The sweet smell of freshly baked sweets filled Kyungsoo’s kitchen. The scent of coffee and cocoa overpowered Baekhyun’s nostrils as he watched Kyungsoo flit around his tiny and neat kitchen in amazement with a hand tucked under his chin. Kyungsoo’s hands moving effortlessly as he iced frostings over the freshly baked cupcakes. The oven dinged, and Kyungsoo stopped sprinkling cocoa powder over his brown frosted cupcake to take out another batch of fluffy and mouth-watering goods. Kyungsoo smiled as he slid the tray onto the table top. Baekhyun could not help but drool over the scrumptious looking treats. He was about to poke at one of the fluffy muffins before a dusty hand slapped away his fingers. Annoyed, Baekhyun looked up and wiped the flour off his delicate hand. Kyungsoo shook his head at him but offered Baekhyun a chocolate chip cookie instead.

“Does this mark the sixth try?” Baekhyun asked, nibbling on the cookie.

Kyungsoo sighed and nodded, head hanging low as Baekhyun gave him an apologetic smile.

“This one’s ready. Try it? For me?” Kyungsoo said, holding up the prettily made up cupcake in his hand, eyes gleaming with hope.

“Gladly,” Baekhyun snatched the sugary goodness from Kyungsoo’s palm and hungrily sank his teeth into it, earning a gasp from the other boy. Baekhyun the left-over chocolate flavoured frosting off his fingers and patted his stomach happily, a wide grin plastered across his face.

“So?” Kyungsoo urged, hands clasped together expectedly as he waited for Baekhyun’s comment. Baekhyun’s lips turned into a grim line and he gave the nervous boy a drop dead stare.

“Who are you kidding? This baby is perfect! Its 10 points out of 10 Kyungsoo-yah. It has always been a 10 point out of 10. Whatever you touch is a 10 points out of 10. 10. Points. Out. Of. 10.” Baekhyun said gripping Kyungsoo’s shoulders and shaking the small frame vigorously, ignoring the loud slamming of the front door and a loud shout of “We’re home!”.

“Hey, hey, hey what are you doing to my baby?” Jongin walked into the kitchen, eyeing Baekhyun’s hands on the wide-eyed boy. He removed the oldest boy’s hands with a flick of his fingers and pulled his lover into his chest protectively, nestling his face into the shorter’s hair.

Jongin absolutely loved the smell of Kyungsoo’s hair. He also absolutely loved returning home after a long day at football practice to his cute boyfriend cooking and baking in their little kitchen. Jongin loved how Kyungsoo is always caring and warm, how he liked tending to others and how Kyungsoo enjoys pampering him. Jongin also loved how Kyungsoo fit perfectly into the crook of his arms and body, like pieces of jigsaw puzzles put together – like right now.

“I missed you,” Jongin mumbled into the shorter boy’s hair. Kyungsoo removed his head from the crook of Jongin’s neck and slapped him playfully on the chest.

“Its not even 4 hours silly,”

“That’s like a lifetime to me,” Jongin replied in return, the serious look he had on his face earned giggles from Kyungsoo.

“Baek? I’m back!” a deep voice whistled through the house. Baekhyun ran out of the kitchen only to be picked up by Chanyeol and being swung around in circles resulting into Baekhyun shrieking and shouting profanities. Chanyeol placed him back on his feet and ceased his yells with a kiss. Baekhyun who was screaming at how sweaty Chanyeol is in the first place definitely did not mind it anymore as they began making out in front of the other pair.

Jongin opened his mouth to yell at the couple but Kyungsoo beat him to it.

“Look at what I made!” Kyungsoo squealed, shoving the coffee-cocoa flavoured cupcake in Jongin’s face, getting frosting on the tanned boy’s nose.

Kyungsoo made some apologetic noises and wiped away the brown frosting off the taller boy’s nose with his index finger. Jongin took hold of the older boy’s wrist and brought the finger over to his mouth, away the frosting away with a swipe of his tongue – much to Kyungsoo’s surprise.

“Hmm,”

“Hmm what?” Kyungsoo quipped, holding the cupcake in one hand while Jongin kept a firm lock on the other.

“Have you tasted them?”

Kyungsoo shook his head cutely and Jongin lost all his willpower at the moment. He could never hold himself back when it comes to Kyungsoo. Jongin forcefully tugged Kyungsoo forward, crashing their lips together. He playfully dart his tongue out and teasingly Kyungsoo’s lower lip. The older boy submissively relented and allowed his lover to gain access to his mouth. Their tongues fought for dominance and it was then that Kyungsoo felt a tingling sensation on his tongue as his taste buds sparkled to life. Jongin pulled back smirking.

“They’re amazing and your argument is invalid,”

Being always the stubborn one, Kyungsoo disagreed.

“Yeah I guess it is but... I still think there’s this 20% lacking,” Kyungsoo said with eyes closed as he tried recalling the missing ingredient.

“Nevermind,” the older boy huffed in frustration after a few seconds, “Let’s get you showered nice and clean,” Kyungsoo pulled the sweaty and sticky boy out of the kitchen and into their shared bedroom – past the other couple who were arguing over which channel to watch on the TV.

“NO! I TOLD YOU I WANTED TO WATCH GLEE!”

“NO WAY! THAT’S A SISSY SHOW AND THERE’S NO WAY THE PARK CHANYEOL WOULD WATCH A SISSY SHOW!”

“.........................................”

“You just called me a sissy,”

“......... sorry?”

And all was heard was the sounds of slapping, punching, swearings and low cries of pain.

Jongin flipped over on their shared bed and hovered over Kyungsoo’s small and lithe body.

“Are you awake?” Jongin whispered even though there was only the two of them in the room. Kyungsoo who found his boyfriend’s actions completely adorable and endearing turned, smiling.

Jongin rolled over onto his stomach and propped himself up on his elbows.

“Why was the cupcake brown?” he pouted.

“Um, this?” Kyungsoo rubbed Jongin’s forearm.

“I’m not that dark,” Jongin whined.

“I know. That’s why I added more milk and cream. You know, to get a lighter colour for the frosting,”

“Hey!” Jongin poked Kyungsoo’s waist.

The older boy chuckled and draped his limbs over the complaining boy’s body, making himself comfortable.

“Goodnight baby. I love you,”

And all Kyungsoo got in response was a half-hearted grunt – and maybe a little bit more of mutterings.

“This is crap,” Kyungsoo grumbled to himself, throwing away all the frosted and unfrosted cupcakes into the rubbish bin. Those which also marks his 8^th failed try. He dropped his head into his hand and grumbled more. He felt like a failure. He couldn’t even make a cupcake for his boyfriend – the person whom has been with him through his ups and downs, the person whom has been his crying shoulder whenever he feels down, the person whom he sleeps and wakes up to and the person whom he has been dating for almost three years now.

It was true that he has a vast variety of cupcakes sold in his bakery. Most of them are his original creations and are mostly inspired by his small group of friends. There are also 10 cupcakes in his bakery which has a special place in his heart. All 10 of them are dedicated to his close friends and Kyungsoo wants to add Jongin to the list badly too.

Kyungsoo would study each and every one of his friends, scrutinizing them from head to toe, judge them by their fashion sense and personality and even sniffing them (secretly) and then heading over to the local shopping mall (secretly again) to find out the perfumes, colognes, shampoo, body bath or lotions they use because that really helps Kyungsoo in inventing the perfect recipe for every person.

And no, Kyungsoo doesn’t find that creepy.

Still, Kyungsoo felt like he had failed as a boyfriend and that he can’t even do anything right for Jongin. For the first time in three years, Kyungsoo cried without feeling his face shoved into Jongin’s broad chest as Jongin’s masculine scent overpowered his nostrils, without Jongin’s hand softly threading through his hair telling him everything would get better soon. Without having Jongin’s arms around him, he felt fragile and weak. With Jongin, he always feels better. With Jongin, a part of his burdens always seems to magically disappear.

However this time, Jongin isn’t there to offer him his support.

Seeing Kyungsoo depressed made his friends depressed as well. Even the happy virus was seen wearing a frown instead of his usual grin with the twitch in his eye. Even if Kyungsoo hid his frown well from Jongin, his friends still sees them and they couldn’t bear seeing their little umma sad thus resulting into them gathering in Kyungsoo’s kitchen one afternoon during Jongin’s and Chanyeol’s soccer practice.

“Okay, let’s see what you brought along today Yixing!” Kris said in an overly-cheerful tone. Everyone else besides him cringed.

“Er...” the said boy spread out all the items he had brought along onto Kyungsoo’s dust free counter and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Chocolates, chocolates and more chocolates.

No one spoke and Kyungsoo swore he could hear a pin drop. He moved forward and picked up a bag of Hershey’s chocolate chip and a box of Van Houten’s cocoa. He studied the other packets and bars of chocolate Yixing had brought along and broke into a smile. He rushed forward to hug Yixing, knocking the breath out of the boy and bringing him out of his JPEG state.

“Thank you! Now I don’t have to worry about the colour of the frostings anymore!” Kyungsoo grinned, trying to convince the poor, shocked boy that he was indeed helping out even though Kyungsoo already has one cabinet dedicated to only chocolates.

“Really...” Yixing mumbled, rather than asking.

Kyungsoo nodded eagerly and soon the counter was filled with a variety of ingredients. Sehun brought along jellybeans and gummy bears(“To add colour and life to the cupcakes!”), Luhan had brought along piping bags and tubes, Zitao brought along cute panda figurines for decoration(“The ahjumma at the store told me it was edible!”), Kris brought along a rolling pin(“Psh, why the hell would Kyungsoo need a rolling pin?” Jongdae scoffed.), Minseok brought along a bag of salt which he has mistaken for sugar, Jongdae brought along gory eyeballs and slimy maggots(which he had claimed to be decorations for the cupcakes and was ordered by Sehun to immediately get rid of it because Luhan was on the verge of puking) and Baekhyun and Suho are actually the only ones sane enough to at least bring decent items like icing sugar, (actual)sugar, bags of flour, eggs, milk and even wrote out a list of Jongin’s personality and traits so that the process to making the ‘Jongin cupcake’ would be much easier.

After an elaborate planning and over an hour of bantering over the procedures and ingredients to be used, the batter was finally done and scooped into the pretty paper cups Baekhyun had thoughtfully bought for his best friend. Kyungsoo slid the tray into the oven and wished for the best as he re-joined his friends at the dining table to wait for the oven to ding. Nothing bad would happen.

After all, ten brains and manpower is better than one right?

(Or at least Kyungsoo hopes he’s right.)

The oven dinged and immediately ceased the chattering, shaking the younger ones among the bunch awake.

Kyungsoo practically flew out of his chair and pulled open the oven. A warm and inviting smell immediately enveloped the air around the kitchen, an aroma Kyungsoo had never smelled from anything he has baked before. Smiling at his freshly baked darlings, Kyungsoo put on his oven mitts and pulled out the tray filled with perfectly baked, golden-brown muffins. He made his way to the counter and gently settled them down, earning mumbles of amazement from the other nine boys.

Kyungsoo could tell that maybe... just maybe, things would work out right this time round.

Zitao and Baekhyun cried and held each other as they kept biting and chewing down the Jongin cupcake. Baekhyun bit into the perfectly frosted cupcake and sniffed again as the cupcake literally melted on his tongue. Zitao let out another sob as he the frostings off his finger clean. Luhan, Sehun, Minseok and Jongdae were left speechless as they savoured the whole sugary treat. Minseok was very close to ditching baozis for the Jongin cupcake alongside with Sehun and Luhan being very close to changing their minds about just visiting Kyungsoo’s cupcake bakery for the Jongin cupcake instead of the bubbletea store two shops down Kyungsoo’s bakery for their chocolate bubbletea every week.

Suho, Yixing and Kris were the only ones whose minds were still intact enough to be able to give Kyungsoo a proper reaction.

“Congratulations Kyung. I think this is it,” Kris nodded earnestly, smiling as he took another huge bite of the cupcake, his head rolling back in pleasure.

“This,” Suho held up the half eaten treat in his hand, “is definitely the one. You have to try one!” Suho exclaimed shoving one in Kyungsoo’s hand.

He looked at his circle of friends and they all gave him encouraging smiles, even Baekhyun and Zitao stopped ogling and bawling over the cupcakes. Hesitantly, Kyungsoo closed his eyes and took a bite.

He felt his tastebud exploding with fireworks as sugar seeped through his veins. He could taste the tinge of spiciness from the chilli powder Zitao had suggested to portray Jongin’s charisma. He could actually taste the coffee which is usually overpowered by cocoa kudos to Yixing’s special method of melting the chocolate. He could also feel the little bits and chunks of strawberries rolling on his tongue – Jongin’s favourite fruit – as suggested by Baekhyun. Kyungsoo had also added vanilla essence since Jongin always tastes like vanilla when they kiss, and it had helped bring out the aroma of the cupcake. The colour of the frosting was also perfect. Kyungsoo made a mental note to add more creamer and some whipping cream for a lighter shade of brown – so Jongin wouldn’t be as upset and wouldn’t complain anymore – and a smoother texture. The taste of the icing sugar was light and gave Kyungsoo the vibes of floating in the air very much like how he feels whenever Jongin is by his side. Together with the cupcake base, they made a perfect duo.

Kyungsoo has finally succeeded.

Kyungsoo poked his head into the living room and found Jongin lazing on the couch as he stared intently at the TV. Kyungsoo turned and took a deep breath, checking on the cupcake in the prettily made up box with pink satin ribbons for the final time before stepping into view.

“Hi babe,”

“Hi?”

Confusion was written all over Jongin’s handsome face as he eyed his boyfriend’s awkward form what with his hands held suspiciously behind his back as he fidgeted on his feet.

“What’s that you’re hiding?”

Kyungsoo moved to sit next to Jongin before brandishing out the box from his back and ing it into Jongin’s chest before grabbing a pillow and shielding his face with it. Jongin chuckled at his boyfriend’s randomness but was stunned when he saw the contents’ of the box. He looked at Kyungsoo and the box back and forth before finally tugging the pink ribbon loose and opening the box. To say Jongin was overwhelmed and amazed was an understatement.

He looked at Kyungsoo as if asking for permission and a subtle nod from the expecting boy was all it takes.

Jongin shoved half of the cupcake into his mouth and he wouldn’t be lying if he would say all he saw were stars and that he was practically seeing an overview of himself. It was definitely amazing, no maybe astonishing or astounding or breathtaking maybe... or even eye-opening oh and mind-boggling too.

“This is just...” Jongin had to pause to take a deep breath so he would not come tumbling over his words. “This is perfection oh my god Kyungsoo... why must you be so perfect and lovable like this,” he gushed as Kyungsoo looked at him with his wide but cute eyes. Jongin bit on his lip to prevent himself from spilling over with tears with thoughts of how much effort and time Kyungsoo must have spent to achieve such perfection. Jongin was obviously unable to contain his overflowing feels for his boyfriend.

Jongin suddenly felt the distance between them was too much for him to handle and threw the box containing the half-eaten cupcake onto the coffee table and hastily pulling Kyungsoo into his lap. It took only seconds for their lips to meet. Jongin tilted his head to get a better angle at tasting Kyungsoo and when their tongues met, Kyungsoo could feel his tastebuds coming back to life at the now already familiar taste of the cupcake. Kyungsoo moaned just as Jongin withdrew. The younger boy smirked ily and Kyungsoo felt blood rush up to his face. Jongin stood up and wrapped Kyungsoo’s legs around his waist as he brought them both to the confinements of their shared bedroom. The TV left on for no one to watch, the cupcake left forgotten on the table.

Kyungsoo was thrown on the bed and Jongin crawled his way up, kissing and nibbling. Things got heated up and clothes were strewn all over the room but Kyungsoo didn’t mind one bit. Jongin suddenly stopped at Kyungsoo’s neck and Kyungsoo whined at the loss of contact.

“Do you possibly still have any more left-over frosting left?

Kyungsoo was still dazed and was taken-aback by Jongin’s sudden question but still managed to nod a yes. Jongin pecked at his lips once again before jumping off the bed and dashed out of the room – . Kyungsoo heard the kitchen lights being flicked on (he just knew it was from the kitchen. its his baby gdi) and his refrigerator being slammed closed. Jongin then re-appeared with the container of left-over frosting in one hand, wearing a smirk as he approached Kyungsoo ily.

Kyungsoo then put two and two together and sensed the danger of his new white linen bed sheet being dirtied.

“OH NO NO. HELL NO KIM JONGIN. PUT THAT THING DOWN,”

hey guys i'm back. i'm sorry this took so long and i'm sorry i failed you guys //cries// idek what this is. it is so different from what i originally had in mind and... sobs. forgive me? anyway, yeah i'm back from my long hiatus aka exams. the babysitter will be up by tmr (hopefully). sorry for the fail fic once again OTL

and yeah the cupcake's name is jongin cupcake..... how original

See you guys at The Babysitter soon!~