“I ed up,” muttered Wonshik softly as he sat defeatedly at the dining table. Laid out in front of him was a box of fresh cream chocolate—looking a bit messy but still seemed edible anyway—that he had been making for the last few hours. He was mostly exaggerating with his previous utterance, but there was no denying that he did make some wrong moves while making the chocolate.

When Wonshik watched the tutorial videos on the internet, the fancy chocolate looked easy enough to make. Just melt the chocolate with some cream, add butter and liquor, pour it to paper-lined mold, let it set, cut, dust with cocoa powder, then it’s done, right? It didn’t seem complicated at all.

Except that, apparently he needed to be extremely careful when heating up the cream on stove. He unknowingly set the fire too strong and ended up partially burning the cream. Thankfully he still could sieve it to remove the burnt parts and added more unheated cream to save it. The paper mold he made was a bit wonky too, but he thought that it’s okay since he could always trim the ugly excess anyway.

The cooling and setting the chocolate went without a hitch, thankfully, but soon it became mildly disastrous again when he had to open the mold and cut the chocolate. The chocolate was sticking pretty strongly to the paper, and his effort to separate each pieces became a real struggle… Not to mention that the chocolate melted so easily, so every once in a while he had to pop it into the fridge to set it back.

After he managed to separate each pieces nicely, he dusted every single one with cocoa powder, and he’s glad that at least that one went without a hitch again. But then, he had to fit everything to the chocolate box he brought, and that’s when he realized that he probably had cut the chocolates a bit too big. They could fit into the box, but it was hell to squeeze them all in, and would probably be hell when they had to be taken out.

It was one hell of a struggle, but at least he managed to make a decent box of chocolate. He tasted the leftover from t the chocolate, and he thought it tasted okay. If he were to be completely honest, it was chocolate anyway, and it hardly could go wrong.

But at the thought of “the ones I’ve tried before at the shop near the studio tasted better”, Wonshik started to pedal back and rethink about his decision to give the chocolate to Taekwoon. Sure, he made it himself and Taekwoon would probably appreciate it anyway since it was one of the rare time when he actually used the kitchen, but his perfectionist side said that it’s not enough.

Unfortunately, he had no spare ingredients nor time to make a new batch. He had started to regret opening that bottle of coffee-flavored Baileys to make that chocolate. He could just give it to Taekwoon as valentine gift and be done with it.

Sighing heavily, he decided that he would just buy a box from that one shop near the studio to give to Taekwoon and gave the one he made to his crews. At least they could probably accept his just-okay handmade chocolate, and Wonshik cared a bit less about what they’d say about it.

With that problem solved, Wonshik closed the chocolate box and put it at the very back of the fridge before cleaning up the mess he made.

The alarm wasn’t really welcomed, even more when Wonshik barely got some sleep no thanks to the chocolate making he did the night before. Yawning and groaning loudly, he forced himself off the bed so he could hurry took a shower and breakfast, and then rushed to the chocolate shop before Taekwoon got back from the vocal practice.

But as soon as Wonshik reached the dining area, he froze at the sight before him. Taekwoon was sitting on the dining table, munching on something, with a very familiar box laid open in front of him.

It was a box of chocolate.

It was a box of chocolate that Wonshik made the night before, the disastrous one that he planned on giving to anyone but Taekwoon.

And Taekwoon was obviously eating the chocolate; several pieces already gone from the box.

“Hyung, that’s—”

“I didn’t steal it. It wasn’t named, so it’s not against our dorm law to take it. Founder’s keeper,” cut Taekwoon quickly, not wanting to be accused of stealing.

Wonshik chuckled and shook his head.

“Yeah. It’s yours, Hyung,” agreed Wonshik as he stepped closer, taking a seat across Taekwoon. “Is it good?” he asked tentatively, nervous to know what Taekwoon thought about it.

“Well, it’s chocolate,” replied Taekwoon flatly. “But it’s not too sweet, and I can taste some liquor and coffee inside so it’s good. I like it,” he added before he took one more from the box. Wonshik sighed in relief and smiled at that, making Taekwoon quirked an eyebrow.

“Okay then. Enjoy your chocolate. I’m taking a shower now,” said Wonshik as he stood up from his seat and headed to the bathroom.

“Is this yours?” asked Taekwoon quickly, stopping Wonshik from his track. “The chocolate. Is this actually yours, and you forgot to name it? Did someone give it to you?” asked Taekwoon again. Wonshik chuckled and shook his head.

“No, Hyung. It’s yours,” replied Wonshik shortly.

“Stop playing games with me and answer truthfully. Did I take a chocolate that’s supposedly yours?” asked Taekwoon again, more sternly. Wonshik reached out to his nape, scratching there although it wasn’t itchy at all.

“It’s yours,” he replied plainly. Taekwoon was about to protest again, but Wonshik quickly continued, “I made it. For you. Well, at first I wanted to give it to you, but it’s disastrous, so I was planning to give it to my crews instead and buy you a good one from the store near my studio. But then you found it and—”

“You made this?” asked Taekwoon, and Wonshik quickly bit his lips. Taekwoon’s eyes were wide, surprised, but Wonshik couldn’t tell if it’s a good surprise or a bad surprise.

“Yeah,” breathed Wonshik. Taekwoon nodded and pulled another one from the box, popping it into his mouth.

“Have you tried it? You should. It’s good,” asked Taekwoon again, then gesturing for Wonshik to get closer. Wonshik wanted to reject the offer, wanted to tell Taekwoon that there were some leftovers that he’d eaten, but he complied anyway. He walked back to the dining table, reaching out for the chocolate, but Taekwoon caught his wrist.

One moment Wonshik was turning his head to ask Taekwoon what’s wrong, and in the next moment he felt soft lips pressing against his slightly chapped ones. Wonshik gasped in surprise, and then he felt something was pushed into his mouth—something warm, a bit bitter, a bit sweet, with a hint of coffee and alcohol.

When Taekwoon pulled back, Wonshik was flushing red despite being completely sober, eyes glued to Taekwoon’s pink lips that were stained with chocolate. Taekwoon easily swiped his tongue to clean those up, and captured that plush lip between his pearly white teeth.

“Good, isn’t it?” asked Taekwoon. Wonshik’s brain was still short-circuiting.

“Yeah…” replied Wonshik dumbly. “Yeah, it’s… It’s good.”

Taekwoon smirked smugly and pulled out another one from the box and held it up. “Want some more, my chocolatier bae?” he offered teasingly.

Wonshik didn’t say anything as he helped himself with another mouthful.