The Underground - 3RACHA

4

Jisung heard a voice calling him when he was about to enter The Underground. There was only one person who would be shouting him like that and even though he hated being alone in public, he'd rather that than have to be with Hyunjin at the moment. He hadn't seen him since last Friday when he'd shouted at him.  He'd hoped the person calling him could have been the orange-haired boy who he'd cried on the shoulder of that night, but no. The universe gave him Hyunjin.

Jisung sighed but turned around to greet Hyunjin nevertheless. "yeah?"

"Are you still mad about last Friday? Come on, that was a week ago!" Hyunjin said, noticing the irritation in Jisung's voice once he'd reached him. They were outside the doors of The Underground and a few people moved around them to enter the building. Jisung wished he could have disappeared inside with them.

"Yeah, ok, anything else?" Jisung asked, crossing his arms over his chest and expecting an apology even if he knew deep down that Hyunjin would never apologise for anything.

"Anything else? What, you don't forgive me? Come on, you hate going anywhere on your own, I'm always your date!"

Jisung laughed without humour. "You're my date? Are we in an abusive relationship now?"

"Ok, fine, I get it. You're angry because I shouted but you didn't support me either so you're in the wrong too! I had an idea though!" Hyunjin said, changing the topic and making Jisung scowl. "So, I have confidence and you have the skill, right? My idea is that you teach me how to rap and I'll teach you how to stop giving a fuck!"

Jisung sighed but dropped his crossed arms. He didn't think Hyunjin was going to teach him how to stop being a nervous wreck, he could barely step outside without panicking, but Hyunjin was his only friend and if he lost him then he'd probably stop going to The Underground all together. In the back of his mind, he knew it was selfish to keep Hyunjin around so he could go to The Underground once a week, but Hyunjin didn't seem to care so Jisung decided, "fine, we have a deal."

-

"It's been a while since I saw you here," someone said from behind Chan and the latter whirled around to see who was addressing him. He was backstage at The Underground, a place he hadn't been for the past year, but he felt like he'd never left because this was where he felt at home.

"Minho," Chan grinned, seeing a familiar black-haired boy that Chan had been friends with since high-school and his early days at The Underground. Lee Know was his rap name, but Minho was his real name which was what Chan called him. Chan knew that Minho stopped rapping when they were eighteen, finding it wasn't his thing, but he still enjoyed visiting The Underground and had an interest in producing music now.

"Where've you been? I thought you'd fucking died!" Minho scoffed, walking up to Chan and wrapping his arms around him in a friendly hug. Despite only being gone from The Underground for a year, Chan hadn't seen Minho in at least three after falling out of contact. Minho didn't look much different from how Chan remembered him. He had that usual grin on his face, more like a smirk; his hair was still the darkest shade of black possible and he had a few cuts and scratches on his cheek and lip. Chan didn't remember ever seeing him without some sort of wound on him.

Chan sighed, "I've been so busy, working and family shit. The only reason I'm here tonight is because someone challenged me to a rap battle."

"So you still can't say no to a challenge?" He smirked, taking a few steps backwards from Chan and sitting on one of the metal chairs nearby. They were uncomfortable and on the verge of breaking but most things at The Underground were and Minho didn't seem bothered by it. "Did you hear the news...about Jackson?"

Chan's heart momentarily stopped beating. Those words were never good news. Jackson, Minho and Chan had been best friends since they were in high-school and even if he hadn't seen them recently, if something had happened to Jackson his heart would break. "No, what happened?" He asked, already fearing the worst of him being dead or seriously injured. It wouldn't have been a surprise if he was, the area they lived in was one of the roughest in England.