Sweet Tooth

The scent of ginger and cinnamon filled the air as Niall continued to be in his slumber. The blond headed boy deeply inhaled in his sleep letting the sugary scents swirl into his nostrils. Almost immediately his baby blue eyes peeled open as his mouth formed the natural words of, “Food.”

His lean pale body sat up in the warm comforts of his blankets, they slipped off his bare chest, pooling around his waist. Niall sniffed again waiting for confirmation that it was indeed in his flat. He didn’t want to be mistaken like last time when the neighbors were baking and all his hopes of his lovely bird in his house were shot to hell.

Inhaling the scent again, he smiled noticing it was indeed his lovely bird’s smell. No one can bake like her, she had a God given talent with her hands. Niall excitedly threw off the covers and sprinted towards the kitchen where his two favorite things in the world were.

The blond practically slid into the kitchen with his sock covered feet, but he stopped himself when he grabbed onto the counter. When his blue eyes caught the amused look of his girlfriend, he smiled brightly. Working his way around the counter to the Christmas music that softly played in the background, he wrapped his arms around her before giving her a loud peck on the cheek.

“’Ello love. What a nice surprise. Are these for me?”

His greedy hands reached out for the vacant gingerbread man cookie and before he could grab it, a stinging sensation hit his hand. Niall recoiled with a pout as he tended to his hand, “Me hand! What was that for?” He pouted.

The girl shook her head playfully the grip of the wooden spoon waved around as if a mother was scolding her child. “You can’t just take one. You have to earn it like every other year.”

Niall pouted even more knowing that he wouldn’t have a taste of her infamous gingerbread cookie until after they were finished. He licked his lips as his eyes wandered to the cookie he was going to snatch, but he sadly couldn’t because of the promise he made to his lass a few years ago after eating all of the treats and ruined the best part of Christmas.

He could hear the gingerbread man taunting him when his girl tied an apron around his waist. “Start mixing.” She pushed a bowl towards him.

He tried not to let his eyes wander when he started to mix the ingredients together. It was a lot harder than anyone thought. With a stomach and nose like his, he could smell the fudge and almond in his bowl. He was practically salivating when his nose caught onto another smell that was coming out of her bowl.

“Are those going to be your red velvet snowman cupcakes with vanilla cream filling covered in coconut, licorice, and gumdrops?”

Her giggle rang through the room as she shook her head at her boyfriend’s sense of smell and memory. “If my mind serves correctly, yes it is. Patience my dear Nialler and it comes with great rewards.”

Niall’s head peaked up from his bowl with hopeful eyes, “Like eating one of each before Christmas?”

“Yes before Christmas, but only if you don’t eat anything.” She warned.

The beaming smile on his face was not wavered as he finished mixing the fudge and pouring it into a bowl. Niall had to contain himself from putting his face into the plastic bowl and tasting the delicious fudge that made his stomach sigh in happiness.

He never worked so hard in his life to keep the promise that he made to her. It was food after all and his mind provided tricks and taunts that could last up to a lifetime. If he were to tell his bird that the cookies were making fun of him, then he might not get anything at all.

Niall nibbled on his lower lip to satisfy his taste buds, but that didn’t work out as planned when the chirpy lass set out the freshly baked reindeer shaped brownies were set to cool. Turning his head to avoid staring at the brownies like a hungry dog, he tried to preoccupy his mind with something else.

He softly sang the Christmas song that was playing throughout the flat. It soothed him slightly until he heard his name his eyes came across the brownies again.

“Niall, can you start decorating the brownies please?” his flour coated girl looked delicious too and maybe when he was done he can lic—no he needed to stay on the desserts. Niall nodded as he wandered towards the taunting empty reindeer shaped brownies and grabbed the sliced up marshmallows, M&M’s and small pretzels.

Adding the marshmallow and M&M for the eyes and nose, he licked his lips wanting to taste the delicious treat he was decorating. Adding the pretzels as antlers, he finished one. Now there were seventeen to go…

As he continued to work on the reindeer, he bit back a groan when his girl kept dishing out scrumptious Christmas treats. They were all his favorite because of the love and dedication his bird put into these treats. He just had to keep reminding himself that it would be all worth it if he kept his mouth from anything on the counter.

He stared at the brownies as he decorated them and without even noticing he popped an empty brownie into his mouth. Niall didn’t register what he did until the chocolate fudgy taste danced around in his mouth.

Biting back a moan, he looked at the empty slot of where the brownie should have been. Niall started to panic when he heard his girl coming up from behind him. “How are my reindeer coming out?” Her eyes peeked around his shoulder as she gushed how cute they were turning out.

“Oh Niall they are so cute! You are doing such a great job—wait, I thought there were eighteen brownies.” She counted again to see if she was mistaken and she wasn’t. The girl turned her head towards her boyfriend who was too quiet for her liking. “Did you eat one of the brownies, Niall?”

The blond boy tried to get rid of the evidence by discreetly munching on the brownie that was still in his mouth. When he swallowed, it was way too obvious as the girl watched his Adam’s apple bop a bit when the fudge went down his throat. She raised a brow waiting for an answer and his response was to sheepishly smile with a shrug.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Really?”

“Really.” He nodded in confirmation.

Niall almost took a step back when his girl took those steps closer to him as she examined his mouth. Her eyes squinted to see if there was any missing part of her reindeer in or around his lips. The boy had to act quickly to avoid another scolding from his girl so he smashed his lips onto hers.

Cupping her cheeks with his hands, his lips molded perfectly into hers. Feeling her tense body relax into his embrace, Niall mentally patted himself on the back for diverting the situation. Giving her several loving pecks on the lips, he pulled back with a smile. “I love you.” He said, it felt so natural saying it to the girl in front of him and seeing her smile was worth it.

“I love you too Ni…and the brownie that you ate.” She playfully smacked his arm.

He placed his arms in front of him in defense, “It was an accident! One minute I was decorating the brownies and the next it was in me mouth! I tried my hardest, I swear!”

The pout that formed on his lips showed her that he was being completely honest. The narrowing of her lips and eyes softened as she lowered her hands. “I should have known not to restrict you from your eating habits. It only comes down to you eating anyways. I still love you and your little belly.” She cooed patting his flat stomach.

Niall rolled his eyes, “I’m not a kid, love.”

“No you’re not. You’re a big boy.” She ruffled his hair before pecking him on the cheek with reassurance.

It wasn’t much of reassurance as it was teasing him. With the insistence of her telling him to take a seat while finished, he did. She didn’t want any of her other treats to go missing or make their way into his mouth without noticing.

Niall watched her as she continued to bake, stirring, pouring, placing it in the oven, taking it out, letting it cool then decorate. The cycle continued on like this for a while and every time she turned her back, Niall snuck a different treat into his mouth. Placing his hand against his cheek, he tried to disguise his eating when her eyes were focused on the bowl in front of her.

Finally, she was done with her baking sweat formed on her forehead and brow. As she wiped away the hard labor from her forehead, Niall hopped out of his chair kissing her cheek. “These look fantastic love. I can’t wait to try ‘em.”

“Thanks. How did they taste?”

“Amazing.” He answered without thinking it over.

Once he realized he put himself in the deep end a charming smile appeared on his lips. His eyes twinkled, inching closer to his girl. She batted him away with her hands, “No I don’t want your hugs or kisses! You won’t be forgiven that easily!” The girl couldn’t contain her laughter when he started to pout again before he puckered his lips as he snatched her again, giving her butterfly kisses across her face.

She scrunched up her nose and squeezed her eyes shut as she received the loving kisses that her boyfriend gave her. Her eyes snapped open when something wet stroked her cheek and she was met with a warm smile.

“Did you just—”

“Taste you? Yes I did.” The girl stood there in shock before laughter filled the air, embracing her loving boyfriend. Only he can bring a real smile on her face around Christmas time and she loved him for that.