Arguably the best aspect of the holiday season had to be the sundry of sweets that seemed readily available at any and all times throughout the entirety of the month of December. From candies to cookies to cake pops, whatever one desired, one could receive. Perhaps the greatest part of this all came in the fact that the supply was seemingly endless - if one ate a batch of cookies one day, there would be a fresh one the next. Of course, this meant that there was always someone behind the scenes, someone doing the incessant work required for such a bounty.

    Enter Yoon Jeonghan and Xu Minghao.

    “Jeonghan!” Came Minghao’s high pitched lilt, voice bordering on childish, though absolutely endearing nonetheless. He approached the elder who sat with his legs crossed on the couch, seemingly engrossed in a novel, and draped his arms around his shoulders to pull him in for a hug from behind. “What are you doing?” He inquired, voice full of that innocent curiosity that seemed to follow him wherever he went and gave him such a unique charm.

    Jeonghan, absolutely smitten with the young Chinese boy, had no problem whatsoever ceasing everything that he was doing to turn and smile at him. “Just reading,” was his simple reply, heart swelling when Minghao nodded earnestly at the discovery. “Do you need something?”

    A sudden shyness overtook him, rocking back and forth with Jeonghan still in his arms, eliciting a laugh from the long haired man. “I want to bake,” he managed to answer finally, resting his chin atop Jeonghan’s head. “The members said they wanted cookies, and I want to do something for them…”

    “That’s a great idea,” answered the ever gentle Jeonghan with a slight laugh in regards to Minghao’s cute behavior. He carefully folded the corner of the page he was on down to save his place, wiggling free of Minghao’s grasp (with great difficulty, thanks to the latter’s unwillingness to release him) and standing from the couch. “I’ve been wanting to do some baking myself, so this’ll be fun.”

    The sunshine in Minghao’s expression was obvious at how easily Jeonghan had agreed to join him, and he gladly accepted the hand that the elder extended to him to lead him to the kitchen.

    Minghao was clearly prepared, as while Jeonghan was tying his own apron on, Minghao took it upon himself to tie his long hair back into a ponytail. Jeonghan smiled to himself. It was a small gesture, sure, but one that conveyed overwhelming amounts of affection nonetheless. Such mundane things were, after all, the most effective way to show love.

    Jeonghan was hardly an amateur in the kitchen; with the unofficial title of Seventeen’s mother, he was often the one cooking meals for all thirteen boys, and baking sweets when he had time to spare. There was a reason they allowed him to continue, of course; he was immensely talented at it. Had the boys known that he and Minghao were preparing to bake, they certainly would’ve been hanging over the counter like a pack of hungry dogs, waiting eagerly for even the smallest sampling of his latest creation.

    “We need two sticks of butter… two eggs… two cups of flour….” Jeonghan read the recipe out, Minghao scuttling about the kitchen and gathering the necessary ingredients together in the middle of the counter. They worked well as a team, with Jeonghan instructing and Minghao following his lead without question.

    That was, of course, the time came for the younger of the two to have his fun.

    “Jeonghan!” He sang out, voice as sweet as ever, not suspicious in the slightest - after all, he was so sweet. What was there to suspect?

    It was with that logic that Jeonghan turned around with wide eyes, ready to listen to whatever it was that Minghao needed for him, only to be met with a face full of sugar. He blinked, astounded that Minghao would pull such a prank. He normally wouldn’t even dream of something like that!

    Still, when he saw the shy, mischievous smile on the lanky boy’s face, he couldn’t help but to break into a smile himself. Minghao had a way of doing that, a way of spreading his sunshine to everyone around regardless of what was going on. It was so refreshing, so sweet, so, so…. so Minghao.

“Yah, what was that for?” Asked Jeonghan, wiping his face with the back of his hand, but the smile on his face could be heard even in his voice, giving away his true feelings towards the situation. Not that he minded, of course. He’d rather show a smiling face to Minghao than anything else any day.  

    The culprit simply giggled and shrugged his shoulders ever so slightly, backing no more than two steps away from Jeonghan - the latter, however, despite how inconspicuous Minghao tried to be, immediately noticed him dipping his hands back into the container of sugar behind his back.

    Two could play at that game, Jeonghan thought, his own back to the counter as he refused to take his eyes off of Minghao, knowing that the second he looked away would be the second he attacked. The ingredient Jeonghan had in his arsenal, it seemed, was flour; not at all as sweet of an attack as sugar had been, but he’d have to make do with what he had.

    Minghao was immune to the older’s tricks as well, though, catching on instantly to what he was doing, and employing a plan of his own. “Jeonghannie, you know I love you, right?”

    Jeonghan laughed - leave it to Minghao to resort to tugging at the heart strings. He’d be lying if he said that it didn’t work, however; he didn’t think that he’d ever tire of hearing the words “I love you” from the sweet Chinese boy. “I love you, too, Minghao,” he countered, smiling innocently.

    “Then be nice!” Minghao pleaded, halfway laughing as he spoke.

    “You already hit me!” Jeonghan protested in return, voice growing desperate. “Why are you playing coy now?”

    It was evident that Minghao didn’t have an answer prepared from the fact that he used that as his signal to launch his attack.

    It was madness from there; all that could be heard from the kitchen was a fit of giggles flowing incessantly from both parties, all that could be seen, clouds of flour exploding as they used their chosen weapons against each other. It wasn’t until the kitchen was entirely coated in a blanket of white that they called a truce, both breathing heavily but with excited smiled on their faces. If they were having fun, what did the mess matter?

    “At least I was throwing sugar!” Whined Minghao, surveying the disaster that was both around him and covering him. “Why would you use flour? It got in my mouth, Jeonghan! It tastes bad!”

    Jeonghan giggled, placing his hands on Minghao’s slim hips. That seemed to shut the younger up as he watched Jeonghan’s every move with rapt attention from their, gulping heavily. “Minghao, do you want to know why I didn’t use sugar?”

    The younger was capable only of nodding; with this close proximity, he couldn’t think straight.

    His thoughts were only further jumbled as Jeonghan placed a hand on his chin, pulling him down for a kiss that was all too brief, before pulling away and whispering into his ear, “Because you’re already so sweet.”