HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
To the lovely and talented @butterfliesandresistance because I can’t give you a birthday hug, so this is the next best thing. :) I adore you, dear!
Summary: Oswald gets a little carried away in the kitchen with his cookie baking frenzy, upsetting their chef and caretaker. Jim decides on the perfect way to distract him.
The last few notes of 'Jingle Bells' faded into the background as Jim entered the large mansion of the Van Dahl estate. He smiled and set down his work bag, a few files from the office sticking out of the top that he was sure Oswald would know to look through and provide much needed information on when the time came. It was a delicate balance, this life they'd built together, but he wouldn't trade it for all the security of a normal relationship.
"Hey, is that you, Jim?"
Oswald's voice called to him from the kitchen and he entered to an array of cookies spread out along the counters, each shaped to match the season. Along the back wall there were Christmas trees and stars and across the island counter-tops, bells and reindeer and Santa Claus lay in lines across the marble.
"Get bored, my dear?" Jim asked, picking up a reindeer cookie and wiggling his eyebrows.
Oswald looked up at him and huffed. "Jim! Those aren't for you, you know."
Jim didn't break eye contact as he bit down into the crispy sugar cookie.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Oswald glared at him. "That's one less cookie for the Gotham Children's Home."
"You'll just make more," Jim said, talking around the food in his mouth as he walked to the stove where Oswald stood. "Besides, someone has to taste test."
Oswald smiled at that and wiped a crumb off of Jim's shirt. "Always so reasonable, huh?"
"One of us has to be," Jim retorted, pressing a kiss to Oswald's forehead. "You've covered our kitchen in enough cookies for the entire population of Gotham."
"Not true," Oswald said with a tilt of his head. "I've baked three hundred and thirty eight cookies and Gotham's current residence sits at just a little over eight million."
Jim chuckled and took another bite of his cookie, loosening his tie as he munched on the treat. A timer dinged and Oswald slipped on his oven mitts, brightly patterned with poinsettias, and took another tray of cookies out of the oven.
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