The mission was successful, thanks to Miles being much better at holding a sleeping baby now. Though he almost got caught when Jess came into the nursery. Thankfully she didn't look up.
"The bed wasn't cold under him, smart guy," she winced as her husband stitched a wound above her eyebrow.
"He was asleep in the playpen, duh," he snipped the threads, "Drink your soup, sweets."
"I'm drinking it," Jess sipped, "Did you guys enjoy your movies?"
"Oh yeah, they loved it. I showed them the classics. Only the best," he smirked, rubbing her feet.
"Good. Happy everyone had a good night," she laid against her pillow, pulling him into her arms, "I better not get yelled at for someone having nightmares about clowns or something."
X
Miles rubbed his eyes, fighting off sleep. He could see Miguel next to him on the floor, out like a light. They had opted to sleep in the fort since they went through the noneffort of putting a mattress in there.
The teen slid away to the bathroom. Under the vanity cabinet he hid a book he snuck out of Miguel's house. A little photo album.
Miles slowly fingered through each page, studying each photo. Only a few pictures of Mig and Gabe as children. Like a newborn picture of each and maybe three more baby pics until he saw four or five pictures of them as children. A lot of forced smiles and glimpses of red and purple marks peeking out from under sleeves and over collars.
Pressing forward, there were many photos of them as teenagers and adults. Assumably not forcefully taken by their parents, but by friends. The smiles were more genuine, though Miguel's still seemed forced in a number of them. There was a sadness behind his eyes in his adult photos. Opposed to the underlying anger and fear behind their child pictures.
Miles came on a few with a couple women. These had to be some of the most genuine smiles he had seen in the whole album. He slid a photo out, reading the back. Xina and Dana. There were a lot of gaps between photos before they just ended. Must have been pictures he didn't care for anymore. It seemed like way more pictures of him with Xina.
He quickly hid the photo album again before flushing the toilet, in case anyone was near enough to question why he had been in there so long.
Finding his way back to the fort, Miguel was still asleep, having rolled onto one of his stuffed friends and now nursing his thumb. Miles contemplated the pictures as he laid down, curious to learn more. There was no good way to bring up those photos.
Hey Miguel, whose Xina? What about Dana? How do I know those names? Oh I stole your photo album from your nightstand while you and your brother were arguing.
Didn't exactly roll off the tongue too well. Maybe he could ask Jess or Lyla. Yeah Lyla was his little icon thing, but she gives him crap constantly so she might answer. Who knows. He would just have to sleep on it.
X
The smell of cooking and sound of sizzling had Miles groggily crawling out of the fort. Miguel was in the kitchen, frying bacon and chopping up veggies.
"Do you survive off naps?" he scratched his back, "What time is it?"
"8," he tossed the green pepper into the pie crust.
"Oh…Yeah, ok," he nodded, "What are you cooking?"
"Quiche," he tossed the other veggies in before pouring his eggs on top.
"Smells good. I'm going to the bathroom, let me know when it's done."
He gave him a thumbs up, taking the bacon off the skillet to dice.
Miles returned shortly after, sitting on the counter to watch the man cook.
"Whats up?" Mig set the timer for his food.
"Is Gabriel your only brother? Do you have any sisters or anything?"
"No," he said nonchalantly, "My sperm donor has another son that's older than me. He wants me dead, feelings mutual," he shrugged, "We're going to a workshop later."
"Oh…ok," wasn't sure what he expected. Maybe a different tactic was in order, "Any nieces or nephews?"
"No. The idea of Gabri having a child gives me grey hair."
Miles frowned. Ok, sticking to the plan of asking Jess or Lyla.
"Good morning," Virgil stretched, "Its finally time for daddy to set up his new espresso machine," he picked the teenager up and set him on the ground.
"You're such an old man," Jess sat at the table, half asleep.
"I bet you won't be saying that when you want a vanilla latte," he smiled, opening the box and setting each piece on the counter.
"I will, just more respectfully."
"I want one," Miles watched him.
"You want one, you're gonna get it. Everyone can have one!"
X
After breakfast, in which Miles had quiche for the first time, they loaded up and hit the gym for a hard work out.
"This is almost as nice as the gym in HQ," Miles did his shoulder presses.
"Its a hero gym," Jess informed him, "So we can actually break a sweat here."
And a sweat is what they broke. A good workout to burn off all last night's junk food and then some.
The trip back home to get cleaned was rather quiet, most likely due to everyone still being tired from being up super late then waking super early.
"I'm going to put you some changes in here, just in case," Jess told Miles, sliding some pull ups in the diaper bag.
"Ok," he muttered into the couch cushion.
The front bell rang out.
"Pops is here," Miguel pushed up, hurrying to the door.