The kettle had been boiling for a while. Hoshi didn't notice until it screamed.
He turned it off out of habit more than anything, poured water he wasn't going to drink into a mug he'd probably forget on the counter, and stood there. Not thinking. Not really doing anything. Just standing, the way he'd been doing most evenings for longer than he wanted to count.
The apartment was clean in the specific way apartments get clean when someone has nothing else to do — everything wiped down, folded, put away, not out of care but out of the need to fill hours somehow. He'd showered. He'd eaten something, technically. He couldn't have said what.
His phone lit up on the counter. He looked at it the way he looked at most things lately — from a distance, like it belonged to someone else's life. Two missed calls. He put it face-down and picked the mug back up, even though the water had already gone lukewarm.
He was halfway through not-drinking it when someone started banging on his door like the building was on fire.
"HOSHI. OPEN UP, IT'S US." Seungkwan's voice, muffled but unmistakable, followed immediately by the jangle of a key in the lock — his key, the one he'd given Jeonghan for emergencies and which he and Seungkwan had apparently decided applied to "we haven't heard from you in four days."
The door swung open before he'd even fully processed the sound of it.
"Oh good, you're alive," Seungkwan said, already toeing off his shoes. "Wasn't sure for a second."
Jeonghan came in behind him, softer, scanning the apartment — the too-clean counters, the mug he was still holding, the state of him — with the particular look of someone doing math they didn't like the answer to.
"Hi," Hoshi said. It came out flat. He hadn't meant it to.
"Hi yourself." Jeonghan crossed the room and took the mug gently out of his hand, checking the temperature with a frown before setting it down. "How long's this been sitting here?"
"I don't know."
"Okay." He didn't push. He never pushed, not right away. "We brought food. And an ambush. Sit down."
"An ambush?"
Seungkwan was already pulling something out of his bag — a flyer, slightly crumpled, which he smoothed against his coffee table with more ceremony than it probably deserved.
"Baking Therapy — Six Weeks. No Experience Needed. Just Come As You Are."
Hoshi stared at it for a long moment. Then at them.
"Absolutely not."
**well, i notice a scarcity of svt content so here I am. This story is loosely inspired by MV 'Naadaniya'. Hope you all will enjoy**
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Sweeter Than Sugar
FanfictionHe walked in numb. Six weeks later, he's not sure he recognizes himself anymore. Hoshi didn't choose the class. He didn't choose his partner either - a folded chit did that for him. But somewhere between flour, laughter, and a cake competition neith...
