Childhood to Childhood

Sooyeon wants to learn how to swordfight, and Baekhyun’s not about to let his seven year old daughter anywhere near weapons.

Set: Sooyeon’s a bit over 7 years old, so Soohyun would be 4.

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Baekhyun kept all weapons locked up so neither Sooyeon or Soohyun would ever get their hands on it, so he did not know what he was supposed to expect when he walked in to see Sooyeon waving around a kitchen knife.

Then he spent another five seconds in absolute shock as she twirled it around her fingers—a bit clumsy, but the movements were still generally right—and the horror snapped in and Baekhyun surged forward to snatch the knife out of Sooyeon’s hands and place it back on the counter, where it should’ve been in the first place.

“Sooyeon,” he finally managed. “What were you doing?”

She blinked at him. “Practicing.”

“With a knife?”

Sooyeon shrugged, hands tucked behind her back and rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, blinking like she’d done absolutely nothing wrong. “I’m practicing,” she finally told Baekhyun again.

“Practicing for what, exactly?” he asked. There was no way she learned to spin the knife like that on her own. Hei didn’t know how to, and he certainly hadn’t taught her. Luhan was a possible culprit, but Baekhyun was certain his friend had more sense than to teach children to wave around a knife. Besides, Luhan had been much more occupied the past couple of months that Baekhyun wasn’t sure he even had time to stop by, much less teach Sooyeon how to wield a blade.

When Sooyeon didn’t say anything, he bent down in front of her so they were eye level. “Sooyeon,” Baekhyun said slowly. She frowned at him, clearly not liking the tone. “I need you to tell me what you’re practicing for, and who taught you that.”

“Practicing how to use a sword like you,” she finally gave in after a couple more seconds. “Mommy said you did before. You used that—cutlass? You used one. I want to do that too, so I’m practicing.”

“And who taught you?”

Sooyeon shuffled her feet on the ground, not meeting his eyes.

“Sooyeon,” he prompted, a bit more severe.

“You’re mad at me,” she said, voice a bit wobbly.

Baekhyun took a deep breath. “Sweetheart, I’m not mad at you. I’m just worried, because knives and swords are dangerous, and I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

She finally met his eyes at that. “Auntie Jinqiong did.”

Baekhyun suppressed his groan. Of course it had been Jinqiong. Which meant… the last time Jinqiong and Jongdae had visited was two weeks ago, which meant that Sooyeon had been practicing the trick for two weeks.

Baekhyun took another deep breath, a speech beginning to form. Before he could say anything, Sooyeon beat him to it. “I want to learn how to use a sword like you did,” she said. “Auntie Jinqiong said she could show me a little bit, but she said she didn’t have time to do more, and that if I wanted to learn more, I should ask you. So can you please teach me?”

Dammit, Jinqiong. “Using a blade is very dangerous,” Baekhyun started slowly, weighing his options. He wasn’t sure what else he could say. “Weapons aren’t something you should be learning to handle at your age.”

“But you did, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t want to, but yes—”

“Well I want to,” Sooyeon in before he could finish. “If you could learn it at my age, then that means I can too, and you can teach me too.”

“I’m not going to teach you sword fighting.” Baekhyun’s voice sounded sharp to his own ears, and apparently much so Sooyeon’s, because she broke off, eyes wide in surprise. “Sooyeon, I know you think it’s cool and fun, but you’re far too young and I don’t want you to hurt yourself, so I won’t be teaching you it and you won’t be playing with any blades. Got it?”

She scanned his face, like trying to figure out if he were absolutely serious. When Baekhyun didn’t move, her eyebrows started to scrunch. “Why can’t I learn?”

“It’s dangerous, Sooyeon, I told you—”

“You just don’t think I can do it,” she broke in hotly. “That’s why. Well, I can do it, and I can learn it by myself.”

Baekhyun clenched his jaw. “This isn’t a choice. I’m not going to teach you, and you will not be doing it yourself. That’s final.”

Sooyeon stared at him for a long moment, eyes wide and mouth pressed in a thin, unhappy line. She blinked quickly. Then, in a much quieter, shaky voice, she proclaimed, “You can’t tell me what I can’t do.”

Before Baekhyun could say anything in response, she had whirled on her heel and stomped off. She didn’t slam her door, but Baekhyun heard it click shut behind her—and Sooyeon rarely shut her door fully.

He let out a deep breath, and glanced at the knife on the counter that he’d plucked out of Sooyeon’s hands.

It was going to be a long day.

***

Baekhyun didn’t even realize how hard he’d been blanking out until Hei found him in their bedroom, idly polishing his cutlass.

“That thing has no right being so shiny after all this time,” Hei said as she walked over to him. “How long has it been? Sixteen years?”

Baekhyun blinked down at the blade. The metal was, like she said, shiny, although the grip was worn out. He had had to