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donghae hated reading recipe books. he despised it with a passion. the truth was, whatever cooking he had learned was from his mother, the woman had been one to teach without proper instructions or measurements and somehow that worked for them. but now that donghae was attempting something new, he had no idea how he was supposed to follow the recipe.
he’d done this before with ryeowook, especially since the other man would follow recipes perfectly and create the most exquisite dishes for the rest of the group back when they all lived together in the dorm. but donghae would normally just be following ryeowook’s instructions then, deciding he was one who learned from directions rather than reading something out of a book and trying to emulate it.
except this time, he had no one else with him—just a recipe on his iPad and all the ingredients he needed in front of him. he was going to attempt making a cheesecake. why? because siwon liked it. it wasn’t like he couldn’t just go order one from the nearest bakery because he could and it would be the greatest cheesecake siwon would’ve ever eaten but it would lack the love he wanted siwon to taste in it.
it was cliche and that is precisely why donghae wouldn’t admit it to anyone but the truth was, he missed siwon and this was his way of reminding the other man just what he meant to him. they’d both left things on rocky terms when siwon had to travel for his own work commitments and even though he was only in japan, a short two and a half hour flight away, donghae felt as if the distance between them had gotten even larger.
“okay so i need to preheat the oven,” talking to himself like this was pretty normal for donghae especially when he was alone. although truthfully, sometimes even with siwon was home, he’d be doing this and he often wondered if it drove the other man nuts—even though he was too enamoured with donghae to say anything.
“now i should take the cookie crumbs, sugar and butter to mix together.” with a sigh, he gathered all his ingredients for the crust and began mixing them together. thanks to his lessons with his mother, he knew to mix the cookie crumbs and sugar together first before pouring in the melted better and starting to fold it all together. “this isn’t too bad.”
of course, he knew in the back of his mind that this wasn’t exactly the hard part of making cheesecake but it was boosting his confidence, and really—that’s what mattered. donghae was still vigorously mixing everything together when his phone began ringing, siwon’s face filling the screen. “shit!”
he couldn’t let him see that he was making something in the kitchen, and of course his boyfriend was trying to FaceTime him which meant he was bored at the airport and it took everything in him to press the red button before sighing and quickly wiping his hands on a dishcloth to text him. ‘at a meeting, i’ll meet you at home! love you.’
this was one of the worst lies donghae had told him, especially since siwon was aware of everyone’s schedules in the group that he’d have probably instantly realized that donghae was lying to him.
‘no problem! see you soon nae sarang!’
or maybe not? donghae had clearly lucked out today and he was going to use that entirely to his advantage as he began trying to follow the second step in the recipe. “i have to bake this? but—“ he ignored his own judgement and went ahead to pop the pan in the oven.
he turned around to get the cream cheese out of the fridge when his phone rang again and this time it was lee hyukjae, a fellow group member and one of their closest friends. but hyukjae was also the friend who teased both him and siwon often about how co-dependent they could be with one another.
donghae knew that but he really didn’t think there was anything wrong with it and as far as he knew—neither did siwon. still, he went ahead and answered the phone, hitting the button to turn on the speakerphone as he did. “what?”
“is that any way to greet the other half of your subunit?” hyukjae taunted before chuckling. “you know—without siwon, you’re kinda really sulky too. it’s like you both turn into unbearable versions of yourselves.”
“you know—without siwon, i find it hard to tolerate you too.”
“don’t lie donghae, you love me baby.”
“in your dreams. i need—“ he began trailing off once more as he read through the recipe. “crap i don’t have a beater.”
“a beater?” hyukjae questioned before falling silent. “i could come over and beat you?”
“do you really ever think your jokes are funny? hey wait hyukjae, is ryeowook around? can you ask him what i should do if i don’t have a beater?”
“ask him yourself. ryeowook, it’s donghae.” lee donghae waited patiently as the other man came onto the line and quickly launched into his array of questions. “hi ryeowook, i’m making cheesecake for siwon, and i don’t have a beater, can i just use a whisk? because apparently it wants me to beat a lot of things in and i don’t have—“
“you need a beater donghae. otherwise it won’t be a good cheesecake. but hey, you’re following a recipe, that’s great!”
except donghae didn’t think any of this was great. because now he’d have to go find a beater from somewhere and figure out how to use it. why was surprising someone so hard? why couldn’t it be easy?
oh right, because donghae wanted to go the extra mile and bake it himself for siwon.
“is there a beater at the dorm?” it was probably an easier solution than him going out to buy one and a part of him knew that ryeowook would try his best to help him out. “because i mean—going out to buy one will take too long and i don’t want to mess this up.”
“i’ll send henry over with it.” ryeowook reassured him, an unmistakable smile in his voice. “siwon’s gonna love it donghae, don’t worry too much.”
“i’ll try.”
and he was being honest, he’d try not to worry, but the truth was—making a meal for the man wasn’t as difficult because donghae had been doing that a lot, but this dessert was special and after hanging up on siwon, he just wanted to make sure the man knew how important he was to donghae.
——
henry arrived a short twenty minutes later with the beater and donghae took a couple minutes testing it out before going ahead and using it on the opened cream cheese that had been in the glass bowl. “huh, well this is definitely easier than having to try to whisk all this together.” he was smiling now, feeling a lot more relaxed than he had a little while ago. he knew he could do this, and while it might not turn out to be the best cheesecake in the world, he just knew siwon would appreciate it.
the cream cheese and sugar had been all beaten together and now he had to add in the cornstarch, vanilla and lemon zest. he hadn’t personally ever used lemon zest, but thanks to those cooking shows he sometimes liked to watch, he knew he had to use a grater to grate the skin of a lemon into his cream cheese. “maybe this won’t be too bad..”
but he looked at the sour cream that had to be added next and wrinkled his nose. wasn’t the cream cheese enough for the cheesecake? why would they add sour cream in as well? a part of him wanted to call ryeowook up and make sure this was normal, and this recipe wasn’t some stupid prank but he also didn’t want to appear stupid to the younger man either.
“okay—let’s add in the sour cream,” he sighed before putting in 3/4 cup of it into the bowl before mixing it together diligently. “now i just put this on the crust?” he read before looking back at the pan where his crust had baked into a beautiful golden brown.
“okay i have to bake this for ten minutes at 400 degrees before lowering the temperature for another twenty five minutes? i better set an alarm,” he quickly grabbed his forgotten phone from the counter and set the timer. he turned back around to look at the recipe on his iPad, surprised that there were still a few more steps to go.
donghae glanced at his time displayed on the microwave quickly before sighing. he still had more than enough time to get this dessert finished and get showered and changed before going to receive the love of his life from the airport. that was another surprise that he hadn’t told siwon about. only the manager knew and donghae had only taken him into confidence so that they could go together and he didn’t miss siwon’s arrival—because that would make it even worse.
“okay so once it’s done—turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake inside? while the door is open too? this is weird.” but he wasn’t going to doubt the recipe anymore. he’d make the conscious decision to follow it all the way through and would do so. he may have doubted the addition of the sour cream, but it was too late for that now.
especially since apparently he had to use the rest of the sour cream with some sugar and lemon juice to create a layer on top of the cheesecake as well. “next time—i’m going to find one that you don’t have to bake,” donghae murmured to himself as he began mixing it all together and tasting it quickly, his face grimacing at the use of lemon juice. “it needs more sugar,” he said quickly before adding a little bit more in and mixing it thoroughly.
donghae was about to pull the cheesecake out of the oven before he looked at the recipe and blinked a few times. “s—six hours? i have to let it chill for SIX hours before giving it to him?”
why oh why didn’t he read that part earlier? he’d wanted to surprise the man when they arrived home together, but at this rate, siwon would be eating the damn cheesecake at three in the morning.
(which actually wasn’t that far fetched of an idea since the two of them would probably be awake at that time too).
but donghae had wanted to surprise the man as soon as they were home, something that wouldn’t be happening now at all. still he sighed and began following the rest of the instructions. “this is stupid,” he murmured as he covered the cheesecake with this last layer before putting it into the fridge. “too bad i can’t put it in the freezer.”
or maybe he could?
he quickly dialled ryeowook’s number once more, waiting for the other man to pick up. “ryeowook hi, listen quick question—i’m an idiot and found a recipe that takes the damn cheesecake hours to cool, and was wondering if well—could i put it in the freezer?”
“are you serving him a frozen cheesecake? like is that what recipe you followed?”
donghae was silent for a few moments, scrolling up on his iPad, deciding to go read the title first before he answered ryeowook. “…no? it’s a classic new york cheesecake.”
“then you’re not putting it in the freezer,” ryeowook chuckled before shaking his head. “donghae, relax—even if he can’t eat it right away, i’m sure siwon’s gonna love that you made this for him. we all know how he loves cheesecake.”
donghae knew ryeowook was right, but right now—he was just annoyed that all his effort from this afternoon—wouldn’t even show until three in the morning. “okay okay, i’ll keep it in the fridge.”
“good choice, now—go get ready. his flight’s going to land soon.” ryeowook laughed into the phone. “don’t worry, none of us will call or come over to bother either of you.”
donghae could hear the teasing in the other man’s voice and rolled his eyes. “and here i thought you were one of the only members who didn’t tease us like this.”
“sorry—the opportunity is usually too good to pass up.”
donghae bid ryeowook goodbye before attaching his phone to the charger in the kitchen. he began cleaning up first, aware that if he wanted to impress his boyfriend, him entering a clean home was probably a good idea.
——
a little while later he was at the airport, hidden behind the tinted windows of the SUV while his eyes were trained on his phone. “he hasn’t texted yet.”
“he’s probably getting his luggage,” manager hyung responded, a little half heartedly at this point, since this was not the first time donghae had complained about siwon not texting him. “his flight did land though.” he presented his phone to donghae, where he could clearly see the status updates of siwon’s flight; arrival written across it in big bold letters.
“i just—don’t want him to take a taxi home or something. you did tell him we were coming—right?”
manager hyung nodded before taking a deep breath. “he’ll be here..”
and as if on cue, the window was knocked on and siwon stood on the other side, a large scarf around his neck, sunglasses on his face, and that dimpled smile that donghae had missed more than he could even express.
“siwonnie,” his voice was nearly breathless as he reached forward and threw open the door for the other man, not missing the way siwon’s eyes twinkled brighter than the stars, the exact second he saw donghae sitting in the car waiting for him. “hi,”
“i didn’t think you’d be here,” siwon replied, an incredulous tone attached to his voice. “i mean when i called you earlier…”
donghae just smiled, his arms wrapped around siwon’s neck, drawing him closer as the car started and pulled away from the curb. “i wanted to surprise you.”
“i’m definitely surprised,”
“good.” donghae murmured, knowing that he couldn’t exactly greet his boyfriend the way he wanted to, not with manager hyung driving them both back to their home, his eyes on them in the rear view mirror. “there are more surprises at home too,”
siwon only smiled in response, glad to see that whatever doubts had been forming in his mind on the flight back to seoul were all baseless. because when donghae had declined his call, siwon had instantly thought the worst, but it was becoming clearer that it was all in his head.
nothing between them had changed and he couldn’t be more thankful for that. “so want to tell me more about these surprises at home?”
“not really,” donghae retorted before snuggling in closer so that his head was resting against siwon’s chest. “take the scarf off,” but before siwon could even make a move to remove the garment from his body, donghae had already tugged it away. “that’s better.”
“always the cuddler, i missed you,”
“missed you too siwon,” donghae’s voice was quieter now, as if he was realizing all his thoughts and doubts about their relationship were completely unfounded. nothing had changed despite the distance between them and nothing would, not when they were each other’s biggest supports, no matter what life threw their way.