#rkcollab

when yeji had gone to meet ryujin that saturday she didn’t really think she would be standing where she was now. a microphone in one hand-- a confused look given to the younger female. yeji couldn’t say no now. it was really unfortunate for her. before she knew it ryujin had dragged her to the band that was holding an... open mic, in hongdae? out of all of the times to do it. yeji wasn’t comfortable singing.

on the spot the two girls had agreed on a song that they both knew, ryujin being the feeldog fangirl that yeji knew would know this song. yeji also knew it, it had been a while since she had sung it... last time was way to many years ago.

they announced their pick to the band and thankfully they knew the song and its chords. yeji had a small hope that they didn’t but luck was not on her side.

yeji heard the sound of instruments, ryujin starts them off with her rap. yeji taps her foot to remember the beat, nodding her head-- when its time she sings the chorus, its a simple enough chorus for her. not much room to fail and miss the notes. yeji’s tone is clean and pure, she has never had singing lessons-- so her voice, unbeknownst to her shows potential-- its clean and solid tone.

yeji’s thankful that she only has to sing the chorus and nothing else-- the chorus is nice, while singing she can’t help but think of hansol. feeling like a fool but she can’t help it-- she misses him even though she knows he’s just a phone call away. this was the reality that she was facing. wanting to call him-- maybe she was missing him, that much she would never tell him.the song resonates with her more than she would like ot admit.

ryujin’s rap is clear to her, the lyrics speaking of how lovers in the early stage were affectionate. even though-- yeji and hansol never had taken that extra step, yeji couldn’t help but worry-- when they were younger they showered each other with affection freely. now it was harder-- for whatever reason.

to catch herself from dwelling too much on the past she looks up at ryujin, the younger calming her down as she finishes her rap-- yeji singing the chous this time for the last time.

maybe i’m missing you.

it ends. yeji wants to walk away immediately but the applause from the people surrounding them makes her stay, she bows at them, 90 degrees, putting down the microphone-- thanking the band for letting them perform with them. then she grabs ryujin’s arm and drags the female with her.

“ah, i can’t belive i did that...” 

it's the last song of the night, the closer for his set. he's pulled his guitar strap over his shoulders and placed it in his lap, and a friend from work accompanies them on a third microphone to supply his beatboxing talents, making it an acoustic version of the song. with everything set up and all cameras ready to go, he glances at seokwoo and offers an excited grin before starting the song off with his guitar, his coworker's beatboxing joining in an 8-count later.

soon enough, his vocals are thrown into the mix as he starts off with the chorus, his voice as smooth as the lyrics, easy as the redone composition.

ma lady 나 널 갖고놀래 ma lady, i want to play with you 더 가까이와 널 꼭 안을래 come closer, i want to hug you tight 마침 딱 분위기좋아 두 눈은 감을래? the mood is just right, will you close your eyes?

he's been practicing the entire week, knows the song like the back of his hand, and knows exactly when he can throw in his own adlibs, when he can sing a different melody without disrupting the flow of the song. seokwoo's raps are a perfect accompaniment to his own voice, adapting well to the song and style. he can see how much his friend has improved over the past year and can't help but feel a swell of pride rise within him even though he's fully aware he hasn't done anything to help that development.

baby 걱정따윈 없어 너와 함께 있으면 baby, i have no worries when i'm with you i’ll let you know that you’re attraction이젠 알았으면 해 i'll let you know that you're attraction, i want you to know now tell me what i must do, tell me anything ill do my heart is true girl, i gotta make you mine tonight

once the bridge hits, he takes the opportunity to really play around with the melody, throwing in his own adlibs, adding more to the fairly simple vocals of the original song without overdoing it. the rest of the song is merely a repeat of the chorus, and he keeps that simple, strumming along with his guitar as his coworker raps up until the song's end.

once it's done, he stands, thanks the crowd, and especially those who have helped him for the night, and begins packing up.

"thanks again for doing this," he addresses seokwoo, throwing his guitar in its case over his shoulder and picking up his amp. "you know, being this big hotshot now. surprised you even remember my name." he's joking, of course, absolutely certain that he's still that same good guy he'd met several years ago. "wanna grab something to eat? i owe you that much."

    the last few months him and hyojeong have picked up a bunch of dances they wanted to learn together--a few that hyo has already learned but hyunjoon had been in the process of recovering so he wasn’t able to learn them yet. it’s because of being injured that he started turning to singing and rapping more. 

    the teen isn’t sure which he prefers of the two, singing is fun sometimes and it’s typically easier for him to learn a song even if his vocals are top notch. where as rapping is by far cooler--and the more he works at it the better he is getting with rapping, especially fast ones. and thats how the idea for them to live sing while dancing zero for conduct had been born. hyojeong was all aboard the idea too, and learning it had been a blast. the song was fast paced, both dance and rap, and had such a cool vibe. it fit the looks both of them are always pulling off. 

    march was nearly ending and hyunjoon felt they had the performance down. tonight was supposed to be an orion busking night but everyone had been busy ( that is to say, half the group are signed trainees and one of those has been mia the last month ) so hyunjoon thought it would be perfect for them to do it tonight. 

    “hello everyone, i’m heo hyunjoon of orion. and tonight we have a bit of a different performance for you.” he falls easily into his busker persona once they’ve finished setting up. it’s a about ten past the hour--normally the first few minutes are spent setting up and stretching a little--and he can see most of their normal fans sat around the spot. including the few who are very specifically hyunjoon and hyojeong fans. something that amuses him a whole lost considering how rare it use to be that hyojeong would busk with him or busk at all. 

        “as you can see it’s just the two of us, but i we’re going to make sure tonight is fun and then next performance will be more of the normal orion crowd. i hope you can stay and enjoy what we have for you.” he speaks slowly and in his normal blank tone, but anytime he makes eye contact with one of the fans they end up losing it. the older female fans especially are always dying over how baby like he is which he doesn’t understand. but he really really appreciates the fans he has and works to step out of his comfort zone to give them a better performance still. 

          he steps back to let hyojeong introduce herself, moving around to make sure the camera is set up correctly so that this could be posted onto youtube later. then going over and hooking the extra phone they have thats for the music. he crouches by the speaker, fiddling with it a little then scrolling to the song they’re doing. there’s no vocals on this track, just the mr so that they had the background, but otherwise the vocals and rap would be done by them. hyunjoon had P.O’s rap part and a few months ago he wouldn’t have been as set to do this but he’s practiced at home and in noraebangs so many times now, he feels he can at least hit every word even if tit doesn’t sound as cool. 

         all set up, introduced, and ready to go, hyunjoon hits play on the track and gets up into place with hyojeong. the song starts with its siren and he’s hit with some nerves suddenly as he realizes this is happening man. we’re doing this shit.

          and then he has no time to be nervous because the song is starting and he’s falling into a persona he’s seemed to form in the last year. the one that allows him to stand before a bunch of strangers and talk so easily. the one that lets him dance and be cute, and sing, on the populated streets of hongdae without wanting to eat one of his own hands. he falls into it, and performing becomes so much easier. he’s sure he doesn’t sounds the best. because let it be known, live rapping and live singing while dancing is much much harder than it first seems. and its only months of practice that allows him to get through it without being winded. 

         months of practice and years of dancing. 

         but really, even if this wasn’t where he saw himself a year ago. even if he had never once thought performing would be what he wants to do, hyunjoon couldn’t picture himself doing something else. he doesn’t think he could go back to lazing around on the weekends, to only watching hyojeong dance and not dancing with her. he might be uncertain of where this is going to go, but he thinks.

             with hyojeong it’ll be fine. 

a crowd begins to form and jaehyun settles himself behind a mic.

ohhh girl 벌써 몇번짼지 몰라 받지 않는 전화 통화버튼만 누르다 밤 새겠어 정말

jaehyun begins to sing, both him and mark running their fingers through the strings of their guitar – it’s a joint performance after all and they’d thought it a good idea to have two guitars playing, amplifying the melody of the song.

he scans the crowd, the corner of his lips raising up slightly as a few passers-by begin to stop, looking on at the two boys curiously.

너 때매 내가 아니 전화가 열만 받아가 숨막히니까 답답하니까 그만 내 말 좀 들어봐

it’s a song that suits the tone of his voice; is at a tone comfortable enough for him to sing confidently in front of a crowd of people, which makes having fun a lot more easier.

he nods his head to the rhythm of the song, hands on his guitar as he continues strumming through.

when he reaches the last note he takes a step back, letting mark take the spotlight for his rap. the boy breezes through it and jaehyun smiles as he makes an effort to walk around (as far as the plug into the amp can take him).

soon enough it’s his turn to sing again and he reaches for the mic, gently smiling towards the crowd.

전화좀 받어 할말이 많어 내 속이 타 들어가잖아 전화좀 받어 듣고있잖아 이러다 미치겠어

he takes in a deep breath, hand removing itself from his guitar momentarily to reach out and hold the mic.

가지마

and as he belts out the note, mark continues on behind him, both of their voices unsurprisingly matching well. (jaehyun’s always more or less known that the tone of his voice and mark’s compliment each other –– something he’d readily put to use).

the next verse mostly consists of mark’s rapping and jaehyun simply continues on with his own thing, moving his head along to the beat and focusing more on the strum of his guitar, the melody that resonates through the speakers.

there’s a larger crowd that’s formed by now and he’s pleasantly surprised to see a few people clap, smiling a little as the two boys perform.

and then it’s his turn again, the chorus repeating once more.

할말이 많어 내 속이 타 들어가잖아 전화좀 받어 듣고있잖아 이러다 미치겠어 가지마

and once more their voices come together to blend, jaehyun’s focusing more on the higher notes and carrying the melody. his voice falls behind mark’s as the boy’s rap takes more center and focus.

너에게 해야할 말들이 많은데 이렇게 널 보낼수는 없어

the lyrics aren’t exactly something he can relate to but he tries his best to feel for it –– the desperation of a man unwilling to let go of his lover (or something of that sort).

전해주고 싶은데 전화좀 받아 –––––

and the song ends there, jaehyun bringing himself to mark’s side with a little huff leaving his lips once he’s done with the high notes. he turns to look at his friend and the both of them exchange wide grins before going in for a high five.

it’s only then when he realizes just how much larger the crowd has gotten and the applauses aimed towards the both of them. he stares on a little taken aback before he breaks out into shy laughter and a smile.

hyunjoon and him had it all worked out. they would balance the singing and rapping between them. letting them both get to sing and rap, and get to work their vocals. hyunjoon was all for this idea, since he wasn’t sure if he preferred rapping or singing. he mostly just liked to dance. and it showed as they performed together. he moved a little as he rapped, letting the song take him as they performed. not really bit motions, but enough to get his point across. he was excited, orion had done a few dance numbers before, and he was all kinds of hyped already. 

his expression was still even, but there was a light in his eyes. he cast glances at jungwoo, glad to see that his hyung was having fun too. they were both weird about emotion--he could tell after getting to know jungwoo--and he felt this was good for them.

maybe he wouldn’t ever really explore this new appreciation for performing. but he wouldn’t squash it just yet.