flower boy | seungjin

10

"Front foot on the bolts, and then when you put your back foot on, adjust it so you're facing sideways..." 

Seungmin explains this to Hyunjin slowly, giving a demonstration as he does. "And when you want to push again, face your front foot forward before stepping off."

They aren't the only ones at the skate park - most of them are their age or a few years younger, and all of them seem to know exactly what they're doing. As for Hyunjin... he has no fucking clue. It's like there's a system to the place, and he can't figure out what it is. He also doesn't want to fall, being one of the older ones there and not wanting to look like an idiot. Seungmin seems to read his thoughts. "No one will say anything if you fall," he reassures him. "If anything, they'll help you back up and give you some tips. Only dickheads who skate just to look cool laugh when people fall." 

Hyunjin nods, taking a deep breath. "I mean, it seems easy enough..."

"Say that once you can cruise a few metres without wobbling."

If Hyunjin thinks Seungmin was joking, he's definitely mistaken.

Within a second of him pushing from his back foot, his legs turn to jelly and he lets out a little yelp. He's moving so slowly, but for some reason he can't find his balance. Seungmin walks after him and reaches his hand out. "It's normal," he says. "It took me a week to find my balance, and even now I lose it sometimes." Hyunjin nods, the arm not gripping onto Seungmin for dear life stretched out beside him. 

"It might take me longer than that."

He shakes his head. "One day it'll just click, and you'll hardly need to think about it. Trust me."

Hyunjin keeps his gaze trained on the ground, as he gingerly readjusts his footing and steps down to push off again. "I do trust you." He doesn't think anything of saying it, but he notices Seungmin's clasp on his hand tighten slightly. He smirks to himself. 

They wander closer to the centre of the park, where most of the people are clustered. One guy is on the ground on his back, a little dazed but seems to be smiling. Still, Seungmin calls out.

"Is he alright?"

A girl yells back. "He's good!" 

Then, he turns to Hyunjin. "See?" he gestures to the group of people, now helping the dude carefully get to his feet. "No laughter."

Hyunjin watches. Sure enough, instead of teasing him, the boy who fell is followed to sit back down on a bench, and the same girl offers him her bottle of water, which he accepts gratefully. A small warm feeling blossoms in Hyunjin's chest... if he fell in front of his friends, they'd definitely all laugh. Well, maybe not Mark, but the others for sure would be rolling round on their asses, and wouldn't let him hear the end of it. 

They sit down on a bench and watch some other people ride around.

"What sort of stuff can you do?" he asks Seungmin, who lifts his head up to stare at him. 

"Me?" he asks.

"Yeah, I haven't seen you skate and it's not dark now... can't you show me?" 

"Uhh," Seungmin pushes himself to his feet, "Sure, I guess." Grabbing his board, he walks to the edge and hooks it, one foot holding it at the back. Without a second thought, he drops down. 

The entire skate park has lots of different sections with different pipes and ramps and ledges, all interconnected. The main part is the huge bowl in the centre, which Seungmin is currently in the middle of. His drop-in made him gain speed, and he flies up one of the sides, flipping the board with his feet before he lands back on the ramp. A few of the other people turn to watch him, cheering as he completes impressive tricks one after the other.