The Underground - 3RACHA

17

Jisung hadn't expected a phone call from Felix that Wednesday afternoon, but he was more than happy to receive it. He'd just gotten home from a tedious work shift and needed something to preoccupy his mind, so when Felix suggested he goes bowling with him and Changbin, he was ecstatic. He hadn't done anything that fun since he moved in with his uncle and aunt.

Changbin was the first person Jisung saw when he got off the bus. He was standing outside the bowling building that was fairly close to the bus stop with his back against the wall as he smoked a cigarette. "Hey," Jisung said once he was close enough for the elder to hear him.

Changbin smiled, "Hey, squirrel. Felix is inside if you want to join him."

Jisung thought about it, but inside was a big place and he didn't want to look around for Felix on his own, especially if there were a lot of people, so he shook his head. "I'll wait with you."

Changbin put his cigarette out on the top of the bin he was close by. After throwing it away he turned back to Jisung and said, "is your overprotective boyfriend not with you this time?"

"B-boyfriend?" Jisung mumbled, looking dumbfounded as he walked beside Changbin who had started to enter the building.

Changbin chuckled, "the guy who wanted to kill me in the bathroom."

"Oh, Hyunjin!" Jisung exclaimed. He didn't know why his mind had jumped to Chan at the mention of a boyfriend. Chan wasn't his boyfriend...but they had kissed. Jisung started smiling at the memory and had to bite his lip to stop himself.

"Oh, so he is your boyfriend then?" Changbin said, sounding significantly less enthusiastic after noticing the grin on Jisung's face.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Jisung shook his head, "he's barely a friend anymore. He's horrible to me but he won't leave me alone."

"Oh," Changbin realised. He stopped walking as they had reached Felix who was putting on his bowling shoes. Beside him were two more pairs and Changbin passed one to Jisung before taking his own. He let Jisung use the space left on the bench to put on his shoes.

"Oh hey, you're here!" Felix realised, looking up from the shoes he'd finished tying with a smile. "Shall we start?" He asked once both of his friends had put their bowling shoes on.

The bowling was a success for Changbin. He scored strikes nearly every round and Jisung was amazed because he only knocked two or three pins down every time. Needless to say, he was awful. On Jisung's fifth round, Changbin said, "let me help you."

With that, he grabbed Jisung's hand as he was still sitting on the bench and led him over to the rack of bowling balls. "How strong are you?" Changbin asked, picking up a ball with a medium weight and passing it to Jisung. While Changbin lifted it with ease, Jisung was clearly struggling to keep the ball in his hands. Changbin chuckled and took the ball back, "not very."

"No..."

Next Changbin picked up one of the lighter balls. It wasn't the lightest, but it was good enough as Jisung didn't struggle when holing it. Then he led Jisung over the aisle and told him to wait before throwing it. "You need to have precision," Changbin explained, standing behind Jisung and lining him up with the centre pin. After he was in a good position, Changbin circled Jisung with his arms and showed him how to hold the ball properly. It made Jisung feel flustered. "Now, swing your arms back and let go when you're ready," Changbin said, unwrapping his arms from behind Jisung and taking a few steps backwards.

Jisung swung his arm and let go of the ball. It raced down the aisle and crashed into the middle pin, causing all except one other pin to fall down around it. "Changbin, I did it!" Jisung exclaimed, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, turning around to Changbin who was grinning back at him, "I nearly got them all!"

"You still have another to go. Get this one and you've cleared them all," Changbin said, walking back over to the rack and collecting the same coloured bowling ball for Jisung.

"That looks a bit difficult," Jisung mumbled.

"I'll help," Changbin said, placing the ball in Jisung's hand and moving to stand behind him again. "Ok, it'll be hard because there's nothing around to knock into it, but if you stay here..." Changbin said, shuffling Jisung to the right a little, and turning him at an angle, "you should get it."

Changbin let go of Jisung and Jisung stayed incredibly still, not wanting to mess up the position Changbin had put him in. The only move he made was to swing his arm back and let go of the ball. It raced forwards like last time, but it fell into the gutter just before it reached the pin. Changbin chuckled, patting his shoulder, "maybe next time."

"Will you show me how to do it again?" Jisung asked.

Changbin ruffled Jisung's hair as he walked past to get his own bowling ball, agreeing to help which made Jisung smile. Neither of them noticed the conflicted look that had been on Felix's face for the past few minutes. It was mostly a contour of sadness and confusion, but there was anger there too. He didn't like what he saw, but he knew he couldn't show that so instead he smiled at Jisung when he sat down beside him. "You did great," he lied.

-

"Why haven't you been rapping lately?" Jisung inquired, sitting across from Changbin and eating one of the fries that they were sharing with Felix at the bowling alley's restaurant. Felix had gone back to the counter and was ordering a second milkshake for himself. Jisung was only halfway through his strawberry one and Changbin had barely touched his chocolate one.

"Oh, you noticed?" Changbin let out an awkward chuckle, finally taking a sip of his milkshake as if to cover his embarrassment. "Uh...things came up, I guess," he mumbled before adding, "one guy tried to kill me, my brother died and life's just pretty fucking shit." The chuckled he added on the end of his sentence didn't make it any less shocking for Jisung to hear.

"All that happened?"

Changbin looked down at his hands that lay on the table and smiled, but Jisung wasn't so convinced by it. "Yeah. I really want to get back to rapping but...I feel like I can't. I don't know, I'm probably being stupid."

Suddenly an idea popped into Jisung's head. He knew it was stupid the second he thought of it, but that didn't stop him from suggesting it. "I might know someone who can help you!"

Changbin raised an eyebrow, looking up at Jisung again. "What, you know someone who specialises in helping rappers get back on a stage?" He joked but Jisung replied with seriousness.

"They're helping me. I could ask them to help you too?"

Then Changbin chuckled, shaking his head as he took one of the chips out of the bowl. "I'm not sold but sure. What's the worst that could happen?"