Chapter Text
If there’s one thing that wasn’t on the list of things Jisung thought he’d be doing during Christmas holidays, it would be this.
Every year during the Christmas holidays, his campus organizes a baking contest. He never really wants to go (since it’s literally during Christmas break), but everyone that shows up gets extra credit. And it’s not that his grades right now are that amazing. That’s how his friend Felix convinces him to show up.
‘You are not going to get through this year with your crappy study attitude. You’re already failing half your classes. You literally get points for free.’
Okay so maybe he doesn’t really study ever and doesn’t like any of his classes. He does really want to get good grades. If only there was a way to succeed without having to force your brain to remember countless of things you’ll never use the rest of your life.
Now Jisung and Felix are both going. Felix goes every year, he says it’s really fun. The winners get 100 dollars. He’s never won, because he is a disastrous baker. The only thing he makes perfectly is brownies. They are absolutely amazing. But Felix likes the idea of the possibility of getting money.
So here they are, stood before the huge main building, wrapped up in scarfs and beanies. As Jisung and Felix enter, heaps of other students enter as well. They are probably not the only ones that heard about the free credit. Why else would anybody show up?
The building they are in, usually used by the ‘Baking and pastry arts majors’, is packed. There are too many students, and definitely not enough baking stations for everyone.
‘How sad, let’s go home? We want to give the kids that really want to bake a chance right?’, Jisung exclaims.
‘Don’t be stupid. Nobody here actually wants to bake.’
Great.
At that moment a professor enters the building, looking pleased at the number of students that decided to show up. She starts talking.
‘Due to the number of students that are gathered here today, we’ll have to change the rules a little bit. There are 88 students here today, but we only have 45 stations. This means you are going to work in pairs.’
Jisung immediately looks at Felix, overjoyed he won’t have to bake alone.
‘We have a bowl here, where we will be drawing names from.’
Shit.
It’s not that he doesn’t have many friends, but he doesn’t have many friends. His one and only friend (and his roommate) on this campus being Felix. Naturally he has a couple acquaintances here and there, but he doesn’t really love talking to other people when it isn’t necessary. The total opposite of social butterfly Felix. Thanks to him he at least goes to some parties and is not lazing on his couch all day watching Netflix.
‘If you all would be so nice to raise your hand when I call your name. That way I can show you to your station. Don’t forget to put on a hairnet and washing your hands. We wouldn’t want any hairs in your delicious desserts.’
That’s also how all his hopes to maybe work with Felix vanish.
Felix gets to work with Seungmin, a tall nerd wearing glasses, someone Jisung has talked to a couple of times. Seungmin is nice enough. If it wasn’t for his snarky remarks, maybe they’d even be friends. Then his name gets drawn.
‘Jisung, you will get to work alongside….’
This is going to be the worst night ever. What a stupid decision of him to come here. He’s not a social outcast, but he feels like nobody knows his name either.
‘Minho!’
Oh no. Fuck.
Why is he even here. His grades are amazing. Does he enjoy baking? What else would be the reason?
Across the room, Minho is eyeing him with a smirk on his face. How embarrassing. As Jisung makes his way to the station, he sends an alarmed look to Felix. But Felix’s just laughing, apparently this is very amusing to him. Seungmin is also laughing, waving at Jisung and then at Minho. They probably know each other. Snarky bitches.
There’s nothing to do but to keep on walking. And there he is in all his glory. The top student. Lee Minho. College heartthrob. Dancing prodigy. Jisung sighs while finally looking him in the eye.
He hasn’t changed a bit, still slightly taller than Jisung, still wavy dark hair, still the most infuriating smile on earth. He hates him. Look, it’s not Jisung’s fault they don’t really get along. Well, maybe it is.
In his freshman year of college, Jisung was overly excited to meet new people. He knew he had to come out of his shell a little bit, but was still scared of embarrassing himself in front of others. It happened on orientation day. All the new students were gathered, ironically in the same room as they are now, and the work-shops were just about to start.
Just that morning Felix begged him to wait for him before entering the building. It just so happened that Felix was late, therefore they were both late. Not wanting to miss important information, they ran through the doors. Then Jisung had to be so stupid to stumble into Minho. Yes, very cliché. But this was not the cutesy K-drama moment you’d expect it to be. This was definitely not that.
Firstly, Jisung had ruined Minho’s outfit. Minho had spilled the coffee he was holding on himself when he bumped in to him.
Secondly, while he fell, his bag fell as well. And so did his very explicit drawings that should have been safely tucked away in his bag. The drawings were not for himself, they were for a friend, Hyunjin, who had begged for months to draw this specific steamy scene from his favourite romance novel. It was his birthday that day and Jisung had made them as a surprise. No one was supposed to see them except for Hyunjin.
However as the kind person he was, Minho had turned around and tried to pick up the drawings to help Jisung. All he remembers is Minho quirking his eyebrow with a smirk plastered on his face.
‘Lost something?’, was what he said.
That’s all it had taken for Jisung to turn beet-red. It really was an all-time low for him. Minho had handed the drawings back without saying anything else.
‘I am so sorry, I-I will pay you back your s-shirt’, he had stuttered.
Minho had only chuckled and before anything else could happen, he’d fled. After that they’d only talked a couple more times. Which is kind of normal, since he is an arts major and Minho a dance major. They had a total of 0 shared classes. (Which Jisung was very pleased to hear, when he first found out.) But every time they did meet by accident, it was as embarrassing as the first time (if not worse). Minho always found a way to aggravate him, if it was not his stupid smirk, it was one of his stupid comments.
‘So is drawing naked men one of your hobbies?’
‘Do you sell your prestigious art somewhere?’
And it kept going on.
One time he had stumbled again and had landed right before him on the ground. Minho was showing his freshman brother, Jeongin, around at the time. (Actually a really nice guy. He works in his favourite coffee shop. If only his brother would have been more like him.)
‘If you’re so desperate for my attention, you can just ask’, he had said.
Jeongin had sent him a sympathetic smile, like he was saying ‘sorry for my brother’.
And of course Felix was the first one to make fun of his situation with Minho. Felix always said it was not a big deal, but to Jisung it was. So much for a good first impression. Felix had seen the whole situation on orientation day (like many other students) and was the first to talk to him after that. Eventually everyone kind of forgot what happened, except Jisung, Felix and Minho. Well, he hoped so.
To come back to his statement earlier, they didn’t hate each other. Jisung was only extremely embarrassed anytime he was forced to communicate with Minho.
Now 2 years later, he still blames Hyunjin for making him draw those pictures.
Jisung looks up facing him.
‘Hello Minho.’
‘Hello to you too Jisung.’
His cheeks begin to turn red again. It is almost an automatic reaction by now.
‘No need to blush Jisung.’
He glares at him, trying his best to look annoyed. Over the 2 years, Jisung likes to think he has learned to not look as embarrassed. But Minho only smiles. If only he wasn’t that stupidly good-looking. He is wearing dark colours and a deep green sweater. That ugly hairnet seems to complete the outfit. Minho manages to look good with everything either way. Jisung is still a very gay man, he can’t deny how attractive Minho is. Even if he hates him. You can still find someone hot while hating them right?
They end up just staring at each other. Well, to anyone but Jisung it probably looks more like glaring. He coughs when he can’t take the silence anymore.
‘So what are we making today?’
He chuckles, seemingly thinking he had won.
‘I don’t know you tell me.’
Jisung can’t make out if he is playing with him or if he actually doesn’t know. Minho is frustrating like that, he can never tell what’s going on in his head. Not that they really know each other though.
After not being able to come up with an answer, Minho speaks up again.
‘What about Gingerbread Cookies?’
Jisung can handle that. Probably. He had maybe made them once with his grandma on Christmas. It can’t be that hard right?
‘Sure’, Jisung replies while shifting his attention to the station in front of them. He really doesn’t know what has to happen now. Minho must be sensing this, because he decides to break the silence again.
‘Should we divide our tasks?’
‘Yeah of course.’
Why is he so normal today? Jisung has heard no jokes thus far and doesn’t really know how to take it.
‘Because I have a reputation to uphold.’
Did he say that out loud? Fuck, he probably did. Jisung really has to stop talking to himself. Maybe spend less time binging nature documentaries and more time socializing.
‘So I’d rather bake and win money than fluster you. Although I could always try to multitask you know.’ He whispers the last part, succeeding in flustering him.
Jisung decides to look up to him again. Then flips him off.
‘Charming as always, I see.’ Minho laughs, still looking at him.
‘I’m serious though, I’ve won the last 2 years and I’d like to win again. If only the stupid rules hadn’t changed.’
Jisung sees the determination in his eyes and already feels sorry for his terrible baking skills. But he shouldn’t be right? It’s not his fault they decided to put him with Minho.
The silence starts again. They can’t begin baking until the timer starts, and that’s another 5 whole minutes. He decides to text Felix.
To Felix:
>What the fuck do I do?
> Apparently Mister handsome here is also a baking prodigy and wants to win this
> And here I fucking am
> I can’t even microwave rice
From Felix:
>CHILL
>Calm down this is for fun
> Just enjoy u lovebirds
To Felix:
>Fuck you
From Felix:
>Love U2
Right as Jisung puts away his phone Minho laughs again.
‘You think I’m handsome?’
‘Were you reading my messages? That’s a violation of my privacy!’
‘It’s not my fault you were literally almost shoving it in my face.’
‘I most certainly was not.’ Jisung is getting angrier by the second. Not only did he read over his shoulder. He told him he was. At least have the decency to keep quiet when reading about yourself.
‘You didn’t deny though. You do think I’m handsome.’ Minho is now leaning against the counter with a challenging look in his eyes. Jisung also notices his nails now, painted black. Hot.
‘You know I think you’re hot. Don’t you hear it enough from all your admirers?’ Narcissistic asshole.
Minho giggles. The man literally giggles. It’s a mystery how someone can be this hot, cute and annoying all at once.
‘Yes I do. But it’s more fun hearing it coming from your mouth.’ God is he flirting now? Or just making fun of Jisung?
The timer goes off, signalling that their 100 minutes now start. Jisung looks at Minho, he is getting al sort of things from the ingredients table. He looks focused, his lips stretched in a thin line as he is reading the recipe he had looked up on his phone. But still elegant, striding to the table and back. It’s definitely noticeable he’s a dancer. His muscles well defined under his tight pants.
Jisung shakes himself awake.
What is he even thinking about? He shouldn’t be drooling over Minho’s body. Not now. Not ever actually.
‘What are you doing, come and help!’ Minho is standing by the table, balancing different ingredients in his (very strong) arms.
‘You get the sugar and the butter’ He uttered.
It is fascinating really, how passionate Minho is about this little project. Jisung doesn’t stop the smile appearing on his face.
They work in silence for a little bit, Jisung religiously following Minho’s instructions. And if he admires him every once in a while, it’s totally his business and his business only.
‘Can you knead the dough while I preheat the oven?’
Jisung looks at the mess in front of him. Okay he can do this. Kneading the dough. Mentally preparing himself, he puts his hands in the bowl and tries mixing it. First, he tries with his fingers only. The egg and flour clutter together in big lumps. The texture is horrible. He remembers there is a reason he doesn’t like baking.
All of a sudden Jisung hears cackling next to him.
‘What the fuck are you doing?’ Minho keeps on chuckling. Jisung has no idea what the problem is. He actually thinks he’s doing a pretty good job.
‘Are you poking the dough? That is not how you do this.’ He’s leaning against the counter again smirking at him.
Jisung gives him a tight-lipped smile. At least he’s trying to help him bake. With his hands still in the bowl he turns to meet his gaze. ‘I am trying.’ Minho smiles, looking at the bowl and then at his face. He shifts his gaze like that a few times. Jisung keeps trying to make something out of the weird lumps he has created.
After a few beats of silence Minho moves his hand and brushes some hair, that had strayed out of Jisung’s hairnet, out of his eyes. What the fuck. Aaaand he is blushing again. Minho is looking at him with what almost looks like affection. No way this is happening. Jisung really has to stop imagining things. Enough.
‘What do you expect me to do then instead of my “poking” mister perfect.’
‘Let me help you.’ Then Minho moves closer until Jisung’s back almost touches his chest. He feels Minho’s breath on his neck, almost causing goosebumps over his entire body.
This is weird. What is happening? He must sense this shift in atmosphere too? He literally caused it.
Minho moves his hands and stops when they’re hovering over Jisung’s own. It’s starting to get really hot. Jisung has the feeling Minho is smiling behind him.
Does he feel he’s heating up? He feels his body-heat radiating as well, he wouldn’t be surprised if he does too. Jisung releases a breath, feeling nervous all of a sudden.
Minho then takes his hands and moves with him – kneading the dough in the bowl. He still feels his breath on his neck, sending a shiver down his body.
This should not be happening.
While they are kneading the dough, Minho says softly in his ear, ‘You’re an art-major, right?’
The action feels weirdly sensual while their hands are kneading together. He laughs awkwardly.
‘Uhm yes.’ Jisung must be beet red again by now.
Minho makes a noise like he’s agreeing with him. And then the bastard steps even closer, now actually touching his back with his chest. Jisung feels like his heart is going to beat out of his chest. Is Minho doing this on purpose. I thought he wanted to win. This is not helping.
This is getting a little bit too much for him, so he breaks loose.
‘Yes. Uhm. And. Yes I-I really have to go to the bathroom.’ And he almost runs away. His heart beating fast, if it is because of Minho or because of the running, he will never know.
Jisung plops down on one of the toilet seats and breaths. What in the world. Minho asked a simple question, what is wrong with him?
He takes out his phone again, and sees Felix has bombard him with texts.
From Felix:
>WTFFF
> what are you doing
> [image attached]
> go have your weird foreplay somewhere else
> lmao
> where are u goin
> did he do smth???
> ??
> answer meee
> istg
To Felix:
>I’m fine
> had to pee
From Felix:
>okaayy…
Calm down. That’s all Jisung has to do. He takes a deep breath, splashes some water in his face and returns to the work station. Minho is still making the cookies. He looks worried when he spots Jisung returning.
Just imagining things.
‘Are you okay?’ is the first thing he hears when he’s standing next to Minho again. Jisung nods and tries to smile at him.
‘I’m really sorry if I crossed a boundary. Just tell me next time.’ It seems like Minho is feeling guilty now. Why is he so nice?
‘No, no, it’s not your fault. I-I just am not u-used to physical contact like that.’ Jisung tries to shrug it off. Why is he stuttering again? Don’t be such a pushover.
‘Okay then. I’ll take your word for it.’ Jisung smiles again, this time genuine.
‘It wasn’t because of the fact I’m super hot then?’
Jisung should expect this by now.
‘Shut up.’ Minho chuckles again. Jisung pushes him lightly. The conversation feels weirdly intimate again. After that he points to the little gingerbread cookies he has already made, Minho also assures him that he could still help decorating after they are done baking.
Their cookies are safely baking in the oven. Nothing else to do but wait.
‘So art-major. What kind of art are you into?’ Again with the questions. Is he making fun of him again? Whatever. Jisung imitates Minho, also leaning against the counter. He hesitates a bit before actually opening up but at the end of the day, who cares. When Jisung gets to talk about his passion, he really gets into it. It’s Minho’s fault for asking.
‘Okay so, I love, but like love animation and cartooning. That’s my favourite I think. But just before break we were painting and I really liked that as well. I thought I could maybe combine those two for my final project.’
Minho is listening intently, also studying the way Jisung’s eyes light up while he’s talking about art. It seems like he is actually interested. Minutes fly by with Jisung talking about art and Minho just listening.
‘I’m sorry, I’m rambling.’
‘No, not at all, I like listening to you talk. … Soo those drawings I saw freshman year.’
And here we go again. It was embarrassing and Jisung had hoped he wouldn’t bring it up ever again. But here they are.
‘What about them?’ He’s feeling courageous today.
‘Do you often draw things like that?
How must he answer that question. Technically he has to draw naked people once in a while for school. And he doesn’t have problems with that at all. So yes? But for school he never has to draw scenes like that. What does Minho mean exactly by his question?
‘Why do you want to know?’ A vague answer, that would be good enough.
‘I’m only curious, you look like you’re a talented artist.’ He almost chokes on his own spit. The only art he has seen were those drawings. How could he say he’s talented by that?
‘Enough about me, how about you mister dance-major.’
Minho chuckles again. ‘I’m not even surprised you know what I’m majoring in. But yes I love to dance. Mostly hip hop, but I like some contemporary once in a while…’
As Minho keeps talking Jisung gets lost in the way he is explaining everything to him. He might be annoying, but he’s insanely interesting. He notices he touches the nape of his neck when he gets shy while he’s telling his story. It’s a cute habit. Jisung follows the way his lips are moving, fascinating. On his cheeks, there’s a bit of flower, probably from earlier. His hands are making animated gestures and then he notices the black nails again. Beautiful. Everything about him is absolutely beautiful.
‘Am I boring you?’, he mutters.
Jisung reassures him he was certainly not.
‘You have something on your cheek.’ He points out. Minho grins, like he has some kind of masterplan.
‘Do I now? Would you be so nice to remove it for me?’ He is definitely teasing him again. Jisung rolls his eyes, as exaggerated as possible and moves closer to Minho. He closes his eyes and leans a bit closer, waiting for him to remove whatever was on his cheek. This situation looks a lot like what would happen if they were to kiss. But he can’t let himself think like that. This is starting to look like a bad rom-com more and more, he thinks to himself.
Jisung wipes Minho’s cheeks with his thumb as fast as possible, not being gentle at all. Minho opens his eyes again, looking entirely unimpressed.
‘Wow, what a dream prince you are.’ Is he dreaming or does Minho look a bit disappointed? Anyways.
The timer goes off, signalling that they have 15 minutes left. They removed the cookies from the oven already and had let them cool down for a few minutes. Now it is decorating time. His favourite part.
As Jisung is looking at Minho decorating his cookies, he can’t help but destroy at least one of them. With his icing, he draws a line through the cookie Minho is currently working on.
‘What the fuck, why’d you do that?’ He looks aggravated. Good, it is his time to annoy him now.
‘I made it prettier.’ He looks at him with an angelic smile. But Minho doesn’t give up that easily. With his own icing, he draws multiple lines through Jisung’s last cookie that was admittedly one of his best.
‘Now you have a pretty one too.’ Minho grins.
And soon their icing turns into a battle of: ‘Who can ruin the most cookies.’ They are pushing and shrieking, to the point where even others would notice.
‘Let go of me.’
‘Ha point for me!’
‘Asshole that was a good cookie.’
‘You look like a little kid!’
It doesn’t get much better until the timer goes off again. Out of their entire batch of cookies, only 3 normal ones remain. 2 of them are Jisung’s.
‘I won.’ He mumbles.
‘Not at all, I literally made the cookies, I won.’ Minho sneers.
‘Sure, whatever you say.’ But he does feel the sense of victory. They turn in their whopping total of 3 cookies and decide to take the others for themselves. Minho gave him a box of half the cookies. Which he is grateful for, he’d have at least something to eat at his dorm. Felix will appreciate them as well, he thinks.
They are now both standing there awkwardly, without saying anything. Jisung is picking his nails. What is he supposed to do now? He takes a chance and looks at Minho, he’s looking at his phone. Would they be nice to each other when they pass in hallways? He looks at his hands and starts picking again.
‘I’ll see you around’, is the last thing he hears of Minho when he whispers in Jisung’s ear. He probably went to his friends.
Jisung looks around and searches for Seungmin and Felix. They are still standing by their station, so he makes his way over with the cookie box in hands. Seungmin and Felix had made some kind of pie, that looks extremely delicious. Maybe their baking hasn’t failed this time. Once he arrives Felix is smirking at him. He looks like he is expecting some answers.
‘So are you two dating now?’ Seungmin giggles as well before leaving. He probably thinks this is not a conversation he is invited to. He would be correct.
‘What? NO? What are you talking about?’
Felix cocks his eyebrow before answering. ‘You looked excessively domestic just now.’
‘I don’t know what you mean.’ They had not been flirting, right? They annoy each other. Couldn’t wait for the contest to end.
‘Come on, you’re literally blind if you don’t notice the way he was looking at you the entire time. One moment he looked like he wanted nothing but to adore you and the next like he wanted to eat you. The man was simping hard.’
Was he though?
‘I think you’re seeing things. We literally destroyed each other’s cookies and I ruined his chance to win. Intentionally.’
Felix shakes his head. He obviously doesn’t believe Jisung for one bit.
‘Let’s go home then, I’ll show you some proof. I took some pictures earlier. Maybe that’ll change your mind.
Jisung is happy that he gets to go home. But why doesn’t it feel like that then? They aren’t going to win and the results are only going to be out tomorrow. He has no reason to stay here. His eyes scan over the room quickly. And he immediately spots his target. There he is, Minho, standing in his circle of friends. 2 buff guys with impressive arms are looking their way. Jisung notices Felix looking a bit too long at the short one with the arms. They’ll talk about it later. Minho looks like he is amusing himself. Joking around. Minho’s friends are pushing him lightly after something that was said. Minho’s ears are also bright red. Is it about him? No, why would it be. What are you even thinking. Are they friends now? No. Merely acquaintances. They hadn’t even properly talked before this day.
Just as Jisung is about to turn around and leave, Minho looks him dead in the eye and smiles. Smiles. It is a genuine smile, not the one he has gotten used to, not the sarcastic one. But a gorgeous smile where his eyes turn to crescents and his teeth are showing. It was beautiful. He waves at him and turns back around.
He hears Felix sighing next to him. ‘Man you really are pining for each other, it’s kind of painful to watch.’
The way back to their dorm went smoothly, both of them being tired. Now Jisung is sitting on their couch rethinking everything. Felix plops down beside him. ‘You are overthinking right now.’ Is he? He really doesn’t know.
‘Take a cookie, maybe your lovesick heart gets better with something on your stomach.’ Felix hands him the box of cookies he brought from the contest. Jisung is curious how they taste after all and opens the box.
His eyes widen and he nearly chokes on his own spit again.
Felix glances at him: ‘What’s wrong?’
In the box on top of the cookies, is a note. On that note a phone number was scribbled down and beneath that:
If you ever want to practice, you can always draw me ;)