Chapter 4: friends

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Ten stepped out of the elevator and was delighted when Kun was waiting for him in the lobby already.

"How have you been?" Ten asked as Kun stood up and greeted him.
"I've been good. How about you?"
"Me too," Ten smiled brightly at the thought of spending the next 2 and a half hours with this boy.

They walked out of the building to a café across the street. Ten bought them drinks and Kun promised to pay next time.

"It was rather hard to have an actual conversation in the club. Let me introduce myself again. I'm Ten," Ten held out Jisung hand and smiled sweetly.

Kun took his hand, "I'm Kun. Qian Kun."
"How old are you?" Ten asked.
"23 years old," Kun answered after thinking about it a little.

"In Korean age?" Ten asked hoping that Kun didn't actually need a minute to remember his age.
Kun molded and Ten sighed a little relieved.
"I'm the same age."

"So, you're still a student?" Kun asked even though he already knew the answer.
Ten nodded, "I major in Dancing and I work part-time at the dance studio where we met."
Kun nodded, "I figured that."

He took a sip of his drink and Ten asked what Kun was doing right now although he had also heard the answer to that an hour ago.

"I'm in culinary school. I'm planning to open something like a diner someday."

Ten nodded and smiled, "And what else do you like to do in your free time?"

"I sing from time to time. And dong magic tricks is also fun. I hang out with younger people a lot and they just love that stuff," Kun talked animatedly and Ten imagined how well Kun would get along with children.

"Oh, show me one!" Ten requested.
Kun laughed nervously and promised a trick next time instead seeing as he had no tools with him and didn't want Ten to think of him as lame after the childish coin trick.

"What do you like to do in your free time?" Kun asked.
Ten thought about his hobbies but only came up with, "Dancing. It's my work and my major and my hobby. Dancing is everything to me. Other than that just hanging out with my friends, I guess."

So from there they proceeded to talk about their friends instead and Kun finally got to know the real names of Ten's friends but unfortunately he had forgotten the faces those names belonged to although he couldn't really see them in the dark with brightly flashing lights anyway.

But Ten gladly showed some pictures as he talked about his friends who Kun had mostly only seen on TV or in magazines.

There was Taeyong, the rapper who cooked amazing food and wanted to see Kun for dinner,
Jaehyun, his secret boyfriend who was a busy model,

Jungwoo the kind business student, Yuta and Sicheng, the foreign dancers who came to a completely different country just like Ten to study dance,

Doyoung the aspiring cook Kun already knew,
Taeil the amazing singer-songwriter
and Johnny whose dream it was to become a producer.

Meanwhile Kun's eyes lit up when he recounted his friends who were all at least three years younger.

Included were Mark and Lucas who were also at the club,
Donghyuck who simply couldn't muster up the courage to confess to Mark,

Renjun, the Chinese boy who always called him old,
Jaemin, Renjun's boyfriend who loved babying everyone and had a habit of pinching anyone's cheeks,

Jeno who was still searching for his one true love,

Chenle who loved to join in and fuel Renjun's teasing although Kun couldn't decide which one was the actual source

and Jisung, the youngest who was the only one who actually treated Kun like he was older.

And the whole time, Ten couldn't take his eyes off the sparkle in Kun's eyes and the delight he radiated and Ten didn't bother to hide his flirty smiles and direct stares at Kun's face.

He was fascinated with this person who talked about everything he loved with such passion.

Kun was a little shy that someone was ogling his face openly and wasn't sure what to do at the beginning so he opted to stare at his drink for now.

"Oh, Sorn told me about your first encounter. She was probably talking about me but you don't have to take it seriously. Let's get to know each other first, alright?" Ten assured Kun but hoped to get a "Yes" as a sign that Kun was at least a little interested in him.

"It's okay. I don't mind at all," Kun smiled in a friendly way.
"You don't mind? You don't feel weirded out or anything?" Ten asked surprised. He hadn't always met such open minds when revealing his sexuality.

"No, why would I? Why should I be mad someone said I was his type. It's only good to be found attractive, isn't it?" Kun smiled and Ten looked in awe at what he supposed to be an angel sent on earth to comfort and reassure those who had been hurt.

Even though Kun didn't wish for Ten's interest, he was neither weirded out nor disgusted nor angry but he was actually happy?

Ten willed himself to remain calm and decided to ask the most important question the minute he had laid his eyes on Kun.

"W-would you mind being with a guy?" he asked Kun. Actually this wasn't the most important question.

"I've never thought about it. I just always assumed I was straight since I've never found anyone attractive but... I guess I shouldn't just assume anything. I guess I'll answer your question with a no for now. I wouldn't mind it," Kun admitted truthfully after seriously contemplating how to answer the question.

Ten almost cried out of joy. Kun hadn't rejected him.
He reached over the table and grabbed Kun's hand softly.
Kun flinched but didn't pull his hand out waiting for Ten to continue.

"I like you!" Ten blurted out.

Kun's eyes widened in shock.
And here he thought being asked to whether he wanted to be introduced to a guy was the most surprising thing he experienced in life.

But here was a guy straightforwardly telling him he liked him. He had no idea how to respond to this straightforwardness.

"Don't think about it too much," Ten backpedaled a bit. "But I hope we can keep meeting. We can just meet casually just like this if you consider it that way. I just want you to keep that in mind a little. That I like you."

Kun simply nodded too overwhelmed for anything else.
"How about we meet for dinner next time? My friends want to meet you. Would it be fine to meet for dinner at their place?" Ten asked.

Kun thought about it. Meeting Ten's friends already? But it was only his friends. They would be his age. It was not like he was meeting Ten's parents for dinner or anything. Kun decided and nodded with a smile.

To figure out what career path to choose for Johnny I took two career tests with Johnny in mind. One said "leader" (a CEO or something) and the second "Rock Star".
So I took a third and got two office related jobs and as a third option "producer" and since I thought that show business did suit him, I chose producer.

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