Chapter Text
“Today on Nailed It China, we bring you three pairs who work together but have never baked together. What could go wrong? First, we have Zhou Ye and Ma Wenyuan who have worked side-by-side in a bubble tea shop for nearly one year and become great friends! Are you nervous about trying something different?”
“A little,” Zhou Ye says sheepishly, and the two exchange a smile that looks far too sweet to be between coworkers, even friendly ones.
“Sure, I smile at all my friends like that,” Zhang Zhehan whispers, just loud enough for Gong Jun to hear. (Their mics are off until it’s their turn to be introduced.)
“Yes, you do,” Gong Jun teases, his voice so low it sounds a little strained.
“Next,” the host, He Jiong, continues, “we have Huang Youming and Chen Zihan, who are high school teachers, and very strict ones, I’m told. Do you think your students will laugh at you if you struggle on the show?”
“They wouldn’t dare.” Huang Youming’s delivery is absolutely deadpan
He Jiong laughs. “I sure wouldn’t. For our last team, Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan are up-and-coming actors.”
“That’s a nice way of saying we’re unsuccessful,” Zhehan quips, and he’s pleased when he also gets a laugh from the host.
“Well, maybe if you win today, more people will notice you. These two met in an acting class two years ago and have since appeared together in one play and two TV shows you’ve probably never heard of. We’ll see if their baking is more successful.”
He Jiong quickly introduces their other judges, Yang Lu, a pastry chef that Zhehan has never heard of, and Wang Yibo, a popular actor that he has heard of. “You mentioned you’ve watched the show before. I hope you’re looking forward to tasting these bakers’ creations.”
Yibo gives what is probably supposed to be a polite smile but looks more like a grimace. “I’m…curious to see how things turn out.”
“Aren’t we all?” He Jiong smiles. “Let’s get started. Today, our theme is sports!” Gong Jun turns to grin at Zhehan, knowing he’ll be pleased with that. “That means that for our first challenge, you’re going to make these…winter Olympics sport-themed cupcakes!”
A door opens to reveal the cupcakes, and Zhehan winces. He watched a few episodes of the show to know what he would be facing here, but in person, the cupcakes look especially complicated, full of pesky details. “Wow,” Gong Jun says beside him.
“There’s a figure skater, a hockey player, and a snowboarder, each holding their own sporting equipment made out of modeling chocolate. On the count of three, you can pick which one you want and start baking. You have one hour.”
“Snowboarder,” Zhehan says, thinking that that one looks the least fiddly. Gong Jun nods.
They don’t have time for any further discussion before He Jiong counts down and they’re off. Zhehan is fast and competitive and he’s sure he’ll get there first, but Huang Youming straight up body checks him aside before capturing the snowboarder for his team. Zhehan is more than a little annoyed, but he doesn’t waste time before grabbing the hockey player for himself. That leaves a much more restrained Zhou Ye and Ma Wenyuan to take the figure skater, with its complicated-looking skates.
“Did you see what he did?” Zhehan demands as they hurry over to their station. Gong Jun wisely stayed out of the fray, trusting Zhehan to get there faster. “Is this a baking competition or a rugby match?”
“Forget it.” Gong Jun’s smile soothes Zhehan’s irritation. “We’ll just have to make the better cupcake.”
“Right.” Zhehan turns his competitive tendencies to the task at hand. They pull up the recipe and start to read, both leaning close to the screen to make sure they don’t miss anything important. “Let’s take out all the ingredients and then you can make the cupcakes and I’ll start on the frosting and decorations.”
“Okay. Let’s do that.” Gong Jun sounds a little flustered, and Zhehan turns to him without moving away from the recipe screen, his face mere inches away.
“Relax,” he says reassuringly. “Those muffins you brought in for rehearsal that time were great. You can do this.”
Gong Jun nods once, firmly, and then quickly turns away. “I’ll get the butter."
For a while, they work in silence, Zhehan occasionally glancing over to see Gong Jun very focused as he adds butter and sugar and eggs and whatever else goes in cupcakes to the bowl of the stand mixer. It’s a lot like the focused look Zhehan has seen him wear when he’s memorizing lines or trying to understand his character’s motivations, although then he doesn’t usually have a smudge of flour on his cheek. With a smile, Zhehan swipes his thumb across Gong Jun’s cheek in an only semi-successful attempt to wipe it off. Gong Jun starts and looks at him with wide eyes, making Zhehan chuckle. “Flour,” he explains.
“Oh.” Gong Jun smiles wryly. “I’m sure there’ll be lots more of that. It’s hard to bake neatly."
“Especially when you’re in a big hurry.” Zhehan pauses, still looking at Gong Jun, and then actually thinks about what he said. “Right, hurrying.”
Turning back to his mixer, Zhehan tries to remember how much powdered sugar he added. “Two measuring cups, right?” he mutters.
“What?” Gong Jun asks.
“Nothing.” Zhehan pours out more powdered sugar. “I can’t wait to hear what my mom has to say about my baking.”
Gong Jun snickers. “I bet she’ll have a lot of stern notes for you. Or just tell you you’re not allowed in the kitchen ever again.”
“Is your mom a good baker?” He Jiong asks.
“She’s a great cook!” Zhehan responds enthusiastically. “I’ve never seen her make cupcakes, though, so maybe she won’t have too strong an opinion about mine.” He laughs. “But she probably will anyway.”
“You know she will.” Gong Jun pauses to check the recipe. “Can you grab the salt?”
“Sure.” Zhehan finds a container of salt and opens the pour tab, adding a small amount to the cupcake batter just as Gong Jun turns back to the mixer.
“Wait!” he protests. “You didn’t measure?”
“Oh, uh…” Zhehan smiles sheepishly, and Gong Jun does a melodramatic facepalm.
“Da-ge,” he whines, “baking is a science! You can’t just play it by ear.”
“Science was never my best subject. What if we add a little extra sugar to counteract the salt?”
“Um…” Gong Jun doesn’t look convinced, but after a moment he just shrugs. “Go for it. But just a little.”
“Gong Jun, you’re looking worried,” He Jiong calls over. “Is everything okay there?”
“We’re doing great!” Zhehan replies with such chipper enthusiasm that Gong Jun bursts out laughing, Zhehan joining in a moment later.
“I’m very convinced,” Yang Lu says dryly.
Their cupcakes, such as they are, make it into the oven and the frosting looks ready, so they set to work on the decorations, including the hockey player's face and hands and stick. “I have no idea what I’m doing,” Gong Jun says as they start to shape the chocolate, and somehow that makes Zhehan laugh. Gong Jun gives him a funny look but starts chuckling himself a moment later. “At least we’re having fun.”
One hour seemed like a decent amount of time when they started, but by the time the cupcakes come out of the oven (several minutes after their competitors’), they’re starting to feel frantic. “These don’t look right, do they?” Gong Jun asks, frowning at the tray of strangely flat cupcakes.
“Are they baked?” When Gong Jun nods, Zhehan says, “Then they’ll have to do. We don’t have time to make another batch. Let’s decorate them.”
They stack two cupcakes as directed and cover them in frosting, which promptly melts on the insufficiently cooled cupcakes. “Oh boy,” Zhehan says, and they both start laughing and can’t stop, even as they haphazardly race to get all their decorations onto the cupcakes and hope the result will be something vaguely hockey player-shaped.
“I think Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun are losing it,” He Jiong says.
“And they’re going to lose this competition!” puts in Huang Youming.
“You wait and see!” Zhehan retorts, but he ruins it by bursting out laughing again a second later. That only makes Gong Jun laugh louder, and they’re both still going when the buzzer rings for the end of the round.
“We’re a mess,” Gong Jun says, dropping his head onto Zhehan’s shoulder, but he doesn’t sound at all upset, still giggling.
“Hopefully it still tastes good,” is the only consolation Zhehan has to offer.
They cover their cupcake, such as it is, and stand before the judges. Zhehan fights the urge to keep laughing and turns to find Gong Jun’s eyes twinkling, his lips pressed tightly together.
Zhou Ye and Ma Wenyuan go first, revealing their creation. Two misshapen lumps that are probably intended to be skates are on the table next to their figure skater, who has no arms but a not-too-ridiculous face and frosting that is messy but not too badly melted.
The judges laugh, but He Jiong says, “I can see a resemblance, kind of. What happened to your skates?”
“Uh, I guess I don’t know too well what skates look like?” Wenyuan offers weakly.
“Decorating isn’t his strong suit,” Zhou Ye puts in, her fond smile belying the criticism.
“Do you not know what arms look like either?” Yibo asks. Everyone laughs, even Wenyuan.
Zhehan and Gong Jun are up next, and Zhehan tries not to grimace as they show off their result with an enthusiastic, “Nailed it!” The laughter they finally managed to quiet comes back with a vengeance as they see that the frosting has almost entirely melted off, their cupcakes held together only by a skewer in the middle. The hockey player’s arms and stick are where they should be, but his face is an abject disaster.
The judges and the other contestants join them in laughing, and Zhehan can’t even be offended when it is, objectively, hilarious. “Let’s hope it tastes better than it looks,” says Yang Lu when she manages to stop laughing.
Finally, Youming and Chen Zihan unveil their creation. The snowboarder’s board is crooked and his mouth has fallen off, but there’s at least a clear resemblance to what they were supposed to make, with frosting on the cupcakes instead of melted onto the plate.
“I’ve definitely seen worse,” He Jiong says. He glances in Zhehan and Gong Jun’s direction and they both start laughing again, hiding behind their hands.
Next, the judges taste each cupcake. Gong Jun looks nervous, so Zhehan nudges him with his shoulder. “Relax. You know how to bake.”
“Do I?” Gong Jun’s expression is half wry smile and half puppy dog-esque pout, and both halves make Zhehan smile.
“And even if you don’t, I still love you.”
Gong Jun gives an amused little huff and shakes his head before turning to watch the judges try Zhou Ye and Wenyuan’s cupcake. “It’s overbaked,” Yang Lu says, “so it’s pretty dry, but the taste is good.” Wenyuan smiles like that’s high praise, and Zhou Ye looks satisfied.
“I would have liked more frosting to counter the dryness,” He Jiong puts in, “but it’s not bad.”
Yang Lu frowns when she takes a forkful of Zhehan and Gong Jun’s cupcake. “It looks very dense, and the cupcakes are quite flat. Did you remember the baking powder?”
“I…I think so?” Gong Jun flashes Zhehan an adorably sheepish grimace that says he’s not at all sure of that.
It only gets worse when the judges start eating. Yibo barely puts it in his mouth before hiding behind his hand to spit it out. “It’s salty and too sweet at the same time.”
“It’s not overwhelmingly sweet,” Yang Lu says like she’s trying to cheer them up, “but there’s definitely too much sugar and salt.”
“My fault.” Zhehan nods apologetically to Gong Jun. “Next time I’ll stick to decorating and let Gong Jun bake.”
“I’m not sure that’s any better,” Yibo mutters, making everyone laugh again.
“The frosting is also too sweet, I think, so it’s just as well there’s only a little,” He Jiong adds.
“Did you taste your frosting?” Yang Lu asks.
“Oops.” Zhehan immediately repeats his apologetic nod, making Gong Jun smile and wave off his apology while the others laugh.
Zihan and Youming’s cupcake earns a much better reaction, with He Jiong smiling as soon as he eats it. “It’s good! Moist and with the right amount of sweetness, and the frosting is nice too.”
Given that, it’s no surprise when He Jiong declares Chen Zihan and Huang Youming the winners of this round. Youming sticks his tongue out at Zhehan because apparently that’s the kind of relationship they have, despite having only met this morning. Gong Jun responds in kind, while Zhehan gives him a “You’d better watch out” look, wagging his finger in the older man’s direction.
“Now, Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan, you two had a little bit of trouble this round,” He Jiong continues, “so we’ll give you some help in the next round. When you push the “Party!” button on your station, the other teams will have to stop working and sing and dance to popular songs with me for three minutes.”
Zhehan shares a pleased smirk with Gong Jun, who laughs. “You’ll have way too much fun with that.”
“Oh, I will.” He gives Youming another look for good measure.
Satisfied, the director ends the scene and tells them it’s time for lunch. Zhehan throws an arm around Gong Jun’s shoulders, the taller man agreeably slouching down to match him. “We’ve gotten all our mistakes out of the way, so we’ll do better next round. I know you can do it.”
“Not you?” Gong Jun asks dryly.
Zhehan laughs. “I’ll do my best.”