They arrived at the indoor mall after a thirty minute drive. James parked the car and Neil got out and got Mikey out.
"Mikey, do you want me to carry you?" Miles asked. Mikey nodded and smiled.
"Miles, I can carry him, if you would prefer that." James said as he opened Miles's door.
"Nah, I got him." Miles said with a smirk.
Miles got out of the car and then picked Mikey up. Neil's phone dinged and he checked it.
"Miles, you got into the school. You can start at anytime." Neil said with a smile.
"How would I get to school, since you're on paternity leave and all that?" Miles asked as they walked into the mall.
"Well, there are some students who don't live far from here. Perhaps I could give them a ring or you could take the bus." Neil suggested.
"The bus is fine. So, I'll start... Hmmmm... Perhaps the day after tomorrow." Miles said as he smiled at Mikey.
"Perfect, and there is a uniform store here, so we'll pick up a couple uniforms while we are here." Neil said.
James then said, "Well, we also need to find time to cut off some of that ridiculously long hair, because now we have a reason, known as school rules and regulations." James ruffled Miles hair as they went to the the map and directory of the mall.
"Well, James how about you take Miles to go get his haircut while I take Mikey to go look for clothes, so then we are double tasking and we'll get done sooner, since I know how much you would like to get out" Neil said as his finger scrolled through the directory.
"Sure. Where do I take him though?"James asked.
"Erm..." Neil said as he continued looking at the directory. His finger then landed on the name of a barber shop.
"Try there. Well, Mikey and I are going to be on the upper level of this building at Gymboree." Neil said as he tickled Mikey's tummy.
Miles handed Mikey over and then the group separated. Mikey started crying when he saw his brother walking away from him, Neil took a seat on the bench that was close to where they were previously standing. He stroked Mikey's hair and took him not to worry and that his brother would be back soon and after a couple minutes they were heading up the escalator.
"Potty." Mikey said quietly.
"Oh, you need to go. Alright, the potty it is." Neil said. They found a bathroom next to Gymboree and went inside. It was one of those family types, so, it was extra big in case Neil needed to assist Mikey in using the toilet. Mikey stood in front of the urinal, pants down, did his business, and then pulled his pants. Neil was rather shocked that Mikey knew how to use a urinal and that he did it correctly. Neil found a step stool behind the toilet and pushed it in front of the sink and then told Mikey to wash his hands, which he did. Mikey dried his hands on a paper towel that Neil got from the paper towel dispenser. Mikey raised his arms and said 'up'.
"Okay, baby. Good job. You're such a big boy." Neil said as he picked him up and kissed Mikey's cheek.
They exited the bathroom and then went over to Gymboree. Neil found a top with a turtle that said 'I may be small, but I am awesome, a couple pairs of jeans, a pair of skeleton footie pajamas (A.N. I want some of these so bad. Gerard Way is so lucky 'cause he has a pair), underwear, socks, a couple more tee shirts, a lightweight jacket, and a pair of shoes, they all fit and so into the shopping bag they went, they were then paid for, and then Neil and Mikey started heading out. At the last rack something caught Neil's eye. It was a top in the girl's section with 'I love my daddy!' on it. Neil recognized this top immediately since he had bought it for Evelyn except Neil had taken a pink sharpie and crossed out the y in daddy and put an 'ies'. He turned his head and held back tears. Mikey started to fidget, so Neil put him down, held his hand, and exited the store.
"Where to next little one?" Neil asked.
"Bed." Mikey replied.
"Are you tired already?" Neil asked.
Mikey nodded.
"Okay. Come here." Neil said as he knelt down.
He picked up Mikey just as his phone dinged.
'We're finished. Meet us in the food court, we can have lunch at that Chinese place that you really like.' was the message from James.
Neil sat down on a bench and texted James back, 'Alright. How did it go?'
"Message sent." Neil's phone said.
His phone then dinged again.
'Better than planned.'
"Good! :) We're on our way.' Neil texted back.
"Message sent." Neil's phone said. Neil carried Mikey down to level 1, which was a challage considering the fact that he had shopping bags, but he did it.
They arrived after a couple minutes. Neil went to the Chinese restaurant and got a table. He put the bags next to his chair and helped Mikey sit his chair. Then Neil sat in his own chair, ordered a chocolate milk for Mikey, a glass of water for himself, a coke for Miles, and another coke for James.
"Neil." Someone said from across the restaurant. It was James. And with him was the new and improved Miles.
Miles hair was buzzed up the back and sides, slowly getting a tiny bit longer as it neared the top, the top and front was actually long, but Miles had shorter bangs than before, his black hair dye had been removed causing his hair to be his natural chocolate brown, all the product was taken out causing his hair to be quite wavy and silky looking, and over all his hair looked much more sophisticated.
"Miles, you look... Very different. Very handsome." Neil said as he hugged Miles.
"Miwles!" Mikey said as he jumped out of his seat.
Miles picked up Mikey and smiled at him as Mikey ran his fingers through the hair and the base of Miles' neck.
"Well, shall we eat?" Neil suggested.
"Yeah, I'm starving." Miles said.
The family sat down as their drinks arrived. Mikey was sitting on Miles lap sleeping while James, Neil, and Miles engaged in conversation about the next coming days.
This is Part one of Two of Shopping. I'm quite happy that Miles is changing. :) Thanks for reading :)