Word count: 1609w

Prompt: kaisoo at a pharmacy with the girls buying the girls' necessities and arguing over which brand of pad is better and the girls getting embarrassed

The neon sign above the entrance glares down at Jongin and Kyungsoo, making the younger’s palm sweat where it’s pressed against his husband’s. The girls are on his other side, a little further away from their fathers, because this was not what they signed up for. They did notexpect both of their fathers to insist on coming with them to buy their… Women things.

Soojung shudders.

‘Pads!’ declares Kyungsoo, taking one step into the pharmacy, Jongin at his side. ‘We are here to buy our girls pads,’ he says, as if trying to make himself believe it. Jinri and Soojung shuffle even further away, Sunyoung hiding her face in her hair.

‘Sanitary napkins...’ murmurs Jongin, dragging Kyungsoo along to the right aisle. The elder marches along behind him with a kind of determination that would make a lesser man tremble. His brow is set resolute, and Kyungsoo is close to thinking that this won’t be too bad, until they round the corner and -

‘Oh. My. God,’ is all Kyungsoo can say. His eyes are greeted by row upon row of female sanitary products, shelf upon shelf of thing he’s never laid eyes on before wrapped in all the colours of the rainbow. There are different coloured boxes with different coloured stickers, and Kyungsoo cringes when he sees the words Super Absorbent! proudly emblazoned on the side of one of the packets closest to him.

‘Well. Right.’ Jongin looks over his shoulder, where his daughters are gathered at the end of the aisle, a good ten feet away from both their fathers. Their eyes are glued to the ground, and Jinri kicks at the floor.

This is so not what they signed up for.

Kyungsoo catches sight of his daughters, the discomfort clear on all three faces, and decides to break the tension. Chin up, shoulders set, he saunters up to a shelf of particularly brightly-wrapped packages, and bravely picks one up. ‘Always,’ he says, a little louder than he intended to. ‘Incredible protection, amazing comfort,’ he reads. Soojung hides her face in Sunyoung’s shoulder.

Jongin watches as Kyungsoo reads off whatever information that’s printed on the package, and he decides, well, that can’t be too hard. He has a sister, after all, and his father never bat an eyelid when he had to come home with emergency sanitary products. He can do this, he’s sure of it.

He walks up to another shelf, eyes scanning its contents until it settles on a familiar name. He picks the package up gingerly, only barely holding back the temptation to squeeze.

The package is really… Squishy, he notes.

‘Kotex,’ he announces, startling Jinri. falls open, and her cheeks flush bright red. This cannot be happening. ‘Soft and smooth,’ he reads, voice booming in the near-empty pharmacy. Jinri wants a hole to open up right under her feet, and swallow her whole. ‘Ultra thin. Soft, cottony cover.’

Kyungsoo eyes Jongin in a way that’s not quite neutral, and he’s somewhat intrigued by the spark of competitiveness that’s suddenly erupted in his chest. ‘Heavy flow,’ he reads, holding his package up a little higher. ‘So you… Won’t have too many embarrassing accidents.’ Kyungsoo says, a little less confidently.

Jongin raises an eyebrow. ‘These have wings,’ he says, his tone slightly triumphant. He smirks at Kyungsoo. ‘Do yours?’

‘Why would you require pads to fly? The whole point is to make them stay put,’ says Kyungsoo incredulously. He holds his package up and all but s it in Jongin’s face. ‘These are non-wing, and much more practical, if you ask me.’ he says smugly.

‘I didn’t,’ says Jongin. ‘Besides, I’m the one with the sister. She used to always use these ones.’ He can’t resist. He gives his package a little squeeze. It leaves his daughters horrified.

‘Daddy!’ they shriek, scandalised. Jinri has her hands on her cheeks, and prays nobody they know will show up any time soon.

‘Too much information!’ gasps Kyungsoo. ‘And anyway, your sister has really weird taste. We’re getting these ones.’

‘Mine have designs on them!’
‘Mine absorb two times more!’
‘More than what?’
‘Yours, I’m sure!’
‘How can you be sure, tho - ’

They’re interrupted by Sunyoung marching right between them, passing through their flurry of words to get to another shelf, one neither of them spared a thought for. She picks up a value pack, just as Jinri and Soojung pick the packages their fathers are holding out of their hands to replace on their respective shelves.

Jongin and Kyungsoo are silent.

‘We’re getting these ones,’ says Sunyoung firmly. ‘My friends use these, and they say it’s pretty good quality. And Papa, wings aren’t meant to make pads fly.’ She walks straight past them, making her way to the cashier, her younger sisters following behind her. Jongin and Kyungsoo follow along as well, the former silently taking the money out of his wallet to pay.

The girls smile at the cashier and exit the pharmacy with an air of relief, all of them piling into the car not long after.

The drive home is quiet, the radio droning in the background on low. Everyone is silent until Soojung speaks.

‘When I hit puberty and need to buy pads,’ she says, making Kyungsoo cringe -

‘I don’t want either of you anywhere near me.’