My Home From Home (ManxMan)

Chapter 19

In the week since Henry and Thomas' tender little moment, Thomas couldn't help but feel his eyes opened in a way; though he felt himself falling for Henry more and more with each passing minute, he couldn't help but suddenly become hyperaware of something that he'd noticed before but chosen to store away in the deep, dark, recesses of his psyche. Nothing about Henry seemed to make sense.

Henry grabbed the onion that Thomas had set out and stared at it blankly; surely it couldn't be hard to peel and chop an onion, what could possible go wrong? But what Henry had momentarily forgotten was was the fact that he hadn't the slightest idea how to peel nor chop an onion.

The dark haired young man's sapphire eyes suddenly lit up with an idea, prompting him to spring up from his seat and walk over towards the drawer they kept the cutlery and rummaging around until he found what he'd been searching for; a potato peeler.

With an innocent, victorious smile blossoming across his face he took the potato peeler and made his way back to the kitchen table, all the while Thomas stared at him blankly; leant back in the chair, elbow on the arm rest as his hand rested pensively over his mouth to hide his utter perplexity. Henry chucked awkwardly with a wide grin before shifting his gaze back down to the potato peeler and onion in his hands; he'd seen servants use one before to peel potatoes downstairs but he'd never actually used one himself.

Thomas watched as Henry took the peeler and struck it against the onion, his entire body flinching ever so slightly as he did so; taking off the flaky skin along with a bit more of the actual inside of the onion than was ideal. But more than focusing on the brutalised onion, Thomas was all too fixated on Henry's rather peculiar ways; Henry looked uncomfortable just as he looked doing anything he'd offered to help Thomas with; so uncomfortable that even Thomas found himself visibly cringing at how odd it was. From mopping, to dusting, to chopping vegetables or cooking, Henry struggled with everything no matter how simple it might be. Not to mention the times his stories about his family seemed guarded, or flat out didn't add up.

Thomas continued chopping up the Brussel sprouts and cabbage he'd taken a break from earlier all the while Henry continued to hack at the onion with the potato peeler. Thomas would glance up periodically, feeling physical discomfort and visibly cringing with every inexpert stroke Henry made with the potato peeler. But though Thomas could tell the pretty raven haired boy hadn't a clue what he was doing, he never once whinged or moaned about it. A part of Thomas admired him for his willingness to help, he nonetheless couldn't quite kick the feeling that every time Henry did so it looked as though he was doing it for the very first time.

Henry suddenly hissed in pain as Thomas' eye shot up to stare at him wide-eyed, his gaze travelling down to Henry's hand, seeing a small nick on his thumb knuckle with blood beginning to flow out. Hastily putting down the onion and the potato peeler, he grabbed a clean tea towel off the table and wrapped it around his thumb, applying pressure to his thumb to stop the bleeding; it was only a small nick, but it stung nonetheless.Henry grabbed his coat and slipped out into the corridor, sauntering down the stairs and towards the kitchen where Thomas and the boys would likely be at this hour of the morning. Henry figured it best to offer his assistance with breakfast; he felt like that was what a small town, modest, young country doctor would do in such a situation.

"Good morning!" Sang Henry as he walked into the kitchen and greeted Thomas with a nod, ruffling Danny's hair playfully and making his way over to the pram next to Thomas to plant a chaste kiss on little Alfie's head. The handsome Constable couldn't help but smile at how good Henry seemed to be with the boys; Danny practically worshiped 'Henwy' and on nights Alfie was fussy even his own Dad couldn't seem to get him to settle down. But Henry always managed to put Alfie at ease within seconds of holding him.