A Troubled Family || Newsies Soulmates AU

Chapter 27 - Anthony

Anthony nods, as Albert pulls away.

Anthony goes back to stirring, not noticing Henry watching him with a mix of confusion and worry present in his eyes.

About thirty minutes later

Henry walks into Anthony's room, stopping in the doorway to knock first.

Anthony takes his headphones off, resting his head on the guardrail, as he laid on his stomach on the bed. "Hey, hey."

Henry smiles up at him. "Hey, Anth. What are you doing?"

Anthony shrugs a bit. "The usual; reading about stars and such."

Henry raises an eyebrow. "Do you like stars? You seem to read about them a lot."

Anthony smiles. "Stars are fascinating."

Henry smiles. "Cool. You'll have to teach me about them at some point." Anthony nods. "Can I come up there?"

Anthony nods, getting up and crawling to one side of the bunk.

Henry chuckles, as he climbs up the ladder, sitting down on the opposite side of Anthony, though there wasn't much space in between them.

"Can we have a real talk for a minute?" Henry questions, a tiny bit nervous to ask.

Anthony sits up a bit straighter. "Uh- yeah. Did I do something wrong?"

Henry shakes his head. "No, no. I'm just a bit worried about you."

Anthony bites his lip.

"I saw the way you reacted when Boots mentioned not eating." Henry starts. "You seem to be getting skinner, not that I know how because you're skinny as heck, but I don't see you eat a lot. I'm just a bit worried. You tend to wait to eat more than two bites till everyone else has left the room."

Anthony plays with his fingers. "I- uh- I don't really like food? If that makes sense. I guess my body is just used to not eating more than a few bites of something."

Henry frowns a bit. "Well, I guess I understand that based on your past. Is there a way I can help you?"

Anthony shrugs, still not meeting Henry's gaze. "Uh, I don't know. Other foster homes forced me to eat. I just threw it up later. I guess it's why I never seem to care when Jack tries to talk me into eating and such."

Henry nods. "I definitely won't force you to eat anything, and no one else here will unless we really need you to eat something."

Anthony nods, staring at his fingers as he played with them.

"Hey, can you look at me? I'm not mad." Henry tells Anthony.

Anthony exhales. "Sorry. I'm just used to getting scolded for not eating, because I'd make my foster family get in trouble."

"I understand. I'm just reminding you that things are different here. We actually care." Henry tells Anthony, smiling. "I know, shocking. People in the world care."

Anthony laughs a bit. "You guys are amazing. Though, overprotective of me."

"I can see that." Henry laughs. "I have a deal for you." He states.

Anthony gestures for him to go on, finally looking into his eyes.

Henry smiles.

"Here's the deal." Henry starts. "If we find a few things that you like, sorta like crackers or something, and you and I go somewhere private if you haven't eaten enough, I'll sit with you and help you slowly eat until you've finished one thing. Then, you can either tell me about stars, dance with me, or something."

Anthony nods, smiling a bit. "Thanks, I just- just feel bad because you have to take care of me."

Henry takes Anthony's hands in his. "Anthony, I don't know how many times one of us has told you this, but I'll repeat it; I don't get annoyed with helping you, because I want to help you. I don't think about it as a chore, I don't think of you as a burden. I want to help you, I want you to trust me. All of us do. So I don't care how long we have to take, how many dances I have to do, how many hours we sit at the table, I will help you through it no matter what, because I'm your brother."

Anthony smiles, his eyes stinging as tears fill them. "Thank you."

Henry chuckles. "Why are you crying?"

Anthony wipes his eyes. "I'm such a crybaby." He laughs a bit. "I'm just thankful."

Henry hugs Anthony. "It's okay, Anth. We all get emotional at times."

Anthony hugs him back.

They pull away after a few minutes.

"Now," Henry starts. "I know for a fact you haven't eaten today, and I don't want you passing out during Game Night, so let's go pick out something and try to eat."

And so they did that.

Henry sat with Anthony, while Anthony tried to eat crackers.

He ended up finishing the crackers, and then Henry did aerials with him for a few minutes.

And that ended in a hug from Anthony to Henry.

I'm so thankful for him, and all the other Newsies.

Even, Albert and Spot. Though their flirting is annoying.

1272 Words
Friendly reminder: Everyone has different troubles with eating problems.
Sitting myself down and not letting myself do anything else till I've eaten a pack of crackers or something is something that I used to do, and something I could do without telling anyone so I didn't worry anyone. (I'm far better now.)