Sweat ran down his face, his heart pounded rapidly, and he felt his breath panting. “No . . . Minnie, no don’t hurt . . . Minnie.” Kyuhyun’s eyes shot open and he sat up with a shock. Gasping for breath, Kyuhyun looked around to see that he had fallen asleep and was still lying next to a sleeping Sungmin in the blonde’s bed.

          Kyuhyun had had a bad dream; dreaming that he witnessed Sungmin get beat up and heard his boyfriend scream for him, but could do nothing about it. The dark haired teen brushed his fingers over Sungmin’s blonde hair as he threw his legs over the side of the bed, gazing over at the clock, seeing it read 3:54 am.

          Getting up, Kyuhyun walked quietly downstairs to the kitchen to retrieve a glass of water. He downed the liquid before slamming the glass down as though he’d just finished a shot. “You’re still here?” he heard a whisper from the kitchen entrance.

          Looking over, Kyuhyun saw Heechul walk in and get a cup as well. “Yeah, I fell asleep and just woke up,” Kyuhyun informed before filling his cup with more water. Kyuhyun looked at Heechul and stated “You know I had nothing to do with Sungmin getting hurt. I love him, and I would never cause him pain.”

          “Then who hurt my brother?” Heechul demanded.

          “My stupid friends,” Kyuhyun replied as he drank down some more water.

          “Some friends you got,” Heechul said.

          “Well after tomorrow they won’t be my friends any longer. No one hurts my angel and gets away with it,” Kyuhyun promised.

          “Maybe I misjudged you Kyuhyun; I mean at first, let’s both agree that you were a to my brother, but you’ve really changed for him,” Heechul responded.

          “Thank you Heechul, so can I ask you something?” Kyuhyun wondered.

          “Yeah, what’s up?” Heechul wondered.

          “Sungmin once mentioned something about his mom, but he doesn’t bring her up any. Did she do something to Sungmin, like hurt him?” Kyuhyun asked.

          Heechul sighed before he leaned against the counter and explained “Sungmin was emotionally abused by his parents until he was eleven. Those bastards neglected him, told him he was never gonna be good enough, and because he heard all of this negativity, he barely spoke a word for the five years he stayed in the Boys Home. That’s why we freaked out when you had to pretend to be mean to him, because we didn’t want him to feel like he was back in the hell he grew up in.”

          Kyuhyun stood there in stunned silence. “I yelled at him and he had already been scarred emotionally, damn I’m such a jackass,” he muttered. “Then I don’t even protect him when he needs me the most. I can’t the image of Sungmin calling for me as he gets hurt out of my head.”

          “You didn’t know Kyuhyun. We didn’t know for a long time, but we promised we’d never let anyone hurt him like that again, so you now understand why we were all ready to kick your when we saw you around him. We thought you’d bring back those painful memories for him,” Heechul said as he gripped Kyuhyun’s shoulder.

          “Well I’m going to handle this tomorrow,” Kyuhyun promised before walking back upstairs.

          He reentered Sungmin and Yesung’s room and climbed back into bed with Sungmin. The blonde seemed to sense his boyfriend get back in bed with him, because Sungmin moved to latch onto Kyuhyun. “Kyuhyun?” Sungmin whispered.

          “Hey baby, how are you?” Kyuhyun asked as he kissed Sungmin.

          “I’m still hurting,” Sungmin replied.

          “I’m sorry, do you want me to go get you some pain killers?” Kyuhyun offered.

          “No not now, I just want you to lay here with me for a couple more hours,” Sungmin requested.

          “Okay,” Kyuhyun agreed as he held Sungmin close.

          A couple of hours later, Donghae, Heechul, Eunhyuk, Yesung, and Kyuhyun got up and ready for school. “Kyuhyun, you ready to go?” Heechul asked as he stuck his head into the bedroom.

          Kyuhyun hadn’t left Sungmin’s side, and really didn’t want to leave him now. Sungmin was so bruised and still in so much pain, that Leeteuk wanted him to stay home for a day to heal. “I've got to go Minnie, but I’ll come back over after school and check on you,” Kyuhyun promised before kissing Sungmin goodbye.

          “Okay, have a good day,” Sungmin whispered. “I love you.”

          “I love you too,” Kyuhyun replied as he let Sungmin’s hand slip from his hand while he walked out with the others.

          All through school, Kyuhyun felt himself on edge, thinking about what he was going to do once he saw Shindong and Henry. The two people who he thought were his friends had hurt the love of his life; and Kyuhyun knew justice had to be made for his Sungmin.

          Now that their secret was out, Donghae and Eunhyuk no longer had to hide the fact that they indeed were in a relationship. The couple held hands in the hallway, and even kissed each other in front of everyone else. “Do you care that everyone is looking at us?” Donghae wondered as his boyfriend pressed him back against the lockers.

          “I don’t care about them; all I see is you Donghae,” Eunhyuk replied before kissing his lips again shamelessly.

          Heechul and Hankyung walked down another hallway holding hands, as Hankyung asked “How’s Sungmin doing today?”

          “He’s better; Leeteuk wanted him to stay home for a day and rest. Kyuhyun said he’d deal with the bastards who hurt him,” Heechul informed.

          “Yeah they deserve it for hurting Sungmin. I mean he did nothing wrong to begin with,” Hankyung agreed.

          “Hey, why don’t you come over tonight, I could use some company,” Heechul whispered.

          Smiling, Hankyung responded “Sure, I’ll come over.” He kissed his boyfriend and said “Now go to class Heechul or you’ll be late.”

          Yesung and Ryeowook were standing in front of Yesung’s locker when Ryeowook asked “Yesung?”

          “Yes,” the dark haired teen replied.

          “Sometime you need to come over and meet my mom. She’s dying to be introduced to you,” Ryeowook suggested.

          “Okay, yeah I can do that, how about sometime next week, I’ve gotta keep an eye on Minnie for the rest of the week while he recuperates,” Yesung said.

          Ryeowook hesitated before saying “Sure that sounds good.”

          “You okay?” Yesung asked as he gently touched Ryeowook’s face.

          “Yeah, I’m fine, just thinking,” the brunette responded before kissing his boyfriend’s lips quickly.

          That day when the final bell rang, Kyuhyun shot up out of his seat and stormed out of the building, over to where he knew Shindong and Henry would be. The two saw their friend coming and said “Hey Kyuhyun.”

          “You sons of es,” Kyuhyun growled before he punched them both in the face.

          “What the dude?” Henry asked.

          “You hurt my boyfriend,” Kyuhyun stated.

          “Yeah, we wanted to teach him a lesson; show him what happens when he messes with one of our friends and forces him into a gay relationship,” Shindong explained.

          “You ing idiots!” Kyuhyun screamed before he kicked Shindong in the stomach, and punched Henry’s chest. “He didn’t force me; I love Sungmin and didn’t I give you specific orders to stay away from him?!”

          “Well I think Sungmin will think twice about showing his face around here again, because he knows what we’ll do,” Shindong stated.

          “Shut up,” Kyuhyun growled.

          “You should’ve heard him screaming for you Kyuhyun; he sounded like a scared little . He yelled for you, but you didn’t show up. How do you think he feels about that?” Henry questioned as he got up in Kyuhyun’s face. “How do you think he feels knowing the person he loves couldn’t save him?”

          Kyuhyun curled his hand into a tight fist before punching Henry in the face. Once the teen was on the ground, Kyuhyun got on top of him and continued to punch Henry’s face, and didn’t stop until Shindong pulled Kyuhyun off and punched the dark haired boy in the mouth. He turned and pushed Shindong roughly into a tree, before kicking Henry in the ribs. “I’ve had it with you two. Stay the away from my Sungmin, and stay away from me. If I ever hear that you touch or even look at my boyfriend again, I will kill both of you! Minnie is everything to me, and I’m not going to let anyone jeopardize our relationship,” Kyuhyun stated before wiping the blood off his bleeding lip and walking away.

          Sungmin opened his eyes and sat up when he saw Kyuhyun walk into his room. “What happened?” Sungmin asked, looking at Kyuhyun’s bleeding lower lip.

          “It’s nothing; I took care of Shindong and Henry. They will never hurt you again Minnie,” Kyuhyun promised as he Sungmin’s face.

          Sungmin gently ran his fingers over Kyuhyun’s hurt lip. “I’m sorry you got hurt; I feel responsible,” Sungmin whispered. He leaned forward and gently kissed Kyuhyun’s lips.

          “Don’t feel bad, it’s not your fault. I won’t let anyone hurt you anymore Minnie, I’m so sorry I let this happen to you,” Kyuhyun apologized.

          “Will you stay with me and play a video game with me?” Sungmin requested. Kyuhyun smiled and picked up the controllers.

          Kangin came home that night, and Leeteuk met him in the kitchen. “Hi sweetie, how was work?” Leeteuk asked.

          “It was good, how was your day?” Kangin wondered as he kissed his partner.

          “I talked to Eunhyuk’s parents, and we’re going over to their house tonight after dinner to discuss Eunhyuk and Donghae’s relationship,” Leeteuk informed.

          “Do they know we’re gay?” Kangin questioned.

          “No, they had no clue,” Leeteuk replied.

          “Should we take the boys with us?” Kangin asked.

          “No, I don’t want Eunhyuk and Donghae to feel uncomfortable,” Leeteuk answered. “I told them we’d be back late, because we’re going to get this mess straightened out, and I’m not leaving until they listen to me.”

          “I love it when you get in this feisty mood,” Kangin muttered as he hugged and kissed Leeteuk again.

          After Kangin and Leeteuk had left for Eunhyuk’s house, Hankyung came over. Heechul let him in and they headed upstairs to his room. The two lay down on Heechul’s bed and started watching a movie together. Hankyung noticed that Heechul seemed different tonight. “Are you okay?” he asked.

          In response, Heechul took one of Hankyung’s hands and placed it on the middle of his chest. “Do you feel my heart?” Heechul asked.

          “Yes, it’s pounding very rapidly,” Hankyung noticed.

          “Hankyung, I’m falling even more in love with you and I don’t know how to feel about it,” Heechul confessed. “I’m confused yet excited; I’ve never had this feeling before.”

          “I’m falling in love with you more too Heechul,” Hankyung admitted as he gently touched Heechul’s face.

          “What do we do about it?” Heechul wondered. Hankyung kissed his boyfriend’s lips and slid his hands under his shirt and slowly slipped it up.

          He stopped when Heechul began to shiver. “Don’t be nervous, I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do,” Hankyung quietly promised. Heechul silently took Hankyung’s shirt off of him so the two were sitting on the bed shirtless, looking at one another. “What would you like me to do now?”

          “Do whatever you want,” Heechul stated, since it was the response he was used to giving.

          “I’ll be gentle with you. If you feel uncomfortable or scared, I’ll stop if you want me to,” Hankyung whispered.

          Hankyung kissed Heechul’s lips gently as he ran his hands up and down Heechul’s wounded back. Slowly and carefully, Hankyung brushed his fingers over the many scars, burns, and needle marks. Hankyung began to move his lips from Heechul’s mouth down to his neck. Heechul closed his eyes and inhaled sharply as he felt his boyfriend’s lips kiss his sensitive skin.

          Heechul lay down on his bed and looked up into Hankyung’s eyes as the teen leaned down to kiss Heechul’s lips again. A tear fell from Heechul’s eye and rolled out of the corner of his eye; before Hankyung kissed it away. “Do you want me to stop?” Hankyung whispered.

          In response, Heechul pulled Hankyung down and kissed him again, this time running his own hands over his boyfriend’s back. “No, please don’t,” Heechul quietly pleaded.  

          Hankyung ran a hand through Heechul’s hair before kissing him and stating “I love you Heechul.”

          Heechul placed his hands on Hankyung’s face, looked into his eyes, and muttered “I love you too Hankyung.”