Work Text:
In a few hours, was Baku's birthday.
The group had planned a surprise, a big one—an expensive cake they all contributed 15K Won each. That, has quite literally, stripped their wallets into nothingness, but if it meant making Baku happy, then why not?
It was an expensive cake made from a trusted bakery. They all incorporated Baku's favorite things within the design; Juntae recommended adding Sakuragi from Slam Dunk—afterall, Baku did dye his hair after him. Then, Sieun suggested a basketball to fit with the whole theme. Obviously, the character plays basketball, and he does, too.
It was only Gotak left without a suggestion.
"I—Uh, what? Fuckin' Spiderman, I'on know." He shrugged, scratching the back of his neck. In truth, he knew a lot of things that Baku loved, but he hated letting others know about it—he wanted that knowledge reserved for him only. "You both took my ideas, alright?" He huffed, defending himself.
Juntae could only chuckle, while Sieun hummed.
"Okay, keep hiding whatever you're hiding, nobody cares, anyway." He grumbled, scrolling through the template designs and picking what would probably fit best. Juntae would look at Gotak's expression, because as much as Gotak tries to hide his "sacred" knowledge about Baku's preferences, his face shows it all—a little smile when he knows Baku likes it, or a small nod.
Seeing a particularly noticeable nod on one of the designs Sieun landed on, Juntae quickly nudged Sieun lightly. Sieun picks it without hesitation, and Gotak's eyes would slightly widen then—"Well, I guess that fits him."
"You're right, I guess. It's explosive and ugly.." Gotak chuckles, throwing his smartass comments around even if they had no correlation to the current topic. "I'm sure he'd like this surprise a lot. God, if that idiot doesn't… I'll really make him pay for it all."
Juntae laughs again, picking the color of icing to be a mix from Reds, Whites, and subtle Blacks. "Well, Gogo, you have a really weird way of saying 'I want him to appreciate this', huh?"
"I— no, it's not like that, Juntae." He laughs, and Sieun, too, just at how absurd the situation was.
"'Sit gonna be the day you finally tell him, or, what?" Sieun taunts.
Silence, except for the customization machine whirring.
"Fuck you." He grumbled.
"You really don't know how to take a joke."
Gotak glares at Sieun then.
After a few more beats, Sieun finally raised something to break the awkward silence, "Juntae, can you take the cake home?"
Juntae bites his inner cheek. He was commuting today, and the road was wet and bumpy. If he were the one taking the cake home, it would turn out messy, and not the way it looked when they paid for it—
"I-I can't, I'm commuting home. I know Sieun can't cause he has academy today, so that leaves.."
Juntae looks at Gotak, right in the eye.
"Me? Again? Well, whatever." He shrugged.. again, then a sigh, then an eye roll. Talk about a drama queen.
The other two nod, Juntae shaking his head and Sieun tapping the counter. Even though they've been a group only for a short amount of time, they were able to bond with each other and find comfort in their presence; with things like that, moments like these felt complete. And with things like that, the other two knew how grateful and happy Gotak was to be the one keeping the cake. Afterall, preparing a cake for your guys' best friend, it's the best thing ever.
Baku had been bummed out all day. Or, after school. It was the first time in their high school years that Gotak ever refused to walk home with him! He was talking about some "urgent matters", but usually Baku would know about those things. He hated being left in the dark, especially when it came to someone like Gotak.
He took it upon himself to wait for Gotak outside of his apartment. WITH—permission from Gotak's mom, and he made sure to send his old man a text, too. He keeps a spare copy of Gotak's keys, just incase of things like these—things that make him worry greatly about his best friend. Who the hell would want to find out their best friend would go missing a day before his birthday?
He sat on the couch. He did a little bit of cleaning up. He knew Gotak's family appreciated it when he did—even welcomed him more because of it. He turned the TV on and just relaxed, waiting for Gotak. His phone was on, making sure he'd see it if Gotak had texted him at all.
Just a few minutes later, he hears keys clinking against each other: he sat up immediately, opening the door for Gotak.
What he didn't expect was Gotak was leaning against the door, with a box tied with a ribbon.. and, obviously, opening a door with someone leaning on it—you know.
Gotak tripped that moment, his arms stretched out for the box of cake, but that big idiot took it as a sign to catch him.
Splat! The cake landed side wards. With the amount of money the group paid for it, you wouldn't have expected it to be so fragile, but surprise, surprise. Or maybe it wasn't technically a surprise anymore?
"Gogo! What took you so long!?" Baku asked concernedly, patting Gotak down incase of injury. "I was so worried, you know? I called your mom, she said I could stay, but you weren't replying! So I came here. Just in the nick of time, honestly, I was going to search the entirety of Seoul if you arrived later than 10PM."
Gotak groans, "You idiot— don't even think of doing that, like, at all. Don't even propose that shit—and, God! Your—the—y- the cake!" He points to the box with a noticeable mess of icing around it. Baku's eyes widen, and he immediately turns red—
"Oh, fuck, did I ruin your birthday surprise?"
"What do you think, dumbass?" Gotak sighed, "It's your birthday in, what, two hours? I'm so fucking sorry, you know? That was my fault. I can't afford to get mad at you right now."
Baku patted Gotak's back, trying to comfort him—times like these, he wasn't usually lost. He was, after all, the Gogo-expert, but when Gotak gets frustrated with a reason Baku can't infer, all he can do is use his words, touch, whatever comes into mind.
"I'm sorry, Gogo, I— I didn't mean it, okay?" Baku frowned, "My fault, my fault. I can pay for it, alright?"
Gotak groaned, "Don't even think about something as ridiculous as that—" he sighed, hysterically, "I just— wanted it to go well for you. I was going to ask you to deliver fried chicken here when I'd gotten home, and surprise you with—okay, you know what? Save the sob story for later, help me clean up before my mom sees this shit on the CCTV footage."
Baku nods, huffing in disappointment. If there was a version of Gotak he hated, it was seeing him sad, or guilty. The fault completely lies on him, he should've waited for Gotak to enter instead of rushing in.
They both took their respective cleaning materials from the cleaning drawer, and while Gotak had a relaxed expression, Baku knew him well enough to know that he was anything but relaxed. He was definitely mad at him, or even worse, himself! Absolutely unforgivable, Baku.
He rests his free hand atop of Gotak's, gently reassuring him there was nothing to be worried about. If anything, it was just a childish matter to him. A cake could be worth a million won, but all that mattered to him was whether Gotak wanted it as well or not.
"I'm sorry, Gogo," He says, quietly. Gotak's brows furrowed, holding back an angry expression. "My fault, okay? The cake's still a cake," He gently lead Gotak upwards to sit on the couch, taking the mop from his hands, "I'll take care of the mess, and we can figure out a solution to this—"
"It's not just that, it's, you know. The fact Sieun and Juntae contributed a bunch of money to buy it for ya." He said, quietly, "I— No, they'll understand it, you don't have to say sorry to them. Actually.. it was my idea, I offered to buy the cake full-price while they prepared decorations."
Baku nods. He continued mopping, knowing he could respond later.
"I don't wanna be petty, Baku, okay? Let's do what you said, find a compromise. You're an expert at that shit." He said, leaning forward with his hands clasped together as he stared at the messed up cake in front of him. "I could probably leave that for my sister."
"Wait, no, I still want it. Can I have half?"
"Well—"
Gotak groaned, "Yeah, fine, whatever."
Baku returned the mop to its respectful place, and sat next to Gotak, slinging his arm around his shoulders. It was a silence as comfortable as any they encountered,
"What now?" Gotak faced Baku, eyes glossy from frustration. Time flew from 10PM to 11PM—and that was just enough time to..
"Well, let's bake the cake ourselves. How about that?" Baku proposed, a smirk on his face. Gotak immediately looked away from him, down at his lap, just laughing at how absurd the whole thing was.
"Fuck, I can't believe I almost cried over that."
"Well, you didn't. That's a win for you, right?" Baku grinned, chuckling himself. "Where are our aprons? The ones we used during our stupid culinary class in eighth grade,"
Now in the kitchen, cookbook in hand, the two were ready to make it up to each other, to celebrate it the way they wished—well, obviously they wanted to do it together, but they'd rather hold up the tradition of cake during birthdays. It'd be boring otherwise.
"Just read the instructions to me, alright?" Baku requested, "You suck at cooking."
Gotak rolled his eyes, fighting a smile, "Yeah, okay. Batter, slap on the cream, whatever. You've practically got it with or without the procedure. Just make sure it's in for like, fifty minutes."
"Gotcha, captain!" He salutes jokingly, handing the batter mixture over to Gotak, "Mix it, I'll prepare the icing. It's still a group work, okay?"
"I—Fine."
For just the five minutes Baku spent preparing the icing, Gotak had already mixed it terribly—it was evident he was still a little frustrated, and took it out on the poor batter. The mixing bowl was a mess, and so was his apron—splotches here and there, and a small frown on his face lightly concealed by one brow raised just to seem focused.
Baku sighed, temporarily leaving the icing off to the side; he took the bowl from Gotak and checked if it was at least mixed well.
Okay, so.. it was, to a certain degree, mixed well. There were little solid lumps, but Baku took care of those, too. He put the mixture into the cake mold, and popped it in for forty minutes. Time check: 11:13PM. Just enough time. Either the longest or shortest forty minutes he'll ever experience, right?
For maybe ten minutes, it was silent. Both of them on their phones, texting, doing whatever.
"Baku, I'm sorry, still." Gotak blurted out. Even if he was just leaning against the counter, he insisted he helped one way or another. And now that the whole thing was almost over, he felt useless knowing the one thing Baku entrusted him with wasn't even accomplished properly.
Looking down in shame, he bit his inner cheek. "I should've told you straight up. Wait, no, not—just, made up a better excuse." He heaved, "I know how you get, about me, and whatever the hell happens in my life. I hate that you feel responsible for everything, and I don't want to talk about shit like this, but it really can't be helped—such a shitty opening, but whatever. I don't want you worrying about me, and the shit that happens in my life unless you really have to."
Baku crossed his arms, leaning against the counter, next to Gotak. "Y'know it ain't just that. I just care a lot, okay? How many times am I gonna have to say it's not your fault? I acted rash, just stupid of me to do that because I was worried. I was too in the zone to even think about asking Sieun or Juntae, they probably would've told me you purchased something from the mall instead of me thinking urgent matters referred to some fistfight you were forced into by some asshole."
He inhaled. He wasted one breath saying that all.
Gotak looked at him with more concern, taking Baku's tucked hand, "Dude, you dumbass—" He used the hand holding Baku's to slap the idiot in front of him, "You're really using bonding-baking-time to real talk me? Fine, let's do some real talk—I hate that you—" Smack, "Do that shit with me, okay? I can handle it on my own. Most things."
Baku's eyes narrowed, a pout forming on his face: "You only think you can, but without me, you'd probably still be hanging around that guy Sean." He interlocked their fingers together, "Like, come on, Gogo, you seriously think I'd be okay leaving you alone after that?"
"Uh, after four years? Fucking yeah?"
They both stared. Intense eye contact. Gotak's brow was raised even higher, smirk on his face as if he just made a good point. Baku's eyes narrowed even more.
And then they laughed.
"Man, I hate you."
Baku smiled at that, a grin that took up his face entirely. He loved it when Gotak said ironic things like that during silly situations like these—He loved it when Gotak was always able to calm a situation down each in their own understandable ways. He loved it when Gotak would insult him with the biggest smile on his face.
And maybe, just maybe, it'd clicked into Baku's mind that moment.
That he loved Gotak.
Gotak noticed the sudden quietness from Baku, and stared at Baku as deeply as Baku was doing, right now.
Right now. Was it the moment, right now?
"Oh, fuck, I didn't wanna do it like this, but, I lov—"
The oven's timer rang, overpowering his voice. Gotak's cheeks flushed, hard. Baku quickly took the cake out, placing it on the table and passing the icing over.
"What were you sayin'? Sorry." He laughed. Gotak shook his head, gripping the icing piping bag tightly.
"I'm not saying that shit again."
He grumbled angrily, Baku giggling. Even so, he wrote a little birthday message. And a few hearts around it.. and, fuck it, he was gonna write "I love you" on it—
Nevermind, he wrote "I hate you" instead.
"Can you at least tell me what you said before the timer rang, please?" Baku begged, Cheshire grin on his face. Gotak took a knife out to cut the cake evenly.
"You say it first." Gotak challenged, as he served the pieces. He knew that most of the time, Baku pretended to know things to scare people.
"I love you."
"Yeah—Wait, what?!"
Gotak dropped the plate reserved for Baku.
"There you go again, dropping things—" Baku scolded,
"No, shut up—I love you, damn it!"
And while Baku leaned in for a kiss, the only thing that touched his lips was a spoonful of cake.
"A little greedy for a confession scene, dumbass."
"Well—Agh, you win." Baku whined in defeat, checking as the clock's finally started a new day. "Boyfriends?"
"And because you asked that: No, exes."
Baku took the opportunity to kiss Gotak's cheek then.