yixing’s brows furrows as he squints at the metro map that’s placed right outside the metro station. his lips form a small frown, unable to understand any of the korean and he’s.. kinda lost. the different colored lines only confuse him more.

“i knew this would be a bad idea,” yixing sighs to himself.

everyone should know better not to ask yixing to run some errands. especially when it deals with going outside. living in korea for barely a year, yixing still struggles to get around town, and his korean isn’t exactly perfect, either. but when zitao begs him to go buy ice cream at the nearest convenient store, flashing his puppy-dog face, yixing didn't have the heart to say no.

however, just somehow, when zitao says it’s “just around the block”, yixing ends up in the middle of no where. he never even found the store to begin with.

yixing checks his watch; it's a little past four o'clock. dinner's around five and since luhan's cooking this time of the week, he knew he shouldn't be late. he stuffs his hands deep inside his pockets before glancing around his surroundings. it's definitely different, almost unrecognizable. there were much more tall skyscrapers, streets were busier than usual, and hundreds of unfamiliar faces surrounded him.

just how far did he exactly travel?

sighing, he turns around and locks eyes onto a brunet, taking a brief moment to gather courage, and soon enough walks up to the stranger in hopes he would help a fellow foreigner out.

"excuse me," yixing says in his upmost polite voice. "would you mind, uh, helping me?"

"hm?" the brunet turns around, and it surprises yixing to see his own neighbor #202, kim jongdae.

"oh, hey," jongdae grins, "whatcha doin' out here? do you attend university around here too?"

yixing is a bit more lax now. he quickly shakes his head. "uhm, no. i'm here because.. uh, long story actually. but.." he trails off as he figures out what proper word to say. damn is korean hard.

"i'm..lost? yes, lost. that's the word!" he says finally.

jongdae forms a small 'o' shape with his lips, nodding his head slowly.

"need help with uh," he points over at the metro  map, "whatever that thing is called in korean."

jongdae snickers and yixing pouts.

"it's called a jihacheol " jongdae explains as he leads the two over back at the map. he leans forward for a closer look, then brings his index finger up to a single red line.

"this is the one you need to take to go back home. just get off at the fifth stop."

"ah, thank you!" yixing grins, and a flow of relief washes over him. "do you happen to know where that convenient store is located too? that's the whole reason i'm in this mess."

jongdae blinks, "..you mean the one right next to your apartment complex?"

"oh..."

jongdae can't help but burst into laughter. he gently wraps his fingers around yixing's wrist, tugging him along. yixing simply follows behind him like a lost child with no objections.

"come on, i'll go with you so you don't get even more lost than you already are,"

the metro is cramp and stuffy; yixing struggles to even stand upright as he holds onto the silver handlebar tightly. meanwhile, jongdae is standing right across from him, a hand preoccupied with a phone as he texts someone and the other holding loosely onto a  pole. yixing wonders how jongdae hasn't fallen yet.

"so you were looking for the convenient store - which is literally right next to where we live - and you somehow ended up in the city?" jongdae asks, a single brow cocking up.

"it didn’t look like a convenient store.." yixing mumbles.

"the neon sign literally says 'convenient store' in korean, hyung,"

"oh, so that's what it says?"

jongdae clicks his tongue. "you're not very good at korean, are you?"

"not nearly as good as luhan ge, that's for sure,"  yixing admits. "but i'm learning really hard! er, kind of."

"kind of?"

"well, you see, i used to take korean classes but they clash with uh.. " yixing pauses again, ".. work! yes. so i don't have time."

"how are you going to survive living here if you don't continue taking korean classes? you're going to end up on the other side of the world at one point if something like this happens again!"

yixing frowns and rubs his nape. jongdae does have a point.

"if you want hyung, i can teach you korean," jongdae suddenly offers, and yixing is taken back.

"really?"

"of course. i'm a literature student, i got this in the bag," he grins a little too cheekily. "since we pretty much live right next to each other, i'm sure it'll be easier."

"that would be great! thank-"

the metro suddenly comes to a harsh stop. with his quick reflexes, yixing almost immediately tightens his hold on the metal bars to keep him steady. jongdae, however, falls face first right into his chest.  yixing wraps a free arm around his waist, hoisting him up and looks down at him with a worried expression, "jongdae, you okay?"

"oh, s-," he curses under his breath, as he scrambles to get up on his two feet, avoiding any eye contact with yixing. he coughs awkwardly as he straightens himself out.

"sorry.." is all that jongdae manages to say. yixing simply shrugs it off.

for the rest of the trip, jongdae clings onto the pole with both his hands as if his life depended on it.

“phew, thanks again jongdae! you’re a life saver.” yixing smiles as he hugs the box of ice cream he just bought close to his chest. glancing at his watch, he has a mere twenty minutes to spare, giving him plenty of time to return back home for dinner. thank goodness jongdae was there for him.

jongdae shrugs his shoulders, “no problem, hyung.”

yixing hums softly as he walks alongside the latter. he suddenly stops in his tracks, and the korean boy looks back at him with a confused expression.

“something wrong?”

“no, but,” yixing quickly tears the box open, a single hand digging inside as he pulls out a neatly wrapped ice cream. he hands it to the latter. “here! have this as a token to my thanks for everything you’ve done today.”

yixing watches jongdae lower his gaze down to his hand, cautiously taking the ice cream from him.

“gee, hyung, you didn’t have to,” he laughs softly, slowly peeling off the wrapper. “thanks, though.”

the two walk continue to walk home with endless chattering.

“i’m home!” jongdae calls out as he enters his shared apartment. he slips off his shoes and walks into the living room. his roommates were sprawled on the couch, legs tangled as they watch some korean drama airing.

baekhyun peeks over the couch, “welcome home. what’s with the stick?”

“oh,” jongdae takes the popsicle stick that was hanging out from his mouth. “yixing gave me ice cream so-”

“- ice cream?” chanyeol interrupts as he quickly sits up from the couch and exchanges a few glances with baekhyun. jongdae watches in confusion.

“you went to go get ice cream with yixing?” the taller male asks.

jongdae nods.

“so… like… it was a date?”

“what the, no of course not! we just-”

“it was a date.” baekhyun deadpans.

“no it wasn’t!”

“geez, why didn’t you tell us you had a thing for yixing? we coulda hooked you guys up in a heartbeat.”

“i agree with chanyeol. i thought we were friends!”

“so how long have you guys been dating behind our backs, hmm jongdae?”

jongdae heaves a heavy sigh in annoyance. he takes off his socks, rolls them up into a ball, and throws them right at both of their heads.

“bullseye.”