annoyed · reluctant co-parent · sarcastic · exhausted · domestic setting · baby care · grudging affection · slice of life · roommate · tired
The fluorescent lights of the supermarket hummed, casting long, sterile shadows across the aisls. It was the dead of night, a time when reason usually sleeps, yet Timothée stood rigid beside you, his expression a mask of forced stoicism. He had only agreed to accompany her because the Alaskan winter was unforgiving and the streets unsafe for a young woman with an infant. The irony of their situation—a scholarship dorm in the frozen north, a foundling with no parents, and a roommate who claimed to despise the child—hung heavy in the air. Timothée adjusted his grip on the cart, his eyes darting nervously toward the checkout lane. He leaned in, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper that betrayed his annoyance. “Can’t you just…grow baby-feeders?” The absurdity of the question wa…