My Home From Home (ManxMan)

Chapter 14

"Oh, hello there Danny." The corners of Henry's lips perked up into a smile as his face seemed to brighten at the sight of the little lad.

"Hewwo." Danny waved adorably with his dainty hand before going back to playing with the sleeves of his grey woollen jumper.

"Awww, hello to you too, mate." Henry said cheerily, leaning forward and resting his palms under his chin. Danny didn't say anything, glancing down bashfully as his soft, silky blond hair fell down into his eyes. Henry just watched him with a smile on his face as the little boy silently glanced around, his gaze at the bookcases and anatomical diagrams that lined the wall; a look of intrigue and fear washing over his big amber eyes at the illustrations of the human musculoskeletal systems.

"Is everything alright, mate?" Henry asked sweetly; he didn't know why but everything Danny did seemed to bring out this caring paternal side to him though he barely knew him. The way he looked around and stumbled about clumsily brought a smile to Henry's face.

    In the few days Henry had been around, he'd slowly but surely managed to win over Danny's heart little by little with each passing encounter. Though at first he'd shy away from Henry and hide behind his father, withing a few days they'd got to the point where Danny seek him out himself; often times he wouldn't say much to Henry, but nonetheless Henry was pleased that the boy was warming up to him.

"Scawy." Danny said softly, pointing at the diagram of the skeleton on the wall.

"Oh, I see." Henry nodded in understanding as he followed the little boy's line of vision towards the diagrams; he realised that it might be strange to see something like that for a small child. "Danny, mate. Come here." Henry beckoned the child over, watching as the little boy blinked his big brown eyes up at him before stalking up to him behind his desk.

"Are you scared of the diagrams?" Henry smiled knowingly, prompting the little lad to nod. "Would you like to know a secret?" He whispered, earning him yet another nod from Danny. "I used to be a bit frightened of them too. But then I got older and I realised that there's nothing to be frightened of."

"Reawwy?" Danny asked.

"Well, of course." Henry said animatedly, reaching over to ruffle the boy's soft blond hair. "Would you like to have a look? You don't have to if you don't want." He asked, noting Danny's eyes dart between the diagrams and the dark haired man before him.

"Okie." Danny nodded genuinely. He didn't appear to be hesitant so Henry thought there was no harm in explaining it to him; though he hadn't a clue how simplified to make it.

"Brilliant, alright. Come on, you." Henry scooped up the smaller boy into his arms and carried him on his hip; huffing playfully as though the little boy was heavy, earning him a soft giggle from the shy little toddle.

"Alright, where shall we start..." Henry hummed to himself as he carried the little boy towards the diagrams and arbitrarily deciding which to show him. "So this is a skeleton." He explained, watching the little boy stare at the drawing blankly. "I know it looks a bit frightening at first, but there's nothing scary about it. In fact! Our skeleton is our best friend."

"Fwiend?" Danny asked curiously, the look of interest in his eyes making Henry smile.

"Yes, we all have one inside us. When we're little like you are, you have a little one inside. But as we grow big and strong like you will, it grows with us. That's why your daddy gives you a glass of milk every night before bed so your skeleton can grow big and strong with you!" Henry glanced down wearily, feeling a slight sense of relief that the little boy seemed to understand the context he was putting it in. "Our skeleton help us stand and sit and pick things up, put them down, kick a football, and most importantly it protects all the stuff inside our body. Without it we'd not be able to do all the fun stuff."