Rough Hands, Gentle Love

(Age: Three) Crying.

Tomo hated it when Mama cried.
He hated it because it felt like she was always crying, for as long as he remembered, and it made his tummy hurt to see her cry.
And she was crying a lot lately.

She'd been being sick a lot lately too, having to run off to the bathroom when Tomo was trying to play with her, or when she opened a snack for him, or whenever she moved too much. Sometimes when Dada woke up and came to see Tomo in the morning, he'd see Mama running out of the room in the hallway towards the bathroom, too.
It was gross, and that also made Tomo's tummy hurt.

Tomo wanted Mama to be smily and all soft and round eyed like she had been up until recently. He wanted her to give him cuddles and kiss his head even though he always complained when she did that.
But now all she does is sit around and cry, and even Dada can't make her smile anymore.
So when Tomo demands she plays with his dinosaurs with him, and she doesn't look like she's having fun, Tomo loses his temper.

"Play!" Tomo demands.
"I am playing, Tomo." She sighs, her pink eyes all glittery like they always were when she started to cry.
"No playing! Cwying." Tomo announces accusatorially. "No cry, just roar."
Mama sighs and rubs her eyes, her shoulders sinking. Dada comes over to run his hand over her hair, and Tomo doesn't like that either, because Dada had been paying a lot of attention to Mama recently, and not enough to Tomo.

"Mama! Play!" Tomo demands, grabbing her wrist even though it creaks when he does that and forcing her to move the dinosaur in her hand.
"Gently, Tomo." Mama leads gently, but there's a wobble in her voice.
Tomo's tummy hurts again, because Mama is going to cry properly soon and he just wants to play without feeling unwell himself.
"No!" Tomo huffs. "Roar! Nom nom nom!"
He thrusts his biggest dinosaur, a big plastic T-Rex into his Mama's tummy, pretending the dinosaur was making her tummy hurt.

Mamas arm flies to wrap around her stomach the exact instant that Tomo is lifted into the air by rough hands.
"You do not hit your mom, Tomo." Dada scolds with a scowl that matches Tomo's own.
"Playin'!" Tomo defends.
"You play gently or not at all." Dada says firmly, his jaw set. "Say sorry. Now."
And then Tomo is put back on the floor, and Mama doesn't look very well, so Tomo begins to feel worse in turn, wondering if maybe he actually has hurt Mama with his dinosaur.

"Sowwy, Mama." Tomo says, reaching for her.
Mama sniffs, smiling a little at Tomo.
"It's okay Tomo, you were just playing." She replies, letting him wrap his arms around her neck, hugging him back with one arm, the other still curled around her torso.
Dada still doesn't look happy though, his crimson eyes narrowed when Tomo finally gets out of Mama's hug.
He crouches so that he's eye to eye with Tomo with a stone-faced expression.
"Do not hit your mom again. Especially in her stomach. Do you understand me, Tomo?"

Tomo scrunches his face up in return.
He hadn't even hit Mama that hard.

Dada scowls back at him in response.
"I mean it Tomo." He asserts.
Tomo huffs, waddling back to Mama and petting her tummy gently.
"Love you, Mama." Tomo tries instead.
Mama immediately falls for it, her eyes going all teary again and her arms wrapping around Tomo as she tells him she loves him too, but Dada just looks the same, even shaking his head a little, the white strands swaying as he stands.
"He's a horrible, manipulative little terror and you fall for it every time."

Tomo doesn't know what any of that means, but Mama squeezes him a little tighter.
"I wonder where he got that from." She replies dryly and then kisses Tomo's head.
Dada grumbles as he sits down on the couch and kicks his feet up onto the table, his red eyes following Tomo as he moves.
Tomo does try to play more gently with Mama, because she does seem to be looking more and more unwell and it's not until she gags that she runs off to the bathroom again.
"Mama!" Tomo whines, trying to pull himself to his feet so he can follow after her and demand more play time.

Dada is up before him though, forcing Tomo to sit back down.
"Stay." He says simply before walking to the bathroom too.
Tomo growls, kicking his feet in retaliation, scowling at the back of his dad's head, but knowing better than to defy Dada's instructions.
He's forced to play alone for what feels like forever until Dada comes back, sitting on the floor beside him, right where Mama had been.
Tomo's happy to take whatever he gets, he doesn't particularly like playing alone, but he is curious as to why Mama hasn't come back, too.

So when Dada picks up one of the plastic dinosaurs Mama was playing with before, Tomo smacks his hand, softer than he would with anyone else.
"Mama." He says simply.
Dada deadpans at him. "Your mom's gone to bed. She's sick. She told me I could play with these instead."
Tomo frowns, because they're his toys, not his mom's, but he allows Dada to play with him anyway.
After all, Dada was a bit more fun to play with because he was happy to fight dinosaurs for as long as Tomo wants.

But Tomo is distracted, wanting to know what's wrong with Mama, so when Dada doesn't lay one of his dinosaurs down after a long fight and let Tomo win, he pulls himself to his feet again, swaying a little.
"Where are you going, Tomo?" Dada asks, the scarred skin above his eye on one side raising.
"See Mama." Tomo says simply as he waddles off.
"Nope." Dada replies just as bluntly, tugging him back by his shirt and sitting him on the floor in front of him, trapping the toddler between his arms. "Leave her alone."

"No!" Tomo yells. "Want Mama!"
"Be quiet and play." Dada replies boredly.
Tomo whines and tries to get out of Dada's arms for a while, but his dad is strong, and all his attempts are futile.
"Mama!" Tomo cries sadly as he flops against his dad's torso.
"Stop it, Tomo." Dada sighs. "Otherwise I'll make the dinosaurs eat you."
"Nuh-uh." Tomo pouts.
"Watch me." Dada challenges.
"Ma-"

Tomo immediately squeals when Dada picks up a dinosaur and brings its blunt teeth to his arm, making growling noises and pretending that the dinosaur is eating him.
"Dada! No! Dada!" Tomo yells between giggles and squeals.
"It's too late Tomo, your fate's been decided." Dada says, using his free arm to hold Tomo in place, but it sounds like he's grinning too.

Tomo lets his dad continue making the dinosaur chew his arm before demanding him to stop so they can play properly, thoroughly distracted from his mom when his dad finally lets Tomo win the dinosaur fights.