Chapter Text
Huening Kai breathed loudly as he ran down the stairs, glancing around nervously as he made a sharp left turn and paced down the hallway in a hurry, once he took one more right turn the males eyes widened when he saw a familiar friend struggling to open... a barrel...?
"Yeonjun hyung!" Huening Kai called out, brushing aside the confusion that had hit him right away when he saw the elder. "I'm here!"
Yeonjun looked up from the barrel, an obvious expression of distraught and anger clouded his entire face as he continued to try and get rid of the nails that nailed the barrel shut.
"There you are!" Yeonjun immediately started nagging the male who awkwardly paused. "I texted you so many times to hurry up to the east hallway and bring a hammer — but you took so fucking long to answer me! Do you see what the fuck I'm— blah blah blah blah blah."
In just a few seconds, Yeonjun's angry nagging was a total muffled sound to Huening Kai's ears, instead, he looked down at the barrel in pure confusion.
Just minutes before he had arrived, he was baking peacefully in his culinary class until a classmate had came up to him and had told him that his phone had been buzzing for nearly five minutes straight, so taking a break from his little bakery adventure, the male checked at his phone and saw that he had nearly 152 messages from Yeonjun and 3 messages from Taehyun.
The minute he saw all of those messages flood in like an angry tsunami, the male nearly dropped his phone in shock! Nearly dropping it into the bowl that he was using which was mixing up a nice cookie dough paste!
But after reading the first three messages, barely gazing through the rest, he knew right away that Yeonjun needed him... and a hammer for some odd reason! So after awkwardly making an excuse to leave class mid bake session and somehow falling into an even more awkward conversation with the woodshop teacher on why he needed a hammer, he had finally made his way towards Yeonjun who was still blowing up his phone! But, when he had checked Taehyun's messages...
"Where's Taehyun?" Huening Kai asked as he handed over the hammer to Yeonjun, making sure to take a step back so he doesn't get hurt.
"You know that's a great goddamn question!" Yeonjun said, growling under his breath as he got the first nail off of the top before moving onto the next one. "I was peacefully in class too, you know? Until I get a call from Taehyun begging me to come to the east hallway because he's—"
"I'm stuck in the fucking barrel you two idiotic dipshits!"
...huh?
Both Huening Kai and Yeonjun fell silent as a muffled voice from within the barrel was heard, which made the male slowly look over at it before his eyes widened and his jaw dropped as he fell onto his knees.
"T-Taehyun?!" Huening Kai stuttered out in a growing panic, glancing at Yeonjun who successfully got another nail out from the top. "You're in here?! How did you get in here! Can you breathe?!"
"Of course I can't fucking breathe!" Taehyun paused, most likely trying to free himself from the barrel by pushing it up. "Just get me out of here! My neck is numb and I'm certain I'll fucking die in here!"
After hearing the panicked and angered tone Taehyun held in his voice, both Huening Kai and Yeonjun wasted no time in hurrying with getting the nails out of the top of the barrel, and after just ten amazing minutes (and somehow not getting in trouble??) they had successfully managed to pop off all the nails and practically watched as the top flew off like some sort of rocket ship — watching as their friend finally popped up from the inside like some surprise toy... that was very very angry.
But just before Taehyun could safely step out and ensure his freedom, he suddenly tipped forward with a loud yelp as the barrel fell to the side, throwing him out onto the floor.
"What the hell!? You guys couldn't have helped me out!?" Taehyun hissed loudly, and maybe he would've been more angrier if he wasn't so exhausted. Instantly, his body gave up as he laid on the ground with his limbs stretched out, all tingly and numb after being stuck in the same position for nearly thirty minutes. "Ugh, whatever! Fucking finally, man! Do you guys know how long I had been stuck in there? Couldn't you both have gone faster at saving me!"
"Hey, be nice! We saved you regardless, sacrificed our precious class time for you!" He knew damn well that Yeonjun didn't give two shits about class. "How the fuck did you even get stuck in there? That's like some looney tunes shit, dude."
Taehyun scoffed in disbelief, fully dragging himself out of the barrel as he sat down pathetically next to it, staring at it with full hatred before Yeonjun had kicked the damn thing away, watching it roll down the hallway like some tumbleweed.
"Oh you know, because I definitely felt like being inside of a barrel, you know? It's just so pleasant!—"
"Wait..." Huening Kai interrupted, his eyes widening when he had realized something. Stating the obvious, Taehyun would've never gone through with something so dumb! This had to be someone else... someone who would purposely make Taehyun go through absolute misery and hell.. holy shit he might be sherlock holmes! "Don't tell me... that he managed to do this, was it—"
"Choi. Fucking. Beomgyu." Taehyun hissed angrily, finishing off the others sentence has his teeth practically grinded against one another. Just having that wicked wretched witch of the west roll off his tongue felt so disgusting to him!
Of course, of course! There was only one person who would pull such a brutal stunt, on Kang Taehyun specifically too! That one person being none other than the infamous Choi Beomgyu, a student (and devil) who was, with no doubt, adored by everyone around them! He had it all though... a precious heart, godlike appearance, unbelievably amazing smarts...
He was perfect, so so sweet to every one! However, when it came down to Taehyun... his personality was far from kind.
Choi Beomgyu, in Taehyun's eyes, was a science experiment gone wrong! There's no way someone could be so... so... aggravating! There was nothing "kind" or "gentle" about the elder, only pure evil. It was like a hideous monster from the fairytales had came to life, taken the form of an even more hideous monster and named himself Beomgyu, then tormented Taehyun like it was his only source of power or something!
"Seriously," Yeonjun groaned, bringing back Taehyun from his little daydream of how to murder the elder. "What the fuck did you do to him this time?"
"Excuse me?!" Taehyun gasped loudly, full on offended by what the hell his friend had said. "What did I do? I didn't do anything! That bitch was the one who started it all!"
Most of the time he would be projecting, but this time it was true! Taehyun was having nothing but a splendid day until the moment he arrived at his locker! Out of no where, he suddenly felt a hand grab him by the hair as he was thrown to the ground by none other than Choi Beomgyu, who was beyond thrilled, smiling like a sick little cheshire cat who found its prey, thrilled that it was now his turn to torment the other for the week.
And just before Taehyun could fight back, he was suddenly pinned down by two of Beomgyu's shitty minions as the elder rolled out a barrel from out of no where, immediately stuffing him inside of it before hammering it shut with some nails, leaving the male in the middle of the hallway stuck inside of a barrel! He would've died there if it weren't for the fact he had his phone, thank heavens!
"I really can't stand him," Taehyun said, gritting his teeth as veins began to pop out from his neck, finally getting up as he began walking down the hallway as both Yeonjun and Huening Kai followed behind quickly. "Seriously! I don't get it, I really don't get it, why would anyone like him? He's a monster!"
"Only towards you..." Huening Kai muttered softly, earning a glare from the other. "Hey! Don't look at me like that, you know that ever since you and Beomgyu met in middle school, you both have been enemies since then!"
Taehyun couldn't help but laugh mockingly, looking away as a sickening gut feeling began to form in his stomach as the memories of his first meetings, first memories with Beomgyu began to replay in his mind. Whatever, they're just pathetic memories, meeting the elder was the turning point in his life. A turning point where every thing in his life became miserably awful all because of that shitty, stuck up, two faced asshole!
He really wishes he never met Choi Beomgyu.
He hated him so much, so so much that he would rather be stuck in that barrel than ever see him again!
"I get that the two of you hate each other," Yeonjun spoke up, running his fingers through his hair as he was obviously frustrated, which sparked a pang of guilt within Taehyun's chest, but he quickly brushed that feeling off. "But is it really necessary to fight like this everyday? At one point, the both of you are going to get in trouble again!"
"Mhm," Huening Kai butted in, when he really didn't have to. "You both have to remember that you two are core members of the council! You have to set a good example!"
Oh right, yeah okay, because yeah that was totally necessary to bring up.
Taehyun clenched his jaw tighter, feeling it pop because of the action. Just hearing the word "council" be mentioned along with the reminder that he was in fact indeed a core part of that shitty group made him feel even more sick, igniting all the suppressed anger inside of him to the point he might just combust on the spot.
It had been nearly five years since Beomgyu and Taehyun met, which meant five years of continuous constant competition, fights, complaints, tantrums, and nagging from both sides! It was honestly a huge surprise and miracle neither of the two had gotten expelled from the school or kicked from the student council, despite the ridiculousness.
And it's also a miracle that their friends stayed by their sides, tolerating and.. with not much luck.. trying to make the two of them better towards each other.
The three of them continued to walk down the hallway, mindlessly wandering as Taehyun tried his best to let off some steam as he ranted on and on about the same old exact things. It was all about Beomgyu.
Huening Kai and Yeonjun should've been more annoyed hearing all the sputtering bullshit for the hundredth time again, but it was just normal to them at this point. No matter what they said or tried to do, neither would change their stupid habits... and especially after seeing the dumbass stunt the council's leader had pulled, it was clear nothing they would say to try and mend anything would work!
But seriously, how the hell did Beomgyu get a barrel that size? How the hell did nobody notice? Let alone, how did the teachers not say anything?! It pissed him off so badly!
Being stuck inside of the barrel was one thing, but smelling like dusty old wood, like that stupid barrel, was another!
"Fuck..."
Suddenly hearing Yeonjun mutter worriedly under his breath, Taehyun glanced over his shoulder with a questioning expression, noticing how the elders eyes had become distant and even practically... nervous the moment they turned the corner. Slowly turning his head towards where the other was staring off, he suddenly felt his world stop.
"Speak of the devil..." Yeonjun breathed out exhaustedly when he saw the same exact guy who just made Taehyun's absolute day down the hallway happily talking to some classmates about something stupid. Quickly reaching out and grabbing onto the younger's sleeve to stop him, knowing what was bound to happen. "Okay. You need to calm down, hear me out—"
Right before Yeonjun could even warn the male not to do anything rash, it was like he had suddenly turned into the flash and bolted towards Beomgyu without a second thought, leaving his two friends behind in the dust as Taehyun angrily approached Beomgyu who had no idea that he was about to murder the fuck out of him.
"Choi Beomgyu!" Taehyun yelled out, causing the other to turn around with widened eyes. "You goddamn bitch!"
Right before Beomgyu could question anything, just barely opening his mouth like a dumb fish, Taehyun had raised his fist and swung down right away with all his strength on the elder — igniting a loud collection of gasps around them as he satisfyingly watched the others head literally snap to the side as he stumbled back, losing his balance as he fell onto the ground pathetically.
"What the- what the fuck was that for, Kang?!" Beomgyu shouted out in pure anger, snapping his head back up towards the prideful looking idiot in front of him, bringing his hand up to hold his cheek that was blossoming with pain.
"You have got to be kidding me," Taehyun laughed bitterly, staring at the other in disbelief as he ignored the anxiety that began to creep in as a crowd started to form around them. "Don't act innocent, did your head get shoved so far up your ass today that when you had to pull it out, your entire brain was left up there? Seriously! A fucking barrel out of everything? You're so ridiculous!"
Beomgyu furrowed his brows in confusion, the audacity, as he actually gave his words a thought before it finally clicked in his head — his angry expression soon melting into an amused smirk as he began to slowly stand up, regaining his cool.
"Seriously? You're mad about that useless stuff?"
"I was stuck in that barrel for twenty goddamn minutes!"
"Must've slipped my mind, you know, you're the embodiment of irrelevancy," Beomgyu shrugged, keeping his tone calm despite the venom practically seeping through his words. "But you do know I was doing you a favor by hiding you away from the world, right?"
Beomgyu suddenly paused, the evil glint flaring in his eyes made Taehyun feel sick to his stomach as the elder slowly leaned forward, his lips just ghosting the shell of his ear.
"I should've filled the barrel with water, right?" He whispered cruelty into his ear, causing Taehyun's breath to hitch as he began to tremble. "Let you soak in it, clean off all the impurities that you have. You reek real bad, did you know that Kang? No wonder nobody ever wants to be by your side, I should've just let you drown—"
All other words began to muffle out as Taehyun's eyes widened, a bright red flush bloomed across his entire face as he quickly stepped back, his breathing uneasy as he began to glance at the crowd that surrounded them — if there was one thing Taehyun always took care of, it was his hygiene. He knew that the elder was just bluffing, but he just had to bring up one of his darkest fears to the surface again!
So when Beomgyu had said all of that, it really snapped a thread inside of him.
In the blink of an eye, Taehyun grabbed onto Beomgyu's shoulders and threw him to the side, slamming the male against the locker, earning a satisfying groan full of pain when he did.
"I don't—" Taehyun paused, taking a moment to breathe to get the shakiness out of his tone as he breathed through his nose. "I don't know what the fuck crawled up your ass this week to make you even more insufferable than you already are, but you need to get your narcissistic fuck ass to think straight!"
Beomgyu stared down at him, that same irritating smirk that painted his face slowly began to bloom into a irritating smile — causing Taehyun to tighten his grip even more around the elder, pressing him harder into the lockers.
"I was just doing you a favor, Kangie," Beomgyu hummed, purring his name in such a mocking tone that made Taehyun's murderous intent spark even more. "Recently, you've been looking so disbelieved and disgusting lately... so I thought that if I managed to cram you inside of that barrel, some sort of magical fairy would've enchanted you to come out looking... more decent!"
"What kind of logic... god you suck, Choi! Don't call me that either!" Taehyun spat out angrily, ignoring how others around them were practically begging them to calm down. "You grabbed me by the hair, forced me inside of that barrel, nailed the top down... I could've died because of you!"
"I wish you did."
What Beomgyu said had really hit a nerve inside of Taehyun, the male staring at him with disbelief before his vision went fully red, immediately raising his fist he didn't waste one second smashing it down onto the bridge of Beomgyu's nose, hearing a satisfying crack when he did.
Just before he could repeat his action once again, he suddenly felt a hand wrap around his wrist and another hand around his arm, both immediately pulling him off of the annoying ass male, causing Taehyun to cry out loudly.
"Let me fucking go! He deserves more than that!"
"You two are surrounded by students who are recording you!" Yeonjun hissed underneath his breath, finally allowing Taehyun to grasp reality. "You both are the top students in the council and you're acting like children!"
Taehyun began to quiet down as he looked around and saw people whispering to one another and laughing at either him or Beomgyu, some even were recording what had happened.
So, with an angry sigh, the male stood up straight and glanced down at Beomgyu who was holding onto his nose that was dripping with blood, the elder glaring at him as if he were fantasizing about murdering Taehyun on the spot.
Taehyun felt satisfied seeing how injured Beomgyu was, just seeing that crimson red color roll down his arm and to the tip of his elbow, dropping onto his pants which would probably leave little stains, but he didn't care. He was just satisfied to teach that fucker to shut his goddamn mouth.
"Beomgyu!"
Taehyun glanced over to the side and saw Beomgyu's friend, Soobin, rush towards him with a worried look. Which made him feel only like him... 0.1% bad since Soobin was an absolute sweetheart, too bad his best friend is the devil himself.
"Holy shit, your nose..." Soobin gasped in disbelief. "Dude we need to get you to a hospital—"
"I'm okay!" Beomgyu reassured, looking at his best friend with a forced smile, though Taehyun could see right through the elders facade so easily, he was holding back everything to not explode and ruin his perfect image. "Kang just lost his temper again today, taking it out on me... always so overdramatic!"
He cannot be fucking serious.
Just before Taehyun could yell at Beomgyu once more, he paused when the elder stood up and looked over at him with a smile full of anger and irritation.
"This behavior of yours..." Beomgyu muttered, fully standing up with the help of Soobin as he placed his full attention onto the younger. "I guess now we know why the students, why the teachers, all chose me... leaving you in second place," He began to approach him — dangerously close as he ignored Soobin's pleadings to stop. "Just admit it, Kang-ah."
Beomgyu began to slowly lean forward again, taking advantage of Taehyun's frozen stature — trying his best to appear intimidating despite his stupid ass bruise and silly bloody face. Soon enough, his mouth hovered near the younger's ear, satisfied when he saw the shiver of fear.
"You'll always be worthless as fuck, Kang. Remember who's second place in this damn school."
Taehyun's breath hitched when he had heard those words, glancing over at Beomgyu who pulled away with a satisfied smirk. The male turned around and walked towards Soobin who held out a cloth for him and an apologetic look towards Taehyun.
But that didn't matter, what mattered was the swirling anger and embarrassment rising inside of his stomach, all of his instincts were screaming at him to pounce on Beomgyu and strangle him until his face turned pale and all the wind inside of him was gone.
That idea didn't really work out in his favor since Yeonjun had dragged him away from Beomgyu nearly immediately after he said that, as if he knew what the male was planning when he stood there with literal murder lingering in his eyes.
"You have to calm down!" Huening Kai said, frowning as Taehyun wiggled in their grasps, trying to break free so he could go punch the shit out of Beomgyu again. "You're acting like you're five! I mean mentally but you're not physically five! Stop it!"
"Seriously! It's just a barrel!"
"It's just a barrel my ass, try being shoved inside one for twenty minutes and nearly breaking your neck!" Taehyun mimicked Yeonjun and snatched his arms out of their grasps, stumbling a few inches away before regaining his posture.
Taehyun felt so humiliated, something that he always felt when he heard Beomgyu open his mouth. It was so frustrating, he just wishes that the elder could pack his things and just die! Leave him alone for once!
But he knew damn well that he shouldn't say anything when he was the exact same, taunting Beomgyu until he reaches his breaking point, seeing him crumble underneath his grasp was the best thing ever, it was so satisfying to see that fucker become weak and pathetic.
"Count that as the millionth time you both fought in the hallway and didn't get caught." Yeonjun muttered, then sighed softly. He held onto his head tightly, trying his best to mend the migraine that was forming.
If it was irritating for Taehyun, then it was even more irritating for his friends.
Yeonjun and Huening Kai were great friends with Soobin, the three of them occasionally hanging out outside of school and such. Along with Taehyun sometimes, but due to the fact that both Taehyun and Beomgyu can't even last a second in a room together without fighting one another, it was quite hard for all of them to hang out properly, sometimes they wished to find a way to get rid of this stupid tension between the two.
But it seems like all hopes and dreams were out the window since Beomgyu and Taehyun were no where near liking one another anytime soon.
"Just how could everything happen, what made everything come down to this...?" Yeonjun muttered under his breath, obviously talking to himself — but just the mention of the beginning made Taehyun tense up. "I don't remember, you barely talked about middle school ever since we met in our first year."
Taehyun stayed quiet, maybe even too quiet. He was afraid of whatever words that decide to come out of his mouth to respond, would be ones that he would deeply regret.
"It's nothing." He muttered, ignoring how pathetic he sounded.
"Oh! I remember! It wasn't always like this!" Huening Kai butted in, unaware of Taehyun's inner turmoil as he began to mindlessly recall the sickening past. "I can't believe you and Beomgyu were actually once on good terms! Once upon a time, they actually worked together on some sort of project! No... wait, was it your dance—"
"Can we please not talk about that?" Taehyun spoke louder, his voice trembling as he stared at Huening Kai with a pleading expression.
Immediately getting the memo, Huening Kai pursed his lips in a tight line as he nodded his head, allowing Taehyun to just sigh softly.
"It doesn't matter what happened, it's in the past now," Taehyun spoke up, facing away from the two as he walked down the hallway, memories of that day taunting his mind like a disease. "I'm never going to forgive him, he's nothing but a selfish narcissistic asshole."
Before Yeonjun and Huening Kai could speak up, Taehyun cut them off as he walked away from the two.
He really did hate Choi Beomgyu, but now that he was reminded of the past that haunts him, he couldn't help but wish on every single star that the male would somehow disappear or something! The world would be such a brighter place if he did.
"Taehyun!" A new voice suddenly called out for him, which forced the male to immediately push down his bubbling anger. "There you are, I was looking everywhere for you!"
Quickly masking his anxiety, he turned around and forced a thin tight smile, seeing one of the council members who he was quite fond of. "Eunha! How are you?"
"I'm doing great!" Eunha beamed brightly once she was properly in front of him. "How are you? I heard about what happened between you and Beomgyu today... Is everything okay?"
Is everything okay?
"...yeah, everything is fine."
Though some he expected a more worried reaction or even an angrier one, he wasn't that shocked to see Eunha so calm about the situation. It was... unfortunately... a well known fact around the entire school that the two top students of the council really didn't favor each others guts, always including their rivalry into council meetings.
Always disagreeing on one another's ideas, fighting on what was right or wrong for the school, even forcing some members to pick between them... yeah, it was exhausting.
So it wasn't probably wasn't a surprise that news of a fight between the two happened... again.
"That's great!" Eunha beamed brightly, relieved that things were great. She soon pulled up her tablet and showcased a list of supplies for Taehyun to review. "So, I worked with Yiren on all of this, but we have an idea on what materials we would like to order for the moon festival coming up soon!"
Taehyun gently took the tablet from her and examined the list, a satisfied smile growing on his lips as some of the materials were correct. "You didn't check in with Beomgyu for this?"
"Not yet."
"Don't bother," Taehyun handed back the tablet, the last thing he needed on his list was that fucker ruining shit last minute. "This is good, just check in with Yiren on things one more time, come back to me if there's any changes."
"Alright!" Eunha smiled, turning off the tablet. "I'll see you later!"
The male waved goodbye as Eunha walked away, the minute she was far away and no where near him, he immediately dropped his smile as he turns around and saw his two best friends approaching him with an apologetic expression.
"We're sorry, we didn't mean to make you upset," Yeonjun was the first to speak up, most likely apologizing for making Taehyun remember that day. "It's just... we're also exhausted by the constant fights, but that gives no right for us to make you remember such a low point in your life."
Taehyun stared at the two for a few seconds before pulling them into a tight hug. "It's okay, I'm sorry for being pissy all day, you know how overwhelmed with anger I get when Beomgyu pulls dumbass stunts like this."
"It's fine, so... should we go out afterschool to ease our minds?" Huening Kai asked him, squeezing the living shit out of the male.
But that didn't matter, Taehyun was just happy he had two friends who he can trust.
"Yeah, sure, how about the new arcade that opened up downtown?" Yeonjun suggested, earning an approving nod from the two of them.
After getting situated and apologizing some more, the three of them walked down the hallway towards where the cafeteria was since it was luckily lunch time now, however... Taehyun couldn't shake that anger off of him.
It seriously annoyed him, bad. All the words that Beomgyu had said just repeated in his head like a sickening mantra. God... just how could the elders sweet parents raise such a devil like him?
Ugh, there's always a saying that Hyuka tells him, that eventually enemies will grow to tolerate one another and eventually reconciliate, but Taehyun highly doubts that was ever the case.
There's absolutely no way in hell would he ever reconcile or even consider Beomgyu a friend again! He absolutely despises the thought of that happening!
After all, amongst the hundreds of people in the school, probably every where in the entire world if he wants to be just a little bit more dramatic, he'll forever hold the place of being Choi Beomgyu's number one hater.
And that won't change one bit ever. Maybe even forever after!