Two Rivers Isle Reflections

How foolish he was to try to help, it had only made the man more irritable.
His knee jerk reaction to the statement was to cringe in fear. Then he took a moment to process it. 
”a boy cannot help a man with men's problems.”
Boy. It was not the first time he was labeled as such. Each time it brought about an inexplicable pleasure, to be called something he was not. He’d always think it strange after the fact. After a lifetime of being told the label was insult to him. After that very fact was reinforced with a never ending cycle of berating. 
To be called something he’d worked all his life not to be. He should despise it by now. And still the word gives him a spark of joy, even now as it is used in a backhanded comment.
But he buried the feeling. The happiness was destined to die. It’s constantly murdered by a wolf’s inevitable revelation.
maybe i can, he urged as gently as he could. i can try.