TM: Write about a mess you've cleaned up
They had ordered Henry "Panda Pancakes" from room service for breakfast.
As far as Sasha could tell they were pretty much the same as regular pancakes, except for the chocolate sauce, chocolate chips, and whipped cream. She felt a little guilty for getting him something so sweet for breakfast, but he seemed happy with them. The two larger pancakes that had made up the bear's face were now gone, and only the small ears remained.
"All full," Henry sighed happily, waving his chocolate, whipped cream, and syrup covered hands at her. She watched as he looked down at his plate and picked up one of the larger pieces of his remaining pancakes. "Yours?" he offered, holding it up to Sasha.
"Nooooo," Sasha replied with a laugh, getting up and helping him out of his booster seat. "Maybe Peter wants it," she joked, looking from Henry to Peter and back. "Did you ask him?"
"No!" he said excitedly, dipping the pancake that he held in his hand back in the syrup on his plate before he walked over to Peter's chair and reached for his sleeve. Peter picked him up before his hand could make contact with the fabric and sat him on his lap. "Yours."
"Sure, I'll take that," Peter laughed. "Put them here, I'll finish it." He grabbed a napkin off of the table and tried to clean off Henry's face, but the little boy resisted by turning his head. When Peter gave in and put the napkin down, Henry looked up at him again. "I'll help."
"Yeah, let him help," Sasha grinned and set the plate with the remaining pancakes in front of them. "He's a big helper. He totally knows what he's doing." She'd been a victim of Henry's 'helping' before. Now it was Peter's turn.
Peter handed Henry his fork as a sign of approval. "Okay Henry, help me out."
Henry took his fork from him and set it back down on the table. After a quick glance at the piece of pancake that was in his hand, he promptly leaned over and stuffed it into Peter's mouth. Then he directed his attention back to the plate, scooped up a handful of pancake, and pushed that in as soon as Peter was done chewing.
"One second," Peter protested as he quickly worked on swallowing. His face matched Henry's in that it was now chocolate covered and dripping syrup. Sasha was working hard at holding in her laughter, but she giggled when Henry got a chocolate chip stuck to Peter's nose. She felt reasonably safe on the other side of the table, hanging out in her white, clean pajamas while Henry made syrup fingerprints on Peter's t-shirt.
"No full, Pete?" Henry asked. He put his hand on Peter's cheek and smiled when the chocolate transfered to Peter's face. Not wanting to wait for an answer, he reached for the plate again and gathered up everything left on it in his two hands. "Not too fas."
"Alright, not too fast," he agreed. This time he made Henry open up his hands and picked out the pancake, taking smaller bites at a time. They were a lot stickier than anyone should be at breakfast, and Henry's Spider-Man pajamas and Peter's t-shirt really needed to be washed, but now they had a system. They were happy and full.
"Done."
"Good boys," Sasha joked, getting up from her seat. She walked over to kiss the top of Henry's head, and quickly gave Peter a kiss on the cheek. "But I'm so not helping with the cleanup," she informed them, heading out of the room before Peter could argue. Giving Henry a bath was kind of like getting one, anyway.
Maybe they would splash away a couple of syrup stains.
Sasha Hoffman
Original Character
626 words