—being
@renxbe
admittedly, navigating around what has quickly become his new home is not as easy as jo made it out to be- he knew the route from his apartment to his sister's university, and the cafe she liked to stop in on the days that she spent the night after late night study sessions (and although esther says it's because he lives closer, jo swears it's because she won't admit that his decorating tastes are better), to a local store for necessities, and work.
and so far, there hasn't really been much else that jo has had need to locate; his (former? current? what are they?) best friend's 'work', which seemed a little too formal and yet incredibly fitting for being an entertainment trainee, and from the crash course in basically everything surrounding kpop that his sister gave him on the long trip over several months ago. no, jo definitely didn't know anything about it until he learned that the scrawny kid that used to get mistaken for another brother to him was on his way to fame, and he definitely hadn't thoroughly social media stalked him since finding out about some sort of america's got talent, south korea edition ren had been on.
and now, after dedicated research and self-assurances, jo now knows one of the best 'hidden gems' bars in his neighborhood- which feels like celebrating with one of the very few friends he already has, and something that ren might just need, judging by how stressed out he seemed nearly every time they talked.
it's been a long time though since they've actually hung out, and there's a small stone that's resting in the pit of jo's stomach as his fingers drum the bar's top anxiously. there's a lot of history shared between the two, and jo is both nervous and excited at the prospect of properly catching up, and it's nice to not have to bear the challenge of speaking straight korean for at least a few hours.
"i took the liberty of not getting a drink for you ahead of time, because i'm trying this-" jo raises a glass instead of a standard bottle, his already half drained, "bo..." his face scrunches for a moment as he tries to remember what exactly the name of it is, because all he did was ask for something somewhat sweeter than a beer, and this definitely was... something. "ah! bokbunja." he declares, taking another small sip and trying not to grimace, "and it's... different." jo is still not really sure if he actual likes it or not, so he quickly waves away any possible hint that ren should order the same. "uh.. yeah. ignore this. i should not have tried something different ." clearing his throat, he shifts in his seat to turn more towards ren, full attention focused on his friend. "it's a lot to ask for you to tell me everything, so i won't. but tell me what's up lately?"