Rough Hands, Gentle Love

(Age: Three) Bed.

Tomura unlocks the door to his family's apartment with a small sigh.
Today had been tiring, he'd butted heads with a handful of people while trying to express his authority, and he just wanted to sit and decompress for an hour or so if Tomo would allow it.
When he opens the door and sees the absolute mess of the living room, and Tomo covered in marker running towards him, he knows his wish isn't about to be granted.

"Dada!" Tomo calls as he rushes for him, trying to reach to be lifted up, which Tomura would usually do, but is refusing to do this time considering Tomo seems to have destroyed the majority of their belongings.
Tomo whines in irritation at being ignored, but Tomura ignores that too, loosening his tie and examining the damage done.
There is marker everywhere. Scribbles all over the floor, furniture and couch, varying in colours and intensity. There's random items of food on the floor, and all of the cabinets have been opened and things have been pulled out and left lying all over the floor. Tomura is just thankful that he didn't seem to be interested in the cleaning products he could have easily gotten access to.
"Let me up!" Tomo demands as he follows Tomura around.

"No. You've been bad. Where's your mom?" Tomura replies bluntly.
"Not bad!" Tomo cries. "I draw pictures for you and mama!"
"Pictures go on paper, Tomo." Tomura replies, straining to be calm. "Now we have to clean this all up."
"No!"
"Yes." Tomura says firmly.
"I draw for you!"
"I don't ca-" Tomura begins to snap and then forces himself to stop and take a breath. "Tomo. Where is mama?"
"She's sleeping." Tomo replies, crossing his arms over his chest. "Leave mama alone."

Tomura stares blankly at his son before retrieving a bowl from one of the cupboards and filling it with washing up liquid and diluting it with lukewarm water.
Grabbing a sponge and chucking it into the bowl, he joins Tomo on the floor, snatching the marker he'd picked up again from him.
"You're going to clean this all up." Tomura says simply. "Any drawings that aren't on paper need to go."
"No!"
"Yes. They have to go and then you can draw them again on paper." Tomura says evenly. "Then we can put your drawings up properly without ruining the walls."

Tomo huffs at him, but watches as Tomura makes an example of washing the pen out of the couch fabric.
When he passes the sponge to Tomo, he watches the toddler start to scrub at the fabric to make sure he can do it before leaving him to it.
"I'm going to check on your mom, I'll be back in two minutes. Be good, Tomo." Tomura says, getting up and staring at the little boy with a raised brow.
Tomo just grunts at him, apparently easily distracted from his past demand of leaving his mom alone simply by being given a task.

Tomura strides across the apartment, opening the bedroom door without trying to be quiet about it, sure enough it startles Y/N awake, her head lifting from the pillow, revealing her sleep-mussed hair on one side, and a bruised and bloody bottom lip.
Tomura frowns. "What happened to your face?"
"Tomo fell and hurt himself." Y/N replies groggily, her head flopping against the pillow again. "I healed it."
Tomura watches her silently for a moment. "How long did you leave him for?"
She grumbles incoherently, turning her face into the pillow and then hissing in pain.

"He's drawn all over the room, and pulled out most of the food from the cupboards within his reach." Tomura tells her calmly. "Luckily he didn't get into the chemicals."
She doesn't say anything, and for a moment Tomura is concerned she's fallen back to sleep, so he speaks again.
"It's serious, Y/N. You can't leave him alone. He's a demon at the best of times."
He stops when he hears a quiet sob, his heart wrenching in that same uncomfortable way it always does whenever her or Tomo are upset or in pain.
"Why are you crying?" He asks calmly.

"You've come home and just started yelling at me." She replies, her voice weak.
"I'm not yelling at you, Y/N." Tomura says in the same tone of voice he'd been using this entire time.
"You've basically come home and started telling me how I'm a shit mom." She continues to insist.
Tomura frowns in confusion. "That's not what I said."
"You didn't need to say it, it was implied strongly enough." She mutters, turning her face further into the pillow.
Tomura stares at her, confused, but decides to relent on the matter, not wanting the crying to  go any further.

"We'll talk about it later." He says simply.
He returns back to Tomo, not trusting the toddler to not create more mess in an attempt to clean the previous mess.
Tomo is still cleaning the couch dutifully, though, and Tomura sighs to himself before deciding to join him. He wanted to get it cleaned up as quickly as possible and a three year old wasn't going to get it done any time soon.
Within a couple of hours, the majority of the mess is gone, and Tomura manages to plonk the toddler down in front of the TV while he makes a quick dinner for them all.

It's really not what he had planned for his evening, but he'd suck it up if it meant he didn't have to watch Y/N cry again.

He tries telling her when dinner is ready, but she doesn't move, reply, or join them.
Tomura ends up having to reassure Tomo that his mom doesn't hate him because he was bad while she was in bed, and loses the battle with the little brat when he refuses to go to bed without seeing his mom first.
Tomura reluctantly opens the door to their bedroom, revealing the silhouette of Y/N as she lays in the exact same position as he'd seen her in hours before.

Tomo immediately heads to her, rushing to the side of the bed she's facing and crawling into the bed with her in an affectionate gesture he didn't often indulge her with.
"Tomo, what are you doing?" She asks, still sniffling.
"Want night night hugs." He says, cuddling up against his mama.
She presses her face to the top of his head, and Tomura can make out the tightening of her arm around Tomo in the dim light.

He lets them cuddle up for a little while before calling Tomo.
"No." Tomo replies sternly.
"Bedtime." Tomura says just as sternly.
"No."
"Tomo, you're not sleeping in here."
"Want mama." Is the simple reply back.
Tomura has to really bite his tongue about the fact that Tomo never wanted his mom unless he was sick, and instead settles for tearing the little boy away from his mom, even though he yells and kicks in response.
Tomo is irate for some time, but a promise of playing dinosaurs with him for as long as he wants in the morning has him slowly beginning to settle down in his own bed.

Tomura stays with him until his breaths even out and it's clear he's asleep, petting his son's hair as he watches him sleep soundly.
Once he's convinced that Tomo won't wake back up, he leaves the room, leaving the door ajar just in case.
He returns back to his and Y/N's room, getting into the bed slowly and wrapping an arm around her body.
"I wasn't yelling." He leads with, pressing his lower face into her shoulder.
"I know."
"It's okay if you fell asleep because you had to heal him." Tomura continues. "But you should have called, or asked someone to come over."

She begins to sob again and Tomura feels that horrible sick feeling chew at his stomach again, so he holds her tighter.
"He's okay. That's all that matters."
"I should have never been a mom." She replies tearfully.
"Don't be stupid. You're not stupid." Tomura says, kissing the side of her neck softly. "We all make mistakes. Just learn from it."
She continues to cry no matter how softly Tomura tries to reassure her of her parenting skills, and no matter how he tries to physically comfort her, too.

He loses track of how long it takes for her to calm down, but is relieved when she finally does.
"Is it still messy?" She asks shakily.
"No. We cleaned it." Tomura replies, looking at her stoically when she turns to face him finally, the bruising and tear on her lip seeming to have gone down. "You need to eat, otherwise it'll take longer to heal."
She looks at him all emotionally again, and Tomura kisses her swollen bottom lip softly.

"He was worried you hated him because he was bad when you didn't come to eat with us." Tomura tells her quietly. "I know he's difficult, but he loves you."
"Just like you." She teases weakly, finally showing the Y/N he'd fallen for again.
He smirks at her.
"Exactly."