Our Boys

The New Room

The second floor was arranged in an L-shape, with a large balcony all along, which overlooked the great room. The first door at the top of the stairs led to the loft, which mainly served as storage for the family's junk and Christmas decorations. To the right of that was the door to the bathroom for Tobi's - and soon to be the little boy's – room. Next to that, was the large bedroom itself. JJ decided to save it for last. He looped around at the top of the stairs to the right, and went all the way down the hall to the other end of the balcony. Harry's room.

"This door leads to our youngest adopted son's room, Harry. He's nine and has lived with us since he was six. His mummy got really sick, and picked Simon and me to adopt him when she passed away," JJ informed the boy before knocking on the door. "Harry? It's me. I got someone here I'd like you to meet."

They heard an excited squeal and a crash, which caused JJ, Josh and Ethan to wince.

"Harry's a bit of a slob," Ethan whispered. "Enter his room at your own risk."

JJ gently cuffed the back of Ethan head. "He does the best he can. Not all of us have the benefit of rooming with this neat freak," he added, winking at Josh.

The two simply grinned up at their father. None of them noticed the small boy vigilantly watching this interaction with intense interest.

The door to the room was thrown open, revealing a slightly short, blond-haired, blue-eyed boy, panting, eyes bright with excitement. His room was painted blue and white in honor of Harry's favourite football team, Chelsea. Posters of other sports teams and players decorated the walls, and a wooden bed was pushed up against the wall, a Chelsea duvet lying messily in the centre.

"Hi! I'm Harry! Dad and Papa said you were coming today, but I was starting to think you were never coming! Wow, you really are small. Hey! Is that your dog? Papa said you had a puppy. What's its name? It is nice?" Harry gushed in a single breath.

"Harry, breathe," JJ instructed. "Sorry kiddo, he tends to ramble when he gets excited."

"Do not," Harry protested.

Josh merely raised an eyebrow at his brother, a habit he'd picked up from his dad.

"To answer your questions, yes, that's his puppy. Her name is Molly, and she's very nice, just a little scared of strangers."

Harry kneeled down and held out his hand, allowing Molly to sniff it. Harry would later claim it was his loveable personality that caused Molly to immediately start licking his hand, Josh and Ethan would quickly tell everyone that it was just because of the peanut butter still on Harry's hands from lunch an hour earlier.

JJ sent Harry back into his room to clean up whatever he'd knocked over, then continued on his tour.

Josh waved to the next-door. "This is just Harry's and our bathroom. You and Tobi will share the one that's next to your room. It's got two sinks, too, and a big bath." He stopped in front of the next door, opening it. "This here's our room. As you can see, I keep it pretty neat." Josh showed off his and Ethan's small room, decorated in Millwall stuff on one side and West Ham on the other, as well as a number of games and books. There were also a number of photo's pinned to the wall, of the house, their pets, family day trips and from the summer camp. Nearly all of them had both boys side by side in the image, like a pair of conjoined twins.

"Josh and Ethan picked the smallest room because they wanted to make sure it would just be the two of them," JJ explained with a playful wink.

"We like each other's company" Ethan said simply.

JJ smiled at his sons, knowing the true reason behind the room selection. Their room was last on that length of wall. Perpendicular to it and furthest from the stairs, was the door to JJ and Simon's room.