Michael felt pathetic. He drank four cups of coffee on Tuesday morning so that he was sure that he wouldn't fall asleep, and then he arrived in front of Parker's school about an hour early and just sat there. He was going to make sure that he wouldn't be late, not today, and if Melissa showed up he'd also make sure to rub it in her face that he was on time to pick up his son.

But he still felt pathetic, because who even does that? Who goes that far just to prove a point to a stupid girl? Michael couldn't figure out why he cared so much about what Melissa thought of him. It wasn't like he liked her or anything. That would be pathetic, too. What kind of person develops a crush on someone that made them cry a few days before?

That was another thing, Michael had only known Melissa for a few days! He didn't understand why he felt such an... attachment to Melissa when he literally met her four days ago. They'd talked, like, three times. But she was just really hot, and Michael was kind of lonely, and Beth had a new boyfriend or friend that was a boy or whatever, so Michael should deserve to have a friend that was a girl, right?

"Hi." A voice said beside Michael, and he looked down to see Melissa standing next to him. Of course.

"Hi." Michael greeted her, looking down at the ground, because Melissa still made him nervous.

"I see you're on time today." Melissa chuckled, nudging Michael in the side with her elbow.

"I've been here for 45 minutes." Michael admitted, feeling slightly embarrassed again. He wanted to punch himself in the face.

"Nice." Melissa laughed, running a hand through her hair.

"So what's up with you?" Michael asked, finally turning to face her.

"What do you mean?" Melissa questioned. She raised her eyebrows, like she didn't quite understand what Michael was asking.

"Like, with you and Katie. Where's her mom?" Michael asked, "Why are you with her, like, 24/7?"

"Well I'm her nanny, I've been taking care of her since she was one year old." Melissa said slowly. Michael felt like maybe he had offended her, considering the way she was acting. Or maybe Melissa just acted like that about everything. Michael didn't know.

"But why? Doesn't her mom like to take care of her?" Michael asked. When he and Beth were together they'd never even thought about hiring a nanny to take care of Parker. Mostly because they didn't have the money, but also because Michael couldn't even picture someone else taking care of his kid.

"Her mom works." Melissa shrugged.

"All the time?"

"Yeah." She shrugged again.

"Every day?"

"Yeah." Melissa repeated.

"Doesn't she care that she never gets to see her daughter?" Michael questioned. He was really pissed off at this woman, and he didn't even know her. He just didn't understand why someone would want to take care of their kid. It was their kid, they made it, they brought it in to the world, they should take care of it.

"Uh, I think she cares more about the fact that she never gets to see her husband." Melissa glanced down at her feet, like she was nervous as well. Michael wasn't so nervous anymore, he was angry. He kind of wanted to track down Katie's mom and tell her off.

"Oh, so she's married, too?" Michael scoffed. "Where's the husband, then? What does he do?"

"He travels." Melissa shrugged.

"So her mom works 24/7 and her dad is never home." Michael clarified, nodding slowly to himself. "And you - "

"Take care of Katie like she's my own daughter? Yeah." Melissa finished for Michael, as if she already knew what he was going to ask.

Michael admired Melissa a lot more after that. Well, maybe admired was the wrong word. He respected her. He knew how hard it was to take care of his own son at only 23 years old, and Melissa was here practically raising of a little girl that wasn't even hers. And from what Michael had seen (which really wasn't a lot, but still), it appeared that Melissa had to do a lot more around the house than just watch over Katie.

"It must be hard." Michael said quietly, looking at Melissa out of the corner of his eye.

"It is." Melissa said blankly.

"You know, it's hard to for me to take care of Parker on my own, too." Michael added, because he was still just a little bitter about all of the things Melissa had said to him the first time they met and Michael still expected a better apology.

"I know." Melissa said, the same blank tone in her voice.

Neither of them had time to say anything else before the front doors of the preschool opened, and the kids started to quickly file out of the door and to their parents. By the time Parker and Katie finally made it out almost everyone was gone, and Michael and Melissa were the last "parents" there. Parker and Katie took their own sweet time walking over to Michael and Melissa, hand in hand.

"Are they holding hands?" Melissa asked, a confused expression on her face as she stared at the two kids.

"Uh, I think so." Michael said, a little startled, because girls were gross.

"Daddy!" Parker's face lit up when he saw his father and he dropped Katie's hand, running over to Michael. He held his arms out and jumped around, begging Michael to carry him, so he did just that and scooped Parker up into his arms.

"Hi, buddy!" Michael leaned in and gave Parker a kiss on the cheek, because after spending a whole day with Parker yesterday he missed his son a little more than usual. "How are you today?"

"Good!" Parker giggled, "Me and Kitty got to play at the park today!"

"Oh, really?" Michael pretended to act very surprised. He looked down at Katie, who had taken ahold of Melissa's hand and was waiting quietly. "Do you like the park, Katie?"

Katie shyly covered her face with her hands and turned so she was leaning against Melissa's legs, no longer facing Michael. He felt slightly offended, but it was alright, if Michael was a four year old girl he'd be scared of himself as well.

"Daddy, Kitty doesn't like you anymore." Parker whispered as Michael watched Melissa pick Katie up, trying to fix up her little blonde pigtails.

"What? Why?" Michael questioned, not understanding. Didn't Katie want to meet him, like, a week ago? That's what Parker said, wasn't it?

"Your green hair scares her." Parker laughed, and Michael let out a sigh. It was always the green hair.

"Oh, okay." Michael nodded. He turned again and faced Melissa and Katie, who was obviously still trying to hide from Michael by burying her face into the crook of Melissa's neck. "Katie, what color would you like me to dye my hair?"

Katie looked up at Michael for a quick second before leaning in and whispering something in Melissa's ear. Melissa just laughed and shook her head, before whispering something else to Katie.

"She's shy." Parker said, a very serious look on his face as he spoke quietly to Michael. "She only talks to me and Melly. Not even the teachers."

"Really?" Michael said, a little unamused. He felt kind of left out, being the only one that Katie didn't feel comfortable talking to.

"Michael," Melissa tugged on the sleeve of his t-shirt, grabbing his attention again. She glanced at Katie, who gave her a small nod. "Purple."

"Purple." Michael said to himself, thinking about it for a moment. It'd been a while since he'd had purple hair. "I like it."

"Really?" Melissa raised an eyebrow, like she didn't really believe him."

"Yep." Michael said, slowly backing away from the two girls. "You want purple, Katie, I'll give you purple."

*•*•*

"Parker, no!" Michael shouted, slapping Parker's hand away from his mouth. This was the third time he'd tried to eat the hair dye.

Michael was in the process of waiting for his hair dye to set, and he and Parker had fifteen minutes left to kill before it was time to rinse the dye out of his hair. This wasn't the first time Michael had let Parker sit in and watch while he dyed his hair, but it had definitely proven to be the most difficult.

"Does it taste like cotton candy?" Parker cocked his head to the side, seriously questioning what the dye tasted like.

"No, bud, it does not taste like cotton candy." Michael picked Parker up so he could reach the sink and then helped him wash his hands off. "It tastes bad, very, very, bad."

"If I eat lots and lots of cotton candy will I get fat?" Parker asked.

"Park, if you eat lots and lots of anything you'll get fat." Michael chuckled. He dried Parker's hands off with a towel and them sat them both down on the floor, because there was nowhere else that the two of them could sit comfortably and wait.

"Apples?" Parker questioned.

"You don't like apples." Michael said slowly, because he already knew that this was going to be another "I like apples now, Mommy's friend bought me apples" type of thing.

"Mommy bought me apples last time, I liked them." Parker smiled. He crawled onto Michael's lap, trying his hardest not to mess up the hair dye.

"Oh." Michael sighed.

"Daddy, I have a question for you." Parker said, and Michael sat up a little straighter. That phrase sort of worried Michael. There were so many possible questions going through his mind at the moment that he could hardly think straight, and Parker had to poke Michael in the shoulder to get him to actually respond.

"What? Oh, go ahead, Pac-Man." Michael finally said, paying more attention to Parker now.

"Where were you when I was born?" Parker asked.

"What?"

"Kitty said she was born on a boat, because her mommy and daddy were on a vacation when it was time for her to come out of her mommy's tummy." Parker said happily, repeating what Katie had obviously told him. "Where were you?"

"Uh, well..." Michael trailed off, trying to remember all of the details. It was only four years ago, and at times Michael would think about the day Parker was born and it would seem like it happened just yesterday, but today wasn't one of those days. Michael's mind was drawing a blank.

"Were you even there?" Parker gasped, clearly appalled that Michael was taking so long to answer him.

"Yes, Parker, of course I was there." Michael scoffed. It was his son, of course he was there to see him being born. "I remember now."

"Yay!" Parker squealed. "Tell me tell me tell me!"

"Okay, so," Michael paused and took another deep breath, trying to stall for just one more minute while he remembered the rest of the story. "We were here, at home, and Mommy was sitting on the couch eating a piece of pizza, I think, while Daddy was playing video games - "

"Mario Kart?" Parker interrupted, a big smile on his face.

"I didn't start playing Mario Kart until after you were born." Michael laughed. "Anyway, we were both on the couch and then Mommy tapped me on the shoulder and told me that it was time for the baby to be born, and then I panicked and went to get the car without even saying anything to Mommy."

"Then what?" Parker asked excitedly, bouncing up and down a little.

"Well eventually Mommy and I got to the hospital, and you were born. And I had to wear this funny hat and all of these doctor clothes, I think I might have a picture somewhere..." Michael finished. He laughed, because he'd remembered making the doctor take a picture of him all dressed up in the scrubs, while Beth was screaming for him to actually pay attention to her.

"Did you know that I was going to be a boy?" Parker asked. "Kitty's mommy and daddy didn't know. Her daddy wanted a boy."

Michael didn't even both questioning why Parker knew all of the details of Katie's birth, he just shrugged and continued his story.

"We didn't know, no. Mommy was sure that you were going to be a little girl, but I really wanted a baby boy, and - "

"I'm not a baby!" Parker cut him off again.

"You were a baby when you were born!" Michael defended himself, sticking his tongue out at Parker.

"Fine." Parker pouted. "Keep going."

"We didn't know if you were going to be a boy or a girl, but I was happy when I found out you were a boy. I wanted to name you Axel, you know that already, but Mommy got upset with me and said no, so we named you Parker. That was my second choice." Michael chuckled, and he found himself getting distracted for a second as he thought about how things may have been if Parker had actually been named Axel. The nickname Pac-Man wouldn't even exist!

"Why did you want to name me Axel?" Parker questioned.

"Why are you so curious all of a sudden?" Michael asked, and Parker shrugged. "I don't know, bud, I just really liked the name Axel. And I had talked to Uncle Calum about it and he said it was cool."

"Uncle Calum is cool." Parker smiled, and now he seemed to be getting a little distracted from the story.

"Yeah, he is." Michael said, rolling his eyes.

"So after I came out of Mommy's tummy you got Lion for me, right?" Parker asked, now back on track.

"Does your lion have a name, buddy?" Michael asked. For Parker's whole life, he'd only referred to his stuffed lion as 'Lion', and Michael was beginning to wonder if Parker had given him a name.

"Yes." Parker nodded.

"What is it?"

"Not telling." Parker smirked, looking very pleased with himself.

"Okay, fine." Michael groaned. "So yes, I bought Lion for you and now here we are, four years later." Michael finished quickly, because he knew that both himself and Parker were losing interest in this story and because it was almost time for him to rinse his hair dye out.

"So I wasn't born on a boat?" Parker asked one final question as Michael pushed him off of his lap, so he could go over to the tub and rinse the dye from his hair.

"No, thankfully you were not born on a boat." Michael scoffed. He crawled across the floor and to the bathtub, turning the faucet on.

Michael washed all of the hair dye out of his hair (it really didn't take that long) while Parker waited patiently and played with Lion the lion, who he'd run out to get a few seconds earlier. When Michael was done he had Parker pass him a towel, and he dried off his now purple hair.

"I like it." Parker said approvingly, nodding from his seat on the closed toilet lid.

"It's very purple." Michael laughed, taking another look at himself in the mirror. He nodded to himself. "I like it, too.

"Do you have any left?" Parker asked, leaning over to look at the little tray of hair dye still laying out on the counter.

"Uh, just a little..." Michael trailed off. He already knew what Parker was going to ask. Michael had promised his son multiple times that he would dye his hair, even though he knew that Beth would probably murder him if they ever went through with it.

"I want purple hair, too!" Parker yelled, standing up on the toilet lid.

"Park, Mommy will kill me if I dye your hair purple." Michael sighed. He picked up the tray of dye and looked at it again; there wouldn't even be enough to cover Parker's entire head, so it wouldn't be that bad, right? They could just dye part of Parker's hair.

"We don't have to tell her!" Parker suggested.

"Just a little, okay?" Michael said hesitantly, picking Parker up and setting him down again on the counter. Then Michael put the little plastic gloves and began to rub the dye through the front part of Parker's hair, giving him a little purple streak in his bangs.

They waited another 30 minutes for the dye to set and then Michael gave Parker a bath (because he really needed one anyway) (Parker did not get sprayed in the eyes this time) and then Michael laughed as Parker screamed (loudly, from excitement) about his new purple hair. He thought that he was so cool, because he finally had cool hair just like his dad. It made Michael feel all fuzzy inside.

Parker begged to sleep in Michael's bed again, so Michael let him, and they both got ready quickly while Parker skipped around and sang and talked about how wonderful life was now that his hair was purple. Once they were dressed and ready to go to sleep they cuddled up together in Michael's bed, but Parker was much too excited from all of the hair dying to go to sleep.

He stayed up for at least another hour, playing with Lion the lion and singing this ridiculous (and incredibly adorable) song about him and Michael being purple hair twins and fighting crime with their purple hair powers. Michael thought the song was really cute, and that's why he didn't tell Parker to go to sleep, because he wanted to hear the rest of the never ending song about his hair.

Finally, Parker started to get tired.

"I'm sleepy." Parker whine, crawling across the bed and in to Michael's arms.

"Then go to sleep." Michael mumbled, not bothering to open his eyes as Parker snuggled into him. He was really worn out, despite the four cups of coffee.

"Thank you, Daddy, for doing my hair." Parker whispered, leaning up and kissing Michael on the cheek.

"No problem, I just hope we don't get in trouble for it." Michael side, halfheartedly running his fingers through Parker's hair, his eyes still shut.

"If we do, we'll just use our purple hair powers." Parker yawned and laid down again, rolling onto his stomach and mumbled something incoherent into the mattress.

"Goodnight, buddy," Michael chuckled, because he knew that Parker was too tired now to hold any more of a conversation. "I love you."

Michael waited for Parker to say that he loved him back, and he would be lying if he said that it didn't sting a little when he didn't hear him say it. But it was okay, because Parker was tired and probably asleep already. Michael understood.

"I love you, Daddy." Parker said sleepily, grabbing Michael's arm and dragging it closer to him, and that was all Michael really needed.

-

this was another filler cuz I wanted michael to dye his hair ((HE LOOKS GOOD IN EVERY HAIR COLOR FUCK))

and I didn't want the play date to come just yet lol

AND i wanted michael to tell parker the story of the day he was born ((i have a friend that was almost born on a boat omg))

goodnight I hope you like this filler even though I was half asleep when I wrote it so I hope it makes sense