spring day :: jinseob

03

Early April is painful. It's never been painful before, with the arrival of April Fools' and the blooming of cherry blossoms everywhere. Hyungseob always loved cherry blossoms, they're soft and pretty, and a certain someone told him that he's exactly like cherry blossoms. Pastel, light, beautiful.

But it is, and Hyungseob doesn't have the energy to drag himself out from under his blankets at two in the afternoon and start looking for a job now that the weather is warmer and the flowers have started blooming. He's been living off of his (ex) other half's advanced paid rent for the first quarter of the year and his savings, along with the money his parents occasionally send him from wherever they are.

He needs to pay his own rent now, and he doesn't want to go through the troubles of looking for another apartment after getting kicked out, so he kicks away his blankets. Then he dresses himself, wrapping coats and scarves around his form, and goes out into the warmth of the noon sun to head over to the dance academy just on the corner of the block.

Hyungseob hasn't been there in months since mid-January, and he probably should go back to ask for a teaching spot even if he's lacking compared to everyone else. When he pushes into the lobby of the studio, he's greeted with a whole bunch of eight to ten year olds walking in a line and following a brightly grinning Kang Daniel whose grin becomes an eye smile at the sight of him.

"Hyungseob! Hey, it's been so long!"

He raises his hand to wave, "Hi, hyung," Then he motions to the kids, who have now started chatting among themselves while the one directly behind Daniel is busy tugging at the hem of his sweatshirt. "Who are those?"

Daniel grins, "New recruits. Muel recruited them at the college, he said they were dancing outside the auditorium. Says that one is his classmate's brother and the rest are the brother's friends."

"They're cute." Hyungseob grins back, trying to give the same amount of enthusiasm. Daniel chuckles then bids him a 'see you again' because he has to go teach the kids some hip hop. He then goes ahead to one of the open studios, a pop song playing inside and a team of boys dancing to it.

He abruptly stops by the door, his hand on the handle; it's been a while since he last saw All Back. They're still the same hardworking, dance-until-you're-dead type of team, and they don't notice him until a certain Byun Hyunmin glances at the door in the middle of a pivot turn and goes out of formation to drag him inside the room.

"Hyungseob's back!" Hyunmin yells, manhandling him inside the room and dragging him by his arm, and that's all it really takes for everyone else to crowd around him in a tight hug and bombard him with a ton of questions because they haven't seen each other in two months.

They were gathered around a small box television on the floor when the news first came to show itself to them, and they all told him that it's fine with them if Hyungseob would take a break first, to clear his head and that he doesn't need to rush himself to get back to dancing, that they understand.

And he hasn't shown himself, until today.

Their new team leader, Noh Taehyun, sits them all down in a circle as if they're children at preschool, chewing on his lower lip and staring at him anxiously, not speaking for a while despite already clearing his throat. When he speaks, it sounds careful, very calculated. "How have you been?"

"Have you been doing okay?" Eunki asks, sounding equally careful with his words.

It takes Hyungseob a bit of time before he finally does something, because he's debating in his head on what he should say around All Back. All Back has been with him for years, even before he graduated college, and he's not really sure on how to approach this topic. He knows they're just worried about him, as quiet as the others may seem. He knows it's just because they don't want to accidentally say anything they shouldn't.

"I..." He starts, and everyone suddenly seems like they're hanging on his every word.

Yongbin and Joonyoung have even leaned forward. Eunki tilts his head, gives him a comforting smile; Taehyun nods; Hyunmin is biting down on his lip.

Hyungseob says slowly, "I think I'm fine."

"But are you fine?" Joonyoung speaks up, and Hyungseob is at a loss of words once more. Yongbin lightly slaps the other's arm, chiding him.

"I should be fine." Hyungseob shrugs. Then, once again, no one talks. It's just them sitting in a circle, with an obvious space left empty, and everyone is waiting for what their leader will say.

To everyone else's surprise, Taehyun says nothing and just pushes himself up to his feet, walking over to Hyungseob's back and crouching down to squeeze his shoulders comfortingly. Hyungseob twists to meet his eyes and some sort of unknown agreement passes between them.

"You'll be fine." Taehyun states, giving him a small smile. "Will you be staying until we finish? We could go out for dinner."

"I, uh, I need a job." He says bluntly, now looking around at the rest as well. "I need to start paying rent soon, is there any vacant teaching spot left here?"

"Well," Eunki is the first one to answer him after a few long silent moments, and even he looks like he's at a scramble for words, "We could probably always open up new classes for you to teach, I'm sure Seongwoo wouldn't really mind."

Hyungseob nods, and he stays to watch and wait for All Back to finish practicing their routine, and by the time the clock hits six in the evening, they're stuffing themselves in Joonyoung's truck. It's been a while since he's out with someone other than Youngmin and Donghyun, with people he's somehow more comfortable with.

The feeling's kind of nice, he guesses.