Lee Hyukjae stared at the open cabinets in front of him, mouth agape as he registered the assortment of items stuffed into the small units spread across the kitchen.

Being the loving boyfriend that he is, Hyukjae had decided on baking scrumptious red velvet cupcakes for his sweet-toothed girlfriend’s birthday. Considering he had next to no experience in baking, he had spent days planning how to complete this feat of magic and earn himself the title of ‘sweetest boyfriend ever’.

And finally, after much internal torment and nail biting, the day had come. Hyukjae had prepared himself mentally, had put on a stray apron and had found all the necessary equipment he needed to use on his baking quest. But when he got to searching for the ingredients needed for the recipe, he found his task was much more difficult than anticipated.

Armed with his ingredient list, Hyukjae had searched through every cabinet in the kitchen, however he found it was virtually impossible to locate anything necessary. Instead of having normal recognizable items like bags of flour or jars of sugar, the cabinet shelves were packed with a mess of labeled and unlabelled cans, large and small mysterious bottles, cracked jars, dusty bags and heavy sacks of unknown substances. How could four guys - many of which didn’t even know how to cook - make such a mess?

At this point, there was only one thing he could do – ask for the help of the only Super Junior member who could decipher the kitchen, Kim Ryeowook (AKA the resident cook).

And so he traipsed over to the upper dorm, casually walking towards Ryeowook’s room, assuming he was busy surfing the web as usual.

But the minute he stepped into the room, he froze, taken aback by the sight that met him. 

Kyuhyun and Ryeowook were sprawled in an awkward position on the bed, hair mussed, both playing on their phones. Their legs were entangled, with Ryeowook, clad in boxers and a t-shirt, cozily lying on Kyuhyun’s chest, his body curved into a strange backwards C-shape with his head resting on the far side of Kyuhyun’s shoulder. His arms were stretched out ahead of him, perched on Kyuhyun’s stomach as he surfed webpages while cheerfully chattering to himself. Kyuhyun was lying on his back, shirtless, his head propped up on several pillows, arms resting on Ryeowook’s shoulder as he subconsciously jerked and swerved while playing a game. The duo were tightly tangled up in each other by several twisted layers of sheets and blankets which wrapped around both their bodies, effectively restricting their movement (although it didn’t look like they cared much).

The room itself was a complete mess – decorative pillows and stuffed animals were fallen on the ground accompanied by semi-folded stacks of laundry, hanging photo frames on the wall were askew, a lamp had fallen over and the desk chair was upended. In addition, half of Ryeowook’s hats had fallen off their shelves and his towering eight foot tall giraffe was left teetering on its two right legs.

Hyukjae assessed the disaster, slack-jawed. It was only after a few seconds (during which, the happy couple continued on with their doings, completely oblivious to his presence), that Hyukjae was able to summon up the ability to stutter out a few words:

“Wh- What. The. Hell?”

Before Ryeowook could even blink, Kyuhyun looked up at Hyukjae, responding with a clipped,

“We had .”

Ryeowook blushed deeply. He awkwardly hit Kyuhyun in the stomach and squeaked out, “Idiot, we didn't do anything!”

 Kyuhyun guffawed, “Yes, nothing. The room is trashed because we did nothing.” He returned to his game, smirking.

Ryeowook gazed up at his hyung, still slightly red-faced, “We may have had a bit of a make-out session.”

Hyukjae grinned, “A bit?”

“Okay more than a bit.”

Kyuhyun, who was only half-listening, distractedly said, “It was so intense. Ryeowook rarely ever gets like that. Honestly if we weren't stuck in this damn dorm we would've definitely had se- , Minho, did you think that would work?” He started furiously tapping the screen on his phone.

Hyukjae and Ryeowook exchanged glances and rolled their eyes. Ryeowook gave the maknae a hard thump on the stomach for good measure, earning an oompf. He then settled back on Kyuhyun’s chest, nuzzling into the warmth.

“So hyung, what brings you to our floor?”

Hyukjae looked sheepish. “Um, sooo, I wanted to er, bake some girlfriends for my cupcake.”

Ryeowook raised an eyebrow.

“I mean, I want to bake some cupcakes for my girlfriend.”

Kyuhyun grinned, letting out an exaggerated fake Awwww, and finishing off with, “So that’s why you’re wearing that pretty flowery apron, isn’t it?”

Hyukjae growled and removed his apron, balling it up. “Shut up, maknae.”

Ryeowook poked Kyuhyun in the side, hard. The maknae jumped and attempted to attack back but was restrained by the sheets that were wrapped around them. Sighing in defeat, he returned to playing on his phone, sulking.

Ryeowook grinned in victory. “So what do you need hyung?”

“Well, I have a recipe and the equipment and everything but I'm having some trouble finding the ingredients.”

“Ahh, yeah, the kitchen is confusing. Which ones do you need?”

Hyukjae consulted his list. “Flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, vanilla extract, red food colouring.”

“Which floor?”

“Bottom.”

Ryeowook hummed, closing his eyes as he visualized the 11^th floor kitchen. “Flour, bottom cupboard, second from the left, right at the back in a bag. Cocoa powder, far right cupboard, third shelf, near the middle. Baking soda, same cupboard-”

Kyuhyun cut in. “You seriously memorized our kitchen?”

Ryeowook rolled his eyes. “It was out of necessity. You and the members keep on coming over to me, whining for this and that at all hours of the day. Honestly, if I still didn't know what was in the kitchen, I'd be an idiot.”

Kyuhyun looked at Ryeowook thoughtfully, “Well, now that you mention it, I haven't been able to eat any of your yummy food in a while Ryeowookie. I miss it.”

“No.”

“Please, baby. Let's have breakfast together.” He whined, one hand moving up and inside Ryeowook's shirt, the cell phone forgotten on the bed.

“Kyu, if we go have breakfast, then we would need to get out of bed. I don't know about you, but I wasn’t planning on moving until lunch, at least.” Ryeowook pouted adorably as he patted Kyuhyun's stomach lightly. 

Kyuhyun untangled his arm enough to wrap his other arm tightly around Ryeowook, pulling their bodies closer.

“Mmm, you're right. I don't want to leave.” Kyuhyun said in a low breathy voice, arm moving downwards, “I want to stay here. With you. In bed.”

Ryeowook blushed, voice going soft, “That's a great idea, Kyu…”

Hyukjae coughed loudly into his arm.

Kyuhyun and Ryeowook, whose faces had gotten really close, froze in place.

“Can I get some help with the ingredients please?” Hyukjae said in a small voice, averting his eyes. He felt awkward seeing two members being intimate in front of him but had to remain focused for the sake of his girlfriend. He needed those cupcakes – as a celebration for her birthday, but also as an apology for not spending time with her when he was busy with work.

Ryeowook looked adequately embarrassed but Kyuhyun, who was already ually frustrated, looked extremely annoyed.

“Seriously Hyuk, what is your problem?! It’s our day off! Leave us alone!” He attempted to throw a pillow at Hyukjae but couldn’t get the necessary momentum to hit him. The pillow fell limply on the ground by the bed.

Hyukjae tsked, “Then let Ryeowook answer the question! I need to bake these cupcakes, man! It’s important!”

Kyuhyun was ready to yell back at Hyukjae but Ryeowook somehow wormed his hand out of the twisted sheets and clapped it over his mouth. The older stretched his head back, kissing the maknae on the chin, “It’s okay, Kyuhyun.” He nuzzled into his neck, pulling his hand back to rub soothing circles on the younger’s chest.

Kyuhyun looked at his lover, whining, “But baby…”

Ryeowook placed a finger to his lips, eyes locked with Kyuhyun. “The salt is in the middle right cabinet, first shelf, in the middle. The sugar is right beside it…” And he continued on, speaking faster and faster as felt Kyuhyun’s arm start roaming up his backside, “…and that’s all, Hyuk, so you can go now.”

And Ryeowook flipped himself around, winding his arms around Kyuhyun, kissing him passionately. The two lovers started a fierce make-out session, clothes and bedsheets flying everywhere, paying no attention to the stunned dancer.

Once Hyukjae got over the sudden shock (and horror) of seeing the maknaes all over each other, he quickly retreated from the room, shutting the door behind him. He leaned against the door, eyes closed, gasping.

He did not want to see the maknaes going at it. Ever.

He spent the next few seconds trying to erase the images that were running through his mind, but a semi-loud moan sent him bolting down towards his dorm.

It took some time before he was able to calm down, refocus and motivate himself for his baking mission. When he felt he was ready, he donned his fancy apron, found all the ingredients and set to work on baking what most certainly, definitely, undoubtedly had to be the best cupcakes ever.

Because he had sacrificed too much for them.

What he saw could never be unseen.