Marvel-ous Ninjutsu

00007. Pancakes? Pancakes!

Time seems to fly when you are a kid, but you have the mind of an adult. I remember when I was a kid in my previous life, that time seemed to take forever. I know it's because my perception of it changed as I got older, but being a one-year-old and having the mind of someone past fifty is weird. My life is so structured that this first year of my new life just flew by before I realized it. Wake up, train my chakra control, parents get me and I poop. Get fed breakfast, then I go over to May's for the day.

At May's, I do more chakra control with my blocks, look at books, and help Peter learn how to read some more. MJ and Jean seem to hang around us most days, so I have been trying to teach them words also with mixed results. They don't seem to focus as much as Peter does. Around noon is lunchtime and May normally makes something pretty healthy for all of the kids. For the younger kids like me it's a mix of baby food and something else she will make. Mostly it's baby food though.

After that she will get everyone settled down and do story time or for the younger kids more of a nap time. I don't fall asleep myself, I just make it look like I am sleeping and go into my mindscape and work on making my defenses better and more sturdy. After that is just more free time that I use to climb stuff. The chairs, couches, book shelf, coffee table, entertainment center. Sometimes I switch it up and try it in the morning. I normally have to wait for May to turn her back or be dealing with another kid to do it. Unfortunately, Peter likes to follow my lead so sometimes he will get us caught pretty fast if he falls.

Around 5pm is when my dad comes back from the shop and picks me up. When we get home he brings me into the kitchen and starts to make dinner while he will sing and talk with me. Now that I am speaking he tries to hold at least one conversation with me a day. Mostly just asking about my day and if I learned anything new during the day. I normally tell him one or two new words I learned or about something I figured out that day. A little while later is dinner when my mom gets home.

After that I have some free time to play with my blocks, normally while I read books. That is when my parents will spend some time together and talk about their days with each other. Then comes the best part of the day, story time with my parents. While it might seem weird, me with my old memories and stuff. But I honestly enjoy this a lot, it's my first real time experiencing what a family is like. In my last life, I grew up in an orphanage and because of health issues no one wanted to adopt me. I was somewhat lucky since I had access to computers at an early age and with my condition it pushed me to become a programmer.

But I am getting side tracked, I was talking about my current life and story time with my family. After story time it is bath time and then bed time. They tend to stay up and do other things and I spend some time doing chakra control and trying to climb my crib bars with chakra before going into my mindscape. I will spend a few hours there either improving my mental defenses or studying the knowledge I have gained from the world of Naruto. That was my routine until my mother started staying home from work as she got closer to having my new sibling.

For the past little while I have spent my days pretty much the same as before, except that my mother will join me at Aunt May's house for the day. She mostly hangs out in the living room and helps watch me and the other children as she chats with May. Then we will head home when my father comes home from work, except this time he is dirty from work and will take a shower while me and mom hang out in the kitchen and she starts to get dinner ready. Dad will of course take over once he is out of the shower and then the rest of the night is the same as before.

That went on for about two months before I was woken up early in the morning by my father. He looked slightly panicked but he still had his signature smirk on his face as he said. "Hey kiddo, I didn't mean to wake you up but me and your mom have to go to the hospital and you are going to your aunt and uncle's house for a few days."

He picked me up and asked, "Can you be a good boy for me while me and your mother are gone and we will bring you home a surprise."

"Yes dad, I will be good."

"I knew I could count on you."

He carried me out of the room and down stairs where I could see May sitting next to my mother. My mother was sweating heavily and looked to be in a bit of pain. As my father handed me to May, Ben came in the front door and said. "I have the car ready to go."

My father went over and helped my mother up as he said, "Alright let's get going then, May, Ben, thanks for watching Theo for us. We both appreciate it a lot."

May looked down at me and said, "It's no trouble at all, it's what family does. Plus Theo will be a good boy while he stays with us, won't you?"

"Yes, Aunt May."

"See nothing to worry about. Now get going and Ben, you better not be speeding."

Ben chuckled and said, "It didn't even cross my mind dear. I will see you when I get home, honey."

May got up from her seat holding me and walked out the door, watching them load into the car and take off. The sun was just starting to rise in the predawn light. She looked down at me and said, "Well it's just me and you for a while. How about we start making breakfast. Would you like to try some pancakes Theo?"

"Pancakes? Are they good?"

I hope they are amazing, I never had the chance to eat them and many other things in my past life because of my health issues.

She smiled down at me for a second, "Just wait, you are gonna love them."

She turned around and locked up the house. Then she started walking to her house with me in her arms. Once we got there she set me in a high chair in the kitchen and started to pull stuff out of the cabinets. She looked over to Theo and said, "Do you want to know the secret to great pancakes Theo?"

Nodding my head I said, "Yes, because you said I am gonna love them."

She laughed a little bit and smiled as she said, "Well the secret to making good pancakes is to make your mix from scratch. Do you know what that means?"

"Dad said that means you make everything yourself."

"That is correct. Whenever you make something from scratch you always make everything yourself from the base ingredients. Your dad is a very good cook, you can learn a lot from him when you are older."

"Dad likes to say, "Being a good cook can make anyone your friend."

"I am not completely sure about that. But being a good cook does help with making friends." As she talked, I watched as she was adding different things to a mixing bowl. Flour, baking soda, salt, sugar. After that was mixed well, she added one egg, some melted butter, milk, some vanilla extract and mixed it all together. It took a little while but she finished mixing it all together and what was left was a slightly lumpy mix of batter. She lifted her mixer and the batter slowly slid off of it.

"This is how you can tell that the batter is perfect, a little lumpy and it will hold together decently but still spread out."

She turned around and started preparing her skillet. Heating it up and then coated it with a layer of butter. Then she poured in some batter. I watched her work for a while in silence and by the time she finished pouring in the last of the batter, Uncle Ben could be heard from the front door as he said, "Smells like someone is making my favorite breakfast food."

"You better hurry up, Aunt May and I are almost done eating them all."

We heard the front door slam shut and someone running through the living room. When Uncle Ben came to a stop in the kitchen, I started laughing like crazy and May started to chuckle.

Uncle Ben looked at the stacks of pancakes and me laughing in my high chair and said, "You are getting more like your father, I liked it better when you didn't talk."

Me and May both laughed at that as he let out a sigh and sat down in a chair next to me and said, "May, are you gonna give Theo pancakes?"

"Yes I am, I figured he should be fine eating some of them. Just not too much syrup, I don't want him climbing up the walls more than he normally does."

"I don't climb up the walls, only the book shelf, couches and a few other things."

"And why do you do that?" Uncle Ben asked.

"Because it's fun, why else would you do something?"

May frowned a little bit and said, "What happens when you climb up something and then fall off and get hurt?"

"I don't fall in the first place."

"You might not have fallen yet, but Peter has a few times. You are setting a bad example for him." May said, as she finished the last pancake and began to prepare some for me, with a little bit of butter and syrup.

"I told him not to try it but he said if I can do it, so can he."

Uncle Ben laughed at that as he made himself a plate of pancakes and said, "You are pretty much like a brother to him. Of course he is going to try and follow your lead. So what do you think you should do, since you know he is just going to copy you?"

Ben smirked at May after he finished and began to eat his plate of pancakes. She smiled back at him as I stayed quiet for a minute and waited till he was drinking some milk and said. "Then I will just have to teach him how to climb from now on, so he doesn't fall."

He choked slightly on his milk and May laughed at his expense before giving me a glare and said. "Don't you think the proper thing to do is just not climb anything anymore? Then you and Peter won't get hurt and worry all of us."

"You can’t keep us safe forever, might as well get used to us getting hurt now.”

May had just set a plate of cut up pancakes down in front of me as I finished talking. Both of them gave me a weird look as Ben said, “Sometimes, you don’t talk like a kid at all, you know that Theo?”

“I agree with that, he reminds me of an adult sometimes.”

I picked up my plastic spork and scooped up my first piece of pancake with it as I laughed and said. “You know my mom says the same thing. Dad says I am too smart for my age. I agree with both of them.”

Uncle Ben shaked his head and chuckled as he said, “Does he always talk like this, Honey?”

“Pretty much, even with the other kids. But sometimes he says stuff that only a kid would say and catches you off guard.”

As they talked I put the first piece of pancake in my mouth and my eyes went wide at the flavor of it mixed with the butter and syrup. It was the richest, most sugary thing I had ever eaten in both life's and it was amazing. Not even my birthday cake could compare. It was sugary, nutty with a hint of something else. I finished my first bite and looked at May as I excitedly said, “This is amazing, can I have more?!”

Ben laughed as May looked at my still full plate and said, “Finish your first plate and I might give you one more.”

I scooped up another one as I said, “You don’t have to worry about me Aunt May, these are the best things I have ever had. I could eat them till I burst!”

“Well I will agree with you there Theo, May’s pancakes are the best.”

May chuckled and said, “Both of you flatters just finish your food and you might get more.”

Both Uncle Ben and I said, “Yes Ma'am.”

We looked at each other and then laughed, before starting to eat our fill of pancakes. Aunt May smiled at both of us and then started to eat her own plate of pancakes.