SBI family AU

Part #20-Fatherhood?

Phil honestly didn't know why he had applied to become a foster parent. He didn't have any sort of fatherly experience, his own father not being very present in his life. Yet here he found himself staring at a pair of broken eyes, waiting for him to do something.

Phil gave a smile and knelt down to the young boys level, "Hey there. I'm Phil," he stuck out his hand, the young boy flinching and closing his eyes, almost bracing for impact. That made Phil angry, who would harm a child? He kept a smile on his face, determined to help this young boy.

When there was no impact, the boy opened his eyes. He looked at Phil confused, then saw the outstretched hand. He hesitantly took it, nearly jumping out of his skin as Phil gently shook his hand, "I-I'm Techno..."

"Nice to meet you Techno. Are you hungry?" Phil stood and Techno watched him with such curiosity and apprehension, "We can have anything you want, as long as it's not sweets or something. Can't have that for dinner, can we?" Phil flashed him another smile, trying to make the boy feel safer.

Phil could tell Techno didn't trust him, so he started walking to the kitchen and motioned for him to follow. Phil opened the pantry door and started rummaging around, intentionally making oohs and ahs to try and latch onto the boy's curiosity. When Techno finally got drawn in, Phil watched his eyes light up at the variety of different items, which put a genuine smile on his lips.

Stepping out of the way, he let Techno pick out different things to try. When Techno's eyes traveled up, Phil stepped back in to grab the bags on the higher shelf. Eventually, half of the pantry was splayed out over the counter. There was an assortment of things ranging from chips and peanut butter to cereal and pasta.

Phil watched Techno's eyes go from all the items to him, then back to the items. "Well, we can't have all of these tonight, but we can definitely have some of them. Have you ever had a PBJ, Techno?"

Phil watched as Techno looked at the sandwich with a look of apprehension. They'd settled on PBJs with some potato chips. Techno had watched Phil make the sandwiches, almost like he wasn't used to food. The boy was skinny, that was for sure. Phil leaned against the counter, watching the boy examine and re-examine the sandwich. He'd eaten the chips no problem, but for some reason, he wouldn't touch the sandwich. "Go on, try it. It won't kill you y'know. Not properly eating can kill you."

He watched Techno digest his words, before hesitantly picking up the sandwich and taking a bite. Before he knew it, Techno had eaten the entire thing and was staring at his plate, "Want another?"

Techno looked at him and nodded, "i-if it's ok with you?" Phil's heart broke for the third time that night. He'd flinched at the handshake, was in wonder over a variety of food, and wasn't used to asking for more when he was hungry? Phil had to help this boy out, there was no way he couldn't.

As he made a second sandwich, he watched Techno look at the bag of chips, "Techno, if you're hungry you don't have to ask. Unless of course, it's something with a knife or the stove. You can get more chips if you want more chips."

Phil smiled to himself as he heard the chair quietly squeak back and the crinkle of the chip bag as Techno moved back to his seat. He set the sandwich down in front of Techno, the boy's eyes looking a little less broken.

Maybe being a father wasn't as hard as Phil thought.