The Underground - 3RACHA

12

Felix was pissed off. He hadn't stopped glaring at Changbin the whole walk home and once he, Changbin and Jisung had walked inside his house, he slammed the door shut. It was clear that Changbin was in pain on the walk home but he wouldn't admit to it. When he took off his coat, Felix saw red staining the front of his shirt and he huffed. "Take off your shirt," he said as he passed Changbin on his way to the kitchen.

Changbin followed behind him, laughing. "But Felix, we have company!"

Felix snapped his head in Changbin's direction as he searched through the cupboards, glaring to show he wasn't messing around. He found the first aid kit and walking over to the table that Changbin sat on the edge of. He crossed his arms over his chest and Changbin sighed, finally pulling his shirt over his head and throwing it behind him. "Happy?"

Jisung, who was standing near the entrance of the kitchen, gasped at the sight. "Holy shit, what happened?" He asked, staring at the re-opened wounds across Changbin's stomach. The blood was smudged across nearly the whole of his chest and it made Jisung's stomach twist. He had to look away.

"I got attacked with a knife," Changbin stated, followed by a shout of pain as Felix sprayed him with disinfectant spray without a warning. "Jesus, Felix! That hurts."

"You just got into a fight with someone who could have easily killed you and you're going to cry about a bit of disinfectant spray? Don't be such a baby."

"Ok, someone's pissed," Changbin mumbled, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Wrap yourself up," Felix said, chucking the bandages at Changbin and storming off in the direction of his room. He only stopped when he passed by Jisung and smiled at him, "you can stay here tonight if you want. It's dark and cold outside so you can have one of the bunk beds," he offered, turning to look at Changbin one last time, "he can sleep on the sofa."

"Thank you," Jisung smiled and Felix continued on his way to his room. When Jisung looked back at Changbin, he saw him struggling to wrap the bandages around his torso and couldn't help but chuckle. "Would you like some help?" He offered.

"Nope, I'm good," Changbin insisted. Jisung continued to watch him struggle with the bandages until he eventually threw them down on the floor and let out a frustrated sigh.

"Here," Jisung said, kneeling down to pick them up and stand in front of Changbin. "It's not that hard once you get the hang of it," he explained and moved his hands around the back of Changbin, circling him with his arms. Then he started to wrap the bandage around his torso, trying his best not to hurt Changbin. Once the bandages were securely wrapped, he tied it off and looked up at Changbin's face, smiling. "Done!"

"You're so much gentler than Felix," Changbin grinned, "thanks, squirrel."

"S-Squirrel?" Jisung asked, knitting his eyebrows together at the odd name.

"Yeah, you know, like the ones in the park," Changbin said, jumping off the table and putting his t-shirt back on despite the blood that stained it, "has nobody told you that you look like a squirrel before?"

"Well...no, I don't think so," Jisung shook his head, "Is that a bad thing?"

"Do you like squirrels?"

"Yes, of course."

Changbin chuckled, "then it's not a bad thing, is it, Squirrel?"

-

Before Jisung got to know Changbin, he didn't see a person within him. He was merely an aggressive rapper on stage because that's how everybody saw SpearB. From his lyrics, Jisung guessed there was a lot of violence in his life, which had proven to be true, but Jisung could see him as more than that now. It was the little things that started to humanise Changbin at first, like his smirk whenever he made a sarcastic comment or the fact he didn't seem to regret anything he said or did.

It was currently Sunday afternoon and Jisung had been with the two the whole weekend. For once he was starting to feel like he belonged somewhere, but he didn't want to get his hopes up, so he sat with a space between himself and Changbin on the sofa. Changbin was currently eating a chocolate Pop-Tart and watching a murder mystery on the TV with Jisung while Felix was cleaning his kitchen for his mother who had gone off to work. Changbin and Jisung had both offered to help him but Felix insisted it would be easier alone.

"Am I scary or something? Why are you sitting so far away?" Changbin asked, looking sideways at Jisung who had pushed himself up against the arm of the sofa.

"No, no!" Jisung shook his head, "I just...didn't want to get in your way."

Changbin let out a laugh, "you're strange."

"Thanks..." Jisung mumbled, unsure how else he was to respond. His legs were pulled up to his chest and he hugged them close. He tried to focus on the murder mystery but he didn't know what was happening and it wasn't that interesting anyway.

"You look bored," Changbin stated when he looked over at Jisung again. He picked up the remote and passed it to him, "pick something, Squirrel."

"I don't look like a squirrel," Jisung mumbled but accepted the remote. He started flicking through the channels until he found something that caught his attention, and grinned when he finally found it.

"Cartoons? You like cartoons?"

"Yes," Jisung admitted, no shame in his voice.

Changbin scoffed and rolled his eyes. Once he had finished his Pop-Tart, he asked, "so why do you go to The Underground? Are you a rapper?"

"Ah," Jisung gnawed on his bottom lip, "I tried to be...I choked though."

"Happens to the best of us," Changbin said, "except me...it's never happened to me."

Jisung laughed, "I know. I've seen nearly all of your cyphers."

"Ooh, a fan!" Changbin teased, "well can I hear you rap? Are you any good?"

"Does...receiving a compliment from CB67 make me any good?" Jisung asked.

Changbin considered it for a moment. After his contemplation, he said, "no. I'll have to hear it myself."

"Well, you're going to have to wait until I magically get my stage fright fixed then."

"That's not fair. This isn't a stage, you can't get stage fright if you're not on a stage!"

"Yes, I can."

"No, you can't."

"Still not rapping for you," Jisung stuck his tongue out and Changbin gasped.

"That was so rude! I thought you were a sweet boy," he shook his head in disappointment and crossed his arms over his chest.

Jisung giggled, "and I thought you were cool so I guess we were both wrong."

"Ouch, that hurt! You're probably a good rapper because you really know how to make me feel insecure!" Changbin said, tone thick with sarcasm. Jisung couldn't remember the last time he'd ever joked around with anyone like this, if he ever had, but he enjoyed it. He didn't know how much time he'd get to spend with Changbin in the future, but he hoped it was a lot.