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Adrien leaned forward, toes precariously balanced on the wooden ladder his father had given him.
"Be careful, dearest!" Emilie called from the ground. She held the ladder steady as Adrien pushed himself up, up, up.
"Stupid... apple... bats..." Adrien grunted, fingers outstretched. He put one down on the final ledge of the ladder and put all his weight forward.
"Adrien!" Emilie gasped, having to put all of her own weight into holding the ladder back.
"Got it!"
"I still think you should've just waited for your father to come home."
Well, now we don't have to wait for him to have our apples." Adrien shrugged.
Emilie sighed, shifting the basket of Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, and Pink Lady apples. "My brave boy."
Adrien unlocked the back porch door for his mother, who quickly got inside to drop the basket on their counter. "Get the sugar and cinnamon for me, will you?"
As Adrien rummaged through their pantry, Emilie pulled out a wooden cutting board, an apple corer, a large bowl, and a wooden spoon. The two washed their hands and then began to core and dice the apples.
"...And then Nino jumped onto the gorilla!" Adrien laughed. "He talks a big game, but I think that's the only time I've ever seen him do anything physically dangerous."
"Physically?" His mother asked, smiling.
"Well, once, there was this time where Father wouldn't let me go back to school, and Nino-"
A flash of pain rocketed through Adrien's head. He gasped, dropping the knife to clutch his head.
"Adrien?"
The pain faded from his head and Adrien looked at his mother, who hadn't changed her smiling expression. "What did your friend do?"
"He..." Adrien paused for a second, then grinned. "He held a birthday party for me! He invited my whole class, and we had a great time."
"That's wonderful, sweetie." Emilie touched his cheek, then went back to dicing. "How about this year, for your birthday, we have a picnic?"
"But we have picnics everyday?" Adrien said, a hint of a question in his voice.
"Sure, but this one will be even better." Emilie smiled. A buzzing filled the back of Adrien's head.
"Okay!" Adrien smiled again. "I can't wait."
"That's my son." Emilie cut the last apple slice and put the knife down. "Help me put these in the bowl?"
Adrien sat in his chair, reading a book about pastries. He couldn't quite remember where it came from, but it had a lot of specialized recipes he was eager to try out.
A warm feeling swept through him, tingly and odd.
"Your father's home."
Adrien jumped up, the front door opening at the same time. "Father!" Adrien hugged him, arms tight and a smile on his face.
"Adrien." Gabriel brushed a hand through his son's hair. "How did the apple pies go?"
"They're in the oven, dear." Emilie joined the hug, kissing Gabriel's cheek.
"And the rest of today?"
"Perfect, just like always."
"Perfect."
Adrien hugged his parents tighter to ignore the ache in his head.