“-And, oh my god, I think my white hair’s starting to appear, my kids give me so much stress.” A middle-aged lady complains in a nasally tone to another woman decked out in bling bling. Her hair’s a flawless midnight black, every strand gelled and teased into place.

Chen frowns while straining his neck to get a better view of the woman’s hair from his short view. There’s no white anyway, as far as he can see. He shakes his head and jumps to Kris’s side, feeling his Donald Duck bag thump against his back, rattling with books.

“Appa?” He slides his own small hand into Kris’s big one and grasps it firmly.

“Hmm?”

“Why don’t people like white hair?” Chen half-turns his head to the two women sitting at Starbucks with pink prams seated beside them. They’re still chatting animatedly, presumably about nails or some other. Kris follows Chen’s gaze to the women and chuckles. He turns Chen’s head around to the front.

“Don’t stare, it’s rude.”

Chen tugs on Kris’s hand again.

“But why don’t people like white hair?” He repeats, a little whinier this time.

Kris pauses to think for a few second, plucking words from his brain which aren’t too complicated for Chen yet can explain why.

To be honest, Kris doesn’t know either. He doesn’t have a single strand of white, or even grey hair on his black head. He’s too young for it anyway.

“People, especially girls, don’t like it because…it makes them look old.” Kris answers lamely.

“Oh, and, it shows how many times you were angry at something, or the times you cried.” He adds as an afterthought. Chen would ask him anyway.

“But then…why doesn’t appa have white hair?” Chen questions with a pout, as if he’s disappointed that all his naughty doings were for naught.

Kris pulls Chen closer to him so that he doesn’t smash into a lamp post.

“Because I’ve…never been angry at you guys.” Kris lies. Thankfully, the house comes into view just as Chen opens his mouth to ask another disbelieving question.

“Oh, we’re home. Come on.”

Kris sighs internally and pats himself on the back as he successfully manages to dodge another one of Chen’s evil plans.

Or so he thinks.

***

“Chen, why do you have the neighbour’s cat and why is the tail blue?” Kris stares in shock at Chen, who’s the feline with an unnerving grin on his face.

“It came into the window and I dropped paint on it. Will appa help clean it off?” Chen flashes puppy eyes at his father.

“Great! Thanks dad!” Chen hops off his stool and half-throws the rather fat and angry cat to Kris, who drops it. It hisses at the tall father and streaks off in a flash of dirty white and blue.

Kris does the suppressed kettle scream again as Chen’s rambunctious laughter bounces around him, accompanied by the sounds of the cat hissing and are those claws tearing the furniture.

“Chen!” Kris roars and stalks out of Chen’s room.

It’s only the start of his problems.
 

***

Chen does everything in his power to annoy Kris or make him angry. From making Tao cry to ‘accidentally’ leaving the television on for the span of the whole night.

Kris finds out later from a sleepy Lay that the whole thing between Tao and Chen was a plot.

Every time after Chen pisses off Kris, he waits until Kris sits down in that squishy chair of his, then goes over to check his head. He always leaves in disappointment though, because ‘appa doesn’t have white hair yet’.

Kris lets this go on for a week, until Chen finally crosses the link and goes so far as to neglect his homework for a day. Tight-lipped, Kris simply leaves home, leaving Suho to take care of them.

Tao, who has been striving all week to be as good as he can, because he loves his father’s black hair, cries the whole time Kris's gone, even with Baekhyun comforting him or with Chanyeol showing off his funny faces.

Chen’s pale, and he sits awkwardly on the squishy couch throughout. Tao occasionally casts accusing glares at him every now and then, and halfway through Suho’s bedtime story, when keys finally turn in the lock, Tears have already started to collect in his eyes.

As soon as Kris steps through the door, hoodie drawn over his head, he’s surrounded by the two bawling kids.

“Appa I’m sorry! I just wanted to see you with white hair!” Chen sobs into the rough fabric of Kris’s jeans.

“Appa I thought you didn’t want us anymore!” Tao wails as he clings onto Kris’s leg tightly. His tears soak through Kris’s jeans, leaving a dark patch..

Suho looks on, bewildered. the rest of the kids are already sleeping, curled up on the soft carpet.

Amongst the sobs and sniffles, Kris’s deep chuckle rings out, getting steadily louder until it explodes into full-out laughter. He bends down to pick Tao and Chen up, kissing them both on their tear-stained cheeks.

“Guys, I would never leave you. I just went to the hair salon.” Kris shakes his head so that the hood falls off, revealing a glorious, glowing mane of golden blond hair.

Tao’s jaw drops open and he’s rendered speechless temporarily. Blond? Blond?

Chen shrieks at the sudden appearance of the gold and nearly falls out of Kris’s arms. Kris, though, is quick to catch him.

“It’s- it’s that bad, is it?” He chuckles nervously. “I should get it black tomorrow. Yeah.”

There’s a pregnant pause, then Suho speaks up from the side of the room.

“I think it looks great on you. The kids are just a little…unaccustomed.”

Kris looks at Tao and Chen in his arms. They're wearing an expression of something between horror and shock.

“No, I’ll just dye it black again tomorrow. This was a bad idea.” Kris sighs.

Chen, still a bit awestruck, reaches out to touch the blond hair. It takes him perhaps a second to find what he’s wanted forever.

“I found a white hair.” He croaks. His voice is sore from crying, but the tears have dried up now, and a smile’s slowly starting to appear on his face.

And as Chen jumps out of Kris’s arms, running around triumphantly, Kris doesn’t have to heart to tell him that blond is practically white hair.

************

Chen being dumb cause I can lol. I just came up with the plot spontanuously so if I ever mentioned Kris having blond hair in the past chapters please tell me ^__^

I hope you all like this :D

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