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Tuesday rolled around faster than Yixing thought it would and suddenly he was a little frightened of being alone on a date with Jongin. He hadn’t really thought about it since they had made the arrangements, but now that the event was here, he was suddenly getting nervous. Today he was going out extremely casually dressed because they were just going to catch a quick dinner and take a walk through the park. What could possibly go wrong?

“Xingxing, just calm down,” Luhan soothed, seeming to appear suddenly behind Yixing as he was looking at himself in the mirror, or more likely spacing out. “You’ll be fine. He’s a nice boy and he won’t do anything to you. He also won’t judge you if you make a mistake.” The delicate boy squeezed the dancer’s shoulders reassuringly.

“What if I forget how to speak Korean? What if I get lost? What if I have the wrong time?” he fretted.

“You won’t forget how to speak Korean I’ll take you to the place so you don’t get lost. I checked your phone for the time and place so we’ll be in the right place at the right time,” Luhan eased. “And if you stay out too late, you might just have to stay over at his place,” Luhan added, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“Should I bring pyjamas with me?” Yixing asked innocently. Luhan almost smacked his forehead.

“No, it’s fine,” he replied. Apparently his friend was still rather innocent and did not understand what he was insinuating.

“Then why did you say it?” Yixing turned to Luhan with big and uncertain eyes.

“Never mind,” Luhan sighed. “I was just trying to loosen you up, which obviously didn’t work.”

“Oh my god what if I forget something important,” Yixing worried, even more nervous now.

Luhan sighed like an older brother preparing his younger brother for his first date. “Do you have your phone?” Yixing checked his back pocket and nodded. “Do you have your wallet?” Yixing nodded again. “Then you’re fine.”

“I don’t think I can do this anymores,” Yixing whimpered.

“You already promised him that you would go for dinner and a stroll so I think you need to do it. You look fine and you’re prepared so it will be easy. You’ve talked to him a bunch so it isn’t like it’s going to be awkward.” Yixing was wearing black skinny jeans and a dark violet top with a black record snaking around the left side. Over it he wore an ped dark blue hoodie. His shoes were simple violet converse.

“But there’s always been someone with us when we were conversing. Now it’s just going to be the two of us.” Luhan sighed before patting his friend’s shoulder reassuringly.

“Just go with the flow and you’ll be fine.”

“But what if I can’t find the flow.” Luhan chuckled at his friend’s innocent question.

“It’s called going with the flow for a reason. You’ll find it. It’s almost 18:30 and we’re meeting him at 19:00 so we should probably get going then.” Luhan didn’t have anything to straighten this time so he looked Yixing up and down once before nodding.

They arrived at the place with five minutes to spare. Yixing looked around nervously. “Are you sure we have the right time? What if I’m actually an hour late; or an hour early? What if he forgot and is standing me up?” Yixing panicked yet again.

“Just wait for ten minutes and if he doesn’t show up, call him. And I’m sure he would have called you if you had missed the date. He’s not the type to storm off or anything. Xingxing, just calm down. I’m sure that he’s just as nervous as you and you have no reason to fret too much. This is also your first date. Even if you screw it up, it’s okay.” He patted his friends back reassuringly. “And there he is,” Luhan told Yixing, pointing at the boy approaching.

Jongin was dressed equally casually, which lifted on thing off of Yixing’s mind. He was wearing dark blue skinny jeans with a light blue shirt and a black and white snapback. On the blue shirt was a pair of white angel wings. Jongin was also on time, which knocked the rest of Yixing’s worries out of his mind.

“Hey Yixing, Luhan.” Jongin resisted the urge to his eyebrow at Luhan.

“I was just leaving,” Luhan replied. “再见” [See you later] he whispered to Yixing before waving to the two of them and heading the long way around to get to the train station.

“Where you waiting long?” Jongin asked, worried that he had made his date wait.

“No, we just got here,” Yixing replied. “Luhan was just helping me not panic about getting the time wrong,” he babbled cutely. Jongin chuckled, partly because his hyung looked so adorable when he was flustered and partly because he was also nervous about their first date.

“Shall we go in then?” Jongin suggested.

“Sure.” Jongin held the door for his date.

“What do you normally order here?” Yixing asked once they had been seated and given menus. “I’ve actually never been down here before.”

“The Sundupujjigae is really good and so is the Gamjatang. I also like the Doenjangjjigae.”

“Sundupujjigae is spicy isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but that’s what makes it so good,” Jongin laughed lightly.

“I don’t like spicy foods very much actually,” Yixing admitted.

“But aren’t you from southern China? I heard the food down there is really hot.”

“It is, but I still don’t like spicy foods,” Yixing said embarrassedly, cheeks tinting pink.

“That’s okay, you can get the Deonjangjjigae,” Jongin suggested, smiling.

“May I take your order?” the waitress asked politely.

“I’m going to have Sundupujjigae,” Jongin replied.

“I’m going to have the Deonjangjjigae,” Yixing added.

“Thank you,” she replied, taking the menus.

“I really like this little restaurant a lot. It’s kind of small and stuff but it’s also casual and has a less formal feel than a lot of places.” Yixing nodded in assent. “Also the food is really good and it’s authentic.” Jongin seemed to be warming up to Yixing and was much more talkative than when they first met. Admittedly, Yixing was also feeling a lot more comfortable.

“So how long have you been living in Korea?” Jongin asked, leaning his chin on his hands, elbows resting on the table.

“I’ve been living here for I think fifteen years but I still have an accent and sometimes I slip back into Chinese when I’m flustered, tired or drunk; or at least that’s what Luhan says. Sometimes I don’t notice that I’m speaking Chinese until I get these really blank looks.” He smiled and Jongin could have sworn that a star somewhere in the galaxy was just born.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t notice your accent so most of the general population probably don’t or haven’t noticed. Baekhyun is just special; he’s also kind of weird. He’s got this weird relationship with this guy by the name of Chanyeol. Half the time, they look the epitome of young love and half the time they look like a married couple who are filing for a divorce and fighting over custody of the children. Don’t worry, they don’t actually have children,” Jongin assured his date. “That would really be a disaster.” Yixing giggled at this. Baekhyun didn’t really did seem like he would make a very good father, especially with this Chanyeol person.

“What’s Chanyeol like?”

“Well he’s really tall, he’s got hair that’s almost curlier than a poodle’s, and he’s got a grin that makes him look like he has more teeth than he should. He’s also got a strangely low voice considering that he’s really tall and skinny and has a face that’s reminiscent of a pixie.”

“He doesn’t sound like a bad guy,” Yixing responded, cocking his head to the side.

“He really isn’t a bad guy, it’s just that he and Baekhyun aren’t always on the same page and Baekhyun gets frustrated and then he yells and then it’s just a nightmare. Individually, they’re great guys,” Jongin explained.

Their food arrived and they took a quick break in their conversation to begin eating.

“So why are they still in a relationship if they’re so unstable?” Yixing took a bite of food.

“I heard that the is really good,” Jongin replied bluntly. Yixing started choking. “Sorry, but that’s what Chanyeol told me one day when I asked the same question.” He was stifling the giggles that came because Yixing was so surprised. “Are you okay?” Yixing took a drink of water before nodding. “That and whenever they’re not together, they are really good friends and get along well. It’s just when a little argument comes up, it blows out of proportion and they end up coming to the bar to complain whenever the other isn’t around. Baekhyun complains after his performances and Chanyeol comes around the days when Baekhyun isn’t singing. Sometimes I wonder whether I’m their friend, bartender, or marriage counsellor.”

“Do you get a lot of people who complain about their lives in the bar?”

“Oh definitely. And it’s even worse when they’re drunk. It’s like I’m a free therapist that they vent to instead of someone who is paid to bring them drinks.”

“Well it can’t be that bad. You get to work with your friends.”

“They’re probably the most embarrassing people I know. Especially Jongdae. God can that guy not just get a room?”

“Who’s Jongdae?”

“Oh right. His working name is Chen. He’s the one who has a thing for you. All of the hosts have stage names of sorts. Jongdae is Chen, Minseok is Xiumin, and Joonmyun is Suho.”

“That sounds like fun,” Yixing commented. “Just working in that place in general,” he mused out loud.

“You could probably get a job there, either as a host, independent performer, or you might even be able to work with Baekhyun. You could ask him the next time you see him if you want to work there.”

“I don’t know. You think I could try working as a host?”

“I’m sure you’d be really popular certainly. I can talk to the manager. Then we’d all be able to see you more often. Luhan could visit you when he’s visiting Minseok.”

“Oh yeah, I was wondering, how often does Luhan actually come to History? He seems like a regular but he told me that he had only been there a couple of times.”

“I think he comes about twice a week and he always asks to see Minseok. And he has been coming here for about a year now I think.”

“It’s strange that he never told me about it...” Yixing wondered out loud.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to confuse you or stress your relationship,” Jongin said embarrassedly.

“No, it’s fine. I’m sure he had a reason for hiding it,” Yixing shrugged.

They drifted away from the subject of Luhan and started talking about their University classes and even after they had finished eating, they continued to talk. Before they knew it, it was rather late.