Coffee and Aspirin

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Baby talk is featured in this chapter. Please don't hate on it 😣
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Once again, Henry had gone to work and done the same thing every. Single. Day. When would something change? Yes, Jamie had come into his life but sooner or later, Jamie would leave him just as his parents, his brother, and Milo. Jamie would be just like them.

No! Jamie was different! Henry knew that. Unlike Milo, Jamie made Henry feel comfortable; he hadn't laughed at Henry when he said he liked coloring. He had said something about his mother being an artist and kept Henry controlled, and relaxed. Milo wasn't able to do that. Harry wasn't able to either.

Slowly, Henry closed the cafe's doors, locking them with his key then dragged his feet to his bike.

^^^
At around seven, Jamie had gotten home from work and immediately laid his head on the cold countertop in his kitchen.

He was exhausted. Patients with tantrums, new medications, more filing, and paperwork. But, he had popped a pill into him before entering his office that day so he was now experiencing the aftermath of that: exhaustion.

Jamie perked up however when he remembered whose jacket he had sitting in his room. Jamie went and got it, and checked on Klarisa, before leaving once again, heading to Henry's.

***
Henry looked at the drawing he had just made. It was a girl next to a motorcycle. The drawing was from the coloring book he had but Henry wasn't focused on the drawing, but on the colors, he had used.

"Pwetty!" Henry exclaimed with glee. The red, grey, green, and other colors used were all used outside of the line but Henry didn't care. His scribbles were a masterpiece.

Henry, not having eaten lunch, wasn't surprised when his tummy growled. Laughing, Henry's feet carried him to the fridge and he grabbed the leftover mushed baby food.

Henry got a spoon from the drawer and then sat in the middle of the floor, spooning the fruits into him.

A knock sounded.

Unlike last time, Little Henry was far too gone in headspace to realize what that meant. He stood up and on his way to the door, set his bowl on the counter then opened the door.

"Jama!" Giggled Henry. He rocked on the heels of his feet, his smile huge. "Wants to pway?"

^^^
Jamie didn't know what to do. His eighteen-year-old crush was wearing a ladybug onesie, had what looked like mushed fruit on his cheeks and mouth, and had a child-like wonder about him.

This was like Tommy, one of Jamie's patients. Tommy was a seven-year-old boy in a seventeen teenager's body. Tommy called it regressing in age or 'little space.'

So was Henry a little, then?

"Hey, Henry," Jamie crouched down to his level, speaking softly. "Can you tell me how old you are right now?"

Henry froze for a moment then he began to think before holding up a zero and then a six with his hands.

"Six months?" Jamie interpreted. Henry nodded cutely. "Well, can I come in? I'd love to play with you for a bit."

Henry shook his head happily, running back to his coloring books. Jamie stood up and shut the door. He noticed what had to be the messy food on Henry's face.

He picked up the bowl from the counter and went to Henry, sitting on the back of his legs, watching him color.

Henry grabbed a purple crayon and held it up for Jamie. "Color?" He asked sweetly. Jamie couldn't refuse when Henry looked so adorable so he took the crayon and gave Henry his bowl of mushed fruits.

"I'll help you color if you finish this up, okay?"

Henry nodded, grabbing the spoon and digging into his dinner.