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The smell of sweaty bodies pressed against each other, music booming from the speakers, colourful LED lights flashing through the smoke. As soon as the swinging doors to the club were pushed, drunk patrons can be seen swaying around, some who were just lightly buzzed danced and jumped around to the music, drunk enough to ignore the discomfort of other sweaty bodies pressed against them.
In the badly lit room, one particular man stood out from the crowd. It’s not because of his pretty face, admittedly he is prettier than most of the people in the room, nor it is because of his suspiciously designer looking outfit. Quite the contrary, his screams were the head-turner as they were loud enough that it stood out from the crowd. Here he was, standing the nearest to the raised platform which is quite a sorry excuse for a stage but who cares when you can’t even see your own feet, cheering for the individuals performing, head thrashing around as he bops to the beat of the music blasted out loud from the speakers.
On stage, three people were rapping energetically on stage. Behind them, a simple black banner was plastered on the wall painted on with their name, The Cyphers. The rapper currently rapping spits out his verse in a lazy drawl but every lyric that was uttered was clear with good diction. The crowd hyped the black-haired rapper up as they cheered at every shade he threw. The rapper with red hair takes over the stage as the beat switches, his verse presented in a way which shows his character. As he dances along to his verse, the crowd cheers along to his dance moves. Finally, the third rapper emerges to the front of the stage from the left corner, spilling wordplays and nuances, laced with English phrases here and there. All through his verse, the crowd went wild, including the pretty brunette screaming at the top of his lungs at every possible moment. Tying up the song, all three of them launched into a chorus, with the crowd screaming the lyrics along with them. Before launching into another song, they took a breather and addressed the crowd and introduced themselves as Suga, j-hope and RM respectively. They continued on performing two other songs. Again, the brunette cheered along until the end of their performance, screams still as loud as when The Cyphers started their gig.
"Thank you! This was The Cyphers! Suga peace out!" The black-haired rapper screams into the mic as he rakes his hand with his other hand, his undercut made more visible.
The crowd started dispersing as The Cyphers descended the makeshift stage, clearly present only to watch their gig. Some of those who stuck around crowded the bar getting another glass of whatever concoction they are drinking. Others clustered around on the dance floor in their groups, the man who was very vocal throughout the whole act included. He was buzzing with excitement, chatting animatedly with his group of friends.
"Jungkook! Isn't he cool?" The man who had been cheering enthusiastically for the performers turned to his friends.
“Seokjin hyung! You should have brought us here sooner!” Said friend complained while ignoring the question. He was upset he was not the first one among them to discover the talent he saw that night.
“Hyung, we know you only have eyes for RM.” Another friend of his replied teasingly.
“Jimin’s right. And the reason you kept them any from us is to prevent us from snatching him up.”
“Tae!” Before Jin could refute, Jimin continued on with the teasing.
“Don’t worry hyung. I only have eyes for that Suga dude.”
"Joon, your man came again today," Hoseok said as they entered the room reserved for them, heading straight to the mirror to fix his messy red hair.
"Yeah, this time he brought his friends too. The pink-haired one was super cute." Yoongi continued on. "I wonder if I can get his number the next time he comes. Unlike that someone over there-"
"Oh shut up, Yoongi hyung." the man being teased replied in a hoarse voice, voice spent from screaming lyrics into the mic.
"You know, you can just go up to him and ask for his number right if you want to?" Yoongi continues, ignoring the younger's words.
"Hyung has a point you know. It’s been 7 months and we are sick of hearing you wondering about him every day." Hoseok nods his head in agreement.
"I don’t do that!" Namjoon protested. "I’m just worried about his voice. He screams so hard every time. I hope he drinks some honey or lemon when he gets home." His expression and voice getting softer as he finishes his sentence.
"There he goes again. The great big RM, most feared rapper, caring for another man's voice." Yoongi teases as Hoseok chuckles along.
“Stop it hyung!” Namjoon pouts. His friends teased him like this almost every time the man was mentioned. “Even our voices get hoarse with just a few songs, his voice would be so much worse. He screams like every second!"
"Oh, our Joonie is so concerned!" Hoseok continues teasing the blonde rapper.
"You should tell him that next time. Who knows he may even let you make that honey lemon mixture for him" Yoongi barely finish his sentence as cackles at his own words, Hoseok tagging along, with poor Namjoon as the subject of their teasing.
"Jin hyung! Are you going to that club again next week?" Jungkook asks, anticipation for a positive answer clearly written on his face.
"Not this time. i got that retreat with the guys from my class. Remember?" Seokjin replied sadly. He could not risk missing the gathering. One of his projects this semester relies completely on the report of the activities carried out during the retreat. He could not put his last semester on the line no matter how much it pains him to miss The Cyphers’ (no actually just RM’s) performance.
"Isn’t this the first time that you missed?" Taehyung asked.
Seokjin nodded in agreement. He had been religiously attending every performance weekly after accidentally discovering them on a night out with some seniors from his course.
"You don’t mind if we go without you right?" Jimin questioned. "I wanna get with that hot Suga guy."
Taehyung lightly slapped his friend's thigh, eliciting a soft giggle from said friend.
"You guys go on. Say hi to them for me." Seokjin exclaimed, his spirit returning after Jimin’s confession. He really wondered if RM would notice his absence. "Hopefully RM looks for me."
"Jin hyung. Why are you waiting for him to ask you out?" Jungkook asks. "Why are you playing hard to get? You aren’t usually like this."
"That’s my intention dear child" Seokjin replied playfully and winked at the youngest member in their friend group. “RM looks like he as an opposite side to what he shows on the stage and I could not wait to see that side of him.”
Namjoon looked around the venue as he starts his verse. The familiar face that always cheered for him was not in the crowd today. He saw a group of people near the middle of the floor who vaguely resembles the friends he brought together with him last week but he can’t really remember how they look like. As much as he would not admit to Yoongi and Hoseok, he really does pay attention to the man a lot more than necessary, even to the point of ignoring the presence of others around him.
At the end of the final track, Yoongi was the first one to step down from the stage and disappear into the crowd of bodies. The buzz of adrenaline caused Namjoon to follow in his friend’s stead and trail after him.
"Hey pretty." Namjoon vaguely heard Yoongi trying to gain the attention of the man he expressed his interest in a week ago. The rest of his sentence starts to fade out when the adrenaline slowly fades away, causing Namjoon to slip into a trance. He stood unmoving, unaware of sweaty bodies brushing against him as he contemplated whether to return back into the room in the back of the club or to stay and ask one of the guys there who seem to know the guy he was missing. He felt a tug on his right wrist, pulling him out of his thoughts. He glanced at his hand and saw an unknown hand, decorated with intricate tattoos encircled around his wrist. The face he met when he looked up seems to belong to a friend of the man whose absence was evident.
"Hey! RM! You killed the stage man!" The man let go of his wrist as soon as Namjoon was paying attention to him.
“Thanks er…" Namjoon awkwardly rubs at his neck. Doing this gig for almost a year, he still gets embarrassed whenever people praise him.
"Jungkook!" The man points an inked finger on himself. "And this is Taehyung." Namjoon glanced to the man to the right of Jungkook who lifts his hand up in greeting.
"And Jimin’s the one talking over there with Suga." Jungkook glanced back at his friend and turns to face Namjoon, his face disgusted for a split second. "Well, eye-fucking is a better word.”
"I’m Hoseok! And this is Namjoon! Yoongi's eye-fucking right there." A cheerful voice Namjoon unmistakably recognise as his friend came from behind him. He didn’t realize that Hoseok was also trailing after him and Yoongi "You guys don’t need to call us by our stage names you know."
"You were amazing just now." Taehyung smiled at Hoseok.
As the three men talked excitedly, Namjoon slowly tuned them out as he contemplated on asking about the man that he clearly was not curious about (well that’s not true ain’t it).
"Right Joon? Namjoon?" Hoseok's loud voice brought him out of his thoughts. "What were you thinking about that you were so out of it?"
"He’s probably wondering where Jin hyung is." Before Namjoon could protest, Taehyung continued teasing him, smirking. "Don’t try to deny it. I saw you glancing at him multiple times from the stage. Just say you are interested."
Namjoon blushed furiously, his face flushed red as if he was drunk but he is still very sober. He did not know that his infatuation was that obvious.
"See even Taehyung noticed you were paying attention to him." Hoseok joins in on the teasing.
"Well, I was just concerned for him." Namjoon pouts as he defended himself against his so-called friend. Who needs friends when all they do is betray you.
Namjoon gives up on stopping Hoseok as he launched into his dramatic retelling of how much Namjoon worries for Jin’s throat condition. He flushed a deeper shade of red when Taehyung and Jungkook coos at him. They never expected that the cool rapper on the stage was actually such a fluffy man in real life. His tough demeanour on stage is the complete opposite of how he really is.
"Jin hyung is gonna have the time of his life once he learns of this. I can’t wait to update him after he comes back from his retreat." Jungkook claps his hands in glee.
"oh god if you are this flustered now, how would you handle hyung?" Taehyung commented as he saw how flushed Namjoon became from all their teasing.
One thing for sure, Namjoon is totally fucked the next time he meets Jin in the club.
Namjoon was nervous. More nervous than he was during his first performance. All because of a man who he only knew as the one who screams the loudest in every gig the cyphers performed. Jin. How was he ever going to start a conversation with the man?
Before he knew it, he was already on stage performing with Suga and j-hope. Now he is RM, breezing through every track in their setlist for the night. The familiar setting of the club and the familiarity of being on stage with his friends performing songs that he knew so well made him perform on auto-pilot. The familiarity of the deafening screams of the crowd, the distinct screams he now knew belonged to a certain man named Jin, and the booming music from the speakers made him forget about his nervousness.
Namjoon jumped off the stage as soon as their session ended, heart beating hard to the beat of the music playing over the radio, letting the adrenaline high take control of his body, he approached Jin who was staring at him from his place in front of the stage. Scenarios of how he would approach Jin flashed rapidly in his mind. Sentences that made perfect sense were now jumbled together floating around aimlessly in his mind.
“Is your throat okay?”
Before Namjoon agonise over how badly his sentence sounds, he heard a little giggle from Jin.
Seokjin was really pleased that RM was just as what his friends told him. He knew that he would have the time of his life teasing the blonde rapper.
“My throat baby?” Namjoon nearly chocked at the pet name Jin assigned him.
“It’s good.” Jin continued on. He wants to edge Namjoon on, he wants to see how much Namjoon can actually handle before he turns into a total blushing mess. “Worry I can’t suck on your dick while you fuck me and I scream your name?"
Poor Namjoon was so flustered, he tried to cover his beet-red face with his hands, making Seokjin’s wish come true.
In the end, it is sad to say that Seokjin could not convince Namjoon to fuck him that night but they did manage to exchange numbers. Namjoon did get the suck of his life, on the first day they met outside of the club. And yes, to anyone asking (Yes that’s you Yoongi) Namjoon did get the chance to make Seokjin that honey lemon concoction after poor Jin finally lost his voice screaming Namjoon’s name when Namjoon fucked him hard after a very successful first big performance outside the cramped up club.