If they had any neighbours, they'd be complaining by now.
"Keep going!" Miguel encouraged Eugene, laughing as the two-year-old kicked the leather ball against the wall again and again and again, "Eventually, we'll find you some other kids to play with, but this'll do at the moment."
Eugene just nodded, a frown of concentration on his face as he continued to kick the ball at the make-shift 'target'…. Aka, the space between the vase that Tulio had recently liberated from a nearby mansion, and a pile of clothes.
When he managed to get it in that space again, the toddler spun around and beamed at his Dad, hands up in the air in success. "Me win! Me win!"
"Si! Si!" You win, you win!"
"Play! Play!"
"You want me to play?" Miguel pretended to think about for a few minutes, before suddenly lunging forwards and using his foot to bring the ball closer to himself, beaming as Eugene giggled in delight, clapping his hands as he chased after the ball.
"You've got to get it off me… you've got to take it!"
Slowly, he gently kept the ball away, giving Eugene the chance to grab it if he really started to run, however the toddler just seemed content to watch, occasionally pointing at the wall.
"Play! Play!"
Miguel instantly knew what he wanted. "Alright…" he focused on the space between the two objects, "… here we go!"
He brought his leg back and kicked the ball…. Only to watch as it shot straight into the vase, shattering it into a million tiny pieces.
Silence.
"Oh, no, no, no…." Miguel whispered desperately, lifting Eugene off the floor and placing him on the bed in order to prevent the toddler from stepping on any sharp shards, before falling to his knees beside the shards, "… Tulio is going to kill me!"
"Daddy?"
He glanced over at Eugene, trying to send him a reassuring smile, whilst motioning for him to stay where he was. "Everything's okay… everything is okay. Please don't start- "
Eugene started to cry, tears streaming down his cheeks as he sobbed.
"Okay, okay…." Ignoring the shattered vase for a few minutes, he headed back over to the bed and lifting the toddler into his arms, "…. Deal with crying baby now, shattered vase later."
For the next few minutes, he bounced Eugene up and down in his arms, occasionally waving a teddy bear in his face in an attempt to cheer him up.
It took about ten minutes, before Eugene was back to his usual self, clapping his hands as his Dad gave the teddy silly voices.
And then the door opened.
"Alright, I won enough coins to get him some new shoes I think, and I've got a buyer lined up for the- "Tulio stopped, having only just noticed the shards lying on the floor, "- W-what?"
Miguel winced, "It was an accident!" He blurted out, "We were just playing and- "
"- Someone kicked the ball directly into the vase." Tulip turned his attention onto Eugene, "Weren't you keeping an eye on him?"
Silence.
"… Was he keeping an eye on you?"
The guilty wince on Miguel's face was all the answer that Tulio needed.
"Miguel!" he groaned, falling to his knees beside the shards, lifting several of them up, hissing in pain as one of the shards sliced his palm, "Do you know how long it took me to get this? And how much the buyer was willing to pay?!"
"I-I-I…"
Tulio shook his head, stopping Miguel in his tracks, "Just… just help me clean this up before the kid cuts himself."
Before the taller man could leave the room, Miguel darted forwards and grabbed his wrist, pulling him closer.
"We need to clean that!" he exclaimed, placing Eugene back on his bed and pulling Tulio over to their own, "You can't go out there! It's still bleeding, what if it gets infected?"
"Miguel- "
Tulio couldn't help but smile softly at his partner as he watched the blonde man rummage around in the small box, throwing ragged shirts all over the room.
"What are you doing?"
Miguel was silent, continuing to look for something as Eugene slowly climbed down from his own bed, and toddled over, teddy bear in his arms as he patted Tulio on the leg.
"You 'kay?" he whispered, glancing at the bloody hand every so often, "You 'kay?"
"Of course…" Using his non-injured hand, he ran his fingers through his son's messy brown hair, "… it's just a little cut."
Eugene then glanced at the shattered vase, with the ball lying close to it, shrinking in on himself and burying his face into Tulio's legs. "Sowy…" he whispered, "… Sowy."
"… So long as neither of you are hurt, that's all that matters." Tulio made sure to catch Miguel's eyes when he said this as well, "I can always get another vase."
"…. Really?" Miguel clearly wasn't convinced.
"Really… except this time, you're the one sneaking into the house and risking getting caught."
