At the next Cookie Club meeting, they learned to make those cookies with frosting that you can buy at Walmart or whatever, which you either loved or hated.

 

In Yuta’s opinion, they , but while he was baking with the freshman Si Cheng next to him, who had been excited during the whole process, a smile on his face, Yuta didn’t dare to voice his opinion. 

 

While the cookies were baking in the oven, they set out to make the frosting, and Si Cheng didn’t know whether he should go with the red frosting or the purple frosting and was currently asking Yuta his thoughts about it. 

 

“Yuta, what do you think?” Si Cheng asked him, that same smile on his face, as he held up two tubes of food coloring. “Red or purple?”

 

Both frostings would be nasty, of course, so it all boiled down to which one would look prettier, he assumed. “Uh… I don’t know, you pick,” he ended up saying. “I’m… not really good with colors.” 

 

“What do you mean, not good with colors?” Si Cheng continued to ask him. “How can you be bad at a color?”

 

“I am a firm believer that you can be bad and anything,” Yuta said. “Which I most certainly am. But if I must… just use both.”

 

Si Cheng stared at the food coloring tubes in his hands. “Both?”

 

Yuta nodded. “Yeah, you can, like, mix it for some and then make regular red or purple cookies,” he added. “Or different shades or- I mean, I’m not good with colors.”

 

“No, you’re not!” Si Cheng exclaimed, turning his attention back to the frosting mixture in the silver bowl. “I think I have an idea.” 

 

He grabbed the box of the food coloring and flipped it to see the backside, reading the instructions. “Okay, so I’m going to add the amount for red, and I’ll gradually add purple drops, and it can be like a gradient.”

 

“Sounds like a plan,” Yuta said, bending down to see the oven. The cookies look to, dare he say, almost perfect; they were golden brown and inflated, and oh, how he just wanted to bite his teeth down on one right this instant. “How long till the timer rings again?”

 

Si Cheng pointed at the timer above the tiny oven. “It says two minutes left, I think.”

 

“Oh, thank god!” Yuta straightened up his back, groaning. “I want to eat one so bad!!!”

 

“Oh, are you hungry?” Si Cheng picked up his backpack that had been on the floor and set it on the counter, opening the main zipper. “I have stuff you can eat.”

 

Yuta shook his head. “No, no, no, I am perfectly good, you don’t have to feed me-” he stopped when he saw Si Cheng pull out a wrapped parcel, holding it delicately in his hands. “I mean… what is it?”

 

“ Rou jia mo, ” Si Cheng said, grinning. “I really like the seasoning in the meat.”

 

Si Cheng held it out for Yuta, who hesitated before grabbing it from him, opening it slowly. 

 

It was a bun, almost pita like, that had a pocket where the meat was, braised pork, Yuta realized. It must have been made some time ago, as it was lukewarm, but still warm nonetheless.

 

He raised it slowly to his mouth, taking a tiny bite. Damn, Si Cheng was right; the seasoning of the meat was so good. The pork was so soft, so tender, holy -

 

Yuta covered his mouth, letting out a groan as he continued to chew this. “This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted in my whole goddamn life,” he said, swallowing quickly before taking another bite of it. 

 

Si Cheng stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets, rolling his feet back and forth. “I’m glad you like it!” he exclaimed. “I made it from scratch, but I didn’t have all the ingredients for it, I made a lot on accident for breakfast so I had an extra one-”

 

“Woah, you have this for breakfast ?!” Yuta exclaimed, lifting up the dish in his hand. “You- dude, you got to show me any other good Chinese stuff you can make, what was this called again?”

 

“The rou jia mo ,” Si Cheng repeated. “I like it, I think it’s good. I can always make you some more, if you want-”

 

Yuta, who had chosen to take another bite at that moment, chewed on it quickly, nodding his head frantically before swallowing. “I will definitely take you up on that offer,” he said. “Promise?”

 

“Yeah,” Si Cheng said, his usual smile plastered on his face. “Promise.”

 

***
 

After the meeting, the two leaders San and Hongjoong said that they created a group chat, which they added everyone into for future updates and notifications. 

 

Hanbin, having just given them their number at the front of the room, picked up his backpack from where he had left it on the floor, slinging it over his shoulder as he gave one last look of the room. There were still a lot of people lingering behind, talking in small groups, all except for one. 

 

The guy who always had tupperware was sitting at a desk far away from the others, hunched in his seat as he typed on his phone, looking up every so often around the room before turning his attention back to his phone. In front of him, there was a small tupperware container, containing the cookies that they made today, tightly packaged and organized

 

Hanbin walked over to where Bobby was, who was confused when Hanbin came to stand in front of him. “Are you going to make me fun of me again?”

 

“I- wait?” Hanbin asked, puzzled. “I have never made fun of you.”

 

“Uh, yeah, you did,” Bobby reiterated, turning his attention back to his phone. “Pretty sure.”

 

Hanbin shook his head. “Sorry, buddy, but-”

 

“It’s Bobby ,” Bobby corrected him. 

 

“I was using it as a common noun, not as your name,” Hanbin explained himself. “But, okay, Bobby , I did not make fun of you, and if I did, I apologize."

 

Bobby raised an eye at him, turning off his phone before sighing. “What other perfect cookies did you make this time?” he asked, picking up the tupperware container on the desk. 

 

“Well,”Hanbin started. “I think my cookies came out as , but…”

 

Hanbin took out the cookies that he had in his pocket; he wrapped them several times in the napkins that they had before stuffing it in there, hoping they would be safe, but he could still feel how broken they got in his pocket. Hopefully they weren’t that crumbly. 

 

As he unwrapped it for Bobby to see, the latter, groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Of course they came out perfect,” he said, even though the cookies were broken. 

 

“Do you not see how bad they got?” Hanbin asked him. 

 

“That’s because you stuffed it in your pocket,” Bobby pointed out. “Not because your baking .”

 

“Well, I’m… flattered to say the least,” Hanbin managed to say. “I don’t usually get congratulated on my baking, it’s more often my rap-”

 

Bobby sat up straighter, perking up. “Rap? You rap?”

 

Hanbin glanced around the room, where there were still some students present. It was definitely getting more empty, though. 

 

“Yeah, I did,” Hanbin said quietly. “But I quit.”

 

“W-why?” Bobby asked. 

 

“I- why do you care anyways? Everyone here thinks rap is stupid anyways,” he quickly muttered, turning around to head out. He didn’t know why he even bothered to come talk to Bobby anyways. 

 

He could hear Bobby scoff. “Rapping is what got me into this university,” he replied. “Which I like to think is good enough. But if you’re a rapper, no doubt you’re going to be better than me, too. Everyone is.”

 

Hanbin raised an eye. “Wait, rapping got you into what?!”

 

Bobby shrugged. “I won a scholarship,” he explained, standing up from his spot at the desk. He wanted to head back to his dorm so that he could eat alone in silence while trying to do more reading for a class. “I had to make a video, and I rapped in it. My parents don’t know what it was about nor what I rapped about, and I hope they never find out.”

 

“That- not gonna lie, that actually sounds really cool,” Hanbin said, grinning a little. “Do you have a rapper name?”

 

Bobby waved a hand at him, frowning. “Bobby?” he drawled out. “Did you really think that was my real name? I’m a native Korean, idiot, my real name is Jiwon.”

 

Hanbin stuffed his cookies back into his pocket before raising his hands up. “Damn, excuse me for not wanting to make any assumptions,” he retorted. 

 

“Okay, fine , my bad,” Bobby said, rolling his eyes. “Do you have a rapper name? It’s probably gonna be perfect, too.”

 

At this moment, Hanbin hesitated. 

 

Rap was very important to him, and his underground rapper life back before he came to university is one that he thought he would be able to bury and keep confidential.

 

But, if what Bobby was saying was true, then that means that it was very important to the latter. Plus, he didn’t seem like he meant any harm. 

 

“B.I,” Hanbin finally managed to say. “It was my rapper name, and hopefully I use it one day.”

 

***

 

Cookie Club

 

Hongjoong

This is Hongjoong, me and San only plan on using this chat for updates, in case you guys ever need it. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us, especially freshman. I know college is really different than what you’re used to, and even though this club ended up really different than what was planned because of San being an idiot with the sign, hopefully we can still put it to use. 

 

San

How do I turn off my microwave

 

Yuto

That was a 180 right there

 

Hongjoong

San wtf did u do

And why did you text this to the cookie chat

 

San

Don’t worry I unplugged it!

Jam closed the door shut

Also this is the biggest chat I’m in so I thought hey, more help

 

Yoongi

Wait you guys can help

I have an assignment due at midnight, quick, do you guys think humanity is naturally evil or not

 

Hoseok

Yoongi I already gave you my answer earlier!!

Also why don’t you ask Namjoon? He’s really smart!

 

Yoongi

I don’t want a positive answer, negative only

 

Junhoe

What tf did I get myself into

Also I like to think humanity is naturally evil

Give anyone money and they will turn into greedy bastards

Like my dad

 

Yuto

Someone needs to go to therapy

 

Junhoe

Shut the up

 

Yoongi

I will look into it

Thank you 

 

Junhoe

Np

 

Hoseok

Don’t encourage him

 

Yuta

Hey this is Yuta, finally got off my next class

Also I’m reading the above messages and is no one concerned about the microwave guy

 

Yoongi

Microwave what

 

Hongjoong

San is completely fine, people

 

San

I’m going to order another mocha

 

Hongjoong

San this isn’t your twitter

 

San

Says who?
 

Hongjoong

This isn’t private messaging either

 

Junhoe 

Says who

 

Yuto

Damn, he got you

 

Hongjoong

I hope you guys have a nice night

 

Yuta

No thank you

 

Kino

???

 

***

If Junhoe was honest, he didn’t like how the cookies he made for the cookie club turned out. 

 

They were okay, he assumed, but the truth was, he has never cooked or baked in his life. Being from a rich family will do that to you, which he always thought would be a big plus but… maybe not.

 

There were a few students from wealthy families on campus, but Junhoe wasn’t really friends with any of them. Not that he would want to, anyways; they weren’t desirable people to hang out with. Sooner or later, they will backstab him for sure. 

 

Having money though meant he could go to Insomnia Cookies right now and get himself a big box of chocolate chip cookies, though, without worrying about tuition. Probably every normal Korean student’s dream. 

 

Junhoe headed over to the little store, picking up his usual order. It wasn’t a weekend, so there weren’t any parties or social gatherings of the sort going on, so he was probably just going to head back to his room and eat them in silence while scrolling mindlessly on his phone. He did that a lot, unfortunately, despite his parents scolding him. 

 

On his way back, though, he must have been paying more attention on his phone, because he accidentally bumped into someone on the sidewalk, looking up to see a student. 

 

“, sorry,” Junhoe said quickly, thankfully that he managed not to spill his box of cookies. He didn’t feel like going back there again to get more should he ruin this batch. “Didn’t mean to.”

 

The guy in front of him stared at him wide-eyed for a few seconds before nodding once he realized what Junhoe said. “Oh, uh, yeah, you’re good,” he sputtered out. “Sorry, I don’t really pay attention when I’m hungry- yeah…”

 

“Oh, hungry?” Junhoe stuffed his phone in his pocket before lifting up the box to show him the cookies inside. “You can grab one, I know I planned on eating all this but maybe I should prevent a stomache.”

 

“Ooh, nice!” the guy said, tentatively grabbing a cookie, the softness already causing it to fall apart in his hands. “I- thank you, really- wait a second, you’re the dude from last time.”

 

Last time? “What are you talking about, last time?” Junhoe asked, confused. 

 

“I went over to get cookies and they didn’t have anymore,” the guy explained. “But you gave me some back then, too. Really appreciated it, by the way. I’m always starving here.”

 

Junhoe squinted his eyes, trying to think before he realized what the dude was saying. “Oh, yeah, I remember,” he said finally. “I never did catch your name though.”

 

Despite it being dark outside, he could see how the guy’s face turned slightly red. “It’s… Jinhwan, I guess. Yeah, Jinhwan.”