Kris sits down at one of the many small circular tables, like the ones you’d see at a café or at Starbucks. A row of guys surround him on either side and more assemble into a line, waiting for the whole shebang to start. Kris didn’t know how Yixing managed to get him to do this speed dating thing and wasn’t quite sure why he hadn’t left already.

“Maybe next time,” Kris had told Yixing.

“That’s what you said last time. You’re going mister. It’s about time you get back into the dating game!” And so here he was, sitting amongst several other people in search of a date.

“Ok, you get one minute with each person,” the event coordinator says into his microphone. The first to slide into the seat in front of him is a guy much shorter than him by far and has eyes that are much bigger than your average Asian. He has a plate of cookies in front of him.

“Cookie?” he offers.

“Sure,” Kris says, picking up a chocolate chip cookie. He doesn’t eat it yet because he was taught that talking with your mouthful was impolite.

“I’m Kyungsoo,” the guy says, his wide eyes turning into twin crescents.

“I’m Kris.”

“I like to cook,” Kyungsoo says trying to break the awkward silence that was threatening to take over, despite the buzzing sound of people chatting around them.

“I like to eat,” Kris replies, smiling politely. Kyungsoo forces out a slight chuckle and Kris already knows that this conversation is going no where. The awkward silence takes over and the minute seems to last forever. Finally, a bell rings somewhere and people get up and begin walking around searching for a new partner.

The next to sit down in front of him is a rather tall guy; his curly hair is wildly out of place and a grin is plastered on his baby-like face.

“I’m Chanyeol!” he says right away in a deep voice.

“Kris,” he nods politely.

“You gunna eat that?” Chanyeol asks, gesturing towards the cookie in his hands. Kris gives cookie to Chanyeol who chomps on it happily.

“I’m just going to say it now before you fall for me,” Chanyeol begins, “that I’ve already found someone here who I like.” Kris raises an eyebrow at the curly-haired boy who shifts in his seat and looks off somewhere to his right. Kris follows Chanyeol’s gaze to a pale-skinned petite boy, whose brown hair fell into his eyes.

“His name’s Baekhyun. Isn’t he cute?” Chanyeol grins and Baekhyun notices him staring at him. He smiles and waves at Chanyeol and nods politely at Kris. A bell rings and Chanyeol gets up to visit Baekhyun’s table.

The next guy to sit down is much smaller in comparison to Chanyeol. He had sandy brown hair and doe eyes and had a really small build.

“I’m Luhan,” he smiled brightly.

“I’m Kris. Hey, look kid, I don’t know if you got the memo, but you have to be at least 18 in order to join this speed date thing,” Kris said.

 “I’m 22…” the other said. The sweet smile on Luhan’s face was replaced with a scowl and an eye roll. Kris awkwardly scratched the back of his and sat back, trying to avoid the other’s eyes who he knows is sending daggers at him.

“You, uh, look young for your age,” he said, trying to make small talk.

“No Sherlock.” Kris knew he deserved the foul treatment he was getting and sighed. The minute passed awkwardly and as soon as the bell rang, Luhan got up and speeded away, heading to a table on the complete opposite side of the room. Kris wasn’t sure if this Luhan character was over-reacting just a teency bit but brushed it off as another person sat down at his table.

The guy looks considerably younger than him but he doesn’t say anything for fear this guy might blow up like Luhan did. He had tanner skin and his jacket was falling slightly off his shoulder.

 “Kim Jongin.” A smirk washed over his features and he leans back in his seat.

“Kris,” he says, trying to will the muscles in the corner of his mouth to upturn his lips.

Ok, I see some potential in this one. He needs a new jacket but otherwise I suppose he’s cute, has nice hair, and he-

“What’s your size?” Jongin asks bluntly.

Nevermind.

Kris looks back at Jongin, jaw threatening to drop. Jongin is smirking and now Kris is unsure if this guy is here to find a date or if he’s just trolling people for fun. Kris gives Jongin his signature glare and Jongin’s smirk disappears momentarily, and then reappears at the sound of the bell.

Kris sighs in relief as Jongin wanders off to troll someone else as another person takes his place in the seat across from him.

“I’m Jongdae,” the guy says smiling. Kris feels slightly more comfortable with this guy and relaxes.

“I’m Kris,” he says.

“What are your talents?” Jongdae asks putting his chin in his palm. Kris took a moment to think and ended up thinking that 1) he wasn’t sure what he was good at and 2) that he thinks he’s finally met someone relatively normal.

“Basketball,” Kris responds finally, recalling his time in his younger years playing the sport.

“Ah, really? I can see why. You’re really tall,” Jongdae replies.

“And what about you?” Kris asks back.

“Singing. Wanna see?” Jongdae says, and without hearing Kris’s reply, he begins to belt out notes as loud as he can.

“I lost my miiiind, noreul-“ Kris jumps back in his chair a little from shock, obviously not expecting a seranade. Jongdae’s ballad was cut short from the sound of the bell ringing.

“Um…that was nice,” Kris says and Jongdae slips him his number before bouncing off to another table.

Kris sighs and stands up from his table before anyone can sit down across from him. He makes his way towards the exit. He takes a quick look around at the people in the room. He sees Luhan chatting animatedly to a young looking kid who was smiling admiringly at Luhan. He sees Chanyeol still talking to Baekhyun and Jongdae singing to another guy with red highlights in his hair. He also sees Jongin smirking at the guy across from him. Kris recognized the guy to be Minseok, someone Yixing had introduced him to at a barbeque once. Minseok has a shocked expression on his face and Kris thinks he knows why. Kris pushes open the exit door and looks at the time on his cell phone.

He scoffs at the amount of time he’s wasted at this stupid function. The whole night’s gone to waste he thinks to himself. He enters the nearest restaurant and sits down at the bar and asks for a beer. He glances at the guy next to him who’s stirring his drink around with a straw. The stranger props his head up in the palm of his hand and sighs deeply.

“Rough night?” Kris asks.

“Yeah, you could say that. You don’t look so dandy either,” the stranger returns.

“Guilty,” Kris confirms. The bartender returns with Kris’s beer and uses a bottle opener to flip the cap off. Kris examines the stranger and sees that he has jet black hair with eyes to match. He’s dressed in a black leather jacket and the several piercings in his ears don’t go unnoticed. He tears his eyes away and takes a swig of the beer.

“So what happened to you?” the stranger asks.

“My friend made me go speed dating. It was a horrible experience. Such a waste of time,” Kris says taking another sip of beer. The stranger chuckles a little first and then breaks out into a deep musical fit of laughter.

“That’s it? That’s why you’re so bummed?” he says in between his laughter.

“Yah! It’s worse than you think it is!” Kris insisted. The stranger just continued laughing. “Fine, then what happened to you?” Kris challenges. The other’s laughter finally dies down and takes a sip of his drink.

“I lost my wushu competition,” he says looking down.

“That’s why you’re upset?” Kris smirks.

“My parents and coach were really disappointed with me. I hate that feeling,” the other says, his voice a little sad. He lowers his head gazing at the red liquid floating in the glass in front of him. Kris felt for the guy a little. He knew what it was like to disappoint his parents- like the time he gave up playing basketball or the time he told them he liked guys.

“Well here’s to ty nights,” Kris said, raising his glass a little. The other raises his glass as well and a subtle clinking noise is heard as the two make contact.

“What’s your name?” Kris asks before sipping his drink.

“Zitao,” the other responds, “you?”

“Kris.”

Zitao downs the rest of his drink and stands up. He asks the bartender for a pen and writes his number on a napkin before handing it to Kris.

“Well I gotta go. Next time your friend makes you go speed dating, call me,” he says smiling. For the first time that night, Kris puts a genuine smile on his face.

“Thanks.” Zitao smiles back wider and bows slightly before turning around to leave. He looks at the paper.

 Huang Zitao. Kris smiles to himself.

Maybe his night wasn’t a complete waste of time after all.