Lost Souls ~ Phan

Chapter Eleven

A/N Dedicated to books4fangirls because she's gr8 ⛄️

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Max woke up sometime in the morning. Rubbing his eyes with his fist, he took in his surroundings of the living room with the tv still on and playing the early morning news. Dan was still fast asleep, his arms still around Max's waist. The five year old slunk off his dad's lap, careful not to wake him up, and ran down the hall to his own room.

He picked out a pink and black plaid shirt and black jeans from his drawers as well as new underwear and two socks. Max got dressed the best he could to his five year old knowledge before tiptoeing down the single flight of stairs to the bathroom. He pulled over the step stool to the front of the toilet and tried to pee the best he could on his tiptoes. He did better than normal so he cheered for himself and made a mental note to brag about that later; thinking his dad could buy him a present or take him for dinner or something.

Max pushed the step stool over to the bathroom counter and stood up so he could look at himself in the mirror. Max washed his hands and then picked up his Batman brush and combed out his messy brown hair before running his small hand over his fringe so it rested perfectly over his forehead and partially covering one bright blue eye. He then started to brush his teeth, making sure he sang the whole song of Blood by My Chemical Romance because that's how long he knew he needed to brush for. However, he made sure he didn't think of the swear word in it because Phil always told him that cursing was bad and bad boys don't get Christmas presents. Max wanted to keep his Christmas presents so he never swore no matter how much cursing Dan did around him.

When Max finished in the bathroom, he went upstairs to Dan's room and grabbed the outfit that was in a pile on the floor and carried it to the living room.

"Daddy! Wake up!" Max shoved the clothes on Dan's lap, startling him away.

"Fuck! What time is it?!" Dan quickly got to his feet, trying to catch his balance and remember where he was.

"That." Max pointed to the tv where the bottom right of the screen read '7:54'.

"Jesus-Shit-Max! You have school today!"

"Do I haaaave to?"

"Yes!" Dan said as he took off his pyjama pants, not caring what the five year old saw since a) he most likely would not remember and b) Max went through a phase where he would walk into the bathroom while someone was using it. The kid saw more things that normal people would be scarred from. To be fair, the five year old had two man-children for parents so it wasn't hard to be exposed to many things. Dan tugged up his jeans as he walked briskly to the kitchen. Max ran after him.

"What do you want for lunch, Maxy?" Dan asked breathlessly, grabbing the boy's metal Totoro lunch box and tossing it onto the counter, the top flipping open.

"Pizza!" Max squealed.

"I can't warm it up. Is that okay?" Dan asked, digging through the fridge. Max nodded. Dan tossed the ziplock bag of two leftover pizza slices into the box as well as an apple juice box. Max sat in the middle of the floor, watching as Dan walked around him and over him, slicing up an apple ungracefully and adding two cookies into the metal box. The still half asleep 24 year old closed the lunch box and turned to his small son.

"Come on, buddy. Let's go." Dan grabbed Max by his armpits and stood him on his feet, handing the kid the lunch box.

"You didn't change your shirt!" Max protested.

"It's London; no one is going to care." Dan replied and grabbed Max's backpack on the way down the stairs.

"WAIT. I NEED MY SHOES!" Max shouted.

"Dammit." Dan dropped everything and ran back up the stairs, stumbling a bit, and grabbed Max's favourite pair of light up Batman sneakers and Lion.

"HURRY UP, DAD!" Max shrieked. Dan took the stairs two at a time.

"Why do we have so many fucking stairs?!" Dan grumbled. He was not a morning person. Max sat down on the bottom stair so Dan could put on his shoes. "No time. No time." Dan grabbed Max and slung him over his shoulder, giving the kid the stuffed Lion toy and somehow locked the door with limited hands. "Your grandmother will kill me if you're late for school again." Dan sighed, running down the street towards the subway station.

"DADDY!" Max shifted in his arms. "You have no shoes on!"

"Last thing on my mind, Maxy." Dan said and swiped his Oyster card, pushing his way through the rush hour business people. Max clung onto Dan's shirt, helping to hold onto his small backpack that was slung over Dan's other shoulder. They squeezed onto their train and Dan sat Max on a free chair, kneeling in front of him.

Max held out his feet and Dan velcroed up his black sneakers over his usual mismatched socks. When Max was in his shoes, Dan picked him up and sat down in the chair, sitting Max on his lap, letting out a loud sigh. He reached for his phone to check the time, only to realize he left it in his bedroom. Phil always kept him in order so without him Dan felt...lost. Max held onto Lion and his lunch box, watching the business people stare blankly into space. Dan kept his eyes on the stations going past until he picked up Max again and carried him out of the train.

He caught a glimpse of the clock on the wall of the station. 8:26. He had four minutes to get Max to school. Now Dan was not one for exercise but a bit of a run was better than the 30 minute rant his mother would go on about him not being a capable father. Dan didn't have shoes on and London streets weren't the cleanest places and he really didn't want to know what that sticky substance his sock ran through was.

"We're here!" Max shouted as Dan ran up the steps of the elementary school. Dan was panting hard by the time they got to the classroom and he set Max on the ground just as the bell rang. "Thank you!" Max smiled and took his backpack and lunch box from Dan.

"Kiss for the road?" Dan crouched down in front of the five year old and Max pressed a small kiss to his lips.

"I love you." Max hugged him quickly before running into the classroom.

Dan shifted so he was leaning against the wall and sitting on the ground. He took some deep breaths and tried to regain himself after that mini-marathon. Being a full time father was really taking a toll on him and he really wished he could cut his work in half. He loved Max but he missed when he could make videos and sleep until noon and rely on Phil who was more of a morning person to take Max to school. Dan really had no excuse...he just missed his Phil.