Breakfast in Bed
Little Varian woke up and stretched. It was quiet in the house- he remembered that Daddy hadn't been feeling well yesterday and had mentioned probably sleeping in today. Well, that was alright. Varian could probably make his own breakfast, and breakfast for Daddy, too! It couldn't be that hard!
With a determined face, Varian sprinted downstairs. Quirin heard the thumps and rolled over, not ready to deal with morning yet. Varian dragged a chair from the living room into the kitchen. It was tougher than it looked, but he managed. He would need that chair to reach all the cabinets. Varian dutifully got out everything he thought he'd need to make scrambled eggs and ham. He began by whacking the eggs against the side of a mixing bowl. Some pieces of shell fell in and Varian reached to pull them out, getting his gloves so sticky he ended up removing them. There was still maybe one or two little pieces Varian hadn't seen, but the eggs were otherwise fine. Next, Varian added milk to make the eggs tender. He poured too much, the eggs were basically swimming in milk as if it were soup he was making instead. He beat the eggs, getting some of the egg and milk mixture onto the tablecloth. He wiped at it with his sleeve and continued cooking.
Now Varian prepared the pan. He used butter- lots of butter- to coat the pan and poured the eggs in as quickly as he could. He stirred and poked at the eggs as they cooked. Next, Varian found some ham that had been cured. Because he was young and inexperienced he didn't know to soak the ham for at least an hour to reduce saltiness. Instead, he just tossed it on top of the eggs. Then he looked for something to drink. There was some apple juice left over from yesterday. Varian loved drinking apple juice, but because his Daddy was sick, Quirin needed honey tea.
He poured 2 teaspoons of loose tea and several spoonfuls of honey into a cup. Then he went to fill the teakettle with water, ignoring the eggs which were burning. It was only after the kettle began to sing that Varian remembered the eggs! He knocked over the teakettle in his haste, spilling some water onto his hand and howling as it burned him. The ham and eggs were sizzling and burning. He tried to slowly pour them onto a plate, but the still smoldering eggs landed on the tablecloth instead and it caught fire. Thinking quickly, Varian threw the apple juice onto the tablecloth, dousing the small fire and leaving behind a nasty stain.
All this commotion had of course alerted Quirin who ran downstairs and into the kitchen where a mess and a crying child awaited him.
"Varian!" Quirin yelled as loudly as his sore throat would let him.
"D-daddy I hurt myself." Varian whimpered.
"Oh you poor kid." Quirin coughed, then pulled his son in for a hug. "What happened here?"
"I was making you breakfast in bed." Varian replied as though it were obvious. And yes, Quirin could see and smell what had once been eggs, but was now a soggy and blackened pile of mush.
"Varian, you're too young to do that. You didn't pay enough attention to the eggs I'm guessing, and you moved too fast and knocked into things. Also you should have kept your gloves on, they would have protected you from burns." Quirin lectured.
Varian's face fell. "I just w-wanted to help..." he murmured.
Quirin realized that any more scolding wouldn't help, as Varian had done his best and for a good reason. Plus, he still needed to treat that burn. "It's alright. I'm not mad." he assured Varian. "Let's get some cool water over that burn, and afterwards we can wrap a bandage around it."
Varian nodded. He'd been burnt before when trying out alchemy experiments to the point where his father had threatened to take away his goggles if he wasn't more careful. This wasn't an alchemy injury, but Varian had a feeling the same warning applied. Protectively he reached for the goggles with his undamaged hand.
"You can keep those if you promise not to cook anything without my permission." Quirin said, coughing again.
"Yes, Daddy." Varian was relieved. He didn't even cry out as the water ran over his burn, though he did close his eyes. And when it was all over and the bandage securely in place, Quirin hugged him and told him in no uncertain terms that Varian wasn't to try anything like this on his own for quite some time. Varian agreed and they ended up eating oatmeal and honey tea, both prepared by Quirin while Varian sat very still and obedient in his chair.
The End
Thank you tumblr anon for giving me this idea. 4 yr old Varian and fire are a bad mix.