Anonymous lover (Phan)

Dan's father

Dan hadn't lived with his mum since he was 5, instead his mum and father (Alex) had divorced after 10 years of being together and 6 months of marriage. Since then, he had happily lived with his two dads...welllll actually one stepdad but Dan had never considered him one since he was more of a parent to him than his mum had ever been. 

Lets just say his mum wasn't exactly the best role model, constantly drinking and smoking, never wanting to spend time with Dan growing up. When she did, she was nothing but aggressive and spiteful towards him. Dan would call his father to come pick him up and sob the whole way home. He couldn't understand why his mumma didn't love him like his daddy did.
This broke Alex's heart every time he had to see his son so heartbroken. See, he didn't have a choice in letting him see her, she had legally claimed for rights to see Dan just to spite his father.

She never paid any maintenance money to help Dan through school and pay for his meals. His father had received a measly £50 in the past 14 years he had been separated from her, as opposed to the £500 a month he was supposed to be receiving by law. He didn't want anything to do with her anyways, he was going to raise his son by himself, without her help. 

At the time, Alex was finding it hard to find work, he was a single dad trying to raise his son with barely any money, seeking help from benefits provided by the government to pay for the many bills that came with living semi-comfortably and putting food on the table, he couldn't drive which lowered his chances of finding a job even more and he couldn't afford for someone to look after Dan while he worked. There was a fat chance of them ever owning a pushchair so Alex always had lil Dan sleeping away on his shoulders as he carried 6 bags of shopping home from the supermarket which was a strenuous one hour walk there and back. 

Despite the money situation not being too good. His father had done a pretty awesome job at raising him on his own for the first year, many kids in his situation were very poor mannered and disrespectful towards their parents...or well anyone really, roaming the streets for something to do and causing havoc because their parents could never afford to take them out nor could they be bothered to just take them to the park and kick a ball around to bond with them and release some energy. Alex however, had always made an effort with his son, no matter how busy or stressful work was, which he was proud of and so was Dan.