Crime, Betrayal, and Love (A Seventeen Street Racing AU)

XXXIX | Everything goes Downhill

Mingyu picks a spot close to where I watched his race. Just a few meters away from the finish line.

With only two minutes until the race, all the bikers are lined up and seated on the bikes, ready to go.

"Welcome to the second race of the night." Sana's voice comes through her microphone. "We've changed up the course to keep everything exciting, and more difficult to let the racers show off their skills to Jennie Kim!"

I hear Mingyu click his tongue beside me. "The8 better win," He whispers.

"Racers, please turn on your engines."

An array of loud engines turn on, and a few bikers obnoxiously further the noise by revving the machines, making the crowd more excited.

"Three! Two! One!"

All at once, each bike flies forward.

Mingyu cheers, "Go The8!"

Very quickly, Minghao is near the lead, only behind two others.

I don't recognize any of the bikers other than Jun and Minghao. I'm not even sure which one is Woozi. I feel strange and out of place without knowing who the racers relevant to Seventeen are.

"So, which one is Woozi?" I ask. It's only polite to know which racer is the one you live with.

"Hmm." Mingyu scans the racers, trying to find his teammate. "You see the one with the glittery red helmet." He leans ever so closer and points at where you can see Woozi. "That's him."

I suppress a chuckle. Woozi's helmet was the most colorful, which is a surprise to me, considering how he seems so serious and quiet. I'm not sure how I didn't see it before the race started.

"The guys in front of The8 are Seungmin and then Jay B." He says the second name with disgust, "He's from Got7."

Minghao is already passing Jay B, fully getting ahead when they pass into the first turn.

When he does, Mingyu cheers for his friend, enthusiastic about the race. "See, he's exciting to watch." He gently nudges my arm.

"Yeah." I less than half-heartedly agree, but it doesn't seem to faze him.

Not wanting to focus on Minghao, I look to find Jun. Two bikes are between them; one yellow and white, and the second blue and black with glowing pink wheels.

"Who's behind him? Between Min- The8 and Jun." I try to move away from talking about Minghao.

I get a weird look from Mingyu when I almost say Minghao's name instead of his made-up one, but again, he doesn't let it faze him. It makes me worried that he may know something's up. "Well, the yellow one is Hyungwon, another Monsta X member," He says with more revolt than Got7, "Then the second one is Beomgyu. Remember that guy who threatened to kill you? They're part of the same group."

"Oh. Wonderful."

"Yeah," Mingyu grits his teeth. "If that bastard shows his face near you, I'm gonna bea-"

"I don't think you have to worry about that," I laugh. "That was a while ago and just a silly threat."

"Mhm. The thing is, threats are threats, and it doesn't matter if it's 'silly' or not."

A small smile forces its way onto my lips, and a warm feeling takes over. It feels funny, and I'm unsure why, but it's not bad. I like it.

Focusing back on the race, I watch as Hyungwon slows down the slightest bit, and Beomgyu speeds up just enough to where he and Hyungwon are parallel, keeping a wide gap in the center and a small piece of road on the outside so that it would be hard to get past them without going in the middle.