After All, I'm Your Secret Admirer~!!

Ch5 - Soup's On

"Paige, mijo, wake up!"

Paige blinks his eyes open slowly. "Mmm?"

"Auntie's Homemade is done, sweetie." Carmen smiles. "It's piping hot!"

"Come get some, king!" calls Brandon, presumably from the kitchen. "Your ma's here too!"

"Don't shout, Brandon," Paige can hear his mom say, "You might hurt his head more."

"Oh, sorry!" Brandon apologizes, this time at a much more reasonable volume.

Paige rubs his head. It still hurt a little bit. "Mom's here?" he asks.

"Si, Quinn's staying the night with you." Carmen gently grabs Paige's arm and begins pulling him up.

"We're staying the night?"

"Yes!" Carmen grins. "I talked to Ms. Tiseu a bit while you were gone earlier. She suggested not moving you around a lot, so me and Quinnsie thought it would be best to just have you sleep on the couch tonight." He looks down at Paige. "That okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Paige and Carmen walk to the kitchen table side to side, Carmen having an arm thrown around Paige's shoulder.

"Heyo, man," Brandon waves at the two of them, taking a huge bite of his soup. "C'mon in, the water's fine."

"If you mean the soup's good, I already know!" Paige grins. "Aunt Carmen never fails a dish, let alone his patent pending Auntie's Homemade!"

Carmen blushes. "You flatter me, mijo!" He sits Paige down in a chair next to Quinn and Brandon. "You wanna start small in case you get a headache, sweetie?"

"Um..." Paige's eyebrows ruffle, actually causing him a bit of pain. "Ow..."

"Don't hurt yourself thinking too hard!" Carmen laughs, pouring some soup into a bowl. "Tell you what, less is more if you can't decide, so we can just make you several small bowls, 'kay?"

"Okay!" Paige nods. "As long as I get any I'll be happy!"

Carmen giggles. "So sweet!" He places the bowl in front of Paige before going back to draw up another one. "Quinnsie, darling, how did you get such a wonderful son?" He places his own bowl in the last spot at the table, between Quinn and Brandon, before going back over to Paige. There, he gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Can I steal him?"

Quinn chuckles as Brandon pouts. "Ma!"

Carmen laughs. "Kidding! Kidding!" Brandon just continues putting on his most pathetic pout. This was one of the High Scale ones. He had been teaching Paige how to master the Art of the Pout, so he had studied this one rather hard in hopes of recreating it himself.

Carmen is unaffected.

He simply takes a seat and begins eating his own food, smiling innocently.

The small family eats together while chatting amicably, thankfully at a quiet volume for Paige's sake.

"So, Paige," Quinn starts, placing their spoon down in their bowl, "Do you think you can go to school tomorrow, sweetie?"

"Umm..." Paige is torn. On one hand, his perfect attendance would be at stake! But on the other hand, he couldn't imagine going through classes like this.

And on the other other hand, how would he get tomorrow's note...?

"...Ask me tomorrow?" Paige finally answers noncommittally.

Quinn nods. "Fair enough. See how you feel in the morning and all."

"Can i crash with you on the couch tonight?" Brandon asks, pulling his bowl down from having just finished slurping the rest of the soup up.