"Jeongguk. Jeongguk!" Taehyung called out as he ran after Jeongguk. He searched the other tennis courts, the food hall and even the karaoke room too. He walked over to the staff locker rooms and sighed when he heard shuffling about in the room. Everyone else had gone home, so it was obviously only Jeongguk there. He tried the door handle, but it was locked. He knocked twice.

"Jeongguk?"

"He's not here." Jeongguk replied.

"Jeongguk if you respond to me, then that doesn't really convince me that you're not there." Taehyung said. "Can I come in?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No. Go away." He said firmly.

"Jeo-"

"Don't you have to practice your serves or something? Or are there no other ball boys for you to fucking bully." Guk said bitterly.

"Jeongguk, I'm sorry okay? Please just let me in so I can apologise properly." Tae said.

"Fat chance."

Taehyung sighed as he walked away, back to the tennis court and picked up his bag, rummaging inside to find his master key card, and walked over towards the changing rooms again.

"Are you naked?" He asked when he was at the door again.

"N-No?"

"Good." Taehyung said as he swiped his key and unlocked the door, walking inside and facing Jeongguk who was sitting on a bench, scowling.

"This is abuse of power." Jeongguk huffed.

"I got you an icepack." Taehyung offered warmly, leaning forwards and pressing it against Jeongguk's face to the bruise.

"Great, now you can leave." Jeongguk said.

"I just wanna apologise properly." Tae said. "I really didn't mean to hit you, I promise."

Jeongguk sighed.

"Taehyung, can't you see that it's not just about that? You may not have intended to hit me, but you did want to hurt me.

"No I didn't!" Taehyung protested.

"Oh, so you usually make me stay behind for an hour after we're supposed to go?"

"That's different!"

"How."

"..."

"Exactly." Jeongguk said. "Everything you did today was out of spite and you know it."

"But-"

"And the way that you belittled me by making me pick up everything one by one? Fucking ridiculous." Jeongguk scoffed.

"But I've apologised." Taehyung said in despair.

"And I don't fucking accept it." Jeongguk barked. "I have a black eye, you know. And all you have is a bruised ego because you fucked up and you know it."

"I got you an icepack; what more can I do now?" Taehyung said angrily. "Do you still want that raise? Is that it?"

"How about reflecting on your actions for a change?" Jeongguk sneered. "You can't just hurt me and then demand to be forgiven immediately. That's not how the real world works. Maybe step down off your high horse and interact with regular people for reasons other than wanting a fucking juice box, and then you'll see."

"What are you implying?" Taehyung asked in offense.

"I'm not implying anything. I'm outright saying it: You and your money and status don't intimidate me. I don't care about any of that shit. I'm not gonna sit here and pretend I don't want to roundhouse kick your head just so I can get a raise. Be a better person and maybe I'll think about forgiving you."

"I don't care about your forgiveness; I just didn't want you to tell on me."

"Are you four years old? You think I'm gonna tattle on you to your dad?"

"Shut up. I don't care what you say to my dad - I can have you fired regardless."

"Oh, so you're threatening me now?" Jeongguk scoffed in disbelief. "You injured me because you're a petty jackass and now you're victimising yourself? Classic daddy's money move."

"Shut up."

"Taehyung, I can only see out of one eye right now. I think that earns me the right to say whatever the fuck I want to." Jeongguk retorted.

"Well not stupid shit like that. 'Daddy's money?' That's the furthest thing from me - you don't know anything about me, so you have no right to make groundless assumptions like that." Taehyung spat.

"And you don't know anything about me." Jeongguk argued, standing up from the bench to face Taehyung properly. "You don't even know my fucking surname, not to talk of anything personal. You don't even know why I was late today and you didn't even bother to fucking ask. In fact, NOBODY asked - instead I was yelled at all day after dealing heavy shit beforehand and then you come along and dump your bull crap on top of it all and treat me like a fucking slave just because you have some sort of superiority complex because you're in charge.

Boo fucking hoo, you fucked up your match; you still won though, didn't you? Me being late has nothing to do with your shit form and poor technique today. Yeah, I was late, but why is it also my fault that none of you had a replacement? You then bully me, mock me and bruise my eye, and then start throwing a tantrum because I refuse to take your shit. Then you took it out on me by keeping me here over time, which, I'm not even sure is legal. For what, just to practice some serves that we could easily go over tomorrow?"

"I didn't want to go over them tomorrow, I wanted to go over them today, which I could've done earlier had you showed up on time." Tae muttered bitterly.

"Are you serious right now?"

"I am. You didn't want to practice yesterday, and you even went home early then too - why should it matter that you're here overtime today? That practically cancels it out. Practicing it tomorrow doesn't make a difference, because the match isn't tomorrow; it was today. So what I was a bit mean to make you stay behind? Frankly I don't really care. I wanted to practice serving today and so I made sure that I did just that. Had you turned up on time today, we could've got it over and done with before the match and you'd be at home or whatever and we wouldn't be having this conversation. If the reason you were late was so astronomically important, then you should've fucking called like a normal person, instead of coming here and crying that nobody understands you. But you're so freaking shallow and air headed that I bet you're just being dramatic about all of this anyway." Taehyung yelled.

"Get the fuck out of my face." Jeongguk seethed.

"Shut up." Taehyung rolled his eyes. "Trying to intimidate me, are we? My my, that's not going to get you a raise any time soon."

"Shut the fuck UP!" Jeongguk yelled, showing Taehyung aggressively and watching him bang into the lockers behind him. "I don't want a stupid raise; I want some fucking respect as a human being!"

"And I want you to respect me as a tennis player!" Taehyung yelled back. "This may seem like some silly summer job to you, but this is my whole career; this is my life and you ought to take it more seriously. Boo boo little baby Jeongguk couldn't find his hair gel this morning and managed to piss off everyone in the club and ruin my day as a result."

"You're lucky, you know." Jeongguk said. "You get to come here to your dad's fancy club and boss about everyone under the sun whenever you feel like it. You don't take anyone's emotions into consideration and only get vexed when someone calls you out for being a douchebag. You get paid to do what you love, to live out your dream, and in return you treat everyone like shit even though we're the ones who make this all happen. I do take this seriously, that's why I showed up instead of bailing on everyone. Not everyone's as lucky as you are to be in such a position, Taehyung. You don't think about anyone other than yourself. Do you really think I was late because of something as trivial as hair gel? What a joke.

There are people out there who wake up at the ass crack of dawn just to make a living, while you roll out of your fancy bed and ride horseback to a club where everyone bends over backwards and constantly goes out of their way for you, all for you not to even say thank you. You really wanna know why I was late today?

Because I had to take my sister who had literally just been abandoned, to the hospital because she had a broken bone.

She did a 4-hour journey on the train while injured, just to come and see me because there was nobody at home. I didn't know where my phone was, so I couldn't call in, and obviously my sister takes first priority.

While you were being hand-fed royal scallops, we sat in the ER to go get her checked out. I had to leave her there, and fucking ran all the way here, just to get here faster for your stinking match. And then I come here, literally bleeding from my knees and elbows, and none of you rich pricks seem to care, more concerned about being a little bit late to start as if that doesn't happen every fucking day in Wimbledon and other places several times better than this place.

And now I have to go back to the hospital to check I'm not bloody concussed because you don't know how to handle your temper and seem to think it's acceptable to bully me when nobody's around. You think you know it all, but you don't. You don't know anything outside of your sheltered little life, and you haven't got the faintest clue about how the real-world works. Spoiler alert: It's not pretty. Go fuck yourself, sincerely." Jeongguk scoffed, picking up his bag and zipping it up.

"J-Jeongguk." Taehyung stuttered, mouth agape in a mixture of shock, confusion and a mixture of other complex emotions. Namely guilt. "I..."

"Fuck off, I'm not in the mood to hear another half-assed apology." Jeongguk rolled his eyes and he turned to leave.

"How's that for shallow, you presumptuous son of a bitch."

●●●

You guys on Guk's side or Tae's and why?

-bb