DEVYN GROANED AS SHE THREW her head back against the couch, her laptop closing as she pushed it to the side, officially over with her coursework.
Tiana was still at Marcus' house, he texted Devyn a little earlier to tell her he'd drop Tiana off in a bit, hoping he wouldn't catch his ex girlfriend at a bad moment so that they'd get the chance to talk.
Ever since they split, the conversation between Devyn and Marcus had been strictly straight to the point, always either about Tiana, or a missing shin-pad that Marcus had left at Devyn's or nothing at all. It was safe to say that awkwardness had clearly filled that gap.
Marcus longed to talk to her, but he knew he had a lot of making up to do before she'd even acknowledge the situation.
Over at his, Tiana was tucked up in her carseat ready to leave, her hands grabbing at her the drawstrings of Marcus' hoodie as he did her belt. With a gentle kiss to her forehead, Marcus braced himself for yet another journey to the place he still knew like the back of his hand.
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Devyn opened the door with a tired smile, seeing Tiana smile brightly through the dummy she had in her mouth. The girl reached out to her mother, Marcus having to step forward to make sure she didn't fall over.
He couldn't help but shuffle awkwardly as he watched Tiana babble to Devyn, a soft sigh leaving his lips at how much he had missed this feeling.
"Do you want to come in?"
If it wasn't for how close he was to her, Marcus would've been completely oblivious to the fact that Devyn was speaking to him. But he wanted to make sure he heard her right.
"Sorry?"
"I asked if you wanted to come in? Since it's getting a bit cold out and I know you like to relax a bit before getting back on the road," she repeated.
The fact that she still remembered the little details about Marcus that he'd told her, thinking she'd forget, made him feel all sorts of feelings inside; he felt like he was in secondary school all over again.
"Uh, yeah sure, I don't mind."
What he wanted to say was "I'm sorry for everything, I've been a massive dick and I promise I'm ready to make it up to you", but none of that came out.
He closed the door behind him, taking a glance around as he slowly took off his shoes, seeing that everything at Devyn's house was still more or less the same, except that she'd gotten a bigger bookshelf and that her sofa was pushed against the wall.
Devyn placed Tiana on the sofa, taking her out of her jacket as she got her ready for bed. "How was she?" she asked, deciding that small talk was way better than the silence waiting just around the corner.
"Not too much trouble, though I have a feeling I'll need to call someone to get that paint stain out of my carpet" Marcus laughed softly.
He watched as Devyn entered the kitchen to prep Tiana's bottles for the next day, reaching a hand over to softly pinch his daughter's cheek. "Do you want me to take her up?"
Devyn put the bottle down, looking up at Marcus through the opened door. "Oh, no it's okay I can manage───"
"No it's okay, it's the least I can do." And with that, Marcus gently lifted the half asleep girl into his arms and into her bedroom.
As he set her down safely in her bed, a picture framed on the chest of drawers caught his eye. He looked over and saw that it was the very first picture that he and Devyn had got of their little family together, taken at the hospital a few hours after Tiana was born. Smiling to himself as he looked at it, Marcus wondered if everything would be different now had he played things out differently.
─── notes.
i'm a sucker for super sad
tropes really 🤞🏾
