It was a cool, grey Thursday and everyone in the Big Bang dorm was asleep. Well, almost everyone.

Seunghyun and Jiyong were sitting on the floor in the living room, idly rolling a bottle back and forth between them across the floor. It was 3:30 in the morning, so ‘grey’ probably wasn’t a good way to describe that particular moment, but they had watched the weather earlier so they knew that it was definitely going to be cool and grey once the sun actually rose.

It had originally been Seungri’s idea to stay up all night, and while they normally don’t take him up on his ideas, this one had stuck. Of course, Seungri had been carried to his bed by Daesung at about 2:00am, with Youngbae trai1ling sleepily behind them not long after leaving just Seunghyun and Jiyong trying to stick it out.

They had turned off the TV fairly soon after the weather report because they just weren’t in the mood for it to be on. In fact, they weren’t even in the mood to be awake, they just couldn’t convince their bodies to get up off of the floor.

The light noise of the rolling bottle on the wood floor was just calming and regular enough that Jiyong was slowly starting to nod off. Unfortunately for him, just as his chin had fallen down to his chest, Seunghyun spoke.

“I want a cake” His voice wasn’t too loud, but the deep tone was enough to jar Jiyong out of his doze.

“What?” Jiyong asks, his voice dripping with the sound of annoyed sleepiness.

“I want to have a cake” It sounded just as ridiculous this time and Jiyong was still confused as to why it mattered.

“Then go get one.” He says, pushing the bottle a little too hard and sending it off course.

“It’s almost 4:00am, no place is open” Jiyong just stares down at the bottle that Seunghyun hadn’t bothered to fetch from where Jiyong’s errant push had sent it.

“I can’t help you then.”

Seunghyun lets out a long-suffering sigh and drags a hand over his face before getting up to grab the bottle that Jiyong was so forlornly staring at.

“Stop whining and go to bed” he says, dropping the bottle into Jiyong’s lap as he walks past him into the kitchen. The flippant way that Seunghyun had said it, along with the amount of energy that he seemed to possess, made Jiyong feel a little put out.

With a surge of energy that he was unaware he could muster, Jiyong stood up and marched out to the kitchen; “Yah! You can’t be all flippant and derisive! It’s laaaaaaaaaate” he was whining, he knew, but it was late and he didn’t want to be treated like a child.

Seunghyun was standing next to the refrigerator, his back to Jiyong, with one hand holding open the door to one of the cupboards as he pulled things out. He ignored Jiyong’s comment, opting to just move to the refrigerator and pull out a carton of eggs.

“Stop ignoring me!” Jiyong snaps, folding his arms across his chest. “What are you doing, anyway?”

Seunghyun surveyed the items that he had placed on the counter, touching each one in turn as he mentally went over what he needed. When he was done, he turned around to see Jiyong still standing there with a glare and crossed arms, waiting for an answer.

“I’m baking a cake.”

Jiyong was taken aback by the comment. He wasn’t even aware that Seunghyun knew how to use the oven, let alone how to bake something. When he said this, Seunghyun just scoffed and crossed his arms.

“Are you going to help, or are you going to be an obnoxious brat?”

Jiyong narrowed his eyes at Seunghyun, acknowledging the challenge. It was basic fact around the dorm that Jiyong should not ever be allowed to cook unless highly supervised. He only ever cooked with either Daesung or Youngbae, and even that couldn’t really be considered cooking. He was like an over-eager 4-year-old who would be happy to just hold the mixing bowl and the spoon afterward; and he was really only about that helpful.

“Alright, what can I do?”

The slight smirk that races across Seunghyun’s face was almost gone before Jiyong noticed it, almost. Jiyong pouts deeply; it really wasn’t his fault that he was a terror in the kitchen. His mother used to always tell him that he was just meant to eat food, not prepare it. He loved her for trying to make him feel better, but it didn’t stop him from feeling useless when even holding a bowl while Youngbae mixed something was almost too much for him to handle.

“Turn on the oven and read the directions” Seunghyun holds up a small, flowery piece of paper that Jiyong grabs hesitantly. “You can just tell me what to do, baking a cake isn’t really a two-person job.”

Feeling only a little upset, because he knows by now that he can’t really expect anyone to actually want him to handle the preparation, he looks at the paper with the directions. It was hand-written and laminated, and it was obviously from Seunghyun’s mother or grandmother.

Butter and flour for preparing cake pans
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (see tips)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1.    Remove butter and eggs from refrigerator about 2 hours before starting recipe. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Adjust oven rack to the middle position. Butter two 9-inch cake pans, cover the bottom of each pan with a circle of parchment, butter the parchment and coat the pan with flour, shaking out the excess.

2.   Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

3.   Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed for 30 seconds. Continue beating and gradually add the sugar. Beat until light-colored, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. The mixture should appear thick and dull. If it appears separated or grainy and shiny, the butter and/or eggs were too cold. To remedy this, wrap the bowl with a kitchen towel soaked with hot water and continue mixing. Scrape down the sides of the bowl when necessary.

4.   Add about 1/3 of both the flour mixture and milk and beat on low speed or by hand until just incorporated. Add the vanilla and then the remaining flour and milk in two batches, beating between additions. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir by hand to finish.

5.   Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Twist the pans back and forth on the work surface to distribute batter and then smooth surface with a rubber spatula. Place pans in oven a few inches apart, and bake for about 30 minutes, rotating the pans 180 degrees after 15 minutes. Check the cake after 22 minutes. The top of the cake should be golden brown and spring back when lightly pressed in the center, and a cake tester should come out clean. The cakes should start shrinking back from the sides of the pan.

6.   Remove the pans to a cooling rack. Let rest for 5 minutes. Run a small knife or metal spatula around the sides of the pans and invert cakes onto lightly greased racks. Remove parchment paper. Reinvert cakes onto cooling rack. Let cool for at least 1 1/2 hours or until completely cooled.

Makes one 2-layer cake; serves 12.

Jiyong read through the entire thing, and then the oven to the temperature that it dictated. He looked up and saw Seunghyun staring at him with a slightly impatient look on his face and realized that he must have taken far longer to read it than he had thought, so he gave Seunghyun the first direction.

They fell into a working system, and Seunghyun even let Jiyong grease the pans while he continued to mix the batter. It was well past 4:00am, inching toward 5:00am when the cakes were finally ready to be taken out of the oven and set to cool. It was also at about this time that Jiyong had a revelation.

“We don’t have any frosting.” He said it in an almost reverent voice. He was staring at the cakes, his eyes level with them as he sat awkwardly bent in half so that he could rest his chin on the edge of the table. Seunghyun thought that it was the most depressing sounding statement the young man had ever made.

“I’m sure Daesung could make some when he wakes up.”

That statement immediately perked Jiyong up, and Seunghyun felt like he had accomplished something. He looked around the kitchen, and realized that they still had some cleaning to do. While the cakes were baking they had washed the dishes, but they hadn’t put away any of the ingredients, because Jiyong had sat himself down in front of the oven to make sure that everything was going well and Seunghyun had fallen asleep on the table.

“We should clean up so that Youngbae doesn’t have a heart-attack about the mess.”

“I’m too tired.”

Even though Jiyong’s face was blocked by the cakes, Seunghyun knew that he was pouting again. However, the fear of Youngbae on a cleaning spree was enough to even wake the dead, so Jiyong got up from his seat anyway and reached for the flour.

The past hour had been so devoid of mishap that Seunghyun had almost forgotten that Jiyong wasn’t allowed in the kitchen for a reason. He had barely stood up when he slipped on the towel that he had been using to dry the dishes, and had dropped unceremoniously to the floor as he sat in front of the oven, and pitched forward with his hands flailing out in front of him.

Seunghyun watched in slow motion as one of Jiyong’s hands connected with the container of flour, knocking it to the floor, and the other latched onto the edge of the counter; only barely missing the carton of eggs and the jug of milk. His face froze in a look of half-amused shock as the flour tumbled off of the counter, dusting everything in its path on its way down, including Jiyong. The lack of support from his first hand cause Jiyong to continue to fall until his knees hit the ground dangerously close to where the counter met the floor. The container of flour barely missed hitting him in the head, and clattered noisily to the ground behind him, emptying the rest of its contents on impact. Jiyong just kneeled there, one hand gripping the counter; the other flung across the back of his head in a gesture of protection for a few still and shocked moments.

“Alright, I think it’s time to shower” Seunghyun says, having difficulty containing his laughter as he races from the room.

Jiyong doesn’t even try to get up. He just slumps against the counter and closes his eyes, looking thoroughly defeated.

At around 7:00am Youngbae and Daesung wander out into the kitchen. The first things that they see are the cakes, sitting prettily on the cooling racks on the table. Then they hear it, faint deep breathing coming from the floor next to the refrigerator.

To his credit, Youngbae didn’t scream. He gently picked Jiyong up off of the floor and carried him to his room, while Daesung went about sweeping up the mess. Youngbae came back out moments later and took over the cleaning from Daesung.

“It looks like we didn’t have any frosting” Youngbae says, nodding toward the cakes.

Daesung laughs; “well, that’s no problem” he says, grabbing the things that he would need to make a topping for the cakes.

Seunghyun wanders out into the kitchen twenty minutes later and sees the cakes nicely frosted and sitting on the exceptionally clean counter. Daesung and Youngbae are sitting at the similarly over-clean table, picking at a bowl of fruit salad set between them.

“Did you really just leave him to fall asleep on the floor like that?” Youngbae asks without looking up.

Seunghyun smiles sheepishly even though he knows that Youngbae can’t see him. “I didn’t think he would fall asleep?”

Youngbae just rolled his eyes, but Daesung looked up at Seunghyun, his eyes bright with laughter, “It was pretty funny, Youngbae wasn’t even upset about the mess!”