Chapter 5

“They’re flavors I like, so even if the judges hate it, at least I can take it home and eat the whole thing,” he said with an endearing smirk and waggle of his brow.

Taehyung was really something else.

As he headed back to his station, Jungkook watched Taehyung with concern. He hoped Taehyung’s experimentation with flavors wouldn’t get him eliminated. For some reason, he hoped Taehyung would be around for a while.

Jungkook got his cakes out of the oven, cooled, and assembled with buttercream, glancing at the clock; if he worked quickly, he would have just enough time to make all of the decorative flowers he envisioned. He rolled out his fondant, cutting and shaping it into roses and daisies and violets, hand-painting them shades of blues, purples, and yellows. He let them dry, then carefully adhered them to his cake.

At the station across from him, Taehyung was quite literally painting his cake, using a brush to swipe vibrant shades of green onto his buttercream. Jungkook had to admit, it was a stunning effect. There was a makeshift flower crown sitting to the side, which he assumed Taehyung would place on top of the finished cake.

But with ten minutes remaining, Jungkook looked to his own cake and felt his stomach drop to the floor.

His cake was… leaning.

“No, no, no,” he muttered, trying to keep the tiers propped upright while his brain fought against the impending panic. This had never happened in his practice rounds at home! What could have—

He saw the wooden dowels on his counter and suddenly wanted to cry.

He had forgotten to insert the rods through his cake. Without them, his tiers lacked crucial structural support and had begun to collapse under their collective weight. A stupid, rookie mistake. Jungkook bit his lip, afraid to let go of his cake lest the tiers fall and smash into oblivion on his benchtop.

“You okay over there?” he heard Taehyung ask.

Jungkook didn’t respond. He was lowkey panicking, his brain short-circuiting as it tried to think of a way to salvage his cake without it collapsing in the process. After a moment, Taehyung appeared next to him. Jungkook looked at him wildly; the round was almost over! Why was Taehyung at his station instead of finishing his own cake?

“What can I do to help?” Taehyung asked seriously.

Jungkook looked over Taehyung’s shoulder and saw a caked that was only half-painted, the flower crown still sitting on the benchtop.

Jungkook whimpered. “My cake, it’s falling, I forgot the rods, but—”

“Here, I’ll hold it steady while you lift,” Taehyung said, quickly washing the green dye from his fingers and handing Jungkook a round cake lifter before bracing his hands on the top two layers of Jungkook’s cake, carefully avoiding the delicate fondant flowers.

“Ready? Lift.”

Taehyung’s tone left no room for argument, so after taking a deep breath, Jungkook slipped the paddle under the top two tiers, lifting them, and with his other hand inserted the wooden dowels into the bottom tier of cake

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