Kyungsoo was lounging around on his living room couch, with a glass of wine in his hand the other holding a book, when there was a hard knock at his front door. Glancing up from his book, Kyungsoo craned his neck over to the clock above his bookshelf. 9:14 it read. Slowly rising to his feet the short male curiously looked at the clock again. He wasn’t expecting company. Leaving his book and glass on the glass coffee table, Kyungsoo got to his feet and walked to his front door. He stared at the door one last time, trying to decipher who could be at his front door at this hour, and opened it.

He was taken aback when he saw a grinning Minseok standing at his door, carrying a bag full of groceries. His mouth was agape as he tried to figure out what the other was doing there, and how he knew where he lived.

“Hi,” greeted Minseok, still grinning

“Hi?” replied Kyungsoo unsure, staring at the elder, “What-what are you-”

“Did I come at a bad time?” asked Minseok curiously as he looked over Kyungsoo’s head and into the room

“No,” stuttered Kyungsoo, fidgeting where he stood, “I was just, reading.
He finished lamely,

“I would've called but,” started Minseok slowly, “I didn’t have your number-”

“And having a glass of wine,” continued Kyungsoo, staring at his socked feet,

“So, you’re free then?” asked Minseok hopefully

“Yeah.” answered Kyungsoo with a nod, glancing up at the elder, “Uh, come in.”

Kyungsoo moved aside and let Minseok in who smiled at the gesture. When Minseok had stepped inside, Kyungsoo quickly looked around in the hallway of his apartment floor and saw no one else was outside, shaking his head Kyungsoo quickly stepped back inside and closed the door shut. He turned around and saw that Minseok had already walked into the apartment and was making his way toward the kitchen. Wringing his hands, Kyungsoo followed after him. Making one’s self comfortable inside his home was definitely another family trait the Kim relatives all seemed to share.

“I see you were reading and having a glass a wine,” pointed out Minseok as he placed the paper bag he came with on the counter top, “Merlot?”

“Cabernet,” answered Kyungsoo, rubbing the back of his neck as he entered the kitchen

“Franc?”

“Sauvignon, actually,” corrected Kyungsoo as he picked up the wine bottle he left by the sink

“Excellent choice,” mused Minseok with a smile at the younger, “I prefer white myself.”

“Really?” asked Kyungsoo staring at Minseok with wide eyes, “I have a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc if you would like to share.”

“Perhaps later?” suggested Minseok warmly, “There’s something I wanted to ask you to help me with, actually.”

Kyungsoo gave him a quizzical stare as he watched Minseok take items out of the bag and set them on the table. Kyungsoo stared at the groceries and saw there were actually baking ingredients, cookie ingredients to be exact.

“Cookies?” asked Kyungsoo out loud as he picked up a bottle of vanilla extract and examined it (organic and from Mexico)

“Joonmyeon is actually out,” explained Minseok as he looked over the spread, “And I accidentally forgot about bringing a gift for our parents when we go visit them tomorrow.”

“Ah,” nodded Kyungsoo, placing the small brown bottle down and picking up a bag of flour

“So, I’m sort of in a pickle,” continued Minseok, laughing half heartedly, “I can’t bake to save my life and with Joonmyeon out for the evening, I was wondering, if you wouldn’t mind, helping me, bake some cookies?”

Kyungsoo looked up at Minseok who was bashfully staring back at him. Despite Minseok being several years older than him, the elder appeared to look a lot younger than Kyungsoo. Especially when he appeared to be bashful like he was now. After a minute of silence, Kyungsoo spared the elder a small smile and nodded his head, walking around the counter to where his usual apron was located. Grabbing his black one and the sky blue one underneath it, Kyungsoo gently tossed the lighter color apron to Minseok.

“Okay,” said Kyungsoo simply as he put his apron on and tied it around his back

Minseok broke out into a grin and quickly put on the length apron.

“Lucky for you, cookies are my specialty,” said Kyungsoo with a grin as he stepped over to the countertop and started to pull the ingredients toward him.

“I’m in your capable hands ‘Soo,” replied Minseok as he stepped closer and watched the shorter male kneel down and take random bowls out from the cupboards.

Kyungsoo hid his pink face behind the large bowl in his hands as he reached inside and gathered more bowls. Why did it sound nice when Minseok called him ‘Soo?

“Okay, now slowly pour the flour mixture into the bowl,” instructed Kyungsoo as he watched Minseok from the side, “Make sure it's evenly distributed.”

“Like this?” asked Minseok as he stared at the mixture while pouring the flour slowly

“Yeah,” replied Kyungsoo as he gently moved the larger bowl they were mixing in the mixture, around so Minseok could pour the flour easily, “See how it’s slowly getting doughy? Keep pouring till all the flour is gone and when the dough no longer sticks to the bowl, it’ll be done.”

Minseok nodded his head and kept pouring. They were on their second batch of cookies, this batch being sugar cookies. Chocolate chip cookies were cooling off on the racks by the table, two dozen in fact.

“I think it’s done,” commented Minseok as he examined the dough before looking up at Kyungsoo

“Good,” nodded Kyungsoo, reaching  for the clear wrap next to him and cutting off a large piece, “Now we just wrap it up and put it in the freezer for about a hour.”

Minseok nodded and turned off the mixture before he handed the large bowl to Kyungsoo to easily took it and flipped the bowl, letting the dough plop on the wrap and quickly wrapped it up into a ball. Minseok watched as Kyungsoo he walked to the freezer and placed the cookie dough inside before closing the door. Kyungsoo patted his hands onto his apron as he turned around and faced Minseok.

“It’ll be awhile till that's ready,” he explained, “In the meantime, you're more than welcome to sit on the couch while I clean up in here.”

“I’ll help,” offered Minseok, picking up the measuring cups and spoons, “I don’t mind.”

Kyungsoo gave Minseok another small smile as he nodded his head before he turned his attention to the bowls scattered around the countertops. They worked in comfortable silence as they gathered all the dirty dishes. Minseok took the bowls from Kyungsoo and placed them near the sink as the younger went around and gathered up the open flour bag and sugar, tying them and placing them back into the bag Minseok brought them in. As he was getting the water ready for the dishes, Minseok stopped and watched Kyungsoo as the younger opened the fridge and took out a loaf of wheat bread and a bag of cheddar cheese along with some butter. Kyungsoo placed the food by the stove and started to fiddle around in the cupboards again, muttering to himself about where he put his favorite skillet at. Minseok smiled as he turned off the water and leaned against the sink, watching the younger.

“You ever get lonely?” asked Minseok out loud suddenly, folding his arms across his chest, “Being in alone in this apartment.”

“Nah,” answered Kyungsoo over his shoulder as he his stove, “I’m used to being on my own. I actually prefer it to be honest.”

“Cleaning up must be a breeze,” Minseok commented as he watched Kyungsoo work from the stove.

“I suppose,” shrug Kyungsoo, “Although I do sometimes leave it a mess just so I can clean it up later. But it’s not the reason I prefer being alone.”

“Why do you prefer being alone than?” asked Minseok

“I just do,” replied Kyungsoo as he placed the buttered bread on the skillet, “It’s sort of hard to explain. I just feel more...energetic and calm when I’m alone. I’m always surrounded by people and loud noises that, it’s just nice to come back here and it’s quiet and I don’t have to deal with anything, is all.”

“Do you get lonely though?” asked Minseok again

“Sometimes I guess,” shrugged Kyungsoo, putting a single square of cheese on the bread before adding another piece of bread on top “But it doesn’t really last long. I’m okay, being alone. Loneliness is just part of the solitude and I get over it when it happens.”

“Hmm.” hummed Minseok as he turned around and picked up a spoon, slowly cleaning it.

“Being alone and lonely is better than the alternative.” muttered Kyungsoo

“Which is?” asked Minseok, glancing over his shoulder

“Not being alone but still feeling lonely,” answered Kyungsoo quietly, as he flipped the sandwich he was making, “I think that's probably the worst type of loneliness you can feel.”

Minseok was silent as he continued washing dishes.

“Being alone and lonely,” continued Kyungsoo, “You can do something about it. But when you're with someone or in a group, you can’t easily shake off the lonely feeling. It just slowly suffocates you and renders you helpless because you don’t know why you are lonely when you're not even alone to begin with. It makes you feel horrible and after awhile you just can’t feel anything else.”

Kyungsoo reached up and took out a plate from the top cupboards and placed the grilled cheese sandwich he was making onto it. He was working on the next one when he heard Minseok speak again.

“Is that why you ended things with Jongin?” asked Minseok quietly, “Because you got lonely?”

Kyungsoo didn’t answer right away, busying himself with making another sandwich, his back turned to Minseok the entire time. When he was flipping the sandwich over, he finally spoke.

“Yes and no.” replied Kyungsoo quietly,

“What do you mean?”

“I was lonely, yes, but that’s not the whole reason why we broke up.” answered Kyungsoo as he stared at the skillet

“Then?”

“We grew apart.” answered Kyungsoo, “It was just a matter of time before we both realized it. I just happened to notice it sooner than Jongin did.” he turned off the skillet and placed the grilled cheese sandwich with the other one, “There just came a point when I saw that, it wasn’t the same anymore. Things changed. They were small even unnoticable changes but, changes nonetheless. We were arguing more, but not making up as quickly. We held hands, but it was more of an impulse than an urge to feel the other. We spoke but there were no emotions behind our words...It got lonely. I tried, God knows I tried to fix it, but you can’t fix something that isn’t fixable, me and Jongin were no longer fixable.”

Kyungsoo slowly turned around and faced Minseok, who was staring down at his guest slippers, a pensive look on his face. Kyungsoo picked up the plate and placed it on the island countertop, wondering if he had said too much or if he had upset Minseok is some way. He was wondering if he should say something when Minseok spoke softly.

“I know exactly what that’s like.” said Minseok softly before turning around and busying himself with washing the dishes.

Kyungsoo stared at the elders back he worked for several moments, watching how Minseok's shoulders moved as he washed. Looking away, Kyungsoo busied himself by cutting the sandwiches in half and walking down the hallway to give each other some space.

“These are the cutest cookies I’ve ever seen,” stated Minseok as he scooped up a plain cookie and held it up to the light, “It’s a...what is this?”

“A penguin.” replied Kyungsoo as he took out the second cookie sheet with cookies, “You made a bunch of penguin cookies it seems.” as he eyed the sheet he was holding and saw ten penguin cookies.

“I think penguins are cute,” muttered Minseok, “I think they are now my favorite animal.”

Kyungsoo snorted and started scooping the cookies onto a parchment paper he laid out.

“I think we can start the last batch after these sheets cool off.” commented Kyungsoo, “But for now, wanna help make the frosting?”

Minseok nodded eagerly and quickly scooped out the cookies from his sheet and went over to Kyungsoo’s side as the shorter male started to dig through his cupboards for ingredients to make frosting.

After their strange and semi deep talk, Kyungsoo and Minseok did their best to pick up the mood and not ask anymore further questions about being lonely or relationships.

“Can you dig in that rack by the stove?” asked Kyungsoo suddenly, “I think I put the food coloring in there.”

“Sure,” replied Minseok, inspecting the spice rack and plucking out a small box of vials of coloring and holding it up for Kyungsoo to see, “This one?”

Kyungsoo hummed as he nodded his head, while taking out a box and another filled with plastic bags. They placed everything on the table and Kyungsoo started to instruct Minseok on how to make the frosting. As he explained what to put into the bowl, Kyungsoo was cutting the corner of the bags and fastening little clips on them. Minseok followed the instructions and went to work. Kyungsoo couldn’t help but smile at how diligent Minseok was at following his instructions and didn’t seem to mind that Kyungsoo was making him do most of the work. It was nice, considering anyone else who had made cookies with him in the past had always whined and made Kyungsoo do most of the work. Kyungsoo inspected the frosting and dipped his pinky into the mixture, bringing it to his lips and it.

“It seems to be alright,” nodded Kyungsoo, holding up the little bags in his hand, “Now we just put the frosting in these things and start to make the colors. What colors do you like?”

“Blue, Red, Green, and Yellow.” answered Minseok, “And white.”

“You don’t want to make a black coloring for the penguins?” asked Kyungsoo innocently as he opened the box of coloring

“Nah, let's make the penguins blue.” Smiled Minseok

Kyungsoo sighed as he brought his glass to his lips and took a small sip of his wine, admiring the plate of cookies Minseok had left him, all with penguin and heart shaped cookies.

It was well after midnight when they finally finished decorating the cookies and putting them on separate plates all wrapped up and ready to be given as presents. Kyungsoo was surprised when Minseok handed him a plate of his own as a ‘thank you’ for helping. Minseok shyly then asked if Kyungsoo would be interested in possibly going out with him Christmas Eve to a movie and dinner. Kyungsoo didn’t trust himself to speak so he simply nodded and also handed over his phone number. Minseok gathered up his things and bid the shorter male ‘goodnight’, gently patting Kyungsoo on the cheek.

Kyungsoo reached out and took a penguin off the plate. He nibbled on the fin of the cookie, smiling to himself.

He didn’t mind being alone, but he was starting to miss Minseok’s company.

“Maybe I have been alone for too long,” he said to himself as he took another bite, “These cookies are really good.”

*

yami is gonna bake some cookies now~!

My XiuSoo feels!!! Waaaahhhh

give me the biz in the comments

Next chapter: Snowmen on Christmas Eve

yaminom out~!