They ended up eating at a noodle restaurant a few blocks away from the theatre. It was of a smallish size, but was modern in appearance, plush booths bordering the entire restaurant and a counter with stools crossing the far end of the restaurant. It was fairly busy, young people of every description sitting at the tables in groups and creating a cloud of not-unpleasant noise. Jongin led the way to the counter and plopped himself onto a stool with ease before continuing the conversation they had begun on the walk over.

“What did you think of the girl who performed the solo modern ballet hybrid dance to ‘Iron Girl’?”

“She, um,” Yixing had to review his Korean vocabulary for a minute as he, too, adjusted himself onto a stool. “Used her...face...very well.”

Oh this is embarrassing...What if he doesn’t know what I mean?

“Good emotions?” He gestured in circles with his hand, hoping to make himself clear. Jongin nodded, apparently understanding.

“Oh, yes, I thought so as well. She definitely has potential. Her technique was very good and she looks like she’s versatile...Do you have any criticisms against her?” Jongin looked at him out of the corner of his eyes, like he was very curious but wanted to remain casual.

“She...” Yixing began, “Looked afraid.” Jongin turned to face him fully and cocked an eyebrow, silently urging the young Chinese man to elaborate. Yixing cleared his throat and rested his forearms on the dark wooden counter. “She looked like she had been told to follow the rules all her life, and was afraid to disappoint someone by letting go of her inhibitions.” He muttered into space as an answer to Jongin’s unasked question.

“That’s an interesting thing to say...How could you tell?” Jongin’s eyebrows had furrowed in curiosity.

Could I tell him it’s easy to recognize myself in others and that’s how I could tell that she was afraid?

Instead of speaking his mind, he shrugged his shoulders and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I’m intuitive, I guess.”

“Is it strange of me to say that I thought the same thing?” Jongin half-smiled and Yixing looked at him in surprise but before he could say anything, a weary young man about their age dragged himself over to them to take their order. Jongin ordered quickly without glancing at the menu while he spoke. When Yixing stammered and apologized through his own order, Jongin smiled at him encouragingly and the Chinese boy’s heart swelled in his chest. The young man went away again and they returned to the conversation.

“Anyways, I asked for her contact information and I think I’m going to invite her to audition for us. Of course, people invited by SM reps get to skip a few initial rounds of auditioning. I had almost decided for sure to contact her, but I wanted to ask you what you thought first.” Jongin rested his elbow on the counter and turned to give Yixing his full attention.

“Really? You wanted to know what I thought?”

You’re one of the only people who’s ever wanted my opinion.

“Yeah! You seem like you really know your stuff.”

“But I haven’t ever been trained...”

“Like you said yourself, you’re intuitive. Plus, you can understand real talent. Those are qualifications enough.” Yixing pulled his hands into his lap and felt his cheeks heat up slightly. The waiter returned with the big steaming bowls of noodles they had ordered and glasses of water. For a bit, they were both too interested in slurping noodles to really talk. Yixing liked the way Jongin ate like a kid, splashing the broth onto his face when he ate too fast. It was cute and rather uncharacteristic of his cool persona.

“So, Zhang Yixing, why did you decide to come to school in Korea?” Jongin asked a few minutes later when he took a moment to breathe before diving back into his bowl. Yixing placed a small strip of meat between his lips, chewing as he considered how to answer.

“I guess I wanted the chance to be my own person. My family isn’t exactly...” He trailed off, embarrassed. He gave the Korean man a small shrug and an apologetic smile before quickly taking a gulp of water, an ice cube stinging his tongue.

“I can understand that. My family can also be rather oppressive at times. I don’t usually get to feel like I’ve accomplished something all on my own. Either someone else in my family has already done it, usually done it better, or they helped me succeed in some way. I know they just want me to do my best but sometimes I feel like they’re smothering me.” Jongin lifted his water glass to his lips using only his middle finger and thumb to support the weight. Yixing didn’t know how to respond, so he settled for nodding repeatedly until he felt too awkward to continue and tried to hide his discomfort by shoving half of a boiled egg into his mouth.

“My mom never really pressured me into anything, but that may be because I was too young to really be pushed when she passed away.” Jongin sighed thoughtfully.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Was it very long ago that she...?”

“Twelve years now. It doesn’t really hurt anymore, so don’t worry about upsetting me. I mean, of course I miss her, but I mostly remember the happy times before she got sick, and it’s much better that way.” He shot his friend a dazzling smile that made the Chinese boy blink to clear his eyes of the light.

“My mother passed away as well.” He said softly but firmly to his bowl a second later. “But I was too young at the time to have many memories of her. When I think about her, I mostly just remember how my father used to be before the accident.”

“Accident?”

“My parents were in a car accident. My father only sustained injuries, but the collision killed my mother on impact. After that, we moved in with my grandmother.”

“I’m so sorry.”

They fell back into a quiet, letting the background noise wash over them as they settled into their own thoughts.

He’s so different from me... And yet similar? Anyways, I like him. Yixing smiled at his chopsticks.

Jongin was watching him make faces at his dinner and scrunched his nose up in an amused expression, but it took the other young man a moment or two to notice.

On the drive back to Yixing’s house, Jongin insisted on bringing him all the way home, they talked a bit about working at SM and about the other interns.

“Kyungsoo is very efficient, always done earlier than he needs to be, but he doesn’t seem to like the job very much overall. I sometimes wonder why he sent us his application in the first place.”

“Kyungsoo seems...interesting.” Yixing responded knowing that ‘scary’ probably wasn’t the best adjective to describe his coworker.

“How are you liking the job so far, Zhang Yixing?”

“I like it very much. Du-Ho-ssi is very interesting to work with and I get to hear beautiful singers all day. I’m so glad that Chanyeol decided to bring me to apply.”

“So am I.” The way Jongin said these words made Yixing’s chest tighten. He turned to stare out of his window as a means of escape. Seoul was coming to life again as night fell in earnest, young people and business men swarming in and out of restaurants and bars and clubs to the tune of cold autumn wind. When Jongin slid his car to park on the side of the road in front of Yixing’s apartment building, he shifted into park and turned to examine his young companion.

“I’m sorry to be bringing you home so late. It’s almost eleven o’clock. I hope you’re not tired in the morning.” His eyebrows arched in concern.

“No. Don’t worry. I don’t usually sleep more than four hours a night anyway. Right now, I would usually be making dinner.” Yixing quickly replied, desperate to make the young man feel that he was not to blame in any way. “Thank you again for bringing me with you tonight. And for dinner. And for driving me home.”

“Not a problem. What are friends for?” Jonin huffed in amusement, a closed-lip smile lifting his mouth. Yixing offered him an awkward little wave as he got out of the car, shutting the door behind him. He crossed the sidewalk and up to the door of his building.

Jongin didn’t drive away until the Chinese boy had walked inside.