The music was a little scratchy but it was clear. There was the loud screams of the audience as the four people stepped on stage. A woman appeared, holding a microphone. “Let’s please welcome the four doting fathers who have volunteered themselves for this segment of the Children’s Day Show!”

            There was a scoff on stage, and one of the participants muttered, “Volunteered? More like coerced.”

            A popular song came on and everyone clapped. Himchan, one of the men on stage, took in a deep breath and recalled all the practice he had done to prepare for this show. He had a newfound respect for the Korean idols; dancing was no easy task.

            He counted the beats in his head, trying not to get too self-conscious over the bright orange hair on his head and the breeze he was going to feel between his legs. The correct beat came and on he immediately started to dance.

            As he danced, most of the movements now drilled into his muscle memory, he thought about each of his companions. There was Youngjae whose son was the same age as Hana. Youngjae, when they found out that they were volunteered by their children for this segment, had flipped.

            “What type of performance is this? What are they trying to teach the children, having their fathers cross dress?”      

            “Lighten up,” Jongup had said. Jongup was one of those new-age fathers; completely chill and really willing to go along with whatever came along. Himchan wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He always saw himself as more traditional, but Youngjae was the other extreme.

            “Yeah, it’s just for fun. Besides, this will make us appreciate our wives more, right?” Junhong was the youngest of the four, and his son was only still in second grade.

            The four of them had met in the basement that the school provided, and along with the other fathers who were in charge of other performances, practiced. The song was easier than the male hip hop performance other parents had to put on because it was a female dance and so the movements were less aggressive. It was a relief that they only had to wear dresses and not heels, which would have made all four of them complain.

            Himchan chuckled to himself. Once performing on stage, he realized it was actually quite fun. He recalled the cute hip twirling movement and did it, with a large smile knowing that both his son and daughter were watching. Next to him, Junhong even wore a large bow in his hair and was dancing.

            Jongup was a natural dancer and looked the most out of place in the dress due to his muscular build. But he was rocking the movements and smiling as he did so. He had said that the wanted his son to know tolerance and respect for women, and he might as well set a good example doing so.

            It was only when Himchan glanced to his right that he saw a very unhappy camper. Youngjae had strategically, but not very inconspicuously, covered his face with his long wig. But even so, his scowl could not be erased. Himchan shook his head slightly and continued to dance.

            Hana had voted for him to do this, and so he was determined to do a good job. He moved energetically and when it came time for the shoulders pumping, hands waving motion, he did it with great gusto, smiling at the audience as he danced. When the final song ended, he found himself out of breath, but smiling.

            “Thank you to these four fathers! Can you please come and introduce yourselves?”

            Himchan walked up to the microphone and waved at the cheering crowd. “Hello everyone, I’m Kim Himchan! My daughter, Hana, voted for me to do this and I hope you’re happy with how daddy did. It was a lot of fun learning the dance and getting used to the dress so I hope you can look at our performance with a lot of smiles!”

            He bowed and blew kisses in the general direction where he had saw his family sit in before lifting his skirt in a mini curtsy and running backstage.

            The camera zoomed out and the video became scratchy as a voice in the background could be heard screaming enthusiastically, “Daddy waved! Did you see daddy?” The view on the television was wavering and moving back and forth wildly and then ti came to an end as the video turned off.

            Himchan laughed and got up from the couch. “I think we can keep this video, don’t you think?”

            His now sixteen year old daughter was still sitting where she had been, open and horrified. “Dad, did I really make you do that?”

            Himjong was snorting as he reached for another slice of apple. “Yeah. You came home super excited, ‘Appa I voted!’” He mimicked her. “You couldn’t stop making him do the dance for days after we came home.”

            Hana let out a groan and slapped her hands over her eyes. “I apologize. I can’t believe I put you through so much torture. I’m going to go sleep and pretend that this never happened.”

            Himchan glanced mischievously at his very embarrassed daughter and imitated the movement that he had done so many years before. She let out another drawn out wail and he laughed. “Sorry, hon. This is going to be our father-daughter dance at your wedding too.”

the next few oneshots are a little eh because I'm not sure how to write the requests...

I'll either change them or you're going to have to bear with me

Apologies in advance