Broken Artwork, and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Noah stared at the glass that now covered the canvas. Six hours of work ruined, his bedroom window now broken, glass is everywhere. 

Noah ran a hand through his hair. He would have to start his painting all over again as glass fragments stuck to the wet paint. 

But for now, one question rang through his mind. What broke the window? His eyes scanned through the room before landing on a tennis ball. Noah immediately knew who broke it. 

Jonathan. And just as his boyfriend's name popped in Noah’s mind, this door to his studio opened. 

“Babe are you ok, did anything hurt yo-.” John stopped and met eyes with his lover.

Noah was staring at him, tears of anger and frustration threatening to fall at the corners of his eyes. 

John went silent, and Noah spoke. “Six hours, Six fucking hours… All for nothing.” 

“Look babe, I'm sorry.” John looked at Noah with a look of pleading and sincerity on his face.

“I sat in here for six hours and put my heart and soul into this damn piece for my assignment…” Noah picked up the tennis ball, “Only for this thing to come through my goddamn window and mess everything up.” 

“Love I-” 

“I don't want to hear it, if you actually cared you would have been more careful instead of carelessly hitting a stupid ball with a racket near my window like a damn idiot.” Noah sighed “Just get out right now ok, I have to clean up the glass and start over.”  

John didn’t argue he just turned around and left, closing the door behind him. The tears Noah had been suppressing began to flow down his cheeks one after the other.  

Noah didn’t mean to snap at John the way he did, it was just so frustrating. All the stress that had been building up to an unhealthy level finally blew up over one inconvenience. 

Noah wiped his tears on his hoodie sleeve before grabbing the broom and began sweeping the glass on the floor in a pile. He then got the vacuum and sucked up all the shards on the desk. He took the ruined canvas and placed it in the trash. 

He then proceeded to walk out of his studio and into the living room to get another canvas, he then heard a shattering noise coming from the kitchen followed by a loud “Mother fucker.”  

Noah walked into the kitchen with a worried look on his face that slowly turned into a small smile. 

John was standing in the middle of the kitchen, in an apron with the words kiss the cook in bright pink letters across the front. 

He had two pans out on the counter with bunches of cookie dough, a preheated oven, and a broken plate on the ground. 

“So is breaking glass going to become a new hobby?” Noah asked before crouching down to see which plate was broken, and to his luck, it was a cheap one. 

Noah’s question caused John to look up. 

“Go put shoes on and no, no it’s not,” John began to pick up the bigger plate fragments. “I’ve just been really clumsy today.” An audible hiss came from John as crimson blood seeped from the fresh-cut in his index finger. 

Noah got up at the sight of blood seeping from his lover's finger, quickly grabbing a small first aid kit from the bathroom before slowly coming back into the kitchen. 

“Go put on shoes please babe, the last thing I want is for you to cut yourself as I did.” Noah sighed, but complied with John's wishes and put on slippers. 

Noah then knelt down and took John’s hand to bandage the cut, kissing the bandaid when he finished. He then looked up and met eyes with his lover. 

“I’m sorry about earlier.” Noah’s eyes darted to the floor as his apology continued to leave his mouth. “I shouldn't have yelled at you and the tennis ball was on accident and- “ 

He was met by a short but sweet kiss. John’s hazel eyes met his, a small smile peeking through his lips. 

“It’s ok you were frustrated and you had every right to act the way you did.” John took the glass pieces and threw them in the trash as he continued to talk. “Which is why I am making you cookies because food always makes you feel better.” 

Noah began to laugh, he was right, food was the perfect way to make him feel better. Noah was so focused on getting his painting done that he forgot to eat.  

How did he end up with someone so thoughtful? Even though he was screamed at, John wasn’t angry or hurt, he understood how stressed Noah was. He even dedicated time to baking cookies to make him feel better. 

While Noah was deep in thought he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist. “You wanna help me put the cookies in the oven?”

Noah nodded but not before leaning into his partner's touch. John was warm and smelled of flour and his cedar wood cologne, it was Noah’s favorite smell. 

John helped Noah off the ground and the couple put the two trays of cookies in the oven, and within minutes the small apartment smelled of the delicious snack that was baking. 

“Noah, I'm gonna be right back.” Noah nodded as John disappeared down the hallway. 

John soon came back with Noah’s ruined canvas and placed it in front of him. “To be honest I kind of like it with the glass, it makes it shiny.” 

Noah tilted his head, John was right the painting wasn’t awful just not what Noah expected it to be, maybe he reacted too quickly, maybe he should have taken the time to really look at the piece after the glass shattered over it. 

Today has just been a day full of questions. 

“Babe the cookies are done, you want one?” John said as he took the tray out of the oven. 

Noah smiled, “Ya I’ll have one just let them cool first.” 

Even if the afternoon was filled with anger and frustration, the evening was started with laughter and chocolate chip cookies, and the couple wouldn't have had it any other way.