Chanyeol half-ignored the correction and watched with a near blank expression as Kris rose from the bed and stretched. He'd been right; the boy was tall, and quite possibly taller than himself, which would have been almost perplexing to Chanyeol had he not been trained to act indifferent. Though, he still couldn't help but stare. Most people he met were shorter, considerably, and he'd only met one or two people who reached his height. 

 

That wasn't the only thing that caught the young boy's attention. There was something in the way he spoke, not just the deep thrum that came with the words, but a tone in his accent that gave off a not-quite Korean feel, and Chanyeol wondered briefly where he was from. Not that it mattered; he just wanted to know. Couldn't he be curious? No, he couldn't. 

 

Emotions were human things, Chanyeol was not human, not by his boss' standards anyway; none of them were human. But still, there was something in that level expression he received that dumbfounded him, something odd, different, interesting and-- No. damnhell. 

 

Giving a short, almost rude nod to the offer and passing off the offered handshake, Chanyeol turned and strolled back down the hall to the sitting room where he had to take a moment to gather himself.  

 

Chanyeol almost slipped up -- thrice, at that -- and gave into that human side of himself that craved for a reaction, that human side he thought he'd suppressed years ago. Why was it back now? Why had it chosen this moment to make an appearance? Why was it still there at all? He wasn't human. He wasn't allowed to have these thoughts, not if he wanted to live. Self-punishment should have been what he turned to, but he was in the middle of a job, but he didn't have time to make and clean up the mess that would undoubtedly come with it.

 

Not that he cared. He couldn't care. Ever. And so he didn't. 

 

---

Kris knew that he should have expected the emotionless quality that the boy posessed -- Tao had told him to expect him when he’d originally referred Kris to the place, saying that all the people that worked in the building were like this -- but it was still a bit....disconcerting? Kris was used to being the impassive one, the person who stuck out in a crowd because of his seeming inability to show and express his emotions, forever wearing what his friend Yixing referred to as his ‘ face’, but this...

 

No. He could deal with this, Kris thought as he watched the other male -- Chanyeol, he’d said -- leave the room with nothing more than a curt nod that bordered on being insulting. He could deal with this, Kris thought as he stepped out into the hallway after the other, eyes trailing over the walls as he took in the details of his surroundings once more. He could deal with this, and maybe the lack of...everything would be a blessing in disguise.

 

For a long moment, Kris waited there in the hallway, not so much out of hesitation, but out of a show of respect for Chanyeol before he wandered into the sitting room. Kris fixed the male with a curious and indifferent look -- his face having surfaced again, as Yixing would have said with an almost unfair delight in his voice -- before nodding in the direction of the small kitchen.

 

“I’m going to go start the meal. You’re welcome to join me in the kitchen if you want, but I certainly won’t force you. This is your night to relax as much as it is mine, I suppose.” Kris turned without waiting for a response and moved toward the kitchen, familiarizing himself with the space the instant that he stepped into it.

 

Cooking wasn’t something that Kris was particularly wonderful at, but it was one of the skills he’d deemed necessary to survival durign his schooling when hsi mother had spent so much time outside their home. So he’d learned, teaching himself the art with tv shows and cook books and the occasional visit to an older neighbor, and had kept himself alive and in mostly good health since leaving home.

 

“Chanyeol,” he called as he studied the contents of the bag that he’d brought with him, unsure as to whether there would have been any food in the kitchen to work with or not -- there was been, and Kris still preferred his own, preferred knowing how fresh they were and how much he would have to work with. “Chanyeol, are you allergic to anything?”

 

---

The suddenly close voice wasn't startling, but Chanyeol still whipped around, giving Kris a look of indifference as he nodded. He didn't follow him at first, hanging back in the sitting room to wonder about the other male and how he was different from the others he'd spent time with. Most would have had him pinned to the bed and half by now, but Kris.... Kris wanted to make him dinner? 

 

Chanyeol gave the inside of his lower lip a sharp bite with his canines, not stopping until there was a copper taste in his mouth; this was punishment for his human-like thoughts, thoughts that would likely get him in a world of trouble. Biting his lip wasn't likely to have much of an affect, which meant that later he'd have to work out something stronger like he had in the past. 

 

Would those work, though? The young male lifted his left arm and brushed his fingers across the skin, feeling the now invisible scars burn beneath his flesh. His boss had been furious the first time he'd seen them, but Chanyeol got off easy when he told the man it was self punishment. Since then, Chanyeol had been careful, his actions becoming drone like over the years. 

 

After a long moment, when he thought he'd left Kris along long enough, Chanyeol sauntered over to the kitchen, reaching the counter just as the other male called his name. He glanced at him, head tilting to the side at the question. 

 

"Pardon?" It wasn't that Chanyeol didn't understand, it was.... just that. He didn't understand. Why did Kris care if he was allergic to anything? Anyone else would have carelessly made something, and if it did anything to the young male, they would have -- maybe -- alerted the reception lady on their way out. No one cared, because companions were disposable, useless in the real world, emotionless drones who were good for nothing other than giving temporary pleasure and relief from society. 

 

Kris cared, though, and Chanyeol wasn't quite sure how to react. Well, first off, he should probably answer the question instead of leaving the other male waiting. Shuffling over to the bar counter, he took a seat on one of the stool before speaking, trying to at least show a bit of interest in his tone. "Not that I'm aware of." Nothing he'd eaten had killed him yet, and he was forced to swallow odd things on occassion; there were the usuals such as energy shots, performance enhancers, and the most common, , but he'd had drugs or aphrodisiacs shoved down his throat a time or two. Those had been interesting, to say the least. 

 

But Chanyeol was pretty sure that Kris wouldn't try to drug him; he didn't seem like that type. If there was one thing Chanyeol had learned to do in the time he'd been here, it was to read people through their expressions and actions to grasp what the night would be like. Kris, he only seemed to want company. As for .... well, if he wanted it, he wasn't acting like it. 

 

As he watched the taller male move around the small kitchen, Chanyeol sat quiet, observing. If they were going to have a remotely normal conversation -- normal being answering questions with short, unsatisfying answers on Chanyeol's part -- then Kris would have to start it. Not that Chanyeol couldn't, he just.... didn't know how, and it would be awkward if he tried. 

 

---

“You heard me, right?” Kris glanced at the other male, lips drawing down into an expression of confusion. He hadn’t expected the look of utter confusion from the other, and it was surprising. Did people not take the time to ask before doing things? Yes, Kris knew he was a bit odder than normal -- he liked knowing that the people he was spending time with were having fun and were enjoying themselves, and getting sick and needing a visit to the hospital because they were allergic to something wasn’t all that much fun.

 

Actually, going to the hospital for any reason at all , and Kris knew it, though he had to admit -- perhaps more jokingly than anything else -- that he’d never been to the hospital because of an allergic reaction. It was always a bullet wound, or a cut from a knife, and an animal bite -- that one hadn’t been much fun at all, because they doctor had forced him to submit to a rabies shot /just in case/ and holy , it had /hurt/.

 

When Chanyeol finally answered the question, Kris glanced over and fixed him with a small smile. “That’s good. I’d hate to accidentally make you sick or something. Like I said, this is my last free night for a while, and I’d really hate it if I sent my date for the evening to the hospital or something. As much as it would for me, I’m sure you wouldn’t enjoy it much at all.”

 

Kris turned back to the bag and began to pull things free, setting them on the table with an absent-minded care. Thanks to all the times that he had spent on his own these past few months, Kris knew he wasn’t the best at keeping up a conversation. Then again, he wasn’t much of a people person to begin with, whcih was probably one of the reasons that he’d chosen to take Tao up on the younger male’s offer for a temporary companion rather than joining a handful of the men from his department on their almost nightly excursion to the bar.

 

That thought reminded Kris of something, and he glanced back to Chanyeol, offering the male a small, somewhat sheepish smile. “Look, I, ahh... I know I’m probably not the best sort of companion at night. I’ve been a social recluse these past few months because of my job, and I’m not really sure what to talk about with people that I’m not trying to intimidate or talk down to. So, I mean...”

 

God, he really was awkward, wasn’t he? Sighing, Kris shook his head. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m sorry if I’m not the sort of person you wanted to spend your evening with, but I hope you enjoy yourself anyway.” A blush had begun to rise in his cheeks, and Kris turned back to the counter in order to hide it. “I’m not going to force you to do anything, and I’m not going to drug you. I really just...want a pleasant evening.”

 

More than anything else, Kris wanted something nice to remember, some pleasant human company, a conversation to remember back to when all he had was the leers of his new companions, perhaps a gentle touch or two that didn’t instigate a desire for -- because that’s what Kris would be to them, he was almost sure, despite hopefully having a companion with him, Kris would be their object of desire, and he would probably give himself to them to appease the standards they set for themselves and the company they kept, and---

 

Shaking his head to clear away those thoughts -- this was a night of relaxation, of enjoyment, and thinking about his job was not something that Kris really wanted to so -- he glanced over hsi shoulder once more, offering the man another sheepish smile. “So, Chanyeol. Is there anything in particular that you’re hungry for?”