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It was finally December, and almost every suburban house had snowmen built in its front yard and had colorful and nostalgic lights decorating its porch. The weather had drastically changed, from crunchy autumn leaves on the sidewalks to sidewalks covered in pure white snow, like spilled flour. The same spilled flour could be seen on the kitchen island at Smitty and Matt's home.
"How the fuck do mothers do this shit!?" Matt practically screeched, the same obnoxious voice he'd use when the man died in a video game. The same voice Smitty grew way too familiar with. Smitty yelled back as if they were soldiers at war, "Where the hell is the milk!?" Their pets observed from the living room, only getting a small view due to the kitchen counter that separated the two rooms. Their pupils dilated as they watched the chaos before them unfold like origami.
Matt turned to Smitty, "I may or may not have used it all for the cookie." Smitty just gave the younger man a deadpan stare as Matt snapped his flour-covered fingers in front of the older man's face, dust emanating from them. "Why would you ever use milk in a cookie recipe?" Smitty asked; it wasn't rhetorical either; he was genuinely wondering. Matt shrugged, "I dunno, cause it like...helps with the..." Smitty tried to follow along, "Helps with the?"
Matt gave up and threw his hands in the air, "I dunno! Isn't milk used in chocolate chip cookies and shit?"
"No? What cookies do you fucking eat?"
"Store bought and Girl Scouts."
Smitty laughed at the sudden mention of the second option, "Girl Scouts?"
"Hell yeah, gotta support the side hustle. And not to mention their thin mints are the best-tasting thing ever."
Smitty just rolled his eyes as he walked towards the fridge to see if they had any more milk left. Luckily, they had a bag of it left, a custom when living in Canada. He took the bag out of the fridge before placing it with the small metal pot, two mugs, and a packet of premium European hot chocolate mix. Cutting the corner of the bag, he poured about half of the liquid into the pot before placing it on the stove and turning on the stove to medium-low heat. As he opened the two packets of hot cocoa, Smitty heard the skin turn on before a loud shriek.
"Fuck! This butter won't come off my fucking hands, and now they're slippery!"
Smitty just chuckled, focusing on whisking the coca powder into the milk, "Not my problem."
Matt gawked at him, "Well, technically it is cause you told me to use butter."
"Because the recipe calls for butter!"
"Whatever, man," Matt murmured bitterly, continuing to wash his hands in the sink with the hand soap. He washed them for a good five minutes before drying them with paper towels. The feeling of relief was quick as Matt realized that his wedding ring was gone. "Shit!" Matt muttuered, and Smitty turned towards him. "What's wrong now?" He asked, and Matt quickly began to panic.
"Nothing, nothing, just trying to figure out this cookie recipe," Matt swatted.
"Well, with the way you said it, it doesn't sound like your 'it's just nothing' voice but your 'it's something' voice."
"No, really, it's fine, just may or may have no missed place something important.:
"What? Like your ring?"
Matt stammered at how fast Smitty caught on, covering his now bare right hand. "Maybe something like that," Matt nervously chuckled. Smitty went over to Matt to grab his hand, but the man tried to keep it away from him. Smitty looked at him, "Just open your hands, I'm not mad". Matt, with a look of shame, slowly opened his hands, and a ring dropped into his palm, as if a god from above had given him a blessing. Matt's heart dropped, and he sighed, this time in relief.
"Oh my god, you have no idea how much I was stressing."
"Yeah, you're lucky you have me because this beast," Smitty pointed to the rottlier on the couch whose mouth was covered in a sheen of spit, "Almost ate your ring and we almost had to dig through her shit." Matt mercilessly laughed at the disgusting scenario, Smitty following suit, and the two's stomachs began to cramp from the amount of air they had been relentlessly knocking out. After a while, the two calmed down, Matt focusing on restarting the cookies while Smitty focused on bringing the hot cocoa to a nice simmer.
Chaos wasn't much of a problem now, besides the complaints Matt had while making the dough, which Smitty wiling listened to instead of muting it in his head. It took a while, but Matt eventually got the dough into fun little Christmas-themed shapes onto a tray and put them in the oven to bake. The TV had been playing Christmas classics, and by the time it got quiet, the song "Last Christmas" by Wham! could be heard playing in the house. Just as Smitty began to question if Matt was even in the kitchen anymore, a pair of colossal-sized hands wrapped securely around Smitty's waist that pulling him toward Matt's chest.
Smitty silently gasped as Matt nuzzled into the crook of Smitty's neck. Matt's cold nose began to freeze Smitty's warm skin. "Jesus, why are you so cold?" Smitty whispered, eyes still locked on the pot. Matt didn't answer but rather started to leave pepper kisses on his neck, up his jaw, along his freckled cheek, and finally on his lips. Smitty finally turned to face him, closing his eyes to immerse himself deep into the soft kiss. Matt's lips were soft, and he tasted sweet, really sweet. When the two pulled away, Smitty gave Matt a look of confusion.
"Did you eat the marshmallows?"
Matt's cheeks slowly flushed, "Maybe."
Smitty pinched him at the stomach, which was protected by his green Christmas sweater. "Ouch!" Matt yelped as he slapped Smitty's hand away. Smitty backed off from him, "You said it was the cats!" The younger man shrugged, "Well, technically it was, but I joined in."
"You're a bad influence on our children." Smitty jokingly criticized, pointing to the pets that still observed their antics.
"Why don't I divorce you already?"
"Because I make the best hot chocolate around, I'm also, like, handsome."
Matt peered behind Smitty, "Yeah, about your hot chocolate, it's about to be burned chocolate."
Just as Smitty heard those words, the sound of the bot sizzling, followed by crackling, had Smitty whip his head around. The pot was filled to the brim with light brown bubbles, staining the pot with white streaks and turning the calm blue flames into furious orange flames. "Shit!" Smitty exclaimed, rushing over to the stove to move the pot from the flames before turning off the stove. He luckily saved the drink, but now they had to wait for it to cool down. "Goddamn it," Smitty muttered.
"See, now I'm not the only one being chaotic!" Matt said.
"Yeah, okay, buddy, that was once."
"But not zero."
"God, you're insufferable."
"And yet," Matt stopped to walk toward the older man before placing a kiss on his temple and whispering, "You still love me." It was true, Smitty loved Matt more than anything. He always found it surreal that he could just kiss or hug the guy for a long period of time without being called weird for it. He's liked the many for so many years and had been together with him for even more, even when they were just friends. It was always a relief that he could be intimate and vulnerable with someone like Matt, knowing he'd sympathize with him.
Smitty simply responded, "You know I always do."
Once the cookies were done baking, Matt took them out, excited to start horribly icing them. Smitty helped with a few cookies while Matt Egarly did the majority of them. The main shapes were Santa hats, stockings, presents, and Christmas trees. Smitty was not much of an artist, but thanks to his first year of graphic design art, he had some skill to put into these cookies. They weren't perfect, but the effort was there, even adding sprinkles to the colored icing to make it pop. Smitty looked over at Matt's side, and it was clear that he had been struggling. Smitty giggled, "Let me help," but Matt just shrugged away, hovering his arms to cover the mess he created once again. "It's gonna be a surprise," Matt explained, and Smitty was certain of it.
He went back to decorating the cookies, letting them dry off on the plate before switching back to the hot chocolate. He poured the liquid into two stocking design mugs, steam emanating from each cup. He grabbed some whipped cream, marshmallows, and sprinkles and brought them over to the awaiting cups. The whipped cream came out perfectly, forming a beautiful, sweet mountain floating about on the mug. Placing a few red and green sugar sprinkles and white marshmallows, the hot chocolate looked like something you'd see in cartoons. Smitty took the two mugs to the coffee table in the living room before going back to the kitchen to return with cookies.
Smitty sat on the long side of the couch, stretching his legs after standing and walking around the kitchen for over an hour now. His joints popped and crackled like wood in a fire pit, which was what they conguinently had underneath the TV. Matt soon came into the living room with both hands behind his back with just one simple question, "Left or right?" With a raised brow, Smitty simply pointed to the left. Matt moved his left hand, giving the older man a horribly shaped Gru cookie, the icing colors being the only things that hinted to Smitty what he was even holding. Laughing, Smitty looked at the cookie before Matt, as he assumed he had a minion cookie in hand, and he was corrected. "I made matching cookies just for us," Matt giggled, sitting down next to Smitty on the couch, and he was now squished between the couch's rest and Matt.
As Matt reached over to pull the coffee table closer towards the two, he passed the TV remote to Smitty so he could put on a movie. The cookies, despite Matt's confusion and chaos during the entire thing, were quite delicious. Paired with the hot chocolate, the entire thing was cozy and sweet. Matt put down his mug in disbelief, "Can't believe how good we are at cooking." Smitty chuckled lightly, putting on Nightmare Before Christmas. The two watched the movie silently, with bits of funny commentary like the YouTubers they were born to be. Nearly halfway through the movie, Matt excused himself. "Be right back," he announced, kissing Smitty on his temple before briefly leaving the room. Smitty didn't mind and paused the movie to check his phone with one hand and the other petting Bob, who now rested on his chest as Doug took Matt's place on the couch and Octavia followed Matt to wherever he went. Not too long after Matt left, he returned with a mountain of blankets and Squishmallows.
Smitty smiled, opening his arms as Matt tossed the items, forgetting the poor cat that laid on Smitty’s chest. Matt moved Bob to sit down before helping Smitty with the blankets, the two men wore their own blanket before sharing one huge blanket for extra coziness. They continued to eat the cookies and drink their hot chocolate, the drink was now lukewarm but they didn’t made as the surprising richness of the drink saved it. More time passed before their pets joined the couple, Octavia rested on the space between Matt’s right leg and Smitty’s left leg, Dough snuggled beneath the dog and Bob now rested on Smitty’s lap asleep. Matt’s body was leaned towards Smitty’s, his head resting on the crook of the orders neck. Smitty’s hand gentle held Matt’s waist in order to securely bring the two close, as if he was trying to merge into him. It was one of those moments where the two couldn’t get up even if they needed to use the bathroom, it was all too warm for it.
Eventually positions changed, Smitty’s back was now against the arm rest as his head was still turned to the TV. Matt slotted himself between Smitty’s legs and rested his head in Smitty’s chest with his arms around Smitty’s torso. His head was also faced to the TV but his mind now felt like fog as he kept drifting off before waking up again, staring off to space and starting to drift off again. Smitty noticed this, gently and slowly reached for Matt’s blanket that started to slip off to put it back on over his shoulder. The two now had their own blankets instead of having their on and sharing one. Matt attempted to protest but his kind couldn’t conjure a sentence and could only tiredly try to move Smitty’s hand away.
”Rest now,” Smitty’s voice was soothing, “You’ve worked a hell of a lot today and you deserve a break.”. Despite the man only making cookies, he put 100% of his effort and energy into it. The cookies might have been more harder to chew and unintentionally creating a jaw workout, but he still tried. That’s what Smitty always appreciated about his husband, Matt always tried. He combed through the younger hair, finger tips gliding through dark brown strands before watching a few curl and fall in front of Matt’s forehead, giving him his signature bangs. Smitty smiled, he was always so cute even if he wasn’t trying. “Can’t believe you’re my husband,” Smitty muttered, eyes were now focused on him and the movie meant nothing now. Matt gave a small smile with his eyes still shut, “I could say the same thing.”.
”Shh go to sleep”
”Fine. Goodnight, love you Smitty.”
Smitty planted a kiss on Matt’s scalp, getting a smell of his shampoo, “Goodnight, my love.”.
Matt immediately fell asleep, the snores loud in which Smitty tried to contain his giggles in order not to wake the man up. Bob eventually, moved from the couch onto Matt’s back, stretching himself on Matt’s sweater before sleeping as well. Octavia and Doug stayed together below the couple on the floor, resting on top of one of the abandoned blankets instead of the floor. All the lights were now off p, which only left the fire place that was already dying, the TV and the Christmas tree that was covered in lights and ornaments in the corner of the living being the source of light. This was the type of scenarios Smitty dreamed about during his lowest times. He remembers going to college, despite having a roommate but feeling so alone and home sick. Every time he found himself crying or feeling isolated, he day dreamed about this very moment.
Cuddling with the one person he cared for the most, knowing they would by your side. Through cookies, cuddles, cocoa, and chaos,