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"Oh thank god!" Ten yelled when he saw Jungwoo walk into the art room Monday morning. He slapped his hand over his heart and let out a breath of relief, "I thought you got kidnapped."
"I'm so sorry Ten!" Jungwoo rushed out as he took a seat across from his friend, "The girls asked me if I wanted to go get milkshakes with them and I realized I forgot to tell you when we were already at the diner."
The elder gasped, "You made friends? Who are these girls?"
A grin spread across Jungwoo's face, "Soojin, Minnie, Shuhua, and I can't remember the other girls names—now I feel bad."
"Wow you made friends with all the lesbians," Ten whispered so only they could hear it.
The younger nodded rapidly, "they're really nice and told me everything I need to know about sexuality and gender."
Ten couldn't help but laugh at how proud the boy looked of himself. "They are really nice, I'm glad they taught you new stuff," He said sweetly as Mrs. Ahn walked into the classroom.
"So I looked over all of your art projects...I am very impressed." She said, walking over to set her bag down on the chair behind her desk. "That project was creating something to represent a partner...for this week, you will be creating something to represent yourself. And I'm not talking a skateboard if you like to skate, dig deep down, something you would have to explain to even your closest friend. You will be graded harshly on how deep the project is."
A quiet sigh fell from Jungwoo's lips as his eyes fluttered down to the tabletop in front of him. Even that had more personality than him. Ten was sweet and caring, Johnny was a slow stoner, Doyoung was angry and mysterious, yet the only personality trait to describe Jungwoo was that he stayed after school every day. "Ten...what represents me?" He asked quietly, his eyes still fixed on paint covered table.
"A lot of things, you're really smart, you're literally the friendliest person I've ever met, you're really open minded. Why don't we make a list together so you have some ideas?" The elder said gently as he pulled a purple notebook out of his backpack.
✨✨✨
"Hi sweety, how was school?" Mrs. Kim asked when he son walked through the front door.
Jungwoo set his backpack on the couch before heading into the kitchen where his mom was. "It was alright. I didn't expect you to be home today, is everything okay at work?"
A small sigh fell from the woman's lips as she ran a hand through her graying hair, "My hours got cut. I'm lucky I didn't get let go all together."
"You work so hard—why would they cut your hours?"
She gave him a warm smile, "Don't stress over it, there's nothing I can do now." reaching over the counter, she placed a hand on the side of his face, "We'll be fine, honey, worrying won't help anything."
He leaned into her touch, feeling a sense of security wash over him. Even if it wasn't the best circumstances, Jungwoo was grateful to be with his mom in that moment. Over the years he'd just gotten used to her being gone most days, it was nice to see her for once. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course," Mrs. Kim responded before walking over to turn the coffee pot on.
"How do you feel about gay people? I...I have this friend and he's gay and I'm fine with it—it's just so different..." He rambled, not really knowing where this question even came from.
Walking over to the dining room table, she gestured to the spot across from her. "When I first met your father, I was very hateful towards gay people. I was ignorant and honestly, it disgusted me at the time. I think it was about a year after we started dating, I remember him being so nervous one day and then he told me we needed to talk about something," she paused, covering her mouth to stop the giggles that wanted to escape as she recalled the memory, "I really thought it was going to be something horrible—anyway, he told me that his sister was gay. At first, I refused to even go by her, I don't know what I thought was going to happen but I just didn't trust her. After a few months of your father trying to replace the hate in my heart, I didn't feel like that anymore."
She noticed how lost jungwoo looked, she once again had to try not to laugh, "What I'm trying to say is, it is very different and sometimes scary, but that's because we don't know what it really is. When you dig deep down, you can realize we're all just humans doing the best with what we were given. There's no reason to be hateful to people trying to be loved the same way as everybody else," She continued. Extending her arm across the table, she gently grabbed one of her sons hands, "I want you to know that I'll love your friend no matter who he loves."
"Mom—it really is my friend, his name is Ten and he told me that there were actually a lot of gay people at school." A confused expression overtook Jungwoo's features as he was deep in thought, "I just don't get why they have to hide."
"Oh honey, you still have a lot to learn about just how cruel the world can be. You have such a big heart, but not everybody's like that. I'm so glad that I have such a loving son, I'm so proud of you, honey," Mrs. Kim said softly, her eyes brimming with tears.
———
I get so emotional when I write accepting parents because that's literally all I want in life </3
