For Keeps

11. The Jon-cave

{Jon}

The faint, insistent buzz of Kurt's phone brought Jon awake, and the other man muttered some choice words as he shut it up. His boyfriend snuggled up to Jon's body, pushing his shoulder to roll him over. "15 minutes to spoon you before nine o' clock," he said in a voice thick with sleep, as he wrapped an arm around Jon. "An' then I'm going back to sleep."

Sighing happily, Jon fit himself into the warm curve of Kurt's body. He gradually came alert, blinking at the red walls of their tent as Kurt's breathing smoothed and slowed against his back. He went over the list of schoolwork he needed to do today. The work load next week as he pushed to finish was going to be intense and he'd planned to get out ahead of it on his day off. Everything he needed to do could be done from home, right? He just wanted a day in his house with his boyfriend close by; even a boring homework day was better together.

He was well into his second last assignment when Kurt jogged down the stairs, and slid on his sock feet up to the coffee maker. He sloshed the liquid in the bottom, making a face. "You drinking day-old coffee again, White?"

Jon glanced up from his laptop screen, widening his eyes innocently as he slurped his re-warmed coffee.

Kurt made an inarticulate noise of horror. "Gah--stop. Just--" He snatched the mug out of Jon's fingers. "I'm fixing this."

Jon smirked. That had worked perfectly.

He set his laptop aside when Kurt joined him at the table, gratefully taking a freshly brewed pour over and burying his face in the mug. "Visser, you're a godsend." He brushed his fingers over Kurt's arm, enjoying the freshly showered smell of him. "What's your plan for the day?"

Kurt sipped his coffee, scrolling on his phone. "I've been missing my Grandma Visser. I'm gonna try one of these raisin cookie recipes and see if I can get it to taste like hers." He moved his mouth back and forth, thinking. "I wonder if I can just sub your rice flour in for wheat. I'd hate for you to miss out. I better check some food blogs and see what they say about baking gluten free."

Jon laughed quietly. "I'm sorry I know nothing about this and I'm completely high maintenance."

Kurt narrowed his eyes in a smile at him. "I enjoy my partner not having head-splitting migraines every other weekend."

Jon exhaled. "Me too." He hadn't had a migraine since he'd cut out gluten completely in October. It was too soon to tell if this drastic change in his eating habits was making the difference, but he was grateful. He touched Kurt's hand, and the other man turned his palm to weave their fingers together as he read on his phone. Partner. The word touched him right to his heart. Jon couldn't keep from smiling all morning.

{Kurt}

By mid-afternoon Kurt was covered in gluten-free flour and two batches of rock-hard cookies were in the trash. He hovered over his third attempt as it baked, finally pulling it out of the oven with a thoughtful hum. He scooped one off the pan, blowing on it and taking a warm chewy bite. His eyebrows flicked up. "Love, try this." He tapped Jon's shoulder and the other man rapidly finished typing his sentence, then glanced up, his eyes smiling. "Open up," Kurt said, and Jon obliged, taking a big bite of cookie.

Kurt was delighted by the brush of Jon's lips on his fingers and the way Jon's eyes lit up. "I love that," Jon said, gingerly taking the rest of the crumbly cookie out of Kurt's fingers to eat it.

Kurt did a happy dance. "Grandma Visser and gluten free flour mix for the win!" he said triumphantly.

"More coffee an' more cookies?" Jon asked hopefully. "I'm almost done here, one more paragraph and the bibliography left."