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Jingyi stared at his overcrowded kitchen counter. His phone browser’s title “The Best Easy Cheesecake Recipe! You can’t mess this up!” stared back at him. He hoped so. Another Lan-Halloween-level kitchen disaster would break his oven or stove or his spirit.
He clicked out of the ad blocking half of his screen.
Today was The Day. Sizhui and Jin Ling and Zizhen were coming back to their apartment with dinner, and he wanted to surprise them. He usually didn’t bake, let alone attempt to make dessert but… last week they all had gone on a not-date at the arcade and he was pretty sure there was a vibe going at the DDR machine and later at the food court, heated glances and lingering touches. He and Jin Ling won their air hockey 2v2. Butterflies fluttered in Jingyi’s stomach when Jin Ling pressed up against him on their side of the table and called him his good luck charm in that voice of his. That was probably flirting, Jingyi thinks. And in the weeks before that, there’s been several charged moments between the four of them, with an undercurrent of something. Something that could be more.
So hence, Jingyi’s idea of a “could we maybe date each other and polycule it up?” cake. Sure, Jingyi wouldn’t consider himself the chef amongst their quartet, but he believed in his ability to to follow a recipe. The Lan Clan had 3000 rules and Jingyi followed them every day; what's another 5 steps? He's got this. He’s made box brownies with his siblings and nothing even went wrong! Plus, at the mall last week, they passed by the display of pastries inside the 85º bakery at the mall. Sizhui offhandedly mentioned liking their classmate’s “Will you go to Gusu Prom with me?” cake, and they all had nodded enthusiastically.
This cake only had to be the best cake ever. Heck, Jingyi would settle for a not-ugly cake that was mostly edible.
Jingyi glanced at his watch, which winked back with a 4:45. Great. He stared at his screen.
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Jingyi opened his fridge. No cream cheese, but mascarpone cheese should work right? He saw one of his aunts use it in tiramisu before. He laid the cheese containers and other items on his counter.
Jingyi heard a knock. “Jingyi, I’m back! I’m coming in!”
Jingyi moved to block the counter with his body, an X with his arms, before abandoning the motion partway. His body wouldn’t cover enough. He leaned back on the counter in a totally intentional and causal half shrug. A salt shaker rolled away. He kicked it closer.
“Hey Zizhen.”
Zizhen’s eyes flickered over Jingyi, then the ingredients spread across the counter.
“Are you making something?”
Jingyi clutched at his chest dramatically. “Are you implying something about my cooking skills?”
Zizhen walked over and placed his hands on Jingyi’s shoulders. “I would never, darling.” Jingyi exaggeratedly swooned.
“Seriously though, do you want my help? Jin Ling and Sizhui are still grabbing the food. I was going to go with them, but there wasn’t enough space in the car. There’s too much in the backseat.”
Jingyi hummed, considering. He might as well include Zizhen in his plan. The cheesecake-making portion, at least.
“Sure. I’m making a cheesecake.”
”Nice. Any particular reason?” Zizhen said. “Is this because of what Sizhui said last week?”
“No reason!” Jingyi rushed. “Anyways, I’m getting ready to mix these ingredients. Do you want to double check them with me as we put them into this bowl?”
Zizhen shrugged. They read through the recipe on Jingyi’s tiny phone screen. “I’m not sure if the mascarpone cheese substitution will work. Also, we don’t have butter.”
He cursed. “Ah shit, do you think Sizhui and Jin Ling can pick up some butter on their way back? Wait no, I want them to be wowed by our dessert making skills.”
Jingyi pulled out their spice rack. “What’s the better substitute: olive oil or margarine?”
”Is this a trick question? Neither?”
“You have to pick one.”
”Okay fine then, olive oil? Olive oil cake is a thing.”
Jingyi poured a quarter of the olive oil bottle into the mixing bowl. Zizhen whisked everything together with a pair of chopsticks, mixing as thoroughly as he could.
“Do you know where the cake pan is?”
”Let me think.”
Zizhen pulled out his phone and pulled up the message app.
OZZ to JL 5:05 pm
>>>OZZ: Do you know where the cake pan is kitchen is I saw it there last week
>>>JL: My mom’s cake pan. I returned it last week
>>>JL: why do you want it anyways
Zizhen looked up from his phone. “Jin Ling says it was Aunt Yanli’s cake pan. He returned it.”
Jingyi let out a sigh. “I guess we can use the pound cake tin or whatever it's called.” He narrowed his eyes at Zizhen. “Wait, did you just text him? I thought we were trying to keep the cake a surprise!”
“… Oops.”
They got to work, smoothing the graham cracker mix onto the pan. Jingyi tried to tamp down his nerves as he tamped down the crust, taking care to be extra precise. He kept his hands steady when pouring the filling on top, nodding and “yeah!” in all the right places as Zizhen chatted about his day.
They put the cake in the oven and started preheating it to 350. Just in time too! Jingyi opened the clock app on his phone, intending to set a 20 minute timer. The door creaked a few moments later. Jingyi turned off his screen.
“We’re back!” Sizhui called. “Pad Thai, Pad See Ew,Tom Yum and Khao Soi incoming.”
Jin Ling kicked off his shoes and placed the takeout boxes on the dining table. “What’s all that on the counter top?”
“Just inventorying our pantry and fridge,” Jingyi lied. “I’ll grab us some utensils and plates for the table.”
Zizhen swept the evidence into the sink while Jingyi pushed leftover ingredients into the corner. Jingyi amazed himself at the speed they set the table.
The four of them dug into their meals.
Jin Ling broke the silence through his last mouthful of noodles. “My uncles are fighting again.”
”Like, regular fighting or real fighting-fighting?”
”More importantly, which uncles? Wait let me guess — Hanguang-jun and Sect Leader Jiang.”
”Or Wei-qian-bei and Sect Leader Jiang? I’m pretty sure their love language is fighting.”
”Didn’t Jin Guangyao and Wei Wuxian seem tense last week at Aunt Yanli’s monthly dinner?” Sizhui said.
“Fairy was hiding in my room! Da-jiu is usually tense if there’s a dog in the house. And Shu-shu seemed as pleasant as ever. Jingyi’s right, Hanguang-jun and Xiao-jiu keep on glaring at each other. More like regular fighting. It has to do with who can better recreate my mom’s lotus pork rib soup recipe and they made Da-jiu the judge of their soup tasting contest.”
Jingyi was scraping the stray noodles on his plate. “Mmm, yum. I want to drink soup. So who won the contest and why are they fighting?”
“It was a draw because–um–” Jin Ling sniffed the air. “What’s that smell? Did you leave something on the stove?”
Zizhen sprang up and ran to the oven. He grabbed an oven mitt and carefully carried the cake to the table.
Jingyi saw the charred, runny cake and burst into tears.
“Hey, hey.” He heard the chair next to him screech before feeling a pair of arms wrap around him. “It’s okay.”
“Even if it’s not perfect, we love your cake. Because you made it.”
“The most important ingredient is uhh… love! and friendship!”
Jingyi snorted and wiped away the tears drying on his face. He was already feeling more cheered up. Zizhen dodged a slap from Jin Ling, who evidently did not believe the most important ingredient in their cake was friendship. “I’m pretty sure it’s cream cheese. Or flour.”
Jingyi took a breath in and out. Emboldened by his silly supportive squad, he blurted what he’d wanted to say all evening.
“We should be a polycule. Like in a romantic and/or sexual relationship with each other, if you’re all comfortable with it. I like you and I love what our quartet has and how we’ve grown together.” Jingyi fidgeted with his sleeve. “I think we have these vibes that could lead to more? We should continue as we are, but with more romance and dates and kissing and the whole shebang.” His eyes searched his friends’ faces for affirmation, before catching on the bottle of olive oil that had personally wronged him. “Even though my ‘let’s be a polycule surprise!’ cake was a flop.”
“I’m not opposed, but, why now?” Jin Ling asked.
“I couldn’t just spontaneously suggest we be a polycule while trapped in a broom closet together during a night hunt, could I?”
“Oddly specific, but okay. I get your point.” Zizhen said.
“So, are we all dating each other, or are we like, two couples swinger style? I–”
“If so, I call dibs on Sizhui!” Zizhen interrupted.
“What the fuck dude! What am I, chopped liver?”
“I guess we can all decide together. What we are, I mean. Whatever makes sense to us. I mean, I prefer we all date each other but like I could work with any type of configuration? As long as that configuration isn’t us ending our friendship over this.”
Zizhen raised his hand, as if he was in the Lan lecture hall. “In the interest of full disclosure, Jin Ling and I have kissed before.”
Sizhui said, “Me too. It was after that night with the fireworks and lanterns."
Zizhen whipped around to look at Jin Ling. “What the heck Jin Rulan? You kissed me that afternoon!”
Jin Ling flushed like a cute little tomato. A tomato with a very kissable cheek. “We’re getting off track here!”
Zizhen turned and faced Jingyi. “Jingyi, you're the funniest person I know and Jin Ling, you might be hot headed but I find it cute how you never say what you really mean. But you show it. You care about us. And Sizhui, you’re so attractive and quick-witted and you really ground me – I mean, us all.
“So, for the sake of the completion of this polycube, I propose we go on a date next weekend. And vote on it then.”
“It’s not called a polycube.”
“A cube has like, 6 sides. There’s four of us so we’re more like,” Jingyi racked his brain. “A polysquare, if anything.”
Someone chimed in: “Or a rectangle or a rhombus. Or a parallelogram.”
“How do you know that? Last week you swore all stop signs were hexagons! They’re all so clearly octagons!”
“The one by Da-jiu’s house is a hexagon! I think!”
“That doesn’t even make sense? It’s not compliant with traffic laws?”
“As if Hanguang-jun wouldn’t change the laws of the land just to make his husband happy!”
”Ha! So you admit stop signs are octagons then?”
Jingyi caught Sizhui’s gaze across the table and grinned fondly. He tilted his head, gesturing at the duo.
Sizhui, the occasional voice of reason, took Zizhen’s hand into his left and Jin Ling’s in his right before curling his foot around Jingyi’s. They quieted.
Sizhui let a soft smile spread across his face. “We’ll have the rest of our years to figure us out. One step at a time.”
—— A few minutes later ——
Zizhen said gravely, “I’ll do it.”
With the gravitas of the volunteer taking the first stab at a demon in a night hunt, Zizhen picked up his spoon and hovered it over the cake.
His face scrunched and pinched before smoothing out. He choked out a “Mmm, yum.”
“Guys, you really don’t have to–“
Sizhui was already scooping into the cake and putting a spoonful into his mouth. He swallowed. Wow, his poker face was good.
“How does it taste?”
“My favorite ingredient is the… um, the love that went into it.”