chapter 3

previously

The feedback didn’t seem to faze Taehyung in the slightest. Jungkook marveled; hearing even one criticism of his baking would make him want to shrivel up into a raisin. Still a competitive, highly determined raisin, but a raisin, nonetheless.

continuation

When the round finished and the cameras were being re-set for the next challenge, Taehyung bounced over to Jungkook’s station.

“Nice job!” he said genuinely. “Your cake is really pretty. I love strawberries.”

“Do you… want to try it?” Jungkook hesitantly offered.

Taehyung’s eyes lit up with delight, and before Jungkook could even reach for a fork, Taehyung ripped a chunk of cake away with his fingers and shoved it in his mouth.

“Mmm!” he exclaimed. He chewed happily, eyes fluttering shut. He licked a trace of whipped cream from his finger. Jungkook’s heart stuttered.

“Ooh, now try mine!” Taehyung insisted, dashing over to his bench and bringing back a slice of purple cake. Jungkook was still skeptical of the flavor pairings, but he would rather die than hurt this beautiful man’s feelings, so he took a large bite as Taehyung watching raptly. He chewed, rolling the flavors over his tongue, and… wow.

“This is amazing,” Jungkook said. Taehyung clapped his hands giddily as Jungkook deliberately went in for another bite.

“My flavors aren’t for everyone,” Taehyung shrugged, idly brushing at his cheek and further smearing the lemon curd. “But as long as I stay true to who I am and what I like, my bakes will never be a failure.”

Jungkook stared at him, heart squeezing in his chest, mouth full of lavender. “Yeah,” he breathed, a bit stunned at Taehyung’s casual approach to something that Jungkook took with such seriousness. “That’s… that’s a good way of looking at things.”

Taehyung eventually left to clean up his wreck of a station, Jungkook surreptitiously watching as he finished the last few mouthfuls of Taehyung’s cake slice. He winced when Taehyung dropped a spoonful of whipped cream on his pants, leaving a stain. Yet somehow, it only added to Taehyung’s charm.

Round two began, a blind technical challenge where every baker was given the same ingredients and the same vague recipe. They were instructed to make angel food cake, something Jungkook had made countless times.

But the oven in the tent was different from his oven at home, and when he pulled out his cake, his confidence deflated in a jarring whoosh

The cake’s edges were too brown. He had overbaked it.

“Dammit,” he muttered to himself. He put his head in his hands, chest constricting. It was fine, he told himself. Everything was fine. He had done well on the signature bake, and there was still one more challenge before the first elimination.

But Jungkook could feel himself getting upset. He was a perfectionist, and perfectionists didn’t serve over-baked cakes. He felt his dream of being the first Star Baker slip through his sugar-stained fingers.

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