Tay was half-asleep when Maya got to his place, and he heard her shuffling around. It didn't take long to hear Sammy call out for her, and then for the sounds of the morning routine starting up. It was nice to have Maya around in the mornings. It felt like being married again. Not to Janelle, thank fuck, because that had not been ideal, but like... normal-people married. She did things like scooping Sammy up and carrying him out to be with her while she cooked. Hell, she cooked breakfast for them. And most people (read: fans) figured the two of them were probably secretly in a relationship.
Yeah, that was kind of a funny thing, honestly. The two of them were best friends. Had been for a few years now, in fact, and though they flirted like hell sometimes, neither of them had pushed those boundaries of friendship. Tay was half-terrified he'd lose the most important real adult female in his life he'd ever had to fuck with it that way. And Maya... well, he didn't question why Maya did or didn't do anything in her life. She was strong and independent and she made her own choices about what she did in her life. Which wasn't to say he wouldn't accept if she did ever want to try to move their relationship from friendship to more, it was just that most of the time, Tay was convinced she understood she was way too good for him.
Hell, he wasn't kidding when he talked about his fucked up life. Married and divorced twice, oldest child with all the boundary pushing bullshit that came with that position in a family, no faith in anything outside his own brain, single dad... he brought a lot of crazy shit to the plate when it came to relationships, even friendly ones.
But he was awake now, and that meant it was time to join the weird little family they cultivated by way of friendship and adoration of his fifteen month old son and mornings like this one. They had a lot of planning and checking to get done, still, and laying around in bed wasn't going to get it going. Plus, he could smell Maya's waffles cooking, so he should totally get up before they started to get cold.
He got up and tossed his hair up into a loose flowy man-bun, tugged on a torn-up t-shirt, and made his way to the bathroom, doing all the necessary early morning steps before he headed out to the kitchen. Sammy peeked into the hallway as he moved toward them, and Tay laughed, leaning down to scoop his son up and under one arm as he went to sit on the bench seat that took up the corner of the kitchen. "Daddy's stories are always true," he said quietly, "And Maya's are only true when they match. Right Samsam?"
Sammy looked at him with serious, dark eyes, and then he looked toward Maya, then back again. "Maya," he said, nodding once. She was always his favorite.
"Listen here, little shit," Tay said, laughing softly, "you are a traitor, and I am going to send you to live with Maya if you keep this up, you hear me?"
"Uh huh!" Sammy said, grinning. "S'it!"
"Hey now, don't get Daddy in trouble. You're gonna say that in front of your C-U-N-T of a mother, and I'll never hear the end of it." He cuddled the toddler close. "Only Daddy gets to say shit, You say poop."
"S'it!"
He laughed and put his head down on the table, because laughing fully in front of the kid was likely to encourage him. "That didn't work," he said, "Maya, help a guy out here. Tell your favorite Mini not to rat me out." He popped his head up and grinned at her. "And good morning, by the way. Once we're done eating, I'll pull out the lists and we can start going over things. Unless you just wanna hang out with Sam, and we can do the adulting in a while."