Bulking up
lexandra asked for a oneshot of Henry feeling embarrassed that his mom has more muscle mass than him.
For the third day in a row, Emma had a parcel to collect from the mailman in the morning. Not that the parcel was for her; it was again addressed to Henry from some company in Concord, New Hampshire. Just like the previous two days, it wasn't exactly light.
Emma dragged the heavy package up the stairs to Henry's bedroom where she dumped it on his bed.
"Jeez kid, are you collecting parts to build some kind of death ray?!" Emma asked. "That's the third day in a row. I'm going to get a hernia." Emma gently teased.
"Sorry." Henry responded. "It's just the parts for my weight bench. This should be the last one." Henry explained.
"I'm sorry, your what?" Emma asked him. "Since when did you need to work out? You're fourteen! Is it even safe for you to be using this weight bench? How did you order anything online in the first place?!" Henry just shrugged.
"They don't actually check if all your details are correct. They don't care as long as they're getting money. I used the birthday money you guys all gave me. It's what I wanted to spend it on."
"You missed out one crucial question there, Henry. Is it safe for you to be using it?" Emma repeated herself.
"Yes." Henry sighed. "I know what I'm doing." Emma was confused. Since when did Henry want to push weights? She sat down on the edge of his bed.
"What's brought this on, kid?" She asked him. "You've never expressed any interest in this kind of thing before."
"I just want to build some muscle, that's all." Henry mumbled. "It's embarrassing when your mom has more muscle than you." Emma felt for her son. He was getting older, learning what being a man meant. She guessed some of the boys in his year were starting to properly develop muscle and he was feeling a bit left behind. Especially when his mom was a cop who had to keep in shape.
"Ok, so you're wanting to get a little muscle, I can get that." Emma said sympathetically. "But I think maybe this bench might be something to work up to in the long run. I won't make you return it if you really want it. It was your money, after all. But I think you might be safer starting with different exercises. Like push ups. You don't want to injure yourself before you've even started to see results. It's also important to remember that at the age you're at everyone develops at different rates and that's ok. Try not to compare yourself to the other guys in school. It's not a competition…"
"Oooooook." Henry said, things beginning to get too awkward. "Point taken. Thanks for the advice mom. I'll start doing some push ups and stuff."
"No problem kid. I'm here whenever you need me." Emma said as she got up and ruffled his hair. She couldn't believe how quickly her little guy was growing up.
