.open up
starter for @sichengrk !
since sicheng moved in with ten he’s felt a lot more relaxed, as if having someone around to talk to has taken a weight he didn’t know he’d been carrying off his shoulders. he supposes that’s exactly what it’s done, though. he’s been trying to be more open about things he’s struggling with to those around him he feels comfortable enough to share with, and sicheng, being the closest in proximity usually, is almost always his go-to when he needs to talk about something that’s bothering him.
so, when he receives the news he didn’t make it through the audition at nova his initial instinct is to bottle it up and pretend it doesn’t bother him, even though it does, deep down. those worries that perhaps he’d gotten too old now to ever make it back to where he’d been seen almost validated by the rejection. but, remembering what his therapist had told him, ‘don’t bottle things up, they only fester’ he seeks out sicheng the evening after he finds out.
settling down on the couch beside him that evening he lays his head in the younger’s lap and sighs, taking his hand and pulling it to rest on his head, encouraging him to play with his hair as he’d done multiple times before. it soothes him, maybe because his mother used to do it when he was young and had had a nightmare.
“i didn’t tell you but i auditioned for nova the other day. i wanted to wait to see where it went before i let people know, but... i didn’t make it. got the news today.” he says softly, the disappointment clear in his voice.