out, it would be worth it. and he had places he could go if they did kick him out. He could go to the ISBIP base Jihu had taken Sori and the others to. Or he could hop on a bus and go to Tao or Xiumin’s place.

Maybe Xiumin’s place would be better. Tao had probably told his mother what he was and D.O didn’t want to go there in case she’d freaked out like his own parents. But then Xiumin might not be home, so he should call first. At least Tao would understand his feelings haven’t hidden what he was, too.

“Get out,” D.O nodded, getting up and leaving at his father’s command.

He heard his mother whisper something, but he didn’t pay much attention to it. She probably just called him a monster. He could hear his brother saying that very clearly from the kitchen. His sister just looked horrified and his father looked disgusted. But D.O didn’t need them. Their opinion of him didn’t matter because he liked who and what he was.

Once outside, D.O grabbed his bag that was waiting under his window. Even before saying anything, he’d had a feeling it would turn out like that so he had packed his important things up and left them waiting in a bag outside. Everything from personal stuff to money was inside the bag and he was grateful for his ability to think ahead.

Walking down the street, bag hung over his shoulder, D.O decided to call Tao and ask how he was doing. He’d hate it if Tao had been kicked out too since it was D.O’s idea to come clean.

“Hey,” D.O said after calling Tao, “how did it go?”

“My mom already knew,” Tao said, clearly smiling, “I was just telling her about Xiumin hyung being the head vampire at school.”

“Cool,” D.O laughed, happy for his friend.

“What about you?”

“Kicked me out,” D.O shrugged, “but I expected that.”

“Do you want me to come get you?” Tao asked, concerned, “do you have a place to stay?”

“Yeah,” D.O said, “but I can just run there.”

“I’ll see you soon, then,” Tao laughed, “I’ll wait out front, alright?”

“Right.”

D.O hung up and started to run. Thankfully, he didn’t live that far from Tao. Well, for humans it was kind of far. But he wasn’t human. He was a vampire with vampire speed. For a human, it would take at least two hours by car  to get from D.O’s place to Tao’s. for a vampire it only took about half an hour.

“Hey!” Tao called as D.O came to a stop in front of his house, stumbling slightly at the sudden stop.

“Hi,” D.O smiled, letting Tao pull him into a hug.

“My mom wants to meet you,” Tao said, pulling D.O inside.

That night, D.O fell asleep feeling both happy and sad. Tao’s mother was wonderful. She not only accepted Tao for what he was, but D.O as well. He wished his own family was as open about what he was, but knew it would never happen. He wanted to stay with Tao and his mother forever, but that couldn’t happen either.

D.O decided that he would have to move out eventually, but wasn’t sure were to go. Home was out. He couldn’t crash at his friends’ places either. Well, not forever anyway. That left him with joining the ISBIP. That….wasn’t so bad he had friends there and he could train. things weren’t so awful.

A/N: poor Luhan and D.O. At least Tao is fine, though, right? *hides from all the Luhan and D.O fans who are probably really upset with me right now*