Chapter 12 – We On

Suga and J-Hope were sitting on the couch, chatting, when Rapmon let himself into the apartment on Saturday afternoon. He’d come dressed up for their performance, in loose light blue jeans that were tucked into construction booths, a giant white t-shirt that hung loosely on his shoulders, and a white snapback on his head. It was a simple outfit, but with his model-like frame, he pulled it off really well.

“Hey,” Suga waved at him from the couch, without getting up, as Rapmon walked over to them.

“Yo man, what happened to your face?!” exclaimed J-Hope, cracking up as he noticed the fat lip and bandaid positioned under his friend’s eye.

Rapmon gave him an exasperated look and answered by tossing two pieces of paper on the table in front of them, before walking off into the kitchen. The boys looked down and saw that it was two 100,000 won bills.

“What, you give up?!” exclaimed Suga, with the sudden realisation of what this meant, “It’s been like a week!”

“Yeah, I’m done” came Rapmon’s flat voice from the kitchen area, as he fussed inside the fridge. He reappeared a few seconds later, with a big bottle of cola and three glasses, which he put on the table as he added, “and I don’t wanna talk about it anymore.”

The other two boys exchanged a look and no one said anything as the blonde boy poured some drinks. They each grabbed a glass and sipped on their soda awkwardly for a couple of seconds.

“Everything ready for tonight?” Rapmonster finally asked, trying to ease the tension.

“Yup, should be good,” nodded Suga, “we’re on at 9:00.”

“Yeah, I gotta meet Jimin in a little while for a final dance practice, but we’re pretty much ready.” Said J-Hope, “Anyways, you saw yesterday.” he added with a cocky smile.

“I saw,” Rapmonster smiled back, just as confidently.

***

Jungkook and Jin stood together near the bar at the back of the club. There weren’t many people there yet and the boys didn’t really know what to do with themselves. The guy at the front had drawn a big red X on the younger boy’s hand, and he kept trying to hide it inside his sleeve so it wouldn’t show. He was wearing dark jeans with a red oversized hip-hop brand t-shirt, thrown over a long-sleeved black shirt, and had even attempted to style his hair in a more sophisticated way, but the bouncer had seen right through his 16 years-old-ness and branded him with the well-known “no alcohol” mark, which had left him feeling pretty sulky. Jin on the other hand seemed to have made very little effort with his look, since he had his hair the same way he did every other day, and was just wearing a plain black t-shirt, with some tight jeans and a plaid shirt wrapped around his waist. The fact that he’d probably spent less than 2 minutes considering his outfit, and still managed to look ridiculously more handsome than he did, also irritated the maknae to no end.

“I told you 7:30 was too early…” said the black-haired boy to his elder, as he glanced around the half-empty room.

There was a DJ spinning some music at the back of the room, and a few people dancing by themselves in front of the stage, but mostly people were huddled along the walls, or sitting in the booths on the right side, just chatting and drinking. Jin shrugged and took a sip of his sparkling water, bobbing his head awkwardly to the beat.

The place slowly filled up, and around 8 o’clock, the first act came on stage. A few people crawled up to the front to cheer them, but since they were neither very good, nor very popular, most people just remained where they were.

“Hum… this is the kind of music those hyungs you admire so much do?” asked Jin, with an uncomfortable expression, halfway through the first set.

“No way! They’re a million times better than this!” retorted Jungkook, taking offense.

“Oh good,” breathed the brown-haired boy, “these guys aren’t very good, are they?”

The kid just chuckled at Jin’s politeness.

“Jungkookiiiiiiiie!!!”

The youngest turned around at the sound of his name, just in time to see Jimin jump up and grab him into a friendly choke-hold, laughing.

“Jimin!! Aaarhg! Let go, you’re gonna mess up my hair!!” whined Jungkook, and Jimin let him go, though he was still laughing.

“Oh yeah, you look nice Kookie, thanks for making an effort for me!” said Jimin, flashing a wink and blowing him a kiss, which made his dongsaeng pretend to vomit in response.

“Speaking of which, how do I look?” asked his friend as he did a little spin.

Jimin indeed looked a lot more different than anything Jungkook had ever seen him in. He wore a black snapback on his head, with a little bit of his bangs popping out from under it, and he was showing off his body again in black skinny jeans and a sleeveless, black basketball jersey. Black and white high top sneakers completed the outfit. He looked like a real dancer.

“You look great Jiminie!” answered another voice.

J-Hope appeared from behind, putting an arm around Jimin’s shoulder and flashing everyone a big smile. He was dressed completely identically to Jimin, except in reverse, meaning white pants, black top and white cap. The style was definitely more flattering on Jimin’s body, but Hoseok still managed to cut a pretty cool picture.

“You guys match!” laughed Jungkook.

“Duh!” retorted Jimin, while Jin chuckled, “it’s for the show!”

“When will you guys go on?” asked the maknae eagerly, “are the others here too?”

“Yes, Kookie, your beloved Rapmonster is here somewhere too, you can cool your jets, though he likes girls, you know…”

“Ya! Jimin!” retorted the black-haired kid, and the b-boy chuckled as he evaded a punch from his younger friend.

They chatted for a few more minutes and Jin and Hoseok – who had never formally met – exchanged pleasantries, until Suga came over a little while later to fetch the two dancers “backstage”. Jungkook got really excited and pulled Jin along to the front of the crowd.

During the time that they had been chatting, the club had filled up nicely, and there was a pretty tightly packed crowd at the front of the room, eagerly awaiting the next performance.

At 9pm sharp, the music stopped and the MC took the stage, to cheers from the crowd.

“Alrigh whusssssup!!!! How many of you came here tonight to see BTS?”

A loud cheer erupted from the crowd.

“I’m told they planned something extra special for today…” he told the crowd with an exaggerated wink, “please give them a warm welcome!!!” and then he ran off the stage.

The club went dark and a beat started. Slow, like a siren at first, and then faster and faster; pounding. A spotlight appeared at the center of the stage and Jimin and J-Hope were standing there back to back, smirking. Suddenly, the music paused, and as it started up again, the two boys erupted into movement. They danced in amazing synchronicity, pulling b-boy moves and intricate foot-work, along with hip-s and body rolls that had the girls going crazy. There was no denying it – they were amazing. After about a minute, there was a loud “bang!” and the lights went out again, causing the crowd to go wild.

Before they had a chance to calm down or recover however, Suga’s voice started to be heard over the music that had picked up again. People started noticing, shushing each other, and then the lights again, revealing the young rapper, standing in the middle of the stage in street clothes, a white bandana tied around his head and a large chain hanging around his neck, bouncing away as he delivered his rap. Voices rose up again as they started cheering one of their favourite boys. After a minute, Rapmonster appeared from the left side, wearing sunglasses, even in the dark, and took over for his friend.

As they joined together for the chorus, Jimin and J-Hope reappeared, dancing around them, as Rapmon urged the crowd to “clap your hands, yo! Throw yo hands up!” and then J-Hope jumped-in – as in, literally JUMPED over Rapmonster – and delivered the final rap verse of the song, with a ferocity that surprised even Jungkook, who had never known him to be anything other than a cheerful jokester. Everyone joined up again, singing the last chorus together at the end, and took a bow as the music ended.

“BTS, everybody!!” shouted the MC, over the loud cheering of the audience, “Remember their name! B.T.S.!!! Thank you guys!!”

And the boys took a bow and ran off stage.