The scent of peppermint is sharp on his nose as he crinkles the wrapper free between his thumb and index finger, tossing the plastic onto the glistening pile rapidly collecting on the kitchen table. The candies themselves are dropped into a bowl, Ellis occasionally sneaking one and munching on it loudly as he works.
His phone sporadically hums with the arrival of a new text, but he’s not looking at it, the screen illuminating now and then beside his Hardy Boyz coffee mug.
At the counter, Keith is thumping a small cooking mallet against the already shucked candies, crunching them into pieces to be mixed into the cookie dough already prepared by Ellis. He pauses, eyebrows furrowing thoughtfully at his work, and shoots a sheepish glance at his lover to ensure the brunette hasn’t noticed the chunks he’d requested are now instead a fine, glittering powder on the wooden chopping board.
Keith sweeps the powder into the dough anyhow and tries to be gentler with the next round of candies.
“Man, Ah love peppermints,” Ellis says with a contented mm, his tongue in the corner of his mouth as he peels back another sheer wrapper. “An’ don’tcha think Ah don’t see yew over there murderin’ th’shit outta them candies, dude.”
“Who, me?” Keith tosses back with a smirk, flashing his canines briefly in the brightness of his smile.
“Yer jus’ on sum kinda revenge kick cos they ain’t almost as big as yew no more,” accuses the hick, chuckling when Keith resumes pulverizing, shards of red and white flinging across the counter. “Ah thought it was purdy cute, yew gettin’ tha’ stuff all over yer face, mahself.”
“Ya would,” mutters Keith, his devilish smile accompanied by eyes crinkled at the corners in amusement; he turns to lean back against the counter, popping one of the candies in his mouth to suck quietly for a minute, apparently pleased with the admission. “Still cute now?” he questions, arms folded across his chest and his legs spaced, his posture entirely at ease.
“Ah unno, man,” Ellis says with feigned uncertainty, his eyes rounding as though intimidated by the very question. “Y’all might be too big fer me now — er,” Ellis pauses with a disgruntled noise, dropping the act and flushing instead, “Uh, ferget how that sounded.” He hastily turns back in his chair, shoulders hunched in embarrassment as he carries on shucking candies.
“Not a chance, Darlin,” Keith croons, mischievous laughter in the vivid blue of his eyes. “Not a chance~”