Life As We Know It (Maylor)

The Proposal

December 6, 2019
Six weeks later...

Brian grabbed his messenger bag, pressing a kiss to Lila's head before rushing to the door.

"Do I get one?" Roger joked, looking up from his tea with a small grin.

"I'm sorry, I'm running late!" Brian said, rushing over to peck his lips and missing. "Sorry, I'll see you after school!"

Roger just watched in amusement, leaning back in his chair. "Have a great day, sweetie." He said in an overly sweet voice, smirking at the flustered man.

"You made me late!" Brian shouted before walking out the door.

"Round two was your idea!" Roger called before he shut the door, just in time to see Brian roll his eyes. "It was my idea." He snickered to himself.

"Dada yate." Lila said, her eyebrows raised up high on her forehead as she restated the fact.

"Very late." Roger chuckled, passing her sippy cup to her before going back to his tea. "He forgot his too." He frowned, getting up and grabbing his lunch box to find it was empty. "Oh no, he didn't make one."

"Oh no, papa!" Lila copied, watching him with curious eyes. He knew she hadn't the slightest idea of what was going on, but found her voice too adorable to not talk back. The doctor even said that her speech levels were above most kids her age, a Taylor trait if he'd ever heard of one.

"You know what this means." Roger grinned, opening the cupboard and looking at the little girl. "We get to go see dada at work."

Lila squealed in delight, happily banging on the tabletop of her high chair. Her excitement was all Roger needed to get to work until he looked at the expiration date on a can of soup to find it had been expired for two years! He checked the fridge and frowned. Not much there either.

"Shit, looks like we're going to the grocery store first." Roger shrugged, shutting the fridge and moving to grab the small girl out of her chair before running up the steps.

"Alright, first things first, you need a change." Roger wrinkled his nose at the unpleasant smell radiating off the child. "You're lucky you're cute, because you smell like shit."

Lila only giggled in response, laying back while Roger got to work cleaning her off, suppressing his gags as well as he could before tossing the soiled diaper into the trash.

"I swear you don't eat nearly enough to produce that." Roger shook his head, moving to grab a daytime outfit from the armoire in her room. He opened the doors and scanned her clothes, stopping at the shirt that he'd bought her a few months prior.

His eyes scanned across the words 'I love my Uncle Roggie' and he felt his heart crack a bit. Harsh reminders of their situation were constant, always popping out of nowhere at random times. Turning the shirt around, he huffed a laugh as he read the continuation, 'more than Uncle Bri' written across the back.

It was strange to think how different things were currently from how they were then. The constant bickering he and Brian would do was laughable. Roger could hardly believe they were the same people as they were a few months ago.

Prior enemies now raising a baby together, it was like the universe was playing some sick joke. But it somehow fit perfectly. It somehow made more sense than Roger ever saw before.

Despite how different they were, Roger being hotheaded and Brian being calm yet stubborn, they still came together and...made it work.

Roger smiled at the shirt, pulling it out of the armoire and tossing into the trash. He wasn't 'Uncle Roggie' anymore, and Brian wasn't 'Uncle Bri'. There wasn't a competition between who she loved more, because they loved her with all they had.