Love is a Language

Time

As far as Henry and Pierre were concerned, all was well in their little world. Sure, there were days that just didn't seem to go right, but they had each other to lean on. There were a few more thunderstorms that summer that ripped Pierre from his peaceful slumbers, but Henry was always there to snuggle closer and hug him tightly to reassure him everything was alright. Henry had a few misadventures that ended up with him sniffling painfully as Miss Trelawny bandaged him up. Pierre made sure he was by his side to hold his hand and whisper comfortingly in his ear. They were very shy when it came to giving each other those innocent kisses they'd received from each other a few months ago, but that was to be expected of little boys new to the sensation of having your tender feelings returned to you.

Summer turned to Fall, and some of Henry's friends went to live with new families. Some of the older kids were moved to a different kind of orphanage. Pierre almost got adopted twice, but when his prospective 'parents' found out that he didn't speak English very well they decided that it would be too much work to teach him. Henry was glad that Pierre hadn't been adopted, but he felt a little annoyed that adults didn't want him just because he needed to be taught something. Pierre was doing just fine in their lessons together, and he could even say basic sentences by now. His accent was thick, and sometimes his longer phrases were broken and choppy, but Henry thought he was doing just fine. Adults could be pretty stupid sometimes. Pierre shared his sentiment wholeheartedly, for pretty much the same reasons.

Peter and John were almost sent to a different orphanage sometime in September, but by some miracle both were allowed to stay at Miss Trelawny's. Despite both of them saying that they knew all along that they weren't going to get split up, Pierre told Henry in his very broken English that John had been crying in their room after it had been announced that they weren't being sent away after all. Henry almost didn't believe him, since John never seemed the kind of person who would cry about anything, but when he saw John a little while later he definitely had tear tracks and puffy red eyes. Peter didn't say anything to him about it, but both Pierre and Henry saw him give his best friend a 'comforting' nudge in the ribs.

While some of the children moved out, there were also new ones moving in. All of them were included in some way, though some were more hesitant to accept invitations to play or to do projects together. They slowly got over the fear though, and soon it felt like they'd known each other all their lives. There were the typical spats and disagreements that always arise between children who have to share the same space for long periods of time, but for the most part things went smoothly at the little orphanage. New friends were made and old friendships were renewed. Henry couldn't remember a time when Peter and John were closer to each other. It was as if the threat of being separated had scared them into realizing just how good of friends they were and how much they'd miss each other if that had actually happened.
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Henry and Pierre hit growth spurts as November rolled around. Henry, who had always been somewhat on the small side, was delighted when he noticed one afternoon that he was as tall as Pierre was. Miss Trelawny had let him revel in his newfound height, but reminded him gently that Pierre was probably going to get taller too. Henry felt a little let down that he wasn't going to be taller than Pierre, but for the time being he enjoyed being his height. He discovered, however, that there was a downside to his sudden growth. He suddenly became a lot clumsier, tripping over his own feet or sometimes nothing at all. He'd drop things he was sure he had a solid grip on. While it elicited giggles from some of the other children, Pierre never laughed at him. Well, not too much at least.

Pierre's cure for Henry's embarrassed tears was a warm hug and the occasional kiss on the nose. Sometimes, if Henry got hurt because of his lack of coordination, he'd give the cut or bruise a gentle kiss as well. Most of the time it was scraped hands or knees, though once Henry got a small cut on his lip from getting whipped in the face by a tree branch. He blushed when he asked Pierre to kiss it better, but Pierre didn't seem to mind at all. Pierre kissed the spot so softly that Henry almost thought he didn't do it at all. But the tingles he got up and down his spine told him that Pierre had, in fact, given Henry his first kiss.

True to Miss Trelawny's prediction though, Pierre shot up seemingly overnight. He towered over Henry now, much to the younger boy's displeasure. Henry had to stretch up on his toes now if he wanted to kiss Pierre's cheeks, and he wasn't very happy with that. But Pierre showed him that they were in the perfect position for a quick peck on the lips when he did that. Most of the time they were surprise kisses, which made it even better. Other perks of being smaller than Pierre included being in the perfect position for him to give Henry gentle forehead kisses, and fitting right under his chin when they slept.

Maybe being shorter wasn't so bad after all.
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The first snow fell at the end of November, causing a rush of excitement to run through the orphanage. Pierre had been violently awoken by Henry pouncing on him and shaking him roughly until he'd blearily rolled over and stared up at him in confusion. "It's snowing!" Henry cried, bouncing up and down on the mattress excitedly. He wasn't keeping his voice down, so either he'd already woken up Peter and John or they were going to be soon whether they liked it or not. "Come look!" he'd yelled, yanking Pierre out of bed so hard that he almost sent him tumbling to the ground. The taller boy stumbled after his excited companion, smiling a little at how cute Henry's exuberance made him.

Peter was already awake, and had thrown the curtains wide open to let in the morning light. John was sitting up in bed and yawning, having woken up only moments ago. Henry pressed his face against the window, his green eyes dancing with excitement at the sight of the fluffy white flakes falling fast from the sky. The snow had started sometime during the night, and a glistening blanket of snow already covered the grounds. At the rate the snow was falling, there was sure to be a few good inches by that evening. Once John was finally out of bed, the four boys scrambled down to breakfast so that they could grab a quick bite before going out to play.

After a hasty meal and a slightly chaotic search for winter gear back in their room, they were ready to explore the wintery world outside. They burst out through the doors and tumbled into the snow with bursts of excited laughter. As more of their companions stepped out into the snow, they engaged them in what became a massive snowball fight that somehow ended up with Miss Trelawny joining in and pelting the older children with some well-aimed snowballs. Pierre and Henry managed to escape the crossfire and hid in their little spot as they watched their friends take on Miss Trelawny all at once. She went down with a laugh under a pile of her triumphant charges, much to the two boys' amusement.

"Madame Trelawny likes kids much," Pierre giggled as he watched the scene. Henry nodded with toothy grin, though his teeth were chattering loudly. "You're cold, 'Enry?" Pierre asked worriedly. Henry made a face and shrugged, but that was all Pierre needed to see. He took off his scarf and tied it around Henry's neck, then wrapped both of his arms around the smaller boy and pulled him close. Henry blushed and snuggled closer to him, grateful for the warmth of Pierre's arms and the use of his scarf. He probably wasn't going to give it back for a while. "Warmer now?" Pierre asked him, resting his chin on top of Henry's brown locks.

"Oui," Henry told him, and for the moment he was. "Much warmer." The two boys stayed snuggled together as they watched a few snowmen start to take shape in the middle of what had been a snowball battlefield just minutes ago. Peter was helping some of the littler kids build their snowmen while John was teaching a wide-eyed little girl how to make the perfect snow angel. All was right and all was well in their little world.
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Author's Note: Just a quick heads' up for my readers.  I realized that I haven't been providing translations of the French in this story, so I'll be going back and adding them in the author's notes. So if you see any notifications about me doing something to the older chapters or whatnot, just know that it's me fiddling around and adding the translations and not doing anything drastic to the content. Merci!