Chapter Text
Back in the days, gift is use as a way for an alpha to court an omega they take an interest in. It's a method of them expressing their feeling to the omega they like. But nowadays, as times passed and era changing, the idea of gift has expanded and developed. It's no longer the traditional where only alpha could present a gift to an omega. The old popular belief was long abandoned and even omegas and betas has start doing it. Albeit, it's more common for alphas and betas while these omegas are what people call bold. A bold omega is like a bold woman who make the first move. Some thinks highly of them, some look down upon them. But as the era are changing, bold omegas are starting to be more normalised and becoming more common.
ENHYPEN is a group that's full with six alphas and one unpresented member which is their youngest one, Nishimura Riki. All of them have presented by the age of sixteen, but their maknae is a unique case as his seventeenth birthday passed without him showing any sign of his second gender being present. Everyone would assume he's a beta if it wasn't for the lack of a scent from his body. A beta, although they don't go through a heat or rut during their presentation, pheromones will still develop from their scent gland which lead them from having their own personal scent that differ from everyone else.
Riki doesn't had any scent that emit off him, and they can only conclude that he's a late-bloomer.
"Ki, baby, what are you doing?", Jungwon walked out of the shower, his hair still damped as a towel draped around his shoulder. And when he had saw a sight of Riki sitting on his bed, doing something while covered by his blanket, he couldn't help but be curious. Approaching the younger by sitting next to him, he wrapped an arm around the back of the younger's waist, placing his chin on top of his shoulder as he looked at what Riki is currently doing. A pile of legos was seen scrambled on top of his bed, and that's when something clicked on Jungwon's mind.
He's building legos again. A quite common sight ever since they shared a room together after moving into a new and bigger dorm. Since they're getting older, and more of them turning adult, the company decided to moved them into a two-storey house with four room upstairs. They decided to arrange the room according to their age, Heeseung still get his own room, Jay and Jake stay as roomates, the only thing that changed is within the four youngest of the group. Sunghoon and Sunoo now shared a room, while he gets to stay with Riki.
Flowery scent of Jungwon's shampoo entered Riki's nose, the floral smell complement well with Jungwon's alpha scent. Riki snap out of his focus building the legos, inhaling the smell of freshly baked pastries scent that naturally secreted from the leader's scent gland. The maknae leaned backward to the alpha's broad shoulder, letting himself drowned by those combined scents. The combination is like a bakery and a floral shop being open next to each other.
"Is it time for sleep?", Riki sheepishly asked, liking the way Jungwon's scent surround him. The leader obviously notice it and just released more of his scent, a sense of pride was felt when he saw Riki trying to get himself drunk in his scent alone.
"Let me dry my hair first. And we can sleep on my bed afterwards.", Jungwon gives the back of his ear a peck. Funny enough, ever since they became roommates, they always sleep together on either Riki's or Jungwon's bed. And they're not ashamed to admit that they can't sleep well without each other by their side.
Riki shifted on his space, causing Jungwon to retracts his arm around him and let the younger to sit facing him. "Sorry about the legos.", Riki said, clearly knowing the reason why Jungwon suggested them to sleep on his bed tonight.
"It's fine. It's not like I can stop you from building one.", Jungwon watched a smile appeared on Riki's face at the last statement. The maknae together with their Jake-hyung developed an obsession with legos years ago, while Riki is a bit subtle about it, saying it's childish or whatsover, Jungwon could see that Riki is as obsessed as Jake is.
"Though, I feel quite jealous.", admitted Jungwon, his mind recalling the image of the Heeseung's legos figure collection that's arranged neatly on the shelf inside the oldest's room. "You always give it to Heeseung-hyung after you finish it."
Riki blinked before giggling. "You don't even like legos."
That's true. But if Riki made it for him then he would've treasure it like it worth a thousand million won or something. Like Heeseung growling at the visitor in his room when they touch the legos figure that Riki gave to him. Well, alphas is known to be territorial and a bit possesive afterall. So he knows Heeseung growling at them was just out of instinct, plus, the mathyung always apologise afterwards. Telling them to ask for permission beforehand next time.
"But if it's a gift from you, then I would've love it."
"Yeah?", Riki raised an eyebrow, feeling amused at his hyung's admission. The way Jungwon is always so honest and straightforward about these things brings butterflies in his stomach. And as much as he found the leader adorable for being jealous over legos, he couldn't help but feel the playfulness running through him. He leaned forward, his knees touching the older's thigh while Riki's hands reached out to the older's shoulder. And feeling a sudden surge of courage within him, he moves to give Jungwon's jaw a peck. And the action earned him a pair of hands grabbing his waist afterwards, squeezing it and he looked up to his hyung just to see the older's gentle gaze has darkened, sending a shiver down Riki's spine. But Riki isn't Riki if he back down easily, so he mustered up all the courage he had and whisper huskily to the leader's ear, "How should I made it up to you then?"
Jungwon's scent flared up, entering Riki's nostril which caused the younger to spiral at how strong it was. "Be careful with your words, Ki.", his voice went deeper, the glint in his eyes resembled a predator as his grip on Riki's waist tightened and Riki almost let out a whimper at that.
"Hyung...", Riki muttered softly, and the leader know the younger is expecting him to do something. Jungwon admitted that Riki succeeded on riling him up. And Jungwon had to gather an enormous restraint to refrain himself from wanting to break the brave facade Riki is putting on right now. Riki may be bold, but both of them know that the leader could easily get him all pliant in his arms if he want to. However, instead of letting things get heat up between them, Jungwon break the tension by flicking Riki's forehead.
The younger looked adorably suprised at that, blinking multiple times at him. "A baby shouldn't said something like that.", scolded Jungwon, his overwhelming scent subsided.
Riki pouted at his words. "I'm not a baby."
"Hush, it's time for your bedtime.", Jungwon stood away and walk to sit in front of the dressing table, grabbing the hairdryer and begun blowing his hair dry, as if he didn't just leave Riki hanging.
Riki got up, huffing slightly before he approached him and grabbed the hairdryer from the leader's hand. "I'll do it.", said the younger, sounding sulky in Jungwon's ears which had the leader laughing slightly.
He's definitely sulking. Jungwon looked at Riki's reflection in the mirror, the younger's lips had formed into a duck pout as he blow the leader's hair dry. He definitely is.
Riki finished building the legos a few days after, and its figure is finally revealed to Jungwon when the younger cheered after finishing it and had excitedly show it to Jungwon. And when Jungwon sees the sight of it, the leader was certain that it's going to be given out to Heeseung again. Because only Heeseung have a scent that smell like what the legos figure is.
And Riki walking out their room with the legos figure on his hand a while later proved it.
A knock was heard on the other side of Heeseung's bedroom door when the oldest was working on his computer. He released the mouse off his hand before turning his chair around to face the door, calling whoever behind it to come in. Then, the door was pushed open, a head peeked through the gap.
"Hee-hyung."
Riki with his boxy smile appear on his sight, causing the older to feel a tug on his lips as he couldn't help but let a smile break into his face.
"What's up, Ki?"
The maknae just let out a couple of cheeky laugh before he let himself to be completely inside the room, his arm were suspiciously tucked behind him and at the sight of it, Heeseung is already anticipating at what legos figure he'll be receiving this time. Heeseung had known Riki long enough for him to guess what Riki is hiding from him.
"I have something for you."
"What is it?"
"Close your eyes first, hyung.", ordered Riki and Heeseung just go along with him, closing his eyes as he was told.
Seconds passed as Heeseung heard some movement. Riki walking forward to stand in front of him and, "Okay, you can open your eyes now."
So, Heeseung opened his eyes back.
It was a rose, his pheromones scent. The legos figure that Riki gave to him this time. And as always, Heeseung's heart swelled in happiness like it's the first time Riki gave him something. He know the others are going to have a lot to say about it later like usual and Heeseung will definitely going to have the best time of his life hearing them expressing their envy and jealousy towards him. It's funny to see them getting sulky over it, like a bunch of children which is adorable.
Plus, Heeseung honestly wasn't sure what to say either. It just kind of happen one day, Riki start giving him a gift out of the sudden, the said gift is a bunch of legos figure that Heeseung appreciated very much. Heeseung never really ask Riki why either, or why just him. He doesn't really want to bother himself with it so much so he just kind of made a guess that it got something to do with him being the only 'suitable' legos figure receiver. Jungwon and Sunoo doesn't really understand the hype of legos so they're pretty much out of the question. And Jay, well, he's more of the giver type than to receive. Next is Jake, Riki's legos buddy which automatically crossed him out of the choices. Lastly, Sunghoon. Ah, Sunghoon... he teased Riki way too much that Heeseung doesn't even need to think the reason why is it not him.
Which just kinda leave Heeseung alone.
At the same time, there's a nagging part in him that tells him that it's something else. Something about him being the oldest and the unofficial head alpha of the group. But it still doesn't make sense to him. Why?
Riki is confused. The scent that's radiating from Heeseung indicated that he's happy, Riki could tell because the smell has strengthened, the alpha had unconsciously released more of his pheromones that Riki has feels like he was standing in the middle of a field of roses. Yet, Heeseung has also been staring at the legos figure for a while without uttering a single word, and as much as the younger loves the older's alpha scent, Riki couldn't help but feel puzzled.
"Hyung.", Riki called which snapped Heeseung out of his thoughts. "I love your scent, really. But you're leaving me hanging here."
The older looked up at Riki before smirking slightly, taking the legos off the younger's hands before placing it on his desk. "Yeah, I can tell.", stood Heeseung, making the younger to take a step back, wideful eyes staring at the older.
"Since you like it so much..."
A yelp escaped Riki's mouth when his back suddenly pressed down against the mattress, eyes widened as he looked up at Heeseung on top of him, his arms caging Riki down to the bed. "I should indulge you in it as a thanks, right?", said the older as he released more of his pheromones, smirking down at the boy under him.
To Riki, Heeseung's current scent had made him feel like he's sinking himself in a bathtub filled with rose water. It's like those feeling of letting yourself relax after a tiring day. So, Riki couldn't help but melt and go all pliant under the older. A small hum escaped his mouth, "Yes."
Heeseung chuckled at the way Riki becomes drowsy from his scent. Their youngest is so adorable, always trying to get himself drunk by their scent. And it made Heeseung feels light-hearted that he's pretty much sure the others feel the same. "Cutie.", he fondly muttered before laying himself down next to Riki. Instantly, the younger rolled himself to his side, snuggling onto Heeseung's neck as if he couldn't get enough of his alpha scent. A heartfelt laughter escaped Heeseung's mouth at his endearing behaviour.
"I swear at this point, you're addicted to our scent, Riki-ah."
"I am.", a muffled response was heard from the younger, and Heeseung's hand reached out to play with Riki's hair.
"Hyung?"
Heeseung hummed in response.
"...I can't wait to have my own scent.", the younger muttered softly and at his confession, Heeseung stiffened. Presentation is a rough topic for the younger as he's turning eighteen this year, yet he's still not showing any sign of it. So when Riki brings the topic up himself, it just came out as a shock to Heeseung. "I just- I just wanted us to be a pack soon."
Heeseung know where he's coming from. They have discussed about forming a pack before. A few years after their debut where all of them realised that they wanted to be so much more than just a group of co-workers. But they didn't want to rush it, so Heeseung declared that they should form a pack only after Riki has present and all of them have turn into an adult.
"We will, baby.", Heeseung rolled to his side as well to pulled the younger closer to him. "And we will wait for you. If you think we're letting you go that easily, then you're wrong. You're ours, baby. You're stuck with us forever. So don't worry about it, Ki."
The younger giggled at that before he pulled away, letting Heeseung to see the sight of his teary eyes. Immediately, the older felt his heart clench seeing Riki cried so he leaned forward, giving the area under his eyes a peck, hoping that he could kiss his tears away.
"What do you think I will present as?"
"Well, does that matter? We'll love you the same no matter what your second gender is."
Riki sniffles, smilling. "I love you too, hyung."
"Hmm, I don't think so, I think you only love me for my scent.", said Heeseung when Riki snuggled himself to his neck again.
"Maybe.", the younger shot back in a muffled response.
Heeseung just let out a fond sigh, his hand continued to play with the younger's hair.
They stay like that for a while, feeling each other's warmth and at some point, Heeseung stopped playing with the younger's hair, causing Riki to whined, asking him to "Don't stop, please." which Heeseung easily obliged because it's hard to refuse such a sweet request from Riki.
"Thank you for the legos, Ki."
Riki just hummed.
Jungwon's nineteenth—twentieth in Korea—birthday is coming soon.
Times has passed so quickly that Riki couldn't grasp it fully. And he had spend a long time trying to figure out what he should get Jungwon for his birthday. He was clueless at first, so he had seek out his hyungs for some help. But they turned out to be quite useless as they all ended up providing him the same answer which is "Riki, sweetheart. You could pick out something from the trashcan and Jungwon would still love it."
Riki might love pranks, but no, he won't do that. So, he recalled the conversation he had with Jungwon back then. Where the leader had admitted he's jealous of Heeseung because Riki always build a legos figure for him. And since Jungwon doesn't like legos as much as Heeseung did, Riki decided that he should bake a cake for him instead.
And when the time have finally arrived, Jungwon already left the dorm to do his birthday live and some other schedules, Riki was left in the dorm alone with Jay and Sunghoon. The rest have their own schedules and will be back with Jungwon later. Plus, Riki might or not might has asked them to stall him some time in case something goes wrong.
Honestly, Riki had thought he was a genius at first, for having such a creative and new idea that no one ever thought—bAke a CakE FoR jUNgWon—until he realised he purely can't cook or bake at all. He had forgotten why Jay banned him from the kitchen a couple year ago, when he had made a mess at his first attempt of making Bungeo-ppang. Jay was against at the idea at first, but the others have encouraged him so Jay's words ended up getting ignored. And the outcome of it ended up with all of them stressing over the mess Riki did and that's how everyone get a warning from Jay to never left Riki in the kitchen unsupervised.
Those distinct memories only come playing on his head soon after he realised he screwed up. Although he had watch a video thoroughly before he begin, and even followed the recipe step-by-step but somehow something still went wrong.
The cake is fucking burnt.
Standing in the middle of the kitchen island, his hand gripping at the counter, Riki stared at the cake that's freshly taken out of the oven in front of him. The colour of it that's supposed to be creamy yellow becomes coal black. Riki loves black, really—black is literally his favourite colour and the sound of black cake seems cool, but in this case however? The sight of the blackened cake sitting in front of him only make him wanted to cry.
It's ridiculous. Riki never cry over a simple matter. Even the members said he rarely burst into tears in front of them, well, except for Heeseung and Sunghoon—but that's a story for next time. Riki had been so enthusiastic over this. He wanted to see Jungwon's joyful expression when Riki suprises him with the cake. But at this point, Riki will surprise everyone with his horrifying ruined cake.
"How is it going, maknae-yah?"
And that's when Sunghoon decided to grace him with his presence, always the one to appear at a bad timing for the better or for the worse. Technically, Jay did told him that they'll be watching over him time to time when Riki had told everyone that he wanted to bake a cake for Jungwon, because per to his words, "We don't want Jungwon to come home just to realise the house is on fire. Especially on his birthday too."
Well, lucky for Jay and everyone else, the house is not on fire. Which is the least of Riki's concern at the moment. Instead, Sunghoon is his biggest concern right now.
Seeing the older approaching him, Riki quickly turned to face the older, his hands worked to move the cake behind him so that it's out of the older's sight.
And when Sunghoon had stopped in front of him, he raise an eyebrow at Riki.
"Nothing is on fire, so you can...", Riki cocked his head to the side, gesturing Sunghoon to walk away from the kitchen. But Sunghoon is nothing but a persistent and stubborn asshole so he stood there, a hand gripping at the counter beside them as he leaned his body forward, cutting the distance between them.
"You're hiding something.", the older suspect as he stared Riki down.
Riki gulped. The older might be known for being unfunny with his lame jokes which Sunghoon wasn't even ashamed about it, but he's also perceptive. If there's anyone in the group other than their observant leader to find out Riki is lying, it will be Sunghoon. Most of the time, it was always him or Jungwon that caught Riki lying and Riki hates him for it. Because unlike the leader, Sunghoon will tease—bully him about it. And Sunghoon is not Jake, someone that's easily rile up and end up leaving the conversation with a huff when he had enough. In lieu, he's the opposite of Jake and is the one who frustrates the others until they have enough. So there's no way Riki could chase Sunghoon away.
"You're delusional.", Riki scoffed instead, and he made a mistake by averting his eyes away from Sunghoon.
Sunghoon hummed, seemingly to not be leaving Riki alone any sooner. "Can I at least see the cake?"
"No."
Riki took a step backward. "You can't"
"Why?"
"Because you're always so mean to me."
And Riki is sure that Sunghoon is going to be mean to him again this time if he sees the said mistake he done which is the burnt cake. However, truth to be told, it doesn't matter whoever standing in Sunghoon's place right now, a part of him feel embarrassed to let anyone find out that he can't do a simple thing such as baking a cake. It was a feeling he never feel before. Back then, he thought it was funny that he had made a mess when he tried to made Bungeo-ppang. The sight of the others struggling to clean it up had him laughing at the background before. But now, he feels quite hesitant... because it has feels like he can't impress anyone by being bad at cooking and baking.
Unfortunate to Riki, Sunghoon—again—is a persistent asshole. So they somehow ended up in a position where Sunghoon wrestled him inside his arm. Riki's back plastered to his chest as Sunghoon hugged him tightly, caging the younger's upper limb and body inside his hold.
"What is it that you're hiding?", Sunghoon breathed out shakily, struggling to keep Riki inside his hold as the younger keep on trying to wriggle his way out. But once the older saw the sight of the cake on top of the counter, he finally loosened his grip around Riki. "Is that-"
Riki immediately felt heat creeping to his face as he watched Sunghoon pulled away to get a closer look to the cake. A finger was poke on top of it and Riki knew the older could feel its crispness and hard texture.
A drop of silence fall between them before the older's shoulder begin shaking, and a snicker was heard escaping from him. Sunghoon is laughing at him, and Riki flushed in embarrassment, the urge to cry coming back stronger.
"Seriously, Ki?", the older turned around in awe, unrestrained laughter keep coming out from his mouth as he spoke. "Are you trying to poison our leader-nim?"
Riki had been on the verge of tears before Sunghoon even come in. And the moment when he saw Sunghoon, he knew he was bound to break into tears. It's infamous among the members that Sunghoon always made him cry with his taunting and teasing. So when he heard Sunghoon saying those words, it become his last straw as he glared at the older, feeling hot tears starting to form in his eyes.
"It's true that Jungwon would love anything you give to him. But this? He'll end up in a hospital if he take a bite of it.", Sunghoon continued to taunt, and although Riki barely can see anything through his teary eyes that blurred his eyesight, he knew Sunghoon is having fun with this.
"Shut up.", hissed Riki, still glaring at Sunghoon. Tears has slipped down his cheeks by then, helping him to get rid of the blurriness.
A staring contest was held between them. The older had a nonchalant look in his face, while Riki had to bite down his lips to stop it from trembling, his finger clutching tightly on the hem of his hoodies.
Sunghoon-hyung is so mean to him. His mean hyung who always finds the pleasure to make him cry. And Riki doesn't want him to win this time, so he try to refrain a sob that's threatening to come out from his throat.
But the next thing that come out from the older's mouth? It end up having his resoluteness come crumbling down.
"You're incredible, Riki. A happy birthday cake? More like 'it's your death day' cake. Even the colour of it suit the theme." , Sunghoon spoke while grinning menacingly. "Our maknae is so talented that he can kill people with his cake."
And that's it, there goes his resoluteness shattered on the floor as large tears streaming down his face, his body shaking with sobs forcing it way out of his lungs. Him not having any culinary skill shouldn't make him emotional but somehow, Riki feel ashamed of it and he couldn't help but let Sunghoon won again this time.
"You're so cruel to me.", sobbed Riki, his hand reached up to wipe his tears, but before he even get to wet the sleeve of his hoodies with his tears, Sunghoon had wrapped his large hand around his wrist, pulling Riki closer to him.
"Is my baby crying?", cooed Sunghoon.
"A-And whose fault is that?", Riki sniffles, tears kept on rushing down his cheeks uncontrollably as he sent the older a glare.
The former athlete merely used his other hand to caress Riki's cheek, his thumb gently rubbing the under of his eyes. Woodsy scent was spread to their surrounding, Riki's sniffles calming down at the smell of it. Sunghoon's alpha scent is always so soothing to him as it reminded him of being in a forest while surrounded by snow. It's like him conversing with nature during winter. Riki relaxed his eyes, dropping his eyelids at the feeling.
There's a sensation of Sunghoon's lips at the corner of his eye, giving it a gentle peck. "You're too cute that I can't help but want to be cruel to you.", said the older before Riki feels another peck on his lips.
"I hate you.", Riki opened his eyes back. There's no bite to his words, really. And the older knew that too, that Riki meant the opposite, considering how he just give the bridge of Riki's nose another peck.
"I love you too."
"I'm not forgiving you with just these.", added Riki.
Sunghoon hummed.
"I know. I'll make it up to you later, yeah? Let's save your killer cake, first."
Riki blinked at him while cocking his head to the side. "Eh?"
"What do you mean 'eh', Riki-yah? You do know it can be save, right?"
The silence from Riki is enough for an answer. And Sunghoon burst into laughter. At least, he didn't tease Riki about it this time.
"Come on."
Riki then received a full explanation from Sunghoon how they could save his cake by slicing off the burnt areas to get rid of the unpleasant taste, and they could also add some toppings, icing and frosting on top of it to cover up the burnt flavour.
"It's your first time baking a cake, so it's okay to not be good at it.", Sunghoon said while helping Riki to sliced the cake off, getting rid of the cake's blackened area. It's like the older could read his thoughts when he said those words, diminishing Riki's concern little by little. "Plus, there's no need to be good at this, right? You're already amazing in other way."
Riki's heart lightened up hearing that and he nodded.
"Thank you, hyung.", replied Riki sincerely.
And when the cake transformed into its correct colour, Riki's jaw slightly dropped. The older was truly not lying when he said Riki's cake could be save. "You're so good at this.", Riki awed. He knew Sunghoon isn't bad at cooking, but he didn't expect this from the older.
"Better than Jay?"
"Don't flatter yourself.", Riki rolled his eyes.
The former athlete clicked his tongue. "One day, I'll be the better chef than him."
"Yeah, in your dream."
Jay joined them a while later, helping them to do the frosting because only god know how horrendous the cake will become if either Riki or Sunghoon does it. And by the time they finished the cake, with all the candle and decorations set-up on top of it, they received a message from Sunoo that they're on their way back.
With the light turned off, Riki holding the cake on his hands while waiting at the doorstep, Jay and Sunghoon on each of his side with confetti popper ready to be shoot, and after much waiting with them constantly whispering with each other for no reason, the door is finally pushed open, revealing Jungwon stepping inside. Immediately, confetti went flying over his head, 'Happy Birthday' song being sang by everyone.
Jungwon just laughed as he walked further inside, the others following him from behind. They were in the middle of the living room when the song has ended, everyone urging the leader to blow the candle. So Jungwon stood in front of Riki, the younger smilling at him, "Make a wish, hyung."
And the candle was blown.
Everyone cheered, congratulating Jungwon the same thing all over again.
It was when everyone started eating the cake that Heeseung mentioned to Jungwon about Riki baking the cake for him. The leader seemed to be genuinely surprised, like he didn't expected it at all. But he was clearly happy with it as Riki could smell a hint of freshly baked pastries in the air which certainly doesn't come from the cake.
"We told him he could just pick something out from the trashcan and you'll still love it, yet he still insists on baking you a cake.", Sunoo casually spoke before muttering something with the line of "Riki has favorite, I swear." under his breath in a barely audible voice.
"If we're talking about favourite, it's Heeseung-hyung.", Jungwon pointed out.
"Guys, we talked about this.", the oldest among them sighed.
Riki merely stay silent. He doesn't know how to explain to them that he got this weird urge in him that made him wanted to give Heeseung a small gift time to time. And it wasn't just the oldest, he got that weird urge for the others as well. Heeseung just happen to give him the strongest urge that he can't resist.
And as for the idea of baking a cake for Jungwon, it isn't exactly a random idea either. A part of him wanted to impress the leader with his baked goods like he wanted to impress Heeseung with the legos figure.
It was midnight, Jungwon's birthday celebration eventually has coming to an end with everyone going into their own respective room to get ready for bed. Riki was already lying on his bed, his front facing the wall as he hug his pillow. He's sleepy but he wanted to wait for Jungwon who's busy scrolling through the weverse app to join him on his bed.
And when he was engulfed by the familiar scent that reminded him of a bakery, warmth plastered to his back as a pair of arm hugged his middle from behind, Riki finally relaxed.
"Thank you for the cake, Ki. It was delicious, I love it.", Jungwon murmured against his neck, his breaths sending a tingling sensation on Riki's skin.
The younger hummed. "Thank you for being born, hyung. You're the best blanket out there."
A light chuckle escaped the leader's mouth.
Silence grew between them, and Riki could guess that there's something else that the leader wanted to talk about. And he was right, because the silence was cut shortly after that.
"I heard Sunghoon made you cried today."
"He's just a meanie."
There's a light peck from Jungwon's lip on the back of his neck. "I know, baby. But he told me you didn't just cried because of him."
Ah, no wonder Jungwon knew about it. He had thought Jay could've been eavesdropping them at that time or something and had inform the leader about it. It turned out Sunghoon willingly told the leader himself. Riki must've worried him a lot considering how it lead to Sunghoon admitting to Jungwon that he made him cried.
Riki's heart fluttered at how much they care about him.
"I burnt the cake at first."
"You did? But it turned out quite well though."
A smile appeared on Riki's face. "Sunghoon-hyung helped me."
Jungwon hummed, telling him to continue.
"Well, I thought the cake couldn't be save and that I wouldn't be able to make you happy with it. And... I also feel kind of ashamed for being bad at baking."
"Riki. They're right when they said you could pick out something from the trashcan and I would still love it. I would've been happy either way even if you give me a burnt cake or nothing. The fact that you made an attempt to bake a cake for me is enough to make me happy. I love you, Ki. And you being bad at certain thing won't change that. Being bad at something is nothing to be ashamed about."
Riki felt like he needed to hear that. Along with the words Sunghoon had told him back in the kitchen with a pretty much same meaning.
"Thank you, Wonnie-hyung. I needed that. And I love you too."