Kaisoo One Shots

Come Build Our Home, My Love

Author: uponinfinity

Rating: G

Genre: parent!au, angst, slice of life

Word Count: 1403

Originally found on: livejournal.com

  Night surrounds the Kim residence like a blanket around an innocent child, and the house itself is quiet, dark. The peace is disturbed some time after 1am, a long, slim figure creeping quietly to the front door, fitting in her key as quietly as she can, praying fervently that the screech in the door's hinges has been oiled into non-existence.

Jinri squeezes her eyes shut and purses her lips, swings the door open as gently as she can and breathes out a sigh of relief when it opens and closes without a sound. She's just about to make her way up to her and Soojung's room to bribe her sister not to tell on her when -

'What time, exactly, do you think it is?'

The voice is sharp and authoritative, and Jinri cringes when she hears it. There, seated at the bottommost stair with a book, his reading glasses and the portable lamp Jinri recognises from his bedside table, is Kyungsoo. He wears his pyjamas along with an expression of barely contained anger, and Jinri knows she isn't going to get off lightly. But she's had a long day, fought with her latest boyfriend - Oh Sehun is such a jerk sometimes - and she isn't in much of a mood for a lecture.

'One. I'm going to bed,' she says tersely, and she comes to stand in front of Kyungsoo as if expecting him to move. He does, of course - stands up and looks down into her eyes with all the fury of a dragon threatened. Jinri doesn't say another word.

'Excuse me?' Kyungsoo asks, and his words come out prickly and dangerous and on normal nights - on other nights, she'd be trembling with fear and would back down and meekly take whatever telling off Kyungsoo could dig up, but not tonight. Tonight she knows she's two hours late for her curfew and she knows there are twenty two missed calls on her cellphone, but she also knows that she's had a tough night, and really, all she wants is to go to bed.

So she squares her shoulders and stares unapologetically at Kyungsoo.

'I need to go to bed, Papa, if you would be so kind as to permit me access to my room,' she says. Her voice is monotonous but is nothing but impertinent to Kyungsoo's ears, and instantly he fumes.

'What makes you think you can get away just like that, young lady?' he asks. He isn't yelling, (not yet, Jinri knows), and his tone is just mildly threatening, but Jinri persists. Sometimes she knows she shouldn't take advantage, but the rebellious streak inside her always tells her to press on. So she does.

'At least I'm home, and I'm safe, isn't that the most important thing? You can yell at me tomorrow morning, if that will satisfy you, Papa, but I am tired and right now I just want to go to bed.' The soft creak of a door opening and closing follows suit, and soon enough, Jinri spots Soojung's eyes hovering just above the bannister of their upstairs hallway. Her sister is silent.

'What's important is you thinking you can just waltz back in here at all hours and expect not to face the consequences just because you're tired! Do you have any idea what time it is?' Kyungsoo raises his voice, and he's halfway yelling now, words drowning out another soft click that occurs just before Jinri sees Sunyoung appear.

'I already told you, you can yell at me all you want, ground me for the next year if you like, tomorrow morning! Can't we just go to bed calmly like adults and have a peaceful night's rest? You're usually asleep by now!' Jinri's shrill cries drown out a final opening and closing of a door upstairs, and she's too busy getting worked up at Kyungsoo to notice Jongin's appearance. He doesn't bother trying to shoo his other daughters back to their rooms.

'Kyungsoo honey, what's with all the yell -'

'Yes, I'm still wide awake because I had to stay up and wait for you! What will it take for you to realise you're only seventeen, you are a young woman, and going out late isn't safe for you? How do I get this through to you!'

'You don't have to! I don't know why you care so much, it's not like you're my real father, anyway!'

Jinri's words hang in the silence like a dead man by a noose in the public square. As soon as they're out of her mouth she regrets it, hands coming up to clap over her lips and she can practically hear the sound of Kyungsoo's heart breaking, never mind the shocked gasps that come from her sisters.

'Papa, I -'

'Get out of my house.' Jongin murmurs, fist clenched as he makes his way downstairs. Kyungsoo has already turned his back on Jinri, and Jongin lets the elder bury his face in his chest.

'Daddy, I didn't mean to -'

'You disrespected my husband and threw everything he's ever done for you for the past fifteen years in his face. Get out.' Jongin says, words ringing with finality and Jinri doesn't dare take a single breath. Jongin is being serious, she realises, and she has nowhere to go. She looks up at her sisters pleadingly, but neither have any words for her. They look at the carpet instead.

'Jongin, don't throw her out.' Kyungsoo's words come out muffled and somewhat wet, and it breaks Jinri's heart even further to hear her father sound so pained. If she could have turned back the minutes and swallowed all her words before they came out, she would have. It's too late now.

'Soo, she stepped way out of line -'

'She's still our daughter.' Kyungsoo murmurs. He turns back around, head resting on Jongin's chest, eyes and cheeks powdered red and tear tracked. 'R - Real or not, I can't let you throw my daughter out. It - it's not safe at this time of night.'

'Papa,' Jinri breaks down then, tears spilling over the dam that her eyes have built, and she can see both her fathers soften considerably. She doesn't cry often, none of the girls do, and she knows how much it hurts her fathers to see them cry. She hopes they see her sincerity. 'I didn't mean to, I - I just -'

'Come here, baby,' Kyungsoo mutters, and he holds his arms out for Jinri to fall into them, embracing her and holding her close, all the while trying to ignore how grown she is now, how she doesn't fit perfectly in one curled arm anymore. He buries his face in her hair. It doesn't smell like baby shampoo anymore, either.

'I'm so sorry,' she blubbers, and Kyungsoo nods, pushing her hair out of her forehead. Somewhere behind him, Jongin has his arms around their other daughters, both teary eyed and clinging to their father. 'I don't know what came over me, I just - and Sehun said some really mean things to me just now and - I couldn't ask for a better father, Papa, really, you didn't have to take me, but you did, and I'm so thankful and I'm so, so, sorry.'

'It's alright, darling, I know you didn't mean it,' Kyungsoo says, stroking Jinri's back soothingly until she finally stops crying. He pushes her away, holds on to her shoulders at arm's length. 'Promise me you won't stay out so late again, alright? At least pick up my calls the next time. Understand?'

Jinri nods.

'And you're grounded for the next three weeks. No buts.'

Jinri nods again, smiles a watery smile and hugs Kyungsoo close. Soon enough the rest of their family joins them, arms around torsos and gentle laughs feathering through hair. When they pull away, Jongin fixes Jinri with a stern stare.

'Never upset your father like that again. I will not hesitate to have you out of this house on your ear the next time you do.' he says. Jinri nods.

'Also, I will be needing this Sehun's address. Nobody talks to my princess like she's anything less than.'

'DADDY!'