"So, how does it taste?" Jongin inquired excitedly as he stared at the chewing blonde member with puppy eyes. Kyungsoo was busying serving them all his specialty – a beef bulgogi and olive oil spaghetti fusion whilst Youngjae munched on on the fried chicken Jongin had cooked that morning. The texture was crunchy and golden on the outside, but on the inside...

"Great," Youngjae forced a sweet smile as he took each painful bite, "it tastes great." Jongin looked as though he had won a lottery.

"Oh right! I told the other members I could cook!" he punched the air with his fist in triumph and Kyungsoo stiffened, putting out the plates.

"Oh, really?" Kyungsoo murmured suspiciously and picked up a warm drumstick, "we'll see, shall we?"

He let his teeth crunch through the crispy texture and into the white flesh below it, his gums felt something trigger his receptors, but he bravely bit on. Then, as he let his tongue detect the chicken flesh...

He turned green.

The chicken was cooked on the outside, but barely defrosted on the inside.

"YAH! HOW DID YOU COOK THIS THING? IT'S DISGUSTING!" Kyungsoo yelped, but was too polite to spit it out, so he forced the whole thing into his mouth and practically injured his trachea by swallowing the entire chunk of meat.

"What? Too much flour?"

"IT'S NOT COOKED!" Kyungsoo screamed and pounced on the younger member, shaking him by the neck as Youngjae ran for water secretly behind them.

"I could've died! DIED!" Kyungsoo yelled, as Jongin's head snapped back and forwards, and back and...

"No wonder Onew-hyung didn't ask for seconds," Jongin whimpered, dejected.

"It's not that bad," Youngjae had managed to sneak back to his spot with a bottle of mineral water, "at least the skin was nice."

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were reared by wolves," Kyungsoo ignored him and snarled into the younger's goofy grin. Nothing disturbed him more than the thought of all that bacteria from the cold meat travelling up his veins, and to his brain...

"Hold your fire," Jongin exclaimed, finally breaking free, "I'll send the rest of the bucket to Spudgy."

"Who's Spudgy?"

"Simon and Martina's dog."

"Ah."

It took thirteen and a half minutes for Youngjae to unfreeze his throat, and Kyungsoo to stop ranting about Jongin's culinary crisis. Despite his defensive outbursts at times, he refused to taste his own 'masterpiece', as he called it. Youngjae suspected that he had never actually cooked before. In the end, he managed to calm Kyungsoo down by settling them all down to taste the spaghetti – which was actually really good.

"Wow," Youngjae commented between mouthfuls of spaghetti, "this is really good."

"Really? Thanks, it's my mother's favourite recipe."

"She must be a great cook."

"She is, she taught me everything I know about cooking before I started my dorm life with EXO; if I hadn't turned out a singer, I would've been a chef," Kyungsoo trailed off dreamily, as he placed Youngjae's cake on the centre of the mat.

"Yeah," Jongin agreed, "he'd be the one scanning the kitchen staffs' clothes for bacteria insetad of cooking."

"I can imagine the retrenchment rate."

Kyungsoo ignored them as he set the cake properly in front of Youngjae and placed new knives and forks neatly around it.

"Would you like to cut your cake now?" Kyungsoo asked brightly when he had finished setting the cake, "I helped choose it."

Youngjae grinned as he gazed at the small brown cake with chocolate florals on top and took the carefully sanitized knife from Kyungsoo. He delicately cut into it and they cheered automatically. It proved to be a chocolate cheesecake, with chocolate flowing like lava from between the layers of the cake. He cut them both huge pieces and handed them around, however, Kyungsoo declined his.

"Oh, no, thank you," he grinned shyly, "I get heartburn when I eat birthday cake."

"Don't worry, I took out the candles."

"That's..."

"Oh, come on, Kyungsoo," Jongin snarled impatiently, "it's his birthday, for crying out loud."

Youngjae smiled at him as he took his share like a slapped puppy.

"Thanks, guys, it tastes amazing," Youngjae said shyly.

"There's enough for you to treat the other members too," Jongin munched, his mouth bursting.

"Thank you so much, Daehyun's going to love it."

"The eternal OTP," Jongin rolled his eyes at Kyungsoo.

The night was lighted with soft ways of silver. The sand glowed underneath of the contrasting black sky. The waves carressed over the bay like gentle brushes and withdrew after each lingering touch. The night was silent, but the three characters on the beach felt anything but loneliness.

Night is beautiful, Youngjae thought serenely to himself and smiled, and so is friendship.