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It's not much of a special day; yet nothing could have ruined it if not for Shibisu suddenly barging inside Khun’s room, who is currently with Bam, both looking extraordinarily close to kissing with a certain tension blanketing over the room.
"Oh," Shibisu unknowingly mutters, eyes slowly moving to Khun. "Sorry, were you... Um... Yes?"
Shibisu is used to his beloved friends being all touchy-feely together with.. probably no feelings attached, but he hadn’t expected them to be this close.
Khun gently pushes himself away from Bam, his cheeks tinted in red from embarrassment. Bam doesn’t seem to mind being caught red-handed, though. Instead, he smiles. A seemingly threatening one. Shibisu gulps.
"What brings you here, Isu? Shouldn’t you be resting today?" Bam questions, properly facing Shibisu.
The said man raises a finger up, "why, of course, I was resting! But hear me out, have you checked out Emily or your lighthouse?"
Khun hums, waving a hand to reveal his lighthouse. "Did something happen? I haven’t checked my lighthouse because I was.." He clears his throat, ".. busy. And either way, aren’t we supposed to take a break?"
Shibisu nods proudly, "I know! But have you seen it now?" Just as he finishes asking, Khun spots a cooking show with a rather convincing banner. "A.. cooking show? Wait, is this Endorsi?"
Hearing the interesting information, Bam scoots next to Khun once more, grinning. "It is her! Is this what you wanted to show us? She looks pretty good here." Bam compliments and Khun turns his head away from Bam, slightly pouting at the oblivious brunet.
The tracksuit-man didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, crossing his arms. Shibisu continues, "Not at all, my friend. The thing is, I registered both of you as partners for the cooking show right after I heard about it!"
".. Say that again, Shibisu?" Khun questions with an ominous tone, using his other lighthouse to possibly take out a knife.. Or worse. Either way, Khun is a step away from committing manslaughter himself. And Shibisu hasn’t even gotten a girlfriend yet.
Bam heartily laughs, gently holding onto Khun’s wrist. "Is there a reason why you registered us, Isu?" He instead asks with a smile.
"Oh I just thought you’d like to spend more time together since the both of you haven’t hung out in so long.." Shibisu mutters in one breath, terrified of Khun’s glare. Bam nods in understanding, waving his own hand to move the lighthouse aside.
"I wanna go." He directly tells Khun, pleading with his well-known puppy eyes. Khun tears his glare away from Shibisu and softens his eyes as soon as he turns to Bam, whispering, "are you sure about this, Bam?" I’m not good at cooking, but I’m too prideful to admit that.
Bam nods, humming excitedly. "You do know that I love cooking, right? And we might even explore new recipes when we join the cooking show!"
Khun chuckles weakly, averting his gaze from Bam’s adorable face. If I refuse now, I could still save my dignity..! "Yeah, Bam. Okay." Khun unknowingly agrees, beating his own conscience up right after he did so. He forcefully, painfully smiles.
Shibisu finger guns at his friends, "then it’s settled! Get ready by tomorrow! If you have the best dish tomorrow, you’ll earn a lot of points, I heard. Also, the cooking show is set on this floor so I don't think it would be much of a hassle." And he’s gone; slamming the door close right after he gets out.
The bluenette groans, "Bam, I’m not so sure about this, though... What if the cooking show is a scam? Or a hidden test? We don’t even need a lot of points anyway-"
"You worry too much, Khun." Bam comments, shuffling closer and wrapping his arms around Khun’s waist. "If anything happens, I’ll protect you, alright? Just trust me."
With those very words, Khun couldn’t retort further. All he has to do is trust Bam and the process of it. It’ll be fine.
It’s nowhere near fine.
Though it may be normal for Khun to be sleep-deprived, he had never thought that he would lose sleep to research cooking recipes just for Bam, trying them out the whole night but somehow always ending up in vain. Some burnt and the others downright tasted horrendous even if they had a nice presentation by chance.
He finishes cleaning and brewing his own coffee just as Bam enters the kitchen, the brunet’s lips tugged up in a smile. "Good morning, Khun."
Khun tiredly sips at his coffee, greeting back. "Morning, Bam.." It would be nice if you gave me a morning kiss right about now.
Khun shook his head at the inappropriate thought, gulping down his coffee.
At this point, Khun has realized two things: he may be overly good in a lot of things, but he can’t cook for shit.
The second realization is that Bam oozes perfection once he starts cooking. And funnily enough, Khun is into that. He isn’t envious to want to surpass Bam in everything, but rather, he’s so in love with Bam that he’d do anything for him; even if it means trying his best to cook for the brunet.
"I best cook for the team before we leave, would you like to help me, Khun? Ah–" Bam ties his hair into a ponytail, turning to Khun with a smile. "–You haven’t cooked a lot before, right? No worries, I’ll guide you." He reassures with a brightened smile, which somehow makes Khun feel quite energized for the day.
The said man nods, tying his own hair up as well. "Iʼm in your care, Bam."
Bam seems to brighten up at the statement, taking a frying pan and setting it down on the stove. "We're not gonna make anything that grand. Just a simple dish.. sunny side-up eggs or scrambled eggs?"
"Um," Khun's ever-working mind abruptly halts, either he's distracted by Bam's pretty face or he didn't know what Bam just said. It could also be both.. "T-The latter?" He stammers, softly smiling when Bam nods.
Yet Bam, always observing Khun, says, "you don't know what kind of eggs I just said, huh?"
How could Khun know it? Even if he wasn't the most pampered in the Khun family, he was still served food nonetheless. Hell, he had never even touched a spatula before. When he was finally climbing up the tower and had to settle in for some time on one floor, Shibisu or even Endorsi, a princess, (although lazy) cooked for them.
A princess beat Khun to it!
And Khun isn't even sure if he's aggravated with the fact that Endorsi is better at cooking – as lavished as she is, mind you – since it had never even crossed his mind not until today.
"To answer your question, Bam, no." Khun, as honest as he is but can't bring himself to confess to Bam, replies. Bam chuckles, taking a handful of eggs from the fridge.
"It's okay, Khun. I did say that I'll guide you through it." Bam starts cracking the eggs and pouring them into the bowl. "Sunny side-up eggs are when you crack open an egg and directly pour it down the pan and wait until it's cooked. The scrambled egg is where you beat the eggs until they're golden, and you pour it down the pan. Are you getting me?" He explains, handing the fork to Khun for him to mix the said eggs.
Khun hesitatingly takes the fork, staring at the eggs for a brief moment. He then turns to Bam with a puzzled look, somehow having Bam smile.
"By beating the eggs.. you mean..?" He slowly enunciates each word, and Bam finally bursts out into fits of laughter, shakily reaching out to a pouty Khun and walking to his back, Khun's hands clasped by Bam's big ones.
Bam continues laughing behind Khun, covering his face on Khun's shoulder and wheezing.
"I swear to god Bam if you continue this you will cook on your own." Khun warns with a frown, ignoring the fact that Bam's chest is flushed against his back; his own cheeks starting to warm up.
"I'm sorry! You were just– it was just so cute to see you so confused! Khun Aguero Agnis, our strategist and the smartest person in our team, doesn't know the basics of cooking.. it's so endearing." Bam finishes laughing, professionally beating the eggs while guiding Khun.
The bluenette on the other hand stays silent, letting himself loose in Bam's hold. The latter hums in acknowledgement, "you're doing great, Khun. After this, I'll add more ingredients so it would taste better. You pour the mixture in the pan alright?"
Khun obediently nods and Bam adds a pinch of sugar..? or salt? Khun couldn't tell, but either way, Bam steadily adds more ingredients before telling Khun to mix them. Once they are finished, Khun does his best to pour the soon-to-be scrambled eggs on the pan, already readied with the cooking oil. (Khun didn't even know you had to put cooking oil first. This is rather informative, Khun thinks).
"That's it. You've done amazing, Khun! I'll be doing the rest now. You go get ready." Bam praises, taking over the kitchen when Khun successfully does his own work.
Although Bam helped him, Khun is quite proud of himself for not ruining the kitchen like he did last night, so he quickly gets ready before he completely ruins the whole kitchen.
As soon as both Khun and Bam finish getting ready, the whole team is eating breakfast by now; yet Rak nor Endorsi are seen among their companions.
"Isu, where's the gator?" Khun questions finally satisfied with the hairstyle he spent almost an hour on.
Shibisu shrugs, "he must be practicing his skills, but he hasn't been here since yesterday so I'm not so sure."
Bam takes Khun's hand as he approaches the rest of the team, smiling brightly. "Khun and I will be going to the cooking show now, and yes, we'll make it as early as possible."
"But the cooking show won't even start four hours from now?" Anaak retorts, shoving in the scrambled egg in her mouth.
"You have a point, but better early than sorry!" Bam beams and the team questionably looks at him.
".. Isn't it 'better late than sorry'–" "shh, don't ruin it for him." Hatz cuts one of them off, also partaking the scrambled egg.
Khun rubs his temple, dragging Bam out. "We'll be back before dinner!" He announces, calling for a ship to take them to the cooking show.
He's still uncertain if he'd even do well, but he'll lay his pride down willingly if it means Bam would guide him once more in the kitchen.
A hand suddenly holds onto Khun’s, reassuring and warm. "I did say that I would love to go, but I'm also considering the fact that it could be a hidden test.. or something much worse; like the mishaps in the workshop.." Bam starts, rubbing his thumb in circles at the back of Khun's hand. "You do know what I told you yesterday, right? I'll protect you." Bam repeats, his voice firm.
"I know, Bam. I heard you loud and clear." Khun tightens his hold on the irregular, finally boarding the ship that had just landed.
Once they have arrived at the place with two hours to spare, Bam is the first to get out of the ship, pulling Khun to his demise – or rather, the cooking show.
"The venue is so big!" Bam excitedly states in awe, dragging Khun inside the said venue and looking around. Both of them have seen a lot bigger venues than this, but Khun supposes he could delight himself in seeing how Bam looks so adorable as if they were on a date.
Of course, Shibisu would think that this would be a perfect date, but he isn't wrong, Khun could keep pining over Bam if the brunet continues on being this cute.
Although Khun has to take Bam away just so they could register and finally enter the.. competition.
And as soon as they finally got in the main place to cook, with all the set-ups and whatnot, Bam couldn't hold his enthusiasm back and went up to the regulars joining the show. Some of them indulging Bam, and the others smiling and nodding at the bright boy in front of them.
Khun stays behind Bam as he fondly smiles at the brunet; finding him quite charming at how he seems to have never changed his demeanor ever since they've reunited.
"Alright, everyone! We're going to start in two hours, so get yourselves ready! Those who have registered, please get to your places. There are assistants that will help you." The one who seems to be the director states, conducting everything and everyone at once.
It didn't take that long when the contestants are dragged to the stage, and Bam audibly gasps as he sees Rak with.. Paracule?
"... Oh my lord." Khun sighs, rubbing his temple. "Why is the gator here, of all the living creatures I could compete with?" He questions right next to Bam, who nervously laughs.
"I guess there aren't really qualifications, huh..?" He scratches his cheek, getting into place as the assistants escort them.
Rak finally notices the duo, cackling loudly. "I didn't think that the black and blue turtle would be here together!" He says, about to walk over to them; yet he couldn't when a staff lead him back to his place. Paracule, his partner, stays quiet unless provoked.
"We will start at twenty!" The director announces, signaling all the cameras ready. "Okay, welcome to the cooking show," they greet, smiling politely at the contestants. "There will be two rounds. One will be as if the qualifications, and the second round will be the finals. Is that alright with everyone? The dishes will be familiar to bake or cook. Good luck!" The director explains gingerly, moving to the side so all the contestants could be seen.
Khun holds onto Bam's hand once more, holding his guard up if there would be dangers around. Bam softly smiles at the action, clutching Khun's warm hand close. The host suddenly walks to the stage, politely bowing to everyone. "I will be your host today, may we all have fun!" They cheerfully say as they continue to explain the mechanics to the contestants.
Once twenty minutes have passed and the set-up is ready, all the guests walk inside to witness the most-awaited show.
I mean, a powerful irregular with a regular, who is also from the Khun family? What scandalous news! Of course there won't be much who would pass up the opportunity to watch how they would work together.
Plus, Khun for one would probably burn his cooking without Bam's guidance, so he thinks that even if there are a lot of eyes on them, he wouldn't mind. Bam is here with him either way.
"Welcome to the cooking show! I'm your host, Sebastian. Our cooking show today will be in pairs! Isn't that exhilarating? Now, we will welcome our judges!" They stretch out their hands for the cameras to show the judges, smiling and waving at the camera as they sit on their destined seats.
"And we have a special guest, Endorsi Jahad!" They announce rather happily as Endorsi enters the scene, grinning widely and doing a flying kiss which makes all the people swoon. She directs her smirk at Khun, as if telling him that the said boy needs to catch up. A vein pops out of Khun's forehead.
This day has been full of surprises for both Khun and Bam, their mouths gaping at the sight before them. Endorsi may have been in the banner, but who knew that she would be in the cooking show as a guest; a special one at that.
"Are you all ready? I'm going to present the one you'll be cooking as reference!"
Everyone listens, anticipating for the moment the host would finally reveal the one that they've challenged upon themselves.
And as Sebastian slowly – but surely – reveals it, it's.. cake. An elegantly-made chocolate cake.
"For the first round, you'll be making chocolate cake!" The cameras pan to the said cake, and all the watchers let out oohs and ahhs.
"The ingredients will be at the back, feel free to use all of them if you must. The timer will be for 50 minutes! Take your time and enjoy, contestants. Now.. Ready, and.. start!" Sebastian makes a go, and everyone takes their own ingredients at the back with the cameras following them.
Bam doesn't hesitate in taking everything needed. He's a professional, anyway. So Khun chooses to trust him and do his best in helping Bam out as much as he can.
That's what he always does anyway, right?
How hard would cooking be?
Oh, it's difficult alright.
It's so hard to focus when the Twenty-Fifth Bam is guiding Khun throughout everything.
Bam is so, so close.. Each breath, each enunciated word, each movement, each instruction, Khun could feel all of them.
And Khun is, too. He’s close, so very close to losing it.
Words are just so difficult to use nowadays, huh? Even Khun, who is well-known for his intelligence – couldn't say anything, couldn't move, nor could he cook. And he swallows the thought of Bam possibly making fun of him quietly as he did so earlier.
But for now, he’ll thoroughly immerse himself in Bam’s big, warm hands guiding his own once again, publicly. Everyone watching must be awestruck by how close the both of them are. Even so, Khun is quite proud of having one of the strongest irregulars so close to him.
Khun didn't even notice that the clock ticks to zero not until the host tells them to stop. Bam seemed like he didn't want to let go of his partner though, still holding Khun close as the light bearer places their cake down. The presentation seems nice, but Khun is unsure if the taste is alright. Bam did assure him that all is well, but he just couldn't help it.
Both of them didn't even bother looking around, indulging in the company of each other. When Khun looks around them, Paracule and Rak were the only ones left.
"How are we the only ones left out of all the countless contestants?" Khun unbelievably questions, freeing himself from Bam's grasp.
"Ah.. the others couldn't take seeing you both being so touchy-feely with each other, so you're basically at the finals.." Sebastian says, chuckling a bit.
"Thankfully, I, Rak, is immune to seeing the both of you so close!" Rak daringly states, laughing proudly. "And we've won already!" He adds, showing off their cake with bananas obviously inside.
The host humbly nods, closing their eyes. "Based on popular demand, the contest has ended with the both of you not even noticing.. Those who are watching right now have vouched for your last competitor because of their tolerance.. Even the judges can't handle it. Endorsi Jahaad left, too.. how could the both of you have not noticed?"
Bam hums, resting his chin on his hand. "You won't even try our cake?"
The judges flinch at his question, quite afraid of that seemingly threatening question; even if Bam means well.
"O-Of course we'll try!" One of the judges interjects, and Bam happily places the slice of cake in front of all of them.
"Gladly! Even if Khun and I didn't win, I'm still happy that you'll be able to try our dessert!" And he takes a step back, holding onto Khun's hand as if it were home.
Khun's cheeks are painted red as he looks at the judges, observing their faces that seem to be pleased, then content.
"You did well, Bam." Khun praises Bam, obviously giving the said boy the credit since Bam has been the one holding Khun and instructing him since they started the show.
Rak even runs up to the judges and lets them try his very own delicacy called: "Rak's Chocolate Banana Cake", and it seems like the judges at least liked it; having Rak cheer and hug Paracule.
"I would say that we did well, my Aguero." Bam suddenly says, facing Khun with a smile.
Khun hums in response, so close to kissing Bam yet so far for his cowardice.. and since they're in public.
".. Yeah, Bam. We did well." He softly smiles, gaining mixed reactions from the audience, from boos to awws.
Yeah, Khun might definitely kiss his best friend after this.