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1 - Black Forest

Meeting Sirens was something that Mingi never expected, since he had heard that they weren’t friendly with Land creatures.

When Yeosang told them he wanted to introduce them to his sea friends, Mingi was glad the rest of them were going to be at his and Jongho’s house for that. 

But, to his relief, they were really kind. 

Wooyoung, even if he was like a chaotic-neutral ball of energy, had greeted them with a big smile and tight hug, saying he was happy to meet more Land Creatures. 

Seonghwa had presented himself in a more formal manner, likely trying to act mature, but Mingi could see the same chaotic spark in his eyes. It was pretty similar to the one in Hongjoong’s eyes. 

And then, there was Yunho.

He had also introduced himself with a hug, but Mingi didn't know what he had that caught his attention. 

Maybe it was the warmth Mingi could feel in his eyes, or how charming he was. 

Whatever it was, it was easy talking with him. 

They both enjoyed seeing Seonghwa and Yeosang trying to stop Wooyoung from entering every room and opening as many drawers as he could.

Wooyoung's curiosity had led them to the kitchen, where Mingi had half a cake he had baked last night, trying a new recipe he saw on the internet.

As always, Hongjoong, Jongho, San and Yeosang had already tried it, and gave him their thoughts over the recipe. Hongjoong even took some of it as his snacks for that day. 

“What is this?” Wooyoung asked, carefully touching the cake with one finger

“Please stop touching everything you see” Seonghwa muttered with a tired sigh, but then he looked up to the cake and tilted his head. “What is that?”

“It's a cake I tried last night, a Black Forest.” Mingi said, taking the tray where it was laying, walking towards the fridge to save it for later. “But I'm not convince with the flavor just yet”

“I insist it is still too sweet.” Jongho said with a shrug. 

“You say that about every dessert.” Yeosang said, playfully nudging him with his elbow.

San looked at the Sirens “Wait, you have never tried a cake?” 

The Sirens blinked at him a couple times, before shaking their heads. 

“We mostly eat seafood,” Yunho said, rubbing the back of his neck, “and we never had a reason to come to Land to try things.”

Before Mingi could say anything, San took the cake from his hands, a knife and put it on the counter.

“Then you came here in the perfect moment, you can try Mingi's pastries!” San said happily as he cut 3 portions of cake and served them. 

“Don't feel obliged to eat it if you don't like it,” Mingi said, “I’m still not sure about…”

Whatever he was going to complain about the recipe, died in his lips when he saw the starry-eye look on the Sirens eyes. In a quite literal sense.

Their eyes change form from normal human eyes to completely black with white star-shaped pupils, as they stare in awe between the cake and Mingi. 

It reminded Mingi of how Hongjoong or San eyes change to more feline eyes when they get excited. 

“This tastes so good.” Yunho said, taking another bite.

“What is this flavor?” Seonghwa asked, looking at the cherries on top of the cake.

“What's up with your eyes?” Yeosang asked, tilting his head. 

Everyone stopped at Yeosang's question, noticing the eyes of the Sirens. 

“That's so cool.” San said with wonder. “Wait, I can do it too!” 

San shook his head, making a pair of cat ears appear on top of his head and his pupils turned into a vertical line.

“Ta-da” he said with a grin. 

“That's so cool!” Wooyoung moved closer to San to look at his ears. Then he turned to Yeosang. “You didn't tell me humans could do that.”

“It’s because we can't.” Yeosang said with a fond smile, and moved closer to the Siren and the Shifter. 

“San, please stop shifting in the kitchen,” Hongjoong said with a sigh from the kitchen door, “we don't want to find cat hair on the food.”

“As if you don't do the same,” San said defensively. “I find fox hair in every corner of my apartment when we do movie night!”

“I have no idea what you're talking about.” Hongjoong said with a shrug. 

A little chaos emerged from Hongjoong’s reply. San started defending himself and shaking his hyung until his ears and eyes showed up. 

Wooyoung let out a happy scream, and started shaking both of the Shifters, asking if the more he shook them, the more they could change. Seonghwa ran to stop Wooyoung from hurting them, while Yeosang was trying to stop San. 

Jongho was just telling Wooyoung he was right, which inspired the Siren to keep on shaking Hongjoong. 

Mingi watched everything with an amused smile. No matter what, this type of chaos was always the outcome of putting them in the same room. 

Mingi noticed some movement with the corner of his eye, and turned to find Yunho, the only Siren that wasn't in the middle of the shaking chaos, slowly moving the plate with Seonghwa's portion of cake towards him. 

When Yunho noticed that Mingi caught him, he smiled. 

“I don't think Seonghwa-hyung is going to eat it right now, he seems busy.” Yunho said, pulling the plate completely. 

“If you say so,” Mingi chuckled, “but I think you would prefer a portion that is complete.” Then he cut another part of the cake and gave it to Yunho. 

Yunho's smile widened, and the star in his eyes shone brighter for a second. 

“Thanks.” The Siren took another bite. “How did you do this? Is it some weird magic?”

“I just followed a recipe” Mingi sat next to Yunho, and cut a part for himself. “Like, I do have magic, but I don't use it when I bake.”

He took a bite of the cake, thinking if he should add some walnuts, and noticed that Yunho was still looking at him. Mingi raised an eyebrow at the Siren.

“Could you… do some magic?” Yunho asked. 

Mingi wondered how, despite not having normal pupils, Yunho could pull such powerful puppy eyes. 

“Fine,” Mingi said with a tiny smile, “just a small trick.”

He moved his hand and 8 dots of light appeared in front of him. With another move from his hand, the dots took the shape of different animals. 

A fox and a cat started chasing each other, running around a sleeping bear that was cuddling a maltese and a chick. The other dots turned into 3 dolphins that started jumping around the others. 

“You're amazing.” Yunho said.

Mingi was glad the Siren was still looking at the lights, so he couldn't see the slight blush on his cheeks. 

2 - Maria Luisa 

A couple days after meeting Seonghwa, Yunho and Wooyoung, the guys manage to get a phone for the Sirens (Jongho's old phone) so they could communicate with them. 

So now, Mingi's phone kept on buzzing with messages from Wooyoung, who had discovered the emojis and was pretty excited with them.

It could have been a fond moment, if it wasn't because Mingi was in the middle of class, slowly turning into a ball of anxiety, where the teacher was telling them all the details of the mid term exam of magical structures. 

“It’s going to be a 90 minute exam on submarine structures,” Ms. Ávila said, passing one last slide on the board, “so please check chapters 5 to 8 from the book. Be on time, and you can bring your notes if you need them.”

Several students let out frustrated groans. She had explained those topics, but those chapters were too long. 

“Cheer up guys,” she said putting a hand on her hip, “is going to be similar to the quizzes we do in class, just a little longer. Either way, if you have any questions you can write to me through email, and I’ll do my best to help you.”

Most of the students started picking up their stuff, but before they could leave, Ms. Ávila called them again. 

“My daughter bought several sweets from other country for me to share with my students,” she shook her hand and several packages and boxes appeared on her desk, “so take one as my way to encourage you during this midterm week.”

A chorus of ‘thanks’ sounded through the classroom as the students made a line to take one of the sweets. 

As Mingi waited his turn, he checked his phone. 

Wooyoung asked if they could hang out that day, but Hongjoong, San and Jongho said they had to prepare for midterms, so they couldn't. Yeosang had to cover a second shift at the café, since his coworker got sick, so he was also busy. 

The Sirens didn't completely understand what a midterm was, but they could understand that their Land friends were going to be busy, so they asked if instead they could just be at one of their houses until night. 

Mingi asked Jongho privately if he could invite the Sirens to their house, and when his brother said he was ok with that, Mingi offered his house. 

Another wave of happy emojis came through his phone as he chuckled. 

When Mingi was infront of Ms. Ávila’s desk, he took one of the boxes that had a cake sticker. He opened it and found a 2 layer cake with a caramel-color sauce in the middle. 

“Ah, you got a Maria Luisa.” Ms. Ávila said, looking at Mingi's box. “That one is amazing, hope you like the arequipe.” She chuckled and finished packing her bag. “See you next week.”

Mingi said goodbye to the teacher and headed to his house, taking a bite to the cake and searching the recipe online. 

On his way home, Mingi stopped to buy some ingredients for the Maria Luisa, so he could try it after he finished studying for magical structures. 

When he arrived at his house, he was welcomed by the sight of the Sirens playing cards in the living room. 

“Mingi! Hi!” Wooyoung said, waving his hand. 

“Sorry we kinda invaded your living room,” Yunho said with a tiny shrug.

“Thanks for inviting us here,” Seonghwa said, gently nudging Yunho, “we'll do our best to not bother you.”

Mingi waved his hand dismissively. “Don't worry, Jongho won't be here until 7 and I just have to go over some notes. It 's fine.”

“Thanks either way” Seonghwa said with a smile, and turned to his cards.

“What do you have there?” Yunho asked, pointing at the groceries bag Mingi had in his hand, walking to where he was. 

“Oh, a teacher showed me a new recipe, and I wanted to try it once I was done studying.” Mingi looked inside the bag and took a tiny jar to show it to Yunho. “I almost couldn't find this thing, but is a key ingredient for a cake I tried today”

“Are you going to bake again?” Yunho asked, and Mingi could almost see the stars forming in his eyes again. 

Mingi let out a chuckle. “Yeah, but don't expect too much, this is the first time I’ve seen this recipe. I still don't completely understand what this is!” He shook the arequipe jar again, making Yunho laugh. 

“Then maybe we should try it!” Yunho said excitedly, taking Mingi's hand and pulling him to the kitchen. 

Mingi ignored the light warmth he felt in his cheeks for the sake of looking for spoons. 

With a move of his hand, Mingi made the things he bought fly from the bag to their place in the shelfs. 

Once he found the spoons, he handed one to Yunho, who was looking at everything fly around the room. 

Mingi opened the jar of arequipe and put half on a separate plate, the portion he was going to use for the Maria Luisa, and pass the jar to Yunho. 

He turned to serve 2 cups of milk and when he faced the Siren again, he had eaten all the contents of the jar.

“You just eat half a jar?!” Mingi asked, surprised and a little worried, could a lot of sweets make a Siren sick?

“It's… too sweet,” Yunho said, making a disgusted face. “Why would you eat this?”

“Because you are not supposed to eat that much in one sitting.” Mingi said, passing him a glass with water instead of milk. “Drink this, it can help with the sweet” 

“Then why did you divide it into 2 portions? Wasn't one for me?”

“That's not… it was supposed to… nevermind.” Mingi shook his head slightly and sat next to Yunho. “Just don't eat that much sweet next time.”

While Yunho drank the water, trying to put down the sickening sweet, Mingi took out his notebook to review his notes. 

After a moment, Mingi stood up and walked around the kitchen; staying still while studying had never worked for him. 

He didn't realize Yunho was following him with his eyes. 

Out of habit, Mingi took out the ingredients he needed to bake a vanilla cake, still holding his notebook, and put everything on the counter. 

Mingi made his note book float over the counter, with a spell that also read outloud what was written, as he started measuring things. 

Even if he wasn't conscious of it, baking helped his mind to concentrate. 

Something about the simplicity of some recipes or how mixing the batter seemed like it had its own rhythm, it just soothed him.

Before the spell had finished reading his notes, he was putting the cake in the oven.

With a move of his hand, Mingi made the spell disappear as the notebook fell into his hands, taking a pen from one of the drawers to write something quick. 

“Do you always bake when you study?” Yunho asked, making Mingi remember he wasn't alone in the kitchen. 

“Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you,” Mingi said, panicking a bit, “I just…”

“Don't worry, it is nice to hear about submarine structures.” Yunho said with a smile. “And, you know, if you ever have a question, I can help.”

Mingi laughed at that. “What a great moment to have a Siren friend, no?”

Yunho stuck out his tongue and giggled a little too. 

Mingi talked about what he learned from his class, asking Yunho several questions. He answered them the best he could, sometimes openly saying that he had no idea how to answer Mingi’s questions (to the amusement of both).

The ring of the oven clock interrupted their conversation, so Mingi put on his gloves and took out the cake. 

While they waited for the cake to cool down, they talked about other stuff they had done that week. 

When the cake was finally cold, Mingi cut it in half and spread what was left of the arequipe in the middle. He cut 2 pieces and served them. 

Yunho looked at his piece with a bit of distrust. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“I promise this will taste better than eating half a jar of arequipe in one sitting.” Mingi made a cross over his heart with a chuckle. “I can always make de Black Forest again if you end up hating this one”

Yunho’s eyes shined for a second before he let out a chuckle too. “I trust you, but who am I to deny a cake if you bake more in the future?” He asked dramatically, taking the first bite of Maria Luisa. 

His eyes didn't completely shift this time, but Mingi could still see that he liked the taste. Yunho then took another bite. 

“Something tells me you enjoyed arequipe more this time.” Mingi muttered as he took a bite from his own portion, glad that he managed to get the taste right. 

3 - Butter cookies 

Once Mingi was done with his midterms, he had more time to hang out with his friends, so they decided to have a picnic. 

They chose a park with a big lake where they could enjoy the sun, and had a big space so they could run. 

The day before, Mingi asked Yeosang if he could help him make some butter cookies so they could share it in the picnic. 

Normally, with one batch Mingi could make around 40 cookies. This time he wanted to do less, but with more detail.

With Yeosang’s help, they managed to make 20 cookies in the shape of lily pads. 

Yeosang had always liked decorating cakes and cookies, but didn't have a lot of time to practice, so he was really happy when Mingi told him what he had in mind.

When they arrived at the perfect spot, Hongjoong put down a blanket to mark their place and eat.  

Hongjoong and San made some sandwiches, Jongho brought a soda, the Sirens brought fruit and Mingi and Yeosang were in charge of the dessert. 

They ate as they talked about how stressful the last week had been, and what they were planning to do to rest for a bit.

After they finished most of the food, Mingi proudly took out the box of cookies he and Yeosang baked. 

“They look amazing!” San said, looking at the decoration of the cookie before taking a big bite. “And also taste amazing”

“How did you manage to make lily pads so tiny?” Wooyoung asked, checking the cookie. 

“They taste better than lily pads, tho” Yunho said, taking a bite. 

“Wait, you eat lily pads?” Jongho asked. 

The Sirens nodded, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Not my favorite plant to eat,” Seonghwa said with a shrug, “but I could bring some next time if you want to try them.”

“Don't worry” Hongjoong said, trying his best to not make a disgusted face at the idea of eating a lily pad. 

For the rest of their picnic, they talked about some differences between Sirens, Witches, Shifters and Humans, discovering things they had in common and things that were beastly different. 

When they finished most of the food, a little before the night fall, and everyone was helping pack what they brought, Mingi caught with the corner of his eye that Yunho was taking the few cookies that were left, putting them in his pocket trying to not catch the attention of Wooyoung and Seonghwa.

With a tiny smile, Mingi made a mental note to save some butter cookies for Yunho the next time he could bake some. 

4 - Croissant 

“Are you fighting that thing, or trying to make something out of it?” Jongho asked, as he entered the kitchen, watching a little amused the mess Mingi made. 

Mingi wanted (for some weird reason) to try and make some puff pastry. One of the hardest things to ever do in the culinary world. 

(It had nothing to do with the fact that Yunho seemed to like them, after he tried croissants when their picnic was over. Obviously).

Jongho patted his shoulder with a clear smirk on his face, took an apple and headed to his room. 

With a frustrated sigh, Mingi put some music as background, tuning out the world as he focused on the puff pastry. 

After what felt like a little eternity, and a lot of butter, Mingi managed to make a decent batter. 

He looked around the kitchen to see what he had to give more flavor to the croissants. He had some cocoa left, chocolate bars, and some almonds. 

Mingi chose to use the almonds and started cutting them so he could put them inside the croissants and on top of them for decoration. 

While making and filling the croissants, he remembered that after they finished their picnic, they accompanied the Sirens to the closest port to say goodnight to them before they swam into the sky. Along the way, they found a cafe Yeosang knew and ordered 8 croissants for them, each one with a different flavor. 

The Sirens looked so happy trying different types of food, their eyes shifting the moment they took the first bite. 

Mingi had agreed with them that he could try to do them during the week, since he had more time to try recipes now that the midterms were over, but puff pastry wasn't his strong point.

Seonghwa just told him to text them if he baked it, but that there was no pressure to try it if he wasn't comfortable with that. 

But… Something about the way Yunho and the Sirens looked whenever they tried something he baked was something Mingi liked to see, almost like a child discovering a candy for the first time, so he promised he would text when he managed to make a decent batch. 

Mingi looked proudly at the tray that was in the oven, the last tray of croissants he was going to make that night, and started saving some of the croissants that were done in a box to share with the sirens the next day.

When he finished, Mingi looked at the mess he had on the counter. 

At least a dozen didn't have the right consistency, so he might have to use their crumbs for a cinnamon cake later. 

The patches he made afterwards came out better, but… he got a little excited about finally mastering the puff pastry, and made 3 extra trays of croissants. 

With a sigh, Mingi headed to Jongho's room and asked. “Hey, do you want to take some snacks to training today?”

5 - Chocolate cookies

“I’ll do the groceries after training today, is there something we need?” Jongho asked, as he finished packing his gym bag. 

“We're almost out of milk,” Mingi said from the kitchen, walking from the counter to the fridge, “and eggs.”

“Eggs?” Jongho walked into the kitchen, looking towards the fridge. “Didn't we buy a basket last weekend?” 

“There's no way that was last weekend, look” Mingi pointed toward the space where the eggs were supposed to be, “it's almost empty.” 

Jongho looked in disbelief at the pretty obvious lack of eggs. Then, he crossed his arms and looked at Mingi. 

“Why are you looking at me that way?” Mingi asked.

“Why are you stressed? Midterms are over.” Jongho put a hand on his chin, ignoring Mingi's question. “You are not taking extra classes or a new project this semester.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I mean, you did the arequipe cake, cookies, heck you even tried making puff pastry.” Jongho muttered. “What else have you baked this month?”

“If I tell you that I also baked a Black Forest, will you finally tell me what you are talking about?” Mingi said, putting his hand on his hips. 

“That was the one you tried when we met… ohhhh.” A mischievous grin appeared on Jongho’s face. “This is about Yunho, right?”

“What?” Mingi felt a light blush spread on his cheeks. 

“Ever since we met them, you bake like there’s no tomorrow whenever we hang out with them, or with him specifically.”

“That's not true.”

“Or course it is! Hyung, whenever you're anxious, you stress-bake.” Jongho said, as if it was the most obvious thing. “You have done that since we were kids”

“Don't be ridiculous, I don't ‘stress-bake’” Mingi said, making quotation marks with his hands. “Bet that's not even a word”

“Oh, really?” Jongho asked, raising an eyebrow. “Then care to explain why, every time Yunho comes to the house, we suddenly have enough pastries to feed the whole neighbor?”

“You’re exaggerating, I don’t bake that much” 

“Last week you made enough croissants to feed my futbol team. Hyung,” he put a hand on Mingi’s shoulder, “we are 15. And you have seen how much San alone can eat.”

“Ok, that was just a coincidence. It was my first time trying puff pastry, so I didn't have the right measures, that's why there were so many.”

“Fine, I'll give you that one.” Jongho chuckled. “But really, you are stress-baking.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.” Mingi shook his hand, and looked at the clock. “Should you be leaving? You’ll be late for training.”

Jongho looked at the clock too, and rushed to the living room to take his gym bag. 

“Bye, Hyung. Hope you won't finish the flour before I get back!” Jongho said before closing the door.

Mingi shook his head. Jongho had always liked to exaggerate, there was no way that was true. 

He kept organizing the kitchen, cleaning all the bowls and utensils, saving the milk and butter in the fridge, the cocoa powder and the vanilla extract in the shelfs and wiping the counter one final time. 

When he was done, Mingi looked at the clock again, it was almost 5, and smiled.

He had agreed to meet with Yunho to hang out at 5, so they could talk a little before the  Siren had to go to the sky. 

There was a knock on the door, and Mingi knew Yunho had arrived. He went to open it, and welcomed Yunho with a hug. 

“Come in,” Mingi said, “you came just in time to try some chocolate cookies.” 

They went into the kitchen just in time to hear the timer of the oven ring. 

As he took the gloves to take out the tray, he realized… that was his 3 tray of cookies that evening. And there was only one thing he could think.

Fuck, Jongho was right.

+1 - Vanilla cake

Mingi was resting in his house, just passing the pages of a spellbook. 

He was home alone that evening.

Hongjoong and Yeosang were at a game convention, Jongho was out with some friends at an arcade and San was probably sleeping like death, since he had an important match the day before. 

And the Sirens were busy figuring out how to put the moonlight on with the eclipse that was coming next week. 

The only sounds present in the house were the lofi playlist Mingi put as background noise, and the occasional spark that of some spells he tried to make. 

After some time, Mingi started dozing off, so he left the book on the table and headed up to his room. 

When he was in front of his room, a knocking sound came from the main door. 

Confused, Mingi checked his phone. Jongho hadn’t written to him about returning and he didn't order any take out yet. 

“Who 's there?” Mingi asked, looking through the eye of the door, finding Yunho on the other side. So, he opened the door. “Yunho?” 

“Mingi, hi!” The Siren said happily. Then he showed him a box he had in his hands. “Ummm… I have something for you.” 

“Oh, thanks.” Mingi took the box and invited Yunho inside.

Once they were in the kitchen, he set the box on the counter and opened it, finding a simple vanilla cake. 

“So… Yeosang said this doesn't have magic, but I don't think that.” Yunho said, rubbing the back of his head. “I’ve seen you bake enough to know that one bag of flour, milk and a few other things is not enough to make a cake, so there has to be magic there.” 

“Oh, you used a pre-made batter.” Mingi said, then he looked at the Siren. “Wait, you…  bake this? For me?”

“Yes.” Yunho had a shy smile on his face. “You always bake something for us, so I wanted to return the gesture…”

A big smile spread in Mingi's face. “Then, shall we share this cake with some tea?”

Yunho nodded excitedly as he took a seat next to the kitchen counter, and started talking about the eclipse, the stars, the nebula he drew last time and a lot of other things related with the night sky. 

Mingi waited for the water to burn and took 2 teabags and cups, then he sat next to Yunho and cut 2 pieces of the small vanilla cake, and took the first bite.

It was overcooked (almost burned), a bit dry, and with too much sugar. 

But for Mingi, it couldn't taste better.