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Descending from the stairs, Yoongi immediately became overwhelmed by the bass of the speakers and ongoing chatter of the people swarming the place. It was a bitch to find the location in the first place, now he had to deal with the noise. He stood on the last step, taking in his surroundings. It was his first time in the club, if it could even be called one, upon the request of his very-beloved-totally-not-a-pain-in-the-ass bestest friend. He was not with him, however, said it was an emergency or something.
The guy on the stage looked to be in his twenties. His flow wasn’t the best and he didn’t look like he knew how to hold his microphone very well. It was fine though, Hoseok did mention that they opened their stage to all rappers amateur to pro. Yoongi made his way over the crowd who didn’t seem to be paying attention to the stage. The real hype men were on the fronts flailing their arms and whooping. Yoongi guessed they were probably his friends.
The dude finished his line with a hard “Yeah!”, and left the stage. With more practice he could be better at the craft, Yoongi thought. The guy’s friends all started to hit his back in a congratulatory manner, all with big smiles, screaming and chanting his name; “Aaron”.
Yoongi made his way to the bar, on the opposite side of the wall where some people had their heads lowered to the tables, hands covering their faces. Some of them had hand rolled cigarettes passed around. Two or three people were holding money and giving little plastic bags. Easy to ignore on Yoongi’s part, he was just here to drink a little and see how great this place could be.
He made eye contact with the bartender, mouthed “tequila”, chuckled at himself, and waited for it to be ready. As the bartender made his way back, 3 glasses in each hand, he put the two dollars on the counter. Downing his shot, suddenly a new rhythm started.
“RM!”, the guy announced himself on the 5th beat. Strong pair of lips and lungs this guy got.
He starts, about hating the world, about hating other rappers, the economy, everything. His flow is nice, his breath control, stance, and what else? Yoongi lost his train of thought after the man, who can’t be much older than he is, said “Daddy, please hit me more!”. But time goes on, and so does RM’s words, who is now rapping about how porn addiction destroys people and their ethics. Yeah, Yoongi thinks, so true.
“This is New York bitch, one eye open in your bed. On the streets all of them snitch, pigs will snort when you’re dead. Dream on and stitch all of them in your head.” He goes on and on, and if it weren’t for the sudden gunshots, Yoongi doesn’t think he would be able to distinguish the screams and the general noise. He immediately ducks, the RM dude still going on about the police. Around 4 people nearly fall onto him while trying to hide their mini plastic bags in their pockets or friends’ jackets. He tries and succeeds at making his way away from cops, which is closer to the stage. The sound is louder there and he can faintly hear RM’s voice being doubled with the delay from his microphone. He makes eye contact with Yoongi, and winks. He makes a moaning sound that takes the cops’ attention momentarily, causing some people to escape to the overworld with a few cops on their tails.
“Land of the free, freedom is what I support. Not you dirty mutherfuckers who will drag my ass to court.” RM plops down, takes Yoongi’s hand, and makes a run for the backstage. A few people are already there, frantically filling their bags with their items. RM just takes a bag from the hangers and doesn’t stop tugging a shell-shocked Yoongi along through the maze of corridors.
Once they reach the stairs leading to the backdoor RM lets go of Yoongi’s wrist and holds the door open for him. There are a few people smoking outside of the door, not even sparing a glance to their way. A guy is taking a nap on a bank a few steps away with a single shoe off. A few steps away a dog is chewing on the other pair of it. They walk past.
“So, RM.”
“You can call me Namjoon.”
“Okay, Namjoon. Why the hell did you drag me into the streets? I could’ve very well made it outside on my own.”
“Well, handsome man-”
“Call me Yoongi.”
“Okay, Yoongi. I was just curious.”
“There were well over 100 people inside that place, and you chose to drag me outside because you were ‘just curious’. Tell me that doesn’t sound creepy.”
“Well, you looked very out of place and stressed. Clearly it was your first time. I was curious why someone like you would visit a place like that.”
“I’m sure there were a lot of people who also went there for the first time.”
“You were closest to the stage though, no?”
Yoongi couldn’t argue with that. He kept on walking alongside Namjoon though, sobering up a little from the chilly September night.
“A friend told me-”
“My friend said-” they started at the same time.
“You go first.” Namjoon said.
“Okay, well, my friend said that I should visit this place that has awesome stages and that very good people were going on stage tonight so I wanted to see myself. I was just gonna say that. Your turn.”
“A friend told me I should perform tonight, it’s been a long time since I got on stage. He dances and I rap alongside him at Cunningham Park sometimes. He’s-”
“Wait, your friend is Hoseok?”
“What the fuck? Yes? What the fuck?”
“I’m going to fucking kill him.”
“I’m not really catching u-”
“Do you wanna go for a coffee? Maybe you can repeat your 2nd verse to me while I drink something expensive and make you pay the bill.”
Namjoon laughs. A dimpled laugh. Yoongi was on the verge of fleeing the scene but now he can’t stop staring at the man. He’s doomed. He should kill Hoseok. He should maybe treat him to a meal.
“Yes, Yoongi, I would like to pay for your overpriced coffee.”