Word count: 1616w

Prompt: parents!au : Luna's classmates are mocking her/ bullying/outcasting her for her tan skin. They also called her ugly too because of her skin tone. Then come Jongin to the rescue because he had once been in her shoes too.

Jongin gets the call when he’s three quarters of the way done with his work day, the atmosphere in the office a little more relaxed once the close of the day draws near. He picks up his phone with a little smile on his face, one that automatically carves itself on his lips at the sight of Kyungsoo’s name on the screen.

‘Hello?’ he greets, already thinking about where he could take his family out for dinner tonight. He’s had a pretty good day, after all.

All of that changes the moment he hears his husband’s voice.

‘Babe,’ says Kyungsoo, the first word already riddled with worry coating every crevice of his voice. Jongin feels the pace of his heartbeats quicken.

‘Soo? What’s wrong?’ he asks, trying his best not to let panic seep into his tone. It isn’t very often that he gets calls like this from Kyungsoo - it isn’t very often that his husband sounds this anxious, and it makes him nervous.

‘Can you come home?’ asks Kyungsoo abruptly, but the words come out sounding like they’re all out of order. Kyungsoo takes a couple of moments to gather his thoughts, and Jongin can only mutter reassurances as his husband arranges himself. ‘I mean - something - something’s wrong with Sunyoung? She’s - not - physically hurt? But - she won’t - tell me what’s wrong?’

‘Soo, calm down,’ says Jongin, trying his best to keep himself sounding stable and unfazed even as he gathers all the papers he has left to look at for the day into his folder, stuffs everything in his briefcase for him to leave. ‘Deep breaths, baby. Tell me what happened,’ he does a good job of sounding calm and collected, and he mouths the words family emergency!at his coworkers to the sound of Kyungsoo taking in steady breaths.

‘I don’t - I don’t really know, Jongin, that’s the thing,’ says Kyungsoo, his words considerably more sensible than they were before. ‘She just - she just came home in tears and wouldn’t say anything, and I gave her lunch and she ate like half of it and then she just - she just locked herself in her room! No explanation whatsoever, and she won’t come out!’

Jongin runs down the four flights of stairs he has to use to get to his car, and unlocks it before he throws his briefcase in the passenger’s seat and gets in on the driver’s side. ‘She’ll be okay, Soo, at least until I get there,’ Jongin says, strapping himself in and starting the engine. ‘She’s ten years old, she’ll be okay,’ he says, before he reminds his husband to stay calm, I’ll be home in a bit, and tells him that he loves him again and hangs up.

When he arrives at their home he finds his two other daughters with their lips drawn tight, sitting at the dinner table with their homework in front of them. There’s something about the way Soojung’s holding her pencil and the way Jinri keeps looking over at her sister that tells Jongin that they know something’s up, but, like Kyungsoo, can’t quite figure it out yet. He gives them each a kiss on the top of their heads in turn, before he rushes up the stairs to where Kyungsoo’s sitting crouched on the floor in front of their eldest daughter’s bedroom door.

‘Honey… Please open the door,’ Kyungsoo pleads, tired tongue dragging a little on the words. He gives the wood a couple of hard knocks, but there aren’t any sounds coming from the other side of it. Jongin tries his best not to let his nerves show, and places a palm right between Kyungsoo’s shoulder blades.

‘Let me try,’ he murmurs, kneeling on the floor next to his husband. He raises his voice and reminds himself to keep it steady, before he knocks on the door with precision. ‘Honey?’ he calls, his lips. ‘Honey, Papa told me you were sad. Do you want to tell Daddy why?’ he tries.

His words don’t garner a response, and he clears his throat when Kyungsoo looks at him with helplessness in his eyes. ‘Sunyoung, baby, Daddy came home early because he was worried about you. Don’t you want to give me a welcome home hug?’ he asks. Another stretch of silence greets his words, and he sighs.

He’s ready to go look for the master keys he’s sure he’s hidden somewhere in his and Kyungsoo’s bedroom, when the door knob turns and the door swings open. Kyungsoo shuffles backwards a little as Jongin gets up and surges forward, eager to find out what’s wrong with his daughter, needing to find out how he can help.

The scene that greets him is nothing short of heartbreaking.

Sunyoung’s eyes are swollen and puffy, dried tear tracks trailing down both cheeks. Her skin is covered in talcum powder, the fallout evident in white specks all over her pink carpet. She’s got talcum powder all along her arms, her face, her neck - any exposed skin, Jongin notices, is covered in it.

She opens to speak.

‘Am I pretty yet, Daddy?’

She bursts into a fresh bout of tears once the words leave , and Jongin feels his heart break as he encircles his daughter in his arms, never mind the white that’s getting all over his tie and his work attire. His daughter needs him, and he wants, more than anything, to be there for her.

‘What’s wrong, baby?’ he asks, so gently Kyungsoo can barely hear him. ‘What’s wrong? Tell Daddy,’ he murmurs, feeling the tears his daughter sheds moisten the front of his shirt. ‘Shh, baby, don’t cry anymore. Daddy’s here, Papa’s here.’

‘They said I’m ugly,’ she says, words coming out slightly garbled through all the tears. ‘They said I’m too dark, and I’m ugly, and I’ll never be as pretty as Soojung or Jinri,’ she wails, and - well, Jongin can only hold her closer, run his fingers through her hair until she calms down enough to stop.

‘Sunyoung, Daddy’s going to ask you a question, okay?’ he says, when the crying has subsided into sniffles. He pulls his daughter far away enough to look at him, and smiles softly at her when she does. ‘Before they said those things, did you think you were ugly?’

‘But Daddy, they were being so - ’
‘Shh, baby, answer Daddy’s question. Did you think you were ugly?’
‘No,’
‘Right. Do you think Daddy, or Papa, or Soojung and Jinri think you’re ugly?’
‘No,’
‘That’s right.’

He turns his daughter around and presses her back into his chest, taking her hands in each of his own. ‘You remember when we went out and got you a new bed?’ he asks, marvelling a little at how small his daughter’s hands are in his own.

‘Yeah,’ she says. ‘Papa and Soojung didn’t like it,’ she recalls, staring down at her father’s hands.

‘Right, but it was your bed. And do you remember what I said?’
‘That I should pick the one I liked, because I was going to be the one sleeping in it.’
‘Exactly. Do you see where I’m going with this?’

Sunyoung shakes her head. ‘The most important thing, Sunyoung, is that you like what’s yours, not whether or not other people will. That bed is yours, not Papa’s or Soojung’s, you’re the one that’s going to use it, so it’s important that you like it. This face - this skin, these hands,’ - here Jongin interlaces their fingers, wraps his arms around his daughter so he’s hugging him, and she’s hugging herself - ‘they’re yours, and if you think you’re beautiful, that’s all you need. Not other people’s approval, just your own.’

He puts their arms out in front of them again, and rolls up the sleeve of his shirt, exposing his left arm and letting it rest against his daughter’s. He’s about a shade darker than she is, but they’re close enough that Sunyoung barely notices the difference.

‘Do you think Daddy’s ugly?’ he asks, and Sunyoung falls silent. She shakes her head. ‘Exactly. I don’t think I’m ugly, either. I’m okay with being darker, if it means I get to play in the sun a little more. Also, I’m pretty sure I’m better looking than Uncle Baekhyun and Uncle Jongdae, at least,’ he whispers the last part conspiratorially, smiling when his daughter laughs.

‘You’re silly, Daddy,’ she says, turning around to bury her face in her father’s chest, and by now Kyungsoo’s got both their other daughters sitting with him at the door, and they all move forward to pile themselves around Jongin and Sunyoung, and Jongin can’t help but catch Kyungsoo’s eye and hold his gaze as their family holds each other close.

There are times when Jongin wants to reach out and pluck every single star out of its place in the heavens to give to Kyungsoo as a thank you for this family he has, for this home they’ve built together, for all the love he gets from the elder every day. It’s the same kind of love he sees in Kyungsoo’s eyes now, with their daughters between them, and the sight of it - the sight of that look - sometimes, it overwhelms him.

I love you, he mouths, and he can’t help but smile when he sees Kyungsoo’s grin grow wider.

I love you too.