112 Harry's POV
From the next day, we set to work, though very carefully at the same time. Meaning that we didn't run straight at Tom, grabbing him into a hug, or getting too close into his personal space. Instead, we chose to touch him gently as we moved past him, leant on him as we reached for things, rested a hand on his shoulder or arm as we had a conversation. Simple stuff like that, innocent, no way could be construed as malicious, touches that were given freely between friends all the time.
"Good morning Tom!" Danny started first thing, his hand squeezing Tom's shoulder as we walked into the kitchen, big smile on his face.
"Morning." Tom managed to whisper back, flashing a smile.
"Sleep well?" I asked, we had also agreed to try including Tom in conversation more. At least, try to ask him simple questions, ones that could evolve into a conversation, but also could be answered in short sentences if needs be. It was all about building Tom's confidence, and while he was doing great with Buzz, it was also good to get him used to talking to us too.
"Fine, I slept fine." Tom answered, bettered than his usual 'fine' of a morning.
"This one finally let you sleep then?" Dougie laughed, letting Buzz tug on his fingers.
"Buzz slept until six." Tom smiled as his son giggled innocently, full of the kind of joy only babies really had. He seemed to be more joyful recently, come to think of it. Probably thanks to all the attention he was getting from his dad, it was long overdue.
"That's great! Maybe the teething is slowing down." Danny piled some bacon and eggs onto his plate, "And won't that be nice, all those nasty teeth stopping hurting?" he asked the baby, who babbled a bit, a few actual words coming out too, despite them not making much sense in context.
"Hopefully." Tom agreed, it was more than he'd said in a single conversation in a long time. We'd only been touching him for a few days, but he was already relaxing a bit. It was incredible to see exactly what some simple touches could do to a person.
"Well he's got nearly all his teeth now, so that should be something that'll calm down soon." That would be a huge help to Tom too, if he could sleep more than a few hours a night without Buzz sobbing his heart out in pain. At least that would give him at least some chance to relax, even marginally.
"That'll be nice, won't it, little one?" Dougie tickled Buzz's foot, before grabbing his own breakfast plate. In response, Buzz pushed his bottle off the side of his high chair, luckily nothing spilled.
"Well, that won't change." I laughed, kids would always be kids, and that meant messy.
"At least it wasn't food." Danny replied through a mouthful, "Did you do something different with the bacon? It tastes better than usual." He'd also taken to giving subtle compliments when he could.
"I did the same as usual." Tom shifted in his seat self-consciously.
"Weird, well, it tastes good, either way." Danny shrugged it off nonchalantly, Tom blushed in response.
"Food is exclusively for his hair and face." Dougie changed the subject back, nodding towards Buzz's stained bib, though he was currently food-mush free on his face.
"And clothes." Tom joined in, it was almost normal, but there was a definite edge to his voice. He wasn't entirely comfortable talking, let alone joking. But he was trying, and that was the main point. He was relaxing around us, and trying.
"Of course, we could never forget the mess he can make on his clothes." Danny squeezed Tom's shoulder again, Tom's head whipped round to look at him, fear flashing across his eyes, before he relaxed again. He even managed to flash another smile, even though he did pull his sleeves down over his hands at the same time.
"Kids will be kids." I summarised.
"At least they're cute, to make up for it." Danny lifted Buzz out of his high chair, "And this one is especially cute, aren't you? Yes you are, you adorable baby!" he kissed Buzz's cheek, spinning him in a circle, the boy crying out with laughter.