pairing: Jihyo x Mina

summary: It isn’t easy to say ‘no’ to Myoui Mina.

The calm moment before she falls asleep has always been Jihyo’s favorite moment of the day. It feels like being under water, but being able to breathe. The water is clear and warm and nothing in the outside world matters there. Except your fellow diver, she thinks and shifts closer to Mina.

Mina has her head on Jihyo’s shoulder and even as Jihyo knows for certain that her arm will die at some point of the night, because of all the weight on it, she doesn’t care. She wants to hold her girlfriend, whatever the cost.

Mina keeps playing with her phone and Jihyo can feel the bright light on her closed eyelids. This is their usual night choreography – Jihyo resting and quietly contemplating while Mina searches social media until she drops. Jihyo doesn’t mind, it is exactly what she would be doing if she was alone, but when Mina is with her, she doesn’t want to think about anything else. Sometimes she forgets that she owns a phone in the first place.

That’s quite something.

However, tonight Mina seems particularly restless. Maybe it’s the finals that are coming up next week that stress her out so much that she can’t sleep. But it is Friday night and all those things seem so far away to her. She wishes Mina could just relax and sleep.

“I’m going to make this,” Mina says suddenly, with a voice that sounds as far away from sleeping as cats do from dancing.

Jihyo opens her eyes with some difficulty and squints at the blindingly bright picture on Mina’s phone. It’s some sort of a cake. Chocolate one judging from the color, but Jihyo’s eyes are clinging to sleep and she can’t see properly.

Besides, Mina turns the phone away faster than is helpful for someone who wants to see.

“That’s nice. Is it-“ Jihyo begins, but the words get drowned under a yawn.

“I hope we have all the ingredients,” Mina says absentmindedly and gets up from the bed to Jihyo’s surprise. The Japanese girl picks up a cardigan from a chair and walks out of the room.

“What?” Jihyo says, dumbfounded. She watches as Mina turns the light on in the kitchen and how her silhouette appears clearly against the warm light before she disappears deeper into the kitchen.

“You mean right now?” Jihyo shouts, but doesn’t get an answer. She can’t believe what is happening. Just as she is about to fall asleep, Mina gets up and starts baking. Baking!

Jihyo glances at a clock on the bedside table and groans. Half past 11.

“It’s almost midnight,” Jihyo mutters and stares at the ceiling. “And this girl wants to bake a cake.”

She turns to her side and wonders if she should just sleep and let Mina be, but now that she thinks about it, she isn’t sleepy anymore. All the pleasantness of incoming sleep is gone. Besides, she doesn’t like the idea of Mina being alone in the middle of the night while she sleeps as if she wants to have no part in the whole thing.

Jihyo sighs.

She throws a blanket off of her and misses the warmth immediately. She walks into the kitchen with heavy steps and rubs her eyes mechanically. By the time she gets there she can see that Mina is already in full swing. The kitchen table is covered with all sorts of bowls and ingredients. Jihyo looks at them and wonders when they have managed to get all that stuff. She doesn’t remember buying any of it.

“Is this some Japanese thing?” Jihyo asks and stands in the middle of the kitchen, feeling useless, but slightly mischievous.

“What is?” Mina says and looks at the recipe on her laptop, clearly not paying attention to Jihyo’s silent opposition.

“Baking in the middle of the night,” Jihyo says and crosses her arms for a better effect.

“No. It’s a Mina thing,” the younger girl deadpans, still not taking her eyes away from the laptop screen.

Jihyo can’t help but smile a little. Of course.

“Crap,” Mina mutters and turns around to look at all the stuff that is on the table. She is wearing Jihyo’s old apron, which looks slightly too big from the chest, but otherwise very convenient. With a spatula on her left hand, she looks like a kitchen knight – ready for battle.

Jihyo looks at Mina’s face and then the ingredients on the table.

“We need chocolate,” Mina says thoughtfully.

For a moment, Jihyo is relieved. Maybe they can just forget about this and go back to bed, or at least do something a little less taxing. Jihyo can think of many things now that she is fully awake again.

Mina turns her gaze and looks directly into Jihyo’s eyes. She smiles brightly. Too brightly.

Jihyo’s face drops.

“Jihyo,” Mina drawls, coming closer to her girlfriend.

“Absolutely not,” Jihyo insist with a hint of desperation, frown decorating her forehead.

Mina comes even closer and touches the t-shirt-free spot on Jihyo’s chest with the spatula she is holding. Jihyo swallows.

“If you go now, you’ll make it just in time,” Mina says sweetly, the look in her eyes warm and present, but a slightly playful.

 “But it’s so late and-“ Jihyo tries to argue, but Mina moves the spatula on her bare skin and it makes the words die in the older girl’s mouth.

Mina has all the power and they both know how this is going to end.

Jihyo takes a last look at her girlfriend’s face and gives in.

“Fine,” she says. She is too tired to argue about anything at this time of the day, anyway. At least the gleeful smile on Mina’s face is very cute.

“Thanks, babe,” she says and leans in to give Jihyo a peck on the lips. That almost makes up for all of it.

Well, until Mina turns around and picks up a bowl and some flour. In that instant, the spell is broken.

“Buy milk chocolate, the one we used for the brownies, remember?” Mina says and continues with what she is doing.

“I only need it for the icing, so while you got out, I’ll bake the rest.”

“Right,” Jihyo says and leaves quickly, suddenly well aware that the time is ticking while she is standing there. There’s a convenience store on the next street that closes at midnight, but if she doesn’t make it in time, she will have to walk a lot longer.

She rushes into the bedroom and changes her clothes as fast as she can. On her way out, she grabs her phone, some money and the keys. In the hallway, she manages to stumble into her boots and jacket without tripping.

“Itte kimasu,” she shouts using the little Japanese she has learned and turns the door handle.

“Itte rasshai! Stay safe,” Mina answers from the kitchen, but doesn’t show up to say bye.

Jihyo scoffs as she gets out of the apartment. Stay safe, she says. Stay safe, but go out in the middle of the night – alone.

She doesn’t take the elevator, but half-runs down the stairs. Thankfully, the apartment is only on the third floor. When she gets to the front door, she can see that it is snowing. Large, self-assured snowflakes fall down slowly and the ground is already getting white.

She inhales the brisk air and stares at her surroundings for a moment. Then she remembers her task and jogs down the street, happy that there doesn’t seem to be others around. The street seems stranded, besides for the fact that some of the windows glow with warm lights and in some other street cars move in the night.

Jihyo pulls the jacket closer to her and curses herself for not wearing anything warmer. She hadn’t realized that the weather could have gotten quite so chilly, quite so fast.

The things she does for Myoui Mina. If anyone else in the world had asked her to go out in the middle of the night to buy chocolate, she would have laughed at them. But Mina… She just had to give her that look and she would do pretty much anything.

She was literally getting the princess treatment.

But Jihyo wouldn’t have it any other way. The past 8 months that they have been dating are the happiest of her life. She had been running around for so long, unsure of who she was and who she wanted to be, but when Mina came into her life all of it seemed to fall into a place. She didn’t have that restless anxiety about time passing anymore.

Without even realizing it, she had managed to get to the convenience store. As she pushes the door open the unnatural bright lights greet her in a false manner. The clock on the wall shows that she has 3 minutes left, so she bolts in and heads straight to the right lane. Thankfully, the chocolate is where it was the last time. After a moment of consideration she takes another, just in case there’s another one of these midnight-cake-makings in the future.

On her way to the cashier she grabs a bottle of coke, just cause. It’s a night of whims it seems.

“Hello,” Jihyo says, acutely aware of how late it is. She feels guilty about barking in at this hour when the store is about to close.

“Just in time,” the old man says as she puts her stuff on the counter. He smiles in a warm manner and Jihyo smiles back at him.

The smile stays on her face even as she leaves the store, saying “goodnight” to the old man who locks the door after she goes out.

Maybe it is not so bad to be awake in the middle of the night, after all.

-

When Jihyo leaves Mina doesn’t waste any time and starts baking with the sort of enthusiasm she doesn’t get too often. She isn’t an expert baker in her own mind, but has practiced a lot more since she and Jihyo got together. Something about Jihyo always makes her want to pamper her, but not in an obvious way. Even now she was forced to go out, not realizing that it was her that the cake was for.

Mina smiles. She knows Jihyo is most likely annoyed at her, but too sweet to really say so.

She isn’t always fair to her, but it’s hard to resist when it is so easy to make Jihyo do things for her. In the beginning of their relationship, Mina had tested Jihyo in many ways, because she had been scared to get her heart broken by her. She had been sure that those big eyes could mean nothing but trouble.

She had been wrong, and never so happy to be wrong in her life.

So, now she was testing her just for the sake of it. Besides, Jihyo might not admit it, but she loved being bossed around. She was too used to being the one who tells others what to do. She needed a break from that.

Once the cake is in the oven Mina draws the curtains open and looks down on the street. There’s snow everywhere and more keeps falling down and the world looks peaceful and pure. A lonely figure walks by in confident strides and Mina could recognize her anywhere in the world.

She closes the curtains quickly. She doesn’t want Jihyo to see her watching her. She might think that she is already missing her, which is not true.

Maybe.

-

“Honey, I’m home,” Jihyo sing-songs as she walks inside. She shakes the jacket of off her shoulders and leaves the boots where they happen to land. In the hallway, she glances at a mirror and sees herself briefly – she has snowflakes on her hair and her cheeks are flushed. Without make-up she looks like a teenager who has just come home from a snowball fight with friends.

She finds Mina from the kitchen, cake batter from a spatula. Somehow the Japanese girl manages to look elegant even in that old, worn out apron and cake batter on her cheek.

“Did you leave me any?” she asks and comes closer.

“No,” Mina says and the kitchen light in her eyes is dancing.

“You’re cruel,” Jihyo whispers, and carefully lays her hands on Mina’s hips.

“Mm,” Mina manages and prepares herself for a kiss. Jihyo draws closer, eyes fixed on Mina’s mouth, but just before their lips touch she changes course. Jihyo attacks Mina’s cheek instead.

“You did leave me some,” she mumbles and the little remnants of cake batter from Mina’s smooth skin.

Mina tries to turn her face so that she can kiss Jihyo’s lips like she was supposed to, but the older girl doesn’t let her. Mina feels grateful that there is a kitchen counter behind her back when Jihyo’s lips meet the skin under her ear.

“You smell like snow,” she whispers, trying to sound like she is in control of her own voice.

“What does it smell like?” Jihyo asks and the question tickles in Mina’s ear.

“Cold.”

Just then Jihyo decides that they have talked enough and greets Mina’s lips with her own. The kiss is searing and Jihyo loves the sweet taste on Mina’s mouth. She is getting her own share of the cake batter after all.

Jihyo Mina’s lower lip slowly and gains an entrance almost immediately. She doesn’t leave a single spot untouched and a sound escapes from the younger girl’s throat that makes Jihyo almost weak from desire.

Her hands start searching for the knot that keeps the apron from falling open, but before she manages that the egg timer starts ringing as if it wants to wake up the whole building.

Jihyo tries to act as if she doesn’t notice, but soon Mina pulls away, pushing her off rather feebly.

“Miguriiii,” Jihyo whines and jumps up and down. Mina doesn’t give her any attention and closes the egg timer. The heat from the oven is strong as Mina takes the cake out. The color is good, but the smell is even better. Jihyo’s stomach makes a tiny demanding sound and she hopes Mina didn’t hear that.

“We need to make the icing now. Where’s the chocolate?” Mina asks as if nothing has happened.

Jihyo sighs and walks back into the hallway and takes the chocolate. If she can’t have Mina, then she will have the cake at least.

“We’d better taste it before you use it,” she says as she comes back. “It might be ruined.”

Mina nods, feigning seriousness.

“You’re right, there could be mold,” and Mina breaks a piece of the bar. Once Jihyo has gotten one as well they feed each other the ones they took, because “you might try to poison me” – “good point.”

With grave faces, they chew their pieces while the delicious scent from the cake wafts in the air.

Jihyo has completely forgotten that she is supposed to be sleeping now.

“I think it’s alright,” she says.

“Yeah, I think so, too,” Mina answers and takes another piece.

It’s a good thing she got them two bars instead of just one.

After that they work together – Mina melts the chocolate and takes care of the icing while Jihyo turns and slices the cake sponge. It doesn’t go without complications (Mina gets icing on Jihyo’s sweater, which then goes into a laundry basket) but in the end they have a shiny chocolate cake on the table, which doesn’t look quite like the one in the picture, but that doesn’t matter one bit.

Mina intends to wash the dishes, but Jihyo tells her to leave them for the next day.

“Hold on, I’m going to take a picture of it,” the older girl says and walks out of the kitchen to fetch her phone. As she opens it the clock on the screen says 1:11 am. She feels sorry for all the people who are sleeping without getting any cake.

Mina has peeled off the apron and stands by the table, with a faint smile on her lips as Jihyo takes a picture of their newest masterpiece.

“It looks really good,” Jihyo says and Mina nods, but doesn’t look at the cake. For a moment they stand like that, both in their own thoughts before Mina leans in and gives a kiss to Jihyo’s cheek, embracing her.

“Happy anniversary,” Mina says warmly.

Jihyo feels confused. They have been together for 8 months, which is 4 months from a year. How is this an anniversary? Or has she lost her ability to count?

“I don’t under-“

“It has been a year since I first saw you,” Mina says and looks lovingly at the girl in her arms.

“It has?” Jihyo asks, stunned.

“I checked my diary. This is the exact day I saw you on the campus, walking with your friends.”

Jihyo tries to say something, but seems to be blocked somehow.

“And I thought ‘that is the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen. I have to have her’.”

Jihyo blinks and stares at the cake in front of her, which has turned from a late-night nuisance into a symbol of their love and it’s sappy as hell, but she doesn’t care.

Afraid that her voice will fail her, Jihyo turns her face and kisses Mina with all her might, drawing power from even the smallest corners of her soul.

The cake can wait.

A/N: I didn't manage to keep myself from writing and I wanted some domestic Mihyo, so domestic Mihyo I got. I had a completely different Mihyo story in my mind, but that will have to wait for now. How was this one? I wrote fast, so maybe it isn't any good. Comments make my life easier. xo