The next morning, Donghae awoke and turned over to see Eunhyuk still sleeping next to him. The brunette smiled as he gently Eunhyuk’s blonde hair. He leaned their heads together and pulled Eunhyuk’s warm body against his. Slowly, Eunhyuk opened his eyes and looked up to see his boyfriend holding his face. “Good morning,” Donghae whispered.

          Eunhyuk smiled before replying quietly “Good morning.”

          Donghae kissed his lovingly before he sat up and stretched. “C’mon, we gotta get ready for school,” he reminded.

          Sighing, Eunhyuk got up as well. “Today’s gonna be a long day,” he muttered.

          “We’ll take it one step at a time,” Donghae promised.

          After they got ready, they went into the kitchen and sat down at the table with Sungmin, Yesung, and Heechul. “Hey Eunhyuk, when did you get here?” Yesung asked.

          “He stayed the night,” Donghae said as he held his boyfriend’s hand. “He’s gonna be staying here with us for a while.”

          “Oh cool, is everything okay?” Yesung wondered as he noticed Eunhyuk’s expression.

          “His parents found out about us and didn’t take it too well,” Donghae replied.

          “That ,” Heechul agreed.

          “Boys, let’s not get into Eunhyuk’s personal life this early,” Leeteuk suggested as he served the boys their breakfast.

          “Any of you guys know Park Joo Li?” Eunhyuk wondered.

          “Yeah, she’s in biology with me and Hankyung,” Heechul confirmed.

          “She found out about Donghae and I and today she said she’d tell the whole school that we were in a relationship,” Eunhyuk informed.

          “What’ll happen if people find out?” Sungmin questioned.

          “I’ll more than likely be kicked off the basketball team since the coach is as homophobic as my parents, no one will talk to me, and everyone will just glare at me, because I’m not who they thought I was,” Eunhyuk explained.

          “Well, we’ll be your friends,” Sungmin promised. “We don’t care if you’re gay or not, plus you make our brother happy.”

          “Thanks guys, that means a lot,” Eunhyuk replied.

          Leeteuk drove Heechul, Sungmin, and Yesung to school while Donghae and Eunhyuk rode on Eunhyuk’s motorcycle. They weren’t there long before people began staring at Donghae and Eunhyuk and murmuring to themselves. Eunhyuk felt his heart pound loudly before feeling Donghae gently place his hand on his back. “Everything will be okay,” Donghae whispered as the blonde walked into school with Donghae, Yesung, Sungmin, and Heechul.

          The couple went into their first class and everyone stared at them as they sat down. Eunhyuk heard their classmates whisper to one another, which caused his cheeks to become red with embarrassment. Donghae reached over and touched his arm in a comforting way. “Are you gonna kiss him now?” a student asked before they began snickering at the couple.

          Eunhyuk shot up and ran out of the room. Donghae stood up and followed his boyfriend into a nearby bathroom. “Eunhyuk, don’t listen to them,” Donghae said as the blonde slammed himself into the wall.

          “Everything is crumbling,” Eunhyuk muttered as tears fell from his eyes.

          Donghae slowly moved over to Eunhyuk and touched his shoulder. The blonde latched onto his boyfriend and cried as Donghae held him close. “I’m sorry Eunhyuk. I feel like ever since I’ve come into your life I’ve done nothing but cause bad things to happen to you,” Donghae apologized.

          Eunhyuk placed his hands on Donghae’s neck as he kissed him. “No, it’s not your fault; it was my choice to be with you, and I don’t regret that choice. The whole world can be against me, but as long as I have you with me, I don’t care what happens,” Eunhyuk replied. “And now that people know, we don’t have to hide.”

          Donghae smiled. “I love you and will stand by you through everything,” he responded as they leaned their heads together.

          As Sungmin and Kyuhyun left their class and walked their separate ways, Henry and Shindong approached Kyuhyun. “Hey man can we borrow your phone really fast? I misplaced mine and need to see if it’s nearby,” Henry asked.

          “Sure,” Kyuhyun agreed before handing his phone to his friend.

          Henry acted as though he was calling his phone, but in actuality, he was sending a text to Sungmin, using Kyuhyun’s persona. After texting Sungmin and receiving a reply, Henry handed the phone back to Kyuhyun and rushed off with Shindong. “What’d you say?” Shindong wondered.

          “I pretended to be Kyuhyun and told Sungmin to meet us by the tree where we saw them kiss,” Henry informed.

          “Awesome, after today, Sungmin will think twice about trying to screw around with one of our friends,” Shindong said.

          As soon as school let out, Sungmin hurried outside, hoping to meet his boyfriend. Sungmin leaned against the tree and looked around for Kyuhyun. Shindong came out from behind the bush and grabbed Sungmin by the shoulders. “Let me go,” Sungmin asked as he struggled.

          Henry walked out and crossed his arms. “You’re not going anywhere you little freak,” he stated before grabbing the front of Sungmin’s shirt.

          “We’re gonna teach you what happens when you mess with one of our friends,” Shindong added as he pushed Sungmin down onto the ground.

          Henry and Shindong began to kick and punch Sungmin’s head, chest, back, and legs. “Kyuhyun! Kyuhyun!” Sungmin yelled as he tried to shield his face from Henry’s punches.

          “Now stay away from Kyuhyun you piece of ! If we see you with our friend again, we will kill you, you gay bastard!” Henry shouted as they both delivered one final blow to Sungmin’s face and chest before running off.

          Sungmin lie there on the grass, crying loudly, calling for Kyuhyun every few minutes. Finally, he heard someone yell “Sungmin!” The blonde felt Yesung place his hands on him as he closed his eyes, falling unconscious. “Donghae, Heechul, Eunhyuk, I need some help!”

          The others discovered a battered and bruised Sungmin and carried him to the car where Leeteuk was waiting. “Oh God, Sungmin, what happened to him?” Leeteuk questioned.

          “We don’t know, we found him like this,” Eunhyuk stated.

          “You don’t think Kyuhyun did this to him do you?” Yesung asked.

          “If he did, I’ll break his neck,” Heechul replied.

          They got Sungmin home and lay him on his bed. As they were bandaging him up, there was a knock at the front door. Donghae and Heechul walked downstairs, and opened it up to find Kyuhyun. “Hey, is Sungmin home?” he asked.

          “You son of a !” Heechul yelled as he tried to attack Kyuhyun, before Donghae held him back.

          “What, what did I do?” Kyuhyun innocently questioned.

          “You attacked Sungmin didn’t you?” Heechul demanded.

          “What are you talking about?” Kyuhyun wondered as his eyes widened.

          “Sungmin was beat up today after school,” Eunhyuk informed.

          Kyuhyun froze. “May I see him?” he requested.

          “Yeah, he’s upstairs,” Donghae said before they headed upstairs to Yesung and Sungmin’s room.

          Kyuhyun rushed inside and gasped when he saw an unconscious Sungmin lying in bed. “Minnie,” he whispered as tears welled in the dark haired boy’s eyes.

          “Don’t you dare touch him,” Yesung demanded.

          “You can’t honestly believe I’d do this to him,” Kyuhyun replied. “Why would I hurt the person I love?”

          “Well if you didn’t do it then who did?” Heechul wondered.

          “I don’t know, but when I find out, I’m gonna murder the bastard who did it,” Kyuhyun promised.

          “Guys, let’s leave Kyuhyun alone with Sungmin for a little bit,” Donghae suggested. As they walked out, Donghae said “If you need us to bring anything up for him, just let us know.”

          Kyuhyun walked over slowly to Sungmin’s bed and sat down next to the blonde. “Minnie,” he muttered again as he lay a hand gently on Sungmin’s bruised face. His torso, back, legs, arms, neck, and face was bruised, and there were gashes on his face and chest.

          He watched Sungmin begin to take deeper breaths as the blonde opened his eyes. “Kyuhyun,” Sungmin muttered, barely audible.

          “Sungmin, what happened to you?” Kyuhyun asked as he his face. The blonde closed his eyes and began to cry silently. Kyuhyun lay down beside him and held Sungmin close as he whispered “Minnie, please don’t cry, tell me what happened. Who hurt you?”

          As Kyuhyun gently wiped his tears away, Sungmin mumbled “Shindong and Henry; they beat me up because they know I’m your boyfriend.”

          “What?” Kyuhyun demanded. Sungmin started crying harder, so Kyuhyun said “I’m sorry, I’m not mad at you.”

          “I called for you, and you didn’t come,” Sungmin cried.

          “I’m sorry Minnie, I’m sorry I didn’t protect you. Can you forgive me?” Kyuhyun wondered as tears fell from his own eyes.

          Sungmin reached up and wiped away a tear off Kyuhyun’s face with his thumb. “Yes, I love you Kyuhyun,” Sungmin muttered.

          Kyuhyun kissed Sungmin’s lips and replied “I love you too Sungmin and I promise I’ll make this better. Those two will pay for what they did to you.”

          He moved to get up, but stopped when Sungmin touched his face. “Stay with me,” the blonde quietly pleaded.

          Kyuhyun lay back down and pulled Sungmin’s bruised body closer. He Sungmin’s hair as the blonde leaned his head against his boyfriend’s chest and closed his eyes. “I’ll stay with you Minnie, I’ll stay with you,” Kyuhyun whispered before kissing Sungmin’s forehead and interlacing their hands together.