Word Count: 1310w

Prompt: hey em, got a parents!au prompt for you U TOTALLY DA MAN ㄟ(￣▽￣ㄟ) + I hate your parents au sfm because I always get feels from it. Gah if only we have a Jongin in our lives ;; /sobs but here's a prompt if you have time! Soojung-bonding with her parents? ^^ bec I always notice Sunyoung and Jinri but not so much Soojung :( thank you and I don't rly hate u I love u♡

Soojung comes home one day, shoes stomping loudly against the ground leading up to the front door, and doesn’t bother holding it open for her sisters even though she’s the first one in. It’s Jongin’s off day today, and Kyungsoo’s gone out to see a client, and he raises his eyebrows when she stomps right past him and up the stairs, not sparing a glance for her father.

He turns to Sunyoung.

‘Don’t look at me, she was like that when I got on the bus with her,’ she says, shrugging her backpack off. She prances off into the kitchen, leaves Jinri alone with Jongin in the living room. He tilts his head at her, and she sighs.

‘Okay, so like - Soojung was really hoping that she’d get elected as head of the yearbook committee, and, um. She didn’t. It went to this girl she really hates - I can’t remember her name, Hyeri? I think? - and, she’s like, super upset about it,’ Jinri explains, toeing her shoes off and putting them away in the shoe cabinet. ‘Apparently this year it wasn’t done via voting, the way they did it last year, and the year before that - and Soojung’s, like, convinced Mrs Choi has something against her. And favours Hyeri, for whatever reason.’

Jongin listens to all of this attentively, lips pressed together, fingers curled around his chin. He isn’t an expert on the inner workings of the female teenage mind, not yet, but he thinks this is a simple enough situation. His daughter feels wronged, robbed. Jinri looks indifferent, which, Jongin knows, she wouldn’t be, if she felt her sister was right. He thinks.

He tries asking, anyway.

‘What do you think about all this?’

Jinri lets out another sigh, this one considerably more dramatic than the last. She isn’t fooling anyone. Kyungsoo had told Jongin, years ago, that she loved feeling important, loved the feeling of the spotlight hitting her skin. He waits.

‘Honestly?’ Jinri pauses, for effect. ‘I don’t see what the big deal is. So she doesn’t get the special name tag, so what? She’s still on the team. It’s not like they kicked her off it, or anything,’ she shrugs again, before loping off to the kitchen to find some food.

Jongin spends the next fifteen minutes looking at his watch. The seconds tick by slowly, but he manages to keep his patience - based on previous experience (and, okay, Kyungsoo’s observations), he knows it takes Soojung at least fifteen minutes by herself to calm down, to breathe. He has no issue waiting for his daughter to have a clear mind before he goes upstairs to reason with her. He brings along a sandwich, his only weapon of defence.

He knocks on the door, and Soojung yanks it open with the force of a small hurricane. The expression she wears on her face has an anger that’s rather reminiscent of her door-opening tactics.

‘Hello,’ says Jongin, calmly, before he lets himself in. He sets the sandwich down on Soojung’s study table, careful not to jostle the stacks of notes his daughter has arranged in neat piles on the white-painted wood. He doesn’t dare venture a glance at Jinri’s desk. It’s always a mess. He shudders at the mere thought of it.

‘Hi, Daddy,’ grumbles Soojung. Jongin sits himself on the edge of her bed, and she knows what’s coming - she sits in front of him, on the floor, cross legged, back straight.

‘It has come to my attention that you feel you have been wronged,’ says Jongin, careful to gauge his daughter’s reactions. Kyungsoo’s told him off more than once for his tactless choice of words - he doesn’t want to say the wrong thing now, when his husband isn’t around to help him along. There’s an inward sigh of relief when Soojung tilts her chin up defiantly.

‘I have been wronged, Daddy,’ she says, arms folding across her chest. Her back is still as straight as a ruler.

‘And why is that?’ asks Jongin, elbows on his knees, his whole demeanour inviting her to go on. She clears .

‘Because I,’ she begins, somewhat importantly, ‘Have had what’s mine given to someone who does not deserve it.’

‘That sounds unfortunate,’ says Jongin, struggling to find the right words. ‘But - how are you sure that what’s been taken was rightfully yours?’

‘Daddy!’ exclaims Soojung, voice rising a few pitches. ‘How could you say that to me? Of course I deserve it - it wasn’t Hyeri who stayed behind all last year to make sure all the drafts were in on time. It wasn’tHyeri who came in on a Sunday just to watch the computer guy fix our computers. It was me. This whole thing, this whole mess - it isn’t fair.’

Jongin bristles at the use of the last word.

Soojung doesn’t see.

‘Why are you on the team in the first place?’ asks Jongin, voice still calm and even. He doesn’t want his daughter to feel bad, but he doesn’t want her to keep thinking things like this, either. He doesn’t like the idea of her losing sight.

‘I joined because I like being on a team,’ answers Soojung, the set of her brow growing steadily less angry. ‘I joined because I like working under pressure and I like making things.’

Jongin lets the words settle in his daughter’s mind before he clears his throat and continues. ‘Does not getting the position you wanted affect those things in any way?’ he asks, gently, trying his best to sound sympathetic, not condescending. He’d hate for his daughter to think he wasn’t taking her seriously.

Soojung shakes her head, reluctance showing in the set of .

‘Sometimes, you know, no matter how hard you try, some people just won’t see what you’re worth, what you’re capable of doing. It’s… Something that drags on even into adulthood, and it’s never going to go away,’ he says. ‘And sometimes… Life just isn’t going to be fair. Some people act like being treated fairly is a right, but a lot of other people see it as a privilege. All I can say is… Don’t set so much store on being treated fairly. More often than not, it just doesn’t happen.’

‘But Daddy… I just. I worked so hard, and it really, really  to just - watch all of that get given to someone else, and - ’

‘ - And that’s just the way the world works, angel. Don’t let other people dictate your worth, know it for yourself, keep growing it for yourself. You said to me just now that you joined because you like making things and working under pressure, didn’t you?’ asks Jongin, a kind smile on his lips. ‘Your purpose is still unaffected, right?’

Soojung nods, pursing her lips together. Her demeanour has changed significantly - her shoulders are relaxed now, back not nearly as straight as it was minutes ago, and the look she’s giving her father has him spreading his arms out, welcoming her into them for a hug. She climbs onto his lap, buries her face in his neck, and clings to him, hugs him like she used to when Jongin tried to put her down but she wanted to be carried.

She’s not a kid anymore, and she doesn’t weigh anywhere near what she used to when Jongin used to have her in his lap to braid her hair all those years ago, but he doesn’t mind.

Deep down, he knows, she’ll always be that angry, screaming baby he held with shaking hands.

He runs his fingers through her hair, careful not to go too fast.

Always.