As soon as he hangs up the phone, Jinwoo groans and curls up into a ball on the couch. His mother, for the most part, is a wonderful woman— cheerful, hardworking, and makes a mean kimchi stew. She also worries over her son’s well-being in faraway Seoul a tad too much, in his honest opinion.

When he came out to his parents last year— thankfully, without tears— they had faltered for a couple moments before his father ruffled his hair and grinned at him and his mother pulled him into a tight hug (admittedly, both of their eyes glassy).

His mother, on the other hand, found a new target for her worries. Now that he was no longer an unemployed artist and could afford rent, he reminded her of his woeful love life. Normally, he manages to derail her questions. It’s not like he hasn’t dated before: he had a couple girlfriends in college that were nice but ultimately unfulfilling, and a small fling when he realized what team he actually swung for. But he’d rather spend his nights recently are spent working on his paintings rather than hit up bars for awkward (drunken) conversation. But he always feels slightly guilty when she sighs about how she wishes there's be someone there who could keep him company like she wishes she could.

“I want you to know your father and I are proud of you, no matter what you do,” his mother says, and Jinwoo swallows to keep down the funny feeling in the back of his throat. “We love you, and we don’t want to hope too much but I just hope you aren’t too lonely in Seoul.”

He swears his eyes aren't tearing up.Kim Jinwoo likes to think of himself as a man of integrity. He puts in twice as much work as anyone into anything. Except, he admittedly has a soft heart and a weakness for making his parents happy. But a white lie never hurt anyone, right?

“Mom, I was going to wait a little bit before telling you guys,” Jinwoo blurts. “I met a guy a week ago.”

“We’re still getting to know each other, of course, but it seems to be going well.” He chuckles awkwardly and scratches the back of his head, while his mothers' coos crackle from the speaker.

“I’m so happy for you, Jinwoo! Who knows, maybe you can bring him home next New Year!”

She sounds so elated that it’s almost worth it.

“I have an appointment in a bit, so I’ll talk to you later, okay?” Jinwoo says before she can grill him about his supposed boyfriend’s name and profession. But her next words are a cannonball to his gut.

“I forgot to mention— your cousin and his girlfriend will be in Seoul this weekend! Why don’t you introduce him to them? I’ll let them know!”

With that, she hangs up. Jinwoo’s royally screwed.

---

“Why don’t you just tell her the truth?” Taehyun asks.

Jinwoo whimpers and curls up even tighter at the end of the couch.

“You know how she is. She’s already gave them my schedule. And even made reservations at a restaurant."

“Tell her you broke up,” Seunghoon calls from the kitchen. He sounds mildly amused. Jinwoo would be affronted if he wasn’t already worked up over the disaster in front of him.

“That's even worse. It would break her heart.”

Seunghoon ambles into the living room, playing a smartphone game with one hand and holding the disgusting protein drink he always makes after hitting the gym, and sprawls across the other half of the couch.

“Why don’t you ask a friend to play the part?” Seunghoon asks, eyes glued to the screen as he swipes to attack. He lets out a whoop of victory as he defeats the boss and then puts his phone down, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “Or find a weekend hook-up for once, instead of spending all night in your studio.”

Jinwoo ignore him (since when has Seunghoon ever given him good advice?) in favor of looking morosely over his life. There's not way he's going to get out of this unscathed.

“Hyung." Taehyun looks pensive. "You know... that could actually work.”

Jinwoo considers Taehyun a much more valuable advice-giver, enough that he actually mulls over it for a moment.

He’d potentially consider Seungyoon who he shares a studio with, if he didn’t know that Taehyun was harboring a quiet crush on him. Bobby, Jinhwan, Hanbin— all his artist friends are either taken or so horrible at acting that their cover would be blown. Outside of his small group of friends and coworkers, Jinwoo realizes, he has very limited options.

It must show on his face because Seunghoon laughs.

“Not like you’d know anyone since you only go out to your studio nowadays. I could hook you up with a guy, if you want.” Seunghoon wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. Taehyun just laughs as Jinwoo buries his face into his hands. “I was just kidding. You don’t have to sleep with anyone. Just treat them to a meal or something.”

Should he? It could be an easy solution to all his problems. Then again, that small lie also seemed simple at the time and look where that got him.

“I don’t want to take advantage of anyone.” Jinwoo says. He really doesn’t. After all, this was his mess.

“I’ll make it clear. Let me bring him over and you can veto it if you don’t like the plan.”

Jinwoo bites his lip.

“Okay.”

---

Jinwoo is really bad at handling stress.

Usually, he turns to art for release, except Seungyoon forced him out of their shared studio after an all-nighter of near-amatuer scribbles and paint splotches.

“You’re not being productive. And you’re going to regret this later if I don’t kick you out now. Go get some sleep.”

His other outlet is cooking, so he trudges to the supermarket and gets their groceries for the week and then some.

He’ll bake a cake, Jinwoo decides, as he throws on an apron, to thank Seunghoon’s friend, even though he decided once Seunghoon left that he’d rather not rope anyone else into his troubles. He hates burdening people. At least a cake would be some sort of apology. In the end, he settles on vanilla— simple, slightly boring, but a flavor nobody would refuse.

Cooking is simple. Cooking is cause and effect, inputs and outputs, recipes that always work. No surprises or confusion, except for that one time Seunghoon swapped his salt and sugar as a prank and they ended up with oddly sweet meat and disgusting baked goods. Cooking is nice and easy to lose himself in.

The cake is in the oven, and it smells pretty heavenly, if Jinwoo is being honest with himself. He's busy whipping up an icing (and sneaking a few tastes as well), when he hears the door open and Seunghoon’s barking laughter. There’s another voice too, lower and gruffer, that Jinwoo assumes is the friend.

“Jinwoo’s in the kitchen” Seunghoon shouts. “I gotta use the bathroom. You can find your way.”

There’s a patter of footsteps in the hallway that slow as they reach the corner.

“In here,” Jinwoo calls out. Their apartment layout is confusing—Jinwoo knows firsthand. Taehyun had spent a week laughing at how he’d gotten lost in his own home. The footsteps get louder and Seunghoon’s friend enters the kitchen, just as Jinwoo puts the icing aside.

“Hi, I’m Jinwoo. Nice to meet you!” Jinwoo puts on a big, if unsure, smile. For all that Seunghoon’s face is bright and open, his friend’s slightly drawn and serious. Jinwoo hopes he isn’t annoyed at Seunghoon’s request.

“Mino.” He says. Mino’s wearing a wool coat and white button up with dark pants and round wire glasses—and he’s much more attractive than Seunghoon made him out to be. Suddenly, Jinwoo wishes he put a bit more effort into his appearance beyond brushing his hair and throwing on a clean pair of jeans. “Seunghoon explained about your... predicament.”

"He also told me to dress black-tie." Mino laughs awkwardly and runs a hand through his hair. "I thought he was kidding but I wasn't sure."

“Oh, it's fine. I mean, it's fine that you dressed up. You look really nice!" Jinwoo blushes, internally cursing his tendency to ramble in front of strangers.

"But obviously, it's not black tie!" He gestures to his apron, now dusted in flour, with a small smile. "Just me."

Mino laughs and it's sort of adorable, despite his initial impression. "I guess that's as good of a reason as any."

Jinwoo's blush deepens It's a line almost straight out of one of the terrible yet addicting dramas that Jinwoo watches before bed. For the first time, he has a slight hint of regret that Mino's probably just playing up his charm for the sake of being a fake boyfriend.

“And about the.. the situation." Jinwoo feels his smile tighten but he powers through. "You really don’t have to help if you don’t want to.”

He expects Mino to look relieved, but instead, there’s a small crease between his eyebrows. Jinwoo suspects that he's about to protest and cuts him off before he can.

“It’s alright. Really! I’m sure you’re busy, after all! I just feel like I shouldn’t make this messier with more lies.”

“Well,” Mino says after a pause. “Can’t argue with that, I guess.”

His tone is lighthearted, but if Jinwoo didn’t know better, he’d swear that Mino looked slightly disappointed.

“I’m baking a cake for you guys though! As a thank you for coming over.” Jinwoo says brightly, hoping to change the topic. The oven dings right as the words leave his mouth, and Jinwoo digs through a draw to find an oven mitt. It's a nice brown, though “It’s nothing personal, I swear!”

“It was no trouble.” Mino protests, though he’s brightened up considerably with an effortless grin. Jinwoo smiles brightly. Cake always cheers people up.

He makes small talk with Mino— about how he and Seunghoon know each other, what he studied on college, whether he’s excited for the holidays. Every word that comes out of Mino's mouth somehow manages to make Jinwoo shake in laughter, as he throws some icing and fruit on top of the cake and calls it good enough.

“You have something on your cheek.” Jinwoo reaches to to his face. Yep, there’s a smudge of icing, and his tongue darts out to it off his finger.

“Thanks.” He grins up at Mino, who looks slightly dazed.

“You know,” Mino says. “I can think of a way to help you out still, without any lying.”

Mino’s smile turns sharp and his eyes focus intently on Jinwoo.

“And what might that be?” Jinwoo asks, taken aback, blushing. Mino takes a step forward; Jinwoo steps back, startling as he bumps into the counter. Mino reaches out to steady him, a warm, gentle hand against his arm, and Jinwoo meets his eyes.

“If you agree to go out with me first.”

Jinwoo doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t need to because he captures Mino’s lips with a quick, chaste kiss and a smile.

“I guess that’s a yes, then.”

------------------------------------------------------

and then seunghoon comes back from a suspiciously long trip to the bathroom.

A/N: i simultaneously love and hate this trope so yep, it's time for a cop-out ending (is this how you bake cakes? do you have to let cakes cool before you ice them? clearly i have no expertise)

i wrote this really quickly + sorry i have no idea how to write mino even though i love him. but minwoo is the cutest so i tried anyways!