A present for my beloved @magicalrocketships, who lets me play in the comfort of her Small!Max universe constantly. Enjoy ~800 words of spoiling small Max below the cut! 🤗✏️☀️❤️🥰
The coloring book arrives with a brand-new pack of Crayola coloring pencils.
Daniel splurged for the big daddy 100-count pack with all the colors he’s never heard of, like lemon glacier and orange circuit—which he thinks should just be renamed Zandvoort—and a shade of blue called absolute zero. Daniel’s pretty sure he has a bottle of that tucked away somewhere.
The coloring book had been a spur-of-the-moment idea.
Max quickly finished his first coloring book of various animals in various vehicles. It’s his second favorite activity after reading through his flag book. Well—it's his third favorite activity. Max’s actual first favorite activity is cuddling with Daniel while Daniel reads his flag book.
That’s Daniel’s first favorite activity, too.
But they can’t do that all the time. Daniel wishes he didn’t have to take calls or answer emails or figure out Enchanté merch, wishes he could put that all on hold while Max is still small, but he can’t. And it doesn’t seem like Max is going to get big again anytime soon.
But Max always seems content to sit quietly at the coffee table in his living room, doing his coloring with one of the Jimmy or Sassy cats curled up at his feet.
Until he finished his coloring book, he would never outright ask for another, but Daniel had the forethought to order a new one when he went to hang one of the pages from the last third of the book in Maxy’s room.
But Daniel didn’t want to get Max any old coloring book from, like, Amazon or a Go Small website. He wanted to make it special for Max, and he had a call with the graphic designer who does his merch and—
“Maxy-Max,” Daniel calls out. A blonde, fuzzy head looks up from his iPad. They endured a haircut yesterday, and Max is still quieter than usual. “I have a surprise.”
He goes to sit criss-cross apple sauce next to Max, who is staring at him with wide, blue eyes. “A surprise?”
“Yep,” Daniel says, popping the p. “A present for you.”
Max’s eyebrows furrow a little. “Why?”
It kills Daniel that, in Max’s mind, there needs to be a why for him to receive a present. He asked the same question when Daniel surprised him with a set of train stickers he picked up on a whim.
“Well, because you’re my best boy, and I love you, and I like to get you presents,” Daniel says. “And you were so brave yesterday. Getting your haircut can be pretty overwhelming. That’s why mine is so fluffy.”
He leans forward and shakes his curls in Maxy’s face until his face scrunches up and giggles spill out, and Max’s little hands gently push him away as he says, Daniel, that tickles!
“So I thought you could do with a nice surprise, one that you can have with you next time you need a haircut,” Daniel says. “Are you ready?”
Max nods, and Daniel whips out the coloring book and box of coloring pencils from behind his back, placing them on the table in front of Max.
Max peers curiously at the glossy cover and then takes his time carefully looking through each page. He gets through a few before he looks up at Daniel, his eyes wide.
“Daniel,” he says, pointing to the open page. “That’s me!”
“Yeah, Maxy,” he says, unable to control his smile at the awe-struck look on Max’s face.
Max looks down at the book. “Me and Pikachu?”
“Yeah,” Daniel repeats. “A whole book of Pikachu and Maxy-Max adventures for you to color in.”
He’s about to say something—he doesn’t know what—when he’s nearly knocked over with the force that Max hugs him, burying his face into Daniel’s neck.
“Thank you, Danny,” Max says, muffled.
“You’re welcome, Maxy,” Daniel says, his mind humming with right, right, right, you got it right. “Do you like it?”
Max pulls away, and levels Daniel with the same look grown-up Max gives social media admins. “Yeah,” Max says, the obviously evident in his voice. “It’s the best present ever.”
“I’m glad,” Daniel says as Max lets go and grabs the box of colored pencils, carefully picking out a yellow. “I can’t wait to see what you color first.”
“It’s gonna be a present for you, Daniel,” Max says, satisfied, as he reopens the first page.
Daniel’s heart aches with that ever-present, too-big-for-words feeling because he doesn’t know how to explain to a seven-year-old that his happiness, his joy, is the best present he’ll ever receive.
Instead, as Max tucks his left hand into Daniel’s and sets about to color, he says, “I can’t wait.”
