nytis
"look at this ji!" those were the first words that popped out of jeonghan's mouth when he walked into the bakery. glancing over to the side, soonyoung was already seated on a chair pulled up near the counter. at this point both jeonghan and jihoon were used to seeing the boy in the shop.
"jihoon!" soonyoung leaped from his chair and attempted to pull jihoon into a hug. backing away from soonyoung, jihoon dodged the hug and pushed soonyoung back into his chair.
"what's going on?" the boy asked, eyeing the newspaper on top of the glass. nudging the paper, jihoon grabbed it and looked at the bolded headline at the top of the page.
7 MEN FOUND DEAD IN ALLEYWAY
just this morning, a citizen noticed a large lump in a back alley.
deciding to check it out, they were shocked to find 7 bodies on
the ground in a puddle of blood. all the men had multiple stab
wounds and...
looking at the picture, jihoon grimaced. all the men had waxy skin, their arms and legs bent in unnatural positions and stab wounds all over their bodies. "looks painful.." he muttered, tossing the paper on an empty table.
"but jihoon, isn't this pretty close to your home?" jeonghan asked worriedly. shrugging, jihoon paced over to the sink to wash his hands.
"i don't know why you're worried about me. it's fine."
"it's not you i'm worried about. it's my wonderful, beautiful cheol and my adorable little chan i'm worried about." jeonghan said, snickering.
jihoon gave the man a scary glare, shutting him up instantly.
"jihoon, i'm worried about you," soonyoung said with genuine worry laced in his voice. jihoon snorted.
"like i said, don't be." jihoon quickly tuned out soonyoung and his ranting and looked around jeonghan at the list of things they had to make today. lots of fun pastries today...
suddenly remembering, jeonghan removed his apron. "i forgot we got this order from an old lady. she wanted us to deliver it, she said she would pay us extra if we did." heading to the back room, jeonghan appeared back with a box of macaroons. "i'm heading out, i expect you to be working.." he said, looking at jihoon, "... and you to be not distracting." he said meeting soonyoung's gaze. "remember now boys... no-
"got it, we get the point!" jihoon blurted out, not wanting to hear what was going to come out of jeonghan's mouth. smirking, jeonghan blew him a kiss before heading out the door.
the first half and hour or so, both boys followed jeonghan's instructions. jihoon worked efficiently and diligently on a batch of muffins while every once in a while, soonyoung would comment on how nice they looked.
jihoon slid the batch in the oven and glanced over at soonyoung. the boy was humming a random tune while seeing how far he could tip back his chair before he fell. walking back to the counter, he thought about the hunting trip they went on the other day. now think about it... he still hasn't gotten soonyoung back for that... and jeonghan isn't here...
"hey soonyoung."
the boy yelped as his chair hit the floor. "yeah?" he responded, chuckling weakly.
"do you want to bake with me?"
soonyoung scrambled up from the ground, "really?! i can bake with you?"
jihoon laughed at his excitement, "sure, but before i let you back here, what do you do first when making cookies?"
"first thing.. this is obvious jihoonie.. wash your hands!" raising a brow, the baker smiled, half impressed. he waved soonyoung over and unlocked the gate, allowing soonyoung to join him.
maybe soonyoung won't fail too bad...
a few minutes later, jihoon is standing in a mess of a kitchen. he thought that it would be fun to let soonyoung have a go at making macaroons. it turns out that soonyoung was unbelievable.
unbelievably bad at baking.
he knew that macaroons weren't the easiest things to bake (jihoon chose them on purpose because he wanted to be able to laugh at soonyoung) but even the basic things soonyoung was messing up.
"soonyoung... read the instructions before you measure.." jihoon said, pointing at a recipe sheet in front of him. "it says to combine the powdered sugar and flour."
"this is the powdered sugar!" soonyoung took a pinch of the sugar and dropped it in his mouth, "yeah, it's sweet."
"that's not the powdered sugar, that's the granulated sugar. that's the powdered sugar." jihoon pointed at a container full of the powdery sugar.
"ohh, thanks jihoon!"
"soonyoung, that's the wrong measuring cup, you need to you the bigger one.."
"ohh, thanks jihoon! no wonder why this is so liquidy.."
"soonyoung, you need to keep whipping the meringue. it's too soft right now."
the silver haired boy groaned. "too soft? my arm's gonna fall off any minute now..."
"you'll know it's ready once you can hold the bowl above your head and nothing falls out."
soonyoung's eyes brightened, "i think mines good. look, i'll even check with that trick of yours." before the baker could grab the bowl away, soonyoung lifted it above his hair and jihoon shook his head when he saw the white mixture plop out of the bowl on soonyoung's hair.
"here try again..."
"thanks jihoon!"
"soonyoung.. that's salt!"
sighing the nth time that day, jihoon looked at soonyoung. his hair had bits of white in it and his face was smeared with flour. "let's restart," jihoon said, gathering all his patience. "but this time i'll help you."
"i was wondering when you would say that," soonyoung said grinning. starting from the very beginning, jihoon slowly explained each step carefully making sure soonyoung understood.
and to his surprise, soonyoung was a really fast learner.
"mix gently... don't push out all the air we incorporated last step."
"don't over mix the batter..."
"woah! look at how pretty these are!" soonyoung awed after he placed two of the halves together creating his first ever macaroon. jihoon nodded from beside, actually meaning it.
"that's actually quite impressive for someone who's never baked before.."
soonyoung chuckled, "only because i've got the best teacher." he patted jihoon's cheek leaving a dust of flour on his slightly pink face.
just then the door opened interrupting the two. a tired jeonghan trekked in. "damn that lady lives far away... i even got lost on the way there-" he stopped his sentence once seeing soonyoung covered in flour behind the counter beside jihoon.
"what's soonyoung doing back there?" jeonghan raised a brow.
"macaroons!" soonyoung lifted up a plate of pale pink macaroons. "jihoonie taught me how to make them!"
jeonghan leaned over and picked one up. "hey... not bad, not bad." he was impressed at the outcome.
"it was one of the orders." jihoon said quickly, "soonyoung looked bored so i wanted to do something interesting."
jeonghan hummed and joined the two behind the counter. he was considering keeping soonyoung to help but that's when he finally got a good look at the mess that was created. meringue all over the counter, dirty bowls lying in the sink, ingredients strewn all over as well...
jeonghan smacked jihoon with a broom.
(why didn't you smack soonyoung!)
(he's a customer jihoonie~)
"alright you two, get cleaning."