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Ever since that fateful day in the club, when Wooyoung laid eyes on the thin and timid boy named Oh Beomseok, he had been excited for his big paycheck and chance to win a fight against his rival, Ahn Suho. Beomseok was set on paying Wooyoung to ‘get’ Suho and teach him some sort of lesson. Fair enough. It seemed like Suho had done something awful to this Beomseok kid, and Wooyoung hated him anyway. It all worked out.
Those were his thoughts at first. He didn’t really care about what Suho did to Beomseok, as he didn’t really care about Beomseok that much at all, but that changed over the course of a couple of weeks. As he was dragged along to spend time with that loser Yeongbin and his clique that had adopted Beomseok like he was a lost puppy, he learned a lot more about the relationship between Suho and the former.
Beomseok was genuinely obsessed with this guy. All he seemed to do was grumble about how Suho treated him like a lackey or some stupid incompetent kid. It bothered Wooyoung to a degree. He wanted to tell Beomseok to just suck it up, deal with it like a normal person and move on– but Beomseok was no normal person. There was something deeply wrong with him. Wooyoung found himself feeling more intrigued day by day.
Whenever Beomseok wasn’t around, the others made fun of him just as much as they made fun of Suho whenever Beomseok was there to hear it. They immediately came to the conclusion that Beomseok was gay, had a massive hard on for Suho, and couldn’t handle that Suho liked girls. Seems like a pretty extreme reason for wanting to harm someone in Wooyoung’s eyes. Maybe gay guys were just like that?
Whenever Beomseok was around, even if he was pouting about his crush, Wooyoung found himself staring at him, taking in his features. He had to admit at this point that Beomseok was growing on him despite the constant bitching. He was pretty, but there wasn’t much more to it than that.
After school, Yeongbin would arrange for the group to hang out at the MMA gym where Wooyoung practiced and fought when he was able. Beomseok would sit on the edge of the ring, staring into space, thinking about how much he loathed Ahn Suho, and Wooyoung would watch him. Staring at the back of his head from inside the ring, Wooyoung thought about pulling the frail boy up and teaching him how to fight, just to give him enough confidence so that he could go out into the world and not rely on this group of idiots surrounding him for protection.
Wooyoung also found himself wanting Beomseok to be thinking of him, instead of that loser Suho. If Beomseok was going to put so much effort and time into someone, why couldn’t it be someone who was actually in his life now, and actually wanted what was best for him? Well, ‘best’ was debatable.
Whenever Wooyoung was alone at night, his mind would wander to Beomseok– specifically the first time they glanced at each other in the club, shaking hands and holding them there for many seconds longer than what was normal. While Beomseok annoyed Wooyoung for the first few weeks that they knew each other, this feeling slowly mellowed out into what was now closer to acceptance and a wanting for attention.
This night in particular, Wooyoung was fighting against the urge to call Beomseok, just to speak to him and hear his voice for a little while. It was nearly 2 a.m. but he knew the frail boy barely slept anyways. Against his better judgement, he picked up the phone and clicked on the call button from his contact page. It rang just twice before it picked up.
“H-hello?” A shaky voice answered. Wooyoung felt a strange jolt in his chest.
“Oh Beomseok? It’s Kang Wooyoung,” he let the boy know who was calling in case his number wasn’t saved. There was a noise of acknowledgement on the other end of the line.
“Oh… hi,” Beomseok cleared his throat. “What’s up? It’s late.”
“Yeah, I just, uh…” Wooyoung scrambled to think of a reason why he called Beomseok. “I just… wanted to ask you about Suho?”
“Suho?” Beomseok’s breath caught in his chest. Wooyoung could hear his labored breathing. It pissed him off. Just saying Suho’s name garnered this reaction? “Wh-what about him?”
“Tell me more about what he did,” Wooyoung indulged. “Before I fight this kid– and win, mind you– I need to know all of the details. Why are you asking me to do this?”
“I-I already said, he treated me like his lackey-”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard all of that. Just start from the beginning. How did it get to this point with you two?” Wooyoung felt like he was comforting some annoying chick through a breakup. He hated it, but wanted to keep listening to Beomseok’s voice.
After a long pause, Beomseok started from the beginning for Wooyoung. He recanted the entire story of his ill-fated relationship, getting upset at the things Suho did or said to him while talking and having to take breaks to calm himself down. Wooyoung thought it was cute.
They talked until sunrise, with Wooyoung mainly comforting Beomseok through this and Beomseok cursing Suho the whole time. After he told Wooyoung about the karaoke club incident, Wooyoung actually felt himself feeling angry for Beomseok. Angry and possessive of all things.
“Why would he think that was a good idea?” Wooyoung scoffed as Beomseok recalled Suho pulling him out of the room with his bullies in it like a spoiled child. It made Wooyoung’s blood boil for Beomseok in that moment.
“It was humiliating,” Beomseok’s voice shook on the phone. “He wanted them to apologize to me– their apologies were fake and he could see it! He didn’t care. He just wanted to make himself look cool. I swear it…”
“What an arrogant prick,” Wooyoung indulged Beomseok’s feelings a bit more. It seemed like the two of them were actually bonding and getting closer, which excited Wooyoung more than he would ever admit. “I think you’re right in all of this. He deserves what’s coming to him.”
After they ended their phone call, Wooyoung realized he didn’t sleep at all that night and a wave of fatigue washed over him. He decided it would be best to skip classes that day and stay home. He should prioritize his rest if he was going to be fighting Suho soon.
—
After playing therapist for Beomseok, Wooyoung found that it was easier to talk to him and he wanted to do so more often. They didn’t go to the same school but lived close to each other, and whenever Yeongbin would gather all of his minions to hate on Ahn Suho and everybody else under the sun, Beomseok would be there. They hadn’t ever spent time together one-on-one, the closest thing to that being their singular phone call from the other night, but even in a group setting Wooyoung couldn’t help but stand next to Beomseok or try to single him out in conversations. It seemed to fluster the frail boy, but that only made Wooyoung want to do it more.
Wooyoung’s days seemed to be blending together lately, the only thing bringing him any excitement or joy being Beomseok. This annoying kid from just a few weeks ago had somehow grown on Wooyoung like a fungus you can’t get rid of, plaguing his thoughts constantly. He wanted to kick Suho’s ass for him. Why would Suho take a person like Beomseok for granted like he did? Someone weaker than him, quieter than him, sweeter than him. Wooyoung would try to shake these thoughts from his head to no avail. He never thought of himself as gay, but the way Beomseok made him feel was causing him to question his whole identity.
He did notice over the course of the next few days that Beomseok seemed kind of distant from the group. He wasn’t constantly shitting on Ahn Suho like he normally would, and didn’t seem as confident in himself while around Yeongbin and his gang anymore. Wooyoung felt kind of worried by this. He didn’t want Beomseok to go running back to his weirdo friends that he supposedly hated, he wanted him to stay right where he was, where Wooyoung was.
After school, Wooyoung decided he wanted to talk to Beomseok alone. He walked over to Byuksan, the smoke from his cigarette bothering passersby, and he parked himself just outside of the doors he knew Beomseok exited the building from. Sure enough, a tall lanky boy with dark hair and a girly cardigan walked right past him, not realizing he had someone waiting for him.
“Yah, Beomseok!” Wooyoung called out as Beomseok kept walking further away. The boy turned around quickly, startled by the yelling. Once he saw it was just Wooyoung, he seemed to calm down.
“Wooyoung?” Beomseok approached him slowly. “What are you doing here?”
“I just wanted to talk. Come on,” Wooyoung patted Beomseok on the shoulder with a bit too much force and started walking down the ramp to the street. Beomseok followed awkwardly.
They walked in silence for a while as they left the school behind them. Wooyoung didn’t want Yeongbin’s group to find them like this, so he decided they should go somewhere they never usually go– his apartment.
As Beomseok followed Wooyoung without question like a little duckling would follow its mama, they approached a shoddy looking building about three stories high.
“What’s this?” Beomseok asked.
“My apartment building. I wanted us to talk without those idiots around,” Wooyoung chuckled. Beomseok gave him a timid nod in response. They made their way to his apartment, and he unlocked the door to let them in.
“My parents are rarely home, so I kind of have the place to myself. It’s nice, but a bit… lonely?” Wooyoung sighed.
“Kind of reminds me of someone I used to know…” Beomseok trailed off. Jealousy bubbled from within Wooyoung's chest. Stop thinking about other people, think about me, dammit.
“So,” the athletic boy plopped himself down on his couch, “I just wanted to better grasp how you’re feeling in this situation.”
“What do you mean?” Beomseok looked like a deer in headlights. He wasn’t sure why Wooyoung of all people was dragging him to his home and trying to get him to talk about his feelings. It seemed odd.
“I just mean, it seems like you’ve been talking about Suho less lately.” Wooyoung scanned Beomseok's face for any changes in expression. “I was wondering if you still feel the same about him. That you still think he’s a bastard who humiliated you.”
“I do,” Beomseok nodded quickly, sitting down beside him. He sensed a twinge of jealousy from Wooyoung in that moment but brushed it off as him overcomplicating things. “I’ve been thinking of when we should ambush him. Maybe his birthday? It’s this weekend.”
“That’s actually… a great idea,” Wooyoung snickered at the thought of giving Suho what he deserved on his birthday. “You seem to have all of this figured out.”
“Ah, not really,” Beomseok scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.
“You know, I’m more excited about getting this guy now,” Wooyoung nodded at the boy sitting next to him. “I haven’t even thought about the money. I just want to do this for you.” Beomseok’s face flushed red.
“F-for me?” he stuttered, pointing at himself. Wooyoung laughed at his naivety.
“Yeah, well, to get you justice, or something like that…” he trailed off, smirking at the wide eyed look on Beomseok’s face. Wooyoung couldn’t explain the feelings he had toward Beomseok, only that there was a desire brewing deep within him to devote himself to him entirely, beginning with getting Ahn Suho out of the picture at his request.
They sat in silence for a short while before Beomseok cleared his throat and checked the time on his phone. They’d been at Wooyoungs’ for about an hour now, and it didn’t seem like there was anything else planned in this ‘hangout’ – if you could call it that– so he stood up and announced that he needed to get home before his father became upset. Wooyoung saw him off and went back to sitting on his couch, alone. The room still smelled like Beomseok at least. Proof Wooyoung wasn’t alone for once.
He was itching for the weekend to come quickly.
—
Ahn Suho’s birthday was upon them.
Beomseok had somehow dragged that girl Yeongi to a building under construction within the city, and texted Suho that she was here with some ‘birthday surprise’ for him. Or, something like that. Wooyoung hadn’t really listened to all of those details, he was more focused on beating down Suho.
Only, Suho isn’t the one that showed up that day. Some stupid short kid named Yeon Sieun did instead. The little bastard was tough, too. He put quite the beatdown on a few of Yeongbin's crew before he tried Wooyoung. In this case, Wooyoung obviously won the fight. His strength put Sieun to the ground pretty quickly.
As Wooyoung happily put Sieun in his place, Beomseok watched from the sidelines in horror. He didn’t want Sieun to get caught up in all of this. Sieun had tried to help patch things up between him and Suho to no avail, and he had never made Beomseok feel unwanted or like some loser lackey. Suddenly he was having doubts about the entire plan. He stormed off, away from the chaos.
He stood alone on a separate floor, listening to the laughter and sounds of metal hitting skin echoing throughout the building. Wooyoung had been looking for him for a few minutes and finally spotted him. He approached the frail boy from behind.
“Oh Beomseok!” he announced himself to the boy. Beomseok turned around, glossy eyed. The way he looked was making Wooyoung think awful things.
“What?” Beomseok snapped. Wooyoung raised his hands in surrender.
“Why’d you leave?” he asked, grabbing a cigarette from the pack in his pocket. “That wasn’t Suho, but isn’t this still what you wanted?”
“N-no,” Beomseok shook his head. “Sieun shouldn’t be part of this..”
“Well he showed up and started making a fool of these idiots,” Wooyoung chuckled dryly. “Did you think I’d let him make a fool out of me? In front of you?” Beomseok’s gaze met Wooyoung's. There was a pain in his expression that Wooyoung had never seen from him before.
“I think I’m going to have to call it off,” he muttered. Wooyoung thought he heard him incorrectly at first. He lit his cigarette and took a drag.
“What?” Wooyoung took a step closer to Beomseok. “Call it off? The fight with Suho?”
“This is just… becoming too involved. It’s going to get too messy, I realize that now.”
“Beomseok-ah,” Wooyoung took another step toward Beomseok. The thin boy swallowed thickly. “I don’t know what you're insinuating, but I want to do this now. I’m all in.”
“I-I won’t pay you,” Beomseok seemed firm in his decision. Wooyoung looked away from the boy in front of him, gathering his thoughts.
“I don’t really care,” he turned his head back toward Beomseok, smiling. “Beomseok, this is just something I want to do for you now. Not even a want, a need. Suho treated you badly, it’s all you talk about-”
“I know, I know, just-” Beomseok cut himself off abruptly, huffing dramatically at Wooyoung. “Wooyoung. I don’t know what this is, but I’m telling you how I feel now. I’m not going forward with this.”
A beat.
“I am,” Wooyoung took another drag from his cigarette and carefully exhaled the smoke away from Beomseok’s face. “That won’t change at all. Ever. Do you understand what I’m saying, princess?” He reached out and gave Beomseok a rough pat on the shoulder, causing him to shudder in response. Beomseok wasn’t sure why Wooyoung was acting like this, and he also wasn’t sure whether or not he liked this side of him.
Wooyoung took another drag from his cigarette and looked Beomseok up and down before walking away in silence, still thinking about the boy's teary eyes. He silently hoped that those teary eyes would make an appearance when he gave Ahn Suho what he deserved.
—
Days passed without seeing or hearing from Beomseok. It didn't necessarily worry Wooyoung that he wasn't around, but he found himself missing his presence. Wooyoung missed someone, what a joke.
Of course Yeongbin didn't actually give a shit, neither did those idiots Taehoon and Jeongchan. They acted like Beomseok didn't even exist. They also acted like they didn't get their asses kicked by Sieun recently, which was funny to Wooyoung. They pretend that they’re tough but none of them could actually back it up, the definition of dishing it out when you can't take it.
Wooyoung had been watching Suho while Beomseok wasn't around. He hated Suho with such a fiery passion because of what he did to Beomseok that he had to hold himself back from attacking him in public when he saw him leaving school. It was an odd feeling to be experiencing.
Wooyoung had tried calling Beomseok a few times, he had even texted him and apologized for what he said– even though the apology was a load of shit. He was just trying to get Beomseok out of hiding. As another day passed with no sign of him, an idea popped into Wooyoung's head: maybe he could get Beomseok to come out if he had Suho somewhere alone. It was worth a shot, anyhow.
He didn't really plan anything, but he decided to try and drag Suho to his MMA gym without anyone else knowing. The only issue is he would have to talk to Suho, which he loathed doing. For the sake of Beomseok, though, he would do it and face being uncomfortable for a short while.
Wooyoung was standing outside of Byuksan, waiting for Suho to appear. Once he saw his head bobbing above the crowd of kids, he realized he was probably going to be with that Sieun kid, only to be surprised when Suho exited the crowd alone. Perfect.
“Ahn Suho?” Wooyoung called out to his enemy. Suho looked around before spotting Wooyoung, seeming confused.
“What the hell do you want?” Suho walked over to the boy with exaggerated swagger. It made Wooyoung feel sick.
“Nice to see you too,” Wooyoung forced a smile and looked down at his feet, kicking a pebble away. “Do you think you could come someplace with me?”
“Go somewhere with you? Is this a date? No thanks, I need to go and see Sieun-”
“Ah, fucking Sieun,” Wooyoung pinched the bridge of his nose. “I want to talk to you about that. And Beomseok. But I wanted to do that someplace quiet, yeah?” Suho raised a brow.
“What would you know about Sieun?” he crossed his arms. Wooyoung was becoming impatient.
“Fuck, I’ll tell you just… come with me, okay?” He started to walk away, hoping Suho was following behind– thankfully, he was. Wooyoung started feeling a bit excited. All of this weird shit he had been dealing with was finally going to pay off when he killed Ahn Suho for Beomseok. He knew it would fix things between them, it had to.
They approached the gym and Wooyoung could hear Suho scoff from behind him. He turned around and tilted his head at him.
“What’s that reaction for?”
“If you had just told me you wanted to fight, I would have come without any argument,” Suho snickered. “Don’t you remember me kicking your ass in the past?”
“Boy, do I remember,” Wooyoung clenched his jaw. He held the door open for Suho, and they both went inside together. Suho wasn’t paying attention as he walked in front of Wooyoung, allowing the boy to be able to take a photo of Suho and send it to Beomseok.
Kang Wooyoung
(photo)
look who i have here with me… ;)
Suho approached the ring and turned back toward Wooyoung. “So, what did you want to say about Sieun?”
“That I did most of that to him,” Wooyoung smirked, wide eyed. “That Beomseok wanted you to show up that day, but Sieun had to protect you.” Suho’s expression turned dark quickly, his eyes casting a murderous gaze upon Wooyoung.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Beomseok didn’t even want me to go through with this part,” a laugh escaped Wooyoung's lips as he spoke, unable to contain his excitement. “He said he didn’t want me to do this to you anymore. It would get ‘messy.’ It was messy the moment he offered to pay me to beat you up.”
Beomseok had decided to turn his phone on at the right time that day. A swarm of missed calls and texts washed over his screen, mostly from Wooyoung, a couple from Sieun. The latest text caught his attention immediately. He clicked it and saw a photo of Suho, with the sender being Wooyoung. Oh god, is he with Suho? He hurriedly put on a jacket and sped out of his house, calling Wooyoung on the way. Where the fuck are they?
Suho landed the first punch on Wooyoung, causing him to stumble backward. They weren't even in the ring, but it really didn't matter as long as they got this over with. The latter bounced back quickly, shuffling on his feet and throwing a quick middle finger at Suho. Then he lunged at him aggressively, jabbing him in the stomach. Suho keeled over, leading Wooyoung to swiftly uppercut him. Suho wobbled backward, trying to catch his balance. His nose was bleeding now as a result of Wooyoung's attack. He wiped a smear of blood across his face and sniffled.
“You’ve improved a bit,” Suho admitted, wincing in pain already. Wooyoung was beaming from ear to ear.
“I guess I’ll take the compliment. It’ll probably be one of the last things I hear you say to me anyway.”
The two fought hard, nearly at the same level in regards to stamina and strength. Beomseok desperately called Wooyoung over and over again, scouring the streets for Yeongbin to see if he could figure out where the two were. After calling over 10 times, the phone picked up.
“Wooyoung? What the fuck is going on, where are you?” Beomseok panted into the phone, out of breath from jogging through the streets. His heart was pounding and he was shaking from the adrenaline coursing through his veins.
“Beomseok-ah,” Wooyoung’s voice was a little hoarse, but he sounded happy. “You have to come to my gym, okay? I have a present for you.” Beomseok’s stomach dropped.
“What did you do?” his voice quivered. Bystanders were beginning to stare. “What did you do!?”
“You’ll have to come and find out, princess.” The call abruptly hung up. Beomseok looked at his phone and let out an anguished cry before he sped away, heading to where Wooyoung was.
Suho lay on the ground, holding his ribs in pain, wincing from the hard floor he was on. His lip was split, and he was bruised all over. He stared at Wooyoung with the same hatred in his eyes.
“What was the point?” Suho hissed. Wooyoung looked over at him, a cigarette between his lips.
“Of me fighting you?” he asked as he kneeled down beside the incapacitated boy. “Beomseok wanted it done. I did it because he wanted me to.” Suho winced as he took a deep breath in.
“Beomseok.. he really disgusts me.”
Wooyoung, upon hearing this, took his cigarette from his lips and looked at it for a moment before pressing the end of it to Suho’s neck. Suho yelped in pain, but couldn’t really move away. Wooyoung grinned at his discomfort.
“Not the time for you to start acting up,” he stifled a laugh and pulled the cigarette back to his lips.
The door to the gym opened and a set of footsteps hurried over to them. “Wooyoung? Is that Suho?”
“You finally came,” Wooyoung stood back up and turned around, meeting Beomseok’s gaze. The frail boy was breathing heavily, looking at Suho on the ground behind him.
“Wooyoung, I-I fucking told you I didn’t want this!” Beomseok screeched, fully panicking at the thought of what’s going to happen to him if he is caught up in all of this. He barely evaded the cops after what happened to Sieun and stayed in the house for days, praying that no one came knocking at his door and alerting his father about what he had been planning.
“It’s okay,” Wooyoung’s voice was oddly soft, which caught Beomseok off guard. “I promise I can take care of this. I just wanted to do this for you. You wanted it so badly, Beomseok-ah.”
He wasn’t wrong in the slightest. Beomseok had thought about this scenario for weeks on end, some sick fantasy where he overpowers the person who took him for granted and bossed him around whenever he could. He thought about Suho being beaten up, just like Beomseok had been beaten up by those bullies he had embarrassed him in front of.
“You hate him, Beomseok-ah. He didn’t treat you like he should've. He wasn’t willing to truly protect or support you.” Wooyoung honestly didn't know Suho’s intentions with Beomseok as a person, be it just friends or something more than friends, but he didn't care either way. He knew that Suho hurt Beomseok, and for some reason that drove him crazy. How dare anyone hurt Beomseok?
“I-I just… is he really worth the trouble? Even if I do hate him-”
“If this is something you’ve wanted, there's no trouble for me at all,” Wooyoung cooed. “I just felt so strongly about pulling this off for you, and you suddenly changing your mind felt like a mistake to me.” Beomseok was trying to avoid Wooyoung’s stare
“I don’t understand, though. Why go through all of this trouble for me of all people? Do you like me or something?”
“Was it not obvious enough?” Wooyoung asked sincerely. “Well, I guess I could have just told you outright. You got me there.”
Beomseok’s face grew hot. He instantly thought about all of the moments he’s shared with Wooyoung lately, and moments when he suspected Wooyoung felt this way about him but chalked it up to him overreacting.
“Y-you really like me?” the thin boy stuttered, his ears growing hot. Wooyoung loved the innocent look on his face.
“Beomseok-ah, of course I like you. I’ve liked you for weeks.” He walked over to Suho and put his foot on his ribs, causing the injured boy to groan in pain. “This is how I wanted to show my devotion to you.”
All of those negative thoughts came rushing back into Beomseok’s head as Wooyoung spoke to him. The athletic boy was right– Beomseok did hate Suho, and wanted him to feel pain. He wanted him hurt. He wanted him dead. Suho deserved it for treating Beomseok the way he did. A grin tugged at the edge of his lips.
“You can make your wish come true if you want,” Wooyoung pressed harder down on Suho’s ribcage. A wheeze escaped his throat and he struggled to breathe in from the pain in his chest. Beomseok walked over to Suho and looked down on him, his eyes watery. Suho stared back up at him with a grimace.
“Oh Beomseok..” he forced out breathlessly, “..you are a coward.” Beomseok frowned and looked at Wooyoung.
“I would love for you to take care of him for me, Wooyoung-i.” Wooyoung’s eyes lit up as his princess spoke the magic words. All of this was worth it for this moment when he could finally show Beomseok how much he meant to him, even if he didn’t want it at first. Corrupting Oh Beomseok had been the most fun he’d experienced in a while.
Beomseok took a step away from Suho, whose body was slowly crumbling and failing him, as Wooyoung began his assault. Blood collected on his knuckles, a bead of sweat dripped down his forehead. Suho had gone limp minutes ago, but Wooyoung kept going. Beomseok watched intensely, studying the athletes every move, taking it all in. He smiled.