Despite the gigantic mess they made not even in the first ten minutes of the club, they somehow managed to make cookies. 

 

To a stranger, if they saw Bobby’s cookies they would think it turned out like , but they were actually better than what he expected. For one, he didn’t burn down the oven (that had actually been another member in the club, some scary guy named Yoongi) nor did he spill a ton of ingredients (cough cough the two leaders). They tasted okay in his opinion anyways. 

 

He took out one of his Tupperware containers and organized the shortbread cookies in there, wanting to save them for later. Maybe he’ll give one to his roommate, he thought, that is, if Bobby ever saw him. Or maybe they can be for his first midnight snack, yeah, that’ll be good. 

 

Bobby reached out to grab the lid to close the container shut, only to accidentally swipe it across the counter and to have it land on the floor. Letting out a string of curses, he bent down to grab it only to realize that someone did it sooner. 

 

Looking up, he was face-to-face with some random club member (cut him some slack, he hasn’t even been in this university for two weeks, he wasn’t going to know .) However, this club member looked really familiar…

 

Oh, yeah, the guy who saw Bobby eat cold pizza in the wrong classroom.

 

“You dropped this,” the guy said, pointing out the obvious. He handed the lid back to Bobby. “I see you collect Tupperware.”

 

Bobby rolled his eyes, snatching the lid from him to close the container shut. “I’ll like to hear you say that when your cookies turn stale as ,” Bobby said, stuffing the container in his backpack. 

 

“Hey, I didn’t say it was a bad thing.” 

 

Bobby started muttering to himself. “Great, I don’t even know this person’s name and he starts acting like he has wisdom.”

 

“It’s Hanbin, for your information,” Hanbin said. “And you’re Bobby , not buddy if I recall correctly.”

 

“Well, Hanbin , enjoy your stale cookies.” Bobby lifted up his backpack and swung it over his shoulders. “That is, if you even made good ones.”

 

Hanbin took out something from his pocket wrapped in napkins, unwrapping it to reveal the cookies he made. “I thought they turned out okay,” he said. “I’ll just eat them really fast before they turn stale.”

 

Bobby stared at Hanbin’s cookies, only to mentally deflate. He had no idea what the Hanbin was talking about, but his turned out perfect . Like, insanely perfect. If Gordan Ramsay saw them, he would literally have nothing to criticize. Hanbin could earn a Michelin star. 

 

“Welp, that’s another thing I can’t do in this ing university,” Bobby mumbled to himself.

 

Hanbin frowned. “What do you mean? You’re a freshman, right?”

 

“That doesn’t mean ,” Bobby said, taking out his phone. He had a ton of homework that he needed to complete if he didn’t want to fall back on his classes and he had no idea how to get back to his dorm. “Enjoy your perfect cookies.”
 

 

***

 

After the club, Yuta invited to take Si Cheng off campus for dinner. Since Si Cheng was a freshman (and a foreigner, to top that), he didn’t know much about the city, so Yuta thought it would be a good idea to show him all the stuff you could do. 

 

He hadn’t eaten dinner and he really needed to eat something nutritional before he wolfed down the entire batch of shortbread cookies he made, so it would be best if they had dinner first. 

 

They went into a normal Korean restaurant sitting at a booth towards the back, and Si Cheng looked at the menu with great interest. 

 

“Is it bad that I have no idea what these dishes are?” he said, staring at the pictures with awe. “This one looks tasty,” he said, pointing at one of the pictures. 

 

Yuta leaned forward to read it. “Looks like the marinated ribs,” he mentioned. “Yeah, short marinated ribs, I’ve heard good things about that.”

 

Si Cheng smiled. “Well, I’m going to get those, then,” he said, setting the menu down. “What do you always get?”

 

“Here, I’m a big fan of their Kimchi stew,” Yuta said. “You know Kimchi, right? If you don’t, all Koreans that you know will think you’re a spy, along with not knowing EXO.”

 

Si Cheng tilted his head, confused. “EXO?” he asked, shrugging. “I don’t know them, I only like Jay Chou.”

 

“Oh boy, we got some quick learning to do before the fangirls get offended,” Yuta said, taking out a notebook from his backpack. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you catch up.”
 

***

 

Hongjoong turned off the shower in the dorm showers and grabbed his towel, drying himself off fully before wrapping it around his chest and legs. 

 

Even though he had already showered together, San wanted to be a ing idiot during the Cookie Club meeting (which, honestly, was to be expected.) You can always trust San to do an impromptu food fight; once he threw tomatoes at Jongho out of reflex when Jongho sneezed. 

 

He grabbed his caddy and cell phone and got out of the showers, heading out of the bathroom to run down the hallway to his room quickly before anyone could see him. 

 

Hongjoong opened the door to his room and set his stuff down on the floor, shutting the door behind him. Closing his eyes, he sighed a breath of relief that no one had caught him-

 

“Hongjoong! So that’s why you were taking so long!”

 

He opened his eyes up again rapidly, only to find Seonghwa standing in front of him. 

 

Of course, he screamed. 

 

Seonghwa covered his eyes. “Sorry, sorry!” he said, turning around. “I didn’t know you were showering!”

 

“ WHY would you just wait in my room?!?!” Hongjoong continued to yell, wrapping his towel tighter around his body. “Don’t look at me!!!!”

 

“I’m not! I’m not! Not looking, don’t worry!!” Seonghwa tried to reassure him. “Sorry!!” 

 

Hongjoong sprinted towards his dresser and grabbed the first pair of clothes he could find, a pair of basketball shorts and his pink hoodie, not saying a word as he changed quickly. 

 

After a few seconds of silence, Seonghwa spoke up again. “Are you done-”

 

“Can you not ?!” Hongjoong threw his towel over the back of his desk chair. “Okay, now turn around and head out-”

 

“Wait, I wanted to invite you somewhere Friday evening.” Seonghwa turned around, eyes widening as he took sight of Hongjoong. “Wow. You look good as always-”

 

“Haha, really funny,” Hongjoong muttered. “You really came into my room to invite me somewhere tomorrow?”

 

“I mean, I thought it would be a good idea to ask you in person,” Seonghwa admitted, shrugging. “Have you had dinner yet?”

 

Hongjoong rolled his eyes at his dumb comment. “No, and I don’t plan to,” he said, grabbing his backpack off the floor and setting it on his desk. “I have to finish some lab reports due next week.”

 

“Oh, right, your physics degree,” Seonghwa joked. 

 

“It’s not physics!! ” Hongjoong screamed, turning around. “Seonghwa, get out!” 

 

“But-but you have to eat something- no, don’t push me out.” Seonghwa resisted Hongjoong’s arm pulling, thankful that he was stronger than the latter. “Can we order pizza?? We should order pizza.”

 

Hongjoong got off of him and headed to his desk. “Get me bacon and pepperoni,” he said, pulling his desk chair away to sit down. “And don’t bother me, I really have to finish this lab report.”

 

“Oh, , I have a business report.” Seonghwa plopped himself on Hongjoong’s bed, taking out his phone to order some pizza. “We got a lot of work ahead of us.”

***

 

It was Thursday evening again, the cafe set to close in ten minutes. 

 

Wooyoung was drying the blender he had been using, hoping no more people would come in and order frappes. He wasn’t supposed to work today, anyways, but Chanwoo had some important family thing come up, so he left him and Hyojong to close today. 

 

Speaking of Hyojong, he wasn’t even doing anything productive at the moment; right now, he was leaning across the counter scrolling through some pictures that either Hui or Hyuna must have sent him. “Yo, remind me to head to the store afterwards to buy some more carrots-”

 

“Hyojong, the cafe is going to close in, like, ten minutes,” Wooyoung reminded him, setting the dried blender down. “And if you keep making them chicken noodle soup they’re going to kill you.”

 

“Excuse me for wanting to take care of my boyfriend and girlfriend,” Hyojong said, still paying attention to his phone. “Yo, can we switch shifts Saturday? Hongseok wants to drive to some store an hour away from here and is too scared to go alone.”

 

Wooyoung nodded, grabbing a rag to wipe the counters down. “The same Hongseok who manages to attract bad luck everywhere? Good luck, I guess.”

 

Hyojong opened the class case. He had accidentally made a ton of chocolate chip cookies today so now there were huge amounts left over. “Yep, I might die, don’t worry, I already took care of my will.” He grabbed one of the cookies and took a bite, not even chewing for three seconds before swallowing. “Do you think Hyuna and Hui can eat cookies now? Or maybe I should save them for tomorrow-”

 

Even though the cafe was set to close in approximately five minutes, someone bursted through the door at that moment. “IS IT TOO LATE TO BUY A LARGE WHITE CHOCOLATE MOCHA WITH EXTRA WHIP CREAM AND CHOCOLATE SYRUP ON TOP?!?!”

 

Hyojong had no idea what he just said but shrugged. “Go ahead, have it for free for all I care,” he said, grabbing a large mocha cup. “You want free cookies, too?? Go crazy.”

 

“You know we’re not supposed to give them out at the end of the day,” Wooyoung reminded him. 

 

“Wooyoung, this is the same psychopath we gave the other cookies last time, he looks alive and healthy, doesn’t he?” Hyojong asked. “Sir, are you sure you’re alive and healthy?”

 

“YEP!” the guy said, standing in front of the counter with a beaming smile. “Definitely not staying up late to do homework like my back-stabbing friend Hongjoong.”

 

“Oh, those are the worst,” Hyojong said, grabbing a sharpie. “What name do you want on the cup?”

 

“Oh, my name is San!” the guy San exclaimed. “Large white chocolate mocha-”

 

“With extra whip cream and chocolate syrup,” Wooyoung repeated from memory, taking the cup from Hyojong. “I’ll make it, don’t worry.”

 

Hyojong grabbed the plastic bag and dumped a handful of the chocolate chip cookies in there. “You’re the one responsible for the Cookie Club, right?” he asked San. “You said you make cookies?”

 

“Yeah, but me and Hongjoong aren’t very good at it,” San admitted. “But we made a promise to the club members so we have to keep it.”

 

Wooyoung set the mocha down for San and handed him a straw. “It’s not that hard to make cookies,” he said, grabbing the bag of cookies from Hyojong and giving it to San as well despite knowing that they technically shouldn’t. “You just have to remember to chill the dough, that’s really important, and prevent over-spreading, checking the temperatures, and also, cooking times don’t really matter-"
“Damn, you should run your own cookie club or something,” Hyojong said.

 

Wooyoung glared at him. “You really exaggerate-”

 

San grabbed a cookie from the bag and took a bite, immediately in ecstasy. “These cookies are so good!!!!” he screamed, his mouth still half full. “Who made it?!?!”

 

“Technically, I did, but it’s his recipe,” Hyojong said, pointing at Wooyoung.

 

San shoved the rest of the cookie in his mouth and got on his knees, bowing down. “Please, I am begging you to join the Cookie Club,” he said. “Hongjoong and I can’t do and I can’t let this club fail.”

 

Wooyoung stared at San, sighing. He did not have the capacity to handle a club, but also he didn’t want to waste time arguing. “I’ll join your Cookie Club,” he said, admitting defeat. “What do I have to do?”
 

***

 

Jinhwan was walking through the campus at midnight, his headphones at a high volume. He needed to print out an assignment at the library and check out some study materials, so it was going to be some time until he headed back to his dorm to sleep. 

 

He took a small bite of a cookie that his roommate had given him. Shortbread, he realized, though he was more of a chocolate chip fan. Yes, he was a very simple man with very simple taste, but could you blame him?

 

Jinhwan ate the rest of the cookie quickly before walking into the library, lowering the volume of his music. 

 

He was, indeed, there for a while. As a freshman, he still had no idea how the printers work, so it took some getting used to. Not to mention how the ing catalog worked. It took him a good forty minutes to find one Tagalog dictionary. 

 

It was almost 2 am and the library was due to close soon, so Jinhwan left and started to head back to his dorm, thinking about sleep when his stomach started to growl. 

 

Oh, right, he didn’t have dinner tonight. 

 

Sighing, he got out his phone to try to find something. All the on-campus dining locations were closed, so that was out. His roommate had food in tupperware containers, but Jinhwan neither wanted to ask nor thought the guy was still awake, so that was out, too. 

 

On his Google maps, it said there was a cookie place opened nearby, Insomnia Cookies which was specifically made to be opened at these hours. It looked a little pricey on the app, but Jinhwan was in desperate need for food, so he made his way there. 

 

When he finally reached the location, his eyes were getting really droopy, but he knew he needed food in his system. So, he entered the shop and took out the last twenty in his wallet, staring at the menu, unsure of what to order. 

 

Other than the employees, there was only one other person in the shop with him, some chaebol-looking guy in expensive clothing. Who wears expensive clothes while shopping for ing cookies at 2 am? Stupid people, that’s who, Jinhwan thought. 

 

An employee finally reached the register. “How may I help you today?” she asked Jinhwan. 

 

Jinhwan pointed at the menu. “I just want some chocolate chip cookies,” he said. 

 

The employee made an apologetic face. “Sorry, we just sold our last batch,” she said. “And our track doesn’t come until tomorrow.”

 

“You just sold- what?” Jinhwan asked. “I- okay, I guess,” he muttered, turning around to head out. “Sorry.”

 

He stood outside of the store, sighing. There weren’t other places around here opened, so maybe he’ll just have to sleep on an empty stomach. This is what he got for skipping dinner to finish an assignment-

 

“Hey, you.” He turned around to see the guy from the shop, the one who had been on his phone. He had a box in his hands. “You wanted chocolate chip cookies, right?”

 

Jinhwan shrugged. “Yeah, but they say they ran out,” he said. “I can’t really do anything.”

 

“No, it’s fine,” the guy said, opening the box. Inside there were chocolate chip cookies, to Jinhwan’s dismay. “You can take some if you want.”

 

Jinhwan raised an eye. “Uh- okay, I guess?” he said, taking one of the soft cookies. “Thanks, I guess, you didn’t have to."

 

“No, it’s fine,” the chaebol guy said. “I already had too many cookies today, anyways.”