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Y/n woke up that day at midnight to am empty bed. Tom's part of the bed was a bit warm, meaning he'd just gotten out recently.
Earlier, she had come home with the twins to find Tom waiting for them. The couple had talked to the kids about communicating their problems to them. They'd confessed that it was their first time with such a big responsibility, and that too in a territory completely foreign to them, so it'd take them time to navigate their way around.
Y/n's first instinct lead her to the kitchen. She had hoped to find him getting water or something. Tom wasn't there. Where could he be? It was practically 1:00am. Just then she heard the soft sound of a guitar being strummed. That's when it hit her. Music room.
She tiptoed her way to the music room, careful as to not make noise and startle Tom. She had a feeling that he was distressed about something. It had been some time since Tom had gone to the music room, that too at night.
She quietly opened the door to the music room. Tom sat on the piano seat, guitar in hand, strumming. His hair was a mess. His tiredness was very evident. Droopy eyelids, heavy eyes and clear exhaustion on his face. Apparently, he was struggling to get the simple piece right, which was frustrating him to no end. Over the years, Tom had gotten extremely good at the guitar.
"Tommy...", Y/n called out tenderly. Tom head shot towards her in a millisecond.
"Shit. Darling, did I wake you up?", Y/n softly shook her head. She went up to him and took the guitar from him, keeping it on the stand. Tom's confused gaze followed her as she moved around. She came to him and offered her hand, which he took, still quite confused as to what she was doing.
Y/n lead Tom to their bedroom and made him sit on the bed. She knelt in front of him and held his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her. He was still looking everywhere except her eyes. Every time she tried to make eye contact, he'd divert his eyes.
"Thomas, look at me." Thomas? She never used Thomas until he was in trouble. Tom's eyes shot up to meet hers.
"What happened?", at that, Tom looked away, again.
"Tom, please don't test my patience. Please tell me. What's bothering you? Come on. I'm your wife!"
"I don't know. The kids were getting bullied, Y/n and we didn't have a fucking clue! They're hurt. They had to hear such terrible things because we're fostering them. They didn't tell us anything. Are we that bad? Where did we go wrong? I've been wracking whatever brains I've got but I don't get an answer. I don't know what to do, love. I- I don- don't know..."
Of all things Y/n was expecting Tom to say, this wasn't in the list. She was quite flabbergasted. She neither knew the answer to his question nor how to comfort him or make him feel better. Yes, Tom had had his moments of self-doubt over the years, when he'd critiqued himself way too harshly, but this was totally different. This was something the couple were still figuring out. This was a totally unknown property for both of them. After all, raising or fostering kids, that too twins, was easier said than done. There had been nights when the couple had woken up from their sleep to one or both of the twins' screams. Yes, they still had nightmares.
"Tommy,", Y/n tenderly said, "you're starting re-recording for Onward 2 tomorrow. You need sleep."
And with that she held Tom, softly humming a lullaby as he got lulled into sleep.
Throughout the week, Tom and Y/n didn't had little to no conversation or contact. To put it simply, they had been busy. Tom had been busy with the recording sessions, meetings, auditions and what not. Y/n was talking with her manager and was working on her own clothing line, in collaboration with Tommy Hilfiger. Basically, between reading scripts and jumping from one meeting to another, the couple had been lost in their own world, which was visibly distressing for them.
Early on in their relationship, Tom and Y/n had learnt that communication was the key to maintaining a healthy relationship. They knew they were a team, their efforts and endeavours turned out best when they tried together. The lack of communication the entire week was taking a toll on both of them. Their only interactions were at breakfast and when one of them would drop the twins to school.
As for the twins, they had been spending time with the other Holland brothers and Harrison more than ever. They had bonded extremely well. Whenever they were free, they'd go pick the twins up from home, yes, home, the kids needed to rest their injured limbs,after informing Tom or Y/n of course, spend the day together and then drop the kids after dinner.
As they say, nothing slips past a mother's eyes. Nikki had taken notice of the tension between Tom and Y/n. So, being the wonderful mother and mother-in-law she is, she had decided to invite all of her children and their significant others for dinner on the weekend. Needless to say, everyone was in attendance. No one wanted to face Nikki's wrath afterwards.
The twins had come too. They'd played with Paddy, Harry and Sam, Tom being too exhausted to play. They played hide and seek, tag and what not while Tom watched from afar, sipping on his beer with Dominic, half heartedly listening to the story his father was narrating.
On the other hand, the ladies, Nikki, Y/n, Elysia and Annette were in the kitchen, discussing random things, or mainly, their week. Y/n was being suspiciously quiet, passing a few remarks here and there and sipping on her wine. Nikki just prayed that her idea for peacemaking didn't get ruined. Little did she know that shit was about to go down at dinner.
They were all eating, with chatter flowing seamlessly from every side of the the table. Paddy talking about school, the twins about their friends, who had visited them, Harry talking about his newest project, Sam about his restaurant and so on... Unfortunately, Tom and Y/n had barely uttered anything. They were usually the lovey-dovey couple, actors too. Heck, they weren't even making an effort to conceal the tension. And for the first time, they were sitting opposite each other and not beside. Both of them weren't speaking out of fear. Fear that they'd say something to hurt each other. Fear that they'd do something they'd ultimately regret.
Dominic was saying something about the twins when Tom muttered under his breath, "If only someone was home." He couldn't control that barb from falling past his lips. He hoped that no one heard, no one except Y/n did, for they were preoccupied with the chatter.
"What did you say?", she finally looked up to him, her Y/E/C colour orbs meeting his honey brown ones.
Maybe it was the beer, or his temper, or his fatigue, Tom didn't know, but it was safe to say that he clearly wasn't in his right mind. So arguing back seemed like a good option for him. It wasn't. "I said if only someone was home.", he said nonchalantly.
Y/n let out a wry laugh, "Look who's saying?"
"You've literally been out all week Y/n!", Tom said, raising his voice. The entire table was silent. Nikki was mentally praying that they ended the argument or continued it when they were by themselves, just not here. The twins were getting a bit scared, they'd never seen their foster parents argue.
"So were you Thomas!"
"I was out for work!", Tom defended.
"Was I out partying then?", by then the married couple had stood up, both gripping the table, Tom towering over Y/n by an inch and Y/n glaring daggers at Tom.
"For your kind information Thomas, I have work too! I have meetings with my manager too!"
"That's your excuse for not being home all week?!"
"Yeah, you can read scripts at home. You can't exactly have an entire fashion crew at home to discuss clothing!"
And it kept getting ugly. So much so that Nikki sent Paddy to tuck the twins in, in Tom's old room. Tom and Y/n had had their arguments, but not as bad as this. They had taken out all of their frustration from the week on each other, said things they didn't mean, had hurt each other, all over a silly issue which could've been talked over like adults.
