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The December weather outside Shouto’s apartment made the streets frozen and frigid, the people walking along the sidewalks needing to be wary about not slipping on the potentially fatal icy roads. The snowfall earlier today was pretty and a pleasure to watch, but that was all Shouto wanted to do with the fluffy snow; observe it.
Despite half his Quirk being dedicated to ice, he wasn’t particularly fond of cold weather and took every opportunity he had to wear a big, comfy sweater and fuzzy socks since he had every reason to. He was wearing one now; a half red half white one gifted to him by Izuku a couple Christmases ago. But even if it felt nice to wear, the long sleeves became cumbersome each time he had to pull them up while mixing the frosting for the sugar cookies he was making. Shouto wished in the back of his mind that he picked a different sweater to wear, even if the one he wore now was his favorite.
The cookies he was preparing, currently baking in the oven, were a surprise he was planning for when his fiancé, Katsuki Bakugo, arrived home. With the way things were going now, Shouto was glad he’d be coming home to a good surprise and not a kitchen on fire. Shouto wasn’t the best at cooking, so Katsuki was always the one preparing their meals (which he complained about, but really had no problem with). Though, baking cookies was the one thing he seemed to do his best at, and with Katsuki out of the house for a while, he’d be able to show him that without being denied entry to the kitchen.
Once Shouto picked up a rhythm to properly mix his buttercream frosting, his focus was only on that to get the consistency the way he wanted. He didn’t bother to look up even when he heard the door open and the sound of heavy shoes stomping inside.
After getting his shoes and coat off, Katsuki hung his keys onto the hook and ruffled his spiky blond hair, grumbling at its slight dampness from the snowflakes falling into it. It wasn’t long before he noticed the pleasant smell of warm cookie dough reaching his nose matched by the warmth hitting his body when he walked him.
“Huh. Weird,” he said to himself. “I smell cookies, but no smoke.”
Katsuki knew he was judging a book by his cover before seeing what he was doing. But he’d lived with that book long enough to know he was a hazard in the kitchen. Luckily, if he didn’t smell smoke, he figured everything was probably fine.
Katsuki walked into the kitchen to find Shouto mixing away at the frosting he was making for the cookies. From where he was standing, he could see Shouto’s long hair was tied up in a messy bun, his sleeves were rolled up, and his right arm was moving meticulously to stir the buttercream mixture.
Shouto noticeably became slower as he was wondering why Bakugo hadn’t greeted him yet. He hadn’t heard his voice, but instead, heard the light rustling of clothes that came with Katsuki putting his arms around his waist, prompting his mixing to come to a halt.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Katsuki asked rather skeptically.
“What, you’re not gonna say hello?” Shouto answered, turning his head to kiss Katsuki’s cheek as his form of a hello to him.
“Hello. What do you think you’re doing?” Katsuki repeated his question after giving him a half-hearted greeting.
“Please don’t kick me out of the kitchen,” Shouto said in a joking manner. “I haven’t set anything on fire.”
“I can see that. And even if you did, that wouldn’t be what I’m mad about.”
He had a point. If the kitchen was on fire because Shouto tried to cook something, Katsuki would look more disappointed than mad.
“Oh, you’re mad at me? What for?” Shouto asked, genuinely curious.
Katsuki took a deep breath in through his nose, which was just an excuse for him to intake the sweet smell of the rising cookie dough. Shouto honestly couldn’t help but smile at his silent anger.
“Ah. You’re upset I’m baking cookies without you, aren’t you?”
“Of course I’m upset, you idiot. I can smell that they’re almost done, and I didn’t even get to do anything since I was out.”
“You helped by getting the things I asked for, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, yeah, I got those. But running errands and fetching the ingredients is something an extra should be doing,” Shouto didn’t want the unfinished frosting to sit for so long, so he stirred as he continued to talk.
“It was supposed to be a surprise. I didn’t want to spoil it, so that’s why I had to keep you out of the house until they were done. I left the decorating job for the both of us.”
Katsuki scoffed, but secretly found it sweet that Shouto made them as a surprise for him. It was even sweeter that he wanted them to do the decorating together. With no response from him, Shouto figured he was in a “too upset to talk” mood. But he had a feeling he knew what would get him talking again once he finished up with getting the frosting the way he liked it.
“Would it make you feel better if I let you lick the spoon?” Shouto asked him, scraping some of the frosting off into the bowl and handing the spoon to Katsuki. He wasn’t surprised when his offer was immediately snatched from him.
“Holy shit,” The delicious taste of the buttercream reaching his tongue had him completely in awe, making him go back for another lick. “What’d you put in this?”
“Is it really that bad?”
“Hell no. I’m just asking what’s in it.”
“Oh. Just butter, milk, powdered sugar, vanilla, and almond extract,” By the time Shouto finished listing the ingredients he used, Katsuki had licked the spoon clean and tossed it into the sink.
“Mm. It’s good. I’m relieved you managed to not fuck up frosting.”
He smiled at the positive response from his frosting, imagining how better it’d taste decorated over the cookies.
While Katsuki washed his hands, Shouto set the bowl to the side to retrieve the things he’d asked Katsuki to pick up for him. Sprinkles and food coloring. He arranged their kitchen counter into a decoration station, setting it up with empty bowls and the ingredients he got from the grocery bag. Meanwhile, Katsuki took the courtesy of removing the cookies from the oven once the timer went off.
“God, these smell even better now that they’re out of the oven,” Katsuki reveled at the fresh aroma of the sugar cookies, setting them down in another free space on the counter to cool.
“I hope they taste as good as they smell,” perplexed ruby red eyes pointed in Shouto’s direction.
“Why would you be hoping they don’t taste like shit? Didn’t you make them? Or did you just make the frosting for them?”
Shouto gave him a good-natured laugh in return. “I did make them. But aren’t I allowed to still wonder if they turned out okay?”
“I guess. That’d better not be an excuse hiding the fact that you’re afraid they might taste bad, though.”
Shouto told Katsuki that he wanted to use the food coloring to make different colors of frosting for cookies he made into certain shapes, so he helped him fill the bowls with small portions of the buttercream mixture and several colors for them.
“Hey, that’s enough,” Shouto stopped after putting one drop of green dye into the bowl, already thinking he was doing something wrong. “One drop is enough. You don’t wanna add too much or else it’ll taste weird.”
“Oh. Thanks for telling me.”
“That’s what I’m here for. To make sure you don’t make a mistake.”
Shouto could barely suppress an eye roll at his remark as he continued to assign colors to the other bowls. Once the cookies had cooled down a bit, Shouto began to prepare to cover them in the frosting that was on standby, pulling out a butter knife from one of the drawers.
“Oh, no, you don’t need that,” Katsuki took the knife from him in an almost rude manner, which he hadn’t really meant to do.
“How am I going to spread it across the cookies, then?”
“We’re not spreading anything. If you dip them in like this, the frosting looks neater.”
Katsuki dipped a pine tree shaped cookie into the green frosting and pulled it out slowly as a demonstration. Without even seeing his own method with the butter knife, he could tell Katsuki’s way looked much better and much cleaner.
He always knew Katsuki was the natural born chef and something of a prodigy in the kitchen, but it still brought a lovestruck smile to his face seeing how good he was at it. He let him finish applying the sprinkles before he got closer and wrapped an arm around his waist, earning a confused look from Katsuki when he pressed a kiss to his cheek.
“What was that for?” asked Katsuki, setting his finished cookie to the side.
“I just love seeing how good you are at this,” Shouto pressed his cheek against Katsuki’s. “Makes me feel lucky.”
“Yeah? Maybe we should bake together more often, then.”
“I’m glad you’d let me bake with you even after all of my failed cooking attempts.”
“Even if you fuck up next time, at least I’ll be there to clean up the mess you make.”
“That’s why I feel lucky being engaged to you,” Katsuki couldn’t help but blush at Shouto’s cheesy comment, motivating him to move away with an elbow pushing him.
“…Whatever. Just finish decorating your damn cookies,” this response was one he meant for to come out rude, but the tiny content smile and pink tint in his cheeks told Shouto that he liked what he said deep down.
Shouto insisted that Katsuki relax and wait for him in the living room after he was done decorating his half of the cookies while he finished his own. He caved in quite easily, thanks to the reluctant trip he took to the grocery. All he wanted to do was plop down somewhere comfortable the second he walked into the store, so he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity.
Leaving the kitchen, he headed down the hall towards their bedroom to steal a pair of Shouto’s fuzzy socks to warm his feet. Then, he made his way to the living room and spared no hesitation to make himself comfortable. He switched out his current socks for Shouto’s fuzzy striped red and white ones, turned on the TV to whatever shitty Christmas movie was playing, and wrapped himself in a blanket that was draped over the edge of the couch. Now all that was missing was Shouto to cuddle under the blanket with.
Luckily, he didn’t have to wait long. A couple minutes into the movie’s end, Katsuki saw Shouto walking in from the corner of his eye, holding a mug in one hand and a napkin with a cookie in the other.
“Is that mine or yours?” Katsuki asked about the mug that appeared to be holding hot cocoa being put on the table. “You only brought one.”
“It’s yours. I feel like you deserve it after going out in the cold to get me the stuff I asked for,” Shouto got under the blanket and covered himself with what was left.
“Did you spike it? I think I deserve that after having to walk around that stupid grocery store.”
“No. If you want alcohol in it, you can get it yourself.”
“Nah. It’s too cold,” Katsuki took a careful sip of his delightfully hot beverage, still enjoying the taste despite it not having that “something extra” in it. “By the way, this movie’s almost over, but there’ll be another one after this that we can make fun of.”
Shouto laughed in amusement, wrapping an arm around Katsuki as he put his hot cocoa back on the table and picked up the napkin. Observing the cookie Shouto got for him, Katsuki noticed it was one of the cookies he decorated. A snowflake shaped sugar cookie with white frosting and sprinkles, three carefully positioned on each ending to make it look prettier.
Taking a bite of one of the ends, the pleasant taste of the warm, soft cookie mixed with the light, simple flavor of the frosting immediately hit his tongue. This was such an amazing cookie, Katsuki would want another after he finished this one, knowing this one already spoiled his dinner.
“How is it?” Shouto asked, noticing that bite he’d taken, but not the slight rise in his eyebrows.
“It’s… okay,” Katsuki responded with a mouthful of sugar cookie before proceeding to devour the rest.
“I’m ecstatic that you like it, Katsuki. I really am. But we were supposed to share that.”
“Cry me a river, Icyhot. We have plenty.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
Leaning back after setting down his napkin, Katsuki checked to see if the thing he had stashed away in his sweater wasn’t poking out from the bottom. It was his own surprise for Shouto he picked up while he was out, so he didn’t want him to already see it by accident.
“Hey,” he said, reaching for the gift. “I got something for you.”
Shouto’s eyes widened a bit in response to Katsuki announcing he had something for him. They agreed they shouldn’t make such a big deal out of getting the other a gift for Christmas, so he surely wasn’t expecting anything.
“Oh? Were my cookies that good that you had to give me something in return?” Shouto teased.
“Shut up. I was giving it to you whether you made them or not.”
Pulling the item out of his sweater, it was revealed to be a cute, stuffed snow leopard with a tiny Santa hat sewn to its head.
“I saw it in the window of another store on my way home and it… made me think of you. So, I got it.”
“Aww,” Shouto took the soft snow leopard and smiled upon looking at it. It made him feel warm inside being told that Katsuki got it because it reminded him of Shouto. “I love it. It’s adorable.”
“…Eh, it was really nothing,” Katsuki shrugged, attempting to hide his returning blush by burying his face in Shouto’s neck.
“I still put it in number two for best gifts you’ve given me.”
“Number two? What’s the first?” Shoto took his arm from around Katsuki to show him his engagement ring.
“This. The gift of getting to be your husband.”
Katsuki huffed and took Shouto’s hand to hold, now completely red-faced and almost unable to hear anything over his exceedingly loud heartbeat.
“Damn right you’re lucky to be my husband.”