Short Stories- Kai ships only!

Tyunning- Succeed for Me

"Mom it's not my fault!"

"Taehyun Kang! Your father and I did NOT raise you to be second place in your class! How could you get a 99 and not an 100!?"

Before Taehyun could even answer, he found himself hit with a belt. Every time he tried to answer, he got whipped again. His mom finally sent him to his room to study. He used the time to cry into his textbooks.

Honestly, the 17 year old didn't understand why it even mattered. He was mature enough to know his parents were trying to live through him since they never accomplished anything remarkable in their life. Their marriage seemed stable. They weren't struggling for money. Why did it matter? Still, as their only child, he wanted to make them happy.

Kai Huening lived the opposite way. He had two sisters and parents who loved him dearly. His intelligence was praised, not beaten into him. He didn't have to try that hard to get good grades. It just happened like breathing.

That's exactly why Taehyun hated him. He had the life he wanted. Everything seemed to come so easily to the 16 year old whereas he actually had to try.

On a number of occasions, Kai actually did try to reach out to him. He wanted them to be friends but the attitude he received back was unpleasant. Hate is a strong word but Kai eventually grew to heavily dislike the Kang. It made every higher test score that much sweeter.

In every subject, the two seemed to be evenly matched with each other. All of them but one. Music class. Taehyun tried to argue to his mom that Kai had perfect pitch and that his dad was a musician but that was "just a bunch of excuses." Those were pretty good ones in his opinion.

Their final was coming up. He was worried about his music one. His parents told him they wouldn't go to their son's graduation ceremony if he got second. "Why would we want to see our son be second in life? That'll teach you it's okay to be a failure!" Taehyun wanted his parents there, simply because they were his parents.

He was desperate. A perfect score would put him in first, even if Kai got one too. He swallowed his pride and walked up to his rival at lunch. "Hi. Can we talk for a second?"

Kai and his friends looked at him funny. Beomgyu whispered "maybe he's tired of eating alone." Kai told them to go. He was going to see them later at physics class anyways. With a pinch of an attitude, he asked "what do you want?"

Taehyun sat down. As pathetic as the situation was, he actually was thankful to have someone to eat with. "I need help..."

"On your music final I'm assuming?"

"Yes..."

Kai bit his apple. This was mildly funny to him. "So when I tried seeing if we could be friends before, I distinctly remember you telling me to get lost. That's exactly what I'll say to you now. Get lost."

Taehyun knew this was hopeless but he was desperate. "I'm sorry."

Kai dropped the attitude. Now he was genuinely curious why the Kang waited until now to ask him for help. "Do you seriously need to be number one that badly? Colleges love top tens. Number two isn't going to hurt your future."

"Will you help me or not?!" Taehyun realized he fucked up with his outburst. He took a swig of water then calmed down. "My parents won't come to see me graduate if I'm not number one..."

Now Kai felt bad for him. "That can't be true." Taehyun stood up and showed him the welts on his back. Kai cringed at the sight. "I'll help you. I'm not failing my own final to make you look better though."

"I'm not asking you to."

Before the Kang left, Kai warned "if that was me, I wouldn't give a shit what my parents thought. You shouldn't either."