Connected To Him (ManxMan)

Part 2: Chapter 45

Chapter 45: Saturday Brunch

"I didn't forget anything back at the house, did I?"

Clark was rolling his eyes as Ethan rifled through his bag of groceries. He'd 'double-checked' it like five times before they left the condo but still felt the need to check again.

"No, you didn't," Clark insisted, gesturing to the door in front of them. "So can we go inside now? I haven't eaten today yet."

"You're the one who decided to skip breakfast," Ethan muttered under his breath, letting out a heavy sigh. "Fine, knock."

A few beats after Clark knocked on the door, Barnett Sterling had the door thrown open, a wide smile on his face.

"Boys! It's nice to see you!"

Clark was in the line of fire first, pulled into a strong hug while Ethan maneuvered around them to head towards the kitchen. He faintly heard his father quizzing Clark on his life and his job but their conversation was buried under the noise of cursing. Ethan found his mother blowing on her hand, a glass dish resting on the open oven door.

"Mom!"

Loretta Sterling didn't respond well to Ethan's coddling. He pulled her towards the sink and ran her fingers under the tap while she complained the entire time.

"Why were you trying to pull the tray out without an oven mitt, mom?" Ethan asked tiredly, sighing in exasperation.

"I did. Use a cloth, I mean. The fabric just slipped at a bad time."

Ethan looked over his shoulder to the oven, seeing two pot-holders haphazardly thrown on the floor. Ethan left his mom at the sink, using the same pot-holders to pull the dish out of the oven and onto the stove. It looked like a delicious quiche. Shame she was so distracted while pulling it out. His mother was usually the one to help him when he made a stupid mistake. It was a scary reminder of his age that Ethan was starting to help her out too.

His mom took it upon herself to turn off the tap and get some polysporin from the junk cupboard. Seeing the gel from his childhood brought Ethan immediate peace. She would be fine.

"It's good to see you, Ethan." She said simply, smiling softly. "Now, where is Clark? I want to hug my second son."

Barnett bringing Clark into the kitchen took the answer right out of Ethan. Clark was passed from one parent to the other like a baseball. Loretta went in, eager to hear about progress with Clark's interior designing career.

"You want to help me set the table?"

Ethan turned away from a bashful Clark to look at his father, chuckling a bit to himself. The Sterling treatment truly was like nothing else.

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The way that Clark dug into the quiche and pancakes made Ethan think that all of the interrogations tired him. Ethan found it hard to pity the younger man. Clark loved it when his parents claimed to unofficially adopt Clark, but he didn't realize all that came with being the son of the Sterlings. Detailed recounts of any event the older couple had an interest in, for one. To them, it made perfect sense to have very little contact for months and then catch up in a single afternoon. Clark was just glad to have a break while the Sterlings heard more about their son's promotion.

"Maybe you'll finally get enough money to buy a house!" His father exclaimed cheerfully.

"It's just me and Clark in the apartment, dad. A condo is plenty of space for us," He argued, getting some nods of agreement from Clark.