“I already told you, we don’t have a cookie club meeting today.”

 

Yuto was on Facetime with Yanan as he got ready in the room, looking for his jacket. The Japan Club had a meeting today, and Yuto had invited Kino. It was his first time inviting the latter, and the last thing he wanted was to make a bad impression. 

 

The tray of raspberry macarons sat safely on his desk. The two of them made them together yesterday (though they did make an extra batch for just themselves) and Yuto was so excited to show them off. He didn’t want to brag too much, but… yeah, he and Kino did some fire cookies. 

 

“Then why are you rambling about some cookie thing?” Yanan said, who was Facetiming Yuto from the comfort of his boyfriend’s room. He had just finished his essay, so now he was just doodling in a journal, coming up with a thousand ways to get revenge on someone. 

 

“Pay attention you idiot. I said that yesterday me and Kino did some macarons and I’m bringing them, which you would have known if you spent the night here. There’s a party in one of the houses and I’m trying to show off.”

 

“Show off the cookies or your new boy toy?” Yanan asked, not even looking at the screen. “You’re an odd one-“

 

“SHUT UP!” Yuto found his jacket that was on the floor, only to throw it back on the floor. Now he remembered why he couldn’t find it - he threw it on the ground after he stained it with marinara. Pasta night was wild. “Damn it, what am I going to wear?”

 

Yanan sighed, closing his notebook. “Maybe bust out the leather jacket-“

 

“No, it’s too soon for that,” Yuto muttered, opening his closet again. “That’s at date status-“

 

“So you do want to date him,” Yanan repeated. “Huh.”

 

Yuto raised his hand, ready to yell at Yanan until he realized what he said. “,” he muttered in Japanese, clenching his fist. “Oh no.”

 

“Oh yeah,” Yanan muttered. “Anyways. Now that you ‘re not in the denial stage for that-”

 

Yuto sighed. “I am not making a move tonight so please drop the comments-”

 

“I am dropping them,” Yanan continued. “Besides, I don’t want to talk about relationships right now. What other food are they bringing?”

 

“Japanese food, duh- wait a minute.” Yuto looked at his phone screen, where Yanan had continued doodling in his notebook. “Why not?”

 

Yanan rolled his eyes, making eye contact with Yuto - well, through Facetime, anyways. “Macarons aren’t Japanese-”

 

“We are going to ignore the sarcastic reply I made and go back to what you said.” Yuto pulled out the chair from his desk and sat on it, grabbing his phone to bring the phone closer to his face. “What did Changgu do?”

 

Yanan’s eye twitch, and momentarily Yuto wondered if he was pushing it. “I got in a fight with Changgu earlier.”

 

Yuto groaned, rubbing his eyes. Yanan was always in a ty mood when there was an issue with someone, especially his boyfriend. “You guys fought but you’re still in his dorm?” 

 

“He stormed out, and I still have the key anyways.” Yanan threw his journal on the bed beside him. “Do you think I’m really possessive?”

 

“Pfft.” Yuto started laughing, getting back up from his spot. “You’re so ing funny, you know that, right?”

 

Yanan frowned. “What the hell are you talking about-”

 

“Of ing course you’re possessive!” Yuto continued. “God forbid someone is a mile from your boyfriend! You once threw a tantrum at me because I gave him a free Tacobell coupon!”

 

“I already apologized for that incident,” Yanan muttered under his breath.

 

“ANYWAYS!” Yuto grabbed a random grey hoodie in the closet. This will have to do, for now - it was too soon to bust out the leather jacket. “What did you do?”

 

Yanan scratched the back of his neck, avoiding contact with the screen. “I kind of prohibited him to going to a party and cheating-”

 

“WHAT?!?!”

 

“Okay, TO BE FAIR!” Yanan raised both his hands up in the air, thankful they weren’t in the same room. Yuto would no doubt have smacked him by now. “This Wooseok guy has been getting a little too close to him-”

 

“I WOULD HAVE SMACKED YOU BY NOW!” Yuto continued screaming. “HOLY !”

 

“CAN YOU SHUT UP?!”

 

***

 

“This isn’t Japanese but I think they’ll live,” Yuta said, carrying the tray of macaroons in his hands. “I’m mostly going for the booze, anyways.”

 

Yuta and Si Cheng were both walking in the dark, where the party was at one of the houses from the Japan Club off campus. They were only sophomores, from what Yuta could remember, but holy they already owned a house; they must have been loaded. 

 

And loaded, they were. Takuya had arrived early and sent Yuta a photo of the tables with food, and holy the food arrangement they had. They even had caviar.

 

He still promised to bring something, though, and so cookies it was. The macaroons were delicious and picture perfect, and Si Cheng had acquired some bougee coconut for the recipe. 

 

“Who’s name is the house in, again?” Si Cheng asked, wrapping the jacket around him tighter before doing a little sprint to catch up to Yuta, who was a fast walker. “I don’t remember-”

 

“Some loaded kids. Yoshi, Asashi, I have no idea who else.” 

 

They continued walking in silence when the house came into view, and… yeah, they were loaded, to say the least. 

 

The party was in full swing, from the looks of it. The outside was crowded with people in various stages of being wasted, the sober ones mainly chatting in groups while others were fighting, making out, or throwing up.

 

And- wait, two guys were on the roof?

 

“If the food is gone I’m going to ing scream,” Yuta muttered.

 

“Well, we have the cookies?” Si Cheng suggested. 

 

Yuta shrugged. “, you right. They’re not getting cookies if I’m not getting food-”

 

“NAKAMOTO!!!!” 

 

The two of them looked around to see Mina walking towards them, her cheeks flushed red. She didn’t get drunk easily, despite being small and a girl, so to start showing signs of being tipsy meant she must have been drinking a lot. 

 

“Please tell me there’s still alcohol and food,” was the first thing out of Yuta’s mouth, ignoring Si Cheng telling him to shut up. 

 

Mina grinned, laughing hysterically. “Yeah it’s still… there, I think-”

 

“MINA!”

 

They saw Momo pushing people around her, appearing to the group. “She’s ing crying over Sana right now, oh my god-”

 

“Sounds like trouble in paradise,” Yuta said. “Thought Mina was the cold hearted type-”

 

“Oh, you know how she is-” Momo wrapped her arms around Mina, helping the tipsy girl stay balanced. “What did you bring?”

 

“Macaroons,” Yuta said, showing the tray to Momo. “Some french cookie. They’re pretty good.”

 

“Hmm.” Momo frowned, leaning over to get a better look at the cookies. It was pretty dark in the house, despite there being flashing lights everywhere. “They look different.”

 

“Macaroons and macarons are different,” Si Cheng explained. “People assume them to be the same.”

 

“OH!” Mina grabbed one of the cookies, stepping on Momo who yelped. “COOKIE!”

 

“GOD DAMN IT, THAT WAS MY FOOT- HEECHUL!!!!!” 

 

Yuta grabbed Si Cheng’s hand and led him away from the foyer. “I’M GOING TO PUT THIS IN THE KITCHEN, MOMO!!”

 

“BE CAREFUL! THERE’S A LOT OF CRAZIES!”

 

“I feel bad for Mina,” Si Cheng said, moving closer towards Yuta in an attempt to avoid some people around him splashing their drinks everywhere. His black hoodie was imported. “Drinking to get over heartache.” 

 

“Sana has made very obvious hints, Mina is just stupid- wait a minute.” 

 

There were a couple tables near the kitchen showing off an assortment of food, with varying degrees of perfection, of course. At the very end of the tables, though, stood a tray with what appeared to be pink cookies. 

 

“Huh, looks like cookies are popular around here,” Si Cheng said, grabbing the tray from Yuta to set it on the table. “We weren’t the only ones.” 

 

Yuta grabbed one of the pink cookies, holding it in front of Si Cheng. “Explains why Momo was confused.”

 

Upon closer inspection, the cookies appeared to be macarons, not macaroons. 

 

Si Cheng grabbed it from Yuta’s offering hand, taking a small bite before swallowing. “Raspberry.”

 

“They don’t look store bought…” Yuta mumbled, looking around the kitchen. “Bruh.”

 

Si Cheng ate the rest of the cookie, chewing on it slowly while he followed Yuta’s gaze, and realized who bought it. 

 

Yuto was right in front of them, along with Kino who was also in the cookie club, and he was glancing at the tray that the two had brought. “Club pays off, right?”

 

Yuta glanced at Si Cheng, still chewing on the macaron, before laughing. “Yeah, I guess it does.”

 

***

 

Hongjoong underlined the phrase peanut butter cookies on the board. “I’m going to be honest, we have a slight problem with this recipe today-”

 

San signed loudly, lifting his head up from the desk where he had been sitting out. “I told you it is all SEONGHWA’S FAULT-”

 

“Seonghwa is not in this club.” Hongjoong put down the chalk, staring at the students in front of him. He still hated leading this club, it made him feel old, even though there were most definitely students here older than him. “Not my fault you asked him to buy the ingredients again-”

 

“If there’s some leftover peanut butter can I eat it?” Bobby interrupted. 

 

Si Cheng made a disgusted face. “Like, out of the jar?”

 

“The only time I eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches is when it all comes mixed together,” Yoongi said. 

 

Junhoe rolled his eyes, yawning. “I’m more of an almond butter kind of guy-”

 

“Congratulations everyone.” Hongjoong opened up the bag and pulled out a yellow jar, setting it down on the desk. “And no.”

 

San pushed back his chair dramatically, staring at his nails. “Why don’t you go grocery shopping next time,” he muttered under his breath. 

 

“FINE! I have no idea why you out of all people are mad anyways, these people are still going to eat it-”

 

“That looks like a normal jar of peanut butter to me,” Yuto said. 

 

“It’s actually mazapan. Imported from mexico.” Hongjoong picked up the jar again, staring at the words in Spanish. His English was already garbage, and Spanish bore no resemblance to English so he was screwed. “From what I found online, the company is popular for their peanut butter candy, so I'm sure it's fine.:

 

“As long as it’s sweet, it shouldn’t be that bad, right?” Hoseok said, sounding hopeful. 

 

Wooyoung got up from where he was sitting in the back, the room remaining quiet as he walked slowly to stand in front of Hongjoong, holding his hand out. “We should probably try it first-” 

 

“I HAVE PLASTIC SPOONS SOMEWHERE!” San jumped up from his chair and ran towards the bag that Hongjoong opened just a few seconds prior, rummaging through it. “I- I packed them somewhere-”

 

“, he down bad,” Yuta whispered, causing both Junhoe and Yoongi to laugh.

 

“If Yanan weren’t fighting with Changgu, I would have given him some cookies,” Yuto whispered quietly.

 

“Hm?” Hanbin turned behind his chair to stare at Yuto. “Are they a couple or what?” 

 

Yuto groaned, slamming his head down on the desk. “They are. Yanan thinks Changgu is cheating on him.” 

 

“Well , in high school, me and some people would just follow him around inconspicuously,” Hanbin said. “Often they were-”

 

“Changgu loves that man, I doubt he is though,” Yuto explained. “Yanan is just paranoid-”

 

“Yanan is your roommate, right?” Hyunggu asked. 

 

“Yeah, he’s kind of stupid-”

 

“Some people should follow Changgu, and some should follow the person this Yanan guy thinks Changgu is cheating on him with,” Yuta suggested. 

 

“We are not following people-”

 

“Hobi, hobi, hobi-” Yoongi put his hand on top of Hoseok’s, unaware of how red the latter was turning. “You have followed Namjoon before-”

 

“I thought he was doing drugs-”

 

Hanbin coughed, looking away. “Thank god I stopped doing crack-”

 

While the group were doing their gossiping, Wooyoung and Hongjoong tried the mazapan butter. “This is like cookie butter,” Wooyoung told him. “I think it’s a good alternative.”

 

“A bit sweeter… should I alter the sugar recipe?” Hongjoong asked him. 

 

Wooyoung shook his head, throwing the spoon away. “Nah. Besides, I think these people like sugar-”

 

“How long are these cookies going to take?” Yuta asked. “We’re stalking people after this.”

 

***

 

“Are you sure this was a good idea?” Bobby asked, pulling out his phone. He had an assignment due in a couple of hours, but he was mostly done with it. Maybe he could type it as they were walking-

 

“I don’t normally get involved in other people’s business but I do hate cheaters.” Hanbin yawned again, regretting pulling an all-nighter. “.”

 

After making cookies, the Cookie Club had split - some were going to follow Changgu, and some were going to follow the so-called Wooseok guy. Yuto shared as much information as he could in the chat, and the groups set to head out. 

 

Some thought it was a bad idea, of course, but… there they went. It felt like a field trip like they used to do in elementary.

 

The group following Wooseok was Bobby, Hanbin, Yoongi, Hoseok, San, and Wooyoung, while Yuto, Kino, Yuta, Si Cheng, Hongjoong and Junhoe followed Changgu. And just in case they were hungry, they had cookies with them. 

 

The mazapan cookies, as they were calling them, as they were different from your normal peanut butter cookies, but surprisingly good, nonetheless. 

 

Hoseok took out one of the cookies in his pocket and bit into it, chewing softly. He didn’t like the idea of stalking people, especially those that he didn’t know, but Yoongi said that if there was cheating involved, it was important to let Yanan know. Besides, Yanan didn’t tell them to do it anyways, so it’s not like Changgu could get mad. 

 

That really got under his thick skin. He had been cheated on before, and everyone kept it a secret from him. How he wished someone would have told him back then. 

 

Hoseok didn’t spend much time thinking about that bastard, mostly because he moved on. But whenever he thought of Yoongi, and why he didn’t make a move, sometimes he would think about his past relationship, and wonder if he should enter a new one or not. Hoseok must have done something to deserve getting cheated on, right?

 

“Do you want to leave?” Hoseok stopped chewing and looked at Yoongi besides him. The latter had been quiet during the little walk they were currently taking, despite having been chattier earlier. “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I just figured… I don’t know.”

 

Hoseok didn’t respond at first, finishing eating the cookie his hand. “I’m okay,” he said quietly, perhaps too quiet. Yoongi might not have heard him-

 

“!” San screamed. He was leading the group, as he explained he knew how Wooseok looked like - some class they were in together. San said that Wooseok often mentioned some guy he liked, so curiosity got the better of them. Was the guy Changgu? “I LEFT IT WITH HONGJOONG!”

 

San was digging through his pockets, which consisted of his phone and airpods, plus dirty pennies. “, , -”

 

“What could you possibly be looking for?” Hanbin said. “If it’s for a cookie-”

 

“MY UNDER EYE BRIGHTENER!” San continued screaming, touching his back pockets again. “I LOST IT!”

 

“You’re looking for make up?!” Yoongi yelled. “WE ARE WALKING IN THE DARK!"

 

Wooyoung pulled out a small container from his own pocket, handing it to San. “Here, you can borrow mine-”

 

“Why do YOU carry make up in your pocket?” Hanbin asked him. 

 

“Pfft, you don’t?” Yoongi said. “Sometimes you need concealer.”

 

“Why for hickies?” Bobby asked, covering his mouth to prevent a laugh from coming out.

 

Yoongi looked at him dead in his eyes. “Bruises.”

 

“-this is MAC.” San said, looking at the container in Wooyoung’s hand. “This looks like eyeshadow-”

 

“Painterly beige,” Wooyoung said. “I use it for my eyes, it’ll help.”

 

San brought it closer to his face, looking at the back label. “I use Nars.” 

 

“You’ll be fine-”

 

“WHY are you covering bruises?” Hoseok harshly whispered to Yoongi.

 

Yoongi pretended not to hear him, look around them until- “Wait is that Wooseok?”

 

Wooseok was sitting at the bench with another guy, the two in a deep conversation. Whatever Wooseok said must have been funny, though, considering the guy was laughing in a fit.

 

“That’s Shinwon with him,” Bobby said. “He’s on my dorm floor.” 

 

The group kept their distance from the duo, watching their every move. Well, most of them - San was putting on some eye brightener with the help of Wooyoung. Which, apparently, he had something to do in half an eye, and needed the makeup to dry for a bit under his eyes before blending. 

 

“Maybe we can get more information out of this Shinwon guy,” Hanbin said. “He would tell us whether Changgu were cheating or not.”

 

And speaking of Changgu, while the group was discussing whether Shinwon would know something, he showed up a couple minutes later, waving hello to Wooseok while giving Shinwon a hug. 

 

They couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Changgu did look upset, from the looks of it. He handed Wooseok a folder. 

 

“This isn’t enough, we have to know what they are saying,” Bobby suggested. 

 

“Well, it has to be one of us that doesn’t know them,” San said. “Maybe pretend to be on a phone call.” 

 

Hoseok took out his phone, pressing it against his ear as he jogged away from the group. “-the project is due next Wednesday, but I don’t like how it’s coming out-”

 

“HOBI!!” Yoongi whispered loudly, but not running after his friend. “Oh my god-”

 

“Well, , he sounds like a natural,” Wooyoung said.

 

Hoseok started talking to himself on the phone, making up some conversation about a project before getting closer to Shinwon, Wooseok, and Changgu. 

 

There was a tree near the bench, so Hoseok decided to stand under it, before loudly exclaiming, “I told you I’m waiting on Namjoon to show up. Jin said he’s running late.” 

 

He stayed quiet while hearing the conversation the others were having, pretending not to look at them. 

 

“I’m so glad you guys are together,” Changgu said, giving another hug to Shinwon. “I was helping Wooseok come up with a thousand ways to ask you out-”

 

“Now you’re making me look bad,” Wooseok said, pouting. 

 

Shinwon laughed, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Well, we’re dating now, so it doesn’t matter- wait, so is Yanan finally okay with you?”

 

Changgu hiccuped, his eyes filling with tears. “I- I think he’s going to break up with me-”

 

, , . “That sounds like a stupid idea,” Hoseok said loudly into his phone. “We should go back to the original idea- well what did you have in mind-”

 

He stole another glance at the trio, where Changgu was now crying into his hands, talking about how Yanan was accusing him of cheating, while Shinwon gave him another hug, telling him it’s okay, calm down, maybe we will talk to him.

 

Hoseok had no idea why he agreed to do this. To eavesdrop on such a… private moment on a student that he has never once interacted in his life-

 

“If you’re going to be mad I’ll call you later,” Hoseok said to no one, then pretended to hang up on the call, staring at his phone screen. 

 

Not knowing what else to do, he decided to call Yoongi for real, not caring that the other was watching him. “Come on, pick up-”

 

Yoongi picked up on the second ring. “What are you-”

 

“Are you around the language building facing the north quad? Namjoon and Jin cancelled dinner and I’m ing starving.” 

 

Hoseok didn’t hear anything for a couple of seconds, and for a moment he panicked, wondering if the others were going to catch him in the act. But Changgu was still crying, so they weren’t focused on him, at least.

 

“I’m coming,” Yoongi said finally. “Stay nearby. I’ll take you out to dinner.”