Michael was woken up once again by his phone vibrating on his bedside table, and it took him a few minutes to roll over and finally look at it. Parker was asleep on top of him and Michael was half asleep as well, but he still squinted and opened his eyes just enough to read the new text messages.

Mel: wake up wake up wake up

Mel: michael please

Mel: WAKE UP

Michael groaned and rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands, wondering what Melissa could possibly want at such an odd hour. Michael didn't even know what time it was, but from what he could see out of the window in his bedroom, it was pretty dark.

Michael: wtf why

Michael: it's the middle of the night mel why

Mel: bro it's like 6am

Michael had to hold back from laughing out loud as he read the text, using one hand to cover his mouth while he used the other to reply.

Michael: don't bro me why did you just wake me up

Mel: go look outside

Michael: wtf

Michael sighed and slowly pushed Parker off of him, careful not to wake him up, and slid out of bed. He made his was down the hall and over to the sliding glass door, walking out to the patio. From where Michael was sitting he had a perfect view of the sky, which was a really pretty orangey-pink color that Michael thought was actually really cool.

Michael: aw shit it's pretty

Mel: see

Michael: you woke me up for this

Mel: yeah

Mel: idk I thought you would enjoy it

Michael nodded to himself, he did enjoy it, but he probably enjoyed the fact that Melissa was thinking about him at six in the morning even more. He thought that it was cute that she randomly texted him and woke him up so they could virtually watch the sunrise together. He'd never really been one to watch the sun rise or set, but thinking back on it now he realized that it was actually really cool. Like, you were literally watching the sun rise before your eyes.

Michael: why are you awake

Mel: couldn't sleep

Michael: :(

Mel: yeah

Michael sat down on the ground and looked up at the sky, taking in all the different colors and cool shapes that the clouds seemed to be making while he thought of something to say back to Melissa to keep to conversation going.

Michael: I bet you'd sleep better if you were with me ;) right??

Mel: shut up

Michael laughed at himself, once again feeling a little stupid and embarrassed that he'd said something like that, but not as much as he had in the past. It'd been almost two weeks since Michael and Melissa had hung out at the park and since then they'd seemed to be a lot more comfortable with each other. Michael didn't feel so awkward when they saw each other in person and sometimes when he walked Melissa back to her car after they dropped the kids off at school he'd hold her hand.

He thought she liked it. He hoped she liked it.

Michael: the sky really does look pretty

Mel: I know

Michael: I like it

Mel: so do I

Michael sighed and ran his hands through his hair, once again contemplating whether or not he wanted to text her what he was really thinking. He wanted to ask her out, on a date (or maybe just a friend-date), but he wasn't sure what Melissa would think and he didn't want to fuck things up by trying to jump into things too soon. He went for it again.

Michael: we should do this in person sometime

Mel: what do you mean

Michael: I mean you should come over here at like 6am and we can go on the roof of my apartment building and get some coffee and just chill out and watch the sunrise

Michael put his head in his hands as he waited for a response, fearing that Melissa would turn him down. They hadn't even known each other for that long, she probably wouldn't want to go on a date with Michael. She must be busy, anyway, doing nanny things, when would Melissa even have time to go on a date?

Mel: yeah I'd like that

Michael: good

Michael: it's a date

When Melissa took a few extra minutes to respond Michael panicked and tried to make things better.

Michael: maybe not a date

Mel: oh

And then he felt like a total fucking idiot, so he tried to correct himself again.

Michael: unless you want it to be a date then that's totally okay

Mel: idk

Mel: do you want it to be a date

Michael smiled (and maybe giggled a little) to himself as he stared back at the screen, practically frozen while he tried to think of a way to cleverly respond to her and not seem like he was so desperate for this date.

Michael: honestly yeah I would really love to go on a date with you

Mel: :)

Mel: then it's a date

*•*•*

By the time Michael and Parker actually got up and moving they were almost late school. Michael quickly got Parker dressed (he decided to just stay in his sweatpants and sweater himself) and fed him some cereal (see, they've moved on from the cold pizza) and were somehow able to make it to school on time.

Michael found Melissa standing outside of the school where she usually was and he sent Parker off to go inside with Katie while he went to go chat up Melissa. Even though he felt really stupid because he was still wearing his pajamas.

"Hi." Michael said softly, brushing his shoulder up against Melissa's.

"Oh, look at you. Did you get all dressed up for me?" Melissa asked, gesturing down to Michael's outfit.

"Shut up." Michael groaned, rolling his eyes.

"You were up at six in the morning, I thought you would have had enough time to get ready." Melissa laughed, looking up at Michael with a smile on her face. He just rolled his eyes at her again and took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together.

"I went back inside fell asleep again after you stopped replying to me, Parker had to wake me up." Michael chuckled nervously, using his free hand to rub the back of his neck.

"Of course you did." Melissa smirked, taking Michael's hand and leading him away from the school.

"I did!" Michael laughed. "I walked back inside and Parker was still sleeping so I laid down next to him again and fell asleep for a little while."

"Sure." Melissa laughed, like she didn't quite believe him.

"Oh, stop it."

"You stop it!"

"I didn't even do anything!" Michael protested, pushing Melissa away once again.

"Of course you didn't." Melissa obviously trying to annoy Michael now.

"Shut up." Michael repeated. He looked down at the ground for a moment, trying to decide what to say next. "Did you guys walk here?"

"Yeah." Melissa said, nodding. "I actually have nothing to do all day until it's time to pick Katie up, because surprisingly I didn't wake up to a huge to do list taped to the fridge this morning."

"So you're free today?" Michael asked.

"It depends." Melissa laughed again, flipping a piece of her long hair over he shoulder with the hand that wasn't interlocked with Michael's.

"Oh, you're so funny." Michael said sarcastically, lightly shoving Melissa off to the side.

"Yes I'm free today, Michael, God." Melissa shoved him back, forcing Michael to bump into the wall of one of the buildings they were walking past.

"God, okay." Michael laughed, "Do you want to go get something to eat?"

"Right now?" Melissa asked. They were in front of Michael's car now, and he didn't want to move any further until he got an answer.

"Duh." Michael said, stealing Parker's newest little catchphrase for a moment.

"With you dressed like that?" Melissa questioned, raising her eyebrows this time.

"Melissa, are you embarrassed to be seen with me?" Michael scoffed, placing a hand on his chest like he had been deeply offended.

"Only a little." Melissa smiled. She reached up and grabbed Michael's other hand, so she was now holding both.

"Do you want to go get food with me or not?" Michael whined, his lips forming into a small pout.

"God, you're adorable." Melissa laughed, taking a small step closer to Michael. Their chests were almost touching now, and Michael was kind of freaking out.

"I know." Michael said and smiled innocently, making Melissa roll her eyes at him one more time.

"Shut up." She said, shoving him away from her.

"Melissa!" Michael groaned, "Do you want to come get food?"

"Yes, oh my God!" Melissa laughed loudly, turning away from Michael and walking over to his car, opening the door for herself and getting in without saying another word to him.

"Well," Michael muttered to himself, fishing around for his keys in his pocket. "Just make yourself at home, Mel."

*•*•*

"Okay, okay, he's looking." Michael giggled quietly, slapping Melissa on the arm multiple times. They were playing a little game that they'd made up themselves, where Melissa stared and gave googly eyes to the guy behind the cash register and then looked away when he started to stare back at her. It was quite funny, because it was obvious that the guy thought Melissa was hot. Mostly because she was hot.

"I feel bad," Melissa whispered, giving the guy a small, flirty wave. "He looks like he's, like, sixteen."

"So what?" Michael scoffed, "This is hilarious!"

"It's mean!" Melissa whined.

"Look away!" Michael said, ducking his head down and covering his hands with his mouth to stop from laughing.

"I'm done, Michael, I'm not doing it anymore." Melissa said, trying to hold back a laugh as well.

"He's looking back again!" Michael said, turning to face where the guy was standing. It really was hilarious, because he was nervously looking around like a lost puppy, waiting for Melissa to glance over at him again.

"Our food is ready." Melissa kicked Michael under the table, holding the little buzzy thing that was lighting up and signaling that their order was ready.

They both got up from their small booth and went over to the counter to get their food (Michael was still wearing his pajamas but he only felt a little ridiculous now) and quickly returned back to their table, neither one of them speaking very much as they did so.

"What the hell is that?" Michael laughed, pointing down to what was on Melissa's plate.

"It's bagel!" She stressed, and Michael could tell that she was trying hard not to laugh.

"What's that brown stuff?" He questioned. He picked up half of her bagel and poked at it, trying to figure out what was all over the top of it.

"Cinnamon!" Melissa yelled, finally losing it and bursting into a fit of laugher. She snatched the bagel back from Michael and set it down on her plate again, tearing open the packet of cream cheese that came with it.

"On a bagel? Gross." Michael whined, scrunching up his nose.

"Oh, shut up." Melissa kicked him under the table again and rolled her eyes. "What did you get?"

"Well, I got a normal bagel, unlike some people, I also got a muffin, and a mango smoothie because mangos are awesome, and my receipt says that I can go back up and get a free dessert or pastry for only 99 cents." Michael explained.

"You're going to eat all that?" Melissa raised an eyebrow at Michael, looking down at his plate.

"Melissa," He chuckled, "I am a growing boy."

"You're an adult."

"Shut up and eat your bagel." Michael pouted and this time he kicked Melissa's leg, but then he quickly made up for it by wiggling his feet in between hers so they were all tangled together under the table and rubbing against each other.

"This is nice." Melissa said after a few minutes of silence, both of them enjoying how things were quiet for once. They were so used to hanging out when they were with the kids, this was one of the only times that they really seemed to be alone.

"Is your bagel nice?" Michael asked, gesturing down to Melissa's half eaten bagel. She'd practically devoured it, because apparently she'd skipped out on breakfast that morning as well.

"Yes it is, do you want to try some?" Melissa joked, shoving her plate towards Michael.

"You know I think I just might." Michael laughed, grabbing her bagel and tearing off a piece. He popped it in his mouth, nodding to himself. "It's not bad."

"It's good!" Melissa protested.

"Here, have the rest of this, I don't like it." Michael tossed his muffin (that had a big bite taken out the side of it) to her, having it land on her plate.

"It's good." Melissa repeated as she bit into the muffin, also nodding to herself. She seemed to like everything when it came to food, and she also seemed to eat a lot without even having to worry about Michael watching her like most girls would. Now that was Michael's type of woman.

"Good, you can have the rest of my bagel if you want, too." Michael said and began to push his plate forward again, but Melissa stopped him. He only had a quarter of the bagel left anyway.

"Dude, I have my own food." She laughed.

"Dude, I'm trying to be a Goddamn gentleman." Michael scoffed, picking up the rest of his bagel and shoving it into his mouth. "Appreciate it."

"I'd appreciate if you didn't talk with your mouth full." Melissa said jokingly, pretending to look grossed out by Michael.

Michael opened his mouth (that was full of food) and stuck his tongue out, making Melissa squeal with disgust.

"Stop that!" She scolded him, kicking his shin again. "You're just like your son, I swear."

"It'd be pretty weird if you were on a date with my son, though." Michael shrugged, blurting the words out before he could really stop himself.

"Oh, so this is a date?" Melissa asked, stifling a laugh. Michael could see that her cheeks were tinting pink, and he thought that was the most adorable thing ever, and couldn't help the fact that his cheeks were doing the same.

Michael gave Melissa a blank stare, unamused with her question. Of course it was a date, Jesus Christ. "Shut up."

"Okay, okay, fine." Melissa laughed, holding her hands up like she was surrendering.

"It's obviously a date." Michael deadpanned.

"I was just making sure!" Melissa defended herself, pushing her empty plate away from her and closer to Michael.

"You're such a girl." Michael scoffed.

"Well, because I am one." Melissa said, stealing Michael's smoothie from him and taking a sip.

"How can I be sure?" Michael asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Oh, you want me to prove it to you?" Melissa asked, leaning back in the booth. She crossed her arms over her chest, smirking back at Michael.

"Please." Michael laughed, leaning forward.

"Michael, you dirty bastard, we're in public!" Melissa giggled, which made Michael giggle even more, and soon the two of them were gasping for air in between laughs.

"Okay." Michael slammed his hands down on the table, trying to calm himself down again. "I am going to go get my 99 cent dessert and we are going to share it."

"Why?"

"Because it'll be fucking cute!" Michael yelled, standing up from his seat and not bothering to push his chair in.

When Michael returned with his dessert (it was a giant cookie that he was planning on splitting down the middle with Melissa) Melissa was on the phone, so Michael sat down and waited patiently for her to finish. He quietly texted Calum ("CAL IM ON A DATE WITH A GIRL A REAL GIRL!!!! ASHDJJSKA") and tried not to look like he was listening in on Melissa's phone conversation with whoever. It only took Melissa a few minutes to end the conversation and hang up the phone.

"Sorry, that was my mom." She said nervously, setting the phone down on the table. Her eyes landing on the cookie and immediately lighting up at the sight of it. "Ah! A cookie!"

"Here," Michael said as he tore the cookie in half, handing Melissa the bigger piece.

"Thank you." Melissa said with her mouth half full, already eating most of her part of the cookie.

"What did your mom want?" Michael asked as he picked at his cookie, laughing at the way Melissa just consumed it like it was no big deal.

"She called to say happy birthday." Melissa said, grabbing Michael's smoothie again and taking a sip. "It's Saturday."

"Oh, that's right!" Michael gasped, because he had forgotten. "We should do something."

"No, it's okay." Melissa shook her head, refusing Michael's offer. He really wanted to do something to celebrate her birthday, though, and once again he didn't want to take no for an answer.

"But I want to get you something." Michael pouted.

"You don't have to. And I was planning on just staying home anyway." Melissa shrugged, looking down at her lap and playing with the ends of her hair.

"No, Mel, really." Michael insisted, "We should go out to dinner or something. It's Beth's weekend to take Parker anyway, I'll be all alone."

"I didn't really want to make a big deal out of my birthday - "

"Melissa, please." Michael begged.

"Oh, fine." Melissa finally gave in, although she didn't seem very happy about it.

"Yay!" Michael cheered, waving his arms around and grabbing the attention of a few people around them.

"But it doesn't have to be a fancy dinner and it doesn't have to be a big deal, really." Melissa said sternly, clearly trying to get her point across to Michael.

"Okay, okay." Michael laughed.

"Michael," Melissa whined. "I'm serious."

"I know, and I'm serious too." Michael chuckled again, reaching over the table to grab Melissa's hand. Melissa just let out a big sigh and rested her chin against her other hand, pouting as she looked down at the table.

"Okay." She said, not looking very happy about the whole thing at all.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Michael asked, gently nudging his foot against hers under the table. "Why do you look all upset?"

"I really like you." Melissa pouted, and Michael couldn't understand why she was so upset about that. Wasn't liking him a good thing?

"That's a strange thing to be upset about." Michael laughed.

"I know."

"Hey, guess what?" He slouched down a little so he could have a better look at Melissa's face, even though she was looking down and wasn't making it very easy.

"What?" Melissa asked, looking up just a little. Michael gave her hand a squeeze, his whole stomach filled with butterflies as he opened his mouth to speak.

"I really like you, too."

*•*•*

"Then he lay down close by and whispered with a smile, 'I love you right up to the moon - and back'." Michael said, closing the book and setting it down on the table beside him. "The end."

Parker had asked Michael to read him a story tonight before he went to bed, which was kind of unusual, but he didn't argue. He'd just finished reading him Guess How Much I Love You, which was a story that Michael had read him many times before, but it never really got old. Parker seemed to love it more and more every time.

"I like that story, Daddy." Parker said, already half asleep. He was laying on Michael's chest like he usually did, cuddling with his lion as Michael played with his hair.

"I know you do, Pac-Man, I like it too." Michael chuckled softly. He reached over and turned off the lamp on the bedside table, so the room was dark.

"I think it's my favorite." Parker whispered.

"I think it's mine too." Michael said, smiling down at Parker, who he knew would he asleep any second now.

"I like it because..." Parker trailed off, trying to rub his eyes so he could stay awake for just a little while longer and finish talking.

"That's right." Michael nodded, knowing that Parker was too tired to finish speaking.

"You love me right up to the moon and back, right Daddy?" Parker asked sleepily.

"Yeah, buddy, I do." Michael whispered, trying his hardest to just end the conversation so Parker could go to sleep already. It was late, later than Parker usually stayed up, and he had school the next morning.

"I love you right up to the moon and back and then right up to the moon again." Parker giggled, not wanting to go to sleep just yet. "I love you more than you could ever love me."

"I don't think that's even possible." Michael chuckled.

"I love you more than I love Mommy." Parker laughed, playing around with his lion while he spoke. "But shh! That's a secret."

"I won't tell her, little man, don't worry." Michael laughed, tapping Parker on the nose and making him giggle again.

"I also love you more than I love Lion and more than I love Spiderman and more than I love ice cream!" Parker went on, and Michael was seriously afraid that he was going to start crying if Parker didn't stop soon. There was nothing better than hearing about how much Parker loved him, it was the best feeling in the world.

"Park..."

"I love you more than I love playing with Kitty and more than I love going over to Uncle Lukey's house and baking cupcakes with Sara." Parker smiled, crawling up Michael's chest a little and wrapping his arms around his neck.

"Parker, why don't you go to sleep now." Michael said softly, because there were already tears welling up in the corners of his eyes and he didn't want Parker to see him cry and think that he'd done something wrong. God, Michael was so pathetic.

"You are my bestest friend, Daddy, you always will be." Parker whispered, pressing a quick kiss to Michael's cheek before settling into a more comfortable position and finally getting ready to sleep.

"You're my bestest friend too, buddy, but now it's time to sleep." Michael said, kissing Parker on the forehead. "I'll see you in the morning, we can get ice cream after school."

"Yay, I love ice cream." Parker mumbled, practically sleeping already, as he quickly drifted off to sleep.

"Yeah, but not as much as I love you." Michael whispered, that being the last thing he said before closing his own eyes and falling to sleep himself.

-

that one ended with them falling asleep lol

Michaels such a baby god Parker says one thing and he's like "no no I'm gonna cRY I LOVE MT SON SOM UCH GODNI LOVE MY SON"

I'm sorry this didn't have a lot of Parker in it oops but I love m squared and I want to build their relationship as well so I just added in some fluffy stuff with Parker ((THE BOOK MICHAEL READ WAS REAL ITS SO CUTE I LOVE IT)) and yeah I'm a little dissappointed with that last part but whatevs

I hope you're all enjoying this story because I really am I'm just so excited I have so many ideas and WOW I'll get good there's a little bit of drama soon oooo