They’ve already laid out the cupcake pans, bowls and other measuring tools on the counter but Kyungsoo still hasn’t come out of the bedroom so Baekhyun goes to check up on him. The door’s still locked so he raps his knuckles against it, saying, “It’s me, open up” and a few seconds later he hears the doorknob click. When he opens it and steps inside, he sees Kyungsoo, fully dressed in a shirt and dark shorts, hurl himself face down on the bed and Baekhyun giggles to himself as he closes the door.

 “’soo, Jongin’s waiting outside. Get up.”

Kyungsoo is mumbling something into the sheets so he moves closer, sitting right next to him on the bed. And the solid slap he gives to his makes Kyungsoo yelp as he turns over, giving Baekhyun his nastiest glare.

“C’mon, don’t keep him waiting,” he says while trying to keep a straight face. He knows he’s failing when Kyungsoo sits up and pushes at him out of irritation. Baekhyun just continues to laugh so he frowns at him, saying accusingly, “You didn’t tell me he was here!”

“I thought you heard the doorbell ring. I assumed you knew it was him. Sorry.” Baekhyun replies, his laughter dying out into small giggles.

“The shower’s too loud in there, I didn't hear anything.” Kyungsoo drops his head to his hands and moans hopelessly, “God, when does this end?!”

“When does what end?”

“Me making a complete fool out of myself in front of him!” Kyungsoo sighs, a shaky and miserable sound, rubbing a hand against his face before he leans himself against Baekhyun.

“You weren’t. Really. He wasn’t even laughing after you ran in here.” He wraps his arm around Kyungsoo’s shoulders and the latter looks at him, large eyes questioning him silently.

“It’s true,” he says, smiling a little. “Although personally I thought it was hilarious as -- ow!” he cries out when Kyungsoo pinches his thigh but he chuckles right after. “Let me finish! I thought it was funny, but Jongin, he was… uhm… just trust me when I say he didn’t.”

Kyungsoo’s face lightens a little so Baekhyun stands up and pulls the other to his feet. “Don’t think about it ‘soo. It’s not even that bad.” Combing a hand through Kyungsoo’s hair to straighten it out, he then says, with much enthusiasm, “So go out there and win him over with your bumbling and painfully awkward self!” then bolts for the door.

Kyungsoo impulsively chases after him with murderous intent, jumping on him when Baekhyun slows down just a few steps outside the door. He’s laughing like a maniac even though Kyungsoo has an arm hooked around his neck, all too ready to inflict pain, because he freezes when he sees a grinning Jongin watching them horsing around. Byunbaek you scheming sonofa, Kyungsoo thinks when he lets Baekhyun go and the latter throws him a smug smile.

“So!” Baekhyun says clapping his hands together. “Let’s start?” Kyungsoo follows closely after him as he makes a beeline for the kitchen, right where Jongin is standing beside the counter.

“Ready?” Jongin asks them both, but his eyes keep glancing at Kyungsoo as they gather near the counter where all the ingredients are placed.  Baekhyun inwardly groans because Kyungsoo is oblivious as , seemingly absorbed on a pile of vibrantly colored baking cups which he picks up and places on his palm.

“I must say, Kyungsoo, your kitchen may be modest in size but it’s got everything I need,” Jongin remarks, motioning to the wide array of baking utensils displayed on the counter. “It’s actually pretty perfect.”

“That can also be said about our Kyungsoo here,” Baekhyun adds and instinctively steps away as Kyungsoo swats at air instead of his head. “SO, what do we do first?” he speaks loudly over his friend’s incoherent mutterings.

Jongin laughs softly, eyeing Kyungsoo whose face is turning a pretty shade of pink, then clears his throat. “We’ll be making my very famous red velvet cupcakes and first, we have to pre-heat the oven. Kyungsoo, will you, please?” he says cheerfully, smiling when the other looks up at him and nods.

_______________

Kyungsoo relaxes eventually and the rest of the lesson would’ve gone on without a hitch, except Baekhyun grows bored mixing the batter and decides to shake things up by throwing flour at Kyungsoo, it landing on his hair and parts of his face. He retaliates by cracking an egg on his head.

“Ow! What the ‘soo?!” He screams, holding onto the sticky clump of egg white, yolk and egg shells dripping from his hair. Kyungsoo sticks his tongue out at him and goes back to stirring his own bowl with the metal whisk as if nothing happened.

Jongin chuckles as Baekhyun lets out a slew of curse words on his way to the sink to wash the egg off his hair. He then runs to the bedroom, presumably to find a towel to dry off his head and Kyungsoo huffs as Baekhyun leaves a trail of water dripping after him.

Without Baekhyun there to distract him, Kyungsoo concentrates more and a thought suddenly pops into his head as he continues stirring. “Uhm, don’t you have another apartment scheduled in the afternoon? I think you mentioned it before,” he says, not looking up from his bowl.

“Ah, that. Another employee was given that job. As it stands, I’m all yours on Saturdays,” he casually explains and Kyungsoo grips the whisk tighter because Jongin has no idea what words as simple as these do to him.

He manages to settle the fluttering in his stomach and says, “I see. I haven’t thanked you yet, for doing this. ” He stills his hands and looks up to find Jongin staring openly at him and he fights with himself not to turn away. “Thank you, really. Hope it isn’t too much of a pain teaching the pair of us?”  Jongin laughs, clear and crisp, filling Kyungsoo’s ears and he thinks that he wants so much to always hear Jongin laugh like this.

“Of course not!” he blurts out, shaking his head, bangs falling messily on his forehead. “It’s really nothing, you’ll probably end up being better at this than me.”

It’s Kyungsoo’s turn to shake his head at him. “I can’t even remember half the ingredients we added to this,” he says, holding up the bowl in his hands.

“I’ll write it down for you, so don’t worry. The secret is actually in the ingredients,” he quips and quickly dips a finger in the bowl to get a taste.

Kyungsoo inhales sharply and frowns, thoroughly vexed, and he pulls back the bowl even as Jongin already has a finger covered in cupcake batter. “Use a damn spoon you neanderthal!” He just shrugs dismissively and his finger, and Kyungsoo knows there is absolutely nothing ual about it but his breath hitches nonetheless as he watches.

Thankfully, Baekhyun marches out of the bedroom, complaining really loud at how his hair now feels icky, giving Kyungsoo a reason to turn away. "It's your own fault for being a brat. Deal with it," he retorts and Baekhyun blows him a raspberry.

When he reaches the counter, Jongin is starting to line the cupcake pans with the colorful paper cups and tells Kyungsoo to pour the batter into them. He does as he's told and tips his bowl into the pan but it's not so easy as it sounds when most of the batter ends up not inside the slots but around them and on the counter, and he looks helplessly at Jongin.

"Crap. We should've moved the batter into a pitcher or something. My bad." He grabs a rag to wipe away the mess on the counter and asks Baekhyun to get a clear pitcher from the cupboard. Kyungsoo then dumps the remaining mix into it and Baekhyun gingerly pours it straight into the baking cups. They manage to fill three cupcake pans with Jongin's recipe and they're about to place each into the oven when a phone goes off, filling the apartment with classical music.

"Ah, that's mine." Jongin looks at his hands holding the pan, smeared with sticky batter and turns to the only one whose hands aren't smudged.  "Baek, can you take my cell out of my back pocket? My hands are sticky." Baekhyun does so and as he takes it out, he finds  MOM  flashing on the screen and holds it up for him to see.

"Answer it please?  And put it on speakerphone." After Baekhyun swipes the screen to answer and places the call on speakerphone, Jongin says a quick thanks and motions for him to set it on the counter.

"Hi mom! By the way, you're on speaker." He calls out, smiling fondly at his phone as if he’s talking to his mom in person.

"Jonginnie!"  A pleasant female voice filters through the speaker and Kyungsoo smiles for no reason. "Where are you? You didn't skip lunch, did you?"

"I'm at the apartment in Apgujeong, the one I'm scheduled for every Saturday, mom." He slides in his pan in the oven and signals for the other two to do the same and he leans back on the counter where his phone is. Baekhyun elbows Kyungsoo to move because he's rooted to the ground, fixated on the way Jongin talks to his mom in a tone that's childish and terribly cute. After they close the oven they idly stand around and wait for Jongin to finish.

"But it's past two in the afternoon. You're scheduled in the morning. Usually you're back at the agency right after lunch. Are you slacking off Kim Jongin?" His mom's voice, which was previously cheery, suddenly turns serious and Jongin barks out a laugh before he replies.

"I finished hours ago mom. I'm just hanging out here, with Kyungsoo and Baekhyun. And I am not slacking off. Kyungsoo can vouch for me." He looks up at Kyungsoo and points to the phone, signaling for him to speak.

Kyungsoo raises his eyebrows then steps closer, clearing his throat and speaks into the phone. "Good afternoon Mrs. Kim. This is Do Kyungsoo, I own the apartment Jongin is assigned to."

"Oh hello Kyungsoo. Tell me, honestly, is Kim Jongin being lazy? Is he causing you trouble?"  Jongin groans at the teasing tone in his mom's voice, pouting adorably at the phone and Kyungsoo sniggers.

"On the contrary Mrs. Kim! Jongin is very hardworking. I have zero complaints. You've done a very fine job raising him." Although he is causing me a bit of trouble, Kyungsoo thinks humorously. 

"I'm so happy to hear that Kyungsoo." Mrs. Kim giggles softly. "You sound sweet, dear. Are you single by any chance? My son here is and he's quite a catch. Maybe you two could go out--"

"OH MY GOD MOM!! STOP!!" Jongin shouts,while Kyungsoo just stays frozen, except for his eyes which grows wide with shock. On the side, Baekhyun is trying his hardest to keep his cackling to a minimum as he continues to listen.

"What? What’s wrong?" His mom asks, completely clueless.

"You're embarrassing me. Please just stop!" Jongin cries desperately, lowering his forehead on the counter to hide his face.

"Oh shush Jonginnie. I'm your mother, it's in the job description. So stop interrupting me." She says, clearly irritated. But her voice shifts, turning soft and sugary as she says, "Anyway, Kyungsoo dear, what do you say about you and Jongin--"

"OKAY MOM!!! I HAVE TO GO!! I'LL CALL YOU LATER WHEN I'M DONE HERE!! LOVE YOU GOTTA GO BYE!!" he shouts and bops his nose on the end button to finish the call. Jongin lays his head on the counter again and groans really loud. This time Baekhyun doesn't hold back as he laughs his head off and Kyungsoo finally lets loose and laughs along with him. 

"Oh Jongin, you