Empathy. Able to understand how somone else if feeling and not dictate their decisions only through themselves. Like the example I gave. He was able to figure out his partner was anxious and helped him cope through it. You can manage your own emotions as well. You can tell by how someone reacts and interacts with a emotional situation. Like jealousy. Do they lash out or do they communicate how they're feeling. Or stress. Do they try to calm themselves down or do they lash out at others because of it. Ect. I'm not physiological so take what i say with a grain of salt or whatever but that's as simply as I can put it

Holy shit I love our farmer boy he's so smart. Not just for the reporter thing bit immediately clocking his partner's anxiety. He's not even a green flag the flag is gold they're both green flags.(ad far as I can tell) he's emotionally intelligent which is surprisingly rare in bl/yaoi