Joonmyun's family weren't picky people... actually, to rephrase that; his dad's side of the family weren't picky people and practically welcomed and loved anybody who so much as did something as simple as step into their home. As for his mum's family, though not picky, they had standards and would be quick to point out anything which they didn't find particularly pleasing.

Initially hearing that his mum was planning a family gathering, Joonmyun wasn't too keen on attending even after he agreed to. Throw Jongin into the situation and Joonmyun had all the more reason to dread the upcoming visit.

"Well how bad could it possibly be? All you need to do is explain to them that you had no idea you had a son until recently" Chanyeol offered upon having Joonmyun call him up for advice. Not having experienced this himself, he was quick proving to be of no use for Joonmyun.

"I can cope with people asking questions... but what if they start asking Jongin and he gets uncomfortable? He is so shy around strangers" and then it hit Joonmyun, the most important factor of it all, which caused him to smack himself on the forehead.

"I'm such an idiot" he deadpanned
"What happened?" Chanyeol asked
"Here I am about to walk into this gathering with a son, and I've only told a select few people that I'm gay" Joonmyun replied and with the silence that followed, Joonmyun knew that Chanyeol really wouldn't be able to help him out on this one.

The drive to his parent's house was quiet, too quiet, what with Jongin being nervous at the prospect of having to meet new people and Joonmyun bricking it over introducing his son- a good majority of his family did not know about- and probably have to reveal his uality in the process... neither of them were really up for general chit chat. It was up to the radio to fill the silence to some extent.

"How big is the family?" Jongin piped up quietly, Joonmyun considering his answer for a second before finally answering
"Quite big. I have a lot of aunts and uncles which means that I have a lot of cousins who may be there" and he could swear he felt his heart break a little when he saw how terrified Jongin's expression had become.

Why did his dad have to be one of eight? Why was he doing this and subjecting Jongin to this?

"Hey, you'll be alright buddy, I'll be there with you the whole time" he said, hoping that his somewhat attempt at calming Jongin down actually worked
"I only had my grandparents in Tokyo" Jongin muttered and Joonmyun could only sigh as he pulled up into his parent's driveway and went to get Jongin out of the car.

Waiting for someone to answer the door, Joonmyun wasn't sure if it was his hand or Jongin's hand which had become wet with sweat. Either way, as soon as the door opened, Joonmyun felt himself jump slightly and Jongin instantly went to hide behind his legs.

"Joonie!" came the high pitched squeal of his mum who threw her arms around her son and pulled him even further into her embrace
"For a moment there I thought you had ditched us at the last second" she commented
"Traffic was busy" Joonmyun replied with a wave of his hand (though he had considered it).

Releasing Joonmyun, his mum's gaze quickly caught onto the dark bundle of curls behind him as she smiled and bent down
"Hello Jongin" she said gently and caught a brief glance of Jongin as he turned his head to mutter a greeting back, but hid himself just as quickly.

"Well, come in then, everyone else is in there waiting for you" his mum said, turning to step into the house before Joonmyun stopped her
"You... you haven't told anybody? About Jongin and everything?" he asked
"Not even your brother" his mum replied, stepping into the house and announcing that Joonmyun had arrived. Glancing back behind him, Joonmyun didn;t have to think twice before picking Jongin up, grinning when the boy near enough strangled him with the hold around his neck, making sure to bury his face. 

Stepping inside, Joonmyun was instantly met with various greetings from different family members scattered across the place. Seeing the other person he was carrying in his arms, questions were quickly being asked; was Joonmyun babysitting the kid for a friend of his? Was the kid lost and brought to the house to get help in finding his parents?

"Uh everybody, this is Jongin" Joonmyun began, taking a deep breath in "He's my son"

Simultaneously everyone fell silent, the silence making Jongin wrap his arms around his dad even tighter than he had been previously
"Y-you're... you're a dad?" his brother asked, looking as shocked as everyone else in the room.

"Hey Jongin, why don't you come with me and we can go play with the others in the garden" Joonmyun's mum piped up, taking the boy from Joonmyun and taking him away from the gazes of everyone else, looking at Joonmyun and expecting answers.

Having to explain to his family that Jongin was a result of drunken stupor, and that he didn't even know he had a son in the first place, was not exactly the proudest moment in Joonmyun's life. When he had finished his explanation, nobody on his dad's side really seemed to care; the way they saw it was that it was done and there was no way Joonmyun would be able to take it back, he may as well deal with his actions.

It was a shame that the same couldn't have been said for the sister of his mum. The old hag seemed to always have something to say.

"How do you know he's definitely your son? For all you know she could have just dumped him on you for the sake of not having to care for him any longer"
"The dates add up, I've gone over it a number of times" Joonmyun replied
"And if you get a good look at him, there are some very strong resemblances between the two of them" his dad added and Joonmyun had to make a mental note of christening his parents as saints for what they had done so far to help him out.

"Where is the mum right now?" his brother asked
"I honestly couldn't tell you" Joonmyun replied before another of his mum's sisters had her say.

"What use is there for a mother if she's not even around for her own child?" she asked
"Well with all due respect, there have been some problems recently which I'm still trying to get to the bottom to. Problems which may explain why she suddenly turned up and disappeared just as quick. Until then I suggest that you just stop criticising her like this" Joonmyun replied, voice rising slightly but immediately lowered when he saw Jongin slowly wonder into the room, stopping short of the doorway.

"I need the toilet" he said quietly, big eyes looking up to try and seek his dad out
"Come on, I'll take you" his brother said, getting up and holding his hand out, patiently waiting for Jongin to take his hand so he could be led away.

Though his brother was just as shocked as everyone to learn that Joonmyun has a kid, and he was now an uncle, he was quick to jump in as his parents had done previously to cut his brother some slack and make sure Jongin avoided this as much as he possibly could.

Joonmyun was all too thankful when it came to the food being ready and everybody would be too engulfed in eating to really ask anymore questions. Helping Jongin set his plate down in front of him, he could feel the lingering gazes of others on the two of them and tried his hardest to not say anything about it. He wanted to remain as calm as possible in front of his son.

"So Jongin, I heard you've started taking ballet lessons" Joonmyun's mum said as Jongin nodded his head 
"I started two days ago!" he replied excitedly, his reaction eliciting a few giggles here and there.

"A boy doing ballet? He should be out there playing men sports not participating in some girlish activity" Joonmyun's uncled commented
"Ballet is just as much for boys as it is girls. Jongin wanted to do ballet after watching a performance and I allowed him to" Joonmyun replied calmly and helped Jongin cut up some of his food into smaller chunks to make it easier for him to eat.

Food was eaten in silence which suited an atmosphere becoming ever more increasingly tense as the time wore on. Knowing her son all too well, Joonmyun's mum knew it would be a matter of time before her son snapped. With various comments flying around about how Jongin wasn't sitting up properly, how dark his skin was compared to everyone else, how it was sometimes difficult to understand him because of his occassional slipping back into Japanese (Joonmyun had never really taken notice before), the moment where her son snapped came very quickly.

"Oh will you just leave him alone!" he finally snapped, his sudden outburst making Jongin jump and drop his plate with all of his food on it
"The kid is four years old! He's four years old and yet you guys think that he should be sitting 'correctly', speak fluent and easy to understand Korean? Don't even get me started on the comments about his skin! I came here to introduce him to you guys, to make him feel welcomed into this family and instead you are making this a very hard process. Just give the kid a chance instead of shooting him down like that!"

Turning to Jongin and seeing the mess he had created, Joonmyun just didn't care. He was fed up of how everyone had treated his son and decided that it was time to cut their visit short
"Come on Jongin, we're going home" he said gently, taking his hand and leading him towards the front door, shooting his parents an apologetic look before shutting the door behind them...

Yikes I never though this chapter would be so long!! o.O

And whilst his family didn't exactly find out about his uality, that is to come in a future chapter I have planned out. Speaking of chapters, the next one will have SuChen interraction!

Until the next chapter and Merry Christmas everbody! I hope you have/ had a great day!!