I hate you, dad.

The words resound in the quiet of the house, the slam of the front door the only sound still echoing as Kibum recounts the fight he had had just mere minutes ago. He’d tried to weakly call after the door, a broken ‘yah, Lee Taemin’ slipping through his lips, losing the power as soon as they were said out loud. Now he’s just staring at the closed door, somehow waiting for it to open so he can apologize to his 15-year-old son. It’s not Taemin that enters the house when the door opens again, however. Jinki is staring quite confused at his husband when he enters and sees the other on the couch, emotions on his face a mix of guilt and anger. It’s been 30 minutes since Taemin left in anger.

I hate you, dad.

Jinki strips off his coat and hangs it on the coat rack before he unlaces his shoes and goes to sit beside his husband on the couch. There’s quiet for a couple of seconds between them, the frustration of the fight still heavy in the air.

“What happened?” Jinki is brave enough to voice his question and Kibum turns to look at him so at to not hear the four words his mind has been repeating over and over again.

“Taemin hates me,” he says in a quiet voice and only then realizes how much he’s actually affected by those words. Neither Jonghyun nor Minho said those words to either of them. Even when they had their fights and their discussion of staying out too late on school days and not calling back neither of the two oldest sons said those four words.

I hate you, dad.

Jinki wraps his arms around Kibum’s shoulders and places a kiss on his temple when he brings him closer into a soft embrace. Kibum just rests his head on Jinki’s shoulder and lets his comfort and love consume him.

“He doesn’t hate you,” Jinki murmurs but Kibum disagrees with a silent little noise that has Jinki falling back into silence. Jinki doesn’t believe the words because there’s no way a fight between the two of them could have been so bad that Taemin would actually mean those words. He doesn’t tell Kibum however because Kibum doesn’t need words, he just needs comfort.

I hate you, dad.

Taemin hasn’t called back in 3 hours and Kibum is getting angry again. This time, it’s in worry and it pains Jinki to see Kibum almost flinging his phone against the wall every time Taemin’s voice message tells them that he’s unavailable.

“What if something happened to him?” Kibum says exasperatedly and drops into a kitchen chair. He’s staring at his phone and the 7 unopened messages, each one growing