The Underground - 3RACHA

27

"Squirrel, when can I hear you rap?" Changbin asked, playing with Jisung's hair as he rested his head in his lap, the rest of his body lying across the sofa. Chan was sat on the arm of the sofa next to Changbin, trying to fix one of Yena's dolls that she'd accidentally broken the arm off last time she was there.

"Uh, never," Jisung mumbled, turning his head away Changbin who he'd been looking up at and instead, staring at the TV that was playing the only VHS tape Chan owned, The Goonies.

"Why not?" Changbin asked, still playing with Jisung's hair until the latter pushed his hand away.

"Because I don't want to," Jisung mumbled.

Chan put the doll he'd been trying to fix back on the coffee table and crouched down in front of where Jisung was sitting, blocking his view of the TV but Jisung hadn't been paying much attention anyway. "You're an amazing rapper, you know?" Chan told him, "why are you so scared to rap in front of Changbin?"

"Because I've already rapped in front of my favourite rapper who I looked up to for years and that was scary enough. Rapping in front of the most popular rapper at The Underground is also scary and I don't want to do it again!"

Chan frowned, "who's your favourite rapper?"

"You, obviously," Jisung mumbled, picking at the sleeve of his jumper.

Chan raised his eyebrows, mouth opening as if to say something before shutting it again when Jisung looked down, embarrassed. A silence formed and when Jisung was unable to bear it any longer, he looked back up to search for a response and he found Chan smiling. "W-what?" He stuttered.

"That's so cute," Chan chuckled, taking one of Jisung's hands in his own and kissing the back of it. Jisung found himself starting to smile.

"By the way," Changbin butted in, "I don't think I'm the most popular rapper at the moment. I haven't performed there in weeks. It's probably Chan again now."

"Which is why we need to get both of you your motivation and confidence back!" Chan said, pulling Jisung up off the sofa, despite his complaints about being comfy and not wanting to. Chan took Changbin's hand in his other one and started to lead them both to his bedroom where his rapping equipment was and where he wrote most of his raps.

While Changbin and Chan sat on the edge of his bed, Jisung wasted no time to lie down on the opposite side of the bed, as far away from them as possible as he buried his face in the pillow. "I'm too tired," he mumbled, coming up with an excuse.

Changbin shuffled over to him and removed the pillow from over his face, "liar, you were talking about staying up all night before I mentioned rapping."

Jisung looked up at Changbin with a pout, "I changed my mind. I want to sleep."

Changbin sighed, "fine, will you rap for me in the morning?"

Jisung buried his face back in the pillow, "I'll consider it."

-

Jisung couldn't sleep that night. To start with, Chan was giving Changbin ideas on where he could get his inspiration from and how he could best utilise it. Jisung decided to listen, unable to sleep with them talking anyway. He thought he could learn a thing or two from CB67, but the inspiration wasn't Jisung's problem. Ideas came to Jisung when he wasn't searching for them and he always knew how to use them the right away, as if it was a gift, but with it came a curse because he couldn't show anyone the gift he possessed, not without panicking.

After that, Chan and Changbin couldn't decide who would share the bed with Jisung because Chan insisted Changbin was a guest and it would be impolite to take it, but Changbin said Chan took the sofa last time so it was his turn. Jisung was starting to think none of them wanted to sleep beside him until Changbin lost the argument (nobody could win again Chan) and crawled in beside him, wrapping his arms around Jisung's middle and kissing his forehead. He thought Jisung was asleep but he wasn't.