Christmas Cookies

Justin was determined that this year he was going to make Christmas cookies and he was going to make them from scratch.  His grandmother had given him a sugar cookie recipe that he felt confident he could modify so that he could roll the dough out and use cookie cutters.  He just needed to add an extra half cup of flour and it would have the right consistency.  The problem was that Brian didn’t have any of the ingredients needed.  Justin couldn’t believe that Brian still didn’t keep the kitchen stocked with anything that wasn’t needed for everyday use.  In Brian’s case that was beer, bottled water and coffee and very little else.  He shook his head and sighed after surveying the contents of the walk-in pantry.  He was definitely going to make sure that it was fully stocked before he went back to New York.  He’d come home for the holidays, but had to go back in the middle of January. 

It was a pain in the ass getting everything he needed but he finally got it done.  When he got back from the store he noticed that Brian’s car was parked in front of the house.  He smiled a little, then got the groceries out of his car and headed into the house.  Brian had bought him a car for his birthday, but the car never left the driveway unless Brian took it somewhere or Justin was home.  Justin carried the groceries into the kitchen and started putting them in the order in which he’d need them to make the cookies.  He also had to buy a cookie sheet and the cookie cutters, which he put in the sink to wash before using.  Brian came into the kitchen and raised an eyebrow as he looked at the items on the island in the kitchen. 

“What are you doing?” Brian asked as he moved over and picked up the bottle of vanilla extract.  It was the most expensive brand.  The kind that should be sold in liquor stores as far as Brian was concerned. 

“Making cookies,” Justin said without looking at Brian.  He continued to get everything in order. 

“For the party?” Brian asked.  Debbie was hosting the family Christmas party and asked that everyone bring something because she didn’t want to cook everything herself this year.  Justin nodded and grabbed the big mixing bowl out of the dishwasher.  Brian smirked.  “Is that the condom bowl?” he asked. 

“Yeah,” Justin said with a chuckle.  That was the main reason he’d washed it. 

“Just don’t tell anybody that’s what you mixed the cookies in,” Brian said with a chuckle of his own.  It made sense to use it, though, because it was the only bowl in the place big enough to mix cookie dough in.  Justin smiled and shook his head.  He then started to measure out the flour.  The recipe called for sifting the flour and Justin made sure to buy a sifter while he was at the store.  He measured out the two cups of flour and poured it into the sifter, managing to get flour all over the counter in the process.  As Justin sifted the flour into the bowl, Brian was reading over the recipe. 

“What?” Justin asked when he looked up and saw Brian’s expression. 

“It says here you’re supposed to cream the butter and sugar together before putting the flour in the bowl,” Brian replied.  Justin apparently hadn’t read all of the instructions. 

Justin sighed heavily. “Damn it.”  He tried to pour the flour back into the measuring cup but again only managed to get it everywhere.  He then took the bowl over to the sink and rinsed it out and dried it before moving back over to the island. 

“You’re supposed to soften the butter first,” Brian told him.  He smirked as Justin rolled his eyes.

“How much butter do I use?” Justin asked, since Brian had the recipe in his hand. 

“It says one cup,” Brian replied.  Justin looked at the sticks of butter.  They were marked into tablespoons but not cups.

“How much is one cup?” Justin asked, looking up at Brian who only shrugged.  “Go look it up,” Justin said.  Brian nodded and went into his office to look it up on the internet.  Justin decided he’d take a stab at it and put three of the sticks of butter in a small bowl and put it in the microwave for a minute.  Brian came back just as the microwave beeped. 

“It says sixteen tablespoons is one cup so that’d be two sticks of butter,” Brian replied.  He smirked at the look on Justin’s face. 

“They’re just softened so it should be okay,” Justin smiled and pulled the bowl out of the microwave to find completely melted butter. 

“Just softened, huh?” Brian asked with a raised eyebrow, smirk still in place.  Justin flipped Brian off and put the bowl in the sink, then grabbed his one remaining stick of butter.  He looked pleadingly up at Brian.  Brian just shook his head and smiled.  “Your cookies, you go get the butter.” He laughed at the evil glare Justin threw his way.  The young man put the eggs in the fridge, then went and got his coat, stomping and slamming doors as he went.  Brian could only laugh. 

It took half an hour for Justin to get to the store, another half an hour to get the butter and get through the line, and yet another half an hour for Justin to get back.  Brian was sitting at the kitchen table sipping a cup of coffee when Justin got back.  He threw his jacket over one of the chairs at the table, then went over and pulled out two sticks of butter, putting them on a plate.  He then put the butter in the microwave for fifteen seconds.  When it wasn’t quite soft enough he gave it another fifteen seconds.  When he pulled it out he was satisfied that it was softened enough.  He put the butter in the bowl, then measured out two cups of sugar.

 “One cup,” Brian said behind a cough, acting as if he hadn’t said anything.  Justin looked at the recipe and sighed.  It was just one cup of sugar.  He carefully poured one cup into the bowl, making sure not to put too much in, then poured the rest back into the container.  He was thankful that he’d gotten the C & H brand sugar that came in the wide mouthed tub rather than the bags of sugar.  Once the sugar was back in the tub, he started to mix the butter and sugar together.  Brian watched as Justin mixed.  He noticed the tip of Justin’s tongue peak out from the corner of his mouth as he was making sure the butter and sugar were thoroughly creamed together.  Once that was done, Justin started to put the other ingredients in, per the instructions. 

He measured out the two cups of flour once again, sifting them again and getting flour all over the place again.  He measured out the teaspoon of vanilla and put it in the bowl, accidentally spilling a little extra in.  He figured that wouldn’t matter.  He then put the egg in and started to mix.  His tongue poked out from the corner of his mouth yet again and Brian couldn’t keep from smirking.  Justin was concentrating very hard on getting this done right.  He noticed that Justin was having a little trouble and the flour wasn’t mixed in completely.  Brian walked over and put his hand over the hand Justin had around the spoon. 

“Let me help,” Brian said with a smile.  He kissed Justin’s neck and the blond moved aside so Brian could finish mixing everything.  Justin made sure to preheat the oven and get the cookie sheet greased properly.  He used the cooking spray rather than trying to grease it with a stick of butter.  “It’s too gooey,” Brian said. 

“What do you mean it’s too gooey?” Justin asked.  He’d followed the instructions.  It shouldn’t have been gooey.  When he turned to look into the bowl, he found himself with a finger full of cookie dough on the end of his nose looking at Brian who had an evil grin on his face.  “You’re a tard, you know that?” Justin asked, rolling his eyes and wiping the cookie dough away. 

“Oh, am I?” Brian asked, getting another finger full and smearing it on Justin’s cheek.  Justin reached up and wiped the dough away. 

“Brian, stop it,” Justin said sternly, as if he were talking to Gus. 

“Who’s gonna make me?” Brian asked, this time smearing some of the dough on Justin’s forehead.  That was the last straw for Justin.  He got a finger full and smeared it on Brian’s nose, then started to run away.  He stopped when he felt something hit the middle of his back. 

“Did you just throw dough at me?” Justin asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“Maybe I did,” Brian smirked.  Justin came over and took a handful of the dough, smearing it all over Brian’s face.  Brian just looked at Justin for a minute, then he got a handful of dough himself.  Justin started backing away.  Brian’s hands were much bigger than his after all. 

“No….it’s okay…..truce?” he asked hopefully, about two seconds before getting a wad of dough in the chest.  That was the beginning of a full scale food fight which ended about half an hour later.  Both men were covered in cookie dough and flour and the kitchen was a mess.  Justin had even thrown an egg at Brian who retaliated by shoving a stick of butter down the back of  Justin’s pants.  When it was finally over, they stood on opposite sides of the island.  Justin was leaning on his hands on the counter and Brian was leaning back against the opposite counter facing Justin.  He’d started to lean back against the oven but was reminded it was still on and very hot when he got close to it so he turned it off as he watched Justin. 

“This place is a fucking mess,” Brian said. 

“We’re a fucking mess,” Justin retorted. 

“Shower?” Brian asked with an evil glint in his eyes. 

“You read my mind,” Justin replied with an equally evil glint in his own.  They took off toward the shower together, leaving the kitchen to be cleaned up later.
 

Return to Rena's