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The blueberry cheesecake from the university cafeteria is actually delicious, if Seungmin just closed his eyes and imagined that he was taking a bite of his favorite Green Bon Delicieux instead. The green tea cake that he loved so dearly is no match for this gooey blob that his best friend dubs the "best dessert in the world." No offense to Jisung, who devoted his entire life to devouring every cheesecake he sees, but this particular type of dessert isn’t really something he would enjoy. Scratch that, he doesn't really enjoy the very presence of the cheesecake at all.
Cheesecake is too… soft and jiggly for his liking, but that would actually be very hypocritical of him to say since he liked eating jellies. There's just something about seeing and eating a cheesecake that churns his stomach. In a bad way. In an “I don’t hate it but I don’t like it” type of way.
There is a lot of food categories that he doesn’t like. Cheesecake is first on the list, followed by cheese, then peaches, and graham crackers, then pineapples, and the list goes on…
Cheesecakes look appetizing because there’s a variety of flavors and toppings available, but it’s too sweet and gooey for Seungmin’s liking. Much to his displeasure, he really can't escape from cheesecakes when your best friend is the literal human personification of the said dessert.
“I’m now revoking your rights as my best friend. How could you insult my beloved cheesecake in front of me like that?” Jisung yells, pointing an accusatory finger at Seungmin. He looks at Seungmin as if Seungmin had just committed the worst crime known to man: being a cheesecake anti.
It’s not like he was allergic or anything, because “you really can’t be allergic to cheesecake.” That was according to Jisung, who shut down his complaints with an “I’ll come with you to the dog cafe if you take a bite,” when Seungmin tried to use that excuse the first time.
After taking a bite of Jisung’s fat slice of cafeteria cheesecake, Seungmin can’t help but contain the swirling feeling in his guts and force himself to swallow the damn dessert just to appease his best friend. One of these days, he's gonna have to make up a variety of excuses to avoid Jisung's attempts to trick him into eating the dessert. Or... he could just make a run for it, Jisung wouldn't think twice.
“So how was it?” Jisung asks, looking at him intently, watching Seungmin’s reaction. It's obvious that he was expecting Seungmin to gag and squirm in his seat. This little shit already knows that I don't like cheesecake, Seungmin thinks.
“It’s good, it was sweet.” He replies, forcing a small grin and nodding his head to make his cheesecake judgment more convincing.
“You totally hate it.”
It’s no surprise that Jisung knows exactly what Seungmin thinks. Growing up with Jisung practically sewn by his side has its advantages ...and disadvantages.
“It’s not like I hate it, it’s just weird for me?”
Jisung looks at him with a mix of disbelief and fondness. “I know you didn’t like it. You actually sneered at it the moment I set it on the table. I just wanted to directly hear that you don’t like it so I won’t be compelled to pretend and ask you if you want to share.”
“I won’t be surprised that you always have a hidden motive for everything,” Seungmin says, cleansing his palette with a mouthful of tuna pasta. He's five seconds into chewing the pasta and there's still the blueberry tinge of the cheesecake he just ate.
“It’s not my fault that you’re a cheesecake hater. A cheesecake anti. I bet you join an organization called “I Dislike Cheesecake” and make weekly rounds around the local cafes just to sneer at the cheesecake displays.”
“Okay, first of all, I can tell that Hyunjin’s dramatics are rubbing off on you.” Seungmin swirls his fork and prepares to take another bite of pasta. “And second, I don’t sneer at cheesecakes. I don’t sneer at all.”
Jisung looks at him, “Yes you do, you sneer at things that annoy you. See? You’re sneering at me right now!” He yells, getting the attention of the nearby students.
Seungmin bites down on his lips, stopping himself from letting out a chuckle.
Jisung realizes what he just said about three minutes later.
— — —
Being a student at Gosaeng University was Seungmin’s dream since he was 10 years old. However, its cost and the workload given will literally make a person dream, dream that they have the money and willpower to finish the semester. Seungmin got accepted through a full scholarship program because his parents cannot financially support him by themselves.
He eventually got used to spending as little as he can, just so he can keep his finances in check. He never thought that he would experience being a broke college student, but here he is now. Standing in line at the Freeze cafe’s cashier, he makes a mental note of reprimanding Jisung because of his expensive food preferences.
But, nothing matters right now, because it’s Jisung’s birthday!
As a kind friend, who was also threatened to show up with a cheesecake, he decides to buy the Brownie Bottom Cheesecake that Jisung absolutely adores. His best friend only gets to eat his favorite dessert once a year, and it’s on his birthday, when no one can complain about anything and everything.
Wanting to spoil his friend at least once, Seungmin walks up to the guy at the cashier.
“Good morning, welcome to Freeze. What would you like?” The person at the cashier said in the most dull and soulless manner that Seungmin has ever heard in his entire life.
He looked at the person, and it was a guy around his age. The guy looked somewhat familiar, but he can’t really tell from where.
“I’d like the Brownie Bottom Cheesecake, please. The whole one.”
“Sorry, but we’re actually out of Brownie Bottom Cheesecake.”
Seungmin shifts at his spot, he hates inconvenient moments like this.
“Well, what other cheesecake do you have?” The man turns his head and looks through the open back door. “We only have one cheesecake left since it’s already 7 in the evening. God’s Menu cheesecake, take it or leave it.”
Seungmin looks at the illuminated LED menu that the cafe has above the cashier. The God’s Menu cheesecake costs $40! What do they even put in there to make it so expensive?
“Oh…um…”
“Can you please hurry up sir? You’re holding up the line.”
Seungmin looked back, there was no line. It’s either the cashier was hallucinating or he desperately just wants his shift to end.
He looked inside his wallet, he brought enough money, but he certainly did not want to spend this much.
Just as Seungmin was about to go on his knees and beg the cashier to give him a discount… or a loan… anything just so he can bring a cheesecake home for Jisung to inhale the whole thing in 90 seconds, another man walks out from the back door.
“What’s taking you so long, Jeongin? Our shift ends in 10 minutes, help me clean up,” the man says.
Now that Seungmin can see the man in full view, he was taken aback. It was Lee Minho, a student from one of his performing arts classes, with chocolate stains on his bright yellow apron and marks of flour on his face.
The Lee Minho that Seungmin has a crush on for about a year now.
He didn’t know what took over him, but he came out of the cafe with a box of overpriced cheesecake, and a memory of Minho smiling at him sweetly when he bought the last dessert they had.
— — —
“This project is killing me! I don’t think I’ll be able to make it to JYPE.”
It’s now three weeks later, and Seungmin is once again burdened with Jisung’s loud presence.
His friend has been working on this project for three months now, but every time they talk about it, all Jisung says is that it’s super difficult.
Seungmin cleaned Jisung’s room a week ago and found the file open on his laptop, he’s 90% done with the said project.
“You can! Maybe you need motivation or some sort…” Seungmin says, and he realizes what he said a minute too late.
“You know what can motivate me?” Jisung asks, springing from his seat and looking at Seungmin with bright eyes. He wiggles his eyebrows and Seungmin knows exactly what he means.
“Your cheesecake addiction isn’t healthy.”
“My cheesecake addiction motivates me to reach my deadlines. Now go, little earthling, fetch me the dessert from thy heavens.”
Seungmin sighed, unable to stop his friend from injecting cheesecake into his veins for the fourth time this week.
He walked up to the cheesecake booth in hopes to get a slice of a cheap one. With his terrible luck, there wasn’t any cheesecake left.
He turned on his heel and …boom. He mentally curses himself for not looking where he was going, and now he just bumped into Lee Minho.
“Hey, are you alright?” Minho asks, extending an arm for Seungmin to accept and lift himself from the ground.
God. This looks like a scene from a cliché teen rom-com movie that Seungmin constantly avoids when skimming through the Netflix catalogs. He cringes, but only internally, because he’ll take whatever chance he gets to hold Minho’s hand.
“I’m fine,” Seungmin says, dusting off the non-existent dirt on his sweater.
“What were you doing there?”
“Oh, I was actually looking for some cheesecake," he looks back to the booth and turns to face Minho once more, "But there’s no more left.”
Minho looked at him, lips breaking into a smile, “Actually, we have more in the back. Let me get them for you. Wait for me at the counter.”
Seungmin watched Minho make his way to the cafeteria kitchen. Did Minho work here? Is he volunteering?
He came out about two minutes later, holding a plate of strawberry cheesecake. He hands the plate to Seungmin, with a set of tissues and a metallic fork. “You’re the one that ordered our last cheesecake at Freeze cafe, right? I’m glad that there’s another cheesecake enthusiast here like me.”
Seungmin accepts the plate and hands Minho his payment.
“Woah, it’s okay. Consider it as an apology for bumping into you earlier.”
“Hyung, I was the one who bumped into you.”
Minho laughs, “But I wasn’t the one who landed on their ass. Just take the cheesecake.”
Seungmin thanked Minho and made his way back to their table. If Minho insists that the cheesecake is free, then it’s free. He’ll take the opportunity to save money every chance he gets. Jisung rewards his effort with a kiss on his cheek before devouring the whole thing.
— — —
Seungmin is in the kitchen, preparing the snacks for their friend group’s monthly movie night, which is scheduled every 18th of the month. Since it’s October 18th, it's now his turn to make the food preparations. Being the meticulous person that he is, he specifically prepared eight personalized snacks that are perfectly catered for his friends’ tastes.
Brownies and a smoothie for Felix, s’mores and latte for Hyunjin, Green Bon Delicieux and Iced Americano for him, and of course, cheesecake for Jisung. He made him a cup of Iced Americano too just so he won’t choke on his food.
“Seungminnie, where do you keep your tissues? Jisung spilled his juice on the floor. Again.” Hyunjin calls out from the living room.
“It’s not my fault, Seungminnie! That dumpling was tickling me!” Jisung protests.
“I was NOT.”
“You were.”
“For heaven’s sake, Seungminnie, these two were flirting! Jisung knocked over his glass because Hyunjin kept trying to kiss him.”
Seungmin thinks that Felix is the only sane one in his friend group.
He pauses from his snack arrangement episode and walks over to the cabinet, grabbing a handful of paper towels and heading towards the living room, where he sees a puddle of orange liquid in the middle of the living room floor. Thankfully, the juice did not reach the newly-bought rug that Jisung got from the flea market three days ago.
As he was wiping the juice from the floor, their doorbell rang. It must be the cheesecake.
It was answered by Felix, of course, because Hyunjin and Jisung were too busy arguing whether clouds are gas or liquid.
“Seungminnie, the cheesecake is here!” Felix yells.
A millisecond later, a wild Jisung appears and snatches the box from the delivery guy’s hands.
Seungmin walks up to the door and is greeted by… Lee Minho. Damn, this guy is everywhere.
“How many jobs do you have, hyung? You always seem to show up whenever there’s cheesecake involved.” Seungmin says while handing Minho the payment.
“You were the one who keeps looking for cheesecake though, so of course you’ll see me.” Minho says with a chuckle, and a small grin on his face.
“Maybe I’ll see more of you then, since I like cheesecake too much.” Seungmin replies teasingly, he meant it as a joke, but he thinks that Minho took him seriously.
“I’m looking forward to it, have a great night!” Minho says and bids Seungmin goodbye.
— — —
The following day at school, a slice of cheesecake gets delivered to him by the lunch lady.
“Did you order this, Jisung?” Seungmin asked, eyeing the cheesecake intently.
It looked like there were peaches on top, and it smelled nice too. He thinks that he hasn't seen this flavor before.
“Nope, but I’ll be glad to eat it though.”
Seungmin looks around, hoping to find the person who would send the dessert to him. Maybe it was a prank? Maybe somebody was trying to poison him.
He scans the cafeteria, and then he sees him. Minho, leaning against the counter, looking directly at him, but then shifted his eyes when Seungmin caught him staring.
Why would Minho send him a cheesecake, though? He thought of giving it to Jisung, but it was obvious that Minho wanted him to eat it.
Picking up his fork, he took a bite out of the cheesecake. Yup, it was peaches, alright. The bottom was a graham cracker crust. He swallows it down and puts on his brightest smile.
He turns to Minho, who was already looking at him, and gave him a thumbs up. Minho seems to buy that, because he smiled at Seungmin sweetly before waving goodbye and going to the kitchen.
“Woah, dude. You’ll actually eat the food that you don’t like just to impress a guy? Big respect for you man.” Jisung chimes in and taps his back while lightly nodding approvingly.
Shit. He forgot that Jisung was watching the whole time, and now his best friend has something to tease him for.
Seungmin pushes the plate to Jisung with a faint blush on his cheeks, “Shut up.”
— — —
The next day, Seungmin was eating alone because Jisung had to go to JYPE for his internship. Yes, he finished his project and got accepted as an intern, maybe that cheesecake did help him after all.
He half-expected it, but he was still surprised when the lunch lady approached him and set a slice of cheesecake on his table.
“It’s already paid, enjoy,” she says, just like what she said yesterday.
Seungmin already knows who it’s from, but just to make sure, he scans the whole place until his eyes land on a familiar purple hair. Minho was staring at him again, looking slightly nervous. Seungmin smiles at him, and he smiles back, shoulders relaxing a little.
The cheesecake today was green. Maybe it’s matcha.
Seungmin takes a bite, it doesn’t taste bad as he expected. After all, his favorite dessert is a green tea cake. So, he takes another bite, and then another.
Jisung wasn’t here to finish his cheesecake today, so he forced himself to eat the whole thing. Surprisingly, he liked it.
He looks over at Minho again, this time putting two thumbs up, which Minho acknowledges with a small nod before waving and going back to the kitchen.
— — —
The day after, he skipped lunch. Not voluntarily, of course. He had a deadline coming up, and failing in Gosaeng isn’t something that was written in his life plan journal.
He was making his way to the library, he needed to write 500 more words for his research paper. The minimum word count was 2000, his paper had 2600, and he needed 500 more …just because.
Writing essays wasn't really a problem for him, though. After all, he is a member of Gosaeng’s university paper In Life.
He entered the library and walked to the back, wanting all the peace and quiet for himself. He saw a vacant chair, and there was just one other person sitting there, so it was good enough for him.
When he pulled the chair, the person looked up at him. It was Momo, a senior, who is also a part of the school paper. He greeted her and proceeded to sit down and type furiously at his laptop.
Seungmin knows how to write bomb essays, so he really doesn’t need to stress about this paper too much. However, his perfectionist ass can’t handle the possibility that he won’t get a perfect grade.
Momo clears her throat, getting Seungmin’s attention.
He stopped typing and looked at her, expecting her to say something.
“Professor Taeyeon wants us to write five more articles that are due in the next two weeks. This will be formally announced in the meeting tomorrow, but I’m giving you a heads up just in case.”
Seungmin nods, “Do you know what articles are needed?”
“I heard from Mina that they need 3 sports coverage and 2 business features. Which one would you like?”
Seungmin gulped, he couldn’t write sports articles for shit, and business features weren’t exactly his thing either. But then again, he needed to write more articles since the school paper gives him extra credits for his writing classes.
“I’ll take one business feature, if that’s alright.”
“That would be great, actually! Also, you don’t need to attend the meeting tomorrow since you already know the details. I’ll just inform Taeyeon-seonsaengnim that you’ll take the business one.” Momo says, packing her bag and bidding goodbye to Seungmin.
He didn’t know what he got himself into. None of his friends are business majors, and he doesn’t know anyone who runs a business. Sighing, he shifts his focus back on his forgotten research paper.
He’ll take care of the problem later.
— — —
It was finally the weekend. What was a rest day for everyone was just a normal school day for Seungmin.
Right now, he needed to brainstorm for the business article he was supposed to write. He’s been sitting at the nearby cafe at his house for about two hours now. Still nothing.
As he was about to pack up and go home, a person sat down in front of him.
“Hi,” the person greeted. It was, yet again, Lee Minho.
He looked surprisingly good today, he looked good everyday, but Seungmin was now sitting half a meter away from him and he can definitely tell that he looked good.
“Are you sure you’re not stalking me?” Seungmin asks, teasing the older.
Minho’s ears were turning pink already, “I wasn’t! I swear this was a coincidence.” He said, putting his arms up in defense.
“Then what about the times I caught you staring at me at the cafeteria? And the cheesecakes you deliver for free?”
Minho scratched the back of his nape, looking sheepish. “Well, when I delivered the cheesecake to your house, you said you liked cheesecake. I’ve been trying new recipes lately, and since you liked them, I kind of selected you as my taste tester.”
“I might be biased when it comes to tasting your cheesecakes though,” Seungmin says, which earns him a laugh from Minho.
“Um… do you like the new recipes though? I’ll stop sending you samples if you’re uncomfortable with it.”
For the nth time, Seungmin absolutely doesn’t like cheesecake, but he doesn’t have the heart to tell Minho that. After all, being Minho’s personal cheesecake-taste-tester guarantees him more interactions with him in the future!
“I like them, of course! Although, I liked the green tea more,” Seungmin replies. “Wait, didn’t you say that you make cheesecakes? You’re the one that makes the cheesecakes at the cafeteria?”
“I actually run a cheesecake business as a side job. I supply the cheesecake for Freeze, the school cafeteria, and I have an online shop too.”
“Wow, where do you get the time to do all that? Are you a god, or something?” Seungmin says, clearly in shock, he even barely has any time from balancing his studies and school paper responsibilities. To be fair, it was his fault because he was double majoring in Psychology and Performing Arts, with Psychology as his Pre-Law and Performing Arts as his passion.
“I’m glad that you’re comparing me to a god.” Minho says with a smirk on his face.
“Or something,” Seungmin emphasizes.
Minho chuckles, “Well, I’m graduating this year, and the only project that I have in pending is the school festival in December. So, I have a lot of free time.”
Today’s the 22nd of October, so the school festival is just less than two months away.
He knew that Minho was a graduating student, but he didn’t know that he had this much time to even start a business. Speaking of business…
“I have a favor to ask…” Seungmin says while looking at Minho.
“Ask away.”
“So, I have to write a business feature for the school paper. Since you run your own business, can I interview you?”
Minho took no longer than a second to say “Yes.”
And so, Seungmin spent the next three hours interviewing him. Actually, it was just two hours, the third hour was spent on them talking about themselves and their interests.
“What were you doing in this cafe? Didn’t you work at Freeze? You’re committing cafe betrayal right now.” Seungmin says in the middle of their conversation.
“I’m going on a cheesecake review,” Minho replies, taking a sip of his Iced Americano.
“A what?”
“It’s when you do monthly rounds on your competitor’s cheesecakes to make sure that yours is still better.”
“I can guarantee that your cheesecakes are better, though.”
“Aww, you flatter me too much.”
“When is your birthday, by the way?” Seungmin asks.
“I’m pretty sure they don’t need to know my birthday in that article you’re writing,” Minho says teasingly.
“This isn’t for the article, hyung. I just want to know.”
“Ah, developing an interest for me I see.”
Seungmin doesn’t know how he can keep his nonchalant facade any longer, talking to Minho is internally making his heart burst.
“It’s on the 25th.”
“That’s on Tuesday already.” Three days left.
“Do you have any plans?” Seungmin asks casually, in an attempt to hide the nervousness from what he’s about to do.
“Why? Are you asking me out, Seungmin-ssi?”
“It’s for the business article!” Seungmin defends. “I’m going to write up a draft first then I’ll meet you for a follow-up interview if you’re fine with it,” he adds.
Really, Seungmin? Asking to interview your crush on his birthday?
“I do have plans, but it’s on a Wednesday, so I’m free.” He looks at his watch for a second, “Since it’s already late, I’ll continue my cheesecake inspection next time. If we finish the interview early, will you accompany me then?”
“That’s what you want for your birthday? A cheesecake review?”
Minho clears his throat, “Well, we could grab dinner afterwards, if you’re still free.”
“Of course I am.”
Seungmin went home that night all smiley and bouncy for Jisung to not notice anything.
“It’s a date!” Seungmin yells at Jisung, and they order pizza for the night to celebrate.
— — —
As Seungmin was about to drift to dreamland, he realized that he forgot one thing. Minho’s phone number.
He calls up Hyunjin, who answered immediately.
“Wow, I can’t believe you’re calling me, Seungminnie. It’s been like.. months!”
“I called you two weeks ago to come over.”
“That’s different!” Seungmin could hear Hyunjin’s pout through the phone.
“Anyway, do you, by any chance, have Minho-hyung’s number?”
He heard a shriek from the other line, “Is this real? Seungmin, are you finally going to ask him out!?” Hyunjin screams from the phone.
“I did, technically, but I forgot to get his number.”
“That’s very stupid of you, Seungminnie.”
“I’ll cut your hair off once you set foot in my house again.”
Hyunjin laughs, “I don’t have his number unfortunately, but I think Lixie does. I’ll tell him to text it to you then.”
“Okay, thank you so much,” Seungmin says and Hyunjin hangs up.
Two minutes later, Felix sends him Minho’s number with the message: You owe me another trip to the baking supplies store next time, your treat >:)
— — —
He texts Minho the next day.
Hi, hyung.
This is Seungmin :)
Hi~
I forgot to give you my number
Sorry ㅋㅋㅋ
It’s okay, I got it from Felix
What Seungmin meant for a simple text blew up into a full conversation, which, unfortunately, ended at 1 in the morning because they still had classes the next day. He learns that Minho was not a dry texter at all, having been a victim of Minho's habit to send multiple pictures of himself with different SNOW filters. Also, he spams a LOT of cat gifs and pictures. At some point in their conversation, he sent a picture of his three cats which he introduced to Seungmin as Soonie, Doongie, and Dori.
Seungmin went to sleep with a smile on his face.
— — —
On Monday, Minho delivered another cheesecake. This time, it was peanut butter. He surprisingly almost ate half of it before giving it to Jisung when Minho went back into the kitchen.
“You said his birthday was tomorrow, right? What will you get him?” Jisung asks, finishing the peanut butter cheesecake.
Oh god. He forgot.
In true Seungmin fashion, his first instinct was to panic, “This is an emergency, Jisung! I don’t know what to get him.”
“Woah, calm down. Didn’t you say that he invited you to get dinner as well? What if you just pay for your dinner?”
“What if he takes us to a really expensive restaurant? My current money won’t even cover half the price of the food there.”
Jisung went silent for a minute, lightly tapping his chin as he thinks of another way. “What if you bake something for him? Brownies, maybe? So he could get a break from all the cheesecake around him. You could ask Lixie to help you.”
Felix also mentioned going to the baking store the other day. It’s perfect!
“Jisung, I love you and your smart brain,” Seungmin says and tackles his best friend into a hug.
— — —
He texts Felix and asks if he’s free. And Felix, bless his kind heart, agrees.
They met up at Park’s baking supplies store. They chose this store specifically because Jihyo-noona gives them a discount because they are “her favorite dongsaengs.”
While looking at the chocolate aisle, he spots a familiar face. Guess who? It’s Lee Minho.
Seungmin is starting to think that the universe is setting them up together now. Well, if that was the case, Seungmin is going to thank the universe with his whole heart.
Felix beats Seungmin to it and greets Minho. He looks up and faces both of them, lips breaking into a smile as soon as he saw Seungmin.
“Hi, hyung. What are you doing here?”
“I’m buying new ingredients for a new cheesecake recipe. Seungmin here, is my personal taste-tester,” Minho answers.
Felix looks at Seungmin, confusion written all over his face. “Taste-tester? I thought you didn’t like cheesecake? Jisung said that you’re part of that ‘I Dislike Cheesecake’ organization that makes weekly rounds around the local cafes just to sneer at the cheesecake displays?”
Oh, Felix.
“There’s no such thing as that, Lixie, Jisung is trying to brainwash you into thinking I don’t like cheesecake so he won’t have to share it with me.” Seungmin says with a nervous laugh.
Minho cleared his throat, “What about you guys? What are you doing here?”
“Seungminnie needs my help to bake brownies for a special friend’s birthday tomor…oh…” Felix goes silent mid-sentence. He looks at Seungmin with his puppy eyes, as if saying “I’m sorry.”
“I’m sure that special friend would be delighted to receive some brownies for his birthday,” Minho answers while chuckling. He says goodbye to them because he still needs to finish an order.
While preparing the ingredients back in the apartment, Seungmin’s phone chimed. It was a text message from Minho.
I like fudgy brownies, by the way
Just thought you should know
;)
Oh, Minho is an absolute menace.
He shoots a text back, and then their conversation took off once again.
Felix baked the brownies by himself, which he gladly accepted as compensation for what he said earlier.
— — —
They met up at Freeze cafe on Tuesday after their classes ended. Seungmin greeted him a happy birthday and gave him the box of brownies that he (Felix) baked. Minho said he liked it.
Seungmin ended up canceling his follow-up interview with Minho, the information he had from the first interview was enough. Instead, they start their date with the continuation of the cheesecake review. They spent the whole afternoon going in and out of different cafes. Seungmin listed all their cheesecake verdicts on his notes app, and promises to treat Minho the next time they do this again.
“You want a ‘next time’?” Minho asks as they were sharing a slice of raspberry cheesecake. It was actually just Minho eating it, Seungmin said that he was still full from his lunch earlier just to escape from eating cheesecakes. Seungmin’s job is to evaluate the appearance and presentation instead.
“Yeah, if you also want it, of course,” he replies. The current situation is making him feel a little braver now, maybe he could even confess to Minho today!
At the end of the day, they went to eat dinner at Minho’s place. He actually prepared a full-course meal, just for the two of them.
“This feels like a crime,” Seungmin says as he’s eating his share of the beef wellington. “I’m supposed to be treating you on your birthday, not the other way around.”
“You could treat me on your birthday then, or on my next birthday. If you want, you can treat me on my graduation day.”
They ended the night after watching a movie. Seungmin went home with blushing cheeks with a promise of another movie night next Saturday.
— — —
Months pass, and Seungmin only grows closer to Minho. He was still sending Seungmin samples of his new cheesecake recipes. For some weeks, it was all fruit-flavored. On some days, it would be a variety of chocolate. Seungmin gradually grew accustomed to the taste of Minho’s cheesecakes.
It took him a long time, and lots of encouragement from Jisung, to admit that maybe he didn’t dislike cheesecakes after all.
“Ha! I win! No one can deny the power of cheesecake, it was sent by the gods!” Jisung exclaims as soon as Seungmin admits it.
He still goes to weekly movie nights at Minho’s house. Sometimes, they would hang out at Seungmin and Jisung’s apartment. His friends liked Minho’s company too, and Seungmin has now learned that Minho and Jisung combined were actually his worst nightmare. It’s like taking care of two five-year-olds who can’t keep quiet even if their life depended on it.
Minho and Felix both shared an interest in baking, so he would sometimes come home to the two of them in the kitchen, hunched over the counter and preparing the ingredients for their next baking endeavor.
"Why are you baking here, in my apartment?" Seungmin asked one day after opening the door and finding the two of them with a handful of flour in each hand, clearly in the middle of having a flour fight.
"Correction: it's also Jisungie's apartment," Felix replies as he coughs out the flour that Minho threw onto his face. "He gave us permission because Minho hyung's apartment is too far from mine, so we're here."
Hyunjin and Minho was another story. They both liked dancing, alright, but they also liked playing the classic wild goose chase looking for each other every time one of them comes over. Seungmin didn't get it, really. They kept on looking for each other but would banter each time they would get together. One time, it even resulted in Minho trying to stuff Hyunjin's mouth with Kleenex.
Minho even brought Jeongin to one of their weekly get-togethers. Seungmin grew fond of Jeongin after seeing the fox-eyed boy's smile, so he would always irk Minho to bring Jeongin with him every week after that.
Nonetheless, Seungmin was glad that his friends quickly warmed up to Minho. Who would've thought that a cheesecake would bring all of them together?
— — —
The school festival was a blast, well, maybe only for Minho and Seungmin. Jisung wasn't very fond of the idea of third-wheeling, even though he was the one who pestered the two into attending the festival with them, trailing behind them like a toddler who was forced to go on a shopping trip.
"Why didn't you go with Hyunjin?" Minho asks while they were waiting in line for the brand new ice cream shop near the campus.
Jisung pouts, "He left me. I'm all alone now," he says as he buries his head on Seungmin's shoulder and sniffs loudly.
"I think that's a very vague way to say that Hyunjin went on a trip to Jeju with his parents," Seungmin says as he unlatches a sobbing Jisung from his shoulder. "What flavor would-"
Jisung snaps and turns his head to Seungmin, "Strawberry Cheesecake."
"For God's sake, Jisung. You're still ordering cheesecake for ice cream?"
"It's the least you could do to comfort me while I'm third-wheeling," Jisung says, puffing his cheeks out in an attempt to urge Seungmin into giving in.
"Fine, you can have cheesecake, but only if you stop whining about Hyunjin for the rest of the day."
Jisung goes silent. Seungmin knows that Jisung loves to annoy him, and now, he's taking Jisung's main weapon for today.
"Okay..."
— — —
"Did you know that Seungmin accidentally yelled at our Math teacher for being annoying? It was back in third grade, we were having an exam and Seungmin was having the worst time of his life, it turns out that he forgot that there was an exam that day, poor Seungminnie. Anyway, he was about to blow up from frustration when I tapped him on the shoulder and asked for answers. I kept on asking him until he yelled in front of the whole class about the..."
Seungmin tuned him out. In his own little world, the three of them would just be enjoying their ice cream cones while waiting for Minho to be called by his performance team in the auditorium. But sadly, in this world, Jisung resorted to telling Minho about Seungmin's most embarrassing moments throughout his life, after being banned from whining about his boyfriend's absence.
He's glad that Jisung and Minho got along well ...too well. Minho now had access to Seungmin's innermost circle and has been teaming up with Jisung to get on Seungmin's nerve every single day. Just last week, they replaced the water on Seungmin's glass with vinegar and ice. The week after that, they changed Seungmin's alarm ringtone to Jisung singing a ballad rendition of Beyonce's Single Ladies.
They're barely tolerable by themselves. When they're together, Seungmin just goes on his knees and begs the gods to take him already.
After an hour or so, Minho leaves them behind as he got called for practice, but only after asking for a good luck kiss from Seungmin, then cheekily skipped towards the dance hall.
"I like him for you," Jisung says, putting an arm around Seungmin. If Minho was here with them, his ears would be clapping. He just got the seal of approval from Seungmin's best friend.
"I like him for me, too."
— — —
"Why don't we go out more often?"
Minho paused, "What do you mean?"
Seungmin fidgets the tissue paper on the Ramen bar's wooden table, he needed Jisung's encouragement right now. Untimely as it is, Jisung left them seconds after receiving a text from Hyunjin, saying that he'll be coming home early. "Like, this. I want this to be a daily thing."
Minho smiles and reaches for his hand, taking them onto his own, "I would love that."
— — —
On Minho’s graduation, Seungmin takes him to a picnic by the seaside. April was spring, so a picnic was his best option. He prepared all the food by himself, with some help from Felix of course.
“So, when are you going to confess that you’re a cheesecake anti?” Minho asks him.
Seungmin paused, “I’m not a cheesecake anti! I just didn’t like it back then.”
“So you mean to tell me that you being a part of the “I Dislike Cheesecake” organization was all a lie?”
They burst into laughter.
“I do have a confession, though.”
Minho looked at him directly, waiting for his next sentence, bright catlike eyes expectantly waiting for Seungmin's next move.
“I like you, hyung, for a long time now. Will you be my boyfriend? Even if I was once a cheesecake anti?”
Minho stills, “So you mean to tell me that we’re not dating this whole time?”
“What?”
“I thought we’ve been dating ever since the school festival! You literally told me that you want our dates to be an everyday thing?”
Seungmin laughs and leans in, kissing Minho for the first time. “Well, we are dating now.”
— — —
They’re at Minho’s kitchen, attempting to come up with a new recipe for the business. Minho was a full-time choreographer and performance leader in one of Seoul's most famous dance groups. Despite his career taking up the majority of his day, his cheesecake business is still up-and-running, all thanks to Seungmin, who set aside some of his study time to keep the business afloat while Minho was working.
“What if we just lured them into buying? You know, using psychological tricks and all that.”
Seungmin hums absentmindedly, eyes focused on the ingredients list, trying to make out what topping will go well with mangoes. He scans the page of the recipe book that was handed down to Minho from his grandmother, joking that it was their family heirloom.
“Just like what I did with you. You hated cheesecakes before, right? But now you’re here, helping me in my cheesecake business. All because I used psychology,” Minho boasts, puffing up his chest and grinning from ear to ear.
“I’m pretty sure you didn’t psychologically trick me into liking a certain dessert, hyung.”
“I did! I used Pavlov’s classical conditioning to lure you into liking cheesecakes. MY cheesecakes, specifically. See? It’s a success.”
“I think you failed,” Seungmin says, reaching his hand out to wipe the chocolate smeared on Minho’s cheek.
“Because you lured me into liking YOU, specifically.”
“But you still like cheesecakes though.”
Seungmin laughs, “If only I get the Minho-flavored one.”