The Underground - 3RACHA

13

"One Moretti please."

Jisung's head snapped up at the familiar voice, his hand dropping the cloth he'd been cleaning the counter with. A grin spread across his face as he grabbed one of the glasses from the fridge and started pouring the pint in front of Chan who had requested it. "Finished?" Jisung asked. The bar was dead at this time and he was the only person left working.

"Yeah, thank god," Chan said, leaning forwards with his elbows on the counter, "when does your shift end?"

Jisung looked over at the wall clock and placed the Moretti on the counter, "half an hour. I'm locking up in a minute."

"Do you want to go on an adventure?" Chan smirked, placing a five-pound note on the counter.

Jisung chuckled, taking the money over to the till but looking over his shoulder at Chan still. "What do you mean?"

"I mean a midnight drive," he explained, sipping his pint but still managing to smirk at Jisung who rolled his eyes and turned away from him. After cashing the money, he walked back to Chan and placed one elbow on the counter, leaning down so they were eye level.

"Only if you don't take me to the middle of nowhere and sacrifice me to Satan."

Chan raised an eyebrow, "You have one dark mind, Jisung."

The said boy smiled and went back to wiping the counters, a stupid grin on his face the whole time. He didn't realise Chan was looking at him as he did so, or rather admiring him. He was oblivious. Chan couldn't keep his eyes off Jisung though. He couldn't explain what it was, but something about him was so captivating, he felt like he could look at him all day.

"Hey, has your stage fright gotten any better?" Chan asked out of the blue.

"I haven't tried to improve it," Jisung admitted, "I don't think there's much hope. I'd just start crying like an idiot again."

"I'm could try and help you overcome your stage fright," Chan offered.

Jisung scoffed, "how are you going to do that?"

"With my superpowers, duh," Chan rolled his eyes but grinned afterwards, "I'm just kidding, but I'm going to help you. I'm quite good at helping people."

"Oh, really?" Jisung asked, taking the now empty pint glass away from Chan and starting to clean it in the sink. There was no point starting up the dishwasher for one glass. The sooner he got the task over with, the sooner he could lock up and go on the so-called ' adventure' with Chan.

"Yup," Chan nodded. Jisung didn't look so sure but he couldn't pass up an opportunity to spend more time with his favourite rapper, especially if he was going to try and help him improve his own rap.

"Yeah, ok. You can try."

"Great," Chan exclaimed, getting up from his barstool and taking his coat off the back of it. "Now hurry up so we can go on this midnight drive."

"Yes, sir."

-

Jisung had fallen asleep in the passenger seat of Chan's car and the latter wasn't sure what to do with him. It was 3:16 am according to the flashing green light on the dashboard and the radio was playing faintly in the background, barely audible save a hint of acoustic guitar. Chan had pulled up to a red light and stole a glance at the sleeping boy who had curled up against the door, arms wrapped around his body while the crimson light shone on his face, making him look ethereal.

The light turned green and Chan started driving again, line of vision moving back to the road. He was driving around aimlessly, wasting the petrol in the tank that would be empty by the end of the night if he continued. He replayed the memories from the night in his head and couldn't stop smiling. He remembered singing too loudly to R&B songs while Jisung shook his head but secretly couldn't stop smiling either. He also remembered pulling into the McDonald's drive-through, ordering too much food and not caring as he and Jisung ate it in a parking space that looked over the quiet fields below them. He felt like a teenager again and remembered doing stupid things like this with his high school romances, including Yujin and Minho. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't missed the youthful feeling it gave him.