fluid: haobin

27

and finally, d-day. the team is all gathered in the studio on a saturday morning at 8 am with all their bags for the weekend.

"i'm so excited," yujin bounces in his spot while doing a small dance. "this year is gonna be so, so, so good!"

"ok, calm down, it's not even 9, why are you chirpy?" gyuvin grumbles as he rubs his eyes again.

"why do you look half dead?" ricky deadpans and rolls his eyes. "i texted you at 11 to tell you to sleep, did you?"

"no cause i had to finish all my homework before this trip so i don't have to think about it when coming back."

"when did you get so smart? you were never this on top of things," gunwook gives a weird look.

"since i started to care about my grades," the taller sticks his tongue out.

"alright everyone! are you all excited?" hanbin shouts as he enters the room carrying his own luggage. "the bus is gonna be here soon so if you need to use the bathroom last minute or get some water, do it now."

a couple of boys get up while the rest stay seated, some still asleep and haven't moved from hanbin's loud voice.

"are you all excited?" the instructor approaches the four boys. "we've been working real hard for this."

"i'm really excited!" yujin answers.

"as expected from our best maknae," hanbin ruffles the youngest's hair.

"where's hao hyung? i thought he would come with you," ricky asks.

"he's on his way, just had to run some last-minute errands."

"is taerae hyung coming with us?" gunwook turns to his cousin.

"no, he's gonna come tomorrow after he finishes all his work. i don't know why he can't just bring his laptop on the trip but he chose to just come later," gyuvin shrugs.

"we'll still see him and he said that he would arrive hours before we're on so don't worry!" hanbin lifts their spirits. "anyways, here are your name tags. you don't have to wear them now but once we get to the venue, you have to keep them visible or at least with you all the time. something about kidnapping safety."

"it's a freaking dance competition, no one is getting nabbed from thin air," ricky grumbles while slipping his own into a backpack pocket.

"better safe than sorry. and who know, one of you guys could get lost in a subway and wouldn't know how to get back with a dead phone but don't know who to call. wow, your name tag has the organizers' phone number on it so they can tell us the situation," hanbin sarcastically finishes the scenario to prove his point.

"jeez, the sarcasm was a bit much," gyuvin wants to laugh at how serious and blank the older's face was when describing the situation.

"again, just proving my point. anyways, i gotta go back and do the final check ups so just wait for a bit more."

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seeing the dance studio, hao runs even faster, as fast as he can with two heavy plastic bags and a full backpack. when reaching the door, he quickly takes a breather and then enters the building.

"why are you so out of breath?" taerae greets him from the reception desk.

"because of all this," hao dumps the bags on the table. "can you give this out to all the students? they're first aid kits i made that also has a couple of extra things as well. i gotta grab something from my office."

without even hearing what the younger had to say, hao runs off again and down the hallway to his office. he starts to rummage through all his drawers and crooks and corners, hoping to find the item he's looking for.

"hyung, what's going on?" hanbin walks through the open door and becomes concerned at what the older is doing.

"hanbin, could you help me look for a purple case? it's circular and has a white sticker on it," hao asks as he keeps looking through the pile of folders he needed to clean up a week ago.

the dance instructor wastes no time, going to the other side and going through the stack of boxes, shaking them and hoping to hear anything.

"what's inside of it?" the youngers asks as he goes to the third box.

"my batteries and extra tips for my hearing aids. one of the tips broke today and i really need to replace otherwise i gotta use my old ones. and that's gonna result in a complicated situation," hao closes a drawer and opens another one.

the two men spend the next couple of minutes looking all around until hanbin spots a small item hidden underneath one of the chairs in front of the desk.

he approaches and sure enough, he can see a white bear sticker on a purple case.

"hyung, i found it!" hanbin holds it up and shows it to hao.

"oh my god, really?!" he takes the object and by a glance, he can tell it's what he was looking for. "thank you, thank you!"

in his excitement, hao reaches to the other's shoulders and wraps his arms around, giving a tight hug and jumping a bit from happiness. although it takes a second, hanbin reciprocates and joins in the celebration, swaying their bodies side to side.

it's not until his happiness wears off that hao realizes the position they're in and he knows that he's the cause of it.

"sorry, i should've asked," he tries to let go but hanbin holds on tighter.

"don't be, i like this feeling," the younger smiles and snuggles his chin into hao's hair, the jasmine scent floating around and giving him a calming feeling.

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"alright, everyone set for boarding?" hao calls out to all the boys in the studio, hearing cheers and whoops as they finally get to leave. "let's go! make sure not to leave anything behind!"

the manager grabs his own belongings and starts to lead the group out, where a small bus is waiting for the team.

"each row is 2 and the back has 5 seats so everyone should have plenty of space. we can put all the big bags in the first couple of seats with us," hanbin announces once they're outside. "let's go!"

the driver opens the door and one by one, they all go in.

"this is so nice," gunwook looks around as he gets to the back row. his 3 friends follow him and they fasten their seatbelts soon after.

"it's like the bus i see celebrities ride during the reality shows," ricky lays his head against the window. "i'm so tired, i'm just going to sleep the entire time."

"great, so you can be my personal pillow!" gyuvin starts rubbing the top of his head against the blonde's shoulder, making the latter yelp in surprise and swat at his hair.

"get off!"

"should we separate them?" yujin asks gunwook as he looks over to where his hyungs were fighting...again.

"trust me, after 10 minutes, they're both going to be cuddling against each other like teddy bears," the older whispers to the younger.