Doctor Dash

chapter 15

Dash stared at the invitation that his son brought home from school. It was on a simple white card with balloons decorating the border and party hats in the bottom right corner. Fenton's son's birthday was on Saturday, and Fenton would be holding a party at two in the afternoon. His mouth thinned as he turned his gaze onto his son. Having the party on Saturday didn't leave him with much time to go present shopping with his son. They were limited to the evenings after he got off from work.

"Well, little guy," Dash said as he placed his hands on his hips. "What do you think you want to get your friend for his birthday?" He didn't know a whole lot about Lex's interests, though he seemed to like sports and the same books that Xander did.

"Um," Xander mumbled in thought, pushing a finger against his lower lip as his blue eyes stared up toward the ceiling of the toy store. He frowned as his brow pinched in deep thought, obviously having some trouble thinking of something to get his friend. "What do you think would be best?"

"I think it's fine as long as you get him something you think he'll like," Dash offered, wanting to allow Xander to choose a present without his help. "What kind of things does Lex like?" The young blond boy seemed pretty interested when he saw the "Inviso-Bill" clips, even asking if Dash would make him a shirt like the one he made for Xander.I should do that, he realized with a mental note to put together the Phantom shirt for Lex. He could include that as part of Xander's gift to him.

"Well," Xander clapped his hands together, his fingers almost lacing together as he pondered some more, "he seems to like sports." He chewed on his lip.

"Do you want to play sports too?" Dash raised his brows in surprise. His son never really expressed any interest in sports.

Xander bowed his head as he dug at the floor with foot. "I want to play with him, so if he likes sports, I want to be able to talk to him about them."

"I'm sure Lex won't mind if you're not interested in sports. You'll have other things to talk about, so you don't have to feel forced to play sports just because he does." Dash didn't want his son feeling pressured into sports. While he had a good relationship with his own father, he often felt that pressure, like if he didn't play and succeed in sports, then it would bring disappointment to his father.

"But," Xander tilted his head to one side as he gazed up at his father, "how will I know if I like them if I've never played?"

Dash opened his mouth then chuckled. "All right, my little Einstein." He ruffled the mop of raven hair. "If you want to play, I'll sign you up." When Xander grinned widely, Dash couldn't stop from smiling back. "Do you want to get him, um-" His mouth pursed in thought as he recalled what sort of sports items Fenton had for his son. Lex had a soccer ball that he seemed to enjoy playing with during the sleepover. He also had a football and a baseball with some mitts and a bat and a basketball with one of those child sized hoops on the back porch. What else would Lex need in the sports department?

"Oh!" Xander bounced on the balls of his feet as he raised his hand in the air. "Did Mr. Lex's Daddy play sports with you?"

Dash stopped himself from laughing at the prospect of Fenton playing football. "Ah, no." He shook his head. "Lex's dad wasn't really into playing sports."

"Oh." The happiness melted away as Xander pouted, lowering his arm. "I thought maybe we could find a jersey with Mr. Lex's Daddy's number on it."

"How about some kind of toy?" Dash glanced around the aisle that was filled with action figures and Legos and building blocks. "Maybe a Spiderman action figure? You two could play superheroes. You already have an Iron Man and a Captain America."

"They don't have Inviso-Bill though." Xander walked sadly down the aisle, his fingers skimming over the packages of various toys as he walked.

Dash checked the time on his watch and sighed. It was starting to get pretty late, and he should be getting Xander to bed soon. "He'll probably be happy with anything you choose. If you can't think of something right now, we can come back tomorrow." They already stood around in the toy store for a good hour with Xander struggling to come up with something to get Lex for his birthday.