fluid: haobin

33

"really, that's the best you could say?" taerae's voice echoes in the bathroom as zhang hao brushes his teeth. luckily hanbin had already left to make sure all the boys were awake and getting ready, otherwise, the manager would be praying the ground swallows him up if he heard their conversation.

"i was panicking! it's not like anyone could be thinking straight in that scenario," the older argues as he wipes the foam off his lips. "besides, he dropped a fact bomb before that."

"what happened? did he say something offensive?"

"no, it's not anything bad. it could be just me overreacting to what he said or looking too deeply into the situation. either way, i hope he didn't mean anything bad? but then again, i don't kno-"

"hyung, you're spiraling again," taerae breaks his flurry of words. "what happened?"

"our conversation came to his mom's cafe and how i had never run into him even though we'd been going there for years. all of a sudden, he drops that he's actually seen me around there but never mentioned that because he thought it would be awkward since i didn't know him. do you think he remembers the incident from before?"

"well, would it make a difference if he does?"

"i don't know, maybe?"

"what kind of difference? from what i can tell, i don't think hanbin would make that situation weird nor make a scene of it."

"i know he won't, but it'll still be weird to think that maybe the entire time he's been working here and interacting with me, that that's the image of me he has, the deaf person that needed to be saved in the middle of a cafe and made a whole scene of it."

"trust me, if he thought anything close to that, he would've made it clear to you. maybe hanbin didn't mention it because it doesn't change anything for him. the fact you wear hearing aids isn't something that brings you down. you're still the manager of your studio, help out with dance and music lessons when you can, and are willing to do anything for your students. if anything, that's the version of zhang hao that hanbin knows."

taerae always knows what to say whenever his hyung is having these moments. moments when he can't help but think about what his condition means for him as a person. he doesn't know how much of it hao believes, and hopefully, it's at least the majority of the speech, but he also knows that there are no lies.

"what would i do without you, taerae?" hao is thankful for his partner in crime.

"you'd be a disaster, and this is also my cue to tell you that you've got 10 minutes left until you have to leave. don't you have to meet the team for breakfast at 8?"

"shoot! alright, bye taerae, and i'll call you again when i find the time! bye, and please continue to take care of the studio!"

"good luck, hyung! i got nothing but good feelings for the end result!" and then the line goes silent.

hao pockets the phone in his pajama pants as he rushes to cleanse his face and he leaves the bathroom as he's in the middle of patting on his moisturizer. the last thing he expected is seeing his temporary roommate sitting on his bed, all dressed and ready while scrolling through his phone.

"oh, hyung, you're out!" hanbin gives the other his undivided attention. "the boys are all good, and no one made any trouble. i told them we'd go down and meet them at the same place as yesterday."

"thank you so much, you don't know how helpful you've been," hao tries his best to pretend to reorganize his pillows in hopes that it would buy him time for his blush to die down. "did you go to sleep late last night?"