There's a noise coming from the kitchen that stirs Hansol from his sleep. Everything is dark when he opens his eyes so he blinks repeatedly to adjust his sight in the darkness before slowly turning around. Instinctively, he reaches out to the other side of the bed only to find it empty, the lingering warmth on the creased sheets the only indication that someone's been there recently.

The faint sounds of somebody ransacking through the kitchen becomes more prominent in the silence of the night as Hansol gradually gets out of his hazy, post-sleep state. He gets up slowly and ungracefully, with his right arm pushing his body up and his left hand grasping at the air, then proceeds to reach for his phone on the nightstand. He squints as the phone lights up and it takes a while for his eyes to adjust. When he can finally tolerate the light, he looks at the digital clock on the screen and sees the 2:16 promptly change into 2:17 AM.

Hansol suppresses a sigh. This isn't the first time he woke up in the wee hours of the morning with a missing Yuta and finding him doing all sorts of stuff a normal person will do in daylight. Not that Hansol's complaining. By now, he's accepted it and it's a common enough occurrence that he's become completely used to it. He actually finds his boyfriend endearing with all the random urges and crazy ideas he gets at the weirdest times.

The bed creaks slightly as he lies down on his back, eyes trained to the ceiling. He stays motionless as he contemplates whether to go outside and find out whatever Yuta's busying himself with or to go back to sleep. Feeling the beads of sweat starting to form on his nape, he chooses the former. It's hot and stuffy in the bedroom anyway and Hansol thinks it might be cooler outside. Their AC broke last week and they haven't found the time - nor the money - to buy a replacement so they've been sleeping without a shirt on for the time being. As he walks to the door, he goes past their closet and a fleeting thought of getting his shirt passes him by. Hansol ignores it.

The sound of somebody rummaging through the fridge gets louder as he silently crosses the expanse of the room to the other side where their tiny island kitchen is situated. At the same time, Yuta's form can finally be seen compared to just seeing his shadow from across the room. Hansol quietly approaches his boyfriend who's clad in only a navy blue boxers with cute tiny rocketship designs while bent over the fridge looking for something.

"Yuta?" Hansol calls out as he places a hand on his boyfriend's .

Yuta hums in acknowledgdment. He looks at Hansol through the corner of his eyes and beams at him. His attention goes back to the fridge as he takes the tray of eggs out. After gingerly placing the eggs on the countertop, Yuta looks at Hansol, who is now on the other side of the counter, directly across him. He smiles at the inquiring look on Hansol's face, his eyes lighting up in excitement.

"I'm craving for cake." he explains. "So I'm gonna make one..." he pauses, seemingly for dramatic effect. "and eat it!" Yuta declares with child-like eagerness and a grin adorning his features.

Hansol lets out a soft chuckle. "In your boxers?" He asks Yuta, clearly amused.

Yuta raises an eyebrow. "Well you're one to talk." he says as he eyes Hansol's equally less-dressed figure.

Hansol laughs quietly as the younger sticks his tongue out at him. They stare at each other’s eyes lovingly for a while before Hansol breaks the eye contact and lets his eyes hover over the countertop instead, mentally taking note of the ingredients. There's a pack of cake flour Hansol vaguely remembers Yuta placing in their cart the last time they went grocery shopping, some salt and sugar, a half-empty bottle of vanilla extract, a small container of creme of tartar that he doesn't even know they have, and the tray of eggs Yuta brought out moments ago. Based on the ingredients (and their limited knowledge and skills in baking) he thinks he knows what their making.

Hansol takes an egg in his hand and uses a fork to crack it almost perfectly in half. The egg white feels slimy under his fingertips as he separates them from the egg yolk with precision that only comes with practice. It is only when he starts separating the egg white and yolk of a second egg that Hansol realizes Yuta's been watching him the whole time.

"What?" Hansol asks the Japanese man. "We're making an angel cake right?"

The way Yuta's face lights up when he said the word "we" does not go unnoticed by Hansol.

The Japanese beams at him before answering the question. "Yes, we are." He says, emphasizing the we. "And I was just thinking, you could be a professional yolk separator or something... if that's even a thing."

Yuta grins unabashedly at Hansol when the older chuckles at him.

"You should really start the oven now. The cake won't bake itself if you just keep on staring at me like a creep." Hansol tells him. Yuta lets out an indignant gasp exclaiming "I am not a creep!" but does as he was told.

Yuta turns the oven on and sets it with low heat. He goes back to the counter and glances at Hansol once more before deciding that he should do something and be productive. After all, baking is his idea anyway. He grabs one of the bowls on the counter and places it in front of him before reaching for the pack of cake flour he bought a week ago. The pack is sturdy and it doesn't open when he pulls at it with his bare hands so Yuta goes looking for the scissors. Two minutes later, he's still trying to find it.

Hansol looks up from what he's doing when he hears drawers and cupboards opening haphazardly. He sees his boyfriend searching through a drawer and Hansol suppresses a chuckle when Yuta's face scrunches up in irritation when he doesn't find what he's looking for, strings of soft curses coming from his mouth.

"What are you looking for?" He asks, finally taking pity on the younger.

"The scissors." came Yuta's curt reply, not even bothering to look at him.

Hansol's eyes dart to the small hooks on their kitchen wall where they usually place the scissors but seeing that the scissors isn't there, he scans the countertop instead. This time, Hansol doesn't stop the chuckles from coming out when he sees the kitchen scissors Yuta's looking for behind the salt container which is, hilariously, right in front of Yuta. Said boy looks up at him with a curious expression and that only causes Hansol’s chuckles to turn into laughter.

"It's in front of you, you know." He says as he stifles his laugh. He pointedly looks at the scissors and Yuta follows his line of vision.

Yuta laughs embarrassedly when he finally spots the scissors. He thanks the older and Hansol responds with more laughing. This causes Yuta to pout at his boyfriend, cheeks tinged with pink due to embarrassment. Cute is what comes to Hansol's mind as he gazes at the younger. He's still laughing and that only causes Yuta to pout more.

"Stop laughing!" the younger demands, an irritated look taking over his features.

Hansol ignores what Yuta said. There's something about what happened that he finds hilarious. Cute stupidity at its finest always makes him laugh. Or maybe it's because Yuta always brags to everybody that he's good at finding things. Eitherway, Hansol still finds it funny.

Yuta watches Hansol laughing with his head thrown back, mouth wide open and his shoulders bouncing up and down. He thinks it's one of the most beautiful scene in life that he's fortunate enough to witness. It's been a while since he's last seen Hansol act so loose and uncollected, what with all the stress from work and other responsibilities on his shoulders.

It's beautiful, Yuta thinks, and he highly welcomes and greatly appreciates it. Smiling to himself, he leans over the counter before cupping his boyfriend's face with his hands. Time to resume the annoyed act, he thinks.

"Stop." he says before proceeding to peck the other on the lips.

"Laughing." He kisses Hansol again.

"At." Another kiss.

"Me." And he pecks the older's lips again in emphasis of his words.

Hansol does stop. His face is as pink as Yuta's face was a while ago. Now Yuta's the one chuckling and Hansol can only smile at him like the lovesick fool he is. Yuta kisses him one last time before letting go of Hansol's face.

"The cake won't bake itself if you just keep staring at me like a creep." Yuta imitates his words and winks at him. Hansol shakes his head amusedly.

The two of them fall in to a comfortable silence as they go on with their tasks. Hansol starts beating the eggs while Yuta, who has finally opened the pack of flour, sifts the flour with salt and sugar. They leave soft touches on each other's skin as they move around each other quietly to get the equipment they need or to look at Yuta's phone to read the procedure he had screencapped prior to them baking. More than half an hour later, the batter is now ready to be placed in the oven.

Once the cake is sitting comfortably in the oven, Yuta starts stretching his arms out. He didn't know that baking was this tiring. I'll just buy a cake next time, he mentally tells himself. He looks at Hansol beside him who's cracking his knuckles and staring at nothing in particular. Yuta presses his face at Hansol's bare shoulder and gives one particular spot a couple of soft, fleeting kisses that leaves electrifying tingles shooting from Hansol's shoulder down to his hand.

Hansol looks down at the mess of brown hair on his shoulder and when Yuta looks up at him with a smile that still leaves him breathless even after 3 years of dating, he reciprocates and gives a smile that would, hopefully, convey all his love to the other.

Yuta's smile turns into a mischievous grin that sets alarm bells ringing in Hansol's head. Before Hansol could ask what the latter was going to do, Yuta's finger swipes at his cheek and the younger runs away from him while laughing. Hansol wipes the sticky substance Yuta dabbed on his cheek with the back of his palm. It's the leftover cake batter they made and when he looks at Yuta who's in the other side of the kitchen, the younger is grinning at him with the bowl containing the batter in his arm.

"Why are you just standing there? I'm trying to start a food fight if you haven't noticed yet." Yuta tells him.

"You're wasting food." Hansol retorts.

"I know." Yuta says as he bows to the bowl on his hands while muttering an apology. "But it's not as if we would eat this. And we wouldn't even use these in the future. Don't tell me you've suddenly turned into a 5-star chef overnight?”

Hansol snickers in response. He grabs a handful of flour before running over to where Yuta is standing. The latter runs away from him, screaming something along the lines of "You can't catch me!" and when Hansol is near enough the younger, he throws the flour at him.

Yuta stops in his tracks when he felt the flour hit him and this gives Hansol the perfect opportunity to steal the bowl from him. Hansol dips his finger in the batter before swiping them over Yuta's nose. He gives Yuta a peck on the lips before handing Yuta the bowl back. Yuta looks at the bowl curiously, wondering why Hansol even gave it back, but he doesn't have time to ponder about it when he feels a pair of hands ruffling his hair along with some flour. He laughs with his eyes closed to avoid the flour from getting in his eyes and Hansol laughs along, eyes trained on Yuta. Beautiful is the simplest word that could describe the man infront of him and Hansol would never grow tired of looking at the Osakan native. Art is meant to be appreciated and Hansol definitely appreciates the masterpiece that is Nakamoto Yuta.

Yuta gently pushes Hansol away then goes to the counter to grab an egg. Hansol, knowing what's about to come, runs away from him. They chase each other around the kitchen, laughter ringing in their ears and whenever one catches the other, a kiss (or more) is surely given along with more flour on each other's hair, batter dabbed on their faces, and an egg cracked on the other's chest. By the time they finally ran out of food to use against each other, they are panting for air in between their laughter that comes out more like wheezing.

They both stare at each other with smiles on their faces that only those in love could ever imitate as they try to stabilize their breathing. Hansol wraps his right arm around Yuta's waist as the other runs his hand through Hansol's hair. He gazes around the kitchen and sees that they made a minimal mess that can be easily cleaned. There's 20 minutes left before the cake is ready so he reckons that they can still tidy the kitchen up.

Hansol untangles himself from his boyfriend to fetch the broom and dustpan. "I hope you've come to terms with the fact that cleaning comes right after a food fight." He tells Yuta.

The younger groans. "I did, but I was hoping we could skip it."

Hansol laughs. "Imagine what would Taeyong say when they come over." Yuta laughs along.

"He'd lecture us about cleanliness and whatnot while he's tidying up this kitchen." Yuta replies with a snicker before taking a kitchen rag and wiping the kitchen counter.

They start cleaning the kitchen while talking about everything and anything. It's moments like this when they tell each other things they haven't talked about in a while. They make light conversations reminiscent to small talks, catching up with how the other's week had gone by. It's refreshing, seeing as how they've had a hectic week where only rushed conversations and sleepy goodnights are all they could do.

Tidying up a kitchen with two people is effective and efficient so they finish cleaning up their mess exactly 3 minutes before the cake is ready. They both squat down infront of the oven, shoulder to shoulder and eyes aimed on the oven.

The timer goes off and Hansol uses a toothpick to check if the cake needs more time in the oven. Seeing that the cake is ready, he takes it out and Yuta prepares a plate where they could place the cake pan to cool.

"It says here in the recipe that we should invert it and let it cool." Yuta says as he reads the procedure in his phone. "I think we should take a shower while it cools.”

Hansol nods as he inverts the cake pan carefully. He removes the oven mittens off his hands before taking Yuta's hand in his as he drags the younger to the shower.

They clean each other up. Hands running through each other's shampoo-lathered hair and gently rubbing each other's faces until no trace of food is left in their bodies. They kiss lazily every once in a while, all lips and no tongue like when they were first starting to date, shy and sweet kisses full of affection. The time of day seemingly catches up to them, as they move in a lethargic mood that people are usually in during the hours of daybreak.

They exit the shower and after a few minutes, the two of them are all dried up, feeling fresh and smelling good, and dressed up in clothes they have long forgotten who among the two them is the actual owner. The pair heads back to the kitchen, audible yawns coming out from their mouths. The need to sleep finally catches up on them.

Yuta takes two forks and the cake knife from a drawer while Hansol removes the cake from the cake pan. They both smile in satisfaction at the appearance of the cake. Light golden brown with a perfect shape. Hansol places the cake on their tiny dining table and they take their seats. Yuta hands Hansol a fork as he cuts two small slices for the two of them. They take a bite in perfect synchronization and when Yuta looks at Hansol, he sees a satisfied smile that mirrors his own as the older chews the cake, his eyes droopy because of sleepiness.

"It's good." Hansol says and Yuta nods sluggishfly.

"I feel so proud. This is like our secxond perfect cake." Yuta tells Hansol. "We could probably replace Taeyong and Jaehyun as the cooking couple." He says with a giggle.

"Probably... if we could actually name all the ingredients in their fridge." Hansol replies.

Yuta chuckles in reply. He yawns as he stretches his arms tiredly. He rests his head on Hansol's shoulder and the older places his head on top of Yuta's. They stay like this for a while before Hansol stands up to put the cake in the fridge. He returns and stands infront of Yuta.

"Bed?" he asks and the younger nods with his eyes closed. Yuta stands up and the two of them head back to their bedroom.

When they are both on the bed and lying on their sides so they're facing each other, Yuta notes with a small laugh that this is the first time in about a week that they're sleeping with their shirts on. Hansol laughs without opening his mouth, his chest rumbling while his eyes are closed.

Yuta kisses Hansol and whispers a "goodmornight" against his mouth. Hansol hums in return, kissing Yuta back softly. They say their i love you's quietly as they settle into their sleeping position, arms loosely wrapped against each others waist and legs crossed over one another. Only the soft whirring of the fan can be heard as the light of the coming day permeates through the window when they finally reach their slumber.