Back in the kitchen….

RPOV

  He had unconsciously grabbed Kyuhyun’s wrist, eager to show him the different flavor combinations he could have in his crepe. When they finally entered the kitchen, he released his wrist turning towards the fridge, ready to get the crepe batter, only to be pulled back into Kyuhyun’s arms.

  Completely caught off guard, he tripped on his own feet, but Kyuhyun’s reflexes were faster and before Ryeowook knew it, he was wrapped securely in Kyuhyun’s arms.

   “Good reflexes Kyu,” he giggled.

   He heard the other sigh and looked up to see Kyuhyun smiling at him, “It seems my reflexes know when you’re involved because normally they don’t do very well”

   Ryeowook couldn’t help but laugh at that.

   “Yah! Who was the one that tripped! I’d say your reflexes are worse than mine” Kyuhyun teased.

   “Only because you grabbed my wrist so suddenly!” Ryeowook argued.

   Kyuhyun’s response was a sudden kiss and Ryeowook couldn’t help but melt like butter as soon as the contact was made.

   “You don’t play fair,” he whispered.

   Kyuhyun chuckled, “Sorry, but your lips are way too irresistible to play by the rules”.

   Ryeowook sighed, “Alright Mr. Rule breaker, lets go make crepes.”

They marched to the fridge waddling like penguins because Kyuhyun refused to let go of Ryeowook’s waist and that was that, but truth be told Ryeowook wouldn’t have it any other way. Once he had the crepe batter he marched them over to the stove to begin making the three crepes.

   He poured the batter carefully, expertly maneuvering the batter evenly on the crepe griddle. Kyuhyun hadn’t said a word for a while. Both were just content with each other’s company. So it came as a shock to Ryeowook when the sentence that broke the peaceful silence was: “Do you want to meet my parents next weekend?”

KPOV

    He wasn’t quite sure himself what possessed him to ask Ryeowook to meet his parents at that moment, but for whatever reason it was out of his mouth before he had time to really think about timing.

    As soon it was out of his mouth, he felt Ryeowook freeze in his arms and he immediately panicked.

   “It would just be for dinner, we could go to Oishi even… wait no…Sungmin would be there and that’s just too much…Sungmin. And I don’t want him fanboying while we’re there…maybe we could go to that new Korean resta…”, he didn’t get to finish his rambling because Ryeowook had turned around to face him and had gently squeezed Kyuhyun’s lips together to stop him from talking.

   “Kyu, you really talk too much sometimes,” Ryeowook said teasingly.

   “You know, instead of using your fingers to shush me, you could always do it by kissing me instead.” Kyuhyun retorted.

   “Ill keep that in mind for next time.”

   “So you haven’t responded…do you want to meet them?” he asked, nerves clearly evident in his voice.

   “Well you never did gave me time to respond did you?” Ryeowook said in amusement.

   “Ryeong, humor me.”

   “Of course I’d love to meet your parents. Will I be meeting your sister as well? Do you think they’d want to come to Joie next Sunday? I could cook dinner again?”

   Kyuhyun breathed a sigh of relief. After he felt the smaller stiffen in his embrace, he was so sure that Ryeowook wasn’t ready to meet them yet, but Ryeowook was full of surprises and seemed genuinely eager to see them.

     “My sister will be with her in-laws next weekend, so you would just be meeting my parents. And though my parents will probably have my head for refusing your offer and as much as I love your cooking too, I would honestly rather have us all meet somewhere else. That way you don’t have to stress about the dinner details and you can just spend time getting to know them. Plus you cook so much love, I get worried sometimes that you’re pushing yourself too hard, so let me spoil you sometimes.”

RPOV

   Ryeowook couldn’t help but feel touched how much Kyuhyun looked out for him. It was true that cooking 5 days a week could be exhausting and that would sometimes result in him skipping meals because he was too tired to cook for himself and even going out seemed too tiring.

   And it was also true that if he ended up cooking Sunday, he would probably end up worrying himself sick if the food was to Kyuhyun’s parents liking. He liked the idea of being able to devote all of his attention to making the best impression he could on Kyuhyun’s parents and what better way to learn more about Kyuhyun than through his parents. Of course he was terrified to think that there was always the possibility that they may not like him, but knowing Kyuhyun would be there to mediate the whole thing made the idea of meeting less daunting.

   He stood on his tiptoes to quickly peck Kyuhyun on the cheek, “Thanks for worrying about me Kyu. I like your idea of meeting somewhere, I think I would be a nervous wreck planning the menu for them if I was cooking.” He confessed.

   He began picking at the bottom of his sweater, a nervous habit of his and then looked up at Kyuhyun again, “Do you think they’ll like me?”

KPOV

   Ryeowook was one of the most endearing people he had ever met, how on earth could anyone dislike him? No matter where they went together, whether it was to get dinner, or on the occasion they had gone to the park, anyone that Ryeowook encountered seemed to take an instant liking to him. Sungmin was the very proof of that, much to the irritation of Kyuhyun.

     “They will definitely love you, Im sure of it. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if my mom decides to give me hell for not introducing you to them sooner…” he said with a slight frown.

   Ryeowook laughed at this, “Why would she be mad? We’ve only dated for about a week, so it’s pretty early right?”

   “It is, but once she meets you, she’ll still think you should have been introduced to them earlier…trust me…I just know it.”

   “What about your dad? Do you think he’ll accept me?” Ryeowook asked tentatively.

   “He’s a bit quiet when you first meet him, but I know that he’ll take an instant liking to you as well. Now that he accepts the whole ual orientation thing, he’s actually my biggest supporter and he’s really curious to see the man who stole my heart.”

   “You know, hearing you talk about them, I really want to meet them now.” Ryeowook said, with a smile that Kyuhyun knew was sincere.

   “Plus, I can ask them how you were when you were little! Oh now I really can’t wait!”

 Kyuhyun groaned, “I don’t think you’ll even have to ask…my mom will probably give you that information Way too willingly…”

RPOV

    Ryeowook had to smile at that. He was starting to really look forward to meeting Kyuhyun’s parents. It amazed him how once again all the worries that had started to bubble up within him seemed to dissipate with Kyuhyun’s words of encouragement and jokes.

   As much as he wanted to continue talking about Kyuhyun’s parents, he didn’t have time to dwell on the subject much longer because he could see the last crepe was ready to come off the griddle, so he turned off the stove and quickly brought the crepe to the already awaiting stack.

   “Kyu! Can you bring that bowl of chocolate over here? I still need to make the chocolate sauce for the crepes.”

  While Kyuhyun got the chocolate, he went to the fridge and pulled out the cream and butter he would need.

  “Okay, where do you want the chocolate?” Kyuhyun asked, curious to watch how the sauce was made.

   “Just set it on the counter next to the stove please”

   “We’re not heating the chocolate?” Kyuhyun asked with confusion.

   “Nope, we’re going to heat the cream up and then pour it over the chocolate and that will melt it.” Ryeowook answered, already heating the cream in the saucepan.

   “Oh! You’re making a ganache then right?” Kyuhyun said, half stating, half asking.

   Ryeowook looked at him with surprise, “Someone knows their food terminology…”

   Kyuhyun looked away slightly flushed.

   “Why are you looking away?” he asked with concern.

   “I may have done some research on the culinary world once we started dating…”

Ryeowook couldn’t help but coo at his boyfriend’s cuteness, “Awww Kyu, did you really do research?”

   “W..well I wanted to make sure I didn’t look like a fool when I took you out somewhere to eat and I wanted to make sure I had a good conversation starter..” he grumbled.

   It was so unusual to see Kyuhyun flustered, he almost wanted to snap a photo of him, just to commemorate the moment.

   “I think my pink cheeks went to you for a vacation” Ryeowook teased.

   Kyuhyun laughed, “Don’t worry they’ll return to you soon.”  

   He rolled his eyes playfully, while stirring the simmering cream into the chocolate. Once the cream was fully added in, he added about a tablespoon of butter to help make the ganache shine.

   “Well, I think you should keep them for a while. They suite you so well” he shot back with a wink.

KPOV

   Kyuhyun smiled in amusement, his cheeks were already returning to their normal color, but he wasn’t about to let Ryeowook off so easily. His pride was on the line here.

   While Ryeowook went to grab some strawberries and bananas, he put Kyuhyun on chocolate stirring duty. He watched curiously as Ryeowook set to work on sautéing the strawberries with some a dash of almond liquer and a bit of vanilla bean. It was almost hypnotizing watching him cook. Each movement had a purpose, each sprinkle and dash of seasoning came with finesse that only Ryeowook could manage.

    Before he knew it, Ryeowook had not only finished sautéing the strawberries but he had also finished caramelizing the bananas with some rum and had turned to him expectantly.

   When he failed to say anything, Ryeowook smiled at him, “Min and Hyuk’s orders are done, so what type of crepe do you want Kyu?”

   “What type of crepe are you going to make for yourself? Ill copy you.”

   “I wasn’t planning on one…I was just going to steal a bite of yours,” Ryeowook confessed.

   “Then how about you choose for me, that way we can share”

Ryeowook took a few moments to think and then smiled, “How does a strawberry-raspberry crepe sound?”  

   Kyuhyun grinned, “sounds perfect”

   Ryeowook carefully spooned some of the homemade raspberry preserve on the crepe, and then proceeded to scoop the leftover caramelized strawberries onto the preserves. He motioned for Kyuhyun to come with the chocolate ganache. Once he had drizzled the chocolate, he looked up at Kyuhyun, wondering if he wanted more.

   “You missed a spot”

Ryeowook looked at him with confusion.

  “See right, there…” and with that he spread some of the chocolate sauce onto Ryeowook’s lips.

   Ryeowook squealed, “Kyu!! What was that for?” But before he could even or wipe the chocolate off his lips, Kyuhyun had started kissing and the chocolate off his lips. Ryeowook whimpered as he felt Kyuhyun nip gently at his bottom lip, carefully running his tongue over the chocolate positioned at the corner of his mouth, the taste of bittersweet chocolate flooding his senses.

   Ryeowook quickly wrapped his arms around his neck allowing Kyuhyun to deepen their kiss. Their tongues danced around one another, but as soon as he trailed his hands down to Ryeowook’s hips and started massaging, Ryeowook’s tongue quickly became submissive and Kyuhyun took the opportunity to thoroughly explore the already familiar cavern. He marveled at the feeling of Ryeowook’s hands running through his hair and in turn continued to run his fingers up and down Ryeowook’s waist, eliciting moans from his petite boyfriend.

   By the time they broke away, Ryeowook was panting, with flushed cheeks. Kyuhyun chuckled, “Just as I thought, pink cheeks definitely suit you the best.”

  Ryeowook immediately brought his hands to his cheeks, “Really Kyu?! Can’t you leave my cheeks alone for an hour?”

   “I don’t think Ill ever win that game, I think I may be obsessed with seeing your cheeks turn pink…”  

   He got an exasperated groan in response, which only made him chuckle at the adorability of the other.

   Kyuhyun quickly pecked him on the cheek, “Alright, I promise to leave them alone for an hour, but I make no guarantees after that” he said with a smile.

  Ryeowook lightly smacked in the chest, but smiled too at Kyuhyun’s antics.

Two phone alerts interrupted their talk and both looked at each other with confusion. They pulled out their phones and found a group text message from Hyuk. Kyuhyun snorted when he read his and Ryeowook laughed at reading the message

To: Kyuhyun & Ryeowook

From: Hyuk

Hey! You two better not be making out in the kitchen! Get your asses back out here! Min has decided to go on a whole rant about Japanese food and quite frankly I was done hearing about the difference between udon and soba 15 minutes ago, so don’t make me come in there and drag you guys back out here.

   Kyuhyun looked over at Ryeowook, who was still snickering at the text and smiled. And for whatever reason, he suddenly felt very sentimental and slightly corny. Ryeowook looked up from his phone and smiled at him. “What’s up Kyu?”

   “I love you.”

RPOV

   And with that being said, Ryeowook’s expression softened and he walked over to his boyfriend and quickly kissed him. “I love you too.” He snuggled into Kyuhyun’s arms and let himself be pulled into Kyuhyun’s warmth.

    “As much as I want to just stay here, we should get going, I suddenly feel for Hyuk…” Kyuhyun said with a sigh.

   Ryeowook laughed, “Since when do you care about saving Hyuk?”

   “Love, no one deserves to be lectured about udon and soba for 15 minutes…believe me, Hyuk has suffered enough…”

   He had to laugh at this. He could just picture Sungmin talking animatedly about the differences and Hyuk wanting nothing more than to just curl up in the fetal position to make it stop.

   “You’re right, let’s go and rescue him. Can you take those two crepes, and Ill bring the third and some extra toppings.”