Cuddle

A whimper and he cracks one eye open to see the small form standing by his wife's side of the bed.

"I had a bad dream. Can I sleep with you?"

"Of course," she says.

The boy scampers to the middle of their bed, tiny stuffed deer in tow.

"Yoshino, he's almost four, don't you think he's too old…"

"Of course not," she replies.

Shikaku sighs and drapes his arm across the two of them.

Some battles aren't worth fighting.