#oswaldd

Sam's in the middle of stirring the cherry filling, which is slowly thickening on the stove and splashing droplets of hot cherry filling on his hands with every bubble's pop when the door opens. It's not even 3 in the afternoon yet, but Kurt takes his shoes off at the front mat and places them on the special shoe rack that drips all of the dirty snow from his boots onto a rubber mat that's removable for easy clean up. "I smell cherry," Kurt says as he walks into the kitchen and up behind Sam. "How's it going?" Sam nods and pauses stirring, causing Kurt to immediately grab Sam's hand and keep his hand stirring in a circular motion. "The recipe says stir constantly!"

"What are you doing home?" Sam asks when Kurt lets go of his hand and Sam keeps stirring the filling. Kurt reaches around and gives Sam a quick kiss before he pulls away and walks off into the bedroom without answering. Sam sighs and continues stirring the filling until there are consistent bubbles forming and spraying cherry filling all over the stove, or a "rolling boil" as the instructions call it. He takes the pot and turns the burner off, sticking the hot filling in the freezer to cool it down quickly. He turns towards the bedroom and finds Kurt standing in front of the counter's peninsula wearing one of Sam's too big t-shirts and a pair of what he calls his "lazy, lounging" pants that cost $50.

Kurt takes his apron off from its hook on the side of the cabinet and drapes it over himself. "I'm 'working at home' for the rest of the day," Kurt says simply and walks around the counter, "so I'm going to help you with the cookies." Sam's not sure how to feel about that, part of him is excited that he finally gets to spend some time with Kurt. He tries to pay attention when Kurt talks about work, but Kurt always talks so quickly, from excitement naturally, and with so many specific fashion magazine terms that Sam gets lost a bit too easily every time. Lately, Kurt's been stuck at work for two to three hours extra after his regular shift because Vogue's working on their Christmas issue, or their New Years issue or maybe they're just really behind on their regular issue. Sam still isn't sure.

Sam's been stuck at home by himself lately because of it and the whole, taking a month or two off after college before he looks for a job, isn't that appealing anymore. New York City is cool, they don't live in the city really, but sometimes Sam takes the subway down to Manhattan and surprises Kurt with lunch or dinner. They see more than a handful of musicals and plays with Rachel in them who, from what Sam can tell, is only a step or two away from actual Broadway. If Sam were actually a city kind of guy, New York City would be the ideal place for him, but at least Kurt's here so it evens out. Although they have approximately 1000 square feet of living space and absolutely no yard or outdoor space at all, there's no one else he would rather share an apartment with.

Kurt washes down the peninsula and dries it with a paper towel to make sure that there's absolutely not a drop of moisture on the laminate and takes a handful of flour and spreads it out. On the other hand though, Kurt can get a little possessive and bossy when it comes to his cookies, which is why Sam had always just let Kurt do everything before. So Kurt spreading out the flour in an almost perfectly flat layer without even trying seems like a bit of a test.

Kurt is a cookie guru, Sam determines as Kurt rolls out the cookie dough perfectly and presses the star shaped cookie cutout into the dough. Sam lays them on the greased cookie sheet and pulls the cherry filling out of the freezer. "Doesn't it look like blood?" Sam asks as Kurt's tearing the excess cookie dough apart from the stars and places it back in the bowl for re-rolling. Sam lifts the spoon and tilts it to drip the filling back into the pot.

Kurt shakes his head and frowns at Sam, "It's too light to be blood and stop it before you get it on the floor or something." Kurt turns back to the bowl of dough and begins to mold it back into a ball of dough. Sam frowns, placing a tiny drop of filling in the center of each star before he sets it on the counter next to Kurt's bowl. Sam looks up at Kurt who's kneading the dough intently before he looks back down at the pot of cherry filling.

Sam dips his index finger in the pot of filling, now at a comfortable room temperature and smears it across Kurt's cheek. Kurt freezes for a moment and every single horrible thing ever that could happen runs through Sam's brain. What if Kurt breaks up with him for ruining his perfect skin? Instead though, Kurt simply pulls his hands out of the dough and stands up straight. He reaches in the flour bucket and takes a pinch of flour out and quickly flicks it in Sam's face.

It escalates in a matter of moments, quick flashes and then Sam is grabbing flour from the small hand bowl and throwing it back at Kurt. He knows that even if it was just an "act of self-defense" that throwing any more cherry filling would effectively ruin the fun. They keep their flour containers tucked in the crooks of their arms, Kurt's much bigger bucket of flour and Sam's tiny bowl. Sam ducks behind the side of the peninsula and Kurt backs up against the corner and they throw pinches of flour at each other until Sam's bowl is completely empty and he holds it up as a white flag.

They both stand up and immediately burst out laughing at each other's ridiculous appearance, Sam absolutely covered in flour and Kurt's entire front is dusted in flour except for the smear of cherry filling on his face that's almost caked in flour. "You don't usually-"

"It's been a really stressful week," Kurt replies as Sam walks over and leans against the lip of the sink. Kurt reaches up and wipes a thumbprint of flour away. Kurt reaches over and kisses the clean spot and smiles at Sam for a moment before he snaps back to reality. They both survey the kitchen, which could be much worse considering the fact that flour can and will get everywhere, but the majority of the mess is contained to the peninsula counter. "The oven's not on yet is it?"

Sam shakes his head, "No."